Kelly Preston: An Appreciation

Kelly Preston, gone at 57, leaving behind her husband John Travolta. And they lost their young son Jett, some years ago. Travolta's star career is a thing of wonder(several comebacks)...but his personal life has been marked with tragedy. Decades ago, a young Travolta lost his older girlfriend (the beautiful Diana Hyland) to cancer; now it happens again.

The death of Kelly Preston hit me surprisingly hard (for a "celebrity" death --no, we don't know these people, but we DO follow them.)

Kelly Preston had, I always felt, the "total package" for female stardom(sexy division): a beyond gorgeous face(to gaze upon it was to hurt a little for a man), a great body. I had friendly debates with female friends over the years: Jennifer Aniston's beauty seems to be most appreciated by women; but Kelly Preston's beauty was "for men only." Wow.

In the 80's, Preston brought new meaning to "nudity for the sake of the picture" in two movies: Mischief and 52 Pick Up. The former was a 50's teenage sex comedy(when the young hero manages to bed Preston -- even only once -- every male in the audience shares his spiritual glee).

The latter was a very nasty bit of business from an Elmore Leonard novel in which Preston is both a sexbomb(she plays a stripper) and...the victim of a horrific murder which Preston "sells" with every inch of her being as the victim. You never forget it when you see it(star Roy Scheider spends the movie getting sweet revenge on Preston's killlers.)

For the 1988 comedy "Twins," Preston kept her clothes on and was sunny-sexy as Arnold's girlfriend -- this ALMOST launched a star career for Preston, but it never really happened. My theory: she was simply too gorgeous for women to relate to on screen, she couldn't really play "regular roles." (A bitchy, villainous turn as Tom Cruise's ex in "Jerry Maguire" -- in contrast to sweet Renee Zellwegger -- was the kind of role she ended up with.)

A woman as gorgeous as Kelly Preston seemed to be available only for relationships with a small parade of "hot men"(looks and wealth): Charlie Sheen(that guy; what the hell did he have?); George Clooney, and finally Travolta.

There was always a lot of mystery to the Travolta/Preston marriage. Outwardly, it looked very happy, but...there were rumors about its "reality."
Both Travolta and Preston were confirmed Scientologists and preached it in public. Still, quite the great couple to look at -- somehow even an overweight, badly wigged Travolta has always kept his star persona(he does straight to streaming stuff now, but BOY what a lot of comebacks before then), and Preston kept her beauty with every passing year.

So that's a bunch of good "movie memories" about the kind of actress that the movies actually ARE about(sometimes)...women who drive fantasy, women who make you weak in the knees just looking at them. Kelly Preston was never a star, but she was always memorable.

And she will be remembered.