Rock stars wanting to be actors and vice versa are a common phenomenon in Hollywood. No one quite managed to pull off the transition with the success of Cher, who remains the only rock icon to manage to not only make a successful transition to acting but also to win an Oscar for acting and not composing.
It wasn’t an easy transition though. Cher paired with husband Sonny Bono in her teens to become the duo simply known as Sonny and Cher. After a string of hit records, the duo launched a successful television variety show where Cher was able to hone her acting and comedic skills as she appeared in various sketches. Her marriage to Sonny would end in divorce, and Cher struggled to transition in to acting. Upon receipt of a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for “Silkwood,” Cher thanked all the Hollywood moguls who would never give her a job.
It wasn’t until Cher was nearly 40, that things suddenly fell into place for her as an actor. She took a break from her Las Vegas singing career to take a role in a Broadway play called “Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” for director Robert Altman. The play flopped but a film version of it released in 1982 didn’t, and Cher’s acting career was launched.
The next five years were a fruitful time for her and she gave a number of acclaimed performances often winning major awards for them. By the time 1987 rolled around, her Oscar narrative was just too delectable for Academy voters to ignore. She had three major films released that year culminating in the highly praised “Moonstruck.” The story of how someone who was at times considered a bit of an industry joke but became a serious actress was too hard to ignore, and Academy members voted her the Oscar for Best Actress of 1987, beating her good friend Meryl Streep.
In recent years, Cher’s film appearances have been sporadic. Aside from a few cameos in films where she played herself, she has graced movie screens only 15 times. Tour our photo gallery as we rank all of these films from worst to best.
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15. WILD ON THE BEACH (1965)
Image Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Director: Maury Dexter. Writer: Harry Spalding. Starring Sonny Bono, Frankie Randall, Sherry Jackson.
Beach movies were quite popular in the sixties with the likes of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello populating them. Even future multi-Oscar and Emmy winner Sally Field could be seen frolicking around the sands on television in “Gidget.” This film is notable only since it is the first time Cher appeared on film. A month prior to the release of this film Sonny and Cher had released what would become their most popular song “I Got You Babe.” Unfortunately, they don’t sing that song in this film but instead do one called “It’s Gonna Rain.”
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14. ZOOKEEPER (2011)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Frank Coraci. Writers: Nick Bakay, Rock Reuben, Kevin James, Jay Scherick, David Ronn. Starring Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Nick Nolte.
Cher provides the voice of a lioness in this comedy starring Kevin James as a zookeeper who has trouble with his dating life. The animal voices are provided by a diverse group of celebrities with people like Don Rickles, Sylvester Stallone, and Adam Sandler joining Cher as the menagerie.
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13. STUCK ON YOU (2003)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Eva Mendes.
Cher plays Cher or at least a fictionalized version of her in this film from the Farrelly brothers. Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon star as conjoined twins, one of whom wants to be an actor. Cher is committed to a television series she doesn’t want to do so she gets the idea to hire one of the twins as her leading man. She hopes this scheme will result in the show being cancelled.
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12. FAITHFUL (1996)
Image Credit: Louis Goldman/Tribecca/Miramax/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Paul Mazursky. Writer: Chazz Palminteri. Starring Chazz Palminteri, Ryan O’Neal, Paul Mazursky.
After six years away from acting Cher returned to film with mixed results in this adaptation by Chazz Palminteri of one of his stage plays. Her performance is a bit restrained (literally since she spends most of the film tied up) but some of her comic timing and natural screen presence do manage to shine through. The story is that of a suicidal housewife who learns she wants to live again after being held hostage by a hitman.
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11. GOOD TIMES (1967)
Image Credit: Courtesy Columbia Pictures Director: William Friedkin. Writers: Tony Barrett and Nicholas Hyams. Starring Sonny Bono, George Sanders, Peter Robbins.
