MacMurray was married twice. He married Lillian Lamont, his first wife, on June 20, 1936, and the couple adopted two children, Susan (b. 1940) and Robert (b. 1946). After Lamont died on June 22, 1953, he married actress June Haver the following year.
He and Haver adopted two more children, twins Katherine and Laurie (b. 1966).
In 1941 MacMurray purchased land in the Russian River Valley in Northern California and established MacMurray Ranch. He spent time there when not making films, raising of prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle.
MacMurray wanted the property's agricultural heritage preserved, and it was thus sold in 1996 to Gallo, which planted vineyards on it for wines that bear the MacMurray Ranch label.
Kate MacMurray, daughter of Haver and MacMurray, now lives on the property (in a cabin built by her father), and is carrying on her family's legacy and the heritage of MacMurray Ranch."
The Apartment is a 1960 film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's follow-up to Some Like It Hot. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture.
The Apartment is not your typical fuzzy feel good Christmas story. Although.. I still feel that it is a wonderful classic, in which you will see Fred MacMurray in a very different role.
Please click here to view past review: The Apartment(1960).
Ray Walston (November 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was a stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian.
He is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific (1949/1958), Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees (1955/1958), J.J. Singleton in The Sting (1973), high school teacher Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Judge Henry Bone on the drama series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
He started acting at an early age, as a "spear carrier" at many New Orleans theaters.
He played small roles with stock companies, where he not only starred in traveling shows but also worked at a movie theater, selling tickets and cleaning the stage floors. His family moved to Dallas, Texas, where he joined Margo Jones, theater company. He later traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent three years with the Cleveland Play House.
He then traveled to New York City, where he made his Broadway debut in a 1945 production of Hamlet. Three years later, Walston became one of the first members admitted to the newly formed Actors Studio.
In 1949, he appeared in the short-lived play Mrs. Gibbons' Boys directed by George Abbott, who later cast him as Satan in the musical, Damn Yankees(1955), with Gwen Verdon. They both won awards for their performances. After a decade in New York theater, he won a Tony Award, and he and Verdon were invited to reprise their roles in the 1958 film version.
He starred as Luther Billis in the London production of South Pacific(1949). He reprised that role in the 1958 film adaptation. He and Juanita Hall (as Bloody Mary) were the only cast members to appear in both the stage and movie versions.
Additional Broadway performances: The Front Page, Summer and Smoke, King Richard III, Wish You Were Here and House of Flowers, Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet.
Walston had a successful movie career beginning with: Kiss Them for Me (1957), South Pacific (1958), Say One for Me (1959); Tall Story, with Anthony Perkins and Jane Fonda, Portrait in Black, and The Apartment (all in 1960), Convicts 4 (1962), Wives and Lovers, and Who's Minding the Store? (both in 1963), Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), Caprice (1967), and Paint Your Wagon (1969).
Walston is also featured in the 1973 Best-Picture-Winner The Sting, in which he is crucial to the successful swindling of an unsuspecting griftee (played by Robert Shaw) and in Silver Streak. He also played Mr. Timmer, a prominent character in the 1986 BMX movie "Rad".
He was also among many of the actors who played themselves in cameos for, The Player (1992), although Walston along with several other stars, are actually in character for a movie within a movie sequence.
Walston narrated many U.S. Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy) films about nuclear experiment, including, the Operation Hardtack I nuclear test film series of 1958.
He made many guest performances in the television shows beginning with, The Outlaws 1960-1961. Walston, was best known playing the title character ("Uncle Martin") on My Favorite Martian from 1963 to 1966, with Bill Bixby. My Favorite Martian, had typecast Walston and he had difficulty finding more serious roles after the show's cancellation.
He later, became a popular character actor in television of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a guest star in the shows: Custer, The Wild Wild West, Love, American Style, The Rookies, Mission: Impossible, Ellery Queen, The Six Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, and The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby (in which he played Jasper the Magician in an episode called "My Favorite Magician").
In 1976 he played the part of sleazy Edgar Whiney in the film, Silver Streak.
Walston was also known for playing Starfleet Academy groundskeeper "Boothby" in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later on Star Trek: Voyager.
From 1980 to 1992, Walston starred in fourteen movies: 1981's Galaxy of Terror, and 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (as well as its 1986 television adaptation) as Mr. Hand.
