From Thelma & Louise to Monarch , Susan Sarandon breaks down her most iconic roles

Six Emmy nominations, five Oscar nominations (and one win), and a boatload of other accolades are proof of Susan Sarandon's impressive impact on Hollywood. And she's not done yet. In her upcoming Fox series Monarch (Sept. 11), Sarandon will play a legendary country music icon who has more than one skeleton hiding in the closet... perhaps literally.

Complicated and thrilling roles are what Sarandon has craved throughout her entire career, which spans more than 50 years. She sang in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, she — spoiler! — drove off a cliff in Thelma & Louise, and now, she's walking EW back through some of her most memorable roles.

<em>A World Apart</em> (1970-1971)

One of Sarandon's first promient roles was on the short-lived soap opera, A World Apart, which, ironically, was about a soap opera writer and the struggles of her family. Despite only lasting one year on the air, Sarandon's character went through a lot. "I was the girl that everything happened to," Sarandon recalls with a laugh. "I went through so many catastrophes just in one year, from getting kicked out of school to getting pregnant by a terrorist, so that was really fun."

<em>The Front Page</em> (1974)

In 1974, Sarandon got the chance to work with acclaimed filmmaker Billy Wilder on his film adaptation of the play The Front Page, about an overly-eager journalist who decides to embark on an exciting yet dangerous new story. But working with a Hollywood legend also came with its challenges. "He directed us with a stopwatch," she says of Wilder. "He'd say, 'Okay that was 30 seconds. Let's get it down to 22.'" But she also adds, "He couldn't have been sweeter, both him and the guys [her costars, Jack Lemmon and Austin Pendelton] were so warm and sweet."

<em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show</em> (1975)

One of Sarandon's most prominent early roles was in the cult classic musical-horror-comedy The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It all started when she saw Tim Curry do the Rocky Horror stage show. "I don't think I've ever, before or since, seen a moment on stage that was as electrifying as his initial entrance," she says. But when she was asked about the film, she wasn't so sure. "I always was incredibly self-conscious to the point of almost phobia about singing. I'd grown up in a household where I was told I couldn't sing. And I guess up until then, they'd always had really good singers for Janet, but they never had anybody that made her really funny." But even after tackling her fear of singing, it wasn't an easy shoot. "The studio was freezing. I got pneumonia. It was a hard shoot because the budget was, I think, a million dollars. It was nothing." Despite the movie's initial perceived failure upon release, it soon developed a devout cult audience and is now the longest-running theatrical release in movie history.

<em>Atlantic City</em> (1980)

"We didn't know how it was going to end," Sarandon says of her romantic crime drama Atlantic City, which centered around a waitress in Atlantic City who suddenly found herself caught in the middle of drugs, crime, and mobsters. "We really struggled to figure out the very last scene and how we were going to make the characters split from each other." Ultimately, the movie went on to be nominated for five Oscars, giving Sarandon the first Oscar nomination of her career.

<em>The Witches of Eastwick</em> (1987)

"I originally had Cher's part," Sarandon recalls of her time prepping for The Witches of Eastwick, a fantasy film about three suburban women who, unknowingly, possess magical powers. After being cast, Sarandon says, "I went away to Italy, and eventually got a call asking if I'd be interested in playing the other part. I said no. A few months later I get to LA and I discover that I've been switched. At first I wanted to leave, but they didn't let me." Sarandon's struggle continued throughout the shoot. "They didn't have an ending for the film, so it was very difficult for me to come to find a way to be in a positive place. I felt betrayed. I also didn't have wardrobe. Cher gave me that gold dress that I wear in the scene with all the bubbles and the wig."

<em>Bull Durham</em> (1988)

Known as one of the best sports movies of all time, Bull Durham was about a minor league baseball team in Durham, North Carolina. The part of Annie wasn't originally intended for Sarandon. "I was not on the studio's list of people they wanted in the film," Sarandon recalls. "And [director] Ron [Shelton] felt it was very important to read with Kevin [Costner] and the gals that were on the list refused to read. I was in Italy when I first read the script. I had to fly myself to LA, spent the whole day reading the entire movie with Kevin, and by the time I got back to Italy, my neighbor knocked on my door and said, 'You have to call your agent.'"

