|
Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Kranze or Jacob Krantz; September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career. Early years Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob Krantz in New York City to Morris and Sarah (Lefkovitz) Krantz. Along with his brother Stanley Cortez (born Stanislaus Krantz), he was raised in a Jewish family in New York City.Letter of the Department of Health, City of New York, 8 October 2000. mentioned in: Rudolf Ulrich (Hrsg.): ''Österreicher in Hollywood.'' Neuauflage, Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Wien 2004, , p. 597 (Vienna has been incorrectly cited as his birthplace.)Cortez' obituary in ''The New York Times'' cites Vienna as his birthplace, and the book ''A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940'' describes him as "Jacob Kranze, Viennese émigré". He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City. Prior to entering the film business, he was an amateur boxer and wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin Lover (stereotype)
Latin lover is a stereotypical stock character, part of the Hollywood star system. It appeared for the first time in Hollywood in the 1920s and, for the most part, lost popularity during World War II. In time, the type evolved, developing various local variants and gradually incorporating attributes other than the originally defining physical characteristics. Characteristics The Latin lover was the first male acting type in the history of filmmaking whose behavior and destiny are set through his love relations with a woman, hence 'lover' though, as the type was depicted in the beginning, the term 'seducer' would be more suitable. Major characteristics describing the type include: * appearance; he is always handsome or, for the reigning standard of the period, different or atypically looking. * behavior; the way he conquers women, using focused, sharp glare, and certain mannerism characterized by outbursts of passion, dancing, etc. * type of roles; he is usually a romantic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and a designated National Historic Landmark. Located south of Woodlawn Heights, Bronx, New York City, it has the character of a rural cemetery. Woodlawn Cemetery opened during the Civil War in 1863, in what was then southern Westchester County, in an area that was annexed to New York City in 1874. It is notable in part as the final resting place of some well known figures. Locale and grounds The Cemetery covers more than and is the resting place for more than 300,000 people. Built on rolling hills, its tree-lined roads lead to some unique memorials, some designed by famous American architects: McKim, Mead & White, John Russell Pope, James Gamble Rogers, Cass Gilbert, Carrère and Hastings, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Beatrix Jones Farrand, and John La Farge. The cemetery contains seven Commonwealth war graves – six British and Canadian servicemen of World War I and an airman of the Royal Canadian Air Force of Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montana Moon
''Montana Moon'' is a 1930 Pre-Code Western musical film which introduced the concept of the singing cowboy to the screen. Starring Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, and Ricardo Cortez, the film focuses on the budding relationship between a city girl and a rural cowboy. Plot Joan Prescott (Joan Crawford) is a vacuous and flirtatious daughter of the wealthy Montana rancher, John Prescott (Lloyd Ingraham). On the train, Joan's sister, Elizabeth (Dorothy Sebastian) tells her she's in love with Jeff ( Ricardo Cortez). Jeff is more smitten with Joan, and kisses her. Joan then impulsively gets off at the next whistle stop, where she meets Larry (Johnny Mack Brown), a Texas cowboy. He is a rancher on John Prescott's land, and does not know who Joan is. He expresses dismay at how spoiled Prescott's daughters are. Joan conceals her identity, refusing to say her name. She tells him to think of something he loves and call her that, and he chooses "Montana". Joan and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 client being charged with murder, usually involving a preliminary hearing or jury trial. Typically, Mason establishes his client's innocence by finding the real murderer. The character was inspired by famed Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Earl Rogers. The character of Perry Mason was adapted for motion pictures and a long-running radio series. These were followed by the best known adaptation, the CBS television series '' Perry Mason'' (1957–1966) starring Raymond Burr. A second television series, '' The New Perry Mason'' starring Monte Markham, ran from 1973 to 1974; and 30 Perry Mason television films ran from 1985 to 1995, with Burr reprising the role of Mason in 26 of them prior to his death in 1993. A third television serie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warren William
Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Perry Mason. Early life Warren William Krech's family originated in Bad Tennstedt, Thuringia, Germany. His grandfather, Ernst Wilhelm Krech (born 1819), fled Germany in 1848 during the Revolution, going first to France and later emigrating to the United States. He wed Mathilde Grow in 1851, and had six children. Freeman E. Krech, Warren's father, was born in 1856. Around the age of 25, Freeman moved to Aitkin, a small town in Minnesota, where he bought a newspaper, ''The Aitkin Age'', in 1885. He married Frances Potter, daughter of a merchant, September 18, 1890. Their son Warren was born December 2, 1894. Warren William's interest in acting began in 1903, when an opera house was built in Aitkin. He was an avid and lifelong amateur invent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonder Bar
