Who would give Cary Grant the side-eye?
Yup, my dad, in "North By Northwest"
North By Northwest was released in 1959, just two years after my dad appeared as juror number number 6 in the iconic, never-gets-old Twelve Angry Men. This was the same year he appeared in Curse of the Undead and two years before Heller in Pink Tights. It was a rocky time for my father: he had been blacklisted for years starting in the early 1950’s, and it took almost a decade to climb out of that professional rut and begin to the get meatier roles again. His anger about blacklisting was fierce: he was on the list simply because someone with the same surname—Binns, but no relation—had once been a member of the Communist Party.
In order to clear his name and return to productive work, he was ordered to pay a hefty fine to a nebulous “agent,” plus write a letter to the government affirming his “heartfelt and unequivocal patriotic support” for the United States. After serving as a munitions officer in Burma in World War II, this requirement felt like a slap in the face. He gritted his teeth, wrote the abhorrent letter, and waited for his career, which had only just begun to take off post-war, began to thrive again. It was a long wait and he had to kiss a couple of frogs along the way.
Four Tidbits For The Week of February 5
Brigit’s What I’m
DOING NOW ➡️ Reading The Gift of Rain. And it is, truly, a gift. CURRENTLY LOVING ➡️ Long, sleek dachshund ears THINKING ABOUT ➡️ Which old series to binge next: Seinfeld, or Friends LISTENING TO ➡️ The dulcet tones of Deep Forest.