Jennifer Jones - The Song of Bernadette
“There are two good reasons for falling in love. One is that the object of your affections is unlike anyone else — such as Lord Byron. The other is that he’s like everyone else, only superior.” Gwendolen Chelm in “Beat The Devil” (1954).
Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Flora Isley in Oklahoma in 1919. Her parents, Flora Mae and Phillip toured the Midwest in a traveling tent show which they owned and operated. At the age of 19, Jennifer began studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where she met and fell in love with fellow acting student Robert Walker whom she married a few months later.
Shortly after their marriage, Jennifer and Robert moved to Hollywood where Jennifer landed two small roles, the first one in a 1939 John Wayne film, “New Frontier” followed by a serial, “Dick Tracy’s G-Men”. After Jennifer Jones and her husband failed a screen test for Paramount Pictures, they decided to return to New York.
Upon the couple’s return to New York, Robert Walker found work in radio programs while Jennifer worked part-time modeling hats for Powers Agency while looking for possible acting jobs. Jennifer took a screen test for the lead role of Claudia in Rose Franken’s play “Claudia” and despite fears that she performed badly, was offered a seven-year contract by David O. Selznick. It was at this time that Jennifer changed her name from Phylis Isler to Jennifer Jones and shortly afterwards was awarded the role of Bernadette in Henry King’s “The Song of Bernadette” which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944, beating Ingrid Bergman to the award.
Over the next two decades, Jennifer Jones appeared in a wide range of roles selected by David Selznick. Following her role as Saint Bernadette, Jennifer’s next role provided a stark contrast when she was cast as a provocative bi-racial woman in David Selznick’s controversial film, “Duel in the Sun”. Other noteworthy films include “Madame Bovary”, “Carrie” and “A Farewell to Arms” and Jennifer starred with a wide range of leading men including Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart and Sir John Gielgud.
Offscreen, Jennifer Jones was married three times: her forst marriage to fellow actor Robert Walker ended in divorce and Jennifer then married director David O. Selznick which lasted until his death in 1965. After Selznick’s death, Jones semi-retired from acting with her last appearance being a supporting role in the 1974 film “The Towering Inferno”. In 1971, Jennifer Jones married multi-millionaire industrialist and philanthropist Norton Simon,
Jennifer Jones is currently on the board of directors of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.
Jean Harlow - Red Dust
“No one ever expects a great lay to pay all the bills.”
Jean Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City in 1911. Jean, an only child, was very close to her mother who was very protective of young Harlean. When Jean was 11, her parents divorced and Jean’s mother gained sole custody of her.
In 1923, Jean and her mother, also Jean, moved to Hollywood as Jean’s mother harbored hopes of becoming an actress although these did not come to fruition. When Jean was 16 years old, she married Charles “Chuck McGrew”, heir to a large fortune and shortly afterwards the couple moved to Los Angeles. Jean was noticed by Fox Studio executives in Los Angeles who gave her letters of introduction to the Central Casting Bureau despite Jean not having expressed an interest in acting. Jean,however, did sign up with Central Casting as a result of a bet and being urged by her mother to do so, which she did under her mother’s name, Jean Harlow.
After turning down several film offers and at her mother’s pressing, Jean accepted her first film role as an unbilled extra in “Honor Bound” in 1927. This led to various other roles and Jean starred in silent films such as “Why Is a Plumber?” (1927), “Moran of the Marines” (1928) and “The Love Parade” (1929). While filming “Weak But Willing” in 1929, Jean was spotted by James Hall, an actor who at the time was shooting a Howard Hughes film, “Hell’s Angels”. Hughes was re-shooting the film from silent into sound and needed a new actress as the original actress, Greta Nissen’s Norse accent was unsuitable for a talkie. Hughes met with Jean and offered her this role and a five-year contract on the spot. Jean proved to be a big hit with audiences although not all the critics were so taken with her.
