Brittany Murphy Still Deserves Your Attention
December 21, 2019 11:30 AM Subscribe
"Murphy wasn’t quite pretty enough to be a leading lady" Uh...sorry? I think I know what the writer is getting at, she wasn't in the mould of the Dunsts/Paltrows of the time, but Brittany Murphy was gorgeous, are you kidding me?
(And talented as hell, but we are all discerning enough here to understand that)
posted by Gin and Broadband at 12:35 PM on December 21, 2019 [18 favorites]
(And talented as hell, but we are all discerning enough here to understand that)
posted by Gin and Broadband at 12:35 PM on December 21, 2019 [18 favorites]
She did not mention The Dead Girl, which is when I fell in love with Brittany Murphy (also featuring Toni Colette, Giovanni Ribisi, Piper Laurie, Mary Steenburgen). (A mediocre interview with her about the part in which she just seems like a nice person)
posted by crush at 12:45 PM on December 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by crush at 12:45 PM on December 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
I hope not sporadically.
posted by humboldt32 at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by humboldt32 at 12:59 PM on December 21, 2019 [16 favorites]
Yeah, I agree that straight calling someone "not pretty enough" as if it were a citeable fact with a superscript number and a reference is a little gross.
posted by Sterros at 1:00 PM on December 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Sterros at 1:00 PM on December 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
I do think that this article didn't mention her as Luanne on King of the Hill is a gigantic oversight. It's such a delightful performance -- she brings such a sweetness and kindness to a character that I think would've just become the butt of jokes without her.
I always liked her and I do agree it would've been interesting to see where she could've gone in this era if she had lived.
posted by darksong at 1:02 PM on December 21, 2019 [28 favorites]
I always liked her and I do agree it would've been interesting to see where she could've gone in this era if she had lived.
posted by darksong at 1:02 PM on December 21, 2019 [28 favorites]
There's a lot of Brittany love in the Riding in Cars With Boys episode of This Had Oscar Buzz podcast (with the marvellous Bowen Yang). "My daughter's a tramp!"
posted by Gin and Broadband at 1:21 PM on December 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Gin and Broadband at 1:21 PM on December 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 1:24 PM on December 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 1:24 PM on December 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Wow, this article had a lot of backhanded compliments! More than just calling her not pretty enough but a dig about her accent (as though actors can’t change theirs to fit a part) or speculating that her death did more for her fame than living would have. It was overall a weird way to argue that she was talented and deserves to be remembered.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 4:33 PM on December 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 4:33 PM on December 21, 2019 [13 favorites]
Yeah, that's not cool. I thought she was gorgeous. Great looking, but more importantly, had screen charisma. I found myself always drawn to look at her when she was on screen. And not in a leering way—she was intriguing to look at. She had character.
Too young.
.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:41 PM on December 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Too young.
.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:41 PM on December 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
I saw her on Broadway in A View From The Bridge where she more than held her own with Anthony LaPaglia and Alisson Janney. She was a tremendously talented actress and her death was a huge loss.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:21 PM on December 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:21 PM on December 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
She was a really good actress and her death was so shocking. She deserved better -- and she definitely deserved a better "appreciation" essay than this one.
posted by Mchelly at 6:31 PM on December 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 6:31 PM on December 21, 2019 [10 favorites]
The author of this piece is clueless.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:02 PM on December 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 8:02 PM on December 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
A very entertaining and charming lady who was not appreciated enough in her time.
I forgot how weird the circumstances of her death were - and her husband died in the same house of the same "pneumonia" six months later.
Some 'splainin' needs doing there, which I'm sure will or already has come in the form of a 75-episode podcast with 200 ads for Skinny Sticks, Casper mattress and obtuse podcast teasers ("how is a deer like a 350 cubic inch V-8 engine? Come listen to us interview people and exploit your urge to find causative connections to relieve your existential terror at an unknowable universe!")
posted by lon_star at 4:59 AM on December 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
I forgot how weird the circumstances of her death were - and her husband died in the same house of the same "pneumonia" six months later.
Some 'splainin' needs doing there, which I'm sure will or already has come in the form of a 75-episode podcast with 200 ads for Skinny Sticks, Casper mattress and obtuse podcast teasers ("how is a deer like a 350 cubic inch V-8 engine? Come listen to us interview people and exploit your urge to find causative connections to relieve your existential terror at an unknowable universe!")
posted by lon_star at 4:59 AM on December 22, 2019 [7 favorites]
The author of this piece is clueless.
The author was trying to write something nice and complimentary about the subject and appears to unfortunately have absorbed some frankly pretty standard cultural habits about beauty assessment and such and stepped in it a few times. Those deserve some calling out but calling the author clueless is being much worse than they were. They made some perhaps unconscious unintentionally back-handed compliments.
You on the other hand....
posted by srboisvert at 8:23 AM on December 22, 2019
I do think that this article didn't mention her as Luanne on King of the Hill is a gigantic oversight.
An article that keeps talking about her "twang" doesn't mention the VA role that she was perfect for and did for twelve years? WTF.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:20 AM on December 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
An article that keeps talking about her "twang" doesn't mention the VA role that she was perfect for and did for twelve years? WTF.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:20 AM on December 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
I got nostalgic and fired up some King of the Hill recently, I picked a random episode and it was a Lucky + Luanne episode, and I realized their VA's are both dead and got very bummed and had to turn it off.
Bleh.
posted by lkc at 12:09 PM on December 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Bleh.
posted by lkc at 12:09 PM on December 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Her husband died six months after she did, also of pneumonia, also accompanied by anemia.
posted by jamjam at 12:54 PM on December 22, 2019
posted by jamjam at 12:54 PM on December 22, 2019
I think the “clueless” comment was because Murphy is likely best known for the movie Clueless!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 2:12 PM on December 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 2:12 PM on December 22, 2019 [8 favorites]
You on the other hand....
Eoww. AS IF!
posted by ipsative at 3:00 PM on December 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
Eoww. AS IF!
posted by ipsative at 3:00 PM on December 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
Her husband died six months after she did, also of pneumonia, also accompanied by anemia.
At the time he was widely blamed for her death as I recall, then it turned out they'd both been having health problems and had even had the house tested for mold a couple months before she died. Such an odd case and such a tragedy, she was a great actress.
posted by fshgrl at 7:13 PM on December 22, 2019
At the time he was widely blamed for her death as I recall, then it turned out they'd both been having health problems and had even had the house tested for mold a couple months before she died. Such an odd case and such a tragedy, she was a great actress.
posted by fshgrl at 7:13 PM on December 22, 2019
I enjoyed Uptown Girls way more than I thought I would, and it was basically all due to Murphy
posted by numaner at 11:37 AM on December 23, 2019
posted by numaner at 11:37 AM on December 23, 2019
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posted by CygnusXII at 11:57 AM on December 21, 2019 [17 favorites]