Contemporary Actors Archives - Page 20 of 49

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan obituary in “The Guardian” in 2013.

Eileen Brennan was born in 1932 in Los Angeles. She became very popular in films and TV in the 1970’s afer her performance in “The Last Picture Show” in 1971. In 1973 she was leading lady to Paul Newman in “The Sting” and in 1980 was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in “Private Benjamin” with Goldie Hawn. A car accident hampered her career in the 1980’s and after a gap she resumed her career. More recently she was seen to great effect as the acting coach ‘Zelda’ in the TV series “Will & Grace”. Sadly Eileen Brennan died in July 2013.

Eileen Brennan’s obituary by Ryan Gibney in the Guardian:

Eileen Brennan, who has died aged 80, had been a stage actor since the late 1950s, but it was as a largely comic presence in US cinema of the 1970s and early 1980s that she was most widely admired. As the pitiless Captain Doreen Lewis, putting a dippy new recruit – Goldie Hawn – through her paces in the hit military comedy Private Benjamin (1980), she wore her trademark look: a solid frizz of red hair, a clenched, sneering smile and an expression of withering incredulity. Then there was the gravelly voice: a heard-it-all whine to match that seen-it-all face. It sounded like bourbon on the rocks. Actual rocks, that is.

Captain Lewis epitomised the sort of role Brennan was best at – and which she was still playing as late as 2001, when she made the first in a run of appearances as a scabrous acting teacher on the popular sitcomWill & Grace. “I love meanies,” she said in 1988. “You know why? Because they have no sense of humour. If we can’t laugh at ourselves and the human condition, we’re going to be mean.”

She was born Verla Eileen Regina Brennan and raised in Los Angeles, daughter of Regina Menehan, a former silent film actor, and John Brennan, a doctor. She attended Georgetown University in Washington DC, where she excelled at comedy in the Mask and Bauble dramatic society, and later the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She was briefly a singing waitress, but theatrical success was not long in coming. She won the title role in the off-Broadway parody Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, for which she was named a Theatre World Promising New Personality. She toured in The Miracle Worker, played Anna in The King and I and co-starred in the original 1964 Broadway production of Hello, Dolly!

Brennan branched out into television with an adaptation of Maxwell Anderson’s play The Star Wagon (1966), in which she appeared with Dustin Hoffman, and as part of the original cast of the zany sketch showRowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (alongside her future Private Benjamin co-star, Hawn). She made her film debut in 1967 in the comedy Divorce American Style and was chosen by the up-and-coming director Peter Bogdanovich to play a kindly but bored waitress in his masterful 1971 drama The Last Picture Show.

Bogdanovich also cast Brennan as a society matron in his Henry James adaptation Daisy Miller (1974) and as a singing maid in the reviled musical At Long Last Love (1975). She played the brassy madam of a brothel in the multiple Oscar-winning con-man comedy The Sting (1973). And she was one of a clutch of female character actors who brought unusual shading to Jerry Schatzberg’s Scarecrow (also 1973), which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival.

Later in the 1970s, she gravitated toward comedy, including two films written by the playwright Neil Simon: the nutty whodunit spoof Murder By Death (1976) and the Bogart homage The Cheap Detective (1978). It was Private Benjamin, though, which gave her a career-defining role, as well as an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. Hawn’s comic fizz as the pampered Judy Benjamin was often delightful, and the film was a precision-tooled vehicle for her charms. But the key to that picture’s success was the rain that Brennan dumped on Hawn’s parade. When Private Benjamin was turned into a television sitcom, Brennan went with it, serving the same function opposite Hawn’s replacement, Lorna Patterson. Brennan’s sourness was the spoonful of medicine that helped the sugar go down. She was rewarded with two Emmy nominations and one award. (She received a further four Emmy nominations, for her work in Taxi, Newhart, Will & Grace and thirtysomething.)

Brennan left the Private Benjamin TV series prematurely in 1982, following an accident in Venice Beach, California, in which she was hit by a car. Her injuries included broken legs and a fragmented jaw; all the bones on the left side of her face were also broken. During her slow recovery, Brennan became addicted to painkillers. She returned to acting in 1984 in the sitcom Off the Rack but the show was cancelled after only six episodes and Brennan was admitted to the Betty Ford Centre for rehabilitation. “I had reached the stage where I was taking anything I could get my hands on,” she told People magazine. Poor health and injury became a recurring problem. While playing another comic tyrant – Miss Hannigan, in Annie – she fell from the stage and broke her leg. She also underwent treatment for breast cancer. Still Brennan continued to act, predominantly in television but with notable returns to theatre (the 1998 New York production of Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan) and to cinema.

She was in the underrated ensemble comedy Clue (1985); she reprised her Last Picture Show role in the film’s 1990 sequel, Texasville; and she starred in the drama White Palace (also 1990) as the fortune-telling sister of Susan Sarandon (with whom she had enjoyed theatrical success in 1980 in the two-woman play A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking). Later roles included the Francis Ford Coppola-produced horror Jeepers Creepers (2001) and the Sandra Bullock comedy sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005).

Brennan is survived by two sons, Patrick and Sam, from her marriage to David Lampson, which ended in 1974.

• Verla Eileen Regina Brennan, actor, born 3 September 1932; died 28 July 2013

For The Guardian obituary, please click here.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Diane Baker (TCM Overview)

This tall, lean, delicate leading and secondary player made her screen debut as Margot, the older sister, in “The Diary of Anne Frank” (1959) and has gone on to play numerous wives and, in maturity, strong female characters. Diane Baker began her career soon after turning 20 in “Diary”. Also in 1959, she was seen in “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “The Best of Everything”.

Baker was cast by Alfred Hitchcock in “Marnie” (1964), as Lil, the sister-in-law of Sean Connery who would like to be his next wife.

But by the late 60s, film roles became occasional for Baker, and she was often seen in small, albeit key, roles. In “Silence of the Lambs” (1991), she was Senator Ruth Martin seen pleading for the life of her abducted daughter in a noisy, flashy airport hanger. She was mother to Sandra Bullock in “The Net” (1995) and Matthew Broderick in Ben Stiller’s “The Cable Guy” (1996).

TV has often offered steadier employment. Baker has appeared in numerous anthology series since the early 60s and appeared in one of the first movies made for TV, the 1966 ABC Western, “The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones”. She made guest appearances in numerous episodics and appeared in additional TV-movies. Baker was Edward G. Robinson’s doubting daughter-in-law in “The Man Who Cried Wolf” (ABC, 1970) and was Katie Nolan, stalwart Irish-American mother, in the remake of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (NBC, 1974).

In “The Dream Makers” (NBC, 1975), she was the wife of college professor James Franciscus, watching as her husband becomes corrupted by the music industry. Her only regular series was the short-lived “Here We Go Again” (ABC, 1973) which featured two couples, in which each was formerly married to the gender opposite in the other couple. (Larry Hagman played Baker’s current spouse.)

