Irene Worth Movies
While it's understandable that many people regard Irene Worth as a British actress, she was in fact born in Nebraska and educated at U.C.L.A. A one-time schoolteacher, Worth made her professional acting bow in 1942, touring with Elizabeth Bergner in Escape Me Never. One year later, she was on Broadway, appearing in The Two Mrs. Carrolls. In 1944, she moved to London, where she studied with Elsie Fogarty and "reinvented" herself as a classical actress. She went on to work with the Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Company, and was prominently cast in the groundbreaking theatrical productions of director Peter Brook. In 1955, she won a British Film Award for her performance in Orders to Kill. Among her many subsequent professional honors were her three Tony awards for Tiny Alice (1964), Sweet Bird of Youth (1975), and Lost in Yonkers. She repeated her performance as Grandma when Yonkers was committed to film in 1992. Irene Worth's other movie roles of note include Goneril in Paul Scofield's King Lear (1971), the Queen Mother in Nicholas and Alexandria (1971), and Dutch psychic Helga Ten Dorp in Deathtrap (1982). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Gary Starke (Andy Garcia) was an orphan living on the streets at 13 who grew up to preside over a crew of street hustlers as the grand master of ticket scalpers. Charming, savvy, and honorable, Gary seems beloved by everyone until Linda (Andie MacDowell), the love of his life, dumps him. Tired of Gary's unreliability after eight years, Linda takes a scholarship to the Cordon Bleu in Paris to fulfill her dream of becoming a master chef. Gary, in a tailspin, is determined to win Linda back. However, his hated rival, Casino, chooses this moment of weakness to move in on Gary's position on the streets. Gary wants to fight, but Linda may never return to him if he continues scalping. A surprise announcement is made. Pope John Paul II will come to New York to perform Easter Mass at Yankee Stadium. It's Gary's big chance. With one last big score, he can quit scalping and win Linda back. Yet Casino (and the law) still stands in his way. Gary turns to his mentor, Benny (Richard Bradford), for guidance. With his help, Gary may find a different path around his desperation and win back the woman he loves. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Garcia, Andie MacDowell, (more)
Another member of the Fiennes family leaves a mark in the film business, as Martha Fiennes makes her big-screen directorial debut with a screen adaptation of the verse novel by Aleksander Pushkin, with her big brother Ralph Fiennes in the leading role. Onegin (Fiennes) is a blase man who has grown weary of the social whirl of his life in St. Petersburg in the 1820s. Onegin's wealthy uncle has recently passed on, bequeathing him a large estate in the country, where the financially embarrassed Onegin has now chosen to live. Onegin makes fast friends with his neighbor Lensky (Toby Stephens), who introduces Onegin to his fiancée Olga (Lena Headley). Olga in turn introduces him to her mother (Harriet Walker) and her younger sister, Tatyana (Liv Tyler). Onegin finds Tatyana interesting, and she is strongly infatuated with him, finding him coolly attractive and enjoying his straightforward way of expressing himself. Tatyana makes her feelings known to Onegin in a love letter, but he calmly rejects her advances. Lensky senses Tatyana's attraction to Onegin and talks to him about her; Lensky is shocked when Onegin says he regards her as unintelligent, and in a moment of anger Lensky challenges his friend to a duel. Neither man wants to kill the other, but both are too stubborn to back down, and Onegin ends up shooting Lensky, forcing him to flee to parts unknown. Six years later, a older and more humble Onegin re-encounters the married Tatyana and begs her for a second chance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler, (more)
- 1998
Originally an episode of the Master Poets television series aired on PBS, this video profiles one of Ireland's greatest poets, William Butler Yeats, and explores his writing. Actress Irene Worth (Lost In Yonkers, Deathtrap) is featured reciting poetry by Yeats. Born at Sandymount, Dublin, in 1865, the son of John B. Yeats, the Irish artist William Butler Yeats became fascinated in childhood with the fairy stories and old wives' tales of the Irish peasantry. Also a playwright, Yeats strove to create a national poetry that would be written in English, but still definitively Irish. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Produced by Monterey Home Video, Poetry Hall of Fame 2 is the second volume of a four-part video series hosted by actress Valerie Harper. Verse written by some of the world's most famous poets are recited by well-known performers who eloquently bring alive the poets' words of wisdom, joy, hope and fear. The video presents a wide selection of poems including, "Afterwards" by Thomas Hardy, "Sweet Spring is Your Time" by E.E. Cummings, "Facade Tarantella" by Edith Sitwell, "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley, and others. ~ Kristin Alynn Hussein, All Movie Guide
An adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning, semi-autobiographical stage play by popular dramatist Neil Simon, this comedy-drama focuses on the difficulties faced by two young brothers forced to live with a group of eccentric relatives. Arty (Mike Damus) and Jay (Brad Stoll) are young teenagers when their their widower father heads South to seek work, leaving the boys with their stern, intimidating grandmother (Irene Worth). Also part of the household is the more likable Aunt Bella (Mercedes Ruehl), an odd duck with a scattered personality and childlike enthusiasm that make her seem more like a fellow kid than an adult. Bella is kept under close watch by Grandma, who reacts strongly when she attempts to show her independence, leaving Arty and Jay as witnesses to a conflict that could tear the family apart. Lost in Yonkers offers much of Simon's trademark humor with a more bittersweet feel than in most of the playwright's other work, thanks in large part to the performance by Ruehl, who reprises her Tony Award-winning role as the troubled but cheerful Bella. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Mercedes Ruehl, (more)
The made-for-TV The Shell Seekers was based on the best-selling novel by Rosamunde Pincher. Heading the cast is Angela Lansbury as Penelope Keeling, a reclusive British matron of comfortable means who suffers a near-fatal heart attack. While recovering, Penelope determines that her attack was a sign of sorts, urging her to get her life in order. As she prepares to break down the barriers she has built between herself and her three children, Penelope muses on her experiences during World War II, a time in which she solidified her outlook on life. Filmed in England and Spain, The Shell Seekers was the 162nd Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation; it debuted on December 3, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Forbidden represented not only the TV-movie bow of Jacqueline Bisset, but also the American debut of German film favorite Jurgen Prochnow. Filmed in Berlin by a British production crew, this fact-based story concerns German countess Nina von Halder (Bissett). Despite the anti-Semitic edicts of the Hitler regime, Nina becomes romantically involved with Jewish Fritz Friedlander (Jurgen Prochnow). Complicating matters is the fact that Fritz is already married. The infidelity angle is put on hold as Nina hides her lover from the Nazis, all the while remaining active with the Resistance. Based on the Leonard Gross novel The Last Jews of Berlin, Forbidden originally aired March 24, 1985, over the HBO cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- PG
In yet another rubber-stamped, mid-'80s teen dancing film, hot on the success of Flashdance, a group of high schoolers called the "Adventurers Eight" from Sandusky, Ohio (known by Midwest teens for its large amusement park), decide to undertake a journey to New York City to enter the Big Showdown, a dance competition with corporate sponsors. As though Sandusky were somehow insulated from the teen culture that otherwise spreads new trends like wildfire, these teens are not aware of the latest dance crazes on the streets of New York, something they pick up while in the city. But misfortune strikes, and they lose their one connection to entering the big contest. They then have to survive the usual con artists or worse -- look for another way to get into the competition. If this script had been rehauled by teens familiar with their real language and attitudes, then the title Fast Forward would apply more to the action in the movie than the remote control. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Scott Clough, Don Franklin, (more)
- 1983
British filmmaker John Schlesinger directs Separate Tables, a made-for-cable TV version of the Terence Rattigan plays Table By the Window and Table Number Seven. This 50-minute adaptation features Julie Christie and Alan Bates, each in a dual role. Set in a sleepy British town, a group of residents hide out in a hotel during the off-season and try to forget their troubles. Things get upset when former model Ann Shankland (Julie Christie) comes to visit her alcoholic ex-husband John Malcolm (Alan Bates). He is a struggling writer secretly in love with the hotel's owner, Pat Cooper (Claire Bloom). Other residents of the hotel include the overbearing Mrs. Railton-Bell (Irene Worth), whose distrubed daughter Sibyl (Christie) is strangely attracted to Major Pollock (Bates), a man who claims to be a military officer. The feature-length version of Separate Tables was released theatrically in 1958, starring Burt Lancaster and Wendy Hiller. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Sidney Lumet provides another of his film adaptations of Broadway successes -- in this case Ira Levin's 1978 clever Broadway murder mystery that starred John Wood in a triumphant turn as down-on-his-luck playwright Sidney Bruhl. Wood's brittle airiness is replaced in the film version by Michael Caine's smoldering bitterness. Sidney Bruhl is a successful writer of Broadway mystery plays who was at one time considered the Neil Simon of Broadway mystery writers. Unfortunately, Bruhl is now struggling to live up to his own reputation, suffering through a series of four consecutive flops. But then Bruhl comes upon the manuscript of a brilliant suspense drama written by unknown writer Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve). Bruhl, desperate for a hit play, invites Clifford to come to see him, telling him that he is interested in collaborating with him on the play. Actually, Bruhl plans to murder Clifford and pass off Clifford's play as his own. What Bruhl doesn't know, however, is that Clifford has some surprise plot points of his own up his sleeve. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, (more)
