The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Completely Updated and Expanded (164 page)

As a result, she signed with MGM for six films and a fee of $800,000. What happened next is one of the most interesting skirmishes in studio-star relations. Gish herself was more discreet about the story than fellow-actress Louise Brooks, who wrote a trenchant article in 1958 describing how MGM had set out to humiliate Gish. From MGM’s point of view, she earned too much and was too sober beside the flappers and sexual generosity of the 1920s. Contrary to general practice, Gish seems to have taken pains to modify her actual attractiveness on screen. Stills and studio portraits reveal a warmer, softer woman than appeared on film. Gish was staggered when Irving Thalberg even offered to arrange a scandal for her so that she might be brought nearer to the level of public taste.
Photoplay
campaigned against her austerity, and Louis B. Mayer alternately bullied her and posted Garbo on her set as a sign of the “new woman.”

Under her contract with MGM, Gish had script approval, and it was usually honored: thus she made
La Bohème;
was magnificent as Hester Prynne in
The Scarlet Letter
(26, Victor Sjöström), a mixture of New England sobriety and nineteenth-century melodrama close to her heart;
Annie Laurie
(27, John S. Robertson) was thrust upon her;
The Enemy
(28, Fred Niblo) was dull; but
The Wind
(28, Sjöström) is her greatest film, a prairie tragedy, filmed under very trying conditions, and still intensely moving.

MGM hardly released that film and Lillian Gish walked proudly away. She made a sound debut in
One Romantic Night
(30, Paul L. Stein), where she seems tense and awkward, and
His Double Life
(33, Arthur Hopkins and William C. De Mille), and then retired to the theatre. She was out of her time, but that is not to say that great directors might not have melted her—George Cukor, for instance.

She slipped back into movies in character parts:
Commandos Strike at Dawn
(42, John Farrow);
Miss Susie Slagle’s
(46, John Berry);
Duel in the Sun
(46, Vidor);
Portrait of Jennie
(48, William Dieterle);
The Cobweb
(55, Vincente Minnelli), in which her underlying severity is very clear;
Orders to Kill
(58, Anthony Asquith);
The Unforgiven
(60, John Huston);
Follow Me, Boys
(66, Norman Tokar);
Warning Shot
(66, Buzz Kulik); and
The Comedians
(67, Peter Glenville). She reappeared ten years later as the matriarch gracefully delivering the most unexpected nuptial gift in
A Wedding
(78, Robert Altman).

Well into her eighties, she was vivacious and a tireless advocate for movies. She made appearances in
Thin Ice
(81, Paul Aaron);
Hobson’s Choice
(83, Gilbert Cates);
Hambone and Hill
(84, Roy Watts), searching for her lost dog;
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(85, Peter H. Hunt);
Sweet Liberty
(86, Alan Alda); and
The Whales of August
(87, Lindsay Anderson).

Her will left money to The Museum of Modern Art so they could protect the work of Mr. Griffith.

Brendan Gleeson
, b. Dublin, 1955
Even with the awesome Janet McTeer towering over him as his Clemmie, Brendan Gleeson was not just a touch apologetic about his Winston in
Into the Storm
(09, Thaddeus O’Sullivan), he felt snookered—after all, why should the greatest Irish actor of his day “do” justice by a British prime minister? So it was a kindness of fate that, in just the previous year, Gleeson had had the chance to be
In Bruges
(08, Martin McDonagh), allowing us to see that this wonderfully big, overgrown man had in him the wistful, delicate air of a wild flower growing in a clump of earth in a boar’s ear. That goes too far? Well, let me tell you that the same Brendan Gleeson is prepared to write and direct a movie from Flann O’Brien’s
At Swim-Two-Birds
. If you know that book (and you should), you will understand the forlorn distinction of the attempt. How can it work? Yet who else has been prepared to try? It’s not just that Brendan Gleeson—narrowly saved from the life of a schoolteacher—is a sublime actor. He is a nobleman and an Irish actor from the mood and the time that regarded Orson Welles as one of its company.

I wasn’t trying to fool you—for years, until the late 1980s, Brendan Gleeson taught school in the Dublin area—English, Irish, math, and physical education—Renaissance man. He made if not quite his debut then his first impact as a quarry-man in
The Field
(90, Jim Sheridan). Next he played Michael Collins in the TV movie
The Treaty
(91, Jonathan Lewis). He was a copper in
Far and Away
(92, Ron Howard) and in
Into the West
(92, Mike Newell). He had a part in
The Snapper
(93, Stephen Frears) before he was Mel’s buddy in
Braveheart
(95, Gibson). That was followed by Red Fox in a new TV version of
Kidnapped
(95, Ivan Passer), and then he had a supporting role in the Hollywood
Michael Collins
(96, Neil Jordan).

