I didn’t have to think hard about this one: My pick is Beverly Garland, especially in “It Conquered the World.” Beverly is believable, genuine and sympathetic, despite acting opposite a giant pickle.
Who would be your pick?
|
 |
Weekend Discussion Thread: GOOD Performances by Actresses in MSTed MoviesPart two of the discussion of that rare animal: the GOOD performance in a MSTed movie. This one’s for the l-l-l-l-l-l-ladies.
94 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: GOOD Performances by Actresses in MSTed Movies”Commenting at Satellite News
We are determined to encourage thoughtful discussion, so please be respectful to others. We also provide an "Ignore" button ( Comments are closed. |
|
Satellite News is a fan site for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television and Netflix series. It is an independent publication written and compiled by Chris Cornell (msampo@aol.com) and Brian Henry (erhardt4@aol.com). Satellite of Love, LLC does not maintain this web site, nor is it responsible for this site's content.
All content posted on Satellite News is copyright © 2024 by Chris Cornell and Brian Henry, except where otherwise noted. This Date in MSTory is written and compiled by Steve Finley, Chris Cornell and Brian Henry. Copyright © 2024 All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce This Date in MSTory items in any form without express written permission from the authors. Items of MST3K news may be duplicated or reposted, as long as Satellite News is cited as the source. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Satellite of Love, LLC. No warranty is expressed or implied that the information given herein is completely accurate, and in fact this information can and will change at any time. So there. Mystery Science Theater 3000, its characters and situations are copyrights and trademarks of Satellite of Love, LLC. Banner image created by Larry Lee Moniz. |
|
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
WUHRWELF!!!
Kidding!
#51 – I found her performance absolootly fahscinating.
#43 – I’m glad you brought up “Swamp Diamonds,” which I’ve always thought has much better acting than “Gunslinger.” In addition to our beloved Beverly, I think that Marie Windsor, who played Josie, the leader of the girl gang, did a great job. When “Touch” Connors declares “you’re not so bad yourself Josie,” I find myself agreeing with him. She makes the character likeable rather than being a 2D criminal stereotype. All in all, the actresses in that film set up a pretty believable dynamic, marred a bit by the constant girl-on-girl wrestling, which I’m sure was mandated by Corman.
# 50 – Good catch! I agree that Tia was great as a hottie in a tight outfit about to get murdered by a zombie.
#9 It’s Menard’s, not Bernard’s. As Pacific Northwesterners, we didn’t know it either until we took a road trip to Minnesota. Surprised us.
Two votes. The first is for Marjorie Eaton as Mrs. March (Hettie) in Monstrosity, aka The Atomic Brain. Note that she was only 63 at the time, but was playing as much older. She came across as a creepy and bitter old woman. And she pulled off the part of leering at the young hotties, whose bodies she was contemplating as her own. All of the hiss factor that the movie needed. And she out acted everyone in the cast, with the exception of maybe Xerxes (see post from last week.)
Second I’ll go with Peggie Castle. When this idea first came out, I didn’t think about her, but since she was mentioned earlier, I have to agree. She left both show business and life way too soon.
But the obvious answer is Beverly Garland, Beverly Garland, Beverly Garland. Check her out in “Not of this Earth” (1957) and “The Alligator People”. Both of these movies are available on DVD.
First Choice: Gloria Talbot, “She enters a room before she enters a room!”
Runner-up: Leslie Parrish, “The Martha Stewart we never see.”
Jean Renoir (or whatever her name is), who played Natalie’s mother in SOULTAKER. Okay, her pretending to be Joe Esteves was so-so, but she seemed genuinely distraught over Natalie’s near-death, and the moment when she thinks she hears Natalie’s voice is rather affecting (in the MST version, M&tB talk over it, so you don’t notice). I actually get moved when she’s sobbing over Natalie; for a moment I wonder how I would react in that position.
I’ll also vote for Susan Gordon, Beverly Garland and Coleen Gray.
And… come on.. the actress playing Ophelia in HAMLET wasn’t bad either. Why the heck did they DO that one??? (Not to open a can of worms.)
