By Lee Pfeiffer
Among the many gems released by the Warner Archive is the obscure Girl of the Night which afforded Anne Francis a rare starring role in a theatrical feature. The 1960 modestly-budgeted movie purports to examine the pitfalls of a young woman who becomes a high-priced call girl. Francis plays Robin Williams (not the hairy guy from Mork and Mindy), a charismatic 24 year-old trying to carve a life for herself in New York City. She soon falls in love with Larry Taylor (John Kerr), a charismatic cad who pretends to love her while acting as her pimp. For a while, Robin seems content. She's pulling in enough loot to maintain a high lifestyle for herself and Larry, taking "appointments" from floozy madame Rowena (Kay Medford.) When she learns Larry has been cheating on her, she despairs and seeks advice from psychiatrist Dr. Mitchell (Lloyd Nolan in typically stoic Lloyd Nolan mode.
Among the many gems released by the Warner Archive is the obscure Girl of the Night which afforded Anne Francis a rare starring role in a theatrical feature. The 1960 modestly-budgeted movie purports to examine the pitfalls of a young woman who becomes a high-priced call girl. Francis plays Robin Williams (not the hairy guy from Mork and Mindy), a charismatic 24 year-old trying to carve a life for herself in New York City. She soon falls in love with Larry Taylor (John Kerr), a charismatic cad who pretends to love her while acting as her pimp. For a while, Robin seems content. She's pulling in enough loot to maintain a high lifestyle for herself and Larry, taking "appointments" from floozy madame Rowena (Kay Medford.) When she learns Larry has been cheating on her, she despairs and seeks advice from psychiatrist Dr. Mitchell (Lloyd Nolan in typically stoic Lloyd Nolan mode.
- 1/25/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Out of all of Poe’s works, few have had as big of an impact on me as “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Like many youngsters with an interest in the macabre, it was the first to immediately grab my attention, its title conjuring images of a massive, swinging blade cutting a poor sap wide open. Of course, there’s more to the poem than that—it’s focused less on the titular blade and more on the paranoia it creates, as well as painting a portrait of the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. It also has, quite infamously, one of the most frustrating deus ex machinas of all time, where the French army stops the swinging pendulum mere seconds before it can bisect our bound protagonist, much to the disappointment of English students the world over. While it’s hardly Poe’s best work, it’s certainly among his most iconic,...
- 8/4/2017
- by Perry Ruhland
- DailyDead
On the day a U.S. appeals court lifted an injunction that blocked a Mississippi “religious freedom” law – i.e., giving Christian extremists the right to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, etc. – not to mention the publication of a Republican-backed health care bill targeting the poor, the sick, the elderly, and those with “pre-existing conditions” – which would include HIV-infected people, a large chunk of whom are gay and bisexual men, so the wealthy in the U.S. can get a massive tax cut, Turner Classic Movies' 2017 Gay Pride or Lgbt Month celebration continues (into tomorrow morning, Thursday & Friday, June 22–23) with the presentation of movies by or featuring an eclectic – though seemingly all male – group: Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Dirk Bogarde, John Schlesinger, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins. After all, one assumes that, rumors or no, the presence of Mercedes McCambridge in one...
- 6/23/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Sometimes it’s psychological. Sometimes it’s visceral. It can be a masked killer’s twisted pastime. A labyrinth our poor heroes must find their way out of. Perhaps a nasty round of torture by the Big Bad. Whatever it is, the sick feeling of impending doom overcomes us as we realize the characters might not make it out alive. Sometimes they can think their way through. Sometimes they can fight. But when the exits are closed and the madman decides to get creative, all bets are off.
****
Alucarda, La Hija De Las Tinieblas / Innocents From Hell (1977) – A Dracula takes revenge
Director Juan López Moctezuma came along during the new wave of 70′s Mexican genre pics that expressed radical and subversive views. An important intellectual figure in Mexico in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Moctezuma produced Jodorowsky’s El Topo and Fando Y Lis. Of his three horror films (which also includes Mansion of Madness,...
****
Alucarda, La Hija De Las Tinieblas / Innocents From Hell (1977) – A Dracula takes revenge
Director Juan López Moctezuma came along during the new wave of 70′s Mexican genre pics that expressed radical and subversive views. An important intellectual figure in Mexico in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Moctezuma produced Jodorowsky’s El Topo and Fando Y Lis. Of his three horror films (which also includes Mansion of Madness,...
