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It's A Big Country
''It's a Big Country An American Anthology'' is a 1951 American anthology film consisting of eight segments by seven directors: Richard Thorpe, John Sturges, Charles Vidor, Don Weis, Clarence Brown, William A. Wellman and Don Hartman. Plot In episode 1, "Interruptions, Interruptions", directed by Richard Thorpe, a professor traveling on a train is asked by a fellow passenger if he too loves "America". The professor then asks, "Which America?" After listening to the professor explain the different aspects of America, the passenger goes to the dining car and, upon hearing an older woman comment how wonderful America is, he asks her, "Lady, which America?" In episode 2, "The Lady and the Census Taker", directed by John Sturges, Mrs. Brian Riordan, an elderly Irish immigrant woman from Boston, is upset about not having been counted in the 1950 census. She visits newspaper editor Callaghan to intervene on her behalf and he sends reporter Michael Fisher to interview her by pretendi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Thorpe
Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Biography Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, Richard Thorpe began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred and eighty films. He worked frequently at the Poverty Row studio Chesterfield Pictures during the 1930s. The first full-length motion picture he directed for MGM was ''Last of the Pagans'' (1935) starring Ray Mala. At MGM, he teamed up with producer Pandro S. Berman in the 1950s, with whom he made several films, including '' Ivanhoe'' (1952), ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1952), '' Knights of the Round Table'' (1953), '' All the Brothers Were Valiant'' (1953) and ''The Adventures of Quentin Durward'' (1955). After directing ''The Last Challenge'' in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as an Academy Honorary Award in 1961 for his career achievements. He was one of the top10 film personalities for 23 consecutive years and one of the top money-making stars for 18 years. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at No.11 on its list of the 25 greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Cooper's career spanned 36 years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in 84 feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range included roles in most major film genres. His ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Calhern
Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known professionally as Louis Calhern, was an American stage and screen actor. Well known to film noir fans for his role as the pivotal villain in 1950's ''The Asphalt Jungle'', he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Oliver Wendell Holmes in the film ''The Magnificent Yankee (1950 film), The Magnificent Yankee'' later that year. Early life Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1895, the son of German immigrants Eugene Adolf Vogt and Hubertina Friese Vogt. He had one known sibling, a sister. His father was a tobacco dealer. His family left New York while he was in elementary school and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was raised. While playing high school football, a stage manager from a touring repertory theatre, theatrical stock company noticed the tall, handsome youth and hired him as a bit player. Another source states "Grace Ge ... [...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] |
Nancy Davis
Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in New York City. After her parents separated, she lived in Maryland with an aunt and uncle for six years. When her mother remarried in 1929, she moved to Chicago and later was adopted by her mother's second husband. As Nancy Davis, she was a Hollywood actress in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as '' The Next Voice You Hear...'', ''Night into Morning'', and ''Donovan's Brain''. In 1952, she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild. He had two children from his previous marriage to Jane Wyman and he and Nancy had two children together. Nancy Reagan was the first lady of California when her husband was governor from 1967 to 1975, and she began to work with the Foster Grandparents Program. Reagan became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keenan Wynn
Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American character actor. His expressive face was his stock-in-trade; and though he rarely carried the lead role, he had prominent billing in most of his film and television roles. Early life Wynn was born on July 27, 1916, in New York City, the son of vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn and his wife, the former Hilda Keenan. He took his stage name from his maternal grandfather, Frank Keenan, one of the first Broadway actors to star in Hollywood. His father was Jewish and his mother was of Irish Catholic background. Ed Wynn encouraged his son to become an actor, and to join The Lambs Club, which he did in 1937. Career Theatre and radio Wynn began his career as a stage actor. He appeared in several plays on Broadway, including ''Remember the Day'' (1935), ''Black Widow'' (1936), ''Hitch Your Wagon'' (1937), ''The Star Wagon'' (1938), ''One for the Money'' (1939), ''Two for the Show'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Academy Award nominations. Biography Early life and military service Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle (née Crane) and James Allen Whitmore Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, for three years, before transferring to the Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, on a football scholarship. He went on to study at Yale University, but he had to quit playing football after severely injuring his knees."James Whitmore dies at 87" by Dennis McLellan. Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2009. After giving up football, he turned to the Yale Dramatic Society and began acting. While at Yale, he was a member of Skull and Bones, and was among the founders of the Yale radio s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keefe Brasselle
Keefe Brasselle (born Henry Keefe Brasselle February 7, 1923 – July 7, 1981) was an American film actor, television actor/producer and author. He is best remembered for the starring role in ''The Eddie Cantor Story'' (1953). Early years and career Keefe Brasselle broke into motion pictures while serving in the U. S. Navy. His first co-starring role was opposite singing star Gloria Jean in the waterfront mystery ''River Gang'' (1945). His dark, chorus-boy looks landed him featured roles in movies through the early 1950s. He was groomed for stardom in ''The Eddie Cantor Story'', filmed in response to the wildly successful ''The Jolson Story'' and ''Jolson Sings Again'' starring Larry Parks as Al Jolson, one of Cantor's musical-comedy contemporaries. ''The Eddie Cantor Story'' could not equal the success of the Jolson films, largely because Brasselle didn't fit the role physically. Standing almost a foot taller than the real Cantor, and unable to convey Cantor's natural warmth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Murphy
George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American dancer, actor, and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to 1946, and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1951. Murphy served from 1965 to 1971 as U.S. Senator from California, the first notable American actor to be elected to statewide office in California, predating Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who each served two terms as governor. He is the only United States Senator represented by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Early life Murphy was born in New Haven, Connecticut, of Irish Catholic extraction, the son of Michael Charles "Mike" Murphy, athletic trainer and coach, and the former Nora Long. He was educated at Trinity-Pawling School, Peddie School and Yale University in his native New Haven. He worked as a tool maker for the Ford Motor Company, as a miner, a real es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Main
Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1950s, and for her role as Ma Kettle in 10 Ma and Pa Kettle movies. Main started her career in vaudeville and theatre, and appeared in film classics, such as ''Dead End'' (1937), '' The Women'' (1939), ''Dark Command'' (1940), '' The Shepherd of the Hills'' (1941), ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944), and '' Friendly Persuasion'' (1956). Early life Mary Tomlinson was born on February 24, 1890, near Acton, in rural Marion County, Indiana. She was the second daughter of Reverend Samuel J. Tomlinson, a Disciples of Christ minister, and Jennie L. (McGaughey) Tomlinson. Mary's maternal grandfather, Doctor Samuel McGaughey, was the Acton physician who delivered her. At the age of three, Tomlinson moved with her family to Indianapolis, Indiana, wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for ''The Thin Man (film), The Thin Man'' (1934), ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936), and ''Life with Father (film), Life with Father'' (1947). Early life Born in Pittsburgh in 1892, William Powell was the only child of Nettie Manila (née Brady) and Horatio Warren Powell, who worked as an accountant."Obituaries: William Powell, star of 'Thin Man' films", ''Chicago Tribune'', March 6, 1984, p. N6. Retrieved via ProQuest Historical Newspapers through subscription access at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, January 31, 2022. In 1907, young William moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, page 95. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1931) and ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (1946), as well as the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for ''Years Ago'' (1947) and '' Long Day's Journey into Night'' (1956). March is one of only two actors, the other being Helen Hayes, to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. Early life March was born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Cora Brown Marcher (1863–1936), a schoolteacher from England, and John F. Bickel (1859–1941), a devout Presbyterian Church elder who worked in the wholesale hardware business. March attended the Winslow Elementary School (established in 1855), Racine High School, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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