Baker branched out of acting in 1971, producing the Indian-made documentary “Ashiana/The Nest”, which won the Special Jury Award at the 1971 Atlanta Film Festival. In 1976, she formed Artemis Productions and wrote the 1978 ABC Afterschool Special “One of a Kind”, in which she also starred. In 1986, she starred in the CBS Schoolbreak Special “Little Miss Perfect”, in which she played the overbearing mother of a bulimic teen.

The jewel in Baker’s production efforts came in 1985 when she produced the syndicated miniseries “A Woman of Substance”, based on the Barbara Taylor Bradford novel of society romance. Baker personally lured Deborah Kerr out of her Swiss retirement to star in the project.

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Mel Gibson was born in New York in 1956 but moved with his family to Australia in 1968. He made his movie debut in 1979 in “Tim”. The “Mad Max” movies brought him to the attention of Hollywood and he has been a major star/producer/director sine the 1980’s. His movies include “Braveheart” and “What Women Want”. My favourite movie of his is “The Yearof Living Dangerously”. What is your’s ?

Extract from TCM Overview:

A gifted and rather complicated performer who became one of the biggest stars in the world, only to be ostracized for racist comments and anger issues, actor-director Mel Gibson rode the wave of his 20-plus years of popularity to become one of the industry’s most bankable stars. After finding fame in Australia with only his second film, “Mad Max” (1979), Gibson vaulted onto the international scene with the superior sequel, “The Road Warrior” (1981). Following an excellent performance in “The Year of Living Dangerously” (1982), Gibson staked his claim in Hollywood by starring in “Lethal Weapon” (1987), a highly successful buddy comedy by which all others would be measured. Gibson actively sought to usurp his action hero image with a wider range of roles, including playing the titular “Hamlet” (1990) and a reclusive burn victim in “The Man without a Face” (1993). He transformed himself from action star to Oscar-winning director with the historical epic “Braveheart” .

Born on Jan. 3, 1956 in Peekskill, NY, Gibson was raised by his father, Hutton, a railroad brakeman who was a leading figure in the ultra-conservative Catholic splinter group, The Alliance for Catholic Traditions, and his mother, Ann. After falling from a train and injuring his back, Gibson’s father won a workman’s compensation suit against New York Central Railroad in 1968 and moved the family to Sydney, Australia soon after. During his high school years, Gibson attended St. Leo’s Catholic College, an all-boys school founded by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. He turned to acting around this time and began studying the craft at the National Institute of Dramatic Art alongside future star Judy Davis, with whom he made his stage debut in a 1976 production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Also while attending NIDA, he tackled the role of Queen Titania in an experimental version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He soon made his feature debut in “Summer City” (1977), a teen drama about a group of students who leave Sydney for a weekend of surfing, only to find their fun derailed when they become involved in a murder.

Almost from the start, Gibson had the makings of a star, which he put on full display in only his second feature film, “Mad Max” (1979), a post-apocalyptic Western set in the Australian Outback that, while unpolished in parts, featured several stunning action sequences. Gibson played Max Rockatansky, a futuristic policeman who wants to retire and spend time with his family, only to find his world upended when a marauding gang of bikers kill his wife and son. Hell-bent on revenge, Max sets off in a supercharged V8 Interceptor in search of blood. Though initially panned by some critics, “Mad Max” became an international hit, earning over $100 million at the box office. Most importantly, however, the film turned Gibson into an overnight star. Following an about-face performance in the romantic drama, “Tim” (1979), he had an uncredited appearance as a bearded mechanic in the Mad Max-like thriller, “The Chain Reaction” (1980). He returned to starring duties with his next film, “Gallipoli” (1981), a war drama centered on the ill-fated Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. The film marked the first of two highly regarded collaborations with fellow Australian, director Peter Weir.

Following up the success of “Mad Max,” Gibson reunited with director George Miller for the superior sequel, “Mad Max 2” (1981), known as “The Road Warrior” to American audiences. The heart-pounding action thriller was set several years past the events of the first, where the post-apocalyptic world has fallen into utter chaos as rival gangs battle each other for the rapidly dwindling supplies of gasoline. When he is brought to a fortified encampment surrounding an oil refinery, the nomad Max has every intention of taking as much gasoline as he can carry. But he finds himself with the plight of the well-intentioned inhabitants of the refinery, led by the sympathetic Pappagallo (Mike Preston), which puts Max into a position of leading a mad dash toward the coast through a violent gang of bikers. Stunning in every way, “The Road Warrior” surpassed its predecessor in terms of action, production values, and kinetic stunt sequences that featured several breakneck car chases. Though already a star Down Under, Gibson finally became a known commodity to international audiences, which resulted in the beginnings of a highly successful Hollywood career that would come with its share of trials and tribulations.

Sticking with his adopted home for his next film, Gibson starred in “The Year of Living Dangerously” (1982), an acclaimed political drama directed by Weir that starred the actor as a wire service reporter covering the 1965 coup of President Sukarno of Indonesia. While there, he pursues a romance with a British attaché (Sigourney Weaver) while being held in check by photographer Billy Kwan (played by Oscar winner Linda Hunt). While the lion’s share of accolades went to Weir and Hunt, Gibson received his fair share for his passionate performance. After a starring turn in the little-regarded World War II actioner “Attack Force Z” (1982), Gibson made his entry into American filmmaking with three films – “Mrs. Soffel” (1984), “The Bounty” (1984) and “The River” (1984) – that failed to capitalize on the star-making performances on display in “The Road Warrior” and “The Year of Living Dangerously.” He returned to Australia to finish out the “Mad Max” series with “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), a cumbersome satire with a bigger budget, less action and a campy Tina Turner as the chain-mailed leader of a desolate frontier city. Though glossier than the previous two films and featuring Turner’s hit song “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” “Thunderdome” failed to match its predecessor’s visceral energy.

Taking time off to concentrate on family, Gibson starring in perhaps his biggest hit, “Lethal Weapon” (1987), in which he played his most popular character, Detective Martin Riggs, an explosive and suicidal homicide cop paired with the aging and long-suffering Detective Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). Perhaps one of the most successful buddy cop movies of all time, “Lethal Weapon” became a huge box office hit and spawned numerous imitators over the years, as well as three sequels of diminishing quality. It also propelled Gibson into the elite status of Hollywood superstar, as his offbeat and often humorous portrayal of a cop on the edge helped reshape the modern action hero. Sandwiched between the meandering crime drama “Tequila Sunrise” (1988) and the disappointing action comedy “Bird on a Wire” (1990) was the blockbuster sequel, “Lethal Weapon 2” (1989), which again showcased uncanny chemistry between Gibson and Glover while raking in box office dollars to become another runaway hit. Gibson’s patented swagger failed to save the dismal action-comedy “Air America” (1990), in which he co-starred with Robert Downey, Jr. as a pilot flying contraband to Laos during the Vietnam War.

