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Gardner McKay was in "The Pleasure Seekers" (1964) with Pamela Tiffin. Pamela Tiffin was in "Harper" (1966) with Paul Newman. Next: Debbie Watson.

TCM On Demand for May 13, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 3. Modern Times (1936) -- Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Stanley "Tiny" Sanford, Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, Stanley Blystone, Henry Bergman, Al Garcia, Dick Alexander, Cecil Reynolds, Myra McKinney, Murdoch McQuarrie, Wilfred Lucas. Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, composed the music and starred in this semi-silent film about Depression-era angst versus hope. He also wrote the tune "Smile," which later became a standard as well as a theme song for another screen comedian -- Jerry Lewis. The picture also is the story of The Little Tramp character's attempt to cope with an increasingly mechanized workplace. Chaplin married his co-star, the gorgeous 26-year-old Goddard, the same year the movie was released. In a 1998 survey by the American Film Institute, the comedy was ranked No. 81 among the Top 100 films of all time. Chaplin had two other films on the list -- "The Gold Rush" (1925) was No. 74 and "City Lights" (1931) was No. 76. When the AFI updated the survey in 2007, this film was bumped up to No. 78, while "The Gold Rush" climbed to No. 58 and "City Lights" jumped 65 spots to No. 11. Memorable scene:There are many famous sight gags in the film, but be sure to look for the Tramp's stint as a waiter when he tries to deliver a roast duck platter across a crowded dance floor. Expires May 19, 2015. 4. One Way Passage (1932) -- William Powell, Kay Francis, Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh, Warren Hymer, Frederick Burton. Uncredited: Stanley Fields, Willie Fung, This story of a star-crossed romance during a transpacific cruise from Hong Kong to San Francisco received an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story (Robert Lord). Directed by Tay Garnett ("China Seas," "The Cross of Lorraine"), it stars Powell as Dan Hardesty, a fugitive trying to avoid being executed for murder at San Quentin. Francis plays Joan Ames, a dying ocean liner passenger who becomes involved with him. The film was remade in 1940 as " 'Til We Meet Again," which starred George Brent and Merle Oberon. Memorable quote: "Don't smear my bangs." -- The last words of the Countess Barilhaus (MacMahon) as she prepares to kiss Sgt. Steve Burke (Hymer), Hardesty's police escort. The countess, who is actually a con woman known as "Barrel House Betty," agrees to marry Burke and start a new life with him on a chicken ranch in Petaluma, California. Memorable dialogue: Joan: It's fun to plan ahead. Let's see. I'd like to...to be in Caliente for New Year's. Dan: That's just a month, isn't it? Well, then. Here's to Agua Caliente, New Year's Eve. Joan: Nothing can keep me away. Dan: Nor me. Expires May 19, 2015.

Lucy Marlow was in "A Star Is Born" (1954) with James Mason. James Mason was in "The Verdict" (1982) with Paul Newman. Next: Cynthia Stevenson.

TCM On Demand for May 12, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. The Born Losers (1967) -- Tom Laughlin, Elizabeth James, Jeremy Slate, Jane Russell, William Wellman, Jr., Jack Starrett, Paul Bruce, Robert Cleaves, Paul Prokop, Robert Tessier, Jeff Cooper, Stuart Lancaster, Anne Bellamy, Gordon Hoban, Susan Foster, Janice Miller, Julie Cahn. Uncredited: Dolores Taylor (opening narration). Laughlin first played Billy Jack -- the part-Native American and former Green Beret turned protector of the underdog -- in this independent film he also produced (as Don Henderson) and directed (as T.C. Frank). The story is set in the California beach town of Big Rock, which is invaded by a menacing band of bikers called The Born Losers. The bikers also are skilled at harassing and preying upon pretty young girls, including a spunky teen tourist named Vicki Barrington (James, who wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym James Lloyd). Billy Jack develops a relationship with Vicki and proves to be an irritant to the no-goodniks. This film was followed by "Billy Jack" (1971), which earned almost $100 million in domestic box-office receipts after Laughlin reacquired the distribution rights and re-released it nationally in 1,200 theaters. His advertising campaign and release pattern are credited with having had an impact on how movies were marketed and rolled out in the 1970s. Two other sequels featuring Laughlin's martial arts expert were "The Trial of Billy Jack" (1974) and "Billy Jack Goes to Washington" (1977). Laughlin died of complications from pneumonia on December 12, 2013 at the age of 82. Expires May 18, 2015. 2. Easy Rider (1969) -- Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Toni Basil, Luke Askew, Luana Anders, Sabrina Scharf, Robert Walker, Jr., Sandy Wyeth, Phil Spector, Antonio Mendoza, Mac Mashourian, Warren Finnerty, Tita Colorado, Robert Ball, Carmen Phillips, Ellie Walker, Michael Pataki. Uncredited: Dan Haggerty, Carrie Snodgress, Helena Kallianiotes. Nicholson received the first of 12 Academy Award nominations for his brief but memorable performance as an attorney who runs off with counterculture bikers Wyatt (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper). Directed by Hopper and produced by Fonda, the independent effort became a box-office smash and a seminal film of the "New Hollywood" era. The picture also received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay (Fonda, Hopper and Terry Southern). In 2011, Time magazine listed its top 25 movie soundtracks of all time. This movie came in at No. 8: "A psychedelic road-trip hit that depicted the counterculture in full flower, 'Easy Rider' also captured the sound of an era. With songs from The Band, Jimi Hendrix and the Byrds (as well as Steppenwolf’s 'Born to Be Wild,' now forevermore linked to men on motorcycles), 'this was one of the first times a movie was yoked to the driving power of '60s rock ‘n’ roll,' writes film journalist Peter Biskind in 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,' his history of the New Hollywood." Expires May 18, 2015. 3. Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) -- Adam Roarke, Jack Nicholson, Sabrina Scharf, Jana Taylor, Richard Anders, John Garwood, Mireille Machu, James Oliver, Jack Starrett, Bruno VeSota, Bob Kelljan, Kathryn Harrow, John "Bud" Cardos, Tex Hall, Gary Littlejohn. Two years before his career breakthrough performance in "Easy Rider," Nicholson starred in this independent feature about bikers. He appears as Poet, a onetime gas station attendant who becomes involved with a Hells Angels chapter in Northern California -- and lives to regret it. The film was directed by Richard Rush, who received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for the 1980 sleeper hit "The Stunt Man." The movie's cinematographer was László Kovács ("Easy Rider," "Paper Moon"). Expires May 18, 2015.

