When ‘Columbo’ Starred with Two Film Divas

 

Peter Falk's "Columbo" investigated two film stars who resorted to murder in
 "Requiem for a Falling Star" & "Forgotten Lady, with Anne Baxter & Janet Leigh.

 

This is a round-up of when the rumpled TV detective starred with two one-time screen goddesses in classic Columbo episodes.

Anne Baxter's Nora Chandler finds Peter Falk's Columbo amusing--to a point!

The episodes: Requiem for a Falling Star, the Columbo episode that first aired January 21, 1973, was directed by Richard Quine, who was good with actors and had a flair for humor. This season two episode showcases Anne Baxter as “fading” leading lady Nora Chandler, who will kill to preserve her career. Mel Ferrer is Baxter's snarky nemesis, with echoes of Addison DeWitt from All About Eve. Pippa Scott is the star’s assistant, about to marry this arch enemy! Costume designer Edith Head, who worked with Baxter many times, most famously in The Ten Commandments, makes an appearance as herself. 

Janet Leigh's Grace Wheeler may be one of Columbo's most gentle suspects!

Forgotten Lady, the other deadly film diva Columbo episode, was directed by TV and film veteran Harvey Hart, also very good with actors. The season five premiere aired September 14, 1975. Janet Leigh guest stars as movie musical star Grace Wheeler, John Payne as one-time partner Ned Diamond, and Sam Jaffe as her older husband, Dr. Henry Willis. Maurice Evans is the butler, Raymond.

 The Set-Up: Female guest villains Anne Baxter and Janet Leigh are both mature movie stars, with Baxter then 49 in her episode and Leigh 48 in hers. Both stars are somewhat sympathetic villains, compelled to extreme measures to maintain their star status.

Anne Baxter's star sports some major shades, while she & Mel Ferrer's gossip hound
 give each other shade in Columbo's "Requiem for a Falling Star."

Anne Baxter is child star turned leading lady Nora Chandler, who is being blackmailed by gossip writer Jerry Parks, played by Mel Ferrer, who does smarmy so well. Pippa Scott is Jean, Nora’s long-time/long-suffering secretary/assistant. Despite protestations otherwise, Jean has been offering Nora gossip nuggets as pillow talk to Jerry. Nora stalks Jean to Jerry’s birthday party and slashes the tire of her vehicle. Jean borrows Jerry’s vehicle, with Nora waiting at Jerry’s. When the car arrives, Nora has poured gasoline all over the drive way and lights it up. Does Nora actually know who the driver is?

Film star Grace Wheeler contemplates her future, which doesn't include her
 disapproving husband, in Columbo's "Forgotten Lady." Starring Janet Leigh.

Janet Leigh is Grace Wheeler, former song and dance movie star, who leaves a That’s Entertainment!-style movie event, giddy with plans to revive her musical career, but on Broadway. Shades of Debbie Reynolds in Irene! She enlists former co-star and friend Ned Diamond to direct and produce. Grace must know her older, wealthy doctor spouse won’t approve, because she already has a typically convoluted Columbo plot to off him. The star swans upstairs with some extra sleeping medication and her comeback plans get doused, as expected. After her hubby takes his pill, plus one by his wife, Grace steals back upstairs later with a gun. She shoots him and puts the gun in his hand, to make it look like a suicide.

Anne Baxter's Nora Chandler is the gracious star to Peter Falk's fawning Columbo.

Enter Lt. Columbo: In Requiem for a Falling Star, Peter Falk’s wiley Lt. Columbo comes on the scene, feigning surprise and fawns over living legend Nora Chandler. Anne Baxter’s winking grande dame demeanor makes Columbo’s professed shock and awe quite believable. From then on, there is a mutual admiration society between the two worthy adversaries. In Forgotten Lady, the dynamic is quite different. Though Lt. Columbo seems shocked that he’s investigating at the home of one of his and Mrs. Columbo’s favorite stars, Janet Leigh’s Grace Wheeler is more genteel and increasingly fragile. And Falk’s Columbo, while dogged as ever, is more sensitive to the star’s story.

