Woolf Award Update In General: Fill & Download for Free

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek franchise.Yes, the series, now the franchise (soon to celebrate its 50th) reflects, at its best, his progressive values and hope for humanity’s future. And if heroism here is defined as bucking the network executives and indeed the norms of network TV, he was heroic in that regard: fighting to have an alien regular, and a black female who wasn’t in an obviously subservient role, on a sci-fi series, standing firm that Kirk be allowed to kiss Uhura in “Plato’s Stepchildren” and thus giving American television its first interracial kiss. And he was a Navy aviator during World War II (for which some degree of bravery must be assumed), and later as an airline pilot showed the heroism we’d expect of Captain Kirk when, following a crash in the Syrian desert that left him the highest-ranking surviving crewmember, he took charge, dragged the injured out of the burning plane and later walked 4 miles (6.4 km) to the nearest town to report the crash and call for aid.But while we credit him for these things, read Joel Engel’s Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek. We learn that:He cheated on both his wives. OK, he’d been a Navy pilot, commercial airline pilot and LA cop, all professions that tend to put a lot of strain on marital fidelity, especially then. But it wasn’t so much that he did it as how. Within a week of marrying Majel Barrett, he was bragging to friends about getting it on with some spa attendant on a trip to Japan. He carried on rather openly with Susan Sackett, his secretary, during the ‘70s. “The Cage” can basically be read, as Leonard Nimoy pointed out, as a long justification for this compulsive philandering (i.e., no matter how much one woman can change, no matter how many hidden facets of her personality she shows you, she’ll eventually be unable to hide that she’s grown old and unattractive, so keep on trekkin’)This brings us to the never-used lyrics for the theme music, basically an inversion of “The Cage”’s justification of its writer’s alleycatting, putting it in the voice of some woman who … understands. They were never used because they were never intended to be used (in addition to their awkwardness, as Alexander Courage points out, they create some serious challenges for singers like the “s” endings on the high notes). Roddenberry had the clause inserted in Courage’s contract that allowed him to write the lyrics, something Courage only found out about after signing, simply so he could get half the royalties for the music. Now, of course, Roddenberry didn’t invent this—Joseph Hanna and William Barbera had been playing this game with all their composers for a few years by then—but given that Star Trek became an even bigger franchise than The Flintstones, you can see why the very talented Courage pretty much gave up on film or TV composing afterwards.Added 8/22/16: We could also consider, since it’s in the air, Roddenberry’s attitude towards women in general, as reflected in his writing. He seems to have understood that in the future women would be doing many of the same jobs as men but was never able to separate them from their sex appeal. That’s why we get lines like Commodore Mendez, viewing Susan Oliver dancing around in green makeup on the viewscreen in “The Menagerie Part 2”: “They're like animals, vicious, seductive. They say no human male can resist them.”, “Mudd’s Women”, in which the title characters will go to great lengths to obtain a drug that makes them seem irresistibly beautiful to men; Planet Earth, where the women keep the men as pets more or less: Ilia the Deltan in Star Trek:The Motion Picture, in the Roddenberry novelization of which we learn that she emits pheromones that make her irresistible to any human male (hence the line “My oath of celibacy is on record, Captain” in the movie), since among her people sexual intercourse is a part of every social interaction; and finally his idea in the first season of TNG that Betazed females, like Troi (a modified version of Ilia) would have four breasts until Dorothy Fontana pointed out how painful that would be for Marina Sirtis and any other actress playing a female of that species.Added 8/22/16: Around the time TOS started up, Roddenberry was out drinking with one of his writer friends to celebrate. After they’d both had a few and then some, Roddenberry exclaimed that now that he was finally a producer he was going to make everyone else crawl like he had had to crawl. So we can’t say there wasn’t some warning.The pranks he played on crewmembers during the early preproduction of Star Trek are the stuff of fan legend, but in retrospect they do seem a little cruel. Having Majel go into John Black’s office to supposedly read for a part, then start undressing and soliciting him (until everyone came in and said it was a joke)? Basically reducing him to Roddenberry’s level … no wonder he quit after the first season. Sending a stressed-out, broken-down Robert Justman a series of telegrams and other communications to his Hawaiian hotel suggesting that Roddenberry was in some sort of unspecified legal trouble back in LA? What was wrong with letting the poor guy rest? And, during the third season, letting someone come into his office to discuss something while Nichelle Nichols does the walk of shame wearing just Gene’s sweater? Humiliating to both of them.Roddenberry’s official writing credits for TOS are limited to 8 of the show’s 79 episodes, all in the first two seasons. This, however, never stopped him from taking credit, especially in front of adoring and uncritical fans years later, for anything people told him they liked, regardless of who had actually written it (the late Gene Coon is basically to Star Trek as Steve Wozniak is to Apple).Added 8/22/16: In fact, taking credit when it wasn’t due and not giving it when it was is a long theme in Roddenberry’s career. The Making of Star Trek? Pretty much written in its entirety by Stephen Whitfield whatever the cover says. The script for The Questor Tapes? Credited to “Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon” though in fact all Roddenberry did was polish Coon’s draft; he was able to take the lead credit for himself because Coon was dying of lung cancer at the time. The TNG bible? Ghostwritten by David Gerrold, who was screwed out of credit by Roddenberry and his lawyer.To further ingratiate himself with the fans, Roddenberry said later that