Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Carole Shelley has passed away. | |
| Posted by: Jimmy 06:26 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| Rest In Peace sweet Pigeon sister. | |
| Link | https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.broadwayworld.com/amp/c.php%3furl=Carole-Shelley-Passes-Away-at-79-20180901 |
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| Absurd Person Singular | |
| Posted by: bobby2 09:05 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: Carole Shelley has passed away. - Jimmy 06:26 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| That must have been incredible. I saw it in London a few years ago with Jane Horracks and Lia Willliams but I just thought it was ok. BUT with Shelley, Sandy Dennis, Larry Blyden, Geraldine Page, Richard Kiley, Tony Roberts! Wow. Who played the character that keeps trying to kill herself? (Horracks played it in London.) |
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| Sandy Dennis played that role (nm) | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 01:41 pm EDT 09/04/18 | |
| In reply to: Absurd Person Singular - bobby2 09:05 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| nm | |
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| In the midst of The Goodman Theatre A DOLL'S HOUSE in 1973... | |
| Posted by: clothedboysinging 07:50 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: Carole Shelley has passed away. - Jimmy 06:26 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| she stopped the show cold in the midst of a monologue; explaining that what was attempting to be achieved onstage was very difficult, and could a crying infant be removed from the premises.. I give her credit - then and now. |
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| Heartbroken | |
| Posted by: Nydiva 07:48 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: Carole Shelley has passed away. - Jimmy 06:26 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| I knew Carole was very ill. The amount of operations and treatments she has had to endure over the last few years was harrowing. But she was a fighter to the end. Carole was always a very private person, but now I think I can tell my favorite story about her. It was during the East Coast blackout of 2003 that I found myself stranded in Manhattan with no way to get home. My company had just moved to the Wall Street area and I had nowhere to turn. So I walked up to her apartment (then on 56th Street). She took me in without hesitation, drew me a bath and fed me dinner. The next day, she ministered to the blood blisters on the soles of my feet. I remember sitting in her kitchen thinking "My favorite actress and a Tony Award winner - and she's cleaning my bleeding feet". She also gave me a blouse (which I've kept to this day) so I wouldn't have to go home in the drenched-with-sweat one I was wearing. To say I will miss her doesn't begin to express my feelings. |
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| re: Carole Shelley has passed away. | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 07:03 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 06:54 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: Carole Shelley has passed away. - Jimmy 06:26 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| This BroadwayWorld obit says Carole Shelley was best known for originating the role of Madame Morrible in ''Wicked.'' But I will best remember her as Mrs. Kendal, opposite Philip Anglim, in the original Broadway production of ''The Elephant Man.'' (Which was written by Bernard Pomerance, who won the Tony for Best Play and passed away only a year ago last month). As Mrs. Kendal, Shelley shone as a socialite who is touched by John Merrick and sees his humanity. But the role is really a supporting one. And indeed, in the 2014 revival with Bradley Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, who played her, was considered Featured Actress. But in that original, Shelley was not only up for Leading Actress, she won the Tony, tying with Constance Cummings in ''Wings.'' Below is the footage from that 1979 Tonys. The tie brought a gasp. Cummings couldn't be there to accept her Tony, but Shelley was. |
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| Link | 1979 Tony Awards: Best Actress presentation begins around 58:50 |
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| re: Carole Shelley has passed away. Elephant Man | |
| Posted by: Duke1979 07:05 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Carole Shelley has passed away. - WaymanWong 06:54 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| She was transcendent in that role. An amazing actress and very sad to learn of her passing | |
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| I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 01:21 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Carole Shelley has passed away. Elephant Man - Duke1979 07:05 am EDT 09/02/18 | |
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| Philip Anglim reprised his role, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and Kevin Conway played Dr. Trewes again. But Penny Fuller played Mrs. Kendal. I wonder if a scheduling conflict kept Shelley from re-creating her Tony-winning role. |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:05 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - WaymanWong 01:21 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
