jdb1

> I agree on Brent. He seemed to have two > expressions....bored and sniffing bored. > > > Roland Young is a not major actor who does a nice job > in The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Here is a > movie in which a character actor was promoted to lead > role, and does a darned fine job of it. LOL! 'Sniffing bored' - that's a good one! I'll think of it from now on every time I see Brent. Congratulations! You are the first person anywhere who ever caused me to use 'LOL!' Roland Young was a good one. He was charming in "Ruggles of Red Gap," and managed to be stiff-upper-lip-British and cute at the same time. No easy task. He was good in Upper- and Working-Class British roles. This brings to mind a Principal Character Actor not previously mentioned (as far as I recall) -- Charles Laughton. I think he's one of those 'love him or hate him' actors. I think he's wonderful, but many people I know can't bear him.

> FRank Morgan has been good in every film I've seen > him in. > > Wasn't he though? As were the actors who played > Auntie Em and Uncle Henry. I've caught their > performances in quite a few films and they were good, > solid performers. I imagine that is why they were > chosen. > > A counterpart to modern day is the character actor > Stephen something or other, who was on a talking head > show last night. He was the insurance guy that Bill > Murray kept meeting in Groundhog Day, and he > has been in 170 films!!!!!! He is now in an indie > type film, and so is advertising it, but meanwhile, > here is a current actor whose name I STILL don't know > but who is getting lots of work! > > And this is why I like character actors and hate Tom > Cruise. Hey, Stoneyburke - come over to our "It Takes Character" thread in Your Favorites. We are lovers of character actors. Tell us what you know - we'd love to hear it!

> Allow me to add Richard Jaeckel to the list. His > movie career consists almost all in the western or > war movies but he had a lengthy television career as > well. > > He seems especially good at playing nasty young > gunfighters in his 1950's westerns. For example "3:10 > to Yuma", "The Gunfighter", "The Violent Men" also in > "Sands of Iwo Jima" and "The Dirty Dozen" among > others. I'm with you - I always liked Jaeckel too. He was one of those guys that was "in everything," or so it seemed to me. I recall seeing him in things from the late 40s/early 50s wherein he looked about 16 years old. He had a very long movie career, but I understand his later life was not so good.

> Blending into the background, that's quite an > accomplishment for Brent, supposedly he was a member > of the IRA and a wanted man in Ireland, at least > that's from some biographical accounts of him that > I've read. -Susan No -- really??? Wow. Talk about hiding in plain sight! At any rate, I really don't think a leading player should be background material. Then again, the bigwigs of Hollywood had some pretty strange ideas about what was beautiful/musical/appealing. I suppose we'd be bored and/or overwhelmed if they were all supernovas all the time.

I have seen that not very good version. Why do they DO things like that!! But I'm sure I've seen Bolger dancing it. I seem to have a vague recollection that it was when I was in college. Maybe a filmed record of the stage performance, or perhaps a re-creation he did for a TV show. Hmmm.

> jdb1, > > Quote: > "What do you think about it? Are there leading > players who should have taken character roles, and > vice versa?" > > jdb1...you ask some really good questions. > > Yesterday, having watched another movie > starring George Brent ("The Man Who Talked Too > Much"), I remain convinced Mr. Brent is not a leading > man. > > George Brent-o-****...please don't misunderstand my > message. I like George Brent. I think George Brent > is a fine actor. I (simply) don't understand the > decision to cast Mr. Brent as a leading man in so > many 1930's and 1940's movies. I wonder, "did George > Brent 'have the goods' on one, or more, of the Warner > brothers?". > > Rusty I have to agree with you about Brent. He's fine as an actor, but I never understood all the fuss, especially in these postings. He was rather bland (kind of soft and passive looking), and not much charisma as a performer. A leading man should have some magnetism, don't you think? Take Edward G. Robinson and Paul Muni as examples. Not much on looks, but plenty of dynamism. However, back then, just as today, there were many actors who strike me as exceedingly average in every way, but who are popular and successful nonetheless. Brent's success may not necessarily have come through blackmail, but because the studios recognized that some people like their stars bland. I guess in part it's the non-threatening aspect that makes people like them. Me - I like a dose of personality/sarcasm/danger/humor in my leading men. I don't mind it in the ladies, either.

