Phoebe Cates

Cates was born in New York City, to a family of television and Broadway production insiders. She is the daughter of Lily and Joseph Cates (originally Joseph Katz),[3] who was a major Broadway producer and a pioneering figure in television, and who helped create The $64,000 Question.[4][5] Her late uncle, Gilbert Cates, produced numerous television specials, often in partnership with Cates's father, as well as several annual Academy Awards shows. Her father and maternal grandmother were of Russian-Jewish descent; her maternal grandfather was Chinese-Filipino.[6][7][8] Cates' mother was born in Shanghai, China.[9]

Cates attended the Hewitt School, the Professional Children's School, and the Juilliard School.[10] At the age of ten, Cates started modeling, appearing in Seventeen and other teen-oriented magazines. A few years later, she wanted to become a dancer. Eventually, she received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, but quit after a serious injury at age 15.[11] Next, she began a short successful career as a model.[11] Cates claims she dislikes the industry: "It was just the same thing, over and over. After a while, I did it solely for the money."[12]

After ending her modeling then dance careers, Cates decided to begin acting.[11] Although her father was in show business, he was not enthusiastic about his daughter's new career.[11]

Cates had her acting debut in Paradise (1982), which had been filmed in Israel from March to May 1981.[13] In the film, she performed several full-frontal nude scenes while still a minor (age 17). The movie had a plot similar to The Blue Lagoon (1980). She also sang the film's main theme song and recorded an album of the same name. In a 1982 interview, she recalled having trouble with the change of career, because as a model, she had to be conscious of the camera, whereas in front of the movie camera, she could not.[12] Cates later regretted being in the film: "What I learned was never to do a movie like that again."[11] According to her co-star Willie Aames: "She will have nothing to do with the film. She's really upset about it. She won't do any promotion with me."[14]

Later, in 1982, Cates starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), which featured what Rolling Stone has described as "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history".[15] She was quoted as saying that she had the most fun in filming that movie.[11]

The following year, in 1983, Cates was in the comedy Private School (1983), which co-starred Matthew Modine and Betsy Russell, and for which she sang on two songs of the film's soundtrack, "Just One Touch" and "How Do I Let You Know".

In 1984, Cates starred in the TV mini-series Lace, based on a novel which Shirley Conran had written. She played the role of Lili "to get away from a sameness in her movie portrayals".[16] During her audition, she so impressed the writer that he wanted to hire her there and then.[16] Cates struggled with the portrayal of a bitter movie star because, despite her character's vicious persona, she intended for the audience to sympathize with her.[17] She did not read Conran's novel, on which the movie was based, because she did not want to have a "fixed image".[17] Her best-known line in the film, "Which one of you bitches is my mother?", was named the greatest line in television history by TV Guide in 1993.[18]

In 1985, Cates appeared off-Broadway in Rich Relations, written by David Henry Hwang, at the Second Stage Theatre.[19]

Later film roles for Cates have been more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, such as the two Gremlins films and the film Drop Dead Fred (1991). Her face has graced the covers of teen magazines such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, and others.

In 1994, Cates starred in the fact-based romantic comedy-drama Princess Caraboo (1994). This was also the last film in which she co-starred with her husband, Kevin Kline.

In 1994, Cates retired from acting to raise her children, Owen and Greta.

In 2001, Cates briefly ended her retirement for one film, The Anniversary Party (2001), as a favor to her best friend and former Fast Times at Ridgemont High castmate Jennifer Jason Leigh, who directed the film.

In 2015, Cates provided the voice of her Gremlins character Kate Beringer for the video game Lego Dimensions.[20]

In the early 1980s, Cates shared an apartment in Greenwich Village with her then boyfriend Stavros Merjos. She met him in 1979 after she went to her first night at Studio 54 with family friend Andy Warhol.[12]

In 1983, during her audition for a role (awarded to Meg Tilly) in The Big Chill, Cates met actor Kevin Kline. They were both dating other people at the time, but became romantically involved two years later. In 1989, they married, and she changed her name to Phoebe Cates Kline.[21] The Klines moved to the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York across Fifth Avenue from Central Park where they raised their two children, son Owen Joseph Kline (born 1991) and daughter Greta Simone Kline (born 1994). Owen and Greta appeared, with their parents, in the 2001 movie The Anniversary Party. Owen also appeared in the 2005 film The Squid and the Whale, and Greta pursued a musical career using the stage name Frankie Cosmos.[22]

In 2005, Cates opened a boutique, Blue Tree, on Madison Avenue in New York.[23]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phoebe Cates.

• Phoebe Cates at IMDb
• Blue Tree Cates's NY boutique website