wouldbestar

Sadly, the suicide reports have been confirmed; he hanged himself. I found the rest of the account hard to believe but since I'm not a party to his family life, I'll not say anything more except it makes what happened seem even sadder.

Drago: This Gator and Creature fan thanks you for that photo and hilarious quip. As I've said before the Creature films have strong Florida ties and give you a great view of it from back then. He's my all-time favorite "Movie Monster". Julie Adams did marry Ray Danton but according to one WB actor's book he would often conveniently forget that fact when women were around. Perhaps that's why their long marriage finally broke up.

Why are the police so certain that it was suicide? Is it because of his depression and previous attempt? If it were by gun or drugs that's fairly conclusive but Asphyxiation can and often is be accidental. The news reports are silent on this. Some people are saying "What do you expect? That's what Hollywood does to you". Perhaps entertaining gave him an outlet for his demons and without it he would have given up-if he did-long ago and we'd never have heard of him. Perhaps like Richard Jenni, another "sad clown" who checked himself out of life, it seemed to be too much to bear. News reports talked about the failure of The Crazy Ones and that he was doing sequels to Mrs. Doubtfire and the museum movies. Bringing back characters from long ago hits and so-so series sounded to me like a career in trouble. Thank you, fellow posters, for putting a different slant on that for me. RIP, Mr. Williams.

I was mentioning those 50's color sets to a cable rep yesterday. When I told her they cost 1K and were only about 21 inches she couldn't believe it. Yesterday I got a 40 inch LED for $240; four years ago a 32 was $360. That's progress, I guess. If I remember correctly the Tate murders were on a week-end. I heard about it from a TV in the next apartment and turned on my radio until I found a news station with the information. I ended up doing a term paper for a journalism course I was taking on the media coverage.

Doherty on Leo Genn: I'll second that! Wow, has August been a month for great actors and we're only a third of the way in. So that's what Charles Farrell looked like before My Little Margie. I know Bronxgirl appreciated the Tom Tyler photo and after seeing Double Harness this morning the Ann Harding photo is even more intriguing. Bring on the rest of the month!

Actually, I don't think Clint Eastwood was all that bad in Paint Your Wagon which was what I thought of first when I saw this thread. Lee Marvin, on the other hand, could not carry a tune in a bucket-probably the only thing he couldn't do. Of course both were overshadowed by Harve Presnell, who couldn't hit a false note if he had to. I had the blessing of hearing him on stage in St. Petersburg years ago and the memory still seems like yesterday.

I just found a story on-line that might make his passing seen a bit easier to take. I know it did for me. Early reports all said that he was "found dead" at his home as if he had died alone. An AP correction stated that he was with family and friends when it happened. It’s nice to know he went out the way I think most of us would want to; surounded by those we love and who love us. If this isn't quite a silver lining it's a lot more comforting than the original reports.

I don't think the ending to Meet Me in St. Louis was that lame but encouraging to those folks who didn't grow up in NYC, LA or any of the "glamour" cities. Esther/Judy's line is "Here in St. Louis! Right here in our own home town!" They didn't have to move to NYC to find the big stuff, it came to them. I'll bet the folks in Knoxville felt the same way when they got the World's Fair and it was considered a success. If the Fair scenes were hokey maybe they should have ended it going there as was suggested but that line still needed to be in it. It makes you look around and appreciate your home town a bit more.

Hamradio: Thank you so much for giving us the link to Jane's article. Most of this was news to me and very much appreciated. She presented her account of what happened without bitterness towards those who've maligned her and accepting responsibility for her part in the incident even though the offense was not intentional. I've been taught that when one admits a wrong, expresses sorrow for it, and asks forgiveness while forgiving those hurting him/her, the onus passes from that person to the "wronged parties" if they do not accept. This is a paramount tenant of Christianity, which Jane embraced some years ago and is a belief claimed by many of her detractors. If I am to live by these tenants I must give her the benefit of doubt as I did Charles Colson after Watergate or Newt Gingrich when he converted to my faith-that was a hard one-after several marital scandals. There are always two sides with the truth usually in the middle with elements of both. She is an excellent actress and deserves her day. I'm definitely watching the AFI tribute tonight. And for the record I'm a moderate who disagrees with her as much as I agree. This is about fairness, not partisanship.

I'm watching this now and enjoying it more than I thought I would. Garner is a worthy successor to the other actors who have played Marlowe and the production is first rate. I love seeing so many 60's actors whose work I like and the story's engaging. Glad I taped it. H. M. Wynant as mobster "Sonny Steelgrave"? As any Wiseguy fan knows this is the character Ray Sharkey played in the first arch that kept us watching and then wondering what would come after Sonny met his end (the answer was Kevin Spacey's "Mel Proffit."). So far, so good!

Thank you, midwestan and cigarjoe, for answering my question. So Sam and Grace's relationship covers twelve years and we do not see her at the film's end at the hospital after her near suicide. I wondered if they get back together. The film is unusual; perhaps it will grow on me.

I got a phone call near the end of Buddwing when he went in to see Grace. By the time I got back the movie was over. Would somebody e-mail me what happened so as not to spoil it for others? I agree with Garner that it was a mess despite the pedigree but I stuck with it and want to see if made sense at the end. Thank you.

Garner told about this meeting with Gordon in his book; evidently the gangster from NYC who did time in San Quentin and the country boy with a temper who had his share of scrapes became friends as in the story. Gordon and Kathleen Crowley were the only two performers he worked with on Maverick that he mentioned in the book. She could have kept her looks, I'd have traded almost anything to have her deep, smokey voice. Gordon was indeed a writer. He went from The Wasp Woman to Black Patch to Tobruk which got him an Oscar nomination. This also helped keep wife Lynn Cartwright-whose characters were often just as tough as his-and him in front of the screen as well.

I've not heard anything about a funeral or memorial service being or to be held. I have an idea he wouldn't have wanted anything elaborate but would like friends and family to gather and remember him fondly. Oh, to be the fly on the wall there!

Oh my stars! I had no idea that so many people like this movie as much as I do and for many of the same reasons. I missed it because of more pressing matters but will tape it the next time I can. Encore Westerns is running the first twelve Maverick episodes in tribute to James Garner and I was reminded that the first one, War of the Silver Kings, was a direct knockoff of this movie with a few additions and one minus-no woman. It’s filmed on the same set, has silver mining as the main theme and a similar ending. Here, the drunken judge cleans up his act and helps defeat the “Silver King” and his crooked lawyer. There’s even a "Mike McComb", played by Leo Gordon, who’s King’s henchman until he becomes friends with Bret and changes sides ensuring he’ll be in several more episodes. Of course this is all a bit more humorous than SR, if you’ve not seen it, do so when you can. I always thought this movie and Flynn's work were sorely underrated am sorry that it flopped moneywise . It should have been in color to show off the scenery and Ann Sheridan's hair and gorgeous costumes. The ending is a bit clumsy but didn't we really want to see Mike and Georgia back together even if the beginning was based on a crime? This story played like a Frank Yerby novel-yes, I managed to sneak a couple of them past the folks-and seems to be lasting longer. Ray: Thank you for the score. It was one of the things I most remembered when I first saw the movie back in 1960 and then not again for 25 years. In the early 60's there was a WB film, Black Gold, which used the score to prop up an okay film. I've never seen in outside the theater so it's either one that corroded in the can or got lost in the vaults.

Creature from the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature are partly Florida products. An educational theme park, Marineland, was where the creature escaped and Helen/Lori nelson was kidnapped off the deck of the Lobster House, then a trendy Jacksonville restaurant. The St. John's riverfront looks much different today but was very scenic as you can see. I was ticked off for years that my father would not let us watch filming as U-I wanted us natives to do. Edward Sissorhands was made just across the county line in Land O' Lakes; they practically painted the entire town to suit the producers. And the only reason to watch The Punisher is to see Tampa as it was ten years ago. The little diner was called The Goody-Goody, was the first drive-in restaurant in the South, and I worked there over 30 years ago. Castle's apartment building, originally The Union Hotel, was a red-bricked wedge-shape building and across from Union Train Station. Both are now gone. I know other films were set in the area as well.

Jacksonville has a MeTV station but the programs are not the same as here in Tampa. I suspect that each station is free to substitute some of the shows with what they think will appeal to its audience. Up there Thriller and The Hitchcock Hour are not on weekday nights-make that mornings-and some prime time programs are different as well. I guess you have to take what you can get.

What interesting photos! First we get Yul Brynner and Eugene Mazzola-bet he’s heard plenty of oil jokes-really looking like the father and son they played. Then there’s Woody Strode in a scene from Sergeant Rutledge showing us in that one pose what his character was all about. Sinatra and Welles are the real “odd couple”. Finally the young Walter Brennan plus all that info about his family and why we working folks and veterans should be grateful to then. Good work everybody!

