Rosalind Russell was an American actress of
stageTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and
screenA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the
Howard HawksHoward Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
screwball comedy
His Girl FridayHis Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...
, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Auntie MameAuntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
. She won all 5 Golden Globes for which she was nominated, and was tied with
Meryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
for wins until 2007 when Streep was awarded a sixth. Russell won a
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show
Wonderful TownWonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...
(a musical based on the film
My Sister EileenMy Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
, in which she also starred).
Russell was known for playing character roles, exceptionally wealthy, dignified ladylike women, as well as for being one of the few actresses of her time who regularly played professional women, such as judges, reporters, and psychiatrists. She had a wide career span from the 1930s to the 1970s and attributed her long career to the fact that, although usually playing classy and glamorous roles, she never became a
sex symbolA sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
, not being famous for her looks.
Early years
Rosalind Russell was one of seven siblings born in
Waterbury, ConnecticutWaterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
, to James Edward and Clara A. (née McKnight) Russell, an Irish-American
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
family. She was named after a ship on which her parents had traveled, not after the character from
ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's
As You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
. She attended Roman Catholic schools, including
Marymount CollegeMarymount College of Fordham University was a women's college in the United States, eventually to become part of Fordham University. The Marymount campus was located in Tarrytown, New York. Enrollment peaked at 1,112 in 1978, but by 2004 it enrolled 844 students...
in
Tarrytown, New YorkTarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
, before attending the
American Academy of Dramatic ArtsThe American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Her parents thought Russell was studying to become a teacher, and were unaware that she was planning on becoming a stage comedienne.
Career
Russell started her career as a fashion model and was in many
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
shows. Against parental objections, she took a job at a stock company for seven months at
Saranac LakeSaranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
and then
Hartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. Afterwards, she moved to
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, where she acted for a year at a theatre group for Edward E. Clive. Later, she appeared in a revue in New York. There, she took voice lessons and built a career in the opera, which was short-lived due to her inability to reach high notes.
In the early 1930s, Russell went west to Los Angeles to be a contract actress for Universal Pictures. When she first arrived on the lot, she was ignored by most of the crew and later told the press she felt terrible and humiliated at the studio, which had influence on her self-confidence. Unhappy with Universal's leadership, and second-class film status at the time, Russell set her sights on
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(MGM) and was able to get out of her Universal contract on her own terms. When MGM first approached her for a
screen testA screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
, Russell was not enthusiastic, remembering Universal. When she met MGM's Benny Thau and Ben Piazza, she was surprised, as they were "the soul of understanding." Her screen test was directed by
Harold S. BucquetHarold S. Bucquet was an English film director. He directed 26 films between 1936 and 1945. His 1937 film Torture Money won an Academy Award for the Best Short Subject ....
, and she later recalled that she was hired because of a close-up he took of her.
Picked up by MGM, Russell debuted in
Evelyn PrenticeEvelyn Prentice is a 1934 film teaming William Powell and Myrna Loy, with Rosalind Russell in her film debut. The movie was based on the 1933 novel of the same name....
(1934); and, although the role was small, she was noticed, with one critic saying that she was "convincing as the woman scorned." She starred in many comedies, such as
Forsaking All OthersForsaking All Others is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery. In this "comedy of errors", three friends of long-standing are involved in a love triangle. The screenplay was written by Joseph L....
(1934), and
Four's a CrowdFour's a Crowd is a romantic comedy directed by Michael Curtiz and released by Warner Brothers.-Cast:* Errol Flynn .... Robert Kensington 'Bob' Lansford* Olivia de Havilland.... Lorri Dillingwell* Rosalind Russell .... Jean Christy...
(1938), as well as dramas, including
Craig's WifeCraig's Wife is a 1936 drama film starring Rosalind Russell as a domineering wife. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play of the same name by George Kelly , and directed by Dorothy Arzner...
(1936) (which would be the film's second of three remakes;
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
did the third) and
The CitadelThe Citadel is a 1938 film based on the novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937. The film was directed by King Vidor and produced by Victor Saville.-Plot:...
(1938). Russell was first acclaimed when she co-starred with Robert Young in the MGM drama
West Point of the AirWest Point of the Air is a 1935 film starring Wallace Beery about pilot training in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the early 1930's. The supporting cast includes Robert Young, Lewis Stone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Rosalind Russell, and Robert Taylor. The movie was directed by Richard Rosson...