In 1984, Walston played a judge on an episode of, Night Court. Six years later, he would work with David E. Kelley while guest-starring on L.A. Law. These roles led to his work as Judge Henry Bone on Picket Fences. Judge Bone was originally a recurring role on the show, but Walston proved to be so popular that he was given a starring role the following year.
In his late 70s, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for the first time.
Walston made an appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Boothby, head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and then reprised the character twice on Star Trek: Voyager, despite the series being set in a distant part of the galaxy.
During his appearance on Star Trek: Voyager in "In the Flesh", he often had trouble with remembering his lines during long one-shot dialogue scenes, but while the cameraman was changing the film for the scene in the briefing room, he quoted a line from Hamlet. Robert Beltran then quoted the next line, and Walston the next. The two went on for several minutes, amazing the entire cast and crew.
In 1985, Walston made a brief appearance in the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories, as a caveman acting out a story for his tribe. Only a few seconds long, this performance began every episode of the subsequent series.
In 1992, Walston played the role of Candy in the big-screen remake of, Of Mice and Men. He would work alongside Sinise again two years later in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand.
Walston was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for, Picket Fences, winning twice, in 1995 and 1996. Though Walston enjoyed his work in the series, its ratings were beginning to slip, and CBS cancelled the show after four seasons in 1996.
However, Walston made a guest appearance in an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman entitled "Remember Me", in which he portrayed the father of Jake Slicker, who was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.
As his career was coming to an end he played Grandfather Walter Adams, in the Addams Family Reunion (1998), the second sequel to the1991 film, The Addams Family, this time starring Tim Curry as Gomez Addams and Daryl Hannah as Morticia Addams.
One year later, he appeared in the movie remake of his hit series, My Favorite Martian (1999). His final movie role was in the independent film, Early Bird Special.
He also appeared in an AT and T, TV commercial in which his dialogue implied he was Uncle Martin from Mars, looking for good rates to talk to fellow Martians living in the United States. Just before his death, his final TV guest appearance was on, 7th Heaven.
Walston, died at the age of 86 on New Year's Day 2001 in Beverly Hills, California after a 6-year battle with lupus. He was survived by his widow, Ruth, his daughter, Katherine Ann, and two grandchildren.
Swing High, Swing Low(1937). Romantic/musical starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray. This is the second film adaptation, after The Dance of Life (1929) and before When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948).
While traveling by cruise ship, Maggie King, masquerading as a hairdresser to pay her way to California, meets a soldier named, Skid Johnson. After they arrive, Skid offers to drive Maggie and her friend Ella into Panama City and introduces them to his roommate, Harry. Skid, gets into a fight defending Maggie, at a night club and they both land in jail.
After they go before a judge the next morning, Maggie's, ship has sailed on without her. Harry and Skid, invite her to move in with them. Skid, gambles away his trumpet and Maggie convinces Murphy, the owner of a cafe, to give her the money to buy back Skid's trumpet and then hire him to play at the club.
After Maggie, becomes angry with Skid, who spent the night with Anita, a girl who works at the club. Skid, decides to marry to Maggie.
A New York agent, tells Skid about a job in New York at the El Greco. Skid is a big hit, with Anita's help, but.. he keeps putting off sending money for Maggie's ticket to join him. Concerned Maggie, borrows money from Murphy and sends a telegram to Skid, but .. Anita, sees it first and tosses it out. When Maggie, arrives in New York, with no one to meet her, she calls Anita's room and Skid answers the phone. Heartbroken, Maggie files for divorce, will Maggie have a change of heart and get back together with Skid?
The lead was originally offered to Gary Cooper, who turned it down, then to Bing Crosby, who also turned it down, then to Fred Mac, who took it.
I loved the night club scene with Anthony Quinn. Wonderful little movie for all Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray fans.
Jean Dixon (July 14, 1896 – February 12, 1981). While living in France, she studied dramatics under Sarah Bernhardt.
She was on the Broadway stage a number of years before Hollywood called her in 1929.
She mostly played the streetwise, smart-mouthed friend of the leading lady.
Her most famous performance was in the film, My Man Godfrey (1936).
Filmography:
The Lady Lies (1929)
The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933)
Sadie McKee (1934)
I’ll Love You Always (1935)
She Married Her Boss (1935)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
You Only Live Once (1937)
Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
Holiday (1938)
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
Dive Bomber(1941). Directed by Michael Curtiz. It is known for both its beautiful photography of pre-World War II United States Navy aircraft and as a historical document of the US in 1941, including the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, one of the best known World War II US warships.
