Essay, Research Paper: 1950's Stars

The 1950's produced some of America's earliest and best stars and idols. From
Lucille Ball to Elvis, the decade spawned some unforgettable characters. Many of them
would become the greatest stars of the twentieth century.
* * * * * *
Lucille Ball, the greatest known comedian woman of the 1950's, was born Lucille
Desiree Ball. She was born in Jamestown, New York, on August 6, 1911. Her father's
name was Henry Dunnell Ball and her mother's name was Desiree ( DeDe) Evelyn Hunt.
Her father died of typhoid fever when she was just 4 years old.
Lucille started her career in modeling as the Chesterfield Girl. Then she came to
Hollywood in 1933 as the Goldwyn Girl. She met her future husband, Desi Arnaz, on the
set of "Too Many Girls" in 1940 and they were married that year. They started the
famous "I Love Lucy" show in 1951 and continued until their divorce in 1960. They had
two children together, Lucy and Desi Jr. Then in 1962 she married Gary Morton and this
marriage lasted until her death. She died in 1989 on April 26th of heart conditions.
Before her death she starred in many movies and television shows. Some of these
include: "Forever Darling," 1956; "The Long, Long Trailer," 1954; "The Magic Carpet,"
1951; "A Women of Distinction," 1950; "Fancy Pants," 1950; and "The Fuller Brush
Girl," 1950. She also starred in television shows, including "My Favorite Husband" on
CBS, 1948-1951 and the "I Love Lucy" show, 1951-1957. Lucy wasn't just a 50's star
but she was most popular in the 50's.
* * * * * *
We all know Debbie Reynolds from the movies where she played Tammy, a hick
girl with lots of spirit. These included "Tammy and the Doctor" or "Tammy and the
Bachelor". She is known as the leading lady of the 1950's and 1960's. The most famous
musical, "Singing in the Rain", was Reynolds major picture of the century.
She was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso Texas on April 1, 1932. Her
family moved to Burbank, California in the 1940's. When Debbie turned 16, she entered a
contest and won the title of Miss Burbank, 1948. Jack Warner gave her the screen name
Debbie when she signed a contract for Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers dropped her
after two small parts and MGM took her over. Debbie married Eddie Fisher in 1955 and
gave birth to the now actress Carrie Frances Fisher in 1956. Then she gave birth to a son
in 1958 named Todd. Eddie Fisher and Debbie divorced in 1959. She then remarried to
Harry Karl in 1960. She has regained her fame and continues to act even now.
* * * * * *
Judy Garland once quoted, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all be a little
more gentle with each other, and a little more loving, have a little more empathy, and
maybe, we'd like each other a little bit more."
Judy was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids,
Minnesota. She was named after her father Frank and mother Ethel. She had three older
sisters and Frances was nicknamed "Baby". Judy started show business when she was two
years old with her sisters in a theater her dad owned. Judy made a total of forty three
movies and five were shorts, meaning she had no contract. Judy married David Rose on
July 28, 1941, then divorced him in 1944. They had no children. She married again to
Vincenete Minnelli in 1945 and gave birth to Liza Minnelli. She soon divorced Minnelli
and married Sid Luft. She gave birth to a boy and girl named Joey Luft and Lorna Luft.
She divorced Luft when Joey was seven years old. She then married Mark Herron and was
married 4 years until she married Mickey Dean until her death on June 22, 1969. Two
weeks after her forty seventh birthday, she accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills,
although some people believe she died of anorexia. Others say she died of liver damage
from hepatitis.
* * * * * *
Doris Day's real name is Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff. She was born April 3,
1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio to a German Catholic family. She had two brothers, Richard,
who died before she was born, and Paul, who was a few years older than her. When Doris
turned eight, her folks split up and she lived with her mother. When she was twelve, she
was in a dance act with Jerry Doherty, with whom she won $500 dollars in a talent
competition. When she went home from Hollywood, she was in a terrible car crash that
almost ended her dance career at age fourteen. At age sixteen, she discovered she could
sing and she changed her goal in life. She began singing with the Bob Crosby band and
later went on to the Les Brown Band. In this band she met her husband, Al Jordan, who
turned out to be violent. They divorced, after the birth of her son Terry, in 1942. She
went to entertain troops in 1946, and met George Weidler, whom she later married. That
lasted only eight months. She started acting in 1948, and met Marty Melcher and married
him on her twenty-seventh birthday. In 1958, Doris' brother Paul died and around that
time Marty made her sign film contract she didn't want to sign. This led to Doris' nervous
exhaustion and by the time Marty died in 1968, Doris was way in debt. She married for
the fourth time to Barry Comedan in 1976 and since their divorce in 1980, she has
devoted her life to animals. She is the founder of the Doris Day Pet Foundation and finds
homes for millions of animals each year. She also engineers the Spayed Day, USA for
peoples pets. She also received Awards or nominations during the 1950's of the following:
in 1951 she got the Gold Medal Award as Best Actress for Lullaby of Broadway. 1953
she received the AA Award for Best Song "Secret Love". 1958 she got another AA