The Leading Ladies: Anne Baxter offers a charismatic star performance whose character Nora Chandler would be right at home with All About Eve’s Margo Channing and Eve Harrington. Nora has Margo’s larger than life persona and Eve’s cunning charm. She does seem genuinely taken with Lt. Columbo and Baxter and Falk play off each other wonderfully. The scene in the finale where Nora is caught by Columbo looks like a nod to Margo Channing, who catches Eve taking imaginary bows in Margo’s costume. Interestingly, Baxter had just performed in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, as Margo Channing!

Anne Baxter as Nora Chandler, surprised to find Columbo on her tail at the finale!

Anne Baxter in the title role of "All About Eve" is similarly surprised!

Janet Leigh is one of the most empathetic golden era film actresses, so despite being the villain of the piece, it's not hard to sympathize with her desperate actions. Some plot twists along the way make you even more on her side, if you don't think about it too much! While Leigh’s Grace has a safe harbor marriage to the wealthy retired doc, she longs to be back in the spotlight. This seems to have been Leigh’s story off-camera, too. Though she had a loving marriage to a wealthy businessman, Leigh never quite made the top tier in Hollywood, then aged out by the end of the ‘60s, all of which seemed to eat at her. And though Janet was still beautiful, she looks reed thin and pinched, with every line showing on her 50-ish face. Much, much later, daughter Jamie Lee Curtis alluded to her mother having an eating disorder. This gives her performance as desperate Grace even more poignancy. Though I didn’t quite buy the finale’s revelation, it’s still touching.

Janet Leigh's star with a fear of fading away was not too far from her own life.
With Peter Falk as Columbo, in "Forgotten Lady."

Star Style: Anne Baxter sports a fun ‘70s style wardrobe—not by Edith Head—and in one scene sports a slinky magenta top that shows off her trim figure. All that is capped with a Lauren Bacall-style mane of hair! As the veteran star, Anne plays with her typical intensity, but also with great humor.

Anne Baxter has a wow moment, before putting on her jacket,
as the star on the run! In the Columbo episode, "Requiem for a Falling Star."

Janet Leigh also looks stylish, though undercut by her wraith-like figure. Leigh had aged drastically in just six years after sporting a trim but curvy figure in the sexy House on Green Apple Road. Janet would age much like fellow MGM star Lana Turner: bleached helmet hair, tan, and very thin. Still, Janet wore some glam gowns and retained her warm appeal. As the troubled star, Forgotten Lady is one of Janet’s best latter day performances.

As film star Grace Wheeler, Janet Leigh looks lovely, but much older than 48,
in the Columbo episode "Forgotten Lady."

Janet Leigh facing 50 reminded me of 60-ish Lana Turner.

 

Falk as Columbo: Peter Falk is in fine form in these classic Columbo episodes. Falk, along with Carroll O' Connor, were both two middle-aged character actors who hit it big in the '70s by creating their iconic characters Lt. Columbo and Archie Bunker. Both actors enjoyed their belated superstardom and have been remembered for these roles over 50 years now. While I admire Falk’s acting, I often feel the same toward his character as Kevin McCarthy’s studio head does in Requiem for a Falling Star, who resents Columbo’s dogging Nora: “Lieutenant, you have an obtuse manner which some people find ingratiating. I do not. Do you follow me?”

Columbo meets legendary designer Edith Head, courtesy of Anne Baxter's
Nora Chandler, in "Requiem for a Falling Star."

Edith Head's cameo is fun, as she was then Universal's head film costume designer. Peter Falk would hand Head her 8th Oscar for The Sting in 1974. 

Falk would borrow a few elements from Requiem for a Falling Star in a much later Columbo episode he directed, It's All in the Game. Faye Dunaway starred as an even more charming and throaty-voiced femme fatale, who also tries to get him to wear a new tie!

It’s so fun to revisit these '70s Mystery Movies, as they hold up quite well with strong writing, emphasis on characterizations, and terrific acting by star Peter Falk and his mix of young and veteran guest stars.

