Movie Biographies: Gypsy

1962 Musical Biography
From Warner Bros.
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy

Starring
Rosalind Russell
Natalie Wood
Karl Malden
Paul Wallace
Betty Bruce
Faith Dane
Roxanne Arlen
Ann Jillian
Morgan Brittany
Jean Willes

Martha Hyer

Oh she fascinated me.  Film after film she fascinated me.  I found the actress in her to be icy, haughty, opinionated, uptight, often vindictive and to the manor born.  The woman and the actress were beautiful with gorgeous manners, a formal speaking voice
and a strong constitution.  She was born into a wealthy Texas family and it always showed.  She had that air of aristocracy... she never left home without it.  She also used it to great advantage in most of her film roles but I suspect she lost a few because of it, too.

From the 1960s: Cape Fear

1962 Drama
From Universal Studios
Directed by J. Lee Thompson

Starring
Gregory Peck
Robert Mitchum
Polly Bergen
Lori Martin
Martin Balsam
Telly Savalas
Jack Kruschen
Barrie Chase

The Directors: Fritz Lang

One can look for some humor while finding more than a little irony in this Austrian-born director's story.  He was famous for films which drew attention to the common man and his fight against bureaucracy and the abuse of power.  And yet he was autocratic and mercurial, stubborn and argumentative, intense and vain and could be downright abusive.   He went nose-to-nose with studio heads and was tossed off movie lots.  Some actors revered him and some detested him.  Fritz Lang, largely forgotten by movie audiences, was a force in his day.

A Glittering Cast: In Harm's Way

1965 War Drama
From Paramount Pictures
Directed by Otto Preminger

Starring
John Wayne
Kirk Douglas
Patricia Neal
Tom Tryon
Paula Prentiss
Brandon De Wilde
Jill Haworth
Dana Andrews
Burgess Meredith
Stanley Holloway
Franchot Tone
Patrick O'Neal
Carroll O'Connor
Hugh O'Brian
Barbara Bouchet
George Kennedy
Slim Pickens
Henry Fonda

John Dall

I love writing pieces about actors whose fame has largely evaporated over time and/or may never have reached the heights that were hoped for.  Such is John Dall.  Do you recognize the name?  You fellow movie fanatics, of course, know of him for his two most famous films but I dare say most folks don't know the name.

From the 1950s: The Big Knife

1955 Drama
From United Artists
Directed by Robert Aldrich

Starring
Jack Palance
Ida Lupino
Wendell Corey
Rod Steiger
Shelley Winters
Jean Hagen
Everett Sloane
Wesley Addy
Ilka Chase
Paul Langton
Nick Dennis
Bill Walker

From the 1950s: Bell, Book and Candle

1958 Romantic Comedy
From Columbia Pictures
Directed by Richard Quine

Starring
James Stewart
Kim Novak
Jack Lemmon
Ernie Kovacs
Elsa Lanchester
Hermione Gingold
Janice Rule
Bek Nelson
and
Pyewacket

Melvyn Douglas

So invested was he in Democratic politics that he could have been a congressman (like his wife) or a governor.  Although he elected to stick with being an actor, it was a decided second place to his love for the political arena.   He made his first movie in 1931 and his last in 1981.  Melvyn Douglas' career can be divided into two parts, the early and middle years as a debonair leading man and then after a decade-long hiatus, the older years as a character actor who was richly and justly awarded with golden prizes.