Thursday 24 March 2016

The Golden Globes February 5th 1971

The Golden Globes, Los Angeles, California, February 5th 1971. During his career Clint has been no stranger to the Golden Globes awards: So far, he has received 11 Nominations collecting 4 Wins, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. 

Here’s a selection of photos from his first win for:
Henrietta Award World Film Favourite – Male winner Clint Eastwood
Henrietta Award World Film Favourite – Female winner Barbra Streisand

Below: Clint arrives with wife, Maggie
Below: Winners Clint and Barbra Streisand pose for the press backstage 
Below: From my collection, a large original b/w negative (colour positive shown above) My thanks to Ulrike Sigel.

The All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood 1986

I thought it would be great to post this entertaining tribute to Clint that was filmed in Los Angeles, California on Sunday September 28th 1986, and aired on Sunday November 30th 1986. At the time Clint was serving as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea and finished his latest movie Heartbreak Ridge. Looking back over it just this morning, it’s a wonderful reminder of Hollywood’s golden era. So many great stars and directors are featured, Jimmy Stewart, Charles Bronson, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis Jr and Don Siegel  - all of whom are sadly no longer with us. More poignantly, the show marked the final public appearance by Cary Grant (who read out a personal message to Clint from President Reagan). The special aired one day after Grant’s death. CBS paid tribute to Mr. Grant with the following statement after the closing credits: "The All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood was taped on September 28, 1986 in Los Angeles. We at CBS extend our deepest sympathy to the family, friends, and fans or Mr. Cary Grant...actor, humanitarian. His contributions to the performing arts is everlasting."
Below: An original Press still of Clint and Bob Hope at the All-Star Party (thanks to Davy Triumph)
The show was broadcast in a one hour time slot and was written by Paul Keyes (as Paul W. Keyes) and directed by Dick McDonough.
Below: Clint with Don Rickles at the CBS TV Special All Star Party 1986

Below: Thank you to John for providing this link and to the original uploader, it is very much appreciated
                

Clint meets the King of Sweden - April 14th 1976

Thank you to my good friend and regular contributor Davy Triumph for supplying this great rare photo dated April 14th 1976. Clint was among a group of stars who were invited to meet the King of Sweden, his majesty Carl XVI Gustaf. It’s nice to finally have a great image to accompany this story which I had from The Santa Cruz Sentinel and appeared in the issue dated April 15th 1976 – Looking at the jacket and tie, Clint appears to be wearing his Dirty Harry outfit from The Enforcer - It’s an interesting moment in time – Thank you again Davy.


Gustaf caught a glimpse of the Old West and the New Hollywood and said he was impressed by what he saw. After a tour of the backlot sets of the Burbank Studios, including everything from Western streets to New York tenements, the monarch told a luncheon audience: "You've got everything here. After seeing all this, I think perhaps I should have come here immediately instead of touring the United States for two weeks. It would have been cheaper for the Swedish Foreign Office." The King's remarks were typical of the joshing tone at the film industry's reception for the 29-year-old monarch.
The luncheon featured comedy by Edgar Bergen, Chicago-born of Swedish parentage, who performed with his famed dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen explained to Mc-Carthy that Vikings had dis- covered America 500 years before Columbus. McCarthy commented, "Columbus must have had a better press agent." . The King seemed delighted when Bergen and Snerd exchanged dialogue in Swedish. After one joke, Snerd commented, "That got a bigger laugh in Sweden." Earlier King Gustaf had toured the McDonnell Douglas aircraft plant where a DC9 and a transport plane are being assembled for Scandinavian J Airline Systems. The king flew by helicopter to the Burbank Studios and immediately transferred to a stagecoach loaned for the occasion by the Wells Fargo Bank. Together with the Swedish, ambassador to the United States, Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister, and his wife, the monarch had a 15-minute tour of outdoor sets where such films as "My Fair Lady," "The Music Man," "Bonnie and Clyde," "Blazing Saddles" and "Casablanca" were filmed. Dressed in a conservative blue suit with black and gray tie, the king was escorted to Stage 25, where the John Wayne-Lauren Bacall film "The Shootist" was recently made. The elaborate Western barroom, complete with nude murals on the walls, was set for 200 luncheon guests. The king, somewhat reserved until lunchtime, brightened noticeably when seated on the dais between Miss Ullmann and host Ted Ashley, chairman of the board of Warner Bros. Also on the dais were Bergen, actors Clint Eastwood, Sidney Poitier and Charlton Heston, and Warner Bros, president Frank Wells. Among the guests were Ray Bolger, Lome Greene, Ricardo Montalban, Karl Maiden, singer Linda Rondstadt, Vincent Price, Milton Berle, Kathleen Nolan, Binnie Barnes, Mike Frankovich, William Wyler and Robert Wise. 

