LsDoorMat
-
Posts
5,181 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by LsDoorMat
-
-
I don't know. Must be a TV thing. But any woman who got
too close to one of the Cartwrights was pretty much a goner.
A very close family.
Yep, an odd plot device of Bonanza is that none of the Cartwrights fell in love with women who lived. All three of Ben's wives died. Little Joe actually got married in the last season and she died of leukemia. The episode about Vera Miles - I think that was somebody that Hoss fell in love with. Adam actually left town, so who knows what kind of luck he had away from the unlucky Cartwrights.
-
1
-
-
The minister looks to me like a young Lew Ayres,
maybe fulfilling some of his CO duties.
Actually, to me, the minister is the spitting image of Michael Douglas as a young man. But then Michael was only 14 at the time, so I know that is not true.
-
LOL. It does look like him. MISSIONARY MAN..........
It could be the light, but the hair color looks too light to be Robert at that age. If it is him, why don't they credit him as the pastor rather than just "man"? Vera Miles and John Gavin are still alive. I wonder if they remember him in the film or if they ever knew him.
-
How long was The Defenders on? I vaguely remember it...
It was on for four seasons, 1961-1965. Only season one is on DVD via Shout Factory. I don't remember it at all and I was old enough to remember it when it was on the air.. My parents are very conservative and I can see them banning this show from their TV back when I was a kid, thus I would have never known about it.
-
I have been going through PSYCHO looking for Osborne, and I can't spot him to save my life. Outside chance he's the minister, I guess.
But it's strange that his credits for this and SPARTACUS only appeared on iMDB in the last few months -- they weren't there a year ago. They're usually pretty good at vetting material over there but once in a while somebody will get through making stuff up. I imagine that 'The New York Times' ran that factoid just because of the iMDB listing, and if it was made up there is little chance of finding out for sure. I hate to jump on the loathsome 'fake news' bandwagon, but this could be an example of that phenomena.
This will probably end up like the old myth about Jack Benny's supposed cameo in CASABLANCA -- I guess we'll never know.
You might be right. Robert was pretty open about his past acting career, and you'd think if he had been an extra in such big films as Spartacus and Psycho he would have mentioned that himself at some point.
P.S. - I've read Jack Benny's autobiography - his daughter filled in pieces that were missing because he was working on it when he died - and he addressed the Casablanca rumor and said he was not in the film. He did do films for Warner Brothers, but by the time Casablanca came around he was a big radio star and only did occasional films and then only when he was clearly recognizable, not as an extra.
-
J. Pat O'Malley (1904–1985) had 235 film and TV acting credits over forty years starting in 1943 in "Lassie Come Home". However, he primarily did small parts in television rather than film.
-
I just watched the first three episodes of the first season of "The Defenders", a TV show from the early 60s. E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed star as a father and son team of defense lawyers. I can imagine the stink this might have made when it first came on the air 56 years ago. For example, episode one deals with mercy killing. There is a love interest for Robert Reed's character in the first episode, but then she disappears, at least in the next two episodes. Maybe the writers wanted to concentrate on the legal issues feeling that they had their hands full just with that. In just the first three episodes Jack Klugman, Gene Hackman, Hugh Herbert, and William Shatner have had guest appearances. Also, right out of the gate, the two main characters have their personas down, and the writing is just superb. Not a wasted or boring minute in any of the first three episodes.
Season one was a blind DVD buy for me, and so far the glowing reviews have proved to be true.
-
1
-
-
I, too, hope TCM reissues "Conversations with Robert Osborne" as well as putting "Private Screenings" and other interviews he's done on DVD. I'm kicking myself for not buying "Conversations" when it was first released. So many DVDs, so little money. sigh
I would also love for "The Essentials", with or without the accompanying films, to be offered on DVD, too. If this isn't possible, I hope TCM reairs "The Essentials" on Saturday nights. I was late to the party and was only able to see the last few years.
Streaming would be better than nothing if DVD releases of all of the above are out of the question, although, not with their current app because my cable provider does not participate.
I wish TCM would concentrate on films and Mr. Osborne's legacy rather than auctions and wine.
