Chris Pine comes from a prestigious line of B-movie scream queens
A very entertaining sit-down with Jimmy Kimmel last night reinforced an already objective fact: Chris Pine is Best Chris
Film Features Chris Pine
Chris Pine—America’s best Chris who far surpasses rivals Evans, Pratt, and, of course, Hemsworth—was one of Jimmy Kimmel’s guests last night, and it was pretty damn delightful. Not that we are surprised in any way (see previous sentence regarding our Chris rankings), but the chat itself revealed some unexpected trivia about the actor’s Hollywood lineage.
Many Pine fans are probably already aware that his father, Robert Pine, is a veteran character actor known for shows like CHiPs and Days of Our Lives, but we were thrilled to be reminded of his equally, if not much cooler, maternal side of the family: Both Pine’s mother and grandmother are bona fide B-movie scream queens.
First up is Pine’s grandmother, Anne Gwynne, a veteran horror star of the 1930s and 1940s featured in films like The Black Cat, House of Frankenstein, and Teenage Monster. Early in the interview with Kimmel, Pine mentions Quentin Tarantino’s love of Gwynne’s movies, something the director talked about ad nauseam with Pine’s mother (more on her in a minute) at a party recently. One of Gwynne’s films is even featured in the background of a scene in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, in case you were thinking of a rewatch.
Then there’s Pine’s own mom, Gwynne Gilford, who popped up in wonderfully titled schlock such as Beware! The Blob and Satan’s School for Girls. “They’d obviously just discovered zoom [camera shots],” Pine says after watching a clip from the former flick for the first time.
It’s also probably worth mentioning that Gilford’s last big screen appearance was in 1987's live-action adaptation of Masters of the Universe, after which she moved on to practice psychotherapy—a normal career path for someone whose final film included characters named He-Man, Skeletor, and Evil-Lyn.
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18 Comments
Beware! The Blob directed by Larry Hagman and Satan’s School for Girls, produced by Aaron Spelling, had two future Charlie’s Angels in it.
Oh wow, I haven’t seen that BCTV logo in 30+ years! That was one of the 5 channels we got growing up!Also, Larry Hagman as in JR? huh. Neat!
Later releases advertised it as “The Film That J.R. Shot!”
… okay that’s not bad.
Is that Diane Keaton
that’d be nice, wouldn’t it?
If Chris Pine is the best Chris, then why is he telling fans at the Oscars that he’s the actual best Chris Chris Evans?Even the #2 Chris knows he’s #2.
Let’s face it, we have an embarrassment of Chris riches right now.
I agree with the embarrassment.
He’s the best, but only marginally over Evans and Hemsworth, who are all great.
So, the best Chris with the worst Jimmy. Curiouser and curiouser.
the Courtney Cox characters mom in He-Man.
Thank you, i was wondering.
Chris . . . honey . . . couldn’t you’ve picked a more flattering picture for your big headline on the prestigious AV Club?
I mean, I already know the answer to this, but can we please stop with this best/worse Chris nonsense? It long ago went past “amusing” into “annoying”.
I would think he and James Marsden get confused for each other a lot.
You say “characters named He-Man, Skeletor, and Evil-Lyn” as if that’s weird or something. Ten-year-old me and my bowl of after-school Cheerios would beg to differ.
Chris Evans is the best Chris, nuff said.