Pic of the Day: “The Adventure of Caesar’s Last Sleep” revisited

Posted by Marisa on October 20, 2014

Our week begins with another look at the Ellery Queen episode “The Adventure of Caesar’s Last Sleep,” first airing on March 14, 1976. Rent-a-hit-man Bonner is on the phone clearing up some details with his latest client.

Also seen in this episode (no scenes with Timothy, unfortunately) is familiar character player Michael V. Gazzo. Like Tim, he attended drama school after World War II on the G.I. Bill. He first gained success as a Broadway playwright with A Hatful of Rain, which later became a film directed by Fred Zinneman. He enjoyed a forty-year career as a memorable character actor on television and the big screen. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance as gruff mafioso Frankie Pentangeli in The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Pic of the Day: “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” revisited

Posted by Marisa on March 3, 2014

March comes in like a lion with this great shot from John Cassavetes‘ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976). Flo, the genial muscle behind a gang of mediocre Hollywood mobsters, prepares to greet Cosmo (Ben Gazzara) outside the Crazy Horse West. He is flanked by the gang’s accountant (John Red Kullers) and Mort (Seymour Cassel). Never has a warm greeting seemed more threatening.

Finding more than the few spare details available about Kullers has proved difficult. He also worked with Cassavetes on-screen in Husbands (1970) and behind the camera for Gloria (1980). While he did bit parts in films and television in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he was mostly active on the Broadway stage during this time. He passed away in 1985 at the age of 73. More information on this intriguing fellow would be much appreciated.

Pic of the Day: “Encounter at Boot Hill” revisited

Posted by Marisa on October 21, 2013

Starting off the week is another look at the Rawhide episode “Encounter at Boot Hill,” the second of the two episodes of that long-running Western series in which Timothy appeared. It was first broadcast on September 14, 1965. Crooked Sheriff Blaine (Simon Oakland) and his ill-tempered deputy Ed Walker are harboring a deadly secret.

Oakland was one of the most recognizable character actors around, working steadily from the 1950s right up until his death in 1983. He got into acting on Broadway in the 1940s after a stint as a concert violinist. He was especially memorable as the psychiatrist who explains Norman Bates’ psychosis in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho (1960).

Pic of the Day: “Ain’t We Got Fun” revisited

Posted by Marisa on August 15, 2013

Our pic today takes another gander at “Ain’t We Got Fun,” the episode of The Untouchables that was first broadcast on November 12, 1959. Loxie, the grinning pyromaniac muscle behind bootlegger Big Jim Harrington (Ted de Corsia), glares at Benny Hoff (Joseph Buloff), whose nightclub has been forcibly taken over by Harrington.

Buloff and his wife were leading figures in Yiddish theater before ending up on Broadway, with Buloff later adding films and television to his repertoire. Upon his death in 1985, he left behind a rather impressive archive of his life and work which you can read about here.