The film was the last of a collaboration between director Curtiz and actor Errol Flynn, which began in 1935 and spanned 12 films. The cast also includes: Fred Mac Murray, Alexis Smith, in her first credited screen performance. Flynn, plays a doctor who works on medical research on pilots, with Mac Murray plays the skeptical veteran aviator. The plot is not historically accurate but, contains elements of true events that were part of the aeromedical research.
Dive Bomber was nominated for an Oscar for Best Color Cinematography at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942. The movie is dedicated to the flight surgeons of the US armed forces, in recognition of their efforts to solve the problems of aviation medicine.
During pre-war operations from an aircraft carrier off Hawaii, the VB-4 "High Hats" bomber Squadron arrive in San Diego, one of the pilots blacks out during a high speed dive and crashes. At the base hospital, Navy Lt. Doctor Doug Lee convinces the Senior Surgeon to operate but the pilot dies on the operating table. After Blake blames Lee for making the wrong decision, the doctor decides to become a flight surgeon.
On completion of his flight training, Dr. Lee becomes a assistant for Dr. Lance Rogers, who is working on altitude sickness project that affects pilots in dive bombers. Lee flies with Blake as his pilot and observes Blake blacking out. He experiments with the successfully flight tests it himself. Even though he has qualified as a pilot, Lee is considered a "grandstander". His judgment over pilots' ability to fly comes into question when he grounds a pilot, Lt. Tim Griffin, who is suffering from chronic fatigue. In anger, Griffin quits the Navy, and joins the RAF in Canada but visits his old squadron when he is flies a new fighter from the Los Angeles. On his return flight, Griffin, finds himself in trouble and is killed attempting to land at an emergency field.
Lt. Commander Blake, volunteers as a "guinea pig" pilot for aerial experiments. The first flight test of a pressurized cabin nearly ends in disaster when Blake passes out, forcing Dr. Lee to take over. During ground testing of a new invention of a pressure suit, Blake realizes that he will not pass his physical and will be grounded. Will Blake go ahead and make the test flight successfully?
I thought this was an exciting and beautifully filmed aviation drama about two naval officers who put aside their personal differences to work together. Mac Murray and Flynn, have very different acting styles, but also work very well together.
Clint Eastwood:
1964 A Fistful of Dollars
1965 For a Few Dollars More
1966 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1967 Le streghe
1968 Hang 'Em High
Coogan's Bluff
Where Eagles Dare
In 1963 Eastwood's co-star on Rawhide, Eric Fleming, rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western, A Fistful of Dollars. Knowing that he could play a cowboy Harrison suggested Eastwood, who saw the film as a wonderful opportunity.
Eastwood later spoke about the transition from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero." Eastwood, created the Man with No Name character, who smoked cigars.
The film was the beginning of spaghetti westerns and Eastwood became a major star in Italy and he also performed in, For a Few Dollars More (1965). Two months later Eastwood began work on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which he again played the, Man with No Name.
The Dollars trilogy was not shown in the United States until 1967 when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in December. All the films were successful and turned Eastwood into a major film star. Stardom brought more "tough guy" roles for Eastwood. Next, he signed up to perform in the western, Hang 'Em High (1968). Across between Rawhide and Leone's westerns. Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after the Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California.
While Eastwood was working on his next film, Coogan's Bluff, Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became one of Eastwood's close friends, that would last for more than ten years. Coogan's Bluff also became the first of many collaborations with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later score the jazzy themes to Eastwood's films. Eastwood created the prototype for his role as a cop of the Dirty Harry films.
Next he went on to perform in, Where Eagles Dare(1968), about a World War II squad parachuting into the mountains.
Eastwood then performed in his only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Eastwood and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Rock Hudson:
Seconds (1966)
Lover Come Back (1961)
Ice Station Zebra (1968)
Send Me No Flowers (1964)
In the 60s Hudson, performed in many romantic comedies such as: Pillow Talk, the first of several co-starring with Doris Day. This was followed by Lover Come Back, Come September, Send Me No Flowers, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Spiral Road, and Strange Bedfellows. Along with Cary Grant was regarded as one of the best-dressed male stars in Hollywood. He also performed in the science-fiction thriller, Seconds (1966). The film flopped but it later gained cult status, and Hudson's performance is often regarded as one of his best. He also tried his hand in the action genre with Tobruk (1967), the lead in 1968's spy thriller Ice Station Zebra, a role which he said was his personal favorite, and the western, The Undefeated (1969).
