*LOL* I see your very funny point about Heflin and the Chicken, Judith, but the actor's lack of good looks as he aged sometimes made him seem more like a real guy to me. I agree about William Katt good looks, though I do have a tough time when I see him in those 1980s haircuts and unstructured suits playing Paul Drake, Jr. What a fashion victim!
I first got to like him in the tongue-in-cheek Greatest American Hero shows with Connie Sellecca in the early '80s. His shaggier 'do back then was nicer. I just read recently that he is scheduled to appear on the Heroes tv show soon, (as a non-superhero). He looks remarkably like his Dad, Bill Russell, don't you think?
In The Spotlight Redux
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moira finnie
- Administrator
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jdb1
Yes, very much so.
When I see all those 80s and early 90s shows, on Hallmark and Ion, I have the same reaction you do -- I never really cared for the styles of the time, and didn't really dress in fashion then. I kept it as style-neutral as possible. And when I bought a new dress, the first thing I did was to remove those stupid shoulder pads - after all, I wasn't in the NFL, was I? And that hair thing - really, what were they thinking then? Those big hairdos made everyone look like beekeepers in full regalia, or maybe residents of Kong Island, c. 1933.
These days, with all these flattering, pretty dresses in style, women in NYC are looking very good.
When I see all those 80s and early 90s shows, on Hallmark and Ion, I have the same reaction you do -- I never really cared for the styles of the time, and didn't really dress in fashion then. I kept it as style-neutral as possible. And when I bought a new dress, the first thing I did was to remove those stupid shoulder pads - after all, I wasn't in the NFL, was I? And that hair thing - really, what were they thinking then? Those big hairdos made everyone look like beekeepers in full regalia, or maybe residents of Kong Island, c. 1933.
These days, with all these flattering, pretty dresses in style, women in NYC are looking very good.
Larry, glad you enjoyed seeing Barbara Hale in the spotlight. I've always liked that woman.
Ironically of the ladies you mentioned I have Elaine Stewart scheduled for August.
Lynn, thanks for letting us know about the house that the Williams family lived in. Your fortunate to be living in such a nice area of California.
Moira, thanks for the additional info regarding Van Heflin and the plays he appeared in.
Since I went picture crazy with Heflin, I decided not to use "Woman's World", "The Raid" and "Patterns" (a shot with Heflin and Beatrice Straight).
Since I have TCM on Demand I will make it a point to watch "First Yank Into Tokyo" with Barbara Hale later today. I also like Tom Neal.
Judith, I'm glad that you enjoyed both profiles.
A chicken? No doubt that Heflin was aware of his looks as was L.B. Mayer yet Heflin managed to turn on the charm and snag some of the screens most beautiful women. Lana Turner adored him.
It's easy to see that William Katt got his looks from his handsome father. I have a nice color image with Katt and his mother coming up later.
Ironically of the ladies you mentioned I have Elaine Stewart scheduled for August.
Lynn, thanks for letting us know about the house that the Williams family lived in. Your fortunate to be living in such a nice area of California.
Moira, thanks for the additional info regarding Van Heflin and the plays he appeared in.
Since I went picture crazy with Heflin, I decided not to use "Woman's World", "The Raid" and "Patterns" (a shot with Heflin and Beatrice Straight).
Since I have TCM on Demand I will make it a point to watch "First Yank Into Tokyo" with Barbara Hale later today. I also like Tom Neal.
Judith, I'm glad that you enjoyed both profiles.
A chicken? No doubt that Heflin was aware of his looks as was L.B. Mayer yet Heflin managed to turn on the charm and snag some of the screens most beautiful women. Lana Turner adored him.
It's easy to see that William Katt got his looks from his handsome father. I have a nice color image with Katt and his mother coming up later.
Joseph Goodheart
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moira finnie
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Mongo,
I thought that you might like to know that Barbara Hale & Jimmy Stewart's under-rated film, The Jackpot(1950) is on FMC, today, Mon, Jul 21, at 9:30 AM EDT.
It is being broadcast again in FMC at 9AM on August 25th as well.
I thought that you might like to know that Barbara Hale & Jimmy Stewart's under-rated film, The Jackpot(1950) is on FMC, today, Mon, Jul 21, at 9:30 AM EDT.
It is being broadcast again in FMC at 9AM on August 25th as well.
Last edited by moira finnie on July 21st, 2008, 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In the Spotlight: RODDY McDOWALL
The talented and beloved actor was born Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall on September 17, 1928 in Herne Hill, London, the son of Winsfriede (née Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a Merchant Mariner of Scottish descent. Both of his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre.
He was enrolled in elocution courses at age five and by ten had appeared in his first film, "Murder in the Family" in 1938, and appeared in several British films afterward.
McDowall made his first major film appearance at age twelve, after he and his family including older sister Viginia came to America because of the Blitz.
Roddy arriving in America with his mom,dad, & sister Virgina.
He played the pivitol role of Huw in John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley" (1941) a role that made his name.
Roddy as Huw Morgan in "How Green Was My Valley" (1941).
Walter Pidgeon, Donald Crisp & Roddy in "How Green Was My Valley".
Other films as a child actor included "Son of Fury" playing Tyrone Power as a boy, "The Pied Piper" wih Monty Woolley, "My Friend Flicka", "Lassie Come Home" where he co-starred opposite lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor, "The Keys of the Kingdom" with Gregory Peck, "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "Molly and Me".
Anne Baxter, Roddy & Monty Woolley in "The Pied Piper" (1942).
(1942)
Preston Foster with Roddy in "My Friend Flicka" (1943).
Roddy with Lassie in "Lassie Come Home" (1943).
Roddy with Monty Woolley & Gracie Fields in "Molly and Me" (1945).
Roddy with Jane Powell in "Holiday in Mexico" (1946).
The orignal "Rocky" (1948). Roddy was also an associate producer.
McDowall was one of the few child actors to continue his career successfully into adulthood, although in 'B' films such as "Tuna Clipper", "On the Sunny Side", "Steel Fist" and "Killer Shark", etc.
At age 18, he moved to New York, where he played a long series of successful stage roles, both on Broadway and in such venues as Connecticut's Stratford Festival, where he did Shakespeare.
(1952)
Roddy with friend Tab Hunter.
Roddy on the town with Elizabeth Taylor & Claude Jarman Jr.
The 1960s brought some quality work in "Midnight Lace" with Doris Day, the war epic "The Longest Day", "Cleopatra" as Caesar Augustus Octavian for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, "Shock Treatment as a nut job, "The Loved One", "Inside Daisy Clover", "Lord Love a Duck" with Tuesday Weld, "Planet of the Apes" as chimpanzee archaeologist Cornelius, and "Midas Run".
(1960)
Roddy as Pvt.Morris in "The Longest Day" (1962).
Roddy as Octavian (Golden Globe Nominee) in "Cleopatra" (1963).
Roddy up to no good in "Shock Treatment" (1964).
Ruth Gordon, Roddy, Tuesday Weld & Bob Eubanks in "Lord Love a Duck" (1966).
Roddy as Cornelius in "Planet of the Apes" (1968).
Roddy with his friend the lovely Natalie Wood.
Roddy on the town with pal Elizabeth Taylor.
