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- “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” — Willie Nelson
- “I don’t cook and I don’t care.” — Ann-Margret
- “Sometimes I think no matter how one is born, no matter how one acts, there is something out of gear with one somewhere, and that must be changed. Life at its best is a grand corrective.” –Jessie Redmon Fauset
- “I’ve had my best times trailing a Mainbocher evening gown across a sawdust floor. I’ve always loved high style in low company.” — Anita Loos
- “I only began to sing because I couldn’t get a job as an actress.” — Barbra Streisand
- “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 …
- “We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” — Louise Glück
- “True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks.” — John Waters
- “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
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- sheila on “I don’t cook and I don’t care.” — Ann-Margret
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- sheila on “I only began to sing because I couldn’t get a job as an actress.” — Barbra Streisand
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- sheila on “I only began to sing because I couldn’t get a job as an actress.” — Barbra Streisand
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- sheila on 2024 Books Read
- Thomas Murphy on When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, / Hath put a spirit of youth in everything …
- Larry Aydlette on 2024 Books Read
- Lyrie on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 15-12, working backwards
- Lyrie on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 15-12, working backwards
- sheila on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 15-12, working backwards
- sheila on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 15-12, working backwards
- Lyrie on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 15-12, working backwards
- Lyrie on March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 15-12, working backwards
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Tag Archives: Maggie Smith
“Be open to change. Allow yourself to be revised.” — Maggie Smith
Whatever I say here cannot compete with my friend Dan Callahan’s superb tribute over on Ebert. He knows her and her way of working and her response to life (a NEGATIVE response) better than anyone. He devoted a chapter to … Continue reading
R.I.P. Maggie Smith
I’m sometimes inconsistent in my tributes here but it doesn’t mean I don’t have thoughts about those I didn’t write about! James Earl Jones died on September 9 and I didn’t write anything here because I was in Scotland and … Continue reading
“Masters of the Acting Art”: An Interview with Author Dan Callahan
Dan Callahan is one of our best writers on the craft of acting. Not only does he describe why a performance is good, he digs into the much thornier issue of how it is good. This is where most critics … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged Al Pacino, Cate Blanchett, Charles Laughton, Diane Keaton, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Gena Rowlands, interviews, John Cassavetes, Judy Davis, Laurence Olivier, Lee Strasberg, Maggie Smith, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Patricia Clarkson, River Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Stella Adler
11 Comments
On Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2002)
The byzantine rituals of the British class system may seem like a strange topic for the Kansas City-born Robert Altman, a high-risk gambler with an antiauthoritarian streak 10 miles long. But as a staunch outsider to the mainstream, he spent … Continue reading
September 2015 Viewing Diary
I got a pretty big writing assignment this past month, with a deadline of October 5. So I’ve been working hard, researching, as the below list will probably show. Not ready to talk about it yet, still working on the … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged Agnes Varda, Alan Ladd, Anna Karina, Canada, Charles Vidor, Charlton Heston, Claude Chabrol, Dana Andrews, documentary, Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, England, France, Fred Astaire, Fritz Lang, Gilda, Gloria Grahame, Iran, Iranian film, Irene Dunne, J. Miller Tobin, Jafar Panahi, James Cagney, Jean-Luc Godard, John Wayne, Laura Dern, Maggie Smith, Marilyn Monroe, Mélanie Laurent, Mexico, Otto Preminger, Out of the Past, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ramin Bahrani, Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, Supernatural, Terrence Malick
159 Comments
2012. Love You, Hate You, Next.
I rarely do these things, but I saw this at my friend Ted’s place and thought I’d fill it out. On my own terms. 1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before? Put together a New … Continue reading
The Books: “Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles” (Kathleen Turner)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles, by Kathleen Turner (with Gloria Feldt) I forget sometimes that Body Heat was Kathleen Turner’s debut. How is that possible? Her performance is so … Continue reading