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:
With tonight's premiere of HBO's much-touted TV movie Behind the Candelabra, Liberace -- the man, the performer -- has once again been propelled into the spotlight. That's exactly where he'd have wanted to be, where he always wanted to be, and where he belonged. In the way that a truly unique, charming and talented performer can transcend time and circumstance -- think Elvis, think Judy -- so did Wisconsin-born Wladziu Liberace use his gift for playing the piano to become a genuine icon of show business.
Much-loved, much-discussed, overdone and yet probably under-appreciated, it's impossible (at least for anybody except the very young) to ignore Liberace and his influence on entertainment. His life continues to intrigue -- in the closet technically all his life, yet never anything but gay in the original sense of the word and in fact virtually defining gay, as reported by Merriam Webster: "happily excited, keenly alive and exuberant, having or inducing high spirits, bright, lively, brilliant in color...." That IS Liberace, and it's unfortunate that sometimes the gossipy, more flamboyant and more easily mocked (by some) aspects of his life are pushed to the front when what we really need to remember and celebrate is the completely satisfying -- for us and for him -- sheer joy of performing that infused every Liberace performance.
Such as, how is he not adorable here playing "Nola" on his 1969 British TV series?
How about classical? I've got a little Lizst -- "Concerto in A Major" also from 1969:
How about a little "Tea for Two"? Watch how much he's enjoying playing; he's having such a great time and is sharing that with his audience, and this isn't even a big live performance.
From one of his TV appearances during the 1950s, here he is doing Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" with all the appropriate flair.
Again from the 1950s, Liberace in very effective direct address describing and playing a devilishly diabolical piece -- his version of Saint-Saens "Dance Macabre":
Here's a completely winning performance of "The Piano Roll Blues" also from the 1950s:
Do I hear a waltz?
Here Liberace performs one of the most melancholy ballads ever written, Kurt Weill's "September Song" from the Broadway musical "Knickerbocker Holiday." (Side note: the best version of this song is one we'll never hear, when Danny Kaye during a live performance sang this to a woman who had just lost her husband in WWII. He never recorded it.)
This promo for his 1969 British TV series is full of Liberace trademarks --
A comedy/music sequence from the show with guest Phyllis Diller, a secret piano player:
If you have a half-hour, take a look at this amusing episode of "The Jack Benny Show" with guest star Liberace, from January 1954.
Another appearance with Jack Benny from 1969 -- both older but they've still got it!
For a good dose of the Liberace glitz that's most associated with his longtime Las Vegas concerts, here's the opening video sequence and entrance that introduced the showman at each performance:
There is a plethora of other Liberace clips on YouTube and clearly a cadre of devoted fans who un-ironically enjoy his talent and personality. You can even love your Liberace with a bit of irony and it looks like this will be the tack taken by director Stephen Soderberg, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon and HBO as they bring Behind the Candelabra to us tonight.
Just the fact that Liberace the legend, who would have turned 94 years old this past May 16th and who died 26 years ago in 1987 at the age of 67, is being celebrated with Behind the Candelabra is proof enough of his lasting impact on entertainment. He is a one-name wonder, one of the all-time greats, much more than a novelty performer but surely one of the most novel performers ever to take to a stage. I'll leave you with his video, Liberace's goodbye remarks after being on the popular daytime talker The Mike Douglas Show (circa 1974) and a very sweet rendition of one of his signature tunes "I'll Be Seeing You." I'd venture to say few performers ever have put their heart on their sleeve as openly as Liberace always did, despite the immense task of breaking with convention during very different times, of being utterly himself, of finding his own way and creating a legacy that's a lasting tribute to his talent and drive.
I haven't even talked about his movie appearances, have I? Maybe next time.
Don't miss Behind the Candelabra premiering tonight on HBO at 9pm with an encore immediately following at 11pm! Check the HBO website for more information, behind-the-scenes features and complete schedule info.
In light of tomorrow's premiere of HBO's Behind the Candelabra, here's a post we did back in 2011 when the project was first announced. Good background material on the two TV movies that came out at the time of Liberace's death in early 1987, and we'll have more on Liberace in another post.
The news out today that Michael Douglas and Matt Damon will star (as the charismatic pianist and his boyfriend) in an HBO Liberace biopic entitled Behind the Candelabra, to be directed by Steven Soderbergh (Contagion, Ocean's Eleven, Traffic, Erin Brockovich), brings to mind the pair of dueling Liberace TV movies from back in 1988.
