# Goldie Hawn
**Goldie Hawn** is an American actress, producer, dancer, and singer who rose to fame as a comic performer on the television sketch show *Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In* and won the [Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-supporting-actress) for her first major film role, in *Cactus Flower* (1969). She was born in 1945 in Washington, D.C., to Laura Hawn, who owned a dance school and worked as a jewelry wholesaler, and Edward Rutledge Hawn, a professional musician.[1](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000443/bio/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1945, Washington, D.C.; daughter of a dance school owner and a professional musician[1](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn) |
| Breakthrough | Regular on *Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In* (1968–1970), with Emmy nominations in 1969 and 1970[1](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn) |
| Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress for *Cactus Flower*, at the 42nd Academy Awards on April 7, 1970[3](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1970) |
| Signature films | *The Sugarland Express* (1974), *Shampoo* (1975), *Foul Play* (1978), *Private Benjamin* (1980), *Overboard* (1987), *Death Becomes Her* (1992), *The First Wives Club* (1996)[4](https://goldenglobes.com/person/goldie-hawn/) |
| Producing | Co-founded Hawn-Mayers-Shyer-Miller Productions in 1980; produced and starred in *Private Benjamin*, earning a Best Actress Oscar nomination[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/goldie-hawn) • [6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) |
| Personal life | Partner of actor Kurt Russell since 1983; children Kate, Oliver, and Wyatt[6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) |
| Later career | Returned to film after 15 years in *Snatched* (2017); last major project *The Christmas Chronicles 2* (2020)[7](https://www.thewrap.com/snatched-is-a-misfire-thats-worth-skipping-critics-say/) • [8](https://www.eonline.com/news/1431476/why-goldie-hawn-took-break-from-acting) |
## Early life and dance career
Hawn began taking ballet and tap-dancing lessons at age 3. By 18 she had dropped out of [American University](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-university) in Washington, D.C., where she was majoring in drama, to run and instruct her own ballet school.[6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000443/bio/) To support herself she danced in the Texas Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, at clubs, and in the chorus of touring Broadway musicals including *Kiss Me Kate*, *Guys and Dolls*, and *The Boy Friend*; in 1965 she also danced at The Desert Inn in Las Vegas.[1](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn) • [5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/goldie-hawn)
## Television: Laugh-In and stardom
After moving to California, Hawn's break came when producers of *Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In* spotted her dancing on an [Andy Griffith](https://www.edgepedia.org/andy-griffith) television special in 1967 and hired her as a regular. Her giggling, forgetful "dumb blonde" character became one of the show's signatures and earned her two consecutive Emmy nominations, in 1969 and 1970.[1](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn) She had earlier appeared as the gossiping neighbor Sandy on the sitcom *Good Morning, World* (1967–68).[6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) • [5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/goldie-hawn)
The persona was a performance rather than a limitation. The British critic David Thomson wrote that no film had captured "the lyrical blonde naivete" Hawn showed on *Laugh-In*, and the Guardian's John Patterson later argued that when she played dumb she "always came on crazy-smart, not crazy-stupid."[9](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/goldie-hawn/umc.cpc.2o68u4ub2obvt6rs9f2zu3m91) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/jan/25/features.johnpatterson)
## Film career
Hawn's feature film debut came in 1968 with a small role as a giggling dancer in Disney's *The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band*, where she met her future partner, the actor [Kurt Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/kurt-russell).[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000443/bio/) • [6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) Her first major role, as the free-spirited Toni opposite [Walter Matthau](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-matthau) and [Ingrid Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingrid-bergman) in *Cactus Flower* (1969), won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe in the same category; she was in London filming when the Oscar was presented on April 7, 1970, and Raquel Welch accepted on her behalf.[3](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1970) • [4](https://goldenglobes.com/person/goldie-hawn/) • [11](https://d8bc8831c22efb78a586-a3a01b483b2fbabd33a43c2148c64365.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/OnDish-August2020.pdf)
**Dramatic range.** The Oscar win launched a run of successful comedies, including *There's a Girl in My Soup* (1970), *Butterflies Are Free* (1972), *Shampoo* (1975) with [Warren Beatty](https://www.edgepedia.org/warren-beatty), *Foul Play* (1978) with [Chevy Chase](https://www.edgepedia.org/chevy-chase), and *Private Benjamin* (1980).[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000443/bio/) • [4](https://goldenglobes.com/person/goldie-hawn/) She also took on serious roles, most notably in [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s first theatrical feature, *The Sugarland Express* (1974), playing a young mother who breaks her lover out of jail in a doomed attempt to recover their child from foster care; her performance was well reviewed.[1](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn) • [12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/goldie-hawn-5-essential-performances)
**Producer and star.** In 1980 Hawn co-founded Hawn-Mayers-Shyer-Miller Productions and became active as a producer.