100 Greatest Movie On Screen Couples & Modern Old Hollywood Show Biz Families
List based on Turner Classic Movies' "Leading Couples: The Most Unforgettable Screen Romances of the Studio Era" book. Only one repeated person added and excluding couples with only one movie credit together.
Homorable Mentions Old Hollywood Screen Couples
-IreneDunne/CaryGrant -JohnBarrymore/DoloresCostello
-JohnPayne/RhondaFleming
-HedyLamarr/CharlesBoyer (Algiers 1938)
They were the vision of doomed, exotic romance so vivid that their one film together would haunt these two onscreen lovers for the rest of their lives.
-IngridBergman/HumphreyBogart (Casablanca 1942)
The cynic and his long-lost flame became a pair of lovers that would always have Paris in the screen's greatest romantic thriller.
-MaeWest/WCFields (My Little Chickadee 1940)
There never was a high concept more stratospheric than the teaming of the screen's most bombastic con artist with the woman who cornered the market on sex appeal.
-VivienLeigh/ClarkGable (Gone With the Wind 1939)
Theirs was the ultimate battle of masculine vs. feminine in an epic tale of love, war, and home that captivated fans from the moment the film was announced.
-GraceKelly/CaryGrant (To Catch a Thief 1955)
The Riviera has never been as glamorous or as sexy as it was when these two went searching for a jewel thief and found romance along the way.
-GretaGarbo/RobertTaylor (Camille 1936)
Through sheer physical presence, they turned a tale of doomed love into one of the screen's greatest romances.
-RitaHayworth/OrsonWelles (The Lady from Shanghai 1947)
A unique marriage of beauty and brains reached the screen when Hollywood's greatest maverick placed one of the screen's most iconic screen sirens at the center of this cinematic hall of mirrors.
-AudreyHepburn/GregoryPeck (Roman Holiday 1953)
The ethereal waif and the all-American Joe, they played out the perfect opposites-attract courtship in a tragicomic whirlwind romance against the backdrop of the Eternal City.
-ElizabethTaylor/PaulNewman (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958)
Neither tragedy nor scandal could upstage two of Hollywood's biggest stars in what would be their only onscreen encounter.
-LanaTurner/JohnGarfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946)
As proclaimed "Their Love Was a Flame That Destroyed," a clear reflection of the obsessive and dangerous affair shared onscreen by the pair.
-FayWray/KingKong (King Kong 1933)
As her blonde allure enslaved his sheer animal force, theirs was the definitive Hollywood version of Beauty and the Beast.
This list is a list of Old Hollywood actors with relatives that are in New Hollywood.
---Old Hollywood Memoirs
-AdolpheMenjou AndyWilliams AngelaLansbury AliceFaye AnitaLoos AlecGuinness AvaGardner AnthonyQuinn AnneBaxter AnnMiller AudreyMeadows -ArthurMarx -AEHotchner AnnaLee BillieHoliday BarbaraSinatra -BetteDavis -BillieBurke -BasilRathbone BobHope BurgessMeredith -BusterKeaton BessieLove BrianAherne BuddyEbsen BrookeHayward BobColonna ChrisCostello C.H.Scott ChrisLemmon ChuckJones CoyWatsonJr CharltonHeston ColinBriggs ClaireBloom CarollSpinney CharlesBickford ChrisWellesFeder -CharlieChaplin CherylCrane ChollyAtkins ClaytonMoore CammieKingConlon CedricHardwicke ChristiannaRickard DonRickles DorothyLamour DickieMoore DinahShore DannyThomas -DianaSerraCaryBabyPeggy DizzyGillespie -DouglasFairbanksSr-Jr DorothyBridges DanFord -DianaBarrymore DebbieReynolds DeanaMartin DavidNiven DennisDevine -DorisEatonTravis EleanorKeaton -EstherRalston EveArden -EdithHead EdwardDmytryk ErrolFlynn ErnestBorgnine EdMcMahon EthelWaters -EdwardArnold -EdwardGRobinsonSr-Jr ElizabethTaylor EthelMerman EvelynKeyes -EthelBarrymore EstherWilliams -FayWray -FredAstaire FrankCoghlanJr FrancesMarion FredericaSagorMaas FrancesFarmer FarleyGranger FredAllen FrancisFord GeneAutry -GrouchoMarx GaleStorm GeorgiaHale GloriaStuart GeorgeMontgomery -GloriaSwanson -GingerRogers GeneTierney GeorgeSanders GeorgeBurns GypsyRoseLee GregoryPeck *GaryCrosby -HarpoMarx -HarryCarey -HaroldLloyd HowardKeel -HeddaHopper HarryBelafonte HughOBrian HenryFonda HumeCronynHenryWilcoxon IdaLupino IsabellaRossellini IronEyesCody -JackOakie JanePowell JaneRussell JosephCotten JanetLeigh -JackieCooper JamesArness -JessicaRains JamesCagney JanisPaige JuneAllyson -JulietBenitaColman JohnHuston JoanBenny -JudyLewis JamesGarner JenniferGrant JoanFontaine JonathanWinters -JoanBennett JimmyDean JohnLahr JohnnyWeissmullerJr JuneForay JamesMason JohnnyCash JimBackus JohnWayneEnterprises KarlMalden KirkDouglas KittyCarlisle KathleenWilliamsGable -KatharineHepburn -LillianGish LucilleBall -LitaGreyChaplin LucaDotti -LionelBarrymore LaurenceOlivier LornaLuft -LinaBasquette -EdwardFunkLorettaYoung -LouiseBrooks LeatriceGilbertFountain -LeslieRuthHoward LanaTurner LaurenBacall LindaBennett MelBlanc MarilynMonroe -MariaRiva -MaxineMarx -MackSennett -MaryPickford -MaryAstor MarthaHyerWallis MaeClarke -MarieDressler -MyrnaLoy MichaelSellersSarahSellers MadgeBellamy -MelvynDouglas -MaeWest -MarleneDietrich MaryCooperJanis -MarionDavies MiltonBerle MaureenO'Hara MarlonBrando MoeHoward -MiriamMarxAllen MichaelLindsayHogg MickeyRooney MargaretTalbot MarilynKnowlden MauriceChevalier MarciaLincolnRudolph 'MonikaHenreid NedWynn MaureenStapleton NathanielCrosby NancySinatra NormanLloyd NatashaGregson NellShipman OssieDavis OscarLevant OmarSharifJr OliviaDeHavilland PeterFord PatO'Brien PatsyRuthMiller PaulHenreid PeterUstinov PatriciaSeatonLawford PiperLaurie PolaNegri PaulEMix PriscillaPresley PatriciaNeal PhilSilvers PaulRobeson PaulNewman -PatriciaZiegfieldStephenson PatriciaMedinaCotten RockBrynner RoyRogers RubyDee RominaPower RoryFlynn 'RonChaney RicciMartin RichardArlen RobertMitchum RobertLHarned RosemaryClooney RayMilland RockHudson RitaMoreno RonaldReagan RayCharles RalphBellamy RobertStack RodneyDangerfield RicardoMontalbán ''RichardDJensen RaymondMassey SterlingHayden ShelleyWinters RosalindRussellChrisChase SidCaesar SidneyPoitier SusanRobertson SeanHepburnFerrer SophiaLoren StewartGranger SchuylerJohnson -ShirleyTempleBlack StephenHumphreyBogart SheldonLeonard StacyWebb TonyCurtis TinaSinatra TarquinOlivier TonyRandall TishaSterling -TallulahBankhead VirginiaMayo Vincent-VictoriaPrice VictoriaRiskin VeronicaLake VirginiaHoldenGaines WilliamGargan WoodyStrode WalterSlezak -WillRogers -WilliamWellmanJr -WC&RonaldJFields WyattMcCrea YvonneDeCarlo YehudiMenuhin SharonPrestonFolta 'AnthonyBalducci 'AxelNissen 'AllanREllenberger 'ArmondFields 'AlanKRode AnneHelenPetersen 'BenOhmart 'BeverlyLinet 'BettyLee 'BrianKellow 'BartlettLeeKassabaum 'BillCassara 'BrianHarker 'CharlesHigham 'BoFoxworthWilliamJMann 'ChristinaRice 'CliffAliperti 'CarltonJacksonJillWatts 'CharlesWinecoff 'CurtisNunn 'CharlesAffron 'CharlesTranberg "CamilleFForbes 'CharlotteChandler 'CharlesLEpting 'CooperCGraham 'ConstanceRosenblum 'ClaudiaSassen 'ConstanceValisHill 'CarolLynnScherling 'CharlesWinecoff 'CCourtneyJoyner ''DavidStenn 'DonaldSpoto 'DavidKoenig 'DavidBret 'DonGSmith 'DavidDalton 'DavidKaufman 'DavidWeddle 'DavidSoren 'DavidAFury 'DanVanNeste 'DavidRothel 'DavidLazar 'DavidRayvernAllen 'DesleyDeacon 'DonaldDewey 'DavidCTucker 'DavidBowers 'DwayneEpstein 'DennisMSpragg 'DerekSculthorpe 'DavidARedfern 'DavidWMenefee 'DavidASmithAudieMurphy DebraWarren 'EveGoldenJoanCraig 'EJFleming 'EricWoodard 'EdwardZEpstein 'EstelEforgan 'EdwardWatz 'FredrickTucker 'FrankCastelluccio 'FranklinJarlett 'GeneArceri 'GavinLambert 'GregoryWilliamMank 'GaryDonRhodesArthurLennig 'GaryKoca 'GaryFishgallKateBuford 'GeneFowlerJohnKobler 'GeorgeEells 'GaryCarey 'GrantHayterMenzies 'GiancarloStampalia 'GarryBerman 'HectorArceJeffreyMeyers 'HenryBushkin 'HollyVanLeuven 'HerbertGGoldman 'JayFultz 'JCAllen 'JonathanGould 'JohnOller 'JimHaskins 'JamesCurtis 'JamesSpada 'JohnPascoe 'JerryVermilye 'JeffCodori 'JimSteinmeyer 'JeffGordon 'JRJones -'JeromeLawrence 'JimManago 'JohnFranceschina 'JohnStangeland 'JordanYoung 'JoanWesterAnderson 'JohnMiller 'JaredBrown 'JamesEWiseJr 'JamesBawden 'KellyRBrown 'KateGaddis 'KathleenVestuto 'JoelBlumberg&SandraGrabman 'KennethBarrow 'LawrenceJQuirk 'KevinScottCollierMichaelFBlake 'LindaMWaggoner 'LeslieWolfson 'LarrySwindellRobertNott 'LainiGiles 'LindaBHall 'LynnKear 'LonDavis 'LarrySeanKinder 'LarryTelles 'LawrenceGrobel 'LouiseCarleyLewisson 'LauraWagner 'LauraPetersenBalogh LaraGabrielle 'MonaZSmith 'MichaelTroyan 'MarcEliot 'MarthaGilMontero 'MarioDeMarco 'MichaelSethStarr 'MarshaDaly 'MichelangeloCapua 'MichaelMunn 'MichaelBDruxman 'MaryAnnAnderson "MaggieMcCormick 'MilukaRivera 'MichelleVogel 'MiltMachlinJonBradshaw 'MichaelHPrice 'MichaelPhelps 'NilsHanson 'MichaelGAnkerich 'MichaelDRinella 'NeilPettigrew 'PeterJLevinson 'NeilGrantJeanGarceauWarrenGHarris 'PeterShelley 'RobEdelman 'PeterBogdanovich 'RaymondStrait 'RachelASchildgen 'RichardKirby 'RupertAlistair 'RichardBuller 'RobertJLentz 'RichardKoszarski 'RonaldLDavis 'RichardALertzman 'ShawnLevy 'SarahBaker 'ScottOBrien 'StephenMichaelShearer 'SimonCallow 'SharonRich 'StephenDYoungkin 'SamanthaBarbas 'SteveRydzewski 'SteveMassa 'ScottAllenNollenStephenJacobs 'StevenGlennOchoaKCMotsinger 'StephenBourne 'ScottMacGillivray 'SandraGrabman 'StoneWallaceLewisYablonsky 'ScottEyman 'TimothyDeanLefler 'TonyThomas 'TonyToranLouMiano 'TimLussier 'TheresaStRomain 'TomHutchinson 'TomBrokaw ToddHughes 'VincentCurcio 'VictoriaWilson VictoriaAmador 'WilliamDonati 'WesDGehring 'WilliamMacEwen 'WilliamHarper 'WhitneyStine 'WendyWarwickWhite JeanineBasingerSamWasson **BettyLynn ClaudeJarmanJr HayleyMills MimiGibson RonHoward --NancyOlsonLivingston --RobynCoburn --FMichaelMoore
