Alabama Yesterdays: actress

Showing posts with label actress. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

The Many Faces of Cathy O'Donnell

I've done a blog post on Siluria native Cathy O'Donnell [born Ann M. Steely] in my series on film actresses from Alabama whose careers began before 1960. You can read that post for details on her life and work in both film and television. She had roles in a number of major films including The Best Years of Our Lives, Detective Story, The Man from Laramie and Ben Hur. Many film noir fans [and we are legion] have long admired her performance alongside Farley Granger in the classic They Live by Night.

Among her television roles was one appearance on Perry Mason, in "The Case of the Fickle Fortune." I happened to watch it recently and took some screen shots as the episode progressed. O'Donnell plays county employee Norma Brooks in love with a con man who has used her once, and returns to do it again.

As usual, this Perry Mason case is deliciously complicated. I'll let a commentator on the IMDB page for the episode set the stage:

"County tax man Ralph Duncan inventories a house after the owner died intestate. While there a woman stops by to question him about some items saying she had been the owner's maid. He finds a cache of old greenbacks, "shin plasters," worth $153,000. When he arrives home to show his wife Helen and cousin, Charlie Nickles, the surprising find, the money is gone. Unknown to Duncan, Nickles has the money and fences it to Lloyd Farrell, an import/export merchant. Farrell turns to another county employee, Norma Brooks, to find elderly, infirm Josiah Ames, who is near death. Farrell plants $148,000 of the money in Ames' effects, which are bequeathed to his accountant, Albert Keller. Upon seeing the story in the newspaper, Duncan consults Perry Mason, who speaks with Keller. After a woman calls Duncan he visits Farrell who he finds dead. Duncan is leaving the house as the police arrive so Duncan is arrested."

Got that?

Farrell cons poor Norma into planting the big bucks at Ames' house and convincing the old man to write the will naming his accountant as beneficiary.

More comments are below. If you are so inclined, you can read a lot of minutiae about this episode here.

This particular episode was original to the series and not based on one of the many Perry Mason novels by Earle Stanley Gardner.

When Farrell contacts Norma again after so long, she is cool at first.

However, her defenses soon crumble, and once again she is putty in Farrell's hands, thus setting her up to help with his money laundering scheme.

Mason [Raymond Burr] shows up at Norma's office as he begins to investigate the situation for Duncan.

Mason's questioning gets around to Farrell, and Norma confesses her past relationship to him.

Naturally, Norma can't understand how Farrell could be involved in anything illegal.

Norma, Mason and private detective Paul Drake [William Hopper] make a visit to Farrell's residence. Surprise, surprise, they find his dead body!

As the trial begins, Norma waits in the audience for her turn in the witness chair.

First, she has to face questioning by District Attorney Hamilton Burger [played by William Talman]

Now it's Perry Mason's turn. Norma does not wither under questioning by either Mason or Burger.

Later, during another witness's testimony, Norma loses her cool. She leaps up from her seat at one point and confesses before God and everyone in the courtroom that she didn't kill Farrell. That turns out to be true, but I wonder what price she had to pay for her role in Farrell's scheme.

The role featured another good performance by the Alabama native O'Donnell. A blog post on some of her film work can be found here.

Several veteran actors also appeared in this episode. Vaughn Taylor, who played Mason's client Ralph Duncan, had a long career from the 1930's into the 1970's. He was a familiar face on television in the 1950's and 1960's. Also familiar was the actress who played Helen Duncan, Virginia Christine. She appeared in roles from the 1940s until 1979, often on television. She is probably best remembered as Mrs. Olson in a long running series of commercials for Folger's Coffee.

The Boston Globe profiled O'Donnell early in her career in a December 17, 1946 issue

Source: Newspapers.com

The Birmingham News profiled O'Donnell in a Sunday feature for the February 27, 1955, issue

Source: Newspapers.com

Friday, March 27, 2020

Hollywood Actress Marries Birmingham Dentist

I recently watched the 1945 film Flame of the West, one of the dozens of westerns Dothan native Johnny Mack Brown made during his long career. I'll skip any details since I plan a blog post soon about the movie. However, in addition to Brown there's another Alabama connection in this film.