Liberace died on February 4th, 1987, after a glorious and multifaceted career, and also after a struggle with AIDS (never publicly acknowledged by Liberace, though) and earlier notoriety from a palimony suit brought by his young male companion Scott Thorson. It took a year and a half before both ABC and CBS each brought out their own TV Movies. In a terrific example of TV timing -- though I suppose we should be amazed that they didn't schedule them head-to-head against each other -- ABC's Liberace aired on Sunday, October 2, 1988, to be followed exactly a week later by the CBS TVM Liberace: Behind the Music.
ABC's version starred veteran actor and familiar TV face Andrew Robinson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Cobra, Dirty Harry, Ryan's Hope) as Liberace, with Rue McClanahan (Maude, The Golden Girls) as Liberace's sainted mother Frances, and John Rubenstein (Crazy Like a Fox, Family, Angel, Desperate Housewives and many more) as Liberace's business associate. This version was more discreet about Liberace's private life and only hinted at his gay lifestyle, instead portraying his struggle to maintain a private life more in general terms and not just concerning his sexuality. Robinson was terrific as Liberace, too.
Liberace: Behind the Music, the CBS take on the subject, starred Canadian actor Victor Garber as Liberace. Garber, now well-known for his roles in Alias and especially in the blockbuster film Titanic, wasn't anything close to a household name at the time this telefilm was made. Of course, theatergoers knew him for his Tony-nominated presence on Broadway in many prestigious productions (including in the original cast of Sweeney Todd), and he had also starred in the movie version of his breakout musical Godspell in 1972 and did many other supporting roles on TV, but his big stardom was to come later. Well-respected actress Maureen Stapleton (Cocoon, The Money Pit, Reds, Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, Plaza Suite, Airport) co-starred as Frances Liberace, and veteran Canadian character actor Saul Rubinek (Warehouse 13, Nixon, Dick, Frasier) appeared as Liberace's business manager.
Here's the promo for the movie, and then a scene:
Garber also got kudos for his impressive and sensitive work as Liberace, and this movie was more open about his sexual orientation which gives it an edge in the realism department, though it's still a typical TV biopic. Obviously the Soderbergh project will deal with the older Liberace if Michael Douglas is playing him, and even though Scott Thorson was only in his early twenties during their affair, Matt Damon may be good enough to pull off that age difference...but he is over 40 now, so it could be a stretch. Still, this could be a terrific TVM and in any case it's going to be fascinating and unusual. Producer Jerry Weintraub spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the project, and you can read the interesting article by clicking here.
If the news of this project has piqued your own interest in Liberace (as it has mine), you should take a look at a few good websites, particularly the excellent Bob's World of Liberace; The Liberace Foundation and Museum; this very detailed account of Liberace's starring movie role in 1953's Sincerely Yours, and of course Wikipedia's concise bio of Liberace. Liberace was a consummate entertainer with a unique sense of style and personal flair that set him apart from everyone else of his era. We're really looking forward to Behind the Candelabra when it shows up on HBO! Hurry up!
Today would have been the 77th birthday of the lovely actress and author of several best-selling autobiographies Jill Ireland who passed away at the age of 54 in 1990 after a long, brave and public battle with breast cancer. Many remember the string of motion pictures she co-starred in with her second husband Charles Bronson, but Jill Ireland also had a long and interesting career on the small screen.
On "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
You may also remember that her first husband was David McCallum, the talented actor who became a genuine sensation as the dashing Russian secret agent Ilya Kuryakin on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., also starring the equally dashing Robert Vaughn. While her then-husband was off fighting the global baddies of T.H.R.U.S.H., Jill Ireland was making appearances on series like Ben Casey, My Favorite Martian, 12 O'Clock High, Daniel Boone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and co-starring on the short-lived series Shane opposite David Carradine. Jill Ireland also starred on several episodes of her husband's TV show which is where I first saw her and remembered her. (Ireland divorced McCallum in 1967 and wed Bronson the next year.)
Most famously perhaps, Jill Ireland made an guest appearance on the legend-making Star Trek -- only nobody knew then how far-reaching that series' impact would turn out to be -- in a first season episode This Side of Paradise. Written by Roddenberry's trusted story editor D. (Dorothy) C. Fontana and directed by TV veteran Ralph Senensky, the episode was a fan favorite as the ever-logical Mr. Spock met up again with a beautiful woman who had been enamored of him on Earth. Leila Kalome as played by Jill Ireland was an ethereal blonde vision of loveliness, a gentle soul who, as we find out, is one of a colony of planetary settlers who have been infected with parasitic spores which induce peace, acceptance and docility. Even the unemotional Mr. Spock is finally able to break his stoic Vulcan demeanor and express his love for Leila.
