Beatrice Roberts
1905 - 1970Alice Beatrice Roberts (March 7, 1905 – July 24, 1970) was an American film actress. She was briefly married to the cartoonist and showman Robert L. Ripley and a mistress of Louis B. Mayer.
She married Robert Ripley at age 14 on October 31, 1919, about the time he invented his Believe It or Not cartoon strip. The marriage was short lived—they separated three months later and were divorced in 1926. Ripley never spoke about the marriage, calling himself a "confirmed bachelor".
After her marriage, Roberts entered several beauty pageants including the 1924 and 1925 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey (as Miss Manhattan, 1924, and Miss Greater New York, 1925). She won the "Most Beautiful Girl in Evening Gown" award each time.
She went to Hollywood in 1933 and between then and 1946, she appeared in nearly 60 films, including Tall Timber (1937) and Love Takes Flight (also 1937), in which she starred opposite Bruce Cabot. Many of her roles were small and uncredited. Her most notable role was that of Queen Azura in Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, a 1938 serial.
She was a mistress to MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer in 1935 and 1936, while under contract to his company. In the 1940s, Roberts married John Wesley Smith.
Her last movie contract was with Universal, and her final appearances were in Criss-Cross and Family Honeymoon. Her acting career never becoming the success she had dreamed of, she left Hollywood in 1949. She died in Plymouth, Massachusetts from pneumonia, aged 65.
Scarlet Street
Fritz Lang
Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett
Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.
Scarlet Street
The Killers
Robert Siodmak
Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner
Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
The Killers
Criss Cross
Robert Siodmak
Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo
Burt Lancaster plays Steve Thompson, a man who seals his dark fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife Anna Dundee (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgement. She encourages their affair but then quickly marries mobster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). To deflect suspicion of the affair, Steve Thompson leads Dundee into a daylight armored-truck robbery.
Criss Cross
Top Man
Charles Lamont
Donald O'Connor, Susanna Foster
In this WW II musical, a young man suddenly finds himself in charge of his family when his father is called to war. To help the flagging spirits of local factory workers, the plucky lad, his siblings and his schoolmates put on a lively little show. With a little work, he even convinces Count Basie to come with his band.
Top Man
Wife vs. Secretary
Clarence Brown
Clark Gable, Jean Harlow
Magazine publisher Van Stanhope is a hard-working, dynamic executive very happily married to his beautiful wife Linda. Although their relationship is built on unconditional trust, friends, and even Van's mother, caution Linda about the dangers of allowing Whitey, her husband's extremely sexy secretary, to continue to have access to him. Although Whitey has a faithful boyfriend, she secretly harbors unrequited feelings for her boss. When they take a business trip to Havana, circumstantial evidence convinces Linda that the rumors she's heard may have a basis in fact.
Wife vs. Secretary
The Egg and I
Chester Erskine
Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray
World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.
The Egg and I
It Comes Up Love
Charles Lamont
Gloria Jean, Ian Hunter
This modest bit of comedy and romance in the adolescent vein is about a couple of spirited juveniles, Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean, who carry on a flirtation parallel with that of their elders, Louise Allbritton and Ian Hunter.
It Comes Up Love
You Gotta Stay Happy
H. C. Potter
Joan Fontaine, James Stewart
Indecisive heiress Dee Dee Dillwood is pushed into marrying her sixth fiancée, but unable to face the wedding night, she flees into the adjacent hotel room of commercial pilot Marvin Payne, who just wants to sleep. She then persuades him to take her to California.
You Gotta Stay Happy
Phantom of the Opera
Arthur Lubin
Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster
Pit violinist Claudin hopelessly loves rising operatic soprano Christine Dubois (as do baritone Anatole and police inspector Raoul) and secretly aids her career. But Claudin loses both his touch and his job, murders a rascally music publisher in a fit of madness, and has his face etched with acid. Soon, mysterious crimes plague the Paris Opera House, blamed on a legendary "phantom".
Phantom of the Opera
