Question: What was Kevin Kline's first movie?
Answer: Sophie's Choice

Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American film and stage actor, comedian, and singer. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and is a 2003 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee. 

Kline began his career on stage in 1972 with The Acting Company. He went on to win two Tony Awards for his work in Broadway musicals, winning Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the 1978 original production of On the Twentieth Century and Best Actor in a Musical for the 1981 revival of The Pirates of Penzance. 

He made his film debut the following year, opposite Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice (1982). For his role in the 1988 comedy hit A Fish Called Wanda, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2003, he starred as Falstaff in the Broadway production of Henry IV, for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play.

He has been nominated for an Emmy Award, two BAFTA Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. His other films include The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), Cry Freedom (1987), Dave (1993), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), In & Out (1997), De-Lovely (2004) and My Old Lady (2014).

Early life

Kline was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Margaret Agnes Kirk (1918-2000)  and Robert Joseph Kline. His father was a classical music lover and an amateur opera singer who owned and operated The Record Bar, a record store in St. Louis that opened in the early 1940s, and sold toys during the 1960s and 1970s;   his father's family also owned Kline's Inc., a department store chain. Kline has described his mother as the "dramatic theatrical character in our family".  Kline's father was Jewish, from a family that had emigrated from Germany, and had become an agnostic. Kline's mother was a Roman Catholic of Irish descent, the daughter of an immigrant from County Louth. Kline was raised in his mother's Catholic faith.  He has three siblings, Alex, Christopher, and Kate. He graduated from the Saint Louis Priory School in 1965. 

In 1997, the school named its new auditorium the Kevin Kline Theater, and Kline did a benefit performance of selections from Shakespeare at the dedication.

He attended Indiana University, Bloomington, where he began studying composing and conducting music, but switched to a theater and speech major for his last two years, graduating in 1970. Kline remembers: "When I switched to the Theater Department, all I did was theater...I could barely make it to class because this was my passion."  While an undergraduate, he was a co-founder of the Vest Pocket Players, an off-campus theatrical troupe. 

Career

In 1970, Kline was awarded a scholarship to the newly formed Drama Division at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, he joined with fellow Juilliard graduates, including Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers, and formed the City Center Acting Company (now The Acting Company), under the aegis of John Houseman. 

The Company traveled across the U.S. performing Shakespeare's plays, other classical works, and the musical The Robber Bridegroom, founding one of the most widely praised groups in American repertory theatre. At Juilliard he studied singing with Beverley Peck Johnson. 

In 1976, Kline left The Acting Company and settled in New York City, doing a brief appearance as the character "Woody Reed" in the now-defunct soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He followed this with a return to the stage in 1977 to play Clym Yeobright opposite Donna Theodore as Eustacia Vye in The Hudson Guild Theater production of Dance on a Country Grave, Kelly Hamilton's musical version of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native. In 1978 he played the role of Bruce Granit, a matinée idol caricature, in Harold Prince's On the Twentieth Century, for which he won his first Tony Award. In 1981, Kline appeared with rock diva Linda Ronstadt and singer Rex Smith in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Central Park production of The Pirates of Penzance, winning another Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, for his comically dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. In 1983, he played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, Smith and Angela Lansbury, which had a limited theatrical release. 

In the ensuing years, Kline appeared many times in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare plays, including starring roles in Richard III (1983),  Much Ado About Nothing (1988),  Henry V (1984)  and two productions of Hamlet, in 1986  and 1990 (which he also directed). 

He also appeared in a Lincoln Center production that combined the two parts of Henry IV on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in 2003 as Falstaff. Kline was nominated for the 2004 Tony Award, Actor in a Play.  

Dubbed "the American Olivier" by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for his stage acting,  Kline finally ventured into film in 1982 in Sophie's Choice. He won the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial Nathan opposite Meryl Streep. Streep won an Academy Award for her performance in the film. Kline was nominated for a 1983 Golden Globe award (New Star of the Year)  and BAFTA Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer To Film. 

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Kline made several films with director Lawrence Kasdan, including The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon, I Love You to Death, and French Kiss. He played Donald Woods in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom opposite Denzel Washington about the friendship between Activist Stephen Biko and editor Donald Woods.

In 1989, Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the British comedy A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played a painfully inept American ex-CIA thug opposite John Cleese's genteel British barrister and Jamie Lee Curtis' femme fatale/con woman. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film twenty-first on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs. 

