1960s Timeline

Feb. 19, 1962 - Twentieth Century-Fox heaved a $20 million sigh of relief today when it learned that Elizabeth Taylor would return to work in Rome this week. The star’s brief hospitalization because of food poisoning and exhaustion demonstrated how the fate of “Cleopatra,” the most expensive movie in history, is dependent on the health of one person. It also indicated how the future of the entire Fox studio is affected by the well-being of Miss Taylor. If she was unable to co

Feb. 17, 1962 - Opening this week in local theatres is “Walk on the Wild Side,” a dramatic film directed by Edward Dmytryk and featuring Laurence Harvey, Jane Fonda, Capucine, and Barbara Stanwyck in the cast. It was adapted from the 1956 novel “A Walk on the Wild Side” by American author Nelson Algren. A man (Harvey) arrives in New Orleans searching for his former girlfriend (Fonda), an artist who now works in a bordello. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #mov

Feb. 16, 1962 - Jessica Tandy has been signed for a co-starring role with Rod Taylor in Alfred Hitchcock’s forthcoming “The Birds,” which Evan Hunter has adapted from a Daphne du Maurier story. The project goes before the cameras early next month. The story deals with a California community that is attacked by flocks of birds kamikaze style. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #moviestar #movieset #MovieStars #moviescene #moviescenes #moviestagram #MovieStill #c

Feb. 15, 1962 - Don Weis has been signed to direct the comedy film “Critic’s Choice,” which goes before the cameras at Warner Brothers on March 19. The Ira Levin play will have Lucille Ball and Bob Hope in the leading roles. Supporting roles will be played by Rip Torn, Marilyn Maxwell, Jim Backus, and Marie Windsor. Parker Ballantine (Hope) is a New York theater critic. His wife (Ball) writes a play that may not be very good. Now, Parker must either get out of reviewing the p

Feb. 15, 1962 - Vladimir Sokoloff, character actor who once estimated he had portrayed 35 different nationalities during his 50-year career, died of a stroke in his sleep last night at his home. He was 72 years old. Mr. Sokoloff suffered painful injuries last November in Argentina when he fell from a horse during the filming of “Taras Bulba.” Among the Hollywood moves he performed in were “Juarez” (1939, pictured) “Road to Morocco” (1942), “Cloak and Dagger” (1946), “Macao” (

Feb. 14, 1962 - The Yankees went Hollywood today, and for more than four hours Manager Ralph Houk’s well-regulated training camp became a merry shambles. The occasion was the first shooting of scenes in Columbia Pictures’ forthcoming film, “Safe at Home,” featuring Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, and with William Frawley (right) playing the role of a Yankee coach. In an unguarded moment, Houk (left) allowed himself to get involved in the act. “Well,” agreed the Yankees’ skippe

Feb. 14, 1962 - Pier Angeli (left), 29-year-old film actress, was married in London today to Armando Trovajoli (right), an Italian band leader. Miss Angeli’s previous marriage, to Vic Damone, American singer, was dissolved in 1959. She has a 6-year-old son by that marriage. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #moviestar #movieset #MovieStars #moviescene #moviescenes #moviestagram #MovieStill #celebrities #MovieStills #moviescreen #Moviesnight #moviestime #movies

Feb. 13, 1962 - Today’s new film is “The Explosive Generation,” a United Artists drama with William Shatner and Patty McCormack, at neighborhood theatres. Buzz Kulik directed. A high school teacher (Shatner) gets in trouble when he tries to teach a class in sex education. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #moviestar #movieset #MovieStars #moviescene #moviescenes #moviestagram #MovieStill #celebrities #MovieStills #moviescreen #Moviesnight #moviestime #movieser

Feb. 13, 1962 - Stanley Kubrick’s film version of “Lolita,” which has been described as a “faithful adaptation” of the controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov, will be released this spring by MGM. The world distribution arrangement was made after the company had received assurance that the film would not be condemned by the National Legion of Decency. According to a source close to the production, the Roman Catholic reviewing organization has agreed to place the film in a “se

Feb. 12, 1962 - Hollywood is betting millions that children in key roles will not ruin movies. This marks a reversal of the industry’s recent resistance to films that rely heavily on performances by children. Mainly, this reversal has resulted from the pressure for “family” movies and the success of Walt Disney films. At least seven movies released last year had children in important roles. Three more have been completed but have not yet been released, and five others are bei

