Today, legendary actress and 16-time Oscar nominee Meryl Streep turns 62 years old. When the actress' material is on point and her role is just right, she's deadly to most any other female nominated in her same category, be it for a supporting or lead role. She's like some sort of monstrously-talented superbeast, capable of making you (and your mother) laugh, cry, cringe and cheer.
Oddly enough, she only has two Oscars in her possession, one for Best Actress in Sophie's Choice and a supporting actress trophy for Kramer Vs. Kramer. I don't care about the Golden Globes because they suck.
Among her 50 or so films since her debut in 1977, she has been Oscar-nominated for 16 of them, and robbed of a nom for a few more. Most anytime she takes a role, somewhere some actress rips up their hopes of winning, at least in their minds. Hell, she just finished The Iron Lady, which will see her in the starring role as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Streep, accent, wardrobe, historic figure and British drama all add up to Oscar. Unless it's really awful and she totally blunders her way through it for two hours, which won't happen.
Going through her filmography, we realized she has even been nominated for movies that in hindsight, sorta sucked as a whole. Somehow she manages to shine in the dirt and filth of things like Music Of The Heart and One True Thing. Plus, her name just looks all the more better when put against younger actresses in the same field, and it makes them feel like they are in good company.
To be honest with you, I spent the first waking decade of my life getting her mixed up with Glenn Close for some reason. White, blonde, Nordic-looking actresses? Same sort of roles? Maybe? That or I was a very short-sighted bastard of a child.
Here are 10 films for which Oscar did not come calling for Streep. Defending Your Life is highly-underrated, and for some the check didn't clear quick enough for The Hours, so she probably took down the bombast a notch.
The River Wild
She-Devil
Death Becomes Her
