Forgotten movie stars

John Gilbert, another silent star and Garbo's lover - was his voice wrong for sound ?

Ramon Novarro - the silent Ben Hur in 1925, killed by hustlers in late 60s.

Novarro was also gay of course - good with Garbo in Mata Hari in 1931, his voice was ok so surely he should have had a longer career.

Thomas Gomez, character actor from Ride the Pink Horse and Key Largo.

I saw Gomez just yesterday in a Dale Robertson (my first movie crush) western "The Gambler From Natchez" with lovely Debra Paget. He was also amusing in "the Conqueror" with Wayne and Susan Hayward - he was more a character actor than a star though.

John Gilbert's voice was fine for sound , he was sabotaged by LB Mayer who gave him shitty scripts (save one Gilbert wrote himself, 1932's Downstairs which isn't a bad film) His old flame Garbo came to the rescue and demanded that he costar with her in Queen Christina after some newcomer named Laurence Olivier's screen test was a dud. He died a few years later. Sad..

more forgotten stars:

William Haines

Marion Davies

Jean Peters

Virginia Grey

Johnny Mack Brown

Kay Francis

The Lane sisters

Alice Faye

Janet Gaynor

Annabella

Sonja Henie

Charles Farrell

The Ritz Brothers

Bobby Breen

Simone Simon

Ann Dvorak

Gale Sondergaard

Louis Hayward

Ann Sothern

Charlotte Greenwood

Marie Wilson

Wheeler and Woolsey

Olympe Bradna

Robert Sterling

Eddie Bracken

Eddie Bracken is a good choice - I can't bear him, the Jerry Lewis of his era?

Charles Farrell was a great discovery in The River recently, I had never seen him before. At least he ended up the mayor of Palm Springs.

Danny Kaye seems very forgotten now. Like Jerry Lewis that kind of humour has not lasted.

Frederic March

Alice Faye

Robert Taylor

Paul Henreid

Eddie Cantor

Betty Grable. The biggest female star of the 1940s. Had an uninterrupted run as a top 10 box office star from 1942 to 1951, something no other star before or since accomplished, not even Doris Day - but Day was #1 for several years, while Grable was #1 only once (in 1943).

The problem is that most of her films are very forgettable. She's usually the best thing in them.

George Brent was once considered a major leading man in films, appearing opposite Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Joan Fontaine, Ginger Rogers, Merle Oberon, Jean Arthur, etc. Among his five wives were Ruth Chatterton and Ann Sheridan.

Thank God, Danny Kaye is considered forgotten.

If you watch "Summer Stock" closely, Judy nearly breaks up on camera from Eddie Bracken's antics during their scenes together.

Great thread. I couldn't bear Eddie Bracken either - all he could do was yodel. I always said that if Ronald Reagan hadn't entered politics he'd be another Eddie Bracken. The story of John Gilbert's fall was that Garbo stood him up at their planned wedding at Marion Davies' Beverly Hills mansion (where JFK stayed in 1960 when he got the Democratic Presidential nomination). LB Mayer made a sarcastic remark, and Gilbert punched him in the face and broke his glasses. Quite unwise.

R9, if Fredric March hadn't made "Best Years of Our Lives" he'd be totally forgotten. (The big Oscar shame with that movie is Myrna Loy wasn't nominated.)

If Luise Rainer hadn't lived as long as she did she'd be more of a "forgotten" person. But she'll always be at the top of the "Undeserved Oscar" list. And if she hadn't won the two Oscars she would be squarely on the forgotten list.

I'm still going with George O'Brien.

[quote] [R9], if Fredric March hadn't made "Best Years of Our Lives" he'd be totally forgotten. (The big Oscar shame with that movie is Myrna Loy wasn't nominated.)

What about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for which he won an Oscar?

Who remembers Letch Feeley?

Here are a few names that were more recently huge, but will be largely forgotten in just a few years:

Hillary Swank Geena Davis Annette Bening Jon Claude Van Damme William Hurt Dennis Quaid

Here are a few names that were more recently huge, but will be largely forgotten in just a few years:

Hillary Swank

Geena Davis

Annette Bening

Jon Claude Van Damme

William Hurt

Dennis Quaid

Betty Grable movies are not seen much these days,, apart from How To Marry A Millionaire - unlike Monroe she did not work with top directors or initiate projects. Its fun seeing her though in those old Fox musicals with Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda.

Norman Foster

Glenda Farrell

Colleen Moore

Eric Linden

Rod LaRocque

Ricardo Cortez

Antonio Moreno

Gilbert Roland

Bebe Daniels

Ben Lyon

Mae Murray

Charles Buddy Rogers

Richard Arlen

Veronica Lake

Linda Darnell

Gene Tierney (apart from Laura).

Rosanna Podesta (who was 'Helen of Troy' in 1956)

Silvana Mangano

Monica Vitti - star of the arty Italian Antonioni films in the 1960s and later became a popular comedienne in Italy, in her 80s now it seems she has been in seclusion with Alzheimers for some years.

Pier Angeli - and her sister Marisa Pavan

Inger Stevens

Gia Scala

(Pier, Inger & Gia all committed suicide).

Helen Lawson

Vera Charles

I like Rosanna as Helen of Troy, she's very sweet, she had a reasonable career mainly in Europe, and died a few years ago. Her Paris in Helen of Troy, Jacques Sernas, died last year.

English actor Stanley Baker who died too young, in his 40s.

Laurence Harvey too though a lot of his movies are still around.

Car crash victims Francoise Dorleac, aged 25 in 1967, she was Catherine Deneuve's sister and could have had as big a career - and English bombshell Belinda Lee, also 25, and killed in 1961 - she did several British movies and European sword-and-sandal movies which did have a cult following.

Mabel Normand. She was the original star of Chaplin's films and a wonderful comedienne, also had her own production company, before it was the thing to do. Was good friends with Olive Thomas, who married Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford's brother. Thomas died in Paris, of an overdose of what is thought to have been the mercury pills for Jack's syphilis. Unknown if it was suicide. Thomas and Normand were really into cocaine and morphine.

Was involved in the scandal of William Taylor Desmond, who was shot, and either Normand did it, or Mary Miles Minter or her mother did it. MMM was another forgotten actress, supposed to have been competition for Mary Pickford.

*Sorry that was William Desmond Taylor. I was thinking of Norma Desmond, whose character name is a nod.

Was William Haines really a movie star - I have never seen any of his movies revived anywhere.

More George O'Brien

Yes, William Haines was a huge movie star, R32, at the time. I've seen several of his films in silent revival festivals, so they do exist, but they aren't going to get the same play as other silents, like anything with Louise Brooks, or made by Chaplin.

The film they used at the time disintegrated very quickly, and during the early years film, his heyday, film was seen as disposable. Why would anyone want to see an old picture when there are new ones, they thought. Plus, I think there was effort to ensure his pictures didn't make it. He refused a movie career for ANOTHER MAN.

He went on to have huge impact as an interior designer. He did all-white rooms first. It's a cliche now, but was a revelation back then. Carole Lombard always said he and Jimmy had the best marriage in Hollywood, and he had a wonderful second act, designing and loving/being loved.

R32, if you currently have the world view that X cannot be popular because you've never seen it, well, maybe it is time to use just a wee bit of curiosity and go to YOUTUBE. Here is a link to one of his short films, of which he made many.

I bet you won't watch it because "silent movies are boooooring".

Full Length William Haines "The Marines Are Coming", with Conrad Nagel, who deflowered Joan Fontaine, according to her memoir "No Bed of Roses".

Who remembers Turhan Bey, once known by his fans as "The Turkish Delight"?

Gilbert Roland was so sexy. Why was he always a character man and never a leading man?

