Jane Russell & Ruby Keeler

Who died on this date:

On February 28, 2011, actress Jane Russell died. She was born on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In 1940, Russell was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul Howard Hughes and made her motion picture debut in The Outlaw (1943), a story about Billy the Kid that went to great lengths to showcase her voluptuous figure. Although the movie was completed in 1941, it was released for a limited showing two years later. There were problems with the censorship of the production code over the way her ample cleavage was displayed. When the movie was finally passed, it had a general release in 1946. During that time, she was kept busy doing publicity and became known nationally. Contrary to countless incorrect reports in the media since the release of The Outlaw, Russell did not wear the specially designed underwire bra that Howard Hughes constructed for the film.

She performed in an assortment of movie roles, playing Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface (1948) on loan out to Paramount, and Mike "the Torch" Delroy opposite Hope in another western comedy, Son of Paleface (1952), again at Paramount. Russell played Dorothy Shaw in the hit film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) opposite Marilyn Monroe for 20th Century Fox. She appeared in two movies opposite Robert Mitchum, His Kind of Woman (1951) and Macao (1952). Other co-stars include Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in the comedy Double Dynamite (1951); Victor Mature, Vincent Price and Hoagy Carmichael in The Las Vegas Story (1952); Jeff Chandler in Foxfire (1955); and Clark Gable and Robert Ryan in The Tall Men (1955).

In Howard Hughes's RKO production The French Line (1954), the movie's penultimate moment showed Russell in a form-fitting one-piece bathing suit with strategic cut outs, performing a then-provocative musical number titled "Lookin' for Trouble." In 1955, Russell and her first husband, former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield, formed Russ-Field Productions. They produced Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The King and Four Queens (1956) starring Clark Gable and Eleanor Parker, Run for the Sun (1956) and The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957), which was a box-office failure. [5] She also starred in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes alongside Jeanne Crain, and in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956).

Her film career began to decline in the 1960’s and after Fate Is the Hunter (1964), she made only four more movies. In 1971, she starred in the musical drama Company, making her debut on Broadway in the role of Joanne, succeeding Elaine Stritch. Russell performed the role of Joanne for almost six months. Also in the 1970’s, she started appearing in television commercials as a spokeswoman for Playtex "'Cross-Your-Heart Bras' for us full-figured gals.” Russell resided in the Santa Maria Valley along the Central Coast of California. She died at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness on February 28, 2011 and is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California.

 On February 28, 1993, actress Ruby Keeler died. She was an actress who was famous for a string of successful Warner Bros. musicals in the 1930’s. Keeler was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. At an early age her family moved to New York City. In her early teenage years Ruby took up dance lessons. Her first taste of show business came in 1923 at the age of thirteen in George M. Cohen’s The Rise of Rosie O’Reilly. An up and coming star in the making she was noticed by Broadway producer Charles Dillingham and others. It was during this time that she met Al Jolson, and on September 21, 1928, after a brief courtship they were married. Their relationship was difficult from the start, and in 1940, it ended in divorce.

Keeler’s stardom was cemented when in 1933; producer Darryl Zanuck cast her in the Warner Bros. musical 42^nd Street, in which she co-starred with Dick Powell and Bebe Daniels. Other screen credits include Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames (1934), Flirtation Walk (1934), Shipmates Forever (1935), Collen (1936), and Ready, Willing, and Able (1937). In 1937, Keller left Hollywood only appearing in two other films, the last being Sweetheart of the Campus (1941). 

She married John Lowe, an Orange County land developer in 1941 and settled into a life as a wife and mother. In 1971, show business again called out to Keller and at the age of seventy-one came out of retirement to perform in the Broadway stage production on No, No, Nanette. After the shows conclusion she again returned to a leisurely private life in Rancho Mirage, California. Late in life she suffered several strokes and was in a coma for a period of time. After recovering, she became the spokeswoman for the National Stroke Association. On Sunday morning February 28, 1993, Ruby Keller died of kidney cancer at her home in Rancho Mirage. Her second husband John Lowe had preceded her in death in 1969. Ruby’s grave is found at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange, California.

Elizabeth Taylor & Lillian Gish

Who was born on this date:

Actress Elizabeth Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in Hampstead Garden, London. She became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age. As one of the world's most famous film stars, Taylor was recognized for her acting ability and for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes. She appeared in National Velvet (1944), Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Butterfield 8 (1960), she also played the title role in Cleopatra (1963). She was married to co-star Richard Burton and they appeared together in 11 films, including, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award. From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre. Taylor died of congestive heart failure on 23, March 2011 and is buried within the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Who died on this date:

On February 27, 1993, actress Lillian Gish died. She was born on October 14, 1893 in Springfield. Ohio. Her stage, film and television career spanned seven decades from 1912 to 1987. In 1912, Mary Pickford introduced Gish to D.W. Griffith, and helped get her a contract with Biograph Studios. She would soon become one of America's best-loved actresses. Her film debut was in 1912’s, An Unseen Enemy and she went on to star in many of Griffith's most acclaimed films, including The Birth of a Nation (1915). Having appeared in over 25 short films and features in her first two years as a movie actress, Lillian became a major star, becoming known as "The First Lady of the Silent Screen" and appearing in lavish productions, frequently of literary works. With her debut in talkies only moderately successful, she acted on the stage for the most part in the 1930s and early 1940s.  

Returning to movies, Gish was nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award in 1946 for Duel in the Sun. She appeared in films from time to time for the rest of her life, notably in Night of the Hunter (1955). Gish received a Honorary Academy Award in 1971 "For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures." Her last film role was in 1977’s; The Whales of August at the age of 93.Gish never married and had no children. The association between Gish and D. W. Griffith was so close that some suspected a romantic connection, an issue never acknowledged by Gish, although several of their associates were certain they were at least briefly involved. For the remainder of her life, she always referred to him as "Mr. Griffith." She maintained a very close relationship with Mary Pickford, for her entire life. Another of her closest friends was actress Helen Hayes. Gish died in her sleep on February 27, 1993 and is interred at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City.

Brenda Joyce

Who was born on this date:

Actress Brenda Joyce was born on February 25, 1917 in Excelsior Spring, Missouri. Although she appeared in many B-movies of the 1940s, she was cast as Maris Hanover in the 1942 film, Little Tokyo, USA, she is best-remembered as the seventh actress to play Jane in the Tarzan series of films. She succeeded Maureen O’Sullivan in the series and appeared in the role five times. She retired from acting in 1949. Joyce died on July 4, 2009 and is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

2012 Academy Award Picks to Win

                     2012 Academy Award Picks to Win -

                               Best Picture - The Artist

                      Best Actor - Jean Dujardin, The Artist

  Best Actress - Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

               Best Supporting Actor - Jonah Miller, Moneyball

  Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer, The Help

                      Best Director - Martin Scorsese, Hugo

              Best Screen Play - Wood Allen, Midnight in Paris

Marjorie Main, Angela Greene, Don Knotts, Dinah Shore & Conrad Nagel

Who was born on this date:

Actress Marjorie Main was born on February 24, 1890 in Acton, Indiana. She was a character actress for MGM, best known for her role as Ma Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle films. Her first film was A House Divided in 1931. She was typecast in abrasive and domineering roles because of her distinct voice. She made six films with Wallace Beery in the 1940s and retired from movies in 1957. She died from lung cancer on April 10, 1975 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles and is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Actress Angela Green was born on February 24, 1921 in Dublin, Ireland. She is best known for playing leads in B pictures and despite her looks and talent, Greene was too independent-minded for a starring career in Hollywood. She nevertheless amassed a respectable resume, including the films Hollywood Canteen (1944) and Mildred Pierce (1945), and also appeared in dozens of TV shows. During World War II, she became a popular World War II pin-up girl and her bikini-clad image graced the nose of the US bomber Skipper 2, which flew 25 missions over North Africa and Europe. She dated naval lieutenant John F. Kennedy before marrying businessman Stuart Martin in 1946. She died from a stroke on February 9, 1978 and is buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.

Who died on this date:

On February 24, 2006, actor Don Knotts died. He was born on July 21, 1924 in Morgantown, West Virginia. He is best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards. He also played landlord Ralph Furley on the 1970s television sitcom, Three’s Company. Knotts began his career performing as a ventriloquist act and got his first major break on television in the soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, from 1953 to 1955. He came to fame in 1956 on Steve Allen’s variety show, as part of Allen's repertory company. In 1958, Knotts appeared in the film, No Time for Sergeants, alongside Andy Griffith. In 1960, when Griffith was offered the opportunity to headline in his own TV show, Knotts took the role of Barney Fife, the deputy of Sheriff Andy Taylor (portrayed by Griffith). Knotts went on to star in a series of film comedies which drew on his high-strung persona from the TV series: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), and The Reluctant Astronaut (1967). In 1979, Knotts returned to series television in his second most identifiable role, the wacky, but lovable landlord Ralph Furley on Three’s Company. Knotts died on February 24, 2006 from pneumonia related to lung cancer and is buried at Westwood Memorial park in Los Angeles.

On February 24, 1994, actress/ singer/ TV hostess Dinah Shore died. She was born Frances Rose Shore on February 29, 1916 in Winchester, Tennessee. She reached the height of her popularity as a recording artist during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 1950s, but achieved even greater success a decade later, in television, mainly as hostess of a series of variety programs for Chevrolet. In her early career, while in New York, Dinah Shore was briefly involved with drummer Gene Krupa. After Dinah relocated to Hollywood she became involved with Jimmy Stewart. Shore was married to actor George Montgomery from 1943 to 1962. It is also alleged that Shore and Frank Sinatra had a long-standing affair in the 1950s. After her divorce from Montgomery, she briefly married Maurice Smith. Romances of the later 1960s involved comedian Dick Martin, Eddie Fisher and Rod Taylor. In the early 1970s, Shore had a long and happy public romance with actor Burt Reynolds, who was 20 years, her junior. The relationship gave Shore an updated, sexy image, and took some of the pressure off Reynolds in maintaining his image as a ladies’ man. The couple was featured in the tabloids and after the relationship cooled, the tabloids paired Shore with other younger men. Dinah Shore died February 24, 1994, in Beverly Hills from ovarian cancer. She was cremated and her ashes were divided and she has two burial sites. Half were interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, and the other half interred at Forest Lawn Cathedral City.

On February 24, 1970, actor Conrad Nagel died. He was born on March 16, 1897(1897-03-16) in Keokuk, Iowa. He was an actor of the (1970-02-24)silent film era and founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is buried at the Lutheran Cemetery in Warsaw, Illinois (which is in dispute).

Victor Fleming, Stan Laurel & Mabel Normand

Who was born on this date:

Director Victor Fleming was born on February 23, 1889 in Pasadena, California. He began his career in Hollywood as a stuntman but soon found that his true calling was behind the camera as a director. Fleming’s motion picture directorial career spanned nearly thirty years from 1919 to 1948, and included forty-eight films. He won the 1940 best director Oscar for Gone with the Wind and is also famous for directing The Wizard of Oz (1939). Other notable film credits include: The Way of All Flesh (1927), The Virginian (1929), Renegades (1930), Treasure Island (1934), Captains Courageous (1937), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), and Joan of Arc (1948). On January 6, 1949, while vacationing with his family near Cottonwood, Arizona, the award winning director died of a heart attack. His funeral was held at the Alban’s Episcopal Church in West Los Angeles. In attendance were numerous celebrities including Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Louis B. Mayer, Samuel Goldwyn, and Van Johnson. Fleming is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.

Who died on this date:

On February 23, 1965, actor Stan Laurel died. He was born on June 16, 1890 in Lancashire, England. He is best known as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film The Music Box (1932). In 1910, with the stage name of "Stan Jefferson", he joined Fred Karno's troupe of actors, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. For some time, he acted as Chaplin's understudy. The Karno troupe toured America, and brought both Chaplin and Jefferson to the United States for the first time. From 1916 to 1918, he teamed up with Alice Cooke and Baldwin Cooke, who became lifelong friends. Amongst other performers, Jefferson worked briefly alongside Oliver Hardy in a silent film short The Lucky Dog. Around the same time he adopted the stage surname of Laurel.

Laurel went on to join the Hal Roach studio, and began directing films, including a 1926 production called Yes, Yes, Nanette. He intended to work primarily as a writer and director, but fate stepped in. In 1927, Oliver Hardy, another member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and Laurel was asked to return to acting. Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup and With Love and Hisses. The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year. 

Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, including The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, Be Big!, Big Business, and many others. Laurel and Hardy successfully made the transition to talking films with the short, Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first feature in one of the revue sequences of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-color (in Technicolor) musical feature, The Rogue Song. In 1931, their own first starring feature, Pardon Us was released, although they continued to make both features and shorts until 1935, including their 1932 film, The Music Box which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. 

During the 1930’s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach, which resulted in the termination of his contract. Since Roach maintained separate contracts for Laurel and Hardy that expired at different times, Hardy remained at the studio and was "teamed" with Harry Langdon for the 1939 film Zenobia. There was also talk about a series of films co-starring Hardy with Patsy Kelly called "The Hardy Family." But Laurel sued Roach over the contract dispute. Eventually, the case was dropped and Laurel returned to Roach. After returning to Roach studios, the first film Laurel and Hardy made was A Chump at Oxford. Subsequently, they made Saps at Sea, which was their last film for Roach.

On August 7, 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel did not attend his funeral, stating "Babe would understand.” People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered for the rest of his life. In 1961, Stan Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica, California. Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly giving up when he was about seventy years of age. He died on February 23, 1965, aged 74, several days after suffering a heart attack and is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

On February 23, 1930, actress Mabel Normand died. She was born on November 9, 1892 in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. She was a silent film actress and popular star of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios. Throughout the 1920s her name was linked with scandal including the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor, after which, her film career declined, possibly due to the scandal and a recurrence of tuberculosis in 1923. Director William Desmond Taylor shared her interest in books and the two formed a close relationship. Taylor was deeply in love with Normand, who had originally approached him for help in curing her cocaine dependency. Based upon Normand's subsequent statements to investigators, her repeated relapses were devastating for Taylor. According sources Taylor met with Federal prosecutors shortly before his death and offered to assist them in filing charges against Normand's cocaine suppliers. It is believed that Normand's suppliers learned of this meeting and hired a contract killer to murder the director. According to these same sources, Normand suspected the reasons for her lover's murder, but did not know the identity of the triggerman.

On the night of Taylor’s murder, February 1, 1922, Normand left Taylor's bungalow at 7:45 p.m. in a happy mood, carrying a book he had given her as a loan. They blew kisses to each other as her limousine drove away. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive. The LAPD subjected Normand to a grueling interrogation, but ruled her out as a suspect. However, Normand's career had already slowed and her reputation was tarnished by revelations of her addiction, which was seen as a moral failing. In 1926 she married actor Lew Cody, however, her film career never recovered and health issues developed. After an extended stay in a sanitarium she died from tuberculosis on February 23, 1930 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Robert Young & John Mills

Who was born on this date:

Actor Robert Young was born on February 22, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for his leading roles on TV shows, Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, MD. He made his film debut for MGM in the 1931 Charlie Chan movie, Black Camel. Young appeared in over 100 films between 1931 and 1952. As an MGM contract player, Young was resigned to the fate of most of his colleagues, to accept any film assigned to him or risk being placed on suspension and many actors on suspension were prohibited from earning a salary from any endeavor at all. Not surprisingly and in spite of a propitious beginning as a freelance actor without the nurturing of a major studio, Young's career began an incremental and imperceptible decline. Still starring as a leading man in the late 1940s and early 1950s but in mediocre films, he subsequently disappeared from the silver screen, only to reappear several years later on a much smaller one. Despite his trademark portrayal of happy, well-adjusted characters, Young's bitterness towards Hollywood casting practices never diminished, and he suffered from depression and alcoholism, culminating in a suicide attempt in the early 1990s. Later he spoke candidly about his personal problems in an effort to encourage others to seek help. Young died at his home in Westlake Village on July 21, 1998 from respiratory failure and is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Actor John Mills was born on February 22, 1908 in North Elmham, England. He took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut on the London stage in 1929. He made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932), and appeared in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, opposite Robert Donat. From 1959 through the mid-1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley. Their first film together was the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay, in which John plays a police detective investigating a murder that Hayley's character witnessed. Following Hayley's rise to fame in Pollyanna (1960) and the 1961 family comedy The Parent Trap, John and Hayley again starred together, in the 1965 teen sailing adventure The Truth About Spring. For his role in Ryan’s Daughter (1970), Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Altogether he appeared in over 120 films. Mills died on April 23, 2005 following a chest infection and is buried at the St. Mary the Vurgin Churchyard in Denham, England.

Ann Sheridan

Who was born on this date:

Actress Ann Sheridan was born on February 21, 1915 in Denton, Texas. She made her film debut in 1934 in Search for Beauty, and played un-credited bit parts in Paramount films for the next two years. Paramount made little effort to develop Sheridan's talent, so she left, signing a contract with Warner Bros. in 1936. Her career prospects began to improve. She gained the nicknamed "The Oomph Girl," and was a popular pin-up girl during the 1940s. Her notable film credits include Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Dodge City (1939), Torrid Zone (1940), They Drive by Night (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Kings Row (1942), Nora Prentiss (1947), and The Unfaithful (1947). In 1966, during filming of the TV series Pistols ‘n’ Petticoats, Sheridan became ill and died from esophageal and liver cancer. She was cremated and her ashes were stored at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles until they were permanently interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2005.

Norma Varden, Sandra Dee & Audrey Munson

Who was born on this date:

Actress Norma Varden was born on January 20, 1898 in London. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris before deciding to take up acting. Visiting California with her ailing mother in the 1940s, she decided to settle permanently there and began her film career. She appeared in Casablanca (1942), The Major and the Minor (1942), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), National Velvet (1944), Strangers on a Train (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and The Sound of Music (1965). She also had a recurring role in the 1960s TV sitcom, Hazel. Varden died of natural causes on January 19, 1989 in Santa Barbara, California. She is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Who died on this date:

On February 20, 2005, actress Sandra Dee died. She was born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942 in Bayonne, New Jersey. She became a professional model by the age of four and subsequently progressed to TV commercials. Dee moved from New York to Hollywood in 1957. There, she made her first film, Until They Sail (1957), and the following year; she won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. She was known for her wholesome ingénue roles in such films as The Reluctant Debutante, Gidget, Imitation of Life, and A Summer Place. She later played "Tammy" in two Universal sequels to Tammy and the Bachelor. During the 1970s, Dee took very few acting jobs but made occasional television appearances. She was married to singer/actor Bobby Darin from 1960-1967. Dee's adult years were marked by ill health and she admitted that for most of her life she battled depression and alcoholism. In 2000 it was reported that she had been diagnosed with several ailments, including throat cancer and kidney disease. Complications from kidney disease led to her death on February 20, 2005, at the Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California. Sandra Dee is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

On February 20, 1996, actress/ model Audrey Munson died. She was born on June 8, 1891 in Rochester, New York. She was known variously as "Miss Manhattan," "the Exposition Girl," and "American Venus." She was the model or inspiration for more than 15 statues in New York City and appeared in four silent era films that include Inspiration (1915), the story of a sculptor’s model, was the first time that a woman appeared fully nude in film. The censors were reluctant to ban the film, fearing they would also have to ban Renaissance art. Munson's films were a box office success, while reviews were very polarized.

In 1919 Munson was back in New York, living with her mother in a boarding house owned by Dr. Walter Wilkins. Wilkins fell in love with her, murdered his wife, Julia, so he could be available for marriage. Although Munson and her mother had left New York prior to the murder, the police still wished to question them, resulting in a nationwide hunt for them. They were found in Toronto, Canada, where they testified that they had moved out because Mrs. Wilkins had requested it. This satisfied the police, but the negative publicity generated by the case effectively ended Munson’s career as a model and actress. Wilkins was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to the death. He hanged himself in his prison cell before the sentence could be carried out.

By 1920 Munson, unable to find work anywhere, returned with her mother to the town of Mexico, New York and worked for a while selling kitchen utensils door to door. On May 27, 1922, she tried to commit suicide and in 1931 a judge ordered Munson into a psychiatric facility for treatment. She was to remain there for the next 65 years, until her death on February 20, 1996 at the age of 104. Munson is buried in an unmarked grave at New Haven Cemetery in Oswego County, New York.

