Ray Milland was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945), which won him Best Actor at Cannes, a Golden Globe Award, and ultimately an Academy Award—the first such accolades for any Welsh actor.
Father of the Bride is a 1950 American romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Edward Streeter. The film stars Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor, and follows a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's wedding. Father of the Bride was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Writing, Screenplay, and Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 American neo-noir mystery comedy film directed, co-written by, and co-starring Carl Reiner and co-written by and starring Steve Martin. Co-starring Rachel Ward, the film is both a parody of and a homage to film noir and the pulp detective films of the 1940s. The title refers to Martin's character telling a story about a woman obsessed with plaid in a scene that was ultimately cut from the film.
The Bad and the Beautiful is a 1952 American melodrama that tells the story of a film producer who alienates everyone around him. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, written by George Bradshaw and Charles Schnee, and stars Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame and Gilbert Roland. The Bad and the Beautiful won five Academy Awards out of six nominations in 1952, a record for the most awards for a movie that was not nominated for Best Picture or for Best Director.
Julia Jean "Lana" Turner was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. In the mid-1940s, she was one of the highest-paid American actresses and one of MGM's biggest stars, with her films earning approximately one billion dollars in 2024 currency for the studio during her 18-year contract with them. Turner is frequently cited as a popular culture icon due to her glamourous persona and a screen legend of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was nominated for numerous awards.
Bronisław Kaper was a Polish film composer who scored films and musical theater in Germany, France, and the USA. The American immigration authorities misspelled his name as Bronislau Kaper. He was also variously credited as Bronislaw Kaper, Bronislaw Kapper, Benjamin Kapper, and Edward Kane.
Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director. For a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. As of 2024, six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Wendell Reid Corey was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a board member of the Screen Actors Guild, and also served on the Santa Monica City Council.
Joseph Herman Pasternak was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producing many successful musicals with female singing stars like Deanna Durbin, Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell, as well as swimmer/bathing beauty Esther Williams' films. He produced Judy Garland's final MGM film, Summer Stock, which was released in 1950, and some of Gene Kelly’s early breakthrough roles. Pasternak worked in the film industry for 45 years, from the later silent era until shortly past the end of the classical Hollywood cinema in the early 1960s.
Born Yesterday is a 1950 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor, based on the 1946 stage play of the same name by Garson Kanin. The screenplay was credited to Albert Mannheimer. According to Kanin's autobiography, Cukor did not like Mannheimer's work, believing it lacked much of the play's value, so he approached Kanin about adapting a screenplay from his own play. Because of legal entanglements, Kanin did not receive screen credit.
Pat and Mike is a 1952 American romantic comedy film starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The movie was written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, and directed by George Cukor. Cukor directed The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Hepburn, and Cukor, Gordon and Kanin teamed with Hepburn and Tracy again for Adam's Rib (1949). Gordon and Kanin were nominated for the 1952 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for their work on Pat and Mike.
Keeper of the Flame is a 1942 American drama film directed by George Cukor, and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is adapted from the 1942 novel Keeper of the Flame by I. A. R. Wylie. Hepburn plays the widow of a famous civic leader who has died in an accident. Tracy portrays a former war correspondent who intends to write a flattering biography of the dead man, only to find that his death is shrouded in mystery. Screenwriter Stewart considered the script the finest moment of his career, feeling vindicated by the assignment as he believed that Hollywood had punished him for years for his political views. Principal filming began in the last week of August 1942, four months after the release of the novel, published by Random House. The picture was filmed on a sound stage, with no location shooting. Hepburn had already begun a relationship with Tracy, and his heavy drinking led her to become his vigilant guardian during the filming.
Betrayed is a 1954 American Eastmancolor war drama film directed by Gottfried Reinhardt and starring Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Victor Mature, and Louis Calhern. The screenplay was by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel. The musical score was by Walter Goehr and Bronislau Kaper, and the cinematography by Freddie Young. The picture, Gable's last for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was filmed on location in the Netherlands and England, and was based on the story of turncoat Dutch resistance leader Christiaan Lindemans, also known as "King Kong". The supporting cast features O. E. Hasse, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Ian Carmichael, Niall MacGinnis, and Theodore Bikel. Betrayed was the fourth and final movie in which Gable played opposite Turner, and their third pairing set during World War II.
Madame Bovary is a 1949 American romantic drama, a film adaptation of the classic 1857 novel of the same name by Gustave Flaubert. It stars Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin, Gene Lockhart, Frank Allenby and Gladys Cooper.
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is a 2001 American two-part, four-hour biographical television miniseries based on the 1998 book Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir written by Lorna Luft, the daughter of legendary singer-actress Judy Garland. The miniseries was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman and originally broadcast in two parts on ABC on February 25 and 26, 2001.
Two-Faced Woman is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Greta Garbo in her final film role, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, and Roland Young. The movie was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's 1936 play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code for it to be released.
Mr. Imperium is a 1951 romantic musical drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Lana Turner and singer Ezio Pinza. Filmed in Technicolor, it was directed by Don Hartman, who cowrote the screenplay with Edwin H. Knopf based on a play written by Knopf. The musical score was composed by Bronisław Kaper. Turner's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin.
Latin Lovers is a Technicolor 1953 romantic musical comedy film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and written by Isobel Lennart. The music score is by Nicholas Brodszky, and the cinematographer was Joseph Ruttenberg.
Jamaica Run is a 1953 American adventure drama film concerning ownership of an old estate set on the island in the Caribbean. It was directed by Lewis R. Foster and starred Ray Milland, Arlene Dahl and Wendell Corey. Much of the personnel in this movie worked on the previous year's Caribbean Gold.
