Category Archives: Actors

“Personally, I resent being tagged ‘glamour girl’. It’s such an absurd, extravagant label. It implies so much that I’m not.” — Carole Lombard

It’s her birthday today! Carole Lombard played ditzy and impulsive, but she didn’t play dumb. One of her greatest gifts as a comedienne is her craftiness, how well she creates cunning and sometimes selfish women, women who are heedless, sometimes … Continue reading

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Dynamic Duo #38

Marlene Dietrich and Konstantin Paustovsky. This moment occurred after a concert she gave in Moscow, 1964. She had been blabbing to the press about the revered (and sometimes suppressed) author Konstantin Paustovsky from the moment she arrived in Russia, declaring … Continue reading

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R.I.P. Michael Gambon

All the headlines mention Dumbledore. and I get it. Fine. But Dumbledore Shmumbledore. Michael Gambon’s stage career was spectacular. He played everything (see him here as King Lear), and when I heard he passed, I thought immediately of a hilarious … Continue reading

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Podcast: Watch With Jen: Let’s talk about Elvis!

Well, THIS was a blast. Jen Johans had me onto her excellent podcast again to talk about 5 Elvis movies of my choosing! I picked: King Creole, Flaming Star, Girl Happy, Live a Little Love a Little and The Trouble … Continue reading

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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

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Bing and Billie and Frank and Ella and Judy and Barbra: an interview with author Dan Callahan

I’ve interviewed Dan about almost every one of his books! It’s almost a ritual now. His latest is, so far, his most ambitious: a book about, of course, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, and Barbra … Continue reading

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For Criterion: Elvis in the Movies

Here’s the big piece I’ve been working on: to accompany the current Elvis-movie programming on the Criterion Channel, I wrote about Elvis’ movie career for Criterion.

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Marilyn Monroe and Method Acting

Nobody writes about Marilyn Monroe like my friend Kim Morgan. Nobody. That’s why I am so excited she wrote about Marilyn for Criterion – and not only Marilyn, but Marilyn’s connection to Method acting, and how important that technique was … Continue reading

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Pee Wee

Mitchell and I, juniors in college, sat at Bickford’s diner one night in Cranston, Rhode Island. We had been to the movies, I think. Our regular ritual. I’d go and pick him up, we’d drive to the movies, then we’d … Continue reading

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Back-ting and Mirrors

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know how I love moments where actors have their back to the camera (back-ting) and moments where characters stare at themselves in the mirror. I started mulling about this 15 years … Continue reading

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