Vintage Japanese Newspaper cuttings

A big thank you to my correspondent in Japan Philip McLean who provided these unique advertisements, Philip has sent many other great pieces from Japan which I will also upload very soon. Your support is always appreciated Philip.

Below: An original advertisement for Paint your Wagon
Below: A double page advertisement for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
 Below: An original advertisement for Two Mules for Sister Sara

Saturday 19 March 2016

Coogan's Bluff: The missing scene

Just been going through some files and found this transcript of the Coogan's Bluff deleted scene. It appears after the early bath tub scene when Coogan is told to report to the Sheriff's office where he receives his orders to pick up Ringerman from New York. I'm lucky to have a full print of Coogan's Bluff on 16mm which actually contains this scene. Unfortunately the scene has never been restored for any Home format, which is a great shame. It would of been nice to see Universal restore it for the Blu-ray release, or perhaps include it as a bonus feature...
The scene did appear on this French lobby Card
Scene: The sheriff’s office. The sheriff looks out the window, sees Coogan’s Jeep with the two bullet holes in the wind-shield, he can see Coogan coming his way. Coogan, outside the office door, knocks.

SHERIFF: Come in.

Coogan enters, wearing shades.

SHERIFF: Forty-seven minutes late.

COOGAN: So?

SHERIFF: So you know what a new wind-shield costs? Installed? $44.50.

COOGAN as he takes off his shades: Is that what you want to ... talk to me about?

SHERIFF: Not quite.

He goes to desk, takes out papers.

SHERIFF: Governor’s warrant. Duplicate flight, duplicate record, James Ringerman.

COOGAN: Ringerman?

He takes the papers.

SHERIFF as he takes a cigar from a box on his desk and lights it: Remember Ringerman? Discharged soldier, stole a car down at Bisby? Armed robbery, service station? Picked up a little blonde some place. We found her dead, motel, busted neck. Apprehended November 3, escaped custody, November 9. Last fall. They picked him up in New York last week; they’re holding him for us. For you, that is.

COOGAN: Why me, sheriff?

SHERIFF: You’re the one who pinched him.

COOGAN: And you’re the one who lost him.

SHERIFF: Heffurnan lost him.

COOGAN: Well then, send Heffurnan.

SHERIFF: Are you telling me who to send?

COOGAN: I'm telling you that I was out there for three days.

SHERIFF: So? You had a nice, refreshing bath. Here’s the necessary information, where to go and who to see when you get there. Plus airline ticket vouchers. Get thrashing, Deputy.

COOGAN: What is it with me, sheriff?

SHERIFF: Well, let’s just say that I don’t like deputies who bust up my vehicles. You got a per diem in New York, I wanna see the bills. Any complaints?

COOGAN: No, no. I figure I came out ahead.

He helps himself to one of the sheriff’s cigars.

COOGAN exiting, smiling: You could have asked me to pay for the wind-shield.

