The Faces of Tracey Ullman
After a lifetime of assuming multiple identities, being 50 is nothing new By BILL NE WCOTT
MILESTONE BIRTHDAYS
Bonnie Raitt
Age 60
Her foundation fights for
royalties and
benefits for
pioneer R&B
artists.
Mackenzie
Phillips
Age 50
Drug-plagued
One Day at a
Time star’s
memoir is High
on Arrival.
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NOV
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Allison
Janney
Age 50
Emmy-winning
West Wing star
used to fib she
was a National
Geographic
photographer.
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DEC
Tina Turner
Age 70
“I will never
give in to old
age until I be-
come old. I’m
not old yet!”
QUICK: WHICH NINE-TIME Emmy-winning actress has played
Nancy Pelosi, Suzanne Somers, Judi Dench…and Andy Rooney?
It could only be Tracey Ullman, who in last year’s first season of her Showtime
sketch-comedy series, Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union, played no fewer than
39 people, famous, infamous, and imaginary. It all may have started when British-born Ullman’s father died. She was just six. Desperate to cheer up her mom,
Tracey would stand on the hearth and put on shows, imitating family, friends,
and neighbors—especially one local woman who, she once said, “always had
something just hanging on her nose.” Married for 25 years to producer Allan
McKeown, Ullman is the mother of 23-year-old Mabel and 18-year-old John.
“There’s a real fear of aging in this country, which I don’t share,” she told the
Philippine Daily Inquirer. “It seems to be an American nightmare, especially for
women.” But, she says, because she’s established herself as a character actress,
“hopefully I’ll be working in my 70s and 80s…Meryl Streep and me!”
December 30
Lee Trevino
Age 70
Golf legend
worked in
Texas cotton
fields starting
at age five.
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Rahm
Emanuel
Age 50
White House
chief of staff
lost a fingertip
working as a
teen at Arby’s.
Sissy Spacek
Age 60
Nearing her
home state,
Texas-born
Spacek says,
“my accent
thickens, and I
feel very safe.”
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Johnny
Whitaker
Age 50
Former Family
Affair tot spent
two years in
Portugal as
a Mormon
missionary.
