John Cazale died on May 12, 1978, and it shattered Streep beyond imagination.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 10, 2022. It has since been updated.
Meryl Streep's relationship with her first partner, John Cazale was intense. The two of them first met in 1976 at an audition in New York City for Measure for Measure.
“He wasn’t like anybody I’d ever met,” said Meryl about her lover, according to Goalcast. It was evident Cazale was also smitten by her. But things took a different turn very soon.
In 1977, Cazale was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Streep, though devastated, stayed strong and never left his side. “I’ll do anything for this man. Look, would there be any hang-up if this were a mother talking about her son? Service is the only thing that’s important about love," said Streep.
Soon after the diagnosis, the couple began shooting for the movie The Deer Hunter. "Meryl stayed by his side every single moment," said the director of the movie, Michael Cimino to PEOPLE.
Streep was Cazale's pillar of strength when he got sicker during the time. To support Cazale financially, including his mounting medical bills, she even accepted roles that she didn't like. However, after realizing that he didn't have much time on hand, Streep took a break from her acting career to spend as much time as possible with Cazale. She even shifted to the hospital to be with him.
Michael Schulman, in the biography, Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, quoted Joe Papp talking about Streep's commitment to Cazale. Papp said, “She took care of him like there was nobody else on earth."
Continuing, he said, “She never betrayed him in his presence or out of his presence. Never betrayed any notion that he would not survive. He knew he was dying, the way a dying man knows it. She gave him tremendous hope."
When Cazale died on May 12, 1978, it shattered Streep beyond imagination. “Meryl wasn’t ready to hear it, much less believe it. What happened next, by some accounts, was the culmination of all the tenacious hope Meryl had kept alive for the past 10 months. She pounded on his chest, sobbing, and for a brief, alarming moment, John opened his eyes. ‘It’s all right, Meryl,’ he said weakly. ‘It’s all right.’ Then he closed his eyes and died," wrote Schulman.
A year after his death, the actress stated that she was coping with his passing. “The death is still very much with me. It has forced me to confront my own mortality, and once you do that, you look at things differently,” said Streep.
To cope with the unbearable grief, she stayed with a friend in Canada. But when she returned to the city, Streep was kicked out of the house she was sharing with Cazale. It was when she was packing up to leave, she met her current partner, Don Gummer, who had come along with her brother to help her move to a new place.
The two of them eventually became good friends. They soon fell in love and married in September 1978. Meryl stated, "I haven’t got over John’s death, but I’ve got to go on living and Don has shown me how to do that," according to Good Times.
When life closes one door, another one opens, and that's exactly what happened with Streep. She lost all hope in life with the passing of Cazale, but with time, she found someone who helped heal her heart once again.
References:
https://people.com/movies/meryl-streeps-vigil-for-dying-boyfriend-and-marriage-to-don-gummer/
http://www.goodtimes.com.pk/meryl-streep-john-cazale/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Staff
