By Ray Bennett
LONDON – It was lunchtime at the Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit and things were getting a bit silly. Cleo Laine, who turns 95 today, was talking about Kurt Weill and the Berliner Ensemble when someone mentioned Monty Python and soon she was giggling over her Dover Sole. We swapped favourite lines and it took a while before we got back to talking about the reason she was on tour in the United States. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Roger Moore, who was born on this day in 1927, told me that really he was a frustrated bank robber. ‘It’s only fear that’s stopped me from robbing banks,’ he said. ‘I’d get caught. That’s why I’m a movie actor. I’ve never been caught acting.’
Moore, who died aged 89 on May 23, 2017, gave me one of my most treasured interviews, candid and very funny, on the Pinewood Studios set of his seventh and final James Bond picture, ‘A View to a Kill’, on Dec. 10, 1984. Here are some excerpts: Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Novelist Jackie Collins, who was born 85 years ago today, wrote about the problems women faced in Hollywood long before the ‘me too’ movement came along.
Younger sister of Joan Collins, she was known for sexy blockbusters such as The Stud’, ‘The Bitch’ snd ‘The World Is Full of Divorced Women’ and her tinseltown series including ‘Hollywood Wives’, ‘Hollywood Husbands’ and ‘Hollywood Divorces’. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Sacheen Littlefeather, who has died of cancer aged 75, was known as a very serious social activist on behalf of Native Americans but she had a great sense of humour, especially regarding her upbringing and a brush with Playboy Magazine. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – American singer Nancy Ames, who turns 85 today, once said she was my biggest fan. It began when I went to interview her for The Windsor Star in Canada and fell in love. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – In June of 1973, Queen Elizabeth II made a tour of Canada and The Windsor Star newspaper sent me to cover her visit at the nearest city where she would be seen, London , Ontario.
The Queen, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, was in the rain-soaked city for precisely 140 minutes to meet local dignitaries, receive a bouquet of flowers and a gift from the city, inspect an honour guard, sign the guest book, lunch with 500 local bigwigs, stroll through a roped-off section of Victoria Park (where the sun came out) and wave goodbye.
This was my story … Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Rory Calhoun was a colourful old-time film star whose real-life story was as action-packed as any movie. Born 100 years ago today, he stole cars, spent time in prison and worked as a logger, miner, cowboy, forest-fire fighter and, briefly, as a professional boxer before he turned to acting. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – With the death on August 2 of my former Windsor Star colleague Bill Twaddle, aged 74, I’m reminded of a memorable escapade we had fifty-odd years ago.
Inspired by Woodstock, many venues in Canada and the U.S. in the early Seventies staged rock festivals including one at Goose Lake just outside Jackson, Michigan, and another at Motorsport Park, known as Mosport near Bowmanville, Ontario.
There were reports from border crossing points across the province of young Canadians and Americans beng turned back into their own country by customs and immigration officers. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin, who turns 90 today, is known for his concerts, recordings, film scores such as ‘Bullitt’, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and ‘Dirty Harry’ and TV shows such as ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Mannix’ but don’t ask him to name a favourite.
‘I like all of them,’ he told me, ‘because it’s like asking a father which of his children he likes better.’ Continue reading
There’s always a Ray in the movies
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – From ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ to ‘Ghostbusters’ to ‘Field of Dreams’ and now ‘Raymond & Ray’, there’s always a Ray in the movies and television. Continue reading →