Laraine Day

Ruth Hussey

Virginia Weidler

Bob Burns

Judy Canova

Fred Allen

Estelle Winwood

Will Rogers (once the most popular man in America, now he's all but forgotten except for the airport named after him)

Irene Manning

Faye Emerson

Gloria Warren (WB' s answer to Deanna Durbin who made a couple of films then retired from movies to start a family)

Robert Hutton

Dane Clark

Joyce Reynolds

Pola Negri

Norman Maine

Oh r 18, I certainly remember Letch Feeley.

Neely O'Hara

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

[R41] Then you reemember me, joo beetch!

W. C. Fields. He was one of the biggest rediscoveries in the big "Nostalgia boom' of the ear. '70s, and "My Little Chickadee" was hailed as one of the great classic comedies of all time. Now Fields is back to being forgotten and "Chickadee" now seems very creaky - neither West nor Fields are at their best.

Martha Raye.

Karen Stone

All washed up and hanging with her lesbian Mistress, Meg Bishop

I don't see the point of this thread. Flame is fleeting, all the more so in 2016.

Even the most famous actors of the 20th century are unknown to people under 25. Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable, et. al.

most of these stars are not forgotten if you watch a lot of TCM

r39 how can someone be "forgotten" if there is an airport named after them?

I tried to watch a Pola Negri film recently - "A Woman Commands" - its laughably unwatchable now. Gi ve me Norma Desmond any day !

Mary Eaton, former Ziegfeld Girl and early-talkies star best remembered for "Glorifying The American Girl" and the first Marx Bros. film "The Cocoanuts".

She's at 1:12 - 1:36 in this clip. Very beautiful face and smile--she reminds me of a young Stevie Nicks. By the way, the lady in red at the end of the clip as another forgotten silent star, Mae Murray, "The Girl With The Bee-Stung Lips".

George O'Brien had a nice batch.

Fabulous clip r52! Beautiful evocation of the innocent early 1920s mystique before The Flapper became all the rage in 1925.

Mae Murray was a huge star, rival to Gloria Swanson and Pola Negri.

Pola had one last throw of the dice in Disney's 'The Moonspinners' in 1964, in that scene with Hayley Mills! She was incomprehensible there too.

Should Betty Grable really be part of this "forgotten" list? Her name --or at least her image -- comes up any time the 1940's are even mentioned. I think she is firmly established as a symbol of that era.

Yes r56, but her films are not any good.

1940s/1950s actors (usually cowboys) Rory Calhoun and Guy Madison - and it seems they were real pally off-screen too ..... Rory worked with Grable and Monroe while Guy was too sexy. According to the gossip Rory used to fuck Guy a lot despite both being married.

Kerwin Matthews was a real attractive guy and lived with a male partner for decades. He died a while back.

I want the clothes in the color film clip!

Rory and Guy were part of agent Henry Willson's stable of young gay actors. He kept tight rein on them and wouldn't allow two guys to live together or even eat out - there had to be a third one along to keep it innocent looking. and of course he married off Rock Hudson to his secretary Phyllis Gates (seemingly a lesbian) for a year or so to defer rumours about Rock.

Ah r47 I get it - The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone ! Love that movie, esp Lotte Lenya as La Contessa with her stable of young beauties. Vivien of course sketched her deperation perfectly, almost a caricature of her real self. It seems Tennessee wanted Katharine Hepburn for the role, but Kate had already played the love-starved woman in Italy falling for a handsome man in Summertime in 1955, so would hardly have repeated herself.

r58 wasn't Rory Calhoun an ex-criminal, like Robert Mitchum - in prison for some drug bust or the like? Maybe he picked up a liking for gay sex there ...

There's a chapter in the bio about Henry Wilson where Rory is making a lot of noise fucking Guy in a car. So hot!!

She certainly does resemble Stevie.

Austrian actor Anton Walbrook, popular in the 1940s, was also gay. He and Kay Kendall, whom the OP also mentions, are buried near each other in a lovely old cemetry in Hampstead, North London. Its a popular spot for actors to spend eternity. Gladys Cooper and others are also there.

Walter Brennan

Andy Devine

Flora Robson

Woody Strode

Jeanne Eagels

Jean Harlow

Deloros del Rio

Lupe Velez

Has Jack Carson been mentioned?

Norma Shearer is a perfect example. Back in the 30s, she was bigger than Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Now all three of them are still very much remembered. But hardly anybody remembers Shearer

R3, R4, if you like Thomas Gomez try to find Force of Evil with John Garfield, he plays Garfield's brother who's a small time crook, Garfield is a crooked lawyer, and Marie Windsor is...Marie Windsor.

I love Betty Grable movies, loopiness in Techinicolor with singing and dancing, I'm there. Alice Faye, as well.

I have a cd of Pola Negri songs, enjoy them quite a bit. I love over-emotive tango music, especially sung in German. So Wunderbar! Negri left Germany while taking a "routine" vacation from UFA and left all her things behind in order to get away.

Wallace Reid was a handsome and hugely popular silent film star whose addiction to morphine led to his premature death at the age of 31.

Sessue Hayakawa was another popular silent screen star and a rare example of an early Asian heartthrob, before Hollywood jumped on the "yellow peril" bandwagon and desexualized the Asian male image in the media. He made a brief comeback in the '50s with "Bridge on the River Kwai."

Charles Coburn. Wonderful character actor Leon Errol, ditto.

[quote]I saw Thomas Gomez just yesterday in a Dale Robertson (my first movie crush) western "The Gambler From Natchez" with lovely Debra Paget. He was also amusing in "the Conqueror" with Wayne and Susan Hayward - he was more a character actor than a star though.

That's true, though I never really funny understood what a character actor vs star is. Are stars never character actors?

Charles Bickford

I don't know how forgotten he is, but I always thought Robert Ryan was really sexy for some reason (especially in his boxing picture, The Set Up). Yeah, I know he was an alcoholic. Nobody's perfect.

Edward Everett Horton

Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Jack Hawkins

Donald Pleasence

Terry-Thomas

C. Aubrey Smith

John Williams

Anna Sten. MGM tried to make another Garbo out of her and she bombed big time...

Shelley Hack

Eva Bartok

Sterling Hayden, another Robert Ryan type but less menacing.. He went from starring with Bette in The Star to Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar. Bet he could have told a few tales ... he starred in Huston's The Asphalt Jungle too.

Stars become character actors as they age - if they are lucky and can accept smaller parts. - like Hayden did in films like Altman's The Long Goodbye.

Jack Hawkins is still well-remembered here in the UK.

Melvyn Douglas - 30s leading man (with Garbo in Ninotchka and Two Faced Woman) who grew into older character actor in films like Billy Budd and Hud.

Fredric March too.

Jean Arthur and Irene Dunne.

r68: I love Jack Carson - he could do any film genre: women's pictures, crime dramas, noir, musicals, comedies, westerns - and do each one superbly. He was also one of the best liked actors on the Warner's lot, and when he was lent to MGM for DANGEROUS WHEN WET, Esther Williams went crazy for him. He had a long affair with Doris Day (he was her mentor in filming from her debut in ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS) and after the affair ended they remained lifelong friends.

This thread is pointless. Should we have to remember every obscure thespian who died decades ago? Even some of the "stars" from golden age Hollywood were very much overrated and not really worthy of mention these days.

Vivian Vance

Shut up r86 and get out of the fucking thread if you've got nothing positive to say.

Keir Dullea

Sam Levene

Cecil Kellaway

Jean Harlow

Carol Lombard

Veronica Lake

Steve Guttenberg

Meg Ryan

Elizabeth Berkeley

Kristen Scott Thomas

Melanie Griffith

Sam Worthington

Edward Furlong

Nick Stahl

Joey Lauren Adams

Kristin Scott Thomas still appears in films both in French and English.

