True Grit is a winner – Jeff Bridges finds himself on A-list

Jeff Bridges is probably the most non-commercial actor you will find in Hollywood. He consistently chooses challenging roles with substance and has resisted the temptation to seek out easy money vehicles. It can be a difficult road in a business that lives or dies on box office receipts. But in his own understated way, Jeff Bridges, after 40 years in the Hollywood mainstream, is the force to be reckoned with this weekend.

True Grit won the Friday box office sweepstakes with $8.2 million, bringing its total take to over $62 million and easily covering a budget of $38 million ... and it's still rolling. Jeff Bridges is showing that he and Westerns are a winning combination. Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges must be smiling.

Trailer for True Grit Trailer for True Grit

Born in Los Angeles in 1949, the son of established Hollywood star Lloyd Bridges, you would be hard pressed to find someone who had better luck in life’s lottery. Given the excesses of his generation, given the difficulties that kids of wealthy, famous parents have in maintaining a sense of normalcy and relevancy, Jeff Bridges has emerged as a remarkable exception to the Hollywood norm.

Jeff Bridges’ love of his parents and their role in his acting success became known to everyone when he won the Oscar for his role in 2010’s Crazy Heart. “My dad and mom loved show business so much. I can remember my mom getting all of us kids to entertain at her parties, you know, my dad sitting me on his bed and teaching me all of the basics of acting (at age nine) for a role in Sea Hunt … I feel an extension of them. This is honoring them as much as it is me.”

But above and beyond his legacy, Jeff’s 33 year marriage to Susan Bridges is testament to how he has made good choices in life as well as movies, and that will make all the difference.

John Villec is at whooznext.com