Posts Tagged with Happy Birthday

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HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY ‘NIAGARA’

❤ HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY “NIAGARA” ❤

Today marks 70 years since the release of the 1953 film noir thriller ‘Niagara’starring Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotton, Jean Peters and Directed by Henry Hathaway.

“Marilyn Monroe and Niagara, a raging torrent of emotion that even nature can’t control!” read the tag line on billboards and advertisements. Twentieth Century FOX pulled out all the stops on what was to be Marilyn’s first starring role in a major motion picture.

The official synopsis of the movie reads as follows: “The splendour of both Niagara falls and Marilyn Monroe enhance this taut tale about a faithless wife plotting against her husband. Joseph Cotten stars as George Loomis, a disturbed Korean war veteran staying at Niagara Falls with his wife, Rose (Monroe). Thoroughly sensuous and constantly scheming, Rose intends to kill her husband and run off with her lover. But first she is going to drive George mad by flaunting herself before anyone who will notice.”

‘Niagara’ was first released in theatres on January 21st 1953 and grossed a healthy $2.35 million return on an outlay of $1,670,000 during its initial run.  Today it is still among Marilyn’s most popular films. Happy birthday ‘Niagara!’

We’ll be celebrating 70 years of this film noir triumph in “Marilyn Remembered.” What are your thoughts on Marilyn’s big breakthrough role?

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY MITZI GAYNOR
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HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY MITZI GAYNOR

❤ Today we are wishing a true living Hollywood legend, Mitzi Gaynor a very happy 90th birthday! ❤

Gaynor is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her most Notable films include “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (1954) and “South Pacific”, the 1958 motion picture adaptation of the stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstien.
Of course fans of Marilyn’s earlier screen roles will also know that both Monroe and Gaynor co-starred in “We’re Not Married,” though neither had any scenes together.

Of her time on “There’s No Business Like Show Business” She was once quoted as saying:
“I played Ethel Merman’s daughter in that picture and we became best friends …Marilyn Monroe played a hat-check girl in the picture, but she wasn’t around all the time. She was busy creating Marilyn Monroe. If you see that picture now, though, and really pay attention to it, you realize that Marilyn steals the whole damn picture.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENE KELLY
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENE KELLY

❤ HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENE KELLY ❤

Wishing Gene Kelly a happy, heavely birthday.
Gene Kelly was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, choreographer….. and all round Hollywood screen legend.

He had a brief cameo in the 1960 film “Let’s Make Love” starring Marilyn and Yves Montand. Kelly was one of 3 celebrity appearances in the film, alongside Bing Crosby and Milton Berle which make up some of the funnier moments of the film.
Recently, Gene’s widow Patricia Ward Kelly had this to say:
“Often, I read accounts about Gene that simply don’t fit. I don’t recognize the man they describe, particularly when they refer to someone who is selfish or mean. Gene was neither. My intent is not to put him on a pedestal. Quite the opposite, in fact. I want you to see him as he was—a man who had foibles just like the rest of us but who was also one of the most gifted and innovative creative artists of the 20th century. I have mentioned before that Gene taught many people to dance. Here’s another example: his friend Yves Montand in this cameo appearance in the 1960 film Let’s Make Love, Produced by Jerry Wald, directed by George Cukor, and starring Yves Montand and Marilyn Monroe. Gene was in the middle of choreographing his Ballet Pas de Dieux at the Paris Opera, but, as he said, “I had promised Jerry Wald that I would do this cameo. I got on Scandinavian Air. I went from Paris to Copenhagen and over the Pole; landed here; did the thing: and flew back the next day. I got the minimum. It was then a hundred and twenty-five dollars. I came in and showed Montand a dance step, kissed George Cukor and Marilyn, said ‘good bye’ and left. I gave my word A promise is a promise, and it wasn’t for Yves or Marilyn. It was for Jerry Wald.” To me, this illustrates and important aspect of who Gene was.”
Gene Kelly died February 2nd 1996 and was cremated at Westwood Cemetery, where Marilyn is interred, before his ashes were scattered at sea.

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HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY JANE RUSSELL


Today we are wishing Jane Russell a very happy birthday on what would have been her 100th birthday.  Russell was an American film actress and one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s.  She had a career in Hollywood spanning 4 decades and some of her biggest hits included: “The Outlaw,” “The Tall Men,” “Underwater!” and “The Las Vegas Story.”

In a publicity still for her first motion picture and box office hit “The Outlaw.”  This provocative shot saw her catapulted into stardom

 

Of course, undoubtably, her biggest screen success came with the release of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” alongside Marilyn in 1953.  Monroe and Russell got along famously and throughout the years, right up until Janes death in 2011, she never had a cruel or unkind word to say about her co-star.

“I didn’t experience any of the lateness or unprofessionalism you hear about, that came way later. She worked very hard and always knew her lines and was absolutely determined to get ahead.” Russell remembers, “we got along very well and when I found out she was a little nervous about going out on the set, I’d stop by her dressing room and you know, say ‘come on Blondel, it’s time to go! We’re due…’ and she’d say ‘oh! alright Jane’ and we’d trot on the set together.”

Happy Birthday Jane Russell, you are forever missed.