What Happened to Leading Lady Madeleine Stowe?
Madeleine Stowe was born on August 18, 1958, in Los Angeles, and she quickly found her way into Hollywood after a childhood shaped by music and a love for the arts. Though she once dreamed of being a concert pianist, acting soon took over after she was spotted in a Beverly Hills theater production.
After stepping back during parts of the ’90s and 2000s, she’s making a return with a new project, It: Welcome to Derry. But before that, let’s take a look back at her impressive career.
Her earliest work was on television, with appearances in shows such as Baretta, Barnaby Jones, and Little House on the Prairie. But it was her breakout turn in the 1987 hit Stakeout, starring opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez, that cemented her as a star.
In the early 1990s, Stowe starred in a string of successful films that showed off her versatility. She played alongside Kevin Costner in the film Revenge, faced off against Kurt Russell in Unlawful Entry, and won hearts in The Last of the Mohicans as Cora Munro opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. Robert Altman cast her in his ensemble drama Short Cuts in 1993, and her performance earned her critical acclaim and several awards. Soon after, she appeared in Bad Girls, 12 Monkeys, The General’s Daughter, and We Were Soldiers.
Buena Vista Pictures/Everett Collection
In the mid-1990s, Stowe decided to step back from Hollywood to focus on her family. She and her husband, actor Brian Benben, chose a quieter life far from Hollywood, raising their daughter on a ranch in Texas.
When she did return to the screen, she made selective choices, and one of her most memorable roles came in 2011 with her performance as Victoria Grayson on the ABC drama Revenge. For four seasons, Stowe embodied the glamorous, ruthless matriarch of the Grayson family, a part that earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
Bob D’Amico/ABC/Everett Collection
Though her appearances slowed again after Revenge wrapped in 2015, Stowe never fully disappeared. She hosted programming on Turner Classic Movies, appeared in the Netflix series Soundtrack in 2019, and continued her philanthropic work with Artists for Peace and Justice. Now, she is preparing to make a chilling return in a new series.
Stowe is set to appear in It: Welcome to Derry, the upcoming HBO series that serves as a prequel to the blockbuster It films. The story begins in 1962 in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, to explore its haunted history and the terrifying events that led up to Stephen King‘s classic tale. Bill Skarsgård is reprising his role as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and Stowe joins a cast that includes Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk and James Remar. The series is expected to premiere in October 2025 on HBO and Max, just in time for Halloween. Unfortunately for nosy fans, the details of her role are being kept under wraps for now.
Will you be watching the show?
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