http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G_Y496IIQI

Philip Seymour Hoffman's Hollywood peers such as Kevin Costner, Steve Coogan, Gary Oldman, Steve McQueen, and Harry Connick Jr. talk about why he was a special presence on screen and "one of the greats."  Hoffman passed away on February 2, 2014, at the age of 46.

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Initial Reaction From Stars on Hoffman’s Legacy appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-gP9dzD4vw

Steven Spielberg is an American Director best known for his work on films including Jaws, E.T., Jurrasic Park, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg has won three Academy Awards for his work. In this video, actor Tom Hiddleston discusses being directed by Spielberg in the film War Horse. Of the experience, Hiddleston says: “I want you to de-age yourself by twenty years. SO you’re twenty-nine, and then you’re nine. Strip away the man and show me the boy. Kind of leave that with you. I thought that was one of the most heartbreaking pieces of direction I’d ever received. Just it’s so emotionally acute. In the middle of this action sequence, you know, this great, grand, epic, exciting, dramatic piece of cinematography with 120 horses going at 40 miles an hour – He had the space in his filmmaking head, and in his heart, for something very intimate, and I thought it was amazingly impressive.”

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Tom Hiddleston On Steven Spielberg’s Directing appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0IkxV6b_V8

Gone with the Wind is a film from 1939 based on Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. Set in the 19th-century American South, the film tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, from her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, to her marriage to Rhett Butler. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, the story is told from the perspective of white Southerners. The film debuted on December 15, 1939, at the Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Gone With The Wind received positive reviews, and the film went on to win ten Academy Awards in 1940, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Hattie McDaniel, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy became the first African-American to win an Academy Award. Gone With The Wind is still considered the most successful film in box-office history. This video features live footage from the film’s premiere.

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Gone With The Wind’s Movie Premiere appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbqaBZUdvMA

Actress Lisa Kudrow details how she got the role of “Phoebe” on the popular television series, “Friends” and how she did multiple auditions during the pilot season–not expecting to get the part. She remembers getting called back a few times despite being unsure if she was right for the part (“I’m like this J.A.P. from the valley…”) and how her perseverance through numerous auditions finally got her the role.

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Lisa Kudrow on Auditioning for ‘Friends’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix3vz_HYutc

Film director Blake Edwards talks about the acting of Peter Sellers, who starred in his hugely popular “Pink Panther” film series as the main role of Chief Inspector Clouseau: “Sellers couldn’t do the physical things at all. He was not a good physical comedian. I had to set him up for it.” Edwards explains how the clumsy characterization of Chief Inspector Clouseau was inspired by his own clumsiness.

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Clouseau’s Clumsiness Was Not Due to Peter Sellers appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OciIivqYL3o

Lee Strasberg, former director of the prestigious acting school, the Actors Studio, discusses how Marilyn Monroe came to be one of his students: “She was one of the two or three most sensitive, most talented people that I’ve ever seen in my life. One of the others is Marlon Brando.” Strasberg explains how Monroe’s “luminous” presence was not limited to the screen but on stage as well. He comments on how as Monroe’s fame grew, she wanted to keep improving as an actress but was never satisfied with herself.

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Acting Coach Lee Strasberg on Marilyn Monroe appeared first on Witnify.

Author: Megan O’Toole

Members of the Hollywood Ten and their families in 1950, protesting the impending incarceration of the ten. Source: Creative Commons.

In the golden age of Hollywood, many film industry employees fueled a stable “studio system” by signing contracts with a select number of major studios. Between the years 1927 to 1963, five large studios including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures controlled the film industry–creating thousands of efficiently-made movies. Yet this system, which bolstered Hollywood’s economy, was rattled when politics started to play a stronger role in the production and distribution of films following World War II.

The reoccurrence of the Red Scare and the threat of communism led many talented individuals in Hollywood to face accusations of membership in the American Communist Party. The alleged communist members were threatened with being “blacklisted,” a practice that banned a person from any future employment in the film industry.

This practice began in 1947 when ten screenwriters were accused of being communists in the Hollywood Reporter. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) required that the writers confirm their political beliefs but the committee found the accused to be in contempt of Congress because they refused to answer their questions. The committee also encouraged several witnesses such as Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan to testify against the “Hollywood Ten,” and the ten were eventually given year-long prison sentences.

Following this “Hollywood Ten” incident, forty-eight executives from the major studios constituted the Waldorf Statement to publicly announce that the writers would be blacklisted. The president of the Motion Picture Association of America, Eric Johnston, and many others expressed that the studios “will not re-employ any of the ten until such time as he is acquitted or has purged himself of contempt and declares under oath that he is not a communist.”

Actress Jean Muir. Source: Creative Commons.

As skepticism about communist involvement grew, politics gained a larger influence over Hollywood and many more professionals in the entertainment business faced accusations. In 1950, a publication called the Red Channels from Counterattack Magazine listed 151 men and women who were supposedly involved in communist actions. This list was taken seriously in Hollywood, and many of the accused persons were blacklisted and denied livelihood for many years. The list included major celebrities like actor Orson Welles and folk singer Pete Seeger–only some performers were able to clear their names by testifying in front of HUAC regarding their political beliefs.

However, some people involved in the film industry, such as actress Jean Muir, were unable to find work even after testifying. In a series of interviews with the Hollywood Reporter, Marsha Hunt, Cliff Carpenter, Lee Grant, Norma Barzman, and Walter Bernstein discuss what it was like to be cast away from Hollywood for many years after achieving success there. The blacklisted Hollywood writers mention that they needed to consider using pseudonyms in order to continue writing screenplays again. Grant also recalls the disgust she felt once actors were encouraged to betray fellow members of the Hollywood community to HUAC as communists.

The blacklisting period in Hollywood was steeped with anxiety and suspicion–and it led to the infamous conclusion of many prosperous careers. This practice of blacklisting essentially ended in 1957 when professionals in the entertainment business started taking a firm stand against it. That year, Alfred Hitchcock hired the blacklisted actor Norman Lloyd and radio show host John Henry Faulk sued a firm for investigating him for communist affiliation. In the coming years, many other instances occurred when members of the Hollywood elite began to insist on returning talented blacklisted workers out of exile.

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[Blog] The Hollywood Blacklist appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S-ptSDMc2g

Actor Jonathan Winters discusses Robin Williams’s generosity and kindness as a friend, especially during difficult times such as when Winters was diagnosed with cancer. The two both acted together on the popular show, “Mork & Mindy.” Winters says of working with Williams: “It’s like working in a wonderful library with a gentleman who has read all the books and is going to tell you all the books.”

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Jonathan Winters on Robin Williams & His Generosity appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES0FfYg2YoE

Beverly Washburn, one of the stars of “The Loretta Young Show,” talks about her experience working on the set with beloved American actress Loretta Young. She states that everybody on set got along just like a family and that Young was like a second mother to everyone. Washburn goes on to describe how involved and hands-on Young was on set and how she loved for people to get a chance to see their work at the end of each day so they could learn from their mistakes and take pride in the things they did well. Washburn also explains how her career took off and how she originally got involved with the show.

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Beverly Washburn Describes Working With a Legend appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ1mmkKb_BQ

Actor James Earl Jones describes becoming the voice of Darth Vader, for which he was paid $7,000. He took over for Scottish actor David Prowse, who played the character of Darth Vader in the film–and wore the costume. The rumor was that Lucas was looking for someone like Orson Welles, but Welles’s voice was too familiar. Jones believes it was his unusual mix of being born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan and being once a stutterer that made Lucas choose his voice for the role.

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James Earl Jones on Being the Voice of Darth Vader appeared first on Witnify.