O.K. you mugs : writers on movie actors / edited by Luc Sante and Melissa Holbrook Pierson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sante, Lucy

Pierson, Melissa Holbrook.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture actors and actresses.

Character actors and actresses.

Physical Description:

xvi, 284 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, [1999]

Summary:

"There have ...always been actors who are so irreducibly themselves they can be inserted anywhere. A few of those are stars, but most fall under that near-euphemistic heading of "character actors." They are selected for their roles because they are not gorgeous enough for the leads, or because their noses have been broken one too many times, or because teenage acne and a Bronx upbringing have left unexpungeable marks. In short, they are real .... (they) are second leads, professional villains, period specialists, reaction-shot specialists, double-take artists, actors who get hauled in whenever the script calls for a judge or a bookie or a society matron, actors who are foxes (they do too many things well to leave a specific impression), and actors who are hedgehogs (they can only do one thing, but they've cornered the market on it.... "And this is what keeps us coming back, hoping they will keep coming back. As they reappear in one film and then another, it is as if they are returning in our very dreams: these characters take on character." -- from the introduction to "Ok, You Mugs"

Contents:

Timothy Carey / Chris Tsakis 3

Mitchum Gets Out of Jail / Dave Hickey 9

Endless Melody Starring / Jonathan Williams 21

Barbara Payton: A Memoir / Robert Polito 23

Dana Andrews, or the Male Mask / Geoffrey O'Brien 35

Liz Taylor / Ginny Dougary 47

Warren Oates, 1928-1982 / Melissa Holbrook Pierson 57

Jeanne Moreau / Patti Smith 65

The Decline of the Actor / Manny Farber 69

Madhur Jaffrey / Patricia Storace 83

Tom and Jerry Graduate From High School / Ron Padgett 91

J. T. Walsh / Greil Marcus 97

Dan Duryea / Frank Kogan 105

Shined Shoes / Stuart Klawans 117

Suzie Creamcheese Speaks / John Updike 131

With Gene Tierney in Paris / Charles Simic 147

Golly: on Jean Arthur / Mark Rudman 155

Thelma Ritter / Linda Yablonsky 173

Rogues' Gallery / Luc Sante 181

Elmer Fudd / David Hajdu 193

Warner Bros.' Fat Men / Dana Gioia 203

Franklin Pangborn: an Apologia / Siri Hustvedt 213

Robert Carlyle / Malu Halasa 227

Margaret Dumont / Jacqueline Carey 237

Angelo Rossitto / Michael J. Weldon 245.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0375401016

OCLC:

40948452