#jim backus

[freetheshit-outofyou]

[oldshowbiz]

[justlikeheavenfest]

register now for access to passes, on sale this friday at 11am PT. May awaits with arms outstretched. 🫶 $49.99 down payment plans available. www.justlikeheavenfest.com

[bignaz8]

One of Jim Backus' teachers in grade school was Margaret Hamilton, who would later play the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), and when he attended the Kentucky Military Institute, one of his classmates was future fellow actor Victor Mature. In November 1957, Eva Gabor was his landlady; he sublet her New York City apartment.

Backus had an extensive career and worked steadily in Hollywood over five decades, often portraying characters with an "upper-crust," New England-like air, such as Thurston Howell III on "Gilligan's Island". While typecast in roles as "rich types," he broke the mold when he portrayed James Dean's father in the classic "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955).

Backus was the voice of the nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo. Years later, when Backus was a frequent talk show guest, he would recount the time Marilyn Monroe urgently beckoned him into her dressing room. Henny Backus, Jim's wife, recalled the story: "Jim was in the 1952 film 'Don't Bother to Knock', with Marilyn Monroe. He came home one night during the filming and told me that Miss Monroe in her most seductive breathy voice asked him to meet her in her dressing room. His curiosity got the better of him and he went. Once there, she exclaimed like an excited child, 'Do Mr. Magoo!' And Jim did."

Backus provided the voice of Wally the Bird on the Western Airlines ads of the 1950s. His one-liner was simply "Western Airlines, the O-O-ONLY way to fly." He repeated this line in 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'

[citizenscreen]

Thurston and Lovey Howell in 1966.

[of-fear-and-love]

Outfits from Friday Foster (1975)

[ghassanrassam]

1955 James Dean is a lost teen in Fifties America..the ultimate in pre-Sixties ethos

[princesssarisa]

In keeping with A Christmas Carol's blend of Christmas cheer with themes of death, I'll make this comment:

I still think it's a strange coincidence that the voice actor of this version of Scrooge...

...is buried next to this version of Scrooge.

They're literally buried side-by-side, separated just by a small hedge and two benches.

And the voice actor of this version of Scrooge is also buried in that same cemetery...

... as are Mel Tormé (composer of "The Christmas Song"), Sammy Cahn (composer of "Let It Snow!"), and Dean Martin (who recorded many Christmas songs and died on Christmas Day).

If you ever want to celebrate Christmas in a cemetery, Westwood Village Memorial Park would be a good choice.

[1talapia-007]

Jim Backus and James Dean

[weirdlookindog]

Macabre (1958)

[letterboxd-loggd]

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Nicholas Ray

March 24th 2024

[oldshowbiz]

1967.

Jim Backus as Mister Magoo on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

[justlikeheavenfest]

register now for access to passes, on sale this friday at 11am PT. May awaits with arms outstretched. 🫶 $49.99 down payment plans available. www.justlikeheavenfest.com

[collinsportmaine]

Imagine characters from Dark Shadows taking a short cruise off Collinsport Bay…

And a storms brews up off the coast and their boat is thrown off course…

And they get stranded on an isolated island…

The radio doesn’t work…

And they have to fend for themselves!

With no hope of rescue!

And then a unopened casket washes up on the beach!

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[citizenscreen]

Jim Backus and Joan Davis, stars of the NBC sitcom “I Married Joan” (1952-1955)

[of-fear-and-love]

Title cards for Friday Foster (1975)

[heureuxvivant]

🧐🤓🫶🏼🥰😍😻😎☺️😮🤣🍿😻☮️✝️✝️✝️🙏🙏🏾🏳️‍🌈🇲🇽🇺🇸♓️🤓