Friends of Cinema Wellman

Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David, and today we’re going to be hanging out with some of our closest cinematic friends.

If you’re a regular visitor to Cinema Wellman, you’ve heard me use the phrase “Friends of Cinema Wellman” from time to time when talking about people we are particularly fond of.

We then thought it would be fun to create our own little “Hall of Fame” here to honor our dear friends who have made the movies so special to us over the years. 

Certain sports Halls of Fame have separate categories to honor all those involved with the sport, on and off the playing surface.

We liked that idea, so we have decided to do kind of the same thing. 

Here, then, are the “wings” of the FOCWHOF:

*Actresses *Cinematographers

*Actors *Composers

*Directors *Costume Designers

*Editors

We decided not to differentiate between lead and supporting roles when it comes to the on-screen talent. 

No need for it for this project.

Today’s inaugural FOCW group will feature one person from seven of the eight categories.

Directors are being treated a little differently because of our “Director’s Corner” series. We figured if you get your own episode there, you are automatically included in this group of friends.

There are also a few people who were “grandfathered” in because they already had entire episodes devoted to them, or close to it. 

Those friends are:

*Actress Tilly Losch

*Actor Gary Oldman

*Actor Jack Lemmon

*Director Alfred Hitchcock

*Director Stanley Kubrick

Tilly Losch will always be our special friend here at Cinema Wellman because she was the focus of our very first episode.

We love Gary Oldman, and he plays “EVERYONE” so we did an episode on a bunch of the real people he has portrayed over the years. 

We just spoke in a little depth about the great Jack Lemmon during our latest “...and Introducing…” episode that featured people with the “AIC” who later went on to win Oscars.

And both Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick were celebrated earlier in our “Director’s Corner.” 

We did a baker’s dozen for Hitch, and what we consider the Mt. Rushmore of Stanley Kubrick films. 

Those five people have been “grandfathered” in and can be considered the “First Five Friends of Cinema Wellman.”

Today we will enshrine eight more film friends. 

We’ll do one more induction this season (October), and then it will be a once-a-year occurrence taking place somewhere around the Oscars.

With each new inductee, we’ll attempt to explain what it is about them and their craft that led to them being beloved here in Cinema Wellman.

You won’t get a biography, since you could look that up on IMDb yourself, but I will share some of my favorite films of each person in case you’d be interested in screening some of them on your own. 

Today we have two actresses, two actors, an editor, a cinematographer, a composer, and a costume designer. 

These eight artists and their work have helped to create the movie fanatic that I am, so this is kind of a thank you to them. 

We will begin with the Costume Designer. 

That sentence could also be spoken with an accent on a certain word; “We will begin with the Costume Designer.”

Edith Head: Costume Designer

If you don’t think you know Edith Head, you kind of do. She was the inspiration for Edna in The Incredibles!

Looks just like her!

There is no doubt that Edith Head is the G.O.A.T. of Costume Design. 

During her career, she earned 35 Oscar nominations, and had 8 wins!

Her impressive filmography includes All About Eve, The Sting, Sabrina, The 10 Commandments, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and 20 EPISODES OF “Gilligan’s Island!”

Didn’t three of the seven castaways wear the same thing in every single episode?

Just checking.

Costume design is extremely challenging whether the film is a sword and sandal Biblical epic, a “period” piece from a past era, or something set in the future. 

You may think that doing costume design for a film set in the current time (whenever it was made) would be easier, but there are challenges that come with that as well. 

When I worked on The Wound Wood, now titled The Arborist, I would occasionally need to escort Hudson to the costume area, and it was amazing. 

Each of his outfits was tagged with a day of the week, and there were some sets of identical outfits, one clean/one dirty or distressed.

And that was a small movie.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to run costumes for The Ten Commandments! 

There were thousands of people in that movie!

They used to do two Costume Design Oscars, one for black & white films and one for color films. 

In 1949, Edith Head won BOTH!

All hail the G.O.A.T.

