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The Man With Two Brains Doctor in the House House Calls

Non-musicals into musicals NIGHTS OF CABIRIA became SWEET CHARITY Fellini's 8 1/2 became NINE (2009) BALL OF FIRE became A SONG IS BORN BACHELOR MOTHER became BUNDLE OF JOY THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (1936) became Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD (2007) Ingmar Bergman's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT became Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC RUGGLES OF RED GAP became FANCY PANTS TOO MANY HUSBANDS became THREE FOR THE SHOW THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE became ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AH WILDERNESS became SUMMER HOLIDAY THE AWFUL TRUTH became LET'S DO IT AGAIN LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, musicalized by Menken & Ashman THE PRODUCERS, musicalized with Nathan Lane ANASTASIA, musicalized as a cartoon FREAKY FRIDAY, recently musicalized as a Disney TV movie JEANNIE became LET'S BE HAPPY Remakes of musicals DESERT SONG - 1943 & 1953 A STAR IS BORN - the musical with Judy got remade with Barbra & recently with Lady Gaga FAME - 1980 & 2009 FOOTLOSE - 1984 & 2011 All the recent Disney remakes (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, JUNGLE BOOK, LION KING, etc) LA LA LAND is a loose remake of UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (with many other references of course) Remade three times -- FOLIES BERGERES DE PARIS, THAT NIGHT IN RIO, ON THE RIVIERA

My Sister Eileen (1942) --> My Sister Eileen (1955) Auntie Mame (1958) --> Mame (1974) The Matchmaker (1958) --> Hello, Dolly! (1969) Roxie Hart (1942) --> Chicago (2002)

MissW, it always bothers me too, when Eddie never mentions TCM's site to discuss noirs. I've never been on facebook or twitter either and have no intention of ever going there. I do remember Eddie showing up on the bds. some years back, but cavegirl in many posts, bad mouthed Eddie so badly and then he never came back to the bds. I truly wish she/he hadn't done that character assassination of Eddie, that must be why he never returned.

The Hospital (1971) The President's Analyst (1967) Tammy and the Doctor (1963) Critical Condition (1987) with Richard Pryor

txfilmfan, you've brought up a sore point. It always bothers me when Eddie Muller, at the end of his Noir Alley "outro" , invites viewers to comment on either Twitter or Facebook. I don't "do" Twitter or Facebook, and don't intend to. It definitely feels like a slight to those of us who like to post our ideas about movies on this forum, which after all is the home discussion page for Turner Classic Movies, and Eddie's program is part of Turner Classic Movies. He never even mentions this forum's existence. And yet, I suspect that the noir fans who do choose to discuss Noir Alley here, as opposed to Twitter or Facebook, know their movies better, and go into more depth in the conversations about the films than T. or F. Switching gears: did anyone notice that Eddie mentioned that Dennis O'Keefe had transitioned from light comedies and musicals in his earlier career to more serious, darker work? And that he compared that career switch to that of Dana Andrews? Was that a mistake? Did he mean Dick Powell?

I agree. The narration reminded me of the old Untouchables TV show narrated by Walter Winchell. I liked that part, but the rest was mediocre. I hope these last few Noir Alley presentations aren't indicative that Eddie has run out of noirs. As discussed before my definition of film noir is narrower than most on this site. Having said that I'm willing to broaden my perspective if it keeps Noir Alley alive.

Walk a Crooked Mile is one I'd never seen before, so that alone was a bonus for me. I understand why Eddie thought it was noir enough for Noir Alley: the visuals were quite noirish, lots of dark urban streets, criss-crossing shadows, etc. I do think it was a bit too long. SPOILERS By the time the guys figured out it was NOT the handerchief-carrying woman and her Austrian lover, I'd kind of had enough. I'd kept thinking it was that white-haired professor type, the one they kept coming back to. He just seemed like he was putting on an act, plus, usually the secret bad guy is someone we've been seeing all along. The actual spy was someone we only saw once, in that bit where they were observing all the super scientists through that 2-way mirror. Oh well, not really worth trying to figure it all out. I agree with Bronxgirl, the Scotland Yard guy did add a "classy Simon Templar-ish patina" to the film. He reminded of a slightly rougher-looking Dirk Bogarde. The most noble and admirable character in Walk a Crooked Mile was that European landlady. She saved the day ! I don't think Grayson and O'Hara gave her enough credit. She saved their lives at the expense of her own. And were those two really going to just passively allow themselves to be shot by Raymond Burr's Commie spy character? My favourite of the "Watch out for Commie Spies" sub-genre has got to be Pickup on South Street.

