10 THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT
JEFF BRIDGES
JEFF BRIDGES’ family connection helped him score his first notable screen appearance — in father Lloyd’s TV series Sea Hunt. But he came into his own with an
Academy Award nomination for
1971’s The Last
Picture Show — and gained a cult following as The Dude in 1998’s The Big Lebowski. Here are ten things you don’t know about
Jeff, whose latest project — Bad Times at the El Royale — sees the 68-year-old actor portraying an aging crook masquerading as a priest.
His childhood crush was ’60s starlet Tuesday Weld.
He played a younger version of his father’s character in the 1969 TV movie Silent Night, Lonely Night.
He met wife Susan — who he married in 1977 — while she was working as a waitress in Montana, where he filmed Rancho Deluxe.
He voiced Prince Lir in 1982’s animated fantasy film The Last Unicorn.
He, as well as Nick Nolte, were considered for the part of Sonny Crockett on Miami
Vice — but Don Johnson won out over both of them.
While shooting ’80s flop Heaven’s Gate, he’d often play guitar with co-star Kris Kristofferson between takes.
He named two of his ’90s movies — American Heart and Fearless — as his favorites.
He’s played characters with the first name Jack seven times and with the surname Jackson four times.
L.A.–born Jeff is a big fan of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.
His Montecito, Calif., home was severely damaged by mudslides in 2018 — 24 years after his L.A. home was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake.