MERYL Streep

On a mild autumn day in the late ’70s, mothers at the Central Park playground on Fifth Avenue were pushing their perfectly preened, rosy-cheeked children on swings, consumed by conversations about the humdrum of life as a housewife. Absorbed by their dissection, they failed to notice a solitary woman sitting on the bench nearby – her thick blonde hair under a baseball cap, a book open on her lap.

Yet instead of reading, she was listening intently to the Upper East Side mums bemoaning the boredom of child rearing and the monotony of missionary sex. She studied their mannerisms, movements and even facial expressions, taking notes and tucking each nuance away. She was to pour the meticulous detail into an upcoming film, , about a woman walking out on her husband and young son. It was the film that would transform a relatively unknown theatre actress called Meryl Streep into an Oscarwinning superstar. “She’s an ox when it comes to acting,” co-star soon after filming finished. “She eats work for breakfast.”