2016 claimed a long list of entertainers, but the grim reaper’s most unexpected one-two punch came between the final two holidays with the death of movie icons Carrie Fisher on December 12 and her mother Debbie Reynolds a mere 36 hours later. With the premiere of the documentary about the pair, “Bright Lights” on HBO this weekend, we at the Geeks site thought we should take a look at their considerable contributions to film.
Let’s start with Carrie, who was born in Hollywood, USA on October 21, 1956, the daughter of Debbie and singer/actor Eddie Fisher. She appeared on stage with her mother throughout the late 60’s and early 70’s, even getting her first small screen credit in the 1969 TV movie “Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children”. It wasn’t until 1975, when she would make her big screen debut opposite Warren Beatty (quite an arrival) in Hal Ashby’s hit Shampoo.
Let’s start with Carrie, who was born in Hollywood, USA on October 21, 1956, the daughter of Debbie and singer/actor Eddie Fisher. She appeared on stage with her mother throughout the late 60’s and early 70’s, even getting her first small screen credit in the 1969 TV movie “Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children”. It wasn’t until 1975, when she would make her big screen debut opposite Warren Beatty (quite an arrival) in Hal Ashby’s hit Shampoo.
- 1/8/2017
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more beloved mother/daughter duo than Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, who tragically passed away within a day of each other this week: Fisher at the age of 60 on December 27, Reynolds at 84 on the 28th. A bevy of tributes to the two will air over the course of the next month.
Read More: Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher: HBO Mourns With Emotional Emails, While Finding Release Date for Their Mother-Daughter Documentary
Reaction to the painfully sad news was so swift, in fact, that two networks have already honored the departed stars: ABC played an hour-long “20/20” special called “Debbie and Carrie: A Hollywood Love Story” last night, while Logo began its tribute with a “Will & Grace” marathon last night. Reynolds earned an Emmy nomination for playing Debra Messing’s mother on the sitcom, which is currently playing on the channel for three more...
Read More: Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher: HBO Mourns With Emotional Emails, While Finding Release Date for Their Mother-Daughter Documentary
Reaction to the painfully sad news was so swift, in fact, that two networks have already honored the departed stars: ABC played an hour-long “20/20” special called “Debbie and Carrie: A Hollywood Love Story” last night, while Logo began its tribute with a “Will & Grace” marathon last night. Reynolds earned an Emmy nomination for playing Debra Messing’s mother on the sitcom, which is currently playing on the channel for three more...
- 12/31/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.Hector BabencoArgentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.
Hector Babenco
Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.
He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.
Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).
After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.
Hector Babenco
Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.
He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.
Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).
After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...
- 12/31/2016
- ScreenDaily
As hoped, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) will pay tribute to the late, great Debbie Reynolds with a marathon of her finest performances, including her Oscar-nominated turn as The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
RelatedDebbie Reynolds Dead at 84, Day After Daughter Carrie Fisher’s Passing
Previously, Logo put together a two-day marathon of Reynolds-centric fare (starting today and including her entire Will & Grace run), while HBO has fast-tracked Bright Lights, a docu about Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher, to premiere this Sunday.
Reynolds passed away on Dec. 28, after suffering a stroke in the wake of Fisher’s own death the day prior.
RelatedDebbie Reynolds Dead at 84, Day After Daughter Carrie Fisher’s Passing
Previously, Logo put together a two-day marathon of Reynolds-centric fare (starting today and including her entire Will & Grace run), while HBO has fast-tracked Bright Lights, a docu about Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher, to premiere this Sunday.
Reynolds passed away on Dec. 28, after suffering a stroke in the wake of Fisher’s own death the day prior.
- 12/30/2016
- TVLine.com
The Oscar-nominated star of such iconic films as Singin’ In The Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown has died in Los Angeles, one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher. She was 84.
Reynolds, an enduring and vivacious presence in Hollywood who made her name in MGM musicals and comedies in the 1950s and 1960s, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday after reportedly suffering a stroke. She died later in the day.
Her passing so soon after her daughter’s death on Tuesday following a heart attack on a plane is the latest devastating blow to their family.
Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher confirmed the news to AP, as he had kept the press apprised of his late sister’s progress in hospital several days ago.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” Fisher said, adding that Fisher’s death had taken its toll on his mother. He told reporters...
Reynolds, an enduring and vivacious presence in Hollywood who made her name in MGM musicals and comedies in the 1950s and 1960s, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday after reportedly suffering a stroke. She died later in the day.
Her passing so soon after her daughter’s death on Tuesday following a heart attack on a plane is the latest devastating blow to their family.
Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher confirmed the news to AP, as he had kept the press apprised of his late sister’s progress in hospital several days ago.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” Fisher said, adding that Fisher’s death had taken its toll on his mother. He told reporters...
- 12/29/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Oscar-nominated star of such iconic films as Singin’ In The Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown has died in Los Angeles, one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher.
Reynolds, an enduring and vivacious presence in Hollywood who made her name in MGM musicals and comedies in the 1950s and 1960s, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday after reportedly suffering a stroke. Shed died later in the day.
Her passing so soon after her daughter’s death on Tuesday following a heart attack on a plane is the latest devastating blow to their family.
Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher confirmed the news to AP, as he had kept the press apprised of his late sister’s progress in hospital several days ago.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” Fisher said, adding that Fisher’s death took its toll on his mother.
