Paul Newman

I know, Paul Newman is NOT a Bit Actor.  Well, he was at one time.  Let's take a look.

Paul Newman was born in 1925.  After the war and his stint in the navy, he graduated from college and went to The Actor's Studio in New York.  His Broadway acting was successful, and led to some television and then movie opportunities.  I would say that he did everything right to start an acting career.

Oh, those early television days!  Paul started out in "Tales of Tomorrow" which is a show dim in my memory.  The series only aired for two years, but presented quite a variety of suspense stories, and an equal number of great actors.  Look for Boris Karloff, Gene Lockhart, Leslie Nielsen, Thomas Mitchell, Brian Keith and many others...if you can find the episodes to watch.  The Internet is your best choice here.  It is such a shame that the primitive production value of these early shows keeps them from becoming true collector classics.  Kinescope was the best they could do to preserve the moment.

Next up was a spot on "Suspense," another anthology series of suspenseful stories.  Most of the stars are the same as on Tales, but "Suspense" went on for a few more years, so add a few more stars. 

Newman appeared on "The Aldrich Family" next.  He is listed on IMDb as an 'occasional cast member.'  All of these early roles were short term deals.  He wasn't much more than an extra, I am sure, but I haven't seen any of them. 

He was on "You Are There" three times.  That was an interesting series hosted by Walter Cronkite (1916 - 2009) that attempted bring some history to TV land by taking the audiuence back to the time of certain events and interviewing the people who made it happen.  In one episode, Paul Newman was Plato!  OK.

Paul appeared a few times on "The Web," which had nothing to do with the Internet.  It was live presentations of mysteries.  All this time, he is making friends and watching the performances of some great stars. 

There were a few more television dramas before his big screen debut in The Silver Chalice (1954).  I think he was less than thrilled with the result of his first movie.  It was a box office disaster.  The film starred Virginia Mayo (1920 - 2005) and Jack Palance (1919 - 2006) in a drama about creating the cup of Christ.  It was so bad, that Newman took out a full page ad to apologize for his performance.

So Newman went back to TV for a couple of years.  He got to play Billy the Kid for the first time on "The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse."  We'll come back to Billy the Kid later.

His next film was a starring role, but I don't think Newman was a full fledged star yet.  He played Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and got good reviews. 

As he continued to climb the ladder to stardom, he gets top billing in The Rack (1956) and The Helen Morgan Story (1957) starring Ann Blyth (b. 1928), and then Until They Sail (1957) with Jean Simmons (1929 - 2010) and Joan Fontaine (b. 1917).

1958 was Paul Newman's golden year.  Four films that year.  The Long, Hot Summer; The Left-Handed Gun (yes, Billy the Kid again); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; and Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!  All hits, and two of them with Joanne Woodward (b. 1930) who would become his long time wife. 

Paul Newman was no longer a Bit Actor.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Denver Pyle

I bet everyone has seen Denver Pyle (1920 - 1997) in something on TV.  He has over 250 titles on IMDb, and that doesn't include the multiple times he appeared in the same series'.  He goes back a bit further, though.  Let's take a look.

Pyle always seemed to play a slow, southerner with a great, gruff, drawn out speaking style and the ever-present coveralls.  He started acting on the big screen in 1947, after doing some theater.  His first film was The Guilt of Janet Ames, starring Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas and Sid Caesar.

In 1950 he was in Vaughn Monroe's  (1911 - 1973) first film, Singing Guns, about a thief who shoots and then saves a sheriff and then becomes his deputy.  I'll have to look for that one.  I like Vaughn Monroe, and he only acted in two films.  The same year, Pyle was in The Flying Saucer, and early attempt at a classic Sci-Fi theme.

His early career wasn't much to talk about, so I am glad he gave television a try.  He appeared in many early western series, and drifted into other roles, including "Ramar of the Jungle" and "Commando Cody."  I think, being born in Oklahoma and working on a ranch, he was happiest in westerns.

In 1957 he appeared in The Left Handed Gun with Paul Newman, and Jet Pilot with John Wayne.  He was starting to be noticed.

Pyle's best work happened after 1960, when he joined up with Wayne again in The Alamo and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).  There were regular parts on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," "Have Gun - Will Travel," "Zane Grey Theater," "The Rifleman," "Cheyenne," "Death Valley Days," and "Laramie."  He even shows up as Uncle George on "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

I remember him as Briscoe Darling on "The Andy Griffith Show."  The Darling clan was in about six episodes as a mountain family with a flair for bluegrass music.  Those were the days!

