I Loved Her in the Movies

by Robert Wagner

  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