At the age of 91, Mel Brooks is unstoppable, with his musical "Young Frankenstein" opening to great critical acclaim in London in late 2017. Alan Yentob visits Mel at home in Hollywood, at work and at play.
In the 1980s we got our MTV but seemed to have lost much of the musical film in the process. But the genre is resilient. A handful of masterpieces along with a few cult classics emerged from this decade. In the 1990s the Hollywood musical was largely animated, rather than live action. However, television had a surprising number of musical offerings, including “Gypsy” with Bette Midler and “Annie” which launched director Rob Marshall. In the 2000s musicals came back starting with “Moulin Rouge” and carrying on with “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls” and “Hairspray.” There are movies based on Broadway triumphs and once again there are teens singing and dancing.
An aging actress' husband dies of a heart attack en route to Rome, where they'd planned to holiday. There, she rents an apartment and, through the Contessa, she meets a young man, with whom she begins an affair.
Based on the true story of a woman named Ruth Gruber who travels to Europe to help escort 1000 Jewish War victims to the United States. She comes to love and feel sorry for them all, and fights for their rights to live in America.
Superficial people are revealed and drastically changed by circumstance or luck in this a tale of death, seduction, blackmail and theft among British and Americans in Florence in the turbulent days just before World War II.
A black woma is reunited with her white birth mother after being given up for adoption.
A neurotic worker ant in love with a rebellious princess rises to unlikely stardom when he switches places with a soldier. Signing up to march in a parade, he ends up under the command of a bloodthirsty general. But he's actually been enlisted to fight against a termite army.
In response to political pressure from Senator Lillian DeHaven, the U.S. Navy begins a program that would allow for the eventual integration of women into its combat services. The program begins with a single trial candidate, Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, who is chosen specifically for her femininity. O'Neil enters the grueling Navy SEAL training program under the command of Master Chief John James Urgayle, who unfairly pushes O'Neil until her determination wins his respect.
A young half-Navajo convict dying of cancer forces a yuppie doctor to drive him to a magic healing lake.
Shirley MacLaine was the product of a strict middle-class background from which she and her brother, the future actor Warren Beatty, escaped into the fantasy world of show-biz. Her ballet training and her long-legged pixie charm led to rapid success on Broadway in musical comedy. Inevitably, Hollywood called and by 1955 Shirley was cast in Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry." It wasn't too long before the fine dramatic roles also came to her opposite the most popular leading men of the time, like Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum.
Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of only 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa (or Luisa) Italiano on September 17, 1931, in the Bronx, New York City, the middle of three daughters of Mildred (née Di Napoli), a telephone operator, and Michael G. Italiano, a dress pattern maker. Both of her parents' surnames were toponymic. Her parents were Italian immigrants from Southern Italy. In an interview, she stated that her family was originally from Muro Lucano, in the province of Potenza. She was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Bancroft was raised in Little Italy, in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, attended P.S. 12, later moving to 1580 Zerega Ave. Bancroft's Broadway debut in the two-character drama Two for the Seesaw (1958), brought her wide recognition for the depth of her talent and garnered her a Tony Award for best supporting actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (1962), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967). Bancroft continued to have a successful career in film and television. She starred in a number of other films, including The Elephant Man (1980), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), and Agnes of God (1985), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She also had a recurring role on the television series Modern Family. Bancroft was married to director Mel Brooks from 1964 until her death in 2005. They had one son, Max Brooks.
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