Robert Shaw

He delivered stern, raucous, steely-eyed performances, full of mischief, temperament and arrogance.  When he was in a scene, it was pretty difficult to watch anyone else.  While he began acting in the late 40s, he didn't really come into his own until the 70s and then he seemed to be everywhere.  It might have gone on forever, but sadly Robert Shaw was dead by the end of the decade.

REVIEW: A United Kingdom

Directed by Amma Asante
2017 Biographical Romance Drama
1 hour 51 minutes
From Fox Searchlight

Starring
David Oyelowo
Rosamund Pike
Jack Davenport
Tom Felton
Terry Pheton
Laura Carmichael
Vusi Kunene
Jessica Oyelowo

Good 70s Films: Murder on the Orient Express

1974 Mystery
From Paramount Pictures
Directed by Sidney Lumet

Starring
Albert Finney
Lauren Bacall
Martin Balsam
Ingrid Bergman
Jacqueline Bisset
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Sean Connery
John Gielgud
Wendy Hiller
Anthony Perkins
Denis Quilley
Vanessa Redgrave
Rachel Roberts
Richard Widmark
Michael York

Claire Bloom

The bloom is still on this English rose. She would fit into most any decade I am highlighting in these pages because she started movie acting in the late 1940s and made a movie for television as late as two years ago.  There is a delicacy about her lovely looks but she was always tougher and more resilient than perhaps many people gave her credit for.  I think the greatest compliment to bestow upon her is the great respect she has been accorded over the years.  Any production is most lucky to have Claire Bloom.

Peter Finch

When in 1954 I heard that Elizabeth Taylor and rampaging pachyderms were going to split open the silver screen in Elephant Walk, we know I had to go.  I was a wee bit of a thing but I knew a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Playing her rather childish, boozy husband was Peter Finch.  I had no idea who he was and he's lucky I paid any attention to him at all considering his competition.  His character seemed bedeviled and oh so moody.  I guessed that the actor was that way, too.  I thought I was on to something.

REVIEW: Fifty Shades Darker

Directed by James Foley
2017 Drama
1 hour 58 minutes
From Universal Pictures

Starring
Dakota Johnson
Jamie Dornan
Eric Johnson
Eloise Mumford
Rita Ora
Max Martini
Luke Grimes
Marcia Gay Harden
Kim Basinger

Glenda Jackson

She burst onto the world scene in the late 1960s with her independence, intelligence, slightly androgynous looks and saucer-like, mocha nipples, all of which were in full bloom in most of her subsequent movies. For my money, I didn't think I'd ever seen anyone quite like her. The 1970s were unquestionably her most acclaimed decade. By the early 1990s she was doing TV movies and then said goodbye to it all and went into politics.  What a career!  What an actress! What a woman!

Good 70s Films: Sunday Bloody Sunday

1971 Drama
From MGM-United Artists
Directed by John Schlesinger

Starring
Peter Finch
Glenda Jackson
Murray Head
Vivian Pickles
Peggy Ashcroft
Bessie Love