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- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend, illusionist Harry Houdini. Keaton himself verified the origin of his nickname "Buster", given to him by Houdini, when at the age of three, fell down a flight of stairs and was picked up and dusted off by Houdini, who said to Keaton's father Joe, also nearby, that the fall was 'a buster'. Savvy showman Joe Keaton liked the nickname, which has stuck for more than 100 years.
At the age of four, Keaton had already begun acting with his parents on the stage. Their act soon gained the reputation as one of the roughest in the country, for their wild, physical antics on stage. It was normal for Joe to throw Buster around the stage, participate in elaborate, dangerous stunts to the reverie of audiences. After several years on the Vaudeville circuit, "The Three Keatons", toured until Keaton had to break up the act due to his father's increasing alcohol dependence, making him a show business veteran by the age of 21.
While in New York looking for work, a chance run-in with the wildly successful film star and director Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, resulted in Arbuckle inviting him to be in his upcoming short The Butcher Boy (1917), an appearance that launched Keaton's film career, and spawned a friendship that lasted until Arbuckle's sudden death in 1933. By 1920, after making several successful shorts together, Arbuckle moved on to features, and Keaton inherited his studio, allowing him the opportunity to begin producing his own films. By September 1921, tragedy touched Arbuckle's life by way of a scandal, where he was tried three times for the murder of Virginia Rapp. Although he was not guilty of the charges, and never convicted, he was unable to regain his status, and the viewing public would no longer tolerate his presence in film. Keaton stood by his friend and mentor through out the incident, supporting him financially, finding him directorial work, even risking his own budding reputation offering to testify on Arbuckle's behalf.
In 1921, Keaton also married his first wife, Natalie Talmadge under unusual circumstance that have never been fully clarified. Popular conjecture states that he was encouraged by Joseph M. Schenck to marry into the powerful Talmadge dynasty, that he himself was already a part of. The union bore Keaton two sons. Keaton's independent shorts soon became too limiting for the growing star, and after a string of popular films like One Week (1920), The Boat (1921) and Cops (1922), Keaton made the transition into feature films. His first feature, Three Ages (1923), was produced similarly to his short films, and was the dawning of a new era in comedic cinema, where it became apparent to Keaton that he had to put more focus on the story lines and characterization.
At the height of his popularity, he was making two features a year, and followed Ages with Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924) and The General (1926), the latter two he regarded as his best films. The most renowned of Keaton's comedies is Sherlock Jr. (1924), which used cutting edge special effects that received mixed reviews as critics and audiences alike had never seen anything like it, and did not know what to make of it. Modern day film scholars liken the story and effects to Christopher Nolan Inception (2010), for its high level concept and ground-breaking execution. Keaton's Civil War epic The General (1926) kept up his momentum when he gave audiences the biggest and most expensive sequence ever seen in film at the time. At its climax, a bridge collapses while a train is passing over it, sending the train into a river. This wowed audiences, but did little for its long-term financial success. Audiences did not respond well to the film, disliking the higher level of drama over comedy, and the main character being a Confederate soldier.
After a few more silent features, including College (1927) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Keaton was informed that his contract had been sold to MGM, by brother-in-law and producer Joseph M. Schenck. Keaton regarded the incident as the worst professional mistake he ever made, as it sent his career, legacy, and personal life into a vicious downward spiral for many years. His first film with MGM was The Cameraman (1928), which is regarded as one of his best silent comedies, but the release signified the loss of control Keaton would incur, never again regaining his film -making independence. He made one more silent film at MGM entitled Spite Marriage (1929) before the sound era arrived.
His first appearance in a film with sound was with the ensemble piece The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), though despite the popularity of it and his previous MGM silents, MGM never allowed Keaton his own production unit, and increasingly reduced his creative control over his films. By 1932, his marriage to Natalie Talmadge had dissolved when she sued him for divorce, and in an effort to placate her, put up little resistance. This resulted in the loss of the home he had built for his family nicknamed "The Italian Villa", the bulk of his assets, and contact with his children. Natalie changed their last names from Keaton to Talmadge, and they were disallowed from speaking about their father or seeing him. About 10 years later, when they became of age, they rekindled the relationship with Keaton. His hardships in his professional and private life that had been slowly taking their toll, begun to culminate by the early 1930s resulting in his own dependence on alcohol, and sometimes violent and erratic behavior. Depressed, penniless, and out of control, he was fired by MGM by 1933, and became a full-fledged alcoholic.
After spending time in hospitals to attempt and treat his alcoholism, he met second wife Mae Scrivens, a nurse, and married her hastily in Mexico, only to end in divorce by 1935. After his firing, he made several low-budget shorts for Educational Pictures, and spent the next several years of his life fading out of public favor, and finding work where he could. His career was slightly reinvigorated when he produced the short Grand Slam Opera (1936), which many of his fans admire for giving such a good performance during the most difficult and unmanageable years of his life.
In 1940, he met and married his third wife Eleanor Norris, who was deeply devoted to him, and remained his constant companion and partner until Keaton's death. After several more years of hardship working as an uncredited, underpaid gag man for comedians such as the Marx Brothers, he was consulted on how to do a realistic and comedic fall for In the Good Old Summertime (1949) in which an expensive violin is destroyed. Finding no one who could do this better than him, he was given a minor role in the film. His presence reignited interest in his silent films, which lead to interviews, television appearances, film roles, and world tours that kept him busy for the rest of his life.
After several more film, television, and stage appearances through the 1960s, he wrote the autobiography "My Wonderful World of Slapstick", having completed nearly 150 films in the span of his ground-breaking career. His last film appearance was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) which premiered seven months after Keaton's death from the rapid onset of lung cancer. Since his death, Keaton's legacy is being discovered by new generations of viewers every day, many of his films are available on YouTube, DVD and Blu-ray, where he, like all gold-gilded and beloved entertainers can live forever.- Actor
- Producer
Hollywood's original Latin Lover, a term that was invented for Rudolph Valentino by Hollywood moguls. Alla Nazimova's friend Natacha Rambova (nee Winifred Hudnut) became romantically involved with Rudy and they lived together in her bungalow from 1921 (during the filming of Camille) until they eloped to Mexico on May 13, 1922 believing that his divorce from Jean Acker was official. After their re-marriage two years later she left him because he signed a contract that barred her from being involved in his pictures and wasn't allowed on set. She went to Nice to live with her parents and never entered their new mansion, Falcon Lair. He began to date sexy Pola Negri and was also linked to Vilma Banky. While he was touring to promote his last film, an editorial in the Chicago Tribune accused him of "effeminization of the American male". He defended his manhood by challenging the article's writer to a boxing match; it never took place, but another writer for the paper did enter the ring on behalf of the author who would not be named, and Valentino defeated him. He died shortly afterward while he was in New York attending the premiere of his last film. He collapsed in his hotel on August 15, 1926 and died on August 23, after an operation that led to an infection. 80,000 mourners nearly caused a riot at his New York funeral. Another funeral followed in California.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Fittingly known to be a "Leo" for his horoscope, Bert Lahr is always remembered as the Cowardly Lion in (and the farmer "Zeke") The Wizard of Oz (1939). But during his acting career, he has been known for being in burlesque, vaudeville, and Broadway.
Dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen for a juvenile vaudeville act, Lahr worked his way up to the top billing of the Columbia Burlesque Circuit. When in Broadway, Lahr usually plays a comic actor in plays which he starred in such as the classic routine The Song of the Woodman, which he would later perform in Merry-Go-Round of 1938 (1937).
Aside from The Wizard of Oz (1939), Lahr's movie career never caught on because his gestures and reactions were too broad. Lahr died in 1967.- Stunts
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Starting out as a rodeo cowboy and then becoming a stuntman in silent westerns, Yakima Canutt later doubled for such stars as Clark Gable and John Wayne, among others, in such dangerous activities as jumping off the top of a cliff on horseback, leaping from a stagecoach onto its runaway team, being "shot" off a horse at full gallop and other such potentially life-threatening activities. He became expert at staging massive events involving livestock, such as cattle stampedes and covered-wagon races, as well as Indians-vs.-cavalry battles on a grand scale. Canutt's most noteworthy achievement as a second-unit director came in his staging and direction of the chariot-race sequence in William Wyler 's Ben-Hur (1959)--which, from initial planning to final execution, took two years.- Actor
- Music Department
- Script and Continuity Department
Jack Warner started acting with the Sutton Amateur Dramatics Club after the end of World War I. From 1935, performed in cabaret at the London West End as half of the double act of Warner & Darnell. In addition to starring as Dixon of Dock Green (1955), which ran for over 20 years, he achieved lasting popularity on screen in the role of Joe Huggett, patriarch of a Cockney family, in Holiday Camp (1947), and its three sequels (plus a radio serial). Towards the end of his working life, 1976-80, Warner made a brief return to cabaret, before a stroke brought about his retirement.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Oscar-winning actor Paul Lukas was born in Hungary and graduated from the School for Dramatic Arts. In 1916 he went to Kosice (Kassa) to be an actor; in 1918 he became an actor specializing in comedy. For ten years he was the most popular character player and romantic lead of the company. In 1918 he began making movies in Budapest and in the 1920s he began appearing in films in Austria as well. He journeyed to Hollywood in 1927, where he finally settled down. He wasn't untrue to the stage--he played Dr. Rank to Ruth Gordon's Nora in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" in the Morosco Theatre in New York in 1937--but concentrated on films until 1948. In the '50s he started appearing on stage more and more, and worked in films and on TV only sporadically.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Pennick was an American film actor, a familiar face, primarily in the movies of John Ford. He was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of gold miner Albert R. and Bessie (Murray) Pennick. After himself working as a gold miner, Pennick joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served, with the Pekin Legation Guard, in China in 1912 and in World War I. He and his first wife, Grechin, had two children by the time he was 20. He had a third child with his second wife, Nona Lorraine. After the First World War, Pennick worked as a horse wrangler and got work as such in various film productions. His rather unforgettably unattractive face caught the attention of filmmakers, particularly Ford, and Pennick began to get work as an actor, as well as occasionally a military technical adviser. Pennick re-enlisted in the navy in 1942, at the age of 46. He served as Chief Petty Officer under Commander John Ford in the Field Photographic Unit and, according to Ford, was decorated with the Silver Star medal for action in which he was wounded at Majaz al Bab, Tunisia during World War II. He continued to appear in films after the war, his career waning simultaneously with Ford's. He died in Manhattan Beach, California, at the age of 68.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Brawn won out over brain as well when it came to wrestler athlete Nat Pendleton's professional movie career. For two decades, this massively-built, dark-haired, good-looking lug played a number of kind-hearted lunkheads, goons, henchmen and Joe Palooka-like buffoons.
