Six Degrees of Separation: from Will Smith to…

Smith 6°

… Bette Davis
Smith co- starred opposite Thandie Newton (1) in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006); a movie based on a real life account, with ‘Happiness’ purposely misspelled on the title; and Newton earlier appeared in Besieged (1998), a film directed by the famed, controversial auteur, Bernardo Bertolucci (2), who made the great bio-pic, The Last Emperor (1987), which starred Peter O’Toole (3), whose most acclaimed performance is his portrayal of T.E. Lawrence (4) in the bio-pic, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), which co-starred Claude Rains (5), who appeared in Now, Voyager (1942), along side Bette Davis (6).

… Giulietta Masina
Smith played a very good hearted, yet suicidal and depressive, character, in the movie, Seven Pounds (2008), which was directed by Gabriele Muccino (1), who also directed the Italian movie Ricordati Di Me (2003), which starred Monica Bellucci (2), who starred in the Oscar nominated, Malèna (2000), a film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (3), who also made Stanno Tutti Bene (1990), which starred Marcello Mastroianni (4), who earlier worked with the maestro of surrealistic Italian cinema, Federico Fellini (5), in La Dolce Vita (1960), and Fellini directed Giulietta Degli Spiriti (1965), in which the lead role was played by Giulietta Masina (6).

… Suchitra Krishnamurthy
Smith played a gay con man in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), which co-starred Stockard Channing (1), who appeared in The Venice Project (1999), which also starred Linus Roache (2), who played an Englishman living in South India towards the end of the British Raj; where he lets a local man take the blame for a crime he committed; in Before The Rains (2007), and the local man was played by actor Rahul Bose (3), who starred in English, August (1994), along with Tanvi Azmi (4), who played sister-in-law to actress Juhi Chawla (5) in Darr (1993), and Chawla did a special appearance in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994), in which the female lead was played by singer Suchitra Krishnamurthy (6).

Smith 6° (Pics)
… Jean Simmons
Smith played a con man who pretends to be Sidney Poitier’s (1) son in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), and Sidney Poitier starred in To Sir, with Love (1967); a movie about a black teacher who ends up teaching a group of unruly white kids in a school situated in the slums of London’s East End; which also starred singer Lulu (2); who also performed the title song in the film; and she performed the song ‘This Time’ for the movie Hot Millions (1968), which starred Peter Ustinov (3) who played the Roman General, Nero (4) in Quo Vadis (1951), which co-starred actress Deborah Kerr (5), who starred in Black Narcissus (1947), in which Jean Simmons (6) played an Indian girl.

… Ali MacGraw
Smith’s son Jaden Smith (1) appeared in The Karate Kid (2010), which was a remake of The Karate Kid (1984), where Ralph Macchio (2) played the original ‘Karate Kid’, and Macchio guest starred as himself in an episode of the television sit-com, How I Met Your Mother (2005- till date); in which the character played by Neil Patrick Harris (3), has his own opinion of who the real ‘Karate Kid’ of the original movie was; and Harris appeared in the television movie, The Man in the Attic (1995), which was based on a true story, opposite Anne Archer (4), who starred in Green Ice (1981) with Ryan O’Neal (5), who starred in heart breaking, tragic, Love Story (1970), along with Ali MacGraw (6).

… Desiree Matthews
Smith played boxer Muhammad Ali (1), in the bio-pic, Ali (2001), previously David Ramsey (2) played the famed boxer in a television bio-pic, Ali: An All American Hero (2000), and Ramsey guest starred in the television crime series, Dexter (2006 – till date), where the lead, titular, character is played by Michael C. Hall (3), who stars in the new biographical film, Kill your Darlings (2013) where Daniel Radcliffe (4) plays the famed poet Allen Ginsberg (5) of the Beat Generation, and in Howl (2010); a movie based on Ginsberg obscenity trial, Desiree Matthews (6) has a guest role.

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense ()

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