Facts and trivia about Lucille Ball

Here are some facts and trivia about my classic goddess of the month, provided by IMDB:


Red hair and blue eyes

Originally interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, Columbarium of Radiant Dawn, Court of Remembrance. In 2003, she was re-interred in the Ball family plot in Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown, New York.

Was the first woman to own her own film studio as the head of Desilu Productions.

Was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Died the morning of April 26, 1989, the fifty-sixth birthday of her friend Carol Burnett. That afternoon Burnett received the flowers that Ball had ordered for her birthday.

She was fired from working at an ice cream store because she kept forgetting to put bananas in banana splits.

TV Guide picked her as the greatest TV star of all time.

Was known for a while as Dianne Belmont back when she was a model.

Pictured on a 34¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 6 August 2001.

Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.

Her favorite movie she made was The Big Street (1942). Up to her dying day, she resented AMPAS for not recognizing her performance in the movie by including her for an Academy Award nomination.

Felt that she did not deserve the title of "Queen of Comedy" and felt that it belonged to her idol, Carole Lombard.

She was proud of her family and heritage. Her genealogy can be traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies. One direct ancestor, William Sprague (1609-1675), left England on the ship "Lyon's Whelp" for Plymouth/Salem, Massachusetts. They were from Upwey, Dorsetshire, England. William, along with his 2 brothers, helped to found the city of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Other Sprague relatives became soldiers in the Revolutionary War and 2 of them became governors of the state of Rhode Island.

Her 1960 divorce from Desi Arnaz was quite amicable. They divided their $20 million television empire equally, each retaining 25% Desilu stock (282,800 shares), she got the homes in Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage, and Desi got the beach house in Del Mar, California and his Horse Ranch in Corona, California. In addition, they agreed to joint custody of their children with him paying $450/month child support

Mother of Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr.

Some facts about Jane Wyman

Here are some facts and trivia about Jane courtesy of IMDB:

Born: Sarah Jane Mayfield
January 5th, 1917 (St. Joseph, Missouri)
Died: September 10th, 2007 (age 90) in Palm Springs, CA (complications from arthritis and diabetes)

Her name changed to "Jane Faulks" when she was unofficially "adopted" by the Faulks family, middle-aged neighbors of her single mother. Moved to So. California with Mrs. Faulks when she was widowed in 1928

Several sources have given her date of birth as January 4, 1914, which would mean she was one of the first (and one of the very few) actresses to make herself older. She is a serious convert to Roman Catholicism, attending Mass with good friend Loretta Young.

Holds the record for the longest screen kiss, with Regis Toomey in You're In The Army Now (1941), at 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

Before she was a successful actress, she was once a switchboard operator.

Has 2 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She attended Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, Missouri.

She dropped out of Lafayette High School, during her freshman year, and took on odd jobs such as a waitress and manicurist.

She had 10 hobbies: landscape painting, golfing, dancing, collecting CDs, listening to music, playing piano, singing, philanthropy, reading and politics.

The first actress ever to have lots of name changes. After she took the name of Sarah Jane Fulks, she dropped her first name and used Jane, as her middle name, hence, she legally changed her name to Jane Durrell, however, she was asked to change her last name to Wyman, the same last name as her adoptive siblings - her mother had first been married to a Dr. Weymann.

Was a chorus girl before being a successful actress.

Her father, Manning Jefferies Mayfield, died when she was only 5.

In 1991, she received the Golda Meir Award from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.

Fred Karger	(11 March 1961 - 9 March 1965) (divorced)
Fred Karger	(1 November 1952 - 7 December 1954) (divorced)
Ronald Reagan	(26 January 1940 - 28 June 1948) (divorced) 3 children
Myron Futterman	(29 June 1937 - 5 December 1938) (divorced)
Ernest Eugene Wyman	(8 April 1933 - ?) (divorced)

My love of classic films is beyond measure

Monty

Some facts about Miss Joan....

A new month means a new classic movie goddess..and for September it is the legendary Joan Crawford. While I have enjoyed several of Joan's films over the years, especially The Women, she has never really been a huge favorite of mine. Until recently that is. She has moved into my top 50 classic actresses of all time and my friend Jessica,who happens to be my guest this month, absolutely adores her. So expect all kinds of Joan Crawford goodness this month. Beginning with some facts and trivia about her, provided by IMDB.

Born: March 23, 1905, San Antonio, Texas
Birth name: Lucille Fay LaSueur
Died May 10th, 1977, New York City (heart attack)

Height: 5'5"

Entered Stephens College, a posh university for women in Columbia, Missouri in 1922, however she left before her first academic year was over as she felt she was not academically prepared for university.

Worked as an elevator operator at Harzfeld's Department Store in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Each time Crawford married, she changed the name of her Brentwood estate and installed all new toilet seats.

Interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, USA.

Was asked to take over Carole Lombard's role in They All Kissed The Bride (1942) after Lombard died in a air crash returning from a war bond tour. Crawford then donated all of her salary to the Red Cross, who found Lombard's body, and promptly fired her agent for taking his usual 10%.

She was so dedicated to her fans that she always personally responded to her fan mail by typing them responses on blue paper and autographing it. A great deal of her spare time and weekends were spent doing this.

She had a cleanliness obsession. She used to wash her hands every ten minutes and follow guests around her house wiping everything they touched, especially doorknobs and pieces from her china set. She would never smoke a cigarette unless she opened the pack herself, and would never use another cigarette out of that pack if someone else had touched it.

Her cleanliness obsession lead her to prefer showers to tubs, as she abhorred sitting in her own bathwater.

"Joan Arden" was chosen as the young star's screen name after a write-in contest was held in the pages of "Movie Weekly" magazine, but a bit player came forward and said she was already using it. Mrs. Marie M. Tisdale, a crippled woman living in Albany, New York, won $500 for submitting the runner-up name "Joan Crawford".

She disliked her 'new' name and initially encouraged others to pronounce it Jo-Anne Crawford. In private, she liked to be referred to as Billie.

Because Joan was bullied and shunned at Stephens College by the other students due to her poor homelife, she answered every single piece of fanmail she received in her lifetime except those from former classmates at Stephens.

She was voted the 47th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Some facts about Rita Hayworth

Here are some notable facts about Rita, my classic movie goddess for the month. Facts provided by IMDB.

Born Margarita Carmen Casino in Brooklyn, New York on October 17th, 1918


Died May 14th, 1987 at the age of 68


Nickname: The Love Goddess


Married five times: James Hill (1958-1961)
Dick Haymes (1953-1955)
Prince Aly Khan (1949-1953)
Orson Welles (1943-1948)
Edward Charles Holmgren Judson (1937-1942)

She appeared 5 times on the cover of "Life" Magazine.


The image of her face was glued onto an A-bomb which was dropped on the Bikini Atoll during a test in 1946.

Through her mother she is part Irish and part English.

In 1947, started her own production company, "Beckworth Corporation" (formed from syllables of her daughters name, Rebecca, and her own surname). It was dissolved in 1954 under advice from her fourth husband, Dick Haymes.

In the early 1940s, she replaced Jean Arthur as the top female star at Columbia Pictures. Coincidentally, the two stars share the same birthday 

The famous red hair was not her natural color (which was black). When she was signed, studio heads decided that her hairline was too low on her forehead, and she underwent years of painful electrolysis to make it higher.

She was voted the 65th "Greatest Movie Star" of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

She was voted the 34th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.

Was named #19 Actress, The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends.

One of the few actresses to have danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in the movies, other actresses that have also done this includes Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Vera-Ellen, Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Caron.

My love of classic movies is beyond measure

Monty

Jean Arthur: some facts and trivia

Here are some facts and trivia about Jean, provided by IMDB.

Wore her natural brunette hair color throughout the silent film portion of her career, then began bleaching her hair blonde shortly after she started making talkies.

Department of Strange Coincidences: Jean Arthur's former spouse, producer Frank Ross, next married the actress Joan Caulfield. On the very day following Caulfield's death on 18 June 1991, Arthur died.

 After retiring from films she taught Drama at Vassar.

Was a leading contender for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939).

Director George Stevens famously called her "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen" while Frank Capra credited her as "my favorite actress".

On the completion of her Columbia contract in 1944, she reportedly ran through the studio's streets, shouting "I'm free, I'm free!".

 Allegedly took her stage name from two of her greatest heroes: Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and King Arthur.

 Gary Cooper was her favorite leading man.

Even though Jean and James Stewart never bonded off-screen, Jimmy called Jean "the finest actress I ever worked with. No one had her humor, her timing".

She was teaching at Vassar at the same time that Meryl Streep was studying there in her junior year. Upon seeing the young drama major rehearsing August Strindberg's play "Miss Julie", Arthur remarked it was "just like watching a movie star".

 My love of classic movies is beyond measure

Monty

Facts and trivia about Anne Baxter

Born on May 7th, 1923 in Michigan City, Indiana


Died on December 12th, 1985 in New York City (brain aneurysm)


Stood 5 '4"


Was married three times: John Hodiak (1946-1953) one child; Randolph Galt (1960-1968) two children; David Klee (1977) his death

Granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, architect

 Was initially cast in All About Eve (1950) because of her resemblance to Claudette Colbert. Miss Colbert was first signed for the role of Margo and the idea was to have Eve visually turn into Margo.

 Was good friends with legendary costume designer Edith Head. Head was godmother to one of Baxter's daughters.

Maintained her primary residence in Easton, Connecticut on a ten acre estate from the 1970's until her death.

 The daughter of Kenneth Stuart Baxter, a sales manager, and housewife Catherine, she later had three daughters. Katrina Hodiak is a composer, married and with children. Melissa Galt (born 1961) is an interior designer in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and Maginal Galt (born 1963) is reportedly a Catholic nun residing in Rome, Italy.

Was good friends with Maureen O'Hara 

Won her only Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in The Razor's Edge (1946)

Facts provided by IMBD

My love of classic films is beyond measure

Monty