Shari's Classic Movie Blog

Happy 70th Birthday Al Pacino!

2010-04-25T13:09:00.001-07:00

Al Pacino is one of the most celebrated actors today. He has won Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and an Academy Award.

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino was born April 25, 1940 in East Harlem, Manhattan, the son of Rose Gerardi and Salvatore Alfred Pacino.

Al Pacino attended the High School of Performing Arts, a division of the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music and the Arts in New York City. Al Pacino failed nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at the age of 17. He next worked at a string of low-paying jobs, including messenger boy, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, in order to finance his acting studies.

He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground, and then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.

In 1966, after many previous unsuccessful attempts, he auditioned at The Actors Studio and got accepted. He studied under legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg .

Al Pacino made his film debut as Tony in Me, Natalie (1969).

In 1972, Al Pacino was cast to play Michael Corleone in The Godfather. He would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

Al Pacino would receive two more Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor one for Dick Tracy (1990) and one for Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).

Al Pacino would received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for Serpico (1973),
The Godfather: Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and for And Justice for All (1979).

Al Pacino would win the Academy Award for Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992).

Al Pacino would win a primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for: "Angels in America" (2003).

In 2001, Al Pacino would receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Al Pacino has also won three Golden Globe awards: Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama
for: Serpico (1973; Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
for: Scent of a Woman (1992); and Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for: "Angels in America" (2003).

Al Pacino made his Broadway debut in 1969 in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? He has also appeared in King Richard III, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, American Buffalo, Hughie and Salome.

Al Pacino has received two Tony Awards: 1977 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play & 1977 Tony Award Best Actor in Play both for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.

Happy 82nd Birthday Shirley Temple Black!

2010-04-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

From beloved child actress to Ambassador, Shirley Temple is one of the most celebrated persons of all time.

Shirley Jane Temple was born April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California to George Francis Temple, a bank employee and Gertrude Amelia Krieger, a housewife.

Early in 1931, Mrs. Temple took the first steps in bringing her daughter to the screen. She was convinced her three-year-old daughter had exceptional talent. She enrolled her daughter in the highly competitive Meglin's Dance School in Los Angeles, California on the Mack Sennett lot for twice weekly dance lessons.

Shortly after Shirley Temple's third birthday, Educational Pictures planned a series of one-reelers called Baby Burlesks to compete with the popular Our Gang comedy shorts. Charles Lamont, a film director with Educational, conducted a talent search among the children at the Meglin School, found Temple hiding behind a piano, and encouraged her to audition for the series. She did, and was signed to a two-year contract in January 1932 at $10 a day.

Shirley Temple made her screen debut in 1932 in the film Runt Page. Her first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies (1932). Shirley's first on screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches (1933).

In Bright Eyes (1934) she introduced what would become her signature song "On the Good Ship Lollipop."

In 1935, she became the youngest person to receive an Academy Award when she was honored with the Juvenile Oscar. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

At the age of 6, she was the youngest presenter at the Oscars ever. She presented the "Best Actress" award in 1935. The winner was Claudette Colbert.

By the time Shirley Temple was ten years old, she had appeared in more than fifty shorts and films including Little Miss Marker (1934), Curly Top (1935), and Captain January (1936).

As a young adult, Shirley Temple appeared in films such as The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), Fort Apache (1948), and The Story of Seabiscuit (1949).

Shirley Temple retired from the silver screen at the age of after appearing on The Red Skelton show in 1963.

Shirley Temple now turned her attention to politics. She became active in the Republican Party in California, where, in 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives.

In 1967, Shirley Temple was appointed Representative to the 24th General Assembly of the United Nations by President Richard M. Nixon.

From 1974 to 1976, Shirley Temple served as the United States Ambassador to Ghana.

In 1976, Shirley Temple was appointed the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States and was in charge of arrangements for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration and inaugural ball.

From 1989 to 1992, she served as the United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.

Shirley Temple has also served on numerous boards of directors of large enterprises and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte, Bank of America, the Bank of California, BANCAL Tri-State, Fireman's Fund Insurance, the United States Commission for UNESCO, the United Nations Association, and the National Wildlife Federation.

Shirley Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including the Life Achievement Award from the American Center of Films for Children, the National Board of Review Career Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She also has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Of all of Shirley Temple's accomplishments, she is most proud of her children and grandchildren.

Happy 95th Birthday Harry Morgan!

2010-04-10T13:11:00.001-07:00

Long before he was Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet (1967-70) and Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H (1975-83), Harry Morgan was one of the most popular character actors of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, appearing in more than 100 films.

Harry Morgan was born Harry Bratsberg in Detroit, Michigan on April 10, 1915.

A statewide debating champion in high school, Harry original aspired to obtain a law degree. However, when Harry was a junior in college he joined the acting club.

Morgan began acting on stage under his birth name, joining the Group Theatre in New York City in 1937, and appearing in the original production of the play Golden Boy, followed by a host of successful Broadway roles including plays such as The Gentle People, Thunder Rock, and Heavenly Express.

Harry Morgan made his screen debut (originally using the name "Henry Morgan") in the 1942 movie To the Shores of Tripoli. His screen name later would become "Henry 'Harry' Morgan" and eventually Harry Morgan, to avoid confusion with the then-popular humorist of the same name.

Harry Morgan appeared in films such as The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), State Fair (1945) ,Dragonwyck (1946), The Big Clock (1948), High Noon (1952), Bend of the River (1952), The Glenn Miller Story (1953), Thunder Bay (1953), The Far Country (1955) Strategic Air Command (1955); The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956), Inherit the Wind (1960), Cimarron (1960), How the West Was Won (1962), Frankie and Johnny (1966), Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), Support Your Local Gunfighter! (1971), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), and The Shootist (1976).

In 1980, he won a Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series for: "M*A*S*H." He was also nominated seven other times for his role as Colonel Potter. He was also nominated in 1972 for a guest appearance on M*A*S*H when he appeared as a crazy general in the episode The General Flipped at Dawn.

A talented painter, in several episodes of M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter is seen painting, these are actually works by Harry Morgan.

Harry Morgan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for radio. Why he doesn't have one for television and motion pictures is beyond comprehension.

Happy 88th Birthday Doris Day!

2010-04-03T11:11:00.001-07:00

Doris Day was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her parents were Alma Sophia Welz and Wilhelm von Kappelhoff, a music teacher. She was named after silent movie actress Doris Kenyon, whom her mother admired.

Doris Day developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo that performed locally in Cincinnati. A car accident on October 13, 1937 damaged her legs and curtailed her prospects as a professional dancer. While recovering, Doris Day took singing lessons, and at 17 she began performing locally.

While singing with the Les Brown band and briefly with Bob Hope, Doris Day toured extensively across the United States. Her popularity as a radio performer and vocalist, which included a second hit record My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, led directly to a career in films.

Doris Day made her film debut as Miss Georgia Garrett in Romance on the High Seas (1948).

The next twenty years she appeared in films such as Young Man with a Horn (1950),
Lullaby of Broadway (1951), Calamity Jane (1953), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956),
The Pajama Game (1957), Teacher's Pet (1958), Pillow Talk (1959), Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), That Touch of Mink (1962), Send Me No Flowers (1964), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968).

From 1968 to 1973, Doris Day starred in her own television show The Doris Day Show.

After The Doris Day Show, she retired from the entertainment industry and devoted her time to animal rights.

Doris Day's interest in animal welfare and related issues apparently dates to her teen years when she was recovering from an automobile accident and took her dog Tiny for a walk without a leash. Tiny ran into the street and was killed by a passing car. Then tt was during the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), when she saw how camels, goats and other "animal extras" in a marketplace scene were being treated, that Doris Day began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.

Doris Day founded the Doris Day Animal League which was merged into The Humane Society of the United States in 2006. She also founded the annual Spay Day USA which is a one day spay/neuter event now managed by the Humane Society of the United States.

Doris Day was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom for improving conditions for animals throughout the US and beyond.

Doris Day was two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for Recording and one for Motion Pictures.

Doris Day was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
for: Pillow Talk (1959).

In 1989 she won the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

An accomplish singer and Grammy award winner, she has recorded over 650 songs. Doris Day is most known for her song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)", which she introduced in the 1956 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

Sentimental Journey and Secret Love were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Other notable songs of Doris Day include Love Somebody, It's Magic, A Guy is A Guy, Tea for Two, Young Man with a Horn, On Moonlight Bay, My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, Ain't We Got Fun, Autumn Leaves, and Imagination.

At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Happy 59th Birthday Kurt Russell!

2010-03-16T16:48:00.001-07:00

Kurt Vogel Russell was born on March 17, 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is the son of Louise Julia Crone, a dancer, and Bing Russell (photo below), a character actor, best-known for playing Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza.

Kurt Russell began acting at the age of 6 when he appeared in several episodes of Sugarfoot (1957-1958). In 1960, Walt Disney himself signed Russell to a 10 year contract. He made his movie debut in It Happened At The World's Fair (1963).

As a child actor, Kurt Russell appeared in episodes of The Dick Powell Show, Sam Benedict, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Virginian, Lost in Space and The Fugitive.

On February 6, 1965, Russell, not quite fourteen, played the role of Jungle Boy on an episode of CBS's Gilligan's Island.

As a child actor, he appeared in films such as Guns of Diablo (1964) Follow Me, Boys! (1966) and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969).

During the early 1970s, Kurt Russell had a baseball career. He played second base for the minor league team the El Paso Sun Kings. Kurt Russell's baseball career ended when he tore a rotator cuff during a game. Before his injury, he was leading the Texas League in hitting, with a .563 batting average. The injury forced his retirement from baseball in 1973 and led to his return to acting.

As an adult, Kurt Russell has appeared in films such as The Barefoot Executive (1971), Fools' Parade (1971), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), Superdad (1973), The Strongest Man in the World (1975), Used Cars (1980), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Silkwood (1983), Swing Shift (1984), Overboard (1987), Tequila Sunrise (1988), Tango & Cash (1989), Backdraft (1991), Tombstone (1993), Escape from L.A. (1996), and Poseidon (2006).

In 1979, Kurt Russell gave a classic performance as Elvis Presley in John Carpenter's ABC-TV movie Elvis. He was nominated for an Emmy for his performance.

Kurt Russell married actress Season Hubley, whom he had met on the set of Elvis in 1979 and they had a son, Boston Russell, in 1980. They divorced in 1983.

In 1983, he began a relationship with Goldie Hawn while filming Swing Shift. They had a son, Wyatt, in 1986. They have been together 26 years.

Happy 84th Birthday Jerry Lewis!

2010-03-15T16:18:00.001-07:00

Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer, film director and singer.

Jerry Lewis was born Joseph Levitch on March 16, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey. Jerry Lewis parents were Daniel Levitch (stage name of Danny Lewis), a Master of Ceremonies and vaudeville entertainer and Rachel Brodsky, a piano player.

When Jerry Lewis was five years old, he made his debut in New York's Borscht Circuit singing "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" By the time he was fifteen, he had perfected a comic routine "Record Act" in which he exaggeratedly mimed the lyrics to songs on a phonograph.

In 1946, Jerry Lewis teamed with Dean Martin. Dean Martin served as straight man to Jerry Lewis's zany antics in the Martin and Lewis comedy team. They began in popular nightclubs, then had their own radio program, made numerous television appearances and then became popular in films.

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made 17 films together beginning with My Friend Irma (1949). A few of their films include At War with the Army (1950), Sailor Beware (1952), Jumping Jacks (1952), Scared Stiff (1953), Money From Home (1953), and Hollywood or Bust (1956).

After Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy team ended in 1956, Jerry Lewis went on to a successful solo career.

Jerry Lewis starred in films such as Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958), The Bellboy (1960), The Ladies Man (1961), It's Only Money (1962), The Nutty Professor (1963), The Disorderly Orderly (1964), Three on a Couch (1966), Hook, Line, & Sinker (1969), Which Way to the Front? (1970), Cracking Up (1983) and Funny Bones (1995).

In 1995, Jerry Lewis won the Theatre World Special Award for his performance in the Broadway musical Damn Yankees.

Jerry Lewis made his directoral debutin How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949). Jerry Lewis has also directed films such as The Ladies Man (1961), The Nutty Professor (1963), The Family Jewels (1965), The Big Mouth (1967), and The Day the Clown Cried (1972).

Jerry Lewis is also a successful writer. He has written screenplays for How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border (1949), The Bellboy (1960), The Nutty Professor (1963), The Patsy (1964) and Hardly Working (1980).

As a producer, Jerry Lewis produced such classic films as The Delicate Delinquent (1957), The Bellboy (1960), Three on a Couch (1966), and The Nutty Professor (1996).

Jerry Lewis has appeared on episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mad About You, Wiseguy, The Red Skelton Show and Ben Casey.

