Bio for Gregor Turley
By Shane Rivers
The first movie I really remember was when I was 6 or 7 years old and I accompanied my older brothers to watch Paul Newman eat 50 eggs in Cool Hand Luke. Coming of age during the late ’60s and through the ’70s, I observed the transformation of Hollywood cinema from the factory-line output of the old studio system to the innovations and dynamics of maverick directors and independent filmmakers, creating in the 1970s one of the most fertile periods of moviemaking in history. Many of my favorite films and filmmakers came out of that time, and their influence is still felt today. One particular actor and role — Gene Hackman’s scene-stealing performance as the blind man in Young Frankenstein — inspired me to become an actor myself.
In addition to numerous plays, musicals, and other performances, I’ve appeared in a half-dozen short films, including the award-winning shorts New Clear Farm and Untimely, as well as two independent feature films, F.A.T. and The Blue Saloon. I’ve also been in numerous comedy videos on cable TV and the Internet, hosted a movie review show on local cable back in the ’90s, taught film class in a high school, and managed a video store. Currently I’m playing the lead role in a low-budget independent feature-length film being made, very slowly, in Dallas. Movies are part and parcel of my life, and it’s always a thrill to share in this endlessly fascinating art form.
Here’s a sampling of some of my all-time favorite films, in no particular order:
- Sunset Boulevard
- Strangers On A Train
- Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
- It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
- High And Low
- Chinatown
- If….
- Network
- A Clockwork Orange
- The Exorcist
- Alien
- The Right Stuff
- Brazil
- Blue Velvet
- Raising Arizona
- The Madness Of King George
- Unforgiven
- Schindler’s List
- The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
- There Will Be Blood
On the opposite end of the scale (and as proof for those who think I’m an idiot), here’s a short list of popular movies that I seriously HATED:
- Forrest Gump
- Scarface
- Braveheart
- American Beauty
- The Color Purple
- Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- The Thin Red Line
- Bowling For Columbine
- Borat
- The Happening
- The Dark Knight