Peter Falk's Columbo, this time wowed by the presence of Janet Leigh's
Grace Wheeler, in the episode "Forgotten Lady."

Here’s my look at Anne Baxter in the title role of All About Eve: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2020/04/mankiewicz-masterpiece-all-about-eve.html

And here’s Janet Leigh in another close to the bone performance as an unhappy housewife, in 1970’s House on Greenapple Road: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2022/10/janet-leigh-haunting-in-house-on.html

 

Anne Baxter's larger than life Nora Chandler was giving me a serious Charles Busch
 vibe from "Die, Mommie, Die!" 

 

 

 

Young Janet Leigh & Robert Mitchum in ‘Holiday Affair’ 1949

Janet Leigh, romanced by Robert Mitchum & Wendell Corey, 1949's "Holiday Affair."

Holiday Affair was originally envisioned with bigger stars, but economical RKO settled on up and comers Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum, and that made the film open for more naturalism and less of a star vehicle. As a widowed mother, Leigh's suitors are Mitchum and Wendell Corey, who seem more suited to film noir, but work well here. This 1949 Affair was filmed in B&W at low-glam RKO. Leigh is still in her early honey brown phase, before she went platinum blonde. All of this adds to the realism of the post-war romantic tale.

Janet Leigh is a war widow with two suitors, Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey,
in "Holiday Affair." She's also a mother with a young son, played by Gordon Gebert.

Off-camera, Mitchum had just survived a potential career-busting pot bust and jail sentence. Lucky for Mitch, of the two bosses who shared his contract, David Selznick and Howard Hughes, the latter was an eccentric who took chances, and he bought Bob’s contract from Selznick. Speaking of Hughes, Janet Leigh found herself in the same position as many young starlets who caught Howard’s obsessive eye. But she firmly put him in her place, as she was a Metro star, and just loaned out to Hughes’ RKO. Still, Leigh was loaned out to Hughes-run (into the ground!) RKO three times—was this MGM’s way of punishing Janet?

Though Robert Mitchum's image might suggest he's stealing the presents,
he's actually very appealing as free spirit Steve in "Holiday Affair."

Robert Mitchum’s bemused, droll attitude is actually a good fit for light romantic comedy. He’s a straight shooter as Steve in Holiday Affair, offering realistic takes on life and love. Mitchum’s free spirit calls ‘em like he sees ‘em and makes no bones about his attraction to Janet Leigh’s Connie. Her war widow, while appealing and kind, is stuck in the past with her lost soldier husband. Wendell Corey’s Carl is the kindly current suitor for the preoccupied young mother. The stars make a good trio in this triangle. Realistically, both men are decent, and there’s no last minute turning one of them into a bad guy. And Connie, while frustrating in her vacillation, has a lot on her young shoulders as a widow and working mother.

While it's amusing to see film noir faves Wendell Corey & Robert Mitchum as nice guys competing for good girl Janet Leigh, the guys are good in "Holiday Affair."

What’s interesting about this movie is that the story is very fanciful in its set up and storytelling, yet realistic in its dialogue about love and loss, in post-war life. The opening and closing use a miniature train set that morphs into and out of real life. Some of the situations would indeed be considered corny and cringe-worthy by today’s standards. But instead of sledge hammering the plot points with sentimentality, they are handled deftly, a rarity for the era. The three stars play with their typical down to earth manner: Janet Leigh looks quite naturally pretty in her early career, plus regular guys Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey play with their trademark diffidence. All of this is filmed modestly at RKO. Imagine Holiday Affair at MGM with, for instance, June Allyson, Van Johnson, and Robert Walker. The glamour and sentimental goo would have been slathered on super thick!

Janet Leigh was just 22 when "Holiday Affair" was released for the holidays in '49. 

Janet Leigh brings her warmth and natural appeal to Holiday Affair, a solid actress from the get-go, just three years after being discovered by retired screen legend Norma Shearer. The former Metro star saw Janet’s photo at a ski lodge in early 1946 and recommended her to MGM. By the end of the year, Janet made her acting debut on a radio Christmas Eve broadcast the same year. The following year, Leigh made her film debut as Van Johnson’s love interest in The Romance of Rosy Ridge. The rest, as they say, was history.

