Oh Joan, oh Joan! My darling Joan! Gone too soon! Only 96 years old! Poor thing. How I’ll miss that little lopsided bitch face. She was one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE Old Hollywood stars, of course. I love that she hated her sister, Olivia de Haviland, with a white hot burning passion (can’t blame her, that mewling little bitch always makes me want to put a foot in her face, too). Yes, I’m upset about Peter O’Toole, but poor Joan seems to be forgotten in the ensuing hue and cry. Peter’s getting all the press, but in the spirit of inclusion, here’s a retrospective of Joan’s cool beauty and passive/agressive performances from Rebecca, Suspicion, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Born to Be Bad, Ivy, Jane Eyre, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Letter From An Unknown Woman, and The Women.
Also lost in the mix, is the passing of tough-talking film noir dame Audrey Totter. She was 95 and had recently had a stroke. From ABC News: “Totter was under contract with MGM starting in 1944. After landing a small part in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Totter went on to a series of roles as mouthy blondes.Her breakthrough came with Lady in the Lake, the 1947 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe detective tale. She also appeared in the thriller The Unsuspected and the boxing drama The Set-Up.” Here she is being a total bitch in The Unsuspected (wearing THE NECKLACE OF LIFE).
And finally, Mr Peter O’Toole, the man whose first AND last name means penis. You’re seeing a lot of Lawrence Arabia clips on the news, blah blah blah. And yes, those eyes were a lovely shade of Technicolor blue, and possibly no one has ever looked better in a dishdash than he, but enough already. Instead, check out his famous scream from The Ruling Class. As a paranoid schizophrenic who alternately believes he is God and Jack the Ripper, it’s as creepy and compelling a performance as he ever gave. Definitely worth watching, if you get the chance.
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