Do You Know Me?

User avatar
ken123
Posts: 1797
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 4:08 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by ken123 »

Howard Duff. His two films with blacklisted director Jules Dassin were Brute Force and the NYC filmed Naked City. Mr Duff was married to Ida Lupino. :wink:
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

ken123 wrote:Howard Duff. His two films with blacklisted director Jules Dassin were Brute Force and the NYC filmed Naked City. Mr Duff was married to Ida Lupino. :wink:
Correct on all counts! And apparently, two of those pre-teen idols who don't seem to do much to deserve the adulation, Hillary and Hayley Duff, are nieces or grand-nieces.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

It's a gorgeous day here in NYC for a change, perfect for the beach, but most of us are stuck in offices, as usual. Seems that it only rains on the weekends. I wonder why that is? Anyway, a new Mystery Guest approaches:

Do you know me?

I was in my first Broadway play as a child, and had appeared in several silent films by the time I was a teen. I started out using my own name, but after a few years I dropped my last name, as was known only by my first two names. I went to Hollywood and got a contract. I was a good looker, and was voted a WAMPAS Baby early in my movie career.

I made quite a few movies; some are still watched today, but most, especially the ones where I had lead roles, are forgotten. I was popular, but I was never a Really Big Star. After about 10 years of movie making, I got married and stopped working. I stayed in Hollywood, where my husband's business was, and became very well known as a social figure. After a few years I began working again, but infrequently. I guest-starred in a few TV dramas, and I was a co-star in a popular series in the 1950s that many at SSO may remember fondly. I did something unusual in TV once: a very good friend of mine, who had a TV show, became ill, and I substituted for her for a while, even though the show bore her name.

I continued to work intermittently in TV through the 1960s. I passed away barely into middle age.

Who am I?
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 1797
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 4:08 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by ken123 »

I wanna say Anita Louise.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

ken123 wrote:I wanna say Anita Louise.
Say it, Ken, say it! You are correct.

Anita Louise Fremault began in theater as a mere girl, and went to Hollywood while still a teen. She was a beautiful woman, and often said that she felt Hollywood treated her as a "pretty face" rather than a serious actress. Remember her long, long blond hair in Midsummer Night's Dream (as Queen of the Fairies)? She married producer Buddy Adler, and was well known as a hostess worker for charitable causes in the Hollywood community.

She was a close friend of Loretta Young, as substituted as the host of Young's TV anthology show when Young was unable to work due to illness. Louise played the mother on the 1950s children's series about a boy and his horse, Fury. She was in her mid-50s when she had a fatal stroke.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Yet another lovely day in NYC, but we all know it won't last. Here comes another Mystery Guest:

I came from a show business family. My parents did a vaudeville act together, and my father subsequently went into the production side of film. As a child I was in a few silents, and as a teen I sang with a band. I got a Hollywood contract, and played sweet juveniles for about 15 years. I was in many Technicolor musicals, but when musicals lost favor, I didn't get much more movie work. I went into regional theater and summer stock, and did a lot of guest star work in TV. I have also appeared on some popular soaps. I am still around, but I haven't done any work lately. My last movie was made 10 years ago, was a success, and is shown often on TV. It starred two good friends who frequently appeared in films together.

Who am I?
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 1797
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 4:08 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by ken123 »

Donald O' Connor. That last film was with Lemmon & Matthau with hal Lindon, but I don't remember the name. Gloria DeHaven and Dyan cannon was also in it. Does anyone remember his 1950's TV show with Sid Miller ?
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

ken123 wrote:Donald O' Connor. That last film was with Lemmon & Matthau with hal Lindon, but I don't remember the name. Gloria DeHaven and Dyan cannon was also in it. Does anyone remember his 1950's TV show with Sid Miller ?
Well, Ken, you're close, but not quite there. Donald O'Connor passed away in 2003. Our MG is still with us.

