Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) is a favorite vixen from The Young and the Restless. Stafford has been playing the scheming redhead on and off since 1994. The recent tragic events revolving around Phyllis have sparked speculation that Stafford is leaving.
The Young and the Restless star Michelle Stafford I Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images Phyllis Summers ‘dies’ on ‘The Young and the Restless’
It’s hard to imagine The Young and the Restless without Phyllis. Whether she’s a villain or a heroine, she brings excitement. But Genoa City is mourning her after the tragic events at the bicentennial gala.
Phyllis fainted during a heated confrontation with Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) and Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). While Phyllis was rushed to the hospital, her new “husband,” Jeremy Stark (James Hyde), stayed behind. Phyllis’ fainting spell and Jeremy’s marriage revelation stunned the party guests. But they soon learned more tragic news.
The Young and the Restless star Michelle Stafford I Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images Phyllis Summers ‘dies’ on ‘The Young and the Restless’
It’s hard to imagine The Young and the Restless without Phyllis. Whether she’s a villain or a heroine, she brings excitement. But Genoa City is mourning her after the tragic events at the bicentennial gala.
Phyllis fainted during a heated confrontation with Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) and Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). While Phyllis was rushed to the hospital, her new “husband,” Jeremy Stark (James Hyde), stayed behind. Phyllis’ fainting spell and Jeremy’s marriage revelation stunned the party guests. But they soon learned more tragic news.
- 4/7/2023
- by Carol Cassada
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
1993: CBS aired the final episodes of Knots Landing.
1994: Gh's Miguel pulled an injured Bj out of a bus crash.
2010: Emmerdale's Aaron revealed he was gay on the witness stand.
2011: Roger Howarth returned to One Life to Live."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1964: On Another World, Pat Matthews (Susan Trustman) told her mother, Mary (Virginia Dwyer), that her brother, Russ, resented their sister, Alice, for being a honor student when he will be forced to go to summer school.
1982: On The Edge of Night,...
1994: Gh's Miguel pulled an injured Bj out of a bus crash.
2010: Emmerdale's Aaron revealed he was gay on the witness stand.
2011: Roger Howarth returned to One Life to Live."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1964: On Another World, Pat Matthews (Susan Trustman) told her mother, Mary (Virginia Dwyer), that her brother, Russ, resented their sister, Alice, for being a honor student when he will be forced to go to summer school.
1982: On The Edge of Night,...
- 5/14/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1961: Edge of Night's Sara Karr died.
1989: Guiding Light's Harley married Alan-Michael.
1996: John's life was spared on Days of our Lives.
2011: Brenda and Sonny's wedding was interrupted on Gh, but the couple was married after Brenda's confession."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1949: On Lorenzo Jones, Belle (Lucille Wall) got the results of her aptitude test and learned that she has musical talent. But Lorenzo (Lucille Wall) became angry, believing she was neglecting her household chores in order to take piano lessons.
1961: On The Edge of Night,...
1989: Guiding Light's Harley married Alan-Michael.
1996: John's life was spared on Days of our Lives.
2011: Brenda and Sonny's wedding was interrupted on Gh, but the couple was married after Brenda's confession."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1949: On Lorenzo Jones, Belle (Lucille Wall) got the results of her aptitude test and learned that she has musical talent. But Lorenzo (Lucille Wall) became angry, believing she was neglecting her household chores in order to take piano lessons.
1961: On The Edge of Night,...
- 2/22/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1978: One Life to Live and General Hospital each expanded to an hour."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Mike Karr (John Larkin) warned Toni Fescina of the danger if she tried to get hush money from Roy Benson.
1967: On Dark Shadows, Sam Evans (David Ford) woke up and tried to put out the fire, burning his hands in the process. Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott ) came in and put the fire out, as Sam frantically claimed that Laura Collins (Diana Millay) burned his hands.
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Mike Karr (John Larkin) warned Toni Fescina of the danger if she tried to get hush money from Roy Benson.
1967: On Dark Shadows, Sam Evans (David Ford) woke up and tried to put out the fire, burning his hands in the process. Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott ) came in and put the fire out, as Sam frantically claimed that Laura Collins (Diana Millay) burned his hands.
- 1/15/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1984: One Life to Live's Estelle was full of herself.
