Happy Fourth, and George Washington

Independence Day Weekend is upon us.  I just rebuilt the gas barbecue, so I am ready.  A three day weekend and a pool party is all you need...well, almost all you need, to have a great time.  For people reading this blog, you also need some great, patriotic movies!

I thought it would be fun to look at the range of actors who have portrayed George Washington (1732 - 1799) in film and on TV.  I was right, it was fun and the variety is staggering.

About 110 years after George passed away, he shows up for the first time in the 1909 Vitagraph silent film, Washington Under the British Flag with Joseph Kilgour (1863 - 1933) in the title role.  Kilgour played Washington about five times in silent films. 

In 1917 we see William Beery (1879 - 1949) playing Washington in The Spirit of '76.  William was Wallace Beery's brother.  The final silent film that included the Father of our County was The Flag: A Story Inspired by the Tradition of Betsy Ross (1927).  Here we find the biggest star of the silent era, Francis X. Bushman (1883 - 1966) as George.  I believe the title was probably longer than the film.

A dozen films later and we are in 1940 and the release of Holiday Highlights.  This was a comedy compilation of short vignettes of history.  Mel Blanc (1908 - 1989) plays George chopping down a cherry tree.  Of course, Blanc is most famous as his vocal counterparts, Bugs Bunny and many other Warner Brothers cartoon voices.  I am not sure he could be elected president, though.

"You Are There" was a popular historical television series in the 1950s.  In the 1955 episode, "Washington's Farewell to his Officers," E. G. Marshall (1914 - 1998) takes the president's role. 

In 1970 Lorne Greene (1915 - 1987) is Washington in "Swing Out, Sweet Land" an all star TV show starring John Wayne.  That cast is interesting, with Lucille Ball as the Voice of The Statue of Liberty, Jack Benny as the man who finds the silver dollar, and Dan Blocker as the indian who sold Manhattan.  Look for "John Wayne's Trubute to America" as the DVD release title.

Here are a few more TV Washingtons:
Will Geer on "Bewitched"
Pat Hingle on "NET Playhouse" episode "Trail of Tears"
Rene Aberjonois also on "NET Playhouse" in "Portrait of the Hero as a Young Man"
Jim Henson on "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence"  (Huh?)
Richard Basehart on "Hallmark Hall of Fame" episode "Valley Forge"
Peter Graves in "The Rebels"
Kelsey Grammer on "Biography" in the Benedict Arnold episode

The list keeps going, with Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Anthony Hopkins and Jack Black, all playing GW at some time.  That's quite a mix!

David Morse plays a credible Washington in the HBO bio-series, "John Adams" starring Paul Giamatti.  Well worth seeing if you are the least bit interested in American history.

It's up to you to decide who is the best Washington on screen.  Which is the best performance, or the most historically accurate?  Hard to say.  My guess is that the newer productions, like "John Adams" may be fairly accurate, given the current trend to do research rather than just make entertainment.  I happen to agree with that philosophy.

There are 132 titles on IMDb with a George Washington character, from 1909 to 2009.  I am sure more are to come.  And they will just keep getting better. 

OK...Let The Holiday Weekend Commence!  Enjoy yourself and be careful with those fireworks.  I may take a short drive over to Valley Forge National Historical Park.  It's right near my home, and the dog loves it!

Peter Vaughan and The Remains of the Day

I was watching The Remains of the Day (1993) last night and was drawn in by the performance of Peter Vaughan (b. 1923) who plays Anthony Hopkins' elderly father.  I love British actors, and Vaughan is no exception.  There is something about their demeanor that allows them to be completely believable, especially in period roles.

Vaughan now has over 200 titles on IMDb.  Much of his work is in British television, so you may have to look hard for it in the USA.  You can easily find him in many diversified movie roles.  His appearance can change from kindly to menacing in an instant, depending on the requirements.

His early roles were mostly uncredited and he played policemen or porters, just as an extra.  His first movie was The 39 Steps, but it was the 1959 remake.  He was in Village of the Damned (1960) which was a hit horror film starring George Sanders and a bunch of kids with glowing eyes. 

