Classic Stars

by Ari & Jose

Ari

Burt Lancaster -

One of the most powerful and talented figures in Hollywood history. Lancaster’s presence could be felt in every one of his movies, regardless of how small or large the role, or how simple or complex the character. Lancaster’s enormous filmography includes some of the best films in existence. His career began with the exceptional Robert Siodmak film-noir The Killers, which was immediately followed by the classic Jules Dassin thriller Brute Force. Lancaster established himself as more than a handsome and charming personality by choosing roles that displayed his emotional depth and range as a performer. He was effective in film-noir like Criss Cross, and heroic in escapist fare like The Crimson Pirate. His energy and commitment was palpable. In 1953 he starred in From Here to Eternity, obviously one of the most famous movies ever made. But in 1957, Lancaster showed audiences that he was not only one of the great stars in Hollywood, but one of the most talented actors in the world. His formidable, viciously intense performance in Sweet Smell of Success is an unforgettable example of his craft. He would later revisit this level of intimidation and power in Frankenheimer’s superb political thriller Seven Days in May. Following Sweet Smell of Success, Lancaster starred in the tense submarine adventure Run Silent, Run Deep for Robert Wise, and then gave us his great performance in Richard Brooks' Elmer Gantry. In 1963 came Birdman of Alcatraz for John Frankenheimer, and the epic masterpiece The Leopard for Luchino Visconti. A year later he reunited with Frankenheimer for the aforementioned Seven Days in May and the underappreciated, little-seen thriller The Train. Lancaster and Richard Brooks worked together again for 1966’s Western classic The Professionals, co-starring Lee Marvin and Jack Palance. In 1968 he starred as tragic figure Ned Merril in Frank Perry’s masterpiece, The Swimmer. His performance as Merril is perhaps his most personal and affecting, arguably the best of his career. Lancaster will always be one of the titans of film history.

Barbara Stanwyck - Among the most beautiful and gifted actresses of all-time. Stanwyck was one of the strongest female performers of her day - a woman who played real characters with complexity and force. Her intelligence and confidence was more than evident on-screen, and it makes her that much more entrancing and sexy, even if a few of her characters are rotten to the core. My favorite performance is in The Lady Eve - maybe the best comedy ever made. Her chemistry with Henry Fonda is romantic, hilarious, and beautiful, one of the great screen pairs cinema has seen. The film’s sophisticated humor is a reminder of how classy and entertaining romantic comedies were in the golden age of Hollywood, far more advanced and intelligent than anything seen today. Stanwyck continued to demonstrate her abilities in films like Meet John Doe for Frank Capra, and perhaps her most famous performance as the deadly femme fatale in Billy Wilder’s seminal noir Double Indemnity. She gave a great performance alongside Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, and years later starred in Fritz Lang’s powerful drama Clash By Night. And for fans of Westerns, her work in Sam Fuller’s Forty Guns is essential.

Tatsuya Nakadai - He’s been one of the leading actors in Japanese cinema since the 1950’s, starring or co-starring in dozens of great films for many influential filmmakers like Kurosawa, Okamoto, Kobayashi, and Gosha. His performances range from charming and amusing to fierce and brutal, sometimes even combining the sensibilities for specific roles that called for the unusual or challenging. Whether he was affable or frightening, Nakadai’s craft was of the utmost professionalism. His most famous performances for western audiences are two of his great late-career successes: Ran and Kagemusha, both for the legendary Akira Kurosawa. From his earlier films, his unforgettable sociopath in Kihachi Okamoto’s Sword of Doom is recognized as arguably the best performance of his career. Another outstanding collaboration with Okamoto was for the samurai adventure/comedy Kill! - one of the most effortlessly entertaining films of its kind. His work with Masakai Kobayashi was fairly monumental, especially in The Human Condition trilogy and one of my very favorite films, Harakiri. And let’s not forgot his performance in Hideo Gosha’s grisly Hunter in the Dark, another of his late-career triumphs, co-starring Sonny Chiba. Nakadai is one of the greats.