In 1964 he appears in John Ford's last western, Cheyenne Autumn, and in 1967 he gets to spit in Faye Dunaway's face in Bonnie and Clyde.  Pyle's last movie with The Duke was Cahill U.S. Marshal in 1973. 

According to one writer in the IMDb trivia pages, Denver Pyle was almost cast as Matt Dillon for "Gunsmoke."  James Arness did a fine job with that role, and Denver appeared on at least 14 episodes.  The two of them had worked together once before, in The Lone Hand in 1953.

In the 1970s, Pyle is getting more into his crotchety old man days.  His two most famous roles are probably for "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams" and "The Dukes of Hazard."  His final movie appearance was in Maverick (1994) as an old gambler on the riverboat.  The riverboat scene in that movie is a great place to spot all the old western stars.

Over the years, Pyle worked in six Audie Murphy films, and six with John Wayne.  He also worked with many of the later B western stars, like Tim Holt, Bill Elliott and Allan 'Rocky' Lane.  Denver Pyle is a Bit Actor who added a lot to movies and television.

William Fawcett

I must say, William Fawcett (1894 - 1974) has always been a favorite of mine.  I think it is because the old Saturday morning TV show, "Fury," was one I never missed, and Bill Fawcett was a regular as Pete the ranch hand. 

Fawcett worked as an actor from 1936 to 1972, and I believe he always looked like an old man.  He was a professor of theater and had a Ph.D., working at Michigan State University before the war.  He did appear in one movie in 1936 (The King Steps Out starring Franchot Tone) as a strongman, so maybe he didn't look that old back then.

After WWII, he decided to give acting a try as a full time career, and he went on to appear in almost 250 titles on the big and small screens.  I'll try to pick some good examples of his work from each decade.

In the 1940s, Fawcett made eight westerns with Eddie Dean (1907 - 1999).  Dean was a singing cowboy who came along a little too late.  Dean did manage to make over 50 films, and ended up on "The Beverly Hillbillies." 

Fawcett also made two films with Lash La Rue (1917 - 1996), Pioneer Justice and Ghost Town Renegades, both in 1947.

The 1950s brought television.  Doc T. (for William Fawcett Thomas) was already working in movie serials, appearing in some Kirk Alyn (1910 - 1999) Superman episodes, and in several others, including Tex Grainger, Pirates of the High Seas, Captain Video and Blackhawk.  He started on TV as a regular on "The Range Rider" series around 1952, starring Jock Mahoney (1919 - 1989) and Dickie Jones (b. 1927).

The 1950s were his most prolific years.  He could be seen on TV everywhere, from "The Lone Ranger" to "Whirlybirds."  Did we really call helicopters 'whirlybirds?'  He also appears in No Time for Sergeants (1958) as Andy Griffith's father, and Damn Yankees! (1958) starring Tab Hunter.

1961 brought his only work with John Wayne in The Comancheros.  The next year he is uncredited in The Music Man, and he even gets to sing a line in The Wells Fargo Wagon.  I just saw him the 1964 Audie Murphy movie, The Quick Gun, but he has a very small part as the bartender.  No mistaking that face, though.

Again, the 1960s find him in all sorts of TV shows, from "Perry Mason," Hazel," and "The Smothers Brothers Show."  And a few TV series' you may not remember..."T.H.E. Cat" and "Pistols 'n' Petticoats."

You can't always make good choices for work in Hollywood.  Bill Fawcett can be found in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) starring John Lupton (1928 - 1993) and in her last film, Narda Onyx (1931 - 1991). 

Fawcett's last movie was The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) starring Kurt Russell.  And after stints on "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," and "The Virginian," Bill made his final appearance in the TV movie, "The Manhunter" in 1972, starring Sandra Dee (1942 - 2005).

William Fawcett had quite an acting career.  He never really was the star of any movies or TV shows, but he added a lot, just by looking old.

Fritz Weaver

Fritz Weaver sounds like a name from Spike Jones.  Sorry, that was Doodles Weaver (1911 - 1983).  Fritz Weaver (b. 1926) was a fine actor, and it may be questionable to include him as a Bit Actor. 