Kirk Douglas:
Spartacus (1960)
Seven Days in May (1964)
War Wagon, The (1967)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Douglas, was a major box office star in the 60s, performing in many westerns such as, In Lonely Are the Brave (1962), his own favorite of his performances, Douglas plays a cowboy trying to live by his own code, much as he did in real life.
Douglas played many military men like in the films: Town Without Pity (1961), The Hook (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), Heroes of Telemark (1965), In Harm's Way (1965), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), Is Paris Burning (1966). Douglas played the lead with an all-star cast in, Spartacus (1960). He was also the executive producer. Douglas also performed in comedies, such as in the film, For Love or Money (1963).
Douglas made a couple of films in the 60s with Burt Lancaster: The List of Adrian Messenger(1963)and Seven Days in May (1964).
Douglas stated that the keys to acting success are determination and application, "You must know how to function and how to maintain yourself, and you must have a love of what you do. But an actor also needs great good luck. I have had that luck."Douglas had great vitality, "It takes a lot out of you to work in this business. Many people fall by the wayside because they don’t have the energy to sustain their talent.".
Cary Grant:
Charade (1963)
Father Goose (1964)
Walk Don't Run (1966)
That Touch of Mink (1962)
In the mid-1950s, Grant formed his own production company, Granart Productions, and produced a number of movies in the 60s such as: That Touch of Mink and Father Goose (1964).
In 1963, he also performed opposite Audrey Hepburn in the film, Charade (1963). His last feature film was Walk, Don't Run.
Grant was the first actor to "go independent" by not renewing his studio contract. Because of this he decided which movies he was going to perform in, he also had the choice of the directors and his co-stars and at times even negotiated a share of the gross, something uncommon at the time.
Fred MacMurray :
Apartment, The (1960)
Absent Minded Professor, The (1961)
Son of Flubber (1963)
Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
In the 1960s, he starred in My Three Sons, which ran for 12 seasons, making it one of America's longest-running TV show. MacMurray, stared in 1961 as Professor Ned Brainerd in Disney's, The Absent-Minded Professor and in its sequel, Son of Flubber, in 1964.
MacMurray, had a provision in his "Sons" contract that all his scenes be shot first. This freed him to pursue his film work and golf . It's also interesting to note that two character names on "My Three Sons" were named after his real life children, Rob (as in Rob Douglas) and Katherine (Kate); he often referred to his TV son Robbie as 'Rob' and later TV daughter-in-law Katie Douglas as 'Kate.'
He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. He joined Bob Hope and James Stewart to campaign for Richard Nixon in 1968.
He was one of the wealthiest actors of the 60s and MacMurray usually brought a brown bag lunch to work. Friends and business associates referred to him as "the thrifty multimillionaire."
Jack Lemmon :
Apartment, The (1960)
Odd Couple, The (1968)
Great Race, The (1965)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Lemmon, was a favorite actor of director Billy Wilder, who felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting. In the Wilder biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat". The biography also quotes Jack Lemmon as saying, "I am particularly susceptible to the parts I play... If my character was having a nervous breakdown, I started to have one".
He also had a longtime working relationship with director Blake Edwards, starring in in the 60s films: Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965) and That's Life! (1986).
Days of Wine and Roses (1962) was one of his favorite roles. He portrayed Joe Clay, a young, fun-loving alcoholic businessman. In that film, Lemmon delivered the line, "My name is Joe Clay ... I'm an alcoholic." Three and a half decades later, he admitted on the television program, Inside the Actors Studio, that he was not acting when he delivered that line, that he really was a recovering alcoholic at the end of his life.
Lemmon's production company JML produced Cool Hand Luke in 1967. Paul Newman was grateful to Lemmon for his support and offered him the role later made famous by Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but Lemmon turned it down. He did not like riding horses and he also felt he'd already played too many aspects of the Sundance Kid's character before.
Lemmon often performed in films with Walter Matthau. Among their pairings was 1968's The Odd Couple, as Felix Ungar (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau).
