Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Born on this day – Valerie French:


Valerie French


Actress

March 11, 1928 – November 3, 1990

Credits:

One of the Boys (1982); One Life to Live (1977); The Adams Chronicles (1976); All My Children (1977); Shalako (1968); Armchair Theatre (1968); Champion House (1967); ITV Playhouse (1968); The Prisoner (1967); Love Story (1967); The Nurses (1965); A Flame in the Wind (1964); The Best of the Post (1961); Have Gun - Will Travel (1959–1960); Alcoa Theatre (1958–1960); The Alaskans (1960); Goodyear Theatre (1958–1960); Bold Venture (1959); The Story on Page One (1959); The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959); The Third Man (1959); Ten Little Indians (1959); Schlitz Playhouse (1958); The George Sanders Mystery Theater (1957); The Hard Man (1957); Trackdown (1957); Decision at Sundown (1957); The 27th Day (1957); The Garment Jungle (1957); The Ford Television Theatre (1956); Secret of Treasure Mountain (1956); The Edge of Night (1965); Jubal (1956); Marriage a la Mode (1955); Rheingold Theatre (1954); Tonight's the Night (1954); Maddalena (1954); Strictly Personal (1953).

Born on this day – Peter R. Hunt:


Peter R. Hunt


Director

Editor

Producer

March 11, 1925 – August 14, 2002

Credits:

A Cry from the Streets (1958); Assassination (1987); BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1953–1959); Damn the Defiant! (1962); Deadline Midnight (1961); Death Hunt (1981); Doublecross (1956); Dr. No (1962); Eyes of a Witness (1991); Ferry to Hong Kong (1959); Gold (1974); Goldfinger (1964); Gulliver's Travels (1977); Hell in Korea (1956); Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star (1986); Loss of Innocence (1961); Next to No Time! (1958); Night Games (1980); On the Fiddle (1961); Paradise Lagoon (1957); Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983); Probation Officer (1960); Rough Cut (1980); Salute to Show Business (1957); Shirley's World (1972); Shout at the Devil (1976); Sink the Bismarck! (1960); Strange Portrait (1966); The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978); The Ipcress File (1965); The Last Days of Pompeii (1984); The Persuaders! (1971); The Persuaders! (1971); The Secret Tent (1956); The Six Proud Walkers (1954); The Venusian (1954); There Was a Crooked Man (1960); This Man Craig (1966); This Week (1956–1959); Touch and Go (1955); Wild Geese II (1985).

Born on this day – Raoul Walsh:


Raoul Walsh


Director

Actor

March 11, 1887 – December 31, 1980

Credits:

