Classic Couple

Every fan of dance in classic film is familiar with Fayard and Harold Nicholas and the Nicholas Brothers act. Between the 1930s and 1950s the Nicholas Brothers appeared in 30 films, mostly as a specialty act. Considered the greatest tap dancers of their day, it not all time, their performance to Cab Calloway and His […]

During the recent 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival, Classic Couple sat down with movie critic and film historian Leonard Maltin and his daughter and business partner Jessie Maltin. We asked the father-daughter duo about Leonard’s newest book, Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood. Our chat follows. Classic Couple: How is Starstruck a love story? Leonard […]

Premiering Fall 2022: Trailblazing actress Pam Grier shares her remarkable life story with Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) host Ben Mankiewicz in season four of the award-winning TCM podcast The Plot Thickens. “The word ‘iconic’ is overused in this industry, but Pam has been a true revolutionary regarding the depiction of Black women in Hollywood,” said […]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Time to watch classic Christmas movies. Grab a cup of cocoa and make your selection from one of 50 films below. Happy Holidays from the Classic Couple! It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) Holiday Affair (1949) Christmas in Connecticut (1945) Babes in Toyland (1934) A Christmas Carol […]

Most fans of Steel Magnolias (1989) likely cannot imagine anyone else in the iconic principal roles in the film: in order of billing Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Darryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. Among these six women, four are Oscar winners: Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts and one […]

On April 7, 1970, the legendary actor John Wayne won his first and only Academy Award, for his performance in director Henry Hathway’s Western True Grit. Wayne appeared in nearly 250 movies in his career, with this being his only Oscar win. Wayne earned the Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn, despite an abundance of conflict […]

As the Raleigh/Cary TCM Backlot Chapter prepares to see the 60th Anniversary TCM Big Screen Classics presentation of Ben-Hur, I looked for some tidbits related to how the epic film came together. The visual magnificence and thundering action of this historic drama made it a record-setting winner of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and […]

Preparing to see the TCM Big Screen Classics presentation of To Kill a Mockingbird, I read a lot of sources about the behind-the-scenes interactions between the actors. The tidbits that stood out to me were all about the relationships formed, many that lasted a lifetime. Characters from Real Life: The character Dill in the movie […]

In preparation for seeing the TCM Big Screen Classics 55th Anniversary showing of My Fair Lady (1964), I cast around for some trivia about the cast. Controversy about the leading roles abounds. Still, the resulting film garnered the following Oscar wins at the 1965 Academy Awards: Best Picture – Jack L. Warner Best Actor in a […]

Are there any more iconic shoes in film history than Dorothy’s ruby slippers? Lovers of The Wizard of Oz (1939) movie surely cannot imagine Dorothy’s slippers being any color other than ruby red, but originally they weren’t. In the book, they are silver. The Silver Shoes are only mentioned in the original The Wizard of […]