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Monsieur Verdoux
''Monsieur Verdoux'' is a 1947 American black comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, who plays a bigamist wife killer inspired by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, and Marilyn Nash. Plot Henri Verdoux had been a bank teller for thirty years before being laid off. To support his wheelchair-using wife and child, he turns to the business of marrying and murdering wealthy widows. The Couvais family becomes suspicious when Thelma Couvais withdraws all her money and disappears two weeks after marrying a man named "Varnay", whom they only know through a photograph. As Verdoux (Chaplin) prepares to sell Thelma Couvais's home, the widowed Marie Grosnay (Isobel Elsom) visits. Verdoux sees her as another "business" opportunity and attempts to charm her, but she refuses. Over the following weeks, Verdoux has a flower girl ( Barbara Slater) repeatedly send Grosnay flowers. In need of money to invest, Verdoux, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. His father was absent and his mother struggled financially — he was sent to a workhouse twice before age nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the Fred Karno company, which took him to the United States. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Crehan
Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Pacific'' and ''They Died with Their Boots On''. Early life Born in Baltimore, Maryland. he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Mathew Crehan. He attended Calvert Hall College and Kent College of Law but left the latter because of his stronger interest in drama. Early in his career, Crehan worked in light comedy. He was in his late 30s when he began doing character roles. Career Crehan's Broadway credits include ''Twentieth Century'' (1932), ''Lilly Turner'' (1932), ''Angels Don't Kiss'' (1932), ''Those We Love'' (1930), ''Sweet Land of Liberty'' (1929), ''Merry Andrew'' (1929), ''Ringside'' (1928), and ''Yosemite'' (1914). Crehan often played alongside Charles C. Wilson with whom he is sometimes confused. In 1961, credited as "Joe Crehan", he a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Marshe
Vera Marshe (July 15, 1905 – March 25, 1984) was an American film and television character actress. Biography Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 15, 1905. She began her career by appearing in a number of short films during the 30s. Her first starring role was in ''Nearly Naked'' (1933). She later focused on television during the 50s and 60s. Her final appearance was in the TV series ''Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...'' (1959-1966). She's known for '' Way Out West'' (1930), '' Those Endearing Young Charms'' (1945), '' The Crimson Key'' (1947) and '' Tormented'' (1960). Vera died on March 25, 1984, at age 78. Filmography References External links * 1905 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American actresses American film actre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Hohl
Arthur Hohl (May 21, 1889 – March 10, 1964) was an American stage and motion-picture character actor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began appearing in films in the early 1920s. He played a great number of villainous or mildly larcenous roles, although his screen roles usually were small, but he also played a few sympathetic characters. Hohl's two performances seen most often today are as Pete, the nasty boat engineer who tells the local sheriff about Julie (Helen Morgan) and her husband ( Donald Cook)'s secret interracial marriage in ''Show Boat'' (1936), and as Mr. Montgomery, the man who helps Richard Arlen and Leila Hyams to make their final escape in '' Island of Lost Souls'' (1932). He also played Brutus opposite Warren William's Julius Caesar in Cecil B. DeMille's version of '' Cleopatra'' (1934), starring Claudette Colbert. Among his other notable roles were as Olivier, King Louis XI's right-hand man, in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1939), as the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Harmon (actor)
John Harmon (June 30, 1905 – August 6, 1985) was an American character actor. Harmon was a very prolific bit actor. His career spanned over six decades and almost 300 movie and television roles in a wide variety of genres. Many of his earlier appearances are uncredited. His first major screen credit was in ''I Was Framed'' (1942). His movie career highlights were roles in '' Gallant Bess'', ''The Monster of Piedras Blancas'', '' Live Fast, Die Young'' and ''The Street is my Beat''. The movie in which he made his last screen appearance, ''The Naked Monster'', was released in 2005, twenty years after his death. Harmon's most notable TV roles were in ''Bonanza'', ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Perry Mason'' (as a police fingerprint/ballistics expert), ''Star Trek'' (in the episodes "The City on the Edge of Forever" and " A Piece of The Action"), ''The Rifleman'' (as the hotel clerk Eddie Halstead) and again as a hotel clerk in ''Gunsmoke'' (in S1E15’s “Gold Mine”). He also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Nedell
Bernard Jay Nedell (October 14, 1898 – November 23, 1972) was an American film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1916 and 1972. He was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California. He was married to actress Olive Blakeney. In the early 1920s, Nedell acted with the T. Daniel Frawley Company. Selected filmography * ''Bachelor Apartments'' (1921) - Janitor * ''A Knight in London'' (1928) - Prince Zalnoff * '' The Silver King'' (1929) - Capt. 'Spider' Skinner * ''The Return of the Rat'' (1929) - Henri de Verrat * ''The Man from Chicago'' (1930) - Nick Dugan * ''Call of the Sea'' (1930) - Ramon Tares * ''Shadows'' (1931) - Press Rawlinson * ''The Innocents of Chicago'' (1932) - Tony Costello * '' Her Imaginary Lover'' (1933) - Davidson * ''The Girl in Possession'' (1934) - De Courville * '' Lazybones'' (1935) - Michael McCarthy * ''Heat Wave'' (1935) - Gen. Da Costa * '' The First Offence'' (1936) - The Boss * '' The Live Wire'' (1937) - James Cody * '' O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Almira Sessions
