★ American dancer, singer and actor, Fred Astaire, was born on this day in 1899. In a career spanning 76 years, he starred in over 30 movies and gained a reputation for his impeccable sense of rhythm and relentless perfectionism. Often remembered as one half of ‘Fred and… Continue reading
★ I just love this beautiful illustrated advert for Adams California Fruit Chewing Gum, as published in Shadowland magazine, September 1919. Painted from a photograph, it features a likeness of American silent film actress Ruth Roland, who was endorsing the product with… Continue reading
★ British actress, model and dancer Audrey Hepburn, was born on this day in 1929. She’s pictured here in a beautiful publicity portrait for one of her earliest film roles, as ballet dancer Nora Brentano in Secret People (1952). Born in Brussels to a British father and Austrian… Continue reading
★ Actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, pictured in 1944. Sisters as well as fellow film stars, the two women are the only siblings ever to have both won Best Actress at the Academy Awards. While that is undeniably noteworthy, their notoriously strained personal… Continue reading
★ American actress, Celeste Holm, was born exactly 100 years ago today! A talented performer on both stage and screen, she’s pictured here in a studio publicity photo from 1947. Born in Manhattan, New York, on 29th April 1917, Celeste was the only child of Theodor Holm, a… Continue reading
★ Pictured here in the 1950s, American actress Jayne Mansfield was born on this day in 1933. A major sex symbol in the 1950s and early 1960s, she was as famous for her personal life as for her professional career, and at the height of her fame she was the world’s most photographed… Continue reading
★ Seen here in a glamorous studio portrait from the late 1940s, American actress, dancer and singer, Ann Miller, was born on this day in 1923. One of the most talented dancers of her generation, she appeared in over 40 films and earned the admiration of audiences in both… Continue reading
★ Canadian-American actress and producer, Mary Pickford, was born on this day in 1892. In a film career lasting from 1909 to 1933, she appeared in over 150 shorts and 52 feature films, and was the most popular actress of the 1910s and 1920s. Variously dubbed ‘Queen of the… Continue reading
★ British actor and film director, Leslie Howard, was born on this day in 1893. One of the biggest box-office draws and matinee idols of the 1930s, his relatively short career was cut tragically short by his death in 1943, aged just 50. Born and raised in an upper-middle class household… Continue reading
★ Anglo-American actress and director, Ida Lupino, was a true Hollywood pioneer. Born in 1918 in Herne Hill, London, to a theatrical dynasty dating back to Renaissance Italy, Lupino was encouraged to perform from an early age. In a backyard theatre built by her father, she… Continue reading