- 10/10/2015
- by Staff
- SoundOnSight
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Scream Factory gave many classic horror film fans a Halloween treat with the release of The Vincent Price Collection II, and now Arrow Films is looking to sate the viewing appetites of Price fans in England with Six Gothic Tales, due out on December 8th. Comprised of six Roger Corman movies based on Edgar Allan Poe’s works and starring Vincent Price, Arrow Films has unveiled their collection’s special features:
Press Release - “From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace...
Press Release - “From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace...
- 11/20/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
By Lee Pfeiffer
A controversy over the style of drapes for a mansion's library would not seem to be the fodder for a sizzling screen drama but it is the catalyst for the events that unwind in The Cobweb, a 1955 soap opera that involves the talents of some very impressive actors and filmmakers. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by John Houseman, based on the bestselling novel by William Gibson. The cast features an impressive array of seasoned veterans as well as up-and-comers. Among them: Richard Widmark, Lauren, Bacall, Charles Boyer, Gloria Grahame, Lillian Gish, Oscar Levant, Susan Strasberg and John Kerr. The action all takes place in a psychiatric institute called "The Castle". It's actually a mansion house and the patients are seemingly there voluntarily. They are an assortment of mixed nuts ranging from elderly eccentrics to young people with severe problems interacting with others. The...
A controversy over the style of drapes for a mansion's library would not seem to be the fodder for a sizzling screen drama but it is the catalyst for the events that unwind in The Cobweb, a 1955 soap opera that involves the talents of some very impressive actors and filmmakers. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by John Houseman, based on the bestselling novel by William Gibson. The cast features an impressive array of seasoned veterans as well as up-and-comers. Among them: Richard Widmark, Lauren, Bacall, Charles Boyer, Gloria Grahame, Lillian Gish, Oscar Levant, Susan Strasberg and John Kerr. The action all takes place in a psychiatric institute called "The Castle". It's actually a mansion house and the patients are seemingly there voluntarily. They are an assortment of mixed nuts ranging from elderly eccentrics to young people with severe problems interacting with others. The...
- 6/24/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Joan Lorring, 1945 Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee, dead at 88: One of the earliest surviving Academy Award nominees in the acting categories, Lorring was best known for holding her own against Bette Davis in ‘The Corn Is Green’ (photo: Joan Lorring in ‘Three Strangers’) Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee Joan Lorring, who stole the 1945 film version of The Corn Is Green from none other than Warner Bros. reigning queen Bette Davis, died Friday, May 30, 2014, in the New York City suburb of Sleepy Hollow. So far, online obits haven’t mentioned the cause of death. Lorring, one of the earliest surviving Oscar nominees in the acting categories, was 88. Directed by Irving Rapper, who had also handled one of Bette Davis’ biggest hits, the 1942 sudsy soap opera Now, Voyager, Warners’ The Corn Is Green was a decent if uninspired film version of Emlyn Williams’ semi-autobiographical 1938 hit play about an English schoolteacher,...
- 6/1/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
One of Roger Corman’s finest films from his 1960s Vincent Price/Poe cycle comes to Blu-Ray. Ryan reviews The Pit And The Pendulum...
Through the first half of the 1960s, Roger Corman directed a string of films loosely based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Colourful, macabre, and rich embroiderings of Poe’s short tales, they were among the strongest films in Corman’s long and varied career.
His second (arriving one year after The Fall Of The House Of Usher) 1961‘s The Pit And The Pendulum was one of the best, roping in all the classic elements from the Corman-Poe cycle: a castle, premature burial, and most importantly, Vincent Price as a furtive and possibly mad nobelman.
Here, Price plays Nicholas Medina, a ruff-wearing and despairing man haunted by his Spanish castle and grim ancestry. When Medina’s wife Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) dies suddenly and mysteriously,...
Through the first half of the 1960s, Roger Corman directed a string of films loosely based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Colourful, macabre, and rich embroiderings of Poe’s short tales, they were among the strongest films in Corman’s long and varied career.
His second (arriving one year after The Fall Of The House Of Usher) 1961‘s The Pit And The Pendulum was one of the best, roping in all the classic elements from the Corman-Poe cycle: a castle, premature burial, and most importantly, Vincent Price as a furtive and possibly mad nobelman.
