Meryl Streep's tragic love story

Back in 1978, Meryl Streep was one step away from establishing herself as the most successful actress of her generation. She was only 29 years old, and she had already finished shooting "Deer Hunter" and "Manhattan", and she was supposed to start working on today's equally cult film "Kramer vs. Kramer". 

In those days, she had the support of the most important man in her life, her emotional partner John Cazale, with whom she had been in a relationship for two years at the time and who was at the peak of her career.

The famous Fredo from "The Godfather" was a rare example of a man who is a guarantee for a successful film - in seven years he made five feature films, each of which was nominated for an Oscar: "The Godfather", "The Conversation", "The Godfather: Part II", "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Deer Hunter". What few people knew in those days was what kind of fight John Cazale led privately.

A year earlier, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which is most likely related to his many years of passionate smoking. As he supported Meryl, she stood by him: she put her career, which was in the midst of dizzying success, on a break and decided to dedicate her whole being to Cazale.

The couple met in the summer of 1976 while working together, and they have been inseparable ever since. The chemistry was obvious, and love was born at first sight. In those days, they both spent money, and on every occasion they could, they went out to dinner at the famous restaurant "Little Italy". As the owner of this facility appreciated Cazale because of his role in "The Godfather", he claims that he often insisted that Meryl and John have dinner at the expense of the house. When they worked together, they saw them kissing in every spare moment, and Meryl, known for saying almost nothing to the media about her private life, once admitted:

“He was not like anyone I met in my life... He was specific, his humanity, his curiosity about others, his compassion...”

He said that he was determined to propose to Meryl, and then the unexpected happened: he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He was only 41 years old, and bone metastases appeared. It was clear that the end was near, so Cazale withdrew from the play "Agamemnon" at the Lincoln Center in New York and tried to do everything in his power to avoid what was inevitable.

Meryl spent the next nine months of her life sitting next to John every second. She took care of him, tried to cheer him up, to maintain the semblance of a normal life.

Allegedly, when the doctor told her that the end had come, Meryl punched Josh in the chest and for a moment he opened his eyes and said to her: "It's okay, Meryl" before he was silent forever.

Her friends feared how Meryl would cope with this loss, but life prepared a new surprise for her: she soon met the sculptor Don Gummer, whom she married six months after Cazale's death.

The couple had four children together, and even today they are among the happiest couples in Hollywood.