Meryl Streep trivia: Which Oscar-nominated role was she not ‘sexy enough’ for until she ‘stuffed’ her bra for the director?

Okay, all you Meryl Streep superfans out there. You may think you know everything there is to know about the acclaimed three-time Academy Award winner. But can you name which of her Oscar-nominated roles she claims she was not “sexy enough” for until she “stuffed” her bra with paper towels for the director? Streep has been nominated a whopping 21 times (17 in lead, four in supporting) throughout her career, an academy record, so we’ll help you narrow it down by giving you a few hints.

Hint #1: The film is based on a 1937 memoir.

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Hint #2: Streep portrays the memoir’s author.

Hint #3: The movie won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.

Have you figured it out yet, or has the lion got your tongue? If you guessed “Out of Africa” (1985), you are correct!

Streep’s role of Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of author Karen von Blixen) earned her a fifth Best Actress Oscar nomination, though she lost that year to Geraldine Page (“The Trip to Bountiful”). Her co-star, Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton, was snubbed. In all, “Out of Africa” was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won seven: Best Picture, Best Director (Sydney Pollack), Best Adapted Screenplay (Kurt Luedtke), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound.

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Speaking of Pollack, who passed away in 2008, he is the director who allegedly told Streep’s publicists that she wasn’t attractive enough to play the part. The actress recounted the experience, and how she fought back in the form of padding her bra, on a resurfaced clip from a 2009 episode of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” Watch it here:

As Streep explained, “I had done some movies but I wasn’t famous enough or something to get this big part. And so I was auditioning and Sydney Pollack, who was the director, let it be known to my agent that he didn’t think I was sexy enough to play Isak Dinesen, this Danish writer, you know, who was like 50 when she published her first book. So I went and bought a really sweet little dress at my local Kmart kind of thing that went off the shoulders, and then I took a lot of paper towels and I stuffed ’em in my bra.”

Conan O’Brien interjected to clarify, “You stuffed your bra?”

“Yeah, so that it would mound up,” Streep said as she made descriptive motions with her hands.

“Oh, I know what it does!” O’Brien responded as he gave her a thumbs-up. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. And it worked, I guess.”

Streep smiled, “Yeah, I got the part.”

In addition to receiving an Oscar nomination for “Out of Africa,” Streep also contended at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and New York Film Critics Circle Awards. The epic romance, which filmed on location in Kenya, is often considered by fans to be one of her greatest films of all time. And apparently it’s all thanks to some paper towels.

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