25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Ann Blyth

October 25, 2019

Ann Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Blyth was born in Mount Kisco, New York, to parents who divorced shortly after her birth. She was raised a devout Roman Catholic by her mother. Blyth began her acting career initially as “Anne Blyth,” changing the spelling of her name back to the original at the beginning of her film career. Her first acting role was on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine. She was signed to a contract with Universal Studios, and made her film debut in Chip Off the Old Block in 1944. In musical films such as Babes on Swing Street, and Bowery to Broadway, she played the part of the sweet and demure teenager.

On loan to Warner Brothers, Blyth was cast against type as Veda Pierce, the scheming, ungrateful daughter of Joan Crawford in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. Her dramatic portrayal won her outstanding reviews and she received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Having injured her back after Mildred Pierce, Blyth was not able to capitalize on its success completely, although she was still able to make a few films. She played the part of Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest, and achieved success playing a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. Her other films include : Our Very Own, The Great Caruso, One Minute to Zero, The World in His Arms, Rose Marie, The Student Prince, Kismet, The Buster Keaton Story, and The Helen Morgan Story. Even though her voice was more like the original Helen Morgan, her vocals were dubbed by Gogi Grant, a popular singer at the time. That soundtrack was much more successful than the film itself.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Ann Dvorak

October 25, 2019

Ann Dvorak was an American film actress. Born Anna McKim in New York City, the only child of two vaudevillians, she was raised in the business that would later make her a star. Her father, Edwin McKim worked as a director for the Lubin Studios, and her mother, Anna Lehr, found success as the star of many silent features. The couple split when Ann was four, and she and her mother moved to Hollywood. Ann would not see her father again until a national appeal to the press reunited the two in 1934.

As a child, she appeared in several films. She began working for MGM in the late 1920s as a dance instructor and gradually began to appear on film as a chorus girl. Her friend Joan Crawford introduced her to Howard Hughes, who groomed her as a dramatic actress. She was a success in such pre-Code films as Scarface, as Paul Muni’s character’s sister, as the doomed unstable Vivian in Three on a Match, with Joan Blondell and Bette Davis, Love Is a Racket, and opposite Spencer Tracy in Sky Devils. Known for her style and elegance, she was a popular leading lady for Warner Brothers during the 1930s, and appeared in numerous contemporary romances and melodramas. A dispute over her pay led to her finishing out her contract on permanent suspension, and then working as a freelancer, but although she worked regularly, the quality of her scripts declined sharply. She appeared as secretary Della Street to Donald Woods’ Perry Mason in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. She also acted on Broadway. With her then-husband, British actor Leslie Fenton, Dvorak travelled to England where she supported the war effort by working as an ambulance driver, and appeared in several British films.

She retired from the screen in 1951, when she married her third and last husband, Nicholas Wade, to whom she remained married until his death in 1977. It was her longest and most successful marriage. She had no children.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Ann Harding

October 25, 2019

Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.

Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth “Bessie” Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life. Her father was born in Maine and served in the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. He died in San Francisco, California in 1931. The family finally settled in New York; Harding attended Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA, on the Pennsylvania Main Line outside Philadelphia.

Following school, she found employment as a script reader. She began acting and made her Broadway debut in 1921. She soon became a leading lady, who kept in shape by using the services of Sylvia of Hollywood. In 1929, she made her film debut in Paris Bound, opposite Fredric March. In 1931, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Holiday.

First under contract to Pathé, which was subsequently absorbed by RKO studio, Harding, co-starred with Ronald Colman, Myrna Loy, Herbert Marshall, Leslie Howard, Richard Dix, and Gary Cooper, often on loan out to other studios, such as MGM and Paramount. At RKO, Harding, along with Helen Twelvetrees and Constance Bennett, comprised a trio who specialized in the “women’s pictures” genre.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Ann Miller

October 25, 2019

Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.

Miller was born in Chireno, Texas to Clara Emma and John Alfred Collier, a criminal lawyer who represented the Barrow Gang, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson, among others. Miller’s maternal grandmother was Cherokee. Miller’s father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. She took up dancing to exercise her legs to help her rickets. She was considered a child dance prodigy. In an interview featured in a “behind the scenes” documentary on the making of the compilation That’s Entertainment III, she said that Eleanor Powell was an early inspiration.