nomination and the Golden Award for favorite actress.
* * * * * *
"Oh Gable has enemies all right, but they all like him," said David O. Selznick.
Clark Gable was born William Clark Gable in Cadiz, Ohio, on February 1, 1901. Little did
people know, he would become the "King of Hollywood". When Gable was ten months
old, his mother died. Even after his mothers death, his father William Sr., an oil driller,
remarried to Jennie Dunlap. She mothered him like no other and added to his fame by
pushing him to his goals. Gable married Josephine Dillon, a former Broadway actress,
Gable being 22 and Dillion being 37. Loretta Young and Gable started a love affair on a
set in Alaska and they secretly married. Young became pregnant and had a baby girl who
never saw her father, except once, when she was 15. He died on November 16, 1960, of
natural causes.
* * * * * *
We all know Marilyn Monroe's story. She was a beautiful actress with a dream
body and a tragic addiction to drugs. She was a very lonely child who craved for affection
but did not receive it in her family. She searched for this and later found it in Hollywood.
She was born Norma Jeane Baker Mortenson on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, California.
Norma Jean's father was not present at her birth and her mother gave her up to foster
parents. When Norma got sick she took her back and lived with her until she had a mental
breakdown and was admitted. Norma was shoved off on relatives after the orphanage
didn't want her.
She was five and one half feet tall, and weighed one hundred eighteen lbs. She
was blonde and blue eyed and her measurements were 37-23-37, although they seem to
change. The dress makers claim she was 35-22-35 and other sources say 37-23-36. She
married Jim Dougherty at the age of sixteen to escape family life. She started her career as
a model. She was a brunette until she dyed her hair blonde for a shampoo commercial and
stuck to it. She was working on a movie when she died, but because she died, it was
never finished.
Marilyn acting spanned sixteen years and twenty-nine films, twenty-three of which
were made in the 1950's. On August fifth she was found dead in Brentwood, California in
her apartment. She overdosed on sleeping pills. She was married to Jimmy Dougherty, Joe
DiMaggio and Arthur Miller during her life.
* * * * * *
Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5,1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her parents
divorced when she was just a child and she was raised, along with her sisters, by her
mother, Ruthie. Bette, as she was called, demanded attention from birth, which later led to
her career in acting by her pushy ways. She was not known for having sex appeal, but was
known for scary characters and her amazing eyes. She had many love affairs and four
unhappy marriages. She married Harmon "Ham" Nelson for seven years, then divorced.
She married Arthur Farnsworth for three years until he died. Then she married William
Grant Sherry for five years and had a daughter, Barbara Davis Sherry. Then she married
Gary Merrill for ten years. They adopted two children who were severely retarded and
then they were divorced. Her career was first in her life, love last.
* * * * * *
"Joan Crawford, as much as I dislike the lady, is a star," said Humphrey Bogart.
Joan Crawford loved being a star and acted like one. She was well-to-do, but graceful and
lady-like. Her parents separated before she was born. She was born Lucille Fay LeSuer on
March 23,1908 in San Antonio, Texas. By the time she was sixteen, she had known three
fathers. She began acting in theaters owned by her stepfather and this led to her later
Hollywood dream. She starred with Bette Davis in "What ever Happened to Baby Jane?"
and other films that made her glamour shine. She adopted four children and gave the
world to them. She was devoted to Christian Science and vodka after seeing a photo of
herself she didn't appreciate. On May 10, 1977 Joan died of cancer in - some say New
York some say France. She was 69 years old.
* * * * * *
Humphrey Bogart, a US film actor, lived to be fifty eight years old. He was an
international cult figure as the romantic, tough, "loner." Such films he has stared in are:
"The Maltese Falcon"(1941), "Casablanca"(1943), and "The African Queen" in 1952.
For the latter movie, he received an Academy Award. Humphrey DeForest Bogart was
born on January 23, 1899, he died in New York. He was expelled from Yale for having
disciplinary problems. He later joined the Navy and fought during W.W.I. During a
shelling, it paralyzed his tight-set upper lip. After the end of the war, he had met an old
family who was a friend in the show business and he started acting. Bogart had starred in
twenty-eight films between 1936-1940, in which he played the gangster or villain
character. Some of his 1950's movies include: "In A Lonely Place", "Caine", "Muting",
"Sabrina", and "Barefoot Contessa". Humphrey Bogart had married four wives: Helen
Menken, Mary Philips, Mary Methot, and Lauren Bacall. Bogart got cancer to the
esophagus and died in his sleep on January 14, 1957.
* * * * * *
Audrey Hepburn was a Brittish actress who started in films such as "Funny Face"
(1957), "My Fair Lady" (1964), "Wait Until Dark" (1968), and "Robin and Marian"
(1976). Before Audrey came to Hollywood, she starred in minor British films in the early
1950's. She joined the Felix Aylumer's acting class in the early 1950's.
Miss Audrey was a graceful, slender, long legged women who became a model.
When she did become an actress, she played innocent, childlike characters. She developed
a different style from the more ample women stars in the 1950's.