Michael Biehn

Linda Hamilton

Linda Kozlowski

Annabelle Sciorra

Rachel Ticontin

Laura Sangiacomo

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (?)...was in Perfect Storm w Clooney.

Rosanna Arquette

Richard Grieco

Craig Schaffer...was in A River Runs Through It, with Brad Pitt

Michael Schoeffling, from Sixteen Candles fame

Steve Sandvoss

Scott Wolf

Neve Campbell

Jason Priestley & Luke Perry

Anne Marie from Brewster Heiress Richard Mary from Tale of Twin Cities Fetching Waters from Garden of Dust Earl Grey from House of Tea Carly Cruz from Snowball in Hell Pussy Liquore from O'Keefe's Flower Palin Bristol from Enough Already Saylor Twift from Hating Haters Hate Robert Downey Sr. from Tin Man Donny Trump from Truth Shall,Lose Noel Onsteen from Jesus is Pretend Michael Ripa from Who Cares Faye Dunaway

[quote] Keir Dullea

Gone tomorrow.

Here's your answer about Nils Asther, OP

Eleanor Parker - big star late 40's/early 50's, last appeared in thankless role as "Elsa the Countess" in "The Sound of Music," though both her songs from the Broadway version were cut for the movie. Nominated several times for Best Actress Oscars, but never won. Just seems to have faded away.

Irene Dunne has been mentioned, but I can't think of another actress who did it all: musicals, dramas, comedy, character parts. Big name in her day, practically typified the 30's, then married a mogul in Texas, as I recall, and never did anything else. (Of course, by that time, she had been doing only character roles; so I don't blame her.)

Ginger Rogers - barely any mention of her nowadays, except in conjunction with Fred Astaire, and no one cares about her "dramatic" side, even though she did win an Oscar for "Kitty Foyle."

(But then, Cliff Robertson also won an Oscar, and, like, who the fuck cares?)

Joan Fontaine - pretty big in her day, but major roles didn't last long, and she balked at character parts

Also, come to think of him:

Kevin Costner - big star, director, producer. Won Oscars. (Though never for acting....) Who thinks of him now?

I always forget Eleanor Parker in any lists of film stars.

Vera Miles now in seclusion, in her 80s (like Martha Hyer was until her recent death) but she will always be remembered for her 2 Ford and 2 Hitchcock films.

Thanks r98 for the Nils info. Alton Walbrook has a similar page ..... another gay european actor.

Joel Mccrea. I love his low-key, funny characters from when he was young. One of my favorite movies is The More The Merrier with Joel, Jean Arthur, and Charles Coburn. The plot is corny and tortured, but who cares! The acting is fun, as are the sets and the costumes. It is my dream to have those white, ruffly, swoopy curtains so popular in the 40s. They're in Mrs. Minniver, too!

Has anyone mentioned Constance Bennett? Huge star in the 30s and very well paid. It was highly publicised that she made 30,000 dollars a week. Sister Joan's career was probably even bigger.

Yes, Constance Bennett as well as Kay Francis, Ann Harding and Ruth Chatterton were the biggest female stars of the early talkies. All retired or reduced to supporting character roles by the end of the decade. So it's no wonder they're all completely forgotten today, 85 years later.

The difference between a star and a character actor:

A star is a larger than life personality who always plays himself/herself. Think Gable, Hepburn, Grant, Crawford, Monroe.

A character actor plays the character.

Though come to think of it, most of the best character actors always played the same character. Think Thelma Ritter, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Brennan, Eve Arden.

Bette Davis proudly called herself a character actor.

Discuss.

Jean Harlow forgotten?

Hardly.

Carroll Baker

If it were not for FOLLIES, one could say Alexis Smith.

Yet one could still say Gene Nelson.

[quote]A star is a larger than life personality who always plays himself/herself. Think Gable, Hepburn, Grant, Crawford, Monroe.

I always thought the difference between a star and a character actor is that the star can bring in the money, he is the BO draw. But it has little to do with whether they can act or not, whether they can convincingly become a character or not.

Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp are (were) stars only, not character actors

Pacino, RDJ, De Niro, Bette Davis are stars and character actors

Paul Scofield, Edward Norton, Michelle Williams, Judi Dench are not stars but character actors

I think the line is very blurry

Yvonne, dear . . . I enjoyed reading that passage in Frank Langella's book about you giving him a blow job in his dressing room and then followed up with a rendition of "I'm Still Here" in the early 1970's when you were both filming a television movie.

Lol, didn't Tony Curtis have a similar passage about Yvonne in his book?

Howard Keel

AnnE Hathaway

Jane Cowl

Ethel Barrymore

Merle Oberon

As long as the elderqueeren are alive the ancient "stars" will never be forgotten. If only they could remember to wipe.

Arthur Edmund Carewe

Norman Kerry

Leslie Banks

Robert Donat

Wallace Reid's story is exceptionally sad. Once he was injured and hooked on morphine, there didn't seem to be any way out.

[R118] - Oh yes, Robert Donat! He had the most beautiful eyes.

Ann Harding - with the most "modern" acting style of the early 30s - miles ahead of other actresses.

Jean Arthur. She is my favorite.

Richard Barthelmess, Chester Morris, Madge Bellamy, Anita Page

Madge Bellamy is forgotten, but at least one of her movies is watched and aired frequently: White Zombie. Which is a cult film because of Bela Lugosi's amazing performance.

The beautiful Gardner McKay.

Take me with you Gardner

1950s English comedian Norman Wisdom. Always the downtrodden Cockney everyman, he was poignantly sweet and charming as he made his way through life's problems.

Never heard of Gardner McKay, so that was a good example of forgotten. He looks quite yummy. I like this passage about how he was "discovered":

"He was spotted by Dominick Dunne, then a television producer for Twentieth Century Fox, who was searching for an actor to star in his planned Adventures in Paradise. Dunne put his business card on the table and said, "If you're interested in discussing a television series, call me."

Many of these are subjective. I doubt that any attendees at the TCM Classic Film Festival this weekend would agree with over 70% of these entries. R81, Hayden did tell his tales in Wanderer, his autobiography, which he followed with Voyage, a novel. R45, I love Fields in this clip, much less creaky than Chickadee.

Thanks for the info. I just bought Sterling Hayden's book on Amazon Kindle. Three bucks.

Francis Lederer, another beauty who eventually moved over to character roles, starred in German films first in the late 20's and then as the situation in Europe declined in the 30's he came to Hollywood, where he was in films for another four decades before making millions in real estate. He also taught acting in LA until the week he died at 100.

Who remembers Letch Feeley?

AKA Kurt Bieber...known more for the nude modelling he did with Jim French. He's on the left.

[quote]Oh yes, Robert Donat! He had the most beautiful eyes.

Robert Donat , Louis Jourdan and forgotten 80s actor Dale Midkiff look like they could all be brothers.

Dick Powell - WB's musical leading man, reinvented himself as Noir tough guy, reinvented himself as TV star. Huge star in his day. Very savvy career actor married to June Allyson.

Hot as fuck but was probably the craziest actor to have had a real shot. Lawrence Tierney. He has such a presence on screen that the studios kept giving him chance after chance. His crazy offscreen antics just got to the point where they couldn't hire him. If you have a chance to catch one of his movies you really should. He's mesmerizing on screen. He was just certifiably insane.

Cesar Romero

Most of these were character actors and in no way stars that brought people in to the box office.

Two real HUGE stars that are forgotten by just about everyone except for TCM junkies are Lana Turner and Paul Muni.

You can't say you love movies and not have seen the original Postman Always Rings Twice and Scarface.

