Simply Streep is your premiere source on Meryl Streep's work on film, television and in the theatre - a career that has won her three Academy Awards and the praise to be one of the world's greatest working actresses. Created in 1999, we have built an extensive collection to discover Miss Streep's work through an archive of press articles, photos and video clips. Enjoy your stay.
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Chronology: 1983

After the success with “Sophie’s Choice”, Meryl Streep went into a complete different direction and took on the role of Karen Silkwood, a blue-collar worker at a Nuclear plant in Oklahoma, who had gathered documents of safety breaches but died under mysterious circumstances before being able to hand them to the press. “Silkwood” was directed by Mike Nichols, who would become a friend and recent collaborator in Streep’s life and career. Nichols cast Kurt Russell as Meryl’s boyfriend and Cher in the role of her roomate and best friend. The singer turned actress was “frightened of meeting Meryl. I thought it was going to be like having an audience with the Pope. Somebody so big she’s out of this world. I mean, me and Meryl Streep? Never! [But] we’d knit, crochet, and joke about men. Meryl and I talked about our kids so much I thought something was wrong with us, that we didn’t have an existence outside of them. Then I realized we were just two proud mothers.”

“Silkwood” proved to be another prime example of Streep’s versatility upon its theatrical release in December of 1983. The film’s hefty box office gross was helped in part by the January 1984 U.S. Surpreme Court decision to reinstate the ten-million-dollar award against the Kerr-McGee Corporation. Meryl Streep received consecutive nominations for the Golden Globe, the British Film Award and the Academy Award. While “Silkwood” went home empty-handed at the Academy Awards, Cher received a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress and often credits her collaboration with Streep and Nichols as the turning point in her acting career.

December 14, 1983
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