a girl called johnny...

and he picked up the phone! now they are tight and patti lee has yet another portrait to hang alongside her mapplethorpe's. team smith!

how does a non actor follow up getting to be pals with johnny depp? here is one answer:

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Patti-Smith-Law-Order-1034304.aspx

art by j. deep

mommie dearest

to garbo one says yes

when garbo lived with actor john gilbert in the hills above the beverly hills hotel (SWANK!) their neighbors were filmmaker king vidor and his then wife eleanor boardman. even in the years of garbo, eleanor was considered the most beautiful woman in hollywood. they all played tennis and i imagine pointed up at whatever stars they could see over their hillside property.

eleanor told a wonderful story to garbo's biographer, barry paris:

greta asked eleanor if she would take her downtown to buy shoes. at the time there were no shops in beverly hills (awesome) so they headed east. garbo tried on 'a thousand pairs' of shoes and finally chose one pair. they left the store with greta wearing the shoes. her friend told her that she would not be able to return them if she wore them out the door. after a few minutes walking garbo said, 'my feet hurt.' she wanted to take them back. her friend said they will not take them back now. garbo replied, 'they will take them back.'

they took them back. eleanor went on to say that after her chauffeur took them back home garbo never said one word of thanks for the afternoon's shopping. eleanor had this to add: "she was selfish but she was fascinating!"

max and his women

photos: maximilian schell/wife natalya andrejchenko/sister maria schell/marlene dietrich/angelina jolie

beauty fades

with the exception of Maurice Chevalier and Marcello Mastroianni, Maximilian Schell is undoubtedly the most successful non-anglophone foreign actor in the history of American cinema.

he began his film career in 1955 and has 102 acting credits. his last performance was as recent as 2009. his gorgeous sister maria is also a world famous actress. another beauty in his life is angelina jolie, his goddaughter.

he directed 8 films, including a documentary on marlene dietrich. in 1970 he starred in and directed 'first love.' for a man who grew up with beautiful women, it is no surprise that the female lead went to one of the most stunning actresses to ever grace a screen. dominique sanda is a personal fave of mine so i took a chance and bought this movie. it was only recently that i got around to watching it.

it seems that when writers (sam shepard) or actors (lots of them) choose to direct, the results are poetic. 'first love' was based on a russian story so the poetry is inherent in the tale of a teenage boy who falls for his new neighbor. i wanted to photograph every scene.

brando moment

“Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis.”

imagine hearing those sessions.

gloria swanson

those eyes! she was always ready for her close-up.

heeere's johnny

while in malmo, sweden i discovered a copy of patti smith's book 'just kids' in swedish! translations are awesome. there was a quote from j. depp above the title. i have read johnny's prose before and wished he'd write a book. i didn't so much understand what he wrote for 'just kids' but i do understand the awesomeness of this:

On the set of the upcoming installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, Smith asks Depp what it’s like to play the iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow. “Somebody once asked [Hunter S. Thompson], ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping, Hunter?,’ and he smacked him.

touche!

tuesday afternoon

"I should do movies worthier of my talent? You’re crazy! Do you think I want success? I refused to do Bonnie & Clyde because I was nursing at the time, but also because down deep I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of ‘Bob & Carol & Fred & Sue,’ or whatever it was called. It reeked of success. I turned down Rosemary's Baby because they asked me to test for it, and will not test.... To test is the ultimate humiliation. No, not quite: my daughter was very young then. Do you know what it is like, stuck in a house all day with an infant? Monstrous! Did you ever have to talk to a five-year-old, day in, day out? I did! I was suddenly playing this wife role, cooking, cleaning, mothering, it was worse than testing! I may be self-destructive, but I like taking chances with movies. I like challenges, and I also like the particular position I’ve been in all these years, with people wanting to save me from the awful films I’ve been in. I’m happy being a legend. I think the Tuesday Weld cult is a very nice thing."- tuesday weld

Roddy McDowell: "No actress was ever so good in so many bad films."

Astrid Berges-Frisbey

new kid in town. ain't she darlin'? she's in the new pirates film with johnny.

ICONIC

for two days i have been reacquainting myself with 'north by northwest.' i am sure i will have lots to post about hitchcock's most famous movie.
cary grant and hitchcock made four films together:

suspicion ( i love it)
notorious ( i super love it)
to catch a thief (fun)
north by northwest (hitchcock says there's no such thing as the title!)

little could they have known that the scene of cary being chased by a 'duster' plane would wind up being the most identifiable image in cinema.

with a little help from his friends

sweetie pie mickey rourke is either totally honest or a dang fine actor on and off screen. he had his dog 'loki' with him when he made his very first talk show appearance in '94. he had already made lots of films so i guess he was shy about this sort of thing. i think you will agree that he was doing his best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1OaeolcAUQ

'I just wanted to push a button and disappear....I think I hadn't left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, 'Oh, man,' then I looked at my dog, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don't have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, 'Who's going to take care of me?'-mickey rourke

best buds: mickey with 'loki' (his dog of 18 years)/with johnny depp/John Enos and Mickey Rourke 1994