#ray stark

[gregorygalloway]

Funny Lady was released on 12 March 1975.

The sequel to the 1968 hit Funny Girl, was a difficult production. Barbra Streisand had once stated that "you'll have to drag me into court" to get her to reprise the role of Fanny Brice, but she was persuaded by the script.

Producer Ray Stark (Fanny Brice's one-time son-in-law) was unhappy with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (who was fired after 2 1/2 days of work) and persuaded an ailing James Wong Howe to come out of retirement (Howe collapsed on set and Ernest Laszlo filled in while Howe recuperated).

Released to mostly negative reviews, Funny Lady was a box office success. It was nominated for 5 Academy Awards: Best Cinematography (Howe's 10th and last, he died in 1976), Best Costume Design (Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie), Best Sound (Don MacDougall, Richard Portman, Jack Solomon, Curly Thirlwell), Best Original Score (Peter Matz), and Best Original Song ("How Lucky Can You Get" by Fred Ebb and John Kander). It did not receive an Oscar.

[movie--posters]

[oldshowbiz]

Film producer Ray Stark felt actress Nancy Kwan wasn’t Asian enough. “She certainly doesn’t look Chinese,” he explained. “A make-up man had to make her eyes look Oriental for both [the World of] Suzie [Wong] and Flower Drum Song.”

[thenewhollywoodpod-blog]

Stacy Keach (Fat City, Cheech and Chong)

Download  Check out this episode!  iTunes

Today on the podcast actor Stacy Keach and I discuss how he ignored his actor-dad’s advice to stay out of the business, how as a teenager he and his friend wrote a war epic for Roger Corman that never got made, how working with Robert Altman was a perfect fit for him, how mega-producer Ray Stark had to wrestle the backgammon board away from his Fat City director John Huston and how on that film Keach got knocked out cold while filming a boxing match. Lastly he sets the record straight about what is was like working with Cheech and Chong. All that and more on The New Hollywood Podcast. 

[myloveforbarbra]

Barbra Streisand: On set of Funny Girl

I love this picture so much. She’s about to film this iconic scene where she’s walking into the theater in that fabulous leopard print coat but there she is just sitting and chatting with Ray Stark. No big deal.

[thebeautyofbarbrastreisand]

With Ray Stark at the 41st Academy Awards, 14th April 1969.

[classicmovietrivia]

 The World of Suzie Wong was originally a Broadway play starring France Nuyen. Nuyen was signed to reprise her role in the film adaption. After five weeks of shooting on location in Hong Kong the cast and crew moved to London to film the exteriors. At the time Nuyen was seeing actor Marlon Brando. Rumor had it that Brando was having an affair with Barbara Luna, which caused Nuyen to overeat. She began to gain so much weight that she could no longer fit in the body hugging silk cheongsams. Executive producer Ray Stark decided he couldn't wait for her to return to her regular size and she was replaced with Nancy Kwan.