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 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 →

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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 but I knew he had veered from his early liberal views to support right-wing Republicans. He took himself very seriously in both acting and political activism so I asked him if he would ever run for office. 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 that’s a very silly term, hellraiser. I don’t mind living with it; it’s not a bad image. But it conjures up to those who don’t know that you go out, get stoned and hit people in the bar. Well, I’ve never done that in my life.’ 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. Continue reading →

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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 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 →

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Laughing with Betsy Russell about screen nudity

Posted on September 6, 2023 by admin

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 →

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Going to Bat for Cricket in Los Angeles in 1993

Posted on August 27, 2023 by admin

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 →

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Frederick Forsyth did more than write great thrillers

Posted on August 25, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – English writer Frederick Forsyth, who turns 85 today, has not only written clever and exciting thrillers such as ‘Day of the Jackal’ (starring Edward Fox, above)  and ‘The Odessa file’, he’s also prescient about world affairs. Continue reading →

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‘Titanic’ Oscar-winner James Horner saw music in colour

Posted on August 14, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – ‘Composing is so much like painting,’ the late James Horner told me. ‘I patch colour into certain things until I hear the sounds and then I know how much of the magenta or how much of the teal-blue to put in. It’s something I have to do when I hear it and I hear it sort of all around me. I start to paint the scene and then that will an element that I’ll write an orchestral part around, adding the orchestral part on top of it later on.’ Continue reading →

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Don Black: ‘When I have a song to write I’m very happy’

Posted on June 21, 2023 by admin

By Ray Bennett

London’s leafy Green Park means many things to many people, but to lyricist Don Black it will always be the place where he wrote the hit song “Tell Me on a Sunday” to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The kitchen in his Sixties home in Mill Hill in Northwest London always comes to mind when he thinks of the Lulu smash hit “To Sir With Love,” which he wrote with composer Mark London.

Black, who turns 85 today,  won an Oscar at 27 for “Born Free” with music by composer John Barry; he has Ivor Novello Awards and a Golden Globe; he’s an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Continue reading →

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