~~ScreenClassics ~~HollywoodLegends ~~ScarewcrowFilmmakers
--RitaHayworth-'AnnaMayWong-JosephineBaker-'CaroleLombard-'FattyArbuckle-'GretaGarbo-JackieGleason-JamesDean-JudyGarland-'RudolphValentino-RichardBurton-SammyDavisJr-SteveMcQueen-VivienLeigh-'MontgomeryClift-BuddyHolly-CharlieParker-MarioLanza JayneMansfield-'SalMineo-SamCooke-WillRogers-'RaymondBurr-'JeanHarlow-'LouisArmstrong-'ThedaBara-Laurel&Hardy-'ThelmaTodd -'PauletteGoddard-HattieMcDaniel-'GailRussell-AudreyHepburn-BarbaraStanwyck-BettyGrable-DorothyDandridge-GraceKelly-HedyLamarr-IngridBergman-MaryPickford-SusanHayward-ZasuPitts-VivienLeigh-HumphreyBogart-CaryGrant-JamesStewart-HenryFonda -ClarkGable-SpencerTracy-GaryCooper-GeneKelly-OrsonWelles-BurtLancaster-MarxBrothers-RobertMitchum-WilliamHolden-PaulNewman-WilliamPowell-JohnGarfield-FrankSinatra-BingCrosby-JoeEBrown-EddieCantor-JimmyDurante-DeanMartin-AlJolson-HarryLangdon-HaroldLloyd-BelaLugosi-TyronePower-ElvisPresley-3Stooges-WalterMatthau-StepinFetchit-ErnieKovacs- "BarryParis LucilleBall&DesiArnaz
Homorable Mentions Old Hollywood Screen Couples
-IreneDunne/CaryGrant -JohnBarrymore/DoloresCostello
-JohnPayne/RhondaFleming
-HedyLamarr/CharlesBoyer (Algiers 1938)
They were the vision of doomed, exotic romance so vivid that their one film together would haunt these two onscreen lovers for the rest of their lives.
-IngridBergman/HumphreyBogart (Casablanca 1942)
The cynic and his long-lost flame became a pair of lovers that would always have Paris in the screen's greatest romantic thriller.
-MaeWest/WCFields (My Little Chickadee 1940)
There never was a high concept more stratospheric than the teaming of the screen's most bombastic con artist with the woman who cornered the market on sex appeal.
-VivienLeigh/ClarkGable (Gone With the Wind 1939)
Theirs was the ultimate battle of masculine vs. feminine in an epic tale of love, war, and home that captivated fans from the moment the film was announced.
-GraceKelly/CaryGrant (To Catch a Thief 1955)
The Riviera has never been as glamorous or as sexy as it was when these two went searching for a jewel thief and found romance along the way.
-GretaGarbo/RobertTaylor (Camille 1936)
Through sheer physical presence, they turned a tale of doomed love into one of the screen's greatest romances.
-RitaHayworth/OrsonWelles (The Lady from Shanghai 1947)
A unique marriage of beauty and brains reached the screen when Hollywood's greatest maverick placed one of the screen's most iconic screen sirens at the center of this cinematic hall of mirrors.
-AudreyHepburn/GregoryPeck (Roman Holiday 1953)
The ethereal waif and the all-American Joe, they played out the perfect opposites-attract courtship in a tragicomic whirlwind romance against the backdrop of the Eternal City.
-ElizabethTaylor/PaulNewman (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958)
Neither tragedy nor scandal could upstage two of Hollywood's biggest stars in what would be their only onscreen encounter.
-LanaTurner/JohnGarfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946)
As proclaimed "Their Love Was a Flame That Destroyed," a clear reflection of the obsessive and dangerous affair shared onscreen by the pair.
-FayWray/KingKong (King Kong 1933)
As her blonde allure enslaved his sheer animal force, theirs was the definitive Hollywood version of Beauty and the Beast.
This list is a list of Old Hollywood actors with relatives that are in New Hollywood.
---Old Hollywood Memoirs
-AdolpheMenjou AndyWilliams AngelaLansbury AliceFaye AnitaLoos AlecGuinness AvaGardner AnthonyQuinn AnneBaxter AnnMiller AudreyMeadows -ArthurMarx -AEHotchner AnnaLee BillieHoliday BarbaraSinatra -BetteDavis -BillieBurke -BasilRathbone BobHope BurgessMeredith -BusterKeaton BessieLove BrianAherne BuddyEbsen BrookeHayward BobColonna ChrisCostello C.H.Scott ChrisLemmon ChuckJones CoyWatsonJr CharltonHeston ColinBriggs ClaireBloom CarollSpinney CharlesBickford ChrisWellesFeder -CharlieChaplin CherylCrane ChollyAtkins ClaytonMoore CammieKingConlon CedricHardwicke ChristiannaRickard DonRickles DorothyLamour DickieMoore DinahShore DannyThomas -DianaSerraCaryBabyPeggy DizzyGillespie -DouglasFairbanksSr-Jr DorothyBridges DanFord -DianaBarrymore DebbieReynolds DeanaMartin DavidNiven DennisDevine -DorisEatonTravis EleanorKeaton -EstherRalston EveArden -EdithHead EdwardDmytryk ErrolFlynn ErnestBorgnine EdMcMahon EthelWaters -EdwardArnold -EdwardGRobinsonSr-Jr ElizabethTaylor EthelMerman EvelynKeyes -EthelBarrymore EstherWilliams -FayWray -FredAstaire FrankCoghlanJr FrancesMarion FredericaSagorMaas FrancesFarmer FarleyGranger FredAllen FrancisFord GeneAutry -GrouchoMarx GaleStorm GeorgiaHale GloriaStuart GeorgeMontgomery -GloriaSwanson -GingerRogers GeneTierney GeorgeSanders GeorgeBurns GypsyRoseLee GregoryPeck *GaryCrosby -HarpoMarx -HarryCarey -HaroldLloyd HowardKeel -HeddaHopper HarryBelafonte HughOBrian HenryFonda HumeCronynHenryWilcoxon IdaLupino IsabellaRossellini IronEyesCody -JackOakie JanePowell JaneRussell JosephCotten JanetLeigh -JackieCooper JamesArness -JessicaRains JamesCagney JanisPaige JuneAllyson -JulietBenitaColman JohnHuston JoanBenny -JudyLewis JamesGarner JenniferGrant JoanFontaine JonathanWinters -JoanBennett JimmyDean JohnLahr JohnnyWeissmullerJr JuneForay JamesMason JohnnyCash JimBackus JohnWayneEnterprises KarlMalden KirkDouglas KittyCarlisle KathleenWilliamsGable -KatharineHepburn -LillianGish LucilleBall -LitaGreyChaplin LucaDotti -LionelBarrymore LaurenceOlivier LornaLuft -LinaBasquette -EdwardFunkLorettaYoung -LouiseBrooks LeatriceGilbertFountain -LeslieRuthHoward LanaTurner LaurenBacall LindaBennett MelBlanc MarilynMonroe -MariaRiva -MaxineMarx -MackSennett -MaryPickford -MaryAstor MarthaHyerWallis MaeClarke -MarieDressler -MyrnaLoy MichaelSellersSarahSellers MadgeBellamy -MelvynDouglas -MaeWest -MarleneDietrich MaryCooperJanis -MarionDavies MiltonBerle MaureenO'Hara MarlonBrando MoeHoward -MiriamMarxAllen MichaelLindsayHogg MickeyRooney MargaretTalbot MarilynKnowlden MauriceChevalier MarciaLincolnRudolph 'MonikaHenreid NedWynn MaureenStapleton NathanielCrosby NancySinatra NormanLloyd NatashaGregson NellShipman OssieDavis OscarLevant OmarSharifJr OliviaDeHavilland PeterFord PatO'Brien PatsyRuthMiller PaulHenreid PeterUstinov PatriciaSeatonLawford PiperLaurie PolaNegri PaulEMix PriscillaPresley PatriciaNeal PhilSilvers PaulRobeson PaulNewman -PatriciaZiegfieldStephenson PatriciaMedinaCotten RockBrynner RoyRogers RubyDee RominaPower RoryFlynn 'RonChaney RicciMartin RichardArlen RobertMitchum RobertLHarned RosemaryClooney RayMilland RockHudson RitaMoreno RonaldReagan RayCharles RalphBellamy RobertStack RodneyDangerfield RicardoMontalbán ''RichardDJensen RaymondMassey SterlingHayden ShelleyWinters RosalindRussellChrisChase SidCaesar SidneyPoitier SusanRobertson SeanHepburnFerrer SophiaLoren StewartGranger SchuylerJohnson -ShirleyTempleBlack StephenHumphreyBogart SheldonLeonard StacyWebb TonyCurtis TinaSinatra TarquinOlivier TonyRandall TishaSterling -TallulahBankhead VirginiaMayo Vincent-VictoriaPrice VictoriaRiskin VeronicaLake VirginiaHoldenGaines WilliamGargan WoodyStrode WalterSlezak -WillRogers -WilliamWellmanJr -WC&RonaldJFields WyattMcCrea YvonneDeCarlo YehudiMenuhin SharonPrestonFolta 'AnthonyBalducci 'AxelNissen 'AllanREllenberger 'ArmondFields 'AlanKRode AnneHelenPetersen 'BenOhmart 'BeverlyLinet 'BettyLee 'BrianKellow 'BartlettLeeKassabaum 'BillCassara 'BrianHarker 'CharlesHigham 'BoFoxworthWilliamJMann 'ChristinaRice 'CliffAliperti 'CarltonJacksonJillWatts 'CharlesWinecoff 'CurtisNunn 'CharlesAffron 'CharlesTranberg "CamilleFForbes 'CharlotteChandler 'CharlesLEpting 'CooperCGraham 'ConstanceRosenblum 'ClaudiaSassen 'ConstanceValisHill 'CarolLynnScherling 'CharlesWinecoff 'CCourtneyJoyner ''DavidStenn 'DonaldSpoto 'DavidKoenig 'DavidBret 'DonGSmith 'DavidDalton 'DavidKaufman 'DavidWeddle 'DavidSoren 'DavidAFury 'DanVanNeste 'DavidRothel 