What do the classic and near-classic films _I Was a Male War Bride (1949)_ (qv), _Scarface (1932)_ (qv), _Twentieth Century (1934)_ (qv), _Bringing Up Baby (1938)_ (qv), _Only Angels Have Wings (1939)_ (qv), _His Girl Friday (1940)_ (qv), _Sergeant York (1941)_ (qv), _Ball of Fire (1941)_ (qv), _Air Force (1943)_ (qv), _To Have and Have Not (1944)_ (qv), _The Big Sleep (1946)_ (qv), _Red River (1948)_ (qv) and _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv) have in common with such first-rate entertainments as _I Was a Male War Bride (1949)_ (qv), _Monkey Business (1952)_ (qv), _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)_ (qv), _Land of the Pharaohs (1955)_ (qv), _Hatari! (1962)_ (qv), _Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)_ (qv) and _El Dorado (1966)_ (qv)? Aside from their displays of great craftsmanship, the answer is director Howard Hawks, one of the most celebrated of American filmmakers, who ironically, was little celebrated by his peers in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences during his career. Although 'John Ford (I)' (qv)--his friend, contemporary, and the director arguably closest to him in terms of his talent and output--told him that it was he, and not Ford, who should have won the 1941 Best Director Academy Award (for _Sergeant York (1941)_ (qv)), the great Hawks never won an Oscar in competition and was nominated for Best Director only that one time, despite making some of the best films in the Hollywood canon. The Academy eventually made up for the oversight in 1974 by voting him an honorary Academy Award, in the midst of a two-decade-long critical revival that has gone on for yet another two decades. To many cineastes, Howard Hawks is one of the faces of American film and would be carved on any film pantheon's Mt. Rushmore honoring America's greatest directors, beside his friend Ford and 'Orson Welles' (qv) (the other great director who Ford beat out for the 1941 Oscar). It took the French "Cahiers du Cinema" critics to teach America to appreciate one of its own masters, and it was to the Academy's credit that it recognized the great Hawks in his lifetime. Hawks' career spanned the freewheeling days of the original independents in the 1910s, through the studio system in Hollywood from the silent era through the talkies, lasting into the early 1970s, with the death of the studios and the emergence of the director as auteur, the latter a phenomenon that Hawks himself directly influenced. He was he most versatile of all American directors, and before his late career critical revival, he earned himself a reputation as a a first-rate craftsman and consummate Hollywood professional who just happened, in a medium that is an industrial process, to have made some great movies. Recognition as an influential artist would come later, but it would come to him before his death. He was born Howard Winchester Hawks in Goshen, Indiana, on Decoration Day, May 30, 1896, the first child of Frank Winchester Hawks and his wife, the former Helen Howard. The day of his birth the local sheriff killed a brawler at the town saloon; the young Hawks was not born on the wild side of town, though, but with the proverbial silver spoon firmly clenched in his young mouth. His wealthy father was a member of Goshen's most prominent family, owners of the Goshen Milling Co. and many other businesses, and his maternal grandfather was one of Wisconsin's leading industrialists. His father's family had arrived in America in 1630, while his mother's father, C.W. Howard, who was born in Maine in 1845 to parents who emigrated to the U.S. from the Isle of Man, made his fortune in the paper industry with his Howard Paper Co. Ironically, almost a half-year after Howard's birth, the first motion picture was shown in Goshen, just before Christmas on December 10, 1896. Billed as "the scientific wonder of the world," the movie played to a sold-out crowd at the Irwin Theater. However, it disappointed the audience, and attendance fell off at subsequent showings. The interest of the boy raised a Presbyterian would not be piqued again until his family moved to southern California. Before that move came to pass, though, the Hawks family relocated from Goshen to Neenah, Wisconsin, when Howard's father was appointed secretary/treasurer of the Howard Paper Co. in 1898. Howard grew up a coddled and spoiled child in Goshen, but in Neenah he was treated like a young prince. His grandfather C.W. lavished his grandson with expensive toys. C.W. had been an indulgent father, encouraging the independence and adventurousness of his two daughters, Helen and Bernice, who were the first girls in Neenah to drive automobiles. Bernice even went for an airplane ride (the two sisters, Hawks' mother and aunt, likely were the first models for what became known as "the Hawksian women" when he became a director). Brother 'Kenneth Hawks (I)' (qv) was born in 1898, and was looked after by young Howard. However, Howard resented the birth of the family's next son, 'William B. Hawks' (qv), in 1902, and offered to sell him to a family friend for ten cents. A sister, Grace, followed William. Childbirth took a heavy toll on Howard's mother, and she never quite recovered after delivering her fifth child, Helen, in 1906. In order to aid her recovery, the family moved to the more salubrious climate of Pasadena, California, northeast of Los Angeles, for the winter of 1906-07. The family returned to Wisconsin for the summers, but by 1910 they permanently resettled in California, as grandfather C.W. himself took to wintering in Pasadena. C. W. Howard eventually sold his paper company and retired. He continued to indulge his grandson Howard, though, buying him whatever he fancied, including a race car when the lad was barely old enough to drive legally. C.W. also arranged for Howard to take flying lessons so he could qualify for a pilot's license, an example followed by Kenneth. The young Howard Hawks grew accustomed to getting what he wanted and believed his grandfather when C.W. told him he was the best and that he could do anything. Howard also likely inherited C.W.'s propensity for telling whopping lies with a straight face, a trait that has bedeviled many film historians ever since. C.W. also was involved in amateur theatrics and Howard's mother Helen was interested in music, though no one in the Hawks-Howard family ever was involved in the arts until Howard went to work in the film industry. Hawks was sent to Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, for his education, and upon graduation attended Cornell University, where he majored in mechanical engineering. In both his personal and professional lives Hawks was a risk-taker and enjoyed racing airplanes and automobiles, two sports that he first indulged in his teens with his grandfather's blessing. The Los Angeles area quickly evolved into the center of the American film industry when studios began relocating their production facilities from the New York City area to southern California in the middle of the 1910s. During one summer vacation while Howard was matriculating at Cornell, a friend got him a job as a prop man at Famous Players-Lasky (later to become Paramount Pictures), and he quickly rose trough the ranks. Hawks recalled, "[I]t all started with 'Douglas Fairbanks' (qv), who was off on location for some picture and phoned in to say they wanted a modern set. There was only one art director . . . and he was away on another location. I said, 'Well, I can build a modern set.' I'd had a few years of architectural training at school. So I did, and Fairbanks was pleased with it. We became friends, and that was really the start." During other summer vacations from Cornell, Hawks continued to work in the movies. One story Hawks tells is that the director of a 'Mary Pickford' (qv) film Hawks was working on, _The Little Princess (1917)_ (qv), became too inebriated to continue working, so Hawks volunteered to direct a few scenes himself. However, it's not known whether his offer was taken up, or whether this was just one more of his tall tales. During World War I, Hawks served as a lieutenant in the Signal Corps and later joined the Army Air Corps, serving in France. After the Armistice he indulged in his love of risk, working as an aviator and a professional racing car driver. Drawing on his engineering experience, Hawks designed racing cars, and one of his cars won the Indianapolis 500. These early war and work experiences proved invaluable to the future filmmaker. He eventually decided on a career in Hollywood and was employed in a variety of production jobs, including assistant director, casting director, script supervisor, editor and producer. He and his brother Kenneth shot aerial footage for motion pictures, but Kenneth tragically was killed during a crash while filming. Howard was hired as a screenwriter by Paramount in 1922 and was tasked with writing 40 story lines for new films in 60 days. he bought the rights for works by established authors like 'Joseph Conrad (I)' (qv) and worked, mostly uncredited, on the scripts for approximately 60 films. Hawks wanted to direct, but Paramount refused to indulge his ambition. A Fox executive did, however, and Hawks directed his first film, _The Road to Glory (1926)_ (qv) in 1926, also doubling as the screenwriter. Hawks made a name for himself by directing eight silent films in the 1920s, His facility for language helped him to thrive with the dawn of talking pictures, and he really established himself with his first talkie in 1930, the classic World War I aviation drama _The Dawn Patrol (1930)_ (qv). His arrival as a major director, however, was marked by 1932's controversial and highly popular gangster picture _Scarface (1932)_ (qv), a thinly disguised bio of Chicago gangster 'Al Capone' (qv), which was made for producer 'Howard Hughes (I)' (qv). His first great movie, it catapulted him into the front rank of directors. _Scarface (1932)_ (qv) remained Hawks' favorite film, and under the aegis of the eccentric multi-millionaire Hughes, it was the only movie he ever made in which he did not have to deal with studio meddling. _Scarface (1932)_ (qv) leavened its ultra-violence with comedy in a potent brew that has often been imitated by other directors. Though always involved in the development of the scripts of his films, Hawks was lucky to have worked with some of the best writers in the business, including his friend and fellow aviator 'William Faulkner (I)' (qv). Screenwriters he collaborated with