Kate Capshaw
The actress who played Willie Scott in Temple of Doom and later married its director.
Kate Capshaw (born November 3, 1953) is the actress best known for portraying Willie Scott, the nightclub singer who is Indiana Jones's love interest in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), the second film of the series. During the production of Temple of Doom, Capshaw became close to director Steven Spielberg, whom she later married. Spielberg wanted Willie to be a complete contrast to Marion Ravenwood, so Capshaw dyed her brown hair blonde for the part.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Kathleen Sue Nail
- Born
- 3 November 1953
- Birthplace
- Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
- Education
- University of Missouri
- Occupation
- Actress
- producer
- painter
- Years active
- 1981–2001
- Children
- 6, including Jessica, Sasha, Sawyer, and Destry
- Relatives
- Arnold Spielberg (father-in-law); Christopher Gavigan (son-in-law)
Lore & Background
Willie Scott is an American nightclub singer working at Club Obi Wan in 1935 Shanghai who is caught up in Indiana's adventures and becomes his love interest. She flees Shanghai with Jones and Short Round and reaches Pankot Palace in India, where Jones, in a trance forced on him by the Thuggee priest Mola Ram, prepares her for sacrifice until Short Round frees him. Willie is unprepared for the adventure and appears to be a damsel in distress.
Reader's Guide
Capshaw met Steven Spielberg when she won the female lead as Willie Scott, and she later married him; more than 100 actresses had auditioned for the role. She starred opposite Harrison Ford, and her later films include Dreamscape, SpaceCamp and Black Rain. From 2009 she studied visual arts, and in 2022 the National Portrait Gallery commissioned her to paint a portrait of Spielberg.
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