The urbane British journalist, author and TV host Alistair Cooke was born on Nov. 20, 1908, and passed away in 2004. Probably best loved here for his longtime hosting duties on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre, he was a welcome visitor to our homes as he brought us such delights as Upstairs, Downstairs and I,Claudius. Watching these brilliant programs wouldn't have been half as enlightening without his introductions.
The tremendously talented actress Estelle Parsons turns 86 today, also. Estelle started her career in TV on the Today show as a news personality back in 1952, and transitioned into acting with roles in quality TV dramas of the early sixties. Her work in movies earned her an Academy Award for 1967's Bonnie and Clyde. Parsons mixed the big screen work with her prodigious stage career and even more roles on TV, including amazing work in The UFO Incident as Betty Hill, her long stint on Roseanne and a recent appearance on The Good Wife. Happy Birthday, Estelle Parsons!
Hogan's Heroes co-star and longtime Family Feud game show host Richard Dawson was born on this date in 1932 and passed away in June of 2012.
One half of the Smothers Brothers was born on this date, as Dick Smothers celebrates his 74th birthday today. This enormously talented musician, actor, and comedian was one of the pioneers pushing the boundaries of television content past the comfortable norm on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour variety show in 1967. Fewer remember that he and his brother Tommy had an earlier sitcom of a more conventional nature. Familiar and welcome faces all over TV, Dick Smothers and his brother Tom's affability allowed them to lead with laughs and take television to a better and more honest place. Happy Birthday, Dick!
Finally, the lovely Veronica Hamel celebrates her 70th birthday today. Best known for her co-starring role on Hill Street Blues during the 1980s, before that breakout success she was a frequent guest star on a wide variety of series. Veronica subsequently became a mainstay female lead in a wide assortment of TV movies and other TV appearances, including a recurring role on Lost. Happy Birthday, Veronica Hamel!
An abundance of riches today! In order of birth year, as follows:
Alan Young, born on this date in 1919. He's most famous, TV-wise, for his delightful starring -- though not titular -- role in the charmingly absurd early 1960s sitcom Mister Ed, opposite Connie Hines and the voice of Chill Wills as the talking horse. The versatile Young had already starred in his own radio show and later a TV comedy/variety show at the beginning of the previous decade, and of course we also remember him so well as the kindly friend of H. G. Wells in the classic 1960 movie version of The Time Machine. In addition to acting roles, Young became a much sought-after animation voice actor and he's still working today! Be sure to visit his wonderful official website and pick up a copy of his autobiography Mister Ed and Me and More!. Happy 94th Birthday, Alan!
Talkmeister Larry King was born on this day in 1933. The New York-born King became a well-liked radio personality on Florida radio in the late 1950s, eventually moving into his trademark call-in format which went national in the late 1970s. CNN cable founder Ted Turner plucked King and put him on TV in the same format, a winning recipe that became legendary as virtually anybody who was ANYBODY wanted to get on his show. He retired from CNN in 2010, but has returned to the interviewer role on his web project Ora TV where he hosts Larry King Now. Larry King is a legend! Happy 80th Birthday, Larry!
It's almost hard to believe that fellow talk show host Dick Cavett celebrates his 77th birthday today! Smartly funny, provocative, willing to go to to more intellectual places with his interviews than most of the other men doing the same job, Dick Cavett hosted his eponymous TV talk show The Dick Cavett Show from 1968 - 1974 and thereafter in various incarnations over the years. (Many available on DVD and also on YouTube). His beginnings as an actor and stand-up comic served him well as he matched wits with a wide array of personalities and seemed to make genuine connections with many of them. Cavett now writes for The New York Times. Happy Birthday, Dick!
It's also crazy but true that the man who put Larry King on CNN also celebrates his birthday on this day. Media mogul, philanthropist, champion yachtsman Ted Turner turns 75 today! From a somewhat challenging childhood to advertising mogul and then on to creating the world's first 24 news network, Turner has always led from his passion and achieved incredible things over his amazing career. He was the only head of a television network -- networks, that is -- who was more interesting than anything he could possibly put on the air. CNN aired Ted Turner: The Maverick Man earlier this week; worth watching! Those of us who worked at any of the Turner networks usually have several Ted Turner stories in our memories; I'll share mine one of these days here. Happy Birthday, Ted!
We can't leave the ladies out for November 19th, so we wish a very Happy 54th Birthday to Allison Janney, star of The West Wing and currently this season Mom and Masters of Sex. The multi-talented Jodie Foster celebrates her 51th Birthday today also. Though perhaps best known these days for her motion picture career both in front of and now in back of the camera, Jodie started out in TV guest roles as a child and became a familiar face in shows such as The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Gunsmoke, My Three Sons and many others, including a starring role as Addie in the TV version of Paper Moon. Once she hit motion pictures screen in Taxi Driver she left TV behind, but it was a wonderful training ground for this mature and intelligent actress. Happy Birthday to these talented ladies!
