Before smartphones, before Wikipedia, before everyone knew everything about everyone, there was a sense of seductive mystery surrounding Hollywood. In the 1950s and ‘60s, there was not only a respect for privacy that’s now been erased, but it was easier for celebrities to keep their private lives private. Today, we’re looking at the hidden stories and secrets of Hollywood’s past, no matter how dark it gets.
Did You Know Cary Grant Had To Change His Name?
Cary Grant was one of the most handsome and charismatic leading men of his day. Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, he was pushed to change his name by Paramount executives once he crossed the pond to America. It’s not just Grant’s name that was changed, but his smile too. When he was a child in England he massively chipped one of his maxillary central incisors (his front teeth) and had to have it removed. Over time his teeth grew together, and if you look closely at his million dollar smile you can see that he has one large incisor where there should be two.
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Hedy Lamarr Was A Woman Of Many Talents
Austrian-born Hedy Lamarr, the star of Lady of the Tropics, Algiers, Boom Town, Samson and Delilah, and Comrade X, was one of the most beautiful actresses of the Golden Era, but she was more than just a silver screen babe – she was legit inventor. Her most important creation was “frequency hopping,” an invention that allows broadcasters and receivers to continuously jump around from one radio frequency to another so that a third party can’t intercept the signal. August of 1942 and promptly donated it to the United States military that used it to help defeat the Nazis. Frequency hopping is the basis for WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth, and it all goes back to Hedy Lamarr.
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Who Was The Real Rat Pack
We all think of the Rat Pack as Frank Sinatra’s crew, with Dean Martin, Sammy Davi Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford; but that’s really the second version of this group of hard drinkers. The initial version of the Rat Pack was made up of co-ed Golden Era party animals, including Sinatra, who orbited around Humphrey Bogart. Supposedly, during an especially rowdy evening at Bogey’s place, Lauren Bacall walked in and said, “You look like a pack of rats.” And that was that.
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Ingrid Bergman is the Queen of Scandal
It’s not out of the question for celebrities to have affairs. We see this kind of thing every day and it’s not a big deal, but in the 1950s a celebrity divorce was big news. That goes double for beauty Ingrid Bergman. During the filming of Roberto Rossellini’s Stromboli, the actress and director began a romantic relationship in spite of the fact that they were both married to other people at the time. After Bergman discovered that she was pregnant she and Rossellini agreed to divorce their respective partners and then re-marry. Colorado Senator Edwin Johnson, who had been a fan of Bergman, took to the Senate floor to denounce her, saying she “had perpetrated an assault upon the institution of marriage.” She was, in his esteemed opinion, “a powerful influence for evil.”
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Charlie Chaplin Led a Scandalous Life
Charlie Chaplin was a groundbreaking performer, director, and artist, but he also had a thing for much younger women. In 1918, the 29-year-old Chaplin was informed by 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris that she was pregnant with his child, so Chaplin did the honorable thing and put a ring on it. Here’s the thing, she wasn’t actually pregnant. The couple divorced in 1920, but Chaplin had a repeat performance in 1924, when 16-year-old actress Lita Grey announced she was carrying Chaplin’s child. The couple married in Mexico and Grey gave birth to two sons before the couple separated in 1926. When Chaplin was 43, he fell for 21-year-old Paulette Goddard. This marriage lasted for six years. By the time Chaplin was 55 he was in the middle of a paternity suit filed by actress Joan Barry, but that didn’t stop him from marrying Oona O’Neill, the 18-year-old daughter of American playwright Eugene O’Neill. This union lasted until the end of Chaplin’s life, in 1977.
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