|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
When I was a kid, I first noticed Art Carney in obscure films like Going in Style (1979), a Lee Majors vehicle called Steel (1980), Roadie (1980) with Meat Loaf, St. Helens (1981), Take and This Job and Shove It (1981). I remember seeing Going in Style in the theatre, so I must have been only 8 or 9. I think at that time I knew who George Burns was, and that must have been the draw, or the story line of three old men robbing a bank in family friendly PG format. Burns, Carney, and Lee Strasberg are Joe, Al, and Willie; Hunter's Charles Hallahan was Pete, the son of one of them. They rob a bank, they get away with it at first, but later things go bad, one of them dies, one of them urinates on himself (very weird for an 8 year old to understand), at least one of them goes to jail. Hallahan tries to do the right thing and keep someone's secret. I think there's a scene where -- maybe it is Art Carney -- is brushing his teeth, and my mom was laughing. That's about all I remember; I could see this movie again I guess. I saw parts of Steel on cable -- it was PG so on during the daytime and no one was home, and there was "brief nudity" which I saw. I don't remember much else. I think the nudity occured for the sake of laughs as Majors was driving a big rig truck and some random girl was changing clothes behind him in the cab. Upon research, Jennifer O'Neill is Cass Cassidy, Art Carney is Pignose Moran, Harris Yulin, George Kennedy, Terry Kiser*, Roger E. Mosley (T.C. on "Magnum P.I."), Albert Salmi (who would go on to appear with Carney again, the next year in St. Helens, and who would then go on to kill his wife and then himself in 1990), and Peckinpah favorite, R.G. Armstrong all co-star. Steel was directed by Steve Carver who has done some awful work like Drum (1976) -- a rehashing of Mandingo, famously one of the worst films ever made -- , two dumb Chuck Norris movies An Eye for an Eye (1981) and Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)l, Alistair MacLean's River of Death (1989).... Majors was also executive producer at that brief moment in time where it seemed like he might become a movie star. *Kiser is most famous for playing "Bernie" in Weekend at Bernie's (1989) and it's sequel, Weekend at Bernie's II (1993) -- Bernie is dead for most of these films -- Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman carry him around acting like he's not dead, so that they can stay at his fancy mansion -- or something else equally insane. Also in 1980 was Roadie, which starred Meat Loaf. I've never seen this movie, but I always knew of it's existence and that it starred Meat Loaf. Upon research, Roadie was directed by Alan Rudolph and co-stars Joe Spano, Hamilton Camp, Richard Portnow, Kurtwood Smith, Alice Cooper, Deborah Harry/Blondie, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr.
But St. Helens (1981) and Take This Job and Shove It (1981) were on cable all the time shortly after they came out and I watched them each several times, I think. But I haven't seen either of them in 20 years. I recall St. Helens -- about the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington. It seems that the volcano became active again, and people were moved out -- they had time to get to everyone -- but the Carney character (the only one I remember) didn't go. You know that movie thing, where old people are all fatalistic and won't go or change and would rather die? The real eruption was on May 18, 1980 -- which I vaguely remember hearing about. Carney played Harry S. Truman, and at that age I was probably confused as to the fact that he wasn't playing the Harry S. Truman, but someone with that name. Likely named after Harry S. Truman. Except that Carney was born in 1918, almost 30 years before Harry S. Truman would become president. So how would he be named after him? I'm still confused. Anyway, I just remember Carney sitting in a rowboat fishing on a lake. I think that's how his character died, when the volcano erupted. Upon research, I find St. Helens (1981) was directed by Ernest Pintoff and also featured Cassie Yates, Albert Salmi, Ron "Superfly" O'Neal, Bill McKinney, Nehemiah Persoff. The character of David Crockett (played by Brendan Burns) is based on real life scientist David Johnston. He died in the exact same way and uttering the same final words into his radio before the blast of Mt. St. Helens hit him, "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!"Tim Thomerson played Sheriff Wayne Temple, who would appear with Carney again in the same year in Take This Job and Shove It. I remember