Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 111, Winter 2022/23 ”I don’t give much thought to television as a field of endeavor. It’s a place – an art let’s call it – where I’m making a livelihood. If some-thing happens to television, I’ll tend bar, something I enjoy doing.” A belovedly balding, pudding-faced character curmudgeon…
Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 110, Fall 2022 “I didn’t want to be a Hollywood actress who every so often does a Broadway play. I want to be a Broadway actress who every so often does a movie.” One of the most influential artists of her time and dubbed “The First Lady of…
Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 109, Summer 2022 “I’d rather act from the neck up. I feel very sorry for those who try to get by on beauty alone because when the beauty is gone, what will they have left to build a career upon? This ravishing Italian/Irish beauty of the late 1950s/early…
Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 108, Spring 2022 “People don’t understand that you are only important for the moment, so don’t get accustomed to it. Those who think otherwise are in for a rude awakening.” Bright, vivacious, statuesque, red-headed ANN ROBINSON (1929- ) is best known as the plucky damsel in distress in…
Classic Images, Issue Number 557, January 2022 “It was all just a mistake. I had started at the top and couldn’t possibly work my way in any other direction than down.” A gregarious song-and-dance man and light leading film star of pre-Code Hollywood, JAMES DUNN (1901-1967) found Depression-era popularity as the cheerful co-star of brisk…
FIlms of the Golden Age, Issue Number 106, Fall 2021 “Nothing could stop me. I wouldn’t be discouraged. My parents weren’t well-to-do and there was no thought of my going to college so I came to New York.” While her first love was the theatre, the career of actress NEVA PATTERSON (1920-2010) would encompass radio,…
Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 105, Summer 2021 “I think of [my career] as sort of a wild tapestry that was patched and sewn together in crazy bits and pieces. It hasn’t been all roses, but I survived the challenge.” Actor/dancer/choreographer CHRISTOPHER RIORDAN (1937- ), on stage from age four, enjoyed a six-decade…
FIlms of the Golden Age, Issue Number103, Winter 2020/2021 “We grew up too fast during the war in Italy. I saw many things before I was 13 that nobody saw in their whole life … Now I just want to be young and have fun.” Unlike fellow native Italian bombshells Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida,…
Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 102, Fall 2020 “Villains are much more fun and interesting to play. They are often better written too. Perhaps I enjoyed the “nice girl” parts less because I was such a good girl off camera.” She began her film career at 20th Century-Fox as a pert, eye-catching brunet…
Films of the Golden Age, Issue Number 101, Summer 2020 “There are few great second leads in this business. It’s easier to play a lead — you can do whatever you want. If I’m good it always means the leading man has been generous.” Debonair GIG YOUNG (1913-1978) had the 1940’s matinee looks that could…