on his films included 'Leigh Brackett' (qv), 'Ben Hecht (I)' (qv), 'John Huston (I)' (qv) and 'Billy Wilder' (qv). Hawks often recycled storylines from previous films, such as when he jettisoned the shooting script on _El Dorado (1966)_ (qv) during production and reworked the film-in-progress into a remake of _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv). The success of his films was partly rooted in his using first-rate writers. Hawks viewed a good writer as a sort of insurance policy, saying, "I'm such a coward that unless I get a good writer, I don't want to make a picture." Though he won himself a reputation as one of Hollywood's supreme storytellers, he came to the conclusion that the story was not what made a good film. After making and then remaking the confusing _The Big Sleep (1946)_ (qv) (1945 and 1946) from a 'Raymond Chandler' (qv) detective novel, Hawks came to believe that a good film consisted of at least three good scenes and no bad ones--at least not a scene that could irritate and alienate the audience. He said, "As long as you make good scenes you have a good picture - it doesn't matter if it isn't much of a story." It was Hawks' directorial skills, his ability to ensure that the audience was not aware of the twice-told nature of his films, through his engendering of a high-octane, heady energy that made his films move and made them classics at best and extremely enjoyable entertainments at their "worst." Hawks' genius as a director also manifested itself in his direction of his actors, his molding of their line-readings going a long way toward making his films outstanding. The dialog in his films often was delivered at a staccato pace, and characters' lines frequently overlapped, a Hawks trademark. The spontaneous feeling of his films and the naturalness of the interrelationships between characters were enhanced by his habit of encouraging his actors to improvise. Unlike 'Alfred Hitchcock (I)' (qv), Hawks saw his lead actors as collaborators and encouraged them to be part of the creative process. He had an excellent eye for talent, and was responsible for giving the first major breaks to a roster of stars, including 'Paul Muni (I)' (qv), 'Carole Lombard (I)' (qv) (his cousin), 'Lauren Bacall' (qv), 'Montgomery Clift' (qv) and 'James Caan (I)' (qv). It was Hawks, and not John Ford, who turned 'John Wayne (I)' (qv) into a superstar, with _Red River (1948)_ (qv) (shot in 1946, but not released until 1948). Of Wayne's performance in the film, Ford said, "I never knew the big son of a bitch could act," and proceeded to give Wayne some of his best roles in the cavalry trilogy of _Fort Apache (1948)_ (qv), _She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)_ (qv) and _Rio Grande (1950)_ (qv), in which Wayne played a broad range of diverse characters. During the 1930s Hawks moved from hit to hit, becoming one of the most respected directors in the business. As his fame waxed, Hawks' image replaced the older, jodhpurs-and-megaphone image of the Hollywood director epitomized by 'Cecil B. DeMille' (qv). The new paradigm of the Hollywood director in the public eye was, like Hawks himself, tall and silver-haired, a Hemingwayesque man of action who was a thorough professional and did not fail his muse or falter in his mastery of the medium while on the job. The image of Hawks as the ultimate Hollywood professional persists until this day in Hollywood, and he continues to be a major influence on many of today's filmmakers. Among the directors influenced by Hawks are 'Robert Altman (I)' (qv), who used Hawksian overlapping dialog and improvisation in _MASH (1970)_ (qv) and other films. 'Peter Bogdanovich' (qv), who wrote a book about Hawks, essentially remade _Bringing Up Baby (1938)_ (qv) as _What's Up, Doc? (1972)_ (qv). 'Brian De Palma' (qv) remade _Scarface (1932)_ (qv) in 1983. Other directors directly indebted to Hawks are 'John Carpenter (I)' (qv) and 'Walter Hill (I)' (qv). Hawks was unique and uniquely modern in that, despite experiencing his career peak in an era dominated by studios and the producer system in which most directors were simply hired hands brought in to shoot a picture, he also served as a producer and developed the scripts for his films. Hawks was determined to remain independent and refused to attach himself to a studio, or to a particular genre, for an extended period of time. His work ethic allowed him to fit in with the production paradigms of the studio system, and he eventually worked for all eight of the major studios. He proved himself to be, in effect, an independent filmmaker, and thus was a model for other director-writer-producers who would arise with the breakdown of the studio system in the 1950s and 1960s and the rise of the director as auteur in the early 1970s. Hawks did it first, though, in an environment that ruined or compromised many another filmmaker. Hawks was not interested in creating a didactic cinema but simply wanted to tell give the public a good story in a well-crafted, entertaining picture. Like 'Ernest Hemingway' (qv), Hawks did have a philosophy of life, but the characters in his films were never intended to be role models. Hawks' protagonists are not necessarily moral people, but they tend to play fair, according to a personal or professional code. A Hawks film typically focuses on a tightly bound group of professionals, often isolated from society at large, who must work together as a team if they are to survive, let alone triumph. His movies emphasize such traits as loyalty and self-respect. _Air Force (1943)_ (qv), one of the finest propaganda films to emerge from World War II, is such a picture, in which a unit bonds aboard a B-17 bomber, and the group is more than the sum of the individuals. Aside from his interest in elucidating human relationships, Hawks' main theme is Hemingwayesque: the execution of one's job or duty to the best of one's ability in the face of overwhelming odds that would make an average person balk. The main characters in a Hawks film typically are people who take their jobs with the utmost seriousness, as their self-respect is rooted in their work. Though often outsiders or loners, Hawksian characters work within a system, albeit a relatively closed system, in which they can ultimately triumph by being loyal to their personal and professional codes. That thematic paradigm has been seen by some critics and cinema historians as being a metaphor for the film industry itself, and of Hawks' place within it. In a sense, Hawks' oeuvre can be boiled down to two categories: the action-adventure films and the comedies. In Hawks' action-adventure movies, such as _Only Angels Have Wings (1939)_ (qv), the male protagonist, played by 'Cary Grant' (qv) (a favorite actor of his who frequently starred in his films between 1947 and 1950), is both a hero and the top dog in his social group. In the comedies, such as _Bringing Up Baby (1938)_ (qv), the male protagonist (again played by Grant) is no hero but rather a victim of women and society. Women have only a tangential role in Hawks' action films, whereas they are the dominant figures in his comedies. In the action-adventure films, society at large often is far away and the male professionals exist in an almost hermetically sealed world, whereas in the comedies are rooted in society and its mores. Men are constantly humiliated in the comedies, or are subject to role reversals (the man as the romantically hunted prey in "Baby," or the even more dramatic role reversal, including Cary Grant in drag, in _I Was a Male War Bride (1949)_ (qv)). In the action-adventure films in which women are marginalized, they are forced to undergo elaborate courting rituals to attract their man, who they cannot get until they prove themselves as tough as men. There is an undercurrent of homo-eroticism to the Hawks action films, and Hawks himself termed his _A Girl in Every Port (1928)_ (qv) "a love story between two men." This homo-erotic leitmotif is most prominent in _The Big Sky (1952)_ (qv). By the time he made _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv), over 30 years since he first directed a film, Hawks not only was consciously moving towards parody but was in the process of revising his "closed circle of professionals" credo toward the belief that, by the time of its loose remake, _El Dorado (1966)_ (qv), he was stressing the superiority of family loyalties to any professional ethic. In _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv), the motley group inside the jailhouse eventually forms into a family in which the stoical code of conduct of previous Hawksian groups is replaced by something akin to a family bond. The new "family" celebrates its unity with the final shootout, which is a virtual fireworks display due to the use of dynamite to overcome the villains who threaten the family's survival. The affection of the group members for each other is best summed up in the scene where the great character actor 'Walter Brennan' (qv), playing Wayne's deputy Stumpy, facetiously tells Wayne that he'll have tears in his eyes until he gets back to the jailhouse. The ability to razz Wayne is indicative of the bond between the two men. The sprawl of Hawks' oeuvre over multiple genres, and their existence as high-energy examples of film as its purest, emphasizing action rather than reflection, led serious critics before the 1970s to discount Hawks as a director. They generally ignored the themes that run through his body of work, such the dynamics of the group, male friendship, professionalism, and women as a threat to the independence of men. Granted, the cinematic world limned by Hawks was limited when compared to that of John Ford, the poet of the American screen, which was richer and more complex. However, Hawks' straightforward style that emphasized human relationships undoubtedly yielded one of the greatest crops of outstanding motion pictures that can be attributed to one director. Hawks' movies not only span a wide variety of genres, but frequently rank with the best in those genres, whether the war film (_The Dawn Patrol (1930)_ (qv)), gangster film (_Scarface (1932)_ (qv)), the screwball comedy (_His Girl Friday (1940)_ (qv)); the action-adventure movie (_Only Angels Have Wings (1939)_ (qv)), the noir (_The Big Sleep (1946)_ (qv)), the Western (_Red River (1948)_ (qv) and _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv)), the musical-comedy (_Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)_ (qv)) and the historical epic (_Land of