Thank you for the Hank Worden photo. I always looked for him in the Ford/Wayne films but could never put his name and face together. Then I saw him in an early Lone Ranger episode and the mystery was solved. I always wondered if he was really as slow-witted as he seemed on screen until I learned he was college-educated and realized what a great actor he was.

I remember the night The Rockford Files won the Emmy for "Best Dramatic Series". Who were they kidding? This was the funniest show on the air not because of the forced laughs of the sitcoms but the way that the situations and dialogue ebbed and flowed to make almost any one of them humorous. A case in point was when Rockford's father, Rocky, saw something he shouldn't have and was being chased by the perps who wanted to kill him. It was fun watching Rockford worrying about him and trying to get him to lay low which was what Rocky was forever doing to him to no avail. Unlike Maverick, where "Pappy" was only seen once and known only by his quotes, we got to see father and son work out their loving if testy relationship each week. This reality is what made the show so watchable. I've heard that the grand jury episode-one of my favorites-led to some changes in how they operated in California. If so this is a real lasting legacy that Garner must have loved.

Garner hated Mr. Buddwing and A Man Called Sledge. I've not seen the first but thought the second not as bad as he did so I'll watch to see if I agree. Most of the rest I've seen but want to again. They should have included his Private Screenings interview which was one of the best and most enjoyable. My only complaint was that it ended too soon so I was delighted when he broke down and wrote his book. That, too, was a treat. Reading one of the pieces on him online I discovered that Richard/Dickie Jones and Rosemary Murphy also left us this month. He was Jefferson Smith's page in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and the TV show Buffalo Bill, Jr. and she was allover TV in the 70's and 80's as well as the vicious and crooked roadhouse owner in Walking Tall. This is going to be a long remembrance come December.

The Cid wrote: Want to thank whoever mentioned this. I think that was me. While they do run some vintage TV shows it's mostly all Columbia films so far. For what was a second-tier studio for much of it's time they made a wide variety of films that were low in cost but high in quality. From their Westerns they got one of the best places to have a studio and their films always had great lead and supporting actors on board. Harry Cohn might have been a jerk personally but knew his business. During the 50's Columbia seems to have won or been nominated for "Best Picture" every year. It's on my "favorites" list. Glad you like it !

First off, does Ms. Bronxgirl know about Errol Flynn's San Antonio? Tom Tyler has a big role in that one and you see him in color. He plays an outlaw so you know he'll meet a similar fate as in Stagecoach. In fact he seems to have made a specialty of that particular way of ending-see it and you'll know what I mean. Get TV has Texas on now and Encore had The Man From Colorado on last week. Both star William Holden and Glenn Ford as friends who become enemies when one goes bad and they love the same woman. The thing is that in Texas Holden is the rouge with Ford the nice guy, in TMFC it's reversed with Ford being absolutely despicable as a mentally deranged judge who uses the law to legally kill his adversaries. It shows how versatile both men were and why their careers lasted so long. Claire Trevor and Ellen Drew are the ladies in the triangles with Claire coming out on top-big surprise, huh? Both are great films.

Verna Felton was not only "Mrs. Jumbo" but those nasty old biddies who made her life so hard in Dumbo? That was real talent; I'd never have guessed it. I think she was also 'Aunt Sarah" in Lady and the Tramp. And, od course, there's "Hilda Crocker" on December Bride. She was great in whatever she did.

I just heard about this. He’d been in declining health for a while so this was not unexpected but dreaded nonetheless. Another actor whose career I watched being born and was there at the end. I almost can't imagine his not being around. The first time I saw him was on the last page of the 1957 Fall Preview edition of TV-Radio Mirror. His photo took up the whole page. He was in a dark jacket with a light turtleneck and smiling from ear to ear. He had me right then. The caption said he was starring on a new series, Maverick, Sunday nights on ABC which crushed me because we didn’t have anything but CBS in Jacksonville then. When the show became such a hit they made room for the summer reruns and found space on the fall schedule for seasons 2-3 (Yes, the networks were civilized enough back then to do things like this.) When it starting running on Encore Westerns I finally got to see the early ones I’d missed and later ones from the time I was I was in other places living elsewhere. Mom never liked the show-she thought it was immoral-but we kids sure did.) I was delighted when he made it in films and had more success in TV. He deserved the Emmys he won and that Oscar nomination. From his book I found he was very critical of himself and his films and often rated his work or movies much lower than I did. He was honest about himself and definitely not swell-headed. Having a lasting family life for over 50 years was the best revenge for the awful childhood he experienced. Thank you, Sir, for sharing yourself with us. The world is a little bit emptier today.