Biographies (G-L)

William Holden

2010-04-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

William Holden was born William Franklin Beedle Jr on April 17, 1918 in O'Fallon, Illinois. He was the son of Mary Blanche Ball, a school teacher and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist. When William was three years old the family moved to South Pasadena, California.

After graduating from South Pasadena High School, William Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. He was spotted by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937 while appearing as an old man in a play at the Playbox. This led to his first film role in Prison Farm (1938).

William Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), in which he played a violinist turned boxer. It was at Barbara Stanwyck's insistance he got the role. He was so grateful to Barbara Stanwyck for her insistence on casting him that he reportedly sent her flowers every year on the anniversary of the first day of the filming.

Roles followed in films such as Invisible Stripes (1939), Our Town (1940), Arizona (1940), and The Fleet's In (1942).

From 1943 to 1947, William Holden took a break from motion pictures and served as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces where he acted in training films.

In 1948, William Holden returned to motion pictures in The Man from Colorado. Roles followed in films such as Rachel and the Stranger (1948), Apartment for Peggy (1948) and Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949).

In 1950, William Holden played Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard and earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

He next appeared in Union Station (1950), Born Yesterday (1950), Submarine Command (1951) and Boots Malone (1952).

In 1953, William Holden played Sgt. J.J. Sefton in Stalag 17 and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

The 1950s and 1960s, William Holden was one of the hottest actors in Hollywood. He appeared in films such as Executive Suite (1954), Sabrina (1954), The Country Girl (1954), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Horse Soldiers (1959), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), Paris, When It Sizzles (1964), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and
The Wild Bunch (1969).

During the 1970s, William Holden's career began to slow down in part to his health. He showed he still had what it takes in The Towering Inferno (1974) and Network (1976). He would earn his third Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Network.

William Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce (after many long separations) in 1971. They had two sons, Peter Westfield and Scott Porter. He also adopted his wife's daughter Virginia from her first marriage.

William Holden also had a long relationship with Audrey Hepburn but the two broke up because he could no longer father children.

William Holden spent much of his spare time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa, The Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, Kenya, (founded 1959).

In 1974, he began a relationship with actress Stefanie Powers which sparked her interest in animal welfare. After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch.

William Holden died on November 16, 1981 of injuries sustained from a fall. He was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

William Holden's final film was Blake Edwards S.O.B. (1981).

In 1974, William Holden was a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Award for The Blue Knight.

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

Walter Huston

2010-04-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Walter Huston was one of the most popular character actors of the 1930s and 1940s. In twenty one years, he appeared in more than fifty films.

Walter Huston was born Walter Houghston on April 6, 1884 in Toronto, Ontario.

He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston. The Hustons became the first family to have three generations to win Academy Awards. The Coppolas have since also achieved this accomplishment.

Walter Huston was a vaudeville performer who had studied engineering. When his son John was born, he left vaudeville and became a fulltime engineer. However, Walter's acting skills were much better than his engineering skills and Walter returned to acting.

Walter Huston stayed busy throughout the late 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, both on stage and screen.

In 1924, Walter Huston made his Broadway debut in Mr. Pitt. Roles followed with Desire Under the Elms, Dodsworth, Othello and Knickerbocker Holiday (where he performed "September Song").

In 1929, Walter Huston made his film debut in Carnival Man. However, his big break was when he was cast opposite Gary Cooper in The Virginian (1929).

Roles followed in films such as Abraham Lincoln (1930), The Star Witness (1931), The Beast of the City (1932), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), and The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933).

In 1936, Walter Huston was cast to play Sam Dodsworth in the film version of the hit broadway play Dodsworth (a role Huston originated on Broadway). This performance earned Walter Huston is first Academy Award nomination (Best Actor).

Following his Academy Award nomination, Walter Huston appeared in Of Human Hearts (1938), The Light That Failed (1939) and The Maltese Falcon (1941).

In 1941, Walter Huston was cast to play the Devil in the film The Devil and Daniel Webster. One of Walter Huston's best and most memorable performances earned him his second Academy Award nomination (Best Actor).

The following year, Walter Huston was cast to play Jerry Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Walter Huston would earn his third Academy Award nomination (Best Supporting Actor).

Now in his late 50s, Walter Huston continued work steadily with roles in The North Star (1943), Mission to Moscow (1943), And Then There Were None (1945) and Duel in the Sun (1946).

In 1949, at the age of 65, Walter Huston won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance of Howard in The Treasure of the Sierre Madre (1948).

The Treasure of the Sierre Madre was one of Walter Huston's last films. He would appear in only three more films (his final being The Furies (1950)).

Walter Huston died on April 7, 1950 (one day after his 66th Birthday) from an aortic aneurysm.

Walter Huston has one Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures.

Jerry Lewis

2010-03-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Peter Graves

2010-03-14T18:46:00.001-07:00

Peter Graves was born Peter Aurness on March 18, 1926 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The son of Ruth Duesler, a journalist and Rolf Cirkler Aurness, a business man. Peter Graves was the younger brother of actor James Arness (Gunsmoke).

Peter Graves appeared in more than seventy films, TV series and TV movies. Peter Graves' film debut was in Winning Your Wings (1942).

In 1953, Peter Graves played Price, a hot-shot German spy placed among allied POWs in the movie Stalag 17.

In 1955, Peter Graves was cast as Jim Newton in the televison show Fury (1955-1960).

In 1955, Peter Graves played Ben Harper, the father on the run from the law in the film Night of the Hunter.

In 1967, Peter Graves was hired to replace Steven Hill as the lead actor on Mission: Impossible. Peter Graves played Jim Phelps, the sometimes gruff leader of the Impossible Missions Force or IMF, for the remaining six seasons of the series.

He won a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his role as Jim Phelps in the series Mission: Impossible

Peter Graves played Captain Clarence Oveur in the comedies Airplane! (1980) and Airplane II: The Sequel (1982).

Peter Graves played Colonel John Camden on the WB Network TV series 7th Heaven (1997 - 2007).

Peter Graves also appeared in films such as Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953), The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), The Long Gray Line (1955), Beginning of the End (1957), A Rage to Live (1965), The Ballad of Josie (1967), The Five Man Army (1969), The Guns and the Fury (1981), Number One with a Bullet (1987), Addams Family Values (1993) and Men in Black II (2002).

Peter Graves also appeared in television episodes of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Cold Case, Diagnosis Murder, Burke's Law, The Golden Girls, The Love Boat, Murder She Wrote, Fantasy Island, and Simon & Simon.

In 1997, Peter Graves was an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series
for: Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow.

Peter Graves married Joan Endress on December 16, 1950, they were married 59 years until his death.

Peter Graves died of natural causes on March 14, 2010 at the age of 83.

Jean Harlow

2010-03-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

Jean Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter on March 3, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. She was the daughter of Mont Clair Carpenter, a dentist and Jean Poe Harlow.

In 1927, at the age of 16, she ran away from home to marry a young businessman named Charles McGrew, who was 23. The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1928, settling into a home in Beverly Hills, where the future Jean Harlow thrived as a wealthy socialite.

One day, Jean Harlow befiended Rosalie Roy, a young aspiring actress. Rosalie aksed Jean to drive her to Fox Studios for an appointment. While Jean was sitting in the car, she was noticed by Fox studio executives. Approached by the executives, Jean stated she was not interested, but was given dictated letters of introduction to Central Casting.

Rosalie Roy made Jean a bet that she did not have the nerve to go back and audition for roles. Unwilling to lose a wager and pressed by her mother, Jean drove to Central Casting and signed in under her mother's maiden name, Jean Harlow.

In 1928, Jean Harlow appeared in her first film, Honor Bound as an uncredited extra. Her salary was $7 a day. Uncredited roles followed in Moran of the Marines (1928), Chasing Husbands (1928), Fugitives (1929), The Unkissed Man (1929), Double Whoopee (1929) and Masquerade (1929).

In 1929, Jean Harlow and her husband Chuck McGrew separated and divorced.

She continued to work as an extra in several movies including The Saturday Night Kid (1929), The Love Parade (1929), Weak But Willing (1929) and New York Nights (1929).

In 1930, Jean Harlow had her big break when she was cast as Helen in Hell's Angels.

The role in Hell's Angels came by chance. During filming of Weak But Willing (1929) she was spotted by James Hall, an actor filming Hell's Angels for Howard Hughes. Hughes was re-shooting the film from silent into sound and needed a new actress because the original actress had a Norwegian accent that proved undesirable for a talkie. Jean Harlow made a test and got the part.

During filming of Hell's Angels, Jean Harlow met her second husband MGM executive Paul Bern.

Hell's Angels made Jean Harlow an international star and a sensation with audiences, but critics were less than enthusiastic about her.

Jean Harlow next appeared in The Secret Six (1931) with Clark Gable. She would make five more pictures with Clark Gable: Red Dust (1932), Hold Your Man (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife vs. Secretary (1936), and Saratoga (1937).

In 1931, Jean Harlow appeared in The Public Enemy opposite James Cagney.

Her next film was Platinum Blonde (1931) with Loretta Young. Howard Hughes convinced the producers of Platinum Blonde to rename it from its original title of Gallagher in order to promote Jean Harlow's image, for whom the tag had just been invented by Hughes's publicity director. Many of Jean Harlow's female fans were dyeing their hair platinum to match hers.

Roles soon followed in Three Wise Girls (1932), Red-Headed Woman (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Bombshell (1933), Riffraff (1936), Suzy (1936), and Libeled Lady (1936).

During the filming of Red Dust, Jean Harlow's second husband, MGM producer Paul Bern, was found dead at their home, creating a scandal. Initially, the Hollywood community whispered that Harlow had killed Bern herself, though this was just rumor, and Bern's death was officially ruled a suicide.

After Paul Bern's death, Jean Harlow began an indiscreet affair with boxer Max Baer (father of Max Baer Jr, Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies). Although Max Baer was separated from his wife, Dorothy Dunbar, at the time of their affair, Dunbar threatened divorce proceedings, naming Jean Harlow as a correspondent for "alienation of affection", a legal term for adultery.

MGM defused the situation by arranging a marriage between Jean Harlow and cinematographer Harold Rosson. Still feeling the aftershocks of Bern's mysterious death, the studio didn't want another Harlow scandal on its hands. Rosson and Harlow were friends, and Rosson went along with the plan. They quietly divorced seven months later.

In 1935, Jean Harlow was cast opposite William Powell in Reckless. The two clicked on screen and off screen. They fell in love and became engaged.

