Betty Brodel, a singer, actress and older sister of High Sierra and Sergeant York star Joan Leslie, died Sunday in Florida, family member Cathy Palmer told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 104.
Brodel appeared with Leslie in the wartime charity films Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) and Hollywood Canteen (1944), plus Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Too Young to Know (1945) and Cinderella Jones (1946).
Elizabeth Ann Brodel was born in Detroit on Feb. 5, 1920. Her father, John Brodel, was a bank teller and her mother, Agnes, a pianist and homemaker.
She and her siblings Mary (born in 1916) and Joan (born in 1925) sang and danced in a vaudeville act called The Brodel Sisters, performing in their hometown and New York City and touring from Canada to Florida.
When a talent scout signed Mary to a contract at MGM, the family headed to Burbank, and the sisters appeared in the 1936 short film Signing Off.
Betty also showed up in...
Brodel appeared with Leslie in the wartime charity films Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) and Hollywood Canteen (1944), plus Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Too Young to Know (1945) and Cinderella Jones (1946).
Elizabeth Ann Brodel was born in Detroit on Feb. 5, 1920. Her father, John Brodel, was a bank teller and her mother, Agnes, a pianist and homemaker.
She and her siblings Mary (born in 1916) and Joan (born in 1925) sang and danced in a vaudeville act called The Brodel Sisters, performing in their hometown and New York City and touring from Canada to Florida.
When a talent scout signed Mary to a contract at MGM, the family headed to Burbank, and the sisters appeared in the 1936 short film Signing Off.
Betty also showed up in...
- 3/7/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Virginia Patton, best known for her role as Ruth Dakin Bailey in the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” has died. She was 97.
A funeral home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, confirmed that Patton passed Thursday, Aug. 18 in an assisted living home. No additional details or cause of death has been released.
Patton, whose uncle was the iconic World War II General George Patton, dazzled screens in the 1940s, starring as the female lead in 1947’s “The Burning Cross” and 1948 Western “Black Eagle.”
Also Read:
The 7 Best New Movies on HBO Max in August
Born in 1925 in Cleveland, the Ohio-native was raised in Portland, Oregon, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Just a year after Patton graduated high school in 1942, she made her film debut with an ensemble role in “Thank Your Lucky Stars” (1943) and signed a contact with Warner Bros.
She went on to appear in minor roles...
A funeral home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, confirmed that Patton passed Thursday, Aug. 18 in an assisted living home. No additional details or cause of death has been released.
Patton, whose uncle was the iconic World War II General George Patton, dazzled screens in the 1940s, starring as the female lead in 1947’s “The Burning Cross” and 1948 Western “Black Eagle.”
Also Read:
The 7 Best New Movies on HBO Max in August
Born in 1925 in Cleveland, the Ohio-native was raised in Portland, Oregon, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Just a year after Patton graduated high school in 1942, she made her film debut with an ensemble role in “Thank Your Lucky Stars” (1943) and signed a contact with Warner Bros.
She went on to appear in minor roles...
- 8/21/2022
- by Loree Seitz
- The Wrap
Virginia Patton, who played George Bailey’s sister-in-law in the holiday staple It’s A Wonderful Life, died in an assisted living facilty on Aug. 18. She was 97.
Patton was Ruth Dakin Bailey in the 1946 film, married to war hero Harry Bailey. Her most prominent scene was at the Bedford Falls train station, when she meets George and Uncle Billy for the first time.
Virginia Ann Patton was born in Cleveland on June 25, 1925. Raised in Portland, Oregon, she went to Los Angeles after high school graduation to pursue an acting career.
She signed with Warner Bros. and made her movie debut in the musical Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), starring Eddie Cantor, and appeared the films Janie (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944) and Jack Benny’s The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945).
Patton, a niece of World War II General George Patton, came to It’s a Wonderful Life director Frank Capra’s attention via a USC play.