We'd also like to say Happy 59th Birthday to actress Kathleen Quinlan who's done a lot of TV over the years, including The Waltons, Ironside, Little Ladies of the Night, and more recently Family Law, Prison Break and Chicago Fire. A Happy 60th Birthday also to actor Robert Beltran, much loved for his co-starring role in Star Trek: Voyager and many other TV appearances including in the terrific SyFy channel movie Manticore!
This day is all about the ladies, three very different yet talented females -- one of whom has sadly passed on -- but all with their own individual niche in pop culture.
First, the sultry-voiced actress Brenda Vaccaro celebrates her 74th birthday today. Academy Award and Tony-nominated and Emmy-winning, Vaccaro's extensive theater training was put to use in TV beginning in the early 1960s with guest roles in Naked City, The Fugitive, Marcus Welby, The Defenders, and many others. She gained wide critical acclaim for her role on the big screen in Midnight Cowboy, but still made many TV appearances on series and TV movies (Sunshine) and specials (winning an Emmy for The Shape of Things to Come in 1973). Vacarro had a well-publicized romance with Michael Douglas in the early 1970s and made two appearances on his series The Streets of San Francisco. She starred as the title character in the short-lived feminist westernSara in 1976 and was Emmy-nominated for it, too. Both movies and TV filled her calendar, with roles in Zorro: The Gay Blade, Airport '77, Supergirl, The Love Boat, Guyana Tragedy, Capricorn One, The Pride of Jesse Hallam and many others. She co-starred in the also short-lived series Paper Dolls, started doing voice work in animation (Smurfs, Spawn, Johnny Bravo), and continues to appear in quality projects in including HBO's 2010 TV Movie You Don't Know Jack for which she received another Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress. Vaccaro also became known for a breathy tampon commercial she made, which we've included below (along with the parody of it from SCTV by Andrea Martin). Happy Birthday to this talented favorite!
The lovely actress Linda Evans celebrates her 71st today! A true lady of TV, the fresh-faced Evans had her first TV role on Bachelor Father, then found further work on comedies like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and My Favorite Martian and also on dramas The Untouchables, The Eleventh Hour, The Lieutenant, and Wagon Train. She achieved true TV stardom with her co-starring role on The Big Valley (1965 - 1969) playing ranch owner Barbara Stanwyck's winsome but strong-willed daughter Audra. Following the end of that series, she returned to guest roles in shows like McCloud, Mannix and many others and became a multi-episode guest on The Love Boat. Evans finally hit 1980s pop culture pay dirt in a huge way with her starring role on the long-running (8 seasons) glamorous nighttime soap Dynasty. Her onscreen rivalry and knock-down drag-out tussles with Joan Collins became legend. She's semi-retired now, but we'll always remember her as Krystle Carrington and Audra Barkley!
Lastly we say a Happy Birthday to the late comedienne Imogene Coca, born on this day in 1908; she passed away in June of 2001. This prolific comic was multi-talented -- a gifted dancer, singer, acrobat -- making her the perfect performer for the still thriving vaudeville. She was a featured member in the cast of many revues, at first contributing musical prowess but soon her funny bones began to show and she concentrated in that area. She tummled with Danny Kaye (and did some very early comedy shorts with him) but achieved her finest collaborations with Sid Caesar, winning an Emmy for Your Show of Shows and staying with Caesar as partner for an initial four years and then reuniting with him on and off several times throughout her career to rekindle their comedy magic. Imogene Coca also starred in two one-seasons sitcoms during the 1960s, the first one 1963's Grindl as an eccentric traveling mad and then as a cavewoman in 1966's It's About Time (with that memorable theme song!). Younger folks will remember her in the National Lampoon comedy Vacation, but Television remembers her as one of the funniest ladies ever to grace the small screen. Imogene Coca, you are missed.
Today is more about behind-the-scenes for us, with two TV production-side stalwarts sharing a November 17th birthday. But first, a nod to a couple of TV-oriented actors we love.
Danny DeVito turns 69 today! Best known, at least television-wise, for his five-year run (1978 - 83) on the hit sitcom Taxi as grouchy dispatcher Louie De Palma, De Vito is a multi-talented show business hyphenate, too. In addition to his myriad acting roles on TV and in movies, he's served as exec producer on TV series including Reno 911 and Karen Sisco, done director duty on TV projects like Amazing Stories, Mary and Taxi (not to mention major motion pictures Hoffa, The War of the Roses, Throw Momma from the Train). De Vito is now gleefully part of the gang on FXX's all-out comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
And actor Robert Brown turns 87 today! Need we say anything more than Brown played the strapping lumberman Jason Bolt who traveled to Massachusetts to bring back ladies for his workers in the popular
ABC romantic adventure series Here Come the Brides which aired for two seasons beginning in 1968. Dashing, vital, deeply handsome in his leather prairie pants...well, Jason Bolt was a frontier dreamboat! Brown also starred in the title role as Primus for a season in 1971, as well as many other guest star roles both before and after his success in HCtB. He's also permanently in the cult TV Hall of Fame for his role as Lazarus in the first season episode "The Alternative Factor" from Star Trek: The Original Series.