Roddy between pals Ava Gardner & Myrna Loy.
Roddy on the town with life long friend Maureen O'Hara.
Roddy in conversation with Barbara Stanwyck.
Roddy with oscar winner Luise Rainer at the Oscars in 1998 the year of his death.
Other noteworthy roles included, "The Poseidon Adventure", in which he played Acres, a dining room attendant; "Funny Lady" with Streisand, "Evil Under the Sun", "Class of 1984", "Fright Night", a good chiller in which he played Peter Vincent, a television host and moderator of telecast horror films, and "Overboard" in which he played a kind-hearted butler.
Roddy, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine & Stella Stevens in
"The Poseidon Adventure" and below, in character as "Acres" in that film.
Roddy with Barbra Streisand in "Funny Lady" (1975).
Roddy as Peter Vincent (vampire killer) in "Fright Night" (1985).
In 1974 the FBI raided his home and seized his collection of films and TV series during an investigation of copyright infringement and movie piracy. The collection consisted of 160 16mm prints and over 1,000 videocassettes. The value of the films was conservatively assessed at $5,005,426 by representatives of the movie industry. The actor was not charged and agreed to cooperate with the FBI.
He also appeared on stage and was frequently a guest star on television shows, appearing in such series as the original "The Twilight Zone", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "Night Gallery", "The Invaders", "The Carol Burnett Show", "Fantasy Island", "Columbo", "Batman" "Quantum Leap" and oodles of others.
He also appeared frequently on "Hollywood Squares", and occasionally came up with funny quips himself.
His final acting role in animation (at least), was for an episode of 'Godzilla: The Series' in the episode "Dreadloch". In "A Bug's Life" (1998), one of his final contributions to motion pictures, he provides the voice of the ant "Mr. Soil".
During the 1990s, McDowall became active in film preservation and participated in the restoration of Cleopatra (1963), which had been severely cut by 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck after skyrocketing production costs.
McDowall received recognition as a photographer and published five books of photographs, one being of his celebrity friends such as Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Judy Holliday and Maureen O'Hara.
His dinner parties were legendary. Someone said that at Roddy's, you could see PeeWee Herman sitting next to Dorothy Lamour, at other parties you would find Dominick Dunne, Louise Brooks, Robert Wagner, or Lauren Bacall.
Although he was one of Hollywood's great storytellers, Mr. McDowall never told tales out of school, one key to the longevity of his friendships. As he said, "I'm a great believer in the private existence of public figures."
Fact or fiction: “In the Kitty Kelley book 'My Way', (a biography about Frank Sinatra) Sinatra at one of his parties decided to find out who was the most well endowed male celebrity, and so ordered the male guests to expose their members as a kind of contest. Roddy put everyone to shame, apparently.”
On October 3, 1998, McDowall died at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles from Undifferentiated cancer (cancer in every organ of his body, including his brain) It was very peaceful, said Dennis Osborne, a screenwriter friend who had cared for the actor in his final months. It was just as he wanted it. It was exactly the way he planned. Though he was cremated through the Neptune Society, his ashes were not distributed in the Pacific Ocean as had been widely reported at the time.
The day after his death, his close friend Angela Lansbury, who'd worked with him over the years, paid tribute to him on BBC Radio 5 Live, saying that he was 'one of the most wonderful friends anybody could possibly have' and that she had 'lost a beloved friend'.
Life-long friend of Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor has since referred to him as the one friend she had to whom she confided everything, and who was always understanding.
The versatile actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Roddy McDowall (1928 - 1998)
Quoted: I absolutely adore movies. Even bad ones. I don't like pretentious ones, but a good bad movie, you must admit, is great.
The talented and beloved actor was born Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall on September 17, 1928 in Herne Hill, London, the son of Winsfriede (née Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a Merchant Mariner of Scottish descent. Both of his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre.
He was enrolled in elocution courses at age five and by ten had appeared in his first film, "Murder in the Family" in 1938, and appeared in several British films afterward.
McDowall made his first major film appearance at age twelve, after he and his family including older sister Viginia came to America because of the Blitz.
Roddy arriving in America with his mom,dad, & sister Virgina.
He played the pivitol role of Huw in John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley" (1941) a role that made his name.
Roddy as Huw Morgan in "How Green Was My Valley" (1941).
Walter Pidgeon, Donald Crisp & Roddy in "How Green Was My Valley".
Other films as a child actor included "Son of Fury" playing Tyrone Power as a boy, "The Pied Piper" wih Monty Woolley, "My Friend Flicka", "Lassie Come Home" where he co-starred opposite lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor, "The Keys of the Kingdom" with Gregory Peck, "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "Molly and Me".
Anne Baxter, Roddy & Monty Woolley in "The Pied Piper" (1942).
(1942)
Preston Foster with Roddy in "My Friend Flicka" (1943).
Roddy with Lassie in "Lassie Come Home" (1943).
Roddy with Monty Woolley & Gracie Fields in "Molly and Me" (1945).
Roddy with Jane Powell in "Holiday in Mexico" (1946).
The orignal "Rocky" (1948). Roddy was also an associate producer.
McDowall was one of the few child actors to continue his career successfully into adulthood, although in 'B' films such as "Tuna Clipper", "On the Sunny Side", "Steel Fist" and "Killer Shark", etc.
At age 18, he moved to New York, where he played a long series of successful stage roles, both on Broadway and in such venues as Connecticut's Stratford Festival, where he did Shakespeare.
(1952)
Roddy with friend Tab Hunter.
Roddy on the town with Elizabeth Taylor & Claude Jarman Jr.
The 1960s brought some quality work in "Midnight Lace" with Doris Day, the war epic "The Longest Day", "Cleopatra" as Caesar Augustus Octavian for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, "Shock Treatment as a nut job, "The Loved One", "Inside Daisy Clover", "Lord Love a Duck" with Tuesday Weld, "Planet of the Apes" as chimpanzee archaeologist Cornelius, and "Midas Run".
(1960)
Roddy as Pvt.Morris in "The Longest Day" (1962).
Roddy as Octavian (Golden Globe Nominee) in "Cleopatra" (1963).
Roddy up to no good in "Shock Treatment" (1964).
Ruth Gordon, Roddy, Tuesday Weld & Bob Eubanks in "Lord Love a Duck" (1966).
Roddy as Cornelius in "Planet of the Apes" (1968).
Roddy with his friend the lovely Natalie Wood.
Roddy on the town with pal Elizabeth Taylor.
Roddy between pals Ava Gardner & Myrna Loy.
Roddy on the town with life long friend Maureen O'Hara.
Roddy in conversation with Barbara Stanwyck.
Roddy with oscar winner Luise Rainer at the Oscars in 1998 the year of his death.
Other noteworthy roles included, "The Poseidon Adventure", in which he played Acres, a dining room attendant; "Funny Lady" with Streisand, "Evil Under the Sun", "Class of 1984", "Fright Night", a good chiller in which he played Peter Vincent, a television host and moderator of telecast horror films, and "Overboard" in which he played a kind-hearted butler.
Roddy, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine & Stella Stevens in
"The Poseidon Adventure" and below, in character as "Acres" in that film.
