...angie dickinson - police woman...

Everyone remembers the hit TV series - "Police Woman" that had a good run for four years in the 70s, which marked the first time ah hour-long television drama centered on the exploits of a female cop. Angie Dickinson in the starring role of Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson made her one of the hottest stars on the tube and gave her her best remembered role.

Angie Dickinson was born Angeline Brown in Kulm, North Dakota on 30th September 1931. Her father was a publisher of the Kulm Messenger. When Angie was eleven, the family moved to Burbank California. While in college, she married Gene Dickinson. Angie, being the daughter of a publisher, at first had visions of becoming a writer, but gave this up after winning her first beauty contest. After finishing college she worked as a secretary in a Burbank airplane parts factory for 3-1/2 years. In 1953 she entered the local Miss America contest one day before the deadline and took second place. In August of the same year she was one of five winners in a beauty contest sponsored by NBC and appeared in several TV variety shows.

She appeared briefly in Doris Day's "Lucky Me" (1954) , unbilled as a party guest and a western, "Tennessee's Partmer" (1955). She was seen in low-budget westerns and action fare over the next few years. Her first significant part was in John Wayne's "Rio Bravo" (1959) as Feathers, the dancehall hostess. She popped up in drama "The Bramble Bush" (1960) as one of Richard Burton's conquest. She was Frank Sinatra's wife in the Ratpack's "Ocean's Eleven" (1960) and the lead in the glossy soap opera "The Sins Of Rachel Cade" as a missionary who gives birth to an illetimate child. In "Rome Adventure" (1962), she was vying for Troy Donahue's attention and the title role in "Jessica" (1962), as a midwife who drives the men in an Italian village to distraction.

She did not have much to do in the better "Captain Newman M.D." (1963), playing a nurse. She had a juicy role as the deadly femme fatale in the 1964 remake "The Killers". She did two poor Dick Van Dyke's comedies - "The Art Of Love" (1965) and "Some Kind Of Nut" (1969). Angie was also seen in the misfired "The Chase" (1966) as Marlon Brando's wife; a war drama "Cast A Giant Shadow" (1966) as Kirk Douglas's wife and an all-star flop "Poppies Are Also Flowers" (1966). She was seen to good effect in tough thriller "Point Blank" (1967) and romanced Robert Mitchum in "Young Billy Young" (1969). She had a nude scene in the trashsy and enjoyable "Big Bad Mama" (1974). Around that time, she started her role in "Police Woman".

Angie finally had a sensational movie role in Brian DePalma's 1980 hit thriller, "Dressed To Kill", as anfulfilled wife whose adulterous fling has deadly consequences. In later years, she played Lauren Holly's wealthy mom in the remake of "Sabrina" (1995); appeared as a former Vegas showgirl in "Duets" (2000) and as Helen Hunt' horrid, alcoholic and vagrant mother in "Pay It Forward" (2000) and popped up in a cameo in 2001's "Ocean's Eleven".

(Scanned autographed photo - property of author)

...selamat hari raya aidil fitri...

Time for ketupat, rendang and lemang!!! After a month of fasting, finally my Muslim friends are celebrating Hari Raya. I always look forward to this festive season because everytime I walked past my neighbour's kitchen, the smell of baking and cooking fills the corridor that leads to my home. The smell of rendang never fails to make my tummy growling.

I can hear the sound of fireworks outside my window and the cheerful amazement of the children.

This year, her grand daughter brought over some Raya goodies. Less variety of cookies and cakes that I can do without. Luckily, she still gives a generous helping of beef rendang...

So all my Muslim friends...here's wishing you a Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri!!! And for those balik kampung, safe journey!!!

...deborah kerr - always a lady...

The serene beauty and talent of Deborah Kerr graced the silver screen from classics to poor materials, never losing her composure and refinement. The pleasantly lovely Deborah Kerr (30th September 1921 - 16th October 2007) was born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer in Helensburgh, Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr-Trimmer, who had been gassed in World War I.

She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. Deborah studied ballet while as a youngster but switched her interest to acting and had her theatrical training at her aunt's drama school in Bristol. She first performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London. She subsequently performed with the Oxford Repertory Company 1939-40. Her first appearance on the West End stage was as Ellie Dunn in "Heartbreak House" at the Cambridge Theatre in 1943. She performed in France, Belgium and Holland with ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association, or Every Night Something Awful) - The British Army entertainment service.