In 1950, Jerry Lewis became the national chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), a position he still holds today. Beginning in 1966, Jerry Lewis has hosted the nationwide telethon it holds on Labor Day each year.

In 1997, Jerry Lewis was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

In 2009, Jerry Lewis received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 81st Academy Awards for his work with MDA.

Jerry Lewis has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award, American Comedy Awards
(1997), Governors Award Primetime Emmy Awards (2005) and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures and television.

Happy 74th Birthday Dean Stockwell!

2010-03-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Dean Stockwell was a popular child actor of the 1940s, known for his air of innocence, beautiful dimples, sparkling eyes and his crown of curls. Sixty plus years later, Dean Stockwell is still an actor in demand. He is one of the few child actors to transition to successful adult actor.

Dean Stockwell was born Robert Dean Stockwell on March 5, 1936 in Hollywood, California. Dean's father was Harry Stockwell, an actor an singer. His mother was Nina Olivette, an actress and dancer. Dean's elder brother is actor Guy Stockwell.

Dean's father Harry is most famous for supplying the speaking and singing voice for Prince Charming in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

By the age of 10, Dean Stockwell had appeared on Broadway and in several movies.

Dean Stockwell made his debut in 1945 at the age of 9 in the film The Valley of Decision.

Dean's next role was Donald Martin in Anchor's Aweigh (1945) starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson.

In The Green Years (1946) he played Robert Shannon, as a child. In 1947, he played Nick Jr., son of Nick and Nora Charles in Song of the Thin Man. He also played Gregory Peck's son in Gentelman's Agreement (1947). In 1948, he had the lead role in The Boy with Green Hair. In 1949, he appeared in The Secret Garden. As a child actor, Dean also appeared in The Happy Years (1950) and Cattle Drive (1951).

In 1943, at the age of 7, Dean Stockwell appeared on Broadway in The Innocent Voyage.

In 1956, Dean Stockwell turned 20 years old and was still very active in movies and on television.

In 1957, Dean Stockwell appeared in the Broadway production of Compulsion.

In 1959, Dean Stockwell would appear in the film version of Compulsion.

During his 20s, he also appeared in films such as Sons and Lovers (1960), Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) and Rapture (1965). On televison, he appeared in Climax, Cimarron City, General Electric Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, The Twlight Zone, and The Defenders.

As Dean Stockwell entered his 30s, he was still very much in demand. His movies include Psych-Out (1968), The Dunwich Horror (1970), The Last Movie (1971), The Loners (1972), The Werewolf of Washington (1973), and The Pacific Connection (1974) . He appeared in episodes of televsion shows such as Dr. Kildare, Mannix, Mission Impossible, Bonanza, and The Streets of San Francisco.

During Dean Stockwell's 40s, he appeared in such films as Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), She Came to the Valley (1979), Dune (1984) Papa Was a Preacher (1985), To Kill a Stranger (1985), The Legend of Billie Jean (1985), and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He appeared on episodes of Police Story, McCloud, The A-Team, Simon & Simon, hart to Hart, and Miami Vice.

In 1986, Dean Stockwell turned 50 years old and had been acting for 41 years. The former child actor was still popular in films and on television. He appeared in movies such as Blue Velvet (1986), Banzai Runner (1987), Gardens of Stone (1987), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), The Blue Iguana (1988), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), Married to the Mob (1988), Buying Time (1989), Friends and Enemies (1992) and The Player (1992) He appeared in episodes of televsion shows such as Hunter, Murder She Wrote, Burke's Law, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

At the age of 53, Dean Stockwell received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Married to the Mob (1988).

In 1989 to 1993, Dean Stockwell starred as Admiral Al Calavicci in Quantum Leap. He would receive four Emmy nominations for Oustanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

After Quantum Leap and now in his 60s, Dean Stockwell was not slowing down. He appeared in films such as Last Resort (1996), Mr. Wrong (1996), McHale's Navy (1997), Midnight Blue (1997), Living in Peril (1997), Air Force One (1997), The Rainmaker (1997), The Shadow Men (1998), Restraining Order (1999), Face to Face (2001), Inferno (2002), and The Manchurian Candidate (2004).

He also had a reoccuring role on the television drama JAG as SecNav Edward Sheffield.

Now 70 years old, Dean Stockwell was cast as John Cavil in Battlestar Galactica.

Dean Stockwell is an accomplished artist. He creates both digitally enhanced photographs and original collages in the style of his friend and fellow artist, Wallace Berman. He is also a friend of musician Neil Young and designed the album cover art for "American Stars'n'Bars".

Dean Stockwell has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Happy 56th Birthday Ron Howard!

2010-02-28T16:49:00.001-08:00

For over fifty years, Ron Howard has captivated audiences first as a child star, then as a young adult actor, then as a writer, producer and director.

Ron Howard began acting at the age of two. He is the perfect example of how a child actor can successfully make the transition to an adult actor, director, producer, writer and successful family man.

In his 54 years in the entertainment business, Ron Howard has won two Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, one Daytime Emmy award, one Golden Globe Award and two Director Guild of America awards.

Ronald William "Ron" Howard was born on March 1, 1954 in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Jean Speegle Howard, an actress, and Rance Howard, a director, writer, and actor.

Ron Howard's younger brother, is Clint Howard, star of Gentle Ben and frequently appears in Ron Howard's movies.

Ron Howard made his acting debut at the age of two in an uncredited part in Frontier Woman (1956).

When he was four years old, he was cast as Billy Rhinelander in The Journey (1959).

From 1956 to 1960, Ron Howard (then known as Ronny Howard) appeared on episodes of The Twilight Zone, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Dennis the Menance and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

In 1960, Ron Howard was cast as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show (1960 to 1968).

While appearing on The Andy Griffith Show, Ron Howard continue to appear in movies such as Five Minutes to Live (1961), The Music Man (1962), and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963). He also appeared in episodes of the television shows The F.B.I., Gunsmoke and Daniel Boone.

In 1970, Ron Howard appeared in The Wild Country (1970) but soon returned to televison as Bob Smith in The Smith Family (1971-1972).

In 1972, he was cast as Richie Cunningham in Love, American Style.

In 1972, Ron Howard gave a memorable performance as Private Walter, an underage solider in an episode of M*A*S*H.

In 1973, Ron Howard starred as Steve in the classic film American Graffiti.

In 1974, Ron Howard reprised his role of Richie Cunningham for Happy Days (1974-1984).

During Happy Days, Ron Howard continued to appear in films such as Grand Theft Auto (1977), The Shootist (1976), and Eat My Dust (1976).

Ron Howard career as a director began in 1960 when he directed Old Paint. He has directed such classics as Grand Theft Auto (1977), Night Shift (1982), Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), Gung Ho (1986), Parenthood (1989), Backdraft (1991), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Cinderella Man (2005), and Frost/Nixon (2008).

Ron Howard is also a successful producer. He produced the television series Arrested Development and films like The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Changeling (2008).

Ron Howard is also a successful writer. He wrote the story for Far and Away (1992), Parenthood (1989) and Grand Theft Auto (1977).

Ron Howard is a four time Academy Award nominee and won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture for a A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Ron Howard has been nominated for three Daytime Emmys winning once for Outstanding Children's Animated Program for "Curious George" (2006).

Ron Howard has been nominated for six primetime Emmy awards winning twice for Outstanding Miniseries for: "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998) and Outstanding Comedy Series for: "Arrested Development" (2003).

Ron Howard has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, winning once for Best TV Actor - Musical/Comedy for: "Happy Days" (1974).

In addition, Ron Howard has won two Directors Guild of America awards for Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind.

Ron Howard has a Star on the Walk of Fame for Television.

On June 7, 1975, Howard wed his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl Alley and they have four children: daughters Bryce, Jocelyn, Paige and son Reed. In February 2007, Ron Howard became a grandfather.

Ron Howard is truely one of the most gifted and talented persons in the entertainment industry.

Happy Birthday Gavin MacLeod!

2010-02-27T17:41:00.001-08:00

Gavin MacLeod has been a familar face on television and movies for over fifty years.

If you grew up watching 1960s televison, you remember Gavin MacLeod as Seaman Joseph 'Happy' Haines on McHale's Navy from 1962 to 1964.

If you grew up watching 1970s televison, you remember Gavin MacLeod as Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 to 1977.

If you grew up watching 1980s television, you remember Gavin MacLeod as Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat from 1977 to 1987.

If you love classic movies, you know Gavin MacLeod as one of the most memorable character actors working alongside Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Steve McQueen, E.G. Marshall, Susan Hayward, Gregory Peck and Donald Sutherland.

Gavin MacLeod was born Allan George See on February 28, 1930 or 1931 (sources differ as to the year he was born) in Mount Kisco, New York. His father was a Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indian.

Gavin MacLeod studing acting at Ithaca College, graduating in 1952. After serving in the Air Force, he moved to New York City and worked at Radio City Music Hall while looking for acting work.

Gavin MacLeod made his acting debut in an episode of The Walter Winchell File in 1957.

After two uncredited roles in the films The True Story of Lynn Stuart (1958) and Young and Wild (1958), Gavin MacLeod received his big break.

Gavin MacLeod was cast to play a police lieutenant in the film drama I Want to Live (1958) starring Susan Hayward.

The Hollywood elite noticed Gavin MacLeod and his next role was as Padua, District Attorney Horn (played by E.G. Marshall) assistant in Compulsion (1959).

Gavin MacLeod's next film was Pork Chop Hill (1959) starring Gregory Peck in which MacLeod played Sexton.

In 1959, Gavin MacLeod gave one of his most memorable performances as Ernest Hunkle in Operation Petticoat starring Tony Curtis and Cary Grant.

Blake Edwards, the director of Operation Petticoat quickly cast Gavin MacLeod as Professor Thayer in his next feature High Time (1960) starring Bing Crosby.

In 1966, Gavin MacLeod played Crosley in The Sand Pepples starring Steve McQueen.

Gavin MacLeod's most memorable performance as a character actor was in Kelly's Heroes (1970) in which he played Oddball's (Donald Sutherland) sidekick Moriarty.

Gavin MacLeod has also appeared in films such as Twelve Hours to Kill (1960), McHale's Navy (1964), A Man Called Gannon (1968),and The Thousand Plane Raid (1969).

Gavin MacLeod has appeared on episodes of My Favorite Martian, The Untouchables, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Hogan's Heroes, The Big Valley, The King of Queens, That '70s Show, Touched by an Angel, JAG and so many more.

Happy 80th Birthday Joanne Woodward!

2010-02-26T19:16:00.001-08:00

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on February 27, 1930 in Thomasville, Georgia, the daughter of Elinor Trimmier and Wade Woodward, Jr..

Attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, nine-year-old Joanne Woodward rushed out into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, star Vivien Leigh's partner and future husband. She eventually worked with Olivier in 1979, in a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba. During rehearsals, she mentioned this incident to him and he told her he remembered her doing it.

As a teenager, Joanne Woodward won many beauty contests. She also appeared in theatrical productions at Greenville High and in Greenville's Little Theatre in Georgia. After high school, Joanne Woodward majored in drama at Louisiana State University.

In 1952, Joanne Woodward made her television debut on an episode of Tales of Tomorrow. She next appeared as Ann Rutledge in several episdoes of Omnibus.

During the early 1950s, Joanne Woodward devoted most of her time to television appearing in episodes of The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, The Ford Television Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

In 1955, Joanne Woodward made her film debut in Count Three and Pray.

Joanne Woodward's big break came when she was cast to play Eve in The Three Faces of Eve (1957). She would win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Alternating her time between Hollywood and Broadway, Joanne Woodward was an understudy in the produciton of Picnic which featured Paul Newman. In 1958, the two would appear together in the movie The Long, Hot Summer. The couple married on January 29, 1958 shortly after filming completed.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward would appear in nine more films together: Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961)
A New Kind of Love (1963), Winning (1969), WUSA (1970), The Drowning Pool (1975)
Harry & Son (1984), and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990).

Joanne Woodward would also star in five films that Paul Newman directed or produced:
Rachel, Rachel (1968), They Might Be Giants (1971) , The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Nell Potts (1972), The Shadow Box (TV, 1980) and The Glass Menagerie (1987).

Joanne Woodward was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Rachel, Rachel, (1968), Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973) and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990).

In 1960, Joanne Woodward became the first actress to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Joanne Woodward has also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Rachel, Rachel (1968) and Breathing Lessons (TV 1994).

Joanne Woodward has won three Emmy Awards for her performances in See How She Runs (1978), Do You Remember Love (1985), and American Masters: Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre (1989).

In 1986, Joanne Woodward received the Screen Actors Guild Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.

Most recently, Joanne Woodward appeared in Empire Falls (TV 2005).

Happy 78th Birthday Elizabeth Taylor!

