Tweet HERBERT MARSHALL, HAROLD RUSSELL, & Disabilities On Film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Marshall ........ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003339/

He graced films directed by Lumet, Vidor, Sandrich, DeMille, Von Sternberg, Cukor, Preminger, and Huston, with scripts by such writers as Hellman, Sturges, Benchley, and Raphaelson… He acted in science fiction (Gog), two horror films (The Fly, The Unseen), two films by Hitchcock, two films by Lubitsch, two films by Wyler… And all of it was done on one leg, with a stunt man sometimes employed even for scenes requiring stair climbing… It is hard to think of any other amputees- save Harold Russell, James Stacy, and Sarah Bernhardt- who have had substantial film careers. Does anyone know if Mr. Marshall's disability was known to many outside the industry? There is no Marshall biography- (why the neglect? is he seen today as too stolid?)

It is hard to think of any other amputees- save Harold Russell and James Stacy- having substantial film careers.

It is hard to think of any other amputees having so many love affairs; that together with his war record should make for a hell of a story.

ARE WE NOW USING THIS THREAD AS AN EXCUSE TO SHOWCASE MORE MARSHALL POSTERS?
PERHAPS

DO WE CONTINUE WITH THIS THREAD AS AN EXCUSE TO SHOWCASE MORE MARSHALL POSTERS?
SOME MIGHT ARGUE THIS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Ramsey

Anne Ramsey was born Anne Mobley in Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of Eleanor (née Smith), the former national treasurer of the Girl Scouts of America, and Nathan Mobley, an insurance executive. Her mother was a descendant of the Pilgrims (William Brewster), and a sister of U.S. Ambassador David S. Smith. Ramsey was raised in Great Neck, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended Bennington College where she became interested in theatre. She performed in several Broadway productions in the 1950s and married actor Logan Ramsey in 1954. They moved to Philadelphia where they formed the Theatre of the Living Arts. In the 1970s, Anne Ramsey began a successful Hollywood career in character roles and appeared in such television programs as Little House on the Prairie, Wonder Woman and Ironside. She appeared with her husband in seven films, including her first, The Sporting Club (1971), and her last, Meet the Hollowheads (1989). In 1988, for her performance in Throw Momma from the Train (1987) with Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito, Ramsey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. She won her second Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first being for The Goonies. In February 1988, she guest-starred on an episode of ALF that aired six months before her death. She also appeared in six films released in the two years after her death. Ramsey's somewhat slurred speech, a trademark of her later performances, was caused in part from having had some of her tongue and her jaw removed during surgery for esophageal cancer in 1984. In 1988, Ramsey's cancer returned. She died in August at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Filmography Meet the Hollowheads (1989) Homer & Eddie (1989) Another Chance (1989) Scrooged (1988) Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood (1988) Dr. Hackenstein (1988) Throw Momma from the Train - Momma (1987) Weeds (1987) Love at Stake (1987) Deadly Friend (1986) Say Yes (1986) The Goonies (1985) The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (1984) Getting Physical (1984) The Seduction of Gina (1984) The Killers (1984) Herndon (1983) I Want to Live! (1983) National Lampoon's Class Reunion - Mrs Tabazooski (1982) Marian Rose White (1982) A Small Killing (1981) Any Which Way You Can (1980) White Mama (1980) The Black Marble (1980) When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979) The Gift of Love (1978) Goin' South (1978) Fun with Dick and Jane (1977) Wonder Woman episode (1977) The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976) Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (1976) From Noon till Three (1976) The Law (1974) For Pete's Sake (1974) Rhinoceros (1974) The Third Girl from the Left (1973) Up the Sandbox (1972) The New Centurions (Uncredited, 1972) The Sporting Club (1971)

...It is hard to think of any other amputees- save Harold Russell and James Stacy- who have had substantial film careers.

Coincidence that you mention Harold Russell. I just visited him yesterday afternoon...well, his resting place - it's right next to that of some of my family. He was a long-time resident of my home town. So it's always a pleasure and honor when I visit the cemetery to pay respects to Harold and see that his stone and Veterans marker are kept neat and clean, along with that of my Dad.

I visited some friends later who were not very familiar with Harold Russell, so I and another friend spent some time explaining about Harold's famous movie role and other facts about him.
So what a nice surprise to come to NitrateVille this morning and see him mentioned.

By the way, thanks JFK for the recent tips on posting pictures here. Maybe I'll try it later with some photos I've taken of Harold's markers.

