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Post by topbilled on Aug 18, 2024 12:28:13 GMT
Helen Twelvetrees
She came from a humble background, and most of her life was filled with tragedy. Helen Twelvetrees would become one of the talkie era’s best dramatic actresses. Her suffering on screen was usually achieved with the slightest effort, and those sad eyes transfixed costars and moviegoers. Originally Helen had studied to become a stage actress. She carried the death of a young brother with her, and she also found herself bearing the cross of a first husband who was an alcoholic. He gave her his unique last name along with scars from beatings. Helen strived to make a success for herself despite the real-life drama that continually surrounded her. She did well in the theater and was given a contract by Fox when the sound era was ushered in.Helen’s first film in 1929 provided her with a lead role. It was Fox’s second all-talking feature. She made a few more pictures at the studio before her contract was taken over by Pathe. She had even bigger hits at her new studio, playing women who dealt with men that were all wrong for her. Off camera Helen divorced her first husband and married another man. She soon gave birth to her only child, but feeling her career took too much of her time and focus, she gave the boy to her relatives to raise. Helen continued to turn out movies. She was very prolific during the first half of the 1930s. Pathe was absorbed by RKO, and she found her roles changing– especially with the production code now fully enforced. The stories were ‘cleaned up’ and the women Helen played either redeemed themselves or were punished and made to suffer even more. By the middle of the decade, she left RKO and began to freelance. One of her independent assignments took her to Australia, but she became quite ill while she was abroad. A second divorce occurred, and she was off screen for awhile. When she returned to Hollywood, she made just two more pictures then quit the movies and returned to the stage.There was another marriage after the war, and she cut back on performing. Occasionally she did summer stock, where she played Blanche in a touring production of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ a character she strongly identified with. When not working, Helen traveled with her husband. In the 50s, she was dealing with a kidney ailment. When the pain became too much to bear she took her own life at the age of 49. She was buried in an unmarked grave, but her legacy as one of the best dramatic actresses of the precode days of Hollywood will always live on.
Suggested Viewing:HER MAN (1930)THE PAINTED DESERT (1931)MILLIE (1931)A WOMAN OF EXPERIENCE (1931)PANAMA FLO (1932)STATE'S ATTORNEY (1932)IS MY FACE RED? (1932)A BEDTIME STORY (1933)
NOW I'LL TELL (1934)
UNMARRIED (1939)
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Post by topbilled on Aug 19, 2024 13:52:38 GMT
Robert Armstrong
He had wanted to be a lawyer, but those plans changed when Robert Armstrong helped one of his relatives manage a stage show. Soon Robert was writing plays for the touring group, and when one of his plays was produced, he performed a role. That’s how his acting career began. Then the first World War took place and he left show biz to enlist. After the war Robert returned to entertaining and went to New York where he would find more substantial roles. In 1927 he started performing in films and caught on quickly. During his second year on screen, Robert was cast in nine productions. He would continue to be just as prolific in subsequent years. In fact, by the time he retired in 1964, he had amassed almost two hundred screen credits.Probably the most popular pictures he made were the ones he did at RKO for producer Merian Cooper. He and Cooper became good friends, and their collaboration lasted for many years. The biggest success was KING KONG. A sequel was produced later the same year, though it came nowhere close to duplicating the original picture’s box office appeal. More profitable was THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, which paired Robert with actress Fay Wray again. And in the late 40s, there was MIGHTY JOE YOUNG which was obviously inspired by Kong, with Terry Moore in Wray’s role.Though Robert’s film career began to wind down in the 50s and 60s, he still found considerable work on television. At one point he appeared alongside Rod Cameron on the weekly western series State Trooper, portraying a sheriff. There were guest parts on other hit programs, like Lassie, Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Suggested Viewing:DANGER LIGHTS (1930)PAID (1930)
IRON MAN (1931)
SUICIDE FLEET (1931)
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932)
THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER (1932)
FAST WORKERS (1933)
KING KONG (1933)
SON OF KONG (1933)
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949)
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Aug 19, 2024 19:41:50 GMT
Donna Reed was mentioned as one of the stars of this thread and I just saw her in the Lewis \ Martin film The Caddy. This was made the same year as From Here to Eternity (1953). What surprised me is that after giving such a solid performance and winning an Oscar for best supporting actress, Columbia continued to use Reed as just the love interest in a bunch of westerns. Any newbie actress could play those roles.
