Tag Archives: Maggie Smith

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

Posted in Actors, Movies, RIP, Theatre | Tagged | 2 Comments

“Be open to change. Allow yourself to be revised.” — Maggie Smith

A re-post, for Maggie Smith’s birthday Inspired by Dan Callahan’s The Art of American Screen Acting 1960 to Today, volume 2 (I interviewed him about volume 1 here), I watched “Bed Among the Lentils,” the 49-minute Alan Bennett monologue, done … Continue reading

Posted in Actors, On This Day, Television | Tagged | 15 Comments

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

These women inspire, entertain, challenge, comfort, provoke, or were “there” in my formative years as an inspiration. The list is huge. Below the jump.

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“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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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