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Tony Owen (producer)
Tony Owen (May 2, 1907 – May 12, 1984) was an American agent and producer, who was married to Donna Reed. Biography Owen was born in Chicago and worked in that city as a journalist. In the late 1930s he produced game programs for the Detroit Lions, and in 1940 became a vice president of the football club. He served in the army during the war, but was invalided out. He moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and got work as an agent. He married Donna Reed in 1945 and they would go on to have four children (two were adopted). Todon Productions Owen and Reed formed their own company, Todon Productions. Owen moved into film production with ''Duel in the Jungle'' (1953). It established a formula of using two American leads, an American director, and 80% British crew, to qualify for the subsidies of being a British film and because it was cheaper to make. "As an independent I can give everybody a percentage", said Owen. "This includes a star who will take a cut in lieu of his regular salary o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donna Reed
Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in Frank Capra's fantasy holiday film ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946). Reed won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Fred Zinnemann's war drama film ''From Here to Eternity'' (1953). Reed is known for her work in television, notably as Donna Stone, a middle-class American mother and housewife in the sitcom ''The Donna Reed Show'' (1958–1966) whose character was more assertive and complex than most other television mothers of the era. She received numerous Emmy Award nominations for this role and the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star in 1963. Later in her career, Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow in the 1984–1985 season of the television melodrama ''Dallas;'' she successfully sued the production c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxwell Setton
Maxwell Setton (born 24 October 1909, date of death unknown) was a British film producer, notably active in the 1950s.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 688-689; He was born in Cairo"Maxwell Setton: Interview notes" '' The History Project''. Retrieved 4 June 2021. to British parents and studied law, becoming a barrister. In 1937, he became legal adviser to Mayflower Productions, the production company of [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Johnson
Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment of the "boy-next-door wholesomeness" which made him a popular Hollywood star in the 1940s and 1950s, playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor, or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM films during the war years, with such films as ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'', ''A Guy Named Joe'', and '' The Human Comedy''. He made occasional World War II films through the end of the 1960s, and he played a military officer in one of his final feature films in 1992. At the time of his death in 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age".Aljean, Harmetz (August 12, 2008)"Van Johnson, Film Actor, Is Dead at 92"''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 13, 2008. Early life Johnson was born i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Dale Silliphant (January 16, 1918 – April 26, 1996) was an American screenwriter and Film producer, producer. He is best remembered for his screenplay for ''In the Heat of the Night (film), In the Heat of the Night'', for which he won an Academy Awards, Academy Award in 1967, and for creating the television series ''Naked City (TV series), Naked City'', ''Perry Mason'', and ''Route 66 (TV series), Route 66''. Other features as screenwriter include the Irwin Allen productions ''The Towering Inferno'' and ''The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film), The Poseidon Adventure''. Early life, family and education Born in Detroit, Michigan, Stirling Silliphant was the son of Lemuel L. Silliphant, a Canadian who immigrated to the United States in 1911, becoming a US citizen in 1916. His mother was Ethel M. Silliphant. He had one brother, Leigh, who was three years younger. The family moved to Glendale, California, Glendale, California when the brothers were young. He graduated from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Canning
Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. Life Canning was born in Plymouth, Devon, the eldest child of a coach builder, Fred Canning, and his wife May, née Goold. During World War I his father served as an ambulance driver in France and Flanders, while he with his two sisters went to live in the village of Calstock ten miles north of Plymouth, where his uncle Cecil Goold worked for the railways and later became station master. After the war the family returned to Plymouth. In the mid-1920s they moved to Oxford where his father had found work, and Victor attended the Oxford Central School. Here he was encouraged to stay on at school and go to university by a classical scholar, Dr. Henderson, but the family could not afford it and instead Victor went to work as a clerk in the edu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postmark For Danger
''Portrait of Alison'' is a 1956 British atmospheric crime film directed by Guy Green. It was based on a BBC television series ''Portrait of Alison'' which aired the same year. In the United States the film was released as ''Postmark for Danger''. It was also known as ''Alison''. Plot A car plunges over a cliff in Italy. Both passengers, newspaperman Lewis Forrester and actress Alison Ford, are killed. In London, Lewis's brother, Tim, is an artist. He is painting his favourite model, Jill, for a beer advertisement. She tells him that she is giving up her party life to marry Carmichael. However, she is kissing Tim passionately when a police inspector arrives. Tim gets a strange commission, from a Mr Smith, to paint Smith’s dead daughter, the car crash victim. He gives him a photo to work from and a beautiful blue dress to use for posing the picture. Jill sees the dress and admires both it and the portrait of Alison. She goes to meet her fiance for lunch but forgets a box sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Case Of The Red Monkey
