Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep by Michael Schulman: book review

Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep (2016) is the biography of American actress Meryl Streep in the early years, from 1966 in the Bernards High School’s theatrical productions to 1980 and her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

Each of the seven chapters is headed with the name of a character portrayed by Streep: Mary, Julie, Constance, Isabella, Fredo, Linda (The Deer Hunter), and Joanna (Kramer vs. Kramer). The exception is Fredo, the character played by her partner John Cazale in The Deer Hunter.

Born Mary Louis Streep in 1949, Meryl attended Bernards High School and Vasser College (1969-1971) before being accepted into the Yale School of Drama (1972-1975). Schulman blends Streep’s involvement in amateur drama productions with current events – Vietnam war, Vassar transitioning from an all-girls college to co-ed – and information on the books she read and the people who influence her.

The move to New York at the age of 26, and her relationship from 1975-1978 with actor John Gazale until his death from cancer, and her marriage to sculptor Don Gummer in 1978 are well-documented. But it is her transition from theatrical roles in Broadway and off-Broadway plays to film that are interesting, especially her years in the Yale School of Drama. Her interpretations for improvisations and how she prepares for character roles give an insight into the way she appears on screen.

Her first American screen role, second to her brief scene in Julia (1977), was as Linda, the checkout girl ‘between two guys’ in The Deer Hunter (1978), starring Robert de Niro and Christopher Walken. It was her role as Joanna, fighting for custody of her son Billy, starring opposite Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer that was the springboard to a long career in acting.

Schulman describes Streep as an idiosyncratic beauty, a chameleon, versatile, the ‘accent queen’ and ‘beyond bold’ in her acting techniques. Although the biography is based on extensive and exhaustive documents and interviews with people who worked with Streep, he never interviewed her. So this is a compilation of secondary information. However, he does provide a full list of footnotes and some photographs.

Nominated for 19 Academy Awards (Oscars), she has had more nominations than any actor, and has won three Oscars: Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Best Actress for Sophie’s Choice (1982), and Best Actress in The Iron Lady (2011) portraying British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Schulman does cover the early years comprehensively and tries to bring to light Streep’s development as an actor: her style, techniques, choices, influences, benefactors, props, rehearsals, and delivery, such that the title is quite appropriate – Becoming Meryl Streep. But for those who want more, Schulman deliberately does not venture into Streep’s long career, and stops at 1980 – 36 years short of the continual evolution of Meryl Streep.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).