SHADY

 On the set: Ed Wood: Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Sarah Jessica Parker

 Screen Shot: North by Northwest: Mr. Grant, the one and only (with Eva Marie Saint)

 Enzo Ferrari

 Jack Nicholson, obviously

 Marilyn.

 Screen Shot: Pretty in Pink, Molly Ringwald

Indoors, Mr. Ali

Brigitte, quintessentially 70s

Shirley Temple, never too young.

Summer's here are it's hot, so don't let your sun-glasses wear you. (photos via: HC, the impossible cool)

GET PERSONAL: ROCK HUDSON

Rock Hudson is the 6’5’’ heartthrob of the 50s and 60s who gained equal recognition for his talent, look, and personal life. He was born Roy Harold Scherer on November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois. He was the only child to Katherine Wood, a telephone operator, and Roy Scherer, an auto mechanic. The terrible hit of the Great Depression in 1931 put significant financial hardship on the Scherer family, prompting Roy to abandon his wife and son. Katherine quickly remarried and Hudson was adopted, taking his new father’s last name; Fitzgerald.

After working in the Philippines as an airplane mechanic during World War II, Hudson moved to Los Angeles to pursue dreams of movie stardom. Upon his arrival, he applied to the University of Southern California drama department, but was rejected for poor grades. Hudson was therefore forced to put his aspirations on hold and became a truck driver. A chance meeting with Hollywood talent scout, Henry Wilson would change everything. In 1948 Wilson spotted Hudson and immediately recognized his potential. That same year, Hudson was cast in his first feature film, Fighter Squadron in which he had only one line, which took him 38 takes to perfect.

Despite his lack of experience, Hudson gained recognition in Hollywood circles. His presence and incredible good looks continued to get him cast in large-scale features. Fame and recognition for his talent did not come until 1954, when he received rave reviews for Magnificent Obsession. His first and only Oscar nomination came in 1956 for his performance in Giant opposite Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.

As he gained popularity, rumors regarding Hudson’s sexual orientation began to permeate Hollywood. There were strong theories supporting the fact that he was gay. Hudson staunchly denied the rumors, marrying Wilson’s long-time assistant Phyllis Gates. Although the marriage only lasted three years and neither of the two ever remarried, Gates insisted the rumors were false until her death.

The public scrutiny took its toll on Hudson and he began to self-medicate with alcohol. Though he suffered a heart attack in 1981, Hudson’s heath began to steadily decline starting in 1984 when he was diagnosed with HIV. Though he attempted to fight the disease privately, changes in his physical appearance required him to divulge information about his illness. This inspired outrage in certain communities, because he had continued working as a romantic lead without explaining his condition to his co-stars. Rock Hudson died on October 2, 1985 of AIDS.

In honor of gay pride weekend, I felt it important to recognize a man who felt compelled to keep his sexual orientation a secret. Although his close circle of friends supported him completely until his death, the community at large was critical and unsupportive, which, I imagine, caused him great suffering. We are lucky to live in a time where gay rights are more widely accepted, but must remember that there is much progress left to be made.

ITALIAN STALLION

Marcello Mastroianni was born September 28, 1924 in Fontana Liri, Italy; a small rural village adjacent to the Apennines Mountains. His mother, raised in Germany, was of Jewish decent. His father, Italian-born, owned a carpentry shop. During the Second World War, Mastroianni was temporarily interned at a German detainment camp out of which he escaped, fleeing to Venice where he hid out until the end of the war. In 1945, Mastroianni began working for an Italian film company, which prompted him to begin acting classes. A rookie at age 21, he booked his first job not long after; a small role in Riccardo Freda’s I Miserabili (1948). Audiences took notice of the young Mastroianni and it wasn’t long before he was promoted to leading man. Among his most critically acclaimed credits are: La Dolce Vita, 81/2, La Notte, Today and Tomorrow, Marriage Italian-Style, and Ready to Wear. Mastroianni was one part of  possibly the most beloved and enduring screen couples in history; the other part being the incomparable Sofia Loren. Over the course of 20 years, the two appeared in 14 films together.

Mastroianni was married to Flora Carabella at the age of 24, and remained married until his death. However, he famously had a long affair with Catherine Deneuve later in life, with whom he had a daughter. Mastroianni died at 72 of pancreatic cancer. 

LEADING MAN

Why does it seem they just don't make 'em like they used to?

Sean Connery

Errol Flynn

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Cary Grant

Gary Cooper

Gene Kelly

Humphrey Bogart

James Dean

Marlon Brando

Paul Newman

Robert Redford

All images via: theimpossiblecool

BURTON-TAYLOR

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor's now infamous love affair spanned 20 years and two marriages. The tumultuous romance was complicated by their mutual dependency on alcohol, but there is no denying it was a tremendous love - the kind of love that inspires art. Here are some excerpts from Richard Burton's love letters to Elizabeth Taylor.

"I lust after your smell … and your round belly and the exquisite softness of the inside of your thighs and your baby-bottom and your giving lips & the half-hostile look in your eyes when you’re deep in rut with your little Welsh stallion" 

"One of these days I will wake up--which I think I have done already--and realize to myself that I really do love. I find it very difficult to allow my whole life to rest on the existence of another creature. I find it equally difficult, because of my innate arrogance, to believe in the idea of love. There is no such thing, I say to myself. There is lust, of course, and usage, and jealousy, and desire and spent powers, but no such thing as the idiocy of love. Who invented that concept? I have wracked my shabby brains and can find no answer."

"You must know, of course, how much I love you. You must know, of course, how badly I treat you. But the fundamental and most vicious, swinish, murderous, and unchangeable fact is that we totally misunderstand each other ... we operate on alien wave-lengths. You are as distant as Venus--planet, I mean--and I am tone-deaf to the music of the spheres. But how-so-be-it nevertheless. (a cliche among Welsh politicians.) I love you and I always will. Come back to me as soon as you can ...”

From his diary:

"In my poor and tormented youth, I had always dreamed of this woman. And now, when this dream occasionally returns, I extend my arm, and she is here ... by my side. If you have not met or known her, you have lost much in life."

“A girl sitting on the other side of the pool lowered her book, took off her sunglasses and looked at me. She was lavish. She was a dark, unyielding largesse. She was, in sort, too bloody much, and not only that she was ignoring me. Her breasts were apocalyptic, they would topple empires.”

NERD BOYFRIEND

Photos via Nerdboyfriend.com:

Cristopher Walken

Dennis Hoffman

Geoffrey Rush

Gregory Peck

Mick Jagger

Montgomery Clift

Paul Newman

Peter Postlethwaite

Sean Connery 

Steve Martin