Reynolds was born...
Reynolds, an enduring and vivacious presence in Hollywood who made her name in MGM musicals and comedies in the 1950s and 1960s, was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday after reportedly suffering a stroke. Shed died later in the day.
Her passing so soon after her daughter’s death on Tuesday following a heart attack on a plane is the latest devastating blow to their family.
Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher confirmed the news to AP, as he had kept the press apprised of his late sister’s progress in hospital several days ago.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” Fisher said, adding that Fisher’s death took its toll on his mother.
Reynolds was born...
- 12/29/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The year in heartbreak continues. Just one day following the passing of Carrie Fisher, her mother Debbie Reynolds has died at the age of 84 after suffering a stroke. Her son, Todd Fisher, told the Associated Press the death of Carrie Fisher “was too much” for Reynolds.
“She wanted to be with Carrie,” he added to Variety.
Her career was launched after she won the Miss Burbank contest at the age of 16, and she went on to make a splash in an early film role that remains one of her best remembered in “Singin’ in The Rain.” Reynolds would go on to be nominated for both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Actress for “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” she’d win the National Board Of Review award for Best Supporting Actress in “The Catered Affair,” and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for her guest turn on “Will & Grace.” In...
“She wanted to be with Carrie,” he added to Variety.
Her career was launched after she won the Miss Burbank contest at the age of 16, and she went on to make a splash in an early film role that remains one of her best remembered in “Singin’ in The Rain.” Reynolds would go on to be nominated for both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Actress for “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” she’d win the National Board Of Review award for Best Supporting Actress in “The Catered Affair,” and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for her guest turn on “Will & Grace.” In...
- 12/29/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Legendary actress, singer and entertainer Debbie Reynolds has passed away after suffering a stroke on Wednesday, December 28. She was 84.
The news comes just a day after Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher, died from having a heart attack during a flight from London to Los Angeles. According to TMZ, Reynolds was at her son’s Todd’s house in Beverly Hills on Wednesday afternoon when someone from the house called 911.
The “Singin’ in the Rain” actress had been distraught since Carrie’s heart attack and death, and according to reports, was discussing funeral plans for her daughter when she suffered a stroke.
Reynolds had last released a statement following Fisher’s death, saying, “Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter. I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop.”
Read More: Carrie Fisher, Who...
The news comes just a day after Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher, died from having a heart attack during a flight from London to Los Angeles. According to TMZ, Reynolds was at her son’s Todd’s house in Beverly Hills on Wednesday afternoon when someone from the house called 911.
The “Singin’ in the Rain” actress had been distraught since Carrie’s heart attack and death, and according to reports, was discussing funeral plans for her daughter when she suffered a stroke.
Reynolds had last released a statement following Fisher’s death, saying, “Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter. I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop.”
Read More: Carrie Fisher, Who...
- 12/29/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair closed at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 7/27/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 4/17/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Debbie Reynolds ca. early 1950s. Debbie Reynolds movies: Oscar nominee for 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown,' sweetness and light in phony 'The Singing Nun' Debbie Reynolds is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 23, '15. An MGM contract player from 1950 to 1959, Reynolds' movies can be seen just about every week on TCM. The only premiere on Debbie Reynolds Day is Jerry Paris' lively marital comedy How Sweet It Is (1968), costarring James Garner. This evening, TCM is showing Divorce American Style, The Catered Affair, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and The Singing Nun. 'Divorce American Style,' 'The Catered Affair' Directed by the recently deceased Bud Yorkin, Divorce American Style (1967) is notable for its cast – Reynolds, Dick Van Dyke, Jean Simmons, Jason Robards, Van Johnson, Lee Grant – and for the fact that it earned Norman Lear (screenplay) and Robert Kaufman (story) a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination.
- 8/24/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair closed at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 7/27/2015
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 4/17/2015
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
It was the final big American film and TV awards ceremony before the Oscars, and the one most likely to indicate who will be going home with Academy awards in a month’s time. Find out if Hollywood’s most celebrated actors perfect their speeches ... or losers’ faces
Screen Actors Guild awards 2015: the winners in pictures
10.09pm Et
A quick-fire night then with a couple of surprises thrown in, mostly in TV.
Uzo Aduba started the evening by winning best female actor in a comedy series for her work in Orange is the New Black, which follows the Globes giving their equivalent to Gina Rodriguez.
9.56pm Et
Costner is back and… well… that’s it.
9.55pm Et
Naomi Watts on the other hand is clearly very happy to be there. Zach Galifianakis takes the piss out of Julianne Moore’s “When I was on As the World Turns” moment,...
Screen Actors Guild awards 2015: the winners in pictures
10.09pm Et
A quick-fire night then with a couple of surprises thrown in, mostly in TV.
Uzo Aduba started the evening by winning best female actor in a comedy series for her work in Orange is the New Black, which follows the Globes giving their equivalent to Gina Rodriguez.
9.56pm Et
Costner is back and… well… that’s it.
9.55pm Et
Naomi Watts on the other hand is clearly very happy to be there. Zach Galifianakis takes the piss out of Julianne Moore’s “When I was on As the World Turns” moment,...
