Jeff Dowd on Jeff Bridges
Patrick Goldstein at the LA Times blog “The Big Picture” has this wonderful piece on actor Jeff Bridges:
Jeff Dowd is an indie film producer and promoter who is known to one and all as the Dude, having served in large part as the inspiration for Jeff Bridges’ immortal Dude character in the Coen brothers’ “The Big Lebowski.” Dowd is always brimming with crazy ideas, political rants and is impossible to get off the phone once he gets up a full head of steam. As Roger Ebert once put it, Dowd is “tall, large and shaggy and a boil of enthusiasm.”
So when he checked in the other day, asking if he could offer a tribute to the great acting work Bridges has done over the years, I knew better than to say no. After all, pretty much wherever I go, I find Bridges fans of all stripes and sizes. When I was yakking the other day with Long Beach Press-Telegram basketball writer Frank Burlison, who’s my guru when it comes to high school basketball, just the mention of Bridges’ name sent Frank off on a 20-minute Cicero-style oration on the glories of the actor’s work over the year.
Since Bridges has been so refreshingly modest about his own craft, I thought it only fair to turn the microphone over to Mr. Dowd, who has a pretty intriguing take on what make Bridges such an unique acting talent and righteous human being. As Dowd says in his piece, Bridges has become an American icon who “fulfills the sacred function of the artist, saint, jester and the Holy Fool: helping us see through the illusions of the world.” In other words, a major dude indeed.
Here to read Dowd’s thoughts on Bridges. Great stuff.
What’s your favorite Jeff Bridges movie or role?