We love everything about Nina Foch. We love her classy-as-hell looks, her throaty voice, her obvious intelligence and opinionated manner. She's the poor man's Joan Fontaine, but without La Fontaine's early gallery of dithering, simpering ingenue roles to taint our perception of her. We are truly saddened to learn of her passing this Friday; we came across this lengthy, fascinating, prickly interview here. The then-82 year old Foch is exactly as we'd want her to be: brutally honest, fiercely intelligent, often challenging, but in the end -- she offers a mea culpa for being a difficult subject -- very much a class act.
NINA FOCH
April 20, 1924 - December 5, 2008
Gorgeous, talented and classy.
ReplyDeleteNina was classy and cool. But I loved her sister, Euwahna. That's right, Euwahna Foch.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just screamed as your soundtrack played "Can't Fake the Feeling" by Geraldine Hunt!!! I loved that song and hadn't heard it in years! Downloading from iTunes as I type. SMOOCH!
Just read that interview, very impressive
ReplyDeleteNo platitudes issuing from the mouth of Nina Foch!
Thanks for the tribute and the link.
Scooter -- Now, now! Ms. Foch's last name rhymes with "gosh." Giggle!
ReplyDeleteLOVE HER.
ReplyDeleteShe was wondrous. So classy. I think that shot of her in the long white dress was from "Escape in the Fog", but I can't be sure. She kept popping up in contemporary films, such as "Mahogany" and "Sliver", and her presence was always welcome.
ReplyDeleteDuh! I just realized the photo is from "My Name is Julia Ross" which was later remade as "Dead of Winter" with Mary Steenburgen and Roddy McDowall... Man, Nina was cranky in that interview!! She seemed to warm up some by the end, however. She's what my grandma would have called "a tough nut to crack!"
ReplyDeletePoseidon3 -- I was surprised at how combatative she seemed, but reading it again... well, at 82, I guess I wouldn't suffer fools gladly, either; and when some young whippersnapper starts reeling off my own list of credits back to me, I suppose I'd be impatient, too.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, since I first saw her as the bitchy department store manager who tries to squash poor Diana Ross's dreams in "Mahogany," I was secretly thrilled that Ms. Foch came across as so bitchy! LOL.
Oh, me too! Even though it's probably not a nice thing, I always love those brittle authoritarian types who are trying to keep the leading lady in her place. I really need to see "Hush" now, and to think that I've walked by it probably 25 times in a DVD bargain bin!
ReplyDeleteHave you read "Under the Rainbow" by John Carlyle, a rather aristocratic queen who squired Miss Gumm during the 1960's? It's a fascinating read, dishy but NOT trashy; and there are some interesting tidbits about Ms. Foch in it. She and Carlyle lived near one another in a predominantly gay neighborhood during the 1960's, and she socialized with his crowd quite a bit. Then she became "with child," rather late in her life, and quickly moved away -- supposedly to shield her son from the potential lavender influence, which I found amusing!
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't read that. "Miss Gumm!" Sadly, there are sometimes straight gals who love the gays when they're single, but who then back off a little (or a lot!) once they marry or spawn...
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