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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter
''Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?'' is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes by George Axelrod. After a try-out run at the Plymouth Theatre in Boston from 26 September 1955, it opened at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway on 13 October, starring Jayne Mansfield, Walter Matthau and Orson Bean. Directed by the author and produced by Jule Styne, it closed on 3 November 1956 after 444 performances. The play is a Faustian comedy about a fan magazine writer who sells his soul to the Devil (in the guise of a literary agent) to become a successful screenwriter. The character of Rita Marlowe (played by Jayne Mansfield) is a vapid blonde sex symbol, an exaggerated lampoon of Marilyn Monroe (who had starred the previous year in the film version of Axelrod's play ''The Seven Year Itch''). The surname Marlowe is an homage to 16th century playwright Christopher Marlowe, who wrote the 1604 drama '' The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'', the plot of which served as the inspirat ...
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George Axelrod
George Axelrod (June 9, 1922 – June 21, 2003) was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play ''The Seven Year Itch'' (1952), which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe. Axelrod was nominated for an Academy Award for his 1961 adaptation of Truman Capote's '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'' and also adapted Richard Condon's ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962). Early life and family Axelrod was born in New York City, the son of Beatrice Carpenter, a silent film actress, and Herman Axelrod, a Columbia graduate who had worked on the school's annual Varsity Show with Oscar Hammerstein and who later went into real estate. His father was Russian Jewish and his mother was of Scottish and English descent. He was the father of lawyer Peter Axelrod; Steven Axelrod, painting contractor and writer; Nina Axelrod, actress and stepfather of screenwriter Jonathan Axelrod (who married the actress Illeana Douglas). He was a ...
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Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the sitcom ''The Honeymooners'' (1955–1956). His film roles include ''Harry and Tonto'' (1974), ''The Late Show (film), The Late Show'' (1977), ''House Calls (1978 film), House Calls'' (1978), ''Going in Style'' (1979) ''Firestarter (1984 film), Firestarter'', ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' (both 1984), and ''Last Action Hero'' (1993). Early life Carney, the youngest of six sons (his brothers were Jack, Ned, Robert, Fred, and Phil), was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Helen (née Farrell) and Edward Michael Carney, a newspaperman and publicist. His family was Irish American and Catholic. He attended Mount Vernon High School (New York), A.B. Davis High School. Carney was drafted into the United States Army in 1943
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Merry Anders
Merry Anders (born Mary Helen Anderson; May 22, 1934 – October 28, 2012) was an American actress and model who appeared in a number of television programs and films from the 1950s until her retirement from the screen in 1972. Early life Anders was born in Chicago in 1934, the only child of Charles, a contractor, and Helen Anderson. Anders was of German, Irish and Swedish descent. In 1949, Anders and her mother visited Los Angeles for two weeks. They decided to remain in Los Angeles permanently while Charles Anderson remained in Chicago. While she was a student at John Burroughs Middle School, Anders met former actress Rita Leroy who encouraged her to begin a modeling career. While working as a junior model, Anders began studying acting at the Ben Bard Playhouse. It was there that a talent scout from 20th Century Fox spotted her and signed her to a film contract in 1951. Career Anders made her film debut in the 1951 musical '' Golden Girl''. For the next two years, she appeared ...
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Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren (born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and sex symbol. She is perhaps best known for the rock 'n' roll, juvenile delinquency exploitation film ''Untamed Youth'' (1957). Early life Van Doren was born on February 6, 1931, in Rowena, South Dakota, the daughter of Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett. She is of three-quarters Swedish ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and then to Los Angeles during May 1942. In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television series. She sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered several beauty contests. At age 17, she eloped to Santa Barbara, California, with Jack Newman, but because of his abusive nature the marriage was quickly dissolved. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss P ...
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Tina Louise
Tina Louise ( Blacker; born February 11, 1934) is an American actress widely known for her role as movie star Ginger Grant in the CBS television situation comedy ''Gilligan's Island''. With the death of Dawn Wells in 2020, Louise became the last surviving cast member of the TV series. She began her career on stage in the mid-1950s before landing her breakthrough role in 1958 drama film ''God's Little Acre'' for which she received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. Louise had starring roles in '' The Trap'', '' The Hangman'', ''Day of the Outlaw'', and '' For Those Who Think Young''. She also appeared in '' The Wrecking Crew'', ''The Happy Ending'', and ''The Stepford Wives'' (1975). Early life Born Tina Blacker on February 11, 1934 in New York City, by the time she was four years old her parents had divorced. She was an only child and was raised by her mother Sylvia (née Horn), later Myers, a fashion model. Tina's father, Joseph Blacker, was a candy store own ...
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William Saroyan
William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The Human Comedy''. When the studio rejected his original 240-page treatment, he turned it into a novel, '' The Human Comedy.'' Saroyan is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Saroyan wrote extensively about the Armenian immigrant life in California. Many of his stories and plays are set in his native Fresno. Some of his best-known works are ''The Time of Your Life'', ''My Name Is Aram'' and '' My Heart's in the Highlands''. His two collections of short stories from the 1930s, ''Inhale Exhale'' (1936) and ''The Daring Young Man On the Flying Trapeze'' (1941) are regarded as among his major achievements and essential documents of the cultural history of the period on the American West Coast. He has been described in ...
