Margot Kidder as Danielle
SISTERS is a horrific story centering on Danielle (Margot Kidder), a young woman who apparently murders her date, and Grace (Jennifer Salt), a nosy reporter and Danielle's neighbor who sees the whole thing. Things get strange when it is revealed that Danielle was a siamese twin, and her nasty twin sister may have something to do with the murder.
Biography for Margot Kidder
Date of birth
17 October 1948
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
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Born Margret Ruth Kidder to Kendall Kidder, a mining engineer in Yellowknife, Canada, on October 17 1948, Margot was a delightful child who took pride in everything she did. At an early age she became aware of the great emotions she felt towards expressing herself, and thus she caught the acting bug. As a child she wrote explicitly in a diary that she wanted to become a movie star, and that one day it would happen, but she had to overcome something else first. Margot was aware that she was constantly facing mood swings, but wasn't aware why. At odd times she would try to kill herself, first at age 14, and then the next days she would be just fine. The fact that her father's hectic schedule and moving around so much didn't help things. She went to 11 schools in 12 years as a direct result of this. Finally, in an attempt to help Margot with her troubles, her parents sent her to a boarding school, where she took part in school plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, in which she played the lead, Juliet.
After graduation, Margot moved to Los Angeles to start a film career. She found herself dealing with a lot of prejudice, and hotheads, but later found solace with a Canadian agent. This was when she got her first acting job, in the 'Norman Jewison'_ film, Gaily, Gaily (1969). This led to another starring role in the film Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970), in which she co-starred with Gene Wilder. After some harsh words from the film's director, Margot temporarily left films to study acting in New York. There, she found some television work to pay her bills and fees for the acting studies. When the money ran out, she decided it was time to make a second try at acting.
When she arrived on the Hollywood scene, she met up at a screen test with actress Jennifer Salt. This is a friendship that still stands strong today. Margot and Jennifer moved into a lofty beach house on the shores of California and befriended other, then unknown, struggling filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg, Susan Sarandon, among others. This was a house of friends, and at times, a literal circle of friends. Late nights had the hot happening youngsters up till all hours talking around a fire about how they were all going to change the film industry. It was crazy living and within the Christmas season, Margot had become involved with De Palma, and as a Christmas present, he gave her the script to his upcoming motion picture, Sisters (1973). Margot and Salt both had the leads in the film, and it was a huge critical success.
This success had Margot establish her name and talent and in the following years she starred in a string of critically acclaimed films, such as Black Christmas (1974), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), 92 in the Shade (1975), directed by Thomas McGuane, who was also her husband for a brief period, and the timeless tale of self resurrection, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975).
After three years of being a housewife, looking after her daughter, Maggie, and not working, Margot decided it was time to let her emotions take control and get back into acting. Once her marriage to McGuane was over she eyed a script that would change her life forever. Her new agent hooked her up with a little known director named Richard Donner. He was going to be directing a film called Superman (1978), and she auditioned and secured the leading female role of Lois Lane. Superman and Superman II (1980), were to be filmed simultaneously. After the success of Superman she took on more intense roles, of the likes of The Amityville Horror (1979), Willie and Phil (1980). After that, Margot did numerous films, television and theater work throughout the 80s, including Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). When the 90s erupted with the Gulf War, Margot found herself becoming involved in politics. She made a stir in the biz when she bashed the military for their actions in Kuwait. She also appeared in a cameo in the Richard Donner film, Maverick (1994).
In 1996, when Margot was going to write a biography of herself, she began to get paranoid, and her computer contracted a virus. Her manic depression, then took its toll. She panicked, and created problems in her head. This led to her fantasizing that her first husband was going to kill her, so she left her home, and feigned death. She even altered her appearance for dramatic effect. After an intervention took place, Margot got back on her feet and started the mental wellness campaign. Since then she has sustained her career in film, television, and theater, recently appearing in a Canadian stage production of "The Vagina Monologues".
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Trivia
Was in a serious car crash in 1990 and couldn't work for two years. She went bankrupt.
Aunt of actress Janet Kidder. They both appeared in the same episode of "Walk on By" as the younger and older parts of Nikita's mom Roberta in the TV series "Nikita" (1997).
