Classic crush profile: James Cagney

I love James Cagney because he played gangsters but also danced. He was flirty with a love for life but a tinge of pathos. In real life he was married to one woman for 64 years.  He was that perfect combo of artistic, sensitive, and bad boy.  He was reported to be faithful to his wife but almost cheated with actress Merle Oberon.   If he had cheated with Merle, I’d forgive him for good taste.  If you are going to cheat one time, the exquisite Merle Oberon is the way to go. Heck, I’d consider cheating on my spouse with Merle. 

My 1st exposure to Cagney was Yankee Doodle Dandy around the 4th of July, of course.  Then I started watching his lesser known films like Boy Meets Girl, Blonde Crazy, and The Bride Came C.O.D. I basically knew him as a dancer and light comedian type, Footlight Parade being one of my favorite Cagney musicals as well as one of my favorite musicals, full stop. It wasn’t till High School that I realized he was more famous as a gangster type.  I’m grateful though that I was exposed to his comedies and musicals first because it seems Cagney fans exposed to the gangster persona first have a harder time accepting him as a song and dance man than vice-versa.

White Heat is a great film but that film unfortunately tarnished his crush image….too psycho and chubby for me.  I prefer his 30s gangsters like Public Enemy, Angels With Dirty Faces and The Roaring Twenties.

RIP Joseph Wiseman

Joseph Wiseman, most famous for his portrayal of Eurasian villian Dr. No in the Bond film Dr. No died on October 19th.  His filmography also includes such films as Detective Story, Viva Zapata!, and plenty of TV shows. He also performed on Broadway.

Oct 16 Birthday Profile: Angela Lansbury

Okay I have some free time to type on my blog.  Angela Lansbury is one of my favorite actresses like top 5 favorite.  My first exposure to her was Samson and Delilah with Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature.  Then the widowed myster writer, Jessica Fletcher,  on Murder, She Wrote.  Later I saw Gaslight.  She was 100x better than the stars Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer (and Boyer was good).  Bergman overacted IMO but won the Oscar ….whatevs… but love you Ingrid.   Anyway Lansbury was so sexy and bangin.  She should have won the Oscar. Then I saw her in The Manchurian Candidate, again she was the best thing from the film,  no longer the hot sex kitten but deliciously evil.  She should have won the Oscar for that too.  She’s one of the best actresses EVER  to have come to Hollywood. 

I read she’s appearing on Broadway.  It would be so nice to see her live.  Perhaps one day.  Happy Birthday!!!!

From The Picture of Dorian Gray

More Flamenco and Bardot

With Manitas de Plata and Jose Reyes

Brigitte Bardot dances Flamenco

 She was 47 in this clip!

Camp film wish list

I’m dying to see many camp films but  2 in particular.  I’m a huge Maria Montez fan.  What she lacked in acting talent, she made up in…I don’t know.  Anyway she made successful escapist films during World War 2. I’m so shocked that she doesn’t have a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star because she was a moneymaker for Universal Studios at the time and a pin-up for the soldiers.  Some of her films are on DVD but the one I’m dying to see and her most “celebrated” film, Cobra Woman is unavailable.  Check out the video in beautiful technicolor. 

Princess of the Nile starring Debra Paget is the other film I wish to see on DVD.  The 50s started a Middle Eastern trend reminiscent of the Montez escapist era. The difference is Paget had acting talent and is a beautiful dancer. She would have made a good belly dancer and teacher in this decade.   You may recognize her from The Ten Commandments with Charleton Heston and John Derek. Sorry Montez, you were Latina but didn’t live up to the dancer stereotype. If you think Megan Fox is hot, Paget puts her to shame.

Now this video is from a film titled Das indische Gramal (Indian Tomb) directed by Fritz Lang. Yeah, I find it hard to believe too.  Anyway I’m posting it as a contrast to the Montez Cobra dance.

Classic crush profile: Herbert Marshall

Okay we know I lust after the dead actor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.  Well here is another one.  I don’t lust him but he’s so cute.  I love his English accent and blase manner.   He seemed the forgetful type but one who would treat you right.  Herbert Marshall was a sought-out leading man in the 1930s starring with such leading ladies like Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert and Margaret Sullavan.  In the 40s he became a character actor but still in very memorable classics.

This video from The Good Fairy centers around Margaret Sullavan, a fantastic luminious yet almost-forgotten  actress but I love this film and Marshall is wonderful in it. 

Here he is with Kay Francis in Trouble in Paradise. Charles Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton are so cute.

My classic crushes

I’ve seen some movies but still lazy so here’s another frivolous filler.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr – a dashing hottie.

Herbert Marshall – love his humor, accent, kind of cute, bring home to mama

James Cagney – the singing dancing gangster

 

Steve Cochran -  Don’t most Crochran fans love Brando too? Well I’m not a Brando fan. Crucify me. Gilbert Roland – so arrogant but I like him

Cary Grant -  perfection

Errol Flynn – I’d like to see him and Douglas Fairbanks Jr duel over me. I’d take Fairbanks though, more emotionally stable.

Clark Gable - Too bad Carole Lombard said he was a bad f..k

 

 

 

Robert Mitchum – The chin, the eyes……

David Niven – I think he was very wealthy because he, Charles Boyer, and Dick Powell started 4-Star Playhouse. They were TV pioneers. Boyer and Powell were two of the richest men in Hollywood.  They asked uber-rich (cutie) Joel McCrea (he declined) to join so I assume Niven was as wealthy too.

