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Tag Archives: James Dean
For John Wayne’s Birthday: Hondo (1953) at MoMA: John Wayne in 3D
In real life John Wayne was huge, 6’3″, with broad shoulders, a lean waist, and long ambling legs. He towered over everybody. And yet, he was always graceful. His athleticism is extraordinary, his physicality smooth and controlled. So he was … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Dennis Hopper, Gary Cooper, Gena Rowlands, Geraldine Page, James Dean, John Wayne, Sanford Meisner, Supernatural, westerns
44 Comments
Angles and Archetypes: From Burt to Brando to Rourke to Jensen Ackles to Martha Graham to Hieroglyphs to Paul Le Mat
“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.” — Frank Sinatra When Burt Reynolds died I wrote this whole thing about how he “worked his angles.” Like Tyra Banks tells you to do. Like all the great personae of yore knew … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, Television
Tagged Bette Davis, Burt Reynolds, James Dean, Jensen Ackles, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Martha Graham, Mickey Rourke, Supernatural
6 Comments
Series: Stars Wearing Big Sweaters
Greta Garbo James Dean Carroll Baker A mostly-forgotten one-hit wonder Marilyn Monroe Elizabeth Taylor To be continued …
Posted in Actors
Tagged Carroll Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Greta Garbo, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe
15 Comments
Recommended: Biographies
For starters: My recommended Fiction books My recommended Non-Fiction books BIOGRAPHIES: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis I’ve written a lot about Joseph Ellis’ work here. While I love David McCullough’s work so much, Ellis is … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, James Joyce, Theatre, writers
Tagged A. Scott Berg, Abigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, American Sphinx, Benjamin Franklin, Biography, Bruce Springsteen, Charles Lindbergh, Charlotte Bronte, David McCullough, Dean Martin, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ellen Terry, Elvis Presley, Emily Bronte, George Washington, Henry Irving, His Excellency, Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes, James Dean, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Adams, John Wayne, Joseph Cornell, Joseph Ellis, Marlon Brando, Mitford sisters, Montgomery Clift, Nick Tosches, Nureyev, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Patricia Bosworth, Patricia Highsmith, Richard Ellmann, Ron Chernow, Sam Cooke, Simon Callow, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Jefferson, Truman Capote, W.B. Yeats, Zelda Fitzgerald
9 Comments
From Lillian Gish to James Dean: My Interview with Dan Callahan
I had a lot of fun interviewing Dan Callahan about his new book The Art of American Screen Acting, 1912-1960. It’s now up at Slant Magazine: Mystery of Screen Acting: An Interview with Dan Callahan.
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies
Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant, friends, Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Holiday, Humphrey Bogart, interviews, James Cagney, James Dean, Joan Crawford, Josef von Sternberg, Katharine Hepburn, Kim Stanley, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, Marlene Dietrich, Marlon Brando
6 Comments
On Elia Kazan’s East of Eden and the Revelation That Was James Dean: for Library of America
Recently, I wrote a small piece which could be given a High School English class title: What James Dean and East of Eden meant to me. When I wrote it, I was deep in research for a huge piece which … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged drama, East of Eden, Elia Kazan, James Dean, John Steinbeck, reviews
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Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances: An Interview with Sam Schacht About Method Acting
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time and finally last month it happened. I sat down with my old Actors Studio acting teacher Sam Schacht to get his perspective on “Method acting,” a term I hear bandied … Continue reading
Posted in Actors
Tagged Actors Studio, friends, interviews, James Dean, Kim Stanley, Kristen Stewart, Lee Strasberg, Liza Minnelli, Marilyn Monroe, Stella Adler
1 Comment
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2016
I look at this and I wonder why I always feel like I haven’t done jack-squat. Or, at the very least, I could do more. Well, I always can do more. Regardless, here are links to some of the things … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, On This Day, Personal, RIP
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Baz Luhrmann, Buddy Holly, Camille Paglia, Carrie Fisher, Carroll Baker, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Chantal Akerman, Compulsion, David Bowie, Dean Stockwell, Dolly Parton, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Eminem, friends, Gena Rowlands, George Stevens, Gilda, Isabelle Huppert, James Dean, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, July and Half of August, Katherine Dunn, Langston Hughes, Little Richard, Marion Cotillard, Marlon Brando, Matthias Schoenaerts, Merle Haggard, Mia Hansen-Løve, Miriam Hopkins, Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca Hall, Richard Linklater, Rocky, Sam Cooke, Shakespeare, Something Wild, Stephen King, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sylvester Stallone, Tennessee Williams, The Great Gatsby, Wanda Jackson, women directors, year in writing, Zac Efron
6 Comments
Giant (1956): 60th Anniversary Screening at Film Forum
September 30, 2016: QA with George Stevens Jr. – the son of the director – and Carroll Baker before the film, moderated by historian and writer Foster Hirsch Foster Hirsch: We are very lucky to have with us the son … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Carroll Baker, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, George Stevens, interviews, James Dean
21 Comments