Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe: Husband and wife from 1956 to 1961, the Broadway playwright and the Hollywood star collaborated on one major project, the ill-fated modern-day Western The Misfits…
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Arthur Askey: For decades, the British comedian was a vaudeville, radio, and television celebrity in his home country. Never an international name, Askey was also featured in a handful of…
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John Barrymore: At first a reluctant actor, this member of the renowned Drew and Barrymore families made his stage debut at age 18 in an early 20th-century play starring his…
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Barbara Stanwyck: Busy Hollywood actress known as a “consummate professional,” Stanwyck never took home a competitive Academy Award even though, over the course of her 35-year film career, she delivered…
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Playwright Arthur Miller vs. Red Scare Hysteria: The Crucible Demythologizes American Exceptionalism
Playwright Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible (1953) – about the witchcraft trials held in late-17th-century Salem – as a political allegory against the HUAC hearings held in mid-20th-century Washington, D.C.…
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Morris Engel: Little Fugitive filmmaker. Influenced by Italian neorealism, naturalistic documentaries/docudramas, and late silent era releases like Paul Fejos’ Lonesome, Morris Engel’s no-star, no-plot, no-frills Little Fugitive remains one of…
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Arthur Miller movies include adaptations of All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge. One of the most influential 20th-century American playwrights, Miller…
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Dan O’Herlihy: A one-of-a-kind Best Actor Oscar nominee during Hollywood’s studio era (for Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, 1954), Irish-born performer Dan O’Herlihy enjoyed a film and television career spanning half…
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Ruth Warrick: In show business for nearly seven decades, actress Ruth Warrick is best remembered for two disparate roles: Charles Foster Kane’s genteel wife in Orson Welles’ 1941 classic Citizen…
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Virginia Mayo: The honey-blonde – at times red-haired – heroine of Technicolor fare like Wonder Man, The Flame and the Arrow, and Painting the Clouds with Sunshine, Virginia Mayo was…
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Frank and Ava movie stars Rico Simonini as Frank Sinatra and Emily Elicia Low as Ava Gardner: The explosive real-life relationship between the two temperamental Hollywood stars is the focus…
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Actress Sandra Dee was a hugely popular – and curious – cross between wholesome teen Deanna Durbin and tormented teen James Dean, going to school, catching waves, falling in love,…
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Actress Carol Lynley: Why the dramatic career downturn? The 1970s were a problematic decade for Hollywood film actresses; still, it’s hard to understand why Carol Lynley’s post-The Poseidon Adventure movies…
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Carol Lynley movies: In her heyday, the Blue Denim, Bunny Lake Is Missing, and The Poseidon Adventure actress was often cast as dreamy girl-next-door types willing and able to tear…
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Actress Ann Sothern enjoyed belated (second) career peak: In the late 1940s, the former Maisie franchise star was seen in a cluster of A productions – admittedly, not always box…