- 1/26/2015
- by Alex Needham and Lanre Bakare in New York
- The Guardian - Film News
People.com is reporting that actor Rod Taylor died Wednesday at the age of 84 of natural causes.
His daughter Felicia Taylor, a former CNN correspondent, confirmed the news Thursday.
“My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion – calling it an honorable art and something he couldn’t live without,” she said in a statement.
“He once said, ‘I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist,” she continued, “ ‘so that if all goes well, I may one day sit beside them.”
Born on Jan 11, 1930 in Sydney, Australia, Rod Taylor is best remembered for his starring roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and George Pal’s The Time Machine (1960). He also provided the voice of Pongo in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1961). Taylor also starred in TV’s “The Twilight Zone...
His daughter Felicia Taylor, a former CNN correspondent, confirmed the news Thursday.
“My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion – calling it an honorable art and something he couldn’t live without,” she said in a statement.
“He once said, ‘I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist,” she continued, “ ‘so that if all goes well, I may one day sit beside them.”
Born on Jan 11, 1930 in Sydney, Australia, Rod Taylor is best remembered for his starring roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and George Pal’s The Time Machine (1960). He also provided the voice of Pongo in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1961). Taylor also starred in TV’s “The Twilight Zone...
- 1/9/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Legendary actor Rod Taylor died of natural causes Wednesday, his rep tells People. He was 84. The Australia-born movie star appeared in more than 50 Hollywood films throughout his career, from The Time Machine and The Train Robbers to The Catered Affair. More recently, he voiced Pongo in Disney's family-favorite 101 Dalmatians and played Winston Churchill in Inglourious Basterds. But his most iconic role was that of Mitch Brenner in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic The Birds, opposite Tippi Hedren. "There are so many incredible feelings I have for him. Rod was a great pal to me and a real strength, we were very,...
- 1/9/2015
- by Michele Corriston, @mcorriston
- PEOPLE.com
Photo courtesy Debbie Reynolds Studios
Debbie Reynolds – actor, singer, dancer, author, champion for the preservation of the artifacts of film history and for the understanding and treatment of mental illness – has been named the 51st recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.
Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the union’s highest accolade will be presented to the Oscar, Emmy and Tony-nominated Reynolds at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015 at 8 p.m. (Et), 7 p.m. (Ct), 6 p.m. (Mt) and 5 p.m. (Pt).
SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard praised Reynolds’ artistry over her very accomplished career, saying, “I’m thrilled that SAG-AFTRA is presenting our Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds. She is a tremendously talented...
Debbie Reynolds – actor, singer, dancer, author, champion for the preservation of the artifacts of film history and for the understanding and treatment of mental illness – has been named the 51st recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.
Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the union’s highest accolade will be presented to the Oscar, Emmy and Tony-nominated Reynolds at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015 at 8 p.m. (Et), 7 p.m. (Ct), 6 p.m. (Mt) and 5 p.m. (Pt).
SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard praised Reynolds’ artistry over her very accomplished career, saying, “I’m thrilled that SAG-AFTRA is presenting our Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds. She is a tremendously talented...
- 8/18/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Debbie Reynolds will receive the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, it has been announced.
The actress will be given the honour at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 25, 2015.
She will become the 51st recipient of the prize, which is given annually to those who demonstrate the "finest ideals of the acting profession".
SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard said: "I'm thrilled that SAG-AFTRA is presenting our Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds. She is a tremendously talented performer with a diverse body of screen and stage work, live performances and several hit records.
"Her generous spirit and unforgettable performances have entertained audiences across the globe, moving us all from laughter to tears and back again. Congratulations, Debbie, on your life achievements."
Reynolds made her official screen debut as June Haver's younger sister in the 1950 musical The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, and went on to star in The Unsinkable Molly Brown,...
The actress will be given the honour at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 25, 2015.
She will become the 51st recipient of the prize, which is given annually to those who demonstrate the "finest ideals of the acting profession".
SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard said: "I'm thrilled that SAG-AFTRA is presenting our Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds. She is a tremendously talented performer with a diverse body of screen and stage work, live performances and several hit records.
"Her generous spirit and unforgettable performances have entertained audiences across the globe, moving us all from laughter to tears and back again. Congratulations, Debbie, on your life achievements."
Reynolds made her official screen debut as June Haver's younger sister in the 1950 musical The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, and went on to star in The Unsinkable Molly Brown,...
- 8/18/2014
- Digital Spy
Debbie Reynolds most recently starred as Frances Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra, but she'll most likely always be remembered as Kathy Selden from 1952's Singin' in the Rain and come January 25, 2015 she'll be recognized as the 51st recipient of the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Awards as was announced this morning. The recognition comes as a result of her work as an actor, singer, dancer, author, champion for the preservation of the artifacts of film history and for the understanding and treatment of mental illness. SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard was quoted in a press release just sent out, praising Reynolds' artistry saying, "I'm thrilled that SAG-AFTRA is presenting our Life Achievement Award to Debbie Reynolds. She is a tremendously talented performer with a diverse body of screen and stage work, live performances and several hit records. Her generous spirit and unforgettable...
