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Christopher Reeve was initially unsure about landing the role of Superman when he heard that Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were going to appear in the movie. Since he was not as famous as these actors, he doubted his chances of getting the role. Working with Brando was a big deal at the time. However, in an interview, Reeve revealed that he did not enjoy working with him.

Christopher Reeve in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Christopher Reeve’s career quite literally went skywards with his appearance as the DC superhero Superman in the eponymous 1978 movie. His first professional screen appearance as an actor came with his role as Ben Harper in the 1974 CBS soap opera Love of Life. He did not appear in a Hollywood movie until 1978 when he starred in Gray Lady Down. He once told David Letterman the reason behind the hostility between him and Brando after working in Superman.

Half a century ago, Universal Pictures hoped to carry over the success of its entries in the short-lived disaster film vogue to naval combat movies, stirring some box office if few other rewards via dullish “Midway” and “Gray Lady Down,” which felt like bloated retro B-movies. Having revived the disaster genre with trilogy “The Wave,” “The Quake” and “The Burning Sea,” their Norwegian producers seem to be going the same route with “The Arctic Convoy,” about the perilous voyage of a freighter delivering supplies to Allies on the eastern front during World War 2.

The fact-inspired story’s central situation is compelling enough. But director/co-writer Henrik M. Dahlsbakken (of recent biopic “Munch”) delivers a middling effort too sparing of excitement to satisfy action fans, and without the character depth or involvement to score as drama instead. Released on the film’s home turf at Christmas, the competent but uninspired Scandinavian...

Military ensemble pictures work well when the excitement is all about the job and working under pressure: Charlton Heston, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty and even David Carradine are excellent in this credible story about a near-impossible rescue of submariners trapped 1400 feet below. It’s a solid Navy disaster scenario, unusually authentic and realistic — until the dramatists require actor Ronny Cox to act like an emotional idiot. Those U.K. disc producers do it justice with some excellent extras, including a piece with a Navy specialist who worked with the rescue craft seen in the movie… and who later became a well-known film historian, author and film series organizer.

Gray Lady Down

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1978 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 111 min. / / Street Date October 25, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK /

Starring: Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty, Stephen McHattie, Ronny Cox, Dorian Harewood, Rosemary Forsyth, Hilly Hicks, Charles Cioffi, William Jordan,...

Sad news has just come in as actor Charlie Robinson of Night Court fame has died. Perhaps best known for his role as Mac Robinson on the popular comedy series, Robinson is one of the most recognizable television actors of the 1980s. According to his rep, Robinson reportedly passed away on Sunday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from cardiac arrest with multisystem organ failures due to septic shock and metastatic adenocarcinoma. He was 75 years old.

A veteran actor whose career spanned more than five decades, Charles Robinson achieved great fame when he was cast as court clerk Mac Robinson on Night Court. Joining the series in its second season, Robinson would remain as one of its most popular characters through its ninth and final season, ultimately starring on the series between 1984 and 1992. Though he typically went by Charlie, Robinson was credited as Charles Robinson on the series.

In...

Charlie Robinson, a prolific actor who played the clerk on Night Court for most of the NBC sitcom’s run and before that was a regular on its lauded series Buffalo Bill, died Sunday of cancer complications at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 75.

His manager, Lisa Disante, told Deadline that Robinson died of cardiac arrest with multisystem organ failures due to septic shock, and metastatic adenocarcinoma.

Robinson racked up more than 125 TV and film credits — including an impressive five series-regular roles — during a half-century career that stretched into 2021. He got his start guesting on such 1970s-80s series as Cannon, The White Shadow, Lou Grant, St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues and the sequel miniseries Roots: The Next Generation. His first recurring role was on the short-lived NBC primetime soap Flamingo Road.

In 1983, Robinson was cast in Buffalo Bill, the sitcom starring Dabney Coleman as...

Sandra de Bruin is an established actress who has appeared in more than 100 television series, TV films and feature films. She has done numerous commercials, worked in voice-over and looping, danced at the Los Angeles Music Center and is the creator of the bestselling Actor's Audition Log. Sandra will periodically be sharing her stories of working with Hollywood legends, which will appear in a forthcoming memoir about her on-and off-screen adventures.

By Sandra De Bruin With Dean Brierly

How does one describe a bright, charming, handsome, witty con-man? Well, if he’s all of that and more—then he’s James Garner.

Every Sunday night I would call my father in New York. This ritual began in the 1970s and continued until he passed away in the late 1980s. I would regale him with the follies and foibles of my week in Tinseltown, and he would patiently listen, occasionally interjecting an upbeat comment.

