Read facts you never knew about Rock Hudson: Rock took 5 screen tests at different studios before signing with Universal. His screen test for Twentieth Century Fox was so bad, that the studio showed it to young actors for decades as an example of how bad you can start out and still become a star …
Read facts you never knew about Bette Davis: Bette had been a decorated Girl Scout as a child and even became a Girl Scout leader as an adult, despite her busy career. Bette was so close to her mother Ruth and sister Bobby that they called themselves the ‘three musketeers’ and they lived with or …
Read facts you never knew about Spencer Tracy: Spencer attended no fewer than six high schools. He considered going into the priesthood as a teenager. He attributed this to the Catholic schools he attended and he always held the occupation in high regard. He became lifelong friends with fellow actor Pat O’Brien when they were …
Read facts you never knew about Audrey Hepburn: Audrey was fluent in English, Dutch, Spanish, French and Italian. Which gave her a great advantage both as an actress and a humanitarian. She was raised bilingually; speaking English and Dutch, which resulted in her unique accent. Her mother changed Audrey’s first name to Edda during the …
Read facts you never knew about Lucille Ball: Lucille suffered from ornithophobia, the fear of birds. She felt it came from seeing birds on the windowsill when she was told of her father’s death at the age of four.
Read facts you never knew about Doris Day: All of Doris’ grandparents were German immigrants. Her mother had named her after silent film star Doris Kenyon. Coincidentally, Doris would become Kenyon’s neighbor while living in Beverly Hills in the seventies. She had two brothers: her older brother Richard died before she was born. Although Doris …
Read facts you never knew about Jean Harlow: Jean’s mother is seen as the original ‘stage mother’, the modern phrase for a woman who vicariously lives out her own dreams of stardom through her child. Jean was photographed nude at the age of 17 by photographer Edward Bower Hesser in Griffith Park in 1928. She …
Read facts you never knew about Paul Newman: Paul’s father was Ashkenazi Jewish and the son of immigrants from Hungary and Poland. His mother was from an ethnic Slovak family in Hungary. He was so ashamed of his debut in the failed costume drama The Silver Chalice that he took out an ad in Variety …
Read facts you never knew about Marlene Dietrich: Marlene used to call her daughter ‘the child’ and shaved years off her age for publicity purposes, causing her daughter much confusion as to what her actual age was. She was the first German actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. Marlene and director Joseph von …
Read facts you never knew about Laurence Olivier: Laurence’s role models as a young actor were Douglas Fairbanks and John Barrymore. When Laurence had to go to college he told his father he did not want to go. He was going to follow his brother and become a rubber planter in India. Although his father …
Read facts you never knew about Ava Gardner: Ava’s oldest brother Raymond was killed when a rifle shell exploded when he was only sixteen months old. When she was a teenager she had a big crush on future co-star Clark Gable. When she came to Hollywood the only two books she had read were the …
Read facts you never knew about James Stewart: James was head male cheerleader at Princeton. He never took an acting lesson and felt that people could learn more when they were working than when they were studying the craft. He sent the Best Actor Oscar he won in 1940 to his father, who displayed it …
Read facts you never knew about Katharine Hepburn: Katharine was a natural red head. As a child, Katharine cut her hair off, wore boys’ clothes and made people call her Jimmy. When Katharine was growing up, it was normal in the Hepburn household to take ice-cold baths or showers daily. She continued to do this …
Read facts you never knew about Greta Garbo: Greta got her first job at the age of six selling newspapers Her school records show that she was a ‘fair’ but lazy student, who was always daydreaming. The only subject that interested her was History. Greta is known as a timeless beauty, but not everything came …
Read facts you never knew about Marlon Brando: When Marlon was a kid, everybody called him Bud. Close friends and family would continue to do so throughout his life. He was close friends with Wally Cox, who he had known since childhood. He took Wally’s sudden death at 48 very hard. He got a part …
Read facts you never knew about Judy Garland: Judy was less than 5ft. tall She was put on a constant diet by her mother and MGM as a teenager. She later stated that that was what she remembered most about those days. She felt that her biggest hit, Over The Rainbow, was symbolic of her …
Read facts you never knew about Humphrey Bogart: Humphrey Bogart’s mother Maud was a militant woman suffragist. She was also a very successful commercial illustrator. Some years she made more money than her husband, a cardiopulmonary surgeon. Bogie is distantly related to the late Princess Diana, through her American relations. Although he took his enlistment …
Read facts you never knew about Grace Kelly: When Grace was a child her favorite actors were Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotton. In her senior yearbook, her classmates predicted that she was certain ‘to become a great stage and screen star’. Grace’s uncle was George Kelly, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. He and Grace were …
Read facts you never knew about James Dean: In high school, James was a star basketball player. When James had to write a case study about himself as a High School assignment, he wrote that ‘Mom became ill and passed out of my life at the age of nine. I never knew the reason for …
Read facts you never knew about Cary Grant: Cary did most of his own stunts during his film career, thanks to the strength and flexibility he gained as an acrobat when he was young. He sunbathed everyday for thirty minutes to ‘keep that healthy glow’. Cary was close friends with actor Randolph Scott, whom he …