Innholdsfortegnelse for 2505 i The Australian Women's Weekly Icons

Breakout baby In 1931, aged just three, Shirley Temple stepped foot in her first dance class. Her mother, Gertrude, had noticed the toddler’s love of the arts and enrolled her at a dance studio in Los Angeles. And it was obvious from her first lesson that Shirley was a natural performer. When a casting director visited the studio, Shirley was offered a contract to appear in short films, including the educational series Baby Burlesks alongside other child performers. It quickly became clear that Shirley was the breakout star and major studios had the toddler on their radar. She had her first on-screen role at the age of three in 1932’s Red-Haired Alibi before Fox signed her and her breakthrough film, 1934’s Stand Up and Cheer!, introduced audiences to her undeniable…

On February 11, 1976, The Weekly was given a great scoop – a sit-down interview with Lauren Bacall. Having begun a new phase of her career, starring on the stage, Philip Judge talked to the star about life after loss, her take on modern men and why she had no fear about getting old … Lauren Bacall arrived two minutes early. She stalked into the bar like a hungry tigress, staring around with those incredibly blue eyes, dangerous as a jungle cat’s. “Champagne?” The husky voice repeated my question loud and clear. “You want me to be sick?” No champagne. Instead, a bullshot for the lady; vodka and consommé with a lot of ice. “And make it good and spicy, will you? God, I must look a mess. I’ve had…

It was a quiet evening in October 1943 when Jennifer Jones, with an air of heavy resignation, told her husband Robert Walker that she wanted to separate. He’d sensed something was wrong for months, but hearing the words aloud struck him like a blow he hadn’t braced for. The marriage he cherished, and the life they had built together, seemed to dissolve in front of him. Shocked and heartbroken, Robert turned to the one thing that would offer him a temporary escape: The bottle ... A rebel finds his stage Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 13, 1918, Robert Hudson Walker had a boyhood marked by restlessness. A wild spirit, Robert regularly found himself in trouble; for pulling other children’s hair, for skipping class ... and that was…

Changing fortunes Richard Walter Jenkins, born in Wales in November 1925, was destined to follow his estranged father into mining had it not been for his school’s headmaster, Philip Burton. The educator encouraged Richard’s love of Shakespeare and acting, and the aspiring thespian eventually took his last name. He made his stage debut in 1943, while film followed six years later with 1949’s The Last Days of Dolwyn. Reviewers praised Richard for his “acting fire, manly bearing and good looks”. With his commanding presence, Richard would soon be playing kings, princes and army generals on stage and screen – King Arthur, Othello and Hamlet included. “I guess the kingly roles take me to a fantasy land, but the working-class roles carry too many painful memories of my brutal childhood,” he…

Judy Garland – or Frances Gumm as she was named when she was born on June 10, 1922 – was old for a Tinseltown child star. Unlike her contemporaries who found fame on the silver screen well before they entered their double-digit years, Judy had been hard at work on the vaudeville circuit instead. As the undoubted star of The Gumm Sisters show, along with older sisters Mary Jane and Dorothy, young Judy had won fans from coast to coast. But it wasn’t until she turned 13 that she found her entry into Hollywood. MGM titan Louis B. Mayer got word of the Gumm girls – who by then had rebranded their act to The Garland Sisters – and organised for Judy to come into the studio for an audition.…

Sliding through the backdrop and landing on the floor, child star Mitzi Green picks herself up and strides towards the camera. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” she says as she leans towards her audience, eyes twinkling, in the 1932 musical revue. “Mother and daddy want me to sing a song all about toys and dolls, but I don’t want to. I want to sing a grown-up song.” Twelve-year-old Mitzi changes into a gown before the piano starts and she launches into Was That the Human Thing to Do, displaying strong vocals and a confident presence, commanding the stage. By her teens, Mitzi was a veteran stage and screen performer, paving the way for child stars to come like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland. Yet just…

“If I have nothing else to show for my life, apart from a scrapbook full of cuttings, I have the knowledge that my early days in Hollywood weren’t in vain.” Hollywood beckons Born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman on November 14, 1922, in New York, the actress was only 12 when her father died in a workplace accident. When her mother remarried, the family settled in Saranac Lake in upstate New York. Later the family moved to Miami, where Constance completed high school. Blessed with beauty, charm and a natural talent for acting, Constance set her sights on Hollywood. And having been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, her parents supported her move to the west coast, believing acting would be a form of treatment for her condition. She enrolled in…

