Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Hollywood Birthdays in JANUARY... The LEADING MEN!

(clockwise from top center: Ray Milland 1/3, Randolph Scott 1/23 & Cary Grant 1/18, Elvis Presley 1/8, Robert Stack 1/13, Paul Newman 1/26, Rod Taylor 1/11, Dana Andrews 1/1, Paul Henreid 1/10, and Troy Donahue 1/27)

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Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Hollywood Birthdays in AUGUST!... The Talents Behind the Screen!!

Answers Below!

Top row, left to right: Richard Mulligan (with Gregory Peck), Preston Sturges, Richard Aldrich (with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford)

Middle row: Cecil B. DeMille (with Yul Brynner and Ann Baxter), Alfred Hitchcock, Friz Freleng, Alan Jay Lerner and Leonard Bernstein

Lower Middle Row: Roman Polanski and John Huston, James Wong Howe, Dorothy Parker

Bottom row: Dore Schary, Mark Sandrich (with Fred Astaire), Ring Lardner, Richard Attenborough, Julius and Philip Epstein

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A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... GENE LOCKHART (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957)...

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called "SYBIL'S WHO'Z DAT?"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships". (I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???). Here's our next guest!! … EUGENE “GENE” LOCKHART! (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957)

Lockhart was a Canadian character actor, singer, and playwright. He also wrote the lyrics to a number of popular songs. Born in London, Ontario, his father had studied singing, and young Gene displayed an early interest in drama and music. Shortly after the 7-year-old danced a Highland fling in a concert given by the 48th Highlanders' Regimental Band, his father joined the band as a Scottish tenor. The Lockhart family accompanied the band to England. While his father toured, Gene studied at the Brompton Oratory School in London. At the age of 15, he was appearing in sketches with actress Beatrice Lillie. Lockhart was educated in various Canadian schools and at the Brompton Oratory School in London, England. He also played football for the Toronto Argonauts. Lockhart had a long stage career; he also wrote professionally and taught acting and stage technique at the Juilliard School in New York City. He had also written theatrical sketches, radio shows, special stage material, song lyrics and articles for stage and radio magazines.

He made his Broadway debut in 1916, in the musical THE RIVIERA GIRL. He was a member of the travelling play THE PIERROT PLAYERS (for which he wrote the book and lyrics). This play introduced the song, “The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise” for which Lockhart wrote the lyrics along with Canadian composer Ernest Seitz.. (The song was subsequently made popular by Les Paul and Mary Ford in the 1950s.) HEIGH-HO (1920) followed, a musical fantasy with score by Deems Taylor and book and lyrics by Lockhart. It had a short run (again, with him in the cast). Lockhart's first real break as a dramatic actor came in the supporting role of Bud, a mountaineer moonshiner, in SUN UP (1923). This was an American folk play, first presented by The Players, a theatrical club, in a Greenwich Village little theater, and, after great notices, it moved to a larger house for a two-year run. During this engagement, in 1924 at the age of 33, Lockhart married Kathleen Lockhart (nee Kathleen Arthur), an English actress and musician. He also wrote and directed the Broadway musical revue BUNK OF 1926. He sang in DIE FLEDERMAUS for the San Francisco Opera Association.

On Broadway, Lockhart originated the role of Uncle Sid in Eugene O'Neill’s only comedy, AH! WILDERNESS! His performance was so compelling that O'Neill wrote to Lockhart: "Every time your Sid has come in for dinner I've wanted to burst into song, and every time you've come down from that nap I've felt the cold gray ghost of an old heebie-jeebie." The acclaim for his acting in AH, WILDERNESS allowed Lockhart to proceed to Hollywood and remain there almost without interruption. Although he made his film debut in the silent in the 1922 version of SMILIN’ THROUGH as the Rector, his big break came after his triumph in AH! WILDERNESS when he returned to Hollywood in the talkie BY YOUR LEAVE (1934) where he played the playboy Skeets. Lockhart subsequently appeared in more than 300 motion pictures. He often played villains, including a role as the treacherous informant Regis in ALGIERS, the American remake of PEPE LE MOKO, which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in the movie THE SEA WOLF (1941), adapted from the novel by Jack London, as the tragic ship's doctor opposite the great Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and John Garfield. He played the suspicious Georges de la Trémouille, the Dauphin's chief counselor, in the famous 1948 film, JOAN OF ARC, starring Ingrid Bergman. But it was a tribute to his amazing versatility that he had his most memorable successes as lovable, "good guy" supporting roles including Bob Cratchit in A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1938) which also starred his own very accomplished actress/wife Kathleen as Mrs. Cratchit and his daughter June as one of the children. He is very well remembered as the flustered judge in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) with John Payne, Maureen O’Hara, and Edmund Gwynne, and as the Starkeeper in the 1956 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CAROUSEL with Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae.

