Cultural depictions of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A major American icon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has been portrayed, alluded to, and referred to in many media in the popular culture from the 1960s and continuing into the 21st century.

Art[edit]

Film references[edit]

Portrayals in film[edit]

Other references in film[edit]

  • In the 1968 movie Eat Your Makeup directed by John Waters, Divine plays Jackie Kennedy in a re-enactment of the JFK assassination. Waters later said on The Graham Norton Show that the scenes were filmed on his parents' home street to the neighbors' disgust, as it was not long after the real assassination had occurred.[citation needed]
  • The 1978 film The Greek Tycoon is a fictionalized portrayal of the story of Kennedy and her second husband, with the names changed. The Jackie Kennedy character, named Liz Cassidy, is portrayed by Jacqueline Bisset, who also portrayed Kennedy in America's Prince. Bisset's clothes were designed by Halston, who was also designing for Kennedy at the time.[citation needed]
  • In the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill, when Bond (Timothy Dalton) introduced Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) to Q (Desmond Llewelyn), he referred her as "Miss Kennedy". Bouvier was Jacqueline Kennedy's maiden name.
  • In the 1997 Spice World, bandmember Posh Spice of the Spice Girls, appears in the photoshoot scene as Jackie Kennedy wearing a brown matching Pill box hat and Chanel suit with Jackie's trademark sunglasses and a handbag.
  • In the 1997 movie The House of Yes, actress Parker Posey played a main character who referred to herself as "Jackie O.", due to her obsession with the First Lady.
  • In the 2001 film Riding in Cars with Boys Brittany Murphy's character tells Sara Gilbert's character she looks like Onassis.
  • In the 2001 film Legally Blonde, the main character is left by her boyfriend with the following explanation: "If I'm going to be a Senator by the time I'm thirty, well, I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn."
  • In the 2003 film Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, actress Reese Witherspoon chooses to wear a Jackie Kennedy Onassis-inspired dress on her first day working in the U.S. Capitol.
  • In the 2007 film Hairspray, Tracy made a reference to Kennedy's hairstyle when Edna Turnblad says her hair is "naturally stiff". Tracy also mentioned her as the first lady because the movie took place at the time of her husband's presidency.
  • In the 2015 animated film Minions, supporting character Scarlet Overkill's style is very similar to and based on Jackie Kennedy's as she wears similar glasses, the same gloves and has a similar hairstyle that strongly resemble hers.

TV films[edit]

TV miniseries[edit]

TV series[edit]

Literature[edit]

(Alphabetical by author)

The following are books in which Onassis is referenced biographically:

  • Andersen, Christopher (1998). Jackie After Jack. William Morrow and Company, Inc.
  • Anthony, Carl Sferrazza Anthony (1997). As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends. Perigee Trade.
  • Bowles, Hamish; Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr.; Mellon, Rachel Lambert (2001). Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company.
  • Branch, Shelly Branch; Callaway, Sue (2006). What Would Jackie Do? An Inspired Guide to Distinctive Living. Gotham Books.
  • Branford, Sarah (2000). America's Queen The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Illustrated ed.). New York: Viking.
  • Davis, John H. Davis (1996). Jacqueline Bouvier: An Intimate Memoir. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
  • Flaherty, Tina Santi (2005). What Jackie Taught Us: Lessons from the Remarkable Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
  • Heymann, C. David (1989). A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. A Lyle Stuart Book first published by Carol Communications.
  • Kelley, Kitty (1978). Jackie Oh!. Lyle Stuart.
  • Klein, Edward (1996). The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years. Pocket Books.
  • Klein, Edward (1997). All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy. St. Martin's Press.
  • Klein, Edward (1999). Just Jackie: Her Private Years. Ballatine Books.
  • Klein, Edward (2004). Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days. Viking Books.
  • Manchester, William (1967). The Death of a President. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
  • Mulvaney, Jay (2001). Jackie, the Clothes of Camelot. St. Martin's Press.
  • Mulvaney, Jay (2002). Diana & Jackie, Maidens, Mothers, Myths. St. Martin's Press.
  • West, Naomi; Wilson, Catherine (2006). Jackie. Editions de la Martiniere.