Jerry Lewis Next: petite actress

Larger Than Life (1996), starring Bill Murray Water for Elephants (2011) And then there are the Asian elephants in China who have moved 300 miles north -- in China -- and are still on the move today (2021). They supposedly have their own video channel! I haven't found the video channel, but you can find them on YouTube. (I've been a day or more late for a while now, but I hope to catch up to Classic Categories at some point.)

Monday, June 14 10 p.m. Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival: Norman Lloyd (2016).

Leslie Caron Next: A forgotten actor

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ned-beatty-dead-deliverance-1234967321/ The actor also had memorable roles in 'Nashville,' 'Network' and 'Homicide: Life on the Street.' Ned Beatty, who made an indelible first impression in Deliverance before turning in noteworthy efforts in Nashville, Network and Homicide: Life on the Street as one of the most respected character actors of his time, has died. He was 83. Beatty died Sunday of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, his daughter Blossom Beatty told The Hollywood Reporter. The Kentucky native also portrayed Lily Tomlin’s good ol’ boy hustler-lawyer husband in Robert Altman’s Nashville(1975), was a slippery Miami district attorney in Alan J. Pakula’s All the President’s Men (1976) and elicited laughs as Lex Luthor’s (Gene Hackman) bumbling sidekick Otis in Superman (1978) and its 1980 sequel. On television, Ned Beatty was at his best as Det. Stanley “The Big Man” Bolander on NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street and as the chaplain assigned to an American private (Martin Sheen) in his final hours on the somber 1974 NBC telefilm The Execution of Private Slovik. Beatty had an excellent basso profundo singing voice, and his goal as a teenager was to have a career in the musical theater. One of his rare performances as a leading man came as the great Irish tenor Josef Locke in Hear My Song (1991). The harrowing survival saga Deliverance(1972), directed by John Boorman, starred Beatty, Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight and Ronnie Cox as buddies from Atlanta who take a trip to hillbilly country to canoe down a river. Beatty said he doubted he was going to get a part in the picture when he sat down with Boorman, his assistant and their wives for lunch in New York. A veteran of the local theater, he had never been in a feature film. “There was a very attractive lady [the wife of Boorman’s assistant] sitting next to me to my left,” he recalled in a 1992 interview with the CBC, “and I spent the whole time giving her my best shot … I was terribly married [but still] terribly flirtatious. “I was quite the heel, and I think that’s what John Boorman liked. He said he thought I was the rudest person he had ever met.” Deliverance, of course, has become infamous for its uncut 10-minute male rape sequence (“Squeal like a pig!”) in which Beatty, as pudgy businessman Bobby Trippe, is the victim. It’s a scene that viewers — male viewers in particular — have difficulty stomaching. Years later, The New York Times called upon Beatty to write an article about rape for the newspaper’s op-ed section. “The bottom line [of his piece] and the bad news,” he said, “was that a man would rather be a rapist than have to identify with the victim of a rape.” In other Reynolds starrers, Betty portrayed the lawbreaking sheriff J.C. Connors in White Lightning (1973) and Gator (1976) and a country music singer-songwriter in W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975). The two also worked together in Stroker Ace (1983), Switching Channels (1988) and on a 1989 episode of ABC’s B.L. Stryker. In Network (1977), directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky, Beatty spent just one day on the set and was seen onscreen for less than six minutes. Yet no one could argue that he deserved his lone Oscar nomination for his commanding performance as Arthur Jensen, the bombastic bigwig of UBS’ parent conglomerate who convinces anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) to see things his way. “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won’t have it!” Jensen bellows in a dimly lit boardroom. Beatty, who often played Southern yokels and was at ease doing comedy as well as drama, never seemed to harbor any regrets about not having more leading-man roles. “They’re more trouble than they’re worth,” he once told People magazine. “I feel sorry for people in a star position — it’s unnatural.” Ned Beatty was born on July 6, 1937, in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of a traveling salesman who pitched a system of fire hydrants to officials in small towns. He said his voice broke when I was 10, and he sung in barbershop quartets and at Baptist revivals and weddings as a teenager. Beatty graduated from Eastern High School in 1955 and then earned a scholarship to attend Transylvania University, a Christian Private school, in Lexington, Kentucky; while in college, he made ends meet by working as a butcher. When he was about 19, he got a singing part in the play Wilderness Road. “It was an outdoor play about the two counties in Kentucky in the Civil War — one had a lot of slave owners, and the other was very abolitionist,” he told the Chicago Tribute in 1992. “Because my voice was so loud, they gave me some [speaking] lines.” The experience got him hooked on acting, and in 1957 he joined the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va. (Ernest Borgnine, Hume Cronyn and Larry Linville also performed there early in their careers), moving about the country and performing. That was followed by a stint in Washington with the Arena Stage Company, where he appeared in the original production of The Great White Hope, starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander. He eventually made his Broadway debut in the play after it came to New York in 1968. Around this time, Beatty also landed a job as a bank robber in an FBI training film. “About a year later, I started getting arrested,” he told Backstage in 2001. “If I went into a small town somewhere, I’d get arrested. I’m serious. That’s the way cops work. They’re used to seeing pictures of bad guys. If they see you and they know that you’re a bad guy, they arrest you. So that went on for a little while, until I started getting known as a film actor.” Beatty sure was known after Deliverance. He went on to play a thief turned marshal in John Huston’s The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), a rube salesman in Silver Streak (1976), the father of a terminally ill child in Promises in the Dark (1979), the head of an American spy organization in Hopscotch (1980) and the father of an unlikely football hero in Rudy (1993). His film résumé also included John Cassavetes’ Mikey and Nicky (1976), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Gray Lady Down(1978), Steven Spielberg’s 1941 (1979), Huston’s Wise Blood (1979), Radioland Murders (1994), He Got Game (1998), Cookie’s Fortune (1999) with Altman again, Just Cause (1995), Spring Forward (1999), Thunderpants (2002) and Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), and he was the voice of the deceivingly cuddly Lotso in Toy Story 3(2010). Beatty also starred as an ex-Marine in charge of a D.C. community center on the short-lived 1977-78 CBS sitcom Szysznykand played John Goodman’s father in a recurring role on ABC’s Roseanne. The actor returned to the stage and Broadway in 2003 to portray Big Daddy in a revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, winning a Drama Desk Award, then spent more than a year touring in a production of Showboat. Survivors include his fourth wife, Sandy, and children Blossom, Doug, twins Charles and Lennis, Wally, Jon, Thomas and Dorothy.

THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER -- really a medical comedy if you think about it A DAY AT THE RACES -- The Marx Brothers hilarious medical exam

Love That Bob

What got my mouth hanging open was when Eddie described O'Keefe as "charming" in his pre-noir roles. Please.

Zmed, Adrian

The Jeffersons

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Next: Sword and Sandals

Thanks so much, Holden. I thought I was alone in my appreciation of Ginger's performance. I think a lot of people overlook Rogers as a serious actress; she was underrated most of the time! Ah yes, Mabel Albertson! She's owner of that Greenwich Village restaurant where Peggy Ann gets a waitressing job. I always thought it strange, though, that Alberton plays her part as if she were running a brothel, lol.

I recorded two movies recently from TCM and wanted to talk about the intros. I'm not one to complain about the TCM hosts and love that they give intros to the films. Osborne was the master at making a movie more appealing by his welcoming introductions. Two recent intros seemed rather clunky and bothered me: Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) I've seen this before but recorded it from TCM's recent series on body image. During Alicia Malone's introduction she mentioned that the story was based on the real murder of a NYC schoolteacher, Roseann Quinn. I realize that the book and movie have been available for decades but it seemed like a huge spoiler for anyone who was unfamiliar with the story. Breaker Morant (1980) I've seen this movie countless times. The performances are wonderful and it's a powerful film. Shown as part of the series "Order in the Court" hosted by Ben Mankowitz and his brother Josh. As TCM's own "Spotlight" description of the film states, "Jack Thompson defends soldiers facing court martial for following orders during the Boer War." The movie makes it clear that these soldiers were scapegoats following orders, killing POWs, and that their trial was a way to quiet any international or political fallout from those orders becoming known. The youngest soldier killed a prisoner in self-defense. Their lawyer points out: "But I do know that orders that one would consider barbarous have already been issued in this war. Before I was asked to defend these soldiers, I spent some months destroying Boer farmhouses, burning their crops, herding their women and children into stinking refugee camps where thousands of them have already died from disease. Now these orders WERE issued, sir! And soldiers like myself and these men here have had to carry them out however damned reluctantly!" After the movie, Ben and Josh marveled at how amazing it was that the filmmaker could make the three men on trial so likeable since they were "war criminals." The brothers used the term "war criminals" several times which seemed to miss the point of the film completely. I'm certainly not advocating for killing of POW's but the film makes it clear that the people to blame are the ones who gave the orders, people much higher up in the chain of command not the three soldiers on trial. I just thought it was such an strange take on this movie.

