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A few months ago we ran a blog about MGM’s 1960 disaster outing, The Last Voyage. Here’s what we wrote (with an assist from regular reader Graham Hill): The movie written, produced, directed and edited by the husband and wife team of Andrew and Virginia Stone, not only predates (1972’s) THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, it was shot completely […]
Who could forget her, asked Joe. A puzzled Frank replied, who dat? So you may be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Florence Bates. Perhaps, being the superb character actress she was, would have preferred it that way. Ok, put your thinking caps on. You may have enjoyed her performance as Edythe Van Hopper in […]
She may be remembered for her TV role as Endora the Witch on Bewitched, but Agnes Moorehead had one fine film career long before the small screen made her a household name. She first showed her flair on radio — as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca among other vehicles — and then made a memorable transition […]
How much did you know about our man pictured above? A lot apparently, judging by feedback from regular reader Graham Hill. He wrote yesterday in response to our questions segment that we made things in this Quiz too easy. He also wrote this nice summary of our subject: PAUL SCOFIELD had one of the best […]
For the last few weeks we’ve been highlighting performers who have won Tony and Oscar awards for playing the same role on Broadway and in films. You may not think of Paul Scofield as necessarily a movie star, but he was indeed a winner who fits today’s bill. In fact, Scofield was a a towering […]
Joel Grey is not exactly a Hollywood movie star from the classic period, but he IS among the less than a dozen performers in history to win both a Tony and an Oscar for portraying the same part on stage and in film. Much like Yul Brynner, Grey will be eternally identified for just one […]
Yes, she did. She was considered an up and coming star in the 1930s. And yes, at one time she even got top billing over Bob Hope. She was even referred to somewhat generously as “the female Bob Hope.” There were, for example, the Paramount screwball comedies, College Holiday in 1936 and College Swing two […]
It may well be a time for a revisit to 1950’s In A Lonely Place. It’s a film worth watching again. Here’s why. This Nicholas Ray film boasts two of film noir’s signature costars, Humphrey Bogart and the incomparable Gloria Grahame. Bogie is Bogie, and Gloria was something of a Hollywood phenomenon. Not only did […]
She was known for possessing the “saddest eyes in Hollywood.” (There she is above looking unhappy opposite Paul Lukas.) She excelled at “victim parts” but tired of being asked to cry on cue. Sylvia Sidney also had an extraordinarily long career (nearly 70 years), a star in the Thirties and early Forties and then a […]
She was one of the biggest stars of the 1930s. By the late 1940s she was considered box office poison. What happened in the interim? Well, Sylvia Sidney somehow got the reputation of being “difficult to work with.” It stuck, and damaged her career. Born Sophia Kosow in the Bronx of a Russian mother and Romanian […]