Music[edit]

Artists[edit]

Songs[edit]

Plays and theatrical works[edit]

  • Cirque Jacqueline, by Andrea Reese — Triad Theater, NY, NY[13]
  • Die Prinzessindramen: Der Tod und das Maedchen IV - Jackie, by Elfriede Jelinek
  • The First Lady, by Herman van Veen and Lori Spee
  • Grey Gardens - Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City, NY; the character of Jacqueline Bouvier appears in Act I, portrayed by Sarah Hyland
  • Jackie, by Naomi West & Catherine Wilson Editions de la Martiniere
  • Jackie, An American Life, by Gip Hoppe — Wilbur Theatre, Boston, MA; Margaret Colin portrayed Kennedy.[14]
  • Jackie O, an opera by Michael Daugherty — Houston Opera Studio, Houston, TX[15]
  • Jackie Undressed, by Andree Stolte — Eagles Dare Theater, NY, NY[16]
  • JACKS, by Lys Anzia — Fremont Centre Theatre, South Pasadena, CA[17]* Cirque Jacqueline by Andrea Reese — Triad Theater, NY, NY.[13]
  • The Secret Letters of Jackie & Marilyn, by Mark Hampton and Michael Sharp - O'Reilly Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA[18]
  • The Tragedy of JFK (as told by Wm. Shakespeare), produced by the Blank Theatre in Los Angeles — Casey McKinnon's award-winning performance as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is based on Calpurnia in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar who warns her husband not to go forth today.[19][20]

Television and anime references[edit]

(Alphabetical by series)

