Curated playlist
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
- Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
- Clark GableA Warner Bros. executive once rejected Clark Gable because his ears were too big. He said Gable looked like an ape.
- James StewartJames Stewart gave his Oscar to his father for the shop window.
- Katharine HepburnKatharine Hepburn bought out her own studio contract after theater owners called her box office poison.
- Marx BrothersThe Marx Brothers became a comedy act because of a runaway mule.
- Elizabeth TaylorAfter Rock Hudson said he was dying of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor helped found a research foundation in 1985.
- Joan CrawfordA 1938 ad called Joan Crawford "box office poison," but Mildred Pierce later won her an Academy Award.
- Robert MitchumRobert Mitchum, the American film actor and singer, gave critic Roger Ebert a picture that never faded. Ebert named him his favorite movie star and praised his "deep, laconic voice and his long face and those famous weary eyes." Ebert saw…
- Judy GarlandMGM fired Judy Garland in 1950, and Bing Crosby invited her onto his radio show. The audience gave her an ovation.
- Ginger RogersGinger Rogers and Fred Astaire were only supporting players in Flying Down to Rio, a film meant for other stars.
- Lucille BallLucille Ball's real-life pregnancy became an I Love Lucy episode, and CBS banned the word "pregnant."
- Buster KeatonBuster Keaton's deadpan face began when he stopped laughing in his father's vaudeville act.
- Adolphe MenjouAdolphe Menjou, an engineer from Pittsburgh, became Hollywood's ideal of Parisian elegance.