Arthur Askey: For decades, the British comedian was a vaudeville, radio, and television celebrity in his home country. Never an international name, Askey was also featured in a handful of…
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Frank and Ava movie stars Rico Simonini as Frank Sinatra and Emily Elicia Low as Ava Gardner: The explosive real-life relationship between the two temperamental Hollywood stars is the focus…
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Magnificent Obsession book by Anthony Slide. Whereas Lloyd C. Douglas’ 1929 Magnificent Obsession book dealt with a playboy’s urge to restore the eyesight of the woman he had accidentally blinded,…
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Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips. Ken Russell’s 1977 Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino is based on the dubious 1966 bio (“Was he a great lover – or a sham?”)…
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Jimmy Edwards. Best known for his radio and television work – Take It from Here in the former medium; Whack-O! in the latter – British comedian Jimmy Edwards was seen,…
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Antihero Ricardo Cortez in Symphony of Six Million, with Irene Dunne. Directed by Gregory La Cava, this 1932 family/romantic melodrama may have been one of Cortez’s favorite among his own…
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How to be a Latin Lover: Ricardo Cortez, formerly known as Jacob Krantz from a working-class family of Austrian/Hungarian immigrants that had settled in New York City, succeeded in restyling…
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“Latin Lover” Ricardo Cortez, who went on to play a series of all-American scoundrels and criminals, in addition to similar unsavory types of other nationalities. Although never as big a…
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Comedy actress Alice Howell on the cover of film historian Anthony Slide’s latest book: Pioneering funky-haired performer “could have been Chaplin” – or at the very least another Louise Fazenda.…
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A history of sound in film: Hal Roach looks on as technicians install Vitaphone equipment in his studio screening room, ca. 1928. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) A…
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Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman: The ‘Notorious’ British (Hitchcock, Grant) and Swedish (Bergman) talent. British actors and directors in Hollywood; Hollywood actors and directors in Britain: Anthony Slide’s…
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Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond: Final Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder collaboration. Publication of Charles Brackett diaries quashes gay rumors and reveals screenwriter-producer’s troubled relationship with his…
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John Travolta in the Scientology-inspired movie ‘Battlefield Earth.’ From John Travolta to Bob Dylan, from Ed Wood to Orson Welles: ‘The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time’ Phil Hall’s The…
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Drew Denny. Drew Denny discusses The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had with My Pants On Filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter, actress, screenwriter Drew Denny’s first feature film, the partly autobiographical The…
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D.W. Griffith Father of Film, controversial figure. To say that the movies wouldn’t be what they are today without D.W. Griffith is probably inaccurate. I mean, someone – or “someones”…