Below: From my cuttings collection, I came across this from an old Radio Times when the BBC were showing Coogan's Bluff, it dates back some 30 years ago... I thought there was always something rather ironic about the image they decided to use, as it is from the cut sequence in the film. 

Tuesday 1 March 2016

Respected actor George Kennedy dies aged 91

I received several messages and emails late last night regarding the passing of actor George Kennedy who sadly died on Sunday at the age of 91. Kennedy was a fine character actor and was always regarded as part of the whole 'Clint Eastwood family'. Kennedy and Eastwood were close friends, and worked together in two great Eastwood movies from the golden period of the mid 1970s Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) and The Eiger Sanction (1975). Kennedy also earned an Oscar for his performance as Dragline alongside Paul Newman in Stuart Rosenberg's classic Cool Hand Luke (1967).

George Kennedy, Versatile Actor Who Won an Oscar for ‘Cool Hand Luke,’ Dies at 91
New York Times – by Robert D. McFadden Feb 29th 2016
George Kennedy, who played tough guys, oafs, G.I.’s and a bonanza of cowboys as one of Hollywood’s most versatile and durable character actors, and who won an Oscar as the best supporting actor of 1967 for his performance in the Paul Newman film “Cool Hand Luke,” died on Sunday in Boise, Idaho. He was 91. His death was confirmed by his grandson Cory Schenkel.

Vicious killers, bumbling lawmen, saddle tramps, bank robbers, scowling bullies — anybody you’d be foolish to mess with or trust in an emergency — Mr. Kennedy portrayed them all in more than 200 films and television productions in an acting career that spanned nearly five decades.
No critic ever spoke of a George Kennedy oeuvre. Many of his films were hokey, with absurd plots and over-the-top acting. And, with the exception of his Academy Award performance and his work in about a dozen other films, he was most often a peripheral player, a sidekick of the star or the straight man with setup lines for the comedian.

But from the early 1960s on, hardly a year went by without a Kennedy picture — often there were four or five a year — and he was memorable as the heavy in “Charade” (1963), with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant; as Maj. Max Armbruster on a World War II mission in “The Dirty Dozen” (1967); as a regular in the “Airport” pictures, and later as Leslie Nielsen’s dumbstruck captain in the “Naked Gun” comedies.
He was perhaps best known for his role in “Cool Hand Luke”: Dragline, a chain-gang prisoner whose brutality and compassion as the gang leader not only revealed Mr. Kennedy’s rarely seen range as an actor, but also deftly illuminated the character of his tormented fellow convict, played by Mr. Newman.
Besides winning the Academy Award, Mr. Kennedy’s performance won wide critical acclaim. “George Kennedy is powerfully obsessive as the top dog who handles things his way as effectively and finally as destructively as does the warden or the guards,” Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times.
Mr. Kennedy typically helped to make other stars look good, and he worked with a pantheon of them: Bette Davis, James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and many more.Occasionally Mr. Kennedy headlined the cast of a B-movie, like “The Human Factor,” a 1975 vigilante-justice film, in which he wiped out terrorists who killed his family. He also starred in two television series: He was a cop turned priest in “Sarge,” seen on NBC in the early 1970s, and a patrolman in “The Blue Knight,” on CBS in 1975-76.
But his stock in trade was the supporting role, and his rugged but bland looks were right for almost any part. He was tall and burly, with a bull neck, eyes that widened with shock or narrowed to menacing slits, a disingenuous smile and big ham hands to grip the gun or slap the girl. In the mold of Lee Marvin or Lee Van Cleef, he was a first-rate thug, and his deadpan look was perfect for disaster pictures or comedies.

In 1970 he played the improbable rescuer, Joe Patroni, in “Airport,” a soapy melodrama with an all-star cast about a bomber on a plane, an airport socked in by a blizzard and desperation aloft and on the ground. He reprised his role in the sequels, “Airport ’75,” “Airport ’77” and “The Concorde ... Airport ‘79.” He was the only cast member to appear in all four.

