Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Shirley MacLaine Talks Robert Mitchum at TCM Classic Film Fest

Shirley MacLaine attended the TCM Classic Film Festival March 29, where she discussed her famous costars, including ROBERT MITCHUM. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“We had a three-year relationship, kind of under the radar. [Hears audience murmuring.] You didn’t know? Neither did he! He was the most intelligent maybe of anybody I’ve ever met. He had a photographic memory. He could read a script and word for word cite it back to you. Frankly, I think that’s sick. He was a bit of an emotional coward. So I loved the contradiction. It gave me so much work to do: Who are you? I just loved shoveling through what he really was. I mean, this business about working on a chain gang, I think that was for 20 minutes or something, and [involved] filling in a pothole or something. But he was also the most underestimated.”

MacLaine starred with MITCHUM in Two for the Seesaw and What a Way to Go!. She wrote about her affair with him in her 1996 autobiography, My Lucky Stars. Read more about it here.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Video: Robert Mitchum Meets Belgian King In 1959

A visit by King Baudouin of Belgium to MGM Studios in Hollywood (circa 1959) was filmed as he meets several stars, starting with Eva Marie Saint. He's also filmed meeting Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston on the set of "The Wreck of the Mary Deare;" Eleanor Parker and ROBERT MITCHUM on the set of "Home From the Hill;" and Gina Lollabrigida and Frank Sinatra filming "Never So Few." The day ended with a luncheon for the King, who sat between Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford, who were filming "It Started With a Kiss."

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

David Lean's 1970 film "Ryan's Daughter" airs today on TCM at 10:45 pm PT as part of their St. Patrick's Day ode to Irish films. It stars ROBERT MITCHUM as an Irish schoolmaster who takes a much younger bride (Sarah Miles) who soon falls for a British officer. The film, which is set in 1916, is loosely based on Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary. John Mills won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the film and Freddie Young won a Best Cinematography Oscar.