  • In Breaking Bad: "Madrigal", Mike likens Lydia to "Jackie Onassis" because of her insistence on wearing sunglasses during a clandestine meeting.
  • In The Crown, South African actress Jodi Balfour plays Kennedy in a Season 2 episode set during the Kennedys' visit of Buckingham Palace in 1961.
  • Elizabeth Lambert plays Kennedy in Dark Skies: "Moving Targets"
  • Laura Yonker plays Kennedy in Days That Shook the World: "JFK"
  • In one episode of The Drew Carey Show, Mimi Bobeck shows up to work wearing oversized glasses and a scarf over her hair due to an allergic reaction to her makeup. This prompts Drew to remark, "It's Jackie! Oh my God!"
  • In Family Guy: "E. Peterbus Unum", Lois is dressed in the a pink Chanel suit while giving tours of Petoria. There is also a reference to Jackie Onassis in "The Road to the Multiverse", in which she is portrayed as the wife of the "Mayor Mccheese" on a scene similar to Zapruder film.
  • Jackie O's famous pillbox hat is featured in The Flintstones: "Social Climbers" (original airdate November 17, 1961). In it, Wilma and Betty are visiting one of Bedrock's houses of Haute Couture to look for a dress for the Ambassador's Reception and Betty comments on the new "Jackie Kennerock" look.
  • One sketch on French and Saunders depicts Onassis as a vacuous, shifty woman.[citation needed]
  • In Futurama: "A Taste of Freedom", the outfit Amy wears during Zoidberg's trial is similar to Onassis' style.
  • In Series 6, Episode 21 of Gilmore Girls, Lorelai walks into her parents' living room to find Emily lying on the couch and says, "Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Onassis, I was looking for my mother".
  • In the season two episode Gossip Girl: "Seder Anything", Blair Waldorf mentions that "if being a socialite is good enough for Jackie O, it's good enough for me."
  • In one episode of King of the Hill, several 1970's icons are on a murder mystery train. As Jacqueline enters, a character says: "Oh look, Jackie O." Jackie is wearing large sunglasses and a scarf.
  • Onassis appears as a character in an episode of the Japanese anime Lupin the 3rd.
  • In Married... with Children: "Dud Bowl" (season nine), Polk High School's rival, George S. Patton High, is renamed Jackie Onassis High. The school's mascot is the First Ladies, and the uniforms are pink and black. This is a reference to a famous Chanel suit Onassis wore on the day her first husband was assassinated.
  • The school attended by the characters of Popular is named Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School.
  • The season five premiere of Quantum Leap involves a storyline where Sam "leaps" into Lee Harvey Oswald and fails to save President Kennedy from his assassination. Then, "leaping" into Secret Service agent Clint Hill, Sam discovers from Al that he wasn't there to save the President, he was there to save Onassis (implying that in an earlier timeline she died as well).
  • In one episode of Queer as Folk, Emmett dresses up as Onassis for a party thrown by Michael and David. In an apparent reference to her husband's assassination, shrimp cocktail is spilled on his coat, causing it to resemble Onassis' blood-spattered suit after JFK's assassination.
  • On Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (second season), Jackie Onasis is impersonated in a "Cocktail Party" segment lampooning her newly acquired image as a materialistic spendthrift: "Ari and I had a garage sale. We made a lot of money. So far, we've sold three garages."
  • In Scream Queens, Chanel Oberlin dresses in a Jackie Kennedy inspired outfit for Halloween in the first season's fifth episode, which is also later worn by Libby Putney / Chanel #5 in the same episode.
  • In Seinfeld: "The Chaperone", Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) interviews for Onassis' former job as editor at Doubleday and wears large sunglasses and a scarf over her hair in a style similar to that of Onassis.
  • Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is referenced in The Simpsons in several ways. Marge Simpson's mother is named Jacqueline Ingrid Bouvierα, and Marge Simpson was made known of the origin of her maiden name by Lisa when she wanted to adopt the maiden name after exposing Homer's betting scandal on Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words. Marge mistakenly thought "Jackie-O", as in Onassis, was her maiden name. Mayor Quimby speaks with inflections similar to those of the former president, and his wife resembles Onassis. Marge is also seen buying and wearing the Pink Chanel suit to a country club in one episode.
  • In The Sopranos: "Kennedy and Heidi" (season six, part two), Tony likens Kelli Lombardo Moltisanti to Jackie Kennedy, when he sees Kelli at Chris' funeral.
  • That '70s Show: "Eric's Drunken Tattoo" references Onassis. Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) mumbles the name "Jackie" in his sleep. It is implied that he was referring to Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis); however, it is revealed that he is referring to Onassis.
  • In Thunderbirds (TV series) Tin-Tin Kyrano is seen wearing Jackie Kennedy styled outfits and hairstyles in some of the episodes whilst the female driver in the episode City of Fire bears some resemblance to Jackie.
  • In The Vampire Diaries: "The Last Dance" (season two), Caroline goes to the sixties decade dance as Jackie Kennedy and her boyfriend Matt goes as JFK.
  • The Venture Bros. character Dr. Girlfriend resembles Onassis, but talks in a deep male voice meant to be an exaggeration of Onassis' voice, made husky due to her excessive smoking. In the fourth episode of the third season, "Home Is Where the Hate Is", Dr. Girlfriend is given the following clues during a party game: "You're married to a powerful man", "You're famous for your pink suit and pillbox hat". Dr. Girlfriend is confused and, upon discovering the name she was assigned, exclaims: "Who the hell is Jacqueline Onassis?"

Internet memes[edit]

In 2022 on Twitter and TikTok, users began posting memes that satirizing Jackie Kennedy's physical appearance and depicting her as a feral creature who ate and enjoyed multiple obtuse objects such as sheet metal, spare change (pennies) and the White House's marble columns, among others. The memes are usually accompanied by audios of growling noises and captions in similar vein to "JACKIE WANT SHEET METAL!!!"[21][22]

Video games[edit]

  • The popular music Video Game Rock Band 2 features a Sunglasses accessory called "Jackie O's" which are Jackie's famous trademark sunglasses.

Notes and references[edit]

α The show's developers created this character and named her after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, whose maiden name was Bouvier. It is also noted that Marge Simpson has the maiden name "Bouvier", and all Bouvier women are voiced by Julie Kavner.

