|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 23, 2024 17:28:45 GMT
Day 23. Gloria Swanson. She was someone who liked to reinvent herself, and she did it often.
Born in Chicago in 1899, she was part Swedish and part Polish. Though the family moved around a bit, she was back in Chicago during her teen years. Deciding she was too important for school, she figured she would drop out and reinvent herself as a movie star. By age 15, she was appearing in short films at a Chicago-based film studio.
The following year, she went west with her mother to work in Hollywood. Between 1915 and 1918, she paid her dues in various shorts, but she had her sights set on bigger things. During this period she reinvented herself as a wife (married to Wallace Beery of all people). When she decided she didn’t care for him, she reinvented herself as a divorcee.
In 1918, she had her first lead in a feature film called SOCIETY FOR SALE. She also made what would be one of her early feminist films, HER DECISION, along with Ann Forrest who played her kid sister.
She then signed with Paramount and appeared in her first picture directed by Cecil DeMille— DON’T CHANGE YOUR HUSBAND. You can see she had already become quite the fashionista by age 20.
One of her next important films was THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL (1921). She was certainly in her ingenue phase.
A film she enjoyed making was BEYOND THE ROCKS, released in 1922. She and leading man Rudolph Valentino had been friends for awhile, since their early days in the industry. When she started in movies she was making $15 per week. By this point, she was making $300 each week.
A series of blockbusters at Paramount would make Swanson an international star and one of the highest paid women of Hollywood.
Next up was the silent version of ZAZA (1923). The studio would remake the story in 1939 with Claudette Colbert.
With 28 pictures made in a seven year period, she left Paramount after completing her contract in 1926 with the release of FINE MANNERS.
The bosses at Paramount begged her to say and offered her a new contract that would earn her about $1 million per year. But she was eager to reinvent herself as a producer, developing her own films, so she moved over to United Artists where she’d have the chance to do just that.
Her first film at UA was THE LOVE OF SUNYA (1927) costarring John Boles. It barely broke even.
But her next UA picture was a smash hit, and she received her first Oscar nomination for it. In SADIE THOMPSON, preacher Lionel Barrymore tries to save her soul. But her devil may care attitude made things hard on him.
She was still leading men into temptation in THE TRESPASSER (1929). This was her sound debut, and it also netted her an Oscar nomination.
In the early 1930s, after so much success, her motion picture career went into decline. She did TONIGHT OR NEVER with Melvyn Douglas, who was just starting his career in films. It didn’t do so well at the box office.
She went to England for her next effort. In PERFECT UNDERSTANDING she was teamed with young Laurence Olivier.
Back in Hollywood, she made MUSIC IN THE AIR (1934) at Fox. You can see in this publicity shot with Douglass Montgomery, she was already verging on self-parody, 16 years before she ended up on Sunset Boulevard.
There was a seven year absence from films. She was busy raising her three kids during these years and going through a few more husbands. She moved to New York City and reinvented herself as an East Coast diva.
Hollywood beckoned again in 1941 when she was cast opposite Adolphe Menjou in RKO’s romcom FATHER TAKES A WIFE.
Though well-made, FATHER TAKES A WIFE fell short of studio expectations. So she took another leave of absence from the movies. During the 1940s, she became politically active in Europe with one of her ex-husbands. She also began doing stage work and toured in several productions.
Her next Hollywood comeback attempt went over very well. This time she was playing a washed-up silent movie actress (sound familiar?) alongside William Holden and Erich Von Stroheim in Billy Wilder’s SUNSET BLVD.
This production brought her back to Paramount, and one scene in the movie gave her the chance to work with Mr. DeMille again. She earned her third and final Oscar nomination.
Hot off her success as Norma Desmond, she made her first color film at Warner Brothers— the poorly received situation comedy 3 FOR BEDROOM C (1952). In this photo, she is relaxing between takes and studying the script. If you ask me, she should've requested a new script.
After the failure of 3 FOR BEDROOM C, she left Hollywood and ventured off to Europe for awhile. In 1956, she appeared in an Italian flick called MIO FIGLIO NERONE (MY SON NERO). This gave her a chance to play a more sophisticated comedy with Brigitte Bardot and Vittorio Di Sica.
In the 1960s, she tried a bit of television. It was during this time that she had befriended some hillbillies in Beverly Hills.
In the 1970s, Swanson was back on stage, in a version of Butterflies Are Free. She also co-authored a health food cookbook with her last husband. And she managed to find time to do AIRPORT 1975 for Universal. In what would be her last motion picture, she shared scenes with Myrna Loy.
Before she passed away in 1983, she published her autobiography-- Swanson on Swanson. In the book she describes her experiences as an actress, dishes about her personal life and shares some of her views about religion and politics. Gloria Swanson reinvented herself quite a few times over the years, but at her core the Chicago girl was a stylish soul.
|
|
|
|
Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 24, 2024 0:22:03 GMT
Gloria also became somewhat of an activist in her later years, specifically in support of theories promoted in the book Sugar Blues (1975) by William Dufty, who it turned out was a former husband. He credited Gloria as being the inspiration for the book. It detailed the history of refined sugar and how it intersected with medical science and it's still regarded as an important work on the subject. I remember seeing Gloria and the author together on TV talk shows at the time and she definitely brought the power of her celebrity to promoting the book.  |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 24, 2024 1:18:03 GMT
Gloria also became somewhat of an activist in her later years, specifically in support of theories promoted in the book Sugar Blues (1975) by William Dufty, who it turned out was a former husband. He credited Gloria as being the inspiration for the book. It detailed the history of refined sugar and how it intersected with medical science and it's still regarded as an important work on the subject. I remember seeing Gloria and the author together on TV talk shows at the time and she definitely brought the power of her celebrity to promoting the book.