- 8/18/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair closed at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 7/27/2014
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 4/17/2014
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair closed at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 7/27/2013
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 4/17/2013
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
While Gore Vidal, one of America's most accomplished author-essayists and playwrights is famous for many things, among them his feuds with other great thinkers and pointed critiques of American politics and culture. But he was also an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter. Vidal died July 31 from pneumonia at his Hollywood Hills home after a long illness at age 86. Vidal had over 40 film and television writing credits to his name, including Joseph L. Mankiewicz' subversive 1959 thriller "Suddenly Last Summer," in which Elizabeth Taylor faces lobotomy, MGM epic Oscar-winner "Ben Hur" (1959), Richard Brooks' 1956 "The Catered Affair," starring Ernest Borgnine (who also recently died) in one of his best dramatic roles as a struggling cabbie forced by pushy wife Bette Davis into a costly wedding for daughter Debbie Reynolds, and Jose Ferrer's Dreyfus biography "I Accuse!" His play "The Best Man" and novel "Myra...
- 8/1/2012
- by Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
I saw this movie for the first and only time crossing the Atlantic in 1957, on the Mauritania, on the way to the States. My fellow English Speaking Union scholars and I, still in the grip of Look Back in Anger and seething from the moral and political debacle of Suez, regarded it with mirthful contempt. It was the kind of stilted, patronising British movie about working-class and lower-middle-class life we were in flight from after we'd just embraced Paddy Chayefsky's Marty, The Catered Affair and The Bachelor Party, and been thrilled by Ealing's Alexander Mackendrick making his American debut with Sweet Smell of Success. It's now being revived, or disinterred, as a major harbinger of British kitchen-sink realism, a term coined in the mid-1950s by my future mentor David Sylvester.
The movie turns upon a lower-middle-class clerk (stiff-upper-lip specialist Anthony Quayle) preparing to leave his loving, depressed, slatternly...
The movie turns upon a lower-middle-class clerk (stiff-upper-lip specialist Anthony Quayle) preparing to leave his loving, depressed, slatternly...
- 7/28/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair closed at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 7/27/2012
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
When the drama Marty won the Academy Award for the Best Picture of 1955, it was a win of many wins, and not just because the movie walked off with three other Oscars.
It signaled that the balance of creative power in Hollywood was shifting; that the monopoly of the major studios was fading, and that a new breed of independent companies – often formed with or by the stars who had, at one time, been held in bondage to the majors under long-term contracts – were serious player in the industry (Marty had been produced by Hecht-Lancaster which had been formed by Burt Lancaster and producer Harold Hecht).
It was a victory for a new kind of anti-Hollywood storytelling; unglamorous tales about unglamorous people, real people. Postwar Italian neo-realism had demonstrated the power of the drama of everyday people just trying to get through a day, and Marty and other films like...
It signaled that the balance of creative power in Hollywood was shifting; that the monopoly of the major studios was fading, and that a new breed of independent companies – often formed with or by the stars who had, at one time, been held in bondage to the majors under long-term contracts – were serious player in the industry (Marty had been produced by Hecht-Lancaster which had been formed by Burt Lancaster and producer Harold Hecht).
It was a victory for a new kind of anti-Hollywood storytelling; unglamorous tales about unglamorous people, real people. Postwar Italian neo-realism had demonstrated the power of the drama of everyday people just trying to get through a day, and Marty and other films like...
- 7/12/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Ernest Borgnine is to be honored by TCM with a 24-hour marathon of some of the recently deceased actor’s finest films.
Beginning at 6 a.m. Et on July 26, the channel will begin with The Catered Affair and run through The Legend Of Lylah Clare, Pay Or Die, Torpedo Run, Ice Station Zebra, The Dirty Dozen, Marty, From Here To Eternity, The Wild Bunch, and Bad Day at Black Rock. There will also be multiple showings of Borgnine’s Private Screenings interview with channel host Robert Osborne, an hour-long episode filmed in 2009.
Must-see movies on the list are Marty, which...
Beginning at 6 a.m. Et on July 26, the channel will begin with The Catered Affair and run through The Legend Of Lylah Clare, Pay Or Die, Torpedo Run, Ice Station Zebra, The Dirty Dozen, Marty, From Here To Eternity, The Wild Bunch, and Bad Day at Black Rock. There will also be multiple showings of Borgnine’s Private Screenings interview with channel host Robert Osborne, an hour-long episode filmed in 2009.
Must-see movies on the list are Marty, which...
- 7/10/2012
- by EW staff
- EW - Inside TV
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has announced that an Ernest Borgnine 24-hour marathon has been set! The iconic, Oscar-winning actor died Sunday at age 95, but his brilliant cinematic contribution lives on!
On July 26, TCM will show 10 films starrign Borgnine and will also include replays of the actor's 2009's Private Screenings interview conducted by host Robert Osborne.
Here's the schedule:
6 Am Et, The Catered Affair (1956)
8 Am, The Legend Of Lylah Clare (1968)
10:30 Am, Pay Or Die (1960)
12:30 Pm, Torpedo Run (1958)
2:30 Pm, Ice Station Zebra (1968)
5:15 Pm, The Dirty Dozen (1967)
8 Pm, Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009)
9 Pm, Marty (1955)
10:45 Pm, From Here To Eternity (1953)
1 Am, The Wild Bunch (1969)
3:30 Am, Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)
5 Am, Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009)
Source: Deadline...
