Author: Peter J Patrick
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Oscar Profile #301: Ann-Margret
Born April 28, 1941 in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland County, Sweden, Ann-Margret (Olsson) was the daughter of an employee of an electrical company. Her father got work in the U.S. in 1942, but did not send for his wife and daughter until 1946. Ann-Margret became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1949. She wanted to be a dancer…
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The DVD Report #477
New This Week Tennessee Williams won his first Pulitzer Prize for A Streetcar Named Desire and his second for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, two of the most frequently revived plays in modern theatrical history. The film versions of both were phenomenally successful in their day and continue to be among the most cherished…
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Oscar Profile #300: Gene Lockhart
Born July 18, 1891 in London, Ontario, Canada to concert singer John Coates Lockhart and his wife, Ellen Mary Lockhart, Edwin Eugene (Gene) Lockhart was singing and dancing professionally from the age of 7. Later a concert singer in touring productions with Beatrice Lillie, he went to New York with his mother’s encouragement and made…
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The DVD Report #476
New This Week A film with a warped sense of humor, Yorgos Lathimos’ The Lobster had a limited run in the U.S. earlier this year after earning the Jury Prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival; praise on the festival circuit; a BAFTA nod for Best British Film; and British Film nominations for Best Actor…
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Oscar Profile #299: Clark Gable
Born February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, (William) Clark Gable lost his mother when he was seven months old. He was cared for by his maternal aunt and uncle until he was two when his oil-well driller father took him back. At 16 he left high-school to work in a tire factory in Akron, Ohio.…
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The DVD Report #475
New This Week The 1957 film version of Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings, newly upgraded to Blu-ray by Warner Archive, is an uncanny representation of lasts. Porter’s score was the last he wrote for Broadway, although 1957’s Les Girls, written directly for the screen, would contain his last original music. Porter’s music, of course, not only…
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Oscar Profile #298: Walter Huston
Born April 5, 1883 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Walter Huston was educated in that city’s public schools. As a young man he worked construction jobs and in his spare time attended The Shaw School of Acting. He made his acting debut in 1902, touring in a succession of plays. In 1904 he married Rhea Gore,…
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The DVD Report #474
New This Week Most of the carping over Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was due to the film’s lack of substantial character development between action sequences in the 2½- hour theatrical cut. That problem has been rectified, at least somewhat, by the 3-hour Ultimate Edition now available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.…
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Oscar Profile #297: Matt Damon
Born October 8, 1970 in Boston, Mass. to a stockbroker father and college professor mother, Matthew Paige (Matt) Damon and his older brother were raised by his divorced mother beginning when he was just two years old. Ben Affleck was a childhood friend. Damon performed in theater productions while in high school and attended Harvard…
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The DVD Report #473
New This Week Last month I took a look at film versions of Broadway musicals of the Tony era (1947 to the present) on DVD. Now it’s time to do the same for straight plays. Because of the sheer volume of Broadway plays filmed, I’ll concentrate on the Tony nominees and winners for Best Play…
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Oscar Profile #296: Sylvia Sidney
Born Sophia Kosow on August 8, 1910 in the Bronx, N.Y. to a clothing salesman and his wife, she was adopted by her stepfather in 1915 at which time her last name became Sidney. An actress since the age of 15, Sidney attended the Theater Guild’s School for Acting. She made her Broadway debut at…
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The DVD Report #472
New This Week The critical consensus wasn’t too kind to Marc Abraham’s I Saw the Light, only the second film directed by the veteran producer (Thirteen Days, Children of Men), but count me on the side of those who did like it. The film, an early Oscar favorite last year, was pulled from distribution after…
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Oscar Profile #295: Anthony Harvey
Born June 3, 1931 in London, England to actress Mae Bacon and her first husband, actor-editor-director Anthony Harvey was later adopted by his step-father, actor Morris Harvey. Educated at RADA (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), young Harvey was given permission by his headmaster, George Bernard Shaw, to interrupt his studies to take the part…
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The DVD Report #471
New This Week Ripped from the headlines, Gavin Hood’s drone warfare thriller Eye in the Sky is a white-knuckled, suspense-filled exercise from beginning to end as it focuses on one day in the life of an international team of military specialists. Helen Mirren, excellent as usual, is the no-nonsense British Colonel who is thwarted in…
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Oscar Profile #294: Jane Wyatt
Born August 12, 1910 in Mahwah, New Jersey to one of America’s most distinguished families, Jane Wyatt, who was raised in Manhattan from the age of three months, could trace her American lineage on mother’s side back to 1638. One of her ancestors on her mother’s side was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.…
