News and Notes

The Eerie Death of Branwell Bronte

2010-03-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

Did Branwell Bronte really die standing up?

So says Somerset Maugham.

We mentioned earlier that Maugham lists Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights in his book on the 10 greatest novels of all time. Emily was preceded in death (barely) by her older brother Branwell, and Maugham relates a curious anecdote about his death.

The setup: Branwell was hired to tutor the children of a wealthy clergyman, Mr. Edmund Robinson. "Mr. Robinson was an elderly invalid with a youngish wife and Branwell, though she was seventeen years older than he, fell in love with her and she with him."

Mr. Robinson discovered the affair and ordered his wife never to see Branwell again. Branwell, despairing, turned to booze and opium.

But! The clergyman died. Branwell was given sudden hope that he would be reunited with his lover -- until a letter from her arrived the next day, begging him to stay away forever. The old man had arranged it that she would lose her new fortune and the custody of her children if she saw him even once.

Maugham describes what happened next:

Branwell proceeded to drink himself to death. When he knew the end was come, wanting to die standing, he insisted upon getting up. He had only been in bed a day. Charlotte was so upset that she had to be led away, but her father, Anne and Emily looked on while he rose to his feet and after a struggle that lasted twenty minutes died, as he wished, standing.

Yowza!

Maugham does add a qualifier:

I should warn the reader that this account of Branwell's love and death is such as was gathered from persons who may be supposed to have known the facts; but the author of the article on the Brontes in the English Dictionary of National Biography, writing many years after the event, claims that there is no truth in it. Perhaps with a little more imagination and less bile against Branwell he might not have been so positive.

Maugham's right: the standing-up tale is too good to debunk.

There's no dispute that Emily's death followed Branwell's in short order:

Emily never went out of doors after the Sunday following his death. She was ill. "Her reserved nature occasions me great uneasiness," Charlotte wrote to a friend. "It is useless to question her; you get no answers. It is still more useless to recommend remedies; they are never adopted." When a doctor was sent for she would not see him. She made no complaints; she wanted neither sympathy nor help. She would let no one do anything for her, and when anyone tried resented it.

One morning she got up, dressed herself and began to sew; she was short of breath and her eyes were glazed, but she went on working. She grew steadily worse and at midday asked for a doctor. It was too late. At two she died.

Those high-strung writers.

Oscar Wrap-Up

2010-03-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

The LA Times blog The Envelope has it all pretty well covered.

California Sen. Roy Ashburn: 'I'm Gay'

2010-03-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

If the aftermath of a politician being arrested for drunk driving can be called refreshing, this story is refreshing:

"I'm gay," [Sen. Roy] Ashburn told KERN host Inga Barks in an interview this morning. "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long."

Ashburn made the admission even though he has a long history of voting against gay rights. Can't have been easy; good for him.

Are you listening, Larry Craig?

Christopher Plummer Flirts Across the Generations

2010-03-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

First-time Oscar nominee Christopher Plummer made the most of awards season this year. Here's the 80-year-old actor at the Oscars last night, charming his The Last Station co-star, Helen Mirren...

...and in November, charming his Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus co-star, Lily Cole.

Mirren is 64, Cole is 21. (Cole, for the curious, is 5'10" without heels.)

Photos of Christopher Plummer not flirting with co-stars >>

Credit: WENN; FayesVision/WENN

Just a Nice Photo: Patrick Dempsey

2010-03-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Actor Patrick Dempsey greets a fan before driving in the Miami Grand Prix on Saturday.

More photos of Patrick Dempsey >>

Photo: Jeff Daly / WENN.com

Crucial Oscar News

2010-03-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Kathy Ireland "wasn't on meds."

Photo: WENN

How Jeff Bridges Met His Wife

2010-03-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it is for women or for other guys, but when I was young and in my 20s, I had a fear of marriage. I thought it was a giant step toward death. So I did everything in my power to resist it -- the idea was frightening to me, man. Then I met Susan Geston in 1974 while I was shooting the film Rancho Deluxe in Montana, up in Paradise Valley at Chico Hot Springs, and I thought, Now, this is interesting.

Jeff Bridges tells Reader's Digest (!) about meeting his wife in 1974. They've been married since 1977.

Here they are at the Academy Awards in 2010, just before Jeff Bridges won his Oscar for Crazy Heart. And below, another lovely shot in the rain at the Golden Globe Awards in January 2010.

More photos of Jeff Bridges >>

(Photos: WENN and FayesVision/WENN)

How Old is Kathryn Bigelow?

2010-03-08T05:13:00.000-08:00

How old is Kathryn Bigelow? She's 58 years old.

Kathryn Bigelow was born on 27 November 1951. (The same year as Sting and Jill Biden.)

