|
Yolanda And The Thief
''Yolanda and the Thief'' is a 1945 American Technicolor MGM musical-comedy film set in a fictional Latin American country. It stars Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, and Mildred Natwick, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Arthur Freed. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Arthur Freed. The film was a long-time pet project of Freed's to promote his lover Bremer's career, but fared disastrously at the box office. An attempt to create a whimsical fantasy, it ended up, in the words of critic John Mueller, as "egg-nog instead of the usual champagne". Despite admirable production values, it ruined Bremer's career and discouraged Astaire, who decided to retire after his next film, '' Blue Skies''. Perhaps it also vindicated Astaire's own horror of "inventing up to the arty"—his phrase for the approach of those who would set out to create art, whereas he believed artistic value could only emerge as an accidental and unpremeditated by-product of a t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli (born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American stage director and film director. He directed the classic movie musicals ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944), ''An American in Paris'' (1951), ''The Band Wagon'' (1953), and '' Gigi'' (1958). ''An American in Paris'' and ''Gigi'' both won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Minnelli winning Best Director for ''Gigi''. In addition to having directed some of the best known musicals of his day, Minnelli made many comedies and melodramas.Obituary ''Variety'', July 30, 1986. He was married to Judy Garland from 1945 until 1951; the couple were the parents of Liza Minnelli. Early life Lester Anthony Minnelli was born on February 28, 1903, to Marie Émilie Odile Lebeau and Vincent Charles Minnelli. He was baptized in Chicago, and was the youngest of four known sons, only two of whom survived to adulthood. His mother's stage name was Mina Gennell, and his father was the musical cond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin America
Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived from Latin — are predominantly spoken. The term was coined in the nineteenth century, to refer to regions in the Americas that were ruled by the Spanish, Portuguese and French empires. The term does not have a precise definition, but it is "commonly used to describe South America, Central America, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean." In a narrow sense, it refers to Spanish America plus Brazil (Portuguese America). The term "Latin America" is broader than categories such as ''Hispanic America'', which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries; and ''Ibero-America'', which specifically refers to both Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries while leaving French and British excolonies aside. The term ''Latin America'' was f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An American In Paris
''An American in Paris'' is a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by American composer George Gershwin first performed in 1928. It was inspired by the time that Gershwin had spent in Paris and evokes the sights and energy of the French capital during the '. Gershwin scored the piece for the standard instruments of the symphony orchestra plus celesta, saxophones, and automobile horns. He brought back four Parisian taxi horns for the New York premiere of the composition, which took place on December 13, 1928, in Carnegie Hall, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic. It was Damrosch who had commissioned Gershwin to write his Concerto in F following the earlier success of ''Rhapsody in Blue'' (1924). He completed the orchestration on November 18, less than four weeks before the work's premiere. He collaborated on the original program notes with critic and composer Deems Taylor. Background Although the story is likely apocryphal, Gershwin is said to have been attra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessible to the general public, "dance for the common man." He starred in, choreographed, and co-directed with Stanley Donen some of the most well-regarded musical films of the 1940s and 1950s. Kelly is best known for his performances in ''An American in Paris'' (1951), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), which he and Donen directed and choreographed, and other musical films of that era such as ''Cover Girl'' (1944) and ''Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. '' On the Town'' (1949), which he co-directed with Donen, was his directorial debut. Later in the 1950s, as musicals waned in popularity, he starred in ''Brigadoon'' (1954) and ''It's Always Fair Wea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugene Loring
Eugene Loring (August 2, 1911 – August 30, 1982) was an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and administrator. Biography Eugene Loring was born as Le Roy Kerpestein, the son of a saloon-keeper, grew up on a small island in Wisconsin's Milwaukee River. He took gymnastic lessons. His artistic education in Milwaukee was formative. Nine years of piano training developed his musical ability broadly into orchestration, and his work with the Wisconsin Players, particularly under the direction of Russian native Boris Glagolin, developed his strong theatrical sense and gave him an awareness of dance as a theatrical force. With savings from his job as a hardware-store manager, Loring went to New York City near the depth of the Great Depression in 1934, and was taken into George Balanchine's and Lincoln Kirstein's newly formed School of American Ballet. With the Russian Imperial training given by SAB, he danced with Balanchine's first American company, American Ballet, and even aud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Visaroff
Michael Simeon Visaroff (December 18, 1889 – February 27, 1951) was a Russian American film character actor. Biography Visaroff was born Mikhail Semenonovich Vizarov (Russian: Михаил Семёнович Визаров) in Moscow, Russia. He was a graduate of the Russian Principal Dramatic School. Visaroff started his career on stage: In July 1922, Visaroff came to the United States with a group from the Kamerny Theatre in Moscow. With a 14-week leave of absence from Russia, the group planned to present 12 plays, each lasting one week, in a Broadway theater. He eventually made the transition to film, appearing in more than 110 films between 1925 and 1952. He was best known for his uncredited appearance in an early scene of ''Dracula'' (1931) as the nervous Hungarian innkeeper who, as Renfield is traveling to meet the Count, warns him about the actual existence of vampires. Personal life When Visaroff came to the US in July 1922 he was already married to Nina Visar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gigi Perreau
