Phoebe Cates starred in a number of movies, such as Gremlins and Drop Dead Fred, but she will always be remembered for her iconic, topless pool scene in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
But the former actress left Hollywood more than 20 years ago; today, she works a 9 to 5 job doing something she loves.
On July 16, 1963, in New York City, Phoebe Belle Cates was born. She went to private schools when she was younger and studied ballet at Julliard.
Phoebe was born with acting in her blood because her uncle served as the Director’s Guild president and her father, Joe Cates, was a producer-director. Her sister, Valerie, was a stage actress, and her brother had previously worked as an actor.
Phoebe started out wanting to dance when she was younger, but she was forced to give it up due to a knee injury.
Instead, she started modeling at age 14 and was very successful. She has, for instance, four times graced the cover of Seventeen magazines. She started broadening her horizons, but she had no passion for the job.
“It was always the exact same thing.
When talking about her brief modeling career, Phoebe said, “After a while, I did it just for the money.
After training with Robert Ravan, the man behind The Actors’ Circle in New York, she eventually ran into her movie agent at a party at Studio 54.
“I just knew that I didn’t want to attend college. And that if I could get a few movies or something, that would be a great way for me to finish college. Seriously. It’s real,” she assured The Daily Item in 1985.
Alice Spivack of the H was a teacher to Cates as well.
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Studios, where Sarah in Paradise marked her acting debut in 1982. She appeared in Experienced and then the renowned Fast Times at Ridgemont High, both of which contain the fabled pool scene, within the space of just one year.
The teen hit movie made a significant impact on pop culture, but one particular frame from the movie will always stand out as “the most memorable bikini-drop in movie history,” according to Rolling Stone magazine.
“.
That scene, as a friend noted, caused many teenage boys’ hearts to beat much more quickly than they ought to have.
Phoebe added her two cents in 1982.
“In this industry, a girl must be willing to strip in order to succeed.
Why not flaunt your good body if you have one?
she asked.
When you look at the cast of Fast Times at Ridgemont High today, you can see some current actors like Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Eric Stoltz, and Forest Whitaker.
Since we were all so young when we made it, it was amusing, I suppose. Jennifer Jason Leigh told The Daily News, “And then it came out, and it was this big hit, you know, where you’d go to the theater, and people would say the lines with it, and people had seen the movie repeatedly.”.
Later, Phoebe appeared as Christine Ramsey in Private School in 1983 and co-starred in Steven Spielberg’s Gremlins in 1984 while also working in the theater. During an audition for the 1983 movie The Big Chill, Phoebe met Kevin Kline, a renowned theater performer. Cates did eventually find a husband even though she did not get the role.
Despite Kline and Cates being 16 years apart in age, their relationship did not begin until two years after they first met. Kline hired Cates’ former assistant, and he asked the worker to assist him in approaching the actress.
Cates and Kline were married in New York City in 1989, when they were ages 25 and 41, respectively. In 1991, Cates gave birth to Owen Joseph, the couple’s firstborn. Their daughter Greta Simone was born to her in 1994.
Many people questioned what had kept the couple so content and united for so long as they celebrated their impressive 27 years of marriage in 2017.
We take care of the marriage, Kline said.
Even though she was successful at the time, Cates made the decision to step away from acting after the couple had their children. Her presence in the entertainment world began to diminish in the 1990s.
She told Playboy in 1998 that she and her husband had decided to switch acting gigs so that the kids would never be without a parent.
When it was her turn to work, Cates would still decide to stay home with the kids, Kline would add. While Cates occasionally did some acting, she started to appear more frequently at red-carpet occasions with her husband, who continued acting more frequently.
A short distance from the renowned Carnegie Hall, Cates launched Blue Tree in 2005. In the shop, customers could buy gifts, clothing, and fragrances.
Cates committed herself to becoming a full-time shopkeeper, frequently helping out in the shop or looking for new items to sell. On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she also resides, you can find Phoebe’s shop today at 1283 Madison Avenue.
And just so you know, Phoebe still has gorgeous looks!
I always thought Phoebe was a pretty good actress, but my first two thoughts of her are typically the bikini scene in “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” and the shower scene (in the cave) in “Paradise.”. “.
