What if...1943's Batman serial was an A-list studio film?

[PNGwynne]

I'm watching Ava Gardner right now and can see her as Selina Kyle.

[EmergencyIan]

I don't begrudge Elmer Gantry (Jones!), but Lancaster should have won for Sweet Smell of Success. I think that film was just too dark for its day.

I also like Lancaster in Brute Force, Seven Days in May, others from the '60s.

Great Cooper story, Ian.

I agree. That’s my favorite anecdote and so true.

I’m not as big of a fan of Seven Days In May. However, after making 1947’s Brute Force, Lancaster made prison reform a major cause of his for the rest of his life. It was still a big talking point for him in the 1970s while on the Dick Cavett Show....that and trying to quit smoking because he wanted to stay in good shape and to do so was running at the UCLA track, but cigarettes were affecting his progress.

- Ian

[PNGwynne]

I don't begrudge Elmer Gantry (Jones!), but Lancaster should have won for Sweet Smell of Success. I think that film was just too dark for its day.

I also like Lancaster in Brute Force, Seven Days in May, others from the '60s.

Great Cooper story, Ian.

[Goblin19]

And I was also really sad when Osborne passed. I love Ben Mankiewicz, but TCM will never be quite the same.

[Goblin19]

That’s neat. I love Lancaster. I think his resume of movies stands up there with the best of them. I spent several months in my twenties watching Lancaster marathons. His performance in Sweet Smell of Success is an all time great.

[EmergencyIan]

That's neat, I can guess at the colorful anecdotes. The only celebrity I've met is Shirley Jones. (But I'm a huge fan of The Music Man, so I was elated.)

Yeah, like when the Beatles stayed with her uncle in Los Angeles, when she was a teen and went there to stay for a couple of days, as well. Now, she’s lives across the street from Paul.

Burt was in a movie called Vera Cruz, a western, with Gary Cooper and Anthony Quinn. It’s a fine movie. Anyhow, many days, Burt thought he’d outdone Gary that day, but when he to look at the dailys he realized it wasn’t so. Burt said that he was trying really hard, but couldn’t beat Gary just standing there being Gary Cooper.

There is a famous scene from Field of Dreams when Kevin Costner is with Burt Lancaster by or in the cornfield and the baseball diamond. At the time, she and her mother said: this will be a scene that will be shown when uncle Burt passes away...and it was one of them.

There are many other anecdotes that I can’t recall, at the moment, but each time I used to see a movie of his, it would get back to her and subquently I’d get a story about his time on the set or what he thought about the movie.

Decades shows Dick Cavett every weekday evening and Lancaster has been featured in a couple of episodes. Fortunately, we happened to catch them and they were quite good. His niece always seems to miss these airings and hates that she does.

- Ian

[PNGwynne]

George Sanders has one of the all time great voices.

There was no-one better at suave villainy.

[PNGwynne]

I'm jealous that you met Osborne (and attended a TCM event). I still miss him and I'm not ashamed to admit I was deeply saddened by his passing. That's a great Bogart/Bacall anecdote, too.

[Goblin19]

That’s cool. I can’t say I’ve known anyone like that. I did meet Robert Osborne at a TCM event. He was very nice. Other than that, I saw Gregory Peck when he did his National speaking tour and I met Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s son. I got to chat with him after I won a contest (Bogart trivia contest) when he was touring his book about his father.

[PNGwynne]

That's neat, I can guess at the colorful anecdotes. The only celebrity I've met is Shirley Jones. (But I'm a huge fan of The Music Man, so I was elated.)

[EmergencyIan]

On a semi related note, my wife works directly for Burt Lancaster’s niece, at HBO. She has some good stories to tell as he was her mother’s brother. It was a smaller close knit family, I gather.

- Ian

[Goblin19]

George Sanders has one of the all time great voices.

[PNGwynne]

lol Get out of my head! Dare I mention S.Z. Sakall or George Sanders?

And I think Roz has a following rivaling Judy Garland.

[Goblin19]

I work with a guy who is obsessed with Rosalind Russell. I love DeHavilland, too. For character actresses, I love Una O’Connor, Thelma Ritter, Gloria Grahame, amongst others.

[PNGwynne]

I see I've some TCM compatriots here lol. Seems we all appreciate Jean Arthur. I like your list Goblin, I'd add Stanwyck and DeHavilland. For character actresses, I like Davis, Landsbury, and Rosiland Russell.