Bruce Dern Movies

Actor Bruce Dern is honoree at 1st Annual Gold Coast International Film Festival

For an hour, the stories flowed from actor Bruce Dern - melodiously, his body, face and gestures subtly taking on the persona of the people who have entered and exited his life, and sometimes, the voices, too.

The kick-off event for the first annual Gold Coast International Film Festival, billed as a "Conversation with Bruce Dern," began with a red carpet walk into the Landmark on Main Street, a school that has been transformed into a cultural center, in historic Port Washington in the Town of North Hempstead, Long Island.

The occasion also was to honor Dern as the recipient of the festival's first Legend award to honor his long and diverse career from exploitation sets to the Academy Awards. As it happened, June 1 was also his birthday.

He regaled the audience with stories that spoke of his start at The Actors Studio, the Academy founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan and Lee Strasburg, where for the first three years he wasn't allowed to do dialogue but only learn the "behavior" of acting, and then became one of five of Kazan's protégés (Rip Torn and Lee Remick were others); of Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson, and so many more; how Hollywood often turns against its own, and the story behind the fact that he is the only person who ever actually killed off John Wayne in a movie.

We learned what a "Dernsy" is: the adlibbed, flash of inspiration or unexpected twist he added to his performances.

Most were surprised to learn of his family background, in Chicago where his family owned the major department store, that his godfather was none other than Adlai Stevenson, how he was a track star, an Olympic hopeful, in fact, and that his family's chauffeur, Lenox, would often be the only one to come to watch him at games. His family was not too happy with his chosen profession, actor.

But that led to the best story of the night, when he spoke of returning to Chicago for the opening of the Robert Redford's remake of "The Great Gatsby," F Scott Fitzgerald's novel of the Jazz Age written when the novelist was living in Great Neck, Long Island. Dern was in a hotel suite being interviewed by Siskel & Ebert, when Lenox, in full livery, came to the door.

Lenox said he was now working for a wealthy dowager who wanted to invite him to "tea." She served him cocoa, remembering that was his favorite as a boy, and he invited her to be his "date" for the opening of 'The Great Gatsby.

Best John Wayne Movies | spyderlinks community

John Wayne as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956)

Big John Wayne’s fabled movie career dates from 1926 to 1976. The Duke’s first film was Brown of Harvard (1926) and his last The Shootist (1976).

Here are seven John Wayne motion pictures that no serious film buff should ever miss. That’ll be the day!

The Searchers (Warner Bros., 1956)

Based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Alan Le May, The Searchers was scripted by Frank S. Nugent and directed by John Ford. The Duke plays Ethan Edwards, with Jeffrey Hunter (Martin Pawley), Vera Miles (Laurie Jorgensen), Ward Bond (Rev. Captain Samuel Johnston Clayton) and Natalie Wood (Debbie Edwards) also on the western trail.

Budgeted at .75 million, The Searchers began shooting in February 1955, with a second unit doing advance filming in Aspen, Colorado; Edmonton, Canada; and the Bronson Caves at Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. On June 15 of that year, shooting began at Monument Valley on the Utah/Arizona border, where 115-degree temperatures, raging sandstorms and fierce winds dominated the rugged landscape.

The Searchers is an Old West Odyssey, with Wayne portraying an Indian-hating Confederate Civil War veteran who sets out on a perilous journey. The mission: to find his missing niece Debbie who was kidnapped by a Comanche raiding party. The film is a tale of bloody massacres, vengeance and much soul-searching, with Wayne delivering a grand performance as the unsympathetic Ethan Edwards.

Review: “The box office appeal of John Wayne combined with the imprint of John Ford makes The Searchers a contender for the big money stakes. It’s a western in the grand scale…” reported Variety (3/14/56). On DVD: The Searchers (Warner, 2007)

Sands of Iwo Jima (Republic, 1949)

Harry Brown and James Edward Grant wrote the screenplay and Allan Dwan directed. Wayne plays the hard-bitten Sgt. John Marion Stryker, with John Agar (Pfc. Peter Conway), Adele Mara (Allison Bromley), Forrest Tucker (Pfc. Al Thomas), Wally Cassell (Pfc. Benny Regazzi) and James Brown (Pfc. Charlie Bass) also on board.

Made for million, Sands of Iwo Jima was shot in California, with Camp Pendleton (Oceanside), Janss Conejo Ranch (Thousand Oaks) and Santa Catalina Island employed as filming locations.

The Duke is outstanding as the tough, no-nonsense Marine sergeant who manically trains his recruits for the ultimate test on the battlefield. Hated by many of his men, Wayne eventually proves his mettle at Tarawa and on the bloody sands of Iwo.

Things I've said, but probably shouldn't have, an unrepentant memoir

VideoHound's groovy movies, far-out films of the psychedelic era

Runner's World

The Columbia companion to American history on film, how the movies have portrayed the American past

Liberty