Ricardo Cortez biography The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez. Dan Van Neste's book covers the life and career of Paramount's “Latin Lover” threat to a recalcitrant Rudolph Valentino; one who would later portray a sly, seductive Sam Spade in the original – and highly enjoyable – […]

Ernst Lubitsch movies: Subtle, sophisticated 'Touch' all but gone from contemporary filmmaking. Ernst Lubitsch movies: The forgotten, passé 'Touch' Ernst Lubitsch and William Cameron Menzies were Turner Classic Movies' “stars” on Jan. 28, '16. (This is a fully revised and expanded version of a post published that day.) Lubitsch had […]

Greta Garbo movies: The Kiss was her final silent film. Greta Garbo movies: Rare silent era star on TCM Greta Garbo, a rarity among silent era movie stars, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” performer today, Aug. 26. Now, why would Garbo be considered a silent era rarity? […]

Honorary Oscar winner Angela Lansbury and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Angelina Jolie at the 2013 Governors Awards. Sept. 4, '14, Introduction: This three-part article on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Honorary Oscars and the dearth of female recipients was originally posted in Feb. 2007 and updated […]

Ramon Novarro. Ramon Novarro: Mexican-born actor was first Latin American Hollywood superstar Mexican-born actor Ramon Novarro, the original Ben-Hur and one of MGM's biggest stars of the late '20s and early '30s, has his Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” day on Thursday, Aug. 8. First, The Bad News: […]

Greta Garbo in 'Queen Christina.' Greta Garbo Queen Christina movie masterpiece. (Image: Greta Garbo as Queen Christina.) One of the most ambitious productions of the early '30s, the Greta Garbo star vehicle Queen Christina remains surprisingly modern in its execution thanks in large part to director Rouben Mamoulian's classy, assured […]

John Gilbert, Greta Garbo in Rouben Mamoulian's Queen Christina Just a few days ago I was wondering if Turner Classic Movies would devote a day to the likes of John Gilbert, one of the biggest movie stars of the silent era – or any era, really. Though mostly forgotten today, […]

Alla Nazimova, Salome (top); Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Mata Hari (bottom) Alla Nazimova's Salome, Claudette Colbert's Cleopatra, Hedy Lamarr's Delilah, and Greta Garbo's Mata Hari are the four temptresses featured in the “Ornament and the Enchantress” film series presented by Los Angeles' J. Paul Getty Museum. Charles Bryant's Salome (1923); […]

Carole Lombard, Fredric March in a Nothing Sacred publicity shot. Fredric March has his “Summer Under the Stars” day on Monday, Aug. 24. Turner Classic Movies will present 13 Fredric March films, including the TCM premiere of Richard Boleslawski's Academy Award-nominated Les Miserables (1935), a handsome – if dramatically stale […]

Ernst Lubitsch's delightful Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' series “Hollywood's Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939” on Monday, July 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in […]

Thursday-Saturday, August 7-9, highlights on Turner Classic Movies: Thursday is Greta Garbo Day: Sometimes splendid, sometimes godawful, Garbo was invariably great to look at. TCM will be showing some of the reclusive star's best films and performances, among them Camille, Ninotchka, and Queen Christina, but nothing one might call unique. […]

Johnny Mack Brown or Nils Asther? Nils Asther or Johnny Mack Brown? Conventional love or hot sex? That is the question Greta Garbo agonizes over in this her penultimate – and beautifully conceived – silent film. It all starts at one of those late night parties that all the idle […]

'Celebrities in the 1930 Census': Amelia Earhart in, but Garbo and gangsters wanted to be left alone. 'Celebrities in the 1930 Census': Mae West and Marie Dressler find Fountain of Youth, Greta Garbo and Al Capone go missing As it says on the cover, Allan R. Ellenberger's Celebrities in the […]

Movie quotes: 2007 Oscar poster celebrates iconic and less-than-iconic bits of film dialogue, from The Great Ziegfeld (1936) to Brokeback Mountain (2005). Somewhat ironically, some of the most memorable movie lines ever uttered actually originated elsewhere; for instance, Marlon Brando's/Don Corleone's “I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse,” […]

Shirley Temple now: SAG Life Achievement Award winner Shirley Temple, the biggest child star in film history, is now a grown woman. In fact, she has been one for quite some time. The 77-year-old Temple, in fact, has been named the next recipient of the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement […]

Greta Garbo in the 1930 'Anna Christie.' Greta Garbo DVD box set 'Garbo: The Signature Collection' Greta Garbo is the star of the DVD box set “Garbo: The Signature Collection,” which is scheduled to come out on Sept. 6, '05. The release has been timed to coincide with what would […]

Gay actor Ramon Novarro and Greta Garbo in 'Mata Hari.' Ramon Novarro biography: 'Beyond Paradise' The tragic story of gay actor Ramon Novarro, the first Latin American Hollywood star, is told in Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro. A top Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (and previously Metro Pictures) contract player from the […]