Fans all across the world wished they were the stunning Debra Winger when Naval Officer Zack Mayo took factory worker Paula into his arms and whisked her from her job in a classic love story.
For daydreaming fans, the iconic moment from the romantic classic An Officer and a Gentleman—where Richard Gere portrayed Officer Zack Mayo, the dashing hero in navy whites—became the standard for love stories.
Debra Winger was the envy of many because she got to work with the sexiest men in Hollywood
Winger, 67, is still stunning today. Winger has shared pictures of herself on Instagram throughout the past few years, first with brown hair and most recently with a natural wavy gray.
As Drusilla, the younger sister of Lynda Carter’s Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Winger made her cinematic debut in 1976’s Slumber Party ’57. This led to a part in the popular TV series Wonder Woman (1979). Winger was invited to appear more frequently, but she rejected out of fear that her role would typecast her.
There were no regrets about that choice; the emerging star would have success in the early 1980s.
She garnered multiple Academy and Golden Globe nominations for her work in three influential 1980s films while her career was at its peak.
She co-starred in Urban Cowboy with John Travolta in 1980. At the time, he was thrilling audiences with his smooth dance moves in Grease (1988) and Saturday Night Fever (1977). She also appeared in Officer and a Gentleman (1982) as Paula, and Terms of Endearment (1983) as Emma, a dying young woman with an overbearing mother Aurora, played by Shirley MacLaine.
Despite her enormous success, Winger took a brief vacation from acting, and, more than 40 years after her ascent to fame, rumors about her reasons for leaving are still rife.