1985: Cruz found Eden unconscious and tried to save her on Santa Barbara.
1986: Days of our Lives' Mike met Robin Jacobs.
1989: Delia and Roger were married on Ryan's Hope."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Virginia (Cathleen Cordell) bumped into John H. Phillips (House Jameson) and identified him as "Mr. X". Phillips told Virginia he wanted to keep his identity confidential to avoid making enemies with any of his clients.
1985: Cruz found Eden unconscious and tried to save her on Santa Barbara.
1986: Days of our Lives' Mike met Robin Jacobs.
1989: Delia and Roger were married on Ryan's Hope."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Virginia (Cathleen Cordell) bumped into John H. Phillips (House Jameson) and identified him as "Mr. X". Phillips told Virginia he wanted to keep his identity confidential to avoid making enemies with any of his clients.
- 1/9/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1993: CBS aired the final episodes of Knots Landing.
1994: Gh's Miguel pulled an injured Bj out of a bus crash.
2010: Emmerdale's Aaron revealed he was gay on the witness stand.
2011: Roger Howarth returned to One Life to Live."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1964: On Another World, Pat Matthews (Susan Trustman) told her mother, Mary (Virginia Dwyer), that her brother, Russ, resented their sister,...
1994: Gh's Miguel pulled an injured Bj out of a bus crash.
2010: Emmerdale's Aaron revealed he was gay on the witness stand.
2011: Roger Howarth returned to One Life to Live."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1964: On Another World, Pat Matthews (Susan Trustman) told her mother, Mary (Virginia Dwyer), that her brother, Russ, resented their sister,...
- 5/14/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1961: Edge of Night's Sara Karr died.
1989: Guiding Light's Harley married Alan-Michael.
1996: John's life was spared on Days of our Lives.
2011: Brenda and Sonny's wedding was interrupted on Gh, but
the couple was married after Brenda's confession."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."
― Machiavelli
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1949: On Lorenzo Jones, Belle (Lucille Wall) got the results of her...
1989: Guiding Light's Harley married Alan-Michael.
1996: John's life was spared on Days of our Lives.
2011: Brenda and Sonny's wedding was interrupted on Gh, but
the couple was married after Brenda's confession."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."
― Machiavelli
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1949: On Lorenzo Jones, Belle (Lucille Wall) got the results of her...
- 2/22/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1978: One Life to Live and General Hospital each
expanded to an hour."History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Mike Karr (John Larkin) warned Toni Fescina of the danger if she tried to get hush money from Roy Benson.
1967: On Dark Shadows, Sam Evans (David Ford) woke up and tried to put out the fire, burning his hands in the process. Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott ) came in and put the fire out, as Sam frantically claimed that Laura Collins (Diana Millay) burned his hands. Roger (Louis Edmonds) believed booze to be the culprit in Sam's accident.
expanded to an hour."History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Mike Karr (John Larkin) warned Toni Fescina of the danger if she tried to get hush money from Roy Benson.
1967: On Dark Shadows, Sam Evans (David Ford) woke up and tried to put out the fire, burning his hands in the process. Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott ) came in and put the fire out, as Sam frantically claimed that Laura Collins (Diana Millay) burned his hands. Roger (Louis Edmonds) believed booze to be the culprit in Sam's accident.
- 1/16/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1984: One Life to Live's Estelle was full of herself. 1985: Cruz
found Eden unconscious and tried to save her on Santa Barbara.
1986: Days of our Lives' Mike met Robin Jacobs.
1989: Delia and Roger were married on Ryan's Hope."History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Virginia (Cathleen Cordell) bumped into John H. Phillips (House Jameson) and identified him as "Mr. X". Phillips told Virginia he wanted to keep his identity confidential to avoid making enemies with any of his clients. He wanted to remain politically neutral in their eyes.
1968: On Another World,...
found Eden unconscious and tried to save her on Santa Barbara.
1986: Days of our Lives' Mike met Robin Jacobs.
1989: Delia and Roger were married on Ryan's Hope."History is a vast early warning system."
― Norman Cousins
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1958: On The Edge of Night, Virginia (Cathleen Cordell) bumped into John H. Phillips (House Jameson) and identified him as "Mr. X". Phillips told Virginia he wanted to keep his identity confidential to avoid making enemies with any of his clients. He wanted to remain politically neutral in their eyes.