She first appeared in the movie "Contraband", but her role was cut from the final print, hence she made her official debut in George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara" in 1941, produced and directed by Gabriel Pascal, with whom she signed a long term contract. Other important assignments that follows are, as Robert Newton's daughter in "Hatter's Castle" (1942) and portraying three different women in "The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp" (1943).

She was promoted to leading lady in the wartime "Perfect Strangers" (1945) opposite Robert Donat. In US, the film was released under the title "Vacation From Marriage". That same year, she was seen as a British hating Irish girl in "I See A Dark Stranger"(1946) and released in US as "The Adventuress". The next year, she played a nun in the mystical drama "Black Narcissus".

When MGM bought her contract from Pascal, they put her in the role of a nice lady who entices Clark Gable away from bad girl Ava Gardner in a witty look at the world of advertising, "The Hucksters" (1947). She was the married Walter Pidgeon's ex girlfriend in "If Winter Comes" (1947 - the delightful Angela Lansbury is the wife) and the comedy that did not make it, "Please Believe Me" (1950). In between these two, she was nominated for both an Oscar for Best Actress and Golden Globe for her role of a tolerating wife in Spencer Tracy's drama "Edward, My Son" (1949). This marked her first of six Oscar nominations in the leading female category without a win.

Great fortune came pounding at her door when MGM cast her in two of the biggest blockbusters - the great outdoor adventure "King Solomon's Mines" (1950 with Stewart Granger) and biblical epic, "Quo Vadis" (1951 with Robert Taylor, where at one point she was tied to a pole to be attacked by a bull). There was also a colourful remake of "The Prisoner Of Zenda" (1952) where Kerr was given the role played by Madeleine Carroll in the earlier version. She was Catherine Parr in "Young Bess" (1953) andPortia in the prestigious "Julius Cesar". She then made a minor comedy that marked her first teaming with Cary Grant, "Dream Wife" (1953).

In 1953, she got a chance to shatter her genteel image when she replaced Joan Crawfords the adulterous officer's wife in "From Here To Eternity". The picture won the Best Picture Oscar and Deborah Kerr won another nomination for playing the sexy, bored and flirtatious with bite and conviction. She also entered the realms of motion picture iconography when she and Burt Lancaster embraced and tumbled in the beach as the tide gushed about them, in one of the most unforgettable of all movie images.

She was in both Broadway and the movie for "Tea And Sympathy" (1956 both with John Kerr - no relation). There were two mediocre romantic war dramas - "The End Of The Affair (1955 with Van Johnson) and "The Proud And Profane" (1956 with William Holden). Kerr was the strong-willed, levelheaded English school teacher sent to Siam and who instills a conscience in Yul Brynner in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical - "The King And I" (1956). She was Oscar nominated again although her singing voice belongs to Marni Nixon (who later famously dubbed for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady").

Oscar nomination number four came with the splendid role of a nun who must keep her reserve while stranded in a remote island with soldier Robert Mitchum in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" (1957), sharing almost the entire screen time with only Mitchum. This was followed by her most famous movies, "An Affair To Remember" (1957) remake of the superior "Love Affair", meeting and falling in love with Cary Grant.

Kerr received her fifth Oscar nod, as a pathetically repressed spinster attracted to a phony major David Niven, in "Seperate Tables"(1958). She reteamed with Yul Brynner for "The Journey" (1959), notable in that she married one of its writers, Peter Viertel in 1960. Next came a flop with Gregory Peck as Sheilah Graham and F.Scott Fitzgerald respectively in "Beloved Infidel". She played a strong and loving Australian wife of sheep dover Robert Mitchum in "The Sundowners" (1960) and won her final Oscar recognition.

Two "nothing special" movies - talky drawingroom comedy, "The Grass Is Greener" (1960 - with Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons) and a thriller "The Naked Edge (1961 - with Gary Cooper). Her next movie was a horror, as a governess driven to her brink by a pair of odd children "The Innocents". "The Chalk Garden"(1964), again as a governess was commendable. She had Ava Garder to contend with again for defrocked priest Richard Burton in "The Night Of The Iguana" (1964). After that, she had some bad luck with the marriage mixed up comedy, "Marriage On The Rocks" (1965) with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin; another horror "Eye Of The Devil" (1966), dicovering husband David Niven engaging in some rituals; "Casino Royale" (1967), doing some slapstickas a horny Scottish heiress and the comedy "Prudence And The Pill" (1968) again with Niven.