He had to suffer through the 1960s with stars like Vince Edwards (The Victors 1963), but he did press on.  In 1965 he had a bigger part in Die! Die! My Darling! starring Tallulah Bankhead (1902 - 1968).  Vaughan stars in Smokescreen (1966) which sounds like a pretty good, low budget mystery.  He plays an insurance investigator who solves an insurance fraud scheme.  I'll have to look for that one.

In 1967 he co-starred with Frank Sinatra in The Naked Runner.  I don't believe either one of them was naked in it, but it certainly helped his career.  Then, he worked with Vince Edwards again in Hammerhead (1968).  I may have to write about Edwards soon, as it looks like he did something other than "Ben Casey!"

I have to mention that Vaughan was in an episode of "The Avengers" in 1968.  It was one of my favorites.  Let's move on...
Straw Dogs (1971) starring Dustin Hoffman
The Blockhouse (1973) starring Peter Sellers
The MacKintosh Man (1973) starring Paul Newman
Massacre in Rome (1973) starring Richard Burton
Valentino (1977) starring Rudolph Nureyev and Leslie Caron
Time Bandits (1981) a Terry Gilliam film, where he played Winston the Ogre
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) starring Meryl Streep
The Razor's Edge (1984) starring Bill Murray

I think you can see that he was very capable.  He worked with everyone from Richard Burton to Bill Murray.  Now that takes flexibility.

Vaughan worked again with Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, in Brazil (1985).  In 1988 he was in the television movie, "The Bourne Identity" which I would also like to see.  It starred Richard Chamberlain (b. 1934, and another TV doctor), who probably brought in a good performance, considering the limited budget of a TV movie.  I would expect the story to be the star in that one, rather than the action scenes and explosions.

Vaughan's part in The Remains of the Day was spot on.  He played it in a touching way that brought some understanding to his son's role as the butler.  That is the job of a Bit Actor.

In 1996 you can find him in The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Rider.  1998 in Les Miserables with Liam Neeson and Uma Thurman.  In 2007 he is in Death at a Funeral, which is on demand in FiOS right now, so I may have to watch it.

Peter Vaughan keeps on working, even well into his 80s.  It is time to take real notice of his contribution to the movies we enjoy so much.  I know that Remains received a nomination for an Oscar for Best Picture (plus seven others), but I wonder how many awards ALL of his works have gathered in total.  It would be a real tribute to compile a full list.

A Tale of Two Chans

Let's compare Charlie Chan's two movie sons, Lee played by Keye Luke (1904 - 1991) and Jimmy (or sometimes Tommy) played by Victor Sen Yung (1915 - 1980).  Well, let's look at the actors, not the characters.  Both were Chinese/Americans and both had long, wonderful acting careers.  These days, I think they may be less remembered, except by classic movie fans like us.

Warner Oland (1879 - 1938) was the first, major Charlie Chan in the movies.  He made Chan films starting in 1931, up until his death.  Oland was also the first of a long line of Chans who were not Asian.  His real name was Olund and he was Swedish.  Keye Luke played "Number One Son" Lee Chan.

Luke started working in film just a year before his first Chan movie, Charlie Chan in Paris (1935).  Eight of Oland's 16 Chan movies also included Luke.  Luke played Lee Chan in one oddity, Mr. Moto's Gamble (1939) which started out as another Chan movie, until Oland couldn't continue.  The studio brought in Peter Lorre and converted it to a Mr. Moto/Charlie Chan hybrid.

The Charlie Chan series was very popular with the public and served as a great start for Keye.  He found himself in demand wherever an Asian actor was needed.  His first big role outside of Chan was in The Good Earth in 1937, and he played the first screen Kato in The Green Hornet in 1940.  No matter that Kato was supposed to be Korean.

Luke then played a doctor in the Lionel Barrymore, Dr. Gillespie series.  Five entries in all.  The late forties brought him once again to play Lee Chan, this time with Roland Winters (1904 - 1989, note that they were the same age) as his Pop.  BTW, Winters was born Roland Winternitz in Boston, MA...another non-Asian Chan.

