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TY, Thel: Films of Thelma Ritter
Paperback
Series: Classic Hollywood Snapshots
Entertainment & Performing ArtsActing & AuditioningFilm Guides & Reference
Publisher Price: $12.88
ISBN13: 9781763810075
Publisher: Bent Banana Books
Published: May 14 2026
Pages: 114
Weight: 0.38
Height: 0.24 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Featuring 280 curated photographs, this definitive archive celebrates the unforgettable career of a brilliant Hollywood character actor.
More than just a tribute, this book is a rallying cry to award Thelma Ritter the Academy Honorary Award she deserves-57 years after she died.
Thelma Ritter was in her mid-forties when she appeared in her first film, the perennial Christmas favourite Miracle on 34th Street 1947. Ritter was Every Mother, and she crafted a career playing working-class women, usually speaking in the vernacular of her beloved New York borough of Brooklyn.
In an extraordinary career, Ritter received a record six Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress. And she won . . .
. . . None.
Award-winning film noir cultural analyst Bernie Dowling is campaigning to set the record straight. TY, Thel is the campaign documentation.
What you'll find inside:
- 280+ Eye-catching Photographs: A stunning collection of Thel, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and the creators of classic Hollywood.
- Deep-Dive Film History: Reviews of eighteen seminal films, including:
- All About Eve 1950: This noir satire does for theater what Sunset Boulevard did for film.
- Pickup on South Street 1953: A travesty that Ritter did not win the Oscar for one of the greatest character roles in the history of film noir.
- Rear Window 1954: Ritter plays a nurse and budget philosopher in this Alfred Hitchcock thriller.
- Pillow Talk 1959: Doris Day trades naughty banter with Rock Hudson and Ritter.
- The Misfits 1961: The cowboy neo-noir featuring a sparkling duo of Ritter and Marilyn Monroe.
- Birdman of Alcatraz 1962: Ritter's character arc as the mother of the never-to-be-released Birdman is as fine a piece of acting as you will see.
- How the West Was Won 1962: This blockbuster Western had some of the biggest stars in the business, and Ritter held her head high with the best of them.
- The Forgotten Period Piece: A look at Thelma's second-to-last film-a 1960s social-issues neo-noir about a New York train ride from hell.
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