A fun game those of legal drinking age can play while watching Roger Vadim's surreal/sexy 1968 Eurotrash space romp "Barbarella": take a drink every time Barbarella (Jane Fonda) changes costumes. One will be blindingly intoxicated by the 20-minute mark. "Barbarella" takes place in the distant future wherein the President of Earth (Claude Dauphin) has tasked the title heroine, a freelance space captain, to locate and retrieve Durand-Durand (Milo O'Shea) a scientist who has invented the positronic ray, a weapon of massive destructive power. Barbarella must trek through a picaresque adventure, stopping to be savaged by killer dolls, locked into an orgasm machine (!), and to befriend a friendly angel (John Philip Law). The film was based on the bawdy 1966 French comic by Jean-Claude Forest.
Yes, the band Duran Duran got their name from "Barbarella."
Back in October 2022, it was announced that Sony was developing a remake of "Barbarella," and...
Yes, the band Duran Duran got their name from "Barbarella."
Back in October 2022, it was announced that Sony was developing a remake of "Barbarella," and...
- 5/13/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Born Eugene L. Kay, also known as “Dusty,” a writer and Emmy-nominated producer whose credits include “Entourage,” “Roseanne” and “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” died on April 10 in Summerlin, Nev., following a brief illness, his long time collaborator and friend Bill Nuss announced. He was 69.
Kay was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and grew up in Yonkers and Spring Valley. His 45-year long career in television earned him several credits including the 1987 ABC sitcom “Once a Hero,” which he created, which starred Robert Forster, Milo O’Shea, Caitlin Clarke, and Jeff Lester. It followed a comic book hero who crosses over from a fictional world to fight crime in the real world, then he discovers he’s lost all his superpowers.
Kay wrote and produced the TV films “Triplecross,” starring Ted Wass, and Markie Post, “Mick and Frankie,” starring Ed Marinaro, Robert Firth and Robert Forster, and Cutty Whitman,...
Kay was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and grew up in Yonkers and Spring Valley. His 45-year long career in television earned him several credits including the 1987 ABC sitcom “Once a Hero,” which he created, which starred Robert Forster, Milo O’Shea, Caitlin Clarke, and Jeff Lester. It followed a comic book hero who crosses over from a fictional world to fight crime in the real world, then he discovers he’s lost all his superpowers.
Kay wrote and produced the TV films “Triplecross,” starring Ted Wass, and Markie Post, “Mick and Frankie,” starring Ed Marinaro, Robert Firth and Robert Forster, and Cutty Whitman,...
- 4/22/2024
- by Lexi Carson
- Variety Film + TV
Dusty Kay, a writer and Emmy-nominated producer whose credits include Entourage, Roseanne and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, died April 10 in Summerlin, Nevada, following a brief illness. He was 69.
His death was announced today by his friend and collaborator Bill Nuss. A cause of death was not specified.
Born Eugene L. Kay, in the Bronx, New York, Kay created the short-lived 1987 ABC series Once a Hero, about a comic book hero who crosses over to the real world but loses his superpowers in the transition. The series starred Robert Forster, Milo O’Shea, Caitlin Clarke, and Jeff Lester.
Kay also wrote and produced the TV films Triplecross (1986), starring Ted Wass, and Markie Post, Mick and Frankie, starring Ed Marinaro, Robert Firth and Robert Forster, and Cutty Whitman (1996) starring James Remar, and Richard Libertini.
Other writing credits include Good Times, James at 16, Eight is Enough, Early Edition, and...
His death was announced today by his friend and collaborator Bill Nuss. A cause of death was not specified.
Born Eugene L. Kay, in the Bronx, New York, Kay created the short-lived 1987 ABC series Once a Hero, about a comic book hero who crosses over to the real world but loses his superpowers in the transition. The series starred Robert Forster, Milo O’Shea, Caitlin Clarke, and Jeff Lester.
Kay also wrote and produced the TV films Triplecross (1986), starring Ted Wass, and Markie Post, Mick and Frankie, starring Ed Marinaro, Robert Firth and Robert Forster, and Cutty Whitman (1996) starring James Remar, and Richard Libertini.
Other writing credits include Good Times, James at 16, Eight is Enough, Early Edition, and...
- 4/22/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Dusty Kay, a writer and Emmy-nominated producer with credits including Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Roseanne and Entourage, has died. He was 69.
Kay died April 10 in Summerlin, Nevada, after an undescribed brief illness, Bill Nuss, his friend and longtime collaborator, announced. The pair authored the book for a musical based on The Honeymooners that premiered in 2017 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.
Kay also created the ABC series Once a Hero, starring Robert Forster, Milo O’Shea, Caitlin Clarke and Jeff Lester. The show, about a comic book hero, Captain Justice (Lester), who crosses over from the fictional world to fight crime in the real world, only to discover he’s lost his superpowers, aired seven episodes in 1997.
He served as a co-supervising producer on five episodes of ABC’s Lois & Clark in 1993, wrote and produced on the seventh season of ABC’s Roseanne...
Kay died April 10 in Summerlin, Nevada, after an undescribed brief illness, Bill Nuss, his friend and longtime collaborator, announced. The pair authored the book for a musical based on The Honeymooners that premiered in 2017 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.
Kay also created the ABC series Once a Hero, starring Robert Forster, Milo O’Shea, Caitlin Clarke and Jeff Lester. The show, about a comic book hero, Captain Justice (Lester), who crosses over from the fictional world to fight crime in the real world, only to discover he’s lost his superpowers, aired seven episodes in 1997.
He served as a co-supervising producer on five episodes of ABC’s Lois & Clark in 1993, wrote and produced on the seventh season of ABC’s Roseanne...
- 4/22/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nineteen sixty-eight has to be considered the apex of psychedelic sexploitation romps, with the release of Candy, adapted from Mason Hoffenberg and Terry Southern’s satirical reworking of Voltaire’s Candide, and Roger Vadim’s Barbarella, based on Jean-Claude Forest’s comic, and partially scripted by Southern (alongside an armada of other credited writers). Both employ a rambling, shaggy-dog structure as an excuse to flagrantly foreground softcore sexual hijinks tinged with a pungent whiff of social commentary, albeit the latter aspect may be easier to discern in Candy’s perverse daisy chain of events.
