Do You Know Me?

[ken123]

I wanna say George Montgomery, married to Dinah Shore.

[jdb1]

I wanna say George Montgomery, married to Dinah Shore.

Well, go with your instincts, Ken, 'cause you are right.

Montgomery was the youngest of a Montana family of 15 children. He worked at Republic Films as a stuntman, and later in support of Gene Autry.

He was linked romantically with Carole Landis. After joining the Army Air Corps at the start of WWII, he married Dinah Shore.

Montgomery was a skilled cabinet-maker who had a successful carpentry business. He did all kinds of woodworking and general contract work. He was also a talented sculptor. He did commercials on TV for furniture polish or wax, or both; I forget.

He appeared many times as a guest on Dinah's daytime talk shows. I recall one show, on her birthday, when a huge, multi-tiered cake was wheeled in. She asked him "George, did you build that?"

[jdb1]

Sunny right now, but windy, with lots of tall, gray clouds on the horizon. It will surely rain by this evening, but we're getting used to it. Here comes another intrepid Mystery Guest:

I was born outside the US, and spent my childhood in China. After my parents divorced, my mother took me and my siblings to California. I worked a series of jobs to help support the family, including singing in a nightclub and being a deputy sheriff.

I was seriously wounded in WWII, and after my discharge from the military, I got work in the movies. My appearance made me a natural to play bad guys, and I had a wide range of such roles early in my career. It helped that I was able to look much older than my actual age when necessary.

I was married briefly when I was young, and later I invented a second wife, for reasons which were all too necessary in Hollywood at the time.

I had a non-villain role in one of America's most popular movies, but the audiences in the place where the movie was made never saw me. I was the star of a very popular and successful TV show which had second run, with some of the same actors, 20 years later. In between those two, I had another successful series, where I played a hero with a difference.

I owned a business which sprang from a hobby. One of the things that that business produced is named for my long-time TV co-star.

Who am I?

[ChiO]

One of my favorite villians, Raymond Burr. His character in RAW DEAL, one of my nominees in the Noir Poll, makes Lee Marvin's character in THE BIG HEAT look like a pussycat. Did he ever wear an orchid in the movies?

[jdb1]

One of my favorite villians, Raymond Burr. His character in RAW DEAL, one of my nominees in the Noir Poll, makes Lee Marvin's character in THE BIG HEAT look like a pussycat. Did he ever wear an orchid in the movies?

ChiO, my man, you got it in one. Raymond Burr is the man in question.

He invented a second wife and child who he said were dead, but they never existed in the first place. His closeted life was pretty well hidden during his lifetime; a new book about his life discusses it. Saw it featured on the TCM site, but I've forgotten the name.

Burr was in the American version of Godzilla, where his scenes were intercut with the original, Japanese version. His work as a "heavy" is choice, don't you think? And, of course he was Perry Mason twice, and Chief Ironside once.

When Burr learned he was dying, he threw a series of farewell parties for his friends. Nice gesture.

Burr raised orchids (I never noticed prior to this if he ever wore one in a film, but now that it's on my mind, I'll look for it). One of his popular creations was dubbed the "Barbara Hale," after his Perry Mason co-star.

[jdb1]

It looks like Spring has finally sprung in NYC - the weather is warm and bright, although more rain is predicted over the next few days. In my neighborhood, all the rain has made for extra-lush gardens; the roses are starting to open and there is the smell of night-blooming jasmine in the air.
A new Mystery Guest has dropped in:

Do you know me?

I came from a very well-to-do family, whose fortune was made from a common kitchen product. I was a lifelong devotee of the arts in its many forms, and while in college I became interesting in acting. I was known for my generosity and for my delight in sharing with others my expertise in many aspects of art and good living.

