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Recognize the man pictured above? He was a great star in vaudeville, then originated the part of Captain Andy on Broadway in 1927, played the part again in a 1932 Broadway revival, then switched to movies. He made a dozen films before he recreated his role of Capt. Andy in the 1936 film version of […]
Remember Eddie Constantine? We suspect not for reasons we will get to. First and foremost, a huge tip of the hat to French movie critics who were perhaps the first to fully appreciate what official studio Hollywood considered, for the most part, useful dreck. We are referring to Forties crime dramas, usually released post World […]
She only made a handful of films, none classics, though two or three are worth seeing. No. Her big claim to Hollywood fame was her hasty marriage to a car salesman, Kirby Weatherly. Joan was the daughter or writers Katherine Albert and Dale Eunson, and for a while Joan Crawford was her mother’s best friend. […]
Probably not. Have you ever seen one of his films? Probably so. For although as a child actor he only made a few movies, he was fortunate enough to be in a couple of really good ones. Ever see Gone With the Wind? He portrayed Beau Wilkes, the son of Ashley Wilkes and Melanie. That’s […]
Yes, that’s the book our own Joe co-authored with Ed Epstein on the woman who became the most beloved TV star. But how much did you know about her movie career? Let’s check the answers to yesterday’s Monday Quiz and find out. As usual, to review the questions, just scroll down to the blog below. Here […]
Television cemented her fame as an International Star, but in the 1930s and 40s Lucille Ball struggled to get top billing. As the publicity photo above from Easy to Wed illustrates, the top Stars of the film were Esther Williams and Van Johnson. MGM had lured Ball away from RKO with promises to make her […]
One of our readers, Andy Bueno, wrote a few months back regarding our articles on the actress Jean Peters, best known for Pick Up on South Street and Three Coins in the Fountain, and of course, for being married to Howard Hughes. Here’s what Andy had to say — I know some facts about Jean […]
Demetrius and the Gladiators. In 1954 it grossed $26 million…It’s probably the biggest hit movie NEVER talked about. And seldom seen. The Jolson Story grossed $8 million in 1946 and Jolson Sings Again grossed $5 million in 1949….beating out all the critically top films of that year, The Heiress, A Letter to Three Wives, All the King’s […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: Before we get to our Robert Taylor Quiz today, we offer appreciative farewells to actor Martin Landau and director George Romero. We shall never forget Landau’s Oscar-winning performance as an aged and drug-addled Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s superb 1994 biopic, Ed Wood. For better or worse (mostly the former, we think) Romero’s […]
Here he is (above) during his early years when he started as a handsome “juvenile” lead. He developed into an ultra-handsome Hollywood figure — known informally as “the man with the perfect profile” — and one of MGM’s biggest stars. Still in all, Robert Taylor remains a bit off-putting. He often comes across as an […]