Janet Leigh & Gordon Gebert's scenes as mother & son are warmly believable
in 1949's "Holiday Affair."

Robert Mitchum came up in Hollywood the typical way—“extra” work and bit parts. But in just three short years, he scored with The Story of G.I. Joe and got his only Oscar nomination. And like Leigh, his nom was in the supporting category, except Mitchum’s was at the beginning of his career, and hers in mid-career. Wendell Corey also became a star right after the war, making his film debut in 1947’s Desert Fury. Corey was more of a character actor than star, but often added wry humor to his roles, such as Jimmy Stewart’s pal in Rear Window.

The scenes with Leigh and Gordon Gebert, who plays her son Timmy, are pretty adorable but in a realistic way. Gebert certainly isn’t shy in his scenes and he acted until early adulthood. From there, he went to college, and then had a career teaching architecture.

Gordon Gebert was quite the scene-stealer as Timmy in 1949's "Holiday Affair."

Director Don Hartman had been a screenwriter at Paramount for many Bob Hope and several Danny Kaye vehicles. After directing, he became an executive producer at Paramount and then an independent producer, his last was The Matchmaker, before his death at 57 in 1958. Hartman’s humorous touch shows in this comedy-drama.

Holiday Affair has a number of charming scenes that transcend its clichés. The straightforward telling makes this film feels like a scrapbook of another era and not just a too-glamorous old movie. Enjoy this film on its own terms and you will find this a most happy affair.

Train set lovers will just love 1949's "Holiday Affair!"

                                      

Janet Leigh: Haunting in ‘House on Greenapple Road’ 1970

Janet Leigh is memorable as a desperate housewife in "House on Greenapple Road."

 

The two hour long ABC TV movie, House on Greenapple Road, aired January 11, 1970, and introduced audiences to Lt. Dan August. Here, the taciturn detective was played by Christopher George, who fit the role perfectly. The ratings were so good that it was turned into a weekly series, but George was unavailable, and the role went to Burt Reynolds.

Christopher George is well-cast as hard-nosed Lt. Dan August, but still able to show compassion toward the people mixed up in his case, in "House on Greenapple Road."

What's interesting about House on Greenapple Road was how adult the subject matter was for 1970 television. The film opens with a gory crime scene discovered by a child and the missing person/possible victim appears to have been an unhappy housewife who had a series of salaciously depicted affairs. Based on a bestselling book by Harold R. Daniels, the search for the missing person/victim is spliced with flashbacks of the seamy backstory, which reminded me of the 1965 feature film Sylvia, a shady lady who’s past is investigated. However, this TV movie is more hardnosed that the old-school theatrical melodrama starring Carroll Baker. This is interesting, considering the much stronger censorship on television versus film at the time.

Janet Leigh as a dissatisfied housewife, who looks for love in all the wrong places. Here, she hooks up with the country club life guard, in "House on Greenapple Road."

The mystery blonde here is played by Janet Leigh, in one of her best but lesser-known performances. Aired a decade after a career high in Psycho, Janet Leigh was 42 and struggling to keep her career afloat as a leading lady. The role of a woman who relied on her face and body for self-worth hit a bit close to the bone for Leigh. Her daughter revealed after her death that Janet had eating disorders and feared growing older, losing her looks and figure. It's ironic in House on Greenapple Road that Janet looks incredible and is very vulnerable, but is treated so casually by the male characters. There are some allusions to her famous role in Psycho. Here she is Marian Ord, in Psycho she was Marion Crane. In her various trysts, Janet sports a lovely figure in various undergarments, which also caused a stir in the Hitchcock classic. Her characters seek to opt out of their dull lives, only to find themselves in great danger. The film's ending is a clever nod to Psycho.

Janet Leigh was 42 when she filmed "House on Greenapple Road." Despite fine performances & looking great through the '60s, keeping stardom was an uphill battle.

