Robert Taylor
Birthday: Born in 1911-08-05 in Filley, Nebraska, USA
Deathday: 1969-06-08
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Robert Taylor (born Spangler Arlington Brugh; August 5, 1911 – June 8, 1969) was an American film and television actor who was one of the most popular leading men of his time. Taylor began his career in films in 1934 when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won his first leading role the following year in Magnificent Obsession. His popularity increased during the late 1930s and 1940s with appearances in A Yank at Oxford (1938), Waterloo Bridge (1940), and Bataan (1943). During World War II, he served in the United States Naval Air Corps, where he worked as a flight instructor and appeared in instructional films. From 1959 to 1962, he starred in the ABC series The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. In 1966, he took over hosting duties from his friend Ronald Reagan on the series Death Valley Days. Taylor was married to actress Barbara Stanwyck from 1939 to 1951. He married actress Ursula Thiess in 1954, and they had two children. A chain smoker, Taylor was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 1968. He died of the disease on June 8, 1969 at the age of 57.
TV Credits
The Merv Griffin Show
Character: Self
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986....
The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
The Thin Man
Character:
Nick Charles was a private detective who married the wealthy Nora and decided to settle down and leave the good life. Unfortunately for the couple, Nick's past frequently caught up with him and got the couple involved in mystery after mystery. The series was based on the popular MGM series of movies of the 1930's starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk starred as the televison versions of Nick and Nora which ran on NBC for two seasons from 1957-59....
Hondo
Character:
Hondo is a 17-episode Western television series starring Ralph Taeger that aired in the United States on ABC during the 1967 fall season. The series was produced by Batjac Productions, Inc., Fenady Associates, Inc., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television....
The Detectives
Character: Captain Matt Holbrook
The Detectives is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC during its third and final season. The series, starring motion picture star Robert Taylor, was produced by Four Star Television....
The Mike Douglas Show
Character: Self - Co-Host
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia....
Death Valley Days
Character: Self - Host
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945 and continued from 1952 to 1970 as a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company and hosted by Stanley Andrews, Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor, and Dale Robertson. With the ...
What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions....
Death Valley Days
Character: Shanghai Kelly
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945 and continued from 1952 to 1970 as a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company and hosted by Stanley Andrews, Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor, and Dale Robertson. With the ...
Movie Credits
Rogue Cop
Character: Det. Sgt. Christopher Kelvaney
A police detective on the take tries to catch his brother's killer....
Quo Vadis
Character: Marcus Vinicius
After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero....
The Bribe
Character: Rigby
United States Federal agent Rigby travels to the Central American island Carlotta to investigate a stolen aircraft engines smuggling racket....
Party Girl
Character: Tommy Farrell
Slick lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career of defending mobsters in trials. It's not until he meets a lovely showgirl at a mob party that he realizes that there's more to life than winning trials. Farrell tries to quit the racket, but mob boss Rico Angelo threatens to hurt the showgirl if Farrell leaves him....
Ivanhoe
Character: Wilfred of Ivanhoe
Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the fight against Prince John and for the return of King Richard the Lionheart....
High Wall
Character: Steven Kenet
Steven Kenet, suffering from a recurring brain injury, appears to have strangled his wife. Having confessed, he's committed to an understaffed county asylum full of pathetic inmates. There, Dr. Ann Lorrison is initially skeptical about Kenet's story and reluctance to undergo treatment. But against her better judgement, she begins to doubt his guilt....
Devil's Doorway
Character: Lance Poole
A Native American Civil War hero returns home to fight for his people....
Johnny Eager
Character: Johnny Eager
A charming racketeer seduces the DA's stepdaughter for revenge, then falls in love....
The Night Walker
Character: Barry Moreland
A woman is haunted by recurring nightmares, which seem to be instigated by her late husband who supposedly was killed in a fire....
Bataan
Character: Sgt. Bill Dane
During Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Capt. Henry Lassiter, Sgt. Bill Dane and a diverse group of American soldiers are ordered to destroy and hold a strategic bridge in order to delay the Japanese forces and allow Gen. MacArthur time to secure Bataan. When the Japanese soldiers begin to rebuild the bridge and advance, the group struggles with not only hunger, sickness and gunfire, but also the knowledge that there is likely no relief on the way....
Waterloo Bridge
Character: Roy Cronin
On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front....
