Murder, My Sweet
''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The film is based on Raymond Chandler's 1940 novel ''Farewell, My Lovely''. It was the first film to feature Chandler's primary character, the hard-boiled private detective Philip Marlowe.Mller, Frank and Feaster, Felicia (ndg"Why 'Murder, My Sweet' Is Essential" (article)TCM.com ''Murder, My Sweet'' is, along with '' Double Indemnity'' (released five months prior), one of the first films noir, and a key influence in the development of the genre. Plot With his eyes bandaged, private detective Philip Marlowe is interrogated by police lieutenant Randall about two murders. Marlowe tells how he was hired by ex-con Moose Malloy to locate Malloy's former girlfriend Velma Valento. They go to Florian's, the nightclub where Velma last worked as a si ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in several classic film noirs. His acting is generally considered a forerunner of the antiheroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s. His best-known films include ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944), ''Out of the Past'' (1947), ''River of No Return'' (1954), '' The Night of the Hunter'' (1955), '' Thunder Road'' (1958), '' Cape Fear'' (1962), '' El Dorado'' (1966), ''Ryan's Daughter'' (1970) and ''The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' (1973). He is also known for his television role as U.S. Navy Captain Victor "Pug" Henry in the epic miniseries ''The Winds of War'' (1983) and sequel ''War and Remembrance'' (1988). Mitchum is rated number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Ear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Double Indemnity
''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American crime film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novel of the same title, which appeared as an eight-part serial for ''Liberty'' magazine in February 1936. The film stars Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman, Barbara Stanwyck as a provocative housewife who is accused of killing her husband, and Edward G. Robinson as a claims adjuster whose job is to find phony claims. The term " double indemnity" refers to a clause in certain life insurance policies that doubles the payout in cases when the death is accidental. Praised by many critics when first released, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, but did not win any. Widely regarded as a classic, it often is cited as having set the standard for film noir. Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the U.S. Library of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dewey Robinson
Dewey Robinson (August 17, 1898 – December 11, 1950) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 250 films made between 1931 and 1952. Career Dewey Robinson was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1898, and made his Broadway debut in 1922 in the melodrama ''The Last Warning'', which ran for seven months and 238 performances. Several years later, in 1925, he appeared in a comedy, ''Solid Ivory'', his final Broadway production. In 1931, Robinson, a big, barrel-chested man at who easily conveyed physical menace, made his first film when he played a waiter in George Cukor's ''Tarnished Lady'', starring Tallulah Bankhead. That performance did not receive screen credit, and this was often the case over Robinson's career, although he was in the billed main cast in ''Murder on the Campus'' (1934), ''Navy Secrets'' (1939) and ''There Goes Kelly'' (1945). Because of his size and physical presence, Robinson worked often during periods when gangster movies were ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
John Indrisano
Johnny Indrisano (November 1, 1905 — July 6, 1968) was an American welterweight boxer whose career spanned the period from 1923 to 1934. He later became a film stunt performer and bit-part film and TV actor. Career Indrisano was born in Boston. He defeated two world welterweight champions; Lou Brouillard (in two out of three bouts) and Jackie Fields. However, Indrisano never received a match for the world welterweight title. Indrisano retired with a record of thirty seven wins (two wins by knockout) and nine defeats. After his retirement from boxing, Indrisano had a career as a referee, stunt man, and bit-part actor in films such as ''Some Like It Hot'' and ''Guys and Dolls''. He appeared in The Bowery Boys films ('' Live Wires'', ''Mr. Hex'', and '' Trouble Makers''), a number of Joe Palooka movies, and three Elvis Presley films ('' Jailhouse Rock'', ''King Creole'', and ''It Happened at the World's Fair''). He also worked from as early as 1937 through 1942 as a bodygu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Esther Howard
Esther Howard (April 4, 1892 – March 8, 1965) was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career. Early life Howard was born in Butte, Montana on April 4, 1892 to Martha Esther Howard (''née'' Boggs) and James Howard Jr., a music teacher who was employed as the conductor of the Butte Opera House. Her paternal grandfather, James Howard Sr., was a prominent physician from California who had established a medical practice in Butte and Dillon, Montana, and at one time served as the coroner of Silver Bow County. When Howard was five years old, her family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, where her father had lived prior to relocating to Montana. In Boston, Howard attended the Girls' Latin School. Career Howard began her stage career performing in stock theater in Lynn, Massachusetts, before making her Broadway debut in 1917 in a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Ralf Harolde
