Cary Grant, whose real name was Archibald Alec Leach, was an English American actor known for his suave and debonair style. He got his start in show business as a stage actor in the 1920s and then made his way to Hollywood in the 1930s. He appeared in many classic films that are still well-known…
Groundbreaking Director Cecil B. DeMille and His Lavish Epics
Cecil B. DeMille was a pioneering Hollywood film director and producer. He was one of the most successful filmmakers of the early 20th century and is widely credited with shaping the modern Hollywood film industry. DeMille was the king of the epic film and a groundbreaking director who made a number of significant contributions to…
Alfred Hitchcock Built an Elaborate Set for “Rear Window”
By the time director Alfred Hitchcock was preparing to film his mystery suspense thriller Rear Window in 1954, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, he had earned a reputation in Hollywood for being a master filmmaker with an eye for details. It should be no wonder, then, that Hitchcock pulled out all the stops to…
Fatty Arbuckle: Rapist or Victim of Yellow Journalism?
The current “fake news” era of journalism has nothing on the Yellow Journalism era of the 1920s when publishers vied with each other to sell more newspapers even if that meant printing sensational stories and outright lies. This was the setting in which a young, aspiring actress tragically died and one of America’s most popular…
Carole Lombard’s Untimely Death: A Hollywood Tragedy
A native of Indiana, actress Carole Lombard was living in Los Angeles with her mother in 1920 when, at the age of 12 years old, she was recruited by a movie director who cast her in her first film, the 1921 movie A Perfect Crime. She moved from bit parts to leading lady status and…