I’m lucky to share a birthday with my favorite silent film actor, John Gilbert!
Here’s to you, Jack.
As a teenager, I was obsessed with the Ida Lupino films, The Light That Failed (1939) and Moontide (1942). The former had the bonus of Ronald Colman, the latter of Jean Gabin. Ida was magnificent in both.
Ida Lupino enriched cinema with some of the most nuanced performances of the 1940s, only to outdo herself as a pioneering director and writer. She deserves that rarest of titles: One of a Kind.
The mesmerizing and incredibly accomplished Douglas Fairbanks the elder was born on 23 May 1883.
Pro Top: The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks by Tracey Goessel is a fantastic book.
The talented and lovely Audrey Hepburn was born on 4 May 1929.
My very favourite Audrey-based book is Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers by Sean Hepburn Ferrer.