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#1 2013-04-19 12:16:29

BellisVintage
Member
Posts: 36

David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

For me David Niven was the last quintessential English gentleman of Hollywood. A man of exquisite style and cultured manners, with the ability to look effortless anywhere in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT2OuyMWZg4

In this montage he is shown in his beloved adoptive home - the South of France. Niven - always the classy debonair gentleman who made everything he did look effortless but who was a product of considerable endeavour. He epitomises that lost breed - the well mannered but not dull, the urbane raconteur but never indiscreet about friends, the charming and witty conversationalist but never the crashing bore. In essence the ultimate English gentleman.

The background music used in the video is O Grande Amor by Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto and the movie excerpts are from Bonjour Tristesse (1958) a wonderful film set in the South of France starring Jean Seberg and Deborah Kerr.


"You have taste - that's not half the battle - that's the whole war"

 

#2 2013-04-19 16:53:57

Kingston1an
Member
Posts: 4181

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

Read his book and it was amusing, but Niven himself is too precious for me.

Never took to Noel Coward either.


"Florid, smug, middle-aged golf club bore in this country I'd say. Propping up the 19th hole in deepest Surrey bemoaning the perils of immigration."

 

#3 2013-04-20 02:22:31

Sammy Ambrose
Member
Posts: 3649

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

^ Yes, the over-the-top 'aren't I awfully clever and witty' attitude was pretty off. And frankly I found him too weedy physically to be an icon of anything. Fred Astaire was  another in that vein.

Last edited by Sammy Ambrose (2013-04-20 02:22:59)


If you aren't seeing through all three eyes at once day and night you are up shit creek without a paddle. The Shooman

 

#4 2013-04-20 05:04:01

formby
Member
From: Wiseacre
Posts: 8359

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


"Dressing, like painting, should have a residual stability, plus punctuation and surprise." - Richard Merkin

Souvent me Souvient

 

#5 2013-04-20 07:31:21

Reckless Reggie
Member
Posts: 513

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

Niv was six feet tall - hardly weedy. I wonder whether Niv and Noel would have given a toss about a bunch of inadequates chewing their nails over matching and clashing pocket squares.


I'm Reckless Reggie of the Regent Palace,
I'm in love with every gal;
I flirt with Maudie and I flirt with Alice,
I'm a real life Regent's pal.

 

#6 2013-04-20 08:46:19

Sammy Ambrose
Member
Posts: 3649

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


If you aren't seeing through all three eyes at once day and night you are up shit creek without a paddle. The Shooman

 

#7 2013-04-20 09:03:25

Reckless Reggie
Member
Posts: 513

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

Last edited by Reckless Reggie (2013-04-20 09:14:01)


I'm Reckless Reggie of the Regent Palace,
I'm in love with every gal;
I flirt with Maudie and I flirt with Alice,
I'm a real life Regent's pal.

 

#8 2013-04-20 09:39:52

Drum Thunder !!!
Son of Odin
From: the Time that Land Forgot.
Posts: 3768

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

I think clothing attracts people looking for a crutch, or in Sammy's case it might be a crotch, obviously a fan of the chunkier, stronger chap..oo'er.


Arrives unpressed and minimally packaged.

 

#9 2013-04-20 09:53:50

Sammy Ambrose
Member
Posts: 3649

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


If you aren't seeing through all three eyes at once day and night you are up shit creek without a paddle. The Shooman

 

#10 2013-04-20 10:03:47

formby
Member
From: Wiseacre
Posts: 8359

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


"Dressing, like painting, should have a residual stability, plus punctuation and surprise." - Richard Merkin

Souvent me Souvient

 

#11 2013-04-20 10:09:23

Drum Thunder !!!
Son of Odin
From: the Time that Land Forgot.
Posts: 3768

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

Art is driven by neurosis and being at odds with yourself, which I believe is actually a need for acceptance from the outside, why should wearing clothes be any different? If I was happy I wouldn't care. And the happier I get, the less I care, and the less I care, the more I can enjoy, and with that enjoyment my art becomes better, a strange paradox I found with creativity. I think the root of it is to love what you do, not try to be loved because of what you do. A bit Taoist for a Saturday afternoon. But I think it rings true with a lot of things.

Down the driving range today I was met by it... trying to hit a golf ball, and hitting a golf ball, although they look exactly like the same process externally, are actually two different acts on an internal level. One needy, unrelaxed and ultimately frustrating, the second approach is clearer and holds more clarity when you put less emphasis on the outcome... which brings me to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gQwY5Np4FA

Last edited by THAW !!!! (2013-04-20 10:12:47)


Arrives unpressed and minimally packaged.

 

#12 2013-04-20 10:16:21

Drum Thunder !!!
Son of Odin
From: the Time that Land Forgot.
Posts: 3768

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


Arrives unpressed and minimally packaged.

 

#13 2013-04-20 10:30:04

formby
Member
From: Wiseacre
Posts: 8359

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


"Dressing, like painting, should have a residual stability, plus punctuation and surprise." - Richard Merkin

Souvent me Souvient

 

#14 2013-04-20 10:44:26

Drum Thunder !!!
Son of Odin
From: the Time that Land Forgot.
Posts: 3768

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

It makes sense really, I know the desert can get cold, but seriously, trinkets don't keep you warm do they!?


Arrives unpressed and minimally packaged.

 

#15 2013-04-21 03:49:08

4F Hepcat
THE Cat
Posts: 14333

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

Niven and Le Mesurier, my kind of self-depracating actor toffs.


Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound

 

#16 2013-04-21 06:01:34

Drum Thunder !!!
Son of Odin
From: the Time that Land Forgot.
Posts: 3768

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


Arrives unpressed and minimally packaged.

 

#17 2013-04-21 10:50:54

4F Hepcat
THE Cat
Posts: 14333

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman

You may yet be an artist and not even know it.

Of course, the original intention of clothes was one of the mating and status game. The same as with civilization begins when we first started to cook and boil food.


Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound

 

#18 2013-04-22 04:50:10

Reckless Reggie
Member
Posts: 513

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


I'm Reckless Reggie of the Regent Palace,
I'm in love with every gal;
I flirt with Maudie and I flirt with Alice,
I'm a real life Regent's pal.

 

#19 2013-04-22 11:42:05

doghouse
Member
Posts: 5147

Re: David Niven - Last Hollywood Gentleman


Hide thy infants, hide thy Lady, and hide thy husband, alas they art forcing sexual intercourse upon the entire populace. - Wm Shakespeare

 

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