Favs of the 60’s ~ #7 ~ Mary Badham

Scout, or Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is the star and narrator of the most critically acclaimed movie of the 60’s, based on the most read Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name, written by Harper Lee.

Mary Badham had not starred in a film prior to her role as Scout, the tomboyish young girl that tried to keep up with her big brother. She didn’t stay in Hollywood and become a famous movie star or child star that grew up with issues, she actually only made 2 more movies and two TV Appearances after that, according to IMDB. However she had a small role in the 2005 film Our Very Own.

Mary Badham to me, was Scout. Her portrayal was so real and so pure. She more than any other made me really think we were there in her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. Mary was nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar that year, but lost out to Patty Duke’s Helen Keller.

Favs of the 60’s ~ #7 ~ Robert Duvall

In 1972 while watching the Godfather I overhear a conversation between my parents.

“Yeah, he played Boo Radley”

Immediately I asked, who was Boo Radley, as already at the age of 13, To Kill A Mocking bird was my favorite movie ever, and even though I had seen the movie several times by then, I had no idea that Robert Duvall was Boo Radley. It actually was his film debut. By then he had made a name for himself as a bit player in TV, but 1962 came, and his role as Arthur “Boo” Radley brought him into the lime light. He would go on in the 60’s to star in TV shows, and also star in four more films. But to me, from that moment while watching The Godfather, I became a fan of Robert Duvall.

Fav Films of the 60’s ~ #8 ~ West Side Story

Loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, I loved West Side Story. The singing, then dancing, as a kid I would produce neighborhood plays always trying to recreate West Side Story. Most of my neighborhood friends had no idea what it was, but I felt an intense need to educate them about the theater. So when the film was released and shown on TV several years later, suddenly the guys that were making fun of me, wanted to know more about West Side Story.

As I watch it now, it seems so dated, but still so clear in my memory. Natalie Wood as Maria was beautiful, even if I learnt later that her singing voice was dubbed in. Rita Moreno was spectacular, and the Academy agreed and the guys? My favorite was George Chakiris, who also won an Oscar. One question I have now about this film is…Did the guys really wear pants that tight back then??

Favs of the 60’s ~ #8 ~ John Wayne

The Duke. John Wayne was a legend in my home. From a very early age my father and I watched john Wayne movies all the time. Just recently for Christmas I purchased a box set of John Wayne’s early movies for my father.

John Wayne in the 1960’s was larger than life to me. He was the All American hero, cowboy and gentleman that all young boys wanted to grow up and be like. He had been a star in Hollywood for already 4 decades by the time the 60’s came along, and now he was being introduced to a whole new crop of fans. The sixties brought some of his most famous roles ever, such as; The Alamo as Davy Crockett; Tom Doniphon in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, William Tecumseh Sherman in How the West Was Won, Mclintcok; and who can forget Marshall Reuben J. ‘Rooster’ Cogburn, in his Academy Award winning role in True Grit.

The Duke continued to make films until his death in 1976, and continues to reign as the All American hero long after his death.

Favs of the 60’s ~ #8~ Patty Duke

Growing up in the 1960’s Patty Duke was a part of my every day TV Life, due in part to her TV show, The Patty Duke Show, which she played two roles, that of twin cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane. As I grew a little older I finally saw The Miracle Worker, and I became a life-long fan of this extrodinary actress.

Duke received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. Although Shirley Temple and Judy Garland had both won “juvenile” Oscars for general achievement, Duke was the youngest person at that time to receive an Academy Award for a specific role. She also won a Golden Globe for Me, Natalie in 1969, which also featured Al Pacino in his onscreen debut. In 1979 in a Teleivision movie of “The Miracle Worker” Duke played Anne Sullivan.

Fav Films of the 60’s ~ #9 ~ The Miracle Worker

In my Senior year of High School, we staged The Miracle Worker, and won awards throughout the state for our performances. I was a prop manager, but every night we put on the show I would stand in the audience and see the standing ovations. It was not until working on this play that I actually saw the movie The Miracle Worker in it’s entirety.

Raw, full of emotion and heart-wrenching charecters, I became enthralled in this film and the actors and actresses that played the parts of the true story of young Helen Keller. Especially that of Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.

The film won Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Anne Bancroft) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Patty Duke, age 16). The film was also nominated for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Favs of the 60’s ~ #9 ~ Burt Lancaster

Rugged, handsome and athletic, Burt Lancaster was a self-taught actor who started out playing small parts and quickly was catapulted to stardom with his role in From Here to Eternity and that forever memorable scene with Deborah Kerr on the Beach, but in the 1960’s Burt began to take on more versatile roles in films like Elmer Gantry (which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor) and Birdman of Alcatraz.

