Remembering Shirley Temple (video)

Remembering the legendary Shirley Temple today.

source: WorldNewsNow / ABC News video

Maximilian Schell (1930-2014)

Internationally acclaimed film and stage actor Maximillian Schell has passed away at the age of 83, reported today on The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, CNN.com and ABC News, among other news sources.

Among his distinguished film credits: 1971's Pope Joan starring Liv Ullmann and Olivia de Havilland.

In Pope Joan, which also starred Liv Ullmann and Olivia de Havilland

In Judgment at Nuremberg, which also starred Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster

According to the AP, Mr Schell was also a successful concert pianist and conductor, performing with such luminaries as Claudio Abbado and Leonard Bernstein, and with orchestras in Berlin and Vienna.

Mr Schell's film credits include:

1958 The Young Lions

1961 Judgment at Nurenberg (Oscar for Best Actor)

1964 Topkapi

1966 The Deadly Affair

1967 Counterpoint

1972 Pope Joan (co-starring Olivia de Havilland)

1974 The Odessa File

1975 The Man in the Glass Booth (Oscar nomination)

1977 A Bridge Too Far

1977 Julia  (Oscar nomination)

1979 The Black Hole
1984 Marlene (documentary on Marlene Dietrich, which was nominated for an Academy Award)

1990 The Freshman

1993 A Fair Off Place

1994 Little Odessa

1998 Deep Impact

2002 My Sister Maria (documentary on his sister, actress Maria Schell)

2008 The Brothers Bloom

Ann Rutherford (1920-2012)

Ann Rutherford's filmography includes classic favorites such as Orchestra Wives, Pride and Prejudice, The Andy Hardy series, and Gone with the Wind, where she portrayed Scarlett O'Hara's sister. 



If you have a chance, the blog Laura's Miscellaneous Musings has a lovely tribute to the late Ann Rutherford.  Go to the post 

Also, read Dawn's tribute here. 

Do you have a favorite Ann Rutherford movie, scene, or memory?

Happy 90th Birthday, Mickey Rooney!

Hollywood Legend Mickey Rooney celebrates his 90th birthday today! A performer all of his life (his parents were vaudeville performers and brought him on stage when he was a baby), he still finds time to perform, conduct interviews, and do personal appearances. His best known films are from the 1930s and 40s, including National Velvet, Boys Town, Babes in Arms, and the one film he did with Olivia, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Mickey Rooney and Olivia de Havilland in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

Happy Birthday Mickey Rooney!

Monty posted a nice birthday salute on his blog Singing and Dancing Back in Time.

Cammie King, Bonnie Butler in 'Gone With the Wind,' Dies at 76

Cammie King, the actress who played young Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone With the Wind has passed away. As Laura notes on her blog post, Ms Butler was one of the last remaining cast members of the 1939 classic. According to the website Legacy, Ms Butler "remained active in the Gone With the Wind community, attending conventions, parades and other events. Throughout her life she stayed in touch with many of the film’s cast and crew, and had spoken to Olivia de Havilland just days before her death."

CNN News report:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/02/obit.conlon/index.html

Here is a tribute from the Vivien Leigh blog.

Gloria Stuart remembers Olivia and Joan

Today, July 4th, is the birthday of Gloria Stuart (born 1910); she turns 100 years young today.

In her 1999 autobiography, I Just Kept Hoping, she recalls some of her early film roles after being named one of the 1932 WAMPAS Baby Stars (along with Ginger Rogers and Mary Carlisle). Most of her early films were comedies and what she called "dreadful musicals", and she compared her career with the success of her contemporaries when she wrote:

"Bette Davis, Loretta Young, and Olivia de Havilland were getting wonderful dramatic parts. Why not me? What had I ever done to deserve all this dreck?"

Arguably her best remembered film from this time period remains Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, starring Shirley Temple. Though she never achieved the success of the aforementioned stars, she did get her share of attention, from fans and from the gossip columns:

"Fan letters were a whole new world to me, and gifts arrived in the mail and at my door all the time. Garters were a favorite from men. Combs, barrettes, jewelry, bits and pieces, came from the ladies."

"Publicity could be fun - and confusing. Once a studio publicist made up a story about my nearly stepping on a rattlesnake in my garden. The gossip columns gobbled it up. A couple of years later, looking over Hedda Hopper's column, I read that Joan Fontaine had had a near-fatal encounter with a rattlesnake in her garden. My instant reaction was "Poor Joan!" before I caught myself, laughing."