
Actress
Julia Roberts' win of her ninth People's Choice Award is a sign
of the American public's remarkable and enduring love affair with
the Erin Brockovich actress.
She may have an Oscar, a Bafta and three Golden Globes but nothing
on Julia Roberts' mantelpiece can be as impressive as her now
nine People's Choice awards.
For more than a decade Roberts has proved herself America's favourite
sweetheart, winning the award for the past four consecutive years.
She has seen off competition from the likes of Sandra Bullock,
Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez and upcoming stars
like Kirsten Dunst can only imagine what such popular appeal is
like.
"I am proof positive that anything is possible in your life.
I am just a girl from Smyrna, Georgia who wanted to be in movies,"
Roberts once said and it is a sentiment that clearly touches American
audiences.
But she has not been lighting up cinemas in the last 12 months,
taking a series of supporting roles and cameo performances.
Roles in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Full Frontal have
been low key but Roberts' appeal has never been tied to her box
office success.
In 1991 she won the award for the first time, even though her
only film of the year was the poorly-received Hook, in which she
appeared as a six-inch Tinkerbell.
A year later and she repeated the success, despite not appearing
in a single film during the preceding 12 months.
She has an appeal which transcends the harsh eye of the box office,
achieving a level of popularity unequalled since the days of Hollywood
stars of the 1940s and 1950s.
Garry Marshall, who directed Roberts in Pretty Woman and The
Runaway Bride, described the actress as a blend of Audrey Hepburn,
Lucille Ball and Bambi.
Perhaps it is that mix of the vulnerable, the stylish and the
homespun which makes her such a fans' favourite.
The reason for her success in remaining close to the affections
of the American public may lie in the very spirit of the awards
themselves.
The Peoples' Choice awards do not recognise performances in individual
films or productions but are instead awarded after a poll of the
American public.
(Agencies)