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Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert, born Émilie Chauchoin in Saint-Mande, France, (September 13, 1903 - July 30, 1996) was a French and American actress who began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. With her Mid-Atlantic accent, witty dialogues, aristocratic demeanor, and flair for light comedy and emotional drama, Colbert became one of the most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s. In 1934, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for It Happened One Night. In addition to two other Academy Award nominations, Colbert earned a Tony Award nomination in 1959, won a Golden Globe in 1987 and was nominated for an Emmy.

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A Rare Recording of Film Icon Claudette Colbert

Vivien Leigh, Samuel Goldwyn

The following recording is a discussion between movie star Vivien Leigh, film producer Samuel Goldwyn and British Theatre critic Kenneth Tynan. Vivien Leigh, born Vivian Mary Hartley (November 5, 1913 - July 8, 1967) was a British actress who won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963). Samuel Goldwyn (August 27, 1882 (claimed, but most likely July 1879) - January 31, 1974), was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor and executive of several motion picture studios in Hollywood. He was awarded the 1973 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (1947) and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1958). Kenneth Peacock Tynan (April 2, 1927- July 26, 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Vivien Leigh and Producer Samuel Goldwyn

Steve McQueen

The following recording is a 1977 interview with Steve McQueen (March 24, 1930 - November 7, 1980) was an American actor whose antihero personae, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the 1960s and 70s. Nicknamed the "King of Cool," McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles (1966), and four Golden Globe nominations.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Steve McQueen

FA Hayek

The following two audio clips are from Friedrich August von Hayek (May 8, 1899 - March 23, 1992), who was an Austrian-British economist and political philosopher. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Gunnar Myrdal for work on money and economic fluctuations, and how prices communicate information. His seminal work, "The Road to Serfdom," has been republished many times over the eight decades since its original publication.

A Rare Recording of FA Hayek on Socialism

Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 - October 10, 1973) was an Austrian–American Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism and the power of consumers. He is best known for his work on human behavior studies comparing communism and capitalism.

A Rare Recording of Ludwig von Mises - Volume 1

Lana Turner

Julia Jean "Lana" Turner (February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995), born in Wallace, Idaho, was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. In the mid-1940s, Turner was one of Hollywood's highest-paid American actresses. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for 1957's Peyton Place. The following recording is from a 1981 television interview.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Lana Turner

A Rare Recording of Ludwig von Mises - Volume 2

Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman (August 29, 1915 - August 29, 1982) was a Swedish actress often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history, having won four Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and 3 Academy Awards. Bergman won Best Actress Oscars for Gaslight in 1944 and Anastasia in 1956, and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1974's Murder On The Orient Express. The following recording is from a 1973 television interview.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Ingrid Bergman

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Kathleen Hepburn (May 4, 1929 - January 20, 1993) was a British actress born into an aristocratic family in Brussels, Belgium. Recognized as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn won an Academy Award for 1953's Roman Holiday (with nominations for Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Wait Until Dark), an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe awards, a Grammy Award, and 3 British Academy Film Awards. The following recording is from a 1988 tv interview.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Audrey Hepburn

Deborah Kerr

Deborah Jane Trimmer (September 30, 1921 - October 16, 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr, was a British actress who was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Kerr was known for her roles as elegant, ladylike but also sexually repressed women who deeply yearn for sexual freedom. Kerr won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the 1956 musical film The King and I. The following recording includes clips from a variety of tv interviews.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Deborah Kerr

Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard, born Jane Alice Peters (October 6, 1908 - January 16, 1942), was born in Fort Wayne, IN. Lombard was one the most commercially successful Hollywood actresses of the 1930s and is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre. She received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for My Man Godfrey. Lombard was killed in a plane crash in 1942 while returning from a war bond tour. She was married to actor Clar Gable at the time of her death. The following recordings are from various tv and radio appearances from the late 1930s and early 1940s.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Carole Lombard

Lillian Gish

Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 - February 27, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the First Lady of American Cinema, and is credited with pioneering fundamental film performance techniques. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Duel in the Sun and in 1971, she was awarded an Academy Honorary Award for her career achievements. Despite being better known for her film work, she was also accomplished on stage, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972. The following recording is from a 1950 interview.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Lillian Gish

Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy, born Myrna Adele Williams in Helena, MT, (August 2, 1905 - December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to acting following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast for exotic roles, Loy's career prospects improved greatly following her portrayal of Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934) and helped elevate her reputation as a versatile actress. Although Loy was never nominated for an Academy Award, in 1991 she received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her life's work.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Myrna Loy

Peter Ustinov

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov, born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov in London, England (April 16, 1921 - March 28, 2004) was a British actor, writer and director. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received two Academy Awards and two other Oscar nominations (one for screenwriting), a BAFTA Award, three Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. The following recording is from a tv interview form the 1980s.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Peter Ustinov

Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, (October 17, 1918 - May 14, 1987) was an American actress who appeared in 61 films over 37 years achieving fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Dubbed "The Love Goddess" by the Hollywood press, Hayworth is best known for her performance in the 1946 film noir Gilda as the femme fatale opposite Glenn Ford in her first major dramatic role. The following is from a 1972 interview at the San Francisco National Film Festival.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Rita Hayworth

Fay Wray

Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 - August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films and has been dubbed one of the early "scream queens." The following recording is from a tv interview in the 1980s.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Fay Wray

Anne Baxter

Granddaughter of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Anne Baxter, born in Michigan City, IN, (May 7, 1923 - December 12, 1985) was a star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 1947 for The Razor's Edge, was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in 1951 for All About Eve, and received an Emmy nomination in 1969. The following is from an interview in 1985.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Anne Baxter

James Cagney

James Francis Cagney Jr., born in New York City, (July 17, 1899 - March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. Cagney won the Academy Award in 1943 for his performance in Yankee Doodle Dandy. For his contributions to the film industry, Cagney was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1974. The following recording is from a 1980 interview.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon James Cagney

Norma Shearer

Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902 – June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated women. She became the first five-time Academy Award acting nominee, winning Best Actress for The Divorcee in 1930. Shearer had made a total of 13 silent films for MGM before transitioning exceptionally well to the era of 'talking pictures.' The following recordings include motivational promos Norma Shearer made for the USO during World War II, Shearer being welcomed to the premier of "Grand Hotel" in 1932, and an interview Shearer did with Hollywood writer Louella Parsons in 1931.

A Rare Recording of Film Icon Norma Shearer

Joan Fontaine

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 - December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress who appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades. She and her older sister, actress Olivia de Havilland, had a well-documented rivalry. Fontaine won an Academy Award in 1941 for her role in the film, Suspicion. She and de Havilland remain the only siblings to win lead-acting Academy Awards. The following recording is from a 1977 television interview.

A Rare Recording of… - The book series

A Rare Recording of… - The book series

A Rare Recording of… books in order

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