Patton was Ruth Dakin Bailey in the 1946 film, married to war hero Harry Bailey. Her most prominent scene was at the Bedford Falls train station, when she meets George and Uncle Billy for the first time.
Virginia Ann Patton was born in Cleveland on June 25, 1925. Raised in Portland, Oregon, she went to Los Angeles after high school graduation to pursue an acting career.
She signed with Warner Bros. and made her movie debut in the musical Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), starring Eddie Cantor, and appeared the films Janie (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944) and Jack Benny’s The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945).
Patton, a niece of World War II General George Patton, came to It’s a Wonderful Life director Frank Capra’s attention via a USC play.
- 8/21/2022
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Virginia Patton, who portrayed Ruth Dakin Bailey, the sister-in-law of Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey, in the Frank Capra holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life, has died. She was 97.
Patton died Thursday at an assisted living facility in Albany, Georgia, the Mathews Funeral Home announced.
Patton’s character in the 1946 film was married to Harry Bailey (Todd Karns), and her big scene takes place at the Bedford Falls train station, when she meets George and Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) for the first time.
While crewmembers were lighting her scene — filmed at the Santa Fe railroad’s now-defunct Lamanda Park station in Pasadena — with her stand-in, she was wondering about how she was going to eat her buttered popcorn while wearing white gloves.
“I was dressed as a young matron. I had a hat, a suit and white gloves, I was coming to meet my new in-laws,...
Virginia Patton, who portrayed Ruth Dakin Bailey, the sister-in-law of Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey, in the Frank Capra holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life, has died. She was 97.
Patton died Thursday at an assisted living facility in Albany, Georgia, the Mathews Funeral Home announced.
Patton’s character in the 1946 film was married to Harry Bailey (Todd Karns), and her big scene takes place at the Bedford Falls train station, when she meets George and Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) for the first time.
While crewmembers were lighting her scene — filmed at the Santa Fe railroad’s now-defunct Lamanda Park station in Pasadena — with her stand-in, she was wondering about how she was going to eat her buttered popcorn while wearing white gloves.
“I was dressed as a young matron. I had a hat, a suit and white gloves, I was coming to meet my new in-laws,...
- 8/21/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One thing that’s easy for podcast fans to forget: There are people who don’t listen to podcasts. For the newly initiated, it’s hard to figure out where to look first. No fear: we’ve gathered a few of our favorite film-related shows. Some are hundreds of episodes deep into their runs, so we’ve also provided some good places to start. Enjoy.
Read More: 13 Must-Listen Podcast Episodes for March 2017
Black List Table Reads
Scripted podcasts come in all kinds; sci-fi, alternate history, period piece, and superhero shows only beginning to crack the list. Franklin Leonard and the team behind the Black List Table Reads have found a way to combine the appeal of those shows with the script-based hook of the site that gives the show its name. Producing feature-length scripts with an impressive roster of actors, the show has evolved to become something more than...
Read More: 13 Must-Listen Podcast Episodes for March 2017
Black List Table Reads
Scripted podcasts come in all kinds; sci-fi, alternate history, period piece, and superhero shows only beginning to crack the list. Franklin Leonard and the team behind the Black List Table Reads have found a way to combine the appeal of those shows with the script-based hook of the site that gives the show its name. Producing feature-length scripts with an impressive roster of actors, the show has evolved to become something more than...
- 4/13/2017
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
This month, Cinelinx is taking you on a trip back through time. Join us as we examine how movies have changed over the last 100 years. This week, we’re going back 75 years to 1942.
This article is part 2 of 4 in a series.
Read Part 1 Here: Looking Back 100 Years: The Birth of Classic Hollywood
It was 1942 and the world was involved in yet another massive war. Nazi Germany was in control of continental Europe, and they were pushing into the Soviet Union. In one of the darkest events in human history, the Nazis’ Holocaust efforts were ramped up with the opening of the concentration camps. On the other side of the world, Japan was invading the island nations of the Pacific as they expanded their domain eastward towards the United States. The Us had just entered the war and its first troops arrived in Europe.