Nathaniel Greene Pendleton was born on August 9, 1895 on a farm close to Davenport, Iowa. The son of Nathaniel G. Pendleton, a lawyer, and mother Adelaide Elizabeth Johnson, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio when Nat was a mere two months of age. His uncle was well-known Cincinnati-born D.W. Griffith silent player Arthur V. Johnson.
After the family's move from Ohio to New York, Nat became star of Brooklyn's Poly Prep High School wrestling team and later went to Collumbia University where he became a popular athletic presence, never losing a match in college and serving on the 1915 team as their captain. Following a couple of national titles, he competed at the Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium in 1920 and won the heavyweight silver medal in what many say was a controversial decision (to Pendleton's advantage). Nat turned pro after this and was undefeated in his two years of competition. He grew disillusioned when he was unable to arrange money bouts with Jack Dempsey and Ed Lewis aka "Strangler" reportedly due to his lack of a flashy enough reputation.
With his athletic image intact, Nat decided to follow his Uncle Arthur into acting in the mid-20s, making his debut in the film The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1924). Several other films followed, mostly in sports-minded themes. He also set his powerful frame on the Broadway stage, with roles in "Naughty Cinderella" (1925), "The Grey Fox" (1928) and as Marcel the Great in the hit comedy "His Girl Friday" (1929). A truckload of films came his way by the early 1930s, including The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931) in which he played an assistant coach, and in both the Marx Bros.' farcical comedy Horse Feathers (1932) with Thelma Todd, and Deception (1932), again with Todd, based on a story Pendleton himself wrote. He played football stars in both. In addition, he and Ward Bond played wrestlers in the Wallace Beery starrer Flesh (1932).
Among Pendleton's other film highlights include his gangsters in Sing and Like It (1934) with Zasu Pitts and The Gay Bride (1934) with Carole Lombard; his policemen in The Thin Man (1934) and Another Thin Man (1939); strongman Sandow in The Great Ziegfeld (1936); another dimbulb wrestler in Swing Your Lady (1938) starring Humphrey Bogart and Louise Fazenda; a barkeep in Northwest Passage (1940) starring Spencer Tracy; _a haranguing officer/nemesis to Abbott and Costello in Buck Privates (1941) and several Dr. Kildare medical dramas as hunky ambulance driver/comedy relief Joe Wayman. A rare prime starring role was the title part as Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941) for Poverty Row's Monogram Pictures.
Following his final film part reprising the badgering sergeant in Buck Privates Come Home (1947), Nat turned to TV before retiring in 1956. The twice-married actor/wrestler died of a heart attack on October 12, 1967 at age 72.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Edith MacDonald was the second daughter of Daniel and Anne MacDonald; her father was a contractor and politician. Early on, her older sister Elsie, younger sister Jeanette MacDonald, and she were given theatrical training. Blossom and Jeanette played Philadelphia vaudeville houses while still youngsters.
Edith went to New York where she wed Clarence Rock in 1926; they toured in vaudeville for three years. When vaudeville died, she toured with her husband in "Grand Hotel" and, in 1936, played a streetwalker in "Dead End". The MGM talent agent who saw her in this signed her to the same studio as her now-famous sister Jeanette. Re-named Marie Blake, she debuted in Joan Crawford's Mannequin (1937) and, in 1938, she became established as "Sally" the phone operator in the Dr. Kildare series. After the last of these in 1947, she left MGM, changed her stage name to "Blossom Rock", freelanced, and doing bit parts. She appeared in television often, becoming widely known through the part of "Grandmama" in The Addams Family (1964) series.
Her husband was night manager at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for fifteen years, dying in 1960. After retiring, she lived at the Motion Picture Country Home.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Temperamental, volatile Spanish-born pianist and conductor whose life and career were varied and often controversial. Born in Valencia, he was a child prodigy, giving piano recitals by the age of seven and supplementing the family income by playing for up to 14 hours daily at a silent cinema theatre. He was an honours graduate from the Conservatoire de Musique in Paris, and, by the age of 24, occupied Franz Liszt's former post as leader of the piano department of the Geneva Conservatory. In 1928, he made his London debut as a concert pianist and the following year played Beethoven's G Major Concerto to great critical and audience acclaim under Leopold Stokowski's direction in Philadelphia. Not content with his triumphs, he branched out into conducting from 1933, eventually fronting the Rochester Philharmonic and conducting his first opera in 1959. Iturbi enjoyed an almost pop star-like status (even converting 1950's bobby-soxers to classical music) and became the only classical artist of his day to win two gold records. In 1946, RCA-Victor paid Iturbi the record sum of $118,029 for six months royalties, primarily for his recording of Chopin's Polonaise in A-Flat (the record went on to sell 2 million copies by 1974).
Iturbi's private life was as hectic as his work schedule. He had married in 1916, but his wife died tragically just 12 years later. From the 1930's, he frequently dated movie stars even before his own involvement with Hollywood. He was a man of contradictions. The story goes, that a producer handed him a cheque for $35,000 in 1933 to appear in his picture, but Iturbi tore it up, declaring, that kissing girls on screen was just so much 'foolishness'.
A speed freak, Iturbi used to ride his motor bike and assorted sports cars with reckless abandon. When they weren't fast enough, he would get aboard his own aircraft, 'El Turia'. By 1946 he had logged 1500 flying hours, frequently travelling across entire continents between recitals. He had several close shaves which earned him the sobriquet 'the flying fool'. Iturbi's fiery temper manifested itself when he walked off the stage during a performance in Cleveland, because audience members were too audible in their consumption of hot dogs and soda pop. Earlier, while conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, he had thrown a chair across the stage in disgust at the disturbance caused by the late arrival of the mayor and his entourage. This earned him yet another nickname, 'Turbulent Iturbi'. There were many other such incidents. He refused to appear with Benny Goodman on the same radio show, ostensibly because he disagreed with the idea of mixing jazz and classical music. Later, he also brashly refused to perform with Rosemary Clooney on television.
Ironically, Iturbi's screen career was spent playing not only classical but also popular music, from boogie-woogie to honky tonk. After being persuaded by producer Boris Pasternak to appear in musicals for MGM, Iturbi's adaptation to the new medium was effortless. Of course, in all of his screen roles he simply played himself. Films like Anchors Aweigh (1945) (in which he conducted a 100-piece band for the opening march) and Three Daring Daughters (1948), did, however, allow him a fair measure of self-expression. His sister Amparo Iturbi (1899-1969), who in earlier years had frequently accompanied him in duo piano recitals, appeared in three of his pictures, including That Midnight Kiss (1949).
