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| I have created this new section, "Tribute," in hopes of recognizing celebrities or notables that I personally admire or enjoy. Death is not a prerequisite, although I must mention that my first two honorees, Jason Robards and Billy Barty, have recently passed away. Because they both died after most magazines published their "Retrospective" sections, I feel that their deaths have been unjustly neglected. They were both giants of showbiz and their talents and versatility will be sorely missed. |
| Jason Robards (1922-2000) brought a certain masculine, but tender, sensibility to stage and screen acting. He almost single-handedly revolutionized the industry by putting an emphasis on character development and not marquee drawing power. He despised the Method Acting of Marlon Brando and Paul Newman; to him, being onstage or in front of a camera was second nature and he did not need to overanalyze or employ gimmicks to move audiences. He was first and foremost a stage actor, one who admired writers and the beautifully constructed lines that they gave him to speak. With film, however, Robards made an impressive, long-lasting show. He delivers raw, powerful performances in Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, All the President's Men, Melvin and Howard, and, most recently, Magnolia. In 40 years in cinema, he ranged from playing a drunken down-and-out ne'er-do-well to a dying media mogul, and everything in between. He was a true acting revolutionary and we are lucky to have his performances to watch over and over. |
| Billy Barty (1924-2000) is another showbiz legend. His death is particularly sad, because it represents the fact that the vaudeville culture is rapidly disappearing. Barty was a dwarf, but not in a derogatory or pathetic sense. He was an extremely successful child performer on the vaudeville circuit, entertaining audiences with flips and tumbles and juggling routines. But when he didn't grow any taller than 3'8", he turned his attention to a film career. He was a comic at heart and used his size to great, pugnacious, comic effect in such movies as The Day of the Locust and Under the Rainbow. However, perhaps Barty's greatest contribution was in his charity work for the Advancement of Little People. Barty sympathized with other "little people," especially those whose considerable talentes were exploited by the studios in Hollywood of the 30's and 40's. Barty worked all his life to reduce discrimination and encourage equal rights legislation. He was an irrepressible personality, and a symbol of a bygone age of showbusiness that can never be recreated. |
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