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Tag Archives: A Place in the Sun
“I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously.” — Elizabeth Taylor
It’s her birthday today. I wrote a big piece on my Substack about National Velvet/A Place in the Sun/Suddenly Last Summer/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof/Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and General Hospital. Naturally there is more to discuss – … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Elizabeth Taylor, National Velvet
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Norman Mailer as Shelley Winters’ Audition Coach
Taken from an interview with Mailer for The Paris Review included in The Paris Review Interviews, III (I am now devouring all 4 volumes, thanks to cousin Mike). The interview was done by Andrew O’Hagan and took place in 2007, … Continue reading
Movie Marathon on Block Island
While I had tons of time to read, and walk, and have visitors, and write, and dream, I also had an orgy of movie-watching out on the Island. I brought some movies with me, but for the most part, I … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Cyd Charisse, Deborah Kerr, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, Fredric March, George Sanders, Gloria Grahame, Hedy Lamarr, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, In a Lonely Place, Ingrid Bergman, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Crawford, John Ford, Johnny Guitar, Josef von Sternberg, Karl Malden, Katharine Hepburn, Kay Francis, Loretta Young, Marlene Dietrich, mirrors, Montgomery Clift, Philadelphia Story, Robert Duvall, Robert Mitchum, Rosalind Russell, Shelley Winters, Tennessee Williams, The Darjeeling Limited, The Double Life of Veronique, Wes Anderson
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Snapshots
— I got sucked into The Adventures of Mark Twain almost against my will. It has a ham-hocked script that rushes through the events of Twain’s life (his wife, “You are an eternal boy … why don’t you write about … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Block Island, Fredric March, George Stevens, Mark Twain, Montgomery Clift, snapshots
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The Books: “Shelley, Also Known As Shirley” (Shelley Winters)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir Shelley: Also known as Shirley, by Shelley Winters There are so many great Shelley Winters stories (and this is only the first volume of her autobiography – there’s another one that follows) but the following … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Elizabeth Taylor, entertainment biography, Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters
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The Books: “Elizabeth” (J. Randy Taraborrelli)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Elizabeth, by J. Randy Taraborrelli When I was a kid, I saw National Velvet multiple times – probably at my cousins’ house. That’s where I remember watching most of the old movies that I remember … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Elizabeth Taylor, entertainment biography, Montgomery Clift, National Velvet
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The Books: “Montgomery Clift: A Biography” (Patricia Bosworth)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Montgomery Clift: A biography, by Patricia Bosworth I consider this book to be a high watermark in entertainment biography. I find myself comparing all other biographies to this one. In a similar way that Ron … Continue reading
Billy Wilder on Symbolism
Excerpt from Conversations with Wilder: If you do a picture like George Stevens — he did that very famous picture A Place in the Sun. Now, there is a district attorney in that picture who limps. I talked to somebody … Continue reading
Posted in Directors
Tagged A Place in the Sun, Billy Wilder, Conversations with Wilder, George Stevens
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