We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
In the early 1950s I regularly watched Hugh O’Brien in Universal B movies in which he supported that studio’s main stars of the day such as Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Jeff Chandler and Audie Murphy. The films concerned with which I am most familiar are The Cimarron Kid, Battle at Apache Pass, Yankee Buccaneer, Seminole, Stand at Apache River, Back to God’s Country and Son of Ali Baba. The latter movie is one of Curtis’ ‘ye olden’ days yarns that movie buffs nowadays scour through for the fabled line “Yonda lies da castle of my faddah!”
However Hugh achieved stardom via TV by playing Wyarr Earp in the hit series from 1955-61 and on the back of his television fame he secured a run of leading man roles on the big screen. Most of those movies were not up to much and are long forgotten but the two that I remember most are the 1956 B western The Brass Legend and the 1958 The Fiend who Walked the West.
The Fiend was classed as a horror western and was a remake of the classic 1947 Kiss of Death with Hugh in the Vic Mature role and Robert Evans in the part played by my Richard in the original.
Evans was a “pretty boy” who never really made it as a star and apart from his Fiend role the film I most remember him for is The Sun also Rises (1957) in which he played a boyish-faced bullfighter with whom Ava Gardner became infatuated. Ava could have him as I was there to see Ty Power!
Evans did though become hugely successful as Head of Production at Paramount where he made many famous films like 1970s Love Story, The Godfather in 1972, The Great Gatsby in 1974 and then in 1968 Rosemary’s Baby and in 1969 The Duke’s True Grit. I think that even in his later years Evans still had “pull” with the ladies and in fact if I remember correctly for a time he dated tennis star Serena Williams.
Hey Steve and Bob…..Bob…good information on Hugh…..will have to check out and share that video when I get back home….we went away for the weekend….to visit SoC#1 and the grandkids this weekend.
Hi Steve,
I enjoyed all your latest videos of actors one does not hear much about any-more and I hope it provides Cogerson some ideas for future subjects:
Edmond O’Brien and Jason Robards jr.: Both top-notch supporting players who actually started out as leading men but did not fit into the “star” mold. Later on, wonderful character actors and as your video shows, they both appeared in many great films, though Robards also had a prestigious career in the theatre.
Donald Pleasance: His facial features and bald head made him perfect to play villains and cruel types, including in many horror films, though I think he had one of his best acting moment as a sympathetic character in The Great Escape. Also a reputed stage actor, he reprised his famous stage role as The Caretaker, a key role for him which you might consider including if you ever update your video.
George Hamilton: I prefer the other George, Peppard, who Hamilton started out with in Home From the Hill and co-starred in two more films, though Hamilton himself is a good actor and if he had been given better material to work with, he may have impressed more.
Lee Van Cleef: A face even more unusual and memorable than Pleasance, but it it took Sergio Leone to discover what a great western villain he made. Though apart from For a Few Dollars More, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, and maybe Death Rides a Horse, few of his Spaghetti westerns are memorable.
James Franciscus: Not much of a film career, but I also liked him in Beneath the Planet of the Apes… though he was no Charlton Heston.
Tony/Anthony Franciosa: I was interested by your exchange with Bob. I had forgotten that Garner mentions the fight on the set of A Man Could Get Killed (a justified flop) in his memoirs. Franciosa’s temper probably hurt his career. He actually started out quite promisingly after winning a Tony award for his stage role in A Hatful of Rain, and was initially given second male leads in important dramas (A Face in the Crowd, The Long Hot Summer and of course a Hatful of Rain). By 1959, he was considered big enough (or expected to become big enough) to star alongside the likes of Ava Gardner (The Naked Maja) and Rita Hayworth (The Story on Page One), and was billed before Shirley MacLaine (not yet a top star) in Career, where he probably hit his peak. But he built a reputation of being difficult to work with and after the miserable reception of Go Naked in the World, it became clear audiences had not warmed up to Franciosa as much as as the critics had. So he changed his first name to Tony and started doing lighter and more humourous roles (though Anthony would come back later one). For a while, he obtained some measure of success on TV (The Name of the Game), a a lead of mostly B-films and co-star.
Thanks for memories. Great stuff!
Hey PhilHoF17….good breakdown on Steve’s latest videos. Good information on A Man Could Get Killed….I had not read that before….thanks for that information. Good feedback!
