Kevin Kline returns to IU, where his acting began
During his four years of attending Indiana University, Kevin Kline wasn't a loner, a jock or a party animal.
"Art nerd" is the term he chooses. The actor attended IU football games in the late 1960s — an era that included the Hoosiers' only Rose Bowl appearance (1968) — but Kline said the Marching Hundred, made up of fellow music students, was the draw.
The St. Louis native studied music during his first two years in Bloomington and shifted to a theater major as a junior and senior. Kline then attended New York's Juilliard School en route to winning an Academy Award and two Tonys.
"When I switched to the Theater Department, all I did was theater," said Kline, who graduated in 1970. "I could barely make it to class because this was my passion."
On Sept. 15, Kline will return to Indiana to receive an honorary doctoral degree. Following an afternoon ceremony at IU Auditorium, he will attend an evening screening of "A Fish Called Wanda" at IU Cinema.
"Wanda," a comedic hit of 1988, earned Kline his best supporting actor Oscar. "Don't call me stupid," he frequently sneered while portraying not-so-bright criminal Otto.
Kline mined collegiate nostalgia (although for the University of Michigan, not IU) in 1983 breakthrough "The Big Chill." He portrayed a fictional high school teacher from Indiana in 1997's "In & Out," and he tackled the biography of iconic Hoosier musician Cole Porter in 2004's "De-Lovely."
Adept at both drama and comedy, Kline said a movie actor's job involves much more than reciting lines. During a phone interview, he talked about finishing work on an upcoming film.
"The last thing we did was a little scene that had no conversation," he said. "I'm alone, just doing something in my living room. Cinema has a way of capturing human nature and human behavior that can be very eloquent. The way you walk down a street in Paris is perhaps more telling about a character than what the character says."
Before movies, Kline made his mark in live theater. He performed with the Vest Pocket Players, a troupe of IU students who performed improvisational sketches at the Owl, a Bloomington coffee house known for folk music and left-leaning politics.
On Broadway, Kline collected Tony Awards for his work in 1978's "On the Twentieth Century" and 1981's "The Pirates of Penzance."
His new film, "My Old Lady," is the adaptation of a 2002 play — bursting with dialogue between Kline's down-and-out New Yorker and a refined Parisian portrayed by Maggie Smith (known for her work on "Downton Abbey").
Kline's character, Mathias Gold, arrives in France with expectations of quickly selling an apartment he's inherited from his estranged father. But he finds that Smith's Mathilde and her daughter, Chloe (Kristin Scott Thomas), are obstacles to his plan to cash in.
"As a character, he sure talks about himself a lot," Kline said. "Very self-reflective and doesn't mind sharing it with others, what he's angry about and self-lacerating about. He's in a lot of trouble, this guy."
Reflecting on his IU days, Kline said he has fond memories.
"I think I knew I was happy to be there," the 66-year-old said. "I'm still a student. I love learning."
Even ensconced in his "art nerd" existence, Kline paid attention to the cultural upheaval of the late '60s. He recalls candlelight vigils to protest the Vietnam War, and he attended a 1969 protest at Dunn Meadow, where anti-war activist Jerry Rubin spoke to students.
"Not having tremendous historical perspective in my late teens, I couldn't compare it to anything else," Kline said. "This was our life, and it was a very vibrant, vivid existence then. It was life and death. Extraordinary, certainly in retrospect."
Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.
Honorary doctoral degree
Kevin Kline will receive an honorary doctoral degree at 2 p.m. Sept. 15 at IU Auditorium, 1211 E. 7th St., Bloomington. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. There is a limit of four tickets per person. Call (812) 855-1103. At 7 p.m. on Sept. 15, Kline will attend a screening of "A Fish Called Wanda" at IU Cinema, 1213 E. 7th St., Bloomington. Call (812) 855-7632.
"My Old Lady"
Kevin Kline stars in new film "My Old Lady," which opens Sept. 19 at Keystone Art Cinema, 8702 Keystone Crossing. Visit LandmarkTheatres.com or call (317) 566-8185.