These are the men that defined Classic Hollywood and held roles in some of the most popular and influential films. Here you’ll get classy, debonair, rugged, wholesome and manly. Cary Grant In 1933 Mae West saw Cary Grant and quickly thrust him into her latest film She Done Him Wrong. You will know Cary Grant,…
Tag: Leading Men
Too many husbands and wives
What is it about wartime that makes people go all loopy? With so many husbands away at war, how many a wife must have dreamed of having her own husband back, or better yet, two husbands! I found it funny that so many a storyline sometimes takes the turn to multiple spouses. Watching the musical…
Mothers ~ Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power and his mother Patia 1937.
Joel McCrea
November 5, 1905 ~ October 20, 1990 Joel McCrea The More the Merrier, The Palm Beach Story Regardless of his own personal opinion about his acting ability Joel McCrea succeeded more than once in being able to impress the right people at the right time. Will Roger’s took a liking to him and put him in…
Leading Men: William Powell
July 29, 1892 ~ March 5, 1984 ~ Choosing three favorite movies from William Powell’s extensive filmography list is near to impossible because as far as we are concerned all of William Powell’s movies are our favorites. So I’ll list three films that are not shown in the media as much as the more popular ones…
Leading Men: Errol Flynn
June 20, 1909 ~ October 14, 1959 Errol Flynn With films in Glorious Technicolor that boasted scores to accompany any Sunday afternoon, Errol Flynn did nothing better than gracing the screen in sprawling films that could take up hours. Dodge City is a classic Errol-Olivia film that boasts all the earmarks of the grand…
Leading Men: Robert Preston
June 8, 1918 ~ March 21, 1987 Robert Preston Robert Preston always had that broad shouldered, tousely hair thing going on, that needless to say just made all the girls swoon. Nevertheless he was married to the same woman for 46 years. *sigh*. A combination of theater, and film gained him more acclaim than most in Hollywood,…
Leading Men: Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis June 3, 1925 ~ September 29, 2010 Probably best known, depending on who you are, for his bare-chested slave/tutor role in Spartacus, OR his dead-on Cary Grant impersonation in Some Like it Hot, Tony Curtis made a living being “willing”. Willing to seduce possible “virgin” Natalie Wood in Sex and the Single Girl…
Leading Men: Laurence Olivier
May 22, 1907 ~ July 11, 1989 Laurence Olivier Laurence Olivier hailed from England with more experience than possible in one s lifetime- so needless to say Hollywood scooped him right up, and put him on screen. A master in Shakespeare, Olivier was who Marlon Brando studied when rehearsing his role of Mark Antony in…
Leading Men: Jimmy Stewart
May 20, 1908 ~ July 2, 1997 Jimmy Stewart Happy Birthday James Stewart! Jimmy brought an element of range to his acting career that we rarely see in actors. In his early career he was cast often as the tall, if not awkward, dashing young man trying to get the girl. The Philadephia Story…
Christmas Holiday
Oh My Goodness…A Deanna Durbin Film Festival in Palo Alto, CA from December 1st until January 7th. Finally the public will be able to watch Christmas Holiday at the time of year it was meant to be watched. I’m not sure what the Studio was thinking by releasing this movie on June 28th of 1944…
Classic Hollywood Actor: Robert Montgomery
Now don’t get me wrong, I am definitely more of a Tyrone Power type girl when it comes to looks, and more of a Joel McCrea girl when it comes to charm, so I was just as surprised as you may be when I fell head over heels with the Robert Montgomery in Private Lives…
Son of Fury
When I found out one of Robert Osborne’s picks for the this month on TCM is Son of Fury, I just had to weigh in. Tyrone Power, as most of you know, is one of our favorites here at Classic Hollywood, and all for good reason too. This film, even as unrealistic at times as it…
Spencer Tracy
Why we LOVE Spencer Tracy, TCM’s October Star of the Month 1. Loved Katherine Hepburn, all his life, but was too devoted to his faith to divorce his wife. Don’t know if this is insane, or romantic, but we’ll take both. 2. He worked through illness on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. 3. Excellent comedic…
Classic Hollywood Actresses: Lauren Bacall
Bringing Ernest Hemingway’s story to life couldn’t be an easy job, but no one but Lauren could’ve bled that sentimental, romantic side out of Humphrey Bogart. Always tagged the hard guy, with the hard face, deep voice, and tough guy act, no one thought he could ever pull off a believable romantic lead, and yet-…
Essential Classic Hollywood
Skimming the lineup of classics on TCM this month, I stumbled across a few Go-To classichollywood films. You know the ones; Frankenstein, Tom Jones, Rebel Without a Cause, Pygmalion, The Music Man. Those films that even those not-so-knowledgeable old movie watchers probably viewed once on a sunday afternoon. Which brings to me to question…what makes…
The Office Wife
Seeing one of William Wyler’s most telling films, Counsellor at Law, I must admit spurred an almost immediate need to address the issue of the quintessential secretary in the workplace. It is in Classic Hollywood, more than any other time in film history, that we see this sort of glamorous take on the working woman….
Memorial Day Tributes in Classic Hollywood
In attempt to prove that Memorial Day is more than just a reason to go shopping in this here great country of ours, annstj, and I decided to round up a few sure fire Classic Hollywood reminders of what Memorial Day is all about. Between 1937 and 1945 Hollywood made a point to fit the…
The Three Musketeers…Again
In the age of mashups, and remixes, it seems we just keep adding new twists to the same old stories. Let classichollywood be no exception! Lets take count shall we? what great stories have hit theaters near you recently? Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre, Little Red Riding Hood, … and they just keep coming. The…
Holiday Classics @ ClassicHollywood
During this most wonderful time of the year, I, along with many other classic hollywood fans, pull out those old and new favorites. I say new because sometimes I discover old movies I haven’t seen. A few years ago I stumbled along It Happened on 5th Avenue, one that I now watch every year. I…
Remake of the Thin Man?
Remakes, I don’t know, I agree with Rochellelynn there are just too many remakes. Are there not any original idea’s out there? Johnny Depp as Nick Charles though, gosh that is a possibility that is hard to pass up. I have given this considerable thought, since reading the news that Johnny Depp himself is the…
Too many husbands and wives
What is it about wartime that makes people go all loopy? With so many husbands away at war, how many a wife must have dreamed of having her own husband back, or better yet, two husbands! I found it funny that so many a storyline sometimes takes the turn to multiple spouses. Watching the musical…
Raindrops are fallin’ on my head…
So it could be, because like any normal person, I am completely and utterly infatuated with two of the best actors of our time- Robert Redford and Paul Newman-that I chose to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid again this weekend. Or maybe it was just because for my birthday I received a larger-than-life-size…
Julia Misbehaves ( 1948)
Elizabeth Taylor, the girl with the lavender eyes, had turned 16 in 1948, while filming the Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon film, Julia Misbehaves. Peter Lawford plays the boy in love with Elizabeths character and she wouldn’t have had it any other way. “Peter, to me” Elizabeth said, ” was the last word in sophistication, and…
….for one night with Gilda
When Peter saw Rita Hayworth, across a crowded room, he could do little more than stare. Though what could his stare be to the sea of stares that seemed to be on Rita at all times. Young and new in Hollywood he had little more than his looks and his fabulous accent to recommend him….
the classic hollywood blog 