Broadway Melody of 1938
Character: Steve Raleigh
Steve Raleight wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a backer, Herman Whipple and a leading lady, Sally Lee. But Caroline Whipple forces Steve to use a known star, not a newcomer. Sally purchases a horse, she used to train when her parents had a farm before the depression and with to ex-vaudevillians, Sonny Ledford and Peter Trott she trains it to win a race, providing the money Steve needs for his show....
Personal Property
Character: Raymond Dabney
Raymond Dabney returns to his family after trouble with the law. He convinces the sheriff to give him a job watching the house and furniture of widow Crystal Wetherby without knowing she is engaged to his brother....
Camille
Character: Armand Duval
Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval....
Broadway Melody of 1936
Character: Robert Gordon
Lovely, gifted Irene Foster hopes that her childhood sweetheart-turned Broadway producer Robert Gordon will recognize her--and her talent. Gordon is too busy sparring with a dirt-dishing gossip columnist to notice, but his wisecracking, heart-of-gold secretary certainly does. She and Irene must use their wits to show him what he's missing!...
Undercurrent
Character: Alan Garroway
After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother....
The Law and Jake Wade
Character: Jake Wade
Jake Wade breaks Clint Hollister out of jail to pay off an old debt, though it's clear there is some pretty deep hostility between them. They part, and Jake returns to his small-town marshal's job and his fiancée only to find he has been tracked there by Hollister. It seems they were once in a gang together and Jake knows where the proceeds of a bank hold-up are hidden. Hollister and his sidekicks make off into the hills, taking along the trussed-up marshal and his kidnapped bride-to-be to force...
D-Day the Sixth of June
Character: Capt. Brad Parker
En route to Normandy, an American and a British officer reminisce in flashback about their romances with the same woman....
Ride, Vaquero!
Character: Rio
Ranchers in New Mexico have to face Indians and bandits....
Magnificent Obsession
Character: Dr. Robert Merrick
A playboy tries to redeem himself after his careless behavior causes a great man's death....
Trifles of Importance
Character: Self (archive footage)
Part of John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series, this short shows how three seemingly unimportant things can affect people. The first is how the number 7 affects a student accused of theft charges. The second segment shows that a person's doodles can reveal personality traits. The final segment shows why certain items are on men's suits, such as lapels....
The Hangman
Character: Mackenzie Bovard
A marshal nicknamed "The Hangman" because of his track record in hunting down and capturing wanted criminals traces a robbery suspect to a small town. However, the man is known and liked in the town, and the citizens band together to try to help him avoid capture....
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows
Character: Mr. Farriday: The 'In' Group
Mother Superior of St. Francis Academy is challenged by a modern young nun when they take the girls on a bus trip across the country....
Knights of the Round Table
Character: Lancelot
In Camelot, kingdom of Arthur and Merlin, Lancelot is well known for his courage and honor. But one day he must quit Camelot and the Queen Guinevere's love, leaving the Round Table without protection....
Above and Beyond
Character: Lt. Col Paul W. Tibbets
The story of Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Although unaware of the full potential of this new weapon, he knows that it can do tremendously more damage than any other weapon used before, and that the death toll resulting from it will be huge. He is reluctant to be the person who will end so many lives, but as time goes on, the pressure upon him only increase....
Many Rivers to Cross
Character: Bushrod Gentry
Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker star as a Kentucky backwoodsman and the woman who will NOT let anything interfere with her plans to marry him in this humorous romantic adventure through the American Frontier of 1798....
The House of the Seven Hawks
Character: John Nordley
A ship's captain gets mixed up with murder during the hunt for lost Nazi treasure....
When Ladies Meet
Character: Jimmy Lee
Mary, a writer working on a novel about a love triangle, is attracted to her publisher. Her suitor Jimmy is determined to break them up; he introduces Mary to the publisher's wife without telling Mary who she is....
Conspirator
Character: Major Michael Curragh
A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy....
All the Brothers Were Valiant
Character: Joel Shore
In the South Pacific islands, two brothers, one good and one bad, fight over the same girl and over a bag of pearls....
Quentin Durward
Character: Quentin Durward
During the 15th century reign of France's King Louis XI, a young Scottish man is sent by his English Lord to woo a French lady on his behalf. The plan goes awry when the young man falls in love with her. Based on the classic novel by Sir Walter Scott....
Miracle of the White Stallions
Character: Col. Podhajsky
In WWII Austria, Col. Alois Podhajsky must protect his beloved Lipizzaner stallions and make sure that they are surrendered into the right hands. But Patton's something of a horse fancier and can help...if he sees the stallions perform....
