"2009"

I vividly recall seeing Robert Redford on the streets of New York City at the height of his stardom in the early seventies, moving quickly but unfettered by security. I called to him once from across the street (what did I have to lose?). He looked over, waved at me and said: “Hello!” My week was made.

Comedy fans, rejoice! Today is Mel Brooks’s 88th Birthday - and this year also marks the 40th anniversary of two enduring Brooks classics: “Blazing Saddles” came out in February ‘74, while “Young Frankenstein” premiered in December.

When Simon and Garfunkel came out with the song “Mrs. Robinson” on the soundtrack for the coming of age film “The Graduate” (1967), baseball great Joe DiMaggio was angry about the lyric that asks, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” Then one day Simon and Joltin’ Joe met coincidentally at a restaurant where, according to Simon, they “immediately fell into conversation about the only subject we had in common." "What I don't understand," DiMaggio said, "is why you ask where I've gone. I just did a Mr. Coffee commercial.” Simon explained that he didn’t mean it literally – he just meant that he considered Joe a hero at a time that “genuine heroes were in short supply.” What he didn’t say was… And now, you are doing a Mr. Coffee commercial.

With the coming of May, parents reflexively steel themselves for the end of the school year, and that interim period before the kids get immersed in their various summer experiences and activities.

As Hollywood pumps out a succession of big, loud movies that reflect tired variations on familiar formulas, animation remains a bright spot. Over the past two decades, major players like Disney, Dreamworks and Pixar have released a series of fun, fresh films that have scored big at the box office. It’s foolish to argue with success, and again, a surprising number of these entries have achieved classic (or near-classic) status — and deservedly so. But that doesn’t mean they represent the last word on animated film.

Many of us have lost someone we love way too soon. After the initial shock and grief recede somewhat, the prevailing feeling (at least for me) is waste. Wasted opportunity. What more could that person have done with his or her life? I feel it too with famous names in the arts who left us way too soon.

I can vividly recall the first moment I saw Meryl Streep on-screen. The film was “The Deer Hunter” (1978). Her part was relatively small — she played the stateside love interest of two men shipped off to Vietnam — but I was immediately struck by her presence. 

Over the course of movie history, there have been the great actresses, women who light up the screen with charisma and character, like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, and Meryl Streep. There have also been women whose special gifts had more to do with the sexual allure they projected. Hey fellas, you must have noticed them, right? Brace yourselves then- here are our picks for the top twenty female cinematic sex symbols of all time. (Drum roll).