My distinguished looks and sonorous voice made me a natural for radio and film. I had a very long and successful career - the first part of my career I played primarily major supporting roles. As I grew older, my star seemed to get brighter, and later in life I was a very popular and successful international celebrity. I have appeared in radio, film, theater and television, even doing voice acting for animation and appearing in commercials. Although known in my early career as a dramatic actor, I enjoyed doing comedy, and was not shy about satirizing my own screen image. I am still known and imitated today; in fact, I'm something of a silver screen icon.

Who am I?

[moira finnie]

Vincent Price?

[jdb1]

Vincent Price?

Correct, Moira. An easy one, I think, but I'm feeling lazy today.

I don't need to elaborate on Price's career, do I? I'll just say that besides being a fine actor, he was an art expert and a food expert, and that his St. Louis family owned a candy business, National Candy Co., which was founded on the fortune made by Price's grandfather from his Dr. Price's Baking Powder.

[jdb1]

A beautiful, summer-like day in NYC. The tourists are beginning to pour in, so summer itself must be just around the corner. Here comes a new Mystery Guest.

I liked to perform and I did a stint as a chorus girl in Atlantic City. When I came to Hollywood I didn't get much work at first, so I supplemented my income as a script girl. Eventually, I started to get small speaking roles, but they didn't come very quickly. In the meantime, I married a cameraman who had also directed several silent films.

Although I was in quite a few films, and even garnered an Oscar nomination, my career really took off in television, although always at the supporting level. I worked steadily for decades, usually playing the same kinds of characters: schoolmarms, nosy neighbors, and grandmothers. My last role was my most successful. I was the long-time wife of a wise and rather amorous husband in a popular and long-running family drama. I won multiple Emmys and Golden Globes for my work. I tried to keep working during a serious illness, but even though the illness was written into the story and I had very little camera time, it proved to be too much for me, and I had to leave the series.

Who am I?

[knitwit45]

Barbara Bel Geddes? I'm going with the wife of an amorous husband, Miss Ellie on Dallas.

[jdb1]

No, not that one, although she and the MG have something in common, actually.

The very successful TV show in which our MG appeared dealt with a family that was in just about every way the opposite of the Ewings. And like the Ewings, this family was frequently parodied.

[Mr. O'Brady]

Ellen Corby! The "long-time wife of a wise and rather amorous husband in a popular and long-running family drama" was the giveaway. I was a huge "Waltons" fan. She's one of my favorites.

[jdb1]

Ellen Corby! The "long-time wife of a wise and rather amorous husband in a popular and long-running family drama" was the giveaway. I was a huge "Waltons" fan. She's one of my favorites.

Correct!

Corby was nominated for a supporting Oscar for I Remember Mama (in which Barbara Bel Geddes appeared). She won three Emmys and two Golden Globes for playing Grandma Walton.

I never could get into that show. I think it was their hair -- their hair was all wrong for the 1930s, and the mother looked and spoke like what we in NYC call a "Hadassah Lady."

(Hadassah is a charitable organization of Jewish women, many of whom are of the well-to-do and glamorous variety. As an example, Lauren Bacall, Beverly Sills, Kitty Carlisle, Bess Meyerson, Barbara Walters
-- all classic Hadassah Ladies.)

[Mr. O'Brady]

I never could get into that show. I think it was their hair...

I always wondered about their hair. In the 1960's and 1970's, movie and TV studios decided that it was OK to incorporate modern hairstyles and makeup into period pieces. The one that really bothered me: "M*A*S*H"! Both the movie and TV series were ridiculous.

[jdb1]

It's true that most of the actors on M*A*S*H had non-military hairdos, but I think that was more than a lack of authenticity -- I think the characters sported long hair to indicate their disdain for things military. On the TV show, for example, Frank Burns and Col. Potter had military cuts. Maj. Houlihan started out with her hair generally pulled back in a WAC-style bun, but let it loose as her character changed. (It was the very obvious peroxide blondeness that was somewhat out of character for such a "military" woman.) Maj. Winchester came to the camp with short hair, but let it grow longer as he loosened up. Even way back in the 1950s, people did let their hair grow long to protest The System.