6. Favorite movie from my favorite actor.

Oh, duh.

Notorious is such a fantastic movie, and Grant does such a great job in it. He’s playing urbane and suave as usual, but with a much colder core - a ruthless government operative, who seemingly throws a lovesick woman to the wolves. Of course, there’s more bubbling below the surface - we even see the moment when he falls in love with Bergman, as she gazes out the plane window at the scenery of Rio. But he keeps up his cold act until the end, even as he kisses her, telling her straight up, “I don’t love you.”

It’s not until the final scene, when he risks his life to get her out of a house of Nazis, that he comes clean. Once again, is there any greater line than “I was a fat-headed guy, full of pain”? Even then, once he’s let Bergman in, he’s still ruthless to anyone else - he leaves the villainous but pathetic Claude Rains to a horrible death with a sneer, and Bergman adores him for it. What a great ending!

5. Actress I think is underrated:

Teresa Wright was nominated for Oscars for her first three movie roles, and won for one of them. Yet I never hear her name when people talk about their favorite actors from the Golden Age. Those three nominated roles - for Mrs. Miniver, The Little Foxes, and Pride of the Yankees - weren’t even her most famous; she also starred in Shadow of a Doubt for Alfred Hitchcock and The Best Years of Our Lives for William Wyler.

Wright was an atypical star - small, slight, and plain by Hollywood standards. She carved out a niche as the faithful girl, the innocent; but she took on roles that twisted those expectations. In Shadow of a Doubt, she seemed to be what Uncle Charlie described - “an ordinary little girl in an ordinary little town.” In fact, she identified strongly with her murderous uncle, even after discovering his secret, so much so that she threatened to kill him and in a fashion followed through with her threat. In The Best Years of Our Lives, a fantastic study of American lives after the war, she again played a “normal, good” girl, not particularly interesting except for her earnest goodness. Midway through the film, Wright spits out a line that shocked audiences of the day - having fallen in love with the married Dana Andrews, she declares to her parents, “I’m gonna break that marriage up!”

Wright was a wonderful actress - she gave her lines an earnest quality. She was also refreshingly unglamorous. Her famously unique Hollywood contract read, 

The aforementioned Teresa Wright shall not be required to pose for photographs in a bathing suit unless she is in the water. Neither may she be photographed running on the beach with her hair flying in the wind. Nor may she pose in any of the following situations: In shorts, playing with a cocker spaniel; digging in a garden; whipping up a meal; attired in firecrackers and holding skyrockets for the Fourth of July; looking insinuatingly at a turkey for Thanksgiving; wearing a bunny cap with long ears for Easter; twinkling on prop snow in a skiing outfit while a fan blows her scarf; assuming an athletic stance while pretending to hit something with a bow and arrow.”

Wright had a long, fairly successful career after her glowing start, but she’s rarely mentioned today. She’s an actress who I could easily see working today - in fact, I think Ellen Page is her spitting image and shares some of her characteristics. I wish more people knew about her!