'DavidLazar 'DavidRayvernAllen 'DesleyDeacon 'DonaldDewey 'DavidCTucker 'DavidBowers 'DwayneEpstein 'DennisMSpragg 'DerekSculthorpe 'DavidARedfern 'DavidWMenefee 'DavidASmithAudieMurphy DebraWarren 'EveGoldenJoanCraig 'EJFleming 'EricWoodard 'EdwardZEpstein 'EstelEforgan 'EdwardWatz 'FredrickTucker 'FrankCastelluccio 'FranklinJarlett 'GeneArceri 'GavinLambert 'GregoryWilliamMank 'GaryDonRhodesArthurLennig 'GaryKoca 'GaryFishgallKateBuford 'GeneFowlerJohnKobler 'GeorgeEells 'GaryCarey 'GrantHayterMenzies 'GiancarloStampalia 'GarryBerman 'HectorArceJeffreyMeyers 'HenryBushkin 'HollyVanLeuven 'HerbertGGoldman 'JayFultz 'JCAllen 'JonathanGould 'JohnOller 'JimHaskins 'JamesCurtis 'JamesSpada 'JohnPascoe 'JerryVermilye 'JeffCodori 'JimSteinmeyer 'JeffGordon 'JRJones -'JeromeLawrence 'JimManago 'JohnFranceschina 'JohnStangeland 'JordanYoung 'JoanWesterAnderson 'JohnMiller 'JaredBrown 'JamesEWiseJr 'JamesBawden 'KellyRBrown 'KateGaddis 'KathleenVestuto 'JoelBlumberg&SandraGrabman 'KennethBarrow 'LawrenceJQuirk 'KevinScottCollierMichaelFBlake 'LindaMWaggoner 'LeslieWolfson 'LarrySwindellRobertNott 'LainiGiles 'LindaBHall 'LynnKear 'LonDavis 'LarrySeanKinder 'LarryTelles 'LawrenceGrobel 'LouiseCarleyLewisson 'LauraWagner 'LauraPetersenBalogh LaraGabrielle 'MonaZSmith 'MichaelTroyan 'MarcEliot 'MarthaGilMontero 'MarioDeMarco 'MichaelSethStarr 'MarshaDaly 'MichelangeloCapua 'MichaelMunn 'MichaelBDruxman 'MaryAnnAnderson "MaggieMcCormick 'MilukaRivera 'MichelleVogel 'MiltMachlinJonBradshaw 'MichaelHPrice 'MichaelPhelps 'NilsHanson 'MichaelGAnkerich 'MichaelDRinella 'NeilPettigrew 'PeterJLevinson 'NeilGrantJeanGarceauWarrenGHarris 'PeterShelley 'RobEdelman 'PeterBogdanovich 'RaymondStrait 'RachelASchildgen 'RichardKirby 'RupertAlistair 'RichardBuller 'RobertJLentz 'RichardKoszarski 'RonaldLDavis 'RichardALertzman 'ShawnLevy 'SarahBaker 'ScottOBrien 'StephenMichaelShearer 'SimonCallow 'SharonRich 'StephenDYoungkin 'SamanthaBarbas 'SteveRydzewski 'SteveMassa 'ScottAllenNollenStephenJacobs 'StevenGlennOchoaKCMotsinger 'StephenBourne 'ScottMacGillivray 'SandraGrabman 'StoneWallaceLewisYablonsky 'ScottEyman 'TimothyDeanLefler 'TonyThomas 'TonyToranLouMiano 'TimLussier 'TheresaStRomain 'TomHutchinson 'TomBrokaw ToddHughes 'VincentCurcio 'VictoriaWilson VictoriaAmador 'WilliamDonati 'WesDGehring 'WilliamMacEwen 'WilliamHarper 'WhitneyStine 'WendyWarwickWhite JeanineBasingerSamWasson **BettyLynn ClaudeJarmanJr HayleyMills MimiGibson RonHoward --NancyOlsonLivingston --RobynCoburn --FMichaelMoore
~~ScreenClassics ~~HollywoodLegends ~~ScarewcrowFilmmakers
--RitaHayworth-'AnnaMayWong-JosephineBaker-'CaroleLombard-'FattyArbuckle-'GretaGarbo-JackieGleason-JamesDean-JudyGarland-'RudolphValentino-RichardBurton-SammyDavisJr-SteveMcQueen-VivienLeigh-'MontgomeryClift-BuddyHolly-CharlieParker-MarioLanza JayneMansfield-'SalMineo-SamCooke-WillRogers-'RaymondBurr-'JeanHarlow-'LouisArmstrong-'ThedaBara-Laurel&Hardy-'ThelmaTodd -'PauletteGoddard-HattieMcDaniel-'GailRussell-AudreyHepburn-BarbaraStanwyck-BettyGrable-DorothyDandridge-GraceKelly-HedyLamarr-IngridBergman-MaryPickford-SusanHayward-ZasuPitts-VivienLeigh-HumphreyBogart-CaryGrant-JamesStewart-HenryFonda -ClarkGable-SpencerTracy-GaryCooper-GeneKelly-OrsonWelles-BurtLancaster-MarxBrothers-RobertMitchum-WilliamHolden-PaulNewman-WilliamPowell-JohnGarfield-FrankSinatra-BingCrosby-JoeEBrown-EddieCantor-JimmyDurante-DeanMartin-AlJolson-HarryLangdon-HaroldLloyd-BelaLugosi-TyronePower-ElvisPresley-3Stooges-WalterMatthau-StepinFetchit-ErnieKovacs- "BarryParis LucilleBall&DesiArnaz
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Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in Dancing Lady (1933) before starting work on RKO's Flying Down to Rio (1933). In the latter film, he began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers, with whom he danced in 9 RKO pictures. During these years, he was also active in recording and radio. On film, Astaire later appeared opposite a number of partners through various studios. After a temporary retirement in 1945-7, during which he opened Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Astaire returned to film to star in more musicals through 1957. He subsequently performed a number of straight dramatic roles in film and TV.With Ginger Rogers
With a spin, a lift, and a burst of taps, they became the greatest dancing team in film, making ballroom dancing sexy, sophisticated, silly, and just downright fun.
Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), Carefree (1938), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911, the daughter of Lela E. Rogers (née Lela Emogene Owens) and William Eddins McMath. Her mother went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he allowed the doctor to use forceps and the baby died. She was kidnapped by her father several times until her mother took him to court. Ginger's mother left her child in the care of her parents while she went in search of a job as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and later to New York City. Mrs. McMath found herself with an income good enough to where she could send for Ginger. Lelee became a Marine in 1918 and was in the publicity department and Ginger went back to her grandparents in Missouri. During this time her mother met John Rogers. After leaving the Marines they married in May, 1920 in Liberty, Missouri. He was transferred to Dallas and Ginger (who treated him as a father) went too. Ginger won a Charleston contest in 1925 (age 14) and a 4-week contract on the Interstate circuit. She also appeared in vaudeville acts which she did until she was 17 with her mother by her side to guide her. Now she had discovered true acting.
She married in March 1929, and after several months realized she had made a mistake. She acquired an agent and she did several short films. She went to New York where she appeared in the Broadway production of "Top Speed" which debuted Christmas Day, 1929. Her first film was in 1929 in A Night in a Dormitory (1930). It was a bit part, but it was a start. Later that year, Ginger appeared, briefly, in two more films, A Day of a Man of Affairs (1929) and Campus Sweethearts (1930). For awhile she did both movies and theatre. The following year she began to get better parts in films such as Office Blues (1930) and The Tip-Off (1931). But the movie that enamored her to the public was Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). She did not have top billing, but her beauty and voice were enough to have the public want more. One song she popularized in the film was the now famous, "We're in the Money". Also in 1933, she was in 42nd Street (1933). She suggested using a monocle, and this also set her apart. In 1934, she starred with Dick Powell in Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934). It was a well-received film about the popularity of radio.
Ginger's real stardom occurred when she was teamed with Fred Astaire where they were one of the best cinematic couples ever to hit the silver screen. This is where she achieved real stardom. They were first paired in 1933's Flying Down to Rio (1933) and later in 1935's Roberta (1935) and Top Hat (1935). Ginger also appeared in some very good comedies such as Bachelor Mother (1939) and Fifth Avenue Girl (1939), both in 1939. Also that year, she appeared with Astaire in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). The film made money but was not anywhere successful as they had hoped. After that, studio executives at RKO wanted Ginger to strike out on her own.
She made several dramatic pictures, but it was 1940's Kitty Foyle (1940) that allowed her to shine. Playing a young lady from the wrong side of the tracks, she played the lead role well, so well in fact, that she won an Academy Award for her portrayal. Ginger followed that project with the delightful comedy, Tom, Dick and Harry (1941) the following year. It's a story where she has to choose which of three men she wants to marry. Through the rest of the 1940s and early 1950s she continued to make movies but not near the caliber before World War II. After Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) in 1957, Ginger didn't appear on the silver screen for seven years. By 1965, she had appeared for the last time in Harlow (1965). Afterward, she appeared on Broadway and other stage plays traveling in Europe, the U.S., and Canada. After 1984, she retired and wrote an autobiography in 1991 entitled, "Ginger, My Story".
On April 25, 1995, Ginger died of natural causes in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 83.With Fred Astaire
With a spin, a lift, and a burst of taps, they became the greatest dancing team in film, making ballroom dancing sexy, sophisticated, silly, and just downright fun.
Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), Carefree (1938), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in preparation for medical studies at Yale. He was expelled from Phillips and joined the U.S. Naval Reserve. From 1920 to 1922, he managed a stage company owned by family friend William A. Brady (the father of actress Alice Brady), performing a variety of tasks at Brady's film studio in New York. He then began regular stage performances. Alexander Woollcott described his acting in a 1922 play as inadequate. In 1930, he gained a contract with Fox, his feature film debut in a ten-minute short, Broadway's Like That (1930), co-starring Ruth Etting and Joan Blondell. Fox released him after two years. After five years of stage and minor film roles, he had his breakthrough role in The Petrified Forest (1936) from Warner Bros. He won the part over Edward G. Robinson only after the star, Leslie Howard, threatened Warner Bros. that he would quit unless Bogart was given the key role of Duke Mantee, which he had played in the Broadway production with Howard. The film was a major success and led to a long-term contract with Warner Bros. From 1936 to 1940, Bogart appeared in 28 films, usually as a gangster, twice in Westerns and even a horror film. His landmark year was 1941 (often capitalizing on parts George Raft had stupidly rejected) with roles in classics such as High Sierra (1940) and as Sam Spade in one of his most fondly remembered films, The Maltese Falcon (1941). These were followed by Casablanca (1942), The Big Sleep (1946), and Key Largo (1948). Bogart, despite his erratic education, was incredibly well-read and he favored writers and intellectuals within his small circle of friends. In 1947, he joined wife Lauren Bacall and other actors protesting the House Un-American Activities Committee witch hunts. He also formed his own production company, and the next year made The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Bogie won the best actor Academy Award for The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for Casablanca (1942) and as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny (1954), a film made when he was already seriously ill. He died in his sleep at his Hollywood home following surgeries and a battle with throat cancer.With Lauren Bacall
The gruff cynic and the tough glamour girl were united by their freewheeling battle against anything that smacked of phoniness.
To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary. They divorced when she was five and she rarely saw her father after that.
As a school girl, she originally wanted to be a dancer, but later switched gears to head into acting. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, after attending She was educated at Highland Manor, a private boarding school in Tarrytown, New York (through the generosity of wealthy uncles), and then at Julia Richman High School, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.
Out of school, she entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart. The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success. Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public. In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947). The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats. The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948). The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film.
In 1950, Lauren starred in Bright Leaf (1950), a drama set in 1894. It was a film of note because she appeared without her husband - her co-star was Gary Cooper. In 1953, Lauren appeared in her first comedy as Schatze Page in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). The film, with co-stars Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, was a smash hit all across the theaters of America.
After filming Designing Woman (1957), which was released in 1957, Humphrey Bogart died on January 14 from throat cancer. Devastated at being a widow, Lauren returned to the silver screen with The Gift of Love (1958) in 1958 opposite Robert Stack. The production turned out to be a big disappointment. Undaunted, Lauren moved back to New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays to huge critical acclaim. She was enjoying acting before live audiences and the audiences in turn enjoyed her fine performances.
Lauren was away from the big screen for five years, but she returned in 1964 to appear in Shock Treatment (1964) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). The latter film was a comedy starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis. In 1966, Lauren starred in Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Julie Harris, which was one of former's signature films.
Alternating her time between films and the stage, Lauren returned in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express (1974). The film, based on Agatha Christie's best-selling book was a huge hit. It also garnered Ingrid Bergman her third Oscar. Actually, the huge star-studded cast helped to ensure its success. Two years later, in 1976, Lauren co-starred with John Wayne in The Shootist (1976). The film was Wayne's last - he died from cancer in 1979. In late 1979, Lauren appeared with her good friend, James Garner, in a double episode, Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs (1979), of his Rockford Files series.
For Lauren's next film role, she appeared in a large ensemble film, HealtH (1980), which again paired her with James Garner, and in 1981, she played an actress being stalked by a crazed admirer in The Fan (1981). The thriller was absolutely fascinating with Lauren in the lead role, again playing opposite her good friend James Garner, making three straight screen roles with Lauren opposite James Garner. After that production, Lauren was away from films again, this time for seven years. In the interim, she again appeared on the stages of Broadway. When she returned, it was for the filming of 1988's Appointment with Death (1988) and Mr. North (1988). After 1990's Misery (1990) and several made for television films, Lauren appeared in 1996's My Fellow Americans (1996), a comedy romp with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents and their escapades. In 1997, Lauren appeared in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), in one of the best roles of her later career, opposite Barbra Streisand, where Lauren was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role by both the Academy and the Golden Globes, winning the Golden Globe for the role.
Despite her age and failing health, she made a small-scale comeback in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004) ("Howl's Moving Castle," based on the young-adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones) as the Witch of the Waste, and several other roles through 2008, but thereafter acting endeavors for the beloved actress became increasingly rare. Lauren Bacall died on 12 August 2014, five weeks short of her 90th birthday.With Humphrey Bogart
The gruff cynic and the tough glamour girl were united by their freewheeling battle against anything that smacked of phoniness.
To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948)- Actor
- Director
- Writer
In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on Broadway and in traveling stock companies. In 1913 he headed for Hollywood, where he would get his start as the hulking Swedish maid in the Sweedie comedy series for Essanay. In 1915 he would work with young ingénue Gloria Swanson in Sweedie Goes to College (1915). A year later they would marry and be wildly unhappy together. The marriage dissolved when Beery could not control his drinking and Gloria got tired of his abuse. Beery finished with the Sweedie series and worked as the heavy in a number of films. Starting with Patria (1917), he would play the beastly Hun in a number of films. In the 1920s he would be seen in a number of adventures, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Sea Hawk (1924) and The Pony Express (1925). He would also play the part of Poole in So Big (1924), which was based on the best-selling book of the same name by Edna Ferber. Paramount began to move Beery back into comedies with Behind the Front (1926). When sound came, Beery was one of the victims of the wholesale studio purge. He had a voice that would record well, but his speech was slow and his tone was a deep, folksy, down home-type. While not the handsome hero image, MGM executive Irving Thalberg saw something in Beery and hired him for the studio. Thalberg cast Beery in The Big House (1930), which was a big hit and got Beery an Academy Award nomination. However, Beery would become almost a household word with the release of the sentimental Min and Bill (1930), which would be one of 1930's top money makers. The next year Beery would win the Oscar for Best Actor in The Champ (1931). He would be forever remembered as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934) (who says never work with kids?). Beery became one of the top ten stars in Hollywood, as he was cast as the tough, dim-witted, easy-going type (which, in real life, he was anything but). In Flesh (1932) he would be the dim-witted wrestler who did not figure that his wife was unfaithful. In Dinner at Eight (1933) he played a businessman trying to get into society while having trouble with his wife, link=nm0001318]. After Marie Dressler died in 1934, he would not find another partner in the same vein as his early talkies until he teamed with Marjorie Main in the 1940s. He would appear opposite her in such films as Wyoming (1940) and Barnacle Bill (1941). By that time his career was slowing as he was getting up in age. He continued to work, appearing in only one or two pictures a year, until he died from a heart attack in 1949.With Marie Dressler
They were the anti-stars, a pair of authentic mugs who brought to life a gallery of outrageously funny, irresistibly touching characters with so much heart that glamour was unnecessary.
Min and Bill (1930), Dinner at Eight (1933), Tugboat Annie (1933)- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Once you saw her, you would not forget her. Despite her age and weight, she became one of the top box office draws of the sound era. She was 14 when she joined a theater group and she went on to work on stage and in light opera. By 1892, she was on Broadway and she later became a star comedienne on the vaudeville circuit. In 1910, she had a hit with 'Tillie's Nightmare' which Mack Sennett adapted to film as Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) with Charles Chaplin. Marie took top billing over a young Chaplin, but her film career never took off and by 1918, she was out of films and out of work. Her role in the chorus girls' strike of 1917 had her blacklisted from the theaters. In 1927, MGM screenwriter Frances Marion got her a small part in The Joy Girl (1927) and then a co-starring lead with Polly Moran in The Callahans and the Murphys (1927) (which was abruptly withdrawn from circulation thanks to objections of Irish-American groups over its depiction of gin-guzzling Irish). Her career stalled and the 59-year old actress found herself no longer in demand. In the late 1920s she had been largely forgotten and reduced to near-poverty. Despite her last film being a financial disaster, Irving Thalberg, somewhat incredibly, sensed her potential was determined to re-build her into a star. It was a slow return in films but her popularity continued to grow. But it was sound that made her a star again. Anna Christie (1930) was the movie where Garbo talks, but everyone noticed Marie as Marthy. In an era of Harlow, Garbo and Crawford, it was homely old Marie Dressler that won the coveted exhibitor's poll as the most popular actress for three consecutive years. In another film from the same year, Min and Bill (1930) she received a best actress Oscar for her dramatic performance. She received another Academy Award nomination for Emma (1932). She had more success with Dinner at Eight (1933) and Tugboat Annie (1933). In 1934, cancer claimed her life.With Wallace Beery
They were the anti-stars, a pair of authentic mugs who brought to life a gallery of outrageously funny, irresistibly touching characters with so much heart that glamour was unnecessary.
Min and Bill (1930), Dinner at Eight (1933), Tugboat Annie (1933)- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Errol Flynn was born to parents Theodore Flynn, a respected biologist, and Marrelle Young, an adventurous young woman. Young Flynn was a rambunctious child who could be counted on to find trouble. Errol managed to have himself thrown out of every school in which he was enrolled. In his late teens he set out to find gold, but instead found a series of short lived odd jobs. Information is sketchy, however the positions of police constable, sanitation engineer, treasure hunter, sheep castrator, ship-master for hire, fisherman, and soldier seem to be among his more reputable career choices. Staying one jump ahead of the law and jealous husbands forced Flynn to England. He took up acting, a pastime he had previously stumbled into when asked to play (ironically) Fletcher Christian in a film called In the Wake of the Bounty (1933). Flynn's natural athletic talent and good looks attracted the attention of Warner Brothers and soon he was off to America. His luck held when he replaced Robert Donat in the title role of Captain Blood (1935). He quickly rocketed to stardom as the undisputed king of adventure films, a title inherited from Douglas Fairbanks, though which remains his to this day. Onscreen, he was the freedom loving rebel, a man of action who fought against injustice and won the hearts of damsels in the process. His off-screen passions; drinking, fighting, boating and sex, made his film escapades seem pale. His love life brought him considerable fame, three statutory rape trials, and a lasting memorial in the expression "In like Flynn". Serious roles eluded him, and as his lifestyle eroded his youthful good looks, his career declined. Troubles with lawsuits and the IRS plagued him at this time, eroding what little money he had saved. A few good roles did come his way late in life, however, these were usually that of aging alcoholic, almost mirror images of Flynn. Regardless of any perceived similarity; he was making a name as a serious actor before his death.With Olivia de Havilland
They were the definitive swashbuckling couple, a striking combination of masculine swagger and feminist pluck.
Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her surname comes from her paternal grandfather, whose family was from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Her parents divorced when Olivia was just three years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to Saratoga, California.