The war affected many aspects of everyday life,...
This article is part 2 of 4 in a series.
Read Part 1 Here: Looking Back 100 Years: The Birth of Classic Hollywood
It was 1942 and the world was involved in yet another massive war. Nazi Germany was in control of continental Europe, and they were pushing into the Soviet Union. In one of the darkest events in human history, the Nazis’ Holocaust efforts were ramped up with the opening of the concentration camps. On the other side of the world, Japan was invading the island nations of the Pacific as they expanded their domain eastward towards the United States. The Us had just entered the war and its first troops arrived in Europe.
The war affected many aspects of everyday life,...
- 1/10/2017
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (G.S. Perno)
- Cinelinx
Banished by Josef Goebbels and threatened by the Reich, the creative core of the German film industry found itself in sunny Los Angeles, many not speaking English but determined to carry on as writers, directors and actors. More than simply surviving, they made a profound impact on Hollywood moviemaking. Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 2009 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 117 min. / Street Date April 12, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Cinematography Joan Churchill, Emil Fischhaber Film Editor Anny Lowery Meza Original Music Peter Melnick Written, Produced and Directed by Karen Thomas
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood is the perfect docu to introduce people to the way film and world history are intertwined... and also to generate interest in older movies and classic cinema. Instead of a story about the making of movies, it's about a fascinating group of filmmakers forced to abandon...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood is the perfect docu to introduce people to the way film and world history are intertwined... and also to generate interest in older movies and classic cinema. Instead of a story about the making of movies, it's about a fascinating group of filmmakers forced to abandon...
- 5/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Episode 19 of 52 of Anne Marie's chronological look at Katharine Hepburn's career.
In which Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, and a stripper walk into a bar…
Ain't you heard? There's a war on! Two years into the Second World War, Americans were fulfilling their patriotic duty, finding ways to serve and protect. The message at the front: fight back the enemy. The message at home: support our troops! But how does a movie star fulfill her patriotic duty? The answer came in the form of the Stage Door Canteen (and its West Coast cousin the Hollywood Canteen, which would get movie treatment in 1944). Any serviceman in uniform could come to the Stage Door Canteen, eat and dance for free, and maybe catch a glimpse at the stars, who volunteered to bus tables, play host, and entertain the servicemen free of charge. Stage Door Canteen was produced by the American Theatre Guild...
In which Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, and a stripper walk into a bar…
Ain't you heard? There's a war on! Two years into the Second World War, Americans were fulfilling their patriotic duty, finding ways to serve and protect. The message at the front: fight back the enemy. The message at home: support our troops! But how does a movie star fulfill her patriotic duty? The answer came in the form of the Stage Door Canteen (and its West Coast cousin the Hollywood Canteen, which would get movie treatment in 1944). Any serviceman in uniform could come to the Stage Door Canteen, eat and dance for free, and maybe catch a glimpse at the stars, who volunteered to bus tables, play host, and entertain the servicemen free of charge. Stage Door Canteen was produced by the American Theatre Guild...
- 5/7/2014
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
Paul Henreid: From Eleanor Parker to ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ (photo: Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker in ‘Between Two Worlds’) Paul Henreid returns this evening, as Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. In Of Human Bondage (1946), he stars in the old Leslie Howard role: a clubfooted medical student who falls for a ruthless waitress (Eleanor Parker, in the old Bette Davis role). Next on TCM, Henreid and Eleanor Parker are reunited in Between Two Worlds (1944), in which passengers aboard an ocean liner wonder where they are and where the hell (or heaven or purgatory) they’re going. Hollywood Canteen (1944) is a near-plotless, all-star showcase for Warner Bros.’ talent, a World War II morale-boosting follow-up to that studio’s Thank Your Lucky Stars, released the previous year. Last of the Buccaneers (1950) and Pirates of Tripoli (1955) are B pirate movies. The former is an uninspired affair,...