At the age of 13 Miller had been hired as a dancer in the “Black Cat Club” in San Francisco. It was there she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin. This led Miller to be given a contract with RKO in 1936 at the age of 13 and she remained there until 1940. The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures. She finally hit her mark in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town.

Miller popularized pantyhose in the 1940s as a solution to the problem of continual torn stockings during the filming of dance production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs worn by Miller. If torn, the entire garment had to be removed and resewn with a new pair. At Miller’s request, hosiery was manufactured for her as a single pantyhose.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Andrea Bocelli

October 25, 2019

See the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony announcement

Andrea Bocelli was honored with the 2,402nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, presided over the ceremony. Guests included David Foster and Pascal Vicedomini. The Adderley School for the Performing Arts, under the direction of Janet Adderley, performed at the ceremony.

7000 Hollywood Boulevard on March 2, at 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

Andrea Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958 and grew up at the family farm in Lajatico. His parents are credited for having encouraged young Andrea’s musical talent, allowing him to start studying the piano from the age of six. Later his musical passion would extend to the flute and the saxophone but it was in his voice that Andrea discovered the ideal instrument and this was the beginning of the formative process which would produce Bocelli, the star, “a modern but old fashioned tenor” (as he likes to describe himself). At the age of 14 he won his first song competition. After he finished secondary school, he studied law at the University of Pisa and graduated as a Doctor of Laws.

In 1996, Bocelli was invited to sing a duet with English soprano Sarah Brightman. Changing the title lyric of the song “Con te Partiro” to “Time to Say Goodbye”, they re-recorded it as a duet with members of the London Symphony Orchestra. The single debuted atop the German charts, where it stayed for fourteen weeks. He topped the Spanish singles chart in 1996 with the “Vivo Por Ella” duet with Marta Sanchez. The same year, Bocelli recorded “Je vis pour elle” as a duet with French singer Helene Segara. Released in 1997, the song became a hit in Belgium and France, where it reached #1 on the charts. To date, it is the best-selling single for Segara, and the second for Bocelli, after “Time to Say Goodbye.”

Bocelli made his debut in a major operatic role in 1998 when he played Rodolfo in a production of “La Boheme” in Cagliari. That same year he toured North and South America. His final concert of the tour at Madison Square Garden was sold out. Bocelli appeared as a guest on Celine Dion’s television special in which he joined Dion with their hit “The Prayer” from Dion’s album “These are Special Times.” The prayer won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was performed by Bocelli and Dion at the ceremony. When he toured the West Coast of North America with a final performance before 18,000 spectators at the Hollywood Bowl, actress Elizabeth Taylor stood by his side on stage while he sang “The Prayer.”

2000 marked a new milestone in Andrea Bocelli’s recording career: He starred in Puccini’s La Bohème, and also celebrated the release of the Verdi album. Bocelli combined his energies with those of Lorin Maazel, with whom he undertook a very special recording project: Sentimento, a collection of romantic pieces by composers such as Tosti, Denza and Gastaldon. The project was an enormous success earning Andrea a double nomination at the 2003 “Classical Brit Awards”, where he won both “Album of the Year” and “Best Selling Classical Album of the Year”.

Bocelli’s more recent projects include the demanding role of Andrea Chénier by Giordano and finally the most audacious and bewitching love story of all time, Bizet’s Carmen. In 2008, while his new album Incanto was a sell-out success, Andrea performed in Carmen at the Rome Opera, followed by Puccini’s Messa di Gloria in Padova, and then La Petite Messe Solennelle in the United States, directed by Placido Domingo.

In 2009, “My Christmas,” Bocelli’s first Holiday album was released and went on to become the best-selling Holiday album of the year. Bocelli also sang “White Christmas” in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and sang “Jingle Bells” on the Jay Leno Show with the Muppets. His rendition of “Silent Night” was chosen as the Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week for December 1, 2009. The Dr. Phil Show also aired a Christmas special featuring Bocelli singing with Natalie Cole.

Bocelli’s resume of awards and honors is too extensive to mention, but includes ECHO music awards for Best Single of the Year for Time to Say Goodbye, Best Seller of the Year for his album, Viaggio Italiano, Best Selling Classical Album for Ario – The Opera Album and Best Seller of the Year for Sacred Arias. He also garnered two World Music Awards for World Best Selling Classical Artist and for Best Selling Italian Artist and received Classical BRIT Awards for his “Outstanding Contribution to Music” and for “Best Selling Classical Album” and “Album of the Year” for Sentimento.

