The Golden Age of Movies Comes to Kent State

Gina Wilhelm Actress - The Golden Age of Movies Comes to Kent State

Ann Rutherford is pleased to find that "'Gone with the Wind' has almost become an entity unto itself."

Rutherford will talk about her extensive career when she visits Kent State University on April 30th. Her speech is titled "Tales of Hollywood's Golden Age."

She had had a long career, starring in several films before she played Careen O'Hara, Scarlett's younger sister, in "Gone with the Wind."

She played Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy movies and was in a series of movies starring Red Skelton.

She was also in the 1938 "A Christmas Carol" and "Pride and Prejudice" in 1940 at MGM.

She feels it was good sense to take the "nothing part" in "Gone with the Wind."

One day she received a telephone call from Louis B. Mayer, father-in-law of producer David O. Selznick. Mayer told Rutherford he didn't want her to take the part.

Mayer didn't want her to do the movie because the part was so small and she was already a star in her own right.

Mayer couldn't remember what the movie was about, but Rutherford was able to figure out that it was "Gone with the Wind" and begged to be allowed in the cast.

She says 10-1/2 hours were filmed but got edited down. She says that luckily all of her scenes were at Tara, and Scarlett always had to come back to Tara.

Rutherford retired in 1950, though she came out of retirement in 1972 for "They Only Kill Their Masters," which was filmed on her old "Andy Hardy" set.

Now she travels a lot to speak about her career. She's pleased to see more young people coming to her talks.

"Fortunately, I love traveling," she says.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Randy Graff's Moving Experience

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Randy Graff's Moving Experience

The big thing on the Internets this week has been the moving video of Susan Boyle, the unemployed 47-year-old contestant on "Britain's Got Talent."

Boyle says she's never been married and never even been kissed, but that didn't stop her from absolutely blowing the judges away with her performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables."

Randy Graff, who played Fantine was in the original 1987 Broadway cast of that play (and sang "I Dreamed a Dream") revealed to "Extra" that she was deeply affected by Boyle's performance.

Graff said "She thought Susan was wonderfully talented."

The actress told "Extra" that she had been moved to tears.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Anna Faris, Funny Woman

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Anna Faris, Funny Woman

Anna Faris, the star of now-open "Observe and Report" says she would far rather have fans think of her as funny than hot.

She says "I've never felt that comfortable in my own skin." She started off in dramatic roles, but has gotten very popular in comic roles.

While working on "Scary Movie" she was taught by Keenen Ivory Wayans that there is no vanity in comedy.

She also says she'd be willing to be naked for a comic role, though she doesn't find female nudity particularly funny (indicating she perhaps feels otherwise about male nudity).

Faris says she's a "homebody," which is why she's rarely captured by paparazzi. She finds it a surprise when her picture is taken by one.

However, she makes a point of not looking at tabloids.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Shelli Boone Premieres One-Woman Show

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Shelli Boone Premieres One-Woman Show

Shelli Boone's new play, "Out West: Women of the Plains," will be opening Friday, May 1, at Playhouse Theatre Players in Downtown Los Angeles.

Boone wrote and produced the show, in which she portrays women during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Boone has been nominated for an NAACP Award and made her on-screen debut co-hosting BET's "Mad Sports." She has also appeared in "Saints and Sinners," "Entourage," "Southland," and "House MD."

In addition to "Out West," she's also a series regular in the Comedy Central webisode "Hot Sluts: Rated R!"

In "Out West," among other figures, Boone portrays Clara Brown, who was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

She als0 plays Elisabeth Coleman, who was the first African-American woman to become an aviator, and Maria Rita Valdez, who was the first owner of Beverly Hills.

She brings to life Cathay Williams, who dressed as a man to serve in the Buffalo Soldiers.

The play runs through May 9.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Helen Mirren At The Movies

Gina Wilhelm Actress -Helen Mirren at the Movies

Helen Mirren is keeping busy these days. She's about to appear in "State of Play," starring Russell Crowe.

She likens the films to the Hollywood thrillers of the '70s. It's based on the 2003 British miniseries by the same name. In it, she plays Crowe's newspaper-editor boss.

She takes over the role played on TV by Bill Nighy.

In addition to that, she's currently working on the movies "The Debt" and a remake of Israeli film "Hahov."

She's also wrapped filming on "Love Ranch," "The Last Station," and "The Tempest."

For "The Tempest," directed by Julie Taymor, Mirren will play Prospero-or rather, Prospera.

In all other respects, she says, it's a very traditional take on the story.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Lupe Ontiveros Breaks Molds

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Lupe Ontiveros Breaks Molds

Lupe Ontiveros has been acting for decades, having appeared in such television programs as "Charlie's Angels" and "Who's the Boss?" However, in that career, she's played a maid 150 times.

She realizes that she gets a lot of parts because of her "indigenous" look, but she's also against getting parts that just reinforce Latina stereotypes.

She is pleased with one maid role: Rosalita in "The Goonies." The film has a cult following, and 30-year-olds still love that movie and the character.

It upsets her when she goes to auditions and directors want a thick "waddly" accent.

She broke out of the maid role in the 1983 film "El Norte," which she hails as "'The Godfather' of immigration films."

In it, she plays an illegal immigrant working in a sewing factory who takes the leading lady under her wing.

She has a dramatic scene in that film where she pleads with the woman's brother after the woman gets sick.

She was also able to get a non-maid role when she appeared in Mike White's "Chuck & Buck." She auditioned for a role originally written for a white woman.

Years later, when White was casting the show "Pasadena," he debated whether to see Ontiveros for a maid role in that.

He was afraid she wouldn't want to be offered a maid role, but she wanted to work with White again. And of course, she wanted to work.

She points out that the younger generation of Latina actresses have different choices and more opportunities than she did.

She longs to play judges or lesbians or councilmembers. She will get to play a wealthy grandmother in an upcoming episode of "Reaper."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Remembering Jane O'Brien Dart

Gina Wilhem Actress - Remembering Jane O'Brien Dart

Jane O'Brien Dart passed away recently at the age of 90. Although she stopped acting in 1939 to get married, she had a highly successful career.

She was renamed Jane Bryan by Warner Bros. when she signed her contract with them in 1936.

Bette Davis took the young actress under her wing, and Dart got to play Davis' younger sister in 1937's "Marked Woman."

In his "All Movie Guide," Hal Erickson said Dart was "far more effective in roles calling for disillusionment in pathos" than Davis.

Erickson hailed her performance in "We Are Not Alone" as her finest.

She appeared with Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman, in "Brother Rat" and "Brother Rat and a Baby." The latter film was her last.

In 1939, she married Justin Dart, who would take over Rexall Drugs and who eventually convinced Reagan to go into a career in politics.

Justin Dart's nickname for his wife was "Punky."

Together, the Darts collected 70 artworks, which they donated to the Monterey Museum of Art.

On her marriage and retirement from acting, the Los Angeles Times ran the story under the headline, "Love Triumphs Over Career."

Maybe, but in fewer than five years, she had been in nearly 20 films.

Gina Wilhelm Actress