the writers had poor scientific knowledge, that he “had to teach them the difference between a solar system and a galaxy” While this does reflect the deficiencies of “The Alternative Factor: in the first season, one of the most snakebitten Trek episodes ever, it also neatly drew attention away from the fact that, according to Samuel Peeples (who wrote the second pilot), Roddenberry didn’t seem to have much particular awareness of science fiction as a genre (i.e., the major authors of the time, the major works). In fact, the third-season premiere, “Spock’s Brain”, often considered the worst TOS episode by people who have not had to sit through “The Way to Eden” multiple times, was supposedly written by Coon (under the “Lee Cronin” psuedonym as he was under contract to Universal at that point) as a parody of Roddenberry’s understanding of science fiction (Coon was annoyed that, after he had written six scripts under the pseudonym for the third season, Roddenberry asked for another one, and so I suspect he never intended for that episode to actually be produced—which is why I don’t hold it against the show)After NBC shoved Star Trek into the Friday night death slot for its third season, the one that came about because of the fan revolt that Roddenberry hid his role in fomenting, Roddenberry threw a huge fit and announced he would withdraw from personally producing the show. Now, to be fair, he had been promised a better timeslot, and had made this threat to NBC if they didn’t keep their word. But anyone with a semblance of realism would have known that the low-rated Star Trek was never going to be allowed to bump the start of the highly successful Laugh-In back a half-hour, whatever the network said, and that was why the network really didn’t expect Roddenberry to call their bluff.This of course had adverse effects on the third season. Roddenberry hired Fred Freiberger to step in for him, or more accurately to take the heat for him, even though the scripts for the first half of the season (including the aforementioned “Spock’s Brain”) had pretty much been finished before Freiberger was hired. The fans for years have always thus blamed Freiberger for screwing up the show (and to be fair there are some good reasons for this—note the nasty memos Nimoy wrote Freiberger over the way Spock was written (boasting about his sexual prowess!) in “The Cloud Minders”).Roddenberry was actually more focused during the third season on, basically, monetizing the show. His one major creative contribution (or rather, attempt at one) in the third season was this whole speech he wanted Spock to deliver about IDIC, along with a necklace Spock had never before been seen wearing, in “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” The first draft sounded so blatantly commercial that Nimoy refused to deliver it, whereupon Roddenberry actually came down to the set and more or less admitted it was all about selling copies of the necklace to fans. However, he did change it.Actually, writing this into an episode was at least legal. Roddenberry spent much of that third season, knowing as everyone else did that there was never going to be a fourth, slowly stealing assets like props from the studio, usually by backing a van up to the loading dock late at night, and taking them to his new company Lincoln Enterprises. Among the first things taken were stills from the first two seasons, meaning the show couldn’t use them in episodes (a further pressure on a show whose budget had been cut severely enough that every fourth episode had to be a bottle show). And Lincoln Enterprises’ customer base was built up by basically hiring Bjo Trimble to put together her lists of fan addresses from the save-Trek campaign, then manufacturing a disagreement with her so she’d quit, giving Roddemberry the opportunity to replace her with the marketing guy he’d wanted to run the company all along, benefiting from Trimble’s work at three times the pay she got.Added 8/23/16: David Gerrold also got the shaft for the first of several times here. One of the things Lincoln sold to fans was replica tribbles, from the episode Gerrold had written. Roddenberry promised Gerrold he’d get a cut from that, but never did (although to be fair, the concept was not entirely original)For all the lionization of Roddenberry within the fan community, it should not be forgotten that he had no special love for the show when he created it, hoping it would be just the first in a series of hits he would produce. Instead, he found afterwards that his very public tirades about NBC’s betrayal of him (for which, see above) had (unsurprisingly to everyone, it seems, but him) burned his bridges within television. Nothing he did outside of Trek after cancellation was ever remotely successful,. Not the movie Pretty Maids all in a Row, not the series Genesis II/Planet Earth.For this reason, he often spent much of the early and mid-’70s pleading poverty, famously giving Sackett, who worked so hard for him (in the office as well as the bedroom), a 15-cent hourly raise only after she had pretty much threatened to quit after repeated requests. Yet, Engel reports, he never put either of the two houses he owned in the LA area up for sale, despite some pretty strong markets during that period.Where was he getting his money during that period? Convention appearances, where crowds of adoring fans fed both his ego and his wallet. He would often show the show’s blooper reels, which had only been meant for the private consumption of cast and crew at the annual Christmas party, for a few bucks per person. When Leonard Nimoy, already suing Paramount over the use of his likeness to promote the show (and the animated series) without compensation, found out, he was livid. He wrote Roddenberry a nastygram pointing out that actors need the freedom to make mistakes without worrying about people seeing them and strongly suggesting he rethink the blooper-reel thing. Roddenberry’s response? He sent Nimoy his own copy of the blooper reels, more or less suggesting that he thought Nimoy’s only grievance was that he wasn’t making money off it himself.Added 8/23/16: For this reason, Nimoy only agreed to do Spock’s voice for the animated series after getting a great deal of money, permission to record his lines on his own, and above all Gene’s guarantee that all the other main-cast actors would be doing their own voices. Only after he’d signed the contract did he learn that James Doohan would be doing Sulu’s voice, and