Anne Heche lived and died like an early Hollywood star who imploded before a grande dame period could get under way. mattzollerseitz writes
Photo: Universal Pictures/Getty Images The legend of Anne Heche begins with a 2-year old girl in Aurora, Ohio willing herself to jump from the top of the stairs of her house. “I stood at the top of the staircase,” she wrote in the opening chapter of her 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy. “My breath was silent as I inhaled, closed my eyes, held out my arms, and leapt … No trouble, no pain. Sweet. Bliss.
But the bigger the movie budgets got, the less Heche generally got to do. Her talent was so elastic, her stare so piercing, that Hollywood never knew quite what to do with her. Volcano let her survive collapsing buildings and rivers of lava and banter with Tommy Lee Jones, yet the film was mainly about showing what still-developing CGI technology could do.
“Anne, are you crazy?” is how ABC News anchor Barbara Walters opened her 2001 interview with Heche about her memoir. Remember, the last time Heche had been in the national news was when she knocked on a stranger’s door in search of a spaceship. Here she was a year later, selling a memoir that was as much a reassurance to potential employers as a confessional autobiography.
Heche’s was a miserable upbringing, defined by loss, deprivation, and violation, starting with the death of the family’s first daughter months after her birth from a heart defect. Heche’s father, Donald, gave up being a pastor to get into the oil-and-gas business, though Heche said many decades later that she saw no evidence her father actually held a job in that industry.
Three years later, after the release of her memoir, Heche did a seven-episode arc on Ally McBeal as a woman accused of killing her ex-boyfriend by running him over with her car. She was electrifying in the role, and it capped a period of experimentation. Heche directed a segment of the 2001 anthology On the Edge, about a couple played by Andie McDowell and Paul Rudd who discover that they can read each other’s minds.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Curious Afterlife of a Brain Trauma SurvivorSophia Papp emerged from an accident with her personality transformed. She tried to continue on as before—until she realized she could reinvent herself.
Read more »
Hailey Bieber on Her Connection to Princess Diana's Fearless Fashion'She was the most-looked-at woman in the world at that time, of all time, and she did what she wanted with her style.'
Read more »
She-Hulk Early Reactions Hype Up Tatiana Maslany As Jennifer WaltersEarly social media reactions for SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw, Marvel Studios' next Disney+ series, have arrived, and they're all praising lead star Tatiana Maslany.
Read more »
Eve Best Reveals The Reason She Joined GoT Prequel House of the DragonEve Best opens up about the casting process behind her HouseOfTheDragon character, Rhaenys Velaryon, and her reasons for joining the show: 'To top it all off, they told me my character was a dragon rider. I was in!'
Read more »
'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law': New Teaser Reminds Viewers Who the Show Is Really About'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's new teaser reminds viewers who the show is really about.
Read more »
Justin Sylvester pushes Jenna Bush Hager away after she gets too close: videoThe “Daily Pop” host nudged President George W. Bush’s daughter multiple times in order to have a “one-on-one moment” with their guest chef.
Read more »