‘Final Curtains’ class explores movie stars’ last performances
If all the world’s a stage and we are all merely players, it helps to ponder what kind of stage exit we want to make.
I’m not talking about dying, but how and when to leave a fitting capstone to one’s legacy or career.
Ron Miller of Blaine, a retired TV editor and syndicated columnist, has studied the final performances of numerous movie stars, and his review leads him to this assessment: “A lot of people don’t know when to quit.”
While some movie stars ended their careers with stellar, even award-winning, performances, many others exited the world of film with efforts that range from merely disappointing to memorably atrocious.
Miller will present his findings, with movie clips, in a two-part class called “Final Curtains,” through the Academy for Lifelong Learning, a community education program at Western Washington University. The deadline to register is April 11.
Critic and author
Miller, 76, was TV editor for the San Jose Mercury News from 1977 to 1999 and was a nationally syndicated columnist. A former president of the Television Critics Association, he co-wrote a book about Masterpiece Theatre and wrote “Mystery! A Celebration,” about the PBS television series.
He and a fellow columnist are currently polishing their collection of interviews with movie stars from the 1920s to the 1950s for a book in the “Screen Classics” series from the University Press of Kentucky.
Miller moved to Blaine in 2001, and has kept busy teaching about movies and television at Whatcom Community College and at Western.
The envelope please
Miller’s nominees for the best complete final performance by a leading star in a movie or TV miniseries are:
“‘The Misfits’ was really something where she got her teeth into the role,” Miller said.
Miller’s nominees for stinkiest final performance, whether partial or complete, are:
“He humiliated himself,” Miller said.
Of course, it’s easy to avoid career-ending stinkers with the benefit hindsight, but life doesn’t work that way. So the moral may be to keep your goals high and your head clear.
“Maybe you should always think you have more to give, and more will come out,” Miller said.
This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 4:00 AM with the headline "‘Final Curtains’ class explores movie stars’ last performances."