Kline had a reputation for being so picky about his roles that it was actually detrimental to his career, and thus earned himself the nickname "Kevin Decline". Other awards have included Drama Desk Awards, Golden Globe awards, a Gotham Award, a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award, and a St. Louis International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted in the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2003.  He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.  Film reviewers have praised Kline. Newsday critic Lynn Darling wrote on July 13, 1988 that Kline "has proved himself to be one of the most talented and versatile American actors of his generation."

Kline played the title role in King Lear at the Public Theater, and took the lead role in a Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jennifer Garner.  That production was forced to close temporarily after only 11 performances as a result of the Broadway stagehands' strike,  but subsequently reopened. Cyrano was filmed in 2008 and aired as part of PBS's Great Performances series in January 2009.

In January 2008, Kline won a Screen Actors Guild award for his portrayal of Jaques in Kenneth Branagh's film As You Like It, adapted from Shakespeare's play. The film premiered theatrically in 2006 in Europe. It bypassed theatres and was sent straight to HBO in the U.S. Kline's film The Conspirator premiered during the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and was described as an "old fashioned historical thriller". It was well received by most critics. Kline also starred in the 2012 comedy Darling Companion alongside Diane Keaton.

In December 2004, Kline became the 2,272nd recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame,  for his contributions to the motion picture industry, located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. 

Personal life

During the 1970s Kline was in a relationship with his Juilliard classmate Patti LuPone. He met actress Phoebe Cates in 1983 and they were married in 1989. The couple live in New York City and they have two children, including a daughter, Greta, a musician currently performing as Frankie Cosmos. 

After his son, Owen, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Kline became active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In November 2004, he was presented with the JDRF's Humanitarian of the Year award by Meryl Streep for his volunteer efforts on behalf of the organization.

The Kevin Kline Awards honor theatre professionals in St. Louis in an array of categories, which include best actor and actress, set design, choreography, and new play or musical.   