That's Bigelow at center above with screenwriter Mark Boal (l) and fellow producer Greg Shapiro. She's holding two Oscars -- one as best director, and one as producer of The Hurt Locker, which was named best film of the year.

Bigelow is the first woman ever to win the Academy Award as best director. Above, she poses for Oscar photographers after the win.

Kathryn Bigelow also was named best director at the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards on February 21st. The Hurt Locker also took home the gold mask there as best film.

(Note: Her name is sometimes misspelled as Katherine Bigelow or Catherine Bigelow. But Kathryn is correct.)

More photos of Kathryn Bigelow >>

(Photos: WENN)

Oscar Winners 2010 - PHOTOS

2010-03-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

The Oscars have been chosen and the Academy has spoken. Here are the winners of the acting and directing Oscars, as they arrived at the Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Kathryn Bigelow, winner of the best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker. Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman ever to win the Academy Award as best director. The Hurt Locker also won the Oscar as best picture of 2009.

Mo'Nique, winner of the Oscar as best supporting actress for Precious, with her husband Sidney Hicks.

Jeff Bridges, winner of the best actor Oscar for Crazy Heart, with his wife Susan. They met in 1977 while he was filming Rancho Deluxe and she was a ranch maid.

Sandra Bullock, winner of the Oscar as best actress for The Blind Side.

Christoph Waltz, winner of the best supporting actor Oscar for Inglorious Basterds. We didn't get a photo of Waltz from the red carpet, so here he is, quite happy, after his win.

(Images supplied by WENN.)

Where's Buzz? At the Pre-Oscar Party at Beso!

2010-03-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and wife Lois Driggs Cannon, at OK! magazine's pre-Oscar party at the "Latin steak house" Beso. (It does look like a cool joint.)

Credit: RHS/WENN.com

Best Picture Oscar: Hooray for 10 Nominees!

2010-03-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

Whatever happens at the Oscars tonight, having 10 best picture nominees is already a huge win. It's such a relief. It's SO much more fun.

Adding five movies doesn't really dilute the field, first of all. 417 movies were released in the U.S. in 2009, so with 10 total nominees we're still above the 97th percentile.

What we gain is color, unpredictability, and that all-American theme of plucky underdogs getting their shot at the big prize.

And what we really gain is fun. The five-film limit always led voters to winnow the field to "important" movies, quite possibly leaving out the movies they actually enjoyed most. Jump back 10 years and look at the Oscar lineup for best picture:

American Beauty (winner)
The Cider House Rules
The Green Mile
The Insider
The Sixth Sense

Ugh. Not much life there.

Well-made movies and "weighty" movies, sure. The Sixth Sense had a wow ending, at least. But when the themes of your other nominees are middle-class ennui, abortion, death row, and tobacco industry corruption, you've got a soporific lineup.

But! Suppose we could go back and add five more films from that same year. Now your Oscar nominees for the best picture of 1999 are:

American Beauty
The Matrix
The Cider House Rules
The Blair Witch Project
The Green Mile
Three Kings
The Insider
Being John Malkovich
The Sixth Sense
Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo

Just kidding about Deuce Bigalow. But you get the picture: Suddenly it's a great year at the movies. Suddenly you can root for a picture you really liked instead of a ponderous flick that was "heavy" enough to qualify.

With that lineup, does anyone really think American Beauty takes the prize? I don't. I bet it's Being John Malkovich. Because with such a range of nominees, I bet voters think, "Which movie just really blew me away this year?"

You could argue that's not a fitting way to choose the best picture. But don't tell me that the expanded list isn't a lot more fun.

For proof, do the same experiment in reverse: imagine only five nominees this year. The result would probably look like this:

Avatar
~~The Blind Side~~
~~District 9~~
~~An Education~~
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
~~Up in the Air~~

District 9 and Up In the Air are just the kinds of movies that got left out in the past. District 9 because it's too independent, too "out there" (and maybe too violent), and Up in the Air because because voters knew they could reward it with nominations for screenplay and supporting actress instead.

Well, darn it, it's more fun with those movies in there. And they deserve it.

So: well done, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences! Good call!

(Note: If The Blind Side wins, I take back this entire opinion.)

Christopher Walken Reads Lady Gaga

2010-03-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

Another fine performance by Christopher Walken, reading Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" on BBC.

The video is here.

Alfred Hitchcock's Cameo Appearances

2010-03-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Alfred Hitchcock cameos from (nearly) all his films, courtesy of fan Roy van der Zwaan:

The Ten Greatest Novels of All Time (1948 Edition)

2010-03-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

I am holding in my hand (courtesy of Cincinnati's Mercantile Library) a first edition of Great Novelists and Their Novels, in which author W. Somerset Maugham names his 10 greatest novels of all time.