(1935). One critic wrote: "Rosalind Russell as the 'other woman' in the story gives an intelligent and deft handling to her scenes with
YoungRobert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...
." She quickly rose to fame and, by 1935, was seen as a replacement of actress
Myrna LoyMyrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
, as she took many roles Loy was initially set for. Furthermore, one journalist claimed that she was the only newcomer of 1935 destined for stardom.
In her first years at Hollywood, Russell was, both in her personal life and film career, characterized as a sophisticated lady. This dissatisfied Russell, who claimed in a 1936 interview:
- "Being typed as a lady is the greatest misfortune possible to a motion picture actress. It limits your characterizations, confines you to play feminine sops and menaces and the public never highly approves of either. An impeccably dressed lady is always viewed with suspicion in real life and when you strut onto the screen with beautiful clothes and charming manners, the most naive of theatergoers senses immediately that you are in a position to do the hero no good. I earnestly want to get away from this. First, because I want to improve my career and professional life and, secondly because I am tired of being a clothes horse — a sort of hothouse orchid in a stand of wild flowers."
Russell approached director
Frank LloydFrank Lloyd was a film director, scriptwriter and producer...
for help changing her image; but, instead of helping her, Lloyd cast her as a wealthy aristocrat in
Under Two Flags (1936).
In 1939, she was cast as catty gossip Sylvia Fowler in the all-female comedy
The WomenThe Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.The film...
, directed by
George CukorGeorge Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
. The film was a major hit, boosting her career and establishing her reputation as a comedienne.
Russell continued to display her talent for comedy in the classic
screwball comedyScrewball Comedy is an album by the Japanese band Soul Flower Union. The album found the band going into a simpler, harder-rocking direction, after several heavily world-music influenced albums.-Track listing:...
His Girl FridayHis Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...
(1940), directed by
Howard HawksHoward Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
. In the film, a reworking of Ben Hecht's story
The Front Page, Russell played quick-witted ace reporter Hildy Johnson, who was also the ex-wife of her newspaper editor Walter Burns (
Cary GrantArchibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
).
In the 1940s, she made comedies such as
The Feminine TouchThe Feminine Touch is a 1941 film directed by W. S. Van Dyke. It stars Rosalind Russell and Don Ameche.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Julie Hathaaway*Don Ameche as Prof. John Hathaway*Kay Francis as Nellie Woods*Van Heflin as Elliott Morgan...
(1941) and
Take a Letter, DarlingTake a Letter, Darling is a 1942 comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen. It was nominated for three Academy Awards; Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Art Direction .-Cast:* Rosalind Russell - A.M...
(1942), dramas including
Sister KennySister Kenny is a 1946 biographical film about Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian bush nurse, who fought to help people who suffered from polio, despite opposition from the medical establishment...
(1946), and
Mourning Becomes ElectraMourning Becomes Electra is a 1947 American film by Dudley Nichols adapted from the 1931 Eugene O'Neill play of the same title. The film stars Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Katina Paxinou, Leo Genn and Kirk Douglas....
(1947), and a murder mystery
The Velvet TouchThe Velvet Touch is an American drama film released by RKO Radio Pictures.-Production background:The dialogue in Leo Rosten's screenplay, adapted from a story by William Mercer and Annabel Ross, anticipates the witty repartee in All About Eve and Auntie Mame .The cast, directed by Jack Gage,...
(1948).
Over the course of her career, Russell earned four Academy Award nominations for
Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
:
My Sister EileenMy Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
(1942);
Sister Kenny (1946);
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947); and the
movie versionAuntie Mame is a 1958 film based on the novel by Patrick Dennis and its theatrical adaptation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. This film version stars Rosalind Russell and was directed by Morton DaCosta...
of
Auntie MameAuntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
(1958). She received a Special Academy Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1972. The awarded trophy for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is an Oscar statuette.
Russell appeared as the Mystery Guest on
What's My Line?What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
on January 4, 1953. During her appearance, like most other Mystery Guests, Russell disguised her voice. Her voice however, was so well disguised that
Dorothy KilgallenDorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...
was convinced that the Mystery Guest was a man. After Russell's identity was guessed, she told the panel that her voice was so hoarse from "overwork in rehearsing" for her upcoming role in
Wonderful TownWonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...
that it made it very easy to disguise her voice in that way.
