Debra Winger was known for her iconic roles in ‘80s movies like An Officer and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment, and Shadowlands which earned her several recognitions and awards through her fifteen-year career run. Surprisingly, the former actress recently returned to the spotlight at the Drive-Away Dolls premiere in New York.
Debra looked unrecognizable with her rich curls, now gray, and chunky glasses that complemented her shirt-and-blazer ensemble with a scarf on her neck. It has been decades since Debra’s hiatus; however, she still looks gorgeous and stylish.
Debra Winger looks unrecognizable in return to the limelight
Debra’s recent comeback to the screen was between 2016 and 2020 for the Netflix comedy film Ranch. According to Debra, she always wanted to quit and never got to it quickly enough. “I got sick of hearing myself say I wanted to quit,” she noted. “It’s like opening an interview with ‘I hate interviews!’ Well, get out! I stopped reading scripts and stopped caring.”
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She reportedly opted out of co-starring alongside Madonna in 1992’s A League Of Their Own, and Geena Davis had to replace her. Debra thought her understudy’s acting “was OK,” and when asked about Madonna, she said, “I think her acting career has spoken for itself.” Aside from acting, Debra has been an author, a teaching fellow at Harvard University, an executive producer, and a mother of two adults.
Why did Debra Winger quit acting?
The Urban Cowboy actress was over the attention and glamor of Hollywood in the mid-90s. She wanted to live a more relaxed lifestyle, particularly with her actor ex-husband Arliss Howard, whom she met on the set of Wilder Napalm. “I wanted another child, and it seemed ridiculous to run off for three months to do another film,” she said in 2008. “I had also reached 40, a point in life when things can get really tough in Hollywood. I looked around and thought: It’s time to go.”
Debra Winger at a special screening of Focus Features’ JANE EYRE at Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room
Photo by Lane Ericcson/PHOTOlink.net
Debra has no regrets about leaving the entertainment industry. However, Howard convinced her to appear in his movie, Big Bad Love after which she played the lead in the Emmy-nominated 2005 telemovie Dawn Anna. “Although I have participated in the odd film project here and there. I had no real desire to hop back on that merry-go-round,” she wrote in her book Undiscovered. “I watched others as they grabbed for the golden ring and felt fine out in the country on my pony.”