We also wish a Happy Birthday 86th birthday to casting executive Lynn Stalmaster who began working in the TV industry back in the early 1950s (and acted at first, too) and eventually branched out into casting features. The names of the projects he worked on is practically endless: Have Gun - Will Travel, Whirlybirds, The Untouchables, Gunsmoke, My Living Doll, Hogan's Heroes, My Favorite Martian, Hey, Landlord, The Rat Patrol, Hart to Hart and more. He then worked both in features and TV movies, including Farewell to Manzanar, New York, New York, Convoy, Superman, The Right Stuff and so many others. Stalmaster was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the 1996 TV miniseries Crime of the Century about the Lindbergh kidnapping case. For a deeper look into his amazing career, you will want to watch his interview at the Archive of American Television, available by clicking here.
Today we also honor veteran TV producer Harry Ackerman, born on November 17, 1912. Ackerman was the man behind an impressive number of the all-time favorite situation comedies from the late 1950s through the 1970s and beyond. Ackerman's name is associated with shows like Leave it to Beaver, The Flying Nun, Love on a Rooftop, Bachelor Father, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, Gidget, The Farmer's Daughter, Occasional Wife, The Second Hundred Years, The Ugliest Girl in Town, Bewitched, and The Paul Lynde Show. That is like a laundry list of some of my favorite shows, even the short-lived ones! Married for many years to the wonderful actress Elinor Donahue, Harry Ackerman's unerring eye and ear for comedy magic made TV laugh for hundred and hundreds and half-hours. (Even his flops were interesting!). He passed away in 1991 and is much missed.
Science Channel premieres its first original scripted movie with tonight's The Challenger Disaster starring actor William Hurt as the charismatic Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Richard Feynman. Based on the late scientist's 1988 book What Do You Care What Other People Think?, The Challenger Disaster retells the story of the government's Rogers Commission which was charged with investigating the blow-up of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, and Feynman's crucial role in holding NASA and its contractors responsible for the deaths of its seven crew members.
We're all familiar with William Hurt's major career -- from his early star-making roles such as in Altered States, Body Heat, Eyewitness, The Big Chill, Children of a Lesser God to more recent work as Into the Wild, Mr. Brooks, and The Incredible Hulk. Hurt is less of a TV name, appearing in a limited number of TV projects including HBO's To Big to Fail, a recurring role in Damages, and as Ahab in a two-part Moby Dick for the Encore pay network. In addition to Hurt as Feynman, The Challenger Disaster features veteran actors Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek, Flight, Super 8) as fellow Commission member Air Force General Donald Kutnya, Brian Dennehy (The Big C, Cocoon) as politician and Commission head William Rogers, Joanne Whalley (The Borgias, Gossip Girl) as Feynman's wife Gweneth, and Eve Best (Nurse Jackie) as astronaut Sally Ride.
There's no doubt that for many of us of a certain age the Challenger accident was a shock on par with the Kennedy assassination two decades before. Unexpected, tragic, and -- as we later found out thanks to Dr. Feynman and the Commission -- probably preventable and caused by human failings and petty bureaucracy. The loss of the seven heroic astronauts including Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe was a sobering reminder of the dangers of space exploration, and of course it was not the last loss of a Space Shuttle.
The Challenger Disaster is a must-watch for all Americans who believe in a strong space program and in the mission of NASA. The dedicated individuals who make NASA's successes possible deserve the best from us, just as they owe their best to their fellow explorers.
Here's some footage of the real Dr. Richard Feynman talking about his experience on the Rogers Commission. Fascinating, and you can watch the entire documentary Richard Feynman - No Ordinary Genius here. Feynman died of cancer in February of 1988 at the age of 69. What a loss for humanity.
Happy Birthday! We're starting a new feature on The Flaming Nose, birthday shout-outs to TV personalities, actors and behind-the-scenes notables who deserve some love from us! We're not doing a laundry list, just a few interesting names that we think you remember, too!
Celebrating his 84th birthday today is TV stalwart Clu Gulager, his rugged good Oklahoma boy lucks especially perfect for the TV westerns which were so popular during the heyday of Clu's prolific career. You'll probably remember him best from his co-starring role on The Virginian from 1963 - 1968, but he also appeared in episodes of everything from The Untouchables to Walker, Texas Ranger. Gulager has been one of the stalwarts of TV guest star roles -- an almost lost species -- for his entire acting life, always giving a solid performance and making a great impression. The Tall Man, The Defenders, Dr. Kildare (in the famous Yvette Mimieux epileptic surfer girl episode "Tyger, Tyger"), Wagon Train, The Name of the Game, The F.B.I., Medical Center, Bonanza, Mod Squad, Mannix, Kung Fu, Ironside, Get Christie Love!, Cannon, Police Story...was there any notable series he didn't guest on? We also can't forget his many movie roles and his very well-regarded work as an acting teacher. Check out his extensive credits on IMDb and this great article on TV Party about him. You will be awed. Happy Birthday, Clu!
