On this Day in Movie History, May 23, 1883: Douglas Fairbanks Born

American actor, screenwriter, director and producer Douglas Fairbanks (Douglas Elton Ulman) was born on this day May 23, 1883. Best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro, he spent the early part of his career making comedies.

An astute businessman, Fairbanks was a founding member of United Artists, also a founding member of The Motion Picture Academy and hosted the first Oscars Ceremony in 1929.

With his marriage to Mary Pickford in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty and Fairbanks was referred to as “The King of Hollywood”, a nickname later passed on to actor Clark Gable.

His career rapidly declined with the advent of the “talkies”. His final film was The Private Life of Don Juan (1934).

 

On this Day in Movie History, May 22, 1986: Sylvester Stallone Signs Deal With United Artists

Sylvester Stallone agreed to a 10-picture, six-year deal with United Artists. He signed for a reported $15 million for each film . The deal made him the richest actor in Hollywood. Born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone July 6, 1946, Stallone is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is well known for his Hollywood action roles.

Two notable characters he has portrayed are the boxer Rocky Balboa and soldier John Rambo. Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Stallone. The film went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing. The first installment of Rambo was both a critical and box office success. Two Rambo sequels, Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988), followed. Although box office hits, they met with much less critical praise than the original.

 

On this Day in Movie History, May 21, 1945: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart Marry

It was on this day, May 21, 1945, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married. Legend has it that the couple fell in love in 1943 during making of the film, “To Have and Have Not”.

Their wedding and honeymoon took place at Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio. It was the country home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, a close friend of Bogart. The wedding was held in the Big House. Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. They remained married until Bogart’s death from esophageal cancer in 1957.

Bogart usually called Bacall “Baby,” even when referring to her in conversations with other people. During the filming of The African Queen (1951), Bacall and Bogart became friends of Bogart’s co-star Katharine Hepburn and her partner Spencer Tracy.

Theirs would become one of Hollywood’s most enduring marriages.

 

On this Day in Movie History, May 20, 1989: Actress/Comedienne Gilda Radner Dies

Actress/comedienne Gilda Radner died on this day, May 20,1989 in a Los Angeles hospital after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 42. Radner’s death helped increase public awareness of the disease and the need for earlier detection and treatment.

Radner gained name recognition as one of the original “Not Ready For Prime Time Players”. A member of the freshman group on the first season of Saturday Night Live, she was the first actor cast for the show.

Between 1975 and 1980, she created such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, an obnoxious woman with wild black hair who would tell stories about the gross habits of celebrities on the show’s “Weekend Update” news segment, inspired in name and appearance by Rose Ann Scamardella, a news anchor at WABC-TV in New York City. Other SNL characters included “Baba Wawa,” a spoof of Barbara Walters, and Emily Litella, an elderly woman who gave angry and misinformed editorial replies on “Weekend Update” on topics such as “violins on television,” the “Eagle Rights Amendment,” “presidential erections,” and “protecting endangered feces.” Once corrected on her misunderstanding, Litella would end her segment with a polite “Never mind.” Radner parodied such celebrities as Lucille Ball, Patti Smith, and Olga Korbut in SNL sketches. Radner won an Emmy Award in 1978 for her work on SNL.

In 1979, Radner appeared on Broadway in a successful one-woman show entitled Gilda Radner – Live From New York. The show featured racier material, such as the song Let’s Talk Dirty to the Animals. In 1981, the show was filmed as Gilda Live!, co-starring Paul Shaffer and Don Novello, and was released as a film and an album recording.

 

On this Day in Movie History, May 18, 1897: Academy Award-winning Director Frank Capra Born

Sicilian-born American film director, Frank Robert Capra was born on this day, May 18, 1897. A creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s, his rags-to-riches story, having worked his way through college, has led film historians like Ian Freer to consider Capra the “American dream personified.”

Capra became one of America’s most powerful directors during the 1930s, winning three Oscars as Best Director. Among his leading films was It Happened One Night (1934), which became the first film to win all five top Oscars, including Best Picture. Other leading films included Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), You Can’t Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and State of the Union (1948). Because of his early fame as a director, his name was listed “above the title” of his films when they were publicized. People “flocked to the theaters” during the 1930s and 1940s to see films directed by Frank Capra.

After World War II, however, Capra’s career declined as his subjects were more out of tune with the mood of audiences. Critics described his films as being “simplistic” or “overly idealistic.” However, the public nonetheless loved his films, especially during the Great Depression years, when audiences needed uplifting themes of inspiration. His pictures let viewers witness “a triumph of the individual over corrupt leaders”, and experience “inherent qualities of kindness and caring for others.”

Most of Frank Capra’s best works have been revived, and are today considered timeless fables filled with love and respect for the struggles of the common man.

Are you a Michigan resident engaged in some aspect of Michigan’s film industry, whether a filmmaker, an actor/actress, or musician with credits in creating musical scores for Michigan movies, other? If so, write me. I would like to include your name, birthdate and credits on this blog. I can then link it to your facebook profile, IMDB page, or personal website.

 

THE HONOR OF THE PRESS (1932) Edward J Nugent – Rita La Roy

THE HONOR OF THE PRESS (1932) Edward J Nugent – Rita La Roy

A rookie reporter discovers a robbery conspiracy within the hierarchy of the newspaper he works for.

 

On this Day in Movie History, May 17, 1936: Actor Dennis Hopper Was Born

It was on this day, May 17, 1936, American actor, filmmaker and artist, Dennis Lee Hopper was born. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. Making his first television appearance in 1954, he appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956) During the next 10 years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films.

In 1969 he directed and starred in Easy Rider, winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer. Journalist Ann Hornaday wrote: “With its portrait of counterculture heroes raising their middle fingers to the uptight middle-class hypocrisies, Easy Rider became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, a celluloid anthem to freedom, macho bravado and anti-establishment rebellion.” Film critic Matthew Hays notes that “no other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper.”

He was unable to build on his success for several years, until a featured role, that of the American Photojournalist, in Apocalypse Now (1979) he played brought him attention. He subsequently appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983), and received critical recognition for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He directed Colors (1988), played the lead character named after the movie title in Paris Trout, and played the villain in Speed (1994). He played another villain, King Koopa, in Super Mario Bros. (1993). Hopper also played heroes, such as John Canyon in Space Truckers. Hopper’s later work included a leading role in the television series Crash. Hopper’s last performance was filmed just before his death: The Last Film Festival, originally slated for a 2011 release. Hopper was also a prolific and acclaimed photographer, a profession he began in the 1960s.

Hopper died at his home in the coastal Los Angeles district of Venice on the morning of May 29, 2010 at the age of 74.

Are you a Michigan resident engaged in some aspect of Michigan’s film industry, whether a filmmaker, an actor/actress, or musician with credits in creating musical scores for Michigan movies, other? If so, write me. I would like to include your name, birthdate and credits on this blog. I can then link it to your facebook profile, IMDB page, or personal website.