2010-02-26T18:32:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Her parents Francis Lenn Taylor and Sara Viola Warmbrodt were Americans originally from Arkansas, Kansas who were living in London at the time. Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress whose stage name was Sara Sothern.

Elizabeth Taylor is a dual citizen of the UK and the United States as she was born both a British subject and an American Citizen by being born on British soil under the principle of jus soli, and through her parents under the principle of jus sanguinis.

Shortly before the beginning of World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States to avoid hostilities. They settled in Los Angeles, California.

At the age of three, Elizabeth Taylor began taking ballet lessons with Vaccani. Elizabeth Taylor appeared in her first film at the age of nine: There's One Born Every Minute (1942).

As a child actress, Elizabeth Taylor appeared in such classics as Lassie Come Home (1943), National Velvet (1944), Courage of Lassie (1946), Life with Father (1947), Julia Misbehaves (1948) and Little Women (1949).

Unlike many child stars, Elizabeth Taylor easily made the transition into young adult roles. During her 20s, Elizabeth Taylor appeared in such classics as Father of the Bride (1950), Father's Little Dividend (1951), A Place in the Sun (1951),
Ivanhoe (1952), Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959),
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and BUtterfield 8 (1960).

She would receive Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role
for her performances in Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).

She would win the Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8 (1960).

During the filming of Raintree County, Montgomery Clift was seriously injured in an automobile accident after leaving a party at her house. It was she who found him first, got into the wreck and removed some teeth from his throat that threatened to choke him and saved his life.

As Elizabeth Taylor entered her 30s and 40s, she turned to more mature roles in Cleopatra (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), Secret Ceremony (1968), The Blue Bird (1976) and
A Little Night Music (1977).

Elizabeth Taylor would win her second Academy Award for Best Actress for Who's Afraid of Viginia Woolf (1966).

As Elizabeth Taylor approached her 50s, she turned her acting talents to one of her favorite forms of entertainment: Soap Operas. She would appear on both General Hospital and All My Children, two of her favorite shows.

During the 1980s, Elizabeth Taylor also appeared in the epic mini series North and South.

In 1981, Elizabeth Taylor made her Broadway debut as Regina Giddens in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, for which she received a Tony Award nomination, the Drama Desk Award nomination and won the Theatre World Special Award.

During the 1990s, Elizabeth Taylor provided her voice on two episodes of The Simpsons, once as herself and once as the voice of Little Maggie Simpson.

Elizabeth Taylor also appeared in The Flintstones (1994). Her final appearance was on an episdoe of God, the Devil and Bob in 2003.

In addition to being honored with two Academy Awards, Elizabeth Taylor received the 1982 Cecil B. DeMille Award , the 1992 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the 1998 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2002 John F. Kennedy Center Honor, and has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Elizabeth Taylor has devoted much of her time and energy to AIDS-related charities and fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

She also has a passion for jewlry. Elizabeth Taylor started designing jewels for the The Elizabeth Collection, creating fine jewelry with elegance and flair. The Elizabeth Taylor collection by Piranesi is sold at Christie's. She has also launched three perfumes, "Passion," "White Diamonds," and "Black Pearls."

Elizabeth Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands and has three children and nine grandchildren. She is also the godmother to Michael Jackson's children Paris and Prince Michael.

Happy 89th Birthday Abe Vigoda!

2010-02-23T16:46:00.000-08:00

Abe Vigoda is a movie and television character actor who has proved himself in both gritty dramatic roles and as an actor with wonderful comedic timing.

Abraham Charles "Abe" Vigoda was born February 24, 1921 in New York City. The son of Lena Moses and Samuel Vigoda, a tailor. Abe Vigoda's brother, Bill Vigoda, was a comic-book artist who drew for the Archie comics franchise and others in the 1940s.

Abe Vigoda began his acting career at age 17 and plodded away in small theatre shows for over 20 years.

In 1949, Abe Vigoda appeared in an episode of Suspense entitled Lunch Box which marked. Roles soon followed on episdoes of Studio One and Dark Shadows.

In 1965, Abe Vigoda made his film debut as a waiter in Three Rooms in Manhattan.

In 1972, Abe Vigoda got his big break when he was cast to play Sal Tessio in The Godfather. He would reprise the role in The Godfather, Part II (1974).

In 1974, he would be cast as Detective Phil Fish in the now classic television show Barney Miller, a role which would earn him three Emmy nominations. He would reprise the character in the short lived spin off Fish.

A familiar face on television for the past forty years, Abe Vigoda has appeared in episdoes of Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Mannix, Hawaii Five-O, Wings, Law & Order, Mad About You, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Diagnosis Murder and many more television shows. Abe Vigoda also made frequent cameo appearances on The Late Show with Conan O'Brien.

Abe Vigoda also appeared in films such as Cannonball Run II (1984) Look Who's Talking (1989) Prancer (1989) Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) North (1994) and Crime Spree (2003).

On Broadway, Abe Vigoda has appeared in The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, The Man in the Glass Booth, Inquest and Arsenic and Old Lace.

Abe Vigoda was married once, to Beatrice Schy from February 25, 1968 until her death on April 30, 1992. They had one child, a daughter, Carol.

In 1982, People magazine erroneously declared him dead. Abe Vigoda took the error with good humor, posing for a photograph showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question.

Erroneous reports of Abe Vigoda's death as well as questions of whether he is alive or dead have become a running joke, there is a website AbeVigoda.com lists Abe Vigoda's current state as dead or alive. In addition, A Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda's ghost. Vigoda then walked in and declared, "I'm not dead, you idiot!" A November 2006 Conan O'Brien sketch showed an audience member summoning the dead. The "deceased person" turned out to be Vigoda.

Abe Vigoda's most recent appearance was in a Superbowl commercial for Snickers with Betty White.

Later this year, Abe Vigoda will appear as Mel in the movie Small Town Hero (2010).

Abe Vigoda, at the age of 89, is still very active. He currently has three film roles in pre production for upcoming movies Mobster Movie (2011), Mafioso II (2010) and The Driver (2010).

Happy 83rd Birthday Sidney Poitier!

2010-02-19T17:48:00.001-08:00

Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida to Evelyn Outten and Reginald James Poitier. His family had traveled from Cat Island, Bahamas to Miami to sell tomatoes and other produce from their farm when Sidney was born prematurely on their trip to Florida.

Sidney Poitier began his acting career by joining the American Negro Theater, but was initially rejected by audiences. His tone deafness made him contrary to what was expected of African American actors at the time unable to sing or dance.

However, Sidney Poitier was determined to refine his acting skills. He spent the next several months to achieving theatrical success. On his second attempt at theater, he was noticed which led to him being cast in the Broadway production of Lysistrate for which he received excellent reviews.

In 1949, Sidney Poitier faced a difficult decision: leading roles on the Broadway stage of accept an offer to appear in the film No Way Out.

Sidney Poitier choosed the film No Way Out (1950) which led to more roles in the film industry.

In 1955, he was cast in the Blackboard Jungle (1955).

In 1958 he played opposite Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance becoming the first African American male actor to be nominated in a competitive category.

In the late 1950s, Sidney Poitier returned to the Broadway stage performing in A Raisin in the Sun. He would receive a Tony award nomination for his performance.

In 1961, Sidney Poitier reprised his Broadway role in the movie version of A Raisin in the Sun.

In 1963, Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. He also won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance.

In 1965, Sidney Poitier starred in The Bedford Incident (1965). This would mark the first time he would play a role in which his character's race was not an issue.

Sidney Poitier also appeared in such films as Edge of the City (1957), Pressure Point (1962), A Patch of Blue (1965), Duel at Diablo (1966), To Sir, with Love (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970), Buck and the Preacher (1972) and Sneakers (1992).

Sidney Poitier has also had a successful career as a director. He has directed such films as Buck and the Preacher (1972) and Ghost Dad (1990). His most successful film as a director is the 1980 Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy.

Sidney Poitier has received many awards including Cecil B. Demille Award (1982), AFI Life Achievement Award (1992), SAG Life Achievement Award (1995), Kennedy Center Honor (1999) and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.

Sidney Poitier is currently the Bahamian ambassador to Japan, a post he has held since 1997.

Sidney Poitier was to Hollywood what Jackie Robinson was to major league baseball: the man who broke the color barrier. An actor, director, and producer, he forever altered the racial perceptions long held by both motion picture audiences and executives.

Happy 100th Birthday Dorothy Janis!

2010-02-18T16:06:00.001-08:00

Dorothy Janis was born Dorothy Penelope Jones on February 19, 1910 in Dallas, Texas.

When Dorothy was 15 years old she was visiting her cousin who was working on a film for Fox. The beautiful Dorothy was noticed at once and asked to make a screen test.

She was cast in her first film role in Kit Carson (1928) as Sings-in-the-Clouds. That same year, she played Thurya in Fleetwing (1928).

Within a year, although she was just 16, Dorothy Janis was signed by Metro to a 5-year contract. Metro said publicly that Janis was 18 and half-Cherokee; neither fact was true.

Dorothy's first film for MGM was The Overland Telegraph (1929).

She is best known for playing opposite Ramon Novarro in The Pagan (1929), her second film for MGM and overall her fourth film.

In 1930, she appeared in her final film as Chita in Lummox (1930).

Dorothy Janis was scheduled to appear in one more film entitled The White Captive. In 1930, Dorothy and the film compnay sailed to the for a tour of the Malay Peninsula to make a film to be entitled The White Captive. When the company returned to Hollywood at the end of 1930, however, the studio found that shot footage was virtually unusable, and worse yet, poor Dorothy Janis found herself at the epicenter of a tabloid scandal.

Sidney Lund, a newlywed sound technician who traveled with the White Captive company, apparently formed a crush on Janis during the 6-month trip, inspiring Mrs. Lund, a former vaudeville dancer, to file for divorce and to sue Janis for $25,000 for "alienation of affection."

Mrs. Lund eventually got her divorce and dropped her suit against Dorothy Janis.

Admist the scandal, Dorothy Janis traveled to Chicago to visit an aunt to get away from the Hollywood scandal. During the trip, Dorothy Janis met and fell in love with bandleader Wayne King.

The two were married on March 21, 1932 and were married 53 years until his death on July 16, 1985.

Dorothy Janis was an exotic beauty who made five films: four silents and one talkie. She retired in 1930 and currently resides in Arizona. She has two children and six grandchildren.

Few knew or could even have imagined that the happy housewife and mother of two and grandmother of six once wore a sarong in the Tahitian jungles listening to Ramon Novarro croon the "Pagan Love Song."

Happy 85th Birthday George Kennedy!

2010-02-17T16:47:00.001-08:00

For fifty years, George Kennedy has been one of our favorite character actors playing bullies and thugs or the dependable sidekick.

George Harris Kennedy, Jr. was born on February 18, 1925 in New York City into a show business family. His father, George Harris Kennedy Sr. was a musician and orchestra leader. His mother, Helen Kieselbach was a ballet dancer.

George Kennedy made his stage debut at the age of two and later became a radio performer as a young adult.

George Kennedy put aside show business during World War II. He spent sixteen years in the United States Army, seeing combat and serving directly under General Patton. During his military career, he worked in the Armed Forces radio. He was involved with the opening of the first Army Information Office, which provided technical assistance to films and TV shows. After retiring from the military George Kennedy found his way back to the entertainment industry.

George Kennedy originally was a technical advisor for the television series Sergeant Bilko.

In 1956, he made his acting debut in an episode of The Phil Silvers Show. Roles soon followed in episodes of Cheyenne, Lawman, Wanted Dead or Alive, Peter Gunn and Maverick.

In 1960, he made his film debut as a slave in Spartacus. In 1961, he appeared in his first credited film role as Nathan Dillon in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come.

During the 1960s, he appeared in such television shows as Route 66, Bat Masterson, The Untouchables, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, The Andy Griffith Show, McHale's Navy, and Bonanza.

During the 1960s he appeared films such as Lonely Are The Brave (1962), Charade (1963), McHale's Navy (1964), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), In Harm's Way (1965), Shenandoah (1965), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Boston Strangler (1968).

In 1967, George Kennedy was cast as Dragline, a chain gang convict, in Cool Hand Luke. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

During the 1970s, George Kennedy appeared in films such as Airport (1970), Dirty Dingus Magee (1970), Fools' Parade (1971), Lost Horizon (1973), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Airport 1975 (1974), Earthquake (1974), Airport '77 (1977), Death on the Nile (1978) and The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979).

The 1980s brought George Kennedy roles in films such as Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984) The Delta Force (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987) and Nightmare at Noon (1988). On television he appeared in episodes of Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and the made for televison movie The Jesse Owens Story (1984).

Just when George Kennedy career seemed to be on a downward spiral, he appeared as Captain Ed Hocken opposite Leslie Nielsen's comical cop Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988). He would reprise the role in two sequels: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). George Kennedy was back on top.

