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| "I was born in and worked in a period that could be called enviable." - Tony Curtis |
Tony Curtis, who died on September 29th at age 85, never seemed to be at rest. Even in repose and in old age, he appeared to be an eternally restless spirit. Sometimes that drive got him into trouble, but it often spurred him to keep trying to be something more than he was at every stage of his existence on earth. He was a rascal, one of the last of his breed, and he became his life’s ambition since childhood: a very big movie star. He was also a good actor.
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2 comments:
I've never been a huge fan but I'll always remember Tony for his hilarious turn in Some Like it Hot. His Cary Grant impression struck me as endlessly hysterical and he has perfect chemistry with Lemmon and Monroe. Honorable mention to Sweet Smell of Success. RIP.
It's odd, but other than Some Like It Hot and the dramedy, Captain Newman, MD, I find his comedies a bit resistible--but Curtis did bring comedic timing to most of his adventure movies and that could only help. One movie where his gift for comedy definitely made the story more palatable was in the little known but enjoyable The Great Imposter, about a real life con artist who posed as a surgeon, a monk, a prison warden, and teacher. Not surprisingly, this potentially repellent character is helped by an actor's awareness of his own narcissism and hollowness, which allows the audience to feel sympathy for a conflicted character who really was taking advantage of others.
Sweet Smell of Success is a film that I admire greatly, but watching it is like biting into "a cookie full of arsenic." Love the dialogue, which is outlandishly baroque, (somewhat like Paddy Chayevsky's dazzling rants, Odets' laced the screenplay with what we all might like to say under the circumstances, but rarely do), and the way that Lancaster and Curtis play off one another.
Thanks for stopping by, Groggy, and I appreciate your going to the trouble of posting a comment.
Moira
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