Cyd Charisse Dies; Danced With Astaire, Kelly
There were dancers. And then there was Cyd Charisse. She was, as Fred Astaire put it, “beautiful dynamite.”
The leggy on-screen partner of Hollywood legends Astaire and Gene Kelly died early today at her Los Angeles home of a heart attack. Her rep said Charisse was 86.
To movie musical fans, Charisse will be remembered for joining Kelly in the famous “Broadway Melody” dream sequence from Singin’ in the Rain, and for taking on hard-boiled detectives with Astaire in “The Girl Hunt” number from The Band Wagon.
Rat Pack aficionados will remember Charisse, 45 and frisky, for heating up the screen as a showgirl in Dean Martin’s first Matt Helm movie, The Silencers.
And movie buffs will remember Charisse as a costar in Marilyn Monroe’s last, uncompleted movie, Something’s Got to Give, which fell apart following Monroe’s death in 1962.
Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Texas, Charisse earned a Golden Globe nomination for Silk Stockings, the 1957 musical that reunited her with Astaire.
Survivors include singer-actor Tony Martin, her husband of 60 years.
Shakira Has “A Heart For Children”
Shakira Has “A Heart For Children”
Well known for her generosity, Shakira continued on with her charitable ways by attending last night’s “A Heart For Children” telethon gala in Berlin.
Dressed in a gorgeous red dress, the Colombian sensation not only showed up for the festivities, but she even took to the stage for the worthy cause.
And even though she spends so much of her time with philanthropic endeavors, the 30-year-old Barranquilla native continues to produce award worthy music.
This was made evident by the recent Golden Globe nomination received by Shakira. She’s up for Best Original Song for “Despedia” which was featured in the movie “Love In The Time Of Cholera”.
Shakira co-wrote the track with Antonio Pinto - with the two hoping for a big win when the winners are announced on January 13th.
Frances O’Connor: In the Limelight
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If you’ve caught any of the first few episodes of Cashmere Mafia, you probably know that the main reason to tune in each week is this actress in the above picture. I thought my reason for watching would be Lucy Liu (who I love and who is ever so gorgeous) but she’s been less-than-impressive and her storyline is bland and annoying. Instead I have fallen in love all over again with Frances O’Connor who plays the quirky, intelligent Zoe Burden on the show.
After the jump, I have some information about her life, some filmography and some excerpts from interviews.
While Frances O’Connor was born in England, she spent most of her life in Australia (living there from the age of 2). She was raised in a Roman Catholic family and attended a convent school in Perth, Australia. In this interview, O’Connor talks about the strong foundation Catholicism gave her: “I am really glad I was raised Catholic. I like the fundamental aspects of that religion. I think they give you great grounding in terms of having a moral code. But I do not subscribe to any religion specifically now.”
O’Connor attended Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts and has a B.A. in Literature from the Curtin University of Technology (also in Western Australia). She achieved screen success in Australia with her breakthrough role in the crime thriller Kiss or Kill (1997). This film earned her one of her two Australian Film Institute nominations for “Best Actress.” The other film for which O’Connor was nominated for an AFI award was Thank God He Met Lizzie, a romantic comedy.
In addition to these AFI nods, O’Connor has received a Golden Globe nomination in 2000 for Best Actress in a Series / Miniseries / TV Movie for Madame Bovary. I’ve not seen Madame Bovary yet, but I think I might resurrect my Netflix list and add it. She also received critical acclaim for her role in Iron Jawed Angels, an HBO movie about the womens’ suffrage movement that also starred Hillary Swank. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that year and got a standing ovation from the audience.
Also after the success of Kiss or Kill, Frances O’Connor landed the roll of Fanny in Mansfield Park in 1999. This was the first time I fell in love with her. Admittedly, I am mildly obsessed with all things Jane Austen but I was captivated by O’Connor’s portrayal of the reserved and full of conviction Fanny. I highly recommend it to not only Austen geeks but also to anyone who enjoys a good period romance. Here Frances O’Connor explains why she likes period dramas: “Well I have only done three in about nine films. But what they all share are fantastically complex and interesting characters. That is the important thing to me rather than the period the piece is set in.”