In the spring of 1937, Harlow began filming Saratoga with Clark Gable. On May 29, 1937, Harlow collapsed on set and the director sent her home to rest.

What happened thereafter is essentially still a mystery. It is widely believed that Jean Harlow spent an entire week of vomiting in bed while her mother, a Christian Scientist, refused to call a doctor. Another account claims that Jean Harlow resisted hospitalization and a surgical procedure. On June 3, 1937, her mother told the press that Jean Harlow was "better".

On June 6, 1937, under orders from Louis B. Mayer and William Powell, a gravely ill Jean Harlow was rushed to Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital. Jean Harlow died the following morning at 11:37 a.m. of uremic poisoning at age 26.

By the mid-1930s, Jean Harlow was one of the biggest stars in America and the foremost female star at MGM. Jean Harlow has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

On the day Hollywood canine superstar Rin Tin Tin died at age of 16, Jean Harlow, who lived across the street from his master, Lee Duncan, went over to cradle the dog's head in her lap as the famous canine died.

Ron Howard

2010-02-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

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.

Kathryn Grayson

2010-02-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

Kathryn Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on February 9, 1922 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

At the age of 12, Kathryn Grayson discovered singing on the empty stage of the St. Louis Municipal Opera House by a janitor, who introduced her to Frances Marshall of the Chicago Civic Opera, who gave the twelve-year-old girl voice lessons.

In 1940, she was discovered by an MGM talent scout and was cast in her first film appearance in Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941) as the character's secretary Kathryn Land.

Kathryn Grayson's films included The Vanishing Virginian (1942), Thousands Cheer (1943), Anchors Aweigh (1945), The Kissing Bandit (1948), The Toast of New Orleans (1950), Show Boat (1951), Kiss Me Kate (1953), and The Vagabond King (1956).

In 1962, Kathryn Grayson appeared on Broadway in Camelot, her one and only Broadway performance.

On televison, Kathryn Grayson appeared in episdoes of Murder She Wrote, Baretta, Playhouse 90 and General Electric Theater.

Originally trained as an Opera singer, Kathryn Grayson appeared in Madame Butterfly (1959), La Traviata (1960), La Boheme (1960), and Orpheus in the Underworld (1983).

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

Kathryn Grayson died on February 17, 2010 of natural causes, she was 88 years old.

Jennifer Jones

2010-02-28T15:35:00.001-08:00

Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley on March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The daughter of Flora Mae Suber and Phillip Ross Isley, her parents toured the Midwest in a traveling tent show they owned and operated.

Jennifer Jones attended Monte Cassino Junior College in Tulsa and Northwestern University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority before transferring to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1938.

Jennifer Jones landed two small roles, first in a 1939 John Wayne western titled New Frontier, followed by a serial entitled Dick Tracy's G-Men. However, she failed a screen test for Paramount Pictures and decided to return to New York City.

When she learned of auditions for the lead role in Claudia, Rose Franken’s hit play, she presented herself to David O. Selznick’s New York office but fled in tears after what she thought was a bad reading. Selznick, however, overheard her audition and was impressed enough to have his secretary call her back. Following an interview, she was signed to a seven-year contract.

Her first role would be Bernadette Soubirous in The Song of Bernadette (1943). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role.

Jennifer Jones next film was Since You Went Away (1944), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1945, she appeared in Love Letters earning her third Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actress.

In 1946, she played Pearl Chavez in Duel in the Sun, earning her fourth Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress.

In 1955, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing.

Jennifer Jones also appeared in Portrait of Jennie (1948), Madame Bovary (1949) Beat the Devil (1953), A Farewell to Arms (1957), and Tender Is the Night (1962).

Jennifer Jones final appearance was in the 1974 blockbuster The Towering Inferno.

Jennifer Jones died of natural causes at her home on December 17, 2009, aged 90.

Dorothy Janis

2010-02-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

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."

Dorothy Janis died on March 10, 2010 at the age of 100.

George Kennedy

2010-02-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Percy Kilbride

2010-02-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

Percy Kilbride, best known for his role as Pa Kettle in the popular film series began his career in the theater and did not make his movie debut until age 45.

Percy Kilbride was born on July 16, 1888 in San Francisco, California, the son of Irish immigrants.

Percy Kilbride began working in the theater at the age of 12, playing hundreds of roles, mostly rustic bumpkins, in stage and stock.

In 1928, he made his Broadway debut in The Buzzard. He would appear in approximately a dozen Broadway productions before being cast as Mr. Kimber in the Broadawy production George Washington Slept Here.

In 1933, he made his film debut in Jakey in White Woman (1933).

In 1941, production began on the movie version of George Washington Slept Here. Percy Kilbride was the only member of the Broadway cast to be casted in the movie.

Roles followed in Keeper of the Flame (1942), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)and State Fair (1945).

In 1947, Percy Kilbride appeared as Pa Kettle in The Egg and I starring Fred MacMurry and Claudette Colbert.

Percy Kilbride and Margorie Main were such a hit as Ma and Pa Kettle in The Egg and I, seven feature films followed about Ma and Pa Kettle all starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride.

Percy Kilbride retired from acting after the seventh film: Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955) due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

On December 4 1964, Percy Kilbride and Ralph Belmont were taking their morning constitutional walk. Both were struck by a speeding car. Belmont died instantly at the scene.

On December 11, 1964, Percy Kilbride died as a result of his injuries, he was 76 years old.

Tim Holt

2010-02-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Tim Holt was a child actor who graduated to starring his own series of 1940's "B" westerns and to playing solid supporting roles in higher-budget A films.

Tim Holt was born Charles John Holt III on February 5, 1919 in Beverly Hills, California. The son of actor Jack Holt and Margaret Woods.

Tim Holt appeared in three films with his father: The Vanishing Pioneer (1928), The Arizona Ranger (1948) and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Tim Holt made his film debut at age 8 in an uncredited role in French Dressing (1927). He next appeared in The Vanishing Pioneer (1928).

He was sent to study at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, from which he graduated in 1936. He immediately went to work in the Hollywood film business.

After his return to Hollywood he was cast in History Is Made at Night (1937).

Tim Holt's first big break was when he was cast to play Richard 'Dick' Grosvenor III in Stella Dallas (1937) starring Barbara Stanwyck.

Tim Holt next appeared in Gold Is Where You Find It (1938) as Lanceford 'Lance' Ferris which starred Olivia de Havilland.

In 1939, he played Lieutenant Blanchard in Stagecoach.

From 1939 to 1942, he appeared in more than a dozen B Western films including Wagon Train (1940), Robbers of the Range (1941), and Land of the Open Range (1942).

In 1942 he won critical aclaim for his role George in The Magnificent Ambersons.

In 1946 he played Virgil Earp in My Darling Clementine.

Tim Holt's most famous role was as Curtin in John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

In 1991, Tim Holt was inducted posthumously into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

At the peak of his career in the 1940s "B" westerns, he was the "fastest draw" in the movies with the ability to draw his revolver in slightly over one-sixth of a second.

Tim Holt died February 15, 1973 at 54 years old of bone cancer.

Ida Lupino

2010-02-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

Ida Lupino was an actress, director and writer.

In her forty eight year career, Ida Lupino appeared in fifty nine films and fifty eight television episodes. She directed nine films and fifty television episodes. She also wrote screenplays for five films and four television episodes.

Ida Lupino was born February 4, 1914 in London, England. She was born into a family of performers. He father, Stanley Lupino was a music hall comedian and her mother Connie Emerald, was an actress.

As a young girl, she was encouraged to enter show business by both her parents and her uncle, Lupino Lane. Ida Lupino made her movie deput in 1931 in The Love Race.

She would spend the next several years playing minor roles in films such as The Ghost Camera (1933), Come on Marines (1934), Anything Goes (1936) and The Gay Desperado (1936).

In 1939 she appeared in The Light That Failed and it was then she was taken seriously as a dramatic actress.

Major starring roles soon followed in films such as They Drive by Night (1940), Ladies in Retirement (1941), Out of the Fog (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941) and High Sierra (1941).

She also appeared in The Hard Way, Deep Valley (1947), On Dangerous Ground (1952), While the City Sleeps (1956) and Junior Bonner (1972). Her final film was My Boys Are Good Boys (1978).

Ida Lupino was also a frequent guest star on televison, being nominated for three prime time Emmy awards. She appeared in such classics as Four Star Playhouse, Mr. Adams and Eve, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Burke's Law, Batman, Family Affair, The Streets of San Francisco and Charlie's Angels.

As a director, Ida Lupino was the second woman to be admitted to the Director's Guild. She directed classic television shows as Have Gun - Will Travel, The Rifleman, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, Bewitched, and Gilligan's Island.

As a writer, Ida Lupino wrote episodes for Four Star Playhouse and screenplays for Outrage (1950) and Never Fear (1949).

Ida Lupino has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the fields of television and motion pictures.

Ida Lupino died on August 3, 1995 after suffering a stroke, she was 81 years old.

Clark Gable

2010-02-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio. The son of William Henry Gable and Adeline Hershelman.

In 1917, when Clark Gable was in high school, his father had financial difficulties and the family moved to Ravenna, Ohio. Despite his father's insistence that he work the family farm, Clark Gable left to work in Akron's B.F. Goodrich tire factory.

At seventeen, Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise, but he was not able to make a real start due to financial difficulties.

Clark Gable instead toured in stock companies and worked the oil fields and as a horse manager. He found work with several second-class theater companies and worked his way across the Midwest to Portland, Oregon, where he found work as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store. While there, he met actress Laura Hope Crews, who encouraged him to go back to the stage and into another theater company.

His acting coach was a theater manager in Portland, Oregon, Josephine Dillon (seventeen years his senior and would become his first wife). Dillon paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She taught him better body control and posture. She spent considerable time training his naturally high-pitched voice, which Gable slowly managed to lower, and gain better resonance and tone. After the long period of rigorous training, she eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career.

In 1924, with Dillon's financial aid, the two went to Hollywood, where she became his manager and first wife. He changed his stage name from W. C. Gable to Clark Gable.

He began his career as an extra in such silent films as He found work as an extra in such silent films as Fighting Blood (1923), Forbidden Paradise (1924), The Plastic Age (1925) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925).

In 1928, he made his Broadway debut in Machinal. Roles would follow in Hawk Island and Love, Honor and Betray.

In 1931, he returned to Hollywood and was cast in his first credited role as Rance Brett in The Painted Desert.

In 1931, he was cast opposite Jean Harlow in The Secret Six. They would go on to make five more films together: Red Dust (1932), Hold Your Man (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife vs. Secretary (1936), and Saratoga (1937).