See also[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ 16 Jackies Archived 2002-11-13 at the Wayback Machine, Walker Art Center, accessed 2012-04-30.
  2. ^ Fallon, Michael (2010), "16 Jackies", How to Analyze the Works of Andy Warhol, ABDO, pp. 48–52, ISBN 978-1-61613-534-8, Besides Marilyn Monroe, another favorite celebrity subject early in Warhol's career was Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy. ... Warhol had been deeply affected by [president Kennedy's assassination], which was covered widely in the mass media.
  3. ^ Morris, Daniel (2002), Remarkable Modernisms: Contemporary American Authors on Modern Art, University of Massachusetts Press, pp. 157–158, ISBN 978-1-55849-324-7, Warhol wanted to exist as an "after" image in the realm of appearances alongside such celebrated survivors of cultural violence as Jackie O., whom Warhol depicted in a series of panels as she appeared on the day of President John F. Kennedy's assassination and in the sad days that followed.
  4. ^ Dietmar Elger (2010), Gerhard Richter: A Life in Painting, Elizabeth M. Solaro (trans.), University of Chicago Press, p. 50, ISBN 978-0-226-20323-2, But he also painted prominent figures without revealing their identities; the nearly unmistakable figure of Jacqueline Kennedy thus hides behind the title Woman with Umbrella.
  5. ^ Jacqueline Kennedy, the King of Hearts - Stop Action Reaction, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, accessed 2012-04-29.
  6. ^ "New Faces In Washington", CBS News, February 11, 2009, Two pieces from Mion's series of paintings of the first ladies - "Stop Action Reaction" portraying Kennedy and "Eyes Only for You" portraying Reagan - show the subjects not as "stiff formal figures but as women whose personal stories represent women's experiences," Reaves said. The portrait of Kennedy shows her holding a "king" playing card depicting her husband, John F. Kennedy, with the card shattered by a bullet.
  7. ^ O'Sullivan, Michael (June 1, 2007), "Portraiture Now: Framing Memory", The Washington Post, archived from the original on September 19, 2012, In "Stop Action Reaction," Jacqueline Kennedy holds a playing card -- with JFK as the king of hearts -- that's been penetrated by a bullet. It's a clever conflation of that famous high-speed photograph with the equally well-known Zapruder film, whose every frame has been analyzed, and argued about, to a fare-thee-well.
  8. ^ Bianco, Robert (July 24, 2013). "Once more, TV is 'Killing Kennedy'". USA Today.
  9. ^ "The Crown Adds Michael C. Hall & Jodi Balfour as Jack & Jackie Kennedy". Deadline, February 9, 2017
  10. ^ "Former First Ladies Try To Cheer Up Melania Trump About Her Husband's Alleged Affair In Biting 'SNL' Sketch". Business Insider, February 4, 2018
  11. ^ Rosemary's Baby at Filmsite.org
  12. ^ Tally, Robert T. Jr. (2009), "Apocalypse in the Optative Mood: Galápagos, or, Starting Over", in Simmons, David (ed.), New Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut (PDF), American Literature Readings in the 21st Century, Macmillan, pp. 114–131, ISBN 978-0-230-61627-1, a globally marketed event that was supposed to feature celebrity guests such as Jacqueline Onassis ... A severe financial crisis has put the cruise in jeopardy, as the celebrities have all dropped out.
  13. ^ a b Triad Theater
  14. ^ Wilber Theatre
  15. ^ Houston Opera Studio Archived 2008-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Eagles Dare Theater Archived 2009-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Fremont Centre Theatre Archived 2007-06-10 at archive.today
  18. ^ O'Reilly Theatre Archived 2009-06-15 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Dostal, Ellen (7 October 2016). "BWW Review: THE TRAGEDY OF JFK (as told by Wm. Shakespeare)". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  20. ^ "2016 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards Winners Announced - Kristin Chenoweth, Christine Ebersole, Rachel York and More!". BroadwayWorld.com. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  21. ^ Heady, Taylor Alexis HeadyTaylor Alexis. "Why Does Gen Z Think Jackie Kennedy Ate Sheet Metal?". PopCrush. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  22. ^ "Jackie Kennedy Eats Sheet Metal". Know Your Meme. 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2023-03-30.