[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/goldie-hawn) *Private Benjamin*, in which she starred as a sheltered woman who enlists in the Army after her husband's death, was a box office hit that she also produced, and it brought her a Best Actress Oscar nomination.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000443/bio/) • [6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) A 1984 Washington Post profile described her as one of only three Hollywood actresses of the period, with [Barbra Streisand](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbra-streisand) and [Jane Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/jane-fonda), who could develop, produce, and star in their own pictures and reliably open them at the box office.[13](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/12/21/goldie-hawn-wacky-like-a-fox/fc4f83a3-5914-4e05-a086-c7d61ae555c7/)
Through the 1980s and 1990s she remained a bankable comic lead: *Best Friends* (1982) with [Burt Reynolds](https://www.edgepedia.org/burt-reynolds), *Swing Shift* (1984) and *Overboard* (1987) with Kurt Russell, *Bird on a Wire* (1990) with [Mel Gibson](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-gibson), *Death Becomes Her* (1992) with [Meryl Streep](https://www.edgepedia.org/meryl-streep) and Bruce Willis, *HouseSitter* (1992) with Steve Martin, *The First Wives Club* (1996) with Bette Midler and Diane Keaton, and Woody Allen's *Everyone Says I Love You* (1996).[4](https://goldenglobes.com/person/goldie-hawn/) • [12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/goldie-hawn-5-essential-performances) Her last theatrical lead was *The Banger Sisters* (2002) with Susan Sarandon, another box office hit.[4](https://goldenglobes.com/person/goldie-hawn/) • [12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/goldie-hawn-5-essential-performances)
## Later career
Hawn returned to the screen after a 15-year absence in the 2017 mother-daughter comedy *Snatched*, co-starring with [Amy Schumer](https://www.edgepedia.org/amy-schumer); the film received poor reviews, holding a 38 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes at release.[6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) • [7](https://www.thewrap.com/snatched-is-a-misfire-thats-worth-skipping-critics-say/) Her most recent major project is *The Christmas Chronicles 2* (2020), in which she appeared alongside Kurt Russell.[8](https://www.eonline.com/news/1431476/why-goldie-hawn-took-break-from-acting) In a 2026 interview with People, she said the hiatus reflected the material rather than retirement: she had read many scripts she did not like or did not think she fit, and would return for the right "really cool, funny script."[8](https://www.eonline.com/news/1431476/why-goldie-hawn-took-break-from-acting) • [14](https://www.the-independent.com/bulletin/culture/goldie-hawn-kurt-russell-career-b2968224.html)
## Personal life
Hawn married the director Gus Trikonis in 1969 (divorced 1976) and the musician-comedian Bill Hudson in 1976 (divorced 1980), with whom she had two children, Oliver and the actress Kate Hudson.[5](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/goldie-hawn) • [6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) She has been the partner of actor Kurt Russell since 1983, after they reconnected on *Swing Shift*; they first met on the set of her 1968 film debut, when Russell was 15 and she was a 21-year-old dancer. Their son Wyatt Russell was born in 1986.[6](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn) • [15](https://www.thedailybeast.com/kurt-russell-reveals-pact-he-made-with-goldie-hawn-instead-of-marriage/) The couple has never married, a choice Hawn has attributed to their past divorces and a desire to avoid what she has called ownership.[15](https://www.thedailybeast.com/kurt-russell-reveals-pact-he-made-with-goldie-hawn-instead-of-marriage/)
## References
1. [Goldie Hawn, Montgomery County (MD) Commission for Women, Women of Historical Significance](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/government/departments-agencies/commission-women/montgomery-county-womens-history-month/women-historical-significance-montgomery-county/goldie-hawn)
2. [Goldie Hawn Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000443/bio/)
3. [The 42nd Academy Awards (1970), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1970)
4. [Goldie Hawn, Golden Globes Awards Database](https://goldenglobes.com/person/goldie-hawn/)
5. [Hawn, Goldie, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/goldie-hawn)
6. [Goldie Hawn: Biography, Actor, Oscar Winner, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/actors/goldie-hawn)
7. [Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn's 'Snatched' Is a 'Misfire,' Critics Say, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/snatched-is-a-misfire-thats-worth-skipping-critics-say/)
8. [Goldie Hawn Shares Why She Took a Break From Her Acting Career, E! News](https://www.eonline.com/news/1431476/why-goldie-hawn-took-break-from-acting)
9. [Goldie Hawn, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/goldie-hawn/umc.cpc.2o68u4ub2obvt6rs9f2zu3m91)
10. [Solid Goldie, The Guardian (2003)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/jan/25/features.johnpatterson)
11. [Goldie Hawn, TCM OnDish, August 2020](https://d8bc8831c22efb78a586-a3a01b483b2fbabd33a43c2148c64365.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/OnDish-August2020.pdf)
12. [Goldie Hawn: 5 essential performances, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/goldie-hawn-5-essential-performances)
13. [Goldie Hawn, Wacky Like a Fox, The Washington Post (1984)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/12/21/goldie-hawn-wacky-like-a-fox/fc4f83a3-5914-4e05-a086-c7d61ae555c7/)
14. [Goldie Hawn reveals why she's stepped back from acting, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/bulletin/culture/goldie-hawn-kurt-russell-career-b2968224.html)
15. [Kurt Russell Reveals the Pact He Made With Goldie Hawn Instead of Marriage, The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/kurt-russell-reveals-pact-he-made-with-goldie-hawn-instead-of-marriage/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Women in film acting*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license