They may have had regrets—we all have those—but very few of them allowed themselves the luxury of bitterness. I don’t believe that someone like Irene Dunne missed acting at all, because she had found something to replace it that stimulated her mind and filled her heart. That’s the key—not to pine for what was, but to discover what is and what can be.
A great part in a great movie can be transformative for an actor or actress, but there’s more to life than that—a yes from a special person. I’ve been lucky enough to get those. Where would I have been if Minna Wallis hadn’t said yes to a green kid a lifetime ago? For that matter, where would I have been if Barbara Stanwyck hadn’t said yes? Or Natalie? Or Jill? My career would have been the same, but my life would have been impoverished.
And when I read a book about Louis B. Mayer and MGM, I said yes to the idea of writing my memoirs with the author of that book, and that has resulted in a third career, one I never expected but have relished. We share the same sense of humor, and Scott knows more about the movie business than most people in the movie business.
So here I am at eighty-six, still adding to the contents of my treasure chest, still working and adding memories—something I hope never changes.
It’s the way I am. It’s also the way the women I loved in the movies were . . . and are.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I Loved Her in the Movies began with Viking executive editor Rick Kot, who thought the idea would make a great book and proceeded to back up his enthusiasm with a contract and his own encyclopedic knowledge of the movies. It’s a cliché to say that real book editors are an extinct species, and it’s also inaccurate. Everyone who’s lucky enough to work with Rick knows it’s not true. Thanks, pal.
Diego Núñez ramrodded the manuscript, the photographs, and the authors with a gentle touch that never failed. And Jason Ramirez came through with a cover design that encapsulates everything sensual and romantic about the movies.
Arranging everything was the amazing Mort Janklow, the literary agent for both authors.
The audio book was recorded at Great Divide Studios in Aspen, Colorado, by Jaimie Rosenberg, director Kevin Thomsen, and producer Sarah Jaffe. Their professionalism sustained even when my voice didn’t.
A very special thanks to Jill St. John and Lynn Kalber, our wives, who put up with weeks of cackling laughter cascading from the next room, as we amused ourselves with dueling Cary Grant imitations.
Finally, honesty compels us to thank Max, Mabel, and Clementine, our dogs, who regularly had to postpone their walks because their dads were busy working. They send their very best to Ivy.
INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Note: Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
Abbott, George, 127, 134
Adler, Stella, 228
All About Eve (1950), 49, 101, 104, 131
Allyson, June, 61, 127–28, 129–130
Andrews, Julie, 222–23
Antonioni, Michelangelo, 181
Arden, Eve, 131
Arliss, George, 101
Arnaz, Desi, 190–91
Arrougé, Martin, 13
Arthur, Jean, 23–25, 24
Arzner, Dorothy, 15, 97
Astaire, Fred, 74, 89–90, 127, 206
Auntie Mame (1958), 108, 113
Autry, Gene, 136
The Awful Truth (1937), 38–39, 41
Baby Face (1933), 15
Bacall, Lauren, 96–97, 166, 193