In the cult favorite “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988) and its sequels, “Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear” (1991) and “Naked Gun 331/3: The Final Insult” (1994), Mr. Kennedy played Capt. Ed Hocken, wincing and grimacing at the wreckage wrought by Mr. Nielsen’s bumbling Lt. Frank Drebin.


In 1991, Mr. Kennedy was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “Ever since I was a little boy,” he said, “my primary heroes were movie stars.”
George Harris Kennedy Jr. was born in New York City on Feb. 18, 1925, the son of George and Helen Kennedy. His father, a musician and bandleader, died when he was 4, and he was raised by his mother, a ballet dancer. His parents put him on the stage at 2, and he later worked in radio. But his entertainment career got off to a late start.

A military career seemed more likely. After graduating from W. C. Mepham High School in Bellmore, N.Y., he joined the Army, fought in the infantry in Europe in World War II and spent 16 years in the service.

He opened the Army’s first office of technical assistance for films and television, and in the late 1950s retired and became an adviser to “The Phil Silvers Show.” Soon he was speaking lines on that program, and by the early 1960s he was playing roles on shows like “Maverick,” “Peter Gunn” and “Route 66.” From 1988 to 1991 he was on the prime-time CBS soap opera “Dallas,” playing Carter McKay, a rival of the Ewing brothers.

He made occasional appearances in films and television shows in recent years. In 2014 he was in the film “The Gambler,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Jessica Lange. He published a memoir, “Trust Me,” in 2011.

In addition to his grandson Mr. Schenkel, Mr. Kennedy, who lived in Eagle, Idaho, near Boise, is survived by a daughter, Shannon Sullivan; four other grandchildren; and one great-grandson. 

Tough-guy journeyman actor George Kennedy dies at 91
Fox411

LOS ANGELES –  George Kennedy, the hulking, tough-guy character actor who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a savage chain-gang convict in the 1960s classic "Cool Hand Luke," has died.
His grandson Cory Schenkel says Kennedy died on Sunday morning of old age in Boise, Idaho. He was 91.
He had undergone emergency triple bypass surgery in 2002. That same year, he and his late wife moved to Idaho to be closer to their daughter and her family, though he still was involved in occasional film projects.

His biggest acting achievement came in "Cool Hand Luke," a 1967 film about a rebellious war hero played by Paul Newman who is bent on bucking the system as a prisoner on a Southern chain gang. Its theme of rebelling against authority and the establishment helped make it one of the most important films of the tumultuous 1960s.
Kennedy played the role of Dragline, the chain-gang boss who goes from Luke's No. 1 nemesis to his biggest disciple as Newman's character takes on folk hero status among fellow inmates. The movie garnered four Academy Award nominations, and Kennedy was named best supporting actor.

Newman and Kennedy provided a spectacular one-two punch — Luke as the reticent anti-hero, Dragline as an illiterate brute. They shared several memorable scenes, including one in which Kennedy's character wins a bet by getting Luke to eat 50 eggs in an hour.

After the critical and commercial success of "Cool Hand Luke," Kennedy carved out a niche as one of Hollywood's most recognizable supporting actors. He had parts in several action flicks in the 1970s, played Leslie Nielsen's sidekick in the "Naked Gun" spoofs and was J.R. Ewing's business rival in the final seasons of "Dallas."

One of his strongest supporting roles was in the hit 1970 film "Airport," which spurred the run of 1970s disaster pictures. Kennedy played Joe Patroni, a no-nonsense, cigar-chomping troubleshooter who stubbornly guides a jetliner stuck on a snow-clogged runway out of harm's way.
The film spawned several sequels (Kennedy was in all of them) and landed Kennedy a Golden Globe nomination.

Kennedy said his acting ambitions were cemented when he was a young child.
"I remember listening to a radio program when I was young and it made me feel good and I remember telling my mom that I wanted to make people feel the way this radio program made me feel," Kennedy said in 1995.

