Guest Stars



I would have thought that most of the name actors who appeared on ILL found it more
rewarding to play a "character", rather than "themselves." For instance, Elsa Lanchester
gets to play a real NUT, and spars beautifully with Lucy. Names like Richard Widmark and
Cornel Wilde, really didn't get to do any real comedy and just let Lucy get the scenes.

Even Edward Everette Horton gets in a few laughs as the grocer in the otherwise lousy
matchmaking episode from season one.

Wonder if there was ever a time when a "name" actor would've rather played an oddball,
rather than themselves...after all, they WERE actors. On the other hand, they were
PROMOTING themselves and their new films, which is really the only reason they were on -
exposure.

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I know you don't care for Rock Hudson. But I just had an idea since I thought he was wasted in the Palm Springs episode. How about if Lucy was sure that she saw Rock Hudson staying in their hotel. But Bobby the Bellboy convinces her that he's really Sam Schmidt, his cousin from out of town and he is always being taken for the movie star. That way Rock could've played himself pretending to be someone else.

Of course I'm stealing that idea from the Paris episode with Charles Boyer when he convinces Lucy that he's Maurice DuBois.

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I don't HATE Rock Hudson; I just find him incredibly B O R I N G. We all know good old "Roy" would've never
stood a chance, had he'd not looked "like a movie star."

Just two weeks ago, my mother and I watched "Pillow Talk" with him and Doris Day. I adore her, but always
avoided this film, as it's never appealed to me. I also don't care for Tony Randall, who was about as sexy as
a used Band Aid. Talented, yes, but soooooo unattractive.

Anyway, I sat through the film, and found it slow, dated, and boring. Incredible that this no-talent received
top-billing over Day, who was an A-lister years before Hudson.

It's sad that Hudson had to be the poster boy for AIDS (same way Karen Carpenter had to be for anorexia). But
he was sexually dishonest with several lovers AFTER being diagnosed. Not a nice guy in my book.

The only other person today I can think of who is as equally non-talented is Keanu Reeves, Mr. Stone-face
himself.

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I didn't think you hated him, just that you didn't care for his acting. Rock Hudson was always my favorite onscreen partner for Doris Day. I just thought they had great chemistry. My favorite of their films is "Send Me No Flowers". Tony Randall was in that one too! I never thought of him as having a lot of sex appeal either, but I thought he was funny!

One of my favorite Doris Day films is "The Thrill of it All". James Garner is her co-star in that one. As much as I like him, I still think she had her best chemistry with Rock Hudson. She also was "married" to Jimmy Stewart in a Hitchcock film. I never found that pairing remotely believable. Jimmy Stewart was a beloved film star, but I found most of his performances B O R I N G. haha

Oddly enough I never cared for any of Rock Hudson's other films. I suppose it was the presence of Doris Day which seemed to bring out the best in his acting.

Yes, a lot of Hollywood "stars" owe their careers at least in part to their looks. The one actor whose appeal I NEVER understood was Clark Gable.

And yes, most of the celebrities were on ILL because Lucy was so starstruck. No use having them appear and NOT playing themselves. One thing I noticed in the Hollywood episodes was that Lucy mostly ran into MALE stars. Eve Arden had a tiny cameo in the scene in Grauman's. Hedda Hopper had one scene and Lucille Ball's friend Sheila MacRae was in the Don Loper episode.

I wonder if Lucy didn't want the competition of having glamorous female stars on her show or it was a case of Lucy finding so male stars appealing and "dreamy". Barbara Eden said that Lucille Ball was very kind and gracious to her in her episode. Of course she wasn't a big name yet, pre-Jeannie.

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Stewart had great range and could ACT. Hudson coasted on physical charm. Big difference.

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Oh I totally agree that Jimmy Stewart could act and didn't coast along on looks or physical charm. As I've gotten older I don't care for his films. He's just not an actor whose performances I find very compelling.

