Interesting topic, and I really enjoyed reading everyone's responses.
I think my story is more similar to sugarpuss's than anything else. I was not a classic film fan growing up or anything like that. I had seen some of the basics - Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Roman Holiday and stuff like that....but those were only in passing, and purely by mistake. My father was a huge John Wayne fan...and while I didn't watch many of his films all the way through, I'd also seen bits and pieces of those. However, since I thought cowboy and war stuff was lame, I wasn't drawn to classic film by my dad's late-night John Wayne flicks either.
It's sort of odd that I never made more of an effort in those days...because I always though Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca was the absolute *coolest*. And in college, I actually had a life-sized poster of Clark Gable (as Rhett Butler) hanging on my dorm room wall!
But for years, I never moved past that mere flicker of an interest.
Over the years I happened on to a couple of other classic films that I enjoyed - Doctor Zhivago, & The Nun's Story being two of the more notable ones. But that was quite literally IT, until about 4 - 5 years ago.
It started innocently enough one day when I happened upon an airing of Casablanca, and once again was overwhelmed by Bogie's utter 'coolness'. In that moment, I realized that Bogie must have made other films besides Casablanca...and I decided to make it sort of a life project to see all of them. Sort of one of those odd-ball things to add to my life resume: "Seen all of Humphrey Bogart's films" - Check. Intended to be purely a novelty item among all of this HUGE expanse of scifi TV and films I have digested over the years. Cocktail party chatter: "Yeah...and oddly enough, I have seen every film Humphrey Bogart ever made."
But like Sugarpuss, my interest in Bogie and my challenge to myself to see all of his films lead me to interests in others. I saw a couple of Bogie films that included Bette Davis in the cast...and off I went on Bette Davis. And then, a few films into my investigation of the films of Bette Davis, I watched THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. And well...we all know how THAT turned out.
I positively fell in LOVE with Errol Flynn (who I had also seen in VIRGINIA CITY and liked...even though it WAS a 'cowboy movie')....and starting branching out yet again. Errol Flynn, of course, lead me to Olivia deHavilland...who led me to Montgomery Clift in THE HEIRESS....who of course led me to Elizabeth Taylor...who led me to Richard Burton. Other 'strands' included getting interested in Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca...and that interest led me to Charles Boyer as a result of GASLIGHT. Charles Boyer, in turn, led me to an interest in Irene Dunne as a result of LOVE AFFAIR....and an interest in Jean Arthur as a result of HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT. Yet another 'strand' was getting interested in James Cagney as a result of all the gangster films he was in with Bogie....and off I went down his 'road'.
I was having so much fun by this time that I decided to do the same thing with my favorite 'poster boy from college' Clark Gable as I had done with Bogie. And Clark Gable led me to stars like Claudette Colbert, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, and others. And of course, those stars, in turn, led to others - most notably William Powell (through Myrna Loy) and Franchot Tone (through Joan Crawford).
One thing that is funny to note, however, is that at this point, I was actively AVOIDING this actor called Gary Cooper...who I had mentally associated with westerns and war movies (YAWN). I didn't even know who he was or what he looked like - but the sort of movies I thought he was in sounded lame...so I decided that I didn't care about him. Without seeing a single one of his films, I wrote him off as another John Wayne - one of those actors who made 'guy movies'. "Yeah. WhatEVER. I mean, there is only so far I am willing to go with this classic film stuff."
But then, because of Jean Arthur, I got ahold of MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN.
And instantly fell in love.
He was absolutely *adorable*. I couldn't believe it! I had made all of these assumptions...and I had been wrong, wrong, wrong. Naive, cute and adorable Longfellow Deeds wasn't ANYTHING like a John Wayne-esque 'guy movie' character. And Gary Cooper wasn't anything like John Wayne!
Well, after that I became pretty much unstoppable when it came to Gary Cooper. I really got into Barbara Stanwyck because of him and BALL OF FIRE. And now, those two are my favorite actor and actress!
Oddly, I had also been kind of semi-avoiding Barbara Stanwyck up until that time as well...although not as vehemently as I had been avoiding Coop (who I wouldn't have been able to identify in a film star line-up). No real reason - I guess I just associated her with 'dark' movies because of CRY WOLF...and never really saw the true range of her talent until I saw BALL OF FIRE.
It is funny how the one actor and the one actress I thought I WOULDN'T like are now my two favorites.
Life can be strange.
As for the silents...well, pretty much the only silent stars I had ever *heard of* were Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton. And Buster Keaton ONLY because of the Johnny Depp film BENNY AND JOON.
So when I decided to give silents a try, those were the names I sought out. In particular I was curious about the whole aura around the Garbo and Valentino legends....and really wanted to see at least one film of each, even if I ended up hating the silents. And I wanted to see a Chaplin film because...well, I saw The Tramp as pretty much a fixture in film history, and indeed, in popular culture!
Falling in love with Valentino took about 20 seconds. All it took was the tango scene in THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE, and I was a pile of Valentino-obsessed mush.
However, Chaplin was yet ANOTHER star who I had misjudged before even seeing any of his work...and ANOTHER star who I had pretty much intentionally avoided.
I have never been a fan of slapstick, or puns. I don't care for The Three Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, The Marx Brothers...or anyone along those comedy lines. And I had wrongly assumed that Chaplin would be like that...so I was in no big rush to get to Chaplin and The Tramp.
But finally, I discovered that CITY LIGHTS and THE GOLD RUSH are supposedly included in alot of lists of the 100 best movies of all time...and I broke down and bought a copy of CITY LIGHTS. I just knew I'd hate it and end up thinking it was the stupidest film ever....but by the end of it, I was sitting at my computer ordering both of the two big boxed sets that make up The Chaplin Collection. And my Chaplin obsession was born.
Since my first experiences with Valentino and Chaplin, I have watched many silents....but unlike my experiences with talkies, I can't say that either of them led to other stars that I became interested in. Maybe Gloria Swanson to an extent, after seeing BEYOND THE ROCKS....but SUNSET BOULEVARD was my first Swanson picture, so I'm not sure Rudy can take credit for Gloria.
I suppose Chaplin can take credit for introducing me to Paulette Goddard....but I have still not seen that many of her pictures...so there is not really much to take credit FOR there. With silents, I have skipped around much more, and have never really focused a maximum effort on any other stars besides Valentino and Chaplin. I like Buster Keaton alot...and I like Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Vilma Bankey, and others...but none have simply 'wowed me' to the extent Valentino and Chaplin have, where I just rushed right out to find every film in their filmology I could get my hands on.
It has certainly been an interesting ride into a whole new world. And it is STILL rather a novelty to me when I stop to think about how my favorite stars are not any of the big names today...but are people who in some cases died decades ago. I mean, 5 years ago I didn't even know who many of these people were! And now they are all I watch besides scifi.
But it has been fun - no doubt of that!