20th-century form of dramatic musical performance, combining elements of song, dance, and the spoken word, often characterized by lavish staging and large casts.
Film director. Earned Oscars for It Happened One Night (1934), Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and You Can’t Take It With You (1938); also made It’s A Wonderful Life (1947).
US film producer, animator, and pioneer of family entertainment. Disney created many world-famous cartoon characters, including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, made phenomenally successful feature-length animated films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
Film director, screenwriter, and producer of a broad spectrum of genres, from gangster films (Scarface, 1932) and Westerns (Red River, 1948) to screwball comedies (Bringing Up Baby, 1938) and musicals (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953).
English-American film director, writer, and producer. In his suspense thrillers, Hitchcock unsettled audiences both through the use of intense set pieces and the suggestion that normality as usually defined masks humanity's true and much darker nature.
Film director, screenwriter, and actor. His masterpiece was The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947), for which he won Academy Awards for best director and best screenplay.
US film producer. He founded the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation in 1917, which merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1924, although he was not part of the deal.
From The Crystal Reference Encyclopedia In 1919 they formed their own Hollywood production company, Warner Brothers Pictures (incorporated in 1923). Their firm grew slowly, but their gamble on the first sound feature film with synchronized songs and dialogue, The Jazz Singer (1927), launched them as a major studio.
Although Tallulah Bankhead was never a great star, during her own period she was extremely well known— perhaps for her lifestyle more than for her talent.
Bergman is best known for her performances in Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s – most famously Casablanca (1942), in which she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart.
He created an indelible and enduring screen persona of the lone wolf; cynical but heroic, abrasive, romantic and stubbornly faithful to his own code of ethics.
Film and stage actor, born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. A product of the New York Actors’ Studio, he made his debut in 1943, and appeared in several plays before achieving fame in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).
Appeared in several “working-girl-makes-good-but-doesn't-necessarily-achieve-happiness” roles which were extremely popular with audiences and earned Crawford a place among the most popular actors of the 1930s.
Singer and actress. Her singing was sweet, smooth, and intimate, and because she looked like everyone’s ideal ‘girl next door’, she was soon making light romantic comedies (39 films in all).
Film and stage actor. His film debut in The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935) led to more than 100 screen appearances, culminating with his Oscar-winning role in On Golden Pond (1981).
A Hollywood legend, Judy Garland achieved the status of superstar before dependence on drugs and alcohol prematurely ended her life. Her portrayal of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1938) made her an international star.
Audrey Hepburn was internationally famous for her elegance and beauty as well as for her elfin charm; her most memorable roles include the call girl Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964).
From The Penguin Biographical Dictionary of Women Katharine Hepburn was the winner of four Academy Awards as Best Actress (the last when she was 74) and also received eight nominations.
Comedy team, all born in New York City, New York, USA. The three most prominent were Chico (b. Leonard) (1886–1961); Harpo (b. Adolph, but known as Arthur) (1888–1964); and Groucho (b. Julius Henry) (1890–1977).
US film actor. Mitchum's hard-boiled performances in a series of war films, melodramas, films noirs, and Westerns of the 1940s and early 1950s established him firmly in the pantheon of Hollywood's leading male performers.
US film actor. His films included Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), for which he won an Academy Award, and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).