Friday, February 11, 2011

For Valentine's Day: Romantic songs by the world's greatest singers


For original article with youtube versions of songs included, click here.

After the Lovin' - Englebert Humperdinck
Air that I Breathe - Hollies
And I Love Her - Beatles  
Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin 
Can't Get Used to Losing You - Andy Williams
Can't Stop Loving You - Tom Jones 
Close to You - Carpenters
Do It - Neil Diamond
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me - Mel Carter
I Hear a Symphony - Supremes
I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John 
It's Impossible - Perry Como 
Kentucky Rain - Elvis Presley
Let It Be Me - Petula Clark
Roses are Red - Bobby Vinton
Sacred Love - Bee Gees
Something Stupid - Frank and Nancy
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra
Take Me Back - Little Anthony and the Imperials
The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand
This Boy's in Love - Herb Alpert
Welcome to my World - Dean Martin 
We've Only Just Begun - Claudine Longet
You Decorated My Life - Kenny Rogers
You Don't Know Me - Ray Charles


Corny love poem for Valentine's Day, click here.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

This actress was once called the most beautiful woman in the world by none other than Elizabeth Taylor

Perhaps more famous for my off-screen love affairs than my film roles, can you guess who I am? 

I was born on Christmas Eve, 1922, in a rural community seven miles east of Smithfield, NC, as the youngest of seven children.  The "Great Depression” effected the livelihood of my family and we eventually moved to Newport News, Virginia, to operate a boarding house for shipyard workers.

After my father died, my mother insisted I continue my education; and after I graduated from high school, I started college at Atlantic Christian.


My older sister had moved to New York and married a professional photographer who took a few pictures of me for display in the window of his Fifth Avenue shop.  He later delivered some of those pictures to MGM’s New York office.  After appearing for a screen test, I, at age 18, signed a seven-year movie contract for fifty dollars a week.


Shortly after arriving in Hollywood, I met and married a young, persistent actor named Mickey Rooney, but the marriage only lasted one year.  My second marriage to bandleader Artie Shaw was also short-lived.  I next married a famous Italian crooner who was the love of my life, but our marriage was too tempestuous to last.  I never married again, but he later married a girl with a boyish haircut.


Career
I started out with small walk-on roles in 15 MGM movies until in 1946, MGM loaned me out to Universal to play a femme fatale in a classic film noir.  I was noticed, so much so that Louis B. Mayer quickly wanted me back for casting in a movie opposite Clark Gable.  After that, many other starring roles became mine, including one as a lady of mixed-race heritage in one of the greatest musicals of all time.

I was Oscar-nominated in 1953 for Best Actress in my role as Honey Bear Kelly in another film with Clark Gable, but I lost out to Audrey Hepburn.  Years later I would receive a Golden Globe nomination in a movie which starred Richard Burton.

In the mid-1980's I did some work in television, including one season on Knots Landing.  A screen legend, who am I?   

Answer will be upcoming on this site, click here.