Showing posts with label audrey hepburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audrey hepburn. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2013

WTF

is it necessary, appropriate, classy, clever, smart etc etc to declass the classiest actress EVER by putting her into a choclate commercial 20 years after her untimely death? someone thinks so. perhaps her rather unclassy son sean ferrer needed some schkels. he does own the rights to her image. a few years ago it was for  a gap commercial. and now i will show it to you anyway. audrey cgi'd. oy. the only difference really is that i am not making a buck off of her image.



Sunday, January 20, 2013

Remembering Audrey Who Passed 20 Years Ago Today





i miss her terribly. today i'll watch my favorite audrey film today 'two for the road'.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Oscarbation: A Look Back at 1964 for Best Actress


1964's nominees went from dull as dishwater to rousing. two actresses in '64 were left out of the running and neither of them was dull as dishwater.


#'s 4 and 5 were basically dull as dishwater

#5 ann bancroft in 'the pumpkin eater'

'the pumpkin eater' is a dud. ms bancroft's performances rises above the material but suffers from lousy dialogue and dreary direction. this should have been audrey hepburn's slot for 'my fair lady' but hollywood wanted revenge for her being cast in that film.

# 4 kim stanley in 'seance on a wet afternoon'
film officianados know how good ms stanley was. see her in 1958's 'the goddess' and see how brilliant she could be. her myra savage in this film was good. it's the material here that killed her chances for a win. boring! her stage career outranked her film career. her nom here was a win for her.

#'s 3, 2 and 1 were all rousing in their own way

#3 debbie reynolds in 'the unsinkable molly brown'
ms reynolds gives a roaring musical performance to say the least. actually despite the material she gives one of the best musical performances of all time here. another year another time she may have won. the film and it's plot are slight. her leading man a dullard. the musical's lyrics and music are not top notch. however, debbie rises above the material and saves the whole damn thing.

#2 julie andrews in 'mary poppins'
we all know why ms andrews won the oscar. jack warner is why. his 'fair lady' was not even
nominated although she, audrey hepburn, was divine in the role of eliza doolittle. after snubbing julie andrews for 'my fair lady' hollywood took revenge on jack warner in this category. although 'my fair lady' would win best picture ms hepburn was snubbed. so was the revenge really on audrey who was told ms andrews would not get the part no matter what as some other actress was waiting in the wings? therefore audrey has revealed she could not say 'no'.
i do not begrudge julie her oscar. as she said said in her acceptance speech 'americans are so generous but this is ridicolous''. well in this case she was right. it was generous and it was ridiculous. she just ranks as another winner who should not have won.

#1 sophia loren in 'marriage italian style'
sophia gives her second best performance ever as filumena in 'marriage italian style' right after cesira in 'two women'. it's amazing to me that her roles in hollywood films leave me cold. she is so so much better in her native tongue and on her home turf. her comedic range and dramatic turns in this film are a true example of a multi talented actress. a talent, gift, to behold. she would have won her second oscar putting the andrews/hepburn thing aside.


**************

so who got left out? both ava gardner and deborah kerr in 'the night of the iguana'. i can only guess they split the votes on the nomination ballot. ms gardner gave the best performance of her career here. ms kerr generally gave wonderful performances and this was no exception. they both deserved the nomination over ann bancroft and kim stanley.


and the aforementioned ms hepburn was regally snubbed

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Oscarbation: A Look Back at 1961 for Best Actress




1969 gave us the following: one brilliant performance, one wonderful performance, one breakthrough performance and two fairly good performances.


the nominees were:

#5
piper laurie
piper laurie in 'the hustler' was completely overshadowed by lead actor paul newman. she gave an 'okay' performance that would not have ruled any other year either.

#4
geraldine page
geraldine page in 'summer and smoke' gave a mighty good performance but i always tended to embrace her more on the stage than on the screen. she would go on to win the oscar for a far better role in a far better film.

