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Lucille Ball was not just known for "I Love Lucy" but also had a successful movie career with roles in several genres. "The Facts of Life" in 1960 earned Ball her first Golden Globe nomination, showcasing her ability to excel in roles beyond comedy. Films like "The Big Street," "Lured," and "The Dark Corner" allowed Ball to showcase her versatility as a comedic and dramatic actress.

Legendary actress Lucille Ball was responsible for the hit sitcom I Love Lucy but also had a great career as a movie actress. Throughout her career, Lucille Ball started her career in the late 1920s as a model but eventually got her first acting gig as an uncredited extra in the 1933 movie Roman Scandals. Up until her death in 1989, Ball was a celebrated comedian, actress, singer, dancer, and producer and is still remembered to this day. In fact, Desilu Productions, Lucille Ball's company, launched Star Trek and Mission: Impossible,...

James Cameron and his crew captured footage of the real Titanic wreckage, which was incorporated into the movie. Cameron's desire to visit the shipwreck inspired the film. Gloria Stuart, a relatively unknown actress, portrayed the elderly Rose in Titanic. She is most well-known for her movies in the 1930s. The grave of a "J. Dawson" in a cemetery in Halifax, Canada has created theories that Jack's body was recovered. However, it is likely just a coincidence.

Decades after its monumental success, many are still curious about James Cameron's Titanic but may be embarrassed to ask some questions if the answer seems like they should be obvious. Titanic is a cinematic landmark that was nominated for a record-breaking 14 Oscars and won 11, including the 1998 Best Picture award. The historical fiction epic depicts the romance between first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and third-class artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), on the...

It’s always a kick to encounter a documentary about a subject after you’ve seen the deluxe scripted and acted Hollywood version. “Lucy and Desi,” Amy Poehler’s film about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz — their love, their showbiz partnership, their revolutionary influence on the creative landscape of television, their meshing and clashing spirits — is a nimble and fascinating documentary. But I suspect I’ll be far from alone in experiencing it through the lens of Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos,” especially given the awards heat that was shined on that film this week. “Lucy and Desi” gives you the real story, so it’s only natural that you want to compare notes.

What did “Being the Ricardos” get right and wrong? Given that Sorkin’s film compresses three major story arcs — the public accusation that Lucy was a Communist; the attempt to turn her pregnancy into the...

Lucille Desiree Ball

Born: Aug. 6, 1911 in Celeron, N.Y.

Died: April 26, 1989 in Los Angeles

Best known for: CBS comedy series “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957), “The Lucy Show” (1962-68), “Here’s Lucy” (1968-74). As Variety‘s Tom Gilbert observed after her death, “Ball’s elastic facial expressions and precise comic timing catapulted her into an American institution.”

Autobiography: “Love, Lucy,” published posthumously in 1996, from a memoir Ball wrote in the mid-1960s.

Awards: Emmy wins for lead comedy actress in 1953, 1956, 1967 and 1968. Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.‘s Cecil B. DeMille Award, 1979. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Governors Award, 1989

Behind the scenes impact: With her husband and “I Love Lucy” co-star Desi Arnaz, Ball was a TV pioneer who etched an enduring template for TV sitcoms shot on film, which ignited the syndication marketplace for TV. Known for her signature flame-red hair color, Ball was also the first woman to head a major TV studio,...

Days after the death of David Shepard at age 76, his friends and colleagues paid tribute to the beloved silent film preservationist.

“I met him when I was 16 years old and he was 10 years older,” said movie historian and author Leonard Maltin. “We grew up in adjacent towns in New Jersey. I had started a motion picture club in my high school, and before our first conversation he offered to loan me a rare 16 mm print to show at out meeting. It was Busby Berkeley’s Roman Scandals [1933]. That started a friendship that lasted all these years.”

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The Coen brothers' recent Hail Caesar! may have seemed pretty bold in featuring both a Roman sword-and-sandal epic and a water ballet musical in its story of old Hollywood chicanery, but in 1955 MGM went several steps further in producing Jupiter's Darling, which is simultaneously a Roman epic and a water ballet musical, starring the queen (and sole proponent) of the latter genre, Esther Williams.One of the perplexing things about the genius of the system, whereby a studio apparatus geared to make crowd-pleasing entertainment also produced, on a fairly regular basis, great cinematic art as a kind of incidental by-product (incidental except to the artists employed) is that often the mass audience, which was the ultimate arbiter of taste, would get things badly wrong. Thus Keaton's The General, his bravest and best film, was a commercial flop, and thus the climax of the Williams water-and-song cycle proved to be an...

