2015: A Year in Film

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After his great performances in W.E., Inside Llewyn Davis and The Two Faces of January, Oscar Isaac is fast becoming my favourite contemporary actor. He has gone from strength to strength in 2015, with big and small-screen gems set in 1980s New York: A Most Violent Year, about an ambitious businessman trying to stay on the right side of the law; and Show Me a Hero, an HBO mini-series telling the true story of Nick Wasicsko, who became mayor of Yonkers during a bitterly divisive public housing crisis. Continue reading

Born on This Day: Fay Bainter 1893-1968

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1125767647WhiteFay.Bainter.JealousyFay Okell Bainter was born in Los Angeles on December 7, 1893. Encouraged by her mother, Fay first went on the stage aged six, and joined Oliver Morosco’s travelling stock company before making her Broadway debut at seventeen. Continue reading

‘Life Revealed’ a Reading Highlight of 2015

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Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed – the first biography of the legendary actress to be published in 85 years, which tells ‘the tragic story of the beautiful, Academy Award-nominated film and Broadway star’ – has been named among the Best Film Books of 2015 by historian Thomas Gladysz, in his annual round-up for the Huffington Post.

Born On This Day: Clifton Webb 1889-1966

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Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck was born in Indiana on November 19, 1889. His father, Jacob Grant Hollenbeck, a ticket clerk, had married Mabel A. Parmelee, daughter of a railroad conductor, earlier that year. They separated in 1891, and ‘little Webb’ was raised by his mother. Continue reading

Born on This Day: Jean de Limur 1887-1976

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Jean de Limur (centre) with Charlie Chaplin (right), 1923

Jean de Limur (centre) with Charlie Chaplin (right), 1923

Jean Chamur Limur was born on November 13, 1887, in Vouhé, a town in Southern France. He began his film career as an actor in Hollywood, under the name Jean de Limur. Continue reading