The Lady Eve (1941)

I was never a big fan of Barbara Stanwick (1907 - 1990), but in her 101 roles, the majority were made during the golden years of movies, from 1930 to the mid 1950s.  That is when the best Bit Actors and Actresses worked, giving me topics for my blog.

The Lady Eve (1941) starring Henry Fonda (1905 - 1982) and Stanwick, has a supporting cast that just doesn't stop!  Let's take a look.

Charles Coburn (1877 - 1961) has 95 titles to his credit.  He started making movies in the early 1930s and was cast in a Ginger Rogers (1911 - 1995) and James Stewart (1908 - 1997) film, Vivacious Lady in 1938.  He works in movies with some great stars, and in 1940 is in the Hope and Crosby film, Road to Singapore. 

Coburn's name always seems to be near the top of the cast list.  His persona probably kept it there.  In 1952 he works with Cary Grant (1904 - 1986), Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 1962) in Monkey Business, and with Monroe again the next year in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  He then starts another career on television in 1950.  His final movie is John Paul Jones (1959), where he played Benjamin Frankin (1706 - 1790 - Franklin made no movies).

William Demarest (1892 - 1983) has 168 titles starting in 1926.  Eric Blore (1887 - 1959) made 86 films, including six with Fred Astaire (1899 - 1987).  Melville Cooper (1896 - 1973) has 101 titles.  Robert Grieg (1879 - 1959) made his name starting with the Marx Brothers...plus 100 or so other titles.  And Dora Clement (1881 - 1979) who had bit parts in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Destry Rides Again (1939), and Buck Privates (1941).  Wow!

One last name we should look at is Eugene Pallette (1889 - 1954) who played in 250 movies starting in 1913.  He was in the 1918 Tarzan of the Apes with Elmo Lincoln (1889 - 1952).  Also look for him in My Man Godfrey (1936), he played Friar Tuck in 1938 in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and may be best known as Chick McGann in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  He was a big guy with a bigger voice.

I will have to look for The Lady Eve, because I have never seen it!  Now that I know who is in it, I have no choice.