3. Kay Francis
Kay Francis (nee Katherine Edwina Gibbs) was born on January 13, 1905 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory. She started her acting career on Broadway in 1925. "Francis claimed she got her first part by 'lying a lot, to the right people'. One of the "right" people was producer Stuart Walker, who hired Francis to join his Portmanteau Theatre Company. She played wisecracking secretaries, saucy French floozies, walk-ons, bit parts, and heavies." (Wikipedia) Then she returned to do more Broadway plays. When the play "Elmer the Great" 1928 flopped, Francis was broke and her co player Walter Huston, encouraged her to do a screen test for Paramount studios.
Her peak years in Hollywood were between 1930- 1936. She was the highest-paid actress at Warner Bros and its biggest star. She was also best known in Hollywood at the time, as the tallest actress, standing at 5ft. 9in.
At Paramount, she was frequently paired with William Powell. They made 21 films between the years 1930-1932. Among her best known movies during this time period were: "Girls About Town" 1931, "24 Hours" "The False Madonna", "Trouble in Paradise" directed by Ernest Lubitsch. Warner Bros., then she was offered a better contract which continued her success. From 1932-1936 she was at the height of her film career. By 1937 she had appeared on 38 magazine covers, more than any other actress. She had moved on from playing heavy roles into long-sufferring heroines, always maintaining a lavish wardrobe and extravagant sets, that were more memorable than her roles.
Even during her days on stage, she was well known for her clothes. "She often "borrowed" clothes for nights out in New York because she was seen as one of the "fashionistas" who was reported on by the papers of the day. However, "Francis' clotheshorse reputation and 5.9 feet (1.8 m) frame often led Warners' producers to concentrate resources on lavish sets and costumes, a move designed to appeal to Depression-era female audiences and capitalize on her reputation as the epitome of chic, rather than the quality of the storylines. Eventually, Francis found herself dissatisfied with these vehicles, and began to openly feud with Warner's, even threatening a lawsuit against them for inferior scripts and treatment." (Wikipedia)
She was then punished by the studio for fighting back and had secondary billing in films, playing career women, mothers et. al.
Among her other notable films: "Trouble in Paradise" 1932, "Play Girl", "Mandalay" 1934, "Stolen Holiday" 1937 and "In Name Only" 1939 in which she had a supporting role as the possessive wife to Cary Grant. Carole Lombard, playing the other woman, had requested she be given the role. After that she continued on in supporting roles.
Francis joined the war effort in the 40's and traveled with other artists doing volunteer work and participating in "extensive war-zone touring". Francis and Carole Landis wrote about their experience in a book entitled "Four Jills and a Jeep" which later became a movie of the same title.
During the 40's, she had limited success finding movie roles during that decade, so she went back to the stage. Years later, she retired from films. Her health was declining and she had a an accident that hastened her retirement. "It was first reported as a fainting spell brought on by an accidental overdose from pills, with a complication of respiratory infection. Her manager and traveling companion had arrived at Francis' hotel room, and in an attempt to revive the unconscious actress with fresh air, burned her legs on the radiator near the window. She recovered in an oxygen tent at the local hospital; soon retiring from acting and then, public life." "In 1966, Francis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy, but the cancer had spread and proved fatal. She died in 1968, aged 63, and her body was immediately cremated; her ashes were disposed of according to her will, "how the undertaker sees fit." She wanted neither services nor grave marker. Having no living immediate family members, Francis left more than $1 million to The Seeing Eye, an organization in New Jersey, which trains guide dogs for the blind." (Wikipedia)
She used to say she couldn't wait to be forgotten as a star. For the most part this has been true but with the advent of VHS, DVD's, cable and the internet, her movies have been more accesible and definitely worth viewing.
Other films: "The Keyhole" 1933, "Storm at Daybreak" 1933, "Mary Stevens, M.D." 1933, "The House on 56th street" 1933, Dr. Monica" 1933, "Stranded" 1935, "the Goose and The Gander" 1936, "I Found Stella Parrish" 1936,
4. Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell (née Bluestein) was born on August 30, 1906 in Manhattan, NY City. She performed in film and television for half a century.
