Did you know? Points of interest Pt.19.

October 30, 2015 admin 2

  There have been many, many Hollywood musicals made since talkies began, but those composed by the brilliant combination of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II hold a special place in the hearts of millions of movie-goers. Although both men created several musicals with other partners during their careers, together […]

Did you know? Points of interest Pt. 18

October 28, 2015 admin 2

    If the executives at Warner Bros. had their way it is very likely that Blazing Saddles might never have seen the light of day. They watched a private screening and none of them laughed at any part of it. Director and creator Mel Brooks then showed it to […]

RYAN O’NEAL – Father of the Year material?

October 26, 2015 admin 6

  Every once and a while the movies (or television) unearth a phenomenon, someone who strikes a chord with audiences around the world. One such performer in the sixties was Ryan O’Neal, and all because of a staggeringly successful TV soap called Peyton Place that ran from 1964 until 1969. […]

The longest Hollywood marriages?

October 24, 2015 admin 0

Richard Benjamin & Paula Prentiss 53 years and still going (1961-) Richard in Westworld Paula with Rock Hudson Mr & Mrs Benjamin today Ann Prentiss 1970 Sixties fans would remember Paula Prentiss. She was a pretty comedienne who possessed a deep, throaty chuckle that fans (including me) found very sexy. […]

Tragic Hollywood: Jean Seberg and the FBI.

October 22, 2015 admin 9

There is no shortage of tragic stories in Hollywood’s history. Jean Seberg’s is just one of them. Even so, there is something particularly poignant about her story because she appeared to have the world at her feet until someone at the FBI decided to wreck her life and her health […]

Did you know? Points of interest – Pt. 17

October 20, 2015 Alan Royle 0

Yesterday, I watched an old 1937 classic on Foxtel called They Won’t Forget. In all honesty I chose it because I wanted to see for myself why audiences in 1937 instantly fell in love with newcomer, 16 year-old Lana Turner, in her debut performance as the ill-fated Mary Clay. It […]

Did you know? Points of interest Pt. 16

October 18, 2015 admin 0

  Whenever any discussion takes place about former cowboy star Buck Jones, sooner or later it will include the ‘fact’ that he sacrificed his life saving others back in 1942 when the Cocoanut Grove Night Club in Boston burnt down killing 492 patrons. For decades it was generally accepted that […]

Did you know? Points of interest Pt. 15

October 16, 2015 admin 2

  Richard Schickel’s biography of director Elia Kazan tells how Marlon Brando was tricked into accepting the role of Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront (1954). Kazan had actor Karl Malden direct a scene featuring a young unknown from the Actors Studio speaking Malloy’s lines, knowing full well that Brando’s competitive […]

JOHN WAYNE – The man and the myth.

October 14, 2015 admin 8

  A lot has been written about John Wayne and his early days as an actor in ‘B’ westerns during the 1930s, although even he thought ‘B-Grade’ was rather over-generous description. ‘Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that’, he recalled. And they were, too. Rock bottom in […]

Did you know? Points of Interest Pt. 14

October 12, 2015 admin 0

  Whenever Don’t Look Now (1973) is mentioned, the talk, sooner or later, turns to the controversy surrounding the four minute sex scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. For some reason scores of commentators insist that the scene was not simulated, that the actors really had sex on the set. Despite […]