CONFESSIONS OF A RILM FOX

CONFESSIONS OF A RILM FOX

What an exciting month! Lotsa movies in the making and lotsa actors on the make. Mama Sophia Loren gave birth to Carlo Ponti’s (her husband’s) second son, Eduardo. Guess another boy was a disappointment... Julie Andrews moonlights writing children’s books — her second, dedicated to that youngster, Muddy Waters, is called The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles . . . Clint Eastwood is taking some time out from his super-busy schedule to fit in the filming of Thunderbolt and lightfoot... Liz Taylor’s running her buns off too with Ash Wednesday and The Magic Mountain this month . .. Richard (Luke McCoy) Crenna is back into comedy with Jack Douglas’ Shut Up and Eat Your Snowshoes . .. Laughin’ Lily Tomlin will have her very own series come fall. Will it be sponsored by Ma Bell? . . . Ex-football player Rosie Grier will do Big Daddy TV show; Jim Brown does the Slaughter sequel, Slaughter’s Big Rip Off; and Tony E. King plays an ex-marine in Gordon’s War and Super Spook (a Super Fly spoof he co-wrote)... So far, Brenda Vaccaro and Richard Castellano are the only definite members of the Honor Thy Father movie cast . . . Liv Ullman, Ingmar Bergman’s mistress, one of Warren “You’re So Vain” Beatty’s girlfriends and star of The Emigrants is scheduled to do the sequel, The New Land (title changed from The Settlers). She’ll also do Taylor’s Bride with Gene Hackman ... A sequel to Deep Throat starring the luscious Miss Lovelace is in the works. She’s getting lots of “legitimate” movie offers lately . . . Super Fly II shooting in Rome, directed by Ron O’Neal (The StarPriest) . . . Roger Corman’s still making a bundle of loot but not from AIP horror flicks. He’s latched on to leasing Ingmar Bergman’s big hit Cries and Whispers. A diversion, you might say . . . John Wayne’s son, Patrick is also acting. He heads the cast of Sea Creatures ... James Brown’s doing the soundtrack for AIP’s Black Caesar, “The cat with the .45 calibre claws!” . .. AIP is releasing a boodle: Little Cigars, a crime drama with a young Ms. and a gang of midgets, Blacula II, Heavy Traffic, brought to you by the Fritz the Cat cats, only this one animates humans and Black Mama, White Mama “The chicks in chains” are already at your local drive-in ... Ralph J. Gleason, Rolling Stone’s Perspectives columnist and Fantasy Records’ veep, is producing Payday starring the raving Rip Tom playing a G&W singer on his last legs — touring Col. Sander’s joints ... A sequel to Rosemary’s Baby (unnamed and not yet cast) is in the making, picking up where it left off... “All in the Family’s” Rob Reiner has co-written the movie script for A Rock’n’Roll Kind of Love starring Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids ... Richard Burton will be seen soon as Marshal Tito (of Yugoslavia) in Tito... Edd “Kooky” Byrnes is in stereophonic sound in Wicked, Wicked a “duo-vision” picture in which the chaser is on one side of the screen and the chasee is on another screen beside him. Just another fabulous gimmick that’s going to be used in October Incident, too. That one’s about a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro .. - Paul “Just An Old Fashioned Love Song” Williams is back in pictures. However, you may not recognize him in his role as Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Look for a dwarf organutan with a lisp. Roddy McDowall and Sam (Dr. Zorba) Jaffe are also in the fifth Monkey Movie ... Robert Redford will play Jay in the screen adaptation (written by Francis Ford Coppola) of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. After Ali MacGraw gave up her part for an affair with Steve McQueen, a long and thorough search started to fill the year’s most coveted female lead. Faye Dunaway, Candice Bergen, and Katherine Ross bowed to Mia Farrow for Daisy’s part. Struggling with a bout with London Flu, Mia actually fainted during her screen test performance ... McQueen finished filming bestselling book Papillon in Jamiaca and Paris, incidentally ... The “Hollywood Factory” is re-creating Shangri La in the glamorous Lost Horizon. It stars: Peter Finch, Liv Ullman, Sally Kellerman, George Kennedy, Michael York with a score by Bacharach/David .. Raquel Welch is turning off everyone in her latest movie, The Last of Sheila, Her co-stars, James Mason, Dyan Cannon, Jimmy Cobum and director Herb Ross agree she’s tempermental, unfriendly, inconsiderate, unprofessional and difficult to get along with, too. She’s walked off the set, been late, caught in lies, made crude remarks, etc. It may be the last of Raquel... Carol Lynley and Woody Allen sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. (What happened to Diane Keaton?) ... Mickey Mouse just celebrated his 44th birthday?.. George Hamilton finally got hooked: to model/actress Alana Collins in Vegas. They flew there in Elvis’ private plane in the traditional blue jeans, then went off to Greece for the honeymoon and his next movie. Alana’s dog was the ringbearer. Cute ... Peter Finch (playing Lord Nelson) said of Glenda Jackson (playing Lady Hamilton) in The Nelson Affair, “They’re trying to give her the low cleavage essential to the fashion of the time — her poor tits are being mangled like crushed oranges.” She says, “It was uncomfortable enough wearing those corsets as Queen Elizabeth — but God, these falsies!” Glenda’s next film is Madam Solario about a liberated woman ... Hot news item I promised to uncover last month: Burt Reynolds co-star in The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing is Ryan’s Daughter, Sarah Miles. The Academy Award nominee was also seen in Blow Up. ... The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s 30th Annual Golden Globe Awards were hosted by Dick Crenna, who gave the stage to such celebrities as Mark Spitz, Michael Caine, Desi Arnaz, Carol O’Connor and Carol Lynley. They presented honors to Liv Ullman — Best Actress, Marlon Brando — Best Actor, Diana Ross — Best Female Newcomer, Eddie Albert Jr. — Best Male Newcomer, Cabaret — Best Movie, Ben — Best Song... London disc jockey and occasional CREEM contributor Charlie Gillett could have used the Film Fox on his Sunday morning show, Honky Tonk, on Radio London a couple weeks ago. The guest of honor was J. Geils’ singer Peter Wolf. Peter brought along his girlfriend, Faye, explaining: “She teaches me about acting; I teach her about rock’n’roll.” Imagine Gillett’s expression a few days later when he found out who this particular “Faye” was: that’s right Faye Dunaway. Well, she wouldn’t have recognized Merle Haggard either, so cheer up, Charlie ... If you’re curious about the film star who sat across from you at dinner, drop me a line and I’ll see what luscious tid-bit can be unearthed. *

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