Ralf Harolde (born Ralph Harold Wigger, May 17, 1899 – November 11, 1974) was an American character actor who often played gangsters. Between 1920 and 1963, he appeared in 99 films, including '' Smart Money'' with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, '' Jimmy the Gent'' with James Cagney and Bette Davis, '' Night Nurse'' with Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable, ''I'm No Angel'' with Mae West, ''Baby Take a Bow'' with Shirley Temple, ''A Tale of Two Cities'' with Ronald Colman, ''Our Relations'' with Laurel and Hardy, and ''Murder, My Sweet'' with Dick Powell. Harolde was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and died in Santa Monica, California at age 75. Selected filmography * ''Headin' Home'' (1920) - John Tobin * '' Sunshine Harbor'' (1922) - Billy Saunders * '' Babe Comes Home'' (1927) - Baseball Fan (uncredited) * ''Officer O'Brien'' (1930) - Mike Patello * '' Framed'' (1930) - Chuck Gaines * '' Young Desire'' (1930) - Blackie * '' Dixiana'' (1930) - Royal Montague * ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Don Douglas
Donald Douglas (born Douglas William Kinleyside, 24 August 1905 – 31 December 1945) was a Scottish actor in the United States who performed in films, on the stage and in radio. Background He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 24 August 1905, and was christened at a church in Twickenham, England. Young Douglas was the son of William Young Kinleyside, a businessman and lawyer. Business brought his father to New York on several occasions, and eventually, five-year old Douglas, with his sister Hazel, were brought to America as second cabin class passengers, on board the British steamer ''Mauritania'', which sailed from the Port of Liverpool on 29 October 1910, and arrived at the Port of New York, 4 November. He became an American citizen in 1939. Adopting the stage name "Don Douglas", he became a singer and actor in musical shows such as ''Footlites''. In 1928, his big break came when he won glowing revues for his performance in ''The Desert Song'' in the Orpheum Theatre in Ch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Douglas Walton (actor)
Douglas Walton (born John Douglas Duder; October 17, 1909 – November 15, 1961) was a Canadian-born American actor who worked in American films during the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in 60 films between 1931 and 1950. Life and career Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Walton began his acting career in the theatres of Chicago and New York City. Tall, blond and elegant, Walton played many aristocratic, intellectual or sophisticated English or European men in films such as ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' in 1934; ''The Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935), in which Walton memorably played the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in the film's prologue; the Clark Gable version of ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935); and director John Ford's '' Mary of Scotland'' (1936) starring Katharine Hepburn, in which Walton gave his perhaps best performance as the effeminate and cowardly "Lord Darnley".McPeak, William"Mini-Biography"/ref>Erickson, Hal"Douglas Walton: Biography"on AllMovies.com Walton was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Miles Mander
Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Miles. Early life Miles Mander was the second son of Theodore Mander, builder of Wightwick Manor, of the prominent Mander family, industrialists and public servants of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. He was the younger brother of Geoffrey Mander, the Liberal Member of Parliament. He was educated at Harrow School, Middlesex (The Grove House 1901- Easter 1903), Loretto School (in Canada) and McGill University in Montreal. He soon broke away from the predictable mould of business and philanthropy. He was an early aviator, a pioneer pilot, flying his Louis Blériot at Pau in 1909 and at the first all-British aviation meeting in July 1910. He won the cup for the first official flight at Brooklands in 1910, and acquired and built Hendon Ae ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mike Mazurki
Mike Mazurki (December 25, 1907 – December 9, 1990) was a Ukrainian-American actor and professional wrestler who appeared in more than 142 films. His 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) presence and face had him typecast as often brainless athletes, tough guys, thugs, and gangsters. His roles included Splitface in ''Dick Tracy'' (1945), Yusuf in ''Sinbad the Sailor'' (1947), and Clon in '' It's About Time'' (1966–1967). Early years Mazurki was born Markiyan Yulianovich Mazurkevich ( uk, Маркіян (Михайло) Мазуркевич) ( pl, Markijan (Mychajlo) Mazurkiewicz) in the village of Kupchyntsi (in present-day Ternopil Raion), near what was then Tarnopol, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ternopil, Ukraine). Mazurki attended LaSalle Institute in Troy, for high school. Upon finishing school, he changed his name to "Mike". He played football and basketball at Manhattan College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1930. After earning his bachelor's deg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Otto Kruger
Otto Kruger (September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974) was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's ''Saboteur''. He also appeared in CBS's ''Perry Mason'' and other TV series. He was the grandnephew of South African president Paul Kruger. Early life and education Born in Toledo, Ohio, Kruger was of German descent. He was the son of Bernard Alben Kruger and Elizabeth Winers Kruger and the grandnephew of South African pioneer and president Paul Kruger. Otto was musically trained, but switched careers and became an actor after studying engineering at the University of Michigan. Career Making his Broadway debut in 1915, Kruger quickly became a matinee idol. Though he started to get noticed in the early 1920s, it was the 1930s when his career was at its height. His sound film debut came in '' Turn Back the Clock'' (1933) and he made an appearance in the film '' Chained'' (1934). Though he pla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |