Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright, screenwriter and 1935 winner of the Academy Award for Best Story.
Thomas Edward Hulce is an American actor, singer, and theater producer. He is best known for his role as Larry "Pinto" Kroger in Animal House (1978), his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus (1984), and his role as Quasimodo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Additional acting awards included four Golden Globe nominations, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. He retired from acting in the mid-1990s to focus on stage directing and producing. In 2007, he won a Tony Award as a lead producer of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening.
The following is an overview of 1931 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Helen Hayes MacArthur was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was one of 16 people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Edgar Selwyn and starring Helen Hayes. The screenplay by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht was adapted from the play The Lullaby by Edward Knoblock. It tells the story of a wrongly imprisoned woman who turns to theft and prostitution in order to support her son.
James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad in the long-running television series Hawaii Five-O, and for playing the juvenile lead in a series of Disney movies.
Samuel Goldwyn, also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood. His awards include the 1973 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1947, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1958.
Anthony Howard Goldwyn is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He portrayed Carl Bruner in Ghost (1990), Harold Nixon in Nixon (1995), Colonel Bagley in The Last Samurai, and voiced the title character in the Disney animated film Tarzan (1999). He starred in the ABC legal/political drama Scandal as Fitzgerald Grant III, a fictional president of the United States, from 2012 to 2018.
Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power Sr. was an English-born American stage and screen actor, known professionally as Tyrone Power. He is now usually referred to as Tyrone Power Sr. to differentiate him from his son, actor Tyrone Power.
Howard Lindsay, born Herman Nelke, was an American theatrical producer, playwright, librettist, director and actor. He is best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse, and for his performance, with his wife Dorothy Stickney, in the long-running play Life With Father.
Joseph Anthony was an American playwright, actor, and director. He made his film acting debut in the 1934 film Hat, Coat, and Glove and his theatrical acting debut in a 1935 production of Mary of Scotland. On five occasions he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction.
Kenneth Lonergan is an American film director, playwright, and screenwriter. He is the co-writer of the film Gangs of New York (2002), and wrote and directed You Can Count On Me (2000), Margaret (2011), and Manchester by the Sea (2016).
Jennifer Howard was an American stage and film actress active between the mid-1940s and early 1960s. Howard appeared in a number of classic television shows during the American Golden Age of Television and was also an accomplished watercolor and acrylic artist. She was the daughter of the playwright and screenwriter Sidney Howard and first wife of Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.
Margaret Mayo, born Lillian Elizabeth Slatten, was an American actress, playwright, and screenwriter.
Oliver Morosco was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, film producer, and theater owner. He owned Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company. He brought many of his theater actors to the screen. Frank A. Garbutt was in charge of the film business. The company was merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in 1916.
The 1st annual Venice International Film Festival was held between 6 and 21 August 1932. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was the first film to be screened at the festival. No official prizes were awarded, so an audience referendum took place to determine the winners.
Within the Law is a play written by Bayard Veiller. It is the story of Mary Turner, a sales clerk who is wrongly accused of stealing and sent to prison. Upon her release, Turner sets up a gang that engages in shady activities that are just "within the law". After the police try to entrap her, she is mistakenly accused again, this time for murder, but she is vindicated when the real killer confesses.
Archibald Selwyn was an American play broker, theater owner and stage producer who had many Broadway successes. He and his brother Edgar Selwyn were partners. They were among the founders of Goldwyn Pictures, later to be merged into MGM.
Adolph Klauber was an American drama critic and theatrical producer. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky to Edward and Caroline Brahms Klauber. He left Louisville after high school to attend the University of Virginia, after which he moved to New York and took a position with the Empire Theatre Company. In 1900 he began working as a reporter for the New York Commercial Advertiser. From there he moved to the New York Tribune, and thence to the New York Times, where he became drama critic in 1906, a post he held for twelve years. It was during this time that he married the actress and playwright Jane Cowl He then began working with Archibald and Edgar Selwyn, two of the founders of Goldwyn Pictures, later to become part of MGM, and worked for a while there as a casting director.
Roi Cooper Megrue was a playwright, producer, and director active on Broadway from 1914 to 1921.
