Classic Movies - Actors, Actresses and Directors
Profiles of the actors, actresses and directors who brought classic films to life, on and off the silver screen. The lives and times of the leading men, divas, ingenues, great character actors and brilliant directors who made our classic old movies shine.
- Alfred Hitchcock (12)
- Carole Lombard (2)
- Cary Grant (9)
- Clark Gable (2)
- Claudette Colbert (2)
- Doris Day (2)
- Elizabeth Taylor (2)
- Humphrey Bogart (10)
- Jimmy Stewart (6)
- Katharine Hepburn (2)
- Marlon Brando (1)
- Tony Curtis (2)
- Tyrone Power (2)
8 Classics Directed By George Cukor
A consummate craftsman and one of the most esteemed directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, George Cukor directed a number of classic movies in a career that spanned five decades. Many of his films focused on strong female characters and starred the era’s top actresses, earning him a reputation as a women’s director. Cukor’s body of work contained...
8 Classic Movies Starring Gary Cooper
Possessing a down-home persona that was quintessentially American, Gary Cooper spent five decades making dozens of classic movies. At his peak, he was a top box office draw who earned five Academy Award nominations and won once. Cooper died relatively young and still in his prime, but left behind a staggering cinematic legacy filled with...
6 Classics Directed by Raoul Walsh
As an actor, writer and director, Raoul Walsh’s career spanned over six decades and produced some of Hollywood’s most iconic class movies. He was a capable director in a wide range of genres whose straightforward style was vibrant, but unpretentious. He did his best work in the 1940s with Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Virginia...
6 Great Films by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The brother of noted screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz followed his older sibling's footsteps into show business to become one of classic Hollywood's most literate director. Mankiewicz had his start as a writer for Paramount Pictures and later served as a producer for MGM. In the mid-1940s he moved over to 20th...
8 Great Rita Hayworth Movies
She was the ultimate Hollywood bombshell, a sultry siren who sang, danced and flipped her long red hair into becoming a screen legend. On screen, Rita Hayworth was charismatic and oozed sex appeal, but off screen she was admittedly shy and suffered from a series of failed marriages. Though her career eventually faltered, she was one of the top...
A Biography of Doris Day
Doris Day was a phenomenon both as an actress and as a singer. She was the all-American girl next door who behind the scenes had a rather dark private life. Often paired on screen with Cary Grant and close friend Rock Hudson, Day turned in one winning performance after another and earned an Academy Award nomination for one of the most successful...
8 Classic Movies by William Wellman
A former member of the French Foreign Legion and a combat pilot during World War I, William Wellman lived an adventurous life that later colored the films he made as one of classic Hollywood's great directors. Wellman had a great passion for aviation, which he displayed in quite a few pictures, but also had a great disdain for actors even though...
7 Movies by William Wyler
An unrelenting perfectionist notorious for demanding multiple takes, William Wyler directed a string of great classic movies from the 1930s through the 1960s. Along the way, he won three Academy Awards for Best Director and reigned as the most nominated director in history with 12 nods. Wyler was a master of many genres and worked with...
9 Must-See Howard Hawks Movies
A master director who got his start in silent pictures, Howard Hawks directed numerous classics and became recognized as one of the greats from the studio era. His movies featured rapid-fire dialogue and superb performances from his leading actors, while his exceptional talents transcended the confines of genre, as Hawks directed screwball...
8 Classics Starring William Holden
A dashing leading man in his youth, William Holden was in his prime during the 1950s with a number of comic and romantic films that were all-time classics. But when he entered the turbulent 1960s, Holden made a number of forgettable films due to contractual obligations that damaged his career. He mounted a comeback toward the end of the decade...
6 Classic Sam Peckinpah Movies
A notoriously difficult director who nearly destroyed his career before it began, Sam Peckinpah almost single-handedly recreated the Western with his violent, ambiguous vision. He made a mess of his life with alcohol and drugs, and left behind a tattered reputation and a long line of enemies. But he was also an incredible filmmaker whose best...