Russell scored a big hit on Broadway with her
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning performance in
Wonderful Town (1953), a musical version of her successful film of a decade earlier,
My Sister Eileen. Russell reprised her starring role for a 1958 television special.
Russell returned to her native Waterbury for the world premiere of her movie
The Girl Rush at the State Theater on August 18, 1955.
Perhaps her most memorable performance was in the title role of the long-running stage hit
Auntie MameAuntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
and the subsequent
1958 movie versionAuntie Mame is a 1958 film based on the novel by Patrick Dennis and its theatrical adaptation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. This film version stars Rosalind Russell and was directed by Morton DaCosta...
, in which she played an eccentric aunt whose orphan nephew comes to live with her. When asked which role she was most closely identified with, she replied that strangers who spotted her still called out, "Hey, Auntie Mame!" She received a
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her iconic role.
Patrick DennisPatrick Dennis was an American author. His novel Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade was one of the bestselling American books of the 20th century. In chronological vignettes "Patrick" recalls his adventures growing up under the wing of his madcap aunt, Mame Dennis...
dedicated his second Auntie Mame book
Around the World with Auntie MameAround the World with Auntie Mame is a novel by Patrick Dennis and sequel to his bestseller Auntie Mame.-Plot:Narrator "Patrick" is seventeen, and has left his private prep school. His Auntie Mame takes him with her on an extended tour of Europe, which becomes a round-the-world tour before his...
to "the one and only Rosalind Russell" in 1958.
From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, she continued to shine with older roles in a large number of movies, giving notable performances in
Picnic (1955),
A Majority of One-Plot:The comedy involves Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow from Brooklyn, New York, and Koichi Asano, a millionaire widower from Tokyo. Mrs. Jacoby is sailing to Japan with her daughter and foreign service officer son-in-law who is being posted to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo...
(1961),
Five Finger Exercise (1962),
GypsyGypsy is a 1962 American musical film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee.Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for...
(1962), and
The Trouble with Angels (1966).
Russell was the logical choice for reprising her role as Auntie Mame when its Broadway musical adaptation
Mame was set for production in 1966. She claimed to have turned it down since she preferred to move on to different roles. In reality, she did not want to burden the public with her growing health problems, which included
rheumatoid arthritisRheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
.
In addition to her acting career, Russell also wrote the story for the film "The Unguarded Moment", a prescient story of sexual harassment, released in 1956, starring Esther Williams.
Personal life
She married
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
-American producer Frederick "Freddie" Brisson on October 25, 1941. Their marriage lasted 35 years, ending with her death. They had one child in 1943, a son named Lance.
Death
Russell died after a long battle with
breast cancerBreast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
on November 28, 1976. She was survived by her husband and son. She is buried in
Holy Cross CemeteryHoly Cross Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles....
in
Culver City, CaliforniaCulver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
.
Rosalind Russell has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, at 1708 Vine Street.
Her autobiography, written with
Chris ChaseChris Chase, also known by the stage name Irene Kane, is an American model, actor and journalist. Her best-known role is in Killer's Kiss by Stanley Kubrick. She later wrote advice books and co-authored several celebrity autobiographies....
,
Life is a Banquet, was published a year after her death. In the foreword (written by her husband), he states that Russell had a
mental breakdownMental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
sometime in the early 1940s. Details are scant (perhaps in 1944, the year she made no films), but it indicates that her health problems can be traced back to the 1940s.
In 2009, a
documentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Life Is a Banquet: The Life of Rosalind Russell, narrated by
Kathleen TurnerMary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
, was shown at film festivals across the U.S. and on some PBS stations.
Filmography
- Evelyn Prentice
Evelyn Prentice is a 1934 film teaming William Powell and Myrna Loy, with Rosalind Russell in her film debut. The movie was based on the 1933 novel of the same name....
(1934)
- The President Vanishes
The President Vanishes is a political novel by Rex Stout that was published in 1934. It was written after, but published before, Fer-de-Lance, the first Nero Wolfe novel....
(1934)
- Forsaking All Others
Forsaking All Others is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery. In this "comedy of errors", three friends of long-standing are involved in a love triangle. The screenplay was written by Joseph L....
