|
Million Dollar Baby (1941 Film)
''Million Dollar Baby'' is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Released by Warner Bros., the film stars Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, and Ronald Reagan, with May Robson and Lee Patrick. Plot When wealthy American expatriate Cornelia Wheelwright (Robson) is informed by her longtime lawyers that her late father swindled his partner, Fortune McCallister, out of $700,000, she acts decisively. First, because James Amory is the only lawyer in the firm to be outraged by the injustice, she hires him and fires the rest of the firm. His first task is to locate all of McCallister's heirs. It turns out there is only one: granddaughter Pam McCallister (Lane). Pam works in Lacey's Department Store and lives in a boardinghouse in New York City. To find out what kind of person she is, Cornelia becomes a fellow tenant. Cornelia also meets Pam's boyfriend, composer and piano player Pete Rowan (Reagan). Cornelia then has Jim give Pam a million dollars. Pam is exc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtis Bernhardt
Curtis Bernhardt (15 April 1899 – 22 February 1981) was a Jewish film director born in Worms, Germany, under the name Kurt Bernhardt. He trained as an actor in Germany, and performed on the stage, before starting as a film director in 1924, with ''Nameless Heroes (film), Nameless Heroes''. Other films include ''A Stolen Life (1946 film), A Stolen Life'' (1946) and ''Sirocco (film), Sirocco'' (1951). Bernhardt made films in Germany from 1925 until 1933, when he was forced to flee the Third Reich — who briefly had him arrested — because he was Jews, Jewish. Bernhardt directed films in France and England before moving on to Cinema of the United States, Hollywood to work for Warner Brothers in 1940. He produced and directed his last Hollywood picture, ''Kisses for My President'' (1964), about the nation's first female Chief Executive starring Polly Bergen and Fred MacMurray. He is interred at Glendale, California, Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Forest Lawn Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Halton
Charles Halton (March 16, 1876 – April 16, 1959) was an American character actor who appeared in over 180 films. Life and career Halton trained at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in 1901, after which he appeared in about 35 productions during the next 50 years. From the 1920s, Halton's thinning hair, rimless glasses, stern-looking face and officious manner were also familiar to generations of American moviegoers. Whether playing the neighborhood busybody, a stern government bureaucrat or weaselly attorney, Halton's characters tried to drive the "immoral influences" out of the neighborhood, foreclose on the orphanage, evict the poor widow and her children from their apartment, or any other number of dastardly deeds, all justified usually by "...I'm sorry but that's my job." Among his highest-profile roles were Mr. Carter, the bank examiner in Frank Capra's ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946), the Polish theatre producer Dobosh in Ernst Lubits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Burke (actor)
James Michael Burke (September 24, 1886 – May 23, 1968) was an Irish-American film and television character actor born in New York City."New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909", FHL microfilm 1,322,214; New York Municipal Archives, Manhattan, New York, N.Y. FamilySearch. Retrieved February 20, 2019. Career Burke made his stage debut in New York around 1912 and went to Hollywood in 1933. He made over 200 film appearances during his career between 1932 and 1964, some of them uncredited. He was often cast as a police officer, usually a none-too-bright one, such as his role as Sergeant Velie in Columbia Pictures' Ellery Queen crime dramas in the early 1940s. Burke can also be seen in ''At The Circus'', '' The Maltese Falcon'', '' Lone Star'', and many other films. One of his memorable roles is his portrayal of a rowdy rancher in the 1935 comedy ''Ruggles of Red Gap''. In the early 1950s, Burke appeared on television with Tom Conway in the ABC detective drama ''Inspecto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maris Wrixon
Mary Alice "Maris" Wrixon (December 28, 1916 – October 6, 1999) was an American film and television actress. She appeared in over 50 films between 1939 and 1951. Early years Wrixon was born in Billings, Montana, and raised in Great Falls, one of three children born to Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Wrixon. Her interest in acting was sparked by a role she had in a class play when she was a student at Great Falls High School. She gained acting experience at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Career Wrixon first appeared in films in the late 1930s, making one film in 1938 and 10 in 1939. Between 1940 and 1942, she appeared in 29 films at Warner Brothers, alternating between uncredited parts (in films including '' High Sierra'' and ''Dark Victory'') and supporting roles. Wrixon worked primarily in B-movies and, in addition to her Warners films, in films produced by Poverty Row studios such as Monogram Pictures. Monogram released the film in which ''The New York Times'' says "horror fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Ridgely
John Ridgely (born John Huntington Rea, September 6, 1909 – January 18, 1968) was an American film character actor with over 175 film credits. Early years Ridgely was born in Chicago, Illinois,Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . P. 973. the son of John Ridgely Rea. Ridgely's elementary schooling was in Hinsdale, Illinois, and he attended Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. He also attended Stanford University before his debut in movies. Film He appeared in the 1946 Humphrey Bogart film ''The Big Sleep'' as blackmailing gangster Eddie Mars and had a pivotal role as a suffering heart patient in the film noir ''Nora Prentiss'' (1947). His most prominent other roles were his top-billed part as the bomber captain in Howard Hawks's ''Air Force'' and as real-life fighter pilot Tex Hill in 1945's '' God is My Co-Pilot''. The Chicago-born actor appeared in a large number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Carle