During the 1930s, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy were crowned the King and Queen of Hollywood. They made eight movies together: Night Flight (1933), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Men in White (1934) , Wife vs. Secretary (1936), Parnell (1937), Too Hot to Handle (1938), Test Pilot (1938), and Northward, Ho! (1940).

In 1934, Clark Gable refused an assignment and MGM thought they would punish him by loaning him out to Columbia Pictures. That film was Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934). Clark Gable won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

The next year Clark Gable starred as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty. He would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

During the 1930s, Clark Gable also starred in Night Nurse (1931), Possessed (1931), No Man of Her Own (1932), The Call of the Wild (1935), San Francisco (1936), and Idiot's Delight (1939).

In 1939, Clark Gable would be cast as Rhett Butler in his most famous role in the epic Gone With The Wind. He would receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Clark Gable appeared in Strange Cargo (1940), Boom Town (1940), Comrade X (1940), The Hucksters (1947), Command Decision (1948), Mogambo (1953), Run Silent Run Deep (1958) and Teacher's Pet (1958).

In 1961, Clark Gable would appear in his final film: The Misfits as Gay Langland.

During World War II, Clark Gable joined the Army Air Corps. He rose to the rank of Captain.

In March 1939, Clark Gable married actress Carole Lombard who he had previously worked with in No Man of Her Own (1932). Tragedy struck in January 1942 when the plane in which Carole and her mother were flying crashed into Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, killing them both.

In July 1955, Clark Gable married a former sweetheart, Kathleen Williams Spreckles. A few months after his death, she gave birth to his son John Clark Gable.

On November 16, 1959, Clark Gable became a grandfather when Judy Lewis, his daughter with Loretta Young, gave birth to a daughter, Maria.

Clark Gable died on November 16, 1960 of a heart attack, the day his granddaughter turned one.

A little trivia about Clark Gable:

Clark Gable's first screen test was made by director Mervyn LeRoy for Warner Bros. The powers that be said they wasting their money on that big "ape" with those "huge floppy taxi-cab ears". Years later when Gable made it big, LeRoy used to tease Warner and say, "How would you like to have him and those huge floppy ears now?".

He was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate.

Gene Hackman

2010-01-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

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).

Cary Grant

2010-01-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

Cary Grant was born Archibald Alexander Leach on January 18, 1904 in Bristol, England, the son of Elsie Maria Kingdon and Elias James Leach.

An only child, he had a confused and unhappy childhood, his father placed his mother in a mental institution when he was nine and his mother never overcame her depression after the death of a previous child. His father had told him that she had gone away on a "long holiday" and it was not until he was in his thirties that Cary Grant discovered her alive, in an institutionalized care facility.

Cary Grant was expelled from the Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918. He subsequently joined the "Bob Pender stage troupe" and traveled with the group to the United States as a stilt walker in 1920 at the age of 16, on a two-year tour of the country. When the troupe returned to England, he decided to stay in the US and continue his stage career.

Under his birth name of Archie Leech, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as Irene (1931), Music in May (1931), Nina Rosa (1931), Rio Rita (1931), Street Singer (1931), The Three Musketeers (1931), and Wonderful Night (1931).

In 1931 he made his Broadway debut in Better Times. He would also appear in the Broadway productions of Nikki, A Wonderful Night, Boom Boom, and Golden Dawn.

In the latter part of 1931, Cary Grant went to Hollywood where he acquired the name Cary Lockwood. He chose the name Lockwood after the surname of his character in a the Broadway play Nikki.

Cary Grant signed with Paramount Pictures, but while studio bosses were impressed with him, they were less than impressed with his adopted stage name. They decided that the name Cary was fine, but Lockwood had to go due to a similarity with another actor's name.

It was after browsing through a list of the studio's preferred surnames, that Cary Grant was born. Grant chose the name because the initials C and G had already proved lucky for Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, two of Hollywood's biggest movie stars.

Cary Grant made his film debut in This Is the Night (1932).

During the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Cary Grant starred more than 70 films.

Cary Grant received to Academy Award Nominations for Best Actor one for Penny Serenade (1940) and one for None But the Lonely Heart (1944).

In 1970, Cary Grant received the lifetime achievement Academy Award.

Cary Grant was one of the first freelance actors. Although he became a Paramount contract player early in his film career, when the contract was up, he made the unusual decision for the time, and went freelance. Because his films were so successful at the box office, he was able to work at any studio he chose for the majority of his career.

Cary Grant possessed strength and physical dexterity and did a majority of his own stunts during his film career.

Cary Grant appeared in classic comedies such as Topper (1937), The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938), My Favorite Wife (1940), The Talk of the Town (1942), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
Monkey Business (1952), Operation Petticoat (1959), That Touch of Mink (1962), and Father Goose (1964).

A favorite of director Alfred Hitchcock, Grant appeared in Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).

Cary Grant also starred in She Done Him Wrong (1933), Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), In Name Only (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), The Bishop's Wife (1947), An Affair to Remember (1957), Houseboat (1958), Indiscreet (1958), and Charade (1963).

Cary Grant's final film was Walk, Don't Run (1966).

During World War II, Cary Grant actively supported the troops with monetary donations.

He gave his entire salary for The Philadelphia Story (1940) to the British war effort and his entire salary for Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) to the U.S. War Relief Fund.

After retiring from the silver screen, Cary Grant remained active. In the late 1960s, he accepted a position on the board of directors at Fabergé. He later joined the boards of Hollywood Park, Western Airlines (now Delta Air Lines), and MGM.

In the last few years of his life, Cary Grant undertook tours of the United States in a one man show. It was called "A Conversation with Cary Grant", in which he would show clips from his films and answer audience questions.

Cary Grant was preparing for a performance at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa on the afternoon of November 29, 1986 when he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He died a short time later at the hospital.

Cary Grant was married five times and had one daughter with his fourth wife, Dyan Cannon. His daughter Jennifer Grant was born on February 26, 1966. He frequently called her his "best production", and regretted that he had not had children sooner.

In 1981, he was accorded the Kennedy Center Honors.

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

In 2001 a statue of Grant was erected in Millennium Square, a regenerated area next to the harbour in his city of birth, Bristol, England.

Vivien Leigh

2009-11-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley on November 5, 1913 in Darjeeling, India to Ernest Hartley, a British Officer in the Indian Cavalry and Gertude Robinson Yackje.

Vivien made her first stage appearance at the age of three, reciting "Little Bo Beep" for her mother's amateur theatre group.

Vivien was sent to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in England where she became best friends with future actress Maureen O'Sullivan. At the age of six and a half, Vivian told Maureen she desired to become a great actress.

Vivien later enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

In late 1931, she met Herbert Leigh Holman, a barrister 13 years her senior. Despite his disapproval of "theatrical people" they were married on December 20, 1932. Upon their marriage, she terminated her studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Bored with domestic life and upon her friends sugesstion, Vivien auditioned for a part in the film Things are Looking Up (1935). She won the part and made her film debut. Vivien hired an agent, John Gliddon.

John Gliddon believed that the name Vivian Holman was not suitable for an actress and suggested "April Morn" which she hated. Vivien decided on Vivien Leigh, using her husband's middle name as her last name.

From 1935 to 1939, Vivien Leigh appeared in such movies as Gentlemen's Agreement (1935) and A Yank at Oxford (1938). She also frequently appeared on the London Stage in such productions as The Green Sash, Henry VIII, THe Mask of Virtue and Hamlet.

In 1939, Vivien Leigh would become one of the most popular actresses in the world, when she was cast to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Vivien won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

During the 1940s, Vivien Leigh alternated her time between the silver screen at the stage. Her movies would include Waterloo Bridge (1940), Ceasar and Cleopatra (1945) and Anna Karenina (1948). Her stage work would include Romeo and Juliet (Broadway), The Doctor's Dilemna, The Skin of Our Teeth, Richard III, and A Street Car Named Desire.

In 1951, Vivien Leigh was cast to play Blanche DuBois, a role she originated on stage, in the movie version of A Street Car Named Desire. Vivian Leigh would earn her second Academy Award for Best Actress.

During the 1950s, Vivian Leigh spent her time on the stage. She appeared in such productions as Caesar and Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, and Duel of Angels.

In 1963, Vivien Leigh won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Tovarich.

Vivien Leigh's final silver screen performance was in Ship of Fools (1965).

After Vivian's divorce from her first husband, she married Laurence Olivier, they divorced after 20 years of marriage.

Vivien Leigh sufferd from manic depression. Vivien needed shock therapy to control her manic depression. Sometimes she would go on stage just hours after her treatments, without missing a beat in her performance.

Vivien Leigh was the first British actress to win an Academy Award.

Her favorite role was that of Myra Lester, in Waterloo Bridge (1940).

A lover of cats, especially Siamese, she frequently had 10 kitties at one time. When she passed away her Siamese, Poo Jones, was with her.

Vivien Leigh passed away July 7, 1967 of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 53.

Burt Lancaster

2009-11-01T18:02:00.001-08:00

Burt Lancaster was born Burton Stephen Lancaster on November 2, 1913 in New York City, the son of Elizabeth Roberts and James Henry Lancaster, who was a postman.

Burt Lancaster grew up in East Harlem and spent much of his time on the streets, where he developed great interest and skill in gymnastics. Later he performed as a circus acrobat, until an injury forced him to give up the profession.

During World War II, Lancaster joined the United States Army and there he developed an interest in acting performing with the USO.

After the war, he auditioned for the Broadway play A Sound of Hunting and won the part. Later he would appear on Broadway in Separate Tables. In 1946, he won the Theatre World Award.

Lancaster's film debut was in The Killers (1946). His next picture was Brute Force (1947). Roles would follow in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Criss Cross (1949), Mister 880 (1950), Come Back, Little Sheba (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), Vera Cruz (1954), The Kentuckian (1955), Trapeze (1956), The Rainmaker (1956), The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), Separate Tables (1958), The Unforgiven (1960), Elmer Gantry (1960), The Young Savages (1961), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Train (1964), Airport (1970), Atlantic City (1980), and Field of Dreams (1989).

A frequent co-star of Kirk Douglas, they appeared together in six films: 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).

Burt Lancaster was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Actor for Atlantic City (1980), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Elmer Gantry (1960) and From Here to Eternity (1953). He won the Academy Award for Elmer Gantry.

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

Burt Lancaster's first television role was on Sesame Street in 1969, reciting the alphabet.

