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Screen Directors Playhouse
''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, with original directors of the films sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations and taking a brief "curtain call" with the cast and host at the end of the program. During the 1955–56 season, the series was seen on television, focusing on original teleplays and several adaptations of famous short stories (such as Robert Louis Stevenson's " Markheim"). Radio The radio version ran for 122 episodes and aired on NBC from January 9, 1949, to September 28, 1951, under several different titles: ''NBC Theater'', ''Screen Directors Guild Assignment'', ''Screen Directors Assignment'' and, as of July 1, 1949, ''Screen Directors Playhouse''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her roles, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking, young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Great Depression, Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "Box Office Pois ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, silent screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, as well as an 33rd Academy Awards, Academy Honorary Award in 1961 for his career achievements. He was one of the top-10 film personalities for 23 consecutive years and one of the top money-making stars for 18 years. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Cooper at number11 on its list of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 50 greatest screen legends. Cooper's career spanned 36 years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in 84 feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood cinema, classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range included roles in most major film genres. His ability to project his ow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for ''The Thin Man (film), The Thin Man'' (1934), ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936), and ''Life with Father (film), Life with Father'' (1947). Early life Powell was born in Pittsburgh in 1892, the only child of Nettie Manila (née Brady) and Horatio Warren Powell, an accountant."Obituaries: William Powell, star of 'Thin Man' films", ''Chicago Tribune'', March 6, 1984, p. N6. In 1907, young William moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from Central High School (Kansas City, Missouri), Central High School four years later. Career After high school, Powell enro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner, Peck began appearing in stage productions, acting in over 50 plays and three Broadway theatre, Broadway productions. He first gained critical success in ''The Keys of the Kingdom (film), The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944), a John M. Stahl–directed drama that earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He starred in a series of successful films, including romantic-drama ''The Valley of Decision'' (1944), Alfred Hitchcock's ''Spellbound (1945 film), Spellbound'' (1945), and family film ''The Yearling (1946 film), The Yearling'' (1946). He encountered lukewarm commercial reviews at the end of the 1940s, his performances including ''The Para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Milland
Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), which won him Best Actor at Cannes, a Golden Globe Award, and ultimately an Academy Award—the first such accolades for any Welsh actor. Before becoming an actor, Milland served in the Household Cavalry of the British Army, becoming a proficient marksman, horseman and aeroplane pilot. He left the army to pursue a career in acting and appeared as an extra in several British productions before getting his first major role in '' The Flying Scotsman'' (1929). This led to a nine-month contract with MGM, and he moved to the United States, where he worked as a stock actor. After his MGM contract ended, Milland was picked up by Paramount, which used him in a range of lesser speaking parts, usually as an English character. He was lent to Universal for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two BAFTA Awards throughout his career. Mason began his career as a stage actor on the West End theatre, West End, before transitioning into leading man roles in films during the early 1940s. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films included ''The Seventh Veil'' (1945) and ''The Wicked Lady'' (1945). He starred in ''Odd Man Out'' (1947), the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. Moving to the United States in the following decade, Mason starred in such films as George Cukor's ''A Star Is Born (1954 film), A Star Is Born'' (1954) - earning a Golden Globe for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year career in films and television series. Lancaster was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor (winning once), and he also won two BAFTA Awards and one Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor. The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Lancaster performed as a circus acrobat in the 1930s. At the age of 32 and after serving in World War II, he landed a role in a Broadway play and drew the attention of a Hollywood agent. His appearance in film noir ''The Killers (1946 film), The Killers'' in 1946 with Ava Gardner was a critical success and launched both of their careers. In 1948, Lancaster starred alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the commercially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Holden
William Franklin Holden (né Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film '' Stalag 17'' (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for '' The Blue Knight'' (1973). Holden starred in some of Hollywood's most popular and critically acclaimed films, including ''Sunset Boulevard'' (1950), '' Sabrina'' (1954), ''Picnic'' (1955), '' The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), '' The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and '' Network'' (1976). He was named one of the " Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961), and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Early life and education Holden was born William Franklin Beedle Jr. on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, son of Mary Blanche Beedle (née Ball), a schoolteacher, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he was one of Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood's definitive leading man, leading men. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award, received an Academy Honorary Award in 42nd Academy Awards, 1970, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981. He was named AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars#List of 50 greatest screen legends: Top 25 Male and Top 25 Female stars, the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute in 1999. Grant was born into an impoverished family in Bristol, where he had an unhappy childhood marked by the absence of his mother and his father's alcoholism. He became attracted to theatre at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome. At 16, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Born and raised in Nebraska, Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and made his Hollywood film debut in 1935. He rose to film stardom with performances in films like ''Jezebel (1938 film), Jezebel'' (1938), ''Jesse James (1939 film), Jesse James'' (1939) and ''Young Mr. Lincoln'' (1939). He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Tom Joad in ''The Grapes of Wrath (film), The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940). In 1941, Fonda starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the screwball comedy classic ''The Lady Eve''. After his service in World War II, he starred in two highly regarded Westerns: ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' (1943) and ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946), the latter directed by John Ford. He also starred in Ford ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Fairbanks Jr
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and decorated United States Navy, naval officer of World War II. He is best-known for starring in such films as ''The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film), The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), ''Gunga Din (film), Gunga Din'' (1939), and ''The Corsican Brothers (1941 film), The Corsican Brothers'' (1941). He was the son of Douglas Fairbanks and the stepson of Mary Pickford, and his first marriage was to actress Joan Crawford. Early life Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. was born in New York City in 1909. He was the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully. Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's first icons, noted for such swashbuckling adventure films as ''The Mark of Zorro (1920 film), The Mark of Zorro'', ''Robin Hood (1922 film), Robin Hood'', and ''The Thief of Bagdad (1924 film), The Thief of Bagdad''. Fairbanks had small role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during Classical Hollywood cinema, the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other genres. After her father died when she was 14, Dunne's family relocated from Kentucky to Indiana. She was determined to become an opera singer, but when she was rejected by Metropolitan Opera, The Met, she performed in musicals on Broadway theatre, Broadway until she was scouted by RKO and made her Hollywood film debut in the musical ''Leathernecking'' (1930). She later starred in the successful musical ''Show Boat (1936 film), Show Boat'' (1936). Dunne starred in 42 movies and was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress—for her performances in the western drama ''Cimarron (1931 film), Cimarron'' (1931), the screwball comedies ''Theodora Goes Wild'' (1936) and ''The Awful Truth'' (1937), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
