Timelines for year 1952
E.G. Marshall
Has the distinction of playing four U.S. Presidents; Grover Cleveland in a 1952 episode of _"Hallmark Hall of Fame"_, Harry S. Truman in _"Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur" _, Dwight D. Eisenhower in both _"Ike" _ and _"War and Remembrance" _ and the fictitious, unnamed President in Superman II .
Rock Hudson
Once said he knew had made it in Hollywood after he received more applause and cheers at the premiere of Bend of the River than the film's star, James Stewart.
Ricky Nelson
One of the most popular teen idols on the late 1950's and early 1960's, his many hit records, primarily on the Imperial and American Decca labels, include "I'm Walkin'", "Travelin' Man", "Poor Little Fool", "For You", "Fools Rush In", "It's Late", and "Garden Party". Most of these songs were originally introduced on "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" TV show.
Ingmar Bergman
Was romantically linked to Harriet Andersson from 1952 to 1955 and Bibi Andersson from 1955 to 1959.
Bette Davis
In 1952, she accepted the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role on behalf of Kim Hunter, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony.
Gary Cooper
After talking with Carl Foreman on the set of High Noon , Cooper realized there had not been an attempt by Communists to infiltrate Hollywood, and later regretted his part in founding the right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.
On 23 October 1947, he appeared before the House Unamerican Activities Committee in Washington, not under subpoena but responding to an invitation to give testimony on the alleged infiltration of Hollywood by communists. Other friendly witnesses appearing on the same day as Cooper were Robert Taylor, Robert Montgomery, George Murphy, Ronald Reagan and the aging Adolphe Menjou. Montgomery had long been active in Republican politics as a committeeman and later would serve as White House adviser during the Eisenhower administration. Murphy would serve as a Republican senator from California, with a reactionary voting record. Reagan would become Governor of California and the national champion of extreme conservatism. Taylor, Menjou and Cooper would all retreat gradually from the political fracas, but only Cooper would make a show of repudiating what he had done. Although he never recanted his testimony, or said he regretted having been a friendly witness, he became conciliatory during the subsequent period of the blacklist. As an independent producer, he hired blacklisted actors and technicians. He did say he had never wanted to see anyone lose the right to work, regardless of what he had done. After the release of High Noon , an allegory for blacklisting, he stood by the screenwriter Carl Foreman despite pressure from the militant Hedda Hopper. Immediately after the HUAC appearance, the films of Cooper, Taylor, Montgomery, Murphy, Reagan and Menjou were banned first in Hungary, then in Czechoslovakia, and eventually in most of the Iron Curtain countries. So were those of Ginger Rogers and, curiously, those of tenor Allan Jones, seen usually in minor features and certainly no militant. On the witness stand Cooper had made light of the communists. Sure, they were in Hollywood just like everywhere else, but they were only a small faction giving the large patriotic body of the film community a bad name it didn't deserve. After his testimony, Cooper received a standing ovation and vigorous applause. He later told Robert Taylor, "I got a much bigger hand than you did." Liberals, who never forgave the other friendly witnesses, generally made an exception for Cooper.
He was very popular with audiences over a long period of time, his popularity exceeding that of "The King" Clark Gable himself at the box office. Named the #1 Box Office Star of 1953 in the Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual survey of movie exhibitors. He made the list 18 times from 1936 to 1957, which was a record when he died in 1961. Of his contemporaries, John Wayne (who accepted Cooper's 1952 Best Actor Oscar for High Noon ) established the still-standing record of Box Office success with 25 appearances in the Top 10 between 1949 and 1974.
His reputation as an unthinking conservative seems largely undeserved. Though he appeared as a "friendly witness" before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947, he carefully avoided naming any people he suspected of having Communist sympathies within the Hollywood community. He later starred in High Noon , a western that was an allegory for blacklisting in Hollywood, and strongly defended blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman from attacks by the right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Foreman later credited Cooper as the only major star in Hollywood who tried to help him. His mistress Patricia Neal, who did consider herself a liberal, said Gary was "conservative" but "you couldn't call him right-wing". Cooper showed a sense of humor by asking John Wayne to collect his Oscar for him in 1953, after Wayne had criticized High Noon as "anti-American".
His shot from High Noon was used as a Solidarity candidates trademark of the first independent elections in Poland in June 1989 ("There's a new sheriff in town")
He wasn't present to receive his Academy Award in February 1953, for his portrayal of Marshal Will Kane in High Noon . He asked John Wayne to accept it on his behalf.
In 1951, after 25 years in show business, his professional reputation declined, and he was dropped from the Motion Picture Herald's list of the top 10 Box Office performers. In the following year he made a big comeback at the age of fifty-one with High Noon .
His Oscar-winning roles as Will Kane from High Noon and Sgt. Alvin York from Sergeant York were ranked #5 and #35 in the American Film Institute's Heroes list in their 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.
Christopher Walken
Alternated with his brother Glenn Walken in the role of Mike Bauer on the soap opera "Guiding Light" .
Harrison Ford
Has named Gregory Peck and Gary Cooper as his favorite actors. Two of his favorite movies are the anti-McCarthyism western High Noon , for which Cooper won his second Oscar, and the civil rights drama To Kill a Mockingbird , for which Peck won his only Oscar.