On July 26, TCM will show 10 films starrign Borgnine and will also include replays of the actor's 2009's Private Screenings interview conducted by host Robert Osborne.
Here's the schedule:
6 Am Et, The Catered Affair (1956)
8 Am, The Legend Of Lylah Clare (1968)
10:30 Am, Pay Or Die (1960)
12:30 Pm, Torpedo Run (1958)
2:30 Pm, Ice Station Zebra (1968)
5:15 Pm, The Dirty Dozen (1967)
8 Pm, Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009)
9 Pm, Marty (1955)
10:45 Pm, From Here To Eternity (1953)
1 Am, The Wild Bunch (1969)
3:30 Am, Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)
5 Am, Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009)
Source: Deadline...
- 7/9/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Turner Classic Movies has set a 24-hour marathon of movies starring Ernest Borgnine, who died Sunday at age 95. On July 26, the cable channel will devote its programming to 10 films starring Borgnine, including a couple of replays of its hourlong 2009 Private Screenings interview with channel host Robert Osborne. Here’s the schedule: 6 Am Et, The Catered Affair (1956); 8 Am, The Legend Of Lylah Clare (1968), 10:30 Am, Pay Or Die (1960); 12:30 Pm, Torpedo Run (1958); 2:30 Pm, Ice Station Zebra (1968); 5:15 Pm, The Dirty Dozen (1967); 8 Pm, Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009); 9 Pm, Marty (1955); 10:45 Pm, From Here To Eternity (1953); 1 Am, The Wild Bunch (1969); 3:30 Am, Bad Day At Black Rock (1955); 5 Am, Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine (2009). Related: Hammond On Ernest Borgnine: Oscar-Winning Actor Who Broke Hollywood Mold...
- 7/9/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Stocky supporting actor who won an Oscar when he was cast against type as a lonely butcher in Marty
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.
In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...
With his coarsely podgy features, bug eyes, gap-toothed grin and stocky build, Ernest Borgnine, who has died aged 95 of renal failure, seemed destined to remain one of nature's supporting actors in a string of sadistic and menacing parts. Instead he won an Oscar for a role which was the antithesis of all his previous characters.
In 1955, the producer Harold Hecht wanted to transfer Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay Marty to the big screen, with Rod Steiger in the title role, which he had created. But Steiger was filming Oklahoma! so was unavailable. Borgnine was offered the role after a female guest at a Hollywood reception quite disinterestedly remarked to Hecht that, ugly as he was, Borgnine possessed an oddly tender quality which made her yearn to mother him. "That," Hecht said later,...
- 7/9/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember the life and career of Academy Award®-winning actor Ernest Borgnine with a 24-hour marathon of his films on Thursday, July 26. Borgnine, who passed away Sunday at the age of 95, was a dear friend to the TCM community through his appearances at the TCM Classic Film Festival, on the TCM Classic Cruise and during TCM's annual Road to Hollywood tour. From TCM The 10-film memorial tribute is set to begin at 6 a.m. (Et) with The Catered Affair (1956). The daytime lineup will include such films as Torpedo Run (1958), Ice Station Zebra (1968) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Primetime will kick off with an encore presentation of TCM's 2009 special...
- 7/9/2012
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
In a salute to the extensive lifelong career of Hollywood great and Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine, who passed away at the age of 95 this past weekend, TCM will feature an all-day marathon of some of Borgnine’s most memorable performances, as well as TCM’s Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine special. Lineup for the memorial day of programming Thursday, June 26, will be as follows: 6am: The Catered Affair (1956) 8am: The Legend of Lylah Clare 10:30am: Pay or Die 12:30pm: Torpedo Run 2:30pm: Ice Station Zebra 5:15pm: The Dirty Dozen 8pm: Private Screenings: Ernest Borgnine 9pm: Marty 10:45pm: From Here to Eternity 1am: The [...]...
- 7/9/2012
- by Karl Paloucek
- ChannelGuideMag
Actor who won an Oscar for his role as Marty in the 1955 film of the same name had a 60-year career in film and television
Ernest Borgnine, the Italian-American actor who carved out a distinctive screen presence in a range of pugnacious character roles over a 60-year career, has died at the age of 95.
Borgnine won an Oscar for his role as Marty in the 1955 film of the same name, and was a star of the small screen during the 1960s as the scheming Navy officer in the comedy McHale's Navy. In the 80s, he came to the attention of a new generation of TV viewers as Dominic Santini in the hit series Airwolf.
In other roles, particularly during the earlier years of his career, his stocky build and bulldog appearance made him a natural choice to play the classic Hollywood 'heavy' and he was memorable as the sergeant who...
Ernest Borgnine, the Italian-American actor who carved out a distinctive screen presence in a range of pugnacious character roles over a 60-year career, has died at the age of 95.
Borgnine won an Oscar for his role as Marty in the 1955 film of the same name, and was a star of the small screen during the 1960s as the scheming Navy officer in the comedy McHale's Navy. In the 80s, he came to the attention of a new generation of TV viewers as Dominic Santini in the hit series Airwolf.
In other roles, particularly during the earlier years of his career, his stocky build and bulldog appearance made him a natural choice to play the classic Hollywood 'heavy' and he was memorable as the sergeant who...
