Today is the 76th birthday of Tammy Faye LaValley Bakker Messner.  Given numerous reasons why we shouldn’t love her or at least be cautiously indifferent toward her, we love her not in spite of those reasons, but because of those reasons.  Watch the documentary.  She was a sweet woman, a bit nutty, but a very good person.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Tammy Faye Messner
OCCUPATION: Evangelist, Reality Television Star
BIRTH DATE: March 07, 1942
DEATH DATE: July 20, 2007
PLACE OF BIRTH: International Falls, Minnesota
PLACE OF DEATH: Loch Lloyd, Missouri
FULL NAME: Tamara Faye LaValley Bakker Messner

BEST KNOWN FOR: Tammy Faye Messner was the wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, with whom she hosted The 700 Club and the Praise the Lord Club. The couple split in 1992, after Jim Bakker’s affair with a church secretary surfaced.

Tammy Messner was born Tamara Faye LaValley on March 7, 1942, in International Falls, Minnesota. The oldest of eight children, Tammy Faye was raised in a devoutly Christian environment by her mother, Rachel. With a desire to become a missionary, Tammy Faye enrolled at North Central Bible College, in Minneapolis, where her engaging personality earned her many friends and one ardent admirer-fellow classmate Jim Bakker. The couple married in 1961, at which time they were forced to drop out of college because of the school’s strict policy regarding married students. They had two children.

With the goal of establishing a traveling ministry, Tammy Faye and Jim spent the next few years preaching in various cities throughout America. In the mid-1960s, they were introduced to Pat Robertson, who was in the midst of launching the Christian Broadcasting Network. At Robertson’s request, the Bakkers moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, and agreed to host the Christian talk show The 700 Club. Premiering in 1966, the show met with overwhelming popularity, becoming the prototype of modern television ministry.

In 1973, the Bakkers left CBN in order to establish the short-lived Trinity Broadcasting Systems. The following year, Jim and Tammy Faye became the hosts of an existing North Carolina-based talk show, which they renamed the Praise the Lord Club. Fueled by the success of the PTL Club, the Bakkers quickly established an entire Christian television network, which they called the PTL or Inspirational Network. With contributions from their loyal audience, the Bakkers were able to finance a 2,300-acre Christian theme park, Heritage U.S.A. At the height of their popularity, the Bakkers were celebrities in the gospel circuit, with an opulent lifestyle to match. The PTL Club reached an audience of 13 million viewers, while Heritage U.S.A. attracted six million visitors annually.

The Bakkers’ empire began to unravel in 1980, when the national spotlight fell on Jim’s adulterous affair with a church secretary, Jessica Hahn. Over the next few years, sufficient evidence of Jim’s numerous sexual escapades surfaced, causing the Assemblies of God to strip him of his ministerial credentials.

In 1987 and 1988, he made a few failed attempts to rebuild his ministry. Ultimately, the Federal Communications Commission‘s investigation into the financial activities of the PTL Network culminated in Jim’s conviction of fraud and conspiracy in 1989. During the tumultuous six-week trial, the federal government succeeded in proving that Jim solicited a total of $158 million from followers of the PTL ($3.7 million of which he used for personal means). He was given a 45-year prison sentence, which was later reduced to six years. Jim Bakker was paroled in 1994, and has since re-established himself as a minister.

In 1992, after a 31-year relationship, Tammy Faye and Jim divorced. The following year, Tammy Faye wed Roe Messner, a family friend and business associate of the Bakkers’. Shortly thereafter, Messner was imprisoned for fraud, but has since been released.

Also in 1996, Tammy Faye teamed with former Too Close for Comfort star J.M.J. Bullock to host a short-lived daily talk show titled The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show. Later that year, she published an autobiography, Tammy: Telling It My Way. Also in 1996, that Tammy Faye was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Tammy Faye was the subject of a fairly well-received documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), and then in 2004, appeared on the second season of the VH-1 reality series The Surreal Life, which featured B-List celebrities such as Erik Estrada and Vanilla Ice. The group of former stars lived together in a Hollywood mansion while cameras followed their antics. It was during 2004 that Tammy Faye’s cancer spread to her lungs.

In May 2007, Tammy Faye announced that doctors had stopped treating her cancer, and her weight soon dropped to 65 pounds. She posted a goodbye letter to her friends and supporters on her website. In early July 2007, a gaunt Tammy Faye made a final TV appearance on Larry King Live, where she said goodbye to fans. Tammy Faye Messner lost her battle with lung cancer on July 20, 2007, at the age of 65, at her home in Missouri.

TELEVISION
The Surreal Life

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Windy City Heat (12-Oct-2003) · Herself
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (25-Jan-2000) · Herself

Source: Tammy Faye Messner – Wikipedia

Source: Tammy Faye Messner – Reality Television Star, Evangelist – Biography.com

Source: Tammy Faye Bakker

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Today is the 110th birthday of Bette Davis.  You have seen All About Eve, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, and maybe even Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and The Nanny.  But have you seen Madame Sin, Return From Witch Mountain or her episode of To Catch a Thief?  You must.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

“But you ARE, Blanche. You ARE in that chair.”

NAME: Bette Davis
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Pin-up
BIRTH DATE: April 05, 1908
DEATH DATE: October 06, 1989
PLACE OF BIRTH: Lowell, Massachusetts
PLACE OF DEATH: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
REMAINS: Buried, Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, CA
OSCAR FOR BEST ACTRESS: 1936 for Dangerous
OSCAR FOR BEST ACTRESS: 1939 for Jezebel
EMMY 1977: Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
AWARD: American Film Institute Life Achievement Award 1978
AWARD: Kennedy Center Honor 1987
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 6233 Hollywood Blvd. (television)
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 6225 Hollywood Blvd. (motion pictures)

BEST KNOWN FOR: Bette Davis is remembered as one of Hollywood’s legendary leading ladies, famous for her larger-than-life persona and for her nearly 100 film appearances.

Bette Davis was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis on April 5, 1908, in Lowell Massachusetts, to Ruth (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis. When she was 7 years old, her father divorced her mother, who was left to raise Bette and younger daughter Barbara on her own.

As a teen, Davis began acting in school productions at the Cushing Academy in Massachusetts. After a stint in summer stock theater in Rochester, New York, Davis moved to New York City, where she attended the John Murray Anderson/Robert Milton School of Theatre and Dance. Lucille Ball was one of her classmates.

Davis began to audition for theater parts in New York, and in 1929 she made her stage début at Greenwich Village’s Provincetown Playhouse in The Earth Between. Later that year, at the age of 21, she made her first Broadway appearance in the comedy Broken Dishes.

A screen test landed Davis a contract with Hollywood’s Universal Pictures, where she was assigned a small role in the film Bad Sister (1931), followed by similar minor parts in a few more movies. She moved to Warner Brothers in 1932, after gaining notice in that studio’s production of The Man Who Played God. Following this breakthrough, Davis would go on to make 14 films over the next three years.

In 1934, Warner Brothers loaned Davis to RKO Pictures for Of Human Bondage, a drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Davis received her first Academy Award nomination for her performance as the vulgar, cold-hearted waitress Mildred. Throughout the rest of her career, she would portray many other strong-willed, even unlikable, women who defied society’s rules.

Davis won her first Academy Award in 1935, for her role as a troubled young actress in Dangerous. She then appeared in The Petrified Forest with male stars Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart in 1937. After a rocky period at Warner Brothers, during which time she was suspended for turning down roles, sued the studio and spent some time in England, she returned to Hollywood, and was offered a higher salary and better choice of roles.

Davis received her second Oscar for her performance as a rebellion Southern belle in 1938’s Jezebel. A number of critical and box-office successes followed: She played a heiress coming to terms with mortal illness in Dark Victory and Elizabeth I in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (both released in 1939), and went on to deliver several well-received performances in films of the 1940s, including The Little Foxes; the comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner; the American drama Now, Voyager; and the drama The Corn is Green. By the time she severed ties with Warner Brothers in 1949, Davis was one of its largest talents.

In 1950, Davis gave one of her most indelible performances in the show-business drama All About Eve, starring as Margo Channing, a theater actress who fends off the insecurities of approaching middle age (and the scheming of a manipulative protégé) with sarcastic wit and more than a few cocktails. In one of her many memorable lines, she quipped, “Fasten your seatbelts: it’s going to be a bumpy night.”

