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Constance Cummings: Actress in minor Hollywood movies became major London stage star. Constance Cummings: Actress went from Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra to Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill Actress Constance Cummings, whose career spanned more than six decades on stage, in films, and on television in both the U.S. and the U.K., died ten years ago on Nov. 23. Unlike other Broadway imports such as Ann Harding, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, and Claudette Colbert, the pretty, elegant Cummings – who could have been turned into a less edgy Constance Bennett had she landed at Rko or Paramount instead of Columbia – never became a Hollywood star. In fact, her most acclaimed work, whether in films or – more frequently – on stage, was almost invariably found in British productions. That's most likely why the name Constance Cummings – despite the DVD availability of several of her best-received performances – is all but forgotten.

From Farran Nehme comes word of the passing of Barbara Kent at the age of 103. Farran's "seen only two pictures starring Barbara Kent," one being "the 1933 shoestring Oliver Twist, with Kent as Rose. The other is Flesh and the Devil, in which Kent had the unenviable task of the being the forsaken lover to Garbo's lascivious temptress. Still, it's the silent Flesh and the Devil that left a far stronger impression. Sound seemed to diminish this diminutive actress, as it did so many others. In pantomime, her tiny body made her even sweeter and more fragile, and it added poignance to her hurt over John Gilbert's betrayal…. The Siren always knew she would most likely live to see every silent-film artist depart the planet before she did. But the Siren still wishes she'd gotten the chance to tell Kent, or any of the other artists that Kevin Brownlow has spent a lifetime celebrating,...

One of the last stars of the silent movie era

It is in the nature of cinema that an actor who made her last film appearance more than seven decades ago, and who retreated from public view in the late 1940s, refusing photographs and interviews ever since, can still be appreciated on screen as young, as lovely and as fresh as ever. Barbara Kent, who has died aged 103, was one of the last surviving stars of the silent era. She appeared in the last great silent American film, Lonesome (1928), Paul Fejos's masterpiece of urban poetry. Kent played Mary, a switchboard operator, who meets Jim (Glenn Tryon), a factory worker, in Coney Island. They spend the day together, fall in love, and then lose each other in the crowd. The simple tale of "little people" is raised by the sincerity of the performances and by the director's expressive use of location,...

Silent screen star Barbara Kent has died at the age of 103.

She was one of the first silver screen stars to transition into Hollywood 'talkies' in the 1920s and starred opposite funnyman Harold Lloyd in the comedies Welcome Danger and Feet First.

Born Barbara Cloutman in Gadsby, Canada, in 1907, she was a teenager when she signed a contract with Universal Pictures and adopted the stage name Kent.

She starred opposite Greta Garbo in 1926's Flesh and the Devil and appeared in William Wyler's The Shakedown - one of the first silent movies to feature spoken word sound.

In 1929, she was cast opposite Lloyd in his first talkie, Welcome Danger.

Kent also appeared onscreen with Edward G. Robinson in Night Ride and Gloria Swanson.

A " Fear Factor " stuntman is lucky to be alive -- after a safety mechanism Failed during a jump from 6-stories high last week and he hit the ground Feet First ... breaking both of his ankles. Fortunately, the stuntman was attached to a back-up safety mechanism that helped slow down the fall ... but sources tell us people were "very concerned" when the stuntman hit the ground. We're told the stuntman was testing out a new challenge...

All Hail The New Flesh!

Our special guests this week, Sean and Jay from the Film Junk Podcast, hail St-Catharine’s, Ontario, not far from Toronto so it seemed to make sense to revisit the man who may be Toronto’s most famed filmmaker, David Cronenberg, who we last discussed in detail way back in Episode 100. We’ll be rewinding bacl to two of his most hallowed 80s flicks, 1983′s Videodrome and 1986′s The Fly.

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Playlist:

Hilotrons – Feet First

The Luyas – Too Beautiful to Work

Ladyhawk – Night You’re Beautiful...