Day 15 of Noirvember: Trivia Tuesday

These two were not Hitchcock’s first choice. Can you believe it?

On Day 15 of Noirvember, help yourself to some trivia tidbits. They’re delicious!

Alfred Hitchcock originally wanted Joan Fontaine and William Powell for the roles of Young Charlie and Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Fontaine was unavailable, and MGM refused to loan Powell for the part. The roles were played by Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten.

In Sunset Boulevard (1950), there is a New Year’s Eve party scene where Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) and her fellow partygoers sing “Buttons and Bows,” composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, who appear for a few seconds in the scene, playing the piano. Livingston and Evans also wrote the “We’re Coming, Leo” song for director Billy Wilder’s 1951 noir Ace in the Hole (aka The Big Carnival).

After the slap?

In Angel Face (1952), when Robert Mitchum was frustrated by repeated retakes in which director Otto Preminger ordered him to slap Jean Simmons across the face, Mitchum reportedly turned around and slapped Preminger, asking whether that was the way he wanted it. Preminger demanded that RKO studio head Howard Hughes replace Mitchum on the film. Hughes refused.Before turning to acting, George Raft (Red Light, Nocturne) made an unsuccessful attempt at a minor-league baseball career, tried his hand at professional boxing, then capitalized on his natural dancing ability by entering and winning ballroom dancing contests and working as a “taxi-dancer” in local cafes.

On Victor Mature’s (Kiss of Death, Cry of the City) first day of school, he was sent home for biting his teacher. In later years, the actor once recalled, his mother was summoned to his school so often that the other students thought she worked there.

While a student at Southern Methodist University, 18-year-old Dorothy Malone (Loophole, Convicted) won the lead in a school play about a star-struck girl living in a Hollywood boarding house, waiting for her big break. During the run of the play, Dorothy was seen by an RKO scout, who gave her a screen test in her mother’s living room. A short time later, she moved to Hollywood, signed with RKO, and moved into the Hollywood Studio Club, a rooming house for young film hopefuls – just like the play in wihc she was discovered.

Sterling and Douglas…and baby makes three.

Jan Sterling (Appointment With Danger, Union Station) landed a role in Broadway’s Panama Hattie at the age of 18, when actress Virginia Field left the cast to marry actor Paul Douglas. Eight years later, Sterling followed Field in another role – she became Douglas’s fifth wife.

As a youngster, Edmond O’Brien (Shield for Murder, White Heat) planned to be a magician. He learned his craft from neighbor Harry Houdini.

Ruth Roman (The Window, Strangers on a Train) and her son, Richard, were first-class passengers aboard the Andrea Doria when the ocean liner collided with the Stockholm cruise ship and sank on July 25, 1956. Roman and Richard were among the nearly 1,700 passengers rescued.

Join us tomorrow for Day 16 of Noirvember!

~ by shadowsandsatin on November 15, 2016.