The Stars That Never Shone Posted by Greg Ferrara on September 28, 2011Every star started out small. Depending on the time and era of any given star’s ascendance they may have done time on stage, television or played bit parts in films working their way up the ladder. The stars that everyone knows, the ones of which even the most casual filmgoer is aware, from Bette Davis, James Cagney and Katherine Hepburn to Peter O’Toole, Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep, are the ones that had not only the talent, not only the charisma, not only the charm but, crucially, the right roles at the right time to make an impression, a big one. Think Dustin Hoffman. A talented actor who, were it not for The Graduate, may have labored as a character actor for years before stardom or, perhaps, never achieved it at all. I think he would have anyway but what do I know? I only know his career from the trajectory it took so any speculation I may have on whether or not he would have become a star without The Graduate is severely biased by that pesky little thing, reality. But there are other actors who were given the lead role, not once, not twice, but several times and every time, they came up short. Oh, not necessarily in their performances, mind you. The audience simply didn’t respond to them, for whatever reason. They were given the opportunity to become a star. They were pushed by the powers that be to hit the big time but they never did. These actors, the stars that never shone, are the actors that fascinate me, at times, more than the stars. What must it be like to get so close only to be pulled away by the unblinking forces of gravity, always tugging, always willing to bring the starry-eyed back down to earth?
Of course, for those it happens to, I imagine there’s nothing but gratitude at being given the chance and enjoying a rich, rewarding and successful career filling character roles when the leads dried up. Back in the studio days of Hollywood, stars were crafted and when it didn’t work, the actor in question was either relegated to character roles or leads in B pictures. One that comes to mind is Lizabeth Scott. She was given big parts in big films but her brand of charisma never quite took hold enough to become one of the big-time stars. And not for not trying either. In fact, Scott was practically given the keys to the kingdom. After her unsettling, bizarre and off-kilter portrayal of Toni in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, she received starring roles opposite Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell and Burt Lancaster. Despite this obvious advantage, she never became a hit with the public as did Barbara Stanwyck, Lana Turner or Veronica Lake. She was a star, all right, but a minor one. The thing with Scott, though, is that she retired early, in 1957. After that she did some stage and television but her cinematic career was over. Maybe if she had stayed in longer she would have become a grand dame of the cinema. Or maybe not. But when I was growing up and coming into my own as a cinephile, in the seventies, I got to see, firsthand, actors in leads on their way to stardom, a stardom that never panned out.
One of them starred in a huge hit, a good precursor to stardom. The other was already a star, of television and the comedy stage and surely that would translate to cinema stardom as well. The third, my personal favorite, didn’t have the big hits and wasn’t well-known from any other medium. It seemed as if the people in charge were trying to will him into stardom based on his talent alone. I wish they had succeeded. The first was Paul Le Mat and the huge hit was American Graffiti. After the success of that film it was clear everyone involved was headed for stardom. Candy Clark even snagged an Oscar nomination for it. But of the leads, only Richard Dreyfuss would go on to major stardom. Ron Howard doesn’t count as he was already a star from the sixties, on both television and in the movies, and would continue his success, eventually transforming it into major directorial stardom. Charles Martin Smith never had the image Hollywood looks for in a star so with the exception of Never Cry Wolf (great performance), he was never expected to carry a movie anyway. The biggest star making turn from the movie, oddly enough, was the bit part of that drag racer with the cowboy hat, played by some guy named Harrison Ford. Of the lead cast, it was Paul Le Mat that looked like he was on the road to stardom. He had the look, the rebel attitude and the momentum, even if it was only in the form of a Golden Globe for Best New Actor. He got the lead in Jonathan Demme’s entertaining and undeservedly under-known Handle with Care (aka, Citizens Band) and three years later, Demme cast him again in the critically acclaimed hit, Melvin and Howard, in which he played Melvin Dumar, alleged beneficiary of the Last Will and Testament of Howard Hughes (Jason Robards). But his big roles petered out and although he has had a busy career in television and movies, he never became a star. The next one to throw me a curve ball was Lily Tomlin. She was a huge comedy star, on television and stage and surely, SURELY, that would translate into stardom in the movies. But it didn’t. Not only did her stage and television comedy personality not translate well to film but her choices were erratic at best. She had great films, like Nashville, for which she got nominated for Best Supporting Actress and The Late Show, with Art Carney. But neither of those films were big with the average movie-going public (although they should have been!). To make matters worse, her next film was Moment by Moment, a notorious dud, scripted and directed by Tomlin’s partner, Jane Wagner, who would work with her again in another dud, The Incredible Shrinking Woman. In between those two Tomlin had a bona-fide hit, Nine to Five but Dabney Coleman stole all the scenes. Later, in 1984, she had another hit, All of Me, with Steve Martin, in which she is seen fully onscreen only at the very beginning of the movie and the ending credits. The rest of the time she’s only a reflection in a mirror. It was Steve Martin’s physical performance that got all the attention, even though her verbal sparring with Martin provided the better comedy in the movie. She continued to make movies and keep busy on the stage as well but true cinematic stardom eluded her.