In fact though I haven't seen the remake of Scarface a friend tells me the whole incredible violent twisted incest scene at the end of the original film which is truly amazing doesn't exist in the Pacino version.

And Fields' The Bank Dick is one of the great American comedies and needs no excuse for age.

R135, here's Tierney's younger brother Scott Brady (far left) in a special moment with Hugh O'Brian, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. Both Brady and youngest brother Edward Tierney were also in movies. Brady arguably was most successful of the three.

No. Lawerence was a lot more successful. He was in over 40 movies. His first five or so, before the start of his self inflicted downfall, were quite successful. Here's a good little clip of Lawrence. Go all the way to the end LOL

Rock looks a bit bewildered about being penetrated, in the background.

Laura LaPlante

George Arliss

Marie Dressler

Jean Peters

Jeffrey Hunter

Jeanne Crain

Kay Francis

Margaret Sullavan

Robert Montgomery

Ralph Bellamy

Edmond O'Brien

Evelyn Keyes

No way is Cesar forgotten, R136. Playing the Joker on Batman has made him immortal, no matter how much his earlier work is ignored.

Margaret Sullavan is a good one. Recently I read her daughter's book HAYWIRE, a very good read, so I now have some knowledge of her. I can't name a movie of hers I've seen.

The Shop Around the Corner with James Stewart and Margaret, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. You should see that one, R143.

Thanks r144.

Sullavan's version of Back Street was also good. She is great in it.

What film is that photo with Rock and Hugh and Tony at r138 from?

Margaret Sullavan is the perfect star for this thread. Huge in movies in the late 30s/early 40s, sort of similar to Kate Hepburn in her disdain of obvious glamour, and yet far more accessible to American audiences.

Married William Wyler, Henry Fonda and Leland Hayward (no slouches!) and often partnered onscreen with James Stewart, most memorably in Three Comrades and the aforementioned perfect romcom The Shop Around the Corner (basis for the musical She Loves Me).

I have a VHS tape of Haywire from my late mother's collection. It was a TV miniseries with Lee Remick playing Margaret Sullavan. Any good? Not sure if my old VCR works.

Lee Remick also seems to be forgotten. She was a competent actress but so pretty. People used to say my Mom resembled her and Joanne Woodward. As you can imagine my grandmother loved The Long Hot Summer.

Deborah Kerr

Tierney was the better actor, R139, but Brady was more commercially successful since Tierney drank himself out of being a real contender. By the late 50's Tierney was reduced to bit and small supporting parts in TV and mostly B movies, then was briefly resurgent in the 80's as Sergeant Jenkins in Hill Street Blues, in a supporting part in Prizzi's Honor, and thanks to Tarantino for Reservoir Dogs in '92. Brady costarred or had strong supporting roles from the late 40's through the late 60's in mainstream stuff (Johnny Guitar, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes) and starred in westerns as well as in some grade Z stuff later. He also starred in his own series (Shotgun Slade) from 1959-1961. By the 70's both Brady and Tierney were doing roughly the same, relegated to the margins. Brady succumbed to pulmonary fibrosis in 1985.

R147, the picture is from a Modern Screen pictorial in September of 1951. Here's another pic of Brady.

Aldo Ray

Van Johnson

June Allyson

Jane Powell

Dorothy McGuire

Lew Ayres

Constance Bennett

Franchot Tone

Arletty

Deborah Kerr was in one of the most famous kissing scenes in cinematic history.

In From Here to Eternity Deborah Kerr goes from Metro lady in waiting to bitch in heat.

Don't call a lady a bitch R156!

I saw Scott Brady in a really cheesy science fiction film. By then he was bloated and looked like an ugly Dad.

Lew Ayers had a very interesting biography and worked for many years.

If you ever saw "Damien: Omen II" you can never forget him as Damien's very first victim in the film as the man trapped under the ice!

That was Lew Ayers!

People like Lee Remick, Deorah Kerr or Jeffrey Huner are not forgotten, and still have their fan bases. Hunter will never be forgotten as the John Ford western classic "The Searchers" is always on somewhere.

Joan Blondell is a example of a 1930s star (she sang "Remember my forgotten man" in Golddiggers of 1933) ageing into character parts, I like her as Katharine Hepburn' pal in Desk Set in 1957, or in the Steve McQueen The Cincinnatii Kid in 1965.

Despite my love for old movies I have never seen Nils Asther in anything - the OP mentoned him.

Kay Kendall was indeed a marvellous glamorus comedienne - England's Carole Lombard? I could picture Kendall as Holly Golightly had she lived.

Lombard of course despite her cult following is forgotten by the general public too now, but how could it be otherwise, she died in 1942.

Nils Asther was a very out gay for his time, according to Wikipedia - and was pals with Garbo, just like the equally out William Haines was pals with Crawford. Most of these female stars must have had lots of gay close friends as confidantes who were closer to them than straight guys.

Yes Martin Pawley in THE SEARCHERS is Jeff Hunter's most iconic role. What a gorgeous guy he was, shame he died young too.

Guy Madison was another hot hunk of that 1940s-1950s era, often a marine or a cowboy.

Kerwin Matthews too, who was actually gay and lived with a man for decades, seems nobody noticed.

[quote] Joel Mccrea. I love his low-key, funny characters from when he was young. One of my favorite movies is The More The Merrier with Joel, Jean Arthur, and Charles Coburn. The plot is corny and tortured, but who cares! The acting is fun, as are the sets and the costumes.

A total and complete babe, McCrea is wonderful in this movie. And Charles Coburn is great in his Oscar winning (Best Supporting Actor) role.

I believe McCrea was a California guy, attended Hollywood High and was friends with the girls who were daughters of the studio moguls. The daughters all thought he was dreamy.

He was also great in Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent".

Richard Barthelmess - another 1930s well known actor, forgotten now. I only know him from Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings in 1939. He may have been the oriental guy in the Lillian Gish silent Broken Blossoms - or was that Nils Asther ?

Richard Basehart...always thought he was an Irishman but he's actually American.

Hot,handsome and largely forgotten.

Except for Hitchcock's "Llifeboat" and maybe "The Harvey Girls" one doesn't see too much these days of the unconventionally sexy John Hodiak

Somebody mentioned Jeanne Crain upthread and it reminded me of this delightful costume test footage for the movie "State Fair".

Jeanne looks absolutely breathtaking in a sweet,wholesome,unaffected and all-American way. She's definitely my favorite actress from that amazing era.

Linda Darnell, one of the most beautiful women ever in films, died from burns from a house fire in 1965.

Yes 170 but I don't think she is forgotten. Crain is and Basehart was never quite in the star league, more an interesting co-star.

Jeanne Crain was indeed gorgeous, fresh and wholesome but was a terribly wooden actress, foisted onto directors by Fox chief Darryl Zanuck. She almost ruins A Letter to Three Wives as the first wife. Thank goodness she was too pregnant to accept the role of Eve Harrington.

But a big YES to Linda Darnell, the second wife of ALTTW. A brunette beauty whose smoldering charisma made up for any lack of acting talent.

Also forgotten: ALTTW's third wife Ann Sothern, who began in the 1930s as a mini Joan Blondell soubrette in B musicals, moved over to MGM in the 1940s to star in their hugely popular Maisie B films (occasionally breaking out in A musicals), but found real stardom on 1950s TV as Private Secretary's Susie McNamara and then as Katy O'Connor on the Ann Sothern Show in the early 1960s. And she capped off her career with an Oscar nomination in The Whales of August in 1987. Now that's a a long LONG career, and yet entirely forgotten today.

Jeanne Crain was very bland, she is the least interesting of the 3 in A Letter To Three Wives, and Gene Tierney (forgotten?) was the real star of Leave Her To Heaven.

