"13"

Never a big star but a welcome fixture in westerns and film noirs over three decades, Dan Duryea specialized in playing the heel. In those kinds of parts, no one could touch him.

With the gradual passing of opening movie credits, we also lost a vital element that distinguishes many so-called “classic” movies: the original music score, including a heroic, memorable opening theme. What’s the last film you remember that had a score you could hum while walking home from the theater — a piece of music you knew you'd always remember and associate with the film?

Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “All About Eve” is often cited as the best film ever made about the theater, and I believe it earns that distinction. It also stands one of the most literate dramas ever to come out of Hollywood, a caustic, cautionary tale about how the dark side of our natures can emerge in the pursuit of bright lights and fame.

If you look around at what’s coming out in movie theaters today, you’ll notice a lot of fantasy titles, superhero installments, high-tech animation, over-the-top action films and a few broad (usually very broad) comedies. Whatever happened to serious drama?

It was Hollywood in early 1950, and legendary director Billy Wilder had a big problem. In two weeks, shooting would start on his next film, “Sunset Boulevard,” and his mercurial young star, Montgomery Clift, had just backed out of playing the lead.

Joel McCrea was always clear-eyed about his place in the Hollywood firmament. He once said that he got offered the comedies that Cary Grant passed on, and the Westerns Gary Cooper rejected.

The actress who in 1938 came out of nowhere to win the most coveted role in Hollywood once said: “I'm not a film star; I am an actress. Being a film star is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity… Actresses go on for a long time and there are always marvelous parts to play.” Vivien Leigh was first and foremost a creature of the theater who only made twenty films. Still, over the course of her career she managed to win two Best Actress Oscars, becoming the first British player to do so.

Today there are certainly bigger stars in Hollywood than Bill Murray, but few if any command the cult-like devotion and fascination that he does from his fans.

Thomas Mitchell was one of the most admired and successful character actors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, but to most viewers today, his face is more familiar than his name. When you hear more about Mitchell’s amazing career, you’ll agree we should all know his name — and revere his memory.