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Kevin Kline’s Best Movies << Movie & TV News and Interviews – Rotten Tomatoes
10. In & Out
Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) seems to have it made — he’s a well-liked English teacher and coach at his small-town high school, with a wedding to his fiancee (Joan Cusack) on the horizon and a former student (Matt Dillon) up for an Academy Award. But Howard’s world comes unglued after his ex-pupil uses the Oscar telecast to tell the world that Howard’s gay — a revelation that proves shocking for everyone, most of all Howard, who thinks of himself as heterosexual. A comedy of errors ensues, ably supported by a cast that also includes Tom Selleck and Bob Newhart, and although it’s a premise that probably wouldn’t fly today, it was handled so nimbly by director Frank Oz and writer Paul Rudnick that most critics couldn’t complain too much. “A man questioning his own sexuality does not seem like the ideal topic for a comedy,” admitted Cinematter’s Madeleine Williams. “But with a good script, and plenty of humor, In & Out tackles this touchy subject matter with aplomb.”
76%
9. Silverado
Once you cast Brian Dennehy as your movie’s bad guy, you’ve won half the battle. Fortunately for Silverado director/co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, he also managed to line up a pretty capable cast of heroes for his stylishly assembled Western. Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Scott Glenn and Danny Glover all saddled up and rode against Dennehy’s crooked sheriff, and even the supporting cast managed to shine, with memorable turns from Jeff Goldblum, Linda Hunt, and Rosanna Arquette. Westerns weren’t exactly in vogue during the mid-’80s — especially ones as unabashedly retro as this one — but according to most critics, Silverado made it work; as Roger Ebert wrote, “This is a story, you will agree, that has been told before. What distinguishes Kasdan’s telling of it is the style and energy he brings to the project.”
80%
8. The Pirates of Penzance
The next time you find yourself wondering why more big movies don’t premiere on-demand at the same time they’re in theaters, think about The Pirates of Penzance. A film adaptation of the Broadway hit, starring most of the original stage cast, it bowed to widely positive reviews; problem was, it had a hard time holding on to theatrical engagements due to Universal’s decision to simultaneously send the movie to a pay-TV service. Thus did ticked-off theater owners opt to shun our cinematic Pirates, and lo did the audience suffer — at least in the estimation of most critics, who felt that the cast (including Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Angela Lansbury, and Rex Smith) did a fine job of bringing the stage musical to the screen. In addition to a “well made musical,” Michael A. Smith of Nolan’s Pop Culture Review deemed it “Proof that Kline can do ANYTHING!”
81%
7. Cry Freedom
The life of legendary anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko got its big-screen due with Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom, starring Denzel Washington as Biko and Kline as Biko’s journalist friend Donald Woods, whose books formed the basis for John Briley’s screenplay. Although it arrived at a moment when the South African government’s racially oppressive policies were under particularly harsh scrutiny on the international stage, Freedom‘s stark drama proved a tough sell for American filmgoers, who mostly failed to turn out during its theatrical run. Critics found it problematic due to what Roger Ebert termed its “liberal yuppie” focus, although he went on to admit, “Cry Freedom is a sincere and valuable movie, and despite my fundamental reservations about it, I think it probably should be seen.”
79%
6. Sophie’s Choice
One of the heaviest Holocaust movies of the 1980s, Sophie’s Choice found writer/director Alan J. Pakula adapting William Styron’s heartbreaking novel into an equally shattering film, starring Meryl Streep as the titular protagonist, Kline as her emotionally unwell lover, and Peter MacNicol as the young novelist whose arrival at their Brooklyn boarding house coincides with a particularly fraught period in their lives. While its sad story and deliberate pace proved an unappealing blend for some scribes, most critics were won over by the movie’s stellar performances, led by Streep’s Oscar-winning work. “Though it’s far from a flawless movie, Sophie’s Choice is a unified and deeply affecting one,” wrote Janet Maslin for the New York Times, “thanks in large part to Miss Streep’s bravura performance, it’s a film that casts a powerful, uninterrupted spell.”
81%
5. Grand Canyon
In 1991, Kline reunited with his Silverado director Lawrence Kasdan for a very different kind of project: Grand Canyon, a thoughtful ensemble drama about a group of Los Angelenos (including Kline’s Silverado castmate Danny Glover) thrown together across racial backgrounds and class lines. Though not without superficial similarities to Kasdan’s 1983 hit The Big Chill, Canyon found the writer/director in a gloomier state of mind, observing the country’s widening income gap with just enough compassion to overcome his script’s more heavy-handed moments. “Even when he wasn’t trying, Kasdan’s camera found tragedy, as with the opening footage of Magic Johnson, filmed before anybody knew he had the AIDS virus,” observed the Washington Post’s Rita Kempley. “The filmmaker and his team have truly caught society on the verge.”
81%
4. A Prairie Home Companion
One of America’s longest-running radio programs celebrated its 31st birthday in style with this Robert Altman-directed ensemble dramedy, an artful blend of fact and fiction that dramatizes one very important night behind the scenes. Completed mere months before Altman’s death, it provided a worthy closing statement for one of Hollywood’s most dignified careers — and gave Harrelson an opportunity to rub shoulders with a cast that included Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly, and Kline. “It sparkles with a magic all its own as an engagingly performed piece of Midwestern whimsy and stoicism,” wrote Andrew Sarris for the New York Observer, adding, “Mr. Altman’s flair for ensemble spectacle and seamless improvisation in the midst of utter chaos is as apparent as ever.”
84%
3. The Ice Storm
He probably wasn’t the first director that anyone expected to weigh in with a trenchant observation on the American cultural mores of the 1970s, but that’s exactly what Ang Lee did with 1997’s The Ice Storm — an impeccably cast, sensitively filmed adaptation of the acclaimed Rick Moody novel about the largely unspoken divisions festering in a well-to-do suburban Connecticut family headed up by former Dave castmates Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Replete with sadness and populated by deeply flawed characters, Storm could have been an unintentional parody of the 1990s indie scene in less capable hands — but instead, as Rick Groen wrote for the Globe and Mail, it’s “a remarkable film that takes us straight into John Updike territory, duplicating on screen exactly what the writer achieves on the page.”
93%
2. A Fish Called Wanda
Kline picked up a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his work in A Fish Called Wanda, a feat made all the more impressive by the stellar company he’d been keeping onscreen — with a cast that included Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese, and Michael Palin, this heist caper about bumbling jewel thieves boasted one of the decade’s more remarkable comedic pedigrees. Cleese, who wrote the script and co-directed with Charles Chrichton (both earning Oscar nominations along the way), put all these ingredients to work in the best way — namely, by bringing some very funny people together and giving them some very silly things to do. “Wanda defies gravity, in both senses of the word, and redefines a great comic tradition,” marveled TIME Magazine’s Richard Schickel.
94%

