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Patricia Laffan
Patricia Alice Laffan (19 March 1919 – 10 March 2014) was an English stage, film, television and radio actress, and also, after her retirement from acting, an international fashion impresario. She was five-feet-six-inches tall, with dark reddish-brown hair and green eyes. She is best known for her film roles as the Empress Poppaea in ''Quo Vadis'' (1951) and the alien Nyah in ''Devil Girl from Mars'' (1954). Her biography, "Devil Girl Remembered", was written by Andrew Ross in 2021 and published by Fantom Publishing. Early life Patricia Laffan was the daughter of Irish-born Arthur Charles Laffan (1870–1948) and London-born Elvira Alice Vitali (1896–1979). She described her father as 'a successful rubber planter in Malaya'. Her parents returned to the British Isles shortly before the birth of their daughter in London. On seeing the MGM film ''The Broadway Melody'' (1929) at the age of ten, Patricia decided she wanted to act. She was educated at schools in Folkestone, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quo Vadis (1951 Film)
''Quo Vadis'' (Latin for "Where are you going?") is a 1951 American epic film set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign, based on the Quo Vadis (novel), 1896 novel of the same title by Polish Nobel Laureate author Henryk Sienkiewicz. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and filmed in Technicolor, it was directed by Mervyn LeRoy from a screenplay by S. N. Behrman, Sonya Levien, and John Lee Mahin. It is the fourth screen adaptation of Sienkiewicz's novel. The film stars Robert Taylor (American actor), Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, and Peter Ustinov, and features Patricia Laffan, Finlay Currie, Abraham Sofaer, Marina Berti, Buddy Baer, and Felix Aylmer. Future Italian stars Sophia Loren and Carlo Pedersoli, Bud Spencer appeared as uncredited extras. The score is by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by Robert Surtees (cinematographer), Robert Surtees and William V. Skall. The story, set between 64–68 AD, combines both historical and fictional event ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hay Fever (play)
Robert Andrews and Helen Spencer as her children, 1925">alt=middle-aged white woman in large sun-hat, with young adult male and female kneeling to each side ''Hay Fever'' is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924. Its first production was in the West End theatre, West End in 1925 with Marie Tempest as Judith Bliss. A cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure. The play's original production opened in London in 1925 and ran for 337 performances. Coward wrote the piece with Tempest in mind for the central role of Judith. In later productions the part has been played by actresses including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Raft
George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in ''Quick Millions (1931 film), Quick Millions'' (1931) with Spencer Tracy, ''Scarface (1932 film), Scarface'' (1932) with Paul Muni, ''Each Dawn I Die'' (1939) with James Cagney, ''Invisible Stripes'' (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, Billy Wilder's comedy ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, and as a dancer in ''Bolero (1934 film), Bolero'' (1934) with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in ''They Drive by Night'' (1940) with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Bogart. Raft said he never regarded himself as an actor. "I wanted to be me," he said. Early life and career George Raft was born in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen, New York City, to a family of German descent, the son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escape Route (film)
''Escape Route'' is a 1952 British black-and-white thriller film, directed by Seymour Friedman and Peter Graham Scott, and starring George Raft, Sally Gray and Clifford Evans. The film was known in the US as ''I'll Get You'' (not to be confused with an earlier Raft film, ''I'll Get You for This''). The film is largely filmed in the streets of London. Plot An American, Steve Rossi, enters Britain by slipping past immigration at Heathrow Airport, leading to a national manhunt by the police led by Scotland Yard. Rossi heads into London where he tracks down Bailey, a barman in a cocktail bar, and asks him about Michael Grand. The barman passes him a note with an address which leads him to a woman, who says she does not know Grand. She agrees to change his US currency and buy him a coat while he waits in her flat. For money, she gives him another address: Kingston House, a swanky block of flats on Kingston Road. He takes a taxi there. Their he meets Joan Miller who says yes it i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseff Of Hollywood
