1960s Timeline

July 4, 1962 - Lieut. Gov. Rex Bell (pictured left in 1930) of Nevada, former silent Western screen star and husband of actress Clara Bow (right), died today of a coronary occlusion at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas after attending a political meeting to boost his candidacy for Governor. He was 58 years old. This afternoon, Mr. Bell had addressed a Fourth of July picnic for the Republican party. Dressed in cowboy boots and other western attire, he had appeared in good health a

July 3, 1962 - Today’s new film is “Birdman of Alcatraz,” a biographical drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Burt Lancaster. It is a largely fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud (pictured in the 1920s), sentenced to solitary confinement after having killed a prison guard. A federal prison inmate, he became known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his studies of birds, which had actually taken place when he was incarcerated at Leavenworth.

July 2, 1962 - “Lawrence of Arabia,” a four-hour drama based on the life of the British soldier and author, T.E. Lawrence, has been booked at New York’s Criterion Theatre as a reserved-seat attraction for December. The Sam Spiegel production for Columbia release was directed by David Lean and features Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, José Ferrer, and Anthony Quayle in leading roles. #classicmovies #1960s #OTD #movies

May 28, 1962 - Hugh Griffith, the Academy-Award-winning actor playing the part of a judge in the play “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” nearly strangled himself last night when he slipped during a mock hanging scene and the noose around his neck tightened. He lost consciousness, and the curtain at London’s Aldwych Theatre was lowered while he was carried to his dressing room to recover. The scene was later resumed. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #celebrities #OT

May 28, 1962 - Elizabeth Taylor did her death scene as Cleopatra today, and the long-worried stockholders of 20th Century-Fox couldn’t be happier. With the completion of their star’s last big scene, the stockholders had won at least the first half of a great gamble. A record total of $30 million has been poured into the hazardous bet that the movie “Cleopatra” could be completed after two postponements and three hospital trips by its star. The second half of the gamble is whe

May 28, 1962 - A series of 14 double bills of Warner Brothers films from the 1930s will be presented for the next two weeks at the New Yorker Theatre, Broadway and 88th Street. Tomorrow’s films are “Lady Killer” (pictured), a 1933 comedy with James Cagney, and “Lawyer Man,” a 1932 melodrama with William Powell and Joan Blondell. Subsequent films to be shown include “Four Daughters,” “The Old Maid,” “Forty-second Street,” “The Green Pastures,” and “Dangerous.” #classicmovies #

May 27, 1962 - “The Longest Day,” produced by Darryl F. Zanuck from the book by Cornelius Ryan, will have its American premiere in October in the Warner Theatre, according to 20th Century-Fox. The story of the Allied invasion of France, which runs three hours, will be shown, with an intermission, on a reserved-seat basis. Filmed on wartime sites and at a Parisian studio, “The Longest Day” was shot with an international cast of stars as well as an international crew of directo

May 24, 1962 - Opening in local theatres today is “Lonely Are the Brave,” a Western film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel “The Brave Cowboy.” The film was directed by David Miller from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, and stars Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, Carroll O’Connor, and George Kennedy. A fiercely independent cowboy (Douglas) gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend, only to find out that the friend does not wish to escape. #class

May 22, 1962 - Opening in local theatres today is “The Road to Hong Kong,” a semi-musical comedy film directed by Norman Panama and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Joan Collins, with cameo appearances by Dorothy Lamour, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Mistaken identity and the acquisition of a rare Tibetan herb put two buffoonish con men on the wrong side of a secret organization geared toward world domination. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #celebrities

May 22, 1962 - A Southern Representative denounced Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton today for their conduct in Rome while making the motion picture “Cleopatra” and questioned whether they should be allowed to return to the U.S. Representative Iris Faircloth Blitch (pictured), Democrat of Georgia, said she hoped Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy would “take the measures necessary to determine whether or not the two are ineligible for re-entry into this country on grounds o

