Underrated Performer of the Week: Andy Devine

Andy Devine, the comic character actor, is this week's Underrated Performer. Andy was born on Octber 7, 1905 in Flagstaff, Arizonia and was raised in Kingman, Arizona.

His trademark high-pitch, gravelly voice was the result of a childhood accident. The story goes that while running with a stick (some versions have it as a curtain rod) in his mouth, Andy tripped and fell, ramming the object through the roof of his mouth. For about a year, he was unable to speak at all. When his voice came back, it had the wheezing, almost duo-toned sound that would become his trademark and make him a star.

Andy was a athlete, playing college football at St. Mary & St. Bendedict College, Arizona State Teachers College, and Santa Clara University. He was good enough to play semi-pro football under the fake name of Jeremiah Schwartz to keep his college amateur status.

Andy's first role was a uncredited part in the 1926 silent film The Collegians. He keep working in silent films, scoring his first good role in 1931's The Spirit of Notre Dame, playing a football player named Truck McCall. From then on, Andy was on his way.

He worked on the original 1932 Destry Rides Again starring Tom Mix, but his part wound up being deleted. In 1933, he made his first of four films for William "Wild Man" Wellman, Midnight Mary. It was followed by 1937's A Star Is Born and 1938's Men With Wings.

His next big film was John Ford's Stagecoach (1939), where he played the stagecoach driver Buck. John Ford gave Andy the part because of his actual experience in driving a six-horse team. Andy worked all through the 1940s, usually playing the comic relief. Some of his better films of this period are 1940's Buck Benny Rides Again with Jack Benny, 1941's The Flame of New Orleans with Marlene Dietrich, and Bruce Cabot, 1943's war film Corvette K-225 with Randolph Scott, and 1951's The Red Badge of Courage.

In 1951, Andy became well-known for playing Jingles P. Jones, a role Burl Ives turned down. in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok staring Guy Madison.



In 1953, Andy again teamed with William Wellman in the film Island in the Sky, one of the best films about flying search and rescue ever made. Wellman gave him the dramatic part of Willie Moon, a C47 pilot who leads a mission to find the downed John Wayne. It's by far my favorite of Andy's roles. In real life, Andy was a excellent pilot and owned a flying school that trained pilots for the US during World War II. Jack Webb also let Andy play a dramatic role in his 1955 film Pete Kelly's Blues. Andy played detective George Tenell.

In 1955, before the Wild Bill show ended, Andy took over the job of hosting a kids show that for, some of us of "'a certain age" would be what we remember Andy for: Andy's Gang, which ran from 1955 to 1960.


Andy worked on TV and films all during the 1960s and 1970s . His films include: John Ford's Two Rode Together and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, How the West Was Won, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Myra Breckinridge, the voice of Friar Tuck in Disney's animated Robin Hood and the TV film The Over The Hill Gang. His last film was Won Ton Ton: The Dog That Saved Hollywood.

His TV work includes: Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, Hap Gorman on the first five episodes of Flipper, Batman, Burke's Law, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and Alias Smith & Jones. His last project was the 1977 The Mouse and His Child as the voice of the Frog.

Andy has two stars on the Hollywood Hall of Fame, one for radio and one for TV. The main street in Kingman, Arizona is named Andy Devine Boulevard.

Andy died on February 18, 1977 in Orange CA.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Brenda de Banzie

“Who is Brenda de Banzie?” asked the Café reader. “And why does she deserve the illustrious Underrated Performer of the Week spot?”

Ms. de Banzie starred in only 17 films, but—like a few others honored here—the quality of her work far exceeded the quantity. She gave a brilliant performance in one of David Lean’s finest films and, in her second most famous role, she reprised a performance that earned her a Tony nomination. But before we get too far, some biographical information is required.

Brenda de Banzie was born in Manchester, England, in 1915 (some sources say 1909, but I’ll go with the reliable Film Encyclopedia). She made her British stage debut in 1935 and honed her acting skills in the theatre throughout the late 1930s and 1940s. She made her first film appearance in 1952 in a supporting role opposite Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer in the murder mystery The Long Dark Hall.

In 1952, she returned to the West End in London and played a wealthy hotel proprietress whose husband plots to kill her in Murder Mistaken. For her performance, she won the prestigious Clarence Derwent Award (given by Equity, the performers’ union) for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1954, David Lean cast Brenda de Banzie as Maggie, Charles Laughton’s eldest daughter, in the delightful Hobson’s Choice. As a young woman who devises a well-crafted plan for success, de Banzie stole the film from Laughton (who’s quite funny, but a bit hammy) and John Mills (who’s almost as good as Brenda). I still remember the first time I saw Hobson’s Choice—when it was over, I was scrambling for my movie books to find out why I’d never heard of such a gifted actress. Hobson’s Choice won the British Film Academy Award for Best British Film, but somehow de Banzie lost the Best Actress Award to Yvonne Mitchell from The Divided Hearts.

Though film acting honors eluded her, the stage showed its appreciation in 1958 by giving her a Tony nomination as the long-suffering wife of Laurence Olivier’s bitter, middle-aged music hall performer in The Entertainer. She reprised the role for the 1960 film version with Olivier, Roger Livesey, Joan Plowright, and Alan Bates.

With the exceptions of Hobson’s Choice and The Entertainer, Brenda de Banzie didn’t get a lot of good parts, though she was fine in entertaining films such as Doctor at Sea (with Dirk Bogarde), A Matter of Innocence (with Hayley Mills), The Pink Panther, and the 1959 remake of The 39 Steps. Alfred Hitchcock gave her a brief—but very memorable—part as one of the kidnappers in the 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Brenda de Banzie died in 1981, at age 65, following surgery on a brain tumor. Her son Antony Marsh became an actor.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Jonathan Frid

He was once so popular that he received massive amounts of mail from his female fans imploring that he nibble on their necks. No, I'm not talking about Robert Patinson from the Twilight movies nor the two vampire hunks from True Blood. No, not even Frank Langella, who played a sexy Dracula on Broadway and in film. All those performers owe no small debt to the original vampire-turned-pop culture phenomenon: Dark Shadows's Barnabus Collins, as played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid.

Born in Ontario in 1924, John Herbert Frid began acting in prep school as a teenager. He studied drama at McMaster University in Ontario, though his college days were interrupted by a stint in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. After the war, he graduated from McMaster and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatics Arts in London.

