Clark Gable, John Ford, Buster Keaton & Hedda Hopper

Who was born on this date:

Actor Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio. His mother Adeline died when Clark was only seven months old. The acting bug struck Gable when he was fifteen and working as an errand boy at the Akron Theater but this foray into the entertainment industry was short lived, after the death of his step mother; his father moved the family to Oklahoma, where the young Gable worked as a roustabout in the oil fields. Determined to be a star, and against his father’s wishes, Clark left Oklahoma for a job as a stage hand at a small theater in Portland, Oregon. It was there that he met his future wife, Josephine Dillon, a well known Broadway actress. She tutored Clark and brought him to Los Angeles, where they were married on December 13, 1924, the pair would divorce six years later. 

Gable had arrived in the city where he would become a legend. His big break came when veteran actor Lionel Barrymore spotted the young actor in a play and got him several bit parts in movies. Director, Darryl F. Zanuck’s first impression of the young star was brutally honest but very wrong, speaking to Gable he said, “Buddy, your ears are too big. You’ll never make it.” The famed director was being candid but wrong. In the 1931 film, The Free Soul, Gable played a gangster, who roughs up actress Norma Shearer’s character. The studio heads, including Louis B. Mayer, thought this would repulse female film goers but it did not, the film made Clark Gable a star. During his time in Hollywood, Gable was the undisputed “king of the movies,” a box office leader, forty-one of his film’s would gross over sixty-three million dollars and he was reportedly paid more than $48,000 a week on a film set.          

Gable’s film career spanned nearly four decades from 1923 to 1961, he appeared in eighty-one films some of which included; Hell Divers (1931), Strange Interlude (1932), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Wife vs. Secretary (1936), San Francisco (1936), They Met in Bombay (1941), Across the Wide Missouri (1951), and Band of Angels (1957). He was nominated for three best acting Oscar’s, his first and only win was in 1934’s, It Happened One Night, he was nominated but lost in 1936 for Mutiny on the Bounty and 1940 playing the legendary role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.  

In 1932 on the set of the film, No Man of Her Own, Clark Gable met the love of his life, Carole Lombard. Their first meeting was uneventful, and did not leave a lasting impression. Years later in 1936, at a Hollywood party the pair were again united and hit it off. There was one hitch, they two movie stars were still married, Lombard to Robert Powell and Gable to Maria Langham. This minor detail did not stop the pair from seeing one another and a scandalous affair ensued. The two eventually got divorces from their respective spouses and married on March 29, 1939, during a break in the filming of Gone with the Wind. During his marriage to Lombard, Gable has been characterized as being at his happiest. Carole Lombard’s youthful, yet blunt personality was a good match for Gable. Tragedy struck on January 16, 1942, when Lombard was killed in plane crash, while on a war bond publicity drive. This devastated Gable, and although he would go on to make an additional twenty-seven films, he was never emotionally the same person.  

Gable died from a heart attack on the evening of November 16, 1960 at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles. He had just wrapped up filming The Misfits, co-starring Marilyn Monroe, when he was stricken by a minor heart condition. He returned home immediately and appeared to be recovering when the fatality occurred. His death is alleged to have been caused by extreme physical exertion and tension on the set of the film. At the time of his death, his fifth wife Kay was five months pregnant. On March 20, 1961, she gave birth to a boy, John Clark Gable. His private funeral was held at the Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, where numerous Hollywood notables were present; pallbearers were Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy and Robert Taylor. Gable was accorded full military honors for his military service during World War II. Gables widow Kay consented to his burial beside his third wife, actress Carole Lombard in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn.

Director John Ford is considered by many to be America’s greatest film director, he was born John Martin Feeney on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He was known as “Pappy” to his closest friends and his storied and award winning directorial film career spanned nearly five decades from 1917 to 1966 and included one hundred and forty-four motion pictures. The hardnosed director was best known for his numerous Westerns starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda. He is credited with discovering John Wayne and giving him his first big break in motion pictures (Stagecoach, 1939). Wayne and Ford made numerous films together and the pair remained very close friends all their lives. Ford’s major film credits include: Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Battle of Midway (1942, he won a best documentary Oscar), They Were Expendable (1945), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), Mister Roberts (1955), The Searchers (1956), The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and How the West was Won (1962). 