Also celebrating a birthday is the lovely actress Joanna Pettet, a talented beauty who turns 71 today. She may be best remembered for many roles in popular series of the 1960s, '70s and '80s as well as her appearance as a Bond Girl in Casino Royale. A guest star on everything from Route 66 to Dr. Kildare, Mannix, Rod Serling's Night Gallery, Charlie's Angels, Knots Landing (recurring role) and so many more, Ms. Pettet was always a treat to watch with her good lucks and expressive slightly husky voice. Especially memorable was her turn in an episode of Night Gallery as a strangely alluring model; the segment was titled "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes"; you can watch it by clicking here. Highly recommended! She is retired from acting now but we fondly salute this uniquely appealing actress. It's always a treat to run into one of her shows or movies.
You don't even have to do that many things on TV to be a standout, and this applies to accomplished actor Steve Railsback who turns 68 today. The first time he came on the screen as killer Charles Manson in the legendary acclaimed miniseriesHelter Skelter in 1976 was a defining moment in TV movies/miniseries. At a time when the genre turned out out top-notch productions and memorable performances on a regular basis, Helter Skelter and Railsback instantly blew them all away. The Manson Family has never left the public consciousness, and this TV movie -- a mere handful of years after the actual events and based on the best-selling book by Vincent Bugliosi -- was a must-see event and remains so, primarily for Railsback's riveting portrayal of Manson. Actually Steven Railsback has a career that is equally divided between TV and movies, including his well-regarded 1980 starring role in The Stuntman and his creepy but compassionate turn as weird lady killer Ed Gein in 2000. Still very active in the business today, Railsback also gives back to his profession as an acting coach and teacher.
Our gone-but-not-forgotten Happy Birthday goes out to veteran actor Burgess Meredith, a movie and TV favorite who appeared in hundreds of roles during his over sixty-year career. The enormity and breadth of his talent is readily apparent from a look at his credits on IMDb -- stunning and impressive to the end. His most memorable TV roles? Certainly his witty and unforgettable guest shots as The Penguin on the immensely popular Batman; he appeared over twenty times as the crafty villain. We'd also submit for your approval his poignant and utterly iconic turn as post-apocalyptic librarian Henry Bemis in The Twilight Zone. Meredith passed away in 1997 at the age of 89. You are well-remembered, Burgess Meredith, and Happy Birthday.
Stay tuned to The Flaming Nose TV Blog for more birthday celebrations!
I'm a bit of a latecomer to FX's thrillingly macabre American Horror Story, now in its third season. I was an off-and-on viewer of the previous seasons (catching up now, of course) but I'm completely fascinated by the current storyline and the tremendous collection of acting talent they've put together. How could you miss with returning favorites Jessica Lange (her wonderful portrayal extra-compelling because there is an overlay of the not-at-all fictional issue of a beautiful woman aging and how she deals with it) and Sarah Paulson, along with new to AHS Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Mare Winningham in a brief but effective role, Patti Lupone, and the younger members of the cast. This collection of talent is a delight to behold. Let's hear it for the girls on this show; the men are in short supply and at least in this season not quite of sound mind and especially body.
I'm especially enjoying Kathy Bates as the resurrected legendary 19th Century real-life New Orleans baddieMadame LaLaurie, a creepy society dame if there ever was one. The scenes in AHS:C showing LaLaurie's dank and disgusting basement of horrors didn't descend even a smidgen of the way to the lady's true level of pure evil. She was sort of the Dr. Mengele of the Vieux Carre, devising hideous experiments and tortures which she gleefully inflicted on her massively unfortunate slaves. As you might expect, her house -- still standing in its French Quarter historic splendor -- is rumored to be haunted and a few years ago was owned by Nicolas Cage.
Angela Bassett's mysterious and powerful voodoo queen Marie Laveau is also very much a historical reality, not a figure of horror like Madame LaLaurie but rather more a folk heroine. Her actual grave is still respectfully and often hopefully visited by countless fans every day in New Orleans' St. Louis Cemetery. The endless fascination with voodoo rituals and practitioners keeps Laveau's influence strong and if there's any mano-a-mano coming between her and LaLaurie my money is on Angela Bassett, though a showdown with Lange is more likely.
Be sure to check out the links we've embedded in this post to learn more about the meeting of history, lore and absolutely gruesome television fiction in this season's American Horror Story: The Coven. American Horror Story: The Coven airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on FX.
That's right! One dedicated fan is currently selling these hand-made sets through their Etsy store. While sold out at the moment, the "Golden Girls" Lego set creator told The Huffington Post that he would have 100 more in stock at some point over the weekend.
Makes me wonder if there's a market for Lucy Lego. I'd immediately have to build a replica of the Ricardo's apartment. Oh, to have Fred & Ethel at each other's plastic throat. Or... will the copyright police clamp down on all this? Food for thought, entrepreneurs!