Returning to Canada in 1949, he worked in repertory companies and on television. Five years later, he enolled in the Yale School of Drama, eventually earning a Master's degree in directing in 1957. His first love was acting, though, and he played a wide range of roles for the next ten years--from Shakespearean characters to Starbuck in The Rainmaker. He gradually became interested in teaching drama and was looking for a position at a college when he was offered a brief stint as a vampire in a daytime soap called Dark Shadows.

Dan Curtis created Dark Shadows for ABC in 1966 as a contemporary Gothic soap set in the New England town of Collinsport. The show didn't perform well initially, so in an effort to liven things up, a plotline involving a ghost was added. Viewer interest perked up a little, so Curtis and head writer Art Wallace introduced a vampire in episode 211--and a pop culture icon was born.

A conflicted vampire still pining for his beloved (but long-dead) Josette, Barnabas was alternately charming and cruel--a perfect, well-rounded role for the Shakespearean-trained Frid to sink his teeth into (sorry...I just had to write that). Frid and Dark Shadows became so popular that Curtis adapted the series in 1970 as the theatrical film House of Dark Shadows (which summarized some of the show's plots and added an "ending"). Its financial success resulted in a sequel called Night of Dark Shadows, which didn't feature Barnabas...a bad decision in terms of box office.

After its burst of mainstream popularity, Dark Shadows faded slowly as must-see daytime television. The series ended in 1971. Frid, though, continued to stay busy. He starred in the made-for-TV movie The Devil's Daughter (with Joseph Cotten and Shelley Winters), headlined Oliver Stone's 1974 horror film Seizure, and returned to theatre.

Frid began doing readings at Dark Shadows conventions in the 1980s. He enjoyed that so much that he eventually developed the Readers Theatre and a one-man show. He also continued to perform on the stage in productions such as Arsenic and Old Lace and Mass Appeal.

Jonathan Frid never married. He is now 85 and semi-retired. But his legacy lives on--Johnny Depp may play Barnabus in a new version of Dark Shadows being developed by Tim Burton.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Paul Douglas

A versatile actor equally at ease in comedy and drama, Paul Douglas's film career started at age 42 and lasted just eleven years.

Although he was interested in drama in high school, his early jobs centered around sports. After attending Yale, the Philiadelphia native played professional football with his hometown's Frankford Yellow Jackets. That led to radio gigs as a sports announcer and news commentator.

He made his Broadway debut in 1935 in the short-lived Broadway play Double Dummy. Eleven years later, he was working in radio when Garson Kanin offered him the role of gruff scrap-metal tycoon Harry Brock in Born Yesterday. The play was a smash hit, running for 1642 performances over three years, and making stars of Douglas and his leading lady Judy Holliday.

His film career started in 1949 with key supporting performances in A Letter to Three Wives and It Happens Every Spring. The latter, one of my favorite Douglas films, cast him as a likable baseball catcher on the St. Louis Cardinals. Ray Milland stars as a college professor who accidentally invents a formula that repels wood--so when he rubs it on a baseball, no one can hit the ball with a wooden bat. To earn money to marry his girl, Milland joins the Cardinals as a pitcher (it's interesting to note that he cheats by using his formula on some pitches). When Douglas spots the formula in Milland's locker one day, the pitcher tells him it's hair tonic. That sets up one of the funniest scenes in this engaging film--and shows off Douglas's marvelous skills as comedian.

Lead roles and key supporting ones quickly followed:  he was a soft-hearted gangster in Love That Brute (1950); a police captain who works with Richard Widmark to prevent an epidemic in Panic in the Streets (1950); a fisherman involved with Barbara Stanwyck in Clash by Night (1952); and a businessman being blackmailed amid the corporate politics of Executive Suite (1954).

He plays a corporate executive again in my favorite Douglas film: The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956). Paired again with Judy Holliday, Douglas plays a well-meaning CEO who doesn't realize that his board of directors is fleecing the company's stockholders. He and Holliday form one of the great screen couples. It's a shame he didn't reprise his Born Yesterday role opposite her. Allegedly, Douglas declined the part (eventually played by Broderick Crawford) because it was reduced for the film version.

When Paul Douglas died of  a heart attack at 52, he was being considered for the Fred MacMurray role in The Apartment (1960). He had just appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Mighty Casey." When the episode was completed, Rod Serling noted that Douglas didn't look well. A few days later, Douglas died. Serling used his own money to reshoot the show with Jack Warden in the Douglas role.

Paul Douglas was married five times. He walked down the aisle with actress Jan Sterling in 1950; they were married at the time of his death.

Underrated Performer of The Week: Felix Bressart

This role won Felix a contract with MGM and he was on his way.

In 1940, he did seven pictures including Edison, the Man with Spencer Tracy and two of my all time favorite films. The first was King Vidor's Comrade X with Clark Gable and Hedy Lamar where he plays Vanya, Hedy's father. Felix steals just about every scene he's in, as shown in this small clip with Clark.




Felix worked with Lubitsch for the second time in what is his best known role, as Pirovitch in The Shop Around The Corner. It's favorite number two.



1941 found Felix in four films, the best ones being Ziegfeld Girl and Blossoms in the Dust. The following year, he made Mr. and Mrs. North, Crossroads, Iceland, and his third film with Lubitsch, To Be Or Not To Be with Jack Benny & Carole Lombard. He plays Greenberg, and his Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from The Merchant of Venice is one of the film's high points.

He worked with Spencer Tracy again in 1944's The Seventh Cross and also did The Song of Russia, Blonde Fever, and Greenwich Village.

In RKO's 1945 B musical Ding Dong Williams, Felix had third billing as Hugo Meyerheld, the head of a movie studio's music department (this is one of Felix's films that I have not seen yet). He gets to conduct Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu."

In 1948, Felix played Pete in Portrait of Jennie and Prof. Gerkikoff in Howard Hawks' musical remake of Ball of Fire: A Song Is Born with Danny Kaye and Virgina Mayo.

While working on 1949's My Friend Irma, Felix died suddenly on March 17th of leukemia. He was 57. His part of Professor Kropotkin was recast with Hans Conried  The producers had Hans speak throughout the film, but Felix is seen in all the long shots.

Underrated Performer Of The Week: Richard Loo

This week's performer, Richard Loo, is one of the most familiar Asian actors in American film history. IMDb lists 163 film and TV credits for him from 1932 to 1981.

Richard was a Chinese-American born on Maui, Hawaii on October 1, 1903. He spent his youth in Hawaii and as a teenager moved to California. He went to the University of California and wanted to start a business career, but the 1929 crash forced him to change his plans.

