We all know that Tony Curtis, lived on a grand scale over the years. He lived in a 18-room Hollywood villa in 1966 with four acres and a garage that kept the actor’s new Lincoln Continental, a 1934 Rolls-Royce, 1937 Bentley and 1935 Duesenberg, among his other cars.
He acquired this Rolls Royce Drophead Convertible in 1959. Here are these photos of him in 1961, shot by Ralph Crane for LIFE magazine.
Some Like It Hot(1950). When two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness the the St. Valentine's Day massacre, they want to quickly get out of town and go into hiding.
The only job they can find is with an all-girl band heading to Florida.
They show up at the train station as two girls named.. Josephine and Daphne, the new saxophone and bass players. They become "best friends" with Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, who sings and plays the ukulele.
Joe, begins dating Sugar, while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. One of the funnest scenes in the film, is when Jerry, comes up with a list of reasons why he and Osgood cannot get married..
Jerry: Oh no you don't! Osgood, I'm gonna level with you. We can't get married at all.
Osgood: Why not?
Jerry: Well, in the first place, I'm not a natural blonde.
Osgood: Doesn't matter.
Jerry: I smoke! I smoke all the time!
Osgood: I don't care.
Jerry: Well, I have a terrible past. For three years now, I've been living with a saxophone player.
Osgood: I forgive you.
Jerry: (tragically) I can never have children!
Osgood: We can adopt some.
Jerry: But you don't understand, Osgood! Ohh... (Jerry finally gives up and pulls off his wig) Jerry: (normal voice) I'm a man!
Osgood: (shrugs) Well, nobody's perfect!
Jerry looks on with disbelief as Osgood continues smiling with indifference.
In 1994 a mural featuring his likeness, painted by the artist George Sportelli, was unveiled on the Sunset Boulevard overpass of the Hollywood Freeway Highway 101 in California. The mural was relocated to Hollywood Blvd and Bronson Ave in Sept 2011.
In 2004, he was inducted into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Hall of Fame. A street is named after him in the Sun City Anthem development in Henderson, Nevada.
In 2008, he was featured in the documentary The Jill and Tony Curtis Story about his efforts with his wife to
rescue horses from slaughterhouses. There is a video on you-tube if you would like to check it out.. Warning* I could not finish watching it, was just to upsetting for me....
In October 2008, Curtis's autobiography American Prince: A Memoir, was published. In it, he describes his encounters with other Hollywood legends of the time including Frank Sinatra and James Dean, as well as his hard-knock childhood and path to success.
It was followed by the publication of his next book, The Making of Some Like it Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie (2009). Curtis shared his memories of the making of the movie, in particular about Marilyn Monroe, whose antics and attitude on the set made everyone miserable.
One of my favorite on screen couples was Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. At one time, they were a real life couple. Married from 1952 - 1961 and had two daughters, Jamie Lee and Kelly. They starred in 5 films together: Houdini (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Vikings (1958), The Perfect Furlough (1958) and Who was That Lady? (1960). Proud to say I have seen three of them: Falworth, Furlough and Lady. I think they had a pretty good chemistry together. Being married in real life made their on screen coupling work that much better.
Stunning!
Leigh's career had begun few years earlier with roles in such films as The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947), If Winter Comes (1947) with Deborah Kerr and Hills of Home (1948) sharing the screen with Lassie. One of her first big roles came in the underrated holiday classic, Holiday Affair (1949) with Robert Mitchum. Meanwhile Tony Curtis start came a little slower. Houdini was his first major film after bit parts and uncredited roles. But then he had a slew of great films in the 50's such as The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958) and of course Some Like It Hot (1959).
We just wanted to stop by to say hi to everyone!
After the couple divorced in 1962, each enjoyed a strong run in the 60's. Leigh of course was unforgettable in Psycho (1960). But she also had strong follow up films with The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Wives & Lovers (1963). Curtis was equally good in Spartacus (1960), Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and The Great Race (1965).
You can tell how in love they are by this photo can't you
For a time Leigh and Curtis was one of Hollywood's best and biggest couples. Sadly all good things must come to an end. And their union did. But we do have the five films they did together and their legacy lives on with daughters Jamie Lee and Kelly, both actresses themselves.
The entire family..so happy
And were they not just super gorgeous? I think so.
Janet is like "No..get out" while Tony takes a little nap
Sex and the Single Girl(1964). Comedy directed by Richard Quine. Cast: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall and Mel Ferrer. The film was inspired by the title of the 1962 non-fiction book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown.
Bob Weston, editor of a scandal magazine writes an eye opening article about research psychologist, Helen Gurley Brown, who wrote the book, Sex and the Single Girl. Wanting to meet her, Bob impersonates one of his neighbors and goes to Helen for marriage counseling.
Eventually, Bob suggests to Helen that they start dating, to get her attention he threatens to drown himself. When she arrives she accidentally causes them to fall into the water. They go to Helen's apartment to dry off and while Bob mixes martinis, Helen tells him, that she is in love with him and he fesses up that he is not really married.
Helen doesn't believe him and asks to see his wife, Sylvia. The next day, Bob sends both his secretary, Susan, and his former girl friend, Gretchen, to Helen to convince Helen that he really is single.
Helen calls the real Sylvia and the three women all show up for the appointment. How will this romantic entanglement get resolved?
Natalie Wood, was a lot of fun to watch in a comedy about the battle of the sexes. When Tony Curtis talks about Jack Lemmon (Curtis' co-star in Some Like It Hot) will make anyone smile, who has seen the classic film.
Fran Jeffries (born May 18, 1937), had a cameo in the 1963 film, The Pink Panther, in which she sang a song called, It Had Better Be Tonight," while she danced provocatively around a fireplace.
She had a minor role in, Sex and the Single Girl.
She sang on, The Tom Jones Show in 1969 doing a duet of, You've Got What it Takes.
She was featured in Playboy Magazine a couple years later, in 1971 at the age of 35, in a pictorial entitled "Frantastic!".
Ten years later she posed a second time for Playboy at the age of 45. This second pictorial was titled "Still Frantastic!".
At some point in her career, she perform onstage with Bob Hope.
Some Like It Hot(1959). Directed by Billy Wilder. Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft.
The film was awarded an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Orry-Kelly) and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Lemmon), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Ted Haworth, Edward G. Boyle), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Academy Award for Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. Marilyn Monroe won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Musical or Comedy, and Jack Lemmon for Best Actor in Musical or Comedy.
Two struggling musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness a gang murder. When the Chicago gangster, "Spats", sees them, the two friends run for their lives and decide it is time to leave town. Finding a job, in a all woman band, they have to disguise themselves as women.
Calling themselves Josephine and Geraldine, they board a train headed for Florida. Joe and Jerry both become charmed by "Sugar Kane", the band's vocalist and ukulele player. Joe woos Sugar while wearing second disguise as a millionaire heir to Shell Oil, mimicking Cary Grant's voice perfectly.
Millionaire, Osgood Fielding III, woes Jerry in his Daphne disguise. One night, Osgood asks Daphne out to his yacht. Joe talks Daphne, into going on a date with Osgood while he goes on the yacht with Sugar. That night Osgooing proposes to Daphne who, is flattered, accepts, hoping he can receive a large settlement from Osgood after their wedding ceremony.
When the gangsters arrive at the same hotel, Spats and his gang see Joe and Jerry. After several humorous chases and witnessing Spats and his gang murdered, Jerry, Joe, Sugar, and Osgood escape to the millionaire's yacht.
Joe, thinks it is time to reveal his true identity to Sugar, telling her that she would be getting the "fuzzy end of the lollipop". Jerry, tries to break it off with Osgood, telling him that, he can "never have children." Osgood, still is determined to go through with the marriage. Finally, Jerry removes his wig and shouts, "I'm a man!", where Osgood says... "Well, no body's perfect."
Video: Train scene.
