Since most of the global news these days is too depressing to even think about, we decided that this still from our rather meager Kim Stanley Collection is the perfect image to promote our ongoing quest for inner peace. And with that lofty goal in mind, we'd like to urge every person who visits this page to take a few minutes out of each day to...

Visualize World Peace

Unfortunately Miss Stanley died back in 2001, so we're more than a little embarrassed that we waited so long to acknowledge the brilliance of this lady's career on stage, screen, and television. Her talent was simply legendary! And for once we can use that overused word without giggling. On the other hand, we do admit that we never actually saw any of her acclaimed stage work and don't recall much about her TV work either. In fact, our appreciation for Miss Stanley's contribution to the acting profession is entirely based on the ridiculously short list of movie roles she accepted over the years. Come to think of it, we can recall only one other legendary movie goddess who made even fewer appearances on the silver screen -- the incomparable Vicki Trickett, of course...

Visualize Vicki Trickett

For the record, we offer here a list of the Kim Stanley films we know about. If you come up with any other titles, let us know.

The Goddess

1958

Director: John Cromwell

Cast: Kim Stanley, Lloyd Bridges, Steven Hill, Betty Lou Holland, Patty Duke, Elizabeth Wilson.

NOTES ON THE GODDESS:
-- Kim Stanley, in her movie debut, played "Rita Shawn," a character screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky based on Marilyn Monroe -- who at the time was still alive and kicking.
-- Making her own movie debut, Patty Duke played "Rita Shawn" as a child. Incidentally, we don't remember the exact line of dialogue, but this is the movie where sad little Patty rather poignantly tells her cat something like: "I got promoted in school today, kitty." (Not a day goes by at the Meeker Museum that somebody doesn't say that.)
-- You thought Jeff Bridges was a hunk? Have you seen his daddy in this?
-- Elizabeth Wilson was scary in just about every movie she ever made, but she's really scary in the closing scenes of this one. She plays the vulture who eventually takes control of "Rita Shawn."
-- Character actress Reta Shaw was not in this movie, but for some reason you keep thinking about her.

To Kill a Mockingbird

1962

Director: Robert Mulligan

Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Philip Alford, John Megna, Robert Duvall, Brock Peters, Alice Ghostly, Paul Fix, Rosemary Murphy, Frank Overton, Colin Wilcox, William Windom.

NOTES ON TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD:
-- Again Kim Stanley gives one of the most memorable movie performances of all time, although she's not even seen in the movie! Her narration as the grown up Scout Finch (Mary Badham's character) opens and closes the story. Combined with Elmer Bernstein's gorgeous music, Stanley's voice creates an atmosphere that probably wouldn't have been achieved if somebody like, say, Barbara Nichols had narrated the movie.
-- Believe it or not (okay don't believe it), John Megna's "Dill Harris" character was modeled on Truman Capote. Harper Lee, author of the novel, had known Capote as a child.
-- Incidentally, John Megna is Connie Stevens' half-brother.
-- Mary Badham went on to further greatness playing Natalie Wood's sister in 1966's This Property is Condemned, and, possibly to even greater, uh, greatness that same year appearing in a William Castle movie called Let's Kill Uncle.

Seance on a Wet Afternoon

1964

Director: Bryan Forbes

Cast: Kim Stanley, Richard Attenborough, Patrick Magee, Nanette Newman.

NOTES ON SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON:
-- Another outstanding performance by Kim Stanley and this time she got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She lost to Julie Andrews, who won for Mary Poppins!

The Three Sisters

1966

Director: Paul Bogart

Cast: Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page, Shelley Winters, Sandy Dennis, Kevin McCarthy, Robert Loggia, Luther Adler.

NOTES ON THE THREE SISTERS:
-- This was an Actor's Studio production of the Chekhov play, taped in New York and released to movie theaters. Try finding somebody who actually saw it.
-- The three sisters were played by Stanley, Page, and Dennis.
-- We don't know anything about Shelley Winter's role, but we're fairly certain this is not the movie where she drowned in an upside-down ocean liner.

Frances

1982

Director: Graeme Clifford

Cast: Jessica Lange, Kim Stanley, Sam Shepard, Anjelica Huston, Lane Smith.

NOTES ON FRANCES:
-- Jessica Lange played legendary movie actress Frances Farmer.
-- After a 16-year absence from the screen, Kim Stanley returned to play Frances Farmer's crazy mother -- and got another Oscar nomination, this time in the Supporting Actress category. She lost to Jessica Lange, who was nominated in the Best Actress category for Frances, but won the Supporting Actress Oscar for Tootsie.
-- Around the time Frances came out, Susan Blakely played Frances Farmer in a made-for-TV adaptation of Farmer's autobiography, Will There Really Be a Morning? Lee Grant played the crazy mother in that one.

The Right Stuff

1983

Director: Philip Kaufman

Cast: Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Scott Glenn, Barbara Hershey, Jeff Goldblum, Pamela Reed, Kathy Baker, Levon Helm, Scott Wilson, Harry Shearer, Veronica Cartwright

NOTES ON THE RIGHT STUFF:
-- This is a movie about the beginnings of America's space program, with Sam Shepard playing Chuck Yeager, Ed Harris playing John Glenn, Dennis Quaid playing Gordon Cooper etc.
-- Kim Stanley played Pancho Barnes!
-- Don't you just love Veronica Cartwright?