Roddy with Barbra Streisand in "Funny Lady" (1975).
Roddy as Peter Vincent (vampire killer) in "Fright Night" (1985).
In 1974 the FBI raided his home and seized his collection of films and TV series during an investigation of copyright infringement and movie piracy. The collection consisted of 160 16mm prints and over 1,000 videocassettes. The value of the films was conservatively assessed at $5,005,426 by representatives of the movie industry. The actor was not charged and agreed to cooperate with the FBI.
He also appeared on stage and was frequently a guest star on television shows, appearing in such series as the original "The Twilight Zone", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "Night Gallery", "The Invaders", "The Carol Burnett Show", "Fantasy Island", "Columbo", "Batman" "Quantum Leap" and oodles of others.
He also appeared frequently on "Hollywood Squares", and occasionally came up with funny quips himself.
His final acting role in animation (at least), was for an episode of 'Godzilla: The Series' in the episode "Dreadloch". In "A Bug's Life" (1998), one of his final contributions to motion pictures, he provides the voice of the ant "Mr. Soil".
During the 1990s, McDowall became active in film preservation and participated in the restoration of Cleopatra (1963), which had been severely cut by 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck after skyrocketing production costs.
McDowall received recognition as a photographer and published five books of photographs, one being of his celebrity friends such as Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Judy Holliday and Maureen O'Hara.
His dinner parties were legendary. Someone said that at Roddy's, you could see PeeWee Herman sitting next to Dorothy Lamour, at other parties you would find Dominick Dunne, Louise Brooks, Robert Wagner, or Lauren Bacall.
Although he was one of Hollywood's great storytellers, Mr. McDowall never told tales out of school, one key to the longevity of his friendships. As he said, "I'm a great believer in the private existence of public figures."
Fact or fiction: “In the Kitty Kelley book 'My Way', (a biography about Frank Sinatra) Sinatra at one of his parties decided to find out who was the most well endowed male celebrity, and so ordered the male guests to expose their members as a kind of contest. Roddy put everyone to shame, apparently.”
On October 3, 1998, McDowall died at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles from Undifferentiated cancer (cancer in every organ of his body, including his brain) It was very peaceful, said Dennis Osborne, a screenwriter friend who had cared for the actor in his final months. It was just as he wanted it. It was exactly the way he planned. Though he was cremated through the Neptune Society, his ashes were not distributed in the Pacific Ocean as had been widely reported at the time.
The day after his death, his close friend Angela Lansbury, who'd worked with him over the years, paid tribute to him on BBC Radio 5 Live, saying that he was 'one of the most wonderful friends anybody could possibly have' and that she had 'lost a beloved friend'.
Life-long friend of Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor has since referred to him as the one friend she had to whom she confided everything, and who was always understanding.
The versatile actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Roddy McDowall (1928 - 1998)
Quoted: I absolutely adore movies. Even bad ones. I don't like pretentious ones, but a good bad movie, you must admit, is great.
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Vecchiolarry
- Posts: 1392
- Joined: May 6th, 2007, 10:15 pm
- Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Hi Joe,
At the Woodland Hills Home, there is a very beautiful garden there for residents, created from money left by Roddy McDowell.
He was the catalyst in bringing back together Elizabeth Taylor & Debbie Reynolds years ago and then just before he died - ET & Sybil Burton....
I don't suppose they're all 'busom buddies', but at least they're not scratching each other's eyes out anymore!
I understand Sybil nursed him at the end.
Also, Ava Gardner adored him!!
I laughed when I read here that Roddy 'outstripped' Frank Sinatra in the "peepee" department; you know how I despise FS....
Larry
At the Woodland Hills Home, there is a very beautiful garden there for residents, created from money left by Roddy McDowell.
He was the catalyst in bringing back together Elizabeth Taylor & Debbie Reynolds years ago and then just before he died - ET & Sybil Burton....
I don't suppose they're all 'busom buddies', but at least they're not scratching each other's eyes out anymore!
I understand Sybil nursed him at the end.
Also, Ava Gardner adored him!!
I laughed when I read here that Roddy 'outstripped' Frank Sinatra in the "peepee" department; you know how I despise FS....
Larry
Larry, no doubt that Roddy was a kind and generous human being and was admired by his contempories.
I have some images coming up with Roddy and his movie star pals including Ava Gardner.
I recall that you detested Sinatra. It's apparent that your more aware of his dark side in his private life.
I myself enjoy his golden voice when he was in his prime, and some film performances.
By the way, I saw a picture of Roddy and it's true, he was gifted.
I have some images coming up with Roddy and his movie star pals including Ava Gardner.
I recall that you detested Sinatra. It's apparent that your more aware of his dark side in his private life.
I myself enjoy his golden voice when he was in his prime, and some film performances.
By the way, I saw a picture of Roddy and it's true, he was gifted.
In the Spotlight: JEAN HAGEN
The talented actress was born as Jean Shirley Verhagen on August 3, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, to a Dutch immigrant and his Chicago-born wife. The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was 12 and she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School.
After majoring in drama and music at Northwestern University, Jean Hagen went to New York, where she worked as an usherette by day and a radio actress by night, before making her Broadway debut in "Another Part of the Forest"in 1946.
Jean Hagen studio publicity shot.
In 1949, Hagen was one of several "new face" Broadway performers (including Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell and David Wayne) selected to appear in the supporting cast of the Tracy/Hepburn comedy "Adam's Rib"; she played the slatternly "other woman" who comes between Judy Holliday and Tom Ewell.
Hagen as Beryl Caighn in her film debut "Adam's Rib" (1949).
This led to a long-term MGM contract in which she co-starred in "Ambush" with Robert Taylor, "Side Street", a telling dramatic role as Sterling Hayden's doomed girlfriend in John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle", "A Life of Her Own" with Lana Turner, and "Night Into Morning" with Ray Milland.
Hagen with Don Taylor in "Ambush" (1949).
Hagen with Sterling Hayden in "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950).
(1951).
Pin-up girl Hagen welcoming the New Year.
She is arguably best remembered for her comic performance in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). As the vain and talentless silent movie star Lina Lamont, Hagen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Jean seemed a shoo-in to win the award, but was beaten out by Gloria Grahame for "The Bad and the Beautiful". It was highway robbery.
Hagen as Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952).
With Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952).
Hagen with Gene Kelly & Donald O'Connor in "Singin' in the Ra
Oscar nominee Hagen & Debbie Reynolds.
MGM failed to provide her with a quality follow up role to enable her to build on her growing popularity and put her in, "Carbine Williams" with James Stewart, "Shadow in the Sky", "Arena", "Latin Lovers", "Half a Hero" with Red Skelton, and "The Big Knife" with an all star cast.
(1952).
Hagen, James Whitmore & Nancy Davis in "Shadow in the Sky" (1952).
Hagen wih Red Skelton (1953).
Gig Young, Lee Aaker & Hagen in the 3-D western "Arena" (1953).
By 1953 she had joined the cast of TVs "Make Room for Daddy". As the first wife of Danny Thomas, Hagen received three Emmy Award nominations, but after three seasons she grew dissatisfied and left the series. Thomas, who also produced the show, didn't appreciate Jean's departing the successful series, and replaced her with a new wife without offering viewers any explanation.