1968: On Another World,...
- 1/14/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
CANNES -- "De-Lovely" is a sprightly musical revue built around Cole Porter songs and a few biographical tidbits culled from his extraordinary life. Director Irwin Winkler, clearly a huge fan -- as, in the interest of full disclosure, am I -- has no interest in doing "The Cole Porter Story", a standard biopic with occasional musical numbers lifted from stage and film triumphs. No, he wants to listen to the best American popular music written in the 20th century. For at the end of the day, Porter was all about his delightful, delicious, de-lovely songs, and everything in his life seemed to feed into the music and lyrics.
Which may mean "De-Lovely" has too narrow an appeal for today's audiences for whom the Jazz Age and Tin Pan Alley are off the radar. To expand that appeal, Winkler has drafted a reasonably hip collection of current rock and pop talent ranging from Alanis Morissette and Diana Krall to Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello and Natalie Cole. This should help, but the songs are sung and danced in styles that still reach back in time. The unconventional relationship between Cole and Linda Porter, a marriage of convenience between a gay man and an accepting woman, may extend interest to those curious about how those dynamics work. The film may enjoy a modest theatrical success in adult, urban venues but will certainly blossom in ancillary markets.
Winkler and writer Jay Cocks have devised a highly theatrical vehicle for their musical retelling of Cole's life. As lights come up in a dark Manhattan apartment, we see Cole -- Kevin Kline unrecognizable in fine old-age makeup -- slumped at his grand piano, tickling the ivories and waiting for death, which is imminent. Then an unannounced guest named Gabe (Jonathan Pryce) appears, ready to whisk the dying man off to the theater where he is staging Cole's life story. Another light cue and we are in that theater, and the cast -- the people from Cole's life -- flood in.
Thus begins a two-hour review -- his life flashing before his eyes only with panache. He sees his wife Linda (Ashley Judd) as she was the evening he met her in a Paris salon in 1918. (The film cheats here by making it look like the '20s.) And there the youthful Cole is too -- Kline without the makeup but dressed to the nines with a cigarette and drink at his fingers and a twinkle in his eyes.
The music seldom stops. If the two stroll in a Parisian park, Cole quickly locates an amusement park piano and bangs out a tune. Robbie Williams sings at the Porters' wedding. Costello performs at one of their Venetian masquerade balls. The Porters attend his many opening nights, with Linda always handing Cole an engraved Tiffany cigarette holder.
The focus is the lifelong love affair between the Porters. The film begins not with his youth in Indiana, his days at Yale or his first Broadway show in 1916, but the moment his eyes fall on Linda Lee. Coming off a bad marriage and wealthy in her own right, Linda falls for Cole before he finishes singing a song. After they sleep together, he struggles -- in the only scene that finds Cole at a loss for the right word -- to explain his homosexuality. But she shushes him by saying she already knows he likes men better than she does. It's a line explored no further, but might go a long way toward explaining their marriage.
Linda, according to the movie, believes so strongly in Cole's talent that she goads him into returning to New York and taking a crack at Broadway. In real life, success was not instant, but the movie tells it differently by cutting to his first hit, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" from "Paris" in 1928.
While looking nothing like Porter, Kline sublimely suggests the rakish spirit of a man who pursued the high life with zeal. While the life of the many parties he enjoyed, he keeps the world at arm's length with a quip and a song. Cole comes off as a shallow, self-absorbed gay blade, careless in his relationships, including with his wife, even though he is keenly aware of her influence on his career.
Linda is harder to read. Judd personifies an early 20th century beauty who uses grace and charm to hide a lot. She is Cole's muse, coach and promoter -- everything, in fact, but his lover. She accepts this reality, but the movie is vague about why. The two love each other, without passion but in every other way.
Both free spirits are cruelly felled by catastrophic illness. A horse riding accident crushes Cole's legs in 1937, leading to excruciating pain and many operations for the rest of his life. Linda (as does Cole) smokes incessantly, giving herself the emphysema that leads to her death in 1954. His career essentially ends then, though he continues living until 1964.
The movie is cheerfully skin deep. The seeming nonchalance of Porter's music seduces Winkler into depicting its composition as a thing knocked off before evening cocktails. In only one instance does Cole illustrate the methodology of his songwriting, when he coaches a Broadway singer on how to sing "Night and Day" as a song about "obsession." The film could have used more of this kind of insight.
