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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/movies/charles-grodin-dead.html Charles Grodin, Familiar Face From TV and Film, Dies at 86 Mr. Grodin, who also appeared on Broadway in “Same Time, Next Year” and wrote books, was especially adept at deadpan comedy. Charles Grodin, the versatile actor familiar from “Same Time, Next Year” on Broadway, popular movies like “The Heartbreak Kid,” “Midnight Run” and “Beethoven” and numerous television appearances, died on Tuesday at his home in Wilton, Conn. He was 86. His son, Nicholas, said the cause was bone marrow cancer. With a great sense of deadpan comedy and the kind of Everyman good looks that lend themselves to playing businessmen or curmudgeonly fathers, Mr. Grodin found plenty of work as a supporting player and the occasional lead. He also had his own talk show for a time in the 1990s and was a frequent guest on the talk shows of others, making 36 appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and 17 on “Late Night With David Letterman.” Mr. Grodin was a writer as well, with a number of plays and books to his credit. Though he never won a prestige acting award, he did win a writing Emmy for a 1977 Paul Simon television special, sharing it with Mr. Simon and six others. Mr. Grodin, who dropped out of the University of Miami to pursue acting, had managed to land a smattering of stage and television roles when, in 1962, he received his first big break, landing a part in a Broadway comedy called “Tchin-Tchin” that starred Anthony Quinn and Margaret Leighton. “Walter Kerr called me impeccable,” Mr. Grodin wrote years later, recalling a review of the show that appeared in The New York Times. “It took a trip to the dictionary to understand he meant more than clean.” Another Broadway appearance came in 1964 in “Absence of a Cello.” Mr. Grodin’s next two Broadway credits were as a director, of “Lovers and Other Strangers” in 1968 and “Thieves” in 1974. Then, in 1975, came a breakthrough Broadway role opposite Ellen Burstyn in Bernard Slade’s “Same Time, Next Year,” a durable two-hander about a man and woman, each married to someone else, who meet once a year in the same inn room. “The play needs actors of grace, depth and accomplishment, and has found them in Ellen Burstyn and Charles Grodin,” Clive Barnes wrotein a rave in The Times. “Miss Burstyn is so real, so lovely and so womanly that a man wants to hug her, and you hardly notice the exquisite finesse of her acting. It is underplaying of sheer virtuosity. Mr. Grodin is every bit her equal — a monument to male insecurity, gorgeously inept, and the kind of masculine dunderhead that every decent man aspires to be.” The show ran for three and a half years, with an ever-changing cast; the two original stars left after seven months. Mr. Grodin by that point was in demand in Hollywood. He had already appeared in Mike Nichols’s “Catch-22” in 1970 and had turned in one of his better-known film performances in the 1972 comic romance “The Heartbreak Kid,” in which he played a self-absorbed sporting goods salesman who marries in haste, immediately loses interest in his bride (Jeannie Berlin), and falls in love with another woman (Cybill Shepherd) on his honeymoon. (Elaine May, Mr. Nichols’s longtime comedy partner and Ms. Berlin’s mother, directed.) In 1978 he had a supporting role in the Warren Beatty vehicle “Heaven Can Wait.” Another signature role was in “Midnight Run” in 1988, in which Mr. Grodin played an accountant who has embezzled a fortune from the mob and is being pursued by a bounty hunter, played by Robert De Niro. A full obituary will follow shortly.

Oliver Hardy in Sons of the Desert: "Honolulu Baby..."

Arthur Godfrey plays an ukulele in The Glass Bottom Boat 1966

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) Doris Day Pest from the West (1939) Buster Keaton Concert for George (2003)

Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot Gracie Allen plays and Eleanor Powell taps along in Honolulu Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo

Buddy Ebsen in Captain January (1936) Alice Faye and Betty Grable in Tin Pan Alley (1940) Bob Hope in The Road to Singapore (1940)

Too many blame their self esteem issues on everything but themselves: that is why its a self esteem issue and a hard nut to crack.