Davis depicted Elizabeth I again in The Virgin Queen (1955) and appeared in Tennessee Williams’s The Night of the Iguana on Broadway in 1961. Some of her other work during this time was more lurid, however. In the horror movie (and camp classic) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), she co-starred with Joan Crawford as a former child star caring for her disabled sister. She was featured in another horror film in 1964, Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte, and then played an eye-patch-wearing matriarch in the melodrama The Anniversary in 1968.

Despite health problems in her late years, including a fight against breast cancer, Davis continued acting. She appeared in the horror movie Burnt Offerings (1976) and was part of the all-star ensemble cast of the Agatha Christie mystery Death on the Nile (1979). One of her final film roles was that of a blind woman in The Whales of August (1987), appearing opposite Lillian Gish. She also appeared on television, winning an Emmy Award for 1979’s Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter.

Davis received many awards later in life, including the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1977 and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 1987.

Source: Bette Davis – Actress, Pin-up – Biography.com

Source: Bette Davis

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Today is the 90th birthday of James Garner.  For the most part, when left to my own devices, my TV viewing style is very similar to what my grandfather’s must have been in 1978:  Rockford Files, Columbo, Quincy ME.  But seriously, have you seen the Rockford Files lately?  Not only does it show parts of downtown Los Angeles that is completely unrecognizable today, but James Garner is brilliant.  The world is a better place because James Garner was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: James Garner
OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Television Actor
BIRTH DATE: April 7, 1928
DEATH DATE: July 19, 2014
EDUCATION: Hollywood High School, University of Oklahoma
PLACE OF BIRTH: Norman, Oklahoma
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
ORIGINALLY: James Scott Bumgarner

BEST KNOWN FOR: James Garner was an actor known for his lead roles in the TV shows “Maverick, “The Rockford Files” and for films including “The Notebook.”

Born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma, James Garner’s early childhood in the Great Depression-era Dust Bowl was marked by hardships. He is the youngest of three sons. When he was only four years old, he lost his mother, Mildred Bumgarner, who was half-Cherokee. His father, Weldon Warren “Bill” Bumgarner, eventually abandoned James and his brothers Charles and Jack, leaving them in the care of relatives. The Bumgarner boys reunited with their father after Bill remarried a few years later. But their home life was far from happy, as their new stepmother was physically and verbally abusive to her stepsons. She and Weldon Bumgarner eventually divorced.

Remaining in Oklahoma when his father moved to Los Angeles, James Garner soon dropped out of school. At age 16, he lied about his age in order to join the Merchant Marine during the last year of World War II. After that, he decided to try living in California with his father, during which time he briefly attended Hollywood High School. But Garner didn’t finish school there, either, abandoning his classes to take a job as a model for Jantzen bathing suits. “I made 25 bucks an hour!” he remembered. “That’s why I quit school. I was making more money than the teachers.”

It didn’t last long, though. In 1950, Garner became the first Oklahoman drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. Two battlefield injuries and Purple Hearts later, Garner returned to the United States. Although he never finished high school, he did earn his GED.

Finally, Garner stumbled into acting. Approached by a talent agent friend and lured by the prospect of a new job, Garner took a small role as a judge in a Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. Although Garner spent most of his time in the background, his participation gave him ample time to learn from the show’s legendary lead actor: Henry Fonda. Through watching Fonda, and because he occasionally had the opportunity to read lines during rehearsals, Garner began internalizing what it took to be an actor.

Thanks to that role, Warner Bros. offered him a film contract in 1956. Unlike many future stars, though, Garner always viewed acting as a way to make a living, instead of as a dream fulfilled. “I’m a Spencer Tracy-type actor,” Garner said. “His idea was to be on time, know your words, hit your marks and tell the truth.” Garner’s lunch-bucket approach worked well enough; the actor landed several supporting roles in films, including Sayonara (1957) starring Marlon Brando. His big break was just around the bend. (Meanwhile, Warner Bros. started billing him as Garner instead of Bumgarner, without ever asking for his permission.)

Garner’s acting career really picked up when he was awarded the lead role in a Western television series called Maverick, in which he played the title character, Bret Maverick, from 1957-60. The fact that he was already under contract for a regular (and relatively low) fee may have had something to do with the studio’s decision to cast him; at least, Garner seemed to think so. Westerns were big on American television in this period, and Maverick was initially conceived to be typical of the genre. Over time, though, the show found its niche by painting Garner’s character as somewhat lazy and unwilling to be bothered, yet nonetheless essentially good-hearted and effective at catching the bad guys. Fans embraced the show’s gentle mockery of Western conventions and Garner’s likeable, unconventional character.

Just as he was getting his first taste of what it was like to play a lead role, Garner was also learning about a darker side of the entertainment business. His tenure on Maverick ended with a successful lawsuit against Warner Bros. During a writers’ strike in 1960, the studio suspended Garner without pay, claiming that they had no scripts to work from, so they couldn’t pay him. A judge sided with Garner; it turned out that the company had plenty of writers writing plenty of scripts during the period, so they had breached Garner’s contract by suspending him without pay.

Actually quite happy to be out of his low-paying contract with Warner Bros., Garner moved on, appearing in such feature films as The Great Escape (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Grand Prix (1966). It was only when he returned to television, though, that his career reached another high point.

Garner attained small-screen fame once again as Jim Rockford, a private detective, in the series The Rockford Files (1974-80). Much like Maverick, the series presented a subtle parody of its own genre headed by a likeable anti-hero. Again, too, Garner’s tenure on the series would end in a lawsuit. Strenuous production work had aggravated his old Korean War injuries and left him with several new ones, so Garner tried to leave the show. NBC wanted him to fulfill his contract, so he took parts on a couple of short-lived Maverick spin-offs, but those fizzled. Garner ended up suing NBC for cheating him out of his fair share of the profits from The Rockford Files. Garner won the suit, receiving an undisclosed sum from NBC. During the 1970s, Garner also became recognizable for the Polaroid ads he appeared in with Mariette Hartley.

In the 1980s, Garner returned to the big screen. He appeared alongside Julie Andrews in the Oscar-winning Victor Victoria (1982) and was nominated for an Oscar himself for Murphy’s Romance (1985), in which he starred opposite Sally Field. Garner also acted in several television movies, racking up awards nominations and winning a best actor Golden Globe for Decoration Day (1990). In 1990, Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Despite this success, the decade also presented major challenges: Garner underwent quintuple bypass heart surgery around the same time.

James Garner continued his acting career well into the 2000s, signing for a major role on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules after the untimely death of its original male lead, John Ritter. Garner took a supporting role in the film Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), and played a husband whose wife is sick with Alzheimer’s in 2004’s The Notebook. That same year, Garner was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actor Award, and awarded the SAG Life Achievement Award. According to SAG President Melissa Gilbert, Garner “is a man who has served his peers, his community and his country with integrity and quiet generosity. He epitomizes class, style, wit, and depth. He serves as a role model for all of America’s actors.”

Garner’s career has been one of the longest in Hollywood, and his marriage has lasted nearly as long. Garner married Lois Clarke on August 17, 1956. The pair met at a rally for presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. The couple had only known each other a few weeks before tying the knot. Garner adopted Clarke’s daughter from her previous marriage, a then-nine-year-old named Kimberly. Garner and Clarke also have a daughter of their own, Greta (known as Gigi), born in 1958.

Despite suffering a stroke in 2008, James Garner remained relatively healthy and remained one of the most liked and best-respected actors in the history of television. Perhaps his success has had something to do with his insistence on viewing acting as a job, rather than pursuing celebrity for its own sake. He nearly declined the SAG Life Achievement Award, making the excuse that he disliked public speaking: “It scares the devil out of me.” When he finally accepted, he said of his speech, “Well, this will be shorter than others.” True of his speech, perhaps—but, fortunately for fans, certainly not true of his career. Garner died on July 19, 2014 at the age of 86.