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| I don't remember reading here about the dispute mentioned by bobby2. I may have just forgotten. Here is something from Carol Lawson’s Times theatre column of January 30, 1981, after Shelley had returned to The Elephant Man: "She [Shelley] left 'The Elephant Man' to star in a film - 'something that doesn't often come into my life.' Colleen Dewhurst, Carol Kane and Shirley Knight were also signed to star in this picture, the project of a Canadian film producer. 'What happened,' said Miss Shelley, her small face tightening into an angry knot, 'is one of the yuck stories of this business. The night after I left the play, I was introduced to Colleen and she said to me,''I'm so sorry, honey.' I said, 'Sorry about what?' She said, 'Don't you know? The movie was canceled last Tuesday.' There was no way I could go back to 'The Elephant Man' because Patricia Elliott had been hired.' "What did she do? 'I went to work at the Shaw Festival in Ontario at Niagara-on-the Lake,' Miss Shelley replied. She starred in 'The Cherry Orchard' and 'Misalliance' there. 'Every three years I like to go back into repertory for learning.' "But what did she really do after such a blow? Miss Shelley smiled ruefully and muttered, 'I bled internally.'" In addition to playing Ranevskaya and Lina Szczepanowska at the Shaw Festival, she also played a leading role in a Hungarian play called The Grand Hunt by Gyula Hernádi. The Shaw Festival season ran till October 9. The Grand Hunt moved on to a run at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and then to Seattle Rep during the time when the television Elephant Man was planned and filmed. It's possible that she simply didn't want to renege on what may have been a commitment to stay with The Grand Hunt. Meanwhile, Anglim did the Elephant Man tour with Fuller and Ken Ruta. The television version was shot in Toronto the last week of November 1980 (possibly into the first week of December), with Conway. He had left the Broadway production at the same time Shelley left, but the producers don't seem to have been angry at him for leaving. Of course, he had not won a Tony. Perhaps because of her Tony win the producers were particularly anxious for her to either stay on Broadway or do the tour, although I doubt that business suffered much on Broadway when she left or on the tour because she was not on it. Or perhaps there was no unhappiness between them since she returned to the Broadway production on January 6, 1981. If there was a dispute with the producers that kept her out of the television version, it must have been resolved right after the filming. Or she simply felt a commitment to The Grand Hunt. Anyway, she was a great actress. A particularly fine performance of hers that has not been mentioned is when she replaced Piper Laurie a few weeks into the run of The Destiny of Me and played it through the end of the run. |
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| I saw her in one of the "Norman Conquest" plays | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 11:49 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - AlanScott 03:05 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| and she was great. I think it was "Round and Round the Garden". I believe that she had gotten probably the best reviews of the cast, which included Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss and Estelle Parsons, though I do recall there were some problems involving Benjamin and Prentiss particularly, who were giving Shelley a hard time. I also saw her in "The Elephant Man" and while the role probably is a supporting one in terms of length, the impact of her wonderful performance was that of a great leading lady. Rest in peace. | |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: bobby2 12:28 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - WaymanWong 01:21 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
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| and Penny Fuller won an Emmy for it too. This has been discussed on here before. I don't remember all the details. She had a complicated relationship with the Elephant Man producers. She left the play over a salary dispute I think and then regretted it. She eventually returned to the show but only after Patricia Elliot had played the role for a long time. I don't know if that dispute carried over into the casting of the TV movie. (which also features an early performance from Glenn Close. |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: bobby2 03:26 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - bobby2 12:28 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| I could be totally wrong about this dispute with the producers stuff. Alan could be right above. All I really do remember for sure is that she left the role and regretted it and then returned when the role became available again. | |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:36 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - bobby2 03:26 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| AlanScott and bobby2, thanks for your postings. The encyclopedic knowledge of others is part of what makes All That Chat so amazing. | |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: bobby2 04:21 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - WaymanWong 03:36 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| I also remember from childhood a commercial she did upon her return. It was her and David Rounds sitting in a restaurant (Sardi's maybe) and sort of boasting about their performances and then they both turn to each other to casually show off their Tonys. They were sitting at different tables with their backs to each other each (in character) explaining how their show was better. Rounds had won a Tony for Morning's at Seven which had the same producers as The Elephant Man and they often ran joint ads. (Rounds is in the TV movie strangely enough though Carole isn't. BTW if you have Amazon Prime the TV film is free for viewing.) |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 11:53 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 11:52 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - bobby2 04:21 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| Rounds isn't in the 1982 tv movie directed by Vivan Matalon; it was Robert Moberly. | |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: bobby2 09:01 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - PlayWiz 11:52 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| According to IMDB and the opening credits Rounds is listed. I started watching it last night. I'll see if he shows up. | |
| Link | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166593/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14 |
