"Analyze This" Actor Joe Viterelli 2004 Holy Cross Cemetery

Joseph "Joe" Viterelli (March 10, 1937 – January 29, 2004) was an American actor best known for portraying Jelly in Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002).[4][5][6][7][8][9]

Early life

Joseph Viterelli[1][2] was born in New York City and grew up in a tough neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side. He played classical guitar but did not tell his friends about it. "They woulda thought I was a sissy," he said. "I used to save my hard-robbed money and sneak off to Carnegie Hall and Broadway theaters."[3][4][5][8][9]

Although he played numerous such roles during his career, Viterelli was never associated with the Italian Mob in real life.[10]

Early career

While in his 20s, he inherited four music schools in Queens that had been started by his family. "I actually taught classical guitar. But things went wrong. Then I opened a few bars. I drove a truck. I owned a cleaning service. I even had a job drilling holes in bowling balls to feed my five kids."[3][4][5][8][11][12][13]

Viterelli moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s. While living in Malibu, Viterelli became friends with director Leo Penn, who saw the screen possibilities in Viterelli's tough-guy visage.[4][11] Penn thought Viterelli's tough-guy features would play well in the movies and on television.[5][6]

Viterelli told Larry King that before he acted, "I had a couple of beer joints that I sold in New York and I came out here (in California) and I was looking around."[10]

Acting

"(Leo Penn) asked me to be in some movies and TV, but I always declined," said Viterelli. "I said, 'For half my life, I've been keeping a low profile and now you want to put my mug on a 40-foot screen?'"[4][8][9]

Years later, Viterelli got a call from Penn's actor son, Sean, who was in New York City to make the 1990 gangster melodrama State of Grace.[10][11] Viterelli recalled: "(Sean) said, 'Joe, we're looking for a character that's from your neighborhood. We've seen about 50 to 60 people and nobody's right.' He said the key words, 'Would you do me a favor?'" Viterelli did and, proving to be a natural actor, launched his new career.[4][5][8][9][10] Viterelli later appeared in Penn's The Crossing Guard (1995).[6]

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Viterelli had appeared in more than 40 movies, playing guys with such names as Nick Valenti (Bullets over Broadway; 1994), Joe Profaci (Mobsters; 1991), Fat Tommy Carducci (What She Doesn't Know; 1992), Vinnie "The Shrimp" (Mickey Blue Eyes; 1999) and Fat Tony Ragoni (The Cure for Boredom; 2001). He also had a supporting role in Shallow Hal (2001) and played Joseph Valachi in Ruby (1992).[4][5][14][15] He has also appeared in Eraser (1996).[6]

A year before his death, Viterelli was considered for a role as former Governor of Illinois George Ryan in a biopic Abby Mann attempted to make.[16][17]

Jelly

In 1999, he played Jelly, the menacing yet lovable henchman-confidant to Robert De Niro's anxiety-prone mob boss in Analyze This (1999), costarring Billy Crystal as De Niro's reluctant psychiatrist.[4][6]

Viterelli was able to convince De Niro and director Harold Ramis to cast him as Jelly after almost losing the role to a much younger actor.[18]

When he described Viterelli's Jelly character patiently padding about "trying to deal with the disturbing news that his boss is cracking up and seeing a shrink," critic Roger Ebert wrote, "He lends a subtle dimension to the movie; he gives [De Niro's mob boss] a context, and someone who understands him. The comedy here isn't all on the surface, and Viterelli is one reason why."[4][19]

The sequel, Analyze That, which Viterelli reprised his role, was his final film.[6]

In a Larry King Live interview, Viterelli said that De Niro was the "(e)asiest man to work with in the world," and that Crystal was "the funniest guy I ever met in my life."[10]

Staples commercial

Viterelli can be seen in a Staples television commercial in which he provides mob-style "muscle" for an office worker who is having a problem dealing with a manager who demands doughnuts and pastry bribes in exchange for dispensing office supplies. The humorous spot, which debuted during Super Bowl XXXVIII, was Viterelli's only commercial.[4][6][7][8][9][11]

Personal life and death

"Ninety percent of my fan mail is from kids 6 through 19," he told the New York Daily News in 2000. "They send me graduation pictures and report cards. Look at me, I'm a role model."[3][4][7][8][9]

Viterelli never had an agent or a manager.[3]

Viterelli once claimed he found Magic Johnson handcuffed to a tree naked, just after he had gotten robbed.[20][21]

Viterelli, a West Los Angeles resident, died on January 29, 2004 of complications from heart surgery at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. He is survived by his wife, Catherine, and five children, including his son, the film composer Joseph Vitarelli, who spells his last name differently.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][11][12][13][22][23] One of his children is a lawyer.[3]

Partial filmography

2002 - Analyze That .... Jelly 
2001 - See Spot Run .... Gino 
2001 - Shallow Hal ... Steve Shanahan 
2000 - Wannabes .... Santo 
1999 - Mickey Blue Eyes .... Vinnie D'Agostino 
1999 - Analyze This .... Jelly 
1998 - Mafia!....Dominick Clamatto 
1996 - Heaven's Prisoners .... 
1996 - Eraser .... Tony Two-Toes 
1995 - The Crossing Guard .... Joe at bar 
1994 - Bullets over Broadway .... Nick Valenti 
1993 - The Firm .... Joey Morolto 
1991 - Mobsters ... Joe Profaci 
1990 - State of Grace .... Borelli

References

1. "JOE VITERELLI". Tcm.com. 
2. Joe Viterelli at The New York Times 
3. Hamill, Denis (17 September 2000). "A ROLE MODEL DON'T MESS WITH Actor Joe Viterelli ain't just a pretty face". Daily News. 
4. McLellan, Dennis (23 February 2004). "Joe Viterelli, 66; Actor's Mobster Look Won Him More Than 40 Film Roles". Los Angeles Times. 
5. "Joe Viterelli, 66, Actor Who Played Lovable Tough Guys". The New York Times. 25 February 2004. 
6. Simith, Barad (24 February 2004). "Joe Viterelli, Jelly From 'Analyze This,' Dies". Democratic Underground. 
7. "Joe Viterelli, 66: Character actor known for playing mobsters". Chicago Tribune. 24 February 2004.  
8. McLellan, Dennis (24 February 2004). "Joe Viterelli, 66; actor was the muscles in mobster movies". The Boston Globe. 
9. McLellan, Dennis (24 February 2004). "Joe Viterelli: Actor typecast in mob roles". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 
10. "Interviews With Sela Ward, Kevin Kline, Joe Viterelli". CNN.com. 14 December 2002. 
11. Kattak, Ed (24 February 2004). "Joe Viterelli-RIP". Film Score Monthly. 
12. "Obituaries in the News". The Washington Post. 23 February 2004. 
13. "Murió actor Joe Viterelli, mafioso de "Analízame"". El Mercurio. 24 February 2004. 
14. "Joe Viterelli Movies". Contactmusic.com. 
15. "Joe Viterelli". The Times. 27 February 2004. 
16. Kass, John (14 March 2003). "Nominations, please, for cast of `About Ryan'". Chicago Tribune. 
17. Kass, John (16 March 2003). "Movie magic, TV tomfoolery and fine whine". Chicago Tribune. 
18. Dretzka, Gary (9 March 1999). "Jelly Role: Who's Joe Viterelli? You Won't Forget After Seeing `Analyze This'". Chicago Tribune. 
19. "Gangster, shrink hit it off in `Analyze This'". The Augusta Chronicle. 5 March 1999. 
20. Katz, Jesse (1 October 2003). "Master of Illusion". Los Angeles. 
21. Katz, Jesse (1 October 2003). "Master of Illusion". Los Angeles. 
22. "Actor Joe Viterelli dies". Amarillo Globe-News. 24 February 2004. 
23. "Joe Viterelli". Variety. 
24 February 2004. 