You'll also enjoy this fan-made video for a song from Leonard Nimoy's second record albumThe Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy. "Once I Smiled" (written by Nimoy and Charles R. Grean) tells the story of This Side of Paradise and the video illustrates the lyrics with clips from the episode. It may be a little silly, but it's Star Trek: The Original Series canon and that's good enough for a lot of us. We can't embed it here but you should go directly to YouTube by clicking here and watch it.
We fondly remember Jill Ireland on this day. She is not forgotten.
This is pure love for me, wishing the amazing performer Bill Irwin a Happy Birthday today! Sigh...I've been a fan of Irwin's since I saw him on TV doing his hilarious and brilliant theater piece The Regard of Flight on PBS in 1982, then was lucky enough to see it live when he brought it to Los Angeles the next year in a small theater next to the Hollywood Bowl. Oh my god...it was a revelation and I had to go back to see it again. One -- well, two -- of my best times in a theater ever, and I immediately sat down and wrote him a fan letter c/o the theater to tell him so. I got back a nice postcard (which I know is somewhere around here stuck in a book, most likely) thanking me and I've been following his career ever since.
There is simply no one like Bill Irwin. Looking to my mind like a mild-mannered Clark Kent with mad kinetic skillz, Bill Irwin and his cohorts Doug Skinner -- the stage manager/pianist -- and Michael O'Connor -- the irascible critic -- presented a madcap treatise on comedy and acting, as seen here in a few clips that are on YouTube. (There doesn't seem to be a release of the PBS show available now, and so my old VHS copies are among my most beloved possessions.)
It's hard to describe Bill Irwin by making a list and including all the things he can do -- his talent is limitless. It's easier to say that there is nothing he can't do, from classic farce to knockabout vaudeville to circus clowning to song-and-dance to acrobatics to deep emotional drama to light comedy and everything in-between. He is a bonafide genius, certified years ago by the MacArthur Foundation which gave him a multi-year grant back in the early 1980s and boy, did they ever get their money's worth and pick the right guy.
If you don't know him by name, you would know him by face. If you or your kids ever watched Sesame Street, he was Mr. Noodle. If you watch C.S.I. he had a recurring role as a serial killer and he also was a recurring character on Northern Exposure. Bill Irwin has been a semi-familiar face on TV for decades and continues to land big roles, most often dramatic these days. Very early he was one of the Sweethaven townspeople in Altman's film Popeye starring Robin Williams; this was his first screen appearance, in fact, after training at the Ringling Bros. Clown College and working with the Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco where he practiced the unique form of idiosyncratic acrobatic dance that evolved into his signature style. (I was thrilled recently to see a special mention of him in the Ringling Circus Museum here in Sarasota.)
But mostly, probably, he's best known to theatregoers all over the country for his constant appearances throughout his career in both his own works and more traditional roles, all of which have garnered him honors and awards commensurate with his talents. (Check out his listing at the Internet Broadway Database for more details). His next big self-written and performed Broadway theatre piece after The Regard of Flight was Largely New York which won the 1989 Tony for Best Play and received several other important nominations. (Bill won the Tony Award for Best Actor for his 2005 performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.) Here's a clip from the Tony Awards special that year with the Largely New York segment -- a rare treasure!
Along with performing partner David Shiner he created the lauded Fool Moon in 1993, and they reunited earlier this year at the Signature Theatre in NYC for a new production entitled Old Hats. You'll be happy to hear that the show (read the NYT review here) has been extended at least until early June and you can buy tickets online right now!
You'll like this clip of Karen Ziemba and Irwin performing "Sooner or Later" in the 1993 PBS special Stephen Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall.
Bill Irwin was featured in another PBS Great Performances, this one a celebration of his career entitled Bill Irwin, Clown Prince in December of 2004. You can still check out the website -- click here -- and though it's not available on DVD, by some miracle somebody posted the show on Vimeo and I suggest you go to there immediately and watch it! Click here!
Bill Irwin is an American treasure, a work of art and a one-of-a-kind force of nature. Happy 63rd Birthday, Bill. Irwin!
I've said it before and I'll say it again...we are living in a golden age of television viewing. Fantasy epic Game of Thrones just started its third season on HBO. Emmy award winning period piece Mad Men is returning to AMC this Sunday. And currently we have two dark and thrilling original mysteries on the air; ANE's Bates Motel and the superb Top of the Lake on the Sundance channel. Both are set in small rural towns where the citizens are menacing and off kilter. Like Twin Peaks except everyone has a smart phone, and half the folks are crazier than a burlap bag full of poly-dactyl cats. Both series also have big name talent in their casts. And both have plenty of sex and violence, in keeping with the first law of cable TV which is that all bets are off except for full frontal naked dudes (and HBO even gets away with that from time to time). Let's take a look at both of them, starting with the good and working our way up to the sublime.