During his legendary film career Ford was nominated for five best director Academy Awards, winning four times and include: The Informer (1935, won), Stagecoach (1939, nominated), The Grapes of Wrath (1940, won), How Green is My Valley (1941, won), and The Quiet Man (1952, won). Ford died on August 31, 1973 at his home in Palm Desert, California from cancer. His funeral was held at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood and in attendance were over 1,400 mourners, counted among them were numerous members of Hollywood’s elite. He was eulogized as “the incomparable mater of his trade” by both John Wayne and Cardinal Timothy Manning. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Los Angeles.    

Who died on this date:

On February 1, 1966, actor Buster Keaton died. He was born on Piqua, Kansas. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face.” Keaton made his first film appearance in The Butcher Boy (1917). Other notable film credits include The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), The Electric House (1922), Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924), Sherlock, Jr. (1924), Seven Chances (1925), and The General (1927). Keaton signed with MGM in 1928, a business decision that he would later call the worst of his life. He realized too late that the studio system would severely limit his creative input. He later made numerous TV appearances. Keaton died from lung cancer on February 1, 1966 in Woodland Hills, California and is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

On February 1, 1966, famed gossip columnist Hedda Hopper died. She was born Elda Furry on May 2, 1885 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Hopper film career began in 1916 with The Battle of Hearts. As her movie career waned in the mid-1930s, Hopper looked for other sources of income. In 1937, she was offered the chance of a lifetime and embarked on a career doing something she was quite adept at, gossip. Her column called "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood" debuted in the Los Angeles Times on February 14, 1938. After years of struggling as an actress, she had finally found her niche. She christened the home she purchased in Beverley Hills "The House That Fear Built.” She was known for hobnobbing with the biggest names in the industry, for getting a "scoop" before almost anyone else most of the time, and for being vicious in dealing with those who displeased her, whether intentionally or not. Hopper died on February 1, 1966 from pneumonia and is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Fredric March, Richard Basehart, John Ford, Billy Laughlin, Marguerite Chapman, Sally Rand

Who was born on this date:

Actor Fredric March was a two-time Academy Award winning actor and was born Fredrick McIntyre Bickel on August 31, 1897 in Racine, Wisconsin. His film career began inauspiciously in 1920 as a film extra, but by 1926 he had become a full fledged star of the Broadway stage. He was a well respected actor who appeared in eighty-four films and television programs in a film career that spanned five decades (1920 to 1973). March was known primarily as the suave, romantic leading man in many of his films, he broke tradition for his first Academy Award winning role, (he shared the award with fellow actor Wallace Beery) playing the diabolical Mr.Hyde in 1932’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He would go on to win another best acting Oscar in 1947 for the film, The Best Years of Our Lives. He was nominated for three additional best acting Oscar’s in 1930, 1938, and 1952 but lost each time. March’s other notable film credits include; The Royal Family of Broadway (1930), All of Me (1934), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Anna Karenina (1935), A Star is Born (1937), The Buccaneer (1938), Death of a Salesman (1951), The Bridges of Toko-Ri (1954), and Inherit the Wind (1960). He was also the recipient of two Tony Awards for best acting in 1947 and 1957. Fredric March died on April 14, 1975 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles from prostate cancer. He is buried at his family estate in New Milford, Connecticut.

Actor Richard Basehart was born on August 31, 1914 in Zanesville, Ohio. He is best known for starring in the 1960s television drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. One of his most notable film roles was in the acclaimed Italian film La Strada directed by Federico Fellini. He also appeared as the killer in the film noir classic He Walked by Night (1948), as a psychotic member of the Hatfield clan in Roseanna McCoy (1949), as Ishmael in Moby Dick (1956), and in the drama Decision Before Dawn (1951). Basehart was also noted for his deep, distinctive voice and was prolific as a narrator of many television and movie projects ranging from features to documentaries. He was married to Italian Academy Award-nominated actress Valentina Cortese. Basehart died on September 17, 1984 from a stroke and was buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Who died on this date: 

On August 31, 1973, director John Ford died. He is considered by many to be America’s greatest film director, he was born John Martin Feeney on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He was known as “Pappy” to his closest friends and his storied and award winning directorial film career spanned nearly five decades from 1917 to 1966 and included one hundred and forty-four motion pictures. The hardnosed director was best known for his numerous Westerns starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda. He is credited with discovering John Wayne and giving him his first big break in motion pictures (Stagecoach, 1939). Wayne and Ford made numerous films together and the pair remained very close friends all their lives. Ford’s major film credits include: Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Battle of Midway (1942, he won a best documentary Oscar), They Were Expendable (1945), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), Mister Roberts (1955), The Searchers (1956), The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and How the West was Won (1962). 