Musician & Poet Rod McKuen 2015 Westwood Village Cemetery

Rodney Marvin "Rod" McKuen (April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter, musician and poet. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks and classical music. He earned two Academy Award nominations and one Pulitzer nomination for his music compositions. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. His poetry deals with themes of love, the natural world and spirituality. McKuen's songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide, and 60 million books of his poetry were sold as well, according to the Associated Press.[1]

Early years

McKuen was born on April 29, 1933, in Oakland, California. Raised by his mother and stepfather, who was a violent alcoholic, McKuen ran away from home at the age of 11. He drifted along the West Coast, supporting himself as a ranch hand, surveyor, railroad worker, lumberjack, rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and radio disk jockey, always sending money home to his mother.[2]

To compensate for his lack of formal education, McKuen began keeping a journal, which resulted in his first poetry and song lyrics. In the 1950s, McKuen worked as a newspaper columnist and propaganda script writer during the Korean War. He settled in San Francisco, where he read his poetry in clubs alongside Beat poets like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.[3] He began performing as a folk singer at the famed Purple Onion. Over time, he began incorporating his own songs into his act. He was signed to Decca Records and released several pop albums in the late 1950s. McKuen also appeared as an actor in Rock, Pretty Baby (1956), Summer Love (1958), and the western Wild Heritage (1958). He also sang with Lionel Hampton's band. In 1959, McKuen moved to New York City to compose and conduct music for the TV show The CBS Workshop.[2]

Discovering Jacques Brel

In the early 1960s, McKuen moved to France, where he first met the Belgian singer-songwriter and chanson singer Jacques Brel. McKuen began to translate the work of this composer into English, which led to the song "If You Go Away" – an international pop-standard – based on Brel's "Ne me quitte pas." In the early 1970s, singer Terry Jacks turned McKuen's "Seasons in the Sun," based on Brel's "Le Moribond," into a best-selling pop hit. McKuen also translated songs by other French songwriters, including Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Delanoé, Michel Sardou, and others.[2]

In 1978, after hearing of Brel's death, McKuen was quoted as saying, "As friends and as musical collaborators we had traveled, toured and written – together and apart – the events of our lives as if they were songs, and I guess they were. When news of Jacques' death came I stayed locked in my bedroom and drank for a week. That kind of self-pity was something he wouldn't have approved of, but all I could do was replay our songs (our children) and ruminate over our unfinished life together."[4]

Poetry

In the late 1960s, McKuen began to publish books of poetry, earning a substantial following among young people with collections like Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows (1966), Listen to the Warm (1967), and Lonesome Cities (1968). His Lonesome Cities album of readings won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Recording in 1968.[2] McKuen's poems were translated into eleven languages and his books sold over 1 million copies in 1968 alone.[5] McKuen said that his most romantic poetry was influenced by American poet Walter Benton's two books of poems.[4] McKuen sold over 60 million books worldwide, according to the Associated Press.[1]

Songwriting

McKuen wrote over 1,500 songs, which have accounted for the sale of over 100 million records worldwide according to the Associated Press.[1] His songs have been performed by such diverse artists as Robert Goulet, Glenn Yarbrough, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Petula Clark, Waylon Jennings, The Boston Pops, Chet Baker, Johnny Cash, Pete Fountain, Andy Williams, the Kingston Trio, Percy Faith, the London Philharmonic, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis, Al Hirt, Greta Keller, and Frank Sinatra.[3][6][7]

In 1959, McKuen released a novelty single with Bob McFadden, under the pseudonym Dor on the Brunswick label, called "The Mummy." The McKuen-written song reached No. 39 on the Billboard pop chart.[8] In 1961, he had a hit single titled "Oliver Twist." He co-wrote it along with Gladys Shelley and the Spiral label-issued single reached No. 76 on the Billboard pop chart.[9] His hoarse and throaty singing voice on these and other recordings was a result of McKuen straining his vocal chords in 1961, due to too many promotional appearances.[10]

He collaborated with numerous composers, including Henry Mancini, John Williams, and Anita Kerr. His symphonies, concertos, and other orchestral works have been performed by orchestras around the globe. His work as a composer in the film industry garnered him two Academy Award nominations for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969),[7] and his other film scores have included Joanna (1968), Me, Natalie (1969), Scandalous John (1971), The Borrowers (1973) and Emily (1976).

In 1967, McKuen began collaborating with arranger Anita Kerr and the San Sebastian Strings for a series of vocal pop albums, including The Sea (1967), The Earth (1967), The Sky (1968), Home to the Sea (1969), For Lovers (1969), and The Soft Sea (1970). In 1969, Frank Sinatra commissioned an entire album of poems and songs by McKuen; arranged by Don Costa, it was released under the title A Man Alone: The Words and Music of Rod McKuen. The album featured the song "Love's Been Good to Me," which became one of McKuen's best-known songs.[2]

McKuen performed solo in a half-hour special broadcast by NBC on May 10, 1969. The program, billed as McKuen's "first television special," featured the songs "The Loner," "The World I Used to Know," "The Complete Madame Butterfly," "I've Been to Town," "Kaleidoscope," "Stanyan Street," "Lonesome Cities," "Listen to the Warm," "Trashy," and "Merci Beaucoup." It was produced by Lee Mendelson, producer of the Peanuts specials, and directed by Marty Pasetta. James Trittipo designed a set that was "evocative of waterfront pilings" and Arthur Greenslade conducted the orchestra.[11] In 1971, he hosted a series, The Rod McKuen Show, on BBC television in the UK.[12]

McKuen's composition "Jean," sung by Oliver, reached No.1 in 1969 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and stayed there for four weeks.[13] In 1971, his song "I Think of You" was a major hit for Perry Como. Other popular McKuen compositions included "The World I Used to Know," "Rock Gently," "Doesn't Anybody Know My Name," "The Importance of the Rose," "Without a Worry in the World," and "Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes."[2]

In 1971, McKuen became highly popular in the Netherlands, where "Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes" and "Without a Worry in the World" became major hits, both reaching number one in the Dutch charts; the album Greatest Hits Vol. 3 became a number one record as well. All three discs earned him gold records and he was voted Holland's most popular entertainer.[14]

During the 1970s, McKuen began composing larger-scale orchestral compositions, writing a series of concertos, suites, symphonies, and chamber pieces for orchestra. His piece The City: A Suite for Narrator and Orchestra, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music. He continued publishing a steady stream of poetry books throughout the decade. In 1977, he published Finding My Father, a chronicle of his search for information on his biological father. The book and its publicity helped make such information more readily available to adopted children. He also continued to record, releasing albums such as New Ballads (1970), Pastorale (1971), and the country-rock outing McKuen Country (1976).[2]

McKuen continued to perform concerts around the world and appeared regularly at New York's Carnegie Hall throughout the 1970s, making sporadic appearances as recently as the early 2000s.

Later years

In 1973, at forty, McKuen radically changed his outward appearance ; He no longer bleached his hair and he grew a beard.

McKuen retired from live performances in 1981. The following year, he was diagnosed with clinical depression, which he battled for much of the next decade. He continued to write poetry, however, and made appearances as a voice-over actor in The Little Mermaid and the TV series The Critic.[2]

2001 saw the publication of McKuen's A Safe Place to Land, which contains 160 pages of new poetry. For 10 years he gave an annual birthday concert at Carnegie Hall or the Lincoln Center. He released the double CD The Platinum Collection and was remastering all of his RCA and Warner Bros. recordings for release as CD boxed sets. In addition to his artistic pursuits he was the Executive President of the American Guild of Variety Artists, a post he held longer than any other man or woman elected to the position.

McKuen lived in Southern California with his brother Edward, whom he called his "partner," and four cats in a large rambling Spanish house built in 1928, which housed one of the world's largest private record collections.[15] 

Rod McKuen died of respiratory arrest, a result of pneumonia, at a hospital in Beverly Hills, California, on January 29, 2015.[3] He is interred at Westwood Village Cemetery.

