Susan Hayward... part IV

The Susan Hayward tribute continues...

Another scan of a promo postcard I have. In the mid 1950's Susie starting wearing her hair shorter but only because she wanted to. Always keenly aware of her strengths and protecting her interests (which would serve her well during her divorce!) , she had a clause in her contract stating her hair could not be cut against her wishes! Her 2nd film at Fox was actually done on a loanout to Sam Goldwyn and released through RKO. "My Foolish Heart" was a tailor-made vehicle for Susie and she nabbed her 2nd oscar nomination for her work in it. The film received great notices across the board and was the 3rd hit in a row for director Mark Robson, who directed the searing noir boxing film "Champion", starring Kirk Douglas, also in 1949. Robson is a director that doesnt get enough recognition these days but he did some truly excellent and wide-ranging work. Susie didnt get the oscar that year, the award going to Olivia deHavilland for her incredible performance in "The Heiress" instead.

A publicity still for one of Susie's best films of the early 1950's, Henry Hathaway's western thriller "Rawhide" with Tyrone Power. A taut, credible and well-acted film with gritty location photography by Milton Krasner. In 1952 Susie and John Wayne were declared "The Most Popular Stars in the World" by the Foreign Press Association. I recall AMC showing the newsreel footage of them receiving the "Henrietta" statue for this award. I probably have it on tape... somewhere!

One of my fave pics of Susie, a publicity shot for "I Can Get It For You Wholesale", a film I have yet to see, but by all accounts one of her best "ambitious-climbing-to-the-top-bitch roles" ever! On Aug 10th 1951 Susie was invited to put her hand prints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Shortly after that she had her biggest film to date, the biblical epic "David and Bathsheba". Directed by Henry King in searing technicolor, the film had everything going for it but is a major snoozer. The only reason I would steel myself to sit through this again would be to see Susie in color. But it was the biggest money-maker for Fox that year!

A promo postcard for "Snows of Kilaminjaro", which about half of Susie's scenes wound up on the cutting room floor. She ends up with a rather thankless role and the film totally belongs to Ava Gardner. But before she made that film she starred in "With a Song in My Heart", a bio-pic about singer Jane Froman. Susie once again gave a solid, gutsy performance (and even allowed her hair to be cut shorter to more resemble Froman!) which garnered her a 3rd Oscar nomination, this time losing out to Shirley Boothe for "Come Back Little Sheba". That was one of the few times she didnt actually attend the Oscar ceremonies because she, husband Jess Barker and the twins took off on a long awaited European vacation.

A shot from another excellent but often overlooked gem of a film, Nicholas Ray's "The Lusty Men". Susie's co stars were Robert Mitchum and the ever-reliable Arthur Kennedy. Ray's films are usually off-beat and interesting and this one is no exception. Susie gave a restrained, realistic performance and looked totally gorgeous to boot. In 1953 after 9 years of marriage Susan filed for divorce from Jess Barker. It was an ugly, bitter and long drawn out process because Barker simplty stated he did not want a divorce! She offered him a $100,000 settlement which he refused, demanding instead half of her community property which would have been worth about a quarter of a million, BUT back in 1944 she had him sign away any rights to her property when they got married! Quite an unprecedented thing at that time! Susan had made about $374,000 in 1951-52 while during the same period Barker had made $665! No wonder he didnt want a divorce!!

To be continued...

Bogey - part II

In the words of the immortal John Huston:
"He was endowed with the greatest gift a man can have - talent. The whole world came to recognize it . . . his life, though not a long one measureed in years, was a rich full life . . . We have no reason to feel any sorrow for him - only for ourselves for having lost him. He is quite irreplaceable. There will never be another like him."

well said!!!!

Here's the rest of Bogey's rogues gallery of classic characters with interesting names!

Bogart as Sam Spade along with Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Sidney Greenstreet in a scene from John Huston's masterpiece "The Maltese Falcon". One of the best examples of every single aspect of a film coming together and meshing perfectly! There was no looking back for Bogey after this one!

