So Big (1953 Film)
''So Big'' is a 1953 American Drama Western film directed by Robert Wise and starring Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden and Nancy Olson.''Variety'' film review; September 30, 1953, page 6.''Harrison's Reports'' film review; October 3, 1953, page 159. The screenplay by John Twist was based on the 1924 novel by Edna Ferber. It was the third adaptation of the book, following a 1924 silent film with Colleen Moore and '' So Big!'' with Barbara Stanwyck, released in 1932. Plot In the late 1890s, boarding school student Selina Peake learns of the death of her father, who has left her penniless as the result of bad business transactions. August Hempel, the father of her best friend Julie, secures her a teaching position in New Holland, a small Dutch farming community outside Chicago. There she rents a room in the home of Klaas Pool, who lives with his unhappy wife Maartje and intelligent but troubled adolescent son Roelf. After discovering the boy has an ear for music, Selina gives Roelf ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of Music'' (1965). He was also nominated for Best Film Editing for ''Citizen Kane'' (1941) and directed and produced '' The Sand Pebbles'' (1966), which was nominated for Best Picture. Among his other films are ''The Body Snatcher'' (1945), ''Born to Kill'' (1947), '' The Set-Up'' (1949), ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (1951), '' Destination Gobi'' (1953), '' This Could Be The Night'' (1957), ''Run Silent, Run Deep'' (1958), '' I Want to Live!'' (1958), '' The Haunting'' (1963), '' The Andromeda Strain'' (1971), '' The Hindenburg'' (1975) and '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (1979). He was the president of the Directors Guild of America from 1971 to 1975 and the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1985 thr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped popularize the bobbed haircut. Although Moore was a huge star in her day, approximately half of her films are now considered lost, including her first talking picture from 1929. What was perhaps her most celebrated film, '' Flaming Youth'' (1923), is now mostly lost as well, with only one reel surviving. Moore took a hiatus from acting between 1929 and 1933, just as sound was being added to motion pictures. After she returned, her four sound pictures released in 1933 and 1934 were not financial successes. She then retired permanently from screen acting. After her film career, Moore maintained her wealth through astute investments, becoming a partner of Merrill Lynch. She later wrote a "how-to" book about investing in the stock market. Mo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lillian Kemble-Cooper
Lillian Kemble-Cooper (March 21, 1892 – May 4, 1977) was an English-American actress who had a successful career on Broadway and in Hollywood film. Biography Early life Lillian Kemble-Cooper was a member of the Kemble family, a family of English actors, who reigned over the British stage for decades. She was born as a daughter of stage actor Frank Kemble-Cooper. Her younger brother Anthony Kemble-Cooper (1904–2000) and her elder sister Violet Kemble-Cooper also worked as actors. Career Kemble-Cooper first stage appearance was as a member of the chorus in a September, 1914, production of ''The Chocolate Soldier'' at the Lyric Theatre, London. She soon after went to the United States, where she appeared in several Broadway productions. In 1919 she appeared in the original ''Hitchy-Koo''. Later in her career she became a film actress and appeared in about 20 films, mostly in minor supporting roles. In Hollywood, Kemble-Cooper portrayed mostly aristocrats, spinsters and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dorothy Christy
Dorothy Christy (born Dorothea J. Seltzer, later Dorothy Rucker; May 26, 1906 – May 21, 1977) was an American actress. She was sometimes billed as Dorothy Christie. Early years Christy was born Dorothea J. Seltzer on May 26, 1906, in Reading, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Seltzer. Although she sometimes participated in amateur plays, she had no plans for an acting career. After attended public schools in Reading, she went to Beachwood (a finishing school near Philadelphia) and then to Dana Hall School near Boston. She went on to study opera. Career On Broadway, Christy was a member of the ensemble of ''The New Moon'' (1928) and portrayed Olive in ''Follow Thru'' (1929). Christy acted with Will Rogers, Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers (appearing in the pre-filming stage version of '' A Night at the Opera)'' and with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in the film '' Sons of the Desert'' (1933), in the role of Mrs. Laurel. She was Queen Tika of Mur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roland Winters
Roland Winters (born Roland Winternitz; November 22, 1904 – October 22, 1989)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 287. was an American actor who played many character parts in films and television but today is best remembered for portraying Charlie Chan in six films in the late 1940s. Early years Winters was born Roland Winternitz on November 22, 1904, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Antoinette (Iversen) and Felix Winternitz, a violinist and composer who was teaching at New England Conservatory of Music. His father was born in Austria and his mother in Germany. ''Charlie Chan'' films Monogram Pictures selected Winters to replace Sidney Toler in the Charlie Chan film series. Winters was 44 when he made the first of his six Chan films, '' The Chinese Ring'' in 1947. His other Chan films were ''Docks of New Orleans'' (1948), ''Shanghai Chest'' (1948), '' The Go ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tommy Rettig
Thomas Noel Rettig (December 10, 1941 – February 15, 1996) was an American child actor, computer software engineer, and author. He is remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's '' Lassie'' television series, from 1954 to 1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs with the title ''Jeff's Collie''. He also co-starred with another former child actor, Tony Dow, in the mid-1960s television teen soap opera ''Never Too Young'' and recorded the song by that title with the group, The TR-4. Early life and acting career Rettig was born to a Jewish father, Elias Rettig, and a Christian Italian–American mother, Rosemary Nibali, in Jackson Heights in the Queens borough of New York City. He started his career at the age of six, on tour with Mary Martin in the play '' Annie Get Your Gun'', in which he played Little Jake. Rettig was selected from among 500 boys for the role of Jeff Miller, to star in the first '' Lassie'' television se ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Beymer