Beverly Garland seems to have an almost unanimous vote on this topic, and deservedly so. To this day, I wish MST had done more of her movies, because she was so enthralling in whatever role she played. However, It Conquered the World, Swamp Diamonds and Gunslinger is certainly plenty of material as proof that she was a talented actress.
While she’s been mentioned several times here as well, my close second place vote would go to Allison Hayes. Looking beyond her obvious beauty, she also could play different characters equally well. While her portrayal of Grace Thomas in The Unearthly showcased a woman who was both sensitive and vulnerable, Hayes’ performance as a law-breaking saloon owner in Gunslinger was anything but. She’s also very menacing in Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, although I’d die a happy man if a woman that hot crushed me in the palm of her hand! :razz:
I forgot about Aunt Flavia from 805- THE THING THAT COULDN’T DIE. It was my playsure to nominate her.
Yes…..Lupita.
I second the aggressively cute Lupita.
Ah,yes,Lupita…. “StealingsbadandIwanttobegood!”
I agree on BIG’s daugther in “Tormented,” and second the vote for Yvette Vickers as “that fiesty firecracker Liz Baby from Attack of the Giant Leeches.”
Man, one of these days I’m gonna give that she-cat the whollopin’ that she has comin’ to her.
Wasn’t that what he said? Substitute anything else for “whollopin'” and you got a whole lot o’ fun goin’ on!
I can’t argue with the folks mentioned so far, especially the incomparable Beverly Garland.
I will throw in two more for consideration for second place, though. One is the little girl who tries to convince her mother and Cornjob that her brother and Richard Burton have stolen a spaceship in Gamera vs. Guiron. I thought that she did very well for a child actress, both in interactions with the adults and the other kids. I’ll also nominate Marcia Knight (Suzy) from Skydivers. Just because she can’t physically pull off a role as a dangerous sexpot doesn’t mean that she can’t pretend she is. She seemed to be utterly convinced of her irresistibility. As they say, sincerity is the hardest emotion to fake, and she seems to pull it off. You can draw whatever conclusions you like from that…
I always like Bobbie Byers from Episode 207, Wild Rebels. To me she doesn’t even seem to be acting. Byers appears to be really be doing it “for the kicks”.
She is naive/sexy at times, remeber the scene where she gets the gun from the old geezer.
She can also be downright ruthless as when she is making out with Steve “Alameo” and then when the rest of the gang arrives she returns to her usually characteristic hard-ass “biker chick.”
She gets my vote.
Well Beverly Garland seems to be the hands down favorite and rightly so. In every flick MST did that she was in, she pulled off every role very well. Of course after her, the pickings are quite slim. I’ll just throw these two out. Marie Windsor in Swamp Diamonds, just because made me believe that her character could keep Beverly’s character in line, which is no small feat since most of the others that Beverly goes up against in other MST flicks are rather weak tea in comparison to Marie. Plus she played being a hood’s gunmoll quite well.
And just because I felt that she was believable in her role in Girls Town: Mamie Van Doren. Maybe a smidge too old to be in the role as a juvenile delinquent, but I thought she could hold her own and let’s face it, aside from The Platters, not many in that flick brought their A game to the film. Mamie was good in that role for that movie. Not a fall-to-your knees in amazement kind of performance, but always watchable in that movie.
The mention of Marcia Knight just reminded me of someone I wanted to mention, although it’s kind of in the “damning with faint praise” category: (Ms.) Kevin “Beth” Casey from “Skydivers.”
She’s about as natural as anyone gets in a Coleman Francis movie, and the only person I can think of who, even momentarily, injects a bit of cheer (her reaction to her own little joke) into Francis’ otherwise unrelenting, emotionally stunted and bleak universe. Even his attempts at comic relief (I’m Cherokee Jack!) end up sucking the joy from life, but Casey briefly escapes the vortex.
Beverly Garland is the clear winner, but I’d also like to mention (with #57) Dunja Movar as Ophelia in Hamlet. I may be in the minority, judging from past comment threads, but I like that episode. Unfortunately, according to the IMDb, she committed suicide on her 23rd birthday. Kind of gives a new angle on her performance.
