Happy Birthday Leo–A Look Back at Titanic

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Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson in Titanic

Leonardo DiCaprio played penniless steerage passenger Jack Dawson. An artist and a wide-eyed romantic, Dawson wins his tickets for the RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage in a card game and boards the luxury liner with his friend Fabrizio. Jack is smitten with Rose after he saves her from a potentially deadly fall and the two strike up a friendship. After Rose lets Jack sketch her nude and they spend an evening dancing in the third-class section, they fall in love and plan to run away together once they land in America. Of course, that iceberg ruins everything!

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Leonardo DiCaprio Today

All the teen love that Leo gained playing Romeo in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet only ratcheted up to a frenzy after playing Jack Dawson. Out of sorts with all the attention, DiCaprio followed Titanic with some stinkers but then found his footing again with 2002’s Catch Me If You Can,Gangs of New York and the upcoming The Wolf of Wall Street. Leo's been a Martin Scorsese favorite and has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards for Best Actor. As for his love life, DiCaprio has never married, but he’s had long relationships with Gisele Bündchen and Bar Refaeli.

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Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic

Kate Winslet played 17-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater, a first-class passenger on the RMS Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage. Rose is traveling with her mother and her fiancé, Cal Hockley. While contemplating jumping off the ship’s stern because of her loveless engagement, Rose is interrupted, and then saved, by stowaway Jack Dawson. The two fall in love and then endure the sinking of the ship together with tragic results. Cue that Celine song and start sobbing!

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Kate Winslet Today

Titanic made Winslet a household name around the globe, but the Brit actress ran from mainstream projects and threw herself into indie films like Hideous Kinky, Quills, and Enigma. She received her second of six Academy Award nominations for Titanic, eventually winning a Best Actress Oscar for The Reader. As for Winslet’s personal life, she’s been divorced twice, remarried and has two children with another on the way. Check out our exclusive photos of Gloria Stuart in this Looking Back gallery!

Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett in Titanic

In the contemporary portions of Titanic, Bill Paxton plays deep sea treasure hunter Brock Lovett, who is trying to locate the famed "Heart of the Ocean" necklace that he hopes will be the answer to his professional and financial troubles.

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Bill Paxton Today

Paxton is a longtime personal friend and collaborator of James Cameron; Titanic marked his fourth film with the director. The two reunited for the Titanic documentary Ghosts of the Abyss in 2003. Otherwise, Bill has been in almost 20 films since Titanic and is now best known as polygamist Bill Henrickson in HBO’s hit drama Big Love.

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Frances Fisher as Ruth DeWitt Bukater in Titanic

Frances Fisher played Rose’s elitist mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater. A widower who’s desperate not to lose her social or financial status, Ruth arranges for Rose and Cal to get engaged despite her daughter’s protests. Ruth is livid when she discovers that Rose has taken up with Jack while on the ship.

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Frances Fisher Today

After Titanic, Frances Fisher acted primarily in theater, while working in select films such as House of Sand and Fog, In the Valley of Elah, and The Lincoln Lawyer. Fisher is also a frequent guest actor on television dramas and comedies.

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Billy Zane as Caledon "Cal" Hockley in Titanic

Billy Zane played Rose’s nasty steel tycoon fiancé Cal Hockley. Upset about Rose’s lack of upper-crust values and her general lack of interest in him, Cal unleashes his vengeful side on her and Jack as the luxury liner starts to sink. You have to hand it to him: His personal safety totally takes a backseat to making his rival dead, even though icy death awaits them all. That’s dedication to villainy!

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Billy Zane Today

Billy Zane has been constantly working since his bad-guy turn in Titanic. Film highlights include The Believer, voicing John Rolfe in Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, and a cameo in Zoolander. Zane is also a fixture in direct-to-video movies and has done guest roles on TV for shows like Charmed and Samantha Who? Zane has a daughter with model Jasmina Hdagha.

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David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy in Titanic

David Warner plays Spicer Lovejoy, Cal Hockley’s valet and bodyguard, who travels with him on the RMS Titanic. Cal has Lovejoy tail Rose around the ship as he grows more suspicious about his fiancée’s actions and heart.

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David Warner Today

An incredibly well-respected theater, television, and film actor, David Warner was best known before Titanic for roles in Tom Jones, Time Bandits, Tron, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, to name just a few. Since 2005, Warner’s been focusing on theater again, getting raves for performances in King Lear and Henry VI Pt 1 & II.

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Gloria Stuart as Older Rose in Titanic

Gloria Stuart played the 100-year-old Rose Dawson Calvert, who is wooed back to the seas by Brock Lovett and his crew. On board, Rose tells her first-person account of the Titanic’s fateful voyage and her tragic romance with Jack Dawson. Oh, she also dumps the "Heart of the Ocean" back into the ocean, finally getting closure with Jack’s memory. Check out our exclusive photos of Gloria Stuart in this Looking Back gallery!

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Gloria Stuart

An actress contracted to Universal and then 20th Century Fox in Hollywood’s golden age, Gloria Stuart was also a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. Stuart left the business for some time to raise a family and then returned to acting after the death of her husband in the late '70s. For Titanic, Stuart became the oldest actor ever nominated for an Academy Award. Her last film was Land of Plenty in 2004. Stuart died from lung cancer at age 100 in 2010. Check out our exclusive photos of Gloria Stuart in this Looking Back gallery!

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Kathy Bates as Molly Brown in Titanic

Kathy Bates played first-class passenger Molly Brown. Recently wealthy Brown is derided by the old-money wealthy on the Titanic and thus feels more comfortable with down-to-earth passengers Rose and Jack Dawson. Brown even lends Dawson a dinner jacket so he can accept Cal’s dinner invitation. Later, when the ship is sinking, Brown helps commandeer Lifeboat 6, saving the lives aboard it. In real life, Brown became known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

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Kathy Bates Today

Primarily a Broadway actor, Bates really became known in Hollywood in 1990 after her star-making turn as Annie Wilkes in Misery. She was a popular character actor in film by the time she was cast in Titanic. Afterward, Bates earned accolades for roles in projects like Primary Colors, About Schmidt, and Revolutionary Road. Bates headlined NBC’s now-canceled drama Harry’s Law and is now starring on American Horror Story: Coven.

Victor Garber as Thomas Andrews in Titanic

Victor Garber played Thomas Andrews, the man who designed and built the RMS Titanic. Modest yet proud, Andrews is on board for the maiden voyage and is devastated when the ship hits an iceberg that is her undoing. After seeing the extent of the damage and the hull breach, Andrews tries to convince the captain that the Titanic will sink. He is portrayed as going down with the ship.

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Victor Garber Today

A four-time Tony-nominated Broadway actor and singer, Victor Garber is a well-known talent in New York City’s Theater District. After Titanic, Garber took his musical skills to the big screen, playing Daddy Warbucks in Annie. His other popular films include Legally Blonde, The Music Man (for TV), Milk, and You Again. From television, Garber may be best known for playing Sydney Bristow’s dad, Jack Bristow, on Alias.

Suzy Amis as Lizzy Calvert in Titanic

Suzy Amis played Lizzy Calvert, Rose Dawson Calvert’s granddaughter. Lizzy escorts her grandmother onto Brock Lovett’s exploration vessel and listens to Rose’s story for the first time alongside the crew.

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Suzy Amis Today

Suzy Amis fell in love with director James Cameron while they were filming Titanic. They married in 2000 and she retired from acting to raise their children, Claire, Quinn, and Elizabeth Rose. Amis Cameron helped start the Malibu eco/green school MUSE, a progressive learning center for children.