William Holden:
Wild Bunch, The (1969)
Paris - When It Sizzles (1964)
Casino Royale (1967)
Devil's Brigade, The (1968)
Holden was forced by studio contracts to perform in films such as, Paris When It Sizzles (1964), also co-starring Audrey Hepburn. By the mid-1960s, his career was beginning to fade.
Robert Redford:
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
Redford, made his screen debut in the film, War Hunt (1962). Later he was cast in larger roles in movies such as, In Inside Daisy Clover (1965) with Natalie Wood, they also performed together in the film, This Property Is Condemned (1966). The same year saw his first teaming with Jane Fonda in, The Chase. Fonda and Redford were paired again in the film, Barefoot in the Park (1967) also the film, The Electric Horseman (1979).
Redford was cast in the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), scripted by William Goldman, in which he was paired for the first time with Paul Newman. The film cemented his screen image as an intelligent, reliable, good guy.
Redford did have a few box office flops, Downhill Racer (1969) and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969).
Anthony Quinn:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Guns of Navarone, The (1961)
Barabbas (1962)
Alexis Zorbas (1964)
By the 60s Quinn, was beginning to show his age and began his transformation into a major character actor. He played a Greek resistance fighter in the film, The Guns of Navarone (1961), a ex-boxer in the film, Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Auda abu Tayi in the film, Lawrence of Arabia (both 1962). He also played the title role in Barabbas. The success of the film, Zorba the Greek (1964) which won him another Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Other films include: The 25th Hour (1967), The Magus (1968), Guns for San Sebastian with Charles Bronson and The Shoes of the Fisherman, where he played a Ukrainian pope. In 1969, he starred in the film, The Secret of Santa Vittoria .
Henry Fonda:
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
Longest Day, The (1962)
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Boston Strangler, The (1968)
In the 60s Fonda, was still performing in the western television series The Deputy (1959–1961), in which he starred as Marshal Simon Fry. The 1960s also saw Fonda perform in many war and western epics, including 1962's The Longest Day and How the West Was Won, 1965's In Harm's Way and Battle of the Bulge. In the Cold War suspense film Fail-Safe (1964), Fonda played the President of the United States who tries to prevent a nuclear holocaust through tense negotiations with the Soviets after American bombers are mistakenly ordered to attack the USSR. He also performed in the light-hearted film, Spencer's Mountain (1963), which was the inspiration for the TV series, The Waltons.
Fonda , performed against type as the villain 'Frank' in, 1968's Once Upon a Time in the West.
Fonda's was good friends with Jimmy Stewart and they teamed up to work on the film, Firecreek(1968), where Fonda once again played the bad guy.
Double Indemnity(1944). Noir, directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.
This film noir is one of best murder mysteries of all time. The story begins when Walter Neff, a insurance salesman, returns to his office late one night after he has been shot. He sits down at his desk and begins dictating a memo for his boss Barton Keyes.
The dictation tells how Neff, meets Phyllis Dietrichson at her home to renew a car insurance policy for her husband. Phyllis, asks how she could take out a policy on her husband's life without his knowing it. Neff, realizes she is up to no good.
Neff's, libido quickly takes over and he agrees that together, they will kill her husband. Neff comes up with a plan in which Phyllis's husband will die an accidental death. The couple carry out their plan. Investigator Keyes, has a nagging feeling that Dietrichson and a accomplice must be behind the husband's death.
Fred Murray and Edward G. Robinson give perfect performances, but... it is Barbara Stanwyck, who really makes the film with her talent to exploit men.
Pushover (1954). Film noir notable for being the first film to feature Kim Novak in a starring role. The picture also stars Fred MacMurray as a good cop gone bad. It was adapted from two novels, The Night Watch by Thomas Walsh and Rafferty by William S. Ballinger. Other cast members: Philip Carey and Dorothy Malone.
Bank robbers, Harry Wheeler and his partner kill a policeman and pocket $200,000. After the police investigation, headed by Lt. Carl Ekstrom, he knows Wheeler as the man responsible. Eckstrom assigns detective Paul Sheridan to befriend Wheeler's girl friend, Lona McLane.
Paul plans a meeting with Lona and they quickly fall in love. Paul takes Lona to his apartment, then spends the next several days with her.
