Article: Reeling: Sour can be sweet.(The Dallas Morning News)

Flannery O'Connor once said she shouldn't be in a wedding because she sometimes looked as though she "smelled something bad." Such looks may have held her back socially, but the Southern writer managed to get by.

So did one of Hollywood's greatest, sourest character actors _ Mercedes McCambridge.

No one in the `40s, `50s and `60s could look more like "something smelled bad" _ or be more menacing _ than McCambridge. Perhaps that's why she was chosen to be the voice of the possessed child in "The Exorcist."

McCambridge's two wildest performances, however, were as the gun-toting villainess of "Johnny Guitar" (1954) and the gender-bending biker in ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!