Gene Raymond
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Raymond Guion
August 13, 1908(1908-08-13)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died May 2, 1998 (aged 89)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouse(s) Jeanette MacDonald (June 16, 1937 - January 14, 1965)
Nel Bentley Hees (September 8, 1974 - 1995)
Gene Raymond (August 13, 1908 - May 2, 1998) was a popular American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a composer, writer, director, producer, and decorated military pilot.
Biography
Stage and movie career
Raymond was born Raymond Guion on August 13, 1908 in New York City. He attended the Professional Children's School while appearing in productions like Rip Van Winkle and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. His Broadway debut, at age 17, was in The Cradle Snatchers which ran two years. (The cast included Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, and a young Humphrey Bogart.)
His screen debut was in Personal Maid (1931). With his blond good looks, classic profile, and youthful exuberance ?- plus a name change to the more pronounceable "Gene Raymond" ?- he scored in films like the classic Zoo In Budapest with Loretta Young, and a series of light RKO musicals, mostly with Ann Sothern. He wrote a number of songs, including the popular "Will You?" which he sang to Sothern in Smartest Girl In Town (1936). His wife, Jeanette MacDonald, sang several of his more classical pieces in her concerts and recorded one entitled "Let Me Always Sing".
His most notable films, mostly as a second lead actor, include Red Dust (1932) with Jean Harlow, Zoo in Budapest (1932) with Loretta Young, Ex-Lady (1933) with Bette Davis, Flying Down to Rio (1933) with Dolores del Rio,Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, I Am Suzanne (1934) with Lilian Harvey, Sadie McKee (1934) with Joan Crawford, Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery, and The Locket (1946) with Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, and Robert Mitchum. MacDonald and Raymond made one film together, Smilin' Through, which came out as the U.S. was on the verge of entering the World War II. After the war, Raymond both directed and starred in the suspense drama Million Dollar Weekend (1948).
Death
On May 2, 1998, Raymond died of pneumonia in Los Angeles, California.[1]
For his contribution to the motion picture and television industry, Gene Raymond has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7003 Hollywood Boulevard and 1704 Vine Street respectively.
Controversy
A 2001 biography of Nelson Eddy and MacDonald, Sweethearts by Sharon Rich, claims that Raymond had affairs with men during his marriage to MacDonald. The book includes documentation of Raymond being arrested on three occasions for sex with other men: a photo of Raymond's January 1938 arrest and booking number (page 498 of the 2001 edition); a U.S. Army nurse is named and quoted concerning the second arrest; and retired Scotland Yard detective Joe Sampson confirms the third arrest, which occurred in England during World War II.
The book also claims that Louis B. Mayer engineered the marriage of MacDonald to Raymond -- even though Mayer knew Raymond was bisexual -- to prevent MacDonald from marrying Nelson Eddy. Mayer was concerned that a MacDonald-Eddy marriage would end in divorce, due to their temperaments, then he would lose his lucrative box office team. Also, Eddy wanted children and preferred MacDonald to at least semi-retire, which didn't please the studio mogul. While Mayer blessed the MacDonald-Raymond union, he had Raymond blacklisted following his 1938 arrest. After Stolen Heaven (1938), Raymond made no films until Cross-Country Romance (1940) and Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) -- previously he averaged 4 movies a year.
Neville Brand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born August 13, 1920(1920-08-13)
Griswold, Iowa, U.S.
Died April 16, 1992 (aged 71)
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Spouse(s) Jean Brand
Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 - April 16, 1992), was an American television and movie actor.
Biography
Gravel-voiced Neville Brand was born in Griswold, Iowa. Brand has Belgian, Dutch and Welsh ancestry.[1] He started his big screen career in D.O.A. (1950) as a henchman named Chester. He became well known as a villain when he killed the character played by Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender. He played the villain in so many movies, his self-image became affected, culminating in a television interview on Entertainment Tonight with the actor moving about in agitation repeating, "I'm a loser. I'm a loser."
However, he played a very romantic lead in the movie Return From the Sea with Jan Sterling and a heartwarming character who was brain damaged and misunderstood in an episode of the TV show Daniel Boone. He played Hoss Cartwright's (Dan Blocker) Swedish uncle "Gunnar Borgstrom" on Bonanza in the episode "The Last Viking".
Of the hundreds of roles he has played, he is probably most well known as Al Capone in the TV show The Untouchables. The characterization caused an outcry from the Italian American community over stereotypes.
Many will remember him as Bull Ransom, the prison guard of Birdman of Alcatraz, and as the antagonistic and untrusting, yet dedicated POW, "Duke", in Stalag 17.
Known also for his cowboy roles, he starred in his own TV series, Laredo, with William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey.
One of the most heart-rending scenes on TV showed Brand's character, Reese Bennet, waiting in torment when he realizes he has been stood up by the love of his life.
In one episode, the gruff and dusty Reese has an immaculate and proper lookalike that confounds the other Texas Rangers.
Brand was a real life hero. He served in the US Army during World War II. It should be pointed out that, according to the IMDb, the claim that he was the fourth most decorated soldier (Actor Audie Murphy being the first) is often repeated but is incorrect, though that same article does list a lot of decorations that he did receive.
