Category: Oscar Profile

Born Ninian Joseph (Joe) Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920, the son of vaudevillians, the actor would make his stage debut at 17 months and his first film at 5 as Mickey McGuire. Last seen under that name in 1934, Mickey Rooney would continue to be one of the screen’s busiest and most popular child…

Never in serious contention for an Oscar, Kim Novak was nevertheless a formidable screen presence from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s and makes her seventh Oscar appearance at this Sunday’s awards. Born Marilyn Novak on February 13, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois to onetime schoolteachers Joseph and Blanche Novak, young Marilyn was herself a difficult…

Born August 6, 1917 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Robert Mitchum was hands down the most taken for granted actor in Hollywood history. Despite a long and illustrious career he was nominated only once for an Oscar at the start of his career for a 1945 film; received his only BAFTA nomination for a 1957 film; his…

Born August 18, 1936 in Santa Monica, California, Charles Robert Redford Jr. began his acting career in 1959. First on Broadway with a minor role in Tall Story, he had an uncredited role in the 1960 film version. His first major role was in the 1960 TV version of The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards…

Born January 26, 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio to Theresa (née Fetsko) and Arthur Newman, who ran a profitable sporting goods store, Paul Newman would become a world-famous actor, director; entrepreneur; humanitarian; professional racing car driver and auto racing team owner. He would receive numerous awards throughout his career including nine Oscar nominations and one…

Born February 27, 1930 to Wade and Elinor Woodward, Joanne Woodward was named after Joan Crawford by her avid movie fan mother. When she was 9, her mother took her to the world premiere of Gone With the Wind in Atlanta. When Vivien Leigh exited her limo, young Woodward jumped in the car and sat…

Born December 28, 1908 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Irma and Louis Ayres II, an amateur musician and court reporter, Louis III (Lew) was a member of Henry Halstead’s orchestra in 1927 when he left to pursue an acting career. Discovered by a talent agent in 1929, he had two uncredited roles before being cast opposite…

Born July 12, 1895 to Alice (née Nimmo) and William Hammerstein, the vaudeville producer who invented the pie-in-the-face routine, he was named after his paternal grandfather, a well-known theatre impresario of the day. Hammerstein began writing songs for musicals while studying law at Columbia University. The first Broadway show he contributed to was 1917’s Furs…

Born April 15, 1959, to well-known British actors Bill Thompson and Phyllida Law, Emma Thompson was educated at the Camden School for Girls. At eighteen she began studying for a degree in English at Cambridge University from which she would graduate in 1982. While there she became a member of the prestigious Footlights comedy sketch…

Born April 24, 1934 in Richmond, Virginia, Shirley MacLean Beaty changed her name to MacLaine while auditing for a role in Broadway’s Me and Juliet. Her younger brother Warren, born 1937, later changed the spelling of his last name to Beatty. Trained as a dancer, her show business rise came quickly. In 1954 she understudied…

This is any edited version of an article from two years ago. Many films have memorable Christmas scenes, but there are way too many to do justice to the subject so I am just going to concentrate on those that are set specifically at the holiday itself with a few exceptions for films with holiday…

Born June 22, 1906 in Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, now Sucha Beskidzka, Malopolskie, Poland, to a Jewish family that operated a popular cake shop at the local train station, Samuel (Billy) Wilder was expected to join the family business but chose instead to become a lawyer. However, instead of attending the University of Vienna, he became…

Born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio to Jennie and Walter Hamilton, Margaret Hamilton expressed an early interest in acting but yielded to her parents’ wish that she get an education and dutifully went to college and taught school until the acting bug took hold. She never gave up her love of children and animals,…

Born March 19, 1947 in Greenwich, Connecticut to Bettine (née Moore) and William Taliaferro Close, a doctor who ran a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as personal physician to the Congo’s president, Glenn Close is considered one of the greatest actresses of our time. Her paternal grandfather was first married to cereal heiress…

Born February 9, 1945 in Los Angeles, California, the fourth child and eldest daughter of director John Farrow and actress Maureen O’Sullivan, Maria de Lourdes Villiers (Mia) Farrow was born into a life of wealth and privilege that nevertheless had its tragic undertones. She was raised by nannies and educated in a convent by nuns…