the Pharaohs (1955)_ (qv)). He even had a hand in creating one of the classic science-fiction films, _The Thing from Another World (1951)_ (qv), which was produced by Hawks but directed by 'Christian Nyby' (qv), who had edited multiple Hawks films and who, in his sole directorial effort, essentially created a Hawks film (though rumors have long circulated that Hawks actually directed the film rather than Nyby, that has been discounted by such cast members as 'Kenneth Tobey' (qv) and 'James Arness' (qv), who have both stated unequivocally that it was Nyby alone who directed the picture). Though Howard Hawks created some of the most memorable moments in the history of American film a half-century ago, serious critics generally eschewed his work, as they did not believe there was a controlling intelligence behind them. Seen as the consummate professional director in the industrial process that was the studio film, serious critics believed that the great moments of Hawks' films were simply accidents that accrued from working in Hollywood with other professionals. In his 1948 book "The Film Till Now," Richard Griffin summed this feeling up with "Hawks is a very good all rounder." Serious critics at the time attributed the mantle of "artist" to a director only when they could discern artistic aspirations, a personal visual style, or serious thematic intent. Hawks seemed to them an unambitious director who, unlike 'D.W. Griffith (I)' (qv) or the early 'Cecil B. DeMille' (qv), had not made a major contribution to American film, and was not responsible for any major cinematic innovations. He lacked the personal touch of a 'Charles Chaplin' (qv), a Hitchcock or a Welles, did not have the painterly sensibility of a 'John Ford (I)' (qv) and had never matured into the master craftsman who tackled heavy themes like the failure of the American dream or racism, like 'George Stevens (I)' (qv). Hawks was seen as a commercial Hollywood director who was good enough to turn out first-rate entertainments in a wide variety of genre films in a time in which genre films such as the melodrama, the war picture and the gangster picture were treated with a lack of respect. One of the central ideas behind the modernist novel that dominated the first half of the 20th-century artistic consciousness (when the novel and the novelist were still considered the ultimate arbiters of culture in the Anglo-American world) was that the author should begin something new with each book, rather than repeating him-/herself as the 19th century novelists had done. This paradigm can be seen most spectacularly in the work of 'James Joyce (I)' (qv). Of course, it is easy to see this thrust for "something new" in the works of 'D.W. Griffith (I)' (qv) and C.B. DeMille, the fathers of the narrative film, working as they were in a new medium. In the post-studio era, a 'Stanley Kubrick (I)' (qv) (through _Barry Lyndon (1975)_ (qv), at least) and 'Lars von Trier' (qv) can be seen as embarking on revolutionary breaks with their past. Howard Hawks was not like this, and, in fact, the latter Hawks constantly recycled not just themes but plots (so that his last great film, _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv), essentially was remade as _El Dorado (1966)_ (qv) and _Rio Lobo (1970)_ (qv)). He did not fit the "modernist" paradigm of an artist. The critical perception of Hawks began to change when the auteur theory--the idea that one intelligence was responsible for the creation of superior films regardless of their designation as "commercial" or "art house"--began to influence American movie criticism. Commenting on Hawks' facility to make films in a wide variety of genres, critic 'Andrew Sarris' (qv), who introduced the auteur theory to American movie criticism, said of Hawks, "For a major director, there are no minor genres." A Hawks genre picture is rooted in the conventions and audience expectations typical of the Hollywood genre. The Hawks genre picture does not radically challenge, undermine or overthrow either the conventions of the genre or the audience expectations of the genre film, but expands it the genre by revivifying it with new energy. As 'Robert Altman (I)' (qv) said about his own _McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)_ (qv), he fully played on the conventions and audience expectations of the Western genre and, in fact, did nothing to challenge them as he was relying on the audience being lulled into a comfort zone by the genre. What Altman wanted to do was to indulge his own artistry by painting at and filling in the edges of his canvas. Thus, Altman needed the audience's complicity through the genre conventions to accomplish this. As a genre director, Hawks used his audience's comfort with the genre to expound his philosophy on male bonding and male-female relationships. His movies have a great deal of energy, invested in them by the master craftsman, which made them into great popular entertainments. That Hawks was a commercial filmmaker who was also a first-rate craftsman was not the sum total of his achievement as a director, but was the means by which he communicated with his audience. While many during his life-time would not have called Hawks an artist, 'Robin Wood (I)' (qv) compared Hawks to 'William Shakespeare (I)' (qv) and 'Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart' (qv), both of whom created popular entertainments that could also appeal to elites. According to Wood, "The originality of their works lay not in the evolution of a completely new language, but in the artist's use and development of an already existing one; hence, there was common ground from the outset between artist and audience, and 'entertainment' could happen spontaneously without the intervention of a lengthy period of assimilation." The great French filmmaker 'Jean-Luc Godard' (qv), who began his cinema career as a critic, wrote about Hawks, "The great filmmakers always tie themselves down by complying with the rules of the game . . . Take, for example, the films of Howard Hawks, and in particular _Rio Bravo (1959)_ (qv). That is a work of extraordinary psychological insight and aesthetic perception, but Hawks has made his film so that the insight can pass unnoticed without disturbing the audience that has come to see a Western like all the others. Hawks is the greater because he has succeeded in fitting all that he holds most dear into a well-worn subject." A decade before Godard's insight on Hawks, in the early 1950s, the French-language critics who wrote for the cinema journal "Cahier du Cinema" (many of whom would go on to become directors themselves) elevated Howard Hawks into the pantheon of great directors (the appreciation of Hawks in France, according to Cinématheque francaise founder 'Henri Langlois' (qv), began with the French release of _Only Angels Have Wings (1939)_ (qv)). The Swiss 'Eric Rohmer' (qv), who would one day become a great director himself, in a 1952 review of Hawks' _The Big Sky (1952)_ (qv) declared, "If one does not love the films of Howard Hawks, one cannot love cinema". Rohmer was joined in his enthusiasm for Hawks by such fellow French cineastes as 'Claude Chabrol' (qv), 'François Truffaut' (qv) and 'Jacques Rivette' (qv). The Cahiers critics claimed that a handful of commercial Hollywood directors like Hawks and 'Alfred Hitchcock (I)' (qv) had created films as artful and fulfilling as the masterpieces of the art cinema. 'Andre Bazin' gave these critics the moniker "Hitchcocko-Hawksians". 'Jacques Rivette' (qv) wrote in his 1953 essay, "The Genius of Howard Hawks," that "each shot has a functional beauty, like a neck or an ankle. The smooth, orderly succession of shots has a rhythm like the pulsing of blood, and the whole film is like a beautiful body, kept alive by deep, resilient breathing." Hawks, however, considered himself an entertainer, not an "artist." His definition of a good director was simply "someone who doesn't annoy you." He was never considered an artist until the French New Wave critics crowned him one, as serious critics had ignored his oeuvre. He found the adulation amusing, and once told his admirers, "You guys know my films better than I do." Commenting on this phenomenon, Sarris' wife 'Molly Haskell' (qv) said, "Critics will spend hours with divining rods over the obviously hermetic mindscape of Bergman, Antonioni, etc., giving them the benefit of every passing doubt. But they will scorn similar excursions into the genuinely cryptic, richer, and more organic terrain of home-grown talents." Hawks' visual aesthetic eschews formalism, trick photography or narrative gimmicks. There are no flashbacks or ellipses in his films, and his pictures are usually framed as eye-level medium shots. The films themselves are precisely structured, so much so that Langlois compared Hawks to the great modernist architect Walter Gropius. Hawks strikes one as an Intuitive, unselfconscious filmmaker. Hawks' definition of a good director was "someone who doesn't annoy you." When Hawks was awarded his lifetime achievement Academy Award, the citation referred to the director as "a giant of the American cinema whose pictures, taken as a whole, represent one of the most consistent, vivid, and varied bodies of work in world cinema." It is a fitting epitaph for one of the greatest directors in the history of American, and world cinema.
name | Howard Hawks |
---|---|
birth name | Howard Winchester Hawks |
birth date | May 30, 1896 |
birth place | Goshen, Indiana, United States |
death date | December 26, 1977 |
death place | Palm Springs, California, United States |
occupation | director, producer, screenwriter |
years active | 1923–1970 |
spouse | Athole Shearer (1928–1940)Slim Keith (1941–1949)Dee Hartford (1953–1959) }} |
In 1975, Hawks was awarded the Honorary Academy Award as "a master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema," and in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Sergeant York''.
Hawks attended high school in Glendora, and then moved to New Hampshire to attend Phillips Exeter Academy from 1912-1914. After graduation, Hawks moved on to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he majored in mechanical engineering and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Hawks worked on some early movies, interning for the Famous Players-Lasky Studio. After graduation he joined the United States Army Air Service after World War I. After the service, he worked at a number of jobs: race-car driver, aviator, designer in an aircraft factory.
