Starry Sissy Spacek
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 10:00AM File this under 'The Hollywood Walk of Fame Makes No Sense.' The star-getting procedure is such that some people get them in their first few years of fame while the danger of "flash in the pan" still looms and other bonafide legends get them a full four decades after they started making cinema-shaking waves. In short, it's utter nonsense.
But that doesn't mean we don't still like seeing the nation's actresses celebrated whenever that does occur. Congratulations, Sissy!
Usually star ceremonies will include co-stars pushing whichever new project the star has (in this case THE HELP) and at least one really famous co-star (like when Bridges was on hand for Pfabulous Pfeiffer's star a few years back though they hadn't worked together since the 80s) but this one was oddly attended. Bill Paxton (Sissy did a guest role on Big Love) and David Lynch who directed Sissy in The Straight Story (1999) as the main guests? Neither are particularly representative of her career. Story is hardly a Sissy film even though it's a goodie. I don't know if David Lynch has a star on the Walk of Fame but if he doesn't and he ever gets one they should straight up rethink the honor and ceremony and his star should be unveiled on a wall framed by red curtains rather than carpet.
Did you know...?
Sissy Spacek is #8 in Oscar's entire Actress Hierarchy, tied with the following women for an incredible six nominations: Redgrave, Burstyn, Sissy's closest star trajectory contemporary Jessica Lange, beloved Dames Dench & Smith, Winslet (the most recent to join this elite club) and the record holding most-nominated losers Deborah Kerr & Thelma Ritter. (Plus Norma Shearer depending on how you count her honors -- the Academy's early days are odd statistically speaking.) Close & Blanchett are the next possible party-crashers to this group with 5 nods apiece.
Previous Related Posts
Crimes of the Heart
Posterized Sissy
April Showers: Carrie
Signatures: Sissy Spacek
Tuesday Top Ten: Leading Ladies of Horror
Reader Comments (15)
Whenever she is mentioned I remember her in Badland and what a huge impression she (and the whole film) made on me.
Piper Laurie would've been amazing to see there, or even Tommy Lee Jones.
Sissy and Lynch go way back though, via Jack Fisk. They're practically family. And bless her for helping to fund Eraserhead :)
Jan I know I was just about to mention that, helping fund Eraserhead must definitely give you some cinefile street cred. I've always loved Sissy, I wish she still got meaty roles, not many actors have her range.
Nathaniel great post, I agree it's a shock she hasn't received one before.
ty & jan -- good points! I love Jack Fisk so I don't know why that connection didn't occur to me.
wayne b -- piper laurie for the win!
It is bizarre that this cinematic treasure, a quintessential American icon and one of only 9 actresses to earn more than 5 best actress nominations and the most awarded NYFCC actress ever (in a tie with Meryl Streep) would have to wait until she was in the 5th decade to receive a star. Even more astonishing considering that she has a signature role from her 1st decade in film that will keep her legend in tact into infinity it would seem - Carrie. And she has many more famous roles like Badlands and Coal Miner's Daughter. Better late than never though.
I read about this a few days ago and could not believe that she seriously did not have a star yet!
From what I remember the stars themselves have to pay for these things. It's almost a vanity honor. You still have to be voted in as a contender for any given year. Spacek is such a weird actress to me -- she can take off her clothes in the movie and not become cheap or sexualized -- and her home grown all American type projects seems to be her forte but that doesn't define who she really is completely. I like her. As anyone here seen "night Mother" -- Kathy Bates resents the hell out of Spacek for playing the role she originated and nearly went insane after the production of the play was over?
She should have 8 noms really extra ones for badlands and raggedy man.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame lost me at David Spade (2003).
Mark, I think she should have had nine nominations -- the two you mentioned, plus a nod for Altman's Three Women. Totally agree with you, Anna. Spacek has consistently proven that she is probably the most naturalistic actress in films. There is really nothing actorly or theatrical about her performances. She, like Pfeiffer, is sorely missed, and like Pfeiffer, elevates each film she appears in. Too bad we won't be seeing her in August, Osage County. What a treat that would have been.
Not much to add other than that I'm baffled that it took this long to give her the honour. Sissy is the Shit! I mean that in a good way, of course!
/3rtfu11, are you sure that Kathy resents her? That sort of thing happens all the time with stage adaptations. I know that is one of Kathy's most famous roles, but I'm sure she didn't blame Sissy. I mean Michelle Pfeiffer was cast in the Frankie and Johnny film and that didn't stop her from working with her in Cheri' out of resentment.
I get this impression from a Charlie Rose interview she did promoting Primary Colors and another interview where she talked about Not liking her experience working with Woody Allen, of course the minute he asked her to join Midnight in Paris, you know...!
Sissy chose her presenters - Jack Fisk (Sissy's husband) and David Lynch have been best friends since high school - as a result, David became good friends with Sissy almost as soon as Jack started dating her in the early 70s (working on Badlands) - and as has been mentioned, Sissy and Jack helped finance David's Eraserhead - they are like family
Likewise, Bill Paxton met Sissy when he was a teenage production assistant on Badlands, and they have been close friends for almost 40 years