On television, George Kennedy portrayed Carter McKay in the CBS prime time serial Dallas and several made for television Dallas movies during the 1990s.

In 1998, George Kennedy retired and moved to Idaho with his wife. But retirement life was not for George Kennedy.

He most recently protrayed Judge Duke in The Man Who Came Back (2008).

In 2010, George Kennedy will be Mad Mad Wagon Party (2010) and Six Days in Paradise (2010).

George Kennedy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Happy 96th Birthday Kevin McCarthy!

2010-02-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

For the past seven decades, Kevin McCarthy has had a long and distinguished career on stage, television and in film. He is one of the most in demand character actors.

Kevin McCarthy was born on February 15, 1914 in Seattle, Washington the son of Martha Therese Preston and Roy Winfield McCarthy. Kevin McCarthy was orphaned at the age of four when both his parents died in the great flu epidemic of 1918. He was raised by his father's parents in Minneapolis, Minnesota and later by an uncle and aunt.

In 1938, Kevin McCarthy made his Broadway debut in Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Kevin McCarthy's Broadway credits include Flight to the West, Joan of Lorraine, Cactus Flower, and Advise and Consent.

In 1944, Kevin McCarthy made his film debut in an uncredited role in Winged Victory.

In 1949, Kevin McCarthy was cast as Biff Loman in the London company production of Death of a Salesman. He reprised his role in the 1951 film version, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year.

Kevin McCarthy has appeared in films such as Drive a Crooked Road (1954), The Gambler from Natchez (1954), An Annapolis Story (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Misfits (1961), The Hell with Heroes (1968), The Howling (1981), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Hostage (1987), Love or Money (1990), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Fallen Angels (2006)and Her Morbid Desires (2008).

Kevin McCarthy has appeared on episodes of Boston Common, Dream On, Tales From The Crypt, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, China Beach, Simon & Simon, In The Heat of the Night, The Colbys, The Golden Girls, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Flamingo Road.

Kevin McCarthy's made for television movies include Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982), Deadly Intentions (1985), Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987) Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995) and The Second Civil War (1997).

At age 96, Kevin McCarthy has no intention of retiring. He is currently filming
The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2010) in which he will play The Grand Inquisitor.

Happy 79th Birthday Claire Bloom!

2010-02-14T16:25:00.001-08:00

Claire Bloom was born Patricia Claire Blume on February 15, 1931 in London, England. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Grew and Edward Max Blume.

Claire Bloom began her training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Claire Bloom made her debut on BBC radio programmes. She made her stage debut in 1946, when she was 15, with the Oxford Repertory Theatre. Her London stage debut was in 1947 in the hit Christopher Fry play The Lady's Not For Burning.

Claire Bloom made her film debut in The Blind Goddess (1948).

In 1951, she was chosen by Charlie Chaplin to appear in his film Limelight. She received excellent reviews for her performance and this role made her a star.

Claire Bloom appeared in The Man Between (1953), Richard III (1955), Alexander the Great (1956), The Brothers Karamazov (1958), The Buccaneer (1958), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989).

In 1981, she provided the voice of Beauty in Beauty and the Beast.

Claire Bloom's Broadway debut was in King Richard II. She also appeared in Electra, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, and Romeo and Juliet. She was nominated for a Tony for Electra. She has won two Drama Desk Awards.

Claire Bloom received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special for Brideshead Revisited (1981).

As with other maturing actress during the 1970s, Claire looked toward classy film roles in TV-movies like Backstairs at the White House (1979).

From 1993 to 1995, she played Orlena Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns.

Claire Bloom continues to appear in movies, television and on the stage. Her most recent role was on Doctor Who.

Happy 77th Birthday Kim Novak!

2010-02-12T19:40:00.001-08:00

Kim Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak on February 13, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. The daughter of Joseph Novak, a railroad clerk, and Blanche, a teacher.

Kim Novak won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. After leaving school, she began a career modeling teen fashions for a local department store. She later received a scholarship at a modeling academy and continued to model part-time. She worked as an elevator operator, a sales clerk and a dental assistant.

She also toured the country as a spokesman for a refrigerator manufacturer, "Miss Deepfreeze."

After moving to Los Angeles, Kim Novak landed her first film role in an uncredit part in The French Line (1954).

Kim Novak's big break came when she was cast opposite Fred MacMurray in Pushover (1953). Kim Novak captured the attention of critics and audiences alike as femme fatale Lona McLane.

In 1955, Kim Novak won the Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female.

Kim Novak was one of the biggest box office stars of the 1950s and 1960s. She appeared films such as Phffft! (1954), Picnic (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Pal Joey (1957), Vertigo (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Boys' Night Out (1962), Of Human Bondage (1964), Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" (1965) and The Great Bank Robbery (1969).

After 1969, Kim Novak appeared in barely a dozen films and television appearances. She played Kit Marlowe during the fourth season of Falcon Crest.

In 1991, she made her final appearance in the film Liebestraum.

For her contribution to motion pictures, Kim Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Kim Novak married veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy on March 12, 1976. The couple met when he treated her sick horse.

The couple now reside on a ranch where they raise horses and llamas. Kim is an accomplished artist who expresses herself in oil paintings and sculptures.

Kim Novak began writing her autobiography in 2000, but it was lost when her house caught on fire, destroying the computer that contained her only draft. Included in the loss were scripts to some of her movies (Vertigo (1958) and Picnic (1955)). Spared, however, were her menagerie of animals.

Happy 80th Birthday Robert Wagner!

2010-02-09T16:39:00.001-08:00

Robert John Wagner was born on February 10, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan.

One of Robert Wagner's first jobs before being discovered in 1950 was as Clark Gable's caddy.

One evening when Robert Wagner was dining with his parents at a restaurant in Beverly Hils, he was "discovered" by a talent scout. He was soon cast to play Adams, Cleaves Catcher in The Happy Years (1950).

During the 1950s and 1960s, Robert Wagner appeared in movies such as Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), Titanic (1953), Prince Valiant (1954), A Kiss Before Dying (1956), The Longest Day (1962), The War Lover (1962), and The Pink Panther (1963).

From 1968 to 1970, Robert Wagner starred as playboy-thief-turned-secret agent Alexander Mundy in the television series It Takes a Thief. He would receive an Emmy nomination for his performance.

During the 1970s Robert Wagner appeared in The Towering Inferno (1974) and Midway (1976). He also made several television movies such as The Affair (1973), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976), and The Critical List (1978).

From 1975 to 1978, he played Detective Pete Ryan in the television drama Switch.

But it was in 1979, Robert Wagner was cast in the role he is most famous for: Jonathan Hart in Hart to Hart (1979-1984).

The 1990s brought Robert Wagner roles in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993), Wild Things (1998), and Something to Believe In (1998).

Robert Wagner's career made a comeback from his Hart to Hart days when he was cast as Number Two in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

Robert Wagner has been married four times. From December 28, 1957 to April 26, 1962, he was married to Natalie Wood.

After their divorce, he married Marion Marshall (July 22, 1963 to April 26, 1971, divorced). Marion and Robert have one daughter, actress Katie Wagner. Marion Marshall and Robert Wagner had worked together in Halls of Montezuma (1950) and appeared together in an episode of It Takes A Thief after their marriage.

On July 16, 1972, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood married a second time. Natalie and Robert had a daughter, Courtney Wagner who is also an actress. Robert Wagner also adopted Natalie's daughter, Natasha. Natalie Wood was died during a boating accident on November 29, 1981. Almost thirty years later, there is still much speculation about her death.

Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood worked together in All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), The Affair (1973) (TV) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (TV).

On May 26, 1990, Robert Wagner married actress Jill St. John, they will be celebrating their 20th anniversary this May.

Jill St. John and Robert Wagner played husband and wife in a classic episode of Seinfeld entitled The Yada Yada.

Most recently, Robert Wagner played Anthony DiNozzo Sr. on an episode of NCIS entitled Flesh and Blood. (Michael Weatherly who plays Anthony DiNozzo Jr. on NCIS had previously portrayed Robert Wagner in The Mystery of Natalie Wood).

Happy 78th Birthday John Williams!

2010-02-08T16:30:00.001-08:00

John Williams is one of the most successful and talented composers of all time. He has composed musical scores for movies, television and the Olympics.

John Williams has five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, and 2 Emmy Awards.

With 45 Oscar nominations, Williams currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person and is tied with late film composer Alfred Newman for the most nominations in the history of the Academy Awards.

John Williams was born on February 8, 1932, in Flushing, Queens, New York, the son of Esther and John Williams, Sr. His father was a jazz drummer who played with the Raymond Scott Quintet.

John Williams attended the University of California where he studied privately with composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

In 1952, Williams was drafted into the United States Air Force, where he conducted and arranged music for the Air Force Band as part of his duties.

After his service ended in 1955, John Williams moved to New York City and entered Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne. During this time he worked as a jazz pianist at New York's many studios and clubs.

He also played for composer Henry Mancini and recorded with Mancini on the film soundtracks of Peter Gunn (1959), Charade (1963), and Days of Wine and Roses (1962).

After his studies at Juilliard, John Williams returned to Los Angeles and began working as an orchestrator in film studios.

John Williams began to compose music scores for television series programs in the late 1950s, eventually leading to the pilot episode theme for Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, and The Time Tunnel.

Williams's first major film composition was for the B movie Daddy-O in 1958, and his first screen credit came two years later in Because They're Young.

John Williams received his first Academy Award nomination for his score to the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls.

John Williams won his first Academy Award for his adapted score to the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof.

John Williams Academy Award nominated scores include The Sugarland Express (1974), The Reivers (1969), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Superman (1978), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Home Alone (1990), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and so many more.

John Williams also won Academy Awards for the scores to Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Schindler's List (1993).

John Williams has also composed the scores for Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), The Killers (1964), A Guide for the Married Man (1967), The Paper Chase (1973) , and
Family Plot (1976).

Williams has composed music for four Olympic Games: "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" – 1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles; "The Olympic Spirit" – 1988 Summer Olympics, Seoul; "Summon the Heroes" – 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta, Georgia; and "Call of the Champions" – 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City, Utah.

John Williams has received two Emmy Awards, one for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition - For a Special Program for: Jane Eyre (1970) and Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition for: Heidi (1968).

John Williams has won 21 Grammy awards for classics like Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) Superman (1979), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. (1982), Schindler's List (1993) and many other classics. He has been nominated for a total of 59 Grammy Awards.

John Williams won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Score for Jaws (1975),
Star Wars (1977), E.T. (1982), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). He has 21 nominations for a Golden Globe.

John Williams is also the composer behind the theme music for NBC News, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, Meet the Press and Sunday Night Football.

In addition to his work in film and television, John Williams was the Conductor of the Boston Pops for 12 years.

Happy 80th Birthday Gene Hackman!

2010-01-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

The winner of three Golden Globes, two Academy Awards and the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Gene Hackman along with Dustin Hoffman were voted "Least Likely to Succeed" by their classmates at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman was born on January 30, 1930 in San Bernardino, California, the son of Lyda Gray and Eugene Ezra Hackman.

At age 16, Gene Hackman left home to join the U.S. Marine Corps (lying about his age), where he served four-and-a-half years as a field radio operator. After the Marines, he moved to New York, working in several minor jobs before studying journalism and television production on the G.I. Bill at the University of Illinois.

Gene Hackman began his acting career performing in several off Broadway plays.

In 1963 he made his Broadway debut in 1963 in Children From Their Games. Roles followed in A Rainy Day in Newark, Any Wednesday, Poor Richard, and The Natural Look. Gene Hackman returned to Broadway in 1992 to star in Death and the Maiden.

In 1961, Gene made his film debut in an uncredited role in Mad Dog Coll. Gene's first credited role was as Norman in Lilith (1964).

Gene Hackman's big break came in 1967 when he was cast to play Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1970, Gene Hackman would receive his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Gene Garrison for I Never Sang for My Father.

Gene Hackman would win the Academy Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role as Detective Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971).

During the 1970s and 1980s, Gene Hackman appeared in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Conversation (1974), The French Connection II (1974), Young Frankenstein (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Reds (1981), Under Fire (1983) and Hoosiers (1986).

He also played Lex Luthor in Superman I, Superman II and Superman IV.

In 1988, he would receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the role of Agent Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning.

During the 1990s, Gene Hackman appeared in Loose Cannons (1990), Postcards From the Edge (1990), The Firm (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Get Shorty (1995), The Birdcage (1996),

In 1992, he would win his second Academy Award, this time for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven.

During the 2000s, he appeared in The Replacements (2000), The Royal Tenebaums (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003). His final film was Welcome to Mooseport (2004).

Gene Hackman is now retired and lives in New Mexico. He devotes his time to writing.

Together with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan, Hackman has written three novels: Wake of the Perdido Star (1999), Justice for None (2004), and Escape from Andersonville (2008).

A little trivia about Gene Hackman: he was the first choice to play Mike Brady on "The Brady Bunch" (1969).

Happy 92nd Birthday John Forsythe!

2010-01-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

John Forsythe was born John Lincoln Freund on January 29, 1918 in Penns Grove, New Jersey. The son of Samuel Jeremiah Freund, a stockbroker and Blance Materson. John grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

During World War II, John Forsythe served with the US Army Corps. During World War II he also worked with injured soldiers who had developed speech problems.

After World War II, he became a baseball announcer and a drama teacher. Joan Collins would co-star opposite him on Dynasty (1981), was one of his drama students.

In 1943, he signed a contract with Warner Brothers and made his film debut in Northern Pursuit (1943) and his second film was Destination Tokyo (1943). During the 1940s and 1950s he also appeared in The Captive City (1952), The Glass Web (1953), Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), The Trouble With Harry (1955), and The Ambassador's Daughter (1956).

During the 1950s, John Forsythe was a familiar face on television appearing in episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents, Suspense, Kraft Television Theater, and Studio One.

In 1957, John Forsythe was cast to play single father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father. The show would run for 157 episodes and four seasons ending in 1962.

During the 1960s, John appeared in such films as Madame X (1966), In Cold Blood (1967) and Topaz (1969). He also frequently appeared on television, making appearances in Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Dick Powell Show and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

In 1965, John Forsythe starred in the short lived The John Forsythe Show.

The 1970s brought John Forsythe one of his most famous roles, as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels (1976–1981).

The 1980s brought John Forsythe another famous role, as patriarch Blake Carrington in Dynasty (1981-1989). This role would bring Forsythe three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was also nominated six times for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1983 and 1984. In 1984, he also won a Soap Opera Digest Award for his performance as Blake Carrington.

During the 1990s, he appeared as Sen. William Franklin Powers in the short lived series The Powers That Be.

At age 82, he would once again play Charles Townsend in the movie Charlie's Angels (2000) and would reprise the role in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003).

John Forsythe owned and bred Thoroughbred racehorses for many years and was a member of the Board of Directors of Hollywood Park Racetrack. He was the recipient of the 1988 Eclipse Award of Merit for his contibution in promoting the sport of Thoroughbred racing.

John Forsythe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television.

Happy 70th Birthday Katherine Ross!

2010-01-29T10:41:00.001-08:00

Katharine Juliet Ross was born on January 29, 1940 in Hollywood, California. Her father was in the US Navy and was away when she was born. His navy career shuttled the family around to Virginia, then Palo Alto and finally to Walnut Creek, outside of San Francisco, where Ross grew up.

Katherine Ross made her debut in an episode of Sam Benedict in 1962. She appeared on episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey, The Virginian, Wagon Train and Gunsmoke before making her movie debut in 1965.

In 1965, she was cast to play James Stewart's daughter-in-law in the film Shenandoah.

She next appeared in The Singing Nun in 1966 an Mister Buddwing (1966) before getting her big break.

In 1967, she played Elaine Robinson in The Graduate. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. She won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

In 1969, she would play Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

She also appeared in The Stepford Wives (1975) as Joanna Eberhart.

In 1976 she would win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Voyage of the Damned.

During the 1980s, she was Francesca "Frankie" Colby on the drama The Colbys.

Katherine Ross is an accomplished author of children's books. Her books include
"The Baby Animals' Party," "Mama Loves," "Bear Island," "The Little Ballerina,"
and "My Favorite Things."

Katherine Ross currently resides in Malibu, California with her husband of 24 years, Sam Elliot.

Happy 93rd Birthday Ernest Borgnine!

2010-01-23T16:54:00.001-08:00

Ernest Borgnine's career has spanned over five decades. He is known for his gruff, but gentle voice. At the age of 93, Ernest Borgnine is still active in both films and television.

Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnine on January 24, 1917 in Hamden, Connecticut. The son of Charles Borgnine and Anna Boselli who had emigrated from Carpi (near Modena) Italy.

As an only child, Ernest enjoyed most sports, especially boxing, but took no real interest in acting. At 18, after graduating from high school in New Haven, and undecided about his future career, he joined the navy, where he stayed for ten years until leaving in 1945. During World War II he reached the rank of Gunner's Mate 1st Class. Ernest's military decorations included the American Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, and the World War II Victory Medal.

In 2004, Borgnine received the honorary rank of Chief Petty Officer from the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott—the US Navy's highest ranking enlisted sailor at the time—for Borgnine's support of the Navy and naval families worldwide.

After leaving the Navy, Ernest Borgnine worked a variety of factory jobs. His mother suggested that his forceful personality could make him suitable for a career in acting, and Borgnine promptly enrolled at the Randall School of Drama in Hartford. After completing the course he joined Robert Porterfield's famous Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, staying there for four years, undertaking odd jobs and playing every type of role imaginable.

Ernest Borgnine's big break came in 1949, when he made his acting debut on Broadway playing a male nurse in "Harvey".

In 1951 Ernest Borgnine moved to Los Angeles to pursue a movie career, and made his film debut as Bill Street in The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951).

Ernest Borgnine's big movie break came when he was cast in the role of Sgt. "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity (1953).

Ernest Borgnine's film credits include Johnny Guitar (1954), Vera Cruz (1954), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Marty (1955), The Last Command (1955), The Catered Affair (1956), The Badlanders (1958), Torpedo Run (1958), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ice Station Zebra (1968), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Revengers (1972), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Law and Disorder (1974), Convoy (1978), Escape from New York (1981), Moving Target (1988), The Long Ride Home (2003) and Another Harvest Moon (2008).

Ernest Borgnine won the Academy Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance in Marty (1955).

On television, he is best known for playing Quinton McHale in the 1962-66 series McHale's Navy and the mid 1980s action series Airwolf.

He also provided the voice of the character Mermaid Man in the series, SpongeBob SquarePants and the voice of Carface in All Dogs Go to Heaven.

He has also appeared on A Grandpa For Christmas, 7th Heaven, Touched by an Angel, Walker, Texas Ranger, JAG and Murder She Wrote.

In 2009, at the age of 92 he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance on ER.

Ernest Borgnine was the very first "center square" on "The Hollywood Squares" (1965).

Ernest Borgnine is an active Freemason and is presently the Honorary Chairman of the Scottish Rite RiteCare Program, which sponsors 175 Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Clinics, Centers, and Programs nationwide.

Ernest Borgnine has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Ernest Borgnine is still active and will be in two movies debuting in 2010: Red and Snatched.

Happy 84th Birthday Patricia Neal!

2010-01-20T16:58:00.000-08:00

Patricia Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal on January 20, 1926 in Packard, Kentucky.

She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and studied drama at Northwestern University.

After moving to New York, she accepted her first job as understudy in the Broadway production of The Voice of the Turtle.

She made her Broadway debut in Another Part of the Forest (1946), winning a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play. She also appeared in the Broadway productions of The Miracle Worker, A Roomful of Roses, and The Children's Hour.

She often appears on the Tony Awards telecast, as she is the only surviving winner from the very first ceremony.

In 1949, Patricia Neal made her film debut in John Loves Mary. She next appeared in The Fountainhead (1949). Her film credits include The Hasty Heart (1949), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Operation Pacific (1951), Washington Story (1952), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Hud (1963), In Harm's Way (1965) and The Subject Was Roses (1968).

In 1963, Patricia Neal won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Hud, co-starring Paul Newman.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for The Subject Was Roses.

Patricia Neal was offered the role of "Mrs. Robinson" in The Graduate (1967), but turned it down, feeling it had come too soon after her strokes.

She later starred as Olivia Walton in the television movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971), which was the pilot episode for The Waltons. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance and won the Golden Globe.

In 1975, Patricia Neal played a dying widowed mother trying to find a home for her three children in a moving episode of NBC's Little House on the Prairie.

In 1978, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville dedicated the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in her honor.

Patricia Neal's most recent role was Margie in Flying By (2009).

Patricia Neal was married to Roald Dahl from July 2, 1953 until their divorce on November 17, 1983, they had five children. She also has seven grandchildren.

Happy 100th Birthday Luise Rainer!

2010-01-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

Luise Rainer was born on January 12, 1910 in Düsseldorf, Germany. The daughter of Heinz Rainer and Emmy Koenigsberger.

As a young girl, Luise was a terrific athlete, becoming a champion runner and an intrepid mountain climber.

Luise's training began in Germany from the age of 16 by leading stage director Max Reinhardt. After a few years, she became recognized as a "distinguished Berlin stage actress", acting with Reinhardt's Vienna theater ensemble. Critics "raved" at her stage and film acting quality.

She made her first appearance on the stage at the Dumont Theater in Düsseldorf in 1928, followed by appearances at various theaters in Jacques Deval's play Mademoiselle, Kingsley's Men in White, George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, Measure for Measure, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

She later appeared in several German language films before being discovered in 1935 by MGM talent scout Phil Berg. Her first American role was in the film Escapade (1935).

She next appeared in a relatively small part in the musical biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Despite her limited appearances in the film, she "so impressed audiences" that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. For her dramatic telephone scene in the film, she was later dubbed "the Viennese teardrop".

In her next role, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced, despite the studio's disagreement, that she could play the part of a poor uncomely Chinese peasant in The Good Earth (1937), based on Pearl Buck's novel about hardship in China. She won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as O-Lan.

Luise Rainer also appeared in The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) Big City (1937) The Toy Wife (1938) The Great Waltz (1938) and Hostages (1943). Her final film appearance was in The Gambler (1997).

Luise Rainer also appeared in the Broadway productions of The Lady from the Sea (1950) and A Kiss for Cinderella (1942).

Luise has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Luise Rainer accomplished several Academy Award firsts:

1) She was the first actress/actor to win consecutive Oscars.

2) She was the first actress/actor to win two Academy Awards.

3) She was the first actor to achieve the perfect Oscar track record (two nominations-two wins).

4) She was the first and to date only German actress to win an Academy Award.

5) She was the first actress to win an Academy Award for portraying a real-life person (The Great Ziegfeld (1936).

Of all the living winners of a competitive Oscar she has had hers the longest, 74 years.

Currently lives in Eaton Square, London, in an apartment once occupied by Vivien Leigh.

She will be appearing at the Royal National Theatre in London on Monday February 1st, to talk about her extraordinary life and career.

A non-conformist to the MGM star-system, she used to parade around Hollywood untidily dressed, usually with no make-up and wearing pants. Her non-conformist style of behavior cost her contract with MGM in the late '30s

Luise Rainer has been married twice. First to Clifford Odets (January 8, 1937 to May 14, 1940, divorced) and to Robert Knittel (July 12, 1945 to June 15, 1989, his death). She has a daughter, Francesca Knittel-Bowyer, with Robert Knittel.

Happy New Year 2010, Milestone Birthdays

2009-12-31T15:40:00.000-08:00

In 2010, we will celebrate several milestone Birthdays:

Turning 100 years old!

January 12 – Luise Rainer

July 4 – Gloria Stuart

Turning 90 years old!

August 17 – Maureen O'Hara

September 23 – Mickey Rooney

November 2 – Ann Rutherford

Turning 80 years old!

January 13 – Mickey Mouse

January 30 – Gene Hackman

February 10 – Robert Wagner

February 27 - Joanne Woodward

May 31 - Clint Eastwood

August 9 – Betty Boop

August 25 - Sean Connery

Turning 70 Years Old!

February 20 – Tom and Jerry

March 2 – Elmer Fudd

April 25 – Al Pacino

July 27 – Bugs Bunny

August 3 – Martin Sheen

September 5 – Raquel Welch

Turning 60 Years Old!

February 18 - Cybill Shepherd

April 12 - David Cassidy

October 2 – The Peanuts Gang

70 Years Ago, Gone With The Wind

2009-12-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

On December 15, 1939, following three days of festivites, in Atlanta, Georgia, Gone With The Wind premiered at Loew's Grand Theater.

THE PREMIERE

Ann Rutherford, who played Carreen O'Hara, was the first to arrive in Atlanta on December 13, 1939.

On December 14, 1939, was the "Gone With The Wind" Ball, hosted by the Junior Chamber of Commerce. The ball was serenaded by the Ebenezer Baptrist Church Choir, an all African American boys choir directed by Martin Luther King Sr., and included a six year old Martin Luther King Jr. among its members.

December 15, 1939, was declared a State holiday by the Governor of Georgia.

Ticket prices for the premiere were 40 times the usual going rate.

Hattie McDaniel (Mammy), and the other African American actors in the film were unable to attend the premiere in the racially segregrated Atlanta.

Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes) did not attend the premiere.