His great sense of comedy is shown playing the bumbling city sheriff in HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) opposite Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Lockhart’s down-to-Earth style also got him cast in a number of Hollywood’s prestigious bio-pics including THE STORY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL (1939) with Don Ameche and Henry Fonda, EDISON THE MAN (1940) with Spencer Tracy, and ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (1940) with Raymond Massey. He did return to Broadway to take over from Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, during the original run of DEATH OF A SALESMAN in 1949. His last film role was that of the Equity Board President in the 1957 film biopic JEANNE EAGELS.

Late on Saturday, March 30, 1957, Lockhart suffered a heart attack while sleeping in his apartment at 10439 Ashton Avenue in West Los Angeles. He was taken to St. John's Hospital and died on Sunday afternoon, March 31. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. Although he was married to Kathleen for 33 years, June Lockhart was his only child. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6307 Hollywood Boulevard, one for motion pictures and one for television.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Hollywood Birthdays in JULY!... The Fabulous Faces!

Answers Below!

(Clockwise from upper left: George Tobias, Olivia de Havilland, and James Cagney; Emil Jannings; Arthur Treacher; Yul Brynner; Rudy Vallee; Walter Brennan; Charles Laughton; Theda Bara; Jason Robards, Jr.)

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Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Hollywood Birthdays in JULY!... Behind the Camera!

Answers Below!

(Clockwise from bottom left: Delmer Daves, William Wyler, Louis B. Mayer, Stanley Kubrick, James Whale, George Cukor, Sydney Pollack, Peter Bogdanovich)

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Who'z Dat?"... Happy Birthday to Jerry Goldsmith! (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004)

Jerry Goldsmith (born Jerrald King Goldsmith) was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for such films as STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) and four other films within the Star Trek franchise, THE SAND PEBBLES (1966), PLANET OF THE APES (1968), PATTON (1970), LOGAN'S RUN (1976), PAPILLON (1973), CHINATOWN (1974), THE WIND AND THE LION (1975), THE OMEN (1976), THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978), CAPRICORN ONE (1978), ALIEN (1979), OUTLAND (1981), POLTERGEIST (1982), THE SECRET OF NIMH (1982), GREMLINS (1984), HOOSIERS (1986), TOTAL RECALL (1990), BASIC INSTINCT (1992), AIR FORCE ONE (1997), L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997), MULAN (1998), THE MUMMY (1999), and THREE RAMBO FILMS.

In May 1997, with the release of Steven Spielberg’s THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, he gained more popularity with his fanfare of the 1997 Universal Studios opening logo, which would be among the most iconic studio logo music of all time. He worked on both dramas and for many lighter, comedic films such as the family comedy THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS (1966), and the James Bond parodies OUR MAN FLINT (1966) and its sequel IN LIKE FLINT (1967).
During his career, he composed both classical music for orchestra concerts and themes and background music for television shows. He collaborated with some of film history's most accomplished directors, including Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joe Dante, Richard Donner, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Michael Winner, Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Franklin J. Schaffner. His work for Donner and Scott also involved a rejected score for TIMELINE (2003) and a controversially edited score for ALIEN, where music by Howard Hanson replaced Goldsmith's end titles and Goldsmith's own work on FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION was used without his approval in several scenes.

Goldsmith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and eighteen Academy Awards (he won only one, in 1976, for THE OMEN). He composed the Paramount Pictures Fanfare used from 1976 through 2011. Over the course of his career, Goldsmith received a total of 18 Academy Award nominations, making him one of the most nominated composers in Academy Awards history. Despite this, Goldsmith won only one Oscar, for his score to the 1976 film THE OMEN. This makes Goldsmith the most nominated composer to have won an Oscar only on one occasion.

Goldsmith died at his Beverly Hills home on July 21, 2004, from colon cancer at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife Carol and his children Aaron, Carrie, Ellen Edson, and Jennifer Grossman, and Joel (who also died of colon cancer on April 29, 2012).

This closing credits composition from THE MUMMY expresses just one beautiful example of his work; Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8d_gMWVujY

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A New SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT?"... BEULAH BONDI (May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called "SYBIL'S WHO'Z DAT?"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships". (I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???).                                