After graduating from high school, where she fell prey to the acting bug, Olivia enrolled in Mills College in Oakland, where she participated in the school play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was spotted by Max Reinhardt. She so impressed Reinhardt that he picked her up for both his stage version and, later, the Warner Bros. film version in 1935. She again was so impressive that Warner executives signed her to a seven-year contract. No sooner had the ink dried on the contract than Olivia appeared in three more films: The Irish in Us (1935), Alibi Ike (1935), and Captain Blood (1935), this last with the man with whom her career would be most closely identified: heartthrob Errol Flynn. He and Olivia starred together in eight films during their careers. In 1939 Warner Bros. loaned her to David O. Selznick for the classic Gone with the Wind (1939). Playing sweet Melanie Hamilton, Olivia received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, only to lose out to one of her co-stars in the film, Hattie McDaniel.
After GWTW, Olivia returned to Warner Bros. and continued to churn out films. In 1941 she played Emmy Brown in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), which resulted in her second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress. Again she lost, this time to her sister Joan for her role in Suspicion (1941). After that strong showing, Olivia now demanded better, more substantial roles than the "sweet young thing" slot into which Warners had been fitting her. The studio responded by placing her on a six-month suspension, all of the studios at the time operating under the policy that players were nothing more than property to do with as they saw fit. As if that weren't bad enough, when her contract with Warners was up, she was told that she needed to make up the time lost because of the suspension. Irate, she sued the studio, and for the length of the court battle she didn't appear in a single film. The result, however, was worth it. In a landmark decision, the court said that not only would Olivia not need to make up the time, but also that all performers would be limited to a seven-year contract that would include any suspensions handed down. This became known as the "de Havilland decision": no longer could studios treat their performers as chattel. Olivia returned to the screen in 1946 and made up for lost time by appearing in four films, one of which finally won her the Oscar that had so long eluded her: To Each His Own (1946), in which she played Josephine Norris to the delight of critics and audiences alike. Olivia was the strongest performer in Hollywood for the balance of the 1940s.
In 1948 she turned in another strong showing in The Snake Pit (1948) as Virginia Cunningham, a woman suffering a mental breakdown. The end result was another Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but she lost to Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948). As in the two previous years, she made only one film in 1949, but she again won a nomination and the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Heiress (1949). After a three-year hiatus, Olivia returned to star in My Cousin Rachel (1952). From that point on, she made few appearances on the screen but was seen on Broadway and in some television shows. Her last screen appearance was in The Fifth Musketeer (1979), and her last career appearance was in the TV movie The Woman He Loved (1988).
Her turbulent relationship with her only sibling, Joan Fontaine, was press fodder for many decades; the two were reported as having been permanently estranged since their mother's death in 1975, when Joan claimed that she had not been invited to the memorial service, which she only managed to hold off until she could arrive by threatening to go public. Joan also wrote in her memoir that her elder sister had been physically, psychologically, and emotionally abusive when they were young. And the iconic photo of Joan with her hand outstretched to congratulate Olivia backstage after the latter's first Oscar win and Olivia ignoring it because she was peeved by a comment Joan had made about Olivia's new husband, Marcus Goodrich, remained part of Hollywood lore for many years.
Nonetheless, late in life, Fontaine gave an interview in which she serenely denied any and all claims of an estrangement from her sister. When a reporter asked Joan if she and Olivia were friends, she replied, "Of course!" The reporter responded that rumors to the contrary must have been sensationalism and she replied, "Oh, right--they have to. Two nice girls liking each other isn't copy." Asked if she and Olivia were in communication and spoke to each other, Joan replied "Absolutely." When asked if there ever had been a time when the two did not get along to the point where they wouldn't speak with one another, Joan replied, again, "Never. Never. There is not a word of truth about that." When asked why people believe it, she replied "Oh, I have no idea. It's just something to say ... Oh, it's terrible." When asked if she had seen Olivia over the years, she replied, "I've seen her in Paris. And she came to my apartment in New York often." The reporter stated that all this was a nice thing to hear. Joan then stated, "Let me just say, Olivia and I have never had a quarrel. We have never had any dissatisfaction. We have never had hard words. And all this is press." Joan died in 2013.
During the hoopla surrounding the 50th anniversary of GWTW in 1989, Olivia graciously declined requests for all interviews as the last of the four main stars. She enjoyed a quiet retirement in Paris, France, where she resided for many decades, and where she died on 26 July, 2020, at the age of 104.
As well as being the last surviving major cast member of some of cinema's most beloved pre-war and wartime film classics (including The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Gone with the Wind (1939)), and one of the longest-lived major stars in film history, Olivia de Havilland was unquestionably the last surviving iconic figure from the peak of Hollywood's golden era during the late 1930s, and her passing truly marked the end of an era.With Errol Flynn
They were the definitive swashbuckling couple, a striking combination of masculine swagger and feminist pluck.
Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941)- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, where he stayed until he was two. His father then returned to take him back to Cadiz. At 16, he quit high school, went to work in an Akron, Ohio, tire factory, and decided to become an actor after seeing the play "The Bird of Paradise". He toured in stock companies, worked oil fields and sold ties. On December 13, 1924, he married Josephine Dillon, his acting coach and 15 years his senior. Around that time, they moved to Hollywood, so that Clark could concentrate on his acting career. In April 1930, they divorced and a year later, he married Maria Langham (a.k.a. Maria Franklin Gable), also about 17 years older than him.
While Gable acted on stage, he became a lifelong friend of Lionel Barrymore. After several failed screen tests (for Barrymore and Darryl F. Zanuck), Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. He had a small part in The Painted Desert (1931) which starred William Boyd. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (1931) the same year. His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) made him MGM's most important star.
His acting career then flourished. At one point, he refused an assignment, and the studio punished him by loaning him out to (at the time) low-rent Columbia Pictures, which put him in Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934), which won him an Academy Award for his performance. The next year saw a starring role in Call of the Wild (1935) with Loretta Young, with whom he had an affair (resulting in the birth of a daughter, Judy Lewis). He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939).
After divorcing Maria Langham, in March 1939 Clark married Carole Lombard, but tragedy struck in January 1942 when the plane in which Carole and her mother were flying crashed into Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, killing them both. A grief-stricken Gable joined the US Army Air Force and was off the screen for three years, flying combat missions in Europe. When he returned the studio regarded his salary as excessive and did not renew his contract. He freelanced, but his films didn't do well at the box office. He married Sylvia Ashley, the widow of Douglas Fairbanks, in 1949. Unfortunately this marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1952. In July 1955 he married a former sweetheart, Kathleen Williams Spreckles (a.k.a. Kay Williams) and became stepfather to her two children, Joan and Adolph ("Bunker") Spreckels III.
On November 16, 1959, Gable became a grandfather when Judy Lewis, his daughter with Loretta Young, gave birth to a daughter, Maria. In 1960, Gable's wife Kay discovered that she was expecting their first child. In early November 1960, he had just completed filming The Misfits (1961), when he suffered a heart attack, and died later that month, on November 16, 1960. Gable was buried shortly afterwards in the shrine that he had built for Carole Lombard and her mother when they died, at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
In March 1961, Kay Gable gave birth to a boy, whom she named John Clark Gable after his father.With Jean Harlow
They were the hottest screen team of the 1930s, exhibiting a raw, unembarrassed sexuality that belied their inherent vulnerabilities.
The Secret Six (1931), Red Dust (1932), Hold Your Man (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife Vs. Secretary (1936), Saratoga (1937)
With Joan Crawford
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), Laughing Sinners (1931), Possessed (1931), Dancing Lady (1933), Chained (1934), Forsaking All Others (1934), Love on the Run (1936), and Strange Cargo (1940).
With Myrna Loy
Wife vs Secretary (1936), Parnell (1937), Test Pilot (1938), and Too Hot to Handle (1938).
With Lana Turner
Honky Tonk (1941), Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), Homecoming (1948), and Betrayed (1954).
With Ava Gardner
The Hucksters (1947), Lone Star (1952), and Mogambo (1953).
With Norma Shearer
A Free Soul (1931), Strange Interlude (1932), and Idiot's Delight (1939).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Harlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1911. She was the daughter of a successful dentist and his wife. In 1927, at the age of 16, she ran away from home to marry a young businessman named Charles McGrew, who was 23. The couple pulled up stakes and moved to Los Angeles, not long after they were married, and it was there Jean found work as an extra in films, landing a bit part in Moran of the Marines (1928). From that point on she would go to casting calls whenever she could. In 1929 she had bit parts in no less than 11 movies, playing everything from a passing woman on the street to a winged ballerina. Her marriage to McGrew turned out to be a disaster--it lasted barely two years--and they divorced. The divorce enabled her to put more of her efforts into finding roles in the movie business. Although she was having trouble finding roles in feature movies, she had more luck in film shorts. She had a fairly prominent role in Hal Roach's Double Whoopee (1929). Her big break came in 1930, when she landed a role in Howard Hughes' World War I epic Hell's Angels (1930), which turned out to be a smash hit. Not long after the film's debut, Hughes sold her contract to MGM for $60,000, and it was there where her career shot to unprecedented heights. Her appearance in Platinum Blonde (1931) cemented her role as America's new sex symbol. The next year saw her paired with Clark Gable in John Ford's Red Dust (1932), the second of six films she would make with Gable. It was while filming this picture (which took 44 days to complete at a cost of $408,000) that she received word that her new husband, MGM producer Paul Bern, had committed suicide. His death threatened to halt production of the film, and MGM chief Louis B. Mayer had even contacted Tallulah Bankhead to replace Harlow if she were unable to continue, a step that proved to be unnecessary. The film was released late in 1932 and was an instant hit. She was becoming a superstar. In MGM's glittering all-star Dinner at Eight (1933) Jean was at her comedic best as the wife of a ruthless tycoon (Wallace Beery) trying to take over another man's (Lionel Barrymore) failing business. Later that year she played the part of Lola Burns in director Victor Fleming's hit Bombshell (1933). It was a Hollywood parody loosely based on Clara Bow's and Harlow's real-life experiences, right down to the latter's greedy stepfather, nine-room Georgian-style home with mostly-white interiors, her numerous pet dogs - right down to having her re-shoot scenes from the Gable and Harlow hit, Red Dust (1932) here! In 1933 Jean married cinematographer Harold Rosson, a union that would only last eight months. In 1935 she was again teamed with Gable in another rugged adventure, China Seas (1935) (her remaining two pictures with Gable would be Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and Saratoga (1937)). It was her films with Gable that created her lasting legacy in the film world. Unfortunately, during the filming of Saratoga (1937), she was hospitalized with uremic poisoning. On June 7, 1937, she died from the ailment. She was only 26. The film had to be finished by long angle shots using a double. Gable said he felt like he was in the arms of a ghost during the final touches of the film. Because of her death, the film was a hit. Record numbers of fans poured into America's movie theaters to see the film. Other sex symbols/blonde bombshells have followed, but it is Jean Harlow who all others are measured against.With Clark Gable
They were the hottest screen team of the 1930s, exhibiting a raw, unembarrassed sexuality that belied their inherent vulnerabilities.
