So whatever happened to Debra Winger? As it happens, after three Oscar nominations, the star of "Urban Cowboy," "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Terms of Endearment" basically retired seven years ago, at age 39. For fellow actress Rosanna Arquette, that fact was enough to launch a movie. Arquette decided to interview Hollywood`s top actresses to discuss the pressures and limits they face, particularly as they hit the age of 40. Her goal was to figure out what drove Winger from the business.
The result - "Searching for Debra Winger" - is interesting for the honest responses it evoke from women like Sharon Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, Meg Ryan, Holly Hunter, Jane Fonda and Melanie Griffith, among many others.
But the film could be better organised, and Arquette has a distracting habit of rambling when she herself is on camera.
To make the film, Arquette says she just picked up the phone and called women she admired. "Nobody refused," she says, "and there were so many I couldn`t use because we ran out of money."
The actresses range from younger women like Gwyneth Paltrow, who clearly has no problems now ("I love my job!"), to older actresses already bitter and sometimes even struggling for money.
Daryl Hannah, the erstwhile mermaid of "Splash," now 41, speaks of being cast as a mother. "People said, `don`t you mind?` But I was fine with it," Hannah says - until she was given ugly, baggy clothes to wear and an unattractive brown wig. Bureau Report