Sally Ann Howes from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is dead to me!

She got a lot of dick in her time.

R1, leave it to the datalounge to memorialize her that way....

What of it, R2?

She had a great chitty but she couldn't bang forever.

I thought she was lovely and I loved CCBB . That being said,Im sick to death of you bitches linking to shit that you have to sign up for to see. Im not giving untold sites my name and email .I get enough shit as it is.

R4 - I usually feel that way, but in OP's defense, this news broke fairly recently and there aren't a ton of obits published yet. The Times seemed to be ahead of a lot of others.

Anyway, if you've never seen Sally Ann in NY City Opera's production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music, get thee to YouTube. She is FABULOUS as Desiree -- the whole cast is wonderful, really.

My favorite song she sings in the film.

lucky they got ALNMusic on tape / there isn't a lot of footage of her considering all her credits. She was of another era / sad to see them go

My brother maintained that Baroness Bomburst had a better body but Truly Scrumptious premiering to be a wind up doll was one of the hottest things of all time.

.....

I got to attend dress rehearsal for The Dead at the Ahmanson years ago, and she was in the cast. She was a terrific stage actress.

It must have frustrated her that Julie Andrews had such an amazing career....... and Sally would have always been second choice for the same roles...... I wonder why she basically dropped film after CCBB?

She's truly deceased.

Truly, truly deceased.

She shared the screen with Vivien

I liked her as a child actress in the British horror film Dead of Night

Yes, R14 she was fresh and doe-eyed. Like another Jean Simmons.

R11 could it have been Pauline Kael? in her review of CCBB she said Howes has that cold princess look that moviemakers have always foisted upon us ...

[quote] It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Sally Ann Howes of West Palm Beach, Florida, who passed away on December 19, 2021, at the age of 91, leaving to mourn family and friends. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family. You may also light a candle in honor of Sally Ann Howes. Sally Ann Howes; July 20, 1930 - December 19, 2021

There's a nice scene in Belfast (2021) where the family goes to the movies to see CCBB and sing along with the title tune.

She was a doll.

She was Truly Scrumptious

Howes goes through the romantic motions with Van Dyke and the maternal ones with the kids, but there is no real sentiment between players -VARIETY

<- it's a kiddie movie- did they want them to dry-hump?

She was...stiff.

R21 She was a singer more than an actress.

You can't expect a refined Englishwoman to have "real sentiment" towards a gurning American and his brand of simplistic slapstick.

R24 address your concerns to VARIETY

Ugly Anscher must be suicidal

She wasn't half as photgenic as Jean Simmons.

*photogenic

She was briefly engaged to DL fave Jeffrey Hunter. I wonder why they didn't make it down the aisle.

Like Barbara Cook, she seemed to grow into her eyes - a more attractive woman in middle age than in her ingenue years.

^

Why? How?

I know he went to Britain to make that weird broken-backed film called 'Sailor of the King' in 1953.

She's very unmemorable in CCBB except for her beautiful singing voice.

The only person at all who gives a memorable performance in CCBB, as Pauline Kael pointed out, is Anna Quayne as the Baroness.

No. Hunter and Howes were engaged in the late 1960s.

With Bea, Barbra and Carol.

[quote]The only person at all who gives a memorable performance in CCBB, as Pauline Kael pointed out, is Anna Quayne as the Baroness.

*Quayle*

Was Christopher Adler gay?

R22 the pic at R35 looks more kinky than kiddie

Her affair with Steve Lawrence during the Broadway run of What Makes Sammy Run? was recently discussed on DL.

"The only person at all who gives a memorable performance in CCBB is Anna Quayne as the Baroness."

Fuck off, BITCH!!!!!

Did she linger, or did she die tout suite?

It seems her first husband was somebody called 'Maxwell Coker' was a dancer in 'Oklahoma' on Broadway in the 40s.

Her second was Richard Adler who co-wrote 'The Pajama Game' and 'Damn Yankees'. He staged the JFK birthday at Madison Square Garden in '62 that included Marilyn Monroe. And a show called 'A Mother's Kisses' featured Bea Arthur and Bernadette Peters which closed before getting to Broadway.

She had a wonderfully clear soprano voice back in 1960.

r23 - done in one take

I didn't know she was so accomplished.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Sally Ann Howes delivered a haunting rendition of Toyland on album seven of The Great Songs of Christmas by Great Artists of Our Time, which was produced for Goodyear by Columbia Special Products. Her descant starting at about 01:15 always seemed very ethereal to me. (P.S. - I have no idea who the family is in this video but the audio is crystal clear.)

I never cared for CCBB outside of the music box scene, which has a pathos to it that surpasses the rest of the film.

Was Barbara Windsor's husband some sort of "gay walker"?

[quote]I never cared for CCBB outside of the music box scene, which has a pathos to it that surpasses the rest of the film.

you now she did it in ONE TAKE?

*know, not now

[quote]The latter song was memorably performed as she danced on a music box. And Howes told US TV show host and actress Rosie O'Donnell she was proud to have got it down in one take, especially as she had lied about being able to dance in order to get the role.

^Oh, dear . . .

