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Screen Directors Playhouse
''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, with original directors of the films sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations and taking a brief "curtain call" with the cast and host at the end of the program. During the 1955–56 season, the series was seen on television, focusing on original teleplays and several adaptations of famous short stories (such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "Markheim"). Radio The radio version ran for 122 episodes and aired on NBC from January 9, 1949, to September 28, 1951, under several different titles: ''NBC Theater'', ''Screen Directors Guild Assignment'', ''Screen Directors Assignment'' and, as of July 1, 1949, ''Screen Directors Playhouse''. Act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, [uncertain year from 1904 to 1908] was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally-known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Great Depression, Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as an Academy Honorary Award in 1961 for his career achievements. He was one of the top10 film personalities for 23 consecutive years and one of the top money-making stars for 18 years. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at No.11 on its list of the 25 greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Cooper's career spanned 36 years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in 84 feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range included roles in most major film genres. His ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contribut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for '' The Thin Man'' (1934), ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936), and '' Life with Father'' (1947). Early life Born in Pittsburgh in 1892, William Powell was the only child of Nettie Manila (née Brady) and Horatio Warren Powell, who worked as an accountant."Obituaries: William Powell, star of 'Thin Man' films", ''Chicago Tribune'', March 6, 1984, p. N6. Retrieved via ProQuest Historical Newspapers through subscription access at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, January 31, 2022. In 1907, young William moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from Central High School four years later. Career After hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner, Peck began appearing in stage productions, acting in over 50 plays and three Broadway productions. He first gained critical success in ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944), a John M. Stahl–directed drama which earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He starred in a series of successful films, including romantic-drama '' The Valley of Decision'' (1944), Alfred Hitchcock's '' Spellbound'' (1945), and family film '' The Yearling'' (1946). He encountered lukewarm commercial reviews at the end of the 1940s, his performances including '' The Paradine Case'' (1947) and '' The Great Sinner'' (1948). Peck reached global recognition in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Milland
Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985. He is remembered for his Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival Award-winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's '' The Lost Weekend'' (1945) and also for such roles as a sophisticated leading man opposite John Wayne's corrupt character in '' Reap the Wild Wind'' (1942), the murder-plotting husband in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Dial M for Murder'' (1954) and Oliver Barrett III in ''Love Story'' (1970). Before becoming an actor, Milland served in the Household Cavalry of the British Army, becoming a proficient marksman, horseman and aeroplane pilot. He left the army to pursue a career in acting and appeared as an extra in several British productions before getting his first major role in '' The Flying Scotsman'' (1929). This led to a nine-month contract with MGM, and he moved to the United States, wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films included ''The Seventh Veil'' (1945) and '' The Wicked Lady'' (1945). He starred in '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. Mason starred in such films as George Cukor's '' A Star Is Born'' (1954), Alfred Hitchcock's '' North by Northwest'' (1959), Stanley Kubrick's ''Lolita'' (1962), Warren Beatty's '' Heaven Can Wait'' (1978), and Sidney Lumet's '' The Verdict'' (1982). He also starred in a number of successful British and American films from the 1950s to the early 1980s, including: '' The Desert Fox'' (1951), ''Julius Caesar'' (1953), ''Bigger Than Life'' (1956), '' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'' (1954), '' Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (1959), '' Georgy Girl'' (1966), and '' The Boys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year career in film and, later, television. He was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor (winning once), and he also won two BAFTA Awards and one Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor. The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Lancaster performed as a circus acrobat in the 1930s. After serving in World War II, the 33-year-old Lancaster landed a role in a Broadway play and drew the attention of a Hollywood agent. His breakthrough role was in the film noir '' The Killers'' in 1946 alongside Ava Gardner. A critical success, it launched both of their careers. Not long after in 1948, Lancaster starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the commercially and critically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Holden
William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the television film '' The Blue Knight'' (1973). Holden starred in some of Hollywood's most popular and critically acclaimed films, including ''Sunset Boulevard'' (1950), '' Sabrina'' (1954), ''Picnic'' (1955), ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Network'' (1976). He was named one of the " Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961), and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Early life and education Holden was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr., on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, son of Mary Blanche Beedle (née Ball), a sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men from the 1930s until the mid-1960s. Grant was born and brought up in Bristol, England. He became attracted to theater at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome. At 16, he went as a stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After a series of successful performances in New York City, he decided to stay there. He established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Grant initially appeared in crime films and dramas such as ''Blonde Venus'' (1932) with Marlene Dietrich and '' She Done Him Wrong'' (1933) with Mae West, but later gained renown for his performances in romantic screwball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and raised in Nebraska, Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and made his Hollywood film debut in 1935. He rose to film stardom with performances in films like '' Jezebel'' (1938), ''Jesse James'' (1939), and '' Young Mr. Lincoln'' (1939). His career further progressed with his portrayal of Tom Joad in ''The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1941, Fonda starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the screwball comedy classic '' The Lady Eve''. Book-ending his service in WWII were his starring roles in two highly regarded Westerns: ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' (1943) and ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946), the latter directed by John Ford, and he also starred in Ford's Western '' Fort Apache'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Fairbanks Jr
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr., (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best known for starring in such films as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), ''Gunga Din'' (1939) and '' The Corsican Brothers'' (1941). The son of Douglas Fairbanks and stepson of Mary Pickford, he was first married, briefly, to actress Joan Crawford. Early life Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. was born in New York City; he was the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and his first wife, Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully. Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's first icons, noted for such swashbuckling adventure films as '' The Mark of Zorro'', ''Robin Hood'' and '' The Thief of Bagdad''. Fairbanks had small roles in his father's films '' American Aristocracy'' (1916) and ''The Three Musketeers'' (1921). His parents divorced when he was nine years old, and both remarried. He lived with his mother i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other genres. After her father died when she was 14, Dunne's family relocated from Kentucky to Indiana. She became determined to become an opera singer, but when she was rejected by The Met, she performed in musicals on Broadway until she was scouted by RKO and made her Hollywood film debut in the musical '' Leathernecking'' (1930). She later starred in the successful musical ''Show Boat'' (1936). Overall, she starred in 42 movies and was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress—for her performances in the western drama '' Cimarron'' (1931), the screwball comedies ''Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936) and '' The Awful Truth'' (1937), the romance '' Love Affair'' (1939), and the drama '' I Remember Mama'' (1948). Dunne is considered o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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