This film sort of laid the groundwork for “The Sony and Cher Show” which would become a popular variety program in the seventies. The film stars the duo in various comedic sketches and musical numbers. It features a rather odd combination of talents. Among the supporting cast are Oscar winner George Sanders (Best Supporting Actor for “All About Eve”) and child actor Peter Robbins who would soon become the voice of Charlie Brown in the classic cartoons “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” To top off the uniqueness of the collaborators the film was directed by a little-known TV documentarian named William Friedkin. Friedkin would soon become one of the most influential directors of the seventies with films such as “The Exorcist” and his Oscar winner “The French Connection.”
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10. CHASTITY (1969)
Image Credit: Courtesy American International Pictures Director: Alessio de Paola. Writer: Sonny Bono. Starring Barbara London, Steve Whittaker.
Conventional wisdom usually dictates that Cher only became a dramatic actress in the eighties after spending the seventies on two variety shows one with Sonny and then one on her own. In actuality she made her dramatic film debut in this 1969 film written for her by Sonny. The film tells the story of a young runaway making her way across the country. It was not particularly well received by critics or audiences but Cher does display an easy confidence on screen and it does show the seeds of the actress she would later become.
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9. TEA WITH MUSSOLINI (1999)
Image Credit: Phillipe Antonello/Medusa/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Franco Zeffirelli. Writer: John Mortimer based on the biography by Franco Zeffirelli. Starring Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Lily Tomlin.
A big part of Cher’s singing career was always her lavish costumes and grandiose concerts. In contrast for her film roles she usually chose much lower key and ordinary characters to play. This film is an exception to that rule. In this semi-autobiographical story from director Franco Zeffirelli, Cher plays a highly glamorous and at times over the top socialite who assists a bunch of British women care for a young boy whose mother has died. Cloaked in furs and expensive jewelry she seems to be having fun bringing the glamorous Cher persona to a film role.
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8. BURLESQUE (2010)
Image Credit: De Line/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Steve Antin. Starring Christina Aguilera, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci.
In recent decades Cher has only rarely worked in film but she did return to the big screen for this musical. She plays the owner of a burlesque style night club in which an aspiring young performer played by Christina Aguilera starts working.
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7. SUSPECT (1987)
Image Credit: Tri-Star/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Peter Yates. Writer: Eric Roth. Starring Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson, John Mahoney.
The year 1987 was a big one for Cher’s film career since she starred in three high profile films and won an Oscar as Best Actress. Cher has stated that when she took the role in the comedy “Moonstruck” which would eventually win her an Oscar she never saw it as potential Oscar material. Instead she thought if any of her films that year would get her award notice it would be this courtroom drama. She plays a public defender assigned to defend a homeless deaf mute (Liam Neeson in one of his early American films) who is accused of murdering a woman who worked as a clerk in the justice department. The case becomes much more complicated than originally thought and involves high ranking politicians. Cher received generally positive notices for her work in the film but some critics sniped that her designer leather jacket she wore in the courtroom scenes were a bit too stylish for a public servant government worker.
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6. MERMAIDS (1990)
Image Credit: SNAP/REX/Shutterstock Director: Richard Benjamin. Writer: June Roberts. Starring Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci.
This story of an eccentric single mother raising two daughters was a bit of a troubled production. Acclaimed directors Lasse Hallstrom (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”) and Frank Oz (“Little Shop of Horrors”) both left the production after clashes with Cher. Actor turned director Richard Benjamin eventually took over the film. Cher does well in the film creating an unconventional and confused mother struggling with her children but it is Winona Ryder as the oldest daughter who is obsessed with Catholicism and idolizes nuns who steals the film. Ryder earned a Golden Globe nomination as well as the Best Supporting Actress award from the National Board of Review for her work.
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5. THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: George Miller. Writer: Michael Cristofer. Starring Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer.
This adaptation of an acclaimed novel by John Updike was a bit of a chaotic production that ran over budget and required constant rewriting of the script. Things started out rocky from the beginning when Susan Sarandon was cast as the leader of the three witches but when Cher became available and interested in the film the role was given to her. Somehow nobody bothered to tell Sarandon that she had been demoted to the other role and both actresses showed up on the set thinking they were playing the same part. Sarandon eventually let Cher have the larger role but all of the actresses described the project as a difficult experience. Cher is actually quite strong in her performance and brings just the right amount of comic timing to the part. (And her long speech where she lists all of Jack Nicholson’s faults and ending with “and you smell” is a perfectly delivered comic moment.)
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4. COME BACK TO THE 5 AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN (1982)
Image Credit: Sandcastle F/Viacom/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Robert Altman. Writer: Ed Graczyk. Starring Sandy Dennis, Karen Black, Kathy Bates.
This film came about in an unusual manner. After a number of film failures director Robert Altman turned to the stage and mounted this play on Broadway. Casting Cher who had little acting experience at the time brought the play a lot of attention but reviews were bad and the play closed in two months. Altman than decided to quickly film the play with the original cast and the small low budget production received positive reviews especially for Cher. She ended up receiving nominations as Best Supporting Actress from the Golden Globes and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The story revolves around a reunion of members of a James Dean fan club during which secrets amongst the small group of friends are revealed.
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3. SILKWOOD (1983)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Mike Nichols. Writers: Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen. Starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Diana Scarwid.
“Silkwood” was the film that brought Cher legitimacy as a serious actress in high profile films. While “Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” opened the door a bit, “Silkwood” threw it wide open. Cast next to Meryl Streep in her follow up film to “Sophie’s Choice” and with Mike Nichols as her director Cher was finally in the major leagues of filmmaking. Not everyone was welcoming at first since Cher often tells the story of sitting in a movie theater watching a trailer of the film and when her name came up after Streep’s people laughed. Once the film came out though the laughs stopped since her portrayal of an unglamorous lesbian janitor in a nuclear power plant stunned audiences who didn’t think she could pull off this level of acting. Cher won the Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress and probably would have won the Oscar had it not been for the acclaimed gender bending casting of Linda Hunt as a male war photographer in “The Year of Living Dangerously” who took the award.
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2. MASK (1985)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Peter Bogdanovich. Writer: Anna Hamilton Phelan. Starring Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliot, Laura Dern.
Cher won the Cannes Film Festival award as Best Actress for her role as the mother of a teenager with a facial deforming genetic disorder. She seemed to be on track to be a major Oscar contender but the film got bogged down in a lawsuit when director Peter Bogdanovich sued over the replacement of Bruce Springsteen songs on the soundtrack with ones by Bob Seger. While Cher and Eric Stoltz both received Golden Globe nominations they were surprisingly left off the list when Oscar nominations were announced. Cher ended up making a big impact on Oscar night anyway though when she arrived on stage to present the Best Supporting Actor award to Don Ameche for “Cocoon” wearing an outfit looking like something out of a Mad Max movie. Her deadpan comment about how you can see that she received her booklet on how to dress like a serious actress was the best line of the evening (especially since the Academy had actually issued booklets that year detailing how people should and shouldn’t dress.)
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1. MOONSTRUCK (1987)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Norman Jewison. Writer: John Patrick Shanley. Starring Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia.
Cher won an Oscar as Best Actress of 1987 for this very popular comedy that tells the story of a drab bookkeeper who falls in love with her finance’s brother. The film received six Oscar nominations in total and also won for Best Original Screenplay for John Patrick Shanley and Best Supporting Actress for Olympia Dukakis who played Cher’s no-nonsense mother. The role of Loretta Castorini seemed to fit Cher like a glove even though it was originally planned for Sally Field. The character has pretty much given up on life and is entering into a loveless marriage out of safety but meeting Nicolas Cage changes all that. The film has some classic moments such as when Cage declares his love for Cher and she slaps him across the face and says “snap out of it.” In an equally memorable and beautifully filmed and acted moment, Cher is seen kicking a can down a Brooklyn street as she returns from a memorable night at the opera with Cage. The sequence is an amazing depiction of the character’s new found joy and Cher who started out the film looking gray haired and spinsterish looks as beautiful on the outside as her character feels on the inside.
