Tony Todd was an elegant, six-foot-five, broad shouldered man, graceful and imposing. But he led with his voice. Hear it once, and it would echo in your mind forever. it was magnificent. And he was magnificent. “Hellllllll-ennnn.” That’s Candyman heralded the title character’s first appearance onscreen in writer-director Bernard Rose’s 1992 sleeper hit, with heroine Helen … Read more
Mention Quincy Jones to a bunch of people and I’m sure each person will highlight a different achievement. There are so many milestones that naming them all would take far more space than I am afforded here. Jones was an Oscar-winning score composer, the arranger of great jazz albums by legends like Frank Sinatra, a … Read more
One of the funniest people to ever live has passed away. On October 29th, we learned that Teri Garr had passed after a long fight with multiple sclerosis, and I think she’d be happy to know that I smiled. Not at the loss, of course, but at the scenes that flood into memory, most of … Read more
One of the funniest people to ever live has passed away. On October 29th, we learned that Teri Garr had passed after a long fight with multiple sclerosis, and I think she’d be happy to know that I smiled. Not at the loss, of course, but at the scenes that flood into memory, most of … Read more
Almost exactly forty-seven years ago, I saw Kris Kristofferson for the first time when my two primary interests as a four-year-old bled into each other. On the September 23, 1977 season three premiere of “The Donny and Marie Show.,” a variety show I watched with a ritualistic, almost religious dedication, I was favored with a … Read more
When John Ashton appeared first in Haroula Rose’s “All Happy Families,” now in theaters, I smiled. As he did so many times throughout his career, Ashton helps ground Rose’s film in the believable. He was an actor who never seemed fake, even in the broadest comedy scenes of hits like “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Midnight … Read more
Almost exactly forty-seven years ago, I saw Kris Kristofferson for the first time when my two primary interests as a four-year-old bled into each other. On the September 23, 1977 season three premiere of “The Donny and Marie Show.,” a variety show I watched with a ritualistic, almost religious dedication, I was favored with a … Read more
When John Ashton appeared first in Haroula Rose’s “All Happy Families,” now in theaters, I smiled. As he did so many times throughout his career, Ashton helps ground Rose’s film in the believable. He was an actor who never seemed fake, even in the broadest comedy scenes of hits like “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Midnight … Read more
The essence of Maggie Smith’s greatness as an actor was in her timing. She could be extravagantly physically expressive, getting bold effects with the angular tilt of her head and particularly with the gesticulations of her arms and her snake-charming wrists, which seemed to have a life of their own. But what made her so … Read more
If Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were the two stars of “Siskel & Ebert at the Movies,” the intimate movie theater set on which they shared their takes on film releases new and old was the third. You can thank set designer Mickey Loewenstein for that, a legendary scenic designer at Chicago’s WTTW-Channel 11 for … Read more