Known for his liberal political sympathies, he was one of several Hollywood movie stars, along with Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr., Sidney Poitier, and Paul Newman who participated in Martin Luther King's March on Washington in August 1963.

His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, produced the such films as Marty (1955) and The Catered Affair (1956).

Burt Lancaster is the father of writer Bill Lancaster who wrote the Bad News Bears (1976). The Bad News Bears was based on Bill's own experiences being coached by his father and the coach played by Walter Matthau was based on Burt Lancaster, who was known for his grumpiness.

Burt Lancaster died on October 20, 1994 of a heart attack.

Burt Lancaster will always be remembered for his smile, the way he laughed and the unforgettable characters he played.

Rita Hayworth

2009-10-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Rita Hayworth was born Margarita (Rita) Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York.

Rita was the daughter of Spanish flamenco dancer Eduardo Cansino, Sr. and Ziegfeld girl Volga Hayworth. Her father wanted her to become a dancer while her mother hoped she would become an actress. Rita's grandfathers Antonio Cansino was most renowned in Spain's classical dances and made the bolero famous.

Rita began dancing on stage at the age of four and by age six was a member of The Cansinos, a famous family of Spanish dancers working in vaudeville.

When Rita was a teengager, she became her father's dancing partner. She was dancing 20 shows a week in nightclubs in California and at the Foreign Club in Tijuana, Mexico.

Rita made her film debut at the age of eight in La Fiesta (1926) under the name Rita Cansino. She would appear in thirteen films from 1926 to 1937 under the name of Rita Cansino including Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935), Dante's Inferno (1935) and Human Cargo (1936).

Rita's first film as Rita Hayworth was Criminals of Air (1937). It was at this time she signed a seven year contract with Columbia Studios who changed her name and ordered her to dye her dark brown hair to red.

Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford appeared in five movies together: The Lady in Question (1940), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952) and The Money Trap (1965).

During the film Gilda (1946), Rita accidently knocked out two of Glenn Ford's teeth during their fight scene.

Rita Hayworth's most notable film credits include Convicted (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Angels over Broadway (1940), Pal Joey (1957), Separate Tables (1958) and Circus World (1964).

Rita's final film appearnce was The Wrath of God (1972).

Despite appearing in 61 films over 37 years, including leading roles in successful, classic films like Gilda, she never received an Academy Award nomination.

She did receive one Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for Circus World (1964) and was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Despite being an incredible dancer, Rita never appeared on Broadway. In 1962, when she was 42, her planned Broadway debut in Step on a Crack was cancelled for health reasons.

Rita Hayworth was married five times, all ending in divorce and each one lasting less than five years.

Rita was first married to Edward Charles Judson (1937–1942). Her second marriage was to Orson Welles (1943-1948) and they had one daugher Rebecca. Her third marriage was to Prince Aly Khan (1949 - 1953) and they had one daughter Princess Yasmin. Her fourth marriage was to Dick Haymes (1953-1955) and her fifth marriage to James Hill (1958-1961).

In fact, Rita Hayworth, not Grace Kelly was the first American movie star to become a Princess when she married Prince Aly Khan on May 27, 1949.

She was a cousin of Ginger Rogers by marriage, Rita Hayworth's uncle married Ginger Rogers' aunt.

On May 14, 1987 at the age of 68, Rita Hayworth died of Alzheimer's disease.

Angela Lansbury

2009-10-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Angela Lansbury was born October 16, 1925 in London, England to Belfast born actress Monya MaGill and Edgar Lansbury, a politician and prominent businessman. Her mother would appear with Angela in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and Kind Lady (1951).

Just prior to the German bombing campaign of London, Angela's mother was given the opportunity to take her children to North American and under the cover of darkness they fled and sailed for Montreal and from there headed to New York City. Her mother settled in Hollywood following a fund-raising Canadian tour of a Noel Coward play and Angela and her brothers joined her there.

Angela Lansbury worked at the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles. At one of her mother's frequent parties, she met would be actor Michael Dyne who arranged for her to meet Mel Ballerino. Ballerino was the casting director for upcoming films The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gaslight. He offered Angela roles in both movies.

She made her film debut in Gaslight (1944), playing the role of the impertinent and slightly malevolent maid, Nancy. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut.

She would earn her second Academy Award nomination for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).

Angela Lansbury's most popular films include National Velvet (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), State of the Union (1948), The Three Musketeers (1948), Sampson and Deliah (1949), The Court Jester (1956), The Long Hot Summer (1958), Blue Hawaii (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Death on the Nile (1978), Beauty and The Beast (1991), Anastasia (1997).

She would also earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

She won the Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

Angela Lansbury also has had a successful career on Broadway earning five Tony Awards. Her Broadway credits include Hotel Paradiso (her debut), Mame (won Tony), Prettybelle, Gypsy (won Tony), The King and I, Sweeney Todd (won Tony), Dear World (won Tony) and Blithe Spirit (won Tony).

On television, Angela Lansbury played Jessica Fletcher on Murder She Wrote (1984 -1996) which would earn her four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Drama Series and 13 Emmy nominations for Best Actress in a Drama Series. Her other television credits include Law & Order, Trial by Jury, Law & Order, SVU, Touched By an Angel, Magnum P.I., The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Playhouse 90, and Your Show of Shows.

She has been nominated for an Emmy 18 times, holding the record for the most nominations without a win.

In 1994, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Angela her Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In 1995, Angela Lansbury was named a Disney Legend.

In 1997, Angela received the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2000, she was a Kennedy Honor recipient.

She has a two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame one for televison and one for motion pictures.

Angela Lansbury is also a vegetarian and a longtime animals rights activist.

Angela Lansbury was first married to Richard Cromwell (1945 - 1946, divorced). Angela Lansbury would marry Peter Shaw on August 12, 1949 and remained married until his death in 2003. Peter and Angela had two children, Diedre and Anthony.

Her son Anthony Shaw directed several of the Murder She Wrote episodes and television movies.

Angela Lansbury is currently active on Broadway. She just completed starring in Blithe Spirit and in December 2009 will play Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music.

Angela Lansbury accepting her fifth Tony Award for Blithe Spirit at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards June, 2009.

Lillian Gish

2009-10-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Lillian Gish was a was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987.

Lillian Gish was born October 14, 1893 in Springfield, Ohio. The older sister of actress Dorothy Gish and the daugher of Mary Robinson McConnell and James Lee Gish.

After her father abandoned the family, he mother began acting in order to support the family. When Lillian and Dorothy were old enough, they joined the theatre and took modeling jobs.

In 1912, Lillian's friend Mary Pickford introduced her to director D.W. Griffith and helped them get contracts with Biograph Studios.

Lillian Gish made her film debut in An Unseen Enemy (1912).

From 1912 to 1930, Lillian Gish would appear in over 70 silent films including The Rebellion of Kitty Belle (1914), Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), The Children Pay (1916), The Greatest Thing in Life (1918), Broken Blossums (1919), Way Down East (1920), The White Sister (1923), Ben-Hur (1925) and the Scarlett Letter (1926).

In 1930, she appeared in her first talkie, One Romantic Night (1930).

With her debut in talkies only moderately successful, she acted on the stage for the most part in the 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in roles as varied as Opelia in Hamlet and Marguerite in La Dame aux Camelias.

In 1942, after a nine year absence from the silver screen, she appeared in Commandos Strike at Dawn. Roles would follow in Duel in the Sun (1942), The Night of the Hunter (1955) and The Unforgiven (1960).

Her final film appearance was The Whales of August (1987) at the age of 93 with Vincent Price, Bette Davis and Ann Sothern.

Lillian Gish also frequently appeared on television in such shows as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Love Boat, The Defenders, and Robert Montgomery Presesents.

Lillian Gish was nominated for one Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1946 for Duel in the Sun.

She was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1971 for Lifetime Achievement.

In 1982, she received a Kennedy Center Honor.

In 1984, she received the AFI Life Achievement Award.

She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

The First Lady of the Silent Screen, Lillian Gish became one of the leading advocates on the lost art of the silent film often giving speeches and touring to screenings of classic works. In 1975, she hosted The Silent Years, a PBS film program of silent films.

Lillian Gish never married nor had children. She left her entire estate to Helen Hayes (who died a month later) which was valued at several million dollars. Her estate went to provide for prizes for artistic excellence.

Lillian Gish died in her sleep of natural causes on February 27, 1993 at the age of 99.

Boris Karloff

2009-10-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Boris Karloff is recognized as one of the true icons of horror cinema.

Boris Karloff was born William Henry Pratt on November 23, 1887 in London, England. His father was Edward John Pratt, Jr. and his mother was Eliza Sarah Millard.

His paternal great aunt was Anna Leonowens, whose tales about life in the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) were the basis of the musical The King and I.

Karloff's first goal in life was to join the foreign service. However, he turned to acting upon immigrating to Canada in 1909 where he changed his name to "Boris Karloff".

In 1912, while appearing in a play in Regina, Saskatchewan, a devasting tornado hit killing 28 people. He volunteered as a rescue worker and also organized a concert that raised funds for the city.

Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films but work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labor, such as digging ditches and driving a cement truck, to pay the bills.

Karloff's first film was The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916). Some of his silent films include The Lightning Raider (1919), The Prisoner (1923), Cheated Hearts (1921), The Woman Conquers (1922), The Prairie Wife (1925) and Two Arabian Knights (1927).

He even had an uncredited role as a Union General in Buster Keaton's classic film The General (1926).

In 1928, Boris Karloff appeared in his first talkie, Behind that Curtain.

From 1928 to 1931, he appeared in such films as The Utah Kid (1930), Cracked Nuts (1931) and Young Donovan's Kid (1931).

In 1931, at the age of 44, Boris Karloff got his big break in a role that would forever be associated with his name, Frankenstein. He would resume his role in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). In 1958, in Frankenstein 1970, he would play Dr. Baron Victor von Frankenstien II, the grandson of the original inventor.

In Son of Frankenstein (1939), he also was the demented Igor.

Boris Karloff also appeared in such films as The Mummy (1932), Scarface (1932), The Black Cat (1934), The Walking Dead (1936), Devil's Island (1939), Black Friday (1940), The Body Snatcher (1945), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Abbot and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), and Abbot and Costelle Meet Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (1953).

Boris Karloff's final film was The Incredible Invasion (1971) which was released after his death.

In addition to Karloff's sucessful film career, he also had a successful career on Broadway. He appeared in the Broadway productions of Peter Pan, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Shop at Sly Corner and The Lark. He was nominated for a Tony award for The Lark.