Weaver started acting in television in the late 1950s.  His first film was Fail Safe (1964) where he played a colonel.  There were a lot of colonels in that one.  Weaver's deep voice and great facial expressions of terror, disgust or horror help him to stand out.

He was very active on TV through most of his career.  You can find him on most of the dramatic and western series, including "Rawhide," "The Fugitive," and "Combat."

His next film was The Maltese Bippy (1969) starring Dan Rowan (1922 - 1987) and Dick Martin (1922 - 2008).  While "Laugh-In" was a big hit, I am not sure the movie was as good, and it didn't have Goldie Hawn. 

To put him back in his element, Fritz appeared multiple times on "The F.B.I." and "Mission Impossible" over the years of those well received shows.  It suited Weaver.  As did most dramatic or suspense roles. 

Weaver has a major part in The Day of the Dolphin (1973) starring George C. Scott (1927 - 1999).  Then, a few years later, he is in a trio of decent movies...Marathon Man (1976), Black Sunday (1977) and Demon Seed (1977). 

A year after appearing in 1977 on "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman" he has, perhaps, his best television role.  He plays Dr. Josef Weiss on the TV mini series "Holocaust."

Weaver appears in one segment of Creepshow (1982) which is a very interesting, and campy, horror flick by Stephen King (b. 1947).  The cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adirenne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen and E. G. Marshall.  I loved it!

His final film was the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and the wonderful Rene Russo.  I thought that version held up well in comparison to the 1968 Steve McQueen version.  That sort of comment always causes a reaction from the public.  I do love McQueen, the King of Cool.

Fritz continued to work on the TV series, "Law & Order" up until 2005.  He is now 85 years young, so I hope he has the health to continue appearing in roles, even if they are small ones.  His voice can be heard on many History Channel documentaries, so Fritz Weaver will be around for quite a while.

Hi-Hat Hattie McDaniel

Here is a Bit Actress who needs to be recognized on my blog.  Her accomplishments were amazing, yet she never really became more than a Bit Part player in most of her movies.

Hattie McDaniel (1892 - 1952) was born in 1892 to former slaves, her father actually fought in the Civil War in the U. S. Colored Troops.  She graduated from high school in Denver, CO, and was able to get some work singing on the radio and recordings.  She is considered the first African American woman to sing on the radio.  After the stock market crashed, she worked as a waitress in a club in Milwaukee, and eventually became a regular on their stage.

McDaniel started as an extra or a singer in films in the early 1930s, with stars Lew Ayers, Una Merkel, Lionel Barrymore, Hoot Gibson and Marlene Dietrich.  It has been my thought that a novice in Hollywood could learn their trade by observing the more important stars in a film, and I am sure Hattie was no exception.

In 1933 she worked with Mae West (1893 - 1980) in I'm No Angel, also starring Cary Grant (1904 - 1986).  She then scores a big role opposite Will Rogers (1879 - 1935) in Judge Priest (1934), and even sings a duet with him.

The next year she works with the biggest star in Hollywood, Shirley Temple, in The Little Colonial.  This was another chance to work with Lionel Barrymore (she made four films with Barrymore), and also with Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. 

If you have a chance to watch some of McDaniels' films in chronological order, you can probably see her refining and enlarging her 'Mammy' character.  She starts out as a maid, but slowly starts getting more confident in her ability, almost to the point of becoming confrontational.  You can see the changes between her part in Alice Adams (1935) with Katharine Hepburn and The Mad Miss Manton (1938) starring Barbara Stanwyk and Henry Fonda.

1935 saw her in China Seas with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, then 1936 and Show Boat starring Irene Dunn.  Hattie plays Queenie and gets to sing again.  Another Harlow film, Libeled Lady (1936) with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and then a major role in Saratoga (1937), again with Harlow and Gable.  A busy couple of years!

She was in Vivacious Lady (1938) with Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers, and in 1939 she worked with Oliver Hardy in Zenobia, one of the later films he made without Stan Laurel due to a contract dispute.  Hattie's roles finally settled back into less than great parts for Hattie as the years progressed. 

Hattie McDaniel is best remembered as Mammy in Gone With the Wind (1939), and this may be her strongest role as a maid.  That part won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  She was the first African American to win an Oscar, and the first African American to attend the award ceremony as a guest rather than a servant.  The next time an African American actress would win an Academy Award was 51 years later when Whoopi Goldberg took one for Ghost in 1990.