Fun Facts:
Billy Wilder referring to Marilyn Monroe while making the movie: "We were in mid-flight, and there was a nut on the plane." Indeed, Wilder publicly blasted Monroe for her behavior, and she was not invited to the wrap party.
The resort scenes were filmed entirely at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California. One reason why Billy Wilder chose this location was Marilyn Monroe's ongoing personal problems. He wanted a location where she could live on site and not have to be transported.
Tony Curtis has said that he asked Billy Wilder if he could imitate Cary Grant for his stint as the millionaire in the movie. Wilder liked it and they shot it that way. Apparently, Grant saw the parody of himself and stated, "I don't talk like that."
Marilyn Monroe was pregnant during the filming, as a result she looked considerably heavier. She had no known children and several miscarriages in her life. Due to her pregnancy, most of the publicity still photos were posed for by both Sandra Warner (who had an uncredited role as one of the band members) and Monroe's frequent stand-in Evelyn Moriarty with Monroe's head superimposed later.
The railroad passenger car that was used in this movie (Clover Colony) is now at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it can be used in excursion/local service.
When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon first put on the female make-up and costumes, they walked around the Goldwyn Studios lot to see if they could "pass" as women. Then they tried using mirrors in public ladies rooms to fix their makeup, and when none of the women using it complained, they knew they could be convincing as women. There is a scene on the train recreating this moment.
Jerry Lewis was offered the role of Jerry/Daphne but declined because he didn't want to dress in drag. When Jack Lemmon received an Oscar nomination for the role that Lewis gave up, Lewis claims he sent him chocolates every year to thank him and now regrets not taking the part.
Monroe's Sugar, is very lovable, especially when she sings: Running Wild, I'm Through With Love and "boop-boop-a-doop" her signature song, "I Wanna Be Loved by You."
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, were tastefully, hilarious playing a couple of drag queens.
Now on Blu-Ray. Includes: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes How To
Marry A Millionaire River Of No Return There's No Business Like Show Business The Seven Year Itch Some Like It Hot The Misfits.
Joan Shawlee (1929 - March 22, 1987). Her best known roles were small roles in Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder films. Her most famous role was as, Sweet Sue in the 1959 comedy classic, Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.
She also performed as Sylvia in the 1960 classic, The Apartment, which also starred Lemmon. She performed as Amazon Annie in the 1963 sex comedy, Irma La Douce, which starred Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.
She had a recurring role on TV in The Dick Van Dyke Show as Buddy's wife Pickles.
Don't Make Waves (1967), which starred Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale and Sharon Tate. The film is based on the 1959 novel, Muscle Beach, by Ira Wallach. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, the film showed a series of romantic triangles between the cast members living the Southern California life style. I think this film is fun to watch because it perfectly captures the Southern California scene in mid-sixties, a very interesting time. Please look for my list of favorite 60s films, which I will post up soon.
The score was composed by Vic Mizzy. Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman wrote the title song, "Don't Make Waves," performed by The Byrds over the opening credits.
Sharon Tate told her husband Roman Polanski that her experience working on this film was tense, and it was worsened when a stuntman drowned when he parachuted into the Pacific Ocean.
The film was Sharon Tate's third to be produced, but is considered to be her debut. MGM ran a huge campaign that was based on Tate and her character, Malibu, and life-sized cardboard cutouts of Tate wearing a bikini were placed in cinema foyers throughout the United States. It was also linked to a widespread advertising campaign by Coppertone which also featured Tate.
The Malibu Barbie doll, first produced in 1973, was based on Tate and her character, Malibu.
In American Prince, his 2009 autobiography, Tony Curtis wrote of making Don't Make Waves: "The plot was utterly ridiculous, but I agreed to appear in the film because I got a percentage of the gross."
Jill Curtis talks to the media outside the Henderson, Nevada, home she lived in with her husband, actor Tony Curtis. The Oscar nominee passed away Wednesday night of cardiac arrest at the age of 85.
Tony Curtis, began his acting career in an uncredited screen debut came in the film, Criss Cross (1949) playing a rumba dancer. Later, he performed in the film, Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with Burt Lancaster (who also starred in Criss Cross) and an Oscar-nominated performance in, The Defiant Ones.
