"1945"

Lauren Bacall, one of the most alluring leading ladies ever to come out of Hollywood, passed away Tuesday at the age of 89. Though she was best known for playing opposite husband Humphrey Bogart in such classics as “The Big Sleep” (1946) and “Key Largo” (1948), her film career sustained itself long after Bogart was gone. “Written on The Wind” (1956), “Harper” (1966), “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974), and dozens of other films benefited from her uniquely feline presence and husky voice. She was class, sass, humor, and chutzpah all rolled up into one glamorous package. Bacall, a New Yorker born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, was only nineteen when she made her screen debut opposite Bogie in “To Have and Have Not.” Despite her youth, she held her own opposite an established star more than twice her age. Still, during her first few days on-set, she was so nervous she prayed the camera wouldn't pick up her hands shaking. It didn't.  And of course, she created that film’s most indelible moment when she purred to Bogart, “You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.” Audiences indeed were blown away. So was Bogie; he and Bacall were married within a year. Their relationship was one of the more storied romances in Hollywood, lasting until Bogart’s death from cancer in 1957.

Forbidden love, more common in human experience than one might think, is torturous, unusually passionate, and freighted with risk. The heightened drama — or melodrama — it generates makes it a natural and desirable ingredient for film.

Lana Turner, born in Idaho as Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner (couldn't they make up their minds?), was discovered by an industry insider while enjoying a soda at a Hollywood café. She was only 16, but still, there was something about her. No kidding. Audiences got their first glimpse of Turner in the 1937 thriller "They Won't Forget." Wearing a form-fitting skirt and sweater, her role was brief but memorable, and before long, she became known as "The Sweater Girl." Predictably, a nickname like that aroused attention, particularly among the male population. Apart from her many films, Turner's tumultuous personal life (seven husbands, eight marriages) ensured she was always in the public eye. She once aptly referred to her own journey as "a series of emergencies."

You can’t help but be moved by the tragic life of actress Gene Tierney. Though endowed with astonishing beauty and talent that won her early fame, a series of misfortunes would eventually bring her to the brink of suicide.

On Bette Davis’s birthday, we revisit her last great film: 1962’s “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane,” our pick for best cult horror entry of all time.  The plot, quickly: Baby Jane Hudson (Davis) was a highly successful child performer in vaudeville, but her sister, Blanche (Joan Crawford), overtook her in adulthood, becoming a huge movie star before a freak accident ended her career. Years later, Jane takes care of her wheelchair-bound sister. But as Jane's sanity drifts away, her long-simmering jealousy towards her sister erupts into unhinged, sadistic behavior. As deliciously twisted as “Jane” is, the back story is just as juicy. How? This production finally brought together two stars of the ‘30s and ‘40s who openly, freely, and thoroughly detested each other.

Like the old saying goes, art imitates life. Before the women’s movement changed the landscape forever in the mid-late sixties, most Hollywood films limited women to playing “traditional” roles of housewife and mother.

Oscar season is now upon us, as the year’s prize-worthiest fare begins its annual rollout to theaters in time for the holidays, sliding in just under the wire for nomination eligibility.  It is never too soon to start handicapping the contenders in the acting category, so we have compiled a handy reference guide to some of the types of roles that Academy pops for year after year. Once one starts to look for them, it becomes easy to spot future winners. Many of the performances in the upcoming raft of releases will be jaw-dropping.

Movies with similar titles often show up next to each other on the shelf, or line up in a search, but are usually very different animals—animals you don’t want to get mixed up.