Monkey Business (1952), a comedy film directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn and Marilyn Monroe. It is a story about a chemist, who's life is turned upside down after one of the chimpanzees, mixes some chemicals together and pours the mix into the water cooler. After drinking the drink he feels like a new man... Barnaby leaves the laboratory.. getting a crew-cut and buying a wild, sportscoat.
Video:
In one of my favorite scenes in the film, is when Barnaby is at the car dealership, buying a new sports car and asks Miss Laurel (who has been sent to go out and find him) to go for a ride...
Houseboat (1958). Romantic/comedy starring Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer, Paul Petersen, Charles Herbert and Mimi Gibson. Directed by Melville Shavelson, who also directed the original 1968 version of Yours, Mine and Ours.
When Tom Winston, takes custody of his three children Elizabeth, David and Robert soon after their mother's death, he is surprised by their hostile feelings toward him. His sister-in-law, Carolyn Gibson, explains that after the loss of their mother, they are not doing well and little Robert seems to hate everyone and does nothing but play the harmonica.
Tom decides to take his children to Washington, D.C., where he rents a small apartment which turns out to be to small for all of them to live in.
After a concert, Robert takes off and hides in a rowboat on the Potomac River. Also attending the concert is Cinzia Zaccardi, who is traveling with her father, a famous Italian conductor, on a tour of the United States. Cinzia has a wild heart and wants a little fun, escapes by climbing out a window and into Robert's rowboat.
After realizing that the little boy is in the row boat, Cinzia spends time with him at a Amusement Park and later takes him home. Tom threatens to spank the boy until Cinzia suggests he be "a parent, not a policeman." Seeing that all three children like Cinzia, Tom, offers her a job to take care of them. At first Cinzia turns down the job and returns home but, after an argument with her father, she decides to accept the job.
When the guest house is accidentally demolished, Italian Angelo Donatello offers to sell Tom his rickety houseboat. Cinzia and the children work very hard to fix up the houseboat.
David, becomes tired his father's criticism and decides to run away one stormy night. When David's rowboat capsizes, Tom leaps into the river and saves him. When, Cinzia tells Tom to be more accepting of David, they realize that they are attracted to each other.
Tom begins to date Carolyn and buys her a dress for the country club dance. Just as, Carolyn and her friends arrive and after one of them insults Cinzia, Tom orders them from the houseboat. He then takes Cinzia to the country club dance and as they kiss, he realizes he is in love with her...
This is one of those feel good, funny, family films where Cary Grant's performance charms us right from the beginning.
Sophia Loren, lights up the screen and she seems a natural with the children.
Video: Movie trailer.
Mimi Gibson (October 19, 1948). After the death of her father, her mother took her and her sister to Los Angeles. At only 18 months, she was a calendar model, posing with cute animals. By age two she was performing in movies.
During the 1950's and early 1960's she would appear in 35 movies and over 100 TV programs. Her last roles was playing teenage girlfriend in episodes of My Three Sons.
In 1957 she and child actress Evelyn Rudie played the daughters of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in, The Wings of Eagles. She and Rudie were not credited. The same year she was in the horror B-movie, The Monster That Challenged the World.
In 1958 she had a role as Cary Grant's daughter with Paul Petersen and Charles Herbert playing her brothers in the romantic comedy, Houseboat. Gibson said, "I'd like to be remembered for Houseboat." She said "Houseboat was fun, wonderful and I loved it".
They filmed Houseboat for a month on location in Washington, D.C. The actual houseboat was on the Virginia (or south) side of the Potomac River. The scene at the amusement park was filmed at Glen Echo Amusement Park, on the northern side of the river. After the movie was finished, Loren gave Gibson a pendant with a houseboat on one side and "To Mimi from Sophia" on the other. Grant gave each of the kids a $50 savings bond.
In 1961 she performed in The Children's Hour. Gibson played a schoolgirl at a private school run by Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine.
On television, she appeared in eight Playhouse 90 dramas and many episodes of The Red Skelton Show, as well as some episodes of Whirlybirds.
In 1999 she testified before a California legislative panel on the need for statutory protection for child actors' earnings. She did this with Paul Petersen, who played her older brother in Houseboat. Petersen has remained a lifelong friend and is the founder in 1990 of A Minor Consideration, a non-profit group devoted to protecting and advancing the interests of child actors. Gibson has also been active in this group.
