Hollywood Actors Archives - Page 35 of 126

Victor Moore

Jane Wyman, Maxie Rosenbloom & Victor Moore

IMDB entry:

Victor Moore was born on February 24, 1876 in Hammonton, New Jersey, USA as Victor Frederick Moore. He was an actor, known for Swing Time (1936), Make Way for Tomorrow(1937) and The Seven Year Itch (1955). He was married to Shirley Paige and Emma Littlefield. He died on July 24, 1962 in East Islip, Long Island, New York, USA.

Moore and his first wife were a vaudeville team for several decades before her death. Moore did not announce his marriage to Shirley Paige until they had been married for a year and a half. At the time of the announcement he was 67 and she was 22.

Moore, or his family, was into buying real estate. A building in the Jackson Heights section of Queens is named after him. The Victor Moore Arcade is bounded by Roosevelt Ave., Broadway (Queens’ Broadway) and 75th St. It houses stores, offices, a bus terminal and two entrances to a subway station. The Victor Moore Arcade was actually seen in a movie. Henry Fonda exits from the subway at this building at the start of Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Wrong Man (1956).

Children: Victor Jr. (c. 1910), Ora (c. 1919) and Robert (c. 1921)

There is a rarely shown sound film in existence that shows Moore as Vice President Throttlebottom in a dialogue scene from “Of Thee I Sing” (the scene in which Throttlebottom is lost in the White House and gets mixed up with a group touring the building). It was part of an Edward R. Murrow See It Now (1951) program on the Vice Presidency, and not, as is assumed by some, part of a film version of “Of Thee I Sing”. “Of Thee I Sing” has never been filmed theatrically, although there is a videotaped 1972 television production of the musical.His last film was The Seven Year Itch (1955).

His first part was a non-speaking role in an 1893 Boston Theatre production of “Babes in the Woods”. He subsequently appeared on Broadway and in vaudeville (1913-15). Came to Los Angeles for an appendectomy in 1915, and decided to stay and try his luck in the movies. He initially appeared in 5-reel features for Jesse L. Lasky, then starred in his own series of one-reel situation comedies for Paramount, 1916-17. Resumed stage work in 1918 with only occasional forays to the screen until the mid-30’s.

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

Corbin Bernsen

IMDB entry:

Rugged, hirsutely handsome Corbin Bernsen blazed to TV stardom in 1986 on L.A. Law(1986) as opportunistic divorce lawyer “Arnie Becker”, whose blond and brash good looks, impish grin and aggressive courting style proved a wild sex magnet to not only the beautiful female clients desirous of his “services”, but his own lovelorn secretary who frequently bailed him out of trouble. Bernsen invested the Becker character with a likable “bad boy” charm that made him a favorite among the tight ensemble for eight solid seasons. In the process, he earned multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. He also proved the role was no flash-in-the-pan or dead-end stereotype, maintaining a steady career over the course of three decades now with no signs of let up. Moreover, his deep love for acting and intent devotion to his career recently impelled him to climb into the producer/director’s chair.

Born in North Hollywood, California, on September 7, 1954, Corbin was raised around the glitz of the entertainment business. The eldest of three children born to 70s film/TV producer Harry Bernsen and veteran grande dame soap star Jeanne Cooper (the couple divorced in 1977), he graduated from Beverly Hills High School and attended UCLA with the intention of pursuing law. Instead, he went on to receive a BFA in Theatre Arts and MFA in Playwriting. He worked on the Equity-waiver L.A. stage circuit as both actor and set designer, making his film debut as a bit player in his father’s picture Three the Hard Way (1974). Appearing unobtrusively in a couple of other films, he set his sights on New York in the late 70s. During his salad days, he eeked out a living as a carpenter and roofer while sidelining as a model. His first big break came in 1983 with the role of “Ken Graham” on daytime’s Ryan’s Hope (1975). During this time, he also met and married TV costumer designer Brenda Cooper, who later worked on The Nanny (1993) sitcom. They divorced four years later. This break led to an exclusive deal by NBC and eventually the TV role of a lifetime. The perks of his newly-found stardom on L.A. Law (1986) included a hosting stint on Saturday Night Live (1975) and the covers of numerous major magazines. Wasting no time, he parlayed his sudden small screen success into a major movie career, usually playing charmingly unsympathetic characters. He co-starred asShelley Long‘s egotistical husband in the lightweight reincarnation comedy Hello Again(1987); played an equally vain Hollywood star in the musical comedy Bert Rigby, You’re a Fool (1989); and starred as a disorganized ringleader of a band of crooks in the bank caper Disorganized Crime (1989). He capped the 1980s decade opposite Charlie Sheenand Tom Berenger in the box office hit Major League (1989), which took advantage of his natural athleticism, playing ballplayer-cum-owner “Roger Dorn”. Two sequels followed.

