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Vera Ralston
Vera Ralston (born Věra Helena Hrubá; July 12, 1919 or 1920 or 1921 or 1923 February 9, 2003) was a Czech figure skater and actress. She later became a naturalized American citizen. She worked as an actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Ralston was born Věra Helena Hrubá in Prague to a Catholic family with a home on the Berounka River. Her father, Rudolf Hrubý, was a jeweler. Her year of birth has been given as 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923. Her brother, Rudy Ralston, later became a film producer in the United States. Skating career As a figure skater, she represented Czechoslovakia in competition under her birth name ''Věra Hrubá''. She competed at the 1936 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 15th. Later that season, she competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she placed 17th. During the games, she personally met and reportedly insulted Adolf Hitler. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378). It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era. Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storm Over Lisbon
''Storm Over Lisbon'' is a 1944 American thriller film produced and directed by George Sherman and starring Vera Ralston. The screenplay concerns a nightclub owner who attempts to gain secret information. The film's sets were designed by the art director Gano Chittenden. Plot During World War II, the owner of a Lisbon nightclub attempts to gain secret information to sell to the Japanese. Cast * Vera Hruba Ralston as Maria Mazarek * Richard Arlen as John Craig * Erich von Stroheim as Deresco * Otto Kruger as Alexis Vanderlyn * Eduardo Ciannelli as Blanco * Robert Livingston as Bill Flanagan * Mona Barrie as Evelyn * Frank Orth as Mutgatroyd * Sarah Edwards as Maude Perry-Tonides * Alice Fleming as Agatha Sanford-Richards * Kenne Duncan as Paul * Leon Belasco as Fabo Singer * The Aida Broadbent Girls as Dancers Restoration A new restoration of ''Storm Over Lisbon'' by Paramount Pictures, The Film Foundation, and Martin Scorsese was screened at the Museum of Modern Art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Yates
Herbert John Yates (August 24, 1880 – February 3, 1966) was the founder and president of Republic Pictures, who had western stars John Wayne, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers under contract. Between the years 1935 and 1959, Republic, under Yates' leadership, made 956 feature films and 849 movie serial chapters, some of which are considered classics screened on television and later released on home video. Early years Yates was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1880. He started his business career at an early age, building a newspaper sales business on the streets of Brooklyn. Later, he ascended rapidly through the ranks of the American Tobacco Company, retiring from that company with a sizable fortune before the age of 30. Career Focusing on the movie and recording business, he built a small empire, acquiring record companies and film laboratories. In the 1920s he provided financing for Mack Sennett and Fatty Arbuckle. In October 1929 his Consolidated Film Industries took control of A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir '' Double Indemnity''. During 1959–1973, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including '' The Shaggy Dog'', ''The Absent-Minded Professor'', ''Follow Me, Boys!'', and ''The Happiest Millionaire''. He played Steve Douglas in the television series ''My Three Sons''. Early life and education Frederick Martin MacMurray was born on August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois, the son of Maleta (''née'' Martin) and concert violinist Frederick Talmadge MacMurray, both natives of Wisconsin. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fair Wind To Java
''Fair Wind to Java'' is a 1953 American adventure film in Trucolor from Republic Pictures, produced and directed by Joseph Kane, that stars Fred MacMurray and Vera Ralston. With special effects by the Lydecker brothers, the film was based on the 1948 novel of the same name by Garland Roark. The film tells the story of an American sea captain who voyages in search of diamonds on a volcanic island and must contend with various mysteries, pirates, and finally an exploding volcano (based on the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, 1883 eruption of the island of Krakatoa). Plot In 1883, the Boston, Massachusetts, Boston company that owns the Full-rigged ship, merchant sailing ship ''Gerrymander'' gives her Sea captain, captain, Captain Boll, six months to show a profit in the Netherlands East Indies. Facing both Piracy, pirates and a Dutch trade exclusion policy preventing foreigners from carrying goods between ports, Boll looks to make a profit another way. On Java, a Native Indonesians, Indon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Brady
Scott Brady (born Gerard Kenneth Tierney; September 13, 1924 – April 16, 1985) was an American film and television actor best known for his roles in Western films and as a ubiquitous television presence. He played the title role in the television series ''Shotgun Slade'' (1959-1961). Early years Gerard Kenneth Tierney was born in Brooklyn to Lawrence and Mary Alice (née Crowley) Tierney; his father was an Irish-American policeman who was chief of the New York City Aqueduct Police force. His older and younger brothers were fellow actors Lawrence and Edward Tierney, respectively. He took his screen name from a friend's short story in which the hero, a boxer, was named Scott Brady. Brady was reared in suburban Westchester County, New York. He was nicknamed "Roddy" in his youth. He attended Roosevelt and St. Michael's high schools, where he lettered in basketball, football, and track. He aspired to become a football coach or a radio announcer, but instead enlisted in the Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Brian
