It’s that marvelous time again, when one of the most enjoyable Blogathons has come around, it’s the 7th Annual What A Character Blogathon. And the reason I adore it so much –it’s purpose is essential in paying tribute to the memorable character actors who have often added the sparkle to the cinematic sky of movie stars– they touch our lives so profoundly because of their unique contribution as the characters they bring to life!
I want to thank Aurora of Once Upon a Screen, Paula Guthat of Paula’s Cinema Club, and Kellee Pratt of Outspoken & Freckled. for giving me the opportunity to once again show my sincerest love for the actors & actresses who are so discernible within the art of film, television and theatre. It is their unforgettable performances that make it a much richer, a more compelling experience — as they are as much the stars who inhabit the dream of art because of their singular personalities.
I’ve been participating now for 7 years, and it’s always a great expedition to delve deeper into the career’s of the people who I’ve found the most enigmatic, extraordinary and uniquely engaging. This year I’ve been excited to pay special attention to two remarkable women, Eileen Heckartand Louise Latham.
For years I have always thought of these two women together, as one of those odd associations–yet unexplicable– that makes you put certain faces or impressions together in your head. Another example of two actors that often seem to merge in that vast noggin of mine — I’m always thinking of E.G.Marshall and Eli Wallach together. Heck, maybe, next year I’ll do the same double feature for them. As I adore them both!
It struck me that I should pair Eileen and Louise as a kind of sisterhood, for both of their uniquely extraordinary styles stand out and somehow stand together for me. And an interesting confluence happened as I went on my more intensive journey of discovering of these two fine actresses. I found out that Eileen Heckart and Louise Latham appeared together in a rare episode of The Doctors and The Nurses an hour long television medical drama that ran from 1962-1965. In a macabre tale reminiscent of a Robert Bloch story — the episode is called Night of the Witch, about a woman (Eileen Heckart) who is tortured by the loss of her 6 year old daughter, and seeks her own brand of retribution from the medical staff she believes is responsible. The hospital receptionist who is cold and unfeeling is portrayed by none other than Louise Latham. The fascination I’ve had to see this performance led me to hunt down a rare copy and now I own it and have put together a sample of it here for you. It’s a rather long clip of the episode in honor of them appearing together. It showcases both their talents. I hope you enjoy the excerpt And I am praying that the television series itself will someday find a full release as it is worthy of being re-visited for it’s groundbreaking content, incredible cast and performances.
As in past What A Character Blogathons, Burgess Meredith, Ruth Gordon, Agnes Moorehead, Martin Balsam, and Jeanette Nolan–each of these actors– had a way of elevating every single project they were involved in, making it just that much more fascinating, delightful, heart wrenching and unquestionably memorable because of their performance–no matter how small their presence, they changed the landscape and impacted the narrative.
It is my absolute honor this year to feature two of the most remarkable women whose legacy still lives on.
“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
― Sigmund Freud
“Ladies and gentlemen- welcome to violence; the word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains sex.” — Narrator from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
Tura Satana,Haji, and Lori Williams in Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 1965Françoise Dorléac and Donald Pleasence in Roman Polanski’s Cul-de-sac 1966Constance Towers kicks the crap out of her pimp for shaving off her hair in Sam Fuller’s provocative The Naked Kiss 1964Peter Breck plays a journalist hungry for a story and gets more than a jolt of reality when he goes undercover in a Mental Institution in Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor 1963Bobby Darin is a psychotic racist in Hubert Cornfield and Stanley Kramer’s explosive Pressure Point 1962 starring Sidney Poitier and Peter Falk.
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Patricia Morán as Rita Ugalde: The Exterminating Angel 1962:“I believe the common people, the lower class people, are less sensitive to pain. Haven’t you ever seen a wounded bull? Not a trace of pain.”
Ann Baxter as Teresina Vidaverri Walk on the Wild Side 1962—“When People are Kind to each other why do they have to find a dirty word for it.”
The Naked Venus 1959–“I repeat she is a gold digger! Europe’s full of them, they’re tramps… they’ll do anything to get a man. They even pose in the NUDE!!!!”
Baby Boy Franky Buono-Blast of Silence (1961)“The targets names is Troiano, you know the type, second string syndicate boss with too much ambition and a mustache to hide the facts he’s got lips like a woman… the kind of face you hate!”
Lorna (1964)-“Thy form is fair to look upon, but thy heart is filled with carcasses and dead man’s bones”
Glen or Glenda (1953)– “Give this man satin undies, a dress, a sweater and a skirt, or even a lounging outfit and he’s the happiest individual in the world.”
Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda 1953
Johnny Cash as Johnny Cabot in Five Minutes to Live (1961):“I like a messy bed.”
Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) Island of Lost Souls:“Do you know what it means to feel like God?”
The Snake Pit (1948): Jacqueline deWit as Celia Sommerville “And we’re so crowded already. I just don’t know where it’s all gonna end!” Olivia de Havilland as Virginia Stuart Cunningham“I’ll tell you where it’s gonna end, Miss Somerville… When there are more sick ones than well ones, the sick ones will lock the well ones up.”
Delphine Seyrig as Countess Bathoryin Daughters of Darkness (1971)– “Aren’t those crimes horrifying. And yet -so fascinating!”
Julien Gulomar as Bishop Daisy to the Barber (Michel Serrault) King of Hearts (1966)–“I was so young. I already knew that to love the world you have to get away from it.”
Susannah York (right) with Beryl Reid in The Killing of Sister George Susannah York and Beryl Reid in Robert Aldrich’s The Killing of Sister George 1960
The Lickerish Quartet (1970)–“You can’t get blood out of an illusion.”
THE SWEET SOUND OF DEATH (1965)– Dominique-“I’m attracted” Pablo-” To Bullfights?” Dominique-” No, I meant to death. I’ve always thought it… The state of perfection for all men.”
Peter O’Toole asSir Charles Ferguson Brotherly Love (1970): “Remember the nice things. Reared in exile by a card-cheating, scandal ruined daddy. A mummy who gave us gin for milk. Ours was such a beautifully disgusting childhood.”
Euripides 425 B.C.–“Whom God wishes to destroy… he first makes mad.”
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford bring to life two of the most outrageously memorable characters in Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962
WHAT DOES PSYCHOTRONIC MEAN?
psychotronic|ˌsīkəˈtränik| adjective denoting or relating to a genre of movies, typically with a science fiction, horror, or fantasy theme, that were made on a low budget or poorly received by critics. [1980s: coined in this sense by Michael Weldon, who edited a weekly New York guide to the best and worst films on local television.] Source: Wikipedia
In the scope of these transitioning often radical films, where once, men and women aspired for the moon and the stars and the whole ball of wax. in the newer scheme of things they aspired for you know… “kicks” yes that word comes up in every film from the 50s and 60s… I’d like to have a buck for every time a character opines that collective craving… from juvenile delinquent to smarmy jet setter!
FILM NOIR HAD AN INEVITABLE TRAJECTORY…
THE ECCENTRIC & OFTEN GUTSY STYLE OF FILM NOIR HAD NO WHERE ELSE TO GO… BUT TO REACH FOR EVEN MORE OFF-BEAT, DEVIANT– ENDLESSLY RISKY & TABOO ORIENTED SET OF NARRATIVES FOUND IN THE SUBVERSIVE AND EXPLOITATIVE CULT FILMS OF THE MID TO LATE 50s through the 60s and into the early 70s!
I just got myself this collection of goodies from Something Weird!
There’s even this dvd that points to the connection between the two genres – Here it’s labeled WEIRD. I like transgressive… They all sort of have a whiff of noir.Grayson Hall -Satan in High Heels 1962Gerd Oswald adapts Fredrick Brown’s titillating novel — bringing to the screen the gorgeous Anita Ekberg, Phillip Carey and Gypsy Rose Lee and Harry Townes in the sensational, obscure and psycho-sexual thriller Screaming Mimi 1958Victor Buono is a deranged mama’s boy in Burt Topper’s fabulous The Strangler 1964Catherine Deneuve is extraordinary as the unhinged nymph in Roman Polanski’s psycho-sexual tale of growing madness in Repulsion 1965
Just like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, Noir took a journey through an even darker lens… Out of the shadows of 40s Noir cinema, European New Wave, fringe directors, and Hollywood auteurs, brought more violent, sexual, transgressive, and socially transformative narratives into the cold light of day with a creeping sense of verité. WhileFilm Noir pushed the boundaries of taboo subject matter and familiar Hollywood archetypes it wasn’t until later that we are able to visualize the advancement of transgressive topics.