Criticism

Despite his popular appeal, McKuen's work was never taken seriously by critics or academics. Michael Baers observed in Gale Research's St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture that "through the years his books have drawn uniformly unkind reviews. In fact, criticism of his poetry is uniformly vituperative ..."[16]

Frank W. Hoffmann, in Arts and Entertainment Fads, described McKuen's poetry as "tailor-made for the 1960s ... poetry with a verse that drawled in country cadences from one shapeless line to the next, carrying the rusticated innocence of a Carl Sandburg thickened by the treacle of a man who preferred to prettify the world before he described it."[5]

Philosopher and social critic Robert C. Solomon described McKuen's poetry as "sweet kitsch,"[17] and, at the height of his popularity in 1969, Newsweek magazine called him "the King of Kitsch."[18]

Writer and literary critic Nora Ephron said, "[F]or the most part, McKuen's poems are superficial and platitudinous and frequently silly." Pulitzer Prize-winning US Poet Laureate Karl Shapiro said, "It is irrelevant to speak of McKuen as a poet."[19]

In a Chicago Tribune interview with McKuen in 2001 as he was "testing the waters" for a comeback tour, Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic Julia Keller claimed that "Millions more have loathed him [...] finding his work so schmaltzy and smarmy that it makes the pronouncements of Kathie Lee Gifford sound like Susan Sontag," and that his work "drives many people crazy. They find it silly and mawkish, the kind of gooey schmaltz that wouldn't pass muster in a freshman creative-writing class" while stating that "The masses ate him up with a spoon, while highbrow literary critics roasted him on a spit." She noted that the third concert on his tour had already been canceled because of sluggish ticket sales.[20]

Bibliography

Poetry

And Autumn Came (Pageant Press, 1954) 
Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows (Stanyan Music, 1966) 
Listen to the Warm (Random House, 1967) 
Lonesome Cities (Random House, 1968) 
And Autumn Came (Revised Edition) (Cheval Books, 1969) 
In Someone's Shadow (Cheval Books/Random House, 1969) 
Twelve Years of Christmas (Cheval Books/Random House, 1969) 
Caught in the Quiet (Stanyan Books, 1970) 
Fields of Wonder (Cheval Books/Random House, 1971) 
The Carols of Christmas (Cheval Books/Random House, 1971) 
And to Each Season (Simon and Schuster, 1972) 
Moment to Moment (Cheval Books, 1972) 
Come to Me in Silence (Simon and Schuster, 1973) 
Moment to Moment (Revised Edition) (Simon and Schuster, 1974) 
Beyond the Boardwalk (Cheval Books, 1975) 
Celebrations of the Heart (Simon and Schuster, 1975) 
The Sea Around Me... (Simon and Schuster, 1975) 
Coming Close to the Earth (Simon and Schuster, 1978) 
We Touch the Sky (Simon and Schuster, 1979) 
The Power Bright and Shining (Simon and Schuster, 1980) 
A Book of Days (Harper and Row, 1980) 
The Beautiful Strangers (Simon and Schuster, 1981) 
Book of Days and a Month of Sundays (Harper and Row, 1981) 
The Sound of Solitude (Harper and Row, 1983) 
Suspension Bridge (Harper and Row, 1984) 
Intervals (Harper and Row/Cheval Books, 1986) 
Valentines (Harper and Row/Cheval Books, 1986) 
A Safe Place to Land (Cheval Books, 2001) 
Rusting in the Rain (Cheval Books, 2004)

Lyrics

The Songs of Rod McKuen (Cheval Books, 1969) 
With Love (Stanyan Books, 1970) 
New Ballads (Stanyan Books, 1970) 
Pastorale (Stanyan Books, 1971) 
The Carols Christmas (Cheval/Random House, 1971) 
Grand Tour (Stanyan Books, 1972)[15]

Prose

Finding My Father (Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1976) 
An Outstretched Hand (Cheval Books/Harper and Row, 1980)[15] 

Original paperbacks

Seasons in the Sun (Pocket Books, 1974) 
Alone (Pocket Books, 1975) 
Hand in Hand (Pocket Books, 1977) 
Finding My Father (Cheval Books/Berkeley Books, 1977) 
Love's Been Good to Me (Pocket Books, 1979) 
Looking for a Friend (Pocket Books, 1980) 
Too Many Midnights (Pocket Books, 1981) 
Watch for the Wind (Pocket Books, 1983)

Discography

Vocal albums

About Me (SPC 3189) 
After Midnight (SR 6029 • CD STZ 105) 
Alone (BS 2817) 
Alone After Dark (DL 8946) 
Anywhere I Wander (DL 3882) 
The Beautiful Strangers (WS 1722) 
The Black Eagle, A Gothic Musical (2SR 5087) 
Blessings in Shade of Green (SR 5005) 
Cycles (BDS 5138) 
For Friends and Lovers (DJF 20537) 
Global (SR 5102) 
Goodtime Music (BS 2861) 
Have a Nice Day (SR 5032) 
In a Lonely Place (KA 3226) 
In the Beginning (SUS 5273) 
It Had To Be You (DID M20) 
Jerome Kern Revisited Vol. IV, with Ballard, Short, and Cook (PS 1380 CD 113) 
Lonely Summer (BR 0034) 
The Loner (RCA 3508) 
The Love Movement (ST 2838) 
Through European Windows (LSP 3786) 
The Sounds of Day, the Sounds of Night (SPC 3225) 
Love's Been Good to Me (SR 5009) 
McKuen Country (BS 2931) 
Rod McKuen Sings (ST 2079) 
More Rod McKuen 77 (SR 5092) 
Mr. Oliver Twist (JU 5013) 
New Ballads (WS 1837) 
New Carols for Christmas – The Rod McKuen Christmas Album (SR 5045) 
New Sounds in Folk Music (VE 1612) 
Odyssey (BS 2638) 
Other Kinds of Songs (RCA 3635) 
Pastorale (2WS 1894) 
Pastures Green (SR 5047) 
Roads (SR 5098) 
Rod (SR 5025) 
The Rod McKuen Folk Album (SR 5006) 
Rod McKuen Sings the McKuen/Brel Songbook (SR 6028; WB 2785) 
The Rod McKuen Show (WS 3015) 
Rod McKuen Sings His Own (RCA 3424) 
Rod 77 (SR 5093) 
Seasons in the Sun (SR 5003) 
Seasons in the Sun, 2 (SR 5004) 
Seasons in the Sun, 1 and 2 (SR 5046) 
The Single Man (LSP 4010) 
Sleep Warm (BS 2889) 
Sleep Warm (2SR 5081) 
Slide ... Easy In (DS 7017) 
Slide ... On the Move (DIS 60 531) 
Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes (HJS 180) 
Someone to Watch Over Me (SR 6050) 
Songs for the Lazy (LRP 3011) 
Songs Our Mummy Taught Us, with Bob McFadden (BL 754056) 
Stranger in Town (KS 3538) 
There's a Hoot Tonight (WP 1632) 
Through European Windows (LSP 3786) 
Turntable (SR 5100) 
Two Against the Morning, with Liesbeth List (PH 6641 057) 
Very Warm (DE 4603) 

Spoken word

Beatsville (R 419) 
The Essential Rod McKuen (3BS 2906) 
In Search of Eros (BN 613) 
Listen to The Warm (LSP 3863; SR 5052) 
Listen to the Warm (SR 5048) 
Lonesome Cities (WS 1758) 
Pushing the Clouds Away (SR 5110) 
Time of Desire (SR 5078) 
The Word (DS 7000) 
The Yellow Unicorn, with Tak Shindo and Julie Meredith (LP 12036) 

Classical

Symphony No. 1 in 4 Movements (SR 9005) 
Concerto For Guitar & Orchestra: 5 Orchestral Pieces (SR 9006) 
Concerto For 4 Harpsichords: 4 Orchestral Pieces (SR 9007) 
Piano Variations: 6 Piano Sonatas (SR 9008) 
Conducts McKuen (SR 9010) 
Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra (SR 9012) 
The Plains of My Country: Seascapes for Solo Piano (SR 9015) 
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra; Music for Strings (SR 9021) 
Concerto For Balloon and Orchestra: 3 Overtures (SR 9023) 
The Ballad of Distances: Symphonic Suite, Op. 40 (WB 2WS 2731) 
Piano Quartets: Piano Trios (SR 9060) 
The City: I Hear America Singing, 2 Cantatas (LS 732) 
Written in the Stars (The Zodiac Suite) (CRL 57339) 
Something Beyond: Suite for Orchestra (LST 7537) 