Kevin McNally and Sandra Nelson portray lifelong friends of the Porters, yet even with a child dying young, the film barely registers their presence. Cole's gay lifestyle is handled -- depending on how you look at it -- with reticence or reluctance. He is depicted warmly embracing men or dressing while a lover of the moment lies decorously supine on a rumpled bed, but you get no sense of genuine passion.
The numbers are staged with wit and style. They may seem restrained compared with the flash of Baz Luhrmann, but the stagings fit the moods of Porter's songs. Sets and costumes beautifully evoke the four decades the movie spans.
DE-LOVELY
MGM Films
An Irwin Winkler film
Credits:
Director: Irwin Winkler
Screenwriter: Jay Cocks
Producers: Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan, Charles Winkler
Executive producers: Simon Channing Williams, Gail Egan
Director of photography: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Music: Cole Porter
Costume designer: Janty Yates
Editor: Julie Monroe
Cast:
Cole Porter: Kevin Kline
Linda Cole: Ashley Judd
Gabe: Jonathan Pryce
Gerald Murphy: Kevin McNally
Sara Murphy: Sandra Nelson
Monty Woolley: Allan Corduner
L.B. Mayer: Peter Polycarpou
Irving Berlin: Keith Allen
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 125 minutes...
Which may mean "De-Lovely" has too narrow an appeal for today's audiences for whom the Jazz Age and Tin Pan Alley are off the radar. To expand that appeal, Winkler has drafted a reasonably hip collection of current rock and pop talent ranging from Alanis Morissette and Diana Krall to Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello and Natalie Cole. This should help, but the songs are sung and danced in styles that still reach back in time. The unconventional relationship between Cole and Linda Porter, a marriage of convenience between a gay man and an accepting woman, may extend interest to those curious about how those dynamics work. The film may enjoy a modest theatrical success in adult, urban venues but will certainly blossom in ancillary markets.
Winkler and writer Jay Cocks have devised a highly theatrical vehicle for their musical retelling of Cole's life. As lights come up in a dark Manhattan apartment, we see Cole -- Kevin Kline unrecognizable in fine old-age makeup -- slumped at his grand piano, tickling the ivories and waiting for death, which is imminent. Then an unannounced guest named Gabe (Jonathan Pryce) appears, ready to whisk the dying man off to the theater where he is staging Cole's life story. Another light cue and we are in that theater, and the cast -- the people from Cole's life -- flood in.
Thus begins a two-hour review -- his life flashing before his eyes only with panache. He sees his wife Linda (Ashley Judd) as she was the evening he met her in a Paris salon in 1918. (The film cheats here by making it look like the '20s.) And there the youthful Cole is too -- Kline without the makeup but dressed to the nines with a cigarette and drink at his fingers and a twinkle in his eyes.
The music seldom stops. If the two stroll in a Parisian park, Cole quickly locates an amusement park piano and bangs out a tune. Robbie Williams sings at the Porters' wedding. Costello performs at one of their Venetian masquerade balls. The Porters attend his many opening nights, with Linda always handing Cole an engraved Tiffany cigarette holder.
The focus is the lifelong love affair between the Porters. The film begins not with his youth in Indiana, his days at Yale or his first Broadway show in 1916, but the moment his eyes fall on Linda Lee. Coming off a bad marriage and wealthy in her own right, Linda falls for Cole before he finishes singing a song. After they sleep together, he struggles -- in the only scene that finds Cole at a loss for the right word -- to explain his homosexuality. But she shushes him by saying she already knows he likes men better than she does. It's a line explored no further, but might go a long way toward explaining their marriage.
Linda, according to the movie, believes so strongly in Cole's talent that she goads him into returning to New York and taking a crack at Broadway. In real life, success was not instant, but the movie tells it differently by cutting to his first hit, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" from "Paris" in 1928.
While looking nothing like Porter, Kline sublimely suggests the rakish spirit of a man who pursued the high life with zeal. While the life of the many parties he enjoyed, he keeps the world at arm's length with a quip and a song. Cole comes off as a shallow, self-absorbed gay blade, careless in his relationships, including with his wife, even though he is keenly aware of her influence on his career.
