Category Archives: Uncategorized

Film producer John Brabourne on working with David Lean

Posted on October 9, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett Every year when I was at Ashford Boys Grammar School in Kent, England, there was an event known as Speech Day. All the masters donned their scholastic black robes adorned with the colours of their alma maters … Continue reading →

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Going drink for drink with ‘Dallas’ star Howard Keel

Posted on April 13, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett In 1981 when he was 62, Howard Keel’s days as the star of great Hollywood musicals were long gone. He was living in Oklahoma with his third wife Judy when he received a phone call. ‘I was … Continue reading →

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‘Knots Landing’ star Joan Van Ark preferred voice-overs

Posted on June 16, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Joan Van Ark was among the most popular TV stars of the Eighties in the ‘Dallas’ spinoff ‘Knots Landing’ but she told me she made more money doing voice-overs for commercials and cartoons. ‘It’s as … Continue reading →

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Jerry Lee Lewis was no rock’n’roll hero to me

Posted on November 5, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Now that he has been laid to rest, it’s time to offer some balance to the hysterical reaction to the death of Jerry Lee Lewis. Given that today an artist can be cancelled on the basis … Continue reading →

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Why Raymond Burr was called a potato baby

Posted on May 20, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Nostalgia was very much in the air in 1986 when I met Raymond Burr, who was born 105 years ago today. He was in the thick of it. His two long-running series from the Fifties … Continue reading →

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FILM REVIEW: ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’

Posted on July 26, 2019 by admin

  By Ray Bennett Quentin Tarentino’s ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ is a lazy, self-indulgent and violent story about the unrequited love of a movie stuntman for a two-bit action star. Set in 1969, it’s a laboured bromantic … Continue reading →

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BAFTA 2019 Film Awards: picks and pans

Posted on February 10, 2019 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lots of good films and performances this year but some disappointing omissions among the BAFTA Film Awards nominations … good luck to all, especially ‘Roma’ (above) and ‘Cold War’.

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