Classic Movie Quote of the Day

"You may have heard about me. If I'd been a ranch, they woulda named me the 'Bar Nothing.'"

-- Rita Hayworth
in her defining role as
the title character in Gilda

Happy Birthday, Rita!

The lovely Rita Hayworth would be 96 years old today.

See our past "Va Va Voom" post about her.

Happy Birthday, Rita Hayworth!

See our previous Va Va Voom Star of the Day post that outlines her life.

Happy Birthday, Rita Hayworth!

"I haven't had everything from life. I've had too much."

"I never really thought of myself as a sex goddess; I felt I was more a comedian who could dance."

"All I wanted was just what everybody else wants, you know, to be loved."

"I think all women have a certain elegance about them which is destroyed when they take off their clothes."

"The fun of acting is to become someone else."

"Basically, I am a good, gentle person, but I'm attracted to mean personalities."

"We are all tied to our destiny and there is no way we can liberate ourselves."

"After all, a girl is... well, a girl. It's nice to be told you're successful at it."

80 years of Women in Film

A little MySpace movie showing the transformation of women throughout history. See if you can find our favorites: Norma Shearer, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn (they're all in the beginning).
Women In Film


[Thanks to SorryIGotDrunk]

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Peter Lawford
Saturday morning I fell in love. I was watching the Esther Williams' flick On An Island With You, and her leading man was a tall, tan wonderful navy pilot. His soft voice, his big puppy eyes, his thick eyebrows, and his gleaming white smile made my heart melt. And I was completely transfixed by the 1948 version of Peter Lawford. (Don't we look cute together?)

British-born, Peter's parents were un-wed when he was conceived. This caused a scandal that drove the family to the United States, where they travelled constantly. Because of his family's travels, Peter was never formally educated, and his lack of education was a sore subject. It contributed to his feelings of inadequacy later on as a member of the Kennedy family (his brother-in-law was JFK), and throughout his adult life.

Injuring his arm in a childhood accident kept Peter from entering World War II, the greatest thing that could happen to his acting career. Hollywood was infatuated with heroic Englishmen and as war movies were being churned out by the dozens. Peter Lawford was just what America was looking for.

Once he signed with MGM, his mother insisted that studio head Louis B. Mayer pay her a salary as Peter's personal assistant. Mayer declined, so Mrs. Lawford responded by claiming her son to be homosexual and that he needed to be "supervised". When Peter learned of his mother's actions their relationship was never the same.

Perhaps to prove to everyone his sexuality, Lawford had a reputation as a ladies' man, even as he was married to Patricia Kennedy. He allegedly had many affairs with famous women, including Ava Gardner, June Allyson, Lana Turner, Janet Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Dandridge, Lucille Ball, Judy Holliday, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Jackie O, Nancy Reagan, and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few.

These affairs made Peter more of a celebrity than a movie star, especially when he was made member of the "Rat Pack." Later in life, Lawford fell into drug and alcohol abuse. This plus strained relationships and financial difficulties caused a great deal of stress on his increasingly fragile health. Lawford died alone in a hospital in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve 1984 of liver and kidney disease culminating in cardiac arrest at the age of 61.

Interestingly enough, none of the Rat Pack members attended the funeral. This is possibly due to a falling-out between Frank Sinatra and Lawford over Peter's involvement with Ava Gardner.

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Rita Hayworth
Yesterday was Rita's birthday, so I thought it only fitting to honor her today.

Born in to a family of professional dancers, Margarita Carmen Cansino danced on stage starting at the age of six. Attracting the attention of film producers at the age of 16, Hayworth was signed first by Fox Studios in 1935, then Columbia Pictures in 1937. After a name change from Rita Cansino to Rita Hayworth, two more years of working in B movies, and painful electrolysis to raise her hairline, Hollywood and the public began to take notice.

Rita turned heads when she starred with Cary Grant in Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings. Soon she was in great demand and was borrowed by other studios until her part in Rouben Mamoulian's Blood and Sand with Tyrone Power solidified her new-found stardom.

Incredibly photogenic, Rita was dazzling in Technicolor, and her head of long, flowing hair became her best remembered attribute. The "love goddess" image was cemented with Bob Landry's 1941 Life magazine photograph of her (kneeling on a bed in a silk and lace nightgown), which caused a sensation and became -- at over five million copies -- one of the most requested wartime pinups.

Naturally shy and reclusive, Hayworth was the antithesis of the characters she played. She once complained "Men go to bed with Gilda, but they wake up with me". But those who knew her best knew she was kind, loving, and enjoyed her solitude.