Sally Field picks four for Turner Classic Movies
Sally Field is a two-time Oscar winner, a three-time Emmy winner — including last year at Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for Brothers and Sisters — and she’s bound to be in the running again this year when the nominations are announced on July 17.
Now she’s taking on a new role; she’ll be guest programmer at Turner Classic Movies in July, and having gotten a look at her choices, I have to say to Sally, “I like you, I really like you” — at least your taste in movies.
Sally will be joined by TCM host Robert Osborne introducing and discussing her four films. The Field four are Love With a Proper Stranger, The Awful Truth, All About Eve and The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, and every one of them features great performances by women.
To those of you who aren’t movie buffs, here’s a bit more information about these films — why I like them, and I mean, I really like them.
– Love With a Proper Stranger stars Natalie Wood (in an Oscar-nominated performance) as a girl from a nice Italian family who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a musician, Steve McQueen. Together they decide she needs to get an abortion. Since the film is set in 1963, that was illegal, expensive and dangerous. Directed by Robert Mulligan, this movie is essentially a two-character piece and Wood and McQueen are fantastic.
– The Awful Truth is a screwball comedy about marriage starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. It’s smart, funny and very grown up about men and women and the trouble with fidelity. Made in 1937, directed by Leo McCarey, it’s still one of the funniest movies ever. If you’ve never had a chance to see Irene Dunne at work, this is the movie to watch. She was the Glenn Close of her era, Oscar nominated five times (including The Awful Truth) and never won.
– Most everyone knows that the 1950 Best Picture Oscar-winner All About Eve is the quintessential movie about the theater, with brilliant performances especially by the women in the cast, Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter — and George Sanders, too.
– The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek is a flat-out comic masterpiece by Preston Sturges, starring Betty Hutton. Made in 1944, with American at war, it’s the story of Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl who gets married and knocked up after an all-night going away party for a soldier. She can’t remember who he is, has no clue, but her disgrace is ameliorated in a most surprising way.
Tune in on July 10 for Sally and Bob and a top-notch movie marathon.
Building Holmes on Broadway?
Tom Cruise may call her "Kate," but Katie Holmes could still be a Broadway baby.
The actress' rep said "nothing is set" but confirmed to News that Holmes is "in discussions" to star in a revival of Arthur Miller's Tony Award-winning drama All My Sons, which would mark the former Dawson's Creek ingenue's professional theatrical debut.
According to Britain's Daily Mail, which reported the possible casting coup, Holmes would play Ann Deever, a young and vivacious woman whose pilot beau, Larry Keller, went missing in World War II. Having fallen in love with his brother, Chris, and knowing that it was the actions of Larry's father, Joe, that led to his death, Ann tries to convince the young men's mother that Larry is not going to be coming home.
The high-profile cast already reportedly includes John Lithgow and Oscar winner Dianne Wiest as Joe and Kate Keller.
If Holmes, 29, indeed ends up making a splash on the Great White Way, then it won't be just her marriage to Cruise and her participation in a Batman film that puts her in the same company as Nicole Kidman.
The second ex-Mrs. Cruise won a Theater World Award 10 years ago for her Broadway debut in The Blue Room, a story of love and lust that famously required its Aussie star and her leading man to disrobe.
Cruise doesn't have to worry this time around, though. Miller may have written some fiery female characters in his time, but Ann Deever keeps the goods buttoned up.
Oprah Cruisin’ for a Jump…in Ratings
Well, this should put some spring in Oprah's step. Or in her couch, at least.
Just in time for May sweeps, Tom Cruise will be returning as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show next month to mark the 25th anniversary of his breakthrough turn in Risky Businesshis first sit-down with the queen of daytime since his declaration of love heard round the world.
And this time, it won't only be Winfrey's cushions being offered up as a sacrifice to the talk-show gods for this special two-day Oprah event.
Winfrey will first interview Cruise from the comfort of his Telluride, Colo., home on Friday, May 2. Cruise will then appear at her Chicago studio the following Monday to further celebrate his 25 years as a big name in the Biz. The episode will also feature taped messages of congrats from some of the actor's superstar friends, as well.
Cruise and Winfrey memorably last sat down together on June 23, 2005, when the War of the Worlds star confirmed he was cuckoo for Katie Holmes, thereby tempering his screen-idol status with rumors of…well, some downright freaky behavior.
He even went so far as to marry and mate with the former Dawson's Creek ingenue a year later!
Oprah Cruisin’ for a Jump…in Ratings
Well, this should put some spring in Oprah's step. Or in her couch, at least.
Just in time for May sweeps, Tom Cruise will be returning as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show next month to mark the 25th anniversary of his breakthrough turn in Risky Businesshis first sit-down with the queen of daytime since his declaration of love heard round the world.
And this time, it won't only be Winfrey's cushions being offered up as a sacrifice to the talk-show gods for this special two-day Oprah event.
Winfrey will first interview Cruise from the comfort of his Telluride, Colo., home on Friday, May 2. Cruise will then appear at her Chicago studio the following Monday to further celebrate his 25 years as a big name in the Biz. The episode will also feature taped messages of congrats from some of the actor's superstar friends, as well.
Cruise and Winfrey memorably last sat down together on June 23, 2005, when the War of the Worlds star confirmed he was cuckoo for Katie Holmes, thereby tempering his screen-idol status with rumors of…well, some downright freaky behavior.
He even went so far as to marry and mate with the former Dawson's Creek ingenue a year later!