Soundtracks

The Borrowers, soundtrack (SRQ 4014) 
A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Other Rod McKuen Film Songs (SR 5010) 
A Boy Named Charlie Brown, soundtrack (OS 3500) 
Emily, soundtrack (SRQ 4025) 
Joanna, soundtrack (SR 4202) 
Lisa Bright and Dark, soundtrack (SR 10094) 
Me, Natalie, with Henry Mancini, soundtrack (OS 3350) 
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, soundtrack (TC 4207) 
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Rod McKuen singing and conducting his score (WB 1853) 
Rock, Pretty Baby, with Henry Mancini, soundtrack (DL 8429) 
Scandalous John, soundtrack (SR 5004) 
Summer Love, with Henry Mancini, soundtrack (DL 8714) 
The Unknown War, soundtrack (2SR 9201)

Live recordings

The Amsterdam Concert (2SR 5051) 
Back to Carnegie Hall (2WB 2732) 
Evening in Vienna, with Greta Keller (SR 5040) 
Grand Tour (2BR 1947) 
Grand Tour, Vol. 3 (SR 5042) 
Rod McKuen in Concert (SR 5001) 
Rod McKuen Live Across Australia and Around the World (SR 6031) 
Rod McKuen Live at the Sydney Opera House (SR 5075) 
Rod McKuen Live at the Sydney Opera House (L 70041/2) 
Rod McKuen Live in Africa (SYD 11000) 
Rod McKuen Live in London (2SR 5016) 
Rod McKuen Live / Sold Out Carnegie Hall (WS 1794, WBC 1100B)

Greatest hits and compilations

The Beat Generation (R2 70281) 
The Best of Rod McKuen (RCA 4127) 
Bits and Pieces (DL 75078) 
The Early Years: The Best of Rod McKuen (SYC 2901) 
Greatest Australian Hits (PW 6026) 
Rod McKuen: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (WS 1772) 
Rod McKuen: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (BS 2560) 
Rod McKuen: Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 (SR 5031) 
Rod McKuen: Greatest Hits, Vol. 4 (BS 2688) 
If You Go Away: The RCA Years 1965–1968 (BCD 16122 GL) 
In the Beginning (SLS 96083) 
Love Songs (2SR 5073) 
A Portrait of Rod McKuen (SR 5072) 
Rod on Record (SR 5104) 
Try Rod McKuen in the Privacy of Your Own Home (SR 5020) 
Without a Worry in the World (BR 408, TIXD 420)

With Anita Kerr and the San Sebastian Strings

Lyrics, book, and musical storylines by Rod McKuen; music composed, arranged, and conducted by Anita Kerr.

The Sea (WBL 1047, WB 1670) 
The Earth (WBL 1046, WB 1705) 
The Sky (WB 1720) 
Home to the Sea (WBC 1080, WS 1764) 
The Soft Sea (WS 1839) 
La Mer (SR 10043) 
For Lovers (WB 1795) 
Bouquet (BS 2768) 
Spring Summer (BS4 2707) 
Autumn Winter (BS 2622) 
With Love (BS 2837) 
The Sea / The Earth / The Sky (3WS 1730) 
The Complete Sea (3WS 1827) 
The Seasons (4WS 2754)

Promotional albums

17 New Songs by Rod McKuen (IM 1000) 
Short Cuts from Pastorale (PRO 451) 
Some of the Best of Rod McKuen (SPS 33–554) 
20 New Rod McKuen Songs (SML 102)

References

1. "Rod McKuen, Top-Selling Poet and Performer, Dies at 81". The Wall Street Journal. Associated Press. January 29, 2015.
2. Huey, Steve. "Rod McKuen Biography". AllMusic.
3. Fox, Margalit (January 29, 2015). "Rod McKuen, Poet and Lyricist With Vast Following, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
4. McKuen, Rod (August 2002). "Flight Plan". Rod McKuen.
5. Hoffmann, Frank; Ramirez, Beaulah B. (1990). Arts and Entertainment Fads. Routledge. p. 168. ISBN 978-0866568814. 
6. Greenman, Ben (May 1, 2012). "Listening Booth: Gene Ween's Solo Debut". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 31, 2015. 
7. Caulfield, Keith (January 29, 2015). "Rod McKuen's Surprising Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2015. 
8. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Top Pop Singles 1955-2012 (14th ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 556. ISBN 0-89820-205-1. 
9. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Top Pop Singles 1955-2012 (14th ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 560. ISBN 0-89820-205-1. 
10. "Rod McKuen: Poet, songwriter and distinctively voiced singer who was nominated for an Oscar and worked with Jacques Brel and Frank Sinatra". Los Angeles Times. January 30, 2015. 
11. "Rod McKuen". TV Guide (Carolina-Tennessee Edition): A–10. May 10–16, 1969. 
12. Herald Scotland obituary, 3 February 2015. 
13. Whitburn, Joel (2007). Top Adult Songs 1961-2006. Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-169-1. 
14. Rod McKuen in Concert Brochure, 1972, Cheval/Stanyan Company, Hollywood 
15. McKuen, Rod. "Biography". Rod McKuen. 
16. Baers, Michael, "Rod McKuen", Find articles. 
17. Solomon, Robert C. (2004). In Defense of Sentimentality. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 236. ISBN 0-19-514550-X. 
18. "King of Kitsch", Newsweek, November 4, 1968, pp. 111, 114. 
19. Ephron, Nora (2007). Wallflower at the Orgy. Bantam. p. 181. ISBN 0-553-38505-4. 
20. Keller, Julia (March 6, 2001). "Where Had You Gone, Rod Mckuen?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 17, 2011. 

"Poltergeist" Actress Zelda Rubinstein Dies at Barlow Respiratory Hospital 2010

Zelda May Rubinstein [1] (May 28, 1933[2] – January 27, 2010) was an American actress and human rights activist, known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the Poltergeist film series.[3] Playing "Ginny", she was a regular on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award-winning television series Picket Fences for several seasons. She also made guest appearances in the TV show Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as seer Christina, and was the voice of Skittles candies in their long-running "Taste the Rainbow" ad campaign. Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS.[4]

Early life

Rubinstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 28 May 1933 to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland, Dolores and George Rubinstein.[5][6] She was the youngest of three children and the only little person in her family.[7] Rubinstein did not become comfortable with her short stature until she was an adult.[7] In a 1992 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Rubinstein told the newspaper that she "had a rough childhood, [but] I became very verbally facile... I learned to meet everyone head-on."[7]

She stood just 4 feet 3 inches (129.54 cm) tall[8] due to a deficiency of the anterior pituitary gland, which produces growth hormone. Commenting in 2002 on the challenges of being a very short-statured person, Rubinstein said, "Little People are societally handicapped. They have about two minutes to present themselves as equals—and if they don’t take advantage of that chance, then people fall back on the common assumption that 'less' is less."[9]

Rubinstein won a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned her bachelor's degree in bacteriology and became a sister of the national sorority Phi Sigma Sigma.[7][10] She moved to Berkeley, California, at the age of 25,[5] studied at the University of California, Berkeley,[8] and worked as a medical lab technician at blood banks.[7]

Acting career

In 1978 Zelda decided to pursue an acting career. She studied acting at the University of California. Poltergeist was her first major film role. She remained active in film and television thereafter, frequently portraying various psychic characters, such as her appearance on Jennifer Slept Here. She also narrated the horror television series, Scariest Places on Earth, which aired in the U.S. on ABC Family and in Canada on YTV.[7]

Rubinstein's other minor/major film roles included Sixteen Candles, Under the Rainbow, Cages, Teen Witch, The Wildcard, Southland Tales and National Lampoon's Last Resort. She also contributed voice-over work for TV including Hey Arnold!, and The Flintstones. She made numerous guest appearances on network TV shows, including Caroline in the City, Martin, Mr. Belvedere, and had a starring role as Ginny Weedon in the TV series Picket Fences. Her character there was killed off in typical off-beat fashion, by falling into a freezer. She also appeared in an episode of Tales From The Crypt in which she played the mother of a girl who has been dead for 40 years. In 1993, she made a cameo appearance in the campy thriller Acting on Impulse, which reunited her with Poltergeist III co-star Nancy Allen.

She also starred in two different roles on the same show in 1984 and in 1990: Santa Barbara.

Beginning in 1999, she did voiceovers in television starting with the Fox Family reality TV Show, Scariest Places On Earth, commercials promoting movies such as Lady in the Water, and products including Skittles candy. 

Her last film role came in 2007 when she made a cameo appearance in the horror film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. She also appeared in a cameo as herself at the Revenge of the Mummy ride in Universal Studios Florida on the screens which shows various actors from the films warning the people to leave, telling them about the curse of Imhotep.

