ColumboI was sad to hear that Peter Falk had passed away and even sadder to hear that he spent his last years battling dementia and Alzheimer’s.
He was world famous for his role as Columbo, but his career consisted of much more than that iconic role.
He’s breathtaking in Cassavetes, he’s charming and touching as a former angel in Wings of Desire and who can forget his narration in The Princess Bride?
He left an indelible legacy with wit, charisma, and talent.
Scottish ActorI have a crush on Sir Jorah in Game of Thrones, played with gravitas by Iain Glen.
Whether he’s sporting rugged capes or dapper top coats, whether he’s taking to the stage or being villainous in a crappy franchise (both Tomb Raider and Resident Evil!) the Scottish gent is undeniably handsome.
I am thrilled to learn he will be joining the cast of Downton Abbey for season two, but fear for what this means for Jorah.
Teen Heart ThrobI could never get behind the Blue Lagoon perm, but this shirtless, short short, tennis shoe wearing, smiling, prepster Christopher Atkins in the boat? Now, that’s a teen heart throb I can get behind.
Besides, what young girl/gay boy didn’t dream that their future days of romance would include such a vista as this photo shoot?
He, TarzanJohnny Weissmuller is probably the most recognizable Tarzan and definitely the hunkiest. One of the world’s best swimmers, he won many Olympic medals and set world records in the sport before he went Hollywood.
Indie Star and RockerJuliette Lewis is one of those are current celebrities that can just get away with anything in my book. Shady business like blue hair, drug addiction, Scientology, and even corn rows abound with her – but I still love the lady, just love her! Any movie is better with her in it and any movie could be improved by a cameo.
Aside from an long film resume that features duds (Starsky & Hutch, The Other Sister) as well as gems (Whip It!, Natural Born Killers, Hysterical Blindness) she is the lead singer of the band Juliette and the Licks where she demands the stage, screaming and Mick Jagger swaggering around while wearing latex panties and kooky head wear.
I could have sworn I made this rock star and original quirky indie icon a style icon, but while linking my last entry I was shocked to not find hide or hair of the entry. Well, now I can make up for the omission.
Prima BallerinaI was introduced to the unearthly beauty of Ludmilla Tchérina in the films of Powell and Pressberger (The Red Shoes and Tales of Hoffmann). Born an aristocrat, she lived a charmed life, but never took it for granted and made the most of her talents, luck and beauty.
She was ballet’s youngest prima ballerina, a choreographer, a respected artist whose sculptures can be seen in the French Euro-tunnel and European Parliament.
Pursued by movie stars (Orson Welles and Robert Taylor) Tchérina was exceptionally elegant and continued to exude artistic style well into her 60′s and 70′s.
While her name is not as well remembered now, young glamour girls would do well to look her up and take some cues from this uncommonly gorgeous woman.
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RIPI loved her when she was young and darling, I loved her when she epitomized doomed romance – on film (the amazing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Place in the Sun) and in life (her on again off again affair with Richard Burton was legendary, her many husbands am infinite source of gossip).
But I loved Elizabeth Taylor most of all when she shed the demureness of her youth and growled and spit and carried her womanliness like a lioness (her Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?- genius!).
Sure the lavender eyed icon, who always found luck in some white diamonds acted a bit zany in her twilight – but aren’t our celebrities meant to indulge in eccentricities? (Case in point – awesome headdress to my left). Rest in Peace dear lady, you were magnificent.
Brunette BombshellWhile Jane Russell and I are near opposites in our religious and political views, she was undeniably one of the silver screen’s most vivacious vixens.
A pin up beauty that looked Amazonian even next to the curviest women, she was so steamy that her cleavage famously censored in The Outlaw.
She passed away last month at 89 years old leaving behind a surprisingly brief but unforgettable career. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is my favorite.
Japanese ActorRecent movie pick Yojimbo introduced me to the charming good looks of Tatsuya Nakadai. Actually I’d seen him in the epic Ran, but he’s well hidden under white hair and ghost like makeup.
Discovered by director Masaki Kobayashi, he quickly became one of Japan’s most universally recognized leading men. Last summer, Film Forum and the excellent Japan Society Nakadai film festival featuring both his best and lesser known films. I’m sad I missed it.
Stellar ActorI heart Max Von Sydow. I was recently reminded of this while looking at photos of him for a rock poster I was working on. He’s dignified, wise, but has a humorous glint in his eye.
His career, which began with the fruitful partnership with Ingmar Bergman, is wildly varied and extremely interesting.
