Lorraine, Author at - Page 12 of 61

Published July 1, 2020

REMEMBERING WALTER MATTHAU 20 YEARS ON

Remembering Walter Matthau who passed away July 1st 2000.

Walter Matthau was an American Oscar winning actor and comedian appearing in over 100 film and tv credits with a career spanning over 6 decades.

Some of Matthau’s biggest films hits include: “Charade,” “Hello, Dolly!” “Charlie Verrick” and “The Taking Of Pelham 123.” He also struck up a lifelong friendship and on screen partnership with Jack Lemmon and together they made 10 films together, including: “The Odd Couple,” “Grumpy Old Men,” “The Front Page” and “The Fortune Cookie” for which Matthau won an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role.’

Although his name isn’t instantly thought of when it comes to Marilyn, they do have a connection. Matthau was one of the original choices for the role of “Richard Sherman” in “The Seven Year Itch” and even went as far as to record a screen test (linked below.)
The role eventually went to Tom Ewell and the rest is history.

Although it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Richard Sherman, as Tom Ewell did such a fantastic job, I’m sure Walter Matthau would have put his own unique stamp on it!

WATCH WALTER MATTHAU’S SCREEN TEST FOR “THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH” HERE:
https://youtu.be/Cwyod0Fg-Dw

Matthau passed away at the age of 79 on July 1st 2000. He is buried at Westwood Memorial Cemetery in Los Angeles with his wife Carol, not too far away from Jack Lemmon and of course… Marilyn.

Published June 27, 2020

REMEMBERING JACK LEMMON

Today we are remembering the multi talented and legendary Jack Lemmon, who passed away on this date in 2001.

Jack needs absolutely no introduction, as I can safely say that he is regarded as one of Marilyn’s most beloved co-stars having acted alongside her in the iconic 1959 comedy “Some Like It Hot.”
Of course, he was so much more than “Daphne” the bull fiddle playing musician on the run from the Mob.. he had a lengthy and highly asteemed career spanning 6 decades, he was a two time Academy Award winner and up until recently, held the record for the most number of Golden Globe nominations in history (beaten only by Meryl Streep.)

Some of his film credits include: “The Apartment,” “The Odd Couple,” “The China Syndrome,” “Days Of Wine And Roses,” “Save The Tiger,” “Grumpy Old Men” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” to name but a few.

It’s no coincedence that “Some Like It Hot” Director and writer Billy Wilder once said “Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon”, he was regarded as one of the nicest, hardest working and most respected Actors in the business. In turn, he never had an unkind word to say about any of his fellow co stars throughout the years and always especially spoke highly of Marilyn. He was once quoted as saying:

“Marilyn had an incredible charisma that was so rare, I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like it. She had a lot of talent as an actress and she used that talent to the best of her ability as well as her skills as a comedienne, which worked out marvelously for her as with that combined, she created that certain magic on film. I loved working with her and a lot of people say that is clear in our scenes together. I absolutely adored her and we got on wonderfully.”

Published June 22, 2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY WILDER

Today in history, a giant of the entertainment industry, Oscar winning writer and Director Billy Wilder would have turned 114 years old.

Billy Wilder directed Marilyn in her two most successful comedies: “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) and “Some Like It Hot” (1959). In his many statements to biographers and journalists, his full appreciation for her talents, and dispair at the strains of working with her, are eloquently and directly expressed. Wilder defined Marilyn’s special magnetism on camera as “flesh impact- she looks on the screen as if you could reach out and touch her… she had a quality no-one else ever had on the screen expect Garbo.” And years after her death, he summed up his feelings: “I miss her. It was like going to the dentist, making a picture with her. It was hell at the time, but after it was over, it was wonderful. “

Dubbed “Hollywood’s most mischievous immigrant,” Wilder was behind some of the most iconic and highly respected movies ever to come out of Tinsletown. His impressive list of credits also include “Double Indemnity” (1944), “A Foreign Affair” (1948), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “Stalag 17” (1953), “Sabrina” (1954), all of which were Oscar nominated, as well as “The Lost Weekend” (1945), and “The Apartment” (1960), both of which won Oscars. In 1986, Wilder recieved a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

After Wilder passed away in 2002, he was buried at Westwood Villiage Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, the same final resting place as Marilyn (and only two plots away from his long time friend and colleague Jack Lemmon.) His headstone reads:

A tribute to arguably one of his greatest gifts to the world: “Some Like It Hot.“

Published June 17, 2020

AS BLONDES GO, MARILYN’S CHAMELEON

“Some girls prefer to change hats. I just prefer to change my hair colour,” says Marilyn Monroe, starred with Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers and Charles Coburn in Twentieth Century-FOX’s “Monkey Business,” now in Theatres.

Most gentlemen who prefer blondes prefer Marilyn Monroe, and probably never notice from one picture to the next that the exact colour of her blondeness is never the same twice. Nor do they ever seem to care if they do notice.

When one writer carpingly referred to Marilyn as the “chameleon blonde,” Marilyn felt it necessary to come to her own defense. “The changes give me a lift, and certainly we owe it to the fans to give me a change,” she states. “We can’t very well switch faces, but actresses can and should avoid monotony by changing the personality of their coiffeures and clothes. It gives me a transformed feeling.”

Marilyn started out as an ash blonde in “The Asphalt Jungle,” switched to golden blonde for her showgirl role in “All About Eve,” was silver blonde in “As Young As You Feel,” amber blonde in “Let’s Make It Legal,” an smokey blonde in “Love Nest.”

They called it alabaster blonde in “Clash By Night,” topaz blonde in “We’re Not Married” and honey blonde in “O’Henry’s Full House.” They didn’t know what to call it in “Don’t Bother To Knock,” because for her first serious dramatic role of consequence Marilyn refused to change her natural colour, a dark, golden brown.

In “Monkey Business” it’s been dubbed champagne blonde, after a phrase “butter blonde” was turned down as too yellow. “But I prefer beer,” Marilyn points out. “It’s really a prettier colour than champagne, but I suppose it doesn’t sound as glamourous.” Most will agree that by any other name Marilyn Monroe is still the atomic blonde first.

Source: a vintage article circa 1952 printed in “Marilyn at Twentieth Century Fox” by Lawrence Crown.