TopBilled Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 It's a pet peeve of mine that we tend to forget so-and-so and only talk about so-and-so again when they die. So I wanted to create a thread about talented entertainers (actors and singers) who are currently still with us, that deserve a bit of discussion. Ten Women with interesting personal and professional lives: (listed alphabetically) CANDICE BERGEN. So many things. Daughter of a radio star. Sister to a dummy. Model. Movie star. TV star. French director's wife. Murphy Brown. Beautiful woman. CHER. It was once written that after a nuclear war, we'd still have cockroaches and Cher. You can have the cockroaches. I'll take Cher. DORIS DAY. There will be lots of sadness when this legendary lady passes. But I'm glad she's still around! ELLEN DEGENERES. I will admit, not one of my favorite celebs. But she's led a fascinating life. And her success can't be denied. I mean, we're talking huge success, for someone who faced a lot of obstacles. ANGELA LANSBURY. I'm afraid that people over-associate her with Jessica Fletcher. But come on, she's played hundreds of characters and done them all with precision and incredible skill. She's a legend. BETTE MIDLER. Many different phases in the Divine M's career. RUTHLESS PEOPLE is my favorite comedy from the 1980s. She's hilarious in it! And I love the song 'From a Distance.' DOLLY PARTON. Iconic on so many levels. One of the best songwriters in American popular music. GRACE SLICK. Recently I watched some Starship videos from the mid-to-late 1980s. There she was a woman pushing 50, in a boy band, turning out one top ten hit after another. She defied ageism. And that was just one chapter in a long and illustrious career. Her personal life could fill books. Oh and what a voice. One of the greats. BETTY WHITE. I hope she lives to 100. Don't you? KIM ZIMMER. Probably the best American soap opera actress of all time. She spent 21 years and over 5000 episodes playing Reva Shayne on Guiding Light. Kim did it all as Reva. Thank goodness she got the last scene when the show ended . She deserved it. In her autobiography, she says she wanted to earn Emmys to give one to each of her kids. She has three kids. She earned four Emmys. So the extra Emmy is for her husband/agent. Ten Men with interesting personal and professional lives: RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN. Closeted for years, finally came out. The king of the TV miniseries for quite a few years running. GEORGE CLOONEY. Who doesn't like him? Nobody. Right. MICHAEL J. FOX. I think he's sort of in a class by himself. NORMAN LLOYD. I grew up watching him on St. Elsewhere. I had no idea he'd done a thousand other things or that he would live to be a thousand years old. BOB NEWHART. You don't even need to mention his first name. Everyone knows who he is. JACK NICHOLSON. A friend of mine was working as an extra in movies, trying to get her Screen Actors Guild membership. She needed so many words/lines on screen to qualify. She was working on a Jack Nicholson movie. I think it was a restaurant scene. She had no lines, was supposed to bring the food to his table. He found out she still wasn't a member of SAG, so he deliberately ad-libbed lines with her in that scene so she could have dialogue and qualify. We're talking a big star helping out a nobody. She never forgot it. And neither have I. NEHEMIAH PERSOFF. He's 99 as I write this. I never saw a performance from him that didn't strengthen a weak script or make a good script even better. Why isn't he more widely recognized? SIDNEY POITIER. He's always been true to himself. And true to us. TOM SELLECK. Star. No other word for him. Star. ROBERT WAGNER. In the first paragraph of his obituary, we know Natalie will be mentioned. But his life has a lot of interesting phases. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones" -- Julius Caesar, Act III part ii (I'm never all that brushed up on my W.S., but this is one of my go-to's) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Margo: Eve evil, Little Miss Evil....But the evil that men do...how does it go, groom? Something about the good they leave behind. I played it once in rep in Wilkes Barre..... Bill: You've got it backwards. Even for Wilkes-Barre. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhov Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 My favorite living star is probably Sheryl Lee. Besides TP of course, my favorite role of hers is as the prostitute in the film version of Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 At the height of his fame and star-power (around '73), a reporter once asked Robert Redford how he felt about all the adulation from his many legions of fans and admirers. "Where were they when I needed them?" said he. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det Jim McLeod Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 33 minutes ago, TopBilled said: So I wanted to create a thread about talented entertainers (actors and singers) who are currently still with us, that deserve a bit of discussion. I agree on these: Doris Day- multi talented, very underrated. She could do drama (Love Me Or Leave Me) comedy (Pillow Talk) and one of the greatest singing voices ever (No one else can do "Secret Love" or "It's Magic") Grace Slick-one of the most powerful voices in rock'n'roll, also a striking raven haired beauty, could have been a movie star if she wanted. Bob Newhart- the master of low key humor and created a whole new style of comedy with his telephone routines in which he would react to something that we cannot see or hear. One of the few comics who had not one but two classic sitcoms. Sidney Poitier-one of my favorite actors, great at quiet strength and dignity. I have given "10" ratings to "No Way Out", "To Sir With Love" and "A Patch Of Blue". I would like to add: Jon Voight- great actor that started off in good hearted naive good guys, later became a character villain. I gave "10" ratings to "Midnight Cowboy" and "Deliverance" Ellen Bursytn-Actor's Studio graduate and one of the best."The Exorcist" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" are some great examples. She still has that brilliant acting ability as I found out when I saw her in a little seen indie called "Nostalgia" (2018) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted March 6, 2019 Author Share Posted March 6, 2019 28 minutes ago, Det Jim McLeod said: I would like to add: Jon Voight- great actor that started off in good hearted naive good guys, later became a character villain. I gave "10" ratings to "Midnight Cowboy" and "Deliverance" Ellen Bursytn-Actor's Studio graduate and one of the best."The Exorcist" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" are some great examples. She still has that brilliant acting ability as I found out when I saw her in a little seen indie called "Nostalgia" (2018) Yes, those two are worth mentioning. After my original post, Alan Alda came to mind. People tend to overlook the fact he's a good writer and not a bad director. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 James Caan? Kurt Russell? George Segal? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpirose Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Hi Top Billed DIANE MCBAIN, who was one of the most underrated actresses of the early 1960s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted March 6, 2019 Author Share Posted March 6, 2019 19 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said: James Caan? Kurt Russell? George Segal? Yeah. I'm a James Caan fan. Another one from that generation I find fascinating is Bruce Dern. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhov Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 58 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said: Kurt Russell? "Heard he was dead." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasterryjr Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 May I nudge TCM Programmer and see if they will consider giving Gene Hackman a day in their Summer Under the Stars tribute? Please TCM Programmer and thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagebrush Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 I'd like to add a lady's name who is almost always synonymous with a man's name: Marge Champion. As I write this, she is 99 years old. She hardly ever gets mentioned unless it is along with her 2nd husband, the wonderful Gower Champion. But Marge has had an entire career outside of her partnership with her famous ex-husband. She has been an actress, choreographer, author and lecturer. In her mid 90's, she appeared in a documentary about the golden age of film. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 Jill Clayburg? Donald Sutherland? Kris Kristofferson? Blythe Danner? Robert Duvall? Sam Neill? Leslie-Anne Down? Gary Busey? William Katt? Jan Michael Vincent? Veronica Cartwright? Victoria Principal? Some of these luminaries may have passed on, I wouldn't know. You're probably aware of my opinion on 'obit' threads; they're such a drag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted March 7, 2019 Author Share Posted March 7, 2019 2 hours ago, sagebrush said: I'd like to add a lady's name who is almost always synonymous with a man's name: Marge Champion. As I write this, she is 99 years old. She hardly ever gets mentioned unless it is along with her 2nd husband, the wonderful Gower Champion. But Marge has had an entire career outside of her partnership with her famous ex-husband. She has been an actress, choreographer, author and lecturer. In her mid 90's, she appeared in a documentary about the golden age of film. Thanks for mentioning her. She's someone who inspires others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Somnambula Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 On 3/6/2019 at 9:01 AM, TopBilled said: It's a pet peeve of mine that we tend to forget so-and-so and only talk about so-and-so again when they die. So I wanted to create a thread about talented entertainers (actors and singers) who are currently still with us, that deserve a bit of discussion. Great topic! I don't think anyone has mentioned Cloris Leachman, but I love her. She can be in serious roles and be totally believable but also play comedy better than anyone, no matter how outrageous. If anyone has mentioned her, she deserves to be mentioned twice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted March 8, 2019 Author Share Posted March 8, 2019 19 hours ago, CaveGirl said: Great topic! I don't think anyone has mentioned Cloris Leachman, but I love her. She can be in serious roles and be totally believable but also play comedy better than anyone, no matter how outrageous. If anyone has mentioned her, she deserves to be mentioned twice! Thanks CG. Glad you mentioned Cloris Leachman. Someone else who deserves recognition is Hal Holbrook. In 2017 he sat down and did a lengthy interview with the Television Academy Foundation. https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/hal-holbrook#interview-clips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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