Frank and Ava with Rico Simonini as Frank Sinatra and Emily Elicia Low as Ava Gardner: Explosive real-life relationship between the two temperamental Hollywood stars is the focus of Michael Oblowitz’s indie drama. In a brief q&a, Frank and Ava co-screenwriter and Frank Sinatra portrayer…
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Actress Sandra Dee was a hugely popular – and curious – cross between wholesome teen Deanna Durbin and tormented teen James Dean, going to school, catching waves, falling in love, and/or becoming pregnant out of wedlock in several movies of the late 1950s and early…
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Ann Sothern ca. early 1940s. Although never a superstar, MGM contract actress Ann Sothern was billed above the title in comedies, dramas, and musicals during the 1940s and early 1950s – along the way, getting to sing the classic Oscar-winning ballad “The Last I Saw…
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Lena Horne. Lena Horne movies: Velvety-voiced singer generally relegated to specialty numbers during heyday of the Hollywood musical Had things been different, it’s anybody’s guess whether or not three-time Grammy winner Lena Horne, Turner Classic Movies’ “Summer Under the Stars” performer of the day (Aug.…
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Hal Prince. Out of his record-setting 21 Tony Awards, eight were as Best Director of a Musical for the following: Cabaret (at the 1967 ceremony), Company (1971), Follies (1972, with Michael Bennett), Candide (1974), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Evita (1980),…
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Howard Keel in Dallas with Donna Reed: late 20th-century mainstream resurgence of two former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stars. On Season 8 (1984–1985) of CBS’s hit TV soap Dallas (1978–1991), 1950s MGM contract actor-singer Howard Keel, previously a “guest star” on the show, was hired as a regular…
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The Music Man with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones: Independence Day movies. Numerous Hollywood musicals have attempted to capture that elusive, reality-averse quality known as “Americana-ness” – e.g., Yankee Doodle Dandy, Meet Me in St. Louis, In the Good Old Summertime, On Moonlight Bay, By…
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John Paul Jones with Robert Stack: 4th of July movies. Although every sign indicates that 2019 is the new 1984, those in the U.S. shouldn’t fret: TCM’s 4th of July movies will transport viewers to the distant past, when there was no climate crisis (or…
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Howard Keel at the height of his career in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Jane Powell. In his autobiography, Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business, Howard Keel refers to the making of Stanley Donen’s 1954 sleeper blockbuster Seven Brides for Seven Brothers…
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Howard Keel MGM musicals: Texas Carnival publicity shot with Esther Williams. In his MGM musicals of the 1950s, Howard Keel was almost always paired with small, girl-like leading ladies – Betty Hutton, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Blyth, Jane Powell – which at times made the broad-shouldered,…
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Jane Powell. Jane Powell movies: MGM actress in musicals of the 1940s & 1950s Jane Powell, the youthful star of a series of lighthearted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer color comedy-musicals of the 1940s and 1950s is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month in June. Undeniably a pleasant…
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Howard Keel musicals at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: Box office roller-coaster ride. Brought to Hollywood in 1948 to star in MGM’s then popular musicals, stage performer Howard Keel seemed poised to reach major stardom after the impressive international success of his first movie at the studio, George Sidney’s…
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Howard Keel publicity shot ca. 1950. A prominent name in Hollywood musicals in the first half of the 1950s, Howard Keel was seen – and heard – as baritone-voiced, larger-than-life characters in a quintet of the best-liked entries in the genre: Annie Get Your Gun,…
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The Women remake with Meg Ryan. In the old Margalo Gilmore (on Broadway, 1936), Norma Shearer (1939), and June Allyson (1956) role, 1990s Hollywood Sweetheart Meg Ryan plays a materially comfortable but romantically discomfited Wife & Mom in Diane English’s 2008 The Women reboot. Writer-director…
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Solo: A Star Wars Story with Alden Ehrenreich. The 10th live-action feature in the now 41-year-old Star Wars movie franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story attempts to explain the background of Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) – first portrayed by Harrison Ford back in 1977. Veteran…
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Black Panther movie with Chadwick Boseman. Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther is the first big-budget release centering on a black superhero – played by Marshall and Message from the King actor Chadwick Boseman, T’Challa a.k.a. the Black Panther is the ruler…