Tag Archives: Cary Grant

Classic Hollywood #151 – Laurel & Hardy Among Actors On WWII Victory Caravan

Hollywood Stars Support World War II Effort – 1942

Los Angeles, CA – It’s forward march for the Hollywood Victory Caravan. A squad of 22 top film stars and eight starlets who will take a three hour tour variety program to Washington, D.C., and twelve other large cities in the interests of Army and Navy Relief, marches toward their special train in Los Angeles between honor guards of soldiers and sailors. In the squad can be seen Eleanor Powell, Rise Stevens, Charlotte Greenwood, Joan Blondell, Desi Arnaz, Katherine Booth, Pat O’Brien, Frances Langford, Charles Boyer, Fay McKenzie, Cary Grant, Marie McDonald, and Jerry Colonna. In the foreground, left and right, are Stan Laurel and Babe Hardy. April 27, 1942 photo: Acme

The patriotic stars forfeited their salaries for a month to support the Army Emergency Relief and The Navy Relief Society. The goal was to raise to $250,000. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #143 – Cary Grant & Randolph Scott, “Eligible Bachelors”

Cary Grant & Randolph Scott At Home -1935

Two Male Stars Share A House

“Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”

Did the two “eligible bachelor” movie stars living together have more than a roommate experience?

Here is what Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #85 – Cary Grant, Queenie Smith & Emanuel Cohen

Cary Grant and Queenie Smith Attend The Emanuel Cohen Banquet Screen Folk Fete Studio Head

Hollywood, Calif.: When a testimonial dinner honoring Emanuel Cohen, studio head, was given last night, all of filmdom turned out in their finest. Among the many stars present at the gala affair, were Queenie Smith, motion picture actress, accompanied by Cary Grant, handsome screen lover and estranged husband of Virginia Cherrill, beautiful motion picture actress. Hollywood wonders if this is a new romance. Credit photo: Wide World Photos 10/13/1934

For Cary Grant and Queenie Smith there was no romance. The publicity agents at Paramount made sure Grant escorted women to various Hollywood events. At the time Grant lived with actor Randolph Scott, an arrangement that lasted until the early 1940s. Cary wed heiress Barbara Hutton in 1942.

But, who was Emanuel Cohen?

Emanuel Cohen on set of movie. photo: Wide World Photos

Paramount Pictures, Emanuel Cohen on the set of a film

Cohen is one of the forgotten behind the scene power brokers of the 1930s film world. As vice president in charge of production at Paramount Studios, Emanuel Cohen (1892-1977) was largely responsible for keeping Paramount afloat during the Great Depression. In the early 1930s the studio was essentially bankrupt. Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #57 – Cary Grant & Ginger Rogers

Cary Grant Never Won An Academy Award For Best Actor

The Academy Awards were held February 26, 2017. Millions of people watched. Millions more did not. The Oscars have been declining in TV viewership steadily over the years. It’s true that there are more choices to divert your entertainment time. But could it be that today’s stars don’t measure up to the stars of yesteryear and many people like myself could care less about the Academy Awards?

There are movie stars and then there are Movie Stars. Cary Grant was a Movie Star. Women fantasized about being with him and men wanted to be him.

In 1952 Cary Grant starred with Ginger Rogers (seen above) in Monkey Business, a zany comedy about a scientist (Grant) discovering a potion that when consumed will make you young again. An escaped chimpanzee is responsible for concocting the “successful” potion. The film also had Marilyn Monroe playing a sexy secretary. Monkey Business was made right before Marilyn’s breakthrough film Niagara.

4/7/70 Hollywood – As singer Frank Sinatra claps for him, actor Cary Grant holds his hands as he accepts a special achievement award at the 42nd annual Academy award presentation at the Music Center. The Board of Governors of the Academy voted the special award for Grant. photo: UPI Telephoto

Cary Grant was nominated only twice for Best Actor in a leading role; Penny Serenade (1941) and None But The Lonely Heart (1944), neither of which are among his best films. Continue reading →

Batman As 007 – Twelve Actors Who Turned Down The Role Of James Bond

1 Reply

Batman’s Adam West Is One Of Many Actors Who Were Offered The Role Of Agent 007 James Bond, But Turned Down The Part

“The name’s West, Adam West”

There is a little of James Bond in every actor. That does not mean that every actor wants to play James Bond.

Bond is an expert in a wide range of subjects, an outstanding athlete and fighter, can drive any vehicle, land, air or sea and seems to have a way with the ladies. There are some critics who have complained that James Bond is a misogynist. If so, he has rarely used his “license to kill” on women. Out of 370 people Bond has killed on screen, only three have been women.

Recently while watching Diamonds Are Forever (1971), the extra features on the DVD mentioned that before Sean Connery agreed to return to the role of James Bond, several actors were considered to play 007 and some turned it down. The reasons varied, but I doubt that any of the actors regretted their decision.

The most surprising decline to me was Adam West who had brilliantly played the campy title role on Batman, ABC’s hit series which ran from 1966-1968. I can see how the producers considered him for the role, but I cannot imagine Adam West being James Bond. But then again neither could West and he was smart enough to pass on the part. On the other hand, some of the actors who turned down James Bond, I could see playing 007.

So here is a slideshow of just some of the actors who turned down the role of the world’s most famous secret agent.

A little more about Patrick McGoohan who had he accepted the role may have been the best actor to ever play the part. But it was not only the womanizing McGoohan objected to; he truly despised the character, calling Bond “contemptible and simplistic.”

McGoohan, a man of very strong ethics said in a 1960’s interview Continue reading →

Classic Hollywood #19 – Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell

2 Replies

Cary Grant And Rosalind Russell Accept Awards

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell co-starred together in only one movie. The film, Howard Hawks His Girl Friday (1940), is one of the zaniest and funniest screwball comedies of all-time.

The two stars are seen here on December 23, 1942, 70 years ago today, receiving the Women’s Press Club of Hollywood Most Cooperative Golden Apple Prize.

Incredibly, Cary Grant never won an Academy Award for Best Actor. He was awarded an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1970.When he accepted the award he said “You know that I may never look at this without remembering the quiet patience of directors who were so kind to me, who were kind enough to put up with me more than once, some of them even three or four times. I trust they and all the other directors, writers and producers and my leading women have forgiven me for what I didn’t know. You know that I’ve never been a joiner or a member of any particular social set, but I’ve been privileged to be a part of Hollywood’s most glorious era.”

The talented Rosalind Russell was also nominated by the Academy multiple times for Best Actress and never won. She was ultimately given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy in 1973, three years prior to her death in 1976. Interestingly Cary Grant introduced Russell to her future husband Frederick Brisson and Cary was best man at their wedding.

Russell once said, “It’s fine to have talent, but talent is the last of it. In an acting career, as in an acting performance, you’ve got to have vitality. The secret of successful acting is identical with a woman’s beauty secret: joy in living.”

Stuff Nobody Cares About

A not so random collection of observations about things you should care about