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Where The Sidewalk Ends (film)
''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' is a 1950 American film noir directed and produced by Otto Preminger. The screenplay for the film was written by Ben Hecht, and adapted by Robert E. Kent, Frank P. Rosenberg, and Victor Trivas. The screenplay and adaptations were based on the novel ''Night Cry'' by William L. Stuart. The film stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. Andrews plays Mark Dixon, a ruthless and cynical metropolitan police detective who despises all criminals because his father was one. Considered a classic of the genre, the film displays a brand of violence "lurking below urban society" considered an important noir motif. Plot Mark Dixon is a police detective who was just demoted over his too-frequent use of violence. Because his own father was a criminal, he hates them even more than is acceptable to the force. At a floating crap game in New York City run by gangster Tommy Scalise, the beautiful Morgan Taylor decides to leave for the night, with or without the man, Ken Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gained attention for film noir mysteries such as '' Laura'' (1944) and '' Fallen Angel'' (1945), while in the 1950s and 1960s, he directed high-profile adaptations of popular novels and stage works. Several of these later films pushed the boundaries of censorship by dealing with themes which were then taboo in Hollywood, such as drug addiction ('' The Man with the Golden Arm'', 1955), rape ('' Anatomy of a Murder'', 1959) and homosexuality ('' Advise & Consent'', 1962). He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. He also had several acting roles. Early life Preminger was born in 1905 in Wischnitz, Bukovina, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Vyzhnytsia, Ukraine), into a Jewish family. His parents were Josefa (née F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street craps" can be played in informal settings. While shooting craps, players may use slang terminology to place bets and actions. History In 1788, "Krabs" (later spelled crabs) was an English variation on the dice game hazard (also spelled hasard). Craps developed in the United States from a simplification of the western European game of hazard. The origins of hazard are obscure and may date to the Crusades. Hazard was brought from London to New Orleans in approximately 1805 by the returning Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, the young gambler and scion of a family of wealthy landowners in colonial Louisiana. Although in hazard the dice shooter may choose any number from five to nine to be his main number, de Marigny s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whirlpool (1949 Film)
''Whirlpool'' is a 1950 American film noir thriller directed by Otto Preminger and written by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt, adapted from the 1946 novel ''Methinks the Lady...'' by Guy Endore. The film stars Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer and Charles Bickford, and features Constance Collier in her final film role. Its plot follows the insomniac wife of a wealthy Los Angeles psychoanalyst who, after a chance meeting with a hypnotist, is charged with a violent murder. Owing to anti-British statements screenwriter Hecht had made in the recent past concerning the United Kingdom's involvement in Israel, prints of the film initially circulated in the country replaced his credit with the pseudonym Lester Barstow. Plot Ann Sutton, the wife of Dr. William Sutton, a successful psychoanalyst, is caught shoplifting in an upscale Los Angeles department store, and loses consciousness when apprehended. She is saved from scandal by smooth-talking hypnotist David Korvo, who persuades ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laura (1944 Film)
''Laura'' is a 1944 American film noir produced and directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb along with Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. The screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel '' Laura'' by Vera Caspary. ''Laura'' received five nominations for the Academy Awards, including for Best Director, winning for Best Black and White Cinematography. In 1999, ''Laura'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best mystery films of all time, and it also appears on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" series. Plot New York City Police Department detective Mark McPherson is investigating the murder of a young, beautiful, highly successful advertising executive, Laura Hunt, killed by a shotgun blast to the face jus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oleg Cassini
Oleg Cassini (11 April 1913 – 17 March 2006) was a fashion designer born to an aristocratic Russian family with maternal Italian ancestry. He came to the United States as a young man after starting as a designer in Rome, and quickly got work with Paramount Pictures. Cassini established his reputation by designing for films. He became particularly well known as a designer for Jacqueline Kennedy while she was First Lady of the United States. The "Jackie Look" was to become highly influential and much admired. Among Cassini's inspirations were sports and Native American culture. Early life He was born in Paris as Oleg Aleksandrovich Loiewski, the elder son of Countess Marguerite Cassini and her husband Count Alexander Loiewski, a Russian diplomat, thereby obtaining the title of Count. His maternal grandfather Arthur Paul Nicholas Cassini, Marquis de Capuzzuchi di Bologna, Count Cassini, had been the Russian ambassador to the United States during the administrations of W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Von Zell
