TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 11 -- Star of the Month -- Ava Gardner

[Staph]

Happy birthday to Pat O'Brien, born on this day in 1899 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and to Robert Ryan, born on this day in 1909. TCM is celebrating with a day of their films, and tonight they continue with Star of the Month Ava Gardner. Enjoy!

And to all of you who have served our country, in any way, my thanks for your service.


6:00am -- The Fighting 69th (1940)
A braggart soldier learns the true meaning of heroism when he joins World War I's all-Irish unit.
Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Jeffrey Lynn
Dir: William Keighley
BW-90 mins, TV-PG

Warner Bros. built on Providencia Ranch, California, an exact duplicate of Camp Miles, a training camp in Long Island, New York. Actual archived war combat footage was used in the film, as was footage of soldiers marching through the Arch of Triumph.


7:45am -- Knute Rockne All American (1940)
Biography of the famed Notre Dame coach and his fight to "win one for the Gipper."
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan, Donald Crisp
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
C-98 mins, TV-G

James Cagney, eager to break out of gangster roles, lobbied hard for the part of Knute Rockne. But Cagney had signed a petition in support of the anti-Catholic Republican government in the Spanish Civil War. Notre Dame University had control over all aspects of the filming and would not okay Cagney for the role.


9:30am -- Having Wonderful Crime (1945)
Three amateur detectives try to find a missing magician.
Cast: Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, Carole Landis, Lenore Aubert
Dir: Eddie Sutherland
BW-70 mins, TV-PG

Carole Landis wrote a book about her first wartime USO tour, entertaining troops in England and North Africa; in the film version, Four Jills in a Jeep (1944), you can get a glimpse of the kind of talent she really had, and which Fox was wasting. Absent from film work most of that year because of USO tours in the Pacific, Carol returned to Hollywood weakened by amoebic dysentery, malaria, and near-fatal pneumonia only to find the film dismissed as "self-praise". After Having Wonderful Crime (1945)--perhaps her best comedy--and two B pictures, her Fox contract was dropped. Ostracized in Hollywood due to her ardent feminism and rumors about sexual peccadillos, she made her last two films in England. With a stalled career, poor health, failed marriages, financial problems, and the ending of a torrid affair with married Rex Harrison, Carole Landis committed suicide with Seconal in 1948. Intelligent, generous, talented and gorgeous, she was only 29.


10:45am -- Crack-Up (1946)
An art critic risks his reputation and his life to track down a forgery racket.
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall, Ray Collins
Dir: Irving Reis
BW-93 mins, TV-PG

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 30, 1946 with Pat O'Brien reprising his film role.


12:30pm -- Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
A dedicated priest tries to reform a group of homeless boys in turn-of-the-century St. Louis.
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Darryl Hickman, Charles Kemper, Una O'Connor
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff
BW-93 mins, TV-PG

Politically O'Brien was extremely right-wing, so much so that he was termed "a near-fascist", mainly because of his strong support of Generalissimo Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.


2:15pm -- A Dangerous Profession (1950)
A bail bondsman is asked to raise money to free his girlfriend's husband.
Cast: George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien, Bill Williams
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff
BW-79 mins, TV-PG

O'Brien and Jimmy Cagney were great friends from the beginnings of their careers. They starred in nine films together, including the final film for both, Ragtime (1981).


3:45pm -- The People Against O'Hara (1951)
A defense attorney jeopardizes his career to save his client.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, Diana Lynn, John Hodiak
Dir: John Sturges
BW-102 mins, TV-PG

Although almost of the film takes place in New York City, there is less than 5 minutes of footage filmed on location in the City of New York.


5:30pm -- The Woman On The Beach (1947)
A coast guardsman begins to think his mistress's blind husband can really see.
Cast: Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford, Nan Leslie
Dir: Jean Renoir
BW-71 mins, TV-G

A rare Hollywood film noir directed by European master director Jean Renoir, son of master painter Auguste Renoir.


6:45pm -- The Set-Up (1949)
An aging boxer defies the gangsters who've ordered him to throw his last fight.
Cast: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter
Dir: Robert Wise
BW-73 mins, TV-PG

Based upon a narrative poem published in 1928 by Joseph Moncure March, who gave up his job as the first managing editor of "The New Yorker" to devote himself to writing. On the strength of it, he went to Hollywood as a screenwriter, remaining there for a dozen years. In 1948 he volunteered to work on this film, but was turned down. He was incensed that his black boxer Pansy Jones was changed into the white Stoker Thompson.