TCM On Demand for May 11, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. The Ascent (1977) -- Boris Plotnikov (Sotnikov), Vladimir Gostyukhin (Rybak), Sergey Yakovlev (Village elder), Lyudmila Polyakova (Demchikha), Viktoriya Goldentul (Basya), Anatoliy Solonitsyn (Portnov, the Nazi interrogator), Mariya Vinogradova (Village elder's wife), Nikolai Sektimenko (Stas'), Sergei Kanishchev (Boy wearing Budenovka). This World War II drama was the last film by Russian director Larisa Shepitko (1938-1979). She was killed at the age of 41 in an auto accident two years after the picture's release. Set in Belarus during the brutal winter of 1942, the black-and-white film follows the hardships experienced by Soviet partisans Sotnikov and Rybak. While foraging for food at a village farmhouse, they are forced to hide from German invaders. Expires May 17, 2015. 2. Frank Capra's 'Pocketful of Miracles' (1961) -- Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange, Arthur O'Connell, Peter Falk, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Mickey Shaughnessy, David Brian, Sheldon Leonard, Peter Mann, Ann-Margret, Barton MacLane, John Litel, Jerome Cowan, Jay Novello, Frank Ferguson, Willis Bouchey, Fritz Feld, Ellen Corby, Gavin Gordon, Benny Rubin, Jack Elam, Mike Mazurki, Hayden Rorke, Doodles Weaver. Uncredited: George E. Stone, Amanda Randolph, Byron Foulger, James Griffith, Kelly Thordsen, Angelo Rossitto. Capra's final film was this remake of his 1933 comedy/drama "Lady for a Day," which was based on a short story by the colorful New York writer Damon Runyon (1880-1946). This color version stars Ford as Dave the Dude, a bootlegger who helps a street peddler named Apple Annie (Davis) save face when her long-unseen daughter (Ann-Margret, in her screen debut) comes to town after years abroad. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Falk), Best Color Costume Design (Edith Head, Walter Plunkett) and Best Original Song ("Pocketful of Miracles" by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn). Falk's nomination was his second in a row in the Best Supporting Actor category. He received a 1960 nod for his dramatic performance in "Murder, Inc." Capra's 1933 film earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (May Robson) and Best Writing, Adaptation (Robert Riskin). Expires May 17, 2015. 3. Mildred Pierce (1945) -- Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe. Uncredited: George Tobias, Butterfly McQueen. Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as the title character, a struggling, working-class woman who becomes a successful businesswoman. Based on the novel by James M. Cain, the film was directed by Michael Curtiz and received five other Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Arden, Blyth), Best Writing, Screenplay (Ranald MacDougall) and Best Black-and-White Cinematography (Ernest Haller). Crawford's Oscar win occurred after she had been in the film industry for a little more than 20 years. She received two other Best Actress nominations during her career for her performances in "Possessed" (1947) and "Sudden Fear" (1952). A 2011 HBO miniseries version of Cain's novel received five Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie (Kate Winslet) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie (Guy Pearce). Expires May 17, 2015.

Billy Zane was in "Tombstone" (1993) with Sam Elliott. Sam Elliott was in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kind" (1969) with Paul Newman. Next: Famke Janssen.

