Edith Head - The Plain Jane Who Dressed the Stars

Edith Head became the most famous dress designer in Hollywood. Her creations adorned the top actresses of the Golden Age and she won  a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design.

Edith Head

She was born  in San Bernardino, California on October 28, 1897 and studied first at Los Angeles High School and then to the University of California and Stanford University where, in 1920, she graduated with a Masters degree in Romance languages.
She began teaching French and Art in La Jolla and tried to improve her art skills by taking evening classes at the Chouinard Art College.
In 1923 she basically cheated her way into Paramount Studios when she she borrowed sketches done by her friends from the Art College to use as examples of her own work.
She became a close friend of Clara Bow and designed dresses for her, gradually taking on more and mor of the top actresses of the day such as  Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Marlene Dietrich, Olivia de Havilland and  Barbara Stanwyck. 
After WWII she continued her successes with creations for actresses such as  Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.
When the Academy included a a Best Costume awards category, (at Edith's request), she began winning Oscars regularly. In all she was nominated on 35 occasions and won 8 Oscars in total.
Edith Head died, aged 83, on October 24, 1981, from myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disease. Her creations live on.

Mae West in Edith Head creation

Liz Taylor in 'A Place in the Sun

Edith Head Bio on Hollywood's Golden Age'

Greer Garson, A Mature Hollywood Debutante

Greer Garson was one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood during the 1940’s and holds the record, with Betty Davis, of consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She received five nominations between 1941 and 1945 including winning in 1942 for her performance in the title role of ‘Mrs Miniver', her best known movie.

She was famous for her grace, her elegant acting and refined, well-modulated way of delivering her lines. Such was her regal bearing and popularity that she became known as the Queen of Hollywood.

Greer is unusual by Hollywood standards in that she started in the acting and movie business relatively late in life. Before her move to Hollywood in 1939 this English born actress had gained a university degree from King’s College, London, had gone on to post-graduate studies in France and had been married to and separated from her childhood sweetheart. She also worked full time in an advertising agency before she ever went on stage.

She was in her late twenties when she began to appear in amateur productions and realised that she had a genuine aptitude for acting. After making her professional debut, aged 28 in 1932 she quickly rose to the top echelon of British actresses including working with Laurence Olivier.

In 1937, after being seen onstage by Louis B. Mayer, who was visiting London, she was given a contract by MGM and the following year, accompanied by her mother, the 34 year old Greer moved to Hollywood. She was not the traditional teenage beauty queen, but the following year she took Hollywood and the world by storm with her acclaimed performance in ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’ for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. A major Hollywood career had begun.

For movre information visit the Greer Garson biography page and the 'Mrs Miniver' page on Hollywood's Golden Age. See also the Mrs Miniver Oscar page on Hollywood Oscars.com

'The Best Years of Our Lives' - one of the greatest movies ever made.

Describing a movie as one of the greatest ever made is giving it quite a burdensome reputation to live up to, but 'The Best Years of Our Lives' justly deserves every jot of praise it gets. Directed by William Wyler in 1946, and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March and Dana Andrews, the movie vividly depicts the difficulties faced by ex-servicemen returning to their loved ones and a dramatically changed world after the Second World War.

Despite its serious theme, the movie was great entertainment and the public flocked to see it, making it the most popular film since ‘Gone With the Wind’ in 1939. It was also warmly embraced by the critics and it received eight Academy Award nominations, winning in seven categories including Best Picture, Best Director, for Wyler, Best Actor for Fredric March, and Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell.

Russell was an acting rookie who played Homer Parrish, a soldier who had lost both his hands during the war. In reality Russell had actually lost his hands in 1944 when a faulty fuse detonated explosives he was handling in his duties as a training officer with the US 13th Airborne Division. Although it was his first professional role Russell was in no way upstaged by his more illustrious acting colleagues. He was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and in addition he was given Special Award for “inspiring hope and courage through his appearance in the film”. He has the unique distinction of being the only person ever to win two Academy Awards for the same role.

The movie is expertly guided by Wyler and shows the interwoven stories of three servicemen returning from wartime duties to their families, describing the difficulties they face in re-adjusting to the post war world, including marital infidelity, loss of work and domestic conflicts.

The cast is highly talented with established stars such as Myrna Loy, Fredric March and Dana Andrews and talented younger stars like Teresa Wright and Virginia Mayo at their very best.