''Wonder Bar'' is a 1934 American pre-Code film adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley. It stars Al Jolson, Kay Francis, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert, Louise Fazenda, Fifi D'Orsay, Merna Kennedy, Henry O'Neill, Robert Barrat, Henry Kolker, and Spencer Charters in the main roles. For its time, ''Wonder Bar'' was considered risqué, barely passing the censors at the Hays Office. The title is a pun on "wunderbar," which is German for "wonderful." Plot ''Wonder Bar'' is set in a Parisian nightclub, with the stars playing the 'regulars' at the club. The movie revolves around two main story points, a romance and a more serious conflict with death, and several minor plots. All of the stories are enlivened from time to time by extravagant musical numbers. The more serious story revolves around Captain Von Ferring (Robert Barrat), a German mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolores Del Río
María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin American crossover star in Hollywood. Along with a notable career in American cinema during the 1920s and 1930s, she was also considered one of the most important female figures in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and one of the most beautiful actresses of her era. After being discovered in Mexico, she began her film career in Hollywood in 1925. She had roles on a string of successful films, including ''Resurrection'' (1927), '' Ramona'' (1928) and '' Evangeline'' (1929). Del Río came to be considered a sort of feminine version of Rudolph Valentino, a "female Latin Lover", in her years during the American " silent" era. With the advent of sound, she acted in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to musical comed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Jolson was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" towards performing, as well as for popularizing many of the songs he sang. Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers." Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, '' The Jazz Singer'' (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with '' The Jolson Story'' (1946), in which Larry Parks played Jolson, with the singer dubbing for Parks. The formula was repeate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Shakedown
''The Big Shakedown'' is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film starring Charles Farrell and Bette Davis, and directed by John Francis Dillon. The screenplay is based on the story "Cut Rate" by Niven Busch and Samuel G. Engel. The film also stars Ricardo Cortez and Glenda Farrell and was director John Francis Dillon's final film. Plot Jimmy Morrell (Charles Farrell) and Norma Nelson (Bette Davis) who plan to wed as soon as their neighborhood pharmacy begins to show a profit. The opportunity arises when former bootlegger Dutch Barnes (Ricardo Cortez) offers Jimmy a job duplicating name brand toothpaste and cosmetics that can be made cheaply and then sold in the bottles and jars of reputable pharmaceutical companies at regular prices. When Dutch asks him to copy the formula for a popular brand of antiseptic, Jimmy refuses, claiming he's unable to get a key ingredient, but when Dutch offers him a bonus hefty enough to allow Jimmy to marry Norma, he agrees. Dutch's ex-girlfriend Lily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations. Bette Davis appeared on Broadway in New York, then the 22-year-old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in ''Of Human Bondage'' (1934) although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her performance as a down-and-out actress in '' Dangerous'' (1935) did land Davis her first Best Actress nomination, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Farrell
Charles David Farrell (August 9, 1900 – May 6, 1990) was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor. Farrell is probably best recalled for his onscreen romances with actress Janet Gaynor in more than a dozen films, including '' 7th Heaven'', '' Street Angel'', and '' Lucky Star.'' Later in life, he starred on TV in the 1950s sitcoms '' My Little Margie'' and played himself in ''The Charles Farrell Show''. He was active in business and civic affairs in Palm Springs, California, serving for a time as mayor. Biography Career Born in Walpole, Massachusetts, he began his career in Hollywood as a bit player for Paramount Pictures. Farrell did extra work for films ranging from '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' with Lon Chaney, Sr., Cecil B. DeMille's ''The Ten Commandments'', and '' The Cheat'' with Pola Negri. Farrell continued to work throughout the next few years in relatively minor roles without much success until he wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart as the greatest male star of classic American cinema. Bogart began acting in Broadway shows, beginning his career in motion pictures with '' Up the River'' (1930) for Fox and appeared in supporting roles for the next decade, regularly portraying gangsters. He was praised for his work as Duke Mantee in ''The Petrified Forest'' (1936), but remained cast secondary to other actors at Warner Bros. who received leading roles. Bogart also received positive reviews for his performance as gangster Hugh "Baby Face" Martin, in '' Dead End'' (1937), directed by William Wyler. His breakthrough from supporting roles to stardom was set in motion with '' High Sierra'' (1941) and catapulted in '' The Maltese Falcon'' (1941), co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