CASTING:

The only four actors David Selznick ever seriously considered for the role Rhett Butler were Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn and Ronald Colman.

Gary Cooper turned down the role of Rhett Butler and is quoted as saying "Gone With the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history and I am just glad it will be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."

1,400 actresses were interviewed for the part of Scarlett O'Hara. Only 400 were asked to do readings.

Among the many famous actress considered for the part of Scarlett were Jean Arthur, Lucille Ball, Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard, Katharine Hepburn, Olivia de Havilland, Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer, Barbara Stanwyck and Margaret Sullavan.

Judy Garland was the leading contender for the role of Scarlett's sister Carreen before her "Andy Hardy" series co-star Ann Rutherford was cast.

Priscilla Lane was considered for the role of Melanie Wilkes.

Louise Beavers, Etta McDaniel, Ruby Dandridge, and Hattie Noel were considered for the role of Mammy before Hattie McDaniel was casted.

Vincent Price and Melvyn Douglas tested for the part of Ashley Wilkes.

ACADEMY AWARDS

First color film to receive the Best Picture Academy Award.

At nearly four hours long, this is longest running of all movies to win the Best Picture Academy Award.

Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, the most nominations for any movie, a record it held for 20 years.

Sidney Howard's Academy Award for Best Screen Writing was the Academy's first posthumous award. Howard died in an accident in August 1939 while the Civil War epic was still being filmed.

Won 8 Academy Awards:

Best Actress in a Leading Role, Vivian Leigh

Best Supporting Actress, Hattie McDaniel

Best Art Direction, Lyle R. Wheeler

Best Cinematography, Color, Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan

Best Director, Victor Fleming

Best Film Editing, Hal Kern and James Newcom

Best Picture

Best Writing, Screenplay. Sidney Howard

Nominations for Academy Award:

Best Actor, Clark Gable

Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Olivia de Havilland

Best Effects, Special Effects, Jack Cosgrove, Fred Albin and Arthur Johns

Best Music, Original Score, Max Steiner

Best Sound Recording, Thomas Moulton

HATTIE MCDANIEL

1) First African American to be nominated for an Academy Award

2) First African American to win an Academy Award, won Best Supporting Actress

3) First African American to attend the Academy Award's ceremony

A FEW FINAL NOTES:

The movie's line "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." was voted as the #1 movie quote by the American Film Institute.

There are more than 50 speaking roles and 2,400 extras in the film.

All four principal characters (Ashley, Melanie, Rhett, and Scarlett) appear together in the same scene only once, after the raid on Shantytown, when Rhett tells the anxious group of the fate of Scarlett's second husband, Frank Kennedy.

The first scene to be shot was the burning of the Atlanta Depot, filmed on 10 December 1938

The horse that Thomas Mitchell (Gerald O'Hara) rode was later Silver of "The Lone Ranger" (1949) fame.

The first line of the movie is spoken by Fred Crane (Brent Tarleton).

SURVIVING CAST MEMBERS:

Ann Rutherford (Carreen O'Hara)

Mickey Kuhn (Beau Wilkes)

Mary Anderson (Maybelle Merriwether)

Cammie King (Bonnie)

Patrick Curtis (“Baby Beau Wilkes”)

Greg Giese (Baby Bonnie and Baby Beau)

Olivia de Havilland (Melanie)

Alicia Rhett (India Wilkes)

Back Left: Mickey Kuhn
Back Right: Patrick Curtis
Front Left: Ann Rutherford
Front Right: Cammie King
May 2009

Ann Rutherford and Cammie King

Happy 93rd Birthday Kirk Douglas!

2009-12-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. The son of Bryna Sanglel and Herschel "Harry" Danielovitch, a businessman.

Coming from a poor family, as a boy, Kirk Douglas sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread. Later, he delivered newspapers and claims to have worked at more than forty jobs before becoming an actor.

During high school, he acted in school plays, and discovered "The one thing in my life that I always knew, that was always constant, was that I wanted to be an actor."

Kirk Douglas talked his way into St. Lawrence University and received a loan, which he paid back by working part-time as a gardener and a janitor. He was a standout on the wrestling team.

Kirk Douglas's acting talents were noticed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and he received a special scholarship. One of his classmates was Betty Joan Perske (better known as Lauren Bacall), who would play an important role in launching his film career.

Graduating from drama school, Douglas made his Broadway debut as a singing telegraph boy in Spring Again. He would later appear in Broadway productions of The Three Sisters, Alice in Arms, Kiss and Tell, and Woman Bites Dog.

Kirk Douglas enlisted in the United States Navy in 1941, shortly after the United States entered World War II. He was medically discharged for war injuries in 1944.

After the war, Douglas returned to New York City and found work in radio theatre and commercials. Kirk Douglas had planned to remain a stage actor but Lauren Bacall helped him get his first screen role in the film The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), starring Barbara Stanwyck.

Kirk Douglas most notable film roles include Out of the Past (1947), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), Champion (1949), Young Man with a Horn (1950), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Lust for Life (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Seven Days in May (1964), A Gunfight (1971), Posse (1975), and The Man from Snowy River (1982).

Kirk Douglas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Lust of Life (1956), Champion (1949) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).

In 1996 he received an Honorary Oscar for Life Time Achievement. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures, which was stolen and later replaced.

Kirk Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1991.

A frequent co-star of Burt Lancaster, they appeared in six movies: Tough Guys (1986), Seven Days in May (1964), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and The Devil's Disciple (1959).

Kirk Douglas married twice, first to Diana Dill, on November 2, 1943. The couple had two sons, actor Michael Douglas and producer Joel Douglas. They divorced in 1951. He then married Anne Buydens on May 29, 1954. They had two sons, producer Peter Douglas and actor Eric Douglas. Kirk and Anne have been married 55 years.

In 1991, he survived a helicopter crash in which two people died. This sparked a search for meaning, which led him, after much study, to embrace the Judaism in which he was raised. He documented this spiritual journey in his book Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (2001).

Now retired, Kirk Douglas blogs regularly on his MySpace account. At 93, he is the oldest celebrity blogger.

Happy 94th Birthday Eli Wallach

2009-12-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

Eli Wallach is one of Hollywood's finest character "Method" actors. He has been acting on stage, televison and in film for over 50 years.

At the age of 94, Eli Wallach is still active. His most recent appearance was on an episode of Nurse Jackie. In 2010, he will appear in the film The Ghost.

Eli Wallach was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 7, 1915. The son of Bertha Schorr and Abraham Wallach. His parents owned Bertha's, a candy store.

Eli Wallach graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and received a Masters of Arts from the City College of New York. However, he gained his first method acting experience at the Neighborhood Playhouse. It was while attending the University of Texas that Wallach performed in a play with fellow students Ann Sheridan and Walter Cronkite. Eli Wallach also took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator.

During World War II, Eli Wallach served as a staff sergeant in Hawaii in a military hospital in the United States Army. However, he was soon sent to Officer Candidate School in Texas to undergo training to become a medical administrative officer. He graduated as a Second Lieutenant.

In 1945, Eli Wallach made his Broadway debut in Skydrift. In 1951, he won the Tony Award for his performance in the Tennessee Williams play The Rose Tattoo. He also appeared in the Broadway productions of Mister Roberts, The Teahouse of the August Moon, Camino Real, Major Barbara, Luv, Alice in Wonderland, and Staircase.

Eli Wallach's film debut was in Elia Kazan's controversial Baby Doll(1956). He also appeared in films such as The Misfits (1961), How The West Was Won (1962), How to Steal a Million (1966), The Deep (1977), The Hunter (1980), Nuts (1987) and The Godfather Part III (1990).

He is best known for his role as Mexican bandit Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

Eli Wallach's television credits include Batman, ER, Murder She Wrote, 100 Centre Street, Law & Order, LA Law, and Highway to Heaven. In 1966 he won the Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama for Poppies Are Also Flowers.

Eli Wallach married Anne Jackson on March 5, 1948 and have one of the longest marriages in Hollywood, 61 years. They have three children: Peter, Katherine and Roberta.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame

2009-11-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

The Hollywood Walk of fame is embedded with more than 2300 five pointed stars featuring the names of human celebrities, fictional characters and animal celebrities for their contributions to the entertainment industry.

There are five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Motion Pictures, Radio, Television, Live Theater and Recording.

The Walk of Fame runs west on Hollywood Boulevard from Gower Avenue to La Brea Avenue and south to north on Vine Street between Yucca and Sunset Boulevard. The Walk of Fame is nearly a three-and-a-half round-trip walk.

Nominations are submitted annually by May 31, and the Walk of Fame committee meets the following month to pick the next year's group of honorees.

On February 9, 1960, Joanne Woodward became the first performer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Gene Autry is the only person to have been honored with all five possible stars, for his contribution in each of the five categories.

Three animals have been honored with stars (all dogs): Strongheart, Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.

Mickey Mouse became the first fictional character to be honored with a star on November 18, 1978. The other fictional characters honored with stars are The Simpsons, Kermit the Frog, Bugs Bunny, Rugrats, Winnie the Pooh, and Snow White.

One time actor Ronald Reagan is the only President of the United States to have a star.

In February 2006, Judithg Sheindin (Judge Judy) became the first television judge to be awarded a star.

On November 12, 2009, Judge Joseph A. Wapner became the second television judge to be awarded a star.

Four stars have been stolen from the Walk of Fame: James Stewart, Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck and Gene Autry.

The most honored Family on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: The Barrymores with Drew, Ethel, John, John Drew and Lionel (2) with a total of six stars.

The USO and War Bonds, Hollywood Entertains

2009-11-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

The USO, United States Service Organization, was established at the request of military authorities on October 30, 1941, to bring celebrity entertainment to troops in the U.S. and abroad during World War II.

During World War II, the USO became the G.I.'s "home away from home," and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today.

The organization became particularly famous for its live performances called Camp Shows, through which the entertainment industry helped boost the morale of its servicemen and women,

Hollywood in general was eager to show its patriotism, and lots of big names joined the ranks of USO entertainers. They entertained in military bases both at home and overseas, often placing their own lives in danger by traveling or performing under hazardous conditions.

At its high point in 1944, the USO had more than 3,000 clubs, and curtains were rising on USO shows 700 times a day.

Al Jolson, the first entertainer to go overseas in World War II, lost a lung and caught malaria, cutting short his tour.

During World War II, more than 7,000 entertainers were sent overseas and gave more than 428,000 performances. Some Hollywood stars took their shows on the road to entertain the troops close to the front lines. Entertainers included Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Hattie McDaniel, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Danny Kaye, Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Ray Bolger, Lucille Ball, Martha Raye, Hedy Lamarr, Ann Sothern, Betty Hutton, John Wayne and of course, Bob Hope.

During the Korean War, some 126 entertainment units put on more than 5,400 shows in Korea. Entertainers included Errol Flynn, Debbie Reyonds, Donald O'Connor, Jane Russell, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe, Danny Kaye, Mickey Roonery, Jayne Mansfield, Al Jolson and Bob Hope.

During Vietnam, 5000 USO shows, with nearly 3,000 celebrities. Entertainers included John Wayne, Ann-Margaret, Sammy Davis Jr., Jayne Mansfied, Redd Foxx, Nancy Sinatra, and Bob Hope.

Bob Hope performed his first (USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War.

War Bonds and World War I: The government used famous artists to make posters, and used movie stars to host bond rallies. Al Jolson, Elsie Janis, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin were among the celebrities that made public appearances promoting the patriotic element of purchasing Liberty Bonds.

World War II: Bond rallies were held throughout the country with famous celebrities, usually Hollywood film stars, to enhance the advertising's effectiveness. Free movie days were held in theaters nationwide with a bond purchase as the admission. Such popular Hollywood stars as Greer Garson, Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Abbott & Costello, and Carole Lombard (who died in a plane crash returning from a war bond rally).

Finally, a special mention to Cary Grant. During the war years, Grant donated his entire salaries from several movies (The Philadelphia Story and Arsenic and Old Lace among others) to British war charities and the U.S. War Relief Fund.

In Memoriam, World War II

2009-11-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

Carole Lombard was born October 6, 1908 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She starred in such films as Twentieth Century (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941). Carole Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally. She was killed when the plane she was returning home on crashed on January 16, 1942.

Leslie Howard was born April 3, 1893 in London, England. He starred in such films as The Scarlet Pimpernal (1934), The Petrified Forest (1936) and Gone With The Wind (1939). When World War II began, he returned to England and served with British Intelligence. On June 1, 1943, Leslie Howard was flying to Bristol, U.K. from Lisbon, Portugal on a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines/ BOAC Flight 777. The airplane was shot down by a German Junkers Ju 88 over the Bay of Biscary.