Cornel Wilde - now there's forgotten !

Yes, R166, that was Barthelmess in Broken Blossoms. Here he is with Bette Davis and Dorothy Jordan in The Cabin in the Cotton.

R173, anyone who's seen Cornel Wilde in The Naked Prey or The Greatest Show on Earth would never forget him for apparent reasons...

And who can forget the somnabulent Vera Hruba Ralston?

Judy Canova

Gawd, R176, I just watched an old horror movie with Ralston. She was pitiful, especially when compared to old pros like Erich Von Stroheim and Richard Arlen. And she wasn't very attractive, despite the constant compliments she received in the movie.

Ralston was only in those Republic pictures because of her involvement with Republic's studio head Herbert Yates, whom she eventually married. Her English was so bad that she had to learn her lines phonetically. After suffering through two films with her, John Wayne refused to do any more, convinced that costarring with her was bad for his career.

Interviewed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, Maureen Stapleton was asked what she did to make herself feel better when she knew she'd given a bad performance: "I look through the TV Guide and try to find a Vera Hruba Ralston picture to watch because I know, no matter how bad a performance I may have given, I could NEVER be as bad as she was!".

That Maureen Stapleton comment is hialrious

[R179] - I remember reading that her friend Judy Holliday would call her late at night to let her know that a Ralston movie was on T.V.

She was named after me!

Jeanne Crain could have been so much more if she had been more interested in being a mega star. The parts that were written with her in mind, then turned down by her, are mind boggling. By her own admission she was just lazy and wanted to stay home with her kids. All six of them. That she had one after another. A couple, by her own admission, to get out of a commitment. She really was drop dead fucking gorgeous. In a lot of her pics she still looks very modern. She may be mostly forgotten but I find her very interesting.

Jeanne Crain was adorable in Margie. Unfortunately, the movie isn't available on DVD, and I don't know of any streaming service that has it.

One more Jeanne for the road.

Has Jose Ferrer been mentioned? Oscar winner, who married Rosemary Clooney. Love their actor son Miguel Ferrer, much sexier than his cousin George.

Patsy Kensit.

Jane Withers

I was wilde for Cornel's grapefruits.

Jeanne Craine is very terrific in State Fair.

At the end of the film when she gets that phone call she really looks like she's going to burst with happiness.

I have never been a Jose Ferrer fan but I saw a live interview with Stanley Donen once at the Walter Reade and he said that Ferrer was cast in Deep in My Heart because he was the biggest thing at the time.

I recently saw it for the first time on TCM and I have to admit his Jazza Dada Doo number is an amazing hilarious seemingly unedited tour de force.

Watch it as well for James Mitchell and Cyd. Probably the most erotic dance number ever put on film. I don't even know how they got away with it.

Alain Delon

Mark Stevens

Victor Mature

Jennifer Jones and Jean Simmons

Yeah Jennifer Jones is a good one. Never got her appeal at all. Who was she fucking?

Only David O Selznick, r194.

You really walked into that one, r194!

She was also formerly married to Robert Walker.

I have never understood her appeal.

Although we talk about her here from time to time, Deanna Durbin was a huge star for her whole career, but really nobody can name a single one of her films.

I truly enjoy her English language/non-traditional "Nessun Dorma", it's exquisite.

Well there you go. I knew it had to be something. I recently watched a double feature of her in A Portrait of Jenny and The Song of Bernadette. The intro was such a build up of her. Especially her beauty. The movies weren't bad but she wasn't worth the glowing intro and all I read about her that was just as glowing. Completely miscast in A Portrait of Jenny. I'm sure though there are others who have more expertise in old movies who will disagree with me. I was just completely underwhelmed.

Jeanne Crain is understandably forgotten But I remember well her smokin husand Paul Brinkman

A DL favorite: Home movie of Ann Blyth's wedding, featuring glamorous Irene Dunne, Jeanne Crain (in a pea-green ensemble that could be worn today) with hunky/creepy Paul Brinkman, perky Terry Moore, sweet Piper Laurie, gregarious Danny Thomas and Jack Benny asking himself "what am I doing here?"

I love that clip r200. Those outfits, they all look smashing and glamorous!

1953 was a very good look for women. Crain looked fucking gorgeous. The lady in white at 1:51 who was that...she looked incredible in what she was wearing.

Looks like Itene Dunne, R202.

*Irene

Gene Nelson had a truly remarkable and varied career. He started off as a skater in Sonja Heine's Ice Shows, had two bits in two of her Fox movies, comes back to Fox briefly after the war where he appears in bits in MIRACLE ON 34th STREET and GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT then goes to Warners where he becomes their answer to Gene Kelly & Dan Dailey, partnering June Haver, Doris Day & Virginia Mayo, in musicals like THE DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY, LULLABY OF BROADWAY, SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE, SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY and PAINTING THE CLOUDS WITH SUNSHINE, appears in the film of OKLAHOMA as Will Parker, then becomes one of Hollywoods busiest hack directors for films and TV, directing a few Elvis movies, and episodes of everything from I DREAM OF JEANNIE, F-TROOP, STAR TREK, THE DONNA REED SHOW, THE MOD SQUAD, even GET CHRISTIE LOVE! and caps it all by creating the role of Buddy in the original Broadway cast of FOLLIES.

He was an exceptional dancer, one of Hollywoods best - but he lacked charisma, sex appeal and a winning singing voice. I think it also did not help him that he was also named Gene. I wish he had written an autobiography.

What was that chicory coffee that Jeanne Crain use to sell in commercials?

Dan Dailey

Barry Nelson

Tony Franciosa

David Hedison

I always thought a young Russell Crowe would have been a great choice to star in a movie about Wallace Reid.

Supposedly Debra Winger was at one time to have starred in in movie about the life of Mabel Normand. I think she could probably qualify as a "forgotten" movie star. Hugely popular in silent comedy films (she was very athletic and was great in the frantically physical comedies back then) her career was ruined by her addiction to cocaine and her involvement in the William Taylor murder scandal. She was not really considered a suspect in his murder, but she was a close friend of his and just being associated with him damaged her reputation. She was considered a beauty, but I didn't really think she was. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was a frequent co-star of hers; the only thing he's remembered for is his involvement in the demise of Virginia Rappe, a young woman (NOT a slut, NOT a hooker, NOT pregnant, NOT riddled with VD, NOT dying of a botched abortion) who became stricken in his hotel room and later died. I don't think I've ever seen any movies of his on TCM. Maybe they showed something of his once, but he's one silent star you almost hear nothing about, unless it's in the context of the scandal that ruined his career as a movie star (he still found employment in movies, as a director).

Gordon Macrae

Allan Jones

Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald

Here's Jeanne in Margie. You can get a ton of the old movies on YouTube. YouTube and a Roku and you'll have all the oldies you'll ever want.

Lots of stars did coffee and ersatz coffee commercials, R206, but I don't think Crain was among them. Here's something she did actually shill.

Jeanette and Nelson forgotten?

That would be like naming Fred and Ginger.

Wendell Corey - apparently he drank himself to death.

Wendell was a huge self-loathing closet case who did indeed drink himself to death.

Won't Wendell Corey being in "Rear Window" keep him from being forgotten?

Wendell Corey played a gay character in Desert Fury

"I went home with him that night. I was locked out. Didn't have a place to stay. His old lady ran a boarding house in the Bronx. There were a couple of vacant rooms. We were together from then on."

Was Elizabeth Scott a lesbian?

Earl Holliman - won a Golden Globe (deservedly) for The Rainmaker

James Franciscus

Does anyone remember me...???

Ann Blyth's groom was Dr. James McNulty. He was the brother of singer Dennis Day who was best man.

