Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism

All Blog Posts (38)

Interview with Eleanor Parker

I found part of an interview with Eleanor Parker yesterday. Dick Dinman, of "DVD Classics of the Air" radio program had an interview with Eleanor Parker in september: "ELEANOR PARKER'S FAVORITE (AND LEAST FAVORITE!) LEADING MAN : Three time Best Actress Oscar nominee Eleanor Parker's scores of leading men included Gable, Flynn (twice), Bogart, Sinatra (twice), Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Heston, MacMurray, and many others of equal prominence and she returns to the show to rev… Continue

Added by Alejandra on October 29, 2009 at 10:31pm — 7 Comments

Cary Grants favorite poem!!

Like all move fans I love reading biographies and sometimes some pretty funny items come to light. For instance despite his movie image as the perfect English gentleman, Cary Grant came from a very rough part of London and his perfect manners and diction were acquired when he became an actor. However he never lost his liking for simple jokes and amusing rhymes and the following little "Limerick" was in fact his favorite piece of "poetry". When they gave me a box of toy soldiers I threw all the g… Continue

Added by Tim Mc CAFFREY on October 28, 2009 at 12:59am — 4 Comments

The New "Gifts" Feature

Hello, All: I've been asked about the new "Gifts" feature showing up on our site. I know very little about it -- seems it's a new function of Ning, the network on which this site is hosted. As best I can understand, network operators (aka me) can create "gifts", ie, graphics, & members can then use "points" to "buy" these gifts. Keep in mind--this is all virtual. Your gifts appear to be nothing more than graphics you can then put on your page. I see it as probably a way to monetize the appl… Continue

Added by Linda Alexander on October 26, 2009 at 8:26am — 1 Comment

Bob Taylor on TCM downunder

Recently we've seen Party Girl, The Bribe, Waterloo Bridge, Knights OT R Table, Bataan, and coming up on Wednesday night, Flight Command. Thursday night is Quo Vadis in magnificent colour.......October has been a good month for RT fans here............. Continue

Added by Bryan Aherne on October 25, 2009 at 9:05pm — 4 Comments

Los Angeles & Robert Taylor's Gravesite

Hello All: Thought I'd drop in & update you on what I did in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. As I mentioned, I spoke to a group called the Hollywood Congress of Republicans. It was a sympathetic audience to the life Robert Taylor led, his conservative beliefs, & his concern for his America. There was much interest in our favorite movie star. That itself was a great part of my overall trip. However, a sidebar to my trip was funny, delightful, & an absolute thrill. I visited Bob's gr… Continue

Added by Linda Alexander on October 22, 2009 at 7:34pm — 10 Comments

Party Girl

Party Girl was on TCM here down under. Its been along time since i saw it, and it was good to see Bob in that role again. Good picture i thought. Continue

Added by Bryan Aherne on September 29, 2009 at 1:42am — 3 Comments

A rising German model named Ursula Thiess

This is the June 4th, 1951 issue of Life magazine featuring a beautiful brunette model named Ursula Thiess.I wonder if this Life edition was his first glimpse of her...

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Added by Alejandra on September 28, 2009 at 10:35pm — 1 Comment

Linda Alexander's LA Talk Radio Interview

Linda, You handled this very well & clarifed to the co-hosts that Bob's testimony was reluctant, he did not call anyone a Communist, & it was entirely separate from the infamous McCarthy hearings in the early 50s. I got the impression from your book that he was asked to run for Governor of California (not President) before Ronald Reagan was asked but turned it down (as you explained in your book & reiterated in your interview) because of his failing health & the additional bad p… Continue

Added by Dianne on September 24, 2009 at 9:23pm — 1 Comment

My Radio Interview about Robert Taylor & Book

Hello, all! A few days ago, I did a radio interview with a LA Talk Radio show called The London Garcia Show. London's a fantastic host & along with her co-host, Marti, we had a lively discussion about Robert Taylor & Hollywood of yesteryear. The interview went very well ... if you have about 50 minutes, please do give it a listen. NOTE: The 1st few minutes are taken up by a theme song & banter between the hosts, mostly talking about Bob & his career. Don't let all the music thro… Continue

Added by Linda Alexander on September 22, 2009 at 12:08pm — No Comments

Thanks, Alejandra, for another interesting contribution. Bob wasn't even 25 when this article was pu…

Thanks, Alejandra, for another interesting contribution. Bob wasn't even 25 when this article was published, so we must consider his youth and limited experience when he wrote it. Except for the death of his father a few years before, his life had gone very smoothly. He would have a lot of negative, as well as positive, experiences in the years that followed, which caused him to develop the humility for which he was so well-known. Continue

Added by Dianne on September 7, 2009 at 3:10pm — 1 Comment

Just a Philosopher in Hollywood

This is an article appeared on UK magazine Picturegoer dated March 28th 1936. The young and rising star talks about acting and working in Magnificent Obsession which has been released just three months ago in the US and was a critical and commercial success. He speaks proudly of his performance making keen observations. A strange and unexpected attitude from an actor (a man) who was widely known for his complete lack of pretension and affectation. I wonder when did he become so extremely self-ef… Continue

Added by Alejandra on September 6, 2009 at 7:30pm — 2 Comments

Invite All Your Friends!

