All the old farts like me, do you miss the long gone actors at the Oscars?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

I'm 58 and have watched the Oscars all my life. Most of the actors now have died or faded away, but I don't feel so old. I guess that's because I was a kid when the big names were Bogart and Cagney and Hepburn and Tracy and Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner and all of those people. I just miss a seeing those faces in the audience.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I saw Mickey Rooney in the audience. He lost his baby face though.

[Kire]

2. I like your sig.

I'm going to be 30 in June. In some ways, I'm starting to know how you feel, believe it or not.

Is it me, or have there been an unusually high number of celebrity deaths this past year? And next week it will be somebody else. It's pretty sad, but we'll never forget these people who have meant so much to us, no matter how far into hell the present day world falls into.

After the supernova, there won't even be dust left.

O8)

[charlyvi]

3. Yes.

William Holden, Jimmy Stewart, Mitchum (he was nominated for Ryan's Daughter, I think). Ah well, we're lucky we are old enough to have seen them live!

[PartyPooper]

4. I miss all of them...especially Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly

and, David Niven. The list goes on and on!

:cry:

[DrZeeLit]

13. Gosh, I really miss David Niven. Honest, I just felt bad for a moment.

And Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant.
Clark Gable wasn't that old when he died.
And those fabulous women -- Kate Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colburn.

I could go on and on. I love old movies.

And I just turned 53.

[kskiska]

5. I know what you mean.

It's difficult to realize they're almost all gone. Somehow those people were "bigger" and more glamorous than today's celebrities. I guess the studio system did its job.

[Seabiscuit]

6. I have to agree with you all - I'm 59.

[Robeson]

7. Simply, yes.

[n2mark]

8. I'm 63

miss the oldtimers. Acting is not the same anymore, they are missed.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

9. Good thing we haven't aged

and are still around to watch these young whipper snappers...as Henry Fonda said in Golden Pond, "Who are these people?"

[asjr]

10. 58 is not an old fart. I am almost 73 and I am an

old fartess. But the Oscars of yesteryear were great.

[CBHagman]

11. Sidney Lumet almost made up for it.

When he received his Lifetime Achievement Oscar, he gave one of the classiest speeches I've ever heard on an awards program. He spoke of his gratitude to all the great people who had come before him in film and so inspired him -- Buster Keaton, Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond, Phil and Julius Epstein. God love him for mentioning the Epstein twins, who wrote/improved so many classic film scripts! What a gracious, respectful approach.

There's been a slight shift in the Academy Awards the past few years, and now it seems as though we are just losing the last grip on the old Hollywood and even on the pool of talent who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. It all leaves me a little sad and angry.

That said, there are some fantastic talents working today, and not always acknowledged or celebrated.

[TrustingDog]

12. I'm am old fart too, but the people you list...

were not all that talented. :(
just that there were fewer of them at the time.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

17. Believe me, I am not putting down the talent of the younger generation;

I think they are fantastic and inspired actors. I just sort of miss the old faces who inspired them.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

14. My 70 year old mother got bored.

She is an old movie freak too.
She misses the glamour of the Hollywood from her youth.
She adored Van Johnson (who never returned her fan letter).

[Zen Democrat]

15. The actors today are BETTER than in the Golden Years.

And I qualify as one who has watched movies for 40 years. Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman and Sean Penn are exceedingly more talented than Bob Mitchum, Jimmy Cagney,Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner. I will say that Bette Davis is probably the greatest actress in the history of the movies, and Liz was wonderful in her day.

The old "star" system probably destroyed more great actors than it produced. What it produced were one-dimentional personalities rather than true actors. The actors had to fight hard for their artistic freedom, and I think it has paid off to the benefit of us all.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

18. agreed for the most part...but I will argue for Cagney

who called himself "just an old hoofer". He was best known for a bad guy in the old shoot 'em ups, but did you ever see him in Yankee Doodle Dandy? Classic.

