How John Lennon’s death inspired Winona Ryder’s career
American actor Winona Ryder has always been attracted to darker roles. While her screen debut was in the comedy-drama Lucas, she soon came in contact with Tim Burton, portraying one of Beetlejuice’s most iconic characters, Lydia Deetz. Playing the goth teenager, Ryder balanced warmth and creativity with a certain level of weirdness and irritability, which made her an instant fan favourite.
From here, she quickly landed more prominent roles, such as the leading character of Veronica in Heathers. After ascending a few ranks on the popularity ladder, the protagonist teams up with Christian Slaters’ J.D to take the snobbish, wealthy kids down, although he soon proves to be a lot more deranged than she first thought. Her brilliant performance, expertly mastering the dark humour required of her character, helped to further establish her as one of Hollywood’s most promising new stars.
She starred in Edward Scissorhands in 1990, another collaboration with Burton, and she even teamed up with Francis Ford Coppola for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. A few years later, between some less spooky movies like Little Women, The Age of Innocence and Celebrity – proving her multi-faceted talent – she starred in the sci-fi horror Alien Resurrection and the psychological drama Girl, Interrupted.
The latter film saw Ryder play a patient in a psychiatric hospital during the ‘60s. Her character has a borderline personality disorder and reluctantly stays in the institution, where she meets a group of other girls with severe mental health issues. It was a challenging role, but it reflected Ryder’s desire to take on complex and demanding parts. For the actor, nothing seems to be off-limits—she’ll fully commit to intense roles, balancing them with lighter parts.
That’s what makes Ryder so great. She doesn’t box herself into one specific archetype and excels across genres, with her ability to play heavier and more strenuous roles giving her free reign to star in an eclectic mix of films. As a result, she’s been nominated for two Academy Awards after starring in The Age of Innocence and Little Women, as well as winning several accolades, such as a Golden Globe.
However, Ryder might not have actually followed her dreams of being an actor if not for the rather morbid influence of death. Unsurprisingly, the actor with a penchant for dark roles cites the death of two people as an inspiring force upon her. Talking to Another Magazine, she revealed, “I was holding my godfather, Timothy Leary when he died. He was smiling and his eyes were locked into the distance. He wasn’t afraid. He considered it to be the ultimate journey. At the time I couldn’t accept it, but he gave me a gift, of not being afraid. When the coroners came they couldn’t get the smile from his face or close his eyes.”
Ryder also referred to the death of The Beatles’ John Lennon as an influence, whose messages of peace and freedom really inspired the young actor. “When I heard that John Lennon was shot, it was the first time someone I’d been a fan of had died. To this day, I can’t quite believe it.”
Clearly, for Ryder, realising that death can happen to anyone at any time encouraged her to actually strive towards her goal of being an actor. Elsewhere in the interview, she cited a Lennon quote that really inspired her, too: “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
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