Lots of fantastic editorial photoshoots have been added with today’s calendar, ranging from 1981 to 2017.

Additional production stills, on-set pictures and deleted scenes pictures from Meryl’s films throughout the 1980s, including “Silkwood”, “Plenty” and “Postcards from the Edge” have been added with today’s calendar post.

Today’s magazines update features some fantastic new covers from around the world, new articles from Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as reviews on Meryl’s earlier films. The highlight of this update is a wonderful cover story from 1982’s American Way Magazine. Many thanks to Alvaro for sending it in.

To celebrate Simply Streep’s 25th anniversary – and in the spirit of Advent in many countries – we will have a celebration calendar from today until December 24. That means there will be 24 updates filled with new pictures, videos, magazine scans and much much more. You’re in for a treat. We start the first day with additional pictures of public appearances ranging from 2014 to 2014, featuring promtion for “Into the Woods” and “Florence Foster Jenkins.”

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.