Valentina Cortese, an Italian actress who held the extremely rare distinction of having been nominated for best supporting actress for her work in a foreign film, Francois Truffaut’s 1973 classic “Day for Night,” has died, according to Italian news agency Ansa. She was 96.
In Truffaut’s “Day for Night,” considered by many to be the best movie about making movies ever made, Cortese played, in the words of Roger Ebert, “the alcoholic diva past her prime.” The New York Times said: “The performances are superb. Miss Cortese and Miss Bisset are not only both hugely funny but also hugely affecting, in moments that creep up on you without warning.”
For a two-part, Carlo Ponti-produced 1948 film adaptation of “Les Miserables,” Cortese caused a sensation by playing both female leads, Fantine and Cosette. (The film was otherwise an adequate treatment of the Victor Hugo novel.)
“With Valentina Cortese’s passing, the...
In Truffaut’s “Day for Night,” considered by many to be the best movie about making movies ever made, Cortese played, in the words of Roger Ebert, “the alcoholic diva past her prime.” The New York Times said: “The performances are superb. Miss Cortese and Miss Bisset are not only both hugely funny but also hugely affecting, in moments that creep up on you without warning.”
For a two-part, Carlo Ponti-produced 1948 film adaptation of “Les Miserables,” Cortese caused a sensation by playing both female leads, Fantine and Cosette. (The film was otherwise an adequate treatment of the Victor Hugo novel.)
“With Valentina Cortese’s passing, the...
- 7/10/2019
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar Wilde died on this day in 1900, and my refrain about the Irish genius remains the same: Not only did he die for (gay) people's sins, he was funny too. That literally makes him better than Jesus, guys. It's just a fact.
I happen to be a pretty big fan of movies based on Wilde's work. I loved Cate Blanchett in the '99 version of An Ideal Husband, and I'm particularly fond of George Sanders and Angela Lansbury in 1945's The Picture of Dorian Gray. But my single favorite performance in a Wilde film? That's easy.
"I know nothing, Lady Bracknell."
"I'm pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance."
Killer.
Give it up for Dame Edith Evans in The Importance of Being Earnest ('52, of course!). The unmistakable British actress is an imperial, sneering goddess as Lady Bracknell. Ian McKellen once...
I happen to be a pretty big fan of movies based on Wilde's work. I loved Cate Blanchett in the '99 version of An Ideal Husband, and I'm particularly fond of George Sanders and Angela Lansbury in 1945's The Picture of Dorian Gray. But my single favorite performance in a Wilde film? That's easy.
"I know nothing, Lady Bracknell."
"I'm pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance."
Killer.
Give it up for Dame Edith Evans in The Importance of Being Earnest ('52, of course!). The unmistakable British actress is an imperial, sneering goddess as Lady Bracknell. Ian McKellen once...
- 11/29/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
Judy Garland's blue gingham dress from The Wizard of Oz just made a fortune at a Beverly Hills auction, netting $480,000. A couple of other items sold well too: a Steve McQueen jacket went for $50,000, Marilyn Monroe's purple skirt from River of No Return sold for the same, and a decadent Jayne Mansfield cat-print jumpsuit sold for $16,250. Fancy! Except I want none of these things in my home and can't believe anyone else would either.
I don't know about you, but here are some actual movie props I'd spring for.
1. The candlestick (or rope?) from Clue
It's not a blunt instrument until Lesley Ann Warren has wielded it. Why isn't that thing on my mantle beneath my graffiti mural of Eileen Brennan?
2. This insane neckerchief from The Boys in the Band
Guys, gay neckwear is going to make a comeback. We need to own this now. I'll start by...
I don't know about you, but here are some actual movie props I'd spring for.
1. The candlestick (or rope?) from Clue
It's not a blunt instrument until Lesley Ann Warren has wielded it. Why isn't that thing on my mantle beneath my graffiti mural of Eileen Brennan?
2. This insane neckerchief from The Boys in the Band
Guys, gay neckwear is going to make a comeback. We need to own this now. I'll start by...
- 11/12/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
But first, a list of un-fabulous things about last night's Mad Men: Pete's lack of screentime. The lack of jokes from Roger's wife Jane. Betty's blahness. No Lane Pryce either! Oh, and finally: That hallucination where Don strangled his ex-lover in real time. So scary! And unexpected! And freaky! It was like a scene from Hitchcock's Frenzy, where the Boston Strangler shows us how to murder people without any edits. I didn't really like the point the scene tried to make. Don so wants to erase his dirty past, maybe he'd go to violent means to achieve it. Get it? Great. Not that fabulous. Dream sequence over.
However, These five moments are downright fab. Am I missing any?
