Film
Superman Christopher Reeve dies at age 52
On October 10, 2004, the actor Christopher Reeve, who became famous for his starring role in four Superman films, dies from heart failure at the age of 52 at a hospital near his home in Westchester County, New York. Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident, was a ...read more
Future President Ronald Reagan serves in film unit
On January 27, 1943, future President Ronald Reagan, an Army Air Corps first lieutenant during World War II, is on an active-duty assignment with the Army’s First Motion Picture Unit. Technically, Reagan was a unit public relations officer, however Warner Brothers Studios and the ...read more
“The Birth of A Nation” opens, glorifying the KKK
On February 8, 1915, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, a landmark film in the history of cinema, premieres at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles. The film was America’s first feature-length motion picture and a box-office smash, and during its unprecedented three hours ...read more
How Stan Lee's X-Men Were Inspired by Real-Life Civil Rights Heroes
It’s impossible to imagine American pop culture without Spider-Man. Or the Hulk. Or, thanks to a decade’s worth of mega-blockbuster films, Iron Man, Thor, Dr. Strange, and Ant-Man. These stories—all co-creations of Marvel Comics impresario Stan Lee, who died on November 12, 2018 ...read more
How a Terrifying Wave of Unexplained Deaths Led to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’
In 1984, Wes Craven introduced the world to one of the most iconic horror films of all time: A Nightmare on Elm Street. His creation of Freddy Krueger as a demon who kills teens in their dreams was heinous, terrifying and literally ripped from the headlines. Craven found ...read more
Frank Sinatra’s Mob Ties and Other Secrets from His FBI File
Frank Sinatra was many things: A crooner who could make bobby-soxers faint, an Academy Award-winning actor, the elder statesman of the Rat Pack. At the height of his career, it was rumored that “every woman wants to have him; every man wants to be him.” But his fans and ...read more
‘A Wrinkle in Time’s’ Long Religious Controversy
Since its publication in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time has become one of the mostfrequently banned or challenged books, for multiple reasons. People have argued that it’s too complicated for children, and earlier critics disapproved of its plucky female protagonist. Among conservative ...read more
Academy Award Winners Who Rejected Their Oscars
It’s become cliché for actors, writers, and directors to say that they don’t care about winning an Academy Award, even if they do. But in the 93-year history of the Oscars, there have been very few people who won a golden knight statuette and then told the Academy of Motion ...read more
How Classic Hollywood’s Party Culture Turned Women Into Prey
MGM’s 1937 sales convention was an affair to remember. There were celebrity meet-and-greets, marching bands, an escort of motorcycle cops. There was a private rail car and plenty of booze and conversation. And, on the night of May 5, 1937, there was a big party, complete with ...read more
Balancing Historical Accuracy and a Gripping Story Is a Challenge. ‘The Post’ Nails It
In 2006 I walked into a dim and dusty backroom of an old courthouse in upstate New York and my heart stopped. Before me stood a wall of shelves on which thousands of pieces of paper had been haphazardly crammed—countless documents related to the Attica prison uprising of 1971 ...read more
This Tinseltown Tyrant Used Sexual Exploitation to Build a Hollywood Empire
It seemed so easy: Arrive in Hollywood with a suitcase and a pretty face. Get discovered by an agent or, better yet, a movie exec. Next step: stardom. This seemingly simple formula was the dream of many aspiring Hollywood starlets—and the myth of Hollywood’s Golden Age. For a ...read more
Classic Hollywood’s Greatest Feuds
1. Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin: From Boom to Bust When one of the most successful teams in comedy history called it quits in 1956 after a 10-year run, their fans were shocked. Together, Martin and Lewis had made 16 films, starred in a highly-rated television variety program and ...read more
8 Ways the Original 'Star Trek' Made History
When "Star Trek" premiered on NBC in the fall of 1966, it promised "To boldly go where no man has gone before." More than half a century later, it has done just that. The original "Star Trek"—which lasted for only three seasons—birthed some 20 spinoff series and films; a universe ...read more
7 Artists Whose Careers Were Almost Derailed by the Hollywood Blacklist
1. Dalton Trumbo The blacklist era kicked off in 1947, when famed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and several other filmmakers known as the “Hollywood Ten” were called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and asked a now-famous question: “Are you now or have you ever ...read more
9 Actors Who Won an Oscar Playing a Famous Historical Figure
1. Ben Kingsley – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in “Gandhi” (1982) The son of an Indian father and a British mother, Krishna Pandit Bhanji combined his father’s nickname (Benji) and his grandfather’s (King Clove) to come up with his now-famous stage name: Ben Kingsley. After ...read more
The Real History That Inspired 'Star Wars'
When George Lucas developed the storyline for Star Wars and crafted his heroes and villains, he tapped into elements of theology, mysticism and mythology as well as his knowledge of classic films. And befitting a story set a “long time ago,” real-life history also played a ...read more
8 Things You May Not Know About “The Wizard of Oz”
1. Before he was famous, Baum worked as a poultry breeder, actor and traveling salesman. Baum was 44 when “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was published and by then he’d tried his hand at a variety of jobs. As a young man in upstate New York, he bred prize-winning chickens, ...read more
The Real History Behind “The Sound of Music”
1. The von Trapps only had to cross the railroad tracks behind their villa—not the Alps—to escape the Nazis. In the climactic scene of “The Sound of Music,” the von Trapps flee Salzburg, Austria, under the cover of night and hike across the surrounding mountains to safety in ...read more
7 Things You May Not Know About Walt Disney
1. Disney came from humble beginnings. Born in Chicago on December 5, 1901, Walt Disney, the fourth of five children, moved with his family to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, when he was four. It was in Marceline—a small-town community Disney remembered as an adult as having been ...read more
The Lumière Brothers, Pioneers of Cinema
After his father, Antoine, a well-known portrait painter turned photographer, opened a small business in photographic plates based in Lyons, Louis Lumière began experimenting with the equipment his father was manufacturing. In 1881, 17-year-old Louis invented a new “dry plate” ...read more
Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams dies at 63
Robin Williams, the prolific Oscar-winning actor and comedian, died by suicide on August 11, 2014. He was 63. On the big screen, Williams, who was born in Chicago in 1951, made his debut in the 1977 low-budget comedy “Can I Do it ‘Til I Need Glasses?” then went on to appear in ...read more
Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall dies
On August 12, 2014, actress Lauren Bacall, who shot to fame in her debut film, 1944’s “To Have and Have Not,” in which she appeared opposite Humphrey Bogart, with whom she would have a legendary romance, dies at her New York City home at age 89. In a career that spanned nearly 70 ...read more
9 Things You May Not Know About Alfred Hitchcock
1. One of his first films is lost to history. Following a six-year stint in the sales and advertising departments of a telegraph company, the 21-year-old Hitchcock made the jump to the movie business in 1921. He got his first chance to direct a full-length film with 1925’s “The ...read more
9 Things You May Not Know About Charlie Chaplin
1. Chaplin made his stage debut as a tot. Both of Chaplin’s parents were music hall entertainers in London. In his autobiography, he described how, at age 5, his mother’s voice suddenly failed in front of a crowd of rowdy soldiers. The stage manager—or possibly his father or one ...read more