Film Review of "My Week with Marilyn"

My Week With Marilyn

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards - Best Actress (Michelle Williams) and Best Supporting Actor Kenneth Branagh

My Week With Marilyn is a high-quality enchanting film, a hugely enjoyable trifle, and may prove an eye-opener to generations too young to remember the allure of Marilyn Monroe. It is based on Colin Clark’s memoir of a week as third assistant director on the film set of The Prince and The Showgirl (1957). The actress playing the showgirl was Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), newly married to intellectual playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) and already having doubts about the relationship.

Williams gives an exquisite performance, and brilliantly captures Marilyn’s voice, physical mannerisms, and vulnerabilty. Kenneth Branagh, brings a delightfully accurate portrayal of Sir Laurence Olivier: whose is endlessly exasperated by Marilyn’s lack of professionalism and uneasily aware that she looks better on screen than he does. Eddie Redmayne also excels in the challenging task of playing Clark, an intelligent but inexperienced 23-year-old who is tossed in the middle of a relationship with a pretty wardrobe mistress (Emma Watson) and a chance of love with the most famous woman on Earth. The film is worth seeing for its marvelous array of British acting talent. I especially enjoyed Judi Dench as the kindly Dame Sybil Thorndike, Jim Carter as a star-struck barman and Philip Jackson as Marilyn’s down-to-earth bodyguard. This is a bittersweet story of first love. This is a delightfully, classy movie and Michelle Williams gives an Oscar worthy performance in the role she was born to play.

Watch trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-b48Aj8zkg

Jack Palance, Andy Devine, Kathleen Lockhart & Louis Wolheim

Who was born on this date:

Actor Jack Palance was born on February 18, 1919 in Volodymyr, Palahniuk, Ukrain. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers. In the late 1930s, Palance started a professional boxing career. Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance reportedly compiled a record of 15 consecutive victories with 12 knockouts. Palance's acting break came as Marlon Brando’s understudy in A Street Car Named Desire (1951) and that same year starred in Halls of Montezuma. Palance was quickly recognized for his skill as a character actor, receiving an Oscar nomination for only his third film role, as Lester Blaine in Sudden Fear (1952). He earned his second Oscar nomination playing cold-blooded gunfighter Jack Wilson in the 1953 cinema classic Shane.

Palance was married to his first wife, Virginia Baker, from 1949 to 1968 and they had three children: Holly, Brooke and Cody. Daughter Brooke married Michael Wilding, son of Michael Wilding and Elizabeth Taylor. Cody appeared alongside his father in the film, Young Guns, and died from malignant melanoma at age 42 on July 16, 1998.

Four decades after his film debut, Palance won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as cowboy Curly Washburn in the 1991 comedy City Slickers. Stepping onstage to accept the award, the intimidating fit actor looked down at Oscar host Billy Crystal (who was also his co-star in the movie), and joked, mimicking one of his lines from the film, "Billy Crystal... I crap bigger than him." He then dropped to the floor and demonstrated his ability, at age 73, to perform one-handed push-ups. Crystal turned this into a running gag throughout the show. On November 10, 2006, Palance died of natural causes at his daughter’s home in Montecito, California. His remains were cremated and the ashes were retained by family.

Who died on this date:

On February 18, 1977, actor Andy Devine died. He was born on October 7, 1905 in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was a character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice. He appeared in more than 400 films and his notable roles included ten films as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1936), A Star is Born (1937), Stage coach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also worked in radio and television. Devine died from leukemia on February 18, 1977 in Orange, California. His ashes were given to family and final disposition is unknown.

On February 18, 1978, actress Kathleen Lockhart died. She was born on August 9, 1894 in Southsea, Hampshire, England. She got her start on the stage in England and then immigrated to the United States in 1924, upon her marriage to Canadian-born actor Gene Lockhart. She continued to appear on stage and in films for almost forty years. Kathleen and her husband, Gene, occasionally starred opposite each other, most notably as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1938). After her husband died in 1957, she retired from acting and made no more film appearances, except for a small role in The Purple Gang (1960). She was the mother of actress June Lockhart and grandmother of actress Anne Lockhart. Kathleen died on February 18, 1978 in Los Angeles, California following a long (undisclosed) illness. She is buried next to her husband at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

On February 18, 1931, actor Louis Wolheim died. He was born on March 28, 1880 in New York City. Before entering films, he was a mathematics teacher. On the advice of Lionel Barrymore, Wolheim entered films and appeared in at least three films with Lionel's brother, John, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922) and Tempest (1928). Wolheim's was typecast in roles as gangsters, executioners, or prisoners. Towards the end of the 1920s he occasionally broke out of these stereotypes. Wolheim acted primarily in silent films, but did appear in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Danger Lights (1930). He died on February 18, 1931 from stomach cancer in Los Angeles and his ashes are interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Film Review of "The Vow"

The Vow

Just in time for Valentines Day, The Vow may be a by-the-numbers Hollywood romance, but the filmmakers aren’t afraid to take chances. It is a sweet-natured strumming of the heartstrings with an interesting premise: an amnesiac who cannot remember her husband. It’s a romantic melodrama that tries to make us fall in love with a couple in which the husband has to try to make his wife fall in love with him all over again. Rachel McAdams stars as Paige, a sculptor married to Leo, a recording studio owner played by Channing Tatum. When they’re involved in a tragic car accident as a result of a skidding truck slamming into their parked car on a snowy night and Paige being hurtled through the windshield, Leo suffers a few cuts and bruises but Paige ends up in a coma. And as a result of her brain trauma, when she wakes up she experiences severe memory loss, so extreme that she can’t remember anything from the last five years,  including her husband, whom she doesn’t recognize.