My favorite, however, the one who seemed destined to become a star based on his acting chops over pure steaming charisma, but didn’t, was William Atherton. This is the one I take personally. I really wanted him to succeed. I wanted him to get the attention, the Oscars, the screen rep. But he didn’t and, brother, was he given the chance! After an excellent job in the lead of the early Steven Spielberg directorial effort, The Sugarland Express, he was tapped to star in the big-budget adaptation of the highly acclaimed 1939 novel, The Day of the Locust. It was going to be the prestige film of the year. It was going to win all the Oscars. Atherton would be nominated for Best Actor and his career would officially be on its way. Nothing happened. The film was received with mixed reviews (I like it, though) and Atherton got a couple more chances. One was the big disaster flick, The Hindenburg, which went down like a… no, I just can’t. Before that he was in the big hit Looking for Mister Goodbar which, of course, had Richard Gere and, of course again, that’s who everyone “oohed” and “aahed” over. Now, it’s not like Atherton hasn’t had an incredibly successful career, he has. His balls-to-the-wall brilliant portrayal of EPA jackhole Walter Peck in Ghostbusters is one for the ages. Now that performance should’ve gotten some kind of damn award! And it led to him playing other jackholes, like the reporter in the Die Hard movies. And he continuously gets the roles because he’s such a damn good character actor. But he could’ve been a great lead actor, too, and was, only it was in movies that weren’t exactly lending much of a helping hand. Not everyone can be a star and who would want to miss out on all the great supporting work that so many great actors give us, anyway? But it stings a bit when you realize someone could’ve been a star, or even, should’ve been a star, but wasn’t. For some, the star shone so briefly one wonders, would it have been better if it had never shone at all. 57 Responses The Stars That Never Shone
Posted By Michael B. Druxman : September 28, 2011 10:14 am “I’d rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I’d rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.” — Milton Berle Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 10:24 am Jim, I’ve already got a good conversation going on this post on Facebook and a few people have wondered about Le Mat. He only has a handful of movie in the seven years after GRAFFITI so maybe he just didn’t care about the industry that much. And the movies he chose, like the two Demme movies, clearly weren’t chosen for box office appeal so maybe he was too disillusioned by the whole process and just wanted to do niche films. Not sure. Posted By dukeroberts : September 28, 2011 11:46 am Lizabeth Scott made at least one movie after 1955. She made Loving You with Elvis in 1957. I think if Dustin Hoffman had come 20 or even 10 years earlier he would not have been a big star, but instead would have been relegated to comical character parts in movies and to TV dramas. He’s a short, little guy with a nasally voice. He wouldn’t have stood tall next to John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck or William Holden. He also didn’t look like Montgomery Clift, young Brando or James Dean. Charles Martin Smith was fantastic in The Untouchables, however his was a supporting role and it was rather brief. Unfortunately, I cannot remember right off hand anything that he’s been in since. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 12:32 pm Duke, I should have written “1957″ not “1955″. Thanks, it’s now corrected. And there is no way Hoffman would have been a lead, ever, in the fifties or before, that is true. He would have been very successful as a character actor, though. Even in the sixties, it’s hard to gauge just how much of an impact he would have made had he never made The Graduate. If one of the many other actors offered it had taken it, who knows? At the same time, the fact that he was offered the lead in The Graduate (obviously) without any preceding fame at all, indicates his talent was recognized early on and, perhaps, his stardom was inevitable. As for Charles Martin Smith, aside from Never Cry Wolf, he’s always supporting. I had to look him up on IMDB to find out what he’s doing these days and it appears he has been finding work steadily on tv for years now. Good for him. He’s a hell of a good actor. Posted By JeffH : September 28, 2011 12:51 pm Atherton had an interesting singing voice, as well. He sang Irving Berlin’s “What’ll I Do?” for the soundtrack of the Robert Redford starring THE GREAT GATSBY and did a pretty good job (it also was on the soundtrack LP). Smith was the voice of reason in STARMAN and had the bad luck of driving a jeep late at night on a mountain road in DEEP IMPACT, among other roles. I also loved the continuation of his GRAFFITI role in MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI, which explained what happened to his character a bit more clearly, with a bit more optimism at the end. Interestingly, the demise of the LeMat character was given more power in the sequel, especially since you did not see it. Posted By John Maddox Roberts : September 28, 2011 12:56 pm Ben Johnson had a shot at stardom – the lead role in Wagon Master – but he just didn’t catch on the way John Wayne did. But he had a long and distinguished career as a supporting actor and even won an Oscar for The Last Picture Show. And what of those anomalous actors of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s who were stars in B films and supporting actors in A productions, actors like Bob Steele, Charles McGraw and numerous others? Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 1:35 pm Jeff, I saw More American Graffiti back in 1979 and haven’t seen it since. Maybe I should give it another look as I can’t remember much about it now. Atherton had an interesting singing voice, as well. He sang Irving Berlin’s “What’ll I Do?” for the soundtrack of the Robert Redford starring THE GREAT GATSBY and did a pretty good job (it also was on the soundtrack LP). Jerry Harvey’s favorite rendition, it was played at his funeral. I love it, too. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 1:42 pm John, the leads in B pictures could fill a book. So many to mention. As I say above, there were actors who played better in the studio stuff playing to lesser fanfare. Actors like John Dahl and Ida Lupino had careers in which they were stars, and not necessarily of low-cost B pictures as much as lower profile pictures. We could probably come up with several dozen more. Posted By Kingrat : September 28, 2011 1:43 pm Greg, if you ever get the chance to see the 1981 TV version of THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, don’t miss it. William Atherton is perfectly cast as the man Geraldine Chaplin loves but can’t quite connect with at the right time. Atherton and Chaplin both look like stars in this one. Lois Smith is also excellent as the villain. In the 1940s or 1950s Atherton would have had a better chance of becoming a star. His sweetness and sensitivity didn’t fit the countercultural stance that most new stars of the late 60s and early 70s had. Another interesting example is Matt Dillon. When THE OUTSIDERS came out, he seemed to be a can’t miss star. Dillon seems to be exactly the same kind of actor as Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, and I don’t know why he didn’t become as big a star in the 80s as they became later on. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 1:51 pm Kingrat, I’d love to see that. I think Atherton and Chaplin are both terrific so that’s definitely enticing. The forties and fifties equivalent of William Atherton, to me, is Arthur Kennedy. He’s another actor that I personally think should have been a hell of a lot bigger than he was. And Dillon didn’t become a big star, true, but his star turns, like Drugstore Cowboy, have certainly had more lasting resonance than Atherton’s. And he’s gotten a lot more leads than Atherton. On the whole, I’d put Dillon somewhere in the “in-between” category, not really a star, not necessarily a non-star either. He’s hard to categorize for this, isn’t he? Posted By JeffH : September 28, 2011 1:57 pm I would also include John Ireland and Van Heflin, as well. Ireland had a great debut in RED RIVER and Heflin won an Oscar and almost broke through to be a top star. It is amazing how much of a nexus STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS is to this discussion: you have Stanwyck who was one of the biggest stars of her generation and still had some big years ahead of her, Douglas’ debut, Heflin in a leading role but edged out by Douglas and the aforementioned Lizbeth Scott-gorgeous but probably a bit too much like Lauren Bacall for some people. Posted By Kingrat : September 28, 2011 2:14 pm Lizabeth Scott’s career never recovered from Confidential outing her as a lesbian. Otherwise she might have continued into a long career of supporting roles and TV appearances. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 2:48 pm Also, Scott’s performance in Ivers (a favorite I’ve long had on DVD) is so strange. She makes some really fascinating choices with her character, so much so that the first time I saw it I thought her character was going to turn into some kind of crazy stalker/killer of Heflin. It’s the kind of acting that intrigues and fascinates but probably seems too odd for the general population. Posted By Harvey Chartrand : September 28, 2011 4:08 pm William Atherton is guest starring on CASTLE on October 3 (the episode is titled HEAD CASE). Atherton plays a mad scientist- type involved in cryogenics. Posted By Richard : September 28, 2011 4:11 pm Fascinating column! Lucille Bremer is another classic case of someone groomed for stardom who refused to shine; though her dancing in her big musicals still resonate today, IMO. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 4:18 pm What really puzzles me about Atherton’s descending career arc is that he turns up in so much trash, really terrible stuff A working actor has to take what he can get, I guess, in between the good stuff. I would like to see him get a few more really great roles, though, that really exercise his acting muscles. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 4:25 pm Richard, according to Wikipedia, MGM got tired of promoting Bremer, whatever that means. My guess is, she didn’t really care for the process and so the MGM execs made it sound like they were the ones opting out. Posted By Emgee : September 28, 2011 4:46 pm Lizabeth Scott’s last performance was in the Michael Caine movie Pulp in 1972. I’m a huge noir fan and she played in some great ones. Most famously with Bogart in Dead Reckoning, but most memorably in Too Late For Tears. Ludicrous title for a great movie. Her character makes Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity look like Mother Theresa. Well,……almost! BTW Great subject for a blog, of course the list could go on and on….sadly. Posted By Richard : September 28, 2011 6:51 pm To quote Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront”: “I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody.” Posted By Tom S : September 28, 2011 7:35 pm It always seems like the road from character actor to lead is easier for male actors than female- I mean, right now, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ron Perlman, on and on- there are a lot of clearly ‘character’ looking guys who get chances to star because they’re good, or entertaining or whatever. I can’t think of any women who fit that right now, outside of maybe Helena Bonham Carter. I think it was less true in the 70s- Sissy Spacek, Geraldine Chaplin, and Shelly Duvall all got a shot at that point- but I get the feeling that almost all of the really interesting, charismatic, and weird looking actresses out there are going to wind up as could-have-beens. Which is a huge shame, really. Posted By Tom S : September 28, 2011 7:39 pm I always find it interesting when there’s someone promoted as a going-to-be big star, gets some big roles in memorable movies, and then just kind of fizzles. The best example is from music- Jobriath- but definitely the movies are littered with Skeets Ulrich and Tippis Hedren of times gone by. Posted By Grand Old Movies : September 28, 2011 7:55 pm Regarding Lucile Bremer: In his biography Vincente Minnelli wrote that he thought that Bremer, whom he directed in several films, was a wonderful dancer, but lacked the necessary star power to carry a film. After her MGM musicals she made a couple of B films late in the 40s and then retired from the screen. I thought Andy Garcia was going to be a BIG star after his performances in Black Rain, Internal Affairs, and Godfather 3, but while he’s had some good films since, he hasn’t reached the top stardom ranks. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 8:41 pm but definitely the movies are littered with Skeets Ulrich and Tippis Hedren of times gone by. They’re still trying with Ethan Hawke. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 28, 2011 8:44 pm I thought Andy Garcia was going to be a BIG star after his performances in Black Rain, Internal Affairs, and Godfather 3 Me, too! And don’t forget The Untouchables. He was primed and ready to go but it never quite panned out. Posted By Jenni : September 28, 2011 11:19 pm Lily Tomlin is guest starring as a sassy grandma on NCIS next week. The tag for next week’s episode shows her winking at the “cute” NCIS guy, and then her grandson, another NCIS guy, scolding her about some sort of trouble she is in, and then a car tries to run her down in the street! Phew! Posted By CherieP : September 29, 2011 12:52 am I thought that Karen Black would make it big. She had a handful of good roles any other actress would kill for. ‘Five Easy Pieces’, ‘Day of the Locust’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ are just off the top of my head. I recently purchased a Mill Creek collection and one of the movies included was something called ‘Eternal Evil’. Karen Black has a featured role. The movie is looney, and unfortunately so is Karen, but I suppose she is a working actress who has to make a living. I guess she made a killing for a couple of years and just eased her way back into supporting parts and mediocre movies. Posted By dukeroberts : September 29, 2011 2:15 am Hollywood is currently trying to force Channing Tatum and Sam Worthington on us and make them stars. I hope they fail in doing so. God I hope they fail. Posted By Tom S : September 29, 2011 4:50 am Sam Worthington is one of those actors so forgettable that I literally forget he’s in a movie while I’m watching that movie. He’s like one of those guys in 40′s movies, Tim Holt or Joel McCrae, where you’re like “wait, he’s in Treasure of the Sierra Madre?” when he’s one of the leads. Actually, I think we’ve been doing pretty well on utterly forgettable leading men lately- comic book movies in particular have been casting interesting people, really consistently (for the ones I’ve seen at least.) Posted By Jenni : September 29, 2011 7:59 am Oh Duke, wanting Channing Tatum to fail is fighting words at our house, as 17 year old daughter loves him! Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 9:13 am Jenni, I’m not as familiar with William Gargan but Ralph Bellamy was definitely a supporting player. But also a star. What I mean is, Thelma Ritter, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Horton, etc. were all stars but fully accepted as supporting stars. That would be Bellamy all the way. Ameche on the other hand was a minor lead star, like Ida Lupino or John Dahl mentioned above. He got the leads (Heaven Can Wait, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell) but never the big stuff. If not for Trading Places and Cocoon, I’d wager he’d be fairly unknown today. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 9:15 am I thought that Karen Black would make it big. She’s another one like Lizabeth Scott. Just a little too off-kilter for major stardom although she got lots of big roles including Hitch’s last effort Family Plot. In the end, either the movies were too mediocre (most of them) or if they were good, someone else stole the show (Five Easy Pieces). Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 9:16 am Duke, Tom – I can only imagine Hollywood will fail with Worthington. How forgettable is he? Despite having seen him in a couple of films, including the high profile, mega-budget Avatar, I had to look him up after I read your comments because I couldn’t remember who he was. Posted By Taylor D. : September 29, 2011 9:48 am I can think of quite a few stars who stardom has eluded. One person in the 1930′s who I thought could have made it big was Ann Dvorak. She could have been a huge star. After seeing her in the original “Scarface” from 1931, I was amazed at her performance. However, the following year, when she was under contract to Warner Brothers, she wanted more money. Unfortunately for her it didn’t work out and if she waited a year or two to start demanding more money, it could have worked out in her favor. She was then relegated to B pictures or supporting roles in “A” pictures the rest of her career. Both Warner Brothers and Ann were regretful of the decisions she made earlier in her career and one person even wrote that if Ann held out longer for more money like Bette Davis did, they would have been up for the same kind of roles and Ann could have been a huge star. Even though the next person I’m going to mention isn’t an actress, but a singer, I still will mention her. Her name is Elan Luz Rivera and she was part of a group called “The Dey”, who came in 2008. Elan has a voice to rival Christina Aguilera’s and she’s even really pretty. Hopefully one day she’ll have a shot at stardom, but if you go on YouTube and type in “The DEY”, you’ll see some of her performances. Posted By Harvey Chartrand : September 29, 2011 12:37 pm After seeing A COLD WIND IN AUGUST (1961), I wonder why Lola Albright and Scott Marlowe didn’t become bigger stars. Ms. Albright was gorgeous and sexy, and a very skillful actress. Marlowe (handsome and sensitive in a Monty Clift sort of way) was expected to become a huge star by Actors Studio types, but spent most of his career working in episodic television shows. I’d like to know what goes on behind the scenes, why megastardom eludes certain actors who seem to have it all. I recently saw Patricia Barry in three episodes of Boris Karloff’s THRILLER (1961-62) and was knocked out by her beauty and talent, but she didn’t make that elusive A-list either. Ms. Barry enjoyed a very long career, and is best remembered for her many roles in classic TV series such as THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR. And what about Edmund Purdom, the good-looking, classically trained English stage actor who starred in several Hollywood epics in the early fifties (most famously THE EGYPTIAN, in which he had top billing) and then returned to Europe, never to set foot in Tinseltown again? From then on, Purdom was a jobbing actor in Eurotrash and Eurosleaze productions… right up until the late 1990s. Posted By John Maddox Roberts : September 29, 2011 1:49 pm Lizabeth Scott is 89 today. Happy birthday, Liz! Posted By dukeroberts : September 29, 2011 2:16 pm Harvey- Good call on Lola Albright. She was gorgeous and sexy, just like you said. I saw her on something recently, I think it was an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and she really was quite lovely. Kathy Bates is now not only less than gorgeous and overweight, but she’s also in her 60s. That may not have prevented Marie Dressler from becoming the biggest box office star in Hollywood for a couple of years, but it doesn’t help these days. Kathy Bates does headline her own TV show though. That’s not too bad, although its ratings are. Posted By dukeroberts : September 29, 2011 2:20 pm Lizabeth Scott is still alive? Holy cow! I had no idea. I’ve never really found her as attractive as some of you. I always felt she looked a little old for her age too, but what a great actress. I hope she is doing well. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 3:12 pm Taylor, there was recently a Q & A up here about Ann Dvorak. I hope you got a chance to read it. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 3:13 pm Harvey, I see actors all the time when watching Twilight Zone or Thriller or Alfred Hitchcock Presents who are talented, charismatic and good looking and think, “Why the hell is this all they ever did?” I guess there’s only enough room for so many at the top. Posted By DBenson : September 29, 2011 3:14 pm On one of the Warner gangster DVDs, there’s a featurette about character actors. One — John Davidson, I think — said a director took him aside early on and said “As a leading man, you’ll get maybe eight features. But as a character actor you can raise a family.” Davidson took his advice and worked steadily; suspect others may have made the same conscious decision. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 3:21 pm On stage, Kathy starred in “Frankie and Johnny at the Starlight Cafe.” When it was filmed as “Frankie and Johnny” who got the role? Michelle Pfeiffer. Because, I suppose, Michelle really looks like a lonely waitress who can’t get a date. Don’t get me started on Hollywood casting beautiful people in roles intended for homely people. Ahem, these two, for instance, played by these two. If Aileen Wuornos had existed in the sixties she would have been played by Dunaway or Tippi Hedren or Ann-Margret, wearing the latest, most stylish fashions. Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 29, 2011 3:23 pm “As a leading man, you’ll get maybe eight features. But as a character actor you can raise a family.” Great advice. Posted By JeffH : September 29, 2011 3:25 pm Lucille Bremer was absolutely gorgeous with incredible red hair, which is probably one of many reasons MGM producer was smitten enough to make her his mistress for a number of years. Many attributed her working there to her sharing his bed, but she actually did have talent just not the gumption to push herself like Garland and Turner did. Personally, I think Kathy Bates is attractive and a hell of an actress and I hope her TV shows becomes a mainstay-HARRY’S LAW is quite good. Too bad movie execs did not cast her in roles that would have been perfect for her-the movie version of FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (still my favorite Garry Marshall film and one of Pacino’s sweetest performances) and I still think she would have been better in WHITE PALACE than Susan Sarandon (good as she is). All the while reading that book when it first came out I saw her in the main female role-the contrast between her and Spader would have been a lot more interesting. Posted By Tom S : September 29, 2011 6:30 pm Haha, to be fair about the Bonnie and Clyde thing, there are a bunch of movies on the subject- The Honeymoon Killers doesn’t pretty the pair up too much- and at least Dunaway and Beatty actually gave good performances, instead of just getting up there and being pretty. What disgusts me the most is when an actress (or an actor, but it’s rarer) gets attacked for not being attractive enough for a role- here I’m thinking of Maggie Gyllenhall in the Dark Knight, but it happens a fair amount. Seriously, it’s one thing if you’re saying she looks wrong because it’s supposed to be a huge Brunhilda kind of woman and they cast Zooey Deschanel, but the “ugh why do people in that movie say she’s pretty, she’s not all that high on my hot-o-meter” shit makes me ill. Posted By Scott Cameron : October 3, 2011 3:06 am Great article. It a shame about William atherton. However I think you got the order of the films a little wrong – Hindenburg was first in 1975 and Goodbar was in 1977. Anyway thanks for the great read. Posted By Carlos Urdan : October 3, 2011 6:57 pm Isn’t Hollywood sometimes called “the image making factory of America”? If so, why should we be surprised that so many great and talented performers are not able to reach the pinnacle of fame in their careers? After all, it all boils down to looks and perceptions. The “look” doesn’t necessarily have to be a gorgeous one, but it does have to convey a certain “essence”, a certain style, some say mystery…, some say “mystique”. But in any case, it has to be something special that can mold ( I would say manipulate ) the audience’s perception of reality and make them accept the new paradigm in front of them. That is not easy to do, even with all the histrionic talent in the world. The movie business is also a game of politics, publicity, and studios. Ronald Reagan was never much of an actor, but he managed to become president of the Screen Actors Guild for about seven years, and that gave him a great visible platform from which he could maintain his presence in the motion picture industry and be considered “kind of a star”. ( Fortunately for us, he went