Category: Celebrities

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10+ Little-Known Facts About Hollywood Actors from the Golden Age

Back in the Golden Era of Hollywood, actors weren’t under nearly as much scrutiny as they are today. Sure, there were some tabloids and paparazzi around, but not to the degree they are today and certainly without nearly the surveillance capabilities that today’s snoops have.

That means that actors back then actually had secrets they could keep… until now.

#1. Lana Turner’s daughter Cheryl was a murderer.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She stabbed Turner’s abusive boyfriend to death when she was just 14.

#2. Katharine Hepburn did accept second billing once.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She agreed to be the maid of honor at Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier’s wedding.

#3. Greta Garbo was Hitler’s favorite actress.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

He used to invite her to visit Germany, but the feeling wasn’t mutual – she used to tell people that if she had met him, she would have killed him and gotten away with it.

#4. There were rumors that Shirley Temple was a dwarf.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

People believed there was no way a child could be that talented, and the Vatican even sent someone to investigate.

#5. Lucille Ball was told to give up acting.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Her coaches said she wasn’t talented enough to make it.

#6. Rock Hudson had affairs with both of his Giant co-stars.

The rumor was that Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson had a bet to see who could sleep with James Dean first, and apparently Rock won. —bravetyper

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

The bi-sexual actor had flings with both Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.

#7. Elizabeth Taylor once saved someone’s life.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

You already knew she was a badass, but she saved Montgomery Clift’s life after he smashed his face during a car accident. He was choking on his teeth and she pulled them out while they waited for the ambulance.

#8. The boy who voiced Peter Pan died penniless and alone.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Bobby Driscoll died unclaimed and unidentified in an abandoned apartment building at the age of 31.

#9. Hedy Lamarr invented the precursor to Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She helped develop a radio guidance system for torpedoes at the beginning of WWII.

#10. Rita Moreno knew how to make Marlon Brando jealous.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She dated Elvis. As one does.

#11. Joan Crawford became a recluse at the end of her life.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Why? She was afraid of unflattering photos surfacing like they had once before.

#12. James Dean did a PSA urging young people not to drive recklessly.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

A month later, he died in a car accident.

#13. Audrey Hepburn lived through the German invasion of Holland during WII.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

She survived by eating tulip bulbs.

I’ll never look at their pictures the same!

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8 Delightful Facts about the Late, Great Alan Rickman

Did you fall in love with Alan Rickman for his role as Snape in Harry Potter, for his iconic part in Dogma, or are you a Hans Gruber-head a la Die Hard?

No matter what your favorite Alan Rickmoment may have been, we can all agree that he was taken from this world far too soon.

At least we have the internet to give us comfort, and today that comes in the form of 8 great facts about an even greater guy.

#1. He has the “perfect male voice,” according to science.

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

In 2008, linguist Andrew Linn and sound engineer Shannon Harris analyzed voice samples from more than 50 people to determine what makes the perfect human voice  – and the answer turned out to be a mixture of Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons.

Helen Mirren’s quote following his death sums that fact – and him – up perfectly:

“Alan was a towering person, physically, mentally, and as an artist. He was utterly distinctive, with a voice that could suggest honey or a hidden stiletto blade, and the profile of a Roman Emperor.”

#2. His first career was in graphic design.

Image Credit: Universal Pictures

Rickman was interested in drama as a teenager, but after studying graphic design at Chelsea College and Royal College of Art, he and a few friends started their own graphic design business called Graphitti. After several successful years he began doing theater and then enrolled at RADA.

#3. He met his longtime partner when he was a teenager.

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

When Alan Rickman was 19 years old he met 18-year-old Rima Horton, and that was it – though they didn’t marry until 2012, they were a couple for 50 years. Rima served as Labour Party councilor on their local council for two decades and worked as an economics lecturer at Kingston University.

#4. He auditioned for Return of the Jedi.

Image Credit: Sony Pictures

It was for the part of Admiral Moff Jerjerrod, who oversaw the construction of the second Death Star. The part went to Michael Pennington.

#5. He made his feature film debut in Die Hard.

Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

Sam Neill turned down the role of Hans Gruber, which turned out to be a stroke of luck for Rickman – though the fact that the casting director for the film loved him on Broadway didn’t hurt.

