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Rancho Notorious
''Rancho Notorious'' is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Marlene Dietrich as the matron of a criminal hideout called ''Chuck-a-Luck''. Arthur Kennedy and Mel Ferrer play rivals for her attention in this tale of frontier revenge. The film was originally titled ''Chuck-a-Luck'', with “The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck” as the title song, but the name was changed at the insistence of Howard Hughes, then head of RKO Pictures. Plot Wyoming ranch hand Vern Haskell is enraged when his fiancee Beth Forbes is abused and murdered during a store robbery. He sets out after the two thieves, first with a posse, then by himself. He finds one of them, Whitey, shot in the back by his partner after a quarrel. Whitey's dying words, " Chuck-a-luck", are the only clue to the second man's identity. After questioning everyone he meets, Vern finally finds someone who lets slip that a woman named Altar Keane is connected with Chuck-a-luck. When the man realizes that Vern i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 63. One of the best-known ''émigrés'' from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Lang's most celebrated films include the groundbreaking futuristic ''Metropolis'' (1927) and the influential '' M'' (1931), a film noir precursor. His 1929 film ''Woman in the Moon'' showcased the use of a multi-stage rocket, and also pioneered the concept of a rocket launch pad (a rocket standing upright against a tall building before launch having been slowly rolled into place) and the rocket-launch countdown clock. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck-a-luck
Chuck-a-luck, also known as birdcage, is a game of chance played with three dice. It is derived from grand hazard and both can be considered a variant of sic bo, which is a popular casino game, although chuck-a-luck is more of a carnival game than a true casino game. The game is sometimes used as a fundraiser for charity. Rules Chuck-a-luck is played with three standard dice that are kept in a device shaped somewhat like an hourglass which resembles a wire-frame bird cage and pivots about its centre. The dealer rotates the cage end over end, with the dice landing on the bottom. Wagers are placed based on possible combinations that can appear on the three dice. The possible wagers are usually fewer than the wagers that are possible in sic bo and, in that sense, chuck-a-luck can be considered to be a simpler game. In the simplest variant, betters place stakes on a board labelled 1–6. They receive a 1:1 payout if the number bet on appears once, a 2:1 payout if the number appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were perceived as unnecessarily mean. Crowther was an advocate of foreign-language films in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. Life and career Crowther was born Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. in Lutherville, Maryland, the son of Eliza Hay (née Leisenring, 1877–1960) and Francis Bosley Crowther (1874–1950). As a child, Crowther moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he published a neighborhood newspaper, ''The Evening Star''. His family moved to Washington, D.C., and Crowther graduated from Western High School in 1922. After two years of prep school at Woodberry Forest School, he entered Princeton University, where he majored in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emory Parnell
Emory Parnell (December 29, 1892 – June 22, 1979) was an American vaudeville performer and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36-year career. Early years Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Parnell trained as a musician at Morningside College, a Methodist institution in Sioux City, Iowa. He spent eight months in the Arctic in 1929, looking for gold in that area's wastelands. He also worked as a telegrapher. Music Parnell spent his early years as a concert violinist. He performed on the Chautauqua and Lyceum circuits until 1930, when he relocated to Detroit, Michigan, to narrate and act in commercial and industrial films. A 1923 newspaper article described an upcoming Lyceum performance of "Emory Parnell, the one man band," saying that Parnell "plays an accordion, the snare drum and base icdrum, all at the same time." During part of the Chautauqua years, Parnell had a family act that included his wife. In 1970, she recalled, " covered every state as well as Canada, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Johnson
Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924 – January 16, 2014) was an American actor. He played Professor Roy Hinkley in ''Gilligan's Island'' and Marshal Gib Scott in ''Black Saddle''. Early life Johnson was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, on November 10, 1924, to Russell Kennedy Johnson (1901–1932) and Marion Wenonah Smink Johnson (1902–1976). Johnson was the eldest of seven siblings: Kenneth W. Johnson (1925–2012), David Reed Johnson (1926–1976), Lois Marion Johnson (1927–1928), Lorraine Johnson Crosby (1928-2015), Marion Joan Johnson Reeves (1930–2010), and Paul Wesley Johnson (1932–1933). Their father died of pneumonia in December 1932, and Paul Wesley died not long after. Minnie Johnson later remarried, to Thomas S. Lewis. As a teenager, Johnson attended Girard College, a private boarding school for fatherless boys, located in Philadelphia. Military career After graduating from high school, Johnson enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces as an aviati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lloyd Gough
Lloyd Gough (born Michael Gough; September 21, 1907 – July 23, 1984) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Life and career Born Michael Gough in New York City, he was a noted character actor. Married to actress-turned-activist Karen Morley, both were brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee and when they invoked the Fifth Amendment they were blacklisted, effectively terminating their careers in Hollywood until the late 1960s. In 1952, he appeared as the main villain in '' Rancho Notorious'', but his name was removed from the credits due to the blacklist. In 1966, he played Richard Bayler in the ''Perry Mason'' episode, "The Case of the Scarlet Scandal". Also in 1966, he played open minded fur hunter “Jacob Beamus” in S11E29's “The Treasure of John Walking Fox” on ''Gunsmoke''. Gough played ''Daily Sentinel'' crime reporter Mike Axford in the TV series ''The Green Hornet'' in 1966–67. He would later appear in a film about the Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis McDonald
