Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-7 of 7
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
If Curtis Bernhardt is a relative unknown, it's because he didn't direct his first Hollywood feature until 1940 at the age of 41. Bernhardt worked for years in Germany until his Jewish heritage made living there impossible by 1933-- he was arrested by the Gestapo and made a harrowing underground escape to France. With Europe plunging into war, he left for America in 1939. Despite his limited grasp of the English language, he was offered seven-year contracts at both Warner Bros. and MGM, largely on the strength of Carrefour (1938)-- which proved so enduring that it was remade as Dead Man's Shoes (1940) in the UK and as Crossroads (1942) by MGM. Most émigrés would have jumped an offer to work at MGM-- considered the "Tiffany" of film studios-- but Berhardt went with Warners, favoring that studio's reputation for hard-boiled realism. His career in Hollywood began with a false start; after working on his first assignment he fell ill and was reassigned an Olivia de Havilland vehicle, My Love Came Back (1940), that gained him good notices. Bernhardt rapidly achieved a reputation as a woman's director with occasional forays into suspense with varied results. He directed one of Humphrey Bogart's least popular films, Conflict (1945), which was burdened by ludicrous plot contrivances, but he snapped back the next year with a winner: My Reputation (1946), a melodrama starring Barbara Stanwyck. He had another misfire, however, with the critically panned Devotion (1946) and would end his contract with the studio after three more films in 1947, after which he moved briefly to MGM. Ironically, he would later look back fondly upon Warners' assembly-line production methods compared to his days at MGM, where he felt compelled to bend to the whims of its stars and serve at the behest of studio chief Louis B. Mayer. Berhardt managed to make two above-average films during his short stay at Metro, however--the suspenseful High Wall (1947) starring 'Robert Taylor (I)_ in one of his best mid-career roles, and The Doctor and the Girl (1949), starring the likable Glenn Ford.
Bernhard soon moved to RKO, which was entering its final chaotic decade, directing The Blue Veil (1951), a remake of a French film. He did a one-shot gig at Columbia, directing Bogie once again in the hopelessly set-bound Sirocco (1951), and rounded out the remainder of the 1950s back at MGM, ending his Hollywood career with the middling comedy Kisses for My President (1964) at Warners.
He retired from directing due to illness in the mid-'60s and died in 1981, age 81, at his home in Pacific Palisades, California.- Writer
- Actor
- Animation Department
During the heyday of cartoon slapstick in Hollywood, one basic tenet held precedence: namely, that an inseparable connection existed between perennial antagonists like Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweetie, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam (or Elmer Fudd). In other words, one could not work without the other. Few people understood that better than Michael Maltese, one of the unsung heroes of animation, and, arguably, the best cartoon writer to emerge from this period. The son of Italian immigrant parents, Maltese learned his craft at the National Academy of Design in New York and began his career in animation in 1935, working on Betty Boop cartoons for Max Fleischer as an opaquer (colouring animation cels) and assistant animator. After two years, he moved to the West Coast and hooked up with Leon Schlesinger's studio at Warner Brothers (following his wife who had been hired as an 'in-betweener' for $20 a week). By August 1939, he had become an integral member of the story department. Maltese was briefly associated with Friz Freleng's unit but ended up spending the better part of his tenure at Warners (1946-58) as the indispensable gag man and storyboard artist for Chuck Jones.
Maltese had a zany sense of humour and was the wit behind many innovative Looney Tunes in-jokes and gags (especially those involving the Acme company !). As a character designer, he and Jones created Pepe Le Pew as a composite of French-born Hollywood star Charles Boyer (the archetypal romantic lover) and fellow animator Tedd Pierce (the skunk -- Pierce, an avid party animal, had a reputation for turning up at work unwashed and hung-over). Another Maltese-Jones creation, Yosemite Sam (whose 'real' cartoon name was -- amazingly -- Samuel Michelangelo Rosenbaum), was designed as the alter-ego of Friz Freleng, a guy notorious for his volatile temper and short fuse. Maltese was similarly instrumental in the evolution of the Road Runner/Coyote cartoons, having devised the concept of the 'ultimate chase' inaugurated by the episode Fast and Furry-ous (1949). Maltese derived the Road Runner's famous sound from layout artist Paul Julian, who had a habit of shouting 'beep-beep' to get people to scurry out of his way while carrying large paintings through the halls and passages of 'Termite Terrace'. For One Froggy Evening (1955), Maltese co-created the top-hatted vaudevillian Michigan J. Frog, a character for whom he also wrote an original piece of music, 'The Michigan Rag'.
In 1958, Maltese departed Warner Brothers (for reasons unknown) to work for newcomers Hanna-Barbera. As head of their story department, he was charged with writing a half-hour episode each week, helping in the development and success of Quick Draw McGraw (1959) (he originated the catchphrase "Exit, stage right" -- or left -- voiced by Snagglepuss), The Yogi Bear Show (1961) and The Flintstones (1960).
Beginning in the 1940's, Maltese frequently sidelined as author of comic book stories for Sangor, Dell (Daffy Duck cartoons) and Western Publishing (often featuring Bugs Bunny, Road Runner/Coyote or Pink Panther). In addition to providing his voice to several Looney Tunes creations, he also appeared as a real-life security guard in You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940), chasing an animated Porky Pig around the studio lot. Maltese never won an Oscar, though he would have made a most deserving recipient. Three years after his retirement in 1973, he was finally honoured with a Winsor McKay Award for lifetime achievement in animation. Warner Brothers paid him a little homage with a Sylvester & Tweetie cartoon, The Maltese Canary (1995) (a send-up of the classic 'Maltese Falcon') in which a store is named 'Mike Maltese's canaries'.- Joe Smith was born on 16 February 1884 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Heart of New York (1932), Manhattan Parade (1931) and Jamboree! (1957). He was married to Mabel Miller and Sara C. Raynor. He died on 22 February 1981 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
- Eva Donge was born in 1929 in Argentina. She was an actress, known for Trampa para un soñador (1980), Hamlet (1964) and Rolando Rivas, taxista (1972). She died on 22 February 1981 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Ti-Blanc Richard was born on 13 August 1920 in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. He was an actor, known for Quelques arpents de neige (1972) and Jeunesse oblige (1963). He was married to Germaine Bouchard. He died on 22 February 1981 in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
- Saul K. Padover was born on 13 April 1905 in Vienna, Austria. He was a writer, known for ZDFzeit (2012) and Die Suche nach Hitlers Volk - Deutschlandreise '45 (2015). He was married to Peggy Thompson and Irina. He died on 22 February 1981 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Alberto Vila was born on 25 September 1903 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was an actor, known for Soltero soy feliz (1938), They Met in Argentina (1941) and Confesión (1940). He died on 22 February 1981 in Montevideo, Uruguay.