Lancaster was also an unabashed liberal activist and spoke out many times in support of minorities and forming liberal groups. He was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and McCarthyism. In 1985 Lancaster, a longtime supporter of gay rights, joined the fight against AIDS after Rock Hudson became ill. Biographer Kate Buford believes Lancaster was bisexual.
As famous for his prickly, temperamental personality as much as he was for his willingness and skills at taking on different characterizations, Lancaster vigorously guarded his private life. He was married three times and had five children. His first spouse, from 1935 to 1946, was June Ernst, whom he divorced. His second marriage was with Norma Anderson from 1946 to 1969 and also ended in divorce, reportedly because Norma couldn’t tolerate his “ladies man” behavior. From Norma, he had Billy, James, Susan, and Shelia; 4 of his children. His third wife was Susan Martin, whom he married in September 1990.

Burt Lancaster died of a heart attack at the age of 80, at home in Los Angeles on October 20, 1994. He was cremated; his ashes were interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Favs of the 60’s ~ #9 ~ Natalie Wood

During the 1960’s Natalie Wood’s star was it’s brightest, at least in the beginning. In 1961 she was nominated as Best Actress for her role opposite Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass. She also stared as Maria in West Side Story. However, her musical numbers were dubbed. In 1962 she won the role of Gypsy Rose Lee in the film Gypsy, some say this was her best performance. Then in 1963, She was again nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role in Love with a Proper Stranger. Unfortunately, Natalie’s star began to slide and by the end of the sixties, she was making less and less movies. In 1969 she starred in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, but she would not star in another film until 1973.

Natalie never won the Academy Award, but it wasn’t for the lack of talent or the lack of trying. Mysteriously drowning in 1981 at the age of 43, we may never know what exactly Natalie would have been capable of.

Tarzan’s Jane Died June 23, 1998

On this date in 1998, The legendary actress who was known over the world as “Jane” and mother of actress Mia Farrow died at the age of 87.

Maureen Paul O’Sullivan was born in Roscommon, Ireland on May 17, 1911. The future mother of Mia Farrow was educated on parochial schools in London, Dublin, and Paris. As a matter of fact, Maureen was a classmate with Vivien Leigh, another woman destined for screen immortality. Even as a school girl Maureen desired an acting career. She studied hard and read widely. When the chance to become an actress the opportunity almost dropped in her lap. Frank Borzage was in Dublin filming Song o’ My Heart (1930) in 1930, when Maureen, then 18, met the director. Borzage suggested a screen test which she took. The results were more than favorable as she won the part of Eileen O’Brien. The part was a substantial one. So much so that Maureen went on to Hollywood to complete the filming. Once in sunny California, Maureen wasted no time in landing roles in other films, such as Just Imagine (1930), Princess and the Plumber (1930), and So This Is London (1930), all in 1930. Maureen was on a roll that her contemporaries wished they had, when they were coming up through the ranks. In 1932, Maureen was teamed up with Olympic medal winner, Johnny Weissmuller, for the first time in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). Five other Tarzan films followed, the last being Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942) in 1942. The Tarzan epics rank as one of the most memorable serials ever made. Most people agree that those movies would not have been successful had it not been for the fine acting talents, not to mention the beauty of Maureen herself. But she was more than Jane Parker in the Tarzan films. She had great roles and played beautifully in films such as The Flame Within (1935), The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger (1935), and as Kitty in Anna Karenina (1935). Yet another fine performance was turned in with Pride and Prejudice (1940). After the 1940s, Maureen made far fewer films. Not because she lost popularity, but it was by choice. Sometimes it isn’t easy to walk away from a lucrative career, but she did. She had a busy family, and she wanted to devote more time to her family of seven children with John Farrow, an Australian writer. They would remain married from 1936 until his death in 1963. Not that she remained completely idle. Maureen still found time to make an occasional appearance in film, TV, or the stage. Most recent movie patrons remember her as Elizabeth Alvorg in the 1986 hit Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

Her final silver screen appearance was in 1988’s Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood (1988). Some TV movies followed, but only until 1996. She maintained homes in New Hampshire and Arizona and it was in Scottsdale where Maureen died on June 23, 1998 of a heart attack. She was 87 years old.

Fav Films of the 60’s ~ #10 ~ The Great Escape

The Great Escape, written by James Clavell, W.R. Burnett, and Walter Newman (uncredited), and directed by John Sturges is a popular 1963 World War II film, based on a true story about Allied prisoners of war with a record for escaping from German prisoner-of-war camps. The Luftwaffe placed them in a new more secure camp, Stalag Luft III, from which they promptly formed a plan to break out 250 men.
The film was based upon the factual book of the same name by Paul Brickhill, who observed the actual events as a prisoner.
Featuring an all-star cast including Steve McQueen (whose motorcycle chase is the film’s most remembered action scene; he also did many of his own stunts), James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Coburn, Charles Bronson and Donald Pleasence — The Great Escape is regarded as a classic and frequently repeated on television.
The march tune that serves as the film’s theme, written by Elmer Bernstein, has also become a classic. Though the film is today considered a classic, it was largely ignored at the 1963 Academy Awards. Ferris Webster’s film editing received the only nomination, though he lost to Harold F. Kress for How the West Was Won.