A National Stage where Iconic Movie Stars meet Presidents & First Ladies.
One was First Lady of the Fifties known for her pink carnations and sassy asides named Mamie, the other a compassionate, wisecracking actress whose most famous role was named Mame. It’s hardly a wonder that Mamie Eisenhower and Rosalind Russell… Read More ›
She wasn’t the first First Lady to have worked as a professional actress, but Nancy Reagan’s cameo appearance on the popular 80s television sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” (which actually ran from 1978 to 1986), starring as herself, made headlines. Appearing in… Read More ›
In the weeks following Truman’s defeat of Dewey in the 1948 presidential election, the actress Tallulah Bankhead was hitting a pinnacle of national fame. Already renowned for her work on stage and film, her political role only increased her visibility…. Read More ›
One can’t find two names from politics and entertainment more seemingly dissimilar than that of President Harry S. Truman and actress Tallulah Bankhead. Yet apart from the fact that one was a marital monogamist and the other a bisexual minx,… Read More ›
No President has had more versions of aspects of his life played out in film and television more than John F. Kennedy. The JFK character has appeared in a supporting role in any number of television biopics about others, from… Read More ›
With so many events to bend into two hours, presidential biopics offer less chance to plumb the character of a President than do those films which focus on a specific conflict from their life. Critics faulted Amistad (1997) on both… Read More ›
With the mini-series The Kennedys in the midst of its consecutive episodes this week, the controversy it has engendered begs for a reminder of what it is – and isn’t. Good history does not always make good drama, and good… Read More ›
In 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon was beaten by Senator John Kennedy by a thin margin for the Presidency. Barely recovered from the flu when they debated, Nixon’s television appearance in the debate contributed to his defeat. In 1962, having… Read More ›
For nearly a century now, familiar faces of politics and pop culture have been crossing paths at the mythical corner of Sunset Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue, the boulevard of dreams and the corridor of power, pausing briefly to pose for history…. Read More ›
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