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), 169
Balanchine, George, 1, 234
Ball, Lucille, 91, 96, 149, 190–92
Banderas, Antonio, 227
Bankhead, Tallulah, 175
Banton, Travis, 34
Bardot, Brigitte, 181
Barnes, George, 82
Barrymore, John, 32
Bennett, Constance, 50
Bergen, Candice, 219–220
Bergman, Ingrid, 57, 177
Berkeley, Busby, 81
Berman, Pandro, 74
The Best of Everything (1959), 30
Beware, My Lovely (1952), 122
The Bigamist (1953), 121, 123
The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968), 186–87
The Big Valley (1965), 126
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), 132
The Birds (1963), 226–27
Blanke, Henry, 126
Blondell, Joan, 44, 77–83, 79, 218
Board, Bob, 41–42
Bogart, Humphrey, 87, 96–97, 98, 100–101, 118, 126, 166
Bolger, Ray, 25
Booth, Margaret, 14
Bow, Clara, 14, 128
Boyd, William, 5–6
Brackett, Charlie, 20, 212
Bradley, Grace, 5–6
Brand, Harry, 90
Brando, Marlon, 141, 168
Bren, Milton, 83, 87
Brenon, Herbert, 52
Brisson, Freddie, 111
Brooks, Louise, 14
Brown, Clarence, 43
Burton, Richard, 166
Cagney, Jimmy, 77–78, 82, 88, 98
Calleia, Joseph, 26
Capra, Frank, 23
Capucine, 2, 186
Carol, Sue, 128–130
Cary, Diana Serra, 148–49
Cassavetes, John, 83
The Catered Affair (1956), 199
Chaney, Lon, 52
Charlie’s Angels (television series), 220, 222
Chatterton, Ruth, 50
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), 43
China Seas (1935), 108
Christian, Linda, 173
Claire, Ina, 192–93
Cleopatra (1963), 44–45, 99, 168
Clift, Montgomery, 196
Clifton, Elmer, 121
Close, Glenn, 2, 228–230, 229
Coca, Imogene, 58–59
Cohn, Harry, 98, 100
Colbert, Claudette, 22, 44–50, 46, 98, 99, 153, 201–2
Collins, Joan, 2, 180–81
Colman, Ronald, 42, 118
The Condemned of Altona (1962), 182, 183, 185
Coogan, Jackie, 17
Cooper, Gary, 94, 98, 113, 126–27, 231–32
The Corn Is Green (1945), 118
Crane, Stephen, 173
Crawford, Joan, 2, 12, 22, 27–33, 29, 40, 52, 94, 99, 100, 118, 179
Crosby, Bing, 196, 198
Crowley, Mart, 43, 212
Cukor, George, 33, 76, 101
Curtis, Tony, 143, 160
Daniels, William, 8, 43
Dark Victory (1939), 18, 20
Darnell, Linda, 67–68, 69, 88
Davis, Bette, 2, 20, 22, 30–32, 39, 40, 44, 45, 49, 50, 60, 70–71, 86, 88, 94, 98, 99, 101–7, 103, 118, 120, 124, 139, 179, 199, 202, 230, 233, 234
Day, Doris, 91, 128, 153–54, 166, 180
Day, Laraine, 112–13
Day-Lewis, Daniel, 168
Dead End (1937), 84
DeMille, Cecil B., 21, 23, 44, 54–55, 124, 150, 155, 159, 218
de Mille, William, 54–55
Derek, John, 16
De Sica, Vittorio, 182–83, 185
Desmond, Norma, 17
Dickinson, Angie, 2, 194–95
Dietrich, Marlene, 22, 47, 88, 166
Dinner at Eight (1933), 33
Dodsworth (1936), 50
Down, Lesley-Anne, 220
Down Argentine Way (1940), 90
Dozier, William, 136
Dressler, Marie, 70, 131
Duel in
the Sun (1946), 115
Duff, Howard, 123
Dunne, Irene, 22, 27, 36–42, 37, 59, 99, 234
Durbin, Deanna, 23
Durocher, Leo, 112–13
Dynasty (television series), 180
Edwards, Blake, 182, 185–86, 222, 223
Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr., 28, 38, 51
The Farmer’s Daughter (1963), 58
Farrell, Glenda, 84
Farrow, Mia, 179
Faye, Alice, 90
Feldman, Charles, 186
Fellini, Federico, 181
Ferber, Edna, 149
Ferguson, Helen, 54, 114
Ferrer, Mel, 216
Fitzgerald, Scott, 31
Fleming, Victor, 33
Fletcher, Louise, 232–33
Flynn, Errol, 73, 88, 114, 134, 136
