Hooray for Hollywood

…and Rule 5, of course!

By popular demand, this week’s episode includes Veronica Lake. The tiny blond star (her height was a shade under 5 feet) was paired with the similarly short Alan Ladd (5’5”) in three noir films, including one of my favorites, This Gun for Hire. She also co-starred with one of my favorite actors, Joel McCrae, in the great Preston Sturges movie, Sullivan’s Travels. The “peekaboo” hairstyle was her trademark. Sadly, she suffered from mental illness and died from the effects of chronic alcoholism in 1973.


Also by popular demand, here is a shot of Olivia De Haviland. She had a very long career, starring with Errol Flynn in several movies in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, including Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood and They Died With Their Boots On, and portrayed the near-saintly Melanie Hamilton in Gone With the Wind. She won Best Actress Academy Awards for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). She is 93 years old.


Susan Hayward received five Academy Award nominations over a career that extended from 1937 to 1972 (winning for her performance in the 1958 film I Want to Live). I am not as well-acquainted with her movies as I ought to be, but I loved her as the unwed mother in the 1951 Western, Rawhide, co-starring with Tyrone Power.


And not forgetting the ladies, here's a young-looking Clark Gable.