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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