TELEVISION
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter Jim Egan (2003-05)
First Monday Chief Justice Thomas Brankin (2002)
God, the Devil and Bob God (2000)
Chicago Hope Hugh Miller (2000)
Man of the People Councilman Jim Doyle (1991)
Bret Maverick Bret Maverick (1981-82)
The Rockford Files Jim Rockford (1974-80)
Nichols Nichols (1971-72)
Maverick Bret Maverick (1957-60)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Battle for Terra (8-Sep-2007) · Doron [VOICE]
The Ultimate Gift (20-Oct-2006)
The Notebook (20-May-2004) · Duke
The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2-Dec-2003) [VOICE]
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (3-Jun-2002) · Shep Walker
Roughing It (16-Mar-2002)
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (3-Jun-2001) [VOICE]
The Last Debate (5-Nov-2000)
Space Cowboys (1-Aug-2000) · Tank Sullivan
One Special Night (28-Nov-1999)
Legalese (4-Oct-1998)
Twilight (6-Mar-1998) · Raymond Hope
Dead Silence (11-Jan-1997)
My Fellow Americans (20-Dec-1996) · Matt Douglas
Streets of Laredo (12-Nov-1995)
Maverick (20-May-1994) · Zane Cooper
Breathing Lessons (6-Feb-1994)
Barbarians at the Gate (20-Mar-1993)
Fire in the Sky (12-Mar-1993) · Frank Watters
The Distinguished Gentleman (4-Dec-1992) · Jeff Johnson
Decoration Day (2-Dec-1990)
My Name Is Bill W. (30-Apr-1989)
Sunset (29-Apr-1988) · Wyatt Earp
Murphy’s Romance (25-Dec-1985) · Murphy Jones
Heartsounds (30-Sep-1984)
Tank (16-Mar-1984)
Victor/Victoria (16-Mar-1982) · King Marchand
The Fan (15-May-1981)
HealtH (12-Sep-1980)
The Castaway Cowboy (1-Aug-1974)
One Little Indian (20-Jun-1973)
They Only Kill Their Masters (22-Nov-1972)
Skin Game (30-Sep-1971) · Quincy
Support Your Local Gunfighter (26-May-1971) · Latigo
A Man Called Sledge (30-Oct-1970) · Luther Sledge
Marlowe (22-Oct-1969)
Support Your Local Sheriff (26-Mar-1969) · Jason
The Pink Jungle (16-Sep-1968)
How Sweet It Is! (21-Aug-1968)
Hour of the Gun (1-Nov-1967) · Wyatt Earp
Grand Prix (21-Dec-1966) · Pete Aron
Mister Buddwing (15-Jul-1966) · Mister Buddwing
Duel at Diablo (15-Jun-1966) · Jess Remsberg
A Man Could Get Killed (25-Mar-1966) · William Beddoes
The Art of Love (30-Jun-1965)
36 Hours (28-Jan-1965) · Maj. Jefferson Pike
The Americanization of Emily (27-Oct-1964) · Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. Madison
Move Over, Darling (19-Dec-1963) · Nicholas Arden
The Wheeler Dealers (14-Nov-1963) · Henry Tyroon
The Thrill of It All (17-Jul-1963) · Dr. Gerald Boyer
The Great Escape (4-Jul-1963) · Hendley
Boys’ Night Out (21-Jun-1962) · Fred Williams
The Children’s Hour (19-Dec-1961) · Dr. Joe Cardin
Cash McCall (27-Jan-1960) · Cash McCall
Up Periscope (4-Mar-1959) · Ken Braden
Darby’s Rangers (12-Feb-1958) · William Darby
Sayonara (5-Dec-1957) · Capt. Bailey
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (4-May-1957) · John Maitland
The Girl He Left Behind (26-Oct-1956) · Preston
Toward the Unknown (27-Sep-1956) · Maj. Joe Craven

Source: James Garner – Film Actor, Television Actor – Biography.com

Source: James Garner

Source: James Garner – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Today is the 112th birthday of the actress Mary Astor. Have you seen Red Dust, The Palm Beach Story, The Maltese Falcon, and Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte? You need to. For so many reason, if not only for Mary Astor. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Mary Astor
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Theater Actress, Journalist, Author
BIRTH DATE: May 03, 1906
DEATH DATE: September 25, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH: Quincy, Illinois
PLACE OF DEATH: Woodland Hills, California
ORIGINALLY: Lucille Vasconcellos Langhanke
OSCAR FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: 1942 for The Great Lie
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 6701 Hollywood Blvd.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Mary Astor was an Academy Award-winning actress of the stage and screen. Her best known role was in The Maltese Falcon.

Mary Astor (May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.

She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost saw her career destroyed due to public scandal in the mid-1930s. She was sued for support by her parents and was later branded an adulterous wife by her ex-husband during a custody fight over her daughter. Overcoming these stumbling blocks in her private life, Astor went on to even greater success on the screen, eventually winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie (1941). She was an MGM contract player through most of the 1940s and continued to act in movies, on television and on stage until her retirement from the screen in 1964. Astor was the author of five novels. Her autobiography became a bestseller, as did her later book, A Life on Film, which was specifically about her career.

Director Lindsay Anderson wrote of her in 1990: “…that when two or three who love the cinema are gathered together, the name of Mary Astor always comes up, and everybody agrees that she was an actress of special attraction, whose qualities of depth and reality always seemed to illuminate the parts she played.”

Mary Astor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. She has been quoted as saying: “There are five stages in the life of an actor: Who’s Mary Astor? Get me Mary Astor. Get me a Mary Astor type. Get me a young Mary Astor. Who’s Mary Astor?”

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (15-Dec-1964) · Jewel Mayhew
Youngblood Hawke (4-Nov-1964)
Return to Peyton Place (5-May-1961) · Mrs. Roberta Carter
A Stranger in My Arms (3-Mar-1959)
This Happy Feeling (18-Jun-1958)
The Devil’s Hairpin (4-Oct-1957)
The Power and the Prize (26-Sep-1956) · Mrs. George Salt
A Kiss Before Dying (12-Jun-1956) · Mrs. Corliss
Any Number Can Play (2-Jul-1949) · Ada
Little Women (10-Mar-1949) · Marmee
Act of Violence (21-Dec-1948) · Pat
Cass Timberlane (6-Nov-1947) · Queenie Havock
Cynthia (29-Aug-1947) · Louise Bishop
Desert Fury (15-Aug-1947) · Fritzi Haller
Fiesta (12-Jun-1947) · Señora Morales
Claudia and David (25-Feb-1946)
Blonde Fever (5-Dec-1944) · Delilah Donay
Meet Me in St. Louis (28-Nov-1944) · Mrs. Anna Smith
Thousands Cheer (13-Sep-1943)
Young Ideas (2-Aug-1943)
The Palm Beach Story (2-Nov-1942) · The Princess Centimillia
Across the Pacific (4-Sep-1942)
The Maltese Falcon (3-Oct-1941) · Brigid O’Shaughnessy
The Great Lie (5-Apr-1941) · Sandra
Brigham Young: Frontiersman (20-Sep-1940)
Turnabout (17-May-1940)
Midnight (15-Mar-1939) · Helene Flammarion
Listen, Darling (18-Oct-1938) · Dottie Wingate
Woman Against Woman (18-Jun-1938) · Cynthia Holland
There’s Always a Woman (20-Apr-1938) · Lola Fraser
Paradise for Three (15-Feb-1938) · Mrs. Irene Mallebre
The Hurricane (9-Nov-1937) · Madame DeLaage
The Prisoner of Zenda (2-Sep-1937) · Antoinette de Mauban
Dodsworth (23-Sep-1936) · Edith Cortright
And So They Were Married (10-May-1936) · Edith Farnham
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (11-Jan-1936)
Man of Iron (21-Dec-1935) · Vida
Red Hot Tires (25-Oct-1935)
Page Miss Glory (7-Sep-1935) · Gladys
Dinky (11-May-1935)
I Am a Thief (24-Nov-1934) · Odette
The Case of the Howling Dog (22-Sep-1934) · Bessie Foley
The Man with Two Faces (4-Aug-1934) · Jessica
Upperworld (28-Apr-1934) · Mrs. Stream
Easy to Love (13-Jan-1934) · Charlotte
The World Changes (25-Nov-1933)
The Kennel Murder Case (28-Oct-1933) · Hilda Lake
Jennie Gerhardt (9-Jun-1933)
The Little Giant (14-Apr-1933) · Ruth Wayburn
Red Dust (22-Oct-1932) · Barbara Willis
A Successful Calamity (17-Sep-1932) · Emmy Wilton
The Lost Squadron (10-Mar-1932) · Follette
Men of Chance (26-Dec-1931) · Marthe
Smart Woman (12-Sep-1931)
The Sin Ship (18-Apr-1931)
Behind Office Doors (15-Mar-1931)
Other Men’s Women (17-Jan-1931)
The Royal Bed (15-Jan-1931) · Princess Anne
The Lash (12-Dec-1930)
Holiday (3-Jul-1930)
The Runaway Bride (4-May-1930)
Two Arabian Knights (23-Sep-1927) · Mirza
Don Juan (6-Aug-1926)
Don Q, Son of Zorro (15-Jun-1925)
Beau Brummel (30-Mar-1924) · The Bride, Maid Margery

Source: Mary Astor – Author, Theater Actress, Film Actress, Journalist – Biography.com

Source: Mary Astor – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Mary Astor Blushes When Her Filthy Diary Leaks

Source: Mary Astor, 81, Is Dead – Star of ‘Maltese Falcon’ – NYTimes.com

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NAME: Gary Cooper
OCCUPATION: Film Actor
BIRTH DATE: May 7, 1901
DEATH DATE: May 13, 1961
EDUCATION: Grinnell College
PLACE OF BIRTH: Helena, Montana
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
OSCAR: Best Actor 1942 for Sergeant York
OSCAR: Best Actor 1953 for High Noon
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1953 for High Noon
OSCAR: (honorary) 1961
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 6245 Hollywood Blvd.
NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME: 1966

BEST KNOWN FOR: Gary Cooper’s movie career spanned from silent films into the 1950s. He won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Alvin York in Sergeant York.