In a surprising career move, an aging Gibson decided to play the titular role in an abridged, but otherwise faithful adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (1990), which also starred Glenn Close as Queen Gertrude, Alan Bates as King Claudius and Helena Bonham Carter as the doomed Ophelia. While the film was problematic, particularly due to director Franco Zeffirelli’s committing the cardinal sin of blending scenes together, Gibson offered a ranged and finely rendered portrait of the Melancholy Dane. The film also marked the first project produced by his newly minted company, Icon Productions. Gibson continued in a more sentimental vein with the sudsy romantic fantasy “Forever Young” (1992), before scoring another huge hit with the mediocre “Lethal Weapon 3” (1993), which again highlighted a cloying Joe Pesci as the fast-talking Leo Getz from the first sequel. Meanwhile, Gibson made his directorial debut with “The Man Without a Face” (1993), a touching drama in which he hid his good looks behind the heavy makeup of a reclusive burn victim who mentors a troubled adolescent boy (Nick Stahl) determined to pass the entrance exam to an exclusive military academy. Both conventional and occasionally pedestrian, the understated film failed to foretell what was to come from the new director.

Gibson returned to his rowdy commercial ways with “Maverick” (1994), a remake of the Western-comedy television series from the 1960s, which turned the great onscreen chemistry between himself and co-stars James Garner and Jodie Foster into more box office success. He vaulted his career to far reaching new heights when he returned to the director’s chair for “Braveheart” (1995), a project far bigger than any with which he had been previously involved in any capacity. Gibson starred as the real-life Sir William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish nobleman who led a ragtag band of fellow Scots to fight for their freedom from the tyranny of British rule. Featuring both exceedingly violent and bloody battles scenes, and moments of touching sentiment, “Braveheart” was a return for Hollywood to epic filmmaking. “Braveheart” earned a healthy chunk of international box office while renewing interest in Scottish history.. Most importantly, however, Gibson’s second film as director earned 10 Academy Award nominations and won five, including statues for Best Picture and Best Director.

Later that same year, Gibson made his first entry into feature animation, providing the voice for John Smith in Disney’s “Pocahontas” (1995). He continued to earn top box office dollars with his next few films, which included playing a vengeance-minded father trying to rescue his kidnapped son (Brawley Nolte) in Ron Howard’s “Ransom” (1996) and a New York City cab driver whose belief in U.N. black helicopters and the New World order leads to an all-too-real run-in with the CIA in Richard Donner’s “Conspiracy Theory” (1997). The latter thriller marked his fifth overall collaboration with Donner, which proved to be a surprising commercial dud compared to their previous work, especially with Julia Roberts starring opposite Gibson. The actor-director pair rebounded with “Lethal Weapon 4” (1998), the fourth installment to the creatively flagging franchise that nonetheless reaffirmed the bankability of the Riggs-Murtaugh team in terms of box office haul. Joining forces with “Conspiracy Theory” scribe Brian Helgeland for his directing debut, Gibson starred in a loose reworking of Donald Westlake’s “Payback” (1999), playing a vengeful thief looking to repay his partners for double-crossing him during a heist. Despite possessing the makings of a potentially compelling thriller, “Payback” failed to capitalize on Gibson’s dark turn into anti-hero territory.

Always looking to take on a fresh perspective with his onscreen persona, Gibson starred in “What Women Want” (2000), a romantic comedy in which he portrayed an über-alpha male and advertising executive who learns to overcome his chauvinism by falling for a rival executive (Helen Hunt). Though not a particularly inspiring film, “What Women Want” was a huge hit at the box office, taking in almost $200 million domestically. While his star power failed to make Wim Wenders’ “The Million Dollar Hotel” (2000) a mainstream success, Gibson was compelling as a strange FBI agent sporting a neck brace who investigates the apparent suicide of the son of a U.S. Senator (Tim Roth) at a seedy Los Angeles hotel. Gibson next joined tent pole specialists Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich for the Revolutionary War drama, “The Patriot” (2000). Essentially a Western with some “Braveheart” touches, “The Patriot” cast him as a retired soldier still spooked by his memories of the French and Indian War, who clings fast to his pacifism until his son (Heath Ledger) falls into enemy hands, triggering his course of revenge.

After voicing Rocky the Rooster in the animated “Chicken Run” (2000), a feathered reimagining of “The Great Escape” (1963), Gibson appeared in the poorly-received, flag-waving war drama, “We Were Soldiers” (2002). He followed with a turn as a country farmer and reverend who, along with his family (Joaquin Ph nix, Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin), fend off alien invaders in M. Night Shyamalan’s impossible to swallow, but ultimately successful “Signs” (2002). The actor was almost unrecognizable behind a wig of thinning hair and bulbous prosthetics in the film adaptation of Dennis Potter’s acclaimed BBC television serial, “The Singing Detective” (2003). While the film failed to burn up the box office, Gibson, who also produced the film, earned personal kudos for employing old “Air America” co-star Robert Downey, Jr., to play the lead, despite the troubled actor’s many difficulties with drug arrests at that time. Meanwhile, “The Singing Detective” marked the beginning of a long acting hiatus for Gibson, who felt at the time that he was becoming burned out on his image. He also ran into his own public legal trouble that almost spelled a certain end to his career, though he wound up weathering the storm. In the meantime, Gibson embarked on two directing projects that delivered their own share of criticism.

Gibson ignited a wildfire of public controversy with his third directorial effort “The Passion of the Christ” (2004), a hard-hitting, highly bloody depiction of the Gospels in which Gibson – a hardcore Catholic who was inspired to make the film after struggling with his own personal demons – wanted to illustrate the severe suffering and selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Jim Caviezel). Studios were reluctant to back the project, not only for its explicit religious views, but because Gibson wanted to film the movie in the original Aramaic spoken at the time of Christ.

Meanwhile, critics were polarized by the film, with many citing the violence and gore as excessive, while others praised Gibson’s unflinching portrayal. With interest in the controversial film at a fever pitch when it opened, “The Passion of the Christ” debuted to box office blockbuster-sized grosses, thanks to the legions of true believers who boarded church buses and flocked to theaters in droves. “The Passion of the Christ” became a runaway sensation and perhaps the most profitable independent film of all time, taking in over $370 million in domestic box office and putting the director into the enviable position being able to make anything he wanted for his next project. Some hoped that he would return to “Braveheart” territory, but Gibson instead chose to direct “Apocalypto” (2006), a sprawling and rather bizarre-looking film set in the ancient Maya civilization that focused on a young man’s perilous journey into a world ruled by fear and oppression, where a harrowing end awaits him. Details about the story remained under tight wraps, though it became known that Gibson shot the entire film in the obscure Mayan language, again risking the alienation of American theaterg rs impatient with reading subtitles. Gibson also shot the film with unknown actors, adding further complications to an already tricky release for Disney.

Then after a seven-year absence, Gibson finally returned to acting with a leading role in the film adaptation of the BBC miniseries, “Edge of Darkness,” in which he played a Boston homicide detective trying to uncover the truth behind his daughter’s murder, leading to a government cover-up spearheaded by a shadowy operative (Ray Winstone).

