The Couch Potato Report - March 14th, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on three great movies and 4 mediocre ones.
On March 5th George Clooney won the Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work in the film SYRIANA.
He was also nominated in the Best Director and the Best Original Screenplay categories for his movie GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
Since SYRIANA isn't scheduled for release on DVD until June, lets focus on the better of Clooney's 2005 films, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
This superb film is set in the early 1950s, a time when the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States.
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin made his name exploiting those fears.
At the time, and in this film, real life television reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly took a stand and challenged McCarthy on their show.
As the pressure mounted for their network to fire them, and as their show lost it's sponsors, both men decided to stand by their convictions, no matter the cost.
There are many great things that can be said about GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, but the one I will focus on first is the fact that you don't have to know anything about Senator McCarthy or Edward R. Murrow to appreciate the conflict between them.
It happened fifty years ago, and it seems incredibly relevant, even today.
I would also like to point out that Clooney made this film in glorious black and white. Sometimes it is just good to watch a film that way.
Finally, and I am limiting myself to three because I could go on and on about the great qualities in this superb film, Clooney and his cast are all superb!
The Oscar nominated David Strathairn stars and Edward R. Murrow and his supporting cast includes Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr. and Ray Wise.
In addition to co-writing and directing the film George Clooney also plays Fred Friendly.
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK is smart, well made, and very entertaining.
It was one of the best films of 2005, and the accolades given to Clooney and his cast are all well deserved.
Prior to those accolades being given out, many people thought that Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's name would be heard as well.
After all his film A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is another one of 2005's best.
However, with the exception of winning kudos from Central Ohio Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics Association, and France's French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, the film only garnered a handful of nominations.
Yes, William Hurt was nominated for an Oscar in the Supporting Actor category, and Josh Olson's script was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, but otherwise the Academy Awards overlooked this violent, but insightful, wonderfully acted, incredible film.
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE stars Viggo Mortensen from THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY as a loving family man who is a well-respected citizen of a small town.
One night when two criminals show up at his diner, he defends himself and his staff. For his efforts he is branded a hero by his fellow residents and the media.
Suddenly, he has mobsters coming to see him, and the same people who loved him start to wonder if perhaps he isn't who they think he is.
Perhaps he too is a mobster with a history of violence.
Now that is an awesome premise, and Cronenberg pulls it off.
Yes, some of the film's violence may be a bit over the top for some people, but the story is so engrossing that it actually becomes secondary
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE may have been passed over by the people who give out awards for movies, but I recommend you don't do the same.
At one time, I would have also recommended any film that Spike Lee made. That time was 1989 and Spike Lee had just given us the masterpiece DO THE RIGHT THING.
Unfortunately after that masterpiece, Spike gave us MO' BETTER BLUES in 1990, JUNGLE FEVER in 1991, CROOKLYN in 1994 and CLOCKERS in 1995. If you add the four of those films up, they don't equal DO THE RIGHT THING.
However, each of them does have something original and unique that only Spike Lee could bring to them.
And now all five of those films are available in one low priced set called THE SPIKE LEE JOINT COLLECTION.
I recently watched all five again and MO' BETTER BLUES, JUNGLE FEVER and CLOCKERS still aren't great, but DO THE RIGHT THING is still a masterpiece.
And CROOKLYN?, well regardless of the film's quality, it will always be the reason that I got to speak with Spike Lee on Larry King Live!
Ask me to see the tape sometime if you'd like.
If you are a fan of Spike Lee's films, but you just haven't wanted to spend a lot of money to own them, then THE SPIKE LEE JOINT COLLECTION is for you!
It is available now at a store near you along with the superb films A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Philip Seymour Hoffman's work in CAPOTE is a must see; CHICKEN LITTLE isn't brilliant, but it is fun; IN THE MIX features R&B singer Usher in one of the worst films of last year; SOUTH PARK - THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON is the latest box set from the television show and Julianne Moore stars in the based on a true story film THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO as a woman who enters a commercial jingle writing contest to support her ten children.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!