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Carol Grace
Carol Grace (September 11, 1924 – July 21, 2003) was an American actress and author. She is often referred to as Carol Marcus Saroyan or Carol Matthau. Biography Carol Grace was born in New York City's Lower East Side; her mother, who was sixteen when she gave birth, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who arrived in New York on August 20, 1913. Her parents arrived later. Grace never knew her biological father. Her mother, Rosheen "Ray" Marcus ( Brofman, formerly Shapiro; born 1908/1909-died 1996), would reportedly later claim it was British actor Leslie Howard, who was killed during WWII. Young Carol was placed in foster care until the age of eight. In 1933, her mother married her second husband, Charles Marcus, who was some two decades Rosheen's senior. He was the very wealthy co-founder of the Bendix Corporation. Grace would take his last name as her own. They lived on Park Avenue in luxury, with servants. Two years later he learned that his wife had hidden the existence of a ...
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Tom Poston
Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character in the 1998 American science-fiction disaster movie '' Deep Impact'' * Tom Buchanan, the main antagonist from the 1925 novel ''The Great Gatsby'' * Tom Cat, a character from the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons * Tom Lucitor, a character from the American animated series ''Star vs. the Forces of Evil'' * Tom Natsworthy, from the science fantasy novel ''Mortal Engines'' * Tom Nook, a character in ''Animal Crossing'' video game series * Tom Servo, a robot character from the ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' television series * Tom Sloane, a non-adult character from the animated sitcom ''Daria'' * Talking Tom, the protagonist from the ''Talking Tom & Friends'' franchise * Tom, a character from the '' Deltora Quest'' books by Emily Rodda * Tom, a cha ...
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Shubert Theatre (Broadway)
The Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 225 West 44th Street (Manhattan), 44th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance and Mannerist architecture, Italian Renaissance style and was built for the Shubert family, Shubert brothers. Lee Shubert, Lee and Jacob J. Shubert, J. J. Shubert had named the theater in memory of their brother Sam S. Shubert, who died in an accident several years before the theater's opening. It has 1,502 seats across three levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The facade and interior are List of New York City Landmarks, New York City landmarks. The Shubert's facade is made of brick and Architectural terracotta, terracotta, with sgraffito decorations designed in stucco. Three arches face south onto 44th Street, and a curved corner faces east toward Broadway (Manhattan), Broad ...
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William Thourlby
William Leo Thourlby (January 22, 1924 – April 15, 2013) was an American actor, model and writer. He was known for his rugged, cowboy look, when he appeared as the face of the Marlboro Man campaign in the 1950s. This ad campaign was one of the 20th century's most famous, redefining the Marlboro brand image from a cigarette for women to one for men. Early life and career William Thourlby was born on January 22, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan, US, the son of William H. Thourlby and Edith Thourlby. He had two siblings, both sisters; Margaret P. Thourlby and Gloria G. Thourlby. Thourlby started his modeling career by working for the pulp magazine covers. He was offered the Marlboro ad in 1953. He also began acting, appearing in the films ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962), ''The Creeping Terror'' (1964) as Dr. Bradford, and as Ben Wiley in ''Angel's Flight'' (1965). He was also the producer of ''Angel's Flight''. He was given the role of a Native American chief in a sportsmen's show in ...
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Phyllis Gates
Phyllis Lucille Gates (December 7, 1925 – January 4, 2006) was an American secretary and interior decorator, known for her three-year marriage to the actor Rock Hudson. The story of their marriage was depicted in the TV film ''Rock Hudson'' (1990), starring Daphne Ashbrook as Gates and Thomas Ian Griffith as Hudson. Early life Gates was born in Dawson, Minnesota to Leo Gates (1896–1970) and Mabel (née Johnson) Gates (1900–1999), and raised on a farm. She graduated from Clarkfield High School in June 1943. Early in her life, she worked as a sales clerk in a department store, airline stewardess, and secretary for a New York City talent agent, before moving to Hollywood to work for Hollywood talent agent Henry Willson, who represented actors Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Rory Calhoun. Marriage to Rock Hudson Gates met Rock Hudson in October 1954. They started dating some time later and were married in Santa Barbara, California, on November 9, 1955, shortly after he f ...
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Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golden Age of Hollywood, he achieved stardom with his role in ''Magnificent Obsession'' (1954), followed by ''All That Heaven Allows'' (1955), and ''Giant'' (1956), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hudson also found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co-starring Doris Day: ''Pillow Talk'' (1959), '' Lover Come Back'' (1961), and ''Send Me No Flowers'' (1964). During the late 1960s, his films included '' Seconds'' (1966), ''Tobruk'' (1967), and ''Ice Station Zebra'' (1968). Unhappy with the film scripts he was offered, Hudson turned to television and was a hit, starring in the popular mystery series ''McMillan & Wife'' (1971–1977). His last role was as a guest star on the fifth season ...
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