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Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was known for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical film, historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue ten Academy Award nominations (and one write-in) for acting, and was the first woman to receive a AFI Life Achievement Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. In 1999, Davis was placed second on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. After appearing in Broadway theatre, Broadway plays, Davis move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020 United States census, 2020, it was the List of municipalities in Massachusetts by population, fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of the last census, and the third most populous in the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan statistical area. The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area, called Greater Lowell, and of New England's Merrimack Valley region. Incorporated in 1826 to serve as a mill town, Lowell was named after Francis Cabot Lowell, a local figure in the Industrial Revolution. The city became known as the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution because of Lowell mills, its textile mills and factories. Many of Lowell's historic manufacturing sites were later preserved by the National Park Ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal City Plaza, Universal Studios complex in Universal City, California, and is the flagship studio of Universal Studios, Inc., Universal Studios, the film studio arm of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers (producer), Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane and Jules Brulatour, Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States and the fifth oldest globally after Gaumont Film Company, Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus and Nordisk Film, and is one of the Major film studios, "Big Five" film studios. Universal's most commercially successful film franchises include ''Fast & Furious, Jurassic Park'', and ''Despicable Me''. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baby Jane Hudson
Baby Jane Hudson is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Henry Farrell's 1960 novel '' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' She was portrayed by Bette Davis in the 1962 film adaptation and by Lynn Redgrave in the 1991 television remake. The 1962 production is the better-known, and Bette Davis received an Academy Award nomination for her performance. The character is portrayed by Susan Sarandon, who plays Bette Davis, in the TV anthology '' Feud: Bette and Joan''. Novel and film At the start of the book, Baby Jane Hudson is a highly successful child star in vaudeville, billed as "The Diminutive Dancing Duse from Duluth". In the film version, a prologue set in 1917 shows Baby Jane performing with her father while her mother and sister Blanche watch from backstage. She is favored and spoiled by her father, while her mother attempts to soothe Blanche's envy and resentment by promising that one day she will achieve stardom. The novel reveals that, when both parents die i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Star (1952 Film)
''The Star'' is a 1952 American drama film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden and Natalie Wood. The plot tells the story of an aging, washed-up actress who is desperate to restart her career. Even though the film was a critical and commercial failure, Bette Davis received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Plot Oscar-winning star Margaret "Maggie" Elliot (Bette Davis) is a broke actress struggling to accept her new, non-wealthy reality. She is in denial, and confident she somehow can re-launch her career to its earlier brilliance. After suffering another big disappointment while vainly striving to get one good role, she gets drunk, gets arrested for DUI, and spends a night in jail. She is bailed out by Jim Johannsen ( Sterling Hayden), a younger former actor whom she had helped in the past. Jim, now comfortably settled as the owner of a boatyard, admits that he has loved her ever since those days, and helped by Margaret's daughter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All About Eve
''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story (and subsequent 1949 radio drama) "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although Orr does not receive a screen credit. The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway theatre, Broadway star, and Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington, an ambitious young fan (aficionado), fan who maneuvers herself into Channing's life, ultimately threatening Channing's career and her personal relationships. The film co-stars George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, and Hugh Marlowe, and features Thelma Ritter, Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest roles, Gregory Ratoff, Barbara Bates and Walter Hampden. ''All About Eve'' held its world premiere in New York City on October 13, 1950. Highly praised by critics at the time of its release, it received a record 14 nominationsThis feat wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Now, Voyager
''Now, Voyager'' is a 1942 American drama (film and television), drama film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, and directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty. Prouty borrowed her title from the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, In 2007, ''Now, Voyager'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film ranks number 23 on ''AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Passions'', a list of the top love stories in American cinema. Film critic Steven Jay Schneider suggests the film continues to be remembered for not only its star power, but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline. Plot Charlotte Vale is a drab, quiet, overweight, neurotic woman whose life is brutally dominated by her mother, an Boston Brahmin, aristocrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Little Foxes (film)