From the 1950's until just prior to his death in 1980, Iturbi continued to draw large audiences worldwide. He regularly went on tour (his last from 1976 to 1977), travelling up to 50,000 miles a year between continents. He conducted orchestras from Calgary to Albuquerque and recorded through his own company, Turia Records. In 1975, he gave a famous tour-de-force performance as both conductor and solo pianist at the Lincoln Centre in New York.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and eyes, 165 pounds. He joined the Yiddish Art Theatre in New York (1908) for 4 years, and then moved to other Yiddish theaters until 1926, when he "went into an American play" called "We Americans", his first English-language role. In 1927-28, he appeared in the plays "Four Walls", "This One Man", "Counsellor-at-Law", and others. He began with Fox in 1928. He would later alternate between Broadway and Hollywood for his roles, becoming one of the more distinguished actors in either venue. Failing eyesight and otherwise poor health forced him into retirement after his appearance in The Last Angry Man (1959).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Long acknowledged as one of the best "straight men" in the business, Bud Abbott was born William Alexander Abbott in Reading, Pennsylvania to Rae (Fisher) and Harry Abbott, who had both worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus. When Bud was three his family moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey, which he later, erroneously, listed as his place of birth. He himself worked in carnivals while still a child and dropped out of school in 1909. He worked as assistant treasurer for the Casino Theater in Brooklyn, then as treasurer and/or manager of various theaters around the country. He worked as the straight man to such vaudeville and burlesque comics as Harry Steepe and Harry Evanson while managing the National Theater in Detroit. In 1931 while cashiering at the Brooklyn theater, he substituted for comic Lou Costello's ill straight-man. The two clicked almost immediately and formed their famous comedy team. Throughout the 1930s they worked burlesque, minstrel shows, vaudeville and movie houses. In 1938 they got national exposure through the Kate Smith radio show "The Kate Smith Hour", and signed with Universal Pictures the next year. They made their film debut in One Night in the Tropics (1940), and, while the team wasn't the film's stars, it made money for Universal and they got good enough notices to convince Universal to give them their own picture. Their first starring film, Buck Privates (1941), with The Andrews Sisters, grossed what was then a company-record $10 million (on a $180,000 budget) and they were on their way to stardom and a long run as the most popular comedy team in America. In 1942 they topped a poll of Hollywood stars. They had their own radio show (ABC, 1941-6, NBC, 1946-9) and TV show (The Abbott and Costello Show (1952)). After the war their careers stalled and the box-office takes for their films started slipping. However, they made a big comeback in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), which raked in huge profits and even got the team good notices from critics who normally wouldn't even review their films. The movie's success convinced Universal to embark on a series of films in which the team met various monsters or found themselves in exotic locations. Their film career eventually petered out and the team split up in 1957. Costello embarked on a series of TV appearances and even made a film, without Abbott, called The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959), but it was a flop. He received good notices after a dramatic performance in an episode of Wagon Train (1957) and was in discussion to star in a biography of famed New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, a project Costello had been trying to get off the ground for years, when he died. Both Abbott and Costello had major tax problems with the Internal Revenue Service and wound up virtually broke. Abbott started over with a new partner, Candy Candido, in the 1960s and set off on a national tour, including Las Vegas, but the act failed. In 1966 he voiced his character in a cartoon version of their television show. His health deteriorated badly in the late 1960s, he had always suffered from epilepsy, and he died in 1974.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Sidney Blackmer, the Tony-award winning actor who played Teddy Roosevelt in seven movies, is best remembered by today's movie audiences for his turn as the warlock/coven-leader Roman Castevet in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina, where he made his debut on July 13, 1895, he had planned as a young man to study law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. However, playing football and engaging in amateur theatricals proved more important to him than his aspirations to be an attorney, and while in his teens, he went to New York City to try to make it as an actor. He appeared uncredited in movies turned out by various film studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which in the first half of the decade of the 1910s, was the Hollywood of America. He reportedly appeared in a bit part in the popular movie serial "The Perils of Pauline" (1914).
Blackmer made his Broadway debut on February 13, 1917, in "The Morris Dance," Harley Granville-Barker's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "The Wrong Box." He was not to appear again on the Broadway stage for almost exactly three years, due to the outbreak of his World War I, which saw Blackmer join the military as an officer. After the war, he returned to the theater, making his second Broadway appearance in "Trimmed in Scarlet" on February 2, 1920. He appeared in 15 other productions on the Great White Way from 1920 to 1928. His appearance in 'Clare Kummer''s comedy "The Mountain Man" in 1921 made him a star.
He was a pioneer in the new medium of radio, on which he sang during the 1920s. (Blackmer later participated in the first experimental dramas on Allen B. DuMont's television network.) But it was the movies that increasingly attracted Blackmer's professional attention, in which he typically was cast as a smooth villain from High Society, although he did also play sympathetic roles.
Although Blackmer is now credited with appearing (un-billed) in "The Perils of Pauline," he didn't make a credited appearance on the silver screen until the dawn of the sound era. With the coming of sound, Hollywood needed actors and actresses who could talk and talk well, so it raided the Broadway stage. Blackmer was one of the Broadway stars who headed West, appearing in his first talkie, "The Love Racket" (1929), in 1929. He starred in other early sound films, including "Kismet" (1930/I), which is considered a lost film. He was memorable as Big Boy in support of Edward G. Robinson in the gangster classic Little Caesar (1931)
Blackmer returned to Broadway in 1931 with the comedy "The Social Register" and appeared again in the comedy "Stop-Over" in 1938. In Hollywood, he had a supporting role in the Robert Donat version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934). Also that year, he appeared in 'William A. Wellman''s "The President Vanishes" (1934), co-starring 'Edward Arnold' and 'Osgood Perkins', the father of 'Anthony Perkins'.
Sidney Blackmer has the distinction of starring in the only movie ever "written" by a president of the United States, "The President's Mystery" (1936), based on a story by "co-authored" by 'Franklin D. Roosevelt'. F.D.R. was an avid murder mystery reader, and at a meeting of whodunit authors at the White House during his first administration, he suggested an idea for a mystery novel to the writers: A millionaire disappears and starts a new life under a new identity, taking his wealth with him. Mystery writers, including S.S. Van Dine, cobbled together a patch-work book of uneven quality based on the premise, with F.D.R. listed as co-author. "The President's Mystery" became a best-seller due to F.D.R.'s enormous personal popularity. In the movie version, written by future Hollywood Ten member 'Lester Cole' and novelist 'Nathanel West', Blackmer played millionaire industrialist Sartos, who engineers his own disappearance while holding on to his fortune. Sartos blackmails a corrupt investment bank run by two con men, which he takes over. He then invests his money with the firm, and robs himself under cover of the crooked brokerage. Disappearing after "losing" his fortune, people believe Sartos has committed suicide. Just when it seems that he has accomplished his goal and has escaped into his new life with his loot, something goes awry.
Nineteen-thirty seven was a busy year for Blackmer, who appeared in 12 films, including "Heidi" (1937), his second flick with superstar moppet Shirley Temple (the had earlier co-starred in "The Little Colonel" (1935)). He played General Phillip Sheridan in the epic pot-boiler "In Old Chicago" (1937), starring 'Tyrone Power, Jr.'. The movie featured an Oscar-winning performance by 'Alice Brady' as Molly O'Brady, she of the cow with the combustible personality whose bovine hissy fit causes a conflagration that wipes out the City of Broad Shoulders. Then, it was time to indulge in the dubious enterprise of supporting two Caucasian actors in Oriental drag, the Swede 'Warner Oland' in "Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo" (1937) and the German 'Peter Lorre' in "Thank You, Mr. Moto." (1937). He also appeared again with Edward G. Robinson in "The Last Gangster" (1937).
In the late '30s, Blackmer began making a side-line out of portraying F.D.R.'s cousin 'Theodore Roosevelt', appearing as the wild 'n' woolly bully Bull Moose himself in "This Is My Affair" (1937), "The Monroe Doctrine" (1939), and the Academy Award-winning two-reel short "Teddy the Rough Rider" (1940). He followed these up, reprising T.R., in the patriotic short "March On, America!" (1942), in the John Wayne western "In Old Oklahoma" (1943), in Bill Wellman's "Buffalo Bill" (1944), and in the nostalgic "My Girl Tisa" (1948). Blackmer appeared in three Broadway productions in the mid-1940s, but it wasn't until the dawn of the new decade of the '50s that he scored his greatest success on Broadway, playing the dipsomaniac Doc in 'William Inge''s "Come Back, Little Sheba" opposite Shirley Booth, who scored a Best Actress (Dramatic) Tony Award in 1950 as his wife. Though Blackmer won the Best Actor (Dramatic) Tony Award for "Sheba," he was not able to repeat his triumph on film and possibly join Booth into the Oscar-winner's circle as 'Burt Lancaster' coveted the role. Blackmer also lost out on another plum film assignment when it came time to cast the film version of Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). 'Ed Begley, Sr.' won an Oscar for his portrayal of Boss Finley in 'Richard Brooks''s film of the 'Tennessee Williams' play, a role that Blackmer had originated on Broadway under the stalwart direction of infamous Hollywood Un-American Activities Committee snitch 'Elia Kazan'. Blackmer last appeared on Broadway in "A Case of Libel" in the 1963-64 season.
In his private life, Blackmer served as the national vice president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He was honored with a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1625 Vine Street, and was the recipient of the North Carolina Award, the state of North Carolina's highest civilian award, in 1972.
Blackmer was married to Lenore Ulric from 1928 until 1939, when they were divorced. He married his second wife Suzanne Kaaren in 1943. They had two sons, Jonathan and Brewster Blackmer.
Sidney Blackmer died of cancer on October 6, 1973 at the age of 78 in New York City. He was interred in Chestnut Hill Cemetery in his home town of Salisbury, NC.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Nigel was, from the beginning, typecast as bumbling English aristocrats, military types or drawing room society snobs and, within the narrow parameters of his range, he was very, very good at playing these parts. Nigel Bruce was born in Mexico, where his father, Sir William W. Bruce, worked as an engineer. His family was part of English aristocracy, ever since Charles I. bestowed a baronetcy upon them in 1629 (William's older brother Michael held the hereditary title). Nigel was educated in England at Grange, Stevenage and Abingdon. His first job was at a stockbroker's firm. During World War I, he served in the British Army (like his future co-star, Basil Rathbone) where he received a serious leg wound and was for some time confined to a wheelchair.
Following his discharge, he turned to acting in 1919, but it wasn't until ten years later that he achieved a breakthrough in Noël Coward's 'This was a Man' on Broadway. Then followed the performance which was to set the standard for all his later work in Hollywood: the 1931 comedy "Springtime for Henry". On the strength of his performance as Johnny Jelliwell, Fox offered Nigel the opportunity to reprise his role in the 1934 movie. Soon after that, Nigel was cast to star as British detective Bertram Lynch in a minor thriller, Murder in Trinidad (1934). The contemporary New York Times Review (May 16,1934) was skeptical about the film's merit, but found Nigel's performance 'compelling'. After that followed a gallery of endearingly stereotypical 'Britishers': Squire Trelawny in Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island (1934), the Prince of Wales in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), Professor Holly in She (1935) and Sir Benjamin Warrenton in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). All, without exception, were roles in which Nigel felt perfectly at home.
