Maltin on Movies Leonard Maltin & Jessie Maltin

Colm Meaney makes a vivid impression whenever he appears on stage, screen, or television. (His latest, Duchess, debuts on digital today, August 9.) More people probably know him from the two Star Trek series in which he appeared—The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine—but we remember him best as the father in The Commitments and its follow-ups The Van and The Snapper. Leonard and Jessie were pleased to find that he shares our fondness for that trilogy from Irish writer Roddy Doyle as well. But there’s little he hasn’t done, from John Huston’s final film The Dead to Con Air  and an episode of The Simpsons where he played (what else?) a quintessential Irish bartender. He spoke to us from his getaway home in Majorca, Spain!

You’ve been entertained by Jim Cummings at some point over the last forty years whether you know it or not: he is the voice of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, and countless other cartoon characters. And like his hero Mel Blanc, he is not merely “doing” voices—he’s acting and singing his heart out. Leonard and Jessie are especially fond of his vocalizing as Ray the Cajun firefly, who croons “Ma Belle Angeline” in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with someone we’ve both admired for years.

If his face is familiar, that’s because Raphael Sbarge has been working since he was a boy—in theater, television and film. His credits range from Murder, She Wrote and Risky Business to Fear the Walking Dead. More recently he has moved behind the camera, crafting documentaries like Only in Theaters, the story of Los Angeles’ beloved Laemmle Theaters chain. That’s the project that brought him in contact with Leonard and Jessie, who are happy to have him as this week’s guest.
 

If you enjoy watching classic films you’re probably acquainted with Alan Rode, prolific author, commentator (on numerous DVDs and Blu-rays), and host (with Eddie Muller) of the Noir City Festival, an annual event in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. He also hosts and programs the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival every year in Palm Springs, California. He has several books to his credit, including a biography of character actor Charles McGraw and his magnum opus, Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film. He is a longtime friend of the Maltin family, so Jessie and Leonard had a grand time comparing notes on all aspects of film buffery.

An Oscar winner (for Mask in 1985) and multiple Emmy winner (for various incarnations of Star Trek), Michael Westmore carries a name that is synonymous with makeup in Hollywood. He’s proud of his heritage, which began with his grandfather in the silent-film era and flourished in the 1930s, when his father and uncles ran the makeup departments at virtually every major studio. He studied art history in college, then his uncle Bud took him on as an apprentice at Universal in the early 1960s and he unexpectedly (or inevitably) wound up in the family business. Mike wears his accomplishments lightly and for all he has done he remains delightfully down-to-earth.
 

After starring in the TV series Royal Pains for eight seasons and appearing in recurring roles in shows ranging from Ally McBeal to The West Wing, Mark Feuerstein is ready to explode his good-guy image in the new MGM+ crime drama Hotel Cocaine. He’s never been so sleazy as this onscreen but as Jessie and Leonard quickly learned, in real life he’s a mensch who is devoted to his family and his craft. They all had fun during this fast-paced encounter, and hope that the feeling is contagious.