September 29 Birthday Wishes

Ted de Corsia [1905 - 1973]
Gene Autry [1907 - 1998]
Steve Forrest [1924 - ]

Ted de Corsia was one of those actor that always played a heavy. He made his film debut as the killer Sidney Broome in Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai, and made a career of playing gangsters and outlaws (with an occasional cop or judge thrown in).

Gena Autry started as a singer in the late 1920s and started making movies in 1934. He served in the Army Air Corps in WWII, and returned to films and later moving to television. He purchased the Monogram Movie Ranch in 1953 and renamed it Melody Ranch, which is still in use to this day. He retire from show business in 1964, and owned several radio stations, a TV station, and the California Angels baseball team from 1961 to 1997. At one time he listed as one the 400 richest Americans by Forbes Magazine. He passed away 3 days after his 91st birthday, and nearly 3 months after Roy Rogers.

Steve Forrest was born William Forrest Andrews, the younger brother of actor Dana Andrews. He's played a variety of roles during a 60 year career, from movies like Rogue Cop, Heller in Pink Tights, The Longest Day, Flaming Star, and Mommie Dearest, to episodes of Cimarron Strip, Gunmoke, Alias Smith & Jone, and The Six Million Dollar Man. Probably best know as Lt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson on the TV series SWAT.

Also today:

Producer Director Stanley E. Kramer (1913-2001) liked to make films that were not only entertaining, but thought provoking. He produced High Noon as a take on the Hollywood Blacklisting of suspected Communists. He made several films dealing with race relations (The Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), nuclear holocaust (On the Beach), military chain of command (The Caine Mutiny) and human greed (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World).

Ian McShane (1942-) is a British actor whom I first saw as Judas Iscariot in Jesus of Nazareth. He's appeared in several movies and TV shows since 1962, most notably as the antique dealer Lovejoy in the mystery series of the same name, and for his Golden Globe winning role as Al Swearingen on the HBO Western series Deadwood.

Madelein Kahn (1942-1999) was one of the greatest comedic actresses ever. From her breakthrough role as German bombshell Lily Von Schtupp in Blazindg Saddles, to roles in Young Frankenstein, History of the World Part I, and Clue, she made us laugh. She developed ovarian cancer in 1999, which quickly spread, resulting in her untimely death that year.

Howdy Tinhorn!!

When I think of Steve Forrest, I always think of the 1969 Gunsmoke episode, titled Mannon, in which Forrest plays a sort of a William Quantrill character. A former civil war raider, who is lightning fast on the draw and comes to Dodge to tree the town. He takes a liking to .Miss Kitty and when she rejects him, he beats her to a pulp. He then waits for Matt to return to Dodge, to prove he's faster than Dillon. The episode was so good and Forrest's portrayal of a villain, so convincing, that in 1987, after the series had cancelled, James Arness made a t.v. movie based on this episode, titled Return To Dodge and Forrest reprised his role of old foe, Mannon. The 2nd role that comes to mind, is the 1972 Twilight Zone episode, The Waiting Room, in which Forrest once again plays a gunfighter, who rides into a western town, enters the saloon and finds several of the most murderous outlaws in the west, who have all been killed in the past and each night at the strike of a clock, they must relive their deaths.

I absolutely adored Madeline Kahn!!!!!!!! She was a trained opera singer. You can hear her voice in Young Frankenstein, in the scene with Peter Boyle, in the cave. Her roles in Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, Yellow Beard, Wholly Moses, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, City Heat and the films you have previously mentioned, left me rolling on the floor, laughing so hard, I cried. Mel Brooks made her show him her legs, before casting her in Blazing Saddles. I guess he wanted to make sure she had the gams to pull it off. Her last role, in The Cosby Show was a scream and a joy to watch. She left us 10 years after her fellow Saturday Night Live co-star, Gilda Radner died with the same form of cancer. Madeline Kahn was only 57 years old. What a loss!!!!!

Ed