Today Gibson guards her privacy. She is happily married and raises goats and lamas.
1970 Honorary Oscar acceptance speech... "You know that I may never look at this without remembering the quiet patience of directors who were so kind to me, who were kind enough to put up with me more than once, some of them even three or four times. I trust they and all the other directors, writers and producers and my leading women have forgiven me for what I didn't know. You know that I've never been a joiner or a member of any particular social set, but I've been privileged to be a part of Hollywood's most glorious era".
That Touch of Mink(1962). Romantic/comedy starring Cary Grant and Doris Day, and directed by Delbert Mann. The film co-stars Gig Young, John Astin, Audrey Meadows and Dick Sargent. In addition, baseball stars Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra make cameo appearances.
Standing on a street corner Cathy Timberlake, is splattered with mud by a passing limousine belonging to tycoon Philip Shayne.
Later, Philip watches as Cathy enters an auto-mat and sends his financial adviser, Roger, to apologize and pay for her ruined dress. Insulted, Cathy decides to visit Philip personally to give him a piece of her mind. After meeting the handsome, suave, charmer, smitten... she agrees to join him on a business trip to Baltimore.
Philip then takes Cathy on a whirlwind trip to Philadelphia for cocktails, Manhattan for his speech at the U. N., and then on to a romantic dinner and a baseball game, where she sits with the NY team. He has romance on his mind when he suggests a trip to Bermuda. At first Cathy refuses, but later finds herself flying to the island with a beautiful new wardrobe, including a mink coat, gifted to her by her handsome date..
Cathy is so nervous about what is expected of her that she develops a skin rash and Philip spends the night playing gin rummy with another rejected man.
Back in New York, Cathy feels ashamed of herself and decides to return for a second attempt at romance. This time she gets drunk and falls off a balcony.
Philip, bored with her antics decides to move on and returns to New York without her. Cathy, can't live without him, comes up with a plan to make him jealous, by going to a motel with the creepy unemployment clerk, Beasley. Will Philip get there in time to rescue Kathy?
You maybe surprised how fun this movie really is.. A great story-line, fun locations and a beautiful wardrobe. Cary Grant, plays an overly-controlling but charming business executive. Doris Day is fun, but.. it's Audrey Meadows over-the-top performance as Doris Day's older and wiser roommate that steals the movie.
Fun Facts:
Cary Grant was a big fan of The Honeymooners and Audrey Meadows in particular, and was responsible for getting her the part of Connie.
In her autobiography, Doris Day wrote that Cary Grant was very professional and exacting with details, helping her with her wardrobe choices for the film and decorating the library set with his own books from home. However, he was a completely private person, totally reserved and very distant. Their relationship on this film was amicable but totally devoid of give-and-take.
When Roger (Gig Young)is showing Cathy (Doris Day) the list of potential husbands for her, we learn that one of the names on the list is Rock Hudson, Day's co-star in Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers.
Rock Hudson had expected to be cast as Philip, but director Delbert Mann wanted Cary Grant.
Cary Grant hated the finished film.
Doris Day (April 3, 1922), began her career as a big band singer in 1939. Her popularity began to rise after her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", in 1945.
After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to try a solo career, she started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records, which would remain her only recording label. The contract lasted from 1947 to 1967, and included more than 650 recordings, making Day one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century.
In 1948, after being persuaded by Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne and her agent at the time, Al Levy, she auditioned for Michael Curtiz, which led to her being cast in the female lead role in Romance on the High Seas.
Over the course of her career, Day appeared in 39 films. She was ranked the biggest box office star for four years (1960 1962–1964) and ranked in the top 10 for ten years (1951–1952, 1959–1966). She became the top-ranking female box office star of all time and is currently ranked sixth among the top 10 box office performers (male and female), as of 2012.
She also received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Pillow Talk, won three Henrietta Awards (World Film Favorite), the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award and, in 1989, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
Day made her last film in 1968.
Day has also released 29 albums, and her songs have spent a total of 460 weeks in the Top 40 charts.
She has been awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award from the Society of Singers.
In 2011, she released her 29th studio album My Heart, which debuted at #9 on the UK Top 40 charts.
Day is the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material.