And Mansfield Park is not the only period drama O’Connor has appeared in. In 2002, she played Gwendolyn Fairfax in Oliver’s Parker’s screen adaptation of the comedy of manners The Importance of Being Ernest. Despite it’s all-star cast which included Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Judy Dench, the film didn’t go over well, only grossing about 8.3 million dollars. Here O’Connor talks about the reaction in America to her appearance in what seemed like so many period films: “In Australia I was seen as somebody who did only very modern, contemporary stuff. Then as soon as I went overseas I did two period pieces so it was like, “When are you going to get out of the corsets?” And I was thinking I just got into them!”
While O’Connor has appeared in some flops (Windtalkers in 2002 with Nicholas Cage and Timeline in 2003 with Paul Walker), she also co-starred in one of my favorite guilty-pleasure films, Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley. I know, I know. I shouldn’t love Bedazzled but I do. I love how Brendan Fraser has to play all these different characters (the drug dealer is great, that nose!). Frances O’Connor follows suit appearing with Fraser in all the fantasies that the devil constructs for him after he makes a wish (or perhaps, I should say nightmares).
You may also recognize O’Connor from 2001’s AI: Artificial Intelligence. Remember that movie with Jude Law and the little kid who sees dead people? It was Stanley Kubrick’s last project that Steven Spielberg finished after Kubrick’s death. O’Connor played Monica Swinton the mother whose child is suffering from an incurable disease and “frozen,” so she adopts David (Haley Joel Osment). The film got mixed reviews, even from the actress herself: “I think it is flawed. But at the same time I think it was a very brave experiment.”
Nowadays, you can see Frances O’Connor every week on ABC’s new show Cashmere Mafia. The show is produced by Darren Star Productions, the same company responsible for Sex and the City. Another SATC alum who joined the crew of Cashmere Mafia is Patricia Field, famed costume designer. On Cashmere Mafia, O’Connor plays Zoe Burden, a successful woman who works in Mergers and Acquisitions by day and tries to be the best mommy she can at night and on the weekends. Not only is O’Connor’s comedic timing the best on the show, but her American accent is surprisingly natural. How did she learn to “speak American”? She watched Sesame Street and learned from Grover.
You can catch Frances O’Connor in Cashmere Mafia, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
Kirsten Dunst Biography
A pretty, precocious blonde, Kirsten Dunst began working in commercials at age three (eventually racking up over 70 such credits) and made her feature debut as Mia Farrow’s daughter in “Oedipus Wrecks”, Woody Allen’s segment of “New York Stories” (1989). Modest roles in other features followed, though several of the films (e.g. “The Bonfire of the Vanities” 1990) saw little exposure at the box office. Dunst also appeared in a recurring role on the NBC drama “Sisters” and guest starred in an episode of the syndicated “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
Dunst was catapulted into the limelight with her stunning work in Neil Jordan’s “Interview With the Vampire” (1994). Only eleven at the time of filming, she essayed what was debatably the female lead opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Her Claudia, a little girl made into a vampire and unable to age through the years, looked like a child one moment and appeared–and acted–like a grown woman the next. Although the film received mixed notices, Dunst’s remarkably mature performance earned nearly universal raves, earning her a few critics awards and a Golden Globe nomination. Although there was talk of an Oscar nomination, it failed to materialize. Nevertheless, the young actress continued to turn in impressive work. She portrayed the younger version of the spoiled, artistic Amy in “Little Women” (1994), appearing alongside Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon (although Samantha Mathis essayed the adult character).
