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Depending on who you ask, Arizona is known as The Grand Canyon State and The Copper State. But if you ask us, it should also be called The Grand Cinema State or The Celluloid State, based on its proud filmmaking history. Given its proximity to Hollywood and stunning scenery that stretches for miles in every direction, Arizona has been the filming location for westerns, science fiction films, and pretty much every genre under the desert sun. In fact, Old Tucson Studios is known as the "Hollywood In The Desert," and was the site of movies and TV shows like "The Bells of St. Mary's, "Rio Bravo," "Gunsmoke," "Little House on the Prairie," and "Three Amigos!"

You're probably thinking, "Wait a minute, wasn't 'Three Amigos!' set in Mexico, 'Rio Bravo' in Texas, 'Bells of St. Mary's in the inner city?" Yep, you're right on all counts. From "Planet of the Apes,...

In her nearly 50-year film career, Isabella Rossellini has played everything from a tortured nightclub singer to Beethoven’s lover to a mysteriously young 71-year-old doctor. Most recently, Rossellini received acclaim for her role as a nun in “Conclave,” and so it’s the perfect time to take a look back at her life and eclectic film career. Scroll through our photo gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see the 10 best Isabella Rossellini movies, ranked.

Rossellini and her twin sister Isotta were born in Rome on June 18, 1952, to Golden Era legend Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. As a child, Rossellini underwent 18 months of grueling procedures to correct scoliosis. In 1976, she made her film debut with a small role as a nun caring for a dying countess played by her mother in the Vincente Minnelli fantasy film “A Matter of Time.” However, it was a few...

The great actress Isabella Rossellini was the face of Lancôme beauty for more than a decade beginning in the early 1980s, but strangely, if you look back, rarely is she the lead in any of her iconic films.

Sometimes a shadow, sometimes on the periphery, a Rossellini character is nonetheless always knowing, from tragic lounge singer Dorothy Vallens in her then-partner David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” to ethereal beauty whisperer Lisle Von Rhuman in Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her” and a wealthy Italian widow who dates below her station in David O. Russell’s “Joy.”

In Edward Berger’s papal potboiler “Conclave,” Rossellini has fewer lines than ever — and probably they could fit on one page — as Sister Agnes. Here is a glowering nun who has seen some shit. In the case of Berger’s English-language follow-up to Oscar-winning heavy-hitter “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Agnes is the eyes...

Is there room at the best picture table for more than one “part two?”

This year, several installments in established franchises are banging on the Academy’s door, hoping for a coveted slot in the category. With no clear frontrunner, this could be the season that more than one sequel secures a place in the race. That has happened only once, in 2022 (“Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick”).

The Oscars have long hesitated to embrace anything with a Roman numeral affixed to it. Historically, only nine sequels have been nominated for best picture: “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945), “The Godfather Part II” (1974), “The Godfather Part III” (1990), “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (2002), “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003), “Toy Story 3” (2010), “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022) and “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022). Just two — “Godfather 2” and “Return of the King” — won.

After coming up short on his first two Best Actor Oscar bids for “Walk the Line” and “The Master,” Joaquin Phoenix took the gold in 2020 for “Joker.” The film reaped a whopping 11 Oscar nominations and cracked the billion dollar mark at the box office. The sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which hits theaters October 4, makes Phoenix the 11th Best Actor victor to reprise his winning role in a feature film.

Only one of the first 10 fellows to pull off this double feature earned another Oscar nomination: Bing Crosby (he won for “Going My Way” in 1945 and was nominated for “The Bells of St. Mary’s” in 1946).

Those who preceded Crosby in reprising their winning roles without academy recognition are Warner Baxter, who went on to appear in both “The Cisco Kid” (1931) and “Return of the Cisco Kid” (1939), and Spencer Tracy, who starred in “Men of Boys Town” (1941).

Edward Flanagan portrayer Tracy...

World War II was still raging in May 1944. The allied invasion of Normandy — aka D-Day — was just around the corner on June 6th. Americans kept the home fires burning and escaped from the global conflict by going to the movies. Two of the biggest films of the year, Leo McCarey’s “Going My Way” and George Cukor’s “Gaslight,” recently celebrated their 80th anniversaries.

Actually, “Going My Way” had a special “Fighting Front” premiere on April 27th: 65 prints were shipped to battle fronts and shown “from Alaska to Italy, and from England to the jungles of Burma.” The sentimental comedy-drama-musical arrived in New York on May 3rd.