Hagen as Barna Forrest in "Spring Reunion" (1957).
Hagen later made a notable appearance as Frida Daniels in Disney's "The Shaggy Dog" (1959 film) starring with Fred MacMurray, followed by "Sunrise at Campobello", and "Panic in the Year Zero!".
Hagen with Fred MacMurray in Disney's "The Shaggy Dog".
(1959).
Hagen with Ray Milland in "Panic in the Year Zero!" (1962).
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 played supporting roles, such as the friend of Bette Davis in the chiller "Dead Ringer" (1964).
In the 1960s Hagen's health began to decline and she spent many years hospitalized or in care.
Hagen wih actor/agent husband Tom Seidel.
Jean married actor/agent Tom Seidel in 1947 and had 2 sons. They divorced in 1965.
After undergoing radical surgery and cobalt treatment for throat cancer, Hagen valiantly attempted a comeback in character roles.
In 1976, she appeared in episodes of the television series "Starsky and Hutch" and "The Streets of San Francisco" .
She made her final film appearance in a 1977 television movie (Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn).
In 1977 Jean Hagen died at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital at the age of 54.
She was cremated at the Chapel Of The Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.
Her last appearance was released posthumously, a reprise of her role in "The Shaggy Dog" for the "The Wonderful World of Disney" in 1978.
The valiant actress has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to television.
JEAN HAGEN (1923 - 1977)
The talented actress was born as Jean Shirley Verhagen on August 3, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, to a Dutch immigrant and his Chicago-born wife. The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was 12 and she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School.
After majoring in drama and music at Northwestern University, Jean Hagen went to New York, where she worked as an usherette by day and a radio actress by night, before making her Broadway debut in "Another Part of the Forest"in 1946.
Jean Hagen studio publicity shot.
In 1949, Hagen was one of several "new face" Broadway performers (including Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell and David Wayne) selected to appear in the supporting cast of the Tracy/Hepburn comedy "Adam's Rib"; she played the slatternly "other woman" who comes between Judy Holliday and Tom Ewell.
Hagen as Beryl Caighn in her film debut "Adam's Rib" (1949).
This led to a long-term MGM contract in which she co-starred in "Ambush" with Robert Taylor, "Side Street", a telling dramatic role as Sterling Hayden's doomed girlfriend in John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle", "A Life of Her Own" with Lana Turner, and "Night Into Morning" with Ray Milland.
Hagen with Don Taylor in "Ambush" (1949).
Hagen with Sterling Hayden in "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950).
(1951).
Pin-up girl Hagen welcoming the New Year.
She is arguably best remembered for her comic performance in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). As the vain and talentless silent movie star Lina Lamont, Hagen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Jean seemed a shoo-in to win the award, but was beaten out by Gloria Grahame for "The Bad and the Beautiful". It was highway robbery.
Hagen as Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952).
With Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952).
Hagen with Gene Kelly & Donald O'Connor in "Singin' in the Ra
Oscar nominee Hagen & Debbie Reynolds.
MGM failed to provide her with a quality follow up role to enable her to build on her growing popularity and put her in, "Carbine Williams" with James Stewart, "Shadow in the Sky", "Arena", "Latin Lovers", "Half a Hero" with Red Skelton, and "The Big Knife" with an all star cast.
(1952).
Hagen, James Whitmore & Nancy Davis in "Shadow in the Sky" (1952).
Hagen wih Red Skelton (1953).
Gig Young, Lee Aaker & Hagen in the 3-D western "Arena" (1953).
By 1953 she had joined the cast of TVs "Make Room for Daddy". As the first wife of Danny Thomas, Hagen received three Emmy Award nominations, but after three seasons she grew dissatisfied and left the series. Thomas, who also produced the show, didn't appreciate Jean's departing the successful series, and replaced her with a new wife without offering viewers any explanation.
Hagen as Barna Forrest in "Spring Reunion" (1957).
Hagen later made a notable appearance as Frida Daniels in Disney's "The Shaggy Dog" (1959 film) starring with Fred MacMurray, followed by "Sunrise at Campobello", and "Panic in the Year Zero!".
Hagen with Fred MacMurray in Disney's "The Shaggy Dog".
(1959).
Hagen with Ray Milland in "Panic in the Year Zero!" (1962).
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 played supporting roles, such as the friend of Bette Davis in the chiller "Dead Ringer" (1964).
In the 1960s Hagen's health began to decline and she spent many years hospitalized or in care.
Hagen wih actor/agent husband Tom Seidel.
Jean married actor/agent Tom Seidel in 1947 and had 2 sons. They divorced in 1965.
After undergoing radical surgery and cobalt treatment for throat cancer, Hagen valiantly attempted a comeback in character roles.
In 1976, she appeared in episodes of the television series "Starsky and Hutch" and "The Streets of San Francisco" .
She made her final film appearance in a 1977 television movie (Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn).
In 1977 Jean Hagen died at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital at the age of 54.
She was cremated at the Chapel Of The Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.
Her last appearance was released posthumously, a reprise of her role in "The Shaggy Dog" for the "The Wonderful World of Disney" in 1978.
The valiant actress has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to television.
JEAN HAGEN (1923 - 1977)
In the Spotlight: DANE CLARK
The tough guy actor was born Bernard Zanville on February 26, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York.
He graduated from Cornell University and earned a law degree at St. John's University School of Law in Queens, New York.
When he had trouble finding work during the Great Depression, he worked as a boxer, baseball player, construction worker, and model.
Modeling brought him in contact with people in the arts. In needing money to finance law school he met John Garfield at a club who said, "Why don’t you become an actor, kid?" To which Dane replied, "What’s that?" He soon found out by getting a part in a play on his first audition that Garfield sent him on.
He progressed from small Broadway parts to larger ones ("Dead End", "Stage Door"), eventually taking over the role of George from Wallace Ford in the 1937 production of "Of Mice and Men", which finally brought him to Hollywood.
After bit parts in the films "The Pride of the Yankees" and "Wake Island" Clark got his big break when he was signed by Warner Bros. in 1943. He worked alongside some of his era's biggest stars, often in war movies such as "Action in the North Atlantic" (1943), his breakthrough part as sailor Johnnie Pulaski, opposite Humphrey Bogart, "Destination Tokyo" (1943) with Cary Grant, and "Pride of the Marines" (1945) with friend and fellow New Yorker John Garfield. According to Clark, Bogart gave him his stage name.
Clark (in the sack) with Bogart and Alan Hale (1943).
Among some of his other films are "The Very Thought of You" with Janis Paige who also co-starred with him in the Oscar winning short "I Won't Play" often aired on TCM, and in "Hollywood Canteen" he starred as the soldier with all the Warner greats playing themselves.
(1943)
Clark (right) with fellow actors Robert Alda (left) and Robert Hutton (center).
Other films include "God Is My Co-Pilot", "Her Kind of Man", "A Stolen Life" with Bette Davis, "That Way with Women", "Deep Valley" with Ida Lupino", "Embraceable You", "Moonrise" with Gail Russell, "Whiplash" with Alexis Smith, and "Without Honor" with Franchot Tone, Agnes Moorehead, and Laraine Day.