John Williams: Composer

This is another full-fledged G.O.A.T.

John Williams composed music for over 120 films and earned 54 Oscar nominations! 

JAWS, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter movies, Schindler’s List, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones, Earthquake, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, The Eiger Sanction…

The list is seemingly endless, and there are so many familiar tunes we know from movies for which we have John Williams to thank. 

Williams’ 5 wins were for Schindler’s List, E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars (the first one, the real one), JAWS, and Fiddler on the Roof.

Williams retired last year, and he left an indelible mark on movie music.

He will always be remembered as one of the all-time greats at his craft, and Cinema Wellman thanks him for all the great tunes over the years. 

Roger Deakins: Cinematographer

All you need to know about Roger Deakins’ inclusion in the “Friends of Cinema Wellman” ring of honor or whatever we’re going to call it, is that he shot 12 movies for the Coen Brothers. 

With how I feel about the Coen brothers, their “go-to” cinematographer seems like a no brainer for induction today. 

When I was in film school at BU, I guess I thought I wanted to direct movies at some point? I honestly don’t recall. All I know is that I was way overmatched at film school.

What I should have concentrated on (not that it would have guaranteed a post-graduation job) is cinematography.

What an amazing job to be able to look through your camera’s viewfinder and see some of the best movies ever made as they were being made!

There are over 75 films in Deakins’ filmography including 

The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Skyfall, Blade Runner 2049, and 1917.

AND A New Order video!

To date, Roger Deakins has earned 16 Oscar nominations and has won two: Blade Runner 2049, 1917.

Verna Fields: Editor

Verna Fields edited JAWS. And that’s enough in our book. 

All kidding aside, Fields “only” has 18 films to her editing credits, but one of them is JAWS.

And she won an Oscar for that.

Does that make her the best editor in film history?

No.

Does that get her “Friend of Cinema Wellman” status?

Absolutely.

Hannah tells me that this is my thing, and I make all the rules, so Verna is in. 

Not that I need to defend my friends, but Fields also cut Haskell Wexler’s great political drama Medium Cool which is set at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

And she worked with Peter Bogdanovich on both Paper Moon and What’s Up Doc?

Fields edited American Graffiti for George Lucas as well.

And then JAWS with Steven Spielberg.

One of the best shots in JAWS was filmed in Verna Fields swimming pool.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Welcome, Verna. 

Next up are the friends on the other side of the camera. 

Edward G. Robinson: Actor

Rico!

Most people know the great Edward G. Robinson from the gangster films that made him famous.

Everyone has their own Edward G. impression, see! (use yours there)

If you think Robinson was only good at playing mugs and gangsters, you’d be very wrong. 

As an accomplished character actor, Robinson played all sorts of roles including some very good comedic roles, which you wouldn’t expect.

You also wouldn’t expect him to play a loving, doting father as he did in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes.

Some of my favorite films of Robinson’s are Larceny Inc., Key Largo, The Cincinnati Kid, Soylent Green, and The Ten Commandments.

My all-time favorite Edward G. Robinson film is Double Indemnity where he plays insurance investigator Barton Keyes. 

That role is so complex and Keyes is such a fun character to watch in action as he tries to unravel the insurance fraud/murder.

He’s always several steps ahead of everyone else. 

Robinson was the recipient of an Honorary Oscar which means they absolutely blew it!

He never even got a nomination! How is that possible?

“Where’s your messiah now?!”

Philip Seymour Hoffman: Actor

It’s hard to believe that Philip Seymour Hoffman has already been gone for ten years.

What he left behind was an amazing cinematic legacy that saw him earn four Oscar nominations and win one Oscar.

Hoffman won a Best Actor award for Capote. His other three nominations were all supporting roles, and while he certainly could handle a lead role, I think his strength was as a supporting actor. 

His list of films is quite impressive, and here are just a few of my favorites: Hard Eight, Twister, Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, State and Main, Almost Famous. 25th Hour, The Savages, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

A lot of those films have pretty large ensemble casts, but the character played by Philip Seymour Hofffman stands out in all of them. 