- 7/24/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Eleanor Parker Now on TCM Palms Springs area resident Eleanor Parker, who turns 91 next June 26, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June. One of the best actresses of Hollywood’s studio era, Parker isn’t nearly as well-remembered today as she should be despite three Best Actress Academy Award nominations (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955), a number of box-office and/or critical hits, and a key role in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time (The Sound of Music). Hopefully, the 34 Eleanor Parker movies TCM will be showing each Monday this month — beginning tonight — will help to introduce the actress to a broader 21st-century audience. Eleanor Parker movies "When I am spotted somewhere it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around," Parker once said. In fact, the title of Doug McClelland’s 1989 Eleanor Parker bio,...
- 6/4/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Last surviving member of the wartime swing trio the Andrews Sisters, whose hits included Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Patty Andrews, who has died aged 94, was the lead singer and soloist with the Andrews Sisters. The swinging American trio, comprising Patty and her older siblings, Laverne and Maxene, achieved their greatest success in the 1940s, contributing to the war effort with catchy songs including Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) and, with Bing Crosby, Don't Fence Me In.
The Andrews Sisters performed at military bases and raised money for war bonds; their hits were sung by the troops and by women working in factories. Patty, Laverne and Maxene accompanied the most popular singers and big bands of the day; enjoyed success not just on radio but also in musical comedy films; and spawned a host of other sister acts – not all of whom were real siblings.
Patty Andrews, who has died aged 94, was the lead singer and soloist with the Andrews Sisters. The swinging American trio, comprising Patty and her older siblings, Laverne and Maxene, achieved their greatest success in the 1940s, contributing to the war effort with catchy songs including Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) and, with Bing Crosby, Don't Fence Me In.
The Andrews Sisters performed at military bases and raised money for war bonds; their hits were sung by the troops and by women working in factories. Patty, Laverne and Maxene accompanied the most popular singers and big bands of the day; enjoyed success not just on radio but also in musical comedy films; and spawned a host of other sister acts – not all of whom were real siblings.
- 2/1/2013
- by Michael Freedland
- The Guardian - Film News
Patty Andrews: Last Surviving member of The Andrews Sisters dead at 94 Patty Andrews, the lead vocalist and last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters musical trio, died of "natural causes" earlier today at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, in the San Fernando Valley. Andrews, who was also the youngest sister, was 94. (Photo: The Andrews Sisters: Laverne Andrews, Patty Andrews, Maxene Andrews.) Born in Minnesota into a Greek-Norwegian family, the Andrews Sisters began their show business career in the early ’30s, while both Maxene and Patty were still teenagers. Their first big hit came out in 1938: the English version of the Yiddish song "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (aka "Bei mir bist du schön"), with lyrics — "To me, you’re grand" — by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin. (The song made into the movies that same year, but Warner Bros. star Priscilla Lane is the one singing it in Love,...
- 1/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Books continue coming in at a faster pace than I can possibly keep up with and it’s been a while since I did a survey. Here are some of the recent titles that pique my interest. Remember, these are not critiques, but descriptions based on a quick once-over. I hope to print full-fledged reviews, on a few more, in the weeks ahead. The Hollywood Canteen by Lisa Mitchell and Bruce Torrence; foreword by Joan Leslie (BearManor Media) Here’s a welcome look inside the nightclub/restaurant co-founded by Bette Davis and John Garfield to entertain servicemen during World War II. While it’s been mentioned in many...
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- 8/27/2012
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Brandon Cronenberg's hypo-horror of celebrity disease-obsession should fit Cannes perfectly. I doubt it will go viral
The appearance of a laborious and derivative body-horror satire by David Cronenberg's son Brandon – showing among other things the exploitative replication of celebrity DNA – officially takes the Cannes film festival beyond satire. Antiviral is set in a dystopian future-present in which obsession with celebrity has reached such neurotic levels that fans eat specialist steaks and burgers created with cultured cell-lines from celebs' bodies. Worse still, the real hardcore believers get themselves injected with viruses and diseases that once lived inside their idols – all to get up close and personal with the stars.