Maugham published the book in 1948. He turned 74 that year. He had been writing novels for 50 years, since Liza of Lambeth in 1897, so presumably he knew what was what in novel-writing if anyone did. Hemingway was a slacker compared to Maugham, and Fitzgerald (born in 1896) was already eight years dead.

Here's how Maugham describes the book's birth:

"One day, while I was still in the United States, the Editor of Redbook asked me to make a list of what in my opinion were the ten best novels in the world. I did so, and thought no more about it."

(Aside: Redbook is still around. Its cover articles for March 2010: "Feel Sexier Tonight"; "Is Your Face Older Than You Are?"; "79 Instant Makeovers.")

Maugham continues:

"Some time later, an American publisher put before me the suggestion of reissuing these ten novels... with an introduction to each one written by me. The suggestion interested me, and I set to work."

Great Novelists and Their Novels is Maugham's collection of those 10 introductions, with his thoughts and gossip on the lives and working habits of each of the 10 authors.

So what are the ten books?

TOM JONES
Henry Fielding

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Jane Austen

THE RED AND THE BLACK
Stendhal

OLD MAN GORIOT
Honore de Balzac

DAVID COPPERFIELD
Charles Dickens

WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Emily Bronte

MADAME BOVARY
Gustave Flaubert

MOBY DICK
Herman Melville

WAR AND PEACE
Leo Tolstoy

THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Now then: if you have read all ten of these books, I would like to hear from you, and possibly shake your hand. One title -- Old Man Goriot -- I have never heard of at all, and another -- The Red and the Black -- I know only because Maugham speaks of it in other essays on the writer's art.

Last week I'd have bet serious money that I would have at least heard of every title on any list of the 10 greatest English novels. But Maugham has made a monkey of me -- twice, really.

He calls The Red and The Black "truly an amazing book." Stendhal borrowed the plot from a famous trial of the day, according to Maugham. It's the tale of a religious student who seduces the wife and daughter of two successive employers -- and who, because of his debaucheries, is then refused the chance to become a priest. He takes violent revenge on his old employers with a gun.

So perhaps there's a reason The Red and the Black isn't an Oprah selection these days.

As for Old Man Goriot, I see that other translations render the title as Father Goriot or simply Old Goriot. The plot isn't described by Maugham, who instead spends two dozen pages marveling over Balzac's quirks. Here he is on Balzac's longtime love, the wealthy widow Eveline Henska, and why she hesitated to marry him:

"Balzac was a notorious spendthrift; she may well have feared that he would play ducks and drakes with her fortune. He was always wanting money from her. He did not dip into her purse, he plunged both hands into it. She was rich and herself extravagant, but it is very different to fling your money about for your own pleasure and to have someone else fling it about for his."

"Play ducks and drakes with her fortune" -- heh!

Maugham doesn't rank his books 1-10, but he does say this: "I think Balzac is the greatest novelist the world has ever known, but I think Tolstoy's War and Peace is the greatest novel." In this, at least, Maugham proves himself conventional. War and Peace is the Citizen Kane of novels, widely beloved and widely unread.

But no matter. Mainly I'm fascinated that two books Somerset Maugham regarded so highly in 1948 have dropped off the radar so completely. Or am I the only reader who's never heard of Old Man Goriot?

James Cameron Saturday

2010-03-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

I went in and pitched it to the studio as Romeo and Juliet on a ship: "It's going to be this epic romance, passionate film." Secretly what I wanted to do was I wanted to dive to the real wreck of Titanic, and that's why I made the movie.

James Cameron tells the TED Conference about his fascination with diving and how it's affected his career.

See photos of James Cameron >>

(Hat tip: Mr. Duffy)

Stars and Their Mothers: Lee Daniels

2010-03-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

Precious director Lee Daniels and his mother. Cannes, 2009.

More photos of Lee Daniels >>

Photo: WENN

The Unruly Party That Turned Theodore Geisel into Dr. Seuss

2010-03-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

It happened while Theodore Geisel was editor of the Dartmouth humor magazine, the Jack-O-Lantern:

Geisel was very proud of his position as editor. But it's a title Geisel would lose one fateful night on campus.

"His senior year he decided to hold a party for all of the Jack-O-Lantern staff," Pease recounted.

Geisel's party got out of hand, thanks to a couple of unruly guests. As punishment, his name was stripped from the Jack-O-Lantern publication. But Geisel continued drawing for the magazine under pseudonyms; finally settling on Seuss.

Earlier: How did Dr. Seuss die?

How the "John Roberts Is Retiring" Rumor Got Started

2010-03-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

Nice bit of legwork by Above the Law.