Southern’s contributions to the Dino De Laurentiis-produced Barbarella can be detected in some of its wittier lines (“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming!”) and sly pokes at the persistence of class-consciousness. Aside from Southern, the two films are linked by the presence of Anita Pallenberg, style icon and muse of the Rolling...
Southern’s contributions to the Dino De Laurentiis-produced Barbarella can be detected in some of its wittier lines (“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming!”) and sly pokes at the persistence of class-consciousness. Aside from Southern, the two films are linked by the presence of Anita Pallenberg, style icon and muse of the Rolling...
- 11/21/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Barbarella Barbarella, Itvx, streaming now
Jane Fonda has a blast in the central role of this kooky but charming slice of sci-fi which has surely gained cult status as much for its look at its narrative content. In the middle of its outlandishness, Fonda plays it straight as an astronaut on a mission to find scientist Durand-Durand (Milo O'Shea) and his dangerous Positronic Ray. Soft porn shenanigans mix with episodic storytelling involving everything from a grounded angel to vampire dolls. The end result is uneven yet enjoyable largely because Fonda's heroine is so gosh-darned nice.
The Place Beyond The Pines, 11.15pm, BBC2, Tuesday, October 3
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Breathing and carnival noises - Ryan Gosling, covered in tattoos up to his throat, bleached blond, with a knife, invites us to follow him. Across the fairground we stroll, as he puts on layers of clothing, first a torn tank top,...
Jane Fonda has a blast in the central role of this kooky but charming slice of sci-fi which has surely gained cult status as much for its look at its narrative content. In the middle of its outlandishness, Fonda plays it straight as an astronaut on a mission to find scientist Durand-Durand (Milo O'Shea) and his dangerous Positronic Ray. Soft porn shenanigans mix with episodic storytelling involving everything from a grounded angel to vampire dolls. The end result is uneven yet enjoyable largely because Fonda's heroine is so gosh-darned nice.
The Place Beyond The Pines, 11.15pm, BBC2, Tuesday, October 3
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Breathing and carnival noises - Ryan Gosling, covered in tattoos up to his throat, bleached blond, with a knife, invites us to follow him. Across the fairground we stroll, as he puts on layers of clothing, first a torn tank top,...
- 10/2/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Franco Zeffirelli apprenticed to Luchino Visconti, stage directed operas and directed several movie hits, the biggest of which was this exuberant, attractive Shakespeare adaptation, filmed like an opera with sumptuous sets and sunswept Italian locations. The novelty for 1968 was casting the Bard’s star-crossed young lovers with actual teenagers. Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting are attractive kids directed to give spirited performances; the critics may have had mixed reactions but the public received the film well. If memory serves, Criterion’s new remaster looks better than Paramount’s original release prints.
Romeo and Juliet
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1171
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 138 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 14, 2023 / 39.95
Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O’Shea, Pat Heywood, Robert Stephens, Michael York, Bruce Robinson, Paul Hardwick, Natasha Parry, Antonio Pierfederici, Esmeralda Ruspoli, Roberto Bisacco, Roy Holder, Keith Skinner, Dyson Lovell, Richard Warwick, Laurence Olivier.
Cinematography: Pasquelino De...
Romeo and Juliet
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1171
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 138 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 14, 2023 / 39.95
Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O’Shea, Pat Heywood, Robert Stephens, Michael York, Bruce Robinson, Paul Hardwick, Natasha Parry, Antonio Pierfederici, Esmeralda Ruspoli, Roberto Bisacco, Roy Holder, Keith Skinner, Dyson Lovell, Richard Warwick, Laurence Olivier.
Cinematography: Pasquelino De...
- 2/21/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Welcome to Ground Zero for ‘Committed Cinema’ Italian style. Director Giuiano Montaldo filmed his dream project on location in Ireland and a bit in Boston, with top stars Gian Maria Volontè and Riccardo Cucciolla. In one of the highest-profile American ‘media’ trials ever the famed immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti were tried for a crime but convicted by politics: even the judge asserted they were guilty by definition. Montaldo shows how wrongly justice can be served without whitewashing the defendants. UK actors Cyril Cusack and Milo O’Shea up the performance level, and the Ennio Morricone / Joan Baez songs have kept the film alive.
Sacco & Vanzetti
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / Street Date May 3, 2022 / Sacco e Vanzetti; Intolerance (shooting title?) / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gian Maria Volontè, Riccardo Cucciolla, Cyril Cusack, Rosanna Fratello, Geoffrey Keen, Milo O’Shea, William Prince, Claude Mann, Edward Jewesbury, Armenia Balducci, Valentino Orfeo,...
Sacco & Vanzetti
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / Street Date May 3, 2022 / Sacco e Vanzetti; Intolerance (shooting title?) / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Gian Maria Volontè, Riccardo Cucciolla, Cyril Cusack, Rosanna Fratello, Geoffrey Keen, Milo O’Shea, William Prince, Claude Mann, Edward Jewesbury, Armenia Balducci, Valentino Orfeo,...
- 5/21/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Hello, everyone! We have a brand new assortment of horror and sci-fi headed home this week, and there are plenty of offerings that should undoubtedly make for great additions to your Halloween season viewing plans. Universal is showing some love to a trio of classics, as it is set to release John Carpenter’s The Thing as well as Rear Window and Vertigo from Alfred Hitchcock all on 4K Ultra HD today. Kino Lorber has put together new Blu-ray presentations for both The Tomb of Ligeia and Theatre of Blood, and if you’re looking to catch up with some newer horror, both Great White and Slaxx arrive today courtesy of Rlje Films.
Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for September 7th include Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War, Hellbox, Witches of Blackwood, Skinwalker, and War of the God Monsters.