In 1939, he teamed up with Basil Rathbone for the first two Holmes/Watson movies, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), filmed at 20th Century Fox. Both films had an authentic period feel for Victorian England and the chemistry between the two stars was just right. Three years later, Rathbone was contractually obliged to make a further series of twelve Holmes pictures at Universal, again co-starring Nigel as Dr. Watson. Nigel portrayed his lovable self in two Hitchcock classics Rebecca (1940) (as Major Giles Lacy) and Suspicion (1941) (as 'Beaky').
A prominent member of the resident English colony in Hollywood, Nigel Bruce at one time captained the cricket club established by fellow actor and compatriot C. Aubrey Smith in 1932 (other members included P.G. Wodehouse, Boris Karloff, Ronald Colman and David Niven).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Shemp Howard was born Samuel Horwitz in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was also the brother of fellow stooges Moe Howard and Curly Howard. Larry Fine was not related to any of the other stooges.
When not working with The Three Stooges, Shemp made a lot of feature film appearances, such as The Bank Dick (1940) with W.C. Fields. Shemp, Moe, Larry and Curly appeared in only one short together -- Hold That Lion! (1947). In it, Curly appears as an uncredited train car passenger. Watch for the man with the hat on his face. This was a short, non-speaking cameo, due to a stroke Curly suffered the prior year.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Tall, distinguished, aristocratic Louis Calhern seemed to be the poster boy for old-money, upper-crust urban society, but he was actually born Carl Vogt, to middle-class parents in New York City. His family moved to St. Louis when he was a child, and it was while playing football in high school there that he was spotted by a representative of a touring acting troupe and hired as an actor. He returned to New York to work in the theater, but his career was interrupted by military service in France in World War I. He returned to the stage after the war, and eventually broke into films. Although his regal bearing would seem to pigeonhole him in aristocratic parts in serious drama, he proved to be a very versatile actor, as much at home playing a comic foil to The Marx Brothers in Duck Soup (1933) as he was as Buffalo Bill to Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) or, most memorably, the lawyer involved with the criminal gang in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Married four times, he was in Tokyo, Japan, filming The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) when he suffered a fatal heart attack.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Delightfully daffy and quite an apple dumpling of a darling, this cheerfully wizened character actress was born Ruth Thane Shoecraft on September 13, 1895, in Michigan but raised in Ohio where her father served as a county sheriff. Ruth's parents, both musicians, encouraged her to perform. Graduating from the Wooster University in Ohio, she later studied drama at the Toledo Dramatic Academy.
Ruth would also attend the American Academy of Dramatic Art (AADA) with strong designs on a New York career but instead married a Florida widower, Patrick McDevitt, a contractor, and decided to focus on domestic life. With the passing of her husband, however, in 1934, the now broaching 40-year-old lady decided to give it a go again and began dabbling in community theater plays
Reigniting her long dormant desires, Ruth eventually found herself in New York and it wasn't long before she became a viable 30's and 40's presence on Broadway and radio in both comedic and dramatic fare. Making her debut in late 1937 with a short-lived production of "Straw Hat" (as Ruth Thane McDevitt -- she shortened it later on), Ruth went on to appear in several other plays that had brief lives such as "Young Couple Wanted" (1940), "Goodbye in the Night" (1940), "Mr. Big" (1941) and "Meet a Body" (1944). She earned excellent notices when she replaced star Josephine Hull in the Broadway comedies "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1942) and "The Solid Gold Cadillac" (1954). Years later, she and Hull would also co-star as anomalous sisters Martha and Abby Brewster, respectively, in a 1949 TV production of "Harvey" for the "Ford Theatre Hour." As for radio, she provided the voice of Jane Channing on the popular radio soap "This Life Is Mine." during the war years.
A flair for eccentric comedy opened a huge door for Ruth in the TV and film worlds during the 50s as one of those faces you couldn't put a name to but instinctively knew. Although she made her film debut in the little seen Paul Douglas sports drama The Guy Who Came Back (1951), most of Ruth's on-camera performances were on the small screen with such attention-getting roles as Mom Peepers, the mother of meek Wally Cox in the comedy series Mister Peepers (1952) series. She graced several of the popular anthology series as well ("Lux Video Theatre," "Philco Television Playhouse," "Kraft Theatre," "Studio One in Hollywood").
In the 1960's, Ruth appeared on Broadway in "The Best Man" and earned particularly fine reviews for what would be her last New York show, "Absence of a Cello." She also showed up on several sitcoms while lightening up many a drama. Her program guest list includes "Decoy," "Naked City," "Dr. Kildare," the daytime soaper "The Doctors." "Route 66," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Mayberry R.F.D.," "My World and Welcome to It," "Ironside," "Love, American Style" and "Bewitched." She also milked laughs as a gun totin', sharp-shootin' granny in the comedy Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966) starring Ann Sheridan. Sadly, the series was abruptly canceled after only one season due to the star's death from cancer.
Ruth decorated a number of fluffy film comedies as a befuddled, warble-voiced elderly in such lightweight fare as The Parent Trap (1961), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), Angel in My Pocket (1969) and Mame (1974), and would continue to perform right up until her death. In her twilight years, she provided comedy relief as eccentric advice columnist and crossword puzzle enthusiast Emily Cowles in the cult supernatural thriller series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) starring Darren McGavin. Her final guest appearances included "The Streets of San Francisco" and "Phyllis."
Ruth died of natural causes at age 80 on May 27, 1976, in Los Angeles.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
The son of a day laborer, William Boyd moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was seven. His parents died while he was in his early teens, forcing him to quit school and take such jobs as a grocery clerk, surveyor and oil field worker. He went to Hollywood in 1919, already gray-haired. His first role was as an extra in Cecil B. DeMille's Why Change Your Wife? (1920). He bought some fancy clothes, caught DeMille's eye and got the romantic lead in The Volga Boatman (1926), quickly becoming a matinée idol and earning upwards of $100,000 a year. However, with the end of silent movies, Boyd was without a contract, couldn't find work and was going broke. By mistake his picture was run in a newspaper story about the arrest of another actor with a similar name (William 'Stage' Boyd) on gambling, liquor and morals charges, and that hurt his career even more. In 1935 he was offered the lead role in Hop-a-Long Cassidy (1935) (named because of a limp caused by an earlier bullet wound). He changed the original pulp-fiction character to its opposite, made sure that "Hoppy" didn't smoke, drink, chew tobacco or swear, rarely kissed a girl and let the bad guy draw first. By 1943 he had made 54 "Hoppies" for his original producer, Harry Sherman; after Sherman dropped the series, Boyd produced and starred in 12 more on his own. The series was wildly popular, and all recouped at least double their production costs. In 1948 Boyd, in a savvy and precedent-setting move, bought the rights to all his pictures (he had to sell his ranch to raise the money) just as TV was looking for Saturday morning Western fare. He marketed all sorts of "Hoppy" products (lunch boxes, toy guns, cowboy hats, etc.) and received royalties from comic books, radio and records. He retired to Palm Desert, California, in 1953. In 1968 he had surgery to remove a tumor from a lymph gland and from then on refused all interview and photograph requests.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
Edward S. Brophy was born on February 27, 1895 in New York City and educated at the University of Virginia. He became a bit and small-part in the movies starting in 1919, but switched to behind-the-scenes work for job security, though he continued appearing in small parts. While serving as a property master for Buster Keaton's production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Brophy appeared in a memorable sequence in Keaton's classic The Cameraman (1928), in which Buster and Brophy both try to undress simultaneously in a tiny wardrobe room. Keaton cast Brophy in larger parts in two of his talkies, and by 1934, Brophy abandoned the production end of the movies altogether and was acting full-time.
Possessed of a chubby, bald-headed face with pop-eyes, and blessed with (for a comic) a high-pitched voice, Brophy appeared in scores of comic roles. He also played straight dramatic parts, but was less effective in them. Typical of his work was his memorable turn providing comic relief in the small supporting role of the Marine in Manila who adopts the dog "Tripoli" in Howard Hawks' war propaganda masterpiece Air Force (1943).
In the 1950s, Brophy began taking fewer roles. His last role was in director John Ford's Western Two Rode Together (1961), during the production of which, he died on May 27, 1960 in Pacific Palisades, California. He will always be remembered to film-lovers as the voice of Timothy Mouse in Walt Disney's classic 1941 cartoon Dumbo (1941).- Moyna MacGill was born on 10 December 1895 in Belfast, Ireland [now Northern Ireland], UK. She was an actress, known for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Miriam Rozella (1924). She was married to Edgar Isaac Lansbury and Reginald Denham. She died on 25 November 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Edna Purviance began working as a stenographer in San Francisco. Charles Chaplin invited her to join him at Essanay Studio in 1915, the year of her film debut in Chaplin's His Night Out. Over the next seven years she appeared as his leading lady in over 20 Chaplin films made by Essanay, Mutual, and First National, including the classics The Tramp (1915), The Immigrant (1917), Easy Street (1917), The Kid (1921), and The Idle Class (1921). As a repayment for years of work with him, Chaplin intended real stardom for her with A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923). The movie was a commercial failure though it advanced the career of Adolphe Menjou. She remained on Chaplin's payroll until her death, her last two appearances being non-speaking extra parts in his Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Boles was an American actor who worked prolifically in both leading and supporting roles for 28 years. He was born in Greenville, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas, where he had studied medicine, in 1917. Boles' parents wanted their son to continue with a career in the medical field, but after being selected to perform in an opera, he discovered his real love for acting and singing. In the meantime, he taught French and singing in a New York high school and worked as an interpreter for a group of students touring Europe. He's also notable for acting as a U.S. spy during World War I, in Bulgaria, Germany, and Turkey.