Vanessa Redgrave is generally regarded as one of the great actors of her generation. She was born in London in 1937. Her parents were the actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Her late brother and sister were Corin and Lynn Redgrave. Her children the late Natasha Richardson and Joely Richardson are/were actors as is her husband Franco Nero. She has alternated her career between stage and sscreen and between the U.K. and the U.S. She made her movie debut in 1958 in “Behind the Mask” and came to international fame in 1965 in the movie “Morgan. A Suitable Case for Treatment”. Subsequent films include “Blow Up”, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, “Agatha”, “Camelot”, “Julia” and “The Pledge”.

TCM overview:

From her start on the London stage in the 1960s, Vanessa Redgrave went on to become one of the most internationally respected actresses of stage and screen, with the Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Tony awards to prove it. Redgrave was trained in the classical tradition but made her mark essaying non-conforming free-thinkers like modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan in “Isadora” (1968) and a 19th century American feminist in “The Bostonians” (1984), while earning her share of controversy for her outspoken activism through decades of international politics and human rights issues. Redgrave brought the same passion for her convictions to her acting work. Despite her ability to carry a film with a bold lead character, Redgrave spent a considerable amount of her screen career as a versatile supporting player in art house fare like the controversial “Julia” (1977); biopics like “Wilde” (1997) and “The Gathering Storm” (HBO, 2002); period dramas such as “Howard’s End” (1992) and “Atonement” (2007); and American independent films like “Little Odessa” (1994) and “The Pledge” (2001). She also made a few successful forays into Hollywood blockbuster territory with supporting roles in “Mission: Impossible” (1996) and “Deep Impact” (1998) while her stage career continued unabated. As the center of a family acting dynasty that went back several generations and would produce further generations of performers, Redgrave held an esteemed position in entertainment history for her own high level of work and that which she generated in her collaborators.

Born in London, England on Jan. 30, 1937, Redgrave was born into an acting empire as the daughter of legendary stage and screen performer Michael Redgrave, best known for Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” (1938), and actress Rachel Kempson. The sibling of two equally notable actors, Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, she entered London’s School of Speech and Drama in 1954 and made her professional debut four years later in “A Touch of the Sun,” co-starring her famous father. Redgrave became one of the British stage’s shining lights during the 1960s with productions of “As You Like It” and “The Seagull,” as well as her run in the title role of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1966) marking her greatest stage achievement of the period. She was unable to follow the play to Broadway or appear in its movie adaptation due to her own film career. Redgrave became a movie star thanks to the 1966 comedy “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” in which she played the long-suffering ex-wife of an eccentric young man (David Warner). She earned nominations from the Oscars, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and the Cannes Film Festival for her performance and followed it up by playing another hip Londoner in Michelangelo Antonioni’s stylish “Blow-Up” (1966). Both pictures helped solidify Redgrave’s screen persona as a modern, intelligent woman whose cool and impassive exterior masked a range of conflicting emotions and passions.

Redgrave’s next feature was “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1968), a BAFTA-nominated historical drama by Tony Richardson, who was Redgrave’s husband and the father of her two daughters. That union collapsed in 1967 amidst much-publicized allegations of his affair with French actress Jeanne Moreau. That same year, Redgrave crossed the Atlantic to star as Guinevere in the film version of the hit Broadway musical “Camelot” (1967). Her Lancelot was up-and-coming Italian actor Franco Nero, and their onscreen romance translated into an off-screen relationship that produced a son, future director and screenwriter Carlo Nero. Redgrave was perfectly cast and earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of iconoclastic modern dance innovator Isadora Duncan in the biopic “Isadora” (1968). As her fame grew, so did her reputation as a fierce political campaigner for liberal and world causes. A socialist by her own description, she was arrested during anti-military and nuclear proliferation protests, and led marches against the Vietnam War in the United States. She also ran four times for a seat in the British Parliament as a candidate for the Workers’ Revolutionary Party, which advocated the dissolution of capitalism and the British monarchy.

The actress’ star dimmed a bit during the 1970s, and her difficulty finding substantial work on screen led to supporting parts or leads in more artistic and independent-minded productions. She was top-billed in the historic drama “Mary, Queen of Scots” (1971) and earned an Oscar nod for portrayal of Scotland’s last Roman Catholic leader, but her subsequent appearances found smaller and more select audiences. She played a mentally unstable nun whose passion for a local priest (Oliver Reed) leads to a horrific witch hunt in Ken Russell’s shocking “The Devils” (1971), and essayed the tragic Andromache opposite Katharine Hepburn in the U.S.-Greek production of “The Trojan Women” (1971). Returning to film in 1974 as one of the all-star suspects in Sidney Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” she also played a patient of Sigmund Freud whose plight attracts the attention of Sherlock Holmes in “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution” (1976). That same year, she made her Broadway debut in Henrik Ibsen’s “The Lady from the Sea.”

In 1977, Redgrave was cast in the pivotal title role in “Julia” (1977), based on playwright Lillian Hellman’s own friendship with a woman who later enlists her in a fight against the growing tide of Nazism in Europe. Redgrave won the Best Actress Oscar for her impassioned performance, but the award ceremony was tainted by protests over her acceptance speech, which cited her refusal to cave in the face of threats from what she described as “Zionist hoodlums.” Redgrave was an open supporter of the Palestinian cause, and her portrayal of a Jew in the film generated anger from the Jewish Defense League who openly protested the Oscars due to her nomination. They were also upset about the 1977 documentary “The Palestinian,” which she narrated and produced. Despite criticism from Jewish groups, Redgrave won the Oscar for “Julia” in 1977 and went on to earn an Emmy for her performance as a concentration camp survivor in the 1980 television movie “Playing for Time.” There was no denying, however, that the controversy had a chilling effect on her career.

For much of the next decade, Redgrave experienced her share of box office failures like “Agatha” (1979), but she maintained the respect and interest of art house fans with roles including that of a lesbian suffragette in “The Bostonians” (1984), which earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, and “Wetherby” (1985), which marked the directorial debut of playwright David Hare. “Prick Up Your Ears” (1987) brought her a New York Film Critics Award for her turn as Peggy Ramsay, agent to playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman). Television also offered her exceptional roles, including that of transsexual tennis player Renee Richards in 1986’s “Second Serve” and the Joan Crawford role in a remake of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” opposite sister Lynne in 1991. She also appeared on Broadway for the first time in over a decade in a 1988 production of Tennessee Williams’ “Orpheus Descending,” which was filmed for broadcast on TNT in 1990.

Redgrave settled into a string of small but high profile roles like the period costume drama “Howards End” (1992), which earned the actress another Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and “Little Odessa” (1994), where she played the seriously ill mother of a Russian mobster (Tim Roth). Tom Cruise and Brian De Palma handpicked her to play arms dealer “Max” in “Mission: Impossible” (1996), and she shone as Oscar Wilde’s mother in “Wilde” (1997) as well as in a rare lead as Virginia Woolf’s reflective heroine, “Mrs. Dalloway” in 1997. Save for the latter, these supporting turns allowed Redgrave the fluidity to focus on other aspects of her career, including stage performances and her role as a United Nations Special Representative of the Arts, for which she mounted festivals in Kosovo and other war-torn regions. She and brother Corin also established the Moving Theater, which staged a production of the long-lost Tennessee Williams play “Not About Nightingales” in 1998.

