Nando, I'll say that the Mystery Guest is Raquel Torres.feaito wrote:I'm not very good at this but I'll try once again.
I was born in a Spanish speaking country but I grew up in the United States. Still, my real name did not sound Spanish at all; my artistic name did though.
I had a short career, but starred in some good films, including a late Silent Classic and a Classic Comedy of the early thirties.
Among my husbands there was a well-known actor who usually played exotic roles.
Who am I?
Do You Know Me?
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jdb1
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jdb1
Let's see now.
I made almost 100 movies in my career, most of them in Hollywood, but some in Europe, where I was born.
I started out in vaudeville, doing many different kinds of acts. Noel Coward saw me performing on stage, and gave me my first part in the legitimate theater. After my stint in the theater, I made dozens of comedy shorts with a very popular English musical hall performer; one of his relatives became a fairly big star in Hollywood in film and TV - it was a venerable stage family.
I got a contract in Hollywood because the studio thought I could be a replacement for Myrna Loy. I liked to play smart women, wise-cracking women, nobody's fool kind of women. I hated playing the sweet girl. I made many costume dramas: in one I lost my head completely. I was married to a Hollywood producer for many years. I had a very long and productive life.
Who am I?
I made almost 100 movies in my career, most of them in Hollywood, but some in Europe, where I was born.
I started out in vaudeville, doing many different kinds of acts. Noel Coward saw me performing on stage, and gave me my first part in the legitimate theater. After my stint in the theater, I made dozens of comedy shorts with a very popular English musical hall performer; one of his relatives became a fairly big star in Hollywood in film and TV - it was a venerable stage family.
I got a contract in Hollywood because the studio thought I could be a replacement for Myrna Loy. I liked to play smart women, wise-cracking women, nobody's fool kind of women. I hated playing the sweet girl. I made many costume dramas: in one I lost my head completely. I was married to a Hollywood producer for many years. I had a very long and productive life.
Who am I?
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jdb1
Quite right.feaito wrote:Binnie Barnes.
Barnes gave many wonderful and sophisticated performances. Although she was from London, I think she would have been right at home in Brooklyn - from a working class Jewish/Italian family and with a name like "Binnie." I knew several "Binnies" in my childhood (most were actually named Bryna or Binya; Barnes' given name was Gittel- generally rendered as Gladys or Gloria in the old days).
Barnes was one of Charles Laughton's unfortunate queens in his Private Life of Henry VIII. She was married to producer Mike Frankovich.
IMO, one of her very best performances was in the 1938 Three Blind Mice, about fortune hunting sisters. The sisters were not gold diggers, but sweet girls who decided a rich husband was just as good as a poor husband. This movie was made and re-made several times, most notably as Moon Over Miami with Betty Grable. In Three Blind Mice, Barnes played the wealthy, flighty, oversexed sister of one of the rich bachelors marked for marriage by the hunters. She was terrific, and came very close to a similar performance by Mary Astor in Palm Beach Story.
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jdb1
Try this one:
Do you know me?
I had two successful decades on the stage in Europe before I made my first movie. I didn't like the silents much - a stage actress wants to use her voice. I came to Broadway, and was immediately typecast as the upper class sort.
I had a successful Hollywood career as a supporting player who generally had large roles. In what is probably my best remembered role, I worked for Hitchcock as someone who wasn't there most of the time (the title character, actually).
I received a great honor from my own country, the first actress to be so honored, but not for my acting. Rather it was for my tireless work during WWI. My daughter was a very well-respected actress, director and producer, unfortunately not well-remembered now outside the theater community. She established a repertory company along with another stage actress who was famous for her teaching as well as her acting, and whose name is better known now than my daughter's.
In my last film, I co-starred with a lovely and very unlucky young actress who was trying for a comeback under very trying circumstances.
Who am I?
Do you know me?
I had two successful decades on the stage in Europe before I made my first movie. I didn't like the silents much - a stage actress wants to use her voice. I came to Broadway, and was immediately typecast as the upper class sort.
I had a successful Hollywood career as a supporting player who generally had large roles. In what is probably my best remembered role, I worked for Hitchcock as someone who wasn't there most of the time (the title character, actually).