Glenn Miller was born on March 1, 1904 in Clarinda, Iowa. He was an American jazz musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, Miller's signature recordings include In The Mood, American Patrol, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Tuxedo Junction, Little Brown Jug and Moonlight Serenade. On December 15, 1944 he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France, his plane disappeared in bad weather. His body has never been found.

Saluting our World War I Veterens

2009-11-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as "the Great War." Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.

Britain, France, Australia and Canada also commemorate the veterans of World Wars I and II on or near November 11th: Canada has Remembrance Day, while Britain has Remembrance Sunday (the second Sunday of November). In Europe, Britain and the Commonwealth countries it is common to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. every November 11.

1) Jack Benny: US Navy

2) Humphrey Bogart: US Navy

3) Maurice Chevalier: France, once a prisoner of war

4) Ronald Coleman: London Scottish Regiment

5) Buster Keaton: US Army

6) Bela Lugosi: Captain, infantry, Austro-Hungarian Army

7) Herbert Marshall: London Scottish Regiment

8) Pat O'Brien: US Navy

9) Claude Rains: London Scottish Regiment

10) Basil Rathbone: London Scottish Regiment

11) Spencer Tracy: US Navy

Saluting Our World War II Veterans

2009-11-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

It is almost impossible to list all of the classic movie actors who participated in World War II. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, they were literally lining up to enlist and serve their country.

Two lied about their ages to serve: Audie Murphy and Rod Stieger

Four were awarded the Purple Heart: Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Audie Murphy, and Charles Durning

Two are buried at Arlington National Cemetary: Lee Marvin and Audie Murphy (2 purple hearts)

One was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor: Audie Murphy

Three Fought at the Battle of the Bulge: Mel Brooks, Jack Warden and Charles Durning

One Actor would be killed in World War II: Leslie Howard, when his plane was shot down

One would obtain the rank of Brigadier General: James Stewart

One Fought at D-Day: Alec Guiness

One fought at the Battle of Guadalcanal: John Russell

The Most Decorated with 33 US medals, plus five medals from France and one from Belgium: Audie Murphy

One would also serve in Vietnam: Glenn Ford

Finally, here is a list of several actors who fought and served in World War II, some served for the USA and some for Great Britain:

Claude Adkins

Eddie Albert

Gene Autry

Ernest Borgnine

Charles Bronson

Mel Brooks

Jackie Coogan

Tony Curtis

Charles Durning

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Henry Fonda

Glenn Ford

John Ford

Clark Gable

Alec Guiness

Sterling Hayden

Van Heflin

Charleton Heston

William Holden

Leslie Howard

Rock Hudson

George Kennedy

Walter Matthau

Lee Marvin

Burgess Meredith

Audie Murphy

David Niven

Jack Palance

Donald Pleasance

Tyrone Power

Mickey Rooney

John Russell

Robert Ryan

George C. Scott

Robert Stack

James Stewart

Rod Stieger

Jack Warden

Happy 89th Birthday Ann Rutherford!

2009-11-02T16:35:00.001-08:00

Ann Rutherford is best known for playing Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy movies and Carreen O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939).

Ann Rutherford was born Therese Ann Rutherford on November 2, 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia to John Rutherford, a Metropolitan Opera tenor and Lillian Mansfield, an actress.

Ann Rutherford made her stage debut in 1925 and appeared in many plays and on radio (as Blondie) for the next nine years before making her first screen appearance.

Her first film role was in Waterfront Lady (1935). She appeared in eighteen films between 1935 and 1937 frequently westerns with either Gene Autry or John Wayne.

Ann Rutherford and Gene Autry starred together in Comin' Round the Mountain (1936), Melody Trail (1935), Public Cowboy No. 1 (1937), and The Singing Vagabond (1935).

Ann Rutherford and John Wayne starred together in The Lawless Nineties (1936), The Lonely Trail (1936) and The Oregon Trail (1936).

In 1937, Ann Rutherford was cast to play Polly Benedict (Andy Hardy's girlfriend) in You're Only Young Once. She would play Polly twelve times with her last appearance in Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942). She also appeared in The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942), Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941), Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940), Judge Hardy and Son (1939), The Hardys Ride High (1939), Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939), Judge Hardy's Children (1938), Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), and Out West With the Hardys (1938).

In 1939, she played Scarlett O'Hara's sister Carren in the epic Gone With the Wind.

She also starred in a series of mystery/comedies with Red Skelton: Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943).

Ann Rutherford's other film credits include A Christmas Carol (1938), Pride and Prejudice (1940), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and Adventures of Don Juan (1948). Her final silver screen appearance would be in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976).

Ann Rutherford also appeared on television classics as Perry Mason, The Donna Reed Show, Robert Montgomery Presents and General Electric Theater.

During the 1970s, she would play Aggie Harrison (Emily Hartley's mother) on The Bob Newhart Show.

Ann Rutherford has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television.

Happy 91st Birthday Baby Peggy!

2009-10-28T16:14:00.001-07:00

Before there was Shirley Temple, there was Baby Peggy. Debuting at the age of 3 and appearing in more than 150 shorts and films during the silent era.

Baby Peggy was born Peggy-Jean Montgomery on October 29, 1918 in Merced California to Marian and Jack Montgomery.

Her father, Jack Montgomery was a cowboy for several years all over the western states. He ended up in the movies as a stuntman and extra driving stagecoaches. He also served as Tom Mix's stunt double.

Baby Peggy was discovered while visiting the Century Studios lot on Sunset Boulevard with her mother when she was a mere 19 months old. Impressed by Peggy's well-behaved demeanor and willingness to follow directions, director Fred Fishbach hired her to appear in a series of short films with Century's canine star, Brownie the Wonder Dog.

Baby Peggy made her debut in Her Circus Man (1921) at the age of 3.

She went on to appear in nearly 150 shorts between 1920 and 1923 and nine full feature films.

Baby Peggy appeared in such shorts as On With The Show (1921), Playmates (1921), Brownie's Baby Doll (1921), Get Rich Quick Peggy (1921), Circus Clowns (1922), The Kid Reporter (1923), Little Red Riding Hood (1922), Peggy Behave (1922), The Darling of New York (1923), Hansel and Gretel (1923) and Jack and The Beanstalk (1924).

The vast majority of Baby Peggy's films have not survived and records related to their production have been lost.

A handful of Baby Peggy shorts, including Playmates (1921), Miles of Smiles (1923), and Sweetie (1923) have been discovered and preserved in film archives around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Her first full length film was Penrod (1922).

Her full length films The Family Secret, April Fool (1926), Capatin January (1924) and Helen's Babies (1924) have also survived and have been restored.

Many of Baby Peggy's popular comedies were parodies of movies that grown-up stars had made, and she delightfully imitated such legends as Rudolph Valentino, Mary Pickford, Mae Murray and Pola Negri.

Baby Peggy's film career abruptly ended in 1925 when her father had a falling out with Sol Lesser over her salary and cancelled her contract. From 1925 to 1929, Peggy enjoyed a successful career as a vaudeville performer.

Baby Peggy reportedly made at least two million dollars in her early career but her parents' bad management and free spending left her in poverty. This resulted in several nervous breakdowns in young adulthood.

At the age of seventeen, trying to escape the film industry and her parents' plans for her life, Baby Peggy ran away from home and rented an apartment with her sister Louise. She married actor Gordon Ayres in 1938, but the union was not a happy one. She divorced Ayres in 1948 and married Bob Cary (sometimes listed as Bob Carey) in 1954. They are still married today.

She adopted the name Diana Serra Cary and is now a publisher, historian and author. Her books included "What Ever Happened to Baby Peggy: The Autobiography of Hollywood's Pioneer Child Star" and "Jackie Coogan: The World's Boy King: A Biography of Hollywood's Legendary Child Star."

She has also advocated reforms in child performer protection laws, most recently as a member of the organization A Minor Consideration. As a toddler she worked eight hours a day, six days a week. She was generally required to perform her own stunts, which included being held underwater in the ocean until she fainted in Sea Shores Shapes (1921) and escaping alone from a burning room in The Darling of New York (1923).

Child Actors and The Academy Awards

2009-10-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

First, a little trivia:

The youngest recipient of an academy award was Shirley Temple at the age of 6 when she received the Honorary Juvenile Academy Award.

The youngest person to receive a Best Actor nomination is Jackie Cooper for Skippy (1931) at the age of 9.

The youngest person to receive a Best Actress nomination is Keisha Castle-Hughes (2002) at the age of 11 for Whale Rider.

Jackie Cooper is the only child actor to ever receive a Best Actor nomination. No child actor has ever won an Acadmey Award for Best Actor.

Keisha Castle-Hughes is the only child actor to ever receive a Best Actress nomination. No child actor has ever won an Acadmey Award for Best Actress.

No child actor has ever won an Acadmey Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The youngest award nominee in any competitive category was Justin Henry, age 8, for Best Supporting Actor for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

The youngest recipient of an Acadmey Award in a competitive category is Tatum O'Neal for Paper Moon (1973) at age 10 (Best Supporting Actress).

The first child actor to receive an Academy Award in a competitive category was Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker (1962) at age 14. (Best Supporting Actress).

For the competitive awards, child actors have only one three times and each was in the Best Supporting Actress category (see below for those wins).

The youngest Academy Award presenter was in February 1939 when 9 year old Shirley Temple had to climb on a chair to present the award.

The Honorary Juvenile Academy Award was established in 1934. It was awarded sporadically until it was retired in 1960. Sometimes it was given as a general award and sometimes for a specific performance.

Recipients of the Honorary Juvenile Academy Award:

Shirley Temple (1935) at the age of 6 (general award) (the youngest recipient)

Mickey Rooney (1938) at the age of 17 (general award)

Deanna Durbin (1938) at the age of 17 (general award)

Judy Garland (1939) at the age of 17 for The Wizard of Oz

Margaret O'Brien (1944) at the age of 7 for Meet Me in St. Louis

Peggy Ann Garner (1945) at the age of 14 for outstanding child actress of 1945

Claude Jarman Jr. (1946) at the age of 11 for The Yearling

Ivan Jandl (1948) at the age of 9 for The Search

Bobby Driscoll (1949) at the age of 12 for The Window

Jon Whiteley (1954) at the age of 9 for The Little Kidnappers

Vincent Winter (1954) at the age of 7 The Little Kidnappers

Hayley Mills (1960) at the age of 12 for Pollyanna

Competitive Best Actor Award Nominations:

Jackie Cooper (1931) at the age of 9, nominated for Best Actor for Skippy (the youngest Best Actor nominee ever)

Competitive Best Actress Award Nominations:

Keisha Castle-Hughes (2002) at the age of 11 for Whale Rider. .

Competitive Best Supporting Actor Award Nominations

Brandon de Wilde (1953) for Shane at the age of 10

Sal Mineo (1955) for Rebel Without a Cause at age 16

Justin Henry (1979) for Kramer vs. Kramer at the age of 8

River Phoenix (1988) for Running on Empty at the age of 17

Haley Joel Osment (1999) for The Sixth Sense at age 10

Competitive Best Supporting Actress Award Nominations:

Natalie Wood (1955) for Rebel Without a Cause at age 16

Patty McCormack (1956) for The Bad Seed at age 10

Mary Badham (1963) for To Kill a Mockingbird, at the age of 10

Linda Blair (1973) for The Exorcist at age 14

Jodie Foster (1976) for Taxi Driver at age 14

Quinn Cummings (1977) for The Goodbye Girl, at age 9

Abigail Breslin (2006) for Little Miss Sunshine at age 9

Competitive Best Supporting Actress Wins:

Patty Duke (1962) at the age of 14 for The Miracle Woker

Tatum O'Neal (1974) for Paper Moon, at the age of 10

Anna Paquin (1993) for the Piano, at age 11

Milestone Anniversaries of Films

2009-10-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

Recently TCM did a feature of 1939 as several classic movies celebrated their 70th Anniversary like Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach and many many more.

I did a little research and several other movies also celebrated milestone anniversaries. Below are just a few films celebrating milestones in the year 2009. It is hard to believe it has been so long since some of the films had their debut on the silver screen.

80th Annivesary:

Small Talk (The first Our Gang film)

Broadway Melody

The Virginian

Cocoanuts (Film debut of the Marx Brothers)

75th Anniversary:

The Gay Divorcee

It Happened One Night

Manhattan Melodrama

The Thin Man

60th Anniversary:

Adam's Rib

On the Town

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

The Third Man

White Heat

50th Anniversary:

Anatomy of a Murder

Ben-Hur

North by Northwest

Rio Bravo

Some Like it Hot

40th Anniversary:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Easy Rider

Midnight Cowboy

True Grit

The Wild Bunch

30th Anniversary:

Alien

Apocalypse Now

Kramer vs. Kramer

10

Before They Were Stars

2009-10-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

They were not always movie stars. Some stars began their careers in performing and in show business, while others began in ordinary jobs.

