“Forgotten Hollywood”- Femme Fatale Meets Her Maker…
Manny P. here…
Lizabeth Scott was a screen beauty, known for her deep voice and sensual looks. She emerged in such features as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers with Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin, Dead Reckoning with Humphrey Bogart, Desert Fury with John Hodiak, and Too Late for Tears with Don DeFore. No actress appeared in more film noir.
An 18-year-old Scott auditioned for Hellzapoppin. From several hundred women, she was chosen by vaudevillians “Ole” Olsen and “Chic” Johnson, stars of the original Broadway production. She was assigned to one of three road companies. Scott’s film debut was the comedy You Came Along opposite Robert Cummings. During the shooting, Hal Wallis showed Scott’s screen test to Hollywood columnist Bob Thomas.
In The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, she was cast as the ingénue, given higher billing than Kirk Douglas, his motion picture debut. The casting of Scott caused total friction between Barbara Stanwyck and producer Hal Wallis. In June 1946, Lizabeth would gain the distinction of being the first Hollywood star to visit Britain after the end of World War II. She attended the London premiere of Ivers and she did a promotional tour throughout the country. LIZABETH SCOTT —->
Columbia Pictures originally wanted Rita Hayworth for the starring role in Dead Reckoning, who was busy with The Lady from Shanghai. Then attention turned to Lauren Bacall, who refused. As a result, Scott was borrowed from Hal Wallis. At the tender age of 24, Lizabeth Scott’s billing and portrait received equal compensation to Bogie on lobby cards, posters, and newspaper ads. Despite the publicity, the long-term effect of her performance was to typecast the former comedienne for her entire career as a femme fatale.
Though the overall public response to Scott was generally favorable during the Paramount years, over time, the film critics were less so, repeating unfavorable comparisons with Bacall and Tallulah Bankhead. With the revival of interest in film noir, beginning in the 1980s, Scott’s acting reputation has increased among critics and cinematic historians. She appeared on stage at an American Film Institute tribute to Hal Wallis in 1987.
The reclusive screen siren, Lizabeth Scott was 92.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2015 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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