MOVIE TRIVIA – PT158.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT158.

July 29, 2020 Alan Royle 2

           Victor McLaglen Victor McLaglen always claimed he was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England in 1886, but birth records indicate he was really born in Stepney. And he was not Irish at all, despite being cast mostly as Irishmen, particularly by director John Ford. Prior […]

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES – PT12.

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES – PT12.

July 29, 2020 Alan Royle 0

Over the years I have been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of criticism (not to mention downright abuse) from fans of director Elia Kazan, especially from those self-appointed aficionados of movie-making who seem to delight in informing me that he was (and still is, in their eyes), […]

TV WESTERNS – PT4.

TV WESTERNS – PT4.

July 26, 2020 Alan Royle 0

    BONANZA    (1959-73)                                430 EPISODES                     Few TV westerns were as successful and as long-running as Bonanza (1959-73). In fact, only Gunsmoke outdid it both in episodes (635) and seasons (20). Initially, Bonanza was screened on Saturday nights, but the figures were so dismal that thought was given to cancelling […]

PROFILES – Jean Harlow

PROFILES – Jean Harlow

July 23, 2020 Alan Royle 2

            JEAN HARLOW (1911 – 37)          Born Harlean Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri, to a dentist and his wife, the young actress who would one day become Jean Harlow and known around the world as ‘The Platinum Blonde’, ran away from home at sixteen to marry a 23 year-old businessman […]

RANDOM QUOTES – PT28.

RANDOM QUOTES – PT28.

July 17, 2020 Alan Royle 2

ANDIE MACDOWELL:                             [On Marisa Tomei turning down the lead in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)] ‘They saw a lot of other people for the role. Not only did Marisa Tomei lose out as an artist for not taking the opportunity to work with wonderful people on this amazing movie, […]

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT27.

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT27.

July 14, 2020 Alan Royle 6

HEDY LAMARR (1914-2000)                                Hedy hailed from Austria, where she entered this world from Vienna in 1914. She fled her wealthy Austrian munitions manufacturer in 1937, traveling first to Paris, then London and finally to Hollywood and a movie career. At the start of the Second World War, she and composer […]

TV WESTERNS – PT3.

TV WESTERNS – PT3.

July 11, 2020 Alan Royle 2

    BAT MASTERSON (1958-61) – 108 Episodes                              Gene Barry (1919-2009) New Yorker Barry started out as a fine baritone singer, landing several parts in Broadway musicals during the forties before Paramount signed him in the early fifties. Despite carrying a couple of successful TV series – Bat Masterson and […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT157.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT157.

July 8, 2020 Alan Royle 7

  Warren Beatty During the making of Bonnie & Clyde (1967), the star of the picture, Warren Beatty, got into an altercation with Jack Warner in his office at Warner Bros. Voices were raised during the confrontation until, finally, in exasperation, Jack walked across the room to the window and […]

PROFILES – Linda Hamilton & Daryl Hannah.

PROFILES – Linda Hamilton & Daryl Hannah.

July 5, 2020 Alan Royle 0

LINDA HAMILTON (1956 – )                    Linda Hamilton played Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) and in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). She readily admits that her bipolar disorder and her addiction to cocaine destroyed both her first marriage to Bruce Abbott (1982-9) and her second to James Cameron (1997-9). Linda […]

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES – PT10.

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES – PT11.

July 2, 2020 Alan Royle 5

British actor Charles Laughton only directed one movie in his life, and that was the quite brilliant The Night of the Hunter (1955), although he did direct several plays. The star of his one movie, Robert Mitchum, had no hesitation in stating that he felt Laughton was the best director […]