Dunst solidified her rising status co-starring with Robin Williams in the hit “Jumanji” (1995). Poised to make the transition to adult roles, she alternated TV appearances with her high profile films. During the 1996-97 season, Dunst had the recurring role of a tough-talking runaway who crosses paths with Dr. Doug Ross (George Clooney) in the hit NBC drama “ER”. After providing the speaking voice of the young version of the title character in Fox’s animated “Anastasia”, she earned notice as a teenager hired to play an Albanian refugee in a mock war in the political satire “Wag the Dog” (both 1997). Dunst was “Fifteen and Pregnant” in the based-on-fact Lifetime drama before returning to the big screen in the highly touted “Small Soldiers” and alongside other rising female stars (e.g., Heather Matarazzo, Monica Keena) in the ensemble of “Strike/The Hairy Bird” (both 1998).
Dunst began to emerge from the back of Hollywood starlets to become a recognizable actress and box office draw, beginning with her adroit comedic turns in the beauty pageant comedy “Drop Dead Gorgeous” (1999) and the off-the-wall teen girls-meet- Richard Nixon riot “Dick” (1999) in which she and Michelle Williams were prefectly cast as clueless teenager of the Watergate era. As she matured, Dunst also became something of a sex symbol for the younger set with roles in teen romantic comedies. She played the plucky captain of an ambitious cheerleading squad in the surprisingly infectious “Bring It On” (2000), in which she displayed her ability to carry a film on her perky, girl-next-door charm, and she also scored in the less brilliant teen romance “Get Over It” (2001). Dunst proved she also had formidable dramatic chops when she appeared as Lux, the eldest and most rebellious of the doomed Lisbon sisters, in Sofia Coppola’s acclaimed directorial debut “The Virgin Suicides” (1999)’ and was particularly riveting in 2001’s “crazy/beautiful” as the emotionally troubled daughter of a wealthy congressman who threatens to derail the rise of her less-privileged Latin boyfriend (Jay Hernandez).
It would be Dunst’s sunny, sexy and endearing portrayal of Mary Jane Watson, the love interest of nerdy Peter Parker, in the big screen adaptation of the comic book superhero “Spider-Man” (2002) that would thrust her into full-fledged superstardom. Dunst’s utter likeability and strong chemistry with leading man Tobey Maguire turned “Spider-Man” into an action blockbuster with a romantic soul, and the see-sawing nature of the characters’ relationship made it the first super-hero date movie. The same year, Dunst had a wonderful turn in director Peter Bogdonavitch’s early Hollywood scandal film “The Cat’s Meow” in which, despite being far too young to play early screen star Marion Davies, she turned in a convincing performance centered around the character’s surprisingly believeable romance with media tycon William Randolph Hearst (Edward Herrmann). She next appeared with an all-star cast in writer-director Ed Solomon’s “Levity” (2003), playing a self-destructive young woman who becomes dependent on an ex-con (Billy Bob Thornton).
Dunst joined fellow up-and-comers Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal as students of progressive and liberal-minded teacher Julia Roberts in “Mona Lisa Smile” (2003). Dunst showed her harsher edges as the vicious, overprivileged senior Betty Warren who, committed to a life of houswifery to a louse, shows the most opposition to Roberts’ ideals, using the student newspaper to attack her stance that Wellesley women of the 1950s should aspire to more from life than a role as a perfect housewife to a CEO. Next for Dunst was a pivotal and well-acted supporting turn in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) as Mary, the young receptionist in the memory-erasing facility where heartbroken Jim Carrey goes to have his ex-girlfriend eliminated from his thoughts. Then it was on to reprise her role as Mary Jane Watson, now a successful, engaged actress but still pining for Peter Parker in the highly anticipated sequel “Spider-Man 2″ (2004), followed by the U.S. release of France’s first 3-D CGI animated film “Kaena: The Prophecy” (2004), in which she provided the voice of the rebellious teen heroine in the sci-fi fantasy.
Hot off the success of the “Spider-Man” films, Dunst landed her first full-fledged adult leading role in the lukewarm romantic comedy “Wimbledon” (2004), winningly playing up-and-coming tennis sensation Lizzie Bradbury, an easily distracted “bad girl of tennis” whose romance with a faded ex-star of the game (Paul Bettany) reignites his passion and send him to tennis’ most prestigious tournament.
