This being an Oscar memorial, I'll mention Ed's minor sideline as a film actor - not enough to get him included in next year's tribute, but since most people aren't aware of this, it did include a handful of feature films. These include the 1967 NY subway thriller The Incident, Slaughter's Big Ripoff, Fun With Dick and Jane, The Last Remake of Beau Geste, Full Moon High, and then a bunch of later mainly direct to video films.
Lead Actor - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer Lead Actress - Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Original Screenplay - Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Posts: 4923 | Location: Why Do You Want To Know? | Registered: November 21, 2006
Although by far better known for her TV work, she did appear in several films, and an attempt was made to transfer her appeal to the big screen.
Her first film curiously was French - a Claude Lelouche movie starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Un homme qui me plait/Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). That was followed by Myra Breckinridge. Logan's Run also came before Charlie's Angels, then as a huge star, Sunburn and Somebody Killed My Husband and Saturn 3 all were meant to turn her into a movie star.
Her following roles were more scattered, but included some really interesting efforts - See You in the Morning (for Alan J. Pakula) and The Apostle (for and with Robert Duvall) standing out.
His film career was secondary, but his music was used heavily. As a teenager, he starred in the Sidney Lumet movie version of The Wiz with Diana Ross, but his subsequent film roles were minimal; the best known was his small role in Men in Black 2.
As I remember his work and life, I flashbacked to something that dawned on my 25+ years ago when Thriller (and more importantly the Thriller videos) came out. Something had fundamentally changed when a talent like Michael Jackson - and particularly one whose performance skills showed off so well on film, as his legendary videos proved) just no longer seemed adaptable into movies.
He was more a natural for movie musicals than Frank Sinatra (as great as On the Town was), or Elvis (who had flashes of greatness in Jailhouse Rock), or the Beatles (in A Hard Day's Night.) He could have been, at least in terms of musical numbers, the Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly of his era, and revitalized musicals as something other than a fringe item or adaptations of mediocre Broadway shows.
Obviously, the mercurial nature of his talent and appeal made this more challenging. But could not there have been a full length movie of Thriller? Was he not a dramatic and flamboyant enough persona to find some way to capture him on film?
Anyway, there was a time when not using him would have been unthinkable. By the 1980s, it didn't seem to be that big a deal.
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I hope Michael Jackson's death doesn't immediately clear from the public's mind his gross misdeeds. I don't know anyone who doesn't think he molested all those kids. It's one thing to pay respect to a celebrity's career but also keep in mind their misdeeds, and another thing to put them on a pedestal as happens to so many celebs after death.
"Notorious was nice, but it’s not in the color purple range" "Angels and Demons may get nominated for cinematography the imagery was profound" "District Nine will definitely win for best foreign film it made money and everyone loved it" ~ 8movies
Posts: 2714 | Location: nz | Registered: January 12, 2009
This message has been edited. Last edited by: bocaboy7,
2010 Oscars FYC:
Lead Actor - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer Lead Actress - Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Original Screenplay - Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Posts: 4923 | Location: Why Do You Want To Know? | Registered: November 21, 2006
Appreciate the input, but this thread is for movie related people only (including those with marginal credits.) Billy Mays had nothing to do with theatrical films; Travalena's credits are fringe and minimal.
Someone should feel free to start an equivalent thread in the Emmy/TV section.
Gale Storm had considerable film credits, and I'll write something up for her.
(Part of the reason I'd prefer to see this followed has to do with keeping a one thread under 500 for the full year, so it can all fit in one place. To ensure that, it needs to keep to movie people, and most commentary on individuals should be in separate threads dedicated to that person. Thanks to all for cooperation with this.)
Best known by far for her TV work, Storm would never have become a star there without her earlier film work.
A very versatile actress, she played a wide range of roles beginning in 1940 - musicals, comedies, horror, adventure, film noir, others. Her range in part kept her from stardom.
She came to Hollywood (true story) as winner of a national talent scout contest, which led to a brief contract with RKO. She kicked around poverty row studios after, as well as some of the majors, without establishing a niche. Her credits included Revenge of the Zombies, Sunbonnet Sue, Swing Parade of 1946, GI Honeymoon.
Somehow (and this was unusual without a breakout hit part) she managed to elevate herself to more important films in the late 1940s - It Happened on Fifth Avenue, Abandoned, The Underworld Story, Between Midnight and Dawn.
But her big break came as the summer replacement in 1952 for I Love Lucy. Ironically, her career was quite similar to Lucille Ball - many years of minor roles, including some comedies, then finding her niche in a TV comedy series playing someone quite a bit younger than herself. Her series, My Little Margie, ended up as a regular series for four years, to be followed by four more in The Gale Storm Show.
The 1960s showed her TV appeal gone; she turned to the stage, mainly road shows of hit Broadway musicals and plays. But she also was damaged greatly by alcohol - an addiction she wrote about in her autobiography.