Caleb Landry Jones plays Syd, a pale and haunted young man employed by the corporation which markets celebrity viruses; his employer has an exclusive licensing arrangement with the world's biggest female star, Hannah Geist, played by Sarah Gadon (Carl Jung's...
The appearance of a laborious and derivative body-horror satire by David Cronenberg's son Brandon – showing among other things the exploitative replication of celebrity DNA – officially takes the Cannes film festival beyond satire. Antiviral is set in a dystopian future-present in which obsession with celebrity has reached such neurotic levels that fans eat specialist steaks and burgers created with cultured cell-lines from celebs' bodies. Worse still, the real hardcore believers get themselves injected with viruses and diseases that once lived inside their idols – all to get up close and personal with the stars.
Caleb Landry Jones plays Syd, a pale and haunted young man employed by the corporation which markets celebrity viruses; his employer has an exclusive licensing arrangement with the world's biggest female star, Hannah Geist, played by Sarah Gadon (Carl Jung's...
- 5/22/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Doris Day is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month of April 2012. TCM's Doris Day homage begins this evening with eight movies released at the start of Day's career at Warner Bros. In addition to Day's presence, what those movies have in common is the following: little plot, lots of music, and Old Hollywood's fluff-producing machinery at work. If that's your thing, don't miss them! Of those, the better one is probably Roy Del Ruth's On Moonlight Bay (1951, photo). Though nothing at all like Del Ruth's crackling Warner Bros. movies of the early '30s — e.g., The Maltese Falcon, Beauty and the Boss, Blessed Event — this musical comedy set in a small American town prior to World War I offers some genuine nostalgia, great songs, and charming performances, including those of the two good-looking leads, Day and Gordon MacRae. On Moonlight Bay was popular enough to merit a sequel,...
- 4/3/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Have you ever seen this photo of Buster Keaton serving drinks at the Hollywood Canteen? Neither have I. It’s just one of the many pictures, posters, scripts, audio Buster Keaton serves drinks at the Hollywood Canteen. (courtesy AMPAS) interviews, lectures, and complete short subjects now available online from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I must confess that I’m way behind the curve, as the Academy launched the project in early May, leading up to Memorial Day. (Fortunately, it’s not being taken down any time soon.) The informal study is broken into five chapters: Hollywood Helps, Women During…...
- 6/2/2011
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Agents tell me that Craig Susser, the maitre d'/general manager of that Hollywood canteen Dan Tana's, is finally going out on his own after 23 years. He's calling it "Craig's" and it's right now under construction at 8826 Melrose Ave with a Thanksgiving opening date. There's a need for another Industry restaurant ever since Morton's closed. This could be it.
- 10/6/2010
- by Nikki Finke
- Deadline Hollywood
As we recently celebrated our country’s 234th birthday, I’d like to tell you about a patriotic American I have come to know and love, Marsha Hunt. Many people remember Marsha Hunt as an actress at Paramount and MGM in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Fewer people remember her tireless activist and humanitarian efforts beginning during World War II. Servicemen in Los Angeles, soon to be shipped to the Pacific spent many a night at the Hollywood Canteen where Marsha volunteered, while her husband Jerry Hopper was away in the army. Every Saturday night, a thousand men an hour came into the Canteen. Marsha signed almost five thousand autographs a night and danced with nearly as many soldiers. Clark Gable was the chairman of the Hollywood Victory Committee, an organization that was set up to utilize Hollywood celebrities in support of our troops at home and overseas. As a member of this group,...
- 9/2/2010
- by Roger C. Memos
- Alt Film Guide
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