Nope, but there is one obscure one out there. By ELO. ELO is my most memorable back stage experience. The band was getting dressed and I was hanging around watching the stage set up & started talking to this stage hand fiddling with the synthesizers. He introduced himself as Bob and I freaked! You're THE Bob Moog? He couldn't get over the fact I knew who he was, but I'm a theremin player & Raymond Scott fan, kindred spirit. Wish I could have gotten to know him better but he split after the show was over. Although I enjoyed hanging around with the guys, (more card players, must be a Manchester thing) I was far more starry eyed over meeting Bob Moog! I was just crushed when he passed. Glad Lynne is still going strong, what an incredible contribution he has made to music. Bev Bevan was the most personable, but we were all young crazy kids at that time. The closest I've ever been to anything sexual was seeing Bev in his shorts-memorable because they were bright blue spandex! Never saw anything like that before! I also remember being shocked, shocked when seeing pre-fame THE CARS in a bar and one of the members was wearing leopard print spandex pants, a black leather vest and NO SHIRT underneath it! Fashion horrors! 😝 Also saw pre-fame U2 in a bar, recommended to me by Irish band friends Horslips. They were just OK, but acted like spoiled brats to the crew/managers. Saw them in a big venue a year later and they were still just OK on stage & still treated their support crew miserably - never spoke to any of them. I've told all these stories here before and they're musicians so figured it wasn't the place until other non-movie celebs were mentioned.

Orson Wells and ridiculous are never far apart.

There is only one ; The Hot Spot from 1990 directed by Dennis Hopper with Virginia Madsen she gives good performance and is stunning in her best role.Also with a great cast,Reminded me of Body Heat same textured film,you feel it..I saw it first run but it bombed.Johnson had made too many turkeys by then. The music score is very good,he story is in Texas so the heat is everywhere,a very steamy film,Eddie Mueller should book this for NoirAlley as a Neo Noir,an excellent film.

Ugh, I was constantly asked for my autograph in the 80's from people thinking I was her. I even was a "lookalike" in an old House of Guitars commercial. She still looks fabulous, why do I look like an old lady? 😉 From the late 70's on I was a groupie and hung around many musicians, eventually hired as a "Rock Hostess" by the local radio station in 1982 or so. (never had sex with ANYONE, you dirty minds) The biggest stars were usually a bore, those days being the height of drug use which I also did not partake, although I did enjoy a drink or two. HUEY LEWIS- my bf's band opened for them in this small venue right as they were on the cusp of stardom. We took them out for breakfast in the wee hours of the AM after packing up. The band all wore suits and I thought they looked like accountants, made fun of their "look". (hey-I had pink hair) but they were all swell guys, very professional. I was not surprised when they had "made it". JETHRO TULL- my ticket backstage was always a piece of artwork given in exchange for an autograph. I made a really cool fantasy painting of Ian Anderson as Pan. He loved it and declared, "Got rid of those trousers years ago" but I do know he had the painting framed & hung on his wall for years, maybe still. The band played cards before going on stage & I joined them making a fun evening with cool guys. TIMOTHY B SCHMITT- met him when he was in dead end band Poco. While everyone else was doing drugs & debauchery, we hung out at the back of the bus where he showed me pix of his home & family. We kept in touch for awhile until he joined the Eagles. I was so happy for him making the "Big Time" but could only stomach seeing him once playing with the Eagles. I took my Dad to the show, he loved it. FLEETWOOD MAC- during my years as "hostess". They were all cordial, but the excessive drug use was apparent. I couldn't take my eyes off Christie McVie, she was surprisingly beautiful! Stevie Nicks was tiny, even smaller than me (I was a size 3) but she was dazed & glazed. Amazingly she was spectacular on stage. I spent most of my time with Bob Welch who opened for them. He was super nice and the only real coherent one in the room. You can always tell who is the serious musician because they tend to practice to relax.

