Monday 9 August 2010

Patricia Neal 1926-2010

She may have accepted that her own life could be described as a Greek tragedy, but in the end it was a fulfilled one. Having lost her movie career to a series of strokes, and then lost her marriage to Roald Dahl, she rebuilt her professional life in television and was working into her 70s.

One or other TV company is bound to show "Hud", and probably also "The Day the Earth Stood Still", but her finest performance in my opinion was in "A Face in the Crowd". This film is long overdue a DVD release in the UK. With "Mad Men" reviving interest in the 1950s advertising industry, and the commodifying of political leaders more topical than ever, it is crying out for TV showing, too. I can only assume that there are copyright restrictions preventing its screening here.

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