TV – When the western was king – PT1.

June 23, 2018 Alan Royle 4

There was a time, back in the fifties when television suddenly took off, that saw the western genre dominating the box. Scores of series were launched throughout the late forties, the fifties and sixties. Many of them lasted only a single season (even less), but others made a fortune for […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 21.

June 11, 2018 Alan Royle 0

                           the incomparable Ava                                    with boyfriend Peter Lawford Ava Gardner’s very physical affair with the bisexual Peter Lawford ended, or so […]

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STEVE MCQUEEN – Not a nice guy.

August 17, 2017 Alan Royle 71

  Steve McQueen’s mother was a prostitute, his father a circus stuntman and neither cared a fig about their boy. He lost his virginity at 13 to an obese teenaged hooker who accepted candy for sex. At 16 he was a towel boy in a brothel and encouraged to sample […]

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 […]

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The making of ‘The Great Escape’ (1963)

July 19, 2016 Alan Royle 5

In World War Two Stalag Luft III was an enormous POW camp in Germany, encompassing 59 acres surrounded by over five miles of perimeter fencing and housing some 10,000 Allied servicemen of the Fleet Air Arm. Renowned author Paul Brickhill wrote the book from which this film is taken. He […]

The Magical Fifties.

June 17, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  I remember being taken in the fifties by my grand-parents to the open-air cinema nearby to watch black and white dramas starring the likes of Joan Crawford, George Raft, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Dana Andrews, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Ida Lupino and many others. For some reason a handful […]

Great character actors Pt.4

March 11, 2016 admin 0

  Elisha Cook Jr. achieved screen immortality with two memorable roles. His portrayal of Wilmer (the ‘gunsel’) in The Maltese Falcon (1941) is probably the one remembered by most fans, but I personally prefer his playing of ‘Stonewall’ Torrey twelve years later in Shane (1953). Whether he was getting slapped […]

My Top 50 Handsome Actors (Pt 1)

February 6, 2016 admin 13

    Since listing my 50 most beautiful actresses I have been asked to provide a similar list of the 50 most handsome men. And that creates a problem for me. Being heterosexual, how do I go about naming the men I find most sttractive? I don’t really think of […]

What Happened To? ( Pt 1 )

April 9, 2015 admin 2

This category will, from time to time, look at old stars from both movies and TV, to see where they are today, and what happened to them after their days in the spotlight ended. I shall start Pt 1 with the TV western series of the 50s and 60s. Some […]