Last Friday I watched First Cow. 2019. Directed by Kelly Reichardt. With John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, Scott Shepherd. A soft-spoken, excellent cook and a resourceful Chinese immigrant become friends in 1820 Oregon. The cook's specialty is bakery and his biscuits are extraordinary. So they decide to go into business and sell oily cakes. The only way to get milk for the cakes is to steal the milk from the Chief Factor, who has just bought the first cow ever in the area. The movie is perfectly directed by Reichardt in a low-key style that makes the drama unfolding all the more powerful. The movie features excellent performances by the cast, especially John Magaro, beautiful cinematography, and impressive sets and costumes. The movie is based on the book The Half-Life, by Jonathan Raymond, who wrote the screenplay with Kelly Reichardt. It's the story of two men who are out of place and the friendship the develop in order to survive the tough environment.

Which now reminds me of Timothy Carey here in Crime Wave (1953)...

"...and drank too much wine before its time." (...sorry Bronxie...just couldn't resist playing off your post up there)

NEVILLE BRAND in D.O.A.

Can I nominate the real Lawrence Tierney?

How about (not classic yet) stars and celebrities I played softball with or against, or some noteworthy spectators, 1987-2007? These were mostly competitive leagues. Bruce Willis played one season (maybe '89 or '90) on China Club, an opposing team in the NY Restaurant League. He was a huge star at that time. Very nice guy, big and athletic, but not really a ballplayer. He batted 10th and DH'd (I assumed he helped with $ponsor$hip). One day I read in Page Six of the New York Post a gossip item about him hitting a "grand slam home run to win a softball game in Central Park". This seemed unlikely, he did not drive the ball that well. I found out later that it was a tie game, bases-loaded, bottom of the last inning, no out situation. He batted with the outfielders drawn in shallow to rob a single (because a sac fly wins the game) and hit a medium depth fly ball over the drawn in outfield to win the game. Only one run scores, it counts as a 1 RBI single. We played his team the next week and some of the real ballplayers busted his chops about his "grand slam". He said his publicist planted the story without his knowledge, which sounded plausible. He was nice and approachable with players, his team's and opponents' GFs, wives, spectators, I did not resent him. Ran into him once on the street, he recognized me and was friendly. Matthew Broderick on a number of occasions showed up in Central Park (Heckscher Field) or Dewitt Clinton Park on his Vespa and asked if he could "shag" or work out with my teams. Heckscher was an easy destination. Clinton Park on 11th Avenue and West 54th St., not so much. Heckscher was a showcase field, Clinton Park more for softball junkies like me. And actual junkies! Matthew would shag fly balls in the outfield until everyone else had hit, and then would ask if he could get some swings (which is appropriate if you join some other teams's softball practice). I don't think he played high school baseball but he could have, his throwing and his (lefty) batting swing were very good! He was on the small side small (I understand 5'8") but had a little power, though a tendency to hit everything in the air. He was totally nice, deferential and humble. The great, busy character actor Mike Starr was my teammate one season ('91 or '92) in the Restaurant League. Mike, who was our catcher, was a great guy, very funny teammate, decent ballplayer and intense competitor. He had to multi-task a lot because players and umpires, during games would chat with him about movies. There was one home plate umpire who would talk with Mike about movies throughout the entire game, while Mike was catching. Mike's brother Beau Starr (also an actor, played Henry Hill's dad in GOODFELLAS) played occasionally and was a very good player -big athletic guy, very competitive and a legit power hitter. Ray Romano played on opposing teams in Central Park and in Queens in the late 80's, early 90's. For most of that time, I did not know that he was a performer, but I respected him as a pull-hitting righty hitter with pretty good power (I played in the outfield). The team he played for in Queens was Cooper's, a sports bar near Juniper Park in Middle Village, Queens. If Cooper's rings a bell, that's because it was depicted as the local hangout in KING OF QUEENS. Richard Schiff and Sam Robards were my teammates in the early to mid 2000's on a team in the NY Performing Arts Softball League. I didn't know Richard too well, he played third base decently, but when WEST WING became successful he became too busy to play. Sam (excellent teammate) played more frequently (third base/first base) and could hit. They were probably two of the wealthier guys I played with. Richard made big dough on West Wing, and Sam lived in the Dakota. Edie Falco/The Sopranos had a softball team that played in Central Park in the early 2000's in a league that finished its games before my league started at 1:00PM on Sundays. So if we were on the same diamond, I might see the last few innings of their game before my team took the field. Edie managed the Sopranos team. After crossing paths a few times we became friendly acquaintances. She was totally nice! The players on the team did not include performers that I recognized. I did see Federico Castelluccio in ballplayer attire a few times, but never saw him play. James Gandolfini, came occasionally to watch and root for the team but did not play. Danny Aiello was a friend of the manager of the Friars' Club softball team I played on in the 1990's. Mr, Aiello would frequently watch the games and root for us. Mr. Aiello was very much an event unto himself, he would comment on the games, offer the players advice, and engage with spectators. The late, noteworthy character actor Daniel von Bargen lived in my neighborhood (Hell's Kitchen), and was friends with one of my softball teammates (late 80's early 90's) in a very competitive softball league in Harlem (145th and FDR). Dan would trek uptown with us and watch the games. He was a big baseball fan and enjoyed the post-game discussions (and refreshments). RIP Dan.