I used to live about a mile away from the (now closed) Marineland oceanarium in Palos Verdes California. It opened in 1954 and had as its main attractions a pilot whale (named Bubbles) and two orcas (Orky and Corky). The original orcas at the exhibit died, so Marineland just got two new ones and named them Orky and Corky too. The unfortunate orca replacements lived a lot longer. Their "home" consisted of a murky cement hole about 30 feet across. I remember thinking it was a horrible place for such majestic, intelligent animals to live. Even now when I think about it, I feel sick. Other large animals at the park had terrible environments as well. There was a walrus who had gone insane from his captivity, and found solace by lurching out of the filthy depths of his small tank suddenly so the tourists would scream.
I have not been to an animal water park in decades, just don't have the stomach for it. But the Sea World parks continue to thrive, charging Disneyland-type ticket prices and making millions off of orcas, their star performers. I think it's time for that to stop, and the movie "Blackfish" confirms my belief. This documentary focuses on Tilikum, an orca captured as a calf in the wild and confined to various Sea World pools his entire life. He's gone psycho (who wouldn't?) and has lashed out by killing some of his trainers. The most recent was Dawn Bracheau, who was dragged under water by her ponytail and drowned.
Orcas are the top ocean predators on earth. They are extremely intelligent and they hunt in packs. They are the only animal that has been observed attacking and eating Great White Sharks. If you can turn a one ton eating machine into dinner, you are absolutely the top of the food chain. And yet, there have been no recorded incidents of orcas fatally attacking humans in the wild. They have only done so in captivity.
So why are these amazing animals kept on display in tiny habitats, performing tricks like a poodle? It's the same reason humans have done horrible things to animals and other people throughout history: money. Orcas make a fortune for Sea World.
Blackfish aired on CNN on October 24th and will air again this Sunday. If you're planning a trip to Sea World with the family anytime soon, this movie will make you reconsider. A trip to Disneyland instead might cause less trauma to your conscience.
Halloween is right around the corner, so it's the perfect time to reflect upon the considerable contribution the "undead" have made to TV and movie content lately. Most people would agree that it's great not to be dead. Unless you're the cast and crew of AMC's #1 television series, The Walking Dead, in which case the deader the better. Zombies are the premier bad guys in 2013, and no where is this more true than on The Walking Dead as it enters its 4th season. A few years back vampires were the horror hotties, and it's easy to see why. Pin-up boy vamps on HBO's True Blood (Alexander Skarsgard, anyone?) and the Twilight franchise in the theater (Taylor Lautner, omg) have turned more than a few heads. But the monster-du-jour that everyone is clamoring for today is less likely to be buff and more likely to be squishy. In spite of their decaying flesh, missing eyeballs and questionable sense of fashion, Zombies are now the darlings of pop culture.
I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes The Walking Dead so attractive and popular for its TV fans. This season's premier was seen by 16.1 million viewers, which makes it the highest rated entertainment show on cable television ever. I actually got hooked on it over the summer, and binge viewed my way through two seasons on Netflix in one week and then, to my great astonishment, found myself buying season three on iTunes, something I have never done for any show before. Why did I become a zombie for the Zombies? I don't even really like Zombies, to be frank. Never have before. They aren't very bright. You couldn't have an ironic conversation with one at a dinner party. They are...messy. And most likely odiferous.
So what's the big deal, why is everyone turning cartwheels for The Walking Dead? The characters are certainly part of the draw. Very compelling, powerful and attractive (unlike their zombie foes). Danai Gurira as the African American sword wielding loner is wonderful and Norman Reedus is outstanding as a scruffy red neck with a heart of gold (and a mean cross-bow). Andrew Lincoln is the emotional center and capable leader of the surviving humans who are still hiding in a prison from the ravenous "walkers" in this season's end-of-the-world tale. And I hope to hell they get out of their cell block set soon. Seriously, a rocky mountain or tropical island change of venue is long overdue.
Daryl
Michonne
Plenty of other shows have terrific characters, so that only partially explains why TWD has gone straight to the top of the ratings pile. I think there is a more cultural, perhaps sinister explanation for its popularity. We are living in uncertain times. Terrorism, school shootings, unemployment, government shutdowns...it's a jungle out there. I think people enjoy watching The Walking Dead because its post apocalyptic picture of America is the only thing WORSE than turning on the news and hearing that the U.S. middle class has gone belly up. In real life your 401K has shrunk to the size of a pine nut and you don't have to worry about retirement anymore because you'll be working until you're 90 just to survive. But at least you don't have to fight off smelly walkers everyday and you can still buy pumpkin ice cream at Trader Joe's for a comfort food fix. The folks on The Walking Dead eat cold beans out of a can on a good day.
The Walking Dead is on AMC on Sundays at 9pm. You can catch up on past episodes with cable Demand or Netflix. And if you really want to impress your Walking Dead loving friends this Halloween, download one of the half dozen zombie apps for Apple or Android which will instantly convert a photo of YOU into a lurching, drooling, lovable zombie of your own.
