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Norma Varden
Norma Varden Shackleton (20 January 1898 – 19 January 1989), known professionally as Norma Varden, was an English-American actress with a long film career. Life and career Early life Born in London, the daughter of a retired sea captain, Varden was a child prodigy. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris and performed in England before deciding to take up acting. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and made her first appearance as Mrs Darling in ''Peter Pan''. Theatre career In England, Varden was a protege of actress Kate Rorke. She acted in repertory theatre and made her West End debut in ''The Wandering Jew'' in 1920. From Shakespeare to farce, she established herself as a regular member of the Aldwych Theatre company where she appeared in plays from 1929 to 1933. She began to appear in British films, usually in haughty upper-class roles. Move to America and film career Varden's English film roles led to offers from Hollywood, and she moved ther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Minutes To Live
''Five Minutes to Live'' is a 1961 American neo-noir crime film directed by Bill Karn. It was re-titled ''Door-to-Door Maniac'' for an American International Pictures re-release in 1966. The film stars Johnny Cash, who wrote and sang the title song, and Cay Forrester, who wrote the screenplay and whose husband, Ludlow Flower, produced. ''Five Minutes to Live'' was one of only two theatrical film roles in which Cash performed on-screen in his career (while he appeared in ''The Road to Nashville'' six years later, it was as himself in a musical; ''A Gunfight'', ten years later, was the other); he would appear in several made-for-television films and do some voice-over work in film later in his career. Plot Fred sits in a dark room, detailing his most recent bank robbery. He talks about how he teamed up with hardened criminal Johnny Cabot to execute his plan. Cabot is about to take the wife of the bank's vice president hostage. He holds her until he receives a call from Fred, info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witness For The Prosecution (1957 Film)
''Witness for the Prosecution'' is a 1957 American legal mystery thriller film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. The film, which has elements of bleak black comedy and film noir, is a courtroom drama set in the Old Bailey in London and is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Agatha Christie. The first film adaptation of Christie's story, ''Witness for the Prosecution'' was adapted for the screen by Larry Marcus, Harry Kurnitz and Wilder. The film received positive reviews and six Academy Award nominations. Plot Senior barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts, who is recovering from a heart attack, agrees to defend Leonard Vole despite the objections of his private nurse Miss Plimsoll, as Sir Wilfrid's doctor has warned him against taking any criminal cases. Vole is accused of murdering Emily French, a wealthy, childless, older widow who had become enamored of him and had named him as the main beneficiary in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife. The show was popular, finishing as the second-rated show in America during its debut season, staying in the top ten for its first three seasons, and ranking in eleventh place for both seasons four and five. The show continues to be seen throughout the world in syndication and on recorded media. ''Bewitched'' was created by Sol Saks under executive producer Harry Ackerman and starred: Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens; Dick York (1964–1969) as Darrin Stephens, her husband (Dick Sargent replaced an ailing York for the final three seasons, 1969–1972); Agnes Moorehead as Endora, Samantha's mother; David White as Larry Tate, Darrin's boss; Irene Vernon (1964–1966) and later Kasey Rogers (1966–1972) as Lou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beverly Hillbillies
''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family from the hills of the Ozarks, who move to posh Beverly Hills, California, after striking oil on their land. The show was produced by Filmways and was created by Paul Henning. It was followed by two other Henning-inspired "country cousin" series on CBS: ''Petticoat Junction'' and its spin-off '' Green Acres'', which reversed the rags-to-riches, country-to-city model of ''The Beverly Hillbillies''. ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' ranked among the top 20 most-watched programs on television for eight of its nine seasons, ranking as the No. 1 series of the year during its first two seasons, with 16 episodes that still remain among the 100 most-watched television episodes in American history. It accumulated seven Emmy nominations during its run. It rema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Ball's career began in 1929 when she landed work as a model. Shortly thereafter, she began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Diane (or Dianne) Belmont. She later appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, being cast as a chorus girl or in similar roles, with lead roles in B-pictures and supporting roles in A-pictures. During this time, she met Cuban bandlea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lucy Show
