A Stepford Wife Remembers Her Director, Bryan Forbes
May, 16, 2013 4:40 pm | Comments On #bryan forbes, Carole Mallory, Movies, Stepford WivesWith Bryan Forbes passing, I was reminded of what a good director he was.
He taught me the importance of listening. Oh, I had taken acting classes with Wyn Handman, who directed the American Place Theatre with classmates the likes of Richard Gere and Brad Davis, and filmed many commercials as a spokesperson, but "Stepford Wives" was my first major motion picture. It was the 1975 Ira Levin thriller in which women are turned into docile electronic incarnations of themselves.
The scene I recall his talented direction was the following: All we wives were seated in a group therapy session when the topic turned to how our husbands were forcing us to do intense housework and we were rebelling. But instead of objecting to the masculine brow beating, eager to please any male when the topic was cleaning, I said, “It took me so...
Read MoreCheering Up Peter Sellers Wasn't as Easy as Chaplin Cheering Up Picasso
March, 18, 2013 5:52 pm | Comments On #Movies
Peter Sellers was sad a lot of the time, and I tried to make him smile. I felt I could make Peter feel better about himself. I had been trying to do this for Claude Picasso, too, because his father had been so cruel to him.
It never worked. I couldn’t rescue Peter, who wanted to be someone else.
Peter and Claude, to whom I was once engaged, reminded me of each other. I felt both suffered from depression and sought relief through laughter. Maybe we all do, but we can’t all create humor as Peter could. Claude also tried to be funny by imitating Charlie Chaplin in his movements -- because his father had emulated Chaplin. Claude enjoyed making hand gestures like Chaplin, mimicking his performances in silent films.
As I portray in my new book, "...
Read MoreWhy Did I Write My Book 'Picasso's Ghost'? To Defend Picasso
February, 20, 2013 1:26 pm | Comments On #Media
Why did I write my new book, “Picasso’s Ghost”?
Norman Mailer taught me that good writing is bold writing. Norman also said to write about what I know -- and I know the Picasso family. And I finally felt it was time someone defended Pablo Picasso from his reputation of being a tyrant and abusing his family.
My connection with the Picassos began one night in 1971 when Pablo’s illegitimate son Claude – with Francoise Gilot -- and I danced to Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” in a Manhattan disco, at a party given by Diane Von Furstenberg.
We fell in love. A successful cover girl, I supported us because Claude made little money as a photojournalist and at times would wear not just my ex-husband’s clothing, but my own. (His favorite piece of clothing of mine was the Romanian...
Read MoreOn 'Les Miz,' Paris and the Picassos: Pablo, Paloma and My Then-Fiancé Claude
January, 31, 2013 12:41 pm | Comments On #Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables, Movies, Tom HooperSeeing "Les Misérables" reminded me of the sadness I felt in Paris. It’s a wonderful city to be sad in in a movie, but in real life it offers up a sadness like no other.
Parisian values are different for an American. I was living with a Picasso. Fear of what people thought seemed to be the mantra. The raison d’etre. I wished my then-fiancé Claude Picasso had been Pablo who wanted to live life like a poor man with money.
I never thought of myself as a Communist, but I guess I have a bit of that blood. After all, Pablo was a Communist, but Claude loved the idea of wealth. When Claude was a child, the Russians came to visit Picasso -- who pulled a gun on them and "They shit in their pants," Claude would say as he regaled in telling this story. ...
Read MoreI Am Sick of All the Kathryn Bigelow-Bashing for 'Zero Dark Thirty'
January, 11, 2013 12:01 pm | Comments On #Carole Mallory, Kathryn Bigelow, Movies, zero dark thirty
Kathryn Bigelow did not direct the bombing on 9/11
She directed "Zero Dark Thirty," which is a film about the capturing and killing of Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the terror of 9/11.
One would think from all her critics that Bigelow was part of al-Qaeda. I am sick of all the bashing she is getting. Let all those who criticize her go out and direct their own interpretation of this story.
"Zero Dark Thirty" is the tale of one woman's perseverance, determination and conviction. Yes, it took a woman to catch the world's most dangerous man, Osama bin Laden. This woman is not a composite but one woman who stands up to a barrage of male CIA members who challenge her beliefs. Her raison d'etre.
And I, for one, do not fault Bigelow for showing torture scenes -- 9/11 was the most heinous...
Read More'Django Unchained' Has a Passion That 'Lincoln' Lacks
December, 30, 2012 2:57 pm | Comments On #Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio, Movies, Quentin Tarantino, Samuel Jackson"Django Unchained" brought back memories of my going to school in Bradenton, Fla., in the mid-1950s. My father had a mysterious illness and my family relocated to my grandmother’s house in sunny Florida. Doctors thought sun would do him good.
