Author: Peter J Patrick
-
Oscar Profile #540: Fay Wray
Born September 15, 1907 in Alberta Canada to Mormon parents, Fay Wray was one of six children who moved to Salt Lake City, Utah with their parents in 1912, relocating to Los Angeles in 1919 where the aspiring actress attended famed Hollywood High. Wray made her film debut at 16 in the 1923 short, Gasoline…
-
The DVD Report #716
New This Week Warner Archive has released a stunning Blu-ray upgrade of MGM’s The Great Caruso, the second highest grossing film of 1951. Beaten only by MGM’s biblical epic Quo Vadis, it outpaced two other MGM musicals, Show Boat and An American in Paris, which were the third and fourth highest-grossing films of the year.…
-
Oscar Profile #539: Walter Plunkett
Born June 5, 1902 in Oakland, California to James and Frances Plunkett, Walter Plunkett studied law at the University of California but was more interested in acting. He moved to New York in 1923, where he worked as an actor as well as a costume and set designer for the stage. He moved to Hollywood…
-
The DVD Report #715
New This Week Last November, Criterion released Essential Fellini, a fifteen Blu-ray Special Edition Collector’s Set of fourteen of the maestro’s films plus numerous documentaries in honor of the centennial of his birth. As noted in the film’s merchandising, Fellini still stands apart as a giant of the cinema. He is defined by his dualities:…
-
Oscar Profile #538: Meryl Streep
Born June 22, 1949 in Summit, New Jersey to Mary, a commercial artist, and William Streep, Jr., a pharmaceutical executive, Mary Louise (Meryl) Streep’s early performing ambitions tended toward opera. Raised in New Jersey, she received her BA cum laude from Vasser in 1971, and her MBA from Yale Drama School in 1975. Streep’s first…
-
The DVD Report #714
New This Week The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman has been given a Blu-ray release by Universal. Based on Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, the made-for-TV movie, directed by John Korty, whose best-known work it remains, was first broadcast in January 1974 with just one commercial break. It went on to be nominated for 12 Emmys,…
-
Oscar Profile #537: Jodie Foster
Born November 19, 1962 in Los Angeles, California to Evelyn and Lucius Foster III, Alicia Christian (Jodie) Foster was the couple’s fourth child. Foster’s parents divorced before she was born, and she never established a relationship with her father who also had three children from an earlier marriage. Foster began her career in a TV…
-
The DVD Report #713
New This Week Warner Archive has released Blu-ray upgrades of two of my all-time favorite films. I first saw 1935’s A Tale of Two Cities and 1936’s San Francisco on TV but was later able to see them on the big screen in revival houses that were precursors to home video through the 1970s. It’s…
-
Oscar Profile #536: Sal Mineo
Born January 10, 1939 in Bronx, New York to Josephine and Salvatore Mineo, a casket maker from Sicily, Salvatore (Sal) Mineo, Jr. was one of four children. A troubled child, he was thrown out of parochial school, and by the age of eight, had joined a tough Bronx gang. His mother enrolled him in dancing…
-
The DVD Report #712
New This Week Kino Lorber has released Robert Siodmak’s 1944 film noir The Suspect on Blu-ray and standard DVD, the first home video release ever for this classic in the U.S. Screen legend Charles Laughton, in one his most subdued performances, stars as a mild-mannered 1902 London businessman who murders his shrewish wife and later,…
-
Oscar Profile #535: Ryan O’Neal
Born April 20, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, (Charles Samuel Eldridge Patrick) Ryan O’Neal (III) was the son of writer Charles O’Neal (The 7th Victim) and his actress wife, Barbara O’Neal (Three Came Home). Before becoming an actor, O’Neal was a Golden Gloves boxer between 1956 and 1959, winning eighteen bouts, thirteen of which were…
-
The DVD Report #711
New This Week Let Him Go is a road picture set in the mid-20th century west. Larry Watson’s 2013 novel was set in 1951 with its protagonists traveling from North Dakota to Montana. The film is set in 1963 with the protagonists traveling from Montana to North Dakota. The film begins with grandparents Kevin Costner…
-
Oscar Profile #534: Potential First-Time Nominees
When the Oscar nominations come out every year, there is a mix of repeat performers and first-time nominees. This year is particularly rich with first time contenders from Riz Ahmed to Helena Zengel. In fact, there are sixteen strong potential first time nominees among the twenty acting slots. Among the contenders for Best Actor are…
-
The DVD Report #710
New This Week Warner Archive has released four more Blu-ray upgrades of films from their vast library of film classics. They include a 1930s mystery and a 1950s comedy in stunning black-and-white and two Broadway-to-Hollywood musicals, one from the 1940s and one from the 1950s, in glorious eye-popping color. Doris Day had been making at…
-
Oscar Profile #533: Michelle Pfeiffer Revisited
Born April 28, 1958 in Santa Ana, California to Donna and Richard Pfeiffer, a heating and air-conditioning contractor, Michelle Pfeiffer has an older brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Deedee and Lori, both of whom have acted. She made her acting debut in 1978 as the bombshell in the TV series, Delta House. In minor…