Boris Karloff also appeared on such classic television shows as The Red Skelton Show, Playhouse 90, General Electric Theatre, Route 66, The Wild Wild West, and I Spy.

Karloff was bow-legged had a lisp, and stuttered as a young boy. He conquered his stutter, but not his lisp, which was noticeable all through his career.

In contrast to the sinister characters he played on screen, Karloff was known in real life as a very kind gentleman who gave generously, especially to children's charities. Every year beginning in 1940, Boris dressed up as Santa Claus and handed out presents to physically disabled children at a Baltimore hospital.

Boris Karloff was also a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild and was outspoked regarding hazardous working conditions on the sets.

Boris Karloff was married six times and had one daughter by his fifth wife.

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

Boris Karloff died on February 2, 1969 at the age of 81 due to complications of emphysema.

Helen Hayes

2009-10-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Helen Hayes was an American actress whose career spanned almost 80 years on the stage, Broadway, in film and television. She was nicknamed the "First Lady of the American Theatre."

She was the second person and one of only twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award.

Helen Hayes was born Helen Hayes Brown on October 10, 1900 in Washington D.C. She was the daughter of Catherine Estelle Hayes, an aspiring actress who worked in touring companies and Francis van Arnum Brown, a clerk at the Washington Patent Office.

Helen Hayes began her career on the stage at the age of five, appearing in Miss Hawke's May Ball and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

By the time she was eighteen, she had appeared in 36 stage productions including A Royal Family (1908), The Seven Sisters (1911), The Prince and the Pauper (1913), and Rich Man, Poor Man (1917).

She would make her Broadway debut in 1909 in Old Dutch, at the age of nine. She would perform in over 50 Broadway productions in her 80 year career including Golden Days, Dancing Mothers, Caeser and Cleopatra, Ziegfeld Follies of 1927, Mary of Scotland, The Country Wife, Twefth Night, The White House, The Front Page and Harvey.

She was a four time Tony award winner, two for Best Actress for Happy Birthday (1947), Time Remembered (1958), one Drama Desk Award for The Show Off (1968) and the 1980 Lawrence Langer Memorial Award. She was also nominated for a Tony for Best Actress for Harvey (1970).

She made her movie debut in 1917 in The Weavers of Life.

Her sound movie debut was The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) for which she won the Best Actress Academy Award.

She would win her second Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1970 for Airport where she played the delightful elderly stowaway on the airplane.

She would appear in such films as Arrowsmith (1931), A Farewell to Arms (1932), The White Sister (1933), What Every Woman Knows (1934), and Anatasia (1956).

Helen Hayes television credits include Highway to Heaven, The Love Boat, Hawaii Five O (which she earned an Emmy nomination), Here's Lucy, Tarzan and Playhouse 90. In 1953 she received the Emmy for Best Actress.

The Helen Hayes Award for theater in the Washington D.C. area is named in her honor.

In 1953, she was the first-ever recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago Theatre, repeating as the winner in 1969.

In 1976, she won a Grammy award.

Helen Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Helen retired from the Broadway stage in 1970, retired from movies in 1974 and from televison in 1985. She spent most of her last years writing and raising money for organizations that fight asthma.

Helen Hayes died on St. Patrick's Day (March 17) 1993 from congestive heart failure.

Carole Lombard

2009-10-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

Carole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters on October 6, 1908 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her parents were Frederick C. Peters and Elizabeth Knight. Carole was the youngest of three siblings, having two older brothers. She moved to Los Angeles in 1914 after her parents divorce.

Carole Lombard made her film debut at the age of twelve after she was seen playing baseball in the street by director Allan Dwan. He cast her as a tomboy in A Perfect Crime (1921).

It would be three more years before Carole's next film, Gold Heels (1924). Between 1924 and her big break in 1934, her films include Ben Hur (1925), My Best Girl (1927), High Voltage (1929), The Arizona Kid (1930), No More Orchids (1932) and The Eagle and the Hawk (1933).

In 1934, she got her big break when Howard Hawks (her second cousin) cast her in a starring role opposite John Barrymore in Twentieth Century (1934).

Twentieth Century made her a household name. She would go on the star in such films as The Gay Bride (1924), Hands Across the Table (1935), My Man Godfrey (1936), Nothing Sacred (1937), Made for Each Other (1939), In Name Only (1939), Mr & Mrs Smith (1941) and To Be or Not to Be (1942).

In October 1930, Lombard met William Powell. They worked together in the films Man of the World (1931) and Ladies' Man (1931). Unlike many of Carole's suitors at the time, William Powell was sophisticated and showed her a side of life she had not seen before. William Powell admired her blunt personality and her sense of humor. They married June 26, 1931.

Carole Lombard was extroverted and William Powell was reserved, plus Powell was sixteen years her senior. There different personalities lead to their divorce on August 16, 1933. However, they remained very good friends and worked together well, most notably in My Man Godfrey (1936).

While on a date with another man, Carole Lombard met crooner Russ Columbo. They began a serious relationship and Columbo proposed marriage. Tragically, Columbo died while he was visiting a friend. Columbo was admiring an antique pistol which accidently went off and the bullet ricocheted and killed Russ instantly. He died September 2, 1934.

Carole Lombard had previously met Clark Gable when they worked together in No Man of Her Own (1932). Carole was still happily married to William Powell at the time and Clark had many girlfriends. They were indifferent to each other on the set and did not keep in touch.

In 1936, Clark Gable came to the Mayfair Ball that Carole Lombard had planned. That evening their romance took off and they began a serious relationship. However, Clark was still married to Ria Langham at the time and a divorce would have cost him a fortune.

Then a scandalous article called "Hollywood's Unmarried Husbands and Wives" was printed in a fan magazine. Chief censor of the time, Will H. Hays went to Louis B. Mayer and demanded something be done about contract stars such as Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, as well as Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck. Robert Taylor and Clark Gable (as well as many others) were give a choice, marry the women or end their relationships. Both choose the marriage route.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married on March 29, 1939.

When the United States entered World War II, Carole Lombard traveled to her home state of Indiana for a war bond rally. After the war bond rally, on January 16, 1942, Carole and her mother boarded a Transcontintal and Wester Airlines DC-3 airplane to return to California. After refueling in Las Vegas, TWA Flight 3 took off and 23 mintues later crashed into Double Up Peak near Mount Potosi southwest of Las Vegas. All aboard, 19 passengers and three crew were killed. Carole Lombard was only 43 years old.

Carole Lombard's final film, To Be or Not To Be, was in post production at the time of her death. The film also starring Jack Benny, was a satire about Zazism and World War II. The film's producers cut a part of the film in which Lombard's character asks "What can happen on a plane?" As they felt it was in very poor taste, given the circumstances of her death.

Carole Lombard received one Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for My Man Godfrey (1936).

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Carole Lombard's Fort Wayne childhood home has been designated a historic landmark. The city named the nearby bridge over the St. Mary's River the "Carole Lombard Memorial Bridge."

During World War II, after her death, a Liberty ship was named after her.

She was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the first woman killed in the line of duty in WWII. Roosevelt greatly admired her work for the war effort, and ironically she was returning from an engagement selling War Bonds when her plane crashed.

Bob Hope

2009-10-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903. He made his official film debut in The Big Broadcast of 1938 singing "Thanks for the Memories", which became his signature tune. I saw official because he had bit parts (usually uncredited) in movies starting in 1934.

In partnership with long time friend Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour he appeared in the highly successful "Road to ..." comedies. He also starred in The Facts of Life (1960), Alias Jesse James (1959), My Favorite Spy (1951), My Favorite Blonde (1942), The Ghost Breakers (1940) and many more films.

He entertained the troops overseas in World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War and the Gulf War. In 1997, Congress named Hope an honorary U.S. veteran, citing his decades of entertaining troops around the world. He is the only person to receive that distinction.

He entertained 11 different Presidents, beginning withFranklin D. Roosevelt and ending with Bill Clinton.

Awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

He won over 1500 awards as a actor, singer, entertainer, humanitarian, and comedian.

Bob Hope passed away at the age of 100 on July 27, 2003.

There will never be another Bob Hope, he was one of a kind.

John Huston

2009-10-27T16:39:00.001-07:00

John Huston was born on August 5, 1906 in Nevada, Missouri to Walter Huston and Rhea Gore.

John Huston's career spanned five decades as a director, actor and screenwriter. In fact he is one of the few people to receive at least one Oscar nomination in five consecutive decades.

John began performing on stage with his vaudevillian father at age 3.

He quit school at age 14 to become a full-fledged boxer and eventually won the Amateur Lightweight Boxing Championship of California, winning 22 of 25 bouts.

John Huston's screenplay writing credits include Jezebel (1938), High Sierra (1941), Sergeant York (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierre Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), and the Night of the Iguana (1964).

John Huston's directing credits include The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierre Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), The Misfits (1961), The Night of the Iguana (1964), Annie (1982) and Prizzi's Honor (1985).

Huston appeared in cameo roles in some of his films. In Treasure of the Sierre Madre he is the American in the white suit that Bogart's character hits up for money twice. In The Misfits, he is an extra playing blackjack.

In Chinatown (1974) he played Noah Cross.

John Huston was married five times including once to Evelyn Keyes of Gone With the Wind, and had four children including his daughter Angelica Huston.

Huston received 15 Academy Award nominations in the course of his career. In fact, he is the oldest person ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar when, at 79 years old, he was nominated for Prizzi's Honor (1985). He also has the unique distinction of directing both his father Walter and his daughter Anjelica in Oscar winning performances (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Prizzi's Honor, respectively), making the Hustons the first family to have three generations of Academy Award winners. He received the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Writing Screenplay for Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

John Huston's interests included painting, hunting, sculpting, and flying.

He passed away on August 28, 1987 in Rhode Island of emphysema.

Ruth Gordon

2009-10-27T16:38:00.002-07:00

Ruth Gordon was born October 30, 1896 in Quincy, Massachusettes, the only child of Annie Ziegler Jones and Clinton Jones, a factory foreman who had been a ship's captain.

She came to New York in 1914 and studied acting at American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She made both her broadway and film debut in 1915.

Her Broadway debut was in "Peter Pan" and she spent the next 20 years on stage, even appearing at the Old Vic in London in the successful run of "The Country Wife" in 1936. She also appeared in Seventeen, The First Year, Ethan Frome, A Doll's House, and Saturday's Children. While appearing in Seventeen, she met her first husband, Gregory Kelly. They were married in 1921 and remained married until his death in 1927.

In 1956 she was nominated for a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker.

In 1915, Gordon appeared as an extra in the silent film The Whirl of Life, a film based on the lives of Veron and Irene Castle. Nearly twenty five years after her film debut, she returned to movies. She went on to star in such films as Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), Two Faced Woman (1941), Edge of Darkness (1943), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), Rosemary's Baby (1968), and Harold and Maude (1971). She also played the mother of Orville Boggs in the Every Which Way Films.

She received an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Rosemary's Baby (1968). She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Inside Daisy Clover (1965).

In 1942, she married Garson Kanin. Together they collaborated and wrote screenplays such as A Double Life (1947), Adam's Rib (1949), and Pat and Mike (1952), all of which earned the couple Academy Award nominations for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.

In 1978 she won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Taxi in an episode entitled "Sugar Mama" in which her character tries to solicit the services of a taxi driver, played by series star Judd Hirsch, as a male escort.

In 1975, she became the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live at the age of 79.

A small theater in Westboro, Massachusetts was named in her honer, as was an outdoor amphitheater in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Ruth Gordon passed away at the age of 88 on August 28, 1985 from complications of a stroke.

Greta Garbo

2009-10-27T16:38:00.001-07:00

Greta Garbo was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film and Golden Age of movies. She said to be one of the most beautiful movies stars of all time. She made trenchcoats and berets popular in the 1930s.

Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905 in Stockholm, Sweden, the daughter of Karl and Anna Gustafson.

When Greta was 14, her father died leaving the family destitude. Greta left school and went to work as a soap-latherer in a barber's shop in Sweden. Her next job was in a department store. While working at the department store, she modeled for newspaper ads. She then appeared in an advertising short while a teenager. This film short ran in local theaters in Stockholm.

From 1922 to 1924, Garbo studied at the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. While there, she met director Mauritz Stiller. He trained her in cinema acting technique, gave her the stage name Greta Garbo and cast her in a major role in the silent film Gosta Berlings Saga (1924). She appeared in about a dozen European films before MGM brought her to the United States.

Her first American film was The Temptress (1936). She would go on to star in such silent films as Flesh and The Devil (1927), Love (1927), The Mysterious Lady (1928), A Woman of Affairs (1928), and Wild Orchads (1929).

In 1930, Greta Garbo appeared in her first talking film Anna Christie and uttered the lines "Gif me a visky, ginger ale on the side, and don' be stingy, baby."

Greta Garbo's most notable films are Romance (1930), Mata Hari (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936), and Ninotchka (1939). Her final film appearnce before retiring was Two Faced Women (1941).

During her career, Garbo was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Actress for Anna Christie (1930), Romance (1930), Camille (1937), and Ninotchka (1939). She did receive an Honorary Academy Award in 1955.

Her all time personal favorite movie of her own was Camille (1936).

In the mid 1950s, Greta Garbo bought a seven-room-apartment in New York City (450 East 52nd Street) and lived there until she died in absolute seclusion, although she could be seen taking daily walks in New York City.

She was as secretive about her relatives as she was about herself, and, upon her death, the names of her survivors could not immediately be determined. Except at the very beginning of her career, she granted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no premieres, and answered no fan mail.

Greta Garbo never married although she did have a long term relationship with John Gilbert. It is said she left him standing at the altar in 1926, when she changed her mind about getting married.

Greta Garbo died on April 15, 1990 at the age of 84 due to complications of pneumonia.

Larry Gates

2009-10-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Larry Gates was born September 24, 1915 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

He was a character actor in many movies and television shows in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his role as Endicott in the movie In The Heat of the Night (1967) and as Dr. Baugh in Cato on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).

In 1952, Larry Gates made his movie debut playing Dr. Robert Ardley in Glory Alley starring Ralph Meeker and Leslie Caron.

He would play such classic character roles as:

Captain William "Deak" Parsons in Above and Beyond (1952)

Dr. Dan Kauffman in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Professor Robert French in Some Came Running (1958)

Dr. Baugh in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Joe Adams in Ada (1961)

Randolph in The Young Savages (1961)

President Chester Arthur in Cattle King (1963)

Endicott in In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Jameson in The Sand Pebbles (1966)

John Clum in Hour of the Gun (1967)

Commissioner Ackerman in Airport (1970)

On television, Gates had numerous roles on such The Twilight Zone, Goodyear Television, Studio One, Playhouse 90, Bonanza, Route 66, The Defenders, Rawhide, Lou Grant, The Untouchables, and Mannix.

From 1983 until his death in 1996, he played Harlan "H.B." Lewis on The Guiding Light. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series in 1986.

In addition to his career in movies and television, he was also a Broadway star. He made his Broadway debut as the befuddled Sydney Redlitch in "Bell Book and Candle". He also appeared in the Broadway productions of The Teahouse of the August Moon, Hamlet and A Case of Libel. He was nominated for Broadway's 1964 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "A Case of Libel."

Larry Gates passed away on December 12, 1996 from complications of Leukemia.

Greer Garson

2009-10-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

Greer Garson was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson on September 29, 1904 in London, England. She was the only child of George Carson, a clerk, and Nancy "Nina" Greer.

Greer was educated at King's College in London where she earned degrees in French and 18th century literature. She had intended on becoming a teaching but instead began working with an advertising agency.

Greer Garson began her professional career on stage, starting at the Birmingham Repetory Theatre in 1932. She was tutored by Laurence Olivier. She also appeared on television in its earliest years most notably starring in the thirty minute production of Twelfth Night (1937).

Louis B. Mayer discovered Greer Garson while he was in London looking for new talent. Garson was signed to a contract with MGM in late 1937. Her film debut was in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1938).

Greer Garson's movie credits include Pride and Prejudice (1940), When Ladies Meet (1941), Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Random Harvest (1942), Mrs. Parkington (1944), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Miniver Story (1950), Julius Caesar (1953) and Sunrise at Campobello (1960).

She would earn seven Academy Award Best Actress Oscar nominations, She was nominated for Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), Blossums in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), The Valley of Decision (1945), and Sunrise at Campobello (1960).

Greer Garson won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942 for her portrayal as a strong British wife and mother in the middle of World War II in Mrs. Miniver. Her acceptance speech is the longest in history, five minutes and 30 seconds. The Academy Awards then instituted a time limit in response.

She would tie with Bette Davis, a record which still stands today, for the most consecutive Academy Award Best Actress nominations, being nominated five years straight.

She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for Sunrise at Campobello (1960).

Greer Garson was married three times. Her first marraige was to Edward Alec Abbot Snelson (1933-1943, divorced). Her second marriage was to Richard Ney, her co-star in Mrs. Miniver, twenty eight years her junior (1943-1947, divorced).

In 1949, she married E.E. Buddy Fogelson and they remained married until his death in 1987. In 1967, the couple retired to their Forked Lightning Ranch in New Mexico. They purchased the U.S. Hall of Fame champion Thoroughbred Ack Ack in 1971 and were highly successful breeders. They also maintained a home in Dallas, Texas where Greer funded the Greer Garson Theater at Southern Methodist University.

Although she retired from the silver screen in 1967, she would continue to make limited appearances on television shows such as The Virginian, Little Women, Hallmark Hall of Fame specials and her final appearance being in 1982 on The Love Boat.

Greer Garson died from heart failure on April 6, 1996 at the age of 91, she is interred in Dallas at the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.

Charles Lane

2009-10-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

We may not know his name but we certainly know his face. Charles Lane was born Charles Gerstle Levison January 26, 1905 and passed away at the age of 102 on July 9, 2007. He was also one of the last survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

He made his film debut anonymously as a hotel clerk in Smart Money in 1931 starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney and his final work was as a narrator in 2006 in The Night Before Christmas. He was one of the first to join the Screen Actor's Guild. January 30th has been declared Charles Lane Day by the Screen Actor's Guild.

For television viewers he is probably most known for playing Homer Bedloe (scheming railwayman)on Petticoat Junction. He also appeared on I Love Lucy, Little House on the Praire, Soap, LA Law, The Odd Couple and Rhoda to name a few.

For classic movie lovers he is the familiar character actor that appeared in probably over 100 films. Although many of his appearances were uncredited.

He appeared in such classics as Twentieth Century, Its A Wonderful Life, You Can't Take it With You, Its a Mad Mad Mad World, Miss Grant Takes Richmond, State of the Union, Arsenic and Old Lace, 42nd Street, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Golden Boy, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

We recognize his skinny, hatchet-faced, prominent nose, his rimless eyeglasses and his permanent scowl, he typically portrayed short-tempered and often loudmouthed bureaucrats and yes-men.

I would have like to meet Charles Lane and talk with him as he worked with James Cagney, Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, Lucille Ball, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, William Holden, Frank Capra, and so many of our classic movie stars and directors.

Myrna Loy

2009-10-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

Myrna Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905 on a cattle ranch in Radersburg, Montana. Her name Myrna comes from a train station that her father traveled through in early 1905.

Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature (elected at the age of 21). Later on her family moved to Helena where she spent her youth. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of influenza and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was originally trained as a dancer and was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls where she caught the acting bug.

She was discovered by Natacha Rambova (Mrs. Rudolph Valentino) who happened to be in the audience one night who managed to pull some strings to get Myrna some parts in the motion picture industry. Her first film was a small part in the film What Price Beauty in 1925.

Unable to land a contract with MGM, she signed with Warner Brothers and appeared in small, bit roles,. It seemed that she would play one vamp after another. However, her big break came when she was able to finally sign with MGM where she got two big roles in the Prizefighter and The Lady (1933) and The Thin Man (1934) and a star was born.

Her trademark was her turned up nose.

In 1936, she was named Queen of the Movies and Clark Gable the king in a nationwide poll of movie goers and her profile was the most requested in the 1930s by women to their plastic surgeons.

Men-Must-Marry-Myrna Clubs were formed due to her portrayal as The Perfect Wife in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Myrna Loy always thought this was funny that she was labeled the perfect wife since she was married and divorced four times.

Although snubbed by the Academy Awards by never even being nominated for an academy award she did receive an Honorary Academy Award in 1991.

Her best known films are The Thin Man movies, The Best Years of Our Lives, Libeled Lady, Manhatten Melodrama, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Too Hot to Handle, Test Pilot, The Great Ziegfeld, and Wife vs. Secretary.

Her final film was in 1981 a television movie called Summer Solstice.

By the time Myrna passed away, on December 14, 1993, at the age of 88, she had appeared in 129 motion pictures.

Bela Lugosi

2009-10-27T16:23:00.002-07:00

Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsõ Blaskó on October 20, 1882 in Lugos, Austria-Hungary near the border of Transylvania and only miles from the legendary Count Dracula's home in the Carpathian Mountains. His parents were Paula de Vojnich and István Blasko, a banker.

By the early 1900s, Bela Lugosi was the number one star of the Hungarian Theater and toured with the National Theater of Budapest. He frequently appeared in Shakespeare's plays.

Although actors were expemt from military sevice, Bela Lugosi volunteered for service during World War I. He served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914-1916. He was promoted to the rank of captain and served in the Ski Patrol. Wounded at the Russian front, he received the equivalent of the Purple Heart.

Bela Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 movie Az ezredes (known in English as The Colonel). When appearing in Hungarian silent films he used the stage name of Arisztid Olt. Lugosi would make twelve films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany.

The Hungarian Revolution followed World War I and Bela Lugosi was on the wrong side of the ruling party and was forced to flee the country. He first went to Vienna and then to Germany, where he continued his acting career.

In exile in Germany, he began appearing in a small number of well received films, including adaptations of the Auf den Trummen des Paradieses (On The Brink of Paradise)y and Die Todeskarawane (The Cavaran of Death).

Bela Lugosi left Germany in October 1920 and set sale for the United States serving as a crewman aboard a merchant ship and arrived in New Orleans in December, 1920. From New Orleans, he left for Ellis Island and officially immigrated to the United States.

Bela entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. With fellow Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences.

Bela Lugosi's first Broadway play was The Red Poppy in 1922. Roles would follow in The Devil in the Cheese, Arbabesque, Open House and Murder at the Vanities.

Bela's big break came in 1927 when he landed the role of Dracula on the Broadway stage.

His first American film role came in the 1923 melodrama The Silent Command. Roles would follow in such movies as The Midnight Girl (1925), How to Handle Women (1928), The Thirteenth Chair (1929) and Renegades (1930).

In 1930, Universal Pictures obtained the rights to the Dracula play. Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not the first choice for the role of Dracula. Lon Chaney was Universal's first choice but Lon Chaney passed away shortly before production began and the role of Dracula went to Bela Lugosi.

In 1931, Dracula opened in theaters and Bela Lugosi was now a household name. He also received a studio contract with Universal Pictures.

His performance in Dracula (1931) created such a sensation that he reportedly received more fan mail from females than even Clark Gable.

During the 1930s, Bela Lugosi appeared in such movies as Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Whispering Shadow (1933), The Black Cat (1934), The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934), The Raven (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939).

In 1939, Bela Lugosi would play Kommissar Razinin in Ninotchka starring Greta Garbo.

During the 1940s, Bela Lugosi appeared in such movies as Black Friday (1940), The Black Cat (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), The Ape Man (1943), The Body Snatcher (1945) and Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948).

Bela Lugosi's final film was Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) which was released following his death.

Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 at the age of 73 and most fittingly was buried in one of his Dracula capes. He was in such poor financial straits that Frank Sinatara quietly paid for his funeral.

Bela Lugosi's film career spanned over 40 years and over 100 movies. He is recognized for his achievements with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.

Gene Kelly

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Gene Kelly was born Eugene Curran Kelly on August 23, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father James Kelly had been a road manager for Al Jolsen in the 1920s.

Gene Kelly was a dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer. He was known for his innovative, athletic style of dancing as oppose to Fred Astaire's smooth and agile dancing.

In 1931, Gene Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study economics and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1933. In 1930, his family started a dance studio on Munhall Road in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1932, it was renamed The Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance. A second location was opened in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1933. While still an undergraduate student and later as a student at Pittsburgh School of Law, Gene was a teacher at the dance studio. Eventually, though, he decided to pursue his career as a dance teacher and entertainer full-time and dropped out of law school after two months.

During World War II, he was a sailor stationed at the U S Naval Photographic Center in Washington D.C. He starred in several Navy films while on active duty there and in "civilian" films while on leave. He was commissioned as lieutenant, junior grade.

Gene Kelly began his career with his younger brother Fred Kelly in a dancing vaudeville act. Kelly's first broadway appearance was in 1938 in Cole Porter's Leave it To Me. He also appeared in One for the Money (1939), The Time of Your Life (1939), Pal Joey (1940) and Best Foot Forward (1941). Kelly did not return to Broadway until 1958 when he directed Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song.

In 1942, Gene Kelley appeared in his first MGM picture, For Me and My Gal with Judy Garland.

His first opportunity to dance to his own choreography came in the movie Thousands Cheer (1943), where he performed a mock-love dance with a mop. After that, MGM virtually gave him a free hand to choreograph his own dance routines. One of his most famous being with Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh (1945).

Some of Gene Kelly's most famous musicals (not previously mentioned) are On the Town (1949), Singin in the Rain (1952), An American in Paris (1951), Take me Out to the Ballgame (1949) and Summer Stock (1950). His last musical was Xanadu in 1980.

Gene Kelly showed a different side to his talent, drama, in 1960's Inherit the Wind and the television miniseries North and South (1985).

Gene Kelly was also a talented director. He co-directed both An American in Paris (1951) and Singin in the Rain (1952) with Stanley Donan. He also directed That's Entertainment II in 1976. He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director for Hello Dolly (1969).

Gene Kelly was married three times and had three children. His first marriage was to Betsey Blair (1941-1957, divorced) to whom he had one child. His second marriage was to Jeanne Coyne (1960-1973, her death) to whom he had two children. His third marriage was Patricia Ward (1990-1996, his death).

Gene Kelly's one and only oscar nomination was Best Actor for Anchors Aweigh (1945). Kelly did receive the Honorary Academy Award in 1952.

Gene Kelly also received lifetime achievement awards from the Screen Actors Guild, Kennedy Center Honors and the American Film Institute.

In 1967, he received an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program for Jack and the Beanstalk.

In 1994, He was awarded the National Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton.

Gene Kelly passed away on February 2, 1986 do to complications from two strokes

Alan Ladd

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Alan Ladd was born Alan Walbridge Ladd on September 3, 1913 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Alan Ladd's mother, Ina Raleigh, immigrated from England at the age of 19. His father Alan Ladd Sr., an accountant, died when he was four. At age five his mother moved them to Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma City, she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter. The family moved again when Alan was 8, this time to North Hollywood, California.

In high school, Ladd became a track, swimming and diving champion. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to his Olympic dreams. He then opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio. Tiny from a nickname he earned as a child. Later he went to work at Warner Brothers as a grip.

His job at Warner Brothers soon led to uncredited roles in numerous films, the first being Tom Brown of Culver (1932). He also appeared in uncredited roles in such films as Come On, Leathernecks (1940), The Green Hornet (1940), The Howards of Virginia (1940), and Citizen Kane (1941).

Alan Ladd's first big break came when he was cast as Philip Raven in This Gun For Hire (1942) in which he played a hitman with a conscience. In this film he starred opposite Veronica Lake.

Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd would star in six more films together: The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Duffy's Tavern (1945), Saigon (1948), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), and Variety Girl (1947).

Alan Ladd became most famous for his title role as a gunslinger in the classic 1953 western Shane.

Ladd's other most notable movies include The Great Gasby (1949), Lucky Jordan (1943), China (1943) and his last film The Carpertbaggers (1964).

Thanks to wise business investments, Ladd became a wealthy man, with properties in Beverly Hills and, in Palm Springs. He was also the founder of Alan Ladd Hardware.

Alan Ladd was married twice. His first marriage was to Marjorie Jane Harrold (October 1936 to 1941, divorced) and they had one child Alan Ladd III. His second marriage was to Sue Carol (March 15, 1942 - January 29, 1964, his death) and they had two children, David and Alana. David Ladd would go on to marry Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd. He is the grandfather of actress Jordan Ladd.

Alan Ladd suffered from severe depression and in 1962 attempted suicide by shooting himself.

Alan Ladd died on January 29, 1964 from an overdose of alcohol and sedatives.

Grace Kelly

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Grace Kelly was born Grace Patricia Kelly on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Brendan Kelly Sr. (aka Jack Kelly) and Margaret Katherine Kelly.

Grace's father was a three time Olympic gold medal winner (1920 and 1924 Olympics) in the sport of rowing. Grace's brother John Jr. also was an Olympic champion winning the bronze medal in 1956.

Grace Kelly desired to become an actress at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace struck out on her own, heading to New York City's bright lights to try her luck there. Grace worked some as a model and made her Broadway debut in 1949. She also made a brief attempt at televsion appearing in such shows as Believe it Our Not (1950), and The Prudential Family Playhouse (1951).

Grace was not content with her work in New York and moved to Southern California to pursue a career in motion pictures.

Grace Kelly made her film debut in Fourteen Hours (1951). It was a small part, but a start.

The following year, she landed the role of Amy Kane in High Noon (1952) starring opposite Gary Cooper. She was now a household name.

Grace Kelly next appeared in Mogambo (1953) opposite Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. This performance would earn her an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

In 1954, she appeared in two Hitchcock films: Dial M for Murder and Rear Window.

Grace's next film would win her an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Georgie Elgin in The Country Girl (1954).

She went on to appear in Green Fire (1954), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955), and The Swan (1956).

Grace Kelly's final silver screen appearance was as Tracy Lord in High Society (1956) starring opposite Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

In April 1955, Grace Kelly headed the U.S. delegation at the Cannes Film Festival. While there, she was invited to participate in a photo session at the Palace of Monaco with Prince Rainer III, the ruling sovereign of the principality. Grace Kelly was introduced to the man who would become her husband and her life would change forever.

In December 1955, Prince Rainier came to America. Although the trip was designated officially as a tour, it was rumored he was actively seeking a wife. A 1918 treaty with France stated that if Rainier did not produce an heir, Monaco would revert to France.

At a press conference in the United States, Prince Rainier was asked if he was pursuing a wife, to which he answered "No." A second question was posed, asking, "If you were pursuing a wife, what kind would you like?" Rainier smiled and answered, "I don't know — the best."

While on this trip Prince Rainier met with Grace Kelly and her family, and after three days, the prince proposed. Grace broke off her engagement to Oleg Cassini and accepted Prince Rainer's proposal. The families began preparing for what the press called "The Wedding of the Century."

The couple would be married on April 19, 1956 and Grace Kelly would become Princess Grace of Monaco. Together the couple would have three children.

As princess, Grace Kelly was active in improving the arts institutions of Monaco, and eventually the Princess Grace Foundation was formed to support local artisans. She was one of the first celebrities to support and speak on behalf of La Leche League, an organization that advocates breastfeeding; she planned a yearly Christmas party for local orphans, and dedicated a Garden Club that reflected her love of flowers.