Looking forward to this one, don't think I've ever seen it before. It would float my boat if it was a movie about Jack Pierce: Stay tuned...after Svengoolie the STAR TREK episode afterward should be The Trouble With Tribbles episode with Scotty uttering the very best episode closing line ever-

Isn't his name spelled Langella? I think Frank Langella is super sexy and looked forward to seeing him as seductive Dracula. Found a copy of the movie at the library and remember being disappointed. His performance was kind of cold & wooden and knowing his talent wonder if he deliberately played it that way.

Sunday, June 13/14 2:15 a.m. Fitzcarraldo (1982). Up the Amazon with Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog.

The Shocking MIss Pilgrim

Knots Landing

9. His third wife was Coral Browne, who played Vera Charles in Auntie Mame. They were married from 1974 until her death in 1991.

Vale, Norma, played by Barbara Stanwyck in "There's Always Tomorrow"

Malone's comment about the origin of the story could have been saved for after LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR finished airing. There was no reason to have such a huge spoiler in the intro.

Sorry, I never commented on this- I thought the avatar was Charley Chase! McKimson cartoons are my favorite-characters are so bombastic!

Really? WOW! 😍

DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

10. Quinn had a speech impediment which Frank Lloyd Wright paid to have corrected. Quinn attended acting classes as a form of speech therapy. He loved the classes and quit architecture to pursue an acting career. Quinn on Wright: "He said an architect has to talk people into living the way he wants them to live, and you can't convince anybody with the way you're talking. He was such a wonderful man. I was hoping he'd want to adopt me. I loved him. I really loved him."

Both are fine.

The First Traveling Saleslady 1956

Ernst Lubitsch's actual last film "Cluny Brown" is terrific, romantic comedy with Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer. He was credited for directing "That Lady in Ermine" even though he died just a week into production and Otto Preminger finished it off.

The Blues Brothers (1980) -- "Who wants an Orange Whip? Orange Whip? Orange Whip? Three Orange Whips!" Next: rye

Uh-huh! I can see it all now... "STELLA!!! Would you mind bringing me my bottle of Cognac, dear?"

That's from the previous TCM broadcast on Monday, June 19, 2017, when Audrey Hepburn was Star of the Month. (Didn't realize it has been that long since TCM aired the film.) Ben's intro probably won't be a whole lot different this time, but the theme Sunday is "Museum Capers," and the film is paired with Topkapi (1964).

And Then There Were None (1945)

More celebrities (almost classic era) that I recall serving at The Russian Tea Room... A few that I annoyed: Jennifer Grey came in on a date with Johnny Depp about 1990. Every food course or beverage she ordered was very minimal. A waiter's job is to upsell, which I tried to do but she rebuffed me every time, gradually becoming increasingly curt with me as the meal progressed. Johnny Depp seemed to be amused by this, but did not comment. When I tried to hand them the dessert menus, Ms. Grey told me (paraphrasing) "no, no we don't want dessert, like I didn't want soup, like I didn't want another glass of Champagne..." In a slow flat monotone, I said something like, "Strawberries Romanoff are refreshing and light..." Jennifer Grey: "Just two double espressos!" As I walked away from their table I heard her imitating me, speaking to Johnny Depp (she affected a deep monotonous voice): "Strawberries Romanoff yecch yecch blah blah blah". From that point on, I pretty much shut up. Johnny Depp continued to look amused, he was pretty cool. Don Johnson came in for lunch in the late 80's or early 90's. He arrived first, and I recall I had to remove place settings from the table, or add place settings. Or some task that caused us to be close up for a minute or so. At first he was smiling, eye contact, cordial, how are you, etc etc. I asked him how he was doing, etc. etc. He had a movie out at that time (I wish I could remember which one but I can't, I did not know if it was flopping) and I asked , "How's the new movie, Mr. Johnson?" His smile turned to an severely annoyed look... 'Just get me a Diet Coke." Arnold Shwarzenngger (spelled incorrectly, who cares) came to the restaurant a number of times and each time left his mark, with some bad interaction with staff or with another customer. In my case, I was serving his group dinner and there was heavy business discussion going on. At one point I was refilling wine glasses at his table. So I hold the bottle over each guest's wine glass and each guest nods or shakes their head or in some way tells you non-verbally what to do. Schwarzenwhatever actually shoved my arm away to prevent me from pouring wine. Some that I did not annoy: Sigourney Weaver had lunch one day with mega-agent Sam Cohn. Ms. Weaver wore an awesome-looking white dress. When she sat at the table the front part of the dress bunched forward and exposed a lot of her...... self (I could look right down to her belly button). During the lunch I had to prepare a dish at the table for Ms. Weaver... Rather than cover herself up, she looked me in the eye and chatted while I was rolling her blini, or whatever I was doing. Very a propos by her, I thought at the time. Smart lady. E.G. Marshall, I recall serving lunch one day. I happen to speak with a slight Brooklyn/NY accent. Mr. Marshall, as lunch is concluding asks me if I was from Minnesota (he liked my accent). It was a good joke, my accent is a anything but Minnesotan.

