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Any Number Can Play
''Any Number Can Play'' is a 1949 drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based on Edward Harris Heth's novel of the same name. It stars Clark Gable and Alexis Smith. Plot Casino owner Charley Enley Kyng (Clark Gable) is advised by his physician to slow down, after being diagnosed with angina pectoris, a heart disease. Charley supports his own family as well as his wife's sister, Alice (Audrey Totter) and her husband, Robbin (Wendell Corey). Charley quits drinking and smoking and vows to spend more time with his wife and son. Brother-in-law Robbin, a dealer at Charley's casino, cannot pay a $2,000 gambling debt he owes to a gangster, who sends his goons Lew Debretti (Richard Rober) and Frank Sistina (William Conrad) after him. The dealer uses loaded dice to let them win at craps. Charley's son Paul (Darryl Hickman) expresses shame about his father's line of work to his mother, Lon (Alexis Smith). Charley tries to take his son on a fishing trip in the mountains, but the boy ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other his cohort Michael Curtiz. LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include '' Little Caesar'' (1931), ''I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang'' (1932), ''Gold Diggers of 1933'' (1933) and ''They Won't Forget'' (1937). LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. Perhaps his most notable achievement as a producer is the 1939 classic '' The Wizard of Oz'', of which he was also uncredited as a director. Early life LeRoy was born on October 15, 1900, in San Francisco, California, the only child of Jewish parents Edna (née Armer) and Harry LeRoy, a well-to-do department store owner. Both hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street craps" can be played in informal settings. While shooting craps, players may use slang terminology to place bets and actions. History In 1788, "Krabs" (later spelled crabs) was an English variation on the dice game hazard (also spelled hasard). Craps developed in the United States from a simplification of the western European game of hazard. The origins of hazard are obscure and may date to the Crusades. Hazard was brought from London to New Orleans in approximately 1805 by the returning Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, the young gambler and scion of a family of wealthy landowners in colonial Louisiana. Although in hazard the dice shooter may choose any number from five to nine to be his main number, de Marigny simp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1949 Drama Films
Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. * January 11 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air, connecting east coast and mid-west programming in the United States. * January 16 – Şemsettin Günaltay forms the new government of Turkey. It is the 18th government, last single party government of the Republican People's Party. * January 17 – The first VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models are sold in America tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1949 Films
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1949 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *April 26–June 21 – Ealing comedies ''Passport to Pimlico'', '' Whisky Galore!'' and ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' are released in the UK, leading to 1949 being remembered as one of the peak years of the Ealing comedies. *November 15 – Following the prior year's Supreme Court decision in ''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'', Paramount Pictures is split into two separate companies with the creation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for production-distribution and United Paramount Theaters for the theater operations. *December 21 – Cecil B. DeMille's ''Samson and Delilah'', starring Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, and Henry Wilcoxon, receives its televised world premiere at the Paramount and Rivoli theatres in New York City. The film opens in Los Angeles on Janu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Baker (actor)
Art Baker (born Arthur Appleton Shank; January 7, 1898DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 19. – August 26, 1966) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early years Baker was born January 7, 1898, in New York City. He initially planned to be a singer, and during World War I he was a song leader while serving in the United States Army. During his time in the Army, his hair turned prematurely white and would later serve as his trademark look. His post-war occupations included touring with traveling evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church, and operating an appliance store in Glendale, California. Radio Baker's radio career began as an announcer on Los Angeles radio station KFSG. He later worked at Forest Lawn Memorial Park as a tour guide. Baker was chosen to be the narrator of the radio program ''Tapestries of Life''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Comingore
Mary Louise Comingore (August 24, 1913 – December 30, 1971), known professionally as Dorothy Comingore, was an American film actress. She starred as Susan Alexander Kane in ''Citizen Kane'' (1941), the critically acclaimed debut film of Orson Welles. In earlier films she was credited as Linda Winters, and she had appeared on the stage as Kay Winters. Her career ended when she was caught up in the Hollywood blacklist. She declined to answer questions when she was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. Early years Margaret Louise Comingore was born in Los Angeles, California and was described as "a one-time Oakland school girl." She attended the University of California, Berkeley. Her father was an electrotyper; her sister Lucille operated a nightclub in San Francisco. From 1934 to 1940, Comingore was billed in her stage appearances as Kay Winters and then Linda Winters as a film actress. Film Dorothy Comingore was discovered by Charles Chapl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mickey Knox (actor)
