The young actress at the centre of it all bore much of the blame. Her performance was widely panned, and producer Ilya Salkind later admitted that casting Brooke Shields would have been more commercially astute. The actress’s burgeoning career — which had seemed so dazzlingly inevitable — stalled.
The actress attends the “Sticky Fingers” Beverly Hills Premiere at Academy Theatre on April 27, 1988 in California.
And yet, she refuses to see it that way.
“I was 18, I had just graduated from performing arts high school, I took a gap year to see if I could get some acting work, and I got the lead role in this great movie,” she said. “For me, that overshadows everything. I went from living in anonymity with my mother in New York to this dazzling experience. I’m grateful for what happened. ‘Supergirl’ changed my life.”
The actress attends the Second Annual American Comedy Awards at Hollywood Palladium on May 17, 1988 in California.
A Career That Refused to Quit
She didn’t disappear — not by a long shot.
Throughout the late ’80s and ’90s, she built an impressive filmography, appearing alongside Bette Midler in the comedy hit “Ruthless People” (1986), scoring again in “The Secret of My Success” (1987), and taking on roles in “City Slickers” (1991) and “Lassie” (1994), among many others.
The actress attends the “Sticky Fingers” New York City Premiere on May 2, 1988 at The Public Theater.
Television kept her busy too — guest spots on “Seinfeld,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Will and Grace,” and “Supernatural” kept her face familiar to audiences, even if her name wasn’t always front of mind.
And in a move that said everything about her character, she returned to the DC universe not once but twice — playing Superman’s mother in “Smallville,” and then Supergirl’s adoptive mother in the Melissa Benoist-led TV series “Supergirl” (2015–2021).
The actress attends the “Chances Are” Westwood Premiere at Mann Bruin Theatre on March 8, 1989 in California.
Unlike many actors who cringe at their superhero past, she embraced it fully. Fans have never forgotten what she once was — and recent social media posts make that abundantly clear.
“So beautiful woman,” one admirer gushed. “My first crush back 1987 I was 8 at that time when I saw how gorgeous she look in the secret of my success movie,” another swooned. “She was hot as Supergirl,” a third declared.
The actress is photographed at a charity event in Century City, California, circa 1992.
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