One of Brown's two leading ladies is Lynne Carver. I wasn't familiar with her, so naturally I turned to Wikipedia. And what should I find but that connection.

A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Carver appeared in more than 30 movies between 1934 and 1948. She played Bess in the 1938 "A Christmas Carol" and Mary Jane in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" the following year. She also starred as Alice Raymond in two of the Dr. Kildare series of films based on Max Brand's novels. She made several movies with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Carver's birth name was Virginia Reid Sampson. Early in her Hollywood career she briefly dated Howard Hughes. Carver died age 38 on August 12, 1955, after a long battle with cancer. At the time she was married to her third husband, theatrical agent William Mullaney.

Lynne Carver's first husband was Birmingham dentist Ralph Clay McClung [21 April 1907-25 February 1989]. As noted below, the two met at the 1935 Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. They were married at the court house in Selma on March 31, "accompanied by a party of friends who motored down from Birmingham." The engagement and marriage were kept secret for almost two months. Carver wanted to continue her film career, and McClung planned to keep his dental practice in Birmingham. By mid-December 1936 the couple were divorced; Carver married her second husband the following year.

On Anestry.com I found McClung's World War II draft registration card. He registered on October 16, 1940, when he was 33 years old. The card tells us that he had a light complexion, weighed 150 pounds, had brown hair and blue eyes and stood 5'11".

The 1940 U.S. census at the same site notes that McClung lived in a rented house on Highland Avenue, where he was also living in 1935. Four women, two of whom were his sisters, also lived in the house. His marital status? "Divorced". Alabama marriage records show that he married Dorothy Greagan Hill on August 8, 1950. The 1959 Birmingham City Director has them living at 2918 Overhill Road in Mountain Brook. His office was at 2027 First Avenue North. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

His son, Ralph Clay McClung, Jr., is also a dentist.

Selma Times-Journal 5 May 1935

Source: Newspapers.com

On January 1, 1935, Alabama beat Stanford 29-13 in the Rose Bowl. Presumably the pair met at this game.

Source: Newspapers.com

Corpus Christie Caller-Times 14 December 1936

Source: Newspapers.com

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Tallulah Does Birmingham

I recently read Joel Lobenthal's massive Tallulah: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady [2004]. This biography of some 590 pages could barely contain the events of Bankhead's life--and she lived "only" 67 years.

I've done several blog posts on Bankhead and will no doubt do others in the future. I wrote about her 1932 film with Robert Montgomery, Faithless and her 1944 film Lifeboat. She made two appearances, sort of, on Lucille Ball comedy shows. I've also written about a 2018 visit to the Jasper home of her father, William B. Bankhead.

Discussion of her Birmingham theatrical appearances follows this biographical sketch that I wrote for the "Lucy and Tallulah" post.

She was born in Huntsville on January 31, 1902, as a member of what became the most prominent political family in Alabama history. Her father, grandfather and uncle all served as U.S. Congressmen from Alabama; her aunt Marie would succeed her husband Thomas Owen as head of the state archives. She grew up mostly in Jasper or Montgomery with relatives and when older in New York. She and sister Eugenia were in and out of public, private and boarding schools in Alabama, New York and other places.

When she was fifteen Tallulah entered a movie magazine contest hoping to win a screen test. She did, and her father reluctantly allowed her to go to New York in the company of one of her aunts. Over the next several years she played small roles in several silent films and Broadway plays.

By 1923 she was on her own in London, and the celebrity Tallulah began to take shape. Over the next eight years she worked in a dozen plays, mostly poorly received except the 1926 London version of Sidney Howard's Pulitzer-winning They Knew What They Wanted. Yet she became one of the few people in England recognized by first name only. She was a society darling with her beauty, wit, affairs and daring outfits. One incident in particular attracted much notice. She attended a boxing match in Germany featuring fellow Alabama native Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling. Tallulah spiced up the match by shouting obscenities at the Nazis present.

In 1931 she left the depressed theater industry in London and moved to Hollywood with a contract from Paramount Pictures. Although her costars in six films included Charles Laughton, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant, none of the movies clicked with the public. For five years in the 1930's she also appeared on Broadway, again in less than stellar productions. She tested for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but despite interest from David O. Selznick she was ultimately deemed too old--at 34. In 1937 she married fellow actor John Emery at her grandmother's home in Jasper--but they divorced with no children in 1941.

In 1939 Tallulah's career on Broadway took a successful turn. She played Regina, the lead role in The Little Foxes, written by Lillian Hellman and based on her mother's upscale family in Demopolis. In 1942 she starred in a successful production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. Both performances won her New York Drama Critics Awards, and she toured the country in each after their Broadway runs ended. Life magazine put the actress on the cover as Regina for its March 6, 1939 issue. In 1948 her appearance in a revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives put her on the cover of Time. She also had a major role in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 film Lifeboat; one of her co-stars was fellow Alabamian Mary Anderson.

By 1950 film and Broadway roles were becoming scarce for Tallulah as she reached age 48. She simply began another career in radio. From 1950 until 1952 she hosted the variety program The Big Show on Sunday nights. Her enthusiasm and wit, combined with guests ranging from Groucho Marx and Judy Garland to Louis Armstrong and Margaret Truman made the program a big success. Despite that, advertisers were moving to television, and when the show ended Tallulah found herself a frequent guest on variety shows there. She also wrote her autobiography, which promptly sold ten million copies.

Before her death in 1968, Tallulah had more stage and film roles and even played the Black Widow in two 1967 episodes of the television series Batman. She also made two appearances on different Lucille Ball shows, one in the flesh and one in spirit; I discuss those in the blog post noted above.

Lobenthal's biography discusses several specific theatrical appearances by Tallulah in Alabama--mostly Birmingham--as she toured the country in various revival productions. The first he notes is an early May 1937 engagement at the Temple Theater. Bankhead appeared in "Reflected Glory" a 1936 play by George Kelly in which she played actress Muriel Flood. In her curtain speech Tallulah declared that no matter where she traveled, "I am just an Alabama hillbilly." I imagine the audience loved it, even if they didn't believe it. From July 1936 until May 1937 the play toured in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Indianapolis, Columbus, Chicago, Washington, DC, and finally Birmingham.

In early November 1938 Bankhead was back at the Temple in "I Am Different" by Zoe Atkins. In matinee and evening performances, she played Dr. Judith Held, European author of popular books on psychiatry. Vince Townsend reviewed it for Birmingham News.

Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes opened on Broadway on February 15, 1939. The setting is a small Alabama town in 1900. Bankhead played Regina Giddens who struggles with her two brothers controlling the family fortune. The play, based on conflicts in Hellman's mother's family in Demopolis, no doubt spoke to Bankhead. After all, she had escaped the confines of a powerful Alabama family herself.

The play closed in New York on February 3, 1940, after 410 performances. A two season tour of the U.S. began that fall which included the 1941 Birmingham productions.

In 1941 a film version was released; Bankhead lost the role of Regina to Bette Davis. That one was not the first time she starred in a Broadway production but lost the film version to Davis. In November and December 1934 Tallulah played frivolous socialite Judith Traherne. in George Brewer, Jr.'s "Dark Victory." Her performance was praised by critics, but the play was not commercially successful. Despite the short run, Davis must have seen it; she eventually admitted that her Oscar-nominated performance in the 1939 film had been modeled after Bankhead's stage version.

Bankhead in her iconic role as Regina Giddens in the 1939 Broadway production of The Little Foxes.

Source: Wikipedia

The BhamWiki entry on the Temple notes Bankhead appeared there in Noel Coward's play "Private Lives". Lobenthal describes her performing in that play more than once in Alabama in the fall 1949. Reportedly at curtain calls she waved a small Confederate flag at the audience. She had starred in a Broadway revival of the play the previous year.

