Kevin Kline
Birthday:
Birthplace:
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
One of the most versatile and respected actors of his generation, Kevin Kline has made a name for himself on the stage and screen. Equally comfortable in comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of those rare actors whose onscreen characterizations are not overshadowed by his offscreen personality; remarkably free of ego, he has impressed both critics and audiences as a performer in the purest sense of the word.A product of the American Midwest, Kline was born in Saint Louis, MO, on October 24, 1947. He became active in theater while growing up in the Saint Louis suburbs, performing in a number of school productions. He continued to act while a student at Indiana University at Bloomington, and following graduation, moved to New York, where he was accepted at the Juilliard School. In 1972, Kline added professional experience to his formal training when he joined New York's Acting Company, led at the time by John Houseman. He toured the country with the company, performing Shakespeare and winning particular acclaim for his portrayals of Romeo and Hamlet. This praise translated to the New York stage a few years later, when Kline won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his role in the 1978 Broadway production of On the Twentieth Century. Three years later, he earned these same honors for his work in the Broadway production of The Pirates of Penzance (he later reprised his role for the musical's 1983 film adaptation). After a stint on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, Kline made his film debut in Alan Pakula's 1982 Sophie's Choice. It was an inarguably auspicious beginning: aside from the wide acclaim lavished on the film, Kline earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Nathan Landau. The following year, he again struck gold, starring in The Big Chill, Lawrence Kasdan's seminal exploration of baby-boomer anxiety. Two years later, Kline and Kasdan enjoyed another successful collaboration with Silverado, an homage to the Westerns of the 1950s and '60s. After turning in a strong performance as a South African newspaper editor in Cry Freedom, Richard Attenborough's powerful 1987 apartheid drama, Kline won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his relentlessly hilarious portrayal of dimwitted petty thief Otto West in A Fish Called Wanda (1988). The award gave him international recognition and established him as an actor as adept at comedy as he was at drama, something Kline again proved in Soapdish; the 1991 comedy was a major disappointment, but Kline nonetheless managed to turn in another excellent performance, earning a Golden Globe nomination.The '90s saw Kline -- now a married man, having wed actress Phoebe Cates in 1989 -- continue to tackle a range of diverse roles. In 1992, he could be seen playing Douglas Fairbanks in Chaplin, while the next year he gave a winning portrayal of two men -- one, the U.S. President, the other, his reluctant stand-in -- in Dave, earning another Golden Globe nomination. Kline then appeared in one of his most high-profile roles to date, starring as a sexually conflicted schoolteacher in Frank Oz's 1997 comedy In & Out. His portrayal earned him another Golden Globe nomination, as well as a number of other accolades (including an MTV Award nomination for Best Kiss with Tom Selleck). Further praise followed for Kline the next year, when he turned in a stellar dramatic performance as an adulterous family man in 1973 Connecticut in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. He then turned back to Shakespeare, portraying Bottom in the star-studded 1999 adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. His work in that film was so well received that it helped to overshadow his involvement in Wild Wild West, one of the most critically lambasted and financially disappointing films of the year.2001 found Kline returning to straight drama in the introspective Life as a House. The actor continued in this niche the following year, starring as an unorthodox prep school teacher in The Emperor's Club. After playing songwriter Cole Porter in
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Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
90% | Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy |
|
— | 2020 |
64% | Dean |
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$0.3M | 2017 |
71% | Beauty and the Beast |
|
$504M | 2017 |
65% | Ricki And The Flash |
|
— | 2015 |
No Score Yet | Frank or Francis |
|
— | 2015 |
62% | My Old Lady |
|
— | 2014 |
27% | The Last Of Robin Hood |
|
— | 2014 |
46% | Last Vegas |
|
$51.5M | 2013 |
89% | Lincoln |
|
$129.5M | 2012 |
21% | Darling Companion |
|
$0.8M | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Joe Papp In Five Acts |
|
— | 2012 |
56% | The Conspirator |
|
$11.6M | 2011 |
71% | Joueuse (Queen to Play) |
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$0.5M | 2011 |
49% | No Strings Attached |
|
$70.3M | 2011 |
No Score Yet | The Olmsted Legacy |
|
— | 2011 |
42% | The Extra Man |
|
$0.5M | 2010 |
No Score Yet | Cyrano De Bergerac |
|
— | 2009 |
72% | Theater of War |
|
— | 2008 |
70% | Definitely, Maybe |
|
$32M | 2008 |
No Score Yet | New York City Ballet: Bringing Balanchine Back |
|
— | 2008 |
No Score Yet | His Highness Hollywood |
|
— | 2008 |
34% | Trade |
|
$0.2M | 2007 |
36% | As You Like It |
|
— | 2006 |
81% | A Prairie Home Companion |
|
— | 2006 |
21% | The Pink Panther |
|
$82.3M | 2006 |
No Score Yet | The Gateway Arch: A Reflection of America |
|
— | 2006 |
No Score Yet | Movies 101 |
|
— | 2005 |
22% | Jiminy Glick in Lalawood |
|
$26.2k | 2005 |
48% | De-Lovely |
|
$13.2M | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Mary Engelbreit: The Night Before Christmas |
|
— | 2004 |
50% | The Emperor's Club |
|
$14M | 2002 |
46% | Orange County |
|
$41.1M | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Fighting for Freedom: Revolution & Civil War |
|
— | 2002 |
30% | The Hunchback of Notre Dame II |
|
— | 2001 |
47% | Life as a House |
|
$15.5M | 2001 |
60% | The Anniversary Party |
|
$3M | 2001 |
17% | Wild Wild West |
|
— | 1999 |
67% | William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' |
|
— | 1999 |
85% | The Ice Storm |
|
— | 1997 |
71% | In & Out |
|
— | 1997 |
55% | Fierce Creatures |
|
— | 1997 |
81% | Looking for Richard |
|
— | 1996 |
71% | The Hunchback of Notre Dame |
|
— | 1996 |
48% | French Kiss |
|
— | 1995 |
63% | Princess Caraboo |
|
— | 1994 |
50% | The Nutcracker |
|
— | 1993 |
95% | Dave |
|
— | 1993 |
59% | Chaplin |
|
— | 1992 |
25% | Consenting Adults |
|
— | 1992 |
77% | Grand Canyon |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | Merlin and the Dragons |
|
— | 1991 |
71% | Soapdish |
|
— | 1991 |
56% | I Love You to Death |
|
— | 1990 |
No Score Yet | Life of Python |
|
— | 1990 |
25% | The January Man |
|
— | 1989 |
95% | A Fish Called Wanda |
|
— | 1988 |
76% | Cry Freedom |
|
— | 1987 |
57% | Violets Are Blue... |
|
— | 1986 |
76% | Silverado |
|
$33.2M | 1985 |
69% | The Big Chill |
|
— | 1983 |
81% | The Pirates of Penzance |
|
— | 1983 |
78% | Sophie's Choice |
|
— | 1982 |
86% | The Big Fix |
|
— | 1978 |
No Score Yet | The Time of Your Life |
|
— | 1976 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
91% |
Bob's Burgers
2011
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Late Night With Seth Meyers
2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Great Performances
2000
|
|
|
38% |
Maya & Marty
2016
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Conan
2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
2005-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Sunday Morning
2011-2018
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Talk
2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The View
1997
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
2009-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Colbert Report
2005-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Live From Lincoln Center
2000-2019
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
1999-2015
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Masters
2001
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Saturday Night Live
1975
|
|
|
Quotes from Kevin Kline's Characters
Miguel: | You fight like my sister. |
Tulio: | I've fought your sister, that's a compliment. |
George: | "I always thought of myself as a house. I was always what I lived in. It didn't need to be big; it didn't need to be beautiful; it just needed to be mine. I became what I was meant to be. I built myself a life... I built myself a house." |
