Trivia: American actress Marion Davies became a Broadway chorus dancer through the auspices of her brother-in-law, the powerful theatrical producer George W. Lederer. There are many stories of how Davies came to the attention of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the most popular of which relates how, when watching her perform as a solo singer-dancer in the 1916 edition of Ziegfeld Follies, Hearst became so enchanted that for eight weeks thereafter he never missed a performance, reserving two seats per show (one seat for his hat). Hearst, who in addition to his publishing empire also dabbled in moviemaking, cast Davies in the 1917 silent film Runaway Romany. For the rest of her career, Davies appeared only in Hearst-produced movies, a professional association which spilled over into her private life; she became Hearst's mistress, and might very well have married him had Mrs. Hearst not refused him a divorce. The Hearst press promoted Davies' film career to the point of the ridiculous, overpraising each movie as though it were the Second Coming; in retaliation, rival newspapers mercilessly panned Davies, suggesting that she'd still be a chorus girl without Hearst's sponsorship. The truth lay somewhere in between--when viewing such Davies films as Show People (1928), Blondie of the Follies (1932) and Cain and Mabel (1936), one is struck by her deft comic skills and superior musical talent; at the same time, she was not the actress promoted by the Hearst publicity machine. Davies retired from the screen after Ever Since Eve (1937), settling down as the popular hostess of San Simeon, Hearst's gigantic estate on the California coast. After Hearst died in 1951, Davies married Capt. Horace G. Brown of the California State Guard and divided her time between managing her considerable financial holdings and maintaining the Marion Davies Childrens' Clinic, a charitable organization. Davies was much loved by her friends and by Hollywood in general; alas, most people today "know" Davies only through the vulgar, abrasive character of "Susan Alexander" in filmmaker Orson Welles' thinly disguised chronicle of William Randolph Hearst's life, Citizen Kane (1941).

Trivia: Son of a London stockbroker, British actor Leslie Howard worked as a bank clerk after graduating from London's Dulwich School. Serving briefly in World War I, Howard was mustered out for medical reasons in 1918, deciding at that time to act for a living. Working in both England and the U.S. throughout the 1920s, Howard specialized in playing disillusioned intellectuals in such plays as Outward Bound, the film version of which served as his 1930 film debut. Other films followed on both sides of the Atlantic, the best of these being Howard's masterful star turn in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). In 1935, Howard portrayed yet another disenchanted soul in The Petrified Forest, which co-starred Humphrey Bogart as a gangster patterned after John Dillinger. Howard was tapped for the film version, but refused to make the movie unless Bogart was also hired (Warner Bros. had planned to use their resident gangster type, Edward G. Robinson). Hardly a candidate for "Mr. Nice Guy" -- he was known to count the lines of his fellow actors and demand cuts if they exceeded his dialogue -- Howard was nonetheless loyal to those he cared about. Bogart became a star after The Petrified Forest, and in gratitude named his first daughter Leslie Bogart. Somehow able to hide encroaching middle-age when on screen, Howard played romantic leads well into his late 40s, none more so than the role of -- yes -- disillusioned intellectual Southern aristocrat Ashley Wilkes in the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind. In the late 1930s, Howard began dabbling in directing, notably in his starring films Pygmalion (1938) and Pimpernel Smith (1941). Fiercely patriotic, Howard traveled extensively on behalf of war relief; on one of these trips, he boarded a British Overseas Airways plane in 1943 with several other British notables, flying en route from England to Lisbon. The plane was shot down over the Bay of Biscay and all on board were killed. Only after the war ended was it revealed that Howard had selflessly taken that plane ride knowing it would probably never arrive in Lisbon; it was ostensibly carrying Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and was sent out as a decoy so that Churchill's actual plane would be undisturbed by enemy fire.

Trivia: Broadway luminary Richard Bennett made his first acting appearance in an 1891 Chicago production of The Limited Mail. Later that year, he made his New York bow appearing in the same play. With his classically chiseled features and athletic build, Bennett rapidly achieved "matinee idol" status, continuing to portray virile leading men into his fifties. He had a flair for foreign dialects, which he demonstrated to maximum effects in such plays as They Knew What They Wanted (1924) and such films as Arrowsmith (1931). While he regarded Hollywood as a "madhouse," Bennett occasionally functioned as technical advisor in silent-film adaptations of his stage plays, and was sporadically lured before the cameras in the talkie era, most memorably as the dying millionaire in If I Had a Million (1932) and the crusty Amberson paterfamilias in Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Richard Bennett was the father of actresses Constance, Joan and Barbara Bennett, and the grandfather of talk show host Morton Downey Jr.

Trivia: Reversing the usual procedure, Irene Rich was a successful real estate agent who became an actress. In 1918, she entered films as an extra, and soon was starring opposite the likes of Will Rogers, Wallace Beery, and John Barrymore. Already a mature woman when she began her film career, Ms. Rich specialized in playing languid ladies who'd "been there, done that." Surviving the talkie revolution, Rich worked in sound films as a character actress, reuniting with her silent-film colleague Will Rogers in such films as They Had to See Paris (1929) and Down to Earth (1932). Her career in brief doldrums in 1933, Rich turned to radio, hosting the anthology series Irene Rich Dramas from 1933 through 1944; this was an unusual project made up of serialized mini-dramas, some running for several months at time. After her radio comeback, Irene Rich continued accepting roles in Broadway productions and films until her retirement in 1948.

Trivia: Canadian actor Robert Douglass Montgomery played leads in a number of Hollywood second features, and the occasional first feature, during the 1930s. Early in his film career, he billed himself as Kent Douglass. He began working in British films during the '40s.

Trivia: Mary Duncan started her career playing Broadway leads during the 1920s. In 1927 she turned to films where she was typically cast as evil seductresses through the early sound period. She left films in 1933 to marry a wealthy man. She devoted her remaining years to philanthropic work.

Trivia: Actor and director George Irving gained fame on both the Broadway stage and in feature films. Before launching his professional career, Iriving graduated from New York's City College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He then went on to play the leads in numerous Broadway shows before breaking into film in 1913, where he played many different character roles.

Trivia: Having been born at Stratford-on-Avon, Halliwell Hobbes would have been remiss if he hadn't given acting a try. On stage from 1898, the imposing, sturdily built Hobbes appeared opposite such immortals as Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Ellen Terry. His first U.S. appearance was in the 1923 Broadway staging of Molnar's The Swan. He made the first of his over 150 films in 1929. Hobbes was most often seen as a diplomatic butler, in films ranging from Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) to the East Side Kids' Million Dollar Kid (1943) (in which he was billed as Holliwell Hobbs!). Other notable screen appearances in Halliwell Hobbes' resume include the role of General Carew in the 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and as the "fugitive" iceman, Mr. DePinna, in You Can't Take It With You (1938).

Trivia: Actor/director Charles Giblyn was a mainstay of the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company from 1914 onward. One of Giblyn's more ambitious efforts was the four-part, twelve-reel The Adventures of Francois Villon; the first chapter, The Oubliette, featured a young Lon Chaney. Giblyn added screenwriting to his accomplishments with 1917's Scandal. After helming such jazz-age efforts as The Adventurous Sex (1925) and Ladies Beware (1927), Giblyn returned to his theatrical roots as an actor. Charles Giblyn played character parts in such talkies as Mysterious Fu Manchu (1929) and Prosperity (1932).

Trivia: Born in Italy, Henry Armetta stowed away on an American-bound boat in 1902. While employed as a pants-presser at New York's Lambs Club, Armetta befriended Broadway star Raymond Hitchcock, who secured Armetta a small role in his stage play A Yankee Consul. A resident of Hollywood from 1923, the hunch-shouldered, mustachioed Armetta gained fame in the 1930s in innumerable roles as excited, gesticulating Italians. Often cast as barbers or restaurateurs, Armetta was so popular that he was frequently awarded with extraneous bit roles that were specially written for him (vide 1933's Lady for a Day). Laurel and Hardy fans will remember Armetta as the flustered innkeeper who is kept awake nights trying to emulate Laurel's "kneesie-earsie-nosie" game in The Devil's Brother (1933). In the late 1930s, Armetta was briefly starred in a series of auto-racing films, bearing titles like Road Demon and Speed to Burn. He also headlined several short-subject series, notably RKO's "Nick and Tony" comedies of the early 1930s. Henry Armetta died of a sudden heart attack shortly after completing his scenes in 20th Century-Fox's A Bell for Adano (1945).