Dixie Carter, the lovely and elegant star of Designing Women, died yesterday at age 70. I am a huge fan of the show and its portrayal of successful, independent, outspoken women who shared a deep and loyal friendship as well as a thriving business. The show addressed many controversial topics during its run including one of the first sympathetic depictions of a gay man with AIDS as well as many variations of the ups and downs of male-female relationships, aging, loss, family, and racism. It was a rare program set in the urban South. Its theme song was “Georgia on My Mind.”
Carter played the oldest of the group, Julia Sugerbaker, sister of the self-involved beauty queen played by Delta Burke as Suzanne. Carter was known for her outspoken rants on liberal subjects, though Carter herself was quiet and conservative. Her real-life husband, the distinguished actor Hal Holbrook, played her boyfriend in many episodes. Here is one of my favorite moments on the show, where Julia, despite her misgivings about the superficial and undignified aspects of beauty competitions, comes to her sister’s defense.
Some of my other favorites included the women’s impulsive trip to Graceland and the time they came up with an exceptionally clever way to stop the local construction workers from taunting and insulting them as they walked by. And I quote this line quite often:
Carter was also a cabaret performer and appeared on stage. I was privileged to meet her once at a Broadcast Film Critics Association event and it was an honor to be able to tell her how much her performance on “Designing Women” meant to me. She was every bit as gracious and kind as I could have hoped.
Be sure to check out Ten Movies that Celebrate Marriage by Kris Rasmussen. There are a zillion movies that celebrate falling in love but relatively few take on the more challenging task of showing what happens next — what living happily ever after really means. I was glad to see Julie & Julia on the list. The portrayal of the real-life marriage of Paul and Julia Child as passionate, supportive, understanding, and deeply loving was one of the great cinematic treats of 2009. And the wordless depiction of a decades long marriage that began Pixar’s Up conveyed more in a few brief moments than most movies do in two hours. I liked her mentioning both versions of “Shall We Dance” and “Father of the Bride.” And of course there is special sweetness in the Spencer Tracy speech she quotes from “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” because it was clear that he was really speaking about his love for his co-star, Katherine Hepburn.
My own list of great movie depictions of marriage would include Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney in Two for the Road. But because we follow them over time, I think television does a better job in showing us great marriages — think of Ricky and Lucy, Rob and Laura, Cliff and Claire, as well as the couples in “Mad About You,” “Growing Pains,” “Home Improvement,” and many, many more.
‘Awesomely Lame’ After-School Specials of the 70’s
Posted on April 1, 2010 at 10:51 am
I admit to lingering affection for the cheesy after-school specials of the 1970’s. They started on ABC in 1972 and were known for their flimsy production values, cardboard characters, awkward efforts at social relevance, and stilted acting. ABC owned the “after-school special” title, but it is now applied to any issue-oriented, low-budget show directed at teenagers.
The Huffington Post has a list of their so-bad-they’re-sorta-good after-school-special favorites. One thing I love about these films is the chance to see the early work of future Oscar winners like Helen Hunt and Ben Affleck (both featured in the HuffPo’s clips) and Jodie Foster. You can also see future “Sex and the City” Miranda Cynthia Nixon and “Moon’s” Sam Rockwell along with 80’s TV stars Kristy McNichol, Mayim Bialik, and Kirk Cameron. And I love the innocence and sincerity of the films in crusading against such threats and disturbances as sexism, racism, divorce, loss, disability, teen pregnancy, and many, many forms of substance abuse. Wikipedia has a full list of all of the ABC productions.