The 1950s brought television and more opportunities.  Luke embraced TV, and also did voice work for animation and dubbing foreign films.  He was in everything from "My Little Margie" to "Star Trek."  In 1972 he finally got to play Charlie Chan in "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan," and was probably the first Asian to do the lead in a major work, even if it was animated. 

Keye Luke will be remembered by younger viewers as Master Po in "Kung Fu."  His newer movies include Gremlins (1984) and his final film, Alice (1990) by Woody Allen.  He has 200 titles listed on IMDb.

Victor Sen Yung also has a long career with 151 titles.  His first film was The Good Earth in an uncredited part. 

Victor started in the Chan films as Jimmy, with Sidney Toler (1879 - 1947, of Scottish ancestry) as Chan.  They made 13 films from 1938 to 1946. 

Victor was Tommy Chan in five Chan movies starring Roland Winters.  One of those also included Keye Luke, The Feathered Serpent in 1948.  The two would work together in eight other films and numerous TV shows, including "Kung Fu."

Sen Yung also worked on many TV shows.  He continued in film and you can see him in The Left Hand of God (1955) starring Humphrey Bogart, the musical Flower Drum Song (1961), and The Hawaiians (1970) with Charlton Heston and Keye Luke.  His final film was Sam Marlow, Private Eye in 1980, starring Robert Sacchi (b. 1941) who is mostly known as a Bogart look alike.

I have always enjoyed watching Keye Luke and Victor Sen Yung.  They are both instantly recognizable on screen, whether large or small.  But they will always be best remembered as three of Charlie Chan's sons.  Or is that, the sons of three Charlie Chans?

I Have Ned Glass Stuck in My Memory

I was tuned in to Encore Westerns again, this time to watch a "Gunsmoke" episode, and I caught the credits of "Have Gun, Will Travel."  There it was, the name Ned Glass, and it brought out a hidden memory.  I couldn't place him, but I knew I had seen that name more than once.  Time for some research.

Ned Glass (1906 - 1984) was a very popular Bit Actor, mostly known for his television work in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.  He started out as an extra in many mid-1930s movies.  After the McCarthy era, when he was blacklisted, he was able to restart his career and found some roles that showed his true acting ability.

During the few years when it was tough to find work, he was helped by his friend Moe Howard.  Of course, that meant making six Three Stooges shorts!  In his early movies, he usually played a bank teller or a clerk, or some other small part.  His physical stature made him perfect for that.

I noticed the title Storm Warning (1951) starring Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan with Ned in it.  I haven't seen that one, but it may be worthwhile.  The same year he made The People Against O'Hara starring Spencer Tracey and Pat O'Brien.  It sounds like Glass' career has really started by then.

Every title Ned has in this era is filled with stars.  Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) with Burt Lancaster, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) with Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner, The Clown (1953) with Red Skelton, Julius Caesar (1953) with Marlon Brando (and Tom Powers!), The Caddy (1953) with Martin and Lewis...Ned Glass is in them all.  I am sure that his part, no matter how small, contributed to these movies and to the reputations of the stars as well.

Ned kept busy during the television era, but still filled in with movies like King Creole (1958).  He shows up as a ticket seller in North by Northwest (1959).  In 1961 he has a noticeable dramatic role in West Side Story as Doc, the shop owner where Tony works.  Then an even bigger role in Charade (1963) as one of a trio of bad guys with George Kennedy and James Coburn.

I suppose as he started to age, television was easier work.  He still appeared in film, but not as frequently.  Look for Ned in The Fortune Cookie (1966) and Save the Tiger (1973), both with Jack Lemmon, and he is a toll booth attendant in The Love Bug in 1968.

His last film was a low budget item called Street Music (1981), and he then appeared in an episode of "Cagney and Lacey" a few years before he passed away.  All in all, Ned has 207 titles listed on IMDb, and I am glad I remembered his name.