The Andrea Bocelli website www.andreabocelli.com has achieved over a million hits in one year.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Andrea King

October 25, 2019

Andrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.

Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France. At two months old, she moved with her mother to the United States and was raised in Forest Hills, Queens in New York City, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Andrea King appeared in Broadway plays and other theater work before appearing in The March of Time’s first feature-length film entitled The Ramparts We Watch. In 1944, she signed with Warner Bros. and changed her stage name to King. King appeared uncredited in the Bette Davis film, Mr. Skeffington and went on to do another ten movies in the next three years. King was originally cast to play Dr. Lilith Ritter in Edmund Goulding’s film noir classic Nightmare Alley, but she choose instead a memorable role as sophisticated Marjorie Lundeen in Ride the Pink Horse. The Warner Bros. studio photographers voted Andrea the most photogenic actress for the year 1945.

25 Oct 2019
Live Performance Permalink

Andrew Lloyd Webber

October 25, 2019

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre. He started composing at the age of six, and published his first piece at the age of nine.

Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success, and has been referred to as “the most commercially successful composer in history.” Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006. Several of his songs, notably “The Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from Evita, “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and “Memory” from Cats have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals.

His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of Lloyd Webber’s musicals under license from the Really Useful Group.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in Kensington, London, England, the son of Jean Hermione, a violinist and pianist, and William Lloyd Webber, a composer. His younger brother, Julian Lloyd Webber, is a renowned solo cellist.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Andy Clyde

October 25, 2019

Andrew “Andy” Clyde was a Scottish movie and TV actor whose career spanned more than four decades. He broke into silent films in 1925 as a Mack Sennett comic. Clyde came from a family that had been prominently identified with the theatre for generations; his brother David Clyde and sister Jean Clyde also became screen actors.

Andy Clyde’s mastery of makeup allowed him tremendous versatility; he could play everything from grubby young guttersnipes to old crackpot scientists. Clyde hit upon an “old man” characterization in his short comedies, which were immediately successful. Adopting a gray wig and mustache, he used this makeup for the rest of his short-subject career, and the character was so durable that he literally grew into it.

He remained with Mack Sennett and made a successful transition to sound films. In 1932, when the Sennett studio was facing financial problems, Sennett cut Clyde’s salary. Clyde objected and Sennett put the “old man” costume on character actor Irving Bacon. Audiences saw through it and Sennett abandoned the character. Sennett’s distributor, Educational Pictures, took over the Andy Clyde series, which continued for two more years.

Columbia Pictures launched its short subject department in 1934 and Andy Clyde was one of the first comedy stars signed by producer Jules White. Unlike many of the Columbia short-subject comedians who indulged in broad facial and physical gestures, Clyde was subtler and more economical: his comic timing was so good that he could merely lift an eyebrow, shudder slightly, or mutter “My, my, my” for humorous effect. Clyde was such an audience favorite that he continued to star in Columbia shorts through 1956. He outlasted every comedian on the Columbia payroll except The Three Stooges.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio, Television Permalink

Andy Devine

October 25, 2019

Andrew Vabre “Andy” Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.

Born in Flagstaff, Arizona on October 7, 1905, Andy Devine grew up in nearby Kingman, where his family moved when he was a year old. His father was Thomas Devine Jr., born in 1869 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Andy’s grandfather, Thomas Devine Sr., was born in 1842 in County Tipperary, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in 1852. Andy’s mother was Amy Ward, the granddaughter of Commander James H. Ward, the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the Civil War.

He attended St. Mary and St. Benedict’s College, Northern Arizona State Teacher’s College, and was a star football player at Santa Clara University. He also played semi-professional football under the pseudonym “Jeremiah Schwartz” — it was not his birth name as has been erroneously reported elsewhere. His football experience led to his first sizable film role, in the 1931 The Spirit of Notre Dame.

He had acting ambitions, so after college, he went to Hollywood, where he marked time working as a lifeguard at Venice Beach, within easy distance of the studios. It was in 1933 on a film, Doctor Bull, directed by John Ford at Universal Studios, that Andy met his wife-to-be, Dorothy House. They were married on October 28, 1933, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and remained united until his death on February 18, 1977.