Actor Gary Cooper was born on May 7, 1901, in Helena, Montana. Spanning from the silent film era to the early 1960s, Academy Award-winning actor Gary Cooper built much of his career by playing strong, manly, distinctly American roles. The son of English parents who had settled in Montana, he was educated in England for a time.

He also studied at Grinnell College in Iowa before heading to Los Angeles to work as an illustrator. When he had a hard time finding a job, Cooper worked as a film extra and landed some small parts.

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Naked Edge (28-Jun-1961)
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (6-Nov-1959) · Gideon Patch
They Came to Cordura (Jun-1959) · Maj. Thomas Thorn
The Hanging Tree (11-Feb-1959) · Dr. Joseph Frail
Man of the West (1-Oct-1958) · Link Jones
Ten North Frederick (22-May-1958)
Love in the Afternoon (30-Jun-1957) · Frank Flannagan
Friendly Persuasion (25-Nov-1956) · Jess Birdwell
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (22-Dec-1955)
Vera Cruz (25-Dec-1954)
Garden of Evil (9-Jul-1954) · Hooker
Blowing Wild (16-Sep-1953)
Return to Paradise (10-Jul-1953)
Springfield Rifle (22-Oct-1952) · Maj. Lex Kearney
High Noon (7-Jul-1952) · Will Kane
Distant Drums (25-Dec-1951)
Starlift (14-Dec-1951) · Himself
It’s a Big Country (20-Nov-1951) · Texan
You’re in the Navy Now (23-Feb-1951)
Dallas (30-Dec-1950) · Blayde Hollister
Bright Leaf (16-Jun-1950) · Brant Royle
Task Force (30-Aug-1949) · Jonathan L. Scott
The Fountainhead (2-Jul-1949) · Howard Roark
Good Sam (1-Sep-1948) · Sam Clayton
Unconquered (24-Sep-1947)
Variety Girl (29-Aug-1947) · Himself
Cloak and Dagger (28-Sep-1946)
Saratoga Trunk (21-Nov-1945) · Clint Maroon
Along Came Jones (19-Jul-1945) · Melody Jones
Casanova Brown (23-Aug-1944) · Casanova Brown
The Story of Dr. Wassell (26-Apr-1944) · Dr. Corydon M. Wassell
For Whom the Bell Tolls (14-Jul-1943) · Robert Jordan
The Pride of the Yankees (14-Jul-1942) · Lou Gehrig
Ball of Fire (2-Dec-1941) · Prof. Bertram Potts
Sergeant York (2-Jul-1941) · Alvin York
Meet John Doe (3-May-1941) · John Doe
North West Mounted Police (21-Oct-1940)
The Westerner (18-Sep-1940) · Cole Harden
The Real Glory (15-Sep-1939)
Beau Geste (2-Aug-1939)
The Cowboy and the Lady (24-Nov-1938) · Stretch
The Adventures of Marco Polo (7-Apr-1938)
Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (23-Mar-1938)
Souls at Sea (9-Aug-1937)
The Plainsman (1-Jan-1937) · Wild Bill Hickok
The General Died at Dawn (2-Sep-1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (12-Apr-1936) · Longfellow Deeds
Desire (11-Apr-1936) · Tom Bradley
Peter Ibbetson (31-Oct-1935)
The Wedding Night (16-Mar-1935)
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (4-Jan-1935)
Now and Forever (31-Aug-1934)
Operator 13 (8-Jun-1934) · Capt. Jack Gailliard
Design for Living (29-Dec-1933) · George Curtis
Alice in Wonderland (22-Dec-1933) · White Knight
One Sunday Afternoon (1-Sep-1933) · Biff Grimes
Today We Live (3-Mar-1933) · Lt. Richard Bogard
A Farewell to Arms (8-Dec-1932) · Frederic
If I Had a Million (2-Dec-1932)
Devil and the Deep (12-Aug-1932)
His Woman (21-Nov-1931)
City Streets (18-Apr-1931) · The Kid
Fighting Caravans (1-Feb-1931) · Clint Belmet
Morocco (14-Nov-1930)
The Texan (10-May-1930)
Paramount on Parade (22-Apr-1930)
Seven Days’ Leave (25-Jan-1930)
The Virginian (9-Nov-1929)
The Shopworn Angel (29-Dec-1928)
Lilac Time (3-Aug-1928)
The Legion of the Condemned (10-Mar-1928)
Wings (12-Aug-1927) · White
The Last Outlaw (2-Jul-1927)
The Winning of Barbara Worth (14-Oct-1926)

Source: Gary Cooper

Source: Gary Cooper – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Gary Cooper – Film Actor – Biography.com

Source: Gary Cooper – Biography – IMDb

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Today is the 122nd birthday of the film director Howard Hawks. He directed one of my very favorite films Bringing Up Baby as well as His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, Monkey Business, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and I Was A Male War Bride. The genres are as varied as the stories themselves, but all excellently told. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Howard Hawks
OCCUPATION: Screenwriter, Director, Producer
BIRTH DATE: May 30, 1896
DEATH DATE: December 26, 1977
EDUCATION: Cornell University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Goshen, Indiana
PLACE OF DEATH: Palm Springs, California
FULL NAME: Howard Winchester Hawks

BEST KNOWN FOR: Academy Award-winning filmmaker Howard Hawks directed Only Angels Have Wings, Sergeant York, Scarface, Bringing Up Baby and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Director, screenwriter and producer Howard Hawks was born on May 30, 1896, in Goshen, Indiana. With more than 45 films to his credit, Howard Hawks created many classic films in a variety of genres, from westerns to musical comedies. He spent many of his early years in Indiana before his family moved out to California.

Hawks graduated from Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1917. After college, he had a job at the Mary Pickford Company as an assistant prop man before joining the military. Hawks served in the Army Air Corps during World War I. After the war, he returned to California. Some reports indicate that he tried his hand at being a professional racecar driver and others say that he worked as a designer in an airplane factory.

In any case, Hawks found his way into the film industry by the early 1920s, working first as a prop man and later a story editor. He had his first script, Tiger Love, produced in 1924. Two years later, Hawks made his debut as a director with The Road to Glory (1926), which he also helped write.

Making the leap to sound, Hawks directed his first talking picture, The Dawn Patrol, in 1930. The WWI drama starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and featured many exciting aerial fight scenes. Switching genres, he tackled the gangster saga Scarface with Paul Muni, George Raft, and Boris Karloff. The violent tale was caught up in a censorship battle waged by the producer Howard Hughes against the film industry’s production code administration. Finally released in 1932, the film was a big hit and paved the way for more such crime dramas.

Proving to be quite versatile, Hawks moved on to lighter fare in the mid-1930s. He directed Twentieth Century (1934) with John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, which helped make Lombard a star. Around this time, Hawks worked on a number of films with Cary Grant. He directed Grant in 1938’s Bringing Up Baby with Katharine Hepburn and 1940’s His Girl Friday with Rosalind Russell. Turning to more serious material, Hawks also worked with Grant on the 1939 drama Only Angels Have Wings, which launched the career of Rita Hayworth.

Continuing to garner praise for his serious work, Hawks directed with Gary Cooper in the 1941 war drama Sergeant York. It was based on the true story of a sharpshooter during World War I. A big success, the film netted 11 Academy Award nominations, including one for Hawks. This was the only Academy Award nomination that he received during his career. Another critically acclaimed project for Hawks was 1944’s To Have and Have Not, which starred Humphrey Bogart and marked the film debut of Lauren Bacall. It was adapted from a novel by Ernest Hemingway and the screenplay was written in part by another brilliant writer William Faulkner.