Boles moved to Hollywood in the 1920s to continue acting in stage musicals and operettas, which eventually led to MGM hiring him to appear in The Sixth Commandment (1924). After a three-year hiatus from Hollywood to focus on stage work, Boles returned to star opposite Gloria Swanson in the hit The Love of Sunya (1927). He wasn't able to show off his singing skills until the arrival of sound pictures not long after. He starred in a few lavish musicals in the early days of sound movies, notably The Desert Song (1929), Rio Rita (1929), and Song of the West (1930). In 1930, Boles signed a contract with Universal Pictures and starred in such musicals as King of Jazz (1930) and One Heavenly Night (1930) for the studio.
Boles continued to work in a number of both musical and non-musical parts throughout the 1930s. Notable roles include Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (1931); an engaged attorney who falls in love with Irene Dunne in The Age of Innocence (1934); another leading part opposite Swanson, this time as her bickering beau in Music in the Air (1934); a wealthy bachelor who adopts Shirley Temple in Curly Top (1935); Temple's Confederate officer father in The Littlest Rebel (1935); manipulator Rosalind Russell's husband in Craig's Wife (1936); and Barbara Stanwyck's husband in Stella Dallas (1937).
In 1943, Boles played the role of a colonel in the star-studded Thousands Cheer (1943). By this point, his acting career had declined. Boles' final part was in 1952, starring opposite Paulette Goddard in Babes in Bagdad (1952). He retired from the film industry shortly thereafter, and found a new career in the oil business.
Boles married Marcelite Dobbs in 1917, and the couple had two daughters: Frances and Janet. They remained married until he died of a heart attack on February 27, 1969 at the age of 73.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Becoming popular with playing the ukulele, his unique singing and supplying the voice of animated movies, Cliff Edwards was one of the most popular singers in America.
Born in Hannibal, Missouri, Edwards left school at the age of 14, moved to St. Louis, and started to work as a singer in saloons. Edwards then taught himself to play the ukulele. He got his nickname, "Ukelele Ike", from a club owner who couldn't remember his name.
Entering in the vaudeville circuit, he finally made it big. When entering into movies, one of his first movies he made was his most noticeable: The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929). Eleven years later, he was immortalized in Disney's Pinocchio (1940).- Actor
- Soundtrack
A Corsicana native, Rex (Clifford) Ingram was the son of Mack and Mamie Ingram. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in medicine before launching a brilliant acting career which spanned 50 years. Ingram made his screen debut during the silent era in Tarzan of the Apes (1918). He won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of De Lawd in The Green Pastures (1936), Ingram also appeared on the Broadway stage and in television productions, bringing skill and dignity to every performance. Actor probably best remembered for his portrayal of Jim, the fugitive slave, opposite Mickey Rooney in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939). He died September 19, 1969 and was buried in California.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Lewis Milestone, a clothing manufacturer's son, was born in Bessarabia (now Moldova), raised in Odessa (Ukraine) and educated in Belgium and Berlin (where he studied engineering). He was fluent in both German and Russian and an avid reader. Milestone had an affinity for the theatre from an early age, starting as a prop man and background artist before traveling to the US in 1914 with $6.00 in his pocket. After a succession of odd jobs (including as a dishwasher and a photographer's assistant) he joined the Army Signal Corps in 1917 to make educational short films for U.S. troops. Following World War I, having acquired American citizenship, he went on to Hollywood to meet the director William A. Seiter at Ince Studios. Seiter started him off as an assistant cutter. Milestone quickly worked his way up the ranks to become editor, assistant director and screenwriter on many of Seiter's projects in the early 1920s, experiences that would greatly influence his directing style in years to come.
Milestone directed his first film, Seven Sinners (1925), for Howard Hughes and two years later won his first of two Academy Awards for the comedy Two Arabian Knights (1927). He received his second Oscar for what most regard as his finest achievement, the anti-war movie All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque. The film, universally praised by reviewers for its eloquence and integrity, also won the Best Picture Academy Award that year. A noted Milestone innovation was the use of cameras mounted on wooden tracks, giving his films a more realistic and fluid, rather than static, look. Other trademarks associated with his pictures were taut editing, snappy dialogue and clever visual touches, good examples being the screwball comedy The Front Page (1931), the melodrama Rain (1932)--based on a play by W. Somerset Maugham--and an adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1939). When asked in 1979 about the secret behind his success, he simply declared "Arrogance, chutzpah--in the old Hollywood at least that's the thing that gave everybody pause" (New York Times, September 27, 1980). Milestone had a history of being "difficult", having clashed with Howard Hughes, Warner Brothers and a host of studio executives over various contractual and artistic issues. Nonetheless, he remained constantly employed and worked for most of the major studios at one time or another, though never on long-term contracts. While he was not required to testify before HUAC, Milestone was blacklisted for a year in 1949 because of left-wing affiliations dating back to the 1930's. His output became less consistent during the 1950s and his career finished on a low with the remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and its incongruously cast, equally headstrong star Marlon Brando.
Milestone must be credited with a quirky sense of humor: when the producer of "All Quiet on the Western Front", Carl Laemmle Jr., demanded a "happy ending" for the picture, Milestone telephoned, "I've got your happy ending. We'll let the Germans win the war".
Having suffered a stroke, Lewis Milestone spent the last ten years of his life confined to a wheelchair. He died September 25, 1980, at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.- Wavy-haired, emaciated-looking Tom Fadden enjoyed a prolific screen career as a small part supporting actor with more than a fair share of scene-stealing moments to his credit. From the time he began with a stock company in Omaha in 1915, he remained continuously employed right up until his death in 1980. He was much in-demand in vaudeville, including on the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Circuit. He was also a regular performer on Broadway where he made his debut in a starring role in 1924 with 'The Wonderful Visit', written by H.G. Wells. The following year he again starred (as Alf Rylett) in 'Nocturne '. Other notable plays he appeared in were 'Elmer Gantry' (1928), 'The Petrified Forest' (1935) and 'Our Town' (1938).
From 1939, he was seen in numerous small roles on screen, usually as kindly 'average Joe' townsfolk, cab or truck drivers or rural types in the vein of Percy Kilbride. Tom was particularly good at the double-take and a befuddled look, perhaps best exemplified by his toll keeper's reaction to Henry Travers (as the angel Clarence) in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Tom had a rare leading role as one of a trio hunting for an ancient skull with mystical powers in the comedy adventure Zanzibar (1940). Otherwise, there were memorable bits as a cafe waiter in Dark Passage (1947), his Sheriff Murdock in the comedy Murder, He Says (1945) and Uncle Ira Lentz, one of the first victims of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Tom also played Eben Kent, Superman's adoptive father in the first episode of the original Adventures of Superman (1952) on TV and even popped up for Disney as the uncle of the titular hero in Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960). Tom had recurring roles in Cimarron City (1958) and was perfectly cast as one of the bucolic characters of Petticoat Junction (1963). - Actor
- Writer
Tall, distinguished-looking Russell Hicks appeared in almost 300 films in his more than 40-year career (although his first known screen appearance was in 1915, he has screenwriting credits as early as 1913, so it's possible his screen debut was earlier than credited). His cultured bearing, grandfatherly appearance and soothing, resonant voice were perfect for the many military officers, attorneys, judges and business executives he excelled at playing. He was especially memorable in an atypical role as oily, fast-talking phony-stock salesman J. Frothington Waterbury in the W.C. Fields classic The Bank Dick (1940). Hicks made his last film in 1956, and died the next year.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Gracie Allen was born on 26 July 1895 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for A Damsel in Distress (1937), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) and The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). She was married to George Burns. She died on 27 August 1964 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Although Charles King played a variety of roles in silent films, and even made a series of comedy shorts for Universal in the 1920s, it was as a villain in sound westerns that King achieved his greatest fame. In the 1930s and 1940s his jowly face, beady eyes, Texas accent, droopy walrus mustache and overhanging beer belly became familiar to legions of fans of B westerns, especially those of rock-bottom PRC Pictures (it seemed like he showed up in every western PRC ever made), and you knew as soon as you saw him that he would meet his doom before the end of the last reel. Sometimes he was actually the head of the gang, but usually he was just a hired gun or, on even rarer occasions, "middle management". There's a line in Blazing Saddles (1974) where Gene Wilder says, "I've killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille"; it's doubtful that anyone has been killed more times in films than Charlie King. He's been shot, beaten up, run over, thrown off cliffs and blown up by the likes of John Wayne, Buster Crabbe, Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and pretty much anyone who ever appeared in a movie with him--if he had been in a Shirley Temple picture, she would have found a way to bump him off.
After a memorable career as a punching bag, piñata and moving target for most of the actors in Hollywood, Charlie King finally hung up his spurs in 1957, and died of cirrhosis of the liver in May of that year. - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Most of Babe Ruth's records have been broken. In 1961, not only did Roger Maris break The Babe's 34-year-old record for most home runs in a season with 61* (2001), but Maris' teammate on the '61 Yankees, pitcher Whitey Ford broke the Babe's 43-year-old record for most scoreless innings pitched in a World Series when the Yankees dispatched the Reds that year in the postseason. (When asked how it felt to have beat the Babe's "other" record, Whitey responded, "It was a bad year for the Babe".)