7 Great Classic Movies Starring Elizabeth Taylor
For over 50 years, Elizabeth Taylor reigned as one of classic Hollywood's great screen actresses. Starting her career as a child performer, she blossomed into a star following her adolescent years and earned four consecutive Academy Award nominations, while becoming a top box office attraction for over a decade.
8 Classic Michael Curtiz Films
Tirelessly prolific director Michael Curtiz helmed some of Classic Hollywood's most memorable films. He churned out four or five films a year and did some of his best work with dashing leading man Errol Flynn. Though not the most famous of the classic era's directors, Curtiz was nominated for five Best Director Academy Awards and won for...
7 Classic Preston Sturges Movies
After getting his start as a screenwriter, Preston Sturges turned to directing in the 1940s and redefined the screwball comedy with a number of classic movies. In a short span of time, he directed a series of great films that were popular with critics and audiences. But his thirst for absolute control over his creative output ultimately ruined...
9 Romantic Classics for Valentine's Day
With a long history of making romantic films, Hollywood is more than capable of setting the mood for those who don’t want to go out to a crowded restaurant and pay for an overpriced meal, but still want to spend some quality time with their significant other. Some here are fun and light, while others require a box of tissues to be on hand. But...
5 Classic Movies by Ernst Lubitsch
Hailed as a giant among filmmakers, Ernst Lubitsch directed some of Hollywood’s most sophisticated and entertaining comedies. He became known for his famed Lubitsch Touch, a wry and witty brand of humor infused with style and grace. Lubitsch directed a number of acclaimed hits in the 1930s and 1940s before his untimely death in 1947. Here are...
Wanted: A Profile of Roman Polanski
One of the greatest directors of New Hollywood, Roman Polanski also became one of the most reviled. He directed some of cinema's most acclaimed films while also hiding in France as a fugitive from the United States after his conviction for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Despite his criminal status, Polanski continued to make...
Best Actress Oscar Winners - 1970s
Hollywood in the 1970s was markedly different than the one that existed in the previous three decades. The old studio system was gone thanks to financial struggles and a seismic cultural shift that saw the rise of the youth-oriented counterculture. Hollywood responded by opening the doors wider to more experimentation, resulting in a second...
Best Actor Oscar Winners - 1970s
Hollywood in the 1970s was markedly different than the one that existed in the previous three decades. The old studio system was gone thanks to financial struggles and a seismic cultural shift that saw the rise of the youth-oriented counterculture. Hollywood responded by opening the doors wider to more experimentation, resulting in a second...
8 Sidney Lumet Movies
One of the most revered directors of his generation, Sidney Lumet produced an extraordinary body of work that included some of New Hollywood's most seminal classics. While his best work was made in the 1970s, Lumet spent the previous decades earning a reputation as a consummate professional capable of drawing stellar performances out of his...
9 Essential Richard Burton Movies
One of the finest actors of his generation, Richard Burton delivered a number of high-caliber performances. He was nominated for seven Academy Awards – six for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor – but never won. Still, he was one of the best performers on either side of the Atlantic. Here are nine of his best movies.
In Memoriam 2011
At the end of every year, Hollywood buzzes with predictions for who will win Oscars or crows about which movie made the most money. But Hollywood also takes a more somber tone and looks back at the lives and careers of the stars we lost. Though we lost many more this year than can this list conveys, here are seven of the most notable celebrity...
A Profile of Jack Nicholson
One of the most manic actors of any era, Jack Nicholson essayed a number of iconic roles. He was a dogged private eye uncovering murder and corruption in 1930s Los Angeles, a patient at a mental institution who refuses to conform and most infamously a comic book villain who takes on the Caped Crusader. Nominated for 12 Oscars and winner of...
7 Great Alfred Hitchcock Movies
Alfred Hitchcock’s career spanned across six decades and over 50 feature films. The acknowledged “Master of Suspense” practically invented the thriller and was a brilliant technician who deftly blended sex, suspense and humor into the genre.