Alexandra Schmidt in ‘Mother Krause’s Journey to Happiness’ (1929) Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s brilliant satire- All About Eve (1950) starring the inimitable Bette Davis as Margo Channing and Ann Baxter as the cunning Eve Harrington.Director Lewis Milestone’s All’s Quiet on the Western Front-(1930) starring Lew AyresOtto Preminger’s riveting court room noir Anatomy of a Murder (1959)Battleship Potemkin (1925) Sergei Eisenstein’s masterpiece about the great Russian naval mutiny.Jule’s Dassin’s brutal noir masterpiece Brute Force (1947)Richard Brooks adaptation of Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca 1940Orson Welles’ film classic Touch of Evil (1958)William Dieterle’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939Henry Hathaway’s disturbing noir classic Kiss of Death 1947Otto Preminger’s quintessential noir Laura (1944)Blake Edwards Experiment in Terror 1960Bert I. Gordon’s Earth Vs The Spider 1958Lambert Hillyer’s understated yet powerfully erotic horror classic Dracula’s Daughter 1936Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s taut and thought provoking social noir No Way Out 1950Mervyn LeRoy’s gangster odyssey Little Caesar 1931Robert Wise’s Science Fiction masterpiece The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)Reginald Beck and Anthony Bushell’s suspenseful The Long Dark Hall 1951Herbert Brenon’s beautiful Laugh, Clown, Laugh 1928Fritz Lang’s notorious psychological thriller M (1931)Otto Preminger’s noir masterpiece about addiction The Man with the Golden Arm 1955Nathan Juran’s iconic 50s campy sci-fi romp Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)Anthony Mann’s noir classic Raw Deal (1948)Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s surreal and transcendent Mother Joan of the Angels 1961Mervyn LeRoy’s naughty tale about a child psychopath. The Bad Seed (1956)Samuel Fuller’s irreverent noir gem The Naked Kiss (1964)Carol Reed’s intense noir thriller Odd Man Out (1947)Billy Wilder’s iconic film noir masterwork of grand proportions Sunset Blvd (1950)Jean Cocteau’s stunning Orpheus (1950) OrphéeJacques Tourneur’s hauntingly mesmerizing noir Out of the Past (1947)Joseph E. Lewis Gun Crazy or Deadly is the Female (1950)George Steven’s sadness and joyful Penny Serenade (1941)James Whale’s campy take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 1931Edgar G. Ulmer’s sadistic and transgressive journey into horror The Black Cat 1934Carl Theodor Dreyer’s masterful vision of quiet uncanny horror Vampyr (1932)Joseph Losey’s titillating noir The Prowler ((1951) Henri-Georges Clouzot’s brilliantly chilling Les-Diaboliques-1955Bryan Forbes’ compelling suspense thriller Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)Buster Keaton’s fantastic Seven Chances (1925)Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson’s SCARFACE (1932)William Beaudine’s haunting Sparrows (1926)James Whales even campier and finest work The Bride of Frankenstein 1935Elia Kazan’s volatile theme of desolation and passion based on Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire 1951some more divine SUNSET BOULEVARD 1950Samuel Fuller’s edgy Shock Corridor (1963)Jame’s Whale’s The Old Dark House 1932Nicholas Ray’s incredibly beautiful film noir journey They Live By Night (1948)Robert Wise’s uncompromising ghost story adapted from Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting (1963)Raoul Walsh’s iconic crime thriller White Heat (1949)
Henry Jones as the slimy, snoopy and salacious Leroy in Mervyn LeRoy’s The Bad Seed 1956
Agnes Moorehead as Charlotte’s fierce protector Velma in Aldrich’s Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964
Jack Warden as Judge Francis Rayford in Norman Jewison’s… And Justice for All (1979)
Maidie Norman as the righteously concerned, Elvira Stitt in Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Miriam Hopkins as Mrs. Lily Mortar in Lillian Hellman’s in The Children’s Hour 1961 directed by William WylerWilliam Wyler and Miriam Hopkins on the set of The Children’s Hour (1961)Mildred Dunnock as Aunt Rose Comfort in Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll (1956) with the screenplay by Tennessee Williams
Michael Pate as Detective Chris Gillespie in The Killer is Loose 1956
Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde 1967
Mervyn LeRoy’sbold psychological thriller adapted from Maxwell Anderson’s play.
Nancy Kelly confronts her crispy clean dress wearin’ skipping little psychopathic child Rhoda (Patty McCormack) in a scene where both mother and child devolve into the realm of ‘hysterical’ over the truth behind poor Claude Daigle’s brutal death, prompted by his winning the penmanship medal.
“I have the prettiest mother in the world”
I was going to use Eileen Heckert’scompelling performance as the besotted mournful Hortense Daigle, but I couldn’t resist this climactic scene instead…
What’ll you give me for a basket of kisses?, I’ll give you a basket of hugs -MonsterGirl