Incidentally, Dirk Benedict (who became known for his role on TV's The A-Team) said that while he was playing her son on stage in Butterflies Are Free, Gloria taught him the benefits of a macrobiotic diet. He claims the diet helped him beat cancer.
 |
|
|
|
Post by sagebrush on Feb 24, 2024 14:14:59 GMT
Charlie Chaplin tells a funny story about Gloria in his autobiography, in which he says she did a screen test with him for an early comedy, and she was not at all good. He goes on to say that years later, when they happened to be together at the same place/time, he brought the subject up to her. She told him she intentionally did not do her best in the screen test because she didn't want to be in comedies; she wanted to be a respected dramatic actress.  |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 24, 2024 15:15:47 GMT
Charlie Chaplin tells a funny story about Gloria in his autobiography, in which he says she did a screen test with him for an early comedy, and she was not at all good. He goes on to say that years later, when they happened to be together at the same place/time, he brought the subject up to her. She told him she intentionally did not do her best in the screen test because she didn't want to be in comedies; she wanted to be a respected dramatic actress. |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 24, 2024 18:41:53 GMT
Day 24. Buster Crabbe was a popular film star, never mistaken for being a great actor, but he still gave competent performances in crowd-pleasing fare.
He came from a well-off family (his father was a real estate developer in Hawaii), and he had been sent to the University of Southern California to get an education. At USC, he excelled in athletics but was also expected by his parents to do well with his studies, since their hope was he’d become a lawyer. During this period of time, while he was in college, he entered the Olympics and earned a bronze medal in swimming in 1928.
Four years later, he entered the Olympics again and earned a gold medal that time. By 1932, he had graduated from college; he had started doing stunt work and uncredited athletic roles in motion pictures. Interestingly, he was auditioned for TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), but MGM passed him over in favor of another Olympic medalist, Johnny Weissmuller.
Buster decided that if he didn’t make it in the acting profession after a twelve month period, he’d return to USC and enroll in law school. He had just been married, and unlike most Hollywood stars, his marriage would last (50 years until his death in 1983).
Though he didn’t get the part of Tarzan at MGM, he still played Tarzan in a low budget serial for an independent producer, TARZAN THE FEARLESS in 1933. Also that same year, he signed with Paramount. The studio cast him in KING OF THE JUNGLE, about a lion tamer character. He was now in lead roles and quickly typecast as an action star.
But Paramount saw other potential in Buster Crabbe. They used him in provocative precodes, like SEARCH FOR BEAUTY (1934) where he paired up with a blonde-haired Ida Lupino.
After this Paramount execs cast him in a series of modestly budgeted Zane Grey westerns.
In fact, westerns would become his bread-and-butter in the 1940s. But for now, the studio was placing him in a variety of genres. Including a W.C. Fields comedy, YOU’RE TELLING ME! (1934):
He was loaned out to RKO for the screwball farce WE’RE RICH AGAIN (1934) which didn’t exactly advance his career, but it did show off his nice physique to considerable advantage.
Back at Paramount, he made a few romantic westerns like WANDERER OF THE WASTELAND and NEVADA, both in 1935. In some of these productions, he was billed as Larry Crabbe or Larry ‘Buster’ Crabbe...his real name was Clarence Linden Crabbe.
Though the studio didn’t seem interested in promoting him to substantial ‘A’ films, he remained a hit with moviegoers. His films made money, and Universal expressed interest in borrowing him for several FLASH GORDON serials beginning in 1936, which the Paramount bosses agreed to letting him do.
For the Flash Gordon role his hair was bleached bright blonde. After these serials were finished, Universal used him again in a Buck Rogers serial. That time, his hair was darkened to differentiate Buck from Flash.
In between these Universal serials of the late 1930s and early 1940s, he was still on the payroll at Paramount. He had supporting roles in campus programmers like ROSE BOWL (1936) and MURDER GOES TO COLLEGE (1937). He was now nearly 30 years old but still looked youthful:
Paramount also put him in an Anna May Wong picture, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (1937):
Then he was a supporting heel in Helen Twelvetrees’ last picture, UNMARRIED (1939). This time he played a clean-cut ex-boxer:
Nearing the end of his Paramount contract in 1940, he was loaned out to Fox for SAILOR’S LADY (1940) a romcom that starred Jon Hall and Nancy Kelly. Off screen he and Hall became friends.
After this, he took a short break from films and appeared in an aquacade show back east. When the U.S. entered the war in ’41, he was not drafted due to being in his 30s and being married. But he still helped make government training films to aid the war effort.
Back in Hollywood full-time, he signed up to do a series of low-budget westerns at PRC…the first was BILLY THE KID WANTED…there would be a series of Billy the Kid flicks at PRC, followed by a dozen more with the character’s name slightly changed to Billy Carson.
Until 1946, he kept busy with the Billy westerns at PRC, turning out almost 30 of these pictures. They are in the public domain today and easy to find.
While making the Billy westerns, he did another jungle picture called NABONGA with Julie London.
Paramount occasionally asked him back. He did an action film for his old studio called WILDCAT in 1942.
SWAMP FIRE (1946) was also made for Paramount, which interestingly, united him with his former rival Johnny Weissmuller. In this publicity shot, they arm wrestle to see who's strongest:
Off camera Buster and Johnny had become friends and they would do another film together called CAPTIVE GIRL which was part of Johnny Weissmuller’s Jungle Jim series.
Paramount was still interested in Buster, and they hired him one last time for CAGED FURY in 1948. In this action drama, he was back to playing a lion tamer. He appeared opposite Richard Denning. Again, there was another bare-chested publicity photo:
In the early 50s, Buster was making more serials, this time at Columbia. KING OF THE CONGO (1952) is one of the more notable examples. Notice how the ad plays up the danger:
After KING OF THE CONGO Buster took another break from feature films. He wanted to try his luck in television. He hosted a children’s variety show which included clips of his serials. This was followed by a regular weekly series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, which costarred his son Cullen:
In 1958, he returned to western features, supporting George Montgomery in BADMAN’S COUNTRY. It was a hit. He had a good fight scene in this picture:
A year and a half later he landed the starring role in GUNFIGHTERS OF ABILENE (1960):
There were other movie appearances in the 60s…including a role alongside Audie Murphy in ARIZONA RAIDERS (1965).
Off screen, he had started taking on work as a stockbroker (never a lawyer) and there were gigs endorsing products for a swimming pool company. There were also charity events, in which he sponsored summer camp programs that gave at-risk boys a chance to swim and learn discipline. Buster himself continued to be an avid swimmer.
In the early 1970s, he broke records for his age category in men’s swimming competitions. There would be occasional returns to Hollywood. In 1979, he was a special guest star on NBC’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Gil Rogers was now playing the title character, and Buster was a seen-it-all leader:
He then made an appearance on B.J. and the Bear, also on NBC. Plus there was a role as a sheriff in a swamp-horror picture, THE ALIEN DEAD in 1980.
At the time of Buster’s death in 1983, he was helping raise funds for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was someone who remained true to his family and continued to be athletically inclined. His grandson would become a football coach at his alma mater, USC. Buster was never a Clark Gable or Charles Boyer in the world of movies, but he was still a star and accomplished just as much, perhaps more, than others.
|
|
|
|
Post by NoShear on Feb 24, 2024 19:25:51 GMT
Day 24. Buster Crabbe was a popular film star, never mistaken for being a great actor, but he still gave competent performances in crowd-pleasing fare.
He came from a well-off family (his father was a real estate developer in Hawaii), and he had been sent to the University of Southern California to get an education. At USC, he excelled in athletics but was also expected by his parents to do well with his studies, since their hope was he’d become a lawyer. During this period of time, while he was in college, he entered the Olympics and earned a bronze medal in swimming in 1928.
Four years later, he entered the Olympics again and earned a gold medal that time. By 1932, he had graduated from college; he had started doing stunt work and uncredited athletic roles in motion pictures. Interestingly, he was auditioned for TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), but MGM passed him over in favor of another Olympic medalist, Johnny Weissmuller.
Buster decided that if he didn’t make it in the acting profession after a twelve month period, he’d return to USC and enroll in law school. He had just been married, and unlike most Hollywood stars, his marriage would last (50 years until his death in 1983).
Though he didn’t get the part of Tarzan at MGM, he still played Tarzan in a low budget serial for an independent producer, TARZAN THE FEARLESS in 1933. Also that same year, he signed with Paramount. The studio cast him in KING OF THE JUNGLE, about a lion man character. He was now in lead roles and quickly typecast as an action star.
But Paramount saw other potential in Buster Crabbe. They used him in provocative precodes, like SEARCH FOR BEAUTY (1934) where he paired up with a blonde-haired Ida Lupino.
After this Paramount execs cast him in a series of modestly budgeted Zane Grey westerns.
In fact, westerns would become his bread-and-butter in the 1940s. But for now, the studio was placing him in a variety of genres. Including a W.C. Fields comedy, YOU’RE TELLING ME! (1934):
He was loaned out to RKO for the screwball farce WE’RE RICH AGAIN (1934) which didn’t exactly advance his career, but it did show off his nice physique to considerable advantage.
Back at Paramount, he made a few romantic westerns like WANDERER OF THE WASTELAND and NEVADA, both in 1935. In some of these productions, he was billed as Larry Crabbe or Larry ‘Buster’ Crabbe...his real name was Clarence Linden Crabbe.
Though the studio didn’t seem interested in promoting him to substantial ‘A’ films, he remained a hit with moviegoers. His films made money, and Universal expressed interest in borrowing him for several FLASH GORDON serials beginning in 1936, which the Paramount bosses agreed to letting him do.
For the Flash Gordon role his dishwater blond hair was bleached bright blonde. After these serials were finished, Universal used him again in a Buck Rogers serial. That time, his hair was darkened to differentiate Buck from Flash.
