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Mommie Dearest
''Mommie Dearest'' is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Academy Award winning actress Joan Crawford. Officially released by William Morrow and Company on November 10, 1978 (though thousands of copies had already been placed in bookstores in October),"'Mommie': A Story About to Happen", by Paul Rosenfeld, ''Los Angeles Times'', October 29, 1978 "Calendar" section, page 1; the author noted that a Morrow editor said "Publication date is Nov. 10, but already there are four printings and 100,000 copies distributed." the book attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as a cruel, unbalanced, and alcoholic mother, with Crawford's other twin daughters, household staff, and family friends denouncing it as sensationalized fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same title starring Faye Dunaway. Synopsis In the book, Christina alleges that Joan Crawford placed far more importance on her cinematic career than her family l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mommie Dearest (film)
''Mommie Dearest'' is a 1981 American biographical psychological drama film directed by Frank Perry and starring Faye Dunaway, Steve Forrest, Mara Hobel, and Diana Scarwid, with supporting performances from Xander Berkeley in his feature film debut along with Rutanya Alda and Jocelyn Brando. Adapted from Christina Crawford's 1978 autobiography of the same name, the film follows her and her brother Christopher's upbringing under their adoptive mother, actress Joan Crawford, depicting her as abusive, controlling, and manipulative, prioritizing her Hollywood career over her family. The executive producers were Christina's husband, David Koontz, and Terry O'Neill, Dunaway's then-boyfriend and soon-to-be husband. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures, the only one of the Big Eight film studios for which Crawford had never appeared in a feature film. Released in September 1981, ''Mommie Dearest'' swiftly garnered a reputation among audiences for its highly-charge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford (born June 11, 1939) is an American former author and actress, best known for her 1978 memoir and exposé, '' Mommie Dearest'', which described the alleged abuse she was subjected to by her adoptive mother, film star Joan Crawford. Early life and education Born in Los Angeles on June 11, 1939, Christina was one of four children adopted by Joan Crawford. After graduating from Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, she moved from California to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Crawford dropped out of college after one semester and then moved to New York City, where she studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. After fourteen years as an actress, Crawford returned to college, graduating magna cum laude from UCLA and receiving her master's degree from the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Then she worked in corporate communications at the Los Angeles headquarters of Getty Oil Company. Career Crawford appeared in summer stock theater, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Guilaroff
Sydney Guilaroff (November 2, 1907 – May 28, 1997) was a British-American hair stylist during Hollywood's Golden Age, and the first to receive on-screen credit in films. He worked for more than 40 years at Metro Goldwyn Mayer studios, on more than 1,000 films. He was instrumental in creating many of the hairstyles that became signature looks for film stars. Early life Guilaroff was born in London, England to Eugene Abraham Guilaroff and Annie Guilaroff née Snitkin, Russian Jewish immigrants who later settled in Canada. They lived in both the cities of Winnipeg and Montreal. His sisters, Olga and Vera, became prominent in the theater. At age 14, Guilaroff left Canada for New York City and found work in the stockroom of Gimbels department store. An on-the-job accident required him to leave, and at times his financial situation forced him to sleep on benches in Central Park. His fortunes changed when he was hired as a beautician's assistant. His menial responsibilities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman (born Abraham Orovitz, July 16, 1906 – June 18, 2006) was an American director and actor who worked in Hollywood. His movies include '' Mr. Skeffington'' (1944), '' Nora Prentiss'' (1947), and '' The Young Philadelphians'' (1959). He began his career as an actor on Broadway and later in film. He directed B-movies for Warner Bros. and then moved to directing to A-pictures. He was a good friend of actor Errol Flynn, whom he directed in '' Adventures of Don Juan'' (1949). He directed three Joan Crawford movies: '' The Damned Don't Cry'' (1950), '' Harriet Craig'' (1950), and '' Goodbye, My Fancy'' (1951). Early life Sherman was born Abraham Orovitz to Jewish parents. He was born and raised in the small town of Vienna, Georgia, where his father was a dry-goods salesman. Not long after graduating from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, he became a professional actor. Career Sherman arrived in New York City to sell a play and soon became a stage director and actor. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Allyson