TALLULAH BANKHEAD as Mrs. Trefoile in DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! aka FANATIC

Roberts, Pernell

Is it SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961)..? Or INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1965)...? 1946: THE STRANGER Next: John Travolta struts his stuff on the dance floor.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57153680 Amazon in talks to buy MGM Studios for $9bn - reports Published 4 hours ago Share IMAGE COPYRIGHTMGM image captionIn recent times MGM has produced the Handmaid's Tale TV series and James Bond movie franchise Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy the historic MGM Studios for $9bn (£6.35bn). MGM is one of Hollywood's most famous studios, with its Leo the Lion logo and an almost century-long history. The sale would give the tech giant's Prime streaming service access to a vast back catalogue of iconic content. The reports come just hours after telecoms giant AT&T agreed to combine its WarnerMedia unit with Discovery in a deal to create a new streaming giant. AT&T and Discovery to create new streaming giant Netflix shares plunge amid fears virus boom is over China's answer to YouTube slumps on market debut MGM Holdings, the parent company of MGM Studios, has reportedly been exploring a sale since the end of last year, according to media reports. The purchase by Amazon of MGM Studios would mark a major step for its Prime streaming service. MGM Studios has a huge catalogue of films and television shows covering the last ten decades, through the Golden Age of Hollywood to the present day. It is home to some of the biggest movies of all time, including Ben-Hur and The Wizard of Oz. In more recent times it has produced the James Bond movie franchise and The Handmaid's Tale TV series. Amazon and MGM have not yet responded to requests for comment from the BBC. media captionWATCH: The BBC speaks exclusively to the author who wrote the books that inspired the Netflix series Bridgerton. On Monday an agreement was announced to put together movie giant Warner Bros. Entertainment, which owns the Harry Potter and Batman franchises, with Discovery's home, cooking, nature and science shows. WarnerMedia-owned HBO and HBO Max now have around 64 million subscribers worldwide, with hits such as Game of Thrones and Succession under its belt. But it is currently dwarfed by larger rivals like Netflix, which has 208 million subscribers, and Disney+, which has more than 100 million. Discovery, whose portfolio includes Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, reaches more than 88 million US homes, while its Discovery+ streaming service, which launched in January, has 15m subscribers. "This is a streaming arms race and AT&T is making an offensive strategic move to further bulk up its content in the battle versus Netflix, Disney, and Amazon," Dan Ives from Wedbush Securities told the BBC.

Like his parents Harry Sr. and Olive, the younger Carey was a member of John Ford's unofficial screen repertory company. He appeared in "3 Godfathers" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "Wagon Master" (1950), "Rio Grande" (1950), "The Long Gray Line" (1955, as a West Point cadet named Dwight David Eisenhower), "Mister Rogers" (1955), "The Searchers" (1956), "Two Rode Together" (1961) and "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964). He also co-starred many times with Ford's frequent collaborator, the actor John Wayne.

