Continued from part one The comedian had a hard time leaving the theater stage behind: The theater had one great advantage. At every performance, a …
Louis de Funès: A Comedian is Born (1.)
He began his career not as an actor but as a pianist in various Parisian establishments: originally, de Funès was descended from Spanish immigrants who …
Omar Sharif: The Exotic Actor
Director David Lean reportedly had a hard time casting the role of Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962): Just before the shooting started, no …
Buster Keaton: Born on the Stage
Orson Welles once said that he was the greatest clown in the history of film: Buster Keaton is said to have disliked reading books himself, …
Charlton Heston: The Monumental Actor
No other Hollywood actor could portray biblical roles with such conviction as Charlton Heston: Heston’s role of Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), directed by …
Kirk Douglas: A Hollywood Titan
He embodied the genre of the Western like hardly any other actor: whether in the role of Doc Holliday or a sheriff, Douglas mastered a …
Leonard Nimoy: Mind-melted with Spock
Although he became known largely through a single role, he is considered a character actor. He was trained, among others, by the acting teacher Jeff …
Christopher Lee: The Cultivated Killer (2.)
Continued from part one In the early fifties, Christopher Lee realised that he did not live up to the image of the typical British gentleman …
Christopher Lee: Too Tall for the Cinema (1.)
Throughout his life, he was regarded by the public as the actor of villains par excellence: Yet Christopher Lee’s repertoire of roles was much larger. …
Gloria Swanson: The Pictures Got Small
“If she were thirty-five instead of twenty-five, she could run for president. There is no one like her,” said Hollywood director Allan Dwan about Gloria …