His first film was as an uncredited bandit in the 1931 film War Correspondent. His second credited role was Captain Li in Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yin. Richard worked throughout the 1930s in many uncredited roles in films such as: Shadow of Chinatown, After The Thin Man, The Good Earth, Lost Horizon, Thank You Mr. Moto, Too Hot To Handle, Island of Lost Men, Lady of The Tropics, and They Met In Bombay.

With the coming of World War II, Richard became, for many Americans, the face of the Japanese enemy. Many of the roles were stereotyped, such as a the spy, the flyer, the submarine officer, or the interrogator.
Four of my favorites are from this period. First, there is 1944's The Keys Of The Kingdom directed by Henry King and starring Gregory Peck (Peck's second film and my personal favorite), Thomas Mitchell, and Vincent Price. Richard plays the small but important role of a Chinese Officer, Lt. Shon (nice to see him as a good guy).

My second favorite is in 1944's The Purple Heart directed by Lewis Milestone and staring Dana Andrews. Richard plays General Ito Mitsubi, the main interrogator. Richard is excellent in this role, which is pivotal to the whole film.

Third is 1945's God Is My Co-Pilot with Dennis Morgan, and Alan Hale. Richard plays the top Japanese ace, Tokyo Joe, an English-speaking wise guy who learned to fly in Glendale CA.

And finally, there's the 1945 film First Yank in Tokyo as Richard as Colonel Hideko Okanura.

1951 brought Richard a chance to finally play an American in Sam Fuller's Korean War film The Steel Helmet. Richard plays the role of the war weary Sgt. Tanaka. This part is considered by many film historians as a breakthrough role for Asian American actors, and Richard nails it.

Richard worked in films and TV throughout the 1950's and into the 1980s. His films include. Hell and High Water, Destination Gobi, Soldier Of Fortune, The Quiet American, Battle Hymn, and The Sand Pebbles.  Bond fans may remember him as Hai Fat in The Man With The Golden Gun.

His TV work includes: Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Burke's Law, The Outer Limits (Li-Chin Sung in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon" episode), the first broadcast episode of I Spy ("So Long, Patrick Henry"), The Man From U.N.C.L E. Bonanza, My Three Sons, It Takes A Thief, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, and seven episodes of Kung Fu as Master Sun. His last acting role was on The Incredible Hulk in 1981 as Kam Chong.

He continued to work doing Toyota commericals into 1982. Richard died on November 20, 1983 of a cerebal hemorrhage

Underrated Performer of the Week: Barbara Bel Geddes

Quality—not quantity—defined Barbara Bel Geddes’ career in film and television. She only made twelve films, but two of them are beloved classics:       I Remember Mama and Vertigo. On the small screen, she starred in possibly the most famous episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and became a household name to a new generation in the 1980s as “Miss Ellie” Ewing on Dallas.

Bel Geddes, whose father was an architect and stage designer, fell in love with the theatre at an early age. She was 18 when she made her Broadway debut as Dottie Coburn in the 1941 comedy Out of the Frying Pan. When she won a 1947 New York Drama Critics Award for Deep Are the Roots, Hollywood came calling.

Bel Geddes made her film debut opposite Henry Fonda and Vincent Price in The Long Night (1948), a remake of the brooding 1939 French classic Le Jour se lève. The following year, Bel Geddes landed her most memorable film role as Irene Dunne’s daughter in I Remember Mama, a heartfelt ode to motherhood. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

After solid performances in Panic in the Streets (1950) and Fourteen Hours (1951), Bel Geddes’ film career stalled when she was investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Although she was not one of “The Hollywood Ten”, she turned her focus back to the theatre, where she appeared on Broadway in The Moon Is Blue and The Living Room. In 1956, Bel Geddes earned raves as Maggie the Cat in the original stage version of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She earned Tony Award nominations for Williams’ play and for the 1961 comedy Mary, Mary.

She returned to Hollywood in 1958 to star in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo. She played Midge (see photo above), James Stewart’s quietly-suffering female friend who longed to be more than just a friend. The part eventually led to four appearances on Hitch’s TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The best of those episodes—indeed, one of the best in the series’ entire run—was “Lamb to the Slaughter.” It featured Bel Geddes as a woman who kills her cheating husband with a frozen leg of lamb. (There’s more to the story, but no spoilers here!)

By 1978, Bel Geddes was working sporadically when she was offered the part of matriarch Ellie Ewing in the CBS prime time soap Dallas. When the show blossomed into a ratings behemoth, she became known to a whole new generation as simply “Miss Ellie.” The part earned her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. She left Dallas after heart surgery in 1983 and was replaced by Donna Reed. When viewers rejected the “new” Miss Ellie, Bel Geddes was convinced to return to the role until shortly before Dallas left the airwaves in 1991.

Barbara Bel Geddes subsequently retired to Maine. She died of lung cancer in 2005. She was married twice.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Tom Conway

He was good-looking, suave, and always seems poised for a lead role that would propel him to film stardom--like his brother George Sanders. Unfortunately, Tom Conway never quite made it, though he forged a steady career in "B" pictures and headlined a couple of a cult classics.

Born Thomas Charles Sanders, Tom's family fled Russia at the outbreak of the Revolution and settled in England. As a young man, Tom tried his hand at several jobs (e.g., copper mining), but eventually entered show business. After working on the British stage, he went to the U.S. in 1941 at the invitation of his brother. Allegedly, Tom and George flipped a coin to see who would keep the family's last name; they were concerned that Hollywood producers might get confused if there were young male actors named Sanders.

Tom's first big break came when George wanted to depart from The Falcon series. George had played B-film "gentleman detectives" in five Saint films and three Falcon films. After a strong supporting performance in Rebecca (1940), Sanders was ready to graduate to "A" pictures as a lead. RKO, though, was making a tidy profit with The Falcon movies. So, in a case of inspired casting, RKO introduced Tom Conway as The Falcon's Brother (1942). The plot has the original Falcon (played by George) being killed and his brother, Tom Lawrence (Conway), solving the murder and taking over as the new Falcon!

Conway made ten Falcon movies, making it one of the most successful "B" detective series. The best of the bunch is The Falcon and the Co-Eds, which benefits from an delightfully atmospheric seaside setting. Concurrently, Conway was cast in major roles in three of Val Lewton's acclaimed horror/suspense films:  Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), and The Seventh Victim (1943).