He made the transition to sound without difficulty. During the 1930s he freelanced and was not contracted to a studio. For Howard Hughes he directed ''Scarface'' (1932); for RKO, ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938) and for Columbia, ''Only Angels Have Wings'' (1939) and ''His Girl Friday'' (1940).
His film, ''Sergeant York'' (1941), starring Gary Cooper, was the highest-grossing film of its year and won two Academy Awards (Best Actor and Best Editing).
In 1944, Hawks filmed the first of two films starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, ''To Have and Have Not'', which was the first film pairing of the couple. He followed that with ''The Big Sleep'' (1946).
In 1948, he filmed ''Red River'', with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. In 1951, he produced - and, reputedly, also directed (without credit) - ''The Thing from Another World''. In 1953, he filmed ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'', which featured Marilyn Monroe singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."
1959's ''Rio Bravo'', starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan, was remade twice by Hawks - in 1967 (''El Dorado'') and again in 1970 (''Rio Lobo''). Both starred John Wayne.
His brothers were director/writer Kenneth Neil Hawks and film producer William Bettingger Hawks.
While Hawks was not sympathetic to feminism, he popularized the Hawksian woman archetype, which has been cited as a prototype of the post-feminist movement.
Although his work was not initially taken seriously by British critics of the ''Sight and Sound'' circle, he was venerated by French critics associated with ''Cahiers du cinéma'', who intellectualised his work in a way Hawks himself was moderately amused by, and he was also admired by more independent British writers such as Robin Wood and, to a lesser extent, Raymond Durgnat.
Critic Leonard Maltin labeled Hawks "the greatest American director who is not a household name," noting that, while his work may not be as well known as Ford, Welles, or DeMille, he is no less a talented filmmaker.
Hawks was nicknamed by members of the Hollywood community 'The Gray Fox'.
''Scarface'' (1932), was rated "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress.
''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938) was listed number ninety-seven on American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies. ''His Girl Friday'' (1940) was listed #19 on American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Howard Hawks has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.
Category:1896 births Category:1977 deaths Category:People from Goshen, Indiana Category:American aviators Category:American film directors Category:American military personnel of World War I Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Category:United States Army personnel Category:Western (genre) film directors Category:People from Neenah, Wisconsin Category:American screenwriters Category:American film producers Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients
an:Howard Hawks bn:হাওয়ার্ড হক্স bs:Howard Hawks ca:Howard Hawks da:Howard Hawks de:Howard Hawks es:Howard Hawks eu:Howard Hawks fr:Howard Hawks ga:Howard Hawks gl:Howard Hawks hi:हावर्ड हॉक्स hr:Howard Hawks it:Howard Hawks he:הווארד הוקס mk:Хауард Хокс nl:Howard Hawks ja:ハワード・ホークス no:Howard Hawks pl:Howard Hawks pt:Howard Hawks ru:Хоукс, Говард fi:Howard Hawks sv:Howard Hawks th:ฮาเวิร์ด ฮอว์กส tr:Howard Hawks zh:霍華·霍克斯This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | John Wayne |
---|---|
birth name | Marion Robert Morrison |
birth date | May 26, 1907 |
birth place | Winterset, Iowa, U.S. |
death date | June 11, 1979 |
death place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
other names | Marion Mitchell Morrison; "The Duke"; Duke Morrison |
occupation | Actor, director, producer |
education | Glendale High School |
alma mater | University of Southern California |
home town | Glendale, California |
party | Republican |
religion | Roman Catholic convert from Presbyterian |
years active | 1926–76 |
death cause | Stomach cancer |
spouse | |
website | http://www.johnwayne.com }} |
A Harris Poll, released January 2011, placed Wayne third among America's favorite film stars, the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared on the poll every year since it first began in 1994.
In June of 1999, the American Film Institute named Wayne 13th among the Greatest Male Screen Legends of All Time.
Wayne's father, Clyde Leonard Morrison (1884–1937), was the son of American Civil War veteran Marion Mitchell Morrison (1845–1915). Wayne's mother, the former Mary "Molly" Alberta Brown (1885–1970), was from Lancaster County, Nebraska. Wayne was of Presbyterian Scots-Irish descent through his second great-grandfather Robert Morrison, who was born in County Antrim, Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1782.
Wayne's family moved to Palmdale, California, and then in 1911 to Glendale, California, where his father worked as a pharmacist. A local fireman at the station on his route to school in Glendale started calling him "Little Duke" because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier, Duke. He preferred "Duke" to "Marion", and the name stuck for the rest of his life.
As a teen, Wayne worked in an ice cream shop for a man who shod horses for Hollywood studios. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth organization associated with the Freemasons. He attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. He played football for the 1924 champion Glendale High School team. Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but was not accepted. He instead attended the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law. He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi fraternities. Wayne also played on the USC football team under legendary coach Howard Jones. An injury curtailed his athletic career; Wayne later noted he was too terrified of Jones's reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury, which was bodysurfing at the “Wedge” at the tip of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. He lost his athletic scholarship and, without funds, had to leave the university.
Wayne began working at the local film studios. Prolific silent western film star Tom Mix had gotten him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets. Wayne soon moved on to bit parts, establishing a longtime friendship with the director who provided most of those roles, John Ford. Early in this period, Wayne appeared with his USC teammates playing football in ''Brown of Harvard'' (1926), ''The Dropkick'' (1927), and ''Salute'' (1929) and Columbia's ''Maker of Men'' (filmed in 1930, released in 1931). Also, it is during this period that Wayne is reputed to have met the legendary gunfighter and lawman Wyatt Earp.
''The Big Trail'' was to be the first big-budget outdoor spectacle of the sound era, made at a staggering cost of over $2 million, using hundreds of extras and wide vistas of the American southwest, still largely unpopulated at the time. To take advantage of the breathtaking scenery, it was filmed in two versions, a standard 35mm version and another in "Grandeur", a new process using innovative camera and lenses and a revolutionary 70mm widescreen process. Many in the audience who saw it in Grandeur stood and cheered. Unfortunately, only a handful of theaters were equipped to show the film in its widescreen process, and the effort was largely wasted. The film was considered a huge flop. After the failure of ''The Big Trail'', Wayne was relegated to small roles in A-pictures, including Columbia's ''The Deceiver'' (1931), in which he played a corpse. He appeared in the serial ''The Three Musketeers'' (1933), an updated version of the Alexandre Dumas novel in which the protagonists were soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in then-contemporary North Africa. He appeared in many low-budget "Poverty Row" westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about eighty of these horse operas between 1930 - 1939. In ''Riders of Destiny'' (1933) he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, albeit via dubbing. Wayne also appeared in some of the ''Three Mesquiteers'' westerns, whose title was a play on the Dumas classic. He was mentored by stuntmen in riding and other western skills. He and famed stuntman Yakima Canutt developed and perfected stunts still used today.
Wayne's breakthrough role came with director John Ford's classic ''Stagecoach'' (1939). Because of Wayne's non-star status and track record in low-budget westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the top studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor—a much bigger star at the time—received top billing. ''Stagecoach'' was a huge critical and financial success, and Wayne became a star. He later appeared in more than twenty of John Ford's films, including ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'' (1949), ''The Quiet Man'' (1952), ''The Searchers'' (1956), ''The Wings of Eagles'' (1957), and ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (1962).
Wayne's first color film was ''Shepherd of the Hills'' (1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey. The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, the Technicolor epic ''Reap the Wild Wind'' (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values.
In 1949, director Robert Rossen offered the starring role of ''All the King's Men'' to Wayne. Wayne refused, believing the script to be un-American in many ways. Broderick Crawford, who eventually got the role, won the 1949 Oscar for best male actor, ironically beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for ''Sands of Iwo Jima.'' He lost the leading role in ''The Gunfighter'' (1950) to Gregory Peck due to his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures because its chief, Harry Cohn, had mistreated him years before when he was a young contract player. Cohn had bought the project for Wayne, but Wayne's grudge was too deep, and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century Fox, which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted but for which he refused to bend.
One of Wayne's most popular roles was in ''The High and the Mighty'' (1954), directed by William Wellman, and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann. His portrayal of a heroic copilot won widespread acclaim. Wayne also portrayed aviators in ''Flying Tigers (1942),'' ''Flying Leathernecks'' (1951), ''Island in the Sky'' (1953), ''The Wings of Eagles'' (1957), and ''Jet Pilot'' (1957).
''The Searchers'' (1956) continues to be widely regarded as perhaps Wayne's finest and most complex performance. In 2006, ''Premiere Magazine'' ran an industry poll in which Wayne's portrayal of Ethan Edwards was rated the 87th greatest performance in film history. He named his youngest son Ethan after the character. John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar for ''True Grit'' (1969). Wayne was also nominated as the producer of Best Picture for ''The Alamo'' (1960), one of two films he directed. The other was ''The Green Berets'' (1968), the only major film made during the Vietnam War to support the war. During the filming of ''Green Berets'', the Degar or Montagnard people of Vietnam's Central Highlands, fierce fighters against communism, bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films. His last film was ''The Shootist'' (1976), whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer—the illness to which Wayne himself succumbed three years later.