She was born on May 4, 1929, near Brussels, Belgium. Audrey was the daughter
of the English banker and Dutch baroness, and was sent to London for an all girls school
after her parents got a divorce. She was living with her mother when WWII broke out.
They stayed in a Nazi-occupied town and went to a public school and ballet ttraining at
Arnhem Convensorory.
She recieved an Academy Award for "Roman Holiday" and a Tony award for the
Broadway production, "Ondie (Katz)."
* * * * * *
Roy Schere Junior, also known as Rock Hudson, lived from 1925 to 1985. Hudson
was a star in the 1950's to the mid 1960's. He was the leading 1950's star on the Universal
lot after he starred in the movie "Magnificent Obsessions". He had made many
melodramas, starred in movies with Dorris Day, and had a successful TV series in the
1970's. Hudson worked as a mail carrier, a Navy airplane mechanic in World War II, along
with other odd jobs. He later agreed to go into acting when he had a pestering agent.
Hudson was then coached in acting, dancing, fencing, and riding. His good looks and his
height helped out his career. Rock Hudson was nominated for an Oscar for his movie "The
Giant" in 1958. He also became the Star of the Year for Look magazine (Katz, 584).
* * * * * *
Cary Grant, adopted name Archibald Leach, was a British born American actor
and an American citizen in 1942. He ran away at the age of thirteen. His family was
poverty-stricken, and he later joined the traveling acrobatic troupe as a song and dance
man. He sometimes did juggling. Cary came to New York in 1920 and decided to stay
because he liked it so much. Later on, he goes back to England to do musical
comedies. Grant had a witty, debonair personality, for which he was popular for more
then three decades. Grant was at first described as a romantic character, but he
changed his style to a witty, casual, debonair man who lived in an upside down world.
He had four wives: Virginia Cherrill, Barbra Hutton, Betsy Drak, and Dvan Cannon.
He had one child. When he got a divorce, former servants stated Cary Grant was a
LSD user and he was a child abuser. In the1970's, he received an Academy Award for
staying in the business and his personality. His first film debut, "This Is the
Night"(1932), "She Done Him Wrong" (1933) , "Bringing Up Baby" (1937),
"Philadelphia Story" (1940), "Suspicious" (1941) , "Notorious" (1946), "To catch a
Thief" (1955), and "North by Northwest" (1959).Cary Grant retired in 1966 and
owned a large cosmetic firm (Katz, 499).
* * * * * *
Grace Kelly was an actress. She lived from November 12, 1928, to1982. She was
the daughter of a former Cover Girl and wealthy industrialist. She debuted as a star at the
age of 10 in a Philadelphia production. She attended Raven Hall and Steven's School, and
she moved to New York to become an actress and model. She first started out in little
parts in New York, but soon Hollywood called her. She was in co-staring parts, but one
year later, in 1952, she was in leading roles. She was in the movie, "To Catch A Thief," in
1955, where she met and fell in love with Rainier III, the ruler of Monaco. They were
married that same year. She retired from the show business many years ago, although
there were rumors of her coming and doing films, but it didn't happen. She helps out with
running the coutry, watching her childern, and hosting/going to charites. Some movies
she started in movies are "Fourteen Hours"(1951), "Dial M for Murder"(1954), and "High
Society" (1956) (Katz, 469).
* * * * * *
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular entertainers of the twentieth
century and an early pioneer of rock-and-roll music. Most poular in the late 1950's, his
sound and style blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time. With his
pelvic thrusts, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture.
Elvis was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon and Gladys
Presley. He grew up an only child; his twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn. Presley
listened to gospel music in his Pentecostal church, as well as country-and- western
music. At the age of ten, he won a talent contest for his rendition "Old Shep," written
by country singer Red Foley. Later in his life, he listen to R&B music. In 1948, his
family moved to Nashville, Tennessee (Stanley, 18).
In 1953, while recording some songs as a birthday gift for his mother at a
Memphis, Tennessee, studio, Presley impressed the studio manager with his musical
style, influenced by black American music, and his outstanding range of tones. This
experience led to recordings with Sun Records. In 1956, at age 21, he recorded his first
songs for RCA, including "Heartbreak Hotel". He followed with the double-sided single
record "Hound Dog"/"Don't Be Cruel" (1956) and "All Shook Up" (1957)
(Elvisography, 1).
Between 1956 and 1958, Presley starred in four motion pictures, all of which
featured his soundtracks: Love Me Tender (1956), Jailhouse Rock (1957), Loving You
(1957), and King Creole (1958). From 1958 to 1960, Elvis served in the armed forces.
Presley's career continued until his death on August 16, 1977 (Tamerius, ).
Known as "the King", Elvis Presley fused sounds of country music with black
rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll style. His unprecedented performances helped make
Presley one of the first mass idols of United States popular culture. He inspired countless
musical artists (A Mile in His Shoes, 1).
* * * * * *
The 1950's were socially turbulent years. Many movie and musical stars emerged
to become sex symbols, or racy characters. These stars are worthy of memory.