Hi Phil, thanks for checking out my recent videos, much appreciated.
I thought Franciosa, Franciscus and O’Brian looked a bit similar and had a similar presence in films, so I decided to dedicate a week of videos on them. There’s been a thousand views so far on all three so there is still some interest in them.
Franciscus and O’Brian had a Bruce Lee connection, Franciscus had a series called Longstreet in which he was a blind detective! Lee was his martial arts instructor in a few episodes. O’Brian played a villain in Lee’s last film Game of Death. I was a huge Bruce Lee fan in my youth.
There are plenty more 2nd or 3rd tier movie stars I could do videos on in the future. Gene Barry, Stuart Whitman and Bradford Dillman come to mind.
HI STEVE
You are being slightly unfair to me as I tried to get all my posts today in the right sequence – I always do – but Bruce had a no doubt inadvertent partial block on that wouldn’t allow me to totally get the correct sequence this time round and I noticed that some posts had gone out of order and kept my fingers crossed that you would be able to fit the jigsaw together.
Anyway thanks for your feedback on my Lee Van posts. When I saw him getting star billing above La Lollo I recalled that in 1971’s Bad Man’s River he quickly romanced her while her husband was on the other side of a locked outer door, banging on it and demanding to know what was going on inside the room.
Back in the 1950s Gina would not have taken Lee’s character even under her notice and if he had made a pass at her Randolph, Joel or The Duke would have given him the hiding of his life!
Glad you like him as I do – probably too “down market” for The Master or WH to enjoy!
Hey Bob….I had nothing to do with the comments getting posted out of order….I was at work….and have a signed scheduled to proof this….lol. Sorry if the website was doing strange things to your comments.
HI BRUCE
I wasn’t complaining or pointing the finger – I was just trying to explain to Steve that I do make every effort to ensure that my posts are lodged in an appropriate order and not in a willy-nilly fashion.
In some ways Tony reminded me of the young Richard Conte [later lead villain in the Godfather.] Your video attracts a 97.5% rating according to my notes.
Best POSTERS for me are (1) 2 for Go Naked in the World (2) foreign language one for Naked Maja (3) 2 raunchy ones for The Sweet Ride (4) entire set for In Enemy Country (5) foreign language one for Pleasure Seekers (6) Assault on a Queen – I vividly remember seeing that one on holiday in 1966 on The Isle of Man (7) Death Wish 2 (8) foreign language one for Fathom (9) Tenebrae (10) 1st one for Rio Conchos – note the Towering Inferno type compromise billing (11) A Hatful of Rain (12) The Long Hot Summer (13) a stunning one for A Face in the Crowd and (14) A Man Could Get Killed.
The haunting theme tune in A Man Could Get Killed Strangers in the Night, was initially to be sung by Melina Mercouri, the female lead in the movie, but she insisted it should be sung by a man. Ultimately it was released in a version that of course became one of Sinatra’s greatest song hits. However WH records just a $20 million adjusted domestic gross for the movie.
Classy STILLS in your Franciosa video are (1) lobby card featuring La Lollo (2) Tony with saucy “swinger” Ann-Margaret (3) 2 for A man Could Get Killed (4) Tony with Sinatra (5) lobby card for Fathom (6) Tony with young Jane Fonda (7) lobby card Rio Conchos (8) lobby card for Career (9) with Mrs Paul Newman in The Long Hot Summer.
“It was a lazy languid kind of day with the girls in their summer dresses. Then the stranger came to town and nothing was ever the same again.” [Tag line on the 1958 posters for Long Hot Summer displayed in Belfast, Northern Ireland.] Paul was well on his way to mega stardom and wife Joanne was fast becoming a popular high prestige actress. As your posters show Tony got equal [3rd] billing to the pair here but when The Drowning Pool came out in 1975 Paul was billed alone above title and Joanne and Franciosa beneath it.
To Bob on Tony Franciosa.
Thanks for the review, rating, info, trivia and quotes, always appreciated.
Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
I probably knew Franciosa best from Rio Conchos. Fathom was fun and worth watching just to ogle at Raquel Welch.
No 10s on Tony’s filmography, there is a 9 – A Face in the Crowd. Eight films scored 8 out of 10 including – The Long Hot Summer, Career and Rio Conchos.