Here, Price plays Nicholas Medina, a ruff-wearing and despairing man haunted by his Spanish castle and grim ancestry. When Medina’s wife Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) dies suddenly and mysteriously,...
- 5/20/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Stars: John Kerr, Barbara Steel, Vincent Price, Luana Anders, Antony Carbone, Patrick Westwood, Lynette Bernay, Mary Menzies, Charles Victor | Written by Richard Matheson | Directed by Roger Corman
This week has been a good week for Vincent Price fans and Arrow Video. Not only have we got Theatre of Blood, we now also have Pit and the Pendulum in another steelbook release. The Pit and the Pendulum is the second film in Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe series of films (Fall of the House of Usher was first), and although Masque of the Red Death is arguably the better, this is a close second.
The Pit and the Pendulum is actually a very short story with not that much content available to make a full length movie from, so Richard Matheson took some liberties with the story when adapting it for the big screen. With elements of Fall of the...
This week has been a good week for Vincent Price fans and Arrow Video. Not only have we got Theatre of Blood, we now also have Pit and the Pendulum in another steelbook release. The Pit and the Pendulum is the second film in Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe series of films (Fall of the House of Usher was first), and although Masque of the Red Death is arguably the better, this is a close second.
The Pit and the Pendulum is actually a very short story with not that much content available to make a full length movie from, so Richard Matheson took some liberties with the story when adapting it for the big screen. With elements of Fall of the...
- 5/19/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
To mark the release of The Pit and The Pendulum on 19th May, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray Steelbook.
A horse-drawn carriage pulls up on a deserted beach. A sombre figure dismounts and gazes up towards his destination – a foreboding cliff-top castle perched high above the crashing waves. Thus the perfect Gothic scene is set for The Pit and the Pendulum, the second of Roger Corman’s celebrated Edgar Allan Poe adaptations once again starring the ever-reliable Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) alongside the bewitching Barbara Steele (Black Sunday).
Having learned of the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Steele), Francis Barnard (John Kerr) sets out to the castle of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina (Price), to uncover the cause of her untimely demise. A distraught, grief-stricken Nicholas can offer only the vaguest explanations as to Elizabeth’s death...
A horse-drawn carriage pulls up on a deserted beach. A sombre figure dismounts and gazes up towards his destination – a foreboding cliff-top castle perched high above the crashing waves. Thus the perfect Gothic scene is set for The Pit and the Pendulum, the second of Roger Corman’s celebrated Edgar Allan Poe adaptations once again starring the ever-reliable Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) alongside the bewitching Barbara Steele (Black Sunday).
Having learned of the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Steele), Francis Barnard (John Kerr) sets out to the castle of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina (Price), to uncover the cause of her untimely demise. A distraught, grief-stricken Nicholas can offer only the vaguest explanations as to Elizabeth’s death...
- 5/15/2014
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Tom Laughlin: ‘Billy Jack’ actor-filmmaker who died last week helped to revolutionize film distribution patterns in North America (photo: Tom Laughlin in ‘Billy Jack’) Tom Laughlin, best known for the Billy Jack movies he wrote, directed, and starred in opposite his wife Delores Taylor (since 1954), died of complications from pneumonia last Thursday, December 12, 2013, at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, northwest of Los Angeles County. Tom Laughlin (born on August 10, 1931, in Minneapolis) was 82; in the last dozen years or so, he suffered from a number of ailments, including cancer and a series of strokes. Tom Laughlin movies: ‘The Delinquents’ and fighting with Robert Altman In the mid-’50s, after acting in college plays and in his own stock company while attending university in Wisconsin, Tom Laughlin began landing small roles on television, e.g., Climax!, Navy Log, The Millionaire. At that time, he was also cast...
- 12/19/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Julie Harris: Best Actress Oscar nominee, multiple Tony winner dead at 87 (photo: James Dean and Julie Harris in ‘East of Eden’) Film, stage, and television actress Julie Harris, a Best Actress Academy Award nominee for the psychological drama The Member of the Wedding and James Dean’s leading lady in East of Eden, died of congestive heart failure at her home in West Chatham, Massachusetts, on August 24, 2013. Harris, born in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, on December 2, 1925, was 87. Throughout her career, Julie Harris collected ten Tony Award nominations, more than any other performer. She won five times — a record matched only by that of Angela Lansbury. Harris’ Tony Award wins were for I Am a Camera (1952), The Lark (1956), Forty Carats (1969), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1973), and The Belle of Amherst (1977). Harris’ tenth and final Tony nomination was for The Gin Game (1997). In 2002, she was honored with a Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.
