Maria Riva 1951 – daughter of Marlene Dietrich Paramount’s 1948 production The Emperor Waltz starred Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine. The story was set in the Alps, but the film was shot in Canada at Jasper National Park. Director Billy Wilder, ever the perfectionist, was not happy with […]
Wendy Barrie as Jane Seymour in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) Whenever I see the Alexander Korda feature The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), the one in which Charles Laughton so memorably plays the title role, I find myself drawn to the actress playing Jane […]
Kate and Barrymore in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) Kate Hepburn made her movie debut in the 1932 drama A Bill of Divorcement, in which the aging John Barrymore played her mentally unbalanced father. Known as ‘The Great Profile’, he invited her to his dressing-room where he promptly stripped naked […]
Between 1941 and 1944 over 6,000 Hollywood workers entered the services, 1,500 of whom were registered actors and actresses. The ‘Hollywood Unit’ made training and recruitment films (and newsreels). One recruitment film starring Jimmy Stewart was said to have been responsible for 100,000 men joining the air force. Hundreds […]
Canadian-born Florence Lawrence became the first movie star to be identified by name. Before that she was simply ‘The Biograph Girl’, and that suited her just fine, as it did all the other featured players in other companies. Nobody wanted to be named because it might jeopardize their stage […]
Even fans of Gone With The Wind do not think much of British actor Leslie Howard’s insipid performance in the picture. I certainly felt he was a much over-rated actor whose casting as Ashley Wilkes (a pivotal role) in GWTW almost ruined the movie. In my opinion, it turned […]
So far, in the entire history of Hollywood movie stars, only five have managed to reach the ripe old age of 100 – three women and two men. There are, however, quite a few beating down the door to ‘The Hundred Club’, plus a handful who fell just a […]
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