Almira Sessions (September 16, 1888 – August 3, 1974) was an American character actress of stage, screen and television. Born in Washington, D.C., her career took her through all the acting mediums of the 20th century. She appeared in over 500 films and television shows. She worked into her 80s, finally retiring shortly before her death in 1974 in Los Angeles. Early life and career Sessions was born into a very well-known family in Washington D.C. on September 16, 1888. A debutante, she followed her coming out party with her introduction into the acting profession, appearing in a 1909 performance of the comic operetta ''The Sultan of Sulu'' by George Ade and Nathaniel D. Mann. Her early career was spent performing in cabarets before she moved to New York City, where she began performing on the stage and on Bob Hope's radio show. During the 1930s she appeared in many stage productions, including several Broadway productions. Film and television While appearing on the stage i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia Brissac
Virginia Brissac (June 11, 1883 – July 26, 1979) was a popular American stage actress who headlined theatre companies from Vancouver to San Diego during the heyday of West Coast Stock in the early 1900s. An ingénue and leading lady known for her natural style and charm on stage, Brissac played with equal success in both comedies and dramas and went on to have a long second career as a character actress in film and television. In addition to playing mothers, grandmothers, and confidants to film stars such as Bette Davis (in ''The Little Foxes'' and ''Dark Victory''), Tyrone Power (in ''Captain from Castile''), and John Wayne (in ''Operation Pacific''), Brissac was cast as farm women and rancher's wives ('' Jesse James'', '' The Daltons Ride Again'', ''State Fair''), aristocrats and society women (''The Phantom of the Rue Morgue'', ''Old Los Angeles'', ''Executive Suite''), and various nurses, seamstresses, and landladies. She is probably best remembered for her role as the gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon (born Irving Von Peters; September 6, 1893 – February 5, 1965) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 500 films. Early years Bacon was the son of entertainers Millar Bacon and Myrtle Vane. He was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and grew up in San Diego, California. Career Bacon played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1912 in Mack Sennett productions. The actor returned to the Sennett studio in 1924, and appeared frequently in Sennett's silent and sound comedies as a supporting actor. By 1933 Bacon was so well established as a utility player that he was pressed into service to replace Andy Clyde -- wearing Clyde's "old man" costume and makeup -- in a Sennett comedy. Irving Bacon was sometimes cast in films directed by Lloyd Bacon (incorrectly named as his brother in several sources) such as ''The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse'' (1938). He often played comical "average guys" in scores of feature films; in 1939 alone he app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Bennett
Marjorie Bennett (15 January 1896 – 14 June 1982) was an Australian actress who worked mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States. She began her acting career during the silent film era. Career Bennett was born in York in Western Australia. Her sisters Enid (1893–1969) and Catherine (1901–1978) were also Hollywood film actresses. Bennett began acting in films in 1917 and later made the transition to talking pictures with bit roles in ''Monsieur Verdoux'' (1947), ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff'' (1949), and ''Washington Story'' (1952). In 1952, she appeared as Charlie Chaplin's landlady in the film '' Limelight'' and later had guest roles on ''The Great Gildersleeve'', ''Four Star Playhouse'', ''Sergeant Preston of the Yukon'', ''I Love Lucy'', ''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'', and ''December Bride''. Between 1958 and 1961, she appeared as Amanda Comstock in three episodes of ABC's ''The Real McCoys'', starring Walter Brennan. From 1959 to 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ada May Weeks
Ada May Weeks Potter Castegnaro (March 8, 1896 – April 25, 1978), sometimes billed as Ada May or Ada Mae Weeks, or referred to as the Countess Castegnaro, was an American actress and dancer, on stage, film, and radio. Early life Weeks was born in Oyster Bay, New York, the daughter of Charles Meeks and Ada M. Thomson Weeks. She started dancing as a very young child. Her sisters Marion, Grace, and Ruth also became actresses. Career Weeks was a dancer, actress, and musical comedy performer. She used the name "Ada May" on advice from Zelda Sears. Her stage credits included roles in ''Around the Map'' (1915 –1916, as understudy for Marilyn Miller), ''Come to Bohemia'' (1916), ''Miss Springtime'' (1916 –1917), ''Miss 1917'' (1917), ''Listen, Lester'' (1918–1919, dancing with Clifton Webb), ''Jim Jam Jems'' (1920–1921), ''The O'Brien Girl'' (1921 –1922), ''Lollipop'' (1924), '' Rio Rita'' (1927–1928), and '' The Good Fairy'' (1932–1933). She appeared in the films ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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