Blake Edwards

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Blake’s films were fun to watch … and to make

Blake Edwards had this odd notion. Movies, he felt, should be fun to make and to watch.
That first always seemed true. “He would fall off his chair laughing,” Lesley Ann Warren told the Television Critics Association.
And the second? Audiences loved most of his Pink Panther movies, shrugged at some of his other films, then buzzed about “10” and “Victor/Victoria.” Edwards received an honorary Academy Award, then was semi-forgotten.
Until now. At 8 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 27), PBS’ “American Masters” offers a jaunty journey through Edwards’ life.
This was a writer/director known for broad comedies like “The Pink Panther” (show here). But his work was different: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 19, 2024
Stories

August is TV’s Julie-and-Blake month

It seemed like one of those weird Hollywood mismatches.
Blake Edwards was a writer-director, fresh from movies with big, goofy sight gags. Julie Andrews was a singer-actress, fresh from mega-musicals.
He was Hollywood; she was London and Broadway. They were miles apart … and then, after their marriage in 1969, constantly together, sometimes making fluff and other times creating serious comedy/dramas like “Victor/Victoria” (shown here), which is the centerpiece of an Aug. 4 cable marathon..
“Seeing the shift in her career, when Blake … urged her to take on very different roles, I found was fascinating,” said producer Michael Kantor. And now, by coincidence, each gets a separate focus in August: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 26, 2024
Stories

PBS’ fast start this fall: mysteries, elections, Hispanic history

While the broadcast networks get off to a semi-groggy start this fall, PBS will be busy quickly.
Its three-mystery Sundays will start Sept. 15, centering on “Moonflower Murders” (shown hare), witty sequel to the 2022 “Magie Murders.” Some of its non-fiction shows start that week, with an early emphasis on the elections.
A few hings will arrive even earlier, including a profile of writer-director Blake Edwards (“Pink Panther,” “10”) on Aug. 28. Like the late Edwards, it managed to be funny and joyous, with moments of morose depth.
And some will be late. Sara Bareilles will star in her “Waitress” musical on Nov. 15. Three days later, PBS starts Ken Burns’ “Leonardo Da Vinci,” a richly detailed, two-night, four-hour film Read more…

By Mike Hughes / July 15, 2024