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Recapping what I had previously figured out:
November 5 - Frances Farmer
November 18 - Hedy Lamarr
November 25 - John Garfield
Brian told me that:
November 4 - Jean Marais
November 26 - Loretta Young
That leaves the man in the photo on November 12 unidentified.
I wondered who Jean Marais is. Looking at his filmography, I believe I have only seen one movie with Jean Marais - Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (1946) which is also frequently known by its English translated title - Beauty and the Beast. I remember seeing that film at the Castro. Below is a photo of Marais as he appeared for most of the film. I can't believe I didn't recognize him.
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| Jean Marais in La Belle et la Bête |
I'm surprised I didn't recognize Loretta Young but as I looked through her filmography, I realized I have not seen many of the films she made. I did see her in The Crusades but I cannot remember anything about her performance. As I mentioned in the post, I still remember the striking appearance of Katerine DeMille two years after seeing an otherwise unmemorable film for me.
For me, Loretta Young will always occupy a space in my brain for having Clark Gable's illegitimate child (Judy Lewis). Young went through the trouble of birthing her in secret, placing her in the care of an orphanage and then adopting the child legally.
I deliberately omitted November 12 when asking Brian, in my response, to identify the unknown people in the photos so that there would be some challenge left. Also recall that in the hardcopy calendar, November 12 is occupied by Lloyd Bridges.
While looking up Jean Marais on Wikipedia, I noticed he was born in 1913. That had resonance because I was considering attending at The Films on 1913 program at Smith Rafael Film Center on December 12.
My co-worker had read a Hedy Lamarr biography earlier this year and had mentioned she would be 100 in 2013 if she were alive. I quickly looked up the birthdays of Frances Farmer, Loretta Young, Lloyd Bridges and John Garfield. All were born in 1913.
In IMDB, you can easily look up people born in a given year by finding someone born in that year (say Loretta Young in 1913) and clicking on the hyperlink on the birth year in the biography section. Not only that but the results are listed in ascending rank order of the Most Popular People Born In YYYY.
Going down the IMDB list of Most Popular People Born in 1913, I initially thought November 12 was Peter Cushing but the nose wasn't right. I kept going down the list; eliminating all actresses and any actors whom I could identify. Finally at #55 on the IMDB list was an actor named Wesley Addy whose most famous credit is Network (1976). I need to see that movie again; it's been two decades since I last saw it. Conveniently, the IMDB photo of Wesley Addy is the same one used on November 12 of the calendar. I could not have identified Wesley Addy, by name or appearance, before finding him on IMDB.
From the IMDB list, I noticed Vivien Leigh was the most popular person born in 1913. #2 on the list was Burt Lancaster. I'm still not sure about "the rules of the game" but just recognizing that all the individuals were born in the same year doesn't seem like enough. The clues in the calendar typically point to a specific event.
I suspect that in the November calendar, the clues were pointing to the November 11 screening of From Here to Eternity which stars Lancaster although that may be reaching.
Danny Kaye (#3 on the 1913 list) is an actor who seems forgotten today; I don't recall any of films screening during his centennial year. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), arguably his most famous film, is being remade with Ben Stiller in Kaye's eponymous role. It looks interesting to me and I may see it.
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| Castro Theater Calendar - November 2013 |
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