Her strong commitment to animal welfare began in 1971, when she co-founded "Actors and Others for Animals". She started her own non-profit organization in the late 1970's, the Doris Day Animal Foundation and, later, the Doris Day Animal League. Establishing the annual observance Spay Day USA in 1994, The Doris Day Animal League now partners with the Humane Society of the United States and continues to be a leading advocacy organization.
In 2004, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in recognition of her distinguished service to the country.
Day has since retired from acting and performing, but has continued her work in animal rights causes and animal welfare. She currently lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Sylvia Sidney (August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999), was a character actress of stage, screen and film, who became popular in the 1930's performing mostly in crime dramas. Sidney, became an actress at the age of fifteen and was a student of the Theater Guild's School for Acting. Their first performance together was in the film, Merrily We Go to Hell(1932). A Pre-Code film starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney. The film's title was common in the Pre-Code era. Many newspapers refused to publicize the film because of its racy title.
Video: A few scenes from the film..
March plays a adulterous, alcoholic. The title is a line his character says while making a toast. Sylvia Sidney plays his wife, who, when she discovers his adultery, cheats on him with Cary Grant. This is an early performance by Cary Grant, in his third featured role. Before the end of 1932, Grant was Sidney's co-star in one of her most tender movie roles, Madame Butterfly(1932).
Madame Butterfly(1932). A Drama staring Cary Grant, who was still relatively new to films and on a fast rise to leading man status, giving one of his most important performances during his early years as an actor.
Video: A very young Cary Grant.
Sylvia Sidney reunited with Cary Grant for the third and final time in the classic film, Thirty-Day Princess(1934). Sylvia Sidney gives a rare performance in both comedy and playing dual personalities.
Video: Movie in full.
In 1926, she was seen by a Hollywood talent scout and made her first film appearance in, The Wagons Roll at Night (1941).
Some of her better known films are: An American Tragedy, City Streets and Street Scene (all 1931), Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage and Fritz Lang's Fury (both 1936), You Only Live Once, Dead End (both 1937) , The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Blood on the Sun (1945). Unfortunately, her career diminished during the 1940's.
In 1952, she played the role of Fantine in Les Miserables and her performance allowed her an opportunity to develop as a character actress.
Sidney appeared three times on CBS's Playhouse 90 anthology series.
On May 16, 1957, she appeared as Lulu Morgan, mother of singer Helen Morgan in "The Helen Morgan Story." In that same presentation Polly Bergen was nominated for an Emmy award for her portrayal of Helen Morgan. Four months later, Sidney joined Bergen, on the premiere of the short-lived NBC variety show, The Polly Bergen Show.
In 1973, Sidney received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams. As an elderly woman Sidney continued to play supporting screen roles, and was identifiable by her husky voice, the result of a lifetime cigarette smoking habit. She played Miss Coral in the film version of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and later was cast as Aidan Quinn's grandmother in the television show An Early Frost for which she won a Golden Globe Award.
She played Aunt Marion in Damien: Omen II and had key roles in Beetlejuice, as Juno, for which she won a Saturn Award and Used People (which co-starred Jessica Tandy, Marcello Mastroianni, Marcia Gay Harden, Kathy Bates and Shirley MacLaine)
Her final role was in another film by Burton, Mars Attacks!, in which she played a senile grandmother whose beloved Slim Whitman records stop an alien invasion from Mars when played over a loudspeaker.
On television, she appeared in the first episode as the mother of Gordon Jump in WKRP in Cincinnati; as the troubled grandmother of Melanie Mayron in the comedy-drama Thirtysomething and finally, as the crotchety travel clerk on the short-lived late-1990's revival of Fantasy Island with Malcolm McDowell, Fyvush Finkel and Mädchen Amick. She also appeared in an episode of Dear John.
Sidney's Broadway theatre career spanned five decades, from her debut performance as a graduate of the Theatre Guild School in the June 1926 3-act fantasy Prunella to the Tennessee Williams play Vieux Carré in 1977. Additional credits include The Fourposter, Enter Laughing, and Barefoot in the Park.
In 1982, Sidney was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
As a single woman, Sidney was involved in an affair with B.P. Schulberg at Paramount Pictures. When Schulberg's previous mistress, Clara Bow, began experiencing personal problems in 1931, Sidney replaced her in City Streets.