Later, Eckstrom, Paul and his partner, Rick McAllister, plan a stakeout across from Lona's apartment, and wait for Wheeler to contact her. They watch as Lona leaves the apartment, Paul follows her, to his apartment. He meets her there and she accuses him of being a cop. Paul admits to being a detective, but tells her that he has been seeing her for personal reasons. Lona tells him that she is frightened of Wheeler and says that she did not know about his criminal activities. Lona asks what would happen to Wheeler if she turned him in and that she and Paul keep the money, he angrily demands she leave.
It won't be easy for Paul to get his hands on the money when he's part of the investigation. Soon, he's in much deeper than he wants to be. This story becomes quite exciting as a crooked cop tries to cover his tracks.
This maybe an underrated, little known crime melodrama from the mid-'50s. Fred MacMurray, in another movie where he is seduced by the charms of a femme fatale.
Dorothy Malone (born January 30, 1925), in her early years she played mainly in B-movies. best known for her performance in, Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Her film career reached its peak in the 1960's and she achieved later success with her television role of Constance MacKenzie on Peyton Place from 1964 to 1968.
Less active in her later years, Malone returned to film in 1992 as the friend of Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct.
Philip Carey, performed in the films: I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), This Woman is Dangerous with Joan Crawford (1952) Calamity Jane with Doris Day (1953), Pushover (1954), The Long Gray Line (1955) and Monster (1979).
The Gilded Lily(1935). Directed by Welsey Ruggles. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland and Aubrey Smith.
Lynn, and her best friend, reporter Peter Dawes, meet every Thursday night on a bench, where they share a bag of popcorn and talk about their life.. Lynn, soon, meets vacationing English aristocrat Charles Gray Granville, and they fall in love, although he keeps his royal identity a secret. Gray is already engaged to Helen Fergus and when he tells his father, Duke of Lomeshire, that he wants to marry Lynn, the duke insists they return to England and break off the engagement. Gray lies to Lynn about why he's leaving New York, but when Pete meets the Granvilles at the dock, Gray tells him that he is engaged to Helen. Pete writes an article about Lynn, who he calls "No Girl," leaving Gray at the altar. When the Granvilles, read that Helen has broken her engagement, the duke believes Lynn is trying to blackmail him. Gray then sends Lynn a telegram at work asking her price to forget him. Pete decides to make her a celebrity. He gets her a job as a singer and dancer at Nate's Cafe, despite the fact that she can neither sing nor dance. At her opening, Lynn's lack of talent wins laughs from the audience, and she becomes a hit.
After one publicity stunt after another, "No Girl" becomes a household name and as a nightclub star, she goes to London to perform. Gray is in the audience and Lynn, assuming they are still in love, goes out with him. Heartbroken, Pete returns to the states. Who will Lynn share her bag of popcorn with?
Fun Fact:
First of seven movies that Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray filmed together.
This is a wonderful little film I saw for the first time over the weekend. Claudette Colbert is wonderful as always. Fred MacMurray also does a fine job in his part, Ray Milland looks very young and handsome.
Aubrey Smith(21 July 1863 – 20 December 1948), was an English cricketer and actor. He was knighted by King George VI in 1944 for services to the theatre.
He appeared in early films for the nascent British film industry, starring in, The Bump in 1920.
Smith later moved to Hollywood where he had a successful career as a character actor playing either officer or gentleman roles.
Smith became infamous for expecting his fellow countrymen to report for regular duty at his Hollywood Cricket Club, and anyone who refused was known to "incur his displeasure".
Fiercely patriotic, Smith became openly critical of the British actors of enlistment age who did not return to fight after the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
He starred alongside such screen legends as leading ladies Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh, and actors Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier, Ronald Colman, Maurice Chevalier and Gary Cooper.
His films include such classics: The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) mentioned above, The Four Feathers (1939), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), and And Then There Were None (1945).
Fred MacMurray, played the saxophone. In 1930, he recorded a tune for the Gus Arnheim Orchestra as a featured vocalist on All I Want Is Just One Girl on the Victor 78 label. Before he signed on with Paramount Pictures in 1934, he performed on Broadway in Three's a Crowd (1930–31) with Sydney Greenstreet and with Bob Hope in the original production of Roberta (1933–34).
MacMurray worked with some of Hollywood's greatest directors Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges and actors Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart and Marlene Dietrich. He played opposite Claudette Colbert in seven films, beginning with The Gilded Lily. He co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams and with Carole Lombard in four films, Hands Across the Table, The Princess Comes Across, Swing High, Swing Low and True Confession.