House on Greenapple Road has a cast of veteran stars and then-newcomers. The story is intriguing, there's some nifty camera work, the story is unsentimental, and the acting is solid. The type of crime committed and the final revelation may have been a shocker back then, but it's very commonplace today in our current reality show mentality. So the story hardly feels dated by today’s standards.

"House on Greenapple Road" was one of those TV movies that haunted
my '70s childhood when re-run on the afternoon movies!

The premise of House on Greenapple Road is based on a true story. A house wife just disappeared one day in 1961 and was never heard from again. And her kitchen was left a literal bloody mess, like this movie. While there were all kinds of rumors, nothing was proven, but that's where the similarity ends.

Christopher George, Janet Leigh, and Tim O’ Connor offer standout performances as Dan August, and the couple in question, Marian and George Ord. 

(R) Christopher George's Dan August spars with (L) Peter Mark Richman's sleaze businessman in "House on Greenapple Road."

The actors who play the men in Marian's life are good in their sleazy roles. Burr DeBenning is a country club life guard, who’s a bit mature act so ageist toward Marian. Peter Mark Richman (Blake Carrington’s lawyer!) is Sal, a business man who gets off on treating the needy housewife like a hooker. Lawrence Dane is the new age preacher who wants to do more than enlighten Marian. There’s boozy and cynical William Windom as the country club president, who picks up where the life guard left off.

William Windom is the country club president who is one of houswife Marian's lovers in "House on Greenapple Road."

Great veteran actors like Walter Pidgeon, Keenan Wynn, and Barry Sullivan offer solid support. Julie Harris is typecast well as the uptight sister-in-law. Joanne Linville is righteously bitchy as the country club president’s rightly jealous wife.

Julie Harris brings her patented nervous edge to the role of the sister-in-law to
Janet Leigh's housewife in "House on Greenapple Road."

Pre-stardom Ed Asner plays a heavy-handed sheriff. Lynda Day is a pissy, pot-smoking secretary named Lillian Crane, a riff on Psycho’s Vera Miles as Lila Crane.  And Jan Brady herself, Eve Plumb, is the Ords’ young daughter, who discovers the blood-drenched crime scene.

Eve Plumb is the young daughter who finds a bloody crime scene in
"House on Greenapple Road."

Janet Leigh’s innately empathetic persona makes the audience want to understand her character. Marian is more than a promiscuous woman. She is looking for validation and her list of Mr. Wrongs reminds me of Looking for Mr. Goodbar, which was also based on a true story. Marian Ord’s husband always forgives her as she seeks to bolster her self-esteem regarding aging and losing her desirability. Among the wrong places she looks for love is with the country club life guard, a sleaze bag business man, a new age minister, and the country club president! Marion’s always disappointed, only to move on to the next man. Yet, in her naïve way, her intentions are sincere. Yet, she’s treated as a toy, when she’s looking for a teen dream version of true love. And Marian’s search doesn’t end well. Leigh’s naturalistic, strong acting make you believe in her character’s motivations, as messed up as they are. Leigh gave some terrific performances in the ‘60s and looked great doing so, but one can only assume it was her age that found her increasingly passed over by the ‘70s.

Janet Leigh as Marian, furious over feeling played, in "House on Greenapple Road."

Tim O’Connor, intense in his breakthrough role on Peyton Place as Elliot Carson, is equally filled with nervous energy here, as George Ord. The sad sack, mild husband loves his wife, but she is not satisfied with their middle-class life. Marian’s fear of losing her appeal is accelerated by the feeling that life is passing her by. The affairs at least jump-start her self-worth, but Marian’s also looking for a real love, and a way out. And O’Connor’s scenes admitting all this later are made genuinely moving by his strong performance.

Tim O' Connor as George Ord finally comes clean about his marriage to Marion.