Paige’s selective amnesia prevents her from being able to recollect her life with her husband, but she recalls pretty much everything else that preceded their relationship. What she cannot determine is when and how she became the person that her husband now claims she has been in recent years. In reverting to her previous personality, she remembers her ex-fiancé, Jeremy, whom she broke it off with (played by Scott Speedman), and her wealthy parents (played by Jessica Lange and Sam Neill), whom she does not recall being estranged from. The three of them are intent on wrenching Paige from Leo’s grasp. Wanting desperately to regain the love of the woman he married in sickness and in health, Leo does manage to convince her to stay with him anyway, hoping that once back in their home, she will regain her recent memories. But he’ll have to re-woo her.

In his feature debut, the director, Michael Sucsy , working from an intelligent inspired-by-true-events screenplay, keeps his twice-in-a-lifetime love story relatively low-keyed and quietly moving, veering just slightly off course just when we think things are about to get overly clichéd. The memory loss as a story device turns out to be much less generic and familiar than it sounds on the surface. So, is this simply a knee-jerk, three-hankie weepy for incurable romantics? Not as long as the endearing McAdams can make you like her despite her standoffishness. And Tatum, not the most expressive of actors, is nonetheless convincing as a sincere suitor. McAdams and Tatum trail their Nicholas Sparks-sparked credentials behind them, she for The Notebook, he for Dear John, although The Vow employs more of a light, humorous touch to the proceedings than either of those serious heart-tuggers. But it’s the individual and collective appeal of the sympathetic, engaging leads that mitigates against the film’s more predictable tendencies. The Vow may not be all that memorable, but it’s charming and pleasant. The exterior back drops of Chicago are also worth a look.

Lee Strasberg, Kathryn Grayson & Daniel O'Herlihy

Who died on this date:

On February 17, 1982, actor, director and acting coach, Lee Strasberg died. He was born Israel Strassberg on November 17, 1901 in Budaniv in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire (now the Ukraine). He cofounded the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective.”  In 1951, he became director of the non-profit Actors Studio in New York City, considered, the nation's most prestigious acting school.  In 1969, Strasberg founded the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City and in Hollywood to teach the work he pioneered. 

He is considered the father of method acting in America, and from the 1920s until his death in 1982, he revolutionized the art of acting by having a profound influence on performance in American theater and movies. From his base in New York, he trained several generations of theatre and film's most illustrious talents, including Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro. On February 17, 1982, Strasberg died from heart attack in New York City. He is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

On February 17, 2010, actress Kathryn Grayson died. She was born Zelma Hedrick on February 9, 1922 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer and made her first film appearance in 1941’s Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary. Grayson was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s, soon establishing a career principally through her work in musicals. After several supporting roles, she was a lead performer in such films as Thousands Cheer (1943), Anchors Aweigh (1945), Show Boat (1951) and Kiss Me Kate (1953). Grayson died in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles, California on February 17, 2010 and her cremated remains were given to family with final disposition being unknown.

On February 17, 2005, actor Daniel O'Herlihy died. He was born on May 1, 1919 in Wexford, Ireland. O’Herlihy’s first film appearance was in 1947’s Odd Man Out. Other film credits include Macbeth (1948), Invasion USA (1954), and The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1954), for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award. He also had a fairly extensive career in television career. O'Herlihy died of natural causes in Malibu, California on February 17, 2005 and is buried at the Prospect Graveyard in Gorey, Ireland.

John Barrymore, Cesar Romero & Ethel Merman

Who was born on this date:

Actor John Barrymore was born John Sidney Blyth on February 15, 1882 in Philadelphia. His parents were Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew Barrymore. His maternal grandmother was Louisa Lane Drew (aka Mrs Drew), a prominent and well-respected 19th-century actress and theater manager, who instilled in him and his siblings the ways of acting and theatre life. His uncles were John Drew, Jr. and Sidney Drew. Barrymore studied to be an artist and worked on New York newspapers before deciding to go into the family business as an actor.  

He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedies, then drama which culminated in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III. His success continued with motion pictures in various genres in both the silent and sound eras. Barrymore's personal life has been the subject of much writing before and since his passing. Today, John Barrymore is mostly known for his roles in movies like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1920), Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Twentieth Century (1934), and Don Juan (1926), the first ever movie to use a Vitaphone soundtrack. 

A member of a multi-generation theatrical dynasty, he was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, and was the paternal grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore. Barrymore delivered some of the most critically acclaimed performances in theatre and film history and was widely regarded as the screen's greatest performer during a movie career spanning 25 years and more than 60 films. In 1929, Barrymore collapsed on his boat the Mariner, off the coast of Mexico while on honeymoon with wife Dolores, requiring doctor's care. Much of his newly occurring health problems most likely stemmed from consumption of illegal alcohol.  

