My favorite actor ever (yes, the tippity top) would have been turned 89 this past Saturday had he lived. Not that he would have lived to be 89 but still... I'm sad that I forgot. I always feel I should write about him more often. I did try to spur on the communal writing with that blog-a-thon a couple years back. At least there was that.
Thankfully Kim Morgan did not forget and wrote up a beautiful piece on the man, his work in A Place in the Sun and the ineffable sadness in his eyes. And that dance scene -- Stevens’ close-ups. They obviously reveal the actors' beauty, but also how much they, and particularly Monty, could say with their faces. Clift may be blurting out that he loves Taylor, but his beseeching, poignant eyes reveal so many layers of desire, you know something is haunting him even if you don't fully understand the circumstances... It's a dance macabre, and it scares Liz (it would scare me too) but one of the most romantic of all time. [read the rest]Do yourself the favor and watch one of his great performances this week.
