Jackie Gleason (as Minnesota Fats) 

February 26, 1916 - June 24, 1987

"I'm no alcoholic. I'm a drunkard. There's a difference. A drunkard doesn't like to go to meetings." - Jackie Gleason

I can bet you're thinking to yourself, 'With all the Honeymooner pictures that are available, why this one?' Well; lets just say that everyone gets "hustled" once in a while.

Anyway. Jackie was born Herbert John "Jackie" Gleason in Brooklyn, New York in 1916. He grew up as an only child and was abandoned by his father. His mother would take care of him until her death (when Jackie was around 16 years old).

There was no doubt in Jackie's mind about what he wanted to do or be when he got older. He would begin his dream of stardom by working as an emcee for the local small theaters. He billed himself as "Jumpin' Jackie Gleason" and it is said that he could take on any heckler with his quick-fire wit. This would make Jackie extremely popular in all of the theaters in the five boroughs of New York. 

Besides doing stage shows, Gleason would moon-light as a radio disc jockey, a boxer, a daredevil driver and even a pool hustler. Hence, he would later receive an Oscar Nomination for playing Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (Jackie actually made his own pool shots in the film).

Jackie would begin to get recognition by playing in the Broadway play Follow the Girls. He was also playing a few small parts in films at that time, but wasn't very successful during that period. Jackie would later try his hand at television (and how sweet it would be!).

In 1949, Gleason played the role of Chester A. Riley (The Life Of Riley) but the series didn't fare too well. That show did become popular when William Bendix took over the role of Chester in a later TV series. However, it wasn't all bad news for Jackie, because his nightclub act was starting to attract a lot of attention in New York. Which would prove to bring him bigger and better opportunities in his career.

It was during the time (1950-1952) when Jackie was hosting Cavalcade of Stars that he would come to create his many famous characters and skits. Jackie would leave that network in a few years and The Jackie Gleason Show was born on the CBS network. He would change his variety shows' format in 1955 and The Honeymooners would hit the air waves with a ton of laughs (incredibly, the show only lasted one season!). Thank Heaven for re-runs!

The Great One, would go on to star in many movies and television roles, and he even did some (mood music) recordings for Capital Records up until the early 60's (but I don't think The Beatles were too worried!) lol. His last variety show was Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine, which was retitled back to The Jackie Gleason Show, and it would run for four more years. It was on that show that Jackie would often utilize one of his famous trademark phrases: "How sweet it is!"

There is a statue of Gleason (as Ralph Kramden) in New York City that was dedicated by by the TV Land cable channel. There is also another statue at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in North Hollywood, California. It shows Gleason in his famous "And awa-a-ay we go!" pose. 

Jackie's last film role was in the 1986 film Nothing in Common, which he starred in with Tom Hanks. Gleason would pass away in 1987 at the age of 71. He was truly The Great One!

Some of his more well known movies he starred in were:

The Hustler (1961) as Minnesota Fats

Gigot (1962) as Gigot (I thought this was a great movie).

Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) as Maish Rennick

Soldier in the Rain (1963) as Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter

Papa's Delicate Condition (1963) as Jack Griffith

How to Commit Marriage (1969) as Oliver Poe

Smokey and the Bandit (1977) as Sheriff Buford T. Justice

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) as Sheriff Buford T. Justice

The Toy (1982) as U. S. Bates

Smokey and the Bandit III (1983) as Sheriff Buford T. Justice

*inspired by Pioneer

 Ruth Gordon (pictured with Bud Cort from Harold and Maude).

October 30, 1896 – August 28, 1985

"The kiss. There are all sorts of kisses, lad, from the sticky confection to the kiss of death. Of them all, the kiss of an actress is the most unnerving. How can we tell if she means it or if she's just practicing?" - Ruth Gordon

Born Ruth Gordon Jones in Wollaston, Massachusetts, (the daughter of a sea captain) she would train at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Ruth would make her (silent) film debut in 1915. She would also make her Broadway debut in "Peter Pan" as Nibs the same year. She would spend the next twenty years performing on stage, and had appeared in the successful run of "The Country Wife" in 1936. She would return to her film career in the early 40's.. Her most memorable role during that period was that of Mary Todd in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).

Ruth would leave Hollywood and return to the Broadway theater in 1942. She would also marry Garson Kanin also in 1942 (after the death of her first husband Gregory Kelly). There in New York she'd begin writing plays, and later she and her husband would work together composing screenplays for Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (Adam's Rib and Pat And Mike). Gordon was also a member of the infamous Algonquin Round Table.