Courtesy USPS.com

After that big year, she continued to work hard, but in smaller roles.  She was in They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Errol Flynn, and in 1942 in George Washington Slept Here with Jack Benny.  In 1946 she works for Walt Disney in Song of the South, appropriately.

She ends her acting career on TV, starring in a handful of episodes of "Beulah" in 1952, after replacing Ethel Waters in the role.  She would be replaced by Louise Beavers and soon after that she died of cancer.  She was the first African American to be buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Hattie McDaniel must have been quite a lady.  She was also active in charity work, and in bringing respect to her middle class community of Sugar Hill in Los Angeles.  Although she made quite a good salary for most of her work, she had a load of medical bills at the time of her death and left an estate of only $10,000.  Not fair for such an impressive actress.  She didn't just open doors, she knocked down walls for future generations.

More Film Restoration and Richard W. Bann

I received a comment from film historian and writer, Richard W. Bann, about my last post requesting everyone to donate lots of money to film restoration.  Here is what he has to say:

"Richard W. Bann commented on your link.

"My comment:

"All of us want to believe we are doing something useful with our lives, something that matters, something that leaves lasting marks. Something that speaks to future generations, to show we were here, and made a difference.

"Time travel is an important component of my attraction to old films. Did all that talent realize they were communicating with millions of people not yet born at that time? Those of us who receive that communication today...how can we respond? We want to let these artists and technicians know they didn't do all that work for nothing. That we enjoy and honor the entertainment value, and that we treasure the living history they have unwittingly given us. And one meaningful thing we can do and one way we can respond is to support film preservation efforts. It is important to do so.


"Yes my essay will make some fans cringe. The story is painful; in fact it is worse than you know. I softened and concealed some of the worst incidents. And yes it is easy for us to look back and criticize the careless custodians of these treasures. We have some responsibility here too, however, because we have an opportunity now to be part of the film preservation effort at UCLA. If these films mean something to you, please get involved."


Pretty good thoughts, don't you think?  It shows his insight, as well as his love of movies.

I would like to add a few words about Dick Bann.  I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago at a Sons of the Desert meeting.  Dick is incredibly knowledgeable in all things film, and probably has one of the best jobs in the world. 

A quick search at Google Books for his name returns well over 800 hits.  He didn't write that many books, but his writing is easy to find.  He is also well known for his contribution to movie documentaries and other books about the film industry.

I have an autographed copy of his 1984 book, Our Gang: The Life and Times of The Little Rascals, which was co-authored by Leonard Maltin.  There is an updated version of that book, released in 1992, called The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang.  Buy either one...they are very informative, including a section on where they are now.  (The Rascals...not Bann and Maltin.)

Bann has also co-authored several other books.  Here is a very short list -

• Laurel & Hardy, with text by John McCabe, compiled by Al Kilgore, and filmography by Richard W. Bann.  I have had the pleasure of meeting McCabe and Kilgore as well, but sadly, they are both gone.
• Lone Pine in the Movies, Celebrating Republic's 75th Anniversary, with Ed Hulse, Chris Langley, and Sam Sherman.  (I don't know them!)
• W. C. Fields: A Life on Film, with W. C.'s grandson, Ronald Fields.  (I met him, too.)

As you can see, his interest in movies reflects that of many classic film buffs by covering some of the top people and studios in all of classic filmdom.

Dick Bann is also tapped as a source of reliable information for other authors and filmmakers.  He has helped on many documentaries, and you can find him quoted on many web sites as well.

Courtesy Richard W. Bann

According to IMDb, Dick has appeared as himself in two documentaries, a video short about Hal Roach's Rascals, and on the Playboy TV series, "Kendra."  (Dick is also a regular at the Playboy Mansion.)  He will soon appear in a documentary about Bettie Page (1923 - 2008) sometime this year, and is currently making one about Laurel and Hardy.

It is interesting to search for his name on the 'net, and then follow the links to read his various interviews, references and stories.  Many of these can be found at http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/ the official web site for The Boys, or on other L&H devoted web sites.

In addition to the UCLA film restoration project, there are other institutions that do their part.  The Library of Congress is one of the biggest, although with limited money at the present due to the economic dilemma in the USA.  You can search the Internet for Film Preservation or go to the Wikipedia site for that topic for more info and other organizations.

I am thankful as well, to have Dick answer my e-mail questions.  I have limited resources and time to write my little blog, and getting the full poop from him has been very helpful.  I am sure he can now be included in the (more or less) exclusive club called - Bit Actors.

