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 he thought once of being a television comedy writer and he would make a great one – his work on ‘The Three Amigos’ with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels is proof of that – but TV’s loss is music’s gain. Continue reading
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 and spoke warmly of comnposers he admired. Continue reading
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, I promoted a petition to have the real Birdman, Robert Stroud, paroled after serving many, many years behind bars. Shortly afterwards, I received a thank-you letter from Hollywood. It bore the signature of Burt Lancaster. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – ‘How on earth,’ asked John Nettles, ‘can Tom Barnaby be regarded as sexy? I haven’t the faintest notion.’ The British actor, who turns 80 today, played Detective Chief Inspector Barnarby on the internationally successful ‘Midsomer Murders’ for fourteen years but the reaction of fans in more than 200 territories around the world baffled him. He noted that one newspaper described Barnaby as ‘half man, half walnut and full sex god’ and said, ‘I quite liked that.’ Continue reading
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 the kingpin of British films in the Thirties and Forties.
His aunt was Merle Oberon (pictured), a classically beautiful ‘English’ actress who starred in romantic pictures such as ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, ‘Desiree’ and ‘A Song to Remember’ opposite top leading men such as Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Paul Muni, Gary Cooper and Marlon Brando. Her sudden rise to fame came when she married Korda and she went on to great success as one of the glamour queens of Hollywood. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
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 version.
Written by Anthony Shaffer, the play was really Quayle’s baby. A knight of the English stage, he had a great many credits on stage and screen including films such as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, ‘Ice Cold in Alex’ and ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor playing Cardinal Wolsey (with Richard Burton as Henry VIII, below). Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – A card arrived in the mail with the inscription ‘Thank you from the bottom of my heart.’ Inside, in strong cursive were the words, ‘Dear Ray, Thank you so much for that wonderful interview. I’m so glad someone finally captured the humor of it all. Best wishes, love, Betsy Russell.’
‘Tomboy’
My interview with the actress, who turns 60 today, ran in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner on March 8, 1985, with the headline ‘Queen of Schlock wants to abdicate’. She went on to have many credits including including five episodes of the ‘Saw’ film series playing Jill Tuck . In 1985, she was 21 and famous for a series of sexy teen movies – ‘Private School’ (top picture), ‘Avenging Angel’, ‘Out of Control’ and ‘Tomboy’. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Thirty years ago today, the Los Angeles Times published a freelance story of mine about the popularity of cricket in parts of Los Angeles. Here’s that story:
A cricket ball is 5 1/2 ounces of furious flying red leather. It comes at you at speeds in excess of 100 m.p.h.
No wonder cricket players take their time. Continue reading
Dave Robb, a fine reporter and great friend
LONDON — A friend of mine is gravely ill and so, risking his wrath, I want to write this now rather than later. David Robb is the best reporter I’ve ever known and I’ve been fortunate to work with a good many very talented journalists.
The labour beat on a trade paper in the entertainment business is one of the toughest assignments of all. Dave did that job better than anyone. Parties on all sides can be devious or tight-lipped but they are the most skilled dissemblers, fabricators, prevaricators and flat-out liars in any industry. Continue reading →