TCM On Demand for May 10, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Thunderbird 6 (1968) -- Voices of: Peter Dyneley, Sylvia Anderson, Shane Rimmer, Jeremy Wilkin, Matt Zimmerman, David Graham, Keith Alexander, Gary Files, Christine Finn, John Carson, Geoffrey Keen. This sequel to the 1966 film "Thunderbirds Are Go" also is animated with puppets through the process of "Supermarionation." The film was created by the husband-and-wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the team behind the marionette-dominated series "Supercar" (1961-1962), "Fireball XL5" (1962-1963), "Stingray" (1964-1965) and "Thunderbirds" (1964-1966). A primary special effects wizard for this sci-fi/adventure film was Derek Meddings (1931-1995), who shared a special achievement Oscar for contributions to "Superman" (1978) and was well-known for his work on several James Bond films of the 1970s. Expires May 16, 2015. 2. The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) -- Irene Dunne, Alan Marshal, Roddy McDowall, Frank Morgan, Van Johnson, C. Aubrey Smith, Dame May Whitty, Dame Gladys Cooper, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor, June Lockhart. John Warburton, Jill Esmond, Brenda Forbes, Norma Varden, Ian Wolfe. Directed by Clarence Brown ("The Human Comedy"), this drama stars Irene Dunne as an American woman who marries a British nobleman (Marshal) on the eve of World War I. The film details her experiences at the homefront in Britain during the next three decades as she worries about family members during both world wars. Taylor and McDowall Esmond, who plays Rosamund, was the first wife of Sir Laurence Olivier from 1930 to 1940. Their marriage dissolved when Olivier became romantically involved with actress Vivien Leigh. Taylor and Lockhart play the same character, Betsy Kennedy, at different ages. Expires May 16, 2015.

TCM On Demand for May 9, 2015 The following feature is now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: Mr. Arkadin (1955, updated in 1962) -- Orson Welles, Sir Michael Redgrave, Patricia Medina, Akim Tamiroff, Mischa Auer, Paola Mori, Katina Paxinou, Grégoire Aslan, Peter van Eyck, Suzanne Flon, Robert Arden, Jack Watling, Frédéric O'Brady, Tamara Shayne, Terence Longdon, Annabel Buffet, Gert Fröbe, Eduard Linkers, Manuel Requena. The versatile Welles, who would have turned 100 on May 6, 2015, stars as the title character in this drama he also wrote, produced and directed. Once released as "Confidential Report," the independent film features Welles as the mysterious businessman Gregory Arkadin, who hires an American smuggler (Arden) to help him piece together his past. The multi-millionaire apparently doesn't remember anything that happened in his life for the previous 25 years or so. Expires May 15, 2015.

TCM On Demand for May 8, 2015 The following feature is now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Airport (1970) -- Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Barry Nelson, Dana Wynter, Lloyd Nolan, Barbara Hale, Gary Collins, John Findlater, Jessie Royce Landis, Larry Gates, Peter Turgeon, Whit Bissell, Virginia Grey, Eileen Wesson, Paul Picerni, Robert Patten, Clark Howat, Lew Brown, Ilana Dowding, Lisa Gerritsen, Jim Nolan, Patty Poulsen, Ena Hartman, Malila Saint Duval, Sharon Harvey, Albert Reed, Jodean Russo, Nancy Ann Nelson, Dick Winslow, Lou Wagner, Janis Hansen, Mary Jackson, Shelly Novack, Chuck Daniel, Charles Brewer. Uncredited actors: Marion Ross, Benny Rubin, Merry Anders, Dort Clark, Eve Brent, Nick Cravat, Sandra Gould, Walter Woolf King, Pat Priest, Quinn Redeker. Produced by Ross Hunter and based on Arthur Hailey's best-selling novel, this blockbuster disaster film with an all-star cast earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Its only win was for Hayes as Best Supporting Actress, her first Oscar win since she received the 1931-1932 Best Actress award for her performance in "The Sin of Madelon Claudet." She became the first person ever to win Oscars in both a leading category and a supporting category. Directed by George Seaton ("Miracle on 34th Street," "The Country Girl") -- an uncredited Henry Hathaway also made contributions -- the film focuses on a busy day and night at Lincoln International Airport, a Midwestern hub run by Mel Bakersfield (Lancaster). The manager has more than enough professional and personal problems on his plate, including complications because of heavy snowfall. Things get worse when a plane bound for Rome is threatened by a distraught man named D.O. Guerrero (Heflin), who plans to set off a bomb so his wife can collect insurance money. In one of the movie's best scenes, Trans Global Airlines pilot Vern Demerest (Martin) finds out about Guerrero's scheme. He gets head flight attendant Gwen Meighen (Bisset) to enlist the help of elderly stowaway Ada Quonsett (Hayes) -- who happens to be sitting next to Guerrero on the flight. One of the film's heroes is chief mechanic Joe Patroni (played by Kennedy), who has the unenviable task of trying to move a snowbound airplane from a key runway. Kennedy would reprise the role in three all-star sequels during the 1970s -- "Airport 1975" (1974), "Airport '77" (1977) and "The Concorde ... Airport '79" (1979). The film's other Academy Award nominations were for Best Supporting Actress (Stapleton); Best Adapted Screenplay (Seaton); Best Cinematography (Ernest Laszlo); Best Film Editing (Stuart Gilmore); Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Alexander Golitzen and E. Preston Ames, art directors; Jack D. Moore and Mickey S. Michaels), set decorators; Best Costume Design (Edith Head); and Best Sound (Ronald Pierce, David H. Moriarty). One of 12: Known as "The First Lady of the American Theater," Hayes (1900–1993) became the second person (after composer Richard Rodgers) and first woman to achieve EGOT status -- winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. Only 12 people in history have accomplished the feat. Milestones: This was the final screen appearance of the Academy Award-winning actor Heflin, whose film career began in 1936. He died at the age of 60 on July 23, 1971, six weeks after he suffered a heart attack...This also was the final film score by the great Alfred Newman, who composed the music for more than 200 productions and won a record nine Oscars in 45 nominations. He died on February 17, 1970 -- one month before his 70th birthday. He received a posthumous nomination for this score, but the award went to Francis Lai for "Love Story." From Alfred Newman to Alfred E. Neuman: In a December 1970 Mad magazine parody titled "Airplot," Heflin's character sets off his briefcase bomb when the pilot played by crooner Martin begins singing to him. Surely, you can't be serious: The 1980 spoof "Airplane!" lampooned this and other air disaster films of the genre. But its biggest target was the 1957 drama "Zero Hour!" -- adapted by author Hailey from his 1956 teleplay "Flight into Danger." The first 007: Nelson, who plays co-pilot Captain Anson Harris, was the first actor -- and only American -- to play Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond. Eight years before Sir Sean Connery played 007 in "Dr. No" (1962), Nelson appeared as Bond in a 1954 television episode of "Climax!" adapted from Fleming's 1953 novel "Casino Royale." Memorable quote: "Grab him, he's got a bomb!" -- An obnoxious passenger (played by Turgeon) not only foils an attempt to wrest away the briefcase bomb from Guerrero, but he also causes the explosion by yelling those six words. Expires May 14, 2015.

