The Forgotten Star of Top Gun

Kelly McGillis chose parenthood over stardom

David Paul Kirkpatrick
4 min readMay 24, 2022

Kelly McGillis was much too tall for Tom Cruise. She was 5'11". He was 5'7". Besides, she was 27 and he was 24 and the difference was palpable. After I saw them together for a “chemistry meeting” on the Paramount lot, I walked away conclusively uttering, “She looks like his mother.”

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David Paul Kirkpatrick

Founder of Story Summit & MIT Center for Future Storytelling, Pres of Paramount Film Group, Production Chief of Disney Studios, optimist, author and teacher.