(24 April 1996) Found by Police in a distressed state, hiding in someone's garden claiming she'd been stalked and attacked. Had apparently cut her hair off with a razor blade. Placed in psychiatric care. Police said there was nothing so support her story.
On Aug 25, 2002, she suffered a broken pelvis near Belfast, Maine, when her GMC Yukon hit a raised pavement and rolled over several times. She had just come from hosting the 15-Minute Festival, a series of original plays staged at the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped.
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Personal quotes
"I suppose that if you want to be famous and suddenly it happens and you don't like it, it's nobody's fault but your own."
"Nudity in the flesh doesn't bother me. But having my mind uncovered - that scares the hell out of me."
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Margot Kidder is best known as Superman's favorite person--Lois Lane. Her much publicized behavior in 1996 was due to manic depression. She was living in a state of paranoia, convinced that her first husband was trying to kill her. Kidder soon lived as one of the homeless. She narrowly escaped being raped, and wandered about the streets of Los Angeles (barely recognizable after cutting her hair off and removing some of her dental work) before hiding underneath a family's porch which was located near the studio where "Superman" was filmed. Fortunately, her life is back on track after having faced the "demons" of her condition.
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Sharp-featured brunette actress whose husky voice and energetic manner made her one of the 1970s' most interesting leading ladies. After making her first screen appearance in Gaily, Gaily (1969), a limp newspaper story based on Ben Hecht's memoirs, Kidder showed real personality in the wacky Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970). She toiled on the TV-movie assembly line for a couple of years before making audiences sit up and take notice of her with an accomplished, eerie interpretation of separated Siamese twins in Brian De Palma's Sisters (1973). In 1975, after starring in the quirky, minor 92 in the Shade written by her future husband Thomas McGuane, Kidder played leads in the mainstream movies The Great Waldo Pepper and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (in which, donning heavy makeup, she played a middle-aged murderess). She turned her attentions to directing that same year, helming the noncommercial film And Again.
Kidder was a delightfully spunky yet vulnerable Lois Lane in Superman (1978), a role she repeated in the three sequels (1980, 1983, 1987). Nothing she's done since-with the exception of The Amityville Horror (1979)-has attained any real degree of success: Willie and Phil (1980), Heartaches, Miss Right (both 1981), Trenchcoat (1983), Little Treasure (1985), The Canadian Conspiracy (1986), Mob Story (1989), The White Room (1990), among them. Kidder raised some hackles during the U.S. intervention in Kuwait, when she ridiculed the press and the military for not seeing the larger consequences of their actions. In 1990 she was injured while driving a car for a cable-TV series episode in Canada, was fired, and filed suit against the producers. In 1994 she made a cameo appearance in Maverick. Kidder was married to director Philippe de Broca and actor John Heard.
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Official Website:
Angel Blade (2002) .... Frida
Society's Child (2001) (TV) .... Joan
Crime and Punishment (2000/I) .... Mrs. Katerina Marmelodov
Someone Is Watching (2000) (TV) .... Sally Beckert
Common Ground (2000) (TV) .... Mrs. Nelson
Tribulation (2000) .... Eileen Canboro
"Amazon" (1999) TV Series .... Morag (2000)
... aka "Amazonas - Gefangene des Dschungels" (2001) (Germany)
... aka "Peter Benchley's Amazon" (1999) (USA: complete title)
Hi-Line, The (1999) .... Laura Johnson