In a November 1979 interview with author William R. Horner for his book "Bad at the Bijou", Brand related that he was a highly decorated soldier in World War II , winning a Silver Star, but that he wasn't the fourth most decorated. He attributed it to someone in Hollywood, and said that when he would deny it people thought he was just being modest. Brand was also an insatiable reader, who amassed a collection of 30,000 books over the years, many of which were destroyed in a 1978 fire at his Malibu home.
Brand co-starred with George Takei in "The Encounter", an episode of the original Twilight Zone series. Ironically, Brand (a genuine war hero in real life) portrays a phony war hero: a coward whose prize trophy (a Japanese soldier's sword) was obtained from murdering a Japanese officer after he had surrendered. After its initial airing, "Encounter" triggered complaints from Japanese-Americans due to the backstory of the character played by Takei: he portrays a Nisei (the U.S.-born son of Japanese immigrants) whose father spied for the Japanese navy during the Pearl Harbor attack. There is no evidence of any Japanese-American disloyalty to the U.S.A. during that war. Although "Encounter" is a taut drama with excellent performances by Brand and Takei, this historical inaccuracy (and the complaints it engendered) has caused this episode to be omitted from syndicated broadcasts of The Twilight Zone. This episode, in three parts, is available for view on YouTube.
Neville Brand died from emphysema in 1992.
RULES OF THE AIRWAYS
Takeoff's are optional. Landings are mandatory.
Flying is not dangerous; crashing is dangerous.
Speed is life, altitude is life insurance. No one has ever collided with the sky.
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man. Landing is the first!
Everyone knows a 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. But a 'great landing is one after which you can use the airplane again.
The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival.
Was that a landing or were we shot down?
Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.
Trust your captain.... but keep your seat belt securely fastened.
Be nice to your first officer, he may be your captain at your next airline.
Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwind.
A pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.
Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your takeoffs.
There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold, pilots!
Gravity never loses! The best you can hope for is a draw!
From Canadian cowboys to an American cowgirl. This one is for Annie Oakley. What great music this musical has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqclpqbHbpQ&feature=related
Who says you can't get a man with a gun. Didn't she ever hear of shotgun weddings?
Good morning WA2K.
Dang! I missed out on all the fun yesterday,
but Letty:
Your video was a real "spoiler". I had the Jose Greco video in my favorites waiting for his birthday.
I saw him perform here and have loved him ever since. Mayb e I'll save the video and show it again in December.
Firefly: The first
live musical I saw was "Annie Get Your Gun" with Mary Martin when she was touring in PA. It was Ethel Merman's hit on B'Way, but Mary Martin was superb. I was ecstatic. That show started my collection of Broadway musicals.
Be back soon with the picture gallery. I can't keep away from the Olympics volleyball matches.
Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.
edgar, I recall the Ragin' Cajun, and thanks for the song by him. I particularly like the way he "picked" the violin.
To footnote firefly's Canadian history, we must add Nova Scotia. The British displaced the residents of Grand-Pre who eventually ended up in Louisiana, hence the name "cajun". The area was called Acadie from the French. I learned all that from the narrative poem by Longfellow titled Evangeline.
firefly, thank you for all that wonderful music and the history behind it. Your presentation deserves an A+.
Bob, once again, we are delighted with your bio's that always end with a bit of levity. I particularly like the one about gravity.
However, hawkman, you did miss Dan Fogelberg's birthday, so I will do one by him until this little animal returns from viewing stuff.
Hope that I acknowledged everyone.
Here's Dan, y'all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEc8A3T97L8
It's always fun to try to spot Hitchcock's appearances in his movies. So, let's celebrate his birthday doing that, while listening to the theme from his TV show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW6Rdiqlg2E&NR=1
Happy Birthday to Bert Lahr, who sings and watches Eleanor Powell tap her toes to Tommy Dorsey's music in this bouncy number.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZvpG3h8Txg
And, also for Bert, let's listen to classical guitarist John Williams lend his talents to music from The Wizard of Oz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAOQUht2_A
Wow! firefly, that montage of Alfred Hitchcock's famous cameos gave my RNA another nudge. The Rope was based upon Loeb and Leopold and Darrow's marvelous defense of those two. I read Compulsion and it was gruesome. Read Topaz as well.
Hey, puppy. Thanks for the great collage. We both know where Hitchcock's theme arose. Do you recall? I like Run for the Roses, but my favorite is still, Leader of the Band.
Here's a clip from The Rope, folks. I recall having seen that on TCM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEeX5i29mGs
And the science award of the day for RNA on WA2K goes to Raggedy.
How about some heavy METAL, folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFq2YJKYa-k
edgar thinks; therefore he is. Love that one by Ray, Texas.
Don't think I see any Vikings in this one, y'all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgRYhxmJ32c&feature=related
firefly, Love the rubber ducky song, and Jimmy has good advice for all of us here on WA2K radio. As a matter of record, all, that's what we do.
Here's one that I love by Bobby Darin. What a talented kid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86jPx0bidXc&feature=related
Hope this works. Maybe Letty ought to start each day with some hope.
Have you seen Cravens new thread? Tonight the change begins . . .
The times they are a'changin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D9S48A81os&feature=related
some of us don't do so well with change <raises hand>
JPB, I second that emotion, and so does the jester.
edgar, I just hope we don't have to unlearn a bunch of stuff, or we'll be like Marty's cattle.
Ok, Eva, tell 'em
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK176U7bWR4
