Julie Andrews: First, I Ll Ask Where and When Julie Andrews Was Born, and What Her Real

Julie Andrews: First, I’ll ask where and when Julie Andrews was born, and what her real name was. When and how did she become interested in singing and performing? Who influenced her toward this career? When did Julie begin to participate with her mother and step-father in their performances, and what was her role in these performances? Did Julie get formal training in singing or acting, and if so, where did she go to school and who were her most important teachers in shaping her future career? When did Julie start acting and singing professionally on stage in London, and what kinds of roles did she play when she was still a teenager? When did she move to Broadway in New York? What were her best known performances in Broadway musicals during the 1950’s? Was she better known for her singing or for her acting during this time in her career? When did Julie appear on her first television musical, what was the title of this show, and how was her performance received by critics and audiences? When did Julie make the Disney film “Mary Poppins”, and how did she get get the title role? What was the basic plot or storyline of this film, and how songs did Julie sing in it? I’d like you to find and show us a You Tube clip of her singing in “Mary Poppins”—the “Spoonful of Sugar” scene is great, but so is “Supercalifragiistic . . .” What award did Julie win for this film? Then, I’ll ask about her role in “The Sound of Music” which came out in 1965—what was her role, what was the basic story about, and how did audiences and critics respond to it? I’d like you to show us a clip from this film, too—if you can find it, show the clip of her teaching the Von Trapp children to sing using the “Do Re Mi” song—great! But another clip of her singing is fine if you can’t find the first one. When did Julie appear in her first movie without singing, and what was this movie called? How many movies did she make in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and why wasn’t she ever able to get a role as big and as popular as “The Sound of Music” again? Why weren’t her movies after “The Sound of Music” more successful? Was she trapped in a “good girl” image and unable to break out of it? What was her most successful movie in the 1980’s, what role did she play in it, and how did it change her image? What Disney film did she make in 2001, what role did she play in it, and how popular was she? How much acting has Julie done in the past 10 years or so? When did she publish her memoirs, and what kinds of books has she been writing for the last few years?

Fred Astaire: First, I’ll ask where and when Fred Astaire was born, and what his real name was. When and why did he take the last name “Astaire”? How and why did Fred become a dancer and entertainer as a child? How old was he when he appeared with his sister Adele on stage for the first time? What kind of act did they do together? Who taught Fred how to dance, and was he mostly a tap dancer, or did he learn various types of dancing? When did Fred and his sister begin to appear on the stage in Broadway, and how popular were they? What was their most successful show on Broadway? What happened with Fred’s first screen test in Hollywood? When and why did Fred and his sister split up, and how successful was Fred on Broadway on his own as a dancer? When did he make his first Hollywood film, what studio hired him, and what did the screen test report say about his acting and singing? What was Fred’s first film, when did it come out, and how important a part did he play in it? In what film did he first team up with Ginger Rogers, and how soon was it before the studio decided to team them up in several movies? Why did they move together so well? Was Ginger as good a dancer as Fred, or did he help her along? I’d like you to find a clip of them dancing together from their movie “Shall We Dance” to show how they moved so well together. You should explain what character Fred was playing and what the plot of the movie was before you show the clip. How many movies did Fred make with Ginger Rogers, and how popular were they with audiences? What kinds of characters did Fred play in these musicals? Were they mostly comedies or romances, or a mix of romance and comedy? Was Fred considered a good actor as well, or did his dancing overshadow his skill as an actor? Did Fred win any Academy Awards for their work together, and if so, for which films did they win? How long was Fred considered the best dancer in Hollywood, and when did Gene Kelly emerge as another great dancer? How many films did Fred make with Gene Kelly, and during what years did these films come out? I’d like you to find a You Tube clip of the two of them from one of these movies, and show it to us. When was Fred’s “first” retirement, and why did he come back from retirement to continue to make movies and dance? When did Fred begin to do straight acting instead of dancing in musicals? Did critics and audiences accept him as a straight actor who didn’t dance? When was the last time Fred appeared on either film or television in a dance? When did he finally retire from performances, and where did he live in his retirement? Who were the main dancers who were influenced and inspired by Fred? How and when did he die?

