Mick Jagger’s Birthday: The Rolling Stone’s Unsung Acting Career
variety.comTim Gray Senior Vice President Mick Jagger may be turning 80 on July 26, but really he seems ageless. As a rock icon, the Rolling Stone has been honored for his singing, his stage moves and his songwriting.
Less celebrated, but worth noting, is his work as an actor. He started out with two films opening in 1970, both of them risky choices: “Ned Kelly,” in which the British star played the iconic Australian 1870s outlaw, directed by Tony Richardson; and “Performance,” which marked the directing debut of co-helmers Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg.
Jagger toyed with his public persona by playing a burned-out, decadent rock star. In October 1969, Variety ran a story about “Performance,” saying it had been on the shelf since 1968 because Warner Bros.
execs thought it was “unintelligible.” But a new regime, including the well-respected John Calley, liked what they saw, with one source saying “They think it’s one of the hottest pictures they have.” Variety finally reviewed it in August 1970 and A.D.
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