She bedded skydiver Burt Lancaster in "The Gypsy Moths" (1969) and stood by husband Kirk Douglas while he had a fling with a younger woman in "The Arrangement" (1969). What work she did accept after that was mostly for television - a remake of "Witness For The Prosecution" (1982) playing Nurse Plimsoll; TV miniseries "A Woman Of Substance" (1984); "Reunion At Fairborough" (1985), rekindling old flame with Robert Mitchum and "Hold That Dream" (1986), a follow up to "A Woman Of Substance". Her last movie was the drama "The Assam Garden" (1985).

Her last public appearance was in 1994 when she was awarded an honorary Oscar after six failed nominations over the years. On Oscar evening, Glenn Close presented a special tribute to her work, the Oscar audience watched clips of her films to music. Miss Kerr then appeared from behind the screen, obviously frail, in a blue pastel trouser suit and received a standing ovation from her peers. A life-long shy woman, Miss Kerr said, "I have never been so terrified in my life, but I feel better now because I know that I am among friends. Thank you for giving me a happy life." Following this, there was another standing ovation and Miss Kerr left the stage, which was to become her last official goodbye to Hollywood.

Deborah Kerr lived in Switzerland and Spain after retiring from acting, but returned to England to be with her family when her Parkinson's disease worsened and was a patron of the National Society of Clean Air and Enviromental Protection in Britain from 1992 until her death in 2007. Deborah Kerr, her husband Peter Viertel and her biographer Eric Braun all died within the space of five weeks in the fall of 2007. All were aged 86.

To Miss Deborah Kerr - we missed you!!!

(Scanned autographed photo - property of author)

...anita ekberg - the swedish iceberg...

A former Miss Sweden 1950, the busty Anita Ekberg (29th September 1931), was a sight to behold. She grew up with seven brothers and sisters but her adventure began when she was elected for the title.

She got a modeling contract from the pageant and a contract with Howard Hughes. She had an uncredited roles, first as a maid of honour in Tyrone Power's "The Mississippi Gambler" and then as a dancehall in the western, "Take Me To Town" (both in 1953 for Universal). She was one of the shapely inhabitant of Venus in "Abbott And Costello Go To Mars" (1953). Anita got better notice in Rock Hudson's Bagdad adventure "The Golden Blade" (1953) as a handmaiden.

She was featured in John Wayne's "Blood Alley" (1955), trying to pass for Chinese and by then, Anita was well-known enough presumably due more to fan magazines than her screen achievements. She played glamour characters named Anita in two of Jerry Lewis Dean Martin musical comedies - "Artists And Models"(1955) and "Hollywood Or Bust" (1956).

She played Helene in the all star Leo Tolstoy epic, "War And Peace" (1956) starring Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Mel Ferrer. "Back From Eternity" (1956) about a plane crash, gives her a better role. Her next movie, "Man In The Vault" in the same year, did nothing much for her.

"Paris Holiday" (1958) gives her a name as Bob Hope's co-star although the movie is one of his weakest. She finally got top billing, playing an exotic nightclub dancer under the spell of a psychiatrist in "Screaming Mimi" (1958).

After five years in Hollywood she found herself in Rome, where Federico Fellini's "Dolce vita, La" (1960) meant her breakthrough. She stayed in Italy and made around 20 movies during the next ten years, some roles memorable, some to be forgotten and occasionally come back to Hollywood for some poor movies like - "Call Me Bwana" (1963 with Bob Hope), "4 For Texas" (1963 with Frank Sinantra and Dean Martin. Also Ursula Andress) and "The Alphabet Murders (1965 with Tony Randall).

Her two marriages gave her a lot of attention from the press. During the 1970s the roles became less frequent, but she made a marvellous comeback with Fellini's "Intervista" (1987). He sex symbol days maybe long gone, but she still has her hearts for her fans. A true lady.

So, to the Swedish Iceberg, Happy Birthday...

(Scanned autographed photo - property of author)

...lizabeth scott - the femme fatale...

Lizabeth Scott had the look - sulky, blonde, dark eyebrows and a husky voice to made her a geat femme fatale for the noir genre.

Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo on 29th September 1922 in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Slovakian parents. Producer Hal B. Wallis discovered her when she studied at Alvienne School of Drama in Manhattan after performing in some summer stock and brought her to Hollywood. He put her opposite Robert Cummings in "You Came Along" (1944), about an escort falls in love with a G.I. and lost him to leukemia.

