Kelly McGillis

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Kelly McGillis
KellyMcGillisSept10TIFF.jpg
McGillis at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born Kelly Ann McGillis
(1957-07-09) July 9, 1957 (age 55)
Newport Beach, California, U.S.
Education Juilliard School (1979–1983)
Occupation Actress
Spouse(s) Boyd Black (1979–1981)
Fred Tillman (1989–2002)
Melanie Leis (2010-2011)

Kelly Ann McGillis (born July 9, 1957)[1] is an American actress. Her breakthrough role came in 1985's Witness for which she was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA awards. Her subsequent films include Top Gun and The Accused.

Contents

Early life and education[edit]

McGillis was born in Newport Beach, California, the daughter of Virginia Joan (née Snell), a homemaker, and Donald Manson McGillis, a general practitioner of medicine.[2][3]

She attended the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California.[4] In 1979, she moved to New York City to study acting at the Juilliard School,[5] where she graduated in 1983.[4][4][6] While at Juilliard she performed in William Congreve's Love for Love, directed by John Blatchley.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

Her breakout role was that of an Amish mother in the 1985 film Witness with Harrison Ford, for which she received a Golden Globe award nomination. Her next high profile role was that of flight instructor, Charlie, in the 1986 fighter-pilot film Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. After 1988's The Accused, she appeared in Cat Chaser with Peter Weller, a film she despised and which discouraged her from pursuing an acting career.[7][dead link][8] McGillis appeared in dozens of television and film roles throughout the 1990s before taking a break from acting for a few years.

In 2004, she appeared in the stage play The Graduate as Mrs. Robinson, touring the United States. She began working in television again in 2006, then in 2007, she joined the cast of Showtime's The L Word for its fifth season. McGillis starred in a Pasadena Playhouse stage production of Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman in May 2009, co-starring with Julia Duffy.

She had a role in the 2010 vampire film Stake Land,[9] directed by Jim Mickle.[10] She stars alongside Nick Damici, Connor Paolo and Danielle Harris.[11] McGillis was featured in a breast cancer docu-drama titled 1 a Minute, released in 2010.[12] She also appeared in a production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally, which toured the United Kingdom in 2010.[citation needed] She starred in Ti West's 2011 thriller The Innkeepers.[13]

Personal life[edit]

McGillis married Boyd Black in 1979, divorcing in 1981. She married Fred Tillman in 1989, and they had two daughters: Kelsey and Sonora. The couple divorced in 2002. She also has two grandchildren.

She was assaulted and raped in 1982.[14] This experience encouraged the actress to pursue her film role as the lawyer who supports Jodie Foster's character in The Accused.[15]

She came out as a lesbian in April 2009 during an interview with SheWired.com, an LGBT-oriented web site.[16][17] McGillis said that coming to terms with her sexual orientation has been an ongoing process since age 12, and she was long convinced that God was punishing her for being homosexual.[16][17] In 2010, Kelly McGillis entered into a civil union with Melanie Leis, a Philadelphia based sales executive; she and McGillis met in 2000 when Leis was a bartender at the restaurant she owned with her then-husband.[18]

McGillis worked full-time with drug addicts and alcoholics at Seabrook House Drug Alcohol Rehab Center, a rehabilitation center in Bridgeton, New Jersey when she and Leis shared a home in Collingswood.[19][20]

McGillis lives in North Carolina, where she teaches acting at The New York Studio for Stage & Screen in Asheville.[21]

Filmography[edit]