Longtime friends, Hawks and Faulkner worked on a number of films together over the years. Their next project was the film noir thriller The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart and Bacall. Based on the Raymond Chandler novel, the film is considered to be one of the great classics of its genre. Two years later, Hawks made one of his most famous westerns with John Wayne. Red River (1948) starred Wayne as a cattleman who must grapple with his difficult relationship with his adopted son played by Montgomery Clift.

In the 1950s, Hawks continued to work on a diverse mix of projects. He directed Kirk Douglas in the western The Big Sky (1952) and Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers in the comedy Monkey Business (1952). In the musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Hawks is often credited with helping Marilyn Monroe achieve the best performance of her career. Returning to westerns, he reunited with John Wayne for 1959’s Rio Bravo.

By the early 1960s, Hawks started to slow down professionally. His earlier work began to receive some critical attention and was featured in a career retrospective at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. While others were looking back on his accomplishments, Hawks continued to work, making a handful of films, most of which starred Wayne. They worked together on the African adventure film Hatari! (1962) and the western El Dorado (1966) with Robert Mitchum. For his final film, Hawks directed Wayne in the western adventure Rio Lobo (1970).

Finally, Hawks received a special Academy Award in 1974. He was given an honorary award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for being “a master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema.”

Hawks died on December 26, 1977, in Palm Springs, California at the age of 81. He is remembered as a powerful storyteller with a simple, but effective style of direction. Married three times, he was survived by his four children, David, Greg, Barbara and Kitty.

FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
Rio Lobo (17-Dec-1970)
El Dorado (17-Dec-1966)
Red Line 7000 (9-Nov-1965)
Man’s Favorite Sport (29-Jan-1964)
Hatari! (24-May-1962)
Rio Bravo (18-Mar-1959)
Land of the Pharaohs (24-Jun-1955)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (15-Jul-1953)
O. Henry’s Full House (19-Sep-1952)
Monkey Business (5-Sep-1952)
The Big Sky (6-Aug-1952)
I Was a Male War Bride (11-Aug-1949)
A Song is Born (19-Oct-1948)
Red River (1-Sep-1948)
The Big Sleep (23-Aug-1946)
To Have and Have Not (11-Oct-1944)
Air Force (3-Feb-1943)
Ball of Fire (2-Dec-1941)
Sergeant York (2-Jul-1941)
His Girl Friday (11-Jan-1940)
Only Angels Have Wings (12-May-1939)
Bringing Up Baby (18-Feb-1938)
Come and Get It (6-Nov-1936)
The Road to Glory (2-Jun-1936)
Ceiling Zero (16-Jan-1936)
Barbary Coast (13-Oct-1935)
Twentieth Century (3-May-1934)
Today We Live (3-Mar-1933)
Tiger Shark (22-Sep-1932)
The Crowd Roars (16-Apr-1932)
Scarface (31-Mar-1932)
The Dawn Patrol (10-Jul-1930)
Fazil (4-Jun-1928)
A Girl in Every Port (26-Feb-1928)

Source: Overview for Howard Hawks

Source: Howard Hawks – Rotten Tomatoes

Source: Howard Hawks – Screenwriter, Director, Producer – Biography.com

Source: Howard Hawks – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Today is the 111th birthday of Rosalind Russell.  Suggesting any one of her films to watch is in no way discounting any of the others. I adore The Women, His Girl Friday, Gypsy, and Mrs. Pollifax – Spy, just for starters.  You may have your own, it is hard to not have at least a couple.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Rosalind Russell
OCCUPATION: Theater Actress, Film Actor/Film Actress
BIRTH DATE: June 4, 1907
DEATH DATE: November 28, 1976
EDUCATION: American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Marymount College
PLACE OF BIRTH: Waterbury, Connecticut
PLACE OF DEATH: Beverly Hills, California
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1947 for Sister Kenny
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1948 for Mourning Becomes Electra
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1959 for Auntie Mame
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1962 for A Majority of One
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1963 for Gypsy
TONY: 1953 for Wonderful Town
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 1708 Vine St.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Theater and film actress Rosalind Russell costarred in His Girl Friday with Cary Grant, and played Auntie Mame in both the Broadway play and the movie version.

Rosalind Russsell was born on June 4, 1907, the fourth of seven children, in Waterbury, Connecticut. She was named after the S.S. Rosalind, on which her parents had voyaged. Her father, a lawyer, was from an Irish Catholic family and Rosalind went to the Catholic Marymount College in New York, before going on to train at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

After doing work as a fashion model she started her stage career in her early twenties, appearing in stock company productions and some minor roles in Broadway plays before she was offered a contract first with Universal Pictures and then swiftly signing for the pre-eminent studio, MGM.

She made her screen debut with a large role as part of the love triangle in ‘Evelyn Prentice’ in 1934, co-starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. For the rest of the decade she worked hard, appearing in numerous movies including many comedies, such as ‘Forsaking All Others’ in 1934 and ‘Four’s a Crowd’ in 1938 and although fine in serious drama she was clearly built for comedy, with her wide, expressive eyes and constantly mobile body, her performances frequently threatening to go over the top but skillfully reigned in at the last moment. She appeared in dramas also, including ‘Craig’s Wife’ in 1936 and ‘The Citadel’ in 1938 but she was rarely the first choice for anything, and was used by MGM as a first reserve in case Myrna Loy’s salary demands got out of hand.

In 1939 came one of her most celebrated roles when she was cast as the catty Sylvia Fowler, the bitchiest of ‘The Women’, directed by George Cukor, an all female comedy in which she manages to steal scenes from such illustrious names as Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Paulette Goddard, sometimes simultaneously. The movie was a major critical and box-office success which considerably boosted her career and further established her reputation as a comic actress.

In 1940 came another celebrated comic role, that of Hildy Johnson in Howard Hawks’s classic screwball comedy, ‘His Girl Friday’. It is hard to imagine another actress attempting the character with such authority and abandon as she gives one of her finest performances as the ace reporter who is at her happiest trading wisecracks with the boys in the pressroom.

The 1940’s was a prolific decade for Rosalind as she continued to appear in successful comedy movies such as ‘The Feminine Touch’ in 1941, ‘Take a Letter Darling‘ in 1942 and ‘Tell It to the Judge’ in 1949, and she received three of her four Academy Award for Best Actress nominations during this period. The first was for ‘My Sister Eileen’ in 1942 an offbeat comedy featuring her as the older, plainer sister of perky blonde, Janet Blair. Then in 1946 for ‘Sister Kenny’ as an Australian nurse and another ambitious and successful dramatic role in 1947 for ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’.

In the 1950’s Rosalind returned to the Broadway stage and found success in an unexpected new genre, the musical comedy, when she reprised her earlier movie role from ‘My Sister Eileen’ in the renamed ‘Wonderful Town’ in 1953, for which she received a Tony Award. The theater continued to be the mainstay of her career at this time with occasional TV appearances and movies, notably her portrayal of a teacher in ‘Picnic’ in 1955.

Rosalind’s most famous role of all, in both theater and movies, came in the title role of the long-running stage hit ‘Auntie Mame’ and the subsequent 1958 movie version, in which she played an unconventional aunt whose orphan nephew comes to stay. The movie earned her a Golden Globe award and her fourth Academy Award Best Actress nomination.

Rosalind continued to make movies during the 1960’s, giving notable performances in ‘A Majority of One’ in 1961, ‘Five Finger Exercise’ in 1962, ‘Gypsy’ in 1962, and ‘The Trouble with Angels’ in 1966.

She married once, in October, 1941, to Danish-American producer Frederick Brisson, whom she met through Cary Grant when they were filming ‘His Girl Friday’ and they had one son. Their marriage lasted 35 years ending with her death in 1976.

Russell suffered from rheuamatoid arthritis and she devoted her last years to campaigning for arthritis research. In 1972 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charity work.

