Gil Bellows Movies
Gil Bellows worked steadily in film throughout the mid-'90s before he achieved TV fame on the whimsical Fox comedy Ally McBeal. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Bellows left Canada to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Southern California. He then headed East, appearing in New York theater as well as on TV's Law & Order. Though he made his film debut in Frank Darabont's acclaimed prison drama The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and co-starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in Miami Rhapsody (1995), Bellows followed more in the direction of his first starring film, Love and a .45 (1994), appearing primarily in independent features. After a supporting role in The Substance of Fire (1996), Bellows starred in the British-Canadian adaptation of Bernard Malamud's The Assistant (1997) and the Canadian romantic comedy Dinner at Fred's (opposite indie queen Parker Posey), as well as the French supernatural romance Un Amour de Sorcière (1997). It was TV producer/writer David E. Kelley's innovative Ally McBeal, though, that made Bellows a well-known presence after the series debuted in 1997. As Ally/Calista Flockhart's ex-love-turned-law colleague, Bellows' Billy was a bastion of relative normalcy (at least until the third season) among the eccentric staff populating the series' fictional Boston law firm and stoking Ally's neuroses. Though Billy was supposed to last only one season, Bellows stayed for three, leaving in 2000. Bellows is married to actress Rya Kihlstedt and has one daughter. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
A dying man finds that horses, blondes, and the Mob may end his life faster than cancer in this dark comedy from the U.K. Joe (Billy Connolly) is a regular guy who runs a flower shop and has never had much in the way of good luck. Things seem to be grim for Joe when he's diagnosed with a brain tumor, but a bit of good fortune appears on the horizon when he wins a jackpot at the racetrack. However, Hush (Sharon Stone), an exotic dancer who has fallen deeply in debt to a gang of thugs, steals Joe's newly won fortune to pay them off. Joe gets his money back by explaining to the gangsters what happened, but only because they mistake him for a syndicate kingpin they've heard about but never met. When the gangsters discover that Joe is a florist and not a career criminal, they find the situation less than amusing. Beautiful Joe also stars Ian Holm, Gil Bellows, and Jurnee Smollett. While the film enjoyed a theatrical run in Europe, it debuted in America on the Cinemax premium cable network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Connolly, Sharon Stone, (more)
Ed Saxon (Jeff Daniels) is an English professor of some repute whose life is thrown into serious chaos when his wife, Eve, fails to return home one day. After a sleepless night, Ed phones the police, who find no trace of Eve, save her abandoned car. Later Ed, by now exhausted and disheveled, is visited by a young student (Emily Bergl) who is concerned about his absence from class and has stopped by to drop off some food for him. The student has an obvious attraction towards Ed, and he lets her in the house, where she has an accident that results in a nosebleed and a blood-soaked sweater that she leaves behind. Inevitably, detectives come calling on Ed, who is close to a fatigue-fueled nervous breakdown and nearly loses it completely. His fragile state is further exacerbated when he discovers a mysterious object under a chest of drawers, causing him to veer more precipitously towards an all-encompassing emotional collapse. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Emily Bergl, (more)
- 1999
- NR
A group of big-city twentysomethings are either looking for love or trying to get love to stick around in the romantic comedy Say You'll Be Mine. Ben (Nicky Katt) is an aspiring writer who for years has had a ferocious crush on his friend Julia (Libby Langdon). But Julia is more interested in his best friend Josh (Daniel Lapaine) -- in fact, they're getting married. Julia, meanwhile, is trying to fix Ben up with Melanie (Megan Ward), who's studying acting; Ben likes Melanie well enough, but is still trying to adjust himself to the fact she just isn't Julia. Ben is looking for advice, but has trouble finding a sympathetic ear -- his sister Chelsea (Justine Bateman) is a divorce lawyer who mistakenly shot her husband and went in to work the next morning. Meanwhile, Melanie has to deal with her roommates, Mason and Catherine (Gil Bellows and Rya Kihlstedt), a married couple who have furiously loud arguments when they're not having furiously louder sex. Say You'll Be Mine was the debut feature for writer/director Brad Kane; he originally wrote the script when he was only 21. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicky Katt, Libby Langdon, (more)
- 1999
In this Canadian comedy, Richard (Gil Bellows) departs his office, driving north for a Christmas holiday at the country home of his fiancé Sarah (Kristin Leeman), the daughter of his boss George Billings (Leon Powhall). When his car collapses en route, he arrives instead at a house inhabited by a kooky family. He is subjected to various humiliations and indignities, but amid the madness and general goofiness, he soon finds himself attracted to the clan's sleepwalking Celia (Parker Posey), "the world's greatest hair stylist," causing him to question his planned marriage. Shown at the 1997 Mill Valley and Hollywood film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gil Bellows, Parker Posey, (more)
As Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) fumbles toward 30, her life becomes more tumultuous than one would have believed possible. What started out as an eccentric fantasy life in the first season has begun to swing sharply toward deeper, darker psychological troubles. Ironically, as Ally considers taking antidepressants to suppress her frequent trips into her imagination, Billy (Gil Bellows) begins to have his own hallucinations. Though the office thinks that Billy's chauvinistic behavior, newly bleached hair, and entourage of female assistants are merely his reaction to his recent divorce from Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith), they turn out to be the results of a fatal brain tumor. Billy's death leaves the firm reeling, and provides a wealth of opening and closing doors for its occupants. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
