| Biography 
Jessica Lange was born in 1949, in Cloquet,  Minnesota,  USA,  where
  her   father   worked  as  a  traveling  salesman.  She  obtained  a
  scholarship to  study  art  at  the  University  of  Minnesota,  but
  instead  went  to  Paris  to  study  drama.  She  moved to New York,
  working as a model, until producer 'Dino De  Laurentiis'  (qv)  cast
  her  as  the  female  lead  in  _King  Kong  (1976)_  (qv). The film
  attracted much unfavorable comment and as a  result  Lange  was  off
  the  screen for three years. She was given a small but showy part in
  ‘Bob Fosse’ (qv)’s _All That Jazz  (1979)_  (qv),  before  giving  a
  memorable  performance  in  'Bob  Rafelson'  (qv)'s  _Postman Always
  Rings Twice, The_  (1981)  (qv),  as  an  adulterous  waitress.  The
  following  year  she  won rave reviews for her exceptional portrayal
  of actress 'Frances Farmer' (qv) in  _Frances  (1982)_  (qv)  and  a
  Best  Supporting  Actress  Academy  Award  for  her  work in 'Sydney
  Pollack' (qv)'s _Tootsie (1982)_ (qv)  (as  a  beautiful  soap-opera
  actress).  She was also outstanding as country singer Patsy Cline in
  ‘Karel Reisz’ (qv)’s _Sweet Dreams (1985)_ (qv) and as a lawyer  who
  defends  her  father  and  discovers  his past in _Music Box (1989)_
  (qv). Other important films include 'Martin Scorsese'  (qv)'s  _Cape
  Fear  (1991)_ (qv) (as a frightened housewife) and 'Tony Richardson'
  (qv)'s _Blue Sky (1994)_ (qv), for which  she  won  a  Best  Actress
  Academy  Award  as  the  mentally  unbalanced  wife  of  a  military
  officer. She made her Broadway debut in  1992,  playing  Blanche  in
  'Tennessee Williams' (qv)' ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.
 Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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