The Secret Six (1931), Red Dust (1932), Hold Your Man (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife Vs. Secretary (1936), Saratoga (1937)- Actor
- Writer
- Director
John Gilbert was born into a show-business family - his father was a comic with the Pringle Stock Company. By 1915 John was an extra with Thomas H. Ince's company and a lead player by 1917. In those days he was assistant director, actor or screenwriter. He also tried his hand at directing. By 1919 he was being noticed in films and getting better roles. In 1921 he signed a three-year contract with Fox Films. His popularity continued to soar and he was turning from villain to leading man. In 1924 he signed with MGM which put him into His Hour (1924). In 1925 he appeared in the very successful The Big Parade (1925) and was, by now, as popular as Rudolph Valentino. Lillian Gish, who had a new contract with MGM, picked Gilbert to co-star with her in La Bohème (1926). With the death of Valentino, his only competition, John was on top of the world. Then came Greta Garbo, who starred with him in Love (1927), Flesh and the Devil (1926) and A Woman of Affairs (1928). The screen chemistry between these two was incredible and led to a torrid off-screen affair. The studio publicity department worked overtime to publicize the romance between the two, but when it came time to marry, John was left at the altar. His performances after that were devoid of the sparkle that he once had and he began to drink heavily. Added to that, the whole industry was moving towards sound, and while his voice was not as bad as some had thought, it did not match the image that he portrayed on the screen. Even his characters had changed, in such films as Redemption (1930) and Way for a Sailor (1930). He was no longer the person that bad things happened to, but he now was the cause of bad things which happen. MGM did little to help John adjust to the new sound medium, as studio chief Louis B. Mayer and Gilbert had a fierce and nasty confrontation over Garbo. John was still under contract to MGM for a very large salary, but the money meant little to him. His contract ran out in 1933 after he appeared in Fast Workers (1933) as a riveter.
Garbo tried to restore some of his image when she insisted that he play opposite her in Queen Christina (1933), but by then it was too late. He appeared in only one more film and died of a heart attack in January 1936.With Greta Garbo
They were the silent cinema's sexiest couple, drawing on their mutual offscreen passion to create some of the movies' greatest love scenes.
Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1928), Queen Christina (1933)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and go to work in a department store. The store used her as a model in its newspaper ads. She had no film aspirations until she appeared in short advertising film at that same department store while she was still a teenager. Erik A. Petschler, a comedy director, saw the film and gave her a small part in his Luffar-Petter (1922). Encouraged by her own performance, she applied for and won a scholarship to a Swedish drama school. While there she appeared in at least one film, En lyckoriddare (1921). Both were small parts, but it was a start. Finally famed Swedish director Mauritz Stiller pulled her from the drama school for the lead role in The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924). At 18 Greta was on a roll.
Following The Joyless Street (1925) both Greta and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM, and her first film for the studio was the American-made Torrent (1926), a silent film in which she didn't have to speak a word of English. After a few more films, including The Temptress (1926), Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928), Greta starred in Anna Christie (1930) (her first "talkie"), which not only gave her a powerful screen presence but also garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress (she didn't win). Later that year she filmed Romance (1930), which was somewhat of a letdown, but she bounced back in 1931, landing another lead role in Mata Hari (1931), which turned out to be a major hit.
Greta continued to give intense performances in whatever was handed her. The next year she was cast in what turned out to be yet another hit, Grand Hotel (1932). However, it was in MGM's Anna Karenina (1935) that she gave what some consider the performance of her life. She was absolutely breathtaking in the role as a woman torn between two lovers and her son. Shortly afterwards, she starred in the historical drama Queen Christina (1933) playing the title character to great acclaim. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the romantic drama Camille (1936), again playing the title character. Her career suffered a setback the following year in Conquest (1937), which was a box office disaster. She later made a comeback when she starred in Ninotchka (1939), which showcased her comedic side. It wasn't until two years later she made what was to be her last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), another comedy. But the film drew controversy and was condemned by the Catholic Church and other groups and was a box office failure, which left Garbo shaken.
After World War II Greta, by her own admission, felt that the world had changed perhaps forever and she retired, never again to face the camera. She would work for the rest of her life to perpetuate the Garbo mystique. Her films, she felt, had their proper place in history and would gain in value. She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with some of the world's best-known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and others. She spent time gardening and raising flowers and vegetables. In 1954 Greta was given a special Oscar for past unforgettable performances. She even penned her biography in 1990.
On April 15, 1990, Greta died of natural causes in New York and with her went the "Garbo Mystique". She was 84.With John Gilbert
They were the silent cinema's sexiest couple, drawing on their mutual offscreen passion to create some of the movies' greatest love scenes.
Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1928), Queen Christina (1933)
With Melvyn Douglas
As You Desire Me (1932), Ninotchka (1939), and Two-Faced Woman (1942).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Walter Pidgeon, a handsome, tall and dark-haired man, began his career studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He then did theater, mainly stage musicals. He went to Hollywood in the early 1920s, where he made silent films, including Mannequin (1926) and Sumuru (1927). When talkies arrived, Pidgeon made some musicals, but he never received top billing or recognition in these. In 1937 MGM put him under contract, but only in supporting roles and "the other man" roles, such as in Saratoga (1937) opposite Jean Harlow and Clark Gable and in The Girl of the Golden West (1938) opposite Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Although these two films were big successes, Pidgeon was overlooked for his contributions to them. MGM lent him out to Fox, where he finally had top billing, in How Green Was My Valley (1941). When he returned to MGM the studio tried to give him bigger roles, and he was cast opposite his frequent co-star Greer Garson. However, Garson seemed to come up on top in Blossoms in the Dust (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942), although Pidgeon did receive an Academy Award nomination for his role in the latter film.
Pidgeon remained with MGM through the mid-'50s, making films like Dream Wife (1953) and Hit the Deck (1955) with Jane Powell and old pal Gene Raymond. In 1956 Pidgeon left the movies to do some work in the theater, but he returned to film in 1961.
Pidgeon retired from acting in 1977. He suffered from several strokes that eventually led to his death in 1984.With Greer Garson
They created an indelible image of self-sacrifice that struck a powerful chord with audiences eager for hope in the midst of war.
Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), Julia Misbehaves (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Miniver Story (1950), Scandal at Scourie (1953)- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was born on September 29, 1904 in London, England, to Nancy Sophia (Greer) and George Garson, a commercial clerk. Of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent, Garson displayed no early interest in becoming an actress. Educated at the University of London intending to become a teacher, she opted instead to take a job at an advertising agency. During her off hours she appeared in local theatrical productions, gaining a reputation as an extremely talented and charismatic performer. During a stage production of "Old Music," Garson was offered a studio contract by MGM Vice President of Production Louis B. Mayer while he was on a visit to London looking for new talent. Garson's very first film under that arrangement was the immensely popular Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress - the first of six she would receive. The following year would see Greer in the highly acclaimed Pride and Prejudice (1940) as "Elizabeth Bennet". 1941 saw her earn a second nomination for her role as Edna Gladney in Blossoms in the Dust (1941), but it was the moving, if propagandist, Mrs. Miniver (1942), in a role that she would forever be known by, that actually brought her the Oscar statuette as Best Actress.
As Marie Curie in Madame Curie (1943), she would draw yet another nomination, and the same the next year in Mrs. Parkington (1944). It began to seem that any movie she was part of would be an automatic success. Sure enough, in 1945, she won yet another nomination, for her role as "Mary Rafferty" in The Valley of Decision (1945). Still, Garson began to chafe at the unbroken stream of "noble woman" roles in which the studio was casting her. MGM felt that they had an winning formula and saw no compelling reason to alter it. Two standard seven-year contract extensions kept her at MGM until 1954 when, by mutual consent, she left the only studio she had ever known. In 1946, Greer appeared in Adventure (1945), which was a flop at the box-office. 1947's Desire Me (1947) was no less a disaster, downward spiral finally arrested with the hit That Forsyte Woman (1949). The next year, she reprised her role as "Kay Miniver" in The Miniver Story (1950), though audiences were unsurprisingly put off by her character's untimely demise from cancer, leaving screen husband Walter Pidgeon to soldier on alone.
For the remainder of the 1950s, she endured several predictably unappreciated films. Then, 1960 found her cast in the role of Eleanor Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello (1960). This film was, perhaps, her finest work and landed her seventh and final Academy Award nomination. Her final screen appearances were in The Singing Nun (1966) as "Mother Prioress" and The Happiest Millionaire (1967). After a few TV movies, Garson retired to the New Mexico ranch she shared with her husband, millionaire Buddy E.E. Fogelson. She concentrated on the environment and other various charities. By the 1980s, she was suffering from chronic heart problems, prompting her to slow down. That was the cause of her death on April 6, 1996 in Dallas, Texas, at age 91.With Walter Pidgeon
They created an indelible image of self-sacrifice that struck a powerful chord with audiences eager for hope in the midst of war.
Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), Julia Misbehaves (1948), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Miniver Story (1950), Scandal at Scourie (1953)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Popular Hollywood leading man of late silents and early talkies. He is best remembered for his teaming with Janet Gaynor in 12 screen romances between 1927 and 1934. He retired from films in the early 1940s, but TV audiences of the 1950s would see him as Gale Storm's widower dad in the popular television series My Little Margie (1952).With Janet Gaynor
They represented the triumph of purity and innocence, becoming, in the words of the studio publicists, "America's Favorite Lovebirds."
Seventh Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Lucky Star (1929), Sunny Side Up (1929), High Society Blues (1930), Merely Mary Ann (1931), Delicious (1931), The First Year (1932), Tess of the Storm Country (1932), Change of Heart (1934)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Janet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor on October 6, 1906, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, she & her parents moved to San Francisco, California, where she graduated from high school in 1923. She then moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled in a secretarial school. She got a job at a shoe store for the princely sum of $18 per week. However, since L.A. was the land of stars and studios, she wanted to try her hand at acting. She managed to land unbilled bit parts in several feature films and comedy shorts. She bided her time, believing "Good things come to those who wait." She didn't have to wait too long, either. In 1926, at the age of 20, she turned in a superb performance as Anna Burger in The Johnstown Flood (1926). The Hollywood moguls knew they had a top star on their hands and cast her in several other leading roles that year, including The Shamrock Handicap (1926), The Blue Eagle (1926), The Midnight Kiss (1926) and The Return of Peter Grimm (1926). The next year she turned in acclaimed performances in two classic films, 7th Heaven (1927) and Sunrise (1927). Based on the strength of those two films plus Street Angel (1928), Janet received the very first Academy Award for best actress. This was the first and only time an actress won the Oscar for multiple roles. When "talkies" replaced silent films, Janet was one of the few who made a successful transition, not only because of her great acting ability but for her charming voice as well. Without a doubt, Janet had already lived a true rags-to-riches story. Throughout the mid-1930s she was the top drawing star at theaters. She turned in grand performances in several otherwise undistinguished films.