According to the Internet Movie Database, Wayne played the lead in 142 of his film appearances.
Batjac, the production company co-founded by Wayne, was named after the fictional shipping company Batjak in ''Wake of the Red Witch'' (1948), a film based on the novel by Garland Roark. (A spelling error by Wayne's secretary was allowed to stand, accounting for the variation.) Batjac (and its predecessor, Wayne-Fellows Productions) was the arm through which Wayne produced many films for himself and other stars. Its best-known non-Wayne production was the highly acclaimed ''Seven Men From Now'' (1956), which started the classic collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott.
In the ''Motion Picture Herald'' Top Ten Money- Making Western Stars poll, Wayne was listed in 1936 and 1939. He appeared in the similar ''Box Office'' poll in 1939 and 1940. While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Wayne also appeared in the ''Top Ten Money Makers Poll'' of all films from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1974, taking first place in 1950, 1951, 1954 and 1971 . With a total of 25 years on the list, Wayne has more appearances than any other star, beating Clint Eastwood (21) into second place.
In later years, Wayne was recognized as a sort of American natural resource, and his various critics, of his performances and his politics, viewed him with more respect. Abbie Hoffman, the radical of the 1960s, paid tribute to Wayne's singularity, saying, "I like Wayne's wholeness, his style. As for his politics, well—I suppose even cavemen felt a little admiration for the dinosaurs that were trying to gobble them up." Reviewing ''The Cowboys'' (1972), Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who did not particularly care for the film, wrote: "Wayne is, of course, marvelously indestructible, and he has become an almost perfect father figure."
Wayne used his iconic status to support conservative causes, including rallying support for the Vietnam War by producing, co-directing, and starring in the critically panned ''The Green Berets'' in 1968. In the mid-1970s, however, he went against many fellow conservatives in supporting the Panama Canal Treaty.
Due to his enormous popularity, and his status as the most famous Republican star in Hollywood, wealthy Texas Republican Party backers asked Wayne to run for national office in 1968, as had his friend and fellow actor, Senator George Murphy. He declined, joking that he did not believe the public would seriously consider an actor in the White House. However, he did support his friend Ronald Reagan's runs for Governor of California in 1966 and 1970. He was also asked to be the running mate for Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1968. Wayne vehemently rejected the offer. Wayne actively campaigned for Richard Nixon, and addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in August 1968. Wayne also was a member of the conservative and anti-communist John Birch Society.
Wayne openly differed with the Republican Party over the issue of the Panama Canal. Conservatives wanted America to retain full control, but Wayne, believing that the Panamanians had the right to the canal, sided with President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats to win passage of the treaty returning the canal in the Senate. Mr. Wayne was a close friend of the late Panamanian leader, Brig. Gen. Omar Torrijos Herrera. Mr. Wayne's first wife, Josephine, whom he divorced in 1946, was a native of Panama.
Soviet documents released in 2003 revealed, despite being a fan of Wayne's movies, Joseph Stalin ordered Wayne's assassination due to his strong anti-communist politics. Stalin died before the killing could be accomplished. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, reportedly told Wayne during a 1959 visit to the United States that he had personally rescinded the order.
As the majority of male leads left Hollywood to serve overseas, John Wayne saw his just-blossoming stardom at risk. Despite enormous pressure from his inner circle of friends, he put off enlisting. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). Wayne's secretary recalled making inquiries of military officials on behalf of his interest in enlisting, "but he never really followed up on them". He repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford's military unit, but consistently postponed it until "after he finished one more film", Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing Wayne, especially after the loss of Gene Autry to the Army.
Correspondence between Wayne and Herbert J. Yates (the head of Republic) indicates Yates threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract, though the likelihood of a studio suing its biggest star for going to war was minute. Whether or not the threat was real, Wayne did not test it. Selective Service records indicate he did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but apparently Republic Pictures intervened directly, requesting his further deferment. In May, 1944, Wayne was reclassified as 1-A (draft eligible), but the studio obtained another 2-A deferment (for "support of national health, safety, or interest"). He remained 2-A until the war's end. Thus, John Wayne did not illegally "dodge" the draft, but he never took direct positive action toward enlistment.
Wayne was in the South Pacific theater of the war for three months in 1943–44, touring U.S. bases and hospitals, as well as doing some work for OSS commander William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, who "hoped that a celebrity like Wayne could provide information denied his own operatives. Donovan was particularly interested in Wayne's assessment of MacArthur himself. Wayne's mission was only partly successful. He never met MacArthur, and although he filed a report with Donovan when he got back to the States, he had nothing substantial to offer Donovan." Donovan gave him a plaque and commendation for serving with the OSS, but Wayne dismissed it as meaningless.
The foregoing facts influenced the direction of Wayne's later life. By many accounts, Wayne's failure to serve in the military during World War II was the most painful experience of his life. Some other stars, for various reasons, did not enlist, but Wayne, by virtue of becoming a celluloid war hero in several patriotic war films, as well as an outspoken supporter of conservative political causes and the Vietnam War, became the focus of particular disdain from both himself and certain portions of the public, particularly in later years. While some hold Wayne in contempt for the paradox between his early actions and his later attitudes, his widow suggests Wayne's rampant patriotism in later decades sprang not from hypocrisy but from guilt. Pilar Wayne wrote, "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."
I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them if that's what you're asking. Our so called stealing of this country was just a question of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.... Look, I'm sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in our country can't be blamed on us today. I'm quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation... seems to be what the socialists are working for now – to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave.... What happened between their forefathers and our forefathers is so far back – right, wrong or indifferent – that I don't see why we owe them anything. I don't know why the government should give them something that it wouldn't give me.
Wayne responded to questions about whether social programs like Medicare and Social Security were good for the country:
I know all about that. In the late Twenties, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself – but not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody could have ice cream and cake for every meal. But as he gets older and gives more thought to his and his fellow man's responsibilities, he finds that it can't work out that way – that some people just won't carry their load.... I believe in welfare – a welfare work program. I don't think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim.
In the interview he previously had discussed race relations, including his response to Angela Davis's assertion that her removal from a position as an assistant professor in the UCLA philosophy department on the grounds that she was an active member the Communist party was actually because she was black:
With a lot of blacks, there's quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.
When asked how blacks could address their perceived lack of leadership experience and the inequities of the past, Wayne replied:
It's not my judgment. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven't passed the tests and don't have the requisite background.... By going to school. I don't know why people insist that blacks have been forbidden to go to school. They were allowed in public schools wherever I've been. Even if they don't have the proper credentials for college, there are courses to help them become eligible. But if they aren't academically ready for that step, I don't think they should be allowed in. Otherwise, the academic society is brought down to the lowest common denominator.... What good would it do to register anybody in a class of higher algebra or calculus if they haven't learned to count? There has to be a standard. I don't feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves. Now, I'm not condoning slavery. It's just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can't play football with the rest of us. I will say this, though: I think any black who can compete with a white today can get a better break than a white man. I wish they'd tell me where in the world they have it better than right here in America.
Wayne later made controversial pro-war comments when asked why a North-South joint election in Vietnam could not have been administered in lieu of armed conflict:
That would be no more practical than if France, after coming to help us in the Revolution, suggested having an election to decide what we wanted to do. It would be an exact parallel. The majority of those living in the Colonies didn't want war at that time. If there had been a general election then, we probably wouldn't be here today. As far as Vietnam is concerned, we've made mistakes. I know of no country that's perfect. But I honestly believe that there's as much need for us to help the Vietnamese as there was to help the Jews in Germany. The only difference is that we haven't had any leadership in this war. All the liberal senators have stuck their noses in this, and it's out of their bailiwick. They've already put far too many barriers in the way of the military. Our lack of leadership has gone so far that now no one man can come in, face the issue and tell people that we ought to be in an all-out war.
and three with Pilar:
Heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison alleges that Wayne is his great-uncle. Wayne's son Ethan was billed as John Ethan Wayne in a few films, and played one of the leads in the 1990s update of the ''Adam-12'' television series.
His stormiest divorce was from Esperanza Baur, a former Mexican actress. She convinced herself that Wayne and co-star Gail Russell were having an affair. The night the film ''Angel and the Badman'' (1947) wrapped, there was the usual party for cast and crew, and Wayne came home very late. Esperanza was in a drunken rage by the time he arrived, and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door.