Blondell came from a Vaudeville family. Her father took the surname Ed Blondell for his act. They were always on the move traveling to Honolulu and as far as Australia. She was a teenager when she won a beauty pageant and even participated in an early version of the Miss Universe pageant. She placed 4th in the Miss America pageant. "Around 1927, she returned to New York, worked as a fashion model, a circus hand, a clerk in a store, joined a stock company to become an actress, and performed on Broadway. When she starred in the play Penny Arcade with James Cagney, it only lasted 3 weeks but Al Jolson bought the rights and sold it to Warner Bros. He insisted that Cagney and Blondell be cast in the movie. That is how she came to pursue her film career. She established herself as a Pre code film actress, usually playing wisecracking, sexy roles, appearing in more 50 films by the time the 1930's was over. "During the height of her career, she co-starred with Glenda Farrell, a colleague and close friend, in nine films." (Wikipedia) Sometimes she was paired with James Cagney as his perfect foil. She was also one of the highest paid stars during the Great Depression. In later movies, she had secondary roles but she was always smart and humorous. After years of having the lead role, she continued working in film and television, in supporting, and sometimes smaller roles. She was married to Dick Powell (1936-1944) and later Mike Todd (1947-1950). Contrary to popular belief, Todd did not leave her for Elizabeth Taylor, whom he married. Blondell had left him years before.
She "died of leukemia in Santa Monica, California, on Christmas Day, 1979."(Wikipedia)
Among her films with notable roles are: "The Public Enemy", "Night Nurse", "The Reckless Hour", "Blonde Crazy", "The Crowd Roars", "Three on a Match", "The Greeks Had a Word for Them", "Miss Pinkerton" 1932, "Big City Blues" 1932, "Central Park" 1932, "Broadway Bad" 1932, "Blondie Johnson", "Gold diggers of 1933", Footlight Parade" 1933, I've Got Your Number", Kansas City Princess, Havana Widows" 1933, He was Her Man" 1933, Travelling Saleslady, We're In the Money, Miss Pacific Fleet, Bullets or Ballots, Back in Circulation, Perfect Specimen, There's Always a Woman, Good Girls go to Paris, The Amazing Mr. Williams, "Stand -In", "Topper Returns", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", "Nightmare alley", "The Famous Ferguson Case", Two Girls on Broadway", Three Girls About Town", "Cry Havoc"
5.
Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett (nee Joan Geraldine Bennett) was born February 27, 1910 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Bennett appeared on stage, film, and television and came from a show-business family. She was one of three sisters in acting. "Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 films from the silent movie era. She worked well into the sound era and beyond. She is best remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's movies—including Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945)—and for her television role as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the gothic 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination in 1968."(Wikipedia)
Bennett's career had three distinct phases: first as a winsome blonde ingenue, then as a sensuous brunette femme fatale (with looks that movie magazines often compared to those of Hedy Lamarr), and finally as a warmhearted wife-and-mother figure. Combined with her sultry eyes and husky voice, Bennett's new brunette look gave her an earthier, more arresting persona (towards the end of the 1930's)." (Wikipedia) Her career continued beyond the 1930's. She took on diverse roles, like the femme fatale but also as a mother to Elizabeth Taylor in the 1950's with 2 films, Father of the Bride and Father's Little Dividend.
However, her acting career was derailed by a personal incident involving her husband- Walter Wanger film producer and Jennings Lang -her longtime agent. In a fit of jealousy, Wanger shot her agent while he was talking to Bennett, in her car. He thought Joan and Lang were having a longtime affair. He was wrong. Her husband only served 4 months in jail with a plea of "temporary insanity". But due to this, Joan was blacklisted from Hollywood only making 5 movies during the 1950's. One of her last movies was "We're No Angels" 1955. Instead she worked on television and on the stage, being best known for her part in "Dark Shadows" which ran from 1966-1971. Bennett died of heart failure on Friday evening, December 7, 1990, aged 80, at her home in Scarsdale, New York.
Other interesting films for her are: Puttin' on the Ritz 1930, Moby Dick, She Wanted a Millionaire, Me and My Gal, Little Women, Private Worlds, I Met My Love Again, The House Across the Bay, Trade Winds, The Man in the Iron Mask, The son of Monte Christo, The Macomber Affair, The Woman on the Beach, The Reckless Moment, "We're No Angels" 1955, "There's Always Tomorrow" 1956.
6.
Janet Gaynor
Laura Augusta Gainor (aka Janet Gaynor) was born on October 6, 1906 in Germantown, Philadelphia. She worked in film, stage, and television and as a painter. "In 1929, she was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: 7th Heaven (1927), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and Street Angel (1928)." (Wikipedia) This was the only time in which an actress won one Oscar for multiple film roles. Her father taught her as a little girl, how to sing, dance, and perform acrobatics. She graduated from San Francisco Polytechnic High School in 1923. She then went to Melbourne, Florida where she began her acting career in stage work. When she returned to San Francisco, her family then moved to Los Angeles, where they encouraged her to pursue acting but she enrolled at Hollywood Secretarial School. Later, she worked in a shoe store and later as a theater usher. She finally started making the rounds at film studios with the help of her step father. She got a job as an extra in a Hal Roach comedy short, which lead to more work as an extra feature films. Universal finally hired her and gave her a screen test and a film contract. She was on loan out to Fox film corporation when she got another screen test for the movie "The Johnstown Flood" 1926. Her performance got the attention of producers and it lead to better roles. "By 1927, Gaynor was one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Her image was that of a sweet, wholesome, and pure young woman. She gained notoriety for playing her roles with depth and sensitivity.(ref: Wikipedia) She was at the height of the career from 1927-1935. Then her popularity started to diminish. "A Star Is Born" revitalized Gaynor's career, and she was cast in the screwball comedy The Young in Heart (1938) with Paulette Goddard. That film was a modest hit, but by then Gaynor had definitely decided to retire. She later explained, "I had been working steadily for 17 long years, making movies was really all I knew of life. I just wanted to have time to know other things. Most of all I wanted to fall in love. I wanted to get married. I wanted a child. And I knew that in order to have these things one had to make time for them. So I simply stopped making movies. Then as if by a miracle, everything I really wanted happened." At the top of the industry, she retired at age 33. 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 adaptation of the 1971 film Harold and Maude and appeared in the touring theatrical production of On Golden Pond in February 1982. In September 1982, she sustained multiple injuries when the taxicab in which she and others were passengers was struck by a drunken driver. These injuries eventually caused her death in September 1984."-(Wikipedia)
Among her notable films are: 7th Heaven, Sunrise: A song of Two Humans, Street Angel, Daddy Long Legs, Tess of the Storm Country, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, State Farm, The Farmer Takes a Wife, A Star is Born, The Young in Heart.
7.
Fay Wray
Vina Fay Wray was born on September 15, 1907 in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. She is best known as Ann Darrow in the first King Kong film 1933. A few years after her birth in Canada, her family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. They were from the church of The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints. Then as a child, they relocated again to Hollywood, where she attended Hollywood High. She was 16 when she made her first film debut in 1923. She had a starring role and many uncredited roles. "After appearing in minor film roles, Wray gained media attention after being selected as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1926. At that time she was under contract to Universal in minor roles. It wasn't until the 1930's when she signed onto Paramount pictures, that she was cast in her first horror movie roles: "Doctor X" 1932, "Mystery of the Wax Museum" 1933 and "The Most Dangerous Game" 1932. That's when she was in "King Kong" 1933. The production of The Most Dangerous Game" was filmed at night on the same jungle sets that were used for King Kong during the day, and with Wray and Robert Armstrong starring in both movies.