In short, an absorbing, thoroughly entertaining movie with a message which will move the hardest heart. And yes, in my opinion, “one of the greatest movies ever made.” For more information check out Hollywood's Golden Age.com or Hollywood Oscars .com

How The Oscars Started

The Hollywood Oscars Award Ceremony is a star-studded occasion which has become the pinnacle of the film awards season. It is one of the most glamorous media events in the world, pushing performers and film-makers into the media spotlight. To win an Hollywood Oscar is a dream come true, a marketing goldmine for the film industry, generating huge sales and profits for the stars, the studios and their employees.
The glittering extravaganza which we have become accustomed to has evolved from a much humbler beginning over 80 years ago. In 1927 the recently formed Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), created by a group of highly influential Hollywood Studio heads, discussed ways of honouring outstanding achievement in motion picture production in order to encourage higher standards in the industry.
The idea of creating a trophy or trophies was agreed on and eventually Los Angeles sculptor George Stanley was commissioned to create an appropriate design.>
As the USA and Hollywood grew to be the world's movie making hub, so did the stature of the awards increase. Eventually the Academy was recognised as the official body of world movie production and the Oscars became the pinnacle which every filmmaker and performer strove to reach.

The Statuette

The official name of the Oscar trophy is the "Academy Award of Merit". It is 13.5inches tall (34cm) and weighs 8.5lb (3.85kg.) Initially the statuette was made of solid bronze but during WWII the awards were made of plaster. Today's Oscars are made of a pewter-like alloy called Brittanium with gold plating to give the desired brilliant appearance, and is set on a black metal base.

Origins of the name "Oscar"

The term "Oscar" was originally a nickname coined and used during the early 1930's and later taken up by the Academy. The actual origins are somewhat mysterious. One theory came from Bette Davis who claimed it was named after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson. Another theory is that the Academy's first Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, thought the statuette reminded her of her "Uncle Oscar" (actually her nickname for her cousin, Oscar Pierce.) Whatever the truth, the trophy received official validation in 1939 when it was dubbed the "Oscar" by the Academy and so it has been called ever since.

The Design

When the Academy decided in 1929, that a suitable trophy should be created, one of the original members, Cedric Gibbons, art director of MGM, was entrusted with the design. He came up with the beautiful Art Deco classic design of a crusading knight with a sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes. Each spoke represents one of the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians. In need of a model for his crusader, Gibbons was introduced by his wife, actress Dolores Del Rio, to a Mexican film director, Emilio Fernandez, who became the model for the statuette.
Gibbons's design was made in clay by sculptor George Stanley, and then the final Oscar trophy was cast in tin and copper and plated in gold. It has become one of the most instantly recognisable awards in the world, and it is the design still used today, with only the height of the pedestal being increased from 1945

The Voting System

An Oscar win gives a great boost in both financial and career terms for the winner. Hence the system of voting and film eligibilty has changed and become more streamlined over the years. When the Awards began in 1928, eligibility depended on a movie opening in Los Angeles between August 1st and July 31st of the year preceding the Award ceremony. To make the Award year more manageable – and more memorable - the system was changed after five years. The 1932-33 awards were given a longer qualifying period – 17 months from July 1932 and ever since then, beginning in 1934, all award eligibility has been based on the previous calendar year.
The original voting process was not secret and was open to abuse. Since 1935 the balloting process has been secret and has been managed by auditors Pricewaterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). For more information on the Hollywood Oscars visit Hollywood Oscars.com

Lauren Bacall, Evergreen Hollywood

Lauren Bacall was one of the top movie actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. She is perhaps best remembered for her partnership with Humphrey Bogart but her stardom did not end when Bogart died. In her own right she was one of the most important players in post war Hollywood particularly in the film noir genre, and she is ranked by the American Film Institute at number 20 in their listings of Hollywood actress legends. As late as 1996 she received an Academy nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her wonderful performance in 'The Mirror Has Two Faces' and in 2009 she received an Honorary Academy Award at the inaugural Governors Awards.

She first came to the fore as a young beauty on the cover of 'Harper's Bazaar' magazine and she was given a screen test by film director Howard Hawks which resulted in a seven-year contract with Warners Bros. At only 19 years old she starred opposite established superstar Humphrey Bogart in the thriller 'To Have and Have Not' in 1944. She became an instant heroine to many with her sexy banter with Bogart: "You do know how to whistle."