Corbin’s career has merrily rolled along ever since – active in lowbudgets as well as pricier film fare portraying both anti-heroes and villains. On the TV homefront, he has appeared in a slew of mini-movie vehicles, including Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story(1991) as the famed civil rights attorney, and has ventured on in an assortment film genres – the mystery thriller Shattered (1991), which re-teamed him with Tom Berenger; the romantic comedy Frozen Assets (1992), again with Shelley Long; the war horror taleGrey Knight (1993); the slapstick farce Radioland Murders (1994); the melodramatic An American Affair (1997), and the fantasy adventure Beings (2002). Topping it off, Corbin’s title role in the expert thriller The Dentist (1996) had audiences excogitating a similar paranoia of tooth doctors as Anthony Perkins had decades before with motel clerks. As spurned husband-turned-crazed ivory hunter “Dr. Alan Feinstone”, Corbin reached cult horror status. The movie spawned a sequel in which he also served as associate producer.

Into the millennium, Corbin returned to his daytime roots with a recurring role on motherJeanne Cooper‘s popular serial The Young and the Restless (1973), and is currently seen as “John Durant” on General Hospital (1963), a role he’s played since 2004. A game and excitable player on reality shows, he added immeasurable fun to the “Celebrity Mole” series, and has enjoyed recurring roles on the more current and trendy The West Wing(1999), JAG (1995), Cuts (2005) and Psych (2006).

Of late, Corbin has decided to tackle the business end of show biz. In 2004, he formed Public Media Works, a film/TV production company in order to exert more creative control over his projects. On top of the list is the loopy film comedy Carpool Guy (2005), which he directed, produced and co-starred in. It features more than 10 of the currently reigning soap opera stars, including a wildly eccentric Anthony Geary in the title role, and, of course, his irrepressible real-life mom, Jeanne Cooper.

Obviously, his errant on-camera antics does not reflect a similar personal lifestyle for Corbin as he has been happily married (since 1988) to lovely British actress Amanda Pays. They have appeared together in the sci-fi film Spacejacked (1997) and the TV-movies Dead on the Money (1991) and The Santa Trap (2002), among others. The couple have four children, including twin boys. Just a few years ago, they relocated to Los Angeles after living in England for some time. In between, he still shows off as a master carpenter at home and continues to dabble in writing. Perseverance and dedication has played a large part in the acting success of Corbin Bernsen. Gleaning a savvy, take-charge approach hasn’t hurt either — characteristics worthy of many of the sharpies he’s played on screen.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Corbin Bernsen stars as Henry Spencer in the sixth season of the USA Network original series PSYCH, also starring James Roday and Dule Hill.

Bernsen is also forging ahead as a prolific writer, producer and director, creating films for his Home Theater Films production and distribution banner.

As an actor, Bernsen recently completed a role as actress Rebecca Hall’s father in the indie comedy Lay The Favorite starring Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta Jones, directed by Stephen Frears. He also appears in the comedy The Big Year, directed by David Frankel for Fox 2000, starring Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin.

For his Home Theater Films distribution banner, Bernsen recently completed writing, producing, directing and starring in the All-American Soap Box Derby film, 25 Hill which also stars Nathan Gamble (Dolphin Tale), Rolonda Watts (Days of Our Lives), Bailee Madison (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), Tim Omundson (Psych, Mission Impossible III), Maureen Flannigan (7th Heaven, A Day Without A Mexican), Ralph Waite (The Bodyguard), Meg Foster (They Live) and Michael Tucker (LA Law, D2: The Mighty Ducks) which he shot on location in Akron, Ohio.

Bernsen also just completed starring, writing and directing Barlowe Mann, an inspirational family drama. The film is a co-production between Home Theater Films and the small town of Provost, Alberta, Canada (Population: 2000) which helped finance the film, which stars Bernsen, Nathan Gamble (Dolphin Tale, Batman Returns), Dendrie Taylor (The Fighter ) and Bruce Davison (X-Men).

Previously, Bernsen starred in, wrote, produced and directed the drama Rust, for his production company in which Bernsen plays a minister who returns to his hometown to make sense of the aftermath of a local tragedy. The film, shot in the small town of Kipling, Canada, was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in October 2010. Bernsen earned his Master’s in Playwriting from UCLA’s Theater Arts Department, later receiving a Drama-Logue Award for his scenic design of the Pilot Theater production of American Buffalo. After moving to New York and appearing in the off-Broadway production of Lone Star and a touring company of Plaza Suite, he became a regular for two years on the daytime drama Ryan’s Hope.

Roles in Blake Edwards’ S.O.B., King Kong and Eat My Dust, in addition to guest starring credits on a number of episodic mainstays, prompted an exclusive deal with NBC, which led to his role as Arnie Becker, the shrewd and handsome divorce attorney on the long-running L.A. Law series.