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Try his Hitchcock work. The BBC has removed "Citizen Cane" on its list of the greatest films ever made,
and replaced it with "Vertigo", a masterpiece. It's so modern, it feels like a film made TODAY SET in
1958. Stewart's character has a complete breakdown. It's a great performance. Also, "Rear Window."

His work in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is also amazing. And, frankly, so is "It's a Wonderful Life."

I agree he made some boring Westerns, many of which, I have no patience for.

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Interesting that you'd bring up his Hitchcock films. Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director. I have a whole shelf of books about his films, biographies, three books on Psycho,etc.
"Rear Window" is a classic even though Grace Kelly is young enough to play Stewart's daughter.

As for "Vertigo", it's regarded as a classic and I agree. But personally, I can't STAND it!! lol I saw it years ago and I only felt so-so about it. I figured that it was just me, so I gave it another chance. I disliked it even more. Oddly enough, I have a book about the making of Vertigo and I find THAT very interesting. In one of Hitchcock's bios, there is an in-depth section about his vision for the film and how he had definite ideas for how Kim Novak's character should look and dress. It's all very interesting, but I loathe the movie! Go figure.

Every once in a while there's a Hitchcock marathon of films on TV and I try to watch that one. I can never get past fifteen minutes. For me, Jimmy Stewart is miscast and he looks like an old man lusting after a young Kim Novak. Actually to his credit, after Jimmy Stewart made "Bell, Book and Candle" with Kim Novak , it was his last film with a leading lady half his age. He said that audiences didn't want to see him with a woman young enough to be his daughter.

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"vertigo" is not everyone's cup of tea. The great Woody Allen (one of my fave directors) is a Hitchcock fan
and also loathes it. In his words, it's just "too slow and meandering." Novak isn't much of an
actor.

As for "Rear Window", who cares if there's an age difference...if there's chemistry, there's
chemistry. I've dated several men many years younger than me, so I'm a bit defensive. I also
think it's great that more and more older women have younger men in their lives. So many
younger men find older women attractive, and I see nothing wrong with it, as long as the
relationships are basically healthy, and everyone is over 18.

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That's what I meant about "Rear Window". I just don't see that chemistry between Kelly and Stewart. Aside from their age difference, the characters seem so totally incompatible. Maybe for a romance okay, but I don't see the classy, cultured Lisa Fremont wanting to go trekking through forests and jungles with this guy.

Woody Allen is also another of my favorite directors. In fact, I was watching my copy of "Annie Hall" the other night.

I sometimes feel guilty (or clueless) about not "getting" certain films which are considered classics. Another that I've tried to watch numerous times and don't get is "2001:A Space Odyssey".
I read during the premier Rock Hudson walked out halfway through muttering, "Does anybody know what the h#ll this movie is about?"

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Hudson was a bore AND a boor. I'm not a big fan of "2oo1", but I get it. I see where it's brilliant.

Two classic films that bore me to death: "Some Like it Hot" (another film, btw, that Allen
dislikes) and "Tootsie." Both are horrendously unfunny to me, and I don't believe that - in
either films - the characters would buy that these guys in drag would fool anyone, least of
all Hollywood creatures.

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I've only ever seen parts of "Some Like it Hot" including the final classic line when Jack Lemmon says, "I'm a guy!" and the man he's with (forget his name) says, "Nobody's perfect."

But I LOVED "Tootsie". It's so true that Dustin Hoffman is hard to believe as a woman. But I think the acting in the film is great. I am a big fan of most of the actors in the film.

I read that there's not a single joke line in the movie. Everything is said seriously which is what makes it so funny (at least to me)
I think Sydney Pollack is just wonderful as Michael's agent. "When you want to send a steak back in a restaurant, Michael Dorsey is a name." "Michael, I BEGGED you to get some therapy."
Part of the reason I like the movie so much is that I was a big fan of the soaps. The woman who played the producer, Doris Belack, was in one of my soaps back then, One Life to Live. She's the character who fines anyone a quarter who calls daytime TV a "soap". There are other daytime actors in the film too. It was fun to spot them.