Linda is harder to read. Judd personifies an early 20th century beauty who uses grace and charm to hide a lot. She is Cole's muse, coach and promoter -- everything, in fact, but his lover. She accepts this reality, but the movie is vague about why. The two love each other, without passion but in every other way.
Both free spirits are cruelly felled by catastrophic illness. A horse riding accident crushes Cole's legs in 1937, leading to excruciating pain and many operations for the rest of his life. Linda (as does Cole) smokes incessantly, giving herself the emphysema that leads to her death in 1954. His career essentially ends then, though he continues living until 1964.
The movie is cheerfully skin deep. The seeming nonchalance of Porter's music seduces Winkler into depicting its composition as a thing knocked off before evening cocktails. In only one instance does Cole illustrate the methodology of his songwriting, when he coaches a Broadway singer on how to sing "Night and Day" as a song about "obsession." The film could have used more of this kind of insight.
Kevin McNally and Sandra Nelson portray lifelong friends of the Porters, yet even with a child dying young, the film barely registers their presence. Cole's gay lifestyle is handled -- depending on how you look at it -- with reticence or reluctance. He is depicted warmly embracing men or dressing while a lover of the moment lies decorously supine on a rumpled bed, but you get no sense of genuine passion.
The numbers are staged with wit and style. They may seem restrained compared with the flash of Baz Luhrmann, but the stagings fit the moods of Porter's songs. Sets and costumes beautifully evoke the four decades the movie spans.
DE-LOVELY
MGM Films
An Irwin Winkler film
Credits:
Director: Irwin Winkler
Screenwriter: Jay Cocks
Producers: Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan, Charles Winkler
Executive producers: Simon Channing Williams, Gail Egan
Director of photography: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Music: Cole Porter
Costume designer: Janty Yates
Editor: Julie Monroe
Cast:
Cole Porter: Kevin Kline
Linda Cole: Ashley Judd
Gabe: Jonathan Pryce
Gerald Murphy: Kevin McNally
Sara Murphy: Sandra Nelson
Monty Woolley: Allan Corduner
L.B. Mayer: Peter Polycarpou
Irving Berlin: Keith Allen
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 125 minutes...
CANNES -- "De-Lovely" is a sprightly musical revue built around Cole Porter songs and a few biographical tidbits culled from his extraordinary life. Director Irwin Winkler, clearly a huge fan -- as, in the interest of full disclosure, am I -- has no interest in doing "The Cole Porter Story", a standard biopic with occasional musical numbers lifted from stage and film triumphs. No, he wants to listen to the best American popular music written in the 20th century. For at the end of the day, Porter was all about his delightful, delicious, de-lovely songs, and everything in his life seemed to feed into the music and lyrics.
Which may mean "De-Lovely" has too narrow an appeal for today's audiences for whom the Jazz Age and Tin Pan Alley are off the radar. To expand that appeal, Winkler has drafted a reasonably hip collection of current rock and pop talent ranging from Alanis Morissette and Diana Krall to Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello and Natalie Cole. This should help, but the songs are sung and danced in styles that still reach back in time. The unconventional relationship between Cole and Linda Porter, a marriage of convenience between a gay man and an accepting woman, may extend interest to those curious about how those dynamics work. The film may enjoy a modest theatrical success in adult, urban venues but will certainly blossom in ancillary markets.
Winkler and writer Jay Cocks have devised a highly theatrical vehicle for their musical retelling of Cole's life. As lights come up in a dark Manhattan apartment, we see Cole -- Kevin Kline unrecognizable in fine old-age makeup -- slumped at his grand piano, tickling the ivories and waiting for death, which is imminent. Then an unannounced guest named Gabe (Jonathan Pryce) appears, ready to whisk the dying man off to the theater where he is staging Cole's life story. Another light cue and we are in that theater, and the cast -- the people from Cole's life -- flood in.
Thus begins a two-hour review -- his life flashing before his eyes only with panache. He sees his wife Linda (Ashley Judd) as she was the evening he met her in a Paris salon in 1918. (The film cheats here by making it look like the '20s.) And there the youthful Cole is too -- Kline without the makeup but dressed to the nines with a cigarette and drink at his fingers and a twinkle in his eyes.