I second that last sentiment. I get the film festivals. There's nothing like the communal experience and the big screen. I can't afford the TCM festival since I live on the east coast, but I try to make Capitolfest every year, and it is a blast if you hanker the older films that are off the beaten path. There are six private screenings on DVD - Robert Osborne, Liza Minelli, Mickey Rooney, Mitchum & Russell, Jane Powell, and Esther Williams. Unfortunately Robert's and Liza's are on the out of print "Conversations" DVD. If you want to know which DVDs the others are on type "private screenings" into the TITLE SEARCH of filmaf.com and the titles of the private screenings and the DVDs that they are on as extra features should pop up.
-
Thanks for the recommendations, Lawrence. I have been extremely impressed with Washington in virtually every film in which I've seen him, including Flight, The Equalizer, Man on Fire and Training Day, along with Safe House. I look forward to catching up with the others.
Powerful, powerful actor who seems, from what I'm seen, to specialize in giving effectively understated performances in films with big, often explosive, scenes around him. He is the collected calm in the centre of the storm.
Take a look at him as that cool pilot in the middle of a plane diving crisis in Flight while his co-pilot beside him is falling apart. But later in the same film he is wonderful as a man in denial that he has a drinking problem. He lies to himself as much as he lies to others.
There's a scene in which he asks a stewardess to not tell authorities that he had been drinking that day of the forced plane landing. She is angry at his request because he's asking her to lie. Denzel looks at her, his face strained, saying nothing, but there are involuntary quivers in his chin. Those quivers beautifully convey his stoic character's emotional vulnerability at that moment. No doubt about it, Lawrence, this Denzel Washington is one great actor. I can't wait to see what else is in store in some of his other films.
The weird thing about this -and I agree with you about Denzel Washington's acting talent - is that when Norman Lloyd was asked about Denzel Washington when they worked together on "St.Elsewhere" and if he saw signs of the greatness that was to come, Mr. Lloyd said he saw nothing out of the ordinary in Washington's acting abilities. I believe this was Ben M. talking to Mr. Lloyd at the TCM Classic Film Festival.
-
TCM put out a "Conversations with Robert Osborne" DVD in 2015. It's price today, for a new copy from a scalper....ahem...third party seller? 164 dollars and change! The DVD originally sold for about 20 bucks Pretty soon these ghouls - that is what they are - will be asking thousands for a RO bobble head.
The original conversations disc only had the Robert Osborne tribute at the film festival, Robert's own private screening, Liza Minelli's private screening, and three of the film festival interviews that aired during the tribute.
TCM should put out a DVD set of just the private screenings and maybe the first intro he ever did on TCM for Gone With the Wind.
-
I am so glad that since I got my first DVD recorder back in June 2007 I've been recording all of Robert's interviews and wrap arounds, particularly when he had guest programmers or special guests from various film archives. I've got some even older ones on VHS tape, but due to the bulky size of that format my recording was more sporadic back then. This morning I pulled out the "March of Time" shorts TCM aired in 2010, and there was Bob doing the intros. It's comforting.
-
2
-
-
A counter to the 100+ club is Mary Morris, who has only one film credit, "Double Door" in 1934. She starred in the Broadway play, agreed to reprise the role for Paramount, and never did another film.
Norman Lloyd has only 68 film and TV acting credits in spite of his incredibly long life, I'm assuming because of the HUAC blacklists of the 1950s.
Lew Ayres has 155 TV and film credits.
Gilbert Roland who never quite made the A list has 144 TV and film acting credits.
Lilian Gish had 121 TV and film acting credits in spite of the fact that she made only three movies after her final silent film, "The Wind", for the next 15 years. She lived to be 100.
-
1
-
-
Double Door (1934)
When your fortune owns you rather than vice versa, (7/10)
The main character here is Mary Moore as Victoria Van Brent, the oldest sister and dominatrix in a family whose only remains are herself, younger sister Caroline, and baby brother Rip. They live together in an old creepy mansion full of reminders of the past but devoid of the present.
Victoria - age unspecified but clearly middle aged- always dresses in black, emotionally batters younger sister Caroline to the point where she is just a shadow of a human being, and has got baby brother Rip convinced that his late father is always looking down on him, and that his wishes are Victoria's wishes.