In the late 1930s, Barrymore began to lose his ability to remember his lines and from then on, he insisted on reading dialogue from cue cards. He gave one last great performance in MGM's 1936 Romeo and Juliet. He continued to give creditable performances in lesser pictures, for example as Inspector Nielson in Paramount Pictures' Bulldog Drummond mysteries, and RKO's 1939 feature The Great Man Votes. After that, his screen roles were caricatures of himself. On May 29, 1942, Barrymore collapsed while appearing on Rudy Vallee's radio show and later died. 

Allegedly, his dying words were "Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him." Gene Fowler attributes different dying words to Barrymore in his biography Good Night, Sweet Prince. According to Fowler, Barrymore roused as if to say something to his brother Lionel; who asked him to repeat himself, and he simply replied, "You heard me, Mike."  

According to Errol Flynn's memoirs, film director Raoul Walsh "borrowed" Barrymore's body before burial, and left his corpse propped in a chair for a drunken Flynn to discover when he returned home from a night of revelry. However, Barrymore's friend Gene Fowler denied the story, stating that he and his son held vigil over the body at the mortuary until the funeral and burial. Barrymore was buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles but years later, Barrymore's son John had the body reinterred at Philadelphia's Mount Vernon Cemetery.

Actor Cesar Romero was born on February 15, 1907 in New York City. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in costume dramas, characters in light domestic comedies, and as “The Joker” in television's Batman series. Romero played "Latin lovers" in films from the 1930s until the 1950s, usually in supporting roles. He starred as The Cisco Kid in six westerns made between 1939 and 1941. Other film credits include The Thin Man (1934), and Captain from Castile (1947). He made numerous TV appearances from the 1950s to the 1980s, most notably in Batman. Romero died on January 1, 1994 from bronchitis and pneumonia and his ashes are interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. 

Who died on this date:

On February 15, 1984, actress/ singer Ethel Merman died. She was born Ethel Agnes Zimmerman on January 16, 1908 in Astoria, Queens, New York. She is primarily known for her powerful voice and roles in film and stage musicals. Notable film credits include Follow the Leader (1930), Let Me Call You Sweetheart (1932), Anything Goes (1936), and There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954). On April 7, 1983, she was preparing to leave for Los Angeles to appear on the 55^th Academy Awards telecast when she collapsed in her apartment. She was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. On the morning of February 15, 1984, she died in her sleep and is buried at the Shrine of Remembrance Mausoleum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Nigel Bruce & Jack Benny

Who was born on this date:

Actor Nigel Bruce was born on February 4, 1895 in England. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone. He is also remembered for his roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films Rebecca and Suspicion.Nigel Bruce typically played buffoonish, fuzzy-minded gentlemen. During his film career, he worked in 78 films, including Treasure Island (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), Lassie Come Home (1943), and The Corn is Green (1945). Bruce participated in two landmark films: Becky Sharp, the first feature film in full Technicolor, and Bwana Devil, the first 3D feature. Bruce died from a heart attack on October 8, 1953 and his ashes are interred at the Chapel of the Pines Crematorium in Los Angeles.
 

Actor Jack Benny was born on February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois. He is widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing the violin badly. Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" His radio and television programs, tremendously popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, were a foundational influence on the situation comedy TV genre. He died on December 26, 1974 from pancreatic cancer and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

Lorne Greene, Forrest Tucker & Sal Mineo

Who was born on this date:

Actor Lorne Greene was born on February 12, 1915 in Ottawa, Canada. Greene started in radio as the principal newsreader for the Canadian Broadcast Company, where he was dubbed “The Voice of Canada." Greene began appearing on live television in the 1950s. The first of his continuing TV roles was by far his most famous, Ben Cartwright on Bonanza (1959–1973). In 1973, after the cancellation of Bonanza he made numerous other guest spot appearances on TV. He was also known for his role as Commander Adama on Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979). Greene died on September 11, 1987 from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City.

Actor Forrest Tucker was born on February 12, 1919 in Plainfield, Indiana. He was an actor in both film and TV from the 1940s to the 1980s. He was first cast in The Westerner (1940), which starred Gary Cooper. He stood out in a fight scene with Cooper and was signed to a long term contract with Columbia Pictures. In 1941, he played his first lead in Emergency Landing and the following year appeared in Keeper of the Flame. Other notable film roles include The Yearling (1946), Never Say Goodbye (1946), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Rock Island Trail (1950), Rage at Dawn (1955), The Quiet Gun (1957), The Crawling Eye (1958), and Auntie Mame (1958). Tucker then turned to TV and most famous role came in F Troop as Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke (1965-1967). He suffered from severe alcoholism in his final years and died from lung cancer on October 25, 1986. Tucker is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Who died on this date:

Actor Sal Mineo was born on January 10, 1939 in the Bronx, New York. He is best known for his breakthrough performance as John "Plato" Crawford opposite James Dean in Rebel without a Cause (1955). He was nominated for a best supporting actor Academy Award twice, Rebel without a Cause, and Exodus (1960). His screen debut was in 1955’s, Six Bridges to Cross and other notable film credits include The Private War of Major Benson (1955), and Giant (1956). Mineo made an effort to break his typecasting as a Native American boy in Tonka (1958) and as a Jewish emigrant in Exodus (1960). By the early 1960s, he was becoming too old to play the type of role that had made him famous and was not considered appropriate for leading roles. A small role in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) was Mineo's last appearance in a motion picture. In the late 1960s, Mineo became one of the first major actors in Hollywood to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality. On February 12, 1976, Mineo was stabbed to death in the alley behind his apartment building in West Hollywood, California. His remains are interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