Majel Barrett Uhura’s. From a financial perspective, this was understandable as SAG rules allow an actor to do three voice roles without having to be paid extra. But while Doohan was who you’d want to do this if you insisted on being cheap, Barrett as Uhura wasn’t—in fact, owing to Nichelle Nichols’ vocal talents, she should have arguably done Chapel and Uhura. But … she wasn’t married to Gene Roddenberry.Added 8/23/16: In another example of Roddenberry getting as much as possible from the people who would have crawled across broken glass to be part of Star Trek, he kept Jon Povill in the fold by having him do work on his house (to be fair, Povill got paid fairly for this) until he could find writing work for him. Povill recalls, however, that one of the perils of the job was being asked if he could stay for dinner, which usually meant being drafted as mediator in one of the many spectacular wine-fueled Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? dinnertime fights between Gene and Majel. I hope the food was worth it.Although Roddenberry’s lack of experience as a feature-film producer (beyond the aforementioned Pretty Maids) is a contributing factor to the budgetary and production excesses of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he wasn’t the only one to blame (Robert Wise should take some of the hit for that as well). But his childish behavior as a writer didn’t help. Harold Livingston had it in his contract when he came back, having quit over his earlier frustrations with Roddenberry while the project was still a TV series, that Roddenberry could do no more work on the screenplay than what he had already done. But if you’ve read this far, you know that Gene Roddenberry was never the sort of man to let something like a legally enforceable contractual provision stop him from doing whatever the hell he wanted, and it should thus not be a surprise that he kept doing rewrites of Livingston’s work on the sly, something Livingston realized pretty quickly when he got his notes back and they reflected things he knew he hadn’t written and never would. Naturally the two went into feud mode again, leading to almost-hourly updates of the second act at some points after shooting had started. And it took nightly mediation by Nimoy and Shatner to get the third act written (so much did the completely unnecessary feuding delay the script that they were already well into principal photography, itself well-delayed by problems lighting the sets, by that point). Roddenberry got even with Livingston by going behind his back to get the novelization assigned to him (a project which is actually of interest as Roddenberry’s only Star Trek prose fiction, with its early pornographic depictions of Roddenb–oops, Kirk’s–sexual memories and its still-debated footnote about whether Kirk and Spock’s friendship had homoerotic overtones as slash-fiction fan writers during the 1970s had long imagined) which left Livingston feeling utterly betrayed as he had waged a long and bitter yet ultimately unsuccessful fight of his own for Roddenberry to get co-writer credit notwithstanding all the acrimony that had accrued between them.Paramount knew it had to make a sequel, despite the terrible reviews, because the box office showed how loyal the fans could be. It also knew that Gene Roddenberry could not be allowed to be in charge. So it hired Harve Bennett, who did a bang-up job and got along with the principals much better. Not that Roddenberry, now kicked upstairs as “executive consultant”, ever thanked Bennett (except once, in a private memo to him) for this. His role in the films was sometimes constructive, but more often not: from Star Trek II onwards his idea for every film was a script he had written where Kirk and Spock go back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination, ultimately realizing they must allow it to happen, and Spock fires the shot from the grassy knoll.And when he wasn’t pitching this, he was sabotaging them at every turn. The studio had wanted to keep Spock’s death at the end of STII a secret until release, but Roddenberry leaked it long before shooting (although, to be fair, Nimoy had supposedly requested it as a way to put the character to rest, and that had also been reported). So, when they passed the scripts for Star Trek III around to everyone with a need to know, including of course Roddenberry, they made subtle changes in every individual copy tied to the individual meant to receive it, as a way of tracing any leaks. Sure enough, when fans started complaining to the studio about the destruction of the Enterprise at the end of the movie, they found that the leaked copies of the script had come from Gene, who of course had been required to swear up and down that he wouldn’t do such a thing. Not that Paramount could really do anything about it.After he got to see what it was like when someone else ripped off his idea in Star Trek V, he sabotaged Bennett’s idea that the next film should be a prequel telling the story of Kirk and Spock at the Academy by telling fans that Paramount wanted to make a Star Trek version of the Police Academy movies (This kind of “oh, I was mistaken” smearing had a precedent in Roddenberry’s career. Followers of the tangled history of Harlan Ellison’s ranting and raving over “The City on the Edge of Forever” will no doubt recall that Roddenberry for a long time misrepresented Ellison’s original script, the one he won the WGA award for, as making Scotty a drug dealer when, as Roddenberry only acknowledged late in his own life, it was another red-shirted character, not Scotty).Roddenberry finally got back in the driver’s seat when production began on Star Trek: The Next Generation. But almost everyone who got into the passenger seats immediately regretted it. TOS writers David Gerrold—who basically wrote the show’s bible for Roddenberry, incorporated some of his own ideas for how the show could have done better, ideas he’d had in the early 1970s—and Dorothy Fontana quickly got screwed enough to learn that Roddenberry really only wanted their names on scripts instead of any actual contributions. Younger writers quickly found either that the aging Roddenberry was so addled by the various legal and illegal drugs he was taking in great quantities as to be useless, viz. Tracy Tormé’s infamous “waves and waves of come pouring out of me” phone conversation with Roddenberry, or that he rewrote scripts into laughable mediocrities (this is part of the problem with “Code of Honor”, although Roddenberry wasn’t to blame for that episode’s racist overtones and to his credit fired the director when he realized that had happened, but by then it was too late to fix). The word got out to talented freelancers to stay away, and the first season of TNG distinguished itself greatly by the amount of pseudonyms the Writers’ Guild granted in the credits. At one point Roddenberry was, quite in violation of Guild rules, letting his lawyer/enforcer work on scripts.Added 8/23/16: The nadir of Roddnberry’s tenure as TNG’s head honcho was the infamous Ferengi memo, a masterpiece of inadvertent self-portraiture. Roddenberry wrote at length about how this new alien species prized acquiring things by cunning, manipulation and deceit and how they had nothing but disdain for human ethics. Most notably, they had “prodigious sexual appetites”, reflected in the size of their organs (there is actually one background scene in a TNG episode referencing this, where you see a supporting Ferengi talking to a human woman point to his crotch, whereupon the woman shakes her head).By the third season Roddenberry’s failing health was forcing him to step back. Still, he could find ways to ruin things occasionally. “Who Watches the Watchers” has some lines early on so sneeringly dismissive of religion, and out of character, as to betray that Roddenberry, whose atheism was becoming as militant and intolerant as the fundamentalism he opposed it to, inserted them in a rare moment of lucidity. It’s no accident that the series really came into its own in the fourth season, by which time Roddenberry was effectively sidelined.It is easy to say that while Star Trek came into existence because of Gene Roddenberry, its continued existence is despite him. I sometimes think he was trying to kill the franchise in revenge for it defining him.

Instead 0f 5, i will give you 100 okay?100 Famous Actresses of Hollyood's Golden Era (1930-1959)by HarlowMGM | created - 05 Jun 2011 | updated - 14 Feb 2016 | PublicHere are 100 popular actresses who were very famous at some point during the golden era of Hollywood, the 1930's through the 1940's. They are not listed in any particular order. Due to space limitations I had to leave out actresses best known for the silent era (Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Clara Bow), who rarely worked in Hollywood (Anna Magnani, Danielle Darrieux, Brigitte Bardot). Also please note women who became stars AFTER 1959 such as Anne Bancroft (even though she was in 50's movies) are not included either. Most of these women were STARS, a few might be better described as leading ladies and a few were mainly supporting players but everyone of them was famous to the public in their eras. The list has been edited to now include some major actresses who did not have an IMDb when it was originally created which but alas several still do not such as Penny Singleton.Sort by:List OrderDate AddedView:100 names1. Jean HarlowActress | BombshellHarlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1911. She was the daughter of a successful dentist and his wife. In 1927, at the age of 16, she ran away from home to marry a young businessman named Charles McGrew, who was 23. The couple pulled up ...2. Claudette ColbertActress | It Happened One NightOne of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette ...3. Barbara StanwyckActress | Double IndemnityToday Barbara Stanwyck is remembered primarily as the matriarch of the family known as the Barkleys on the TV western The Big Valley (1965), wherein she played Victoria, and from the hit drama The Colbys (1985). But she was known to millions of other fans for her movie career, which spanned the ...4. Lucille BallActress | I Love LucyThe woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked several jobs, so she and her younger brother were raised by their ...5. Vivien LeighActress | A Streetcar Named DesireIf a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time ...6. Jane WymanActress | Falcon CrestJane Wyman was born Sarah Jane Mayfield on January 5, 1917, in St. Joseph, Missouri (she was also known later as Sarah Jane Fulks). When she was only eight years old, and after her parents filed for divorce, she lost her father prematurely. After graduating high school she attempted, with the help ...7. Mae WestActress | She Done Him WrongMae West was born 1892 in Brooklyn, New York, to "Battling Jack" West and Matilda Doelger. She began her career as a child star in vaudeville, and later went on to write her own plays, including "SEX", for which she was arrested. Though her first movie role, at age 40, was a small part in Night ...8. Marilyn MonroeActress | Some Like It HotMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, comedienne, singer, and model. She became one of the world's most enduring iconic figures and is remembered both for her winsome embodiment of the Hollywood sex symbol and her tragic personal and professional struggles within the film industry. Her life and ...9. Dorothy LamourActress | Road to BaliIn addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator; band vocalist for her first husband, band leader Herbie Kaye; and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and ...10. Rita HayworthActress | GildaRita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly ...11. Doris DaySoundtrack | Pillow TalkOne of America's most prolific actresses was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who ...12. Carole LombardActress | To Be or Not to BeCarole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. Her parents divorced in 1916 and her mother took the family on a trip out West. While there they decided to settle down in the Los Angeles area. After being spotted playing baseball in the street with the ...13. Ginger RogersActress | The Major and the MinorGinger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. Her mother, known as Lelee, went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he allowed the doctor to use forceps and the baby died. She was kidnapped ...14. Janet GaynorActress | A Star Is BornJanet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor on October 6, 1906, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, she & her parents moved to San Francisco, California, where she graduated from high school in 1923. She then moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled in a secretarial school. She got a job at a shoe ...15. Loretta YoungActress | The Farmer's