Rosalind Russell died in 1976 from breast cancer. She was 69. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy (12-May-1971) · Mrs. Pollifax
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (10-Apr-1968) · Mother Superior
Rosie! (22-Nov-1967)
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad (15-Feb-1967)
The Trouble with Angels (30-Mar-1966) · Mother Superior
Gypsy (1-Nov-1962) · Rose
Five Finger Exercise (19-Apr-1962) · Louise Harington
A Majority of One (11-Jan-1962) · Mrs. Jacoby
Auntie Mame (27-Dec-1958) · Auntie Mame
Picnic (11-Feb-1956) · Rosemary the School Teacher
The Girl Rush (Sep-1955)
Never Wave at a WAC (28-Jan-1952)
A Woman of Distinction (1-Mar-1950) · Susan Manning Middlecott
Tell It to the Judge (18-Nov-1949) · Marsha Meredith
The Velvet Touch (13-Jul-1948)
Mourning Becomes Electra (19-Nov-1947) · Lavinia Mannon
The Guilt of Janet Ames (6-Mar-1947) · Janet Ames
Sister Kenny (29-Sep-1946) · Elizabeth Kenny
She Wouldn’t Say Yes (29-Nov-1945)
Roughly Speaking (31-Jan-1945) · Louise Randall
What a Woman! (28-Dec-1943)
Flight for Freedom (4-Feb-1943) · Tonie Carter
My Sister Eileen (24-Sep-1942) · Ruth Sherwood
Take a Letter, Darling (6-May-1942)
Design for Scandal (Dec-1941) · Judge Cornelia Porter
The Feminine Touch (Oct-1941) · Julie Hathaway
They Met in Bombay (27-Jun-1941) · Anya Von Duren
This Thing Called Love (20-Dec-1940)
Hired Wife (13-Sep-1940) · Kendal Browning
No Time for Comedy (7-Sep-1940)
His Girl Friday (11-Jan-1940) · Hildy Johnson
The Women (1-Sep-1939) · Mrs. Howard Fowler
Fast and Loose (17-Feb-1939)
Four’s a Crowd (13-Nov-1938) · Jean Christy
The Citadel (3-Nov-1938) · Christine
Man-Proof (7-Jan-1938) · Elizabeth Kent
Live, Love and Learn (29-Oct-1937)
Night Must Fall (30-Apr-1937) · Olivia
Craig’s Wife (25-Sep-1936)
Trouble for Two (29-May-1936) · Miss Vandeleur
Under Two Flags (30-Apr-1936) · Lady Venetia Cunningham
It Had to Happen (14-Feb-1936)
Rendezvous (23-Oct-1935) · Joel
China Seas (9-Aug-1935) · Sybil
Reckless (17-Apr-1935) · Jo
West Point of the Air (23-Mar-1935)
The Casino Murder Case (15-Mar-1935)
Forsaking All Others (23-Dec-1934) · Eleanor
The President Vanishes (17-Nov-1934)
Evelyn Prentice (9-Nov-1934) · Mrs. Harrison

Source: Rosalind Russell

Source: Rosalind Russell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Rosalind Russell – Theater Actress, Film Actress – Biography.com

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Today is the 111th birthday of Barbara Stanwyck.  Born Ruby Stevens, reinvented herself into an internationally-known actress, and stayed in the public eye for 60 years.  You know by now, I am a sucker for reinvention and longevity, throw in excellent work like Stella Dallas, Double Indemnity, and A Taste of Evil. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Barbara Stanwyck
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Television Actress, Dancer, Pin-up
BIRTH DATE: July 16, 1907
DEATH DATE: January 20, 1990
PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
PLACE OF DEATH: Santa Monica, California
ORIGINALLY: Ruby Stevens
National Cowboy Hall of Fame 1973

BEST KNOWN FOR: Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress who had a 60-year career in film and TV. Usually playing strong-willed women, Stanwyck defined the femme fatale.

Stanwyck’s role as a woman whose priorities revolved around money first and foremost was only the first in a string of performances that showed a progressive, stronger side of women. After her acting chops were put on display, she was signed to a contract with Columbia and appeared in the film Illicit (1931). She soon followed with several popular films, including Ten Cents a Dance (1931), Night Nurse (1931) and Forbidden (1932), a film that took Stanwyck to Hollywood’s A-list.

TELEVISION
The Colbys Constance Colby (1985-86)
The Big Valley Victoria Barkley (1965-69)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Thorn Birds (27-Mar-1983)
A Taste of Evil (12-Oct-1971)
The House That Would Not Die (27-Oct-1970)
The Night Walker (Dec-1964) · Irene Trent
Roustabout (11-Nov-1964) · Maggie Morgan
Walk on the Wild Side (21-Feb-1962) · Jo Courtney
Forty Guns (Sep-1957) · Jessica Drummond
Trooper Hook (12-Jul-1957) · Cora Sutliff
Crime of Passion (9-Jan-1957) · Kathy Doyle
These Wilder Years (17-Aug-1956) · Ann Dempster
The Maverick Queen (3-May-1956) · Kit Banion
There’s Always Tomorrow (20-Jan-1956) · Norma
Escape to Burma (9-Apr-1955)
The Violent Men (26-Jan-1955) · Martha Wilkison
Cattle Queen of Montana (Nov-1954)
Executive Suite (6-May-1954) · Julia O. Treadway
Witness to Murder (15-Apr-1954) · Cheryl Draper
The Moonlighter (19-Sep-1953) · Rela
Blowing Wild (16-Sep-1953)
All I Desire (Jul-1953)
Titanic (16-Apr-1953) · Julia Sturges
Jeopardy (30-Mar-1953) · Helen Stilwin
Clash by Night (18-Jun-1952) · Mae Doyle
The Man with a Cloak (27-Nov-1951) · Lorna Bounty
To Please a Lady (13-Oct-1950) · Regina Forbes
The Furies (16-Aug-1950)
No Man of Her Own (21-Feb-1950) · Helen Ferguson
The File on Thelma Jordon (18-Jan-1950)
East Side, West Side (22-Dec-1949) · Jessie Bourne
The Lady Gambles (20-May-1949)
Sorry, Wrong Number (1-Sep-1948) · Leona Stevenson
B.F.’s Daughter (24-Mar-1948) · Polly Fulton
Variety Girl (29-Aug-1947) · Herself
Cry Wolf (19-Aug-1947) · Sandra Marshall
The Other Love (14-May-1947) · Karen Duncan
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (4-Mar-1947) · Sally Carroll
California (14-Jan-1947) · Lily Bishop
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (24-Jul-1946) · Martha Ivers
The Bride Wore Boots (8-May-1946)
My Reputation (25-Jan-1946) · Jessica Drummond
Christmas in Connecticut (20-Jul-1945) · Elizabeth Lane
Hollywood Canteen (15-Dec-1944) · Herself
Double Indemnity (6-Sep-1944) · Phyllis Dietrichson
Flesh and Fantasy (29-Oct-1943)
Lady of Burlesque (1-May-1943) · Dixie Daisy
The Gay Sisters (1-Aug-1942) · Fiona Gaylord
The Great Man’s Lady (29-Apr-1942) · Hannah Sempler
Ball of Fire (2-Dec-1941) · Sugarpuss O’Shea
You Belong to Me (22-Oct-1941) · Helen Hunt
Meet John Doe (3-May-1941) · Ann Mitchell
The Lady Eve (25-Feb-1941) · Jean
Remember the Night (9-Jan-1940) · Lee Leander
Golden Boy (5-Sep-1939) · Lorna Moon
Union Pacific (27-Apr-1939) · Mollie Monahan
The Mad Miss Manton (8-Oct-1938) · Melsa Manton
Always Goodbye (24-Jun-1938)
Breakfast for Two (22-Oct-1937) · Valentine Ransome
Stella Dallas (5-Aug-1937) · Stella Dallas
This Is My Affair (27-May-1937) · Lil Duryea
Internes Can’t Take Money (16-Apr-1937)
The Plough and the Stars (26-Dec-1936)
Banjo on My Knee (11-Dec-1936) · Pearl
His Brother’s Wife (7-Aug-1936) · Rita
The Bride Walks Out (10-Jul-1936) · Carolyn Martin
A Message to Garcia (10-Apr-1936) · Senorita Raphaelita Maderos
Annie Oakley (15-Nov-1935) · Annie Oakley
Red Salute (12-Sep-1935)
The Woman in Red (16-Feb-1935) · Shelby Barret
The Secret Bride (22-Dec-1934) · Ruth Vincent
A Lost Lady (29-Sep-1934)
Gambling Lady (31-Mar-1934) · Lady Lee
Ever in My Heart (28-Oct-1933) · Mary
Baby Face (1-Jul-1933) · Lily
Ladies They Talk About (4-Feb-1933) · Nan
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (3-Jan-1933) · Megan
The Purchase Price (23-Jul-1932) · Joan Gordon
So Big! (29-Apr-1932) · Selina Peake
Shopworn (25-Mar-1932) · Kitty
Forbidden (15-Jan-1932) · Lulu
The Miracle Woman (20-Jul-1931) · Florence Fallon
Night Nurse (16-Jul-1931) · Lora Hart
Ten Cents a Dance (20-Feb-1931) · Barbara O’Neill
Illicit (14-Feb-1931) · Anne Vincent
Ladies of Leisure (5-Apr-1930) · Kay Arnold
Mexicali Rose (26-Dec-1929)
The Locked Door (16-Nov-1929)

Source: Barbara Stanwyck – Dancer, Film Actress, Television Actress, Classic Pin-Ups – Biography.com

Source: Barbara Stanwyck – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Many Faces of Barbara Stanwyck — The Hairpin

Source: Barbara Stanwyck

It's Words To Live By July on my instagram account! 
I will be posting a quote that I love every day for the month of July. 
@TheRealSPA

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Today is the 94th birthday of aspiring actress, daughter, sister and unsolved murder victim Elizabeth Short.