''The Little Foxes'' is a 1941 American drama (film and television), drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play ''The Little Foxes''. Hellman's ex-husband Arthur Kober, Dorothy Parker and her husband Alan Campbell (screenwriter), Alan Campbell contributed additional scenes and dialogue. The film's title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 of the Song of Songs, Song of Solomon in the King James Version, King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Plot The Hubbards are entertaining a dinner guest, William Marshall, a prominent Chicago businessman with whom they hope to partner in an enterprise to build a cotton mill in their sleepy town, taking advantage of low wages paid to workers. Marshall looks favorably on the plan and invites Regina to let him show her Chicago. After he leaves, Regina reveals that she plans to move to Chicago, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Letter (1940 Film)
''The Letter'' is a 1940 American crime film noir melodrama directed by William Wyler, and starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall and James Stephenson. The screenplay by Howard E. Koch is based on the 1927 play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham derived from his own short story. The play was first filmed in 1929, by director Jean de Limur. The story was inspired by a real-life scandal involving the Eurasian wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was pardoned by the local sultan after a public furor. Plot Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a British rubber plantation manager in Malaya, shoots dead Geoffrey Hammond, a well-known member of the expatriate community. Leslie tells the servant to send for the new district officer and her husband Robert, who is loading rubber for shipment. Crosbie returns, delivered by his attorney, a close family friend. Leslie claims that she ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Victory
''Dark Victory'' is a 1939 American melodrama film directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Bette Davis, and featuring George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, and Cora Witherspoon. The screenplay by Casey Robinson was based on the Dark Victory (play), 1934 play of the same title by George Brewer and Bertram Bloch, starring Tallulah Bankhead. Plot Judith "Judy" Traherne is a young, carefree, hedonism, hedonistic Long Island socialite and heiress with a passion for horses, fast cars, and too much smoking and drinking. She initially ignores severe headaches and brief episodes of dizziness and double vision, but when she uncharacteristically takes a spill while riding and then tumbles down a flight of stairs, her secretary and best friend Ann King insists she see the family doctor, who refers her to a specialist. Dr. Frederick Steele is closing his New York City office in preparation for a move to Brattleboro, Vermont, where he plans to de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jezebel (1938 Film)
''Jezebel'' is a 1938 American romance film, romantic drama film released by Warner Bros. and directed by William Wyler. It stars Bette Davis and Henry Fonda, supported by George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Richard Cromwell (actor), Richard Cromwell and Fay Bainter. The film was adapted by Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel, John Huston and Robert Buckner from the 1933 play by Owen Davis, Owen Davis Sr. The film tells the story of a headstrong, young woman during the Antebellum era, antebellum period whose actions cost her the man she loves. In 2009, ''Jezebel'' was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and recommended for preservation. Plot In 1852 New Orleans, spoiled, strong-willed Southern belle, belle Julie Marsden is engaged to banker Preston "Pres" Dillard. In retaliation for Pres refusing to leave an important business meetin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Belle
"Southern belle" () is a colloquialism for a debutante or other fashionable young woman of European heritage in the planter class of the Antebellum South, particularly as a romantic counterpart to the Southern gentleman. Characteristics The image of a Southern belle is often characterized by fashion elements such as a hoop skirt, a corset, pantalettes, a wide-brimmed straw hat, and gloves. As signs of tanning were considered working-class and unfashionable during this era, parasols and fans are also often represented. Southern belles were expected to marry respectable young men, and become ladies of society dedicated to the family and community. The Southern belle archetype is characterized by Southern hospitality, a cultivation of beauty, and a flirtatious yet chaste demeanor. For example, Sallie Ward, who was born into the planter class of Kentucky in the Antebellum South, was called a Southern belle. Dick Pope Sr., promoter of Florida tourism, played an importa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marked Woman
''Marked Woman'' is a 1937 American dramatic crime film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins. Set in the underworld of Manhattan, ''Marked Woman'' tells the story of a woman who dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters. The film was a major success for Warner Bros. and one of Davis' most important early pictures. She had recently filed a lawsuit against the studio, partly because of the inferior quality of roles that she was expected to play. Although she lost the lawsuit, she garnered considerable press coverage, and ''Marked Woman'' was her first film upon returning to Hollywood. She was reported to be pleased with the script and the dramatic possibilities that it afforded her. Jack L. Warner was said to be equally pleased by the public's reaction in favor of Davis, which he predicte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
