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- “When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” — Dorothy Thompson
- “Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm
- “I’m one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist.” — Shelley Duvall
- “There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
- “I believe what Camus says. When the curtain rings down, your job is done.” — Warren Oates
- Physical Media Booklet Essay podcast interview
- “My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
- “You can’t be on top all the time. It isn’t natural.” — Olivia de Havilland
- “If I don’t feel it, I can’t play it.” — James Cotton
- “I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.” — Lena Horne
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Category Archives: Actors
R.I.P. Scott Wilson
Scott Wilson had one of my favorite kinds of careers: the Reliably Great Character Actor For Decades and Decades kind of career. He started off in 1967 with the one-two punch of In the Heat of the Night, playing murder … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, RIP
4 Comments
R.I.P. Marin Mazzie
This is so sad. I saw Marin Mazzie in Ragtime and Passion, which made me a lifelong fan. She was incredibly powerful onstage, her beautiful soprano filled with so much breath and intention it almost felt like a belt. And … Continue reading
Burt Reynolds’ Angles
His movie star body-head angle. Supermodels use their angles this way. Joan Crawford used her angles this way. Burt is fun to study because star charisma is difficult to describe and yet it’s really fun to try. Obsessive side note: … Continue reading
R.I.P. Burt Reynolds
This one really got to me. I knew he was old and frail. But I have such affection for him – it’s different than my feelings for other movie stars … it’s its own thing. I am glad he got … Continue reading
R.I.P. Barbara Harris
In the final scene in Nashville, a homegrown truly American masterpiece, the ditzy hopeful singer Albuquerque, played by Barbara Harris, who has been haunting the periphery of the film, staggering around in her skimpy clothes, waiting for her shot at … Continue reading
For Criterion: On Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson
The beginning of a series of videos for the Criterion Collection, written and narrated by Yours Truly, on Ingmar Bergman’s collaborations with actresses. This was a major project for me, and it was an honor to pay tribute to these … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged Bibi Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Norway, Persona, Sweden
18 Comments
For Film Comment: On Dorothy Malone
It was so fun to dig into the career of the wonderfully complex Dorothy Malone for Film Comment. Having a career that spans from The Big Sleep to Basic Instinct is nothing to sneeze at. TCM Diary: Dorothy Malone Knows
Best Supporting Actress of 1994: Smackdown!
This will be my second time participating in Nathaniel Rogers’ long-time internet staple “Oscar Smackdown” where a bunch of panelists re-litigate Oscar races past in all the different categories. It’s so much fun! This next category is the Best Supporting … Continue reading