NAME: Elizabeth Short
BIRTH DATE: July 29, 1924
DEATH DATE: c. January 15, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH: Boston, Massachusetts
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
AKA: Beth Short, ”The Black Dahlia”, Bette Short, Betty Short
REMAINS: Buried, Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA

BEST KNOWN FOR: Nicknamed “the Black Dahlia,” Elizabeth Short was brutally murdered in Los Angeles in 1947, her body cut in half and severely mutilated. The Black Dahlia’s killer was never found, making her murder one of the oldest cold case files in L.A. to date, and the city’s most famous.

Elizabeth Short, best known as “the Black Dahlia,” was born on July 29, 1924, in Boston, Massachusetts, the third of five daughters born to Cleo and Phoebe Mae (Sawyer) Short. Cleo Short abandoned the family when Elizabeth was 5 years old. At a young age, Short developed a strong affinity for cinema. By her teens, she had set her sites on becoming an actress.

By the mid-1940s, Elizabeth Short was living in Los Angeles, California, working as a waitress to support herself while dreaming of catching her big break into Hollywood’s acting scene. Her chance at stardom, however, would never come. In January 1947, a horrific tragedy occurred: At the age of 22, Short was brutally murdered in Los Angeles, her body cut in half and severely mutilated. Her body was found, nude and posed, by a local female resident on January 15, 1947, in a vacant lot near Leimert Park, on the 3800 block of L.A.’s South Norton Avenue. “It was pretty gruesome,” Brian Carr, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department who has long worked on the Dahlia case, later said. “I just can’t imagine someone doing that to another human being.” In addition to dissecting and mutilating her body, Short’s killer had drained her corpse of blood and scrubbed it clean.

The case quickly became heavily covered by the media (her moniker, “Black Dahlia,” became widely known shortly thereafter, as it was used more frequently than her real name by the press). “The case itself took on a life of its own,” Carr said. “Early on, I think for two months it was front-page news in all the local papers every day.”

An in-depth, lengthy investigation by the L.A.P.D. ensued, leading to a number of false reports—including several false murder confessions—and ultimately leaving detectives grasping at straws. The sole witness of the murder had reported seeing a black sedan parked in the area in the early morning hours, but could provide police with little else. The combination of faulty witnesses and a lack of hard evidence surrounding the case greatly hindered its progress, and, despite numerous allegations and leads over the years, the Black Dahlia’s killer was never found. Today, the Black Dahlia murder remains one of the oldest cold case files in L.A., as well as the city’s most famous.

In early 2013, the Black Dahlia case returned to the headlines. An article in the San Bernardino Sun detailed a more recent investigation of the case that was conducted by retired police seargant Paul Dostie, author Steve Hodel, and a police dog named Buster with a keen sense of smell—specifically that of decomposing flesh, which he was trained to detect. According to the Sun, the investigative team has uncovered incriminating evidence against Hodel’s father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, who the younger Hodel has long believed to be the Black Dahlia killer. In February 2013, the team conducted an extensive search of the doctor’s home, where Buster had previously detected the scent of human decomposition in several areas of the basement, according to reports. Following their search, soil samples taken from Dr. Hodel’s home were reportedly submitted for lab testing.

Other evidence against George Hodel, according to his son, includes an old recording of a conversation between the doctor and an unknown person, during which Dr. Hodel allegedly stated, “Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my secretary because she’s dead.”

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Today is the 113th birthday of Myrna Loy.  Her rapid-fire line delivery, unequaled beauty, and dedication to humanitarian causes all add up to make her one the most amazing actresses of her era. I think it is because she lacked a scandal and/or didn’t behave poorly that she is not as widely remembered as Davis, Hepburn, et al. Do yourselves a favor and watch one of her films soon. I suggest the Thin Man series but also, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home is so great. You won’t be disappointed. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Myrna Loy
OCCUPATION: Actress
BIRTH DATE: August 02, 1905
DEATH DATE: December 14, 1993
PLACE OF BIRTH: Radersburg, Montana
PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York
ORIGINALLY: Myrna Williams
REMAINS: Buried, Forestvale Cemetery, Helena, MT
OSCAR (honorary) 1991
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 6685 Hollywood Blvd.
KENNEDY CENTER HONOR: 1988

BEST KNOWN FOR: Movie star Myrna Loy made over 120 pictures, including all six of the Thin Man movies, in which she played Nora Charles opposite actor William Powell.

The daughter of a successful Montana state legislator, she made her stage debut at the age of 12, in a dance piece called ‘The Blue Bird’.

The next year, her father died, and Myrna moved to Los Angeles, and began appearing in local stage productions to support her family. She began to regularly appear at the famous Grauman’s Theatre in Hollywood, where Rudolph Valentino‘s wife spotted her.

Impressed, she helped her land some film parts and, with success beckoning, Miss Williams took the name Miss Loy in 1920. It was to be the start of a phenomenally lengthy career.

After initial typecasting as an exotic ‘vamp’, her star really began to shine in ‘The Thin Man‘ series, in which she played Nora Charles. Her performances were hugely successful, and have become some of the best-loved in movie history. In 1936, she was voted ‘Queen of the Movies’ to Clark Gable’s ‘King’, in a nationwide audience poll.

She married in 1936 – the first of four failed marriages. Her first husband Arthur Hornblow JR was a film producer and although Loy never had children of her own, she was close to her stepchildren. This marriage failed, however, and the couple divorced in 1942. Loy then wed John Hertz JR of the Hertz Rent A Car family the same year before they too divorced in 1944.

Her third husband was screenwriter Gene Markey, with the union lasting between 1946 and 1950. Loy’s next and final marriage was to UNESCO delegate Howland H Sargeant between 1951 and 1960.

Off-screen, Loy carved out a role as a highly respected spokesperson for international social issues. A supporter of the UN and a prominent figure in UNESCO, she also served on the Civil Rights Commission. In the 1950s, she was vocal and influential in her condemnation of Hollywood ‘witch-hunt’ blacklisting. During this period she appeared in ‘Cheaper By The Dozen‘ (1950), ‘Belles On Their Toes‘ (1952) and ‘The Ambassador’s Daughter‘ in 1956 before turning to TV with a role in ‘General Electric Theatre‘ between 1955 and 1957.

Loy continued to appear in a range of films and TV shows, such as ‘Midnight Lace‘ (1960), ‘The Virginian‘ (1967) and ‘Death Takes A Holiday‘ in 1971. She took a break between ‘Airport 1975‘ in 1975 and ‘It Happened in Lakewood Manor‘ in 1977 as she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer in 1975. Loy had to have a second in 1979.

Appearing in 129 movies during her life, her last film role was in 1981’s ‘Summer Solstice‘. During her film retirement, she acted as co-chairman of the Advisory Council of the National Committee against Discrimination in Housing and penned her autobiography ‘Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming’, which was released in 1987.

She was awarded a lifetime achievement Academy Award in 1991.

Loy died on the 14 December 1993 in New York City, at the age of 88.

