Category Archives: Recalling …

The sad fate of Carolyn Jones, the original Morticia Addams

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

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

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

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’

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’

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’

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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What movies meant to director Norman Jewison

By Ray Bennett LONDON – ’It kinda scares me,’ Norman Jewison said when I asked him in 2011 about the digital revolution in movies and the future of cinema. ‘Everything I see today is so mixed with violence and action. … Continue reading

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Cary Grant, smooth as silk … on the surface.

By Ray Bennett LONDON – When Cary Grant, born this day 120 years ago, died in 1986, Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel wrote, ‘Some distant day, audiences may come to agree that he was not merely the greatest movie … Continue reading

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How Ben Kingsley dealt with instant fame after ‘Gandhi’

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Ben Kingsley, who turns 80 today, had spent fifteen years on the English stage with occasional small screen roles when Richard Attenborough changed his life by casting him in the title role of his epic … Continue reading

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