Born into one of the great acting dynasties of all time in 1954, Robert Carradine would count amongst his actor siblings brother Keith Carradine and half-brother David Carradine, and would himself turn in memorable performances well-worthy of his famous family name on both big screen and small, before tragically taking his own life earlier this week, after many years of struggling with a bi-polar disorder. In his honor and memory, we'll hear music from the film with which he made his big screen debut in 1969, The Cowboys—which starred John Wayne and carried a rousing score by John Williams—as well as from a 1980 film which featured one of his finest performances, Sam Fuller's The Big Red One—in which he starred (along with Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill) as a soldier and aspiring writer based on Fuller himself (right down to the constant chomping on a cigar) and who narrates the film. While we're at it, we'll also hear music from one of the many great films featuring Robert's father—and patriarch of the Carradine acting dynasty—John Carradine, both by the legendary John Ford and featuring scores by the great Alfred Newmann: Stagecoach and The Grapes of Wrath.
Rounding out the program will be our major work of the afternoon, a remarkable symphony by the 20 year old Austrian composer Hans Rott, whose music is seldom heard today, but which, in its time, was highly esteemed and drew significant praise from both Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