- 7/9/2012
- by Ben Quinn
- The Guardian - Film News
Los Angeles — He was a tubby tough guy with a pug of a mug, as unlikely a big-screen star or a romantic lead as could be imagined.
Yet Ernest Borgnine won a woman's love and an Academy Award in one of the great lonelyhearts roles in "Marty," a highlight in a workhorse career that spanned nearly seven decades and more than 200 film and television parts.
Borgnine, who died Sunday at 95, worked to the end. One of his final roles was a bit part as a CIA records-keeper in 2011's action comedy "Red" – fittingly for his age, a story of retired spies who show that it's never too late to remain in the game when they're pulled back into action.
"I keep telling myself, `Damn it, you gotta go to work,'" Borgnine said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. "But there aren't many people who want to put Borgnine to work these days.
Yet Ernest Borgnine won a woman's love and an Academy Award in one of the great lonelyhearts roles in "Marty," a highlight in a workhorse career that spanned nearly seven decades and more than 200 film and television parts.
Borgnine, who died Sunday at 95, worked to the end. One of his final roles was a bit part as a CIA records-keeper in 2011's action comedy "Red" – fittingly for his age, a story of retired spies who show that it's never too late to remain in the game when they're pulled back into action.
"I keep telling myself, `Damn it, you gotta go to work,'" Borgnine said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. "But there aren't many people who want to put Borgnine to work these days.
- 7/9/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Ernest Borgnine, the rugged, stocky actor with a brassy voice and the face of the local butcher, died today in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of renal failure. He was 95.
Borgnine was known for playing characters both brutal and gentle. On the brutal side was the cruel Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity, Coley Trimble, the right-hand goon in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dutch Engstrom, in the enduring classic The Wild Bunch and Shack, the train bull after Lee Marvin in Emperor of the North. On the gentle side he was known as the love-lorn Marty in the 1955 film of the same name (for which he earned an Oscar for Best Actor), Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy," Rogo, the cop with the prostitute-wife in The Poseidon Adventure and, to a whole new generation, as the voice of the starfish-donning, geriatric Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants."
A first generation American Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His father was Camillo (later Charles) Borgnino of Ottiglio, in northern Italy and his mother was Anna Bosselli, from Capri, Italy.
Borgnine showed no real interest in acting until well after a ten-year stint in the Navy. He was 32 when his mother suggested that he become an actor, observing "you like to make a fool of yourself in front of other people" so Ernie enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford and then moved to Abingdon, Virginia for Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre.
Times were lean for Borgnine. He had married for the first time and moved from the Barter to New York, quickly getting noticed for his role as a male nurse in a Broadway production of "Harvey" but he soon moved back to the Barter school again. He then returned to New York but the nascent medium of television, not the stage, sustained him for a while. Borgnine prided himself on not being picky. His original TV work included a stint in the action serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." He was noticed by Delbert Mann, himself a budding director, who encouraged Borgnine and gave him small roles.
Borgnine's true break came when he moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in Eternity, a smash hit that, in addition to launching Borgnine's helped reinvigorate numerous careers including Frank Sinatra's and Deborah Kerr's. He played the bad guy again, though one of the goons this time, in Johnny Guitar. Borgnine then parlayed his new-found notoriety with the lead in a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky, that of Marty, in the film of the same name, slated to be directed by his mentor, Delbert Mann. The story was about an underdog named Marty, a self-avowed ugly man, who has to evolve beyond his dedication to his overbearing mother and his bonds with his best friend, when he falls in love with Clara, a woman who is also unpopular and unattractive, played by Betsy Blair.
Marty was a surprise hit, was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director for Mann) and won four, including Borgnine's unexpected win over a very crowded field which included his co-star in Bad Day at Black Rock,Spencer Tracy, and a posthumous nod to James Dean (who had died the previous September in a car crash) for his role in East of Eden.
The Oscar helped keep the actor in the game and the next seven years included a mix of TV and film work including A Catered Affair, Jubal, The Vikings and various "Playhouse" appearances on the small screen.
1962 brought "McHale's Navy," with Borgnine assaying the role of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the put-upon chief of PT boat 73. The cast included Joe Flynn and Tim Conway (Conway would, 35 years later, team up again with Borgnine as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on "SpongeBob SquarePants"). "McHale's" had a healthy following for four years.
Borgnine had a mid-life Renaissance in the late '60s and early '70s. He played a small but pivotal role in The Dirty Dozen, was Boris Vaslov in Ice Station Zebra and was Dutch Engstrom, the taciturn but decisive bandit throwing in with Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch. He also joined the capsized cast of The Poseidon Adventure, played Shack, the train bull in The Emperor of the North Pole and was the simple-minded but helpful Cabbie in Escape from New York.
Borgnine was married five times. His second marriage was to the fiery actress Katy Jurado. It began in 1959 but was over four years later. Reports differ on when he met his third wife, Ethel Merman. She claimed it was in November of 1963, the same month that he was finalizing his divorce to Jurado. He insisted it wasn't until the next spring. Regardless they were married on June 24th, the following year. It lasted less than a month. In her autobiography entitled "Merman," the actress intimated that Borgnine was abusive stating, "I just feel lucky to have been able to 'walk' away from the marriage." She devoted an entire chapter to their union, entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine"--it consisted of one blank page.
