TCM Schedule for Thursday, August 14 -- Summer Under The Stars: Greer Garson

[Staph]

Today's star is Greer Garson, an elegant Englishwoman who specialized in wives and mothers, usually suffering nobly. In 1967, she retired to a ranch in New Mexico with her third husband. I visited that home some years ago, when it had become the Pecos National Historical Park. Enjoy!


4:15am -- Muscle Beach Party (1964)
The beach gang goes head-to-head with the bodybuilders of a new gym that's interfering with their strip on the sand.
Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Luciana Paluzzi.
Dir: William Asher.
C-95 mins, TV-PG

This was the first acting role for Peter Lupus who is playing Flex Martian under the name "Rock Stevens". This would lead to an early career in Europe where he would play the lead role in various sword and sandal/mythological muscleman movies that were then in vogue.


6:00 AM -- That Forsyte Woman (1949)
An unhappily married woman falls in love with her niece's fiance.
Cast: Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, Robert Young.
Dir: Compton Bennett.
C-113 mins, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color -- Walter Plunkett and Valles

Based on the novel The Forsyte Saga, this was remade as a BBC mini-series in 1967 (with Nyree Dawn Porter, Eric Porter and John Bennett in the Garson/Flynn/Young roles), and as a Granada Television mini-series in 2002 (with Gina McKee, Damian Lewis and Ioan Gruffudd).


8:00 AM -- The Youngest Profession (1943)
Teenage autograph seekers cause trouble at MGM.
Cast: Virginia Weidler, Jean Porter, Edward Arnold.
Dir: Edward Buzzell.
BW-82 mins, TV-G, CC

For me, Virginia Weidler will always be Dinah Lord, Katharine Hepburn's younger sister in The Philadelphia Story (1940). She was hysterical belting out Lydia, The Tattooed Lady, in a tutu and toe shoes.

In keeping with today's theme, Greer Garson has a cameo in this film.


9:30 AM -- The Valley Of Decision (1945)
An Irish housemaid's romance with the boss's son is complicated by labor disputes in the Pittsburgh mills.
Cast: Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore.
Dir: Tay Garnett.
BW-119 mins, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart

Feature film debut of Dean Stockwell


11:30 AM -- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
A British family struggles to survive the first days of World War II.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright.
Dir: William Wyler.
BW-134 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Teresa Wright, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Pidgeon, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Henry Travers, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dame May Whitty, Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Warren Newcombe (photographic) and Douglas Shearer (sound), Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD)

Winston Churchill once said that this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers.

Greer Garson later married Richard Ney who played her son in the movie!


2:00 PM -- The Miniver Story (1950)
A brave family comes together in the face of post-war problems.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Cathy O'Donnell.
Dir: H.C. Potter.
BW-104 mins, TV-G, CC

In a crucial scene in a restaurant, a pianist is playing the song "Ol' Man River", from the Broadway musical "Show Boat". As "The Miniver Story" went into release, MGM, which filmed it, was preparing to begin filming their Technicolor remake of "Show Boat", which would be released in the summer of the following year (1951).


4:00 PM -- When Ladies Meet (1941)
A female novelist doesn't realize her new friend is the wife whose husband she's trying to steal.
Cast: Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard.
BW-105 mins, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell and Edwin B. Willis

Based on the play by Rachel Crothers and previously filmed in 1933 with Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery and Ann Harding in the Crawford/Taylor/Garson roles.


6:00 PM -- Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)
A cold-hearted teacher becomes the school favorite when he's thawed by a beautiful young woman.
Cast: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Paul Henreid.
Dir: Sam Wood.
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Donat

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Director -- Sam Wood, Best Film Editing -- Charles Frend, Best Sound, Recording -- A.W. Watkins (Denham SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Eric Maschwitz, R.C. Sherriff and Claudine West, and Best Picture

34-year-old Donat ages 63 years (1870-1933) over the course of the film. He remarked: "As soon as I put the moustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a great Airedale come out of a puddle."


What's On Tonight: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: GREER GARSON


8:00 PM -- Pride And Prejudice (1940)
Jane Austen's comic classic about five sisters out to nab husbands in 19th-century England.
Cast: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Edna May Oliver.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard.
BW-118 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse (the first Art Direction Oscar ever awarded)

For years, I have read that "Many costumes designed by Walter Plunkett for Gone with the Wind (1939) were used again the following year in this film for some of the large crowd scenes, although Adrian created the gowns for the principals in this film. A modest budget partially explains why the costumes are not at all accurate for the assumed period of the film and reusing Plunkett's elaborate fashions saved MGM money in making this film." However, the costumes used in the crowd scenes are not American Civil War era (1860s). Though the full skirts are the same, the sleeves are completely different and (more or less) appropriate for the 1830s (which is, of course, entirely the wrong time period for Jane Austen!).


10:00 PM -- Random Harvest (1942)
A woman's happiness is threatened when she discovers her husband has been suffering from amnesia.
Cast: Greer Garson, Ronald Colman, Susan Peters.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.
BW-127 mins, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ronald Colman, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Susan Peters, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell, Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore, Best Director -- Mervyn LeRoy, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart, Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, and Best Picture

The title is taken from a quotation that appears in hardback versions of the James Hilton novel (but omitted from most paperback printings.) The quotation is: "According to a British Official Report, bombs fell at Random." - German Official Report. The movie renames the Rainier ancestral home "Random Hall" to better tie in with the title, although in the novel, the estate is named "Stourton".


