Be My Guest: Tracy Part 3

Here is the third part to my guest of the month Tracy's terrific Q&A session. I was glad she was able to do it and enjoyed reading her responses.

My favorite current stars would be Johnny Depp for the male actor and Meryl Streep for female actor. Depp has been so daring and willing to stretch himself I feel his filmography is the best in his generation. I thought his portrayal of Ed Wood was a masterpiece and his collaborations with Tim Burton have been great. One of these days The Academy will catch up and award him a much deserved Oscar!

Streep has done SO much -- drama, period pieces, comedy, and even a musical! Like my all time favorite actress Bette Davis, she is willing to expand the definition of "leading lady." Morgan Freeman would have to be another favorite of mine. His performances in Driving Miss Daisy and Shawshank Redemption are two of the best by any actor in the 1990's -- hard to believe neither role yielded an Oscar! I also admire Kathy Bates -- here's a woman who played sociopath Annie Wilkes in Misery and then played Adam Sandler's campy mom in Waterboy! That's range!

My favorite movie quote is from Sunset Blvd. I love it when Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond responds to William Holden's comment that she used to be a big star. "I am BIG, it's the pictures that got small!"

If I could be any movie character, I would chose either Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) from Now, Voyager or Jennie (Jennifer Jones) from Portrait of Jennie. Charlotte is a that rare character who ultimately comes to understand herself and more importantly accept who she is. Charlotte discovers that she is the only person who can bring happiness to her life and she is proactive in making her life what she wants it to be by the movie's end. It is not a perfect life, and that's why it rings true -- it is the best life she can create given all of the elements of her life. Jennie on the other hand is an ethereal character who is not of this world. Rather she lived a life, and somehow returned to her "world" during a different time period. It during her returns to her former haunts that she meets and inspires artist Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten). Jennie and Eben are soulmates and the thought of "death" separating them, at times, saddens the viewer. However, since Jennie is so timeless and has gracefully accepted her earthly fate, we discover the Eben and Jennie's love is eternal. Jennie was beautifully and sensitively portrayed by Jones, so Jennie is that one perfect being that we all aspire to be. Jennie realizes the we are all part of some universe that continues beyond our mortal existence and that the love other carry for us keeps us immortal. Maybe it's corny, but what an exquisite character to be!

Awesome answers Tracy. And thanks for being my guest this month.