EPISODE 66 - “WHEN CLASSIC FILM’S SUPPORTING ACTORS STEAL THE SHOW” - 12/16/2024

There is nothing quite like watching a film when suddenly a supporting character comes in and walks away with the film. (Think THELMA RITTER, S.Z. SAKALL, or GALE SONDERGAARD in almost every one of their films!) This week we are focusing on some of our favorite supporting charters who come in and snatch that scene right about from under the big stars. From JOANNA BARNES’ Gloria Upson declaring, “It was just ghastly!” in “Auntie Mame” to the impassioned monologue about love that BEAH RICHARDS delivers to SPENCER TRACY in “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” we take a fun look at these powerful performances that we’re still talking about today.

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (1997) by Roger Lewis;

But Darling, I’m Your Auntie Mame!: The Amazing History of the World’s Favorite Madcap Aunt (1998), by Richard Tyler Jordan;

Tennessee Williams & Company: His Essential Screen Actors (2010), by John DiLeo;

“Judy Holiday, Winner of Oscar, Does of Cancer,” June 8, 1965, Los Angeles Times;

“Mildred Natwick, 89, Actress Who Excelled at Eccentricity,” October 26, 1994, by Peter B. Flint, New York Times;

“Steve Franken, Actor in ‘Dobie Gillis,’ Dies at 80,” August 29, 2012, by Daniel E. Slotnik, New York Times; 

“Madeleine Sherwood, 93, Actress on Stage, Film and ‘Flying Nun,’ Dies,” April 26, 2016, by Sam Roberts, New York Times;

“The Making of ‘TheParty’,” January 13, 2017, by FilMagicians, Youtube.com;

“Beah Richards, 80, Actress in Stalwart Roles,” September 16, 2000, by Mel Gussow, New York Times;

“Joanna Barnes, Actress in ‘The Parent Trap’ and its Sequel. Dies at 87,” May 12, 2022, by Richard Sanomir, New York Times;

TCM.com;

IMDBPro.com;

IBDB.com;

Wikipedia.com;

Roger Ebert.com;

Movies Mentioned: 

Adams’s Rib (1949), starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Holiday, David Wayne, Hope Emerson, Jean Hagen, and Tom Ewell;

Born Yesterday (1950), starring Judy Holiday, Broderick Crawford, & William Holden;

Auntie Mame (1958), starring Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Fred Clark, Roger Smith, Jan Handzlik, Corale Brown, Pippa Scott, Lee Patrick, Willard Waterman, Joanna Barnes, Connie Gilchrist, Patric Knowles, and Yuki Shimudo; 

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958), starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, and Madeleine Sherwood;

Spartacus (1960), starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis, & Joanna Barnes;

The Parent Trap (1961), starring Haley Mills, Maureen O’Hara, Brian Keith, Joanna Barnes, Charles Ruggles, Ana Merkel, Leo G. Carroll, & Cathleen Nesbitt;

The Americanization of Emily (1963), starring Julie Andrews & James Garner;

The Time Traveler (1964), starring Preston Foster;

Goodbye Charlie (1964), starring Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds, Ellen Burstyn, Pat Boone, & Joanna Barnes;

Barefoot In The Park (1967), starring Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Mildred Natwick, Charles Boyer, Herb Edelman, and Mabel Albertson;

Don’t Make Waves (1967) starring Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Sharon Tate, and Joanna Barnes;

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967), starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton, Beah Richards, Roy E. Glen Sr, Cecil Kellaway, Isabelle Sanford, and Virginia Christine;

The Party (1968), starring Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Denny Miller, Carol Wayne, Gavin MacLeod, Faye McKenzie, Marge Champion, Steve Frankel, Jean Carson, Corine Cole, J. Edward McKinley, and Herb Ellis;

The Parent Trap (1998), starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, Elaine Hendrix, & Lisa Ann Walter. 

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