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Kevin Kline is a classically trained Shakespearean actor who also has solid comedic chops. He studied at Julliard and performed in several productions of Shakespeare’s plays including Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, and Hamlet. However, he’s best known as the Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1988 farcical British comedy A Fish Called Wanda.
Kline is a true talent with a diverse range. He spent the 1970s and 1980s acting on Broadway, winning two Tony Awards before he made the transition to film as the tormented Nathan opposite Meryl Streep’s Sophie in 1982’s Sophie’s Choice. Kline was nominated for the 1983 Golden Globe for New Star of the Year and the BAFTA for Most Outstanding Newcomer To Film. Kline hit his stride appearing in several films for director Lawrence Kasdan in the 1980s and early 1990s including The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, and French Kiss. More recently, Kline has returned to his roots, appearing in adaptations of Shakespeare including King Lear and As You Like It. He also played the lead in a Broadway production of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac, and is one of the most memorable voice actors in Bob’s Burgers.
In addition to his Oscar and three Tony Awards, Kline has received four Drama Desk Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Gotham Award, and a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award. He’s been nominated for two BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. On a personal front, Kline has been married to Fast Times At Ridgemont High’s Phoebe Cates since 1989. They have two children, Owen and Greta. These are the best Kevin Kline movies.
6 Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon is a 1991 film in which Kevin Kline stars as Mack, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles. On his way home from a Lakers game, his car breaks down, and he’s targeted by muggers in a bad neighborhood late at night. A tow truck driver named Simon (Danny Glover) talks the muggers out of their plans when he arrives to tow Mack’s car. Even though Mack and Simon have nothing in common, Mack feels compelled to befriend him. The underrated Grand Canyon features a strong ensemble cast (including a wonderful Steve Martin) experiencing random events that highlight the race and class differences that separate people in the same city.
5 The Big Chill
The Big Chill is a 1983 film about a group of baby boomers who are alumni of the University of Michigan. They reunite 15 years after graduation after their friend Alex (Kevin Costner) dies by suicide. Kevin Kline starred alongside Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. Kline plays Harold Cooper. The group all stays at his and his wife (Glenn Close) Sarah Cooper’s estate in South Carolina. The film explores how life has changed for this group of 30-somethings since their heyday in college during the 1960s, and is considered a classic of the baby boomer generation.
4 In & Out
In & Out is a 1997 movie that was actually inspired by Tom Hanks’ Oscar acceptance speech for his role in Philadelphia during which he gave credit to his high school drama coach and a former classmate, saying that they were “two of the finest gay Americans, two wonderful men that I had the good fortune to be associated with.” Kevin Kline plays Howard Brackett, a high school English literature teacher in Indiana. He’s engaged to a fellow teacher named Emily (the phenomenal Joan Cusack, who was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role).
Howard’s former student Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for playing a gay soldier in a movie called To Serve and Protect. During his acceptance speech, he thanks Howard and says, “…and he’s gay.” Howard’s fiancée, family, friends, students, and co-workers are shocked. Their reactions have nothing on how Howard reacts. He vehemently reassures everyone that he’s heterosexual. That is, of course, not the case, and Howard goes on a journey of self-discovery after admitting he’s gay while at the altar to marry Emily. In and Out is notable for featuring a 12-second kiss between Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck, something Hollywood had refrained from.
3 Sophie’s Choice
Sophie’s Choice was released in 1982 and is Kevin Kline’s first feature film. The plot centers on Sophie Zawistowski, a Polish immigrant with a dark secret. She lives in a boarding house in Brooklyn with her moody and tempestuous lover, Nathan Landau (Kline), who she met soon after she immigrated to the U.S. Nathan is jealous and has violent mood swings, while she is plagued by memories of the concentration camps in Poland and the loss of her children. Kline and Meryl Streep are phenomenal in this haunting, tragic film.
2 Dave
In 1993’s Dave, Kevin Kline plays Dave Kovic. He runs a temp employment agency in Georgetown and impersonates President Bill Mitchell as a side job. He’s approached by a Secret Service Agent to impersonate Mitchell after a speech, telling him it’s a security measure. In reality, it’s to cover up the fact that Mitchell snuck off with a staff member he was having an affair with. Mitchell has a stroke while having sex, and Dave is coerced into keeping up the ruse as the president. Government shenanigans are afoot and Dave is an unwitting part of their plan. However, Dave charms everyone he comes into contact with, including Mitchell’s estranged wife, Ellen (Sigourney Weaver). It’s a delightful, fun little gem.
1 A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 comedy starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin as a gang of diamond thieves who double cross each other in an attempt to find the stolen diamonds the gang leader hid. Kline plays Otto West, a mean-spirited and ignorant Anglophobe. He’s dating con artist Wanda Gershwitz (Curtis), but they hide this fact from the gang leader so that Wanda can attempt to seduce him for information. A Fish Called Wanda was a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $188 million ($471 million adjusted for inflation) worldwide. The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and Kline won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the morally reprehensible, hilarious scumbag Otto.
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