Only producer Ross Hunter was consistently delivering solid box office returns. Drama Music Romance In rural Texas, Salome, pregnant with Chad's baby, runs away from home and marries wealthy Yale student Tony but, years later, runs into Chad, now a successful musician in New York. This is life as they would like to believe it, and it makes good movie Carroll O'Connor - who died June 21st at the age of 76 - will be best remembered for portraying Archie Bunker on TV's All in the Family but his career actually was much more extensive. After Quinn's birth, the family soon moved to East Los Angeles (after a quick Texas detour) where Quinn grew up in the shadow of Hollywood. Her deal for half the profits kept her financially comfortable for the rest of her life, particularly after fifth husband Fred May invested much of the money in real estate. According to August 1958 Hollywood Reporter news items, portions of the picture were shot at the Warner Bros. studio, the Methodist Church in Hollywood, CA, and at the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Los Angeles. After Lora is cast and the play and its new leading actress are hugely successful, the papers report that "a new star is born" on Broadway. The Apartment (1960) focused on a working stiff who lends his home to his supervisors for their extramarital affairs. -- Turner refusing a marriage proposal from Gavin, as Steve Archer. picture and a dark commentary on ambition, motherhood, Lora Meredith. played her servant and dearest friend, and Sandra Dee Landmarks, Breakthroughs and Milestones in Black Film History, a five-week series, will run through March 14 at Film Forum 2, 209 West Houston Street, Manhattan. After Quinn's birth, the family soon moved to East Los Angeles (after a quick Texas detour) where Quinn grew up in the shadow of Hollywood. Director Douglas Sirk suggested changing the leading lady from a businesswoman to an actress. the heart with each step in one of the best Universal films of recent years. Dee resurfaced in 1991, when she gave an interview with People magazine about her personal demons: One unanticipated result was that Quinn married DeMille's daughter the following year; they appeared together in Phil Karlson's Black Gold (1947) and had five children. For Lana Turner, that hit a little too close to home, and she hesitated. It had no cast members from the earlier series and only lasted six episodes.) She is survived by her son Dodd; and two granddaughters -Alexa and Olivia. The closer he gets to his goal, the clearer it becomes that a government conspiracy is behind his son's disappearance. It was in Ireland that O'Connor started acting in several local productions. Meredith. In Missing (1982), directed by the uncompromising Costa-Gavras, Lemmon played a patriotic father searching for his kidnapped son in Latin America. (It also produced one of TV's oddest spinoffs in1994's 704 Hauser about a multi-racial family living in Archie Bunker's old house. Helping boost the success of Imitation of Life was the studio's unprecedented decision to release it simultaneously to both white and black theatres in the South. Though The Apartment was a comic success, with each passing year the film's serious side seems even more dark and derisive. Mature for her age, Sandra's mother kept the lie going when she began her modeling career. The characters lived together, loved one another and faced tragedy through their respective daughters. Quinn was born April 21, 1915 in Mexico. The rest of his career might be summed up by the year 1991 when he gathered critical acclaim for his appearance in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, was nominated for a Razzie as Worst Actor in Mobsters, co-starred with Bo Derek in Ghosts Can't Do It, worked beside John Candy and Macaulay Culkin in Chris Columbus' Only the Lonely and made a film so obscure it appears to have never appeared on video. He had already played the lead in Douglas Sirk's A Time to Love, and a Time to Die (1958). Susie, who has suffered from her busy mother's lack of attention despite the material advantages Lora has provided her, looks forward to taking a trip with Steve and Lora, but the plans are canceled when Lora excitedly accepts a coveted role in an Italian film. To keep the budget under control, Turner agreed to lower her fee in return for half of the film's profits. Imitation of Life became Universal's biggest moneymaker to date, and a 1995 poll by the New York Daily News still ranked it as one of the top-ten all-time favorite films. He was busy in a variety of films during this periods - notably Parrish (1961) and Rome Adventure (1962) - but also starred in the TV series Surfside 6 (1960) and Hawaiian Eye (1962 and predating Hawaii Five-O by several years). If a novelist had invented a character like Quinn, she would be accused of unbelievable invention. One cold day, Annie brings Sarah Jane's galoshes to school, where she discovers that her daughter has been trying to conceal her race from her classmates. After frantically searching for her lost daughter Susie at Coney Island, an attractive widow named Lora Meredith finds her playing with Sarah Jane, a light-skinned black girl. Lemmon won his second Academy Award for the film. His first was Man Afraid (1957) but Donahue also