The Titanic set out to make headlines as the largest ship on Earth, sailing on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in April of 1912. Instead, it made history of a different sort as one of history’s greatest follies. The ship hit an iceberg on its fourth day – exactly 105 years ago today, to…
Author: Orrin Konheim
We generally imagine famous icons of classical music to be stuffy figures whose personal lives couldn’t hold a torch to the exploits of the modern-day gods created by the rock and roll revolution. Reading the biographies of the great luminaries in classical music will tend to convince you otherwise. In their day, many of these…
If you want to be in pictures, there are many great schools to choose from. Chances are, your favorite movie was directed, written, or acted out by at least one graduate of one of these schools. The classes are intensive, and some of the programs are quite expensive, but the results are pure art, making it all worth it.
Because of the occupational hazards of the job, or because of the Type-A personality required, film directors tend to have famously large egos. Because of this, it’s somewhat surprising that the main creative force behind a film would choose to cast themselves in anything but the title role. Here are examples of directors who cast…
This Sunday, Ben Affleck is likely to win the Best Producer Oscar for Argo, especially since the Director’s Branch didn’t nominate him for their particular award. Not everyone wins in the categories they expected to win for, or were best at. Here are ten examples of people winning in the wrong category: 10. Christine Lahti,…
No other television show has boasted such a high degree of talent than Saturday Night Live. Many big names in comedy over the past four decades have made a name for themselves through the show. On the other end of the spectrum, many comic actors have been hired for the show and were unsuccessful at…
Determining the ten best film ensembles of the 21st Century was a much harder list to narrow down than I originally anticipated. There are a lot of movies that succeed on the basis of having a lot of big-name stars attached to them. To create a list like this, I tried to focus on movies…
Sometimes, the TV character that you remember long after the show went off the air was not the one originally intended to be the star. Here are the ten greatest rises from TV sidekickdom to stardom- characters who were originally intended as side characters (sometimes even as one-episode guest stars) gradually outshining the star of…
Family dynasties are a grand tradition in Hollywood. Below are a list of clans of famous actors, directors, writers, and producers who were related to each other. The criteria for this list is how much talent the combined members of the family had and how many generations the dynasty spanned. 10. The Reitman Dynasty Members: Ivan,…
Aside from being a sublimely ridiculous TV series, Batman (the 1960’s version) was the prime destination for actors who would often be cast as villains. Enticed by the chance to ham it up and be a part of pop culture, serious actors such as Anne Baxter, Ida Lupino, Tallulah Bankhead, Victor Buono, Rudy Vallee, Burgess…
After winning an Oscar, an actor’s career is usually marked by the question: Did they live up to the award or not? Here are 10 Oscar-winning actors who have gone in completely different directions. 10. Donna Reed-Riding the Highs and Lows of Television Best Supporting Actress for From Here to Eternity (1953) Reed’s career after…
Only 83 films have won Best Picture to date and the general sentiment is that winning the big prize ensures that your film will have a place among the classics. Here are 10 films that won the grand prize that are not considered classics today: 10. The Broadway Melody, 1929 Since sound was introduced into…
Here is a list of 10 great performances achieved by actors and actresses who were 70 years of age or older when their film was released. 10. Gloria Stuart, Titanic, 1997, Age 87 Kate Winslet might have been the budding star that led Titanic to box office glory, but as the elderly version of Rose…