Balancing turns in big budget productions with stellar performances in quieter independent films, Redgrave continued to work steadily after reaching her 60th birthday. She played the female head of a mob family in the campy TV miniseries “Bella Mafia” (1997) and appeared in the sci-fi disaster film “Deep Impact” (1998) while taking supporting roles in dramas “Girl, Interrupted” (2000), Sean Penn’s “The Pledge” (2001) and “A Rumor of Angels” (2000). Her turn as a sixties-era lesbian who loses her long-time partner in the tragic “1961” episode of HBO’s “If These Walls Could Talk 2” earned her a Golden Globe and an award for Excellence in Media from GLAAD. She followed this with an Emmy-nominated turn as Clementine Churchill, wife of famed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in “The Gathering Storm” in 2002. In 2003, she received her first Tony Award for a Broadway production of “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Her political voice still as strong as ever, during this period Redgrave and brother Corin launched the Party for Peace and Progress, which stumped against the U.S. and U.K.’s involvement in Iraq, as well as for the rights of political dissidents and refugees.

In 2005, Redgrave returned to American television in a recurring role on the controversial series, “Nip/Tuck” (FX, 2003-2010) as the mother of Julia McNamara, played by her own daughter, Joely Richardson. She also co-starred with daughter Natasha in the well-regarded Merchant/Ivory production “The White Countess,” and enjoyed substantial parts in a string of critically lauded features, including “Venus” (2006), “Evening” (2007), and “Atonement” (2007), which was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Consistently active in theater, Redgrave was awarded the Ibsen Centennial Award in 2006 for her efforts in plays by the acclaimed author, but she was nominated for a Tony for portraying author Joan Didion in the one-woman play “The Year of Magical Thinking” (2007). In March 2009, Redgrave found herself in the news for the most unfortunate of circumstances when her eldest daughter and frequent collaborator, Natasha Richardson, suffered critical head injuries in a skiing accident while on vacation in Canada. Redgrave, her daughter Joely, her own sister Lynn, and Richardson’s husband of over a decade, actor Liam Neeson, kept a bedside vigil at the New York hospital where Natasha was transferred after the head injury two days before. On March 18, 2009, Redgrave lost her daughter after she was taken off life support following confirmation that she was officially brain dead. She was just 45. A little over a year later, Redgrave also lost both of her siblings within less than a month of each other, with Corin Redgrave dying in London on April 6, 2010 and younger sister Lynn passing on May 2, 2010 after a battle with breast cancer.

In spite of these tragedies, Redgrave continued to work as hard as ever, appearing in no fewer than five projects that year, including the films “Letters to Juliet” (2010) and “The Whistleblower” (2010). She then lent her imperious voice to a vehicular version of Her Majesty the Queen for the Disney/Pixar sequel “Cars 2” (2011) and played the all-too human Queen Elizabeth I in director Roland Emmerich’s fictionalized examination of who actually penned the works attributed to William Shakespeare in “Anonymous” (2011). Near the end of that year, Redgrave portrayed Volumnia, the influential mother of banished Roman general “Coriolanus” (2011). Helmed by first-time director Ralph Fiennes, who also starred in the title role, the film was a modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy of the same name.

The TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

James Mitchell had two distinct careers in the performing arts. Initially he was an acclaimed dancer in Broadway musicals and films including “Oklahoma” in 1955 and “Carousel” in 1956. In his later years he starred for many years(until his death) in the day time TV series “All My Children”. He died in 2010 at the age of 89.

Ronald Bergan’s “Guardian” obituary:

There are legions of actors who are deeply grateful for the existence of long-running television soap operas. James Mitchell, who has died aged 89, was one of them. He enjoyed playing the wily patriarch Palmer Cortlandt in the popular US daytime soap All My Children from 1979 to 2008. It came at the right time in his career. At 59, his dancing days were over and his film acting had failed to catch fire.

The majority of loyal fans of All My Children were probably not aware that the debonair, grey-haired Mitchell, still svelte and handsome, had been a leading dancer for many years, particularly associated with the celebrated choreographer Agnes de Mille. According to De Mille, Mitchell had “probably the strongest arms in the business, and the adagio style developed by him and his partners has become since a valued addition to ballet vocabulary”.

Mitchell, whose parents emigrated from England, was born on a fruit farm in Sacramento, California. He was three years old when his mother left his father and returned to England with his two younger siblings. His farmer father, feeling unable to bring up his son alone, gave him up to foster parents. They were vaudevillians and Mitchell first appeared on stage as part of their act. Some years later his father, who had remarried, claimed him back. Mitchell was devastated. Life on a farm was not for him and he decided to get back on the stage as soon as he could.

At 17, Mitchell made for Los Angeles, where he studied at City College. At the same time, he was introduced to modern dance at the school of the famed teacher and choreographer Lester Horton. Mitchell soon joined Horton’s Dance Theatre of Los Angeles and was one of the Lester Horton Dancers who appeared in a few Hollywood musicals in the early 1940s. He was also featured in a South Sea Island dance duet with Bella Lewitzky in White Savage (1943), a camp piece of Technicolor exotica starring Maria Montez.

In 1944, Mitchell began his long partnership with De Mille when she cast him as a dancer in the Broadway musical Bloomer Girl starring Celeste Holm. He also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Brigadoon (1947) and Paint Your Wagon (1951), both choreographed by De Mille.

In the meantime, Mitchell was beginning to get non-dancing supporting roles in some good movies. In Raoul Walsh’s genuinely tragic western Colorado Territory (1949), he played outlaw Joel McCrea’s nasty cohort; again with McCrea, he was a young doctor in Jacques Tourneur’s Stars in My Crown (1950), and in two gripping Anthony Mann dramas, he was darkened and moustachioed as a Mexican migrant worker in Border Incident (1949), and darkened further as a Native American in Devil’s Doorway (1950).

Mitchell also shone in a few film musicals in which he could display his dancing skills. As bayou fisherman Mario Lanza’s friend in The Toast of New Orleans (1950), he has a spirited duet with Rita Moreno, and an erotic one with Cyd Charisse in an Arabian Nights number from Deep in My Heart (1954), a biopic of the American composer Sigmund Romberg. A year later, he was reunited with De Mille on the movie version of Oklahoma! for the 20-minute dream ballet.

Ironically, Mitchell did not dance in the best musical in which he appeared. In Vincente Minnelli’s The Band Wagon (1953), he has the thankless role of Charisse’s manager, boyfriend and choreographer (an experience he disliked so much he refused to see the film) who is sniffy about his protege deserting the ballet for a Broadway musical. Not so Mitchell himself, who had leading roles in Carnival! (1961), as Marco the Magnificent, and Mack & Mabel (1974), as the movie director William Desmond Taylor.

