Happy 90th birthday, Doris Day!

Photo by Don Ornitz, scanned from the March 1952 issue of Photoplay.

I'm almost too late with posting this, but today was Doris Day's 90th birthday. TCM showed her films all day long. As I write this, I'm enjoying the 1952 Technicolor musical April in Paris, co-starring Ray Bolger.

Miss Day was recently interviewed by Closer Weekly, in which she said "I’ve had an amazing life and wonderful times. And I’m happy!"

Happy Birthdays

Today, February 27th, would have been Elizabeth Taylor's 82nd birthday, as well as Joan Bennett's 104th. Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor played mother and daughter in the 1950 film Father of the Bride, as well as its sequel Father's Little Dividend.

Here they are in a cute publicity still for Father of the Bride:

Other stars that had birthdays today are Franchot Tone and Joanne Woodward. Also John Steinbeck, who wrote many novels that were made into films, such as The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Tortilla Flat.

Happy 104th, Luise Rainer

Today is Luise Rainer's 104th birthday! She was born January 12, 1910 in Germany and is currently living England. Luise was the first actor ever to win multiple Academy Awards, which she also won in consecutive years. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1936 for her portrayal of Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld, and the following year she again won the award for Best Actress for her role of O-Lan in The Good Earth. Shortly thereafter, she gave up acting and returned to Europe.

This photo of Luise is scanned from the Summer 1938 issue of Screen Album magazine.

Happy 105th, Carole Lombard!

Carole Lombard, born Jane Alice Peters on October 6, 1908, was one the biggest stars of the 1930s, famous for her roles in screwball comedies. She was married to William Powell and then later to Clark Gable. In 1942, she died at the age of 33 in a plane crash while returning home from a World War II bonds tour.

It's difficult for me to put into words just how much I love Carole Lombard. She was so beautiful and elegant, an amazing actress, yet also down-to-earth and wacky. While her films weren't my introduction to screwball comedy, once I saw hers I began to truly love screwballs.

Carole Lombard in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)

If you've never seen a Carole Lombard film, or if you've only seen one or two, I recommend the following:

-Twentieth Century (1934)
-My Man Godfrey (1936)
-Nothing Sacred (1937) (her only color film)
-Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
-To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Sadly I haven't yet seen all of her available films but of the ones I have seen, these are my favorites.

If you have a Netflix account, Nothing Sacred is currently available to stream.

The following are available to stream for free (with ads) on Hulu:
Nothing Sacred
My Man Godfrey
To Be or Not to Be

Carole Lombard in color, circa 1940.

"She was so alive, modern, frank, and natural that she stands out like a beacon on a lightship in this odd place called Hollywood." -- Barbara Stanwyck

"We called her The Profane Angel because she looked like an angel but she swore like a sailor. She was the only woman I ever knew who could tell a dirty story without losing her femininity." -- Director Mitchel Leisen

"Carole, while doing the antics of a clown, disheveled, rain-soaked, disregarding how she looked even with mud all over her, could make you laugh, and yet at the same time, make you want to go to bed with her." -- Desi Arnaz

Happy birthday, Carole.

Happy 118th, Buster Keaton!

Born October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton is considered one of the greatest comic actors of all time, and many of today's stars still cite him as an influence.

Buster's parents were vaudeville performers, and he joined their act at the age of three and continued to perform with them for nearly 20 years as The Three Keatons.

In 1917, he befriended Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and he was featured in over a dozen of Fatty's films over the next few years.

Buster Keaton with Fatty Arbuckle and Alice Lake in the 1917 short film Coney Island.

In 1920, Buster began appearing on his own in shorts and feature-length films, which turned him into a star. Just a year later he started his own production company and was writing, directing, and starring in his own films.

In 1926, Buster made The General, which today is considered one of the greatest films ever made, but at the time it was a huge box office failure.

Buster Keaton in The General (1926).

He was then persuaded to sign with MGM, a decision he later deeply regretted as he found the studio system severely limited his creative input. Buster started to drink excessively, and by 1933 he found himself fired from MGM and divorced from his first wife, Natalie Talmadge.

He continued to make short films for Educational Films and Columbia Films throughout the 1930s, and in 1940 married dancer Eleanor Norris, a marriage that lasted until his death.

Buster had smaller roles and cameo appearances in a number of films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, notably In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952).

In 1959, Buster received an honorary Academy Award for his contributions to film.

He continued to work throughout the 1960s, mostly in television, until his death from lung cancer on February 1, 1966, at the age of 70.

 

Happy birthday, Buster.