TCM Schedule for Saturday, August 15, 2020 -- Summer Under The Stars: Nina Foch

[Staph]

Day fifteen of Summer Under the Stars features Nina Foch. Tell us more, anonymus TCM biographer!

Tall, blonde B-film lead of the 1940s turned character actress from the 1950s on, most typically as cool, aloof women whose surface sophistication only thinly masks their insecurity. Foch made a good impression as one of Bela Lugosi's victims in the enjoyable "Return of the Vampire" (1943) and played another victimized heroine in cult director Joseph H. Lewis's unnerving Gothic noir, "My Name Is Julia Ross" (1945). Foch is perhaps best known for her striking performance as Milo ("as in Venus de&quot , the wealthy arts patron who attempts to snare painter Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) with her money in Vincente Minnelli's Oscar-winning "An American in Paris" (1951). She was also quite fine in her Oscar-nominated turn as the loyal secretary in the all-star "Executive Suite" (1954) and as one of the fleeing Israelites in Cecil B. DeMille's holiday favorite, "The Ten Commandments" (1956).

Extremely active on TV from the late 1940s on, Foch appeared in many of the live anthology dramas of the 1950s as well as several quiz and news programs. Increased theatre work, some of it in administrative and directing capacities, took up the slack in her film career in the 1960s. She also began teaching film and drama at both USC and the American Film Institute. An Emmy nominee for a guest stint on "Lou Grant," Foch has also graced periodic TV and feature films in more recent years, including "Mahogany" (1975), "Rich and Famous" (1981) and "Sliver" (1993).

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- FAST COMPANY (1953)
The heiress to a racing stable uncovers underhanded dealings.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Howard Keel, Polly Bergen, Marjorie Main
BW-68 mins, CC,

Fun fact - Nina Foch's first husband was James Lipton of Inside th Actors Studio. They were married from 1954 to 1959.


7:15 AM -- ESCAPE IN THE FOG (1945)
A nurse recovering from a breakdown keeps dreaming about murder.
Dir: Oscar Boetticher Jr.
Cast: Otto Kruger, Nina Foch, William Wright
BW-63 mins, CC,

When the two leads get into a taxi and are subsequently joined by the two bad guys due to the wartime restriction to fill cabs, the taxi driver is a very young Shelley Winters.


8:45 AM -- SOMBRERO (1953)
Three sets of lovers are caught between feuding Mexican villages.
Dir: Norman Foster
Cast: Ricardo Montalban, Pier Angeli, Vittorio Gassman
C-103 mins, CC,

Vittorio Gassman considered this his worst movie.


10:30 AM -- CRY OF THE WEREWOLF (1944)
A young gypsy girl turns into a wolf to destroy her enemies.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Nina Foch, Stephen Crane, Osa Massen
BW-63 mins, CC,

During the opening credits (and scenes early in the film) to get the wolf to repeatedly open and close it's mouth as if it were barking or chewing, they put a rubber band around it's muzzle.


12:00 PM -- THE DARK PAST (1948)
A psychologist tries to analyze the criminal who's taken him hostage.
Dir: Rudolph Maté
Cast: William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J. Cobb
BW-74 mins, CC,

Based on a play by James Warwick.


1:45 PM -- SCARAMOUCHE (1952)
In 18th-century France, a young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh
C-115 mins, CC,

Nina Foch, as Marie Antoinette, wore the same dress worn by Norma Shearer in Marie Antoinette (1938).


4:00 PM -- CASH MCCALL (1960)
A corporate spoiler makes a play for a failing company and the owner's daughter.
Dir: Joseph Pevney
Cast: James Garner, Natalie Wood, Nina Foch
C-102 mins, CC,

James Garner's last film under his Warner Brothers contract. After a writer's strike halted all Warner Brothers productions, even though Garner had a "play or pay" contract, Warner Brothers refused to pay him. Garner sued the studio for breach of contract and won.


6:00 PM -- EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954)
When a business magnate dies, his board of directors fights over who should run the company.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck
BW-104 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nina Foch, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George J. Folsey, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

In an interview with TCM, Nina Foch said she resented being cast in such a minor role. When she spoke with director Robert Wise about wanting out of doing this film, he advised her to "make the most" of the opportunity - and she wound up getting her only Academy Award nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) for her performance.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: NINA FOCH



8:00 PM -- AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
An American artist finds love in Paris but almost loses it to conflicting loyalties.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant
BW-113 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Alan Jay Lerner, Best Cinematography, Color -- Alfred Gilks and John Alton, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Costume Design, Color -- Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Vincente Minnelli, and Best Film Editing -- Adrienne Fazan

The film's most famous sequence - the climactic ballet - was not conceived until midway through production and was largely brought about due to Nina Foch's unavailability (the actress was out of the film for three days due to contracting chicken pox). Alan Jay Lerner came up with the idea for the ballet, and wrote it, in those three days.


10:15 PM -- MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945)
A young girl finds herself entrenched in a murder cover-up when she goes to work for a wealthy widow.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready
BW-65 mins, CC,

In a 1988 interview about this movie, Nina Foch said the idea that Dame May Whitty had George Macready as a son was "hysterically funny in a bizarre sort of way."


11:30 PM -- ILLEGAL (1955)
A DA falls apart when his machinations send an innocent man to the chair.
Dir: Lewis Allen
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe
BW-88 mins, CC,

Film debut of Jayne Mansfield.


1:15 AM -- THE UNDERCOVER MAN (1949)
A treasury agent tries to convict a ruthless mobster of tax evasion.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore
BW-84 mins,

Film debut of James Whitmore.


3:00 AM -- I LOVE A MYSTERY (1945)
A detective tries to protect a man who has predicted his murder will take place in three days.
Dir: Henry Levin
Cast: Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready
BW-69 mins, CC,

First of three films based on the popular radio series, 'I Love a Mystery'. The next two were The Devil's Mask (1946) and The Unknown (1946).


4:30 AM -- YOUNG MAN WITH IDEAS (1952)
A country lawyer moves his family to Los Angeles.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Denise Darcel
BW-85 mins, CC,

According to contemporary articles in the entertainment press, filming began with Russell Nype playing Maxwell Webster. Nype was fired after he disagreed with director Mitchell Leisen on how the character was to be portrayed. Glenn Ford was brought in to replace Nype and two weeks of filming had to be re-shot. This was to be Nype's feature film debut. He returned to Broadway and would not make a feature film until 18 years later with Love Story (1970).