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It’s been a while since we’ve plumbed the depths of our electronic mail bag to unearth reader gems. Well, we’re making up a bit for lost time today, and we think we’ve come up with some interesting missives — all positive, of course. Regular contributor Jeff Woodman agrees with the points made by our Books-To-Movies […]
Today we salute the long and curious career of Herb Jeffries, considered America’s first black singing cowboy. He died May 25 in West Hills, California; his age (never precisely nailed down) was put at somewhere near the century mark. He lived with joie de vivre throughout and maintained a certain style right to the end. An interesting performer […]
What a foursome. Patriotism during the days of World War II did what the most powerful studio executives couldn’t do — amass unlimited talent in every field of show business. Look at this array of talent. The greatest film actress of the day. The world’s leading singer. The biggest star of radio. And everyone’s favorite […]
As mentioned yesterday, we’re more or less rounding the circle this week with our Monday Quiz. Covered in recent blogs have been Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Humphrey Bogart. We decided to complete The Maltese Falcon notables roster with Sydney Greenstreet. He certainly qualifies for Joe’s designation awarded Lorre and Astor, that of character actor STAR. How much do you really know about this vast […]
Today, we’re more or less rounding the circle. Covered in recent blogs have been Peter Lorre (last week’s Monday Quiz) and Mary Astor (last week’s Star of the Week). Since we’ve previously devoted ample space to Humphrey Bogart in both general and quiz form, we decided to complete The Maltese Falcon notables roster today with […]
A few weeks ago we highlighted character actor Charles Lane, who’d worked for decades and racked up over 350 films. Several readers responded to our article about Lane and regular contributor Jeff Woodman had this to say: Wow, thanks for another great post, and for turning the spotlight on Lane. Had no idea he’d worked […]
Yes, most people guessed the identity of Frank Morgan, the Wizard of Oz himself, as the more famous brother of character actor Ralph Morgan in our puzzler last week. But Ralph, seven years older than Frank and a graduate of Columbia University, was successful first on Broadway and in silents, and it was his success […]
All that info about Peter Lorre, who Joe thinks is the most famous character actor STAR of classic movies, led us to think about which female would nab the crown as the biggest character actor STAR– and only one name came to mind — Mary Astor. Oh yes, Mary, born Lucile Langhanke, was a leading lady […]
He may well have been the finest character actor STAR Hollywood ever produced. The former Laszlo Lowenstein from somewhere in the old Austro-Hungarian empire was almost as bizarre off screen as he was on — in nearly 155 movie and TV credits spread over two continents and a 35-year career. That’s quite a bit of […]
He may well have been the finest character actor Hollywood ever produced. The former Laszlo Lowenstein from somewhere in the old Austro-Hungarian empire was almost as bizarre offscreen as he was on — in nearly 155 movie and TV credits spread over two continents and a 35-year career. That’s quite a bit of work given […]