‘THE GODFATHER’ (1972 – A Masterpiece.

January 3, 2020 Alan Royle 2

Producer Robert Evans had no time for the vertically challenged Al Pacino, referring to him as ‘The Midget’, when director Francis Ford Coppola made it clear he wanted him for The Godfather (1972). Oddly, Evans considered firing Pacino early in the shoot and replacing with, of all people, Dustin Hoffman, […]

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 […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT93.

December 26, 2018 Alan Royle 0

    Barbara Hale, William Hopper & Raymond Burr in Perry Mason        Fans of the Perry Mason TV series will no doubt remember William Hopper, son of gossip columnist Hedda, who played Perry’s assistant Paul Drake. During World War Two he served as a frogman with the US […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT77.

November 2, 2018 Alan Royle 6

Ali MacGraw & Robert Evans Robert Evans bought the rights to the novel The Great Gatsby in 1971, his intention being to have his wife Ali MacGraw play Daisy. A shooting script was not quite ready yet, so Ali went off to star in The Getaway (1972) opposite Steve McQueen […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT9.

May 14, 2018 Alan Royle 4

                       Ali MacGraw & Robert Evans Steve McQueen’s performance in Papillon (1973) was overlooked when Oscar nominations were announced in 1974. The general feeling was that his stealing Ali MacGraw from Robert Evans, a very powerful studio executive, may well […]

The many loves of Ava Gardner.

August 3, 2017 Alan Royle 29

  AVA GARDNER (1922-90)            Ava was a ‘knockout’, possibly the sexiest woman ever to grace a movie screen. She married Mickey Rooney when he was the number one box-office draw in movies (she refused to sleep with him unless he married her first). Within three weeks or so of the […]