Classic MGM Films and TV via CreateSpace DVD on Demand
Posted on March 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today announced that it will be offering 27 additional MGM titles, including never-before-released award-winning classic films, made-for-TV movies and television shows via CreateSpace’s DVD on Demand service. The list includes some neglected gems like Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” (one of the sharpest political films ever made), “Cold Turkey” (a wild comedy about an entire town that quits smoking together), and “The Tenth Man,” a Graham Greene WWII drama with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas. Film
The Best Man (1964) Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams
The Caretakers (1963) Robert Stack, Polly Bergen, Joan Crawford
Cold Turkey (1971) Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart
Eight On The Lam (1967) Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters
Fitzwilly (1967) Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon
The Gallant Hours (1960) James Cagney, Dennis Weaver
Garbo Talks (1984) Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher
The Glory Guys (1965) James Caan, Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell
The Honey Pot (1967) Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward, Cliff Robertson
House Of The Long Shadows (1984) Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, John Carradine
Hurricane Streets (1998) Edie Falco, Brendan Sexton III, Heather Matarazzo
Inherit The Wind (1999) Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott
The Landlord (1970) Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Baily
Man Of Iron (1981) Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda
The Offence (1973) Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant
The Tenth Man (1988) Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott Thomas
Toys In The Attic (1963) Dean Martin, Geraldine Page, Gene Tierney
The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1979) Lindsay Wagner, Alan Feinstein, Linda Gray
Valentino (1977) Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips
Vanishing Fiancée (1978) François Truffaut, Nathalie Baye, Jean Dasté
The Whisperers (1967) Dame Edith Evans, Eric Portman
The White Buffalo (1977) Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, Will Sampson
Wicked Stepmother (1989) Bette Davis, David Rasche, Colleen Camp Television Series
“Flipper” Season 2 (1964) Brian Kelly, Luke Halpin, Tommy Norden
“Flipper – The New Adventures” Season 1 (1995) Jessica Alba, Brian Wimmer, Colleen Flynn
“Highway Patrol” Season 1 (1955) Broderick Crawford
“Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot” Complete Series (1969) Kaneko Mitsunobu, Akio Itô, Shôzaburô Date
Karley Scott Collins stars in Amish Grace, the real-life story about the Amish community in Nickel Mines, which responded to unthinkable tragedy with compassion and forgiveness. Five little girls were shot and killed and five others severely injured by a man who then took his own life. Hours after the shooting, an Amish neighbor comforted the man’s family. The Amish set up a charitable fund for the family and attended his funeral. Their example of grace and forgiveness has been an inspiring example for people around the world and became a book. And now this movie tells the story.
Karley, just 10 years old, is an accomplished performer, and she spoke to me about her role as the sister of one of the murdered girls.
Tell me about the character you play in this film.
I play Katie Graber. I’m trying to deal with the loss of my sister, Mary Beth (Madison Davenport), and just like everyone else, I’m having trouble forgiving the man who killed her. And I have guilt because I’m still alive, and I think maybe I shouldn’t have ran out of the school, I shouldn’t still be here. So I have lots of emotions mixing together and I am having trouble with it. If she’s having a hard time forgiving herself than she is not going to be able to forgive others. She has to learn, the reason she forgives, is that Mary Beth when she was dying had forgiveness in her heart. If you don’t forgive him, the only person it hurts is yourself. It doesn’t hurt him, it only hurts you.
Did making the movie teach you something about forgiveness?
I think it’s a really touching movie and it’s really important that you do forgive.
Did you know anything about Amish people before you made the movie?
I didn’t know as much as I do now. I admire them. They just want to be closer to God and I think that’s wonderful. But it would be hard for me because I would not be able to call my friends and my family on the telephone. I like the clothes, though. They have no zippers so they use pins. They are very, very simple, but they are very comfortable. I think that’s pretty cool.
What do you like about acting?
I love that whatever you get in a character becomes a part of you. I love making friends on set and watching it when it’s finished. I find out new things about myself whenever I portray somebody else.
Your mother in the movie is one of my favorite actresses, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. What was it like working with her?
I loved her! In between the scenes she would help me make grass flutes. And everything she did was so real. I really believed she was a mother whose daughter was murdered. And she is so sweet.
Was there something you saw in a movie or on television that made you want to act?
When I was like five or six, I am not sure which one made me want to act but I loved the Bernie Mac show so it might have been that one. I loved acting like a princess! I had this Aurora outfit and every time I went to Disney, I was Aurora!
What’s the best advice you ever got about acting?
Don’t think about it, just have fun with it!
What do you do for fun?
I love to draw! My favorite artist is Jasmine Becket-Griffith. She draws fairies. I love reading. I fell in love with the Percy Jackson and The Sisters Grimm books. And I love to swim. With my friends we play the Wii, we love Rock Band, and do each other’s nails and dance.
You’re in another new movie, based on a true story, “Letters to God.” What can you tell me about that?
It’s about a boy who has cancer. When he dies, his dad finds all the letters he wrote to God. It’s very touching. I play one of his friends, who sits with him every day at lunch. They call me liverwurst girl, because I love liverwurst. And I am in “Open Season 3,” and I play a little deer. It was so much fun! And it’s hilarious. One of my favorite scenes is where there’s a little bear and a rabbit but I can’t tell you any more about it!
. But because we follow them over time, I think television does a better job in showing us great marriages — think of Ricky and Lucy, Rob and Laura, Cliff and Claire, as well as the couples in “Mad About You,” “Growing Pains,” “Home Improvement,” and many, many more.
and 
books. And I love to swim. With my friends we play the Wii, we love Rock Band, and do each other’s nails and dance.