Jean began to get more attention when in 1931 Hughes loaned her out to other studios and she appeared in several noteworthy films including “The Public Enemy” with James Cagney, “The Secret Six” with Clark Gable and “Platinum Blonde” with Loretta Young. Although some of the films were big successes, the critics dismissed Jean’s acting as “awful”. Howard Hughes was so concerned by this that he sent on her a personal appearance tour of the East Coast in late 1931 where to everyone’s surprise, Jean packed every theater she appeared in. Jean proved to be so popular that the tour was extended through early 1932 and Jean began to gather a following of female fans who dyed their hair platinum to match hers. Howard Hughes decided to capitalize on this by organizing a series of “Platinum Blonde” clubs across the country which offered a prize of $10,000 to any beautician who could match Jean’s hair color.
After some persuasion from Paul Bern who was romantically involved with Harlow, MGM bought her contract from Hughes amd she officially joined the studio in April 1932. At MGM, Jean finally became a superstar and she was given superior film roles to show off her beauty and her genuine talent for comedy. In 1931, Jean had the starring roles in “Red-Headed Woman” and “Red Dust”, her second film with Clark Gable. Jean and Gable worked well together and worked on a total of six films together. Jean was also paired multiple times with Spencer Tracy and William Powell. Jean also starred in “Wife vs. Secretary” with Myrna Loy and James Stewart. By the mid-1930’s, Jean Harlow was one of the biggest stars in America and the main female star at MGM. Unlike other female stars at MGM including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer whose popularity was waning, Jean was a young woman with her star continuously on the rise.
In the early part of 1937, Jean Harlow allegedly fell ill with influenza which significantly weakened her body. During this period, Harlow began filming “Saratoga” with Clark Gable which would prove to be her final film. In May 1937, Jean collapsed on set and was rushed to hospital where she was diagnosed with uremic poisoning where despite receiving constant medical attention, her condition worsened and Jean died at at the age of 26 in June 1937.
Jean Harlow was buried in the negligee she had worn just weeks before while filming “Saratoga”. Many rumors circled round her death including that her mother had forbidden medical intervention as a Christian Science believer but these were disproved in the 1990’s when her medical records were released and it was shown that she died of renal failure.
Kim Novak - Vertigo
‘I loved acting, which was never about money, the fame. It was about a search for meaning. It was painful.’
Kim Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Illinois in 1933 to a family of Czech origin. While Kim was in grammar school, she won a scholarship to the famous Chicago Art Institute. After Kim graduated from high school, she began to model teen fashions for a local department store and later received a scholarship at a modeling academy. A few years later Kim moved to Los Angeles where she continued to work as a model.
Kim Novak first appeared on screen in “The French Line”(1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland although she received no screen credit for the role. This was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent who were looking for someone to replace Rita Hayworth and invited her to a screen test which she passed. Columbia then signed Kim Novak to a six-month contract. Columbia insisted that Novak stop being called Marilyn Novak as they didn’t want to be accused of cashing in on Marilyn Monroe’s popularity.
Kim Novak made her screen debut in “Pushover” in 1954 opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey and the fans and critics were instantly drawn to her beauty. The same year Novak starred in “Phffft” opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson which received good reviews. In 1955, Novak won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite for her role in “Picnic” opposite William Holden. Kim starred in two films with Frank Sinatra, “The Man with the Golden Arm” and “Pal Joey” which also starred Rita Hayworth which were both very successful.
In 1958, Novak starred in Hitchcock’s classic thriller “Vertigo” opposite James Stewart which became the most admired role of her career. Following “Vertigo”, Novak reteamed with James Stewart and Jack Lemmon in the 1958 film, “Bell, Book and Candle” although it failed to do well at the box office. Novak continued to act during the 1960’s appearing in films such as “Of Human Bondage”(1964) although she turned down several dramatic roles such as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Sandpiper”. After playing the title role in “The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders” in 1965 opposite Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, Kim Novak took a break from acting and Hollywood.
Kim Novak made her comeback in 1968 in Robert Aldrich’s “The Legend of Lylah Clare” opposite Oscar winners Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine although it failed miserably. After making “The Great Bank Robbery” in 1969, it would be another four years before Novak would appear in another film. In 1980, she appeared in the Agatha Christie mystery “The Mirror Crack’d” opposite Angela Lansbury, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Kim Novak’s last appearance on the big screen was in “Liebestraum” in 1991 although her scenes were eventually cut due to battles with the director. Over the years, Kim Novak made occasional appearances on television such as in the made-for-TV movie “The Third Girl From the Left” in 1973 and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” in 1985.
