Monday, April 12, 2010

And Introducing Aldo Ray

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Here's a thing I learned this weekend: Ruth Gordon was a screenwriter! Yes, the same Ruth Gordon that was Maude to her Harold and Minnie to her Rosemary. You'd think I'd have known this earlier, supposedly being a huge fan of hers, but I didn't. Just one more opportunity to prove my flopitude. FLOP.

Anyway she was a writer for both the stage and screen - The Actress, Adam's Rib, and the movie we're about to ruminate upon, 1952's The Marrying Kind, by George Cukor. Most of this stuff she co-wrote with her husband, Garson Kanin - who's from my hometown of Rochester, New York, holla! All this proves that I have got to read a biography of this woman immediately.


Alright so, that fun-fact given, let's get to the meat here. The big blond slab of beef that starred opposite Judy Holliday in The Marrying Kind that is: Mr. Aldo Ray. This was Ray's first film (well, his first film as "Aldo Ray" - IMDb has a couple credits for him earlier where he's credited as "Aldo DeRe" his real name) and the first film I've seen of his. I think he's best known for the supposedly crappy genre films he did at the end of his career in the 70s, but he worked steadily for 40 straight years. I was watching an interview with Quentin Tarantino about a month or so ago and Ray came up - Brad Pitt's character Aldo Raine's name in Inglorious Basterds is obviously an homage - and they showed a clip from this film... and well I think I burned a hole in the carpet, so quickly did I run to my computer to throw it onto the queue.

Worth it! That voice! And that... everything else. Here are some screen-caps from an odd little dream sequence in the middle of the film where Ray runs around in a tee and boxers and (marking their first time I've found them sexy, so good job Mr. Ray!) sock garters...

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8 comments:

shaun said...

Silly boy, Ruth was even nominated for a screenwriting Oscar or three...she also was a member of the Algonquin Round Table...smart lady in addition to being one hell of an OSCAR-WINNING actress ;o)

Jason Adams said...

So much I don't know! Ugh! I am going to The Strand after work tonight to see if I can snatch up a copy of her autobiography already. Shame on me.

Michael Shetina said...

Shame on you indeed. But you're forgiven for providing us with such lovely beefcake shots.

Michael Shetina said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxsLNhH0yjA

Greatness.

shaun said...

Yes, I should have made clear, too, that all sins and transgressions are forgiven when beefy goodness is provided ;o)

Anonymous said...

I haven't heard about Aldo Ray until this afternoon, reading your blog so I did a little research. He was in porn? What? Check out something called Sweet Savage. I need to know more details!

Jason Adams said...

Well according to Wiki anon he was in a non-sexual role in the film. He was also 63 at the time that movie came out. So uh I think it'll probably be a boner killer. ;-)

J.D. said...

Oh yes, he's a fucking hunksicle in that. <3