Ron Moody in 'Oliver!' movie. Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' actor nominated for an Oscar dead at 91 (Note: This Ron Moody article is currently being revised.) Two well-regarded, nonagenarian British performers have died in the last few days: 93-year-old Christopher Lee (June 7, '15), best known for his many portrayals of Dracula and assorted movie villains and weirdos, from the title role in The Mummy to Dr. Catheter in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. 91-year-old Ron Moody (yesterday, June 11), among whose infrequent film appearances was the role of Fagin, the grotesque adult leader of a gang of boy petty thieves, in the 1968 Best Picture Academy Award-winning musical Oliver!, which also earned him a Best Actor nomination. Having been featured in nearly 200 movies and, most importantly, having had his mainstream appeal resurrected by way of the villainous Saruman in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies (and various associated merchandising,...
- 6/12/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
While Max Bygraves is naturally best remembered as a variety entertainer, the films he made at the height of his fame in the 1950s deserve closer attention. They provide connections between postwar dramas such as Brighton Rock (1947) and Cosh Boy (1953) and the more celebrated kitchen-sink realism that followed the critical and commercial success of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960).
A Cry from the Streets (1958) is a sentimental but revealing social drama about unwanted kids and state children's homes. Spare the Rod (1961) has Bygraves as a liberal teacher questioning the treatment Donald Pleasence's brutish headmaster hands out to working-class pupils. In both of these, Bygraves lends his easygoing "man of the people" persona to confront unpleasant social realities – extraordinary for a "family entertainer" in any period, but in the 1950s, a brave and individual one.
Perhaps even more remarkably, in Charley Moon (1956) Bygraves portrays a performer much like himself, touring...
A Cry from the Streets (1958) is a sentimental but revealing social drama about unwanted kids and state children's homes. Spare the Rod (1961) has Bygraves as a liberal teacher questioning the treatment Donald Pleasence's brutish headmaster hands out to working-class pupils. In both of these, Bygraves lends his easygoing "man of the people" persona to confront unpleasant social realities – extraordinary for a "family entertainer" in any period, but in the 1950s, a brave and individual one.
Perhaps even more remarkably, in Charley Moon (1956) Bygraves portrays a performer much like himself, touring...
- 9/28/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
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