The many faces of Meryl Streep

in Britain they honor their distinguished actors with royal titles Lord Olivier Dame Helen mirin the best we can do is nominate them for Oscars an annual hyped up competition for a glossy little statue if we did have a royal list the name of Merill stre would surely be at the very top she's won two Oscars been nominated a record 60 times and doubtless will be again for a new film about one of the most controversial political figures of the 20th century Margaret Thatcher in life and on film The Iron Lady the story will continue in a moment this is a day to put differences aside to hold one's head high and take pride in being British Miss Street has a unique gift for not just portraying a character but literally becoming her on the stage of the delort theater in New York Central Park where she first starred 35 years ago I asked how real it seems to her while she's performing I mean I'm not insane I do know that I'm acting but you forget about it yeah you kind of you know when you're doing it right there's a thrilling suspension of the day to day and you're in someone else's [Music] head on this day in a London Film Studio that someone else is Margaret Thatcher dancing with a makeb believe Ronald Raven Thatcher's fellow cold warrior there you go again why not it's the latest T to force from stre a woman of many faces Sophie in Sophie's Choice as Julia a child as The French Lieutenant's Woman as the devil wearing Prada worried about our careers are we this country chose us now The Iron Lady believe we can restore the health of the British economy and we will do just that what particularly attracted you to the margar thater role everything just the opportunity to deal with the Deep buried discomfort that people still have men and women with women in leadership positions as British prime minister Thatcher stred the world stage for more than a decade The Iron Lady of the Western World leaving heel prints on the backs of her own conservative parties old boy Club did you like her I am in in awe of what she did the policies you can argue with but to sit in the hot seat I I can't even imagine having that steadfastness I'll just have a small one because I'm walking my figure their stories are both about transformation the actress transforming herself into the politician who transformed herself to outthink outwork and outwit the men around her one of the things she did was get a Drama teacher to tell her how to support her voice breathing in and Denis cuz her voice was sort of lighter like mine is and um they taught her to support it and bring it up from the depths of her place where the conviction lies and to carry it through without a breath until the end of the thought and then not to give him a chance to interrupt her she was also lover or hater remarkably single-minded and confident that her way was the only way yes I have a lot of that it was typ casting was it a little bit at age 62 Marl stre is still at the top of her game one of the recipients at this year's Kennedy Center Honors that's her husband of 33 years sculptor Don Gummer and their children a son and three daughters two of them actresses themselves there's something I I want to show you on the theory that high school is Destiny we took her back to the days long before she became meril of the movies oh this is my high school yearbook picture back then in Bernardsville New Jersey she was just pling Mary Louise stre well not so plain pretty blonde vivacious cheerleader our homecoming queen where the boys are where the boys are oh God Bernardi and art editor that's what I was and the morning announcer Diane Sawyer Eat Your Heart Out home movies made it clear the camera loved her from an early age but the home becoming Queen didn't care much for the movies of the day she was fascinated by the Classics there was one channel that had uh older movies and I loved Carol Lombard and I loved Kate heurn and Betty Davis and Barbara Stanwick I like girls with attitude you know Moxy there's an old word though she had dabbled in acting she got serious about it at the Yale drama school that led to an audition with the public theater director Joe Pap Joe pep could be a Taskmaster yes not to me Pap gave her her first break on Broadway a small role in a period piece called trani of the wells Joe pep asked you if you could do a Southern accent yes and he said wait try do this uh Southern can you can you do a Southern accent I just this I'm from not even Southern New Jersey you know I pulled it up out of probably some 4:00 movie Somewhere I heard it was from the dinosaur show oh yeah maybe that was it see the USA in your Chevrolet remember that yes oh God wasn't she Divine here's where I forgot my lines in the seagull soon she was doing the classics on on this outdoor stage competing with airplanes heat rain and more Ducks you hear that her career took off so fast that one Summer she did Taming of the Shrew here at night hey hey hey hey hey and during the day shot two movies Kramer versus Kramer and Woody Allen Manhattan she was well on her way are you writing a book about our marriage you leave me alone her range was astonishing one year a Texan Karen silkwood let's not fight the next Danish in Out of Africa Ro has asked me for a divorce he found someone that he wants to marry oh yeah she wore spandex for mam Mia nuns habit for doubt amen your clay and a beard playing a rabbi in angels in America it always really bothers me when people imagine that characters that don't look like you or have the same accent as you do are far from you there great actress syil Thorndike said I think we all have the germ of every other person inside of us and I think we do statue how are you feeling margarth statue is 86 now her daughter Carol has written openly about her mother's slide into the dark of dementia the film tackles the issue headon did you have any concerns about showing this once remarkably vital woman having lost it all well that that was the part that most uh intrigued me first of all I don't I don't feel there's any shame in dementia and people that suffer it and you're not prime minister anymore to tell an honest story about a big life in its e you have to deal with this part of it there's one observation that gets her backup when people note that she's played a lot of strong-minded women no one has ever asked an actor you're playing a strong-minded man we assume that men are strong-minded or have opinions but a strong-minded woman is a different animal she's the public face of a movement to build a national women's history museum in Washington Margaret Thatcher said if you if you want something spoken about ask a man if you want it done ask a woman the museum near the National Mall would showcase little known stories about women in America wandering the Massachusetts Countryside not far far from her home she insisted on taking us to the scene of one such story clearing the brush so our camera Cruise wouldn't trip look in that window it's the house where in 1781 a slave called mum bet intervened when a young slave girl was threatened by the lady of the house and she took a red hot uh fireplace shovel and tried to strike the child and M bet saved the little girl and burned her arm all the way up the arm and that was the last straw she M sued in court and gained her Freedom taking the new name Elizabeth Freeman the case led to the abolition of slavery in the state by 1790 the census recorded no enslaved people in Massachusetts as for women in Hollywood Street is an exception to the rule that most leading ladies have a short Shelf life four of her most recent films have been directed by women but one thing that drives her crazy is the snails pace of movie making shooting the same scene time and time again I don't like to go over things and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again I don't like that that happens a lot though doesn't in movie yeah but I get I guess I have less tolerance for I like movies that have little budget and so they can't do that do you think that movies are better getting better than when you started I think the acting's better I think the acting is better than in the classic days frankly of movies but if you look at the movies being made the big movies that are being made are are about comic strips why or vampires or or gross Behavior yeah uh all aimed at what 18-year-old boys yes that's called the narrowing of the audience the movie business has worked assiduously to discourage you and other intelligent Discerning people from the theater from the movie theater they have worked hard to get rid of you because you don't go then buy toys and games and then there's the Streep Enigma that hint of a Mona Lisa smile or as the Italians call the painting Londa Jack Nicholson says of you it's the jonda smile the mystery of Merill that appeals is that a snake what is a Gonda no no you think of an anaconda monisa okay fine sorry all that education d the drain okay fine I thought what does he mean it's good to have something that is undiscoverable which frankly I think every human being has I don't think I'm that mysterious but I'm glad he thinks so we'll soon know what audiences and Oscar voters think of streps portrayal the actress the prime minister no doubt at all politically but each compelled to leave their Mark two brilliant performers two sisters Under the Skin did you discover anything of yourself in her no what do you mean yes of course my dutifulness my desire to work hard my desire to be to do the right thing to you know be a good girl all those things I think she grew up with and so did I go to 60 Minutes overtime.com to hear what Merill stre has to say about the leading men in her life sponsored by fizer

Channel: CBS News

Views: 244,661

Keywords: meryl, streep, co-star, men, leading, Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, 60 minutes, cbs

Id: 1_L59l9EYi0

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 18 2011