Category Archives: Memory Lane

There are film composers and then there’s Elliot … Goldenthal

Posted on May 2, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett Oscar-winning American composer Elliot Goldenthal, who turns 70 today, said that the first time he saw the sheet music for Krzysztof Penderecki’s ‘Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 Strings’ when he was 17, he turned … Continue reading →

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Songwriter Steve Dorff in praise of Clint Eastwood

Posted on April 21, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett American songwriter and composer Steve Dorff, who turns 75 today, has a huge number of screen credits including TV series such as ‘Murphy Brown’, Spenser for Hire’ and ‘Major Dad’. In a Q&A for The Hollywood Reporter, … Continue reading →

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Henry Mancini and the best strip club in London

Posted on April 16, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett A memory of the great film composer Henry Mancini, who was born 100 years ago today: London’s Soho strip clubs in the Sixties (so I’m told) were shabby and sleazy, compared to which the long-gone Raymond Revuebar … Continue reading →

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The sad fate of Carolyn Jones, the original Morticia Addams

Posted on April 10, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett The Ringwood Music and Dramatic Society production of the hit Broadway musical ‘The Addams Family’ this week is the latest in a long run of versions of the original one-panel cartoon series created by cartoonist Charles Addams … Continue reading →

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Lauren Bacall, a friend’s death and a total eclipse of the sun

Posted on April 8, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lauren Bacall was wrapping up the pre-Broadway run of ‘Applause’, the stage musical based on the feature film ‘All About Eve’, at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre in February 1970. After the final curtain in a nearby … Continue reading →

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Marlon Brando: the man behind the myth

Posted on April 3, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The myth surrounding Marlon Brando, who was born 100 years ago today, has centred not only on his brilliant acting in films such as ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (with Vivien Leigh above),  ‘On the Waterfront’, … Continue reading →

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Lesley-Anne Down on filming with Patrick Swayze

Posted on March 17, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lesley-Anne Down, who turns 70 today, was a stark contrast to Patrick Swayze, her co-star in the hit 1985 U.S. Civil War miniseries ‘North and South’. In interviews for Canadian TV Guide, the enormously likeable … Continue reading →

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James B. Sikking, the mad hatter on ‘Hill Street Blues’

Posted on March 5, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – ‘Hill Street Blues’, the American cop show that was a hit for most of the Eighties, had one of the best casts in television. Of them, James B. Sikking had probably the toughest job playing … Continue reading →

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Gregory Peck on Abraham Lincoln: ‘A secular saint’

Posted on February 12, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln, who was born 215 years ago today. In 1982, he fulfilled a dream when he portrayed the U.S. president in the TV mini-series ‘The … Continue reading →

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How an NHL match led Norman Jewison to make ‘Rollerball’

Posted on January 26, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – ‘Rollerball’, Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison’s only film set in the future, also is his most action-packed and violent and it was inspired by an experience at a National Hockey League (NHL) game. 

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