made brief TV appearances at the time on shows like Wagon Train. every film fan. By Cino Niles & Jeff Stafford While Lora is filming in Italy, Steve looks after Susie, and the eager teenager soon falls in love with him. It had no cast members from the earlier series and only lasted six episodes.) Lemmon plays her levelheaded boyfriend but finds himself on the sidelines when the suave and sophisticated Peter Lawford appears on the scene. She played Sarah Jane in Imitation of Life (1959), for which she was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe award.. After Kohner married menswear designer and writer John Weitz in 1964, she retired from acting to devote time to her family. The same year Imitation of Life hit movie theatres and became a best seller all over again, the book's inspiration, Zora Neale Hurston, died forgotten and penniless in Florida. - Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide In It Should Happen to You, Holliday plays a struggling actress who soon wins fast fame as the product of promotion. Onscreen, Lemmon's characters often found that they were the wrong men for their jobs. Shown at London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival March 13-27, 1997. by Margarita Landazuri & Frank Miller, In conjunction with the film version, a new paperback edition of Imitation of Life hit bookstores, selling half a million copies. mouth." November 30, 1981. By Lang Thompson, - 1959, World premiere in Chicago, IL: 17 Mar 1959; Los Angeles opening: 20 Mar 1959; New York opening: 17 Apr 1959. As the identity-challenged, light-skinned daughter of Lana's African American maid (the great Juanita Moore) Kohner rips into the juiciest role of her brief career with thrilling assurance. She was born Alexandra Cymboliak Zuck on April 23, Instead of accepting her offer, they made Imitation of Life their major offering for spring 1933. "Sirk's last movie in Hollywood is a coldly brilliant weepie, a rags-to-riches Since she was diagnosed with throat cancer and kidney failure in 2000, Dee had been in and out of hospitals for her failing health. Among the directors citing Sirk as an influence on their own work are John Waters and the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Quoting the actress herself, she claimed, "I'm . By 1970, it had made over $25 million worldwide. Turner's daughter, Cheryl Crane, visited the set during location shooting for Sandra Dee's high school graduation. wayward daughter. tale of two intertwined families, in which the materialist optimism is But that's just one of many incidents in a life that can only be described as colorful. Bea's daughter, Jessie, becomes her romantic rival, while Delilah's light-skinned daughter, Peola, rejects her mother and attempts to pass for white. He returned to the U.S. for his Broadway debut in 1958 and shortly after started to appear on numerous TV shows like The Untouchables and Naked City. Susie (Sandra Dee) and Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner) are now teens, Lora (Lana Turner) now a Broadway star and Annie (Juanita Moore) still her . She was meant to be an "executive consultant" at Paramount but actually making movies is quite a different matter than writing about them so Kael lasted only five months. and Susan Kohner their respective daughters, caught up Screenplay: Eleanor Griffin, Allan Scott As Ensign Pulver, a deckhand who avoids work whenever possible, Lemmon won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar®. Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen, Richard H. Riedel "All the kids talking behind my back! By Cino Niles & Jeff Stafford While developing the re-make, Hunter took Fannie Hurst to lunch and asked for her ideas about updating the story. The film was a major box office success. TCM REMEMBERS JACK LEMMON 1925-2001 Audiences fell in love with Natalie Wood as the dubious Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street, but the breakout role was far from her last. As Ensign Pulver, a deckhand who avoids work whenever possible, Lemmon won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar®. Not many actors can boast that they've inspired a Bob Dylan song but Anthony Quinn - who passed away June 3rd at the age of 86 - was one of the select few. Fannie Hurst's novel, Imitation of Life (1933), was the story of two single mothers, one white and one black, who join forces and become successful businesswomen. Later, Lemmon claimed that he learned more about comic technique by watching these Chaplin, Keaton and Harold Lloyd two-reelers than acting school could have ever taught him. White! O'Connor even auditioned for the part of the Skipper in the TV series, Gilligan's Island, but it was his role as Archie Bunker in a 1971 sitcom that made him a star. The following year came was a Best Actor nomination for George Cukor's Wild Is the Wind (1957). By the time she was 10, she was one of the top child models in the country, and by age 13, she met producer Ross Hunter, who signed her to a seven-year contract for Universal. One evening, Steve comes by with the photographs, and the next day, he takes Lora to lunch, obviously smitten with her. Turner hesitated about accepting the role, fearing that the combination of the scandal and the recent financial disappointment of Another Time, Another Place (1958) had put her in a very tenuous position. Miss Lora, I killed my mother." It covers Natalie Wood's life from about age 4 to her death at age 43, and the investigations into her death since then. Was considered to play the role of the young daughter of Lana Turner in the classic melodrama directed by Douglas Sirk. "Fine performances and direction overcome possible soapiness to make this ), Released in United States March 1997 (Shown at London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival March 13-27, 1997. Note: This Imitation of Life trivia and all movie trivia on notstarring.com is submitted and reviewed by movie fans from around the world. Problems arise when Lemmon falls for his boss's paramour - it gets even more complicated when she tries to kill herself in his pad! "Miss Turner and the others act unreally and elaborately[They] do not racial identity, and hope lost and found. The novel was a huge success and it was made into a film in 1934, starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers, directed by John Stahl. Directors Michael Anderson Vincente Minnelli Writers Rosamond Marshall Robert Thom Stars Robert Wagner Natalie Wood Susan Kohner -- Moore's deathbed confession. Surprised and overjoyed by a visit from Steve, Lora confesses she still loves him, and the two are reunited. Lora and David argue when she decides to appear in another writer's drama, but her performance is brilliant, and this play, too, becomes an instant hit. -- Karin Dicker, as the young Sarah Jane Johnson, beginning to question her position as an African-American. Admission to each screening is $7 . Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscars for their searing portrayals of the African-American mother and daughter. A modern source reported that Sirk had read the novel before directing this film, but had not seen the 1934 film. When Susie accuses Lora of loving her career more than her, Lora offers to give Steve up, but Susie has decided to go away to college. But she was deeply in debt, and she needed to work. me. Based on the novel by Fannie Hurst Imitation of Life Brief Synopsis Two mothers, one white, one black, face problems with their rebellious daughters. Together they made seven films, but it was their first, Some Like It Hot (1959), that captured the sheer comic genius of their collaborations together. They give an imitation of movie acting at its less Times. Rosie, and Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding (both 1967) were pretty dreadful and were disasters at the box-office; and her divorce from Bobby Darin that same year, put a dent in her personal life, so Dee wisely took a sabbatical from the limelight for a few years. As Steve looks on, the three women join hands in a gesture of comfort and love. Cast: Lana Turner (Lora Meredith), John Gavin (Steve Archer), Sandra Dee (Susie), Dan O'Herlihy (David Edwards), Susan Kohner (Sarah Jane), Robert Alda (Allen Loomis), Juanita Moore (Annie Johnson), Mahalia Jackson (Herself), Troy Donahue (Frankie), Sandra Gould (Receptionist), Jack Weston (Stage Manager), Bess Flowers (Geraldine Moore), Myrna Fahey (Actress) By the late `60s, as "youth culture" movies became more confrontational and less frivolous with references to open sexuality and drugs in the American landscape, Dee's career began to peter out. Universal borrowed costume designer Jean Louis from Columbia for the film. Troy Donahue died September 2nd at the age of 65. At a suburban theatre in the Philadelphia area, the manager stood in the lobby at the film's end with a box of Kleenex for sobbing patrons. According to Daily Variety, Universal encountered some resistance to the promotion of the film and tailored its advertising campaign for the South, where, a studio representative said, "white southerners avoid films that are advertised as dealing with the race problem." By all accounts, O'Connor was nothing like Archie Bunker; in fact, O'Connor was an active anti-drug crusader, partly the result of his son's drug-related suicide. In 1988, O'Connor took the role of a Southern sheriff in a TV series based on the movie In the Heat of the Night and found himself in another hit, this one lasting until 1995. Though The Apartment was a comic success, with each passing year the film's serious side seems even more dark and derisive. Turner Classic Movies cherishes the memory of this remarkable talent. Fannie Hurst's novel, Imitation of Life (1933), was the story of two single mothers, one white and one black, who join forces and become successful businesswomen. At the mortuary,. But it was the 1950s when Quinn broke out. Ross Hunter wanted to update the story, making the leading character an actress instead of a businesswoman, but keeping the race issue and the conflicts between mothers and daughters. One of the most mysterious aspects of Natalie's death is the setting, as Entertainment Weekly reported back in 1992. By Lang Thompson Cast & Crew Read More Douglas Sirk Director Lana Turner Lora Meredith John Gavin Steve Archer Sandra Dee Susie Meredith, age sixteen Susan Kohner Sarah Jane [Johnson], age eighteen Robert Alda Allen Loomis Photos & Videos View All It also reshaped her image to reflect the public's perception of her as a glamorous sex symbol