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Ivy (1947 Film)
''Ivy'' is a 1947 American crime film noir directed by Sam Wood and written by Charles Bennett, based on the 1927 novel '' The Story of Ivy'' by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes. The drama features Joan Fontaine, Patric Knowles, Herbert Marshall and Richard Ney. The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. The song "Ivy," written to promote the film by Hoagy Carmichael but not included in the soundtrack, has become a jazz standard. The film was later adapted in 1951 for the radio version of the NBC drama anthology show ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'', with George Marshall directing in place of Wood, who had died two years after the film's completion in 1949, and Fontaine reprising the title role as Ivy Lexton. Plot In Edwardian England, Ivy Lexton (Joan Fontaine) is a woman with a taste for the finer things in life. Despairing of her husband Jervis's (Richard Ney), poor prospects, Ivy sees an opportunity in wealthy Miles Rushworth (Herbert Marshall), and is determined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Wood
Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (film), A Day at the Races'', ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939 film), Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', ''The Pride of the Yankees'', and ''For Whom the Bell Tolls (film), ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'''' and for his uncredited work directing parts of ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind''. He was also involved in a few acting and writing projects. As a youth, Wood developed an enthusiasm for physical fitness that persisted into his senior years and influenced his interest in making sports-themed films. Wood advanced from making largely competent yet routine pictures in the 1920s and 1930s to directing several highly regarded works during the 1940s at the peak of his abilities, among them ''Kings Row'' (1942) and ''Ivy (1947 film), Ivy'' (1947). Wood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screen Directors Playhouse
''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, with original directors of the films sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations and taking a brief "curtain call" with the cast and host at the end of the program. During the 1955–56 season, the series was seen on television, focusing on original teleplays and several adaptations of famous short stories (such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "Markheim"). Radio The radio version ran for 122 episodes and aired on NBC from January 9, 1949, to September 28, 1951, under several different titles: ''NBC Theater'', ''Screen Directors Guild Assignment'', ''Screen Directors Assignment'' and, as of July 1, 1949, ''Screen Directors Playhouse''. Act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Napier
Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s live-action ''Batman'' television series. Early life and career Napier was a first cousin-once removed of Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister from 1937 to 1940. He was educated at Packwood Haugh School and, after leaving Clifton College, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1925. He was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with the likes of John Gielgud and Robert Morley. As Napier recalled, his “ridiculously tall” 6′ 6″ height played a crucial part in his securing the position and also almost losing it. J. B. Fagan had dismissed Tyrone Guthrie because he was too tall for most parts. Napier was interviewed (and accept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isobel Elsom
Isobel Elsom (born Isabelle Reed; 16 March 1893 – 12 January 1981) was an English film, theatre, and television actress. She was often cast as aristocrats or upper-class women. Early years Born in Chesterton, Cambridge, Chesterton, Cambridge, Elsom attended Howard College, Bedford, England. Career She debuted on stage in London as a member of the chorus of ''The Quaker Girl'' (1911). Gilbert Miller promoted her to stardom in ''The Outsider''. Over the course of three decades, she appeared in 17 Broadway productions, beginning with ''The Ghost Train'' (1926). Her best-known stage role was the wealthy murder victim in ''Ladies in Retirement'' (1939), a role she repeated in the 1941 film version. Her other theatre credits included ''The Innocents (play), The Innocents'' and ''Romeo and Juliet''. Elsom made her first screen appearance during the silent film era (she frequently co-starred with Owen Nares) and appeared in nearly 100 films throughout her career. Elsom appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Una O'Connor (actress)
Una O'Connor (born Agnes Teresa McGlade, 23 October 1880 – 4 February 1959) was an Irish-born American actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a character actress in film and in television. She often portrayed comical wives, housekeepers and servants. In 2020, she was listed at number 19 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Life and work O'Connor was born to a Catholic nationalist family in Belfast, Ireland. Her mother died when she was two; her father was a landowner/ farmer, ensuring that the family always had income from family land."Notes on a Cockney Accent," ''New York Times'' (1 September 1940). He soon left for Australia and McGlade was brought up by an aunt, studying at St Dominic's School, Belfast, convent schools and in Paris. Thinking she would pursue teaching, she enrolled in the South Kensington School of Art. Before taking up teaching duties, she enrolled in the Abbey School of Acting (affiliated with Dublin's Abb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molly Lamont