"I got some great breaks, and I wound up being an actor."

His film career began to take flight in the early 1960s. He starred in 1963's "Charade," a whodunit that features Kennedy, Cary Grant, James Coburn and Walter Matthau seeking out the $250,000 they suspect was left behind by Audrey Hepburn's dead husband. His other acting credits in the 1960s included "The Dirty Dozen" and "Guns of the Magnificent Seven."

Kennedy once called "Charade" the favorite movie in which he appeared.
"It had Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, music by Henry Mancini; it was shot entirely in Paris," he said in 1995. "I have nothing but wonderful memories."


Kennedy became regular face in action movies in the 1970s after the success of "Airport," including "Earthquake" and "Death on the Nile." He made several film and television appearances in the early and mid-1980s, but few were successful.


He turned to comedic roles in the 1980s and 1990s, the most memorable being the three "Naked Gun" films.

Among his later credits was a small role in Wim Wenders' 2005 film, "Don't Come Knocking." Kennedy's last on-screen role was in the 2014 remake of "The Gambler," which starred Mark Wahlberg.

Kennedy was born in New York in 1925. He started acting at the age of 2 when he joined a touring company production of "Bringing up Father." Five years later, he became a disc jockey with a kids radio show.

He enlisted in the Army at 17 and served in World War II, opening the first Army Information Office that provided technical assistance to films and TV shows. Kennedy spent 16 years in the Army and left as a captain.

After his Army stint, Kennedy made his television debut in "The Phil Silvers Show" in 1955 and had a variety of guest appearances in the Westerns "Have Gun, Will Travel," ''Cheyenne" and "Gunsmoke."

Kennedy, an avid reader, also dabbled in writing and published a couple of murder mysteries.
Schenkel remembered sitting in on an autograph session in London with his grandfather.
"I sat behind him for hours that day watching the hundreds of fans in line waiting to meet my grandpa," Schenkel recalled. "At the end of the day we sat in our hotel room eating room service and he said to me, 'Seeing all those people I was able to bring a little enjoyment and happiness into their life — That is why I did it.'"

In later years, Kennedy became an advocate for adopted children. He had four adopted children, including his granddaughter Taylor, whose mother, also adopted by Kennedy, had become addicted to drugs and alcohol.
"Don't let the fact that you're 77 or 70 get in your way. Don't let the fact that you're a single parent and you want to adopt get in your way," Kennedy said in a Fox interview in 2002. "That kid, some place right now, cold and wet, needs somebody to say, "I love you, kid, good night.'"

George Kennedy, Oscar Winner for 'Cool Hand Luke,' Dies at 91
The Hollywood Reporter 2/29/2016 by Mike Barnes and Duane Byrge

The burly actor played bad guys in such films as 'Charade' and 'Thunderbolt & Lightfoot' before memorably playing against type in the 'Naked Gun' movies.
George Kennedy, a bear of a man who won an Oscar for his performance as the sadistic chain gang prisoner Dragline in Cool Hand Luke and delighted audiences as a dimwitted police captain in the zany Naked Gun comedies, has died. He was 91.
Kennedy died Sunday morning of natural causes in Boise, Idaho, his grandson, Cory Schenkel, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. "He was a great man who loved his family and his fans," he said.

Until his recognition in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kennedy was usually cast as a tough guy. Following his Oscar win for best supporting actor, he went on to star in The Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969) and received second billing in such films as The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) with Robert Mitchum; Dirty Dingus Magee (1970) with Frank Sinatra; Fools' Parade (1971) with James Stewart; and The Eiger Sanction (1975) with Clint Eastwood, a frequent co-star.
A former Army career soldier, Kennedy played a series of heavies in the movies. He attacked Cary Grant with a steel claw in Stanley Donen's Charade (1963), pursued Joan Crawford with an ax in Strait-Jacket (1964), attempted to assassinate Gregory Peck in Mirage (1965) and kicked Jeff Bridges to death in Thunderbolt & Lightfoot (1974).
The 6-foot-4, barrel-chested New Yorker also appeared as airplane mechanic Joe Patroni in the star-studded disaster thriller Airport (1970) and its three sequels.