Ronald Colman, Carmen Miranda, Gabby Hayes & Vera Ralston

Who was born on this date:

Actor Ronald Colman was born on February 9, 1891 in Richmond, Surrey, England. A veteran of the First World War, Colman gravitated to the English theater and vaudeville circuit. Feeling that the America held more opportunities for an actor, he arrived in New York City in 1920. Virtually penniless, and after two years of struggles, Colman got his big break as a supporting actor in the Broadway hit, La Tendresse. Motion picture director, Henry King saw Colman and cast him alongside Lillian Gish in The White Sister (1923). Colman was an immediate hit in film, becoming one of Hollywood’s greatest romantic leading men. In a film and television career that spanned thirty four years (1923-1957), Colman appeared in over forty feature motion pictures. His greatest film credits include; The Dark Angel (1925), Kiki (1926), The Night of Love (1927), The Rescue (1929), Arrowsmith (1931), A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Lost Horizon (1937), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), and Kismet (1944). Due to his smooth and cultivated voice he was able to successfully cross the barrier from silent film to talking pictures and became one of the greatest actors of the golden age.  

In 1930, he was nominated for two best acting Oscars for Condemned (1929) and Bulldog Drummond (1929). He was nominated again in 1943 for the best acting honors for his portrayal of Smithy in Random Harvest (1942). In his third attempt at Oscar gold, Colman finally took home the coveted statuette for A Double Life (1947). After this award winning performance in 1947, Colman made only one more full length film, 1950’s Champagne for Caesar. He instead focused on The Halls of Ivy, a radio show and later a television program of the same name.  

Colman had a dislike for the Hollywood lifestyle and near the end of his life retired to his ranch in San Ysidro, California. He was married for twenty years to actress Benita Hume. On May 19, 1958, the veteran actor died at St. Francis Hospital in Santa Barbara, California from pneumonia. Fibrosis of the lungs and pneumonia plagued the actor most of his adult life. While serving in the British armed forces during World War I, he contacted the illness and never fully recovered. His funeral service was held at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Montecito, California. More than two hundreds mourners were in attendance for the short service (only fourteen minutes). Among the Hollywood dignitaries present were long time friend William Powell, Jack Benny, Vincent Price, Joseph Cotton, and George Sanders. Ironically, less than nine months after Colman’s death, Sanders would marry his widow Benita Hume. Colman is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Actress Carmen Miranda was born on February 9, 1909 in Marco de Canavese, Portugal. She was noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang’s All Here. Though hailed as a talented performer, her movie roles in the United States soon became cartoonish and she grew to resent them. Miranda made a total of fourteen Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953 and was dubbed “The Brazilian Bombshell.” Her image was one of a generic Latina that blurred the distinctions between Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, and Mexico. It was carefully stylized and outlandishly flamboyant. During a visit to Brazil in 1940, Miranda was heavily criticized for giving in to American commercialism and projecting a false image of Brazil. After returning to the United States, Miranda made her final film appearance in the 1953 film Scared Stiff with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. On August 4, 1955, Miranda suffered a heart attack during a segment of the live NBC TV program, The Jimmy Durante Show. After completing a dance number, she fell to her knees, but quickly pulled herself together and finished the show. She died later that night after suffering a second heart attack at her home in Beverly Hills. In accordance with her wishes, Miranda's body was flown back to Rio de Janerio where the Brazilian government declared a period of national mourning and more than half a million Brazilians escorted the funeral cortège to her final resting place at the Cemitero Sao Joao Batista.  

Who died on this date:

On February 9, 1969, actor Gabby Hayes died. He was born on May 7, 1885 in Wellsville, New York. He was best known for his numerous appearances in Western movies as the colorful sidekick. In his early career, Hayes was cast in a variety of roles, including villains, and occasionally played two roles in a single film. He found a niche in the growing genre of western films, many of which were series with recurring characters. Hayes played the part of Windy Halliday, the sidekick to Hoplong Cassidy from 1935 to 1939. He was cast as a sidekick to western icons Randolph Scott (6 times) and John Wayne (15 times, some as straight or villainous characters). The western film genre declined in the late 1940s and Hayes made his last film appearance in The Cariboo Trail (1950).  Hayes died on February 9, 1969 from a heart ailment and is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

On February 9, 2003, actress/ skater Vera Ralston died. She was born on July 12, 1919 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she placed 17th. During the games, she personally met and insulted Adolf Hitler. Hitler asked her if she would like to "skate for the swastika." As she later recalled, "I looked him right in the eye, and said that I'd rather skate on the swastika. She moved to Hollywood in 1943 and signed a contract with Republic Pictures. Here notable film credits include Dakota (1945), The Fighting Kentuckian (1949), and A Perilous Journey (1953). She retired from films in 1958. Ralston died on February 9, 2003 in Santa Barbara, California after a long struggle with cancer and is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.