Sidney was married three times. She first married publisher Bennett Cerf on 1 October 1935, but the couple were divorced shortly after on April 9, 1936. She then was married to actor and acting teacher Luther Adler from 1938 until 1947, by whom she had a son, Jacob (Jody) (October 22, 1939 – 1987) who died of Lou Gehrig's disease. During her marriage to Luther Adler she was a sister-in-law to acclaimed stage actress and drama teacher Stella Adler. On March 5, 1947, she married radio producer and announcer Carlton Alsop. They were divorced on March 22, 1951.
Sidney died from throat cancer in New York City a month before her 89th birthday, after a career spanning more than 70 years. She bequeathed her black pug Malcolm to the National Arts Club, where the canine became a much loved mascot and noted attender of social events, celebrated in a short film by Carol Wilder.
She was skilled at needlepoint. She sold needlepoint kits featuring her designs and she published two popular instruction books: Sylvia Sidney's Needlepoint Book (1968) and The Sylvia Sidney Question and Answer Book on Needlepoint (1975).
To me Sylvia Sidney "look likes" Gene Tierney in this picture.
Kathlyn Williams (May 31, 1879 – September 23, 1960) was interested in becoming an actress, which lead her to become a member of a community thespian group. She also joined the Woman's Relief Corps that allowed her to sing at the local recitals.
Williams attended Montana Wesleyan University (now Rocky Mountain College) in Helena during the late 1890's and graduated in 1901, where she excelled in voice and her performances were highly praised.
In May 1899, she recited "The Gypsy Flower Girl" at her university's annual competition.
On May 29, 1900, Williams received a gold medal for her recitation of "Old Mother Goose" in a contest.
She caught the attention of William A. Clark, a very wealthy Montana Senator, who paid her tuition to the Sargent School of Acting which is now known as the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City.
She was also given encouragement by Richard "Uncle Dick" Sutton, who owned several theaters in Butte, where Williams performed on stage early in her career.
In 1900, her friends held a concert at Sutton's Theater for "Katie", to help raise funds to help pay for her college tuition. By 1902, Williams joined a theater touring group called Norris & Hall and Company where she played the lead part in the popular play "When We Were Twenty One."
Williams began her career with Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, Illinois and made her first film in 1908 under the direction of Francis Boggs.
By 1910, she was transferred to the company's Los Angeles film studio. Williams played "Cherry Malotte" in the first movie based upon Rex Beach's 1906 novel The Spoilers(1914), directed by Colin Campbell. It takes place in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, with William Farnum as Roy Glennister, Kathlyn Williams as Cherry Malotte and Tom Santschi as Alex McNamara. The film is known for it's spectacular saloon fistfight between Glennister and McNamara.
Video: Movie in full.
In 1916, she starred in the thirteen episode adventure film serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn. She was busy throughout the silent film era but age and the advent of talkies saw her make only five sound films, the last in 1935.
Williams was married three times. Her first husband was Otto H. "Harry" Kainer (1876–1952), who ran an import and export business on Wall Street in New York City. They were wed on October 2, 1903, and their son, Victor Hugo, was born in 1905. On May 8, 1905, she sued her husband for $20,000 dollars for not paying her $10,000 on the day of their marriage and for every year of their marriage. The case made headline news. They supposedly divorced over Kainer's disapproval of his wife having an acting career and Williams subsequently obtained a divorce from Kainer in 1909 in Nevada.
On March 4, 1913, she married Frank R. Allen, also an actor, but the marriage lasted a little over a year. On June 30, 1914, she filed for divorce in Los Angeles and listed desertion as the reason as the failure of their marriage.
She later married Paramount Pictures executive Charles Eyton on June 2, 1916. The couple met ten years earlier in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eyton went there to look over a new play. While there he met Kathlyn, who was a member of the Willard Mack stock company. Eyton and Williams were engaged earlier but a lover's quarrel broke them up. A second meeting in the movie camps of Los Angeles, California rekindled their love. Eyton was one of the owners of the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company.
On February 25, 1922, her beloved son, now called Victor Eyton, died suddenly at the age of 16 from complications from the influenza. He was previously enrolled at Harvard Military Academy before he became a student at Hollywood High School. In order to overcome her grief, the Eytons took a trip to Asia which lasted for four months. The Eytons eventually divorced in 1931.