Kevin Kline - Kevin Kline - Pictures - CBS News
Kevin Kline
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Kevin Kline
Actor Kevin Kline poses for a portrait during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, January 25, 2010 in Park City, Utah.
The two-time Tony Award-winner, and the Oscar-winning star of such films as "Sophie's Choice," "The Big Chill," "A Fish Called Wanda" and "The Ice Storm," has proven himself one of the most versatile stage and screen actors - adept at tortured drama, light-footed musical comedy, and everything in-between. His most recent film is the buddy comedy, "Last Vegas," starring opposite three actors who are no slouches themselves: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
Credit: Matt Carr/Getty Images
"Last Vegas"
In the 2013 comedy, "Last Vegas," Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline arrive in Sin City for the bachelor party of their childhood buddy (Michael Douglas).
"In the 'Last Vegas' trailer, it says, 'Four legends come together,'" said CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith. "What's it like to hear that word applied to you?"
"It's a lovely advertising ploy," Kline laughed, "and I love being lumped in with these 'four icons, four legends' -- three legends and Kline."
"People would argue with you about that."
"I have not done nearly the amount of, sort of commercially successful movies that these guys have."
"Is that what makes a legend?"
"Apparently -- so it has nothing to do with talent!" he laughed.
Credit: CBS Films
"Last Vegas"
Left: "Kevin Kline" in "Last Vegas."
When asked by Tracy Smith about his choice of film roles and whether he hasn't done as many commercially successful moves as his "Last Vegas" costars.
"Is that by design that you haven't done as many commercially successful moves as the other guys?" Smith asked.
"Yes, I've avoided success as much as possible," he replied. "It's a family thing. It's partially my own doing, but I mean, Morgan [Freeman] and I just shared the same agent for 35 years, [who] used to say, 'Why don't you want to do this movie? This is going to be a very commercially successful movie.'  And I'd say, 'I'm sure it is, but I think it's crap, I'm sorry.'
"I just try to do what interests me at the moment. And I've made a lot of probably stupid career choices!"
Credit: CBS Films
Juilliard
Left: Kevin Kline (center) in a production of "School for Scandal" at the Juilliard School, 1971.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Kline studied music at Indiana University before coming to New York as part of the Juilliard School's very first drama class.
Kline followed Juilliard by joining John Houseman's The Acting Company, which toured doing such plays as "The Three Sisters" and "Measure for Measure."
"It was God sent," Kline said. "We were all handed our Equity cards and sent out on the road doing great plays. But my agent would always say, 'Can we now get serious ...  'cause no one knows who you are, you're out there.' Even though we'd have three or four-week seasons in New York, most the time we spent touring -- you weren't establishing a reputation in New York. And so when I finally left the company after four years, it was back to square one."
Credit: Stephen Aaron//Juilliard School
"The Pirates of Penzance"
Left: Rex Smith, Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline in the Broadway production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" (1981). Kline, as the Pirate King, won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Kline told CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith that he initially resisted doing "Pirates" because, two years earlier, he'd done another musical on Broadway with a lot of physical comedy, "On the Twentieth Century," and feared he'd be pegged as a musical comedy actor.
"But I got sort of talked into it, and it was a good thing," he said, "because Alan Pakula saw me in it and cast me in 'Sophie's Choice.' It actually started my movie career, ironically."
Credit: Martha Swope/Courtesy of Elektra Records
"Sophie's Choice"
Meryl Streep as a Polish immigrant and Holocaust survivor, and Kevin Kline as Nathan Landau, her erratic lover, in "Sophie's Choice" (1982).
Credit: Universal Pictures
"The Big Chill"
Kevin Kline co-starred with William Hurt in "The Big Chill" (1983), the first of several films Kline would do with writer-director Lawrence Kasdan.
Credit: Columbia Pictures
Kevin Kline, with Scott Glenn, in the 1985 western, "Silverado."
Credit: Columbia Pictures
"Violets Are Blue"
Kevin Kline played an old flame who rekindles romance with Sissy Spacek in the 1986 drama, "Violets Are Blue."
Credit: Columbia Pictures
"Cry Freedom"
Kevin Kline played South African journalist Donald Woods and Oscar-nominee Denzel Washington starred as anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko in the 1987 drama, "Cry Freedom."
Credit: Universal Pictures
"A Fish Called Wanda"
Michael Palin, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese and Kevin Kline in the 1988 comedy, "A Fish Called Wanda." Kline played the erratic thief Otto, whom you better not call stupid.
Credit: MGM
"A Fish Called Wanda"
Kevin Kline gleefully tortures fish lover Michael Palin (with fish and chips!) in "A Fish Called Wanda." Kline won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance -- a rarity for a comedy film.
And he did manage to thank his wife in his acceptance speech. "At the very last moment!" he said. "We'd only been married for about two weeks at that point. And then the music started to play. Oh, and, and my wife, thank you!"