His last marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted over 35 years and until his death. Borgnine had four children: Gina Kemins-Borgnine, the child from his first marriage to Rhoda Kemins, and three from his fourth wife, Donna Rancourt, named Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970), Sharon (born 1965) and Cristofer (born 1969). Oddly, in his autobiography, "Ernie" Bornine only acknowledged the first three children, dropping Diana out entirely.
Borgnine was known for playing characters both brutal and gentle. On the brutal side was the cruel Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity, Coley Trimble, the right-hand goon in Bad Day at Black Rock, Dutch Engstrom, in the enduring classic The Wild Bunch and Shack, the train bull after Lee Marvin in Emperor of the North. On the gentle side he was known as the love-lorn Marty in the 1955 film of the same name (for which he earned an Oscar for Best Actor), Lt. Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy," Rogo, the cop with the prostitute-wife in The Poseidon Adventure and, to a whole new generation, as the voice of the starfish-donning, geriatric Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants."
A first generation American Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. His father was Camillo (later Charles) Borgnino of Ottiglio, in northern Italy and his mother was Anna Bosselli, from Capri, Italy.
Borgnine showed no real interest in acting until well after a ten-year stint in the Navy. He was 32 when his mother suggested that he become an actor, observing "you like to make a fool of yourself in front of other people" so Ernie enrolled in the Randall School of Drama in Hartford and then moved to Abingdon, Virginia for Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre.
Times were lean for Borgnine. He had married for the first time and moved from the Barter to New York, quickly getting noticed for his role as a male nurse in a Broadway production of "Harvey" but he soon moved back to the Barter school again. He then returned to New York but the nascent medium of television, not the stage, sustained him for a while. Borgnine prided himself on not being picky. His original TV work included a stint in the action serial "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." He was noticed by Delbert Mann, himself a budding director, who encouraged Borgnine and gave him small roles.
Borgnine's true break came when he moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in Eternity, a smash hit that, in addition to launching Borgnine's helped reinvigorate numerous careers including Frank Sinatra's and Deborah Kerr's. He played the bad guy again, though one of the goons this time, in Johnny Guitar. Borgnine then parlayed his new-found notoriety with the lead in a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky, that of Marty, in the film of the same name, slated to be directed by his mentor, Delbert Mann. The story was about an underdog named Marty, a self-avowed ugly man, who has to evolve beyond his dedication to his overbearing mother and his bonds with his best friend, when he falls in love with Clara, a woman who is also unpopular and unattractive, played by Betsy Blair.
Marty was a surprise hit, was nominated for eight Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director for Mann) and won four, including Borgnine's unexpected win over a very crowded field which included his co-star in Bad Day at Black Rock,Spencer Tracy, and a posthumous nod to James Dean (who had died the previous September in a car crash) for his role in East of Eden.
The Oscar helped keep the actor in the game and the next seven years included a mix of TV and film work including A Catered Affair, Jubal, The Vikings and various "Playhouse" appearances on the small screen.
1962 brought "McHale's Navy," with Borgnine assaying the role of Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the put-upon chief of PT boat 73. The cast included Joe Flynn and Tim Conway (Conway would, 35 years later, team up again with Borgnine as the voice of Mermaid Man's sidekick, Barnacle Boy, on "SpongeBob SquarePants"). "McHale's" had a healthy following for four years.
Borgnine had a mid-life Renaissance in the late '60s and early '70s. He played a small but pivotal role in The Dirty Dozen, was Boris Vaslov in Ice Station Zebra and was Dutch Engstrom, the taciturn but decisive bandit throwing in with Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch. He also joined the capsized cast of The Poseidon Adventure, played Shack, the train bull in The Emperor of the North Pole and was the simple-minded but helpful Cabbie in Escape from New York.
Borgnine was married five times. His second marriage was to the fiery actress Katy Jurado. It began in 1959 but was over four years later. Reports differ on when he met his third wife, Ethel Merman. She claimed it was in November of 1963, the same month that he was finalizing his divorce to Jurado. He insisted it wasn't until the next spring. Regardless they were married on June 24th, the following year. It lasted less than a month. In her autobiography entitled "Merman," the actress intimated that Borgnine was abusive stating, "I just feel lucky to have been able to 'walk' away from the marriage." She devoted an entire chapter to their union, entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine"--it consisted of one blank page.
His last marriage, to Tova Traesnaes, lasted over 35 years and until his death. Borgnine had four children: Gina Kemins-Borgnine, the child from his first marriage to Rhoda Kemins, and three from his fourth wife, Donna Rancourt, named Diana Rancourt-Borgnine (born December 29th 1970), Sharon (born 1965) and Cristofer (born 1969). Oddly, in his autobiography, "Ernie" Bornine only acknowledged the first three children, dropping Diana out entirely.
- 7/8/2012
- IMDb News
Today in 2008, A Catered Affair opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. John Doyle directed the production, which starred Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat.