Take This Job and Shove It, and it's theme song, and it's cast of Robert Hays, Barbara Hershey, David Keith, Tim Thomerson, and two veterans, Eddie Albert and Art Carney. I had loved Airplane! and so figured I'd like the next movie star Robert Hays would appear in. I think at the time I did like the movie. I remember, lots of good ole boy stuff; beer drinking, the theme song, and a sequence where Thomerson is tailgating Hays, or vice versa and someone sticks their middle finger up. But then it turns out that they were old friends and Hays was back in town for some reason -- cheap American beer, I guess. Carney was somebody's uncle I think; Albert was the bad guy, Hershey was the girl. Upon research, I find this film also stars Martin Mull, Penelope Milford, David Allan Coe (who wrote the original title song), Royal Dano, James Karen, Len Lesser, George "Goober" Lindsey, Johnny PayCheck, Charlie Rich, and Fran Ryan. In 1982 Carney was in Bryan Forbes' Better Late Than Never with David Niven and Maggie Smith. By the time he appeared in Firestarter in 1984, I had become familiar with him as Ed Norton on "The Honeymooners" with Jackie Gleason. He won five of his seven Emmys playing the sewer worker, pal and foil for Gleason's Ralph Kramden character on "The Honeymooners" in the 1950s. Carney had just celebrated his 85th birthday a week ago, and died Sunday at his home in Chester, Connecticut. Carney was the son of a newspaperman, born in Carthage, N.Y. on Nov. 4, 1918, worked in amateur theatricals, did impressions, sang novelty songs with Horace Heidt's dance band in 1937. "There I was, an 18-year-old mimic rooming with a blind whistler," Carney told People magazine in 1974. "He would order gin and grapefruit juice for us in the morning, and it was great. ... No responsibilities, no remorse. I was an alcoholic, even then." Carney's personal and professional life were affected by his years-long battle with the bottle. He was married three times, twice to Jean Meyers, who was his high school sweetheart. According to the CBS News Web site, he dropped out of the Broadway run of The Odd Couple (the part of Felix, which he had originated) and spent nearly six months in a sanitarium. He resumed his career, was cast in Paul Mazursky's Harry and Tonto, and won the 1974 Best Actor Oscar for playing an elderly widower who travels from New York to Chicago with his pet cat. Flowers were placed on Carney's Hollywood Walk of Fame star two days after his death on NovemberÝ 11,Ý2003. Carney's other films include an uncredited bit in Pot o' Gold (1941), The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), A Guide for the Married Man (1967), W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), The Late Show (1977), Dr. Amos Willoughby (later played on TV by David Wayne) in House Calls (1978), Movie Movie (1978), Sunburn (1979), The Naked Face (1984), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Last Action Hero (1993).
On TV, besides playing Ed Norton from the 50s onward, he appeared on "The Twilight Zone" (1960) in episode: "The Night of the Meek", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1958) in episode: "Safety for the Witness", "The Archer" in two episodes of "Batman" (1966), "What's My Line?", "Suspense", "Climax", and many others. TV Movies include Gramps/Dr. Wunderbar in Christmas in Disneyland (1976), Saundan in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), Grandpa Martin Vanderhof in You Can't Take It with You (1979), the narrator of The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold (1981), Terrible Joe Moran (1984), Santa Claus in The Night They Saved Christmas (1984), as Moe, and opposite Gleason again in Jackie Cooper's Izzy and Moe (1985), and The Blue Yonder (1985). Carney was born Arthur William Matthew Carney on November 4, 1918 in Mount Vernon, New York. He was married to Jean Myers from 1940 to 1966 (they had three children), and from 1980 until his death in 2003. He was married to Barbara Isaac from 1966 to 1977. He was a voice-over regular on the popular 1930s radio series "Gangbusters" that featured weekly episodes based actual crime incidents. Each program ended with various descriptions of wanted criminals, many of whom were later arrested due to avid listener participation. World War II veteran stationed in France as an infantryman.Wounded in leg by shrapnel and was hospitalized for nine months. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life. And interesting, for us here at tedstrong.com, Carney had the nickname of... Mr. C. Carney at imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138770/
|
