Movie Biographies: The Eddy Duchin Story

1956 Biography  
From Columbia Pictures
Directed by George Sidney 

Starring
Tyrone Power
Kim Novak
Victoria Shaw
James Whitmore
Rex Thompson
Shepperd Strudwick
Frieda Inescort
Larry Keating

A Glittering Cast: How to Make an American Quilt

1995 Drama
From Universal Pictures
Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse

Starring
Winona Ryder
Anne Bancroft
Ellen Burstyn
Jean Simmons
Kate Nelligan
Maya Angelou
Alfre Woodard
Lois Smith
Samantha Mathis 
Dermot Mulroney
Rip Torn
Johnathon Schaech
Loren Dean
Joanna Going
Tim Guinee
Derrick O'Connor
Richard Jenkins
Claire Danes
Jared Leto
Kate Capshaw

The Directors: Mervyn LeRoy

If it weren't for this director-producer, there would be a giant hole in the middle of Hollywood's Golden Age but as it turned out, his career was one of the most successful.  His signature crime films at Warner Bros. became the studio's signature films as well.  He moved to MGM and presided over those lushly beautiful films for which that studio was famous. He also knew his way around musicals, comedies, action, women's films, historical and social themes.  He was hard to pin down because he could do it all.

The Messy Life of Peter Lawford

It didn't start off well and it didn't end well. It was more or less a messed-up life from start to finish and to his credit, he probably would have agreed.  He made it to the extent that he did as an MGM contract player because the big-name actors were off fighting the war.  He didn't appear to take his career any more seriously than he did anything else.  He was good-looking, had some aristocracy in his bones and lived as a rich playboy... whenever he could.  After his glory years with the Kennedys came to a sorry end, he hit the skids.

Carolyn Jones

She was told early on in her dusty Texas hometown that she looked like Bette Davis.  Everybody thought so.  Her mama even named a baby sister Bette.  It was primarily Carolyn's big brown cow eyes... oh so prominent on her face.  They seemed to bulge out in just the same way Davis' eyes did and they may have shared a similar forehead as well.  Davis and little Carolyn were both blondes in those long-ago days which added to the allure.  Sadly, the hero worship would end badly.

From the 1930s: Come and Get It

1936 Drama
From The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Directed by Howard Hawks & William Wyler

Starring
Edward Arnold
Joel McCrea
Frances Farmer
Walter Brennan
Mady Christians
Mary Nash
Andrea Leeds
Frank Shields
Cecil Cunningham

From the 1950s: Friendly Persuasion

1956 Drama
From Allied Artists
Directed by William Wyler

Starring
Gary Cooper
Dorothy McGuire
Anthony Perkins
Richard Eyer
Robert Middleton
Phyllis Love
Mark Richman
Walter Catlett
Joel Fluellen
John Smith
Marjorie Main

From the 1950s: The Desperate Hours

1955 Drama
From Paramount Pictures
Directed by William Wyler

Starring
Humphrey Bogart
Fredric March
Arthur Kennedy
Martha Scott
Dewey Martin
Gig Young
Mary Murphy
Richard Eyer
Robert Middleton
Whit Bissell
Bert Freed
Ray Collins
Ray Teal