Hedda Hopper column, entitled "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood", debuted on February 14 (St. Valentine's Day), 1938. Hopper could not type, or spell very well, so she dictated her column to a typist over the phone. Initially facing stiff competition against Louella Parsons, who had a monopoly on Hollywood gossip, Hopper used her extensive contacts forged during her acting days to gather material for her column. Her first major scoop had national implications: in 1939 Hopper printed that President Franklin Roosevelt's son James Roosevelt was divorcing his wife Betsey after being caught in an affair with a nurse at the Mayo Clinic. Part of
Ray Milland was nominated for a Golden Globe. He starred opposite Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings in Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder" (1954), originally shot in three dimensions. Although never admitted by either, rumours were rife at the time that Kelly and Milland were engaged in an affair, fuelled by notorious gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. After leaving Paramount, Milland concentrated on directing. His first, a Western entitled "A Man Alone" (1955) centres around the aftermath of a stagecoach robbery. This was followed by "Lisbon", a crime drama starring Maureen O'Hara and Claude Rains. Both films were distributed by Republic Pictures. Due