Though Barry Bonds now holds the record for most home runs in a season (73), most home runs in a career (762), highest slugging percentage, most intentional walks, etc., The Babe still must be considered the greatest player who ever graced the game. In addition to his record 12 home run titles, his 13 slugging titles, his six R.B.I. titles, and his solo batting title (.378 in 1924; The Babe placed in the top five hitters in terms of batting average eight times, including a career high of .393 in 1923, when Harry Heilmann hit .403), The Babe won 18, 23 and 24 games as a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 1915, 1916 and 1917, and won the American League E.R.A. title in '16. He set his first home run title in 1918, another year the Sox won the World Series, as a part-time position player and part-time pitcher, notching up 11 homers and nine wins. George Herman Ruth likely will remain the sole player in major league baseball history to win batting, home run, R.B.I., slugging *and* E.R.A. titles, plus eat a dozen hot dogs and drink the better part of a keg of bootleg "needle" beer before suiting up for a game.
From 1914 to 1919, The Babe played for the Boston Red Sox, with whom he appeared on three World's Championship teams. Sold to the New York Yankees by Red Sox owner and theatrical impresario Harry Frazee, he led the-then no pennant American League franchise in Gotham to seven A.L. pennants and four World Series titles from 1920-1934. He played out his string with the Boston Braves in 1935; even a washed-up Babe was still able to pole three circuit clouts in one game before calling it quits after 28 games and six in that last season. The following year, he was one of the inaugural inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Yes, the Babe was mighty, and he did prevail more often than naught except over one opponent: Father Time.
The Babe ended his 22 years in the Big Leagues with 2,873 hits good for a career batting average of .342, 714 home runs, 2,217 R.B.I.s, and 2,174 runs scored in 2,503 games. (From his debut in 1914 through the 1918 season, when he was making his transition to becoming a full time position player, Ruth only appeared in 261 ball games as he was considered the top left-handed pitcher in the American League.) In the record books, Ty Cobb scored more runs and Hank Aaron hit more homers and racked up more R.B.I.s (Interestingly, Hammerin' Hank and The Babe ended their careers with the exact same number of runs scored.), but they played in far more games than the The Babe, with 3,035 and 3,298 games, respectively. Among modern players, Rickey Henderson, who surpassed Cobb's record for runs after 25 years in The Show, played in 3,081 games, and Barry Bonds appeared in almost 3,000 games.
No player ever had the impact, both on and off the field, as did the charismatic Babe. When he died of cancer in 1948, the New York Times headline read, "Babe Ruth/Idol of Millions of Boys/Dead".- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Familiar to many as the frustrated cop, businessman or landlord in countless two-reel comedies by The Three Stooges, Vernon Dent got his start in show business as a member of a singing troupe traveling in Southern California in the early 1920s. He was befriended by comedian Hank Mann, a member of the famed Keystone Kops. Mann thought that Dent was good comic material and gave him a supporting part in a series of two-reel comedies he was making. In the early 1920s Dent was good enough to be given his own series of comedy shorts by Pathe. After this series was over, he freelanced and worked for such top comics as Larry Semon. He found his real niche when he was hired by Mack Sennett, and spent most of the rest of the 1920s at that studio. For such a large man (5'9" and 250 pounds) Dent was surprisingly graceful, and Sennett was enthused to discover that he was a natural at physical comedy, able to do a pratfall as well as or better than Sennett's top comics. Dent really came into his own in the series of comedies that Harry Langdon made for Sennett, which rocketed Langdon to stardom and also brought recognition to Dent. When Langdon left Sennett, Dent stayed and supported such Sennett comics as Billy Bevan and Ralph Graves. Dent and Langdon were reunited in a series of shorts for Educational Pictures in the early 1930s, and his value in the series was such that Langdon insisted Dent always receive second billing after him. Dent joined Columbia in 1935, where he achieved his greatest success, and stayed there until 1953. He worked especially well with Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges, and the two remained lifelong friends. Shortly after retiring in the mid-'50s, Dent went blind, a result of his lifelong battle against diabetes. Although there were rumors that he died because he was a Christian Scientist and refused to take insulin, in an interview several years ago Dent's wife stated that he was not a Christian Scientist, and died from a sudden, massive heart attack.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Richard Barthelmess was born into a theatrical family in which his mother was an actress. While attending Trinity College in Connecticut, he began appearing in stage productions. While on vacation in 1916, a friend of his mother, actress Alla Nazimova, offered him a part in War Brides (1916), and Richard never returned to college. He appeared in a number of films before signing a contract with D.W. Griffith in 1919. Griffith put Richard into Broken Blossoms (1919) with Lillian Gish which made him a star. He had an uncanny ability to become the characters he played. The next year, he was again teamed with Lillian in Way Down East (1920). This film would become the standard for many movies in the future. Best remembered is the river scene in which Richard jumps over the ice floes in search of Lillian as she heads towards the falls. He formed Inspiration Pictures to make Tol'able David (1921) and gave one of his best performances as a lad who saves the U.S. mail from the outlaws. He remained popular throughout the twenties and became one of the biggest stars at First National Pictures. He received Academy Award nominations for The Patent Leather Kid (1927) and The Noose (1928). Sound was not a medium that would embrace Richard. He did make a number of talkies in the first few years of sound, but his acting technique was not well suited for sound and the parts began to get smaller. With his career over by the mid-30s, but he came back with a fine performance in Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings (1939). Richard joined the Navy Reserve in 1942, and when the war ended he retired to Long Island and lived off his real estate investments.- Aileen Pringle's favorite film was a mid-1920s silent based on a book by Elinor Glyn: Three Weeks (1924), sort of a "Lady Chatterly's Lover". She recalled in a 1980 telephone conversation: "The film was in good taste; some people thought the book was trashy". Anita Loos wrote in "A Girl Like I", the first volume of her autobiography, vaudeville comic Joe Frisco telling Glynn: "Leave me get this straight. You want to find some tramp that don't look like a tramp, to play that English tramp in your picture. But take it from me, that kind of tramp don't hang out in Hollywood". Aileen had spent her 20s married to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son of Sir John Pringle, a Jamaica landowner and a member of the Privy and Legislative Councils of Jamaica. Aileen lived in Jamaica until she went on stage with George Arliss. When she began divorce proceedings against Pringle in 1926, Hollywood gossip columnists speculated she would marry H.L. Mencken. She did not remarry until 1944 when she became the bride of James M. Cain, author of "The Postman Always Rings Twice". I opened my 1980 telephone conversation with Aileen by mentioning that the day before I had been reading her correspondence with Mencken at the New York Public Library. "But all the letters were destroyed", she said. I knew that Mencken had asked for all of his letters to her back at the time he became engaged to Sara Haardt. Aileen was the only woman who received such a request from Mencken at that time. "It was your letters from the late '30s and '40s I was reading", I told Aileen. "In one of them Mencken was urging you to write a book. Did you ever finish it?" "No. I got married instead." In a 1946 letter she wrote to Mencken. "If I had remained married to that psychotic Cain, I would be wearing a straitjacket instead of the New Look."
- Additional Crew
- Director
- Music Department
Busby Berkeley was one of the greatest choreographers of the US movie musical. He started his career in the US Army in 1918, as a lieutenant in the artillery conducting and directing parades. After the World War I cease-fire he was ordered to stage camp shows for the soldiers. Back in the US he became a stage actor and assistant director in smaller acting troupes. After being forced to take over the direction of the musical "Holka-Polka" he discovered his talent for staging extravagant dance routines, and he quickly became one of Broadway's top dance directors. Producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. called him to direct the dance routines for his production of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". Eddie Cantor, who starred in the long-running Ziegfeld production "Whoopee!", suggested Berkley create the dance routines in the film version )Whoopee! (1930) and Ziegfeld agreed.
At first in Hollywood Berkeley wasn't satisfied with the possibilities of his job--at the time, dance directors trained the dancers and staged the dances. The director chose camera positions and the editor chose which of the takes were shown to the audience. Berkeley wanted to direct the dances himself and convinced producer Samuel Goldwyn to let him try. One of the first chances he took was that he used only one camera in his films. He also showed close-ups of the chorus girls. Asked about this, he explained, "Well, we've got all the beautiful girls in the picture, why not let the public see them?" With the decline of musicals in 1931 and 1932, he was thinking of returning to Broadway when Darryl F. Zanuck, chief producer at Warner Brothers, called him in to direct the musical numbers of Warners' newest project, the backstage drama 42nd Street (1933). Berkeley accepted and directed great numbers like "Shuffle Off To Buffalo", "Young and Healthy" and the grandiose story of urban life, the finale "42nd Street". The film was a smash hit, and Warner Brothers knew who made it such an extraordinary success--Berkeley, as well as composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, got seven-year contracts. Berkeley created musical numbers for almost every great musical that Warner Brothers produced from 1933 to 1937. His overhead shots forced him to drill holes in the studio roofs, and he used more dancers with each succeeding picture. However, by the late 1930s the musical was in decline once again, and Berkeley had nothing to do as a choreographer. He directed two non-musical pictures for Warner Brothers then went to MGM, where he choreographed the final number from Broadway Serenade (1939) with Jeanette MacDonald. As a director and choreographer he worked on four pictures with teenage stars Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. He also choreographed the "Fascinatin' Rhythm" finale for MGM's reigning tapping star, Eleanor Powell in Lady Be Good (1941). He directed Gene Kelly in his first picture, For Me and My Gal (1942). Kelly, who choreographed his own numbers, learned a lot from Berkeley.