In between these Universal serials of the late 1930s and early 1940s, he was still on the payroll at Paramount. He had supporting roles in campus programmers like ROSE BOWL (1936) and MURDER GOES TO COLLEGE (1937). He was now nearly 30 years old but still looked youthful:
Paramount also put him in an Anna May Wong picture, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (1937):
Then he was a supporting heel in Helen Twelvetrees’ last picture, UNMARRIED (1939). This time he played a clean-cut ex-boxer:
Nearing the end of his Paramount contract in 1940, he was loaned out to Fox for SAILOR’S LADY (1940) a romcom that starred Jon Hall and Nancy Kelly. Off screen he and Hall became friends.
After this, he took a short break from films and appeared in an aquacade show back east. When the U.S. entered the war in ’41, he was not drafted due to being in his 30s and being married. But he still helped make government training films to aid the war effort.
Back in Hollywood full-time, he signed up to do a series of low-budget westerns at PRC…the first was BILLY THE KID WANTED…there would be a series of Billy the Kid flicks at PRC, followed by a dozen more with the character’s name slightly changed to Billy Carson.
Until 1946, he kept busy with the Billy westerns at PRC, turning out almost 30 of these pictures. They are in the public domain today and easy to find.
While making the Billy westerns, he did another jungle picture called NABONGA with Julie London.
Paramount occasionally asked him back. He did an action film for his old home studio called WILDCAT in 1942.
SWAMP FIRE (1946) was also made for Paramount, which interestingly, united him with his former rival Johnny Weissmuller. In this publicity shot, they arm wrestle to see who's strongest:
Off camera Buster and Johnny had become friends and they would do another film together called CAPTIVE GIRL which was part of Johnny Weissmuller’s Jungle Jim series.
Paramount was still interested in Buster, and they hired him one last time for CAGED FURY in 1948. In this action drama, he was back to playing a lion tamer. He appeared opposite Richard Denning. Again, there was another bare-chested publicity photo:
In the early 50s, Buster was making more serials, this time at Columbia. KING OF THE CONGO (1952) is one of the more notable examples. Notice how the ad plays up the danger:
After KING OF THE CONGO Buster took another break from feature films. He wanted to try his luck with television. He hosted a children’s variety show which included clips of his serials. This was followed by a regular weekly series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, which costarred his son Cullen:
In 1958, he returned to western features, this time supporting George Montgomery in BADMAN’S COUNTRY. It was a hit. He had a good fight scene in this picture:
A year and a half later he landed the starring role in GUNFIGHTERS OF ABILENE (1960):
There were other film appearances in the 60s…including a role alongside Audie Murphy in ARIZONA RAIDERS (1965).
Off screen, he had started taking on work as a stockbroker (never a lawyer) and there were gigs endorsing products for a swimming pool company. There were also charity events, in which he sponsored summer camp programs that gave at-risk boys a chance to swim and learn discipline. Buster himself continued to be an avid swimmer.
In the early 1970s, he broke records for his age category in men’s swimming competitions. There would be occasional returns to Hollywood. In 1979, he was a special guest star on NBC’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Gil Rogers was now playing the title character, and Buster was a seen-it-all leader:
After this he made an appearance on B.J. and the Bear, also on NBC. Plus there was a role as a sheriff in a swamp-horror picture, THE ALIEN DEAD in 1980.
At the time of Buster’s death in 1983, he was helping raise funds for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was someone who remained true to his family and continued to be athletically inclined. His grandson would become a football coach at his alma mater, USC. Buster was never a Clark Gable or Charles Boyer in the world of movies, but he was still a star and accomplished just as much, perhaps more, than others.
Interesting that Johnny Weissmuller was selected over Buster Crabbe who, not only was he every bit the physical specimen that Weissmuller was, seems far better looking in my eyes. On the other hand, Johnny Weissmuller may have projected more of the proverbial animal magnetism, and he's said to have been pretty boorish in behavior, so maybe this collective went to favor Weissmuller. Also possibly factored, Johnny Weissmuller was the more accomplished swimmer between the pair... Thanks for the Masters swimming info on Buster Crabbe, TopBilled. |
|
|
|
Post by NoShear on Feb 24, 2024 19:34:16 GMT
^ Perhaps too polished looking for TARZAN vis-a-vis Johnny Weissmuller as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 24, 2024 19:47:31 GMT
^ Perhaps too polished looking for TARZAN vis-a-vis Johnny Weissmuller as well.
At least Buster was able to expand a bit more into other genres. I think he does a very good job in the Helen Twelvetrees picture (UNMARRIED)...he appears in the beginning, then isn't seen again until the last 10 minutes. Near the end, he has a scene in a restaurant where he gets to be very mean to poor Helen...I feel that scene proves he had the goods to be a substantial dramatic actor. But as I said, Paramount wasn't keen on using him in 'A' films or giving him opportunities to develop more as an actor.
Though Buster is most remembered for the serials and action adventure pics, he made more westerns than anything else, really.
The kiddie variety series Buster hosted in the early 50s that included clips of his serials seems to have been a trend at the time. William 'Hopalong Cassidy' Boyd had also transitioned to television in a similar way. So did Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, where their old 'B' films were now being rerun on TV, and they filmed wraparound segments to re-introduce the movies to viewers, usually a new generation of kids (baby boomers). |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 25, 2024 18:28:36 GMT
Day 25. Yvonne Sanson is known as one of the most beautiful and successful actresses in Italy during the postwar period. Interestingly, she was not Italian by birth, but she became so beloved by Italians and so much a part of the popular culture, she took Italian citizenship and even converted to Roman Catholicism.
