Showing posts with label hayley mills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hayley mills. Show all posts

Monday, February 21, 2011

Back of the Head stardom

Before digital effects could place an actor's face on his body double - like in THE SOCIAL NETWORK where Armie Hammer plays the Winklevoss Twins - split screen effects were the best a twin sequence could get. An actor was required to play the star's twin via back of the head shots.



Some of the more famous body double celebrities who gave good head that I can think of -- are Evelyn Moriarty, once Marilyn's THE MISFITS stand-in, who later often doubled for Jeannie's evil twin sister Jeannie II.

here is Barbara & Barbara (split screen)



here is Evelyn and Barb



Bewitched's Elizabeth Montgomery's stand-in was Melody McCord. Melody played the back of lookalike cousin Serena - or Samantha's rear view as needed. Sometimes the director just said "eh, close enough for 2 seconds" and let Melody's face be shown in the final product.





Like Evelyn Moriarty who made a career as stand-in/body double going from MM to Barbara Eden...Melody McCord went from her Extras Guild job with Liz Montgomery to working with Goldie Hawn. She eventually showed her real face on Falcon Crest as Melody the maid.

Finally, there is Susan Henning who signed a Disney contract promising to never tell anyone she was in the The Parent Trap. Years later, Henning told her tale on a special featurette in the Parent Trap DVD. Susan helped Hayley Mills adopt some American teen slang during their time together.



Back to this year's Twin body double star...Armie Hammer was paired with tall model Josh Pence (see below) to play his other half.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Repressed Magic

Disney jumped onto the 1963 'folk music is hip now' bandwagon with the casting of song stylist Burl Ives in the Hayley Mills vehicle (set in the less turbulent turn of the century) Summer Magic. Also in the mix is The Beaver's younger lookalike brother Jimmy Mathers (who says that stage mom baby factories are a new phenom?). Poor Jimmy spends the entire film emulating the scrunched face of his TV star older brother Beaver and acting like he is mildly retarded. Plus, it wouldn't be a Disney Studios Film without the cheap solution of using insect stock footage to illustrate the song and a cute sheepdog barking to keep the kiddies awake.



Later on, Deborah 'Gidget Goes Hawaiian' Walley and the family are serenaded by good ol' fashioned folksy Burl.



You can almost hear Hayley praying for The Beatles' British Invasion and the end of her Disney contract -- sending her off to do contemporary roles in The Trouble With Angels and The Family Way.

Deborah Walley would marry John Ashley and hang around doing Beach Party B-films into the late 60s.



Monday, March 3, 2008

working title: Mother Superior


One of my favorite films is The Trouble with Angels. Starring a radiant Hayley Mills (shaking off her Disney Studio moppet era) and Roz Russell, the film deals with two mischievous and curious teenage girls who enter a Catholic boarding school and wreak havoc with the teaching nuns. They explore the nuns' quarters on the sly, fill the sugar bowl with soap and just keep on coming up with "scathingly brilliant ideas" that cause endless amounts of comic confusion.

The film is directed beautifully by Ida Lupino (featuring locations in Ambler PA) and spans 3 years in the girls' friendship and development.

There is a terrific tribute site here with archival photos: http://thetroublewithangels.com/

Unlike Roz Russell and Mary Wickes and Barbara Hunter (as "Marvel-Anne") who returned in the sequel "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows", Hayley Mills opted out of playing Mary Clancy returning as the progressive Vatican 2-era Sister George. The role went to blonde Stella Stevens.

Character actor watch:
Mary Wickes (who also played a nun in Sister Act, and its sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit) as Sister Clarissa. A nun jumping into a pool in gym shoes equals comedy.

Jesslyn Fax as a nursing home resident who complains about the home taking her social security.

Madge Blake from TV's Batman in the opening train scene complaining about Hayley Mills smoking. Mills bratty reply: "I'm not a child, Madame. I'm a midget with very bad habits."

Gypsy Rose Lee appears as an eccentric dance teacher.