She would most be associated with the role of Ann Darrow. "She was paid $10,000 ($200,000 in 2019 dollars) to play her in King Kong. The film was a commercial success and Wray was reportedly proud that the film saved RKO from bankruptcy."(Wikipedia) In the following years, she continued in film but retired in 1942 to marry her second husband. Financial need forced her to return to movies and television. She died in her sleep of natural causes on August 8, 2004.
Other notable films: Cheating Cheaters 1934, The Wedding March 1928, Countess of Monte Christo 1934, Street of Sin 1928, The Jury's Secret 1938, Madame Spy 1934, Shanghai Madness 1933, The Four Feathers 1929, Murder in Greenwich Village 1937, The Border Legion 1930, The Woman I Stole 1933, They Met in a Taxi, The Legion of the Condemned 1928, One Sunday Afternoon 1933, The Clairvoyant 1935, The Texan 1930, Once to Everywoman 1934, Sea God 1930, The Richest Girl in the World 1934, Dirigible, The Lawyer's Secret" 1931, The Vampire Bat 1933, Bulldog Jack 1935, Ann Carver's Profession 1933.
8.
Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Torrey Powell was born on November 21, 1912 in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was an excellent dancer and actress and is best remembered for her tap dance numbers in the 1930s and 1940s musical films. She began studying ballet when she was 6. She started dancing at nightclubs in Atlantic City at a young age. At 16 she took up tap and started appearing in musical revues on Broadway.
Powell made her move to Hollywood in 1935 but was disappointed with her first role in George White's 1935 Scandals. She had been made up to look like an Egyptian and the experience left her unimpressed with Hollywood although she was courted by MGM studio. At first she refused the offers of a contract and allegedly made high demands on purpose in order to deter the studio. But they agreed and she finally accepted their offer. "The studio groomed her for stardom, making minimal changes in her makeup and conduct. Her first starring role Broadway Melody of 1936 was well received and she became "one of MGM's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood, appearing in a series of musical vehicles tailored especially for her talents, including Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937) and "Honolulu" 1939. In 1965, she was named the World's Greatest Tap Dancer by the Dance Masters of America."(Wikipedia)
All of her movies featured her amazing solo tapping, although her increasingly huge production numbers began to draw criticism. Her characters also sang, but Powell's singing voice was usually (but not always) dubbed." She was paired with Fred Astaire in 1940 dancing to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" in Broadway Melody of 1940, which is considered by many to be one of the greatest tap sequences in film history. According to accounts of the making of this film, including a documentary included on the DVD release, Astaire was somewhat intimidated by Powell, who was considered the only female dancer ever capable of out-dancing Astaire. In his autobiography Steps in Time, Astaire remarked, "She 'put 'em down like a man', no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff with Ellie. She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself." In his introduction to the clip of this movie, featured in That's Entertainment, Frank Sinatra said, "You know, you can wait around and hope, but I tell ya, you'll never see the likes of this again."
When she left the studio due to gall stones, her career took a dive. When she came back she was given secondary roles and was no longer starring. She worked a lot less in the 1940's and only did featured roles. She made a handful of films. She married Glenn Ford in 1943.
"Powell divorced Ford in 1959, and that year, encouraged by Peter-her son, she launched a highly publicized nightclub career, including appearances at Lou Walters' Latin Quarter in Boston. The athleticism which characterized her dance style remained with her well into middle age. Her live performances continued well into the 1960s. During the early 1960s she also made several guest appearances on variety TV programs."(Wikipedia)She died on February 11, 1982, of ovarian cancer, aged 69
9. Dolores Del Rio
Dolores del Río was born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López-Negrete, August 3, 1904 in Victoria de Durango, Durango State in Mexico. She was an actress, dancer and singer. Her career lasted for 50 years and she was considered the first Latin American crossover actress into American films. She was a star in Hollywood during the 1920's and 1930's and she was also an important actress during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. "Del Río is also remembered as one of the most beautiful faces on screen of all time."-(Wikipedia)
She came from one of Mexico's wealthiest families. Her father was a rancher and director of the Bank of Mexico. When Dolores was a teen, she attended a college, run by French nuns. She took an interest in ballet at 15, when she saw Anna Pavlova and Antonia Merced 'La Argentina', perform. She took classes and by the time she was 17, she was invited to perform at a benefit for a local hospital. There she met her future husband Jaime Martínez del Río y Viñent, son of a wealthy family. After a 2 month courtship in 1921, they married and honeymooned in Europe for 2 years. They moved among the European aristocracy. They returned to Mexico in 1924 to his ranch where cotton was the main crop. She was pregnant but had a miscarriage and was advised for health reasons to not get pregnant again.