And it was just the uplifting film audiences needed. Bing Crosby starred as Father O’Malley, a laid-back young priest who arrives at a debt-ridden New York City church that is run by the older, set-in-his ways Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). The elder...

Ingrid Bergman portrayed Joan of Arc three times in both theater and film, winning acclaim and awards for her performances. Despite the different movies receiving mixed reception, her role as Joan of Arc remains one of Bergman's most iconic throughout her career. Bergman had a successful career portraying real people, winning awards for roles in films like Anastasia and A Woman Named Golda.

Throughout Hollywood history, many actors have played iconic roles in different movies with one particular role defying their success. Many actors in the industry have played the same role in completely different movies. One particular actress played one role three times across her career and this role helped define her as one of the most legendary performers in Hollywood history.

Ingrid Bergman made her acting career in the 1935 Swedish film Munkbrogreven, which saw her land a film studio contract. She made her U.S. debut in the...

Oscars have ignored franchise films, but a few sequels like The Godfather Part II and The Return of the King earned Best Picture nods. Despite Hollywood's increase in sequels, many franchise films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Black Panther have been snubbed by the Oscars. The lack of recognition for sequels like The Dark Knight led to the Academy changing its Best Picture nomination system.

The Oscars have a history of ignoring franchise films, but a few sequels earned Best Picture nominations. Sequels have always been a big part of the movie industry, as the first was made in 1916, but the Academy Awards do not typically reward them in the most significant category. This includes notable Oscar snubs for some of the best sequels of all time, such as The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2, and The Dark Knight. The omission of Christopher Nolan's Batman movie resulted in...

In her nearly 50-year film career, Isabella Rossellini has played everything from a tortured nightclub singer to Beethoven’s lover to a mysteriously young 71-year-old doctor. Most recently, Rossellini received acclaim — and her first Oscar nomination — for her role as a nun in Conclave, and so it’s the perfect time to take a look back at her life and eclectic film career. Scroll through our photo gallery below to see the 10 best Isabella Rossellini movies, ranked.

Rossellini and her twin sister, Isotta, were born in Rome on June 18, 1952, to Golden Era legend Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. As a child, Rossellini underwent 18 months of grueling procedures to correct scoliosis. In 1976, she made her film debut with a small role as a nun caring for a dying countess played by her mother in the Vincente Minnelli fantasy film “A Matter of Time.” However, it was a few more...

Only six actors in Oscar history have been nominated for playing the same character in different movies, with Bing Crosby and Paul Newman being the only two to win an Oscar for their performances. Cate Blanchett is the only actress on the list, receiving two Oscar nominations for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in "Elizabeth" (1998) and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007). Sylvester Stallone has the largest gap between Oscar nominations for playing the same character, receiving his first nomination for playing Rocky Balboa in "Rocky" (1976) and his second nomination for reprising the role in "Creed" (2015), nearly 40 years later.

In the Oscars' 94-year history, only six actors have ever been nominated for playing the same character on separate occasions. It’s not uncommon for different portrayals of the same character to be nominated or even win an Oscar. However, in these instances, the character is played by different actors, typically in remakes of the original movie.

Just two years after Anita of “West Side Story” became the first non-white fictional character to inspire multiple Academy Award nominations, three others are on their way to earning the same distinction. As was the case in 1986, 30% of 2024’s female acting Oscar slots could be filled by stars of “The Color Purple,” the new version of which serves as an adaptation of the similarly titled stage musical rather than Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. If Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, and Taraji P. Henson all reap bids for their fresh takes on the parts for which Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Margaret Avery were previously recognized, the overall list of doubly Oscar-nominated fictional characters will expand to include 20 examples.

In “The Color Purple,” Barrino executes the lead role of Celie Johnson, who she initially played on Broadway as a direct successor to 2006 Tony-winning originator Lachanze. As in the book and first film,...

Casablanca, released in 1942, is considered one of the greatest films in history and boosted the careers of its cast members. Humphrey Bogart, who played Rick Blaine, saw his popularity grow after Casablanca and starred in several successful films. Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson, and S.Z. Sakall all had successful careers after Casablanca.

Casablanca is widely considered one of the greatest films in history, and its impact was such that it boosted the careers of most of its cast. Based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s, by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz and released in 1942. Casablanca takes viewers back to 1941 and to the city of Casablanca, which at the time, was controlled by the French, to meet American expatriate and nightclub owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), Rick’s former lover...

