Remember Phoebe Cates? Why the ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ star disappeared

While Phoebe Cates starred in a number of movies, such as Gremlins and Drop Dead Fred, her most famous moment is the topless pool scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).

However, the ex-actress departed Hollywood more than two decades ago, and she currently works nine to five doing something she loves.

On July 16, 1963, Phoebe Belle Cates was born in New York City. She studied dance at Julliard and went to private schools as a young child.

Acting was in Phoebe’s blood from birth; her uncle served as the Director’s Guild president, and her father, Joe Cates, was a producer and director. Valerie, her sister, was an actress, and her brother was also in the entertainment industry.

Phoebe was once interested in dancing, but her career took a turn for the worse when she had to give it up due to a knee injury.

Instead, at the age of 14, she started modeling and was somewhat successful. She, for instance, had four appearances on the cover of Seventeen magazine. But instead of being passionate about her profession, she started to broaden her horizons.

It was simply the same thing, repeated repeatedly. About her brief career as a model, Phoebe remarked, “After a while, I did it just for the money.”

She eventually got to know her agency in the film business during a party held at Studio 54 in New York, where she later received training from Robert Ravan, the man behind The Actors’ Circle.

“I knew from away that I didn’t want to attend college. And that if I could obtain a few DVDs or whatever, that would be a terrific way for me to graduate from college. Really? In 1985, she stated to The Daily Item, “It is true.”

In addition, Cates received training from Alice Spivack of the H.B. Studios. She debuted as an actress in the film Paradise in 1982. She starred in the movie Experienced and the renowned Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which included the renowned swimming pool scene, not quite a year later.

The adolescent smash movie has made significant contributions to popular culture, but it is primarily remembered for one particular scene that Rolling Stone called “the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history.”

According to a friend of mine, that scenario caused many teenage boys’ hearts to race faster than they ought to have.

Phoebe offered her opinion in 1982.

“A girl must be willing to undress if she wants a career in this industry. Why not flaunt your beautiful looks if you have them? she asked.

When you consider the cast of Fast Times at Ridgemont High today, you can see that it was rather strong; current stars like Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Eric Stoltz, and Forest Whitaker were among them.

We were all so young when we made it, so it was kind of funny. Jennifer Jason Leigh told The Daily News, “And then it came out and it was this big hit, you know, where you’d go to the theater and people would say the lines with it and people had obviously seen the movie over and over again.”

Later, Phoebe continued to work in theater, appearing as Christine Ramsey in Private School in 1983 and as a co-star in Steven Spielberg’s Gremlins in 1984. While Phoebe was trying out for the 1983 movie The Big Chill, she met Kevin Kline, a highly regarded theater actor. Cates eventually got a husband, despite not getting the part.

Even though Kline was 16 years Cates’ senior, the two did not begin dating for another two years after their initial encounter. Kline invited Cates’s former assistant to assist him in making the initial approach to the actress after hiring her.

Cates and Kline, who were 25, and 41, respectively, got married in New York City in 1989. In 1991, Cates gave birth to Owen Joseph, their first child. Greta Simone, their daughter, was born in 1994.

When the pair celebrated an amazing 27 years of marriage in 2017, many people were curious about what had kept them content and united for such a long time.

Kline stated, “We manage the marriage.”

After the two had their kids, Cates had made the decision to break away from acting, even though she was performing well at the time. She began to disappear from the entertainment business in the 1990s.

She told Playboy in 1998 that she and her husband had decided to take turns working as actors so the kids would never be left alone.

When it came Cates’ turn to work, Kline would add, she would still choose to stay at home with the kids. Although Cates occasionally performed, she started to appear more frequently at red carpet events alongside her spouse, who kept up his acting more steadily.

Cates opened Blue Tree, a restaurant, in 2005, not far from the renowned Carnegie Hall. It was possible to buy presents, clothes, and fragrances at the store.

Cates committed herself to being a shopkeeper full-time, usually discovering new things to sell or doing hands-on labor in the store. Today, Phoebe’s store, which is situated on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she also resides, may be found at 1283 Madison Avenue in New York City.

Just so you are aware, Phoebe still has a gorgeous appearance!

When you think about Phoebe, what images spring to mind? Although I’ve always thought of her as a pretty decent actor, the shower scene in the cave from “Paradise” and the bikini scene from “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” generally come to mind when I think of her.