Jeff Bridges names his favourite Jeff Bridges performances: “I’ve got a handful”
Acting runs in Jeff Bridges’ blood. His parents, Lloyd and Dorothy, were both in the business. Lloyd began his career making films for Columbia Pictures, appearing alongside Humphrey Bogart in Sahara and Gary Cooper in High Noon, later finding success in comedies like Airplane! and Hot Shots!. Dorothy, meanwhile, was less prominent professionally but appeared alongside her husband in various film and TV projects while also serving as a drama teacher for their children. Bridges’ brother, Beau, is also an actor, best known for films like The Descendants and The Fabulous Baker Boys.
Perhaps this is why Bridges has given so many memorable performances across his long career. In both comedy and drama, he has proven himself capable of soliciting any emotion from an audience. He is a seven-time Oscar nominee, having won ‘Best Actor’ in 2010 for the film Crazy Heart. What is his own personal favourite, however? That’s exactly the question AZCentral posed to him.
“That’s the classic actor answer… it’s like asking who’s your favourite kid,” he initially stated. He did eventually give a flurry of responses, which has got to be worrying news for his three children. “I’ve got a handful of them,” he said.
He initially referred to The Giver, although that might have just been because that’s what he was promoting at the time. “(The Big) Lebowski; The Last Picture Show; Starman; The Fabulous Baker Boys, working with Beau; Tucker; and Blown Away, the two movies I did with my dad. These are just the ones popping out of my head. But I’ve had great luck in the movies I’ve been part of… I’ve been lucky that way.”
That’s quite an extensive list. The Big Lebowski is the Bridges performance that most people return to. His starring role in the Coen brothers’ tale of kidnap, severed toes, and bowling is one of the prototypical ‘slacker’ characters in movie history. He was so convincing in the part that he once had an awkward run-in with Glenn Frey, who was convinced that Bridges possessed some of his character’s famous hatred for his band, Eagles.
The Last Picture Show is one of Bridges’ earliest starring roles. He plays Duane Jackson, one half of a pair of high schoolers whose friendship is tested by various trials. The year before he worked with his brother on The Fabulous Baker Boys, he collaborated with his father on Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Jeff plays Preston Tucker, an aspiring automobile manufacturer, while Lloyd has an uncredited cameo as a US Senator.
Blown Away is an entirely different kettle of fish. Jeff stars as a member of the Boston PD’s bomb squad. He and his team are tasked with stopping an escaped IRA soldier (Tommy Lee Jones) from committing various explosive attacks across the city. Lloyd appears as his son’s character’s uncle, an older member of the force. Jeff said that he was drawn to the project as it reminded him of his father’s work when he was a younger man. It was one of the last films Lloyd made before his death in 1998.
Facing such an extensive list of great performances to pick from is a lovely problem to have. It speaks volumes about Bridges’ skills as an actor, his willingness to take on so many challenging parts, and his durability as a star.
