A couple of English roses – Simmons & Bloom.

July 30, 2017 Alan Royle 5

    JEAN SIMMONS (1929 – 2010) Jean Simmons was her real name and she hailed from Crouch Hill, London. She was barely sixteen when she landed a miniscule part in the British film Caesar and Cleopatra in 1945. The production proved to be an opportunity (however small) for several […]

Past Oscars PT 5 – (1961-66)

November 16, 2016 Alan Royle 0

    1961               West Side Story – Best Picture                         Maximilian Schell – Best Actor for Judgment at Nuremberg                         George Chakiris – Best Supporting Actor for West Side Story                                                               Except for Fanny, I have seen each of the nominees – West Side Story, Judgment at Nuremberg, […]

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 […]

‘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 […]

Actors marrying other actors – Pt 11.

September 7, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  BRUCE, Virginia                              GILBERT, John                                1932-4 (div.)   Virginia Bruce may have started out as one of the original 20 Goldwyn girls, along with Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard and Ann Sothern, but she soon showed she had talent. In all she chalked up 82 screen credits between 1929 and […]

Actors marrying other actors – PT 7.

August 8, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  BLOOM, Claire                                STEIGER, Rod                                 1959 to 1969 (div.)   Claire & Chaplin in Limelight Claire Bloom was catapulted into stardom in 1952 when Charlie Chaplin personally selected her for his leading lady in his sentimental drama Limelight. From then until 1954, however, the Shakespearian-trained actress toured with the Old […]

A few snippets from Frank Langella.

July 20, 2015 admin 2

  Oscar-nominated actor Frank Langella published his most entertaining biography titled, Dropped Names: Famous Men & Women as I Knew Them, in 2013. It is a scathing one that pulls few, if any, punches. Here are a few snippets from it, some of his observations down the decades, along with […]

STEWART GRANGER – A man’s man – mostly.

June 7, 2015 admin 8

  It is difficult not to admire English actor Stewart Granger. In an era that spawned a generation of actors and actresses ready and willing to do and say whatever their studios demanded of them, and equally unwilling to cross powerful gossip columnists like Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons for […]

RICHARD HARRIS – Hell raiser supreme.

February 27, 2015 admin 0

    Richard Harris’s violent temper and manic drinking bouts were legendary in Hollywood. In fact, it was generally accepted by most producers that the signing of the wild Irishman for any picture meant adding a further week onto the shooting schedule, simply to allow for days lost through his […]