She had come to Italian cinema by way of modeling. Sanson was born in Greece, though her mother was Turkish and her father was French-Russian. From both parents, she inherited a somewhat dark, and lush, beauty.
She arrived in Italy at age 17 to model. However, she was quickly put into movies, despite being rather tall (5’10”).
One of her first significant film roles was playing the lead female character in IL DELITTO DI GIOVANNI EPISCOPO (THE CRIME OF GIOVANNI EPISCOPO) in 1947. She was just 22 years old at the time. In the film, she plays the wife of Aldo Fabrizi, a meek clerk that marries a woman too beautiful for him. Of course, this only causes endless problems…including a terrible crime.
After the war, such dramas were still popular in Italy. But they were now infused with a neorealist style of moviemaking, which directors like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio de Sica were perfecting and turning into an art form.
IL DELITTO DI GIOVANNI EPISCOPO combined melodrama with religious symbolism. It was directed by another well-known Italian auteur whose works were now leaning towards neorealism— Alberto Lattuada. Realizing her potential, Lattuada’s backers at the Lux studio were interested in casting Sanson in other pictures.
However, instead of finding more roles in the neorealist style, Sanson was selected by Raffaello Matarazzo for his next film which would not be a neorealist picture. Far from it. Up to this point, Matarazzo was known for historical pics as well as comedies. But Matarazzo was eager to branch into something different.
As a response to the neorealist style that emphasized bleak conditions in postwar Italy, Matarazzo crafted his own sort of melodrama. The first one was CATENE (1949) which means CHAINS in English. It featured Yvonne Sanson as a troubled wife and mother, whose problems are exacerbated when her husband (played by Amedeo Nazzari) takes matters into his own hands and everything escalates into violence.
Off screen, neither Sanson nor Nazzari were married, and they soon began a romantic relationship. Nazzari who looked much younger than his actual age was 42 when they made CATENE…and Sanson was 24, which was an 18 year age difference.
In CATENE, Sanson plays the mother of a ten year old boy. She is supposed to be around 30. Since she did look mature for her age, audiences didn’t have any issue accepting her in this part. In fact, audiences loved her; and more importantly, they loved her and Nazzari together.
CATENE was such a hit with the Italian public (one of out of every eight Italians in the country had seen the film) that Matarazzo was asked to create a follow-up. The next collaboration was I FIGLI DI NESSUNO (NOBODY’S CHILDREN) which is considered a masterpiece. In fact, this follow-up was so successful it spawned its own sequel three years later, L’ANGELO BIANCO (1955) which is translated as THE WHITE ANGEL.
At first Matarazzo wasn’t sure there could be a sequel. In I FIGLI DI NESSUNO, Sanson’s character had made a wild 180-turn, after her illegitimate son with Nazzari had died…she’d taken vows to become a nun! Matarazzo couldn’t undo this, as it would anger Catholic moviegoers who would not condone a nun breaking her vows with the church.
Matarazzo, a genius at storytelling, devised a sensational new plot for the sequel that would predate Hitchcock’s VERTIGO by three years. In L’ANGELO BIANCO, Nazzari’s character is still reeling from the death of his son and is still struggling with not being able to reconcile with Sanson’s nun character. So he takes a trip and comes across a doppelgänger (also played by Sanson) for whom he develops an unhealthy obsession. Shades of Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in VERTIGO, which may suggest Hitchcock had seen Matarazzo’s movie and borrowed the idea.
As L’ANGELO BIANCO’s doppelgänger plot unspools, we learn that Sanson’s new character is the complete opposite of the nun, about as unholy as they come…using this man’s fixation with her to great advantage. At the same time, Sanson is still playing the nun, who helps out in a women’s prison…which, you guessed it, is where the evil double is sentenced for her crimes.
I don’t want to give away the ending of L’ANGELO BIANCO but Sanson does such a tremendous job with this unique double plot…you truly do believe these are two very different women. When they cross paths at the prison, things get a bit more complex and incredibly melodramatic.
The success of L’ANGELO BIANCO-- considered a highpoint in the careers of Matarazzo, Sanson and Nazzari-- meant there would be a few more follow-ups before the decade was over.
During this period of her career, Yvonne Sanson specialized in melodramas. Under Matarazzo and other important directors, she portrayed a lot of suffering women. These included slandered wives, misunderstood mothers, tempted nuns and punishable bad girls.
When she wasn’t making melodramas alongside Nazzari, Sanson found roles in other films. She has a good part in LA BELLA MUGNAI (THE MILLER’S BEAUTIFUL WIFE) from 1955, which costarred Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.
Interestingly, Sanson gets to act with Vittorio De Sica in this film...though it is directed by someone else.
The last Sanson-Nazzari picture would be MALINCONICO AUTUNNO which was released in 1958. It was made around the time Sanson and Nazzari broke up. In a way, the story brings their on-and-off screen relationship full circle. It's a poignant farewell.
Away from the cameras, Nazzari married another woman, who'd also been born in Greece. As for Sanson, she never married, but she had a daughter, Gianna.
Sanson continued to act in Italian films during the 1960s and 1970s. At one point in the 60s she changed the coloring of her hair to blonde in pursuit of different roles.
