Executive Suite Articles

Walter Pidgeon, Greer Garson in William Wyler's Mrs. Miniver I mentioned dignified, gentlemanly, and usually a little dull Walter Pidgeon the other day, wishing he had been cast as Jane Powell's grandfather in A Date with Judy (1948) so he could (more or less) have dated Carmen Miranda on-screen. Had that happened, you could forget Greer Garson — and Tracy-Hepburn, Ladd-Lake, Loy-Powell, Flynn-de Havilland, Garbo-Gilbert, [...]

Nina Foch, best remembered as an acting teacher and for her role as Gene Kelly's "sponsor" in the Oscar-winning MGM musical An American in Paris (1951), died of complications of long-term myelodysplasia, a blood disorder, on Friday, Dec. 5, at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Foch was 84. According to the Los Angeles Times obit, Foch became ill Thursday while teaching "Directing the [...]

Considered by many one of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's lesser films, The Barefoot Contessa is a classy, intelligently written, and generally well acted morality tale. Inspired by the life of Rita Hayworth (née Margarita Cansino), the film's plot revolves around the tragic fate of Maria Vargas, a great, earthy beauty who becomes a Hollywood movie star. Besides Jack Cardiff's beautiful cinematography and Mario Nascimbene's melancholy score, [...]