On my personal list of Von Sydow viewing if you’re planning a marathon?:
Wild Strawberries, Through A Glass Darkly, The Exorcist, Three Days of the Condor, Death Watch (actually I have never seen this but am interested to learn it’s a sci-fi film by Bertrand Tavernier and it’s not readily available – making it even more intreguing), Flash Gordon, Conan the Barbarian, Strange Brew, Dreamscape, Dune, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Intacto.
Phew, what an awesome man!
Korean SuperstarIt takes one pretty face to jump out of all the ninjas, cowboys, and clowns in the Warrior’s Way trailer – and it’s not boring Kate Bosworth’s that stands out, but Korean superstar Jang Dong-gun. The film is meant to be his international, particularly American breakthrough debut. Sadly, I’ve read that it’s terrible. But he sure is a cutie.
Known as the “King of Hollywood”, Clark Gable was the definition of dapper.. a role that will be taken over by our own little baby Van:
Gable’s career of romantic leads, my favorite of which being the under shirtless wit in It Happened One Night, mirrored his real life love for Carole Lombard. Even as he remarried after her terribly tragic death, those close to him say he was never the same without her.
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Singer and IconPart smiling innocence of the girl next door and part scandal ridden sexpot who got into mischief with the Rolling Stones, the inimitable Marianne Faithfull was one of the most interesting it girls of the 1960s. A singer in her own right, she was also well known as one of Mick Jagger’s girlfriends and The Girl On A Motorcycle.
Today she is on top again as the raspy voiced grandma of cool but, of course, her wild days didn’t initially lead to such apparent happiness. She suffered truly crippling drug addiction and anorexia for decades before finally emerging wiser and well with a new singing career. We’re glad she made it.
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Charming Action GuyIt might seem difficult at the very least to exude any personality at all, let alone charm, in a career built on using ones environment to beat up multiple men (including girl tossing) and driving super, super fast – but with limited grunts and an occasional smirk, Jason Statham does it in spades.
He will always remind me of a few women I used to work with who were smitten enough with his undeniably manly ways to see any piece of crap he was in (for the record: in my book? Transporter = good crap, Crank 2 High Voltage = just crap). He’s also made a name for himself in several of the Guy Ritchie movies, which may mean that I’ll just have to finally see that movie Snatch everyone was talking about a decade ago (does it spoil it if I already know Brad talks funny?). Who knows, I might even netflix The Expendables if my recent need for watching dumb stuff continues. (A need currently being fulfilled by several seasons of the incomparable Silk Stalkings).
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Great Actor and DrinkerOliver Reed was a brutish, manly alcoholic with immense acting talent and the kind of burly rugged handsomeness that’s hard to come by in your modern movie star. He certainly didn’t live an exemplary life but his presence on screen is undeniably mesmeric. His escapades a a drinking lad often outshone his work – in one instance “Reed invited 36 rugby players to a party at his home. Between Saturday night and Sunday lunchtime, they managed to consume between them 60 gallons of beer, 32 bottles of Scotch, 17 bottles of gin, four crates of wine and a lone bottle of Babycham. The entertainment concluded with Reed leading the players on a nude dawn run through the Surrey countryside.” He passed away in the middle of the filming for Gladiator.
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Dancing GangsterFrom dangerous wise guy to fancy footed musical man, the uniquely manly James Cagney has had several faces in his varied career. Born on the Lower East Side, he was a real life tough guy before playing one in gangster films. And while it seems strange that a sex symbol would be born out of smashing a grapefruit in a woman’s face, here we are. Cagney’s real life persona was a far cry from a brute though. He stayed with his wife his entire life and was once s left leaning liberal (like so many, he veered more to the right the older he got). Also, in a very modern man move, he stayed out of the spotlight by purchasing his own farm where he would retire to often throughout his life. Plus, he’s got that crazy hair wave that defies explanation and makes me so happy.
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Singing Tough GuyI know and love Dick Powell from his early musical days where the goofy grinned, wavy style haired gent always starred as a playful “juvenile” role and sang such great Bugsby Berkeley classics as “Pettin’ in the Park” and “Honeymoon Hotel”. I was surprised to read then, that the man whose gentle silliness could be played with aplomb by Will Farell (well, minus the singing) reinvented himself in Hollywood as a tough guy in numerous noirs. It’s even more surprising that as film noir fans we’ve not seen more of them – except for the flashback Kurt Douglas thriller The Bad and the Beautiful. I’ve been sure to add Murder, My Sweet and Cornered to my queue. I will skip the last film he directed before he passed away, The Conquerer that bizarrely cast John Wayne as Genghis Khan.
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