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Post by jervistetch on Nov 18, 2017 2:44:29 GMT
Sydney Pollack had a handful of small TV roles before directing. Which reminds me: so did Paul Mazursky, who also continued making screen appearances until nearly the end of his life (as did Pollack). We're rewatching "The Sopranos", arguably the greatest TV series ever. Last night we watched an episode that guest stars Pollack. He played a doctor (now prisoner) that was advising a character that was dying of Stage 4 cancer. The episode aired just one year before Sydney himself died of cancer. I thought that he must have known of his own condition while filming this episode. It made me sad. He was always such a powerful presence onscreen. I think of him in TOOTSIE, HUSBANDS AND WIVES and EYES WIDE SHUT. He commanded respect and I loved watching him act. Pollack in EYES WIDE SHUT  |
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Post by london777 on Nov 18, 2017 3:02:27 GMT
Tim Blake Nelson (77 acting credits and 8 as director).
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Post by bravomailer on Nov 18, 2017 3:06:58 GMT
Pollack also had a role in War Hunt (1962) in which Francis Ford Coppola played a truck driver.
Update: I see that War Hunt had three other actors who later directed: Robert Redford, Tom Skerritt, and John Saxon.
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Post by jervistetch on Nov 18, 2017 3:42:46 GMT
Sydney Pollack had a handful of small TV roles before directing. Which reminds me: so did Paul Mazursky, who also continued making screen appearances until nearly the end of his life (as did Pollack). I just realized that Paul Mazursky, like Pollack, acted in both "The Twilight Zone" and "The Sopranos". With Dennis Hopper in "The Twilight Zone".  In "The Sopranos".  |
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Post by spiderwort on Nov 18, 2017 14:41:19 GMT
Pollack also had a role in War Hunt (1962) in which Francis Ford Coppola played a truck driver. Update: I see that War Hunt had three other actors who later directed: Robert Redford, Tom Skerritt, and John Saxon. Skerrit and Saxon are a surprise to me, though they didn't direct much, so I guess that's understandable. And Chuck Aidman, also in War Hunt, directed a tv version of his play, "Spoon River Anthology." As for Redford - well, of course, that's a different story. And I don't remember Coppola in the film, given that it was probably a bit part. But this film may hold a record for the number of actors turned directors acting in it. An interesting idea to explore. Thanks. |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 18, 2017 16:23:18 GMT
Pollack also had a role in War Hunt (1962) in which Francis Ford Coppola played a truck driver. Update: I see that War Hunt had three other actors who later directed: Robert Redford, Tom Skerritt, and John Saxon. Skerrit and Saxon are a surprise to me. A surprise to me too. Mark Rydell (left), with John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in Crime In The Streets (1956)  After Rydell established himself as a director he would make a memorable return to acting as the sensitive gangster in The Long Goodbye (1973). |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 18, 2017 16:26:28 GMT
Can't find a pic, but Delmer Daves has a fairly prominent role as one of the college boys in Good News (1930)
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 18, 2017 16:36:43 GMT
Vic Morrow directed several episodes of Combat (and is said to have rewritten a number of scripts, but never took a writing credit). He directed the low budget feature Nightwatch as well as the terrible spaghetti western A Man Called Sledge, which wastes its great cast (star James Garner nicknamed it "A Film Called Sludge") On the set of A Man Called Sledge: Dennis Weaver, ? (Laura Antonelli?), a less than pleased James Garner, an equally unpleased Vic Morrow, and John Marley.  |
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Post by teleadm on Nov 18, 2017 19:35:30 GMT
There is also people we can hate, and one such person in Viet Harlan.
He begun acting in movies in 1927, and started directing in 1935, and collaborated with Joseph Goebbels, who appointed him as a propaganda director, and he did directed the awfull anti-jewish Jüw Suss 1940.
"After the war Harlan was charged with participating in the anti-Semitic movement and aiding the Nazis. But he successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work and that he should not be held personally responsible for its content"
After the war he managed to direct around ten movies, never regaining his old status, thankfully.