Neurotic coward Eddie Cantor decides to defend an amusement park against gangsters, and nothing but fun ensues! Ethel Merman has a small role here, but we're more than entertained by Parkyakarkus, Brian Donlevy, William Frawley, Jack Larue. Plus Sally Eilers, the Goldwyn Girls and a terrific forgotten talent, billed in this movie as Rita Rio. Strike Me Pink DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1936 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 100 min. / Street Date August 4,, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, Sally Eilers, Parkyakarkus, Rita Rio (Dona Drake), Brian Donlevy, William Frawley, Jack Larue, Gordon Jones, Helen Lowell The Goldwyn Girls. Cinematography Merritt Gerstad, Gregg Toland Film Editor Sherman Todd Original Music (Alfred Newman) Dance Director Robert Alton Special Effects Gilbert Pratt, Ray Binger, Paul Eagler Written by Francis Martin, Frank Butler, Walter Deleon from the story and novel Dreamland by Clarence Buddington Kelland Produced by Samuel Goldwyn Directed by...

Lucille Ball: The glamour look. Cate Blanchett to play Lucille Ball: Actress won Oscar for incarnating Ball's fellow Rko contract player Katharine Hepburn Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is reportedly slated to star in a biopic of former Rko and MGM actress and big-time television comedienne Lucille Ball. Aaron Sorkin, Oscar winner for David Fincher's The Social Network, will be responsible for the screenplay. According to Entertainment Weekly, the Lucille Ball film biopic will focus on Ball's two-decade marriage to her I Love Lucy costar Desi Arnaz. In 1960, the couple had an acrimonious divorce that supposedly “shocked” clueless fans unable to tell the difference between TV reality and real-life reality. Their children, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Lucie Arnaz, had modest acting careers in film and on TV in the '70s and '80s. As per the EW.com report, they're both producing the planned Lucille Ball biopic.

Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Titanic Box Office: Guy Pearce / Maggie Grace's Lockout Bombs, Julia Roberts / Lily Collins / Armie Hammer's Mirror Mirror Resilient The Titanic 3D rerelease hasn't broken any box-office records in North America, where it has taken in an estimated $44.41 million after 12 days. Overseas, however, it's another story. This weekend (which includes Wed./Thu. in some territories), Titanic 3D topped the international box office, collecting an estimated $98.9 million at 9,889 theaters in 69 territories (representing more than 100 countries), according to Box Office Mojo. In China alone, James Cameron disaster / romantic epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and veteran Gloria Stuart drew $67 million, an official record for that country (not adjusted for inflation / currency fluctuations). For comparison's sake: several years before China became a box-office powerhouse for Hollywood movies — one likely to surpass the United States in the not-too-distant future — Titanic earned $43.92 million during its initial run in that country.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Titanic The Hunger Games will easily top the North American box office once again this weekend — its third time as no. 1 — according to Deadline.com's "sources." As per Deadline's early, rough estimates, The Hunger Games is expected to collect $12-$14 million on Friday, and could reach $40 million over the Easter weekend. If so, Gary Ross' movie would be down close to 30% compared to last weekend — or less than half its drop-off rate last (non-holiday) weekend. It seems that Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg's American Reunion will be the no. 2 movie on Friday, with somewhere between $8-$10 million at 3,192 locations, and an estimated $25 million by Sunday evening. That includes $660,000 earned at Thursday midnight screenings in North America. If those estimates are correct, Universal will claim that American Reunion far surpassed the $18.7 million earned by the original American Pie at 2,508 sites in 1999. There is, however, a pesky little thing known as inflation,...

Mary Pickford Building: The Lot aka Pickford-Fairbanks Studios Los Angeles just got uglier. Despite protests, the Mary Pickford Building on West Hollywood's The Lot has been destroyed by its current owner, the Cim Group. (See video below.) The Lot, as previously reported on this site, was built in the 1910s, when it was known as The Hampton Studios. Silent-era superstars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks purchased the place, which they renamed the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios. That's where Pickford's and Fairbanks' 1920s blockbusters — Robin Hood, Rosita, Sparrows, and The Thief of Bagdad among them — were shot. Renamed the United Artists Studios, it also became the workplace for the likes of Charles Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, and others. Independent producer Samuel Goldwyn also worked on the lot, where he made most of his later films: Frank Tuttle's Roman Scandals with Eddie Cantor, Titanic's Gloria Stuart, and...