Berkeley worked for 20th Century-Fox in The Gang's All Here (1943) with its surrealistic number "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat". In 1949 he directed his last picture, Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), but this time the choreography was by Gene Kelly. Berkeley did a few numbers in the early 1950s but, by the end of the decade, he was all but forgotten. A revival of his films in the late 1960s brought him some popularity and he was asked to return to Broadway and supervise the dance direction in the revival of a Vincent Youmans musical comedy from 1925. One of the actresses in this production was Ruby Keeler, one of his leading ladies in Warner musicals. When the production went on tour in 1972, one of the road cast was Eleanor Powell. The production was a smash hit. When he walked on stage after one opening night, the house exploded with applause.
A strange fact is that Busby Berkeley never had a dancing lesson and, in his early days, was very afraid of people finding out. He often drove his producers crazy when he gave orders to build a set and then sat in front of it for a few days, thinking up the numbers.- Actress
- Soundtrack
With more than two decades of stage experience in France, England and on Broadway behind her, this moon-faced, heavy-set character actress first entered films in 1940. But no matter a film's genre - contemporary drama, historical costumer or shoot 'em up western - her Brooklyn roots always sounded through.- Edith Bouvier Beale was born on 5 October 1895 in Nutley, New Jersey, USA. She was married to Phelan Beale. She died on 5 February 1977 in Southampton, New York, USA.
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Bud Jamison was born on 15 February 1895 in Vallejo, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Three Little Beers (1935), Their First Tintype (1920) and Captain Caution (1940). He was married to Georgia Kathleen Holland. He died on 30 September 1944 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Robert Burton was born on 13 August 1895 in Eastman, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for The Big Heat (1953), The Twilight Zone (1959) and The Slime People (1963). He was married to Marguerite Garrett. He died on 29 September 1962 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- The movie industry executive and producer Marlon Brando, Sr. was the father of Marlon Brando Jr., whom many consider the greatest movie actor of all time, and of movie and TV actress Jocelyn Brando. Marlon, Jr. made his father, a former salesman and businessman, the head of his personal production company in Hollywood, Pennebaker Productions, which was named after Sr.'s wife and Jr.'s mother, the former Dorothy Pennebaker. The company produced many pictures, though most starred other superstars other than Brando, including James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier.
Marlon Sr. was a hard-drinking womanizer who was frequently on the road, which did little to prevent his wife's descent into the alcoholism which killed her at a relatively young age in 1954. The Brando family was often uprooted, moving from Nebraska to Illinois and eventually (without Marlon Sr.) to New York City (where the three Brando children attended acting and art schools). Brando Sr., a World War One veteran, was a hard, unaffectionate man, and his son harbored a great deal of resentment and anger towards him until the day he died on July 18, 1965 at the age of 70. By that time, he had managed to lose a great deal of his son's money in unwise investment schemes, and to marry a woman many years his junior after the death of his wife and Marlon's mother.
Brando Sr. sent his son to his alma mater, the military school Shattuck Academy, from which Marlon Jr. eventually was expelled. During their lives together, Sr. and Jr. often were in conflict. Father and son bore an uncanny physical resemblance to one another, and resembled each other in ways that Marlon, Jr. cared not to contemplate, such as a lack of constancy and faithfulness. According to more than one biography of Marlon Brando Jr., the son cuckolded the father by seducing his second wife, a clear case of the Oedipal complex if there ever was one.
Brando used his memories of both his parents in the improvised scene in Last Tango in Paris (1972) ("Last Tango in Paris") where he recalls his childhood. In the scene, he remembered his father as a "whore-f#@%er and bar-fighter" and confessed that he didn't have too many good memories of the past, except for his mother teaching him to love nature.
Brando, Jr.'s first wife Anna Kashfi, in her 1975 memoir "Brando for Breakfast", claims that Anthony Quinn once told her that while he envied her husband's talent, he did not envy the pain that caused it, pain in Quinn's estimation, being an irritant like the grain of sand that causes an oyster to create a pearl. In this sense, Marlon Brando Sr. could be considered one of the main factors that enabled his son to deliver the pearls of his talent, his brilliant performances of men who generally are fatherless. - Writer
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Marcel Pagnol was born on 28 February 1895 in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He was a writer and producer, known for The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940), Jean de Florette (1986) and Le schpountz (1938). He was married to Jacqueline Pagnol and Simone Collin. He died on 18 April 1974 in Paris, France.- Harold Minjir was born on 5 October 1895 in Denver, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for The Great Commandment (1939), Fog Over Frisco (1934) and Daughter of the Dragon (1931). He died on 16 April 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Theodor Pistek was born on 13 June 1895 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now in Czech Republic]. He was an actor and director, known for Karel Havlícek Borovský (1925), Otec Kondelík a zenich Vejvara I. (1926) and Tchán Kondelík a zet Vejvara (1929). He was married to Mána Zenísková. He died on 5 August 1960 in Mukarov, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].- Actor
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Studio publicity incorrectly puts his birthplace at Mission, Texas. Ken was a trick rider with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and later with Ringling Brothers and was also a champion rodeo rider. His movie debut, The Man Who Won (1923), was the first of many for this early cowboy movie superstar. He was famous for the stunts he could enact with his horse Tarzan. Maynard was the first singing cowboy in the movies. During the 1930s, he dropped out of movies and went back to rodeo work. He did a few more low-budget films in the early 1940s, and then retired for good except for bit parts. His last years were miserable; poor and unremembered, he lived alone in a trailer, an alcoholic who at his death was a victim of serious malnutrition.- Actor
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The son of a sausage-maker, Michel Simon was conscripted into the Swiss Army at the start of World War I, but was thrown out through a combination of tuberculosis and general insubordination. He was variously a boxer, photographer, general handyman and right-wing anarchist, finally becoming a stage actor in Geneva in 1920. His reputation soon grew, and he moved to Paris in 1923, appearing in his first film in 1925 (the same year he played Boudu for the first time on stage). With the coming of sound, Simon became firmly established as one of France's outstanding character actors, doing unforgettable work for Jean Renoir (La Chienne (1931), Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)), Jean Vigo (L'Atalante (1934)) and Marcel Carné (Port of Shadows (1938), Bizarre, Bizarre (1937)). In the 1950s he worked less frequently, partly thanks to an accident involving makeup dye that paralyzed part of his body and face. Despite this, he still managed to appear in films right up to his death in 1975.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Rudolph Anders was born on 17 December 1895 in Waldkirch, Grand Duchy of Baden [now Baden-Württemberg], Germany. He was an actor, known for The Great Dictator (1940), She Demons (1958) and The Prize (1963). He died on 27 March 1987 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Gladys Lloyd was born on 11 October 1895 in Yonkers, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Two Seconds (1932) and Smart Money (1931). She was married to Edward G. Robinson and Ralph Lent Westervelt. She died on 6 June 1971 in Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Nepotism certainly has had its advantages in Hollywood, none more so than in the cinematic career of Jack Pickford, whose famous older sis, "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, saw to it that Jack had every advantage her star weight could muster. In Jack's case, it only added fuel to a self-starting tragic fire.
The youngest of three children, if Jack was christened with the extremely common name of John (aka Jack) Smith, his life would resemble anything but. Born in Toronto, Canada, on August 18, 1896, his middle sister was minor actress Lottie Pickford (née Charlotte Smith, (1893-1936)). Both younger children were prompted by their actress/mother, Charlotte Smith, to follow Mary (née Gladys Louise Smith) into show business after her husband (also John Charles Smith), an alcoholic, deserted the family.
A child actor on the theatre stage, it was Mary who got both her baby brother and baby sister into the Biograph film company as steady fixtures starting in 1909. They all appeared in scores of short films for D.W. Griffith -- Jack's list included Wanted, a Child (1909), To Save Her Soul (1909), The Smoker (1910), Muggsy Becomes a Hero (1910), Sweet Memories (1911), As a Boy Dreams (1911), The Speed Demon (1912), Heredity (1912), The Sneak (1913) and Home, Sweet Home (1914). Lottie had her own lead pictures, including The Pilgrimage (1912) and They Shall Pay (1921). Mary, Jack and Lottie all appeared together in the films Sweet Memories (1911) and Fanchon, the Cricket (1915), among others. Jack occasionally worked for other film companies, as he did when he played the title role in Giovanni's Gratitude (1913) for Reliance; and starred in The Making of Crooks (1915), The Hard Way (1916), The Conflict (1916) and Cupid's Touchdown (1917) for Selig Polyscope,
Jack followed along with sister Mary when she left Biograph and moved to the Famous Players Film Company (later Paramount Pictures) in 1914, and proved a personable light leading man. When Mary signed her famous million-dollar contract with First National in 1917, one of her stipulations was that Jack receive a lucrative contract as well. He appeared with Mary in such films as A Girl of Yesterday (1915) and Poor Little Peppina (1916), and starred on his own as lovelorn Bill Baxter in Seventeen (1916); as Pip in Great Expectations (1917); as Jack in The Dummy (1917); and as Tom Sawyer in both Tom Sawyer (1917) and Huck and Tom (1918); as well as the title roles in His Majesty, Bunker Bean (1918), Mile-a-Minute Kendall (1918) and Sandy (1918) (all co-starring lovely Louise Huff, and the films Freckles (1917), The Girl at Home (1917), What Money Can't Buy (1917) and Jack and Jill (1917).
The young man, however, just couldn't stay out of trouble. A 1918 stint in the Navy Reserve to straighten up proved disastrous when Jack, among others, was accused of accepting bribes from draftees who wanted light shore duty and stay out of front-line action. With the help of his family, he avoided a court martial, was exonerated and received a general discharge -- more than he deserved.