Bates Motel airs on ANE Monday nights at 10pm. Three episodes have already aired and if you missed them you can stream them all on their website for free. Based on the classic Hitchcock favorite Psycho, this series is a sort of prequel to the movie. Call it Norman and his mother...the early years. It stars the extremely talented Brit actor Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as our dear nut-ball Norman and the gorgeous and capable Vera Farmiga as his smother mother Norma. They just moved into the big house in a rural U.S. town (looks like northern California) and they're off to a rocky start. The cops are crooked, the former owner is enraged and something very bad is happening up in the woods. The characters are mildly quirky (I particularly love the high school nerd girl who has to wear an oxygen tank) and the writing is sharp. It has become appointment TV for me now, filling what was formerly a Monday night desert.
Top of the Lake is the phenomenal new short series (alas only 7 episodes) from the Sundance Channel. If TV shows were boyfriends then Top of the Lake is my new boyfriend and I'm in love. I'm a late bloomer for the show, having just gotten around to watching my first episode last night on (cable) demand. You can also catch it on Sundance or download episodes from iTunes or Amazon.
Written and directed by Academy Award winner Jane Campion (The Piano), Top of the Lake is terribly disturbing and yet also darkly hilarious. It takes place in a backwater town in New Zealand, so when things seem off-the-charts odd you're not sure if it's nuts because that's the way things are in New Zealand or maybe this town sets a whole new high bar for weird. At the center of the tale is a woebegone 12 year old (Tui) who is five months pregnant. She's not saying how, and Detective
Griffin (the incredible Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men) is brought in to investigate. She seems the only one in this strange little town that is even remotely outraged by this poor child's terrible situation. Tui's father is one of the scariest, most unlikable characters I've seen in quite some time. He shoots dogs, he drowns real estate agents...and he's practically incomprehensible with a Scottish brogue thicker than mud. In fact, he is so despicable, my guess is that we are going to find out that there's a decent fellow buried under all his sputter and menace. Campion will try to surprise us, I'm sure of it. And speaking of surprise, I thought I would go the rest of my life not liking Holly Hunter but now it's not going to happen. I always found her off-putting...mostly because of that voice which has the metallic grate of a spoon caught in a garbage disposal. In this series, she is a revelation. She plays a new-age guru for abused women. She looks a bit like aging punk rocker and poet Patti Smith. Her character (GJ) is 82 pounds of androgynous woman and 42 pounds of long silver hair. Of course, one is captivated by her in every scene. Much of her appeal has to do with the writing which is insanely good. When she first meets the unfortunate Tui, her reaction is not concern or even anger. With great conviction she points to Tui and says, "You've got a time bomb in there...it's going to go off!". Absolutely nothing in this series is predictable.
All of this would keep me coming back for more, but I'm a sucker for odd-ball secondary characters and this series has plenty. One of GJ's acolytes is recovering from a tragic friendship with a chimpanzee. Another is a corpulent sex addict. Underneath all the odd, is Campion's trademark tightly crafted rage against the patriarchy. Ticking like a bomb, and ready to go off.
Hunt for these series as fast as you can. I'll see you in the woods, or down by the lake!
There's a great opportunity today on the Encore Western channels to see the superb actor Michael Dunn in the 1970 Michael Landon-written-and-directed Bonanza episode It's a Small World. It airs at 4pm Eastern and then again at 7pm on the W feed.
Michael Dunn in 1964
If you are a Little House on the Prairie fan you will recognize that Landon did a remake of this theme -- a dwarf circus performer turns out to be far more courageous than any of the other townpeople -- in the episode Little Lou, where Billy Barty takes on the central role. You can watch the episode on YouTube (click here).
It's a Small World comes from the 11th season of Bonanza, and is a great example of what a sensitive writer and director Michael Landon evolved into. This evolution produced the timeless gem Little House on the Prairie -- proof enough, I'd say.
In terms of sheer acting prowess I have to give the nod to Michael Dunn, but Barty is pretty darned good. If you're not familiar with Dunn, just think of him as yesterday's Peter Dinklage. Every few decades a preternaturally talented actor emerges who is unlike most others. I wrote a post a few years about him for TCM's Movie Morlocks, which you can check out by clicking here.
We'd like to extend a Happy Birthday today to actress Sharon Acker, a talented beauty who enjoyed a terrific career playing mostly on series TV during the 1960s through the 1980s. Of course we're going to particularly shout-out her Star Trek appearance in the third season episode The Mark of Gideon. Remember that one? She was the lost young woman who was trapped on a deserted version of the Enterprise with Captain Kirk, and every so often the windows would open and they'd see these creepy figures staring in at them.
