The Unsung Joe: Where bit-part actors go when they die. Biographies of the most obscure micro-stars of 1940s and '50s cinema, all remarkably well-researched and richly illustrated.
posted by jack_mo on Dec 11, 2007 - 28 comments

Hey! Isn't that the guy from that movie? The 20 best "that guys" of all time -- according to Cracked. (via)
posted by fallenposters on May 30, 2007 - 157 comments

Prime Suspects. Providing actors, extras and consulting services to the movie and TV industry, Suspect Entertainment is Hollywood's best source for street cred.
posted by jacquilynne on May 27, 2004 - 3 comments

Pam Grier, Tura Satana, Laura Gemser. Cult Sirens is a site dedicated to, you guessed it, the women made famous due to the cult movies they starred in. If you love this kind of stuff, there are links to more sites having to do with actors, cult movies and horror movies. And there's always this list of cult movies, complete with reviews.
posted by ashbury on Aug 25, 2003 - 3 comments

De Niro non disputandis est or, in English, don't fuck with Bobby De Niro. Which is what the English have been doing recently, naming Al Pacino as the greatest movie star of all time. Askmen.com is a little more appreciative but also brackets Pacino with De Niro. The American Film Institute [pdf format] will be giving De Niro their 31st Lifetime Achievement Award on June 12 but - there they go again - he's merely described as "widely regarded as one of the most skillful actors of the last three decades". Is nothing sacred anymore? Who's the man [read "of a certain age, experience and cojones"], after all? I mean, after Jack Nicholson, of course. Now I'm all confused!
posted by Carlos Quevedo on May 8, 2003 - 31 comments

eddie bracken, 1940s slapstick comedian, passed on over the weekend. the star of hail the conquering hero and the controversial miracle of morgan's creek, bracken was often regarded as the onscreen alter ego of pioneering writer/director preston sturges. unfortunately, he correctly predicted that his appearance at film forum would be his last.
posted by pxe2000 on Nov 20, 2002 - 6 comments

Attack of the Hollywood Clones Flametracker investigates how some actors are being cloned so that they can work on twice as many projects. See also Julia Roberts and Monica Potter, Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman, Robert Redford and Brad Pitt ...
posted by feelinglistless on Apr 25, 2002 - 18 comments

Berry, Denzel Make Oscars History Denzel Washington is only the second African American male to win an Best Actor Oscar since Sidney Poitier's win for Lilies of the Field in 1963. Halle Berry is the first African American female to win Best Actress ever. Berry's speech was quite good (albeit long) but it leaves me wondering how all those "women who stand behind her[sic], Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox and it's for every nameless faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened" feel about being named inferior. And why didn't the camera flash onto Jada Pinkett-Smith when Berry said that? Now, that would have been a true Oscar moment.
posted by gloege on Mar 25, 2002 - 60 comments

The Oracle of Bacon is prehaps the greatest waste of time ever. Go from Akira Kurasowa to Kevin Bacon in just three degrees of seperation.
posted by SweetJesus on Dec 11, 2001 - 23 comments

Roger Ebert on Steve Martin. "He published a novel last year that was touching and true, and he is an expert on modern art, and he is capable of hosting the Academy Awards and starring in a David Mamet movie and writing for the New Yorker and, no doubt, brooding a lot."
posted by adrober on Nov 11, 2001 - 24 comments

Anthony Hopkins cares less about his movies than you do. Wow, I like his attitude toward acting and the industry. He's the polar opposite of the typical Hollywood pretentious types. What's wrong with some apathy in your life anyhow?
posted by skallas on Aug 21, 2001 - 17 comments

Voices In My Head... Call me crazy, but I think casting "celebrity voices" in animated flix is counter-intuitive. Think back to the classic Disney movies - "Pinocchio" and "101 Dalmations" come to mind - and the fact that they regularly used professional voice-actors, not a cast of celebrities-du-jour. With the new trend in animated movies, I find myself picturing the celebrity doing the voice, not the animated character of the story. Quick - what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the movie "Aladdin?" Robin Williams as the Genie, I'd wager. Your thoughts on this weighty matter?
posted by davidmsc on May 18, 2001 - 36 comments

Important stuff to keep track of on the net, number 18873 in series: the Female Celebrity Smoking List. Ever wondered what movies [insert actress here] smoked in? Did she smoke in real life? What brand? Can you verfiy that "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own"* is a non-cigarette smoking movie? Ever find yourself musing about whether "banana-to-penis is an easier analogy than cigarette-to-penis"? Then you're in luck.
*Which is, not to fork my own thread, a movie starring two guys** named Barry.
**One in drag
posted by rodii on Apr 7, 2001 - 2 comments

"Thanks for the honour. Oh, and for the Oscar too..." Is that an MBE on Russell Crowe's chest? A quick google suggests his grandad received one: dunno the protocol of wearing someone else's medal, but is that the first time an Oscar winner's gone on stage with a British gong?
posted by holgate on Mar 27, 2001 - 15 comments

Dig the Wig: In the face of the mainstream media's campaign to keep us distracted with the fake news of presidential pardons and the eyewash of budget debates, only independently published mavericks have the courage to cover the story of Samuel Jackson's hair.
posted by jhiggy on Mar 13, 2001 - 3 comments

Tom Hanks = the Jimmy Stewart of our day? one of Salon's useful popular media pieces, but nothing you couldn't read on Sunday Arts section of the Times, such pieces being the Holy Ghost of Salon's Trinity (see inside for the Father and the Son)...
posted by MattD on Jan 12, 2001 - 12 comments

Jackie Chan is... RAMBO! Well, almost.
posted by tiaka on Sep 27, 2000 - 6 comments

Goodbye, you grumpy old man...
posted by tomcosgrave on Jul 1, 2000 - 2 comments

Here's a follow-up to last week's thread about the whole Travolta-Kidman-Cruise-Scientology thing. Interesting counterpoint in some ways, although I think ALL the concerned parties have ulterior motives. Agenda, agenda, agenda.
posted by highindustrial on May 9, 2000 - 0 comments