Legends

1910 – 1950S

Rudolph Valentino (1895 - 1926)

Real Name: Rodolpho d’Antonguolla

Data: Valentino was known as ‘the great lover’. Originally from Italy, he appeared in several films before ‘The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse’ made him a superstar in 1921. After that, he played a series of exotic, romantic heroes. When he died in 1926 (at the age of 31), several female fans committed suicide and his funeral was a national event.

Best-known films: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Sheik (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), The Eagle (1925), Son of the Sheik (1926).

Quotes: “A man should control his life. Mine is controlling me.” Rudolph Valentino.

“He had youth and fame – and yet he was very unhappy. H.L. Mencken

Charlie Chaplin (1889 – 1977)

Data: Born in London, Chaplin went to Hollywood in 1910. Four years later he created ‘the little tramp’ – his best-loved character, whose bowler hat, cane and moustache soon became internationally famous. Chaplin was one of the silent era’s most successful comics, writers and directors. He left America in the 1950s and spent his later years in Switzerland.

Best-known films: The Tramp (1915), Easy Street (1917), The Gold Rush (1924), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940).

Quotes: “That obstinate, suspicious, egocentric, maddening”, lovable genius of a problem child.” Mary Pickford.

“I remain one thing and one thing only, and that is a clown.” Charlie Chaplin.

Greta Garbo (1905 – 1990)

Real Name: Greta Gustafson

Data: Greta Garbo’s Hollywood career began in 1925. Beautiful, distant and mysterious, she became a huge, worldwide star in the 1930s, usually in tragic, romantic roles. But she didn’t enjoy living in California and once wrote to a friend… “Americans don’t understand anything about us Europeans.” Her career ended suddenly when she left Hollywood in 1942 declaring “I will never act again.” She didn’t. Until her death, forty-eight years later, she lived alone in New York.

Best-known films: Flesh And The Devil (1927), Anna Christie (1930), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936), Ninotchka (1939).

Quotes: “Subtract Garbo from most of her films and you are left with nothing.” Richard Whitehall.

“I never said I want to be alone. I only said I want to be let alone.” Greta Garbo.

Clark Gable (1901 – 1960)

Data: Known as ‘the King of Hollywood’, Clark Gable was a top box-office star for over 30 years. Tough but also romantic, he was popular with both men and women. In spite of his stardom, though, Gable didn't take success very seriously. He once said “I was just a lucky slob from Ohio who happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Best-known films: Red Dust (1932), It Happened One Night (1934), Mutiny On The Bounty (1935), San Francisco (1936), Gone with the Wind 91939), The Hucksters (1947), The Misfits (1961).

Quotes: “I’m no actor and I never have been. What people see on the screen is me.” Clark Gable.

“His ears made him look like a taxicab with both doors open.” Howard Hughes.

Bette Davis (1908 – 1989)

Real Name: Ruth Elizabeth Davis

Data: Most actresses in the ‘30s and ‘40s played glamorous and feminine characters. Not Bette Davis. The women she played were dominant, difficult and often quite unpleasant. Later, she said about herself during that time…”Nobody knew what I looked like because I never looked the same way twice.”

Best-known films: Jezebel (1938), Dark Victory (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth And Essex (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), Now Voyager (1942), The Corn Is Green (1945), All About Eve (1950), Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962), Death On The Nile (1978), The Whales of August (1988).

Quotes: “When I saw my first film-test, I ran from the projection room screaming.” Bette Davis.

“She would probably have been burned as a witch if she had lived two or three hundred years ago.” E. Arnot Robinson.

John Wayne (1907 – 1979)

Real Name: Marion Michael Morrison.

Data: Nicknamed ‘Duke’, John Wayne played cowboys and soldiers in over 150 ‘action’ films between 1928 – 76. His characters were always the same – tough, honest and patriotic. That’s why audiences loved him, though. He represented a hero they could rely on. They made him a top ten box-office star for almost 20 years.

Best-known films: Stagecoach (1939), Red River (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Sand Of Iwo Jima (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Alamo (1960), True Grit (1969), The Shootist (1976).

Quotes: “I play John Wayne in every picture, regardless of the character and I’ve been doing all right, haven’t I?” John Wayne.

“He felt that America was the greatest country on the face of the earth.” Michael Wayne (John Wayne’s son).

A. Match the words and the expressions from two columns:

1. a handful	a. annoying
2. maddening	b. international
3. worldwide	c. (here) very few
4. a slob	d. a film audition
5. film-test	e. a lazy person (slang)

B. Looking at the article about film legends (1910 – 1950s), find the actor or actress who:

• often played unpleasant characters;

• had a short, unhappy life;

• believed he just played himself in films;

• was very patriotic;

• created a character which is known all over the world;

• felt that Americans do not understand Europeans.