Kathleen Turner Career Revisited
My Oscar Book:
Occup. Inheritance: No; father U.S. Foreign Service officer, who grew up in China
Mary Kathleen Turner (June 19, 1954), the American actress and star, is known for her deep husky voice and charismatic presence.
She is the recipient of nominations for an Oscar, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards.
After debuting both off and on Broadway in 1977, followed by her TV debut as Nola Dancy Aldrich on the NBC soap opera “The Doctors{ (1978–1979), Turner rose to prominence with her portrayal of Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981), making her a sex symbol.
She appeared in The Man with Two Brains (1983), Crimes of Passion, Romancing the Stone (both 1984), Prizzi’s Honor, The Jewel of the Nile (both 1985), Switching Channels, The Accidental Tourist (both 1988), and The War of the Roses (1989).
For her portrayal of the title character in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Turner was nominated for the 1987 Best Actress Oscar. Subsequent credits include V.I. Warshawski (1991), Serial Mom (1994), Baby Geniuses, The Virgin Suicides (both 1999), Beautiful (2000), Marley & Me (2008), Dumb and Dumber To (2014).
Turner guest-starred as Sue Collini on Showtime’s Californication (2009) and Roz Volander on Netflix’s The Kominsky Method (2019–2021).
She also played Charles Bing, the transgender father of Chandler Bing, on the seventh season of Friends (2001).
Turner’s voice work includes Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Constance in Monster House (2006), and characters on TV series The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill, and Rick and Morty.
Born June 19, 1954 in Springfield, Missouri to Patsy (née Magee) and Allen Richard Turner, a U.S. Foreign Service officer who grew up in China (where Turner’s great-grandfather was Methodist missionary), Mary Kathleen Turner is the third of four children. She is the only one of her parents’ children to be born in the US. She has a sister, Susan, and two brothers.
Raised in strictly conservative Christian home, Turner’s interest in performing was discouraged by both of her parents: “My father was of missionary stock,” she explained, “so theater and acting were just one step up from being a streetwalker? So when I was performing in school, he would drive my mom [there] and sit in the car. She’d come out at intermissions and tell him, ‘She’s doing very well.'”
Her father’s position with the Foreign Service led to Turner growing up in Canada, Cuba, Venezuela, and in London, England.
She attended high school at The American School in London, graduating in 1972.
“The start of real acting began during high school in London”, she stated in 2008 memoir. “There were seven of us who were sort of a theater mafia. We produced, directed, acted, chose the plays, got one teacher fired and another one hired.” Her father died of a coronary thrombosis one week before her graduation, and the family returned to Springfield, Missouri.
At the age of 19, Turner began volunteering at a local Planned Parenthood office.
She attended Southwest Missouri State University for two years, studying theater.
During this period, director Herbert Blau saw her performance in The House of Blue Leaves and invited her to spend her senior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977. During that period, Turner acted in productions directed by film and stage director Steve Yeager.
In 1973, Turner spent the summer with her mother in Midland, Texas. There, at the Yucca Theater, Turner made history when she was cast as the first female villain in the Summer Mummers 1973 melodrama, “Plodding Among the Planets.”
After moving to New York City in 1977, Turner took over the lead in Michael Zetter’s play Mister T, which co-starred Jonathan Frakes and played at Soho Repertory Theatre. That production marked her off-Broadway debut.
Turner made her Broadway debut as Judith Hastings in Gemini by Albert Innaurato, staged at The Little Theatre (later Helen Hayes Theater) and starring Danny Aiello. It opened May 21, 1977, when she was appearing in the soap The Doctors.
In 1978, Turner made her TV debut in the NBC daytime soap The Doctors as the second Nola Dancy Aldrich.
She made her film debut in 1981 as the ruthless Matty Walker in the thriller Body Heat; the role brought her to international prominence. The New York Times wrote in 2005 that, propelled by her “jaw-dropping movie debut [in] Body Heat … she built a career on adventurousness and frank sexuality born of robust physicality”. She became one of the top box-office draws, and most sought-after actresses of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Turner stated in 2018, “Body Heat was a blessing because I went straight to being a lead actor and I didn’t have to suffer any of this predatory male behaviour like many young actresses. It doesn’t frustrate me that nearly four decades after that film I’m still referred to as a sexual icon. I got over that a long time ago.”
Because of her deep, husky voice, Turner was often compared to young Lauren Bacall. When the two met, Turner introduced herself by saying, “Hi, I’m the young you.”
After Body Heat, Turner steered away from femme fatale roles to “prevent typecasting” and “because femme fatale roles had a shelf-life.”