Once again HBO brings us something sublime and wonderful; tonight it's the premiere of an irresistible documentary entitled Life According to Sam, from Oscar and Emmy-winning producers Sean and Andrea Nix Fine. Who is Sam? Sam is Sam Berns, 16 years old (he turns 17 this Oct. 23rd, in fact), a brilliant, funny, delightful, energetic teenager who just happens to have been born with progeria, the unusual disorder that causes youngsters to age rapidly and for which there is currently no cure.
You've probably seen documentaries on TLC or Discovery about kids with progeria; several have been made about this incredible syndrome. I have long been fascinated by progeria; I first read about it, I'm sure, in the National Enquirer years ago. That disreputable but crowd-pleasing publication regularly featured stories on progeria-affected children, and though the magazine was only trying to sell papers, what it also did was help bring the stories of these extraordinary children to light at a time when almost no one had heard about the condition. I was immediately taken with their unique and I've always thought almost magical appearance; they looked to me like super-evolved humans of the future, with their wizened features and hairless domes. But they're not that; they're only children laboring under early-onset physical maladies of the type many of us will eventually succumb to -- strokes, vascular issues -- only it will takes us decades to get there, and they start out that way.
Life According to Sam is also very much about Sam's parents Scott and Leslie, both doctors, who have taken their love for their own son and their concern for other children with progeria and worked to make a difference -- a real life-changing difference -- in their lives. We get to see how Leslie has turned progeria research into her medical specialty and come up with tangible results. We also get to meet other children with progeria who along with Sam are taking part in the medical trials which are part of the arduous process. Lest you think that this research could only benefit the admittedly small number -- probably less than 150 -- of children currently diagnosed with progeria, the aging process that is overtaking their bodies is the same one, though eight to tens times faster for them, that we all are facing. Discoveries for these kids might end up helping us all in some way.
You will want to visit the HBO website for Life According to Sam for more information about Sam, his family and the work they are doing; click here. Be sure also to visit the filmmakers' own website about the film for much more background info. Wikipedia has a fairly concise explanation of progeria here. People had a profile on Sam ten years ago which you can read here. Katie Couric had Sam and his parents on her show last week in anticipation of tonight's premiere; you can watch the interview segments here. Click here for a nice write-up on the special from the Boston NPR station; much of the progeria research is being undertaken at Boston's Children's Hospital. In addition to those documentaries on TLC, three years ago Barbara Walters did a segment for ABC News entitled 7 Going on 70; watch a little promo for it here and there are links to the full report also. 7 Going on 70 featured young Hayley Okines who has written a book about her life; more information on it here.
I think you're going to become fascinated by progeria after you watch Life According to Sam. I know you're going to fall in love with Sam Berns.
Life According to Sam premieres on HBO tonight at 9pm, with frequent encores throughout the next several weeks, on HBO On Demand and their online HBO Go service.
All fans of television will join us in offering a big Happy Birthday today to the lovely and talented Diana Muldaur, one of the most accomplished actresses ever in the medium, with a long career on the small screen beginning in the mid-1960s. After a successful stage career on the East Coast, Diana began getting roles on TV and eventually moved out to Hollywood where she became one of the most sought-after actresses for series work in everything from soap operas to medical dramas to westerns to science fiction and everything in-between.
Just a short listingof her credits is astounding and encompasses many of the classic skeins that define TV history: Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, Run for Your Life, The Invaders, Bonanza, The Virginian, Mod Squad, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Medical Center, Mannix and so many more. Her regular role on McCloud as the girlfriend of Dennis Weaver's title character is one of the highlights of her early TV career.
Star Trek aficionados particularly value her two guests appearances on Star Trek: The Original Series. In Season 2 Muldaur played in "Return to Tomorrow" as Dr. Ann Mulhall, a scientist whose body is appropriated, along with those of Kirk and Spock, to house the minds of a trio of aliens who are trying to create new forms for themselves after being incorporeal for eons. Despite the best intentions the plans go awry, but not before some terrific moments between Mulhall and both Spock and Kirk. In ST:TOS's year year, its last, in the episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" she played the mysterious Dr. Miranda Jones, an empath assigned to accompany the Medusan ambassador, an energy creature kept inside a box because to gaze upon him causes instant madness. A mind meld gone astray leaves Spock exposed to the Medusan and facing permanent insanity, and Muldaur's serene intelligence and grace carry her portrayal to something very special.
Diana Muldaur returned to Star Trek with her role in the 2nd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation where he played the ship's medical officer Dr. Pulaski, but only for that one year of the long-running series. In addition to more appearances on various comedies and dramas of the late 1980s, Muldaur starred as notoriously harsh lawyer Rosalind Shays on the acclaimed L.A. Law which earned her an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1990. Muldaur also served as President of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences during the 1980s. (Diana also had several big screen roles such as in The Other and McQ with John Wayne, but she is most known for her TV work.)