12:15 AM -- Mrs. Parkington (1944)
A lady's maid marries a man whose prospects push her into high society.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Agnes Moorehead.
Dir: Tay Garnett.
BW-124 mins, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Agnes Moorehead

In the European released version, Cecil Kellaway was replaced by Hugo Haas and the role was changed to "Balkan King." Also, Tala Birell's character was changed to simply "Countess" instead of "Lady Norah Ebbsworth." Three actors in casting call lists but who were not in the U.S. print (Ann Codee, George Davis and Frank Reicher may also have been in this version.


2:30 AM -- Julia Misbehaves (1948)
A showgirl returns to her stuffy estranged husband when their daughter gets engaged.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Elizabeth Taylor.
Dir: Jack Conway.
BW-99 mins, TV-PG, CC

Greer Garson met future (third and final) husband E.E. Fogelson, an acquaintance of Peter Lawford's, on the set of this movie.


4:15 AM -- Blossoms In The Dust (1941)
True-life story of Edna Gladney, who fought for orphans' rights in Texas.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Marsha Hunt.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.
C-100 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary and Edwin B. Willis

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Cinematography, Color -- Karl Freund and W. Howard Greene, and Best Picture

Late in her life, Garson donated millions for the construction of the Greer Garson Theater at the College of Santa Fe on three conditions: 1) that the stage be circular, 2) that the premiere production be William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and 3) that it have large ladies' rooms. I like her ideas!

[Staph]

1. Greer Garson Profile

Stardates: Born September 29, 1904, in London, England; died 1996.

Star Sign: Libra.

Star Qualities: Glorious red hair, starchy “perfect lady” image with reserves of humor and passion.

Star Definition: “There are actors who work in movies. And then there are movie stars. She was a movie star.” – Teresa Wright

Galaxy of Characters: Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (1940), Edna Kahly Gladney in Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Mrs. Miniver in Mrs. Miniver (1942), Paula in Random Harvest (1942).

Beautiful, red-haired Greer Garson (1904-1996) served nobly as MGM's great lady of the 1940s, following in the footsteps of Norma Shearer and preceding Grace Kelly. Garson's image of stately matronhood played particularly well to wartime audiences, and she redeemed any sense of sanctimony with her lively Irish charm.

Garson was born in London, where she was on the professional stage from 1932. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer discovered her for films, and she made a hit in her first film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), for which she won the first of seven Oscar® nominations. The award itself came to her for Mrs. Miniver (1942), in which she gave her definitive screen portrayal as a London housewife facing the Blitz with a courage that inspired filmgoers of the day in both England and the U.S. Garson enjoyed another huge success with Random Harvest (1942), in which she plays the loyal wife of amnesiac Ronald Colman.

In a change of pace from Garson's usual roles where she suffered nobly, MGM experimented with the actress's image by casting her as a showgirl given to slapstick in Julia Misbehaves (1948) and a dark-haired vamp in The Law and the Lady (1951). Garson asked to be released from her contract after Her Twelve Men (1954) in which played a female version of the schoolteacher in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Her final Oscar® nomination came for Warner Bros.' Sunrise at Campobello (1960), in which she was a convincing Eleanor Roosevelt. Garson returned to MGM for a supporting role in The Singing Nun (1966), playing the wise Mother Superior to Debbie Reynolds' impetuous title character.

The second of Garson's three husbands was Richard Ney, who had played her son in Mrs. Miniver. Her final marriage was to U.S. oil magnate Buddy Fogelson, with whom she retired happily to New Mexico.

* Films in Bold Type air on 8/14

by Roger Fristoe

[CBHagman]

2. English, except when she's Irish...

...or Scots. Some biographies list Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson as Irish-born, but her story is more complicated than that. :crazy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greer_Garson

Known in childhood as "Eggy", Greer Garson was born in Manor Park, Essex (now Greater London), England in 1904. She was the only child of George Garson (1865-1906), a clerk born in London but with Scottish lineage, and his Irish wife, Nancy ("Nina") Sophia Greer (d. 1958). Her maternal grandfather was David Greer a RIC sergeant in Castlewellan Co Down Northern Ireland in the 1880s and who later became a land steward to the Annesleys wealthy landlords who built the town of Castlewellan. He lived in a large detached house built on the lower part of what was known as Pig Street or known locally as the Back Way near Shilliday’s builder’s yard. The house was called ‘Claremount’ and today the street is named Claremount Avenue. It was often reported that Ms. Garson was born in this house. She was, in fact born in London, but spent many of her childhood days in Castlewellan.

And she wound up in Texas! Go figure.



With Laurence Olivier in Pride and Prejudice.

[grasswire]

3. even the teenagers enjoyed Random Harvest!

Lots of twists and turns and drama! It was great.

[CBHagman]

4. Glad to hear it.

I always wonder how well '30s and '40s play with today's kids, considering where we are with today's movies and TV (Don't get me started).

Anyway, Greer Garson is the star of the day, but Ronald Colman sounds as though he was a pretty interesting guy too.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0172903/bio

"I loathe war. I'm inclined to be bitter about the politics of munitions and real estate which are the reasons of war. It certainly taught me to value the quiet life and strenghtened my conviction that to keep as far out of range of vision as possible is to to be as safe as possible."

I should note that Colman was wounded in action in World War I.