PAST OSCAR WINNERS – Some Observations – PT 1.

September 29, 2016 Alan Royle 0

                I have been looking through the history of the Academy Awards and, like most people interested in such things, I have found myself disagreeing with many of the choices and agreeing wholeheartedly with others. Here are a few of my thoughts on […]

DEBORAH KERR – Always the bridesmaid

September 27, 2016 Alan Royle 8

  If there has been a more unlucky actress awards-wise than Scotland’s Deborah Kerr I am yet to hear of her. In a screen career that lasted 46 years she was nominated for fifteen major awards – and won just one. The break-down is unique in itself: 6 Academy Award […]

Actors marrying other actors – PT 15

September 25, 2016 Alan Royle 6

  COLMAN, Ronald                            HUME, Benita                                  1938 – 58 (his death)   Ronald Colman was very nearly one of the millions of fatalities of World War One. He had only been in France for two months when he was seriously gassed at the battle of Messines and invalided out of […]

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‘American Graffiti’ (1973) – a landmark production.

September 21, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  In 1971, twenty-seven year old George Lucas directed his first full-length film, a sci-fi feature called THX 1138. It cost around three quarters of a million dollars to make and grossed about three times its expenses in the USA. It was successful enough for him to seek backing for […]

The Mike Todd saga.

September 19, 2016 Alan Royle 12

    In 1958 Kirk Douglas accepted an invitation from film producer Mike Todd to accompany him on a flight to New York aboard Mike’s private plane dubbed The Lucky Liz, in honor of his wife Elizabeth Taylor. ‘As I was packing my bags I suddenly felt a painful knotting […]

Actors marrying other actors – PT 14.

September 17, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  CILENTO, Diane                              CONNERY, Sean                              1962 – 73 (div.)   Australian actress Diane Cilento is all but unknown today to international audiences. If not for her marriage to the first James Bond, Sean Connery, her career might be pretty much forgotten. Even her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress […]

Actors marrying other actors – PT 13.

September 15, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  CATES, Phoebe                                KLINE, Kevin                                   1989 –   Phoebe Cates is a New Yorker of Jewish/Russian/Chinese descent. Her teenage years saw her on the covers of several teen magazines including ‘Seventeen’, ‘Elle’ and ‘British Vogue’. She even adorned an edition of ‘Andy Warhol’s Interview’. At nineteen she made quite […]

Two tragic Hollywood beauties.

September 13, 2016 Alan Royle 10

  Ava Gardner (1922-90) Mickey Rooney took one look at Ava Gardner when she arrived in Hollywood and was hooked. He pursued her, wooed her and did his utmost to bed her, but the 18 year-old virgin made it clear that any man who wanted to alter that status was […]

Actors marrying other actors – Pt 12.

September 11, 2016 Alan Royle 4

  CARREY, Jim                                   HOLLY, Lauren                               1996 – 97 (div.)   Canadian-born Carrey has been a naturalized American since 2004. It comes as no surprise to learn that he has always been an incurable extrovert since he was a child. Even at junior high he was granted permission to deliver […]