- 8/25/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
William Holden movies: ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ William Holden is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" featured actor today, August 21, 2013. Throughout the day, TCM has been showing several William Holden movies made at Columbia, though his work at Paramount (e.g., I Wanted Wings, Dear Ruth, Streets of Laredo, Dear Wife) remains mostly off-limits. Right now, TCM is presenting David Lean’s 1957 Best Picture Academy Award winner and all-around blockbuster The Bridge on the River Kwai, the Anglo-American production that turned Lean into filmdom’s brainier Cecil B. DeMille. Until then a director of mostly small-scale dramas, Lean (quite literally) widened the scope of his movies with the widescreen-formatted Southeast Asian-set World War II drama, which clocks in at 161 minutes. Even though William Holden was The Bridge on the River Kwai‘s big box-office draw, the film actually belongs to Alec Guinness’ Pow British commander and to...
- 8/22/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Actor John Kerr died Saturday. He was 81 years old. Kerr's big screen career was somewhat limited but he did have strong roles in South Pacific and Tea and Sympathy, playing a young man suspected of being a homosexual. (Kerr won a Tony for his performance in the Broadway stage production). Kerr also appeared as the hero in Roger Corman's 1961 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. Kerr worked extensively in television while simultaneously pursuing a law degree. He eventually went into semi-retirement from acting in order to concentrate on his law career. For more click here
For writer Tom Weaver's interview with John Kerr, in which he discusses making the Corman production, click here...
For writer Tom Weaver's interview with John Kerr, in which he discusses making the Corman production, click here...
- 2/13/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
John Kerr has died, aged 81.
The American actor was best known on screen for his role as Lieutenant Joseph Cable in the 1958 musical film South Pacific.
He was also known for his part in the 1953 Broadway production of Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy, which earned him a Tony Award.
His TV roles included Peyton Place from 1965-66, and The Streets of San Francisco throughout the 1970s.
His son Michael confirmed that he died of heart failure on Saturday (February 9) at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Kerr won plaudits for his turn as a struggling school boy who was bullied over his suspected homosexuality in the Broadway run of Tea and Sympathy.
He reprised the role in the 1956 film version opposite Deborah Kerr (no relation), who also starred in the Broadway production.
Kerr later featured in Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum, based on the original stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
The American actor was best known on screen for his role as Lieutenant Joseph Cable in the 1958 musical film South Pacific.
He was also known for his part in the 1953 Broadway production of Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy, which earned him a Tony Award.
His TV roles included Peyton Place from 1965-66, and The Streets of San Francisco throughout the 1970s.
His son Michael confirmed that he died of heart failure on Saturday (February 9) at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Kerr won plaudits for his turn as a struggling school boy who was bullied over his suspected homosexuality in the Broadway run of Tea and Sympathy.
He reprised the role in the 1956 film version opposite Deborah Kerr (no relation), who also starred in the Broadway production.
Kerr later featured in Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum, based on the original stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
- 2/13/2013
- Digital Spy
Actor John Kerr has died, at the age of 81. Born into a theatrical family—both his parents, Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, as well as his paternal grandfather, Frederick Kerr, appeared on Broadway and in films—Kerr made his Broadway debut in Bernadine when he was 21. The next year, he had perhaps the greatest success of his career when he co-starred with Deborah Kerr (no relation) in the original Broadway production of Robert Anderson’s Tea And Sympathy, the “troubled young man/older woman” romance that gave the world the much-imitated (and much-parodied) line, “Years from now, when ...
- 2/12/2013
- avclub.com
Pasadena, Calif. — John Kerr, the stage and film actor whose credits include the movie "South Pacific," the thriller "The Pit and the Pendulum" and a Tony Award-winning turn in "Tea and Sympathy," has died. He was 81.
Kerr died Saturday of heart failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, his son Michael said.
He was perhaps best known for playing a sensitive prep school student who is bullied for being a suspected homosexual in Elia Kazan's 1953 Broadway production of "Tea and Sympathy." He went on to reprise the role in a 1956 film version.
The Harvard-educated Kerr also played a district attorney on TV in "Peyton Place" in the mid-1960s. After leaving show business, he became a lawyer specializing in personal injury law.