Great White
A blissful tourist trip turns into a nightmare for five...
Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for September 7th include Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War, Hellbox, Witches of Blackwood, Skinwalker, and War of the God Monsters.
Great White
A blissful tourist trip turns into a nightmare for five...
- 9/7/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Bill C. Davis, whose 1981 Broadway hit play Mass Appeal was adapted for a 1984 feature film starring Jack Lemmon and Željko Ivanek, died Feb. 26 following a brief illness, his family announced. He was 69.
Born in Ellenville, NY, and raised in the state’s Hudson Valley, Davis attended Catholic schools and, after graduating from Poughkeepsie’s Marist College, worked at a residential community for developmentally disabled and emotionally disturbed adults in Rhinebeck, NY. He wrote Mass Appeal, about the conflicting personalities of a stern, conservative priest and a younger, rebellious seminarian, during his time in Rhinebeck.
The play originally was produced Off Broadway in 1980 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Milo O’Shea and Eric Roberts and directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald. Mass Appeal moved to Broadway the following year, with Michael O’Keefe taking over for Roberts.
The Broadway production earned Tony Award nominations for O’Shea and Fitzgerald.
Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve...
Born in Ellenville, NY, and raised in the state’s Hudson Valley, Davis attended Catholic schools and, after graduating from Poughkeepsie’s Marist College, worked at a residential community for developmentally disabled and emotionally disturbed adults in Rhinebeck, NY. He wrote Mass Appeal, about the conflicting personalities of a stern, conservative priest and a younger, rebellious seminarian, during his time in Rhinebeck.
The play originally was produced Off Broadway in 1980 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Milo O’Shea and Eric Roberts and directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald. Mass Appeal moved to Broadway the following year, with Michael O’Keefe taking over for Roberts.
The Broadway production earned Tony Award nominations for O’Shea and Fitzgerald.
Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve...
- 3/3/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Bill C. Davis, who wrote the Broadway two-hander Mass Appeal, then adapted the drama for the film version that starred Jack Lemmon, died Friday in Torrington, Connecticut, after a brief illness, a publicist announced. He was 69.
Mass Appeal, directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald, played at the Manhattan Theatre Club before moving to the Booth Theater on Broadway in 1981. Starring Milo O’Shea as Father Tim Farley and Caddyshack’s Michael O’Keefe as young seminarian Mark Dolson, it ran for more than 200 performances through May 1982.
“By letting his characters grow and change, Mr. Davis has written a play ...
Mass Appeal, directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald, played at the Manhattan Theatre Club before moving to the Booth Theater on Broadway in 1981. Starring Milo O’Shea as Father Tim Farley and Caddyshack’s Michael O’Keefe as young seminarian Mark Dolson, it ran for more than 200 performances through May 1982.
“By letting his characters grow and change, Mr. Davis has written a play ...
Bill C. Davis, who wrote the Broadway two-hander Mass Appeal, then adapted the drama for the film version that starred Jack Lemmon, died Friday in Torrington, Connecticut, after a brief illness, a publicist announced. He was 69.
Mass Appeal, directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald, played at the Manhattan Theatre Club before moving to the Booth Theater on Broadway in 1981. Starring Milo O’Shea as Father Tim Farley and Caddyshack’s Michael O’Keefe as young seminarian Mark Dolson, it ran for more than 200 performances through May 1982.
“By letting his characters grow and change, Mr. Davis has written a play ...
Mass Appeal, directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald, played at the Manhattan Theatre Club before moving to the Booth Theater on Broadway in 1981. Starring Milo O’Shea as Father Tim Farley and Caddyshack’s Michael O’Keefe as young seminarian Mark Dolson, it ran for more than 200 performances through May 1982.
“By letting his characters grow and change, Mr. Davis has written a play ...
Join Cinema St. Louis Executive Director Cliff Froehlich in their new collaboration with Shakespeare Festival St. Louis to present Shakespeare & Chill. Every Wednesday at 8pm Cliff will moderate 20-30 minute panel discussion of a Shakespeare-related movie conversations between Shakespeare aficionados and industry professionals. Stay tuned to the Cinema St. Louis Facebook page for updates on the event!
A discussion of the 1973 classic Vincent Price film Theatre Of Blood will take place between Cliff and Shakespeare and Vincent Price enthusiasts Chris Limber, Ben Ritchie, Kevin Townley, and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman Facebook on Wednesday May 13th at 8Pm. The discussion will post on the Cinema St. Louis and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Facebook pages.
In the early 1970’s Vincent Price’s career was at a high point. The Doctor Phibes films were unexpected hits. How would he capitalize on these? In 1973 he took on a role in a...
A discussion of the 1973 classic Vincent Price film Theatre Of Blood will take place between Cliff and Shakespeare and Vincent Price enthusiasts Chris Limber, Ben Ritchie, Kevin Townley, and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman Facebook on Wednesday May 13th at 8Pm. The discussion will post on the Cinema St. Louis and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Facebook pages.
In the early 1970’s Vincent Price’s career was at a high point. The Doctor Phibes films were unexpected hits. How would he capitalize on these? In 1973 he took on a role in a...
- 5/8/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
Dr Duran Duran and the Orgasmatron
1835 P.T. Barnum and his circus begin their first tour of the Us. Wasn't Hugh Jackman supposed to play him in an original movie musical? Is that still on or did the endless Wolverine show derail it? (sigh)
1840 Novelist Thomas Hardy is born. Movies adapted from his work include multiple versions of Jude, Tess, and Far From the Madding Crowd
1904 Johnny Weissmuller is born. We just wrote about Tarzan and His Mate (1934) which you should definitely see
1926 Character actor Milo O'Shea, aka Dr Duran Duran who tried to kill Jane Fonda by excessive pleasure in Barbarella, is born.
1937 Sally Kellerman, the original " 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan" is born
1944 Egot composing legend Marvin Hamlisch (of "A Chorus Line") fame is born...or as Cher calls him "Marvin Hamilsmisch". Classic songs include the Oscar winning "The Way We Were...
