On This Day

Hi

On this day 21st November

68 years ago the actor Richard Lenz was born, aka Rick Lenz he appeared in The Shootiost.

85 years ago the actor Ralph Meeker was born.

86 years ago the director Paul Bogart was born

50 years ago Yvonne de Carlo married the stuntman Bob Morgan. Morgan was the stuntman involved in the terrible accident in How the West Was Won. DeCarlo who had retired from filming was forced to return to the screen to pay for the hospital bills and went on to find fame in The Munsters.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

your probably right Kieth but she was, and also looked good in the part.

On this day 22nd November:

81 years ago Geraldine Page was born, not the most attractive of women but she did win an Academy Award for her part in Hondo.

51 years ago the actor Moroni Olsen died, among his many films was the First Rebel.

19 years ago the acto Scatman Crothers died. He appeared in The Shootist.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 23rd November

46 years ago Wagon Train - The Colter Craven Story was aired on television for the first time. It had originally been planned that Ward Bond, John Ford and John Wayne would watch it together but Bond had died earlier in the month.

45 years ago the show was repeated.

52 years ago The Fighting Kentuckian was released in Denmark.

75 years ago the actor Robert Easton was born. A master of dialect he had an un-credited role in The High and the Mighty.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 24th November

76 years ago Words and Music was released in Finland.

55 years ago The Fighting Kentuckian was released in West Germany.

94 years ago Kirby Grant was born, a noted actor in westerns he appeared in Red River Range.

36 years ago the British actor Howard Marion-Crawford died of an overdose at the age of 55. He featured in The Longest Day.

56 years ago the drector Robert North Bradbury died aged 63. Many say John Ford gave John Wayne his start in films, but it was Bradbury who recovered Wayne's career when Ford and everyone else had abandonded him.

37 years ago the cinematographer William Nobles died aged 75. He shot Overland Stage Raiders.

Regards

Arthur

Hi Senta

Rather than be unfair to Ford I think that he along with Howard Hawks and Henry Hathaway he was a great director and certainly did wonders for Wayne's career, but it cannot be ignored that throughout the 1930's he ignored Duke.

With Wayne's career going into free fall after the Columbia debacle, It was Monogram and Robert north Bradbury who offered him work.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this Day 25th November
(I month today and it will be Christmas Day)

50 years ago The Sea Chase was released in Finland:-

Capt. Karl Ehrlich: I won't lie for you!
Counsel General Hepke: Of course not! I wouldn't think of asking you to lie... you haven't had the proper diplomatic training.

47 years ago Location work finished on The Horse Soldiers.

79 years ago Jeffrey Hunter was born, he was in The Searchers.

108 years ago the actress Helen Chadwicke was born she appeared in Men Are like That or Arizona as it is also called.

32 years ago actor Laurence Harvey died aged 45, he was in The Alamo.

6 years ago the actor William 'Billy' Benedict died aged 82, Known as Whitey in the Bowery Boys and East End Kids, he was also in Without Reservations.

Regards

Arthur

Hi Senta

It would be hard to disagree that Ford was a genius, as was Griffths, DeMille and many other Hollywood and allbeit modestlyEnglish directors. Hawks was equally a genius in his own field which was comedy and gangster movies. Hathaway I would put slightly to the right of both of these but again he was a very good director.

Robert Parrish in his book Growing Up in Hollywood tells the story of how he asked Ford how he could get the best performance out of Wayne. Ford didn't reply and out of his awe for Ford Parrish didn't press the point.

Some months later when the two men were watching Stagecoach Ford turned to Parrish and said count the number of times Wayne speaks in this picture. At the end of the picyure Ford asked Parrish the number and parrish replied fourteen or fifteen times sir.

Ford then said that's the secret don't give the actors too much to say.

If you go to an early thread started by ITDO titled 'Are you are Fordian or a Hawksian' you will find what I think is an interesting discussion on the merits of both directors.

In my opinion then and I still honestly believe it now, Ford brought Wayne to the attention of the public with his performance in Stagecoach, but it was Hawks who confirmed Wayne's presence as an actor in Red River. Without the role of Thomas Dunsen in Red River and to a lesser degree the part of Nathan Brittles in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Wayne would not have been able to play the part of Ethan Edwards in Ford's The Searchers six years later.

Look forward to your comments.

Best Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day November 26th:-

117 years ago the director Ford Beebe was born he directed Wayne in the Shadow of the Eagle and:-
27 years ago he died aged 90.

96 years ago the actress Francis Dee was born she starred in A Man Betrayed.

58 years ago the actor Ernie Adams died, better known as the old prospector in Death Valley Days he also featured in Dark Command

48 years ago the actor Billy Bevan died he appeared in The Long Voyage Home.

41 years ago Circus World was released in Denmark.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 27th November:-

3 years ago the German actor Wolfgang Preiss died aged 92 he appeared in The Longest Day.

45 years ago the actress Lana Turner married Fred May.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 28th November

48 years ago John Ford completed the scene in the Horse Soldiers where the cadets of the Jefferson County Military Academy march out to face Marlowes cavalry.

47 years ago The Barbarian and the Geisha was released in Finland.

36 years ago the actor Roy Barcroft died aged 67 he appeared in numerous westerns pictures and with John Wayne in Dakota.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 29th November

42 years ago Donovan's Reef was released in Finland.

104 years ago the actress Mildred Harris was born, she appeared in Reap the Wild Wind.

109 years ago the great stuntman Yakima Cnnutt was born.

14 years ago Ralph Bellamy died aged 87 he played the bad guy in Cancel My Reservation.

19 years ago the actor Herb Vigran died aged 76. Like Bellamy he appeared in Cancel My Reservation.

24 years ago the actress Natalie Wood was tragically drowned, she was 43 and appeared in The Searchers.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 30th November

7 years ago Ruth Clifford died she was the deranged woman in The Searchers.

40 years ago Joseph 'Chef' Milani was killed in a road accident aged 73, he appeared in Without Reservations.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day December 1st

76 years ago the actress Allyn Mclerie was born in Canada she appeared in The Cowboys

119 years ago the cowboy actor Rex Stout was born.

49 years ago the actor Chief Thunderclound (aka Victor Daniels) died aged 56 he was in The Searchers.

55 years ago the actor Jeffrey Hunter married Barbara Rush.

Regards

Arthur