What fun I had with the snakes and walking the railroad tracks with a machete and with Tommy, my first love. We were in eighth grade. But I didn’t like riding the school bus because the driver made the blacks sit in the back. I never understood why and so I sat there with them as some of them were my friends. I can still remember the line they had to cross to get a seat. And if it were
crowded and there were no seats in the back for them, they had to stand while whites sat in the front.
I knew this was wrong, but there was nothing I could do. Sitting with them was my form of protest.
After seeing...
Read More'The Guilt Trip' - and My Failed Road Trip With Norman Mailer
December, 21, 2012 12:38 pm | Comments On #barbra streisand, Media, Movies, the guilt trip
Seeing “The Guilt Trip” reminded me of one car trip with Norman Mailer. Like Barbra Streisand, he was Jewish and strict with everything.
While he was on a book tour for “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” we drove up the Coast from San Francisco and passed San Simeon.
“Norman, where are we going?”
“A friend has lent me his house on the bay with a spectacular view, and I wanted to show it to you.”
“How long will the drive be? I’m hungry?”
“It’s not far,” he said with a slight smile.
After driving three hours, he said, “We’re here!” I was expecting a Frank Lloyd Wright-style home and a waiter serving cocktails -- instead the driveway had a broken tricycle blocking the entrance and, inside, cobwebs hung from the ceiling.
“...
Read More'Lincoln' - and Norman Mailer's Aversion to Steven Spielberg
November, 19, 2012 5:22 pm | Comments On #Lincoln, Movies, Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
Norman Mailer disliked most of Steven Spielberg’s movies. He felt they were sentimental, and he had a particular aversion to “E.T.” Nevertheless, in 1986 the year he was president of PEN, Norman wanted Spielberg to help raise funds for the writers’ group’s 64th Annual Congress in Manhattan -- but Norman didn't know Spielberg.
At this time, I was living in Hollywood and under Norman’s spell. Norman was aware that I had double-dated with Spielberg in the mid-‘70s, when I was dating Michael Phillips, a producer of “The Sting.” So he asked me to write Spielberg for a contribution to the gala, at which writers would read from their work.
Spielberg declined via his secretary.
When I saw his “Lincoln” this weekend, I recalled Norman’s comments about Spielberg...
Read MoreMy Blind Date With the Best James Bond of Them All
November, 16, 2012 9:37 am | Comments On #007, Daniel Craig, james bond, Movies, Sean Connery, Skyfall
In the mid-‘70s I had a blind date with Sean Connery. A friend, producer Marty Bregman, called to ask me to meet him at Le Club, a distinguished dinner and dancing establishment. I just had flown back to New York from Paris, running from an engagement to Claude Picasso. Meeting 007 might be good for a devastated heart.
“Carole, can you be at Le Club about 8? Connie and I are having dinner with Sean Connery. I’d like you to meet him.” “Of course, Marty,” I said, suppressing my eagerness at the thought of meeting James Bond in the flesh. When I met him, I was not surprised by his sexuality. He lived up to his reputation as 007.
“Marty has told me a lot about you,” Sean said as he stood to shake my hand. He was taller than I had expected, while his voice sent ripples through my veins. Then he asked me to dance....
Read More'The Sessions,' My Almost-Father-in-Law Jonas Salk - and the Healing Power of Sex
November, 07, 2012 10:42 am | Comments On #Movies, The Sessions“Do they still have iron lungs?” someone asked me the other day after seeing the moving film, “The Sessions.”
I was surprised by the question. Years ago, Dr. Jonas Salk, who invented the polio vaccine, was to be my father-in-law. I was engaged to Claude Picasso, who is the son of Francoise Gilot. After Francoise walked out on Picasso, she married Jonas. We were all told to refer to Dr. Salk as Jonas.
Also read: 'The Sessions' Review: Sex-Surrogate Story Works Better in Bed Than in Church
Before Pablo died, Claude, in order to support himself, took up photojournalism and wrote articles about his father-in-law. One of the familiar topics of these of these articles was the...
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Description
Carole Mallory is an actress, journalist, professor, film critic. Her film credits include “Stepford Wives” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” As a supermodel she graced the covers of Cosmopolitan, New York, Newsweek. Her new novel, "Flash," hit #22 on Kindle's bestseller list of erotica in its first day of release. She also has written a memoir of her time with Norman Mailer, “Loving Mailer.” After the writer's death, she sold her archive of his papers to Harvard. Her journalistic pieces on Vonnegut, Jong, Vidal, Baryshinikov, Heller have been published in Parade, Esquire, Playboy, Los Angeles Magazine, the Huffington Post. Her review of Charles Shields' biography of Kurt Vonnegut, "And So It Goes," was published in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer. She is teaching creative writing at Temple University and Rosemont College and blogs at malloryhollywoodeast@blogspot.com.
