Five Movie Stars Who Defined Their Era
In-Person July 11, 18, 25, Aug. 1, 8 1:10 pm to 2:50 pm
A look at unique Hollywood careers that were very influential on their era and their fellow actors – Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Meryl Streep and Daniel Day-Lewis. The course is similar to the great directors course, a biographical and critical assessment of these stars with many illustrative clips.
- Week 1: Bette Davis – the Golden Age film star who rose above her unconventional looks to become the dominant star of the 1930s and 1940s.
- Week 2: Katharine Hepburn – a star in the 1930s and 1940s, Hepburn sustained her career longer than any of her peers, winning Oscars in the 1960s and 1980s. She also became a style icon and feminist role model.
- Week 3: Marlon Brando – the stage star who brought new realism to movie acting in the 1950s with films such as A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. He opened the door to James Dean and countless other actors.
- Week 4: Meryl Streep – the Yale-trained theater actress who became the most respected Hollywood film actress from the 1980s onward. Her detailed characterizations influenced the film actresses who followed – Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer and many others.
- Week 5: Daniel Day-Lewis – a British stage actor who led a British Invasion of Hollywood films in the 1980s and 1990s. The actor’s attention to detail earned him multiple Oscars and the deep respect of fellow performers.
Joe Meyers graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in journalism. He is Director of Programming for the Focus on French Cinema film festival in Connecticut and is co-host of the Spotify podcast Now a Major Motion Picture! Since 2020, he has been a regular contributor to the morning drive time radio show Chaz & AJ. For more than 30 years, he has written about movies, theater and books for the Hearst Connecticut Media Group and other publications. In the 1970s, Joe ran the first (and only) art house on the Delmarva Peninsula—the Lewes Cinema. In 2012, the Mystery Writers of America gave Joe the Ellery Queen Award for his writing on crime fiction.