1) Jean Arthur: stenographer

2) Humphrey Bogart: bonds salesman

3) James Cagney: bellhop and book custodian at a library

4) Gary Gooper: salesman

5) Henry Fonda: phone company

6) Clark Gable: tire factory worker and neck tie salesman

7) Greta Garbo: shampoo girl at a barber shop

8) Greer Garson: advertising agency

9) Sydney Greenstreet: Ceylon tea planter

10) Angela Lansbury: saleswoman at a department store

11) Sterling Hayden: ship captain

12) Fredric March: banker

13) Steve McQueen: lumberjack

14) Robert Mitchum: machine operator

15) Agnes Moorehead: school teacher

16) Gregory Peck: truck driver

17) Barbara Stanwyck: gift wrapper at a Brooklyn department store

18) James Stewart: construction worker

19) Rudolph Valentino: bus boy at a restraurant

20) John Wayne: newspaper delivery man

Wizard of Oz Trivia

2009-10-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Wizard of Oz made its premier in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939. It made its Hollywood premiere on August 15, 1939 and its New York City premiere on August 17, 1939 and was released on August 25, 1939 to the rest of the United States.

The film started shooting on 13 October 1938 and was completed on 16 March 1939 at a then-unheard-of cost of $2,777,000. It earned only $3,000,000 on its initial release.

WRITERS AND DIRECTORS:

The film had five different directors: Richard Thorpe (fired); George Cukor (did not actually film any scenes; he merely modified Garland's and Bolger's makeup); Mervyn LeRoy (directed some of the transitional scenes); King Vidor (took over the remaining sequences after Fleming went to work on Gone With The Wind) and Victor Fleming.

Ultimately it took 14 writers the story to the screen.

CASTING:

*Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Man, however, he insisted that he would rather play the Scarecrow

*Buddy Ebsen had been cast as the Scarecrow, and but switched roles with Bolger. But the aluminum powder makeup for the Tin Man was toxic and Ebsen apparently had an allergic reaction to it as well. He left the picture, but his voice can still be heard in "Off to see the Wizard".

*Charley Grapewin came out of retirement to play Uncle Henry.

*Shirley Temple was the original choice to play Dorothy. However, she was under contract to 20th Century Fox at the time. A deal was put in place to loan her to MGM Studios in exchange for Clark Gable and Jean Harlow going to 20th Century Fox for a film. However, after Jean Harlow's untimely death the deal was revoked.

*Frank Morgan actually had five roles in the film: Professor Marvel, The Wizard, Gatekeeper of Emerald City, Guard, and The Carriage Driver.

*Toto's real name was Terry, she died in 1945 and was buried in her trainer's yard. Terry was the dog Rainbow in the film Fury (1936) and the dog in the beauty shop in The Women (1939).

COSTUMES:

*The ruby slippers were silver (like in the book) until MGM chief Louis B. Mayer realized that the Technicolor production would benefit from the slippers being colored.

*There are thought to be seven pairs of ruby slippers, of which the whereabouts of five are known. Each has an estimated value of $1.5 million, making them the most expensive Hollywood memorabilia.

*Margaret Hamilton suffered a serious injury on the set when her make-up heated up and nearly caught fire in the scene where she disappears in a cloud of orange smoke and fire. As it was, she suffered second- and third-degree burns to her hands and face. It was later discovered that one of the key components in her make-up was copper.

*Judy Garland had to wear a painful corset-style device around her torso so that she would appear younger and flat-chested.

*Glinda's gown was first worn by Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco (1936).

*Bert Lahr's costume weighed 90 pounds.

MISCELLANEOUS:

*The Munchkins were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November, 2007. Seven of them attended the ceremony: Mickey Carroll, Ruth Robinson, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Kosiczky and August Clarence Swenson.

*Many of the Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought too frightening for audiences.

*The "tornado" was a 35-foot-long muslin stocking

*In the movie Glinda is the good witch of the North. However, in L. Frank Baum's book, Glinda is the good sorceress of the South.

*Judy Garland very much wanted to adopt Terry, after the two spent so much time together shooting the film. Unfortunately, the owner of the dog wouldn't give her up, and Terry went on to a long career in films.

*The last surviving major cast member was Ray Bolger (Scarecrow) who passed away in 1987.

*Meinhardt Raabe (born September 2, 1915) is the oldest surviving Munchkin (The Coroner) with any significant dialogue in the film.

LEGACY:

*Over the Rainbow" was nearly cut from the film; the song was ranked #1 by the American Film Institute on the 100 Greatest Songs in American Films Institute

*Ding Dong the Witch is Dead is #82 on the 100 Greatest Songs by the American Films Institute

*The movie's line "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" was voted as the #4 movie quote by the American Film Institute.

*The movie's line "There's no place like home." was voted as the #23 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

*The movie's line "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" was voted as the #99 movie quote by the American Film Institute.

*Dorothy was the main inspiration for the character of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island.

Alfred Hitchcock Trivia

2009-10-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a little trivia about The Master of Suspense

*His first directing project was the movie Number 13 in 1922, however, the production was canceled due to financial problems and no finished scenes are believed to exist today

*His directing debut (in a finished film) is 1923 in Always Tell Your Wife (although he is uncredited)

*His first cameo appearance was in The Lodger in 1927, he then made cameo appearances in 39 of his 52 films

*The Lodger (1927) was his first thriller

*His first "talkie" was Blackmail (1929)

*His first American film was Rebecca (1940) although Rebecca was still set in England

*Shadow of a Doubt (1943) marked his first film to be set in the United States

*He directed one romantic comedy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)

*Suspicion (1941) marked Hitchcock's first film as a producer and director

*Shadow of a Doubt (1943) is Hitchcock's personal favorite of all his films

*North by Northwest at 136 minutes is Hitchcock's longest film

*It is impossible to have seen all of Hitchcock's films as The Mountain Eagle (1926) is lost (no copy exists today)

*50 Academy Award nominations have resulted from Hitchcock films

*Spellbound, Foreign Correspondent, Suspicion and Rebecca are the only films to receive Academy Award Best Picture nominations

*Rebecca is the only Hitchcock film to receive the Academy Award for Best Picture

*Joan Fontaine, is the only actress to receive an Academy Award for acting in a Hitchcock film (winning Best Actress for Suspicion)

*Hitchcock was nominated five times for Best Director for Psycho, Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, and Rear Window

*Hitchcock never won an academy award although in 1967 he received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the Oscars

*He delivered the shortest acceptance speech in Oscar history: while accepting theIrving Thalberg Memorial Award, he simply said "Thank you."

*Six of Hitchcock's films are in the National Film Registry: Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious and Psycho

*He was married 53 years to Alma Reville.

*He and Alma had one child, a daughter Patricia who appeared in three Hitchock movies: Stage Fright (1950), Strangers on a Train (1951) and Psycho (1960)

*Leo G. Carroll appearred in more Hitchcock movies than any other actor, six films: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Spellbound (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), Strangers on a Train (1951), and North By Northwest (1959)

*Cary Grant and James Stewart both appearred in four Hitchcock movies

*Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly both appearred in three Hitchcock movies

Marriage in Hollywood, Celebrating 50 years or more

2009-10-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

It seems in recent times all we hear about is Hollywood marriages that fail, divorces, affairs and so forth. So I decided to write this blog to pay tribute to some of the longest lasting marriages in Hollywood. I included only those I could find that have or were married 50 plus years.

32. Fess Parker and Marcella Rinehart (50 years) married January 18, 1960 to March 18, 2010 (his death)

31. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodard (50 years) married January 29, 1958 to September 26, 2008 (his death)

30. John Forsythe and Julie Warren (50 years) married December 18, 1943 to August 15, 1994 (her death).

29. Edgar Buchanan and Mildred Marguerite Spence (50 years) married April 14, 1928 to April 4, 1979 (his death)

28. Hal Linden and Francis Martin (52 years) married April 13, 1958 to present

27. Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis (52 years) married March 4, 1952 to June 5, 2004 (his death)

26. Walter Pidgeon and Ruth Walker (52 years) married December 12, 1931 to September 25, 1984 (his death)

25. Alan and Arlene Alda (53 years) married March 15, 1957 to present

24. Dana Andrews and Mary Todd (53 years) married November 17, 1939 to December 17, 1992 (his death)

23. Dorothy Janis and Wayne King (53 years) married March 21, 1932 to July 16, 1985 (his death)

22. James Garner and Lois Clarke (53 years) married August 17, 1956 to present

21. Bernard Punsly and Lynne (53 years) married 1950 - January 20, 2004, his death.

20. Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Renville (54 years) married December 2, 1926 to April 29, 1980 (his death)

19. Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara (55 years) married September 14, 1954 to present

18. Baby Peggy and Bob Carey (55 years) married May 15, 1954 to present.

17. Kirk Douglas and Anne Buydens (55 years) married May 29, 1954 to present

16. Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee (56 years) married December 9, 1948 to February 4, 2005 (his death)

15. Jeanne Crain and Paul Brooks (56 years) married December 31, 1946 to October 1, 2003 (his death)

14. Joel McCrea and Frances Dee (57 years) married October 20, 1933 to October 20, 1990 (his death and yes it was on their anniversary)

13. Robert and Dorothy Mitchum (57 years) married March 15, 1940 to July 1, 1997 (his death)

12. Peter Graves and Joan Endress (59 years) married December 16, 1950 to March 14, 2010 (his death)

11. Tony Martin and Cyd Charisse (60 years) married May 15, 1948 to June 17, 2008 (her death)

10. Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson (62 years) married March 5, 1948 to present.

9. James Cagney and Frances “Billie” Vernon (63 years) married September 28, 1922 to March 30, 1986 (his death)

8. Charlton Heston and Lydia Clarke (64 years) married March 17, 1944 to April 5, 2008 (his death)

7. Ricardo Montalban and Georgiana Young (64 years) married October 26, 1944 to November 13, 2007. (her death)

6. Carl Reiner and Estelle Lobost (64 years) married December 24, 1943 to October 25, 2008 (her death)

5. Bob Hope and Doloroes DeFina married February 19, 1934 to July 27, 2003 (his death), 69 years

4. Karl Malden and Mona Greenberg married December 18, 1938 to July 1, 2009 (his death) 70 years

3. Charles Lane and Ruth Convell (71 years) married April 12, 1931 to November 30, 2002 (her death)

2. Norman Lloyd and Peggy Lloyd (73 years) married June 29, 1936 to present

1. Art Linkletter and Lois Foerster (74 years) married November 25, 1935 to present

Top Ten On Screen Couples

2009-10-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Some star couples have such amazing chemistry that it seems they were destined to share the silver screen, and in some cases, real-life romance. Here are my top ten on screen couples.

10) William Holden and Audrey Hepburn: only two movies together but they sizzled in Sabrina and Paris When it Sizzles.

9) James Stewart and Jean Arthur: two films together but they sizzled in both, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can't Take it With You.

8) Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn: nine films together: The Adventures of Robin Hood, They Died With Their Boots On, The Private Lives of Elizabeth Essex, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Santa Fe Trail, Dodge City, Four's a Crowd, Thank Your Lucky Stars, and Captain Blood. My favorite being The Adventures of Robin Hood.

7) Clark Gable and Jean Harlow: six films together: Red Dust, Wife vs. Secretary, The Secret Six, Saratoga, China Seas, and Hold Your Man. My favorite being Red Dust

6) Greta Garbo and John Gilbert: five films together: The Flesh and the Devil, A Man's Man, A Woman of Affairs, Love, and Queen Christina. My favorite being Flesh and the Devil.

5) Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford: five films together: Gilda, The Money Trap, The Loves of Carmen, The Lady in Question, and Affair in Trinidad. My favorite being Gilda.

4) Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy: nine films together: Woman of the Year, Adam's Rib, The Sea of Grass, Without Love, State of the Union, Pat and Mike, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Desk Set and Keeper of the Flame. My favorite being Adam's Rib.

3) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: the most famous dancing duo ever paired, appearing in 10 movies together: Top Hat, The Story or Irene and Vernon Castle, The Gay Divorcee, Swing Time, The Barclays of Broadway, Shall we Dance, Roberta, Follow the Fleet, Flying Down to Rio, and Carefree. My favorite being Swing Time.

2) Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall: five films together: To Have and Have Not, Dark Passage, Key Largo, Two Guys from Milwaukee and The Big Sleep. My favorite being Dark Passage.

1) Myrna Loy and William Powell: the king and queen of on screen couples, noone before or after have had the amazing chemistry that William Powell and Myrna Loy had together on the silver screen and appeared in 14 films together: The Seven Thin Man films, Libeled Lady, Double Wedding, Evelyn Prentice, Love Crazy, Manhatten Melodrama, The Great Ziegfeld, and The Senator was Indiscreet. My favorite would be The Thin Man and Libeled Lady.