TCM On Demand for May 8, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 2. Five Came Back (1939) -- Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine, Allen Jenkins, Joseph Calleia, Sir C. Aubrey Smith, Kent Taylor, Patric Knowles, Elisabeth Risdon, Casey Johnson, Dick Hogan. Directed by John Farrow, this early air-disaster film follows the misfortunes of the crew and passengers of The Silver Queen -- a Panama-bound airliner out of Los Angeles. The flight crew consists of a pilot (Morris), co-pilot (Taylor) and a steward (Hogan). Among the nine passengers: an eloping couple of national interest (Knowles, Barrie); an elderly professor and his wife (Smith, Risdon); an extradited prisoner and his guard (Calleia, Carradine); a gangster's son and his chaperone (Johnson, Jenkins); and a woman with a shady past (Ball). Morris, Ball, Johnson and Taylor When a fierce storm causes the plane to crash land in a jungle setting, the survivors are forced to deal with the threat of nearby headhunters -- and the grim realization that some of them will be left behind once repairs are made. Farrow produced and directed the 1956 remake of this film titled "Back from Eternity." That version starred Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger, Phyllis Kirk and Gene Barry. Expires May 14, 2015. 3. The Pride of the Yankees (1942) -- Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan, Babe Ruth, Dan Duryea, Elsa Janssen, Ludwig Stössel, Virginia Gilmore, Bill Dickey, Ernie Adams, Pierre Watkin, Harry Harvey, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, Bill Stern. Uncredited actors: Dane Clark, Frank Faylen, James Westerfield. Directed by Sam Wood and produced by Samuel Goldwyn, this film biography is about the great career and tragic end of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig (1903-1941). The drama earned 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Cooper) and Best Actress (Wright). The movie's only Oscar win was for Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell). Wright, who co-stars as Gehrig's steadfast wife Eleanor, also was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and won for her performance in the 1942 Best Picture winner "Mrs. Miniver." Wood received a nomination for Best Director, but it was for another film, "Kings Row." Cooper as Lou Gehrig The biopic's screenplay was co-written by Jo Swerling, Sr. and Herman J. Mankiewicz (Ben's grandfather), based on an original story by sportswriting great Paul Gallico. Mankiewicz, who shared a 1941 screenwriting Oscar with Orson Welles for "Citizen Kane," later wrote the screenplay for "The Pride of St. Louis" (1952), which starred Dan Dailey as Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean. Gehrig, who was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1939, joined the Yankees in 1923 and played 17 seasons for the ballclub. He was a member of six World Series championship teams, had a .340 career batting average, slugged 493 home runs and drove in 1,995 runs. From 1925 to 1939, he appeared in a record 2,130 consecutive games. The mark was surpassed during the 1995 Major League Baseball season by Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles. Gehrig's career tragically was short circuited when he contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal disease marked by the gradual degeneration of the nerve cells in the central nervous system. It has since become known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." "The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth": The film re-creates Gehrig's unforgettable farewell address at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. The most famous line from the speech was ranked No. 38 on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time. Frequent collaborators: Cooper and Brennan appeared together in five other films: "The Cowboy and the Lady" (1938), "The Westerner" (1940), "Meet John Doe" (1941), "Sergeant York" (1941) and "Task Force" (1949). They wore the pinstripes, too: Several of Gehrig's Yankees teammates appear as themselves, including Ruth, who preceded "The Iron Horse" in the team's batting order for many seasons. The Oscars and sports: This was one of the rare sports stories to be nominated for Best Picture. Among the others: "Rocky" (which won the top Academy Award for 1976) and "Chariots of Fire" (the 1981 Best Picture winner). The most recent baseball movie to receive a Best Picture nomination was "Moneyball" (2011), which starred Brad Pitt. Expires May 14, 2015.