300px, Joseff's earrings Joseff of Hollywood was a jewelry firm, founded by Eugene Joseff. The firm was particularly noted for creating costume jewelry for many of the biggest films and movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s, including Shirley Temple in ''The Little Princess'', Vivien Leigh in ''Gone with the Wind'', and Elizabeth Taylor in ''Cleopatra''. ''Eugene Joseff'' (September 25, 1905, Chicago - 1948) aka ''Joseff of Hollywood'' was born in the family of Austrian descent. His widow Joan Castle Joseff owned the company until her death in 2010. Today the family business focuses on precision investment casting Investment casting is an industrial process based on lost-wax casting, one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques. The term "lost-wax casting" can also refer to modern investment casting processes. Investment casting has been used in vari ... of parts for machinery and aircraft with the other company founded by Joseff - "Precision Investment Castings".{{Cite we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Guilaroff
Sydney Guilaroff (November 2, 1907 – May 28, 1997) was a 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 included sweeping t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herschel McCoy
Herschel McCoy (August 6, 1912 – February 3, 1956) was an American motion picture costume designer with credits on more than 150 feature films from 1936 to 1955. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. McCoy's early efforts were largely focused on B movies, such as several entries in the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto canons. He had just graduated to major studio productions like an uncredited assist on ''Joan of Arc'' (1948), ''Quo Vadis'' (1951), and ''Dream Wife'' (1953) when he died suddenly in 1956 at the age of 43. For the last two films, McCoy was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. McCoy's drawings for twenty-two of his designs are in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (Geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ustinov
Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. An intellectual and diplomat, he held various academic posts and served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and president of the World Federalist Movement. Ustinov was the winner of numerous awards during his life, including two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTA Awards for acting, and a Grammy Award for best recording for children, as well as the recipient of governmental honours from, amongst others, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He also displayed a unique cultural versatility which frequently earned him the accolade of a Renaissance man. Miklós Rózsa, composer of the music for ''Quo Vadis'' and of numerous concert works, dedicated his String Quartet No. 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his death in AD 68. He was adopted by the Roman emperor Claudius at the age of 13 and succeeded him on the throne. Nero was popular with the members of his Praetorian Guard and lower-class commoners in Rome and its provinces, but he was deeply resented by the Roman aristocracy. Most contemporary sources describe him as tyrannical, self-indulgent, and debauched. After being declared a public enemy by the Roman Senate, he committed suicide at age 30. Nero was born at Antium in AD 37, the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, a great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. When Nero was two years old, his father died. His mother married the emperor Claudius, who eventually adopted Nero as his heir; when Cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special camera (3-strip Technicolor or Process 4) started in the early 1930s and continued through to the mid-1950s when the 3-strip camera was replaced by a standard camera loaded with single strip 'monopack' color negative film. Technicolor Laboratories were still able to produce Technicolor prints by creating three black and white matrices from the Eastmancolor negative (Process 5). Process 4 was the second major color process, after Britain's Kinemacolor (used between 1908 and 1914), and the most widely used color process in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Technicolor's #Process 4: Development and introduction, three-color process became known and celebrated for its highly s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M-G-M
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of '' Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified into television production. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian bought 40% ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Lovell
Raymond Lovell (13 April 1900 – 1 October 1953) was a Canadian-born actor who performed in British films. He mainly played supporting roles, often somewhat pompous characters. Lovell initially trained as a physician at Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ..., but gave up medicine for the stage in the 1920s.The Criterion Collection, Criterion DVD commentary for ''49th Parallel (film), 49th Parallel'' by Bruce Eder. On stage he appeared as Henry VIII in ''The Queen Who Kept Her Head''. In 1941 he starred in Vernon Sylvaine's ''Warn That Man!'', then reprised his role for the 1943 Warn That Man, film adaptation. Lovell married Margot Ruddock, an actress, singer and poet, with whom he had a daughter, Simone Lovell. This relationship broke down when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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