When Ruth returned to the big screen in the 1960s, she would finally receive recognition as a movie star winning an Golden Globe, and being awarded an Oscar nomination for Inside Daisy Clover (1965). She would later win a Golden Globe ( and be nominated for Maude) for her memorable roles in two of Hollywood's biggest cult classics: Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Harold and Maude (1971). She would also write several volumes of autobiography ("Myself Among Others" and "My Side"  in the mid-1970s. Ruth was just a riot when she played the part of Philo Beddoe's (Clint Eastwood's) mother in the1978 film Every Which Way But Loose, and its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can. Not to mention laughing so hard at that "hilarious" sad excuse for a biker gang (The Black Widows).

Ruth would guest-host and appear in many TV sitcoms, and would win an Emmy for her 1978 role on "Taxi"  in 1979. She would also win the dubious award of being the oldest person to host the  SNL show. Although Harold and Maude was a breakthrough for her career, Ruth Gordon had so much more to offer us as an entertainer, and I personally will always be grateful for the legacy that she left behind.

Ruth Gordon died of a stroke in Edgartown, Massachusetts at the age of 88. Harold and Maude and Adam's Rib have both been selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

"The great have no friends. They merely know a lot of people." - Ruth Gordon

 Ruth Gordon films:

Scavenger Hunt

Rosemary's Baby

My Bodyquard 

Maxi 

Lord Love a Duck

Jimmy the Kid

Inside Daisy Clover 

Information Please No. 8

Information Please No. 2

Harold and Maude

Every Which Way But Loose

Edge of Darkness 

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet

Delta Pi

Boardwalk

Any Which Way You Can

 Action in the North Atlantic

Abe Lincoln in Illinois

The Big Bus

 The Ten-Year Lunch

 The Trouble with Spies

 The Whirl of Life

 Two-Faced Woman

 Voyage of the Rock Aliens

 Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?

 Where's Popa

*inspired by Sharecher

 

 

Ma & Pa Kettle

Marjorie Main (pictured with  Percy Kilbride).

February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975

"Pa ain't much for working and the rest the youngen's seem to take after him." - Ma Kettle

Marjorie was born Mary Tomlinson in Indiana in 1890. Marjorie's father was a minister, and didn't approve of his daughter's intention/desire of becoming an entertainer. Nevertheless, Marjorie briefly attended college in Indiana, but left to attend drama school. After she graduated, she taught dramatics for a year but eventually went into vaudeville. She would make her debut on Broadway in 1916, and her first film was A House Divided in 1931.  

Marjorie married Dr. Stanley Krebs in 1921, and decided to put her movie career on hold for several years. But after her husbands death in 1935, she  would "plow" (I almost said bury!) herself right back into her work. She would never remarry, or unlike Ma Kettle ever have any children (in an interview she said that television sitcom star of December Bride-Spring Byington, and her were lovers).

Marjorie would not only star in over a hundred "A & B" movies in her career, she would co-star with some of Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars. Just to name a few: Fred MacMurray, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Za Su Pitts, Donna Reed, Harry Morgan, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Paul Langton, and last (of just the few) but not least, Spring Byington.

I can vividly remember watching Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride (Pa Kettle) with my mom and dad on our old b&w boob-tube, and just laughing our butts off. If you have never seen a Ma & Pa Kettle flick (even if you have) it would be well worth your while to see one on video now. Humor may change with the years, but laughter will never go out of style.

Ma and Pa Kettle films:

The Egg and I - 1947  (pilot) 

Ma and Pa Kettle - 1949 

Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town - 1950 

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm - 1951

Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair - 1952

Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation - 1953

Ma and Pa Kettle at Home - 1954 

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki - 1955

The Kettles in the Ozarks - 1956 

The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm - 1957

 

 

September 1, 1920 – October 6, 2000

"I worked for John Ford, Howard Hawks, Henry Hathaway, Raoul Walsh - I worked for some real good directors." - Richard Farnsworth 

Born in Los Angeles, California, Richard had dropped out of school at the age of sixteen and became a rodeo rider. He would start his Hollywood career in 1937 as a stunt man/extra with MGM in the Marx Brothers' film A Day at the Races. He would remain a stunt man (mostly Westerns) for thirty-four years before becoming a respected actor and earning widespread attention for two outstanding lead performances: 1982's The Grey Fox, and 1999's The Straight Story, in which he starred in as Alvin Straight.