Kerr died Saturday of heart failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, his son Michael said.
He was perhaps best known for playing a sensitive prep school student who is bullied for being a suspected homosexual in Elia Kazan's 1953 Broadway production of "Tea and Sympathy." He went on to reprise the role in a 1956 film version.
The Harvard-educated Kerr also played a district attorney on TV in "Peyton Place" in the mid-1960s. After leaving show business, he became a lawyer specializing in personal injury law.
- 2/12/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
TV, film and stage actor John Kerr, remembered for his roles in South Pacific and Tea And Sympathy, has died. His son tells the AP Kerr died Saturday of heart failure in a Pasadena, CA hospital. He was 81. Kerr played the role of Lieutenant Joe Cable in the 1958 movie musical South Pacific, but was perhaps best known for his Tony Award-winning performance as Tom Robinson Lee, a sensitive student suspected of being a homosexual in the 1953 Broadway production of Tea And Sympathy. He later reprised the character for the film version in 1956. His other film credits include The Crowded Sky (1960) and Roger Corman’s The Pit And The Pendulum (1961). Kerr’s first TV acting role was in 1954 on NBC’s Justice and he also played a district attorney in Peyton Place in the mid-1960s. He went on to graduate from UCLA Law School and practiced law full time, accepting...
- 2/12/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Actor who starred as the troubled pupil in Tea and Sympathy on stage and screen
The actor John Kerr, who has died aged 81, won a Tony award in his first starring role on the Broadway stage, as Tom in Tea and Sympathy in 1953, and subsequently appeared in the 1956 film version directed by Vincente Minnelli. Robert Anderson's play, in which a schoolboy "confesses" to his housemaster's wife that he might be homosexual – only to be seduced out of the notion by the sympathetic listener – was considered so controversial that it was restricted to a "members only" theatrical run in London, and Minnelli's film received an X certificate, despite modification, notably in the suggestion that the housemaster was gay.
Kerr starred as the boy, although by then he was in his 20s. Born in New York, son of the actors Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, he had already graduated from Harvard,...
The actor John Kerr, who has died aged 81, won a Tony award in his first starring role on the Broadway stage, as Tom in Tea and Sympathy in 1953, and subsequently appeared in the 1956 film version directed by Vincente Minnelli. Robert Anderson's play, in which a schoolboy "confesses" to his housemaster's wife that he might be homosexual – only to be seduced out of the notion by the sympathetic listener – was considered so controversial that it was restricted to a "members only" theatrical run in London, and Minnelli's film received an X certificate, despite modification, notably in the suggestion that the housemaster was gay.
Kerr starred as the boy, although by then he was in his 20s. Born in New York, son of the actors Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, he had already graduated from Harvard,...
- 2/11/2013
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor who starred as the troubled pupil in Tea and Sympathy on stage and screen
The actor John Kerr, who has died aged 81, won a Tony award in his first starring role on the Broadway stage, as Tom in Tea and Sympathy in 1953, and subsequently appeared in the 1956 film version directed by Vincente Minnelli. Robert Anderson's play, in which a schoolboy "confesses" to his housemaster's wife that he might be homosexual – only to be seduced out of the notion by the sympathetic listener – was considered so controversial that it was restricted to a "members only" theatrical run in London, and Minnelli's film received an X certificate, despite modification, notably in the suggestion that the housemaster was gay.
Kerr starred as the boy, although by then he was in his 20s. Born in New York, son of the actors Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, he had already graduated from Harvard, played in summer stock and made his Broadway debut in 1952 in Bernardine. He made a handsome hero and was superbly matched with Deborah Kerr (no relation) as she dispensed tea and largesse in equal measure. Although the movie was sanitised, the dialogue remained intelligent, the premise timely for the period and the acting exceptional under Minnelli's elegant guidance.
Continue reading...
The actor John Kerr, who has died aged 81, won a Tony award in his first starring role on the Broadway stage, as Tom in Tea and Sympathy in 1953, and subsequently appeared in the 1956 film version directed by Vincente Minnelli. Robert Anderson's play, in which a schoolboy "confesses" to his housemaster's wife that he might be homosexual – only to be seduced out of the notion by the sympathetic listener – was considered so controversial that it was restricted to a "members only" theatrical run in London, and Minnelli's film received an X certificate, despite modification, notably in the suggestion that the housemaster was gay.