Oscar nominations were announced Jan. 24 and in the best-picture race, voters have come up with the most wide-ranging lineup in decades, full of populist choices.

The 10 films nominated for Oscar’s top prize represent a cross-section of blockbusters, specialty films, indies and mid-range Hollywood movies. There is also a healthy mix of long-established studios, streamers and specialty companies. There’s one film not in the English language, one co-directed by an Asian American (and starring a mostly Asian American cast) and one by a woman.

The breadth of the list is a sharp contrast to most best picture slates of the past two decades.

Best picture nominations for the 95th annual Academy Awards also offer several distinctions, including two sequels nominated in one year, which is a first; and two contenders that are in the year’s worldwide top 10 at the B.O., the first time that’s happened since...

Between 1999 and 2014, Cate Blanchett collected three film acting Golden Globes, with her 2008 supporting win for “I’m Not There” having occurred between her dramatic lead victories for “Elizabeth” and “Blue Jasmine.” As the star of 2022’s “TÁR,” the five-time Best Film Drama Actress nominee is now in a comfortable position to earn her sixth bid and third win in the category, the latter of which would be a record-tying achievement. Based on Gold Derby’s odds, this outcome is more of an inevitability than a possibility.

Being named this year’s Best Film Drama Actress would make Blanchett the category’s fourth triple champion. Those already on this list are Ingrid Bergman, Jane Fonda, and Meryl Streep. Blanchett would also be only the sixth woman to receive half a dozen nominations for this award, after Katharine Hepburn, Geraldine Page, Faye Dunaway, Streep, and Nicole Kidman.

Blanchett is already one of...

In the 125 years since the first play based on the life of 17th century author Cyrano de Bergerac premiered, the classic underdog tale’s eternal relevance has been proven time and time again. Its simple love triangle premise has served as the basis for many stage and screen adaptations, two of which captured the attention of Oscar voters. José Ferrer and Gérard Depardieu both earned academy recognition for their portrayals of de Bergerac, and now Peter Dinklage is gunning for a Best Actor bid for starring in the new film “Cyrano.” If he succeeds, the character will become one of only a handful in Oscars history to have inspired three nominations.

Dinklage, who bagged four Emmys during his eight-season tenure on “Game of Thrones,” first played de Bergerac during the Off-Broadway run of the stage musical from which his film derives. His potential Oscar nomination would come 71 years after Ferrer’s,...

Since the first Best Actor Award was presented to Emil Jannings in 1927, 83 men have heard their names called on the big night, 10 of whom have won more than once in that category. Let’s take a look back at the 22 men in the 21st century who have taken this award. Each of those official acceptance speeches is available below to watch. We have also included one made by Anthony Hopkins, who wasn’t able to attend in 2021 to accept for “The Father,” even though it was recorded the following morning.

Katharine Hepburn is currently the only individual to win four acting Oscars, all in the leading category. However, Daniel Day-Lewis has come close, winning his third Best Actor statue in 2012, a feat Frances McDormand has accomplished on the Best Actress side. Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy hold the record for most Best Actor nominations at nine, while Jack Nicholson holds...

In 91 years, no one has ever been Oscar-nominated for playing a pope. That could change this year if Jonathan Pryce (lead actor) and Anthony Hopkins (supporting) are recognized for the crowd-pleasing “The Two Popes,” as, respectively, Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI.

The film depicts their mutual wariness, which turns into friendship. And thanks to director Fernando Meirelles and writer Anthony McCarten, it also packs a punch in dealing with the men’s very different socio-political backgrounds.

“The Two Popes” sounds like a TV movie that would be shown on cable every Easter. In fact, Italian TV has done a bevy of papal biopics over the years, and America has had a hand in several, including Jon Voight (!) in the 2005 “Pope John Paul II” miniseries.

But Vatican City has rarely appeared on the big screen. “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (1965) and “The Shoes of the Fisherman” (1968) were both intended as...

One of America’s favorite holiday movies plays strangely today, and despite being one of the most popular pictures of its year, really should have disturbed people when it was new as well. Director Leo McCarey and his glowing stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman do remarkable work, and the show has its heart in the right place… but the values built into the story are painfully wrong-headed. We don’t expect ’40s films to adhere to today’s so-called enlightened PC values, but some of the attitudes in this one make us want to throw things at the screen. Taken from a beautifully remastered new restoration, Olive’s Signature Edition is flawless.

The Bells of St. Mary’s

Blu-ray

Olive Signature

1945 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 126 min. / Street Date November 26, 2019 / available through the Olive Signature website / 39.95

Starring: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper,...