(Hat tip: Daily Intel)

Birthday Twins: The Subcommander and the Supermodel

2010-03-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

Model Niki Taylor and actress Jolene Blalock both were born on March 5th in 1975. (Taylor in Miami, Blalock in San Diego.)

Niki Taylor was one of the hottest models of the 1990s, appearing in Sports Illustrated and nearly everywhere else. Her career was interrupted by the death of her sister Krissy in 1995 and then her own near-fatal cell-phone-related car crash in 2001.

Jolene Blalock played Subcommander T'Pol on Star Trek: Enterprise from 2001-05. She was a Vulcan in the Mr. Spock mode (though in the chronology of Star Trek she predates Spock). Blalock is shown here in both subcommander and non-subcommander incarnations.

Happy 35th birthday, ladies.

(Credits: Doug Meszler / WENN; Paramount Pictures; Jody Cortes / WENN)

Woody Crashes the Bush Party

2010-03-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

We've added a new biography of Woody Harrelson, just in time for the Oscars on Sunday night.

Turns out he was born in Midland, Texas -- the birthplace of Laura, Jeb, and Neil Bush. (George W. Bush was born in Connecticut.)

Neil, youngest of the Bush trio, was born in 1955, and Harrelson was born in 1961, so they probably never had a fistfight in the halls of Robert E. Lee High School or anything -- even if Neil got held back a grade or two. Not suggesting that Neil did, mind you. Just sayin'.

Here Come the Oscars

2010-03-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

The Oscars official YouTube channel doesn't allow you to see their many videos without going there. So go there.

Some of the best ones are the meetings of the nominees with the press. You can get a feel for how different the nominees are from each other, for one thing. Here are a few links:

Woody Harrelson, for example, looks a little out of place in a suit and tie, as you can see here.

Woody was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Messenger.

Then check out this video of the smooth-talking Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, the villain from Inglourious Basterds.

Gabourey Sidibe, in front of a room full of reporters here in her video, looks like she's been talking to the media for years. She made her debut in Precious

Maggie Gyllenhaal, a nominee for Crazy Heart, talks in her video about her bond with co-star Jeff Bridges.

And in his video, Bridges looks a little like he's playing the scene in The Big Lebowski where The Dude gets nominated for an Oscar.

St. Elsewhere's Opening Credits

2010-03-04T11:35:00.001-08:00

For absolutely no reason at all, here's a video of the opening credits to the '80s TV show St. Elsewhere (second season). Note the many familiar faces, from Ed Begley, Jr. to Denzel Washington:

Annals of Diplomacy: Donald Duck

2010-03-04T09:05:00.001-08:00

He's now a free bird in Oregon.

Johnny Depp! You Don't Have to Put on the Pasty Makeup!

2010-03-04T04:42:00.000-08:00

"There's no denying Depp's gifts and abilities, but this performance feels both indulgent and something we've all seen before."

"Johnny Depp brings doom and gloom to his role as the Mad Hatter."

"There isn't much to him, really -- he's just a smiling Johnny one-note with a secret hip-hop dance move -- and so we start to react to him the way that Alice does to everything else: by wondering when he's going to stop making nonsense."

Look, Tim Burton is not my cup of tea and never has been. Fine. He does his zany-nightmare visual thing and he has his audience. He doesn't need my approval.

But does he have to take Johnny Depp down with him?

Johnny, break free! Enough with the pasty-faced Edward Scissorhands, pasty-faced Willie Wonka, pasty-faced Sweeney Todd, pasty-faced (animated!) Corpse Bride husband, pasty-faced Mad Hatter! You could be doing so much more with your time than putting on pasty white makeup and acting crazy for Tim Burton!

Life is short. Less dolor and more Dillinger, please.

Stanley Tucci Is a Good Interview

2010-03-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes you do just have to go do a job to make money, and sometimes -- I think -- who was it? Was it Edward G. Robinson who said -- you did three movies a year. One for the location, one for the money, and one for the art."

Stanley Tucci, in an interview with Dark Horizons last year.

Stanley Tucci in Julie and Julia (2009)

Tucci is up for an Oscar on Sunday for The Lovely Bones. We've just finished a new profile of him, and I found myself really liking the guy. If nothing else, he's a very warm interview. It's hard to remember that for the first decade of his career, he was typecast as a heavy:

When Stanley Tucci -- who grew up in a suburb north of New York City -- began his career in the early 1980s, he was offered the same part over and over again.

"Yeah. Yeah. Italian mobsters. If you had dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair (when I had hair), that's what you were cast as."

He broke free of the mob by writing and directing his own film, Big Night, in 1996. Here's twelve Tucci minutes, talking about Big Night that year with Charlie Rose.