Earthquake Next: Piper, Laurie, Tony Curtis, Spring Byington

1966--"Walk, Don't Run" Next: Loretta Young has grave concerns about her husband.

For Noir fans ("Noiristas" as Eddie likes to say), I would feel negligent if I didn't mention that the TCM daytime theme for Wednesday the 19th is Film Noir Road Trip. Here is the lineup (times are ET): 06:00 AM The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 08:15 AM Hell Drivers (1957) 10:15 AM Jeopardy (1953) 11:45 AM The Hitch-Hiker (1953) 01:15 PM Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951) 03:00 PM Detour (1945) 04:15 PM Gun Crazy (1950) 06:00 PM They Live by Night (1948) The last 5 films have been previously featured on Noir Alley. Check out the daily schedule on the 19th for more info: https://www.tcm.com/schedule?icid=mainnav6-daily-schedule

Kramer, Stephanie

Justice, James Robertson

Though the film is about a war veteran and an average girl, when I watch THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE I think to myself, this story could work with a Downs Syndrome couple. I sincerely doubt that a couple, where both are afflicted with Downs, would see themselves the way society might...instead they see themselves purely, without flaw or defect.

I'd call this charactor more delusional than a psychopathic killer. Unless you believe in the paranormal-in which case he's "possessed".

MOTHER NIGHT by VONNEGUT is one of my ten favorite novels of all time, and it is the most straightforward, linear and unambiguous novel of his [that I have read.] It was made into an eenty teenty indie movie with NICK NOLTE ca. 1996, which barely saw release. I did not see it, but the potential for a great film is there. IT IS A SENSATIONAL NOVEL. He also wrote one book, the title I forget, but the premise is that in a small Minnesota(?) town, a private university sits across a lake from a prison for dangerous inmates. in the dead of winter, the lake freezes over to where it can be crossed on foot and then there is a (power failure?) which leads to a mass prison break...the book in fact is really about something else, it kind of never really gets to THE BIG ACTION SET PIECE that the reader is waiting for. it's a highly ambiguous (as I recall it) tale about the two destinies in American life: college or jail. If yhou just took that BARENAKED PREMISE, you could have the makings for a pretty cool movie (I think) or, quite possibly, a delicious disaster with BRUCE WILLIS [or JASON STATHAM] as THE CRUSTY DEAN WHO IS TOO OLD FOR THIS ****; cue the SNOW PLOW CHASE and THE DMX ON THE SOUNDTRACK.... There was a film version of BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS, which is the only VONNEGUT novel I despise, but I did finish it. i was amused by the way he introduces every male character with a description of the size and girth and state of their genitalia, I'd be fine if that became literary convention. however, VONNEGUT EMPLOYS THE USE OF "THE N WORD" THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH IN A FASHION THAT IS SO OVER THE TOP, SO GRATUITOUS, AND SO SADISTICALLY RELENTLESS THAT MARK TWAIN, DAVID DUKE and RICHARD PRYOR would all ask for a sit-down wherein they could ask "Um, Kurt, who hurt you?"

Wednesday, May 19/20 1:15 a.m. Breaker Morant (1980). Very good Bruce Beresford film with Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown and my favourite Jack Thompson.

1975 Three Days of the Condor next: Charlton Heston is a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints

I have never seen WHERE THE BOYS ARE '84, but being a fan of dance music ( including 1970s dance music that goes by the name of disco), I soughtout Lorna Luft's dance version of the song "Where The Boys Are" based on your post. Wow! You weren't kidding when you called it spectacular! The video I'm posting includes an interesting mix of photos, including one of Lorna with Judy and Joey and one with Judy and Liza. There are also some GREASE 2 photos, including one of Lorna with Michelle Pfeiffer and Adrian Zmed at what appears to be a promotional event (you can see Peter Frechette --- who played Louis DiMucci --- in the background).

