via mariedeflor (originally blissfulreverie)
“
On my twenty-second birthday, my one day off in the two-month shooting schedule, the assistant director called our house at noon, saying Hitchcock wanted me on set at four that afternoon to rehearse a scene for the next day. No, I didn’t need to be in costume and makeup. Begrudgingly, I drove to the studio, where I was told to wait on the set in my green canvas cubicle until called. When I could have been home, working in the garden, enjoying my day of leisure!
Suddenly I heard “Happy Birthday to You” being sung by many voices. Emerging from my dressing room, I was surrounded by the entire crew, Monty Westmore, George Barnes and his assistant, Jack Warren, my hairdresser, the wardrobe girl, and Hitchcock. On a tea table, the gift of one of the carpenters, who had made it himself, stood a lighted birthday cake. An afghan crocheted by the wardrobe girl. Assorted presents from the crew. The only actor present was Reginald Denny, who told me the hour’s delay was caused by the fact that numerous telephone calls had been placed to Judith Anderson’s dressing room, where the other actors had congregated.
~ Joan Fontaine
Joan Fontaine and Alfred Hitchcock Score at Oscars with ‘Rebecca’
It’s a big night at the Oscars for producer David O. Selznick, actress Fontaine, and director Hitchcock and his wife Alma, as their movie ‘Rebecca’ is named Best Picture of 1940.
1939 Joan Fontaine;Alfred Hitchcock;Laurence Olivier Movie dir. Alfred Hitchcock (R) discussing script for the movie Rebecca w. its stars, Joan Fontaine & Laurence Olivier as they gather at desk in his small apt. at the Wilshire Palms. (Photo by Peter Stackpole//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images) (via Alfred Hitchcock: behind the scenes - Timeline - LIFE
)
30 Days of Old Hollywood: Day 16
Day 16- Favorite director
Well, in my gut, I think we both know who I have to say: Ida Lupino!
However, since it’s next to impossible for me to pick a simple answer for any of these questions, I must also tell you that I love the following directors as well: Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, David Lean, James Whale, oh and John Huston and William Wyler!… those are the only ones that spring to mind immediately, but yeah.
via vintage-lullaby (originally mortimerbrewster)
Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, and Alfred Hitchcock on the set of Rebecca (1940) [While filming Rebecca],Hitchcock built up his power over Joan Fontaine while keeping her nervous & vulnerable enough to enhance the nervous, vulnerable character she was playing. She was not, it must be said, all that popular on the set. Olivier, still smarting over the fact that Fontaine had beaten out [his lover] Vivien Leigh for the part, treated his costar with transparent disdain. Olivier’s “attitude helped me subconsciously,” Fontaine later conceded in No Bed of Roses. “His resentment made me feel so dreadfully intimidated that I was believable in my portrayal.” Hitchcock encouraged these tensions as grist for the scenes between his two stars. When, during the first week of shooting, Fontaine expressed shock after Olivier used a four-letter word, Hitchcock stepped in. “I say Larry old boy, do be careful,” he cautioned. “Joan is just a new bride.” When Olivier asked who the husband was, Fontaine replied that she had married Brian Aherne. “Couldn’t you do better than that?” he flung over his shoulder before striding off imperiously. The retort demolished her; Aherne was a lightweight, often typecast as an English gentleman, and Fontaine said later that she could never look at him with the same eyes again. (An impulsive marriage to begin with, it would also be a short-lived one.) Not just Olivier but the entire cast, behaved like a “cliquey lot.” United by their superiority and their purer Englishness, they sneered at the least-seasoned player behind her back, or so Fontaine believed. Hitchcock took advantage of this, too, drawing on Fontaine’s insecurity to inform her performance in Rebecca. Ordering Fontaine to the set on her day off, the director surprised the actress by throwing her a birthday party. She was equally surprised that the important cast members didn’t bother to show up; they stayed in their dressing rooms. Hitchcock could have summoned them – but their absence suited his strategy. It wasn’t really a matter of “Divide & Conquer” as Fontaine described it in her autobiography. It was Hitchcock forcing a movie actress to become her character, by treating Fontaine like Mrs. De Winter. The actress felt as alone, as terrified, as de Winter’s young bride felt in Rebecca’s world. -Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness & Light (via Old, Old Hollywood Gossip - Page 160)
Celebrating Gossip Hitchcock holds on to his cigar at a dinner in honor of legendary gossip columnist Louella Parsons, 1948. In this photo: Joan Fontaine, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Hitchcock Photo: Peter Stackpole/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images Jan 01, 1948 (via Celebrating Gossip - LIFE Presents: Alfred Hitchcock - Photo Gallery - LIFE)
2 years ago on 6 November
2010 @ 10:51pm
1940 Oscars- Best Actress nominee for Rebecca.
With Alfred Hitchcock and Judith Anderson
2 years ago on 6 November
2010 @ 6:55pm
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Just watched this again. I hadn’t seen it in ages. It’s so amazing. While this movie was made, Ida Lupino was seeing Robert Walker. I posted a picture (the only one I’ve seen of them together) on the set, but I’ll include it here again because it’s so cute the way she’s gazing at him. The relationship didn’t work out because Walker had too many problems, and while Lupino wanted to help him, and did, he was an alcoholic and would get violent.
2 years ago on 25 September
2010 @ 4:32pm
Ida Lupino visiting the set of Strangers on a Train. She was seeing Robert Walker at the time.
2 years ago on 15 August
2010 @ 7:49pm
