Rhonda Fleming

All posts tagged Rhonda Fleming

Va-Va-Villainess: Rhonda Fleming

Published January 18, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Rhonda Inferno

She played feisty yet loyal lovers in a series of ‘50s action and adventure pieces like Yankee Pasha and Gunfight at O.K. Corral. Bob Hope also called upon her extravagant sense of humor in such projects as The Great Lover and Alias Jesse James. Her lush looks and rare beauty worked for her in other ways as well, giving the glorious Rhonda Fleming a delightfully tangible way to embody perfect visions of calculating evil.

InfernoLobby Eschewing her initial naivete – she and her mother had to look up what a nymphomaniac was when she was cast in Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound – Fleming brought vivid life to a number of noir vixens. 1953’s Inferno capitalized on the 3D phase while also giving her the excuse to bring what was possibly her most evil character to the celluloid universe. As Geraldine Carson, this red headed goddess viciously plots to murder her husband, played with gruff humanity by eternally sympathetic tough guy Robert Ryan. Thus, her dry and dusty downfall here was relished by movie lovers everywhere.

rhonda-fleming-the-crowded-sky The suave Efrem Zimbalist Jr. also was dealt a calculating blow when dealing with Fleming’s adulterous Cheryl Heath in The Crowded Sky. As a pilot facing a deadly incident, as this film is a precursor to the all star disaster films of the ‘70s, Zimbalist’s character also must deal with the emotional fallout of Cheryl’s heartless manipulations. Viewers, therefore, are not surprised when the film’s fadeout reveals his intents to leave her behind, no matter Fleming’s seemingly irresistible devious lusciousness.

Rhonda Gunfight

Horror Hall of Fame:

Besides her compelling work with Hitchcock in Spellbound, Fleming brought a steady heart and calm demeanor to her portrayal of the loyal yet doomed Blanche in 1946’s gothic horror The Spiral Staircase.

www.rhondafleming.com

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Edie Adams

Published January 12, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Edie Adams

I often hit upon a performer I want to write about for this feature and then I have to scramble to find if they have any kind of horror connection. Sometimes I luck out and there is a direct link to the genre. Sometimes I only manage to pluck out a tenuous thread. Occasionally, there is no link at all and I have to move along with a slightly heavy heart. Thankfully, the delightful Edie Adams, my latest obsession, was featured in a 1961 television production of The Spiral Staircase, one of several adaptations of the classic Ethel Lina White story about a handicapped woman being pursued by a fetishistic killer. This particular production was also notable for featuring such performers as Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched) and Lillian Gish (Night of the Hunter). (Adams played Blanche, the role that Rhonda Fleming had originated in the original screen version.) Spiral Ethel

For those who know about her career, though, it isn’t surprising that Adams has this eclectic entry on her professional resume. Almost chameleon like in her approach to her art, she was known as a comedienne, singer, impressionist, spokesperson and actress. Here’s Edie, her variety show, in which she showed off all those skills in premium, is still considered one of the greats of that particular world of entertainment. Here, her take on More Than You Know provides a nice look at her unique way of handling a classic composition.

Nicely, www.edieadams.com and https://www.facebook.com/realedieadams/ keep all the many aspects of this valuable performer, who died at the age of 81 in 2008, thoroughly alive and kicking!

Edie Adams 2

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Rhonda Fleming: Technicolor’s Crimson Wonder!

Published May 14, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Endowed with incredible beauty, Rhonda Fleming graced dozens of major studio programmers and noir potboilers with feminine precision. While her credits include such well regarded features as Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound and dark classic Out of the Past, her legacy is peppered with such fun semi-notables as The Great Lover, Strictly Scarlet, Inferno and Yankee Pasha. Thus, despite her talent, she is perhaps best known as the ‘Queen of Technicolor’ (due to her glorious red mane and creamy complexion) rather than for one break-out role.

She does have a delicious horror pedigree, though, due to her longingly evinced Blanche in the 1945 classic chiller The Spiral Staircase. As secretary (a role she would play often) to upstanding Professor Warren (played with stuffy resolve by George Brent), in early 20th century New England, Fleming’s Blanche is pursued by a charming lothario. Of course, she grandly suffers the degradations inherent in such infatuations. Making matters worse, Blanche may be staying in the same house as the person murdering young crippled woman. (In one red-herring inspired moment, Fleming’s full hearted Blanche is even tossed out as a possible suspect in the crimes.)

Stylishly directed by Robert Siodmak (Son of Dracula, Cobra Woman), this charming thriller displays a devise that would be used in future films such as Wait Until Dark, See No Evil, Eyes of A Stranger and Blood Song – the handicapped woman as final girl-heroine. In this case, it is the mute Helen (played with full hearted resolve by Dorothy McGuire) who exposes the killer and eventually outwits his homicidal advances.

Notably, such illustrious performers as Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein, Willard) and Ethel Barrymore (nominated for an Academy Award for work here) join Fleming in the supporting player ranks, here.

The film’s masterful opening – including one of cinema’s most simply chilling murder scenes – can be viewed here:

Meanwhile, the 89 year old Fleming is still kicking up a glorious storm at www.rhondafleming.com.

Fleming in Spellbound

Big Gay Horror, meanwhile, is always keeping it crimson at https://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!