Harold is a point of pride for film buffs in my neck of the woods, since he came from my home province, in North Sydney, before his family moved to Massachusetts (or "the Boston States" as they refer to it in Cape Breton). Exteriors for Johnny Belinda were filmed within a half-hour's drive of there, it's a beautiful part of the country (North Sydney itself, not so much). I think his childhood home there still stands, but I don't think there's been any commemoration of it. One of my best friends grew up around the corner from it.

There aren't too many Oscar winners or nominees from Nova Scotia, although Arthur Kennedy retired to a farm here and is buried in Annapolis Royal. Too bad I didn't have a chance to meet him before he passed away (Juno's Ellen Page would be the most recent).

"Bart" Marshall, as he was called, is one of those ubiquitous stars who turns up in a surprising number of films in the 30s and 40s, always welcomed but not exactly sought after. I've heard that he had a rather difficult private life and not just due to the loss of his leg. However, he seems to have been well-liked by his colleagues and was a favorite substitute host on Lux Radio Theater when DeMille had to be elsewhere. Marshall also starred in quite a number of Lux shows, often playing parts that Leslie Howard and Ronald Colman had played in the film versions.

Here's a cigarette card that's been lying around the Arliss Archives for awhile:

"Bart" Marshall, as he was called, is one of those ubiquitous stars who turns up in a surprising number of films in the 30s and 40s, always welcomed but not exactly sought after. I've heard that he had a rather difficult private life and not just due to the loss of his leg. However, he seems to have been well-liked by his colleagues and was a favorite substitute host on Lux Radio Theater when DeMille had to be elsewhere. Marshall also starred in quite a number of Lux shows, often playing parts that Leslie Howard and Ronald Colman had played in the film versions.

He subbed for Jack Benny during the '40s and it turned into a riff on Jack's program, where the sponsor was thinking of replacing Jack with Marshall.

"Bart" Marshall, as he was called, is one of those ubiquitous stars who turns up in a surprising number of films in the 30s and 40s, always welcomed but not exactly sought after. I've heard that he had a rather difficult private life and not just due to the loss of his leg. However, he seems to have been well-liked by his colleagues and was a favorite substitute host on Lux Radio Theater when DeMille had to be elsewhere. Marshall also starred in quite a number of Lux shows, often playing parts that Leslie Howard and Ronald Colman had played in the film versions.

Here's a cigarette card that's been lying around the Arliss Archives for awhile:

Interesting that the artist included that Chrysler Airflow look-alike--he was playing an auto designer, & the Airflow was the automotive sensation of 1934. Interesting also that he subbed for Colman, because his is almost the only voice I can think of with a charm to equal Colman's. His presence in this picture, otherwise hardly more than "another screw-ball comedy," raises it up several notches in my estimation.

With respect to his private life, enjoying the favors of Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins, & Gloria Swanson, to name only some of the most prominent, doesn't seem too dreadful!

I visited some friends later who were not very familiar with Harold Russell, so I and another friend spent some time explaining about Harold's famous movie role and other facts about him.
So what a nice surprise to come to NitrateVille this morning and see him mentioned.

AS SOME MAY KNOW, MR. RUSSELL WROTE A MEMOIR, AND COPIES HE SIGNED STILL SHOW UP

With respect to his private life, enjoying the favors of Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins, & Gloria Swanson, to name only some of the most prominent, doesn't seem too dreadful!

His wife, British actress Edna Best, considered him a homewrecker, and was very distraught (according to Fay Wray) when he had the affair with Gloria Swanson. So were several others.

I visited some friends later who were not very familiar with Harold Russell, so I and another friend spent some time explaining about Harold's famous movie role and other facts about him.
So what a nice surprise to come to NitrateVille this morning and see him mentioned.

AS SOME MAY KNOW, MR. RUSSELL WROTE A MEMOIR, AND COPIES HE SIGNED STILL SHOW UP

Yes, I have a copy of that book.

By the way, Harold's 1945 film DIARY OF A SERGEANT can be seen on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAYakCT4250

With respect to his private life, enjoying the favors of Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins, & Gloria Swanson, to name only some of the most prominent, doesn't seem too dreadful!

His wife, British actress Edna Best, considered him a homewrecker, and was very distraught (according to Fay Wray) when he had the affair with Gloria Swanson. So were several others.

Gee, I thought "affair with Kay Francis" was a ticket one had to have punched in the "You are a Hollywood Star" book. They had to be "at her cervix" (to steal from Firesign Theater).