If you meant real-life prime ministers, then what immediately comes to mind is Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" (2011). Streep's portrayal of Thatcher (1925-2013) -- from her early days in politics to her declining years suffering from dementia -- earned the American star her second Academy Award for Best Actress (and third Oscar overall).

How about the supercool PM from "Love Actually" (2003)? Hugh Grant appears as David, the new prime minister who stands up to the headstrong U.S. president (Billy Bob Thornton as a cross between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush). His memorable comments about all good things from the U.K. would make me proud to be British if I had been born there. The PM also shows off his dancing skills during what he believes to be a private moment at No. 10 Downing Street.

TCM On Demand for May 7, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Crime of Passion (1957) -- Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray, Virginia Grey, Royal Dano, Robert Griffin, Dennis Cross, Jay Adler, Stuart Whitman, Malcolm Atterbury, Robert Quarry, Gail Bonney, Joe Conley. Directed by Gerd Oswald ("A Kiss Before Dying"), this crime drama stars Stanwyck as a San Francisco newspaper columnist who leaves the business to get behind the career of her police detective husband (Hayden). Here's a clip in which Stanwyck's character, Kathy Ferguson Doyle, goes to great lengths to meet an influential police inspector's wife (Wray). This is one of 21 films Turner Classic Movies is showing to salute the career of Hayden, Star of the Month for May 2015. Expires May 13, 2015. 2. Crime Wave (1954) -- Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia, Charles Buchinsky (Charles Buchinsky), Jay Novello, Ned Young, James Bell, Dub Taylor, Gayle Kellogg, Mack Chandler. Uncredited: Timothy Carey, Iris Adrian, Hank Worden, Fritz Feld, Harry Lauter. Directed by André de Toth ("House of Wax," "Pitfall"), this black-and-white crime had the alternate title "The City Is Dark." The drama stars Hayden as Detective Lt. Sims, a savvy Los Angeles homicide investigator who tries to track down three escaped prisoners from San Quentin. The fugitives (De Corsia, Buchinsky and Young) are suspected of several gas stations robberies, including one in L.A. that resulted in the shooting of a police officer. Sims correctly guesses that the men are in town to contact a former prison inmate (Nelson), who has been working hard to stay on a straight path. Expires May 13, 2015.