11:30 P.M. (1915); A Bad Man and Others (1915); A Distant Trumpet (1964); A Lion Is in the Streets (1953); A Man for All That (1915); A Private's Affair (1959); Action in the North Atlantic (1943); Along the Great Divide (1951); Artist and Models (1937); Baby Face Harrington (1935); Background to Danger (1943); Band of Angels (1957); Battle Cry (1955); Betrayed (1917); Big Brown Eyes (1936); Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952); Blue Blood and Red (1916); Camino del infierno (1931); Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951); Carmen (1915); Cheyenne (1947); College Swing (1938); Colorado Territory (1949); Come September (1961); Dangerous Business (1920); Dark Command (1940); Desperate Journey (1942); Die große Fahrt (1931); Distant Drums (1951); East of Suez (1925); Esther and the King (1960); Evangeline (1919); Every Night at Eight (1935); Fighter Squadron (1948); For His Master (1914); From Now On (1920); Gentleman Jim (1942); Glory Alley (1952); Going Hollywood (1933); Gun Fury (1953); Helen of Troy (1956); Hello, Sister! (1933); High Sierra (1940); His Return (1915); Hitting a New High (1937); Home from the Sea (1915); Hot for Paris (1929); I'll Say So (1918); In Old Arizona (1928); In This Our Life (1942); It's a Great Feeling (1949); Kindred of the Dust (1922); Klondike Annie (1936); La femme à abattre (1993); La gran jornada (1931); Lest We Forget (1914); Life in Hollywood No. 4 (1927); Life in Hollywood No. 5 (1927); Lost and Found on a South Sea Island (1923); Manpower (1941); Marines, Let's Go (1961); Me and My Gal (1932); Me, Gangster (1928); Montana (1950); Northern Pursuit (1943); Objective, Burma! (1945); On the Jump (1918); One Sunday Afternoon (1948); Out of the Deputy's Hands (1914); Paid with Interest (1914); Peer Gynt (1915); Pillars of Society (1916); Pursued (1947); Rosita (1923); Sadie Thompson (1928); Sailor's Luck (1933); Salty O'Rourke (1945); San Antonio (1945); Sands of Fate (1914); Saskatchewan (1954); Sea Devils (1953); Serenade (1921); Should a Husband Forgive? (1919); Sierra Jim's Reformation (1914); Silver River (1948); Siren of Hell (1915); Spendthrift (1936); St. Louis Blues (1939); Stallion Road (1947); The Angel of Contention (1914); The Artist's Wife (1915); The Availing Prayer (1914); The Baited Trap (1914); The Banker's Daughter (1914); The Big Trail (1930); The Bowery (1933); The Buried Hand (1915); The Celestial Code (1915); The Cock-Eyed World (1929); The Comeback (1915); The Conqueror (1917); The Death Dice (1915); The Deep Purple (1920); The Delta Factor (1970); The Detective's Stratagem (1913); The Dishonored Medal (1914); The Double Deception (1915); The Double Knot (1914); The Enforcer (1951); The Exposure (1914); The Fatal Black Bean (1915); The Fencing Master (1915); The Final Verdict (1914); The Greaser (1915); The Great Leap: Until Death Do Us Part (1914); The Honor System (1917); The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945); The Innocent Sinner (1917); The King and Four Queens (1956); The Lady of the Harem (1926); The Lawless Breed (1952); The Life of General Villa (1914); The Little Country Mouse (1914); The Lone Cowboy (1915); The Love Pirate (1915); The Loves of Carmen (1927); The Lucky Lady (1926); The Man I Love (1946); The Man Who Came Back (1931); The Monkey Talks (1927); The Mystery of the Hindu Image (1914); The Naked and the Dead (1958); The Oath (1921); The Old Fisherman's Story (1914); The Only Clue (1914); The Outlaw's Revenge (1915); The Pride of New York (1917); The Pseudo Prodigal (1913); The Rebellion of Kitty Belle (1914); The Red Dance (1928); The Regeneration (1915); The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956); The Roaring Twenties (1939); The Second Mrs. Roebuck (1914); The Serpent (1916); The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958); The Silent Lie (1917); The Smuggler (1915); The Spaniard (1925); The Stranger (1913); The Strawberry Blonde (1941); The Strongest (1920); The Tall Men (1955); The Thief of Bagdad (1924); The Unpainted Portrait (1914); The Wanderer (1925); The Woman and the Law (1918); The World in His Arms (1952); The Yellow Ticket (1931); They Died with Their Boots On (1941); They Drive by Night (1940); They Never Knew (1914); This Is the Life (1917); Uncertain Glory (1944); Under Pressure (1935); What Price Glory (1926); When Fate Frowned (1914); When Thief Meets Thief (1937); White Heat (1949); Who Shot Bud Walton? (1914); Wild Girl (1932); Women of All Nations (1931); You're in the Army Now (1937).

Recommended reading - Unknown Man #89, by Elmore Leonard (1977):


Unknown Man #89

By Elmore Leonard.

Published by Mariner Books.
First published 1977.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 006218928X
ISBN-13: 978-0062189288

Description:

“The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever!” – The New York Times Book Review.

“An absolute master.” – The Detroit News.

“No one is Leonard’s equal,” declares the Chicago Tribune – and anyone who might doubt it would only have to read Elmore Leonard’s riveting noir classic, Unknown Man #89, to become a true believer.

Detroit process server Jack Ryan has a reputation for being the best in the business at finding people who don't want to be found. Now he's looking for a missing stockholder known only as "Unknown Man No. 89." But his missing man isn't "unknown" to everyone: a pretty blonde hates his guts and a very nasty dude named Royal wants him dead in the worst way. Which is very unfortunate for Jack Ryan, who is suddenly caught in the crossfire of a lethal triple-cross and as much a target as his nameless prey.

The twisty tale of a Detroit process server whose search for a missing stockholder leads him into more serious peril than he ever imagined possible, Unknown Man #89 is a gourmet stew of mystery, suspense, and double and triple cross, peppered with the razor-sharp dialogue for which Grand Master Leonard is justifiably famous.

Exhilarating old-school crime fiction that the late, great John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Robert Parker would have been proud to call their own, Unknown Man #89 is a gem – nothing less than we’d expect from the man who created the incomparable U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of the hit TV series Justified.

Harold Ross, on writing:


I asked Ring Lardner the other day how he writes his short stories,
and he said he wrote a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece on paper
and then went back and filled in the spaces.

- Harold Ross.

Monday, March 10, 2025

On this day in movie history - Confessions of a Good Samaritan (2023):


Confessions of a Good Samaritan

documentary directed and written by Penny Lane,
was released at the South by Southwest Film Festival in the United States on March 10, 2023.
Music by Carolina Eyck.

Cast:

Penny Lane.

On this day in television history - Justified (2015):


Justified

Season 6. Episode 8.
Episode entitled: Dark as a Dungeon.
Released March 10, 2015.
Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton.
Written by Graham Yost, Chris Provenzano, VJ Boyd, Keith Schreier.
Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.
Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Jere Burns, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Walton Goggins, Mary Steenburgen, Garret Dillahunt, Justin Welborn, Ryan Dorsey, Jeff Fahey, Don McManus, Sam Elliott, Jonathan Kowalsky, Christopher Boyer, Jackie Cornett, Russell Bertolino, Raymond J. Barry.