A Lost Lady 1934 next: Glenn Ford, Suzanne Pleshette and Jane Russell

Charles Bronson next: The World of Susie Wong 1960

JANE GREER in OUT OF THE PAST

Blair, Betsy

Make Haste to Live (1954)

You guys are going to give me a complex

HAS ANYBODY SEEN MY GAL? (1952)

Jacqueline Bisset was in Domino (2005) with Keira Knightly and The Detective (1968) with Frank Sinatra Next: Toni Collette and Eleanor Parker

And, while I hate quoting myself here... ...the thought just now came to me that Dean would've been terrific in the title role of Hud. (...and if you think about it, the character of Hud is pretty much a lower-rent version of Jett Rink in Giant)

Natalie Wood Jackie Cooper Christian Bale Mickey Rooney Jurnee Smollet - Eve's Bayou Debbie Reynolds Shirley Temple Judy Garland Jodi Foster Juliette Lewis Patty Duke

Oh yeah that’s what I meant, it was like Vonnegut done badly. Or maybe I should actually say John Cheever done badly: it was imitating that style of using grandiose, absurd, abstract tales as allegories for a deeper, more universal story. Plotlines, places and settings which seem ABSURD on the face, but are in fact a mirror of the absurdities of ACTUAL, real life people, places and scenarios. It’s not an easy style to do, even by the originals. JUNIE MOON Seems like it was trying for that, but it just did not have enough gas in the tank to get there. also JUNIE MOON sounds like WANDA JUNE in my head...(Speaking of Vonnegut related motion picture atrocities) https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0067180/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 I just hope they let Kay Thompson keep that cute little aviatrix outfit and she wore it out on occasion before she died.

People, sorry to reply to myself, but I remembered another noteworthy movie/celebrity person from the softball years: Noteworthy director Ted Demme was my teammate for a few years in the 1990-1995 range. Ted was a funny, smart, gregarious guy and though not the greatest ballplayer, his personality, ability to bust chops and absorb good-natured abuse brought great value to the team, in that sense he was a leader and I liked him a lot. Some celebrities/artists were needy for attention, and could be a pain. Not Ted, he loved to be brought down to earth. In fact, he may be one of the greatest ba## busters I've ever known. Example. Ted showed up at the field one day wearing an FDNY shirt, on the back reading "FIRE TRUCK STAY BACK 200 FEET". I immediately started to abuse him. "Ted, 200 feet is not even warning track power! Take that s#it off! Your shirt sucks! Get rid of that warning track $%#t !" Ted abused me back for awhile, I guess the argument was even. Until he flied out just in front of a tree in deep left field. From then on my nickname for him was Warning Track. Thereafter I would await his approach to the field so I could yell "Warning Track!!" as soon as I saw him enter the park... he loved it. Nice man. RIP Ted.

And one of the funniest. Talk about having a monotone voice. She had to sit next to the window in a car just in case she got carsick and needed to open the window and upchuck. What a gal.

Yes, I remember Josie Lloyd:

Happy centennial birthday to Dirk Bogarde, born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde in West Hampstead, London, England on March 28th, 1921!

Wilfred Hyde-White. News to me: he was declared bankrupt in 1979 and spent his last 25 years living in the U.S. His son Alex Hyde-White is also an actor--mostly on TV, but also occasionally in films, including Ishtar, Pretty Woman, and Catch Me if You Can. (Re Citizen Kane, I sometimes deliberately avoid mentioning someone's best-known film, in order to make the answer less immediately obvious. In this case I hoped the scene in Kiss Me Deadly where Ralph Meeker destroys one of Fortunio Bonanova's beloved Enrico Caruso 78s might be memorable enough.) :-) Next: • Odd Man Out (1947) • The Spanish Gardener (1956) • Farenheit 451 (1966) • The Day of the Jackal (1973) • My Left Foot (1989)

Betty Garrett

The Golden Girls

Tuesday, May 18 11:45 p.m. Precious (2009). Gabourey Sidibe and especially Mo’Nique are excellent in this.