She was Scrumptious, Truly.

R49, yes I was aware of that, thanks.

Really, r43? That's *very* impressive to get that on the first take. I wonder how many hours of rehearsal went into it.

Sally Ann Howes would probably find the "dead to me" heading in her thread distasteful.

She was a handsy, kneesy gal.

She came across as very jokey and fun in latter day interviews, usually re Chitty.

Kwamina

R50 At first glance I thought that was Jamie Donnelly

Howe appeared in a well-regarded supernatural film Dead of Night (1945) An omnibus film with 5 supernatural tales that surely influenced the Amicus films of the 60s/70s. as well as the opening scene of Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1959) and Magic (1978) with Anthony Hopkins

[quote] Sally Ann Howes would probably find the "dead to me" heading in her thread distasteful.

Yes, R55, and the first half-dozen posts are foul-mouthed and disrespectful.

She had a sense of humor, I doubt she would care about the "dead to me" headline (which we use for all dead celebrities.....you must be a newbie)

[quote] Sally Ann Howes would probably find the "dead to me" heading in her thread distasteful.

Seeing as she's dead, that doesn't matter, does it?

Truly Scrumptious dead!

I'm devastated, the world is indeed ending

This.

The actress-singer is dead! (With apologies to Paul Shaffer. Probably no one else remembers that bit, on Letterman, though. "The actor-singer is dead!")

[quote]An omnibus film with 5 supernatural tales that surely influenced the Amicus films of the 60s/70s. as well as the opening scene of Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1959) and Magic (1978) with Anthony Hopkins

As well as the comedy, Knock On Wood (1954) in which Danny Kaye is a ventriloquist whose dummy starts "saying" rude things and seems to be taking over. And The Dummy, an episode of The Twilight Zone, with Cliff Robertson.

She looks quite beautiful in her main picture on Wikipedia.

R6 It's hard to hear her with that enormous hyper-active orchestra drowning out her words and emotions.

Really, no one got my tout suite joke? That was pure gold!

[quote] She had a sense of humor

Then she would probably find the whole "dead to me" thing stupid and unfunny as well.

Well, she found her marriage vows stupid and funny as hell.

R71, Whore!

Post No. #15

[quote] What's more Steve almost killed the goose that laid the golden egg (which isn't to say that he's a golden egg) by having an affair with Sally Ann Howes, who turned 83 two days ago. Evidently he has a thing for older women. Happy birthday, Sally!

R73 Is that gossip true?

Was the English song bird fornicating with the sleazy Las Vegas lounge lizard?

She was sucking on Steve's toot-sweet?

I remember her.

They called her "Sally the Street Howe."

Nice girl.

I’m so curious about how Jeffrey Hunter was in person. I can’t find any interviews with him on YouTube… he’s so mysterious. I can only see his film and tv performances. She seems lucky to have got him while he was still so handsome.

^ He was very handsome but she was marvellously attractive at that time.

Her body thickened up in the late 60s after she played in that well-publicised kids movie with goofy Dick Vandike.

R77, Jeffrey Hunter's widow was actress Emily McLaughlin, who elder gays will remember as nurse Jessie Brewer on "General Hospital".

Even as a child I thought CCBB was terrible. I tried watching it recently and it was as terrible as I remembered. Helpmann is the only good thing in it. He is wonderful.

[quote] CCBB was terrible

It is too long.

It was written by a sadist Ian Fleming and the adaption was by the ghoulish Ronal Dahl.

Ian Fleming stole ideas from others— such as The Brothers Grimm; the mechanical doll is stolen from The Tales of Hoffman.

IT stars the awful gurning Van Dyke who's like a replica of Danny Kaye.

"Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

1. Both written in 1964

2. Both written by creepy men

3. Both feature "Steampunk" factories which manufacture sugary food for children

[quote]Even as a child I thought CCBB was terrible.

I ADORED it

I went back several times. Had the record. Knew all the songs. Had a toy Chitty.

I loved cars as a kiddie...so magical cars did it for me.

then came the Love Bug.

I didn't get the point of why the back of the car resembled a boat.

I hated CCBB too, and Willie Wonka. I loved Mary Poppins, that was more my speed, or something. I don't get the Dick Van Dyke hate ot the Danny Kaye hate, for that matter. They both made me laugh and, at least then, were considered classy, sophisticated comics, not the lower class, anything for a cheap laugh, type - and good actors.

I'm in my 30s and you people really make me feel old. never heard of this fish!

R86 Why does that make you feel old?

If you use "fish," you're already committed to toxic old queendom.

This thread has motivated me to seek out material on Sally Ann Howes and forced me to change my old perceptions.

My old perception was that Howes was the 'cheap version of Julie Andrews'.

But I'm now seeing that Howes's singing was just as good and strong as Andrews because she did lots more stage work.

Howes also married better by choosing established theatre people instead of poor Julie's decision to marry that awful L.A. slapstick vulgarian.

I've only seen the one picture of them together (but it's unfortunately unflattering to Sally).

Well, lavender marriages are a more tricky prospect.