DaughterSweet, sweeter, sweetest. No combination of terms better describes the screen persona of lovely Loretta Young. A&E's Biography (1987) has stated that Young "remains a symbol of beauty, serenity, and grace. But behind the glamour and stardom is a woman of substance whose true beauty lies in her ...16. Myrna LoyActress | The Thin ManMyrna Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana, to Adelle Mae (Johnson) and David Franklin Williams. Her paternal grandparents were Welsh, and her mother was of Scottish and Swedish descent. Myrna was raised in Helena and nearby Radersburg. Her father, a rancher, was ...17. Bette DavisActress | All About EveRuth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but...18. Norma ShearerActress | The DivorceeShe won a beauty contest at age fourteen. In 1920 her mother, Edith Shearer, took Norma and her sister Athole Shearer (Mrs. Howard Hawks) to New York. Ziegfeld rejected her for his "Follies," but she got work as an extra in several movies. She spent much money on eye doctor's services trying to ...19. Jane RussellActress | Gentlemen Prefer BlondesErnestine Jane Geraldine Russell was born on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota. Her father was a United States Army lieutenant and her mother had been a student of drama and an actress with a traveling troupe. Once Mr. Russell was mustered out of the service, the family took up residence in ...20. Katharine HepburnActress | The Lion in WinterKatharine Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut to a suffragist and a doctor who both always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a child, she was very close to her brother Tom; at 14 she was ...21. Dolores del RioActress | Las abandonadasDolores del Rio was the one of the first Mexican movie stars with international appeal and who had meteoric career in the 1920s/1930s Hollywood. Del Rio came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything and emigrated to Mexico City, ...22. Hedy LamarrActress | Samson and DelilahHedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lember (now known as Lviv). Her parents were both from...23. Gloria SwansonActress | Sunset Blvd.Gloria Swanson went to public schools in Chicago; Key West, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her film debut was as an extra in The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket (1915). From the following year on, she had leading roles in pictures for Keystone, then a year with Triangle, and, in...24. Irene DunneActress | The Awful TruthIrene Marie Dunne was born on December 20, 1898, in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Joseph Dunne, who inspected steamships, and Adelaide Henry, a musician who prompted Irene in the arts. Her first production was in Louisville when she appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the age...25. Joan FontaineActress | SuspicionBorn Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement. Her father was a British patent attorney with a lucrative practice in Japan, but due to Joan and older sister Olivia de Havilland's recurring ailments the family moved to ...26. Elizabeth TaylorActress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early on in her youth and kept the world hooked ...27. Shirley TempleActress | Captain JanuaryShirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in ...28. Betty HuttonActress | Annie Get Your GunBetty Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 26, 1921, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Two years later, Betty's father decided that the family way of life wasn't for him, so he left (he committed suicide 16 years later). Having to fend for themselves, Mrs. Thornburg moved the family to ...29. Rosalind RussellActress | Auntie MameThe middle of seven children, she was named, not for the heroine of "As You Like It" but for the S.S. Rosalind on which her parents had sailed, at the suggestion of her father, a successful lawyer.After receiving a Catholic school education, she went to the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New ...30. Marlene DietrichSoundtrack | Witness for the ProsecutionHer father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator ...31. Grace KellyActress | Rear WindowOn November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace ...32. Dorothy DandridgeActress | Carmen JonesDorothy Jean Dandridge was born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ruby Dandridge (née Ruby Jean Butler), an entertainer, and Cyril H. Dandridge, a cabinet maker and minister. Under the prodding of her mother, Dorothy and her sister Vivian Dandridge began performing publicly, usually in ...33. Greer GarsonActress | Mrs. MiniverEileen Evelyn Greer Garson was born on September 29, 1904 in London, England, to Nancy Sophia (Greer) and George Garson, a commercial clerk. She was of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent. Her childhood was a normal if not non-descript life. Greer showed no early signs of interest in becoming an ...34. Ava GardnerActress | The Night of the IguanaAva Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural South. At age 18, her picture in the window ...35. Greta GarboActress | NinotchkaGreta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and ...36. Anna May WongActress | Daughter of ShanghaiAnna May Wong, the first Chinese-American movie star, was born Wong Liu Tsong on January 3, 1905, in Los Angeles, California, to laundryman Wong Sam Sing and his wife, Lee Gon Toy. A third-generation American, she managed to have a substantial acting career during a deeply racist time when the ...37. Betty GrableActress | How to Marry a MillionaireElizabeth Ruth Grable was born on December 18, 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Lillian Rose (Hofmann) and John Charles Grable, a stockbroker. She had German, English, Irish, and Dutch ancestry. Her mother was a stubborn and materialistic woman determined to make her daughter a star. Elizabeth, who ...38. Deanna DurbinSoundtrack | Mad About MusicThe girl who one day would be known as "Winnipeg's Sweetheart" was born at Grace Hospital on December 4, 1921, as Edna Mae Durbin. In her early childhood there were no obvious signs that one day she would be a bigger box office attraction than Shirley Temple. Renamed Deanna Durbin for show business...39. Audrey HepburnActress | Breakfast at Tiffany'sAudrey Hepburn was born as Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was