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I feel the same way about "Tootsie" as you do about "Vertigo." I don't buy it, and I'm not
laughing.

And in today's "trans" world, it doesn't hold up, as most of the characters would assume
Hoffman was transitioning from male to female. I also don't care for "Yentl", as
Streisand doesn't convince as a young man.

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I used to watch Siskel and Ebert and as Roger Ebert once said, "If you laughed, it was funny." Humor is so subjective.

My mom always found the National Lampoon movies with Chevy Chase HILARIOUS. They don't even make me smile.

I never saw "Yentl". But yes, those cross dressing movies are often a case of "the willing suspension of disbelief".

Even in reality, Brucer Jenner's transformation to "Caitlin" just looks to me like a guy with mental issues wearing a dress. But that's a whole other topic...

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Being fooled is pretty much the whole point of both these movies. We are watching an incredible (not having credibility) scenario, yet everyone seems to fall into line. I don't think Moe can push his fingers into Curly's eyes that often and not cause genuine damage, but they do it anyway.
That's a big part of the humor. Jessica Lange taking DH in as a confidant and a fellow female is just funny. Plus the movie has heart, so that's even better.

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I'm glad they left Citizen Kane on the list. I think Citizen Cane was a cheap knock-off, haha, jk.

But yes, I will come to Stewart's defense as well. One of my favorites is Liberty Valance. James is every bit the star of that film as the Duke is. It's just a great movie, and if JS put in a bad performance, I doubt that would be over-looked.

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I've said this repeatedly - hopefully in other places - but a really surprising Rock movie I stumbled across was All That Heaven Allows with Jane Wyman. It's Douglas Sirk, so it has a certain look and feel about it. I'm not going to claim Rock and Jane had great chemistry, but oddly enough, that's almost part of the plot. It's a great watch, at least for one time.

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I was thinking about that film, just couldn't remember the title. I remember my mom was watching it on TV one afternoon and I watched it with her. It's not too bad. But yes, not great chemistry between the two actors. The main focus (I think) was the "forbidden love" aspect of a woman with teen-agers being with a younger man.

Jane Wyman was a very talented actress (Johnny Belinda, for example). But I always thought she was as homely as a mud fence. I just couldn't picture a guy with Rock Hudson's looks falling for her. But hey, people are attractive to others for lots of different reasons.

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Thanks for the reply.
On some level, it could almost play like a parody, a farce. But they are all in in this movie, so you should at least consider what they are proposing. It's a straight-forward Hollywood production, and has a lot of humor, so I love this film, even if I wouldn't call it Great.

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"Citizen Cane" is an undisputed masterpiece. "Tootsie" is not. I didn't like the movie when it first
came out, and I tried watching it several times since, due to its so-called classic status. I think it's
awful. And Jessica Lange's winning a supporting Oscar for this film is a serious joke. But like I
said, I also loathe "Some Like it Hot." I do NOT believe for one second that any person of even
lower intelligence would buy these men as "women." It's forced and unfunny.

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If you hated "Some Like it Hot" and "Tootsie", then you'd probably loathe "Nuns on the Run". It stars Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane as two guys running from the mob who hide out in a convent.

Even harder for them to pass as women than "Hot", since they are dressed like nuns they aren't wearing any make-up. But the crazy thing about it is that Robbie Coltrane in a habit looks exactly like a nun I had in the fifth grade. LOL

There have been a lot of movies with the theme of men disguised as women. I've often wondered if a lot of men have a desire to know what it's like to be a woman. Not that they want to BE one, just to see how it feels (minus the PMS of course!)

Of course Lucy did her own bit for cross dressing when she and Ethel dressed as reporters for Ricky's Daddy Shower/Stag Party. She also dressed like a hot dog vendor and a baseball player in the sixth season episode with Bob Hope.
It was hard to believe that Lucy thought she could fool anyone that she was a baseball player wearing lipstick and false eyelashes!



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