Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina

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Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels, Belgium. She really was blue-blood from the beginning with her father, a wealthy English banker, and her mother, a Dutch baroness. After her parents divorced, Audrey went to London with her mother where she went to a private girls school. Later, when her mother moved back to the Netherlands, she attended private schools as well. While vacationing with her mother in Arnhem, Holland, Hitler's army took over the town. It was here that she fell on hard times during the Nazi occupation. Audrey suffered from depression and malnutrition.

After the liberation, Audrey went to a ballet school in London on a scholarship and later began a modeling career. As a model, she was graceful and, it seemed, she had found her niche in life - until the film producers came calling. After being spotted modeling by a producer, she was signed to a bit part in the European film Nederlands in 7 lessen (1948) in 1948. Later, she had a speaking role in the 1951 film, Young Wives' Tale (1951) as Eve Lester.

The part still wasn't much, so she headed to America to try her luck there. Audrey gained immediate prominence in the US with her role in Roman Holiday (1953) in 1953. This film turned out to be a smashing success as she won an Oscar as Best Actress. This gained her enormous popularity and more plum roles. One of the reasons for her popularity was the fact that she was so elf-like and had class, unlike the sex-goddesses of the time. Roman Holiday (1953) was followed by another similarly wonderful performance in the 1957 classic Funny Face (1957). Sabrina (1954), in 1954, for which she received another Academy nomination, and Love in the Afternoon (1957), in 1957, also garnered rave reviews. In 1959, she received yet another nomination for her role in The Nun's Story (1959). Audrey reached the pinnacle of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the delightful film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) in 1961. For this she received another nomination.

She scored commercial success again in the espionage caper Charade (1963). One of Audrey's most radiant roles was in the fine production of My Fair Lady (1964) in 1964. Her co-star, Rex Harrison, once was asked to identify his favorite leading lady. Without hesitation, he replied, "Audrey Hepburn in 'My Fair Lady.'" After a couple of other movies, most notably Two for the Road (1967), she hit pay dirt and another nomination in 1967's Wait Until Dark (1967). By the end of the sixties, after her divorce from actor Mel Ferrer, Audrey decided to retire while she was on top. Later she married Dr. Andrea Dotti. From time to time, she would appear on the silver screen. One film of note was Robin and Marian (1976), with Sean Connery in 1976. In 1988, Audrey became a special ambassador to the United Nations UNICEF fund helping children in Latin America and Africa, a position she retained until 1993.

She was named to People's magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Her last film was Always (1989) in 1989. Audrey Hepburn died on January 20, 1993 in Tolochnaz, Switzerland, from colon cancer. She had made a total of 31 high quality movies. Her elegance and style will always be remembered in film history as evidenced by her being named in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time."

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BETTY GRABLE PIN UP QUEEN

This item measures 14 x 18 inches double mat with cut design in black medal frame. Betty has signed in red ink Best Wishes etc. The post card measures 4 x 7". This item has been mounted with Tru Val non glare uv glass to protect the signature.

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Betty Grable was born at 3858 Lafayette Ave. in St. Louis and moved to the Forest Park Hotel in 1920. She entered Clark's Dancing School at age 3 and attended Mary Institute. When only 12 she went to Hollywood and got her first film role the next year. She acted in 42 films, including Tin Pan Alley, Moon Over Miami and Coney Island. Because of her world-renowned swimsuit poster, owned by one out of every five U.S. servicemen in World War II, her legs were insured for $1,000,000.

Betty Grable was Hollywood's top draw in 1943, and was reported to be the highest paid woman in the United States. In 1942, according to Larry Billman, "World War II was raging around the globe and escapist films were being manufactured in Hollywood as quickly as possible. Betty's ingratiating freshness and beauty appealed strongly to the American G.I.s stationed overseas and her films were eagerly requested by the lonely servicemen. . . . Although she never toured outside the United States for the U.S.O., Betty actively participated in War efforts, appearing at Camps across the country and at Bond Rallys where she auctioned off her nylons for thousands of dollars. Volunteering at the Hollywood Canten, a club for servicement staffed entirely by film stars and studio workers, she 'Jitterbugged' the night away with hundreds of soldiers, sailors and marines" (pp.11-12). Her fan mail often reached 10,000 letters per week, and in 1942 she sent 54,000 autographed photos to the soldiers at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, who had sent her 54,000 letters.

