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The First Annual Carole Lombard Blogathon: Twentieth Century (1934)

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Carole Lombard is undoubtedly one the greatest comediennes in cinema history. Born Jane Alice Peters to a wealthy Indiana family on October 6, 1908, Lombard began her acting career at the age of 12, when director Allan Dwan cast her as Monta Blue's sister in A Perfect Crime (1921). Although the film was not widely distributed and paid only $50, the experience spurred Lombard's mother to enroll her in drama school. In 1924, just as she turned 16, she was screentested by Fox Film Corporation, which led to a co-starring role opposite Edmund Lowe in Marriage in Transit (1925). Both movies are now considered lost.   Unlike many other actors, Lombard made an easy transition to sound, signing a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures in 1930. Four years later, she was loaned out to Columbia to work on Twentieth Century (1934), a film that not only made her a major star, but also became the prototype of screwball comedies.   LEFT: Carole Lombard and Monta Blue in A Perfect Crim...

Top 10 Favourite Films of the 1970s

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The 1970s were a decade of change in world history. As the social progressive values that emerged in the 1960s continued to grow, the golden age of capitalism came to an end. U.S. President Richard Nixon resigned from office following the Watergate scandal, Margaret Thatcher became the first female British Prime Minister, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty as a result of the Yom Kippur War, a military coup d'état restored democracy in Portugal after 48 years of dictatorship, and the Fall of Saigon finally brought an end to the Vietnam War.   (from left to right) Richard Nixon delivers his farewell speech to cabinet and to White House staff following his resignation (August 9, 1974); Margaret Thatcher arriving at Conservative Party headquarters the day after being elected Prime Minister (May 4, 1979); soldiers during the «Carnation Revolution» in Portugal (April 25, 1974); North Vietnamese troops enter Saigon on tanks and trucks, ending the Vietnam War (April 30, 1...

Seasonal Pictorials: Summer in Old Hollywood

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Ginger Rogers at the beach with her pet dog (1936) Clara Bow in front of her Malibu beachfront home (c. 1926)   Bette Davis at a beach in Southern California (c. 1932)   Cary Grant and Randolph Scott at their home in Santa Monica (1935)   Natalie Wood and Hugh O'Brien at the Thalians Beach Ball in Malibu (July 15, 1956)   Ava Gardner at the beach (c. 1945)   Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman at the pool (c. 1940)   Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. at Catalina Beach (May 20, 1929)  

Hollywood at War: Stars Who Served (Part IV)

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On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy led a surprise military strike against the American naval base stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared war against Japan, which fully plunged the United States into World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of American men enlisted in the various branches of the armed forces to help their country in the fight against the Axis Powers. Some of these men were established Hollywood actors, while others became recognizable movie stars in the post-war period. Here are five (more) male actors who served in World War II before or after they became famous. Walter Matthau (1920-2000) | U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-1945 Matthau enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 and was assigned as a radio operator and gunner with the Eighth Air Force. In 1943, he was shipped out to England and was stationed at RAF Old Buckenham in Norfolk, where he served with the 453rd Bombardment G...

Hollywood Royals: The Royal Ancestry of Katharine Hepburn

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Katharine Hepburn  is one of my most acclaimed actresses of the Old Hollywood era, and the only actor in history to have four Academy Awards. She received her fourth Oscar for her performance as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen consort of King Henry II of England, in Anthony Harvey's The Lion in Winter (1968). But did you know that she was actually a direct descendant of Eleanor and Henry II, who were, in «technical terms,» her 23rd great-grandparents? Here's another interesting fact: Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine were also direct ancestors of Olivia de Havilland , Joan Fontaine, Humphrey Bogart and Laurence Olivier via their great-grandson, King Edward I of England, whose children originated the blood lines from which all of these actors (including Kate) descended. This means that they are all somehow related.   King Edward I of England was Katharine Hepburn's 20th great-grandfather. Edward I (1239-1307) married Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290) in 1254 and together they ...