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In honor of Eleanor Powell's 104th birthday, which was on Monday, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you the first of her films that I ever saw.   Directed by Roy Del Ruth, Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) begins when newspaper and radio columnist Bert Keeler (Jack Benny) is told by his managing editor (Paul Harvey) that he has to stop writing about «Blessed Events» and start digging up dirt. He decides to go after young Broadway producer and songwriter Bob Gordon (Robert Taylor), whose new musical, Broadway Rhythm , is being financed by heiress Lillian Brent (June Knight), who also wants to star in the show. Keeler starts writing about Bob and Lillian, which leads the producer to punch him in the nose several times. But as the paper's circulation and Keeler's salary rise, he keeps at it. LEFT: June Knight and Robert Taylor. RIGHT: Eleanor Powell and Buddy and Vilma Ebsen. During rehearsals for Broadway Rhythm , Bob's childhood sweetheart, Irene Foster (Eleanor Powell...

In honor of Rock Hudson's 91st birthday, which was yesterday, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you one of the very first films I saw with him. Directed by Douglas Sirk, All That Heaven Allows (1955) tells the story of Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), a wealthy widow living in a small New England town. With her two children, Kay (Gloria Talbott) and Ned (William Reynolds), away at college, Cary becomes increasingly aware of her loneliness. While everyone expects her to marry staid bachelor Harvey (Conrad Nagel), Cary instead finds herself attracted to Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), a significantly younger gardener who rejects social artifices. When Ron invites her to a dinner party at the home of his friends, former suburbanites Alida (Virginia Grey) and Mick Anderson (Charles Drake), Cary realizes how much she admires his down-to-earth lifestyle and the two soon begin a passionate romance.   Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman in All That Heaven Allows .   Although she is supported by her clo...

Grace as an adorable eight-month-old baby in July 1930. Grace at the age of 12 in 1941. With her sister Elizabeth and their brother, Olympic medal-winning rower John B. Kelly Jr., at the Henley Royal Regatta in England in 1948 With Raymond Massey in The Father , Grace's Broadway debut. The play ran at the Colt Theatre for 69 performances between November 1949 and January 1950. With Clark Gable at the 26th Academy Awards on March 25, 1954. Grace was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Mogambo (1953), which co-starred Gable. With James Stewart during the making of Rear Window (1954). With William Holden on the set of The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954). With costume designer Edith Head on the set of To Catch a Thief (1955). With Marlon Brando at the 27th Academy Awards on March 30, 1955. Grace won for The Country Girl (1954), while Brando won for On the Waterfront (1954). Relaxing in the lobby of the Carl...

This week on «Film Friday,» I am honouring Grace Kelly's 87th birthday, which is tomorrow, by telling you a little about what is arguably one of her most iconic films. This was also the picture that gave her a first glimpse at her future realm. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, To Catch a Thief (1955) concerns John Robie (Cary Grant), a former world-famous jewel thief known as «The Cat,» who now lives in the French Riviera. Although he insists he is retired, having repented for his crimes during World War II, he nevertheless becomes the chief suspect when a series of robberies take place. Realizing that the only way to prove his innocence is by catching the thief himself, Robie seeks the help of his old friend, restauranteur Bertani (Charles Vanel), asking him for information about his wealthy customers. Spotted by police detectives as he is leaving the restaurant, Robie manages to escape with the assistance of Foussard (Jean Martinelli), one of Bertani's workers, and his fli...

Born into a wealthy and influential family from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Grace Kelly became interested in acting at a very young age, appearing in a local play when she was 10 years old. After her education in elite private schools, she moved to New York and got accepted into the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, whose famous alumni included Spencer Tracy, William Powell and Rosalind Russell. In November 1949, Grace made her Broadway debut opposite Raymond Massey in a revival of August Strindberg's play The Father . The following year, director Delbert Mann cast Grace as the title character in a television adaptation of the novel Bethel Merriday by Sinclair Lewis, which led to further work on the small screen. Grace's success on television soon brought her her first two motion picture assignments: Henry Hathway's Fourteen Hours (1951) and Fred Zinnemann's High Noon (1952).    LEFT: Grace with Raymond Massey in the play The Father . MIDDLE: Publicity...