(1934)
- The Night Is Young (1935)
- The Casino Murder Case
The Casino Murder Case is a 1934 novel written by S. S. Van Dine in the series about fictional detective Philo Vance. In this outing, a murder investigation is connected with a private casino on New York's upper west side, and the wealthy and unorthodox family that operates it...
(1935)
- West Point of the Air
West Point of the Air is a 1935 film starring Wallace Beery about pilot training in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the early 1930's. The supporting cast includes Robert Young, Lewis Stone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Rosalind Russell, and Robert Taylor. The movie was directed by Richard Rosson...
(1935)
- Reckless
Reckless is a 1935 American musical film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Jean Harlow, William Powell and Franchot Tone. The story was based on the scandal of the 1931 marriage between torch singer Libby Holman and tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds and his subsequent alleged...
(1935)
- China Seas
China Seas is a 1935 adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as an extremely suspicious-looking character...
(1935)
- Rendezvous
Rendezvous is a 1935 spy film set in World War I, starring William Powell as an American cryptologist who tangles with German spies. The film was based on The American Black Chamber, the controversial memoirs of Herbert Yardley, founder and head of MI8....
(1935)
- It Had to Happen
It Had to Happen is a 1936 film starring George Raft and Rosalind Russell. The movie was written by Rupert Hughes, Kathryn Scola, and Howard Ellis Smith, and directed by Roy Del Ruth.-Cast:*George Raft as Enrico Scaffa...
(1936)
- Under Two Flags (1936)
- Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 1 (1936)
- Trouble for Two
Trouble for Two is a 1936 film starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell. It is based on The Suicide Club, a short story collection by Robert Louis Stevenson...
(1936)
- Craig's Wife
Craig's Wife is a 1936 drama film starring Rosalind Russell as a domineering wife. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play of the same name by George Kelly , and directed by Dorothy Arzner...
(1936)
- The Candid Camera Story (Very Candid) of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention (1937)
- Night Must Fall
Night Must Fall is a 1937 film adaptation of the Emlyn Williams play of the same name. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted by John Van Druten. It stars Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, and Dame May Whitty...
(1937)
- Live, Love and Learn (1937)
- Man-Proof
Man-Proof is a 1938 romantic comedy film directed by Richard Thorpe. The film is based on the 1937 novel The Four Marys written by Fannie Heaslip Lea.-Plot:...
(1938)
- Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
- Four's a Crowd
Four's a Crowd is a romantic comedy directed by Michael Curtiz and released by Warner Brothers.-Cast:* Errol Flynn .... Robert Kensington 'Bob' Lansford* Olivia de Havilland.... Lorri Dillingwell* Rosalind Russell .... Jean Christy...
(1938)
- The Citadel
The Citadel is a 1938 film based on the novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937. The film was directed by King Vidor and produced by Victor Saville.-Plot:...
(1938)
- Fast and Loose
Fast and Loose is a 1939 American thriller film directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell and Reginald Owen. It was a sequel to the 1938 film Fast Company...
(1939)
- The Women
The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.The film...
(1939)
- Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 10 (1939)
- His Girl Friday
His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...
(1940)
- Hired Wife (1940)
- Screen Snapshots: Sports in Hollywood (1940)
- Meet the Stars #1: Chinese Garden Festival (1940)
- No Time for Comedy
No Time for Comedy is a 1940 comedy-drama film based on the play of the same name by S. N. Behrman, starring James Stewart, Rosalind Russell, Genevieve Tobin and Charles Ruggles.-Plot summary:...
(1940)
- This Thing Called Love (1940)
- Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)
- They Met in Bombay
They Met in Bombay is a 1941 American drama film adventure directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre.-Plot:...
(1941)
- You Can't Fool a Camera (1941)
- The Feminine Touch
The Feminine Touch is a 1941 film directed by W. S. Van Dyke. It stars Rosalind Russell and Don Ameche.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Julie Hathaaway*Don Ameche as Prof. John Hathaway*Kay Francis as Nellie Woods*Van Heflin as Elliott Morgan...
(1941)
- Design for Scandal (1941)
- Take a Letter, Darling
Take a Letter, Darling is a 1942 comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen. It was nominated for three Academy Awards; Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Art Direction .-Cast:* Rosalind Russell - A.M...