Nobody is crazy about the episode -- a lot of the third season entries strike fans that way -- but at least The Mark of Gideon was saying something about overpopulation. (I don't want to give away more of the plot in case anyone hasn't seen it.)
In any case, Ms. Acker was a lovely Odona, and if you watched any series TV during that time you'd have seen her on just about every program -- The Wild Wild West, Get Smart, Gunsmoke, Alias Smith and Jones, It Takes a Thief, The Bold Ones, Mission: Impossible, The Mod Squad, McMillan and Wife and so on. Check out her full list of career credits here. She had a good role as Lee Marvin's wife in the big-screen tough guy thriller Point Blank in 1967, but most of this Canada-born actress' work -- and there was plenty of it -- was on the small screen.
Sharon Acker is included in this clever compilation of Star Trek and Mission: Impossible
actor crossovers:
She's also featured in this Get Smart/Star Trek crossover video:
The Flaming Nose wishes she had continued her career into the 1990s and beyond-- her last credit is from 1989 -- but as we've noted around here before, all you need to have done is one Star Trek and you are a TV immortal.
If you're a Star Trek fan you probably have your own Spock favorites (and please tell us in the comments), but we've assembled a selection of trailers from Star Trek: The Original Series episodes featuring great Spock moments. A few of these episodes are totally Spock-centric, but all the others have some terrific insights into Spock and of course Leonard Nimoy's marvelous portrayal. You'll find that most of the trailers emphasize Captain Kirk, but that's 1960s episode TV for you -- action adventure was king!
1. Amok Time -- because it's all about Vulcan sexuality! Hot blood, green blood, it's all boiling when Spock goes into Pon Farr and must return to Vulcan to take a mate. This was the 2nd season opener and can you imagine what it must have been like to have seen this for the first time back then? Completely awesome and featuring one of the most famous musical riffs ever to come out of TV!
2. Journey to Babel -- because we get to meet Spock's human mother Amanda and his Vulcan father Sarek, played to perfection by Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard. The Enterprise is in a tizzy when a shipload of intergalactic ambassadors is aboard on their way to a meeting, and Spock's father's sudden illness forces the First Officer to assert priorities which pitch his Human side against his Vulcan identity. From the series' 2nd season.
3. The Naked Time -- because we see Spock breaking down when an alien virus infects the crew and hidden emotions come to the surface. We definitely learn here that Nurse Chapel has a thing for Spock, too -- and can you blame her? From the 1st season.
4. This Side of Paradise -- because we get to meet Spock's former ladyfriend and watch alien spores loosen his Vulcan reserve. The lovely Jill Ireland guests as Leila, and Spock gets the chance to cavort around the countryside and also have a bare knuckle fight with Captain Kirk! 1st season.
5. Return to Tomorrow -- because Spock lends his body to a lecherous and devious alien entity and it's fun seeing him be sort of sexy/evil. Great guest role for Diana Muldaur, too.
2nd season.
6. Mirror, Mirror -- because we really like Spock being sexy/evil, especially when we're in an alternate universe and he gets to wear a stylish goatee. Great acting opportunity for all the cast in this one and many great Spock scenes. 2nd season.
7. The Enterprise Incident -- because Spock gets to go undercover and seduce an alluring female Romulan commander played by Joanne Linville. This is also the one where Kirk gets pointed ears. 3rd season.
8. Plato's Stepchildren -- because this is such a nutty episode and we get to watch Spock singing, dancing, crying and rueing it all afterwards. One of the better episodes from the very uneven 3rd season, with a great guest star in the brilliant Michael Dunn. We're not saying this isn't silly bordering on the out-and-out bizarre, but lots of interesting Spock in it!
9. All Our Yesterdays -- because Spock goes back in time and falls for the exiled beauty Zarabeth played by Mariette Hartley. Who doesn't love Time Travel, and it's always fascinating to watch Spock lose control. 3rd season, and the 2nd to the last episode of the show filmed.
10. The Menagerie, Parts 1 & 2
-- because Spock is the main engine for the action here and we also get to see the earlier version of his character. Spock kidnaps his former captain, now horribly mutilated, hijacks the Enterprise and heads for the most forbidden part of the galaxy. Very science fiction-ish, serious and interesting. From the 1st season.
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The bloggers on The Flaming Nose have watched and worked in TV for many years, and gather here to celebrate our favorite medium. We love TV and know that you do, too!
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