TCM On Demand for May 7, 2015 The following feature is now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 3. The Killing (1956) -- Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Ted de Corsia, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook, Jr., Joe Sawyer, James Edwards, Timothy Carey, Kola Kwariani, Jay Adler, Tito Vuolo, Dorothy Adams, Herbert Ellis, James Griffith, Cecil Elliott, Joseph Turkel, Steve Mitchell, Mary Carroll, William Benedict, Charles R. Cane, Robert Williams. Uncredited: Art Gilmore (narrator), Rodney Dangerfield. This black-and-white heist film marked the auspicious feature debut of director Stanley Kubrick, a longtime photographer par excellence for Life magazine. Kubrick wrote the film's screenplay -- with contributions by crime novelist Jim Thompson -- based on the 1955 novel "Clean Break" by Lionel White. The 27-year-old filmmaker would go on to shoot many other landmark motion pictures, including "Paths of Glory" (1957), "Spartacus" (1960), "Lolita" (1962), "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964), "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) and "Barry Lyndon" (1975). Hayden stars as Johnny Clay, an ex-con with a seemingly foolproof plan to rob a racetrack of an estimated $2 million during a big day of horse racing. Among his accomplices are a police officer (De Corsia), a couple of racetrack employees (Cook, Sawyer) and a sometime professional wrestler (Kwariani). Two women are indirectly involved with the heist. Clay's girlfriend Fay (Gray) is preparing to get away with the mastermind and his share of the money on a flight to Boston. Meanwhile, Cook's character, racetrack cashier George Peatty, blabs everything to his two-timing wife Sherry (Windsor). In turn, she tells her lover Val Cannon (played by Edwards, five years before he became a brooding neurosurgeon on TV's "Ben Casey"). Memorable quote: "Ehh. What's the difference?" -- Clay, resignedly delivering the last line in the movie. Hayden would work with Kubrick again in the Cold War satire "Dr. Strangelove," in which the actor played the maniacal U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper. Gilmore, the movie's narrator, was a longtime familiar voice for an estimated 3,000 movie trailers and numerous television shows -- including "The Red Skelton Hour" from 1954 to 1971. He also served as the narrator of "Highway Patrol," the syndicated television series that starred Broderick Crawford and aired from 1955 to 1959. About an hour and six minutes into the film, be sure to look for Dangerfield -- a decade before he attained stardom as a standup comic. He can be seen standing in a crowd of onlookers during a pivotal barroom disturbance just as backup security guards rush out of a nearby door. Clay stands beside the door, waiting for a chance to enter it moments later. The late Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013, added Kubrick's debut feature to his "Great Movies" list in 2012. "Considering that it cheerfully abandons any attempt at chronological suspense, 'The Killing' is an unreasonable success," Ebert wrote. "The prize will be $2 million--the day's expected total receipts at the track. This heist is worth a lot of planning, and Johnny has gone the distance. In his mind his plan is superb. All it depends upon is everybody doing exactly what is required of them, exactly when and where. The word that occurs to me in describing Kubrick's approach to Johnny and the film, is 'control.' That may suggest the link between this first mature feature and Kubrick's later films, so varied and brilliant. "In his films, he had the plan in his mind. He knew where everyone should be and what they should do. Such a perfectionist was Kubrick that he knew every theater his films were opening in, and the daily grosses. It's said that a projectionist in Kansas City received a phone call from Kubrick in England, informing him that the picture was out of focus. Is that story apocryphal? I've never thought so." Expires May 13, 2015.

TCM On Demand for May 6, 2015 The following feature is now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Agatha (1979) -- Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton, Helen Morse, Celia Gregory, Paul Brooke, Carolyn Pickles, Timothy West, Tony Britton, Alan Badel, Robert Longden, Donald Nithsdale, Yvonne Gilan, Sandra Voe, Barry Hart. The biggest puzzle in the life of mystery writer Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was what really happened to her when she disappeared for almost a fortnight in December 1926. Although the world-renowned novelist never talked about it publicly, this film by director Michael Apted ("Coal Miner's Daughter," "Gorillas in the Mist") comes up with some fictionalized explanations. Redgrave portrays the missing celebrity author; Hoffman plays the American reporter who tries to track her down. Dalton, who would succeed Sir Roger Moore as British superspy James Bond during the next decade, co-stars as Christie's cold fish of a husband, Archie. The movie's screenplay was written by Kathleen Tynan and Arthur Hopcraft, based on a story by Tynan. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design (Shirley Russell). Hoffman received the Oscar for Best Actor of 1979, but it was for his performance in "Kramer vs. Kramer." T.A.R.D.I.S. trivia: A Season 4 episode of British television's current "Doctor Who" series -- titled "The Unicorn and the Wasp" -- teamed the Time Lord (David Tennant) and his companion (Catherine Tate) with Christie (Fenella Woolgar) just before her disappearance. Not surprisingly, an alien presence was involved. The 2008 episode also featured an appearance by Felicity Jones, a 2014 Academy Award nominee for her performance in "The Theory of Everything." This was one of "Bob's Picks" -- selections by Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne -- for Tuesday, May 5, 2015 and early morning hours of Wednesday, May 6, 2015. Expires May 12, 2015. 2. And Then There Were None (1945) -- Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez, Mischa Auer, Sir C. Aubrey Smith, Dame Judith Anderson, Richard Haydn, Queenie Leonard, Harry Thurston. Directed by René Clair, this first film version of Dame Agatha Christie's mystery novel revolves around a party of 10 strangers who wind up together at a remote island mansion. They soon discover they are being eliminated one by one. The film has been remade several times, including a 1965 version that was titled "Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians' " with a cast that included Hugh O'Brian, Shirley Eaton, Fabian, Leo Genn, Stanley Holloway and Wilfrid Hyde-White. Expires May 12, 2015. 3. Torrid Zone (1940) -- James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Andy Devine, Helen Vinson, Jerome Cowan, George Tobias, George Reeves, Victor Kilian, Frank Puglia, John Ridgely, Grady Sutton, Paul Porcasi. Directed by William Keighley ("The Adventures of Robin Hood," "George Washington Slept Here"), this adventure tale stars O'Brien as the wily manager of a Central American plantation who works overtime to keep his talented foreman (Cagney) from departing for the States. Sheridan co-stars as the brassy American entertainer with a talent for winning money in card games. Memorable quote: “You and your 14-carat oomph!” -- The movie's final line, said by Nick Butler (Cagney) to Lee Donley (Sheridan). The line was an in-joke, a reference to Sheridan's much-publicized nickname (which she disliked) -- "The Oomph Girl." Expires May 12, 2015.