Clark, Janis Paige & Zachary Scott in "Her Kind of Man" (1946).
(1946)
(1947)
Clark as Barry and Ida Lupino as Libby in "Deep Valley" (1947).
Ida Lupino with Clark in a sullen moment in "Deep Valley" (1947).
(1948)
Clark with Gail Russell (1948).
"Whiplash" (1948), which featured Clark with Alexis Smith, (below).
Clark (right) with Laraine Day & Bruce Bennett (1949).
Clark with Margaret Lockwood in "Highly Dangerous" (1950).
Clark with Ruth Roman in "Barricade" (1950).
Clark with Cathy O'Donnell in "Never Trust a Gambler" (1951).
Clark with Wayne Morris in "Port of Hell" (1954).
Though he co-starred with such luminaries as Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Bette Davis and Raymond Massey, it was his self-described "Joe Average" image which got him his parts: "They don't go much for the 'pretty boy' type [at Warner Brothers]. An average-looking guy like me has a chance to get someplace, to portray people the way they really are, without any frills."
Although at times a cocky guy with an attitude, he later regretted some of his antics in the business.
Along with such greats as John Ford, Mr. Clark was requested to direct films for the government for which he received official letters of commendation for his extraordinary work.
After leaving Warner Bros. he worked for J. Arthur Rank in London and made films such as "Highly Dangerous" with Margaret Lockwood and Trevor Howard, "The Gambler and the Lady", and "Blackout". In France he worked with Simone Signoret in "The Hunted". He also taught Yves Montand his first song in English, "That’s the Glory of Love."
A film he was proud of was "Go, Man, Go!" with Sidney Poitier, in which Clark played Abe Saperstein who organized the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.
He worked in the early days of live TV and over the years guest starred in innumerable television shows such as The Twilight Zone in the episode "The Prime Mover", "The Name of the Game", "I Spy", "Cannon", "Police Story", "Police Woman", "The Rookies", "The Mod Squad", "Born Free", "Hawaii Five-O", and "Highway to Heaven".
He also played Lieutenant Tragg in the short-lived revival of the "Perry Mason" television series in 1973.
His final film in 1988 was "Last Rites" as Don Carlo with Tom Berringer.
Dane Clark resided on both coasts having a home in Los Angeles and an apartment in New York City. His career spanned over 50 years; he truly exemplified the consummate professional actor.
Clark was married twice. His first wife Margot died after 29 years of marriage and his second wife Geraldine survived him after 27 years. There is no mention of any children.
Clark with his wife Margot during World War II.
Dane Clark, renowned star of film, television and stage, died on Friday, September 11, 1998 in Los Angeles after a prolonged illness. He was 83 years old.
Quoted: "The only thing I want to do in films is be Mr. Joe Average as well as I know how. Of course, anyone whose face appears often enough on the screen is bound to have bobby-soxers after him for autogarphs. But what I really get a kick out of is when cab drivers around New York lean out and yell 'Hi Brooklyn' when I walk by. They make me feel I'm putting it across O.K. when I try to be Joe Average."
The actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The tough guy actor was born Bernard Zanville on February 26, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York.
He graduated from Cornell University and earned a law degree at St. John's University School of Law in Queens, New York.
When he had trouble finding work during the Great Depression, he worked as a boxer, baseball player, construction worker, and model.
Modeling brought him in contact with people in the arts. In needing money to finance law school he met John Garfield at a club who said, "Why don’t you become an actor, kid?" To which Dane replied, "What’s that?" He soon found out by getting a part in a play on his first audition that Garfield sent him on.
He progressed from small Broadway parts to larger ones ("Dead End", "Stage Door"), eventually taking over the role of George from Wallace Ford in the 1937 production of "Of Mice and Men", which finally brought him to Hollywood.
After bit parts in the films "The Pride of the Yankees" and "Wake Island" Clark got his big break when he was signed by Warner Bros. in 1943. He worked alongside some of his era's biggest stars, often in war movies such as "Action in the North Atlantic" (1943), his breakthrough part as sailor Johnnie Pulaski, opposite Humphrey Bogart, "Destination Tokyo" (1943) with Cary Grant, and "Pride of the Marines" (1945) with friend and fellow New Yorker John Garfield. According to Clark, Bogart gave him his stage name.
Clark (in the sack) with Bogart and Alan Hale (1943).
Among some of his other films are "The Very Thought of You" with Janis Paige who also co-starred with him in the Oscar winning short "I Won't Play" often aired on TCM, and in "Hollywood Canteen" he starred as the soldier with all the Warner greats playing themselves.
(1943)
Clark (right) with fellow actors Robert Alda (left) and Robert Hutton (center).
Other films include "God Is My Co-Pilot", "Her Kind of Man", "A Stolen Life" with Bette Davis, "That Way with Women", "Deep Valley" with Ida Lupino", "Embraceable You", "Moonrise" with Gail Russell, "Whiplash" with Alexis Smith, and "Without Honor" with Franchot Tone, Agnes Moorehead, and Laraine Day.
Clark, Janis Paige & Zachary Scott in "Her Kind of Man" (1946).
(1946)
(1947)
Clark as Barry and Ida Lupino as Libby in "Deep Valley" (1947).
Ida Lupino with Clark in a sullen moment in "Deep Valley" (1947).
(1948)
Clark with Gail Russell (1948).
"Whiplash" (1948), which featured Clark with Alexis Smith, (below).
Clark (right) with Laraine Day & Bruce Bennett (1949).
Clark with Margaret Lockwood in "Highly Dangerous" (1950).
Clark with Ruth Roman in "Barricade" (1950).
Clark with Cathy O'Donnell in "Never Trust a Gambler" (1951).
Clark with Wayne Morris in "Port of Hell" (1954).
Though he co-starred with such luminaries as Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Bette Davis and Raymond Massey, it was his self-described "Joe Average" image which got him his parts: "They don't go much for the 'pretty boy' type [at Warner Brothers]. An average-looking guy like me has a chance to get someplace, to portray people the way they really are, without any frills."
Although at times a cocky guy with an attitude, he later regretted some of his antics in the business.
Along with such greats as John Ford, Mr. Clark was requested to direct films for the government for which he received official letters of commendation for his extraordinary work.
After leaving Warner Bros. he worked for J. Arthur Rank in London and made films such as "Highly Dangerous" with Margaret Lockwood and Trevor Howard, "The Gambler and the Lady", and "Blackout". In France he worked with Simone Signoret in "The Hunted". He also taught Yves Montand his first song in English, "That’s the Glory of Love."
A film he was proud of was "Go, Man, Go!" with Sidney Poitier, in which Clark played Abe Saperstein who organized the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.
He worked in the early days of live TV and over the years guest starred in innumerable television shows such as The Twilight Zone in the episode "The Prime Mover", "The Name of the Game", "I Spy", "Cannon", "Police Story", "Police Woman", "The Rookies", "The Mod Squad", "Born Free", "Hawaii Five-O", and "Highway to Heaven".
He also played Lieutenant Tragg in the short-lived revival of the "Perry Mason" television series in 1973.
His final film in 1988 was "Last Rites" as Don Carlo with Tom Berringer.