During his legendary film career Ford was nominated for five best director Academy Awards, winning four times and include: The Informer (1935, won), Stagecoach (1939, nominated), The Grapes of Wrath (1940, won), How Green is My Valley (1941, won), and The Quiet Man (1952, won). The award winning director died on August 31, 1973 at his home in Palm Desert, California from cancer. His funeral was held at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood and in attendance were over 1,400 mourners, counted among them were numerous members of Hollywood’s elite. He was eulogized as “the incomparable mater of his trade” by both John Wayne and Cardinal Timothy Manning. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Los Angeles, lawn M, lot 304, space 5.    

On August 31, 1948, child actor Billy Laughlin died. He was born on July 5, 1932 in San Gabriel, California. He is best known for playing the character Froggy in the Our Gang short films from 1940 to 1944. Laughlin rose to fame at the age of eight when he appeared in his first Our Gang film, The New Pupil. His character was known for his strange, Popeye like voice, which was reminiscent of a frog's croak. When Our Gang stopped production in 1944, Laughlin voluntarily moved away from show business and enjoyed relatively peaceful teenage years. Laughlin died on August 31, 1948, when a bus hit him from behind while he was delivering newspapers and riding a motor scooter in La Puente, California. He and his friend, who was also delivering newspapers, were killed instantly.

On August 31, 1999, actress Marguerite Chapman died. She was born on March 9, 1918 in Chatam, New York. She was working as a telephone switchboard operator, when her good looks brought about the opportunity to pursue a career in modeling. Signed by the prestigious John Robert Powers Agency in New York City, the publicity she earned modeling brought an offer from 20^th Century Fox studios. She made her film debut in 1940, working for the next two years in small roles. In 1942, her big break came with Republic Pictures when she was cast in the leading female role in the twelve-part adventure serial Spy Smasher, a production that is considered by many as one of the best serials ever made. As a result, Chapman soon began receiving offers for more leading roles.  During the 1950s Chapman continued to perform mostly in secondary film roles, notably in Marilyn Monroe's 1955 hit The Seven Year Itch. However, with the advent of television she kept busy into the early 1960s with guest appearances in numerous T.V. shows. She died on August 31, 1999 in Burbank, California and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

On August 31, 1979, actress Sally Rand died. She was born Helen Harriet Beck on April 3, 1904 in Hickory Country, Missouri. She is best known as a burlesque dancer, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance but also appeared a few films in the late 1920s and 1930s. During the 1920s, she acted on stage and appeared in silent films. Cecil B. DeMille gave her the name Sally Rand, inspired by a Rand McNally atlas. She was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1927. After the introduction of sound film, she became a dancer, known for the fan dance, which she popularized starting at the Paramount Club. Her most famous appearance was at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. She had been arrested four times in a single day during the fair due to perceived indecent exposure while riding a white horse down the streets of Chicago, but the nudity was only an illusion. She also conceived and developed the bubble dance, in part to cope with wind while performing outdoors. She performed the fan dance on film in Bolero, released in 1934. Other notable film credits include Heroes in Blue (1927), Crashing Through (1928), The Sign of the Cross (1932), and Sunset Murder Case (1938). She died on August 31, 1979 in Glendora, California from undisclosed causes and was buried at the Oakdale Memorial Park.

www.michaelthomasbarry.com, author of Fade to Black Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950

Gene Kelly, Mary Gordon

Who was born on this date:

Actor Gene Kelly was born on August 23, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen. Kelly was a dominant force in Hollywood musical films from the mid 1940s until the late 1950s. His many innovations transformed the Hollywood musical film, and he is credited with almost single-handedly making the ballet form commercially acceptable to film audiences.  

He began his entertainment career on the Broadway stage in November 1938 as a dancer in Cole Porter’s Leave It to Me!. His first career breakthrough was in the The Time of Your Life, which opened on October 25, 1939, where for the first time on Broadway he danced to his own choreography. In the same year he received his first assignment as a Broadway choreographer, for Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe. Offers from Hollywood began to arrive but Kelly was in no particular hurry to leave New York. Eventually, he signed with David O. Selznick, agreeing to go to Hollywood in October 1941. Selznick sold half of Kelly's contract to MGM and loaned him out for his first motion picture, For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. Kelly’s first opportunity to dance to his own choreography came in Thousand Cheers (1943), where he performed a mock-love dance with a mop.