Riding a horse was as natural to Richard as swimming is to a duck. For decades he would be a stunt man/stand-in (often playing the bad guy) for stars like Roy Rogers, Gary Cooper, and occasionally doubling for Guy Madison of The Wild Bill Hickok Show fame. He would also stunt/double for Kirk Douglas, Henry Ford, and Steve McQueen (he did stunt work for many cowboy stars and swashbucklers).

In the 60's Richard co-created the Stuntsman's Association, a group that would fight to safeguard the rights of the men and women who performed dangerous and life threatening stunts for Hollywood.

By 1976 Richard was working as a full time actor, and in 1978 he co-starred in Comes a Horseman. He was nominated for an Academy Award for supporting actor in that film. In 1982 Richard received Canada's Genie Award for his lead role about an aging gentlemen bank robber ( Bill Miner/George Edwards) in The Grey Fox. Then he was just as wonderful in the 1984 Robert Redford hit The Natural, which Richard played the part of Red Blow the baseball teams manager (both movies are among my favorite list).

Richard came out of semi-retirement to play the part of Alvin Straight in the 1999 film The Straight Story. He was honored with a Golden Globe nomination, and would receive a Best Actor nod at the 2000 Academy Awards. He became the oldest person to be nominated for that award.

Richard was diagnosed and stricken with terminal bone cancer, but he still continued to make public appearances in 2000, and would attend award ceremonies. Sadly, the debilitating disease would finally cause him to take his own life. His son, Richard "Diamond" Farnsworth, followed in his father's "stunt-boot-steps" and became an Hollywood stunt man. Bless his soul.

*is it just me or does Richard look like he could have also fathered Sam Elliott?

Rita Hayworth

1918-1987

"What surprises me in life are not the marriages that fail, but the marriages that succeed" - Rita Hayworth

Rita was born, Margarita Carmen Cansino, in New York on October 17, 1918. Her father, Eduardo, had immigrated from Spain with his sister in 1913, and would meet showgirl, Volga Haworth, in 1916. They would be married a year later. 

Since dancing was a tradition in the Cansino family, it was to no surprise that Rita would be formally trained as a dancer in order to follow in her family's footsteps. She would join her family on stage at the young age of 8 years old (I believe they were called hoofers back then).

During a filming with her family in a movie called "La Fiesta" (1926) Rita was noticed and approached by an impressed Fox executive, and would be offered a movie contract. Rita's second film was Cruz Diablo (1934) which she would do at the age of 16. She would continue to play small parts in several films under the name of Rita Cansino until she landed the second female lead in Columbia's 1939 production of "Only Angels Have Wings". 

 But it would be the Warner Brothers 1941 film "The Strawberry Blonde" that would bring out the seductiveness that was to be Rita's trademark and that would make her famous. Warner would be sure to showcase Rita's natural raw beauty later that year in the 1941 film "Blood and Sand" that was filmed in Technicolor. It has been said that Rita was probably the second most popular actress after Betty Grable (Rita was also the #2 soldier pin-up girl of WW II, and her face was glued onto an A-bomb which was dropped on the Bikini Atol during a test in 1946).

Rita would go on to dance into movie goers hearts in the 1941 hit "You'll never get Rich" with Fred Astaire. Her dancing was acclaimed as nothing short of astounding in that film, and her many years of dance training was paying off for the buxom "red-headed" bombshell (her natural hair color was black).   

But even though she continued making movies (many with Glenn Ford) her career would start to go on a down-hill slide after her 1946 hit Gilda. Some say because she just never seemed to match her earlier work (which I have a hard time believing that!). It is also said that part of the reason for her downward spiral was television. And, it didn't help that Rita had been replaced by a hot new female star at Columbia, Kim Novak. After the 60s Rita's popularity (not mine) and movie career was essentially over. Rita, herself, said, "Every man I have known has fallen in love with Gilda and wakened with me".

Rita Hayworth was married five times, and she was divorced five times. She had two children; a daughter (Rebecca Welles) from Orsen Welles, and a daughter (Yasmin Khan) from Prince Aly Khan (Rita, not Grace Kelly, was the first movie star to become a princess).

Rita battled with Alzheimer's Disease for nearly seven years starting in 1980 (Yasmin would help take care of her), and she would die on May 14, 1987 in New York City. She was 68 years old. She was portrayed in a 1983 TV movie, Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess by Linda Carter.

*inspired by, Scratch