[size=12pt]RIP MAUREEN O’HARA[/size] (1920-2015)
Some quotes:
(On Errol Flynn):
" “I respected him professionally and was quite fond of him personally. Of course there was one glaring inconsistency with his professionalism. Errol also drank on the set, something I greatly disliked. You couldn’t stop him; Errol did whatever he liked. If the director prohibited alcohol on the set, then Errol would inject oranges with booze and eat them during breaks.”
(On John Wayne):
“From our very first scenes together, working with John Wayne was comfortable for me.”
(On Sam Peckinpah):
“Peckinpah later reached icon status as a great director of westerns, but I thought he was just awful. I found him to be one of the strangest and most objectionable people I had ever worked with.”
(On the movie Lady Godiva, in which - according to the studio - she appeared naked):
"“I was not in the nude, as the studio claimed to the press. I wore a full-length body leotard and underwear that was concealed by my long tresses. An unexpected pleasure on the film was watching a promising young actor named Clint Eastwood cut his teeth on it.”
(On her favorite movie and character):
"“I have often said that The Quiet Man is my personal favourite of all the pictures I have made. It is the one I am most proud of, and I tend to be very protective of it. I loved Mary Kate Danaher. I loved the hell and fire in her.”
Appeared in some very fine John Ford Westerns but alas, I can’t share her enthusiasm for The Quiet Man, which is something I hope to escape the ordeal of ever having to revisit… At any rate, a very important and iconic figure of Hollywood’s Golden Age. RIP.
I watched The Quiet Man once, after I visited the village where part of it was filmed. It feels very old-fashioned and often silly. When Ford wanted to be funny, things quickly became silly, but in his westerns the humor was usually confined to a couple of vaudeville acts performed by supporting actors, here the comedy and silliness is more central to the whole thing.
RIP Gregg Palmer. American supporting and character actor Gregg Palmer died of a heart attack on October 31st he was 88. Born Palmer Lee on January 25, 1927 in San Francisco, California Gregg appeared in tons of TV westerns and a number of western films including several John Wayne westerns. He’s probably best remembered as the villain who killed the Duke’s dog in Big Jake. As Gregg Hunter he appeared as ‘The Hurricane Kid in “They Cal Me Providence (1972) and its sequel Here We Go Again, Eh Providence? (1973), with Tomas Milian.
RIP Moira Orfei. Legendary Circus owner, performer and actress Moira Orfei died overnight in Brescia, Italy. She was 83. Orfei was found in her mobile home by her relatives this morning. The circus troupe was on tour and a scheduled performance today and then in Milan will go on. Moira was born in Codropio, Undine, Italy on December 21, 1931. She was born into a circus family with her father Riccardo Orfei, was known as the famous clown Bigolo. Her mother was Violet Arata, brothers Paolo, a juggler and acrobat, and Mauro, an acrobat on bicycles. Also cousins, actress Liana Orfei, and Graziella were both circus performers. Moira appeared in two Euro-westerns: Samson and the Slave Queen (1963) and The Two Sergeants of General Custer (1965).
RIP Nando Gazzolo. Italian stage, radio, film, TV and voice actor Nando Gazzolo died in a hospital in Nepi, Italy today. He was 87. Gazzolo was born on October 16, 1928 in Savona, Liguria, Italy, the son of actor Lauro Gazzolo [1900-1970], radio announcer Aida Ottaviani Piccolo and half-brother of actor Virgilio Gazzolo [1936- ]. Nando appeared in three Euro-westerns: Django Shoots First (1966) as Ken Kluster/Custer, the TV western “Don’t Sing Shoot (1967) as Roy Thomas but is probably best remembered as Ken Seagall in “The Hills Run Red (1966). He is remembered for his tremendous voice by Italian film goers as he was the Italian voice of Gian Maria Volonte in “Fistful of Dollars” (1964) and “For a Few Dollars More” (1965). The voice of Anthony Steffen in “7 Dollars to Kill”, Leo Anchoriz in “7 Guns for the MacGregors”, James Mitchum in “The Tramplers” (all 1966), Horst Frank in “Viva Django! (1967) and Patrick McGoohan in 1975’s “The Genius”.
I’ve only just noticed that Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) passed away the Saturday before last, of pancreatic cancer. He was 68. RIP
Italian actress Nicoletta Machiavelli died on November 15, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. She had been diagnosed with an unknown illness in March of this year. She was 71. Machiavelli was currently teaching Italian and holding cooking classes at Washington State University. Nicoletta starred in 8 Euro-westerns including The Hills Run Red, Navajo Joe, A Minute to Pray a Second to Die and Garter Colt. She appeared on the TV series Stracult last summer, and was scheduled to appear in the upcoming The Resurrection of El Puro with Robert Woods.
[size=12pt]RIP MAUREEN O’HARA[/size] (1920-2015)