Dane Clark resided on both coasts having a home in Los Angeles and an apartment in New York City. His career spanned over 50 years; he truly exemplified the consummate professional actor.
Clark was married twice. His first wife Margot died after 29 years of marriage and his second wife Geraldine survived him after 27 years. There is no mention of any children.
Clark with his wife Margot during World War II.
Dane Clark, renowned star of film, television and stage, died on Friday, September 11, 1998 in Los Angeles after a prolonged illness. He was 83 years old.
Quoted: "The only thing I want to do in films is be Mr. Joe Average as well as I know how. Of course, anyone whose face appears often enough on the screen is bound to have bobby-soxers after him for autogarphs. But what I really get a kick out of is when cab drivers around New York lean out and yell 'Hi Brooklyn' when I walk by. They make me feel I'm putting it across O.K. when I try to be Joe Average."
The actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the Spotlight: HATTIE McDANIEL
The wonderful character actress was born June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, to former slaves and Civil War soldier Henry McDaniel and Susan Holbert, a singer of religious music. She was the youngest of thirteen children.
In 1900, the family moved to Colorado, living first in Fort Collins and then in Denver, where Hattie grew up. McDaniel dropped out of East Denver High School after her sophomore year to enter show business.
She toured with her father's own Henry McDaniel minstrel show, which costarred her two brothers, Sam and Otis.
Hattie in 1910 at Denver East High School.
In 1910, she was the only African American participant in a Women's Christian Temperance Union event in which she won a gold medal for reciting a poem entitled Convict Joe. Winning the award was what started and sparked her dream of becoming a performer.
In the mid-1920s she embarked on a radio career, singing with the Melony Hounds in Denver, and she also recorded many of her songs on Okeh Records.
When the stock market crashed in 1929, the only work McDaniel could find was as a washroom attendant and waitress at Club Madrid in Milwaukee. Despite the owner's reluctance to let her perform, McDaniel was eventually allowed to take the stage, and became a regular.
In 1931,she made her way to Los Angeles to join her brother Sam, sisters Etta and Orlena. When she could not get film work, she took jobs as a maid or cook. Sam was working on a radio program called The Optimistic Do-Nut Hour, and he was able to get his sister a spot. She appeared on radio as 'Hi-Hat Hattie', a bossy maid who often "forgets her place". Her show became extremely popular, but her salary was so low that she had to continue working as a maid.
Her first film appearance was in "The Golden West" (1932), as a maid, her second, was in the highly successful Mae West film, "I'm No Angel", as one of the plump black maids West camped it up with backstage at West's circus performances.
In the early years of the 1930s she received roles in several films, often singing in choruses. In 1934, McDaniel joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and began to attract attention and finally landed larger film roles that began to win her screen credits. Fox Film Corporation put her under contract to appear in "The Little Colonel" (1935), with Shirley Temple, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore.
Hattie, Shirley Temple & Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson in "The Little Colonel" (1935).
1934's "Judge Priest", directed by John Ford and starring Will Rogers, was the first film in which she would receive a major role. She had a leading part in the film and demonstrated her singing talent, including a duet with Rogers. McDaniel and Rogers became friends during filming.
Hattie as Malena in a hilarious scene from "Alice Adams" with
Fred MacMurray and Katharine Hepburn (1935).
McDaniel had prominent roles in 1935 with her classic hilarious performance as a slovenly maid in RKOs "Alice Adams", and a delightfully comic part as Jean Harlow's maid/traveling companion in MGM's "China Seas", the latter her first film with Clark Gable. She had a featured role as Queenie in Universal Pictures' 1936 version of "Show Boat" starring Irene Dunne, and sang a verse of 'Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man' with Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, and the African-American chorus.
Helen Morgan, Hattie & Irene Dunne in "Show Boat" (1936).
Hattie with Lew Ayres in "The Crime Nobody Saw" (1937).
She had major roles in MGM's "Saratoga" (1937), starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, "The Shopworn Angel" (1938) with Margaret Sullavan, and "The Mad Miss Manton" (1938), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.
Hattie with Ginger Rogers in "Vavacious Lady" (1938).
McDaniel had befriended several of Hollywood's most popular white stars, including Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Ronald Reagan, Olivia de Havilland and Clark Gable. It was around this time that she began to be criticized by members of the black community for roles she was choosing to take. "The Little Colonel" depicted black servants longing for a return to the Old South. Ironically, McDaniel's portrayal of Malena in "Alice Adams" angered white Southern audiences. She managed to steal several scenes away from the film's star, Katharine Hepburn. This was the type of role she would be best known for, the sassy, independently minded, and opinionated maid.
The competition in "Gone with the Wind" to play Mammy had been almost as stiff as that for Scarlett O'Hara. McDaniel did not think she would be chosen, because she was known for being a comic actress.
Hattie testing for Mammy in "Gone With the Wind".
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Hattie as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind" (1939).
Clark Gable recommended the role go to McDaniel, and when she went to her audition dressed in an authentic maid's uniform, Selznick knew he had found Mammy. Gable was delighted to be working again with McDaniel.
Hattie with Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in "Gone With the Wind"
Despite the fact Clark Gable played a joke on her during the filming of Gone with the Wind (1939) (he put real brandy in the decanter instead of iced tea during the Bonnie Blue birth celebration scene), McDaniel and Gable were actually good friends.
Hattie with Olivia de Havilland on the staircase in a key scene believed to have won Hattie the Academy Award.
Hattie as Mammy: "It ain't fittin', It just ain't fittin'"
The Loew's Grand Theatre on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, was selected as the theatre for the premiere of Gone with the Wind, Friday, December 15, 1939. When the date of the Atlanta premiere approached, all the black actors were barred from attending, and excluded from being in the souvenir program. David Selznick had at least attempted to bring Hattie McDaniel, but MGM advised him not to because of Georgia's segregationist laws, which would have required McDaniel to stay in a coloured-only hotel, and prevented her from sitting in the theater with her white peers. Clark Gable angrily threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere unless McDaniel was allowed to attend, but McDaniel convinced him to attend anyway. She did attend the Hollywood debut on December 28, 1939.
It was her role as the sassy servant who repeatedly scolds her mistress, Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), and scoffs at Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), that won McDaniel the 1939 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first African American to win an Oscar. She was also the first African American ever to be nominated. "I loved Mammy," McDaniel said. "I think I understood her because my own grandmother worked on a plantation not unlike Tara". Her role in "Gone with the Wind" had scared her Southern audience and in the South, there were complaints that in the film she had been too familiar with her white employer.
A humbled Hattie winning a best supporting actress Oscar (plaque) for GWTW.
In her Oscar acceptance she put her heart right into those words and expressed not only for herself, but for every member of her race, the gratitude she felt that she had been given recognition by the Academy.
One of her proudest possessions is the red silk petticoat that David Selznick gave her when she finished "Gone with the Wind".
Hattie at home with her Academy Award (1940).
As the 1940s progressed, the servant roles McDaniel and other African American performers had so frequently played were subjected to increasingly strong criticism by groups such as the NAACP. In response to the NAACP's criticism, McDaniel replied, "I'd rather play a maid and make $700 a week than be one for $7."
Hattie surrounded by flowers in a 1941 portrait.
