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Since today is World Photography Day (yes, I bothered to check), I thought it would be fun to put together a collection of colour photos of Classic Hollywood stars. As far as I can tell, these pictures were captured in actual natural colour, rather than being digitally colourised. Enjoy! Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck at their ranch in San Fernando Valley (1939) Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet (1940) Errol Flynn skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho (December 1940) Eleanor Powell and Glenn Ford on their wedding day (1943) Myrna Loy and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. dancing (ca. 1944) Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney before reprising their roles in Laura (1944) for Lux Radio Theatre (February 1945) Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner on a break from filming The Killers (1946) Gregory Peck in a publicity for Duel in the Sun (1946) James Stewart and Donna Reed in a portrait for It's a Wonderful Life...

Last year I discovered by chance that Olivia de Havilland , Joan Fontaine and Humphrey Bogart are all direct descendants of King Edward I of England. I was so fascinated by that fact that I decided to delve further into the world of genealogy and try to find out what other classic Hollywood actors might be descendants of the kings of England. During this process, I learned that Sir Laurence Olivier — or Larry, as I always call him — is also a direct descendant, albeit through a different (and more royal) blood line, of Edward I. If you are interested to know the particulars of this intricate connection, you are welcome to keep on reading. Sir Laurence Olivier is a direct descendant of King Edward I of England. Let us begin our story with Edward I (1239-1307). He was the first of five children of King Henry III of England (1207-1272) and his wife, Eleanor of Provence (c. 1223-1291), a probable distant relative of Charlemagne, king of the Franks and Christian emperor of the West. Via hi...

Directed by William Wyler, Wuthering Heights (1939) begins when a traveller named Mr. Lockwood (Miles Mander) gets caught in a snowstorm and ends up at Wuthering Heights, an old house on the barren moors of Yorkshire, England, owned by the dour Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier). Lockwood asks for a guide to take him to his place at The Grange, but Heathcliff refuses and reluctantly allows him to stay the night. Later that night, Lockwood is awaken by a noisy window shutter. As he closes it, he hears a woman outside calling, «Heathcliff, let me in! I'm out on the moors. It's Cathy!» and then feels an icy hand touching his. When Lockwood relates the disturbance to Heathcliff, he frantically runs into the blizzard, calling out to Cathy. Ellen D ean (Flora Robson), the housekeeper, t ells a perp lexed Lockwood that he has seen the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff 's great love, and proceeds to tell him their story . Forty years previously, an or phan boy named Hea thclif...