[Quote] It must have frustrated her that Julie Andrews had such an amazing career....... and Sally would have always been second choice for the same roles...

Won't you spare a thought for Anne Rogers?

It's too bad they had to be compared so much. Andrews had and has enormous charisma. She's a mediocre actress (ever see the awful TV version of On Golden Pond with Christopher Plummer in which they were both bad? It was quickly forgotten). But wonderful talent in other areas. Howes probably was great on stage but pales on screen. Not bad, quite nice, but no big star quality.

Just One of Those Things / Free Again

43:25

^ Wow, that song 'Free Again' was so dramatic. But she retained perfect diction while entering into an operatic upper register.

I'd love to know what microphones they were using; I think of Crosby needing close microphones but Sally obviously didn't need that much amplification.

R89

They were photographed together in 1958

[quote]I didn't get the point of why the back of the car resembled a boat.

Obviously.

R89 RIght you are..... I think she made a very smart decision to focus on live theatre from the 60s on... unfortunate she didn't have one signature comeback role.

Well Julie's film choices quickly turned disastrous and then she married Edwards which was another disastrous decision. After those rotten movies she made like Star! and Lili she should have returned to the stage while her voice was reaching its maturity. Instead she was just spinning wheels and probably could have done the original cast of Night Music instead of making crap like Tamarind Seed. Prince wanted very much to work with her.

She Loves Me with Van Dyke was one of the great might have beens. They could have done it on Broadway. There was still a huge audience for them in the theater.

I like Van Dyke and Kaye too. But what a nightmare Kaye was while trying to make himself out to be a great humanitarian. I did see him in Two By Two and he was a lot of fun in an awful show. He made it all about him and the audience was fine with that.

I think this tune is taken from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

^ That's The Wizard of Oz. Emerald City sequence. Leave your gay card, get out and don't look back or you'll be turned into a pillar nacreous permacum.

^I like emerald.

[quote]Prince wanted very much to work with her.

She would have been great in Purple Rain.

Countess Malcolm is too small a role for Julie Andrews. And she is not a Desiree.

Some English actors project too much Englishness and it makes them unlikely American movie stars or international movie stars. I think Sally Ann Howes was one of these, Julie Andrews was not. But I don't know if I can explain what I mean. There are just certain English performers in all fields that don't translate as well to American tastes as others. They tend to register best in English movies. TV, music vs international. They remain sort of provincial. Celia Johnson vs. Deborah Kerr, for ex.

Johnson was plain. That alone made her not a leading lady to Hollywood.

Sally Ann Howes was competent but unexciting. There was nothing distinctive about her.

R104, You mean, like Tessie O'Shea?

It's hard to say about Johnson. Brief Encounter was a big success in the states and she was a great actress. I believe she had very little interest in spending much time in the US. She would rather spend time in her garden.

[quote] Johnson was plain. That alone made her not a leading lady to Hollywood.

Yes, she had a certain mole-eyed quality. But I reckon she was happy to be a housewife to her distinguished husband.

I used to live with a man who told me he had singing lessons from Sally Ann Howes. Now that would’ve been in London in the 1980s.

I’m not sure how much he would’ve learned seeing as how he was only a light tenor suitable for Rogers and Hammerstein and she was obviously a full-throated operatic soprano.

Why not? She was a light soprano suitable for Broadway musicals.

[Quote] Tenzie, Montreal, 2 days ago Two confirmed bachelors.

Only 140 up votes. People see what they want to see.

Maybe Celia Johnson was a bad example but there are others, from Anna Neagle, Phyllis Calvert, Margaret Lockwood and Gracie Fields in the 40s, to Diana Wynyard in the 30s and Diana Dors in the 50s, who actually tried Hollywood with varying degrees of success/failure.

Don't ask. I don't know her.

R113 Did Margaret Lockwood do anything in the USA?

R115 She was in Susannah Of The Mounties with Shirley Temple, and some other stuff for Fox.

Do-Re-Mi.

She was said to have slept with all her leading men

And it was said that R118 attempted to seduce a different man every day.

R118, She was a slut.

R118 is a slut.

[quote]Sally Ann Howes from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is dead to me!

Oh, at this point who isn't?

She was on Mission:Impossible last week as...Beth.

R118 Dick Van Dyke?

R123 Wow, she's wearing some big hair there.

I guess some groomer told her she needed to distract the viewers from her forthright (if not masculine) jawline.

[quote]She was said to have slept with all her leading men.

At the same time?

[quote] She was said to have slept with all her leading men

Fools have said that people they don't know slept with all their leading men.

R117 The pianist and Sally were struggling throughout that rendition.

Peter Lupus @R123 yum!

The back, r125...

Peter Lupus nude.

Julie Andrews slept with all her leading men too including Rex Harrison and Duane Chase.

R132, Even Rock Hudson?

No he slept with Blake. How do you think he got the part?

She died almost 2 months ago. Let the bitch rest in peace already.

R116 I hadn't realised Margaret Lockwood made two US movies in 1939. And I thought I was an expert of British stars.

I guess she was called over after her highly entertaining movie 'Lady Vanishes'. And of course Hitchcock was lured over just afterwards.