Talk about range! Darryl’s beauty has always overshadowed her acting talent, which isn’t to say she’s not a great actress. Anyone who can be a deadly femme fatale from the near future one minute and a beautiful, loving and trusting mermaid the next has incredible range. Darryl embodied both Pris in Blade Runner and Madison in Splash with equal credibility. Her long blonde hair and lanky, sexy body only added to the equation to definitely make her more than the sum of her gorgeous parts. But let us not forget her portrayals in other, highly-influential films from the ’80s and early ’90’s such as Wall Street with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, At Play In The Fields of The Lord with Kathy Bates and John Lithgow and Roxanne with Steve Martin.
The thing about Darryl is that she is beautiful. An amazing beauty and an equally amazing spirit make her a favorite and yet an unassuming quality had threatened to typecast her as the nicey-nice prototypical California girl every guy in his right mind wanted to be with. And boy was she with some high-profile guys. Remember John F. Kennedy, Jr.? Once again, however, it was Darryl’s range that made her a true star. And no other movie gave her a chance to flex her thespian muscles than her role as the assassin with the eye-patch in Kill Bill, Volume 2. I pride myself on being able to predict what’s going to happen in such genre-driven fare, but even I didn’t see it coming when they poked out poor Darryl’s only good eye. What a way to nullify an otherwise terrifyingly-talented femme fatale!
I wish there was more Darryl to watch in the last several years. She’s been busy getting arrested, albeit for good causes – but I miss seeing her long, lithe body and beautiful face embody intriguing and intelligent while supremely feminine characters. One of my guilty pleasures is renting Clan of the Cave Bear and watching Darryl covered in white makeup – and not much else. But still, I’d love to see her make a true comeback one of these days – with a nice long run of new characters and stories a la John Travolta or Robert Downey, Jr. Darryl deserves to have a renaissance after all the memorable parts and unforgettable scenes she’s given us. I for one, love mature actresses because they have the beauty, the talent and the class to show the up-n-coming actors not only how it’s done – but that they’ve still got it. So, somebody give Darryl a role she can sink her teeth into and keep her out of jail. Here’s one life-long fan that would be eternally grateful.
iheartingrid 