Dr Duran Duran and the Orgasmatron
1835 P.T. Barnum and his circus begin their first tour of the Us. Wasn't Hugh Jackman supposed to play him in an original movie musical? Is that still on or did the endless Wolverine show derail it? (sigh)
1840 Novelist Thomas Hardy is born. Movies adapted from his work include multiple versions of Jude, Tess, and Far From the Madding Crowd
1904 Johnny Weissmuller is born. We just wrote about Tarzan and His Mate (1934) which you should definitely see
1926 Character actor Milo O'Shea, aka Dr Duran Duran who tried to kill Jane Fonda by excessive pleasure in Barbarella, is born.
1937 Sally Kellerman, the original " 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan" is born
1944 Egot composing legend Marvin Hamlisch (of "A Chorus Line") fame is born...or as Cher calls him "Marvin Hamilsmisch". Classic songs include the Oscar winning "The Way We Were...
- 6/2/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
"Charlie Brackett summed it up beautifully, I think, when he said that in Europe you could open a picture with clouds, dissolve slowly to clouds, and dissolve again to more clouds. In America, though, he said, you open with clouds, you then dissolve to an airplane, and in the next shot the airplane's gotta explode." —John Sturges
“The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying attention to the sky.” —Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
Who'd be a haruspex? In ancient Rome, members of this holy profession pored over the entrails of freshly slaughtered animals, seeking portents among blood and guts. Divination as a...
“The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying attention to the sky.” —Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
Who'd be a haruspex? In ancient Rome, members of this holy profession pored over the entrails of freshly slaughtered animals, seeking portents among blood and guts. Divination as a...
- 12/1/2014
- by Neil Young
- MUBI
From SneakPeekTV, take a look @ the full feature of producer Dino De Laurentis' sci-fi sex comedy "Barbarella"(1968) that is being developed and rebooted by "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn.
From a screenplay by Joe Gazzam, Refn promises the look of his film will adhere close to the languid illustrations of Jean-Claude Forest, creator of the French-language "Barbarella" comics.
The original Paramount Pictures release was directed by Roger Vadim, starring Vadim's wife at the time, actress Jane Fonda :
"...in the year 40,000, 'Barbarella' (Fonda) is assigned by the 'President of Earth' (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve 'Doctor Durand Durand' (Milo O'Shea) from the planet 'Tau Ceti'.
"Durand Durand is the inventor of the weaponized 'Positronic Ray'.
"Earth is now a peaceful planet, and weapons are unheard of. Because Tau Ceti is an unknown region of space there is the potential for the weapon to fall into the wrong hands.
From a screenplay by Joe Gazzam, Refn promises the look of his film will adhere close to the languid illustrations of Jean-Claude Forest, creator of the French-language "Barbarella" comics.
The original Paramount Pictures release was directed by Roger Vadim, starring Vadim's wife at the time, actress Jane Fonda :
"...in the year 40,000, 'Barbarella' (Fonda) is assigned by the 'President of Earth' (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve 'Doctor Durand Durand' (Milo O'Shea) from the planet 'Tau Ceti'.
"Durand Durand is the inventor of the weaponized 'Positronic Ray'.
"Earth is now a peaceful planet, and weapons are unheard of. Because Tau Ceti is an unknown region of space there is the potential for the weapon to fall into the wrong hands.
- 4/21/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
New York — The Irish actor Milo O'Shea, whose many roles on stage and screen included a friar in Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet," an evil scientist in "Barbarella" and a Supreme Court justice on "The West Wing," has died in New York City. He was 86.
Ireland's arts minister, Jimmy Deenihan, said in a statement announcing O'Shea's death on Tuesday that the Dublin-born actor would be remembered for "ground-breaking" roles, including a performance as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film adaptation of "Ulysses."
O'Shea also acted on Broadway, playing a gay hairdresser in 1968's "Staircase." He was nominated for Tony Awards twice.
The public knew O'Shea best as a character actor. His bushy eyebrows and white hair made him a favorite of casting directors looking for priests. He played a drunken one on the TV show "Cheers," a pedophilic one in the 1997 film "The Butcher Boy," a charming one in the 1981 Broadway play "Mass Appeal,...
Ireland's arts minister, Jimmy Deenihan, said in a statement announcing O'Shea's death on Tuesday that the Dublin-born actor would be remembered for "ground-breaking" roles, including a performance as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film adaptation of "Ulysses."
O'Shea also acted on Broadway, playing a gay hairdresser in 1968's "Staircase." He was nominated for Tony Awards twice.
The public knew O'Shea best as a character actor. His bushy eyebrows and white hair made him a favorite of casting directors looking for priests. He played a drunken one on the TV show "Cheers," a pedophilic one in the 1997 film "The Butcher Boy," a charming one in the 1981 Broadway play "Mass Appeal,...
- 4/6/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Irish stage and screen character actor who appeared in Barbarella, The Verdict and the BBC's 1969 sitcom Me Mammy
For a performer of such fame and versatility, the distinguished Irish character actor Milo O'Shea, who has died aged 86, is not associated with any role in particular, or indeed any clutch of them. He was chiefly associated with his own expressive dark eyes, bushy eyebrows, outstanding mimetic talents and distinctive Dublin brogue.
His impish presence irradiated countless fine movies – including Joseph Strick's Ulysses (1967), Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968) and Sidney Lumet's The Verdict (1982) – and many top-drawer American television series, from Cheers, The Golden Girls and Frasier, right through to The West Wing (2003-04), in which he played the chief justice Roy Ashland.
He had settled in New York in 1976 with his second wife, Kitty Sullivan, in order to be equidistant from his own main bases of operation, Hollywood and London. The...
For a performer of such fame and versatility, the distinguished Irish character actor Milo O'Shea, who has died aged 86, is not associated with any role in particular, or indeed any clutch of them. He was chiefly associated with his own expressive dark eyes, bushy eyebrows, outstanding mimetic talents and distinctive Dublin brogue.
