Carrie Nye Movies
Though an occasional bit player in films, character actress Carrie Nye enjoyed her broadest reception as a stage performer. Born Carolyn Nye McGeoy in Greenwood, MS, on October 14, 1936, Nye began her career as a thespian around 1955 at the Williamstown Theater Festival, in Williamstown, northern Massachusetts. She moved to Manhattan five years later, where she made her Broadway debut in a stage adaptation of a Colette novel, A Second String. Nye quickly became trademarked by her southern drawl and deadpan quips. She starred in numerous on and off-Broadway productions over the ensuing decades, such as the Ruth Gordon-penned A Very Rich Woman (1965) and Tom Stoppard's Real Inspector Hound (1972). She sporadically returned to Williamstown over the decades and became a key component of the festival.Nye took her first film bow in Sidney Lumet's 1966 The Group, with a cast that included Candice Bergen, Joanna Pettet, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman, and Shirley Knight. Many additional cinematic and TV roles followed, including Diana Proctor in the 1972 Liz Taylor/Richard Burton small-screen vehicle Divorce His, Divorce Hers, and Aldena Kittner in the 1979 Alan Alda/Jerry Schatzberg effort The Seduction of Joe Tynan. In the Stephen King/George Romero omnibus effort Creepshow (1982), Nye portrayed Sylvia Grantham, the woman unexpectedly terrorized when her nasty deceased husband returns in zombie form to claim his father's birthday cake. She also appeared in the Shelley Long vehicle Hello Again as Regina Holt. Nye won a Best Actress Emmy for the 1980 telemovie The Scarlett O'Hara War.
Nye died of lung cancer on July 14, 2006. She was survived by her husband, talk show host Dick Cavett. Nye met Cavett in the early '60s at Yale Drama School and they wed in 1964. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Writer Susan Isaacs and director Frank Perry of Compromising Positions re-team for this unsuccessful resurrection fantasy comedy. Shelley Long plays Lucy Chadman, the accident-prone wife of plastic surgeon Jason Chadman (Corbin Bernsen). When she chokes to death after eating a South Korean chicken ball, a funeral is held and she is mourned, but then everyone goes on with their lives and forgets about her. Everyone, that is, except her sister Zelda (Judith Ivey). Zelda runs an occult bookstore and as she peruses one of her books of incantations, she discovers a magical chant that can raise the dead. Obeying the rules of the incantation -- it has to be performed a year after the person dies and the resurrected person must find love within 30 days or the person will die again -- she brings back Lucy to life. Lucy immediately proceeds to her husband's home and finds that he is married to her best friend Kim (Sela Ward). She now has to deal with the changed circumstances of her husband, along with a burgeoning love affair with Kevin Scanlon (Gabriel Byrne), the emergency-room doctor who had tried to save her life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Long, Judith Ivey, (more)
- 1985
- R
This uneasy mix between a slasher film and a police story focuses on a series of murders in a luxury Manhattan apartment building and the main suspect in the case, an eccentric doorman (Ian McShane). The chief detective sent to unravel the crimes, Lt. Dinardo (Mike Connors) is involved with Kate (Anne Archer), an undercover cop who installs herself in the apartment building to lure the killer into action. This makes the lieutenant particularly interested in the outcome of Kate's ploy. Although potentially prone to high suspense and dramatic turns, the story is not quite as tension-filled (or gory) as its outlines suggest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Anne Archer, (more)
Two of the most venerable names in the horror field, author Stephen King and director George A. Romero, present this anthology of original twisted tales inspired by the E.C. horror comics of the 50's and 60's (themselves a more direct basis for the popular Tales from the Crypt TV series). The five stories are framed within the pages of a comic book which a boy's insensitive father has thrown in the garbage. The first tale, "Father's Day," features a zombie patriarch returning to claim his Father's Day cake; "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" stars King himself as a slack-jawed yokel whose discovery of a radioactive meteorite turns him into a walking weed; "Something to Tide You Over" presents a deadly-serious Leslie Nielsen as a cuckolded husband who plans an elaborate seaside revenge; "The Crate" unleashes its ferocious man-eating contents on the enemies of a meek college professor; and "They're Creeping Up On You" pits obsessively-clean billionaire E.G. Marshall against a swarm of cockroaches in his sterile penthouse. The chapters are uniformly creative, filmed in garish comic-book colors, and Tom Savini's makeup effects are quite memorable (particularly the monster from "The Crate"), though the campy treatment does become exhausting after two hours' runtime. The final segment is the most impressive, thanks to Marshall's over-the-top performance, though the planned scope of the cockroach invasion was drastically reduced (no doubt due to budget constraints). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, (more)
- 1980
Based on a portion of Garson Kanin's book Moviola, The Scarlet O'Hara War mixes fact with fiction in recreating producer David O. Selznick's search for an actress to star in Gone With the Wind. Tony Curtis plays Selznick, who turns his search into a major publicity ploy to sustain interest in his upcoming film. Among the likely candidates for the role of Scarlett O'Hara are Carole Lombard (Sharon Gless), Joan Crawford (Barrie Youngfellow) and Tallulah Bankhead (Carrie Nye). A subplot concerns two bogus talent scouts who pretend to be working for Selznick in order to extract money and sexual favors from would-be Scarlets. As Selznick supervises the "Burning of Atlanta" sequence, he is approached by his brother Myron, who is in the company of the perfect Scarlett O'Hara--Vivien Leigh (Morgan Brittany). The Scarlet O'Hara War was one of three TV films based on Moviola; the other two were The Silent Lovers (all about John Gilbert and Greta Garbo) and This Year's Blonde (the early years of Marilyn Monroe). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Sharon Gless, (more)
- 1979
- R
Alan Alda wrote and starred in this tale about a big-time politician's struggles with his own morality and the corruption he finds surrounding him. He plays a U.S. Senator, Joe Tynan, who falls for a lovely lady attorney and has an affair that jeopardizes his marriage, and possibly, his career. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Barbara Harris, (more)
A Touch of the Poet is the only completed play in Eugene O'Neill's planned 11-part "American History" cycle. Set in a rundown tavern in 1820s Boston, Poet focuses on the relationships between tavern owner Cornelius Melody, his wife Nora, and daughter Sara. Born into wealth in the old country, Cornelius has fallen on hard times, a consequence of a disgrace he suffered while serving in the Peninsular Wars. He took his family to start over in America but lost his fortune buying a secluded inn that attracts few customers. He maintains his haughty airs, however, and constantly abuses his loving, hard-working wife, which only makes Sara more scornful of her father's inability to face reality. For her part, Sara is in love with Simon, a wealthy American who has taken ill. When Simon's father arrives on the scene, he takes a quick measure of the kind of man Cornelius is and forbids Simon and Sara from marrying. Greatly offended, Cornelius swears to avenge this insult, but the result of his efforts are far different than what he intended. This production originally aired as part of PBS's Theatre in America series. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Weaver
- 1973
In this horror movie a murderous husband gets his comeuppance when his dead wife returns to make his life a living hell. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Originally made for television, this production features divorce from two perspectives: in the first half, the husband (Richard Burton) explains his perspective of his failed marriage, while the second includes that of his wife (Elizabeth Taylor). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Based on the novel by Mary McCarthy, The Group was one of the slickest, and most highly publicized, cinematic soap operas of the 1960s. Filmed largely in New York, the story charts the exploits of eight young women, all of whom graduate from an exclusive Vassar-ish college in the middle of the Depression. Among the talented young actresses making their screen debuts herein are Candice Bergen as Lakey, the group's resident Lesbian; Joan Hackett as Dottie, a repressed socialite who takes up with bohemian artist Dick Brown (Richard Mulligan); Joanna Pettet as Kay, who marries philandering playwright Harald Peterson (Larry Hagman); and Kathleen Widdoes as Helena, the wealthiest of the girls who insists upon proving her value in the workplace. The other girls are Pokey (Marin-Robin Redd), who seems happiest when pregnant; Jessica Walter as Libby, the group's viper-tongued gossip and the darling of the Manhattan literary set (some have suggested that McCarthy based this character on herself); Elizabeth Hartman as Priss, the requisite heart-on-sleeve liberal; and Shirley Knight as Polly, whose bumpy love life culminates in a very colorful engagement party. Hal Holbrook, likewise making his first screen appearance, plays Gus LeRoy. Sumptuously produced, The Group is a bit empty dramatically, though the sheer volume of continuing characters manages to sustain audience interest. (Incidentally, here's a note for "blooper" spotters: wasn't the Pan Am building constructed in the 1950s? ) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, (more)
