Piper Laurie Keeps Her Chin Up
By Alex Simon
Few living actors can claim to have experienced the Hollywood machine in all its iterations more than three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Signed by Universal Pictures at 17, their youngest contract player in years, she was in the last generation that were part of the Hollywood “factory,” pushed into “cheesecake” roles that accented physical attributes, as opposed to talent. It was the beginning of a journey.
She was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on January 22, 1932, to immigrant parents of Polish and Russian Jewish descent. When she was still five, the family sent her and her sister to a children’s sanatorium in the mountains to see if her sister’s asthma could be cured. Three years later after being reunited with her family she decided she wanted to become an actress and studied with Benno and Betomi Schneider for several years...
By Alex Simon
Few living actors can claim to have experienced the Hollywood machine in all its iterations more than three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Signed by Universal Pictures at 17, their youngest contract player in years, she was in the last generation that were part of the Hollywood “factory,” pushed into “cheesecake” roles that accented physical attributes, as opposed to talent. It was the beginning of a journey.
She was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, on January 22, 1932, to immigrant parents of Polish and Russian Jewish descent. When she was still five, the family sent her and her sister to a children’s sanatorium in the mountains to see if her sister’s asthma could be cured. Three years later after being reunited with her family she decided she wanted to become an actress and studied with Benno and Betomi Schneider for several years...
- 6/9/2016
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
It seems like there's a film festival every week in the City of Angels. This one runs May 3-10 and opens with "Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom," a documentary about the actor born Bernie Schwartz, who rose to stardom in the 1950s. 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of both Universal and Paramount studios, and Lajff joins in the celebration with tributes to some of Tinseltown's most sparkling icons. Locations and ticket prices vary. (800) 838-3006 or www.lajfilmfest.org.
- 5/2/2012
- by help@backstage.com ()
- backstage.com
The veteran film director recalls working with Tony Curtis, who died on 29 September, aged 85
I hate it when people talk about Tony Curtis and say: "His real name was Bernie Schwartz…" That was just the name that he was given at birth. It's not the person he lived his life with, and became.
After he came out of the navy (in which he served in submarines in the Pacific during the second world war) he was just 20. An atom bomb had dropped on a distant town and suddenly the war was over and he was back in New York, out of work, and any skills he had learned in the services were of no use to him. Like so many young people, even today, he needed time – "a gap year" – to figure out the gigantic changes that were taking place in the world. By chance, a couple of other ex-servicemen had applied,...
I hate it when people talk about Tony Curtis and say: "His real name was Bernie Schwartz…" That was just the name that he was given at birth. It's not the person he lived his life with, and became.
After he came out of the navy (in which he served in submarines in the Pacific during the second world war) he was just 20. An atom bomb had dropped on a distant town and suddenly the war was over and he was back in New York, out of work, and any skills he had learned in the services were of no use to him. Like so many young people, even today, he needed time – "a gap year" – to figure out the gigantic changes that were taking place in the world. By chance, a couple of other ex-servicemen had applied,...
- 12/12/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Philip French looks at the career of an actor who defied his detractors with several unforgettable performances
Universal was so pleased with City Across the River, its topical 1949 film about New York's juvenile delinquents, that it decided to end it with a tracking shot around the set so each member of its cast of newcomers could nod to the audience. But the only one to become a star was the 23-year-old Anthony (later Tony) Curtis, born to Jewish immigrants in the Bronx, whose name the studio had changed from Bernie Schwartz earlier that year. Back then no one would have predicted a career that would take him from an undistinguished decade as a glamorous pin-up through five years as a great movie actor followed by 40 years of mostly banal films in which he grew increasingly bloated and grotesque.
In those early movies Curtis worked in westerns, easterns, Arthurians, war movies,...
Universal was so pleased with City Across the River, its topical 1949 film about New York's juvenile delinquents, that it decided to end it with a tracking shot around the set so each member of its cast of newcomers could nod to the audience. But the only one to become a star was the 23-year-old Anthony (later Tony) Curtis, born to Jewish immigrants in the Bronx, whose name the studio had changed from Bernie Schwartz earlier that year. Back then no one would have predicted a career that would take him from an undistinguished decade as a glamorous pin-up through five years as a great movie actor followed by 40 years of mostly banal films in which he grew increasingly bloated and grotesque.
In those early movies Curtis worked in westerns, easterns, Arthurians, war movies,...
- 10/2/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Two days after Tony Curtis' death, daughter Jamie Lee Curtis is remembering her movie star father as the eager young man before he struck Hollywood gold in the 1950s - back when he was known as Bernard Schwartz, born in the Bronx. "The older he got, the more he attached to the accoutrements of that new life," Curtis, 51, tells People in a statement. "And although he looked, smelled, dressed, traveled and ate different than his old friends, they knew that somewhere under his glow and fancy cars lurked Bernie Schwartz - and they loved him for it." The actress,...
- 10/1/2010
- by Alison Schwartz
- PEOPLE.com
There was something wonderfully far-fetched about Tony Curtis. His life story would have seemed outlandish even in a Saul Bellow or Philip Roth novel about a Jewish-American's journey through the 20th century. The transformation of Bernie Schwartz, born in New York's Flower Hospital in June 1925, from an impoverished street kid in Manhattan and the Bronx into svelte, charming leading man was one of the more unlikely metamorphoses in Hollywood history.
- 9/30/2010
- The Independent - Film
Tony Curtis, who grew beyond his start as a studio-groomed matinee idol to play snappily seductive schemers in such 1950s classics as "The Sweet Smell of Success" and "Some Like It Hot," died Wednesday evening of cardiac arrest at his home in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson, Nev. He was 85.
