Gerrit Graham Dies At 77

Sad news from Hollywood.

Actor Gerrit Graham has passed away at age 77.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

Gerrit Graham, the interesting character actor who appeared in Phantom of the Paradise and three other early films for Brian De Palma and wrote the Grateful Dead song “Victim or the Crime” with Bob Weir, has died. He was 77. 

Graham died Tuesday in an assisted living facility in Rhinebeck, New York, his ex-wife, Dede Taylor, told The Hollywood Reporter. The cause was complications from lung disease.

Graham also portrayed an aspiring country singer in Paul Bartel’s Cannonball! (1976); a computer nerd opposite Julie Christie in Demon Seed (1977); the abusive boyfriend of Susan Sarandon’s character in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby (1978); one of the scheming salesmen in Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars (1980); and the foster father of Alex Vincent’s Andy Barkley in Child’s Play 2 (1990).

Used Cars has to be one of the funniest movies from the 1980s. If you have never seen it, I recommend finding a copy. The movie stars Kurt Russell and Jack Warden.

To read more, go here.

Here's the trailer for Used Cars:

I Thought You Were Dead

 

Jimmy Carter: Movie Star!

Well, sort of.

One of the funniest comedy movies of the 1980s was Used Cars (1980) starring Kurt Russell and Jack Warden. 

In this clip, the president's televised address on inflation is interrupted by a commercial.

Presley Family Has Concerns Over New Movie

Above, the Graceland Pool and the Meditation Garden in the background. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since Elvis Presley's death in August 1977, I have seen only one docudrama on the King of Rock 'N Roll. That was the one starring Kurt Russell and Season Hubley. It was an okay movie, but I have no interest in seeing the new one that's about to be released. I really don't see Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker, Presleys manager.

I was wondering if the Presley Family had any input into it. Apparently very little. In fact, they have concerns about it.

According to the Express (U.K.):

ELVIS PRESLEY's relatives, who were so close to The King that they'd spend hours talking to him on his bed upstairs at Graceland, have shared their concern over the upcoming Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, claiming they weren't consulted and that The Colonel's voice is wrong. Meanwhile, Priscilla Presley has admitted she is "very nervous" about how the film could turn out, despite having met with the director.

Around a month ago, Warner Bros released the first trailer for the upcoming Elvis movie. Baz Luhrmann’s biopic will chart the life and career of The King through the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. The creative team behind the film have consulted Graceland and others like the star’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley about the project, although some family members aren’t sure what they’re going to make of the movie’s accuracy, having seen the first footage.

Elvis Presley's cousin and last surviving original Memphis Mafia member Billy Smith knew The King before he was famous and was one of the last people to see the star alive.

On his YouTube channel Elvis Fans Matter, he said: “I just won’t go to the movies to see something like that now. When it comes on TV, I’ll probably wind up watching it sooner or later. It’ll be interesting to me to see how Tom Hanks plays The Colonel. Outside of that, I don’t know. I’ll probably get around to watching it, but I don’t know when or where or if I’m going to be here to watch it, but we’ll see. And with that, I don’t care nothing else about this subject.”

When he and his wife Jo, who used to spend hours talking to Elvis in his Graceland bedroom, were asked if they were consulted for the movie, they said no and added: “It’s from another point of view.”

If there's any documentary on Elvis Presley worth watching, it would be Elvis Presley:The Searcher.

To read more, go here.