a Dutch noblewoman, while her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was born in Úzice, Bohemia, to English and Austrian parents.After her parents' divorce, ...40. Joan BennettActress | SuspiriaJoan Geraldine Bennett was born on February 27, 1910, in Palisades, New Jersey. Her parents were both successful stage actors, especially her father, Richard Bennett, and often toured the country for weeks at a time. In fact, Joan came from a long line of actors, dating back to the 18th century. ...41. Merle OberonActress | Wuthering HeightsEstelle Merle Thompson was born in India on February 19, 1911 of Welsh and Ceylonese (now Sri Lankan) descent. She was educated in that country until the age of 17, when she left for London. She began her career in British films with mostly forgettable roles or bit parts. She appeared in an ...42. Carmen MirandaActress | The Gang's All HereCarmen Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha on February 9, 1909, near Porto, Portugal, in the town of Marco de Canavezes. Not long after her birth her family moved to Brazil, where her father was involved in the produce business. The family settled in the then-capital city of Rio de ...43. Ingrid BergmanActress | CasablancaIngrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with ...44. Judy GarlandActress | The Wizard of OzOne of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals.She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on 10 June 1922 in ...45. Joan CrawfordActress | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1904, in San Antonio, Texas, to Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry laborer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated, and by the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. It wasn't an easy life; ...46. Susan HaywardActress | I Want to Live!Susan Hayward was born Edythe Marrener in Brooklyn, New York, on June 30, 1917. Her father was a transportation worker, and Susan lived a fairly comfortable life as a child, but the precocious little redhead had no idea of the life that awaited her. She attended public school in Brooklyn, where she...47. Jean ArthurActress | Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonThis marvelous screen comedienne's best asset was only muffled during her seven years' stint in silent films. That asset? It was, of course, her squeaky, frog-like voice, which silent-era cinema audiences had simply no way of perceiving, much less appreciating. Jean Arthur, born Gladys Georgianna ...48. Lauren BacallActress | To Have and Have NotLauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...49. Lana TurnerActress | Imitation of LifeLana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM thrust upon her, and even many of her directors admitted that they knew she was capable of greatness (check out The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)). Unfortunately, her private life sometimes overshadowed her professional ...50. Debbie ReynoldsActress | Singin' in the RainDebbie Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, the second child of Maxine N. (Harmon) and Raymond Francis Reynolds, a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Her film career began at MGM after she won a beauty contest at age 16 impersonating Betty Hutton. Reynolds wasn't a ...51. Veronica LakeActress | Sullivan's TravelsVeronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockleman on November 14, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, who worked for an oil company as a ship employee. Her father was of half German and half Irish descent, and her ...52. Olivia de HavillandActress | The HeiressOlivia Mary de Havilland was born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister, Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...53. Lena HorneSoundtrack | Cabin in the SkyLena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order ...54. Joan BlondellActress | GreaseWith blonde hair, big blue eyes and a big smile, Joan was usually cast as the wisecracking working girl who was the lead's best friend. Born into vaudeville to a comic named Eddie, Joan was on the stage when she was three years old. For years, she toured the circuit with her parents and joined a ...55. June AllysonActress | Executive SuiteAmerican leading lady whose sweet smile and sunny disposition made her the prototypical girl-next-door of American movies of the 1940s. Raised in semi-poverty in Bronx neighborhoods by her divorced mother, Allyson (nee Ella Geisman) was injured in a fall at age eight and spent four years confined ...56. Paulette GoddardActress | Modern TimesPaulette Goddard was a child model who debuted in "The Ziegfeld Follies" at the age of 13. She gained fame with the show as the girl on the crescent moon, and was married to a wealthy man by the time she was 16. After her divorce she went to Hollywood in 1931, where she appeared in small roles in ...57. Miriam HopkinsActress | The HeiressBorn into wealth in Savannah,Georgia on October 18, 1902, Ellen Miriam Hopkins was able to attend the finest educational institutions including Goddard Seminary in Plainfield, Vermont and Syracuse University in New York State. Studying dance in New York , she received her first taste of show ...58. Yvonne De CarloActress | The Ten CommandmentsYvonne De Carlo was born Margaret Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was three when her father abandoned the family. Her mother turned to waitressing in a restaurant to make ends meet--a rough beginning for an actress who would, one day, be one of ...59. Anita PageActress | The Broadway MelodyBeautiful Anita Page was one of the most famous and popular leading ladies during the last years of the silent screen and the first years of the talkie era. She was best known for starring in The Broadway Melody (1929), the first sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her leading men...60. Alice FayeSoundtrack | Hello Frisco, HelloAs A&E's Biography put it, "She rose from the mean streets of New York's Hell's Kitchen to become the most famous singing actress in the world. When the pressures of fame became too much, she had the courage to leave Hollywood on her own terms". Alice Faye was born Alice Jeanne Leppert in NYC on ...61. Constance BennettActress | TopperIndependent, outspoken Constance Bennett, the first of the Bennett sisters to enter films, appeared in New York-produced silents before a chance meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in