Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

A Stranger Among Us

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“Ty [Power] was everybody’s favorite person, and all agreed that he was that great rarity – a man who was just as nice as he seemed to be. With his flashing good looks, graceful carriage, and easy laughter, it was no surprise that he was a Pied Piper to women – they followed him in droves wherever he went – but Ty was a simple person, with a great down-to-earthness and modesty about himself.”
—David Niven
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Confessions of a Shomer Shabbos Hollywood Screenwriter

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Still from A Stranger Among Us, starring Melanie Griffith and Eric Thal. The film was written and produced by Robert J. Avrech and directed by Sidney Lumet.
Still from A Stranger Among Us, starring Melanie Griffith and Eric Thal. The film was written and produced by Robert J. Avrech and directed by Sidney Lumet.

Act I:
Exposition—In Which the Main Characters and Primary Drama Are Introduced

It’s Shabbat morning. I’m in synagogue, praying, where an undertone of chatter is definitely not the norm. For me, a frum-from-birth screenwriter, this synagogue, where my wife and I have been members since we moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, is my fortress of solitude. It’s where my Hollywood identity is securely tucked away and I can revert to my true self, which is: husband, father and grandfather, shomer Shabbos Jew, Religious Zionist and a man who tries to live a Torah life as best as he can.

In the midst of praying, a friend whispers: “I just saw that movie you made a few years ago. Very exciting story. ”

“Um, thanks so much.”

I figure the conversation is over and go back to my prayers.

“The thing I was wondering is,” continues my friend, “what’s she really like?” She being the famous and glamorous star of the movie my friend has recently seen on Netflix.

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Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s: The Nun’s Story

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Audrey Hepburn as Sister Luke, The Nun's Story, 1959.
Audrey Hepburn as Sister Luke, The Nun’s Story, 1959.

We continue and conclude our survey of the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1940s, click here.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1930s click here.

For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1920s click here.

20. The Nun’s Story, 1959

Think of Audrey Hepburn and chances are memory conjures the beloved actress as the chauffeur’s daughter in Sabrina, the socialite Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the restless Princess Ann in Roman Holiday, and the street urchin Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

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