Offscreen, Kim Novak was married twice: to English actor Richard Johnson and veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy and had affairs with several other men including Sammy Davis, Jr. In addition to acting, Novak is also a successful artist who expresses herself in watercolor and oil paintings, sculpture, stained glass design and photography and also writes poetry.
Kim Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 2002 was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Eastman Kodak. In 1995, Novak was ranked 92nd among the 100 sexiest stars in film history by Empire Magazine.
Tallulah Bankhead - Lifeboat
“Dying together’s even more personal than living together.” Connie in LIFEBOAT
Tallulah Bankhead was born in Alabama in 1902 to a powerful Democratic family. Tallulah’s father was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1936-1940 and she was the niece and granddaughter of Senators. Tallulah’s mother died of blood poisoning three weeks after she was born.
Tallulah won a movie-magazine beauty contest at the age of 15 and convinced her family to let her move To New Yotk. Tallulah quickly won bit parts in New York and her first role was a non-speaking role in “The Squab Farm”. During this time, Tallulah also became a peripheral member of the Algonquin Round Table earning a reputation as a hard-partying girl-about-town and began to use cocaine and marijuana.
Tallulah Bankhead made her debut on the London stage in 1923 where she appeared in over a dozen plays over the next eight years, the most famous of which was The Dancers. In 1924, Tallulah’s fame as an actress was cemented when she starred in Sidney Howard’s”They Knew What They Wanted” which won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize. In 1931, Tallulah returned to the United States to be Paramount Pictures‘ “next Marlene Dietrich“, but her first few films failed to make an impression. Tallulah’s first film was George Cukor’s “Tarnished Lady” in 1931 and although Cukor and Bankhead became close friends, she found filming boring and lacked the patience for it although she found the opportunity to make $50,000 per film too good to pass up. Over the next few years, Tallulah continued to appear in films over the next few years although they were mostly mediocre. After failing to pass a screen test for “Gone With the Wind”, Tallulah proved unable to capture Hollywood and returned to her most-loved acting medium, the stage.
Despite returning to Broadway, Tallulah’s career continued to be unmemorable until she portrayed the cold and calculating Regina Giddens in Lillian Hellman’s”The Little Foxes” in 1939 with Patricia Collinge which won her the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Performance. Tallulah began to be more successful and received the same award following her 1942 performance in Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth” opposite Fredric March and Florence Eldridge. In 1944, Alfred Hitchcock castTallulah as the cynical journalist, Constance Porter, in “Lifeboat” which was widely acknowledged as her best performance on film and won her the New York Film Critics Circle Award. After World War II, Tallulah appeared in a revival of Noel Coward’s “Private Lives” which she remained with for almost two years, both on tour and on Broadway. The play made Tallulah a fortune and meant that from then on she could command 10% of the gross and was billed larger than any other actor in the cast although she uusally granted equal billing to Estelle Winwood, a frequent co-star, and one of her closest friends.
Although Tallulah Bankhead’s career slowed in the mid-1950’s, she still remained in the public eye. By now, Tallulah was a heavy drinker and consumer of sleeping pills (she was a life-long sufferer of insomnia) but she continued to perform on Broadway during the 1950’s and 1960’s and even appeared in the occasional film. Tallulah received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in “Midge Purvis” in 1961. Tallulah appeared on stage for the last time in 1963 in “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” which received good notices although it was clear that her career as a great American actress was coming to an end. Tallulah was a big hit with her appearance as herself on “The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show” in 1957 which was originally slated for Bette Davis who had to pull out due to injury and in the 1967 television show, “Batman” which turned out to be her final screen appearance.
Offscreen, Tallulah had a very colorful life and was known for her love of parties, outlandish stunts and sexual exploits. Bankhead was known to be bisexual and was rumored to have been romantically linked with many famous actresses including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Marlene Dietrich although these relationships were never confirmed. Tallulah was married once to actor John Emery although the couple later divorced. Tallulah had no children although had numerous abortions during the 1920’s. Tallulah was godmother to the two children of her lifelong friend, actress Eugenia Rawls and was known for her kindness to animals and children.
