Yes, you read that right! This year, Simply Streep celebrates its 25th year online. It’s certainly not what I thought about when I created it to teach myself programming websites and improve my English more than two decades ago. Yet, here we are, still celebrating the career of one of our finest actresses – and also the accomplishment of guiding Simply Streep through a quarter century on the internet. There will be a big celebration with lots of special additions later this month. I will also dedicate the next weeks in updating all archive and career pages, so there’s plenty to look forward to. In the meantime, you can read more about the site’s history here. Congratulations to us!

Hello everybody and welcome to the latest version of Simply Streep. As this fansite enters its 24th anniversary this year, please bear with me for some personal words. The new look resembles what I most probably had in mind all these years ago – an online scrapbook with all information in one place. Of course, the internet has changed rapidly since then, and most of the action has moved to social media (which I’m not very good at, as you can tell by the accounts for this site). So, a fansite like Simply Streep feels very retro today, which, I think, only adds to its charm and effort in maintaining it. With the help and support of many friends and visitors, Simply Streep has become the titular archive that has exceeded my expectations time and again and of which I’m very proud of. Thanks to all of you, it means a lot. Meryl Streep’s work schedule has understandably decreased in recent years and there’s not much new to frequently report on, so we will continue to fill the archives and make it as complete as possible – while I will do my best to keep the site easy to browse and tidied up. I hope you enjoy your stay and check back soon.

On this day 40 years ago, Universal Pictures released the film that would cement Meryl Streep’s status as one of the greatest living actresses, in a harrowing film about the effects of the Holocaust on people’s sanity and lives. The status remains, and so does the brilliance of her Academy Award winning peformance in “Sophie’s Choice”.

Imagine, only for a moment, if we would talk about Meryl Streep today had she retired her film career in 1982. The majority of us wasn’t born yet – and Streep had done only seven films in a rather short period on film. But for those she had amassed three Academy Award nominations and one win, in three Best Picture nominations with two wins, a breakout role on tv with an Emmy win and a splashy part in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan”. Of the many talented new stars of the early 1980’s, Streep was “the one”. But it wasn’t until “Sophie’s Choice” that audiences and critics started labeling her “the greatest”. Had it been her last film, I’m sure we would still talk about this rather short career to this day, but probably within a much smaller group of film afficionados. Fortunately for us, Meryl Streep has entertained us with illustrious characters to this day. And 40 years after its release, “Sophie’s Choice” still reminds us that here is an actress that can do everything.

Today 40 years ago, „Still of the Night“ released US theaters. Sandwiched between two of Meryl Streep’s greatest performances in the early 1980s, „Still of the Night“ is an often-forgotten Hitchcock hommage that not even its star herself remembers fondly. Helmed by Robert Benton, who directed Streep to her first Academy Award, it gave her probably the most thankless part of her career – the mysterious blonde.

In 1981, Meryl Streep had reached a first peak in her fairly young career. She was proclaimed „Star of the ‚80s“ by Newsweek and „Magic Meryl“ by Time Magazine a year afer winning her first Academy Award for „Kramer vs. Kramer“, her second consecutive nomination after „The Deer Hunter“. Her first leading role in „The French Lieutenant’s Woman“ won her a third nomintion in three years, as well as her second Golden Globe and a BAFTA from the British Academy. „Sophie’s Choice“ was on the horizon for a theatrical release later that year and she was already working with Mike Nichols on „Silkwood“ in Texas. Meanwhile, Benton was looking for a follow-up project to „Kramer“. He wrote a script called „Stab“ back in 1975, but left it in the drawers to first direct „The Late Show“, and then wait some more to direct „Kramer“. „You find yourself in a trap if you do the thing that people expect you to,“ he told The New York Times for the release of „Still of the Night“. „It seemed to me that I should go about as far away from „Kramer“ as I could with my next film.“ He found the missing link in Meryl Streep to finally revive the story of a entangled by the mistress of his murdered patient – a mysterious, cool blonde, who may have killed her lover, and maybe others as well.

Streep accepted the role for a number of reasons – to work with Benton and cinematographer Néstor Almendros again, but also for having the chance to work in New York, where her young family was based. „I wanted to work with [Benton] again. It was shot in New York. I rolled out of bed to go to work. I was with my baby more than I had ever been. I didn’t have to work every day,” she told Gene Siskel in 1982. She also, once again, helpled Benton with the right dialogue for Brooke, as she did with Joanna Kramer, as Benton recalls, „’When she got back from doing ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman,’ we began working together, one or two days a week, on the character. She made up a great deal of the background story, the part about her father.”

This will be my last update for this year, so I’d like to thank all visitors and friends to the site for yet another year of updating Meryl Streep’s career – this year was special, not only due to our second round with COVID, but since there were 11 months of nothing and then one month of jam-packed promotion for “Don’t Look Up” (which will be released on Netflix Christmas Day, as we all know :-) As a present for the Holidays I have re-capped 8 of Meryl’s films in glorious Blu-Ray quality, replacing the previously added DVD screencaptures. There are some great finds with the Blu-Ray premieres for “The Seduction of Joe Tynan” and “Still of the Night” – and many of your fan favorites, including “Mamma Mia”, “It’s Complicated”, “Hope Springs” and “Into the Woods”. Enjoy the screncaptures – and have a blessed time over the Holidays with your loved ones, much health and all the best for 2022. It can only get better :-) See you next year.

