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"The
Kentuckian" (1955) the first Major Motion Picture to Film in
the State of Kentucky. Starring and Directed by Golden Globe and
Academy Award Winner Burt Lancaster. Red River Gorge's "Sky Bridge" was a Featured Venue in this Frontier Adventure. Until recently this fact had become a "Lost Memory". Now this "Golden Nugget" has been rediscovered. Computer Screensaver & Desktop Wallpapers (1024 x 768) are available to commemorate the occasion. Links to AMAZON, MGM, and IMDB are provided to purchase the "THE KENTUCKIAN" on Widescreen DVD. Plus a Very Special Editorial on the Film from Mr. Paul A. Blaum (State College, Pennsylvania) is presented. If You or Anyone else has any knowledge of the Red River Gorge Filming Dates (1954 Summer or Fall?), Photos or Other Information Please Contact us RRS E-MAIL |
Many
Thanks to the People and Organizations who Contributed to the Research
and Verification of this Project Paul A. Blaum (State College, Pa) - USFS Ranger Rita Wehner (Cumberland District, Ky) - Dian Knight (Kentucky Film Commission) Debbie Reynolds (Owensboro Tourism, Ky) - Todd Cassidy (Director, Kentucky Film Office) - Karen Owen (Kentucky Messenger-Inquirer) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which Owns the Property (©1955 MGM Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved) |
"THE
KENTUCKIAN" ON LOCATION IN RED RIVER GORGE, KENTUCKY - COMPUTER
DESKTOP WALLPAPER (1024 x 768) Click on Thumbnails for Larger Image in a New Window/Right Click on Image and Select "Set as Background" |
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Along
the Rock Face |
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Faro
Under Sky Bridge |
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Beneath
Sky Bridge |
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Alongside
Sky Bridge |
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Alongside
Sky Bridge |
| "Actress
Made a Lasting Impression in THE KENTUCKIAN" by Paul A. Blaum |
| Mr.
Blaum is a Free-Lance Writer Based in State College, Pennsylvannia He can be reached at bardas8@aol.com |
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Diana
Lynn as "Miss Susie Spann" |
| "THE
KENTUCKIAN brought Celebrities to Town" by Karen Owen |
| This
article appeared: September 21, 2004 in Owensboro's "Kentucky Messenger-Inquirer" Contact them at: (270) 926-0123 |
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Click
Image for Screensaver |
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'Based
on the Novel The Gabriel Horn by Felix Holt (1951) 'The Kentuckian' makes Excellent use of Technicolor and Cinemascope, as well as the Musical Expertise of composer Bernard Herrmann.' ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide |
'The
Kentuckian is, above all, a Celebration of Self-Sacrifice, a Subject not to be treated lightly by even the most Jaded Critic.' ~ Paul A. Blaum |
| Fifty
years ago, a movie called The Kentuckian premiered. The film, shot mostly in Kentucky, starred Burt Lancaster and a young actress named-Diana Lynn. I will never forget actress-Diana Lynn of The Kentuckian. She was born Dolores "Dolly" Loehr in Los Angeles in 1926, the only child of an oil supply superintendent and a music teacher. She went to Miss Grace's Private School, was an expert concert pianist by the age of 11 and at 13 appeared in the first of her 31 movies. Paramount Studios provided her with rigorous coaching in acting, and by her late teens she was a rising star as Paramount's resident brat, portraying precocious, sassy kid sisters and sidekicks (The Major and the Minor, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Our Hearts Were Young and Gay). Her Hollywood heyday might have been reached in 1950 and 1951, when, no longer a pert adolescent, she crafted first-rate dramatic performances in Paid in Full, based on a true story from Reader's Digest, and The People Against O'Hara, with Spencer Tracy cast as her alcoholic father. In the first of these films, she played Nancy Langley, a spoiled, self-centered part-time model who both loves and hates the older sister who raised her. Besides her dimples and skill on the keyboard, Lynn possessed an inner toughness that allowed her to maintain a punishing schedule. She also had sharp entrepreneurial instincts. In the late 1940s, television . . . . . . . Continue > Page 2 > |
| Owensboro
went Hollywood in 1954 when part of a major motion picture was filmed in the area. Burt Lancaster starred in, directed and co-produced "The Kentuckian," but for many local residents the real stars were their friends and neighbors who appeared as extras in the film. The plot centered on the adventures of a frontier widower headed for Texas with his son and their dog. Owensboro apparently was picked as a location because it had a riverboat, `The Sternwheeler', which was a floating restaurant docked on the Ohio River at the end of Frederica Street. For the movie, `The Sternwheeler', was taken by tugboat to Spottsville on the Green River for a scene where the boat is welcomed at a dock. Carpenters spent days building a dock in preparation for that scene, former extra CalvinRay Robinson of Owensboro once recalled. The riverboat had no power of its own, so it was rigged with a cable to an electric motor that pulled the craft through the water. "Well, here the cameras were rolling, and the boat came into that dock and just crushed it," Robinson said laughing. "They had to start all over." The Kentucky National Guard Armory on West Parrish Avenue was . . . . . . . Continue > Page 4 > |