Gigi Perreau (born February 6, 1941) is an American film and television actress. Early years The daughter of French-born Robert and Eleanor Child Perreau-Saussine, she was born Ghislaine Elizabeth Marie Thérèse Perreau-Saussine. Career Perreau achieved success as a child actress in a number of films. She got into the business quite by accident. Her older brother Gerald was trying out for the part of the title character's son in ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Because their mother could not find a babysitter, she took Gigi along. The two-year-old, who could speak French, got the (uncredited) part of Madame Curie's daughter Ève (while Gerald would have to wait a year to make his film debut in ''Passage to Marseille''). She also played the daughter of Claude Rains and Bette Davis's characters in the 1944 film ''Mr. Skeffington'' (1944). In '' Shadow on the Wall'' (1950), she starred as the sole witness to a murder. As the "top child movie actress for 1951", the then ten-year-old wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leon Belasco
Leon Belasco (born Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky; 11 October 1902 – 1 June 1988) was a Russian-American actor and musician who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films. Musical career Born in Odessa, Russian Empire, Belasco attended St. Joseph College in Yokohama, Japan, and trained as a musician in Japan and Manchuria. He was briefly the concertmaster of the Japanese-Russian Symphony Orchestra, a predecessor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. When he moved on his own to California in 1921 (leaving his parents and brother behind in Harbin, Manchuria), Belasco found occasional work in Hollywood. He made his film debut in 1926 in the silent film ''The Best People''. To supplement his income, he played the violin. Later he formed his own band, which mainly performed in hotels in and around New York City. The Andrews Sisters were introduced through his band. In 1933, Belasco and his orchestra were heard on the ''Old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Pierlot
Francis Pierlot (July 15, 1875 – May 11, 1955) was a stage and film actor with over 90 film credits between 1914 and 1953. The Massachusetts-born actor's first film credit was in 1914, but he did not begin appearing in films full-time until 1940, when he was 63 years old. He specialized in playing grey-haired well dressed characters in small parts including judges, priests and lawyers. One of Pierlot's larger roles was as Jean Simmons' manservant in his final film, the biblical epic ''The Robe'' (1953). He died in Hollywood, California, at age 79. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Partial filmography *''The Path Forbidden'' (1914) - Bug Hicks *''The Night Angel'' (1931) - Jan *''Escape to Glory'' (1940) - Professor Mudge *'' The Captain Is a Lady'' (1940) - Roger Bartlett *'' Strike Up the Band'' (1940) - Mr. Judd *'' Always a Bride'' (1940) - Pete Bond *''Victory'' (1940) - McKenzie (uncredited) *''The Trial of Mary Dugan'' (1941) - John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Stössel
Ludwig Stössel (12 February 1883 – 29 January 1973) was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Biography Stössel began performing on the stage in Austria and Germany when he was only 17. He soon became a successful character actor and performed on the most prestigious stages in Germany, among them the Max Reinhardt, the stage and the in Berlin. Stössel later became a movie actor. His first motion picture was a small role in the silent movie ''In der Heimat, da gibt's ein Wiedersehn!'' (''We'll Meet Again in the Homeland'') in 1926 at the age of 43. He appeared in about a half dozen silent movies in Germany and landed more roles with the arrival of sound. Stössel's first sound movie was Georg Wilhelm Pabst's ''Skandal um Eva'' (''(Scandalous Eva)'') in 1930. The following year, he appeared in Max Neufeld's ''Opernredoute'' (''The Opera Ball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leon Ames
Leon Ames (born Harry L. Wycoff;U.S. Federal Census for 1910 for Fowler, Center Township, Benton County, State of Indiana, access via Ancestry.com January 20, 1902 – October 12, 1993) was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing father figures in such films as ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944) with Judy Garland as one of his daughters, '' Little Women'' (1949), '' On Moonlight Bay'' (1951), and '' By the Light of the Silvery Moon'' (1953). The fathers whom Ames portrayed were often somewhat stuffy and exasperated by the younger generation, but ultimately kind and understanding. Probably his best-known purely dramatic role was as DA Kyle Sackett in the crime film '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1946). Early years Leon Ames was born on January 20, 1902, in Portland, Indiana, son of Charles Elmer Wycoff and his wife Cora Ames De Moss (Ames) Some sources list his original last name as "Wykoff" or "Waycoff", and in his early films, he acted under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Nash (actress)
Mary Nash (born Mary Honora Ryan; August 15, 1884 – December 3, 1976) was an American actress. Early life Mary and her younger sister, author/actress Florence, were born to James H. Ryan, a lawyer, and his wife, Ellen Frances (née McNamara). The sisters adopted the surname of their stepfather, Philip F. Nash, a vaudeville booking executive, who married their mother after the death of their father. Fortuitously, the name change would avoid conflict with actress Mary Ryan, who achieved Broadway popularity before Nash. Nash attended the Convent of St. Anne in Montreal and trained for acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Nash was Catholic. Stage and film career She was a stage actress in New York and London, and vaudeville. After brief appearances as a dancer at the Herald Square Theatre in 1904, she made her off-Broadway debut on Christmas Day 1905 as Leonora Dunbar in James M. Barrie's ''Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire'', which starred Ethel Barrymore. She remained with Barrym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_1.jpg "Click for more on -> Leon Belasco")