Julie Christie: the sixties siren queen of British film

Julie Christie: the sixties siren queen of British film

Given her transcendent combination of beauty and talent, Julie probably could have become the biggest star in the Hollywood firmament, and she actually was at the top of the British A list in the mid-60s, but she was notoriously casual about, perhaps even contemptuous of, her fame. For long periods of her life, she basically lived like a hippie when she wasn't immersed in a role. In the 30-year period between Shampoo in 1976 (Golden Globe nomination) and Finding Neverland in 2005 (BAFTA nomination), she basically stayed away from major roles in big films, although she could have gotten plenty if she had made the slightest effort. The Julie Christie stories abound in the biz: she went incommunicado for long periods; she left large checks uncashed. Occasionally she'd emerge from her cocoon in Wales and appear briefly as a butterfly in order to campaign for some righteous cause or another, then disappear back into country seclusion. As much as Sinatra once did, Julie has earned the right to say "I did it my way."

By the way, somebody who actually knows his stuff wrote an excellent bio of her for IMDb.