From 1979, Mitchell settled into the role of Palmer Cortlandt, a man audiences loved to hate. “He adored playing mean,” explained the costume designer Albert Wolsky, Mitchell’s partner since they met on the film The Turning Point in 1977. Albert survives him.

• James Mitchell, actor and dancer; born 29 February 1920; died 22 January

The above “Guardian” obituary can also be accessed online here.

James Cromwell was born in Los Angeles in 1940. He is the son of actress Kay Johnson and actor/director John Cromwell. His films include “L.A. Confidential”, “Babe”, “The Green Mile” and as ‘George Bish Snr’ in “W”. He has acted with Marie Mullen in Garry Hyne’s stage production in Galway of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”.

TCM overview:

Despite spending years honing his craft on stage and building a career on television and in film, actor James Cromwell spent the better part of two decades struggling to make his name in the shadow of his famous father, director John Cromwell. Though he found steady work on sitcoms like “All in the Family” (CBS, 1970-79) and on the big screen in films like “Murder by Death” (1976), Cromwell became so disillusioned trying to make it in show business that he spent 18 months trying to find himself; even hitchhiking across the Sahara Desert on his own. Cromwell began hitting his stride as a character actor in supporting roles in the 1980s, making his way in numerous made-for-television movies and miniseries, while earning some dubious acclaim as the nerdy father of an über-geek in “Revenge of the Nerds” (1984). He finally achieved critical acclaim and Academy Award recognition for his endearing performance in “Babe” (1995), which helped propel his career. But it was his portrayal of a murderous Machiavellian police captain in “L.A. Confidential” (1997) that made audiences aware of his diverse talents, which paved the way to more prominent roles in large-scale films like “The Green Mile” (1999), “The Sum of All Fears” (2002), “The Queen” (2006) and “W” (2008). He also landed high-profile television roles, most notably on “Six Feet Under” (HBO, 2001-05), which granted the ever-busy Cromwell the recognition he richly deserved.

Born on Jan. 27, 1940 in Los Angeles, CA, Cromwell was raised by his father, John Cromwell, a noted director blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and his mother, Kay Johnson, a prominent film actress who appeared in “Thirteen Women” (1932) and her husband’s picture, “Of Human Bondage” (1934). Growing up in a show business family no doubt instilled his desire to be an actor at an early age. But after attending The Hill School, a prestigious boarding school in eastern Pennsylvania, Cromwell set his sights on becoming an engineer, attending Middlebury College in Vermont, then Carnegie Institute of Technology (later renamed Carnegie Mellon University). After a year at Carnegie, Cromwell dropped out to pursue acting full-time, working regional theater as both an actor and a director in productions of “The Iceman Cometh” at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, “Beckett” at the Cleveland Playhouse and “Othello” at the American Shakespeare Festival. Cromwell joined director John O’Neal’s Free Southern Theater in New Orleans, where the young actor had his first taste of racial injustice, leading to a lifetime of social and political activism, including a tour of bombed-out churches in the South during the 1960s.

While he remained politically active – he worked for the Black Panthers to arrange bail for their jailed leaders and was arrested himself at anti-war protests – Cromwell spent the next couple of decades struggling to establish his career. He made his first strides in the early 1970s while performing in a play at the Mark Tapper Forum in Los Angeles, where he was spotted and subsequently cast as Jerome “Stretch” Cunningham, comic foil for famed curmudgeon Archie Bunker (Caroll O’Connor), on “All in the Family.” Cromwell next landed a regular series role as Bill the Desk Clerk on the sitcom, “The Hot L Baltimore” (ABC, 1974-75), then made his feature film debut in “Murder by Death” (1976), playing the over-attentive chauffeur to French private investigator, Milo Perrier (James Coco). Continuing to appear on television, he was the absentee husband to the dim-witted daughter (Beverly Archer) of a Hollywood agent (Nancy Walker) on the short-lived sitcom, “The Nancy Walker Show” (ABC, 1976).

After the failed pilot-turned-TV movie, “The Girl in the Empty Grave” (NBC, 1977), Cromwell settled into a long string of supporting roles in television movies like “A Christmas Without Snow” (CBS, 1980) and “The Wall” (CBS, 1982). Back in features, he played a corrupt deputy sheriff in “Tank” (1982), then was the nerd father of an even nerdier son (Robert Carradine) being sent off to college in “Revenge of the Nerds” (1984), a role he reprised in the sequels, “Revenge of the Nerds II” (1987), “Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation” (Fox, 1992) and “Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love” (Fox, 1994). Meanwhile, he maintained a steady, albeit unrecognized presence on the small screen, appearing as the deputy chief of police in “The Last Precinct” (NBC, 1986), as Dana Ivey’s milquetoast husband in “Easy Street” (NBC, 1986-87), and as Bruce Weitz’s friend in “Mama’s Boy” (NBC, 1987-88). Following an episode of “Life Goes On” (ABC, 1989-1990), Cromwell was buried in the cast of “Things That Go Bump in the Night” (ABC, 1989) and had a bit more prominence in the disaster drama, “Miracle Landing” (CBS, 1990), a true story about an Aloha Airlines flight that managed to land despite having the top skin of its fuselage ripped off during flight.

In Arthur Hiller’s “The Babe” (1992), an endearing chronicle of the life and career of George Herman “Babe” Ruth (John Goodman), he appeared briefly as a monk at a boarding school for boys who introduces a young boy and future slugger to the game of baseball as a means of unleashing his pent-up anger. Then after two decades toiling in small, often meaningless roles, Cromwell finally earned his due in Chris Noonan’s “Babe” (1995), playing Farmer Hoggett, a gentle shepherd who recognizes the special qualities of a piglet adept at herding sheep. Cromwell gave a charming, joyful and wholly dimensional portrayal of the farmer, earning him a 1995 Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. After tackling a supporting role in the Arnold Schwarzenegger action thriller “Eraser” (1996) and playing the inventor of the warp drive in “Star Trek: First Contact” (1996), Cromwell delivered an uncanny performance as banker and founder of the right-wing watchdog group Citizens for Decent Literature in Milos Foreman’s excellent biopic, “The People vs. Larry Flynt” (1996), which starred Woody Harrelson as the unflinching publisher of Hustler magazine.

Because he built up his resume playing goofballs on sitcoms, the bespectacled father of a nerd on film and a kindly farmer who befriends a talking pig, no one was prepared for the sheer cunning, manipulation and coldhearted evil he displayed in “L.A. Confidential” (1997), Curtis Hanson’s award-winning adaptation of James Ellroy’s labyrinth tome about police corruption in 1950s Los Angeles. Cromwell played Captain Dudley Smith, head of a Los Angeles precinct who turns a blind eye to violence and corruption. A political animal who tries to school Ed Exley, a young, but ambitious detective (Guy Pierce), Smith runs his department with a heavy hand, though he remains loyal to those willing to do his bloody bidding behind closed doors, which includes the uncontrollably violent Det. Bud White (Russell Crowe). In the end, the incorruptible Exley discovers that Smith has been a kind of crime boss, running drugs and committing murders, which leads to forming partnerships with White and “Hollywood” Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) and confronting Smith in a violent showdown. Though overshadowed by the emergence of Russell Crowe as a star and the film itself at the Academy Awards, Cromwell nonetheless established himself as a multifaceted character performer.

