Today's the co-birthday of two of my favorite under-sung dastardly rogues in Hitchcock's great gallery of villains - James Mason was born on this day in 1909, while Joseph Cotten was born on this day in 1905.
In 1959's North By Northwest James Mason played Phillip Vandamm, the evil spy with the world's most outlandish plots - instead of just tossing Cary Grant off a cliff and being done with it, they decide to just get him really drunk and make him drive away on a treacherous road? What could possibly go wrong with that? And don't even get me started on that ridiculous crop-duster assassin.
And then there's ol' Joe Cotten, who played the lady-strangling Uncle Charlie in Hitch's personal fave Shadow of a Doubt. He showed up to his sister's house on the run from the cops and spent his whole time trying to murder his favorite niece. So...
In 1959's North By Northwest James Mason played Phillip Vandamm, the evil spy with the world's most outlandish plots - instead of just tossing Cary Grant off a cliff and being done with it, they decide to just get him really drunk and make him drive away on a treacherous road? What could possibly go wrong with that? And don't even get me started on that ridiculous crop-duster assassin.
And then there's ol' Joe Cotten, who played the lady-strangling Uncle Charlie in Hitch's personal fave Shadow of a Doubt. He showed up to his sister's house on the run from the cops and spent his whole time trying to murder his favorite niece. So...
.
.
And just because I can't think of James Mason without thinking of Jon Hamm playing James Mason on SNL's "Vincent Price Halloween Special" here that is:
Kristen Wiig doing Gloria Swanson doing
a pirate impression is a reason for living.
.
Posts
2 comments:
It's Joseph Cotten's b-day? I'm heading to a special screening of Shadow of a Doubt tonight at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto tonight Guillermo Del Toro is hosting. I can't wait!!
Loved them both but James Mason had that sexy sinister thing going on whereas Joseph Cotton seemed more upright even when he was playing a villain. And the accent of course was the clincher.
Post a Comment