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- “I would rather take a photograph than be one.” — Lee Miller
- When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, / Hath put a spirit of youth in everything …
- Substack: On Radu Jude’s latest, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
- “After all, when God created Adam and Eve, they were stark naked. And in the Garden of Eden, God was probably naked as a jaybird too!” — Bettie Page
- “Good acting is thinking in front of the camera. I just do that and apply a sense of humor to it. You have to trust the audience to get it.” — Charles Grodin
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Tag Archives: John Ford
Happy Birthday, Maureen O’Hara
Maureen O’Hara was one of those “old” movie stars whom I grew up knowing about because of the yearly showing of Miracle on 34th Street on television, as well as my absolute obsession with Parent Trap. I wanted to be … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day
Tagged Charles Laughton, Ireland, John Ford, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara
34 Comments
“How Bad Could I Be? What Would I Do? What Could I Do?”
Lee Marvin on playing the diabolically violent Liberty Valance in John Ford’s masterpiece (one of them, anyway), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: “It was fun for me to play that dangerous guy. It was a dangerous kind of a … Continue reading
“In other words, he’d let you sweat it for a night. And he’d sweat it for a night.”
Lee Marvin on John Ford. Too many good quotes to list. And a great interviewer, too. He doesn’t ask questions. He just speaks, and Lee Marvin takes the prompt. Fantastic.
Happy Birthday, Maureen O’Hara
Maureen O’Hara was one of those “old” movie stars whom I grew up knowing about because of the yearly showing of Miracle on 34th Street on television, as well as my absolute obsession with Parent Trap. I wanted to be … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day
Tagged Ireland, John Ford, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, The Quiet Man
11 Comments
John Ford to John Wayne
As told by John Wayne to Peter Bogdanovich: There’s one thing [Ford] always told me. He said, “A lot of scenes are corny, Duke. Play ’em. Play ’em to the hilt. If it’s East Lynne, play it! Don’t avoid ’em, … Continue reading Continue reading
John Wayne’s First Entrance in Stagecoach
Girish’s fascinating post about “narrative synthesis” includes a discussion of John Wayne’s first appearance in John Ford’s Stagecoach, one of my favorite “first appearances” of all time. Make sure to read the whole thing, but Girish writes: John Wayne’s first … Continue reading
The Books: “Ginger: My Story” (Ginger Rogers)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Ginger: My Story, by Ginger Rogers This is my kind of celebrity memoir. It is juicy, gossipy, defensive, and full of sentences like, “I need to set the record straight”. In her Introduction, she uses … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books
Tagged entertainment biography, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, John Ford, Katharine Hepburn
9 Comments
The Books: “‘Tis Herself: A Memoir” (Maureen O’Hara)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: ‘Tis Herself: An Autobiography, by Maureen O’Hara (with John Nicoletti) Maureen O’Hara was one of those “old” movie stars that I grew up knowing about because of the yearly showing of Miracle on 34th Street … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books
Tagged entertainment biography, Ireland, John Ford, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, politics, The Quiet Man
15 Comments
The Books: “Katharine Hepburn” (Barbara Leaming)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Katharine Hepburn, by Barbara Leaming Barbara Leaming churns them out, man! This biography of Katharine Hepburn is so detailed it practically begins with the pilgrims in the Mayflower. Leaming saw (apparently) that one of the … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books
Tagged entertainment biography, John Ford, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy
18 Comments
John Ford
Jonathan Rosenbaum’s 10 Underappreciated John Ford Films is a must-read.