On December 29, 1949, Williams was involved in a deadly automobile accident, which claimed the life of her friend, Mrs. Mary E. Rose, while they were returning home from Las Vegas. As a result of the accident, Williams lost her right limb. On April 8, 1950, Williams sued the estate of Rose for $136,615, citing negligence and claiming that the automobile had inefficient brakes. In June 1951, Williams accepted the offer of $6,500 dollars from the Rose estate.
Kathlyn Williams died of a heart attack in Hollywood in 1960. She was found in her apartment where she resided for nearly 30 years. Although it was widely reported that Williams became a wheelchair invalid since the loss of her leg, she still traveled and lead a productive life.
After her death, Williams bequeathed most of her assets, to charitable institutions: The McKinley Industrial Home for Boys, the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and to an orthopedic and children's hospital. One of her last dying wishes was for a plaque to be placed at The McKinley Industrial Home for Boys to celebrate the memory of her son.
Father Goose(1964). Romantic/comedy set in World War II. Cast: Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard. The title comes from "Mother Goose", the code-name assigned to Grant's character. The film won an Academy Award for its screenplay. The film introduced the song "Pass Me By" by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, later recorded by Peggy Lee'
At the outbreak of World War II, American whiskey-loving beachcomber Walter Eckland is tricked by his friend, Australian Navy Comdr. Frank Houghton, into becoming a coast-watcher on a lonely South Pacific island. Under the code name "Mother Goose."
With plans to rescue a spotter from another island, Eckland discovers that he has been killed by the Japanese and instead finds seven stranded schoolgirls and their goody two shoes French teacher, Catherine Freneau.
The two adults can not seem to get along, with Catherine trying to reform the unshaven Filthy Beast Eckland, of his drinking and salty language.
Things take a turn for the worse when the girls mistakenly tell Eckland that Catherine has been bitten by a poisonous snake. To ease her final hours, Eckland gets her drunk and admits that he used to be a history professor.
They fall in love and are married by radio during an air raid after it is revealed that the "snake" was actually a big stick. Houghton sends a submarine to rescue them but, the Japanese have different ideas...
Trevor Howard, is so believable in his part as Australian Navy Comdr. that he gives Gary Grant a run for his money. Cary and Leslie Caron make their unlikely match seem like a lot of fun...
Fun Facts:
Cary Grant always claimed his role in this film was most like his real personality. He claimed he kept in touch with most of the girls as they grew up and had families of their own.
Cary Grant was offered the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady but turned it down to star in this movie. He wanted Audrey Hepburn to play Catherine, but she was already committed to My Fair Lady.
The film features the same piece of stock footage of a submarine firing a torpedo that was used in Cary Grant's previous World War II comedy Operation Petticoat.
Cary Grant plays a scruffy whisky-swilling beachcomber sailor in this movie, Cary Grant is considered to be 'cast against type' as a suave sophisticated debonair on-screen persona.
Trevor Howard (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), was educated at Clifton College (to which he left a substantial legacy for a drama scholarship) and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), acting on the London stage for several years before World War II.
His first paid work was in the play Revolt in a Reformatory (1934), before he left RADA in 1935 to take small roles.
After a theatrical role in "The Recruiting Officer" (1943), Howard began also working with cinema with The Way Ahead (1944).
The Passionate Friends though, in which Howard played a similar character to Alec in Brief Encounter was not successful.
The Third Man (1949), in which he played a British military officer and during filming in Vienna, Howard visited the fairground which was, under the jurisdiction of the Russians, still wearing the uniform of a British Army Major, he was arrested. He was returned to the SIB after his true identity was proved.
He also starred in The Key (1958) for which he received the best actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Sons and Lovers (1960), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Another notable film was The Heart of the Matter (1953), from another Graham Greene story.
Over time Howard shifted to being one of Britain's finest character actors.
Howard's later films includ: Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Father Goose (1964), Morituri (1965), Von Ryan's Express (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Superman (1978), and Gandhi (1982). The Dawning (1988) was his final film.
One of his strangest films and one he took great delight in, was Vivian Stanshall's 1980 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in which he played the title role.
While continuing to work in film and occasionally theater, he also found work in television, winning an Emmy award for his role as the titular figure in The Invincible Mr Disraeli (1963) and being nominated for another for The Count of Monte Cristo (1975), in which he played Abbé Faria.
