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New Photos Added: Grace Kelly, Buster Keaton, BLAZING SADDLES, Sexy Smokers, Robert Mitchum, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.

July 20th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Fraser Heston visiting Jack Hawkins and his father Charlton on the set of Ben-Hur.

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974) - New Gallery with 13 Images Added.

Paul Mazursky’s Blume in Love (1975) - New Gallery with 9 Images Added.

Humphrey Bogart - 2 New Photos Added.

Jamie Lee Curtis - 2 New Photos Added from John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980)

Buster Keaton’s The General (1927) - New Gallery with 26 Images Added

Grace Kelly - New Gallery with 99 Images Added

Continue reading New Photos Added: Grace Kelly, Buster Keaton, BLAZING SADDLES, Sexy Smokers, Robert Mitchum, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.

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Filed Under Image Blog

Dig A Hole: Harvey Korman

May 29th, 2008 by Scott Marks

“That’s Hedley…”

As far as Emulsion Compulsion is concerned, Harvey Korman’s career can be summed up with one name: Hedley Lamarr.

As Blazing Saddles’ ruthless land baron bent on keeping avarice alive in the the small town of Rock Ridge, Harvey Korman distilled every movement, every gesture, every facial contortion, every everything that ever got him a laugh into one nasty comic character. Although he appeared in three more movies for Mel (High Anxiety, The History of the World Part 1 and Dracula: Dead and Loving It), nothing the actor did either before or after came close to matching Hedley’s depth of Hedley’s satirical silliness.

Korman died today Korman died at the UCLA Medical Center four months after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was 81.

Harvey Herschel Korman was born in Chicago on February 15, 1925. The lanky TV comedy had a couple of unbilled spots in Gypsy and Son of Flubber before quickly realizing that his broad comic characterizations were better suited for the small screen. Korman’s first big break was a stint as a featured performer on Danny Kaye’s 1963 musical variety show.

On The Danny Kaye Show Korman began working in a format that would eventually bring him everlasting fame on The Carol Burnett Show. Over the years, Korman garnered four Emmy Awards for his work on Carol Burnett. I was never able to last more than 5 minutes watching this show. Broad comic antics with characters frequently breaking up at their own brilliance. This was the type of show that was for my parents and their generation. To my folks’ credit, neither one of them could stand it.

Korman’s distinct voice also led him to work as a vocal performer in cartoons. In recent years he contributed his vocal talents to Garfield and Friends, Hey Arnold, The Wild Thornberrys, but when it comes to animation Korman is best remembered as the snooty spaceman The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones.

In 1977, after the success of both Blazing and Burnett, Korman decided to strike out on his own. The Carol Burnett Show nosedived in his absence. Korman never learned the joy of being a second banana. No matter how much fame and recognition Mel and Carol gave him, Korman would never again find showbiz success.

As with all second-rate comics, Korman felt that he had at least one great dramatic role screaming to get out. The comic played straight man Bud Abbott in the terrible TV biopic Bud and Lou. As a dramatic actor, Korman gave one of his funniest performances. And his post-Carol shtick with Tim Conway wasn’t much better. I stepped into The Longshot based on the stellar reputations of director Paul Bartel and cinematographer Robby Muller. The colors were dazzling, the closest Chicago’s Plaza Theater ever came to dye transfer Technicolor.  Everything else about the production was ashen.

Korman was twice married, first to Donna Ehlert in 1960. It ended in divorce in 1974. He married Deborah Fritze in 1982. In addition to his wife, Korman is survived by four other adult children — Kate, Laura, Maria and Chris — and three grandchildren.

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Filed Under Obituaries