Credit: MGM
Phoebe Cates & Kevin Kline
Actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates arrive at the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel January 16, 2005 in Beverly Hills, California.
Kline and Cates, who had starred in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," first met briefly during auditions for "The Big Chill" (she was up for the role that went to Meg Tilly), but lightning didn't strike until a few months later, when both were in separate plays in New York.
"I was upstairs rehearsing that, and she was downstairs rehearsing that, and [we] met in the hallway," Kline recalled.
The two married in 1989.
Credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
"I Love You to Death"
Kevin Kline played a womanizing pizza shop owner, whose vengeful wife discovers to be distressingly difficult to kill, in the 1990 comedy, "I Love You to Death," directed by Lawrence Kasdan.
Credit: TriStar Pictures
"Hamlet"
Kevin Kline as Hamlet, with Dana Ivey as Gertrude, in his 1990 production for PBS of "Hamlet."
When asked by Tracy Smith if he ever studied or picked apart his performances afterwards, Kline said no. "If I'm asked to, I can tell you where I've failed and where it could have been better, sure. I mean, I played Hamlet in two different productions. You can do it ten different times, you're never gonna finish it."
"And you're never satisfied?" Smith asked.
"You can be satisfied, like, 'Yeah, I think that was okay.' 'I got away with it.'  Or, 'There were parts of it that -- '  But you cannot be definitive. It's different from night to night, it's different from production to production. It's different one year and then ten years later.  If I did 'Hamlet' now, obviously, it's going to be different than it was 30 years ago or whenever I did it. You never 'finish' a great masterpiece of Shakespeare's or Chekhov's."
"It's always a work-in-progress?"
"Yeah, and it's open to interpretation.  I mean, somewhere I read that Jane Austen used to read 'Hamlet' every year just to kind of know where she was in her life by how she responded. The same way for an actor. You want to find out where you're at? Play Hamlet this year. Once a year.  Because you're forced to reckon with some of the larger question.  But you're not gonna say, 'Oh, I nailed that one!'" he laughed.
Credit: PBS/"Great Performances"
Kevin Kline and Sally Field in the 1991 comedy, "Soapdish."
Credit: Paramount Pictures
"Grand Canyon"
Kevin Kline played an immigration lawyer and Steve Martin as a producer of violent Hollywood films, who each experience life-changing events, in Lawrence Kasdan's 1991 ensemble drama, "Grand Canyon."
Credit: 20th Century Fox
"Chaplin"
Kevin Kline played Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks opposite Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biography, "Chaplin."
Credit: TriStar Pictures
"Consenting Adults"
Kevin Kline re-teamed with his "Sophie's Choice" director, Alan J. Pakula, for the 1992 thriller, "Consenting Adults." Kevin Spacey co-starred as a neighbor not to be trusted, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Kline's wife.
Credit: Buena Vista Pictures
"Dave"
Kevin Kline is hired to impersonate the president of the United States, who has been incapacitated by a stroke and hidden away by White House officials, in the 1993 comedy, "Dave."
Credit: Warner Brothers
"Dave"
Kevin Kline pretends to be the president of the United States, and Sigourney Weaver plays his unsuspecting first lady, in the 1993 comedy, "Dave."
Credit: Warner Brothers
"Princess Caraboo"
Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates co-starred in the 1994 historical drama "Princess Caraboo."
Though Cates later appeared with Kline (along with their two children) in the 2001 film, "The Anniversary Party," she pretty much retired from acting following the birth of her first child, in 1991.
Kline told Smith he admired Cates' decision: "It was always one of the things I admired about Phoebe. She loved acting, but it wasn't her life. Once she had children, that was it. For me, [acting] was everything; I had no life.  It's just acting."
"So did she show you that there was life beyond acting?" Smith asked.
"Yeah, I think so. I think it even started once you're married; your decisions aren't just yours anymore. And Phoebe and I, before we had children, would take turns.  We're not stupid enough to say, 'Sure, you can go off and do that movie for four months and I'm gonna go off and do this movie for six months and it's not gonna hurt our relationship.' It's like, get real."
Credit: TriStar Pictures
"In and Out"
Kevin Kline dances unabashedly to "I Will Survive," in a test of his masculinity, in the comedy, "In and Out" (1997).
"They brought in a brilliant choreographer, and I said to [director] Frank Oz, 'This is not about choreography. This is a private moment, a man in his living room dancing to music and I can't be thinking about choreography. It has to be sloppy and crazy.'
"But we arrived at a sort of compromise.  A guy gave me a couple [moves], 'This is what is going on in all the gay clubs right now" - which I then argued, 'Yeah, but my character doesn't go to gay clubs, so he wouldn't know that.' But maybe intuitively!
"It took two days to shoot that.  I had a canister of oxygen, to do that over and over and over. It was a much longer sequence. I was doing ballet and Martha Graham and Paul Taylor and all kinds of crazy moves. But again, I did it and I thought, 'Well, this will never make it to the movie, it's too outrageous' - and it's the thing that most people seem to remember."