#6. He was supposed to star in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Image Credit: Sony Pictures

The role of Charles in Four Weddings and a Funeral was a breakthrough part for Hugh Grant, but the part was originally supposed to go to Rickman. The man pretty much owes Rickman his career.

#7. He almost turned Gruber down.

Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

He was hesitant to make the leap from stage to screen, as he explained himself in an interview.

“I didn’t know anything about L.A. I didn’t know anything about the film business…I’d never made a film before, but I was extremely cheap.”

And the script?

“What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie.”

But after more consideration he realized it was “quite revolutionary, and quietly so.”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

#8. His first big break was on the stage.

Image Credit: Universal Pictures

He played Vicomte de Valmont in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985. When he moved to Broadway in 1987, he won both Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for the role.

Time for a rewatch…Colonel Brandon will always be too good for Marianne Dashwood.

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So, Apparently Charles Dickens Tried to Have His Totally Sane Wife Committed to a Mental Institution

Maybe you didn’t know this, but back in the olden days, it didn’t take a whole lot of effort for a man to get out of a marriage. Basically, if your wife was getting all annoying and wanting to be treated like an equal human being and stuff, you could just say she went crazy and get her locked up in a mental institution. That’s a lesson that Catherine Hogarth Dickens, wife of illustrated author Charles Dickens, almost learned the hard way.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

The Smithsonian reports that after 1o children and 22 years of marriage, the Dickens couple had a not-so-cordial separation that was probably Catherine’s idea. But although Dickens wrote to his agent that Hogarth wanted out of the marriage because of her “mental disorder” and that “she felt herself unfit for the life she had to lead as my wife, and that she would be better far away,” he made no mention of his affair with a much younger actress.

Not only that, but University of York professor John Bowen recently dug into a treasure trove of never-before-seen letters sent by Edward Dutton Cook – Catherine’s neighbor after the separation – that he found in the Theatre Collection at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

They don’t paint a pretty picture of Dickens – though of course, it’s a he-said, she-said situation.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Cook wrote in one letter that “He [Charles] discovered at last that she had outgrown his liking. She had borne 10 children and had lost many of her good looks, was growing old, in fact. He even tried to shut her up in a lunatic asylum, poor thing! But bad as the law is in regard to proof of insanity he could not quite wrest it to his purpose.”

The letters made Professor Bowen uncomfortable – rightly so. “Biographers and scholars have known for years how badly Dickens behaved at this time, but it now seems that he even tried to bend the law to place his wife and the mother of his children in a lunatic asylum, despite her evident sanity. What I discovered was detailed and shocking…”

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Detailed and shocking, perhaps, but in the longstanding tradition of men with power and the way they treat the women in their lives, it can hardly be called surprising.

If Catherine Hogarth Dickens were alive today, she might have tweeted her story with #metoo attached.

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Lady Gaga Was Bullied by Ex-Classmates on Facebook, But She’s Clearly Laughing Last

I’ve always felt that the greatest revenge you can get on your haters is to succeed in spite of them. Haters never have anything good to contribute, so you’ve got to just ignore them and keep going on your path.

While plenty of celebrities have had that experience growing up, Lady Gaga has completely lived that truth.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

You see, back when she was a college student at NYU, playing dive bars and open mics for anyone who’d listen, a crew of her classmates created a Facebook group specifically meant to bully her. They used the forum to tease her mercilessly, making fun of her appearance, her music, and her dream of becoming a famous singer.

Photo Credit: Facebook

The group, which uses her real name, is titled “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous,” and accused her of things like being an “attention whore”.  It also repeatedly stated that she’d never, ever be successful at her chosen calling.

The group was first exposed back in 2016, when Lauren Bohn, a former classmate of Gaga’s made a Facebook post about it:

Photo Credit: Facebook

Lauren wrote how Gaga’s story is a perfect example of what happens when you don’t let your haters get in your head.

When I was a freshman at NYU and Facebook was only a year old and people created/joined groups like “I have dimples, f*** me” and “Fake ID, please!,” I remember coming across a Facebook group that broke my heart. It’s name: “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous.

