✿ Two-time Oscar-winner Jack Lemmon starred in dozens of films, working until his death in 2001 at the age of 76. But how many of those titles are classics? Let's take a look back at some of his greatest movies.
Lemmon won his first Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for 'Mister Roberts' (1955). A second Oscar for Best Actor followed for 'Save the Tiger' (1973), making him the first person to pull off victories in both categories. He competed six more times for Best Actor throughout his career ('Some Like It Hot' in 1959, 'The Apartment' in 1960, 'Days of Wine and Roses' in 1962, 'The China Syndrome' in 1979, 'Tribute' in 1980, and 'Missing' in 1982).
He is perhaps best known for his long collaboration with Walter Matthau, with whom he made 11 films (including his solo directorial outing 'Kotch,' which earned Matthau a Best Actor Oscar nomination). In films such as 'The Fortune Cookie' (1966), 'The Odd Couple' (1968), and 'Grumpy Old Men' (1993), Lemmon's fastidiousness played beautifully off of Matthau's scruffiness. (So close were the two, in fact, that Lemmon died almost exactly one year after Matthau did.)
Jack Lemmon
Two-time Oscar-winner Jack Lemmon starred in dozens of films, working until his death in 2001 at the age of 76. But how many of those titles are classics? Let's take a look back at some of his greatest movies.
Lemmon won his first Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for "Mister Roberts" (1955). A second Oscar for Best Actor followed for "Save the Tiger" (1973), making him the first person to pull off victories in both categories. He competed six more times for Best Actor throughout his career ("Some Like It Hot" in 1959, "The Apartment" in 1960, "Days of Wine and Roses" in 1962, "The China Syndrome" in 1979, "Tribute" in 1980, and "Missing" in 1982).
He is perhaps best known for his long collaboration with Walter Matthau, with whom he made 11 films (including his solo directorial outing "Kotch," which earned Matthau a Best Actor Oscar nomination). In films such as "The Fortune Cookie" (1966), "The Odd Couple" (1968), and "Grumpy Old Men" (1993), Lemmon's fastidiousness played beautifully off of Matthau's scruffiness. (So close were the two, in fact, that Lemmon died almost exactly one year after Matthau did.)
✿ Robert Newton was one of the great character actors -- and great characters -- of the British cinema, best remembered today for playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1950) and its sequel for Walt Disney in the 1950s.
His portrayal of Long John Silver and of Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952) created a persona that was so indelible that his vocal intonations created the paradigm for scores of people who want to 'Talk Like a Pirate'.
The performance overshadows Newton's legacy, which is based on many first-rate performances in such movies as This Happy Breed (1944), Odd Man Out (1947) and Oliver Twist (1948), where his Bill Sykes is truly chilling.
Oliver Reed, who played Sykes in the Oscar-winning movie musical Oliver! (1968) was influenced by Newton.
Robert Newton
Robert Newton was one of the great character actors -- and great characters -- of the British cinema, best remembered today for playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1950) and its sequel for Walt Disney in the 1950s.
His portrayal of Long John Silver and of Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952) created a persona that was so indelible that his vocal intonations created the paradigm for scores of people who want to "Talk Like a Pirate".
The performance overshadows Newton's legacy, which is based on many first-rate performances in such movies as This Happy Breed (1944), Odd Man Out (1947) and Oliver Twist (1948), where his Bill Sykes is truly chilling.
Oliver Reed, who played Sykes in the Oscar-winning movie musical Oliver! (1968) was influenced by Newton.
✿ Wilfrid Hyde-White (1903 – 1991) was an English character actor of stage, film and television, who achieved international recognition in his later years for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical My Fair Lady (1964).
Following a supporting role in The Third Man (1949), he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. His other films of this period include Carry on Nurse and the Danny Kaye film On the Double.Two-Way Stretch displays the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period.
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (1903 – 1991) was an English character actor of stage, film and television, who achieved international recognition in his later years for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical My Fair Lady (1964).
Following a supporting role in The Third Man (1949), he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. His other films of this period include Carry on Nurse and the Danny Kaye film On the Double.Two-Way Stretch displays the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period.
✿ Fred MacMurray (1908 – 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in over one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity.
In the 1960s, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire and The Shaggy Dog.
Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray (1908 – 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in over one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity.
In the 1960s, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire and The Shaggy Dog.
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
Borderline (1950)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
The Apartment (1960)
✿ Already trained in dance and theater, Webb quit school at age 13 to study music and painting. By 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer in New York, and by his mid-twenties he was performing in musicals, dramas on Broadway and in London, and in silent movies.