Folsey, George, 38, 45, 47
Ford, John, 17, 23, 43, 76, 84, 107
The Fountainhead (1949), 126–27
Four’s a Crowd (1938), 108
Francis, Arlene, 87
Francis, Kay, 2, 22, 34–36, 35, 98, 139
Gable, Clark, 42, 54–57, 86, 100, 108, 132, 137, 168–69
Gallienne, Eva Le, 101
Garbo, Greta, 10–11, 11n, 13, 22, 27, 33, 43, 48, 70, 88, 177, 192
Gardner, Ava, 195
Garfield, John, 32
Garland, Judy, 27, 61, 62, 108, 110
Garson, Greer, 70, 71–73, 72, 88, 106
Gilbert, John, 192
The Gingerbread Lady (Simon), 134
Gish, Lillian, 14, 50–51
Goddard, Paulette, 110, 124
Goldberg, Leonard, 211, 212, 214, 222
Goldwyn, Sam, 101
Gone with the Wind (1939), 134, 137, 139, 150–51, 169
Good Sam (1948), 94
Grable, Betty, 68, 90–93, 92
Grand Hotel (1932), 32
Grant, Cary, 26, 36, 38–39, 42, 94, 108, 110, 111, 113, 154, 183, 185, 206, 226, 232
Greene, David, 104
Griffith, Melanie, 226, 227
Guilaroff, Sydney, 11n, 114
Guskin, Harold, 228
Guy-Blaché, Alice, 14
Gypsy (1962), 108, 110, 205
The Happening (1967), 187
Happy Land (1943), 201
The Happy Years (1950), 17, 38
The Hard Way (1943), 120
Hardy, Andy, 27, 61, 137, 172
Harlow, Jean, 22, 33, 70, 82, 108, 172
Harper (1966), 193
Harris, Dare (later John Derek), 16
Harris, Julie, 193
Harrison, Joan, 97, 98
Hart to Hart, 42–43, 128, 186, 205–6, 207, 211, 212, 214, 218, 224
Haver, June, 68, 70
Havilland, Olivia de, 94, 100, 136, 150, 233
Hawks, Howard, 23, 94, 166
Hayward, Susan, 154–56, 157
Hedren, Tippi, 226, 227
The Heiress (1949), 122
Henderson, Florence, 223–26
Henie, Sonja, 110–11
Hepburn, Audrey, 2, 48, 98, 178, 186, 215–16, 217, 222, 231–32
Hepburn, Katharine, 22, 44, 48, 50, 73–77, 75, 127, 149, 153, 180, 212
The High and the Mighty (1954), 86
High Sierra (1941), 118, 121
Higson, Alfred, 16
His Girl Friday (1940), 108, 111
Hitchcock, Alfred, 98, 162, 226–27, 232
The Hitch-Hiker (1953), 121–22
Holden, Bill, 115, 214
Holiday, Judy, 18
Honky Tonk (1941), 86
Hopkins, Miriam, 44, 98
Horner, Harry, 122
Hughes, Howard, 122, 158, 159, 167
Humoresque (1946), 32
Hunt, Helen, 233–34
The Hunters (1958), 82
Hurrell, George, 32, 94
Huston, John, 99, 101, 106
Hutton, Barbara, 110
Hutton, Betty, 61–65, 63, 127, 143, 219
Hyde, Johnny, 142
It Happened One Night (1934), 44, 45, 47
It Takes a Thief (1968), 77, 123
I Want to Live! (1958), 155
I Was a Male War Bride (1949), 94
Jacobson, Artie, 201–2
Johnson, Dakota, 226, 227, 228
Johnson, Don, 226, 227
Johnson, Van, 128
Jolson, Al, 77–78
Jones, Jennifer, 2, 114–17, 116
Kanin, Garson, 25
Kaufman, George S., 149
Kazan, Elia, 81–82, 117, 204–5
Keaton, Diane, 233
Kelly, Gene, 198, 206
Kennedy, Joe, 18
Keyes, Evelyn, 150–51, 152
A Kiss Before Dying (1956), 162, 163
La Cava, Gregory, 149–150
Ladd, Alan, 128–130
Laemmle, Carl, 101
Lake, Veronica, 88
Lamour, Dorothy, 88, 218
Larson, Glen, 190
LaRue, Jack, 136
Lawrence, Jennifer, 234
Lee, Carol, 129
Lee, Ruta, 200
Leigh, Janet, 2, 160–62, 161, 191, 193
Leigh, Vivien, 139
Lemmon, Jack, 143
LeRoy, Mervyn, 205
Let’s Make It Legal (1951), 47, 50, 142
Lewis, Judy, 54–56, 60
A Life of Her Own (1950), 169
The Light That Failed (1939), 118
Lombard, Carole, 22, 36, 50, 132
Loren, Sophia, 2, 178, 182–85, 184, 215
The Loretta Young Show (television series), 58
Love in the Afternoon (1957), 98, 231–32
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), 115