His impish presence irradiated countless fine movies – including Joseph Strick's Ulysses (1967), Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968) and Sidney Lumet's The Verdict (1982) – and many top-drawer American television series, from Cheers, The Golden Girls and Frasier, right through to The West Wing (2003-04), in which he played the chief justice Roy Ashland.
He had settled in New York in 1976 with his second wife, Kitty Sullivan, in order to be equidistant from his own main bases of operation, Hollywood and London. The...
- 4/3/2013
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
O'Shea squares off in court against Paul Newman in The Verdict.
The acclaimed Irish actor Milo O'Shea has died after a brief illness at age 86. The Dublin-born O'Shea had lived in New York City since 1976. He was described as a giant talent of stage, screen and TV. His memorable feature film performances include the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, Barbarella, Ulysses and as the compromised judge who argues with attorney Paul Newman in Sidney Lumet's 1982 film The Verdict. O'Shea, an "actor's actor", also appeared in many popular American and British TV shows including The Golden Girls, Cheers, The West Wing and Me Mammy. For more click here...
- 4/3/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Irish actor Milo O'Shea has passed away in New York after a short illness, reports the Irish Times. He was 86 years old.
O'Shea was known for several great film roles in his younger days, but we instantly remembered him as Chief Justice Roy Ashland on "The West Wing," a small, but memorable role on the political drama's fifth season. Matthew Perry guest-starred as Joe Quincy, Ashland's former clerk. It was O'Shea's last acting role.
In his youth, O'Shea received acclaim for his role as Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses," for which he received a BAFTA nomination, and for his portrayal of Friar Laurence in the Zeffirelli "Romeo and Juliet" film adaptation.
O'Shea also starred as Durand Durand in cult classic "Barbarella" alongside Jane Fonda. The band Duran Duran would go on to take its name from the film character and O'Shea would reprise his role for the band's concert film "Arena.
O'Shea was known for several great film roles in his younger days, but we instantly remembered him as Chief Justice Roy Ashland on "The West Wing," a small, but memorable role on the political drama's fifth season. Matthew Perry guest-starred as Joe Quincy, Ashland's former clerk. It was O'Shea's last acting role.
In his youth, O'Shea received acclaim for his role as Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses," for which he received a BAFTA nomination, and for his portrayal of Friar Laurence in the Zeffirelli "Romeo and Juliet" film adaptation.
O'Shea also starred as Durand Durand in cult classic "Barbarella" alongside Jane Fonda. The band Duran Duran would go on to take its name from the film character and O'Shea would reprise his role for the band's concert film "Arena.
- 4/3/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
According to new reports, the 1968 De Laurentis feature "Barbarella", based on the sci fi comic strip, will be developed by executive producer Martha De Laurentiis and Gaumont International Television into a "Barbarella" TV series, with "Drive" director Nicolas Refn directing the pilot episode.
Episodes will be scripted by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade ("Skyfall"), with the series adhering closely to the style of illustrator Jean-Claude Forest, creator of the French-language "Barbarella" comics.
Paramount Pictures "Barbarella" was directed by Roger Vadim, starring Vadim's wife at the time, actress Jane Fonda :
"...in the year 40,000, 'Barbarella' (Fonda) is assigned by the 'President of Earth' (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve 'Doctor Durand Durand' (Milo O'Shea) from the planet 'Tau Ceti'. Durand Durand is the inventor of the weaponized 'Positronic Ray'.
"Earth is now a peaceful planet, and weapons are unheard of. Because Tau Ceti is an unknown region of space there...
Episodes will be scripted by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade ("Skyfall"), with the series adhering closely to the style of illustrator Jean-Claude Forest, creator of the French-language "Barbarella" comics.
Paramount Pictures "Barbarella" was directed by Roger Vadim, starring Vadim's wife at the time, actress Jane Fonda :
"...in the year 40,000, 'Barbarella' (Fonda) is assigned by the 'President of Earth' (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve 'Doctor Durand Durand' (Milo O'Shea) from the planet 'Tau Ceti'. Durand Durand is the inventor of the weaponized 'Positronic Ray'.
"Earth is now a peaceful planet, and weapons are unheard of. Because Tau Ceti is an unknown region of space there...
- 2/1/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
The buzz being generated by Disney's upcoming Marvel Studios outer space fantasy, "Guardians Of The Galaxy" has kick-started producer Dino De Laurentis' Paramount remake of the 1968 sci-fi comedy, "Barbarella: Queen Of The Galaxy".
To be directed by Nicolas Winding Refn ("Drive") from a screenplay by Joe Gazzam, Refn promises the look of his film will adhere close to the languid illustrations of Jean-Claude Forest, creator of the French-language "Barbarella" comics.
Although actress Rose McGowan was originally considered to play 'Barbarella', casting continues for a suitable actress to play the lead.
The original Paramount Pictures release was directed by Roger Vadim, starring Vadim's wife at the time, actress Jane Fonda :
"...in the year 40,000, 'Barbarella' (Fonda) is assigned by the 'President of Earth' (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve 'Doctor Durand Durand' (Milo O'Shea) from the planet 'Tau Ceti'. Durand Durand is the inventor of the weaponized 'Positronic Ray'.
To be directed by Nicolas Winding Refn ("Drive") from a screenplay by Joe Gazzam, Refn promises the look of his film will adhere close to the languid illustrations of Jean-Claude Forest, creator of the French-language "Barbarella" comics.
Although actress Rose McGowan was originally considered to play 'Barbarella', casting continues for a suitable actress to play the lead.
The original Paramount Pictures release was directed by Roger Vadim, starring Vadim's wife at the time, actress Jane Fonda :
"...in the year 40,000, 'Barbarella' (Fonda) is assigned by the 'President of Earth' (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve 'Doctor Durand Durand' (Milo O'Shea) from the planet 'Tau Ceti'. Durand Durand is the inventor of the weaponized 'Positronic Ray'.