He did
Before I Sleep
(97, Paul Mercier) and
The Butcher Boy
(97, Jordan) before he grabbed the role of Martin Cahill in
The General
(98, John Boorman), chewed it on the bone, and made a comic masterpiece out of casual crime. But where could that Irish outlaw go? In the eyes of polite casting agents, Gleeson was overweight, shaggy, and markedly local. So there were a few years in which he drifted around, going to America, without taking root:
This Is My Father
(98, Paul Quinn);
Lake Placid
(99, Steve Miner);
My Life So Far
(99, Hugh Hudson);
Mission: Impossible II
(00, John Woo);
Harrison’s Flowers
(00, Elia Chouraqui);
Wild About Harry
(00, Declan Lowney);
The Tailor of Panama
(01, Boorman);
Artificial Intelligence
(01, Steven Spielberg);
28 Days Later
(02, Danny Boyle);
Gangs of New York
(02, Martin Scorsese).

He did
Dark Blue
(02, Ron Shelton); and then went musical and country in
Cold Mountain
(03, Anthony Minghella); he was in
Country of My Skull
(04, Boorman), and then he played Menelaus in
Troy
(04, Wolfgang Petersen);
The Village
(04, M. Night Shyamalan);
Six Shooter
(04, Martin McDonagh);
Kingdom of Heaven
(05, Ridley Scott):
Breakfast on Pluto
(05, Jordan);
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(05, Newell);
Studs
(06, Mercier);
The Tiger’s Tail
(06, Boorman);
Black Irish
(07, Brad Gann).

He was Wiglaf in
Beowulf
(07, Robert Zemeckis)—after that he was in
Bruges
and Churchill and
Green Zone
(10, Paul Greengrass). It’s clear which way he needs to go in the future—but it’s plain that he could be distracted by big, hollow opportunities on TV.

Danny Glover
, b. San Francisco, California, 1947
Glover’s reasonable, professional, and cautious cop in the
Lethal Weapon
series is vital to the chemistry of the films. Yet I wonder whether Glover commands the same salary as Mel Gibson. After all, it is Gibson who plays the outrageous and reckless member of the team. He
is
the more flamboyant; so maybe he gets the greater rewards.

Glover has worked steadily for over two decades now, balancing boxoffice action movies with some genuinely adventurous explorations of black experience. He is easily called solid, commanding, and reliable; yet his strength is in his gentleness. Though well established, he seems worthy of more demanding work than the system has called for, even if he is still short of the leaping imagination of James Earl Jones.

After training in San Francisco at the American Conservatory Theatre, Glover worked as follows:
Escape from Alcatraz
(79, Don Siegel);
Chu Chu and the Philly Flash
(81, David Lowell Rich);
Out
(82, Eli Hollander);
Iceman
(84, Fred Schepisi);
Places in the Heart
(84, Robert Benton); as the husband in
The Color Purple
(85, Steven Spielberg);
Silverado
(85, Lawrence Kasdan); a spiffy killer in
Witness
(85, Peter Weir);
Lethal Weapon
(87, Richard Donner);
Mandela
(87, Philip Saville) for TV;
A Raisin in the Sun
(88, Bill Duke);
Bat 21
(88, Peter Markle);
Lethal Weapon 2
(89, Donner);
Lonesome Dove
(89, Simon Wincer) for TV;
Predator 2
(90, Stephen Hopkins);
To Sleep With Anger
(90, Charles Burnett), on which he was also executive producer;
Flight of the Intruder
(91, John Milius);
A Rage in Harlem
(91, Duke);
Pure Luck
(91, Nadia Tass);
Grand Canyon
(91, Kasdan);
Lethal Weapon 3
(92, Donner);
Queen
(93, John Erman) for TV; and
Bopha!
(93, Morgan Freeman).

He was in
Angels in the Outfield
(94, William Dear);
Kidnapped
(94, Bruce Seth Green);
Operation Dumbo Drop
(95, Wincer);
America’s Dream
(96, Duke and Paris Barclay);
Gone Fishin’
(97, Christopher Cain);
Switchback
(97, Jeb Stuart); the judge in
The Rainmaker
(97, Francis Coppola);
Buffalo Soldiers
(97, Charles Haid);
Lethal Weapon 4
(98, Donner);
Beloved
(98, Jonathan Demme); the voice of Jethro in
The Prince of Egypt
(98);
Wings Against the Wind
(99, Euzhan Palcy);
Freedom Song
(00, Phil Alden Robinson);
Bàttu
(00, Cheich Oumar Sissoko);
Boesman and Lena
(00, John Berry);
3 A.M
. (01, Lee Davis);
The Royal Tenenbaums
(01, Wes Anderson);
Good Fences
(03, Ernest R. Dickerson);
The Henry Lee Project
(03, Kevin Rodney Sullivan);
The Woodcutter
(04, Gabrielle Savage Dockterman).

