Gene Kelly

Question: When Pedro Almodovar won the best original screenplay Oscar for Talk to Her (2002), the announcer said as he was walking up to the stage that it was his second nomination, the other being for best director for the same film. But didn't he win an Oscar for All About My Mother (1999) in the foreign-language-film category? I know that the nominees in that category are actually the countries where the films were released and produced, but why does the director get to accept the award, not the producers? Do Oscar winners who are absent the night they win still get to receive their statuettes even if it's long after they won? And finally, what happens if your Oscar is stolen or broken — can you get a new one?

Answer: Wow, you are full of questions! The director gets to accept the award because the Academy say read more

Question: Please tell me the title of the movie in which Gene Kelly danced with trash-can lids on his feet.

Answer: It's Always Fair Weather (1955), which was originally conceived as a sequel to On the Town (1949). By the time it made it to the screen, the character's names were changed and there were no references to the night they spent together in New York as carefree young sailors on leave. But the idea remains: Soldiers Ted Riley (Gene Kelly), Doug Hallerton (Dan Dailey) and Angie Valentine (Michael Kidd) come through World War II together and before parting ways at the war's end, they promise t read more

Question: I am having trouble locating the title of a Donald O'Connor movie from the '50s in which he did a song and dance on roller skates. Has this been released on video?

Answer: When people think dancing on roller skates, they think Gene Kelly in It's Always Fair Weather (1955), but you're looking for the musical I Love Melvin (1953). It isn't on DVD, but it was issued on video in 1995 and there are lots of used copies floating around. Donald O'Connor plays an assistant photographer who rashly promises to make a cover girl of chorine Debbie Reynolds, and his tap number on roller skates i read more