[CBHagman]

21. My grandmother said Cagney captured Cohan.

My grandmother was a minor actress and had seen the real George M. Cohan perform. According to my father, my grandmother said James Cagney succeeded brilliantly in his portrayal of Cohan.

[NYCGirl]

31. And I'll stand up for Mitchum. He was fucking brilliant!

Even in bad films, Mitch just shone.

[charlyvi]

19. Yes, actors today are better at their craft,

and I wouldn't change that; they are no longer "stars" in the depression era sense of the word. That's a good thing, but it's understandable to feel some nostalgia for the presence of Davis, Crawford, Cagney, Stewart, Grant, Bogart, etc. They played themselves, true enough, but they had great charisma, glamor and movie presence. Brando, whom I regard as the greatest movie actor of all time, pretty much changed that. After him, it wasn't good enough to play yourself anymore.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

24. I always thought Rod Steiger was the most incredible actor...

in every one of his roles, I never recognized him from a previous character he had played...from a Russian imperialist scum (Dr. Zhivago) to a pawn broker (Pawn Broker) to a racist southern cop (In the Heat of the Night) to a fat momma's boy (help me out on the title of this movie). He was the ultimate character actor.

[charlyvi]

26. As I said in another thread,

The Pawnbroker broke my heart. I've seen it countless times and it gets to me always. He deserved the Oscar he won for that part.

[micrometer_50]

43. Don't forget - in the movie

Oklahoma Rod Steiger was boffo as Jud Fry.

Poor Jud is dead . . .

[Robeson]

22. I beg to differ....

Marlon Brando "one dimentional"? No. Rod Stieger "one dimentional"? No. Montgomery Clift "one dimentional"? No. Eli Wallach "one dimentional"? No. Leslie Howard "one dimentional"? No. Paul Newman "one dimentional"? No. Paul Muni "one dimentional"? No. Melvin Douglas "one dimentional"? No. And I could go on, and on , and on....

Of course, this does not even mention the women actresses, who blow away any of the cardboard cutouts that pose for actresses today, perhaps with the exception of Meril Streep. Hell, they don't even make roles for women nowadays. Back then, they had equal billing. Movies were even written for women back then....imagine that.

Sorry, but I would disagree with your statement.

[charlyvi]

25. To be fair,

I don't include Brando, Newman, Steiger, Wallach and Clift in the old "star" category. It's even hard to imagine that Brando was acting in the '40s, he seems so modern. As I said in the above post, Brando changed movie acting; it wasn't good enough to play yourself anymore.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

28. Not to mention Lawrence Olivier...

Just how one sided were his performances?

[Robeson]

30. The fact is, they are "old" stars....

...and do you think some high school kid nowadays whos in love with Beyonce, or likes Leanardo, knows a thing about those actors? Have they ever even heard of Eli Wallach? The very question is rhetorical.

My post was based on the original whom the poster said they had been watching movies for "40" years, and that those actors didn't measure up to the newer ones. Thats simply a statement which I, and I'm sure many others - including Roger Ebert - just wouldn't agree with....Certainly the original poster is entitled to his opinion, but thats all it is...

[charlyvi]

36. Roger Ebert

will attest to the fact that Brando was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, movie actor--actor, not star---of all time. Brando is modern in his craft. That's normally the bend point between the "old" star system and the modern era of acting. Brando measures up to any actor of today--On the Waterfront, Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata. These performances are studied in acting workshops today. There could be no Depp, De Niro, Hoffman, Di Caprio without Brando. And kids today know him--even if only for The Godfather.

On edit--I agree that most kids today wouldn't know Steiger, Clift, Wallach. But they do know Brando. The threads are getting confusing and it's late.