Then came A Star Is Born (1937). She was very convincing as Vicki Lester (aka Esther Blodgett), struggling actress trying for the big time. Told by the receptionist at Central casting "You know what your chances are? One in a hundred thousand," Esther/Vicki replies, "But maybe--I'm that one." For her outstanding performance she was nominated for another Oscar, but lost to Luise Rainer's performance in The Good Earth (1937), her second in as many tries. After appearing in The Young in Heart (1938), Janet didn't appear in another film until 1957's Bernardine (1957). Her last performance was in a Broadway version of Harold and Maude. Although the play was a flop, Janet's performance salvaged it to any degree - she still had what it took to entertain the public. On September 14, 1984, Janet passed away from pneumonia in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 77.With Charles Farrell
They represented the triumph of purity and innocence, becoming, in the words of the studio publicists, "America's Favorite Lovebirds."
Seventh Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Lucky Star (1929), Sunny Side Up (1929), High Society Blues (1930), Merely Mary Ann (1931), Delicious (1931), The First Year (1932), Tess of the Storm Country (1932), Change of Heart (1934)- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Born in New York City, Dan Dailey started his career in vaudeville, later making his Broadway debut in the stage version of "Babes in Arms".
When signed to MGM, the studio initially casted him as a Nazi in The Mortal Storm (1940). The studio realized their mistake and cast him in musical films, thereafter. Then, after serving in World War II, Dailey later returned to acting to make more musicals.With Betty Grable
They amiably hoofed their way through a quartet of popular, escapist musicals as Hollywood's Golden Age was drawing to a close.
Mother Wore Tights (1947), When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948), My Blue Heaven (1950), Call Me Mister (1951)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was born on December 18, 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Lillian Rose (Hofmann) and John Conn Grable, a stockbroker. She had German, English, Irish, and Dutch ancestry. Her mother was a stubborn and materialistic woman determined to make her daughter a star. Elizabeth, who later became Betty, was enrolled in Clark's Dancing School at the age of three. With her mother's guidance, Betty studied ballet and tap dancing.
Betty and her mother set out for California with the hopes of stardom. She attended the Hollywood Professional school but Lillian lied about her daughter's age and Betty (real age 13), landed several minor parts as a chorus girl in early musicals (Whoopee! (1930), New Movietone Follies of 1930 (1930), Happy Days (1929) and Let's Go Places (1930)), initially billed as 'Frances Dean'. In 1932 (real age 15), she signed with RKO Radio Pictures and began to use the moniker 'Betty Grable'. The bit parts continued for the next three years. Betty finally landed a substantial part in By Your Leave (1934). One of her big roles was in College Swing (1938). Unfortunately, the public did not seem to take notice.
The following year, she married former child star Jackie Coogan. They briefly toured on vaudeville and his success boosted hers, but they divorced in 1940. When she landed the role of Glenda Crawford in Down Argentine Way (1940), the public finally took notice of this shining bright star. Stardom came in such comedies as Coney Island (1943) and Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943).
The public was enchanted with Betty. Her famous pin-up pose during World War II adorned barracks all around the world. With that pin-up and as the star of lavish musicals, Betty became the highest-paid star in Hollywood. After the war, her star continued to rise. In 1947, the United States Treasury Department noted that she was the highest paid star in America, earning about $300,000 a year - a phenomenal sum even by today's standards. Later, 20th Century-Fox, who had her under contract, insured her legs with Lloyds of London for a million dollars. She continued to be popular until the mid-1950s, when musicals went into a decline. Her last film was How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955).
She then concentrated on Broadway and nightclubs. In 1965, she divorced band leader Harry James, whom she had wed in 1943. Her life was an active one, devoid of the scandals that plagued many stars in one way or another. She cared more for her family than stardom.
Betty Grable died at age 56 of lung cancer on July 2, 1973 in Santa Monica, California, five days before Veronica Lake's death. She was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery.With Dan Dailey
They amiably hoofed their way through a quartet of popular, escapist musicals as Hollywood's Golden Age was drawing to a close.
Mother Wore Tights (1947), When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948), My Blue Heaven (1950), Call Me Mister (1951)
With John Payne
College Swing (1938), Tin Pan Alley (1940), Footlight Serenade (1942), Springtime in the Rockies (1942) and The Dolly Sisters (1945)- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Legendary actor Glenn Ford was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford in Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Quebec, Canada, to Hannah Wood (Mitchell) and Newton Ford, a railroad executive. His family moved to Santa Monica, California when he was eight years old. His acting career began with plays at high school, followed by acting in West Coast, a traveling theater company.
Ford was discovered in 1939 by Tom Moore, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox. He subsequently signed a contract with Columbia Pictures the same year. Ford's contract with Columbia marked a significant departure in that studio's successful business model. Columbia's boss, Harry Cohn, had spent decades observing other studios'-most notably Warner Brothers-troubles with their contract stars and had built his poverty-row studio around their loan-outs. Basically, major studios would use Columbia as a penalty box for unruly behavior-usually salary demands or work refusals. The cunning Cohn usually assigned these stars (his little studio could not normally afford then) into pictures, and the studio's status rose immensely as the 1930s progressed. Understandably, Cohn had long resisted developing his own stable of contract stars (he'd first hired Peter Lorre in 1934 but didn't know what to do with him) but had relented in the late 1930s, first adding Rosalind Russell, then signing Ford and fellow newcomer William Holden. Cohn reasoned that the two prospects could be used interchangeably, should one become troublesome. Although often competing for the same parts, Ford and Holden became good friends. Their careers would roughly parallel each other through the 1940s, until Holden became a superstar through his remarkable association with director Billy Wilder in the 1950s.
Ford made his official debut in Fox's Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939), and continued working in various small roles throughout the 1940s until his movie career was interrupted to join the Marines in World War II. Ford continued his military career in the Naval Reserve well into the Vietnam War, achieving the rank of captain. In 1943 Ford married legendary tap dancer Eleanor Powell, and had one son, Peter Ford. Like many actors returning to Hollywood after the war (including James Stewart and Holden (who had already acquired a serious alcohol problem), he found it initially difficult to regain his career momentum. He was able to resume his movie career with the help of Bette Davis, who gave him his first postwar break in the 1946 movie A Stolen Life (1946). However, it was not until his acclaimed performance in a 1946 classic film noir, Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, that he became a major star and one of the the most popular actors of his time. He scored big with the film noir classics The Big Heat (1953) and Blackboard Jungle (1955), and was usually been cast as a calm and collected everyday-hero, showing courage under pressure. Ford continued to make many notable films during his prestigious 50-year movie career, but he is best known for his fine westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and The Rounders (1965). Ford pulled a hugely entertaining turn in The Sheepman (1958) and many more fine films. In the 1970s, Ford made his television debut in the controversial The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970) and appeared in two fondly remembered television series: Cade's County (1971) and The Family Holvak (1975). During the 1980s and 1990s, Ford limited his appearance to documentaries and occasional films, including a nice cameo in Superman (1978).
Glenn Ford is remembered fondly by his fans for his more than 100 excellent films and his charismatic silver screen presence.With Rita Hayworth
Most notably in the classic film noir Gilda, They created a surprisingly perverse sizzle, combining glamour with a touch of sadomasochism.
The Lady in Question (1940), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Money Trap (1965)- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly Irish descent, met Eduardo in 1916 and were married the following year. Rita, herself, studied as a dancer in order to follow in her family's footsteps. She joined her family on stage when she was eight years old when her family was filmed in a movie called La Fiesta (1926). It was her first film appearance, albeit an uncredited one. Sotted by Fox studio head Winfield R. Sheehan, she signed her first studio contract, and make her film debut at age sixteen, in Dante's Inferno (1935), followed by Cruz Diablo (1934). She continued to play small bit parts in several films under the name of "Rita Cansino". Fox dropped her after five small roles, but expert, exploitative promotion by her first husband Edward Judson soon brought Rita a new contract at Columbia Pictures, where studio head Harry Cohn changed her surname to Hayworth and approved raising her hairline by electrolysis. She played the second female lead, Judy McPherson, in Only Angels Have Wings (1939). After thirteen minor roles, Columbia lent her to Warner Bros. for her first big success, The Strawberry Blonde (1941); her splendid dancing with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) made her a star. This was the film that exuded the warmth and seductive vitality that was to make her famous. Her natural, raw beauty was showcased later that year in Blood and Sand (1941), filmed in Technicolor.
Rita was probably the second most popular actress after Betty Grable. In You'll Never Get Rich (1941) with Fred Astaire, was probably the film that moviegoers felt close to Rita. Her dancing, for which she had studied all her life, was astounding. After the hit Gilda (1946) (her dancing had made the film and it had made her), her career was on the skids. Although she was still making movies, they never approached her earlier success. The drought began between The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Champagne Safari (1954). Then after Salome (1953), she was not seen again until Pal Joey (1957). Part of the reasons for the downward spiral was television, but also Rita had been replaced by a new star at Columbia, Kim Novak.
Rita, herself, said, "Men fell in love with Gilda, but they wake up with me". In person, Rita was shy, quiet and unassuming; only when the cameras rolled did she turn on the explosive sexual charisma that in Gilda (1946) made her a superstar. To Rita, though, domestic bliss was a more important, if elusive, goal, and in 1949 she interrupted her career for marriage - unfortunately an unhappy one almost from the start - to the playboy Prince Aly Khan. Her films after her divorce from Khan include perhaps her best straight acting performances, Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) and They Came to Cordura (1959).
After a few, rather forgettable films in the 1960s, her career was essentially over. Her final film was The Wrath of God (1972). Her career was really never the same after Gilda (1946). Perhaps Gene Ringgold said it best when he remarked, "Rita Hayworth is not an actress of great depth. She was a dancer, a glamorous personality, and a sex symbol. These qualities are such that they can carry her no further professionally." Perhaps he was right but Hayworth fans would vehemently disagree with him.
Beginning in 1960 (age 42), early onset of Alzheimer's disease (undiagnosed until 1980) limited Rita's ability. The last few roles in her 60-film career were increasingly small. With 20 years of symptoms, Rita was cared for by her daughter, Yasmin Khan, until Rita's death at age 68 on May 14, 1987, in New York City.With Glenn Ford
Most notably in the classic film noir Gilda, They created a surprisingly perverse sizzle, combining glamour with a touch of sadomasochism.
