Gregory Peck, the Hollywood legend, will long be remembered for his Oscar-winning performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and his roles in such classics as The Yearling, Gentleman’s Agreement and Roman Holiday. Here he recalls a visit to his relatives in County Kerry. ℘℘℘ I love Wicklow, but I suppose if weRead more..
Dubbed the “First Lady of the Theater,” Helen Hayes charmed audiences for 75 years, appearing in such theatrical productions as What Every Woman Knows, Victoria Regina, and The Glass Menagerie. In Hollywood she won Oscars for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970). ℘℘℘ On her stardom: My very lack of glamour hasRead more..
Throughout her film career, Maureen O’Hara captured the essence of the Irish colleen in all its contradictions. In The Quiet Man, as Mary Kate, she went toe-to-toe with John Wayne’s Jack Thornton, in one of the most rugged screen courtships in the history of film. ℘℘℘ There were a lot of Irish actors in HollywoodRead more..
In a pairing likely to set the big screen on fire, Daniel Day-Lewis is to team up with Martin Scorsese for the director’s upcoming gangster epic, Gangs of New York. The reclusive My Left Foot star, who hasn’t acted in over three years, will join with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz for the movie, whichRead more..
Anyone who has survived Catholic schooling – in my case, eight years of torture by Dominican nuns, then four years of more refined sadism at the hands of Jesuit priests – cannot help watching Leo McCarey’s The Bells of St. Mary’s with deeply mixed emotions. One of Hollywood’s most popular religious movies, a Christmas perennialRead more..