A few Hollywood substance abusers PT 2.

November 4, 2016 Alan Royle 17

    Anthony Hopkins Anthony Hopkins opted to join Alcoholics Anonymous after he awoke in another state without having any idea how he got there. Until then he had struggled with alcoholism since the beginning of his acting career. It turned him into a loner and destroyed several relationships.   […]

A few Hollywood substance abusers. PT 1.

November 2, 2016 Alan Royle 18

  John Barrymore John Barrymore became famous for playing sympathetic drunks on film, no great stretch for him given he was a fully-fledged, dedicated alcoholic off-camera all his life. As a Shakespearian stage actor he was brilliant in his youth, able to memorize and deliver extraordinarily long speeches effortlessly and […]

Past Oscars – Pt 4 (1955-60)

October 31, 2016 Alan Royle 4

  1955               Marty – Best Picture                         Ernest Borgnine – Best Actor for Marty   Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter Doris Day & Jimmy Cagney Well, at least Elia Kazan didn’t get Best Director for East of Eden despite being again nominated. […]

Did you know?

October 29, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  A few notes on Destry Rides Again (1939) For years writers have been saying that the bar-room fight scene between Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel in Destry Rides Again (1939) was real, that the two actresses went at it hammer and tong because they loathed each other. That is simply untrue. In fact, […]

No Image

The best films year by year – PT 2 (1945 – 52)

October 27, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  1945    OSCAR:         THE LOST WEEKEND Other nominees:    Anchors Aweigh The Bells of St. Mary’s Mildred Pierce Spellbound   My Top 10 films for 1945     #1   #2  #3  #4  #5  #6  #7  #8  #9  #10   COMMENTS:           This was one of the worst years for movies on record. […]

Sarah Miles – a candid eccentric?

October 25, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  Her father was an affluent engineer so Sarah grew up in a house with servants. She claims her childhood was a happy one although her mother often beat her with a hairbrush whenever she was naughty. Young people today probably regard this as a contradiction in terms, but being […]

The best pictures – year by year – PT 1 (1939-44).

October 23, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  I have often been flabbergasted or just plain disbelieving as the Academy ran out each year’s list of Oscar nominees, especially the Best Picture nominees, and time after time exceptional pictures simply did not make the list. Consequently, I thought I might (starting with 1939, the year movies came […]

W.A.M.P.A.S. Baby Stars 1922 – PT 1.

October 21, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  Between 1922 and 1934 (except for 1930 and 1933) the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) annually selected 13 up and coming young actresses as ‘The WAMPAS Baby Stars’ amid considerable media publicity and fanfare. No doubt, being selected must have given these young ladies visions of future […]

‘Hollywood – The Skeletons Are Out’ – a sampling

October 19, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  My latest book is titled Hollywood: The Skeletons Are Out. It contains 1,200 direct quotes by actors and directors about themselves, their colleagues and their films. Here is a random two dozen of them:   Young Joan Collins When Joan Collins was asked if she was ever unfaithful, she […]