The Fighting Lady
Character: Narrator
Oscar winner William Wyler directed this 1944 "newsdrama," narrated by Lieut. Robert Taylor, USNR (Bataan), and photographed in zones of combat by the U.S. Navy. The film follows one of the many new aircraft carriers built since Pearl Harbor, known as THE FIGHTING LADY in honor of all American carriers, as it goes into action against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean in 1943. See the ship and its pilots undergo their baptism of fire, attacking the Japanese base on Marcus Island. Preserved by th...
Saddle the Wind
Character: Steve Sinclair
Steve Sinclair is a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake....
Flight Command
Character: Ens. Alan Drake
A rookie flyer, Ens. Alan Drake, joins the famous Hellcats Squadron right out of flight school in Pensacola. He doesn't make a great first impression when he is forced to ditch his airplane and parachute to safety when he arrives at the base but is unable to land due to heavy fog. On his first day on the job, his poor shooting skills results in the Hellcats losing an air combat competition. His fellow pilots accept him anyways but they think he's crossed the line when they erroneously conclude t...
Song of Russia
Character: John Meredith
American conductor John Meredith and his manager, Hank Higgins, go to Russia shortly before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Meredith falls in love with beautiful Soviet pianist Nadya Stepanova while they travel throughout the country on a 40-city tour. Along the way, they see happy, healthy, smiling, free Soviet citizens, blissfully living the Communist dream. This bliss is destroyed by the German invasion....
Westward the Women
Character: Buck Wyatt
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks....
Her Cardboard Lover
Character: Terry Trindale
A flirt tries to make her fiancée jealous by hiring a gigolo....
Stand by for Action
Character: Lieut. Gregg Masterman
U. S. Navy Lieutenant Gregg Masterman, of The Harvard and Boston Back Bay Mastermans, learned about the sea while winning silver cups sailing his yacht. He climbs swiftly in rank, and is now Junior Aide to Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas....
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Character: Self (archive footage)
A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system....
Small Town Girl
Character: Dr. Robert 'Bob' Dakin
Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that ...
West Point of the Air
Character: 'Jasky' Jaskarelli
An army sergeant inspires his son to become an ace flyer....
Three Comrades
Character: Erich Lohkamp
A love story centered on the lives of three young German soldiers in the years following World War I. Their close friendship is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman who is dying of tuberculosis....
The Youngest Profession
Character: Robert Taylor
Joan Lyons and her friend Patricia Drew are autograph hounds spending most of their day bumping into, and having tea, with the likes of Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on misinformation from a meddling old-maid governess, Miss Featherstone, Joan also devotes some time to working on the no-problem marriage of her parents to the extent of hiring Dr. Hercules, the strong man from a side show to pay attention to her mother in order to make her father jealous, despite the good advice received ...
Escape
Character: Mark Preysing
An American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration camp. With the help of an American-born widowed countess he seeks to engineer her escape....
Savage Pampas
Character: Captain Martín
An army captain in Argentina learns why his lonely men are deserting to an outlaw's gaucho gang....
Hondo and the Apaches
Character: Gallagher
Two episodes from the TV series "Hondo" edited together and released as a feature....
The Gorgeous Hussy
Character: 'Bow' Timberlake
It's the early nineteenth century Washington. Young adult Margaret O'Neal, Peggy to most that know her, is the daughter of Major William O'Neal, who is the innkeeper of the establishment where most out-of-town politicians and military men stay when they're in Washington. Peggy is pretty and politically aware. She is courted by several of those politicians and military men who all want to marry her, except for the one with who she is truly in love....
Lady of the Tropics
Character: William 'Bill' Carey
Playboy Bill Carey woos a half-caste beauty in French Indochina, but her second-class legal status makes a formidable barrier....
Billy the Kid
Character: Billy Bonney
Billy Bonney is a hot-headed gunslinger who narrowly skirts a life of crime by being befriended and hired by a peaceful rancher, Eric Keating. When Keating is killed, Billy seeks revenge on the men who killed him, even if it means opposing his friend, Marshal Jim Sherwood....
Ambush
Character: Ward Kinsman
A Westerner searches for a white woman held by the Apaches....
The Last Hunt
Character: Charlie Gilson
A buffalo hunter has a falling-out with his partner, who kills for fun....
A Yank at Oxford
Character: Lee Sheridan
A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister....