on to become another kind of “President” that is much more warmly remembered. ) So that’s it: you gotta have “the look” (preferably unique and attractive), you gotta know “the right people”, and you gotta have some discernible amount of talent…, in that order. Oh, and yes, luck…, lots of luck!!! But not even that is gonna guarantee that you make it all the way to the top. Posted By JeffH : October 4, 2011 12:41 am Laurette Taylor’s problem (one of them) was her raging alcoholism which killed her before she could really make an inroad into movies. The film version of GLASS MENAGERIE that is still quite good (despite a tacked on happy ending) would have been astounding if Taylor had been alive to commit her part to film, although Gertrude Lawrence is incredible. Taylor never made a talking film (a screen test for Selznick does exist) and why is a true crime in show biz history. I have mentioned Jeanne Eagels in other postings and is another example of an actress that burned out and died before she could have made a true foothold in films (thank preservationists that we have a really good silent film (MAN, WOMAN AND SIN) and her towering performance in THE LETTER (1929) as evidence of what she could do and what was possible. I consider her to be the male version of James Dean-what both of them could have given us had it not been for internal/external forces that prevented it. Posted By Greg Ferrara : October 4, 2011 10:32 pm Scott, I will correct that, thanks. Carlos and Jeff, I love both the 1950 version of The Glass Menagerie (Arthur Kennedy is a favorite actor) and the 1973 version, which has a stellar cast. I would love to have seen Taylor in a version, too. Also, Jessica Tandy in Streetcar. Really would have loved to have seen that but Tandy had to wait until her golden years before Hollywood finally noticed her. Posted By dukeroberts : October 4, 2011 11:34 pm Well, she wasn’t quite “golden” in The Birds, but she was getting there. Posted By Carlos Urdan : October 5, 2011 1:53 am I wonder what you all might think about Kim Stanley. She was a great actress who mostly showed her immense talent on the stage and television ( she won a couple of Emmys, one of them for her portrayal of a drug addicted lawyer in the 1963 episode “A Cardinal Act of Mercy” of the television series Ben Casey that just blew me away when I first saw it ), and although she also did some movies, and even got a couple of Academy award nominations, she never got to shine on the big screen the way one would expect of an actress with such extraordinary talent. What happened to her? Was that her choice or, like in the case of Laurette Tayor, there were other factors involved? She also had a great speaking voice; she was the narrator in the classic 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird ( “Scout” as an adult). Posted By Mike Doran (aka Lowbrow Crank) : October 7, 2011 12:07 pm Great article. It brought to mind a couple of stardom pushes that came to nought in the ’60s-’70s. Posted By Bill Crider : December 2, 2011 5:14 pm Dennis Quaid has had shot after shot. Still gets a good role now and then, but he’s never become huge. Which is odd because he has the looks and the acting chops. Posted By Harvey Chartrand : December 3, 2011 3:04 pm William Atherton has third billing in a made-for-TV horror flick for Syfy – JERSEY SHORE SHARK ATTACK, which will air in 2012. Fred Olen Ray is one of the producers; he likes to cast veteran actors in supporting roles in his low-budget movies. Plot summary: “While everyone else runs scared, vacationing Jerseyites fend off shark attacks on the shore.” I suppose Atherton has to take whatever work he can get at this stage of his career. What happened with the 2011 gambling caper GETTING BACK TO ZERO, in which Atherton and Wayne Newton were set to co-star? Were Atherton’s scenes cut? His performance as Box Car Joe was cited as “stellar” by a crew member. Posted By dukeroberts : December 3, 2011 6:06 pm A movie starring Wayne Newton and William Atherton as a character named Box Car Joe sounds, if you’ll pardon the pun, like a train wreck. Posted By Harvey Chartrand : December 6, 2011 1:16 pm JERSEY SHORE SHARK ATTACK plot synopsis: from blog.zap2it.com In case the title wasn’t descriptive enough, here is the synopsis. Rare swarms of sharks are hitting the Jersey shore because of illegal underwater drilling, leaving the locals to save the day. Captain Sallie (Tony Sirico) is a local in touch with boardwalk life, Moretti (Jack Scalia) is a former beach bum turned police chief. Paul Sorvino is a corrupt Mayor and William Atherton a greedy developer who wants to tear down the boardwalk and leave our poor guidos beach-less. William Atherton – still playing douchebags after all these years! And to think he started off his career as something of a heartthrob… Leave a Reply |
MovieMorlocks.com is the official blog for TCM. No topic is too obscure or niche to be excluded from our film discussions. And we welcome your comments on our blogs and bloggers.