Abraham Knox (December 24, 1921 − November 15, 2013) was an American actor with nearly 80 films to his credit. Knox was also a screenwriter, film producer, and novelist. Knox was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and he subsequently moved to Paris and Rome to find work. Knox's screenwriter credits, where he adapted approximately 150 Italian and French films into English translations, include the English adaptation of Sergio Leone's ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly''. As a dialogue director, he coached many non-english speaking actors in performing convincingly in the english language. Selected filmography as an actor * ''Killer McCoy'' (1947) - Johnny Martin * ''I Walk Alone'' (1948) - Skinner * '' Jungle Patrol'' (1948) - Lt. Louie Rasti * ''The Accused'' (1949) - Jack Hunter * ''Knock on Any Door'' (1949) - Vito * ''City Across the River'' (1949) - Larry * '' Any Number Can Play'' (1949) - Pete Senta * ''White Heat'' (1949) - Het Kohler (uncredited) * '' Angels in Disgu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leon Ames
Leon Ames (born Harry L. Wycoff;U.S. Federal Census for 1910 for Fowler, Center Township, Benton County, State of Indiana, access via Ancestry.com January 20, 1902 – October 12, 1993) was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing father figures in such films as ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944) with Judy Garland as one of his daughters, '' Little Women'' (1949), '' On Moonlight Bay'' (1951), and '' By the Light of the Silvery Moon'' (1953). The fathers whom Ames portrayed were often somewhat stuffy and exasperated by the younger generation, but ultimately kind and understanding. Probably his best-known purely dramatic role was as DA Kyle Sackett in the crime film '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1946). Early years Leon Ames was born on January 20, 1902, in Portland, Indiana, son of Charles Elmer Wycoff and his wife Cora Ames De Moss (Ames) Some sources list his original last name as "Wykoff" or "Waycoff", and in his early films, he acted under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' television sitcoms of the 1960s. Biography Early life The son of Dr. and Mrs. William Edgar Buchanan, he was born in Humansville, Missouri, and moved with his family to Oregon when he was seven. In 1928, he earned a DDS degree from North Pacific College School of Dentistry, which later became Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry. His wife Mildred (1907–1987) and he, classmates in dental school, were married in 1928, the year he graduated. They had one child, a son named Buck. In 1939, they moved from Eugene, Oregon, to Altadena, California, where they relocated their dental practice. He joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor. He appeared in his first film in 1939, at the age of 36, after which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Rambeau
Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in '' Primrose Path'' (1940) and ''Torch Song'' (1953), and received the 1955 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in ''A Man Called Peter'' and ''The View from Pompey's Head''. Early life Rambeau was born in San Francisco to Marcel and Lilian Garlinda (née Kindelberger) Rambeau. Her parents separated when she was a child. She and her mother went to Nome, Alaska, where young Marjorie dressed as a boy, sang, and played the banjo in saloons and music halls. Her mother insisted she dress as a boy to thwart amorous attention from drunken grown men in such a wild and woolly outpost as Nome. She began performing on the stage at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Sullivan (actor)
Patrick Barry Sullivan (August 29, 1912 – June 6, 1994) was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s, notably ''The Bad and the Beautiful'' opposite Kirk Douglas. Ronald Bergan wrote in ''The Guardian'' in 1994: "Second division Hollywood actors like Barry Sullivan ... are usually faintly praised for being reliable or solid. However, when given the chance, Sullivan was a powerful, often baleful presence on screen, providing more pleasure than many more touted stars. "Bergan, Ronald (June 10, 1994). "Personal: Highlighting the dark side Obituary: Barry Sullivan". ''The Guardian'': London. Biography Early years Born in New York City, Sullivan was a law student at New York University and Temple University. He fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football. He was later a department store buyer. Career Broadway stage, film shorts and radio Sullivan's first appearance on Broadway was in ''I Want a Policeman'' in 1936. That ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Stone
Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular '' Andy Hardy'' film series. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for his performance as Russian Count Pahlen in '' The Patriot''. Stone was also cast in seven films with Greta Garbo, including in the role of Doctor Otternschlag in the 1932 drama ''Grand Hotel''. Early life Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1879, Lewis was the youngest of four children of Philena (née Ball) and Bertrand Stone."United States Census, 1880", digital image of original census page documenting Lewis Stone in household of Bertrand Stone, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts; enumeration district (ED) 903, sheet 608D; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C. FamilySearch database with images, Salt Lake City ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