Fred MacMurray, was usually cast in light comedies such as, (The Trail of the Lonesome Pine) and in melodramas (Above Suspicion 1943) and musicals (Where Do We Go from Here? 1945).
MacMurray, thought his best roles were when he was cast against type by Wilder. In 1944, he played the role of Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who plots with a greedy wife Barbara Stanwyck to murder her husband in Double Indemnity.
Sixteen years later, he played Jeff Sheldrake, a two-timing corporate executive in Wilder's Oscar-winning comedy The Apartment, with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon. MacMurray played Lieutenant Thomas Keefer in the film, The Caine Mutiny(1954).
MacMurray, was cast as the father in the Disney comedy, The Shaggy Dog. In the 1960s, he performed in one of my favorite shows, My Three Sons, which ran for 12 seasons. While filming the show, My Three Sons, MacMurray continued to perform in films, The Absent-Minded Professor(1961) and in its sequel, Son of Flubber(1964).
MacMurray was known to bring a brown bag lunch to work, often with a hard-boiled egg. Friends and business associates called him "the thrifty multimillionaire". After the cancellation of My Three Sons in 1972, MacMurray made only a few more films before retiring in 1978.
In 1941 MacMurray purchased land in Northern California and built the MacMurray Ranch where he raised prize-winning Aberdeen Angus cattle. In keeping with his wishes that the property's agricultural heritage be preserved it was sold in 1996 to Gallo, which planted vineyards on it for wines with the MacMurray Ranch label.
There's Always Tomorrow (1956). Drama. Director: Douglas Sirk. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, based on novel by Ursula Parrott.
Clifford Groves, works hard running a toy manufacturing business and afterwards goes home to his wife Marion and his children, Vinnie, Ellen and Frankie. On Marion's birthday, Cliff wants to take her on a night on the town, only to find that she has made other plans with the children.
Later that evening, Norma Miller Vale, a ex-co-worker who Cliff has not seen in twenty years, drops by. Although, Cliff does not recognize her at first.
They decide to go to the theater, afterwards Norma, asks to visit his office and they reminisces about the past. When Norma asks if he is happy now, Cliff hesitates before saying yes. When he returns home, Cliff tries to tell Marion about his night, but she is too tired to listen.
The next weekend, Cliff plans a weekend get-away with Marion. Just before they are to leave for a resort, their daughter twists her ankle and Marion thinks it is best to stay home with her. Cliff schedules a business meeting in Palm Valley and drives to the inn by himself.
There, just as he finds out that his meeting has been cancelled and he runs into Norma, who is also there for the weekend. What will happen between these two lonely people?
What I loved about this film was Fred and Barbara on screen chemistry. A couple of my favorite scenes are when: she chews the children out and the scene where she tells Fred that they could never be...
Patricia "Pat" Crowley (born September 17, 1933),was featured in the film Forever Female (1953), starring Ginger Rogers and William Holden.
She starred alongside the comedy team of Martin and Lewis in the 3-D film Money from Home (1953), as well as in their final film together Hollywood or Bust (1956).
Crowley made guest appearances in several television series in the 1950's and 1960's: The Untouchables, Crossroads, Riverboat, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, The Eleventh Hour, The Roaring 20's, Mr. Novak, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 87th Precinct and Wanted: Dead or Alive (episode "Competition"). She starred from 1965 to 1967 as Joan Nash in the NBC sitcom Please Don't Eat the Daisies, based on the 1957 book by Jean Kerr and the 1960 Doris Day film of the same name.
She also perfomed in dramatic roles on the crime shows: Charlie's Angels, Columbo, Police Woman, The Streets of San Francisco, Hawaii 5-0, and The Rockford Files, as well as sit-coms like Happy Days, The Love Boat, Empty Nest and, more recently, Frasier and Friends.
Crowley is known to a later era of television viewers for her roles on the serials Generations from 1989 to 1990, Port Charles from 1997 to 2003, and The Bold and the Beautiful in 2005. She also appeared in ten episodes of the nighttime soap opera Dynasty.
More recently, Crowley portrayed the widow of baseball's Roger Maris in the biopic 61*, directed by Billy Crystal. She appeared in a 2006 episode of The Closer and a 2009 episode of Cold Cas
Crowley is the daughter of Helen and Vincent Crowley, a mine foreman.