7 Classic Sidney Poitier Movies
With an elegant and quietly commanding personality, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win Best Actor at the Academy Awards. Because of his refusal to compromise his principals and his insistence on taking roles that avoided stereotypical depictions of blacks, Poitier earned the respect of audiences and his peers. As in Major...
8 Must-See David Lean Films
Known for his sweeping historical epics, David Lean directed some of the grandest movies Hollywood has ever known and possessed a technical command few were able to master. Lean's blockbusters of the late 1950s and 1960s made an indelible mark on cinema and won the director two Academy Awards. While few may remember his name, Lean’s iconic...
A Biography of Joan Fontaine
A British actress born in Japan and the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine was an exceptional performer who became a star in Alfred Hitchcock’s American debut. In fact, she was the only actor male or female ever to win an Academy Award for her work with Hitch. She had noted rivalry with sister, Olivia de Havilland, which led to...
A Biography of James Dean - An American Icon
The quintessential 1950s brooding teen full of angst and rebellion, James Dean was a promising young star whose tragic death before his career started propelled him into iconic status. Dean was the star of three features films in his short career, but only lived long enough to see one of them released. He received two posthumous Oscar...
9 Stanley Kubrick Films
An obsessive perfectionist who methodically worked in virtual reclusion, director Stanley Kubrick was at once widely praised for his technical brilliance and scorned for his film’s lack of emotional depth. He was one of the most influential directors in postwar Hollywood and has been hailed as the source of inspiration for many of Hollywood’s...
6 Classic Movies Directed by Orson Welles
After gaining notoriety on radio, Orson Welles became one of Classic Hollywood’s most pioneering directors. With his very first movie, Welles directed what many consider to be the best film ever made. Active as a director for five decades, Welles made only a handful of films, largely due to his inability to secure financing for his increasingly...
8 Marlon Brando Movies
Marlon Brando was the most celebrated and influential actor of the 20th century. Employing the famed Method style of acting, Brando was a powerful and mesmerizing presence on the screen, but combative and enigmatic behind the cameras. His career spanned across six decades, though his best work came in the 1950s and often in collaboration with...
Gregory Peck - The Conscience of Classic Movies
An actor who evinced moral certainty and unwavering strength, Gregory Peck turned in a number of iconic performances in some of Hollywood’s most important classic movies. His persona as an Everyman struggling to fight for truth and justice earned him a number of Academy Award nominations and a lifetime of adulation from fans.
A Profile of John Wayne
Noted for his many Westerns, particularly the ones he made with frequent collaborator John Ford, John Wayne rose from being a bit player in B-movies in the 1920s to become an American institution. Wayne was an enduring icon of All-American values and rugged individualism who ranked high on the list of screen legends that includes Charlie...
7 Hitchcock Leading Ladies
They were icy blondes who more often than not caused trouble for their leading men by making them fall hopelessly in love with them. Alfred Hitchcock's leading ladies were sensual, passionate and sometimes criminally dangerous. But most importantly, they were rich and complex, and sometimes served as Hitchcock's outward projection of his ideal...
A Profile of Lauren Bacall
At once a stunning beauty and an authoritative screen presence, Lauren Bacall graced the silver screen alongside her husband, Humphrey Bogart, to become one of the top actresses of Classic Hollywood. Though she delivered one memorable performance after another, Bacall was rarely showered with awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
10 Movies Starring Elvis Presley
Undeniably the most iconic music star of the 20th century, Elvis Presley was also a popular box office star in the 1960s. Thanks to manager Colonel Tom Parker, many of Presley's films contained thin plots, exotic locations, bikini clad girls and mundane songs - a combination that irked critics and brought audiences to theaters in droves.
Classic Dennis Hopper Movies
Famed for playing violent psychotics, drug-addled adventurers, crazed villains and drunks, Dennis Hopper s performances were often fueled off-screen by a superhuman intake of cocaine and booze. Over the years, this brilliant actor fought with addictions and appeared in low-budget stinkers, yet also played acclaimed roles in several classics. These six Dennis Hopper movies provide a glimpse into …
Kirk Douglas Movies
In 62 films, Kirk Douglas has played many different roles as a military man or a western hero and western films; his range also extended to biblical epics, biographies, and Hollywood stories. Handsome and masculine, he was in great demand as a leading man. ?