I received a great honor from my own country, the first actress to be so honored, but not for my acting. Rather it was for my tireless work during WWI. My daughter was a very well-respected actress, director and producer, unfortunately not well-remembered now outside the theater community. She established a repertory company along with another stage actress who was famous for her teaching as well as her acting, and whose name is better known now than my daughter's.
In my last film, I co-starred with a lovely and very unlucky young actress who was trying for a comeback under very trying circumstances.
Who am I?
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jdb1
You would win that bet, Sir.feaito wrote:I bet you are Dame May Whitty, aren't you?
According to what I've read, Whitty was the first stage actress to be made a "Dame" by the English court.
She was the "Lady" in The Lady Vanishes. Her last film was Sign of the Ram with the wheelchair-bound Susan Peters. There was another film of hers that year (1948) called The Return of October, but I think that one was made before Ram, but released after. I thought Whitty was the best thing about Sign of the Ram.
Her daughter was Margaret Webster who, along with Eva LeGallienne, formed the American Repertory Theater. Webster was the director of the fabled Paul Robeson Othello of 1943; and she played Emilia in the production. Webster ran the Shakespeare company that bore her name.
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feaito
I have a new one...
I was born in Europe and worked as an actress in my native country.
Then I went to Hollywood but I did not really succeed there, in spite of making a handful of films. My success came with one film I made back in my native country. Later I resumed my Hollywood career, participating in a Classic of a specific genre.
After World War II I returned to my country and made at least two well know films directed by a European director who had also worked in Hollywood.
It has even been rumored (without any real basis) that I was the illegitimate daughter of W. Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies.
Who Am I?
I was born in Europe and worked as an actress in my native country.
Then I went to Hollywood but I did not really succeed there, in spite of making a handful of films. My success came with one film I made back in my native country. Later I resumed my Hollywood career, participating in a Classic of a specific genre.
After World War II I returned to my country and made at least two well know films directed by a European director who had also worked in Hollywood.
It has even been rumored (without any real basis) that I was the illegitimate daughter of W. Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies.
Who Am I?
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jdb1
I have a few Mystery Guests stockpiled. Here's another:
Do you know me?
Music was my life, and I dropped out of high school to pursue a career as a musician. I worked in a music combo, making my way to New York, where I hookedup with a collaborator, and together we wrote songs that were performed by Ethel Waters and Cab Calloway. In the ensuing years, I wrote songs for literally hundreds of musicals.
I went to Hollywood, where I joined with another collaborator, and our songs were even more popular than my first output. In fact, one of our works is probably the most popular song in America, known by people of all ages in all walks of life (not counting "Holly, Jolly Christmas," of course).
My third collaborator and I wrote jazzier, more sophisticated songs that the big singing stars of the day loved to perform. However, my works are generally associated with a particular, iconic artist, who started singing them at a young age.
My personal life was not so happy, though. I married a beautiful woman - a showgirl/model. But she had many mental troubles; her violent outbursts were very difficult for both of us to bear, and eventually she had to be institutionalized. Perhaps my music was my escape.
Who am I?
Do you know me?
Music was my life, and I dropped out of high school to pursue a career as a musician. I worked in a music combo, making my way to New York, where I hookedup with a collaborator, and together we wrote songs that were performed by Ethel Waters and Cab Calloway. In the ensuing years, I wrote songs for literally hundreds of musicals.
I went to Hollywood, where I joined with another collaborator, and our songs were even more popular than my first output. In fact, one of our works is probably the most popular song in America, known by people of all ages in all walks of life (not counting "Holly, Jolly Christmas," of course).
My third collaborator and I wrote jazzier, more sophisticated songs that the big singing stars of the day loved to perform. However, my works are generally associated with a particular, iconic artist, who started singing them at a young age.
My personal life was not so happy, though. I married a beautiful woman - a showgirl/model. But she had many mental troubles; her violent outbursts were very difficult for both of us to bear, and eventually she had to be institutionalized. Perhaps my music was my escape.
Who am I?
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jdb1
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feaito
Thanks Judith. I think I'm not very good at posting Mystery Guests (writing clues and all that). But I like guessing a lot!!
No, it's not Patricia Van Cleve. The name and last name of this particular performer rhymed and she complained that they were not pronounced correctly by Americans in general.
No, it's not Patricia Van Cleve. The name and last name of this particular performer rhymed and she complained that they were not pronounced correctly by Americans in general.