000000000Bibliography00000000
Katz, Ephraim (1979). The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Harper and Row.

"Elvis Presley's Graceland: Elvisography."
http://www.elvis-presley.com/HTML/home.html (6 April1999).

"A Mile In His Shoes." 1998. http://wsrv.clas.virginia.edu/~acs5d/elvis.html (13 April
1999).

Stanley, David E. (1994). The Elvis Encyclopedia. Santa Monica: General Publishing
Group.

Tamerius, Steve and Fred Worth (1988). Elvis: His Life From A to Z. Avenel: Wings
Books.


(the following incomplete bibliographies were done by Jessica)

Lucille Ball:
wysiwyg://41/http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6066/lucyfaq.html
page 1
and
http://www.zianet.com/jjohnson/ball.htm page 2-5

Debbie Reynolds:
http://www.lifetimetv.com/onair/intimate/port9507.html
page 1 by intimate portraits
and
wysiwyg://229/http://www.zianet.com/jjohnson/reynolds.htm
page 3 -5

Judy Garland
http://www.zianet.com/jjohnson/bio.htm
page 1-7
By Jim Johnson

Doris Day
http://www.netlink.co.uk/users/funkin/dorisday/award.html
Page 1 and 5

Clark Gable
http://cinema.paradiso.no/biografi/clark_gable/index.html
Page 1-3


Marilyn Monroe
http://www.tombtown.com/bios/marilyn.htm
page 1-2
By Vrt
and
http://www.mbnet.fi/~visavo/film.html
page 1-2
By Filmography

Bette Davis
wysiwyg://29/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/3740/bio.html
Page 2-5
By Geocities
wysiwyg://23/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/3740/films-tv.h
tml
Page1-5

Joan Crawford
http://members.aol.com/HarlowGold/joancrawford.html/
Page 1-10
and




http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Crawford,+Joan
Page 1-4
By Ed Stephan

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