1. Anyone else find Don's flu smirk hot?
Starting off the ol' Fab Quotient with a confession: I don't find Jon Hamm sexy. Yes, he is dreadfully good-looking, slick, and dapper to an extreme,...
However, These five moments are downright fab. Am I missing any?
1. Anyone else find Don's flu smirk hot?
Starting off the ol' Fab Quotient with a confession: I don't find Jon Hamm sexy. Yes, he is dreadfully good-looking, slick, and dapper to an extreme,...
- 4/9/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
Jonathan Hastings: "Metropolis or Moonfleet?" Guy Maddin: "Hate to say it, but Moonraker." Happening once more tonight at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York: "A unique live cinematic and musical event, Tales from the Gimli Hospital: Reframed pairs acclaimed filmmaker Guy Maddin's classic first feature film with a live performance — directed by Maddin himself — of a new score created by composer Matthew Patton, a superstar group of Icelandic musicians, acclaimed Seattle-based musical collective Aono Jikken Ensemble, and live electronics engineer Paul Corley."
Los Angeles. Jen Yamato, taking notes for Movieline: "Part of the wave of initiatives in Elvis Mitchell's rebooted Film Independent at Lacma programming is a series of live script reads directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno), who kicked things off last month with a star-studded rendition of The Breakfast Club. [Thursday] night's second script read of the 1960 multiple Oscar-winner The Apartment,...
Los Angeles. Jen Yamato, taking notes for Movieline: "Part of the wave of initiatives in Elvis Mitchell's rebooted Film Independent at Lacma programming is a series of live script reads directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno), who kicked things off last month with a star-studded rendition of The Breakfast Club. [Thursday] night's second script read of the 1960 multiple Oscar-winner The Apartment,...
- 11/19/2011
- MUBI
Film and radio star of the 1940s who later found TV fame in the soap Howards' Way
Although as an actor in films of the 1940s she was best known in ladylike and thoroughly English rose types of role, Dulcie Gray, who has died aged 95, had a background and overall career that was more cosmopolitan and interesting than that might suggest. She was in some ways the more complex half of the successful marital and professional stage and film partnership of Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray.
In The Glass Mountain (1949), in which a married composer loves an Italian girl who saved his life during the second world war, Gray, then one of the great stars of the British film industry, almost inevitably played the wronged but agonisingly understanding English wife. It was the sort of role for which she was most often chosen: the inconspicuous, quietly adoring woman able and...
Although as an actor in films of the 1940s she was best known in ladylike and thoroughly English rose types of role, Dulcie Gray, who has died aged 95, had a background and overall career that was more cosmopolitan and interesting than that might suggest. She was in some ways the more complex half of the successful marital and professional stage and film partnership of Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray.
In The Glass Mountain (1949), in which a married composer loves an Italian girl who saved his life during the second world war, Gray, then one of the great stars of the British film industry, almost inevitably played the wronged but agonisingly understanding English wife. It was the sort of role for which she was most often chosen: the inconspicuous, quietly adoring woman able and...
- 11/17/2011
- by Dennis Barker
- The Guardian - Film News
Veteran British actress Dulcie Gray has passed away at the age of 92.
The star, most famous for her role in U.K. TV series Howards' Way, died at actors' residential home Denville Hall in London on Tuesday after a battle with bronchial pneumonia.
Gray started her career in 1940s melodramas for Britain's Gainsborough Pictures studio and often appeared alongside her husband, Michael Denison, on TV and in theatre productions.
The couple even made their Broadway debut together playing Lady Markby and the Earl of Caversham in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband in 1996.
However, Gray will be best remembered in Britain for her turn as Kate Harvey in BBC series Howards' Way between 1985 and 1990.
She returned to the stage after her husband's death in 1998 to appear in adaptations of The Ladykillers and The Lady Vanishes.
Her last TV appearance was in 2000 on British soap opera Doctors.
Gray also had a second career as an author, writing 24 books.
The star, most famous for her role in U.K. TV series Howards' Way, died at actors' residential home Denville Hall in London on Tuesday after a battle with bronchial pneumonia.
Gray started her career in 1940s melodramas for Britain's Gainsborough Pictures studio and often appeared alongside her husband, Michael Denison, on TV and in theatre productions.
The couple even made their Broadway debut together playing Lady Markby and the Earl of Caversham in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband in 1996.
However, Gray will be best remembered in Britain for her turn as Kate Harvey in BBC series Howards' Way between 1985 and 1990.
She returned to the stage after her husband's death in 1998 to appear in adaptations of The Ladykillers and The Lady Vanishes.
Her last TV appearance was in 2000 on British soap opera Doctors.
Gray also had a second career as an author, writing 24 books.
- 11/16/2011
- WENN
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