Earning a modicum of naïve "boy-next-door" success, Jack went on to produce a few of his own films (Burglar by Proxy (1919), Garrison's Finish (1923) and In Wrong (1919)), as well as co-direct (with Alfred E. Green) a couple of Mary's films (Through the Back Door (1921) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)). Some of Jack's better silents during the "Roaring 20's" included The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1920), The Man Who Had Everything (1920), Waking Up the Town (1925), The Goose Woman (1925), Brown of Harvard (1926) and the classic Beatrice Lillie backstage comedy vehicle Exit Smiling (1926) as a young leading man of the troupe.
Tragically, Jack's obsessive taste for the high life quickly took over. A ne'er-do-well playboy and constant carouser, his scandalous private life aroused more public interest than his on-camera work in light romantic films. He picked up severe alcohol, drug and gambling addictions to accommodate his partying decadence with bouts of syphilis adding to the complications. Jack's wedded life was anything but blissful. All three wives were Ziegfeld girls at one time. His stormy marriage to despondent, drug-addicted first wife, actress Olive Thomas, ended after four years when the 25-year-old died by swallowing mercury bichloride. His next two marriages to legendary Broadway musical star Marilyn Miller and minor actress Mary Mulhern also ended quickly due to his acute alcoholism.
By the late 1920s Jack was completely undependable and, with the advent of sound, his career ground to a screeching halt, despite Mary's continued attempts to rescue it. Jack's health deteriorated considerably after this letdown. His last two films were the (lost) silent feature (with talking sequences) The Dancer Upstairs (2002) co-starring Olive Borden and a lead in the short film All Square (1930).
He died aged 36 on January 3, 1933, in Paris. The cause was listed as "progressive multiple neuritis", but it was almost certainly precipitated by his chronic alcoholism-- a tragic and seemingly unnecessary end for a young man who chose to tarnish the silver platter readily handed to him. Sister Lottie too fell into extreme excess and died in 1936 at age 43 of alcohol-related causes. Jack later earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.- Writer
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"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers out there are starving!" When Patrick Dennis's fictional Auntie Mame uttered this pithy observation, she could have been speaking of Charles MacArthur. Charlie never shied away from the feast, and he certainly never went hungry. Arriving in November 1895 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Charlie was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. His early life was dominated by his father's ministry, leading the family to travel cross country wherever the elder MacArthur's calling took them. Charlie spent much of his time during those years hiding in the bathroom -- the only place offering even a modicum of privacy for a member of such a large family -- reading virtually anything he could get his hands on. He developed a passion for the written word that would last him to his dying day. Resisting Reverend MacArthur's insistent urging that his son follow him into the ministry, young Charlie left the family's rural New York home soon after finishing high school. Heading off to the Midwest, he took a reporter's job at The Oak Leaves, a suburban Chicago newspaper owned by two of his older brothers and run by his older sister. His first professional taste of crafting something for others to read whetted his appetite for even more. Intently determined to pursue a calling which for him was as strong as the calling his father had heard, Charlie went to the City News Bureau of Chicago as the first step in his journey toward life as a journalist. Though only 19, the irreverent sense of humor and dislike for mindless authoritarianism for which he would later be so well known was already quite evident in the application he filled out for the job. In the space entitled "Tell us in exactly seventy-five words why you wish to become a reporter," Charlie wrote: "I want to become a reporter more because I like the work than for any other reason. I feel that even if I should branch off in another profession, the experience obtained in getting up on your toes after news would be valuable. These are my reasons. More words would be useless." The excitement of working in brash and brawling pre-1920s Chicago didn't quite satisfy Charlie's hunger for something more, however, and he soon hooked up with General "Black Jack" Pershing, galloping off to Mexico to join in the hunt for the infamous Pancho Villa. When World War I broke out, Charlie joined the Army's 149th Field Artillery, part of the Rainbow Division. During his time in France, he and his battery mate shot down a German plane with nothing more than a machine gun. Later in the war, Charlie sustained a mild shrapnel wound. In 1919 he penned his only book, A Bug's Eye View of the War (later republished in 1929 by Harper Collins as War Bugs) about his unit's adventures and misadventures during some of the most brutal and bloodiest fighting in history. Returning to Chicago just in time for Prohibition, the Roaring 20s, and Al Capone, Charlie became one of Chicago's most well-known and widely read reporters. He authored some of the most enduring pieces ever printed in the pages of the Chicago Tribune and Daily News. His style was inventive, charming, and witty. Readers couldn't get enough. Once, when writing about a dentist accused of sexually molesting his female patients, Charlie chose the headline "Dentist Fills Wrong Cavity". He also wrote several short stories, two of which, "Hang It All" (1921) and "Rope" (1923), were published in H.L. Mencken's The Smart Set magazine. His star continued to rise, and he eventually headed off to the greener pastures of New York City. Once settled in the Big Apple, he began to shift his efforts toward playwrighting. His first true Broadway success was in 1926 with the play "Lulu Belle", written in collaboration with Edward Sheldon. It would later be remade into a 1948 movie starring Dorothy Lamour and George Montgomery. His next play, "Salvation", written in collaboration with Sidney Howard, enjoyed a moderate Broadway run. During the summer of 1927, Charlie and long-time friend and collaborator, Ben Hecht, rented the premises of the Nyack Girl's Academy as a haven from which they could create their own special brand of playwrighting. Helen Hayes (the future Mrs. Charles MacArthur) would tell friends of times when she or Rose Hecht would visit to bring in food or other supplies for their men, and the building would be positively filled with shouts of laughter and merriment. The result of this seclusion was the 1928 Broadway debut of "The Front Page". The phenomenal stage success of "The Front Page" prompted Charlie to head to Hollywood and screenplay work. Having already developed such works as The Girl Said No (1930), Billy the Kid (1930) and The Unholy Garden (1931), he hit the jackpot in 1931, first with the movie version of The Front Page (1931) (again collaborating with Ben Hecht), which won Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Lewis Milestone), and Best Actor (Adolphe Menjou), and then, with the release of The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), which netted a 1932 Best Actress Oscar for its star, Helen Hayes. The film also won awards at that year's Venice Film Festival for both its leading lady and its director, Edgar Selwyn. Charlie's screenplay for Rasputin and the Empress (1932), the only movie ever to feature siblings John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore together in the same film, gained him his own first Academy Award nomination (in 1934, for Best Original Story). Even though their efforts had turned mostly to filmmaking by this point, it was also during this period that Hecht and MacArthur produced their second smash theatrical effort, "Twentieth Century", which debuted on Broadway in December 1932, and was later made into the well-received 1934 movie starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. Unhappy with the machinations of Hollywood's fledgling film industry, however, MacArthur and Hecht decided to set up their own shop in Astoria, New York, producing, writing, directing, and even making uncredited onscreen appearances in a series of films such as The Scoundrel (1935) (poking fun at themselves by playing downtrodden patrons of a charity flop house) and Crime Without Passion (1934) (in which they portrayed -- what else? -- newspaper reporters). Their work earned much critical acclaim, culminating in the 1936 Best Writing (Original Story) Academy Award for The Scoundrel (1935). Their 1939 collaboration to turn Rudyard Kipling's epic poem into the movie Gunga Din (1939), starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., was recognized in 1999 by the National Film Registry, and their adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1939) garnered the two yet another Academy Award Best Writing (Screenplay) nomination in 1940. That year also saw the remake of "The Front Page" into the popular movie, His Girl Friday (1940), starring Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. The advent of World War II prompted Charlie to interrupt his writing career and sign on in his country's service once again. He began his second stint of service years as a Major in the Chemical Warfare Service, returning home at the war's conclusion a Lt. Colonel. By now, the father of two children, Mary and James MacArthur, and husband to "The First Lady of the American Theatre", Charlie had amassed a considerable amount of fame in his own right, yet was still looking for something different. Resuming his theatrical and film work, he also took on the duties of editing and publishing the foundering Theatre World magazine, but left after little more than a year, dissatisfied with the politics and constraints of working in a corporate atmosphere. The tragic loss of his 19-year-old daughter to polio in 1949 was a blow from which Charlie would never quite recover. Though he continued to work on screenplays and movie scripts up until his death in 1956, some of which enjoyed a modicum of success, he would never again completely recapture the freewheeling enthusiasm of his earlier days. When his son grew old enough to begin considering a career of his own, his father advised, "Do anything you like, son, but never become a playwright. It's a death worse than fate!" Charles MacArthur left behind a lasting imprint upon both those who knew him personally and those who knew him only through his published works. Supremely disdainful of anything even remotely false or affected, Charlie nevertheless did follow the path his father wished him to take, albeit in his own inimical fashion. His words carried a truth and sincerity few writers have been able to achieve. His unique mix of subtle irony, gentle sarcasm, and poignant pathos reached as deeply into his audience at least as well as any fiery sermon from a pulpit ever could. As Ben Hecht said in the eulogy he delivered at his friend's memorial service (and later expanded upon in his 1957 book, "Charlie: The Improbable Life and Times of Charles MacArthur"), "Charlie was more than a man of talent. He was himself a great piece of writing. His gaiety, wildness and kindness, his love for his bride Helen, and his two children, and for his clan of brothers and sisters -- his wit and his adventures will live a long, long while".- Actor
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Roscoe Ates was born on 20 January 1895 in Grange, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Freaks (1932), The Great Lover (1931) and Tumbleweed Trail (1946). He was married to Beatrice Heisser, Barbara Ray and Clara C. Adrian. He died on 1 March 1962 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actress
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Anita Sharp-Bolster was born on 28 August 1895 in Glenlohane, Kanturk, County Cork, Ireland. She was an actress, known for My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), Saboteur (1942) and The Lost Weekend (1945). She died on 1 June 1985 in North Miami, Florida, USA.