Monica Vitti -

Talented and beautiful, Monica Vitti was one of the most stunning actresses to ever grace the silver-screen. Vitti entered the spotlight because of Michelangelo Antonioni, and it's for those incredible collaborations with the great Italian master that she'll be remembered. In L’Avventura she plays a conflicted young woman who falls in love with her best friend’s lover after her friend mysteriously disappears. It’s nuanced work that demonstrates her emotional range as an actress, and it made an impression for a reason: it’s a beautiful performance. She completed the Antonioni trilogy with great roles in La Notte (my favorite), as a beautiful object of desire for a troubled Marcello Mastroianni, and in L’Eclisse, as a woman who struggles to have a stable relationship with the great Alain Delon. Her deepest emotional effort can be seen in Antonioni’s drama Red Desert. It’s not an easy film to get through, but it features some of Vitt’s best work.

Cary Grant - One of the most charming personalities in film-history. The man’s filmography speaks for itself: Blonde Venus, The Awful Truth, Bringing up Baby, Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday (my favorite), The Philadelphia Story, Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, and the terribly silly, yet somehow enjoyable Charade, among others. Great performances in so many great films.

Ava Gardner - She’s amazing to watch even if the film is flawed or underwhelming. She co-starred with Burt Lancaster in the seminal film-noir The Killers, making quite the impression with her performance as seductive femme fatale Kitty Collins. She’s exquisite in the beautiful technicolor dream Pandora and the Flying Dutchmen, and the only redeeming aspect of The Barefoot Contessa - an overwrought drama with Humphrey Bogart. She reunited with Lancaster for Frankenheimer’s Seven Days in May, rounding-out an immensely talented cast with her excellent performance. In John Huston's great adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana, Gardner starred alongside the incomparable Richard Burton and the tremendous Deborah Kerr. Gardner’s performance as Maxine Faulk is her best, an emotional ride unlike anything she had done before. The Night of the Iguana is one of the best written films there is, and Gardner makes the most of her material.

Richard Conte - My favorite character actor and one of the greatly underrated performers in Hollywood history. Conte starred in a whole slew of great films in the 40’s and 50’s, sometimes up to three or four pictures a year. And as far as I’m concerned, his supporting roles in films like Call Northside 777 or Somewhere in the Night stole the show from leads Jimmy Stewart and John Hodiak respectively. 1949 was an exceptional year for the talented actor. He was the lead in two great films: House of Strangers and Thieves’ Highway. The latter is one of the best films of its time - a thriller that still holds up against anything seen in the genre today. Also in ‘49 was a supporting role in the classic film-noir Whirlpool, starring Gene Tierney. Conte appeared in a diverse selection of films later in his career, from the original Ocean’s Eleven in the 60’s to The Godfather in the 70’s. His best performance, however, is in one of my favorite films of the 50’s, the darkly funny and intensely gritty crime/thriller The Big Combo. Conte plays a larger-than-life gangster who gets to chew on dialogue like this: “So you lost. Next time you'll win. I'll show you how. Take a look at Joe McClure here. He used to be my boss, now I'm his. What's the difference between me and him? We breathe the same air, sleep in the same hotel. He used to own it! Now it belongs to me. We eat the same steaks, drink the same bourbon. Look, same manicure, same cufflinks. But there's only one difference. We don't get the same girls. Why? Because women know the difference. They got instinct. First is first, and second is nobody.” This performance is classic.

Mia Farrow - She starred in a few movies before her streak with Woody Allen began, most notably 1968's Rosemary’s Baby for Roman Polanski. But it’s for her work with Allen that she became one of my very favorite actresses. Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, September, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Alice, Shadows and Fog, and Husbands and Wives. It’s difficult to pick a favorite from these performances, but I particularly like her work in Broadway Danny Rose, Purple Rose of Cairo, September, and Shadows and Fog.

Marcello Mastroianni - How many actors are this slick and sophisticated? Mastroianni is the great star of Italian cinema, acting in so many great films for so many talented filmmakers. Favorites include Le Notti Bianche (White Nights) for Visconti, La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2 for Fellini, La Notte for Antonioni, and his devilishly scummy performance playing against type in Divorce Italian Style for Pietro Germi.

Carole Lombard - One of the greatest comedic actresses. While Lombard’s tragically early death ended her career as it was continuing to grow, the legacy she left behind will be remembered forever (I hope). My Man Godfrey and Twentieth Century are two of the great comedies ever made. In Godfrey she swoons over William Powell, and in Twentieth Century she struggles with the crazed John Barrymore. Her last performance is one of her greats - the female lead in Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be. She stars with Bing Crosby in the charming musical/comedy We’re Not Dressing, does a fantastic impression of Greta Garbo in The Princess Comes Across, and falls in love with Fred MacMurray in the hilarious comedy Hands Across the Table.

Jose

James Dean - The jeans, white t-shirt and red leather jacket Dean wore in Rebel Without a Cause defined a whole era and with reason; even if he was past his teen years, the actor conveyed the ultimate adolescent. A combination of rage, angst and above all tons of love. In his first film, East of Eden, he literally breaks through the screen and gives one of the most moving performances of all time, while in the decade spawning Giant he embodies a man’s growth without letting a fake moustache deter him. Just three films that teased the world with such a talent.

 
Gregory Peck -

Peck’s picture should appear next to the words “noble” and “gentleman” in every dictionary on Earth, because that's the image he perpetuated during his whole career. From playing the stoic journalist in Gentleman’s Agreement to the uncharacteristic, yet effective, matinee idol character in Roman Holiday, Peck always had a human quality that made even his darkest characters feel approachable. As the infamous Captain Ahab in Moby Dick he makes us feel the need to catch that whale, but it’s his sublime portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird where he perfectly compiled everything we think of him now. Reading the book, one can not imagine anyone else playing Finch, it’s as if it was written with him in mind.

 
Marlon Brando - His work with Elia Kazan was perhaps one of the best collaborations between a director and an actor. Beginning of course with Brando’s raw Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, which, arguably, changed the way we see acting in films. His other work with Kazan included the underrated Viva Zapata! and the masterpiece that is On the Waterfront. With other directors Brando created one of the most impressive acting resumes of all time; from Julius Caesar, to The Wild One, and he’s even amazing in Superman. But in the 70's Brando once again redefined what it was to be an actor with his iconic role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather and the naked (in every way) work of art that is Last Tango in Paris.

  

Jean Pierre Leaud - For creating Antoine Doinel and never losing his sense of wonder that make us feel the same about the movies.
 
 
Audrey Hepburn -

Fashion and style icon, breathtaking beauty, noble humanitarian, but above all: great actress. Hepburn’s waifish, beautiful characteristics usually made the world underestimate her. All that people chose to see was how pretty she looked in Givenchy, or how stunning she looked playing the most miserable characters. But look closer and you’ll see an actress playing at the top of her game in ever single occasion, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, nobody else could’ve conveyed Holly Golightly’s sense of inner loss, while keeping a joyful façade (it has been said that author Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe for the role, but now it’s impossible to imagine anyone other than Audrey). In My Fair Lady you fall in love with both her trashy and classy Elizas (and her singing voice wasn’t as bad as they say!), her commitment to playing Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story brings a sense of realism to what could’ve simply been an epic. Even in her most stylish roles in Charade, How to Steal a Million, Sabrina, and especially Roman Holiday, she provides star quality with a sense of subtle gravitas that feels like magic.

Meryl Streep - The only actress that has ever lived who immediately inhabits every character she plays.
Watching the chameleonic Meryl, you get the opportunity to meet Clarissa Vaughan, Susan Orlean, Sophie Zawistowski, Lindy Chamberlain, Suzanne Vale and Miranda Priestly.
 
  
 
Katharine Hepburn - The grand dame of cinema, this woman was a force of nature. Her offscreen persona made her characters all the more fascinating because of the contradictions they presented. While she was praised for almost anything she made (and with reason!), my favorite performance is in the underrated Alice Adams, where her vulnerable, romantic social climber is exactly the kind of person the real Kate would never have allowed herself to be in life.
 

 
Bette Davis - At a time when movie stars where conventionally handsome people, Bette brought her strong features to a point where they became even more beautiful (and definitely more fascinating) than everyone else in her films. Making a record run during the 30's and 40's with films like The Letter, The Little Foxes, and Jezebel - it was in 1950 when she provided us with the one to rule them all as Margo Channing in All About Eve, in which her over the top theatrics, larger than life personality and that flawless timing for delivery of lines make us both afraid and attracted to her.

 
Vivien Leigh - It’s strange that she made so few films, because her contribution to motion pictures feels indelible. The British beauty ironically created the two most memorable Southern Belles in cinema history, who despite being as different as possible, brought a sense of unity and prophetic heartbreak to Leigh.
First as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind; her personality was just as epic as the film itself, making all the naysayers eat their words. And finally as the deranged Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, she brought closure to a woman who learns that the world might as well be an illusion.

Part II: Contemporary Talents