In 1925 Dolores and her husband met the American filmmaker Edwin Carewe who was an influential director at the First National studio, at a wedding party. He was fascinated by her and got himself invited to their home. While there he saw Dolores dance and convinced her husband, for them to come to Hollywood. He was in dire financial straits and agreed.
Carewe acted as her agent, manager, producer and director. He arranged major publicity for her and made exorbitant claims like:
'Dolores Del Rio, the heiress and First Lady of High Mexican Society, has come to Hollywood with a cargo of shawls and combs valued at $ 50,000 ((She) is said to be the richest girl in her country thanks to the fortune of her husband and her parents). She will debut in the film Joanna, led by her discoverer Edwin Carewe.' "(Wikipedia)
By 1928 her film career had blossomed but her marriage suffered. Jaime and her separated, then divorced. Besides the stress of the miscarriage, differences between the couple arose when her husband became known as "Dolores Del Rio's husband". Plus Carewe, her manager was determined to have her for himself and incessantly bothered her. He was determined to marry her and filed divorce papers from his own wife. She did not like him and another studio, United Artists, encouraged her to separate from him during the filming of Evangeline 1929. She announced at the premier of this movie that she and Carewe were only friends and would not marry. He was angry and sued her for breach of contract. She settled out of court and made her first sound film afterwards The Bad One 1929. Critics liked her acting and her accent.
In 1930 she met Cedric Gibbons an influential art director for MGM and they married. They used to host Sunday brunches at their art deco styled, Pacific Palisades home.
Among her string of successful silent films are: Resurrection (1927), Ramona (1928) and Evangeline (1929). Del Río came to be considered a sort of feminine version of Rudolph Valentino, a "female Latin Lover" in her years during the American "silent" era.
"With the advent of sound, she acted in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to musical comedies and romantic dramas. Among her most successful Hollywood films of that decade include Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933) and Madame Du Barry (1934).
In 1940, she met Orson Welles at a party. They began a discreet affair which led to her divorce from Gibbons. She was with him while he filmed "Citizen Kane". She also starred in one of his films Journey into Fear 1942 but her role was diminished. She later discovered that on his trip to Brazil, he behaved promiscuously. With that and her father's demise in Mexico City and several box office failures, she returned to Mexico City.
She then commented: "Divorced again, without the figure of my father. A film where I barely appear, and one, where they were really showing me the way of the art. I wanted to go the way of the art. Stop being a star and become an actress, and that I could only do in Mexico. I wish to choose my own stories, my own director, and camera man. I can accomplish this better in Mexico. I wanted to return to Mexico, a country that was mine and I did not know. I felt the need to return to my country."-Wikipedia
When Del Rio returned to Mexico, it was at the height of its Golden Age of Cinema. She instantly became a star and worked with Emilio "El Indo" Fernandez who was a prominent director. Her first movie Flor Silvestre 1943 was a success. They made 3 movies together but the relationship became strained because he was in love with her and she did not feel the same. Among the most critically acclaimed movies were María Candelaria (1943), Las Abandonadas 1944, La Bugambilia, 1944, La selva del fuego 1945, La otra 1946 . Del Río remained active mainly in Mexican films throughout the 1950s. During the following years she appeared in Mexican and American films. From the late 1950s until the early 1970s she also successfully ventured into theater in Mexico and appeared in some American TV series.