Credit: Paramount Pictures
"The Ice Storm"
Ang Lee's 1997 drama, "The Ice Storm," adapted from Rick Moody's novel, told of the wreckage caused by loose sexual mores among a group of Connecticut families in the early 1970s. Kevin Kline starred with Joan Allen (as his wife) and Sigourney Weaver (as someone else's wife).
Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures
"A Midsummer Nigh's Dream"
Kevin Kline as Bottom and Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania in Michael Hoffman's 1999 film version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures
"Wild, Wild West"
Will Smith and Kevin Kline engage in some blue screen acrobatics during production of the 1999 big-screen version of the Old West/sci-fi series, "Wild, Wild West."
Credit: Warner Brothers
"Life as a House"
Kevin Kline starred as a terminally-ill architect who embarks on a project to build a new home on the California shore, while also seeking to repair his family relationships, in the 2001 drama, "Life as a House."
Credit: New Line Cinema
Kevin Kline
Dozens of children who suffer juvenile diabetes crowd the floor of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to hear testimony on combating the disease June 26, 2001 in Washington, D.C. Testifying (background left to right) are Katie Zucker, age 13; actor Kevin Kline; actress Mary Tyler Moore; astronaut James Lovell; and actor Jonathan Lipnicki.
Credit: Mike Theiler/Getty Images
"The Emperor's Club"
Kevin Kline played a school teacher at an Andover, Mass., prep school in the 2002 drama, "The Emperor's Club." Among his charges were Emile Hirsch and Jesse Eisenberg.
Credit: Universal Pictures
Glenn Close & Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline and Glenn Close (who played husband and wife in "The Big Chill") attend the after-party for the opening of "Henry IV," held on November 20, 2003 in New York City.
Credit: Peter Kramer/Getty Images
"De-Lovely"
Kevin Kline starred as composer Cole Porter int he 2004 bio-pic, "De-Lovely," directed by Irwin Winkler.
Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
"De-Lovely"
The cast and crew of "De-Lovely" pose stage during the Closing Night Concert at the Palais de festival on the last night of the 57th Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2004 in Cannes, France.
Credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
"De-Lovely"
Actor Kevin Kline and musician Alanis Morissette sit backstage and watch the "De-Lovely" Closing Night Concert on the beach at the Palais de Festival during the 57th Annual International Cannes Film Festival May 22, 2004 in Cannes, France.
Credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images
Kevin Kline & Sigourney Weaver
Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver pose at the ceremony honoring Kline with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 3, 2004 in Hollywood, Calif.
Credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images
"The Squid & the Whale"
From left: Director Noah Baumbach, actor Owen Kline, and his father, actor Kevin Kline, attend the film premiere of "The Squid and the Whale," during the New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, September 26, 2005 in New York City.
Credit: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
"A Prairie Home Companion"
Garrison Keillor's long-running NPR radio series, "A Prairie Home Companion," was turned into a 2006 film of on-stage music and backstage intrigues by director Robert Altman.
Kevin Kline starred as Guy Noir, Private Eye, who encounters singing cowboys John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson.
Credit: New Line Cinema
Lindsay Lohan & Kevin Kline
Lindsay Lohan and Kevin Kline attend the premiere of "A Prairie Home Companion," at the DGA Theater, June 4, 2006, in New York City.
Credit: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
"The Pink Panther"
In the 2006 remake of "The Pink Panther," Kevin Kline stepped into the role of Chief Inspector Dreyfus opposite Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau.
Credit: MGM
"Cyrano de Bergerac"
Jennifer Garner and Kevin Kline appear on stage after the opening night performance of "Cyrano De Bergerac," at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, November 1, 2007 in New York City.
Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
"Queen to Play"
In "Queen to Play" (2009), Kevin Kline (in his first French-language role) starred as an American who teaches chess to his French hotel maid (Sandrine Bonnaire) who has become obsessed with the game.
Credit: Zeitgeist Films
"The Extra Man"
Paul Dano and Kevin Kline starred in the 2010 film, "The Extra Man," based on the novel by Jonathan Ames, about an aspiring writer's relationship with an older playwright.
Credit: Magnolia Pictures
"The Conspirator"
Kevin Kline appeared as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in the 2011 drama, "The Conspirator." Directed by Robert Redford, the film told of the hunt for collaborators to the assassin of President Lincoln.
Credit: Lionsgate
"The Conspirator"
From left: Greta Simone Kline, Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline attend the New York Premiere of "The Conspirator" at The Museum of Modern Art on April 11, 2011 in New York City.
Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
"No Strings Attached"
Kevin Kline played a TV actor and father of Ashton Kutcher in the 2011 romantic comedy, "No Strings Attached."
Credit: Paramount Pictures

