Sins of omission

IN Lynn Smith’s “TV Breeds the New Male Star” [Dec. 9], she forgot about John Travolta’s transition from “Welcome Back, Kotter” and “Grease” to his first Oscar-nominated role in “Saturday Night Fever.”

That was bad enough.

But that she neglected to include five-time nominee and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington! The omission of his transition from “St. Elsewhere” to his Oscar-nominated performance in “Cry Freedom” (and let us not forgot his title of “Sexiest Man Alive”) is an outright crime.

Elaine Porter

Pasadena

*

WHILE no doubt amusing, the side-by-side articles by Lynn Smith and Peter Rainer [“Screen Test(osterone)”] discussing the male hero in the zeitgeist were ultimately negligible as neither mentioned our one bona fide contemporary male movie star: Will Smith.

This omission is particularly glaring this week as Hollywood prepares to start counting the receipts from “I Am Legend.”

The discussions of intelligent, talented, mature, sexy, accessible-to-both-genders, TV-to-big screen stars (“Fresh Prince” ring a bell?) are folly without Big Willie in the center of the conversation.

David Houde

West Hollywood