Long before Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson won the hearts of fans by appearing in a series of movies that played upon classic twin tropes, there was another set of famous twins, Lee and Lyn Wilde. The only set of identical twins to have contracts with a major movie studio in the 1940s, the Wilde twins…
Tag: Hollywood
Sonja Henie: Gold Medals and the Silver Screen
Sonja Henie turned her successful figure skating career into a lucrative film career during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The Norwegian figure skater turned her Olympic gold medals into shining silver screen performances in the 1930s and 1940s. During her illustrious movie career, Sonja starred in a number of films, and incorporated her beautiful ice-skating…
“On the Waterfront”: Leonard Bernstein’s Only Movie Score
The 1954 film, On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando as a longshoreman who becomes tangled in the violence and corruption at the New York City docks, was directed by Elia Kazan. The film, now a classic of the Golden Age of Hollywood, was notable for many reasons, including the fact that On the Waterfront was…
“The Three Faces of Eve”: Hollywood’s Take on Mental Illness
When it was released in 1957, The Three Faces of Eve was an instant hit. The film, based on the true story of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder, was a groundbreaking take on mental wellness and its effects on individuals and their families. The Three Faces of Eve, starring Joanne Woodward, was an…
Technicolor Dreams: Hollywood’s Quest for Color
Early in cinematic history, when filmmakers and audiences clamored for color movies, scientists and innovators behind the scenes were working on a way to make movies in living color. The answer came in the catchy, modern-sounding new filming process called Technicolor. Technicolor was the first color motion picture process that was extensively used in Hollywood….