bathing in the glory

penetrating

75 191 2011 hike! the beautiful 'boy with the green hair' grew up into one heck of an actor and today is his birthday. dean stockwell turned 75 which may seem like a big number but it is not when compared to the amount of work the man has done. 191 screen credits!

“I did some drugs and went to some love-ins. The experience of those days provided me with a huge, panoramic view of my existence that I didn't have before. I have no regrets.”

hipster forever. wiki says: He is also a friend of musician Neil Young and designed the album cover art for American Stars 'N Bars. Together, they directed Human Highway, which Stockwell also co-wrote. The title track from Young's 1970 album After the Gold Rush is based on the title of a screenplay written by Stockwell.

not only has this actor given us lovely performances ('sons and lovers' is my personal fave) but he is tight with shakey!


photos: don't mess with dean/with actress paticia gozzi/handsome devil/best album/worst cover

fun times ahead

albert finney. don't you just adore this guy? he was one of the terrific actors who gave 'kitchen sink drama' its most memorable roles when he appeared in 'saturday night and sunday morning.' since then he has risen to the top making tons of great films.
look what is about to take place:

Quartet (2012) synopsis: Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred are in a home for retired opera singers. Every year, on October 10, there is a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday.

Director: Dustin Hoffman
Writers: Ronald Harwood (based on the play by), Ronald Harwood (screenplay)
Stars: Maggie Smith, Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay

maggie! albert reunited with tom yet again! in 1998 they made 'a rather english marriage' for british television. it was wonderful. i now have a new interest in dustin hoffman.

photos: albert finney with tom courtenay in 'the dresser' (a masterpiece)/with french actress anouk aimee

3 women

gosh, what a photo. Judy Garland welcomes Leslie Caron and Elizabeth Taylor to the set of A Star Is Born.

how one chooses to live

greta garbo tried to make it clear to the public that although her famous line from 'grand hotel' was 'i want to be alone' what she truly desired was to be LEFT alone. clearly the woman could have lived anywhere. she had invested her hollywood earnings well and was in possession of an amazing art collection. still, she chose to live on the upper east side of manhattan.

kidding around

tear me up

kate winslet may not be the beloved cate blanchett but kate with a 'k' is seriously admired. i once lived in a cottage in north london alongside a family that kept four arabian horses. i would stroke the horses and watch them get fed food (that looked a lot like the food i eat) and it smelled so nice to be around their stalls and see them out in the field.

'destiny' was a huge dark brown arabian who was truly majestic, especially when she rolled on her back in the grass. she'd stand up, shake herself off and looked stunningly regal. 'saleema' was a smaller arabian who won my heart. no matter how groomed she'd be, in no time at all she'd have hay in her bangs, grass on her back, and the gal just reeked of triumphant freedom.

that's how i see cate/kate. they are both phenomenal actresses. blanchett was so funny in 'coffee and cigarettes.' she glows with a golden light. she is surely brave but winslet is FIERCE.


image from 'revolutionary road'

the virtue of being bad

the not so bad guy must be a complex role to take on as you need to lose sympathy while still having the ear of the crowd while making an appeal. actor olivier martinez was perfectly cast as the third party who comes between diane lane and husband richard gere in 'unfaithful', a film i really like. olivier is ... well, ask a woman friend. he also managed to groove his charming way into the arms of dame helen mirren in 'the roman spring of mrs. stone.' the thing is, the women come to regret it. this is because behind all the velvety charm and soft eyes, olivier's innate (screen) cruelty/creepiness rises to the top and once the wicked foam touches the skin, it's very unpleasant.

while watching a thriller (something i rarely do) starring good guy liam neeson i had my 'not so bad guy' revelation. in the movie 'the other man' liam tracks down the bane of his existence only to find that the man his wife fell for is really not so bad at all. that's because he is played by antonio banderas, a guy who has a little cloud of humility hanging overhead like a silent reminder to count his blessings.

it seems as if antonio was once a little seed in the palm of the great director pedro almodovar and as the years went by he blossomed into a major star, playing every sort of character. in all the films i have seen him in, this guy never loses his spark of sweetness, a similar quality i find in jean-paul belmondo. it leads me to think that the not so bad guy is more interesting than his really bad brother.

banderas has 80 screen credits and about 6 of those are yet to come out.

photos: banderas/martinez

love thyself

where the boys are

ann-margret and the army.

carnally yours

who knew? not me! they met again in the film 'tommy.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THbvc3lx2pk

viva la margret

she landed fresh from sweden like a comet. ann-margret's third screen appearance was in '63 as the crushed out teen in 'bye bye birdie.' shortly after that she sizzled the heck out of Viva Las Vegas with elvis, who claimed he'd met his match in her. 79 screen credits and stll going strong, this woman couldn't shake her sexy image off if she hid in a cardboard box. the gal is simply lit from within.
my fave ann-margret movies are 'the cincinnati kid' and 'carnal knowledge.' i'd would gladly sit through anything she did.


perhaps not a role to have engraved in one's memory but still pretty impressive: in 1963 her voice appeared in the classic t.v. show The Flintstones as Ann-Margrock!