Intimate Portrait: Margot Kidder (1999) (TV) .... Herself
Nightmare Man (1999) .... Lillian Hannibal
Tail Lights Fade (1999) (scenes deleted)
Annihilation of Fish, The (1999) .... Mrs. Muldroone
Crime in Connecticut: The Story of Alex Kelly (1999) (TV) .... Melanie Kelly
Clown at Midnight, The (1998) .... Ms. Ellen Gibby
Shadow Zone: My Teacher Ate My Homework (1997) .... Sol
Silent Cradle (1997) .... Cindy Wilson
Planet of Junior Brown, The (1997) .... Miss Peebs
... aka Junior's Groove (1997) (USA: video title)
Never Met Picasso (1996) .... Genna Magnus
Bloodknot (1995/I) .... Evelyn
Ritalin (1995) .... Dr. Monath
Windrunner (1995) .... Sally 'Mom' Cima
Young Ivanhoe (1995) (TV) .... Lady Margarite
Beanstalk (1994) .... Doctor Kate 'Doc' Winston
Henry & Verlin (1994) .... Mabel
Maverick (1994) (uncredited) .... Margret Mary
Pornographer, The (1994) .... Irene
... aka Family Values (1994)
Under a Killing Moon (1994) (VG) .... Bartender
"Phantom 2040" (1994) TV Series (voice) .... Rebecca Madison
... aka "Phantom 2040: The Ghost Who Walks" (1994)
One Woman's Courage (1994) (TV) .... Stella Jenson
"New Adventures of Captain Planet, The" (1993) TV Series (voice) .... Gaia
Florida, La (1993) .... Vivy Lamori
"Captain Planet and the Planeteers" (1990) TV Series (voice) .... Gaia (1993-1996)
Aaron Sent Me (1992) .... Kaitlynn Prescott
To Catch a Killer (1992) (TV) .... Rachel Grayson
Mob Story (1990)
White Room (1990) .... Madelaine X
Body of Evidence (1988) (TV) .... Carol Dwyer
Emerald City of Oz, The (1987) (V) (voice) .... Narrator
Marvelous Land of Oz, The (1987) (V) (voice) .... Narrator
Ozma of Oz (1987) (V) (voice) .... Narrator
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (1987) (V) (voice) .... Narrator
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) .... Lois Lane
Grand Knockout Tournament, The (1987) (TV) .... Herself
"Shell Game" (1987) TV Series .... Dinah/'Jenny Jerome'
GoBots: War of the Rock Lords (1986) .... Solitaire
... aka GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986) (USA: video title)
Vanishing Act (1986) (TV) .... Chris Kenyon
Canadian Conspiracy, The (1985) (TV) .... Herself
Keeping Track (1985) .... Mickey Tremaine
Picking Up the Pieces (1985) (TV) .... Lynette Harding
Little Treasure (1985) .... Margo
Glitter Dome, The (1984) (TV) .... Willie
Louisiana (1984) (TV) .... Virginia Tregan
... aka Louisiane (1984) (TV) (France)
Pygmalion (1983) (TV) .... Eliza Doolittle
Trenchcoat (1983) .... Mickey Raymond
Superman III (1983) .... Lois Lane
Donna giusta, La (1982) .... Juliette
... aka Miss Right (1982) (USA)
Shoot the Sun Down (1981)
Some Kind of Hero (1981) .... Toni Donovan
Heartaches (1981) .... Rita Harris
Willie and Phil (1980) .... Jeannette Sutherland
Superman II (1980) .... Lois Lane
Amityville Horror, The (1979) .... Kathy Lutz
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979) .... Herself
Superman (1978) .... Lois Lane
... aka Superman: The Movie (1978)
Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The (1975) .... Marcia Curtis
Great Waldo Pepper, The (1975) .... Maude
92 in the Shade (1975) .... Miranda
Gravy Train, The (1974) .... Margue
... aka Dion Brothers, The (1974)
Black Christmas (1974) .... Barb Coard
... aka Silent Night, Evil Night (1974)
... aka Stranger in the House (1974) (USA: TV title)
Quiet Day in Belfast, A (1974) .... Brigit Slattery/Thelma Slattery
Honky Tonk (1974) (TV) .... Lucy Cotton
Sisters (1973) .... Danielle Breton/Dominique Blanchion
... aka Blood Sisters (1973) (UK)
Bounty Man, The (1972) (TV) .... Mae
Suddenly Single (1971) (TV) .... Jackie
"Nichols" (1971) TV Series .... Ruth (1971-72)
... aka "James Garner as Nichols" (1971)
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970) .... Zazel
... aka Fun Loving (1970)
Gaily, Gaily (1969) .... Adeline
... aka Chicago, Chicago (1969) (UK)
"Corwin" (1969) TV Series .... Denny
"McQueen" (1969) TV Series .... Jenny