I can remember O'Connor all over TV way back when, but I don't specifically remember him in his own show.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Try this:

I have a very visible mole on one cheek. In my earlier films it was covered by makeup, but in my later films (and photographs) it was not. My hair is naturally reddish-brown. I appeared in Technicolor sometimes as a redhead, and sometimes as a blonde.
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 1797
Joined: April 14th, 2007, 4:08 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by ken123 »

Gloria DeHaven - Father Carter DeHaven. The film was the Lemmon - Matthau film that I mentioned above.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

ken123 wrote:Gloria DeHaven - Father Carter DeHaven. The film was the Lemmon - Matthau film that I mentioned above.
Yes, you got it, Ken. Well done.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

A beautiful pre-Summer day today, and a new Mystery Guest has appeared.

I studied art and my first job was as a cartoonist's assistant at a major newspaper. However, I really wanted to be an actor. I auditioned for a very prestigious acting school, and was one of only two who were accepted for the new class. The other student went on to great fame long before me; however, I have lived a much longer life than he. My first big break came when I replaced the actor Franchot Tone in an off-Broadway production. I then went on tour as a supporting player in a play whose star was one of Hollywood's Really Big Actors, an actor better known for his film work than his stage work.

I tried my luck in Hollywood, and got a role in a Hitchcock film - my first screen role. I was a bad guy, but I got my comeuppance from another Really Big Star, and in a really big way, the kind typical of Hitchcock.

After that I was in lots of movies - I have about 200 screen appearances to my credit. I was nominated for supporting Oscars three times, but I only won once, and that was after many years as an actor.

I have done lots of TV work and have been in several series. It is said that a producer of an iconic and very long-lasting TV series wanted me as one of the leading characters, but I declined. I didn't want to wear what I thought was silly makeup. That role made a Really Big Star of someone who was just a background player until then.

I was in a very popular series in the 1960s with a member of my real-life family. I got into a salary dispute with the producers, and we both walked. I appeared in a fairly recent movie with another family member; I got the big award for that one.

I am still working, and I'm probably more well-known now than I ever was.

Who am I?
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Hint time:

Our MG won his supporting Oscar for his flamboyant portrayal of a flamboyant real-life person. The film in question was a fanciful version of the career of another flamboyant real-life person. All of the main characters in the film were film people.

The series role that our MG turned down in the 1960s was an out of this world character role that made a perpetual star out of the actor who ultimately played it. Our MG later went on to star as another out of this world character, in a series that was made outside of the US, but was seen here. That series also starred a member of our MG's real family.
User avatar
ChiO
Posts: 3899
Joined: January 2nd, 2008, 1:26 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by ChiO »

I'm plumb TUCKERed out from the clues. I've searched high and low, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, trying to figure out who it (ED) WOOD be, but it has became the Bain of my weekend. Simply a Mission: Impossible.

I'll guess Martin Landau.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

I'll have to brush up on my cryptology to decipher your clue-laden answer, but you are right in saying that the Mystery Guest is Martin Landau.

It's said that Gene Roddenberry wanted Landau to play Mr. Spock (and it's said he asked the guy who played Goober on The Andy Griffith Show as well). Landau and Steve McQueen were the only aspiring actors out of many applicants who were allowed into the Actors Studio by Lee Strasberg. Landau has been a teacher at the Actors Studio West for many years.

He won his supporting Oscar for his wonderful performance as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. Landau's daughter, Juliet Landau, was also in that movie. (She was so good as the completely insane, Sid & Nancy/Ophelia-like vampire Drusila on Buffy and Angel.)

I have read that the Brooklyn house that Landau's character revisited in Crimes and Misdemeanors was Landau's actual childhood house (he is from the same Midwood neighborhood as Woody Allen). I don't know if that's accurate,but Landau was honored as the King of Brooklyn at one of our annual "Welcome Back to Brooklyn" celebrations.

Say ------Has anyone noticed that most of my Mystery Guests appear on the same day as their birthdays? Coincidence? Hmmm. . . . . I wonder.
Post Reply