L.A. Law catapulted Bernsen to overnight stardom. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, he appeared on over 50 magazine covers and earned both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, hosted Saturday Night Live, and appeared on Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show. In the feature film arena, he starred in the motion picture comedy Hello Again, followed by other critically acclaimed roles in Disorganized Crime, Wolfgang Peterson’s Shattered, and as Cleveland Indians third baseman-turned-owner Roger Dorn in the extremely popular Major League series of films. Other film credits include Tales From the Hood and Great White Hype and he starred opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in the Warner Brothers feature Kiss, Kiss Bang Bang, written and directed by Shane Black (“Lethal Weapon”).

Bernsen has also starred in an impressive string of films for television including the romance western Love Comes Softly for The Hallmark Channel with Katherine Heigl, Right To Die, a film in the Showtime series Masters Of Horror; Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story, in which he portrayed the role of civil rights lawyer Morris Dees; and Love Can Be Murder, as a gumshoe ghost in the lighthearted NBC mystery romance with Jaclyn Smith. Other telefilm roles include Full Circle, Riddler’s Moon, The Dentist, The Dentist II, Two of Hearts and USA Network’s Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss. guest star roles on the primetime series Law And Order: Criminal Intent, NYPD Blue, West Wing, Boston Legal, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Criminal Minds and Castle.

In addition to his acting, producing, writing and directing chores, Corbin has one of the largest snow globe collections in the world, in excess of over 8000, which he keeps displayed at his production company.

The eldest of three children, Bernsen was born in North Hollywood to a producer father and his mother, actress Jeanne Cooper who has starred as Katherine Chancellor on the CBS soap The Young And The Restless for over 38 years who he continues to draw inspiration from.

Bernsen makes his home in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Amanda Pays and their four sons.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Charles Sherman

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

Spouse (2)

Sandy Duncan

TCM overview:

Forever known, fairly or not, as a perky, pixie-cut performer, Sandy Duncan earned Tony nominations for her wonderful theatrical turns in “Canterbury Tales,” “The Boy Friend” and “Peter Pan.” The epitome of all-American charm, Duncan shined in such fluff as “Million Dollar Duck” (1971) and “Star Spangled Girl” (1971) and received an Emmy nomination for starring in “Funny Face” (CBS, 1971). That series became “The Sandy Duncan Show” (CBS, 1972) after filming was suspended while she underwent surgery for a tumor, which left her without vision in one eye. So pervasive was the subsequent urban legend that Duncan had a prosthetic eye, that the joke was referenced, decades later, most notably on “Family Guy” (Fox, 1999-2002; 2005- ). Although she earned another Emmy nomination for a powerful dramatic turn in the miniseries “Roots” (ABC, 1977), Duncan seemed more comfortable in featherweight family fare like “The Cat from Outer Space” (1978); animated projects like “The Fox and the Hound” (1981), “My Little Pony ‘n Friends” (syndicated, 1984-87), and “The Swan Princess” (1994); and a ubiquitous series of Wheat Thins commercials. Her highest-profile screen role, however, came when she controversially replaced Valerie Harper as the sunny matriarch of the retooled “The Hogan Family,” formerly known as “Valerie” and “Valerie’s Family” (NBC, 1986-1990; CBS, 1990-91). Artistically gifted and endlessly charismatic, Sandy Duncan achieved pop culture immortality based more on the strength of her persona and her body of work than on any one role in particular.

Born Feb. 20, 1946 in Henderson, TX, Sandra Kay Duncan grew up with a unique spark that, even from a young age, helped her stand out from her fellow aspiring actresses. Determined to act since childhood, she gained her first professional experience as a teenager in regional theatrical productions of “The King and I” and “The Music Man” before making the leap to Broadway. Duncan’s screen debut came on the soap opera “Search for Tomorrow” (CBS, 1951-1982; NBC, 1982-86), but she garnered more critical and popular buzz on the Great White Way, earning back-to-back Tony nominations for “Canterbury Tales” and “The Boy Friend,” and winning a Drama Desk Award for her charming work in the latter musical. The winner of a Theatre World Award for her work in “Ceremony of Innocence,” Duncan received an outpouring of positive media attention for her delightful stage performances, and the buzz buoyed her to Hollywood, where she filmed a string of popular TV commercials as well as earning a Golden Globe nomination as a featherbrained housewife in Disney’s sweet but extremely silly family comedy “Million Dollar Duck” (1971).