Cytherea (1924). She abandoned a burgeoning career in silents for marriage to Philip Plant in ...62. Maureen O'HaraActress | The Quiet ManIn America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made...63. Jayne MansfieldActress | The Girl Can't Help ItOne of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, film actress Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the only child of Vera J. (nee Palmer; later Peers) and Herbert W. Palmer. Her parents were well-to-do, with her father a successful attorney ...64. Ida LupinoActress | High SierraIda was born in London to a show business family. In 1932, her mother brought Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, came to Hollywood in 1934 and played small and insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (...65. Maureen O'SullivanActress | The Thin ManMaureen Paula O'Sullivan was born on May 17, 1911 in County Roscommon, Ireland, to Evangeline "Mary Eva" Lovatt (Frazer) and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers. She was of Irish, English, and Scottish descent. The future mother of Mia Farrow was educated in private ...66. Eleanor PowellSoundtrack | Born to DanceEleanor Powell was born in 1912 in Springfield, Massachussetts, and got her professional start in Atlantic City clubs, from where she moved into in revue in New York at the Ritz Grill and Casino de Paris at the age of sixteen. She started her career on Broadway in 1929, where her machine-gun foot ...67. Ethel WatersActress | Cabin in the SkyThe child of a teenage rape victim, Ethel Waters grew up in the slums of Philadelphia and neighboring cities, seldom living anywhere for more than a few weeks at a time. "No one raised me, " she recollected, "I just ran wild." She excelled not only at looking after herself, but also at singing and ...68. Jeanette MacDonaldSoundtrack | CairoShe was the third daughter of Daniel and Anne MacDonald, younger sister to Blossom (MGM's character actress Marie Blake), whom she followed to New York and a chorus job in 1920. She was busy in a string of musical productions. In 1928 Paramount tested and rejected her, but a year later Ernst ...69. Sylvia SidneyActress | Beetle JuiceSylvia Sidney was born in New York City, in the Bronx borough, on August 8, 1910 with the birth name of Sophia Kosow. Her father was Russian born and her mother was born in Romania. They divorced not long after her birth. Her mother subsequently remarried and Sylvia was adopted by her stepfather, ...70. Rhonda FlemingActress | Out of the PastA native-born Californian, Rhonda Fleming attended Beverly Hills public and private schools. Her father was Harold Cheverton Louis (1896-1951). Her mother, Effie Olivia Graham (1891-1985), was a famous model and actress in New York. She has a son (Kent Lane), two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly)...71. Lupe VelezActress | The Girl from MexicoLupe Velez was born on July 18, 1908, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, as Maria Guadalupe Villalobos Velez. She was sent to Texas at the age of 13 to live in a convent. She later admitted that she wasn't much of a student because she was so rambunctious. She had planned to become a champion roller ...72. Ann SothernActress | The Whales of AugustAnn Sothern's film career started as an extra in 1927. Originally a redhead, she began to bleach her hair blonde for comedy roles. After working at MGM and on Broadway, Ann was signed by Columbia Pictures for Let's Fall in Love (1933). The next year she would work with Eddie Cantor in his hit Kid ...73. Deborah KerrActress | The King and IDeborah Jane Trimmer was born on 30 September 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr Trimmer. She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. She first performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London. She subsequently performed with the Oxford ...74. Lizabeth ScottActress | Too Late for TearsLizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo on September 29, 1922 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the oldest of six children of Mary (Pennock) and John Matzo, who were Slovak immigrants. Scott attended Marywood Seminary and the Alvienne School of the Theatre in New York City, where she adopted the stage name of ...75. Marie DresslerActress | Min and BillOnce you saw her, you would not forget her. Despite her age and weight, she became one of the top box office draws of the sound era. She was 14 when she joined a theater group and she went on to work on stage and in light opera. By 1892, she was on Broadway and she later became a star comedienne on...76. Shelley WintersActress | The Poseidon AdventureShelley Winters was born Shirley Schrift of very humble beginnings on August 18, 1920 (some sources list 1922) in East St. Louis, Illinois. Her mother, Rose Winter, was born in Missouri, to Austrian Jewish parents, and her father, Jonas Schrift, was an Austrian Jewish immigrant. She had one sibling...77. Jane WithersActress | GiantDuring the early times of the Depression when life was more famine than feast, child stars became the blue plate special of the day, served up by Hollywood to help nourish a nation besieged with troubles. Following 20th Century-Fox monumental success with Shirley Temple in the early 1930s, every ...78. Helen HayesActress | AirportKnown as "The First lady of the American Theater", Helen Hayes had a legendary career on stage and in films and television that spanned over eighty years. Hayes was born in Washington, D.C., to Catherine Estelle "Essie" Hayes, an actress who worked in touring companies, and Francis van Arnum Brown,...79. Maria MontezActress | Cobra WomanIn a world weary of war and dispirited by the ravages of the Great Depression, Hollywood at the turn of the 1940's concocted a wildly popular, effective lot of escapist fare (though often cheaply made) to regale the sick at heart worldwide. Universal Pictures, more often than not, led in producing ...80. Esther WilliamsActress | Neptune's DaughterEsther Jane Williams was born on August 8, 1921 in Inglewood, California. Her youth was spent as a teenage swimming champion and she won three United States National championships. She eventually was spotted by a MGM talent scout while working in a Los Angeles department store. She made her film ...81. Gene TierneyActress | LauraWith prominent cheekbones, luminous skin and the most crystalline green eyes of her day, Gene Tierney's striking good looks helped