The page housed pictures of a pretty Norah Jones-esque young 18-year-old NYU student who sang and played piano at local bars. The group was peppered with comments, sharp as porcupine needles, vilifying the aspiring musician for being an “attention-whore.” Scores asked: “Who does she think she is?” I also remember one dude posting a flyer for one of her upcoming gigs at a local village bar. He had clearly stomped on the flyer, an outline of his muddy sole [soul] struggling to eclipse her name.

I couldn’t shake the raw feeling of filth while scrolling down that Facebook page, but I pretty much — and quickly — forgot about that group and that girl with the intense raven eyes.

Until about five years later. I was on an Amtrak train from NYC to Philly, reading a Vanessa Grigoriadis New York Magazine profile on Lady Gaga. I floated somewhat mindlessly through the piece until I got to the first sentence of the second graf:

“Before the meeting, I assumed that someone with a stage name like “Lady” (her given name is Stefani Joanne Germanotta) was going to be a bit standoffish…”

“HOLY SHIT,” I screamed to an empty car (Those who hang with me will know that I actually shrieked). “LADY GAGA IS STEFANI GERMANOTTA? STEFANI IS LADY GAGA?”

I was overcome with a dizzying emotional cocktail of stage-mom-at-a-beauty-pageant and nerd-revenge triumph. But also shame. Shame that I never wrote on that group, shame that I never defended the girl with the intense raven eyes — the girl whose brave flyers were stomped on, probably somewhere near my dorm.

But again, I soon forgot about that revelation and that feeling. Feelings. They’re so fleeting. Even more so, revelations. We need to constantly re-discover them every damn day. Like last week, when I woke up to this meme. I saw the muddy sole eclipsing her name. The eye-rolls. The cowardly virtual-giggles. The “Who does she think she is?”

I’ve got a lot of feelings, but the easiest one to articulate: gratitude. Stefani, thank you. Thank you for always thinking you’re a superstar, for using your cracks to let the light come out more brightly. Humans, let’s follow suit. #LadyGaga #ThatsWho

Well, Gaga is clearly getting the last laugh today. She’s a household name who recently broke barriers by becoming the first woman to win a Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA in the same year for her incredible performance in “A Star is Born.”

Photo Credit: Twitter

Plenty of folks were also curious as to what the creators of the group are up to now.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Others also noted that this just shows how people will always try to hate on each other, but that haters should never be the reason you give up on your dreams.

Photo Credit: Twitter

If you need even more inspiration…

…check out Lady Gaga’s Oscar acceptance speech in the above video.

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10 Totally Wild Facts About the Late, Great Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin, otherwise known as ‘The Crocodile Hunter’, was an integral part of my childhood. His love of animals was absolutely infectious, helping him become one of the most famous television stars in the world. Sadly, his life was cut short after a stingray pierced his chest while he was filming the documentary, Ocean’s Deadliest.

Below are 10 facts about the man himself that just might surprise you!

#1. He was terrified of parrots.

Image Credit: Pixabay

You might think he wasn’t afraid of any member of the animal kingdom, but he admitted that wasn’t true.

“The only animals I’m not comfortable with are parrots, but I’m learning as I go. I’m getting better and better at ’em. I really am … For some reason parrots have to bite me. That’s their job. I don’t know why that is.”

#2. He also met his wife, Terri, at a zoo.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

His entire family, including his wife Terri, played important roles in The Crocodile Hunter. Terri’s love for animals also began at a young age – she opened Cougar Country in 1986, a facility that helped rehabilitate foxes, raccoons, bobcats, bears, and cougars before releasing them back into the Oregon wild.

She made a trip to the Australia Zoo in 1991 and saw Steve Irwin for the first time – and it was love at first sight.

#3. His life’s goal was to increase people’s knowledge about conservationism.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

People might have watched The Crocodile Hunter to catch Steve’s zany antics and check out cool animals, but Irwin’s goal was to educate the public and dispel myths that put the animals in danger.

“I’ve always seen Jaques Cousteau as a hero,” he said. “He’s a legend, like my dad, just a legend. And so what he did for conservation in the 60s and through the 70s was just phenomenal. And I was to be just like him, you know? I want to have a milestone, you know? I want to create history.”