Feb. 10, 1962 - Opening in local theatres today is “Sergeants 3,” a comedy Western film directed by John Sturges and featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. The film is a remake of “Gunga Din” (1939), with the setting moved from India to the American West. In the story, three cavalry officers and a bugler work together to thwart an Indian chief intent on uniting local tribes against the white man. #classicmovies #classicmoviestar

Feb. 9, 1962 - “Satan Never Sleeps,” a 20th Century-Fox drama co-starring William Holden, France Nuyen, and Clifton Webb, will be the next attraction at New York’s Paramount Theatre. Its director, Leo McCarey, returns in this film to the religious themes of his classics “Going My Way” (1944) and “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945). The film takes place in China amidst the 1949 take-over by the Communists. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #Movies #moviestar #movieset #Mov

Feb. 8, 1962 - Jayne Mansfield, her husband, and a companion were found on an island six miles east of Nassau, The Bahamas, today after an all-night search that began when they failed to return from a water-skiing trip. Their boat overturned, according to Mickey Hargitay, Miss Mansfield’s husband, but the three made their way to an atoll. Miss Mansfield was hospitalized for shock, rock cuts, exposure, and numerous sandflea and mosquito bites. Mr. Hargitay suffered a cut leg.

Feb. 7, 1962 - A fleet of yachts and small craft searched the waters near Nassau, The Bahamas, tonight for Jayne Mansfield (left), her husband (right), and a Florida friend after they failed to return on schedule from a water-skiing and boating party. The U.S. Coast Guard in Miami said it would send a plane to join the search at daybreak. The 28-year-old actress, her husband Mickey Hargitay and Jack Drury of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., left Nassau before noon in a 17-foot outboard

Feb. 6, 1962 - Final agreement has been reached for the purchase of “My Fair Lady” by Warner Brothers. A joint announcement today by Warners and CBS confirmed that the most successful musical in Broadway history had been sold for $5,500,000, a record price for a movie source. CBS is the majority owner of the Lerner-Loewe adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” which recorded its 2,448th performance at the Mark Hellinger Theatre last night. Preparations for the movie

Feb. 5, 1962 - Embassy Pictures has acquired distribution rights to the Italian-made period drama, “Madame,” starring Sophia Loren in the title role and directed by Christian Jaque. The picture deals with a washerwoman loved by Napoleon who rose to fame and fortune. Produced by Carlo Ponti in color and the Technirama wide-screen process, the film was adapted from the 1893 play “Madame Sans-Gêne” by Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau. #classicmovies #classicmoviestars #1960s #M

Feb. 5, 1962 - One of Hollywood’s “singing ghosts” has condemned the trick of concealing names of singers who, unseen, do the vocal chores for stars. Marni Nixon several months ago won an important victory for her profession by gaining the right to royalties on the recording of the soundtrack of “West Side Story.” Miss Nixon was the voice for Natalie Wood in the film version of the Broadway musical. She has ghosted in some 15 movies without receiving film credit or credit on

Feb. 5, 1962 - Kirk Douglas has decided to star in the stage as well as the screen version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The source is Ken Kesey’s first novel of the same name. Mr. Douglas, whose Broadway apprenticeship led to Hollywood stardom, is planning to return to the local stage in the dramatization at the end of the year. The new work will bring him back after an absence since 1946. The adaptation of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will be the work of Dale W

Feb. 4, 1962 - Scheduled to arrive in local theatres this week is “Lover Come Back,” a Universal-International romantic comedy starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day and directed by Delbert Mann. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas. A series of misunderstandings leaves an advertising executive with a campaign for a product which has not yet been invented, while he romances his rival while pretending to be its inventor. #classicmo

Feb. 2, 1962 - Two New Yorkers have been cast in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Universal), the screen version of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize story of the South, starring Gregory Peck. Producer Alan Pakula and director Robert Mulligan are making the film for Mr. Peck’s company. John Megna (Right), a 9-year-old television and stage actor last seen in Broadway’s “All the Way Home,” will portray Dill, the companion of young Philip Alford (left) and Mary Badham (center), thus rounding