Two of my favorite performances are by My Dahling Mahfushka and her mother in Jack Frost. They’re great Stooge-slapping comediennes who don’t mind looking…less than glamorous on film.
Dawn Anderson in Teenagers from Outer Space, Yvonne Lime as the co-dependent enabler in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, and Mary Beth Hughes in I Accuse my Parents were all good. Singing “Are You Happy in Your Work” under my breath while wanting to do great damage to my co-workers/bosses has kept me out of prison, I’m sure.
And apropos of nothing, “Shut up, Iris!” (There. I just wanted to say it.)
Dr. Chad Feelgood’s Top 3 “Best” Female Performances in any MST3K episode:
3. The “Girl” in “The Girl in Lover’s Lane.” Her death wouldn’t have meant as much if her performance had been of the caliber of the Secretary in “Terror From the Year 5000” or any woman in any Coleman Francis “film”.
2. Lupita in “Santa Claus”. Although, as far as I know, she flubbed all of her lines in the original Spanish version.
1. The Astronaut’s Wife in “Space Travelers” – you know which one I mean.
I kind of have to agree with Nastia/Nastinka (I don’t know which name translates worse); she has a delicate beauty and a nice singing voice (or maybe her dubber does), despite Servo’s attempts to mock it. Ah, the Russo-Finnish.
Anyhoozle. That’s all I’ve got.
#68
Another odd bit about Max’s Hamlet at Fandango:
“This entry at the 1962 San Francisco Film Festival came from a 1960 German television production. Produced by American Edward Dmytryk, Hamlet was redubbed in English when the director convinced Maximillian Schell the results would insure a wider audience for the film. Both English and German versions were shown in succession at the Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide”
And Dunja Movar apparently committed suicide on her 23rd birthday. Quite sad. :cry:
two nominees: ‘kitty’ from ‘I ACCUSE MY PARENTS.”
and the elaine benes detective from ‘FINAL JUSTICE’ the leather action mini skirt did it for me.
Beverly Garland is good, but I vote for Susan Gordon. Unlike the rest of the actors in Tormented, she was IN the movie instead of walking THROUGH it.
Wow, very interesting so far, with most of the attention focusing on Beverly Garland, Allison Hayes etc. I would like to add some performances that I felt were actually competent to very good (and yes, I know we are supposed to pick one, but like eating Lays potato chips, I just can’t do it):
1. Sirry Steffen from “The Crawling Hand” (the exchange student from Sweden)
2. Lori Nelson, who played Helen Dobson in “Revenge of the Creature”
3. Brigid Brannagh, who played Athena in “Quest of the Delta Knights”
4. Dunja Movar, who played Ophelia in “Hamlet”
5. Christian Malcolm, who played Troy in “The Final Sacrifice”.
Thanks for reading- see ya!
i thought there were many more decent performances by actresses than actors in the MSTed movies – perhaps because so many “leading men” in these films are pompous blowhards (eg: john agar, ben murphy, etc).
no arguments with beverly – i thought her sheriff in gunslinger was actually a very interesting character.
personally, i thought alison hayes was much better as a villain than a heroine. i didn’t think much her performance in unearthly but liked her in gs and the undead.
others in lead roles, carlyn kearney from thing that wouldn’t die (i echo the view that she plays both dark & light jessica rather well) and coleen gray in leech woman (didn’t think as much of her supporting role in phantom planet).
in supporting roles marie windsor in swamp diamonds & dunja movar in hamlet (it does put an eerie spin on an actress playing ophelia being herself a suicide).
but my favorite performance by an actress in a MSTed film is susan gordan in tormented. i actually thought her sandy was as good a performance by child actor/actress as i’ve seen. tormented is one of the few MSTed movies i actually like and i think that was in no small part due to gordan’s performance. it was also interesting to hear her reminiscences on the dvd. fyi i also saw her in at least one twilight zone episode – she was good in that too!
Two I haven’t seen mentioned that I thought were pretty good were the women who played young and old Nala in the Leech Woman. Minor roles, but done pretty well. “You are the one from my dreams of blood!”
Also wanted to nominate Lassie, till I remembered that she was usually played by a male dog.
