- Wax Work of Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers - M.L. Costa
Larger than life distinctive personalities, memorable faces and performances, still remembered as the founding talents of talking films, these actors and actresses are just a few of the people who paved the path of Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
A – Fred Astaire
Born in Nebraska on May 10, 1899, Fred Astaire first became known for the vaudeville song and dance act he performed with his older sister Adele. Eventually, Fred and Adele appeared on the stages of both Broadway and London in musicals such as George and Ira Gershwin’s Lady Be Good (1924). In 1932, Adele married Charles Cavendish, son of the 9th Duke of Devonshire, and Fred continued his career by dancing in the Cole Porter musical Gay Divorce (1932).
Astaire became famous as a screen star for the movie musicals he made with Ginger Rogers, and he continued his career with his trademark elegant style and expert dancing throughout his life.
Astaire married twice. His first marriage to Phyllis Livingston Potter ended after 21 years when his wife died in 1954, leaving Asatire to raise their still young children, Fred and Ava. Astaire married Robyn Smith in 1980. The marriage lasted until his death in 1987.
B – Blonde Bombshell Jean Harlow
Born in Missouri on March 3, 1911, Jean Harlow became known as the “Blonde Bombshell” due to her famously platinum blonde hair. Harlow fulfilled her mother’s dream of becoming an actress, even taking her mother’s name as her screen name.
Harlow rose to stardom at MGM, where she was often cast in roles which utilized her sex appeal and comedic talent. A major box-office hit, she was often paired with top actors, co-starring with Clark Gable in six films, including Saratoga, whish she was making at the time of her kidney-disease related death in 1937, when she was only 26 years of age.
Harlow had been unsuccessfully and tumultuously married three times, none of the marriages lasting longer than two years. It is sometimes suggested that at the time of her death she was actually engaged to actor William Powell.
C – Joan Crawford
Born in Texas on March 23, 1905, Joan Crawford became a star at MGM, often playing hardworking girls who find success and love. Crawford became one of the highest paid movie stars, but a string of failing films caused her to be labeled “box office poison.” After an almost two year absence from the silver screen, she made a come back with Mildred Pierce (1945), even winning an Academy Award for her role as the title character.
Crawford married four times, her first marriage being to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and her final marriage being to the Pepsi Cola CEO Alfred Steele. Never having any biological children, she adopted four. After Crawford’s 1977 death, oldest daughter Christina wrote a memoir book Mommie Dearest which asserted that Crawford emotionally and physically abused her two eldest children.
D – Bette Davis
Born in Massachusetts on April 5, 1908, Bette Davis was a stage actress who having been discovered by a Hollywood talent scout performed in the films of several studios. She found stardom once under contract at Warner Brothers. Famously, Davis fought to choose her roles.
During her long acting career she starred in many still remembered movies, being nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning twice. Her talent has also inspired many later actresses.
Although Davis described director William Wyler as the “love of my life,” the two never wed. Davis married four times, giving birth to one daughter in 1947, during her third marriage, and adopting two children with her fourth husband, former so-star Gary Merrill. Her final marriage lasted longest, Merrill and Davis divorcing, after a decade, in 1960, and davis remained unmarried until her death in 1989.
E – Elegant Cary Grant
Born in Bristol, England on January 18, 1904, Cary Grant became known for playing debonair, although sometimes impish, leading men in such films as The Philadelphia Story (1940), North by Northwest (1959), and That Touch of Mink (1962).
But although Grant is famous for playing suave socialites, having been born to a working-class background, his distinctive accent was the product of training. Yet, Ian Fleming has stated that he based super-spy James Bond on the charming characters of Cary Grant.
Grant married five times, at least two of his wives sighting spousal abuse among reasons for divorce. His only child, Jennifer Grant was only twenty years old when her father died in 1986.
F – Errol Flynn
Born in Australia on June 20, 1909, Errol Flynn became famous as a swashbuckling screen star. He became an overnight sensation from Captain Blood (1935), which first paired him with his most frequent co-star Olivia de Havilland, with whom he made 8 films, including his most recalled The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
Flynn’s daring life surpassed the adventures of his screen characters, and his life has attracted much speculation. His indulgent drinking, womanizing, and brawling led to a decline in health and his coming to be considered a parody of his former self. Ironically, his final film appearance was as playboy alcoholic actor John Barrymore in Too Much Too Soon (1958).
Flynn died of a heart attack in 1959. He had married three times, producing four children, including his only son, Sean Flynn, who became known as a foreign correspondent. Sean went missing presumed dead in Vietnam in 1970.
Clark Gable, William Holden, Norma Shearer, Al Jolson, Buster Keaton
Brief biographies of Old Hollywood movie stars continues with G-K Movie Stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Elizabeth Fredericks - Elizabeth Fredericks is a graduate of Oxford University, and she has worked as a freelance writer since her first paid assignment as a ...
