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October 18, 2007

RIP: Deborah Kerr (1921-2007), Joey Bishop (1918-2007)

The one degree of separation between the classy English actress and the self-described mouse of the Rat Pack (that's Joey on the right, below) was Frank Sinatra, who appeared in the original "Ocean's 11'' and several other flicks with Joey Bishop, and starred opposite Deborah Kerr in the best-forgotten alleged comedy "Marriage on the Rocks.'' Speaking of rocks, Sinatra and Kerr were also both in "From Here to Eternity'' -- he won an Oscar, she participated in the perhaps the most parodied scene in film history with Burt Lancaster, above. Kerr will also be remembered for Leo McCarey's four-handkerchief classic "An Affair to Remember'' with Cary Grant, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. And a year earlier, married woman Kerr "cured'' a college student (the unrelated John Kerr) of homosexuality by sleeping with him in "Tea and Sympathy,'' where she delivered the immortal line: "Years from now when you talk about this -- and you will -- be kind.''

Mr. Bishop impersonated dyspeptic Jews in everything from Norman Mailer and Raoul Walsh's "The Naked and the Dead'' (1958) to Menachem Golan's "The Delta Force'' (1986), an unwittingly hilarious terrorist hijack thriller starring Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Shelley Winters and Lainie Kazan. He also played a comedian named Joey Barnes in a droll sitcom called "The Joey Bishop Show'' (1961-1965), which is not to be confused with the late-night sitcom of the same title (1967-1969) that launched Regis Philbin to seemingly eternal national fame as his sidekick.

Posted by Lou Lumenick on October 18, 2007 05:20 PM

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