Tom Powers

Here's a Bit Actor who I mentioned briefly as being in Destination Moon (1950).  Tom Powers (1890 - 1955) was also in over 130 other titles.  His career spanned work at The Vitagraph Company in 1911, all the way into the television era. 

Powers made over 40 silent films, including an uncredited part in Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), an early animated short.  He worked until 1917, and then went to the theater, becoming a playwright and actor. 

In 1944 he was asked to be the murder victim in Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwick and Fred MacMurray.  That started another film career for him.  He made 26 films in the 1940s alone.

Look for Powers in The Blue Dahlia (1946), Angel and the Badman and The Farmer's Daughter both in 1947. 

He worked with James Cagney and William Bendix in The Time of Your Life (1948), an unusual film for Cagney.  Other great stars were in many of his films (or was it the other way 'round?) but for some reason, almost all of his films just missed the mark and never became big box office hits.

How about this?  He had a small part in We're Not Married (1952) starring Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe.  Powers even worked with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in Scared Stiff (1953).  His television work was never regular, but he had gigs on "The Lone Ranger" and "Superman" among several others.

Tom Powers' last movie role of note was in Double Jeopardy (1955) starring Rod Cameron (1910 - 1983).  I've never seen it, and it may not have been a very good mystery.  For Tom, it was a job and it helped pay the bills.  That is the life of a Bit Actor.

1950, It was a Very Good Year

I was born in 1950, so I thought it would be good to check out which great movies were released that year.  I know you can look up the movies by year in IMDb, but I wasn't certain exactly how. 

In IMDb each movie title has the year of release, and that number is a link to the movies made that year.  All I had to do was find a 1950 movie and click on the year link.  Henry Fonda was a big star in the middle of the last century, so I entered his name.  A scroll down his filmography to 1950 and...he had no releases that year!

I did eventually figure it out, and the list is impressive.  I was born in a great movie year!  1950 was a year of change, not only in the movies, but in America.  The war was over for five years, and all the new families were booming babies.  The suburbs were a new phenomenon, created by William Levitt and his Levittowns. 

My family moved from Philadelphia to the suburbs in 1953.  We have 16mm silent home movies that my grandfather shot.  As a child, I still remember the new neighborhood with no trees.  As I grew up, so did the flora.  My wife and I were just talking about how, during the summer, we would wait for the Good Humor ice cream truck to come by.  Of course, I didn't know her then.  We both miss the old experiences.

Back to the movies. IMDb lists 1,667 titles for the year 1950, and some of them are television.  If you list the movies by box office gross, Cinderella was the big winner at $34.1M.  There is no denying that it was a great movie, carrying on the Disney tradition of excellent animation, all hand drawn.

My guess is that the rest are less than accurate on the box office take.  Annie Get Your Gun, starring Betty Hutton (1921 - 2007) was next at $8M.  I'll stick with the 1934 Barbara Stanwick version, but Hutton's did receive a better rating from IMDb viewers.

Then came Destination Moon with $5M gross at the box office.  This was the first Sci-Fi movie that attempted realism and mostly accurate science.  This one starred John Archer (1915 - 1999), Warner Anderson (1911 - 1976) and Tom Powers (1890 1955).  Three names that to me say Bit Actors.  Maybe we'll take a closer look at them in a future post.

Fancy Pants with Bob Hope came in with $2.6M, and All About Eve starring Bette Davis shows only $10,200 at the box office?  That can't be correct.  Keep in mind that these numbers probably came from posters, such as myself.  I doubt that IMDb has any way to check everything that is posted, nor should they be responsible for inaccuracies.

Re-sorting by the IMDb Moviemeter brings up some choice 1950 movies.  Sunset Blvd. is the #1 rated film on IMDb for that year.  "I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille."  Probably the most famous Gloria Swanson line ever spake.

Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracey and Liz Taylor is a perennial favorite, as are The Asphalt Jungle, Treasure Island (the Disney release), Rio Grande (John Wayne and John Ford, together again), Cheaper by the Dozen with Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy, Winchester '73 my favorite James Stewart western, Stage Fright with Marlene Dietrich and Alfred Hitchcock, Born Yesterday a great Judy Holliday flick, and The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck.  I have written about many of these films and their stars and Bit Actors.

1950 is definitely a year of great films.  But then again, most years have great films.  But I was born in this one!

Nigel Bruce

Let's take a quick look at Nigel Bruce (1895 - 1953) today.  No need for introductions to classic film fans, Bruce IS Dr. Watson in the popular Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone (1892 - 1967).

Bruce was actually born in Mexico, while his father was working there.  Royal blood flows (flowed) in his veins, and he was probably not acting very much in many of his roles, just being himself. 

Bruce started acting in films in a Mae Marsh (1894 - 1968) silent called Flames of Passion (1922).  It was a very small role, but he kept at it.  A few more silents, and a good bit of stage work, and he starts moving up the cast list in the 1930s. 

Look for him in the 1934 classic, Treasure Island, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper.  He then plays royalty (The Prince of Wales, no less) in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) starring Leslie Howard.

Bruce works with Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), and the same year with Errol Flynn in The Charge of the Light Brigade. 

In 1939, his two most famous films were released by Twentieth Century Fox, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  He set the standard for Dr. Watson, just as Rathbone did for Holmes.  Sadly, the other twelve Holmes/Watson films, made for Universal in the 1940s, didn't maintain the quality.  They are still worth watching, though, and if you haven't seen them all, the mysteries are a lot of fun to see for the very first time.

Bruce and Rathbone also made Crazy House (1943) and Frenchman's Creek (1944) together.  I haven't seen either.

Bruce was in four films that included some Alfred Hitchcock work, but only in two that Hitch directed.  Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941).  The other two were Lord Chamber's Ladies (1932) produced but not directed by Hitch, and Forever and a Day (1943) which had Hitch on the writing staff.

In 1943 and 1945 Nigel played a part in Lassie Come Home and Son of Lassie, respectively.  And in 1952 he appears as the Impresario in Charlie Chaplin's final big film, Limelight. 

That is quite a career for a chap who basically played the same type-cast Brit.  He started in silent films and ended making a film with the biggest silent star who ever lived. 

Nigel Bruce has 79 titles listed on IMDb, with only one appearance on television.  I can't name all of his work here, but let me know which were your favorites.  In my book, he will always be Dr. Watson.  I bet I'm not alone.

James Arness (1923 - 2011)

Sad news today.  After my lighhearted post about Glenn "Sam the Bartender" Strange yesterday, I just saw the news that James Arness passed away today of natural causes.  He was 88 years old.

This is just a year after his brother, Peter Graves left us.  Graves was 83.

Those two were giants in Hollywood, in more ways than one.  The brothers were both over 6 feet tall.  They brought me a lot of pleasure over the years, with quality acting in everything they touched.

They were not Bit Actors in any way, and they will be missed.

Is Glenn Strange

I was watching one of my new, favorite channels the other night, Encore Westerns.  Great westerns and lots of old TV shows, and no commercials.  What's not to like?

"Gunsmoke" came on.  And then there was a scene with Sam the bartender.  It brought back a flood of memories.  Many years ago I remember looking up who played Sam.  Glenn Strange was the name, and I remembered he was also a Frankenstein monster in some movies.  Time for more research on this outstanding Bit Actor.

Glenn Strange was born in 1899.  He taught himself how to play fiddle and guitar and started entertaining by the age of 12.  He was also a rancher and a cowboy.  In the 1930s he became a western singer on the radio, and then moved into movies.

Glenn started working on soundtracks, filling in the background music for early western talkies.  He soon found himself in front of the camera as an extra and in bit parts.  His size helped him get on screen.  He stood close to 6 1/2 feet tall, and was sometimes billed as Peewee Strange in his films. 