Human rights and activism

Rubinstein became active in the fight against HIV/AIDS in 1984. She appeared in a series of advertisements, directed towards gay men specifically, promoting safer sex and AIDS awareness.[4] Rubinstein did so at risk to her own career, especially so shortly after her rise to fame, and admitted later that she did "pay a price, career-wise." "I lost a friend to AIDS, one of the first public figures that died of AIDS," the actress said in an interview with The Advocate. "I knew it was not the kind of disease that would stay in anybody's backyard. It would climb the fences, get over the fences into all of our homes. It was not limited to one group of people."[11] She attended the first AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Walk.[12]

Death

Rubinstein died in Los Angeles, California, on January 27, 2010. She was 76. Eric Stevens, Rubinstein's agent for the past four years, said the actress had never recovered from a mild heart attack she suffered several months earlier, which he said left her a patient at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles. "She had several pre-existing conditions that she had been dealing with for years, and unfortunately they began to overtake her," Stevens said. Stevens also said that per Rubinstein's request no funeral would be held.[11]

Filmography

List of film credits

Year Title Role Notes

1981 Under the Rainbow Iris 
1982 Poltergeist Tangina Barrons Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress 
1982 Frances Mental Patient Credited as Zelda Rubenstein 
1983 A Chip of Glass Ruby Daughter 
1984 Sixteen Candles Organist 
1986 Poltergeist II: The Other Side Tangina Barrons Nominated-Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress 

1987 Anguish Alice Pressman, the Mother Alternative title: Angustia

1988 Poltergeist III Tangina Barrons Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated-Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress 
1989 Teen Witch Madame Serena Alcott 
1991 Guilty as Charged Edna 
1994 National Lampoon's Last Resort Old Hermit Alternative titles: Last Resort, National Lampoon's Scuba School 
1995 Timemaster Betting Clerk 
1996 Lover's Knot Woman in Clinic 
1996 Little Witches Mother Clodah 
1997 Critics and Other Freaks Theatre Director 
1997 Mama Dolly Mama Dolly 
1998 Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights Princess Shalazar 
1999 Frank in Five Waitress 
2000 Maria and Jose Doctor 
2002 Wishcraft Medical Examiner 
2004 The Wild Card Mrs. Stanfield Direct-to-DVD release 
2005 Cages Liz 2005 Angels with Angles Zelda the Angel 
2006 Unbeatable Harold Bunny 

2006 Southland Tales Dr. Katarina Kuntzler 

2006 Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Mrs. Collinwood Cameo

List of television credits

Year Title Role Notes

1980 The Flintstone Comedy Hour Atrocia Frankenstone (Voice) 1 episode 
1983 Jennifer Slept Here 1 episode 
1983 Matt Houston Flower Girl 1 episode 
1984 Whiz Kids Madame Zerleena 1 episode 
1984 Santa Barbara Mental Patient 1 episode 
1986 ABC Weekend Special Ralph's Mother 1 episode 
1987 The Tortellis 1 episode 
1987 Faerie Tale Theatre Old Woman 1 episode 
1987 Reading Rainbow Herself (Voice) 1 episode 
1987 Sable Sister Glory 1 episode 
1990 Santa Barbara Gladys Bittleworth, ghost psychic 5 episodes 
1990 Mr. Belvedere Murphy 1 episode 
1991 Darkwing Duck Voice 1 episode 
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw Butterfingers O'Malley Television movie 
1992 Stormy Weathers Rosamund Television movie 
1992 Tales from the Crypt Nora 1 episode 
1992–1994 Picket Fences Ginny Weedon 44 episodes 
1993 Acting on Impulse Nosy Lady Television movie 
1996 Poltergeist: The Legacy Christina 1 episode 
1997 Martin Nurse Froyd 1 episode 
1997 Chock 2 - Kött Mother Television movie 
1998 Caroline in the City Phyllis 1 episode 
1999 Hey Arnold! Patty's Mother (Voice) 1 episode 
2000 The Pretender Pawn shop lady 1 episode 
2000–2006 Scariest Places on Earth Narrator 48 episodes 
2001 The Flintstones: On the Rocks Psychiatrist (Voice) Television movie

References

1. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VM8Q-1MF 
2. McLellan, Dennis (2010-01-27). "Zelda Rubinstein, who played psychic in 'Poltergeist', dies at 76". kdvr.com. Retrieved 27 January 2010. 
3. Obituary London Independent, April 22, 2010. 
4. Broverman, Neal (January 27, 2010). "Poltergeist Star and HIV Activist Zelda Rubinstein Dies at Age 76". Shewired.com. 
5. Rizzo, Frank (2010-02-02). ""Poltergeist's" Zelda Rubinstein Dies; Starred in Hartford Project". Hartford Courant. 
6. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ6J-4H7 
7. McLellan, Dennis (2010-01-28). "Zelda Rubinstein dies at 76; actress played psychic in 'Poltergeist'". Los Angeles Times. 
8. Fox, Margalit (2010-01-29). "Zelda Rubinstein, 76, 'Poltergeist' Actress". New York Times.  
9. Thomas-Matej, Elisabeth (2002). "What's in a Diagnosis? A Medical Biography of Michael Dunn". NCTC.net. 
10. "Zelda Rubinstein, Iota - University of Pittsburgh". Phisigmasigma.org. 
11. "'Poltergeist' actress dies at age 76". CNN. January 28, 2010. 11. Actress Zelda Rubinstein taken off life support : LGBT | POV

"Adam's Rib" Director George Cukor 1983 Forest Lawn Glendale Cemetery

George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director.[1] He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of Production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKO's major films, including What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Our Betters (1933), and Little Women (1933). When Selznick moved to MGM in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935) for Selznick and Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936) for Irving Thalberg.

He was replaced as the director of Gone with the Wind (1939), but he went on to direct The Philadelphia Story (1940), Gaslight (1944), Adam's Rib (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), A Star Is Born (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), and My Fair Lady (1964). He continued to work into the 1980s.

Early life

Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, the younger child and only son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Viktor, an assistant district attorney, and Helén Ilona Gross (Cukor Viktorné). His parents selected his middle name in honor of Spanish–American War hero George Dewey. The family was not particularly religious, pork was a staple on the dinner table, and when he started attending temple as a boy, Cukor learned Hebrew phonetically, with no real understanding of the meaning of the words or what they represented. As a result, he was ambivalent about his faith and dismissive of old world traditions from childhood, and as an adult he embraced Anglophilia to remove himself even further from his roots.[2]

As a child, Cukor appeared in several amateur plays and took dance lessons, and at the age of seven he performed in a recital with David O. Selznick, who in later years would become a mentor and friend.[3] As a teenager, Cukor frequently was taken to the New York Hippodrome by his uncle. Infatuated with theatre, he often cut classes at DeWitt Clinton High School to attend afternoon matinees.[4][5] During his senior year, he worked as a supernumerary with the Metropolitan Opera, earning 50¢ per appearance, and $1 if he was required to perform in blackface.[6]

Following his graduation in 1917, Cukor was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a career in law. He halfheartedly enrolled in the City College of New York, where he entered the Students Army Training Corps in October 1918. His military experience was limited; Germany surrendered in early November, and Cukor's duty ended after only two months. Shortly after, he left school.[7]

Cukor obtained a job as an assistant stage manager and bit player with a touring production of The Better 'Ole, a popular British musical based on Old Bill, a cartoon character created by Bruce Bairnsfather.[8] In 1920, he became the stage manager for the Knickerbocker Players, a troupe that shuttled between Syracuse and Rochester, New York, and the following year he was hired as general manager of the newly formed Lyceum Players, an upstate summer stock company. In 1925 he formed the C.F. and Z. Production Company with Walter Folmer and John Zwicki, which gave him his first opportunity to direct.[9][10] Following their first season, he made his Broadway directorial debut with Antonia by Hungarian playwright Melchior Lengyel, then returned to Rochester, where C.F. and Z. evolved into the Cukor-Kondolf Stock Company, a troupe that included Louis Calhern, Ilka Chase, Phyllis Povah, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Elizabeth Patterson and Douglass Montgomery, all of whom would work with Cukor in later years in Hollywood.[11] Lasting only one season with the company was Bette Davis. Cukor later recalled, "Her talent was apparent, but she did buck at direction. She had her own ideas, and though she only did bits and ingenue roles, she didn't hesitate to express them." For the next several decades, Davis claimed she was fired, and although Cukor never understood why she placed so much importance on an incident he considered so minor, he never worked with her again.[12]

For the next few years, Cukor alternated between Rochester in the summer months and Broadway in the winter. His direction of a 1926 stage adaptation of The Great Gatsby by Owen Davis brought him to the attention of the New York critics. Writing in the Brooklyn Eagle, drama critic Arthur Pollock called it "an unusual piece of work by a director not nearly so well known as he should be."[13] Cukor directed six more Broadway productions before departing for Hollywood in 1929.

