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Category Archives: Actors
Happy Birthday, Jean Arthur
She is “my kind of actress”, which may deserve some explanation. “My kind of actress” is an actress who seems to be alive, on a moment to moment basis, with very little trickery or self-importance. Arthur was a very shy … Continue reading
In Honor of Fredric March
… whose birthday it is today, here is a review I wrote of the pre-Code film Merrily We Go to Hell where I discuss one of his moments in great detail. While Fredric March is probably most famous for The … Continue reading
Mia Wasikowska’s Jane Eyre: It’s All About the Angles
One of the things I notice in young actors is that while often they are emotionally available, they do not know what to do with their bodies. This may be more noticeable onstage, where you see the full body at … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Jack Black
A re-post. Is there anything more ridiculous, more self-parodying, more This is Spinal Tap, than “Wonder Boy”? “He can kill a YAK from 200 yards away … WITH MIND BULLETS …” Really, guys? Really? And yet Jack Black’s performance, in … Continue reading
Posted in Actors
9 Comments
1938
Katharine Hepburn after the 1938 hurricane where she watched her house in Connecticut float away. Here she is in the aftermath amongst the wreckage of her family home.
“Don’t Be Discouraged. You Have Talent.”
A 19-year-old beginning comic sent a fan letter as well as audio tapes of some of his comedy routines to his biggest inspiration, Phil Hartman. Here is Phil Hartman’s thoughtful and generous response. He took the time to really coach … Continue reading
Posted in Actors
4 Comments
Dancing Down the Staircase
I post this for no other reason than it makes me happy.
Happy Birthday, Tess Harper
Near the end of Tender Mercies, Mac Sledge (played by Robert Duvall) plays with a new band of youngsters at a local dance, and it is his comeback, albeit a small one, but things have already started moving in the … Continue reading
Posted in Actors
12 Comments
“Come to Mama, Boyyyyyys!”
So screams the repressed Alison (Daphne Zuniga) in Rob Reiner’s The Sure Thing (1985). She has been pushed to this point by the more free-spirited Gib (John Cusack), who pesters her about how unspontaneous she is, especially when someone moons … Continue reading
Posted in Actors
11 Comments