Hello to all our Robert Taylor fans. Hope you're having a grand new week & that all is well in your worlds. I'd like to suggest that we all do a Robert Taylor blitz. Make contact w/your online friends, & friends & family everywhere, & ask them to join our forum here. Especially the folks you know who are classic movie & TV fans. More members to our group will mean not only more commentary--a good thing--but also better rankings in the search engines & then, as the cycle… Continue

Added by Linda Alexander on August 24, 2009 at 10:22am — No Comments

Interview with Chad Everett remembering Bob

The interview Linda did with Dick Dinman posted here: http://roberttaylormoviestar.ning.com/profiles/blogs/interview-wdick-dinman-dvd ... reminded me of other interview Dick Dinman did with Chad Everett two years ago remembering Bob Taylor.

You can find part of this interview he… Continue

Added by Alejandra on August 21, 2009 at 1:14am — No Comments

Article about RT's death June 9 1969

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19690609&id=7NYGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pDEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6741,5413989 Continue

Added by Bryan Aherne on August 13, 2009 at 3:08am — 1 Comment

Jackie Gleason's joke for Bob

Jackie Gleason starred with Audrey Meadows in "The Honeymooners", a classic television show (as short sketch part of "The Jackie Gleason Show "and also as a half-hour serie) which ran from 1952 to 1957. What follows is an excerpt from "Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner" the autobiography written by Audrey Meadows in 1994:

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Added by Alejandra on August 13, 2009 at 1:51am — 1 Comment

Bryan, TCM in Sydney must have a different schedule. Like Margaret Gaffney, I found the whole day de…

Bryan, TCM in Sydney must have a different schedule. Like Margaret Gaffney, I found the whole day dedicated to Harold Lloyd's movies (and to make it more aggravating, they have featured him at least once before on Summer Under the Stars.) Their VP of programming did tell me via email that they would feature Bob Taylor next year either as part of Summer Under the Stars of as a Star of the Month. I hope it will be as Star of the Month as they could show more of his movies. And it would be just my… Continue

Added by Dianne on August 7, 2009 at 2:22pm — 2 Comments

Bob's 98th Birthday

Here in Australia, its the 5th of August, so i thought id wish Bob Taylor Happy Birthday, even though he's not around any more, he's still around many of his loyal fans...... Continue

Added by Bryan Aherne on August 4, 2009 at 8:55pm — 5 Comments

Bob Taylor on Radio

Jill had a great idea the last week. She posted some radio programs performed by Bob: Flight Command (41-03-24) with Ruth Hussey and Walter Pidgeon (as in the movie); Saturdays Children (1936-10-26) with Olivia de Havilland; Magnificent Obsession (37-04-26) with Irene Dunne and Smilin' Through (40-04-29) and Penny Serenade (42-04-27) with Barbara Stanwyck. Today I want to bring you a different story: "The House in Cypress C… Continue

Added by Alejandra on July 31, 2009 at 12:56am — 1 Comment

Song of Russia

How many of us have seen "Song of Russia?" Since Tim, of our group here, asked about the Robert Taylor Building on the Lorimar lot & his name being removed because of political beliefs (listed in the "Always dignified" thread), it got me to thinking about this. First, on a totally superficial level, there are a number of shots of Bob w/his hair pseudo-mussed. Looks great . . . curls which apparently, unleashed, were determined to hang loose over his forehead. On a more serious not--Bob not… Continue

Added by Linda Alexander on July 20, 2009 at 6:44pm — 6 Comments

Taylor & Stanwyck: A Legendary Meeting

A few months ago, I had an article published at a great classic movie site, The Midnight Palace. The article took form when I began to wonder about the actual turn of events when Robert Taylor & Barbara Stanwyck met. While we know some of the specifics--where they met, who they were with they met, & a few other tidbits--we can never really know the blow-by-blow details of that evening. There is no direct accounting of that now-legendary introduction, so we are dependent on logical fact-b… Continue

Added by Linda Alexander on July 14, 2009 at 7:14pm — 1 Comment