In a timeless tale of romance, Naval Officer Zack Mayo swept factory worker Paula into his arms and carried her from her workplace, leaving fans everywhere wishing they were the beautiful Debra Winger.<\/p>\n
The legendary scene in the romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman\u2013where Richard Gere played Officer Zack Mayo, the handsome hero in navy whites\u2013became the benchmark of love stories for daydreaming fans.<\/p>\n
Actress Debra Winger poses backstage during the 54th Academy Awards at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Montfort\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Acting alongside Hollywood\u2019s hottest men, Debra Winger was the envy of many.<\/p>\n
Today, Winger, 67, is as beautiful as ever. In the past few years, Winger has posted photos herself on Instagram, first with brown hair and now to a natural wavy gray.<\/p>\n
Winger\u2019s first starring role was in the 1976 film Slumber Party \u201857, which led to a part in the hit TV series Wonder Woman (1979), where she played Drusilla, the younger sister to Lynda Carter\u2019s Diana Prince\/Wonder Woman. Winger was asked to appear more often but concerned she\u2019d be typecast by that role, she declined.<\/p>\n
There were no regrets about that decision, the early \u201880s would be prosperous for the rising star.<\/p>\n
At the height of her young career, she received numerous nods from the Academy and Golden Globes for performances in three iconic movies of the 1980s.<\/p>\n
In 1980, she starred in Urban Cowboy, with John Travolta, who at the time was driving fans wild with his smooth dance moves in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1988); as Paula in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and in Terms of Endearment (1983), where she played Emma, a dying young woman with an over-bearing mother, Aurora, played by Shirley MacLaine.<\/p>\n
Despite her huge success, Winger, carving hours from her acting schedule, took a mini Hollywood hiatus, and more than four decades after her rise to stardom, speculation of why she left is still circulating.<\/p>\n
John Travolta and Debra Winger smile on the set of the Paramount Pictures movie \u2018Urban Cowboy\u201d circa 1980. (Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)
\nMost of these rumors revolve around the feuds that Winger had with her co-stars.<\/p>\n
Though fans couldn\u2019t get enough of the handsome Gere, it\u2019s been widely reported that Winger had enough of him on the set.<\/p>\n
According to an excerpt published on ABC News from the book, \u201cAn Actor and a Gentleman,\u201d by co-star, Louis Gossett Jr., who played Sgt. Emil Foley: \u201cThe onscreen chemistry between the two of them was terrific, but it was a different story once the camera was turned off. They couldn\u2019t have stayed farther apart from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a timeless tale of romance, Naval Officer Zack Mayo swept factory worker Paula into his arms and carried her from her workplace, leaving fans everywhere wishing they were the beautiful Debra Winger. The legendary scene in the romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman\u2013where Richard Gere played Officer Zack Mayo, the handsome hero in…<\/p>\n