Phoebe Cates starred in many movies, such as “Gremlins” and “Drop Dead Fred,” but she is best known for her famous pool scene in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” from 1982.
However, Phoebe Cates left Hollywood more than 20 years ago. Nowadays, she has a regular job that she really enjoys.
Phoebe Belle Cates was born on July 16, 1963, in New York City. When she was a young girl, she went to private schools and studied ballet at Juilliard.
Acting was a big part of Phoebe’s family. Her father, Joe Cates, was a producer and director, her uncle was the president of the Director’s Guild, her brother used to be an actor, and her sister, Valerie, worked in theater.
Phoebe wanted to be a dancer when she was younger, but she had to stop after a knee injury.
At 14, Phoebe Cates started modeling and did pretty well. She was even on the cover of Seventeen magazine four times. But she didn’t really enjoy it and wanted to try something new.
“It was just the same thing, over and over. After a while, I did it solely for the money,” Phoebe said about her short modeling career.
One night, at a party at New York’s famous Studio 54, she met her film agent. After that, she trained with Robert Ravan, who founded The Actors’ Circle in New York.
“I just knew that I didn’t want to go to college. I thought if I could get a few movie roles, it would be a great way to avoid college. Seriously, it’s true,” Phoebe told The Daily Item in 1985.
Phoebe also trained with Alice Spivack at the H.B. Studios. She made her acting debut in 1982, playing Sarah in “Paradise.” Less than a year later, she starred in “Experienced” and then “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” which featured the famous swimming pool scene.
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High” was a big hit with teenagers and became an important part of pop culture. It’s especially famous for one scene that Rolling Stone magazine called “the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history.”
As a friend of mine said, that scene made a lot of teenage boys’ hearts beat faster than they should have!
In 1982, Phoebe shared her thoughts on acting. “In this business, if a girl wants a career, she has to be willing to strip. If you’ve got a good body, then why not show it?” she said.
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High” had an impressive cast, including future stars like Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Eric Stoltz, and Forest Whitaker.
Jennifer Jason Leigh reflected on the film, saying, “Well, it was a funny thing because we were all so young when we made it. Then it came out and was this big hit. You’d go to the theater, and people would say the lines along with it. People had obviously seen the movie over and over again,” she told The Daily News.
Later on, Phoebe continued working in theater and starred in “Private School” as Christine Ramsey in 1983. She also co-starred in Steven Spielberg’s “Gremlins” in 1984.
Phoebe met Kevin Kline, a well-known theater actor, while auditioning for the 1983 film “The Big Chill.” Although she didn’t get the role, she did meet her future husband.
Kevin was 16 years older than Phoebe, but they didn’t start dating until two years after they first met. Kevin hired Phoebe’s former assistant and asked for help to ask Phoebe out.
In 1989, Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline got married in New York City when she was 25 and he was 41. They had their first child, Owen Joseph, in 1991 and their daughter, Greta Simone, in 1994.
By 2017, the couple had been married for 27 years, and many people wondered how they stayed so happy together for so long. “We take care of the marriage,” Kline said.
Although Phoebe was successful, she decided to step away from acting after having their children. In the 1990s, she gradually left the entertainment industry.
In 1998, Phoebe told Playboy that she and her husband had agreed to alternate their acting jobs so that their children would always have one parent at home.
Kevin Kline mentioned that even when it was Phoebe Cates’ turn to work, she often chose to stay home with their children. Although she did some acting occasionally, she was more often seen with her husband at red-carpet events, as he continued acting regularly.
In 2005, Phoebe opened a store called Blue Tree near Carnegie Hall. The store sells fragrances, clothing, and gifts.
Phoebe dedicated herself to running the store full-time, often working there personally or searching for new products to sell. Today, you can visit her store at 1283 Madison Avenue in New York City, located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she also lives.
And just so you know, Phoebe still looks amazing!
What do you think of when you hear Phoebe Cates’ name? I always thought she was a pretty good actress, but the first things that come to mind are her shower scene in the cave in “Paradise” and the bikini scene in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
Rоdео stаr’s 3-yеаr-оld sоn diеs twо wееks аftеr trаgiс rivеr ассidеnt
Levi Wright, the young son of rodeo star Spencer Wright, has died.
The three-year-old died after suffering a trаumаtic brain injury from a near-drowning incident on May 21.
Levi was hospitalized at a Salt Lake City hospital after accidentally driving a toy tractor into a river near the family’s home on May 21. Local law enforcement found Levi unconscious about a mile downstream.
Although he was initially declared brain dеаd and not expected to survive, the boy began showing signs of improvement.
“LEVI WOKE UP! I am shook, we don’t know much but the doctor said it was okay for me to get excited about that and I AM! My baby is so tough!” his mother Kallie Wright wrote on Facebook.
Unfortunately, the following day the results of an MRI “wasn’t good.”
“We’re shattered but it is just images that suggest a certain quality of life. Our real teller of all will be what Levi does over the course of a few days,” Kallie shаrеd.
As Levi continued his fight in the hospital, his family and friends continued asking for prayers.
On June 2, Kallie shаrеd devastating news.
“After several sleepless nights, lots of research, multiple conversations with the world’s best neurologists & millions of prayers we are here in the face of our biggest fear,” she wrote. “Levi showed us just enough to buy us time for all of this. We prayed those things were him defying odds & proving to us that he wanted to stay here but we see now he wanted to give us time to find peace with letting him go.”
After countless tests, scans, and consultations, the Wright family took Levi off life support.
The following day, June 3, a family friend, Mindy Sue Clark, confirmed on Facebook that Levi had died.
“I cannot even begin to explain how hard the last two weeks have been. From the moment my phone rang the night of his accident, to last night receiving the message that he had to go. I don’t want to focus on the bad or sad, even though it feels likе someone ripped my heart out and squeezed it right in front of me. I want to focus on the many miracles we all got to bear witness to in those 12 days.”
“The most perfect three year old there ever was. So perfect we didn’t get to keep him. This baby boy moved mountains the last 12 days. He brought so many people together. In a world so dark, we got to see light at the hands of a child. He’s everything his mom and dad could’ve wanted him to be.”
Our prayers are with the Wright family during this extremely difficult time.
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