- 10/8/2012
- by M. Stevens
- SneakPeek
Phyllis Diller, the wild-haired, eccentrically-dressed performer credited with opening the doors of stand-up comedy to women, passed away at her home in Los Angeles. She was 95 years old.
She was born Phyllis Ada Driver on July 17, 1917 in Lima, Ohio to Perry Marcus and Frances Ada (Romshe) Driver. After graduating from Central High School, she headed to Chicago's Sherwood Music Conservatory, where she continued to study piano, with dreams of one day becoming a concert pianist. From the Conservatory, she transferred to Bluffton College in Ohio, where she became the school's newspaper editor and oversaw the publication of humor pieces.
In November 1939, at the age of 22, she married Sherwood Anderson Diller and gave birth to a son, Peter, in 1940. She would have five more children: Sally (1944), a son who died two weeks after being born (1945), Suzanne (1946), Stephanie (1948), and Perry (1950). Perry would later manage his mother's business affairs. Contrary to popular belief, she is no relation to Susan Lucci.
During WWII, the fledgling Diller clan moved to Michigan, where she began to mine her home-making experiences for jokes. She also worked as an advertising copywriter at this time. After the war, the Dillers moved to San Francisco, where she found work as a secretary at the radio station KROW. Later that year, she was in front of the camera for the first time with a program titled "Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker" for Bay Area Radio-Television. She continued working in Bay Area television, this time at KGO-TV, where she was invited to participate in the station's show "Belfast Pop Club", co-hosted by Willard Anderson and Don Sherwood.
Both Anderson and Sherwood encouraged her to pursue her stand-up comedy ambitions, and in 1955, she landed a two-week gig at the venerable San Francisco nightclub, The Purple Onion, where her self-deprecating wit and unique laugh kept her on the stage for the better part of two years. The buzz created by her act reached Hollywood, and she made her first rounds on talk and variety shows with the likes of Jack Benny and Red Skelton.
Her appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Jack Parr was her breakthrough, and led to recurring gigs as a contestant on "You Bet Your Life" with host Groucho Marx, "What's My Line?", "I've Got a Secret", and "Hollywood Squares". She appeared on the silver screen as well, making her debut in William Inge's drama, Splendor in the Grass. In 1961, she made her stage debut in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Appearances in films with Bob Hope -- Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, and Eight on the Lam -- began a lifelong bond between the two performers, who would co-star in numerous TV specials; in fact, Diller would be featured in every Bob Hope Christmas Special from 1965 through 1994. At the height of the Vietnam war in 1966, Diller joined Hope's USO troupe overseas.
As her star rose, husband Sherwood managed her career, though the relationship broke down and the couple divorced in 1965. By this point, however, Sherwood had become a staple of her act, as she made jokes about a husband named "Fang," while she smoked from a exaggerated cigarette holder -- which would become the comedienne's signature prop, paried with her increasingly outlandish wardrobe and hairstyles. Soon after her divorce, she married Ward Donovan, whom she met while appearing on stage in "Wonderful Town". Worth noting is the fact that Joan Rivers was one of her writers at this period in her career.
In the late 1960s, she starred in a pair of short-lived series, "The Pruitts of Southampton" and variety show "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show", though she found her greatest success elsewhere, from her continued guest appearances on talk, variety, and game shows. Toward the end of the decade, she began a successful string of guest spots on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In". Harkening back to her film debut, she gained notices for her work in the drama The Adding Machine with Milo O'Shea.
For three months, at the start of the 1970s, she appeared on Broadway in "Hello, Dolly!", stepping in for Carol Channing. On TV, she frequented on Dean Martin's celebrity roast specials and "the Mike Douglas Show". She cut hit comedy records, published her first books, and continued working the stand-up circuit. A new source of laughs -- her own plastic surgery -- stood in humorous contrast with other Hollywood performers.
Her on-screen career began to wane in late in the decade and into the 1980s, with guest appearances on "The Love Boat", "Celebrity Hot Potato", and a revamped version of "Hollywood Squares".
In the 1990s, roles in B movies Dr. Hackenstein and Silence of the Hams were minor cultural blips, but in 1998 she regained the spotlight for her voice role as the Queen ant in the second Pixar movie, A Bug's Life. She also had a recurring role on "The Bold and the Beautiful". A year later, she suffered a heart attack and was fitted with a pacemaker.
By 2002 she mostly retired from the stage and screen, though she appeared in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats, notable because Diller, who steered clear of graphic material, did not recite the content of the famous dirty joke. An autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, was published that same year; in 2006, a DVD version of the project was released, and she voiced several roles for "Robot Chicken" and, later, "Family Guy". She cameoed in 2007 on "Boston Legal" as a supposed lover of William Shatner's Denny Crane. A planned appearance later in the year for her 90th birthday on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" was canceled when she fractured her back.
Diller was a long-time member of the Society of Singers, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping singers in need. Two cities proclaimed "Phyllis Diller Day"s: Philadelphia (2001) and San Francisco (2006).
She is survived by daughters Sally and Suzanne and son Perry.
She was born Phyllis Ada Driver on July 17, 1917 in Lima, Ohio to Perry Marcus and Frances Ada (Romshe) Driver. After graduating from Central High School, she headed to Chicago's Sherwood Music Conservatory, where she continued to study piano, with dreams of one day becoming a concert pianist. From the Conservatory, she transferred to Bluffton College in Ohio, where she became the school's newspaper editor and oversaw the publication of humor pieces.
In November 1939, at the age of 22, she married Sherwood Anderson Diller and gave birth to a son, Peter, in 1940. She would have five more children: Sally (1944), a son who died two weeks after being born (1945), Suzanne (1946), Stephanie (1948), and Perry (1950). Perry would later manage his mother's business affairs. Contrary to popular belief, she is no relation to Susan Lucci.