Her first project after this was the 1983 comedy The Man With Two Brains. Turner co-starred in Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito. Film critic Pauline Kael wrote of her performance as writer Joan Wilder, “Turner knows how to use her dimples amusingly and how to dance like a woman who didn’t know she could; her star performance is exhilarating.”
Romancing the Stone was a surprise hit–it became one of the top-ten-grossing movies of 1984.
Turner teamed with Douglas and DeVito again the following year for its sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. Pre-production for the movie was fraught with conflict, because Turner refused to commit to the “terrible” script. When she said no, Fox threatened her with $25 million breach of contract lawsuit. Douglas, also the film’s producer, agreed to undertake rewrites to make it more acceptable to Turner, which led to much back-and-forth between the two as the script was retooled right up to when shooting started in Fez, Morocco.
Turner starred in Prizzi’s Honor with Jack Nicholson, and later starred in Peggy Sue Got Married, which co-starred Nicolas Cage. For Peggy Sue, she received the award for Best Actress from the National Board of Review, as well as Best Actress nomination.
In 1988’s toon-noir Who Framed Roger Rabbit, she was the speaking voice of cartoon femme fatale Jessica Rabbit, with the famous line, “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” Her uncredited, sultry performance was acclaimed as “the kind of sexpot ball-breaker she was made for”. (Amy Irving provided Jessica Rabbit’s singing voice in the scene in which the character first appears in the movie.)
Turner also appeared in Switching Channels, a loose remake of the 1940 hit film His Girl Friday; this, in turn, was loose remake of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur comedy The Front Page.
Turner was the subject of the 1986 song “The Kiss of Kathleen Turner” by Austrian techno-pop singer Falco.
In 1989, Turner teamed with Douglas and DeVito for a third time, in The War of the Roses, but this time as Douglas’s disillusioned wife, with DeVito in the role of divorce attorney who told their shared story. In that film, Turner played former gymnast and, as in other roles, did many of her stunts. (She broke her nose two years later, filming 1991’s V.I. Warshawski.)
Turner remained an A-list film star leading lady in the early 1990s, starring in V.I. Warshawski and Undercover Blues, until rheumatoid arthritis restricted her activities. She also blamed her age: “when I was 40, the roles started slowing down, I started getting offers to play mothers and grandmothers.”
In 1992, during Serial Mom, she began experiencing “inexplicable pains and fevers.” The rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis was made about a year later. Turner’s appearance changed after the diagnosis, due to the condition and side effects of treatment.
In her memoir, she said: “Many people bought the assumption that I’d turned into a heavy drinker. I couldn’t publicly refute them because I believed it was worse to have people know that I had this terrible illness. We – Jay, my agent, myself – felt it was imperative to keep my rheumatoid arthritis quiet.”
Turner’s career as leading lady went into steep decline and she was seen in fewer successful films. After the symptoms appeared, she turned down lead role in The Bridges of Madison County, which became a big hit. She appeared in the low-budget House of Cards and the comedy-drama Moonlight & Valentino, and had supporting roles in A Simple Wish, The Real Blonde, and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. She also provided voice work on The Simpsons in the 1994 episode “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy.”
Turner was originally cast as Zira in Disney’s The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride. She talked about the role and even sang a portion of her character’s song (stating the film would be her singing debut) on The Rosie O’Donnell Show on March 10, 1998. She was replaced by Suzanne Pleshette in the final film.
Turner’s rheumatoid arthritis progressed for about eight years. Then, thanks to newly available treatments, it went into remission. She was seen increasingly on TV, including 3 episodes of Friends, where she appeared as Chandler Bing’s father, a drag performer.
In 2006, Turner guest-starred on FX’s Nip/Tuck, as phone sex operator in need of laryngeal surgery. She appeared in small role in 2008’s Marley & Me and also played defense attorney on Law & Order.
In 2009, she played Charlie Runkle’s sexually hyperactive boss in season 3 of the TV series Californication.
Turner starred in the indie film The Perfect Family in 2011 and had supporting roles in Nurse 3D (2013) and the comedy sequel Dumb and Dumber To in 2014.
She appeared in two episodes of the Hulu series The Path (2016–17), starred in an episode of the anthology series Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (2019) and guest-starred on two episodes of the CBS comedy series Mom in 2020. On the Netflix dramedy series The Kominsky Method, Turner was a guest in season 2 (2019) and became a main cast member in season 3 (2021). The series reunited her with fellow actor Michael Douglas for the first time since The War of the Roses.