Classic Film Restoration

Think about how many movies have been made since 1896 and the first public exhibition of motion pictures in New York City.  It must be hundreds of millions, at least.  Well, maybe not quite that many, but it would be impossible to screen everything ever filmed, for more than one reason.  Time constraint is a concern, but sadly, the great majority of movies have been lost.

It has been said that at least 80% of all the silent films ever made are gone forever.  That is a thought that makes any movie buff angry at the way these important negatives were treated by their creators.  But most of them were making a simple business decision.  Even Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were responsible.

Movies in the silent era were made, shown, and discarded.  The studio heads didn't think they would ever be needed again, once everyone had seen them.  The film stock was nitrate based, so it was flammable (Very flammable.  It would even burn underwater.), and it would deteriorate after a few years, turning into powder.  Because it was dangerous to keep in storage, requiring fire-proof buildings, it was much cheaper to get rid of it all.  One famous incident included using the old negatives as fuel for a new film that required a big fire scene.

Many films were lost in warehouse fires.  A fire destroyed most of the negatives of the Lubin Studios in 1914, the same year that Lubin had saved Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille from technical problems they had with the film The Squaw Man (1914).  MGM and Warner Brothers may never have been created if it were not for the technical advances of Lubin Manufacturing.  By 1917 Siegmund Lubin had to dissolve his business, party due to the fire, and also to World War I. 

In 1927, Talkies started coming out.  The change took several years because theaters had to invest in more equipment, as did the studios, but everyone could see that from The Jazz Singer on, movies would talk.  Again, the studios that still had negatives in storage for their silent films could see no reason to retain them.  Surely, nobody would ever want to see a silent film again.  Wrong!

Film restoration efforts began after television started to become popular.  But that was a full 50 years after those first motion pictures flickered in small theaters.  Much had already been lost forever.  Early restoration attempts were spotty at best, with new titles added to many films, complete with mistakes made in the transformation.  Much of this was for television screening, and the network heads couldn't see any reason for doing the restoration job right.  All they needed was a 16mm print made from the 35mm negative.  It would be expensive to do more, and it would probably never be needed after the first showing.  Wrong again!

In a similar mindset, the movie studios that sold their work to television saw this as a last chance to make a few dollars on old films.  Surely this would be the end of the need to keep these old negatives.  No attempt was made to properly store them...it would be too expensive.  What wasn't duped for TV was left to turn to dust.  Not only wrong, but a tragedy as well.

I recently read an incredibly detailed account by Richard W. Bann about the restoration of the films of Hal Roach Studios.  Hal Roach made the films of Charley Chase, The Little Rascals, Laurel and Hardy, Thelma Todd, and many others.  Bann is a film historian and writer, and was personally involved with the process.  You can find him on Facebook. 

The article is not for the faint of heart.  It is long and somewhat technical.  But it is important to give it a shot if you love old movies.  If you get through all four pages, you will learn some new terminology, and I am sure the article will bring back some memories.  Plus, it has some great pictures.

You can find a link to the article on the home page of the official Laurel and Hardy web site. 
http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/

The web site is also a font of information about the best comedy team to ever grace the big screen.  The Sons of the Desert are championing the restoration of these films at UCLA Film & Television Archive.
http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/support/laurel-and-hardy

If you love classic movies as much as I, please take a look at these links.  Spend some time there.  Donate some money if you can.  It is important to save these films for future generations, and as Dick Bann puts it, it is comforting to know that Laurel and Hardy will be around forever.  Our government is having some moderate to heavy financial trouble these days, so whatever we can do privately will help the project move along.  Thanks!

B4 They Were Stars - Ginger Rogers

I thought it would be fun to look at famous stars, before they got that way.  Of course, most started out as extras or Bit Actors.  Ginger Rogers (1911 - 1995) was no exception. 

Ginger has 90 titles listed on IMDb.  Of that, 25 appear before her first pairing with Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio (1933).  It was that pairing that made her a real star, and since over 1/4 of her movies were released before that, it could be said she was a Bit Actress.  (Or am I stretching the point?!?)

In 1925 Ginger won a Charleston contest at the age of 14, and that was really her start in show business.  She toured for a short time with the dance show, and then went to Broadway.  Ginger started making movies in 1929.  Her first time on screen was in A Day of a Man of Affairs a short that no one remembers.

