Eleanor Parker turned 90 yesterday.  Her piece of screen immortality is her portrayal of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965), the movie in which her sophisticated charms lose out to Julie Andrews’ wholesome appeal:  Julie wins the heart of Christopher Plummer.  Parker is just about perfection in the role, but who ever even mentions [...]

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If Hollywood could turn athletes Johnny Weissmuller, Sonja Henie, and Esther Williams into movie stars, then why not WWII hero Audie Murphy?  Which is exactly what happened.  Good-looking Murphy, the war’s most decorated soldier, had a solid run as a screen actor, primarily in westerns, primarily in the 1950s (though he worked less noticeably throughout the [...]

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June is Gay Pride Month, an occasion not only to celebrate our current strides and our future goals (full marriage equality) but also a time to acknowledge our history and realize how far we’ve come.  A little over fifty years ago, a British film titled Victim was released, and it remains one of the more significant [...]

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I recently saw Tracie Bennett’s knockout performance as Judy Garland in the Broadway play End of the Rainbow.  I’m certain Ms. Bennett will take home the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, though she could conceivably be awarded the Best Actress in a Musical prize, too, considering the generous and impressive amount of all-out [...]

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