Originally posted by seanflynn: Appreciate the input, but this thread is for movie related people only (including those with marginal credits.) Billy Mays had nothing to do with theatrical films; Travalena's credits are fringe and minimal.
Someone should feel free to start an equivalent thread in the Emmy/TV section.
Gale Storm had considerable film credits, and I'll write something up for her.
(Part of the reason I'd prefer to see this followed has to do with keeping a one thread under 500 for the full year, so it can all fit in one place. To ensure that, it needs to keep to movie people, and most commentary on individuals should be in separate threads dedicated to that person. Thanks to all for cooperation with this.)
I know this thread is mainly for film, but I just felt like I needed to mention them... I'm not expecting Mays's name to pop up on the memorial montage at next year's Oscars, but I thought it would just be appropriate to mention him. I don't think there is any need to open a thread like this in the Emmy's section as I'm sure many were both Film and Television, such as Gale Storm...
2010 Oscars FYC:
Lead Actor - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer Lead Actress - Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Original Screenplay - Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Posts: 4923 | Location: Why Do You Want To Know? | Registered: November 21, 2006
Raised in the same steel-factory city as Michael Jackson (Gary, Indiana), a child of Eastern European immigrants, he left his early blue-collar work to learn acting at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. He joined the influential (and leftist) Group Theatre in New York, began working with directors like Elia Kazan (for whom he played in All My Sons and A Streetcar Named Desire).
He had an early film role (1940) in They Knew What They Wanted, returning to Hollywood in the late 40s to work at 20th Century-Fox, first in small roles, but rising quickly (Kiss of Death, The Gunfighter, Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Halls of Montezuma - all for high profile directors Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Otto Preminger, Lewis Milestone).
His Oscar winning role (repeating his Broadway "Mitch") won him a supporting Oscar for 1951, and then he never stopped working until he finally retired in 2000.
His significant roles and directors that followed included Ruby Gentry (King Vidor), I Confess (Alfred Hitch****), On the Waterfront (Kazan again), Baby Doll (Kazan), Fear Strikes Out (Robert Mulligan), One Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando), All Fall Down and Birdman of Alcatraz (John Frankenheimer), Gypsy (Mervyn LeRoy), Cheyenne Autumn (John Ford), Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner), Wild Rovers (Blake Edwards).
With his co-starring role with Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco, he successfully transitioned to TV primarily. His last theatrical movie was Nuts (Martin Ritt) with Barbara Streisand.
Looking over his credits, I don't know if there is any other actor in the 1950s and 1960s who worked with so many major directors, and had so many of his films be of such quality. He clearly was greatly admired for his talent. Considering his background and unlikely beginnings, his is one of the most amazing in film history.
He also directed one film - the 1957 Time Limit.
He received the SAG life achievement award in 2004.
He was 97.
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Karl Malden was a great actor. An amazing supporting player. His enormous talent made everyone around him act better.
For Your Oscar Consideration: Charlotte Gainsbourg, "Antichrist" - Best Actress in a Leading Role Sharlto Copley, "District 9" - Best Actor in a Leading Role Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds" - Best Actor in a Supporting Role
"Inglourious Basterds" - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction "District 9" - Best Editing, Best Visual Effects "God Bless Us Everyone", A Christmas Carol - Best Original Song
Posts: 19990 | Location: Natal, RN, Brazil | Registered: October 21, 2002
NEW YORK – Harve Presnell, whose booming baritone graced such Broadway musicals as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and "Annie," has died at age 75.
The actor died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., said Gregg Klein, Presnell's agent.
Although he was best known for his roles in musical theater, Presnell also is remembered as William H. Macy's father-in-law in the Coen brothers' 1996 film "Fargo."
Among his other movies were "When the Boys Meet the Girls" (1965), "The Glory Guys" (1965) and "Paint Your Wagon" (1969) as well as the TV series "The Pretender" (1997-2000).
Yet it was in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1960) that the rugged, 6-foot-4 Presnell was first noticed by Broadway audiences. In the Meredith Willson musical, he played lucky mining prospector "Leadville" Johnny Brown opposite Tammy Grimes' feisty Molly. Presnell repeated his role in the 1964 film version which starred Debbie Reynolds as the buoyant title character.
Presnell even played the dashing Rhett Butler in a musical version of "Gone with the Wind" (adapted by Horton Foote and with a score by Harold Rome) that was seen in London in 1972.
For a good part of his career, Presnell portrayed the wealthy, follicle-challenged Daddy Warbucks in various incarnations of "Annie." The actor was first offered the role in a tour of "Annie" and thought the title was a show business abbreviation for "Annie, Get Your Gun," the musical in which he had once played sharpshooter Frank Butler.