She dumped boyfriend-actor George Raft and married the bandleader Harry James July 5, 1943. A popular GI slogan during the war became " I want a girl just like the girl that married Harry James." Their daughter Victoria was born March 4, 1944.

It was early in1943 that Frank Powolny photographed the famous full-length back pose of Betty Grable looking over her shoulder. Many stories have been told about the origin of the most famous "Pin Up" picture in American history; that she was pregnant and tried to hide her stomach; or, that she was finished with the photo session and had turned her back to walk out of the studio, saying "That's it!"; or, that she turned to smile at Darryl F. Zanuck who had entered the studio unexpectedly; or, that it was a costume shot for the film Sweet Rosie O'Grady released Oct. 1, 1943.

Whatever the origin, the studio circulated floods of prints of the pose; most were dated "1943" and they became an instant hit. Unlike the French postcards of WWI secretly collected by American doughboys, the pinups of WWII were out in the open and sanctioned by the government. Photos of Rita Hayworth from the Aug. 11, 1941, issue of Life magazine were allowed to decorate airplane cockpits and army barracks. Life had coined the term "pinup" in the July 7, 1941, special issue on National Defense and annointed "Dottie" Lamour as the nation's first official pinup girl. Betty Grable's 1943 image would far surpass these in fame. According to Doug Warren, the Fox studio put "about five million copies of the famous pose in GI hands during the war, and the over-the-shoulder pose was the only one that was used for this purpose.

Powolny believes the term 'pinup' was born with this Betty Grable photo. Betty was a representation of the girl-back-home for thousands of homesick young lads. For some, she may have been their only infatuation, the last girl they had ever lusted for, loved, or adored. She was company on a cold night, comfort at times of pain. Betty had an idea she was admired by the GIs, but had no way of knowing exactly how much. It was more than the sexy picture that enamored them of her; there was a magical wholesomeness and substance they saw beyond the curves of her figures. It was her very essence that was loved".

The New York Times wrote Oct. 21, 1943, about her in the film Sweet Rosie O'Grady that it offered "Miss Betty Grable of the legs divine in an hour-and-a-half long display of assorted poses, suitable for pin-up." Zanuck released the film Pin Up Girl on May 10, 1944, to capitalize on the famous photo, and used the photo to publicize many of the wartime films of the Fox studio.

Her yearly salary of $320,000 by 1947 made her the highest paid salaried woman in America. However, her contract with Fox ended in 1953 as the studio began to feature a new "blond bombshell" by the name of Marilyn Monroe. Betty moved to Las Vegas and made appearances on television and in nightclubs in the 50s, and on stage in the early 60s. She divorced Harry James in 1965 and suffered financial decline, but continued working on tours and stage shows, and doing TV commercials for Geritol, until her death from cancer in 1973.

Brenda Marshal in The Seahawk

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Brenda Marshall wanted to be a film actress, all right; it's just that she didn't want to be Brenda Marshall. Throughout her years in Hollywood, she insisted that her friends and co-workers address her not by her studio-fabricated cognomen, but by her given name of Ardis Anderson Gaines. A Warner Bros. contractee of the early 1940s, Anderson/Marshall did her best work opposite Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk (1940) and Footsteps in the Dark (1941). From 1941 through 1973, Brenda Marshall was married to actor William Holden, a curious union that evidently soured early on (Holden's friends blamed Marshall, and vice versa), and was distinguished by extended separations and numerous extracurricular romances.

Born Ardis Ankerson Gaines in Negros, Philippines, Marshall made her first film appearance in the 1939 Espionage Agent. The following year she played the leading lady to Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk but after a few well received parts, she married the actor William Holden in 1941 and her own career quickly declined.

