If you've never seen MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS, it's not your fault: this twisted little 1945 noir from director Joseph H. Lewis (of the equally twisted GUN CRAZY and THE BIG COMBO) is extremely hard to find nowadays, even on VHS (a quick search of eBay and Amazon turns up zilch). Sadly, Columbia Pictures now has a reason to restore and reissue the little-seen gem: it's star, the inimitable Nina Foch, passed away Friday at the age of eighty-four.
I wish I'd been paying attention last October when two of Foch's most celebrated performances (in JULIA ROSS and Rudolph Mate's THE DARK PAST) were screened as part of UCLA's "Cool Drinks of Water: Columbia's Noir Girls of the '40s and '50s". Though I'm sure both films will eventually get spiffed-up for DVD, there is nothing like watching a good print of a great noir projected in a darkened theater - especially when you've got a formidable female like Foch dominating the screen. The lady had a way about her.
Horror aficionados might remember her from Columbia's THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (with Bela Lugosi) or CRY OF THE WEREWOLF, but Foch is probably best known for her seductive turn as Milo Roberts, Gene Kelly's wealthy benefactor in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, or for discovering Moses floating down the Nile in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. She also received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her sympathetic secretary portrayal in Robert Wise's EXECUTIVE SUITE. Six years later, she was deeply unsympathetic in SPARTACUS.
It's a shame that Foch never caught fire as a movie star (the above-linked profile by Patrick Goldstein suggests she might've been a little too strong-willed for the boys' club), but she did ultimately find her niche at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, where she mentored many up-and-coming filmmakers via her "Directing the Actor" course. It's a proud legacy for a woman whose onscreen work has largely gone underappreciated. Time to remedy that, Columbia.
For more on Ms. Foch, here's Arbogast's overview of her career.
