The last ‘Rebel’
Corey Allen (born Alan Cohen) died on June 30 at age 75. He was a respected Emmy-winning TV and stage director. His death got a lot of press because he was the last surviving actor with a major part in the 1955 classic “Rebel Without a Cause.”
Allen, a handsome guy, played the leader of a high school gang that picked on a new student (James Dean). Allen’s character goaded Dean’s character into a “chickie run” — they drove two stolen cars toward the edge of a seaside bluff at high speed, and the first one who jumped out of his car before it sailed over the edge was “chicken.” Dean survives; Allen doesn’t.
Allen gave up acting in favor of directing in the mid-’60s. He was friends with Dennis Hopper, who died a month before him. Hopper, who had a small “Rebel” role, recalled in 2006 that he and Allen would often visit Las Vegas in the ’50s and would be treated royally because Allen’s father, Carl Cohen, was the floor boss of the Sands casino.
Carl Cohen gained some fame in July 1967. Cohen cut off Frank Sinatra’s credit and the singer got very verbally abusive and tipped a table over on Cohen. Cohen, an ex-truck driver, landed a punch in Sinatra’s face — bloodying his nose and knocking out two of Sinatra’s teeth (or caps). Kirk Douglas once wrote that he asked Sinatra about the fight (which took place just after the Six-Day War) and Sinatra replied, “Never fight a Jew in the desert.”
Untangling the web
On July 1, it was announced that Andrew Garfield, 26, has been selected to play the title role in a new “Spiderman” movie, set to open in 2012. The new film is described as a “re-boot” of “Spiderman.” It remains to be seen how well the franchise will do without Sam Raimi, 50, who directed the three hugely successful “Spiderman” films starring Tobey Maguire.
Garfield was born in Los Angeles, the son of an American Jewish father and a British Jewish mother. He moved to the U.K. when he was toddler and he grew up in England. He’s been acting since he was 15 and he’s appeared in a few film roles.
Garfield’s surprise casting has already made him more famous. However, as Brandon Routh, the almost forgotten star of 2006’s “Superman Returns,” learned, a big acting career is not assured by just playing an iconic comic book character. Garfield only will have a “big career” if the new “Spiderman” movie is good, and if he can — like Maguire — play Spiderman with a lot of boy-next-door charm (and just a dollop of nerdiness).
Brains and ‘Big Brother’
“Inception,” a sci-fi thriller directed by Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”) and opening Friday, July 16, has great advance buzz as a thinking-person’s action spectacular. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 29, and Ellen Page (“Juno”) co-star with Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays the leader of a group of industrial espionage thieves who specialize in extracting secrets from the brains of corporate big-wigs as they sleep.
The new edition of the CBS reality show “Big Brother,” which began on July 8, features an Orthodox Jewish contestant, Andrew Gordon, 39, a Miami podiatrist. Gordon says he’s bringing his own cooking utensils to the house and will try to remain kosher and Shabbat-observant. He told the Associated Press: “People are probably going to look at me as an outsider and wonder what I’m doing and why I’m not eating their food. It’s something I’ve had to explain my whole life as a practicing Jew. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with it.’’