Francis McDonald (August 22, 1891 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor whose career spanned 52 years. Early years Born on August 22, 1891, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, McDonald was the son of John Francis McDonald and Catherine Ashlue McDonald. He was educated at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Stage and film McDonald's started acting professionally in stock theater with the Forepaugh Stock Company in Cincinnati. Following eight months with it, he worked one season with a stock company in Seattle, after which he performed for three seasons with a troupe in San Diego and Honolulu. He concluded his tenure in stock theater as juvenile leading man with the American Stock Company in Spokane, Washington. By 1913 McDonald began to perform in the rapidly expanding film industry, initially working for Marion Leonard's Monopole Company in Hollywood. He was cast in over 280 films between 1913 and 1965, including ''The Temptress'' in 1926 with Greta Garbo. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Ferguson
Frank S. Ferguson (December 25, 1906 – September 12, 1978) was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Background Ferguson was the younger of two children of W. Thomas Ferguson, a native Scottish merchant, and his American wife Annie Boynton. He grew up in his native Ferndale. He graduated from Ferndale Union High School in 1927. He earned a bachelor's degree in speech and drama at the University of California and a master's degree from Cornell University. He also taught at UCLA and Cornell. As a young man, he became connected with Gilmor Brown, the founder and director of the Pasadena Community Playhouse, and became one of its first directors. He directed as well as acted in many plays there. He also taught at the Playhouse. He made his film debut in 1939 in ''Gambling on the High Seas'' (released in 1940), and appeared in nearly 200 feature films and hundreds of TV episodes subsequently. Career Ferguson's best known role was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Reeves
George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer; January 5, 1914 – June 16, 1959) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series '' Adventures of Superman'' (1952–1958). His death at age 45 from a gunshot remains controversial. The official finding was suicide, but some believe that he was murdered or the victim of an accidental shooting. Early life Reeves was born January 5, 1914, as George Keefer Brewer in Woolstock, Iowa, the son of Donald Carl Brewer and Helen Lescher. Reeves was born five months into their marriage and the couple separated soon after Reeves's birth. At this time, Reeves and his mother moved from Iowa to Ashland, Kentucky, to stay with relatives for a time and then to her home of Galesburg, Illinois. Later, Reeves's mother, who was of German descent, moved to California to stay with her sister. There she had met and married Frank Joseph Bessolo by 1927, according to that year's federal census. Reeves's father m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Elam
William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainous image). His most distinguishing physical quality was his misaligned eye. Before his career in acting, he took several jobs in finance and served two years in the United States Navy during World War II. Elam performed in 73 movies and in at least 41 television series. Early life Born in 1920 in Miami, Arizonaa small mining town located 85 miles east of PhoenixJack was one of two children of Alice Amelia ( née Kerby) and Millard Elam."Arizona, Birth Certificates and Indexes, 1855-1930", William Scott Elam, Miami, Gilda County, Arizona, November 13, 1920, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Arizona State Board of Health, Phoenix. Microfilm image of original birth certificate signed by attending physician Cyril M. Crow, M.D.; retrieved via onlin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lisa Ferraday
Lisa Ferraday (born Lisa Demezey; March 10, 1921 – March 22, 2004) was a Romanian-American model and actress. As an actress she appeared in theatre, radio and television but is best known for her appearances as a leading lady in several Columbia Pictures films during the 1950s such as ''China Corsair ''China Corsair'' is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Ray Nazarro, starring Jon Hall and Lisa Ferraday and released by Columbia Pictures. It was the film debut of Ernest Borgnine. Filming took place in February 1951. Ron Randell was u ...''. Early years An only child, Ferraday was born Lisa Demezey, daughter of Transylvanian diplomat Baron Demezey. In her childhood, she leaned to milk cows, care for chickens, and handle other responsibilities that were expected on the family's 7000-acre produce farm. She and her mother moved to Paris after her father died, and Ferraday began studying acting despite objections from her family. During World War II, she stopped actin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Frawley
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy series ''My Three Sons'', and the political advisor to the judge character in the film ''Miracle on 34th Street''. Frawley began his career in vaudeville in 1914 with his wife, Edna Louise Broedt. Their comedy act, "Frawley and Louise", continued until their divorce in 1927. He performed on Broadway multiple times. In 1916, he signed with Paramount Studios and appeared in more than 100 films over the next 35 years.Deezen, Eddie. Early life Frawley was born in Burlington, Iowa, the second son of four children of Michael A. Frawley (1857–1907) and Mary E. (Brady) Frawley (1859–1921). He attended Catholic schools and sang in the choir at St. Paul's Catholic Church. As he got older, he played small roles in local theater productions at the Bur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