Living legends

Below are living Hollywood legends.  I only mention those who made their film debuts before 1955. Beforehand, the studio system was at it’s peak….really it was before 1950 but I wanted to accomodate some who were born in the teens.  So if I don’t mention someone amazing like  Dennis Hopper please understand my reasons. I added a movie that is probably not their best known but one I recommend.

Barbara Kent (1906- ) Flesh and the Devil

Luise Rainer (1910- ), Big City

Gloria Stuart (1910-), The Old Dark House

Mary Carlisle (1912-), College Humor

Kevin McCarthy (1914- ), Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Olivia de Havilland (1916-), Hold Back the Dawn

Kirk Douglas (1916-), A Letter to 3 Wives

Jeni Le Gon (1916-), Hooray For Love

Ernest Borgnine (1917-), The Dirty Dozen

Danielle Darrieux (1917-) 8 Femmes

Joan Fontaine (1917-), The Constant Nymph

Celeste Holm (1917-), The Snake Pit

Lena Horne (1917-), Ziegfeld Follies

Marsha Hunt (1917-), Irene

John Forsythe (1918), The Trouble With Harry

Gene Barry (1919-) The War of the Worlds (1953), War of the Worlds (2005)

Louis Jourdan (1919-), Letter from an Unknown Woman

Patricia Medina (1919-), The Fighting O’Flynn

Richard Todd (1919- ), The Hasty Heart

Audrey Totter (1919-), The Postman Always Rings Twice

Mary Anderson (1920-), Lifeboat

Nanette Fabray (1920-), The Band Wagon

Maureen O’Hara (1920-), The Parent Trap (1961)

Mickey Rooney (1920-), Requiem for a Heavyweight

Ann Rutherford (1920-), Pride and Prejudice (1940)

Harry Carey Jr. (1921-), Red River

Deanna Durbin (1921-), Lady on a Train

Jane Russell (1921-), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Turhan Bey (1922-), White Savage

Jackie Cooper (1922-), Superman

Doris Day (1922-), Teacher’s Pet

Kathryn Grayson (1922- ), It Happened in Brooklyn

Audrey Long (1922- ), Born to Kill

Juanita Moore (1922-  ), The Girl Can’t Help It

Eleanor Parker (1922- ), The Man with the Golden Arm

Lizabeth Scott (1922- ), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

James Arness (1923- ), Them!

Rhonda Fleming (1923- ), Spellbound

Lauren Bacall (1924- ), Written on the Wind

Ruby Dee (1924- ), The Jackie Robinson Story

Martha Hyer (1924- ), A Girl Named Tamiko

Tony Curtis (1925- ), The Boston Strangler

Gloria DeHaven (1925- ), Susan and God

Angela Lansbury (1925- ), The Picture of Dorian Gray

Joan Leslie (1925- ), Born to Be Bad

Dorothy Malone (1925- ), The Big Sleep

Julie Adams (1926- ), Creature from the Black Lagoon

Gloria Jean (1926- ), A Little Bit of Heaven

Patricia Neal (1926- ), Hud

Jane Withers (1926- ), Giant

Harry Belafone (1927- ), Odds Against Tomorrow

Ann Blyth (1928- ), Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid

Arlene Dahl (1928- ), Woman’s World

Nancy Olson (1928- ), So Big

Shirley Temple (1928- ), The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer

Terry Moore (1929- ), Daddy Long Legs

Jane Powell (1929- ), Royal Wedding

Jean Simmons (1929- ), Black Narcissus

Carrol Baker (1931- ), The Big Country

Darryl Hickman (1931- ), The Set-Up

Mamie Van Doren (1931), Teacher’s Pet

Piper Laurie (1932- ), Louisa

Elizabeth Taylor (1932- ), Life With Father

Robert Blake (1933), In Cold Blood

Joan Collins (1933- ), Decameron Nights

Kim Novak (1933- ) Phffft

Dean Stockwell (1936- ), Gentleman’s Agreement

Margaret O’Brien (1937- ), The Secret Garden

My favorite classic beauties pre-1950s

Sorry guys.  I know I’ve been a bit lazy with the blogging.  I’ve worked some long hours.  Anyway here’s a frivolous filler for the week. I think these are some of the most beautiful classic actresses from the silver screen.  Talent is not necessarily included.  I’m just commenting on facial beauty. The actresses below all made film debuts before 1950. I’ll put Natalie Wood in another category because she was still a kid before the 50s.

Oh gosh I hope these pictures don’t look messed up.  I don’t know why this is happening. Hope you can figure out who is who.

1) Gene Tierney – my favorite since childhood. I love her cheekbones.

2) Ava Gardner - both a gorgeous face and amazing body.  As much as Tierney is my favorite for the face, her figure wasn’t as good. Ava is the complete physical package.

3) Linda Darnell -almost forgotten actress but she ranks high amongst us film buffs

4) Ingrid Bergman – natural beauty

5) Madeleine Carroll – elegant British beauty.  I like her a lot more than Grace Kelly.  I know kill me for that comment.

6) June Haver-she is such an underrated beauty.  Possibly the prettiest blonde in the 40s.

7) Elizabeth Taylor -overrated but she deserves it.

8)  Dorothy Dandridge - she really blossomed in her 30s (the 1950s).

9) Dorothy Lamour - the Sarong girl- another forgotten one but we film buffs love her.

10) Dolores Del Rio- Marlene Dietrich thought she was the most beautiful woman.  Marlene you didn’t make my list but at least Dolores did.