Then he attended "Annie" and saw a bald, older man instead of a dashing, romantic lead.
It was a big shock, he told The Associated Press in an interview in 1993: "I thought, `What's this? I'm a leading man!'"
But the reality was good for him, Presnell said, adding: "It was a question of saying, `I'm no longer Frank Butler or Rhett Butler or 'Leadville' Johnny Brown. And they were paying good money."
After Presnell did the two-year "Annie" tour (1979-81) he went into "Annie" on Broadway and was still Daddy Warbucks on closing night, Jan. 2, 1983, in New York. In 1990, he played Warbucks in "Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge," the ill-fated sequel to "Annie" that folded during its Washington tryout and never got to New York.
Another version, titled "Annie Warbucks," surfaced off-Broadway in 1993 for a four-month run with Presnell again portraying Annie's wealthy benefactor.
The actor was born George Harvey Presnell on Sept. 14, 1933, in Modesto, Calif. He went to the University of Southern California on a sports scholarship. After three weeks, the head of the music school heard him sing and offered him the same scholarship for music. He soon quit school and spent three seasons singing in Europe. And it was in Berlin that Willson, the composer of "Molly Brown," first heard him sing.
Had he been 15 years older, Harve Presnell likely would have been a major presence in films. A natural successor to Howard Keel as a tall, masculine deep-voiced singer, he reprised his Broadway role in the film version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, just as musicals were beginning to decline as a box-office force. His next two films roles were forgettable, and he returned to the stage, coming back to film in Paint Your Wagon, another natural role, but a flop which portended the end of the kind of musical for which he was a natural.
He became a major figure in road-show productions for many years, returning to film (with one exception) only in 1996 with The Whole Wide World, then appearing in small roles (Fargo, The Chamber, Face/Off, Patch Adams, Flags of Our Fathers, Evan Almighty), as well as TV (his last role was an episode of Cold Case this year).
Someone who will be unfamiliar (as will his minimal credits) to most here, but there was a period in the early 1970s when he was expected to have a career similar to his colleague Robert Towne (among other things, he was a fellow member of Jack Nicholson's pack in that actor's formative years.)
His credited screenplays number only three - Little Fauss and Big Halsey (1970) with Robert Redford (which flopped, which was a shock coming right after Butch Cassidy), The All-American Boy (with Jon Voight, not long after Midnight Cowboy; he also directed it; Warner Bros. barely released it) and later Second Hand Hearts, directed by Hal Ashby.
He had early developed a reputation as a talented script doctor before that position became a common-place (and lucrative) as it is today - The Cincinatti Kid, The Americanization of Emily and This Property Is Condemned among them.
His sister Carole Eastman was more successful - she wrote Five Easy Pieces, but never came close to duplicating its success. Charles for his part wrote what were often described as brilliant screenplays, but refused to sell the rights unless he got to direct himself. After the flop of All-American Boy, most doors closed to him. He continued writing until the end - short stories, plays, and even three screenplays after heart bypass surgery a few years ago.
Originally posted by seanflynn: Farrah FAWCETT - Actress
Although by far better known for her TV work, she did appear in several films, and an attempt was made to transfer her appeal to the big screen.
Her first film curiously was French - a Claude Lelouche movie starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Un homme qui me plait/Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). That was followed by Myra Breckinridge. Logan's Run also came before Charlie's Angels, then as a huge star, Sunburn and Somebody Killed My Husband and Saturn 3 all were meant to turn her into a movie star.
Her following roles were more scattered, but included some really interesting efforts - See You in the Morning (for Alan J. Pakula) and The Apostle (for and with Robert Duvall) standing out.
She was 62.
According to the Academy's website, she was also an academy member.
Although she played other roles in her 10 year career, Brenda Joyce is best known as the second Jane in the MGM (and later RKO) Tarzan series, first playing the role in Tarzan and the Huntress (1947) with Johnny Weissmuller, then continuing with Lex Barker for a total of five films.
She started as at Fox, quickly earning decent roles in The Rains Came, Little Old New York and Maryland. But when she unexpectedly married (counter to the studio's hope of building her up), they relegated her to B roles, and then to poverty row.
A couple kids later, she returned, but the Jane character wasn't what she had in mind, and retired 60 years ago.
A brief but notable Warner Bros starlet - she made 21 films, mostly for them, between 1936-1939 before leaving movies behind, returning only briefly to TV in the 1950s - she appeared mainly in B movies, co-starring with many of the Warners company during those years. Her niche was as a hard-boiled strong-willed woman, sort of a younger Bette Davis, but she left it behind at the age of 25. (She had previously studied acting under Maria Ouspenskaya).
In her later years, she became a major player in the Orange Co (CA) legitimate theatre scene.
She was 95.
Some of her better known films (at least to TCm devotees) were The Singing Kid, God's Country and Women, The Perfect Specimen