Although very much in line with Disney’s live-action output at the time, “Duck” was savagely plucked by critics and achieved a sort of cult status as one of the only three films ever to cause famed reviewer Gene Siskel to walk out. Duncan’s star remained very much on the rise, however, and she landed the starring role on the sitcom “Funny Face” (CBS, 1971), playing an aspiring teacher and part-time actress. Although the show earned strong ratings and earned Duncan an Emmy nomination, it was canceled when she experienced a substantial health scare. After successful surgery to remove a tumor, Duncan lost all sight in her left eye, giving rise to an oft-repeated but untrue urban legend that she had it replaced with a glass prosthetic. Upon receiving a clean bill of health, the actress toplined “The Sandy Duncan Show” (CBS, 1972), which drew heavily from the “Funny Face” concept, but also proved equally short-lived. A similar lukewarm reception awaited her Golden Globe-nominated performance as a patriotic athlete in Neil Simon’s “Star Spangled Girl” (1971). Not surprisingly, Duncan stepped back from screen acting for a spell.

Remaining a popular favorite for her sunny disposition, Duncan played “Pinocchio” (CBS, 1976) opposite Danny Kaye’s Geppetto, hosted two Disneyland-themed specials, and impressed critics with what was arguably her best dramatic performance as Missy Anne Reynolds, a young woman of the plantation who teaches Kunte Kinte’s daughter Kizzy (Leslie Uggams) to read and write, but then denounces Kizzy when she refuses to be her servant in the groundbreaking miniseries “Roots” (ABC, 1977). Duncan earned an Emmy nomination for her heartbreaking work, but focused her later career efforts on lighter fare, including the Disney romp “The Cat from Outer Space” (1978). Back on Broadway, she won a Tony nomination and the hearts of countless fans for her wonderful interpretation of the titular boy who would not grow up in the revival of “Peter Pan.” Animation also proved a lucrative outlet for the sweet-voiced Duncan, who lent her pipes to such projects as “The Fox and the Hound” (1981), “My Little Pony ‘n Friends” (syndicated, 1984-87), “Rock-A-Doodle” (1991) and “The Swan Princess” (1994).

For many viewers, Duncan was best known as the perky, pixie-cut Wheat Thins spokesmom and for stepping in to Valerie Harper’s shoes when the actress left “Valerie” (a.k.a. “Valerie’s Family”) after two troubled seasons. The entrance of Duncan’s Sandy Hogan gave the series new life as the revamped sitcom “The Hogan Family” (NBC, 1986-1990; CBS, 1990-91), but it sparked considerable controversy for the unprecedented manner in which Harper was fired, as well as her subsequent lawsuits against NBC (dismissed) and Lorimar (she won). Although Duncan joined Judith Light and Jill Eikenberry as one-time members of a girl group who reunite for a TV show in “My Boyfriend’s Back” (NBC, 1989), she slowed her onscreen acting output after “The Hogan Family” wrapped, but continued to make time for hosting and talk show appearances. She returned to Broadway for a successful run, replacing Twiggy in “My One and Only,” and went on to serve a stint as Roxie Hart in “Chicago.”

Although she never truly earned a breakout screen role, Duncan remained a familiar and well-liked pop cultural figure. The animated series “Family Guy” (Fox, 1999-2002; 2005- ) featured a memorably bizarre joke in which show patriarch Peter (Seth MacFarlane) remembers his former job as the actress’ glass eye. The urban legend surrounding her injury continued to fascinate, and a punk rock band experienced minor success under the name Sandy Duncan’s Eye. Demonstrating a refreshing sense of self-deprecation, Duncan laughed about the strangeness of the myth in interviews while following her musical theater muse in multiple regional productions.

By Jonathan Riggs

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Richard Derr

Gary Brumburgh’s entry:

Born June 15, 1918 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, second lead Richard Derr made his first film appearance at age 23 as one of many suspects in Charlie Chan in Rio (1941) after signing with 20th Century-Fox. A second Chan film role would come with Castle in the Desert (1942). With staid good looks, he failed to stand out among the war-era hopefuls. He appeared typically in WWII-themed “B” films such as Man at Large (1941),Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942) and Tonight We Raid Calais (1943). Following the war he played the “other man” opposite June Allyson and Van Johnson in the comedy The Bride Goes Wild (1948) and took a lead professional role in the sci-fi classic When Worlds Collide (1951). He moved into character work and spent the remainder of his career in atmospheric authoritarian roles on film and TV. He died in 1992 of pancreatic cancer.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Gary Brumburgh’s entry:

She was the archetypal brassy, bosomy, Brooklynesque bimbo with a highly distinctive scratchy voice. Barbara Nichols started life as Barbara Marie Nickerauer in Queens, New York on December 10, 1928, and grew up on Long Island. Graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, the dame with the shapely frame changed her reddish-brown hair to platinum blonde and drew whistles as a post-war model and burlesque dancer. As a beauty contestant, she won the “Miss Long Island” title as well as the dubious crowns of “Miss Dill Pickle”, “Miss Mink of 1953” and “Miss Welder of 1953”, and also became a GI pin-up favorite. She began to draw early attention on stage (particularly in the musical “Pal Joey”) and in television drama.

