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 contribution to the stage. ‘I want to talk about the contribution British theatre has made to me,’ he said. ‘I am so grateful.’ Continue reading
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 for writing fourteen James Bond adventures starting with ‘Licence Renewed’ in 1981 plus novelisations of the films ‘Licence to Kill’ and ‘GoldenEye’. Before that, the Northumberland-born writer had terrific spy tales featuring Boysie Oaks and Herbie Kruger. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett (November 1999)
LONDON: We British cherish our loonies and it it’s no surprise that the House of Lords has lasted so long.
Only last week, a bill was passed in the House of Lords than deprives hereditary peers – traditionally a strange and eccentric bunch – of the right to vote on government bills. The event was marked by one lord leaping onto the Woolsack, or throne, of the house in order to manifest his objection. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON: Ed Asner, who died aged 91 on Aug. 29, had a very long and successful acting career on television but he told me he couldn’t get arrested for the big screen.
‘I have run into downright discrimination against me because of being a TV face,’ he told me in 1979. ‘Director George Roy Hill is recognised as being totally averse to using someone from TV. Barbra Streisand and Jon Peters didn’t want me for “A Star is Born”. Same with “The Godfather”. Henry Winkler and John Travolta seem to go back and forth but with me it’s “Go fuck yourself. Now.”’ Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
The Toronto International Film Festival has selected Stephen Chbosky’s ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ (pictured), based on the hit Broadway show, to be its Opening Night film on September 9. Zhang Yimou’s ‘One Second’ will close the festival on September 18.
Artistic director and Co-Head Cameron Bailey said there was no question that ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ was the ‘ideal film ‘to launch this year’s festival. ‘This film is ultimately about healing, forgiveness, and reaffirms how connected and essential we all are to one another. We couldn’t think of a more important idea to celebrate this year as we come together once again to share the power and joy of cinema in theatres together.’
TIFF GALA PRESENTATIONS 2021 Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Robert Altman movies spanning five decades are to be screened in a major season at the British Film Institute. Running from May 17 to July 31, the programme will present 34 films in chronological order including ‘Nashville’ (above), which also will be released in select cinemas across the U.K. on June 25 in a 4K restoration. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Playwright, filmmaker, actor and raconteur Peter Ustinov, who was born 100 years ago today and died on March 28, 2004, was convincing in movies playing many different nationalities. One reason for that was because he was a wonderful mimic. I first met him at a cocktail party in the mid-80s in Toronto when he was promoting ‘Death On the Nile’, his first outing as Hercule Poirot with that strange Belgian/French accent. Given the vast range of dialects he had mastered, I asked him what had been the most difficult accent to imitate. Ustinov thought for a moment and said, ‘A Glaswegian Chinese man’ and he proceeded to give an hilarious example. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – British director Adrian Lyne, who turns 80 today, is known for his provocative films about sexuality but a preview audience for ‘9½ Weeks’ made him run for his life. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Aside from being English, David Puttnam and I have two things in common. We are both devoted to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and we each obtained three O-level GCEs at school. He, of course, had an illustrious career as an Academy Award-winning producer of hit movies and became a fine politician working within the Labour Party to boost education and the British film industry as a member of the House of Lords. I did not. Continue reading
Memory Lane: The time before everything was streamed
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Living, as I do, in turn-of-the-century London, it’s easy to become nostalgic for the long-ago 1900s. I know we’re just a few weeks into 2000 but it seems like forever.
I recall the first single I ever bought – Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’ on 78 rpm. And the first album – the soundtrack to Doris Day’s ‘Love Me or Leave Me’. A ten-inch vinyl on 33⅓ rpm. The first twelve-inch – Johnny Cash’s ‘Now There Was a Song’. The first 45 rpm – Elvis Presley’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel’. I had eclectic tastes even then. Continue reading →