Let me straighten out one little matter. There is a synopsis of this film going around that says that the film is about Victoria threatening people with a secret torture chamber in the house. There isn't one, so if you are expecting Vic to go mad and don the red robe of the inquisitors and put somebody on the rack, then you will be sorely disappointed.
The film opens on Rip's wedding day to a "commoner" - a nurse named Ann. Her union to Rip will issue in new blood and life to the family. Victoria has her own idea as to who Rip should marry, and it isn't Ann, whom she assumes is after the family money.
Now this had me wondering, why did Victoria wait until AFTER the wedding to take any action to get rid of Ann? Wouldn't it have been easier if Rip was just beginning to see Ann to nip things in the bud? I guess Victoria figures she can get rid of Ann just as easily after she marries Rip as she could before. Now for a woman to never marry in 1910 - the time this film was set - was a big deal at that time. But Victoria doesn't seem to hate men, she just loves control. The family money just affords her that control. Marriage at the turn of the 20th century for a woman would mean ceding control to her husband, and she was not about to do that.
Victoria starts out with passive aggressive stuff to put a rift between Ann and Rip, but when that doesn't work, she turns to a more severe and permanent solution.
This film has great atmosphere, even if it is a bit claustrophobic. If it didn't say Paramount I'd swear it was a Universal horror with its secret panels and dark corridors. One funny thing about the film - you get a big dose of the thoughts and feelings of everybody in the cast except Victoria, who is the central character. Maybe this is to dehumanize her so the audience can look upon her as pure villain - I know I did.
One bit of trivia - This film was based on a play that was very loosely based on the wealthy Wendel family of 19th and early 20th century New York. The last generation -only the third in fact - consisted of one brother and seven sisters who never married. The brother ruled over the sisters with an iron fist, would not let them socialize or marry because he thought heirs would decentralize their fortune, and did not allow electricity or even a phone into the house. So they all lived together in gloom, prisoners of their wealth until the last sibling died in 1931 leaving a fortune worth 100 million in that day's money - two or three billion today. Ironically, with no direct heirs 2303 people came out of the wood work from all over the world claiming to be heirs including an entire village in Germany named Wendel and some actual distant cousins in Czechoslovakia. Eventually, just about every claim was dismissed by the courts. You see, brother John forgot one thing - if nobody knows what you HAVE been doing, then nobody knows what you HAVEN'T been doing either, thus there were many people among the fortune hunters claiming to be illegitimate children of the recluse siblings.
I'd recommend this old spooky film if it ever comes your way.-
2
-
-
I've posted this link before, but this is an article from the Baltimore Sun, Oct. 31, 1993, talking about TCM launching. Its mission statement, before it ever was on the air, was to show movies from all eras, including modern classics. Is AMC (Always More Commercials) worried at the time? Nah.
-
1
-
-
The first theatre movie I remember being at? I don't know the name, but I was two and was with my grandmother and mother and apparently was so bored I began crying loudly. They had to leave the theatre with me. I remember the episode, but not the movie. This would have been 1960.
The first movie I remember seeing by name? I was eight in 1966 and on the weekends KTVT in Dallas showed horror movies. The film I remember seeing was "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". That thing scared the s**t out of me. I couldn't sleep and wondered when my dad came home from work if he was real dad or "pod dad". Of course I kept this to myself or else no more horror movies for me.
I also remember seeing "Macabre" at about the same time, it didn't scare me that much but it left an impression. Jim Backus, the millionaire on Gilligan's Island, as tragic romantic figure? A dead blind woman with her daughter possibly in her arms in her coffin at the mortuary? Wild stuff.
-
I don't know if she appeared in the list I linked to, but there was a character actress named Esther Howard who had 110 film credits to her name, usually bit parts. Her imdb bio says that her husband died in 1926 and that she never remarried or had any children. Someone named Ken Howard bothered to put a tribute to her in the TCM review section for 1948's "The Velvet Touch", saying that she was his great aunt. I wonder if it was THE Ken Howard of "The White Shadow"? Ken was born in 1944 and Esther was born in 1892, so the ages are right. The tribute was written in 2010, and Ken died in 2016.
-
1
-
-
A list of prolific actors and actresses from imdb that does not include the porn stars.
-
1
-
-
Robert Osborne was a lover of cinema. I loved his lucid and insightful introductions to TCM films. And his "Bob's Picks" would showcase lesser known pictures. He'll be missed.
