SNAPSHOTS

August 21, 2017 Alan Royle 6

           PIPER LAURIE (1932 – )                with Ronald Reagan in Louisa (1950)   with Paul Newman in The Hustler My favourite Piper Laurie performance was in The Hustler (1961), where she played Paul Newman’s lame girlfriend Sarah Packard. In her highly readable […]

The Many Loves of Bette Davis (1908-89).

August 15, 2017 Alan Royle 4

  Bette Davis was never a raving beauty. Indeed, when Jack Warner sent a representative to the railway station to greet her on her arrival in Tinsel Town, the man returned empty-handed, declaring that nobody even remotely looking like a movie star got off the train. Be that as it […]

Did you know? – Dietrich, Turner & Crawford. A few thoughts.

July 22, 2017 Alan Royle 5

    MARLENE DIETRICH        (1901-92) Marlene had literally hundreds of lovers of both sexes. Debate still rages over whether or not she and Greta Garbo were intimate.  There is considerable evidence that they made a movie together in Europe before heading for America, but both ladies always maintained they had […]

The Quigley Poll of Top Box-office stars PT 1. (1915-43)

July 4, 2017 Alan Royle 2

  The Quigley Publications Poll determined the top box-office stars each year. Here are the winners for each year from 1915 until 2013 – Part 1 (1915-43). 1915       William S. Hart 1916       William S. Hart Hart hailed from New York where he became famous for his 1899 portrayal of Messala […]

Hollywood & Abortions

April 1, 2017 Alan Royle 2

  Over the past century or more that Hollywood has existed there has been no shortage of abortions performed on many of its aspiring young actresses. Unwanted offspring are not unique to the movie business, but they do tend to interfere with ambitions, not to mention reputations, more often in […]

Did you know?

January 21, 2017 Alan Royle 0

  Fifty or more years after The Magnificent Seven first graced our screens in 1960, it is still the second-most repeated movie on American television. Only Casablanca is shown more. Actor James Coburn could thank a scheduled strike by the Screen Actors Guild for his opportunity to star in it. […]

WAMPAS Baby Stars – PT5 (1926)

December 28, 2016 Alan Royle 4

  MARY ASTOR (1906-87)                            1526 For some reason 1926 was quite a year for WAMPAS Baby Stars. Most of them ended up being major movie stars. Mary Astor is the first of these. Born Lucile Langhanke, her career started in 1921 and lasted over forty years and 154 screen credits. […]

Did you know?

November 14, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  Director Dorothy Arzner & Crawford ‘I like to think that every director I’ve worked with has fallen a little in love with me’, Joan Crawford once confided in an interview none too modestly. ‘I know Dorothy Arzner did’. No surprises there. Given her well-documented sexual orientation Dorothy may well […]

Actors marrying other actors – PT 16.

October 11, 2016 Alan Royle 0

    CRAIG, Yvonne                                BOYD, Jimmy                                   1960 – 63 (div.)   If things had worked out differently Yvonne might have spent her days dancing instead of acting. As a teenager she showed enormous promise, enough to be chosen as one of the youngest ever dancers by the Denham’s Ballet […]

Greg Bautzer – Hollywood lawyer/playboy.

August 22, 2016 Alan Royle 7

  The story goes that renowned Hollywood lawyer Greg Bautzer set his sights on Hollywood from the moment he earned his law degree, borrowed $5,000 from someone (we know not whom), and used it to purchase a fine wardrobe and to get himself the best table at the Brown Derby […]