Stina Gardell, Pia Lindström, Stig Björkman with Anne-Katrin Titze Photo: Adrienne Halpern

Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (Jag Är Ingrid) opened in the Us at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on Friday with the director Stig Björkman and Pia Lindström joining me for a post screening discussion. Pia, Roberto Rossellini, Isabella Rossellini and Ingrid Rossellini appear in Stig's film to comment on their mother, whose life story had been fodder for the press. It is truly fascinating to catch the constantly moving movie star from different angles in her home movies. Letters and diary entries read by Alicia Vikander guide us through the decades from Sweden to Hollywood to Italy and Paris and London.

Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, Michael Curtiz' Casablanca, Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli, Leo McCarey's The Bells Of St. Mary's, and Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata are revealed to have special meaning. The memory of a distinctive Rossellini...

Ingrid Bergman ca. early 1940s. Ingrid Bergman movies on TCM: From the artificial 'Gaslight' to the magisterial 'Autumn Sonata' Two days ago, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series highlighted the film career of Greta Garbo. Today, Aug. 28, '15, TCM is focusing on another Swedish actress, three-time Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman, who would have turned 100 years old tomorrow. TCM has likely aired most of Bergman's Hollywood films, and at least some of her early Swedish work. As a result, today's only premiere is Fielder Cook's little-seen and little-remembered From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973), about two bored kids (Sally Prager, Johnny Doran) who run away from home and end up at New York City's Metropolitan Museum. Obviously, this is no A Night at the Museum – and that's a major plus. Bergman plays an elderly art lover who takes an interest in them; her...

The Oscars sum up Hollywood quite tidily: The most popular people get together to find out who has been selected as being especially notable, and then everyone claps. If you're the type who likes attention - and let's face it, most who excel in Hollywood do - getting that moment onstage is a dream come true. Every now and then, however, an Oscar winner isn't present to receive his or her statuette. It's Hollywood heresy - the thought that someone would have somewhere more important to be than onstage, receiving applause. But it happens, and when it does, there's usually a good story behind it.

Going My Way (1944) Direction: Leo McCarey Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Risë Stevens, Frank McHugh, Gene Lockhart, James Brown, Jean Heather, Porter Hall, Fortunio Bonanova Screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett; from a story by Leo McCarey Oscar Movies Barry Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Going My Way Director Leo McCarey and screenwriters Frank Butler and Frank Cavett poured a whole bottle of syrup into their sentimental comedy-drama Going My Way. The fact that this "inspirational" tale with religious overtones became the year's biggest blockbuster and the winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, proves that McCarey, Butler, Cavett, and Paramount Pictures knew exactly what audiences wanted in 1944: the same sort of gooey star vehicle that continues to lure millions of moviegoers, e.g., Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump, Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness, Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side. In Going My Way, the goo is provided...

Bing Crosby, Gene Lockhart, Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way Leo McCarey is Turner Classic Movies' Director of the Evening this Christmas. Considering that McCarey was an ardent Catholic, TCM has made a quite appropriate choice. Unfortunately, McCarey's anti-Red My Son John — despite the fact that the Bible plays a prominent role in that film — hasn't been included on the TCM film roster. Instead, TCM watchers will have the chance to check out Going My Way, Make Way for Tomorrow, Duck Soup, The Milky Way, Love Affair, and Once Upon a Honeymoon. The year Billy Wilder's film noir classic Double Indemnity was nominated for Best Picture — and Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me in St. Louis, and Otto Preminger's Laura weren't — McCarey's sappy, feel-good Going My Way was chosen as the Best Picture of 1944 by enough members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

20. Elvis Presley

The King of Rock and Roll's movie career is both the archetype and warning for every single performer on this list. "Love Me Tender," Presley's first of 33 films, made him a even bigger star than he was when it was released in 1956. But through the 1960s, the singer -- more specifically his manager Colonel Tom Parker -- favored quantity over quality, releasing a slew of critically panned films that watered down his once unshakeable sound. The worldwide celebrity continued yet the results were now unpredictable.

19. Janet Jackson

A perennial television star in the 1970s and '80s -- remember Willis' girlfriend Charlene from "Diff'rent Strokes?" -- Jackson made the transition to film in 1993 in John Singleton's "Poetic Justice," a romantic road trip film featuring Tupac Shakur. Singleton's follow-up to "Boyz n the Hood" was a surprise hit, though Jackson chose to focus primarily on her music through the next decade.