She became even more famous when she and Bogart began an affair and eventually married in 1945. He was 45 years old and Bacall 25 years his junior. She and Bogart made a series of highly successful films together: 'The Big Sleep' in 1946, 'The Dark Passage' in 1947 and 'Key Largo' in 1948. When Bogart died from cancer in 1957, Bacall continued her acting career, becoming as well known for her stage roles as for her screen performances.

She won a Tony Award for her performance in 'Applause' (1970-1972),and again for 'Woman of the Year' (1981-1983). Lauren has never stopped working and is still a force to be reckoned with. She appeared in 'The Limit' in 2004, 'These Foolish Things' in 2006 and 'Wide Blue Yonder' in 2010. She is still very much in demand. Long may it remain so.

Read More about Lauren Bacall

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Director of Brilliance

Joe Mankiewicz

There are few Hollywood directors with a better artistic reputation than Joseph L. Mankiewicz. He was a brilliant scriptwriter and producer before becoming one of the most skilful and successful directors in movie history. After learning his trade in the 1930’s and 1940’s, working with some of the most influential directors of the time, such as George Cukor, Fritz Lang and Frank Borsage.

When Mankewiecz began directing movies himself, all his latent potential rose to the surface and he showed himself to be a movie genius. He began quietly enough in 1944 when he co-wrote and produced ‘The Keys of the Kingdom’ which included a supporting role by his wife, Rose Stradler, and 2 years later he directed, on his own, ‘Dragonwyck’, which was not a success, but which taught him many lessons about handling actors.

For the next few years Mankiewicz’s genius flowered as he reached a peak of artistic maturity in 1950 and 1951, when he achieved the considerable feat of winning in consecutive years the Oscar for Best Screenplay and Best Director for ‘A Letter to Three Wives’ and ‘All About Eve’. ‘A Letter to Three Wives’ concerns a single letter sent to three different women informing them that a woman has run off with one of their husbands. The plot is detailed and intricate and Mankiewicz shows great skill in his handling of the actors and actresses. 'All About Eve’ won the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay and was a massive triumph for Mankiewicz. It has been described as the finest movie ever made which is quite an accolade, and it certainly fizzes with sparkling wit, brilliant characterisation and wonderful acting from the fine cast, including Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and a young Marilyn Monroe.

This was the high point of his career and it is difficult to see how he could have improved on his work. He continued to make wonderful, high quality movies including a smash hit adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' in 1953 with Marlon Brando as Marc Antony and 'The Barefoot Contessa' in 1954. To show his versatility he directed a ground-breaking musical in 1955, 'Guys and Dolls' with Brando again and Frank Sinatra. Mankiewicz continued working until 1972 when he received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for his final film 'Sleuth'.

After this Mankiewicz retired and lived quietly with his second wife in New York, refusing all attempts to coax him back to work. He died in 1993, age 82, in Bedford, New York.
Read more about Joe Mankiewicz at Hollywood's Golden Age.com

Mankiewicz and first wife, Rose Stradler accept the Screenplay Oscar for 'A Letter to Three Wives'

Mankiewicz and Bette Davis accept their Oscars for 'All About Eve'

More about the masterpiece 'All About Eve'.

The Bandwagon-Happy Hollywood

‘The Bandwagon’ is a wonderfully happy movie with a top class cast. As well as Fred Astaire, it stars Nanette Fabray, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant and Jack Buchanan, all seasoned, proven perfomers and all ideally suited to blend expertly with the sizzling, brilliant dancing of the master, Astaire.

The music of ‘The Bandwagon’ is brilliant. The song “That’s Entertainment” has become a standard and the ballet sequence ‘Dancing in the Dark’ with Astaire and Cyd Charisse is part of cinema’s folklore. Another high spot is the “Shine on Your Shoes” number which Fred does with real life shoe shine Leroy Daniels.

The movie is given an added edge by the “near to the knuckle” casting. For instance the main character, Tony Hunter, is an aging dancer making a comeback- uncannily similar to …well…Fred Astaire himself. The film’s song writing couple, Lester and Lily Marion were based on the actual songwriters of the movie – Comden and Green. Cyd Charisse’s character is based on the French ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire and Jack Buchanan’s Jeffrey Cordova character is an amalgam of real life movie personalities, Orson Welles, José Ferrer and George S. Kaufman.

‘The Bandwagon’ is a rare delight, a musical masterpiece- I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Read more at Hollywood's Golden Age