One of her later pictures had her cast in Bernardo Bertolucci’s THE CONFORMIST (1970). In the photo below, she is the actress on the right....yes, still as glamorous as ever.
After THE CONFORMIST, she scaled back her workload and only appeared in a few more motion pictures. Sometimes she could be persuaded to take an occasional TV role. Her last performance was in a TV drama called ATTEMPT TO CORRUPT (1982).
In the 1980s she retired to Bologna to live with her daughter. That is where she remained until her death in 2003 at the age of 77. Of course, she still remains in the hearts of Italians who find pleasure watching those old films she made during the golden age of Italy’s postwar cinema.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 26, 2024 14:19:21 GMT
Day 26. Donald O’Connor had an interesting life, and an interesting philosophy when it came to the work he did entertaining people. He once said that the more you learn to do, the more things you get paid to do. This came from the experiences he had with his family in vaudeville. As he learned different routines, he became very versatile, which served him well in his film, television and stage career.
O’Connor was born into a family of entertainers that worked for a traveling circus. He was born at a hospital in Chicago in 1925, but the family quickly moved on to find other work. For years, he didn’t even know where he’d been born. His father was a clown and his mother did horse riding stunts in the circus show. He had a sister and two brothers that were in the family act. Donald himself started performing at 13 months, doing dance routines as an infant.
A series of tragedies befell the traveling O’Connor clan. His sister was struck by a car and died when he was two. A short time later, his father died of a heart attack. His mother had to keep the family working, or they would have had starved. She guided young Donald's career and the career of an older brother. As a result of having to work hard on the vaudeville circuit to help support the family, Donald O’Connor never attended school.
He did not have formal dance training either, though he would become known for his energetic style. One thing that worked in his favor was his athleticism and his ability to perform comedy.
At the age of 15, he was signed by Paramount and put into his first films at the studio, though he often played younger than his age, sometimes as much as five years younger due to his child-like appearance as a teen.
An early hit film had him play the kid brother of Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray in Paramount’s musical comedy SING YOU SINNERS (1938). Since he and his real-life brothers sang and danced for a living, his role in the film wasn’t much of a stretch.
The Paramount bosses liked what they saw and they put him in comedies with Mary Boland and Charles Ruggles, playing their son. He was also cast in Helen Twelvetrees’ last film UNMARRIED, playing an orphan who’s adopted.
There was a project aimed at the juvenile audience, TOM SAWYER DETECTIVE in which he played Huckleberry Finn. He was on a roll.
After a loan out to Warner Brothers for ON YOUR TOES (1939) in which he costarred with Vera Zorina, he was dropped by Paramount. He went back on the road with his mom and brother.
While he was away from movies for the next two and a half years, he studied up on his dancing and prepared for a comeback. He would return to Hollywood in late 1941, signing a new contract with Universal. The studio quickly cast him in musical programmers starring the Andrews Sisters. He has some good scenes in PRIVATE BUCKAROO (1942) with Dick Foran.
There were other musical comedies for Universal, most of them made for the teen crowd. In these films he often was paired with Peggy Ryan. Universal saw the duo as their version of Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland. The O’Connor-Ryan vehicles were not always original but they were massively popular.
In 1943, O’Connor & Ryan appeared in GET HEP TO LOVE; TOP MAN and MISTER BIG. All three were hits. MISTER BIG was a turning point, since the scripts were now being tailored specifically for O'Connor, with Ryan providing support.
O’Connor was drafted into the Army in ’43, but the studio was able to finagle a delay about when he had to report for military duty. During the next few months, they rushed several new films into production. So when O’Connor was off in the service in 1944 and 1945, his pictures were still screening in movie theaters, because of the backlog.
There was a year off after the war, and he came back to the studio in a new Deanna Durbin flick, SOMETHING IN THE WIND in 1947. Publicity for the film played up his return to screens, and while not his best nor Durbin’s best film, it did well with audiences.
In the late 1940s Universal kept O’Connor busy in a series of musicals and comedies. One of the more memorable titles is YES SIR THAT’S MY BABY in which he was joined by Gloria DeHaven and Charles Coburn. In the film, he's married to DeHaven, and we see a more domestic postwar side of him.
A career game changer occurred in 1950. This was when he had the good fortune to be cast in the first FRANCIS flick. Playing straight comedy to a talking horse led to his most successful films at the studio. Every year until 1955, there was a new Francis picture with Donald O’Connor in it.
A new contract allowed him to take occasional jobs at other studios. This led to his casting in MGM’s SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) which is probably his most-loved film. He earned a Golden Globe for his brilliant performance.
He and costar Debbie Reynolds reunited for I LOVE MELVIN a short time later.
Other loan outs happened at Fox. He felt he did his best dancing with Vera Ellen in CALL ME MADAM (1953).
And he had a good role in THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (1954) which probably reminded him of his family’s vaudeville act.
O’Connor left Universal in 1955, though he came back later for a Sandra Dee picture called THAT FUNNY FEELING.
In between he did two films at Paramount. One of them reunited him with Bing Crosby— ANYTHING GOES in 1956.
Around this time he began to appear on television and he started doing a nightclub act. The nightclub shows led to an ongoing engagement in Vegas.
O’Connor liked to keep busy, and more importantly, he liked to keep fans entertained. There were a series of personal problems in the late 60s and 70s, including a bout with alcoholism and a battle with depression. He was still haunted by the tragedies of his childhood.