Returning to a softer mode, Cromwell was cast as an Appalachian mountain man raising his part Native American grandson (Joseph Ashton) in the family drama “The Education of Little Tree” (1997) and reprised his role as Farmer Hoggett in the sequel “Babe: Pig in the City” (1998). With his star on the rise, he was seen in no less than four high-profile television and feature film projects the following year. He played a cold-hearted Army captain whose troubled soldier daughter is found dead in the big-screen adaptation of Nelson DeMille’s novel “The General’s Daughter” (1999) and earned an Emmy nomination for his deft portrayal of William Randolph Hearst in “RKO 281” (HBO, 1999), the critically acclaimed drama about the making of Orson Welles’ (Liev Schreiber) classic “Citizen Kane” (1941). Cromwell then had the pivotal role of a judge overseeing a murder trial in the Ethan Hawke weeper “Snow Falling on Cedars” (1999), followed by a small part as a private detective in the crime drama “A Slight Case of Murder” (TNT, 1999). The actor followed those projects up by appearing in the live televised version of the Cold War thriller “Fail Safe” (CBS, 2000) opposite George Clooney and Richard Dreyfuss, then supported Clint Eastwood, James Garner and Tommy Lee Jones in the comedic drama about aging astronauts going back into space in “Space Cowboys” (2000).

In 2001, Cromwell enjoyed a nice run on the small screen, beginning with an Emmy-nominated turn as a dying bishop in a story arc on the long-running medical drama, “ER” (NBC, 1994-2009). He subsequently co-starred in the adaptation of “The Magnificent Ambersons” (A&E, 2002) before undertaking the title role in the short-lived CBS fall drama “Citizen Baines” (CBS, 2001), about a former three-term U.S. Senator adjusting to life back in his home state after losing a bid for re-election. Cromwell – an outspoken actor who would take stances on various social and political issues – continued in a political vein on screen as well, playing the president in the Tom Clancy military thriller “The Sum of All Fears” (2002) and a resentful Vice President Lyndon Johnson in the cable biopic “RFK” (FX Network, 2002). The actor continued to leapfrog successfully between high-profile film and television projects, playing a scientist in the sci-fi thriller “I, Robot” (2004) and the warden in Adam Sandler’s remake of “The Longest Yard” (2005). After co-starring in the acclaimed HBO miniseries “Angels in America” (2003), about several interconnected lives in New York during the onset of the AIDS epidemic, Cromwell co-starred in a television remake of Stephen King’s horror classic “Salem’s Lot” (2004).

In 2004, Cromwell enjoyed another career-defining role in “Six Feet Under” (HBO, 2000-05), playing the much-married professor George Sibley, who weds the Fisher family matriarch Ruth (Frances Conroy) without revealing his dark secret. The actor stayed with the series through its final season. After playing Cardinal Sapieha in the miniseries “Pope John Paul II” (CBS, 2006) and Prince Philip to Helen Mirren’s Elizabeth II in “The Queen” (2006), Cromwell was a nice fit as Philip Bauer, father to anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), on “24” (Fox, 2001-2010). He was next cast in the disappointing sequel “Spider-Man 3” (2007), playing police captain George Stacy, who was the father of the web-slinger’s friend and possible love interest Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). In perhaps one of his most anticipated roles, Cromwell portrayed former president George H.W. Bush in “W” (2008), director Oliver Stone’s love-it-or-hate-it biopic on President George W. Bush (Josh Brolin). Following supporting turns in the sci-fi/action thriller “Surrogates” (2009) and the heartwarming drama “Secretariat” (2010), Cromwell was part of an exceptional cast for the silent black-and-white critical darling, “The Artist” (2011).

Back on the small screen, he played American industrialist Andrew Mellon in three episodes of “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO, 2010- ) before portraying a doctor and former Nazi engaging in sadistic experiments on the second season of the anthology series “American Horror Story” (FX, 2011- ). His uncharacteristically sinister turn was well received and resulted in his first Emmy win in 2013.

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Jack Thompson is regarded as one of the major Australian actors to break through to international fame in the 1970’s. He was born in 1940 in Sydney. His movies include “Sunday Too Far Away”, “The Man From Snowy River” and in 1980 the brilliant “Breaker Morant”. In 1983 he starred with David Bowie in “Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence”.

TCM overview:

An Australian icon whose acting career paralleled that nation’s emergence into mainstream cinema, Jack Thompson first gained prominence as the star of the Aussie TV series “Spyforce”. He solidified his reputation during the 1970s with movies like “Petersen” (1974), “Sunday Too Far Away” (1975) and “The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith” (1978) before giving an award-winning performance as the defense attorney in Bruce Beresford’s “Breaker Morant” (1980), his first film to get wide exposure in the USA. He also appeared in a small role as a horseman in George Miller’s “The Man From Snowy River” (1982), another movie from Down Under that became a hit with American audiences.

Thompson made his American television debut in the syndicated miniseries “A Woman Called Golda” (1982), starring Ingrid Bergman, and followed quickly with a turn opposite Lee Remick in the ABC movie “The Letter” (1982), a remake of the Bette Davis-Herbert Marshall version of the Somerset Maugham story. He played a supporting role in Paul Verhoeven’s first English-language movie, “Flesh + Blood” (1985), and his expanded international film career featured work in New Zealand (“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” 1982), Great Britain (“Black Rainbow” 1989) and the U.S. (“The Wind” 1992), not to mention continued efforts in his homeland (“Ground Zero” 1988).

Since his award-wining performance as Russell Crowe’s understanding father in the Australian film “The Sum of US” (1995), Thompson has acted primarily in the USA, receiving tremendous TV exposure, first for his role opposite Sally Field in the NBC miniseries “A Woman of Independent Means” (1995), and then in the CBS miniseries sequel “The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years” (1996). On the big screen, he lent his solid presence as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in John Woo’s “Broken Arrow” and as the Tennessee governor who refuses to pardon death row inmate Sharon Stone in “Last Chance” (both 1996). Thompson also appeared as Alicia Silverstone’s father in the muddled “Excess Baggage” and had one of his best roles as Savannah defense attorney Sonny Seiler in Clint Eastwood’s film version of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” (both 1997).

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Antonio Sabato Jnr. is the son of actor Antonio Sabato and was born in Rome in 1972. His family moved to the U.S. when he was 13. He began his career on American television in the series “General Hospital” in 1992. His movies include “Jailbreakers”, “The Big Hit” and “Tribe”.

