The Silver Screen Oasis

I always thought that Sidney Blackmer had the most amazingly challenging eyes, especially for an actor who so often played (for better or worse) the cerebral, grumbling elder statesman type of role.
I remember catching him in the role of a frontier judge on an episode of the old "Wanted: Dead or Alive" series; although the character describes himself as "ready for some porch-time" and being more than a little "long in the tooth", when McQueen informs him that a convicted felon had been railroaded into a confession, and might be facing a lynch mob, Blackmer's silverhaired judge swiftly trades his rocking chair for his old Colt .45 in its well-oiled fastdraw holster, and to emphasize his readiness, neatly blows the heads off two daisies in his front-yard flower bed.
As portrayed by most any other actor, that performance would likely have seemed shallow, rushed, overblown or whimsical . . but with SB's piercing, almost predatory eyes punctuating every expression on his time-chiseled face & every syllable of his mosaic voice, the viewer finds his pulse stirring, and feels a fleeting sense of pity for the bloodthirsty bucks pounding the red-eye down at the saloon.

Klondike, good analysis on Sidney Blackmer. Everytime I see him I think of his role as Roman Castevet in "Rosemary's Baby" which was mighty good.

Iron Eyes Cody and Ben Johnson at a western festival in 1987


Gary Lockwood & Keir Dullea at an autograph show

Ahhh. my Ben. What a hunk of man. I don't care what age - 28 or 68.

Thanks, Mongo!

Sidney Blackmer will always be "Herr Sesemann", Shirley Temple's kind benefactor in Heidi (1937). Old enough to be "rich", young enough to be dashing! That VOICE.....ZOWIE!!!
My second favorite role for Mr. Blackmer is "Arthur Higgins", Jeanne Crain's father in People Will Talk (1951) Whenever I see him in a villainous role, I think of him as the Evil Twin.

Ahhh. my Ben. What a hunk of man. I don't care what age - 28 or 68.

Thanks, Mongo!

amen, friend, amen!!!!!

Norma Shearer as taken by photographer Cecil Beaton

Ahh, the fickleness of immortality.
I'll warrant that when Gary Lockwood was updating his resume in, oh, let's say the early 70's, he never would have guessed that the key to his eternal pop-culture recognition would be his performance in just one episode of a TV adventure series back in 1966.
But such is indeed the case, and despite a fairly impressive array of character roles spanning nearly 30 years of television & film, lucky Mr. Lockwood will be remembered forever as Lt. Gary Mitchell, Jim Kirk's first First Officer, the Guy who had to Die so Spock could get that big promotion!

Gosh, I love these Cecil Beaton shots casually thrown in here and there. They are so refreshing, and I am always taken aback!

JULY 14th. BIRTHDAYS


POLLY BERGEN is 79 today


NANCY OLSON is 81 today


HARRY DEAN STANTON is 83 today


DALE ROBERTSON is 86 today


RICHARD RUST (1938 - 1994)


ZITA JOHANN (1904 - 1993)


GEORGE TOBIAS (1901 - 1980)


LEONA ROBERTS (1881 - 1954)


DONALD MEEK (1878 - 1946)

Garbomaniac wrote:Gosh, I love these Cecil Beaton shots casually thrown in here and there. They are so refreshing, and I am always taken aback!

You're so right, GM!
Beaton has that way of capture a light-&-shadow serenity in these women we think we know so well; I'd be hard pressed to say whether I find his work, or Hurrell's, more striking . . they were definitely both masters at their craft!
Of course, being afflicted with as cracked a mind as I possess, I look at that great shot of Shearer, and easily imagine a cackling Joan Crawford whipping that background sheeting behind Norma aside and spritzing her in the face savagely with a big ol' bottle of seltzer!
See, it's all the wife's fault, making me watch The Women with her three times in one year!

HARRY DEAN STANTON is 83 today

Repo Man's got all night, every night. Happiest of birthdays, Harry Dean!!!

ChiO wrote:

HARRY DEAN STANTON is 83 today

Repo Man's got all night, every night. Happiest of birthdays, Harry Dean!!!

If Harry won't admit it to it, just ask Emilio: The life of a repo man is always intense!

And that pretty much concludes the quotations from REPO MAN that need not be censored.

I must admit a particular affection for his portrayal of the island general store owner in the Andy Griffith episode where Howard Sprague retires to a Carribean island. Mitchum never looked as laconic and hang-dog as Stanton did there. Now...I must pop in PARIS, TEXAS to brighten my day. Stanton and Stockwell...two of the three Dean's of cinematic bliss.

My adorable Donald Meek, "Mr Peacock, from Kansas City KANSAS", and George Tobias, "Pusher". When I see either of their names in the credits, I know it will be worth watching, just for them.

The KC, KS joke in Stagecoach is a good one. There is a lot of rivalry between the KC in Kansas, and the KC in Missouri. People who reside in either one are very precise about the one in which they live.