Early Hollywood career

When Hollywood began to recruit New York theater talent for sound films, Cukor immediately answered the call. In December 1928, Paramount Pictures signed him to a contract that reimbursed him for his airfare and initially paid him $600 per week with no screen credit during a six-month apprenticeship. He arrived in Hollywood in February 1929, and his first assignment was to coach the cast of River of Romance to speak with an acceptable Southern accent.[14] In October, the studio lent him to Universal Pictures to conduct the screen tests and work as a dialogue director for All Quiet on the Western Front which was released in 1930. That year he co-directed three films at Paramount, and his weekly salary was increased to $1500.[15] He made his solo directorial debut with Tarnished Lady (1931) starring Tallulah Bankhead.

Cukor was then assigned to One Hour with You (1932), an operetta with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, when original director Ernst Lubitsch opted to concentrate on producing the film instead. At first the two men worked well together, but two weeks into filming Lubitsch began arriving on the set on a regular basis, and he soon began directing scenes with Cukor's consent. Upon the film's completion, Lubitsch approached Paramount general manager B. P. Schulberg and threatened to leave the studio if Cukor's name wasn't removed from the credits. When Schulberg asked him to cooperate, Cukor filed suit. He eventually settled for being billed as assistant director and then left Paramount to work with David O. Selznick at RKO Studios.[16]

Cukor quickly earned a reputation as a director who could coax great performances from actresses and he became known as a 'woman's director,' a title he resented. Despite this reputation, during his career, he oversaw more performances honored with the Academy Award for Best Actor than any other director: James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940), Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947), and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964). 

One of Cukor's first ingenues was actress Katharine Hepburn, who debuted in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and whose looks and personality left RKO officials at a loss as to how to use her. Cukor directed her in several films, both successful, such as Little Women (1933) and Holiday (1938), and disastrous, such as Sylvia Scarlett (1935). Cukor and Hepburn became close friends off the set.

Cukor was hired to direct Gone with the Wind by Selznick in 1936, even before the book was published.[17] He spent the next two years involved with pre-production, including supervision of the numerous screen tests of actresses anxious to portray Scarlett O'Hara. Cukor favored Hepburn for the role, but Selznick, concerned about her reputation as 'box office poison', would not consider her without a screen test, and the actress refused to film one. Of those who did, Cukor preferred Paulette Goddard, but her supposedly illicit relationship with Charlie Chaplin (they were, in fact, secretly married) concerned Selznick.[18]

Between his Wind chores, the director assisted with other projects. He filmed the cave scene for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)[19] and, following the firing of its original director Richard Thorpe, Cukor spent a week on the set of The Wizard of Oz (1939). Although he filmed no footage, he made crucial changes to the look of Dorothy by eliminating Judy Garland's blonde wig and adjusting her makeup and costume, encouraging her to act in a more natural manner that greatly contributed to the success of the final film.[20][21] Additionally, Cukor softened the Scarecrow's makeup and gave Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West a different hairstyle, as well as altering her makeup and other facial features. Cukor also suggested that the studio cast Jack Haley, on loan from 20th Century Fox, as the Tin Man.

Cukor spent many hours coaching Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland prior to the start of filming Wind, but Clark Gable resisted his efforts to get him to master a Southern accent. However, despite rumors about Gable being uncomfortable with Cukor on the set, nothing in the internal memos of David O. Selznick indicates or suggests that Clark Gable played any role in Cukor's dismissal from the film. Rather, they show Selznick's mounting dissatisfaction with Cukor's slow pace and quality of work. From a private letter from journalist Susan Myrick to Margaret Mitchell in February 1939: "George [Cukor] finally told me all about it. He hated [leaving the production] very much he said but he could not do otherwise. In effect he said he is an honest craftsman and he cannot do a job unless he knows it is a good job and he feels the present job is not right. For days, he told me he has looked at the rushes and felt he was failing... the things did not click as it should. Gradually he became convinced that the script was the trouble... So George just told David he would not work any longer if the script was not better and he wanted the [Sidney] Howard script back... he would not let his name go out over a lousy picture... And bull-headed David said 'OK get out!'"[22]

Selznick had already been unhappy with Cukor ("a very expensive luxury") for not being more receptive to directing other Selznick assignments, even though Cukor had remained on salary since early 1937; and in a confidential memo written in September 1938, four months before principal photography began, Selznick flirted with the idea of replacing him with Victor Fleming. "I think the biggest black mark against our management to date is the Cukor situation and we can no longer be sentimental about it.... We are a business concern and not patrons of the arts..." Cukor was relieved of his duties, but he continued to work with Leigh and Olivia de Havilland off the set. Various rumors about the reasons behind his dismissal circulated throughout Hollywood. Selznick's friendship with Cukor had crumbled slightly when the director refused other assignments, including A Star is Born (1937) and Intermezzo (1939).[23] Given that Gable and Cukor had worked together before (on Manhattan Melodrama, 1934) and Gable had no objection to working with him then, and given Selznick's desperation to get Gable for Rhett Butler, if Gable had any objections to Cukor, certainly they would have been expressed before he signed his contract for the film.[24] Yet, writer Gore Vidal, in his autobiography Point to Point Navigation, recounted that Gable demanded that Cukor be fired off Wind because, according to Cukor, the young Gable had been a male hustler and Cukor had been one of his johns.[25] This has been confirmed by Hollywood biographer E. J. Fleming, who has recounted that, during a particularly difficult scene, Gable erupted publicly, screaming: "I can't go on with this picture. I won't be directed by a fairy. I have to work with a real man."[26]

Cukor's dismissal from Wind freed him to direct The Women (1939), which has an all-female cast, followed by The Philadelphia Story (1940), starring Katharine Hepburn. He also directed another of his favorite actresses, Greta Garbo, in Two-Faced Woman (1941), her last film before she retired from the screen.

In 1942, at the age of forty-three, Cukor enlisted in the Signal Corps. Following basic training at Fort Monmouth, he was assigned to the old Paramount studios in Astoria, Queens (where he had directed three films in the early 1930s), although he was permitted to lodge at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan. Working with Irwin Shaw, John Cheever and William Saroyan, among others, Cukor produced training and instructional films for army personnel. Because he lacked an officer's commission, he found it difficult to give orders and directions to his superiors. Despite his efforts to rise above the rank of private—he even called upon Frank Capra to intercede on his behalf—he never achieved officer's status or any commendations during his six months of service. In later years Cukor suspected his homosexuality impeded him from receiving any advances or honors,[27] although rumors to that effect could not be confirmed.[28]

The remainder of the decade was a series of hits and misses for Cukor. Both Two Faced Woman and Her Cardboard Lover (1942) were commercial failures. More successful were A Woman's Face (1941) with Joan Crawford and Gaslight (1944) with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. 

During this era, Cukor forged an alliance with screenwriters Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, who had met in Cukor's home in 1939 and married three years later. Over the course of seven years, the trio collaborated on seven films, including A Double Life (1947) starring Ronald Colman, Adam's Rib (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), The Marrying Kind (1952), and It Should Happen to You (1954), all featuring another Cukor favorite, Judy Holliday, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Born Yesterday.

