Before 2009 ends, I want to acknowledge the passing of Jennifer Jones at the age of 90 on December 17th.  She was never one of my favorite screen actresses, mostly because I usually feel that she is holding back, rarely free or spontaneous enough to give a truly great performance.  She frequently lacks the depth that would [...]

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Well, actually, no, I didn’t, but that song from ROYAL WEDDING was in my head last week when we stopped at Labadee, Haiti, on our Royal Caribbean cruise.  This marked my first gig as a cruise-ship lecturer and it turned out to be a wonderful and rewarding experience.  I did five lectures on the subject [...]

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December 9th marked what would have been the 100th birthday of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who died at age 90 in 2000.  As the son of the great swashbuckling star of the silent era, Douglas Jr. was truly Hollywood royalty and one of the first major second-generation movie stars.  He may not be the icon that his [...]

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This week’s death of Irish-born movie star Richard Todd, at age 90, brings to mind what a fine film actor he was and how barely remembered he is in this country.  He gave several memorable performances, from his poignant Oscar-nominated turn as the dying Scotsman soldier (of WWII) in The Hasty Heart (1949), opposite Patricia Neal and Ronald Reagan, to [...]

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