Academy to celebrate Vanessa Redgrave in London Nov 13
Nov
7
2011
This Sunday in London, Meryl Streep, Ralph Fiennes, Joely Richardson, James Earl Jones and Eileen Atkins will honor the magnificent British actress, Vanessa Redgrave, in the first-ever European tribute to an actor by the Los Angeles-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The evening is dedicated to celebrating Redgrave’s elegant and soulful dramatic range ...
Malcolm McDowell: “I love Cagney.”
Sep
17
2011
Charming the knickers off his audience by telling witty tales of Stanley Kubrick and Lindsay Anderson, actor Malcolm McDowell earned extra points by showing respect to the great James Cagney. The occasion was the 40th anniversary screening, at the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills, of Kubrick’s exuberant, brilliant, thought-provoking ...
Party on, Fay McKenzie!
Jul
13
2011
Fay McKenzie, the hard-working child actress of the prior post, now 93 years old, is perhaps best known for her uncredited appearance in the party scene of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” in which she alternately laughs, then cries, into a mirror. McKenzie’s husband, comedy writer Tom Waldman, was a frequent collaborator of Blake Edwards. He wrote ...
Fay McKenzie, child actress … in 1924! 1
Jul
12
2011
Supplementing the Academy’s “Summer of Silents” series, which last night screened the marvelous early Western feature film, “The Covered Wagon” (1923), was programmer Randy Haberkamp’s extremely delightful interview with Fay McKenzie. Born in a trunk in 1918, the still funny and alert actress was the daughter of the actors Robert McKenzie and Eva McKenzie. All ...
Fabulous summer silent film series @ the Academy screens “The Covered Wagon”
Jul
5
2011
“The Covered Wagon” (1923) will be the next film screened in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Summer of Silents” series on Monday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. I’m going. Having lived in California for 21 years, I’m fascinated by stories and images of the western expansion, ...
Una grandissima actrice: Sophia Loren honored at the Academy
May
5
2011
It was a cultural mash-up, a love connection, and a be-in of epic proportion as Billy Crystal, at the request of honoree Sophia Loren, hosted a fabulous and hilarious tribute to the screen love goddess Wednesday night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. They laughed, they cried, and then they cried ...
Fun pre-Oscar events at the Academy
Feb
4
2011
Beginning on Tuesday, February 22, through Saturday, February 26, the eve of the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present five public events celebrating the 83rd Academy Awards. Shorts! Hosted by Kenneth Branagh, actor, writer, director, producer and four-time Oscar nominee. Features screenings of the 2010 Oscar-nominated films in the Animated ...
Pauline Wagner, 100, remembers James Cagney
Sep
2
2010
“The man you saw on the screen was certainly not Jimmy Cagney,” said former studio-system contract actress Pauline Wagner, 100, following a screening of “White Heat” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Monday. Cagney was “one of the nicest persons in Hollywood,” so unlike Cody Jarrett, the homicidal psychopath with a mother ...
Julius Garfinkle’s high integrity 5
Aug
2
2010
Blacklisted actor John Garfield, né Julius Garfinkle, was the subject of a curtain talk at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences following a screening of his enthralling boxing movie, Body and Soul (1947), part of the Academy’s screenwriter-driven film-noir series. Garfield’s unswerving dignity as a Jewish boxer (improbably named Charlie Davis) dominates the ...
As a dad, Alan Ladd walked tall 5
Jul
20
2010
Read this story on The Huffington Post. “He got pegged as being short, 5’2″. But he was actually 5’6″ or 5’7″,” said actor/producer David Ladd, himself a very tall man and one of actor Alan Ladd‘s four offspring to work in the film industry. Ladd spoke about his father following the absolutely fantastic screening of ...