Here’s the real life story that House on Greenapple Road uses as a premise for the fictional novel and movie, based on the 1961 disappearance of Massachusetts house wife Joan Risch: https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Painted-Blood-Unsolved-Disappearance/dp/1476681848

And here’s one of my favorite films, which starred Janet Leigh, my take on 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-manchurian-candidate-1962.html

This look on Janet Leigh's face as Marian Ord touched me, when she begs her
latest lover not to laugh at her, in "House on Greenapple Road."

'The Manchurian Candidate' 1962

Angela Lansbury as the monstrous mother in "The Manchurian Candidate."
With Laurence Harvey as her son, who was just three years younger than Lansbury!

The Manchurian Candidate was considered a provocative political shocker when first released November 24, 1962. Like A Face in the Crowd five years before and Network 14 years after, The Manchurian Candidate, while applauded as audacious, was also considered a farfetched political scenario. However, the new political reality emerged swiftly, when the controversial Kennedy assassination shattered the United States on November 22, 1963. From then on, assassinations, unending scandals, and the ever-polarizing politics of the last six decades have left this country cynical.

Larry and Frank pass the time by playing a little solitaire.

Aside from satirical targets that are current as ever—campaign mudslinging, faux-patriotism, commie-baiting, politicized torture, controlled-pawn candidates, strange political bedfellows—The Manchurian Candidate remains relevant because of its lean storytelling and almost documentary style black and white filming. For that, credit goes to television-trained director John Frankenheimer, faithfully following Richard Condon’s satiric and prophetic novel.

While The Manchurian Candidate works as a suspense melodrama or political drama, it’s really a black comedy, though the humor admittedly is the gallows variety. It’s no accident that George Axelrod, famed for sexy comedies like The Seven Year Itch, wrote the script. But then, some people don’t get the nightmare humor of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, either.

Director John Frankenheimer in '62.

I’d like to do my part to dispel the myth that Frank Sinatra had The Manchurian Candidate pulled from distribution after the Kennedy assassination, so disturbed was he by the film’s echoes of the actual tragedy. I watched it on TV as a child of the ‘70s. I watched it on VHS in the ‘80s. And I have watched it on DVD ever after. It’s been said there was a distribution rights tangle somewhere between TV showings and the advent of home video. To Sinatra’s credit, the often irascible singer was full of praise for the film’s story and director. When it first came out on video, Sinatra even sat for an interview, to discuss The Manchurian Candidate.

The plot of The Manchurian Candidate has many truly twisted turns, which I’ll try not to reveal too much about, for those who haven’t seen this cult classic turned true film classic.

During the Korean War, a group of American soldiers are captured by Soviets and taken to Manchuria. Let’s just say that part of their stay at the Hotel Manchuria includes free brainwashing. Cut to the film’s present—very early ‘60s USA—the soldiers who returned are experiencing horrifying dreams and display inexplicable behavior. Major Marco Bennett, deeply affected, is determined to figure out why these nightmares are occurring and how it is tied to Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw. He is a fellow soldier that the regiment feels compelled to automatically express admiration for, though he was universally despised by them.

Raymond is a priggish rich kid, determined to break away from his mother, Eleanor Shaw Iselin, and her political tool of a husband, Johnny Iselin. Eleanor’s ambition is to get Johnny on the ticket as the vice-president nominee at that summer’s presidential convention. The political wife from hell is willing to use any means necessary, including using her son’s war hero status, and oh, so much more. The film is a hair-raising race for Ben Marco to get to the bottom of what happened in Manchuria and what it is currently doing to Raymond Shaw.

Despite appearances, Frank Sinatra's aces as Bennett Marco.

The Manchurian Candidate features one of the most eclectic ensemble film casts ever. Frank Sinatra gives one of his strongest dramatic performances as the troubled but determined Ben Marco. Two older friends in my life have told me that they preferred Sinatra as an actor rather than a singer! At first, I thought that was absurd, but came to see why, watching his movies over the years. Sinatra at his best is naturalistic, low-key but charismatic, much like his friend and idol, Humphrey Bogart. Also, like some of the great actors of that era, Sinatra has a marvelous speaking voice. John Frankenheimer, a young hot shot director from TV’s “golden era,” knew how to work fast, and that Sinatra gave his best in the first couple takes. At this point in his career, the ‘Rat Pack’ image was rapidly taking over, and this was one of the last serious movies Frank Sinatra made. 

