R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

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Sabin
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Sabin »

Big Magilla wrote
I'm saddened whenever anyone leaves the Board, especially someone as erudite and prolific as Precious, and I hope he comes back, but when someone goes ballistic over such a little thing it's usually a sign of a bigger problem.
Yes, and this should be a place to escape from those bigger problems.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by dws1982 »

Big Magilla wrote:I'm saddened whenever anyone leaves the Board, especially someone as erudite and prolific as Precious, and I hope he comes back, but when someone goes ballistic over such a little thing it's usually a sign of a bigger problem.
Precious has been open about struggles with depression in the past. I do hope he comes back. He's been a valuable member for as long as I can remember. I know another message board where he posts. I may give him some time to cool down and try to reach out there soon.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Big Magilla »

I'm saddened whenever anyone leaves the Board, especially someone as erudite and prolific as Precious, and I hope he comes back, but when someone goes ballistic over such a little thing it's usually a sign of a bigger problem. That I wrote something that pushed him over the edge disturbs me greatly. We've known each other here for more than twenty years. He knows I am not a rude person.

I hope that whatever it is that is really bothering him gets resolved quickly, but I don't know. He hasn't logged on since he wrote those two posts back to back.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by danfrank »

Big Magilla wrote:Good God!

Talk about over-reacting.
Magilla, if I were Precious I probably would not accept your apology because it was preceded by the statement above. it’s important to understand the difference between intent and impact here. Though you may be surprised by his reaction, I trust that his response is sincere. It’s not an over-reaction but just Precious’s own, legitimate reaction. My opinion: Precious is one of the nicest guys on this board and is one its most important contributors. We can’t afford to lose him.

Precious, I hope you will not give too much power to this one incident and will continue with your delightful and well-informed posts. I truly value you.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Big Magilla »

Here's the link to the 2006 interview with Rhonda Fleming, then 83, at the American Cinematheque showing of Those Redheads from Seattle in 3-D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZqUyjXyq0
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Big Magilla »

Yes. Both Fleming and Dahl were married to three men who, like them, had husbands with bios on IMDb. and three husbands who were not in show business. They both had sons who were actors. Dahl is still alive and living in NYC.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Reza »

Big Magilla wrote:Dahl had a less auspicious career, although she did have major supporting roles in Three Little Words, A Woman's World, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Kisses for My President. She is better remembered, however, for her cosmetics line which was a long time staple in the advertising of beauty products on TV.
Of her 6 husbands two were the actors Lex Barker and Fernando Lamas. Her son Lorenzo Lamas appeared on Falcon Crest as the grandson of the character played by Jane Wyman.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Big Magilla »

Thank you, Reza, that was exactly my point.

I think what disturbed me about Variety's referencing Spellbound is that it immediately brought to mind the obituary of Sonia Darrin who died in June at the age of 96. Darrin was an actress who never received on-screen credit for any of her film roles. She was by all accounts a lovely lady but the only role she ever had that anyone remembers was "Agnes" in The Big Sleep, so when her obituary identified her with that one role in one film almost 75 years old, it made sense, but to identify someone as well known as Rhonda Fleming with a minor role in a legendary film made a year earlier was ludicrous to me. The Spiral Staircase or Out of the Past I can understand, she had substantial supporting roles in those, but Spellbound? Is Alfred Hitchcock the only director whose films from the 1940s and 50s that Today's Variety headline writers under 40 have seen?

I do have to agree with Tee on one thing - I, too, have at times confused Rhonda Fleming with Arlene Dahl. They were both around the same age (Fleming was two years older), both married six times, both began in the 1940s but reached the zenith of their popularity in the 1950s. They even played sisters in 1956's Slightly Scarlet. Fleming was billed second and Dahl third. John Payne received top billing.

Fleming starred opposite Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Glenn Ford in Gun Glory and Bob Hope in Alias Jesse James, all of which received extensive airplay on TV for decades. She also had major supporting roles in While the City Sleeps, Home Before Dark, and The Crowded Sky, which also had a lot of exposure on TV. All of these are available on DVD and some of them on Blu-ray as well. Some may even stream for free if anyone is interested in checking any of them out

Dahl had a less auspicious career, although she did have major supporting roles in Three Little Words, A Woman's World, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Kisses for My President. She is better remembered, however, for her cosmetics line which was a long time staple in the advertising of beauty products on TV.