He also performed in the comedies:
Some Like It Hot. When musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), witness what looks like the Saint Valentines Day Massacre of 1929. When the Chicago gangsters see them, they decide to leave town, taking a job where they disguise themselves as women, playing in an all-girl musical band. Calling themselves Josephine and Geraldine, they join the band and board a train. Joe and Jerry both have eyes for"Sugar Kane" (Marilyn Monroe), the band's singer and Ukulele player. Another wonderful comedy, Sex and the Single Girl.
His dramas include: The Outsider, the true story of WW II veteran Ira Hayes, and The Boston Strangler, in which he played the self-confessed murderer of the film's title, Albert DeSalvo.
Curtis also performed on television, he co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders!. Later, he co-starred in McCoy and Vega$.
In the early 1960's, he was immortalized as "Stony Curtis," a voice-over on The Flintstones.
Curtis loved to paint and since the early 1980's, it became his second career.
In 2007, his painting The Red Table was on display in the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California.
Curtis was disappointed that never won an Oscar. But in March 2006, Curtis did receive the Sony Ericsson Empire Lifetime Achievement Award. I will always remember his wonderful performances. He will be missed. He is part of the vanishing era of Hollywood .....
This is one of those movies not too many people may know about. I saw it the other night on TCM and liked it. It's not the usual 60's style sex beach comedy with tons of laughs or really much deep thought. Actually it's kinda weird in certain scenes but it held my interest the entire time. Tony Curtis plays New Yorker Carlo Cofield, newly arrived in Southern California, who while stopping at the local beach, has one hell of a day. He runs into quirky artist Laura (played by Claudia Cardinale) who manages to send Carlo's car running downhill off the side of the road, crashing and burning. He loses all his belongings and once Laura finds out it was her fault, does the only sensible thing...she takes him home with her. Of course Laura has a sugar daddy...a married executive named Rod Prescott (played by Robert Webber) who takes offense to Carlo being there. Well Rod kicks Carlo out, who has to sleep on the beach overnight. The next day Carlo goes swimming in the beach and gets promptly knocked out by oncoming surfers. He is pulled from the water and given CPR by a lovely girl named Malibu, who also happens to be a sky diver...it could happen (love the name and she is played by Sharon Tate). Carlo immediately is smitten with her and puts in motion a plan to seduce her. All he is to do is avoid her boyfriend Harry, a hulk of a body-builder. In the meantime, Carlo finagles his way into Rod's office and secures a job through blackmail. If Rod doesn't agree, Carlo goes straight to his wife Diane (wonderfully played by Joanna Barnes). So Carlo is now in the business of selling pools, which is very lucrative in California. And has to deal with three beguiling women. Everyone ends up at Carlo's hillside house during a severe rainstorm and eventual mudslide. A lot happens in this movie doesn't it? Like I said it's not the greatest but it does have it's moments. And the cast is very easy on the eyes. Curtis is in tip top shape as he has several scenes sans his shirt. And he gets most of the best lines in this movie. He even has a scene with Tate jumping from a airplane doing a skydive. Well Carlo passes out because he looses his parachute and it's one of the funniest reactions you will ever see. The women all are stunning especially Cardinale. Tate looks great too, but her part is very under-demanding. Joanna Barnes delivers the best performance of the three as the much put upon wife who is smarter than everyone else in the movie except maybe for Curtis. So all in all Don't Make Waves is a diverting comedy that will pass the time quite quickly at 97 minutes. Two sidenotes, the musical score is by Vic Mizzy, who did the Green Acres TV show score. And Jim Backus shows up with his wife and they play themselves in a cool little scene as Carlo tries to sell them a pool. Backus even gets to do a Mr. Magoo impression. Like I said a lot of stuff happens in this movie.
Tony Curtis, has played roles from light comic, as the musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot, to dramatic roles, as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones, which snagged him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since 1949, he has performed in more than 100 films and has made many television shows.
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