Kevin Kline - Biography - IMDb
Kevin Kline
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Overview (3)
6' 2" (1.88 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Kevin Kline was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Margaret and Robert Joseph Kline, who owned several stores. His father was of German Jewish descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. After attending Indiana University in Bloomington, Kline studied at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, Kline joined the Acting Company in New York which was run by John Houseman . With this company, Kline performed Shakespeare across the country. On the stage, Kline has won two Tony Awards for his work in the musicals "On the Twentieth Century" (1978) and "The Pirates of Penzance" (1981). After working on the Television soap Search for Tomorrow (1951), Kline went to Hollywood where his first film was Sophie's Choice (1982). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. His work in the ensemble cast of The Big Chill (1983) would again be highly successful, so that when Lawrence Kasdan wrote Silverado (1985), Kline would again be part of the cast. With his role as Otto "Don't call me Stupid!" West in the film A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Kline would win the Oscar for Supporting Actor. Kline could play classic roles such as Hamlet in Great Performances: Hamlet (1990); or a swashbuckling actor like Douglas Fairbanks in Chaplin (1992); or a comedic role in Soapdish (1991). In all the films that he has worked in, it is hard to find a performance that is not well done. In 1989, Kline married actress Phoebe Cates .
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
Spouse (1)
( 5 March  1989            -  present) (2 children)
Trade Mark (1)
Usually has a mustache in comedies and is clean-shaven in dramas
Trivia (33)
Has played presidents and their doubles twice to date: he played Dave and President Bill Mitchell in Dave (1993), and Artemus Gordon and President Ulysses S. Grant in Wild Wild West (1999).
Has appeared with wife Phoebe Cates and their two children, Owen Kline and Greta Kline , as a family of four in The Anniversary Party (2001).
Attended and graduated from the Saint Louis Priory School in St. Louis, Missouri (1965).
Received his Bachelor's degree in Speech and Theatre from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (1970).
Brother of producer Kate Kline May .
Turned down the role of Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989), which went to Michael Keaton .
In 1975, he met with director Steven Spielberg about playing Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975) (played by Richard Dreyfuss ). Kevin said that he knew someone who was an oceanographer and thought he could play one. Spielberg then told him "I don't want someone who knows someone who is an oceanographer, I want someone who is an oceanographer." Richard Dreyfuss then got the role.
Though this appears that his feature debut was in Sophie's Choice (1982), Kline had actually completed The Pirates of Penzance (1983) before going on to co-star with Meryl Streep , but the release of 'Pirates' was sufficiently delayed, enabling 'Sophie' to receive an earlier release.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California December 3, 2004.
Won two Tony Awards: in 1978 as Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) for playing Bruce Granit in "On the Twentieth Century", and in 1981 as Best Actor (Musical) for playing The Pirate King in "The Pirates of Penzance", a performance he recreated in the film version of the same title, The Pirates of Penzance (1983). He was also nominated in 2004 as Best Actor (Play) for portraying Sir John Falstaff in Shakespeare's "Henry IV".
Met future wife Phoebe Cates when she auditioned for the role of Chloe in The Big Chill (1983), which eventually went to Meg Tilly .
Won an Obie Award in 1980/1981 for his role as The Pirate King in "The Pirates of Penzance".
The theater at his alma mater, St. Louis Priory School, is named in his honor.
Has a star in the St. Louis Walk of Fame located on the Delmar Loop.
Inspired the Kevin Kline Mustache Principle, according to movie critic Roger Ebert : Kline always has facial hair in comedies, but is clean-shaven in dramatic roles. There are several exceptions to the rule, most notably In & Out (1997), Silverado (1985), and Wild Wild West (1999) (although in the latter, he did wear a beard and mustache to play President Ulysses S. Grant).
Has played dual roles in three of his films: Dave (1993), Wild Wild West (1999) and Fierce Creatures (1997). In each film, one of his characters has to impersonate the other one.