Like her family, Tallulah was a Democrat but she broke wit most Southerners by campaigning for Harry Truman’s reelection in 1948. Tallulah died in a hospital in 1968 from double pneumonia and influenza and her last words were allegedly “codeine” and “bourbon”.
Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Wagner’s secret love affair revealed
Barbara Stanwyck’s secret love affair with actor Robert Wagner whom she met during the filming of “Titanic” in 1952 has finally been revealed in a new biography of Robert Wagner.
Robert Wagner reveals details of the affair in his just-released autobiography “Pieces of My Heart” which has generated renewed interest in the unlikely couple - Barbara Stanwyck was 23 years older than Wagner. Robert Wagner writes that “I would always have been Mr. Stanwyck and we both knew it.”
Myrna Loy - Manhattan Melodrama
“I think that carrying on a life that is meant to be private in public is a breach of taste, common sense, and mental hygiene.”
Myrna Loy was born Myrna Williams in 1905 in Montana, to parents of Welsh and Scottish ancestry. Her father named her after a train station whose name he liked. Myrna made her stage debut at the age of 12 in Helena’s Marlow Theatre in a dance she choreographed based on “The Blue Bird” from the Rose Dream Operetta.
After her father’s death when she was 13, Myrna moved to Los Angeles and at the age of 15, began appearing in local stage productions. Rudolph Valentino’s wife, Natacha Rambova happened to be in the audience one night and arranged a screen test for Myrna. Although Myrna failed the screen test, she continued to audition and in 1925 appeared in Rambova’s movie “What Price Beauty?” opposite her and Nita Naldi. Later that year, Myrna appeared in “Pretty Ladies” along with Joan Crawford. Although Myrna appeared in several silent films, her breakthrough came in the form of the talkies. In 1927, Myrna starred in “The Jazz Singer” as an uncredited chorus girl and two years later, sang and danced in Warner Brothers‘ first musical “The Desert Song” which was followed by appearances in a number of early Technicolor musicals including “The Show of Shows”(1929) and “Under a Texas Moon”(1930). As a result, Loy became associated with musicals although when they went out of fashion in 1930, her career went into a slump.
The turning point in Myrna Loy’s career came in 1934 with her appearances in “Manhattan Melodrama” with Clark Gable and William Powell and in “The Thin Man”. Loy was given this part by director W. S. Van Dyke chose Loy after he detected a wit and sense of humor when pushing her into a swimming pool at a Hollywood party to test her reaction. “The Thin Man” became one of the year’s biggest hits and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.Myrna and her co-star, William Powell, proved to be a a popular screen couple and appeared in a total of 14 films together, making them the most prolific pairing in Hollywood. Loy also starred in a further 3 films with Clark Gable including “Test Pilot”(1938) and “Too Hot to Handle” (1938), both of which were huge successes.
Myrna Loy was considered one of Hollywood’s busiest and highest paid actresses during this period and in 1937 and 1938 was listed in the annual “Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars” compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. Myrna Loy practically abandoned her acting career with the outbreak of Word War II in order to focus on the war effort and worked closely with the Red Cross. She even appeared on Adolf Hitler’s blacklist as she was such an outspoken critic of his. Loy helped run a Naval Auxiliary Canteen and toured frequently to raise funds.
After the war, Myrna Loy resumed making films starring in “The Best Years of Our Lives“(1946) with Fredric March which she later considered her proudest acting achievement. Loy starred with Cary Grant in “The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer”(1947) which co-starred a teenage Shirley Temple and the following year paired with Cary Grant again in “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House”. Myrna Loy’s film career continued sporadically after this with roles in “Midnight Lace” and “From The Terrace” in 1960 but after this she didn’t star in another film until “The April Fools” in 1969. Loy also returned to the stage and made her Broadfway debut in Clare Boothe Luce’s The Women. in 1973.
