Today’s the day Jeff Bridges turns 62 years old! Happy birthday, Jeff!

Jeff Bridges

I’ve had a thing for this actor for as long as I can remember. Like so many others, I absolutely adored him in The Big Lebowski, but I think it must have been his performance in the original Tron that introduced me to him. I also remember being enchanted by his roles in The Fisher King and Fearless. During a period where intense male leads were given to actors like Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino and action roles were given to the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeff Bridges had a unique quality that defied comparison.

Jeff comes from a family well established in Hollywood. His father, Lloyd Bridges, started acting in 1936 and continued all the way up until his death in 1998. His role in Airplane! is without a doubt my favorite character in the entire movie. Jeff Bridges brother, Beau Bridges, is also a well known actor, even though he hasn’t had quite the same breakthrough as his younger brother.

Jeff seems to be able to pick and chose his movies pretty much at will, and the history of movies that he’s turned down is a very interesting read. For example, he turned down the role of Indiana Jones, which instead went to Harrison Ford. Imagine what a different world we would be living in if that had gone differently. He was considered for the role of Bruce Wayne in the 1989 version of Batman, a role that instead went to Michael Keaton. He turned down the role of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York, which instead went to Kurt Russell.

Today, he’s involved in filming R.I.P.D. together with Ryan Reynolds, but will then be moving on to record Fordlandia and The Seventh Son. All three movies seem pretty damned interesting, and I’m looking forward to following this man as he continues on his fantastic career.