He declined a CBE in 1982.
Throughout his film career Howard insisted that all of his contracts held a clause excusing him from work whenever a cricket Test Match was being played.
He died on 7 January 1988, from a combination of bronchitis, influenza and jaundice, aged 74, survived by his widow Helen.
His favorite store was The Gap, because they stocked Levi’s 501s the only jeans he wore because they “got better with age” and bore no name tag something Grant detested on clothing.
Grant and Muhammad Ali would call each other on their birthday's, it so happens that their birthdays were only one day apart.
Howard Hughes on the far left and Cary Grant on the far right.
Howard Hughes was a good friend of Cary Grant. When he stopped over for a visit and they enjoyed steaks and ice cream.
Grace Kelly and Cary Grant
Grant sunbathed every day for 30 minutes to “keep that healthy glow,”wrinkles were the price to pay, but, he enjoyed those, too.
Grant kept a “candy drawer” filled with his “most cherished” sweets, including chocolate, marzipan, lemon drops and hard candies. Because he had grown up with war rationing, even when some of the candy turned bad, he had a hard time throwing them out.
Grant loved going to the Hollywood Park Racetrack, where he would take his race-day guests on a “food court tour” between the fourth and fifth races.
Doris Day and Cary Grant in That touch of Mink.
Grant loved being on the board of directors of major companies including MGM and Faberge, where he earned “horizontal money,” (a term he learned from Quincy Jones), referring to the money one could make “while you’re sleeping.”
Grant drove a sky blue Cadillac because the color was described on the dealership sticker as “Jennifer blue.” as long as they made them
Grant didn't want animals in the house calling dogs and cats unsanitary and germ-infested (though his daughter was allowed to have fish and turtles). After several years together, his fifth wife Barbara, broke down his resolve and brought a cat into the house.
Grant preferred the natural look on woman such as Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Bisset and Diane Keaton.
One of Cary Grant’s favorite board games was Trivial Pursuit, which the family played for the last time two days before his death.
Video: Cary Grant Home Movies.
When Grant wasn't on the movie sets, he retreated to a quiet, restored movie colony property in Palm Springs, CA. Grant lived at the 1.54-acre estate for over 20 years. The two-story, Spanish-inspired home is a historically designated site, built as a replica of a 19th-century Spanish farmhouse with original tiles and preserved details throughout.
Grant’s former Palm Springs home is a walled and gated property that includes a master suite with fireplace, balconies, and built-in dressing room, 5 additional bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, 5 total fireplaces, a Wallace Neff-designed guest wing, studio, double-height living room, and a great room with 40-ft ceilings. The immaculately maintained grounds also include rolling lawns, courtyards, and a saline swimming pool.
Charade(1963). Is a suspenseful and fun, romantic comedy/mystery directed by Stanley Donen. Cast: Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin.
The film is best known for: Grant and Hepburn's on screen chemistry and having been filmed on location in Paris, for Henry Mancini's score and theme song (Charade song), and for the animated titles by Maurice Binder. It has been referred to as "the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made."
Reggie Lampert, is on a skiing trip when tells her friend Sylvie Gaudel, that she has decided to divorce her husband Charles. After finding out that her husband has been murdered after taking all their money out in cash, which is also missing. She then meets a charming stranger, Peter Joshua, who changes his name at a drop of a hat:
Reggie Lampert: "So it's goodbye Alexander Dyle and welcome home Peter Joshua".
Adam Canfield: (shakes his head) "Sorry the name is Adam Canfield".
Reggie Lampert: "Adam Canfield? Wonderful! Do you realize you've had three names in the past two days? I don't even know who I'm talking to any more!"
His partners in crime are also very interested in where the money is. To make matters worse everyone believes Regina is hiding the money. Things become complicated when the bad guys start turning up dead. One never knows whether Gary Grant is a good guy or a bad guy.
Video: It was agreed that Cary Grant would not remove his shirt in the shower scene since he was nearly sixty and slightly overweight.
Dead Ringer, also known as Who is Buried in my Grave? (1964). Thriller directed by Paul Henreid from a screenplay by Oscar Millard and Albert Beich from the story La Otra by Rian James. The music score was by Andre Previn and the cinematography by Ernest Haller. Cast: Bette Davis, Karl Malden and Peter Lawford with Philip Carey, Jean Hagen, George Macready, Estelle Winwood, George Chandler and Cyril Delevanti. The jazz combo in Edie's Bar was composed of electronic organist Perry Lee Blackwell and drummer Kenny Dennis, both noted musicians, but uncredited in the film.
