"Some Like It Hotter" Weekend Economists October 1-3, 2010 [View All]

[Demeter]

This weekend we say goodbye and safe landing to Tony Curtis, aka Bernie Schwartz, a leading man and comic hero of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I confess an early infatuation with Tony Curtis. Something about that apple-cheeked, dimpled smile set my girlish heart aflutter. The fact that he was 6.5 years older than my father didn't register.

"Tony Curtis (June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor who's career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 60 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.

Although his early film roles were partly the result of his good looks, by the latter half of the 1950s he became a notable and strong screen presence. He began proving himself to be a “fine dramatic actor,” having the range to act in numerous dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of "mediocre" films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films, and a musical. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.

He won his first serious recognition as a skilled dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in another drama, The Defiant Ones (1958). Curtis then gave what many believe was his best acting, in a completely different role, the comedy Some Like it Hot (1959). Thomson calls it an "outrageous film," which costarred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. That was followed by Blake Edwards’ comedy Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. Those two “frantic comedies” were among his many collaborations with Edwards, and displayed “his impeccable comic timing.” He gave another strong comedic performance in ‘’The Rat Race’’ (1960).

His most significant serious part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler, which some consider his “last major film role.” The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his "chilling portrayal" of serial killer Albert de Salvo. He gained 30 pounds and had his face “rebuilt” with a false nose to look like the real de Salvo.

Curtis is the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis who he fathered with his wife, actress Janet Leigh. He died of a heart attack near Las Vegas on September 29, 2010.

Early life

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in Bronx, New York, the son of Emanuel Schwartz and his wife, Helen Klein. His parents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. Hungarian was Curtis' only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop — the parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother had once made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to Robert's institutionalization. When Curtis was eight, he and his younger brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis attended Seward Park High School.

During World War II, Curtis joined the United States Navy, inspired by watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943). He served aboard USS Proteus, a submarine tender, and on September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away. Following his discharge, Curtis attended City College of New York under the G.I. Bill and studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator, along with Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau, and Rod Steiger. He was discovered by a talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Curtis claims it was because he "was the handsomest of the boys." Arriving in Hollywood in 1948 at age 23, he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures and changed his name to Tony Curtis, taking his first name from the novel Anthony Adverse and his last name from "Kurtz", a surname from his mother's family. Although the studio taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admits he was at first only interested in girls and money."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis

A typical story of success we hear so often in that generation--immigrant reaches pinnacle after starting from nothing. Will we ever have that kind of social opportunity and mobility again in this country==outside of the great athlete or the great beauty? What do great minds do in this 3rd World Country?
Emigrate?

Post them if you've got them.