In the 1950s, roles became more scarce and Conway found himself working in low-budget films, television, and radio (providing the voice of both The Saint and Sherlock Holmes). His best post-1940s performance was as a ventriloquist in IThe Glass Eye",  a classic episode on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Alcholism took its toll in the 1960s and a newspaper article revealed that Conway was practically broke and living in a cheap flophouse. He and George had become estranged by then.

Tom Conway died in 1967, at age 62, from cirrhosis of the liver.

Several of Conway's film have been reviewed at the Cafe. You may want to check out the following (click on the title to read the post):  The Seventh Victim, The Falcon and the Co-Eds, and A Toast to New Year's Eve Movies (includes Repeat Performance, which co-starred Conway).

Underrated Performer of the Week: Una O'Connor

Una O’Connor was born Agnes Teresa McGlade in Belfast, Ireland, in 1880. She took her stage name when she joined Dublin’s prestigious Abbey Players. By the 1930s, she was appearing in West End stage productions and had small roles in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Murder (1930).

She didn’t attract much attention until she appeared in the Academy Award-winning adaptation of Noel Coward’s play Cavalcade (1933). She and Herbert Mundin played the Bridges, servants to the upper-class Marryot family—a concept not dissimilar to the later acclaimed television drama Upstairs, Downstairs. That performance provided O’Connor with a ticket to Hollywood, where her patented hysterics kept her in demand for almost three decades.

She was a favorite of both James Whale and John Ford. For Whale, she made memorable supporting appearances in The Invisible Man (1933) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). She played more serious characters for Ford in 1935’s The Informer (as Wallace Ford's mother) and The Plough and the Stars (1936).

O’Connor seems to have made a movie with almost every big Hollywood star at one time or other. She was in three Errol Flynn films: The Adventures of Robin Hood (a delightful turn as Marian’s maid-in-waiting), The Sea Hawk, and The Adventures of Don Juan. She also appeared in films with Ronald Colman (Random Harvest), Barbara Stanwyck (Christmas in Connecticut), Bob Hope (My Favorite Spy), Bing Crosby (The Bells of St. Mary’s), Norma Shearer and Fredric March (The Barretts of Wimpole Street), and Jennifer Jones (Cluny Brown).

Her most frequent co-star was Charles Laughton. They worked together in The Barretts of Wimpole Street, This Land is Mine, The Canterville Ghost, Forever and a Day, and Witness for the Prosecution. Indeed, Witness for the Prosecution provided O’Connor with her most famous role, as the hard-of-hearing housekeeper Janet McKenzie. She played the part for two years on Broadway and reprised it for Billy Wilder’s film version. It was her final performance.

Una O’Connor died of heart disease in 1959. She never married.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Arthur Hill

On the big and small screens, Arthur Hill specialized in portraying low-key, authoritative characters in films like The Andromeda Strain and TV series like Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law…so it’s ironic that his most famous role was as the sarcastic, volatile George in Edward Albee’s stage play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Arthur Hill was born in 1922 in Melfort, a small Saskatchewan town in Canada. He studied pre-law at the University of British Columbia, where his attendance was interrupted by a stint in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. After the war, he returned to college with the goal of following in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer. He supported himself in school by working in radio and eventually became interested in acting.

He moved to Great Britain in 1948 and worked in radio, television, and on the stage. He built a strong resume of theatre credits before relocating to New York. His first Broadway role was opposite Ruth Gordon in The Matchmaker in 1955. He followed it with impressive performances in Look Homeward, Angel (1957), The Gang’s All Here (1959), and All the Way Home (1960). His stage career reached its pinnacle when he won the Tony for Best Actor as George opposite Uta Hagen’s Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1962.

Throughout the late 1950s and the 1960s, Hill appeared regularly as a guest star in television series like The Fugitive, Route 66, The Invaders, and Mission: Impossible. He was in multiple episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The F.B.I., and The Name of the Game. His guest stint in the lawyer series The Defenders and Judd for the Defense foreshadowed his most famous TV role.

In 1971, Arthur Hill played the lead in the two-hour TV movie Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law. The resulting TV series ran on ABC from 1971-1974 and starred Hill as a compassionate, intelligent lawyer whose cases ranged from civil rights to murder. Lee Majors, David Soul, and (briefly) Reni Santoni each played Marshall’s assistant at various stages of the show’s run. The series performed modestly in the ratings, despite four “crossover episodes” with the much more successful Marcus Welby, M.D. (produced by the same company). The 1971 episode “Eulogy for a Wide Receiver” was directed by a young Steven Spielberg. Despite good reviews, even from the legal profession, Owen Marshall never captured the public’s fancy.

Hill’s most famous film role also came in 1971, when he starred as the head of a team of scientists trying to combat The Andromeda Strain (click on the title to read a film review). His other major film credits include Harper with Paul Newman, The Ugly American with Marlon Brando, and Sam Peckinpah’s The Killer Elite.

After the cancellation of Owen Marshall, he focused on television, where he continued to be in demand as a guest star and for lead roles in made-for-TV movies. He gave outstanding performances as a judge fighting racial prejudice in the fact-based Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys (1976) and as Robby Benson’s father in Death Be Not Proud (1975), a moving true story of a young man dying of a brain tumor.

Arthur Hill was married twice. His first wife, Peggy Hassard, died in 1996. He was survived by his second wife, Anne-Sophie Taraba. Hill died in 2006 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Pamela Tiffin

The talented and lovely Pamela Tiffin born in 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After a brief modeling career as a teenager, she was "discovered" by productor Hal Wallis. He cast her in the film version of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke in a supporting role opposite Laurence Harvey and Geraldine Page. Pamela received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.

The Golden Globes honored with another nomination for the her next film, Billy Wilder's frantically funny One, Two, Three. As James Cagney's semi-rebellious, none-too-bright employer's daughter, Ms. Tiffin proved herself to be a deft comedienne and gave what it is generally considered her best performance. Describing her new husband--a protestor in 1960 Berlin--to her mother, Tiffin's character gushes: "Do you realize that Otto spelled backwards is Otto?"

She had leading roles in her follow-up films, starting with a remake of State Fair co-starring Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, and Ann-Margret (Pamela had the role played by Jeanne Crain in the original). She, Dolores Hart, and Lois Nettleton played stewardesses seeking love in Come Fly With Me, a variation of Three Coins in the Fountain. Ironically, she also appeared in The Pleasure Seekers, a more direct remake of Three Coins, this time with Ann-Margret and Suzanne Pleshette as the other young women seeking romance.

Pamela was paired with James Darren twice: For Those Who Think Young (with Tina Louise, Paul Lynde, Bob Denver and Woody Woodbury) and The Lively Set with Doug Mc Clure (Bobby Darin sang the theme song).

