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I love Cloris Leachman. She was hilarious on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I loved her in Young Frankenstein. She was fantastic in The Last Picture Show. And who can forget her in Kiss Me Deadly (her screen debut) ? RIP.

This is what that woman (Sue Ann) has driven me to to save my marriage--Cooking a damn pie! I love this episode. It is hilarious from beginning to end.

Cloris had a career on the NY stage as well. She studied with Elia Kazan. She also was a replacement for Mary Martin in South Pacific.

This one hurts so much. I loved her on The Mary Tyler moore Show, and she always added so much to everything she was in. With 8 Emmy awards, she holds the record (in a tie) for most wins ever.

The Night of the Hunter is one of my favourite films but, as I've written before, I regard this film as a flawed masterpiece. The performances, direction, photography and musical score are all first rate. But it's the final chapter, when this dark fairy tale's focus switches from the Big Bad Wolf to Mother Goose, that I feel this film loses much of its tension and, with it, a large degree of interest. And Mitchum's Preacher Harry Powell, one of the most memorable of all screen psychopaths, deserves a better sendoff than to just hide in a barn after being confronted by little old lady with a gun and then taken away in a police car. One more note, directorial novice Charles Laughton would never have been able to create such a memorable visual noir experience without the assistance of veteran cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Cortez's contribution to this classic is inestimable.

QUEEN BEE 1955

Der Verlorene aka The Lost Man (1951) Turns out like Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre also directed one Film Noir. Directed by Peter Lorre. Based on a novel by Peter Lorre screenplay was by Axel Eggebrecht, Helmut Käutner, Peter Lorre and Benno Vigny. Cinematography was by Václav Vích, Music by Willy Schmidt-Gentner. The film stars Peter Lorre as Dr. Karl Rothe, aka Dr. Karl Neumeister, Karl John as Hösch, aka Nowak, Helmuth Rudolph as Colonel Winkler, Johanna Hofer as Frau Hermann, Renate Mannhardt as Inge Hermann, Eva Ingeborg Scholz asUrsula Weber, Lotte Rausch as Woman on Train, Gisela Trowe as Prostitute, Hansi Wendler as the Secretary. This story is told in a series of flashbacks. Dr Rothe is a kindly German doctor caring for refugees and displaced persons in a relocation camp after the war. When Hösch his former assistant is brought to the camp he triggers the flashbacks. In reality he is Dr. Karl Neumeister who was a scientist doing bacteriological research to help the Nazi war effort during WWII. Lorre has some great closeups, his puss twitching grotesquely in this depicting his conflicting emotions and tortured mental illness. Václav Vích's cinematography is both nightmarish and dream like. A reviewer below sums the film up pretty well. Classic film noir by an unexpected master "After years of dreary labor in Hollywood as a professional "evil foreigner," Lorre went home to Germany to write, direct and star in this dark, dreamlike narrative in which he plays the ultimate Peter Lorre character: a Nazi mad doctor sex murderer. The film is an ironic commentary by Lorre, the reluctant impersonator of psychopaths, on the nature of true psychopathology as embodied in the amoral Nazi regime. It's also an ingenious melding of the sort of B-film noir that Lorre had specialized in for years as an actor (Maltese Falcon, Stranger on the Third Floor, Quicksand) and the impressionistic Nouvelle Roman/Nouvelle Vague influenced art film just picking up steam on the continent (shades of Orpheus, Wild Strawberries, and Last Year at Marienbad can be seen in its shadowy enfolding of past/present and dream/reality.) Though somewhat uncertain in balancing himself between his roles as principal actor and director (the motivations of some of the other characters are somewhat murky, for instance, and it's rather a shock to see Peter Lorre so continually being the object of women's lustful attentions) this was clearly a man with the makings of an ingenious and original filmmaker. It's a shame this film isn't better known, and that Lorre never got the chance to make another." (IMDb Anne_Sharp 27 December 1999) 8/10 Full review in Film Noir/Gangster pages.