Myrna Loy was married four times although had no children. In later life, Myrna took an active role in society, becoming Co-Chairman of the Advisory Council of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing. In 1948 Myrna became the first Hollywood celebrity to become a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and was also an active Democrat.
In 1938 Myrna was voted the “Queen of Hollywood” in a contest which also voted Clark Gable the “King”. In 1965, Myrna won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago Theater and also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center in 1988. Although Loy was never nominated for an Academy Award, after years of lobbying by screenwriter and then-Writers Guild of America, west board member Michael Russnow she received an Academy Honorary Award in 1991, “for her career achievement”. Loy’s acceptance of the award was her last public appearance.
Myrna Loy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a building at Sony Pictures Studios, formerly MGM Studios, in Culver City is named in her honor. Myrna Loy died in 1992.
Patricia Collinge -
“What does he do? Oh, he’s just in business, you know, the way men are.” Emma Newton in “Shadow of a Doubt”
Patricia Collinge was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1892 and made her first stage appearance at the Garrick Theatre in 1904 in Little Black Sambo and Little White Barbara. In 1907, Patricia Collinge moved to America with her mother and began her career as a stage comedian in 1910, creating every part that she played.
One of Patricia’s first roles in America was as a supporting player in “The Thunderbolt”, co-starring Louis Calvert. In 1913, Collinge appeared on Broadway with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr and William Henry Crane in “The New Henrietta”, based on am comedy by Bronson Howard. In 1919, after two years playing the original Pollyanna in “Pollyanna”, Patricia went on tour with the play “Tillie”. In 1939, Patricia appeared as Birdie Hubbard in the Broadway production of The Little Foxes with Tallulah Bankhead and two years made her film debut playing the same part in the film version, starring Bette Davis, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1943, Patricia starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt” and apparently rewrote the dialogue for the scene between Teresa Wright and MacDonald Carey in the garage which Alfred Hitchcock was delighted with. The same year, Patricia also starred in “Tender Comrade” alongside Ginger Rogers.
Patricia Collinge successfully navigated between the different types of acting, appearing on stage, in films and on television and even found time to write plays. Collinge made her television debut in 1961 in “Laramie” and continued her connection with Alfred Hitchcock, appearing in “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”. Patricia’s written works include The Small Mosaics of Mr. and Mrs. Engel, a story of travel in Italy,for which the Italian government awarded her a gold medal. She co-authored the The B.O.W.S., a play about the American Theatre Wing unit with Margalo Gilmore and wrote a series of short stories for the New Yorker .
Patricia Collinge never married and died in New York City at the age of 81.
Joan Blondell - The Blue Veil
“I don’t know what the secret to longevity as an actress is. It’s more than talent and beauty. Maybe it’s the audience seeing itself in you.”
Joan Blondell was born to a vaudeville family in New York City in 1906. Joan’s father, Eddie Joan Blondell, Jr. was a vaudeville comedian and one of the original Katzenjammer Kids. Joan made her stage debut at the age of 3 and for years toured the circuit with her parents, finally joining a stock company when she was 17. Joan won the 1926 Miss Dallas pageant under the name Rosebud Blondell and in the same year, placed fourth for Miss America in New Jersey. Joan returned to New York in 1927 to become an actress and performed on Broadway. In 1930, Joan starred in the play, “Penny Arcade” opposite James Cagney which only ran for three weeks although Al Jolson saw it and bought the rights to the play for $20,000. He then sold the rights to Warner Brothers on condition that Blondell and Cagney be cast in the film version. Joan Blondell moved to Hollywood where she was placed under contract by Warners although she refused to change her name to “Inez Holmes” as Jack Warner, the studio head, wanted her to. Joan began to appear in short subjects and in 1931 was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, following in the footsteps of Joan Crawford and Jean Arthur.