In late 1966, she had her last good role in Harper with Paul Newman and Robert Wagner. She did a bunch of European exploitation films after that and stopped making films in 1974 to spend time with her family. She is now 67 and lives in New York. Below is the trailer from Come Fly With Me.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Daria Nicolodi, the Original (Italian) Scream Queen

Most Italian film fans will likely remember actress Daria Nicolodi as the longtime partner of horror director Dario Argento. She is also the mother of actress/director Asia Argento, who has starred in films of varying countries -- including France and the U.S. -- as well as several of her father's movies.

But Nicolodi was a talented actress. She provided a number of impressive performances in Argento's movies. She was quite charming and supplied much of the comic relief in her first film with Argento, 1974's Deep Red (initially released in America as The Hatchet Murders, although a hatchet never appears in the film). She made the most of her smaller roles in Inferno (1980) and Opera (1987/aka Terror at the Opera), and she was excellent in Phenomena (1985/aka Creepers) and Tenebrae (1982/aka Unsane), the latter film as the leading lady.

However, Nicolodi made two wonderful contributions to the world of cinema. One was a commanding performance in Italian maestro Mario Bava's 1977 horror film, Shock (originally released in the U.S. as Beyond the Door II, a pseudo-sequel to an Exorcist rip-off). Not only is Nicolodi superb as the protagonist, but she also appeared in what was Bava's final film. Nicolodi's other contribution was conceptualizing and co-writing Argento's Suspiria (1977). Suspiria, concerning witches and black magic at a dance academy, is undoubtedly Argento's most popular film (and perhaps his most successful). It was also the start of his infamous "Three Mothers" trilogy, followed three years later with Inferno, and the concluding film, Mother of Tears, released after nearly three decades in 2007.

Nicolodi has also appeared in Delirium: Photo of Gioia (1987, directed by Mario Bava's son, Lamberto Bava), 1991's The Sect (aka The Devil's Daughter, directed by Argento protege, Michele Soavi), and Scarlet Diva (2000), written and directed by her daughter, Asia Argento. The Italian actress last appeared in Mother of Tears, portraying the mother of the film's star, her real-life daughter.

It's unfortunate that Nicolodi was overshadowed by her partner's success as a film director, and even her daughter has achieved at least more notoriety than her mother. Daria Nicolodi was an extraordinary artist, a natural in front of the camera. Dario Argento will always be remembered for his horror movies, but one cannot watch a movie such as Deep Red and miss Nicolodi's standout performance. Her acting accomplishments will become as timeless and renowned as the films themselves.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Pam Grier, Cinema's First Female Action Star

In an interview with Charlie Rose, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino suggested that Pam Grier may have been the cinema’s first female action star. In a 1975 interview article in Ms. Magazine, Jamaica Kinkaid wrote that Grier’s films of the 1970s displayed a “woman who is independent, resourceful, strong, and courageous.” Undoubtedly, her strong female heroines were in sharp contrast to the supporting roles played by most actresses in the action film genre. Yet, despite her groundbreaking roles, Pam Grier’s career as a leading actress was fleeting—with the exception of a revival of sorts in Tarantino’s 1997 Jackie Brown.

Grier was born in Winston-Salem, NC, but moved frequently due to her father’s career in the military. She entered beauty contests and sang backup to Jimmy Womack before landing a job as a receptionist at budget-minded American International Pictures. After a bit part in Russ Meyer’s satire Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Grier starred in 1970’s The Big Doll House, a Philippines-shot “women in prison” picture. She followed it with two similar films (Women in Cages and The Big Bird Cage) and supporting roles in the bigger-budgeted Hit Man (a remake of Get Carter) and Scream, Blacula, Scream (a sequel to—what else?—Blacula). Her career got a boost when she landed a co-starring role opposite Margaret Markov in 1972’s Black Mama, White Mama, an above-average rip-off of The Defiant Ones that was co-scripted by future filmmaker Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs).

That film’s success led to the title role in 1973’s Coffy, Grier’s most famous action film. By this time, blaxploitation films had evolved into a lucrative genre. The term “blaxploitation”—derived from “Black” and “exploitation”—was used in the early 1970s to denote action films with predominantly African-American casts. The genre’s biggest stars were Richard Roundtree (Shaft), Fred Williamson (Hammer), and Jim Brown (Slaughter). But Pam Grier held her own in Coffy, as a fierce heroine obsessed with bringing down the drug kingpins responsible for her eleven-year-old sister’s addiction. The lovely Grier didn’t hold back—Coffy was every bit as violent and ruthless as the criminals she killed and maimed (“Coffy—she’ll cream you!” screamed the ads).

Grier followed up Coffy with Foxy Brown (1974), another violent revenge picture in which her heroine destroys a dope-prostitution ring responsible for killing her worthless brother and her undercover narcotics agent boyfriend. Although Coffy and Foxy Brown were both big hits, the blaxploitation genre began to receive criticism for its violence and promotion of African-American stereotypes. As a result, Grier played a private detective in the more subdued Sheba, Baby and a fashion photographer in Friday Foster (both 1975). Neither film did big business and, by 1976, the blaxploitation genre pretty much came to an end with martial arts-themed movies like Black Belt Jones. Grier’s career as a leading action star ended, too.

She got occasional supporting roles in mainstream movies: she played opposite then-boyfriend Richard Pryor in the stock car biography Greased Lighting (1977); she was a killer prostitute in the Paul Newman cop film Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981); she played the “Dust Witch” in the atmospheric Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983); and she was Steven Seagal’s partner in Above the Law (1988). She stayed busy with television, too, playing Philip Michael Thomas’ girlfriend in a few Miami Vice episodes.

But lead roles eluded Grier until Quentin Tarantino offered her the title role in Jackie Brown (1997). Tarantino had long admired Grier’s action films and he had considered casting her in Pulp Fiction. Her portrayal of a stewardess mixed up with an arms dealers and FBI agents in Jackie Brown earned her critical praise and a Golden Globe nomination. She subsequently returned to supporting roles, but continues to stay busy, having recently completed a long run in the TV series The L Word.

Pam Grier never married, although she has been romantically linked with Pryor and former basketball player Kareen Abdul-Jabbar. She is a cancer survivor. She was named as one of Ebony Magazine's "100 Most Fascinating Women of the 20th Century.”

