UPPER LEFT: One of the few actresses popular
on both sides of the Atlantic in the thirties and forties, MERLE OBERON
commuted between London and her home in Hollywood.
UPPER RIGHT: PAUL MUNI, a private person and serious actor, did
his best to avoid the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. The ranch in Encino,
where he lived with his wife Bela, was several miles from the nearest Hollywood
mansion. Muni was nominated three times for Academy Awards, and took an
Oscar home for his lead role in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935).
LOWER RIGHT: RAQUEL TORRES starred in the film White Shadows in
the South Seas (1927) directed by PCT.S. Van Dyke. Pictured at her Bel-
Air estate pool in 1939, she later gave up her movie career to marry, having
only made ten films.
LOWER LEFT: Broke and back in Hollywood in 1951 after her divorce from
Aly Khan, RITA HAYWORTH tried to revive her career. A three-year
absence from the screen had strained the relationship with Columbia and
studio chief Harry Cohn refused to offer her a new star's contract |
One person who understood the power of publicity was RITA
HAYWORTH's first husband, Edward Judson. Twenty-two years her senior,
Judson married Hayworth in 1937, when she was an obscure starlet from Mexico
going by the name Rita Cansino. Judson changed her last name to Hayworth.
After he talked the head of Columbia Pictures into giving her a seven-year
contract, studio mogul Harry mogul Harry Cohn was quoted as saying "It
looks to me as if an old man has just found himself a seven-year meal ticket."
Unfortunately for Judson. Rita had a habit of falling in love with her
leading men, and while filming My Gal Sal 1942). She did just that
- with Victor Mature. Her marriage to Judson ended in 1942. |