Joan Blondell embodied the Depression era gold-digger during the 1930’s and with her blonde hair and blue eyes became a crowd favorite, appearing in more Warners films than any other actress. Following their success on stage, Joan was paired with James Cagney several times in films including “Sinners’ Holiday” (1930), the film version of “Penny Arcade” and “The Public Enemy” (1931) and starred as one half of a gold-digging duo with Glenda Farrell in nine films. Joan was one of the highest paid individuals in the United States during the Great Depression. In 1933, Joan starred in “Gold Diggers of 1933″ alongside Dick Powell with whom she would star in a further nine films and whom she later married and Ginger Rogers. Her moving rendition of “Remember My Forgotten Man“ became an unofficial anthem for the frustrations of the unemployed and President Herbert Hoover’s failed economic policies.
Despite having left Warner Brothers in 1939 to become an independent actress, Joan had made almost 50 films by the end of the decade. Although Joan was relegated to character and supporting roles after the mid-1940’s, she continued to work regularly for the rest of her life and was well received. Blondell starred in “The Blue Veil” in 1951 for which she received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and also starred in “Will Success Spoil Rick Hunter” (1957) and the notable “The Cincinnati Kid” in 1965. Shortly before her death, Joan was widely seen in two popular films, “Grease” (1978) and the remake of “The Champ” in 1979 with Jon Voight and Rick Schroder.
Offscreen, Joan Blondell was married three times: to cinematographer George Barnes, actor, director and singer Dick Powell and finally to producer Mike Todd, which proved to be an emotional and financial disaster and whom she divorced in 1950. Joan has a son from her first marriage and a daughter from her second marriage.
Joan Blondell died in California in 1979 at the age of 73, with her children and sister at her bedside. Blondell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures.
Claudette Colbert- It Happened One Night
“Men don’t get smarter when they grow older. They just lose their hair.”
Claudette Colbert was born Émilie Chauchoin in France in 1903. In 1906, Claudette’s family emigrated to New York. Claudette studied at Washington Irving High School where her teacher encouraged her to audtion for a play she had written and Claudette made her stage debut at the Provincetown Playhouse in “The Widow’s Veil”, at the age of fifteeen. Claudette then attended the Art Students League of New York and worked in a variety of different jobs in order to pay her expenses. Claudette intended to become a fashion designer but after attending a party with the playwright Anne Morrison, she was offered a three-line role in Morrison’s new play. In 1923, Claudette appeared on Broadway in a small role in “The Wild Westcotts” which inspired her to pursue a career in theater.
Claudette left her studies to embark on a stage career in 1925 and adopted the name “Claudette Colbert” as her stage name as she had been using the name of Claudette since high school and Collette was her grandmother’s maiden name.
Colbert signed a five-year contract with producer Al Woods and from 1925 to 1929 played ingenue roles on Broadway. Claudette received critical acclaim for her role in “The Barker” (1927), which she reprised for the play’s run in London’s West End. Although Claudette’s next two plays were unsuccesful, she was noticed by the theatrical producer, Leland Hayward, who suggested her for a role in Frank Capra’s silent film, “For the Love of Mike”(1927), now believed to be a lost film. The film, Colbert’s only silent film role, was a box office failure and Colbert didn’t make any more films for the next two years, although in 1928 she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. Claudette’s earliest films were produced in New York which enabled her to continue her stage career. Claudette’s first sound film was “The Hole in the Wall”(1929) co-starring fellow newcomer Edward G. Robinson. Colbert also starred in “The Lady Lies” in 1929 and both films were a success. While filming “The Lady Lies”, Claudette simultaneously appeared in the play “See Naples and Die” which was to be her final stage performance for 20 years.
Claudette starred in the French language film, “Mysterious Mr. Parkes” which was one of the few foreign language films to be widely screened in the United States and as a result of being bilingual in French and English, was also cast in “The Big Pond” opposite Maurice Chevalier who thought very highly of her. In 1930, Colbert appeared in “Manslaughter” opposite Fredric March and later starred in a further three films with him including “Honor Among Lovers”(1931) which did very well at the box-office. The same year, Claudette co-starred again with Maurice Chevalier in “The Simling Lieutenant” which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1933, Colbert renegotiated her contract with Paramount so that she could appear in films for other studios.
Claudette’s film career flourished in 1934 with three of the four films she made that year, “Cleopatra”, “Imitation of Life” and “It Happened One Night” in which she starred opposite Clark Gable, receiving nominations for Academy Awards for Best Picture. Despite Claudette’s intial reluctance to star in “It Happened One Night”, shewon the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance and the film wad the first to sweep all five major Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.