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| You're talking about two different productions | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:53 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - bobby2 09:01 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| PlayWiz is talking about the television adaptation of Vivian Matalon's production of Morning's at Seven, for which Rounds won a Tony onstage but he's not in the television version, while you're talking about the television production of The Elephant Man. | |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 04:00 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - PlayWiz 11:52 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| Which begs the question: Why didn't David Rounds re-create his Tony-winning role in the TV movie of ''Morning's at Seven''? (The TV version includes Broadway members of that 1980 revival, like Elizabeth Wilson, Teresa Wright, Maureen O'Sullivan …) |
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| re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:05 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I wonder why Shelley didn't do the 1982 TV movie of 'Elephant Man' - WaymanWong 04:00 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| In the case of Morning's at Seven it's easy to answer. It's the tour cast that was filmed. Only four of the nine cast members who opened the revival at the Lyceum toured, and so only those four — Maurice Copeland, Maureen O'Sullivan, Elizabeth Wilson and Teresa Wright — were in the television filming. | |
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| re: Carole Shelley has passed away. | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 09:57 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Carole Shelley has passed away. - WaymanWong 06:54 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| Saw her with the original WICKED company. Rest well, Madame. | |
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| re: Carole Shelley has passed away. | |
| Posted by: Whistler 07:02 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Carole Shelley has passed away. - WaymanWong 06:54 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| I'd somehow missed that Bernard Pomerance had died. This is the final paragraph from his New York Times obituary: Mr. Pomerance was not a talkative sort. “The final impression he gives,” a Times reporter wrote in 1979, “is of a man of considerable intellectual integrity who is not prepared to compromise, in ill-considered conversation, the greater truths he seeks to express on stage.” Sounds like Mr. Pomerance gave someone a hard time. And, yes, I'm sorry to hear about Carole Shelley has died. But she had a long, good career, making a lot of people very happy. |
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| She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: GabbyGerard 06:38 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: Carole Shelley has passed away. - Jimmy 06:26 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| I am very sad to read of this news. Billy Elliot could not have asked for a more perfect grandmother. The expertise she brought to Wicked helped everyone on the production team to make sense of Morrible. I saw her many times in the revival of Cabaret as Fraulein Schneider. I marveled at her ability to remain fresh and keep her performance feeling spontaneous. It was such a joy to watch her Schneider come alive in Schultz’s gaze—for a woman of her age to become so girlish, flirtatious, and coquettish...to watch her Schneider’s surprise and delight and embarrassment that she could still become all these things...and the terrible sadness of her resignation when she chose to give it up. Her delivery of Schneider’s last line, “I regret everything,” is etched into my memory. I’m sad we never got to see her play Big Edie. She was a treasure, and, despite her long and varied career, I wish there were more Carole Shelley performances for us to see. |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: Billhaven 07:29 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: She will be missed. - GabbyGerard 06:38 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| It was long ago but wonderfully preserved on film-Gwendolyn Pidgeon- half of the inimitable Pidgeon sisters. | |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: bobby2 09:54 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - Billhaven 07:29 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| I just saw her in Monica Evans last April at the TCM Film Festival screening of The Odd Couple. I'm sort of shocked by this. She seemed perfectly healthy. | |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 10:33 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - bobby2 09:54 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| She was so blessed in her talent...and in her career. What opportunities! Madame Morrible WAS FABULOUS. I saw her Nora at the Goodman. My friend always raved about her Rosalind at Stratford CDA. And yes, she was perfect in BILLY ELLIOT. |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: Thom915 10:58 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - lordofspeech 10:33 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| Saw heer Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" in the Berkshires. Hysterical. Wonderful too in "Wicked", "The Miser", "A Gentlemen's Guide" and so many others. I will always remember her though starring in the very first play I saw on Broadway "The Astrakhan Coat" with Roddy McDowell and Brian Bedford, an otherwise forgettable evening. She 9and the rest) were spectacular though and I fell in love with Broadway R.I.P. | |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: jbk 06:40 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - Thom915 10:58 pm EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| She was a brilliant, radiant Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT at Stratford Ontario in 1972, the best I’ve ever seen. During the same season she played Regan in KING LEAR with William Hutt, and it was the most outrageous performance: manic, delirious, totally at odds with the otherwise sober production, an un-Lear-like hoot. More than 20 years later I met her at a party and told her how much I loved her Rosalind. Of course she concluded I was a very perceptive person. “I also saw you in KING LEAR,” I said, and she let out a shriek that startled everyone nearby. “You didn’t!” she said as she hid her face. “Tell me you didn’t! Ohgodohgodohgod!” |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: portenopete 03:11 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - jbk 06:40 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
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| Great story! She also did a couple of seasons at the other big Canadian festival, The Shaw Festival. I think she played Lina Szczepanowska in MISALLIANCE and the year after the Tony win she played Madame Ranevskaya in THE CHERRY ORCHARD. She was also in the very first play I ever saw, DONKEY'S YEARS opposite David McCallum in summer stock in the late '70s. And I grew up loving her voice in THE ARISTOCATS and ROBIN HOOD. She was one of that great group of Anglo-American actors who had virtually their entire careers in the States and Canada: people like Rosemary Harris, Zoe Caldwell (Australian), Brian Bedford, Paxton Whitehead, Barbara Bryne and the recently-departed Brian Murray (South African). They have enriched North American theatre mightily. |
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| re: She will be missed. | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:50 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - portenopete 03:11 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| Just to add a bit, she spent three seasons at the Shaw Festival (1971, 1977, 1980), where, in addition to the roles you mentioned, she also played three of Gertrude Lawrence's roles — Louise in We Were Dancing, Jane in Family Album, and Victoria in Shadow Play — in a production of those Tonight at 8:30 plays, Ann Whitefield opposite Ian Richardson in an absolutely uncut five-and-a-half hour Man and Superman (if not at the Shaw Festival, then where?), Epifania in The Millionairess, Lady Corinthia Fanshawe in the rarely produced Press Cuttings, and in the Hungarian play I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, The Royal Hunt. Her Margery Pinchwife at Stratford, Connecticut, in 1973 won her the kinds of raves every actor dreams of. |
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| Question for Alan Scott.... | |
| Posted by: portenopete 05:13 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: She will be missed. - AlanScott 03:50 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| I'd forgotten she'd done so much at the Shaw! It was a time when there was far more va et vient across the border. What a treat her Margery Pinchwife must have been! She had the spark and insouciance in spades. Alan, do you think there are actors coming along who can do what Carole Shelley and her generation have done? Especially in the period pieces: Restoration, Wilde, Coward. I don't feel that I am seeing them, but I wonder whether it's not just short-sightedness on my part and a growing longing for the past and romanticizing it out of all proportion? |
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| re: Question for Alan Scott.... | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:49 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: Question for Alan Scott.... - portenopete 05:13 pm EDT 09/03/18 | |
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| I hope some other folks may jump in. Here is my two cents: It's a tough question for me to answer, partly because my theatregoing has diminished so much in frequency in recent years. Like you, I sometimes wonder if I've romanticized some of the productions I saw in my youth, and I probably have to some degree, but even at the time I didn't love them all. But here goes with something that I'm going to keep somewhat general: I feel like when I see productions of classic plays and also classic musicals nowadays, too often I see a sort false, revved-up acting in which the basics are thrown out. People don't listen to each other, people don't talk to each other, and some people sound nothing like any human being who ever lived. I hasten to add that not all productions of classics nowadays are like this, but too many are. And when such productions get favorable or even rave reviews, it's very disheartening. It all has to start with people talking to each other and listening to each other and behaving like human beings. And I feel like some directors nowadays don't get that, and they push their actors toward giving very false performances, thinking it's stylistically right. Obviously, there are characters in classic plays who should behave in ways that seem to us very careful, perhaps sometimes a bit flamboyant, or sometimes extremely controlled, but the sense of people talking to each other and listening to each other and of behavior that seems organic to those actors and the situations must never be lost. I need to see impulses that seem organic, I need to see actors who seem to be in the moment. I really hate seeing the forced, revved-up, results-oriented performance style that I sometimes see nowadays. People somehow think that's what classical acting in the past was like. I think only bad acting was like that in the past. I'd rather see some honest uncertainty and awkwardness — people are awkward in real life — than a certain type of confidence that I find so false. Having said that, I'm sure there were productions in the past that had plenty of that false confidence. I saw some of them — I saw Shelley herself give a sort of overdone performance in The Play's the Thing at BAM in 1978 — but I think they less often got the praise that some productions that are full of forced, phony acting get nowadays. So perhaps it's all the critics' fault. :) Btw, there's a neat Times interview with Carole Shelley by Patricia Bosworth from while she was doing The Country Wife in which she discusses how hard she was working to be up to the demands of classical roles, and how aware she was of her own limitations for which she had sometimes been criticized. She also discusses how she approached Margery Pinchwife. It's from July 15, 1973, if you want to try to find it. |
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