Taking on one of most mature leading roles to date, Dunst was winsome and appealing in her turn as the relentlessly upbeat flight attendant Claire Colburn, who helps a failed golden boy (Orlando Bloom) mourning his father reawaken to the joys of life and romance in writer-director Cameron Crowe’s engaging, if uneven, film “Elizabethtown” (2005).
- Also Credited As:
Kirsten Caroline Dunst - Born:
on 04/30/82 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey - Job Titles:
Actor, Model
Family
- Brother: Christian Dunst. born c. 1987
- Father: Klaus Dunst. stationed in New Jersey while the rest of his family lives on the west coast; separated from Dunst’s mother
- Mother: Inez Dunst. separated from Dunst’s father
Significant Others
- Companion: Ben Foster. appeared together in “Get Over It” (2001); no longer together
- Companion: Jake Gyllenhaal. romantically linked in October 2002
- Companion: Jake Hoffman. dating as of 1998; son of actor Dustin Hoffman with whom Dunst co-starred in “Wag the Dog” (1997)
- Companion: Tobey Maguire. reportedly became romantically involved during filming of “Spider-Man” in 2001
Milestones
- — Will star in the title role for Sofia Coppola’s “Marie-Antoinette” opposite Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI (lensed 2005); will debut at Cannes
- 1985 Began acting at the age of three, at first in TV commercials (date approximate)
- 1989 Made feature film debut in “Oedipus Wrecks”, the Woody Allen-directed segment of the anthology feature, “New York Stories”
- 1992 Landed role of Claudia in “Interview with a Vampire” at age 10 (date approximate)
- 1992 Moved with her family to Los Angeles
- 1993 Episodic TV debut guesting on two episodes of the NBC drama series, “Sisters”, in the role of Kitten Margolis
- 1993 Made TV-movie debut in a small role in the NBC drama, “Darkness Before Dawn”
- 1994 First large feature film role, as Claudia in “Interview With the Vampire”
- 1995 Co-starred with Robin Williams in the box-office hit “Jumanji”
- 1996 Made TV series debut with recurring role on the hit NBC medical drama “ER”
- 1996 Appeared in the two-part CBS drama “Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy”, playing Sara Weaver
- 1997 Had amusing supporting role as a child actress drafted to play an Albanian refugee in “Wag the Dog”
- 1997 Voiced the title character as a girl for the Fox animated feature “Anastasia”
- 1998 Co-starred in “Small Soldiers” and “Strike/The Hairy Bird”
- 1998 Starred as an expectant teenager in the Lifetime movie “Fifteen and Pregnant”
- 1999 Played a beauty queen contestant in the mock documentary “Drop Dead Gorgeous”
- 1999 Teamed with Michelle Williams as two high school students who stumble onto Watergate in the comedy “Dick”
- 2000 Portrayed a cheerleader in “Bring It On”
- 2001 Cast as a troubled rich girl who falls for a Hispanic classmate in “crazy/beautiful”
- 2001 Portrayed Marion Davies in “The Cat’s Meow”; premiered at Locarno Film Festival
- 2002 Co-starred as Mary Jane Watson , the girlfriend of Peter Parker, in “Spider-Man”
- 2003 Cast in the drama feature “Levity”
- 2003 Starred as Betty Warren in “Mona Lisa Smile”
- 2004 Co-starred with Jim Carrey and Mark Ruffalo in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
- 2004 Reprised role as Mary Jane for “Spider-Man 2″
- 2004 Starred as tennis pro Lizzie Bradbury opposite Paul Bettany in the romantic comedy “Wimbledon”
- 2005 Cast as Claire, a quick-witted flight attendant in Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown” opposite Orlando Bloom
- Grew up in New York City
- Reprised role as Mary Jane for “Spider-Man 3″ (lensed 2006)
- Signed to the Ford Modeling Agency