Category Archives: Film

How Ben Kingsley dealt with instant fame after ‘Gandhi’

Posted on December 31, 2023 by admin

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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Randy Newman at 80: Part One – songwriter

Posted on November 28, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Randy Newman, who turns 80 today, has Academy Awards, Grammy Awards and Emmy Awards and he is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also a very funny man. He told me that … Continue reading →

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Randy Newman at 80: Part Two – Film composer

Posted on November 28, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Randy Newman, who turns 80 today,  has Academy Awards, Grammy Awards and Emmy Awards and he is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also a very funny man. He told me that … Continue reading →

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John Barry on his favourite directors and composers

Posted on November 3, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON — English film composer John Barry, who was born on this day in 1933, won five Academy Awards and created the definitive music for James Bond but he remained very fond of his early British films … Continue reading →

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When Burt Lancaster wrote me a letter …

Posted on November 2, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – When the Burt Lancaster film ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ (below) came out in 1962, I wrote about it in the Gravesend Reporter, where I was doing my training in Kent, England. Fascinated by the prisoner’s story, … Continue reading →

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How movie queen Merle Oberon hid her dark past

Posted on October 8, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Michael Korda, publisher, novelist and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Simon & Schuster who turns 90 today, had a most colourful childhood with his uncle, film producer Alexander Korda who with a string of epic productions was … Continue reading →

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Why, oh, so serious Charlton Heston never ran for office

Posted on October 4, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Charlton Heston, who was born on this day in 1923, was as stiff in person as he invariably was onscreen. He had not yet become a shill for the National Rifle Association when we spoke … Continue reading →

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Trevor Howard on hellraising with Flynn and Mitchum

Posted on September 29, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – ‘Nonsense,’ said English actor Trevor Howard. I had asked him if all the tales of him being a hellraiser were true. ‘Well, of course, one used to make noise when one was much younger but … Continue reading →

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How Jerry Bruckheimer landed Tom Cruise for ‘Top Gun’

Posted on September 21, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Several actors claimed to have been first choice to play hot-shot pilot ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in ‘Top Gun’ but producer Jerry Bruckheimer told me Tom Cruise always had the part.

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Why Anthony Quayle was upset about the movie ‘Sleuth!’

Posted on September 7, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – British actor Anthony Quayle, who was born on this day in 1913, was instrumental in the enormous success of the stage thriller ‘Sleuth!’, and he was angry about being ignored for the hit first film … Continue reading →

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