Hardly leading lady material, Barbara found herself stealing focus in small, wisecracking roles, managing at times to draw both humor and pathos out of her cheesy, dim-witted characters — sometimes simultaneously. She seemed consigned for the long haul to playing strippers, gold-diggers, barflies, gun molls and other floozy types named Lola, Candy or even Poopsie. Barbara made the best of her stereotype, taking full advantage of the not-so-bad films that came her way. While most of them, of course, emphasized her physical endowments, she could be very, very funny when let loose. By far the best of her lot came out in one year: Pal Joey (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and The Pajama Game (1957). By the decade’s end, though, her film career had hit the skids and she turned more and more to television, appearing on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962),Adam-12 (1968), Twilight Zone (1959) (the classic “Twenty-Two” episode), The Untouchables (1959) and Batman (1966), to name a few.

Barbara landed only one regular series role in her career, the very short-lived situation comedy Love That Jill (1958) starring husband-and-wife team Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling. Barbara played a model named “Ginger”. She also co-starred on Broadway withGeorge Gobel and Sam Levene in the musical “Let It Ride” in 1961 and scraped up a few low-budget movies from time to time, including the campy prison drama House of Women (1962) and the science fiction film The Human Duplicators (1965) starring George Nader and Richard Kiel, who played “Jaws” in the James Bond film series.

A serious Long Island car accident in July 1957 led to the loss of her spleen, and another serious car accident in Southern California in the 1960s led to a torn liver. Complications would set in over a decade later and she was forced to slow down her career. Barbara eventually developed a life-threatening liver disease and her health deteriorated. In summer 1976, she was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, where she went into a coma. She awoke for a few days just before Labor Day, but sank back shortly after. She died at age 47 of liver failure on October 5 and was survived by her parents, George and Julia Nickerauer. She was interred at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York.

Looking back, you have to hand it to Barbara Nichols. As the song from “Gypsy” emphasizes, “You gotta have a gimmick”. Barbara did — and she worked it. Like such other lurid platinum blonde bombshells as Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, Joi Lansing, Barbara Payton, Cleo Moore, Beverly Michaels and Diana Dors, she rolled with the punches. Unlike those others, she had genuine talent.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Vivien Leigh is one of the truly most beloved actors on film. She is best remembered for her Oscar winning roles as ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ in “Gone With the Wind” in 1939 and ‘Blance Du Bois’ in Tennessee William’s “A Streetcar Bamed Desire” in 1951. I think her best performance was as ‘Myra’ in “Waterloo Bridge” in 1940. She was born in India in 1913 and died in the U.K. in 1967 at the age of 53.

TCM Overview:

British military family stationed in India. Despite her heritage, she remains best-known for her two most successful screen roles as American Southern belles.After a childhood traveling Europe, an apprenticeship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and a brief marriage, Leigh began her career in 1935 with several small stage and screen roles. After making a hit onstage in “The Masque of Virtue” (1935), she was signed by Alexander Korda and appeared as a pretty ingenue in such films as “Fire Over England” (1937), opposite Laurence Olivier, and “Storm in a Teacup” (also 1937), with Rex Harrison. Korda loaned her to MGM for “A Yank at Oxford” (1938), which did more for Robert Taylor than Leigh. That same year, she displayed her screen charisma and charm as a Cockney petty thief who is befriended by street performer Charles Laughton and romanced by songwriter Rex Harrison in the frothy “Sidewalks of London/Saint Martin’s Lane”. While making her mark in features, Leigh continued to polish her talents onstage, notably as Ophelia to Olivier’s “Hamlet” in 1937.

By this time, Leigh and Olivier were romantically involved. When he went to the US in late 1938 to make “Wuthering Heights”, Leigh followed and won the much-coveted role of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” (1939). Her Scarlett was a headstrong, willful and colorful portrayal. Despite much flack about a relatively unknown Brit taking the role of the quintessential Southern belle, Leigh was triumphant, won an Oscar and became a bigger star than Olivier (whom she married in 1940).

Leigh failed to immediately follow up on her tremendous promise. She starred onstage with Olivier in “Romeo and Juliet” (1940) and made two films. In the fine remake of “Waterloo Bridge” (1940), Leigh’s beauty heightened her portrayal of a ballerina in love with an upper-class soldier (Robert Taylor). Through a series of plot machinations, she is reduced to prostitution and has a bittersweet reunion with Taylor, whom she thought was killed during the war. The role was the first of many in which her character suffered mental collapse–ironically mirroring her own bouts with mental illness. She again was a woman of questionable virtue in the biopic of an historical tart in “That Hamilton Woman” (1941, opposite Olivier). Her subsequent career was slowed to fits and starts by the tuberculosis which eventually killed her, and by her own emotional instability.

