By John H. Foote For nearly all of his career, Jerry Lewis was seen as a buffoon, always portraying the monkey to his co-star’s organ grinder. When he was young it was refreshing to see such an energetic, dazzling talent who was fearless, willing to go as far as one can go. When he and…
By John H. Foote At four years old (I think) I first watched The Wizard of Oz with my parents on television. The characters fascinated me, except one. One character sent me running from the room down to the safety of my bedroom and my teddy bear sitting on my bed. There is a point…
By John H. Foote Gloria Swanson had been a silent screen legend and a respected businesswoman, producing many films for various companies including her own. But by 1926 she had just $65 in her bank account and serious debts to pay. She was no longer a box office titan, and was listening to the advice…
By John H. Foote For her superb performance as FBI trainee Clarice Starling, Jodie Foster won her second Academy Award for Best Actress, following her win for The Accused (1988) just three years before. It is rather rare for the Academy to honor an actor or actress so soon after they already have won once,…
By John H. Foote Never a huge fan of Dick Van Dyke on the big screen, I do confess to admiring his TV show. His one great, and I mean truly great film performance, was in The Comic as a former silent screen star Billy Bright who fades into sad obscurity and old age. Bright…
By John H. Foote “The scene ended, and I looked up at Duke, and found myself staring into the coldest, meanest eyes I had ever seen in my life, John Wayne the actor was gone, I was looking into the eyes of Ethan” said actor Jeffrey Hunter, “and it was terrifying.” In the more than…
By John H. Foote Charlize Theron is a natural beauty with flawless skin, a shapely body, piercing eyes, she is woman incarnate. The first time I saw the film Monster in which she portrays serial killer Aileen Wuornos, I stayed for the second screening because I could not believe my eyes. Had Theron just given…
By John H. Foote Was there any doubt as to his comedic gifts? None. I had the pleasure of interviewing Williams six times through the 1990’s and 2000’s and he was truly hysterically funny. If you did not guide the interview you might find yourself watching a standup act being born in front of your…
By John H. Foote The first time I really noticed Forest Whitaker, the towering young actor, was stealing every second he was onscreen opposite Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1986), portraying a pool shark. Playing with Newman’s Eddie Felson, he had convinced Eddie he was good, but not great when in fact he…
By John H. Foote I remember years in the seventies and eighties when the Academy was hard pressed to find five worthy Best Actress contenders, the problem being there were just not enough great roles and performances for women. For the last 10 years there has been a bounty of great work from actresses, enough…