Turner provided the voice of Jessica Rabbit in the 1988 live action-animated Who Framed Roger Rabbit, its three animated short film spinoffs, and in the Disneyland attraction spinoff, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. In 2006, Turner voiced the character Constance in the animated film Monster House. Later, she provided radio commercial voice-overs for Lay’s potato chips. BBC Radio 4 produced four radio dramas based on the V. I. Warshawski novels by Sara Paretsky. Two of them, Killing Orders and Deadlock, released in 2007, featured Turner reprising her 1991 film role, which had been based on Paretsky’s novel Deadlock; however, the final series, Bitter Medicine, released in 2009, had Sharon Gless take over the part.[34] In 2015, she narrated the anthology drama film Emily & Tim. Turner also had voice guest roles on the animated series King of the Hill, Family Guy, 3Below: Tales of Arcadia, Rick and Morty, Summer Camp Island, and Wizards: Tales of Arcadia.
After 1990s roles in Broadway productions of Indiscretions and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (for which she earned a Tony Award nomination), Turner moved to London in 2000 to star in a stage version of The Graduate. The BBC reported that initially mediocre ticket sales for The Graduate “went through the roof when it was announced that Turner, then aged 45, would appear naked on stage”. While her performance as the seductive Mrs. Robinson was popular with sustained high box office for the duration of Turner’s run, she received mixed reviews from critics. The play transferred to Broadway in 2002 to similar critical reaction.
In 2005, Turner beat other contenders (Jessica Lange, Frances McDormand, and Bette Midler) as Martha in a 2005 Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Longacre Theatre. Albee later said that when Turner read for the part with eventual co-star Bill Irwin, he heard “an echo of the ‘revelation’ that he had felt years ago when the parts were read by Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill.” Turner had “a look of voluptuousness, a woman of appetites, yes … but a look of having suffered, as well.”
As Martha, Turner received her second Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play, losing to Cherry Jones. The production was transferred to London’s Apollo Theatre in 2006. She starred in Sandra Ryan Heyward’s one-woman show, Tallulah, which she toured across the U.S.
In August 2010, Turner portrayed Sister Jamison Connelly in Matthew Lombardo’s drama High at Hartford TheaterWorks. The production transferred to Broadway at the Booth Theatre where it opened in previews on March 25, 2011, officially on April 19, 2011, and an announced quick closing on April 24, 2011.
However, in a rare move, the production was revived, still headed by Turner, to undertake a national tour which began in Boston in December 2012.
From August to October 28, 2012, Turner appeared in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, a play about the legendary liberal Texas columnist Molly Ivins, at Arena Stage in Washington, DC.
In December 2014 and January 2015, Turner performed the same show at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She appeared again at Arena Stage in the title role of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, which opened in February 2014, and playing Joan Didion in the one-woman show The Year of Magical Thinking, based on Didion’s memoir of the same name, in October and November 2016.
In February 2019, Turner made debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York,in the speaking role of The Duchess of Krakentorp in Donizetti’s opera La fille du régiment.
In addition to her work on stage and screen, Turner has taught acting classes at New York University.
Turner’s performance in Body Heat gave her a reputation as a sex symbol.[46] She is considered one of the most prominent sex symbols of the 1980s,[47] a designation largely attributed to her performance in Body Heat.[48] Turner worked to avoid being typecast in similar roles.[49] She described “rage” as a common theme running through most of her characters.[49] Her deep, husky voice has been considered a trademark throughout her career.[50][51][52] Ann Lee of The Guardian described her as “magnetic” on screen “fierce, bold and sultry, with an impeccable sense of comic timing to match that oh-so-husky and commanding voice”.
By the late 1980s, Turner had acquired a reputation for being difficult–“a certifiable diva”. She admitted to have developed into “not a very kind person”, and actress Eileen Atkins—with whom she starred in the play Indiscretions on Broadway—referred to her as “an amazing nightmare”.
In 2018, she stated: “The ‘difficult’ thing was pure gender crap. If a man comes on set and says, ‘Here’s how I see this being done’, people go, ‘He’s decisive.’ If a woman does it, they say, ‘Oh, fuck. There she goes.'” Turner defended herself against Atkins’ claims, saying that Atkins harbored animosity towards her because she was having trouble memorizing her lines. Turner later realized that medication she was taking for her rheumatoid arthritis was making her “fuzzy.” She added that, on days when the rheumatoid arthritis in her wrist was especially bad and she warned the other cast members not to touch it, Atkins would intentionally sit on it during a scene where Turner had to play dead, causing Turner extreme pain.
Turner married real estate entrepreneur Jay Weiss of New York City in 1984, and they had one daughter, singer Rachel Ann Weiss, born on October 14, 1987. Turner and Weiss divorced in December 2007, but Turner has said, “[Jay]’s still my best friend.”
In 1992, Turner began experiencing “inexplicable pains and fevers.” She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about a year later. By the time she was diagnosed, she “could hardly turn her head or walk, and was told she would end up in a wheelchair”.[7] Of this period, she has said: “My body could respond only with excruciating pain whenever I tried to move at all. The joints in my hands were so swollen, I couldn’t hold a pen. Some days I couldn’t hold a glass to get a drink of water. I couldn’t pick up my child… my feet would blow up so badly that I couldn’t get them into any kind of shoes, let alone walk on them.”
Turner’s appearance changed after the diagnosis. “The press were merciless,” she states in her memoir. “They snipped that I had become fat and unrecognizable because I was an angry, washed-up diva, an out-of-control has-been, when in truth the changes in my physical appearance were caused by drugs and chemotherapy and were not within my control. Still, I did not reveal what was happening to me.”
As her rheumatoid arthritis progressed, alcohol consumption became a problem. “I drank consciously at first to kill the pain….Later, after I got the new medicines and the pain began to subside, I kept drinking too much… It didn’t damage my work, but it damaged me personally.” Turner has admitted that the drinking made her difficult to be around.
Despite drug therapy, Turner’s rheumatoid arthritis progressed for about eight years. Then, thanks to newly available treatments, it went into remission.
In November 2002, Turner was admitted into the Geisinger Marworth Treatment Center in Waverly, Pennsylvania, for the treatment of alcoholism. “I have no problem with alcohol when I’m working,” she explained. “It’s when I’m home alone that I can’t control my drinking … I was going toward excess. I mean, really! I think I was losing my control over it. So it pulled me back.”
Turner at the Planned Parenthood Rally in New York City in 2011
Turner has worked with Planned Parenthood of America since age 19, and later became a chairperson. She also serves on the board of People for the American Way, and volunteers at Amnesty International and Citymeals-on-Wheels. She was one of John Kerry’s first celebrity endorsers. She has been a frequent donor to the Democratic Party. She has also worked to raise awareness of rheumatoid arthritis.
In the mid-2000s, Turner collaborated with Gloria Feldt on her memoirs, Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles. The book was published in 2008.
In the book, Turner claimed that, while they were filming Peggy Sue Got Married, her co-star Nicolas Cage had got drunk and stolen Chihuahua that he liked. In turn, Cage filed a lawsuit against Turner and her publisher in the UK, who took an excerpt from the book and posted it on their website (before publication). Cage argued defamation and damage to character and won the case, resulting in retractions, legal fees, and donation to charity.During an interview on The View, Turner apologized for any distress she might have caused Cage regarding an incident that took place 20 years earlier.
On August 7, 2018, Vulture published interview with Turner, wherein she expressed her opinion on a wide range of issues, from Elizabeth Taylor’s acting skills to what it was like meeting Donald Trump in the 1980s. Turner’s frankness and certain revelations she made caused the article to be widely shared in different media outlets, which led to her name trending on Google.
Filmography
1981 Body Heat Matty Walker
1983 The Man with Two Brains Dolores Benedict
1984 Romancing the Stone Joan Wilder
A Breed Apart Stella Clayton
Crimes of Passion Joanna Crane / China Blue
1985 Prizzi’s Honor Irene Walkervisks / Irene Walker
The Jewel of the Nile Joan Wilder
1986 Peggy Sue Got Married Peggy Sue Bodell
1987 Julia and Julia Julia
1988 Switching Channels Christy Colleran
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Jessica Rabbit (voice) Uncredited
The Accidental Tourist Sarah Leary
1989 Tummy Trouble Jessica Rabbit (voice) Short film
The War of the Roses Barbara Rose
1990 Roller Coaster Rabbit Jessica Rabbit (voice) Short film
1991 V.I. Warshawski Victoria “V. I.” Warshawski
1993 Trail Mix-Up Jessica Rabbit (voice) Short film
Naked in New York Dana Coles
House of Cards Ruth Matthews
Undercover Blues Jane Blue
1994 Serial Mom Beverly R. Sutphin
1995 Moonlight and Valentino Alberta Trager
The Snow Queen The Snow Queen (voice) English dub
1997 Bad Baby Gloria Goode (voice)
A Simple Wish Claudia
The Real Blonde Dee Dee Taylor
1999 Baby Geniuses Elena Kinder
Love and Action in Chicago Middleman
The Virgin Suicides Mrs. Lisbon
2000 Beautiful Verna Chickle
Prince of Central Park Rebecca Cairn
2005 The Lady in Question is Charles Busch Herself Documentary
2006 Monster House Constance (voice)
2008 Marley & Me Ms. Kornblut
2011 The Perfect Family Eileen Cleary
2013 Nurse 3D Head Nurse Betty Watson
Gods Behaving Badly Styx Unreleased
2014 Dumb and Dumber To Fraida Felcher
2015 Emily & Tim The Narrator (voice)
2017 Someone Else’s Wedding, Barbara Haines, Released as Another Kind of Wedding
2022 The Swearing Jar Bev
The Estate Aunt Hilda
2024 The Long Game Mariah McKay
2025 Animal Farm Benjamin (voice) [67]
Listen to Me Gertrude Stein
Television
1978–1979 The Doctors Nola Dancy Aldrich 86 episodes[68]
1994 The Simpsons Stacy Lovell (voice) Episode: “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”
1995 Friends at Last Fanny Connelyn TV movie
1998 Legalese Brenda Whitlass
2000 Cinderella Claudette
King of the Hill Miss Liz Strickland (voice) 3 episodes
2001 Friends Charles Bing / Helena Handbasket Episodes: “The One with Chandler’s Dad”, “The One with Chandler and Monica’s Wedding”[69]
2005 …A Father…A Son…Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Herself TV Docu
2006 Law & Order Rebecca Shane Episode: “Magnet”
Nip/Tuck Cindy Plumb Episode: “Cindy Plumb”
2009 Californication Sue Collini 10 episodes
2016–2017 The Path Brenda Roberts 2 episodes
2017 Family Guy Herself (voice) Episode: “Foxx in the Men House”
2019 Lovestruck Grace TV movie
3Below: Tales of Arcadia Gwendolyn (voice) Episode: “There’s Something About Gwen (of Gorbon)”
Heartstrings Mary “Old Bones” Shaw Episode: “These Old Bones”[70]
Rick and Morty Monogatron leader’s Wife (voice) Episode: “The Old Man and the Seat”
2019, 2021 The Kominsky Method Roz Volander 6 episodes
2020 Mom “Cookie” 2 episodes
Summer Camp Island Mole Judge (voice) Episode: “Molar Moles”
Prop Culture Herself Episode: “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
Wizards: Tales of Arcadia Lady of The Lake (voice) Episode: “Lady of the Lake”
2022 HouseBroken Nancy (voice) Episode: “Who’s Found Themselves in One of Those Magical Christmas Life Swap Switcheroos?”
2023 White House Plumbers Dita Beard
Theater
1977 Gemini Judith Hastings Little Theatre, Broadway Replacement
1981 A Midsummer Night’s Dream Titania[73] Arena Stage, Regional
1989 Love Letters Melissa Gardner [74][75] Promenade Theatre, Off-Broadway
1990 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Maggie Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Broadway
1995 Indiscretions Yvonne Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
2000 The Graduate Mrs. Robinson Gielgud Theatre, West End
2000–2001 Tallulah Tallulah Bankhead National tour
2002 The Graduate Mrs. Robinson Plymouth Theatre, Broadway
2004 The Exonerated Sunny Jacobs[76] Casa Mañana Theatre, Regional
2005 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Martha Longacre Theatre, Broadway
2006 Apollo Theatre, West End
2007 National tour, Crimes of the Heart, Unknown Williamstown Theatre Festival, Regional Directed only
2008 Laura Pels Theatre, Off-Broadway
2009 The Third Story Peg / Dr. Rutenspitz Lucille Lortel Theatre, Off Broadway
2010 Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins Molly Ivins Philadelphia Theatre Company, Regional
High Sister Jamison Connelly TheaterWorks, Regional
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Regional
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Regional
2011 Booth Theatre, Broadway
2012 Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins Molly Ivins Geffen Playhouse, Regional Arena Stage, Regional
The Killing of Sister George, June Buckridge Long Wharf Theatre, Regional Also directed
2014 Mother Courage and Her Children Mother Courage Arena Stage, Regional
Bakersfield Mist Maude Gutman Duchess Theatre, West End
2014–2015 Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins Molly Ivins Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Regional
2015 Would You Still Love Me If… Victoria Pruitt New World Stages Stage V, Off-Broadway Also directed
2016 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion Arena Stage, Regional
2017 An Act of God God George Street Playhouse, Regional
2024 A Little Night Music Madame Armfeldt, Ogunquit Playhouse, Regional