(1942)
- My Sister Eileen
My Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
(1942)
- Flight for Freedom
Flight for Freedom is a 1943 drama film directed by Lothar Mendes. Film historians and Earhart scholars consider Flight for Freedom an "a clef" version of the Amelia Earhart life story concentrating on the sensational aspects of her disappearance during her 1937 world flight.The film's ending...
(1943)
- What a Woman!
What a Woman! also known as The Beautiful Cheat is a 1943 black and white romantic comedy movie starring Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne. The movie revolves around a literary agent Carol Ainsley's trying to transform her star client, Michael Cobb, into the actor playing his most famous character...
(1943)
- Roughly Speaking
Roughly Speaking is a drama/comedy starring Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson. The plot involves a strong-minded mother keeping her family afloat through World War I and the Great Depression. The movie was based on the autobiography of the same name by Louise Randall Pierson.-Plot:Louise Randall...
(1945)
- She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945)
- Screen Snapshots: 25th Anniversary (1945)
- Sister Kenny
Sister Kenny is a 1946 biographical film about Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian bush nurse, who fought to help people who suffered from polio, despite opposition from the medical establishment...
(1946)
- The Guilt of Janet Ames
The Guilt of Janet Ames is a 1947 drama film. A widow sets out to find the five men whose lives were saved by the sacrifice of her husband in World War II and judge whether they are worthy.-Plot:...
(1947)
- Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra is a 1947 American film by Dudley Nichols adapted from the 1931 Eugene O'Neill play of the same title. The film stars Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Katina Paxinou, Leo Genn and Kirk Douglas....
(1947)
- Screen Snapshots: Famous Hollywood Mothers (1947)
- The Velvet Touch
The Velvet Touch is an American drama film released by RKO Radio Pictures.-Production background:The dialogue in Leo Rosten's screenplay, adapted from a story by William Mercer and Annabel Ross, anticipates the witty repartee in All About Eve and Auntie Mame .The cast, directed by Jack Gage,...
(1948)
- Tell It to the Judge
Tell It to the Judge is a 1949 romantic comedy film starring Rosalind Russell as a divorcee who tries to get her ex-husband, played by Robert Cummings, back.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Marsha Meredith*Robert Cummings as Peter B...
(1949)
- A Woman of Distinction
A Woman of Distinction is a 1950 film directed by Edward Buzzell. It stars Rosalind Russell and Ray Milland.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Susan Manning Middlecott*Ray Milland as Prof. Alexander 'Alec' Stevenson*Edmund Gwenn as Mark 'JM' Middlecott...
(1950)
- Never Wave at a WAC
Never Wave at a WAC is a comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, and starring Rosalind Russell and Paul Douglas.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Jo McBain*Paul Douglas as Andrew McBain*Marie Wilson as Clara Schneiderman / Danger O'Dowd...
(1953)
- The Girl Rush (1955)
- Picnic (1955)
- Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame is a 1958 film based on the novel by Patrick Dennis and its theatrical adaptation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. This film version stars Rosalind Russell and was directed by Morton DaCosta...
(1958)
- A Majority of One
-Plot:The comedy involves Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow from Brooklyn, New York, and Koichi Asano, a millionaire widower from Tokyo. Mrs. Jacoby is sailing to Japan with her daughter and foreign service officer son-in-law who is being posted to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo...
(1961)
- Five Finger Exercise (1962)
- Gypsy
Gypsy is a 1962 American musical film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee.Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for...
(1962)
- The Trouble with Angels (1966)
- Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad: A Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition was the first play written by Arthur L. Kopit. The play opened off-Broadway at the Phoenix Repertory Theatre in New York City in 1962 and moved to the Morosco Theatre...
(1967)
- Rosie! (1967)
- Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows is a movie comedy starring Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens. The film is a sequel to The Trouble with Angels and was written by Blanche Hanalis from a story by Jane Trahey, and directed by James Neilson....
(1968)
- Mrs. Pollifax - Spy
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy is a 1971 adventure film directed by Leslie H. Martinson. It stars Rosalind Russell and Darren McGavin.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Mrs. Pollifax*Darren McGavin as Farrell*Nehemiah Persoff as Berisha*Harold Gould as Nexdhet...
(1971)
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