#4. He was bitten often, and realized it made for good television.

Image Credit: Animal Planet

Irwin knew he took the chance of one of his animals objecting to being put on display, and he also knew it was one of the reasons people tuned in.

“Now and again I do get bitten,” he told ABC Australia. “And it’s that, you know, that sense of morbidity that people do have. There’s no use sticking your head in the sand and going, ‘Oh, no, they’re only here because, you know, I talk well.’ Nah, man, they wanna see me come unglued.”

#5. He grew up at a zoo.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

His family moved to Beerwah, near Queensland, in Australia and opened the Beerwah Reptile Park in 1970 and Steve spent his formative years helping feed the animals before eventually taking over as the owner. It’s still in operation as the Australia Zoo.

He told Larry King “My dad was a wildlife expert. His field was herpetology, one who studies reptiles, and my mom was a wildlife rehabilitator.”

#6. Both kids are following in their dad’s footsteps.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Bindi Irwin had her own Discovery Kids series called Bindi the Jungle Girl and starred with her brother on Growing Up Wild for The Pet Collective YouTube channel. In 2015 she won the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars and captured hearts all over America.

Bob Irwin is now 15 and stars with his mom and sister in Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors and co-hosted Wild But True on Discovery Kids. In 2017 he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, introducing the host and audience to a handful of animals.

#7. They filmed the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter on their honeymoon.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Their honeymoon was spent traveling around Australia trapping crocodiles for relocation (because of course it was). She told the story of how The Crocodile Hunter was born during an interview with Scientific American.

“We dropped our honeymoon, we went to north Queensland, and we helped this crocodile and filmed a documentary on the premise that the cameraman just chases Steve around. Steve hadn’t been to acting school, he had no preconceived notions. His background was exactly what you see on television, he’s done that all his life. We thought we’d do one show. What happened was, it did really well, so we did a part two. And from then on, we found that Steve’s natural behavior in the wild happens to be fascinating!”

Irwin’s natural enthusiasm, of course, turned out to be what made his show an immediate success.

#8. He discovered a new species of turtle.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

It was an accident – he caught it on a fishing trip and realized he’d never seen another turtle like it. They sent the pictures to herpetologist John Cann who confirmed they’d found something brand new – the species is called Elseya irwini (Irwin’s snapping turtle).

You can see one at Baltimore’s National Aquarium if you’re not traveling to Australia anytime soon.

#9. His show was popular around the world.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

The Crocodile Hunter was a huge hit in America and Australia, but the series was seen and loved by hundreds of millions in 130 different countries.

#10. There’s a snail named after his famous catchphrase.

Image Credit: Pixabay

“Crikey!” It’s the phrase everyone associates with Steve Irwin, and in 2009, Dr. John Stanisic discovered a tree snail that he named accordingly – the crikey steveirwini.

He told ABC Australia that it was “a colorful snail, with swirling bands of creamy yellow, orange-brown and chocolate giving the shell an overall khaki appearance.”

His legacy, I’m sure, is in good hands.

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Jack Black Accidentally Became a Real-Life Version of the “Distracted Boyfriend” Meme

Jack Black is a man of many talents. Actor, comedian, musician, singer, and YouTube vlogger are just a few of his accomplishments. Now, he can add “meme” to his resume.

The actor accidentally recreated the famous “Distracted Boyfriend” meme while he was walking around Atlanta (where he’s currently shooting the next Jumanji movie). As he was filming a segment for his YouTube channel, he walked by a couple holding hands, causing the boyfriend to do a double take.

The original “Distracted Boyfriend” meme has been around for a while now, showing a man checking out another girl while walking with his girlfriend.

Photo Credit: KnowYourMeme

Undoubtedly, the man in this version was undoubtedly thinking “Holy s***, is that Jack Black?!?”

Photo Credit: YouTube

While the “Distracted Boyfriend” meme has plenty of remixes, the fact that it was accidentally recreated so perfectly naturally caught a lot of attention online.

As a matter of fact, people have even made new remixes featuring the Jack Black version:

Photo Credit: Imgur

Check out the full video from Jack Black’s YouTube channel below:

What a lovely Tribute.

(see what I did there?)

