Frances McDormand: Hollywood's most brilliant recluse

An English teacher at McDormand's school in Monessen, Pennsylvania asked her to read the role of Lady Macbeth, and McDormand realized that she loved putting on the character of a power-hungry woman, so different from herself. “That was the hook,” McDormand told the New York Times. “It was the power of being a really shy, slightly suspect seventh-grader who could stand in front of a group of people and keep their attention.”

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Broadway beginnings -

McDormand made her Broadway debut in a 1984 revival of the drama 'Awake and Sing!' She later also received a Tony nomination for her acclaimed performance as Stella Kowalski in a 1988 revival of 'A Streetcar Named Desire.'

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Film debut: 'Blood Simple' (1984) -

McDormand hit the big screen for the first time with the noir film 'Blood Simple,' the directorial debut of the now-famous Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. After her audition, the brothers asked her to return for a callback, but she turned them down because she had promised to watch her boyfriend's two-line debut in a soap opera. They loved her boldness and hired her anyway.

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She hit it off with Joel Coen -

While filming, the actress and the director bonded through book recommendations. McDormand told the Daily Beast, “He seduced me with literature. And then we discussed books and drank hot chocolate for several evenings." They married in 1984.

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They adopted a child together -

In 1995, McDormand and Coen adopted a son from Paraguay named Pedro McDormand Coen. "As a mother, you live on the edge of disaster," she told the Belfast Telegraph. "You just do. I didn't give birth to my son, I met him at six months old, but from the minute I held him and smelled him, I knew it was my job to keep him alive."

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They make a great professional team -

Joel has said that he often has his wife in mind when writing female characters, and McDormand has starred in quite a few of his films: 'Raising Arizona' (1987), 'Fargo' (1996), 'The Man Who Wasn't There' (2001), 'Burn After Reading' (2008), and 'Hail, Caesar!' (2016).

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Her first Oscar nomination - McDormand was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the crime thriller 'Mississippi Burning' (1988), loosely based on the 1964 murder investigation of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Mississippi, and starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.

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Her first Oscar win - The Coen brothers gave McDormand her signature role as pregnant police chief Marge in 'Fargo' (1996), which led to her first Academy Award for Best Actress. The film launched her into global fame, but she soon disappeared from the press.

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She values her privacy -

In a rare interview in 2021, McDormand opened up to the New York Times about actively avoiding the spotlight after her initial success, explaining that she'd actually hired a publicist to turn down nearly all interviews.

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She values her privacy -

She explained, "I made a very conscious effort not to do press and publicity for 10 years in what other people would think would be a very dangerous moment in a female actor's career, but it paid off for exactly the reasons I wanted it to."

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It was all for acting -

McDormand continued, "It gave me a mystery back to who I was, and then in the roles I performed, I could take an audience to a place where someone who sold watches or perfume and magazines couldn't." She credited her mystery with pulling off 'Nomadland' so well.

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'Almost Famous' (2000) -

For 'Almost Famous,' McDormand received another Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Elaine Miller, William's well-meaning but overbearing mother, who was regarded by critics as the heart of the film.

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'Laurel Canyon' (2002) -

McDormand was also credited with being the main draw in this film where she played a matriarch and omnisexual music producer, co-starring alongside Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale.

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'North Country' (2005) -

She earned her third Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in this drama directed by Niki Caro, starring Charlize Theron as a woman who flees from her husband after suffering a long period of abuse and tries to support her two children by working in a mine.

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'Burn After Reading' (2008) -

McDormand starred alongside Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, and George Clooney in this Coen brothers' black comedy about two gym employees who happen upon a CD containing the memoirs of a CIA agent, and try to sell it to the Russian embassy.

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Her and Joel's secret to long-lasting marriage -

In a 2015 interview at the Rome Film Festival, McDormand revealed the key to her marriage: "I think it's having different stories to tell each other. Although we have often collaborated on films, we have both had really autonomous careers and so we have always had new things to tell each other."

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Her iconic jean jacket moment -

To the 2011 Tony Awards, McDormand wore her own jean jacket on stage to accept the award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as a troubled single mother in 'Good People.' The look spawned a full Twitter account dedicated to the jacket for its sheer disregard for the usual awards show couture.

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'Olive Kitteridge' (2014) -

McDormand also had success on TV with the lead role in the four-part HBO limited series 'Olive Kitteridge,' which follows a witty retired school teacher in Maine struggling with her marriage. McDormand earned an Emmy for her performance, and as one of the miniseries producers, also earned an Emmy for the limited series as a whole.

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She has the "Triple Crown of Acting" -

McDormand is one of the few performers to have ever received a competitive Academy Award, Tony Award, and Emmy Award in acting categories.

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'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' (2017) -

McDormand won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as a mother seeking justice for her teenage daughter's murder. It's hard to believe she almost turned the role down!

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'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' (2017) -

Since she was 58 at the time of casting, she felt she was too old for the character, whom she assumed from a socioeconomic standpoint would not have waited until 38 to have a child. Fortunately, her husband encouraged her to “just shut up and do it,” she joked on a film panel.

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Famed feminist speeches -

On her awards show run for 'Three Billboards,' McDormand, who has always staunchly fought for female complexity in Hollywood, made famous feminist speeches advocating for inclusion, “because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed,” as she said in her Oscars speech.

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She specifically called for “inclusion riders” -

An "inclusion rider" is an amendment to a contract that would require cast and crew on a film to meet a certain level (usually 50%) of diversity. McDormand was passionate that her peers start negotiating these clauses into their contracts to ensure racial and gender equity on set.

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'Nomadland' (2020) -

In this widely acclaimed drama from director Chloé Zhao, McDormand plays Fern, a widow who lives in her van and joins up with a tribe of aging seasonal workers who pick up odd jobs across the American West. It earned McDormand her third Academy Award for Best Actress.

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She was also a producer on 'Nomadland' -

As a producer, she earned her fourth Academy Award, since 'Nomadland' won Best Picture. Those two statuettes made her the first person in history to win Academy Awards both as producer and performer for the same film. She also became only the second woman in history to win Best Actress three times (behind Katharine Hepburn), and the seventh performer overall to win three competitive acting Academy Awards.

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Bare-faced beauty -

McDormand has never been one for glitz and glam, much less Botox, and she has long championed a naturally aging look on red carpets.

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'The Tragedy of Macbeth' (2021) -

The actress stars as Lady Macbeth opposite to Denzel Washington's Macbeth in Joel Coen's film adaptation of the Shakespeare classic.

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'The French Dispatch' (2021) -

McDormand took a turn in Wes Anderson's film as one of the journalists at an American newspaper in in a fictional 20th century French city.

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What's next? -

The actress is reportedly guarding her privacy in a small and modest coastal town hidden away from Hollywood. But that's probably only preparing her to disappear into her next stunning role!

Sources: (The New York Times) (Good Housekeeping) (IMDb)

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Frances McDormand: Hollywood's most brilliant recluse

The bright star who hides from the spotlight turns 65 on June 23

23/06/22 | StarsInsider

CELEBRITY Retrospective

Every once in a while, all people can talk about is the latest film Frances McDormand is in. From 1996's 'Fargo,' to 2020's 'Nomadland,' it's impossible not to be dazzled by the journey she has taken through vastly different characters over the years.

But between those impressive films, and beyond picking up her awards, the three-time Oscar-winning actress is scarcely seen or spoken about. And it's not because she doesn't enjoy her industry fame, but rather because she is one of the few who truly respects it.

Click through to get an inside look at the three-decade-long career of one of Hollywood's most unconventional stars, from her best work to her little-known life.