Here's another brief clip:

Mitzi Gaynor

And was Wendell Corey really a closet case? Never heard that

John Payne

Eddie Quillan was a very popular comic in silents and early talkies but was later cast in character roles and bit parts. He took a very good picture but he had a sort of Jiminy Cricket voice and a goofy screen presence, which of course suited his comic roles.

Bessie Love's career spanned seven decades, from D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 to Warren Beatty's Reds in 1981. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar as one of the stars of The Broadway Melody, the first talking film to win Best Picture. In it, she delivers a stunningly realistic monologue while crying at her dressing room mirror. Scenes like that rendered silent pictures obsolete on the spot.

But who remembers Bessie Love today?

Brian Aherne, a Englishman who moved to the US and made movies here for decades. He wrote a WONDERFUL autobiography in the late 60s, then lived about 20 years longer.

He's probably best known to young audiences today from a Twilight Zone, the one about the old actor who goes through a door and gets to be with his young wife and colleagues again, back when he was a big star. The episode was titled "The Trouble with Templeton" and there's a folk/alt band that took that name.

I read Brian Aherne's autobiography. I am the gayest man in the universe.

This reminds me of a story about Aherne and Bette Davis when they were making Juarez together in 1939. Davis complimented Aherne about the beard that he'd grown for his role, stating that it suited him and he should keep it. Aherne, taken aback, told Davis that she should keep wearing the black wig that she wore for her role as Empress Carlotta. The rest of the shoot between them was frosty.

There MUST be more to the story than that, because without more it seems like Aherne was the Bette Davis in the story and Bette Davis was the Brian Aherne!

Too easy.

R227, it's in Davis' book Mother Goddam. It'd be interesting to get Aherne's version...

Aherne was also Joan Fontaine's first husband and far sexier than the photo at r225.

Was his final big screen appearance in 1958's The Best of Everything as Joan Crawford's boss?

r220: Blyth & McNulty were together for the rest of his long life.

In 1953, Blyth married obstetrician James McNulty, brother of singer Dennis Day, who had introduced them. The bridesmaids were actresses Joan Leslie, Jane Withers, and Betty Lynn. After her marriage, Blyth cut back somewhat to focus on raising their five children, Timothy Patrick (June 10, 1954); Maureen Ann (December 14, 1955); Kathleen Mary (December 23, 1957); Terence Grady (December 9, 1960); and Eileen Alana (April 10, 1963). In 1973, she and McNulty, both devout Catholics, were accorded the honorific rank of Lady and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Terence Cooke. McNulty died May 13, 2007, in La Jolla.

PATRICK KNOWLES

Frequent 'B' list actor, early on often cast at WB with ERROL FLYNN; probably best remembered to gay audiences for playing Lindsey Woolsey in AUNTiE MAME.

KNOWLES on L, deHAVILLAND, FLYNN

Aherne's last film was Rosalind Russell's Rosie!

Australian born DAME JUDITH ANDERSON. So versatile; she could play darn near anyone & do it exceptionally well. Mrs. Danvers, the evil lesbian housekeeper in REBECCA, in LAURA where she was cast as the lead's conniving aunt, 'Big Mama' in the TAYLOR/NEWMAN version of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, an elderly Indian woman in A MAN CALLED HORSE- for starters.

GEORGE BRENT was a big actor over at WARNER BROTHERS back in the 30s, 40s. He's mostly forgotten now; was often cast opposite BETTE DAVIS.

MADELEINE CARROLL

LEILA HYAMS

MARILYN MAXWELL

HUGH HERBERT

JANE BRYAN, the one actress BETTE DAVIS said gave her a run for her money, left film while still in her 20s for married life to JUSTIN DART (DART DRUG STORES).

JEFF DONNELL

MONA WASHBOURNE

Madeleine Carroll played Zenda in The Prisoner of Zenda opposite Ronald Colman as the prisoner.

JANICE RULE

Gorgeous CAMILLA SPARV

DAN DURYEA

HERBERT MARSHALL

One of my favorite character actresses LEE PATRICK.

WILLIAM S. HART

EDNA PURVIANCE

the original screen vamp THEDA BARA

William SHart. Hahahahaha!!

MAGGIE HAYES

AUDREY TOTTER

r246: I refer to him as Dan Diarrhea.

Speaking of the late JACK CARSON, his onetime wife, the sexy LOLA ALBRIGHT is still living at 90 something. Long career in film & television.

William SHarted in his pants.

R255

Just DO NOT CONUSE him with me dammit !!

EVERETT SLOANE

VIRGINIA O'BRIEN

MARTHA HYER

Richard Dix

RONALD COLEMAN

More DLers remember me, your sister, r258.

LURENE TUTTLE. I always confused her with Audrey Totter.

DALIAH LAVI, now residing in Asheville, NC.

WILFRID HYDE-WHITE

DOROTHY PROVINE

DANE CLARK

(I used to confuse him with CAMERON MITCHELL)

Dane Clark SHarted on Cameron Mitchell.

FLORA ROBSON on right. Shown here with CAROL LYNLEY & the late OLIVER REED.

ANTHONY ZERBE

LYLE BETTGER

MARY ANDERSON

ZACHARY SCOTT

FRED CLARK

Marsha Hunt

Corinne Calvet

EDWARD ANDREWS

BINNIE BARNES

PAMELA FRANKLIN

MAIDIE NORMAN

MINNA GOMBELL

MAX SHOWALTER

SIDNEY BLACKMER, shown here with the late VIRNA LISI from 1965's HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE is probably best remembered by gay audiences for his role of Roman Castavet in 1968's ROSEMARY'S BABY.

One of the top stars of the 1930s, KAY FRANCIS.

TOM MIX

Tom Mix SHarted on William SHart.

R238. What a gal. Thanks for the mammaries.

THOMAS BECK, shown here with starlet PATRICIA KIRKLAND.

HANS CONREID

NANCY CARROLL

Are you planning on posting every member of SAG pre-1965?

Married to DAVID HEMMINGS for a few years, GAYLE HUNNICUTT was once promising and had her 15 minutes in the late 1960s.

DON MURRAY

(who I used to confuse with EARL HOLLIMAN)

ANDREW DUGGAN

Don Dubbins

MIKE HENRY

Skip Homeier

ROBERT GUNNER

Lon McCallister

William Eythe (who was Lon McCallister's boyfriend)

MYLENE DEMONGEOT

R72 .. Yes. And Hayakawa's sex symbol status pre-dated Valentino. His story is quite interesting.

R292. Yes.

SIR RALPH RICHARDSON

GLENDA FARRELL

Ina Claire

R304. Stop him before he starts besmirching MGM stars.

TOMY NOONAN

It's too late. They're already dead !!

You can stop I'm already dead.

Are you Debbie Reynolds?

R243:

[quote] Madeleine Carroll played Zenda in The Prisoner of Zenda opposite Ronald Colman as the prisoner.

Sorry, R243, but Zenda is a place, not a person.

Madeline Carroll played Princess Flavia.

BRENDA DE BANZIE

Speaking of dear DEBBIE, she & I were married to the same guy. Oh, and she helped to raise my children after my death.

BRANDON deWILDE

I don't have a clue who Joan Crawford is. She gets some play around here but no one under 40 knows her. Most of us know Bette Davis and Hepburn and Cary Grant and Gable and James Stewart. Edward G Robinson and Bogart. Most have heard of Garbo. But Joan Crawford must be some kind of some inside campy joke, because she can't act and never appeared in any memorable films, other than campy Baby Jane. Was Joan Crawford famous before Mommie Dearest?

Elliott Reid

The RAMBO twins:

DACK on the left, DIRK on the right in red.