Frank Sinatra as Ben Marco, fighting sleepless nights with some heavy reading!

That’s not to say there isn’t some fun “inside” Sinatra stuff in The Manchurian Candidate: There’s a scene where brainwashed Raymond is “set off” in a bar called Jilly’s, as in Jilly Rizzo, a friend of  Frank’s; that swanky‘60s plane the Iselins campaign in belonged to Sinatra. This was also the period when Frank was cultivating a “serious” side to offset his swinger image. So, when Ben Marco can’t sleep, he’s reading classic tomes the size of cement blocks. Sinatra also played a “serious” writer in Some Came Running, with the female lead exclaiming over his “exciting talent.” I’m sure many women did!

Laurence Harvey as the tortured Raymond Shaw.

I’ve always been confounded by Laurence Harvey. Off-screen, he was a boy toy to aging showbiz folk in his youth, the life of the party, and someone who didn’t seem to take acting too seriously. On-screen, however, Harvey was always cast as the heel or uptight jerk. In movie after movie, Laurence was always cold, snippy, humorless, stiff, wooden, glowering—I’m running out of adjectives—but let’s just say Larry made Charlton Heston look like Jerry Lewis in the cut-up department. As the boorish Raymond Shaw turned brainwashed, robotic assassin, Laurence Harvey is perfectly cast. This is the best role Harvey ever had. The character of Raymond is truly pathetic, with the hand he has literally been dealt, crushed by an overbearing mother at every turn. Harvey conveys this in the movie’s quiet moments quite well. Off-screen, Harvey was one of the most disliked actors in Hollywood, for being very difficult to work with. But Sinatra, like Elizabeth Taylor, always stood up for the underdog. Sinatra usually said it his way, too: direct, if politically incorrect. When Frank’s personal valet complained, saying that the actor kept hitting on him, Sinatra replied, “Larry has the handicaps of being a homo, a Jew, and a Polack, so people should go easy on him.” Awww, Frank!

Remember this actor from Hawaii Five-0? Scary here, too!

James Gregory, one of the most familiar character actors of his era, is a scene stealer as Johnny Iselin, the buffoon who is indeed the Manchurian candidate. An obvious take-off on mudslinging Joseph McCarthy, Gregory is a symbol for every cardboard cutout politician who has aspired to higher office by taking the low road every step of the way. Gregory is the satiric comedy relief as the boozy political hack, who can never remember how many commies he’s supposed to claim there are in the Defense Department.

John McGiver, another great familiar face, seemed to be in every TV show and movie of my childhood. Here, he plays Thomas Jordan, the Iselins’ political nemesis. McGiver is both slyly humorous, with that great, distinctive voice of his, and also the voice of decency, as he denounces the sleazy Iselins.

Leslie Parrish, an unfamiliar face to me, was a popular starlet in the early ‘60s. She is appealing as Jocelyn Jordan, Thomas’ daughter and Raymond’s true love. Parrish offers some rays of romantic light when Raymond rediscovers her, and some heartfelt tragedy with her fate.

Henry Silva and Frank Sinatra pulling some pretty smooth martial arts moves!

In typical Hollywood old-school style, Henry Silva, who is Italian and Spanish, was cast as Chunjin, a North Korean agent! Equally as dicey is Silva’s infamous martial arts scene with Sinatra’s Ben, busting up Raymond Shaw’s apartment in the process. Allegedly, they did their own stunts, but I’m not totally convinced. Still, as the commie agent posing as Raymond’s manservant, Silva is suitably unnerving with his intense gaze and soft-spoken voice. And Khigh Dheigh, famous as one of Hawaii Five-O’s best villains, is creepily humorous as the puppet master villain, Dr. Yen Lo.

Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh having some very awkward first date chat!

