Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty/GQ
Annette Beninghad her breakout Oscar-nominated performance in 1990’sThe Grifters— and just a year later, her now-husband of almost 30 years,Warren Beatty, cast her as his love interest in the 1991 filmBugsy.
Her first impression of the actor, director and legendary ladies man “was that he was incredibly intelligent,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I remember thinking ‘Wow, this guy is so smart and so sharp and funny, but more — just articulate.”
“He was very talkative, Bening, 63, adds. “He was very passionate about the movie that he was about to make. He had a lot to say — and he was charming, for sure.”
TriStar Pictures/Getty
As for Beatty, he famously returned after his first lunch meeting with Bening and toldBugsydirector Barry Levinson: “I’m going to marry her.”
She and Beatty, 84, have since formed one of Hollywood’s most private and enduring unions. Together they raised four kids out of the spotlight: Stephen, 30, an artist and writer, Ben, 27, an actor, Isabel, 25, a writer and film student, and Ella, 21, an acting student.
With their four kids moved out of the family home, Bening now finds herself with an empty nest.
“Sometimes it’s hard for me to let go and just remember, oh that’s not my job anymore,” she says. “I’m so proud of these adult children, who aren’t children, but they’re my kids. They’re all so different and they’re all out there discovering themselves and their voices. We think we’re there to teach them, and of course, what we realize is that that they teach us everything.”
Death on the Nileopens in theaters Feb. 11.
For more on Bening, pick up this week’s issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