It was so great they could all get together one last time (the gals) on an episode of Hot In Cleveland a few years back (before they all started dying)

Rest in peace PHANTOM FOX, I know you’re driving your ‘79 Lincoln Continental in the clouds. EDIT- I have watch this clip about 700 times and I laugh every. Single. Time.

Her portrayal as Nurse Diesel in "High Anxiety" was hilarious too.

The NY Times allows you to view a certain number of articles per month free of charge (3 I think?). They keep track of this via cookies on your computer. They make some articles available all the time during certain situations. For example, when the corona virus pandemic was running through NYC last spring, they opened up their coverage to all free of charge for quite a while. The Washington Post, however, has almost everything behind a paywall.

Changeling (2008) Notorious (Hitchcock version)

Aw, such an awful thing to be predeceased by your child. Bruno was an absolute favorite of mine and upon his death saw he had come from an acting family. I then revisited CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU to see father Bruce Kirby in action. Great actor, great acting family. Rest In Peace, Bruce.

3) While Warner Bros. wanted to cast E.J. Robinson, after doing the play with Bogart, Howard, whose contract gave him final script control, informed the studio that he would not appear in the movie version without Bogart as his co-star.

Harold. Next Jordan, Howard, Caron

Lana Turner (as Cora of course!). Next: actor, actually convicted for murder

2-Time Oscar winner, Jane Fonda, wins the Cecil B. DeMille Award https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jane-fonda-receive-golden-globes-140004651.html

1933

Robert Osbourne was certainly more circumspect than Rock. Rock lived like a "rock" star and I would be surprised if monogamy was on the menu for long. I have a couple of friends who were propositioned along the street by him. He knew his power...and why shouldn't he? He had looks, talent and took the adventures that came with these things. As the years went by, more people in the industry seemed to know, and he had good-natured fun with the kidding during the tour of Camelot. But had he lived, he likely would have been forced to curtail it. The "Confidential" scandal would be happening all over again at insane rates. I'm disappointed in the people crying "agenda" over Downton Abbey. Shedding light on the past and, instead, sticking to the safe tried and true would make the story disingenuous and stuffy. On an anecdotal note: Marc once told me a great story, knowing how much I love Vivien Leigh. Rock and he and others were watching the Ann-Margaret version of "Streetcar", when Rock got up, indignant, drove down the hill (maybe to Video West, according to Marc) and drove back with a VHS of the 1951 film. He put it in the player and said, " THIS is Blanche DuBois."

