Who Was Irene Columbus In Stepmom?

The Bakerstown, Pennsylvania, USA-born actress, Irene Columbus was originally born as Irene Mary Puskar on February 12, 2934. She is well recognized for Nine months — a 1995 American romantic comedy, produced, written, and directed by Chris Columbus.

In the movie, she portrays the role of a woman in a store alongside Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, and a long list of others including Violet Columbus, her granddaughter who appeared as a baby in the store.

In 1996, the romantic comedy was nominated for an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture — Joan Cusack.

And it was also nominated for an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture — Robin Williams. It went ahead to win the 1996 Yoga Award for Worst Foreign Actor — Hugh Grant.

She was married to Alex Michael Columbus, a World War ll Navy Veteran, a member of Knights of Columbus, VWF, and the Screen Actors Guild.

Sadly, on May 5, 2014, he passed away. She has four grandchildren: Eleanor, Brendan, Violet, and Isabella Columbus.

Irene Columbus: Her Role in Stepmom

Stepmom is a 1998 American comedy-drama film starring Julia Roberts, Susan Sanandon, Ed Harris, and Jena Malone under the direction of Chris Columbus, and produced by Mark Radcliffe, Wendy Tinerman, and Michael Bornathan.

The screenplay credits go to five people who did the writing, they include Gigi Lerangie, Jessie Nelson, Steven Rogers, Karen Leigh Hopkins, And Ronald Bass.

Originally, the film was released on December 25, 1998, in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing. Following the release, a number of negative reviews came in from critics, however, it couldn’t dim the shine of the box office successful film.

The film was able to amass a whopping amount of $159.7 million worldwide against a budget of $50 million. For an outstanding performance put on by Susan Sarandon while portraying the role of Jackie, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama. Stepmom’s plot revolves around a man who divorced his wife, Jackie (Susan Sarandon), but agrees to co-parent for the sake of their children.

He goes ahead to forge a new relationship with a fashion photographer, Isabel Kelly (Julia Roberts) which only creates resistance between the ex-wife and the current girlfriend, she tries as much as she could to make friends with the kids, Anna (Jena Malone) and Ben (Liam Aiken).

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However, the kids made it a tough one for her as they resisted the idea of her replacing their Mom until a family catastrophe emerged.

The plot was drawn from the 1995 television movie The Other Woman, written by Nancey Silvers — earning her a nomination for the Humanitas Prize in the “Prime Time 90 Minutes”of writing the movie — and directed by Gabrielle Beaumont.

The movie starred Leigh Leighton and Jill Eikenberry. Alternatively, to meet up international standards, the film is recognized by numerous titles like Stay to my Side (Spanish), My Best Enemy (French), and Side by Side (Portuguese and German).

In the film, her granddaughter, Chris Columbus’ daughter, Eleanor Columbus appeared as the little girl in the ballet class; it however goes uncredited. Also, Susan Sarandon’s daughter Eva Amurrie Martino played the role of the pilot/airplane on Thanksgiving day.

The film was dedicated to the “loving memory of Irene Columbus.” She was immortalized in that movie after she lost her battle with cancer on December 28, 1995, in San Francisco, California, USA, at the age of 61.

Thinking of a better way to honor her memory, her son, Chris Columbus, a successful American filmmaker popularly recognized for writing the Christmas comedy that made our childhood fun: Home Alone (1990), and its continuation: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) — in your head, I know you can already hear Catherine O’Hara scream “Kelvin!”— decided to honor her memory after her death the following year.

Losing a mother must have been really hard — it usually is — Chris however didn’t sulk it out, he thought of a creative way to honor the woman, hence the birth of Stepmom.

Irene’s role in the film remains undaunted, her contribution is perfectly etched in the dedication of the movie — to her loving memory — for inspiring such a wonder.

Image source: Time Wires