![]() They also thought he would not be believable portraying an Italian-American. ![]() Of course, several of them still could not erase from their memories The Silver Chalice and his knobbly knees. Newman, you might be surprised to learn, was already 31 years old by then and a number of studio executives were against him inheriting the role. Once again James Dean was involved, or rather the ghost of James Dean, for he had been set to play Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me until his death in September 1955 necessitated a change of plans. In fact it turned him into a star overnight. Paul was not one of those guys who made the same mistake twice. The good news, of course, is that Newman’s career was not still-born, and he went on to do some great things, none of which saw him within a thousand miles of a pair of sandals or a toga. The picture originally ran an insufferable 142 minutes! Trust me, if this film comes on TV again and you are contemplating watching it, try slamming your fingers in a kitchen draw for 115 minutes instead. I have sat through The Silver Chalice from beginning to end, (I’m expecting my Victoria Cross in the mail at any moment), and believe me it is a hard slog, even the 115 minute cut version. Not unexpectedly, the ads merely drew an inordinate number of viewers to tune in out of morbid curiosity. In fact, when it was about to be shown on American TV nine years later, Newman took out ads in the Hollywood trades papers apologising for his inept performance in it, and warning viewers to steer clear of the thing at all costs. This last effort forced him into retirement. The Silver Chalice was the final film to be directed by Victor Saville, a man whose directing career had (somehow) lasted for 42 films, the best of them being South Riding (1938) and Green Dolphin Street (1947). ‘Love died in a Porsche’, she told friends. He was killed less than a year later and Pier was heartbroken. It wasn’t. During the shoot, Jimmy wandered over from the set of East of Eden to see how it was going, met Newman’s co-star Pier Angeli, and love apparently bloomed on the spot. It was billed as, ‘The mightiest story of truth and temptation ever produced’. James Dean and his manager had already rejected the role because they considered the script to be rubbish. Even his character’s name, Basil the sculptor, was an embarrassment. And it very nearly sunk his career there and then. After popping up in a dozen or so TV series between 19, when the television industry was still finding its feet, he landed the romantic lead in a sandals and togas drama called The Silver Chalice (1954). Also in 1965, deWilde filmed a performance as Jere Torry, the screen son of John Wayne in In Harm’s Way (1965).Not many superstars begin their careers with an out and out ‘lemon’, but Paul Newman certainly did. The following year he and Keith did Those Calloways for theatrical release, reuniting deWilde with his Good-bye, My Lady star Walter Brennan. ![]() He first starred in The Tenderfoot, a 3-part comedy Western for Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color TV show with Brian Keith. That same year, he appeared on Jack Palance’s ABC circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth.ĭeWilde did a 2-picture deal with Disney in 1964–1965. Although the only lead actor not to be Oscar-nominated for Hud, deWilde accepted the Best Supporting Actor trophy on behalf of co-star Melvyn Douglas (who was in Israel at the time). ![]() ![]() He appeared in All Fall Down (1962), opposite Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint, and in Martin Ritt’s Hud (1963) co-starring with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas. He made a mark onscreen at age 17 as an adolescent father in the 1959 drama Blue Denim, co-starring Carol Lynley, with the then mature theme of abortion, even though the word is never used in the film.Īlfred Hitchcock Presents Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion In 1958 deWilde continued his career starring in The Missouri Traveler sharing lead billing with Lee Marvin in another coming-of-age film, this one set in the early 1900s. All three have been released as MP3 downloads.ĭeWilde shared an on-screen camaraderie with both James Stewart and Audie Murphy in the 1957 western Night Passage. He also, with his Good-bye, My Lady co-star, Walter Brennan, did a Huckleberry Finn reading in the album The Stories of Mark Twain. In 1956 (at age 14) deWilde narrated classical music works Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev and The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten. Brooklyn-born, deWilde’s soft-spoken manner of speech in his early roles was more akin to a Southern drawl. ![]()
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