Brian James Davis (August 5, 1914 – July 15, 1993), better known as David Brian, was an American actor. He is best known for his role in ''Intruder in the Dust'' (1949), for which he received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination. Brian's other notable film roles were in ''The Damned Don't Cry'' (1950), ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' (1952), ''Springfield Rifle'' (1952), ''Dawn at Socorro'' (1954), and '' The High and the Mighty'' (1954). On February 8, 1960, Brian was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. Early years Brian was born Brian Davis in New York City. After school at City College, he found work as a doorman, then entered show business with a song-and-dance routine in vaudeville and in night clubs. He did a wartime stint with the United States Coast Guard during World War II and returned to acting on the New York stage after the war. Film Persuaded by Joan Crawford to try his hand at film acting, Brian joined her in Holl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Perilous Journey
''A Perilous Journey'' is a 1953 American Western film directed by R. G. Springsteen and written by Richard Wormser. The film stars Vera Ralston, David Brian, Scott Brady, Charles Winninger, Hope Emerson, Eileen Christy and Leif Erickson. The film was released on April 5, 1953, by Republic Pictures. Plot Cast * Vera Ralston as Francie Landreaux * David Brian as Monty Breed *Scott Brady as Shard Benton *Charles Winninger as Captain Eph Allan *Hope Emerson as Olivia Schuyler *Eileen Christy as Susan * Leif Erickson as Richards *Veda Ann Borg as Sadie *Ian MacDonald as Sprague *Virginia Grey as Abby * Dorothy Ford as Rose *Ben Cooper as Sam *Kathleen Freeman as Leah * Pat Silver as Cathy *Paul Fierro as Pepe * Angela Greene as Mavis *John Dierkes John Dierkes (February 10, 1905 – January 8, 1975) was an American actor who appeared in a number of classic Hollywood films. Before becoming an actor, he had been an economist. Life and career Dierkes was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fighting Kentuckian
''The Fighting Kentuckian'' is a 1949 American Adventure Western film written and directed by George Waggner and starring John Wayne, who also produced the film. The supporting cast featured Vera Ralston; Philip Dorn; Oliver Hardy (of Laurel & Hardy) portraying Wayne's portly sidekick; Marie Windsor; John Howard; Hugo Haas; Grant Withers and Odette Myrtil. Plot Returning home from the War of 1812, John Breen, a Kentucky militiaman, falls in love with French exile Fleurette de Marchand. He discovers a plot to steal the land that Fleurette's exiles plan to settle on. Breen is mistaken for a land surveyor and is presented with a theodolite and sets out with Willie to look as if they are surveying (they do not actually know what to do). A further pretense occurs when Breen sits on stage with a group of fiddlers and feigns being able to play. Throughout the film, Breen's soldiers sing: :Only six hundred miles more to go :Only six hundred miles more to go :And if we can just get l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Hussey
Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in '' The Philadelphia Story''. Early life Hussey was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 30, 1911. She was later known as Ruth Carol O'Rourke, her stepfather's surname.Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. , p. 591. Her father, George R. Hussey, died of the Spanish flu in 1918 when she was seven years old. Ten years later, her mother, Julia Corbett Hussey, married a family friend, William O'Rourke, who had worked at the family's mail-order silver enterprise. She grew up at 179 Ontario Street.Rhode Island, State Census, 1925. She had an older brother, Robert, and a younger sister, Betty. After obtaining her early education in Providence's public schools, Hussey studied art at Pembroke College and graduated from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Carroll (actor)
John Carroll (born Julian La Faye; July 17, 1906 – April 24, 1979) was an American actor. Career Carroll was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He performed in several small roles in films under his birth name until 1935, when he first used the name John Carroll in '' Hi, Gaucho!''. He appeared in several Western films in the 1930s, including the role of Zorro in ''Zorro Rides Again'' in 1937. He was the male lead in the Marx Brothers' Western comedy '' Go West'' in 1940. Probably his best known role was as Woody Jason in the 1942 movie ''Flying Tigers'' with John Wayne. He was also notable as a Cajun soldier, aptly nicknamed Wolf, in the 1945 comedy ''A Letter for Evie''. He interrupted his movie career during World War II and served as a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot in North Africa. He broke his back in a crash. He recovered and resumed his acting career. John Carroll was a well-established actor and his wife Lucille was a casting director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I, Jane Doe
''I, Jane Doe'' is a 1948 American drama war film directed by John H. Auer and written by Lawrence Kimble and Decla Dunning. The film stars Ruth Hussey, John Carroll, Vera Ralston, Gene Lockhart, John Howard and Benay Venuta. Plot When the police find a French woman next to the bullet-ridden body of Stephen Curtis, she refuses to give her identity. She is arrested and goes on trial as "Jane Doe", is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Stephen's widow suddenly turns up. A former attorney, Eve Curtis decides to return to her practice and personally represent her husband's condemned killer. It is discovered that Jane Doe is several months pregnant. Her execution is delayed until after the baby is born, at which point a persuasive Eve gains her a new hearing in court. Jane Doe tells her story. Her real name is Annette Dubois. She was in France on the day the American pilot Stephen Curtis's plane was shot down. After hiding him at great risk and faking Stephen's death to f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
