With six Oscar nominations and two Academy Awards, 10 Emmy nominations and three wins, 16 Golden Globe nominations and five wins, plus a Tony Award and most recently another Tony nomination for her performance in the 2024 production Mother Play, Jessica Lange can claim a career like few others.
From her screen debut in 1976’s King Kong, for which she won her first Golden Globe as outstanding newcomer, she has had the audience in the palm of her hand just like Kong had Jessica Lange in his. Her latest screen triumph is on the small screen again. In HBO’s The Great Lillian Hall, she plays a stage star experiencing the early days of dementia as she struggles to open in a new production of The Cherry Orchard. It is another tour de force and immediately caused awards buzz yet again.
In this special edition of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side, Jessica Lange joined me at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to talk about a sterling career that’s still in high gear. We cover it all from movies to TV to theater, including what it felt like to win those Oscars, her favorite roles (hint: Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which she did in London and New York and has finished the new film version), working on King Kong for a much talked-about film debut, playing real-life actresses from Frances Farmer to Joan Crawford, her various characters on American Horror Story and of course why she wanted to take on her latest role as Lillian Hall. And so much more.
To watch our conversation and to get the “actor’s side” of it all from Jessica Lange, just click on the link above.
Join me every week during awards season for another episode of The Actor’s Side.