Fleming was known for philanthropy in later years. Her fifth husband was Ted Mann (1978 to his death in 2001), owner of the Mann Theatre chain. Together, they did a lot of charity work.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Reza »

I'm actually surprised to hear Mister Tee (who at 68) is unfamiliar with Rhonda Fleming and vaguely remembers her only via The Big Circus which he saw when he was 7. I thought film buffs were more aware of films and actors from the past. I guess not and I'm probably assuming that going by my own viewing habits. Fleming may not have been a star like Lana Turner or Rita Hayworth but she was very popular during the 1950s and by no means a "minor" performer. I find it amusing that the obituaries are emphasizing two well known films from the 1940s even though she didn't have much to do in those early roles. She was always a ravishing presence in the light comedies, musicals and thrillers all through the 1950s. I'm 58 now but saw most of Fleming's films on tv when I was in my teens and 20s.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Big Magilla »

Good God!

Talk about over-reacting. This is the first I've seen this thread since I wrote that.

I've had a really shitty week - literally so the last couple of days waiting for the plumber to come to take care of sudden problems with both toilets. We're in the middle of a pandemic. It's not like I can easily knock on a neighbor's door and ask to use their facilities, not that there's ever an excuse to be rude, which of course I wasn't being.

My first notice of Rhonda Fleming was as a child seeing her in Those Redheads from Seattle. More recently, I've seen her in interviews with Robert Osborne (when he was alive, of course). I think they can be found on YouTube if anyone is interested.

Anyway, I thought I had said was "almost as bad as", which was not meant to be a putdown of Precious, just my stunned reaction to the latest Variety no-nothing headline. If Variety doesn't know Rhonda Fleming from anything other than Spellbound, it's truly shocking, but I do apologize to Precious for being so insensitive.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Mister Tee »

Precious Doll wrote:Actually, I'll stop posting altogether. I don't think anybody has ever been that rude to in over 20 years on this board.

I appreciate everybody is going through very difficult times, particularly in the US with the damage that Trump has inflicted onto the country but I refuse so take a putdown like that and continue to participate on the board.
Please reconsider. What Magilla said was bluntly phrased, but I doubt meant maliciously; it's not his style at all.

Magilla, you might need to consider that not everyone is as old as you or has such vivid knowledge of minor performers. I was thinking, when I saw this obit posted, that most people here would likely react "Who?" I'm 68, and the only reason I have much recollection of her is because she was in The Big Circus, a movie I saw when I was 7 years old. I think I also saw her occasionally on game shows, or maybe The Tonight Show. (I even had a second's hesitation, thinking, is she the one I met glancingly in the early 90s? -- before remembering that was Arlene Dahl, another gorgeous redhead with a minor acting career that made her a celebrity in my youth.) She was in a moderate number of movies, but, except for Spellbound and Out of the Past, few that are watched today. (Though I did see Cry Danger in the past year on TCM's Noir Alley.) Her last feature was The Nude Bomb, 40 years ago. Before that, a cameo in Won Ton Ton, The Dog That Saved Hollywood -- a film whose cast is almost entirely has-beens. Before that, 1965. She's ancient history.

None of this is to demean her -- she lived, she worked, more power to her. But she's hardly anyone with whom even film scholars need to be familiar.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Precious Doll »

Actually, I'll stop posting altogether. I don't think anybody has ever been that rude to in over 20 years on this board.

I appreciate everybody is going through very difficult times, particularly in the US with the damage that Trump has inflicted onto the country but I refuse so take a putdown like that and continue to participate on the board.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Precious Doll »

Big Magilla wrote:"Actress who appeared in Spellbound and Out of the Past" is as bad as Variety's "Queen of Technicolor who appeared in Spellbound".
Noted. I'll stop posting on this thread. To be perfectly honest I'm not that familiar with Rhonda Fleming and there is no need to be so rude to me just because I am not that familiar with Rhonda Fleming.
Last edited by Precious Doll on Sat Oct 17, 2020 3:23 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Big Magilla »

"Actress who appeared in Spellbound and Out of the Past" is as bad as Variety's "Queen of Technicolor who appeared in Spellbound".

Rhonda Fleming had a long career as a star, not just as a featured player in two classics people might know, both of which were in black-and-white, not the technicolor that did her justice. Not a great actress, but a great beauty, and generally considered one of the nicest people in the business.

She was a Romney supporter in 2012, the last time she was identified by her politics, but I'm pretty sure she was a never-Trumper.
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R.I.P. Rhonda Fleming

Post by Precious Doll »

Actress who appeared in Spellbound & Out of the Past:

https://variety.com/2020/film/people-ne ... 234808175/
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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