The Lady in Question (1940), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Money Trap (1965)- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, to Katherine (Wood), a telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer, an auto mechanic. He was of German, Swiss-German, English, and Irish descent. His parents divorced when he was eight years old. He failed to obtain parts in school plays because he couldn't remember lines. After high school he was a postal employee and during WW II served as a Navy airplane mechanic. After the war he was a truck driver. His size and good looks got him into movies. His name was changed to Rock Hudson, his teeth were capped, he took lessons in acting, singing, fencing and riding. One line in his first picture, Fighter Squadron (1948), needed 38 takes. In 1956 he received an Oscar nomination for Giant (1956) and two years later Look magazine named him Star of the Year. He starred in a number of bedroom comedies, many with Doris Day, and had his own popular TV series McMillan & Wife (1971). He had a recurring role in TV's Dynasty (1981) (1984-5). He was the first major public figure to announce he had AIDS, and his worldwide search for a cure drew international attention. After his death his long-time lover Marc Christian successfully sued his estate, again calling attention to the homosexuality Rock had hidden from most throughout his career.With Doris Day
They turned the battle of the sexes into good, clean, "come hither" fun in a pair of sparkling romantic comedies.
Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), Send Me No Flowers (1964)- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born and Paul, a few years older.
Her parents divorced while she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance. At fourteen, she formed a dance act with a boy, Jerry Doherty, and they won $500 in a local talent contest. She and Jerry took a brief trip to Hollywood to test the waters. They felt they could succeed, so she and Jerry returned to Cincinnati with the intention of packing and making a permanent move to Hollywood. Tragically, the night before she was to move to Hollywood, she was injured riding in a car hit by a train, ending the possibility of a dancing career.
It was a terrible setback, but after taking singing lessons she found a new vocation, and at age 17, she began touring with the Les Brown Band. She met trombonist Al Jorden, whom she married in 1941. Jorden was prone to violence and they divorced after two years, not long after the birth of their son Terry. In 1946, Doris married George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year. Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros. The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract (her early credits are often confused with those of another actress named Doris Day, who appeared mainly in B westerns in the 1930s and 1940s).
Her first starring movie role was in Romance on the High Seas (1948). The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (1949) and It's a Great Feeling (1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the movies she made (in addition to several hit records). She made three films for Warner Bros. in 1950 and five more in 1951. In that year, she met and married Martin Melcher, who adopted her young son Terry, who later grew up to become Terry Melcher, a successful record producer.
In 1953, Doris starred in Calamity Jane (1953), which was a major hit, and several more followed: Lucky Me (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and what is probably her best-known film, Pillow Talk (1959). She began to slow down her filmmaking pace in the 1960s, even though she started out the decade with a hit, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960).
In 1958, her brother Paul died. Around this time, her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, had made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade. She didn't make as many films as she had in that decade, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (1965), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). Martin Melcher died in 1968, and Doris never made another film, but she had been signed by Melcher to do her own TV series, The Doris Day Show (1968). That show, like her movies, was successful, lasting until 1973. After her series went off the air, she made only occasional TV appearances.
By the time Martin Melcher died, Doris discovered she was millions of dollars in debt. She learned that Melcher had squandered virtually all of her considerable earnings, but she was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts in a case against a man that Melcher had unwisely let invest her money. She married for the fourth time in 1976 and since her divorce in 1980 has devoted her life to animals.
Doris was a passionate animal rights activist. She ran Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, California, which advocates homes and proper care of household pets.
Doris died on May 13, 2019, in Carmel Valley Village, California. She was 97.With Rock Hudson
They turned the battle of the sexes into good, clean, "come hither" fun in a pair of sparkling romantic comedies.
Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), Send Me No Flowers (1964)- Actor
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the only child of Ina Raleigh (aka Selina Rowley) and Alan Harwood Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham. His father died when he was four. At age five, he burned his apartment playing with matches, and his mother moved them to Oklahoma City. He was malnourished, undersized and nicknamed Tiny. His mother married a house painter who moved them to California--a la "The Grapes of Wrath"--when he was eight. He picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a grip at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married his friend Midge in 1936, but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937, they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son, Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them, her agonizing suicide from ant poison witnessed a few months later by her son. His size and coloring here regarded as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio, where talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. After a string of bit parts in "B" pictures--and an unbilled part in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941)--he tested for This Gun for Hire (1942) late in 1941. His fourth-billed role as psychotic killer Raven made him a star. He was drafted in January 1943 and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia. Throughout the 1940s his tough-guy roles packed audiences into theaters and he was one of the very few males whose cover photos sold movie magazines. In the 1950s he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films (an exception being what many regard as his greatest role, Shane (1953)). By the end of the 1950s liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart, a probable suicide attempt. In January 1964 he was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives.With Veronica Lake
When these two blonde, baby-faced stars came together onscreen, their scenes were like hot ice, a paradox as baffling and yet thrilling as the plots of their memorable film noirs.
This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Saigon (1948)- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Veronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockleman on November 14, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, who worked for an oil company as a ship employee. Her father was of half German and half Irish descent, and her mother was of Irish ancestry. While still a child, Veronica's parents moved to Florida when she was not quite a year old. By the time she was five, the family had returned to Brooklyn. When Connie was only twelve, tragedy struck when her father died in an explosion on an oil ship. One year later her mother married Anthony Keane and Connie took his last name as her own. In 1934, when her stepfather was diagnosed with tuberculosis, the family moved to Saranac Lake, where Connie Keane enjoyed the outdoor life and flourished in the activities of boating on the lakes, skating, skiing, swimming, biking around Moody Pond and hiking up Mt Baker. The family made their home in 1935 at 1 Watson Place, (now 27 Seneca Street) then they moved to 1 Riverside Drive,(now Lake Kiwassa Road). Both Connie and Anthony benefited from the Adirondack experience and in 1936 the family left the Adirondacks and moved to Miami, FL., however, the memories of those carefree Saranac Lake days would always remain deeply rooted in her mind.
Two years later, Connie graduated from high school in Miami. Her natural beauty and charm and a definite talent for acting prompted her mother and step-father to move to Beverly Hills, California, where they enrolled her in the well known Bliss Hayden School of Acting in Hollywood. Connie had previously been diagnosed as a classic schizophrenic and her parents saw acting as a form of treatment for her condition. She showed remarkable abilities and did not have to wait long for a part to come her way.
Her first movie was as one of the many coeds in the RKO film, Sorority House (1939). It was a minor part, to be sure, but it was a start. Veronica quickly followed up that project with two other films. All Women Have Secrets (1939) and Dancing Co-Ed (1939), were again bit roles for the pretty young woman from the East Coast, but she did not complain. After all, other would-be starlets took a while before they ever received a bit part. Veronica continued her schooling, while taking a bit roles in two more films, Young as You Feel (1940) and Forty Little Mothers (1940). Prior to this time, she was still under her natural name of Constance Keane. Now, with a better role in I Wanted Wings (1941), she was asked to change her name, and Veronica Lake was born. Now, instead of playing coeds, she had a decent, speaking part. Veronica felt like an actress. The film was a success and the public loved this bright newcomer.
Paramount, the studio she was under contract with, then assigned her to two more films that year, Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and Sullivan's Travels (1941). The latter received good reviews from the always tough film critics. As Ellen Graham, in This Gun for Hire (1942) the following year, Veronica now had top billing. She had paid her dues and was on a roll. The public was enamored with her. In 1943, Veronica starred in only one film. She portrayed Lieutenant Olivia D'Arcy in So Proudly We Hail! (1943) with Claudette Colbert. The film was a box-office smash. It seemed that any film Veronica starred in would be an unquestionable hit. However, her only outing for 1944, The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) would not be well-received by either the public or the critics. As Nazi sympathizer Dora Bruckmann, Veronica's role was dismal at best. Critics disliked her accent immensely because it wasn't true to life. Her acting itself suffered because of the accent. Mediocre films trailed her for all of 1945. It seemed that Veronica was dumped in just about any film to see if it could be salvaged. Hold That Blonde! (1945), Out of This World (1945), and Miss Susie Slagle's (1946) were just a waste of talent for the beautiful blonde. The latter film was a shade better than the previous two. In 1946, Veronica bounced back in The Blue Dahlia (1946) with Alan Ladd and Howard Da Silva. The film was a hit, but it was the last decent film for Veronica. Paramount continued to put her in pathetic movies. After 1948, Paramount discharged the once prized star, and she was out on her own. In 1949, she starred in the Twentieth Century film Slattery's Hurricane (1949), which, unfortunately, was another weak film. She was not on the big screen again until 1952 when she appeared in Stronghold (1951). By Veronica's own admission, the film "was a dog". From 1952 to 1966, Veronica made television appearances and even tried her hand on the stage. Not a lot of success for her at all. By now alcohol was the order of the day. She was down on her luck and drank heavily. In 1962, Veronica was found living in an old hotel and working as a bartender. She finally returned to the big screen in Footsteps in the Snow (1966). Another drought ensued and she appeared on the silver screen for the last time in Flesh Feast (1970) - a very low budget film.
On July 7, 1973, Veronica died of hepatitis in Burlington, Vermont. The beautiful actress with the long blonde hair was dead at the age of 50.With Alan Ladd
When these two blonde, baby-faced stars came together onscreen, their scenes were like hot ice, a paradox as baffling and yet thrilling as the plots of their memorable film noirs.
This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Saigon (1948)- Actor
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The only career Nelson Eddy ever considered was singing. His parents, Isabel (Kendrick) and William Darius Eddy, were singers, his grandparents were musicians. Unable to afford a teacher, he learned by imitating opera recordings. At age 14 he worked as a telephone operator in a Philadelphia iron foundry. He sold newspaper advertising and performed in amateur musicals. Dr. Edouard Lippe coached him and loaned him the money to study in Dresden and Paris. He gave his first concert recital in 1928 in Philadelphia. In 1933 he did 18 encores for an audience that included an assistant to MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who signed him to a seven-year contract. After MGM acting lessons and initial trials, his first real success came as the Yankee scout to Jeanette MacDonald's French princess in Naughty Marietta (1935), a huge box-office success made on a small budget. Eddy and MacDonald were paired twice more (Rose-Marie (1936), Maytime (1937)) when metropolitan Opera star Grace Moore was unavailable; they became an institution. Their last work together was in 1942. Critics nearly always panned his acting. He did have a large radio following (his theme song: "Short'nin Bread"). In 1959 Eddy and MacDonald issued a recording of their movie hits which sold well. In 1953 he had a fairly successful nightclub routine with Gale Sherwood which ran until his death in 1967. He and his wife Anne Denitz had no children.With Jeanette MacDonald
Their exuberance and gentle humor, not to mention thrilling vocalizing, brought new life to the operetta and made them America's timeless singing sweethearts.
Naughty Marietta (1935), Rose-Marie (1936), Maytime (1937), Sweethearts (1938), The Girl of the Golden West (1940), Bitter Sweet (1940), New Moon (1940), I Married an Angel (1942)