For the rest of her career, Leigh alternated between the stage and screen, giving electrifying, emotional performances in both mediums. She appeared in six films after her initial bout with Hollywood, first in the British productions “Caesar and Cleopatra” (1946), opposite Claude Rains, and as “Anna Karenina” (1948). Her next huge hit was recreating her stage role as the fragile, emotionally unstable Blanche Du Bois in Elia Kazan’s film of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951). Her performance as the outsider is enhanced by playing off her Method-trained co-stars, notably Marlon Brando’s stunning Stanley, Kim Hunter’s torn Stella and Karl Malden’s gentle Mitch. Leigh earned a second Best Actress Oscar playing this damaged woman trailing the tattered threads of her sanity behind her, a role some felt was eerily close to Leigh’s own personality at times. Her last films consisted of stellar performances as emotionally unstable women in less than stellar films: “The Deep Blue Sea” (1955), as a frustrated, suicidal wife; “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” (1961), based on a Tennessee Williams’ story, as an elegant, middle-aged actress who is ample bait for Warren Beatty’s gigolo; and Stanley Kramer’s all-star “Ship of Fools” (1966), as an embittered, flirtatious divorcee.

Leigh was, perhaps, happier onstage. She and Olivier toured with the Old Vic company in the late 1940s and early 50s, in such plays as “The School for Scandal”, “Anthony and Cleopatra”, “Caesar and Cleopatra”, “Richard III” and “Antigone.” She was directed by Olivier in “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1945) and “The Sleeping Prince” (1954) and scored successes with “Duel of Angels” (1958) and “Look After Lulu” (1959), directed by Noel Coward. In 1963, she made her American musical stage debut in “Tovarich”, winning a Tony Award. But health problems began to interfere with her ability to sustain a long run and she frequently missed performances. Her last stage appearance was in “Ivanov” in 1966.

Leigh’s private life was as stormy as any of her roles. After twenty tempestuous years, she and Olivier divorced in 1960, and her mental illness often transformed her intelligent and sweet nature, making professional and personal relationships problematic at times. By the time she died, a ravaged 53 years old, Vivien Leigh had become one of the broken butterflies she had so often played on stage and screen.

IMDB entry:

One of the most indispensable of character actors, Leo G. Carroll was already involved in the business of acting as a schoolboy in Gilbert & Sullivan productions. Aged 16, he portrayed an old man in ‘Liberty Hall’. In spite of the fact, that he came from a military family, and , perhaps, because of his experience during World War I, he decided against a military career in order to pursue his love of the theatre. In 1911, he had been a stage manager/actor in ‘Rutherford and Son’ and the following year took this play to America. Twelve years later, Leo took up permanent residence in the United States. His first performance on Broadway was in ‘Havoc’ (1924) with Claud Allister, followed by Noel Coward‘s ‘The Vortex’ (1925, as Paunceford Quentin). Among his subsequent successes on the stage were ‘The Green Bay Tree’ (1933) as Laurence Olivier‘s manservant, ‘Angel Street’ (aka ‘Gaslight’,1941) as Inspector Rough, and the ‘The Late George Apley’ (title role). The latter, a satire on Boston society, opened in November 1944 and closed almost exactly a year later. A reviewer for the New York times, Lewis Nichols, wrote “His performance is a wonderful one. The part of Apley easily could become caricature but Mr.Carroll will have none of that. He plays the role honestly and softly.” The play was filmed in 1947, with Ronald Colman in the lead role. Leo’s film career began in 1934. He was cast, to begin with, in smallish parts. Sometimes they were prestige ‘A pictures’, usually period dramas, such as The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) and Wuthering Heights (1939).

Leo was a consummate method actor who truly ‘lived’ the parts he played, and, as a prominent member of Hollywood’s British colony, attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock. Indeed, the famous director liked him so much, that he preferred him to any American actor to play the part of a U.S. senator in Strangers on a Train (1951). A scene stealer even in supporting roles, Leo G. Carroll lent a measure of ‘gravitas’ to most of his performances, point in case that of the homicidal Dr. Murchison in Spellbound (1945) (relatively little screen time, but much impact !) and the professor in North by Northwest(1959). On the small screen, Leo lent his dignified, urbane presence and dry wit to the characters of Cosmo Topper and Alexander Waverly, spymaster and boss of Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), the part for which he is chiefly remembered.

Leo G. Carroll appeared in over 300 plays during his career and the stage remained his preferred medium. He once remarked “It’s brought me much pleasure of the mind and heart. I owe the theatre a great deal. It owes me nothing” (NY Times, October 19,1972).

– IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

1735860 Affiche du film Tennessee Partner d\’Allan Dwan avec John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, Ronald Reagan, 1955.; (add.info.: Affiche du film Le Mariage est pour demain Tennessee\’s Partner de Allan Dwan avec John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, Ronald Reagan, 1955.).

