Sean Penn – an enigma?

February 26, 2015 admin 2

    Throughout the entire two-month shoot of Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982, Sean Penn insisted on remaining in the Jeff Spicoli character on and off the set. He immersed himself in his character’s persona and refused to answer anyone unless they called him Jeff. Even his message […]

JULIE ANDREWS – The real Mary Poppins.

February 24, 2015 admin 187

  It is hard to believe that the star of The Sound of Music will be eighty in October. Why do I suddenly feel very old? Even as a 10 year old she possessed ‘an enormous, belting, freak voice with a range of four octaves and some fierce high notes’. […]

PARIS HILTON – A classic non-talent.

February 24, 2015 admin 128

      The abominable House of Wax (2005) was shot in Australia at Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Warners granted Paris permission to sell t-shirts that read: ‘On May 6th, watch Paris die’, (a mouth-watering thought if there ever was one). As most people […]

Marilyn Monroe – a gorgeous tramp?

February 24, 2015 admin 7

    Marilyn Monroe in the unfinished Something’s Got to Give ( 1962) Marilyn Monroe’s first appearance in a movie was in the 1948 picture Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!  She uttered just two words, ‘Hi, Rad’, as she walked down some church steps behind eight year-old Natalie Wood. Two years earlier she […]

Gene Tierney – an unfortunate life?

February 24, 2015 admin 3

    Nineteen year-old Gene Tierney had made her screen debut in the 1940 western The Return of Frank James. Already a star on Broadway, she was nevertheless appalled by the high pitch of her voice when she first saw the rushes. Determined to lower the tone of her delivery, whatever […]

JOHNNY DEPP – A most engaging man?

February 24, 2015 admin 2

  Johnny Depp’s screen debut was in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 when he played a guy that gets swallowed by his bed! Well, it happens. He only got the part because director Wes Craven’s teenage daughter and her friends were present for the readings and they all flipped over […]

THE MARX BROTHERS – Likeable scallywags.

February 19, 2015 admin 5

  Harpo Marx (1888 – 1964) Chico Marx (1887 – 1961) Groucho Marx (1890 – 1977) Individually they were very funny. Collectively they were even funnier, whether on stage, on the screen, or in real life. When MGM summoned them to Hollywood to discuss a movie contract, the brothers tired […]

Rita Hayworth – a tragic repeat offender?

February 17, 2015 admin 16

    Rita Hayworth posing for her famous Life magazine World War ll pin-up. There have been many tragic screen goddesses down the decades, especially in the days of the studio system, but none had it tougher than Rita Hayworth. As a young girl she was treated abominably by her […]

VANESSA REDGRAVE – Never a backward step.

February 17, 2015 admin 0

        Vanessa Redgrave in Camelot ( 1967 ) During the evening of January 20, 1937, Laurence Olivier was starring in Hamlet alongside her father Michael Redgrave when he announced to the audience at curtain call that, ‘tonight a great actress was born’. Over the course of her […]

JOAN CRAWFORD – A star at any cost?

February 13, 2015 admin 13

    Of all the movie stars that have come and gone down the decades, none strove so hard, or for so long, as Joan Crawford did, to get to the top of the pile and remain there. In effect, there was almost nothing she would not do to become […]