Regarding your story on ‘Angry Tony’ – “Troubled characters made him a Hollywood star in the 1950s and 60s but combative behavior on movie sets hampered his career. He was infamous on and off the set for his hot temper. In 1957 he served 10 days in the Los Angeles County jail for slugging a press photographer. ”
From IMDB – “A fervent civil rights activist, he was joined by Marlon Brando and Paul Newman in Gadsden, Alabama in 1963 for a desegregation drive.”
HI STEVE
Thanks for your feedback on my Franciosa posts and for the additional trivia much of which was new to me
For example I hadn’t known that he had joined Newman and Brando on a civil rights crusade. In my book that helps compensate for some of Tony’s bad behaviour.
Not everybody is as fair-minded as I am though. In his tirades against Ole Mumbles The Master never once gave him credit for any redeeming features such as civil rights activities.
It is worth mentioning again that Joel attacked Marlon for the great wealth that the latter generated via movie fees and percentages but Joel didn’t mention that Marlon publicly urged ALL celebs to contribute a % of their wealth to the needy. In fact on one occasion The Great Mumbler was booed off a stage for such a suggestion
Anyway rake care and have a good weekend though you will probably be hearing from me again [in my catch-up mode] before the weekend is out.
Bob, I thought you might like this short youtube video from the Oscar channel, it features Burt and Kirk, Brando, Quinn and Franciosa are in there too. Enjoy! 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-0orf0j7g
HI STEVE
Thanks very much for the Oscars video link. Boy did it bring back some distant memories to me!
I had not seen the clip before today but in 1958 my father would at times bring me my breakfast in bed and on the occasion concerned he did that and told me who had won the Oscars overnight and then went on to describe to me the Lancaster/Douglas double comedy act and sing-song shown in the clip.
I was 17 and my father was 43 that year and he was at roughly only the half-way point of his life as he died 43 years later in 2001 aged 86.
It is amazing to think too that Kirk is the only one seen or mentioned in that clip who, at the age of 102, is still alive today. He was 41 in the clip so he had nowhere reached the half-way point of his own life to date. Burt was 44 at the time and died in 1994 aged 80. So Kirk has survived Burt by almost a quarter century.
By the way did you notice that in the clip the two were seated in the same order as their billing in their movies and associated posters – Burt to the left of the screen [ie 1st] and Kirk to the right [2nd]?
I have often noticed that movie stars who often appear together on screen seem to replicate their professional billing when beside each other even in private life photos. To paraphrase Eastwood in the movie In the Line of Fire “I know a thing or two about such matters Steve!”
Hey Steve….thanks for sharing this link….good video…wish it was longer.
Aloha busy Bruce. Glad you liked the video clip. It was great seeing these two top actors letting their hair down and having fun. The worst actors are the one’s who take themselves far too seriously.
Bob, only you could notice the ‘billing’ sitting positions in this video. 😉
So was Kirk never billed before Burt in their seven films together?
Kirk really respected and admired Burt. I think he must have cried like a baby when Burt died 25 years ago.
Thanks for posting!
The young strikingly handsome George Hamilton of his early career was generally perceived as just a “pretty boy” on screen and a playboy and jet-setting high-liver in private life, and for a long time I personally never paid much attention to him apart from a passing interest in the following trivia –
1/His affairs with VIPs/celebs such as Lynda Bird Johnson [daughter of LBJ] and Elizabeth Taylor.
2/George getting himself involved right in the middle of Britain’s Profumo political scandal by virtue of his fling with high-class call girl Mandy Rice Davies.
3/His friendships with Greats such as Sinatra, Gary Grant and Elvis.
All-in-all therefore some of the verses in Peter Starstedt’s song Where Do you go To My Lovely? could have been written with George in mind instead of as many people thought Sophia Loren-
And when the snow falls you’re found in St. Moritz
With the others of the jet set
And you sip your Napoleon brandy
But you never get your lips wet, no you don’t
Your name is heard in high places.
You know the Aga Khan.
He sent you a racehorse for Christmas
Which you keep just for fun ‘cause you can. SEE PART 2
In part one I mentioned how little interest I had in the acting career of George in his early “pretty boy” days. However as he matured I did enjoy him more, for example (1) as the guest villain in 2 TV episodes of Columbo – A Deadly State of Mind (1975) and Murder can be Hazardous for your Health (1991) (2) in the spoof Count Alucard 1979 movie Love at First Bite and (3) in the 1994 TV movie Justice for the Innocent co-starring Robert Conrad though IMDB gives it just a 57% rating.
