Each year the list seems to get longer and more painful to watch. I’m talking about the list of celebrities that died during the year. The Turner Classic Movie channel amongst others runs a tape of snapshots of the actors, actresses, directors, producers and more who passed away each year, showing it several times a day between now and New Year’s.
This year’s list contains so many of the stars I grew up watching on the big screen and the little screen. Do you know the game/question “What movies would you watch no matter when it came on and regardless of whether it was half over or not”? Everybody has a couple, many have ten films they watch over and over again.
This year two stars died who had roles in two of my “must watch” movies. Lawrence of Arabia is one of my favorite movies and Peter O’Toole’s death has hit me hard. A Mad, Mad, Mad World is a classic comedy for me. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it and I laugh out loud every time. As far as I’m concerned, Jonathan Winters was a genius. His ability to improvise and his character portrayal has yet to be matched. So sad to lose this marvelous source of joy and laughter.
I grew up watching Esther Williams swimming her way through movies, listened to Eydie Gorme and Patti Page sing on various TV shows like the Ed Sullivan Show, the Steve Allen Show and the Milton Berle Show, and wished I would grow up looking like Annette Funicello as I sat fixated on The Mickey Mouse Club. This year we lost Michael Ansara, the star of Broken Arrow.
In my twenties and thirties, I watched Bonnie Franklin on One Day At A Time, Jean Stapleton as the country’s favorite dingbat on All In The Family. At night I avidly watched David Frost.
Dennis Farina and James Gandolfini have left us bereft of their enormous talents; I just loved Dennis Farina in Midnight Run.
WHAT ARE YOUR “MUST-WATCH” MOVIES??
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
Que Sera Sera! Happy Belated Birthday Doris Day!
Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged California, Compact Disc, Doris, Doris Day, Hollywood, Midnight Lace, Television, Turner Classic Movie on April 5, 2012| 1 Comment »
Doris Day (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Can you believe it? Doris Day is 88 years old!!! Oh my…. No one has heard from or seen Doris Day for about 40 years. Once she gave up making movies, she became a bit of recluse in California.
She devoted her life to rescuing animals. She gave possibly the first-ever-since-retirement interview to NPR. I heard the interview on the radio Monday. Yes, she still sounds like Doris Day.
She described to the interviewer how she altered her house to accommodate her ever-growing menagerie of animals. Presently, she has 6 dogs and about 10 cats. The cats have their own wing of the house with lots of glass including a glass ceiling so that they can see the trees, the birds and according to Ms. Day they (the cats) love the sound of rain.
TCM, which contrary to what our cable company believes IS the ONLY channel we seem to be able to get on the den’s TV. I know that sounds peculiar but that seems to be what happens….EXCEPT for when the weather is clear, we are able to access MSNBC. OK, I digress…
Back to TCM; The Turner Classic Movie station released a DVD collection of five of her early films to honor one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office stars and Masterworks, in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies Network released a new 2-disk CD set. Doris, herself, curated the album.
Her movies have been featured for the last 3 nights on TCM and I’ve seen the serious side of Doris Day in movies such as Midnight Lace and Storm Warning-quite different from the smiling, singing, sweetheart who frolicked through those 50’s-60’s romantic comedies. Actually, I’m thankful that tonight they are showing the few dramas she made because I can only stomach so much syrupy slosh.
Happy Birthday Doris!
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