The Postman

Costner made his film debut at age 19, in the 1974 film, Sizzle Beach, U.S.A., although the film was not released until 1986.

Costner made a very brief cameo in the 1982 Ron Howard film Night Shift, he is listed in the credits as ‘Frat Boy #2’ and appears at the climax of a frat-style, blow-out party in the New York City morgue, when the music is suddenly stopped by a frantic Henry Winkler, Costner can be seen holding a beer and looking surprised at the sudden halt of celebration.

He appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa and Table for Five in 1983, and, the same year, had a small role in the nuclear holocaust film Testament. Later, he was cast in The Big Chill and filmed several scenes that were planned as flashbacks, but they never made it to the final cut. His role was that of Alex, the friend who committed suicide, the event that brings the rest of the cast together. All that is seen of him are his slashed wrists as the mortician dresses his corpse in the movie’s opening scenes. Costner was a friend of director Lawrence Kasdan, who promised the actor a role in a future project. That became 1985’s Silverado and a breakout role for Costner. He also starred that year in the smaller films Fandango and American Flyers.

Full-blown movie star status for Costner arrived in 1987 when he starred as federal agent Eliot Ness in The Untouchables and in the leading role of the thriller No Way Out. He solidified his A-list status in the baseball-themed films Bull Durham and Field of Dreams.

Costner’s greatest success came with the epic Dances with Wolves (1990). He directed and starred in the film and served as one of its producers. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director). Revenge (1990), in which he starred along with Anthony Quinn and Madeleine Stowe, directed by Tony Scott (Costner had wanted to direct it himself), was another notable film from the same year.

He followed this with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991), The Bodyguard (1992) and Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World (1993), all of which provided huge box office or critical acclaim.

He then took the title role in the biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by Kasdan. It fizzled at the summer 1994 box office. The science fiction epics Waterworld (1995) and The Postman (1997), the latter of which Costner also directed, were both major commercial disappointments and are both largely regarded by critics as artistic failures. (Waterworld in particular has made several critics’ “Worst Movies of All Time” lists.)

Costner then starred in the golf comedy Tin Cup (1996) for Ron Shelton, who had previously directed him in Bull Durham. The actor developed the film Air Force One and was set to play the lead role of the President, but ultimately decided to concentrate on finishing The Postman instead. He personally offered the project to Harrison Ford.

His career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days, in which he portrayed a top adviser to John F. Kennedy. The western Open Range, which he directed and starred in, received critical acclaim in 2003, though it was only a minor success commercially.

After that, Costner starred in The Guardian and in Mr. Brooks, in which he portrayed a serial killer. In 2008, Costner starred in Swing Vote. Costner was honored on September 6, 2006 when his hand and foot prints were set in concrete in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre alongside those of other celebrated actors and entertainers.