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Lew Ayres
Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film ''All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film), All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Johnny Belinda (1948 film), Johnny Belinda'' (1948). Early life and career Ayres was born in Minneapolis to Irma Bevernick and Louis Ayres, who divorced when he was four. Louis, an amateur musician and court reporter, remarried soon afterwards. As a teen, he and his mother moved with his step-father, William Gilmore, and half brother and sister to San Diego, California. Leaving high school before graduating, he started a small band which traveled to Mexico. He returned months later to pursue an acting career, but continued working full-time as a musician. He play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Located in the state's center near the eastern border, it occupies both banks of the Upper Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities, a metropolitan area with 3.69 million residents. Minneapolis is built on an artesian aquifer on flat terrain and is known for cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. Nicknamed the "City of Lakes", Minneapolis is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks, and waterfalls. The city's public park system is connected by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Dakota people orig ... [...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] |
Fox Film
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1914 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. It was the corporate successor to his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attraction Company (founded 1913). The company's first film studios were set up in Fort Lee, New Jersey, but in 1917, William Fox sent Sol M. Wurtzel to Hollywood, California to oversee the studio's new West Coast production facilities, where the climate was more hospitable for filmmaking. On July 23, 1926, Fox Studios bought the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, William Fox lost control of the company in 1930, during a hostile takeover. Under new president Sidney R. Kent, the new owners merged the company with Twentieth Century Pictures to form Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation in 1935. History Background Willia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now the Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy O. Disney, Roy. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Servants' Entrance
''Servants' Entrance'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical comedy film. It was written by Samson Raphaelson from the Sigrid Boo novel and directed by Frank Lloyd, with a cartoon sequence by Walt Disney in which an understandably startled Janet Gaynor sings a song while obstreperous animated singing silverware prance around on her bed, an early example of combining live action with animation. Critics found this musical interlude especially charming. This film was adapted from Sigrid Boo's 1930 Norwegian novel ''Vi som går kjøkkenveien'' (''"We Who Enter Through the Kitchen"'') which has an almost identical plot to Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd's popular 1917 novel ''How Could You, Jean?'', which had already been adapted into a film of the same name in 1918, directed by William Desmond Taylor and starring Mary Pickford. ''Servants' Entrance'' plot was strikingly identical to that of the earlier film; as the ''New York Times'' commented, "apparently, the old Pickford comedy was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Fair (1933 Film)
''State Fair'' is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Henry King and starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers, and Lew Ayres. The film tells the story of a farm family's multi-day visit to the Iowa State Fair, where the parents seek to win prizes in agricultural and cooking competitions, and their teenage daughter and son each find unexpected romance. Based on the bestselling 1932 novel by Phil Stong, this was the first of three film adaptations of the novel; the others were ''State Fair'' (1945) starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews, and ''State Fair'' (1962) starring Ann-Margret and Pat Boone. The 1933 film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, losing to '' Cavalcade'' and '' Little Women'' respectively. Plot In the fictional town of Brunswick, Iowa, farmer Abel Frake prepares to transport his Hampshire pig, Blue Boy, to compete at the hog contest at the Iowa State Fair. Confident he will win the first-place pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leading Man
A leading actor, leading actress, or leading man or lady or simply lead (), plays a main role in a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work. Some actors are typecast as leads, but most play the lead in some performances and supporting or character roles in others. Sometimes there is more than one significant leading role in a dramatic piece, and the actors are said to play ''co-leads''; a large supporting role may be considered a ''secondary lead''. Award nominations for acting often reflect such ambiguities. Therefore, sometimes two actors in the same performance piece are nominated Oscars for Best Actor or Best Actress—categories traditionally reserved for leads. For example, in 1935 Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone were each nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for '' Muti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American actress. She began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century-Fox) in 1926, she rose to fame and became one of the biggest box office draws of the era. In 1929, she became the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in '' 7th Heaven'', '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' (both 1927) and '' Street Angel'' (1928), the only occasion an actress won one Oscar for multiple film roles. Her success continued into the sound film era; for '' A Star Is Born'' (1937), she received a second Best Actress Academy Award nomination. After retiring from acting in 1939, Gaynor married film costume designer Adrian, with whom she had a son. She briefly returned to acting in films and television in the 1950s and later became an accomplished oil painter. In 1980, Gaynor made her Broadway debut in the stage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supporting Actor
A supporting actor or supporting actress is an actor who performs a role in a play or film below that of the leading actor(s), and above that of a bit part. In recognition of important nature of this work, the theater and film industries give separate awards to the best supporting actors and actresses. These range from minor roles to principal players and are often pivotal or vital to the story as in a best friend, love interest, sidekick (such as Robin in the Batman series), or antagonist (such as the villain). They are sometimes but not necessarily character roles. In earlier times, these could often be ethnic stereotypes. In television, the term day player is used to refer to most performers with supporting speaking roles hired daily without long-term contracts. In Academy Awards, an annual award is given for the Best Performance by an actor/ actress in a supporting role. There is currently no specific criteria for the difference between nominations for supporting or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. Cagney is remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as ''The Public Enemy'' (1931), ''Taxi!'' (1932), ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), ''The Roaring Twenties'' (1939), ''City for Conquest'' (1940) and ''White Heat'' (1949), finding himself typecast or limited by this reputation earlier in his career. He was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role in the musical ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942). In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Doorway To Hell
''The Doorway to Hell'' is a 1930 American pre-Code crime film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Lew Ayres and James Cagney in his second film role.Brennan, SandraThe Doorway to Hell ''The New York Times'', accessed October 12, 2010. The film was based on the story ''A Handful of Clouds'', written by Rowland Brown. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films. It was marketed with the tagline "The picture Gangland defied Hollywood to make!" Plot Louie Lamarr, the “Napoleon of the Underworld” according to the Chicago newspapers, is a young gang leader who is so successful and ruthless that he becomes the underworld boss of the entire city. He organizes all the gangs in a classic protection racket: They pay him a cut, and he enforces territorial boundaries, makes good on losses, and when someone breaks the rules he punishes them with deadly force. The result is peace on the city streets and huge profits all around. Just about everyone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code era of American cinema. Often nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde", Harlow was popular for her "Laughing Femme fatale, Vamp" screen persona. Harlow was in the film industry for only nine years, but she became one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars, whose image in the public eye has endured. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Harlow number 22 on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest female screen legends list. Harlow was first signed by business magnate Howard Hughes, who directed her first major role in ''Hell's Angels (film), Hell's Angels'' (1930). After a series of critically failed films, and Hughes' loss of interest in her career, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought out Harlow's c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
