Here she is in her brief ingénue period, in King Vidor’s giddy, delirious 1948 adaptation of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, in which she played opposite Gary Cooper, with whom she had some, um, involvement. What an actress, and what a life.
Patricia Neal, 1926-2010
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Can’t believe that New York Times piece (by Aljean Harmetz? Seriously? Guess this one’s been sitting in the files for awhile…) failed to mention The Day The Earth Stood Still. Not her best work, but surely her best-known credit.
Isn’t this sad? I had so much hope for some late-period recognition and resurgence for one of the greatest, most distinctive American film actresses – tell me she was not the very best thing about the absurdly overrated COOKIE’S FORTUNE. But yes, what a life, and what an actress. R.I.P.
RIP, I always admired her talent and resiliency. Her scenes in Preminger’s “In Harm’s Way” with John Wayne portray a very realistic adult romance, at least to me. The shot of Wayne’s face after she kicks off her nurse’s shoes says it all.
@Pinback, the Times piece does have the merit, however, of mentioning the TV movie about her strokes and subsequent recovery. Dick Bogarde as Roald Dahl really gave me the creeps when I saw it (I hadn’t seen The Night Porter yet).
RIP. Coincidentally the Telegraph ran a fascinating piece last week on the difficult private family life of Dahl and Neal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/7930233/Roald-Dahls-darkest-hour.html
I loved her. I remember her best from HUD and A FACE IN THE CROWD. She had such strength, and such an ease about her performance, in everything. And she had a way of appearing to be smarter than everyone else on screen.
“Hey…you wanna Fig Newton?”
Ah…Patricia Neal, I loved this lady. The whole package. And *that voice* was the absolute best.
Thank you for so many wonderful memories, Ms. Neal, may you forever rest in peace.
Aw, I liked COOKIE’S FORTUNE. It was refreshing to see a movie set in the South that avoided overdone melodrama, and bad melodrama at that. I do agree Neal was good in it.
In the store, we were watching the hard-to-find THE BREAKING POINT, Michael Curtiz’ adaptation of Hemingway’s TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, closer to the book than Hawks’ film was (though nowhere near as good). Neal has one great moment; when John Garfield (in the Humphrey Bogart role) finds out the guy Neal was traveling with has left without paying him, and has stiffed her as well, he asks her how they met, and she retorts, “Sunday school.” It’s the way she says it.