Star of the Month Profile: Loretta Young

Born Gretchen Michaela Young on January 6, 1913

Nicknames

Attila the Nun

The Iron Butterfly

Saint Loretta

Religion
Roman Catholic. Young attended Ramona Convent Secondary School as a teen and contributed to a number of Catholic charitable causes during her career. Marlene Deitrich once said of Young, "Every time she sins, she build a church. That's why there are so many Catholic churches in Hollywood." Ouch, Marlene!

Political views
Conservative Republican. Young publicly supported presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. She also donated money to the Republican National Committee. Like many other stars of the time, including John Wayne, Ginger Rogers, and Irene Dunne, Young was an active member of the Hollywood Republican Committee.

Spencer Tracy: TCM's October Star of the Month

Although Spencer Tracy was Katharine Hepburn's lover for about 25 years, I am ashamed to say that I know very little about the man, except of course what I have read in Hepburn biographies. I know he was of Irish descent, and like most Irishmen he drank too much and had a serious chip on his shoulder about life. But I do honestly believe that Spencer Tracy was one of the greatest actors of all time, and I didn't need to read that in a book.

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was nominated for the Academy Award for best actor nine times, two of which he won. On October 15 (this coming Monday), Turner Classic Movies will show six of Tracy Oscar-nominated films. Six of the nine films Tracy made with Katharine Hepburn will be aired on Monday, October 22, followed by the documentary, "The Spencer Tracy Legacy," hosted/narrated by Hepburn. This past Monday, October 8, TCM showed three of my favorite Spencer Tracy films from his early years as an actor.

I Never Will Forget Jeanette MacDonald...or SAN FRANCISCO (1936)

This post is written in conjunction with the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and ScribeHard on Film. A full day of Jeanette MacDonald films will air on TCM on August 27. SAN FRANCISCO (1936) will be airing at 8:00 pm EST.

Whenever Judy Garland ever sang "San Francisco," she began with a short verse about the immortal Jeanette MacDonald and her 1936 hit movie by the same name. Garland's chemistry with her audience really comes across in this clip from a performance at the London Palladium. She begins her song with, "This lady [MacDonald] has never talked to me since I did this. I don't know why...." This isn't entirely true - apparently MacDonald didn't mind the joke, "as long as it's Judy!"