TCM overview:

An affable Midwesterner, Ronald Reagan parlayed his athletic good looks and undeniable charisma into a middling career in the movies, but it was the smaller screen that he would eventually master on his way to two terms as governor of California and ultimately as the 40th President of the United States. In that role of a lifetime, the ‘Great Communicator’ displayed constant optimism and a jaunty self-confidence, both of which endeared him to millions, despite revelations of wrongdoing by aides or occasional failures in foreign policy. Reagan acquired almost mythic status leading the charge John Wayne-style to vanquish the Evil Empire, but detractors would say, “At what cost?” An opponent of Big Government on one hand, he reduced government expenditures through massive domestic budget cuts while feeling no compunction about the huge federal deficits that piled up due to unprecedented peacetime military spending. True, he brought the Soviet Union to its knees, but there is also a legacy of social Darwinism evident in the ever-widening gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

‘Dutch’ Reagan began his career as a sportscaster in Iowa, broadcasting the games of the Chicago Cubs, before a screen test earned him a contract at Warner Bros. (at whose insistence he dropped the nickname). Debuting as a radio announcer in “Love Is on the Air” (1937), he went on to appear in more than 50 films over the next two decades, proving a popular romantic lead in B pictures and a reliable support and/or a hero’s stolid pal in the studio’s A-list features. He was certainly memorable as George Gipp, Notre Dame’s dying football star, in “Knute Rockne–All American” (1940), and most TV prints have restored his “win just one for the Gipper” speech, cut because Pat O’Brien’s second-hand delivery of the line seemed enough exhortation to victory. He turned in what is almost universally considered his finest performance in “King’s Row” (1942), playing a character who has just had both legs amputated. Waking up from the anesthesia, he laments, “Where’s the rest of me?” (Reagan used the line as the title of his 1965 autobiography). He was also terrific as a compassionate but forceful American soldier in “The Hasty Heart” (1947), a stand-out in the midst of some box office bombs for him, but that film really belonged to Oscar nominee Richard Todd as the tragic Scotsman.

After serving as a captain in the US Air Force during WWII, Reagan became immersed in Hollywood politics and commenced his transformation from liberal New Deal Democrat to conservative Republican. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he became embroiled in disputes about Communism in the film industry, and his conviction that Communist infiltration was undermining the nation’s institutions inspired the radical shift in his philosophy. Despite SAG’s affiliation with the American Federation of Labor, he negotiated contracts that greatly favored producers, but his flair for leadership helped him get elected to six one-year terms as the union’s president. His first marriage to Jane Wyman ended in part because of his increased political involvement (and what she perceived as his dullness), clearing the way for a later marriage to actress Nancy Davis, his biggest asset when he set his sights on higher office. Though his big-screen star had faded (his most notable film of the 50s, the schlocky “Bedtime for Bonzo” 1951, cast him opposite a chimp), he revived his popularity on TV as host of CBS’ “General Electric Theater” (1954-62) and traveled the nation as the company’s spokesman, preaching the fiery gospel of the Far Right.

Reagan recognized that TV was the perfect podium. During his eight-year run as goodwill ambassador for GE, the audience for any one episode rivaled the total number of people who had seen all of his movies. Having supported Richard M. Nixon in the 1960 race for President against John F. Kennedy, he then officially registered as a Republican in 1962, stumping for Nixon’s unsuccessful stab at the California governorship. His wife’s parents were intimates of Barry Goldwater, so it came as no surprise that he backed the Arizona senator’s bid for President in 1964. His conservative rhetoric honed to a razor’s edge, he went before the camera a week before the election and gave his stirring “A Time of Choosing” speech, a ringing defense of free enterprise and an attack on Communism cast in apocalyptic terms. Nearly $1 million flooded Republican coffers, and Reagan emerged as the GOP’s new star, despite Goldwater’s resounding defeat. Washington columnist David S. Broder declared it “the most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with his ‘Cross of Gold’ speech.” Encouraged by friends to run for governor of California, the undeclared candidate and his wife took to the road and built grassroots support.

Reagan was twice the underdog in the 1966 election, first in the Republican primary, then against the Democratic incumbent Pat Brown (whose refusal to take his opponent seriously until it was too late doomed him to finish second by almost a million votes). Always quick with a quip, Reagan once remarked that a student demonstrator “had a haircut like Tarzan, walked like Jane, and smelled like Cheetah”, but his hard line approach to handling student unrest in the late 60s cost him votes, contributing to a much closer race in 1970. Many observers have noted that Reagan’s record as Governor was not as good as he claimed but not as bad as his critics maintained. In general, his eight-year record reflected a willingness to compromise in order to achieve his goals, such as his work with Democratic Speaker of the Assembly Bob Moretti to pass the nation’s first Welfare Reform Act in 1971. Though Reagan had initially reduced university funding, once the student protest movement had subsided, the higher education system began to receive large funding increases. He left office high in the popularity polls, no longer seen as an amateur politician from Hollywood, though few considered him a major statesman.