Later Hollywood career

In December 1952, Cukor was approached by Sid Luft, who proposed the director helm a musical remake of A Star is Born (1937) with his then-wife Judy Garland in the lead role. Cukor had declined to direct the earlier film because it was too similar to his own What Price Hollywood? (1932), but the opportunity to direct his first Technicolor film, first musical, and work with screenwriter Moss Hart and especially Garland appealed to him, and he accepted.[29] Getting the updated A Star Is Born (1954) to the screen proved to be a challenge. Cukor wanted Cary Grant for the male lead and went so far as to read the entire script with him, but Grant, while agreeing it was the role of a lifetime, steadfastly refused to do it, and Cukor never forgave him. The director then suggested either Humphrey Bogart or Frank Sinatra tackle the part, but Jack L. Warner rejected both. Stewart Granger was the front runner for a period of time, but he backed out when he was unable to adjust to Cukor's habit of acting out scenes as a form of direction.[30] James Mason was eventually contracted, and filming began on October 12, 1953. As the months passed, Cukor was forced to deal not only with constant script changes but a very unstable Garland, who was plagued by chemical and alcohol dependencies, extreme weight fluctuations, and real and imagined illnesses. In March 1954, a rough cut still missing several musical numbers was assembled, and Cukor had mixed feelings about it. When the last scene finally was filmed in the early morning hours of July 28, 1954, Cukor already had departed the production and was unwinding in Europe.[31] The first preview the following month ran 210 minutes and, despite ecstatic feedback from the audience, Cukor and editor Folmar Blangsted trimmed it to 182 minutes for its New York premiere in October. The reviews were the best of Cukor's career, but Warner executives, concerned the running time would limit the number of daily showings, made drastic cuts without Cukor, who had departed for Pakistan to scout locations for the epic Bhowani Junction in 1954-55. At its final running time of 154 minutes, the film had lost musical numbers and crucial dramatic scenes, and Cukor called it "very painful."[32] He was not included in the film's six Oscar nominations, all of which were lost.

Over the next ten years, Cukor directed a handful of films with varying success. Les Girls (1957) won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Wild Is the Wind (1957) earned Oscar nominations for Anna Magnani and Anthony Quinn, but neither Heller in Pink Tights nor Let's Make Love (both 1960) were box office hits. Another project during this period was the ill-fated Something's Got to Give, an updated remake of the screwball comedy My Favorite Wife (1940). Cukor liked leading lady Marilyn Monroe but found it difficult to deal with her erratic work habits, frequent absences from the set, and the constant presence of her acting coach, Paula Strasberg. After thirty-two days of shooting, the director had only 7½ minutes of usable film.[33] Then Monroe travelled to New York to appear at a birthday celebration for John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, where she serenaded the President. Studio documents released after Monroe's death confirmed that her appearance at the political fundraising event was approved by Fox executives. The production came to a halt when Cukor had filmed every scene not involving Monroe and the actress remained unavailable. 20th Century Fox executive Peter Levathes fired her and hired Lee Remick to replace her, prompting co-star Dean Martin to quit, since his contract guaranteed he would be playing opposite Monroe.[34] With the production already $2 million over budget[33] and everyone back at the starting gate, the studio pulled the plug on the project. Less than two months later, Monroe was found dead in her home.

Two years later, Cukor achieved one of his greatest successes with My Fair Lady (1964). Throughout filming there were mounting tensions between the director and designer Cecil Beaton, but Cukor was thrilled with leading lady Audrey Hepburn, although the crew was less enchanted with her diva-like demands.[35] Although several reviews were critical of the film – Pauline Kael said it "staggers along" and Stanley Kauffmann thought Cukor's direction was like "a rich gravy poured over everything, not remotely as delicately rich as in the Asquith-Howard 1937 [sic] Pygmalion" —[36] the film was a box office hit which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, and the Directors Guild of America Award after having been nominated for each several times.

Following My Fair Lady, Cukor became less active. He directed Maggie Smith in Travels with My Aunt (1972) and helmed the critical and commercial flop The Blue Bird (1976), the first joint Soviet-American production. He reunited twice with Katharine Hepburn for the television movies Love Among the Ruins (1975) and The Corn Is Green (1979). He directed his final film, Rich and Famous (1981) with Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, at the age of eighty-two.

In 1976, Cukor was awarded the George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.[37]

Personal life

It was an open secret in Hollywood that Cukor was homosexual, although he was discreet about his sexual orientation and "never carried it as a pin on his lapel," as producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz put it.[38] He was a celebrated bon vivant whose luxurious home was the site of weekly Sunday afternoon parties attended by closeted celebrities and the attractive young men they met in bars and gyms and brought with them.[39] At least once, in the midst of his reign at MGM, he was arrested on vice charges, but studio executives managed to get the charges dropped and all records of it expunged, and the incident was never publicized by the press.[40] In the late 1950s, Cukor became involved with a considerably younger man named George Towers. He financed his education at the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences and the University of Southern California, from which Towers graduated with a law degree in 1967.[41] That fall Towers married, and his relationship with Cukor evolved into one of father and son, and for the remainder of Cukor's life the two remained very close.[42]

By the mid-1930s, Cukor was not only established as a prominent director but, socially, as an unofficial head of Hollywood's gay subculture. His home, redecorated in 1935 by gay actor-turned interior designer William Haines with gardens designed by Florence Yoch and Lucile Council, was the scene of many gatherings for the industry's homosexuals. The close-knit group reputedly included Haines and his partner Jimmie Shields, Alan Ladd, writer Somerset Maugham, director James Vincent, screenwriter Rowland Leigh, costume designers Orry-Kelly and Robert Le Maire, and actors John Darrow, Anderson Lawler, Grady Sutton, Robert Seiter and Tom Douglas. Frank Horn, secretary to Cary Grant, was also a frequent guest.[43]

Cukor's friends were of paramount importance to him and he kept his home filled with their photographs. Regular attendees at his famed soirées included Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, actor Richard Cromwell, Stanley Holloway, Judy Garland, Gene Tierney, Noël Coward, Cole Porter, director James Whale, costume designer Edith Head, and Norma Shearer, especially after the death of her first husband, Irving Thalberg. He often entertained literary figures like Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, Hugh Walpole, Aldous Huxley, Lesley Blanch, Ferenc Molnár, and close friend Somerset Maugham, as well.[44][45]

Frances Goldwyn, second wife of studio mogul Sam Goldwyn, long considered Cukor to be the love of her life, although their relationship remained platonic. According to biographer A. Scott Berg, Frances even arranged for Cukor's burial to be adjacent to her own plot at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.[46]

The PBS series American Masters produced a comprehensive documentary about his life and work titled On Cukor directed by Robert Trachtenberg in 2000.

Death and legacy

Cukor died of a heart attack on January 24, 1983, and was interred in an unmarked grave at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California.[47] Records in probate court indicated his net worth at the time of his death was $2,377,720.[48]

In 2013, The Film Society of Lincoln Center presented a comprehensive weeks-long retrospective of his work entitled "The Discreet Charm of George Cukor."[49]