#3
natalie wood
natalie wood gave a breakout performance in 'splendor in the grass'. she crossed the barrier that most child stars are not able to cross with great success. although many will disagree i believe ms wood was nominated for the wrong film in 1961. she should have been nominated for 'west side story'. she would not have won but at the very least
would have been nominated for her most memorable performance. and she made a lovely maria who made you feel first her joyous innocence and then her tragedy. let me say: i love natalie wood. she lights up the screen always no matter how good or bad the material she had to work with.

#2
audrey hepburn
audrey hepburn was and will always be holly golightly. she charmed her way through 'breakfast at tiffany's' and left an indelible mark on cinematic history. she won the oscar for a lesser role and lost the oscar for a superior role both of which i will address in the days and months to come. had it not been for the actress who holds my #1 spot, as well as the oscar, audrey may have won in 1961. those who know me know my love for audrey. i miss her to this day.

#1
sophia loren
sophia loren in 'two women' gave one of cinemas best performances of all time. actually her performance is a masterpiece. the first actress to win the oscar in a non english speaking role that would not be achieved again until 2007. i cannot find enough words to satisfy her brilliant performance as a mother in world war 2 italy and the abuse, rape, of both herself and her daughter. interesting note on her casting: ms loren was first picked to play the daughter with anna magnani in the role sophia eventually essayed. ms magnani refused to play her mother. ms magnani felt sophia was too old to play her daugter. so on recast ms loren went on to win the oscar as cesira.

brava ms loren.





Saturday, August 14, 2010

Audrey



i love audrey hepburn and think i should be a little offended by this. but i think it's a riot. and love the fact that17 after her passing she still reigns in pop culture.

Monday, July 5, 2010

'Fifth Avenue, 5 A M'

a good summer read if there ever was one. and it stars audrey...what's not to like?





Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Remembering Audrey on Her Birthday

the films of audrey hepburn


audrey would have turned 80 today. the world misses her madly. but look up to the sky at night...find the brightest star...and remember the never will be forgotten or replaced audrey.




my favorite audrey films




Friday, April 23, 2010

Celebrating 'Life' Magazine

'life' has hosted celebrities since it's inception. here's my tribute to a magazine that appreciates star power. l'chaim


Monday, May 4, 2009

Audrey Hepburn the Anniversary of Her Birth

"A Very Stylish Girl"

This is so fitting










Before Kate there was Julie
Before Julie there was AUDREY.
I still miss her.
Audrey would have been 80 years old today.










in her own voice








And then her last film:




some other fan's tributes:














Audrey on 'LIFE'

Monday, September 29, 2008

'Two For The Road' Comes In At #7

My Favorite Audrey Photo



So Beautiful in face, spirit and soul.




I LOVE Audrey Hepburn and that being said this is my favorite Audrey film. And I love many of her films but not all. She grows up in this film Audrey the WOMAN emerges. The shame of it all is that except for a few roles over the next 25 years. Audrey went into semi-retirement working for UNICEF until her untimely death on January 20, 1993. I missed her then as I miss her still. She was a beacon of light on the screen. If there are angels in some heaven she surely is a star there also.

For 1967 Audrey got an Oscar nomination for 'Wait Until Dark'. A film terribly directed by her then about to be divorced husband Mel Ferrer. Wrong nomination and the great Kate Hepburn went on to win her third Oscar. It was a tough year though. Faye Dunaway in 'Bonnie and Clyde' and Anne Bancroft in 'The Graduate'. Yet I firmly believe if Audrey had been nominated for 'Two for the Road' she would have won.

And before I forget and I wouldn't, there is the handsome, sexy and wonderful youthful Albert Finney as the other half of this intriguing couple. They share a chemistry that makes this story work. It's a shame they never worked together again.

Add to it all Frederic Rafael's brilliant screenplay, the dissection of a marriage over a decade unfolds in past, present and future time shifting back forward and middle and over again as the story unfolds.


I now present 'Two for the Road'.

The Posters







The Color Gallery

















Jacqueline Bisset made her first big splash as Audrey's initial competitor for the youthful Albert Finney.




The black and white stills