It's open season on Rabbi's! A Rabbi walks into a bar. He has a long, long grey beard, he's wearing tzitzis, the whole package. And he has a frog on his shoulder. The bartender asks, "Where did you get that?!" The frog answers, "Brooklyn, there are lots of them there."

Thanks Dargo. How about a few actors that are less well-known, but were great softball players and great teammates. I am positive that everyone on the board has seen them, but you might not know their names. PAUL URCIOLI played one of the Feds who arrests DeCaprio in WOLF OF WALL STREET. He is a busy working actor and acting teacher. He was also a terrific outfielder and lefty hitter I played with 2002-2007 who easily could have played major college baseball (he concentrated on acting instead). Any casting people out there if you want a pro for whom commitment to excellence is routine, that's Paul. GABE HERNANDEZ is an actor with a rugged look, diverse casting possibilities (looks Italian, Greek, Latino, you name it). Did you see ST VINCENT with Bill Murray? Gabe plays one of Bill Murray's movers, and had lines with Mr. Murray. Gabe also played Division 1 college baseball (Jacksonville) and was one of the best players in the NYC softball scene, starting in the late 80's. He was a relentless live drive hitter and smooth shortstop/second baseman. I was lucky enough to be his teammate starting in 2002 in the Performing Arts League. We entered the last day of the regular season tied for the league batting title. Funny thing neither of us knew it (our manager told us) and we didn't care that much. Gabe had a professional attitude about the acting profession. And we both had the same attitude about softball... all that matters is winning the next game. NELSON VASQUEZ is the tough-looking guy that accompanies Pacino's rival throughout CARLITO'S WAY, and gets a lot of screen time in DO THE RIGHT THING. Nelson, who is also an accomplished dancer (did videos with M Jackson and Madonna) , was one of the best shortstops in NYC softball, 80's-90''s. He had all the tools-fielding, hitting, throwing, speed, and some power. I never discussed with him, why he did not play pro or major college baseball, but he could have. People... the edge he brings to the screen is real, he is very intense!

I worked as a crew member in Hollywood for 42 years, at the beginning with MGM, and then through business rearrangements with the studios, Ted Turner buying MGM in 1986 being the one that effected me the most, spent my final 30 years at Warner Brothers. The actors that most quickly come to mind, as classic era actors, were three that I worked with on the tv show Dallas. Because of a personal relationship with a known member of that production, I got to be around the actors more than just on the set. First, Howard Keel, the man who basically replaced Jock Ewing. I certainly was not into musicals in those years, so I didn't know what movies he was in. I think he was a little frustrated on the show as he was kind of treated as second tier, behind the main stars of the show. This seemed to sadden him, although he was a pretty nice guy in speaking to him. Next, Barbara Bel Geddes. She was a kind woman and was very respected by the cast and liked by the crew. She was definitely the matriarch on and off camera and was a gentle woman(mainly). After Barbara left the show, she was replaced by Donna Reed. Unfortunately for her, she was not embraced by the cast too well as the new Miss Ellie and it seemed to make for a lonely experience. She was quiet and refined, but seemingly knew that she was in an awkward position in trying to replace an icon of the show as well as it's matriarch. Unfortunately, being in my 20's at the time, I didn't appreciate who those three fine actors were. One thing about all of them was professionalism. It was too bad that Mr. Keel and Miss Reed got cast to replace original iconic cast members and there was a bit of justified sadness and quiet frustration that I don't think that would have happened if they had been there from the beginning.