Although Charles Durning was in "Tough Guys," it was Eli Wallach who replaced Adolph Caesar.

The Lord should sound like a Dame... ...or this two-time Academy Award winner and current Member of Parliament.

Author Michael Blake, whose 1988 novel "Dances with Wolves" was turned into an Oscar-winning motion picture two years later, has died at the age of 69. The film -- produced and directed by its star, Kevin Costner -- won seven 1990 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Blake received an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film, hailed by critics for its sensitive treatment of Native Americans, was the first Western since "Cimarron" (1930-31) to win Best Picture honors. http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-michael-blake-20150504-story.html#navtype=outfit

TCM On Demand for May 5, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) -- Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, Arthur Franz, Philip Bourneuf, Edward Binns, Shepperd Strudwick, Robin Raymond, Barbara Nichols, William F. Lester, Dan Seymour, Rusty Lane, Joyce Taylor, Carleton Young, Trudy Wroe, Joe Kirk, Charles Evans, Wendell Niles. Director Fritz Lang's final American film is a drama starring Andrews as a novelist who runs afoul of the law -- deliberately. His character, Tom Garrett, becomes engaged to Susan Spencer (Fontaine), daughter of newspaper publisher Austin Spencer (Blackmer). Susan's father is leery of the local district attorney (Bourneuf), a politically ambitious prosecutor who has won several death penalty-related cases through circumstantial evidence. As a result, Austin Spencer persuades Garrett to manufacture false evidence in the unsolved murder case of an exotic dancer named Patty Gray. The game plan is to ensure that Garrett is charged with her murder, so that any circumstantial evidence case against him can be disproved by photographic material held by the publisher. Unfortunately, neither Garrett nor Austin Spencer ever considers Murphy's Law, which states: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." The film was remade in 2009 by fimmaker Peter Hyams ("Capricorn One," "2010"). It starred Michael Douglas, Jesse Metcalfe and Amber Tamblyn. Lang (1890-1976), the Austrian-born movie pioneer responsible for the classic German films "Metropolis" (1927) and "M" (1931), fled Germany in the early 1930s after the Nazis took control. He went on to have a productive career directing films in America ("Rancho Notorious," "The Big Heat"), but returned to Germany after 1956 for the final stages of his career. Expires May 11, 2015. 2. I Want to Live! (1958) -- Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel, Wesley Lau, Philip Coolidge, Lou Krugman, James Philbrook, Bartlett Robinson, Gage Clarke, Joe De Santis, John Marley, Raymond Bailey, Alice Backes, Gertrude Flynn, Dabbs Greer, Stafford Repp, Gavin MacLeod, Wendell Holmes. Uncredited: Jack Weston, Peter Breck, Hope Summers. Hayward won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this true story of Barbara Graham, who was executed for murder by the State of California in a gas chamber on June 3, 1955. Directed by Robert Wise ("West Side Story," "The Sound of Music"), the film also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (Don Mankiewicz and Nelson Gidding). Mankiewicz, the uncle of Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, died on April 25, 2015 at the age of 93. His death occurred six months after the passing of his brother Frank -- Ben's father -- who served as the press secretary for U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy's ill-fated 1968 presidential campaign. Hayward's Oscar win came after four previous nominations. She had been cited for her lead performances in "Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman" (1947), "My Foolish Heart" (1949), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952) and "I'll Cry Tomorrow" (1955). Expires May 11, 2015.

It apparently is going to get worse very soon. There have been reports that the health of blues great B.B. King (no relation to Ben E.) is deteriorating.

I have a feeling Michaels realizes that, too. A lot of newbies got the axe after last season. I kinda like Cecily Strong, who was the celebrity headliner at the recent White House Correspondents' Dinner. And Taran Killam, who's married to Cobie Smulders of "How I Met Your Mother" fame, is growing on me.

An easy one. Charlton Heston as the voice of The Burning Bush in "The Ten Commandments."

That's almost as annoying as watching current episodes of "SNL" on demand and finding they've cut out all of the musical segments.

The "Dueling Banjos" reference reminds me of my all-time favorite "Saturday Night Live" skit. You can't see it here, but just imagine both John Belushi (on the right) and Peter Boyle dressed as Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" as they take turns spouting famous Brando movie lines.

