Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The last of the Sherilyn Fenn scans...




More pics of the lovely Miss Fenn. The first two are from her extraordinary shoot for Playboy Magazine.







 
In tribute to the memory of Joe Bloke's sadly defunct "Fit Birds" blog I'm gonna post a bunch of pics of one of the most incredible-looking women to ever set foot in front of a camera!
So this holiday weekend it's "All Sherilyn Fenn-All the Time!"




 
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A few scans of Gary Cooper for J.B. because she asked so nicely.

Coop in "The Virginian", 1929.
With Marlene Dietrich in "Morocco", 1930.
Striking a manly pose in William Wellman's extremely manly 1939 production of "Beau Geste".
I thought Coop had some of the best cowboy duds ever in William Wyler's classic "The Westerner", 1940

Coop won his 2nd Oscar as best actor for his excellent performance in Fred Zinnemann's "High Noon". A well-made film on every level but story-wise, not very high in the believability factor....hmmmmmmmmmm..OK, stay and fight bad guys or go on honeymoon with Grace Kelly....ummmmm, well no offense but...See ya!!!!
 
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One of my faves....
Eleanor Parker...I might call her the most underrated and underappreciated actress from Hollywood's Golden era and certainly one of the most beautiful of ANY era. In her day she was quite a big star and played opposite many of the top leading men in big-budget A-pictures but today it seems the only thing anyone remembers her from is her thankless role in "The Sound of Music". This pic was scanned from a Swedish postcard I have. I think this particular photo shoot was to promote "The Woman in White" but I'm not certain.
The first film I ever saw her in was William Wyler's 1951 masterpiece "Detective Story" playing opposite an extremely intense Kirk Douglas. Eleanor played the part of Kirk's plain, long-suffering wife with great sensitivity and restraint. I think anyone who's seen this film will agree, hanging with Kirk on this production was no easy task, but Eleanor and the top notch supporting cast headed by William Bendix (yo-ho!) did just that. She received her 2nd Oscar nomination as best actress for her work in that film.
I have to admit, I wasnt really taken by her looks much in that film. She was dressed way down and was made up plain and ordinary which was of course exactly how she was supposed to look! The next film I saw her in changed that attitude completely...

1945's "Pride of the Marines", directed by Delmer Daves and starring the immortal John Garfield was the film where I truly fell in love with Eleanor Parker! She is not only gorgeous beyond words in this film but she once again played her role with conviction and sensitivity. I vividly recall waching this and saying to myself "Holy shit, that's the woman from Detective Story!". I started to actively seek out more of her films at the video store.

A scan of an original 11"x14" Lobby Card I have from the film. I can only imagine how many red-blooded American males in 1945 wished they were the ones that came home to Eleanor Parker after the war was over! For those that have never seen this film I can not recommend it highly enough. On the merits of Garfield's performance alone I would call it a must-see but the whole picture is incredibly well-done and is a far cry from the flag-waving war films that Hollywood had been turning out in the years prior. The 2 stars also performed "Pride of the Marines" on Lux Radio Theater on Dec 31st 1945. This is the one and only radio show I have in my collection and it's quite good!

A beautiful vintage autographed 5"x7" photo that I picked up many years ago. It seems one time while at the MGM commissary in the early 1950's she was spied by Spencer Tracy who didnt recognize who she was and simply remarked "That simply HAS to have an accent!"
I wonder what Kate would've thought of a remark like that!
 
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More pics and babbling...
Eleanor was born on June 26th, 1922 in Cedarville Ohio and aspired to be an actress at a very early age. In 1941 she was offered a contract with Warner bros at $75 a week. Her first film appearance was supposed to be a bit part in "They Died with Their Boots On" but her scene ended up on the cutting room floor. This pic is scanned from an Italian postcard, not sure of the vintage.
The studio put her in B-films and small roles until in 1943 she finally got a larger role in Michael Curtiz' "Mission to Moscow" starring dramatic heavyweights Walter Huston and Ann Harding. Sadly the film is rather dull, but she got good notices. The next year she was appearing with John Garfield, Paul Henried and Sydney Greenstreet in "Between Two Worlds", a role she got because Joan Leslie was held up still filming the over-schedule "Rhapsody in Blue". The still above was for a film she made later that same year, "The Very Thought of You", a fairly off-beat war-time drama written and directed by Delmer Daves and co-starring Dennis Morgan, Dane Clark, Henry Travers, Faye Emerson and Andrea King. Eleanor got the role in this film because Ida Lupino was recovering from an illness. She gave a wonderful, heartfelt performance and was now well on her way to being a star as well as an actress to be reckoned with.

Here's a scan of an original Lobby Card I have for the film. At one point Henry Travers is so disgusted by the way his family has treated returning serviceman Dennis Morgan, a visitor in his home, that he scolds them by saying "You treated that boy with all the courtesy you'd give a JAP!". I can't help it, but every time I see Henry Travers in a film I HAVE to say "Why look, it's CLARENCE!" in my best Jimmy Stewart voice.

Eleanor looking quite the flawless beauty here! Another vintage autographed still I picked up several years ago. The photo was taken by the great Bert Six.