I and many other people have been searching in vain for a movie about a war plane that crashed and the crew turned out to be ghosts. We saw it in the late 60’s. It was in black and white, and likely made in the 50’s or 60’s. The movie is NOT ‘Sole Survivor’ with William Shattner, which had a very similar plot and was released in the early 70’s. The key storyline was: · A WW2 bomber crashed in the desert · The crew ‘lived’ near the plane and played baseball · A rescue team arrived but failed to acknowledge the presence the crew · The crew then realised they were dead and were ghosts · The ghosts vanished as the bodies were recovered from around the plane · One ghost was left behind as his body was not recovered · As the rescue crew drove away they found the last body several miles away. The ghost then also vanished Many people have commented on this movie (and Sole Survivor) in an online forum at: www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-20660,00.html Some recollections in relation to the movie title were: · name of the plane in the title · flight … · flight of the … · phantom flight … · flight 401 … I have thought about the movie for over 40 years because of the emotional impact it had. It was brilliantly done and the twist at the end was completely unexpected. It would be worth the effort to locate this movie as I’m sure many would pay to see it again.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bruce-kirby-dead-columbo-cop-904097 Bruce Kirby, Veteran Character Actor and 'Columbo' Cop, Dies at 95 The father of the late Bruno Kirby, he also portrayed District Attorney Bruce Rogoff on 'L.A. Law.' Bruce Kirby, the veteran character actor perhaps best known for portraying the gullible Sgt. George Kramer on the long-running NBC series Columbo, has died. He was 95. Kirby, who excelled at playing authority figures during his more than five decades in show business, died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son, John, reported. His older son, actor Bruno Kirby (The Godfather: Part II, When Harry Met Sally …, City Slickers), died in August 2006 from leukemia at age 57. The elder Kirby also portrayed District Attorney Bruce Rogoff on NBC's L.A. Law, and early in his career he was one of the goofy cops from the fictional 53rd Precinct in the Bronx seen in the early 1960s sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? In Rob Reiner's Stand by Me (1986), Kirby played the market owner Mr. Quidacioluo, who tells Gordie (Wil Wheaton) that he resembles his older, deceased brother. He also was a detective in Throw Momma From a Train (1987), and in the 2006 Oscar best picture winner Crash, he appeared as Pop Ryan, the father of cop John Ryan (Matt Dillon). A native of New York who studied with Lee Strasberg, Kirby (real name: Bruno Giovanni) also recurred as Sgt. Al Vine on Kojak and then starred as a San Francisco police officer opposite Kojak co-star Kevin Dobson on another CBS crime drama, Shannon. On Columbo, his unimaginative Sgt. Kramer constantly fell for for the killer's alibi, accepted clues at face value and thought Peter Falk's character was nuts. Kirby appeared in nine episodes of the show spanning more than two decades. He played another cop for laughs on the wacky, short-lived 1976-77 sitcom Holmes and Yo-Yo. Kirby starred as legendary TV broadcaster Arthur Godfrey in the 1985 film Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline, and appeared on the big screen in Catch-22 (1970), Don Knotts' How to Frame a **** (1971), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Another Time, Another Place (1992) and Mr. Wonderful (1993). After Arthur Miller saw him as Alfieri in an L.A. production of A View From the Bridge, the playwright brought him to Broadway and cast him as Uncle Ben opposite Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman in 1984. (Kirby had made his Broadway debut in 1965 in Diamond Orchid.) In addition to John Kirby, an acting coach, survivors include his wife, Roz. Wrote his son: "Thank you Dad for everything you taught me about acting and how to have such a strong work ethic while sharing your love for the arts and the craft of it all. I will miss you and love you always. I’m glad you're up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones."

She did. It was one of the stints when Burr was out due to medical issues, IIRC. The Mason reruns look good remastered. I've been watching them on Me-TV. Those old filmed shows look so much better than the videotaped shows of the 70s and 80s. As a kid, the theme song used to unnerve me, for some reason. I've noticed Perry is not opposed to a few shady dealings sometimes to get to the truth. In the early episodes, he was pretty harsh on some witnesses on the stand. Seems like his character softened as time passed.

Lately, I've been binge watching Perry Mason episodes on CBS All Access (soon to become Paramount Plus on March 4). It's great to see these episodes with past silver screen stars and future television and movie personalities. I just saw one episode, for example, that had Otto Krueger, Jeanette Nolan, and Burt Reynolds in it. Several people appeared more than once in these shows, and you get a good opportunity to see them showcase their versatility. Morris Ankrum plays a judge in several of these episodes, as does Kenneth MacDonald, who usually played villains in 3 Stooges short subject films. A lot of people here have commented on how Dick Powell changed his on-screen persona from a crooner and light comedy actor in the 1930's to a more cynical and dry-witted character actor in the 1940's. Same could be said for Raymond Burr too. He usually played reprehensible dirtbags in the late 40's to mid-50's, but landing the gig as "Perry Mason" turned him into one of television's iconic good guys of all time. And he continued that success into the 1970's on the television series "Ironside".