In 1958, she married Edward Gregory Hookstratten, who became an entertainment and sports lawyer. They had two children, Jon (born 1958) and Ann (born 1960). After their two-decade marriage ended, she wed producer Andy Friendly in 1986.
Crowley was often confused with her acting contemporary Kathleen Crowley, who appeared as guest leading lady in different episodes of most of the same television series. The two Crowleys never appeared together, however, and were not related.
In the 1950's, Crowley rotated her billing from "Patricia Crowley" to "Pat Crowley" and back again, even on some of the same television series, including Maverick.
The Egg and I (1947). film directed by Chester Erskine, who co-wrote screenplay with Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the novel by Betty MacDonald. Cast: Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.
One morning, Bob wakes up and tells his new wife Betty, that he has quit his boring job in the city, for the life of raising chickens, in the country. Driving an old truck filled with livestock, the newlyweds are off to the mountains to live in their new home, a rundown old shack. When they arrive, Bob shares his dreams about their wonderful new life. The next day, they are visited by their neighbor, Pa Kettle, who borrows the supplies that Bob has just purchased to build his chicken coop. Betty scared of the chickens decides help by leading Cleopatra the pig into her pen. Just as Betty falls into the mud, Harriet Putnam, a beautiful neighbor from Bella Vista Farm, arrives and has no problem getting the pig back into the pen. Tom Kettle, Pa's son, who has come to help out at the farm, talks to Betty about going to college, Betty decides to visit Tom's mother to see what they can do to get him there. At the Kettles', Betty is greeted by a wild bunch of children. When Betty talks to Ma Kettle over some homemade cookies she says that they are dependent upon him and Tom going to collage is out of the question..Bob and Betty visit Bella Vista Farm, where Betty becomes jealous when Harriet begins to flirt with her husband.
Betty and Ma become fast friends, Betty makes her a new dress for the big dance, Ma gives her a quilt she has just finished sewing. At the dance Betty is asked to dance by every colorful partner in the county, while Harriet dances with Bob. The dance comes to end when the sheriff announces that the Kettles barn has caught fire and the flames are spreading throughout the valley. Bob and Betty lose their outbuildings and crops in the fire. The next morning, their neighbors rally together to help them rebuild the farm. What will happen to their marriage and their dream of the chicken farm?
This is a very cute and charming little movie. Claudette Colbert was a hilarious and Fred MacMurray was equally as funny. Ma and Pa Kettle steal the whole film, so it's no surprise they got their own film series.
FUN FACTS:
It was the basis for "Green Acres".
First of eight films in which Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride played Ma and Pa Kettle.
Remember the Night (1940) is a romantic comedy/drama Christmas film written by Preston Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and features Beulah Bondi and Sterling Holloway.
Lee Leander, is arrested during the Christmas holidays after trying to shoplift a very expensive bracelet. Assistant District Attorney John, is assigned to prosecute her. Thinking he may lose his case against Lee Leander when he hears argument to have the case decided quickly. He postpones the case until after the first of the year.
John, posts her bail so she does not have to spend Christmas in jail. When John learns that she is from Indiana, where he is about to drive to visit his mother for the holidays, he offers to drop her off at home. Unfortunately, they get lost in Pennsylvania and end up crashing the car and spend the night in a field. The next morning, they are arrested by a farmer and taken into the justice of the peace. Lee starts a fire in a wastebasket as a distraction and they escape..
When they arrive at Lee's mother's farm, Lee's mother turns her away, Lee is devastated. John decides to bring her home to his mother and Aunt Emma. Lee is looking forward to visiting a loving home for Christmas. John in confidence tells his mother about Lee and she welcomes Lee into her home, with open arms. A romance between her and John, begins to bloom. Jack's mother, believes that a relationship with Lee would destroy her son's career and asks Lee to give him up. On the drive home, John comes up with a plan so that she can avoid prosecution. Will Lee pay for her crime?
I think that you will want to add the the film, Remember the Night, to your list of Christmas classics: It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol and The Bishop's Wife.
Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1888 – January 11, 1981, began her acting career as a young child in theater, she reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version. She played supporting roles in many films during the 1930s, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played the mother of James Stewart in four films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
She continued acting into her old age, and won an Emmy Award for an appearance in the television series, The Walton's in 1976.