On September 18, 1981, United Artists released “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, in which a 32-year-old Meryl Streep played her first leading role in a motion picture. Two leading roles to be fair, since the story depicts John Fowles’ novel not only as a straight-forward adaptation, but as an embedded film within a film that portrays the lead actors’ laissez faire fling on a movie while performing the tightlipped Victorian romance between a palaeontologist and a social outcast – a contrast on how social perception or acceptance on infidelity has changed over the years, at least 40 years ago. “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” is a curious film, a drama for grown-ups, and a very odd choice for Streep’s first leading role. After her breakthrough years and an Academy Award in 1980, an All-American role like “Silkwood” would have seemed a more logical fit to hone a movie star image. But Streep, giving us a first taste of her transformative craft that would stun audiences in the many years to come, immersed herself into the British landscape and created two very unique performances in one film.

Instead of writing a long essay on the film’s anniversary I’ll rather guide you through the extensive collection of information, pictures and articles we have amassed over the last years. Have a look at the box on the left for shortcuts. I’ll give you my top takeaways anyway: The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving 11 BAFTA nominations with three wins, inlcuding Best Actress for Streep. She also won the Golden Globe as Best Actress Drama and received her third Academy Award nomination in four years, the first as Best Actress, which was awarded to Katharine Hepburn. Streep was not the first choice for the part – Fowles’ personal choice was Helen Mirren. But the studio deemed her unsuitable, thanks to the recent release of the notorious “Caligula”. Even more surprisingly, this was Jeremy Irons’ first leading role as well, and only his second motion picture.

If you want to treat yourself with an anniverary viewing today and don’t own the DVD, you can check out if it’s available to stream in your region. If you want to share your thoughts on the film, head over to Twitter for comments and selected pictures.

This week’s Scan Sunday ranges from 2003 to 2004 and features lots of articles on the international releases of “Adaptation”, “The Hours” and “Angels in America”. There are also various reports on her 2004 AFI Life Achievement Honor, including a great cover from The Sunday Telegram. There’s also a very nostalgic article among the updates: I vividly remember flipping through my grandparent’s tv guide in 2003 to find an article on Meryl with a link to this very website. I felt like a rock star :-) How time goes by. Anyway, enjoy all the new updates and your Sunday as well.

Over the last weeks, I have worked behind the scenes on the career pages to make them more functional and easier to browse. Meryl Streep’s career is a massive task to cover, and yet it’s one of my favorite parts of the site, since it’s not only films, but heaps of documentaries, television specials and narration work. Plus, we have been able to source pretty much all of her 50 plus theatre performances since her time at Vassar College with lots of rare pictures and posters. So, let me introduce some nifty new functions: Each career site has been updated with full cast and crew information and shortcuts to the photo gallery, video archive and related reviews (there have been a lot with the ongoing magazine updates). You can check each project’s availablity on a wide array of streaming services in your country. Each page also comes with tags – so if you’re looking for similar work, you’ll find shortcuts like, for example, drama, based on a true story, and many more. Lastly, all career pages are connected with the chronology pages, so you can find all productions from a specific year listed by release. You can start by browsing the career main page with 12 subcategories and then lose yourself for a couple of days with over 330 productions to (re)discover :-). Enjoy browsing and check back tomorrow for a new Scan Sunday.

Hello and welcome to the latest version of Simply Streep. I have used most of this year’s unexpected free time to work behind the scenes and make the site easier to access with all the material we have been able to collect and archive over the years. I must say it doesn’t feel like I’m fullly done with all the new changes – but then, the site has never felt finished, it probably never will be. But I wanted to present you all the new look in time for next week’s releases of “Let Them All Talk” and “The Prom”. I have come close to present “the archives” in the best possible way to include all essential information on Meryl Streep’s work with easy-to-browse links to related articles and appearances. And there have been lots of additions to the career pages, with much new material to be added within the next updates. There are also many new articles waiting to be added, so look forward to more updates this weekend. Until then, enjoy your stay on the new and improved Simply Streep.

In maybe her best performance of the 1990s, Meryl Streep leads a powerhouse ensemble cast that brings together the best of three acting generations – Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Hume Cronyn, Gwen Verdon and Leonardo DiCaprio. “Marvin’s Room” is a bittersweet drama about family, the pain it causes and the effort it takes to keep it together. Although it deals with illness, death and lost chances in life, “Marvin’s Room”‘s dry humor and fantastic acting makes it one of the most pleasent and truthful dramedies of its time.

Scott McPherson, the young playwright who wrote “Marvin’s Room”, didn’t life to see the big screen adaptation of his work. Described as “one of the brightest hopes of the Chicago theatre scene”, “Marvin’s Room” was McPherson’s last completed work and only his second full-length play before he died of AIDS-related causes in 1990, at only 33 years of age. His play premiered at the Goodman Studio Theatre in 1990 and went on to national acclaim, first at the Hartford Stage Company in Connecticut and eventually at Playwrights Horizons and the Minetta Lane Theatre off-Broadway. It won the 1992 Outer Critics Circle Award for best play, the 1992 Drama Desk Award for best play and locally the Joseph Jefferson Award for original work, among other honors. “Marvin`s Room,” about a woman battling leukemia and the unusual extended family with whom she struggles for support and dignity, is a slightly dark but comic and ultimately hopeful take on death and infirmity. The title character is an elderly, bedridden stroke victim glimpsed thoughout only through a wall of glass blocks. McPherson had completed the screenplay for “Marvin’s Room” when he died. His identity and struggle is not just background info, as it’s almost impossible to watch the film, which concerns various approaches to love and death, without realizing its particular AIDS message, as well as more universal values, such as caring for others and the strength of family bonds.