James Cameron's Titanic movie Titanic 3D was the no. 2 movie on the domestic box-office chart on Wednesday, April 4, according to figures found at Box Office Mojo. Directed by the Marianas Trench's James Cameron, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, Titanic 3D collected $4.37 million at 2,674 theaters, landing right behind The Hunger Games' $4.6 million at 4,137 locations. Comparisons are hard to make. The Hunger Games is in 2D, which means cheaper movie ticket prices, but it's playing at 1,500 more theaters than Titanic 3D. The Hunger Games has also been around for 13 days; Titanic 3D opened on Tuesday, earning approximately $325,000 at various preview screenings. Directed by Gary Ross, The Hunger Games stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson. At no. 3, Jonathan Liebesman / Sam Worthington / Ralph Fiennes' Wrath of the Titans grossed $2.25 million, followed by Julia Roberts / Armie Hammer / Lily Collins' Mirror Mirror with $1.66 million and Channing Tatum...

Kate Winslet, Titanic 3D Titanic 3D may have sailed to the top of the North American box-office chart on Wednesday, grossing an estimated $4.7 million at about 2,600 locations according to The Hollywood Reporter. That figure includes $300,000 earned at Tuesday night previews, and 71 IMAX screens. Directed by James Cameron, who made perfectly-timed headlines about a week ago thanks to a quick deep-sea trek, the 1997 megablockbuster stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Titanic's chief competition for the no. 1 slot is 2012's own megablockbuster, Jennifer Lawrence / Liam Hemsworth / Josh Hutcherson's The Hunger Games. The Gary Ross dystopic adventure drama earned an estimated $4.6-$4.7 million on Wednesday — without the added Tuesday night bonus or box-office-boosting 3D surcharges. Paramount is (officially) estimating Titanic 3D will rake in $20 to $25 million by Friday. 20th Century Fox is handling the film's international release. Launched in December 1997, the original Titanic grossed $1.8 billion worldwide. For those who choose to ignore the Inflation Effect,...

Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks: Pickford-Fairbanks Studios Filmmaker Allison Anders will be present at a protest "to lead all supporters" of the old Pickford-Fairbanks Studios, which is set to be (at least partially) torn down in the near future. Located at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Formosa in West Hollywood, the studio currently known as The Lot was bought by the Cim Group, which intends to expand facilities by demolishing near-century-old buildings. The protesters, who have named April 1 "Pickfair Day," are scheduled to assemble outside The Lot at 1 p.m. According to the Save Pickfair Studio website, protest organizers "will, as time and technology allows, be live tweeting and blogging our protest." Organizers suggest that protesters should "bring your friends and all the press," in addition to video and phone cameras. They explain that street parking shouldn't be a problem on a Sunday. I'd never heard of the...

Two days ago, James Cameron made world headlines for reportedly finding himself about 11 1/4 kilometers below sea level in the Marianas Trench, which is supposed to be the deepest spot on Earth. Whether as a testament to human-made technology or human-made p.r., Cameron was actually able to tweet to his followers: "Just arrived at the ocean's deepest pt. Hitting bottom never felt so good. Can't wait to share what I'm seeing w/ you." Fast forward a couple of days and Cameron is above ground in London with Kate Winslet (photo) — but not Leonardo DiCaprio — at the premiere of Titanic 3D, the (are you ready?) 3D version of Cameron's 1997 multiple-Oscar-winning megablockbuster about a luxury liner that sank to the bottom of the ocean nearly a century ago. So, does that mean the timing of Cameron's deep-sea diving to-do and the ensuing Mariana Trench tweet were merely a couple of Titanic-related p.

Herbert Marshall, Bette Davis, The Little Foxes The historic Warner Hollywood Studio, now known as The Lot, is to be torn down, reports the Los Angeles Times. In its place, current owner Cim Group will erect "glass-and-steel structures." Los Angeles doesn't have enough of those, does it? The powers-that-be in the city of West Hollywood have apparently given the go-ahead to Cim. First to go will be the Pickford Building, erected in 1927, and then the Goldwyn Building, erected in 1932. When all's done, that'll be the end of one more Los Angeles landmark. [Update: According to one source, not every building on The Lot will be torn down. I'll be updating this article as I get more detailed information.] Located at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Formosa Avenue, the Warner Hollywood Studio was initially known as the Hampton Studios, and later as the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio, the United Artists Studios, and the Samuel Goldwyn Studio. Warner Bros. acquired it in the 1980s, but sold the property at the turn of the century. Currently, HBO's True Blood is shot there.