May 22, 1962 - Opening in local theatres today is “Premature Burial,” a horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Ray Milland, Hazel Court, and Alan Napier. The screenplay by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell is based upon the 1844 short story “The Premature Burial” by Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third in a series of Poe-themed pictures directed by Corman for American International Pictures. An artist (Milland) grows distant from his new wife (Court) as an irrational ho

May 21, 1962 - Scheduled to arrive in local theatres this week is “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” a Western drama with James Stewart and John Wayne, directed by John Ford. A senator (Stewart) returns to a western town for the funeral of an old friend Wayne) and tells the story of his origins. Also in the cast are Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O’Brien, and John Carradine. #classicmovies #1960s #Movies #celebrities #OTD

May 21, 1962 - “Advise and Consent,” the drama produced and directed by Otto Preminger (pictured at the Cannes Film Festival) from the Pulitzer Prize novel by Allen Drury, will have a preview benefit showing on Tuesday, June 5, at New York’s Criterion Theatre. Proceeds of the screening will go to the National Association for Mental Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This is the first of a series of showings to be given by Mr. Preminger and theatre managers in

May 19, 1962 - Due to arrive in local theatres this week is “The Miracle Worker,” the drama starring Anne Bancroft as blind tutor Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke as blind and deaf Helen Keller. Arthur Penn directed the screenplay by William Gibson, which is based on his 1959 play of the same title, which in turn was based on a 1957 broadcast of the T.V. anthology series “Playhouse 90.” Mr. Gibson's secondary source material was “The Story of My Life,” the 1903 autobiography of H

May 18, 1962 - “Gigot,” a 20th Century-Fox comedy made in Europe with Jackie Gleason in the starring role, will be the first fall attraction at the Radio City Music Hall. Gene Kelly directed the Seven Arts production, from a scenario by John Patrick. Mr. Gleason plays a mute janitor who befriends Nicole, the little daughter (Diane Gardner) of a prostitute (Katherine Kath). #classicmovies #1960s #Movies #celebrities #OTD

May 17, 1962 - Two Hollywood actresses who possess three Oscars between them are scheduled to do a “sister act” in a new movie about the industry and town that made them famous. Robert Aldrich, producer and director, confirmed today that on July 9, Joan Crawford (cited for “Mildred Pierce”) and Bette Davis (cited for “Dangerous” and “Jezebel”) will be teamed for the first time in their careers in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” The story follows an aging former child star (

May 15, 1962 - “Flight from Ashiya,” a drama that will star Yul Brynner, Richard Widmark, and George Chakiris, will be directed by Michael Anderson. The script, based on a novel by Elliot Arnold about the Air Rescue Service, will go before the cameras next month. Harold Hecht, the producer, and Mr. Anderson will film scenes in Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, North Africa, and the Bavarian Alps. The story deals with a flight crew's mission to rescue a life raft of Japanese

May 15, 1962 - Audrey Hepburn is going to play the Cockney waif who became a lady in the film version of “My Fair Lady,” Jack L. Warner, head of Warner Brothers, announced today. Miss Hepburn will play the role created on Broadway by Julie Andrews. The male lead, Professor Higgins, has not yet been cast. Warners paid $5.5 million for screen rights to the hit musical. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #celebrities #OTD

May 14, 1962 - Arriving in local theatres this week is “The Intruder,” a drama dealing with integration in a small Southern town, featuring William Shatner, Frank Maxwell, Barbara Lunsford, and Robert Emhardt. Roger Corman produced and directed the Pathé America release from a script and novel by Charles Beaumont. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #celebrities #OTD

May 13, 1962 - “55 Days at Peking,” a dramatization of the Boxer Rebellion in China starring Charlton Heston and David Niven, is scheduled to go before the cameras in Madrid next month under the direction of Nicholas Ray, who will work from a script by Philip Yordan. Location filming is to be done in the Orient. During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, U.S. Marine Maj. Matt Lewis (Heston) and British consul Sir Arthur Robertson (Niven) develop a plan to keep the rebels at bay until a