Wayne's hair began thinning in the 1940s, and he started wearing a hairpiece by the end of that decade (though his receding hairline is quite evident in ''Rio Grande''). He was occasionally seen in public without the hairpiece (notably, according to ''Life Magazine'' photos, at Gary Cooper's funeral). The only time he unintentionally appeared on film without it was for a split second in ''North to Alaska.'' On the first punch of the climactic fistfight, Wayne's hat flies off, revealing a brief flash of his unadorned scalp. Wayne also has several scenes in ''The Wings of Eagles'' where he is without his hairpiece. (During a widely noted appearance at Harvard University, Wayne was asked by a student, "Is your hair real?" Wayne responded in the affirmative, then added, "It's not mine, but it's real!")
Wayne had several high-profile affairs, including one with Marlene Dietrich that lasted for three years. In the years prior to his death, Wayne was romantically involved with his former secretary Pat Stacy (1941–1995). She wrote a biography of her life with him, ''DUKE: A Love Story'' (1983).
A close friend of Wayne's, California Congressman Alphonzo Bell, wrote of him, "Duke's personality and sense of humor were very close to what the general public saw on the big screen. It is perhaps best shown in these words he had engraved on a plaque: 'Each of us is a mixture of some good and some not so good qualities. In considering one's fellow man it's important to remember the good things. . . We should refrain from making judgments just because a fella happens to be a dirty, rotten SOB.'"
During the early 1960s, John Wayne traveled extensively to Panama. During this time, the actor reportedly purchased the island of Taborcillo off the main coast of Panama. It was sold by his estate at his death and changed hands many times before being opened as a tourist attraction.
Wayne was a Freemason, a Master Mason in Marion McDaniel Lodge #56 F&AM;, in Tucson. He became a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason and later joined the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple in Los Angeles. He became a member of the York Rite.
Wayne biographer Michael Munn writes of Wayne's love of alcohol. According to Sam O'Steen's memoir, ''Cut to the Chase'', studio directors knew to shoot Wayne's scenes before noon, because by afternoon Wayne "was a mean drunk".
John Wayne's height has been perennially described as at least 6'4" (193 cm), but claims abound that he was shorter. However, Wayne's high school athletic records indicate he was 6'3" at age 17, and his University of Southern California athletic records state that by age 18, he had grown to 6'4".
Among the 220 or so cast and crew who filmed the 1956 film, ''The Conqueror'', on location near St. George, Utah, 91 at various times developed some form of cancer (41%), including stars Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorehead, and director Dick Powell. The film was shot in southwestern Utah, east of and generally downwind from where the U.S. Government had tested nuclear weapons in southeastern Nevada. Although the 41% incidence of cancer in the cast and crew is identical to that of the general population, many contend radioactive fallout from these tests contaminated the film location and poisoned the film crew working there. Despite the suggestion Wayne’s 1964 lung cancer and his 1979 stomach cancer resulted from this nuclear contamination, he himself believed his lung cancer to have been a result of his six-pack-a-day cigarette habit.
Maureen O'Hara, Wayne's close friend, initiated the petition for the medal and requested the words that would be placed onto the medal: "It is my great honor to be here. I beg you to strike a medal for Duke, to order the President to strike it. And I feel that the medal should say just one thing, 'John Wayne, American.'" The medal crafted by the United States Mint has on one side John Wayne riding on horseback, and the other side has a portrait of Wayne with the words, "John Wayne, American". This Congressional Gold Medal was presented to the family of John Wayne in a ceremony held on March 6, 1980, at the United States Capitol. Copies were made and sold in large numbers to the public.
On June 9, 1980, Wayne was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter (at whose inaugural ball Wayne had appeared "as a member of the loyal opposition", as Wayne described it in his speech to the gathering). Thus Wayne received the two highest civilian decorations awarded by the United States government.
Wayne rose beyond the typical recognition for a famous actor to that of an enduring icon who symbolized and communicated American values and ideals. By the middle of his career, Wayne had developed a larger-than-life image, and as his career progressed, he selected roles that would not compromise his off-screen image. By the time of his last film ''The Shootist'' (1976), Wayne refused to allow his character to shoot a man in the back as was originally scripted, saying "I've made over 250 pictures and have never shot a guy in the back. Change it."
Wayne's rise to being the quintessential movie war hero began to take shape four years after World War II, when ''Sands of Iwo Jima'' (1949) was released. His footprints at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood were laid in concrete that contained sand from Iwo Jima. His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975, he asked to meet John Wayne, the symbolic representation of his country's former enemy.
Wayne was a popular visitor to the war zones in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. By the 1950s, perhaps in large part due to the military aspect of films such as the ''Sands of Iwo Jima'', ''Flying Tigers'', ''They Were Expendable'', and the Ford cavalry trilogy, Wayne had become an icon to all the branches of the U.S. Military, even in light of his actual lack of military service. Many veterans have said their reason for serving was in some part related to watching Wayne's movies. His name is attached to various pieces of gear, such as the P-38 "John Wayne" can opener, so named because "it can do anything", paper towels known as "John Wayne toilet paper" because "it's rough and it's tough and don't take shit off no one," and C-Ration crackers are called "John Wayne crackers" because presumably only someone as tough as Wayne could eat them. A rough and rocky mountain pass used by military tanks and jeeps at Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County, California, is aptly named "John Wayne Pass".
Various public locations, named in memory of John Wayne, include John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, where his nine-foot bronze statue graces the entrance; the John Wayne Marina that Wayne bequeathed the land for, near Sequim, Washington; John Wayne Elementary School (P.S. 380) in Brooklyn, NY, which boasts a 38-foot mosaic mural commission by New York artist Knox Martin entitled "John Wayne and the American Frontier"; and a 100-plus-mile trail named the "John Wayne Pioneer Trail" in Washington state's Iron Horse State Park. A larger than life-size bronze statue of Wayne atop a horse was erected at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California at the former offices of the Great Western Savings & Loan Corporation, for whom Wayne had done a number of commercials. (The building now houses Larry Flynt Enterprises.)
In the city of Maricopa, Arizona, part of AZ State Highway 347 is named John Wayne Parkway, which runs right through the center of town.
On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Wayne into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
At the John Wayne birthplace in Winterset, Iowa, the John Wayne Birthday Centennial Celebration was held on May 25–27, 2007. The celebration included chuck-wagon suppers, concerts by Michael Martin Murphey and Riders in the Sky, a Wild West Revue in the style of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, a Cowboy Symposium with John Wayne co-stars, Gregg Palmer, Ed Faulkner, and Dean Smith, along with Paramount producer A.C. Lyles and costumer Luster Bayless were all there to talk about their friendships with Wayne. They had cavalry and trick horse demonstrations, as well as many of John Wayne's films running at the local theater.
This event also included the groundbreaking for the New John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center at his birthplace house. Over 30 family members were there, including Melinda Wayne Munoz, Aissa, Ethan and Marisa Wayne. Several grandchildren and great-grandchildren were also present. An old gas station is being torn down to make way for the new museum. This groundbreaking was held with Ethan Wayne at the controls of the equipment.
In 2006, friends of Wayne's and his former Arizona business partner, Louis Johnson, inaugurated the "Louie and the Duke Classics" events benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society. The weekend long event each fall in Casa Grande, Arizona includes a golf tournament, an auction of John Wayne memorabilia and a team roping competition.
An urban legend has it that John Wayne was offered the leading role of Matt Dillon in the longtime favorite television show ''Gunsmoke,'' but he turned it down, recommending instead James Arness for the role. The only part of this story that is true is that Wayne did indeed recommend Arness for the part. Wayne introduced Arness in a prologue to the first episode of ''Gunsmoke''.
Wayne was approached by Mel Brooks to play the part of the Waco Kid in the film ''Blazing Saddles.'' After reading the script he said, "I can't be in this picture, it's too dirty ... but I'll be the first in line to see it."
[[1969 in film | |||
! Actor | ! Film | ! Actor | ! Film |
style="background:yellow;" | [[Richard Burton">1949 in film | ||
[[1969 in film | |||
! Actor | ! Film | ! Actor | ! Film |
style="background:yellow;" | [[Richard Burton | ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' | |
Kirk Douglas | Dustin Hoffman | ||
Gregory Peck | ''Twelve O'Clock High'' | Peter O'Toole''' | ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' |
Richard Todd | ''The Hasty Heart'' | Jon Voight''' | |
John Wayne | ''Sands of Iwo Jima'' | style="background:yellow;" |
The Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures is an annual award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Golden Globe Award ceremonies in Hollywood, California. It was named in honor of Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959), one of the industry's most successful filmmakers; John Wayne won this particular award in 1966.
