Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tony Curtis, RIP

Old news, by the standards of obituaries, but Robert Avrech's tribute at Seraphic Secret is a must-read for movie fans (among other things, I learned that Curtis served in the Submarine Service in WWII).

Incidentally, I recently saw Curtis in the title role of Lepke, a film biography of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, one-time head of Murder, Incorporated. A very good performance.

4 comments:

Yojimbo said...

Robert Ryan was a Marine DI before he starred with Maid Marion in The Flying Leathernecks.

You find that quite a bit in war movies of the fifties and sixties because so many actors actually participated in the war effort as opposed to the Stagedoor Canteen stuff.

richard mcenroe said...

Most of the memorable actors of the past had lives outside of acting. It brought a texture and individuality to their screen personae that is simply missing today.

JeffS said...

Richard, I think it's fair to say that much of the current crop of actors and actresses are two dimensional because they do NOT have lives outside of Hollywood. It's like they were cloned for the purpose.

Mehaul said...

What do you mean today's actors don't have lives outside of Hollywood. They are conscientious followers of all things left...and that takes up a lot of soul, public speeches and other feely things. Real character development ie.