Kerr starred as the boy, although by then he was in his 20s. Born in New York, son of the actors Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, he had already graduated from Harvard, played in summer stock and made his Broadway debut in 1952 in Bernardine. He made a handsome hero and was superbly matched with Deborah Kerr (no relation) as she dispensed tea and largesse in equal measure. Although the movie was sanitised, the dialogue remained intelligent, the premise timely for the period and the acting exceptional under Minnelli's elegant guidance.
Continue reading...
- 2/10/2013
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor who starred as the troubled pupil in Tea and Sympathy on stage and screen
The actor John Kerr, who has died aged 81, won a Tony award in his first starring role on the Broadway stage, as Tom in Tea and Sympathy in 1953, and subsequently appeared in the 1956 film version directed by Vincente Minnelli. Robert Anderson's play, in which a schoolboy "confesses" to his housemaster's wife that he might be homosexual – only to be seduced out of the notion by the sympathetic listener – was considered so controversial that it was restricted to a "members only" theatrical run in London, and Minnelli's film received an X certificate, despite modification, notably in the suggestion that the housemaster was gay.
Kerr starred as the boy, although by then he was in his 20s. Born in New York, son of the actors Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, he had already graduated from Harvard,...
The actor John Kerr, who has died aged 81, won a Tony award in his first starring role on the Broadway stage, as Tom in Tea and Sympathy in 1953, and subsequently appeared in the 1956 film version directed by Vincente Minnelli. Robert Anderson's play, in which a schoolboy "confesses" to his housemaster's wife that he might be homosexual – only to be seduced out of the notion by the sympathetic listener – was considered so controversial that it was restricted to a "members only" theatrical run in London, and Minnelli's film received an X certificate, despite modification, notably in the suggestion that the housemaster was gay.
Kerr starred as the boy, although by then he was in his 20s. Born in New York, son of the actors Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, he had already graduated from Harvard,...
- 2/10/2013
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Kerr in the 1958 box-office blockbuster musical South Pacific (seen above with love interest France Nuyen) and his (few) other post-Tea and Sympathy efforts [Please check out the previous article: "The Two Kerrs in the stage and film versions of Tea and Sympathy."] Director Curtis Bernhardt's Gaby (1956) was a generally disliked remake of Waterloo Bridge, with Kerr and leading lady Leslie Caron in the old Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh roles (1940 movie version -- and even older Douglass Montgomery and Mae Clarke roles in the 1931 film version). Jeffrey Hayden's The Vintage (1957), starring Kerr and Mel Ferrer absurdly cast as Italian brothers, also failed to generate much box-office or critical interest. MGM leading lady Pier Angeli played Ferrer's love interest in the film, while the more mature and married French star Michèle Morgan (a plot element similar to that found in Tea and Sympathy) is Kerr's object of desire. (Pictured above: South Pacific cast members John Kerr and France Nuyen embracing.) Also in the mid-'50s, John Kerr...
- 2/9/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Two Kerrs: John and Deborah in Tea and Sympathy play and movie [Please see previous article: "John Kerr Has Died: (Possibly) Gay Adolescent in play and movie versions of Tea and Sympathy."] Playwright Robert Anderson's psychological drama Tea and Sympathy is notable for a number of reasons: it marked Hollywood/British cinema star Deborah Kerr's Broadway debut (coincidentally, on her 32nd birthday, Sept. 30); one of the play's key characters (the one played by English Rose Kerr) turns out to be a sympathetic adulteress; and Anderson's play tackles homosexuality, a topic that, despite Elia Kazan's movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan also directed the play), remained taboo throughout the 1950s. Also worth mentioning is that Tea and Sympathy shows that the last sixty years haven't necessarily led to a major lessening in cultural or social prejudices, as the narrative would still be considered quite daring in the early 21st century -- even if for not the same reasons. (Above movie still: The two Kerrs, John and Deborah,...
- 2/9/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
John Kerr dead at 81: actor who played suspected gay teenager in the play Tea and Sympathy and in the Hollywood movie adaptation Kerr, best known for playing the sensitive (and suspected to be gay) adolescent opposite Deborah Kerr (no relation, different pronunciation -- see below) in Tea and Sympathy both on Broadway and in the movies, died of heart failure at Huntington Hospital in the Los Angeles "suburb" of Pasadena this past Saturday, February 1. Kerr was 81 years old. (Picture: Publiicity shot of Kerr ca. 1955.) Born John Grinham Kerr on Nov. 15, 1931, in New York, he was part of a show business (chiefly stage) family. His mother was theater actress June Walker, among whose Broadway credits are The Farmer Takes a Wife and the role of Lorelei Lee in the 1926 production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes); Walker was also featured in a few movies, e.g., as Robert Montgomery's love interest...
