INGRID BERGMAN – The image and the woman.

March 7, 2015 admin 6

  ‘The vainest man I ever met’, was how Ingrid Bergman described her Notorious (1946) co-star Cary Grant. ‘I never had an affair with Cary – but, then who among his leading ladies did?’ She later enlarged on her feelings. ‘I fell in love with Cary Grant…He did not reciprocate […]

ANGELINA JOLIE – Maturing gracefully.

March 6, 2015 admin 0

  The daughter of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, (he won for his 1978 performance in Coming Home), Angelina Jolie Voight chose not to use her father’s name because she had no time for him back then. She was always going to be an actress, as evidenced by her enrolment at […]

Barbara La Marr – beautiful, dumb, dead at 30.

March 1, 2015 admin 12

  Barbara La Marr died from tuberculosis on 30 January 1926, the day before her last picture, The Girl from Montmartre was released. MGM chose to make an announcement about the cause of death, saying it was brought about through ‘vigorous dieting’. Everyone knew that her addiction to morphine and […]

Dominique Dunne – murdered at 22.

March 1, 2015 admin 0

Dominique Dunne played Dana Freeling, the eldest daughter in Poltergeist (1982). On 30 October 1982, just a few months after Poltergeist was released, she was strangled to death in her driveway by her ex-boyfriend, a chef named John Sweeney. Evidently, he had become enraged when she tried to end their […]

Lana Clarkson – Spector’s victim.

March 1, 2015 admin 6

  The small role of Mrs. Vargas, the wife of the school teacher in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), was filled by newcomer Lana Clarkson. She would go on to star in a few B-movies, among them Barbarian Queen in 1985, and guest star on several TV sit-coms. From […]

JULIE ANDREWS – The real Mary Poppins.

February 24, 2015 admin 187

  It is hard to believe that the star of The Sound of Music will be eighty in October. Why do I suddenly feel very old? Even as a 10 year old she possessed ‘an enormous, belting, freak voice with a range of four octaves and some fierce high notes’. […]

PARIS HILTON – A classic non-talent.

February 24, 2015 admin 128

      The abominable House of Wax (2005) was shot in Australia at Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Warners granted Paris permission to sell t-shirts that read: ‘On May 6th, watch Paris die’, (a mouth-watering thought if there ever was one). As most people […]

Marilyn Monroe – a gorgeous tramp?

February 24, 2015 admin 7

    Marilyn Monroe in the unfinished Something’s Got to Give ( 1962) Marilyn Monroe’s first appearance in a movie was in the 1948 picture Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!  She uttered just two words, ‘Hi, Rad’, as she walked down some church steps behind eight year-old Natalie Wood. Two years earlier she […]

Gene Tierney – an unfortunate life?

February 24, 2015 admin 3

    Nineteen year-old Gene Tierney had made her screen debut in the 1940 western The Return of Frank James. Already a star on Broadway, she was nevertheless appalled by the high pitch of her voice when she first saw the rushes. Determined to lower the tone of her delivery, whatever […]

Rita Hayworth – a tragic repeat offender?

February 17, 2015 admin 16

    Rita Hayworth posing for her famous Life magazine World War ll pin-up. There have been many tragic screen goddesses down the decades, especially in the days of the studio system, but none had it tougher than Rita Hayworth. As a young girl she was treated abominably by her […]