"Del Río is now considered a mythical figure of American and Mexican cinema, and a quintessential representation of the female face of Mexico in the world." On April 11, 1983, Dolores del Río died from liver failure at the age of 78, in Newport Beach, California."(Wikipedia)
10. Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson) was born on February 19, 1911 in Bombay, British India. She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Dark Angel (1935). A traffic collision in 1937 caused facial injuries that could have ended her career, but she recovered and remained active in film and television until 1973.
Merle's background has always been a mystery. She has always hidden her true background. Among her secrets: Her grandmother was of Ceylon origin and Merle had Maori ancestry. Her mother was actually her grandmother, who raised her as half sister to her biological mother, to avoid scandal. Her "mother" and Merle led an impoverished life after her mother's husband died in WW1. When they moved to Calcutta, Merle received a foundation scholarship for a girl's school, where she was bullied for her mixed ethnicity. She quit school and was home schooled.
As a teen she loved going to the movies and at 19, she dated a former actor Colonel Ben Finney. When he discovered that she was of mixed race he ended the relationship. However, he had already promised to introduce her to Rex Ingram (producer, director, writer, actor) of Victorine Studios. Her mother and her moved to Nice, France and met the producer. He liked her exotic look and hired as an extra.
(The following is where her own version deviates from the previous source written by biographer Charles Highham and Roy Mossley, about how she got into movies.)
According to Oberon through Film Weekly Magazine in 1939, "she first arrived in England for the first time in 1928, at age 17. Initially she worked as a club hostess under the name Queenie O'Brien and played in minor and unbilled roles in various films. "I couldn't dance or sing or write or paint. The only possible opening seemed to be in some line in which I could use my face. This was, in fact, no better than a hundred other faces, but it did possess a fortunately photogenic quality."
"Her film career received a major boost when the director Alexander Korda took an interest and gave her a small but prominent role, under the name Merle Oberon, as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) opposite Charles Laughton."(Wikipedia) She was then cast in "The Scarlet Pimpernel" 1934, with Leslie Howard with whom she allegedly had an affair. Later, she married director Korda. "He sold "shares" of her contract to producer Samuel Goldwyn, who gave her good vehicles in Hollywood. Her "mother" stayed behind in England. Oberon earned her sole Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for The Dark Angel (1935) produced by Goldwyn. Around this time she had a serious romance with David Niven, and according to one biographer even wanted to marry him, but he was not faithful to her."(Wikipedia)
In 1937 she was in a car accident which disfigured her face. "According to Princess Merle, the biography written by Charles Higham with Roy Moseley, Oberon suffered damage to her complexion in 1940 from a combination of cosmetic poisoning and an allergic reaction to sulfa drugs. Korda sent her to a skin specialist in New York City, where she underwent several dermabrasion procedures. The results, however, were only partially successful; without makeup, noticeable pitting and indentation of her skin could be seen."(Wikipedia) Later she divorced Korda and married cinematographer Lucien Ballard who had invented a special camera for her, to eliminate the facial scars from that accident. The light became known as the "obie". She died of a stroke in 1979 at the age of 68 in Malibu, California.
Among her other notable films are: These Three 1936, Beloved Enemy 1936, The Divorce of Lady X 1938, The Cowboy and the Lady 1938, Over the Moon 1939, Wuthering Heights 1939, 'Til We Meet Again 1940, That Uncertain Feeling 1941, Affectionately Yours 1941, Lydia 1941, Forever and a Day 1943, The Lodger 1944, Dark Waters 1944, A Song to Remember 1945.
These are some of the actresses who, perhaps, are unfortunately, not as well known today. They struggled to obtain their place in the movies. They remain in Hollywood film history. Some faded out of public view as the decade ended. Some were able to continue albeit in supporting or minor roles. Thanks to more accessibility to their movies via cable, internet, Blue-Ray (DVD and video), hopefully they will not be forgotten and will be introduced to new movie fans.
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