






















KATHARINE HEPBURNTen authoritative moments when Kate's movie character speaks her mind.








GEORGE GERSHWINTen classic songs as seen on the silver screen.






W.C. FIELDSTen of his most memorable character names.






Five films that best represent the fluttery voiced character actress’s charms.




SCREEN TESTSAudition footage from Monroe, Dean, Brando and others.










ELVIS PRESLEYFive essential films for the Elvis movie fan.





FOOTBALLFive classic films where gridiron shenanigans drive the plot. 


FRED ASTAIREFive lively numbers from the peerless hoofer.






AUTOBIOGRAPHIESTen great titles penned by industry legends.











JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZSmart dialogue from the Oscar-winning screenwriter.



Entries in a soldier's story (1)


January 2

Annie and A Soldier’s Play close on Broadway, 1983. The former was adapted twice for the big screen, first in 1982 in a John Huston-directed misfire partially redeemed by Carol Burnett’s villainous Miss Hannigan, and again in 2014 in a present-day reimagining with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhane Wallis. The big-screen version of A Soldier’s Play became A Soldier's Story, an acclaimed 1984 film starring Howard E. Rollins, Adolph Caesar and Denzel Washington. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Ross Alexander commits suicide in Los Angeles, 1937. As a teen, he appeared in a number of Broadway productions before interest from Hollywood pulled him westward. Paramount handled him first, putting him in The Wiser Sex (1932), a film that audiences largely ignored. He got a second chance at Warner Bros. and acted in Depression-era musicals like Flirtation Walk (1934) and flimsy comedies like Going Highbrow (1935). Bigger breaks came with the roles of Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) and Jeremy Pitt, opposite Errol Flynn (above), in Captain Blood (1935). A closeted gay man, Alexander entered a marriage of convenience to Aleta Friele, a troubled young actress who, a few months after the wedding, killed herself with a rifle in outside their Hollywood Hills home. The actor immediately entered a second marriage with actress Anne Nagel, but persistent depression, major debt and a career slump drove him to turn a gun on himself at his Encino ranch home. Alexander was 29 years old. His final film—Ready, Willing and Able (1937), starring Ruby Keeler—was released after his death.