Some Like it Hot

Interview: Legendary Star Tony Curtis Likes it Hot in His Life, Career

PatrickMcD — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:26:58 -0600

The name of the new autobiography from Tony Curtis is perfectly descriptive – American Prince. From his hardscrabble early life on the streets of the Bronx to the glamor and glitz of Hollywood stardom, Curtis has had a journey that experienced both the heights and depths of celebrity.

Working with the A-list of movie making icons, Curtis has several classic films to his name including “Some Like it Hot”, “The Defiant Ones”, ‘Spartacus” and “Sweet Smell of Success”.

Tony Curtis (left) and Burt Lancaster in ‘Sweet Smell of Success’
Photo credit: Turner Classic Movies

HollywoodChicago.com caught up with the 83 year-old Tony Curtis recently at the Hollywood Collector Show. In an interview, he talked about his personal philosophy, choice of roles and his life-long passion with painting.

HollywoodChicago.com: In your book, American Prince, what impression do you think a reader will come away with about Tony Curtis that they would never expect?

Tony Curtis: Perhaps my energy, perhaps my drive. It’s very hard to project that at any age, particularly when you are young. I wasn’t happy living in the Bronx. And it wasn’t because it was the Bronx, it could have been any town. There was something about not being able to express myself and I wanted to be able to do that.

Perhaps at an early age I chose acting as a way to be able to do it, and I’m glad I did. It’s seemed as if I had an affinity for it. I was lucky.

HC: Looking back on your very first days in Hollywood, and knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self?

TC: Don’t get into movies! (laughter)

Pay attention to everyone around you. Learn little subtleties about what the human condition is like. You’ll meet people who don’t ever express who they are or what they want to be. We’re all made up of secrets.

HC: It seems looking back to the period where you made The Defiant Ones and Sweet Smell of Success, that these were movies that defied the morality and convention of the day. Did you and the filmmakers realized after you were done with these movies, especially Sweet Smell of Success, that number one, they were going to piss off a few people and two, that they would become classics?

TC: I had no idea what classics meant. I was living amongst them and I didn’t know that maybe one of my movies might be. I’m not being modest now, I’m just saying emotion and morality roll around in the atmosphere and maybe these films catch up to them. Some of them are popular now and maybe they’ll survive, maybe they won’t. The point primarily is to find something that defies what you imagined a normal convention to be.

Billy Wilder (left) directs Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in ‘Some Like it Hot’
Photo credit: Photo credit: Getty Images

HC: You worked with two renown comedy directors around the same time in 1959, Billy Wilder and Blake Edwards. What were the notable differences between the two men in their approach to comedy?

TC: Both directors were very different. Blake and I were approximately the same age, he’s a couple years older than I. Billy Wilder was 20 years older than I. Billy Wilder was a European, German, Jewish fellow. Tough as nails. You knew when you stepped into his company, be careful. You are liable to step on a barb.

He would find jokes about you, that you didn’t want to hear, about your hair or about the way you stood. The attitude of who you were.

Blake on the other hand, had a comic sensibility at all times. He had seen all the early silent film comedies. He brought their sensibility to his films and gave them another level of consciousness.

The similarity between the two men is that they both had a tremendous sense of comedy, but they were very different when developing it.

HC: One of your great underrated films in your later career was 1985’s ‘Insignificance’. What experience did you draw upon to play the character of the “The Senator”, who was modeled after Senator Joseph McCarthy?

TC: In putting that part together, I had no difficulty in understanding The Senator and what was going on with his character. What was difficult was finding the way to provoke my fellow actors. Was it the way I should stand, was it what I was saying? What did they know about my character that I didn’t know that they had heard somewhere? How would I use these traits to provoke them?

I had to become a good detective, because in searching that out I was able to find out what The Senator was like. And he was one mean motherf*cker.

HC: As a painter of high reputation, how important is it to your life?

TC: Painting is as important to me as speaking, the images captured here with a camera or as playing a part in a movie. It’s part of my energy.

I am really fortunate that all of those experiences has become part and parcel of my life. When I opened myself up to them, I found I had a gift for them.

HC: What painter in history would you have liked to portray on stage or screen and why?

TC: Matisse. In his later years, the man was crippled and not well. And I think for someone who is deprived of the ability to accomplish something and still proceeds to accomplish it, is a gift that brings tears to my eyes.

“American Prince: A Memoir” by Tony Curtis with Peter Golenbock is available now. Click here for the HollywoodChicago.com slideshow of the Hollywood Collector Show

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Hookup: Pristine DVD Sets of Classic Films Up For Grabs For United Artists Film Festival in Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:13:54 -0600

CHICAGO – As our giveaways continue to grow in popularity, what we give away continues to sweeten, too. In this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, three lucky winners will be hooked up with our sweetest giveaway yet: a complete DVD set of 20 of the greatest classic films in recent memory.

These DVDs encapsulate some of the most uncontested and cherished films of the last several decades. Titles include “West Side Story,” “Raging Bull,” “Rain Man,” “Rocky,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “Carrie,” “Some Like it Hot,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Die Another Day,” “In the Heat of the Night” and many more.

So why these now? On March 11, 2008, we announced a classic film celebration coming to Chicago called the United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival, which will take place at the historic Music Box Theatre at 3733 N. Southport Ave. from April 4 to 10, 2008 and then again from May 9 to 15, 2008.

Several of the films above and others of similar caliber are being brought back into the theater for this limited engagement on the occasion of 90 years of film for MGM and United Artists. United Artists says the Chicago festival, which will comprise the largest catalog event in video history, is leading up to the public release of many of these titles on DVD.

We have partnered with the festival to offer three lucky winners their own classic DVD package of all 20 films. They are all collector, special, decade or anniversary edition DVDs. The full list of these titles follows:

“Battle of Britain” (collector’s edition)
“The Apartment” (collector’s edition)
“A Bridge Too Far” (collector’s edition, two discs)
“Carrie” (25th anniversary edition)
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (special edition, two discs)
“Die Another Day” (special edition)
“Fiddler on the Roof” (decade’s collection)
“Fistful of Dollars” (collector’s edition)
“For A Few Dollars More” (collector’s edition)
“Get Shorty” (collector’s edition, two discs)
“The Great Escape” (special edition, two discs)
“In the Heat of the Night” (40th anniversary edition)
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (collector’s edition)
“Judgment at Nuremberg” (special edition)
“New York, New York” (30th anniversary edition)
“Raging Bull” (collector’s edition, two discs)
“Rain Man” (special edition)
“Rocky” (collector’s edition)
“Some Like it Hot” (collector’s edition)
“West Side Story” (special edition, two discs)

All you have to do for a chance to win is click “Add new comment” at the bottom of this article and respond with your favorite film among that list of 20 and a compelling reason why. That’s it! We’ll then randomly select a winner. To be eligible, you must be a registered HollywoodChicago.com user. If you don’t already have an account, create one quickly and easily here.

Also to be eligible, we must have your e-mail address. We have e-mail addresses on file once you’re an active user. When we randomly select the three winners for this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we will e-mail you to request your mailing address. We will then mail you your brand-spanking new classic DVD sets. This giveaway closes on April 7, 2008. Good luck!

The dates and films playing as part of the United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival at the Music Box follow.

United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival (part one): April 4 to 10, 2008
“Raging Bull”: April 4, 2008 (new print)
“Bananas”: April 4, 2008
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”: April 5, 2008
“West Side Story”: April 6, 2008
“Kiss Me Deadly”: April 7, 2008
“Some Like it Hot”: April 7, 2008 (new print)
“The Killing”: April 8, 2008
“The Manchurian Candidate”: April 8, 2008
“The Night of the Hunter”: April 9, 2008
“Midnight Cowboy”: April 10, 2008
“Network”: April 10, 2008

“James Bond” series (part two): May 9 to 15, 2008
“Dr. No”
“Goldfinger” (new print)
“From Russia With Love”
“Thunderball”

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival Coming to Chicago’s Music Box Theatre in April

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:13:24 -0600

CHICAGO – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment (MGMHE) on Tuesday announced the launch of an 18-month global celebration that promises to culminate into the largest catalog event in video industry history. Some of the best films the world has seen are touching down in Chicago as part of the proceedings.

What has been coined the United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival will be featured at the Music Box Theatre at 3733 N. Southport in Chicago beginning in April 2008.

“West Side Story” in 1961.
Photo credit: United Artists

“Rich in history and devoted to creating powerful, quality films, United Artists was formed in 1919 by Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to encourage progressive filmmaking [and to give] each star the authority and autonomy to create the films about which they were most passionate,” the statement on Tuesday said.

“Goldfinger” in 1961.
Photo credit: United Artists

The statement continued: “The studio responsible for creating some of the finest films of all time including iconic film franchises ‘Rocky,’ ‘Pink Panther’ and ‘James Bond’ [along with] critically acclaimed and award-winning features ‘Raging Bull,’ ‘Some Like it Hot,’ ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Annie Hall,’ ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and ‘Rain Man’ contains a library of nearly 1,000 feature films and boasts more than 80 Academy Award-winning classics.”

“Raging Bull” in 1980.
Photo credit: United Artists

The films below will show on the following dates at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre:

United Artists 90th Anniversary Film Festival (part one): April 4 to 10
“Raging Bull”: April 4 (new print)
“Bananas”: April 4
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”: April 5
“West Side Story”: April 6
“Kiss Me Deadly”: April 7
“Some Like it Hot”: April 7 (new print)
“The Killing”: April 8
“The Manchurian Candidate”: April 8
“The Night of the Hunter”: April 9
“Midnight Cowboy”: April 10
“Network”: April 10

“James Bond” series (part two): May 9 to 15
“Dr. No”
“Goldfinger” (new print)
“From Russia With Love”
“Thunderball”

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com