But O’Connor was a trouper and he kept going. There were more TV guest roles in the 1980s and 1990s, along with occasional returns to the big screen. Donald O’Connor died in 2003 at the age of 78, having lived a full life that brought a lot of joy to a lot of people.
|
|
|
|
Post by christine on Feb 26, 2024 18:58:15 GMT
You're right - very interesting life. It amazes me how many of Hollywood's 'Golden' stars either did not finish school or did not have formal schooling at all. It's also interesting that many made the change over to television well. To me Donald O'Connor had a very likable persona and he was one of Hollywood's most gifted dancers!
|
|
|
|
Post by jinsinna13 on Feb 27, 2024 14:35:40 GMT
Donald O'Connor was a good dancer and incredibly underrated. (I feel the same way about Bobby Van.) Thank you for remembering him.
There was originally going to be a third O'Connor and Bing Crosby reunion. O'Connor was cast as Phil Davis in White Christmas, but he dropped out when he became ill with pneumonia. Danny Kaye played the role instead.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 27, 2024 15:20:45 GMT
Day 27. Ann Todd was born in 1907, though she often shaved two years off her age. She had entered films in the early 1930s, doing walk-ons. Her original intention was to be a drama teacher, then she decided that despite her natural shyness, she might be successful pursuing an acting career professionally. She certainly had the right look.
Before her introduction to films, Ann Todd concentrated on the stage. She kept busy with stage roles throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, even as her movie career gained traction. She never became a renowned theatrical star, but she still did quite well. She was a murderess in the play 'Lottie Dundas' and an accomplice to murder as the title character’s scheming wife in 'Macbeth.'
In films, she wasn’t playing such lofty roles. At least not at first. She caused a minor sensation as the love interest in THE SQUEAKER (1937), cozying up to Sebastian Shaw.
Then she had a good part in Victor Saville’s SOUTH RIDING in 1938 playing a neurotic woman. That time she shared scenes with Ralph Richardson.
In the early 40s there was a decent role in a wartime flick called SHIPS WITH WINGS.
But she didn’t have her breakthrough role on screen until she played a nurse who helped Robert Donat in PERFECT STRANGERS (1945). She was 37.
After this she snagged the lead in THE SEVENTH VEIL (1945) which was an enormous success. Working opposite James Mason, she was a troubled pianist, under the spell of his pseudo Svengali maestro. In the story theirs was a nearly impossible relationship that audiences devoured whole. The picture’s unique blend of popular psychiatry, music and charisma make it a must-see even now.
THE SEVENTH VEIL would be Todd’s greatest hit in the cinema, and though she signed a contract shortly afterward worth a million, her subsequent movie vehicles didn’t reach similar heights. It had taken her almost fifteen years to be a star in movies, so it’s a shame that none of her other films were as well-received by contemporary audiences.
The performance in THE SEVENTH VEIL caught the attention of Hollywood producer David Selznick, who offered her a co-lead role in THE PARADINE CASE (1947).
However, she was competing for screen time in that venture with Alida Valli. At least she was able to play wife to Gregory Peck, and had the chance to be directed by Hitchcock.
Her next films were interesting productions. She appeared in DAYBREAK, a moody noir that was made in 1946 but not released until 1948. The finished product had run into problems with the censors and had to be recut. Her leading man was Eric Portman.
Another moody noir occurred with SO EVIL MY LOVE, directed by Lewis Allen in 1948. This was a production of Paramount Pictures' British division which cast her alongside Ray Milland and Geraldine Fitzgerald. Todd portrays the widow of a missionary who goes bad after getting involved with Milland’s roguish villain.
SO EVIL MY LOVE and THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS (1949) allowed her to let her hair down and show off her chiseled beauty to significant advantage. THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS, in which she costarred with Trevor Howard and Claude Rains, was directed by her then-husband David Lean.
It was a replay on some level of Lean’s earlier hit BRIEF ENCOUNTER, which also had featured Howard as the unlikely romantic hero.
THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS and MADELEINE (1950, also directed by Lean) were not box office hits. Her status as a British star was losing some of its market value.
Todd and Lean separated in 1954, but not before she appeared in a third film for him, THE SOUND BARRIER in 1952. She earned a BAFTA nomination as Best Actress, though she was really playing second fiddle to the airplanes and pilots operating them.
Ann Todd continued to take roles in films in the mid-to-late 1950s. One notable example is Joseph Losey’s TIME WITHOUT PITY (1957) with Michael Redgrave.
In the 1960s, her film appearances became more sporadic and she turned up infrequently on television— on both sides of the pond. But she had lost interest in her acting career by the end of the decade and was focusing on making a series of documentaries that took her to some of the world’s most interesting and exotic places.
She came back to the screen as an actress with a few roles in TV miniseries in the 1980s, and around that time, her autobiography was published. Entitled The Eighth Veil, it referenced the film for which she is most remembered.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Feb 28, 2024 16:45:12 GMT
Day 28. Born and raised in the midwest, Eddie Albert went to college and planned on a career in business. But those plans changed with the stock market crash of 1929. He ended up doing a series of odd jobs, drifting from place to place, until he decided what he might do with is life.