No wonder Reed decided to go to T.V. and host her own show!
This from Wiki:
The qualities of her parts did not seem to improve: she was the love interest in The Caddy (1953) with Martin and Lewis at Paramount; Gun Fury (1953) with Rock Hudson; Three Hours to Kill (1954) with Dana Andrews; and They Rode West (1954) with Robert Francis. Reed returned to MGM to act in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954).
Reed began guest starring on television shows such as The Ford Television Theatre, Tales of Hans Anderson, General Electric Theater and Suspicion.[19]
She continued to appear in features, usually as the love interest, in The Far Horizons (1955) at Pine-Thomas Productions with Fred MacMurray and Charlton Heston as Lewis and Clark, playing Native American Sacagawea; The Benny Goodman Story (1956) with Steve Allen at Universal, playing Goodman's wife; Ransom! (1956) at MGM as Glenn Ford's wife; Backlash (1956), a Western at Universal with Richard Widmark; Beyond Mombasa (1957), shot in Kenya with Cornel Wilde, during which she was injured while making the film; and The Whole Truth (1958), shot in England with Stewart Granger for Romulus Pictures.[20]
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Post by topbilled on Aug 20, 2024 15:04:05 GMT
Gloria Swanson
An independent artist is someone who takes charge of their career, and Gloria Swanson certainly qualifies. She began at the age of 14 in her native Chicago, where she first appeared as an extra in short silent films. One of these pictures was a comedy with Charlie Chaplin. By the age of 16, she had dropped out of school and decided she would focus full-time on moviemaking. Gloria and her mother eventually relocated to southern California where most of the film companies had gone. She began to get better roles, usually in short comedy films. In some of these early productions, she was performing her own stunts alongside her male costars. Soon, she had undergone an image makeover and signed a long-term contract with Paramount where she started to make feature-length motion pictures. During the 1920s Gloria became a bonafide movie star– not just in America, but internationally too. She worked frequently with directors Cecil B. DeMille and Sam Wood. She had one hit after another, and not only did audiences enjoy her unique acting on screen, they also were focused on her unique fashion sense.People all around the world were copying Gloria’s clothes and talking about her sensational personal life. She was linked to various leading men; but she married Wallace Beery whose own film career was eclipsed by Gloria’s, at least in those days. In the late 20s Gloria left Paramount and joined United Artists. Like her old friend Chaplin, she wanted to be in charge of the movies she made. Some of Gloria’s early sound films did not do too well; however, she still continued to take starring roles on screen until the mid-30s. After this time, she left the movies and focused on the theater and her personal life. She was lured back to the screen in 1941 by RKO for a romantic comedy with Adolphe Menjou, but it did not lead to a major resurgence or interest. That wouldn’t occur until a decade later when Gloria took the part of Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s classic noir SUNSET BOULEVARD. She was able to poke fun at her silent film days and reunite with DeMille. Suggested Viewing:
THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL (1921)BEYOND THE ROCKS (1922)ZAZA (1923)STAGE STRUCK (1925)THE LOVE OF SUNYA (1927)
SADIE THOMPSON (1928)THE TRESPASSER (1929)PERFECT UNDERSTANDING (1933)FATHER TAKES A WIFE (1941)SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
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Post by topbilled on Aug 21, 2024 13:42:23 GMT
Will Rogers
Oklahoma native Will Rogers brought his folksy brand of humor to audiences all around the world. Working in a variety of media, he was one of the most popular and influential comedians of his time. It started simply for him, almost as if by a fluke, when his cowboy skills captured the attention of a New York City audience. They wanted more and never stopped wanting more. Will started with roping tricks but quickly branched out to more topical commentary. His act became a main attraction in vaudeville. He was then hired by Ziegfeld and became part of more prominent stage shows on Broadway. During this time Will also wrote humorous essays in newspapers and started appearing on radio. His easy-going verbal wit made him well-known and led to a movie contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn. Will’s silent films with Goldwyn, as well as other films for producer Hal Roach in the 1920s, did not showcase the humorist at his best. It wasn’t until Fox signed him and he began making talkies that he would come to dominate motion pictures. From 1930 to 1935, he was one of the highest paid and most successful movie stars in Hollywood. His clean moral tone during the precode years made him an anomaly. Some of his best-loved movies were directed by his friend John Ford and featured support from the era’s best character actors. In addition to his work on radio and the screen, Will was also noted for his love of aviation. Unfortunately in August 1935, his private plane crashed in Alaska, and he was killed. His last two films were released posthumously. Years later his son Will Rogers Jr. played him in a Warner Brothers biopic about his life and phenomenal career.
