It’s likely that not everyone knew that Kelly Preston had been diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, as this was kept fairly quiet even if plenty of people knew about it and said very little. The fact is that after two years of battling a condition that many women have experienced, Kelly passed away just yesterday, leaving the acting world just a little dimmer as millions are mourning her passing. As one of the more vibrant personalities in show business Kelly was seen in many different movies and shows throughout her career and has been noted as one of the more popular actresses in the last few decades. While she might not have been as prominent as several of her peers she still carried a presence that was hard to miss since each role she took on became another that people couldn’t help but notice. Having started at the age of 16, her career went up in a way that could be described as gradual since she didn’t fully explode onto the scene as other actresses did at times, but she did secure roles that managed to create a good deal of hype for her reputation and that were remembered in unique ways.
She took part in the comedy movie Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, playing the sister to Vincent’s girlfriend and Arnold’s eventual love interest. While Marnie was kind of a fringe character for part of the movie and ended up being more of a damsel in distress as well as a woman that knew what she wanted, she was still more or less a role that Preston could put on her resume in an attempt to move forward. Some folks might want to argue that she was well-known before and after her time on Twins, but there were a couple of other roles that really helped her stake a bigger reputation in show business that came later on. One of those was as Avery Bishop in Jerry Maguire, as she was the slightly aggressive but very forward woman that the titular character was engaged to at the beginning of the movie, though she ended up planting him on his butt after he lost one of his biggest clients and then dumped her. Some might want to claim that Avery was a bit of a troubling character, but to be certain she was definitely a little over the top and kind of brutal in how she dealt with things, but she was more or less a part of Jerry’s life that just didn’t fit after a while, which could have prompted the split eventually and left them going their separate ways no matter what.
From that point on she had plenty of roles that people would state were either moderate to not nearly as popular, though she was kept busy for a while since she managed to complete such movies as Sky High, Battlefield Earth, in which she starred with her husband John Travolta. She actually received a Razzie for her part in Battlefield Earth, but as many people would gladly admit, the movie wasn’t really that great when placed next to the novel that it came from. While the expectations weren’t that high, the movie managed to lower the bar in a way that was simply amazing, but thankfully it wasn’t the end of her career or Travolta’s. Of course, the fact that they both starred in Gotti didn’t really help, as that movie was panned as well. But another role that was perfect for her and allowed Kelly to shine once again came in the form of Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon, a tale of a man that had to watch the murder of his son in a gang initiation and, when he couldn’t receive justice from the courts, took justice into his own hands. Unfortunately, this meant that his wife and remaining son were in turn attacked by the gang that he’d gone to war with, which brought Kelly’s part in the movie to an abrupt halt. She continued to stay busy after Death Sentence, but another notable role came in the form of Old Dogs, a movie that she starred in with her husband and with the late Robin Williams. The movie was actually quite endearing as Kelly played a woman that had met up with Williams’ character, a meeting that ended up producing twins that Williams’ character knew nothing about until she contacted him. Needless to say, the movie was all about Williams and Travolta learning how to adjust to a new way of life, and it was pretty funny.
Kelly was a bright star in the world of show business that a lot of people are going to miss, and rightfully so. She fought the good fight though, and it’s a hope that she and her son Jett, who passed away in 2009, have been reunited at this time. You’ll be missed ma’am, rest in peace.
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