I didn't find the storyline any more or less bad than any of the other musicals of the period. What interested me was how much the execution of the musical numbers changed in a few short years. I found the numbers here just too much to take in. The sets and decor overwhelmed the dancers, whose costumes were so very "busy," and the dances themselves (save for Fred & Ginger's numbers) were so static. In just a short time production numbers gained the imagination, style and fluidity we now think of when we think "Gold Diggers" or some other musical of that period. I suppose technological advances in sound, lighting and photography played a part. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this movie - and Dolores del Rio was gorgeous.

> I don't think I've ever seen Hedy Lamarr in a comedy. > What movies showed her comedic talents? That's a joke, right? Lamarr was in several comedies - HER HIGHNESS AND THE BELLBOY, COME LIVE WITH ME, MY FAVORITE SPY . . . Of course, whether they showed her to have any comedic talents is a matter of opinion. I thought she was cute -- no Claudette Colbert/Irene Dunne of course, but not by any means awful.

Hey, by all means take a look at "Lady in the Dark" if it is broadcast - it's a beautiful score. Just 'cause I didn't like it doesn't mean you won't like it either. Anyway, sometimes the "just missed its" are as interesting as the bit hits, especially for us movie lovers. A sort of Monday morning quarterbacking kind of thing. Over this past weekend I saw "Chad Hanna" (on another network) - a lovely family film about a circus in the 1840s, with very beautiful color (made about 1940, I think) (and a very beautifully photographed young Henry Fonda). Guy Kibbee and Jane Darwell were in the principal character parts. I though they were perfect as the gruff but kindly circus master and his wife, the fat lady.

That's one I remember from childhood - must have impressed me somehow and I don't really know why. OK - now: A lion tamer and a football player team up to make a self-contained, but dangerous trek. They are given an unenthusiastic farewell by an excited radio announcer. Along the way, they get unwanted attention from an amorous Mormon widow. Their journey is made more difficult because one of the team has excess emotional baggage to drag along. They part company, but after sage advice from an enemy of Richelieu, they reunite happily in a lot of water. Message was edited by: jdb1

> Gorilla trainer falls for #2 son of a gaucho, > who's been sponging off her family in Florida. BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF - sponge divers in Florida Terry Moore - Mighty Joe Young Robert Wagner - "No. 2" in Austin Powers films Gilbert Roland - "Gaucho" in The Bad & the Beautiful

> Another wonderful character I just saw in Destry > Rides Again, Mischa Auer, is one of my all > time favorites! He played opposite Dietrich in > Destry, Flame of New Orleans, and Seven > Sinners. But, he was also in My Man > Godfrey and The Princess Comes Across, > with Lombard. He was in You Can't Take It With > You, and although I have never seen it, I read > that he was in Lady In the Dark, with Ginger > Rogers. That one was in Technicolor! I wonder if > TCM has ever shown that? I would really like to see > it. GM - I think you'll be disappointed in "Lady in the Dark," mostly because of the usually terrific Ginger Rogers. My impression was that she really didn't understand her character. The production itselfspretty lead-footed. And Mischa Auer was a wonderful character actor, but he's surely no Danny Kaye (who wasn't in this film although he made his mark in the stage production). I agree with the comment about Sally Field's voice - it is rather odd, and has that sort of "catch" in it which can really grate on the nerves after a while. Still a bit too breathless and "Gidget"-y, maybe. Maybe she needs some of what Suzanne Pleshette had for breakfast. No doubting the gravitas there.

I saw the movie "Soapdish" this weekend, and I made the observation that Sally Field is very fine actress, but I thought she played the wrong kind of roles. I think she would be much more believable in strong character roles. She is a rather offbeat looking and sounding actor, and doesn't seem to be able to transcend her petite-ness, as could, say, Joan Crawford. What do you think about it? Are there leading players who should have taken character roles, and vice versa?

> I am SO UPSET!!! Martha Hyer is nothing like Martha > Hyer. I mean Vera Hyer is nothing like Martha Miles! > Oh, I mean! Just forget it! GarboManic, you get so excited!! I never said Hyer was like Miles. I just said reading about one brought to mind the other, since they were both pretty blondes. And if I did find them similar - it would be an opportunity for a dialog, wouldn't it?