 Suggested Viewing:YOUNG AS YOU FEEL (1930)
AMBASSADOR BILL (1931)
DOWN TO EARTH (1932)
TOO BUSY TO WORK (1932)
BUSINESS AND PLEASURE (1932)
STATE FAIR (1933)
HANDY ANDY (1934)
JUDGE PRIEST (1934)
STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND (1935)THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS (1952)
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Post by I Love Melvin on Aug 21, 2024 13:56:22 GMT
EDIT: Sorry, this post overlapped with your Will Rogers post, so it's no longer current. TopBilled, so you have any idea of how Swanson's Stage Struck ties into other films bearing that same name? I know the 1958 Stage Struck was based on Morning Glory (1933), so could Morning Glory also have been tied to Swanson's Stage Struck, or would the similarity just be an example of filmmakers casting around for a catchy title? Something which I recently discovered was that she hosted a radio interview show and the only example I've been able to find shows what a natural she was for that format. Wiki says she had a show in the very early days (1948) of television called The Gloria Swanson Hour, with no mention of a radio show, so now I'm wondering if what I heard was from that but misrepresented as being from radio. Anyway, she was a great host and I'd love to hear more. Gloria did a number of live radio dramas for outlets like Lux Radio Theater, so I suspect this is a promotional photo for one of those and not from a show of her own, but it's a nice, glamorous image so I wanted to pass it along.  |
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Post by topbilled on Aug 21, 2024 14:09:50 GMT
EDIT: Sorry, this post overlapped with your Will Rogers post, so it's no longer current. TopBilled, so you have any idea of how Swanson's Stage Struck ties into other films bearing that same name? I know the 1958 Stage Struck was based on Morning Glory (1933), so could Morning Glory also have been tied to Swanson's Stage Struck, or would the similarity just be an example of filmmakers casting around for a catchy title? Something which I recently discovered was that she hosted a radio interview show and the only example I've been able to find shows what a natural she was for that format. Wiki says she had a show in the very early days (1948) of television called The Gloria Swanson Hour, with no mention of a radio show, so now I'm wondering if what I heard was from that but misrepresented as being from radio. Anyway, she was a great host and I'd love to hear more. Gloria did a number of live radio dramas for outlets like Lux Radio Theater, so I suspect this is a promotional photo for one of those and not from a show of her own, but it's a nice, glamorous image so I wanted to pass it along.
It's interesting you mention STAGE STRUCK because I had wondered how many times that title has been used. The 1925 film with Swanson has a different writer than the 1933 film MORNING GLORY or its remake. Of course, later writers could have been inspired by the earlier film and its title. |
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Post by topbilled on Aug 22, 2024 14:15:35 GMT
Fifi D'Orsay
It’s a shame modern audiences know so little about Fifi D’Orsay. She was a very colorful character on screen and off, and she knew how to entertain and charm people. Along the way she might have invented a few things about herself (okay, a lot of things about herself) but that was all part of the act. Her given name was Yvonne, not Fifi, and she grew up in Canada. When she came to the U.S. to become an actress, she did an early audition in French (she was bilingual). This gave her a bit of flair and she let people believe she was French, instead of French Canadian. She quickly changed her name to Fifi because it sounded like what a French woman should be called.Mademoiselle Fifi needed a last name. The word D’Orsay was on a bottle of her favorite perfume, so she became Fifi D’Orsay. That’s how she was billed in her movies. She was signed by Fox and costarred in a Will Rogers picture. She was tres magnifique, and the studio gave her more important screen roles. Fifi would not become a huge movie star, but she was in enough hits and had enough big name costars that her impact could not be overlooked.By the mid-30s her motion picture career had gone into decline. Many precode actresses had to adjust to different roles when the production code was implemented. Fifi decided to take a break from Hollywood for a while. Then she bounced back as a supporting player a decade later. During the war years she appeared in several poverty row productions. One of them was NABONGA, a gorilla story with Buster Crabbe. In the 50s, when most stars of her generation where transitioning to TV, she turned up on the small screen. She enjoyed spoofing her earlier image as a French sexpot. In the early 70s, Fifi had a featured role in Stephen Sondheim’s production of Follies. There was a Ralph Edwards special that focused on her career. Edwards pointed out she had actually never been to France, and he presented her with a ticket to Paris. She had no intention of flying there and sold the ticket for cash. Later when it came time to choose a gravestone, she refused to have one like other people. It had to be different. No age listed, her real name not even given. Just the signature of a manufactured mademoiselle who was heaven scent like perfume.
