H e was very much like his older brother who was eight years older.

Christ! they both seemed so old, and I have outlived them both.

It's interesting that Shirley Temple never became an adult actress yet became such a cult figure. I guess her pushy mother got her to sparkle enough to endear herself forever to a certain amount of the public!
Now Dean Stockwell is an interesting one, does he still give interviews to the media?

Margaret O'Brien, who has already been discussed in here before was a wonderful child actress, far more likeable than Temple, yet she was not successful as an adult, and could be seen occasionally as one of many of the old MGM stars as a guest on Murder She Wrote.

Dean Stockwell on the other hand was very successful in his early 20's as one of the child murderers in Compulsion, and as Katharine Hepburn's son in Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also came to England tp appear opposite Wendy Hiller and Trevor Howard in Sons and Lovers, a beautiful adaption of the D.H. Lawrence novel, directed by the brilliant cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. He later became a very successful character actor, and was Nominated, and should have won for Married to the Mob in 1988.

I have never seen him give an interview, and the only time that I have seen him at a film event was for Gregory Peck's 1989 AFI Tribute, he had played his young son in Gentleman's Agreement in 1947.

I have never seen a Shirley Temple film. But I have seen tons of parodies on her over the years that I just don't think I could ever take a film of hers so seriously. Plus sickly sweet kid stars bore me.

Me too, and Stanley Baxter's impression of Temple is wickedly accurate, and just hilarious.

Take a look at @ClassicalCinema's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ClassicalCinema/...142995968?s=09


Walter 75 years today since The Lady Eve premiered!

Dean seems maybe shy? I wonder therefore if he's likely to ever write an autobiography?
Was he considered a big screen heartthrob /hunk in his day?

Well spotted, it made $115,758 in it's first three weeks, received rave reviews and became Preston Sturges's first big commercial success.

Unbelievably, the film received only one Oscar Nomination, for Best Original Story.
It should have been Nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor (for Charles Coborn). Barbara deserved to win that year, and as much as I loved Joan Fontaine, her Oscar for Suspicion was a consolation prize for not winning the previous year for her wonderful performance in Rebecca.

Dean has always been a very private man, and seems to spend most of his spare time painting. I very much doubt that he will ever write his autobiography, although I am sure that he has some wonderful stories to tell.

He was a heartthrob from when he was a little boy. Kathryn Grayson who starred with him in Anchors Aweigh said that he was the most beautiful child that she had ever seen. He was very handsome in his early 20's and was on the covers of most of the fan magazines. If you Google him you will see what I mean. He has aged, but then he will be 80 next week. I must confess that at just one year younger than Dean I don't have anything like as many wrinkles as him, not that I'm gloating.

http://m.tmz.com/#article/2016/02/29...-kennedy-dies/


Just wanted to report this sad news. Didnt he star with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in Charade?

Indeed I believe Mr Kennedy was an Oscar winner.

Walter I will respond to your kind replys a bit later

Very sad, but a great age. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in Paul Newman's Cool Hand Luke, and yes, he was one of the villain's menacing Audrey in Charade.

Incidentally, Maggie Smith can be seen in her screen debut this morning on the Talking Pictures channel at 11.10. She plays a party guest in Child in the House, and did not even get screen credit in this 1956 release, she was 22 years old.

I watched The Philadelphia Story yesterday. I wasn't entirely keen on to be honest. It might be one to rewatch in the near future. Hepburn was stunning. For me, she was born to play that role and i later found out the part was written especially for her and she even brought the rights to turn it into a film.

When she became box office poison in Hollywood she made the sensible decision to go back to Broadway, and was lucky enough to have Philip Barry write the play for her. She also financially backed the play, forgoing a salary in return for a percentage of it's profits. Her friend Howard Hughes then purchased the film rights of the play and presented them to her. She then had to convince MGM's Louis B Mayer to buy them from her for $250.000 in return for her having approval of producer, director, screenplay and cast.