His first real success in film came in middle age as the classy villain Waldo Lydecker in Laura (1944), followed by the part of Elliott Templeton in The Razor's Edge (1946) - both of which won him Oscar nominations.
His priggish Mr Belvedere in a series of films was supposedly not far removed from his fastidious, finicky, fussy, abrasive and condescending real-life persona. He was inseparable from his overbearing mother Maybelle, with whom he lived until her death at 91, six years before his own death.
The recent success of Titanic (1997) created brief interest due his having appeared with Barbara Stanwyck in the 1953 version of the story.
His elegant taste kept him on Hollywood's best-dressed lists for decades. His scrupulously-private gay life has also been respective one to his personality as a true gentleman.
Clifton Webb
Already trained in dance and theater, Webb quit school at age 13 to study music and painting. By 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer in New York, and by his mid-twenties he was performing in musicals, dramas on Broadway and in London, and in silent movies.
His first real success in film came in middle age as the classy villain Waldo Lydecker in Laura (1944), followed by the part of Elliott Templeton in The Razor's Edge (1946) - both of which won him Oscar nominations.
His priggish Mr Belvedere in a series of films was supposedly not far removed from his fastidious, finicky, fussy, abrasive and condescending real-life persona. He was inseparable from his overbearing mother Maybelle, with whom he lived until her death at 91, six years before his own death.
The recent success of Titanic (1997) created brief interest due his having appeared with Barbara Stanwyck in the 1953 version of the story.
His elegant taste kept him on Hollywood's best-dressed lists for decades. His scrupulously-private gay life has also been respective one to his personality as a true gentleman.
✿ Out of school, she entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old.
This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
Lauren Bacall
Out of school, she entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old.
This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart.
The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success. Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public. In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947). The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats.
The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948). The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film.
✿ Oliver Norvell Hardy (1892 – 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1927 to 1955. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.
In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (1892 – 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1927 to 1955. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.
In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.
✿ Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller, DBE was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as 'a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film
At Shaw's insistence, she starred as Eliza Doolittle in the film Pygmalion (1938) with Leslie Howard as Professor Higgins. This performance earned Hiller her first Oscar nomination, a first for a British actress in a British film, and became one of her best-remembered roles. She was also the first actress to utter the word 'bloody' in a British film, when Eliza utters the line 'Not bloody likely, I'm going in a taxi!'
Hiller followed up this success with another Shaw adaptation, Major Barbara (1941) with Rex Harrison and Robert Morley. Powell and Pressburger signed her for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), but her second pregnancy forced her to bow out in favor of Deborah Kerr. Determined to work with Hiller, the filmmakers later cast her with Roger Livesey again for I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), another classic of British cinema.
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller, DBE was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film
At Shaw's insistence, she starred as Eliza Doolittle in the film Pygmalion (1938) with Leslie Howard as Professor Higgins. This performance earned Hiller her first Oscar nomination, a first for a British actress in a British film, and became one of her best-remembered roles. She was also the first actress to utter the word "bloody" in a British film, when Eliza utters the line "Not bloody likely, I'm going in a taxi!"
Hiller followed up this success with another Shaw adaptation, Major Barbara (1941) with Rex Harrison and Robert Morley. Powell and Pressburger signed her for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), but her second pregnancy forced her to bow out in favor of Deborah Kerr. Determined to work with Hiller, the filmmakers later cast her with Roger Livesey again for I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), another classic of British cinema.
✿ Citizen Kane (1941) – Mr Bernstein
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) – Arthur Bannister
The Enforcer (1951) – Albert Mendoza
Sirocco (1951) – General LaSalle
The Desert Fox (1951) – General Wilhelm Burgdorf
Patterns (1956) – Mr Ramsey
Everett Sloane
Citizen Kane (1941) – Mr Bernstein
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) – Arthur Bannister
The Enforcer (1951) – Albert Mendoza
Sirocco (1951) – General LaSalle
The Desert Fox (1951) – General Wilhelm Burgdorf
Patterns (1956) – Mr Ramsey
✿ Vincent Price was an American actor best known for his performances in horror films, although his career spanned other genres.
He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films.
Laura (1944)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
While the City Sleeps (1955)
House on Haunted Hill (1958)
The Bat (1959)
House of Usher (1960)
The Whales of August (1987)
Vincent Price
Vincent Price was an American actor best known for his performances in horror films, although his career spanned other genres.
He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films.
Laura (1944)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
While the City Sleeps (1955)
House on Haunted Hill (1958)
The Bat (1959)
House of Usher (1960)
The Whales of August (1987)
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