Incidentally, Albert was his middle name. His last name was really Heimberger, but when he became an actor, he dropped Heimberger. It sounded like ‘hamburger’ and that wouldn’t have gone over well unless he intended to be a comedian.
During the 1930s he gained experience acting on stage. Eventually, he had roles on Broadway, including his breakthrough part in Brother Rat. Warner Brothers purchased the rights to the play, and Eddie Albert was put under a contract with the studio. He would be able to re-create his role in the 1938 feature film version.
Between 1938 and 1941, the young actor appeared in 12 motion pictures at Warner Brothers. This included the Brother Rat sequel and a role in two of the FOUR DAUGHTERS sequels.
Another assignment had him supporting Edward G. Robinson in A DISPATCH FROM REUTERS in 1940.
He had a lead role in AN ANGEL FROM TEXAS (1940) in which he worked with Jane Wyman, who became a lifelong friend.
In THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT (1941), he shared scenes with Joan Leslie and Humphrey Bogart. This would be one of his last films at Warner Brothers.
After leaving Warner Brothers, Eddie Albert freelanced at Paramount and RKO. Off camera he had met and fallen in love with Mexican dancer and actress Margo. This occurred when he took an assignment at RKO, where she was also working.
They did not marry until 1945 but remained together until her death in 1985. Margo was a very outspoken liberal personality, and she was already being “watched” by conservatives when the country was at war.
Eddie Albert’s film career was interrupted when he joined the Coast Guard during the war. But he eventually left his position in the Coast Guard and transferred to the Naval Reserve, seeing battle in Tarawa. During a dangerous mission he saved the lives of a dozen Marines and was recognized for his valiant service. This act of courage also saved his Hollywood career.
Returning to films, Eddie Albert found he was being grey-listed for awhile at some of the studios. Part of this was due to his marriage to Margo. Margo herself was blacklisted and accused of being a communist. But because of Eddie’s military service, he was not completely blacklisted.
During the postwar period, Eddie took lead roles in B films at studios like Monogram and Republic. One of these pictures was the romcom RENDEZVOUS WITH ANNIE.
Gradually he started receiving assignments at major studios again, though not as a lead. At Universal he was fourth-billed in the drama TIME OUT OF MIND (1947). And he was third-billed in THE PERFECT MARRIAGE (1947), a romcom at Paramount starring Loretta Young & David Niven.
Meanwhile he started to raise a family. He and Margo had two kids— a son (Edward Albert, who became an actor); and a daughter (Maria Albert, who became a manager). Since her acting career stalled, Margo became a stay-at-home wife and mother…though later, she sometimes had bit parts in her husband’s films.
In 1950 Eddie had a lead with Lucille Ball in the Columbia comedy THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL. Years later, he’d guest star on her sitcom Here’s Lucy. But after he finished this film, he was back to supporting roles at Paramount. Nothing as fun or as bananas as working with Lucy.
One of his better jobs at Paramount came in 1953 when he was cast in ROMAN HOLIDAY. He would earn his first Oscar nomination for his work as best supporting actor.
More supporting work in ‘A’ films followed. He appeared in THE GIRL RUSH with Rosalind Russell.
And he had a very good part playing one of Susan Hayward’s husbands in the MGM melodrama I’LL CRY TOMORROW (1955). He and Hayward had costarred before in another flick about a boozing singer, SMASH-UP THE STORY OF A WOMAN.
During the 50s, he found work across genres. He costarred in a big budget musical, the screen adaptation of OKLAHOMA!, sharing scenes with Gloria Grahame & Shirley Jones.
Next he did a turn in the war flick ATTACK! (1956).
Though Eddie still worked consistently through the rest of the 50s and into the 60s, the quality of the films offered him declined. He began to find better opportunities in television.
His career changed for the better when he was cast in a lead role in the sitcom Green Acres opposite Eva Gabor. The show was an immediate hit, since homespun comedies were all the rage in those days. It ran six years and might have continued longer if not for the notorious CBS rural purge in 1971.
He returned to motion pictures in 1972 and earned his second Oscar nomination as best supporting actor in the original version of THE HEARTBREAK KID.
This was followed with a part in MCQ costarring John Wayne.
Then there was a memorable role as a villain in the sports comedy THE LONGEST YARD. Then he guest-starred on Lucille Ball's sitcom. He liked getting into mischief with Lucy.
He was back on television full-time in 1975, in Universal’s hit crime drama Switch with Robert Wagner. But ratings slid during the third season and the program was canceled after 70 episodes.
Eddie found more film roles in the 80s, as well as the occasional special guest star job on popular TV series. One of these later jobs had him sharing the screen with his former WB costar Jane Wyman…he did three episodes on her prime time soap Falcon Crest. His character was a suave businessman who had a past with Wyman’s character. They had fun working together again.
In 1990 he reunited with another former costar…Eva Gabor, for a follow-up TV movie called Return to Green Acres.
Work slowed after this, and there were only two minor roles in feature films in the 1990s. Around 1995, Eddie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease which curtailed his career. Margo had passed away in 1985 from brain cancer. Eddie was looked after by his son Edward and enjoyed the last years of his life the best he could.
Looking back on his time in Hollywood, he may not have had the kind of career he initially envisioned for himself, since starring roles were largely denied him in the late 1940s and 1950s. But Eddie Albert still managed to succeed, and he made his mark in television. What more could a guy ask for..?
|
|
