Monday, July 29, 2019

Good Morning, Gratuitous Richard Egan

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Born on this day in the year 1921 is the actor Richard Egan, whose face is more familiar to me than his filmography should allow -- I suppose it's his two best known films, Love Me Tender in 1956 (which was Elvis' debut movie) and the 1959 melodrama A Summer Place, that I probably know him from? But I also have a soft spot for the goofy 1954 sci-fi flick Gog, which has him wearing jumpsuits and fighting multi-limbed maniac robots...

... shades of Daleks to come. It seems like the two movies I need to see though, after a thorough investigation this morning, are 1955's Underwater! with him co-starring alongside Jane Russell (the poster makes much of Jane Russell and her assets floating from beneath in the water) and the heroically-stached Gilbert Roland... 

... and yes a Gilbert Roland post of its own is long long overdue, I one thousand percent agree. And the other movie of his I need to see is from that very same year, the Western called Untamed, which appears to be nothing but him and Tyrone Power wearing matching beards and wrestling a lot over the affections of Susan Hayward.

Doesn't adding camp icon Susan Hayward to the mix take it to that extra level and make it sound like the gayest movie ever made? It's a great camp title too, Untamed! I gotta see this movie immediately -- thankfully it's rent-able on Amazon.

I do worry it can't possibly live up to my expectations at this point, but that beard goes a long way on its own. Anyway it seems like Egan worked with absolutely everybody and was well-liked by them -- Wikipedia says he was responsible for discovering Ryan O'Neal when they worked out at the same gym together, cough cough...

... and he had a long full career without ever really finding that big memorable breakout role, and he died relatively young at just 65 years old. But we remember him today! Hit the jump for a few dozen more pictures...





























2 comments:

Brandon said...

Good LORD Underwater! is already giving me feelings and I haven't even seen it.

Edgardo said...

I just LOVE him!