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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
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- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
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- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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- sheila on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
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- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
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Tag Archives: Angela Lansbury
“Quite frankly. I was all talent and no looks.” — Angela Lansbury
It’s her birthday today. Even if you came to Gaslight clean, without knowing a thing, which is hard to believe, but let’s just pretend: Even if you knew nothing about it, it would be instantly obvious that the teenage girl … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, Music, On This Day, Television, Theatre
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Elvis Presley
10 Comments
February 2025 Viewing Diary
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017; d. David Lynch) There’s nothing else like it in all of God’s green earth and I am just so grateful it exists. It’s so pure. Suze (2025; d. Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart) I liked … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Canada, Cary Grant, Charles Beeson, David Lynch, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, George Stevens, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Howard Hawks, Jared Padalecki, Jean Arthur, Jensen Ackles, Judy Garland, musicals, Only Angels Have Wings, Oscar Wilde, Phil Sgriccia, Rita Hayworth, Robert Singer, romantic comedy, Sissy Spacek, sports movies, Supernatural, Thomas J. Wright, Thomas Mitchell, Twin Peaks, Vincente Minnelli, women directors
118 Comments
“Quite frankly. I was all talent and no looks.” — Angela Lansbury
It’s her birthday today. She died just days before she would have turned 97. My tribute here, but you really need to read my friend Dan’s tribute.
“Those of us who were 12 or 13 when the war started were absolutely thrown into the mainstream. We had to grow up instantly and take care of ourselves.” — Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury in “Gaslight” (1944) It’s her birthday today. Her performance in Gaslight, at age 18, is one of the most auspicious debuts of all time. She makes a huge impression as Nancy, the maid in that crazy house. She’s … Continue reading
“So Many Currents In Such a Little Puddle”: Dana Stevens and I Chat About National Velvet
For Elizabeth Taylor’s birthday Introduction: Dana Stevens, film critic for Slate, and I had a conversation about National Velvet. In the middle of our planning phase for our talk, Elizabeth Taylor passed away. The coincidence was striking, certainly, not to … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Angela Lansbury, children's movies, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, National Velvet
5 Comments
April 2017 Viewing Diary
I just dash these off. Superficial bullet-point analysis for the most part. It’s a good way to keep track of what I’ve seen, for year-end lists, of course, but also for future reference. I also always love the discussions on … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Cristian Mungiu, documentary, Dogfight, France, Hal Ashby, Humphrey Bogart, Isabelle Huppert, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, John Huston, Josephine Decker, July and Half of August, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margaret Atwood, Nancy Savoca, Paul Verhoeven, Romania, Shirley MacLaine, Supernatural, Susan Sarandon, Vincente Minnelli, women directors
50 Comments
The Books: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross; ‘Caricaturist’, by Geoffrey Hellman
Next up on the essays shelf: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town (Modern Library Paperbacks), edited by Lillian Ross is a collection of “The Talk of the Town” pieces in The New Yorker, grouped by … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Theatre
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Elvis Presley, essays, Katharine Hepburn, The Fun of It
4 Comments
Benevolence is:
— waking up and smelling the coffee that has already percolated, while I slept — hearing the soprano choir boys in the balcony rehearsing when I stop off to go to afternoon mass and I get there early — calling … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Personal
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Cormac McCarthy, family, friends, Judy Garland, snapshots, Tina Turner
12 Comments
Tribute to Sweeney Todd
Edward has an awesome post commemorating the original television production of Sweeney Todd. If you are only familiar with Lansbury as crime-solving mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher on TV’s Murder, She Wrote or as the malevolent manipulator Mrs. Iselin in The … Continue reading