Diane Cheney – Google

I knew Greer Garson and I knew Edna Gladney. I was a psychologist at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. I had a patient who was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, beautiful, so darling, but she had gotten pregnant and was unmarried so asked my help. I went over to Fort Worth, talked with Edna Gladney about the security necessary for her to deliver her child there and to have it adopted. Mrs. Gladney responded so well that I took the young lady there with her clothing to spend the few days until the baby was born. All went well and in later years, the young lady married, had a baby, and brought her husband and child to meet me. In later years, Greer, who was married to a Dallas millionaire lost her husband, Buddy Fogelson, and was so sick that she had to live at Presbyterian Hopsital on the 9th floor for several years. We often rode the elevator together and her deep beautiful voice made her very recognizable to older people on the elevator. She kidded with me that she had feared the great kids in this movie would upstage her but she liked Mrs. Gladney and her work so much that she took the role. Her best role ever was, of course, Mrs. Miniver. She loved to chat about that movie and how it changed her life. This was a great movie and she was a great person. Dr. Diane Holloway Cheney

I saw this money in my teens and it has stayed with me up to now. The reason is the music. Once in a lucky while, someone plays it on a guitar and it brings back the memory of these children digging a grave for their dog during WWII. The music pulls non you for the rest of your life. The real name of the music is not Jeux Interdit (Forbidden Games) but Romance and it may be an old folk song. Spend the money to see this film and you will be very happy though sad--and that is what love and emotion are all about.

This movie shows why William Faulkner was one of if not the best American writer ever. He depicts, with few words, the situation where a pregnant woman and a newborn become his life. His love for the boy he began to raise never died despite the boy being kjidnapped and taken to be raised in ways with no moral direction. So his protector of long ago becomes the only juror to vote against the death penalty when the boy is tried. Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for literature shortly before he died and described in his speech that man must prevail and Duval's character prevails in his love for the boy that he raised early on. Who cares about the particular dialect Duval chose to use--it was the story we care about, not the actor's dialect. Robert Duval has been one of our best American actors and his range of characters is beathtaking. I'll never miss a movie he's in.

This movie is so beautiful. The actors and the music make it possible to know what's going on with only very few words necessary. The thin images during a scene show you what the actor or actress is thinking about by picturing it. The music--Gounod and Chopin, and the haunting sounds make this a very special movie. No wonder it was the runner-up for the first Academy Award picture and Janet Gaynor won the first Award for best actress. Easy to see why. Great!

This is one of my favorite movies ever. I watch it every time it shows up on TCM. I saw Noel Coward on the stage in both NYC and London and he is clever and gay. How he could do this kind of story is beyond me but he understood his society in Britain and the kinds of feelings and strange distractions shown in the movie, that made it all so very real. He had a way with words whether in dialogue or song. He was superb and so is this movie. And listen to Rachmaninoff's great music. It adds the accent that makes everything more tragic and wonderful. I'm a psychologist and I write about what draws us to movies and this one is easy--the loneliness we may feel, the draw toward someone who cares for us, the music and the words which never quite say enough but keep us longing for more. It's got it all!

I love this movie. What a cast! It's dramatic, it may be even partly true from what I've read about that time. The only details that bothers me is why they thought they had to include the holy relic (blood of one disciple) but that made no difference in the wonderful and meaningful story. I'm so blad they decided to make this movie in 1960 because Ava is a femme fetale and Bogart is a holy man (and has written the story of his homosexual life which is so fascinating to read). Joseph Cotten is also good. I saw in Europe Finlay Currie who plays the monsignor the year this movie was made and he is always such a good actor. Why aren't more people talking about this. Everybody in it and the story (topped off by Vittorio de Sica's terrific and humorous portrayal of the guy in charge) is just terrific.

I saw Sally Rand perform in 1971 in Galveston Texas and was seated behind her and she had nothing on, but the audience in front only saw the ostrich feather fans. The next morning, the commander of the Blue Angels (in town for the weekend) and I were asked to drive her to the Houston airport to get back to California for a sick friend. On the trip, I asked how she kept in shape and she told me of all the daily exercises she did at age 68 or so. She gave me a gift of hair rollers with a card that said "Your fan, Sally Rand." I just loved that little lady. There is so much more to her than people know. She had good relations with all the other famous strippers of the day. She can be seen doing her fan dance from the movie Bolero which also starred George Raft doing the sexiest tango I've ever seen. Watch these folks dance on You Tube and you'll wanna take it up yourself. George had a bar next to a travel agency I had in London and in 1957, he'd be flipping his nickel at the door and inviting women in to tango with them. If only I'd known how. Dr. Diane Holloway Cheney