Love Letters (Gurney), 49–50
Loy, Myrna, 22, 27, 42–44, 70, 212
Lubitsch, Ernst, 10, 34, 182
Lupino, Ida, 94, 117–124, 119, 234
MacMurray, Fred, 70
Madame Sin (1972), 104
The Maltese Falcon (1941), 100–101
Mankiewicz, Joseph L., 131
Mankiewicz, Tom, 42–43, 207, 211, 212, 214
Mann, Delphine, 206
Marie Antoinette (1938), 8–9, 12
Marshall, Marion, 94, 144, 181, 189, 190, 193
Marx, Zeppo, 171
Mayer, Louis B., 70, 137, 235
The McConnell Story (1955), 128, 129
McDowall, Roddy, 34
Mercer, Johnny, 26
Mildred Pierce (1945), 31, 32
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944), 62, 64
Miracle on 34th Street (1947), 201–2
Monroe, Marilyn, 2, 33, 141–45, 148, 151, 177, 178, 180, 183
Moreno, Rita, 141
Morton, Gary, 190–91
Mrs. Miniver (1942), 9
Mrs. Pollifax–Spy (1971), 113
Muni, Paul, 168
Myers, Carmel, 189–190
Neal, Patricia, 126–27
Newcomb, Pat, 142, 144
Newman, Paul, 163, 164, 193, 227
Ney, Richard, 71
Nichols, Dudley, 176–77
The Night of the Iguana (Williams), 105
Niven, David, 118, 185–86, 206
Not Wanted (1949), 121
Novak, Kim, 151
Now, Voyager (1942), 107
Oberon, Merle, 110
Oliver, Edna May, 131
Oliver, Larry, 132, 134, 140
Olivier, Laurence, 73
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), 232–33
One Way Passage (1932), 34
&
nbsp; O’Sullivan, Maureen, 2
Ouspenskaya, Maria, 26
Outrage (1950), 121
Paget, Debra, 159–160
Parsons, Harriet, 97–98
Perkins, Anthony, 232
Peters, Jean, 88, 156–58
Pickford, Mary, 13, 14, 50, 146
Pickup on South Street (1953), 132
The Pink Panther (1963), 185–86, 222, 223
Ponti, Carlo, 183, 185
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), 172
Powell, Dick, 82–83, 128, 129, 130
Powell, William, 42–43, 212
Power, Tyrone, 82, 155, 156, 169, 173–74
Powers, Stefanie, 2, 107, 128, 211–15, 213
Price, Vincent, 30–31, 107
Prince Valiant (1954), 30, 176
The Production Code, 15, 34
Psycho (1960), 162, 232
Public Enemy (1931), 82
Raft, George, 88, 100–101
The Rains Came (1939), 43
Rand, Ayn, 150, 152
Rapf, Harry, 28
Rebel Without a Cause (1955), 202, 204
Redgrave, Vanessa, 219
Reed, Donna, 27, 61, 123
Reinhardt, Max, 122
Reynolds, Debbie, 2, 196, 198–200
Ritter, Thelma, 131–32, 133
Robards, Jason, Jr., 97
Roberts Julia, 233, 234
Rogers, Ginger, 74, 89–90, 127, 149
Rooney, Mickey, 17, 200
Rowlands, Gena, 233
Russell, Rosalind, 36, 107–11, 109, 113–14
Rutherford, Ann, 27, 134, 136–140, 138, 201, 202
Sabrina (1954), 98
Say One for Me (1959), 196
Schary, Dore, 58
Schildkraut, Joseph, 26
Seaton, George, 202
Sellers, Peter, 185–86
Selznick, David O., 17, 115, 117, 137, 139
Sermak, Kathy, 106, 107
Shane (1953), 23, 129
Shaw, Artie, 173
Shearer, Norma, 6–10, 7, 11–14, 31, 33, 70, 98, 106, 108, 160, 177, 179
Sheldon, Sidney, 43, 211
Sheridan, Ann, 93–96, 95, 219
Sidney, Sylvia, 83
Simon, Neil, 134
Sinatra, Frank, 96–97, 112, 190
Singin’ in the Rain (1952), 198
Smight, Jack, 193
Smith, Jaclyn, 220–22, 221
Smith, Maggie, 219
Some Like It Hot (1959), 143, 177
Spelling, Aaron, 211, 212, 222
Spiegel, Sam, 187–88
Splendor in the Grass (1961), 11n, 204–5
Stagecoach (1939), 84, 86
Stage Door (1937), 149–150
Stanwyck, Barbara, 2, 15, 22, 30, 32, 44, 52, 54, 60, 88, 99, 114, 124–27, 125, 179, 202, 230, 234, 235
Stapleton, Maureen, 132–34, 135
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