Ingrid Bergman: First, I’ll ask you when and where Ingrid Bergman was born, and then why and how she became interested in acting. How did her parents encourage this interest when she was a child? What was the competition in which Bergman got her start in acting, what did the judges think of her, and how soon after this did she begin to act on stage and in movies in Sweden? When and how did she go to Hollywood to make movies? Was she already well known from films in Sweden, or was she still mainly an unknown in Hollywood? What was her first Hollywood movie, when did it come out, and what was her role in it? Which studio was she working for, and how quickly did she become a star? How was Bergman chosen for the movie “Casablanca” with Humphrey Bogart? What is the main plot or story in this movie, and what role did Bergman play in it? What was her character’s relationship with Rick, played by Bogart? I’d like you to find and show us the clip from this film in which Bergman says the famous words “Play It Again Sam”. Then, we’ll move to the ending of the movie—what was the surprise at the end of this film? Did “Casablanca” win many Academy Awards, and did Bergman get nominated for a Best Actress award? Did she win? How important was “Casablanca” in making her a big Hollywood star, how many other movies did she make in the 1940’s, and which of these were the most popular and most successful for her? For how many of these movies did she get nominated for an Academy Award, and for which of them did she win Academy Awards? Then, I’ll ask you about her performance in the movie “Bells of St. Marys”—what role did she play in it, and what was the main story of the film? I’d like you to find a short clip from this film featuring her. Make sure you tell us what is happening in the scene before you show it to us. Who were some of the leading men with whom Bergman performed in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and which one of these men did she enjoy working with the most? What were Bergman’s most acclaimed and most popular movie roles in the 1950’s, and did she win any Academy Awards for her roles in the 50’s? If so, which roles? How did the critics and audiences respond to Bergman’s performances 1950s? As she got older, how did the roles which she played in the movies change? How many films in the 1960s and 1970s did she make, and did she remain popular with audiences during this time? When was her last film role, and what was this role? Did Bergman get married, and if so, how many times? How many children did she have? When and how did she die?

Humphrey Bogart: I’ll first ask where and when Humphrey Bogart was born, and when and why he first became interested in acting. Was it his first choice of a career? Or did he try other jobs first and then come to acting later? Did Bogart ever study acting in school, or did he just start acting and learn by doing? What were his first acting roles on stage, and how successful was he? What was the stage play which brought Bogart attention, and when did Bogart begin to act in the movies, and for which studio did he work in the beginning? What kinds of roles did he play in his first movies, and what was the movie which first got him attention? Bogart was famous as an actor for his lisp, which gave him a distinctive sound—did he speak that way from childhood, or did something happen which caused the lisp, and if so, what happened? What about his trademark scar—how did he get that? What were his difficulties working for the Warner Brothers studio—why didn’t Bogart like his work there and his working situation? Then, we’ll move to one of Bogart’s most famous roles—as Rick in “Casablanca”—when did he make this movie, when was the movie set, and what kind of person was his character Rick? What was the main story in the film, and what was his character’s relationship with Ingrid Bergman’s character? What did Bogart’s character Rick do at the end of the movie which became one of the most famous movie endings? I’d like you to play a clip of his last scene with Ingrid Bergman, where Bogart says the famous lines: “Here’s looking at you kid”. Great scene! Which Academy Awards did “Casablanca” win? Then, I’ll move to Bogart’s role in “The African Queen” and his co-starring with Katherine Hepburn. What was the name of Bogart’s character in this film, and what was the main story and the reason that he ended up with Katherine Hepburn’s character on a boat on a river? What happened to the two of them, why was it so dangerous, and how did their relationship change as the movie went on? I’d also like you to pick a clip from the movie which shows the two of after they have become “close”—you can choose one which shows how well they acted together. How popular was the film? How many times did Bogart get nominated for Best Actor and how many times did he win, and for which movies? After “The African Queen”, I’ll ask you about Bogart’s stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House Un-American Committee’s attacks on Hollywood for being Communist. How did Bogart respond when some of his fellow actors were called before the Committee on suspicion of their being Communists? Did Bogart ever get called to testify before the Committee? Did his stand against McCarthy hurt Bogart’s career? How many movies did Bogart make during his career and when did he make his last film?

