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Considered as the icon of the “Swinging London” era, Julie Christie is renowned for her performance in “Afterglow” and “Away From Her.” Here are some interesting facts about her.
- Born as Julie Frances Christie on April 14, 1940 in Chabua, Assam, India.
- She was born to Rosemary a painter and Francis St. John Christie.
- Her father ran a tea plantation in the place where she was born.
- She has a younger brother Clive and a half sister June who is now deceased.
- Clive Christie is a professor of SouthEast Asian studies in Hull University.
- Her father had an affair with an Indian Woman who worked as a tea picker in his plantation. June was born to them.
- Due to the affair Francis and Rosemary separated when Christie was a child.
- She resided with her mother in rural Wales and attended all girls Wycombe Court School.
- She played as “the Dauphin” in a George Bernard Shaw’s production “Saint Joan.”
- She has stated that her dream to become an actor was ignited when she snuck out of her Paris boarding school and spent a day with a complete stranger who was an aspiring actor. She was only nine at that time.
- She started dating actor Terence Stamp during early 1960s.
- In 1965 she got engaged to Don Bessant who is a lithographer and an art teacher.
- She started dating actor Warren Beatty for several years during which they both acted together in few films.
- She is now married to Duncan Campbell, a journalist from “The Guardian.” They are married since 1979 but the date of marriage is unknown.
- She is suffering from Autobiographic Amnesia, a rare form of memory loss. She had turned down offers to act in movies for fear of not able to remember the lines.
- About her condition she said,” I'm not sure what the condition is, but it makes learning my lines very difficult, so I am happy to stay away from films and stage work. It's a bit sad. Now I can't remember any bad things, only the good things, if I can remember anything about my past at all."
- In the late 1960s her financial advisers in a bid to reduce her tax liability adopted a very complex scheme, resulting in a court case Black Nominees Vs Nicol. She lost the case.
- Time Magazine in 1967 said, “What Julie Christie wears has more real impact on fashion than all the clothes of ten Best Dressed woman combined.”
- Al Pacino once stated that Christie is his favourite actress.
- She made her professional stage debut in 1957. Her first screen appearance was for British Television.
- She was considered for the role of “Honey Rider” in the James Bond movie “Dr.No,” but the producer Broccoli thought her breasts were too small.
- In the same year she got her breakthrough role as “Liz” in the movie “Billy Liar” for which she got nominated for BAFTA Award.
- Ironically she was not the first choice for the character Liz. Only after another actress dropped out, she was considered.
- In 1965 she was cast in a leading role as a amoral model in the movie “Darling.” She was cast only after Shirley Maclaine dropped out.
- She won the Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her performance in “Darling.”
- She became the 62nd actress to receive the Oscar award when she won in 1965.
- In the year 2006, Premiere Magazine ranked her performance in “Darling” at #75 among the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
- She also won Variety Club Of Great Britain Film Actress Award for her performance in “Darling.”
- She acted as Lara Antipova in David Lean’s movie “Doctor Zhivago.” It was a box office hit and the role became her most famous.
- She had turned down the role of Lara several times before finally accepting it.
- She starred in Francois Truffaut’s movie “Fahrenheit 451” in a dual role. Her former lover Terence Stamp was to act alongside her but he backed out due to emotional reasons.
- In 1971 starred in Robert Altman’s movie “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” as Mrs. Miller, a brothel madam alongside Warren Beatty.
- She won nomination for Best Actress Award at the Oscars for the second time for her performance as Mrs. Miller.
- This was the first time Christie and Beatty worked together and they were in a relationship at that time.
- They went on to act in two more movies: “Shampoo” and “Heaven can wait,” both after the relationship ended in 1974.
- She had turned down many important film roles such as “Anne of the Thousand Days,” “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?” “Nicholas and Alexandra” and “Reds” all of which went on to get Oscar nominations for the actresses who played them.
- She was the first choice to play presidential widow Liz Cassidy in the movie “The Greek Tycoon.” The role was modelled on Jacqueline Kennedy. She was offered 1 million dollars for the role which she turned down.
- She became a member of the jury at the 29th Berlin international Film Festival in 1979.
- The character Louise Bryant in the movie “Reds” which she turned down was written by Warren Beatty keeping her in mind. Beatty’s latest lover Diane Keaton played the part and won the Best Actress Oscar nomination.
- It took Beatty 13 years to write the script for “Reds.” He got inspired by the trip to Russia accompanied by Christie.
- She initially signed for the movie “American Gigolo” when Richard Gere was also signed. When he was ditched in favour of John Travolta she quit the project. Later Travolta too dropped out and Gere was called back but Christie was not offered the role back.
- She signed for a domestic comedy drama “Afterglow” by Alan Rudolph. She played as an unhappy house wife dealing with marital problems. She won her third Oscar nomination for her performance.
- Lara Flynn Boyle co-star in “Afterglow” was actually named after Christie’s character name in “Doctor Zhivago.”
- In 1997 she also received BAFTA Fellowship, highest honour from British Academy.
- In 2006 she played the lead character suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the movie “Away From Her.” The movie is based on the short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain.”
- The movie was directed by Sarah Polley who once co-starred with Christie in a movie sometime ago. Christie had initially rejected the offer but was persuaded by Polley for over a year before finally accepting it.
- The movie created an Oscar buzz based on the performance of the lead characters and Polley the director which prompted Lion’s Gate to buy the film at Toronto Film Festival and release it in 2007 to build the momentum for the awards.
- She won the Best Actress Award from the National Board of Review, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and the Genie Award for Best Actress for the performance in the film “Away from Her.”
- She received her fourth Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 80th Academy Awards on 22 January 22, 2008.
- She is active in social causes like animal rights and environmental protection.