:hug:

[Robeson]

38. But thats the problem of the arguement....

....great acting can't be viewed like a USC acting course on the history of Hollywood, in which "this" actor or "that" actress falls within the timeline of the "old" system or the "new" breed. Great acting, is great acting. Its not chronoligical. We weren't here to see the Booth family. Perhaps they could have blown any actor away if given the circumstance. We weren't here to see the original actors of Shakespear's theater. Again, great acting, is great acting. Marlon Brando didn't invent it, and just because he supposedly was one of the first "method" actors, doesn't make him the best. But, he was great. As was Henry Fonda, as was James Stewart, as were the Barrymore's. This is a circular arguement, in which anyone one names, the other can name as many. Appreciate the art for what it is...

On edit: I saw your on edit, and :hug: to you too!

[charlyvi]

39. The style of acting changed.

The older movies were great, and they had actors who were great in a different way. Surely you can see the difference. It doesn't mean they were bad, they were simply a different style of acting. The older actors played themselves pretty much. That's not a bad thing, just different from today. I loved Davis, Cagney, Bogart, Grant, Robinson. But the style of acting was more external--less realistic. I never said Brando invented acting, he just acted in a different style. A style that overwhelmed the acting profession and is still practiced today. If anyone today made an entrance in a movie the was Davis did in Jezebel, the audience would think they were watching a parody of old movies. It was fresh and great at the time, but it was more Davis making an entrance than the character making an entrance. There is a distinctive difference between acting before Brando's era and after. They can both be appreciated for what they are, but the craft itself was better after.

And I do not view acting as a course on the history of Hollywood. With that, I'm going to bed. I have to work tomorrow. Goodbye.

[Robeson]

40. Again, I wouldn't agree with you characterzations of the....

...abilities of the "older" actors. But that is a difference of our opinions. Good night!

[Zen Democrat]

27. You miss my point --Brando and Steiger were revolutionaries.

And Paul Newman was and is a genius of their stature. And Elizabeth Taylor. They led the way in smashing the studio dictatorships of the day. They are part of the "new breed."

I love Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable -- but they were never allowed to break out of their molds until late in their careers. Spencer Tracy was to die for -- as was Bogart -- but they were always Tracy and Bogart in their movies.

When did Joan Crawford ever play soft and vulnerable?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

29. so despite our personal preferences

it boils down to this...the good ones were really good and deserved the accolades.

[NYCGirl]

32. I agree (especially about Muni), and JOHN GARFIELD...

who was one of the first "Method" actors in Hollywood.

[CBHagman]

34. Garfield was just amazing.

Too few people know about him, but generations of actors stand on his shoulders...

[NYCGirl]

35. Absolutely! NT

[Zen Democrat]

16. Dupe

[faithnotgreed]

20. im in my 30s and i looooove old movies - and actors like james mason

bette davis
cary grant ("in name only" is one of his classics)
irene dunne
ida lupino
robert ryan
barbara stanwyck
hattie mcdaniel

and heres to ossie davis.....

[Legolassie]

23. I'm 16, and *I* miss actors of Gregory Peck's caliber. nt

[alarimer]

33. I know what you mean

I keep thinking "Johnny Depp- 21 Jump Street Johnny Depp- how did HE ge nominated??" Or even Jamie Foxx- I haven't seen Ray and I am sure he deserves it but I remember him from In Living Color and that show sucked...
I think that todays's movies pale in comparison to the classics as do the actors.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

37. Thanks for your input...I loved watching the Oscars and at the same time

including some of the old names. Let's do it again next year when we are still as young as we are now!(and hopefully everyone else will still be around)

[BrotherBuzz]

41. I was young then...

My first real memory of the Oscars was when Gregory Peck won best actor in "To Kill a Mockingbird" back in 1962. Atticus Finch seemed like an old man to me back in those days, yet today I'm older then he was when he did the movie. Hmmm, I guess I'm am becoming an old fart, too.

[GalleryGod]

42. We Used to Throw Oscar Parties at My House!

:bounce: It was on Monday Nights back then,too!:bounce:

So much fun! Now...No Parties and actresses are screaming out thanks to their PUBLICISTS :puke: and LAWYERS:puke: over the Exit Music!

You Blew it,Hillary:argh: A-gain!