''The Lucy Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962 to 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to ''I Love Lucy''. A significant change in cast and premise for the fourth season (1965–1966) divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program for its second season, remained. For the first three seasons, Vivian Vance was the co-star. The earliest scripts were titled ''The Lucille Ball Show''; but, when that title was rejected by CBS, producers thought of calling the show ''This Is Lucy'' or ''The New Adventures of Lucy'', before deciding on the title ''The Lucy Show''. Ball won consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the series' final two seasons, 1966–67 and 1967–68. Creation In 1960, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced, and the final episode of ''The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour'' aired (using the ''I Love Lucy'' format). Later that year, Ball moved to New York to try the Bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kathleen Freeman
Kathleen Freeman (February 17, 1923August 23, 2001) was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost invariably to comic effect. In film, she is perhaps best remembered for appearing in 11 Jerry Lewis comedies in the 1950s and 1960s, ''The Blues Brothers'' (1980) and its sequel, and '' Naked Gun : The Final Insult'' (1994). Early life Freeman was born on February 17, 1923, in Chicago, Illinois. She began her career as a child, dancing in her parents' vaudeville act. Freeman was a Democrat who supported Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election. Career Film Freeman made her film debut in ''Wild Harvest'' (1947). For a short time in the early 1950s, Freeman was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player, appearing mostly in small and uncredited bit parts. Her most notable early role was an uncredited part in the 1952 MGM musical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perry Mason (1957 TV Series)
''Perry Mason'' is an American legal drama series originally broadcast on CBS television from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. Many episodes are based on stories written by Gardner. ''Perry Mason'' was one of Hollywood's first weekly one-hour series filmed for television, and remains one of the longest-running and most successful legal-themed television series. During its first season, it received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Series, and it became one of the five most popular shows on television. Burr received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Barbara Hale received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Mason's confidential secretary Della Street. ''Perry Mason'' and Burr were honored as Favorite Series and F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Real McCoys
''The Real McCoys'' is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company, it was broadcast for six seasons: five by the ABC-TV network, from 1957 to 1962; and a final year, 1962–1963, by CBS. Set in California's San Fernando Valley, it was filmed at Desilu studios in Hollywood. Synopsis ''The Real McCoys'' concerns the lives of a family originally from the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, from a fictional place named Smokey Corners. They relocated to California to live and work on a farm they inherited from a relative. They consist of Grandpa Amos McCoy (Walter Brennan), his grandson Luke (Richard Crenna); Luke's new wife Kate (Kathleen Nolan); Luke's teenage sister Tallahassie "Hassie" (Lydia Reed); and his 11-year-old brother "Little Luke" (Michael Winkelman). The double-naming of the brothers is ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, California, on Riverside Drive, directly across the street from Walt Disney Studios and adjacent to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building. The network's secondary offices, and headquarters of its news division, are in New York City, at its broadcast center at 77 West 66th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Since 2007, when ABC Radio (also known as Cumulus Media Networks) was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC has reduced its broadcasting operations almost exclusively to television. It is the fifth-oldest major broadcasting network in the world and the youngest of the American Big Three television networks. The network is sometimes referred to as the Alphabet Network, as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Love Lucy
''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The series followed the life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a young, middle-class housewife living in New York City, who often concocted plans with her best friends and landlords, Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vance and Frawley), to appear alongside her bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz), in his nightclub. Lucy is depicted trying numerous schemes to mingle with and be a part of show business. After the series ended in 1957, a modified version of the show continued for three more seasons, with 13 one-hour specials, which ran from 1957 to 1960. It was first known as ''The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show,'' and later, in reruns, as ''The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour''. ''I Love Lucy'' became the most-watched show in the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Broadcasting Company
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Global. Its headquarters is at the CBS Building in New York City. It has major production facilities and operations at the CBS Broadcast Center and the headquarters of owner Paramount Global at One Astor Plaza (both also in that city) and Television City and the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles. It is also sometimes referred to as the Eye Network in reference to the company's trademark symbol which has been in use since 1951. It has also been called the Tiffany Network which alludes to the perceived high quality of its programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBS's first demonstrations of color television, which were held in the former Tiffany and Company Building in Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
