MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 20.

June 9, 2018 Alan Royle 2

                           Orson Welles circa 1938 The Night That Panicked America (1975) was a tele-movie about the legendary 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre group, of a version of The War of the Worlds, that ‘millions of […]

FORTIES MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 6.

March 11, 2018 Alan Royle 10

                     George Raft George Raft turned down the leads in High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon (both in 1941), thereby giving Humphrey Bogart’s career a huge kick-start. Contrary to public opinion though, he never turned down Casablanca (1942). Why? Because he […]

The many loves of Rita Hayworth

August 7, 2017 Alan Royle 14

  RITA HAYWORTH (1918-87) As a teenager Margarita Cansino (Rita Hayworth) was sexually abused by her abominable father, a Latin dancer named Eduardo Cansino, who not only abused her himself, but rented her out to his cronies. When she confided this to her husband Orson Welles he was rightly appalled. […]

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. […]

Joseph Cotten & Deanna Durbin – lovers or not?

January 27, 2016 admin 21

  In 2013, singer/actress Deanna Durbin passed away at the age of 91 in her adopted country, France. Actor Joseph Cotten had preceded her by nearly twenty years. Way back in 1943, Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper set the cat among the pigeons when she wrote that Deanna and Joe, […]

Did you know? Points of interest Pt. 22.

November 7, 2015 admin 0

  For the life of me I cannot understand why critics rave about Hitchcock’s 1958 so-called ‘classic’ Vertigo. I watched it again yesterday and my opinion of it, if anything, was reinforced. It is as ordinary as dishwater. Take the opening sequence, for example. It is just plain stupid. A […]

CAROLE LOMBARD – The Profane Angel.

July 31, 2015 admin 1

  Finding really likeable movie stars from the studio era can be quite a challenge at times. Carole Lombard, however, courtesy of her brazen, down to earth approach to life, was a woman who enjoyed the trappings of fame, but never let them seduce her. And that made her a […]

Gay/Bisexual Actors in Old TV Shows ( Pt 4 )

June 24, 2015 admin 8

  Dick Sargent ( 1930 – 94) Dick Sargent was the original choice to play the male lead in the Bewitched series, but other commitments caused him to surrender the opportunity to Dick York. York was very good as Darrin Stephens, but suffered from a chronic back complaint that resulted […]

Hollywood’s real-life war heroes ( Pt 3 )

April 1, 2015 admin 78

Here are a few pieces of trivia regarding actresses during World War Two that you may or may not know. The first one deals with selling War Bonds, the second involves touring with the United Services Organizations Inc. (USO), and the third looks at the famous Hollywood Canteen. Touring with […]