The music seldom stops. If the two stroll in a Parisian park, Cole quickly locates an amusement park piano and bangs out a tune. Robbie Williams sings at the Porters' wedding. Costello performs at one of their Venetian masquerade balls. The Porters attend his many opening nights, with Linda always handing Cole an engraved Tiffany cigarette holder.
The focus is the lifelong love affair between the Porters. The film begins not with his youth in Indiana, his days at Yale or his first Broadway show in 1916, but the moment his eyes fall on Linda Lee. Coming off a bad marriage and wealthy in her own right, Linda falls for Cole before he finishes singing a song. After they sleep together, he struggles -- in the only scene that finds Cole at a loss for the right word -- to explain his homosexuality. But she shushes him by saying she already knows he likes men better than she does. It's a line explored no further, but might go a long way toward explaining their marriage.
Linda, according to the movie, believes so strongly in Cole's talent that she goads him into returning to New York and taking a crack at Broadway. In real life, success was not instant, but the movie tells it differently by cutting to his first hit, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" from "Paris" in 1928.
While looking nothing like Porter, Kline sublimely suggests the rakish spirit of a man who pursued the high life with zeal. While the life of the many parties he enjoyed, he keeps the world at arm's length with a quip and a song. Cole comes off as a shallow, self-absorbed gay blade, careless in his relationships, including with his wife, even though he is keenly aware of her influence on his career.
Linda is harder to read. Judd personifies an early 20th century beauty who uses grace and charm to hide a lot. She is Cole's muse, coach and promoter -- everything, in fact, but his lover. She accepts this reality, but the movie is vague about why. The two love each other, without passion but in every other way.
Both free spirits are cruelly felled by catastrophic illness. A horse riding accident crushes Cole's legs in 1937, leading to excruciating pain and many operations for the rest of his life. Linda (as does Cole) smokes incessantly, giving herself the emphysema that leads to her death in 1954. His career essentially ends then, though he continues living until 1964.
The movie is cheerfully skin deep. The seeming nonchalance of Porter's music seduces Winkler into depicting its composition as a thing knocked off before evening cocktails. In only one instance does Cole illustrate the methodology of his songwriting, when he coaches a Broadway singer on how to sing "Night and Day" as a song about "obsession." The film could have used more of this kind of insight.
Kevin McNally and Sandra Nelson portray lifelong friends of the Porters, yet even with a child dying young, the film barely registers their presence. Cole's gay lifestyle is handled -- depending on how you look at it -- with reticence or reluctance. He is depicted warmly embracing men or dressing while a lover of the moment lies decorously supine on a rumpled bed, but you get no sense of genuine passion.
The numbers are staged with wit and style. They may seem restrained compared with the flash of Baz Luhrmann, but the stagings fit the moods of Porter's songs. Sets and costumes beautifully evoke the four decades the movie spans.
DE-LOVELY
MGM Films
An Irwin Winkler film
Credits:
Director: Irwin Winkler
Screenwriter: Jay Cocks
Producers: Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan, Charles Winkler
Executive producers: Simon Channing Williams, Gail Egan
Director of photography: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Music: Cole Porter
Costume designer: Janty Yates
Editor: Julie Monroe
Cast:
Cole Porter: Kevin Kline
Linda Cole: Ashley Judd
Gabe: Jonathan Pryce
Gerald Murphy: Kevin McNally
Sara Murphy: Sandra Nelson
Monty Woolley: Allan Corduner
L.B. Mayer: Peter Polycarpou
Irving Berlin: Keith Allen
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 125 minutes...
Which may mean "De-Lovely" has too narrow an appeal for today's audiences for whom the Jazz Age and Tin Pan Alley are off the radar. To expand that appeal, Winkler has drafted a reasonably hip collection of current rock and pop talent ranging from Alanis Morissette and Diana Krall to Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello and Natalie Cole. This should help, but the songs are sung and danced in styles that still reach back in time. The unconventional relationship between Cole and Linda Porter, a marriage of convenience between a gay man and an accepting woman, may extend interest to those curious about how those dynamics work. The film may enjoy a modest theatrical success in adult, urban venues but will certainly blossom in ancillary markets.
