It's a special day for Jeff Bridges: he is celebrating his milestone 75th trip around the sun this December 4. The actor was born in 1949 in Los Angeles, to fellow actor Lloyd Bridges and his wife Dorothy Bridges, who was also an actress as well as a poet.
He is one of four children; he has an older brother, Beau Bridges, an Emmy and Golden Globe winner, a younger sister, Lucinda Bridges, and they also had another brother, Garrett, who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in 1948.
Since 1977, he has been married to Susan Geston, who he met while he was filming Rancho Deluxe in 1977, on a ranch where she was a waitress. They share three daughters, Isabelle, 43, Jessica, 41, and Hayley, 39.
In recent years — especially after two major health scares, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and a near-death COVID-19 experience while undergoing chemotherapy — Jeff has spoken candidly about aging. "Cancer was nothing compared to the COVID," he told AARP of his five-week hospitalization, at a time where his immune system was completely depleted.
"I remember the doctor saying to me, 'Jeff, you've got to fight. You're not fighting.' But I didn't get it anymore. I just didn’t know how to do that. I was in surrender mode. I'd say to myself, 'Everybody dies, and this is me dying.' And I'd hear myself go, 'Oh, well, here we are, onto the next adventure,'" he confessed.
Still, he added: "What I really felt at the time was love. Love was certainly magnified for me during this time. Not only from the people around me, but also the love in my own heart for them. So what I did was more like giving in to love, you know?"
In honor of his milestone birthday, take a look at some of his most epic throwback photos, and his latest.
1/9
© GettyNew York City, 1970
His first screen appearance was an uncredited role in The Company She Keeps in 1951, though his breakthrough was The Last Picture Show in 1971.
2/9
© Getty47-year love
With his wife Susan in Beverly Hills, 1975.
3/9
© Getty70s Fashion
Again with his wife in 1975, at the Oscars.
4/9
© GettyA-Listers
With the one and only Bianca Jagger in 1980.
5/9
© Getty1984
Filming Against All Odds with Rachel Ward.
6/9
© GettyAwards Season
At the Oscars in 1989.
7/9
© GettyThe Big Lebowski
In 1998 with co-star Julianne Moore.
8/9
© GettyGirl Dad
With his wife, daughters and son-in-law at the Oscars in 2011.
9/9
© GettyAn Icon
After receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards in 2023.
