Dying of Politeness: A Memoir

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After studying drama at Boston University, Davis made her acting debut in the film Tootsie (1982) and eventually starred in the thriller The Fly (1986), which proved to be one of her first box office hits. While the fantasy comedy Beetlejuice (1988) brought her to prominence, the drama The Accidental Tourist (1988) earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She established herself as a leading lady with the road film Thelma & Louise (1991), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the sports film A League of Their Own (1992), garnering a Golden Globe Award nomination. However, Davis's roles in the box office failures Cutthroat Island (1995) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), both directed by then-husband Renny Harlin, were followed by a lengthy break and downturn in her career. a b Wilson Hunt, Stacey (May 4, 2016). "Geena Davis on Fighting for Female Representation in Hollywood and the Golden Age of Roles for Women". Vulture . Retrieved August 22, 2020. Beyond acting, Davis has flourished in other areas, as a proponent of feminism and outspoken voice during the #MeToo movement, even founding an institute focused on fostering gender parity in media. I was conditioned to think that I mustn’t ask for things, must never put anyone out; so trained to be insanely polite that I learned to have no needs at all And then the other thing bubbling up during that decade was the media criticism that turned into the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Can you talk about how that began?

Exactly. If I thought I wasn’t being paid attention to, I could be very extroverted, like on my paper route. There was a section of it where there weren’t houses on either side, and when I hit that patch I would start to sing at the top of my lungs. And then the people in the next section would come out of their houses and peek down the hill and say, “What is taking so long? My papers should be here by now!”—and see me down there just bellowing songs. It was very embarrassing when I knew they knew. In 1985, she met her second husband, actor Jeff Goldblum, on the set of Transylvania 6-5000. The couple married on November 1, 1987, and appeared together in two more films: The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy. Davis filed for divorce in October 1990, [58] and it was finalized the following year. [59] In 2022, Davis told People that her relationship with him "was a magical chapter in my life." [60] Geena Davis Launching Bentonville Film Festival to Push for Diversity in Film". Variety . Retrieved January 6, 2015.

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Well, my mom knew from early on that I was going to be extremely tall, and she was on me from the beginning to not slouch my shoulders. Before I even would have thought of slouching my shoulders, she was, like, “You have to stand up straight.” And so I would find ways to curve my hips out, which would maybe make me a little shorter, or perch on things. But I really wanted to be small.

Davis has had four marriages so far including to Jeff Goldblum, her co-star in The Fly. She is single now. Would she like to get married again? “I’m definitely not interested in ever getting married. I mean, it would just be ridiculous. Or maybe I should really go for it, go for like eight marriages,” she laughs. Another thing that was helpful on her journey towards – as she describes it – full-on “baddassery” was taking powerful roles in movies. “It allowed me to practise being a different type of person, somebody who was bold and takes action and speaks up for themselves. I think it was very helpful.” Her elaborate sequel ideas for films she was in were so fun and I wish some of them seen the light of day.As it happened, I had been in a Victoria's Secret catalog, and so they were able to send over beautifully lit, perfectly windblown [photos]," she laughs. "I ended up getting the part without them seeing me in person in a bathing suit."

National Board of Review Awards 1991 Winners". National Board of Review. Archived from the original on March 19, 2004 . Retrieved October 26, 2021. Dying of Politeness may seem like a weird title but once you read this book, the title makes perfect sense. Geena Davis is the nicest person I've probably ever read about. Even when she's telling stories that she thinks don't paint her the best light, I still only saw her kindness....Also Bill Murray really is a terrible person.As a teen-ager, you spent a year on an exchange program in Sweden, which is definitely not something I knew about you. Have you retained your Swedish? I figured out that the creators of the kids’ entertainment didn’t realise there was a gender disparity, they all said, ‘Oh, no, no, that’s not true any more’. And they would name a movie with one female character as proof that there was gender equality. So I decided, if I get the data, I can go to them directly... I could just go privately and politely to them and share the data. I bet on the fact that the data would make them want to do better. And, it absolutely worked.” I’m sorry you had to go through that. There’s advice Dustin Hoffman gave you during the making of Tootsie for how to stave off sexual advances: To say, “Oh, I would love to—you’re very attractive—but I wouldn’t want to ruin the sexual tension between us.” Have you ever passed it on to anyone else?