When Hal Wallis formed his own company, he cast Scott in a supporting role in the film noir classic, "The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers" with the lead going to Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas made his movie debut but Scott steals every scene she's in - which is not many - and provides an anchor of strength and sweetness in an otherwise dark and perverse melodrama, saturated with cruelty, fear, guilt, obsession, murder and blackmail. Infact, Variety claimed she out-acted them both. She was loaned out to Columbia for her best remembered role, in "Dead Reckoning" (1947). As a shady dame who hooks up with Humphrey Bogart, trying to find out who murdered his buddy, she was alluring and did not disappoint.

Scott was the daugther of a casino owner, who gets involved with racketeer, Burt Lancaster in the beautiful Technicolour "Deset Fury" (1947), but the movie was walked away with the great Mary Astor, playing Scott's mother. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas fight over her in the Prohibition noir-drama, "I Walk Alone" (1948). "Pitfall" (1948) has the married Dick Powell having a fling with and in "Too Late For Tears" (1949) as a ruthless woman who will stop at nothing to hold on to the stash she found.

A football drama, starring Victor Mature and Lucille Ball, "Easy Living" (1949) did not quite come off for Scott playing Mature's wife. She suffered in silence when her selfish sister Diana Lynn fell for the man she loves Robert Cummings in "Paid In Full" (1950). She played a sexy torch singer opposite Charlton Heston in "Dark City" (1950) and a female robber in "Two Of A Kind" (1951). A Civil War drama "Red Mountain" (1951) with Alan Ladd did not fair any better, but a little improvement in "The Racket" (1951) with Robert Mitchum. She gets to play a dual role in "Stolen Face" (1952) and she gets to be the leading lady in Jerry Lewis Dean Martin musical comedy, "Scared Stiff" (1953).

In 1955 Scott, who never married, sued Confidential over allegations concerning her sexual preferences. Her last substantial role was as a publicist in Elvis Presley's 1957 "Loving You". Since 1957 she has been seldom seen except for a few rare television appearances. She appeared in "Pulp" (1972), her last movie to date.

Lizabeth Scott is 86 and her legacy lives on however in the growing popularity of classic movies sparked by video tape, laser discs, and cable movie channels such as AMC (American Movie Classics) and TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

(Scanned autographed photo - property of author).

...tasty, tasty lunch...

Weekends are meant to indulge and relax...and what a way to relax if not for good food.

Our journey took us to a new restaurant in Anson Road. It is on the right side after the traffic lights. You will come across a row of shops (where the famous Anson Road laksa is and where "Bok Kua Hnooi" used to be...wanna know the meaning of "Bok Kua Hnooi"??? Do not ask...but literally translated to "Papaya Garden"...go figure it out yourself!!! Hint : there are no papaya trees there!!! Hehehe!!!).

Tasty P&C Restaurant (God knows what P&C stands for...definately the owner does not want the business to be private and confidential...unless...), serves a little Taiwanese, Hongkie and local food (like Peter said, "oriental restaurant"!!!). The food in the pictured menu looks pretty exciting. It has noodles, rice, chicken, pork, dumplings, snacks, braised, soup, congees, etc.

First that was recommended to us was "Phoon Choi". It is just like a community pot with everything in it!!! There is cabbage, chinese mushrooms, foo chuk, lotus roots, meat and more meat!!! Deep fried prawns and mussels, roast pork, braised pork, brocolli, etc.). It comes in a claypot and a portable stove!!! Very interesting. Well, the gravy is nice. It's a cheaper version of the Phoon Choi in Jade Palace. It is only RM35.00 for about 3-4 pax.

Then, we had the braised chicken (yew kay). I have always like braised chicken or duck. the skin to the poultry is usually brown in colour and smooth. Unlike roast birds, they are more flavoured and succulent.

The vegetable we had was in oyster sauce with a good serving of lard. It was not over blanched until the vegetable went flimsy, but enough to keep it crips. And the lard sure add to the taste.

Steamed bun delights is pretty interesting. It's like a flattened steamed pau, folding into two with a filling of braised meat, salted cabbage and celery leaves. It's just a chinese taco. Wonderful.

The dessert is simply appealing. The mango sago is really something you must try. It is served chilled with crushed ice. You can find a few small chunks of mango and some sago and "pearl". We also had the stweed papaya with white fungus and barley with bean curd skin (hot). Sorry, could not say much about the almond jelly, for I am not accustomed to the smell of dead cockroaches, but for those who enjoy almond jelly, it is smooth (it seems).

If only 600CC could serve such food...

Great...where to next???

Ratings : 7/10