Underrated Performer of the Week: Diana Muldaur

Starting in the mid-1960s and for the next thirty years, Diana Muldaur was one of the busiest performers on television. The dark-haired actress with the striking eyes guest starred in dozens of TV series, ranging from Hawaii Five-O to Kung Fu, Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels, and Hart to Hart.

She appeared in two episodes of Gene Roddenbery’s original Star Trek: playing a scientist whose body becomes possessed by an intelligent alien in season 2’s “Return to Tomorrow” and portraying a blind telepath in season 3’s “Is There Truth No Beauty.” Two decades later, Roddenberry added Muldaur to the cast of StarTrek: The Next Generation as the Enterprise’s chief physician, Dr. Kate Pulaski. She left the hit series after a single season, stating in a People Magazine interview in 2000: “I don’t think they were happy to have me there.”

In 1989, the same year in which she left The Next Generation, she joined McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak on NBC’s popular L.A. Law. She earned two Emmy nominations for her portrayal of aggressive attorney Rosalind Shays in seasons 4 and 5. But it was her character’s shocking death—Shays fell down an elevator shaft—that earned her a place in television lore.

Muldaur also played game warden (and best-selling author) Joy Adamson in Born Free, a short-lived 1974 series adapted the hit movie about Elsa the lioness.

Though she occasionally had roles in theatrical films, big screen stardom eluded Muldaur. Still, she played opposite John Wayne in McQ and had her best screen role in Thomas Tryon’s The Other.

Off screen, Diana Muldaur served as board member on the Screen Actors Guild and as president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She has been married twice. Her first husband, actor James Vickery, died of cancer in 1979. She has been married to writer-producer Robert Dozier since 1981. She has bred Airedale Terriers and served as a judge at dog shows.

Everything Hunky Dunky: "Cuddles" Sakall is the Underrated Performer of the Week!

Carl, the head waiter in Casablanca. Restaurant owner and master chef Felix in Christmas in Connecticut. Music store owner Otto Oberkugen in In the Good Old Summertime. S.Z. Sakall amassed an impressive resume of supporting roles during his brief 15-year stint in Hollywood.

He was born Eugene Gero Szakall in Budapest in 1884. When he went into acting, he took the stage name Szoke Szakall and starred in a string successful Eurpean musicals and comedies. He left for the U.S. at the outbreak of World War II. All three of his sisters died in Nazi concentration camps.

He made his Hollywood debut as S.Z. Sakall in the Deanna Durbin-Kay Francis musical It's a Date. He quickly gained attention for his supporting roles in The Devil and Miss Jones (as Charles Coburn's butler), Ball of Fire (as one Gary Cooper's fellow scholars), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (as the naive backer of one of George M. Cohen shows). He was 59 when he played Carl in Casablanca, a role he almost turned down.

In The Film Encyclopedia, Ephraim Katz wrote of Sakall: "Fractured English, flabby jowls, and an excitable personality were his stock-in-trade in a long list of endearing portrayals." That endearing quality earned him the nickname "Cuddles" and, by 1945, he was sometimes billed on screen as S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall.

Sakall appeared in three films with Errol Flynn: the Westerns San Antonio and Montana and the comedy Never Say Goodbye (one of my favorites among his films). He played three characters named Felix (Christmas in Connecticut, My Dream Is Yours, and Painting the Clouds with Sunshine). For me, his finest hour was as Barbara Stanwyck's befuddled friend and "ghost cook" in Christmas in Connecticut, who announces "catatroph!" when things are bad and "everything hunky dunky" when they're good.

S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall's last film was an adaptation of the operetta The Student Prince in 1954. He died of a heart attack the following year.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Versatility, Thy Name is Richard Basehart

A nice guy who’s really a homicidal psycho? A soft-hearted clown who consoles the mistreated? An iron-willed, but compassionate, submarine commander? If you needed an actor for any of these roles, you had only to turn to Richard Basehart. During his 37 years in film and television, Basehart quietly displayed his acting versatility—a virtue that attracted acclaimed directors from Samuel Fuller to John Huston to Federico Fellini to Joseph Losey.

Born in 1914, John Richard Basehart grew up in Zanesville, OH, spending some of his childhood in an orphanage because his widowed father was unable to care for all four children (a fifth child died as a baby). Basehart was attracted to acting at an early age, but planned to follow in his father’s footsteps as a newspaper reporter. After a short career in journalism, he realized he couldn’t shake the acting bug. He moved to Philadelphia and then New York, appearing in numerous stage plays. His performance as a dying—but stubborn—Scottish soldier in The Hasty Heart earned him the New York Critics Award for “Most Promising Actor of the Year.” Warner Bros. took notice and signed him to a film contract.

Basehart’s first three films got his screen career off to a fine start. He played a melancholy poet in Repeat Performance (1947), the cult classic about a woman who relives a year over again trying to avert a tragedy the second time around. Basehart next appeared opposite Barbara Stanwyck and Errol Flynn in the entertaining Cry Wolf (though he doesn’t appear until near the climax). His third film earned him his best notices yet as the cold-hearted killer in He Walked By Night (1948), one of the first U.S. films to employ a documentary style to increase realism.

Basehart continued to deliver stellar performances throughout the 1950s. He played a suicidal young man standing on the ledge of a skyscraper in Fourteen Hours (1951). In Tension (1950), he had a rare starring role as a henpecked pharmacist who plots to murder his wife (things don’t work out according to plan…not at all). He got to play the villain again in House on Telegraph Hill (one of my favorite Basehart performances), managing to make an offer of a bedtime glass of orange juice menacing.

Basehart also appeared in his two most famous roles in the 1950s: Ishmael, the “hero” of Moby Dick, in John Huston’s 1956 screen adaptation, and Il Matto (“The Fool”), the clown in Federico Fellini’s classic La Strada (1954)¸ which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film. When Fellini was asked why he cast Basehart in the pivotal role of the clown, the great director said it was because of Basehart’s compelling performance in Fourteen Hours.

Basehart gravitated toward television in the early 1960s and, in 1964, signed on to star as Admiral Harriman Nelson in Irwin Allen’s science-fiction TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Of his role as the stalwart Admiral Nelson, Basehart famously said: “With Shakespeare, there’s more character than an actor can ever plumb. But there’s no greater challenge than making something out of nothing.” (On a personal note: I first became a Basehart fan as a kid watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; in fact, I still have my autographed photo with him as the submarine Seaview’s commander).