Although she only appeared in eleven films and her career spanned only six years, Grace Kelly is one of our best known classic film actresses. In fact, she was the very first actress to appear on a postage stamp in 1993.

In October 2009, Princess Grace of Monaco becomes the first celebrity icon and 15th inductee immortalized in the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style which honors legends of style for their contributions to the worlds of fashion and entertainment joining Giorgio Armani, Edith Head, Tom Ford, Valentino Garavani and many others.

Her legacy lives on forever.

It was September 13, 1982. Princess Grace, while driving her daughter Stephanie from their country home, suffered a stroke which caused her to driver her vehicle off the serpentine road down a mountain side. She was in a local hospital. The next day, September 14th, it was announced that Princess Grace died as a result of her injuries, having never regained consciousness.

Herbert Lom

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Herbert Lom was born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru on September 11, 1917 in Prague, Austria-Hungary.

He is best known as playing Inspector Clouseau's insane boss, Commissioner Charles Dreyfus in seven of Blake Edwards Pink Panther films.

Herbert Lom made his filmd debut in the Czech film Zena pod krizem (1937). In 1939, he moved to Great Britain and made many appearances in British films throughout the 1940s, usually in villainous roles, although he later appeared in comedies as well.

His career picked up in the 1940s and he played, among other roles, Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942). He would play Napoleon Bonaparte a second time in War and Peace (1956). In a rare starring role, Lom played twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1946).

During the 1950s, he was in The Lady Killers (1955) with Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. In 1957, he wasin Fire Down Below with Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth.

However, his career took off in the 1960s when he was cast as Commissioner Charles Dreyfus in A Shot in the Dark (1964). He would play Commissioner Dreyfus in six more Pink Panther films. The last time being in 1983 in Son of the Pink Panther.

He also appeared in The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Mysterious Island (1961), El Cid (1961) and Spartacus (1960).

Herbert Lom continued to work steadily through the mid 1990s. Appearing in such films as Asylum (1972), Ten Little Indians (1974), Hopscotch (1980), and The Dead Zone (1983).

His final appearance was in 2004 in television's Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage.

Sophia Loren

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Sophia Loren was born Sofia Villani Scicolone on September 20, 1934 to Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicolone. Her mother Romilda Villani was a piano teacher and aspiring actress.

Sophia grew up in the slums of Pozzuoli, just outside Naples. During World War II, she was injured during a bombing by the allies when shrapnel struck and wounded her chin.

Since here film debut in Il voto (1950) she has appeared in hundreds of foreign and American films.

Her first American film was Boy on a Dolphin (1957). She has also appeared in such American films as The Pride and the Passion (1957), The Key (1958), That Kind of Woman (1959), Houseboat (1958), Operation Crossbow (1965), , Grumpier Old Men (1995).

Her next American film will be released on November 25, 2009, it is entitled Nine and stars Daniel Day Lewis.

In 2010, she will play her mother Romilda Villani in the Italian film La mia case e piena di specchi.

Sophia Loren suffered from stage fright and, therefore, never appeared in a theatrical production.

She won a Grammy award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for her work in "Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus" along with former US President Bill Clinton and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Her "Best Actress" Academy Award was the first Oscar ever given for a performance in a "foreign-language" film for La cioiara (1960)/ Two Women, becoming the first actor to win an Acadmey Award for a non-English-speaking performance.

In 1991, she was the recipient of the Honorary Academy Award for life time achievement

Sophia Loren was married to Carlo Ponti from September 17, 1957 to 1962 when the marriage was annulled. She later remarried Carlo Ponti on April 9, 1966 and remained married until his death in on January 10, 2007. She is the mother with Carlo of Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo Ponti. Her son Edoardo Ponti is married to former NCIS actress Sasha Alexander.

She is also the godmother of Drew Barrymore.

Her sister Anna Maria Sciolone Mussolini was married to dictator Benito Mussolini's son Romano.

In addition to her talents as an actress, she is also an acclaimed cook. She has authored two cookbooks: "Sophia Loren's Recipes and Memories" and "In the Kitchen with Love".

Claude Jarman Jr.

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Claude Jarman Jr. was born September 27, 1934 in Nashville, Tennesse.

The son of a railroad accountant, Claude had no intentions of becoming a screen actor. However, a 12 year old Claude was discovered during an MGM nationwide tallent search for their upcoming film The Yearling (1946). He won the role of Jody Baxter.

The critics raved over Claude's moving debut and he was awarded the Honorary Juvenile Academy Award for his portrayal of Jody.

His family moved to California permanently, and Claude studied at the MGM studio school while being built up as a child star. Sad to say, his career was short lived. Discouraged, Claude returned to Nashville to complete high school and then attended Vanderbilt University where he took a pre-law course. Following his studies, he served three years in the Navy.

He returned to Hollywood in 1959, and did guest star on a few television roles. His last appearnce was in 1978 when he guest starred on the Centennial.

He later moved to behind the scences work and was a producer for awhile and also served as director of Cultural Affairs for San Francisco. He also manager of the San Francisco Opera House and was an executive with Amway. As a producer he produced Filmore in 1972.

In 1998, he made a special appearnce at the 70th Annual Academy Awards in the past Academy Awards tribute sequence.

He also made a special appearance at the 75th Annual Academy Awards in 2003 as one of some 60 plus past Oscar winners.

In 2003, he narrated the 2003 Turner Classic Movies featurette on the making of The Yearling.

In additon to The Yearling, his film credits include High Barbaree (1947), The Sun Comes Up (1949), Roughshod (1949), Intruder in the Dust (1949), The Outriders (1950), Rio Grande (1950), Inside Straight (1951), Hangman's Knot (1952) and Fair Wind to Java (1953).

Claude Jarman Jr. has been married three times and has seven children. He first married Virginia (1959-1968, divorced), his second wife was Mary Ann (1968-1983, divorced), and he has been married to Katherine since 1985.
He has a duaghter Elizabeth and two sons Claude and Murrary with Virginia. He has two daughters, Vanessa and Natalie with Mary Ann. He has twin daughters with Katherine, Charlotte and Sarah.

Deborah Kerr

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Deborah Kerr originally trained as a ballet dancer, first appearing on stage at Sadler's Wells in 1938. After changing careers, she soon found success as an actress. Her first acting teacher was her aunt, Phyllis Smale, who ran the Hicks-Smale Drama School in Bristol.

Kerr's first film role was in the British film Contraband (1940), however her scenes were left on the cutting room floor.

Deborah Kerr made her film debut in Major Barbara (1940).

Her most notable movies, in addition to her Oscar nominated roles below, include The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), The Hucksters (1947), Black Narcissus (1947), King Solomon's Mines (1950), Tea and Sympathy (1956), and An Affair to Remember (1957).

She was nominated six times for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Edward My Son (1949), From Here to Eternity (1953), The King and I (1956), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Separate Tables (1958), The Sundowners (1960), and Casino Royale (1967).

She did receive a Golden Globe for Best Actress for The King and I (1956).

She also received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special for A Woman of Substance (1984).

In 1998, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Her last public appearance was in 1994 when she was awarded an honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement and received one of the longest standing ovations of all Honorary Oscar-recipients.

As a stage actress, Deborah Kerr made her Broadway debut in 1953, in Tea and Sympathy, for which received a Tony Award nomination. She returned to Broadway in 1975 in the play Seascape.

Deborah's first marriage was to Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley on November 29, 1945. They had two daughters, Melanie Jane and Francessa Ann. They divorced in 1959.

Deborah's second marriage was to author Peter Viertel on July 23, 1960.

After rertiring from acting, she lived in Switzerland and Spain, but returned to England to be with her family when her Parkinson's disease worsened.

Deborah Kerr died from Parkinson's disease on October 16, 2007 at the age of 86.

Buster Keaton

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Buster Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton VI on October 5, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas into a vaudeville family.

Buster's father was Joseph Hallie Keaton, a native of Terre Haute, Indiana and his mother was Myra Edith Cutler. Joe Keaton owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini, the Mohawk Indian Medicine Compnay which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. Buster Keaton happen to born in the small town in Kansas, because that is where the family happen to be touring when she went into labor.

Buster Keaton acquired the nickname "Buster" when he was about six months old. Keaton once said that Harry Houdini was present when young Keaton took a tumble down a long flight of stairs without injury and immediately sat up and shook off his experience. Houdini remarked "That was a real buster."

Buster Keaton began performing with the family in The Three Keatons when he was three years old. His first appearance on stage was in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Buster Keaton was eventually billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged," with the overall act being advertised as "'The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage." Keaton learned to take trick falls safely and he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. However, the act caused numerous laws to be passed on children preforming in vaudeville.

In February 1917, Keaton met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle" at the Talmadge Studios in New York City. Buster Keaton had reservations about films. So one day he borrowed a camera, dismantled and reassembled it and now had an understanding on how moving pictures work and requested work.

Buster Keaton made his film debut in 1917 in The Butcher Boy.

Buster Keaton would appear in more than 100 films including The Navigator (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Glad Slam Opera (1936), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Limelight (1952), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wolf (1963) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).

Buster Keaton was also a talented director and made his directorial debut in The Rough House (1917). He would either be the primary director or an uncredited director in 42 films including The Haunted House (1921), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Grand Slam Opera (1936), Streamlined Swing (1938), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), and The Railrodder (1965),

Buster Keaton also was a talented writer. He would write scripts or participate in writing scripts for 29 films including The Rough House (1917), The Haunted House (1921), The Electric House (1922), The General (1926), A Night at the Opera (1935), Too Hot to Handle (1938), and a Southern Yankee (1948).

Buster Keaton would also appear in numerous television shows like Route 66, Playhouse 90, and The Twilight Zone.

In 1960, Buster Keaton received the Honorary Academy Award of Lifetime Achievement.

Buster Keaton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movie and one for television.

Most of his films were considered lost until 1952. While remodeling his home, actor James Mason discovered several reels of Keaton's "lost" films (Mason had purchased Keaton's Hollywood mansion) and immediately recognized their historical significance. He took upon himself the responsibility for their preservation.

Although he did now see active combat, he did serve in World War I and was injured and became hearing impaired.

His father Joe Keaton appeared in several of Buster's films including The General (1926). His mother would appear as an extra in some of his films including The Electric House (1922).

Buster Keaton died on February 1, 1966 of lung cancer. The same day as his co-star in The Slippery Pearls (1931), Speak Easily (1932) and Sunset Boulevard (1950), Hedda Hopper.