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Just Tell Me What You Want (18-Jan-1980)
The End (10-May-1978) · Maureen Lawson
Ants (2-Dec-1977)
Airport 1975 (18-Oct-1974) · Mrs. Devaney
Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate (9-Nov-1971)
Death Takes a Holiday (23-Oct-1971)
The April Fools (28-May-1969)
Midnight Lace (13-Oct-1960) · Aunt Bea
From the Terrace (15-Jul-1960) · Martha Eaton
Lonelyhearts (1958)
The Ambassador’s Daughter (26-Jul-1956) · Mrs. Cartwright
Belles on Their Toes (2-May-1952)
Cheaper by the Dozen (31-Mar-1950) · Lillian Gilbreth
If This Be Sin (13-Apr-1949)
The Red Pony (28-Mar-1949) · Alice Tiflin
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (25-Mar-1948) · Muriel Blandings
Song of the Thin Man (28-Aug-1947) · Nora Charles
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (24-Jul-1947) · Margaret
The Best Years of Our Lives (21-Nov-1946) · Milly Stephenson
So Goes My Love (1-May-1946) · Jane Budden Maxim
The Thin Man Goes Home (25-Jan-1945) · Nora Charles
Shadow of the Thin Man (21-Nov-1941) · Nora
Love Crazy (23-May-1941) · Susan Ireland
Third Finger, Left Hand (11-Oct-1940) · Margot Sherwood Merrick
I Love You Again (9-Aug-1940) · Kay Wilson
Another Thin Man (17-Nov-1939) · Nora
The Rains Came (8-Sep-1939) · Lady Edwina Esketh
Too Hot to Handle (16-Sep-1938) · Alma Harding
Test Pilot (16-Apr-1938) · Ann
Man-Proof (7-Jan-1938) · Mimi Swift
Double Wedding (15-Oct-1937) · Margit Agnew
Parnell (4-Jun-1937) · Katie
After the Thin Man (25-Dec-1936) · Nora
Libeled Lady (9-Oct-1936) · Connie Allenbury
The Great Ziegfeld (22-Mar-1936) · Billie Burke
Wife vs. Secretary (28-Feb-1936) · Linda
Whipsaw (6-Dec-1935) · Vivian Palmer
Wings in the Dark (1-Feb-1935)
Broadway Bill (21-Nov-1934)
Evelyn Prentice (9-Nov-1934) · Evelyn Prentice
Stamboul Quest (7-Jul-1934) · Annemarie
The Thin Man (23-May-1934) · Nora
Manhattan Melodrama (2-May-1934) · Eleanor Packer
Men in White (28-Mar-1934) · Laura
Night Flight (6-Oct-1933) · Brazilian Pilot’s Wife
Penthouse (8-Sep-1933) · Gertie Waxted
When Ladies Meet (23-Jun-1933) · Mary
The Prizefighter and the Lady (27-May-1933) · Belle
The Barbarian (12-May-1933) · Diana
Topaze (8-Feb-1933) · Coco
The Animal Kingdom (23-Dec-1932) · Cecilia
The Mask of Fu Manchu (5-Nov-1932) · Fah Lo See
Thirteen Women (16-Sep-1932) · Ursula Georgi
Love Me Tonight (13-Aug-1932) · Countess Valentine
New Morals for Old (4-Jun-1932) · Myra
The Wet Parade (17-Mar-1932)
Emma (2-Jan-1932)
Arrowsmith (7-Dec-1931) · Joyce Lanyon
Consolation Marriage (29-Oct-1931) · Elaine Brandon
A Connecticut Yankee (6-Apr-1931) · Queen Morgan le Fay
Body and Soul (22-Feb-1931)
The Naughty Flirt (11-Jan-1931) · Linda Gregory
The Devil to Pay! (18-Dec-1930) · Mary Crayle
The Truth About Youth (3-Nov-1930) · Kara
Renegades (26-Oct-1930) · Eleanore
Under a Texas Moon (1-Apr-1930)
The Show of Shows (21-Nov-1929)
The Great Divide (15-Sep-1929) · Manuella
The Squall (9-May-1929) · Nubi
The Black Watch (8-May-1929) · Yasmani
The Desert Song (8-Apr-1929)
Noah’s Ark (1-Nov-1928)
Don Juan (6-Aug-1926)
So This Is Paris (31-Jul-1926)

Source: Myrna Loy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Myrna Loy – Actress – Biography.com

Source: Myrna Loy, Model of Urbanity in ‘Thin Man’ Roles, Dies at 88 – NYTimes.com

Source: Myrna Loy

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Fifty years ago this month, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood aired nationally. He promoted a thoughtful kindness and understanding that is greatly lacking. There is all too much mean-spirited negativity in the world, we can all use a visit to the Neighborhood every now and then.

The show went off the air in 2001, and Rogers died in 2003. But he’s making a posthumous comeback. The US Postal Service will commemorate him on a stamp next month, a documentary film about his beloved PBS show will be released in June and Tom Hanks will play him in a biopic.

Fifty years later, Rogers’ legacy still resonates.

Here’s a look at some of his more memorable lessons and quotes, from his show and writings.

Slow down and be patient.

In one episode, Rogers wanted viewers to hear what it sounded like when the fish in his on-set aquarium ate their food. He called in a marine biologist to install a microphone in the tank, but the biologist grew impatient when the fish weren’t eating. They could have re-recorded the scene, but Rogers kept it in as a lesson in patience and the appreciation of silence.

Mutually caring relationships require kindness and patience, tolerance, optimism, joy in the other’s achievements, confidence in oneself, and the ability to give without undue thought of gain.

Love people for who they are.

On another episode Rogers showed viewers the sweaters his mother knitted for him — the same sweaters he wore on every single show.

I guess that’s the best thing about things, they remind you of people.

And people reminded him of how important it is to truly care for others.

Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like ‘struggle.’ To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.

Everyone is a neighbor.

Rogers once ran into a young man, Anthony Breznican, in an elevator in Pittsburgh, where the show was filmed. Breznican, a fan of the show as a child, recognized Rogers and thanked him for all he did to help children. “Did you grow up as one of my neighbors?” Rogers asked, then opened his arms and gave Breznican a hug.

Breznican told Rogers he’d been going through a tough time since the recent death of his grandfather. Rogers sat him down and listened for a while. Finally, Breznican apologized for keeping the TV host from his appointments. Rogers told him exactly what he needed to hear:

Sometimes you’re right where you need to be.

There is always a reason to help.

Although Rogers’ show was aimed at young children, he sometimes addressed such serious topics as war and divorce. He told kids that when bad things happen and they get scared, hope is never far away

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’

Treat others with kindness.

Rogers’ off-camera self wasn’t much different than his on-air persona. He encouraged his viewers to be themselves, too, and to celebrate their uniqueness.

One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self.

But he also wanted to teach something he believed to be most important: Showing kindness to others.

There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.

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Today is the 146th birthday of the artist Piet Mondrian.  My first trip to New York, I made sure to have enough time to visit the Guggenheim, specifically to see a Mondrian in real life.  I was not disappointed.  The visual simplicity plays against the conceptual complexity perfectly.  I loved it even more.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Piet Mondrian
OCCUPATION: Painter
BIRTH DATE: March 7, 1872
DEATH DATE: February 1, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH: Amersfoort, Netherlands
PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York

BEST KNOWN FOR: Dutch painter Piet Mondrian was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and is best known for his non-representational form termed Neo-Plasticism.

Piet Mondrian was born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, Jr., on March 7, 1872, in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. He studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, from 1892 to 1897. Until 1908, when he began to take annual trips to Domburg in Zeeland, Mondrian’s work was naturalistic—incorporating successive on influences of academic landscape and still-life painting, Dutch Impressionism, and Symbolism. In 1909 a major exhibition of his work (with that of Jan Sluijters and Cornelis Spoor) was held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and that same year he joined the Theosophic Society. In 1909 and 1910 he experimented with Pointillism and by 1911 had begun to work in a Cubist mode. After seeing original Cubist works by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso at the first Moderne Kunstkring exhibition in 1911 in Amsterdam, Mondrian decided to move to Paris. There, from 1912 to 1914, he began to develop an independent abstract style.

Mondrian was visiting the Netherlands when World War I broke out and prevented his return to Paris. During the war years in Holland, he further reduced his colors and geometric shapes and formulated his nonobjective Neoplastic style. In 1917 Mondrian became one of the founders of De Stijl. This group, which included Theo van Doesburg, Bart van der Leck, and Georges Vantongerloo, extended its principles of abstraction and simplification beyond painting and sculpture to architecture and graphic and industrial design. Mondrian’s essays on abstract art were published in the periodical De Stijl. In July 1919 he returned to Paris; there he exhibited with De Stijl in 1923, but withdrew from the group after van Doesburg reintroduced diagonal elements into his work around 1925. In 1930, Mondrian showed with Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) and in 1931 joined Abstraction-Création.

World War II forced Mondrian to move to London in 1938 and then to settle in New York in October 1940. In New York he joined American Abstract Artists and continued to publish texts on Neoplasticism. His late style evolved significantly in response to the city. In 1942 his first solo show took place at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery, New York. Mondrian died February 1, 1944, in New York.

Is the subject of books:
Piet Mondrian: Life and Work, 1956, BY: Michel Seuphor
L’opera completa di Mondrian, 1974, BY: Maria Grazia Ottolenghi

Source: Piet Mondrian

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