New CD Releases For March 14, 2006
Aberdien Kaleidoscope (Negative Progression)
George Acosta Mellodrama (Water Music)
Afterhours Ballads for Little Hyenas (produced by ex-Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers' Greg Dulli) (One Little Indian)
Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Daybreak (Compass)
Bent Fabric Jukebox - The Album (Hidden Beach)
Big City Rock Big City Rock (Atlantic)
Blue October Foiled (CD/DVD combo) (Universal)
Border Crossing Ominous (Recall)
Burns Out Bright Save Yourself a Lifetime (Deep Elm)
Vinicius Cantuaria Sol Na Cara (Hannibal)
Michael Carvin Marsalis Music Honors (Marsalis Music/Rounder)
Oscar Castro-Neves All One (Mack Avenue)
Citizen Cope Citizen Cope (DreamWorks)
Jimmy Cobb Marsalis Music Honors (Marsalis Music/Rounder)
John Connor Dance Dance Revolution (Negative Progression)
Cordero En Este Momento (Bloodshot)
Counting the Days Finding a Balance (Strike First)
D.M.C. (of Run-D.M.C.) Checks Thugs and Rock 'N' Roll (guests Rev Run, Sarah McLaughlin, Kid Rock, members of Aerosmith and more) (RomenMpire/From Rags 2 Riches)
Devo 2.0 Devo 2.0 (w/bonus DVD; includes two brand new songs and music videos directed by original band member Jerry Casale) (Disney Sound)
Dave Douglas and Martial Solal Rue de Seine (CAM Jazz)
Driven by Hate Done with Life (Bungalo)
Nicolai Dunger Here's My Song, You Can Have It...I Don't Want It Anymore (Rounder)
E-40 My Ghetto Report Card (produced by Lil Jon; w/Kanye West, Julez Santana, Mike Jones and more) (Warner Bros.)
Fall Out Boy From Under the Cork Tree (expanded edition w/b-sides and previously unreleased remixes) (Island)
Flee the Seen Doubt Becomes the New Addiction (Facedown)
Jackie Greene American Myth (produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin; w/members of the Imposters) (Verve Forecast)
Guillemots From the Cliffs EP (Verve)
Hanalei Parts and Accessories (Thick)
Hard-Fi Stars of CCTV (Atlantic)
I Object Teaching Revenge (Alternative Tentacles)
Imperial Crowns Hymn Book (Ruf)
The Indulgers Out in the West (Celic Club)
Etta James All the Way (RCA)
Kudu Death of the Party (Nublu)
Leaving Rouge Elsewhere (Greyday)
Lost in Rhone Beloved Be the Ones Who Sit Down (Goodlife)
Matthias Lupri Group Metalix (Summit)
Magrudergrind/Shitstorm Split (Robotic Empire)
Gil Mantera's Party Dream Bloodsongs (Audio Eagle/Fat Possum)
Marconi Union Distance (Hannibal/All Saints)
Tania Maria Via Brasil (Sunnyside)
Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields) Showtunes (compilation of music written for three operas) (Nonesuch)
Mick Moloney McNally's Row of Flats (Compass)
Ken Will Morton King of Coming Around (guest members of Mastodon, Love Tractor and Drive By Truckers) (Fundamental)
Nana Mouskouri I'll Remember You (Phillips)
Martha Munizzi No Limits (Columbia/Integrity)
Willie Nelson You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker (Lost Highway)
NOFX Never Trust a Hippy EP (Fat Wreck Chords)
Queensrÿche Operation: Mindcrime II (Rhino)
Ariel Ramirez Misa Criolla (Jade/Milan)
Mike Reed In the Context of (w/Tortoise's Jeff Parker) (482 Music)
Kurt Reichenbach The Night Was Blue (Bungalo)
John Rich (of Big $ Rich) Underneath the Same Moon (previously unreleased album recorded in 1999) (BNA/Legacy)
Rise and Fall Into Oblivion (Deathwish)
Duke Robillard Guitar Groove-A-Rama (Stony Plain)
Rico Rodriguez Togetherness (Delanuca)
Jovino Santos Neto Roda Carioca (Adventure)
Joe Satriani Super Colossal (Epic)
Jules Shear Dreams Don't Count (MAD Dragon)
SHeDAISY Fortuneteller's Melody (Hollywood)
The Shop Fronts The Shop Fronts (Rip Off)
Soledad Brothers The Hardest Walk (Alive)
Garrison Starr The Sound of You and Me (Vanguard)
Thomas Stronen Parish (ECM)
Bryan Sutton Not Too Far from the Tree (guests Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Doc Watson and more) (Sugar Hill)
A Traitor Like Judas Nightmare Inc. (Goodlife/Dockyard1)
Ultra Dolphins Why Are You Laugh (Robotic Empire)
Ultralord We Hate You and Hope You Die (Dark Reign)
Watermark A Grateful People (Rocketown)
Lise Westzynthius Rock, You Can Fly (One Little Indian)
David Wolfenberger Portrait of Narcissus (w/Victoria Williams and Michelle Shocked) (Fundamental)
VA Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag (2003 release w/six bonus tracks; w/Dillinger Escape Plan, Black Dahlia Murder and more) (Reignition)
VA Dance Nation (Water Music)
VA Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2004 concert w/the Roots, Erykah Badu, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and more) (Geffen)
VA Gangsta Rap Instrumentals 2 (Thump)
VA Paupers, Peasants, Princes and Kings (Bob Dylan covers by members of Chamberlain and Sparta plus Say Anything, Apollo Sunshine and more) (Doghouse)
VA Songs of Hymn (Beatmart)
VA Strummin' with the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen (bluegrass versions of Van Halen songs; guest David Lee Roth on two songs) (CMH)
VA The Year of the Dog (Milan)
VA Thump'n Freestyle Quick Mixx 4 (Thump)
VA Trance Nation (Water Music)
VA Winnipeg Riot! (regional compilation) (Dionysus)
OST Doogal (animated fantasy film w/voices by Jon Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg) (Milan)
OST Running Scared (score by Mark Isham) (Varése Sarabande)
OST She's the Man (w/Goldfrapp, All American Rejects and more) (Lakeshore)
OST Stoned (biopic about the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones) (Milan)
OST The Pink Panther (score by Christophe Beck) (Varése Sarabande)
DVD The Corrs Live in Geneva (2004 concert) (Rhino)
DVD The Coup The Best DVD Ever (music videos, interviews and tour footage) (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Pretty Ricky Live from the 305 (Atlantic)
DVD Seventh Star 100% (tour documentary) (Facedown)
DVD Mike Stern Paris Concert (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Jim White Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Image)
New Jim Henson biography arrives in April
Ferguson Publishing Company plans on releasing a new biography on the life of Jim Henson. The book, titled "Jim Henson: Puppeteer and Filmmaker" is the latest installment in the Ferguson Career Biographies set. Written by James Robert Parish the book will provides a detailed look at the life of Muppet creator Jim Henson.
The hardcover book is listed with a reading level of "Grade 6 and up" and is approximately 144 pages of text (with over 20 black-and-white photographs; an extensive Henson timeline, career guide and more).
Here is the official summary from the publisher:
"With his unwavering belief in the positive potential of puppetry and the media of film and television, Jim Henson became one of the most beloved artists of the past century. Henson's Muppets became the basis of the award-winning television series The Muppet Show, the stars of several highly successful feature films, and the foundation of one of the most influential children’s television programs in history, Sesame Street. Henson, who passed away in 1990, garnered many awards and is loved the world over for his creative efforts. This book features a career section following the biography that looks closely at Jim Henson’s career and presents important information about the career of puppetry and filmmaking."
Muppet Show Season 2 DVD planned for release later this year
Just over six months ago, the first season of The Muppet Show was released in a 4-disc special edition DVD box set, and ever since fans have been craving more. Disney has stated that they plan on releasing "The Muppet Show: Season 2" on DVD and the next season is expected sometime this year.
The sales of the season one were outstanding, and Disney can't wait to release more subsequent sets. The first season gained great critical acclaim, won several DVD awards, and was on the top of DVD best-sellers list for months.
Word from many retailers was that that "The Muppet Show: Season 2" was originally slated for released in February 2006 (just six-months after the first season). However that February release was put on hold due to several production delays and hold-ups. The set's production is still underway, but the definitive release is still somewhat up in the air. The DVD was bumped and is currently lined up for a hopeful "summer 2006" release (however that may end up changing as well).
There were numerous delays with this particular title, however Disney has assured that these delays were not based upon the past sets performance, which Disney cited as "terrific", nor is it due to a lack of company support. The production of this set is simply taking longer than originally expected - due to the enormous amount of legal clearances needed, and the time needed on episode restoration and supplemental features. Disney knows the demand for this product is high, and wants to deliver a quality product that won't disappoint.
Disney is currently shooting for a summer release. Buena Vista Home Entertainment is not able to give a final list of any features of specifications – those aren’t finalized yet. Disney is anticipating the release of all five seasons of The Muppet Show (and there are rumors of a complete Muppets Tonight set to follow the fifth season's release).
"The Muppet Show Season 2" DVD set is simply requiring more than most of Buena Vista's TV shows on DVDs. It is coming, but rather than rush the release and cut corners, Disney wants to keep the quality of these highly-anticipated sets up to the fans' desires and expectations.
Genies show love for C.R.A.Z.Y.
Genie voters showed their love for C.R.A.Z.Y. on Monday night, as the hit Quebec coming-of-age story swept Canada's film awards.
"I'm touched. This has been something – a crazy experience," Quebec filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée said as he accepted his best-director trophy.
"I'd liked to share this honour with everybody who worked so hard on this film with so much devotion, passion and love."
C.R.A.Z.Y. entered the celebration of the year's best Canadian films as the frontrunner. It ended up snagging 10 of the 12 categories for which it had been nominated, including best film, best overall sound and best original screenplay, as well as acting honours for Michel Côté (lead actor) and Danielle Proulx (best supporting actress).
The film had already won the Golden Reel Award, presented to the homegrown movie that earns the highest domestic box office revenue in 2005.
C.R.A.Z.Y., which grossed more than $6.2 million in Canada during the Genies' qualifying period, was also Quebec's third biggest box office hit last year (after the latest instalments of Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises).
The C.R.A.Z.Y. sweep meant that the evening's second most nominated film, Water, was a distant runner-up.
The film, which revolves around a widow's ashram in India, is the third of filmmaker Deepa Mehta's elements trilogy. It won three Genies, including cinematography, original music score and best actress for Seema Biswas.
Perennial Genie favourite Atom Egoyan won best adapted screenplay for Where the Truth Lies. In his pre-taped acceptance speech, the Toronto filmmaker brandished what he claimed were rewrites for the script.
"I could have made it better … this is the proof," Egoyan said. "If it was good enough to win the award, I thank you."
Other winners included ScaredSacred (best documentary); Quebec actor Denis Bernard of L'Audition (best supporting actor); and filmmaker Louise Archambault, who won the Claude Jutra Award for Familia, her debut feature.
Instead of airing the entire gala, broadcaster CHUM showed an edited one-hour package from the "after party" at Toronto's historic Carlu concert hall. The show included pre-taped interviews with the nominated filmmakers, excerpts of the night's winners accepting their awards and post-ceremony chats.
The Genie Awards are administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
Music DVDs see growth spurt, data show
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The music DVD business grew at a higher rate in 2005 than the DVD business overall, according to sales data issued Tuesday.
Excluding CD-DVD combos, suppliers last year sold 21.4 million music DVDs, up from 20.6 million in 2004, according to Nielsen Entertainment research presented at the second annual Music DVD Awards. That translates to nearly 4% growth compared with growth of less than 1% for the DVD business overall.
Even so, music DVDs account for just 2.7% of total music transactions recorded in 2005, the first year the total number of transactions topped 1 billion. CDs still account for the vast majority of music purchases, Nielsen research shows, with 61.7%, followed by digital tracks at 35.2%.
Among retailers, mass merchants are in the lead when it comes to music DVD sales, enjoying 7% growth in 2005. Also on the upswing is the DualDisc, a hybrid that consists of a bonded disc with CD content on one side and DVD content on the other. Nielsen research shows that since the format's official bow in February 2005, 9.7 million DualDiscs have been snapped up by consumers, or 15% of total music sales.
During the conference, produced by trade publication Home Media Retailing in partnership with The Hollywood Reporter, DEG: the Digital Entertainment Group and the Video Software Dealers Assn., panelists discussed ways to grow the market while realizing music DVDs always will be a niche business.
Music DVDs can serve as a strong branding opportunity for an artist or group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment senior vp sales Harry Safter said. His company's release of a Los Lonely Boys DVD served as a bridge between two album releases, keeping interest and visibility high for the Texas-based country-rock group.
Labels primarily consider DualDisc an audio product, and they aren't abandoning the practice of releasing double-disc sets that include a DVD and CD separately. "The days of a single-format world are over," said Bill Sondheim, executive vp at DualDisc Worldwide for Sony BMG.
Also possibly on the horizon are more window-like strategies for music DVDs and the music market as a whole, panelists said.
The ideal window strategy for a music DVD would be to time it with an artist's new album release and tour, offering a digital-cinema blast around the street date and then have a TV airing, said Steve Sterling, senior vp programming and production at Live Nation, formerly Clear Channel Entertainment Home Video.
"If I could schedule that every time, I'd feel good about spending $1 million-$2 million on a release," he said. "But it's still art we are dealing with here, and it's very hard to put art in a bottle, let alone on a schedule."
How to monetize all the opportunities that the Internet and digital delivery can offer is a key issue the business must start addressing to keep up with the consumer, panelists said. Music DVDs need more and better marketing to draw in the core fans and broaden the awareness of product as it hits the streets.
Ex-Game Show Host, Wife Die in Plane Crash
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A former TV game show host and his wife were killed Monday morning when their small plane crashed into Santa Monica Bay, authorities said. Rescue crews were searching for a third person also aboard the plane.
The bodies of Peter Tomarken, 63, host of the hit 1980s game show "Press Your Luck," and his wife, Kathleen Abigail Tomarken, 41, were identified by the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
The plane was on its way to San Diego to ferry a medical patient to the UCLA Medical Center, said Doug Griffith, a spokesman for Angel Flight West, a nonprofit which provides free air transportation for needy patients.
Griffith said the pilot was a volunteer for the group. According to the FAA, the plane was registered to Tomarken and he was the pilot.
The plane apparently had engine trouble and was headed back to Santa Monica Airport, located about two miles inland, but went down about 9:35 a.m. just off shore, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer.
Rescue boats and divers searching for the third person believed to be aboard the plane were clustered about a half-mile southwest of the Santa Monica Pier where the plane went down in about 19 feet of water.
Luis Garr said he didn't hear the engine but heard the splash as the plane "kind of landed into the water."
"It's a big splash, a huge splash. ... Then it started going down," Garr said. "The wings were still floating so I was, `Get out! Get out!' because the door was still available to get out and nobody came out. So the plane kept going down, down, down."
Tomarken's death was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight."
"Press Your Luck" was known for contestants shouting the slogan "Big bucks! No whammies!"
Tomarken's agent, Fred Wostbrock, said his client's first game show was "Hit Man!," which ran 13 weeks on NBC, followed by the four-year hit "Press Your Luck" on CBS. He also was on "Bargain Hunters," "Wipe-Out" and "Paranoia."
"He was always a fun guy to be around, and he just loved the genre of game shows," Wostbrock said.
Isaac Hayes Quits 'South Park'
NEW YORK - Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park," where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.
Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.
"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."
"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians."
Last November, "South Park" targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet." In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.
Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."
'Reds' star Maureen Stapleton dies
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Maureen Stapleton, an Oscar-winning character actress whose subtle vulnerability and down-to-earth toughness earned her dramatic and comedic roles on stage, screen, and television, died Monday. She was 80.
The longtime smoker died from chronic pulmonary disease in the Berkshire hills town of Lenox, where she had been living, said her son, Daniel Allentuck.
Stapleton, whose unremarkable, matronly appearance belied her star personality and talent, won an Academy Award in 1981 for her supporting role as anarchist-writer Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's Reds, about a left-wing American journalist who journeys to Russia to cover the Bolshevik Revolution.
To prepare for the role, Stapleton said she tried reading Goldman's autobiography, but soon chucked it out of boredom.
"There are many roads to good acting," Stapleton, known for her straightforwardness, said in her 1995 autobiography, Hell of a Life. "I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake."
Stapleton was nominated several times for a supporting actress Oscar, including for her first film role in 1958's Lonelyhearts; Airport in 1970; and Woody Allen's Interiors in 1978.
Her other film credits include the 1963 musical Bye Bye Birdie opposite Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke, Johnny Dangerously, Cocoon, The Money Pit and Addicted to Love.
In television, she earned an Emmy for Among the Paths to Eden in 1967. She was nominated for Queen of the Stardust Ballroom in 1975; The Gathering in 1977; and Miss Rose White in 1992.
Brought up in a strict Irish Catholic family with an alcoholic father, Stapleton left home in Troy, N.Y., right after high school. With $100 to her name, she came to New York and began studying at the Herbert Berghof Acting School and later at the Actor's Studio, which turned out the likes of Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Julia Roberts.
Stapleton soon made her Broadway debut in Burgess Meredith's 1946 production of The Playboy of the Western World.
At age 24, she became a success as Serafina Delle Rose in Tennessee Williams' Broadway hit The Rose Tattoo, and won a Tony Award. She appeared in numerous other stage productions, including Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic and Neil Simon's The Gingerbread Lady, for which she won her second Tony in 1971.
She starred opposite Laurence Olivier in Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Stapleton's friendship with Williams was well-known and he wrote three plays for her, but she never appeared in any of them.
Along the way, she led a chaotic personal life, which her autobiography candidly described as including two failed marriages, numerous affairs, years of alcohol abuse and erratic parenting for her two children.
She often said auditioning was hard for her, but that it was just a part of acting, a job "that pays."
"When I was first in New York there was a girl who wanted to play St. Joan to the point where it was scary. ... I thought 'Don't ever want anything that bad,"' she recalled. "Just take what you get and like it while you do it, and forget it."
Cast throughout her career in supporting roles, Stapleton was content not playing a lead character, Allentuck said.
"I don't think she ever had unrealistic aspirations about her career," he said.
Beside Allentuck, Stapleton is survived by a daughter, Katharine Bambery, of Lenox and a brother, Jack Stapleton, of Troy, N.Y.