Category Archives: Mini-Portraits
Paul McCartney’s Way with Women (In Song)
Happy Birthday, Sir Paul! And in his honor, I’d like to focus on a part of his much-mined legacy I’ve not heard too much about: his story-songs about women. Let’s start with “Eleanor Rigby,” still one of the most evocative songs ever written, and a novel unto itself. (I know Paul is Catholic, so Father …
Anna May Wong to Be Honored with US Coin—Which Woman of Film Should Be Next?
If you’ve ever strolled along Hollywood Boulevard, you’ve likely seen Anna May Wong gracing the Four Ladies of Hollywood statue, with Mae West, Dorothy Dandridge and Dolores del Rio comprising the other three pillars. But now Wong is set to be immortalized on a US coin. Thanks to the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, signed …
Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn in WWII Reveals Entirely New Facets of Her Life, Including Her Work as a Resistance Fighter
Ah, there’s the Audrey we love—light and breezy, cycling around the set of Sabrina in capri pants and a ponytail. But a scant eight years earlier, an Audrey we’ll grow to love even more was cycling through the darkened streets of her Nazi-occupied city, entrusted with urgent missives of the Dutch Resistance printed on sheets …
Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies: Nuttier Than a Screwball Comedy!
Katharine Hepburn. Even when she insulted you, something good came out of it. Back in the 1970s, Kate befriended a young Manhattan neighbor at the urgent request of her father. It seems the girl was threatening to drop out of Bryn Mawr, Kate’s alma mater, and her frantic dad wrote to Kate—whom he’d seen but …
Audrey at 90: The Salute to Audrey Hepburn Blogathon Has Arrived!
Happy Birthday, Audrey Hepburn! This extraordinary woman was born 90 years ago today, and to celebrate, we’re launching Audrey at 90: The Salute to Audrey Hepburn Blogathon! A heartfelt thank-you to all the writers helping us explore so many aspects of her amazing life. And we’re so honored to welcome a very special guest —Audrey’s …
The Un-Chilly Elegance of Frieda Inescort
“I’m so aristocratic on stage it’s a wonder I don’t come out blue when I take a bath.” Probably best known as the hopelessly haughty Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice—who seemed to smell cabbage whenever Elizabeth Bennet stepped into the room—Frieda Inescort took a wry view of her typecasting. But there was so much …
Reel Infatuation: Rod Taylor in SUNDAY IN NEW YORK
Ladies! Traveling around New York, you’re likely to run into all kinds of guys. Take, for instance, the manspreader: Not even Dame Helen Mirren was safe from him. And The Nicest Man in America™ actually was him. Then there’s Oscar Shapeley, who’s certain your emphatic rejections are just a playful way of heightening the romantic tension before …
BRIEF ENCOUNTER: The Rain, the Sane, And Mainly Lots of Pain
When I was invited to join a celebration of rainy movie scenes, the first one that came to mind wasn’t something like this… or this… or this. You see, I’m Irish. So of course I thought of this doomed, guilt-ridden duo. The scene in Brief Encounter where Laura (Celia Johnson) tears through the wet streets after getting …
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