Here are the TCM premieres for February, as determined by MovieCollectorOH’s report published on January 1. Notes: - The dates shown are based on a programming day starting at 6 am ET and running past midnight. - On Saturdays, TCM is premiering episodes of The New Adventures of Tarzan serial along with selected cartoons, so these are listed separately. - Feature Films Feb 1 - Change of Habit 1969 Feb 1 - The Food of the Gods (1976) Feb 2 - Avalanche Express (1979) Feb 4 - Battle Beneath the Earth (1967) Feb 5 - Friday Foster (1975) Feb 19 - Piranha (1978) Feb 19 - Tintorera (1977) Feb 20 - Sangre Negra (1951) (2 showings, Noir Alley) Feb 26 - Hiding Out (1987) Feb 26 - Out of Bounds (1986) Feb 28 - To Sleep with Anger (1990) Feb 28 - Walk Cheerfully (1930) Feb 28 - Black Panthers (1968) (docu.) Feb 28 - Lions Love (...and Lies) (1969) - Shorts Feb 4 - Voyage to the Sky (1937) Feb 25 - Dreams (1940) Feb 28 - Uncle Yanco (1967) (docu.) - Saturdays: Serials Feb 6 - The New Adventures of Tarzan Ch. 6: Fatal Fangs (1935) Feb 13 - (special weekend programming) Feb 20 - The New Adventures of Tarzan Ch. 7: Flaming Waters (1935) Feb 27 - The New Adventures of Tarzan Ch. 8: Angry Gods (1935) - Saturdays: Cartoons Feb 6 - MGM Cartoons: Little Rural Riding Hood (1949) Feb 6 - Popeye: Moving Aweigh (1944) Feb 13 - (special weekend programming) Feb 20 - MGM Cartoons: Mutts About Racing (1958) Feb 20 - Popeye: She-Sick Sailors (1944) Feb 27 - Popeye: Tops in the Big Top (1945) Thanks as always to MCOH!

Donald O'Conner was such a natural performer. He never attended school or formal dance classes. In his own words, he just learned enough to get him to the next job and eventually became a complete performer. I like him in everything I've seen him in, and think he was a really good partner for Debbie Reynolds in I LOVE MELVIN and Vera-Ellen in CALL ME MADAM. In the 1980's, Donald O'Conner and Debbie Reynolds did a charity show together at the Civic Light Opera theater in San Jose, CA. They took turns performing and then performed a few numbers together. The highlight was when O'Conner took the stage to perform "Ya Got Trouble " from THE MUSIC MAN. He said he was having a little trouble remembering all the lyrics and asked the audience if they would mind if he took out cheat sheets. Of course no one objected, and he proceeded to pull out a scroll. He opened it, and the bottom of the scroll unraveled to the foot of the stage and into the orchestra pit. 😄 When the song started, he pretended to need it for remembering the rapping, but about a third of the way through the song, he tossed it away. When it was over, he got a standing ovation. I would love to see WALKING MY BABY BACK HOME with Janet Leigh and ANYTHING GOES with Mitzi Gaynor and Bing Crosby.

Hey Bulldog has a great guitar riff and strong singing by John. Fine song, but I still recall, decades ago, going into a record store and saying to myself,,,, I want that song,,, but I'm not going to buy this album just to get ONE song! (so I got the album from a friend and put the song on a cassette tape).

You Do Something To Me Genevieve Tobin sang this in the play Fifty Million Frenchmen, Jane Wyman sang the song in Night and Day song sung by Ella Fitzgerald either she sings in a movie or that's used in a movie

Ha-ha. I never would have thought of Evelyn Varden as a femme fatale, but she was definitely two faced in this film. She is the one who encouraged the marriage between Powell and Willa and later turned into a screaming rabble rouser looking for Powell's lynching. She is sure no Ava Gardner or Barbara Stanwyck.

Nelson, Ricky

Night Of The Hunter (1955) TCM On Demand 10/10 Harry Powell, a murderous religious fanatic, seeks some stolen money that only two children know where it is hid. One of my top ten films of all time. Many consider it a "noir" but I never felt that way about it. I think it more a Grimm's fairy tale come to life. Powell is the big bad wolf and Lillian Gish's character Miss Cooper is like Mother Goose. I have seen this countless times and I saw it just now with good sound system attached. It made me appreciate the sound and music much more. The chirping crickets and hooting owls have a great effect. I love the music in this, the gentle lullabies are soothing but still have some tension. Mitchum's rich baritone sounds great as he brings menace to the hymn "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms". I would also recommend the Criterion DVD, it has some archived interviews with Mitchum, Gish and Shelley Winters. And we get to see Charles Laughton directing every scene in the film, a gold mine for film buffs, especially for fans of this film.

Our sixth musical star is DONALD O'CONNOR He is of course remembered for his role as Cosmo Brown in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952). He was under contract at Universal since 1942, appearing in a slew of musicals during the war and postwar years. One of these was with Deanna Durbin-- SOMETHING IN THE WIND (1947).