If you're wondering why you haven't seen her onscreen lately, she and her late husband producer Robert Dozier retired to Martha's Vineyard in the mid-1990s. She has been sorely missed.
Even in my shock and despair, it's impossible for me not to comment on the death of James Gandolfini.
But what can I say? He was a brilliant actor, but that's nothing new. Still, it bears repeating. And yet, let me something more--something bolder: He was one of the best actors ever seen. Easily as good as Brando, Nicholson, Dean, Pacino, Streep, De Niro, Tracy, Hepburn, Stewart, Garbo, Bogart, and Cagney.
There are countless scenes in The Sopranos, and in his movies (True Romance, In The Loop, Welcome to the Rileys, The Mexican, and Zero Dark Thirty, among them) that bear this out. In fact, every single scene he was in, in whatever he was in, still live as proof of this stance. But, in particular, his casting as Tony Soprano was a miracle--a miracle that was borne out alongside his many also perfectly cast Sopranos cohorts. The role could have gone to another terrific actor, Anthony Lapaglia, but show creator David Chase saw something in Gandolfini that made him abandon that choice. He saw something deep in Gandofini's hurt eyes, and in his working class background. What he saw was something that could hardly be pointed at, because it had been witnessed so few times in film and television history. There was a truthfulness, a powerful strength, and a warm-hearted quality--the kind of quality that found something to love in every animal out there (Tony Soprano was a big animal lover, as was Gandolfini, clearly). And yet, from the beginning, the character of Tony Soprano--which I would place right next to All in the Family's Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) as the most complex character in the history of television--displayed a profound sadness as to his choices--or maybe his lack of them. “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor," he said, in the first scene of the first episode. "I came too late for
that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at
the end. The best is over.”
Tony Soprano goes to Dr. Jennifer Melfi, in that first episode, because he knows that something is wrong with his life. But he's now all in--he cannot get out of the business--and he therefore cannot reveal to his therapist all that he feels. And so his therapy is muted before it starts, because truthfulness has been prohibited. This is what the whole show, all 86 episodes, is about. Moreover, the show is about how the habit of lying has infected almost every character we visit in it. David Chase's comments about the series, and about Gandolfini's singular quality, prove this:
It was Gandolfini's eyes, and brains, and brawn, that illustrated this complexity for us. His Anthony John Soprano was a fearless performance (for the records, he won three Emmy awards, and a Golden Globe for his efforts). Gandolfini could say so much, without words, with a simple shift of his eyes, from here to there. His every movement was telling. In fact, I have to be more blunt here: In the end, I think, Gandofini literally gave his life for the role. In an stultifying number of ways, this gentle and extremely shy actor crossed an unbelievable number of personal boundaries in order to portray a vibrant, violent man--a man who, in his blue-collar background, was so close to who he really was, but was yet ions away from the man portraying him. It was the fabled role of a lifetime. But acting is not the easiest job in the world, particularly when it's done well. In the best performances, it's hard to believe that the performer and the character are not the same person (as with Carroll O' Connor and Jean Stapleton, of All in the Family, it was a stunner to hear Gandolfini speak in his own voice). God. The stress that playing Tony Soprano must have caused Gandolfini is immeasurable, as we can learn here from Sopranos director Tim Van Patten:
It's impossible for me to put into words how stupendous Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano is. It's the stuff of a entire book. So, as this is a simple blog entry, I am forced to cut corners and simply offer a few clips to illustrate it. Actually, as with all reviews, the clips do more than my words could ever do. And the only way I could narrow this ridiculous wealth of material down is by including scenes with the main characters of this immensely huge drama:
Tony tries to discuss a move to a "retirement community" with his increasingly enfeebled (or maybe not so enfeebled) mother, Livia (Nancy Marchand) (this is the first utterance of the show's original title, "Poor You," which would pop up again and again in the series' dialogue):
Tony and Pussy (Vincent Pastore) go out to get Matthew Belvilaqua (Lillo Brancato Jr.)after he and a cohort tried to assassinate Tony's cousin Christopher :
Tony revisits his people, at Satriale's Pork Store, and tries to prove that, even though he's recently been shot, he's still the boss (though the whole thing is a charade made only to assert this single point; he feels so bad about it, it sends him into the toilet to throw up):
Tony has decided that he has feelings for his therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), and she tries to put him straight:
Tony, mired in a bad streak of gambling luck, is angry that his wife Carmela (Edie Falco) would not let him bet some of her money (which he helped her earn) on a sports game:
Faced in the morning with his whiny son A.J. (Robert Iler), Tony tries to school him:
In perhaps the series' single best episode, titled "College," Tony culminates his trip with daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), with a discussion about his true nature:
With his difficult cousin Christopher (Michael Imperioli), Tony happens upon an opportunity to steal many cases of wine, and then, afterwards, has a moment with Christopher--who's a perpetually recovering alcoholic:
