Get Shorty (1995)
Gene Hackman (as Harry Zimm): ‘I once asked this literary agent what kind of writing paid the best. He said ‘ransom notes.’
JULIE ANDREWS – The real Mary Poppins.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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 […]
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
The sonnet Will Shakespeare writes for Viola that begins: ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ is number 18 in the 1609 collection. Sonnets 1-126, including this one, were all written for a male friend of Bill’s, either for Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton or for William […]
THE MARX BROTHERS – Likeable scallywags.
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 […]
River Phoenix – a foolish waste?
River boasted of losing his virginity to an eighteen year-old girl he met while making Stand by Me in early 1985. He told his parents and siblings of his intention to seduce her, so they erected a psychedelically painted tent in their back yard for the occasion. […]
Rita Hayworth – a tragic repeat offender?
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 […]