List of acting performances in film and television
Title Year Role Notes
Reuben, Reuben 1983 Geneva Spofford
Sweet Revenge 1984 Katherine Dennison Breen Television film
One Life to Live 1984 Glenda Lingston #1
Witness 1985 Rachel Lapp Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Private Sessions 1985 Jennifer Coles
Top Gun 1986 Charlie
Santabear's First Christmas 1986 Narrator Television film
Unsettled Land 1987 Anda
Made in Heaven 1987 Annie Packert / Ally Chandler Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Santabear's High Flying Adventure 1987 Missy Bear Television short
House on Carroll Street, TheThe House on Carroll Street 1988 Emily
Accused, TheThe Accused 1988 Kathryn Murphy
Rabbit Ears: Thumbelina 1989 Storyteller Release direct-to-video
Winter People 1989 Collie Wright
Cat Chaser 1989 Mary Deboya
Grand Isle 1991 Edna Pontellier
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing 1992 Mrs. Winston Hope Television film, uncredited
Babe, TheThe Babe 1992 Claire Hodgson Ruth
Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach 1992 Mary Star - agent CIA Russian film
Bonds of Love 1993 Rose Parks Television film
In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness 1994 Susie Lynch Television film
North 1994 Amish mom
Dark Eyes 1995 Mila McGann Television pilot
Remember Me 1995 Menly Nichols Television film
We the Jury 1996 Alyce Bell Television film
Third Twin, TheThe Third Twin 1997 Dr. Jean Ferrami Television film
Painted Angels 1998 Nettie
Storm Chasers: Revenge of the Twister 1998 Jamie Marshall Television film
Perfect Prey 1998 Audrey Macleah Television film
Ground Control 1998 Susan Stratton
At First Sight 1999 Jennie Adamson
Settlement, TheThe Settlement 1999 Fake Barbara/Ellie
Wild Thornberrys, TheThe Wild Thornberrys 2000 Winema Episode: "Pack of Thornberrys"
Out Limits, TheThe Out Limits 2000 Nicole Whitley Episode: "Final Appeal"
Monkey's Mask, TheThe Monkey's Mask 2000 Professor Diana Maitland
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command 2000 Gorgeous woman Episode: "Planet of the Lost"
Morgan's Ferry 2001 Vonnie Carpenter
No One Can Hear You 2001 Trish Burchall
Cold Shoulder 2006 Television film
Black Widower 2006 Nancy Westveld Television film
Supergator 2007 Kim Taft Released direct-to-video
L Word, TheThe L Word 2008 Colonel Gillian Davis Episodes: "Lay Down the Law" and "Lesbians Gone Wild"
Stake Land 2010 Sister
1 a Minute 2010 Narrator
Innkeepers, TheThe Innkeepers 2011 Leanne Rease-Jones
What Could Have Been 2011 Catherine post-production
Tio Papi 2012 Elizabeth Warden post-production

References[edit]

  1. ^ According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com
  2. ^ "Kelly McGillis Biography (1957-)". filmreference.com. 
  3. ^ "Miss Snell Picks Date". Los Angeles Times. December 10, 1955. 
  4. ^ a b c Stark, John (February 18, 1985). "Kelly McGillis Plays the Amish Love of Harrison Ford in Witness—and Kisses Waitressing Goodbye". People. 
  5. ^ McGillis, Kelly (November 14, 1988). "Memoir of a Brief Time in Hell". People. 
  6. ^ Cruz, Alicia (May 23, 2011). "'Top Gun' actress Kelly McGillis working for N.J. rehab, enjoying life". NewJerseyNewsRoom.com. 
  7. ^ Hasted, Nick (March 29, 2001). "Kelly McGillis: The star who threw herself to earth". The Independent. 
  8. ^ Davis, Steven Paul (2001). The A-Z of Cult Films and Film-makers. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-8704-6. 
  9. ^ Kelly McGillis a Top Gun in Stake Land
  10. ^ Massive Set Visit Report: A Trip to 'Stake Land'
  11. ^ Badass Stake Land Teaser
  12. ^ "Mcg - Indian Star Rallies Celebrity Support For Cancer Movie", Oct 2009
  13. ^ First Images from Ti West's The Innkeepers
  14. ^ Maull, Samuel (June 13, 2006). "Sex Offender Apologizes for McGillis Rape". CBS News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006. 
  15. ^ Scott, Paul. "Revealed: How rape made Top Gun star Kelly McGillis walk away from Hollywood". DailyMail.co.uk. 
  16. ^ a b Jarchow, Boo (April 30, 2009). "Kelly McGillis Says She's Gay on SheWired's 'Girl Rock'". SheWired.com. 
  17. ^ a b Broverman, Neal (April 30, 2009). "Top Gun Star Comes Out: Not Tom". The Advocate. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. 
  18. ^ Schwartz, Paula (September 15, 2010). "Kelly McGillis, Melanie Leis". The New York Times. 
  19. ^ Nutt, Amy Ellis (April 18, 2011). "Kelly McGillis traded Hollywood for Collingswood - and a contented existence". The Star-Ledger. pp. 23, 25. Retrieved April 19, 2011. 
  20. ^ Seabrook House web site
  21. ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/kelly-mcgillis-recalls-top-gun-love-scene-lot-215315250.html

External links[edit]

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