After his unsuccessful bid for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, Reagan established a political action committee that raised and distributed money to Republican candidates at all levels during the 1978 mid-term election, creating a national network of loyal partisans for his 1980 campaign. He easily defeated his only competition in the primary, George Bush, then attacked incumbent President Jimmy Carter’s “failed” economic policies that had resulted in 12 percent inflation and eight million people unemployed, winning the November election overwhelmingly. (The fiasco of the hostages in Iran provided the final nail in the Carter coffin.) Early in his first year in office, he survived an assassin’s bullet and achieved a certain inviolability for the rest of his Presidency. Though it seemed that Reagan brought unemployment and inflation under control, he may have just been in the right place at the right time, his economic program benefiting more from a change in Federal Reserve Board policy than from the vaunted supply-side (“voodoo”) economics at its center.

His mastery of the TV medium made Reagan one of our most beloved Presidents. When those little red lights on the cameras lit up, he glowed like a man welcoming his best friend, and somehow he made you feel like you were his best friend, elevating the Mr. Nice Guy role learned at his mother’s knee and refined in the Hollywood crucible into high art. Reagan never shied away from his Hollywood history and often made it work to his advantage: his friendships with celebrated liberals-turned-conservative stars such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and James Stewart bolstered his populist appeal; his speeches frequently cribbed lines from popular movies, such as Clint Eastwood’s famous “Go ahead, make my day” dialogue; and he often invoked his own sometimes-less-than-stellar film career with an appealing and self-depricating air. His example would continue to influence after his presidency: presidential successor Bill Clinton most cannily used his celebrity connections to define his political image, while another generation of movie-star-turned-Republican-politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger, drew inspiration from Reagan’s example and managed to follow in his footsteps as Governor of California.

In Showtime’s controversial cable film, “The Reagans” (2003), a nice guy did finish first and got the girl too, for no examination of the man can ignore his leading lady. Without Nancy, it is safe to say he would have never been President. Together they stepped from the cinema screen, her social contacts helping to start and keep him on the road to the White House. Once there, she wielded tremendous power as the self-effacing half of a very successful team. It was a perfectly scripted celluloid love story, except for the sad twist that had her standing by him at the end as he succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease, a condition which plagued the former president in the final decade of his life before his death at age 93 in 2004. Their romance remains the best part of the Reagan legacy because, unlike in the movies, their actions effected the entire world. It will be up to history to record just how positive an effect they had.

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Tilly Losch

“Streetswing” article:

Tilly Losch was an established dancer and actress, she was titled the ‘Countess of Carnarvon.’ Danced in many children’s parts in all repertory ballets and Operas. She studied her dancing at the Vienna Imperial Opera ballet school at the age of six. Tilly became a full member of the ballet corps at the unusually young age of fifteen. She also studied modern dance with Grete Wiesenthal and Mary Wigman.

Tilly made her professional debut in Vienna Waltzes and her first dramatic role was in ‘Leonce and Lena’ at Vienna’s Burg theater. Her first solo appearance was at the Opern Theatre in Vienna in the 5/9/1924 ballet ‘Schlagobers,’ and by the time she was twenty was one of Vienna’s most popular dancers. Made her London debut with ‘This Year of Grace’ in 1928.

Losch stayed with the Vienna Opera untill she came to the U.S. (1927/1928) and gave various dance recitals in Central Europe. She met Harold Kreutzberg that same summer and would work for him many times. Later she meet George Ballanchine and danced as a Ballerina in his 1933 Balle.

. Also danced with Fred Astaire but she was never the exhibitionist, she was always shy, on-stage and off. Tilly’s first marriage ended in divorce due to numerous infidelities on her part.

Following a bout of depression, Tilly discontinued her dancing career, but soon felt the need for expression in another artistic medium. Having first tried her hand at watercolors, she began to paint seriously. The first one-person exhibition of her paintings, held at New York’s Bignou Gallery in the spring of 1944. Tilly’s second marriage was to the son of the world famous discoverer of King Tutankhamen’s tomb, Earl of Carnarvon and almost overnight became Lady Carnarvon, an English Countess.

While in New York in 1975 She died from cancer.

Te above “Streetswing” article can also be accessed online here.

Collection of Classic Hollywood Actors

Victor Moore

Corbin Bernsen

Spouse (2)

Sandy Duncan

Richard Derr

Barbara Nichols

Vivien Leigh

Leo G. Carroll

Ronald Reagan

Tilly Losch

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