Two more shorts in 1930.  A Night in a Dormitory with Thelma White (1910 - 2005) who later appeared in Tell Your Children (1936) also known as Reefer Madness.  Then, Campus Sweethearts starring Rudy Vallee (1901 - 1986). 

In Young Man of Manhattan (1930) she co-stars as a flapper with Claudette Colbert (1903 - 1996).  Also in 1930 she was in The Sap from Syracuse with Jack Oakie (1903 - 1978).  These were already pretty big parts for Ginger...the problem was they were in pretty small movies.  Ginger made seven films in 1930.  That year she also worked with Charlie Ruggles, Frank Morgan, Ed Wynn and Ethel Merman. 

In 1931 she works with William Boyd (1895 - 1972) in Suicide Fleet, just two films before he became Hopalong Cassidy in 1935.  In the next few years she works with Joe E. Brown in two films, and with Joan Blondell, before their first Busby Berkeley film together.

Two great musicals are up next, 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, both released in 1933.  Gold Diggers of 1933 started Ginger on her real climb to stardom.  The opening number is "We're in the Money" with Ginger taking the lead.  There is a closeup of her singing the song in pig-latin, and even though it is a distorted shot due to being too close for the lens, it endears Ginger to the audience.  She really didn't have a lead part in the film, but she was on her way none-the-less.

Ginger made six more films before Flying Down to Rio with Fred.  She had the lead in all of them, and got to work with more stars like Zasu Pitts, Lew Ayres (her husband from 1934 to 1940), Charley Grapewin, Joel McCrea and Jack Haley. 

After Flying, she was in ten films with Fred Astaire and could now be considered one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.  She won just a single Oscar for her work, and it wasn't with Fred.  It was for Best Actress in Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman (1940). 

Ginger's last film was Harlow in 1965 starring Carol Lynley (b. 1942) in the title role, and she continued acting on TV until 1987.  But she'll always be remembered as the girl who did everything Fred did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.

Charles Stevens, a Native American

Although it isn't a name that would have you think Native American, Charles Stevens (1893 - 1964) was one.  And an important one to the movies and to the name Bit Actor.

Stevens started in the movies in the 1915 classic, The Birth of a Nation.  For the next five years or so, in the silent films, he played a variety of American, Japanese, and Mexican parts.  He worked with some of the biggest names in silent film.  He made no less than 22 films with Douglas Fairbanks (1883 - 1939), including some of his biggest films, The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924).  He would later make three films with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in the 1940s.

In 1930 he plays Injun Joe in the Jackie Coogan version of Tom Sawyer.  Although Stevens works regularly in the next decade, he doesn't make many famous movies.  Remember, this was the depression and any work was good to have.  Plus, the country needed cheap entertainment to keep spirits up, and these movies would help.

In 1939 he plays a drunken Indian in Frontier Marshal.  This telling of the gunfight at the OK Corral was almost completely fictional, but it must have inspired My Darling Clementine (1946) which is almost the same story, with similar historical mistakes.  Stevens plays the drunken Indian in that one as well.  Speaking of Tombstone, Stevens plays an Indian in Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942) with Richard Dix (1893 - 1949) as Wyatt Earp.

In 1940 he is in the Tyrone Power remake of The Mark of Zorro.  Once again as a Mexican.  Stevens is found in quite a variety of westerns, and he played an Indian named Joe it six of them, by my count.  He was never a regular sidekick to any popular western star, but he worked with almost everyone at least once.  (Except Roy Rogers, for some reason.) 

As with many Bit Actors of the new television era in the 1950s, he found regular work on the small screen.  He can be found in all of the western TV series' including "The Lone Ranger," "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," and "Maverick" among many others.

In 1956 he played a slave in The Ten Commandments.  I dare you to pick him out!

His final film was The Outsiders (1961).  This was a film about an Indian, Ira Hayes, in the Second World War, who helped raise the flag above Iwo Jima.  (The second time, for the photo.  The real Hayes is the one on the left.)  Ira was played by Tony Curtis, and Charles Stevens played Joseph Hayes, in a Bit Part as Ira's father.  I haven't seen The Outsiders, but I have in my collection Flags of our Fathers (2006) by Clint Eastwood, that covers the real story of the flag raising. 

Stevens has over 220 titles listed on IMDb, and did I mention that Charles Stevens was the grandson of Geronimo, and he was 1/4 Apache?

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!