Rene Russo Biography
Born: February 17, 1954
Former model Rene Russo's first dramatic role of note was on the 1987 TV series Sable, in which she played Eden Kendall, the literary agent to a children's author-turned-crimefighter. Her breakthrough theatrical feature was Major_League (1989), wherein the statuesque blonde actress was saddled with portraying the "misguided" heroine who foolishly prefers marriage with a stable, secure lawyer over a relationship with boozing, philandering ballplayer Tom_Berenger.
Since then, happily, the message conveyed by Russo's characters has been "Don't mess with me: I can cope." In One_Good_Cop (1991), she played the strongly supportive wife of police officer Michael_Keaton, for whom she successfully tackles the sudden responsibility of caring for the surly children of Keaton's late partner. In Lethal_Weapon_3 (1993), Russo could be seen as the karate-chopping cop who wins the confidence (and the love) of "loose cannon" Mel_Gibson by proudly showing off her line-of-duty wounds and evincing a fascination with the Three Stooges. In In the Line of Fire (1992), Russo was once more partnered on an equal basis with the leading man, in this case Secret Service agent Clint_Eastwood; one of her best scenes featured her wired for sound -- despite a most revealing evening gown -- at a Washington social affair.
Apparently there are still reviewers out there who can't quite grasp the concept of a leading lady who can match her leading man blow for blow in a tight situation. In 1995, some observers seemed surprised that Russo, playing a biohazard-suited military research operative in Outbreak, was "as good as" her male counterparts Dustin_Hoffman and Morgan_Freeman. Despite such ill-founded critical misgivings, Russo has continued to do strong work playing strong women: The acclaimed Get_Shorty (1995) featured her as a B-movie actress, while she re-teamed with Gibson for Ron_Howard's crime thriller Ransom (1996) and Lethal_Weapon_4 (1998). She also played a psychologist who puts the swing back into washed-up golfer Kevin_Costner's game in the well-received Tin_Cup (1996), and generated considerable heat as a crime investigator who hunts and then beds down with art thief Pierce_Brosnan in the 1999 remake of The_Thomas_Crown_Affair. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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