As I was finishing this blog post, I just happened to find the following item in a strange source, the first edition of Reader's Digest Treasury of Wit & Humor published in 1958. There it was, on page 85:

"The always unpredictable Tallulah Bankhead has been known to introduce devastating ad libs into plays in which she was starring. One Christmas week she was playing Private Lives in Birmingham, Ala., practically her home town. In the midst of the humorous second act, while she and Donald Cook were lounging on a couch, she suddenly exclaimed, "Get away from me, you damn Yankee." And reaching into her bosom she hauled out a tiny Confederate flag--which she proceeded to wave enthusiastically. The audience shook the theater to its foundation." --Ernie Schier in the Washington Times-Herald

Lobenthal describes other ad libs--not involving a flag--in his biography. Cook, a prolific film and Broadway actor, starred with Bankhead in the 1948 revival of the play. I wonder if the great Noel Coward, the English author of the play would have approved.

You can see a list of Bankhead's Broadway appearances here.

Bankhead onstage in "The Little Foxes" at the Temple Theater in 1941

Source: Photographed by Cook for the Birmingham News

via Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Archives

Bankhead in her dressing room at the Temple Theater during the run of "The Little Foxes" in 1941

Source: Photographed by Cook for the Birmingham News

via Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

The Temple Theater in 1925

Source: BhamWiki

The Temple Theater in 1965

Source: BhamWiki

Tallulah remains a cultural icon of sorts. It's been a while since I read this 1987 novel by George Baxt, but I remember enjoying it.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Film Actresses from Alabama Before 1960 (8): Frances Bergen

The model and actress known as Frances Bergen was born in Birmingham on September 14, 1922, daughter of Lille Mabel and William A, Westermann. In the 1920 U.S. Census her parents are listed as living with her paternal grandparents, Frank W. and Mary C. Westermann, born in Germany and Georgia respectively.

Bergen's father was 29, born in Alabama in 1891. Her mother was 20. William worked as an office manager at a decorating company, and the four lived at "the Ablemarle of the Humboldt Avenue," which I assume was an apartment building. By the 1930 census William, Lille, Mary and 7 year old daughter Lea F. were living at 14 Waco Avenue; the second "n" had been dropped from the family's last name.

William died on July 15, 1932; he is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. For some reason Lille and Francis moved to Los Angeles, where the daughter graduated from high school. The year after graduation she was attending a live radio broadcast featuring actor and comedian Edgar Bergen, famous for his act as a ventriloquist with his sidekick Charlie McCarthy. Bergen noticed Francis and asked to meet her. After years of courtship they married in 1945 and remained a couple until his death in 1978. They had two children, actress Candice and film/television editor Kris.

Despite her attention to her family, Frances had significant modeling and acting careers of her own. She worked as a model for the John Robert Powers agency in New York, appearing as the "Chesterfield Girl" and the "Ipana Girl" in magazine advertisements and on billboards.

She made her film debut in the 1953 Titanic playing Madeleine Astor. Between that appearance and part 1 of the finale of her daughter's series Murphy Brown in 1998, she played a number of film and television roles. Other films included Her Twelve Men (1954), Interlude (1957), The Sting II and The Star Chamber (both 1983) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984). A major role in Henry Jaglom's independent film Eating in 1990 attracted attention late in her career.

Bergen appeared in made for tv films and episodes of various television series over the years as well. In 1958 she played a physician in "The Doctor Was a Lady" on the Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theater. Other series included Four Star Playhouse, The Millionaire, Dick Powell Show, Barnaby Jones, and MacGyver. A listing of her acting credits can be found here.

One of her most memorable roles came in several episodes of the series Yancy Derringer, which ran on CBS-TV during the 1958-59 season. She played Madame Francine, the owner of a private gambling house in 1868 New Orleans.

Bergen died on October 2, 2006, and is buried in California.

Further comments are below some of the photographs.

These two photographs show Bergen with Jock Mahoney, who played Yancy, and X Brands, who played silent sidekick Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah, a Pawnee Indian.

Daughter Candice, also a model, has had an even more successful film and television career than her mother. Her films include Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Ghandi (1982). She starred as the title character in the television series Murphy Brown (CBS-TV, 1988-1998) and won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes for her work.