During WWII, the fledgling Diller clan moved to Michigan, where she began to mine her home-making experiences for jokes. She also worked as an advertising copywriter at this time. After the war, the Dillers moved to San Francisco, where she found work as a secretary at the radio station KROW. Later that year, she was in front of the camera for the first time with a program titled "Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker" for Bay Area Radio-Television. She continued working in Bay Area television, this time at KGO-TV, where she was invited to participate in the station's show "Belfast Pop Club", co-hosted by Willard Anderson and Don Sherwood.
Both Anderson and Sherwood encouraged her to pursue her stand-up comedy ambitions, and in 1955, she landed a two-week gig at the venerable San Francisco nightclub, The Purple Onion, where her self-deprecating wit and unique laugh kept her on the stage for the better part of two years. The buzz created by her act reached Hollywood, and she made her first rounds on talk and variety shows with the likes of Jack Benny and Red Skelton.
Her appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Jack Parr was her breakthrough, and led to recurring gigs as a contestant on "You Bet Your Life" with host Groucho Marx, "What's My Line?", "I've Got a Secret", and "Hollywood Squares". She appeared on the silver screen as well, making her debut in William Inge's drama, Splendor in the Grass. In 1961, she made her stage debut in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Appearances in films with Bob Hope -- Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, and Eight on the Lam -- began a lifelong bond between the two performers, who would co-star in numerous TV specials; in fact, Diller would be featured in every Bob Hope Christmas Special from 1965 through 1994. At the height of the Vietnam war in 1966, Diller joined Hope's USO troupe overseas.
As her star rose, husband Sherwood managed her career, though the relationship broke down and the couple divorced in 1965. By this point, however, Sherwood had become a staple of her act, as she made jokes about a husband named "Fang," while she smoked from a exaggerated cigarette holder -- which would become the comedienne's signature prop, paried with her increasingly outlandish wardrobe and hairstyles. Soon after her divorce, she married Ward Donovan, whom she met while appearing on stage in "Wonderful Town". Worth noting is the fact that Joan Rivers was one of her writers at this period in her career.
In the late 1960s, she starred in a pair of short-lived series, "The Pruitts of Southampton" and variety show "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show", though she found her greatest success elsewhere, from her continued guest appearances on talk, variety, and game shows. Toward the end of the decade, she began a successful string of guest spots on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In". Harkening back to her film debut, she gained notices for her work in the drama The Adding Machine with Milo O'Shea.
For three months, at the start of the 1970s, she appeared on Broadway in "Hello, Dolly!", stepping in for Carol Channing. On TV, she frequented on Dean Martin's celebrity roast specials and "the Mike Douglas Show". She cut hit comedy records, published her first books, and continued working the stand-up circuit. A new source of laughs -- her own plastic surgery -- stood in humorous contrast with other Hollywood performers.
Her on-screen career began to wane in late in the decade and into the 1980s, with guest appearances on "The Love Boat", "Celebrity Hot Potato", and a revamped version of "Hollywood Squares".
In the 1990s, roles in B movies Dr. Hackenstein and Silence of the Hams were minor cultural blips, but in 1998 she regained the spotlight for her voice role as the Queen ant in the second Pixar movie, A Bug's Life. She also had a recurring role on "The Bold and the Beautiful". A year later, she suffered a heart attack and was fitted with a pacemaker.
By 2002 she mostly retired from the stage and screen, though she appeared in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats, notable because Diller, who steered clear of graphic material, did not recite the content of the famous dirty joke. An autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, was published that same year; in 2006, a DVD version of the project was released, and she voiced several roles for "Robot Chicken" and, later, "Family Guy". She cameoed in 2007 on "Boston Legal" as a supposed lover of William Shatner's Denny Crane. A planned appearance later in the year for her 90th birthday on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" was canceled when she fractured her back.
Diller was a long-time member of the Society of Singers, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping singers in need. Two cities proclaimed "Phyllis Diller Day"s: Philadelphia (2001) and San Francisco (2006).
She is survived by daughters Sally and Suzanne and son Perry.
- 8/20/2012
- by Arno Kazarian
- IMDb News
Stage and screen actor known for his roles in The Three Musketeers and Young Winston
In 1971 the actor Simon Ward, who has died after a long illness aged 70, was plucked from virtual obscurity by the director Richard Attenborough to play Winston Churchill in the film Young Winston, supported by actors of longstanding reputation including Robert Shaw, Anne Bancroft and John Mills. After the film's release a year later, Ward found himself a star on several continents. "That was a frightening role," he recalled. "You were playing someone whom everyone had very strong feelings about. As a movie, it had the most extraordinary mixture of adventure – the fighting, riding, running up and down mountains – and some wonderful dialogue scenes shot at Shepperton."
Swashbuckling and tongue-in-cheek slapstick were added to the mix when Ward, known for his aristocratic looks and high cheekbones, was cast as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers...
In 1971 the actor Simon Ward, who has died after a long illness aged 70, was plucked from virtual obscurity by the director Richard Attenborough to play Winston Churchill in the film Young Winston, supported by actors of longstanding reputation including Robert Shaw, Anne Bancroft and John Mills. After the film's release a year later, Ward found himself a star on several continents. "That was a frightening role," he recalled. "You were playing someone whom everyone had very strong feelings about. As a movie, it had the most extraordinary mixture of adventure – the fighting, riding, running up and down mountains – and some wonderful dialogue scenes shot at Shepperton."
Swashbuckling and tongue-in-cheek slapstick were added to the mix when Ward, known for his aristocratic looks and high cheekbones, was cast as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers...
- 7/23/2012
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
The distinctive and beguiling Irish actor David Kelly, who has died aged 82, was as familiar a face in British television sitcoms as he was on the stage in Dublin, where he was particularly associated with the Gate theatre. But he was perhaps best known in recent years for playing Grandpa Joe in Tim Burton's movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), an engaging performance that was honoured with a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Film and Television Academy; Johnny Depp, who played Willy Wonka, paid a touching tribute on a video link from Hollywood to Dublin.
Kelly was a tall and flamboyant figure who was often cast as a comic, eccentric Irishman, notably as Albert Riddle, an incompetent, one-armed dish-washer in the late 1970s British sitcom Robin's Nest; he...
Kelly was a tall and flamboyant figure who was often cast as a comic, eccentric Irishman, notably as Albert Riddle, an incompetent, one-armed dish-washer in the late 1970s British sitcom Robin's Nest; he...
- 2/14/2012
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
First of all, did it work? Did you almost believe for 1.21 seconds that George Clooney might be Kilmering his career by voicing a car? You did, didn't you? Cool. The real story, a rumor that is flitting around the internets, is that Cloons is in talks to star in and possibly direct a biopic of automotive engineer and executive John DeLorean, best known for developing the DeLorean Dmc-12 sports car (which can be seen at the top of the page. . .not needing any roads).
At first glance this seemed, to me, to be a terrible idea. Clooney is charismatic as hell, sure, but the last car engineering biopic I remember seeing was Tucker: The Man and His Dream with Jeff Bridges and the most exciting part of that 110 minutes was when they discovered seat belts. (Full disclosure, I did not see that movie where Greg Kinnear invents the windshield wiper.
At first glance this seemed, to me, to be a terrible idea. Clooney is charismatic as hell, sure, but the last car engineering biopic I remember seeing was Tucker: The Man and His Dream with Jeff Bridges and the most exciting part of that 110 minutes was when they discovered seat belts. (Full disclosure, I did not see that movie where Greg Kinnear invents the windshield wiper.
- 12/14/2010
- by Joanna Robinson
A talented Irish actor on stage and in films for Ford and Huston
For an actor who worked with two of the greatest movie directors of the last century and appeared in the world premieres of plays by Brian Friel, Ireland's leading contemporary dramatist, Donal Donnelly, who has died after a long illness, aged 78, was curiously unrecognised. Like so many prominent Irish actors in the diasporas of Hollywood, British television, the West End and Broadway – all areas he conquered – Donnelly was a great talent and a private citizen, happily married for many years, and always seemed youthful.
There was something mischievous, something larkish, about him, too. He twinkled. And he had a big nose. He had long lived in New York, although he died in Chicago, and had started out in Dublin, although born in England.
In John Huston's swansong movie The Dead (1987), the best screen transcription of a James Joyce fiction,...
For an actor who worked with two of the greatest movie directors of the last century and appeared in the world premieres of plays by Brian Friel, Ireland's leading contemporary dramatist, Donal Donnelly, who has died after a long illness, aged 78, was curiously unrecognised. Like so many prominent Irish actors in the diasporas of Hollywood, British television, the West End and Broadway – all areas he conquered – Donnelly was a great talent and a private citizen, happily married for many years, and always seemed youthful.
There was something mischievous, something larkish, about him, too. He twinkled. And he had a big nose. He had long lived in New York, although he died in Chicago, and had started out in Dublin, although born in England.
In John Huston's swansong movie The Dead (1987), the best screen transcription of a James Joyce fiction,...
- 1/7/2010
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
This is a bold and high-minded stab at the ultimate unfilmable book, writes Peter Bradshaw
In 1967, the American film-maker Joseph Strick took a bold and high-minded stab at the ultimate unfilmable book: Joyce's Ulysses. Inevitably, it's a disappointment, though watched again now for this rerelease, it doesn't seem as much of a disappointment as all that. Milo O'Shea gives a very decent performance as Leopold Bloom: he is dignified, vulnerable, sensitive and tragicomic. However, Maurice Roëves's Stephen Dedalus is flat and uninteresting; his opening dialogue scenes with Mulligan and Haines in the Martello Tower are odd and stilted, yet maybe there's no other way of doing them. I was reminded of Manoel De Oliveira's 2002 film I'm Going Home, in which John Malkovich plays a film-maker directing a new version of Ulysses, and unhappily attempting to direct Michel Piccoli's elderly French actor, whom he has stupendously miscast as Buck Mulligan.
In 1967, the American film-maker Joseph Strick took a bold and high-minded stab at the ultimate unfilmable book: Joyce's Ulysses. Inevitably, it's a disappointment, though watched again now for this rerelease, it doesn't seem as much of a disappointment as all that. Milo O'Shea gives a very decent performance as Leopold Bloom: he is dignified, vulnerable, sensitive and tragicomic. However, Maurice Roëves's Stephen Dedalus is flat and uninteresting; his opening dialogue scenes with Mulligan and Haines in the Martello Tower are odd and stilted, yet maybe there's no other way of doing them. I was reminded of Manoel De Oliveira's 2002 film I'm Going Home, in which John Malkovich plays a film-maker directing a new version of Ulysses, and unhappily attempting to direct Michel Piccoli's elderly French actor, whom he has stupendously miscast as Buck Mulligan.
- 11/19/2009
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Long Beach, CA—Musical Theatre West opens its 57th season with Meet Me In St. Louis, the stage adaptation of the beloved Judy Garland classic. Previews of this production begin on October 30th and opens October 31, 2009 and runs through November 15, 2009 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.
Meet Me In St. Louis is a rare treasure in musical theatre and is based on the heartwarming 1944 MGM film starring Judy Garland. This show harkens back to a simpler, sepia-tinted time as the story follows the Smith family at the 1904 World's Fair. We see how their love and respect for each other is tempered with the genuine humor that can only be generated by such a close family. According to Mtw producers, Meet Me In St. Louis is "perfect for the entire family!" This production with lavish costumes and Victorian sets also includes classic musical numbers, "The Boy Next Door,...
Meet Me In St. Louis is a rare treasure in musical theatre and is based on the heartwarming 1944 MGM film starring Judy Garland. This show harkens back to a simpler, sepia-tinted time as the story follows the Smith family at the 1904 World's Fair. We see how their love and respect for each other is tempered with the genuine humor that can only be generated by such a close family. According to Mtw producers, Meet Me In St. Louis is "perfect for the entire family!" This production with lavish costumes and Victorian sets also includes classic musical numbers, "The Boy Next Door,...
- 10/31/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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