Monster of the Day #72

I dunno, after looking at his Oscar, Ray might have looked at the mortgage payment coming due and be able to justify a lot of things.

I bet blooper reels for this movie would be interesting.

Trivial nitpick: I believe the title’s The Defiant Ones.

But yeah, it’s depressing to think about the post-Oscar career slump. It must be like being reminded, every day, that your best work is behind you.

On the other hand, at least he was in a couple of quite good episodes of Columbo.

I imagine there was much brushing of teeth between scenes as well. At the very least I imagine they were supplied with mints on a regualr basis.

Few actors have fallen so far in so short a time. Just ten years earlier his genre pictures were much more respectible fare like Panic in Year Zero (which Milland also directed) and X. By 72 it was Frogs and this. I wonder if he ever called up Joseph Cotton for a chat, just to feel better about himself. I’v always liked Ray, and always feel sorry for him when I think of this flick (haven’t seen The Sea Serpent yet). At least we’ll always have Markham. Thanks, Ray, for putting up with it long after lesser men would’ve blown their brains out.

and don’t forget “no wine before it’s time.”

F. Murray Abraham anyone?

J. Carroll Naish also deserves mention. I didn’t realize until just recently that Naish had been twice nominated for Best Supporting Actor during his career (never won), yet at the end of his days the aging, ailing actor was reduced to playing a wheelchair bound role in the pathetic “Dracula vs. Frankenstein.” I hope for his sake he was doing it as a lark and not because he was desperate for the dough.

Honorable mention: Ernest Borgnine?

If we’re talking about falls from grace… let’s not forget poor Béla Lugosi.

Well, deserved or not, the bigger stars are granted a certain amount of hero status by their fans. No one wants to see their heroes dropped into the dirt.

And not every actor may be selfconcious enough to really care about where they find themselves (Michael Caine obviously doesn’t let it bother him), but seeing someone once much loved and respected by both his peers and his public fall out of favor and be forced to take work in the lowest level of his field is a little troubling. I think its because we can see ourselves in the same situation, like going from top executive to a bum in the gutter.

It becomes even more tragic when someone never actually made it to the top but came close enough to touch it. Jon Hall? Robert Hutton?

Bruce Dern’s sleepy scientist appears in The Incridible Two-Headed Transplant, made the same year. ‘Transplant’ was played straight at least, but ‘Thing’ was actually a better movie (whatever that grading is worth).