I'm glad I recorded one of his "Bob's Picks" in 2008 to DVD. He picked 1929's "The Squall" which is a simply dreadful early talking picture and one of the reasons Myrna Loy left Warner Brothers as soon as she could and never looked back. Bob's introduction was absolutely hilarious and he admitted it was a guilty pleasure. I could definitely see that "irreverent" side of him that his family spoke of in his obituary.
-
2
-
-
Thursday, March 16
8 a.m. Chasing Rainbows (1929). With Bessie Love and Jack Benny. Let’s see, if Jack was 39 in 1968 that would make him a newborn in this one.
The last time TCM showed this, they did it without the stills inserted that explained the missing Technicolor scenes. Without the stills to explain what is going on, the middle of the film is quite a muddle. Up to that point every time it was ever aired the stills were inserted.
-
1
-
-
Charley Chase has 277 acting credits, I think all in shorts. Since he only lived to be 46, that's quite an accomplishment.
Charles Bickford had 112 TV and film credits. He was never "uncredited" as far as I know since he was recruited by MGM to be a star.
Ray Milland had 176 TV and film credits.
Buster Keaton has 148 credited TV and film roles over a 50 year period. There are probably more that are not listed as Buster did industrial shorts for companies that still get unearthed every now and then.
imdb has a section on most prolific actors/actresses, but they are all porn stars (by imdb's own admission) and I don't think honoring them was this thread's intent.
-
John Wayne had 178 acting credits to his name, 19 of them in uncredited roles in silent films.
Ward Bond has 271 credits, but I think that includes his 133 episodes of Wagon Train and all of his uncredited roles. I don't know if he would get to 100 if you took those out.
Grant Withers has 201 TV and film appearances over just 29 years. Many of those were uncredited roles.
-
1
-
-
First a tribute to Robert by a young person on youtube:
And for all of you aching for a mystery brought on by the mystery of Sarah Osborne, something to ponder from the same youtube author:
Why does so much weird stuff go on in Utah anyways?
-
One of the challenges of TCM Programming Challenge #35, "The Long And The Short Of It" asks participants to select as their SOTM, an actor or actress who has appeared in 100 or more feature films. In concert with that challenge, I thought I would start this thread, honoring some of those often unheralded actors whose names seldom, if ever, appeared above the credits but whose 100+ performances rang true every single time.
Regis Toomey
Regis Toomey has a special connection to me since he was not only born in Pittsburgh, PA (my home town) but also attended the University of Pittsburgh and was a great friend of my grandfather who attended Pitt at the same time. At the end of their college careers, my grandfather moved on to dental school, while Regis Toomey went to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon) to study drama. In 1928 he appeared in his first film which, coincidentally was the first all-talking gangster melodrama, "Alibi." Toomey appeared in over 150 films from 1929 to 1987. With his Irish "tough guy" looks, he generally appeared in mysteries and gangster films and was often the victim of a violent death -- to his way of thinking -- way too early in the film! Toomey once noted that he was killed on film so often that he should be voted the "Morticians' Man Of The Year." His film credits include: "Other Men's Women," "G-Men,""Murder On The Blackboard," "Meet John Doe" and "The Bishop's Wife." Regis Toomey worked in film and television up to nearly the end of his life, dying in 1991 at the age of 93.
Tomorrow Saluting Mary Treen.
I always liked Regis Toomey in "Graft", a little known Universal from 1931. It also stars Boris Karloff as a gangster.
-
1
-
-
I remember this picture from the article about his apartment in New York. What I always wondered was how the floor held up under the weight of all of those heavy book cases, assuming he is not on ground level. I actually knew somebody who made a library on the second floor of their home and had rows of book cases in it. The floor busted in the middle one day while the guy was at work.
-
1
-
Holiday wishes: films you'd like to see on TCM in the new year
in General Discussions
Posted
"The Third Voice" (1960) by Fox. This thing is rated 7.1 by imdb, and when I ran across an old article on Bob Dorian of the old AMC he mentioned it was one of his obscure favorites. FX Retro never plays this, but apparently Fox knocks copies of it off of youtube even though it has never been released in any video format. I'm very curious.