Best POSTERS in your Hamilton video for me are (1) Jack of Diamonds (2) two for A Time for Killing (3) Evel Knievel – your fading pal Kelly appeared in a later 1977 version in which Evel played himself (4) foreign language one for Thunder of Drums (5) Angel baby (6) The Power (7) Crime and Punishment in the USA (8) 2 foreign language ones for Home from the Hill (10) Love at first Bite – in my view the very best of a great run of posters in the video and (11) Once is Not Enough. According to Bruce’s charts the latter 1975 movie was Kirk’s highest late-career hit and one of only two post 1960s 100 million dollar hits that Douglas had in adjusted domestic dollars, the other being 1978’s The Fury..
STILLS I most liked are (1) both for Zorro (2) lobby card for Dr You Got to be Kidding (3) lobby card for Crime and Punishment USA (4) lobby card for By Love Possessed (5) 2 for All the Fine Young Cannibals (6) lobby card for Viva Maria! (7) Alucard! (8) Light in the Piazza (9) with Big Bob and (10) Godfather 3.
I find it rather ironic that George should ultimately appear among the cast of Godpop 3. Apparently, seeing himself as being a cut above his peers in sophistication, he told one of his biographers that in his early years in Hollywood he had “no intention of being part of the Dean/Brando/Clift T-shirt type guy set.” [If you can’t beat em join em?]
I warmly welcome your Hamilton video to the tune of a 97.5% rating. Unfortunately though George has never earned any Master or Work Horse love.
Years before the Spaghetti Westerns made him a star Lee Van served a long apprenticeship in almost invariably minor villain roles. However my own gang of young teenagers in the 1950s adored him as the traditional “guy you love to hate” because he provided us with the feel good factor that came with him getting his regular comeuppance from the good guy of the story.
Examples of lead western stalwarts to give Lee his just deserts were Cooper in High Noon, Greg in the Bravados, Burt or Kirk [I forget which one] in Gunfight at OK Corral and my Rory in Dawn at Socorro.
In the 1953 Tumbleweed that title referred to a horse in the plot which had exceptional physical qualities – a kind of superhorse – and was able to outrun and outfox a posse that included “smart-ass” Lee and which was chasing good guy Audie Murphy.
Ultimately the posse thought it had Audie and Tumbleweed cornered at the edge of a steep ravine but Tumbleweed nimbly navigated the dangerous slope and galloped off into the distance leaving the other animals cowering back at the edge of the ravine.
Not to be deterred however cocky show-off Van Cleef insisted “My horse can do it!” and forced his animal down the ravine only, for Lee and his mount to go head over heels and bite the dust half way down the ravine.
How we young guys cheered and were joined in laughter from many others in the audience! And it goes to show that in his early days Lee was by and large not the composed authority figure that he often was in the later Spaghetti westerns.
In 1956’s IT Conquered the World Lee, as your posters illustrate, had equal 3rd star billing and he is a disillusioned scientist who for what he perceives as “the greater good” enslaves himself to IT. If I recall correctly when Lee first physically encounters IT in a darkened cave where IT lurks he gets down on his knees and says “What is your command, Master?” [Remind you of someone you and I both know with a fixation for a different kind of monster?]
My pick of the POSTERS in your video are (1) both for The Duke’s “Temujin” (2) foreign language one for Bad Man’s River – showing Lee getting billed before Hollywood A list legends Mason and La Lollo – how times had changed! (3) both for God’s Gun (4) 2nd for El Condor (5) both for Magnificent 7 Ride (6) Grand Duel (7) both for the Bravados with my Greg in iconic prominence (8) 2nd raunchy one for Day of Anger (9) the set for Escape from New York (10) set for Few Dollars More (11) 1st one for High noon (12) Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and (13) a stunning first one for Ride Lonesome.
Best STILLS for me are (1) Lobby card for IT (2) Sabata 1969 (3) Death Rides a Horse (4) The Young Lions (5) OK Corral (6) with Clint (7) lobby card for Liberty Valance – with Lee Van showcased beside two of the greatest of the Greats (8) High Noon (9) both for Good the Bad and the Ugly and (10) the opening one of Lee with gun.