When Voyage ended its four-year run, Basehart appeared frequently as a TV series guest star, in made-for-TV movies, and in the occasional theatrical film during the 1970s and early 1980s. Shortly before he died following a series of strokes in 1984, he narrated the closing ceremony of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Basehart was married three times. His first wife, Stephanie, died of a brain tumor in 1950. He married Valentina Cortese, his House on Telegraph Hill co-star, in 1951; they divorced in 1960. He married Diane Lotery in 1962 and they were together until his death.

(Program note: Fourteen Hours starring Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Grace Kelly, and Barbara Bel Geddes airs on TCM this Thursday at 8:00 EST.)

Underrated Performer of the Week: Alice Ghostley

This Cafe special was written by Gilby37.

Last Sunday night (October 11), I emailed Rick my article on The Groovie Goolies. In the email, I also mentioned how much I loved the Underrated Performer of the Week feature. I then asked if Alice Ghostley would be appearing sometime soon in the spot. Well, Rick asked if I’d like to write her piece, and I said YES! Truthfully, I think her name alone makes her a perfect candidate for being an Underrated Performer of the Week feature during the month of October.

Alice Ghostley got her start on Broadway in Leonard Stillman’s New Faces of 1952. She had supporting roles in five other Broadway shows during the 1950’s. In the early-mid 1960’s, Ghostley appeared three times on the New York stage. She won the 1965 Tony award for “Best Featured Actress in a Play” as Mavis Parodus Bryson in The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. She had previously been nominated for the same award in 1963 for The Beauty Part. She would not appear on Broadway again until 1978 when she took over the role as Ms. Hannigan in Annie. That also would be her final appearance on the “Great White Way.”

In addition to her multiple appearances on Broadway during the 1950’s and 1960’s, Alice Ghostley landed small parts in some good movies. She appeared in: To Kill a Mockingbird; The Flim Flam Man; The Graduate; My Six Loves; and With Six You Get Eggroll. However, I would venture a guess that most film lovers best remember her as Mrs. Murdock, the auto shop teacher in 1978’s Grease. I know I’ll always remember little Alice slapping John Travolta on the shoulder just before his big drag race and telling him: “Haul ass kid!” It was the typical oddball role that she played so well time and time again.

However, the medium where Alice Ghostley truly found fame was TV. It started in 1957 when she appeared in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Julie Andrews in the title role. Ghostley and her friend Kaye Ballard were cast as the ugly step-sisters. The positive reviews she received for playing Joy in this musical led to numerous other TV roles. In fact, Ghostley would continue work on TV up until 2000. Her final TV role being Matilda Matthews in the NBC soap Passions.

To say Alice Ghostley was a fixture on TV during the 1960’s through the 1990’s would be an understatement. It was hard to tune into a new show or rerun and not see her. Her lists of credits included: Mayberry, RFD; Maude; One Day at a Time; Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Policewoman; What’s Happening; Good Times; and Evening Shade. There were two roles however that were particularly memorable.

First, Ghostley played Esmeralda on the popular ABC sitcom, Bewitched. This character was a witch who worked for the Stephens family as a nanny/housekeeper. Unfortunately, it was usually Esmeralda who needed the help. Her spells often backfired, so rather than bringing order to the Stephens house, she often added more chaos. The part was a wonderful showcase for Ghostley who could not only deliver her lines flawlessly, but communicate Esmeralda’s exasperation with her own ineptitude through her facial gestures.

The second role, and the one which I feel best showcased Alice Ghostley’s comic talents, was Bernice Clifton on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. From 1986 – 1993, you could see Alice Ghostley perform what was arguably the best role in her long career. Designing Women had one of the best ensemble casts on TV: Dixie Carter, Delta Burke; Annie Potts; Jean Smart; and Meshach Taylor. Therefore, bringing in a recurring character might have seemed odd under normal circumstances. However, Ghostley’s first guest appearance on the episode entitled "Perky’s Visit: on November 24, 1986 was very well-received. Plus, Alice Ghostley had the ability to work well within an ensemble so the producers wisely choose to write her into the show.

Bernice Clifton was a close friend of the mother of Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker. She was introduced to the audience as having an “arterial flow problem above the neck.” Bernice was a completely unique. One moment she could be commenting on the Gulf War and calling it “Operation Pantyshield.” While the next, she was reasonably arguing the merits of women as ministers in the church. Would Bernice have been such a memorable character in lesser hands? ABSOLUTELY NOT! It took an actress who was willing to be a “little fruitcake” (as Suzanne often referred to Bernice) one moment and the mother figure of the group the next. Bernice had a unique approach to life. She thought nothing of taking all the women on a “Wilderness Experience”; hosting her own public access TV show; or wearing a Christmas tree skirt as an actual skirt. Truthfully, how many actresses could have pulled off the last item?

When Alice Ghostley died on September 21, 2007, it was the end of an era. I seriously doubt we will see an actor or actress appear on TV for the number of consecutive decades that she did. Nor do I think anyone will amass the number of TV credits which Alice Ghostley did. But it was not just the quantity that made her a standout; it was the quality of her work. That is why she was my choice for Underrated Performer of the Week.

Underrated Performer of the Week: Spring Byington

Spring Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress, best remembered for working as a key MGM contract player. At 28, the actress married Roy Chandler, a Broadway stage manager. The couple lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for three years, where she gave birth to daughters. Their marriage ended after four years and Byington returned to New York with her daughters. She started her successful career in Broadway.

In her last years of Broadway, she began work in films. The first was a short film titled Papa's Slay Ride in 1931 and the second, and most famous, was Little Women in 1933 as "Marmee" with Katharine Hepburn as her daughter "Jo". She became a household name during The Jones Family series of films and continued as a character actress in Hollywood for several years. In 1938, Byington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for You Can't Take It With You.

During World War ll she worked in radio and decided to return when her film career began to fade. In 1952, she joined CBS Radio to become the lead role of the widowed Lily Ruskin in the sitcom December Bride. In 1954, Desilu Productions produced a pilot of the show for a television sitcom, also starring Byington. The pilot was successful and the new hit sitcom aired in its first two seasons after I Love Lucy. The series broadcast 111 episodes through 1959.

Throughout the 1960s, she was busy in television, She also co-stared in Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) as Alice Wagner in the episode "The Man with Two Faces." From 1961–1963, she appeared in the Western TV series Laramie. After it concluded its run, she guest starred in the following TV series:

Kentucky Jones (1964), in the episode "Feminine Intrusion", a comedy/drama.
Batman (1966) as J. Pauline Spaghetti in the episodes "The Catwoman Goeth" and "The Sandman Cometh."
I Dream of Jeannie (1967) as Larry Hagman's mother.
The Flying Nun (1968) as Mother General.