The Constant Nymph (1943) was a popular success but she virtually retired after this, appearing in only four more inconsequential films. After many long separations, Marshall and Holden were divorced in 1971, and Marshall died from throat cancer in Palm Springs, California at the age of 76.

Clara Bow

Signed on autograph paper Sincere good wishes Clara Bow in dark brown ink or dark fine pencil. The signature is much clearer than photo shows due to non glare UV glass. Dimensions are; 2 1/2" x 4" Over dimensions of this item are; 14" x 16" Black Brushed Metal Frame ready for display.

Also this autograph has been authenticated by R and R Auction Item # 3149551. This certificate will go with this item.

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Between 1922 and 1929, Clara Bow's vitality and sexiness defined the liberated woman of the 1920s. Clara Bow (1906-1965) became one of Hollywood's brightest lights during this time. Clara was known as 'The "It" Girl'. "It" symbolized the tremendous progress women were making in society, and leading the way was Clara Bow, the girl of the year, who had "It" in abundance. On the set she was full of charm and wit. She was also a thorough professional, and this was asserted by people who knew and worked with her, such as Colleen Moore, Diana Serra Cary ("Baby Peggy") and Louise Brooks.

Clara Bow was an actress of range and depth. Clara played a variety of roles including manicurists, waitresses and department store clerks. In The Plastic Age (Preferred Pictures, 1925), the audience was just warming up to her delicious revelry. It was in her first, bona fide mega-hit Mantrap (Paramount, 1926) that she absolutely enthralled the audience. They and the usually jaded critics behaved as if she had just arrived in a glorious burst of fireworks, even though she had paid her dues in quite a few earlier pictures. Variety, on July 14, 1926, exclaimed, "Clara Bow! And how! What a 'Mantrap' she is! And how this picture is going to make her! Miss Bow just walks away with the picture from the moment she steps into camera range." It (Paramount, 1927) was the pinnacle of her youthful career and forever made her a household Hollywood goddess.

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The "It" Girl was so hot and bright. It was inevitable that she would burn out personally and professionally. It's shocking to think that her career was over in 1933 when she was all of 26 years old. This was after she had made millions for her studio, Paramount, and had risen to the stature of one of the most well known stars in the world.

We wonder how it happened and why. David Stenn's book Clara Bow - Runnin' Wild (Doubleday, 1988), uncovers the terrible secrets and burdens that Clara bore from the time she was a tiny child through her career. As it turns out she was the daughter of a schizophrenic mother and a sexually abusive father. Mr. Stenn successfully dispells the cruel myths surrounding Clara. He has also argued that lies make better copy than truth. Clara's career, and her potential revival, have suffered due to two diverse but crucial issues.

First, she was condemned unfairly by the Hollywood community for her questionable morality. Secondly, most of her films have been lost. Her morality was thoroughly questioned by Budd Schulberg, son of powerful producer B.P. Schulberg. Budd knew Clara when she was under personal contract to B.P. Budd became closely acquainted with Clara beginning at age 10. In his book Moving Pictures; Memories of a Hollywood Prince (Stein and Day, 1981), he reveals;

" Hollywood was a cultural schizophrene; The anti-movie Old Guard with their chamber music and their religious pageants fighting a losing battle against the more dynamic culture of the Ad Schulbergs who flaunted the bohemianism of Edna St. Vincent Millay and the socialism of Upton Sinclair.
But there was one subject on which staid old Hollywood establishment and the members of the new culture circle would agree; Clara Bow, no matter how great her popularity, was a low-life and a disgrace to the community." Out of the 56 films (silent and sound) she made, only a possible 37 exist in their entirety or in bits and pieces. Only 16 titles, 11 of them silent, are available on video. The remaining films that survive are squirreled away in the Library of Congress or other archive.

Clara died in 1965. Sadly, her childhood of poverty, violence, and insanity, together with public scandals during her stardom left Clara mentally fragile and incapacitated for the later years of her life. She died in solitude