Lassie, as “Shemp” I think it was, in THE PAINTED HILLS. Very convincing performance.
Since Ross Hagen got some love in last weeks discussion for his part in Sidehackers I wanna submit the lovely, husky-voiced Diane McBain for her performance in that film. Though she disappears halfway through thanks to an excised rape/murder scene (it can be found on YouTube, and it is brutal), she was charming and upbeat while on screen. I could really feel Rommel’s loss and his need for revenge against JC and crew.
She looked familiar to me and I was happy to discover she played occasional villain Pinky Pinkston on the 1960’s Batman TV series (still sadly not on DVD. WTF?)
Also, I’ll echo #65’s vote for Bobbie Byers from Episode 207, Wild Rebels. Hers is the most fully developed performance in that shoddy film.
Beverly Garland in anything! She was terrific, giving wonderful performances despite the crappy movies she appeared in which were “MSTied”, and she was a good sport about that too!
It’s also notably that she was a very good actress who went on to have a successful television career, including starring in the ground-breaking TV police series, “Decoy”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Garland#Television_success
RIP, Beverly, you were wonderful.
I’d like to nominate Michael Caine’s puffy sister as Dr. Lab Technician in Laserblast.
Beverly Garland aside, we’re all forgetting the most brilliant comedic performance in MST history. One can’t forget the unnamed gal who cried, “My God! What is it?” from the Creeping Terror.
I agree with #11: generally, the female performances are well above the blowhard/chunk-manmusk/bigmclargehuge male ones. That being said, I go with the majority here: Beverly Garland–decent actress, likeable performer–and a good sport who’s gone to MST conventions. And in second place–Lupita! And Lassie’s in third. But wait a minute–the nun in “Future War”? Kevin (!) from “Skydivers”?! Roxy from “Eegah”?!?! :evil: As Crow T. Robot says: “You have GOT to be kidding me!” :twisted:
#78 – Casimer, I hate to tell you, sweetie, but Lassie is a, um, guy. It was a very impressive make-up job, though, wasn’t it?
Wait a minute. Maybe Lassie was a female playing a male playing a female! :twisted:
Janet Munro in The Crawling Eye. ‘Course, it could be that I’ve had a crush on her ever since I saw Darby O’Gill and The Little People as a wee lad, but I thought she was quite believable.
How about the continually eating mother in The Dead Talk Back! It’s hard to act with a mouth full of food but she did ok. But I am glad she wasn’t in 9 1/2 Weeks.
I agree with dafs. The nun was pretty good. It’s nice to know someone out there feels the same way!
And, as always, the late, great Beverly Garland. She was the complete package on screen and off, wasn’t she? Made the rest of us girls jealous, she made it look so easy.
All fantastic postings.I have a question though, who was the actress that was dancing with Steve (A)Lame-o in “Wild Rebels”? What was her name? I always thought she was pretty hot.
#75 Stoneman: you KILL me! LOL
Wow, Lassie’s a… triple agent? Whats the term for a transgendered-or-cross-dressing actor who, for a specific role, plays their “original” gender? Surely there’s an Oscar category for that by this point…?
From Wiki:
“”All collies to play Lassie in the television series were male because male collies retain a thicker summer coat than females, which “looks better on television.”[8] Also, the male is larger and a child actor can play opposite the dog for longer before outgrowing him.””
SO, since Lassie is billed *as* Lassie (the female “persona” from the tv show) then we are indeed looking at a male dog who is inhabiting the character of a female dog (“Lassie” of the marquee) who is in turn playing “Shemp”, the male dog from final MSTed film. How very postmodern. (PS I need to lie down now.)
What, no love given to Demi Moore in Master Ninja I?
-shnar
Seconds: I agree with Beverly Garland, and the woman who played Josie in SWAMP DIAMONDS. Alison Hayes also did well in all her roles. Jessica in THE THING THAT COULDN’T DIE.
One that hasn’t been mentioned that I particularly liked was the woman who played the landlady in TORMENTED. I thought she brought a nice chill, especially when she relays the story of the Samuels boy.
And a nod also to “Special Guest Star” Leslie Parrish in GIANT SPIDER INVASION.
Long live MST3K!