Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

I thought those two British actor names were so amusing, I just had to put them in a quiz

Who names their kid 'Humbertson'???

You've got a point there. Now for #43 and the mystery of 2 names!

yea it like, 'The Second Mrs. Grenville'

maybe someone filed their screen test in the wrong manila folder

Would you have a picture of #43 without cowgirl gear?

Glad to. Here's a few.

In the first one she looks a tad like Patricia Medina, but not the others. Her hairstyles are all different too. Thanks. BTW, is any of the pictures from her 'big' film?

I'm hard put to say if she ever had a big movie. As I stated earlier, she was overwhelmingly in support roles. She was in one Randolph Scott 'oater'. She also played the wife of a detective in a movie we all know the name of, but in a fleeting appearance (not germane to the plot). Anyway...no, none of these pictures are from any major film in which she starred. Fifteen pictures total in her career; almost all of them would be unknown to anyone but noir buffs and sagebrush aficionados.

#43 - Dorothy Hart?

Yes!!

She was the wife of Howard Duff in 'Naked City' (I myself did not know Duff was in that flick; I thought it was just Don Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald)

She contracted influenza making one movie and somehow got tangled up in a lawsuit by Mary Pickford on another.

She as also 'Jane' in one of the 'Tarzan' movies.

That's interesting that she worked for the UN, and as a 'Jane'. Quite a varied career.

I am turning into a total loser!!!! I thought I knew obscure actors but boy, was I wrong.....but it surely is fun trying to figure them out. Go Betsy!!!!

ahhhh you're just on a down streak. Can happen to any competitor. Look at any pro sport and you'll see slumps galore even in the best teams.

Feliks is right, Jill. Once you get on a roll, you'll be fine.

Plenty of websites pay 'homages' to all the great charactor-actors of the studio era. I've had to even avoid those troves of images to pose these puzzlers. Too easy. Of course, only a classics buff would know someone like Whit Bissell in the first place --there's already a measure of experience and skill even at that level --but for true head-scratchers I'm having dig up the farthest-flung examples of forgotten faces. No shame in being temporarily stumped or missing several in a row.

#45 has an uusual face with a pointed chin and wide forehead. She reminds me of someone, but I can't decide who.

There's that study they did once which showed that all the really big stars had a 'mathematical ratio' between their forehead, nose, and chin; a 'proportion' which helped make them more appealing on-screen. Edward G. Robinson had it, Audrey Hepburn had it ...I don't have it :(

Quiz #46


Quiz #47

Any clues for #44 and #45?

Mystery blond in Quiz #44 is of Greek ethnicity, born in the Midwest, some local stage play experience got her discovered and signed by Zanuck for a ten year career in Warner Bros 'B' pictures starting in '36. She appeared in approximately 40 films. I can't detect any major hits in her filmography. She's in one Charlie Chan movie, one Jean Harlow movie; numerous other crime yarns, oaters. Prison breaks; submarines; nurses; etc.

#45 was a talented British comedienne who started off a lively run of quickie-quota pictures in '35. She married an American director who was in the UK during the war; she made a sizzling film-noir flick under his direction in the States. She had a ten year career (approx twenty movies) which ended abruptly with an unfortunate, much-too-early accidental death. Our loss, surely.

Belinda Lee?

No banana

I will say #45 is a real collector's item. Her one true standout flick was forgotten for years until it turned up on one of those recent-era Warner Bros crime-library DVD compilations

Is #47 Robert Douglas?

Yes!

I had a sneaking suspicion you would nail that one. One of B-cinema's great 'scheming character' actors, eh? Eh? What a filmography that guy has!

Yea, Jill! Good going.

OOoooohh I see two of my 'Dorothy Hart' images had her signature overlaid on them. Might have to dock a win for Betsy on that one! ulp

I feel better now. I thought I was losing my obscure actor memory. Onward and upward.

We still need 45 and 46, right? I thought sure that 45 was Belinda Lee since she was killed in a car wreck but no banana.

Did we get #44?

#44 the blonde who looks like Jan Sterling but isn't, is still unguessed at.

#45 the British comedienne who starred in one distinctive US film-noir is still unguessed at (she died of illness, by the way)

p.s. just teasing about Dorothy Hart; I wouldn't disqualify any wins like that, I was only kidding

#46 --the auburn-haired vixen. Still unguessed. I have also not divulged any clues about her yet.

#44......Marion Marsh? A wild guess.

No banana. Additional clues: I see she appeared (minorly) in both an early John Ford film and an early William Wellman film. Not as a principal cast member, but pretty good for a 'nobody' from the midwest.

#44 - Joan Valerie?

Yes!!

Good sharpshooting

By the way, this thread taught me a new name. Richard Greene. I never knew of him before. Pretty big star! Joan Valerie appeared in several of his flicks (I withheld this clue because I thought it would have been too easy a tip-off).

p.s. these starlets (Dorothy Hart, etc) must have enjoyed having their hair done up new --practically every day --by a team of studio aestheticians

Every American girl's dream eh? New outfit and new hairdo each day?

I've always liked Richard Greene since I saw hm as Robin Hood. He did a lot of the same type of parts as Errol Flynn.

Not all outfits or hairdos are comfortable, espcially in historical films. The actresses would have to get up early for makeup too. I imagine it wasn't all fun and games.

Quiz #48

Quiz #49

Now I'm confused. The previous #47 was the rogue Jill knew so she should be #48 and the woman with the brooch should be #49.

So we are looking for #45, #46, #48 and #49 and we only have clues for the first two.

Rectifying the quiz numbers:
.
.
#37 Nicole Maurey
#38 Peggy Stewart
#39 Valerie French
#40 Hazel Brooks (noir icon)
#41 Judy Tyler (Elvis' girlfriend)
#42 High Treason Humbertson Wright/Basil Gill
#43 Dorothy Hart (cowgirl)
#44 Joan Valerie (blonde bit-player from Wisconsin)
#45 wide forehead, pointed chin (unguessed)
#46 auburn haired vixen (unguessed)
#47 Robert Douglas

two new quizzes are #48 (unguessed) and #49 (unguessed)

#48 and #49 are both British

#48 - Valerie Hobson?

What big eyes she has!

You beat me to that #48, Betsy.

Yes!! Valerie Hobson. Good job

She would be a star in any era with a face like that