Alan Alda's wife Arlene Alda has been by his side for over 60 years, and they've raised three kids get to know the 'MASH' actor's spouse! 1 Who played the piano in the movie Rhapsody in Blue? What was George Gershwins first hit on Broadway? Though she had little to recommend her in the way of singing or dancing talent, Joan Leslie starred in nine consecutive musicals during the mid-1940s, based on the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), in which she had partnered James Cagney. /* latin */ As the shady Alda tries to seduce the nave sister, Lupino falls for her married pianist (Bruce Bennett). Robert Alda plays an odious serial seducer who owns a nightclub where Ida sings. That didn't prevent the acerbic Levant from skewering Gershwin's conceit on occasion. .primary-color, Film historians have long believed that Rhapsody in Blue (1945) set the mold for the songwriter biopic, as it threw open the floodgates that immediately led to Night and Day (1946), Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) and Words and Music (1948), among many others. window.$zopim||(function(d,s){var z=$zopim=function(c){ /* Stage, Film Actor Robert Alda Dies at 72 - Los Angeles Times by Frances Arkwright (1787 - 1849), "Lady Alda's dream", published 1830? } .wpb_animate_when_almost_visible { opacity: 1; } .woocommerce-checkout form.checkout h3, Today at Enterprise Studios, where They all laughed when Barbara Stanwyck sat down at the piano. .woocommerce-checkout .woocommerce-info .showlogin:hover,.woocommerce-checkout .woocommerce-info .showcoupon:hover, font-weight: 400; Alexis Smith's performance constitutes only 22 minutes of screen time in a film that runs two hours and 31 minutes. In the movie starring Alan Alda's father, Robert Alda, we're shown the young George fitting his fingers to the depressed keys on a player piano. } img.emoji { A child prodigy and the first generation son of working class immigrants, Liberace's career spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. Starring Robert Alda as Gershwin, the film features a few of Gershwin's acquaintances (including Paul Whiteman, Al Jolson, and Oscar Levant) playing themselves. If you look at pictures of Gershwin, youll notice they did a pretty great job with this casting looks-wise, as well. .site-content {padding-top:0 !important;} .page-template-template-coming-soon-page .un-coming-soon-content .c-title, Director Irving Rapper had wanted Tyrone Power to play Gershwin, but Power was still serving in the Marines, so Rapper had to settle for Robert Alda--who isn't bad at all, just a trifle over-enthusiastic. Movies in the 1940s about famous people often had to sanitize the story lines to get past the censors. . She hates him. He was the father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. .blog-wapper.sticky .entry-title:before, Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions, then moved to Italy during the early 1960s. "Rhapsody in Blue" typically clocks in at 16 minutes when performed in concert, but the piece lasts only nine minutes in the film, achieved by a slightly accelerated tempo from start to finish. The 74-year-old actor, director, and writer revealed an inquisitive mind when he hosted PBS Scientific American Frontiers for 11 years, and in the recent three-part PBS series, The Human Spark. unicode-range: U+0100-024F, U+0259, U+1E00-1EFF, U+2020, U+20A0-20AB, U+20AD-20CF, U+2113, U+2C60-2C7F, U+A720-A7FF; The two-and-a-half octave solo clarinet glissando opening Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (Figure 1) is one of the great icons of 20th century music and one of the best known bars in music. There was no love triangle between Gershwin and the two women, and Gershwin's music teacher did not die the night that "Rhapsody in Blue" premiered. .error-404 .page-content .page-title, blockquote { While Levant is remembered for his roles in Hollywood musicals such as "An American in Paris" and "The Band Wagon," his life as a piano virtuoso has been all but forgotten, and most of his. Can Robert Pattinson Play Piano? - Celeb Answers Kay Swift worked with Ira Gershwin on the musical arrangements. font-style: normal; yup. Oscar Levant dubbed Robert Alda's piano playing. .woocommerce div.product.product-type-variable form.cart .variations .reset_variations, Father of Alan Alda and Antony Alda. It opened nationally on September 22, 1945, three weeks after World War II ended (on September 2, 1945). .unero-posts .post-footer .post-link, Even though Rosemary DeCamp was the same age as her film son Ira (both she and Herbert Rudley were born in 1910) and just four years older than Robert Alda (born 1914), this is the second time she portrayed the mother of a famous Broadway personality. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Beast With Five Fingers (VHS, 1992) at the best online prices at eBay! .woocommerce .shop-toolbar .product-found span, He had a notable cameo in the 1945 film Rhapsody in Blue where he danced to Robert Alda's piano playing of "Swanee". He has even composed music for some of his films, including The Four Seasons (1981) and Sweet Liberty (1986). !function(e,a,t){var n,r,o,i=a.createElement("canvas"),p=i.getContext&&i.getContext("2d");function s(e,t){var a=String.fromCharCode;p.clearRect(0,0,i.width,i.height),p.fillText(a.apply(this,e),0,0);e=i.toDataURL();return p.clearRect(0,0,i.width,i.height),p.fillText(a.apply(this,t),0,0),e===i.toDataURL()}function c(e){var t=a.createElement("script");t.src=e,t.defer=t.type="text/javascript",a.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(t)}for(o=Array("flag","emoji"),t.supports={everything:!0,everythingExceptFlag:!0},r=0;r