Bronson in the "Great Escape" years was nothing if not wiry, and could actually act, and was also damn hot!

Absolutely brilliant in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. It did kind of soldify his stoic killer persona, but he definitely had some chops once upon a time (er, so to speak). I can't blame him for coasting, though. He was definitely someone the suits were going to limit to action roles.

I actually meant, though, that I'd love to see Cary Grant in the Charles Bronson role. Lovely cognitive dissonance and all.

My understanding is that Turner stopped licensing the movies he owned to AMC once he put TMC on the air.

Someone's a big old meanie-pants.

My understanding is that Turner stopped licensing the movies he owned to AMC once he put TMC on the air.

Exactly right. Turner bought up the MGM library (and several other libraries from the golden studio age). When various leasing agreements with AMC expired, he simply used those libraries to found TCM. As I recall it, he got the libraries for a really cheap price. I couldn't believe how easy it was for him to snap up the rights.

At least colorization seems to have gone the way it deserved.

Turner bought up the MGM library (and several other libraries from the golden studio age).

Including, I think, a goodly chunk of the Warner library.

I've seen some good (fairly) old movies on AMC lately -- mainly '70s and early '80s.

There's also Fox Movie Channel, which shows 20th Century-Fox's library. Which does have quite a few light entertainment treasures.

Alas, I only get AMC. My cable system has no TCM.

I think my TCM is premium, so I don't have it. AMC is kind of bush league, but when you need to see a minor horror flick from the 70s about a hundred million times, they're the place to go.

One of the joys of having watched old TV shows in syndication during my teens was that I got to see a lot of actors before they were really famous. Charles Bronson did an episode of The Fugitive, as did Kurt Russell (as a kid) and Beau Bridges. I saw Martin Sheen, looking like a 14-year-old hoodlum, on Hawaii Five-O.

When I was in college, I happened to catch the end of an old Gidget episode while waiting for Jeopardy to come on, and I saw the boyfriend-of-the-week on the screen and said, "Oh, my God, it's Captain Furillo!" Sure enough, when the credits popped up a few minutes later, the name "Danny Travanty" was featured.