Another original Lobby Card I have in my collection. Eleanor very effectively played two roles in this gothic type period piece released in 1948. Well-cast and with good production values it is worth a look if you get the chance.
 
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Two small prints I picked up to hang in my bathroom (when it's ready that is!) and I thought some people might like to see them here.
Hope to have another "Potty" update by the end of the weekend.
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More of the lovely and talented Miss Parker...
Another vintage postcard I have. In 1946 she was signed on to play the part of Mildred Rogers in Warner's remake of "Of Human Bondage" co-starring Paul Henried and Alexis Smith. Although the film as a whole can not compare to the Bette Davis version from 1934, Eleanor is quite good in the role. She even received a letter from Bette wishing her the same great success with the picture that she had in her version.
Yup, another postcard! Eleanor is sometimes called "The Woman of a Thousand Faces" because she rarely ever looked the same from picture to picture. She campaigned heavily for the role of Dominique Francon in the film version of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", the role eventually going to Patricia Neal of course. Ironically Eleanor looks much more like a Rand heroine than Patricia Neal does but it all worked out well regardless. My "dream cast" for a film of Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" would have Eleanor playing the role of Dagny Taggart along with Kirk Douglas as Hank Reardon, Gilbert Roland as Francisco d'Anconia, Peter O'Toole as Ragnar Danneskjold and Michael Rennie as John Galt.

"Pile out you tramps!"
That's the opening line of the film that would contain Eleanor's most challenging role to date, that of women's prison inmate Marie Allen in Warner Bros harrowing 1950 production "Caged". Universally considered the women in prison film by which all others are to be measured, a reputation that is highly deserved! Under the expert direction of John Cromwell, Eleanor gives an astonishingly realistic performance as a timid young girl sent to prison for a crime commmited by her husband (who is killed commiting the crime). The subsequent change in her character as she spends more and more time among the inmates and corrupt prison matron (played to the hilt by Oscar nominee Hope Emerson) is unsettling to say the least but it's ultra-compelling. Eleanor received the first of her 3 oscar nominations for her work in Caged. I consider it absolutely essential viewing!

In the 1950's she decided not to renew her Warner's contract and instead went over to MGM and freelanced as well. She did quite well starring in some first-rate films like "Detective Story" with Kirk Douglas, "Above and Beyond" with Robert Taylor, "Escape From Fort Bravo" with William Holden and directed by the great John Sturges and "Interrupted Melody" with Glen Ford, for which she received her 3rd and final oscar nomination.

Another autographed vintage still I've had for many years.
 
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More on the great Eleanor Parker...
Eleanor looking quite ravishing in a publicity shot for MGM's rousing 1952 Technicolor production of "Scaramouche". This was the first film under her new contract at MGM and to say she makes her presence known in this picture is putting it mildy! I think few who've seen it would argue with me when I say that her feisty characterization and stunning looks stole the show hands down!
A vintage Lobby Card for "Scaramouche" I just picked up a few weeks ago. This film apparently contains the screens longest sword duel and believe me it does tend to go on! Eleanor wore very eleaborate long red-haired wigs for her character in this but she liked how she looked as a redhead so much that, other than a few exceptions, she appeared as a redhead for the rest of her career.

Yup, another autographed still!

A vintage lobby card I have for director John Sturges' excellent "Escape from Fort Bravo". Sturges of course the legendary director of "Bad Day at Black Rock", "Gunfight at O.K. Corral", "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape" among others. A great cast headed by Parker, William Holden and John Forsythe, some rousing action sequences and blazing color cinematography by Robert Surtees highlight this solid western. Eleanor once again received great critical notices for her convincing performance.

Holy crap, not another autographed still?!

and there's more where that came from....
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More of my Eleanor Parker tribute...
Eleanor looking every bit the glamorous movie star here! I just aquired this vintage autographed still a few weeks ago off ebay. Total price with shipping was less than $8!
Eleanor striking a proud stance in one of her best films of the 1950's "The Naked Jungle". Her co- star was Charlton Heston and the 2 stars really clicked onscreen. Eleanor plays a mail-order bride traveling from New Orleans to her new husband's South American plantation. In his own book "Charlton Heston's Hollywood" he called this one of his best early films.

At one point Heston says - "Frankly, you're not what I expected"

"am I worse or better?"

"Just . . . more"

Another scene still from "The Naked Jungle". The tension between the 2 main characters in the beginning of the film is expertly played by the 2 stars and the love story is very well-written and surprisingly "adult" for its time.

A vintage Lobby Card I have. Heston had already appeared in many films including the best picture winner of 1952 "The Greatest Show on Earth" but Eleanor was still top billed on this film! Ironically she was not initially thought of for the role. Director Byron Haskin had wanted a gamine like Leslie Caron who he thought would be more believable as a mail-order bride, but when the more Elegant Parker became available that all changed. In his own words "There is some difference between Eleanor Parker and Leslie Caron!"

Another Lobby Card from my collection. Eleanor once again looked positively ravishing in technicolor! The first time I saw this film I was quite taken aback at how good it was AND how incredible she looked! I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good adventure/romance film with some very cool special effects and all in blazing color!

This vintage postcard didnt scan too well. I just got this the other day. I have a few other Warner Bros contract star postcards from this same series so I'm very happy to add this one to the collection!
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