Claudette’s success allowed her to renegotiate her contract, raising her salary and in 1935 and 1936 she was listed in the annual “Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars”, compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. for the stars that had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year. In 1936, Claudette signed a new contract with Paramount Pictures which required her to make seven films over a two-year period and which made her Hollywood’s highest paid actress. When this contract was renewed in 1938, Claudette was reported to be the highest paid performer in Hollywood, earning $426,924.
Claudette was now able to start assserting control over the manner in which she was portrayed and gained a reputation for being fastidious by refusing to be filed from her right side as she believed that she photographed better from the left. Claudette began to learn about lighting and cinematography and refused to begin filming until she was satisfied that she would be shown to her best advantage. Around this time, Claudette began to act for CBS’ popular Lux Radio Theater, where she made numerous appearances between 1935 and 1954. In 1940, Colbert turned down a seven-year contract which would have paid her $200,000 a year, as she had found that she could command a fee of $150,000 per film as a freelance artist. Colbert appointed her brother as her manager who secured her roles in prestigious films such as “Boom Town” (1940) with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr. Claudette began to make a transition to more mature characters although was very sensitive about her age which led to a rift on the set of “So Proudly We Hail”(1943) with Paulette Goddard and Veronica Lake when Paulette said that she preferred working with Veronica as they were closer in age. In 1944, David O. Selznick approached Claudette to play the lead role of the mother in “Since You Went Away” which she was reluctant to do at first but eventually agreed. The film became a huge success and grossed almost five million dollars in the United States and earned Claudette her final Academy Award nomination.
In 1945, Claudette ended her association with Paramonut Studios and continued to freelance in films such as “Guest Wife”(1945) opposite Don Ameche and the RKO Studios film “Without Reservations”(1946) opposite John Wayne. Colbert achieved her last great success opposite Fred MacMurray in the comedy “The Egg and I”(1947) which was one of the year’s biggest hits and was later acknowledged as the 12th most profitable American film of the 1940’s. With the exception of “Sleep, My Love” with Robert Cummings, her later films failed to capitalize on her renewed success. Colbert lost a much wanted role in “All About Eve” after injuring her back before filming started and although MGM postponed the production for two months while she convalesced, she was still not fit enough at the end of this period and they were forced to give it to Bette Davis, a loss which Claudette later described as one of her biggest regrets.
Claudette travelled to Europe in the 1950’s and began making fewer films, although she appeared in the French film, “Royal Affair in Versailles” which was one of only two films she made in her native country, which was a success at the local box-office. Claudette began acting in teleplays in 1954 after a successful appearance in a television version of “The Royal Family”. From 1954 to 1960, Claudette appeared in the television adaptations of “Blithe Spririt” and “The Bells of St. Mary’s”. Claudette returned to Broadway in 1958 to appear in The Marriage-Go-Round, for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Tony Award. Claudette appeared in her last film, “Parrish” in 1961 although the film was not a huge success and she received little attention for her role in it. Embarrassed by its failure, Colbert instructed her agent to stop looking for film roles for her and eventually Colbert stopped receiving film offers.
Claudette continued to appear on the stage occasionally, appearing in “The Kingfisher” (1978) with Rex Harrison, and Frederick Lonsdale’s Aren’t We All? (1985). Colbert’s final appearance on film was in 1987 when she appeared in the television miniseries, “The Two Mrs. Grenvilles” which was a resounding success and was nominated for several awards including a Golden Globe for Claudette and an Emmy nomination.
Claudette was married twice: to actor and director Norman Foster, although the couple neverl ived together and eventually divorced, and then to Dr. Joel Pressman, with whom she remained until his death in 1968. Claudette spent her final years between her apartments in Manhattan and Barbados and died in Barbados at the age of 92.