Winkler and writer Jay Cocks have devised a highly theatrical vehicle for their musical retelling of Cole's life. As lights come up in a dark Manhattan apartment, we see Cole -- Kevin Kline unrecognizable in fine old-age makeup -- slumped at his grand piano, tickling the ivories and waiting for death, which is imminent. Then an unannounced guest named Gabe (Jonathan Pryce) appears, ready to whisk the dying man off to the theater where he is staging Cole's life story. Another light cue and we are in that theater, and the cast -- the people from Cole's life -- flood in.
Thus begins a two-hour review -- his life flashing before his eyes only with panache. He sees his wife Linda (Ashley Judd) as she was the evening he met her in a Paris salon in 1918. (The film cheats here by making it look like the '20s.) And there the youthful Cole is too -- Kline without the makeup but dressed to the nines with a cigarette and drink at his fingers and a twinkle in his eyes.
The music seldom stops. If the two stroll in a Parisian park, Cole quickly locates an amusement park piano and bangs out a tune. Robbie Williams sings at the Porters' wedding. Costello performs at one of their Venetian masquerade balls. The Porters attend his many opening nights, with Linda always handing Cole an engraved Tiffany cigarette holder.
The focus is the lifelong love affair between the Porters. The film begins not with his youth in Indiana, his days at Yale or his first Broadway show in 1916, but the moment his eyes fall on Linda Lee. Coming off a bad marriage and wealthy in her own right, Linda falls for Cole before he finishes singing a song. After they sleep together, he struggles -- in the only scene that finds Cole at a loss for the right word -- to explain his homosexuality. But she shushes him by saying she already knows he likes men better than she does. It's a line explored no further, but might go a long way toward explaining their marriage.
Linda, according to the movie, believes so strongly in Cole's talent that she goads him into returning to New York and taking a crack at Broadway. In real life, success was not instant, but the movie tells it differently by cutting to his first hit, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" from "Paris" in 1928.
While looking nothing like Porter, Kline sublimely suggests the rakish spirit of a man who pursued the high life with zeal. While the life of the many parties he enjoyed, he keeps the world at arm's length with a quip and a song. Cole comes off as a shallow, self-absorbed gay blade, careless in his relationships, including with his wife, even though he is keenly aware of her influence on his career.
Linda is harder to read. Judd personifies an early 20th century beauty who uses grace and charm to hide a lot. She is Cole's muse, coach and promoter -- everything, in fact, but his lover. She accepts this reality, but the movie is vague about why. The two love each other, without passion but in every other way.
Both free spirits are cruelly felled by catastrophic illness. A horse riding accident crushes Cole's legs in 1937, leading to excruciating pain and many operations for the rest of his life. Linda (as does Cole) smokes incessantly, giving herself the emphysema that leads to her death in 1954. His career essentially ends then, though he continues living until 1964.
The movie is cheerfully skin deep. The seeming nonchalance of Porter's music seduces Winkler into depicting its composition as a thing knocked off before evening cocktails. In only one instance does Cole illustrate the methodology of his songwriting, when he coaches a Broadway singer on how to sing "Night and Day" as a song about "obsession." The film could have used more of this kind of insight.
Kevin McNally and Sandra Nelson portray lifelong friends of the Porters, yet even with a child dying young, the film barely registers their presence. Cole's gay lifestyle is handled -- depending on how you look at it -- with reticence or reluctance. He is depicted warmly embracing men or dressing while a lover of the moment lies decorously supine on a rumpled bed, but you get no sense of genuine passion.
The numbers are staged with wit and style. They may seem restrained compared with the flash of Baz Luhrmann, but the stagings fit the moods of Porter's songs. Sets and costumes beautifully evoke the four decades the movie spans.
DE-LOVELY
MGM Films
An Irwin Winkler film
Credits:
Director: Irwin Winkler
Screenwriter: Jay Cocks
Producers: Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan, Charles Winkler
Executive producers: Simon Channing Williams, Gail Egan
Director of photography: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Music: Cole Porter
Costume designer: Janty Yates
Editor: Julie Monroe
Cast:
Cole Porter: Kevin Kline
Linda Cole: Ashley Judd
Gabe: Jonathan Pryce
Gerald Murphy: Kevin McNally
Sara Murphy: Sandra Nelson
Monty Woolley: Allan Corduner
L.B. Mayer: Peter Polycarpou
Irving Berlin: Keith Allen
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 125 minutes...
- 5/24/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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