Archives
Featured Sites
Popular terms
3-D
Action Films
Actors
Actors' Endorsements
animal stars
Animation
Anime
Anthology Films
Autobiography
Awards
B-movies
Best of the Year lists
Biography
Biopics
Blu-Ray
Books on Film
Boxing films
British Cinema
Canadian Cinema
Character Actors
Chicago Film History
Cinematography
Classic Films
College Life on Film
Comedy
Comic Book Movies
Czech Film
Dance on Film
Digital Cinema
Directors
Disaster Films
Documentary
Drama
DVD
Early Talkies
Editing
Educational Films
European Influence on American Cinema
Experimental
Exploitation
Fairy Tales on Film
Faith or Christian-based Films
Family Films
Film Composers
film festivals
Film History in Florida
Film Noir
Film Scholars
Film titles
Filmmaking Techniques
Food in Film
Foreign Film
French Film
Gangster films
Genre
Genre spoofs
Guest Programmers
HD & Blu-Ray
Holiday Movies
Hollywood lifestyles
Horror
Horror Movies
Icons
independent film
Italian Film
Japanese Film
Korean Film
Leadership
Literary Adaptations
Martial Arts
Melodramas
Method Acting
Mexican Cinema
Moguls
Monster Movies
Movie Books
Movie Costumes
Movie locations
Movie lovers
Movie Reviewers
Movie settings
Movie Stars
Music in Film
Musicals
New Releases
Outdoor Cinema
Paranoid Thrillers
Parenting on film
Polish film industry
political thrillers
Politics in Film
Pornography
Pre-Code
Producers
Race in American Film
Remakes
Road Movies
Romance
Romantic Comedies
Russian Film Industry
Satire
Scandals
Science Fiction
Screenwriters
Semi-documentaries
Serials
Short Films
Silent Film
silent films
Social Problem Film
Sports
Sports on Film
Stereotypes
Straight-to-DVD
Studio Politics
Suspense thriller
Swashbucklers
TCM Classic Film Festival
Television
The British in Hollywood
The Germans in Hollywood
The Hungarians in Hollywood
The Irish in Hollywood
The Russians in Hollywood
Theaters
Trains in movies
Underground Cinema
VOD
War film
Westerns
Women in the Film Industry
Women's Weepies |
submit
TM & © 2011 Turner Classic Movies, A Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
Tcm.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network.
Thank you so much for this in-depth blog. I am so glad that someone else was stricken by Paul Le Mat. I still wonder shat happened. Maybe a bad agent? I may be very wrong, but today I think they go mainly on NAMES alone for most of the pics. Just strike in a Brad Pitt or Matt Damon or flavor of the month and create some sort of trailer with double entendres and glimpses of semi-nudity or hints of bedroom activity, then possibly the male character drunk or stoned and relieving himself in public and BLAM! you got yourself a trailer! Once you see the movie and leave it, you have no great memories that linger, no star imagery to ponder. Not that every movie has to have a message, but the movie should at least be entertaining and have, as a character spoke about a female’s portrait in PORTRAIT OF JENNY, there should be a timeless sort of quality about it. Recently, I saw on the big screen a pristine copy of, of all things, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, presented in 3D just as it was in 1953. I, and the audience, were entranced and despite our ages and educations, it was possible to be totally entertained once more just as it was the first time in the 50′s and no one had to be ashamed or nervously giggle because of the content.