Along with Leslie Nielsen, another actor with a straight-arrow reputation, Kennedy played comically against type as Captain Ed Hocken (replacing Alan North from the TV show) in the antic Jim Abrahams/Zucker brothers spoofs The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994).



On television, the sandy-haired Irish-American starred in two short-lived series in the 1970s — as a homicide detective turned priest in NBC's Sarge and as L.A. beat cop Bumper Morgan on CBS' The Blue Knight, based on the Joseph Wambaugh best-seller. He also played Ewing family nemesis Carter McKay from 1988-91 on the CBS primetime soap Dallas.

Recently, Big George appeared in the films Another Happy Day (2011) and Mark Wahlberg's The Gambler (2014).

George Kennedy Jr. was born Feb. 18, 1925, in New York City. His father was a pianist and a composer/conductor at the Proctor's Theater in Manhattan, and his mother danced with vaudeville's Le Ballet Classique. He made his acting debut at age 2 in a touring company of Bringing Up Father, traveling with the show for two years, and later voiced children's radio shows.

Following high school graduation, Kennedy enlisted in the Army in 1943 with the hope of becoming a pilot in the Army Air Corps. He wound up in the infantry, served under Gen. George Patton and distinguished himself with his valor: He won two Bronze Stars and four rows of combat and service ribbons. After World War II, a bizarre medical condition — his left leg was shorter than his right by 3 inches — left him in traction for two years.

(Kennedy would later play Patton, the target of an assassination plot, in 1978's Brass Target opposite Sophia Loren, John Cassavetes and Robert Vaughn.)

In the mid-1950s after re-enlisting, Kennedy worked in Armed Forces Radio and Television, and that got him a job in New York as technical adviser (and a few uncredited appearances) on the army-camp comedy Sgt. Bilko. Watching Phil Silvers and show creator Ned Hiken work whetted his appetite for acting. Additional good fortune arrived when the production company's secretary referred him to a chiropractor who alleviated his leg and back problems.
With 30 percent disability after 15 years of service, Kennedy moved to Hollywood in 1959 and played an array of toughs who could go up against such stars of TV Westerns as 6-foot-7 James Arness in Gunsmoke, 6-foot-6 Clint Walker in Cheyenne and 6-foot-6 Chuck Connors in The Rifleman.

"The big guys were on TV and they needed big lumps to eat up," Kennedy said in a 1971 interview. "All I had to do was show up on the set, and I got beaten up."

Of course, he fought Paul Newman early on in Stuart Rosenberg's drama Cool Hand Luke as Dragline, the leader of the prisoners who gives Newman's character his nickname.
"The marvelous thing about that movie," Kennedy recalled in a 1978 interview, "was that as my part progresses, I changed from a bad guy to a good guy. The moguls in Hollywood must have said, ‘Hey, this fellow can do something besides be a bad guy.' "

Kennedy's vast body of work also includes Spartacus (1960); Lonely Are the Brave (1962); the John Wayne classic The Sons of Katie Elder (1965); The Dirty Dozen (1967); The Boston Strangler (1968); Earthquake (1974); Death on the Nile (1978), Albert Brooks' Modern Romance (1981), in which he played himself as the star of an atrocious sci-fi film; Bolero (1984) opposite Bo Derek; Small Soldiers (1997), in which he voiced Brick Bazooka; and Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knocking (2005).

He appeared in NBC's See How They Run (1964), which is considered the first movie made for TV. He also played President Warren G. Harding in the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House and had a long-standing role on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless.
Kennedy's wife, Joan, died in September
RIP Sir