I'm not even gonna post a pic of this horrible person.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 18, 2017 23:21:36 GMT
As for Rydell, I'd completely forgotten about him, so thanks for the reminder. He had quite a directing career for awhile and made some really good films. He was very good with actors, given his Actors Studio training, and his own experience as an actor, I'm sure. Btw, I remember Crime in the Streets very well - seen on late night tv back in the days when they did that sort of thing. From IMDb trivia: "Don Siegel says in his biography that he argued much on the set with actor Mark Rydell because he did not shoot Rydell's face enough." Yes, it was a live TV play the year before. Cassavetes and Rydell played the same roles. Robert Preston did Whitmore's part, while Cassavetes' mother (Virginia Gregg in the film) was played by '30s Warners leading lady Glenda Farrell. Also appearing was future rock music cult figure Van Dyke Parks. This production apparently still exists, as I seem to recall a clip being shown in the PBS American Cinema series in the '90s. |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 18, 2017 23:29:13 GMT
Can't find a pic, but Delmer Daves has a fairly prominent role as one of the college boys in Good News (1930) Oh, my God! I had no idea. I tend to think of him as a writer turned director. Thank you. I had the good fortune to meet Daves at a screening in L.A. in the early 70s, and I thought he was a real gentleman. As I wrote in the thread about the How The West Was Fun TV special: As a very wee tot in the late '70s I saw a special (on PBS I believe) along similar lines. It was shot at old Tuscon or someplace like that. IIRC Delmer Daves appeared and directed Iron Eyes Cody (Indian? He was actually an Italian from the Louisiana bayou country) in a scene. I recall Slim Pickens remarking: "Actor? I been accused of being an actor. I'm a cowboy." This program is not listed on DD's IMDb page. |
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Post by Doghouse6 on Nov 19, 2017 0:20:07 GMT
Everyone's aware of Aaron Spelling's prolific career as a producer, and many know of his brief stint as an actor in a number of TV series and a handful of features. Here he is in a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy:  But it seems he also directed...once: a single 1959 episode of Wagon Train. In Garson Kanin's book "Hollywood," he tells of his year apprenticing with Sam Goldwyn, who bristled at his ambition to direct: "Why do you want to direct? I'm training you to be a producer. Producers tell directors what to do!" Spelling was apparently of like mind. Perhaps actors who became full-time producers merit their own thread, unless Spiderwort would allow some piggybacking. NOTE: I was going to tag Spiderwort here, but I've lately been getting "No results found" from "Insert User Link." Has that been happening to anyone else? |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 19, 2017 0:29:10 GMT
Screw it. I don't feel like retyping all that crap.
I hate how this board puts the quote and edit buttons at the top of a post. It's confusing as hell.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 19, 2017 0:34:03 GMT
Double post
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Post by Doghouse6 on Nov 19, 2017 0:59:24 GMT
I hate how this board puts the quote and edit buttons at the top of a post. It's confusing as hell. There are a number of things about this format that continue to confound me. |
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Post by london777 on Nov 19, 2017 1:03:17 GMT
Yakima Canutt. Very busy in silents and early talkies playing bit parts and as a stuntman (particularly in westerns). Second unit director on many major films mainly shooting the action scenes. Also has 17 credits as principle director. I am not into westerns but I suspect none of them are anything special.
Why have my stars turned green?
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Post by Doghouse6 on Nov 19, 2017 1:12:49 GMT
Why have my stars turned green? Just lucky, I guess. Happened to me last week. It passes quickly. |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 19, 2017 3:14:23 GMT
As for Rydell complaining about how Don Siegel was shooting him, I have to say that I once worked with an actor who kept complaining that I was only showing the back of his head, which wasn't true at all, of course. But that's the ego part that so often comes with the territory, particularly with younger actors. Orson Welles claimed that on The Stranger Edward G. Robinson complained Welles was shooting his "bad side" |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 19, 2017 3:26:09 GMT
Orson Welles claimed that on The Stranger Edward G. Robinson complained Welles was shooting his "bad side" I've heard that too many times to count. In one case, when it was impossible to do it any other way, the DP lovingly and respectfully said to a very beautiful actress, "But dear heart, you don't have a bad side." And he was right. And the shot was nearly as gorgeous as she was. She trusted us both, thank God, or I don't know what would have happened. Irresistible story: On the Lifeboat set the ingenue asked Hitchcock what her best side was. He answered her: "My deah, youah sitting on it." |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 19, 2017 15:53:28 GMT
And another old-timer, one of my favorites: Frank Borzage, who acted from 1912 to 1918, started directing shorts in 1913 and then devoted himself full time to directing features, winning two Oscars in the process, for 7th Heaven (1929) and Bad Girl (1932). The Three Eunuchs: the background extras in this Biblical story ([probably Samson, 1914) are Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, and Frank Borzage.  |
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