TCM On Demand for May 4, 2015 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Ambrose's First Falsehood (1914) -- Mack Swain, Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Charley Chase, Cecile Arnold, Dixie Chene, Billie Brockwell, Grover Ligon, Josef Swickard, Ted Edwards. Uncredited: Billy Gilbert, Slim Summerville, Helen Carruthers. This short film is a silent comedy from movie pioneer Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios. It stars Swain as the title character, who makes the mistake of sending his wife (Durfee) a message declaring that he is off on a business trip by train. Actually, his plans are to spend time with some of his pals. His deception begins to unravel, however, when the train -- the Frisco Flyer -- reportedly is involved in an accident with fatalities. The film was directed by F. Richard Jones, whose 1929 drama "Bulldog Drummond" was nominated for two Academy Awards. Sennett starred in a 1909 version of the same story titled "A Wreath in Time," directed by D.W. Griffith. Expires May 10, 2015. 2. The Blue Dahlia (1946) -- Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Tom Powers, Hugh Beaumont, Howard Freeman, Don Costello, Will Wright, Frank Faylen, Walter Sande. Uncredited: Noel Neill, Anthony Caruso, Mae Busch. Mystery writer Raymond Chandler, who created private detective Philip Marlowe, received an Academy Award nomination for this film noir drama's original screenplay. Ladd stars as Johnny Morrison, a Naval officer returning home to the Los Angeles area after wartime duty in the Pacific Theater of World War II. He discovers that his wife Helen (Dowling) has been unfaithful and leaves her. When she winds up a homicide victim, he becomes the No. 1 suspect. Directed by George Marshall ("Destry Rides Again," "How the West Was Won"), this was the third screen teaming of Ladd and Lake. Among the other films in which they appeared together: "This Gun for Hire" (1942), "The Glass Key" (1942) and "Saigon" (1948). Memorable quote: "Just don't get too complicated, Eddie. When a man gets too complicated, he's unhappy. And when he's unhappy, his luck runs out." -- Leo (Costello) to business partner Eddie Harwood (Da Silva), owner of The Blue Dahlia nightclub. This was Costello's final film appearance. He died at the age of 44 on October 24, 1945, six months before the film was released. Meeting cute: Morrison is picked up on a rainy night by motorist Joyce Harwood (Lake), who happens to be the estranged wife of the man involved with Helen Morrison. Black and Blue: The film's title inspired the popular name of the 1947 L.A. murder case in which the body of 27-year-old Elizabeth Short was found mutilated in the Leimert Park neighborhood. "The Black Dahlia" mystery was never solved. Author James Ellroy's 1987 novel, "The Black Dahlia," was turned into a 2006 film with the same title, directed by Brian De Palma and headlined by Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. Expires May 10, 2015. 3. Mickey Spillane's 'Kiss Me Deadly' (1955) -- Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy, Marian Carr, Marjorie Bennett, Mort Marshall, Fortunio Bonanova, Strother Martin, Mady Comfort, James McCallion, Robert Cornthwaite, Silvio Minciotti, Nick Dennis, Jack Elam, Paul Richards, Jesslyn Fax, James Seay, Percy Helton, Leigh Snowden, Jack Lambert, Jerry Zinneman, Maxine Cooper, Cloris Leachman, Gaby Rodgers, Ben Morris (radio announcer). Uncredited: Charles Lane, Leonard Mudie, Bing Russell. Meeker stars as Spillane's indestructible private detective Mike Hammer, who stumbles onto the most important case of his career. And it all begins when he picks up a frantic blonde (Leachman, in her film debut) clad only in a trenchcoat on a highway. Directed by Robert Aldrich ("What Ever Happened to Baby Jane," "The Dirty Dozen"), the detective drama was based on Spillane's 1952 novel, but transplanted from New York to Los Angeles. Aldrich's version, adapted by screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides, also has a more explosive ending. Three of the movie's co-stars -- Leachman, Martin and Helton -- appeared in the 1969 Paul Newman-Robert Redford buddy Western "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Former beauty queen Leachman, who turned 90 on April 30, 2016, has evolved into one of our most-honored actresses. She won the 1971 Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance in "The Last Picture Show." She also holds the acting record for most Primetime Emmy wins with eight, and owns a Daytime Emmy. Leachman continues to be active on the screen and on television. Expires May 10, 2015. 4. The Proud Rebel (1958) -- Alan Ladd, Olivia de Havilland, Dean Jagger, David Ladd, Cecil Kellaway, Harry Dean Stanton, Thomas Pittman, Henry Hull, Eli Mintz, John Carradine, James Westerfield, King (as Lance the Dog). Uncredited: Mary Wickes, Percy Helton. Michael Curtiz directed this post-Civil War tale about a former Confederate soldier (Ladd) who moves to Illinois with his 10-year-old son David. The boy (played by Ladd's real-life son David) stopped speaking after he witnessed the tragic death of his mother. As a result, his father hopes to find help for him in the North. This was David Ladd's second film with his father. They first appeared together in "The Big Land" (1957). In 1973, the younger Ladd married the South Dakota-born actress Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor. She began using her married name professionally and -- as Cheryl Ladd -- became a sensation in 1977 when she joined the cast of the red-hot ABC detective series "Charlie's Angels." The Ladds' marriage lasted until 1980. Their daughter Jordan became an actress and starred in numerous movies, including "Never Been Kissed" (1999), "Cabin Fever" (2002) and "Grindhouse" (2007). Expires May 10, 2015.