CineMaven wrote:I have three points of interest that I'm hopeful you would address, if your time permits:
1. I wonder if you would speak a little of two of my very fav'rite blondes, and two knock-out brunette(ish) gals: Gloria Grahame, Lizabeth Scott, Ella Raines and the best of lethal lady of 'em all (IMHO)...Jane Greer ; speak in terms of their private life or your thoughts on their place in the dark world of noir.
2. How long did your research take you, and did you have easy access to interviewing some of the stars who worked in Film Noir?
3. What's your favorite (a) film noir, (b) lethal lady, (c) leading man?
P.S. What actor and actress of today could you see being in a film noir?
Hi, CineMaven!
I love the photo of Hedy that accompanies your posts!
You’ve given me a lot to think about. First off, the women you mentioned are among my favorites as well. Of the four, I really love Gloria Grahame. She’s one of those actresses that I would like to have known in real life – she was fascinating both off screen and on. Grahame appeared in at least seven films noirs – my top picks are In a Lonely Place, Sudden Fear, and The Big Heat – she was outstanding in all three. Off-screen, she seemed to have an obsession with her looks, undergoing several cosmetic surgeries to her mouth due to, according to producer John Houseman, “a passionate desire to be sexy.” She also caused a stir when, in 1960, she married her 20-year-old former stepson, the son of her second husband, director Nicholas Ray. Her real-life antics notwithstanding, I think that Grahame is one of the icons of the era.
I’m also fond of Lizabeth Scott, although I think she often gets a bad rap for her acting abilities (or, some would say, the lack thereof). Sure, she was no Sarah Bernhardt, but I think she was ideally cast in such noirs as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Pitfall, Dead Reckoning, and The Racket. In the mid-1950s, with her career already on the wane, Scott suffered a blow that nearly ended her screen career. The infamous scandal rag, Confidential, printed an article suggesting that Scott was leading a lesbian lifestyle, pointing out that she had “never married and never even gets close to the altar” and that she “was taking up almost exclusively with Hollywood’s weird society of baritone babes. As further proof, the article also cited Scott’s own admission that she “always wore male colognes, slept in men’s pajamas, and positively hated frilly feminine dresses.” Scott hired famed attorney Jerry Geisler and sued the publication for $2.5 million, but the case was later thrown out of court on a technicality, and although she’d charged that she had been portrayed in a “vicious, slanderous and indecent manner,” Scott declined to pursue the matter further.
Ella Raines only appeared in 22 films in her career, including four films noirs. She wasn’t the femme fatale in her appearances, but she made her mark in her best noir feature, Phantom Lady, where she played a loyal secretary of an engineer accused of murdering his wife. She played a somewhat similar role in Impact, standing by Brian Donlevy’s side and helping to prove his innocence in the murder of his wife’s lover. She was never reached the heights of true stardom, but she was certainly shown to good advantage in these two features.
Of course, Jane Greer played a femme fatale of the first order in one of noir’s most classic offerings, Out of the Past. I adore her performance as Kathy – she was so beautifully luminous, you could well understand why both Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas went to such lengths on her behalf. But behind that beauty was a fascinating sociopathy that shocked you every time it reared its head. By the way, Greer had three sons by her second husband, producer Edward Lasker. Her oldest son, Alex, is an Oscar-nominated writer; her son, writer/producer, Lawrence, has been nominated for two Oscars, and her youngest, Steven, is a Grammy-winning record producer.
As for the research on my books, both took several years – when I wrote the first, my oldest daughter (now almost 14!) was a baby, and when I did the second, both my girls were under the age of four. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly able to devote great stretches of time on research. It helped that my brother lived in New York at the time I wrote Bad Boys, and he did a lot of research for me, and I also hired a young lady in L.A. to look up information for me there. They were both invaluable. Incidentally, I was able to visit the Library of the Academy of motion Picture Arts and Sciences while working on Femme Noir, and all these years later, it remains one of my favorite places in all the world. I hope to be able to visit there again some day and spend some real time – it is truly a treasure trove of cinematic history.
It’s hard to name my favorite lethal lady in film noir – there’s Jane Greer in OOTP, Yvonne DeCarlo in Criss Cross, Ava Gardner in The Killers, Claire Trevor in Murder, My Sweet, and Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice. I’ll have to take the easy way out on this one and name Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Her Phyllis Dietrichson was the epitome of the femme fatale for me – sexy, mercenary, shrewd, fearless, hard-hearted, intelligent, and resourceful. Even after countless viewings of Double Indemnity, she never fails to thrill. As for a leading man, again, there are many to choose from – Dan Duryea, Humphrey Bogart, Kirk Douglas (who was my favorite several years ago), Richard Widmark, Robert Ryan, Dick Powell. But my pick is an easy one – Richard Conte does it for me. His performance in The Big Combo alone would secure his place in my top spot, but he was also outstanding in New York Confidential, Cry of the City, House of Strangers, Thieves’ Highway, and The Brothers Rico. With his swarthily handsome visage, ultra-cool demeanor, and rapid-fire dialogue delivery, he’s always nothing short of captivating.
And let’s see . . . of today’s stars, there aren’t many that I could imagine transplanted into the world of noir, but I do believe I could see Johnny Depp in just about anything!