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Here’s the Mystery Man Voicing Freddie Mercury in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Rami Malek is the talk of the town all around Hollywood thanks to his recent Oscar win for Best Actor, portraying the legendary Freddie Mercury in “Boheminan Rhapsody.” But you’d better believe taking on a role like that took a LOT of hard work learning to sing… and another vocalist.

Marc Martel is a Canadian singer who plays a prominent role in the hit movie Bohemian Rhapsody – but you wouldn’t recognize his face if you passed him on the street. The film relied heavily on Martel’s uncanny ability to mimic Freddie Mercury’s voice in order to get the perfect soundtrack for the film, while still allowing star Rami Malek to portray the Queen vocalist onscreen. Malek’s voice and master recordings of Mercury, who died in 1991, were also used in the film, but Martel played an important part in the process.

Martel is credited in the film with providing “additional vocals”, but he signed a nondisclosure agreement, so he can’t get into too many details about how much his voice was actually featured.

Martel has previously gained notoriety on YouTube for his ability to imitate the iconic singer. His audition tape for Queen drummer Robert Taylor’s tribute band went viral in 2011.

Martel tours with his tribute band Ultimate Queen Celebration and has released an album of Queen cover songs. And though Malek is a bone fide star, Martel’s YouTube videos singing Queen songs have made him a minor celebrity in his own right.

Martel previously fronted a band called Downhere, and it was the bass player in that band that originally commented on his ability to sound like Freddie Mercury. Good thing he spoke up!

Learn how Rami Malek “sunk his teeth” into the role of a lifetime

Rami Malek also got a lot of help from dental technician Chris Lyons, who’s given actors like Meryl Streep and Tilda Swinton their chops. Learn all about about Malek’s teeth transformation:

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Behind-the-Scenes Photos of Famous Movies Showing How Special Effects Work

Modern movies have the ability to create entire worlds in ways that were completely unimaginable to our parents, thanks to advanced CGI.

If you’re a skeptic, check out the photos below that highlight just how complicated special effects are and how movies have the power to transport all of us to another world.

The Instagram page movies.effects shows its followers how incredible CGI is these days – here’s how the Hollywood big shots pull it off.

1. Atomic Blonde

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

2. Harry Potter

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

3. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

4. The Jungle Book

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

5. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

6. Alice In Wonderland

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

7. War for The Planet of the Apes

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

8. Game Of Thrones

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

9. Jurassic Park (1993)

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

10. The Matrix

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

11. Deadpool

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

12. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

13. Deadpool

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

14. Beauty And The Beast

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

15. Doctor Strange

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

16. The Avengers

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

17. Pirates Of The Caribbean

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

18. Guardians Of The Galaxy

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

19. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

20. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Photo Credit: Instagram,movies.effects

Like I said, it’s magic!

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People Keep NOT Recognizing Tony Hawk, and It’s Absolutely Hilarious

Tony Hawk is a man of many talents. He’s easily one of the greatest skateboarders of all time, a video game tycoon (I literally grew up playing THPS, so good!), author, and businessman.

He’s a pretty famous guy whose name and image are pretty widely recognized… except when they’re not. For reference, here’s what he looks like:

Photo Credit: Facebook,Tony Hawk

But Hawk keeps running into people who have no idea that they’re dealing with the man himself. The skateboarding legend has taken to Twitter to share some of the funny stories of people not recognizing him in public.

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

And then there was this guy…

Photo Credit: Twitter,tonyhawk

Bottom line, keep an eye out for Mr. Hawk. You never know where he’ll pop up…

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8 Awesome Facts About All Sorts of Stuff

These facts are about a wide variety of topics, but they’ve got one very important feature in common: they’re memorable, interesting facts that’ll impress anyone you drop them on.

Heck, you might even share them with your pals.

You may proceed.

1. American Badass

Photo Credit: did you know?

2. Enjoy yourself

Photo Credit: did you know?

3. Did you know that?

Photo Credit: did you know?

4. A full investigation

Photo Credit: did you know?

5. Face to face

6. Keep that cat quiet

Photo Credit: did you know?

7. It’s that simple

Photo Credit: did you know?

8 Genius

Photo Credit: did you know?

Charles Darwin needs to be honored for this achievement.

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