 Suggested Viewing:WOMEN EVERYWHERE (1930)THOSE THREE FRENCH GIRLS (1930)YOUNG AS YOU FEEL (1931)
MR. LEMON OF ORANGE (1931)
THE GIRL FROM CALGARY (1933)THEY JUST HAD TO GET MARRIED (1932)THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN (1933)GOING HOLLYWOOD (1933)WONDER BAR (1934)NABONGA (1944)
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Post by topbilled on Aug 23, 2024 13:52:13 GMT
Jack La Rue
Jack La Rue made a name for himself on stage and in the movies. His screen career began during the talkie era. The production code was not fully enforced in those days, so the content of early sound films was a lot more sensational. Jack’s performances were sensational, too. Jack first gained fame on the Broadway stage in the late 1920s. He had a costarring part in Mae West’s stage production of ‘Diamond Lil.’ This brought him to the attention of Hollywood directors and studio execs. One such person was Howard Hawks who wanted him to play a gangster in the original version of SCARFACE. However, the star of the movie (Paul Muni) had casting approval and vetoed Jack because of differences in their height and voice.But Jack didn’t give up. Quickly, he rebounded with a supporting part in Paramount’s version of A FAREWELL TO ARMS. He played a priest in scenes with Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper. It was one of the few times he’d appear as a morally upstanding character.  Soon another film opportunity came Jack’s way. Paramount was getting ready to adapt William Faulkner’s bestselling novel ‘Sanctuary.’ Initially, studio bosses wanted George Raft to portray the villain, a perverse thug named Trigger. But George thought the part was too despicable, and he passed, so Jack stepped in. Jack’s scenes with Miriam Hopkins were so suggestive and naughty they incurred the wrath of censors. TEMPLE DRAKE led to the strict enforcement of the production code. But Jack was now a star. During the 30s he continued to find substantial roles in movies, but by the early 40s, Jack’s motion picture career was on the wane. He began to appear in more lower budgeted fare, or else was assigned smaller supporting roles in ‘A’ pictures. He then went to England to try his luck there. And for a fleeting moment he was back on top as a ruthless character that must’ve shared DNA with Trigger. It was the starring role in NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH, which in many ways seemed like a holdover from the precode days of Hollywood.
 Suggested Viewing:A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932)VIRTUE (1932)
CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933)GAMBLING SHIP (1933)THE WOMAN ACCUSED (1933)THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE (1933)HEADLINE SHOOTER (1933)THE KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933)MISS FANE'S BABY IS STOLEN (1934)NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH (1948)
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Post by topbilled on Aug 24, 2024 15:36:56 GMT
Joan BlondellWhen you are born into a vaudeville family and make your first on stage appearance at the age of four months, you are probably going to spend your life in show business. That’s what happened to Joan Blondell and her sister Gloria. There was no other career for them, just one in which they would entertain audiences (and do it well).
 The road to the movies was a relatively easy one for Joan. After winning beauty contests, she went to New York and found work on Broadway. The experience she had performing with her family gave her an advantage. She could do comedy and musical roles, and later she would become known for dramatic performances.Al Jolson is the one who discovered young Joan on Broadway. She was in a play with James Cagney. Jolson bought the play to turn it into a motion picture at Warner Brothers, and he helped Joan and Jimmy get signed at the studio. After they made SINNERS’ HOLIDAY (the play Jolson purchased), Joan and Jimmy made several other pictures together. Joan also appeared frequently with another Warners contract player, Glenda Farrell. Usually they were cast as gold diggers in precodes, and of course, audiences were charmed by them. During the 1930s, Joan made nearly 50 movies, most of them at Warners. This was half her overall film output. In the late 1930s and early 1940s she freelanced at a variety of studios. This gave her the chance to work with stars she hadn’t yet had the pleasure to appear alongside, like Bing Crosby. Then she returned to the stage and began to take supporting roles (character roles) in ‘A’ films. She enjoyed a memorable turn in Fox’s A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN; as well as THE BLUE VEIL, an RKO melodrama with Jane Wyman which earned Joan a supporting actress nomination.In the 50s and 60s, Joan continued to appear in big budget movies, usually in a supporting capacity. One fun role cast her as Jayne Mansfield’s pal. Following this she found many guest roles on television. For two seasons in the late 1960s, Joan had a regular part on the western Here Come the Brides. She earned two Emmy nominations. After the program went off the air, she was back in the movies. She worked steadily until her death, and her last two pictures were very popular with audiences– GREASE and a remake of THE CHAMP.
