Kelly McGillis
| Kelly McGillis | |
|---|---|
 McGillis at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival |
|
| Born | Kelly Ann McGillis July 9, 1957 Newport Beach, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Spouse | Boyd Black (1979–1981) Fred Tillman (1989–2002) |
| Partner | Melanie Leis (2010–present) |
Kelly Ann McGillis (born July 9, 1957)[1] is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.
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[edit] Career
McGillis attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division, where she performed in William Congreve's Love for Love, directed by John Blatchley. She graduated in 1983 and began landing acting roles shortly thereafter. Her breakout role was that of an Amish mother in the film Witness with Harrison Ford, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe award.
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.[2][3] 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.
McGillis has a role in the 2010 vampire film Stake Land,[4] directed by Jim Mickle.[5] She stars alongside Debbie Rochon and Danielle Harris.[6]
McGillis will next be featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docu-drama titled 1 a Minute scheduled for release in 2010.[7] The docu-drama is being made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and will feature Olivia Newton-John, Melissa Etheridge, Namrata Singh Gujral, Mumtaz and Jaclyn Smith, Diahann Carroll as well as William Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin and Priya Dutt. The film will also star Bárbara Mori, Lisa Ray, Deepak Chopra and Morgan Brittany.
McGillis will also be appearing in a production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally, touring the United Kingdom in 2010. She stars in the upcoming Ti West thriller film The Innkeepers.[8]
[edit] Personal life
McGillis was born in Newport Beach, California, the daughter of Virgina Joan (née Snell), a homemaker, and Donald Manson McGillis, a general practitioner of medicine.[9][10] She 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.
In 1982, McGillis was assaulted and raped in her own home by Leroy Johnson.[11] This experience encouraged the actress to pursue her film role as the lawyer who supports Jodie Foster's character in The Accused.[12]
McGillis once owned Kelly's, a restaurant in Key West, Florida, that she and her ex-husband founded. Although the restaurant is still open, she says she is "no longer a part of that restaurant at all" since her second divorce, according to a 2006 TV interview on Good Day Sacramento.
McGillis came out as a lesbian in April 2009 during an interview with SheWired.com, an LGBT-oriented web site.[13][14] She 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 gay.[13][14] 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 Kelly's.[15]
McGillis works full-time with drug addicts and alcoholics at Seabrook House Drug Alcohol Rehab Center, a rehabilitation center in Bridgeton, New Jersey.[16][17]
[edit] Filmography
| 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 | |
| Private Sessions | 1985 | Jennifer Coles | |
| Top Gun | 1986 | Charlie | |
| Santabear's First Christmas | 1986 | Narrator | Television film |
| Ha-Holmim | 1987 | Anda | |
| Made in Heaven | 1987 | Annie Packert / Ally Chandler | |
| Santabear's High Flying Adventure | 1987 | Missy Bear | Television short |
| The House on Carroll Street | 1988 | Emily | |
| The 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 |
| The Babe | 1992 | Claire Hodgson Ruth | |
| 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 |
| The 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 | |
| The Settlement | 1999 | Fake Barbara/Ellie | |
| The Wild Thornberrys | 2000 | Winema | Episode: "Pack of Thornberrys" |
| The Out Limits | 2000 | Nicole Whitley | Episode: "Final Appeal" |
| The 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 |
| The L Word | 2008 | Colonel Gillian Davis | Episodes: "Lay Down the Law" and "Lesbians Gone Wild" |
| Stake Land | 2010 | Sister | |
| 1 a Minute | 2010 | Narrator | |
| The Innkeepers | 2011 | Leanne Rease-Jones | |
| What Could Have Been | 2011 | Catherine | post-production |
| Tio Papi | 2012 | Elizabeth Warden | post-production |
[edit] References
- ^ 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
- ^ Hasted, Nick (2001) "Kelly McGillis: The star who threw herself to earth", The Independent, 29 March 2001
- ^ Davis, Steven Paul (2001) The A-Z of Cult Films and Film-makers, Batsford, ISBN 978-0713487046
- ^ Kelly McGillis a Top Gun in Stake Land
- ^ Massive Set Visit Report: A Trip to 'Stake Land'
- ^ Badass Stake Land Teaser
- ^ "Mcg - Indian Star Rallies Celebrity Support For Cancer Movie", Oct 2009
- ^ First Images from Ti West's The Innkeepers
- ^ Kelly McGillis Biography (1957-)
- ^ [1]
- ^ Sex Offender Apologizes for McGillis Rape.
- ^ "Revealed: How rape made Top Gun star Kelly McGillis walk away from Hollywood" Paul Scott
- ^ a b SheWired.com: Kelly McGillis Says She's Gay on SheWired's 'Girl Rock'
- ^ a b The Advocate: Top Gun Star Comes Out: Not Tom
- ^ New York Times, "Kelly McGillis, Melanie Leis" by PAULA SCHWARTZ, September 15, 2010
- ^ Nutt, Amy Ellis (April 18, 2011). "Kelly McGillis traded Hollywood for Collingswood - and a contented existence". The Star-Ledger: pp. 23, 25. http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/04/kelly_mcgillis_traded_hollywoo.html. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
- ^ Seabrook House web site