Fresh off the success of Breaking Away(1979), writer Steve Tesich and director Peter Yates re-team on a thriller starring a young William Hurt as a janitor infatuated with television reporter Sigourney Weaver. When she arrives at his building to interview the tenants about a murder that's occurred on the premises, the janitor, having discovered the body, implies that he knows more than he's saying in order to keep the newswoman interested. Although he reveals nothing more, she does become interested in him, and when her nefarious aristocratic boyfriend (Christopher Plummer) learns from the unwitting woman that there's someone with knowledge of the murder, he's more concerned about what Hurt might know than about her relationship with him. Meanwhile, his paranoid, loose cannon of a friend James Woods has managed to get himself incriminated, although he had no involvement in the case. Hurt and Weaver continue to investigate the murder together, and as they become more closely entwined, both of their lives are put in jeopardy. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, (more)
The Broadway Theatre Archive presents Samuel Beckett's absurdist play Happy Days, a production of the New York Shakespeare Festival. Originally broadcast on PBS's Great Performances in 1980, it stars Tony-winning actress Irene Worth as Winnie, a woman who optimistically believes in her good fortune even though she's literally buried underground. George Voskovec plays her husband Willie. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- PG
The rich kids of the title are 12-year-old Trini Alvarado and her intellectual pal Jeremy Levy. Alvarado is down in the dumps because her parents are going through a divorce. She finds a kindred spirit in Levy, whose folks split up long ago. He points out the advantages and privileges of being a child of divorce-and is so persuasive that he almost convinces himself as well as Alvarado. An early project of director Robert M. Young, Rich Kids was produced through the auspices of Robert Altman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trini Alvarado, Jeremy Levy, (more)
- 1976
Introduced by Henry Fonda, this unrated but good family movie is an adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's short story. Taking place in Georgia in the 1940s, Irene Worth plays a widow who allows a Polish WWII refugee family to live on and work her land, but she is soon infected with the same prejudice afflicting many of her neighbors when the immigrants prove so industrious that the home folk are put to shame and begin to feel threatened. Depicting the prejudice that faces many immigrants when they are struggling to make it in a new country, this movie advocates the strong work ethic embodied by the ambitious newcomers to America. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In director Peter Brook's King Lear, Paul Scofield portrays the title character, a senile old ruler, whose susceptibility to flattery proves his undoing. The premise involves Lear's ill-fated attempts to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters -- a goal that ultimately leads to tragedy. The stark terrain of Denmark stands in for England in this version, adding a brooding visual texture to the picture that exists alongside the traditional Shakespearean dialogue. Lear's daughters are played by Irene Worth (Goneril), Susan Engel (Regan), and Anne-Lise Gabold (Cordelia); others in the cast are Alan Webb (Gloucester), Cyril Cusack (Albany), Patrick Magee (Cornwall), and Jack MacGowran (the Fool). Younger viewers and those faint at heart be warned: King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most graphically violent works, and director Brook takes every opportunity to emphasize the carnage and gore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Scofield
Nicholas and Alexandra covers the rise and fall of the last of the Russian Romanovs. We first meet Czar Nicholas (Michael Jayston) and his German bride Alexandra (Janet Suzman) at their 1894 wedding. Though Nicholas is devoted to Alexandra, the Russian populace is less politely inclined to having a "foreigner" as their Czarina. Alexandra gains favor when she gives birth to the much-loved Prince Alexis (Roderick Noble). Alas, Alexis suffers from hemophilia, a disease which strikes every second generation of Alexandra's family. When all conventional medical ministrations fail, Alexandra puts the fate of her son in the hands of mystical holy man Rasputin (Tom Baker, later famous for his portrayal of Doctor Who). As Rasputin's influence and power grows, the Russian peasantry becomes more restless and disgruntled. They are now willing to listen to the speeches of such rabble-rousers as Lenin (Michael Bryant) and Trotsky (Brian Cox), who sow the seeds of revolution. Even after the murder of Rasputin, the Bolsheviks are unsatisfied: The revolution finally comes to pass in October of 1917. At first, the moderate Kerensky (John McEnery) pleads with his followers to allow the Romanovs safe passage out of Russia. But the radicals seize control, and on July 16, 1918, the royal family is summarily executed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, (more)
- 1963
All of French documentary director Frederic Rossif's compilation films are models of the genre, some even more than that (as evidenced by Rossif's multiple industry awards). Most observers regard his 1963 work To Die in Madrid (Mourir a Madrid) as his masterpiece. Using painstakingly selected newsreel clips and still photos, Rossif thoroughly conveys the horror, disillusion and bravery of the Spanish Civil War. Movingly narrated by John Gielgud and Irene Worth, this film was nominated for an Academy Award. Before its successful worldwide distribution in 1965, generous portions of To Die in Madrid were incorporated into Fred Zinneman's 1964 dramatic feature Behold a Pale Horse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Set during the time of the brilliant Queen Elizabeth I of England, this adventure tale is loosely based on the exploits of Sir Francis Drake (Rod Taylor). He was one of the Queen's leading commanders in the battles with Spain over the gold of the New World. Drake is shown wearing several hats, so to speak. He is a pirate who has no problems about raiding Spanish gold arsenals. He is a military commander who plans and executes naval battles with the Spanish armada -- and wins. He is a diplomat who knows how to maneuver in courtly circles -- but that does not stop him from trashing a Spanish-backed plan to assassinate the Queen. Although this costume drama by Rudolph Maté is not without a few minor flaws, Drake's adventures should entertain most audiences, especially the younger set. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Taylor, Keith Michell, (more)
- 1959
In this uneven but well-acted mystery story with a few gaps in the plot here and there, Alec Guiness plays a double role. He is John Barratt, a British teacher on vacation in France who is conned into taking on another identity. The identity he assumes is that of his double, Count Jacques de Gue, who has none of John's upright, moral character. Once ensconced as the Count, John discovers that the Count's mother (Bette Davis) is addicted to morphine, his wife (Irene Worth) believes he is out to kill her, and the Count's brother-in-law (Peter Bull) is embezzling funds away from the family business. And those are just a few of his problems, alleviated somewhat by his mistress (Nicole Murray). Once John realizes how decadent and immoral the Count really is he feels duty-bound to challenge him to a duel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Nicole Maurey, (more)
- 1958
The moral dilemma of a reluctant American spy is chronicled in this psychological drama. He becomes an agent after he, originally a pilot, is grounded during WW II. He is trained to assassinate a Paris lawyer suspected of colluding with the Nazis. During his rigorous training for the killing, the new spy begins to have doubts about his upcoming assignment; these doubts increase when he actually meets his prey as the spy is unsure that the lawyer is really guilty. Still he fulfills his grim duty. Later he learns that the lawyer was innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Albert, Paul Massie, (more)
- 1952
Set in 1930s London, Secret People stars Valentina Cortesa and Audrey Hepburn as Maria and Nora, two sisters whose father has been murdered for political reasons. Adopted by a kindly Italian restaurateur (Charles Goldner), Maria and Nora gradually overcome the loss of their father and get on with their lives. But when an old family friend enters the picture, the girls are plunged into a maelstrom of international intrigue. The upshot of this is a misguided murder charge and an eleventh-hour act of selfless sacrifice. When Audrey Hepburn ascended into stardom in the mid-1950s, Secret People was re-issued, with the originally fourth-billed Hepburn promoted to above-the-title billing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valentina Cortese, Serge Reggiani, (more)
- 1948
In this British drama, an ingenious but impoverished young man is determined to live on a Tahitian island. To achieve his goal, he begins hanging out on a street corner in one of London's most dangerous sections in the hopes of getting the chance to save a wealthy person, who should then generously award him by paying his passage to the South Seas. His plans go somewhat awry when a gorgeous woman swings past. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Beatty, Moira Lister, (more)
- 1948
In this musical, a renowned tenor meets a lovely woman at a British railway station. When the woman's dog gets in a fight, he saves it. Unfortunately this causes them to miss their train. Later, the tenor discovers that his suitcases by been stolen. The thief, a tramp, is then mistaken for the singer and taken to a Roman studio. Meanwhile, the tenor and the woman must somehow earn enough money to eat supper before the next train arrives. They do it by singing. Later they are arrested for passing a counterfeit bank note. Fortunately they are released in time to make it to Rome and find the tramp. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Martini, Patricia Roc, (more)
