Facts
Debra Winger dropped out of high school at
16 in order to join an Israeli kibbutz.
Upon returning to the U.S., she studied criminology and
sociology at California State University,
but before long she had dropped out and became
a tour guide at the Magic Mountain amusement park. A serious accident suffered on the job at age 18 gave Winger
time to contemplate her future, and it was
then that she settled upon an acting career.
Her first taste of fame was as the superpowered younger sister
of
Lynda Carter
in the fantasy TV series Wonder Woman. But Winger
chafed at the impositions placed on her by
tight TV filming schedules and she retreated
to theatrical films, where she made a most
inauspicious debut in the award-losing Slumber Party '57 (1977).
Winger became a full-fledged audience
favorite for her peppery role opposite John Travolta in
Urban Cowboy (1980), which led to the most famous of her "working-class" roles
in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). Already balking
at the "Hollywood Game," Winger made no secret of her
discomfort in that film's famous nude love scene,
nor of her failure to truly connect with co-star Richard Gere.
The actress' next truly important part was as Shirley MacLaine's
foredoomed daughter in Terms of Endearment (1983). Her resultant
Terms performance was so good that it warranted an
Oscar nomination. Winger never again had a
box-office success to match Terms of Endearment,
though she remained a darling of the
film critics for her work in such
little-seen epics as Mike's Murder (1984) and
Black Widow (1986).
As the actress' star stature diminished, media scrutiny of her
private life increased thanks to her romance with
Nebraska governor Robert Kerrey. Winger's
roles became fewer and more unorthodox as she
continued to seek out acting challenges -- never more so than when
she popped up in a lengthy, unbilled male part (complete with goatee)
in Made in Heaven (1987), which
starred her then-husband, Timothy Hutton.
Winger continued to appear in high-profile
but low-grossing films into the 1990s,
delighting critics and fans in such films
as The Sheltering Sky (1990) and Shadowlands (1993).
Winger missed out on appearing in one of the
most profitable films of the 1990s when
she was replaced by
Geena Davis
in A League of Their Own (1993); it was not temperament
but personal injuries and a recurring back ailment
that prevented Winger from participating
in two other major moneymakers,
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and
Bull Durham (1988).
{ M A I L I N G A D D R E S S }
Debra Winger
Parseghian/Planco Management
23 E. 22nd Street
Suite 3
New York NY 10010
USA
{ G A L L E R Y }