Sandra de Bruin is an established actress who has appeared in more than 100 television series, TV films and feature films. She has done numerous commercials, worked in voice-over and looping, danced at the Los Angeles Music Center and is the creator of the bestselling Actor's Audition Log. Sandra will periodically be sharing her stories of working with Hollywood legends, which will appear in a forthcoming memoir about her on-and off-screen adventures.

By Sandra De Bruin With Dean Brierly

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How does one describe a bright, charming, handsome, witty con-man? Well, if he’s all of that and more—then he’s James Garner.

Every Sunday night I would call my father in New York. This ritual began in the 1970s and continued until he passed away in the late 1980s. I would regale him with the follies and foibles of my week in Tinseltown,...

When considering that this week would have been Christopher Reeve's 66th birthday, we find ourselves reflecting on an interview he gave in which a reporter asked, “How do you define a hero?” Christopher considered the question a moment before responding. Finally he noted, “For me, personally, a hero is somebody who will make sacrifices for others without expecting a reward.” “Superman is all that,” mused the interviewer. “That’s what I try to play,” Christopher replied. Then came the biggie: “How about Christopher Reeve? Is he a hero?" The answer was an honest one. “I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t start leaping to those conclusions.” (Photo Credit: Warner Bros) Thankfully, the rest of the world can and did, given the global response to the actor’s passing on Oct. 10, 2004, nearly a decade after the horseback riding accident that paralyzed him from the neck down. Lesser men might have given up,...

Warner Bros.

The late, great Christopher Reeve remains one of the most iconic performers in the history of comic book movies. His portrayal of Superman/Kal-El/Clark in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie helped launch the superhero cinematic subgenre and cemented Reeve as a talent that generations of film fans could enjoy. For many, Reeve remains the Superman, with Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill paling in comparison to his magnetic portrayal of DC Comics’ flagship superhero.

It wasn’t an easy route to global adoration for Reeve, though. He faced stiff competition for the role and a collection of troubles on set. He also had to power through as the franchise that launched his career later suffered reduced budgets and dreadful reviews, when Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace came along and did their best to ruin what Reeve and Donner had started.

From these worrisome...

Christopher Reeve: 'Superman' and his movies (photo: Christopher Reeve in 'Superman' 1978) Christopher Reeve, Superman in four movies from 1978 to 1987, died ten years ago today. In 1995, while taking part in a cross-country horse race in Culpeper, Virginia, Reeve was thrown off his horse, hitting his head on the top rail of a jump; the near-fatal accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. He ultimately succumbed to heart failure at age 52 on October 10, 2004. Long before he was cast as Superman aka Clark Kent, the Manhattan-born (as Christopher D'Olier Reeve on September 25, 1952), Cornell University and Juillard School for Drama alumnus was an ambitious young actor whose theatrical apprenticeship included, while still a teenager, some time as an observer at London's Old Vic and Paris' Comédie Française. At age 23, he landed his first Broadway role in a production of Enid Bagnold's A Matter of Gravity, starring Katharine Hepburn.

New to Netflix Streaming On Wednesday July 27th: Mad Men (seasons 1-4)

If there was a Flickchart for TV, Mad Men would definitely be up in the top 5.

New to Netflix Streaming On Saturday July 30th: Winter’S Bone (R | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #306

Times Ranked: 18200

Win Percentage: 58%

How Many Top-20′s: 40 Users

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Directed By: Debra Granik

Starring: John Hawkes • Jennifer Lawrence

Genres: Detective Film • Drama • Family Drama • Post-Noir

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The Other Side Of Heaven (PG | 2002)

Flickchart Ranking: #8082

Times Ranked: 325

Win Percentage: 31%

How Many Top-20′s: 2 Users

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Directed By: Mitch Davis

Starring: Christopher Gorham • Anne Hathaway

Genres: Drama • Adventure • Coming-of-Age • Adventure Drama

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New to Netflix Streaming On Sunday July 31st: Pitch Black (R | 2000)

Flickchart Ranking: #1065

Times Ranked: 98067

Win Percentage: 38%

How Many Top-20′s: 285 Users

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Directed By: David Twohy

Starring: Vin Diesel • Radha Mitchell • Cole Hauser • Keith David

Genres: Science Fiction • Horror • Monster Film • Sci-Fi Horror

Studios/Franchises: The Chronicles of Riddick

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Expiring from...

Brian Williams showed why he's well-liked by NBC colleagues the other day. He played third base for the "Nightly News" softball team as they were beaten by the "Today" squad 14-3 in DeWitt Clinton Park. When the thirsty players repaired to the back garden at Druids on 10th Avenue, Williams felt so bad for a couple whose romantic dinner was interrupted, he insisted on picking up their check. "He also paid for more than an hour of open bar for both teams, using a credit card, but tipped the waitress in cash -- more than 30 percent,...