George: | I always thought of myself as a house. I was always what I lived in. It didn't need to be big, it didn't need to be beautiful, it just needed to be mine. I became what I was meant to be. I built myself a life... I built myself a house. |
Pete Brummel: | I've been trying to call you. |
Ricki Rendazzo: | How can I help. |
Pete Brummel: | You can be there for your family. |
Maid of Honor: | You don't want to have sex with me? |
Sam: | Oh, oh, no, no, no, I do, I do. Oh, God, I want to have sex with you. A lot of it. It would be spectacular. It would be the most spectacular thing that's happened to me in 25 years. But. The thing is whenever something spectacular happens to me, first thing I want to do is tell my wife about it, and, after 40 years of marriage, if I can't tell her about something wonderful that happened to me, it sort of stops being wonderful. |
Mack: | There just seem so many ways to "buy it." |
Mack: | Why is it when somebody is successful in one field, they think they know about everything. |
Luc Teyssier: | Ahh...it was too beautiful for me; I had to leave. |
Luc Teyssier: | Ahh, it was too beautiful for me. I had to leave. |
Luc Teyssier: | Never touch my vine. |
Henry Harrison: | How is Princeton these days? It was great once, but then they let women in. |
Phoebus: | Speaking of trouble, we should have run into some by now. |
Quasimodo: | What do you mean? |
Phoebus: | You know, a guard, a booby trap... [his torchlight promptly goes out, leaving them in darkness] ...or an ambush. |
Chel: | I want in. |
Tulio: | In? |
Chel: | On the scam! |
Tulio: | [nervous laughter] There's no scam! Why would you think there's a scam? |
Paden: | So they jumped you out of the blue? |
Emmett: | I had to get up anyway. |
Wanda Gerschwitz: | Let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not every man for himself. |
Wanda Gerschwitz: | Let me correct you on a couple of things, okay? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not every man for himself. |
Otto West: | You read... |
Wanda Gerschwitz: | The London Underground is not a political movement. Those are mistakes. I Iooked 'em up. |
Tulio: | Apparently, "El Dorado" is native for... GREAT... BIG... ROCK! |
Tulio: | Apparently, 'El Dorado' is native for... GREAT... BIG... ROCK! |
Tulio: | Miguel, you know that little voice people have that tells them to quit when they're ahead? You don't have one! |
Tulio: | What's happening here? |
Miguel: | We're both in barrels -- that's the extent of my knowledge. |
Otto West: | Don't call me stupid. |
Wanda Gerschwitz: | Right because calling you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! |
Otto West: | Asshole! |
Otto West: | What was the Middle part? |
Wanda Gerschwitz: | You think you're an intellectual don't you ape? |
Otto West: | Apes don't read philosophy! |
Wanda Gerschwitz: | Yes they do, they just don't understand it! |
Otto West: | Avoid the green ones. They're not ripe yet. |
Otto West: | I love watching your ass when you walk. Is that beautiful or what? Don't go near him, he's mine. |
Alvin: | We don't pick who we fall in love with, and it never happens the way it's supposed to. |
Phoebus: | [shouting to crowd] Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted our people, ransacked our city, and now he has declared war on Notre Dame herself! Will we allow it? |
Additional Voices: | [crowd] NO! |
Clopin: | Any last words? |
Phoebus: | [mumbles muffled, along with Quasimodo] |
Clopin: | That's what they all say! |
Esmeralda: | You sneaky, son of a- |
Phoebus: | Ah-ah-ah, we're in a church. |
Frollo: | [sees Esmeralda dancing] Look at that disgusting display. |
Phoebus: | [enthusiastically] Yes, sir! |
Vince McCain/Rod McCain: | (Describing Rollo) He looks like he's borrowed his body for the weekend, and hasn't figured out how it works yet! |
Vince McCain/Rod McCain: | I don't like you. You're weird and unattractive. |
Professor William Hundert: | I am Shutruk-Nahunte, King of Anshan and Susa, sovereign of the land of Elam. By the command of Inshushinak, I destroyed Sippar and took the stele of Niran-Sin and brought it back to Elam, where I erected it as an offering to my god, Inshushinak. Shutruk-Nahunte 1158 BC |