Timelines for year 1957
Tennessee Ernie Ford
His many albums of hymns and sacred music for Capitol and Ranwood records were among the top-sellers in their field, with "Hymns" (1957) and "Sing a Hymn with Me" (1961) both achieving Gold Record status.
Daniel Radcliffe
Has stated that 12 Angry Men is the first black & white film he ever saw and is also his favorite film.
Ethel Waters
Waters made headlines in January 1957 when she appeared on the game show "Break the $250,000 Bank" and announced that she was broke and needed the money to pay off back taxes owed to the I.R.S. She won $10,000 by the end of her second week (her winning category was religious music) when the show was abruptly canceled. She accepted the chance to appear on the new show, "Hold That Note" but she wasn't the winner when she appeared on the first episode of the new series.
Jeff Donnell
Had a key role in the critically lauded film Sweet Smell of Success (1957) as Tony Curtis' secretary, but her role was cut extensively, including a big romantic scene with Curtis that might have reignited her movie career.
Phyllis Kirk
Probably best remembered on series TV for playing stylish Nora Charles to Peter Lawford's sleuth Nick on "The Thin Man" (1957) for which she received an Emmy nomination. The series was loosely based on the classic series of films starring Myrna Loy and William Powell.
Tony Mordente
Met Chita Rivera during the run of "West Side Story" in 1957 (she played Anita) and married her in December of that same year.
Donna Reed
Four children by husband/producer Tony Owen : Penny Owen, Tony Owen Jr., Timothy Owen and Mary Owen. Two were adopted. Mary, their last child, was born to them in 1957, a year before the start of Donna's classic TV show, which Tony executive produced.
Roy Orbison
Of Roy's early compositions "Down The Line" was first recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis (1957) and The Everly Brothers had a charted hit with "Claudette" (1958) #30 US Pop, #1 UK.
Sonny Jurgensen
Quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles (1957-1963) and Washington Redskins (1964-1974).
Dr. Seuss
Supposedly wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" on a bet with His publisher, Bennett Cerf to write a book with only 50 words in writing a book. Published in 1957, "Cat in the Hat" became Dr. Seuss's all-time biggest seller. The following year, Seuss, Cerf, and Cerf's wife, inspired by the books' success, began the Beginner Books series that continues to the present day, with entertaining, elementary-level books by Seuss and other authors.
Barbara Bel Geddes
She played the showgirl in The Sleeping Prince on Broadway. Marilyn Monroe garnered the role in the Hollywood film version - The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
Gene Rayburn
Was a frequent light comedy star performer with the Bucks County Playhouse during the late 1950s and early 1960s. His vehicles included "The Love of Four Colonels" (1957), "Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?" (1959), "Come Blow Your Horn" (1960) and "Under the Yum Yum Tree" (1962).
Gene Nelson
Suffered a fractured pelvis in 1957 when a horse fell on him while on film location in Tennessee.
Fred Astaire
Aside from starring in the film Funny Face (1957), he also starred in the original 1927 Broadway version of the George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin musical "Funny Face". Although he was the male lead in the show, he did not play the same character he does in the film, and the storyline of the original stage musical was entirely different from the one in the film. Both play and film used many of the same songs. The studio may have felt that the original plot of "Funny Face" could not be properly adapted into a movie as it was an "ensemble" musical with people dropping out and parts changing all the time. Apparently the studio bought the rights to the title just so they could use the song. The plot of this movie is actually that of the unsuccessful Broadway musical "Wedding Bells" by Leonard Gershe. His character in the film is based on photographer Richard Avedon, who in fact, set up most of the photography shown in the film. The soggy Paris weather played havoc with the shooting of the wedding dress dance scene. Both Astaire and Audrey Hepburn were continually slipping in the muddy and slippery grass.