Claudette Colbert established one of the most successful film careers of any actress of her generation and was considered a dependable and bankable star which was reflected in her earnings as she was one of the best-paid actresses of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Colbert had the reputation of having “terrifying ambition” and that she placed her career ahead of everything, perhaps excepting her marriage and was reported, along with Joan Crawford, to have known more about cinema lighting than the experts. Along with Jean Arthur, Myrna Loy and other such actresses, Claudette is credited with being a leading female exponent of screwball comedy.
In 1989, Colbert was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement and a year later was honored with the San Sebastián International Film Festival Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award. Claudette Colbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Veronica Lake - This Gun for Hire
“I wasn’t a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie.“
Veronica Lake was born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in New York in 1922. Veronica had an uprooted childhood with her father dying when she was 9 and Veronica was sent to an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Canada which she hated although the family later moved to Florida. In 1938, the family moved again to California where Veronica’s mother enrolled her in the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.Veronica made her first appearance on screen for RKO where she played a small role in the 1939 film, “Sorority House”. While making “Sorority House”, director John Farrow was struck by Veronica’s natural beauty and air of mystery and introduced her to Paramount producer Arthur Hornblow who changed her name to Veronica Lake because of her classic beauty and blue eyes.
RKO subsequently dropped Veronica but after a small role in the 1940 comedy “Forty Little Mothers” which brought her unexpected attention, she was signed by Paramount Pictures. Veronica’s breakthrough came in 1941 when she starred in “I Wanted Wings” which was a major hit and she was said to have stolen scene after scene from the cast. Later that year, Veronica starred in “Hold Back the Dawn” which was also a success.
Within a short period of time, Veronica was regarded as a trend-setting actress who could have her pick of roles. Subsequently, Veronica had starring roles in “Sullivan’s Travels”, “This Gun for Hire”, “I Married a Witch” and “The Glass Key”. For a short time during the 1940’s, Veronica was considered one of the most reliable box-office draws and was known for co-starring with actor Alan Ladd. At first, this was out of physical necessity as Ladd was just 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and Veronica at 4 feet 11½ inches (1.51 m) was the only Hollwood actress short enough to star with him but they went on to make four films together.
Although Veronica Lake was immensely popular with the public, she had a complex personality and required a reputation for being difficult to work with. Lake’s role as a Nazi sympathizer in the 1944 “The Hour Before the Dawn” which received scathing reviews caused her career to stumble. While filming “The Hour Before Dawn”, Veronica who was pregnant had fallen and begun hemorrhaging but her second child who was born prematurely died a week after he was born. Despite Veronica’s decline in popularity, she was still making $4,500 per week (equaling over $2.7 million in 2007, after allowing for inflation) under her contract with Paramount. Shortly after her third marriage to director André de Toth, Veronica began drinking more heavily and people began refusing to work with her. With the exception of “The Blue Dahlia” in 1946 where she teamed up with Alan Ladd again, Paramount cast Veronica in a string of largely forgotten films. In 1948, Paramount decided not to renew her contract.
Veronica appeared in one more film for 20th Century Fox during the late 1940’s and the film “Stronghold” in 1952 which was to be her last film role as her career collapsed afterwards. After being sued by her mother for support payments, Veronica Lake divorced Andre de Toth and filed for bankruptcy. The IRS then seized the remainder of her assets for unpaid taxes. Veronica then turned to television and stage work although after breaking her ankle in 1959, she was unable to keep working as an actress and she drifted between cheap hotels in Brooklyn and New York City where she was arrested several times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. A reporter discovered Veronica working as a barmaid in an all-women’s hotel in Manhattan which led to some renewed television and stage appearances and in 1966, Veronica had a brief stint as a TV hostess and starred in “Footsteps in the Snow” although it was largely ignored.
Veronica’s physical and mental health declined steadily during the 1960’s and by the late 1960’s, Lake was suffering from paranoia. Veronica published her autobiography amid much publicity and with the proceeds, she co-produced and starred in her last film, “Flesh Feast” (1970).
Veronica was married four times, all of which ended in divorce and had four children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1973, Veronica was hospitalized again and although she proved popular with the nurses, was not visited by any of her children or friends. Like Judy Garland who died alone at a young age,Veronica Lake died alone in 1973 of hepatitis and acute renal failure at the age of 50.
Veronica Lake has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
