We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
(Visited 1,785 times)
We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
Hey Bob and Steve…good information share on Mr. Byron. Interesting to read that he got “Gig” from a movie….I like that. Good feedback from the both of you.
Added Steve’s Gig Young You Tube video to the page. Our thoughts on Gig and the video.
“A page on Byron Barr….cool. The more I look at his real name the more it looks like a name that could have worked as an actor. Wonder why he changed it. First one seen is #33 Strange Bedfellows…an ok Rock rom com. #27 The Killer Elite…not one of my favorite James Caan movies #25 The Hindenburg..Gig is pretty good in this one. #23 Kid G…one of Elvis better movies. #21 Game of Death…same attempt to get one last Bruce Lee cash grab. So that is 5 of the second half. #16 That Touch Of Mink….should have been much better. #7 Teacher’s Pet….one of Gable’s last good roles. #4 Desk Set….good supporting role for him. #2 Desperate Hours….good thriller..remake is pretty bad #1 They Shoot Horses Don’t They?…good but depressing. Wow…only 5 in the first half too. That does not happen too often. So total seen is 10. Good video. Voted up. Shared.”
Hi Bruce, your tally 10, mine 9, Flora 21. Game of Death features genuine Bruce Lee fight footage from the film he was making before his untimely death, so for Lee fans it was a treasure trove and a ‘must see’ at the time. The rest of the film was entertaining but nothing outstanding. I must have watched it at least 100 times back then. Thanks for the vote, share and comment, always appreciated.
HI STEVE
Thanks for the feedback, additional information and informative quotes.
I agree that Gig was excellent at both drama and comedy and I always found him very relaxing to watch in either type of role, especially as he matured.
I had actually forgotten his Porthos outing until I saw him in your still and then I remembered how much i liked him in the part. Nice coincidence for him his ‘fellow musketeer’ directing him 10 years later in Tunnel of Love. Win/win for you and me too regarding that – one of your great idols directing TWO of mine, Widmark and Doris!
Take care.
My personal Favourite POSTERS entries 36-22 (1) 2 for Arena (2) a saucy Liz in The Girl Who Had Everything, with Bill Powell in his final MGM role (3) 2 of my Joan displaying her legs (4) Tunnel of Love (5) Tell it to the Judge (6) FL for Killer Elite (7) Hunt the Man Down (8) A Ticklish Affair (9) 2 for Game of Death and (10) Charlie Bill Stuart in Lust for Gold.
My Pick of Posters entries 1-21 (1) Gay Sisters (2) two for Shuttered Room the 1st one a particular stunner (3) Wake of the Red Witch with the young Duke doing a Statham by bearing his chest [though Wayne was the Real Deal] (4) 1st very raunchy one for Ask Any Girl (5) Young at Heart a remake of 4 Daughters starring an early John Garfield in a supporting role (6) 1st excellent one for City that Never Sleeps (7 ) FL for Bruce’s Pet (8) FL for Air Force (9) Woman in White (10) Old Acquaintance and (11) FL for Desperate Hours – exceptional!
Best STILLS [all entries] (1) my Richard and my Doris, Richard taking over the role intended for my Charlie Bill Stuart (2) Escape me Never (3) A Ticklish Affair (4) lobby card for Kid Galahad (5) Gig with Sophia (6) lobby card for Lovecraft’s Shuttered Room (7) Gig with the screen’s dirtiest rat in Come Fill the Cup (8) with Niven and Shirley (9) lobby card for Old Acquaintance (10) 3 Musketeers (11) with my Doris and King Gable and (12) They Shoot Work Horses.
NB: Gig also performed well on stage and was in a New York production of Teahouse of August Moon, though I do not know in which role.
I first saw Gig Young in 1951’s Come Fill the Cup for which he won considerable praise [including supporting Oscar and Golden Globe noms] as an alcoholic who is being helped by Cagney who is himself a recovered alcoholic.
I have always considered that ironic because Gig himself suffered from alcoholism later in real life and his career went into permanent decline when for example he was fired from Blazing Saddles in 1974 after collapsing on set from over-intoxication.
Indeed the end of his life was very tragic. In 1978 at the age of 64 he married German magazine editor Kim Schmidt aged 31 and apparently murdered her and then committed suicide. It has never been made clear what the motive for the double tragedy was.
Gig was ignored by The Master and is [so far] spurned by The Work Horse. However I saw a lot of Gig in the 1950s in B movies [where he was the lead or one of them] such as Slaughter Trail, While the City Sleeps and Arena and in supporting roles to major stars like my Jimmy in Hitch’s Rear Window. Accordingly I warmly welcome your Young profile which I feel is well worth a 98% “Vote Up!”
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and trivia, much appreciated.
Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Yes I was shocked to read how Gig’s life ended, that poor woman, so tragic.
When I was a kid I knew Gig mostly from his supporting role in Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, a film I watched many times at the cinema and on video tape. I didn’t even know he played Porthos in Three Musketeers until years later.
What kind of name is ‘Gig’? Is it short for something? gigolo? Gigi? Gigan? Apparently Byron Elsworth Barr took that name from a character he played in The Gay Sisters (1942).
There are no 10 out of 10s in Gig’s filmography, but there is four 9’s – Desk Set, Love and Other Strangers, The Desperate Hours and They Shoot Horses Don’t They?
They Shoot Horses won Gig an Oscar and tops the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes charts, I haven’t seen it. Gig says the role of MC at a dance marathon “was a lifeline for a drowning man, a last chance to show my talent as a serious actor.”
“Comedy is harder to do than drama, since comedy roles involve the offbeat, not merely the basic emotions. I like to play both comedy and drama.”