Category Archives: Recalling …

When Warren Beatty changed Hollywood forever

Posted on March 30, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – One afternoon early in September 1967, the film writers and critics of London gathered in a West End cinema for a screening of a gangster movie starring a pretty-boy Hollywood actor. The cinema was packed … Continue reading →

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Recalling Carl Reiner and his favourite film

Posted on March 17, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The late American comic and film director Carl Reiner, who was born 100 years ago today and died in 2020, made some classic comedies but he told me ‘Dead Men Don’s Wear Plaid’ (above) was … Continue reading →

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Recalling Tommy Hunter, a star who knew his limits

Posted on March 17, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Country music singer Tommy Hunter, who turns 85 today, was one of the most popular entertainers in Canada for decades but he was never tempted to become a star in America.

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When Ry Cooder discovered the blues

Posted on March 15, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Ry Cooder, who turns 75 today, told me that he knew  that he would be a musician when he discovered the blues as a kid. When I first heard his slide guitar, I imagined he … Continue reading →

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Shannon Tweed on being naked in films and magazines

Posted on March 10, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Many women I interviewed in Hollywood expressed disappointment or regret over appearing nude in movies or photo spreads. Shannon Tweed, who turns 65 today, was not one of them. ‘I can’t honestly say I wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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Why ‘Nashville’ star Cristina Raines hated to sing

Posted on February 28, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Like many a young man who saw Robert Altman’s classic ‘Nashville’ in 1975, I was a little bit in love with Cristina Raines, who turns 70 today, She played a singer in a folk trio … Continue reading →

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‘Windmills’ and ‘Fields’ in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’

Posted on January 8, 2022 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lyricists Marilyn Bergman, who died today aged 93, and her husband Alan Bergman won the best-song Oscar in 1969 with Michel Legrand for ‘Windmills of Your Mind’ from ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ but they owed … Continue reading →

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Betty White on her TV shows, love of animals and a good pun

Posted on December 7, 2021 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Betty White loves a good pun. At least, she did when I had lunch with her when she was on ‘The Golden Girls’ in the mid-Eighties. This was her favourite at the time: Why are protestors always … Continue reading →

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Stephen Sondheim was grateful for ‘a fresh eye’

Posted on November 29, 2021 by admin

By Ray Bennett It wasn’t only Broadway that Stephen Sondheim loved. In London in 2011 to mark his 80th birthday, the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist who has died aged 91, accepted a Special Laurence Olivier Award for his outstanding … Continue reading →

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Recalling John Gardner, a master of the spy novel

Posted on November 20, 2021 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – John Gardner, who would have been 95 today, should rank with Eric Ambler, John le Carré, Len Deighton and Philip Kerr as a virtuoso of the serious British spy novel. He is known best now … Continue reading →

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