who was a victim of her own success. Staggs, the author of All About "All About Eve" As the long cortege moves slowly along the street, Sarah Jane pushes through the crowds, flings herself on her mother's coffin, and weeps hysterically. Turner agreed, and the film succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The sometimes cynical comic sense of director Billy Wilder provided Lemmon with the perfect complement. Dr. Joseph Choi, a deputy medical examiner at . Quinn divorced DeMille's daughter and married the costumer. Editor: Milton Carruth From sexual antics to social critique, Lemmon and Wilder sharpened their comic knives on the hypocrisies they saw in American culture. Rather than dictating the way a scene should be played, he would take each actor aside, suggest what he wanted and ask how he or she felt about it. On February 2, 1959, Hollywood Reporter reprinted the following wire sent by LA Tribune editor Almena Lomac to numerous white publications: "Imitation of Lifeis a libel on the Negro race. The following year came was a Best Actor nomination for George Cukor's Wild Is the Wind (1957). Back home, Annie tells Lora, who has just returned from Europe, that she will no longer interfere in her daughter's life, adding that she does hope to help her wayward daughter somehow. In the early Sixties she engaged in an infamous and surprisingly bitter debate with critic Andrew Sarris among others about the merits of auteurism, the French-born philosophy that believes the director is the chief creative person behind any film. C-125m. Quinn was a pope in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), an Islamic leader in The Message (1976), a thinly disguised Aristotle Onassis in The Greek Tycoon (1978) and an assortment of gangsters, con men, military leaders and what have you. The film's treatment of race, considered daring in its day, provides a powerful view of liberal sentiments at the birth of the civil rights movement. molestation by her stepfather, anorexia, drug use and alcoholism, that had haunted her her entire life. Best Drama. material -- at least for a matinee." Despite its success, it was also Sirk's last commercial feature. Missing was inspired by a true story - the production was condemned by the Reagan administration and awarded the Golden Palm at the Cannes film festival. We strive to provide reliability in our movie trivia database, and we . She wrote for several small publications and did a radio show on the groundbreaking network KPFA before finally landing a job at the high-profile McCall's only to be fired shortly after she panned The Sound of Music (1965) (which she called The Sound of Money). director Sirk's masterpiece. The gritty crime drama Across 110th Street (1972) is one of the best American movies of its decade, enhanced by Quinn's turn as an embattled police captain. Although by no means a classic, her role as woman falling pray to a warlock (Dean Stockwell) who sexually and psychologically dominates her in the The Dunwich Horror (1970), was nothing short of startling. This video shows clips from the original 1934 film "Imitation of Life" directed by John Stall . For a brief, quicksilver period of the early '60s, Sandra Dee was the quintessential sweet, perky, All-American girl, and films such as Gidget and Tammy Tell Me True only reinforced the image that young audiences identified with on the screen. by Frank Miller, Made for $2 million, Imitation of Life grossed $6.4 million during its Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscars for their searing portrayals of the African-American mother and daughter. As Mahalia Jackson started singing, she lost control and fled to her trailer in tears. Not many actors can boast that they've inspired a Bob Dylan song but Anthony Quinn - who passed away June 3rd at the age of 86 - was one of the select few. "I'm white. All in the Family was an American version of the British sitcom Till Death Do Us Part that met some initial resistance (ABC rejected the first two pilots) but quickly captivated American audiences and became the country's top-rated TV show. Although she has the second largest role in the film, Juanita Moore was billed seventh, behind actors with much smaller roles. Lora's black housekeeper, Annie (Juanita Moore), has troubles of her own as she faces the rejection of her own fair-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner), who abandons her heritage for a. It was a trip to Italy that brought Quinn one of his most acclaimed roles: a simple-minded circus strongman in Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954). Carroll O'Connor - who died June 21st at the age of 76 - will be best remembered for portraying Archie Bunker on TV's All in the Family but his career actually was much more extensive. Director Douglas Sirk's last film; he returned to the theater in Europe. Quinn worked with Marlon Brando who he had replaced in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. The closer he gets to his goal, the clearer it becomes that a government conspiracy is behind his son's disappearance. Letterboxed. But she was deeply in debt, and she needed to work. ssaab twitch girlfriend, ksn sports anchor fired, who was anne francis married to,
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