Filmography

Year Title Studio Genre Cast Notes

1930 Grumpy Paramount Pictures Drama Cyril Maude Co-directed with Cyril Gardner 
1930 The Virtuous Sin Paramount Pictures Drama Kay Francis, Walter Huston, Kenneth MacKenna Co-directed with Louis J. Gasnier 
1930 The Royal Family of Broadway Paramount Pictures Comedy Fredric March, Ina Claire Co-directed with Cyril Gardner 
1931 Tarnished Lady Paramount Pictures Drama Tallulah Bankhead, Clive Brook, Alexander Kirkland 
1931 Girls About Town Paramount Pictures Comedy Kay Francis, Lilyan Tashman, Joel McCrea 
1932 One Hour with You Paramount Pictures Musical Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald Directed part of the film when Ernst Lubitsch took ill and was credited as dialogue director 
1932 Une heure près de toi Paramount Pictures Musical Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald French version of One Hour With You / Co-directed with Ernst Lubitsch 
1932 What Price Hollywood? RKO Drama Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton 
1932 A Bill of Divorcement RKO Drama John Barrymore, Billie Burke, Katharine Hepburn 
1932 Rockabye RKO Drama Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, Paul Lukas David O. Selznick hired Cukor to film two weeks of retakes after the initial film by George Fitzmaurice did not meet expectations 
1932 The Animal Kingdom RKO Drama Leslie Howard, Ann Harding, Myrna Loy Uncredited 
1933 Our Betters RKO Drama Constance Bennett 
1933 Dinner At Eight MGM Drama John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Wallace Beery 
1933 Little Women RKO Drama Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Douglass Montgomery 
1934 Manhattan Melodrama MGM, Cosmopolitan Pictures Crime Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy Directed additional scenes after production 
1935 David Copperfield MGM Drama Freddie Bartholomew, W. C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore 
1935 No More Ladies MGM Comedy Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone Completed filming when Edward H. Griffith took ill 
1935 Sylvia Scarlett RKO Comedy Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne 
1936 Romeo and Juliet MGM Romance Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone 
1936 Camille MGM Romance Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Henry Daniell 
1938 I Met My Love Again Walter Wanger Productions Romance Joan Bennett, Henry Fonda Assisted Joshua Logan in directing parts of the film 
1938 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer David O. Selznick Adventure Tommy Kelly, Jackie Moran Shot some retakes after production completed 
1938 Holiday Columbia Drama Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant 
1939 Zaza Paramount Drama Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall 
1939 The Women MGM Drama Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell 
1939 Gone With the Wind David O. Selznick Drama Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia De Havilland, Leslie Howard Fired in the early stages of production, a few of his scenes remain in the finished film 
1940 Susan and God MGM Comedy Joan Crawford, Fredric March 
1940 The Philadelphia Story MGM Comedy Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart Nominated for Six Oscars Including Best Picture 
1941 A Woman's Face MGM Drama Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Conrad Veidt 
1941 Two-Faced Woman MGM Comedy Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett 
1942 Her Cardboard Lover MGM Comedy Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor, George Sanders 
1942 Keeper of the Flame MGM Drama Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn 
1943 Resistance and Ohm's Law Army Signal Corps Documentary short film 
1944 Gaslight MGM Drama Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten Nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture 
1944 Winged Victory 20th Century Fox War Ensemble cast 
1944 I'll Be Seeing You David O. Selznick Drama Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple Replaced by William Dieterle during production 
1947 Desire Me MGM Drama Greer Garson, Robert Mitchum Contributed to the film along with 4 other directors 
1947 A Double Life Garson Kanin Film noir Ronald Colman, Signe Hasso, Shelley Winters 
1949 Edward, My Son MGM Drama Spencer Tracy, Deborah Kerr 
1949 Adam's Rib MGM Comedy Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday 
1950 A Life of Her Own MGM Drama Lana Turner, Ray Milland 
1950 Born Yesterday Columbia Comedy Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden Nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture 
1951 The Model and the Marriage Broker 20th Century Fox Comedy Thelma Ritter, Jeanne Crain, Scott Brady 
1952 The Marrying Kind Columbia Comedy Judy Holliday, Aldo Ray 
1952 Pat and Mike MGM Comedy Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray 
1953 The Actress MGM Comedy Spencer Tracy, Teresa Wright, Jean Simmons 
1954 It Should Happen to You Columbia Comedy Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon 
1954 A Star Is Born Warner Bros., Transcona Enterprises Drama Judy Garland, James Mason Partially lost film 
1956 Bhowani Junction MGM Drama Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger 
1957 Les Girls MGM Musical Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall 
1957 Wild Is the Wind Paramount Pictures Drama Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn 
1958 Hot Spell Paramount Pictures Drama Shirley Booth, Anthony Quinn, Shirley MacLaine Uncredited 
1960 Heller in Pink Tights Paramount Pictures Western Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Steve Forrest The final film was disavowed by Cukor 
1960 Song Without End William Goetz Drama Dirk Bogarde, Capucine, Genevieve Page Completed the film when Charles Vidor died during production 
1960 Let's Make Love The Company of Artists Musical Marilyn Monroe, Yves Montand, Tony Randall 1962 Something's Got to Give 20th Century Fox Comedy Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse The film was abandoned after Monroe's death / 37 minutes of footage survives 
1962 The Chapman Report DFZ Productions Drama Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom, Glynis Johns 
1964 My Fair Lady Warner Bros. Musical Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison Winner Of Eight Oscars Including Best Picture 
1969 Justine 20th Century Fox Drama Michael York, Anouk Aimée, Dirk Bogarde Replaced Joseph Strick shortly after production began 
1972 Travels with My Aunt MGM Comedy Maggie Smith, Alec McCowen, Cindy Williams 
1975 Love Among the Ruins American Broadcasting Company Drama Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier Television film 
1976 The Blue Bird 20th Century Fox, Lenfilm Studio, Tower International, Wenks Films Drama Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner 
1979 The Corn is Green Warner Bros. Television Drama Katharine Hepburn, Bill Fraser, Ian Saynor Television film 
1981 Rich And Famous MGM, Jaquet Drama Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen

References

1. Obituary Variety, January 26, 1983. 
2. McGilligan, Patrick, George Cukor: A Double Life. New York: St. Martin's Press 1991. ISBN 0-312-05419-X, pp. 5–6. 
3. McGilligan, p. 11. 
4. Kipen, David. "Flawed look at career of blacklisted director", San Francisco Chronicle, August 29, 2001. Accessed September 14, 2009. "The American 20th century went to high school at DeWitt Clinton High in the Bronx. Multicultural before there was a name for it – at least a polite one --Clinton nurtured such diverse and influential figures as Bill Graham, James Baldwin, George Cukor, Neil Simon and Abraham Lincoln Polonsky." 
5. McGilligan, p. 10. 
6. Levy, Emanuel, George Cukor: Master of Elegance. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1994. ISBN 0-688-11246-3, pp. 26–27. 
7. McGilligan, p. 19. 
8. McGilligan, p. 21. 
9. Levy, pp. 33–34. 
10. McGilligan, pp. 34–35. 
11. McGilligan, pp. 36–41. 
12. Levy, pp. 36–37. 
13. McGilligan, p. 53. 
14. McGilligan, p. 61. 
15. McGilligan, pp. 67–69. 
16. McGilligan, pp. 69–71. 
17. McGilligan, p. 134. 
18. McGilligan, pp. 137–38. 
19. McGilligan, pp. 139–40. 
20. "The Wizard of Oz at Turner Classic Movies". Tcm.com. 
21. McGilligan, p. 145. 
22. Myrick, Susan White (1986), Columns in Hollywood: Reports from the Gwtw Sets, Mercer University Press. 
23. McGilligan, p. 139. 
24. Hollywood Studio Magazine, "The Great Directors" September 1986. 
25. Vidal, Gore (2007). Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir. New York: Random House. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-307-27501-1.
26. Fleming, E. J. (2005). The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling, and the MGM Publicity Machine. Jefferson NC: McFarland. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-7864-2027-8. 
27. McGilligan, pp. 171–75. 
28. Levy, p. 150.
29. McGilligan, 217-18. 
30. McGilligan, pp. 219–20. 
31. McGilligan, pp. 224–26. 
32. McGilligan, pp. 236–37. 
33. Levy, p. 271. 
34. McGilligan, p. 272. 
35. Levy, p. 289. 
36. Levy, p. 293. 
37. The George Eastman Award 
38. McGilligan, p. 113. 
39. McGilligan, pp. 186–87. 
40. McGilligan, p. 133. 
41. McGilligan, pp. 277–78. 
42. McGilligan, pp. 307, 347–48. 
43. Mann, William J.; Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's first Openly Gay Star; New York: Viking, 1998; pp. 253, 255, 256. 
44. McGilligan, pp. 124–25. 
45. Hart-Davis, Rupert (1985). Hugh Walpole. Hamish Hamilton. pp. 349, 360, 365, 369. ISBN 0-241-11406-3. 
46. Berg, A. Scott (1989). Goldwyn: A Biography. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. pp. 135–139, etc. ISBN 9780394510590. 
47. "Findagrave.com". Findagrave.com. 
48. McGilligan, p. 343. 
49. Farber, Stephen (26 December 2013). "Elegant Provocateur in a Puritanical Era". The New York Times. 

Sources

Hillstrom, Laurie Collier, International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Detroit: St. James Press, 1997. ISBN 1-55862-302-7. 
Katz, Ephraim, The Film Encyclopedia. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 0-06-273755-4. 
Myrick, Susan, White Columns in Hollywood: Reports from the GWTW Sets. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1982 ISBN 0-86554-044-6. 
Wakeman, John, World Film Directors. New York: H. W. Wilson Company 1987. ISBN 0-8242-0757-2.