Charlton Heston, the square-jawed movie star who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Ben-Hur and was famed for a number of other epic films, died Saturday night at the age of 84. Though an official cause of death was not initially released, the actor had announced in 2002 that he was battling Alzheimer's disease, and had withdrawn from professional appearances after the diagnosis. An actor at first well-known for his portrayal of historical figures -- in addition to his role as Ben-Hur, he also played Michelangelo, El Cid, Moses, and John the Baptist -- Heston's fame later in life was highlighted by his polarizing views on gun control, as the actor was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1998 and vigorously defended the rights of gun owners throughout the country. Indeed the role of political activist, which he embraced throughout his life, almost overshadowed his impressive acting career, which started in theater and television before graduating to the silver screen.

Born in Evanston, IL, Heston was the son of a mill owner who found his life's ambition in acting and found his first big breaks on the Broadway stage and in the nascent medium of television. He made his debut in the 1950 film noir thriller Dark City, and within two years headlined (alongside established stars Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde) the 1952 Best Picture Oscar winner, The Greatest Show on Earth, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Though he continued to work in a number of lower-profile films, including Ruby Gentry and The Naked Jungle, it was DeMille who in 1956 gave the actor one of his most iconic roles, that of Moses in the Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, a sweeping, captivating, over-the-top film that pioneered cinematic special effects with its parting of the Red Sea, and in its depiction of the turbulent political lives and love lives of its stars -- Heston, Yul Brynner as the Pharoah and Anne Baxter as the woman torn between them -- became the quintessential studio epic of its time, favored as much for its close-to-camp emotional broadness as well as its impressive scale. Heston did a 180-degree turnaround from that statuesque role with 1958's Touch of Evil, the Orson Welles thriller that remains a classic to this day in which he played a Mexican narcotics officer drawn into a lurid drug ring. Heston won his Best Actor Oscar in 1959 for another lavish, larger-than-life historical epic, Ben-Hur, which with its famed chariot race and story set against the backdrop of ancient Rome won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat not equalled until Titanic's similar win in 1997.

After Ben-Hur, Heston's status as a star was firmly cemented, and throughout the 1960s roles in such films as El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, The Greatest Story Ever Told (where he played John the Baptist), The Agony and the Ecstasy (his Michelangelo going up against Rex Harrison's Pope Julius II), and Khartoum followed. He found another legendary screen character in 1968's Planet of the Apes, as an astronaut who finds himself on a futuristic Earth now populated by evolved simians who have enslaved the human race. As with his other roles, Heston perfectly balanced the camp aspects of the story with a gravitas that helped ground the sci-fi thriller with a modern-day resonance that helped audiences identify with the hero's plight. (Heston briefly reprised his role in the sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes). The 1970s saw the actor again in futuristic roles in The Omega Man (based on the same story as last year's I Am Legend) and Soylent Green, as well as the disaster epics Airport 1975 and Earthquake. Heston's later film career was made up primarily of thrillers (Gray Lady Down, Two-Minute Warning, The Awakening), television appearances (most notably in Dynasty and its spinoff, The Colbys), and cameos in a variety of high-profile films (Wayne's World 2, Tombstone, True Lies, Hamlet, Any Given Sunday, and the remake of Planet of the Apes, among others). By 1978, Heston had received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild; on the down side, he also regrettably won a Razzie award in 2002 for his supporting performances in Cats & Dogs and Town and Country.

Heston's film career often became overshadowed by his political activities. In the 1960s he was an early, vocal and visible participant in the Civil Rights movement; joining Martin Luther King's march on Washington. In the 1980s and onward, as the former president of the Screen Actors Guild and onetime chairman of the American Film Institute he championed conservative causes and campaigned aggressively against gun control, becoming president of the National Rifle Association in 1998 and speaking out against then-President Bill Clinton on the subject. Becoming yet another icon, Heston found himself revered and reviled by supporters on both sides of the issue and became the surprising center of a highly emotional culture war, using his fame to speak out in favor of a number of conservative issues (he changed his political stance from Democrat to Republican in the late 1980s). Using his position as a Time-Warner stock holder he castigated the company for profiting from the sales of an Ice-T album which included the song "Cop Killer," reading the lyrics to the song aloud at a stockholder meeting. His career as gun-control opponent reached an apotheosis with his appearance in 2000 when he vowed that they could take his guns when they pried the weapons "from my cold, dead hands." Later, in Michael Moore's 2002 Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine, a visibly diminished Heston refused to answer Moore's barrage of questions regarding gun deaths, particularly for the callousness of Heston attending an NRA meeting in Denver shortly after the nearby Columbine school massacres. A year later, Heston received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and he officially disclosed that he was battling Alzheimer's; he consequently withdrew from public life.

Heston is survived by his wife Lydia Clarke, to whom he was married 64 years, and their two children, Fraser Clarke Heston and Holly Heston Rochell. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...