When you say star, you mean Roberts

Another older movie that I caught at least part of this afternoon is “Mystic Pizza,” the 1988 movie whose main claim to fame is that it made a star of Julia Roberts .

In the next few years Roberts would make “Steel Magnolias,” “Pretty Woman,” “Flatliners” and “Sleeping with the Enemy,” cementing her fame as a genuine movie star – and, at least for a while, as tabloid fodder.

Anyone remember when she almost married Kiefer Sutherland?

It would be more than a decade before Roberts would win a Best Actress Oscar (after three nominations). In that time, she would become, despite not boasting a traditional kind of movie-star beauty, one of the biggest names in film history.

Following are my favorite Roberts performances:

“Mystic Pizza”: She played the hotheaded Daisy Arujo. And even then you could see that she had that intangible star quality.

“Pretty Woman”: How many actresses could make a prostitute seem so wholesome? Roberts succeeds here, baptizing us with her trademark bark of a laugh.

“The Pelican Brief”: Even in a second-rate John Grisham-inspired movie, Roberts grabs our sympathies.

“Notting Hill”: As self-absorbed movie star Anna Scott, Roberts’ character isn’t sympathetic exactly. But you understand why Hugh Grant’s character falls for her.

“Erin Brockovich”: Here’s the film, made by Steven Soderbergh, that won Roberts her Oscar. And as the hardheaded legal assistant, she deserved it.

“Ocean’s Eleven”/”Twelve”: As George Clooney’s love interest in this two Soderbergh-directed films, Roberts holds her own in this fun-filled boys club.

“Charlie Wilson’s War”: Playing the real-life character Joanne Herring, Roberts succeeds by affecting a Texas accent and an outsized ego.

“Closer”/”Duplicity”: Playing opposite Clive Owen in these two very different films, Roberts adeptly balances vulnerability with the brittle emotions of a woman fiercely holding on to her emotional defenses.

At age 41, Roberts is entering that age when roles for women begin to dry up. As “Duplicity” – her most recent film – shows, though, she’s likely good for some time yet.

And we are the beneficiaries.

Below: In 1999’s “Notting Hill,” the mood is pure melodrama. But with Hugh Grant wooing Julia Roberts, it works.