Diane Lane, 🇺🇸 actress, debuted in ’79’s

Diane Lane, 🇺🇸 actress, debuted in ’79’s “A Little Romance”. Despite potential in “Streets of Fire”, it flopped, but her talent shines on!

When Diane Lane was age 13, George Roy Hill wanted her to star opposite Laurence Olivier in his film “A Little Romance” (1979). At the time, she was working on Broadway for Joseph Papp at the Public Theatre in the original production of “The Runaways.” Both Hill and Papp wanted her, and a series of telegrams among Papp, Hill, Olivier and her father transpired, with Hill, Olivier and Diane’s father Burt, who managed her early in her career, wanting her in the film, and Papp wanting to keep her in the play. She ended up doing the film. Olivier praised his young co-star, calling her the new Grace Kelly. At the same time, Lane was featured on the cover of Time, which declared her one of Hollywood’s “Whiz Kids.”
While filming “The Outsiders” (1983), Lane’s co-star Tom Cruise received the script for “Risky Business” (1983) and asked her to co-star with him in the film as Lana. She stated that her father would “never” let her star as a prostitute, and the role went to Rebecca De Mornay.
Lane’s father passed away shortly before “Unfaithful” (2002, below), in which she gave an Academy Award-nominated performance, was released. He did see a rough cut of the film three weeks before his death. Upon receiving an Academy Award nomination for the film, Lane replied, “The only phone call I really yearn to make is one I can’t, which is to say, ‘Guess what, Dad?'” (IMDb)
Happy Birthday, Diane Lane!