A publicity still of Bogey as "Gloves Donahue" in Warner bros classic "All Through the Night"

Bogey as Sgt Joe Gunn in the superb war film "Sahara", one of my all-time favorite Bogart films and just a damn great movie on every level! I had the good fortune of seeing this for the first time in the theater many years ago as a child and I was totally captivated by the performances, the tank, the desert and the constant feeling of THIRST!!! The only other films I can think of that equal that "thirsty" feeling are the different versions of the "Three Godfathers" and of course Sergio Leone's "The Good the Bad and the Ugly"

Bogey has things well in hand as Rip Murdock in "Dead Reckoning" with Lizabeth Scott. I always thought she was a bit odd as an actress. Nice looking but had such a weird voice!!! Too bad they never put her in a film with Eugene Pallette, Charles McGraw, June Allyson and Krusty the Klown . . . maybe the title coulda been "God, I Need a Cigarette!"

A rather intense picture of Bogey as Fred C. Dobbs in another John Huston masterpiece "Treaure of the Sierra Madre". Arguably the greatest performance of his career and no doubt one of the greatest films ever made! Bogey certainly had incredible co-stars in Walter Huston and Tim Holt, and in fact every single aspect of this film - direction, script, cinematography, music, etc, etc is simply fantastic!

Bogey as screenwriter Dixon Steele in the tense Nicholas Ray drama "In a Lonely Place". This is one of my favorite of Ray's films, offbeat and fascinating like most of his work, and gave Gloria Grahame (Whom i believe was Ray's wife at the time) one of the best roles of her career, which she played to the tee! And Bogey is just a living intensity in this!!!

Here we see Bogart as Charlie Allnut in John Huston's "The African Queen" doing something that Bogart himself loved to do!

Bogey as paranoid Captain 'Yellow Stain' Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny", one of his best later films. A great cast, tense direction by Edward Dmytryk and an unforgettable performance by Bogey make this film an absolute must-see!

More Noir lovelies . . .

Five more talented lovelies who made a particular impact in Film Noir . . .

A nice publicity shot of sexy and sultry Gloria Grahame, supporting actress Oscar winner for her role in the classic 1952 drama "The Bad and the Beautiful". She made a huge impact in Noir with her excellent performances in Edward Dmytryk's "Crossfire", Nicholas Ray's "In a Lonely Place" and especially Fritz Lang's tension-filled Noir masterpiece "The Big Heat", to name a few. This pic was scanned from one of the vintage stills in my collection.

Another scan from a vintage still, this time the incredibly gorgeous Jane Greer. Jane had a strange career in Hollywood and spent a lot of time getting paid for doing nothing! Howard Hughes had her under contract and since she refused his advances he didnt let her work even though he was paying her regardless! It's a shame too because she was a competent performer and always a pleasure to look at, but no matter, it's her unforgettable perfromance as the ultimate fem-fatale in Jacques Tourneur's ultra-stylish "Out of the Past" that assured her status as a Noir legend.

Ava Gardner looks even slinkier and sexier than usual in this publicity still for Robert Siodmak's "The Killers". I recall seeing a clip of Burt Lancaster on some talk show talking about this film, and her in particular. It went something like: : "Ava Gardner, one of the few truly beautiful women I ever worked with . . . when we did our loves scenes for the Killers, i was deeply stirred . . . in the form of some embarrassment!" Oh that Burt!!

Barbara Stanwyck in Billy Wilder's 1944 Noir masterpiece "Double Indemnity", a role that she played to the absolute hilt! In my opinion Barb shoulda got the best actress Oscar that year! The reality is she never recieved an Oscar but instead was given an honorary award in 1982 for her contributions to the art of screen acting. I would venture to say this is an Academy oversight on par with Edward G. Robinson, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock never winning Oscars!

A great shot of Veronica Lake taken by George Hurell. Affectionately referred to as "Moronica Lake" by the cantankerous Raymond Chandler, she never-the-less made several memorable forays into Noir territory in films like "This Gun for Hire", "The Glass Key" and "The Blue Dahlia", all co-starring pint-sized tough-guy, Alan Ladd. Apparently many women copied her famous long hair style with the peek-a-boo bangs, which caused a lot of safety concerns when these same women ended up working in factories during WWII! Lake then appeared in a few films with her famous blonde tresses done up safely in a bun or some other contained style so the women would follow suit! She is definitely a unique presence on film, there really is nothing else like her! And she suuuuuuuure photographed well!