WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT54.

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT54.

August 24, 2021 Alan Royle 0

  PAUL SCOFIELD (1922-2008)                  A native of Birmingham in Warwickshire, England, Paul Scofield has been described by several doyens of the theatre as ‘the greatest English-speaking screen actor of all time.’ Few who saw his Oscar-winning turn as Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (1966) would disagree. […]

TV WESTERNS – PT17.

TV WESTERNS – PT17.

August 21, 2021 Alan Royle 2

  THE HIGH CHAPARRAL (1967-71) 97 EPISODES                                The series was created by David Dortort, the man who had previously created Bonanza for NBC. Big John Cannon (Leif Erickson) runs the family’s High Chaparral Ranch in Arizona Territory in the 1870s, aided by his brother Buck (Cameron Mitchell) and son […]

RANDOM QUOTES – PT46

RANDOM QUOTES – PT46

August 18, 2021 Alan Royle 3

  RUSSELL CROWE: (1964 – )                     ‘One of the most painful things of the L. A. Confidential (1997) character I played was that the author [James Ellroy], kept telling me that Bud White wasn’t a drinker. I said, ‘Come on, this is 1953. He’s a blue-collar bloke, a cop. You’re […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT179.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT179.

August 15, 2021 Alan Royle 5

  Marjorie Main Marjorie Main was an MGM character actress loaned out to Universal for the ten ‘Ma & Pa Kettle’ films that proved so successful. Her real life husband of 14 years, Stanley Krebs, passed away in 1935 when she was in her forty-fifth year, but she continued to […]

THE INN OF THE 6TH HAPPINESS (1958)

THE INN OF THE 6TH HAPPINESS (1958)

August 12, 2021 Alan Royle 8

              The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) is a prime example of the movie industry taking a factual story involving real people and historical incidents and giving it the full ‘Hollywood’ treatment; an exercise in convolution that upset many individuals, not least of […]

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT53.

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT53.

August 9, 2021 Alan Royle 0

HAROLD SAKATA (1920-82)                               His name might not ring many bells for cinema fans, but his face usually does. Harold Sakata achieved cinematic immortality portraying Auric Goldfinger’s personal bodyguard Oddjob, steel-rimmed bowler hat and all, in the third of the James Bond franchise films Goldfinger (1964). Born in Hawaii of Japanese […]

RANDOM QUOTES from directors.

RANDOM QUOTES from directors.

August 6, 2021 Alan Royle 0

  ALFRED HITCHCOCK:               ‘There is a dreadful story that I hate actors. Imagine anyone hating Jimmy Stewart…Jack L. Warner? I can’t imagine how such a rumour began. Of course, it may possibly be because I was once quoted as saying that actors are cattle. My actor friends know I would […]

TV WESTERNS – PT16

TV WESTERNS – PT16

August 3, 2021 Alan Royle 5

  HAWKEYE & THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1957) 39 episodes                              This was yet another short-lived western series from the 1950s, one that lasted just a single season although, by most accounts, it probably deserved a better fate. Its star was a charismatic actor named John Hart (1917-2009), who […]

‘UNCONQUERED’ (1947)

‘UNCONQUERED’ (1947)

July 31, 2021 Alan Royle 9

  UNCONQUERED (1947)                        When this blockbuster was released by Paramount Pictures in 1947 it became that year’s top-grossing US film, despite its numerous shortcomings that included a couple of laughable scenes that were supposed to be taken seriously. But […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT178.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT178.

July 28, 2021 Alan Royle 5

  David Bowie the actor Contrary to popular belief, both of David Bowie’s eyes were actually blue. However, one pupil was permanently dilated when he was fifteen. He was punched by school friend George Underwood, after which one eye appeared to be darker than the other. Underwood became a successful […]