The Return of Kate MacMurray
Remembering her father with film, food, and wine
By Wes Marshall, Fri., April 11, 2008
Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival-goers fell in love with Kate MacMurray two years ago, when she presented her father Fred's film Double Indemnity along with her MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir in an event at the Alamo Drafthouse called Film Noir and Pinot Noir. The following year, the crowd overflowed into a larger theatre as she presented her father in The Apartment.
Completing the trifecta of the only movies where Fred MacMurray played a cad, Ms. MacMurray will be back this year with The Caine Mutiny. As always, Kate will provide context along with crowd-pleasing remembrances.
The Caine Mutiny was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, and was based on the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. Fred MacMurray made the movie during an especially poignant time in his life. Filming started June 3, 1953, and continued through the end of August; 17 days after it began shooting, his beloved wife, Lillian Lamont, died after a protracted illness. They had just finished celebrating their 17th anniversary. Even showing up for work was some kind of miracle, yet MacMurray turns in the most perfectly nuanced performance of his career.
Of course, the quality of the wine and food will be a match for the film. We'll have several of MacMurray Ranch's best wines, paired precisely with a five-course meal from guest chefs Aimee Olson (the Texas Culinary Academy's head of pastry), Robert Brady (of the excellent Ventana restaurant at Texas Culinary Academy), and Lawrence Kocurek (chef at Roy's), as well as the Alamo's Trish Eichelberger and John Bullington. After the film, I'll moderate a Q&A session with Kate. During her last two Q&As, we heard a number of tasty Hollywood tidbits. Be sure to ask her about how John Wayne figures into MacMurray's life during the time between Lamont's death and MacMurray's marriage to Kate's mother, June Haver.
The event takes place Thursday, April 10, at 7pm, at the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz, 320 E. Sixth. Tickets are $65. For last-minute tickets, call 685-8428.
