A goggle-eyed, dizzy blonde, Goldie Hawn's looks alone make
her a natural for the kind of breathless comedy in which she originally
made her name. Though she has built a lucrative career with her screen
persona of a vivacious, giggly, and befuddled naif, Hawn's onscreen antics
conceal her real-life level-headedness: beneath the wide expanse of her
blue eyes lies a shrewd, intelligent, and multi-talented woman. Born the
daughter of a musician in Washington, D.C., Hawn grew up in a Jewish
neighborhood in suburban Maryland. At the age of three, she took her first
dance lesson, and by the age of 17, she was managing a dance studio while
she studied drama at Washington, D.C.'s American University. In 1964, she
danced professionally at the Texas Pavilion of the New York World's Fair,
and then began appearing in chorus lines in such musicals as Kiss Me Kate,
Guys and Dolls, and The Boyfriend. She eventually moved to California,
where her first break came when an agent saw her dancing on the Andy
Griffith Show and cast her in Good Morning World, a short-lived comedy
series. From there she was cast as a dancer in an innovative
comedy-variety show hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It was
on Laugh-In (1968-1970) that Hawn became popular. Originally a dancer on
the show, her bikini-clad body painted with funny slogans and designs, she
was given a few lines and proved herself a talented performer in a
winning, air-headed way. Hawn made her first foray into feature films as a
dancer in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968). Her
acting debut came a year later playing Walter Matthau's ditzy, bohemian
mistress in Cactus Flower (1969); she won an Oscar for her role, making it
an inarguably auspicious debut. Later that year she appeared opposite
Peter Sellers in There's a Girl in My Soup. These first two films and the
subsequent Dollars (1971) utilized Hawn's "blonde" persona, but
in 1972, she hinted that she concealed more than a talent for perkiness
and comedy when she played a young woman who helps her blind lover deal
with his past in Butterflies Are Free. Hawn showed even more depth as a
wife who springs her husband from jail in hopes of keeping her child in
Sugarland Express, Steven Spielberg's 1973 feature film directorial debut.
Two years later, she starred as Warren Beatty's girlfriend in Shampoo,
further exhibiting her capacity as both a comedic and dramatic actress.
Subsequently, Hawn continued to work steadily throughout the '80s and
'90s, appearing in films of widely varying quality. Some highlights
include the successful Private Benjamin (1980), for which Hawn earned her
second Best Actress Oscar nomination, Seems Like Old Times (1982), and The
First Wives Club (1996) in which she co-starred with Diane Keaton and
Bette Midler. Hawn has two children by her first husband, comedian Bill
Hudson, and one by her companion since 1986, actor Kurt Russell. She and
Russell met on the set of Swing Shift (1984) and have since starred
together in such films as Overboard (1987). |