TCM overview:

An Italian-born model-turned-actor, Antonio Sabato, Jr. first dazzled audiences in 1990 with his sexy performance in the Janet Jackson video “Love Will Never Do (Without You).” Off-screen, he fathered a child with then-girlfriend Virginia Madsen, and onscreen proved so popular in the role of the brooding Jagger Cates on “General Hospital” (ABC, 1963- ) that he broke out of daytime to star as Alonzo Solace, a pilot on the sci-fi series “Earth 2” (NBC, 1994-95) and as Heather Locklear’s abusive first husband on “Melrose Place” (Fox, 1992-99). A frequent guest star on various series, Sabato worked steadily in made-for-TV movies and genre projects, including playing an ex-Navy SEAL in “Codename: Wolverine” (Fox, 1996) or starring in the schlocky “Shark Hunter” (2001). He essayed a strong supporting turn as a mysteriously vanished gay man in the indie “Testosterone” (2003), played a personal trainer on the sitcom “The Help” (The WB, 2004) and returned to soap operas, first as a sexy sculptor on “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS, 1987- ) before reprising Jagger on “General Hospital: Night Shift” (SOAPnet, 2007-08). He won the reality competition “Celebrity Circus” (NBC, 2008) before earning his own dating show, “My Antonio” (VH1, 2009), which saw women competing for Sabato’s hand as well as the approval of his formidable mother. Although he never achieved an acting role that equaled audiences’ reactions to his beauty, Antonio Sabato Jr. carved out a lengthy acting career with a good-natured, likable self-awareness that only added to his allure.

Born Feb. 29, 1972 in Rome, Italy, Antonio Sabato, Jr. moved to Beverly Hills, CA when he was 13. Blessed with a rugged beauty and a body to match, he went from being a Calvin Klein underwear model to appearing alongside fellow genetic lottery winner Djimon Hounsou in the iconic 1990 Janet Jackson music video “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” directed by Herb Ritts. So powerful and alluring was Sabato’s image onscreen that he springboarded yet again to acting, landing the role of the bad boy with a heart of gold, Jagger Cates, on the perennial soap opera “General Hospital” (ABC, 1963- ). His smoldering character and fabled onscreen relationship with Karen Wexler (Cari Shayne) led to him landing mainstream attention, including a spot on People magazine’s 1993 “50 Most Beautiful People” issue and three Soap Opera Digest Award nominations. His Hollywood stock rising, Sabato played a killer in “Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter?” (NBC, 1993) and graduated from daytime television to play the cocky, gifted pilot Alonzo Solace on the Emmy-nominated sci-fi series “Earth 2” (NBC, 1994-95).

He welcomed a baby with his then-girlfriend, actress Virginia Madsen, in 1994. The actor next notched a short-term role on the influential nighttime soap “Melrose Place” (Fox, 1992-99) as Jack Parezi, the abusive, hot-tempered first husband of Amanda Woodward (Heather Locklear). He went on to play Kellie Martin’s beau in the TV movie “Her Hidden Truth” (NBC, 1995) and then a murderer in the based-on-true-life “If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of ‘America’s Most Wanted'” (Fox, 1996) and toplined as an ex-Navy SEAL in the well-received thriller “Codename: Wolverine” (Fox, 1996). Made-for-TV movies provided Sabato with a plethora of roles, including “The Perfect Getaway” (ABC, 1998) and “Fatal Error” (TBS, 1999), but he also took a supporting role in the Mark Wahlberg/Christina Applegate crime caper “The Big hit” (1998) and continued to accrue TV guest spots, including roles on “Ally McBeal” (Fox, 1997-2002), “The Outer Limits” (Showtime, 1995-2000; Sci Fi, 2001-02) and “Charmed” (The WB, 1998-2006).

Although Sabato worked steadily and was widely recognized, he settled into a lower-tier stardom, appearing most frequently in genre or low-budget projects, including the schlocky creature features “Shark Hunter” (2001) and “Bugs” (USA Network, 2003), as well as the Anna Nicole Smith-inspired oddity “Wasabi Tuna” (2003) and the indie “Testosterone” (2003), which cast Sabato as a mysterious Argentinian whose disappearance inspires his boyfriend to travel to South America. The actor nabbed a series regular role as a personal trainer on the sitcom “The Help” (The WB, 2004) and went on to book a guest spot on the ill-fated “Friends” (NBC, 1994-2004) spin-off “Joey” (NBC, 2004-06) and star in the cheesy terrorism thriller “Crash Landing” (2005). That same year, he returned to soap operas as the sexy Italian sculptor Dante Damiano on “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS, 1987- ). Although he earned two Image Award nominations for his work, Sabato was let go from the soap after a year.

His streak of made-for-TV genre films continued, including “Deadly Skies” (Here!, 2007), “Reckless Behavior: Caught on Tape” (Lifetime, 2007), “Destination: Infestation” (Lifetime Movie Network, 2007) and “Ghost Voyage” (Sci Fi Channel, 2008). Sabato also reprised his star-making role of Jagger Cates on “General Hospital: Night Shift” (SOAPnet, 2007-08) before booking guest spots on “NCIS” (CBS, 2003- ), “CSI: NY” (CBS, 2004- ), “Rizzoli & Isles” (TNT, 2010- ), “Bones” (Fox, 2005- ) and “Hot in Cleveland” (TV Land, 2010- ). Although Sabato had appeared on reality TV before, competing on the celebrity-focused “But Can They Sing?” (VH1, 2005) and winning “Celebrity Circus” (NBC, 2008), he starred on his own dating reality show, “My Antonio” (VH1, 2009), in which his mother helped him choose from a bevvy of beauties, including his ex-wife. Apparently the winner did not capture Sabato’s real-life heart, however, since in 2011 he fathered a child with Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes with the impressive name of Antonio Kamakanaalohamaikalani Harvey Sabato III.

By Jonathan Riggs

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Rob James Collier stars as ‘Thomas Barrow’ in the very popular TV series “Downton Abbey”. He also played ‘Liam Connors’ in “Coronation Street”. He was also featured in the series “Shameless”..

IMDB entry:

Rob James-Collier was born on September 23, 1976 in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England as Robert James-Collier. He is an actor, known for Coronation Street (1960),Downton Abbey (2010) and Mercenaries (2011).) Came into acting while doing a favor for a friend, who asked him to fill in for an actor who failed to show up for his friend’s film shoot. Following this experience, he started taking acting classes during his off hours from work. Modeled for Argos, where he appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2007 and Spring/Summer 2008 catalogs. Won the Sexiest Male award at the 2007 and 2008 British Soap Awards in addition to “Best Exit” at the 2009 British Soap Awards. Also won Sexiest Male and Best Newcomer at the 2007 Inside Soap Awards. Found an acting coach in the Yellow Pages and began going to classes one night a week after work.Studied business at Huddersfield and marketing at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Collection of Contemporary Actors

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan obituary in “The Guardian” in 2013.

Diane Baker

Diane Baker (TCM Overview)

Mel Gibson

Vanessa Redgrave

James Mitchell

James Cromwell

Jack Thompson

Antonio Sabato Jnr.

Rob James Collier

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