''Little Red Monkey'', released in the United States as ''Case of the Red Monkey'', is a 1955 British crime film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Richard Conte, Rona Anderson and Russell Napier. Detectives from Scotland Yard investigate a series of murders of leading nuclear scientists, and are intrigued by strange reports received about the crimes. The film was based on a BBC Television series of the same name, written by Eric Maschwitz and produced by Bill Lyon-Shaw, which ran for six 30-minute episodes in 1953. The film was made by Anglo-Amalgamated at Merton Park Studios. The film was an international hit, and along with ''Confession'' proved a breakthrough for Anglo-Amalgamated. After its success the company began making more expensive productions, often hiring American stars for international appeal. Cast * Richard Conte - Bill Locklin * Rona Anderson - Julia Jackson * Russell Napier - Superintendent John Harrington * Sylva Langova - Hilde Heller, chief spy * Coli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Traveling Saleswoman
''The Traveling Saleswoman'' is a 1950 American Western comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring Joan Davis, Andy Devine, Adele Jergens, Joe Sawyer, and Dean Riesner. The film was released by Columbia Pictures on February 15, 1950. Plot Cast *Joan Davis as Mabel King *Andy Devine as Waldo *Adele Jergens as Lilly *Joe Sawyer as Cactus Jack *Dean Riesner as Tom *John Cason as Fred *Chief Thundercloud as Running Deer *Victor Adamson as Barfly (uncredited) *Fred Aldrich as Cowpuncher (uncredited) *Stanley Andrews as Dr. Stephen Monroe (uncredited) *Jessie Arnold as Lady Customer (uncredited) *Al Bridge as P. Carter (uncredited) *Ralph Bucko as Townsman (uncredited) *Roy Bucko as Townsman (uncredited) *Robert Cherry as Simon Owen (uncredited) *George Chesebro as Wounded Man (uncredited) *Gertrude Chorre as Squaw (uncredited) *Sonny Chorre as Indian (uncredited) *Heinie Conklin as Man (uncredited) *Victor Cox as Barfly (uncredited) *Charles Vernon David Cypert as Indian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Donna Reed Show
''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958, to March 19, 1966. Background The series was created by William S. Roberts and developed by Reed and her then husband, producer Tony Owen. Episodes revolved around typical family problems of the period such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children. Themes such as women's rights and freedom of the press were occasionally explored. The show had an uncertain start in the ratings and was almost cancelled, but fared better when it was moved from Wednesday to Thursday nights. In the show's middle seasons, Fabares sang "Johnny Angel", which became a #1 teen pop hit. Petersen had above average suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Guillermin
John Guillermin (11 November 192527 September 2015) was a French-British film director, writer and producer who was most active in big-budget, action-adventure films throughout his lengthy career. His more well-known films include '' I Was Monty's Double'' (1958), ''Tarzan's Greatest Adventure'' (1959), ''Never Let Go'' (1960), ''Tarzan Goes to India'' (1962), '' Waltz of the Toreadors'' (1962), ''The Blue Max'' (1966), ''The Bridge at Remagen'' (1969), ''The Towering Inferno'' (1974), ''King Kong'' (1976), ''Death on the Nile'' (1978), '' Sheena'' (1984) and ''King Kong Lives'' (1986). In the 1980s, he worked on much less prestigious projects, and his final films consisted of lower-budgeted theatrical releases and TV movies. According to one obituary, "Regardless of whether he was directing a light comedy, war epic or crime drama, Mr. Guillermin had a reputation as an intense, temperamental perfectionist, notorious for screaming at cast and crew alike. His domineering manner of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Was Monty's Double (film)
''I Was Monty's Double'' (aka ''Hell, Heaven or Hoboken'') is a 1958 film made by Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC). It was directed by John Guillermin. The screenplay was adapted by Bryan Forbes from the autobiography of M. E. Clifton James, an actor who pretended to be General Montgomery as a decoy during the Second World War. Plot A few months before the D-Day landings during the Second World War, the British government decides to launch a campaign of disinformation; spreading a rumour that the landings just might take place at a location other than Normandy. The details of the operation (actually, there were several such operations) are handed to two intelligence officers, Colonel Logan ( Cecil Parker) and Major Harvey (John Mills). They are initially unable to devise such a plan – but one night, Harvey sees an actor at a London theatre, putting on a convincing impression of General Bernard Montgomery. Logan and Harvey discover that the actor is M. E. Clifton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Dors
Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was promoted by her first husband, Dennis Hamilton, mostly in sex film-comedies and risqué modelling. After it was revealed that Hamilton had been defrauding her, she continued to play up to her established image, and she made tabloid headlines with the parties reportedly held at her house. Later, she showed talent as a performer on TV, in recordings, and in cabaret, and gained new public popularity as a regular chat-show guest. She also gave well-regarded film performances at different points in her career. According to David Thomson, "Dors represented that period between the end of the war and the coming of Lady Chatterley in paperback, a time when sexuality was naughty, repressed and fit to burst." Early life Diana Mary Fluck was born in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
