Cliff Aliperti's Blog: Immortal Ephemera, page 2

Raymond Massey

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Raymond Massey (1896-1983)

Born in Toronto, Canada, Raymond Massey carried a lifelong love of theater into the Great War, where he served his country until wounded at Ypres. The Lieutenant returned to active service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force for a 1919 Siberian campaign, where he organized minstrel performances to help boost morale. Massey made his London stage debut in Eugene O'Neill's In the Zone in 1922, and...

Charles Boyer

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Charles Boyer (1899-1978)

Charles Boyer debuted on both stage and screen in his native France in 1920. When he first came to Hollywood he played leads in the 1931 French-language versions of The Big House and The Trial of Mary Dugan. His first English-speaking role came in The Magnificent Lie (1931), though you more likely first saw him cavorting with Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman (1932). He returned to France and starre...

Laura La Plante

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Laura La Plante (1904-1996)

Born in St. Louis, MO, La Plante moved to California with her mother after her parents divorced. A relative lived near Christie Comedies, who La Plante debuted for in an uncredited role in The Great Gamble (1919). She appeared in a few shorts, but her first break came as leading lady in First National feature The Old Swimmin' Hole (1921). The Big Town Round-Up (1921) with Tom Mix was one of thre...

Gene Kelly

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Gene Kelly (1912-1996)

Will be forever remembered stomping through puddles in the title song of beloved musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), Gene Kelly's career features a short peak, but a lasting legacy. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Kelly started dancing seriously in his teens. He graduated the University of Pittsburgh in 1933, and was soon working for a local dance studio partly owned by his mother. Kelly didn't pursue a show...

Joel McCrea

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Joel McCrea (1905-1990)

A product of the West with pioneer ancestors, McCrea was a master in movie Westerns and a wealthy rancher off screen in Thousand Oaks, CA. Born in South Pasadena, McCrea graduated Hollywood High School and Pomona College. A boyhood paper route included several customers from the film industry including Western hero William S. Hart. After testing the stage in college, he worked as a Hollywood stunt m...

Debra Paget

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Debra Paget (born 1933)

Was Lilia the water girl in her biggest film, Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1956), and then appeared alongside Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender (1956) that same year. Born Debralee Griffin in Denver, CO, but soon relocated to Los Angeles because her mother saw potential for her children in Hollywood. Boy, was she ever right: While Debra Paget is the best-known of the Griffin siblings,...

Marie Wilson

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Marie Wilson (1916-1972)

Born in Anaheim, CA, Wilson graduated from high school in 1933, and was taking on bit parts in movies that same year. Flying Down to Rio (1933) and March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934) count among these earliest uncredited appearances. Her first billed role in a feature came in Stars Over Broadway (1935) for Warner Bros., the studio where she also gained notice in titles like Miss Pacific Fleet (193...

Maurice Chevalier

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972)

Born in Paris, the charming "Man in the Straw Hat" left school at age ten to be apprenticed to an engraver, became a cafe singer in 1901, and by 1909 had his big break performing at the Folies Bergère with the celebrated Mistinguett. In addition to his stage work, Chevalier began appearing in short films by 1908, and the IMDb even credits him in two 1911 Max Linder shorts. In late 1913 he bega...

Pauline Frederick

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Pauline Frederick (1883-1938)

Born Pauline Beatrice Libbey in Boston, MA, she later took the name Pauline Frederick because of her father's objections to her stage career. A major stage actress who excelled in both tragic and comic roles, Frederick got her start as a chorus girl in The Rogers Brothers in Harvard at the Knickerbocker Theatre on Broadway in 1903. She advanced quickly in plays such as A Princess of Kensington...

Norma Shearer

Written by Cliff Aliperti and originally published on Immortal Ephemera

Norma Shearer (1902-1983)

Hard-working screen legend born in Montreal, Canada, Norma Shearer was a six-time Academy Award nominee for Best Actress, winning the Award for her leading role in The Divorcee (1930). Brother Douglas Shearer won several Academy Awards for his sound work, making the Shearers the first siblings to win Academy Awards. Norma Shearer left Canada for New York and debuted on-screen in an uncredited role...