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Post by topbilled on Jul 23, 2024 14:39:51 GMT
One of Fred MacMurray’s frequent costars in romantic comedies was Carole Lombard. Lombard had actually started in the movies during the silent days of the 1920s. But she found her groove in the talkie era and became very successful. Her popularity didn’t wane, and audiences grieved her tragic death in 1942. At Paramount, Lombard made 22 films from 1930 to 1937.
Check out:
NO MAN OF HER OWN (1932)
NOW AND FOREVER (1934)
THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936) |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Jul 23, 2024 17:38:52 GMT
One of Fred MacMurray’s frequent costars in romantic comedies was Carole Lombard. Lombard had actually started in the movies during the silent days of the 1920s. But she found her groove in the talkie era and became very successful. Her popularity didn’t wane, and audiences grieved her tragic death in 1942. At Paramount, Lombard made 22 films from 1930 to 1937.
Check out:
NO MAN OF HER OWN (1932)
NOW AND FOREVER (1934)
THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936)For me my "what if" question is how Lombard's career would have developed. With the start of WWII in Europe, the screwball comedy era was dying down, and her last few films were dramas, with her final one being a sophisticated war time comedy, To Be or Not to Be. Lombard was great in this. My gut tells me that Lombard would have done well with where Hollywood studios were going during the war years and post war years. But sadly, we will never know. |
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Post by topbilled on Jul 23, 2024 21:09:56 GMT
I think about actresses like Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow and Carole Landis...wondering what might have happened to their screen careers had they lived.
Probably by 1950 these gals would have lost some of their box office clout and done radio sitcoms, leading into them doing TV sitcoms.
Since Lombard had the chops to do dramatic parts, she probably would have found a variety of roles in the 50s and 60s on television and still occasionally in films due to her versatility...and if she had allowed herself to do second tier character roles in older age, then she could have continued to make movies into the 1980s like Myrna Loy did...or at least TV movies, if she didn't want to headline a weekly series.
They all would have been interview subjects for the documentaries that were made in the 80s and 90s about the golden age of Hollywood.
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Jul 24, 2024 1:00:22 GMT
I think about actresses like Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow and Carole Landis...wondering what might have happened to their screen careers had they lived.
Probably by 1950 these gals would have lost some of their box office clout and done radio sitcoms, leading into them doing TV sitcoms.
Since Lombard had the chops to do dramatic parts, she probably would have found a variety of roles in the 50s and 60s on television and still occasionally in films due to her versatility...and if she had allowed herself to do second tier character roles in older age, then she could have continued to make movies into the 1980s like Myrna Loy did...or at least TV movies, if she didn't want to headline a weekly series.
They all would have been interview subjects for the documentaries that were made in the 80s and 90s about the golden age of Hollywood. Myrna Loy is a great example of what I was getting at; One could say that the best movie Loy was in and where she gives her best performance is The Best Years of Our Lives: A post war drama. While she did do one last Thin-Man, and two light comedies with Cary Grant, those comedies were a lot different than the type of comedies she was in prior to the start of the war (I would say Love Crazy with Powell is her last 30s feel type comedy). |
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Post by topbilled on Jul 24, 2024 1:36:04 GMT
Myrna was also in the original CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (1950) and its sequel BELLES ON THEIR TOES (1952) which was another hit. But after this, she segues to supporting roles and character parts.
Of course, I mentioned Myrna Loy because she is a good example of longevity and someone who still did 'A' pictures in the 70s and 80s...such as THE END with Burt Reynolds in 1978 and JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT (1980) where she is fourth-billed in a picture directed by Sydney Lumet.
She adapted to changing trends, but more importantly, she didn't insist on being top billed and could accept key support roles and character parts. Sometimes Myrna would do a TV movie where she did actually receive star billing. But she knew the limitations for women of a certain age in Hollywood. I think Lombard would have been just as smart and lasted just as long.
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