Each year New York residents can look forward to two essential series programmed at the Film Forum, noirs and pre-Coders (that is, films made before the strict enforcing of the Motion Picture Production Code). These near-annual retrospective traditions are refreshed and re-varied and re-repeated for neophytes and cinephiles alike, giving all the chance to see and see again great film on film. Many titles in this year's Essential Pre-Code series, running an epic July 15 - August 11, are old favorites and some ache to be new discoveries; all in all there are far too many racy, slipshod, patter-filled celluloid splendors to be covered by one critic alone. Faced with such a bounty, I've enlisted the kind help of some friends and colleagues, asking them to sent in short pieces on their favorites in an incomplete but also in-progress survey and guide to one of the summer's most sought-after series. In this entry: what's playing Friday,...

Updated through 9/29.

"Gloria Stuart, a 1930s Hollywood leading lady who earned an Academy Award nomination for her first significant role in nearly 60 years — as Old Rose, the centenarian survivor of the Titanic in James Cameron's 1997 Oscar-winning film — has died. She was 100." Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times: "As a glamorous blond actress under contract to Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox in the 1930s, Stuart appeared opposite Claude Rains in James Whale's The Invisible Man and with Warner Baxter in John Ford's The Prisoner of Shark Island.... She also appeared with Eddie Cantor in Roman Scandals, with Dick Powell in Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1935 and with James Cagney in Here Comes the Navy.... After making 42 feature films between 1932 and 1939, Stuart's latest studio contract, with 20th Century Fox, was not renewed. She appeared in only four films in the 1940s and retired from the...

Hollywood 30s ingenue whose return to acting gained her an Oscar nomination for Titanic

When Gloria Stuart, who has died aged 100, was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her spirited performance in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), there were few filmgoers who remembered her earlier acting career in the 1930s. Stuart played the 101-year-old Rose (portrayed in the rest of the film by Kate Winslet), who recalls the time when she was 17 onboard the doomed liner. ("I can still smell the fresh paint," she says.)

Sixty-five years earlier, Stuart stood out as a blonde ingenue in James Whale's comedy-thriller The Old Dark House (1932), in which she wore a tight evening gown and was chased by Boris Karloff as a sinister butler. Stuart recalled how Whale told her: "When Karloff chases you through the halls, I want you to be like a flame or a dancer." She was both.

Gloria Stuart, a beloved Hollywood actress who is best known for her portrayal of older version of Kate Winslet's Rose DeWitt Bukater in "Titanic", has died at the age of 100, Associated Press reported. On Monday, September 27, Gloria's daughter, Sylvia Thompson, confirmed that the star passed away of respiratory failure at her Los Angeles home on Sunday night, September 26.

Sylvia shared, "She also was a breast cancer survivor. She did not believe in illness. She paid no attention to it, and it served her well. She had a great life. I'm not sad. I'm happy for her." "Poor Little Rich Girl" actress Gloria fought off the breast cancer 20 years ago and was diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago.

Gloria turned 100 on July 4 and celebrated the birthday at the "Academy Centennial Celebration with Gloria Stuart" with a party hosted by "Titanic" director James Cameron and his wife Suzy Amis. Gloria...

Boris Karloff, Gloria Stuart in James Whale's The Old Dark House Gloria Stuart Dies: Titanic, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man In the '40s, Gloria Stuart did stage work and later retired from acting altogether, devoting her time to painting and fine printing. Her comeback in front of the camera took place in the mid-'70s, a few years prior to the 1978 death of her second husband, screenwriter Arthur Sheekman, among whose credits was Roman Scandals. (Her first husband was sculptor Blair Gordon Newell.) Stuart's work at that time was strictly for television, including supporting roles in Paul Wendkos' The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), starring Elizabeth Montgomery; The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel (1979), which also featured movie veterans Jane Wyman and Dorothy McGuire; and The Violation of Sarah McDavid (1981), with Patty Duke. One Us newspaper erroneously printed her obit in the mid-'80s, but Stuart...

Gloria Stuart, a leading lady of the 1930s who enjoyed a career revival for her performance as Old Rose in 1997's "Titanic," died of respiratory faiure in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Sunday. She was 100.

The spry, engaging actress became the oldest Oscar nominee when, at age 88, she was nominated as best supporting actress for her performance, for which she needed old-age makeup, as a Titanic survivor who returns to the site of the disaster.

As the older version of the character played by Kate Winslet (who was nominated for best actress), the two became the first performers to be nominated for playing the same character in the same film.

In July, Stuart -- who once joked that James Cameron cast her because he needed an actress who was "still viable, not alcoholic, rheumatic or falling down" -- was feted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts...