This is my entry in the Norman Jewison blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room.
Norman Jewison was not the most prolific director to come down the pike. IMDb credits him with only 44 entries as director and of those 20 were either TV shows of made for TV movies and documentaries. So, all-in-all, he only has 24 major motion pictures to his credit. But of those 24, there are some of the most iconic films of all time.
In the Heat of the Night is one that many people will remember. As well, he also brought two classic Broadway musicals to the big screen; Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar. One of my favorites, and one that may not be all that well-known, is A Soldier's Story, which I saw in conjunction with a project for a history class, even though it is not based on an actual historical event.
In the 40 year career from his first major theatrical endeavor to his final film had a variety of actors and actresses appear in his films. In the course of those movies there was an interesting connection to them. You could almost do a connect the dots with the actors who appeared in his movies, as some would appear in more than one film.
Hence the game that I came up with for this entry. How are the movies connected with each other? Admittedly some don't exactly connect in any way on this level. For instance: Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof are connected by the presence of Barry Donnen, but I could find no way to connect any of the other movies with these two. (Presumably because the rest of them were not musicals and possibly none of the other actors in those films had any musical ability whatsoever, with the exception of Doris Day, of course.)
This idea came as a result of seeing Edward Andrews' name appear in the list of credits for the first three major theatrical releases in the Jewison oeuvre. So it's fitting that we start there.
Edward Andrews: From 40 Pounds of Trouble-
My experience with Andrews got it's start when I saw him in an old Twilight Zone episode "Third From the Sun" in which he was ostensibly the villain of the piece. In this movie he plays Herman.
To The Thrill of it All-
Where Edwards plays Gardiner Farleigh. The main stars of TTOIA are Doris Day who plays the wife of a doctor, who in turn is played by James Gardner.
To Send Me No Flowers-
Where Edwards once again shares billing with Doris Day, this time as the doctor of a hypochondriac, played by Tony Randall.
But ....
James Garner, who skipped a leg in this sequence returned in The Art of Love-
Where he played the best friend and roommate of Dick Van Dyke. One of the other players in the film was
Carl Reiner, who segued from there to-
The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! -
Where he played a writer on vacation when a broken-down Russian submarine and it's commander intrudes into his life. One of the minor characters is Peter Brocco as a preacher. Brocco also was part of the cast in
Gaily, Gaily -
Where he played along side of Brian Keith (who had also been with him on the set of TRAC,TRAC!)
See how they all seem connected? It goes even further.
Denzel Washington was one of the main featured actors in A Soldiers Story. He was also the star of The Hurricane, a movie which featured a role played by Rod Steiger as the Judge who overturned the main character's conviction. And we all know Rod Steiger as the Academy Award winning actor in In the Heat of the Night. He also had a role in the Sylvester Stallone flick F.I.S.T.
Jack Weston appeared in both Steve McQueen/ Norman Jewison collaborations, The Cincinatti Kid and The Thomas Crown Affair. And, as stated earlier, Barry Donnen had roles in the two musicals directed by Jewison. Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof.
And with a few stretches, you could end up linking all of them together. (By that I mean you'd have to accept one of those Oracle of Kevin Bacon connections. You know, like James Caan was in Rollerball. He also shared the screen with Al Pacino in The Godfather, who was also the star of Jewison's ...And Justice for All.)
Apparently, either Jewison, or his casting directors had a good rapport with a stable of actors and actresses or just a whole lot of people enjoyed working with HIM.
Or maybe there some finger of fate swirling around the pie filling with her finger. Either way, this was a fun post to create. Hope you got a chuckle or two.
Quiggy