Completely starved throughout the entirety of his career of both Master and Work Horse Love, Lee’s Spaghetti Western era star power is perfectly illustrated via the medium of your video, which indeed has shown me how much I personally had underestimated Lee’s contribution to that genre though I knew he was an avid collector of fine arts. Accordingly the video has been well-worth a 98% rating from me. “Vote Up [plus]”!
Your posters amply illustrate that Tony Franciosa was almost invariably only the top-billed star of a film when there were no other major stars such as Newman, Sinatra or Jim Garner in the movie.
However whilst never enjoying Master Favour or [so far] Work Horse Love Tony in the first few years of his career was very successful artistically earning for example from 1958-1965 an Oscar nom, a Golden Globe award and 2 Golden Globe nominations. All were classified as “lead actor” roles although he was 2nd billed or lower in the movies concerned.
He was apparently a hot-tempered individual and apparently when making the 1966 A man Could Get Killed he constantly abused the stunt men by refusing to pull his punches in the staged fight scenes.The latter misconduct ultimately led to a physical confrontation between Tony and the star of the movie, Jim Garner, himself well known for a mean temper at times.
I have mentioned previously I think that Garner who was part Cherokee had an alcohol problem but said in an interview that he had given up the booze because “When I had too much to drink I got so mad that I wanted to take back our land!” Ironically on the set of the 1957 Sayonara it was Jim who was the peacekeeper as his influence with friend Brando was such that he was able to restrain the Great Mumbler from verbally taunting and abusing director Joshua Logan.
In his later years some of Tony’s earlier sharp artistry before the camera seemed to dissipate because it is claimed that for example on the set of the 1978 TV mini-series Wheels he couldn’t remember his lines and co-star Rock Hudson had to hold up cue cards in front of Tony.
To Bob on Lee Van Cleef.
You should take care where you post your reviews, make sure they are at the top of the comments area or we’ll lose track of them. One of your Tony Franciosa posts is under Lee Van Cleef’s review and the other part is above George Hamilton.
Thanks for the review, generous rating, info and trivia, much appreciated.
Lee Van Cleef became one of my favorites when I watched the two Spaghetti western classics starring Clint Eastwood on TV back in the 70s. I especially liked him as the bounty hunter out for revenge in For a Few Dollars More.
Five Lee Van Cleef films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources, they are –
High Noon
The Tin Star
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
For a Few Dollars More
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Two more scored 9 out of 10 – The Young Lions and How the West Was Won. Six more scored 8 out of 10 including Gunfight at the OK Corral and Ride Lonesome.
“Being born with a pair of beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me. Bad guys have always been my bag . . . I look mean without even trying. Audiences just naturally hate me on screen. I could play a role in a tuxedo and people would think I was rotten. You can do much more with a villain part. Movies are full of leading men, most of whom aren’t working. It’s much harder to find a good villain.”
Hi Bob and welcome back! I hope you had a great time on Jurassic Island aka Lanzarote. That’s not quite accurate, Lanzarote is a volcanic island and wasn’t around in the Jurassic age, it’s ‘only’ 15 million years old.
Thanks for the reviewing and rating my George Hamilton video, appreciate the comment, info, trivia and song lyrics.
Glad you enjoyed the picture gallery.
I’m glad there were enough George Hamilton movies to form a video with, and with some recognisable titles. You’ve seen more of these films than I have.
I saw Love at First Bite at the cinema in 1979 and on the same day crossed the street to see Frank Langella as Dracula, London’s West End.
No 10 out of 10s in George’s filmography, there is a 9 – Light in the Piazza.
Top rated at IMDB is Godfather III.
Home from the Hill tops the chart at Rotten Tomatoes.
I’m sure Bruce will get round to George, Lee, Tony, James and Hugh, eventually. Hopefully my videos give him inspiration for future UMR pages. I raid his index page when I’m stuck for a subject. Reciprocity.
“I always adored Cary Grant. I was fascinated by him. But I could never get too close to him.”
“Basically, I’m a shy human being. Very introverted.”
“I don’t use the phrase ‘I love you’ very often, but I say it every time I talk to my children.”
“Women don’t like men who know they’re good looking. They’d much prefer a man who doesn’t know he’s good looking.”
HI STEVE
I often thought that George fancied himself as the new suave sophisticated Cary Grant – certainly not one of those awful T shirt boys!
Thanks for your “welcome back”. I looked about for T Rex but he never showed up. If he had I’d have given him your regards!