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Rebecca (1940) and My Du Maurier Kick

Well, it’s been awhile, but I find I have a little extra time on my hands (grumble, grumble). To be serious, I hope you’re doing well and especially feeling well, and we’ll leave the rest of that sort of talk at the door for now. I’d been working a draft of this post longer than I’d care to admit, so when I saw that it was Daphne Du Maurier’s birthday today I figured it was time to bite the…

Edward Arnold (1890-1956)

Born Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider in New York, this character actor charmed with his boisterous chuckle throughout Hollywood’s Golden Age. He fell in love with acting when he played Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venicein a production sponsored by the East Side Settlement House, and would make his professional debut soon after in 1905. As Edward Arnold he was a bit player…

Ricardo Cortez (1900-1977)

Born Jacob Krantz in New York City, this son of Jewish immigrants grew up in the right city to foster an early love of show business. He was doing odd jobs in theaters by the end of 1914,  and the following year began playing a number of non-speaking theatrical roles. In 1917 he worked as a movie extra and later had an unbilled role in The Imp(1919). As Jack Crane he…

Dolores Costello (1903-1979)

Best known today as Drew Barrymore’s grandmother, Dolores Costello was herself a second generation actor, daughter of early matinee idol Maurice Costello. Along with sister Helene Costello, Dolores had an early run as a child film star from 1909-1915, often in films featuring their famous father. Noted for her beauty, Costello worked as a model for illustrator James…

Movie Centenarians Updated to Include Nehemiah Persoff, Marge Champion

Sorry, no new mini-bio today. I’ve been working on an unrelated project this week and the clock just ticked a little too late Friday night for me to start a new bio from scratch, so—instead I updated my Movie Centenarians page for the first time since last October.

That last update was made to add Baby Peggy to the list. In the past couple of months the centenarians list has welcomed two new…

Karen Morley (1909-2003)

Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa, her adoptive parents believed she might be tubercular, so they moved to California’s better climate around 1922-23. Miss Linton attended Hollywood High School and did one year of premed at UCLA before discovering the theater. She worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, did one bit for Fox in Thru Different Eyes(1929), and was eventually…

Cedric Hardwicke (1893-1964)

British-born actor was well-established, knighted even, by the time he first worked in America, but upon arrival Hardwicke was a US fixture for almost thirty years. His father wanted him to be a doctor, but young Cedric happily flunked his entrance exams and entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) instead. He made his London stage debut in The Monk and the…

Clara Kimball Young (1890-1960)

Mid-1910s magazine polls tabbed her most popular actress in the world, but many of what were considered Clara Kimball Young’s best films are now lost, leaving her mostly forgotten. Born to show biz parents, Clara Kimball made her stage debut alongside them at age three, and continued that activity throughout her youth. The Young attached to her name after marrying…

Preston Foster (1900-1970)

Born in Ocean City, NJ, Preston Foster held a variety of jobs before going to Philadelphia for singing lessons. He was with a couple of opera companies in PA, then married and moved to New York to pursue a stage career. Foster credited Lionel Atwill for boosting him on the path to his Broadway debut in Congratulationsin 1929. His earliest film appearances came during…

Priscilla Dean (1896-1987)

A forgotten star with a foggy past, Priscilla Dean is said to have been born to stage parents, though my best effort says she was born Priscilla Fitzpatrick (see clipping below) and her mother, May or Mary Preston Dean, described as a stage star of yesteryear, was really a former housewife whose name(s) doesn’t appear in any media searches prior to her daughter’s fame.…

Raymond Massey (1896-1983)

Born in Toronto, Canada, Raymond Massey carried a lifelong love of theater into the Great War, where he served his country until wounded at Ypres. The Lieutenant returned to active service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force for a 1919 Siberian campaign, where he organized minstrel performances to help boost morale. Massey made his London stage debut in Eugene…

Charles Boyer (1899-1978)

Charles Boyer debuted on both stage and screen in his native France in 1920. When he first came to Hollywood he played leads in the 1931 French-language versions of The Big House and The Trial of Mary Dugan. His first English-speaking role came in The Magnificent Lie (1931), though you more likely first saw him cavorting with Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman(1932). He…

Laura La Plante (1904-1996)

Born in St. Louis, MO, La Plante moved to California with her mother after her parents divorced. A relative lived near Christie Comedies, who La Plante debuted for in an uncredited role in The Great Gamble (1919). She appeared in a few shorts, but her first break came as leading lady in First National feature The Old Swimmin’ Hole (1921). The Big Town Round-Up(1921)…

Gene Kelly (1912-1996)

Will be forever remembered stomping through puddles in the title song of beloved musical Singin’ in the Rain(1952), Gene Kelly’s career features a short peak, but a lasting legacy. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Kelly started dancing seriously in his teens. He graduated the University of Pittsburgh in 1933, and was soon working for a local dance studio partly owned by his mother.…

Joel McCrea (1905-1990)

A product of the West with pioneer ancestors, McCrea was a master in movie Westerns and a wealthy rancher off screen in Thousand Oaks, CA. Born in South Pasadena, McCrea graduated Hollywood High School and Pomona College. A boyhood paper route included several customers from the film industry including Western hero William S. Hart. After testing the stage in college, he…

Debra Paget (born 1933)

Was Lilia the water girl in her biggest film, Cecil B. De Mille’s epic The Ten Commandments (1956), and then appeared alongside Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender(1956) that same year. Born Debralee Griffin in Denver, CO, but soon relocated to Los Angeles because her mother saw potential for her children in Hollywood. Boy, was she ever right: While Debra Paget is the…

Marie Wilson (1916-1972)

Born in Anaheim, CA, Wilson graduated from high school in 1933, and was taking on bit parts in movies that same year. Flying Down to Rio (1933) and March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934) count among these earliest uncredited appearances. Her first billed role in a feature came in Stars Over Broadway(1935) for Warner Bros., the studio where she also gained notice in titles…