- 2/9/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mostly a TV actor, but John Kerr did star in my favorite Vincent Price film The Pit And The Pendulum as Francis Barnard, who creeped along the the dank corridors and musty passageways of Price’s Spanish castle while investigating the death of his sister. No one can forget the last minutes of the film where Kerr was almost disemboweled while tied to the title device. Kerr also had major roles in the musical South Pacific (1958) and Tea And Sympathy (1956). No word on the cause of death, his website (http://www.fitweb.or.jp/~johnkerr/) simply posted: “John Kerr passed away on Saturday February 2, 2013. It was sudden and he had no pain. With deepest regret, Barbara and his family.”
From Variety:
John Kerr, a Tony winner and the star of the films “Tea and Sympathy” and “South Pacific,” died suddenly after a short illness on Feb. 2. He was 81. Kerr began...
From Variety:
John Kerr, a Tony winner and the star of the films “Tea and Sympathy” and “South Pacific,” died suddenly after a short illness on Feb. 2. He was 81. Kerr began...
- 2/8/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Deborah Kerr movies: with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity Deborah Kerr Pt.2: Sexual Outlaw As an unhappily married woman having a torrid affair with an army officer shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Deborah Kerr is equally powerful in one of her best-remembered movies, From Here to Eternity (1953), stealing the romantic melodrama from her male co-stars. Fred Zinnemann’s Academy Award-winning blockbuster marked one of the rare times when Kerr’s physique played a part in her erotic persona, as she parades around Hawaii in Lana Turner-type shorts and frolics on the wet sand with brawny Burt Lancaster. Less obvious is Kerr’s headmaster’s wife in Tea and Sympathy (1956), who, despite her discreet clothing and demeanor, ends up seducing one of her husband’s teenage students. It’s all for a good cause, of course — the "sensitive" adolescent thinks he may be gay...
- 5/22/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Host/Center Theatre Group’s artistic director Michael Ritchie, and actors France Nuyen (A Girl Named Tamiko, The Joy Luck Club), Mitzi Gaynor (There’s No Business Like Show Business, Les Girls), John Kerr (Tea and Sympathy, opposite Deborah Kerr — no relation), and Rod Gilfry prior to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ screening of Joshua Logan‘s 1958 musical hit South Pacific. Starring Rossano Brazzi, Gaynor, Kerr, and Nuyen, and featuring Juanita Moore, Ray Walston, and others, South Pacific was presented on Friday, June 25, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Rod Gilfry has the Rossano Brazzi role in the national tour of South Pacific. Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
- 7/2/2010
- by Zhea D.
- Alt Film Guide
Broadway playwright Robert Anderson has died, aged 91.The author, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease in recent years, died of pneumonia at his Manhattan, New York home on Monday.
Anderson wrote several Hollywood screenplays, TV scripts and novels but was best known for his Broadway hit Tea and Sympathy as well as You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.
Tea And Sympathy debuted on Broadway in 1953, with Deborah Kerr and John Kerr taking the starring roles. The actors reprised their parts for a 1956 film adaptation, which was directed by Vincente Minnelli.
Anderson wrote the screenplays for the 1957 movie Until They Sail, 1966's The Sand Pebbles, and The Nun's Story, for which he received an Oscar nomination in 1959.
A memorial service for Anderson is due to take place on Friday.
Anderson wrote several Hollywood screenplays, TV scripts and novels but was best known for his Broadway hit Tea and Sympathy as well as You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.
Tea And Sympathy debuted on Broadway in 1953, with Deborah Kerr and John Kerr taking the starring roles. The actors reprised their parts for a 1956 film adaptation, which was directed by Vincente Minnelli.
Anderson wrote the screenplays for the 1957 movie Until They Sail, 1966's The Sand Pebbles, and The Nun's Story, for which he received an Oscar nomination in 1959.
A memorial service for Anderson is due to take place on Friday.
- 2/10/2009
- WENN
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