George Richard Beymer Jr. (born February 20, 1938) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist who played the roles of Tony in the film version of ''West Side Story'' (1961), Peter in ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959), and Ben Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017). Early life Beymer was born in Avoca, Iowa, to George Richard Beymer, a printer, and his wife, Eunice (née Goss). He and his family moved in 1940 to Los Angeles. Acting career Child actor In 1949, Beymer began acting in television in a Los Angeles TV series for children ''Sandy Dreams'' (1949–53). He did it for three years, rehearsing after school during the week and recording it on Saturdays. The show ended when he was 13. Beymer made his feature-film debut in Vittorio De Sica's '' Stazione Termini'' (1953). De Sica cast him in part because his dark complexion made him look like Jennifer Jones' nephew. He was under contract to Jones' husband, David O. Selznick, for a year. Selznick lo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walter Coy
Walter Darwin Coy (January 31, 1909 – December 11, 1974) was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, arguably most well known as John Wayne's character's brother in ''The Searchers'' (1956). Early years Originally from Great Falls, Montana, Coy was the son of Theodore Coy, who had a furniture store. The family moved to Seattle, Washington, around 1923. He played varsity football at the University of Washington and majored in dramatics. Before Coy became an actor, he worked at salmon canneries in Alaska. In 1929, he moved to New York. During World War II, he served in the Army. Career Coy performed on Broadway from 1930 to 1948. He appeared in several early Group Theatre productions. He was the first actor to play Lone Wolf on the radio series of the same name. Broadway roles * ''The House of Connelly'' (1931) - Charlie and as Seranader * ''Night Over Taos'' (1932) - Felipe * '' Men in White'' (1933) - Dr. Bradley * ''Gold Eagle Guy'' (1934) - Ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Martha Hyer
Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014) was an American actress who played Gwen French in ''Some Came Running'' (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, ''Finding My Way: A Hollywood Memoir'', was published in 1990. Early and personal life Martha Hyer was born in Fort Worth, Texas, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Julien Capers Hyer, an attorney and judge, and Agnes Rebecca (née Barnhart). She was the middle of three sisters, with Agnes Ann and Jeanne. The Hyers were active in the Methodist church, where her father was a highly respected Sunday school teacher. Hyer graduated from Arlington Heights High School and then from Northwestern University with a degree in drama. She was in the sorority Pi Beta Phi with actress Patricia Neal. She then moved to California to study at the Pasadena Playhouse, and soon after was signed to a film contract with RKO. She was married twice, first to producer C. Ray ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elisabeth Fraser
Elisabeth Fraser (born Elisabeth Fraser Jonker, January 8, 1920 – May 5, 2005) was an American actress, best known for playing brassy blondes. Life and career Born Elisabeth Fraser Jonker on January 8, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, she was educated in Haiti, France and New York. Fraser began her acting career six weeks after graduating from high school; she was cast as the ingenue in the Broadway production of ''There Shall Be No Night'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for the 1940-1941 season. Fraser obtained a contract with Warner Brothers studios. She appeared in dozens of films. One of her first roles was in ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' as June Stanley, the young daughter of the Ohio couple forced to put up with Monty Woolley, who tells her to follow her heart to the man she loves, a trade unionist in her father's company, regardless of her father's feelings. She also appeared in '' All My Sons'', ''Roseanna McCoy'', and '' So Big''. Her most notable role was as She ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steve Forrest (actor)
Steve Forrest (born William Forrest Andrews; September 29, 1925 – May 18, 2013) was an American actor who was well known for his role as Lt. Hondo Harrelson in the hit television series ''S.W.A.T.'' which was broadcast on ABC from 1975 to 1976. He was also known for his performance in ''Mommie Dearest'' (1981). Early years Forrest was born William Forrest Andrews in Huntsville, Texas, the 12th of 13 children of Annis (née Speed) and Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister. One of his older brothers was film star Dana Andrews. Forrest enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 18 and fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. In 1950, he earned a bachelor's degree with honors from UCLA, majoring in theater with a minor in psychology. Career Forrest worked as a stagehand at the La Jolla Playhouse outside San Diego. There Gregory Peck discovered him, cast him in La Jolla's production of ''Goodbye Again'', and then arranged for Forrest's first scree ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drafter
A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for machinery, buildings, electronics, infrastructure, sections, etc. Drafters use computer software and manual sketches to convert the designs, plans, and layouts of engineers and architects into a set of technical drawings. Drafters operate as the supporting developers and sketch engineering designs and drawings from preliminary design concepts. Overview In the past, drafters sat at drawing boards and used pencils, pens, compasses, protractors, triangles, and other drafting devices to prepare a drawing by hand. From the 1980s through 1990s, board drawings were going out of style as the newly developed computer-aided design (CAD) system was released and was able to produce technical drawings at a faster pace. Many modern drafters now use co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |