Re: Preston Sturges
Posted: July 2nd, 2012, 1:05 pm
And knitty, don't feel bad! You express yourself so well that I can understand your feelings, relate to them, and never feel like I am being attacked in any way. We can have differing opinions on a couple of things, can't we?
Maven -
I am so sorry I stepped on your post. I was going to reprint it after I got done here, but there were so many more actors than I expected in the Sturges repertory that I kept on posting and posting! Sorry.
kingrat - making this list was a great learning experience for me. I did not know the names of over half of these actors! I actually did not even know Al Bridge's name, and he's probably my favorite.
Here are the last of the bunch, guys!
Eric Blore
Everyone's favorite fake priest and fake British noble. Blore can turn any line into an entire soliloquy. "If I were not such a gentleman's gentleman, I could be such a cad's cad".
Emory Parnell
Originally a concert violinist, his red faced look of frustration made him a natural at bankers such as Mr. Tuerck, the nemesis of Constable Kockenlocker in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.
Dewey Robinson
Burly actor from Connecticut (!) who made a career out of playing hulking presences in gangster films. He plays a bigot who turns into a joyous fan in The Jackie Robinson Story. If he made that work, he must have been a great actor.
Chester Conklin
Chaplin friend and co-worker was a comedian in his own right. Despite a horrible childhood (his mother was found burned to death in their garden, his religious father was tried but not found guilty) which he escaped (he never went back home), Conklin made a career for himself on stage mimicking his boss, who had a bushy walrus moustache and a thick accent. He came to the movies working with Mack Sennett, but came into his own at Fox. He worked steadily through his life, even in the 1950's when his acting career stalled out - he worked as a department store Santa to support himself. In the 1960's he entered the Motion Picture Home and Hospital and fell in love with another patient there, June Gunther. He was 79 and she, 64. He made A Big Hand for the Little Lady before dying in 1971.
Byron Foulger
I always worry when I see Byron Foulger, because you just know something bad is going to happen if he shows up. For me, his standout performance is in The Prisoner of Zenda as the gatekeeper who gets it while trying to prevent the bad guys from opening the gate. He was not as wimpy as his roles seemed to imply, he once threatened to punch Errol Flynn for flirting with his wife, Dorothy Adams, whom he remained married to for 49 years. A mere showing of his face was enough to bring laughter in movie theaters, as in the film A Pocketful of Miracles.
Arthur Hoyt
Hoyt acted from the silent era onward, nabbing substantial roles in The Lost World, Souls for Sale and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He directed two silent films, and played the motor court manager in It Happened One Night. He appeared in all but two of Sturges' films.
Akim Tamiroff
Tamiroff won the first ever Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his performance in For Whom the Bell Tolls(1944). He trained at the famed Moscow Art Theatre, and eventually made it to Hollywood, though his accent was so thick it was doubtful he would be cast. He worked with Orson Welles, and his malaprop filled performance in The Great McGinty was said to be the basis for the character of Boris Badenov on the cartoon show The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Gosh another great character actor I love. Guaranteed to make any movie better.
My apologies to George Anderson, on whom I could find nothing.... no picture no information. Nitz. He was a Broadway actor who managed careers on the Great White Way and in films from the teens on.
And that's the list. If anyone can think of an actor I have left off the list, please feel free to post.
Maven -
I am so sorry I stepped on your post. I was going to reprint it after I got done here, but there were so many more actors than I expected in the Sturges repertory that I kept on posting and posting! Sorry.
kingrat - making this list was a great learning experience for me. I did not know the names of over half of these actors! I actually did not even know Al Bridge's name, and he's probably my favorite.
Here are the last of the bunch, guys!
Eric Blore
Everyone's favorite fake priest and fake British noble. Blore can turn any line into an entire soliloquy. "If I were not such a gentleman's gentleman, I could be such a cad's cad".
Emory Parnell
Originally a concert violinist, his red faced look of frustration made him a natural at bankers such as Mr. Tuerck, the nemesis of Constable Kockenlocker in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.
Dewey Robinson
Burly actor from Connecticut (!) who made a career out of playing hulking presences in gangster films. He plays a bigot who turns into a joyous fan in The Jackie Robinson Story. If he made that work, he must have been a great actor.
Chester Conklin
Chaplin friend and co-worker was a comedian in his own right. Despite a horrible childhood (his mother was found burned to death in their garden, his religious father was tried but not found guilty) which he escaped (he never went back home), Conklin made a career for himself on stage mimicking his boss, who had a bushy walrus moustache and a thick accent. He came to the movies working with Mack Sennett, but came into his own at Fox. He worked steadily through his life, even in the 1950's when his acting career stalled out - he worked as a department store Santa to support himself. In the 1960's he entered the Motion Picture Home and Hospital and fell in love with another patient there, June Gunther. He was 79 and she, 64. He made A Big Hand for the Little Lady before dying in 1971.
Byron Foulger
I always worry when I see Byron Foulger, because you just know something bad is going to happen if he shows up. For me, his standout performance is in The Prisoner of Zenda as the gatekeeper who gets it while trying to prevent the bad guys from opening the gate. He was not as wimpy as his roles seemed to imply, he once threatened to punch Errol Flynn for flirting with his wife, Dorothy Adams, whom he remained married to for 49 years. A mere showing of his face was enough to bring laughter in movie theaters, as in the film A Pocketful of Miracles.
Arthur Hoyt
Hoyt acted from the silent era onward, nabbing substantial roles in The Lost World, Souls for Sale and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He directed two silent films, and played the motor court manager in It Happened One Night. He appeared in all but two of Sturges' films.
Akim Tamiroff
Tamiroff won the first ever Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his performance in For Whom the Bell Tolls(1944). He trained at the famed Moscow Art Theatre, and eventually made it to Hollywood, though his accent was so thick it was doubtful he would be cast. He worked with Orson Welles, and his malaprop filled performance in The Great McGinty was said to be the basis for the character of Boris Badenov on the cartoon show The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Gosh another great character actor I love. Guaranteed to make any movie better.
My apologies to George Anderson, on whom I could find nothing.... no picture no information. Nitz. He was a Broadway actor who managed careers on the Great White Way and in films from the teens on.
And that's the list. If anyone can think of an actor I have left off the list, please feel free to post.