Kline is one of the few actors in history to receive the Academy Award for a comedic acting role ( A Fish Called Wanda (1988)).
Kevin is the first American actor to receive the Sir John Gielgud Golden Quill Award and was recently honored with the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.
The Kevin Kline Awards were first presented on March 20, 2006 in honor of the actor, a St. Louis native and Priory School graduate. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in Professional Theatre in the Greater St. Louis Area. They honor theatre artists and productions in over 20 categories. Earlier in 1998, he was inducted to the St. Louis Wall of Fame.
Kevin Kline 's father owned a toy and record store in Clayton, Missouri, called "The Record Bar".
Studied acting with Michael Howard in New York City.
Has appeared with John Cleese in Silverado (1985), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Fierce Creatures (1997). He would later appear in The Pink Panther (2006), but was replaced in the sequel by none other than Cleese. His castmate in that film is Steve Martin , with whom he previously appeared in Grand Canyon (1991). Kline went on to appear on stage as Cyrano de Bergerac, while Martin played a modern Cyrano-like character in Roxanne (1987).
Speaks French fluently.
His father was from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from Germany, and his mother was from an Irish Catholic family. Kevin was raised in his mother's faith.
Became a father for the first time at age 43 when his wife Phoebe Cates gave birth to their son Owen Joseph Kline, aka Owen Kline , on October 14, 1991.
Became a father for the second time at age 46 when his wife Phoebe Cates gave birth to their daughter Greta Simone Kline, aka Greta Kline , on March 21, 1994.
Has two brothers: Chris Kline and Alex Kline.
He majored in music for two years at Indiana University but switched to drama. He joined the first class of John Houseman's new drama division at Lincoln Center's Julliard School and became a founding member of Houseman's The Acting Company.
Has portrayed two famous movie swashbuckler stars: Douglas Fairbanks in the film Chaplin (1992) and Errol Flynn in the film The Last of Robin Hood (2013).
Was considered for the role of Dan Gallagher in Fatal Attraction (1987), which went to Michael Douglas .
Kevin is one of the few actors alongside Harrison Ford , Arnold Schwarzenegger , etc. to audition for Alan Parrish for the early development of Jumanji (1995).
Has collaborated with director Lawrence Kasdan [to date, September 2015] in cinema movies on six occasions. The films are Silverado (1985), Grand Canyon (1991), French Kiss (1995), The Big Chill (1983), Darling Companion (2012), and I Love You to Death (1990).
Personal Quotes (6)
It is these children we must admire... Their honesty and bravery are models for us all. Their stories and their role here today - advocating for their cure, their own future - must be heard. - In reference to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International Children's Congress 2001.
I think every American actor wants to be a movie star. But I never wanted to do stupid movies, I wanted to do films. I vowed I would never do a commercial, or a soap opera - both of which I did as soon as I left the Acting Company and was starving.
I've never felt completely satisfied with what I've done. I tend to see things too critically. I'm trying to get over that. I've got the Jewish guilt and the Irish shame and it's a hell of a job distinguishing which is which.
[on improving his chess game for a role] I can now predict four or five moves ahead. I can see that I'm going to lose much sooner.
[on Sophie's Choice (1982)] There was a tremendous ensemble feeling. There was never any sense that anything but what was best for a scene was at stake. We were all treated equally, with a tremendous amount of caring.
[1983 interview] When I'm doing a film, I prefer the stage; when I'm working on stage, I prefer film. That doesn't sound neurotic, does it? Seriously, I like them both. They're both different. I've heard of a lot of actors who do both, who have done both for years, say that the stage is more fulfilling. Film is still new enough to me that, right now, I find film more fulfilling. In films, you don't have the audience and the communication and the contact that you do on stage. You have to wait six months or a year before you commune with an audience in a film, and you're not even there when it happens... When you work in a film, you're working in a vacuum... that also has advantages. It's a different sensation which is not altogether unpleasant.
Salary (1)

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 pre
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