Joseph Cotton was her leading man in the play, which also included two future Oscar winners, Shirley Booth and Van Heflin as the reporters from Spy magazine.

Hepburn wanted Clark Gable to play her ex husband, with Spencer Tracy as the reporter, but they both had other commitments.

It always seemed crazy to me that Cary Grant was not even Nominated, yet James Stewart won the Best Actor Oscar, but then Stewart was an MGM contract player.

Times haven't changed, the Acadamy Awards were, and still are very political.

Yes, Katharine Hepburn had a very interesting early career

After winning her first oscar, her career really hit the skids. It took her years to rebuild it and of course as mentioned, she was labelled box office poison. But you have to admire her for taking control and orchestrating her own comeback. From The Philadelphia Story onwards, she essentially became the star she is best remembered today.

I would love for them to do a biopic about her in the near future. A new generation deserve to know about her.

I don't know how she ever won an Oscar for Morning Glory, she gave a terribly mannered and in my opinion, awful performance.

I liked her, but she did have a very good start in life, she came from a wealthy family, had a good education, and never had to struggle. I did admire the way she returned to Broadway in her later years, and still managed to get good roles even in her old age. She probably had the best film career out of all her contemporaries, and certainly did less crap than any of them.

Yeah. It was an awful performance. It's like watching a totally different actress when you watch her in that film. Plus the film it's self was crap as well. An example of an actress winning an oscar far too early in her career. I think her other three oscars were well deserved though.

Overall, she is a very much a person you can admire. Especially in terms of feminism. She didn't act or dress how a woman was meant to in those days. She was considered very unlady like. But it set her apart from everyone else.

Yes it's quite interesting how many of the films today thought of as classics were not even Nominated in their day!
Were you a fan of the other Irish actor Richard Harris?

Going by autograph collectors forums Margaret O'Brien is still very active and well as she replys a phenomenonal lot to written requests for personalised signed autographed photos.

Whereas Julie Andrews has stopped apparently accepting any such requests several years ago apparently on the grounds of age according to her agent.

I was never a fan of Harris, another of those drunken actors who became so boorish as they got older. The only one of that group that I really liked was Oliver Reed, and sadly, he pissed way what could have been a really distinguished career.

Glad to hear that Margaret O'Brien is still popular with fans, and I think that she will be as long as Meet Me in St Louis is remembered so fondly.

On the subject of former child stars, Happy Birthday to Dean Stockwell, 80 years old today!

Now that does make me feel old!

I wouldn't mind reading an auto-biography written by Margaret O'Brien. Thankfully, she seems to have had a better childhood and life than some other child actors.

Also, Happy Birthday to Dean too. Shamefully, all I can remember him from is Quantum Leap. I did enjoy that, though.

Dan, some of his best films are available from Amazon, and I can really recommend the following.

As a child actor and adolescent - The Happy Years, Kim, Cattle Drive, and Down to the Sea in Ships.

As an adult - Sons and Lovers, Compulsion, Long Days Journey into Night, and Married to the Mob.

1950's star Nancy Davis has died, aged 94.

Well, what a coincidence, I was just this minute reading the reviews of East Side, West Side, her second film that she made under her MGM contract in 1949. She played Barbara Stanwyck's sympathetic friend, who comforts her when James Mason her philandering husband is discovered playing away from home, and she was rather good.

She will of course be remembered more as the former First Lady, and loyal and supportive wife of President Ronald Reagan.

RIP Nancy.

Nancy Reagan, former first lady, dies at the age of 94

http://gu.com/p/4hb79?CMP=Share_Andr...y_to_clipboard

Also an actress in Hollywood were she met Ronald Reagan

Prior to his marriage to Nancy Davis, Ronald Reagan was married to Hollywood actress Jane Wyman.

Take a look at @Joancollinsdbe's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Joancollinsdbe/s...554255872?s=09

Hollywood and showbiz legend Joan Collins pays tribute to Nancy Reagan.