Director Robert Wise said he was willing to cast a black actor as the lead character (as it was originally written), but since there were no African-American leading actors in Hollywood at the time, he was obligated to switch the character to a white man.


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: AVA GARDNER


8:00pm -- Mogambo (1953)
In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman.
Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Donald Sinden
Dir: John Ford
C-116 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ava Gardner, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Grace Kelly

The censors in Spain did not allow adultery to be shown on the screen. For that reason, MGM changed the relationship of the characters of Linda Nordley (Grace Kelly) and Donald Nordley (Donald Sinden) from wife and husband to sister and brother in the dubbed version released in Spain. However, they did not delete a scene in which both share a bed together.


10:00pm -- The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
A Spanish dancer becomes an international star but still longs to get her feet in the dirt.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Marius Goring
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
C-130 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Edmond O'Brien

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Joseph L. Mankiewicz

The character of Maria Vargas is said to be based on Rita Hayworth, who was actually offered the part. Hayworth was a Latina who later married a prince, Prince Aly Khan. However, some elements were taken from Ava Gardner's life as well. The stormy relationship between Maria and the tycoon movie producer Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) is based on Gardner's own relationship with billionaire film producer Howard Hughes.


12:15am -- Bhowani Junction (1956)
An Anglo-Indian beauty falls for a British officer as her country fights for independence.
Cast: Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, Bill Travers, Abraham Sofaer
Dir: George Cukor
C-110 mins, TV-PG

When Ava Gardner came to Lahore, there was only one reasonable hotel, the Falletis Hotel. The suite in which Ava stayed has been named as "The Ava Gardner suite". In its lounge one could see a beautiful large size, black & white portrait of Ava Gardner smiling.


2:15am -- The Little Hut (1957)
A neglected wife is shipwrecked on a desert island with her husband and her would-be lover.
Cast: Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, David Niven, Walter Chiari
Dir: Mark Robson
C-90 mins, TV-14

Think of Gilligan's Island, with a love triangle in tuxedos and elegant evening gowns. Quite fun!


4:00am -- Young Ideas (1943)
A widow's grown children try to break up her romance with a college professor.
Cast: Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall, Mary Astor, Elliott Reid
Dir: Jules Dassin
BW-77 mins, TV-G

A quote from Mary Astor -- "There are five stages in the life of an actor: Who's Mary Astor? Get me Mary Astor. Get me a Mary Astor Type. Get me a young Mary Astor. Who's Mary Astor?"

[Staph]

1. Pat O'Brien

AKA: William Joseph Patrick O'Brien Jr.
Born: 1899-11-11
Birth place: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Death: 1983-10-15
Death cause: heart attack
Nationality: United States
Profession: actor, insurance salesman

Biography

A veteran Irish-American lead and character player, Pat O'Brien is best known as one of the cynical reporters in the sterling first screen version of the Broadway play, "The Front Page" (1931), the title role (opposite Ronald Reagan) in "Knute Rockne--All American" (1940) and as Jimmy Cagney's clerical confidante in "Angels With Dirty Faces" (1938).

A sharp, wisecracking type in the early 1930s, O'Brien found his star persona becoming increasingly sentimentalized after the Production Code crackdown of 1934, but occasionally returned memorably to his earlier type, as in "Torrid Zone" (1940), opposite Cagney and Ann Sheridan. He remained a popular star through the 40s, often in stalwart roles such as not only his Rockne but also "The Iron Major" (1943). A childhood friend of Spencer Tracy, O'Brien acted with Tracy in "The People Against O'Hara" (1951) and in John Ford's sentimental roundup of veteran character players, "The Last Hurrah" (1958). Billy Wilder also put his iconic value to good use as an Irish cop on the tail of both the gangsters and the cross-dressing heroes on the run in the director's hilarious "Some Like It Hot" (1959).

Family

FATHER: William O'Brien. Son of Irish immigrants.

MOTHER: Margaret O'Brien. Daughter of Irish immigrants.

DAUGHTER: Mavourneen O'Brien.

SON: Sean O'Brien.

SON: Terry O'Brien.

DAUGHTER: Brigid O'Brien.

WIFE: Eloise Taylor. Actress. Married from 1931 until his death.