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Category Archives: Actors
“Groundhog Day was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award.” — Bill Murray
Yup. (It’s Murray’s birthday today.) I have often said that it’s interesting to consider what films made today might be considered classics to future generations. Something like Casablanca was not a “prestige picture”, it was not filmed with a ponderous … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Television
Tagged Bill Murray, Elvis Presley, Sofia Coppola
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“People get surprised by my choices. But that comes from me looking for something new.” — Maggie Cheung
People who love Maggie Cheung (and why wouldn’t you love Maggie Cheung?) really REALLY love her. She inspires a fervid love and fascination in her devoted worldwide fanbase, fanbase that has maintained its power for over three decades now. After … Continue reading
“I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
“She’ll come back as fire To burn all the liars And leave a blanket of ash on the ground.” — Nirvana, “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle” It’s her birthday today. When Nirvana’s album In Utero came out … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Clifford Odets, Frances Farmer, Group Theatre
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“I think I’m a character actress in a leading lady’s body, but the industry doesn’t really see me that way.” — Sanaa Lathan
It’s her birthday today. Sanaa Lathan is a wonderful actress: fluid,funny, unconventional in some of her responses, and with deep wells of emotion that you can feel- in a visceral way, coming off the screen. You don’t catch her working. … Continue reading
“I’ve been very lucky, considering what I look like and what I do.” — James Gandolfini
It’s his birthday today. 51 years old. It seems incomprehensible. Like a lot of people, he first came on my radar through the extraordinary scene in the motel room with Patricia Arquette in True Romance (“you gotta lotta heart, kid.”) … Continue reading
“I never said, ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be left alone.’ There is all the difference.” — Greta Garbo
It’s her birthday today. She is a difficult subject, not just because she was a private woman, but because her onscreen persona was so fluid, mercurial, hard to grasp. Her gestures could be operatic and swanlike (watch Grand Hotel), but … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged drama, Greta Garbo, H.D., historical drama, silent films, Sweden
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“When you lose everything, and I mean everything, you sit there in this empty room in the dark, and the only person who can get you out is you.” — Mickey Rourke
It’s his birthday today. It’s hard to express what he meant to actors coming up at a certain time. It’s hard to express it without sounding hyperbolic. But he was an enormously meaningful figure. His work was so exciting we … Continue reading
“I’ve always felt that work – learning from people who know more than I know – is what keeps you going.” — Lauren Bacall
It’s her birthday today. This was the magazine cover that started it all. Howard Hawks was looking for a protege, a girl he could mold into his perfect idealized woman – the ideal foil for the men in those fabulous … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not
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This Could Be A Total Bust, or Mickey Rourke Inside The Actor’s Studio, by Brendan O’Malley
My talented brother Brendan O’Malley is an amazing writer and actor. He maintained a blog for many years (he doesn’t blog anymore) -in 2020 I posted links to his 50 Best Albums essays, as well as all of his music … Continue reading
Classic Hollywood + Elvis
It’s so nice to see this “Classic Hollywood” archive page on the Criterion Channel with Elvis’ movies included. His movies aren’t usually discussed as part of “classic Hollywood” even though … they ARE part of “classic Hollywood”, or, at the … Continue reading