B-Westerns were all the rage in the early talkie days.  They were so popular, that many actors preferred to work in the lower stress atmosphere of making these six-reelers.  Feature films were more expensive, and if they bombed, the studio heads wanted to know why.  Plus, you could act in several of them while a feature look longer to make.  Many actors were paid by the picture, not the hour, so if you were in demand, you could make more money by making more films.

Strange made nine early films with Hoot Gibson (1892 - 1962), all talkies.  He also worked with John Wayne in 16 films.  He made 19 films with legendary stunt man, Yakima Canutt (1895 - 1986).  And in 1936, he got to play a robot in the Flash Gordon serial.

While the vast majority of these Strange films were westerns, Glenn did play in a few war films and made a good showing in horror flix.  In 1941 he appears in Playmates, starring Kay Kyser and his orchestra, John Barrymore, and the fetching Lupe Velez (1908 - 1944), playing an 'actor in a western film.'

By the mid 1940s, Boris Karloff was getting tired of donning the Frankenstein monster makeup.  In 1944 Karloff appears as Dr. Gustav Niemann (a name I won't remember) in House of Frankenstein, with Glenn Strange playing the monster.  It was strange that Strange looked strangely like Karloff, which led to him getting the part.  And at his height, he probably didn't need the platform shoes that Karloff used.  Glenn would play the monster again in House of Dracula (1945) and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). 

The 1950s brought television and the TV Westerns.  Glenn was ready.  He was the original TV Butch Cavendish in "The Lone Ranger" series, and was seen in many television western series' as a guest star, over and over.  He was a stage driver on "The Rifleman" several times.

I wonder if he decided to settle down in Dodge City when he was hired by Miss Kitty at the Long Branch Saloon in 1961.  He stayed for a dozen years, and that was simply his most famous role.  "Gunsmoke" would make an impression on a whole new generation of fans for Glenn.  It did to me.  Good reason to watch House of Frankenstein again, and to go back and dig up some B-Westerns.

Glenn Strange has 311 titles listed on IMDb.  He died of lung cancer in 1973, just after retiring from tending bar.  He was never a big star, but he is an important Bit Actor who contributed his talent to so many worthwhile projects.  And that's not Strange at all.

The Gunfighter

The Gunfighter (1950) is the story of Jimmy Ringo, loosely based on Johnny Ringo's life.  Very loosely.  Actually, all they did was use his last name and made him an outlaw.  The title role was played by Gregory Peck.  The film is pretty good, as is the acting, but by the last few minutes, the end becomes pretty obvious.  There was no surprise as to how Ringo would end up.  And it wasn't anything like the way Johnny Ringo ended his life.

The Bit Actors in this one were excellent.  I only watched it once, and that was before reading the cast list on IMDb.  Richard Jaeckel (1926 - 1997) was in it, but I missed him.  That is tough to do.  I remember him well for his part in The Dirty Dozen (1967).

Helen Westcott (1928 - 1998) played the love interest, schoolteacher, and wife (?) of Ringo.  Westcott has 78 titles on IMDb, starting when she was just six years old.  She appears in The Our Gang Follies of 1938.  Not many big hits, but she is also in With a Song in My Heart (1952) and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), then a lot of TV work.  Her last movie was I Love My Wife (1970) starring Elliott Gould.

The marshal was played by Millard Mitchell (1903 - 1953).  He only has 38 titles listed, but what a career.  It really got off the ground near the end of his life when he is seen in Twelve O'Clock High (1949), Winchester '73 (1950), You're in the Navy Now (1951), and of course Singin' in the Rain (1952).

In only his seventh film, the young, tough "gunny" is played by Skip Homeier (b. 1930).  It was a great start and he played it well.  In the same year he is in Halls of Montezuma with Richard Widmark.  He went on to a total of 133 titles and did quite a bit of TV work.  I remember him on "The Addams Family."  He was in the Don Knotts film, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), and at least two of the original "Star Trek" shows.

The Gunfighters was a great movie for Bit Parts.  Watch for the names above in movies you see.  And since tomorrow is a holiday, that will give you time to spend in front of the TV.  Have a nice Memorial Day.