Kirk Douglas Biography
A handsome devil with a cleft chin and a great cinematic profile, Kirk Douglas' career has spanned decades, and his biography is littered with big names and big events from Hollywood. he's played heroes and villains, warriors and scoundrels, always projecting a strong, masculine presence. Read about his life and work.
Tony Curtis Biography
Devastatingly handsome, Tony Curtis established himself as a matinee idol, but played an astonishingly varied range of roles over his long career. Tony Curtis's biography stretches from the immigrant neighborhoods of New York's lower East Side to the heights of Hollywood stardom.
Marilyn Monroe Movies
More famous as a sex goddess than an actress, her personal fame has far outlived all but a handful of Marilyn Monroe's movie roles. Long before women s lib, Monroe tired of being typecast as a dimwit sexpot, even as the roles in high-profile classic movies brought her fame and fortune. Never a truly great actress, the tragic beauty...
Marilyn Monroe Movies
More famous as a sex goddess than an actress, her personal fame has far outlived all but a handful of Marilyn Monroe's movie roles. Long before women s lib, Monroe tired of being typecast as a dimwit sexpot, even as the roles in high-profile classic movies brought her fame and fortune. p Never a truly great actress, the tragic beauty...
Tony Curtis Movies
During his long career, Tony Curtis played characters who worked in a chain gang, an all-girl band, on a submarine, as a New York publicist, and even one who strangled women in his spare time -- and those represent just a handful of his many roles. Here are six of Tony Curtis's best films.
Katharine Hepburn Movie List
Katharine Hepburn had a long and storied Hollywood career, and she didn t make many bad movies. Comedy, drama, film versions of classic literature, all showed her depth and range in a life that spanned more than 60 years on screen. Here s a list of Katharine Hepburn movies of the 1930s, 40s and 50s no fan of Kate the Great should miss. (The films she made in her legendary partnership with l…
Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy Movies
A legendary couple on- and off-screen, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy appeared in nine movies, most notably in battle-of-the-sexes plots with plenty of scope for their natural chemistry - showcases for their verbal sparring and clear delight in being together. Most of the films were memorable; here are the must-see Hepburn-Tracy movies.
The Thin Man Movies - Myrna Loy and William Powell
Myrna Loy and William Powell became one of Hollywood's most successful screen couples in the "Thin Man" movies, a series of detective romps that showcased their witty repartee and sparkling screen chemistry. Good friends off-screen, the pair were money in the bank on screen in a delightful series that started with "The Thin Man."
A Biography of Carole Lombard
Classic Star Carole Lombard's biography is a story of natural talent, incredible beauty, adversity and a tragic early death. A gifted comedian and one of the highest-paid actors of her day, Lombard will always be remembered as a great star.
Carole Lombard Movies
Incandescent, glamorous, and hilarious, Carole Lombard's bright characterizations graced the screen for 17 years. She played a movie star, a theatrical diva, a dying small-town girl, a dizzy heiress, and a struggling, vulnerable newlywed, among many other roles. Here are a few of Carole Lombard's most famous films, for which she is justly still remembered.
6 Clark Gable Movies
In a thirty-year career, Clark Gable's masculine presence and dimpled grin enlivened 67 films, many of them classics. Here are six classic Clark Gable movies that represent him at his charismatic best.
A Biography of Clark Gable, Screen Heartthrob
An intense, masculine presence on screen with more than a hint of mischief in his famed dimples, Clark Gable's biography is the story of a true movie star. The 'King of Movies' was a leading man who started out playing villains, eventually starring with the greatest actresses of his day and rising to iconic status.
8 Great Cary Grant Movies - Comedies
It’s really impossible to do a definitive list of must-see Cary Grant movies. He made dozens of classics over a long career, most of them good, several great, and very few forgettable. Apart from Cary Grant’s collaboration with director Alfred Hi…
6 Elizabeth Taylor Movies
In her 50-year career, Elizabeth Taylor graced the screen with luminous beauty and glamour. By playing roles that ranged from the Queen of the Nile to the blowsy wife of a college professor, she proved her talent was not merely skin-deep. Here are some of Elizabeth Taylor's best remembered films.
A Biography of Elizabeth Taylor - Hollywood Goddess
A violet-eyed film goddess as famous for her off-screen marriages as her big-screen roles, Elizabeth Taylor's biography is quintessential Hollywood. For decades she delighted audiences and kept the gossip pages humming about her life and loves, a Movie Star in capital letters.
6 Claudette Colbert Movies
Claudette Colbert brought her beauty and elegance to a variety of roles: a spoiled
heiress, a passionate nurse, a protective mother, a greedy chorus girl, a business executive, and many others. Here are six of her films with some of her best characterizations.
Claudette Colbert - a Biography
Claudette Colbert's biography is a history of old Hollywood glamor and the sophistication. The beautiful, elfin actress could charm from the silver screen or the Broadway stage, and she kept audiences enraptured for three decades. Here's a profile of an enchanting diva of early cinema, Claudette Colbert.
Six Great Classic Movie Directors
Sometimes finding a director you like is the best way to find the movies you'll love. Here are six of the finest directors Hollywood has ever known - Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, John Ford, William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston - and suggestions for some of their best films.
Three Great Screen Couples - Classic Movie Pairs
When the chemistry's good, the romance is great. Here are three of Hollywood's most famous screen couples - Tracy and Hepburn, Bogart and Bacall and Powell and Loy - whose movies truly kindle classic Hollywood magic.
Audrey Hepburn Movies
Audrey Hepburn was among the most iconic and successful stars of the golden age of Hollywood. An elfin, delicate beauty with a shy smile and perfect bone structure, the English actress played opposite the great leading men of her day in comedies, romances, dramas and thrillers. Here are seven must-see Audrey Hepburn movies. ?
Gloria Stuart Movies
Beautiful ingénue Gloria Stuart made 46 films from 1932-1946, playing leads in 'B' movies and supporting roles in 'A' movies. She returned to acting in 1975 and performed on television and film, including the blockbuster “Titanic,” as the elderly Rose, her most famous role coming at age 87. Here's a look at the different films done by Gloria Stuart as she went from the cool, classy “ice cream blonde” type to older woman to elderly over the course of 65 years.
Gloria Stuart Biography
Known to today's audiences as the elderly 'Titanic' survivor Rose, centenarian Gloria Stuart's biography spans her days as a Hollywood starlet through a long career on stage, the silver screen and television. The talented star also found time to paint, becoming an accomplished artist.
Mickey Rooney Biography
Few stars have had a career as long and successful as Mickey Rooney's, stretching from the silent movie era through contemporary film. Mickey Rooney's biography is the story of a star who grew up with Hollywood.
Mickey Rooney Movies
Short in stature but big on talent, Mickey Rooney has made some 300 films in various genres over his long career. Here are just a handful of the best.
Luise Rainer Biography
Actress Luise Rainer's biography demonstrates one of the greatest examples of the "Oscar curse." The delicate German-born beauty saw her career all but disappear after two Oscar wins in a row, but she didn't let it ruin her life.
Zsa Zsa Gabor Biography
A sub-par movie actress, Zsa Zsa Gabor was among the pioneers of the "beautiful people" lifestyle, people who were famous for being famous. The biography of Hungarian-born Zsa Zsa Gabor is a classic story of American celebrity.
Olivia de Havilland Biography
A lovely actress from Hollywood's golden age, Olivia de Havilland brought sensitivity and intelligence to her roles, and her career in movies and television spanned more than 50 years. Her biography is a veritable history of Hollywood.
Olivia De Havilland Movies
She started in film as the costar for dashing Errol Flynn, and is best known as the saintly Melanie in 'Gone with the Wind.' But as Olivia de Havilland's other classic movies demonstrate, her range as an actress was much broader and deeper than even those classics demanded.