He achieved his breakthrough as a dancer on film, when MGM loaned him out to Columbia to work with Rita hayworth in Cover Girl (1944), where he created a memorable routine dancing to his own reflection. In his next film Anchors Aweigh (1945), MGM virtually gave him a free hand to devise a range of dance routines, including the celebrated and much imitated animated dances with Jerry Mouse, and his duets with co-star Frank Sinatra. Anchors Aweigh became one of the most successful films of 1945 and it garnered Kelly his first and only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In Ziegfield Follies (1946), Kelly collaborated with Fred Astaire. After World War II and his return to Hollywood in the spring of 1946, MGM had nothing lined up and used him in a B-movie, Living in a Big Way. The film was considered so weak that Kelly was asked to design and insert a series of dance routines, and his ability to carry off such assignments was noticed. This led to his next picture with Judy Garland, the film version of Cole Porter's The Pirate, in which Kelly plays the eponymous swashbuckler. Now regarded as a classic, the film was ahead of its time and was not well received.

Although MGM wanted Kelly to return to safer and more commercial vehicles, he ceaselessly fought for an opportunity to direct his own musical film. In the interim, he capitalized on his swashbuckling image in The Three Musketeers and also appeared in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1948). He was due to play the male lead opposite Garland in Easter Parade (1948), but broke his ankle playing volleyball. He withdrew from the film and encouraged Fred Astaire to come out of retirement to replace him. Kelly then appeared in Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), his second film with Sinatra, where Kelly paid tribute to his Irish heritage in The Hat My Father Wore on St. Patrick's Day routine. It was this musical film which persuaded Arthur Freed to allow Kelly to make On The Town, where he partnered with Frank Sinatra for the third and final time, creating a breakthrough in the musical film genre which has been described as "the most inventive and effervescent musical thus far produced in Hollywood."

Then two musicals secured Kelly's reputation as a major figure in the American musical film, An American in Paris (1951) and probably the most popular and admired of all film musical of all time Singin’ in the Rain (1952). An American in Paris won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and, in the same year, Kelly was presented with an honorary Academy Award for his contribution to film musicals and the art of choreography. Kelly, at the very peak of his creative powers, now made what in retrospect is seen as a serious mistake. In December 1951 he signed a contract with MGM which sent him to Europe for nineteen months so that Kelly could use MGM funds frozen in Europe to make three pictures while personally benefiting from tax exemptions. Only one of these pictures was a musical, Invitation to the dance, a pet project of Kelly's to bring modern ballet to mainstream film audiences. It was beset with delays and technical problems, and flopped when finally released in 1956. When Kelly returned to Hollywood the film musical was already beginning to feel the pressures from television, and MGM cut the budget for his next picture.

Kelly did not return to stage work until his MGM contract ended in 1957, when in 1958 he directed  the musical play Flower Drum Song. He continued to make some film appearances, such as Hornbeck in the 1960 Hollywood production of Inherit the Wind. However, most of his efforts were now concentrated on film production and directing. He made frequent appearances on television during the 1960s, but his one effort at television series, as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way (1962–63) was dropped after thirty episodes. Kelly died in his sleep from a stroke on February 2, 1996 at his Beverley Hills home. His body was cremated, per his instructions there was no funeral or memorial services and his remains were given to family. Final disposition is unknown.

Who died on this date: 

On August 23, 1963, actress Mary Gordon died. She was born on May 16, 1882 in Glasgow, Scotland. She was a character actress who specialized in housekeepers and mothers, most notably the landlady Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the Thirties and Forties. She would appear in nearly 300 films between 1925 and 1950. She became good friends with director John Ford while making Hangman’s House (1928) and went on to appear in seven of his films. In 1939, she took on her best remembered role as Sherlock Holmes's landlady and played the role in ten films and numerous radio plays. Film credits include Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Pot O’ Gold (1941) and Fort Apache (1948). She lived out her final years in Pasadena, California with her daughter and grandson and died on August 23, 1963 from a long undisclosed illness. She is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.

www.michaelthomasbarry.com, author of Fade to Black Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950