Zebradelic: November 2012

Samantha Eggar gets painted

Here are two publicity stills from the 1970 film The Walking Stick starring Samantha Eggar and David Hemmings. In the first picture he paints her and the second image shows her reaction.

In 1971, Jo Ann Harris co-starred in The Beguiled, playing the youngest of three Southern women who fall for an injured Union Army solider they are caring for during the Civil War. Though much of the praise has gone to the other two lead actresses, Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Hartman (who were both excellent), Jo Ann Harris indeed holds her own here as the luscious and vindictive Carol. In fact, (spoiler ahead) the trouble that Clint Eastwood's character gets into during the end of film is mostly due to the fact that he chooses to go to bed with the seductive Carol.

In The Beguiled, it is clearly stated that Jo Ann Harris' character Carol is 17 years old, though the actress was actually several years older in real life. Her birthday is said to be in May 27, 1949 and The Beguiled began filming in April 1970 which would make Jo Ann Harris 20 years old when she began making the movie (due her youthful appearance Jo Ann Harris would often play younger characters on her various TV guest appearances in the early 70s).

It would have been nice if The Beguiled had helped propel the feature film career of Jo Ann Harris. However, the film (amazing as it is) was not an overwhelming financial or critical success at the time and Jo Ann Harris returned to primarily doing television work for the rest of the 1970s (with the notable exception of Act of Vengeance and some other minor roles).

Here are some pictures of Jo Ann Harris in The Beguiled. These images are presented chronologically (so some of the "best" ones may occur a little further down) and each pic can be clicked on for a full size view:

Barbara Seagull in Diamonds

In the mid-1970s, Barbara Hershey was calling herself Barbara Seagull and one of the final projects where she used this name was the movie Diamonds. Filmed primarily in Israel and produced by the legendary Israeli film-making team of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Diamonds is fun, largely forgotten movie. With incomparable Robert Shaw in the lead with Richard Roundtree backing him up, it is actually a bit surprising this one isn't more popular. Most modern reviews I've read, in books and online, have been lukewarm at best and contemporary reviewers of Diamonds also had reservations about the film (some couldn't help themselves and titled their reviews things like "These diamonds aren't forever").

To me, Diamonds sounded great on paper: starring Robert Shaw (who would play an Israeli super-agent two years later in Black Sunday) and Richard Roundtree, with the gorgeous Barbara Seagull helping out with a diamond heist in Tel Aviv. After watching the movie, I was not disappointed and actually found it quite entertaining and competent crime film.

Barbara "Seagull" Hershey doesn't have all that much to do in Diamonds, but people often think that situations like that are entirely negative. She looks great throughout the movie, does well with the limited material she is given and adds to the the film as a whole.

Here is a summary of Diamonds which accurately describes the plot and the feel of the film:

Here are some images of Barbara Seagull in Diamonds:

Barbara Seagull and Robert Shaw

Kathryn Harrold on The Rockford Files

I've seen a number of people online saying that it's too bad that Kathryn Harrold didn't have a bigger screen career. It's true that it would have been nice if she had appeared in a few more successful projects, especially feature films, but I think it would be wrong to say that she wasn't a successful actress. Kathryn Harrold worked steadily from the late 1970s to the 1990s and beyond. Besides co-starring in a few major motion pictures (including her own horror movie, The Sender), Kathryn Harrold maintained a steady presence on television for over two decades. Just because she doesn't have a household name shouldn't deter anyone wanting to delve into the work of this fantastic actress. (oops...end rant)

In late 1978, Kathryn Harrold made her first appearance on the hit TV series The Rockford Files. Besides her exceeding physical attractiveness, Kathryn Harrold also had great chemistry with Rockford Files star James Garner. Portraying the beautiful, blind psychologist Megan Dougherty, Kathryn Harrold made quite an impact and subsequently was asked to reprise her role in a episode in the next season and then again in 1996 follow-up TV movie. Because she did such a good job playing a blind character, many Rockford fans have wondered if the talented actress was actually blind in real life (Kathryn Harrold is, in fact, not actually visually impaired...she's just a great performer!).

Kathryn Harrold's Rockford Files appearance was the thing that really brought the actress to national attention and was the key to the larger success she would see in the following years. Previously, she had been on the daytime soap The Doctors and had first come to the big time by guest starring earlier in 1978 on an episode of Starsky and Hutch.

Here are some images of Kathryn Harrold in the 1978 two-part Rockford Files episode "Black Mirror":