She was only two years old and could dance on her toes. The audience saw talent, but her mother saw dollar signs. “Ah-ha! Here is a passport to freedom. Somebody’s going to want to buy that,” the tiny dancer would later guess to her mother’s thoughts and ambitions, which would see her two daughters become stars despite the enormous cost to all involved. Rose Hovick herself had wanted a career on the stage, but her father would not allow it. She married at 15 and had a daughter, Louise, in 1911. She thought to pass her ambitions onto her child, but it was clear that the “untalented” Louise would not fulfill her mother’s dreams. So, in 1912 she had a second daughter, June. “If my sister had shown any prospects…

On June 29, 1977, The Weekly was fortunate to secure an exclusive interview with Hollywood legend Fred Astaire. As he filmed a new movie, The Purple Taxi, Don Short talked to the icon about his legacy, his new passions and why – three years before he would walk down the aisle for a second time – he had no intention of marrying again … He is not as agile as he used to be; he hasn’t danced or sung in years and the wrinkles on his face are etched with wisdom. But his voice never falters and, at 77, Hollywood star Fred Astaire still cuts an elegant figure in a pinstripe suit, topped by his silvery grey hair. “The trouble is,” he says, “people still think of me as they…

Audrey Hepburn fell in love with Paris in 1951, a city that would go on to influence her personal sense of style. For unlike many of her celebrity peers, Audrey’s fashion choices leaned towards casual, comfortable clothing when she wasn’t in front of the camera – and even, at times, when she was. While women were most often seen in dresses and skirts, Audrey favoured capri pants, which she owned in a variety of shades and patterns. An original influencer, sales of the item took off as women clamoured to get the look. The slim fit of her capris was almost always finished off with her signature ballet flats. Inspired by her love of the discipline from a young age, it was no surprise Audrey favoured the delicate slip-on shoes.…

Marie Dressler had a problem. The veteran actress had just been named Best Actress for Min and Bill at the 1931 Oscars, but Jackie Cooper was asleep with his head on her shoulder. Gently, Marie passed the sleeping nine-year-old, nominated for Best Actor for Skippy, to his mother to accept her award. With his pug nose, crinkly smile and pouty lip, Jackie Cooper was the most in-demand child star of the 1930s. His precocious performance in Skippy as a mischievous wealthy boy who befriends a poor kid made him a star. And even though the 1931 Best Actor Oscar went to Lionel Barrymore, Jackie remains the youngest star ever to be nominated. “He was everybody’s little kid,” MGM contract player Ann Rutherford said. “There was just something about him you…

Gathered in living rooms across the country, American citizens tuned their radios to the NBC Blue Network. It was a Sunday afternoon in October 1934, and the first episode of Lux Radio Theatre was due to begin. The first broadcast, Seventh Heaven, began and the voice of Miriam Hopkins, a rising star of the time, greeted listeners across the nation. It started as an anthology series which was sponsored by Unilever’s Lux Soap brand, and the company strategically scattered advertisements throughout the performances. They obtained the rights to showcase the hottest and latest Broadway productions on air, with some listeners lucky enough to be part of the live audience and witness an orchestra accompanying the actors. Originally hitting the airwaves live from New York, Lux Radio Theatre immediately became a…

At the age of 28, Elvis Presley was already an old hand at movie-making – he’d notched up 13 films, as well as countless hit singles. But his 14th film – 1964’s Viva Las Vegas – was the one that was going to have a significant and lasting impact on his personal life. In a meeting engineered by MGM studio executives to ensure that there would be enough “chemistry” between the King of Rock’n’Roll and his leading lady, the Swedish-American actress Ann-Margret Olsson, the pair came face to face for the first time on an otherwise empty soundstage. A studio photographer lurked, taking snaps. Director George Sidney made the introductions. “Elvis Presley, I’d like you to meet a wonderful young lady, Ann-Margret,” he said. “Ann-Margret, this is Elvis.” “I reached…

The 1940s was a Golden Age at The Walt Disney Studios, riding high after the success of its first full-length animated film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And while Disney’s talented animators worked hard, they played hard too, and their newly built studio was designed to reflect that ethos. The private Penthouse Club, on the roof of the studio’s Animation Building, was the domain of men only. Legend has it that a mural painted by animator Freddy Moore, filled with topless and bare-bottomed ladies, a lone man swooning over them, signalled the entrance. “We could come up [to the Club] and get a milkshake or something to drink anytime you wanted, or get something to eat, or have traffic [a delivery boy] deliver it to your room,” animator…