"He died peacefully here, surrounded by those who love him and have been caring for him," his wife, Jill Curtis, told the Associated Press outside their home. "All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star. He didn't want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star ever since he was a little kid."
A flamboyant personality with a ribald wit and zest for the high life, Curtis epitomized the storied glamour of old Hollywood. Widely known for his onscreen sizzle and his offscreen personal life -- he and first wife Janet Leigh...
"He died peacefully here, surrounded by those who love him and have been caring for him," his wife, Jill Curtis, told the Associated Press outside their home. "All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star. He didn't want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star ever since he was a little kid."
A flamboyant personality with a ribald wit and zest for the high life, Curtis epitomized the storied glamour of old Hollywood. Widely known for his onscreen sizzle and his offscreen personal life -- he and first wife Janet Leigh...
- 9/30/2010
- by By Duane Byrge and Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
R.I.P. Tony Curtis, 'Cowboys And Aliens' Reports, And 'The Social Network' In Today's Twitter Report
Actor Tony Curtis' death topped the trending news topics being discussed in the Twitter Report feed this morning. Edgar Wright, Wes Molebash and Jeff Parker shared their reactions, though one of them felt more connected to comedian Greg Giraldo whose passing also made headlines today.
On the movies front, Olivia Wilde triumphantly declared that she's finished with Jon Favreau's "Cowboys and Aliens." Favreau's been tweeting a bit as well, and it sounds like things are track for next year's release. Their notes, Tony Moore on "Jersey Shore" and Karl Kerschl's thoughts on "The Social Network" await you below.
I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is your Twitter Report for September 30, 2010.
Tony Curtis pt. 1: @edgarwright What a sad week in Hollywood. We just lost Danny Wilde, Sidney Falco, 'Junior' & Bernie Schwartz from the Bronx. Rest in peace, Tony Curtis.
-Edgar Wright, Director ("Scott Pilgrim vs. The World")
Tony Curtis pt.
On the movies front, Olivia Wilde triumphantly declared that she's finished with Jon Favreau's "Cowboys and Aliens." Favreau's been tweeting a bit as well, and it sounds like things are track for next year's release. Their notes, Tony Moore on "Jersey Shore" and Karl Kerschl's thoughts on "The Social Network" await you below.
I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is your Twitter Report for September 30, 2010.
Tony Curtis pt. 1: @edgarwright What a sad week in Hollywood. We just lost Danny Wilde, Sidney Falco, 'Junior' & Bernie Schwartz from the Bronx. Rest in peace, Tony Curtis.
-Edgar Wright, Director ("Scott Pilgrim vs. The World")
Tony Curtis pt.
- 9/30/2010
- by Brian Warmoth
- MTV Splash Page
Update: The actor who grew up poor in the Bronx, arrived in Hollywood in 1948 as unknown Bernie Schwartz, and became a legendary film and television star, passed away from cardiac arrest Wednesday evening in his Las Vegas area home, according to the coronor's statement. He was 85. Many will forever remember Tony Curtis for his comedic work in 1959's Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, or his dramatic work in 1958's The Defiant Ones, which earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination opposite Sidney Poitier. But I will always admire his nuanced performance as press agent Sidney Falco in 1957's Sweet Smell Of Success opposite Burt Lancaster. And his very moving portrayal of Iwo Jima's Ira Hayes in 1961's The Outsider. But he also shocked Hollywood and moviegoers alike with his memorably menacing performance in the title role of 1968's The Boston Strangler. Curtis was that rare...
- 9/30/2010
- by Nikki Finke
- Deadline Hollywood
Tony Curtis, one of the beefcake screen stars of the 1950s who went on working for the next four decades, has died, his daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, told Entertainment Tonight. The cause was cardiac arrest in his Las Vegas home early Wednesday, the Clark County coroner told the Associated Press. The star was 85 and had been admitted to a Las Vegas hospital for tests in mid-July after he had trouble breathing. Curtis, who also suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, nearly died when he contracted pneumonia in December 2006 and remained in a coma for several days. 'Good-Looking Kid'Unlike another pretty face of his generation,...
- 9/30/2010
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Chicago – Tony Curtis, who rolled into town to introduce his classic “Some Like it Hot” – December 5th and 6th at the Hollywood Palms in Naperville, Il – has a sharp and voracious intelligence, plus the adventurous life story to share.
In his new book, “The Making of Some Like it Hot,” Curtis relates the incredible Hollywood tale about how two big stars, he and Jack Lemmon, dressed up as women and collided with the incomparable Marilyn Monroe and director Billy Wilder to create a true American cinema masterpiece.
HollywoodChicago’s Patrick McDonald and photog Joe Arce encountered Tony Curtis in the lobby of the new Trump Hotel. While under the Christmas tree, Curtis regaled us with the account of his first ever trip to Chicago, appearing in a play at the Yiddish Theater on Ogden and Kedzie.
Known as Bernie Schwartz in those days, Curtis told us that he had to...
In his new book, “The Making of Some Like it Hot,” Curtis relates the incredible Hollywood tale about how two big stars, he and Jack Lemmon, dressed up as women and collided with the incomparable Marilyn Monroe and director Billy Wilder to create a true American cinema masterpiece.
HollywoodChicago’s Patrick McDonald and photog Joe Arce encountered Tony Curtis in the lobby of the new Trump Hotel. While under the Christmas tree, Curtis regaled us with the account of his first ever trip to Chicago, appearing in a play at the Yiddish Theater on Ogden and Kedzie.
Known as Bernie Schwartz in those days, Curtis told us that he had to...
- 12/5/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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