propel her to stardom. Her best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura (1944). She was also Oscar-nominated for Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Her acting ...82. Margaret O'BrienActress | Meet Me in St. LouisBorn Angela Maxine O'Brien on January 15, 1937 in San Diego, California. Her film debut was one-minute shot in MGM's Babes on Broadway (1941). Her big moment came when she was cast in Journey for Margaret (1942). This film shot her into instant stardom and also resulted in Angela changing her name ...83. Jeanne CrainActress | State FairJeanne Crain was born in Barstow, California, on May 25, 1925. The daughter of a high school English teacher and his wife, Jeanne was moved to Los Angeles not long after her birth after her father got another teaching position in that city. While in junior high school, Jeanne played the lead in a ...84. Jennifer JonesActress | The Towering InfernoOne of the world's most underrated Academy Award-winning actresses, Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley on 2 March 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Flora Mae (Suber) and Phillip Ross Isley, who ran a travelling stage show. As a young aspiring actress, she met and fell for young, handsome, aspiring ...85. Fay WrayActress | King KongCanadian-born Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. She was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. She began her career as a heroine in westerns at Universal during the silent era. In 1926 the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers ...86. Ann BlythActress | Mildred PierceThe dark, petulant beauty of this petite American film and musical star worked to her advantage, especially in her early dramatic career. Anne Marie Blythe was born of Irish stock to Harry and Annie (nee Lynch) Blythe on August 16, 1927 in Mt. Kisco, New York. Her parents split while she was young ...87. Judy HollidayActress | Born YesterdayJudy Holliday was born Judith Tuvim in New York City on June 21, 1921. Her mother, a piano teacher, was attending a play when she went into labor and made it to the hospital just in time. Judy was an only child. By the age of four, her mother had her enrolled in ballet school which fostered a ...88. Anne BaxterActress | All About EveAnne Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, on May 7, 1923. She was the daughter of a salesman and his wife, Catherine, who herself was the daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-renowned architect. Anne was a young girl of 11 when her parents moved to New York City, which at that time was ...89. Leslie CaronActress | GigiBorn in the suburbs of Paris, France, Leslie Caron is an actress and dancer. Gene Kelly got her into the movies for the film An American in Paris (1951). Got a world-wide reputation for her roles in Lili (1953) and Gigi (1958). Most recently Caron has appeared in British TV series The Durrells in ...90. Sophia LorenActress | Una giornata particolareSophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome, Italy, on September 20, 1934. Her father, Riccardo Scicolone, was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother, Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and ...91. Luise RainerActress | The Great ZiegfeldLuise Rainer, the first thespian to win back-to-back Oscars, was born on January 12, 1910 in Dusseldorf, Germany, into a prosperous Jewish family. Her parents were Emilie (Königsberger) and Heinrich Rainer, a businessman. She took to the stage, and plied her craft on the boards in Germany. As a ...92. Ann MillerActress | Mulholland Dr.Ann Miller was born Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier on April 12, 1923 in Chireno, Texas. She lived there until she was nine, when her mother left her philandering father and moved with Ann to Los Angeles, California. Even at that young age, she had to support her mother, who was hearing-impaired and ...93. Judith AndersonActress | RebeccaDame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatrical actresses and was a major star on Broadway ...94. Kim NovakActress | VertigoKim Novak was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 13, 1933 with the birth name of Marilyn Pauline Novak. She was the daughter of a former teacher turned transit clerk and his wife, also a former teacher. Throughout elementary and high school, Kim did not get along well with teachers. She even ...95. Kathryn GraysonActress | Kiss Me KateKathryn Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, NC, on February 9, 1922. This pretty, petite brunette with a heart-shaped face was discovered by MGM talent scouts while singing on the radio. The studio quickly signed her to a contract, and she was given acting lessons ...96. Jane PowellActress | A Date with JudyJane Powell was singing and dancing at an early age. She sang on the radio and performed in theaters before her screen debut in 1944. Through the 1940s and 1950s, she had a successful career in movie musicals. However, in 1957, her career in films ended, as she had outgrown her innocent ...97. Kay FrancisActress | Trouble in ParadiseKay Francis is possibly the biggest of the 'forgotten stars' from Hollywood's Golden Era, yet, for a while in the 1930s, she ranked as one of the most popular actresses, tagged the 'Queen of Warner Brothers', by 1935 earning a yearly salary of $115,000 (compared to Bette Davis with $18,000). The ...98. Ruby KeelerSoundtrack | Sweetheart of the CampusRuby Keeler started as a dancer on Broadway. After her marriage to Al Jolson she moved to Hollywood and become a star in Warners musicals opposite Dick Powell. After her divorce from Jolson she retired for almost 30 years, until she appeared in "No No Nanette" on Broadway in 1971 under the ...99. Eleanor ParkerActress | The Sound of MusicEleanor Jean Parker was born on June 26, 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio, the last of three children born to a mathematics teacher and his wife. Eleanor caught the acting bug early and began performing in school plays. She was was so serious about becoming a thespian that she attended the Rice Summer ...100. Madeleine CarrollActress | The 39 StepsThe original ash-blonde "iceberg maiden", Madeleine Carroll was a knowing beauty with a confident air, the epitome of poise and "breeding". Not only did she have looks and allure in abundance, but she had intellectual heft to go with them, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Birmingham ...