DIRK died in a 1967 car accident; DACK died about 20 years ago due to an aids related illness.

Would've made one eXXXcellent twin sandwich !

The great thread feels ruined now.

R315. If the shoe fits, marry it.

Henry Brandon, handsome gay character actor whose powerful build was often on display as he specialized in playing half-naked "Indians," usually when the script called for one who spoke English well. Here he is in The Searchers:

You have to have known these really obscure people in order to have forgotten them.

Adorable Dennis Morgan is probably only remembered for "Christmas in Connecticut" with Barbra Stanwyck.

Henry Daniell

Someone mentioned Judy Canova upthread...god I love her hysterical musical numbers.

THANKS, MR. SEE 'N SAY, FOR TURNING THIS INTO AN EXERCISE IN MONOTONY. May we have our thread back now?

Sue Lyon. Cast in the role of Lolita at age 14 and she should have received an Oscar nomination.

Young Dennis Morgan was also unforgettable as the tenor who sings A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY to hundreds (thousands?) of Adrian-clad showgirls on the twirling circular staircase in MGM's 1936 spectacular THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. Though I believe he was dubbed.

[quote]I love her hysterical musical numbers.

I do too.

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who made such a beautiful couple in "Romeo and Juliet", sank into obscurity fairly quickly.

If Judy had a face she would have been Ginger Rogers.

Here's one of Olivia Hussey's more illustrious moments in her downward spiral from Romeo and Juliet.

Ann Sheridan

Barbara Rush

Dana Wynter

Warren William was a major leading man in films in the 1930's.

Wasn't Albert Dekker the drunken closet case and not Wendell Corey?

Marilyn Maxwell was Bob Hope's mistress for many years.

R323

And like PATRICK KNOWLES who I posted earlier, HENRY is also remembered for having been in AUNTiE MAME. HENRY BRANDON played Acacius Page, Patrick's teacher at the progressive school where he learned to play 'fish family'.

{quote]Was Elizabeth Scott a lesbian?

Was she a lesbian? Why she was the bucket in "The Well of Loneliness"!

(To paraphrase Lillian Gish answering the same question about Eva Le Gallienne)

Nice try, Bette at R317. Cunt!

Mind your manners, Lucille.

Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow.

I'm going to watch A FREE SOUL with Norma Shearer.

Didn't Olivia Hussey later say she lost her virginity to Leonard Whiting?

My 9th grade English class was quite scandalized by seeing her boobs and his bare butt. I don't think you could get away with it nowardays- there were something like 15 and 17 at the time. Zefferelli was quite the perv.

[quote]Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow.

Keir Dullea has aged very well....still handsome at age 80.

Wuv, wuv, wuv me some Kay Fwancis, R285! I had forgotten about her. Thank God for this thread.

Isn't/Wasn't Olivia Hussey kinda bananas? I think she stalked someone, but I can't remember who or when.

Ashley Judd

Mira Sorvino

Sue Lyon did not deserve an Oscar nomination. She was laughably bad in Night of the Iguana. She disappeared for a reason....

[R297] Remember that offer where if you sent in 10 cereal box tops they'd send you your very own Mike Henry? The minute I got mine I checked for anatomic correctness.

Lisa Eichhorn. She starred in a couple of high-profile movies in the late 70s/early 80s. She seem headed for promising career . . . and then promptly dropped off the face of the earth.

Biker movie regular and DL fave Michael Pataki

John Vernon, who almost invariably played stuffy officious types, often assholes, on the silver screen, but was in reality a mensch of the first order.

Played Dean Wormer in Animal House, the Mayor in Dirty Harry, and Officer Mooney in Killer Klowns from Outer Space. His daughter is the actress Kate Vernon.

I really like this Mike Henry.

Mrs. Patrick Campbell

May Robson.

One of the greats but we only know her as an old woman in the 30s.

She must have been something on stage when she was younger.

From the wretched impoverished miserable old lady in Lady for a Day to stern Aunt Polly to the farce of Bringing up Baby she could do anything.

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

Miss Robson was also in Lady By Choice, with Carole Lombard. They got billing above the title, and above the men.

Acquanetta

Debra Paget

Jon Hall

Maria Montez

Linda Purl

Kay Lenz

Deborah Raffin

Kathleen Quinlan

Olivier to Joan Fontaine when he found out she was going with (very handsome)Brian Aherne, "Couldn't you do better than that?!"

I love Olivier but boy could he be a petty jealous person.

The Australian movie star Yahoo Serious was just too talented for mainstream fame. He wrote, performed and did the music for his movies, all to a very high standard. Still iconic in Australia today but largely forgotten/ignored by the general movie audience. Still alive in his early sixties.

Linda Manz. She was fifteen years old when she starred in Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven." Critics praised her highly, but her career only lasted from 1978-1985. She was in the dreadful movie "Gummo." She was rather homely; maybe that's why she wasn't able to get a lot of roles. Apparently she never gave a damn about being an actress, anyway. More power to her.

Mickey Rooney.

Mickey Rooney is NOT forgotten! His movies are frequently shown on TCM. Jesus, next thing you know somebody will say James Dean is forgotten. Or Marilyn Monroe. Or Elizabeth Taylor.

Carrie Snodgress

Gorgeous JULIE ADAMS

ROBERT RYAN

Was Laurence Olivier really that much of an actor? They hype about him was just a bit too much to grant this praise.

R371

MONROE didn't like working with him and referred to him as

MISTER SIR SIR

NINA FOCH (pronounced Fosh)

Sandy Dennis

Olivier mixed up Burt Lancaster's name and Kirk Douglas' name when they were doing a movie together. He seemed like a delicate pussy.

"MONROE didn't like working with him and referred to him as

MISTER SIR SIR"

He wasn't exactly thrilled with her, either. She couldn't remember the simplest lines. She was driving him crazy. After the experience of directing a film with Marilyn Monroe, Olivier didn't direct another for fourteen years.

Consistent accounts from co-workers say tell that while MONROE wasn't mean, her insecurities drove her fellow actors up the wall. OLIVIER on the other hand was known to sometimes be a real diva.

Olivier didn't like Monroe because he thought he was the greatest actor ever and because she was female.

And when that awkward movie was released, she looked natural, he looked like he was acting.

Crispin Glover

Paul LeMat- gave the best performance in American Graffiti, but his career went nowhere, while Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Harrison Ford all had long and lucrative careers.

[quote]Olivier to Joan Fontaine when he found out she was going with (very handsome)Brian Aherne, "Couldn't you do better than that?!"

I'd take cutie pie Brian Aherne over fussy, conceited Olivier ANYDAY!

Jill Clayburgh

Although Olivier seems not to have been a very nice person he is magnificent in Wuthering Heights, Carrie, and Richard lll.

And as an old man he did remark how good Monroe was in Showgirl. Good? She wipes him off the screen. Jealous much Larry?

And to be fair Monroe had many people hating her because of what her insecurities put them through.

It was only years later after the anguish was over did those same people praise her.

Sexually, Olivier could not keep up with Vivien's demands and she would compensate by picking up rough trade on the side.

Vivien was non compos mentis a lot of the time due to bipolar affective disorder, for which there was no effective treatment in the 1940s and 50s.

Wow, Brian Aherne was a cutie!

Linda Manz is a good one. She totally vanished.

Ernest Morrison a/k/a Sunshine Sammy. The first black actor to be signed to a long-term contract by a Hollywood studio (Hal Roach Studios) and the first child actor to be signed as a cast member for Our Gang. Starred alongside of Harold Lloyd, Snub Pollard and others.

Sigrid Gurie - the Norwegian Garbo!