Harry Rudolph von Zell (July 11, 1906 – November 21, 1981) was an American announcer of radio programs, and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show''. Life and career Early years Harry von Zell was born July 11, 1906, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the first of Iva Clara (née Gohn) and Harry Adolph von Zell's two children. Von Zell's father was a sports reporter for the Indianapolis Star. The family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where von Zell graduated from high school. Later, the family moved to California, where he studied music and drama at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked at a variety of jobs. After friends tricked him into singing on a radio program, he began receiving offers from radio stations, and his career in that medium began. Announcing Von Zell broke into show business as a singer and announcer at radio station KMIC in Inglewood, California, in the mid-1920s. In late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neville Brand
Lawrence Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 – April 16, 1992) was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and ''films noir'', and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his performance in ''Riot in Cell Block 11'' (1954). During World War II, Brand served in the 331st Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division in the U.S. Army, in the European theatre. He received multiple meritorious citations for his service, including the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. Early life Neville Brand was born in Griswold, Iowa, one of seven children of Leo Thomas Brand and the former Helen Louise Davis. His father had worked as an electrician and bridge-building ironworker in Detroit. Neville was raised in Kewanee, Illinois, where he attended high school. After his schooling he helped support the family, employed as a soda jerk, waiter, and shoe salesman in Kewanee. War service Brand entered the Illinoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craig Stevens (actor)
Craig Stevens (born Gail Shikles Jr.; July 8, 1918 – May 10, 2000) was an American film and television actor, best known for his starring role on television as private detective ''Peter Gunn'' from 1958 to 1961. Early life Stevens was born in Liberty, Missouri, to Marie and Gail Shikles."Fourteenth Census of United States: 1920" Liberty Township, Clay County, Missouri, enumeration date January 3, 1920. ; retrieved October 11, 2017. His father was a high school teacher in Liberty and later an elementary school principal in Kansas City, Missouri. He studied |
Ruth Donnelly
Ruth Donnelly (May 17, 1896 – November 17, 1982) was an American film and stage actress. Early years and family Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Donnelly was the daughter of Harry Augustus and Bessie B. Donnelly. Her uncle, Frederick W. Donnelly, was the longtime mayor of Trenton, New Jersey. According to a 1915 article in '' The Day Book'', the young Donnelly was forced to leave Sacred Heart Convent in New Jersey because she repeatedly broke into laughter at inappropriate times. Career Donnelly began her stage career at the age of 17 in '' The Quaker Girl''. Actress Rose Stahl took the teen under her wing and, after giving her training and a year's experience in the chorus, placed the then 18-year-old in the play ''Maggie Pepper''. Her Broadway debut brought her to the attention of George M. Cohan, who proceeded to cast her in numerous comic-relief roles in such musicals as '' Going Up'' (1917). Though she made her first film appearance in 1914, her Hollyw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun authenticity to roles in theater, film, and television", especially in such classic films as ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (1951), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, ''On the Waterfront'' (1954), '' Pollyanna'' (1960), and '' One-Eyed Jacks'' (1961). Malden also played in high-profile Hollywood films such as ''Baby Doll'' (1956), '' The Hanging Tree'' (1959), '' How the West Was Won'' (1962), '' Gypsy'' (1962), and ''Patton'' (1970). From 1972 to 1977, he portrayed Lt. Mike Stone in the primetime television crime drama ''The Streets of San Francisco''. He was later the spokesman for American Express. Film and culture critic Charles Champlin described Malden as "an Everyman, but one whose range moved easily up and dow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Tully
Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in '' The Caine Mutiny'' (1954). In 1960, Tully was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry. Early years Tully was born in Durango in southwestern Colorado, the son of Thomas H. Tulley and Victoria Lenore Day Tulley. He served in the United States Navy and worked as a reporter for the ''Denver Post'' in Denver, before he entered acting with the expectation of better pay. Career Stage Tully debuted on Broadway in ''Call Me Ziggy'' (1937). His other Broadway credits include ''The Sun Field'' (1942), ''The Strings, My Lord, Are False'' (1942), ''Jason'' (1942), ''Ah, Wilderness!'' (1941), ''The Time of Your Life'' (1940), ''Night Music'' (1940), ''The Time of Your Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bert Freed
Bert Freed (November 3, 1919 – August 2, 1994) was an American character actor, voice-over actor, and the first actor to portray Detective Columbo. Life and career Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Freed began acting while attending Penn State University, and made his Broadway debut in 1942. Following World War II Army service in the European theatre, he appeared in the Broadway musical ''The Day Before Spring'' in 1945 and dozens of television shows between 1947 and 1985. His film debut occurred, oddly enough, in a musical '' Carnegie Hall'' (1947). Freed portrayed Rufe Ryker in the television series ''Shane'', in which Freed added a unique touch of realism by beginning the show clean-shaven and growing a beard from one week to the next, never shaving again through the season. Freed played homicide detective Lt. Columbo in a live 1960 television episode of ''The Chevy Mystery Show'' seven years before Peter Falk played the role, and also before Thomas Mitchell po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
