MOVIE TRIVIA. – PT184

MOVIE TRIVIA. – PT184

November 1, 2021 Alan Royle 2

  Ben Kingsley British actor Ben Kingsley will quite rightly be remembered for winning the Oscar in the title role of Gandhi (1982), yet he had been a musician/singer, busking for over a decade before fame caught up with him. It was 1966 when the twenty-three year old Ben made […]

SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) – A timeless classic.

December 13, 2019 Alan Royle 0

The name Norma Desmond, Gloria Swanson’s character in Sunset Boulevard (1950), was chosen from a combination of silent-film star Norma Talmadge and silent movie director William Desmond Taylor. The latter’s still-unsolved murder is one of the great scandals of Hollywood history and contributed to the eventual introduction of the Hays […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT101.

January 15, 2019 Alan Royle 2

Pola Negri & Rudolph Valentino There has never been a shortage of prima donnas among movie stars, especially in Hollywood. Back in the Roaring Twenties it was the outrageously publicity addict Pola Negri who made sure reporters and cameramen were present when she swooned with crying fits at the casket […]

More Thirties Movie Trivia – PT2.

February 5, 2018 Alan Royle 4

     Olivia de Havilland                              with Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood While making The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Errol Flynn told his co-star Olivia de Havilland that his marriage to Lili Damita was […]

Past Oscar-winners – some observations – Pt 3.

October 9, 2016 Alan Royle 0

    1949               All the King’s Men – Best Picture                         Broderick Crawford – Best Actor for All the King’s Men   Broderick Crawford Greg Peck as General Savage in Twelve O’Clock High Having seen all five nominated films for 1949, I am surprised that All the King’s Men came out on […]

Actors marrying other actors – PT 5.

August 2, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  BAXTER, Meredith                         BIRNEY, David                                 1974 to 1990 (div.)                                                                 BLODGETT, Michael                      1995 to 2000 (div.)   […]

Sara Shane aka Elaine Hollingsworth.

May 16, 2016 Alan Royle 15

  I recently watched a 1956 Clark Gable western titled The King and Four Queens and was struck by the beauty of one of the leading ladies, an actress named Sara Shane. Indeed, she was not the only beauty in the picture for it featured one of my all-time favourite […]

William Holden – His Life and his Loves

January 23, 2016 admin 20

      Holden in Escape From Fort Bravo (1953) William Holden featured in a lot of very good movies during his career. Women adored him, even men grudgingly conceded that he was both rugged and charming, certainly no milk sop. Unfortunately, he was also an alcoholic, from his teens until the […]

Tragic Hollywood – Who killed funnyman Ted Healy?

December 18, 2015 admin 8

  Wallace Beery won the Oscar in 1931-2 for The Champ, even though he actually scored one less vote than Fredric March that year. The rules of the previous year awarded Oscars to performers who finished within three votes of the winner. Presenter Conrad Nagel, unaware that the regulations had […]

Did you know? Points of interest. Pt. 9

September 13, 2015 admin 0

    It is generally believed that Stephen Sondheim only agreed to the musically limited Madonna singing his songs in Dick Tracy (1990) because he owed a favour to Warren Beatty who directed and starred in it whilst becoming intimately involved with Madonna during the shoot. Sean Young was to […]