Actor Marlon Brandon has died, age 80. How ironic that my previous post concerns the first role I ever saw him play: Jor-El, the father of Superman in Superman-The Movie. The role gained him noteriety for being paid millions of dollars for what amounts to ten minutes of screen time, but he certainly brought the necessary gravitas to the role, without a hint of camp.
His latter years we're certainly not boring. Multiple wives who only seemed to have single-word names, multiple children involved in violent crime...and who can forget his missing the 1972/73 Academy Awards, and sending up an actress playing a native American to accept his award for Best Actor -- to protest the treatment of natives by the U.S. government. He certainly became tabloid fodder...but his impact on the silver screen -- whether it be in On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, or The Godfather -- was undeniable.
Quote of the Weekend
Just another bit of wisdom from The Globe and Mail's Heather Mallick. Today, she offers her thoughts on Bill Clinton's new memoir (very positive), and gives us another delicious description -- this time, comparing the Clinton Administration to Bush Junior's current debacle:
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"Every one of the millions buying Mr. Clinton's autobiography has a different reason for doing so, but I suspect he'll please most of them with his primer on getting things done in a democratic stalemate. Those who call his presidency a failure even though it encompassed the most sustained economic boom in U.S. history are just wrong. I see it as a garlanded triumph compared to Bushling's deficit-sitting-in-a-bucket-of-blood."
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Once more, everyone bow down before Ms. Mallick and chant we're not worthy! 
