Posted by Jay Amicarella: If they ever find Annabeth Gish's husband dead in their driveway, you'll know why...I first saw her as a teen in the 1989 “Shag”, and couldn't keep my eyes off her. I watched it because I had a thing for Phoebe Cates, and it co-starred Bridget Fonda and Paige Hannah, but Gish’s non-stop radiant smile and luminous personality, combined with classic good looks, hooked me immediately. This is a fun movie about a quartet of girlfriends on spring break, and how they get caught up in the title dance craze, invented in South Carolina in the early sixties. All the actors are fresh and appealing, and it's definitely worth your time. Thus, Annabeth Gish becomes number Three in my series, Low Maintenance Women...
I was so taken with Miss Gish, an Albuquerque native, vintage 1971, that I looked up her earlier effort, 1988’s “Mystic Pizza”. It starred her and then unknown Julia Roberts, and was complemented by a lady who would soon become one of my favorite character actresses, Lili Taylor. I could care less about Julia Roberts, neurotic clown-wide mouth and all; it was the wholesome beauty of Annabeth that continued to mesmerize me. She was quietly impressive in 1996’s “Beautiful Girls” as Tracy, the understanding girlfriend of Timothy Hutton, (another must-see), and scored again in Kevin Costner’s “Wyatt Earp”. She easily lived up to the title in 1997’s “True Women,” and had me drooling on the floor, stupefied, in the dance movie “The Way She Moves.” By this time I counted her as one of the most desirable women on the planet, and looked forward to everything she did, even the throwaways like the TV series 'X-files'. When Gish was added to the cast of the series “West Wing”, with fellow LMW Mary Louise Parker, I really did die and go to Heaven.
What makes me believe this gorgeous woman is low-maintenance? It’s the serene, just-short-of-aloof aura Gish exudes in every role. Her manner is quietly confident, calmly intelligent, devoid of the megastar histrionics that wear on the patience and tear on the psyche. Annabeth Gish emits a natural warmth and simplicity that along with her stellar features, make her utterly irresistible. - Jay Amicarella
she's very underrated, I had a crush on her when she was on the X-Files
Posted by: Chris Paul | April 20, 2008 at 01:27 PM
I was at Myrtle Beach in the summer of 1987 when they were filming shag- It was a pleasure seeing Phoebe Cates and Annabeth Gish. They would close down Ocean Blvd. at 3 in the morning and we would go down and watch the filming. Good times
Posted by: pete | April 02, 2008 at 08:14 AM