In the 1940s she continued to play domestics (what else?), in "The Great Lie" starring Bette Davis, "They Died with Their Boots On", "The Male Animal", a fine turn in "In This Our Life", "Johnny Come Lately" with Cagney, "Thank Your Lucky Stars" with an all star cast, and belted out the musical number "Ice Cold Katie", and as Fidelia in the superior drama "Since You Went Away", in which her feistiness was toned down.
Hattie with Bette Davis in "The Great Lie" (1941).
She joined Clarence Muse for an NBC radio broadcast to raise funds for Red Cross relief programs for Americans, many of them black, who had been displaced by the year's devastating floods. Within the black community, she gained a reputation for generous giving, often without question feeding and lending money to friends and stranger alike.
She rounded out the 1940s with "Margie", Disney's "Song of the South" and made her last film appearances in "Mickey" and "Family Honeymoon", but was still quite active in her final years on radio and television, becoming the first major African American radio star with her comedy series Beulah. She starred in the ABC television version, taking over for Ethel Waters after the first season. It was a hit, earning McDaniel $2,000 a week. After filming a handful of episodes, however, McDaniel learned she had breast cancer. By the spring of 1952, she was too ill to work and was replaced by Louise Beavers.
Hattie had a beautiful home in the Sugar Hill section of Los Angeles and she was maried 4 times. Her first husband died during the union, while the other 3 ended in divorce.
McDaniel died of breast cancer at age 57, in the hospital on the grounds of the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, on October 26, 1952. She was survived at the time by her brother, Sam "Deacon" McDaniel, a film actor. Thousands of mourners turned out to remember her life and accomplishments. It was her wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, along with her fellow movie stars, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, and others. McDaniel wrote: "I desire a white casket and a white shroud; white gardenias in my hair and in my hands, together with a white gardenia blanket and a pillow of red roses" I also wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery". The owner, Jules 'Jack' Roth, refused to allow her to be interred there, because they did not take blacks. Her second choice was Rosedale Cemetery, where she lies today.
In 1999, Tyler Cassity, the new owner of the Hollywood Cemetery, who had renamed it Hollywood Forever Cemetery, wanted to right the wrong and have Miss McDaniel interred in the cemetery. Her family did not want to disturb her remains after the passage of so much time, and declined the offer. Hollywood Forever Cemetery then did the next best thing and built a large cenotaph memorial on the lawn overlooking the lake in honor of McDaniel. It is one of the most popular sites for visitors.
The "Oscar" that Hattie won was placed in the keeping of Howard University in Washington, D.C. The statue disappeared during racial unrest on the Washington, D.C., campus in the late 1960s. The last will filed for probate disposed of less than $10,000 to a few relatives and friends, her estate had been eroded by medical costs.
Hattie has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood: one for her contributions to radio , and one for motion pictures. In 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame posthumously.
McDaniel was featured as the 29th inductee on the Black Heritage Series by the United States Postal Service. She was the first black Oscar winner honoured with a stamp. The 39-cent stamp was released on January 29, 2006. This stamp features a 1941 photograph of McDaniel in the dress she wore on January 25, 1940.
The ceremony took place at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where the Hattie McDaniel collection includes photographs of McDaniel and other family members, as well as scripts and other documents. "She was a most special lady," McDaniel's "Gone with the Wind" co-star Ann Rutherford told AP Television News. Rutherford recalled how McDaniel thought some of her friends looked down on her for playing a maid "But (McDaniel) said, I'd rather play a maid than be a maid", Rutherford said.
Souces: Wickipedia; IMDb; What a Character; Who's Who in Hollywood.
The wonderful character actress was born June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, to former slaves and Civil War soldier Henry McDaniel and Susan Holbert, a singer of religious music. She was the youngest of thirteen children.
In 1900, the family moved to Colorado, living first in Fort Collins and then in Denver, where Hattie grew up. McDaniel dropped out of East Denver High School after her sophomore year to enter show business.
She toured with her father's own Henry McDaniel minstrel show, which costarred her two brothers, Sam and Otis.
Hattie in 1910 at Denver East High School.
In 1910, she was the only African American participant in a Women's Christian Temperance Union event in which she won a gold medal for reciting a poem entitled Convict Joe. Winning the award was what started and sparked her dream of becoming a performer.
In the mid-1920s she embarked on a radio career, singing with the Melony Hounds in Denver, and she also recorded many of her songs on Okeh Records.
When the stock market crashed in 1929, the only work McDaniel could find was as a washroom attendant and waitress at Club Madrid in Milwaukee. Despite the owner's reluctance to let her perform, McDaniel was eventually allowed to take the stage, and became a regular.
In 1931,she made her way to Los Angeles to join her brother Sam, sisters Etta and Orlena. When she could not get film work, she took jobs as a maid or cook. Sam was working on a radio program called The Optimistic Do-Nut Hour, and he was able to get his sister a spot. She appeared on radio as 'Hi-Hat Hattie', a bossy maid who often "forgets her place". Her show became extremely popular, but her salary was so low that she had to continue working as a maid.
Her first film appearance was in "The Golden West" (1932), as a maid, her second, was in the highly successful Mae West film, "I'm No Angel", as one of the plump black maids West camped it up with backstage at West's circus performances.
In the early years of the 1930s she received roles in several films, often singing in choruses. In 1934, McDaniel joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and began to attract attention and finally landed larger film roles that began to win her screen credits. Fox Film Corporation put her under contract to appear in "The Little Colonel" (1935), with Shirley Temple, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore.
Hattie, Shirley Temple & Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson in "The Little Colonel" (1935).
1934's "Judge Priest", directed by John Ford and starring Will Rogers, was the first film in which she would receive a major role. She had a leading part in the film and demonstrated her singing talent, including a duet with Rogers. McDaniel and Rogers became friends during filming.
Hattie as Malena in a hilarious scene from "Alice Adams" with
Fred MacMurray and Katharine Hepburn (1935).
McDaniel had prominent roles in 1935 with her classic hilarious performance as a slovenly maid in RKOs "Alice Adams", and a delightfully comic part as Jean Harlow's maid/traveling companion in MGM's "China Seas", the latter her first film with Clark Gable. She had a featured role as Queenie in Universal Pictures' 1936 version of "Show Boat" starring Irene Dunne, and sang a verse of 'Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man' with Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, and the African-American chorus.
Helen Morgan, Hattie & Irene Dunne in "Show Boat" (1936).
Hattie with Lew Ayres in "The Crime Nobody Saw" (1937).
She had major roles in MGM's "Saratoga" (1937), starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, "The Shopworn Angel" (1938) with Margaret Sullavan, and "The Mad Miss Manton" (1938), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.
Hattie with Ginger Rogers in "Vavacious Lady" (1938).
McDaniel had befriended several of Hollywood's most popular white stars, including Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Ronald Reagan, Olivia de Havilland and Clark Gable. It was around this time that she began to be criticized by members of the black community for roles she was choosing to take. "The Little Colonel" depicted black servants longing for a return to the Old South. Ironically, McDaniel's portrayal of Malena in "Alice Adams" angered white Southern audiences. She managed to steal several scenes away from the film's star, Katharine Hepburn. This was the type of role she would be best known for, the sassy, independently minded, and opinionated maid.
