Fannish Friday: old-school acting faves

[lirazel]

Inspired by me nominating Thelma Ritter for the women's round of Vintage Hotties poll spectacular over on Tumblr dot com (look, if Peter Falk can make it this far, there is no reason Ms. Ritter shouldn't too):

Tell me about an actor--tv, film, stage, whatever--from before, say, 1980 that you really love.

I have a zillion, but today I will focus on Ms. Ritter, Character Actress Extraordinaire.

She was a very small middle-aged lady with a thick Brooklyn accent and she's unforgettable onscreen. If you've ever seen her in anything, you will be absolutely thrilled to see her again. Her first few film roles were so small that they were uncredited--a customer in Miracle on 34th Street, a servant in A Letter to Three Wives--but she made such an impact that Joseph L. Mankiewicz called her up for All About Eve, which I believe was her first credited role...and which got her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She later got 5 more nominations in that category, but she never won.

She played larger supporting roles in Rear Window and Pillow Talk and The Misfits and How the West Was Won (and nobody asked for my opinion about that movie but the cast is incredible, the score is even better, and it's 10000% Manifest Destiny propaganda. Now you know!). And she's just so good in everything! All the time! I love her!

Having compared her to Falk, it is now the great tragedy of my life that she didn't get to play a schlumpy detective on a beloved TV show for years. She would have knocked it out of the park.


Anyway, tell me about someone you're fond of (thisbluespirit I'm looking at you). You don't have to go into great detail, you can literally just be like, "I really like Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins" or something. I am just feeling the love for classic stars today!

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Ohh, I also have a zillion classic faves, but I'll go with my beloved Cyd Charisse! <3

[lirazel]

What's your very favorite film for her? I feel like I need to revisit Silk Stockings.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I'm almost afraid to rewatch "Silk Stockings" and find it unfortunately stereotypical (among other things), but to be honest that's a problem with a lot of older stuff, right? I remember liking her in that one, though. I also love "Five golden hours" (she's hilarious and gets away with everything!), "Five weeks in another town", "The wild north", and especially "Party Girl"!

[lirazel]

You know what? I haven't seen a single one of those. I don't usually think of her as a favorite because most of the ones I've seen her in (Band Wagon, Singin' in the Rain, etc.) don't let her actually do anything but dance. And she's a marvelous dancer! But I don't know that I ever got a handle on her personality. I'll have to hunt some of those down!

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I like the movies where she dances, they are so much fun and she really is amazing! But I think that she was more versatile that she gets credit for. That's why I like "Party Girl"--she dances, but she also gets to do a bit more! <3

[sovay]

That's why I like "Party Girl"--she dances, but she also gets to do a bit more!

I first started noticing her as a straight actress in Tension (1949). I also like her a lot in East Side, West Side (1949), which I have not written about.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Yes! I like "East Side, West Side" a lot, and hope you can write about it one day! It has such a great cast (including the city itself!), and that final scene with James Mason staring out of the window is perfect (we'd all be just as sad if Barbara Stanwyck had left us, right?)