Here's our next guest!! Make way for a great lady of Hollywood! Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981). Bondi was born as Beulah Bondy in Valparaiso, Indiana, the daughter of Eva Suzanna (née Marble), an author, and Abraham O. Bondy, who worked in real estate. Bondi began her acting career on the stage at age seven, playing the title role in the play LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY in a production at the Memorial Opera House. She graduated from the Frances Shimer Academy in 1907 and gained her Bachelors and Masters degrees in oratory at Valparaiso University in 1916 and 1918. She made her Broadway debut in Kenneth S. Webb's ONE OF THE FAMILY at the 49th Street Theatre on December 21, 1925. She next appeared in another hit, Maxwell Anderson's SATURDAY’S CHILDREN in 1926. It was Bondi's performance in Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning SREET SCENE, which opened at the Playhouse Theatre on January 10, 1929, that brought her to Hollywood at the advanced age of 43 for her movie debut as "Emma Jones" in (1931), in which Bondi reprised her stage role. This was followed by "Mrs. Davidson" in RAIN (1932), which starred Joan Crawford and Walter Huston.

She was one of the first five women to be nominated for an Academy Award in the newly-created category of "Best Supporting Actress" for her work in THE GORGEOUS HUSSY (1936), although she did not win. Two years later, she was nominated again for OF HUMAN HEARTS (1938) and lost again, but her reputation as a character actress kept her employed. She would most often be seen in the role of the mother of the star of the film for the rest of her career, with the exception of MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937) as the abandoned Depression-era 'Ma' Cooper. She often played mature roles in her early film career even though she was only in her early 40s. Some of her favorite and most popular performances included THE SNAKE PIT (1948) and ON BORROWED TIME (1939).

For folks doubting the range of a "character" actress, you have only to watch her in Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). Bondi plays the ideal and iconic mother to Jimmy Stewart in several scenes and then transforms into a veritable psychopathic crone when she no longer recognizes him in the nightmare sequence. She appeared in many Oscar-nominated films over the years and played James Stewart’s mother four times: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), OF HUMAN HEARTS, and VIVACIOUS LADIES (1938).

In addition to consistent film work throughout the 1940s, she made the transition into television. Her television credits included Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Howard Richardson’s Ark of Safety on the Goodyear Television Playhouse. She made her final appearances as Martha Corinne Walton on The Waltons in the episodes "The Conflict" (1974) and "The Pony Cart" (1976). She received an Emmy award for her performance in the latter episode. When her name was called, it first appeared that she was not present, but she was given a standing ovation as she walked slowly to the podium, where she thanked everyone for honoring her while she was still alive.

Despite the fact that she was known for playing mother figures, Bondi never married nor had children in real life. Tragically, she died from pulmonary complications due to broken ribs suffered when she tripped over her cat on January 11, 1981. She was living in Los Angeles at the time and was 92. She was given a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1718 Vine Street in Hollywood, California. Her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered at sea.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Joan Crawford Birthday Festival!"...

"It's MY Birthday, you jiggling bag of monkey-pudding!...Now get outta here, and come back on Loser Day!"

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Hollywood Fact or Fiction!"… NOW-UR-HERE/NOW-UR-NOT"!...

TRUE STORY!!... this is the only known photo of the horribly tragic incident of "Joan Crawford & The MGM Transporter"...

L.B. Mayer, in an attempt to save travel expenses for his major stars going on location shoots in the 1930s, invested in advanced scientific research at M.I.T.

Albert Einstein and a handful of radical physicists claimed that they could "transport" props, camera equipment, and even movie stars around the globe in an instant and have them back in Hollywood for dinner after a full day of filming on the other side of the Earth. And no more faking foreign sets on Hollywood backlots!! Joan Crawford, being one of the biggest stars at the time, pushed her way to the front of the line on the day that they were to inaugurate the new "Now-Ur-Here/Now-Ur-Not Time Bender".... it was located just off the MGM Commissary near the dessert counters. After knocking Clark Gable and Franchot Tone to the floor, Crawford threw herself into the glass travel-booth!... there was a blinding flash of silvery blue light, a whirring sound of gears and steam.. ending in the grinding of metal like a soda fountain milkshake-maker gone horribly awry... then a scream and maybe some swear-words, and when the brown smoke cleared, there remained only a dish of beans and franks where the great Joan Crawford had just stood!!...

Fortunately with Einstein's great mind, his team's determination, and L.B.'s vast resources, they were able to bring Crawford back, a little at a time, over the following 3 weeks, although cafeteria-goers kept trying to eat her... and complained of gas.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Joan Crawford Birthday Festival!"...

"So who needs that stupid Cruella de Vil when you've got ME to sell your damn Pepsi?!?"

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