Jane Wyman & Ronald Reagan Lew Ayres & Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948) Ronald Reagan married Jane Wyman in 1940, but by the time she made Johnny Belinda (1948) she wanted out. She was tired, she said, of her husband’s incessant talking, for one thing. Her unutterable boredom was palpable to […]
Frank Sinatra recording on Capitol as Maggio in From Here to Eternity with his wife Ava Gardner There has never been a shortage of Italian/American singer/actors down the decades, so I thought I might write a little about the more accomplished ones. It would be fair to say that […]
Bridgette Andersen in Savannah Smiles […]
B – LIST BEAUTIES OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM’S FINAL DAYS – PT 1 For the final 15 years of the studio system, from the end of World War Two until about 1960, an enormous number of starlets were signed to five and seven year contracts by the large and small […]
One wonders how many young movie fans of today have any idea why the intersection of Orange Drive and Hollywood Boulevard, just across from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, is now named ‘Carmen Miranda Square’. How many have even heard of her? Back in 1945 on ‘V-J Day’, at that very […]
Marilyn met actor John Carroll and his wife Lucille Ryman in December 1947. Lucille was a talent scout for MGM. The three hit it off right away and their friendship resulted in Marilyn moving into their home for a while. Lucille even got her to sign a contract with […]
Dino Crocetti was an Italian from Steubenville, Ohio, and Joseph Levitch was a Jewish boy from Newark, New Jersey, and nearly nine years his junior. From the moment they joined up in 1946 to form the comedy duo of Martin & Lewis they were a hit. Within three years […]
Mimi Rogers Until 1990 Tom Cruise was a Catholic. In fact, at 18 years of age he studied to become a priest, but changed his mind after one year. His first wife, actress Mimi Rogers, convinced him to renounce Catholicism and embrace the Church of Scientology. In 2003, he […]
In his youth Dean Martin delivered bootleg liquor, ran numbers and craps games for hoodlums, and fought as a prizefighter under the sobriquet of ‘Kid Crochet’. He worked at the Club Alabama in New York City, an establishment owned by Louis Buchalter (a.k.a. Louis Lepke), the killer who ran […]
Harpo Marx (1888 – 1964) Chico Marx (1887 – 1961) Groucho Marx (1890 – 1977) Individually they were very funny. Collectively they were even funnier, whether on stage, on the screen, or in real life. When MGM summoned them to Hollywood to discuss a movie contract, the brothers tired […]
Copyright © 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes
