His Impact Was Simply Incalculable . . . Luminous!

His approach was light and gentle but his impact was luminous. Yes, luminous like the light of the movie projector itself.
Light the dancing line of light in a darkened theater -- the light that stretches from the projection room to the big silver screen itself, he traversed countless miles over thousands of days and entered into our homes to bring the past back to life one more time. It was a past filled with unforgettable characters with chiseled features, distinctive personalities and rich stories. It was a time drenched in dreams and seasoned with suspense, mystery, beauty, horror, glamour, conflict, adventure and always, always high drama.
It was the world of Robert Osborne -- the world of Turner Classic Movies.
No name came to mean Hollywood and the movies more than the venerable Robert O and nobody loved the movies and all its stars more than he did.

From the most obscure bit players to the superstars, Robert Osborne knew them all.
And he managed to demystify the stars without diminishing their enduring glow. Quite a feat!
Osborne served as the primetime host and anchor of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) since its launch in 1994. This is the man who brought us into the world of classic movies, providing insider information, facts and trivia on TCM movie presentations. Every time we watched him, we learned something new. And every movie we saw meant more to us when he introduced it and added his insightful comments at the end as well. Following him through decades of movies was like a Master Class in the history of motion pictures -- all done for the joy of it.

We understood the movies better.

We appreciated them more.

We learned to welcome each new screening.

And we came to savor the sweet seductiveness of cinema, all because of Robert Osborne.

Thank you, Mr. Osborne for an unforgettable journey!

Robert Osborne, 1932 - 2017

Remembering Great Stars Lost This Year - Video

From Turner Classic Movies:

Our way of honoring those great actors, actresses & filmmakers who've made our lives richer with their talent & imagination. We'll always remember you.

Once again, this year has seen the loss of beloved actors whom TCM was unable to honor with a full programming tribute. So we are taking this opportunity to show a key film from the career of each of the following splendid performers.

Dashing Louis Jourdan, born in 1921, died on Valentine's Day after more than 50 years as a film actor, though he is probably best remembered for the romantic leading-man image epitomized in Gigi (1958). Sultry Lizabeth Scott, born in 1922, was a leading light of film noir and gave her definitive performance as a femme fatale in Too Late for Tears (1949). Versatile Theodore Bikel, born in 1924, was an accomplished musician as well as a skilled actor who won an Oscar® nomination for his role in The Defiant Ones (1958), playing a sympathetic but determined Southern sheriff. Winsome Coleen Gray, born in 1922, often shone as the "good girl" in films noir including Kansas City Confidential (1952), in which she is the love interest of beleaguered ex-con John Payne. Voluptuous Anita Ekberg, born in 1931, enjoyed her first star part in Back from Eternity (1956), playing a sexy showgirl stranded in a South American jungle inhabited by headhunters! Sophisticated Betsy Drake, born in 1923, was a model before starring alongside Cary Grant in her film debut in the romantic comedy Every Girl Should Be Married (1948); she became his third wife the following year.

Remembering The Brightest Star Of All!

TCM Readies Seven-Part History Of Hollywood

Two-time Emmy winner and 2009 Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) will narrate Turner Classic Movies' ambitious, seven-part original production Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood. This comprehensive true story behind the making of the American movie industry is being co-produced by TCM and Bill Haber's Ostar Productions. The series is slated to premiere in November 2010.
"It is an honor for us to welcome Christopher Plummer to TCM's largest and most important original production to date," said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TCM, TNT and TBS. "His distinctive and elegant voice will be the perfect guide through the extraordinary history of American film."
The true story of the American film industry has as many ups and downs, twists and turns as the latest big-budget thriller, not to mention a cast of characters worthy of a shelf full of Oscars®.  Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood will tell this extraordinary tale over the course of seven one-hour documentaries, each focusing on a different era of American movie history. Spanning from the invention of the first moving pictures to the revolutionary, cutting-edge films of the 1960s, this production will feature rarely seen photographs and film footage, clips from memorable American movies and interviews with distinguished historians and major Hollywood figures.
At its heart, the documentary series will be a personal history of Hollywood, detailing the personalities, inter-personal relationships, collaborations and conflicts that created an industry and an art form. The series will also serve as a history of America, looking at how moviemakers responded to such major events as the Great Depression, World War II and the Civil Rights movement.
Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood is executive-produced by Bill Haber (TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King; Broadway's The History Boys and Monty Python's Spamalot). It is being directed, written and produced by four-time Emmy nominee Jon Wilkman.

Crawford TCM Alert

Tomorrow (Sunday 3/23) beginning at 8 PM Turner Classic Movies TCM) will present a 13-film tribute to Joan Crawford in honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth.
This extraordinary 24-hour movie retrospective will begin with the original TCM documentary, Joan Crawford, the Ultimate Movie Star, narrated by Angelica Huston.
Then the program moves into Crawford's Oscar-winning 1945 performance as Mildred Pierce (9:30 PM). This is followed by Torch Song (1953), a 1962 Crawford biographical short, Spring Fever (a 1927 silent film), Grand Hotel (1932), Wild and Woolly (a 1931 short), Dancing Lady (1933), Dancing On The Ceiling (a 1937 short), Sadie McKee (1934), The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937), A Woman's Face (1941), They All Kissed The Bride (1942), Humoresque (1946), Harriet Craig (1950) and finally at 7:44 PM on Monday, Trader Hound (a 1931 short).
You may want to keep one or more video recorders going to capture this all night/all day Crawford festival. Certainly, Mildred Pierce, Grand Hotel, The Woman, A Woman's Face, Humoresque and Harriet Craig are not-to-be-missed. And certainly Dancing Lady is noteworthy because it is one of those Very Special Films that teams Crawford with one of her favorite costars, Clark Gable.