NewsMeg Ryan: The Queen of the 90s turns 60

Meg Ryan: The Queen of the 90s turns 60

Few actresses have shaped the romantic comedy genre like Meg Ryan. Warm congratulations from writer and fan Ben Bennett.

What if Meg Ryan played the lead roles in the films “Pretty Woman”, “Ghost” and “The Silence of the Lambs”? They were offered to her, but she declined with thanks at the beginning of the 1990s. Instead, Julia Roberts taps to world fame as the charming prostitute Vivian Ward at Richard Gere’s side, while Demi Moore practices pottery with Patrick Swayze and Jodie Foster faces the human monster Hannibal Lecter in the form of Anthony Hopkins.

Nonetheless, in just ten years she has an unprecedented career and is achieved with worldwide successes such as “Harry and Sally”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, “EM @ il for you”, “French Kiss”, “City of Angels” and “When a Man Loves a Woman “to the queen of a film genre that is now practically extinct: romantic comedy. Ryan is everybody’s darling – and is liked, adored and loved by women and men around the world alike.

The likeable girl Next Door from Fairfield, Connecticut, becomes the most successful actress of a decade alongside Julia Roberts. A success garnished with top fees of up to $ 15 million. The Australian pop band Savage Garden dedicates the song “All around me” to her – and even a haircut is named after her: Meg by celebrity hairstylist Sally Hershberger.

The Meg Ryan Trilogy

If you want to spend the cold autumn with a cup of tea on the sofa, you can be sure of an atmospheric conversation with Meg Ryan. The films by screenwriter Nora Ephron, jokingly called the “Meg Ryan Trilogy”, have been consolation for the cold season since they were released. Have fun!

Harry and Sally. 1989. Directed by Rob Reiner
The classic that everyone knows. Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) have been arguing for years over the question of whether men and women can really be friends.

Sleepless in Seattle. 1993. Directed by Nora Ephron
Recently widowed Sam (Tom Hanks) ‘s son calls a talk show to find a new wife for his father. Annie (Meg Ryan) falls in love with the idea of the romantic stranger.

EM @ il for you. 1998. Directed by Nora Ephron
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks meet again. Here, however, as business rivals who unknowingly fall in love with each other on the Internet.

The nineties are forever associated with Meg Ryan. “You are a rarity among women, Kate,” says her fond boss in “Kate & Leopold” to her: “You are like a man: a man who understands women – their desires, their inclinations. You understand it – but you don’t really belong to it. “

Her trademark also matched this – the graceful gait, which always had a bit of a wink, as if she were playing the lady just to piss us off.

But the cinema nineties are behind us like the golden dream of a perfect summer. The lively romantic comedies have gradually disappeared from the cinemas. And so the time after the unforgettable summer of the nineties tells us a new, somewhat murky story: the second part of the Meg Ryan story.

With the film “Kate & Leopold” she experienced her last major success for the time being at the beginning of the two thousand meter peaks – but despite a record salary, this was much more modest than the one in the nineties.

The new decade begins privately with the divorce from her partner Dennis Quaid – a ten-year medial dream marriage breaks up after Meg Ryan’s affair with Russell Crowe, which begins during the filming of the film “Proof of Life” and should not last long.

1989. Eine Freundschaft mit Spannungen.

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1989. A friendship with tension.

Suddenly Meg Ryan has arrived where normal people live – in reality. The audience does not forgive her for her misstep. Because until then she will be no less than Hollywood’s poster girl for the fact that great love actually exists. But now she is the fallen star. Suddenly nothing can do it right. Doris Day of the nineties is not really gaining a foothold again, neither professionally nor privately. Most recently she was in a relationship “on and off” with singer John Mellencamp.

Professionally, with the thriller “In The Cut”, she is experimenting with a huge failure – both critics and fans are tearing the film, which for Meg Ryan should be an escape from her usual genre. Even her first and only directorial work with “Ithaca” more than ten years later does not trigger any storms of enthusiasm and seems a little out of date.

But what if Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra from Fairfield, Connecticut, had never set out to conquer Hollywood and the hearts of moviegoers around the world? Is it too much to ask to bow to this lifetime achievement for a moment? To say thank you for all the wonderful moments this actress gave us? As quick-witted Sally Albright in “Harry and Sally”, as the dreamy Annie Reed in “Sleepless in Seattle”, as Alice, addicted to alcohol in “When a Man Loves a Woman”, as Kate, who was rudely thrown out of her American dream in “French Kiss” at the side of Kevin Kline or as a doctor Maggie Rice, who falls in love with just such an angel in “City of Angels”.

Meg Ryan will remain not just an icon but the queen of these golden years. She will be 60 years old on November 19th. Happy Birthday!

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