Spring Byington was an extremely intelligent and energetic woman her entire life. She spoke Spanish and also learned Brazilian Portuguese in her golden years. In July 1958, she had acquired a "small coffee plantation" in Brazil. In August 1955, she began taking flying lessons.
(information source, Wikipedia)

She did over 41 films. These are just few of my favorites:
Little Women (1933)

Mutiny on The Bounty (1935)
The Buccaneer (1938)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
Jezebel (1938)
You Can't Take It With You (1938)
Rings on Her Fingers (1942)
Heaven Can Wait (1943)
The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
Dragonwyck (1946)
In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)

Brett Cullen - He Once Was "Lost", But Now He's Found

You may not know the name, but Brett Cullen is someone you've seen many times on television considering he has made more than 100 guest appearances over the past 20 years. When you see him you probably remark on his rugged good looks. At 6 feet two with dark blonde hair and blue eyes he certainly makes a favorable impression. His career can be divided into the following categories: one-shot guest appearances, multi-episode guest appearances, regular cast member, and lead actor in a drama series. His filmography also includes quite a few movies made for television and theatrical release. The man is everywhere! And we are glad about that. In 1980 he took over the lead role from Brian Kerwin in the western family series The Chisholms and has been working nonstop ever since.

A closer examination of his body of work reveals a versatile actor with an admirable list of credits in film and television over the past two decades. In 1984 he was chosen to play Bob Cleary in the megahit miniseries The Thorn Birds, portraying his character from age 16 to 60 over three episodes. From 1986 to 1988 he appeared as Dan Fixx in the top-rated primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. His character was a truck driver who rolled into town one day claiming that he was the rightful heir to the Falcon Crest fortune. This led to numerous confrontations with Jane Wyman's matriarch, Angela Channing, and he more than held his own in these scenes with the Academy award-winning actress. After leaving Falcon Crest he signed on as Marshal Sam Cain in the youth oriented western The Young Riders appearing in 24 episodes during the first season, 1989 to 1990. Over the next eight years he worked continually in film and television, portraying a diverse group of characters in Diagnosis: Murder, Matlock, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, The Outer Limits, Ally McBeal, Suddenly Susan, and The Incredible Hulk. Film appearances during this time included Wyatt Earp(although he ended up on the cutting room floor), Apollo 13, and Something to Talk About. And roles in more than 10 made for television movies provided a full work schedule until 1998.

In 1998 the fledgling broadcast network UPN aired a series entitled Legacy, a family oriented show about a widowed father and his children who own a horse farm in the bluegrass of Kentucky in 1881. Brett Cullen played the lead role of Ned Logan, with a talented group of young actors and actresses supporting him as his family. Although it received critical acclaim, viewership was poor and the series was canceled after 18 episodes. Fans ran a campaign to save the show, but to no avail. Brett was very frustrated by its failure, especially since he had placed so much of himself into the creation of the character Ned Logan and had implicit faith in the quality and appeal of the series.

A new chapter in Brett's career began with the advent of the 21st century; he started making multi-episode guest appearances. Although he continued to appear in films such as The Replacements, Ghost Rider, and National Security, and became a stalwart of made for television movies, his multiple episode story arcs in a variety of series had noticeably increased. They included the West Wing, Friday Night Lights, Ugly Betty, Lost, and Damages.

"Damages" .... Wayne Sutry / ... (6 episodes, 2009)
- Look What He Dug Up This Time (2009) TV episode .... Wayne Sutry
- You Got Your Prom Date Pregnant (2009) TV episode .... Wayne Sutry
- Hey! Mr. Pibb! (2009) TV episode .... Wayne Sutry
- I Knew Your Pig (2009) TV episode .... Wayne Sutry
- Burn It, Shred It, I Don't Care. (2009) TV episode .... Wayne Sutry
(1 more)

"Lost" .... Goodwin Stanhope (4 episodes, 2005-2008)

- The Other Woman (2008) TV episode .... Goodwin Stanhope

- One of Us (2007) TV episode .... Goodwin Stanhope
- A Tale of Two Cities (2006) TV episode .... Goodwin Stanhope
- The Other 48 Days (2005) TV episode .... Goodwin Stanhope

"Friday Night Lights" .... Walt Riggins (4 episodes, 2007)
- I Think We Should Have Sex (2007) TV episode .... Walt Riggins
- Black Eyes and Broken Hearts (2007) TV episode (credit only) .... Walt Riggins
- Blinders (2007) TV episode (credit only) .... Walt Riggins
- Upping the Ante (2007) TV episode .... Walt Riggins

"Ugly Betty" .... Ted LeBeau (3 episodes, 2006-2007)
- Sofia's Choice (2007) TV episode .... Ted LeBea

Fake Plastic Snow (2006) TV episode .... Ted LeBeau
- After Hours (2006) TV episode .... Ted LeBeau

"The West Wing" .... Governor Ray Sullivan R-WV (5 episodes, 2005-2006)
- The Cold (2006) TV episode .... Governor Ray Sullivan R-WV
- Running Mates (2006) TV episode .... Governor Ray Sullivan R-WV
- Message of the Week (2005) TV episode .... Governor Ray Sullivan R-WV

- Things Fall Apart (2005) TV episode .... Governor Ray Sullivan R-WV
- In God We Trust (2005) TV episode .... Governor Ray Sullivan R-WV

And like the Energizer Bunny, he still keeps going, one project following another, keeping his fans happy to have him around, even if he has been "flying under the radar".

Photos courtesy of brettcullen.com

"And then she walked in out of the moonlight, smiling..."

Jane Greer is undoubtedly best remembered for her splendid portrayal of the sexy femme fatale Kathie Moffat in Jacques Tourneur's film noir classic, Out of the Past (1947). But this classy dame, a stunning beauty with a perpetually cocked eyebrow, was a topnotch actress, holding her own against the likes of Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger in the '52 version of The Prisoner of Zenda, Gary Cooper in You're in the Navy Now (1951), and James Cagney in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). If you haven't seen it, I would recommend 1949's The Big Steal, a fun action romp in which Ms. Greer re-teams with her Out of the Past co-star, Robert Mitchum. Later in her career, the actress starred in an Out of the Past remake, Against All Odds, playing Rachel Ward's mother (Ward herself playing Greer's character from the original) and had a small part in David Lynch's cult TV series, Twin Peaks, as the mother of Norma (the owner of the diner). The Cafe salutes this talented lady!