Category:1907 births Category:1979 deaths Category:People from Winterset, Iowa Category:Former Presbyterians Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:California Republicans Category:John Birch Society Category:Actors from Iowa Category:American anti-communists Category:American film actors Category:American football offensive linemen Category:American silent film actors Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:Deaths from stomach cancer Category:Film serial actors Category:Liberty Records artists Category:Lung cancer survivors Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:University of Southern California alumni Category:USC Trojans football players Category:Western (genre) film actors
af:John Wayne ar:جون وين an:John Wayne bn:জন ওয়েইন be:Джон Уэйн be-x-old:Джон Ўэйн bs:John Wayne bg:Джон Уейн ca:John Wayne cs:John Wayne da:John Wayne de:John Wayne et:John Wayne el:Τζον Γουέιν es:John Wayne eo:John Wayne eu:John Wayne fa:جان وین fr:John Wayne fy:John Wayne ga:John Wayne gd:John Wayne gl:John Wayne ko:존 웨인 hr:John Wayne io:John Wayne bpy:জন ৱেইন id:John Wayne is:John Wayne it:John Wayne he:ג'ון ויין sw:John Wayne lad:John Wayne la:Iohannes Wayne lv:Džons Veins lt:John Wayne lmo:John Wayne hu:John Wayne mk:Џон Вејн nl:John Wayne new:जोन वेन ja:ジョン・ウェイン no:John Wayne nn:John Wayne nov:John Wayne oc:John Wayne pl:John Wayne pt:John Wayne ro:John Wayne qu:John Wayne ru:Джон Уэйн sq:John Wayne simple:John Wayne sk:John Wayne sl:John Wayne sr:Џон Вејн (глумац) sh:John Wayne fi:John Wayne sv:John Wayne tl:John Wayne ta:ஜான் வெயின் th:จอห์น เวย์น tr:John Wayne uk:Джон Вейн war:John Wayne yo:John Wayne zh-yue:尊榮 bat-smg:John Wayne zh:約翰·韋恩This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
birth name | Wayne Wright Howard |
---|---|
birth date | March 29, 1949 |
birth place | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
death-date | December 09, 2007 |
death place | Derby, Connecticut, U.S. |
nationality | American |
pencil | y |
ink | y |
notable works | ''Midnight Tales'' (Charlton Comics) |
spouse | Carol (Zavednak) Howard |
sortkey | Howard, Wayne |
subcat | American |
yob | 1949 |
mob | 03 |
dob | 29 |
yod | 2007 |
mod | 12 |
dod | 09 }} |
Howard made his credited comics debut as penciler and inker with writer Marv Wolfman's three-page story "Cain's True Case Files: Grave Results" in DC Comics' ''House of Mystery'' #182 (Oct. 1969). He went on to contribute to later issues, as well as to Major Publications' black-and-white horror-comics magazine ''Web of Horror'' #1 (Dec. 1969).
Charlton writer-editor Cuti described Howard's credit for the horror anthology ''Midnight Tales'' being granted since "it was his idea, his concept, his everything". This ranged from the Andy Warhol-esque horror host Professor Coffin, The Midnight Philosopher, and his niece, Arachne — who in a twist on the horror-host convention would themselves star in a story each issue — to the notion of having each issue be themed: "One time it would be blob monsters, and I wrote three stories about blob monsters, and another time it was vampires ... and that sort of thing". Howard penciled and inked every cover and virtually every story, and occasionally scripted a tale. The three-issue reprint series ''Prof. Coffin'' #19-21 (Oct. 1985 - Feb. 1986) retains the "created by" credit.
Critic Mark Andrew observed of ''Midnight Tales'',
For industry leader Marvel Comics, he inked Rich Buckler's cover and Ross Andru's pencil art adapting Harry Bates' short story "Farewell to the Master" in the science-fiction anthology ''Worlds Unknown'' #3 (Sept. 1973); Gil Kane's Spider-Man / Submariner story in ''Marvel Team-Up'' #14 (Oct. 1973); Val Mayerik's "Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria" feature in ''Creatures on the Loose'' #26 (Nov. 1973); and a Syd Shores story in the black-and-white comics magazine ''Haunt of Horror'' #4 (Nov. 1974).
Howard died at age 58 at the Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut. He lived in Oxford, Connecticut at the time, married to Carol (Zavednak) Howard.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Cary Grant |
---|---|
birth name | Archibald Alexander Leach |
birth date | January 18, 1904 |
birth place | Bristol, England, United Kingdom |
death date | November 29, 1986 |
death place | Davenport, Iowa, United States |
other names | Archie Leach |
occupation | Actor |
years active | 1932–66 |
spouse | Virginia Cherrill (1934–1935)Barbara Hutton (1942–1945)Betsy Drake (1949–1962)Dyan Cannon (1965–1967)Barbara Harris (1981–1986) |
partner | Maureen Donaldson (1973–1977) |
children | Jennifer Grant, born on February 26, 1966 |
relations | Cary Benjamin Grant, born on August 12, 2008 |
Awards | Academy Honorary Award1970 For his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues. }} |
He was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Noted for his dramatic roles as well as screwball comedy, Grant's best-known films include ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938), ''Gunga Din'' (1939), ''The Philadelphia Story'' (1940), ''Penny Serenade'' (1941), ''Arsenic and Old Lace'' (1944), ''None but the Lonely Heart'' (1944), ''Notorious'' (1946), ''To Catch A Thief'' (1955), ''An Affair to Remember'' (1957), and ''North by Northwest'' (1959).
Nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor and five times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Grant was continually passed over, and in 1970 was given an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards. Frank Sinatra presented Grant with the award, "for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues".
He was expelled from the Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918. After joining the "Bob Pender stage troupe", Leach performed as a stilt walker and travelled with the group to the United States in 1920 at the age of 16, on a two-year tour of the country. He was processed at Ellis Island on July 28, 1920. When the troupe returned to the UK, he decided to stay in the U.S. and continue his stage career. During this time, he became a part of the vaudeville world and toured with Parker, Rand and Leach. Still using his birth name, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as ''Irene'' (1931); ''Music in May'' (1931); ''Nina Rosa'' (1931); ''Rio Rita'' (1931); ''Street Singer'' (1931); ''The Three Musketeers'' (1931); and ''Wonderful Night'' (1931). Leach's experience on stage as a stilt walker, acrobat, juggler, and mime taught him "phenomenal physical grace and exquisite comic timing" and the value of teamwork, skills which would benefit him in Hollywood.
Under the tutelage of director Leo McCarey, his role in ''The Awful Truth'' (1937) with Irene Dunne was the pivotal film in the establishment of Grant's screen persona; as he later wrote, "I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be and I finally became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point." Grant's sophisticated light comedy persona first evident in ''The Awful Truth'' was largely concocted by McCarey, with Grant also copying many of McCarey's mannerisms. Along with the similarity in their names, McCarey and Cary Grant shared a close physical resemblance, making mimicking McCarey's intonations and expressions even easier for Grant. As writer/director Peter Bogdanovich notes, "After ''The Awful Truth'', when it came to light comedy, there was Cary Grant and then everyone else was an also-ran."
''The Awful Truth'' began "what would be the most spectacular run ever for an actor in American pictures"; during the next four years, Grant made the screwball comedy ''Bringing Up Baby'' and the romantic comedy ''Holiday'' (1938) with Katharine Hepburn; the adventures ''Gunga Din'' and ''Only Angels Have Wings'' (1939); ''His Girl Friday'' (1940) with Rosalind Russell; ''The Philadelphia Story'' (1940), with Hepburn and James Stewart; ''My Favorite Wife'' (1940) and ''Penny Serenade'' (1941) with Irene Dunne; and ''Suspicion'' (1941), the first of four with Alfred Hitchcock.
Grant remained one of Hollywood's top box-office attractions for almost 30 years. Howard Hawks said that Grant was "so far the best that there isn't anybody to be compared to him". David Thomson called him "the best and most important actor in the history of the cinema".
Grant was a favorite of Hitchcock, who called him "the only actor I ever loved in my whole life". Besides ''Suspicion'', Grant appeared in the Hitchcock classics ''Notorious'' (1946), ''To Catch a Thief'' (1955) and ''North by Northwest'' (1959). Biographer Patrick McGilligan wrote that, in 1965, Hitchcock asked Grant to star in ''Torn Curtain'' (1966), only to learn that Grant had decided to retire after making one more film, ''Walk, Don't Run'' (1966); Paul Newman was cast instead, opposite Julie Andrews.
In the mid-1950s, Grant formed his own production company, Granart Productions, and produced a number of movies distributed by Universal, such as ''Operation Petticoat'' (1959), ''Indiscreet'' (1958), ''That Touch of Mink'' (co-starring with Doris Day, 1962), and ''Father Goose'' (1964). In 1963, he appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in ''Charade'' (1963). His last feature film was ''Walk, Don't Run'' with Samantha Eggar and Jim Hutton.
Grant was the first actor to "go independent" by not renewing his studio contract, effectively leaving the studio system, which almost completely controlled what an actor could or could not do. In this way, Grant was able to control every aspect of his career, at the risk of not working because no particular studio had an interest in his career long term. He decided which movies he was going to appear in, he often had personal choice of the directors and his co-stars and at times even negotiated a share of the gross, something uncommon at the time.
