He said that he burned his tuxedo on his 75th birthday because he was through with formality.
He also said that his favorite sound was that of a V-8 engine.
Before he became an actor, he ran the family sporting goods store in Cleveland, Ohio.
He was among the celebrities on the famous "Enemies List" kept by President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
He was training to be a pilot while in the Navy, but was discovered to be color-blind, ending his flying aspirations.
He was so ashamed of his debut in the failed costume drama The Silver Chalice, that he took out an ad in Variety apologizing for his performance.
Early in his acting career, he was often mistaken for Marlon Brando. He claims to have signed around 500 autographs reading, "Best wishes, Marlon Brando."
the cast: Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver); Walter Pidgeon (Clem Miniver); Teresa Wright (Carol Beldon); Henry Travers (Mr. Ballard); Richard Ney (Vin Miniver)
the plot: This is the story of an English middle class family through the first years of World War II. Clem Miniver is a successful architect and his beautiful wife Kay is the anchor that keeps the family together. With two young children at home, Kay keeps busy in the quaint English village they call home. She is well-liked by everyone and the local station master has even named his new rose after her. When their son Vincent, Vin to everyone, comes home from Oxford for the summer he is immediately attracted to Carol Beldon, granddaughter of Lady Beldon. Their idyllic life is shattered in September 1939 when England is forced to declare war on Germany. Soon Vin is in the RAF and everyone has to put up with the hardship of war including blackouts and air raids. Through it all, everyone displays strength of character in the face of tragedy and destruction.
extra bonus points: if you can name two of the eight movies (not counting this one) which co-starred Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.
listen for: "She was a good cook, as good cooks go. And as good cooks go, she went."
did you know: Winston Churchill once said that this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers and the film's subsequent success had a profound effect on American sympathy towards the plight of the British.
also listen for: The vicar's speech near the end. It was reportedly re-written by William Wyler and Henry Wilcoxon the night before it was shot. It was translated into various languages and air-dropped in leaflets over German-occupied territory, was broadcast over the Voice of America, and reprinted in Time and Look magazines at Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's request. This speech has come to be known as The Wilcoxon Speech, in tribute to actor Henry Wilcoxon's stirring delivery of it.
the cast: Gregory Peck (Joe Bradley); Audrey Hepburn (Princess Ann); Eddie Albert (Irving Radovich)
the plot: Princess Anne embarks on a highly publicized tour of Europian capitals. When she and her royal entourage arrive in Rome, she begins to rebel against her restricted, regimented schedule. One night Anne sneaks out of her room, hops into the back of a delivery truck and escapes her luxurious confinement. However, a sedative she was forced to take earlier starts to take effect, and the princess is soon fast asleep on a public bench. She is found by Joe Bradley, an American newspaper reporter stationed in Rome. He takes her back to his apartment. The next morning Joe dashes off to cover the Princess Anne press conference, unaware that she is sleeping on his couch! Once he realizes his good fortune, Joe promises his editor an exclusive interview with the princess.
don't miss: the haircut.
listen for: "Is this the elevator?" "This is my ROOM!"
extra bonus points: if you know who was right in the argument Ann and Joe have over which poet wrote the words that Ann quotes, "Arethusa rose from her couch of snows in the Acroceraunian mountains."
did you know: I hate the ending to this movie. I know, I know - duty and honor and all that. Blech!
did you also know: the film was shot in black and white so that the characters wouldn't be upstaged by the setting of Rome.
the cast: Myrna Loy (Lillian Gilbreth); Jeanne Crain (Ann Gilbreth); Debra Paget (Martha Gilbreth); Jeffrey Hunter (Dr. Bob Grayson); Hoagy Carmichael (Tom Bracken); Edward Arnold (Sam Harper)
the plot: After Frank's death, Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income, while Anne, Martha, and even Ernestine find romance.
count: how many cans of beans the family eats over the summer.
watch for: Martha's risque swimsuit.
don't miss: how the brothers deal with Ernestine's "sheik".
listen for: "What on earth was that?" "The childern have a chemistry set in the cellar." "Smells like alcohol." "Mr. Harper, alcohol is a chemical."
also don't miss: the kids' clandestine visits to the hospital.
the cast: Clifton Webb (Frank Bunker Gilbreth); Myrna Loy (Lillian Gilbreth); Jeanne Crain (Ann Gilbreth); Edgar Buchanan (Dr. Burton)
the plot: Based on the real-life story of the Gilbreth family, the film follows them from Providence, Rhode Island, to Montclair, New Jersey, and details the amusing anecdotes found in large families. Frank Gilbreth, Sr., was a pioneer in the field of motion study, and often used his family as guinea pigs (with amusing and sometimes embarrassing results).
don't miss: how the kids get a dog.
listen for: "Hey Noah, what are you doing with that Ark?" "Collecting animals like the good Lord told me brother. All we need now is a jackass. Hop in!"
did you know: On the shelf in the living room is a picture of the real life Frank Gilbreth in uniform as an Army Major during WWI - the picture is visible outside the makeshift operating room during the mass tonsillectomies.
extra bonus points: if you can identify the galaxy drawn in the beach house.
Her acceptance speech for the 1943 Oscar was 5-1/2 minutes in length - the longest acceptance speech ever.
She donated millions to have a theater built at the College of Santa Fe. She had three conditions that had to be followed: 1) it had to be a working circular stage, 2) the first play had to be A Midsummer's Night Dream, and 3) it had to have large ladies' restrooms.
She married her second husband after co-starring with him in a film where he played her son.
She said, "I've been offered nymphomaniacs, kleptomaniacs, pyromaniacs, homicidal maniacs and just plain maniacs. I think producers felt that after playing a long series of noble and admirable characters there would be quite a lot of shock value in seeing me play something altogether different. But I prefer upbeat stories that send people out of the theater feeling better than they did coming in. It's my cup of tea."
In 1982, she turned down Aaron Spelling's offer of a part in the hit soap "Dynasty" playing mother to Joan Collins's Alexis.
She was nominated for an Academy Award for five years in a row: 1941-1945.
I'm a collector of 1940s-60s just-about-anything, I have enough old snapshots to wallpaper a small house, and I'm saving my pennies so that one day I can have my very own roller rink.
Some of the images are from screenshots I've made and some have been collected from several years of net trolling. If one of them is yours and you would like to be credited, please let me know and I'll take care of it!