Anna Sten

Leo G. Carroll, who many people know today only from a throwaway reference in the song "Science Fiction Double Feature" but who had a storied career as a character actor for almost 40 years.

May Robson's big scene as the cook in Dinner At Eight is one of the best scenes in that all-star film. She stole that scene right out from under the perky nose of dithery Billie Burke.

R391

Also remembered for having played Mr. Waverly on

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and THE GiRL FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh, and Lee Tracy were all over Hollywood for 30+ years each. Mostly at Warners, but really at every studio, and a ton of tv as well. Huge careers, and actors you'd know by face as each did many movie roles in mostly A pictures with big stars. They all also played leads themselves, but today not one of their names rings a bell. They were exactly the same age and all started at the same time in Hollywood during the first years of the talkies.

Pat O'Brien did nine films with his great friend James Cagney including the final film for both, "Ragtime".

Speaking of Dinner at Eight, R392, Marie Dressler is also largely forgotten despite having been the #1 box office draw and an Oscar winner for best actress in the early 30's. I love her in this scene...

Ha! I forgot Lee Tracy was in "Dinner at Eight"!

Leo G. Carroll will never be considered forgotten, thanks to "North by Northwest".

Leo G.Carroll aso starred for a few years in the early 1950s as Cosmo Topper on the TV show "Topper." His wife was played by veteran character actress Lee Patrick, and the ghostly George and Marian Kirby were real-life husband and wife Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling.

Lovely Anne Jeffreys is still with us.

Rhonda Fleming

Arlene Dahl

Robert Sterling had previously been married to Ann Sothern and they had a daughter, Tisha Sterling, who acted for a while.

A friend of mine attended Ann's estate sale and purchased a few items. Tisha was there overseeing the sale and mingling with the crowd.

Anne Jeffreys, Ann Rutherford, and Ann Miller were "The Three Anns," ladies who lunched together in all the tony hotspots in LA/Beverly Hills. Jeffreys is the only one remaining. I wonder how she fills up her time without her two besties around.

Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling appeared on What's My Line? as the Mystery Guests when they were appearing on Topper. The panel rudely behaved like they'd never heard of them. It was very awkward. I'd link a clip but can't seem to find it.

Being that Ann Miller was brought I'll mention that I recently watched her interview with Robert Osborne.

What surprised me most was how generous she was in her praise of Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball.

I always had the impression these two were very ambitious jealous people.

But Miller noted that when she was young at RKO and could have been a threat to them they watched out for her and helped her as if there was a sisterly affection as you see in the film Stagedoor.

Also Lucille Ball who was not one to suffer fools gladly as we say on DL thought Rogers mother was a stage mother to all of them in the best way possible watching out for the male sharks who were going to exploit them.

But on the other side of the coin I understand Rogers did not like Betty Grable who has a great reputation as being a generous colleague.

You can see a very young very pretty Grable as a back up singer to Ginger in Follow the Fleet.

Poor Betty. In DuBarry Was a Lady she stopped the show with Porter's Give Him the Ooh La La.

So Merman took it from her. It's a tough business.

[quote] Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh, and Lee Tracy were all over Hollywood for 30+ years each. Mostly at Warners, but really at every studio, and a ton of tv as well. Huge careers, and actors you'd know by face as each did many movie roles in mostly A pictures with big stars.

I think James Gleason belongs in this group too.

Didn't Merman also insist that Betty Hutton's number be given to her in another show? I guess Betty won in the end when she played Annie in Merm's Annie Get Your Gun for MGM.

John Payne

R373 It's funny that Nina Foch played the older lady trying to buy Gene Kelly in An American in Paris when she was actually 12 years younger than he.

Why would the WML? panelists act as though they didn't know who Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling were when both had film careers prior to "Topper"?

Surprisingly, Anne Jeffreys received top billing on the "Topper" television series.

Anne Jeffreys was one of David Gest's fag hags.

I'll never forget her, R369.

The WML panel could be very snooty towards TV stars in the early years of the show. Even though they were TV stars themselves, Dorothy, Bennett and Arlene always insisted that their night lives were far too glamorous and busy to spend nights at home watching that little black box.

Winsome Yvette Mimieux who played "Weena" in 1960's"The Time Machine" may as well have fallen off the Earth...it's difficult to find even find a fairly recent picture of her.

Carol Lynley

In Light in the Piazza Mimieux has to be one of the most beautiful brides ever.

She must be nearing 80 at this point.

Maybe looking like that when she was young she no longer wants to be seen?

I don't see the problem, r416.

Found a recent picture of Miss Mimieux....still sweetly appealing at 74.

Yvette actually looks beautiful. Some work done, no doubt, but very gracefully and elegantly aged. Thanks for posting, r418!

Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Helluva an actor.

Very good work and she looks great.

R418, that bitch!

One of my favorite movie with Rod Taylor was Time Machine. I was scared shitless of the Morlocks.

He was also had a small part in Separate Tables with Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr and David Niven. He should have become a bigger star. Great Aussie Actor, handsome man!

Rod Taylor's place in films is pretty solid, appearing in several movies that will keep his name alive for years to come, such as "The Birds".

R423

Allegedly he screwed himself by becoming too big for his britches by the mid 60s and his career leveled out. I was surprised when I had read that because he usually came across as very likeable.

Do spill R425

[R425] - He had an affair with Maggie Smith.

Not sure you'd ever call her a star... who was that fat, blowsy British girl in that sinking boat movie again? The one from the 90s?

See, I've forgotten her name.

Namaste.

He also was the kind of old fashioned Hollywood star that couldn't make the transition from the old Hollywood studio system to the American new wave starting in '69.

Omar Sharif and Rock Hudson were others.

The kind of movie making they were a part of disappeared pretty quickly.

Tom Cruise

Edmond O'Brien

Basil Rathbone

William Bendix

Jack Elam

Joan Hackett

Richard Basehart & David Hedison starred in the 60s series, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".

Don Murray was electrifying & gorgeous in BUS STOP. Hes still alive, in his 90s I think.

Nancy Allen

Didnt make it to stardom, but her backstory & unsolved disappearance (indirectly involving Kirk Douglas) make Jean Spangler an interesting read.

the ethereal and haunting Gail Russell. She was cast in several noir classics, but her stage fright caused her to develop a nasty drinking habit. She was in an arranged marriage to Hunky Guy Madison, but her alcoholism went off the rails. She drove her car into some LA coffee shop? I think. And eventually drank herself to death. She is great in The Uninvited.

The ever sultry Marie Windsor

Lili Damita was a big movie star in the 1920's and 30's. She married Errol Flynn when he was a complete unknown.

Lili and Errol shortly after they married.

Sylvia Sydney.

FAT MONGREL BITCHES

Ester Anderson - just saw her in "A Warm December" with Sydney Poitier on TCM. She was supposed to be the "next big thing" - a bonafide African American movie star. After that, she did a couple of episodes of "The Rookies," and that was it. Always wondered why her career began and ended as quickly as it did.

Re: Kay Kendall, below...some critics have pointed out Sean Young resembles her.

It kept Kendall's name out there in the 80s and 90s

Esther Anderson was beautiful. It couldn't have been easy for a black actress to find roles back then.

Funny how many of these are character actors -- people who are remembered by their faces, but were never known for their names.

R424, People don't remember 'The Birds' because of Rod Taylor. Sheesh, he was forgotten 30 years ago...

Dewey Martin - a gorgeous twunk who had his share of matinee idol fame in the 50s and 60s.

I just found out that he died in April at age 94. His death was barely got press coverage.

Kay Kendall came from my home town R442, Withernsea, in the UK. Her sister and BIL bought the local lighthouse (only inland lighthouse in the UK) and keep it in her memory, so at least she usnt forgotten there.