Grant was nominated for two Academy Awards in the 1940s, and received a special Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1970. In 1981, he was accorded the Kennedy Center Honors. Never self-absorbed, Grant poked fun at himself with statements such as, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant—even I want to be Cary Grant". After seeing a telegram from a magazine editor to his agent asking "HOW OLD CARY GRANT?", Grant reportedly responded with "OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"
In the last few years of his life, Grant undertook tours of the United States in a one-man show. It was called "A Conversation with Cary Grant", in which he would show clips from his films and answer audience questions. Grant was preparing for a performance at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa on the afternoon of November 29, 1986 when he sustained a cerebral hemorrhage. He had previously suffered a stroke in October 1984. He died at 11:22 pm in St. Luke's Hospital at the age of 82.
In 2001 a statue of Grant was erected in Millennium Square, a regenerated area next to the harbour in his city of birth, Bristol, England.
In November 2005, Grant came in first in the "The 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time" list by ''Premiere Magazine''. Richard Schickel, the film critic, said about Grant: "He's the best star actor there ever was in the movies."
On December 25, 1949, Grant married Betsy Drake. He appeared with her in two films. This would prove to be his longest marriage, ending on August 14, 1962. Drake introduced Grant to LSD, and in the early 1960s he related how treatment with the hallucinogenic drug —legal at the time— at a prestigious California clinic had finally brought him inner peace after yoga, hypnotism, and mysticism had proved ineffective. (In 1932, Grant had also met the Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba.) Grant and Drake divorced in 1962.
He eloped with Dyan Cannon on July 22, 1965, in Las Vegas. Their daughter, Jennifer Grant, was born prematurely on February 26, 1966. He frequently called her his "best production" and regretted that he had not had children sooner. The marriage was troubled from the beginning, and Cannon left him in December 1966, claiming that Grant flew into frequent rages and spanked her when she "disobeyed" him. The divorce, finalized in 1968, was bitter and public, and custody fights over their daughter went on for nearly ten years.
On April 11, 1981, Grant married long-time companion Barbara Harris, a British hotel public relations agent, who was 47 years his junior. They renewed their vows on their fifth wedding anniversary. (Fifteen years after Grant's death, Harris married former Kansas Jayhawks All-American quarterback David Jaynes in 2001.)
Some, including Hedda Hopper and screenwriter Arthur Laurents have said, that Grant was bisexual, the latter writing that Grant "told me he threw pebbles at my window one night but was luckless". Grant allegedly was involved with costume designer Orry-Kelly when he first moved to Manhattan, and lived with Randolph Scott off and on for twelve years. Richard Blackwell wrote that Grant and Scott were "deeply, madly in love", and alleged eyewitness accounts of their physical affection have been published. However, Grant did admit in an interview that his first two wives had accused him of being homosexual. Betsy Drake commented: "Why would I believe that Cary was homosexual when we were busy fucking?"
Throughout his life, Grant maintained personal friendships with colleagues of varying political stripes, and his few political activities seemed to be shaped by personal friendships. Repulsed by the human costs to many in Hollywood, Grant publicly condemned McCarthyism in 1953, and when his friend Charlie Chaplin, was blacklisted, Grant insisted that the actor's artistic value outweighed political concerns. Grant was also a friend of the Kennedy brothers and Robert Kennedy's press secretary Frank Mankiewicz. He hosted one of Robert Kennedy's first political fundraisers at his home. He made one of his rare statements on public issues following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, calling for gun control.
In 1976, after his retirement from movies, Grant made his one overtly partisan appearance, introducing his friend Betty Ford, the First Lady, at the Republican National Convention, but even in this he maintained some distance from partisanship, speaking of "your" party, rather than "ours" in his remarks.
Category:1904 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:American film actors Category:American people of English descent Category:Deaths from cerebral hemorrhage Category:Deaths from stroke Category:English film actors Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Old Fairfieldians Category:People from Bristol Category:Stroke survivors Category:Vaudeville performers Category:20th-century actors Category:European families of English ancestry
ar:كاري غرانت an:Cary Grant bcl:Cary Grant bs:Cary Grant bg:Кари Грант ca:Cary Grant cs:Cary Grant co:Cary Grant da:Cary Grant de:Cary Grant et:Cary Grant el:Κάρι Γκραντ es:Cary Grant eo:Cary Grant eu:Cary Grant fa:کری گرانت fr:Cary Grant ga:Cary Grant gd:Cary Grant gl:Cary Grant ko:캐리 그랜트 hr:Cary Grant id:Cary Grant it:Cary Grant he:קרי גרנט sw:Cary Grant la:Cary Grant hu:Cary Grant mk:Кери Грант nl:Cary Grant ja:ケーリー・グラント no:Cary Grant pl:Cary Grant pt:Cary Grant ro:Cary Grant ru:Кэри Грант sq:Cary Grant simple:Cary Grant sr:Кери Грант sh:Cary Grant fi:Cary Grant sv:Cary Grant th:แครี แกรนต์ tr:Cary Grant uk:Кері Грант vi:Cary Grant zh:加里·格兰特This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Ann Sheridan |
---|---|
birth date | February 21, 1915 |
birth place | Denton, Texas, U.S. |
death date | |
death place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
birth name | Clara Lou Sheridan |
years active | 1934–1967 |
occupation | Actress |
spouse | }} |
Ann Sheridan (February 21, 1915 – January 21, 1967) was an American film actress.
She made her film debut in 1934, aged 19, in the film ''Search for Beauty'', and played uncredited bit parts in Paramount films for the next two years. Paramount made little effort to develop Sheridan's talent, so she left, signing a contract with Warner Bros. in 1936, and changing her name to "Ann Sheridan."
Sheridan's career prospects began to improve. She received as many as 250 marriage proposals from fans in a single week. Tagged "The Oomph Girl," Sheridan was a popular pin-up girl in the early 1940s.
She was the heroine of a novel, ''Ann Sheridan and the Sign of the Sphinx'', written by Kathryn Heisenfelt, published by Whitman Publishing Company in 1943. While the heroine of the story was identified as a famous actress, the stories were entirely fictitious. The story was probably written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941-1947 that always featured a film actress as heroine.
She received substantial roles and positive reaction from critics and moviegoers in such films as ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), opposite James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, ''Dodge City'' (1939) with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, ''Torrid Zone'' with Cagney and ''They Drive by Night'' with George Raft and Bogart (both 1940), ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' (1942) with Bette Davis, and ''Kings Row'' (1942), where she received top billing playing opposite Ronald Reagan, Robert Cummings, and Betty Field. Known for having a fine singing voice, Ann also appeared in such musicals as ''It All Came True'' (1940) and ''Navy Blues'' (1941). She was also memorable in two of her biggest hits, ''Nora Prentiss'' and ''The Unfaithful'', both in 1947.
Despite these successes, her career began to decline. Her role in ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949), directed by Howard Hawks and costarring Cary Grant, gave her another success, but by the 1950s, she was struggling to find work and her film roles were sporadic. She appeared in the television soap opera ''Another World'' during the mid-1960s.
In 1966, Sheridan began starring in a new TV series, a Western-themed comedy called ''Pistols 'n' Petticoats''. But she became ill during the filming, and died of esophageal and liver cancer in Los Angeles, California. She had been a chain cigarette smoker for years, and Cagney remarked in his autobiography that when the cancer struck, "she didn't have a chance." She was cremated and her ashes were stored at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles until they were permanently interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2005. ''Pistols 'n' Petticoats'' was officially canceled before her death, though some episodes aired afterward. Her lines were dubbed in at least one of these (presumably because the cancer had affected her voice), and she did not appear in a few of the final episodes.
Sheridan married three times, including a marriage lasting one year to fellow Warner Brothers actor George Brent, who also co-starred with her in ''Honeymoon for Three'' (1941).
For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Ann Sheridan has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 7024 Hollywood Boulevard.
Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:People from the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex Category:People from Denton, Texas Category:Actors from Texas Category:Deaths from liver cancer Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:20th-century actors Category:1915 births Category:1967 deaths
an:Ann Sheridan ca:Ann Sheridan de:Ann Sheridan es:Ann Sheridan fr:Ann Sheridan it:Ann Sheridan hu:Ann Sheridan nl:Ann Sheridan ja:アン・シェリダン no:Ann Sheridan pl:Ann Sheridan pt:Ann Sheridan ru:Шеридан, Энн sr:Ен Шеридан sh:Ann Sheridan fi:Ann Sheridan sv:Ann SheridanThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
When you submit your personally identifiable information through wn.com, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, please do not provide us with any such information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties without your consent, except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will use the information you provide us only for the purpose of responding to your inquiry or in connection with the service for which you provided such information. We may forward your contact information and inquiry to our affiliates and other divisions of our company that we feel can best address your inquiry or provide you with the requested service. We may also use the information you provide in aggregate form for internal business purposes, such as generating statistics and developing marketing plans. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, licensees, agents and partners.
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point of
collection.If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.