 Suggested Viewing:SINNERS' HOLIDAY (1930)
NIGHT NURSE (1931)
BLONDE CRAZY (1931)
UNION DEPOT (1932)
MAKE ME A STAR (1932)
THREE ON A MATCH (1932)
HAVANA WIDOWS (1933)
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933)A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957)
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Post by topbilled on Aug 24, 2024 16:28:10 GMT
Group 9: John
John Boles; John Shelton; John Beal; John Bromfield; Rosamund John; John Derek; John Agar; John Ireland; John Saxon
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Post by kims on Aug 24, 2024 18:30:01 GMT
Re: Joan Blondell: Even later films like DESK SET show she could still be sassy and hungry for a man and in THE CINCINNATI KID be the street wise dame. She has never been given the accolades I think she deserved.
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Post by topbilled on Aug 25, 2024 11:31:36 GMT
Re: Joan Blondell: Even later films like DESK SET show she could still be sassy and hungry for a man and in THE CINCINNATI KID be the street wise dame. She has never been given the accolades I think she deserved. |
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Post by topbilled on Aug 25, 2024 11:36:53 GMT
John Boles
John Boles was a big star. People may not realize it today, but he was. He planned to be a doctor, but somehow he became a spy during World War I. After the war he went back home to Texas, where a producer heard him sing and offered him a role in an opera. John enjoyed the experience so much he relocated to New York to train professionally. But instead of appearing at the Met, he began to appear on Broadway and quickly, he became a bonafide musical star. By the mid-20s Hollywood studios were courting him to appear in silent films which ironically would not feature his great singing voice. His handsome looks make him a natural for the screen and three films at MGM were well-received by audiences. However, he decided to put his burgeoning movie career on hold and go back to the New York stage. But Hollywood wanted him back– there was a picture with Gloria Swanson, then several extravagant musicals.When sound came in, his marvelous musical voice was used to enliven the industry’s tune-filled productions of the late 20s and early 30s. John eventually signed a long-term contract with Universal. By 1931 the public’s appetite for musicals was lessening, so his new studio put him in horror films and romance dramas. He appeared in FRANKENSTEIN, then in BACK STREET with Irene Dunne. A short time later, John and Irene reunited at RKO for an early version of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. By the mid-30s, he was freelancing and took a part at Fox in a Shirley Temple movie. He was enjoying a collection of hits.Probably John’s most well-known film is STELLA DALLAS. It was produced by Samuel Goldwyn in 1937, and he was cast as the upper class lover of a down-on-her-luck working class woman played by Barbara Stanwyck. Anne Shirley portrayed the star-crossed couple’s impressionable daughter. In the late 30s and early 40s, John’s film output decreased, but he still managed to turn up in important productions– especially MGM’s morale booster THOUSANDS CHEER. Soon afterward John was back on Broadway, and he was a sensation all over again in the original production of ‘One Touch of Venus.’ He certainly had the right touch.
Suggested Viewing:THE DESERT SONG (1929)RIO RITA (1929)KING OF JAZZ (1930)FRANKENSTEIN (1931)BACK STREET (1932)CHILD OF MANHATTAN (1933)THE LIFE OF VERGIE WINTERS (1934)THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1934)
CURLY TOP (1935)
STELLA DALLAS (1937)
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Post by sagebrush on Aug 25, 2024 14:15:08 GMT
Group 9: John
John Boles; John Shelton; John Beal; John Bromfield; Rosamund John; John Derek; John Agar; John Ireland; John Saxon I like how you used the "John" opportunity to include Rosamund John, topbilled. If I remember correctly, she is a favorite of yours. |
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