June Allyson (born Eleanor Geisman; October 7, 1917 – July 8, 2006) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Allyson began her career in 1937 as a dancer in short subject films and on Broadway in 1938. She signed with MGM in 1943, and rose to fame the following year in '' Two Girls and a Sailor''. Allyson's "girl next door" image was solidified during the mid-1940s when she was paired with actor Van Johnson in six films. In 1951, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in ''Too Young to Kiss''. From 1959 to 1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own anthology series, '' The DuPont Show with June Allyson'', which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1961. In the 1970s, she returned to the stage, starring in '' Forty Carats'' and '' No, No, Nanette''. In 1982, Allyson released her autobiography ''June Allyson by June Allyson'', and continued her career with guest starring roles on television and occasional film appearances. She later es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award), and the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. The annual Helen Hayes Awards, which have recognized excellence in professional theatre in greater Washington, D.C., since 1984, are her namesake. In 1955, the former Fulton Theatre on 46th Street in New York City's Theater District, Manhattan, Theatre District was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. When that venue was demolished in 1982, the nearby Hayes Theater, Little Theatre was renamed in her honor. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the greatest leading ladies of the 20th-century theatre. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People (magazine)
''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the largest audience of any American magazine, but it fell to second place in 2018 after its readership significantly declined to 35.9 million. ''People'' had $997 million in advertising revenue in 2011, the highest advertising revenue of any American magazine. In 2006, it had a circulation of 3.75 million and revenue expected to top $1.5 billion. It was named "Magazine of the Year" by '' Advertising Age'' in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation, and advertising.Martha Nelson Named Editor, The People Group , a January 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. The Sunday edition was canceled in 1999; weekend editions returned on both Saturdays and Sundays on September 4, 2004. The weekday and Saturday programs airs from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. in all time in the United States, United States timezones (live in the Eastern Time Zone and on broadcast delay elsewhere across the country). The Sunday editions are an hour long and are transmitted to ABC's stations live at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, although stations in some media markets air them at different times. Viewers in the Pacific Time Zone receive an updated feed with a specialized opening and updated live reports. A third hour of the weekday broadcast aired from 2007 to 2008, exclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publishing until May 2021, when it was acquired by Alden Global Capital, which operates its media properties through Digital First Media. David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, closed a deal to buy the paper on January 15, 2024. History 19th century ''The Sun'' was founded on May 17, 1837, by Arunah Shepherdson Abell and two associates, William Moseley Swain from Rhode Island, and Azariah H. Simmons from Philadelphia, where they had started and published the '' Public Ledger'' the year before. Abell became a journalist with the ''Providence Patriot'' and later worked with newspapers in New York City and Boston.Van Doren, Charles and Robert McKendry, ed., ''Webster's American Biographies''. (Springfield, Massa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liz Smith (journalist)
Mary Elizabeth Smith (February 2, 1923 – November 12, 2017) was an American gossip columnist. She was known as "The Grand Dame of Dish". Beginning her career in radio in the 1950s, for a time she also anonymously wrote the "Cholly Knickerbocker" gossip column for the Hearst newspapers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, she was the entertainment editor for the magazines ''Cosmopolitan'' and ''Sports Illustrated.'' Between 1976 and 2009, she wrote a self-titled gossip column for newspapers including '' New York Newsday'', the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''New York Post'' that was syndicated in 60 to 70 other newspapers. On television, she appeared on Fox, E!, and WNBC. Early life Smith was born on February 2, 1923, in Fort Worth, Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism in 1949, and she worked for ''The Daily Texan'' and '' The Texas Ranger''.Holland, Richard A. ''The Texas Book: Profiles, History, and Reminiscences of the Univ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Mother's Keeper
''My Mother's Keeper'' is a 1985 memoir by B. D. Hyman, the daughter of actress Bette Davis, in which she alleges that Davis was a bullying, alcoholic mother. Overview ''My Mother's Keeper'' is often compared to the 1978 book '' Mommie Dearest'' by Christina Crawford, the daughter of Bette's off-screen rival, Joan Crawford. Published after Crawford's book, ''My Mother's Keeper'' depicts Davis as a self-centered, emotionally manipulative alcoholic. Unlike Crawford, Hyman does not accuse her mother of any physical abuse. Indeed, she claims Davis was a battered wife and says Davis's husband, Gary Merrill, was a violent alcoholic. Unlike Crawford's book, which was published after the death of its subject, Hyman's book and a sequel titled ''Narrow Is the Way'' were published during Davis's lifetime. Reception Gary Merrill called Hyman's motivation "cruelty and greed". Davis's adopted son, Michael Merrill, severed contact with Hyman and never spoke to her again, as did Davis, who d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was known for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical film, historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue ten Academy Award nominations (and one write-in) for acting, and was the first woman to receive a AFI Life Achievement Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. In 1999, Davis was placed second on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. After appearing in Broadway theatre, Broadway plays, Davis move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