He was extremely talented, so he could play all types of characters. He could do evil, he could do corrupt, but he mostly played very human characters who were vulnerable, insecure, and flawed. 

His portrayal of Scotty in Boogie Nights is so sweet. He’s so anxiety ridden he seems insecure being in his own skin. When he makes a pass at a male character and is rebuffed, you feel absolutely devastated for him. In an extremely depressing film, his character is a small bit of light. 

And, it’s a relatively small part, but The Big Lebowski just wouldn’t be the same without him.

“We’re all so proud of her!”

I miss him very much. 

Agnes Moorehead: Actress

Most people know Agnes Moorehead from the television show “Bewitched” where she played a literal witch of a mother-in-law Endora!

That’s definitely the first time I had ever seen her. I watched “Bewitched” because I was absolutely in love with Elizabeth Montgomery, and I was rewarded with my “discovery” of Agnes Moorehead. 

In my mind, Agnes Moorehead = Endora, and I was okay with that. 

Then I saw Citizen Kane and the young woman playing Charlie’s mom looked kind of familiar. 

It was Agnes Moorehead, and she was phenomenal in that small, yet important, role.

Since then, I’ve sought out as many of her films as I could find, and I’m never disappointed in her.

I just found out by doing research for this episode that Citizen Kane was Agnes Moorehead’s 1st ever screen credit!

Agnes was amazing at playing cold, distant women who were also intelligent and, if needed, unscrupulous and conniving.

Yummy.

Her characters would certainly tell you where the dog died. 

She was a four time Oscar nominee, but unfortunately was never a winner.

Some of my favorites along with Citizen Kane are Dark Passage, Johnny Belinda, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and let’s never forget that episode of “The Twilight Zone” that she did.

One of the best TZ episodes ever!

And that leaves us with one more friend to induct.

Thelma Ritter: Actress

Six-time Oscar nominee, including four straight years (1951-1954) with a Best Supporting Actress nomination!

And ZERO WINS!!!!

Come on, Academy!!!

Three egregious errors on this list alone!

Edward G. Robinson, ZERO nominations!

Agnes Moorehead, four nominations and NO wins!

Thelma Ritter, six nominations and NO wins!

And Kevin Costner has two Oscars. 

Merde.

In any event, Thelma Ritter is worthy of that old saying, “Look up ____ in the dictionary, and you see so and so's picture.”

Well, in my dictionary, if you look up “Character Actress,” you’ll see Thelma Ritter’s picture. 

She was absolutely phenomenal in pretty much everything in which I’ve ever seen her.

Her timing and delivery were, as my friend Larry  (also a big fan of Thelma), would say, the “chef’s kiss.”

Rear Window is one of my all-time favorite films, and Thelma Ritter is, without a doubt, one of my favorite parts of the entire film.

She definitely had some great writers behind her, and I’m sure some screenwriters were writing parts specifically for Thelma Ritter.

Her superpower was the wisecrack, and it was always delivered with that little smirk/smile. 

Her back and forth with Jimmy Stewart (not a fan) in Rear Window was so wonderfully natural. You’d think these characters knew each other for years even though she’s just nursing him through a broken leg. 

Other Thelma Ritter favorites include All About Eve (that’s a must see!), The Mating Season, and A Hole in the Head.

If you’re lucky enough to be watching an old movie and you see Thelma Ritter’s name in the opening credits, you’re in for a treat. 

Well, that’s a wrap from here at Cinema Wellman for our first Friends of Cinema Wellman induction ceremony. 

As previously mentioned, we’ll do this again in October and recognize some more “Friends of Cinema Wellman.”

We hope you join us again next week when we invite Wes Anderson into Cinema Wellman’s “Director’s Corner!” automatically earning “Friend of Cinema Wellman” status!

Wes Anderson!

Well, he won’t be here, but I’ll be ranking all of his films. 

Hope to see you then, and until the Wes Anderson lovefest, take care.