Molly Lamont (22 May 1910 – 7 July 2001) was a South African-British film actress. Life and career Lamont was born in Boksburg, Transvaal, South Africa. After winning a beauty contest in South Africa she was offered a contract by British International Pictures. She began her career in British films in 1930 and for several years played small, often uncredited roles. Her roles began to improve by the mid-1930s, whilst resident in London, but she later moved to Hollywood where she played roles such as Cary Grant's fiancée in ''The Awful Truth'' (1937). Her other appearances include such popular films as ''The White Cliffs of Dover'' and ''Mr. Skeffington'' (both 1944). Lamont retired from acting in 1951 with more than fifty films to her credit. She married an airline pilot, Edward Bellande, on April 1, 1937. They remained married until his death in 1976. She died on 7 July 2001 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, aged 91. Filmography *'' The Black Hand Gang'' (1930) (uncredited) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lillian Fontaine
Lilian Augusta Fontaine (née Ruse, formerly de Havilland; 11 June 1886 – 20 February 1975) was an English actress and mother of Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine. Early years Fontaine was born in Reading, Berkshire. She received a scholarship from Reading College at age 13 for her musical talent and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Personal life After a stage career Fontaine married the British patent attorney Walter de Havilland (1872–1968). Her first daughter, Olivia, was born in 1916, followed by her second daughter, Joan, in 1917. Fontaine decided to end the marriage in 1919 after several years of marital strain and eventual separation; the divorce was not finalised, however, until February 1925. In 1922, the family moved to California, hoping that the climate there would improve the health of the daughters, who suffered "recurring ailments". De Havilland soon returned to Japan, while his wife and daughters stayed in Saratoga, Califo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosalind Ivan
Rosalind Ivan (27 November 1880 – 6 April 1959) was an English stage and film character actress. Ivan appeared in fourteen American films from 1944 to 1954. Rosalind Muriel Pringle was the daughter of Stamford and Annie Pringle, who married in 1876 and divorced in 1881. In 1883, her mother married Charles Johnson and her daughter took his surname. By age ten, Ivan was performing as a concert pianist in England, but financial problems with her family caused her to cease studying piano when she was sixteen. On the London stage, she had the role of "Retty" in ''Tess'' (1900). She joined Sir Henry Irving's distinguished company and in America appeared as Mme. Thalhouet in ''Madame Sans Gene'' (1902). Ivan's first Broadway appearance was in ''The Master Builder'' (1907); her last was in ''The Corn Is Green'' (1940). One of her triumphs on the stage was as the "vampire" in '' A Fool There Was'' (1913). Ivan had a memorable role as the nagging wife of a bank teller ( Edward G. R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Stephenson
Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935) and Mr. Brownlow in '' Oliver Twist'' (1948). Life and career Stephenson was born to British parents in Grenada, British West Indies and educated in England. He started acting in his twenties. He appeared on British and American stages and made his Broadway debut in 1901, playing the messenger in ''A Message from Mars'' starring Charles Hawtrey. In the following decades, he performed in more than 30 Broadway plays. Stephenson made his film debut in 1917 and appeared in a few silent films, but made his mark mostly as an elderly man in sound films. Between 1931 and 1932, he appeared in the successful Broadway play ''Cynara'' with over 200 performances. He came to Hollywood for the film version of '' Cynara'', starring Ronal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sara Allgood
Sarah Ellen Allgood (30 October 1880 – 13 September 1950), known as Sara Allgood, was an Irish-American actress. She first studied drama with the Irish nationalist Daughters of Ireland and was at the opening of the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1904, she had her first big role in ''Spreading the News'' and was a full-time actress the following year. In 1915, she toured Australia and New Zealand as the lead in ''Peg o' My Heart''. Her acting career continued in Dublin, London, and the U.S. She appeared in a number of films, most notably being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Beth Morgan in the 1941 film ''How Green Was My Valley''. She became an American citizen in 1945 and died of a heart attack in 1950. Early life Allgood was born on 30 October 1880 at 45 Middle Abbey Street in Dublin, then still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the time, a daughter of Margaret ( Harold) and compositor George Allgo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucile Watson
Lucile Watson (May 27, 1879 – June 24, 1962) was a Canadian actress, long based in the United States. She was "famous for her roles of formidable dowagers." Early years Watson was born in Quebec and raised in Ottawa, the daughter of an officer in the British Army. Despite his wishes, she traveled to New York City and enrolled in a dramatic school. Career Watson began her career on the stage debuting on Broadway in the play ''Hearts Aflame'' in 1902. Her next play was ''The Girl with Green Eyes'', the first of several Clyde Fitch stories. At the end of 1903, Watson appeared in Fitch's ''Glad of It''. This play featured several young performers, including Watson who moved to major Broadway or motion picture prominence: Robert Warwick, John Barrymore, Thomas Meighan, and Grant Mitchell. For the rest of the decade, she appeared in several more Fitch stories into the 1910s. Fitch died in 1909. Watson was primarily a stage actress, appearing in 39 Broadway plays. She starred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of Shakespeare and Shaw, and his film work included leading roles in several adapted literary classics. Early life Hardwicke was born in Lye, Worcestershire (now West Midlands) to Edwin Webster Hardwicke and his wife, Jessie (née Masterson). He attended Bridgnorth Grammar School in Shropshire. He intended to train as a doctor but failed to pass the necessary examinations."Hardwicke, Sir Cedric Webster" ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, |
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