Tony talks to the NYC family boss, Johnny Sacrimoni (Vincent Curatola) about a joke someone made (a joke that Tony once found funny) about Johnny's treasured, overweight wife:
Tony contemplates killing his friend and mentor Paulie (Tony Sirico), as a result of a breach of trust Tony suspects (rightfully) that they once had in the past:
With his Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) suffering from dementia, Tony finds that his uncle holds a grudge that hits to the bone:
Adriana (Drea De Matteo) is at her club, the Crazy Horse, and Tony is spending way too much time there. In the process, they almost cross the line...even though she's engaged to be his cousin Christopher's wife:
Tony faces down Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano), with whom he's had a longstanding beef over his murder of a Bada Bing stripper (one who reached out to Tony for innocent friendship, and he turned her down), and which now comes to a head over the death of the horse, Pie-O-My, that they co-owned, but whom Tony suspects was murdered by Ralphy for the insurance money (I always thought, by the way, that this was what Tony REALLY wanted to do to Ralphy after he killed the girl; his line, during the fight: "She was a beautiful, innocent little creature. What did she ever do to you?"):
This may be Tony's most venal moment. Seeing that his sister Janice (Aida Turturro) has made progress with her anger management, he pushes her back to the edge of insanity, and walks away happy:
Artie (John Ventimiglia), Tony's lifelong friend and the owner of Vesuvio's, has to confess to Tony that he's in love with Adriana, Chirstopher's girlfriend. And Tony tries to talk him out of it:
Visiting his uncle's home, Tony finds his uncle's caretaker, Svetlana (Alla Kilouka Schaffer) (who once took care of his mother), alone, and a bond is initiated:
Carmela says she wants a divorce:
After the death of his cousin, Tony visits Las Vegas and takes peyote, alongside Christopher's old friend:
And, of course, the series' final scene, at New Jersey's famed Holsten's--a scene like no other ever made:
This is merely a simple sampling of it all. You can easily see how all of this must have taken a great deal out of this gentle actor.
I met James Gandolfini very quickly in 2002. I was staying near Little Italy during a visit to NYC in 2002. I got out of my hotel room in the early afternoon, and rounded the corner to Mulberry Street, and saw a film company shooting. Having been a fan of the show, my mind quickly said: "Could this be what I think it is?" And it was. The Sopranos team was shooting an episode on that street, and I could hardly believe my eyes. My first clue was the presence of Vincent Curatola (who played NYC boss Johnny Sack). The second was the (as yet unrevealed, on the show) presence of Frank Vincent. I had always wondered if he would eventually be on the show, and there he was, as the venal Phil Leotardo. And then out of a red-painted doorway came Gandolfini, and I was floored. This was a true fan moment for me--and most people who know me will tell you, I am a slobbering fan of few things. But I could not tear myself away from this moment.
I was lucky, too, because shooting had concluded, and for Gandolfini, this meant a simple walk home to his Manhattan space. He was very magnanimous to his fans, stopping for autographs and pictures. I ran up and boldly told him: "James, congratulations on your new negotiations." He had recently upped his HBO price to a million dollars an episode. "Can I tell you, you're giving the best performance ever seen on TV. You're worth every single penny." He shook my hand and said "Thank you." It was a big meathook of a hand, and I really got the sense of how imposing the character Tony Soprano was. I watched him as he stopped to pet a dog owned by a Little Italy denizen (and, knowing how much Tony loved animals, this struck me). And there I got an extreme sense of who Gandolfini--and by extension, Tony Soprano--really was. I've met many famous people in my life...but this was easily the most memorable instance. And, somehow, the most profound.
I ran into James Gandolfini one more time, when I was living in NYC in about 2009 or so. I was coming home to my Village apartment, in a terrific rainstorm, after seeing Anne Hathaway play the lead in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in Central Park. I was on Sixth Avenue, and I saw him as he was crossing the street. He was coming to the aid of some older ladies, bogged down with packages, as they were trying to hail down a cab. He immediately stepped up and did something that was very difficult in the Manhattan rain: he hailed down a cab. Of course, no one was going to fail to stop for him. The ladies got in, and he paused for some photographs. I stayed where I was, getting soaked in the rain, and watched him as he saw them off and then crossed back 6th Avenue. I considered rushing up to him, yet another fan who wanted even a single moment of his time. But I could not bring myself to do it. As much as I loved him, I knew he wanted his time alone. And so I watched him as he went on his way. This moment remains to me bittersweet. When I think of it, I want to cry. I'm crying now. He was obviously an artist who, in that one role as Tony Soprano, and in his many movie roles, actually gave it his all. He gave every single bit he had.
Here he as, as he really was--after a performance in his Tony-nominated role in God of Carnage, hitting the streets, greeting fans, petting dogs, and together with his son. This puts you right there. This is the man--bold, giving, cuddly, and straightforward:
I add this: the MOVIE GEEKS UNITED tribute to him, with hosts Jamey Duvall and Jerry Dennis, and myself. On the show, I'm hardly able to speak, I'm so sad about his passing:
Finally, Jamey Duvall's interview with Allen Coulter, director of 30 episodes of The Sopranos, on his remembrances of the actor:
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