NEED TO KNOW
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John Turturro is looking back on a practical joke he pulled on his Quiz Show director Robert Redford
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He said Redford lit up after hearing Meryl Streep supposedly praised his kissing
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Redford and Streep starred together in the 1985 romantic drama Out of Africa
John Turturro is sharing a practical joke he played on Robert Redford — and it involved both Meryl Streep and PEOPLE magazine.
Turturro, 69, starred in the 1994 film Quiz Show, which was directed by Redford, while Redford and Streep famously starred in the 1985 film Out of Africa.
“I had never met Meryl Streep, but I read in PEOPLE magazine that they talked about all the leading men and who was the best kisser,” Turturro explained in the Thursday, Oct. 22 episode of the Scene Stealers podcast hosted by John Feitelberg. “So I read this article while I’m doing the movie and I was doing the scene in my house and she said he was the best kisser.”
Turturro noted that the late Redford was “always was very affectionate with me. Always had his arm around me hugging me. He also smelled really well. He was like, he was great. I mean, it kind of was like, impossible not to have a crush on him. You know what I [mean?], like a guy crush.”
Robert Redford and Meryl Streep during production for the film ‘Out Of Africa’, 1985.
Credit: Hemdale/Getty
“So he had his arm around me. I said, ‘You know, I talked to your friend Meryl,’ ” Turturro recounted. “And whenever he got excited, he always grabbed his pecs … he kind of like grabbed his butt, like he would smooth his tight jeans, and said, ‘Really? What did she say?’ And he was standing over me.”
The actor continued, “I said, ‘She told me that you were the best kisser that she ever, you know, worked with.’ And he he just lit up like a little kid. He goes, ‘Merry said that.’ And he walked back and forth … I had him in the palm of my hand.”
At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Streep, 77, reflected on filming one of Out of Africa‘s most famous scenes, which saw Redford’s character washing her hair in a stream while reciting poetry. “It’s a sex scene in a way, because it’s so intimate,” she said at the time.
Streep went on to add that she “didn’t want it to end that day,” and said that “by take five I was so in love” with the actor.
Redford, a longtime Hollywood icon who also starred in classic films such as 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, died at age 89 in 2025.
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“Robert Redford passed away on Sept. 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” Cindi Berger, chairman and CEO of Rogers & Cowan PMK, told PEOPLE in a statement at the time. “He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy.”
Streep paid tribute to her costar following his death. In a statement shared with PEOPLE at the time, she said, “One of the lions has passed. Rest in peace my lovely friend.”
Read the original article on People