The film is the second time Davis played twin sisters, the first, A Stolen Life(1946). For this reason, Dead Ringer is sometimes mistakenly listed as a remake of A Stolen Life.
Lana Turner turned the film down because she didn't want to play twins.
After a separation of 18 years, Edith Philips meets her twin, Margaret de Lorca, at the funeral of her husband. When Edith learns that Margaret had tricked the man she loved into marriage, she lures Margaret to her apartment, signs her own name to a suicide note and then shoots her sister.
After changing clothes with her dead sister, she moves into the de Lorca mansion and begins living her sister's life. Things are going well until she meets Margaret's secret lover, Tony Collins.
He quickly learns the truth and threatens to blackmail her, Edith realizes that he and Margaret murderd de Lorca.
They begin to struggle and Tony is killed by the family's Great Dane. The police become suspicious and exhume the body of the dead husband. Arsenic is found and Edith is arrested for murder.
She tries to convince her former boyfriend, Sgt. Jim Hobbson, that she is really Edith, but... will he ever believe her story?
If you enjoy thrillers with lots of twist and turns, this movie is for you. Even though Bette's character is a murderess, you may hope for a minute that she gets away with it. The poker scene will keep you sitting at the edge of your seat. The supporting cast is also good, especially Karl Malden.
Jean Hagen (August 3, 1923 – August 29, 1977). She studied drama at Northwestern University and worked as a theater usherette before making her Broadway theatre debut in Another Part of the Forest in 1946.
On Broadway, she was understudy for Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday.
Her film debut was as a femme fatale in Adam's Rib in 1949. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) provided Hagen with her first starring role.
She appeared in the film noir Side Street (1950) playing a gangster's sincere, but none-too-bright, gun moll.
She is best remembered for her comic performance in Singin' in the Rain as the vain and talentless silent movie star Lina Lamont; Hagen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
By 1953, she was in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy. As the first wife of Danny Thomas, Hagen received three Emmy Award nominations, but after three seasons she left the series. Thomas, who also produced the show, reportedly didn't appreciate Jean leaving the series and her character was killed off. This was the first TV character to be killed off in a family sitcom. Marjorie Lord was cast a year later as Danny's second wife.
Hagen starred in the 1957 Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season 3, Episode 7, entitled "Enough Rope for Two".
She performed as Frida Daniels in The Shaggy Dog with Fred MacMurray.
In 1960, she appeared as "Elizabeth" in the episode "Once Upon a Knight" of CBS's series The DuPont Show with June Allyson.
Although she made frequent guest appearances in various television series, she was unable to successfully resume her film career and for the remainder of her career she played supporting roles: Marguerite LeHand, personal secretary to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello (1960), as the title character in season 2, episode 3 of The Andy Griffith Show titled "Andy and the Woman Speeder" (1961).
She performed as the friend of Bette Davis in, Dead Ringer (1964).
In the 1960's, Hagen's health began to decline and she spent many years hospitalized or under medical care.
In 1976, she made a comeback playing character roles in episodes of the television series: Starsky and Hutch and The Streets of San Francisco and made her final film appearance in the 1977 television movie Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn.
Jean Hagen married Tom Seidel on June 12, 1947. They had 2 children, Aric Phillip (born August 1950) and Christine (born May 16, 1952). She divorced Seidel on November 1, 1965.
Hagen died of esophageal cancer on August 29, 1977.
Hitchcock chose a 10-year-old Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead Coupe, for the 1963 thriller ‘The Birds’. Driven by socialite Melanie Daniels (played by Tippi Hedren) in the beautiful Californian seaside town Bodega Bay. The Aston Coupe, is also driven when they leave the house during the final scene...
The Drophead Coupe version of the DB2 was introduced in late 1950. The two-door original, with its small ‘letter box’ boot, had been re-engineered to make it into one of the world’s first hatchbacks, offering greater rear headroom, two rear seats and the convenience of a mainly glass tailgate.
Video: This is the closest video I could find that spotlights the car used in the classic film.. The Birds(1963).
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