His Brother's Wife
Character: Chris Claybourne
Epidemiologist Cliff Claybourne falls in love with Rita Wilson in a gambling house. They want to marry but Cliff's brother is convinced Rita is no good and forces Cliff to fulfill his agreement to do research in Africa in exchange for paying gambling debt. Rita, Cliff and brother are furious with each other, but Rita and Cliff are still in love....
Cattle King
Character: Sam Brassfield
A rich landowner of Wyoming fights to prevent the Texas herds from trampling his rich meadows....
The Secret Land
Character: Narrator
This documentary, filmed entirely by military photographers, recounts the U.S. Navy's 1946-47 expedition to Antarctica, known as Operation High Jump. The expedition was under the overall command of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, no stranger to the Antarctic. This was a large undertaking involving 13 ships and over 4000 thousand men. The fleet departed from Norfolk, Virginia traveling through the Panama canal and then southward to their final destination. The trip through the ice pack was fraught with ...
Buried Loot
Character: Albert 'Al' Douglas (uncredited)
An embezzler who expects to serve his time in prison and then pick up his buried loot is in for a surprise....
Tip on a Dead Jockey
Character: Lloyd Tredman
Broke and about to divorce his wife, a pilot joins a smuggling scheme in postwar Madrid....
This Is My Affair
Character: Lt. Richard L. Perry
President McKinley asks Lt. Richard L. Perry to go underground to identify some obviously very well briefed Mid-Western bank robbers based in Saint Paul, Minnesota....
Stand Up and Fight
Character: Blake Cantrell
A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom....
Valley of the Kings
Character: Mark Brandon
Hard-boiled archeologist Mark Brandon is searching for ancient tombs in Egypt when he is approached by beautiful Ann Mercedes, who convinces him to help her fulfill her deceased father's life's ambition - to provide solid proof of the biblical Joseph's travels in ancient Egypt. As an ex-pupil of Ann's father, Mark accepts and the two embark on a search for the tomb of the Pharoah Ra Hotep, said to have had some connection with Joseph. The trail to the tomb is fraught with intrigue, betrayal, mur...
Society Doctor
Character: Dr. Ellis
Two surgeons (Chester Morris, Robert Taylor) in love with a nurse (Virginia Bruce) end their rivalry in the operating room....
The Day the Hot Line Got Hot
Character: Anderson
The most ultra-secret telephone number of all is that of the "Hot'Line' that links the heads of state of the United States and Moscow. A conniving double agent manages to steal the top secret phone number and then begins to implement chaos by phoning Washington and Moscow, telling the two powers that their respective spy chiefs are traitors. It's spy versus spy, agent versus double agent, counter spy against counter-counter spy in a rapidly increasing international crisis that finds its solution...
Performers arrive in Hampshire
Character: Self
Movie stars are interviewed on a boat in 1947 in Hampshire, United Kingdom....
The Power and the Prize
Character: Cliff Barton
An ambitious executive jeopardizes his career to marry a European refugee....
Lucky Night
Character: Bill Overton
Cora, an heiress who gives it all up for the excitement of looking for a job and living on her own, meets up with unemployed and flat broke Dick. The two of them embark on a wild night of gambling and winning, where everything they touch turns to gold. Pretty soon they're in love and, to the horror of Cora's father, married....
There's Always Tomorrow
Character: Arthur White
Ignored by his ever-busy wife and children, a middle-aged businessman finds companionship with a former female employee....
Return of the Gunfighter
Character: Ben Wyatt
A gunfighter and a cowboy help a Mexican girl avenge the land-related murder of her parents....
A House Is Not a Home
Character: Frank Costigan
Story follows the life of Polly Adler, who grew to become one of New York's most successful bordello madams of the 1920s....
Remember?
Character: Jeff Holland
Sky and Linda meet on vacation and become engaged. When Sky introduces Linda to his best friend, Jeff, Linda and Jeff fall in love and marry. But Jeff's work puts a strain on the marriage and a divorce is planned. Sky uses an experimental memory loss drug to make Linda and Jeff forget their rough times (and the fact that they were married) and they fall in love all over again....
Murder in the Fleet
Character: Lieutenant Tom Randolph
A traitor is lurking somewhere aboard the USS Carolina, and Lt. Tom Randolph is determined to find the offender. First a revolutionary new piece of technology -- an electric firing device -- is sabotaged. Then one of the cruiser's crew is murdered. In order to catch the killer, the captain locks down the ship. With foreign dignitaries, corporate goons and even Tom's girlfriend, Betty, trapped on the vessel, there is no shortage of suspects....
