What was Meryl Streep’s first movie?
In 1975, 26-year-old Mary Streep debuted on Broadway in the comedy Trelawny of the “Wells”. She was credited under the name “Meryl”, a nickname her father made up for her. Her performance was a hit and immediately led to more prominent roles on stage, including Patricia in Arthur Miller’s A Memory of Two Mondays, the female lead in Shakespeare’s play Henry V, and Dunyasha in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
At the same time, Streep found work on screen as a minor character in John Hubley’s TV movie Everybody Rides the Carousel, although this was a voice-only part in an animated feature that was far from cinematic. We could consider it Streep’s first movie, but it’s not generally considered a narrative film in the conventional sense.
Hollywood would soon come calling, however. Resident New Yorker Robert De Niro, who was arguably the most celebrated actor in the world at that time off the back of The Godfather Part II and Taxi Driver, went to see The Cherry Orchard at Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. Even though Streep only had a supporting role, she stood out enough for De Niro to invite her to star in his next movie, The Deer Hunter.
It also helped that Streep had entered into a relationship with another of the film’s stars, John Cazale, after acting with him in the Shakespeare play Measure for Measure. Cazale knew De Niro well from the Godfather movies, in which he played Fredo Corleone and introduced De Niro and The Deer Hunter’s director Michael Cimino personally.
The freedom Cimino gave Streep to develop her character Linda led to a powerful, emotive performance far beyond the scope of the film’s screenplay. She garnered her first of 21 Academy Award nominations, and was sought out for immersive, character-driven roles in Manhattan and Kramer vs Kramer as a result. Yet The Deer Hunter wasn’t her first appearance on the big screen.
What came before it, then?
Prior to The Deer Hunter’s release, Streep landed a small speaking part in the World War II drama Julia. She credits the movie with allowing her to observe the acting of its lead, Jane Fonda, at close quarters. But that was about all she took from her first time in a cinematic feature film.
Streep was incensed that her part in the movie was mostly cut, with the remaining flashback scene badly dubbed so that her voice didn’t match the words her mouth was speaking. She wasn’t happy with the over-the-top costume she was made to wear, either. This first experience of the movie business made her want to leave it behind and focus on the stage.
Luckily, her second experience was the reverse, thanks to Cimino, De Niro and others. And so, she’s stuck around long enough to give innumerable breathtaking on-screen performances, to the extent that she rivals the likes of Katharine Hepburn for the mantle of greatest female actor in Hollywood history.