He was in
Saw
(04, James Wan);
Manderlay
(05, Lars von Trier);
Bamako
(06, Abderrahmane Sissako);
The Shaggy Dog
(06, Brian Robbins);
Dreamgirls
(06, Bill Condon);
Shooter
(07, Antoine Fuqua);
Honeydripper
(07, John Sayles);
Be Kind Rewind
(08, Michel Gondry);
Gospel Hill
(08, Giancarlo Esposito);
Blindness
(08, Fernando Meirelles);
2012
(09, Roland Emmerich).

Jean-Luc Godard
, b. Paris, 1930
1954:
Opération Béton
(s). 1955:
Une Femme Coquette
(s). 1957:
Tous les Garçons S’Appellent Patrick
(s). 1958:
Charlotte et Son Jules
(s);
Une Histoire d’Eau
(codirected with François Truffaut) (s). 1959:
A Bout de Souffle/Breathless
. 1960:
Le Petit Soldat/The Little Soldier
. 1961:
Une Femme Est une Femme/A Woman Is a Woman;
“La Paresse,” an episode from
Les Sept Péchés Capitaux
. 1962:
Vivre Sa Vie/It’s My Life;
“Le Nouveau Monde,” an episode from
RoGoPaG
. 1963:
Les Carabiniers/The Soldiers; Le Mépris/Contempt;
“Le Grand Escroc,” an episode from
Les Plus Belles Escroqueries du Monde;
“Montparnasse-Levallois,” an episode from
Paris Vu Par
. 1964:
Bande à Part/The Outsiders; Une Femme Mariée/A Married Woman
. 1965:
Alphaville; Pierrot le Fou
. 1966:
Masculin-Féminin; Made in USA; Deux ou Trois Choses Que Je Sais d’Elle/Two or Three Things I Know About Her
. 1967:
La Chinoise; Loin du Vietnam
(codirected with Joris Ivens, William Klein, Alain Resnais, and Claude Lelouch);
Weekend;
“Anticipation, ou l’An 2,000,” an episode from
Le Plus Vieux Métier du Monde;
“L’Enfant Prodigue,” an episode from
Vangelo ’70
. 1968:
Le Gai Savoir; Un Film Comme les Autres
(codirected with Jean-Pierre Gorin);
One Plus One/Sympathy for the Devil; One American Movie
(uncompleted). 1969:
Communications
(uncompleted);
British Sounds
(codirected with Gorin);
Pravda
(codirected with Gorin);
Vent d’Est/Wind from the East
(codirected with Gorin);
Lotte in Italia/Struggle in Italy
(codirected with Gorin). 1970:
Jusqu’à la Victoire
. 1971:
Vladimir et Rosa
(codirected with Gorin). 1972:
Tout Va Bien
(codirected with Gorin);
Letter to Jane: Investigation of a Still
(codirected with Gorin). 1975:
Numéro Deux; Comme Ça Va
. 1980:
Sauve Qui Peut/Every Man for Himself
. 1982:
Passion
. 1983:
Prenom Carmen/First Name Carmen
. 1984: an episode from
Paris Vu Par … 20 Ans Après
. 1985:
Detective; Je Vous Salue, Marie/Hail, Mary
. 1986:
Grandeur et Décadence d’un Petit Commerce de Cinéma
(d). 1987:
King Lear;
“Armide,” an episode from
Aria
. 1987:
Soigne Ta Droite
(d);
Meeting WA
(d);
Duras/Godard
(d). 1989:
Histoire (s) du Cinéma/History (ies) of the Cinema
(d). 1990:
Nouvelle Vague/New Wave
. 1991:
Allemagne Neuf-Zero
. 1993:
Hélas pour Moi; Les Enfants Jouent à la Russie
. 1995:
JLG / JLG—Autoportraite de Décembre; Deux Fois Cinquante Ans de Cinéma Français
(d). 1996:
For Ever Mozart
. 1998:
The Old Place; Histoire(s) du Cinéma: Une Vague Nouvelle; Seul le Cinéma; Les Signes Parmi Nous; Le Contrôle de l’Univers; Le Monnaie de l’Absolu; Fatale Beauté
(d). 2000:
L’Origine du XXième Siècle
. 2001:
Elogie de l’Amour/In Praise of Love
. 2002: “Dans le Noir du Temps,” episode from
Ten Minutes Older: The Cello
. 2004:
Notre Musique; Moments Choisis
. 2006:
Vrai Faux Passeport; Prièren pour Refuzniks 1 and 2
. 2010:
Socialism
.