Is there a reason you can explain?

[mrsl]

I think 90% of the classic actors/actresses were truly playing parts. No matter how good of an actor one is however, a tiny part of him/her must come through. That's how I feel. e.g. Ann Sheridan, Eve Arden, and Joan Blondell all played tough broads able to keep cool heads in crises, and always had a smart remark to make. I don't think they would have been given those parts so much if they didn't have some of that characteristic in their own life. Comedy is harder to play than drama, and it takes a certain look and attitude to deliver a true smart ass remark.

Some women always seem to be posing for the camera. Although I pretty much like Lana Turner and Greta Garbo, they often seemed to be aware of the camera and how to hold their head, or stand in a certain stance. Charleton Heston strode around with his fists on his hips for years until he ran across Yul Brynner - that man knew how to exhibit his anatomy.

Some folks just make my skin crawl - Jean Arthurs' voice, eeeewwww, and I'm still out on what kind of woman Joan Crawford was (Christina's description or Ann Blyth's). Some men, like Charles Boyer and Tony Curtis seemed to think each appearance needed another half tube of Brylcreem. You all know how I feel about old marble mouth Brando.

Then there are the 'perfect' Grace Kelly's. Just once I would have liked to see her get dirty, or at least a hair out of place. In To Catch a Thief she drove all a.m. in a CONVERTIBLE yet when they stopped she was Perfect. She never sweated in Rear Window though the temperature was near 100.

See what I mean? Are there any actors/actresses you can't warm up to for various silly reasons like mine?

Believe me, I could go on, but I want to see if any of you have any weird ideas like me.

Anne

[jdb1]

I've always disliked the way Frederic March and George Brent talked: they sort of hold their voices in the backs of their throats as though their adenoids are swollen. Sometimes, it sounds like they are singing their lines and it comes across as very unnatural and affected.

I think Gloria Swanson's sole acting technique is bulging out her eyes and tossing her head back. I don't find her beautiful in any way, and I've never understood the fuss about her.

Greer Garson is the same to me in every single movie, and I find her posturing, rather than emotional, performances lifeless. I dislike Jennifer Jones' looks, and I think she's a very weak and uncompelling actress. And I wish her powerful producer husband could have found a camerman and lighting director who could have kept Jones from looking like she had a moustache.

I very much dislike Fontaine and de Havilland - I don't like their overly ladylike diction and mannerisms, which I think they overdo to an inappropriate degree. Nothing they do or say rings true to me.

I have never been able to take to Susan Hayward, and it's not for any particular reason involving her beauty or her acting. There's just something about her screen persona that I find cold -- she doesn't breach that fourth wall for me.

(Phew. Glad I got that off my chest.)

[srowley75]

I think 90% of the classic actors/actresses were truly playing parts. No matter how good of an actor one is however, a tiny part of him/her must come through. That's how I feel. e.g. Ann Sheridan, Eve Arden, and Joan Blondell all played tough broads able to keep cool heads in crises, and always had a smart remark to make. I don't think they would have been given those parts so much if they didn't have some of that characteristic in their own life. Comedy is harder to play than drama, and it takes a certain look and attitude to deliver a true smart ass remark.

Hi Anne,

Do you visit YouTube often? If you do a search for Eve Arden, you might run across an interview where Arden basically admits that she had little in common with many of the characters she played. From what I recall about her remarks, Arden described herself as a virtual homebody (she adored her home and raising her children, from what I saw in the videoclip and also other interviews I've read and heard). And from the impression I got, she was really surprised that she'd gone so far as a comic. I'm at work where YouTube is blocked, but if you can't find it on the website, I'll try to hunt it down for you later this evening. But I just thought you might find that interesting in light of your remarks - Blondell and Sheridan may have had that streak in them, but I don't really get that same impression from Arden.

Regarding your question, however, I'd have to think about it a bit longer. Incidentally, I know I love Jean Arthur's voice, but then I've also been a longtime fan of Judy Holliday, Carroll Baker, Roseanne Barr, Shelley Winters, Julie Kavner and other actresses with voices that have been called shrill by friends of mine (I'm even a fan of Mrs. Miller). The only actress whose voice I literally cannot tolerate is Fran Drescher, and that only because I'm not convinced of her talent.

[movieman1957]

I can't handle Joan Crawford. It all seems overdone to me.

Overall I think a lot of actors played the same basic character over many films. There were differences at times but often variations on their screen persona.

[jdb1]

Hi Anne,

Do you visit YouTube often? If you do a search for Eve Arden, you might run across an interview where Arden basically admits that she had little in common with many of the characters she played. From what I recall about her remarks, Arden described herself as a virtual homebody (she adored her home and raising her children, from what I saw in the videoclip and also other interviews I've read and heard). And from the impression I got, she was really surprised that she'd gone so far as a comic. I'm at work where YouTube is blocked, but if you can't find it on the website, I'll try to hunt it down for you later this evening. But I just thought you might find that interesting in light of your remarks - Blondell and Sheridan may have had that streak in them, but I don't really get that same impression from Arden.

I've heard the same, Stephen. I remember that in one bio of Danny Kaye I read, there was a discussion of Arden's long-term affair with him. Those interviewed by the author expressed surprise at the fact (although they knew about it), because Arden was such a homebody, and so seemingly devoted to her family, and family activities. I recall one interviewee calling her a typical "unsophisticated small town girl." So -- maybe she wasn't like that after all, and she was able to give that edgier side of herself some exposure in her acting roles. Maybe the homebody was the ficitional part she played.

[charliechaplinfan]

Some actors have created a whole persona for the public. Cary Grant, well everyman would like to be him, even Cary Grant. From what I've read, there as Cary Grant and there was the man who was born Archibald Leach. A little boy who thought his Mum had died when he was 8 only to discover that she hadn't when he was older was entitled to feel a bit hard done to.

Then there's Charlie Chaplin, some of his films were very autobiographical. Some scenes played out from his childhood.

I believe Humphrey Bogart was the same character offscreen and that's why, even though I like a lot of his films I still think he is essentially the same person.

There's very few actors I can't watch. I do struggle with Bette Davis, her voice and her style get to me. I love Katharine Hepburn whose voice has been known to grate with some. The strange thing is I can't remember Katharine Hepburn ever changing her voice for a part but she always seemed to inhabit her parts.

[Hollis]

Robert Stack. That's all I'll say. Robert Stack.

Hollis

[knitwit45]

Aw, come on, Hollis... how do you really feel about Mr. Stack/aka Eliot Ness????

[coopsgirl]

I love Jean Arthur but can’t take Judy Holliday at all. I don’t like Greta Garbo as she just seemed to pose and make faces at the camera too much. I can’t really warm up to Bette Davis either. I love her in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? but that’s really the only one of hers I’ve seen multiple times. She could be a good actress but then she’d get a little too melodramatic at times and ruin it for me. There’s dramatic and then there’s hammy and once you reach hammy land, I’m outta there.

Joan Crawford is kinda the same for me. I like some of her early films and I love The Damned Don’t Cry, but in the late 30s and 40s she became more of a caricature of herself instead of just acting the part.

Humphrey Bogart just seemed like a cranky old man (even when he was young) and that’s just off putting. Also I just don’t like the genres of films he mainly worked in.

Tallulah Bankhead just rubs me the wrong way along with Robert Taylor; and don’t even get me started on John Wayne!!

Grace Kelly was beautiful but just wasn’t a good actress. How she won an Oscar I’ll never know. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the attraction people had/have for Valentino either.