Richard Carle (born Charles Nicholas Carleton, July 7, 1871 – June 28, 1941) was an American stage and film actor as well as a playwright and stage director. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1915 and 1941. Carle was born in Somerville, Massachusetts. He was on the stage for many years, appearing in important roles in London, New York and Chicago including as J. Offenbach Gaggs in ''The Casino Girl'' (1900)'The Polite Lunatic at Close Quarters' - ''The Sketch'' 12 September 1900, pg. 327 and Algy Cuffs in ''The Belle of Bohemia'' in London in 1901 before making his screen debut. In 1941 he died in North Hollywood, California from a heart attack. Selected filmography * ''Mary's Lamb'' (1915) - Leander Lamb * '' The Mad Marriage'' (1925) * ''Zander the Great'' (1925) - Mr. Pepper * ''The Coming of Amos'' (1925) - David Fontenay * ''Eve's Leaves'' (1926) - Richard Stanley * ''The Understanding Heart'' (1927) - Sheriff Bentley * ''Soft Cushions'' (1927) - The Slave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fay Helm
Fay Helm (April 9, 1909 – September 27, 2003) was an American film actress. Born in Bakersfield, California, she appeared in about 65 films between 1936 and 1946. She is perhaps better known for films like A Child is Born (1939), Phantom Lady (1944), Lady in the Dark (1944) and Sister Kenny (1946). Early years Helm was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Helm of Bakersfield, California. Her father was "a widely known oil operator" in Bakersfield. She participated in drama as a student at the University of Oregon and acted in productions at the Portland Civic Theater. She also acted in the Bakersfield Community Theatre. Helm came to Hollywood in 1936 at the age of 22. Personal life Helm married attorney Jack Hardy February 15, 1941. Before that, she was married to assistant district attorney Norman Main. She and Main divorced in 1940. She died on September 27, 2003, and was buried October 15, 2003 in the Holy Cross Cemetery Culver City Los Angeles County, California, Sect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Catlett
Walter Leland Catlett (February 4, 1889 – November 14, 1960) was an American actor and comedian. He made a career of playing excitable, meddlesome, temperamental, and officious blowhards. Career Catlett was born on February 4, 1889, in San Francisco, California. He started out in vaudeville, teaming up with Hobart Cavanaugh at some point, with a detour for a while to opera, before breaking into acting. He debuted on stage in 1906 and made his first Broadway appearance in either ''The Prince of Pilsen'' (1910 or 1911) or ''So Long Letty'' (1916). His first film appearance was in 1912, but then he went back to the stage and did not return to films until 1929. He performed in operettas and musicals, including ''The Ziegfeld Follies of 1917'', the original production of the Jerome Kern musical ''Sally'' (1920) and the Gershwins' '' Lady, Be Good'' (1924). In the last, he introduced the song " Oh, Lady Be Good!" In 1918, he starred in, stage-managed and rewrote an Oliver Mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Qualen
John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles. Early years Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of immigrants from Norway; his father was a Lutheran minister and changed the family's original surname, "Kvalen", to "Qualen" – though some sources give Oleson, later Oleson Kvalen as Qualen's earlier surnames. His father's ministering meant many moves and John was 20 when he graduated from Elgin (Illinois) High School in 1920. For four years, Qualen attended the University of Toronto, but he left there to join a Toronto-based traveling troupe as an actor. Career In a ''Milwaukee Journal'' interview he said he needed to start working and did so with the Chautauqua Circuit. He drove stakes for the tent used for presentations until a night in Ripon, Wisconsin, when the scheduled principal lecturer did not arrive. Qualen replaced the mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nan Wynn
Nan Wynn, born Masha VatzNew York Times & Arno Press ''The New York Times biographical service, Volume 2'', p. 1013; 1971 (May 8, 1918 – March 21, 1971) was an American big-band singer, and Broadway and film actress. She sang and recorded throughout the 1930s and 1940s with the Emery Deutsch, Rudy Vallee, Eddie Duchin, Richard Himber, Hal Kemp, Hudson-DeLange, Raymond Scott, Teddy Wilson and Freddie Rich orchestras. For about nine months early in her career, she performed as Suzanne. Early years Wynn was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, where she attended high school, and sang in the school choir. Her father, Abe Vatz, owned a department store in Wheeling, and traveled often to New York. Career At the age of 16, while spending a weekend in New York City with her mother, Wynn's singing came to the attention of a retired producer who was a guest at the same place. He booked Wynn at a Peekskill vaudeville house, the owner of which eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Barbier (actor)
George W. Barbier (November 19, 1864 – July 19, 1945) was an American stage and film actor who appeared in 88 films. Early life and education Barbier was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania to study for the ministry but gave it up to go on the stage. Career Barbier began his career in light opera and spent several years in repertory and stock companies. He eventually played on Broadway, where he appeared in seven productions between 1922 and 1930, among them ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', The Front Page and ''The Man Who Came Back''. He signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1929 and later worked as a character actor for most of the major studios. His first film was ''The Big Pond'' (1930). The weighty, white-haired Barbier often played pompous, but mostly kind-hearted businessmen or patriarchs in supporting roles. George Barbier appeared in 88 films until his death in 1945. Personal life Barbier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_-_08.png "Click for more on -> John Qualen")
