In this episode, Dara revisits the careers and acting talent of two very special American actors – the very recently deceased Robert Duvall and Tom Noonan. Duvall had an amazingly long career from his breakthrough role in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, through the New Hollywood 70s and right on to this current decade. He was a performer of effortless and natural charm who was a master of quiet, deceptively unmannered acting.
Tom Noonan was much less of a mainstream star but no less an accomplished actor. He was utterly unique and idiosyncratic, almost impossible to pin down. An actor who always made unusual choices while fully inhabiting the characters he played, Dara recalls almost meeting him while in New York over twenty years ago. Alas, it was not to be.
Another Hollywood figure of less obvious renown also passed away this week. He was more accustomed to being behind the camera than in front of it, but his particular body of work was much less seen than those of Duvall or Noonan.
Dara shares his latest thoughts on the human condition before giving his unhappy review of Bradley Cooper’s third directorial feature – Is This Thing On?