From January 27-29, 1921, the feature at the Poli was Something Different, starring Constance Binney as Alice Lea and Ward Crane as Don Mariano Calderon. The film’s release date is uncertain, but it was five reels, and is presumed lost. Plot: Alice Lea is a spoiled heiress who is running out of funds. Rather than being forced into a marriage for money, she decides to find adventure in Central America. She visits her old friend Rosa, who has married a wealthy plantation owner named Don Luis Vargas. She learns that Vargas is the head of a group of revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the government. At the government ball, she meets the General of the Army, Don Mariano Calderon. She sees Calderon kill a spy, which makes her hate him. Calderon suspects that Alice is aiding Vargas, so he imprisons her in his home, but keeps her very comfortable. Slowly her hate for Calderon turns into love. Calderon falls for her in turn. He decides to release her, along with Vargas, who had been arrested. Alicia returns to the United States. Calderon, who has been exiled from his country for allowing the prisoners to escape, follows her, and the two renew their romance. Camera! described the film as “an airy little comedy silhouetted against a romantic Central American background, punctuated with miniature revolutions and military balls.” The magazine added “despite its title there is nothing alarmingly different about the production which contains, however, much material that forms good entertainment.” Wid’s Daily remarked that the film “contains a pleasing romance, has been provided with very pretty settings … and the star’s personality will appeal. … There’s some revolutionary business, spies, government overthrowing and the like which is secondary to the romance. And while it isn’t made very clear what it’s all about, that doesn’t matter because it isn’t interesting anyway. And there isn’t enough of it to worry about.” Scenes were filmed in Jacksonville and Havana. Tapestries, rugs, furniture, and paintings were imported from Havana to the Realart studios on Long Island to lend authenticity to the production.

Sayonara (1957)

Dick Gautier (on Get Smart) Next: a popular actor you never really liked or got the appeal of

1) Based upon the 1935 Broadway play by Robert E. Sherwood which also starred Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart.

Mary of Scotland (1936)

Jane Fonda to Receive Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jane-fonda-receive-golden-globes-140004651.html

Tippi Hedren (Hitchcock discovered her in a commercial) Next: Appeared in one of your dreams.

LILITH 1964

I agree. Sorry if it looked like I implied Jack Warner and producer Henry Blanke, made a good decision. Jack made this because he was cheap! It was easy to make within the WB studio system, using all contract actors and never having to leave Studio-City CA. I watched parts of it last night just to confirm how misguided (at best), this production is. I really love Eleanor Parker but, as noted, she was so wrong for the part of Mildred. For me WB actor Patric Knowles gives the best performance, and that says something. Yes, the film did poorly at the box office. I guess my overall point was that just because Bette Davis gave one of the best performances by any actress in the original, doesn't mean, per se, that one shouldn't attempt a new adaptation. E.g. Bordertown is a good film with Davis and Paul Muni (ok, playing another colorful character), but only 5 years later the same WB studio system made They Drive by Night with newcomer-to-WB Ida Lupino and this really propelled Ida's career, it what I believe is a better film (Bogie and Sheridan have a lot to do with that also). I assume Jack was hoping to strike gold yet again (with Parker who was also new to the studio, as well as Smith),,,, but yea, no gold there,,, only rock and dirt.

Murder by Death Most of the Thin Man Series Gosford Park Murder on the Orient Express (avoid the Kenneth B. one) And Then There Were None (go with original with Walter Huston)

I love Ruth in Warner precodes like Frisco Jenny and Lilly Turner. She had great chemistry with George Brent, to whom she was married for a while. Of course, he was married to a lot of people, as you know!

The Magic Garden (1927)

A Christmas Story (1983)

This explanation might not be good enough for you but I think they recoil from the "war lover" that they have seen take aim at the men below. He does kill an English prisoner of war after all. In any event its source comes from Shears' earlier criticism of Warden and his mission drive even after he is wounded. Shears thinks Warden is dead inside. The girls represent life. I have to admit, it doesn't fit like a glove but the symbolism is still strong.