EPISODE 36 - “Classic Hollywood Clones: The Remaking of a Movie Star” - 05/20/2024

SHOW NOTES: 

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. That may not be the case when it came to the star system of old Hollywood. When an actor like CLARK GABLE or GRETA GARBO or ROCK HUDSON emerged as a star, every studio in town tried to capitalize and create their own version. For every MARILYN MONROE, there’s a dozen CLEO MOOREs. Often studios would groom an actor with similar looks and skills to be a “threat” to bigger stars who become difficult to work with, or get older and less appealing, or refuse to appear in assigned films. Most of the stars groomed as a threat to a bigger star usually faded into obscurity, but others learned to get out of the looming shadow of the big star and carve out a career of their own. So this week, we pay tribute to the stars who got their starts by being groomed to replace another star.

Sources:

Jayne Mansfield: A Biography (1973), by May Mann;

Clark Gable: A Biography (2005), by Warren G. Harris;

Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon (2018), by Charles Casillo;

Ingrid Bergman: My Story (1980), by Ingrid Bergman;

High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly (2017), by Jay Jorgensen and Manoah Bowman;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

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