Grant said the same thing: his accent was wrong. He also told Jack Warner that he wouldn't go to see it unless Rex Harrison played Higgins, so they requested that Harrison do a screen test. His response was to send a photo of himself on his yacht, naked, with a rolled-up newspaper covering one part of his body. That's pretty much how to …
Grant said the same thing: his accent was wrong. He also told Jack Warner that he wouldn't go to see it unless Rex Harrison played Higgins, so they requested that Harrison do a screen test. His response was to send a photo of himself on his yacht, naked, with a rolled-up newspaper covering one part of his body. That's pretty much how to treat Jack Warner.
I've read that about Harrison, and about Grant. I still say one of the greatest screen performances ever is his work in Arsenic and Old Lace, where he's constantly having a nervous breakdown and is hilarious doing it.
Mark Harris's "Pictures at a Revolution" is a fun book that examines the five Best Picture Oscar nominees in 1967, and one of them was "Dr. Dolittle." the Harrison stories were actually shocking, and very little shocks me about show business.
and since we're on the "Sunset Boulevard" thing, I once passed a couple on Madison Avenue in the '70s. one of them was a pleasant gray-haired man. his companion appeared to be a half-size version of Gloria Swanson who was, I realized after half a second, the Real Deal. my mouth dropped open and I stared. she gave me a very Norma Desmond look back, probably because she was happy to have been noticed. if she was 4'10" I'd be surprised. who knew?
the funny thing is that when she made "Sunset Boulevard," she was barely fifty. youthful, these days.
yes, "Arsenic and Old Lace" has a fabulous Cary Grant performance. he's also great at going crazy in "I Was a Male War Bride." they're both still incredibly funny.
there are thousands of horrible Jack Warner stories. he ran that studio like an assembly line, and virtually EVERY creative person had a hard time tolerating him, but, in the final analysis, the two studios whose movies still look great today are Warner Brothers and Fox. and when I think of the most "iconic" movie stars, the biggest share were at WB. Paramount was the great "Directors' Studio" in the '30s, but (Billy Wilder aside) Paramount product tends not to date well and MGM, the "Cadillac" studio turned out expensive movies that are mostly unwatchable today. when I was little kid watching the Late Show, etc., I loved MGM because the stuff looked expensive (and it was) but now is to laugh at. and oh yeah, RKO had a nice run ("Citizen Kane, anyone?) but after Hughes took it over as a farm for potential girlfriends, it went downhill FAST.
Tom, you must have gotten an earful about DeMille, who fascinates me. he certainly let Billy Wilder do his thing, but was also pretty hateful in so many ways. anything you wanna share?
Grant said the same thing: his accent was wrong. He also told Jack Warner that he wouldn't go to see it unless Rex Harrison played Higgins, so they requested that Harrison do a screen test. His response was to send a photo of himself on his yacht, naked, with a rolled-up newspaper covering one part of his body. That's pretty much how to treat Jack Warner.
I've read that about Harrison, and about Grant. I still say one of the greatest screen performances ever is his work in Arsenic and Old Lace, where he's constantly having a nervous breakdown and is hilarious doing it.
Grant's two biggest problems were that someone who knew Archie back in the day would turn up, or that the closet door might swing open.
Mark Harris's "Pictures at a Revolution" is a fun book that examines the five Best Picture Oscar nominees in 1967, and one of them was "Dr. Dolittle." the Harrison stories were actually shocking, and very little shocks me about show business.
and since we're on the "Sunset Boulevard" thing, I once passed a couple on Madison Avenue in the '70s. one of them was a pleasant gray-haired man. his companion appeared to be a half-size version of Gloria Swanson who was, I realized after half a second, the Real Deal. my mouth dropped open and I stared. she gave me a very Norma Desmond look back, probably because she was happy to have been noticed. if she was 4'10" I'd be surprised. who knew?
the funny thing is that when she made "Sunset Boulevard," she was barely fifty. youthful, these days.
yes, "Arsenic and Old Lace" has a fabulous Cary Grant performance. he's also great at going crazy in "I Was a Male War Bride." they're both still incredibly funny.
there are thousands of horrible Jack Warner stories. he ran that studio like an assembly line, and virtually EVERY creative person had a hard time tolerating him, but, in the final analysis, the two studios whose movies still look great today are Warner Brothers and Fox. and when I think of the most "iconic" movie stars, the biggest share were at WB. Paramount was the great "Directors' Studio" in the '30s, but (Billy Wilder aside) Paramount product tends not to date well and MGM, the "Cadillac" studio turned out expensive movies that are mostly unwatchable today. when I was little kid watching the Late Show, etc., I loved MGM because the stuff looked expensive (and it was) but now is to laugh at. and oh yeah, RKO had a nice run ("Citizen Kane, anyone?) but after Hughes took it over as a farm for potential girlfriends, it went downhill FAST.
Tom, you must have gotten an earful about DeMille, who fascinates me. he certainly let Billy Wilder do his thing, but was also pretty hateful in so many ways. anything you wanna share?