<em>Thelma & Louise</em> (1991)

Thelma & Louise is one the most famous road trip movies ever, following best friends Thelma and Louise as they try and escape to Mexico after a man sexually assaults Thelma, resulting in Louise shooting him. Sarandon remembers that she ultimately helped shape the film and her character, saying, "I didn't want to make a revenge film. Instead, I wanted my character to be more focused on trying to understand why guys think they can get away with this and ask why does this happen? Like, the line, 'How'd you feel if someone did that to your mother or your sister,' we say before we blow up the truck, we added that in." There was one other thing Sarandon added in. "By the time we got to the end, we really had one take to do the very end during magic hour. And I said to [director] Ridley [Scott], 'I want to kiss her.' And I told Geena [Davis], and that happened. By that time they had earned the right for them both to be together." Ultimately, the movie became a huge success and both Sarandon and Geena Davis were nominated for Oscars.

<em>Dead Man Walking</em> (1995)

Based on the book of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking is about her time working as a spiritual advisor to death row inmates. "When I was making The Client, I read the book," Sarandon says. "I arranged to have a dinner with Sister Helen to talk about getting the book made into a movie. We had a great dinner, we shook hands, and that's the way the deal went." The movie would go on to bring Sarandon her Oscar win for Best Actress.

<em>Stepmom</em> (1998)

In Stepmom, a divorced couple is struggling to co-parent their children. Sarandon plays the mother who, on top of her divorce, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She's then faced with the idea of leaving her children with her husband's new partner, played by Julia Roberts. "The story was just such a heartbreaking situation," Sarandon says. "I was taken by the generosity of both women trying to figure out that situation. I've had so many people approach me saying they're in similar situations." The movie went on to gross more than $159 million at the worldwide box office.

<em>Friends</em> (2001)

Sarandon found herself returning to her soap roots during a guest appearance on Friends where she played dramatic soap star Cecilia Monroe. "When they called me, I said, 'I'd love to do it. I just need a lot of hair,' because those gals always have a lot of hair," Sarandon remembers. "So they got me a really good big wig." Not only does Sarandon smack her costar, Dina (played by her real-life daughter, Eva Amurri), in the sitcom, but she also ends up sleeping with Joey (Matt LeBlanc). "I'd sleep with Matt LeBlanc again," Sarandon says jokingly. "At that point, they were still filming in front of a live audience, and we'd start and stop shoots and the cast would just crack up laughing. It put me at ease immediately. Everybody watched everybody else's scenes. It was really fun, and just a complete opposite of the tension of trying to pull off the soap opera."

<em>Bernard and Doris</em> (2006)

In Bernard and Doris, Sarandon played infamous heiress, Doris Duke. The film centered around her complicated relationship with her friend, butler, and caretaker, Bernard Lafferty... who some say killed her. "For me, it was about Doris Duke, but it was also about an unlikely love story," Sarandon says. "These two people truly cared about each other, even though it wasn't sexual... it's romantic in a very unusual way. But I love Bernard and Doris, it's one my favorite things I've ever done." And it wasn't easy. "We did it for $500,000 in something like 21 days," Sarandon continues. "We were filming in a mansion that was in New Jersey and one day when we showed up, there were Christmas trees everywhere because it was still a functioning tourist attraction. We had to figure out how to shoot around the Christmas trees."

<em>Enchanted</em> (2007)

When Disney decided to poke fun at its own fairytale films with Enchanted, Sarandon jumped at the opportunity to portray the over-the-top villain, Queen Narissa. Her favorite part in the movie? The epic Times Square scene. "We were in Times Square at two in the morning," she recalls. "Nobody had any warning what was going to happen, and we eventually had to close down because there was just no way to control the crowd." Sarandon said she spent hours in hair and makeup for her character, and she's bummed she won't get to do it again in the upcoming sequel Disenchanted: "I'm very upset that I just found out they're doing a sequel and I didn't survive enough to come back."

<em>Feud</em> (2017)

Sarandon took on another real-life role in Feud where she starred as Bette Davis alongside Jessica Lange, who portrayed Joan Crawford. The series told the story of the notorious rivalry that sprang up between Crawford and Davis while filming Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But it wasn't the first time Sarandon had thought of playing Davis. "Bette Davis herself asked me if I would play her when I was quite young after the daughter's book came out," she says. "And they never got a script and I wasn't in a position to develop it." And yet, when Ryan Murphy called her years later, "I was terrified," she says. "Because she's so big. But the more that I saw interviews, she was saying things that I've said. So I felt that we were kindred spirits in a lot of ways." Ultimately, critics and audiences praised Sarandon's performance, and both she and Lange were nominated for an Emmy.

<em>Monarch</em> (2022)

Sarandon's newest role brings her back to television as the conniving (and criminal) matriach of country music's most famous family in the new Fox drama, Monarch. "I got to experience what it was like in the country music industry, which was new for me because I'm a New York kid," she says. "So I loved the opportunity to jump in and learn about it."

Additional reporting by Gerrad Hall

Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story — as well as all of our 2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29.

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