> jdb, I believe we're like an old married couple: I > mentioned the movie in the first post of this thread. > Remember? You were reading the newspaper and you > said, "Oh that's nice, honey..." Maybe you weren't > really listening to me? > > "One other movie (and stage) performance that he's > remembered by is 'Where's Charley', the musical > version of 'Charley's Aunt'. The song 'Once in Love > with Amy' from this piece became his theme song." All right, Dear, consider me chastised. As I read your posting, I must have been thinking about the World Cup chances of Brazil - where the nuts come from! My apologies. JDB

Hey, Mongo - your mentioning Vera Miles reminded me of another very pretty blonde - Martha Hyer. I used to confuse the two when I was younger. (I was very nearsighted - Miles and Hyer fans, please don't get upset.)

I don't know for sure if "Brophy" is intended to be the real Brophy -- it's just my impression. I was wondering if anyone else felt that way.

I've done a bit of research yesterday and today on Bolger, and I found, to my surprise, that there is a film version of "Where's Charley" from about 1955. I wasn't aware of that. Apparently, it wasn't very good, or we musical movie lovers would know about it. Also, on IMDB there is a real eye-opener of a posting about Bolger, the man, under the listing for his TV show, originally called "Where's Raymond?" (Get it? Where's Raymond/Where's Charley?) Anyway, this poster has heard some not very nice things about Bolger, although he praises his dancing, and his WWII entertaining of the troops in the South Pacific. Ah, another childhood idol with possible feet of clay!

Yes, well, aw shucks -- Brooklyn DOES produce beautiful and fascinating women! Ever since I was little, I've always liked the dark-haired actresses, especially the ones with light eyes, like Pleshette; that combination seemed very exotic to me. Taylor, of course, Loren, and Dana Wynter, who has been mentioned here as well, among others. There was another actress who was very like Dana Wynter - let's see -- Dawn Adams? She was in a Chaplin movie, maybe KING OF NEW YORK. Does anyone remember her? As for Suzanne Pleshette's voice -- well, that's nothing unusual in Bklyn!

Did it occur to any of you, as it did to me, that the "Brophy" character played by Ron Carey in "High Anxiety" was a homage by Mel Brooks to Edw. Brophy?

This makes me remember all those movies that Donahue, Stevens and others of their ilk were making in the early 60s. They are the equivalent of the "Dawson's Creek" TV shows of today (only with less explicit sex). All the boys and girls in those movies were beautiful, and we swooned for them. I think Connie Stevens and Suzanne Pleshette (another starlet of the day who was in such films, and who was married to Donahue for about three months) are still beautiful.

Not funny at all, really. After all, some of the pretty ones were effective actors, too. And so Shatner got his big break when Hunter's wife/agent demanded more money than Roddenberry had in the budget. The rest, as they say, is history.

This one was asked about on "Information Please" as well. It's got to be "Waterloo Bridge." It was on TCM just recently.

I have very much enjoyed reading this thread, which shows me that everyone has their own ideas about what is beautiful, and that my ideas are just as valid as anyone else's. It's also been useful to me in that many good points have been raised about performers I haven't much cared for in the past, but who I will now look at with a fresh perspective. As we have already discussed - beauty was part of the business of film stars (whether it was overtly physical beauty, or that unnamble "something"), and it does indeed matter what we, the audience, think of them. I hope this thread continues, and that I can learn more from it. It can only help to increase my enjoyment of classic movies. I've already cast my vote for the beautiful Jeffrey Hunter. I'm of the age that was young, impressionable, and prone to crushes when Hunter was constantly visible on the screen. Two others of that era who made my knees weak were Tab Hunter and Troy Donahue. Ah, Troy - in those white slacks! I know there are others out there who were under that spell as well.

Have a care, Sir. I work for a law firm that specializes in copyright and trademark infringement. But thanks for this posting on Bolger. I wonder how many of you out there remember him? He was a wonderful, warm performer, whose iffy looks probably contributed to his being relegated to supporting/comic roles in movies. His "Where's Charley?" was a very big hit on the stage. I have a CD of Broadway classics that has him singing "Once in Love With Amy," a song that is maddeningly easy to get stuck in your brain. It was also his sign-off tune on his TV show. (I'm singing it right now.) If anyone has any Bolger reminiscences, we'd be glad to hear them. Message was edited by: jdb1