Hollywood Fun
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on over the air antennas in NYC, ran a fantastic double feature. It kicked off with Raoul Walsh’s rousing 1949 crime classic White Heat, starring Jimmy Cagney as Cody Jarrett, psychopath, screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts from a story suggested by Virginia Kellogg. It was followed by 1951’s The Hoodlum, a B movie starring the perfectly cast Lawrence Tierney as a sociopath. His career was curtailed by his wild and woolly lifestyle, but he made a fantastic comeback as the old mastermind in Quentin Tarantino’s brilliant Reservoir Dogs (1992) and as Elaine Benes’ dad on Seinfeld, an intimidating combat veteran best selling author who scares the bejesus out of Jerry and George. I’ll concentrate on the films’ supporting casts. First up — Margaret Wycherly, who played Jarrett’s hard-boiled, enabler mom. Born in London, she worked mostly on the stage. She has only 32 titles under her name at IMDb. She also played the mom in Sergeant York (1941), starring Gary Cooper as the WWI hero. During her latter career she worked in TV. She passed away in 1956 at 74. Here she is as Ma, trying to give cops the slip:
I don’t recall having ever researched Wally Cassell, who was born Oswaldo Castellano in Sicily. He has 94 credits. After he retired from acting, he became a successful businessman and lived until 103! Well done, goombah. Here he is in character as Cotton Valetti:
Jim Thorpe accomplished just about all an athlete could. He was an Olympian and played pro football and baseball. He is in several Hall of Fames. He has 70 film credits. He passed away in 1953 at 65. Here he is in character being passed the news of Ma Jarrett’s death, which he relays to another inmate and which eventually gets to Cody, who goes into the unforgettable psychotic break:
Steve Cochran was in the midst of a formidable career when he lost his life to a lung infection while scouting locations in Guatemala. 48, he amassed 67 credits, often playing criminals. Here he is as the traitorous Big Ed, scheming with Verna, Cody’s wife, played by the luscious Virginia Mayo, an expert at playing women of dubious morality:
Paul Guilfoyle lived only 58 years, but he compiled quite a legacy, amassing 132 acting credits, including roles in classics such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Julius Caesar (1953). He also did a ton of directing in early TV and a few big screen productions. Here he is as Roy Parker, about to drop a load he hopes will kill Cody. He later is given air while in the trunk of a car, bullet holes provided by Jarrett:
Now on to The Hoodlum. Lawrence’s brother Edward co-starred as the good son. They had another acting sibling, Scott Brady, born Gerard Kenneth Tierney. They were Brooklyn boys. Brady had a substantial career as a supporting player, 144 titles listed under his name, not including multiple appearances on prime time TV shows. He was the star of Shotgun Slade, which ran from ‘59-’61, 78 episodes. He passed away in 1985 at 60. Oddly, Edward did several films in Germany as Edward Tracy. He has only 20 titles under his name. He appeared in five episodes of Combat! He also died young, 55 in 1983. As for Lawrence, despite his wild ways he lived until 82, passing in 2002. Here he is, followed by Brady and Edward:
There was an interesting femme fatale in the cast I don’t recall having run across previously, Angela Stevens, also billed sometimes as Zika, her married name. Without formal training, she was enjoying a solid career mostly in B movies when her son was seriously injured in a diving accident. She quit to care for him. She lived 90 years:
Then there’s O.Z. (Oothout Zabriskie) Whitehead, a native New Yorker who worked mostly on the stage but managed 65 big and small screen credits. He had speaking parts in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), as one of the Joads, The Lion in Winter (1968), as a Bishop, and in five John Ford westerns, the last The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Those three alone are legacy enough. He died in 1998 at 87.
The floating book shop was rained out for a second straight day.
