Actress Anne Archer on a Role

It’s amazing what a single movie can do for an established performer who lands a meaty role in a hit picture.

Anne Archer, for example, is talented and beautiful and had been a well-known face in Hollywood for years.

Archer, the daughter of actress Marjorie Lord, might have been overlooked because she grew up in and around the film industry. She didn’t burst on the scene as an overnight discovery.

As a result, Archer appeared in such film detritus as “Cancel My Reservation,” “Paradise Alley,” “Good Guys Wear Black,” “Hero at Large,” “Green Ice,” “The All-American Boy,” “Too Scared to Scream” and “Raise the Titanic.”

Such credits could make one feel like her career was going down with the Titanic. Often as not, Archer was the best thing about those pictures.

Then, three years ago, along came “Fatal Attraction,” where she teamed with Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. The film became a social phenomenon.

Cowabunga!

Archer won an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress as the betrayed wife.

Suddenly, the bright, articulate Archer was seen in an entirely different light, a new dimension. No longer was she perceived simply as just another good actress. She had box-office value.

“Fatal Attraction” landed Archer her current role opposite Gene Hackman in the thriller “Narrow Margin.”

She can also be seen with Tom Berenger in “Love at Large” and soon in “Eminent Domain” with Donald Sutherland.

Pleased with her good fortune, Archer sympathizes with other actresses who cannot find worthwhile work in movies.

“There’s such a waste, talent not being utilized,” she said. “Nobody’s writing anything for young actresses. They all deserve to be working.

“Even those established actresses who have a following, who are loved for their work, aren’t acting or are doing thankless roles.

“When Meryl Streep complains that she can’t get certain kinds of roles, you can imagine what it’s like for the rest of us.”

Archer acknowledges that “Fatal Attraction” turned her career around, but not because it was an isolated example of her acting ability.

“I was good in a lot of films that nobody saw,” she said candidly. “You have to be in a film that gets a wide audience. That’s what makes the difference.

“ ‘Fatal Attraction’ made a difference for Glenn (Close). She was an actress of tremendous repute who got a respectable, but not really great salary. She fought for roles and couldn’t do the things she wanted to do.

“Glenn became a big star only when ‘Fatal Attraction’ became a mega-hit, not for her performance, because all her performances have been terrific.

“Great performances may get attention from critics and respect from your peers, but producers won’t hire you for that. They cast performers on the basis of hit box-office pictures that make (the actors) marketable.

“That’s why Meryl doesn’t get the same salary as Tom Cruise. His movies make money even if they’re bad. People will go see him. We haven’t created bigger-than-life female stars. There isn’t a single one right now.”