Private Number
Character: Richard Winfield
Ellen Neal, a young and inexperienced maid, becomes romantically involved with her employers son which causes various complications. The head butler also has an infatuation for the young girl but his intentions are not that good....
The Crowd Roars
Character: 'Killer' McCoy
A young boxer gets caught between a no-good father and a crime boss when he starts dating the boss's daughter, although she doesn't know what daddy does for a living....
Killers of Kilimanjaro
Character: Robert Adamson
An American engineer reaches Mombasa to finish the works of an African railroad and to find his predecessor, who has mysteriously disappeared. While the work continues, will have to face several obstacles, especially violent local tribes, Arabs slave traders and wild animals....
Johnny Tiger
Character: George Dean
Teacher George Dean (Robert Taylor) packs up his children to accept a job instructing Native American children on a Seminole reservation in Florida....
Times Square Lady
Character: Steve Gordon
A young Iowa woman inherits her late estranged father's New York business, but the dead man's crooked associates think they can outwit the naive heir and seize control....
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
Character: Self (archive footage)
Born Ruby Stevens, she was orphaned when she was four. A chance audition led to a chorus job. By 17 she was a Ziegfeld Girl. At 20 she earned excellent reviews for a bit part in a Broadway play — and she had a new name: Barbara Stanwyck....
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character: (archive footage)
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers....
The Big Parade of Comedy
Character: Raymond Dabney in 'Personal Property' (archive footage)
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history....
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Character: Self
This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created....
I Love Melvin
Character: Himself, Cameo Appearance in Judy's Dream
Melvin Hoover, a budding photographer for Look magazine, accidentally bumps into a young actress named Judy LeRoy in the park. They start to talk and Melvin soon offers to do a photo spread of her. His boss, however, has no intention of using the photos. Melvin wants to marry Judy, but her father would rather she marry dull and dependable Harry Black. As a last resort, Melvin promises to get Judy's photo on the cover of the next issue of Look, a task easier said than done....
The Glass Sphinx
Character: Prof. Karl Nichols
An archaeologist is in danger because of his discoveries....
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Character: Self (archive footage)
Actress Sally Field looks at the dramatic life and successful career of the superb actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), a Hollywood legend....
A Wicked Woman
Character: Bill Renton
A woman and her children escape severe poverty and abuse. She successfully betters her family's condition while living with the secret that she killed her abusive husband in order to protect her children from him....
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Character: Self
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features....
The Romance of Celluloid
Character: Self (archive footage)
Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the movie going public has in going to the theater, are presented. They include: the production of celluloid aka film stock, the materials used in the production of which include cotton and silver; construction crews who build sets including those to look like cities, towns and villages around the world; a visit with Jack Dawn who demonstrates the process of creating a makeup design; the screen testing...
Hollywood Goes to Town
Character: Self
This short shows how Hollywood gets ready for the world premiere of an "important" movie. The film celebrated here is Marie Antoinette (1938), which had its premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre. We see the street leading to the theatre transformed to suggest a garden that might be seen in a French palace. This includes the placement of trees and other foliage, as well as large statues along the route. Grandstands are set up so fans can see their favorite stars as they arrive for the premiere. ...
Rome, the Eternal City
Character: Self
A Traveltalk style documentary look at Rome....
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Character: Self
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara is a 1935 American comedy short film directed by Louis Lewyn. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject (Color). It features a young, pre-stardom 13-year-old Judy Garland singing "La Cucaracha" with her two sisters (billed as "The Garland Sisters"). In the film, Hollywood stars participate in a Mexican-themed revue and festival in Santa Barbara. Andy Devine, the "World's Greatest Matador," engages in a bullfight with...
The Spectacle Maker
Character: The Duchess's Paramour
A parable about magic glasses involving on the nature of beauty, truth, good, and evil set in 17th Century Germany with music and Glorious Technicolor....
Handy Andy
Character: Lloyd Burmeister
A small-town druggist is henpecked by his social-climbing wife to sell his pharmacy to a national chain. In addition, she tries to set up her pretty young daughter with the nitwit son of the chain's owner, even though the girl is in love with the handsome son of the town doctor. Finally the druggist decides he's had enough and takes matters into his own hands....
The Extraordinary Seaman
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Marooned sailors discover a World War II ship haunted by its late captain....
Trumbo
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies the anti-communist HUAC committee and is blacklisted....