- 4/17/2012
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Eva Marie Saint, Tippi Hedren, Ernest Borgnine, Norman Jewison, Robert Osborne, and Ben Mankiewicz are some of the TCM Cruise passengers shown in the picture above. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) The group pic was posted on TCM's Twitter page. Eva Marie Saint won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954). Her other film credits include Fred Zinnemann's A Hatful of Rain (1957), Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959), Otto Preminger's Exodus (1960). Ernest Borgnine won a Best Actor Oscar for Delbert Mann's Marty (1955). Borgnine's other movies include Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity (1953), Richard Brooks' The Catered Affair (1956), and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). Tippi Hedren was an Alfred Hitchcock discovery. Her movies include The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). She is the mother of Melanie Griffith. Norman Jewison has been nominated for three Best Director Academy Awards: In the Heat of the Night,...
- 12/10/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Bette Davis on TCM: The Old Maid, Now, Voyager, The Working Man Bette Davis has a cameo in John Paul Jones (1959), which happens to be an insufferable bore despite the presence of Robert Stack in the title role, and she plays second banana to Spencer Tracy in the run-of-the-Warners-mill prison drama 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), but she is at the center of The Corn Is Green (1945) as Miss Lily Moffat, a teacher in a poor Welsh mining town. Now, Voyager's Irving Rapper directed this film adaptation of Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical play — and it shows. Davis is a little too stiff in Ethel Barrymore's Broadway role, John Dall fails to convey his character's emotional turmoil, the dialogue has a theatrical lilt to it, and for the most part the potentially compelling drama feels stilted. Had William Wyler directed The Corn Is Green, it would have been a fantastic movie.
- 8/3/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Last week I did a piece on how early syndication of movies to TV provided a culturally unifying base for Baby Boomers. Most of us, however, probably think of syndication as being less about movies and more about recycling old TV shows. And, in time, so it became.
TV writer/producer/director Bill Persky remembers syndication being a movie-driven business in the medium’s early years since “…there weren’t that many series to syndicate…” By the 60s, however, TV production companies had amassed enough defunct TV shows to turn syndication into an increasingly profitable series-recycling business feeding a bottomless market. Independent stations filled their days with a patchwork quilt of old TV shows, old movies, local news and sports, and even network affiliates had hours to fill between blocks of network programming.
The recycling of old TV shows had the same impact on Boomers recycling old movies did; it...
TV writer/producer/director Bill Persky remembers syndication being a movie-driven business in the medium’s early years since “…there weren’t that many series to syndicate…” By the 60s, however, TV production companies had amassed enough defunct TV shows to turn syndication into an increasingly profitable series-recycling business feeding a bottomless market. Independent stations filled their days with a patchwork quilt of old TV shows, old movies, local news and sports, and even network affiliates had hours to fill between blocks of network programming.
The recycling of old TV shows had the same impact on Boomers recycling old movies did; it...
- 6/11/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Chicago – Debbie Reynolds, who began her movie star journey as a teenager during another show biz era, made her big splash in 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain.” What followed was a long and varied career as a singer, dancer and respected film actress.
Born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, she lucked into her career by winning a beauty contest, which included a contract with Warner Brothers. Making her debut in “June Bride,” she also scored a charted hit with the song “Aba Daba Honeymoon.”
Following her big break in Singin’ in the Rain, she worked steadily for the next several decades in film, stage and Las Vegas revue. Notable films include “Tammy,” The Tender Trap,” “The Catered Affair,” “How the West was Won,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Mother.”
Besides her long run in the movies, Reynolds is prominent as the mother of “Star Wars...
Born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, she lucked into her career by winning a beauty contest, which included a contract with Warner Brothers. Making her debut in “June Bride,” she also scored a charted hit with the song “Aba Daba Honeymoon.”
Following her big break in Singin’ in the Rain, she worked steadily for the next several decades in film, stage and Las Vegas revue. Notable films include “Tammy,” The Tender Trap,” “The Catered Affair,” “How the West was Won,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Mother.”
Besides her long run in the movies, Reynolds is prominent as the mother of “Star Wars...
- 11/23/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
No 41: Debbie Reynolds, 1932-
She was born in Texas, her father a railway carpenter, and raised in Los Angeles, a stone's throw from Warner Brothers, who signed her up at 16 but shortly thereafter let her go to MGM. Every studio had a roster of ingénues and girls-next-door, and she appeared in endless movies as a pert kid. Her 1955 marriage to Eddie Fisher made them the ideal couple of the Eisenhower years, though the idyll was smashed when he left her for Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds was one of the top 10 box-office stars in 1959, but her movie career soon went into decline. She was, however, to work regularly in TV and nightclubs and on stage way into her 60s.
She cites the saccharine The Singing Nun (1966), in which she played the wimpled Belgian singer "Soeur Sourire", as her favourite film. Yet in truth she only made three really memorable appearances, one...
She was born in Texas, her father a railway carpenter, and raised in Los Angeles, a stone's throw from Warner Brothers, who signed her up at 16 but shortly thereafter let her go to MGM. Every studio had a roster of ingénues and girls-next-door, and she appeared in endless movies as a pert kid. Her 1955 marriage to Eddie Fisher made them the ideal couple of the Eisenhower years, though the idyll was smashed when he left her for Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds was one of the top 10 box-office stars in 1959, but her movie career soon went into decline. She was, however, to work regularly in TV and nightclubs and on stage way into her 60s.
She cites the saccharine The Singing Nun (1966), in which she played the wimpled Belgian singer "Soeur Sourire", as her favourite film. Yet in truth she only made three really memorable appearances, one...
- 12/28/2008
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
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