Better directors? She worked with Richard Lester, Stanley Donen, James Ivory, Edward Dmytryk to name a handful. Hardly hacks! Better screenplays? You mean like Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins clever mystery The Last Of Sheila? George MacDonald Fraser's witty take on The Three Musketeers? Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's hilarious Faustian Bedazzled? Screenplays like that?I was never a fan and I won't miss her, but I must admit at this moment of her passing that that she was really good in both The Wild Party and Fuzz. Perhaps if she had worked with better screenplays and better directors, she might have made a bigger contribution.
Out of respect to Welch's recent passing, this isn't the thread to argue about Betty Grable's film career.wait a minute..... Betty Grable was the top female star in Hollywood for 10 years running, from 1943 to 1953. a motion picture superstar. She carried her own films and was a cash cow for 20th Century Fox. both Jack Lemmon and Mizi Gaynor have spoken of this.
(There was obviously more to her than just her appearance, but it was that beauty that skyrocketed her to fame.)
She outsmarted them all - she was a savvy biz lady and she survived Hollywood GOOD ON HER!Sorry to hear of her passing. May she RIP.
In terms of sex appeal, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention her memorable role as Lilian Lust in 1967's Bedazzled. (There was obviously more to her than just her appearance, but it was that beauty that skyrocketed her to fame.)
- Walter.
Yeah, on Wednesday afternoon, my brother texted me "Downer...Jugs passed away.Three guesses which part she played in Mother, Jugs & Speed...
Thomas, her performances in Lady In Cement and The Last Of Sheila are not the stuff of legend.Better directors? She worked with Richard Lester, Stanley Donen, James Ivory, Edward Dmytryk to name a handful. Hardly hacks! Better screenplays? You mean like Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins clever mystery The Last Of Sheila? George MacDonald Fraser's witty take on The Three Musketeers? Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's hilarious Faustian Bedazzled? Screenplays like that?
She was an icon (and I do not use that term lightly) of her era (the 1960s). Her cultural image was bigger than the actress herself. As a sex symbol, she defined the 1960s as much as Betty Grable defined the 1940s and Marilyn Monroe defined the 1950s and I dare say her "contributions" to cinema surpassed Ms. Grable's unless you consider The Dolly Sisters, Weekend In Havana and Mother Wore Tights landmarks of cinema.
No shade on Ms. Grable whose films I enjoy. My point is Welch's "contribution" to cinema is the stuff of legend.
I'm not going to further this discussion except to say I don't understand the mentality of someone who comments on someone they clearly don't like ("I won't miss her") in a thread devoted to mourning and appreciation by those of us who do regret her passing. I'm not a fan of Ali MacGraw but I assure you, when she leaves us, I won't be trashing her on a thread noting her passing.Thomas, her performances in Lady In Cement and The Last Of Sheila are not the stuff of legend.