The competition in "Gone with the Wind" to play Mammy had been almost as stiff as that for Scarlett O'Hara. McDaniel did not think she would be chosen, because she was known for being a comic actress.
Hattie testing for Mammy in "Gone With the Wind".
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Hattie as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind" (1939).
Clark Gable recommended the role go to McDaniel, and when she went to her audition dressed in an authentic maid's uniform, Selznick knew he had found Mammy. Gable was delighted to be working again with McDaniel.
Hattie with Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in "Gone With the Wind"
Despite the fact Clark Gable played a joke on her during the filming of Gone with the Wind (1939) (he put real brandy in the decanter instead of iced tea during the Bonnie Blue birth celebration scene), McDaniel and Gable were actually good friends.
Hattie with Olivia de Havilland on the staircase in a key scene believed to have won Hattie the Academy Award.
Hattie as Mammy: "It ain't fittin', It just ain't fittin'"
The Loew's Grand Theatre on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, was selected as the theatre for the premiere of Gone with the Wind, Friday, December 15, 1939. When the date of the Atlanta premiere approached, all the black actors were barred from attending, and excluded from being in the souvenir program. David Selznick had at least attempted to bring Hattie McDaniel, but MGM advised him not to because of Georgia's segregationist laws, which would have required McDaniel to stay in a coloured-only hotel, and prevented her from sitting in the theater with her white peers. Clark Gable angrily threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere unless McDaniel was allowed to attend, but McDaniel convinced him to attend anyway. She did attend the Hollywood debut on December 28, 1939.
It was her role as the sassy servant who repeatedly scolds her mistress, Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), and scoffs at Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), that won McDaniel the 1939 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first African American to win an Oscar. She was also the first African American ever to be nominated. "I loved Mammy," McDaniel said. "I think I understood her because my own grandmother worked on a plantation not unlike Tara". Her role in "Gone with the Wind" had scared her Southern audience and in the South, there were complaints that in the film she had been too familiar with her white employer.
A humbled Hattie winning a best supporting actress Oscar (plaque) for GWTW.
In her Oscar acceptance she put her heart right into those words and expressed not only for herself, but for every member of her race, the gratitude she felt that she had been given recognition by the Academy.
One of her proudest possessions is the red silk petticoat that David Selznick gave her when she finished "Gone with the Wind".
Hattie at home with her Academy Award (1940).
As the 1940s progressed, the servant roles McDaniel and other African American performers had so frequently played were subjected to increasingly strong criticism by groups such as the NAACP. In response to the NAACP's criticism, McDaniel replied, "I'd rather play a maid and make $700 a week than be one for $7."
Hattie surrounded by flowers in a 1941 portrait.
In the 1940s she continued to play domestics (what else?), in "The Great Lie" starring Bette Davis, "They Died with Their Boots On", "The Male Animal", a fine turn in "In This Our Life", "Johnny Come Lately" with Cagney, "Thank Your Lucky Stars" with an all star cast, and belted out the musical number "Ice Cold Katie", and as Fidelia in the superior drama "Since You Went Away", in which her feistiness was toned down.
Hattie with Bette Davis in "The Great Lie" (1941).
She joined Clarence Muse for an NBC radio broadcast to raise funds for Red Cross relief programs for Americans, many of them black, who had been displaced by the year's devastating floods. Within the black community, she gained a reputation for generous giving, often without question feeding and lending money to friends and stranger alike.
She rounded out the 1940s with "Margie", Disney's "Song of the South" and made her last film appearances in "Mickey" and "Family Honeymoon", but was still quite active in her final years on radio and television, becoming the first major African American radio star with her comedy series Beulah. She starred in the ABC television version, taking over for Ethel Waters after the first season. It was a hit, earning McDaniel $2,000 a week. After filming a handful of episodes, however, McDaniel learned she had breast cancer. By the spring of 1952, she was too ill to work and was replaced by Louise Beavers.
Hattie had a beautiful home in the Sugar Hill section of Los Angeles and she was maried 4 times. Her first husband died during the union, while the other 3 ended in divorce.
McDaniel died of breast cancer at age 57, in the hospital on the grounds of the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, on October 26, 1952. She was survived at the time by her brother, Sam "Deacon" McDaniel, a film actor. Thousands of mourners turned out to remember her life and accomplishments. It was her wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, along with her fellow movie stars, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, and others. McDaniel wrote: "I desire a white casket and a white shroud; white gardenias in my hair and in my hands, together with a white gardenia blanket and a pillow of red roses" I also wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery". The owner, Jules 'Jack' Roth, refused to allow her to be interred there, because they did not take blacks. Her second choice was Rosedale Cemetery, where she lies today.
In 1999, Tyler Cassity, the new owner of the Hollywood Cemetery, who had renamed it Hollywood Forever Cemetery, wanted to right the wrong and have Miss McDaniel interred in the cemetery. Her family did not want to disturb her remains after the passage of so much time, and declined the offer. Hollywood Forever Cemetery then did the next best thing and built a large cenotaph memorial on the lawn overlooking the lake in honor of McDaniel. It is one of the most popular sites for visitors.
The "Oscar" that Hattie won was placed in the keeping of Howard University in Washington, D.C. The statue disappeared during racial unrest on the Washington, D.C., campus in the late 1960s. The last will filed for probate disposed of less than $10,000 to a few relatives and friends, her estate had been eroded by medical costs.
Hattie has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood: one for her contributions to radio , and one for motion pictures. In 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame posthumously.
McDaniel was featured as the 29th inductee on the Black Heritage Series by the United States Postal Service. She was the first black Oscar winner honoured with a stamp. The 39-cent stamp was released on January 29, 2006. This stamp features a 1941 photograph of McDaniel in the dress she wore on January 25, 1940.
The ceremony took place at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where the Hattie McDaniel collection includes photographs of McDaniel and other family members, as well as scripts and other documents. "She was a most special lady," McDaniel's "Gone with the Wind" co-star Ann Rutherford told AP Television News. Rutherford recalled how McDaniel thought some of her friends looked down on her for playing a maid "But (McDaniel) said, I'd rather play a maid than be a maid", Rutherford said.
Souces: Wickipedia; IMDb; What a Character; Who's Who in Hollywood.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
After 175 profiles featured 'In the Spotlight' the thread will be going on hiatus for the remainder of the summer.
On Monday a new thread will begin titled *CANDIDS* featuring vintage pictures of movie stars. The variety of images will include publicity shots, at home, on the beach, with family, on the town, on the set, dating, cheesecake and beefcake, etc.
I hope and trust that members of the board will enjoy it.
Joe aka Mongo
After 175 profiles featured 'In the Spotlight' the thread will be going on hiatus for the remainder of the summer.
On Monday a new thread will begin titled *CANDIDS* featuring vintage pictures of movie stars. The variety of images will include publicity shots, at home, on the beach, with family, on the town, on the set, dating, cheesecake and beefcake, etc.
I hope and trust that members of the board will enjoy it.
Joe aka Mongo
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jdb1
Have a nice vacation Joe/Mongo. Relax and come back all peppy and comfortable. Also, Thank you for all the profiles so far.
Anne
Anne
Anne
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