Janet Leigh is another breath of fresh air in this hot house atmosphere of villains and diabolical corruption. As Rosie, Leigh comes out of nowhere, to first offer Ben Marco comfort, and then falls in love with him at warp-speed. Their first scene together on a train is infamous for its bizarre dialogue. Some viewers believe that their conversation is so stilted as to be coded, and that Leigh’s Josie is an agent for the U.S., assigned to keep tabs on Marco. That doesn’t pan out as the film progresses, but it’s an interesting theory. My thought is that since movie dramas must always have a romantic interest, director Frankenheimer turned the classic “meet-cute” of the hero and leading lady on its ear. Whatever the case, Sinatra and Leigh have a warm rapport that off-sets the movie’s cool toughness. I once watched TCM’s Robert Osborne interview Janet Leigh. Janet recalled with great emotion, despite decades that had passed, how then-husband Tony Curtis announced that he was leaving her, the morning before she filmed the train scene. Leigh said that Frank was great, gently guiding her through that extended, dramatically tricky scene. When I watch Janet Leigh in movies from this era—warm, intelligent, no-nonsense, talented, lovely, with that crisp, unique voice—I wonder why the hell Hitchcock didn’t use her again after Psycho.

James Gregory as the doltish politician & Angela Lansbury as the scheming wife.
Why, that's never happened in real life!

I saved the best for last: the greatest performance in The Manchurian Candidate is Angela Lansbury as Eleanor Shaw Iselin. As the ultimate political wife, Lansbury got one of the great supporting actress roles ever—and Angela gives it everything she’s got. People who think of Angela Lansbury as kindly, owl-like Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote or Teapot in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast will be in for a surprise. Lansbury was only 37 when she played Laurence Harvey’s monster mommie—and only three years older than Larry! Movie and theater critics have always lamented that Lansbury should have been a big movie star, but frankly, I can see why she didn’t. Do I smell the Internet torches being lit? Here’s the deal: Angela always looked older and was not conventionally beautiful in golden age Hollywood, where youth and beauty were all. And is showbiz really all that different today? Lansbury always reminded me of Bette Davis, who fought a similar casting bias by sheer strength of personality and will. Angie was often cast older—she played Hedy Lamarr’s older sister in Samson and Delilah and had just played Elvis’ mother in Blue Hawaii the year before. Lansbury most definitely looks matronly and motherly in Manchurian, especially next to whippet-lean Laurence Harvey.

Lansbury checked her ego at the door when she played Larry's mother.

I’ve always been fascinated how women in Hollywood were cast in terms of age. By all rights, an older actress like Bette Davis would have been awesome as Harvey’s awful mother. But the surprise factor would have been nil, since Davis was renowned for playing villains. Sinatra suggested Lucille Ball—a fascinating thought, since Ball was domineering off-camera. But audiences only knew her as lovable Lucy, and such casting could have blown up in the Manchurian makers’ faces. Frankenheimer had already worked with Lansbury in All Fall Down and decided Angela’s acting would carry her.

The rest is showbiz history, as Lansbury gave an instantly legendary supporting actress performance. Angela surely would have won an Oscar that year, but like Bette Davis, was shut out by a performance from the screen version of The Miracle Worker—with Lansbury, it was for Patty Duke’s remarkable turn as young Helen Keller.

Angela Lansbury was 37 when she starred in 'The Manchurian Candidate.'

Lansbury is quoted as saying The Manchurian Candidate is the most important film in her career. Angela is brilliant, and like Bette, was great at being both villainous, yet riveting. As Eleanor, the power behind the politician, Angela Lansbury is ambitious, crass, loud, domineering, funny, and as the master plan is revealed, utterly chilling.

For me, The Manchurian Candidate is one of the best films of the 1960s. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times, always amazed at how this dark satire predicted our nation’s political future. Or perhaps The Manchurian Candidate just pulled back the curtain on what was already happening in the Cold War political scene. Either way, The Manchurian Candidate paints a scary picture, in the guise of satire, of what politicians will do for power.

Frank, Janet, Larry: The stars of 'The Manchurian Candidate.'

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