Clara Bow: I’ll first ask when and where Clara Bow was born, and then I’ll ask about her childhood. Did she have a loving and supportive mother and father who got along well, or was her childhood full of trouble and neglect? How and why did Clara get interested in being in the movies, and how old was she when she decided that she wanted to act in the movies? How did she get noticed as a possible actor? When did she make her first silent film, what was the name of the film, and what kind of character did she portray? How many silent films did she make during the 1920’s, and what kind of character did she usually portray? What studio or companies was she working for? When did she make the movie “It”, what role did she portray, and how did this movie lead to her being the “It Girl”? I’d like you to play a short clip from this film—hopefully, you can find it on You Tube. You should also explain what is happening in this clip. What did she do and what image did she portray as the “It Girl”? Did Clara get married or form a stable relationship during these years, or did she remain single? Was she ever caught up in scandals, and if so, what was the biggest scandal? Did her reputation as a sex symbol mean that she led a wild or racy lifestyle? Then, I’ll ask how well Clara made the transition to talking pictures—did she continue to be a start after the silent era? What was her most popular talking movie, when did it come out, what was it about, and what role did she play in it? I’d like you to play a short clip of this film from You Tube, too. When did Clara make her last movie, and how many movies (including both silent and talking films) did she make in her career? How many awards, if any, did she win as an actress? Where did she live after retirement, and when did she die?

Richard Burton: I’ll start by asking you when and where Richard Burton was born, and what his real name was, and how many brothers and sisters he had. Then, I’ll ask how and why he became interested in acting—which one of his teachers inspired him to act in school plays? Did Burton ever have formal training in acting, or did he just develop his style as he acted? When did he volunteer for service in World War II for Great Britain, and what branch of the service did he serve in? After the war, what were Burton’s first main acting roles on stage, and how quickly did he become well known? What were the main Shakespeare plays in which he acted, and what were the Shakespeare characters which Burton played most often? When did Burton begin to perform in Hollywood, and what was his first movie role? When did he first meet Elizabeth Taylor, and how long after they met did his love affair with Taylor begin? How did this affair lead to Burton’s divorce from his first wife? Then, I’ll ask you about Burton’s performance in the 1953 movie “The Robe”—what role did he play in this film, what was the main story or plot of the movie, and how did the critics and audiences respond to him? Why were the qualities as an actor which made him a young, rising star in the 1950’s? Was it his mainly his looks and his voice rather than his acting skill? When did he and Elizabeth Taylor marry for the first time, and did they have any children from their first marriage? Then, we’ll move to two films in which he co-starred with Taylor in the 1960’s: “Cleopatra” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”. What role did Burton play in “Cleopatra”, and what role did Taylor play? Were they married at the time, or had they already been divorced by then? How well did they get along during the shooting of the film? Then, I’ll ask you what role Burton played in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” I’d like you to find and show a clip from You Tube from this film which shows Burton and Taylor together and the great anger and emotion which they exhibited in the film. What made Burton and Taylor such a popular pair in the movies? Did being married improve their performances together, or did it get in the way? Did Burton get Academy Awards for these roles, or was he nominated for Best Actor for them? How many movies did he and Elizabeth Taylor perform in during their career? How many times did Burton marry Taylor, and why did they have such trouble getting along? How many children did they eventually have? When and how did Burton die?