Timelines for year 1958
Mickey Rooney
Mickey's son Teddy Rooney appeared with him in Andy Hardy Comes Home , portraying - who else? - Andy Hardy Jr.
Bruce Lee
Defeated British boxer Gary Elms by knockout in the third round in the 1958 Hong Kong amateur boxing championships by using Wing Chun traps and high/low-level straight punches. Before he met Elms in the finals, he knocked out three boxers in the first round. Hawkings Cheung, his fellow Wing Chun street fighter, witnessed the event.
Lee knocked-out Chung, a Choy Li Fut fighter, in Hong Kong in a 1958 Full-Contact match. The match was refereed by Sheun-Leung Wong.
Left for Seattle in 1958 with $100. Gave cha cha cha lessons to first-class passengers to earn extra money during ship ride to US.
Michael Landon
Children: Mark Fraser Landon (adopted-born October 1, 1958); aka Mark Landon) and Josh Fraser Landon (adopted as newborn in 1960-born February 11, 1960) with Dodie Levy-Fraser. Leslie Ann Landon (b 11 October 1963; aka Leslie Landon), Michael Graham Landon (b. 20 June 1965; aka Michael Landon Jr.), Shawna Leigh Landon (b. December 4, 1971; aka Shawna Landon) and Christopher Beau Landon (b. 27 February 1975; Christopher B. Landon) with Lynn Noe and Jennifer Rachel Landon (b. 29 August 1983; aka Jennifer Landon)and Sean Matthew Landon (b. 6/1986) with Cindy Landon. He also had a step-daughter, Cheryl Ann Pontrelli.
Charlton Heston
Initially turned down the role of Steve Leech in The Big Country because he didn't think the role was big enough after the success he had with The Ten Commandments , but his agent convinced him to take the part on the grounds that it would be worth it for his career to work with both Gregory Peck, who was still a bigger star than Heston at the time, and director William Wyler. This association led to Heston being cast in Wyler's next film, as the title character in Ben-Hur , for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor.
He and The Big Country co-star Gregory Peck both played the infamous Nazi war criminal, Dr. Josef Mengele: Heston in Rua Alguem 5555: My Father and Peck in The Boys from Brazil .
Elizabeth Taylor
Did not return to work until eleven months after giving birth to her daughter Liza Todd Burton in order to film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof .
Ingmar Bergman
He and Bibi Andersson made 13 movies together: The Magician , The Touch , The Devil's Eye , All These Women , Brink of Life , Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (TV) (not released), The Passion of Anna , Persona , Scenes from a Marriage , Rabies (TV), The Seventh Seal , Wild Strawberries and Smiles of a Summer Night .
He and Max von Sydow made 13 movies together: The Magician , The Touch , Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (TV) (not released), The Virgin Spring , Winter Light , Brink of Life , The Passion of Anna , Rabies (TV), The Seventh Seal , Shame , Wild Strawberries , Through a Glass Darkly and Hour of the Wolf .
Gary Cooper
Ten North Frederick was originally intended as a Spencer Tracy vehicle, but Tracy withdrew in poor health.
In 1958 Cooper had a private audience with Pope Pius XII at the Vatican, and in the following year became a convert to Roman Catholicism.
On 16 April 1958 he entered the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital for a full face-lift and other cosmetic surgery by Dr John Converse, one of the leading plastic surgeons in America. Newspaper articles commenting on the effects of the operation said his face now looked quite different and the procedure had not been successful.
Elvis Presley
Although his height was measured as 6' when he joined the army in 1958, photographs show Elvis was wearing his army boots at the time which may have slightly increased his height.
Was an Army veteran. He was drafted in 1958, stationed in West Germany and discharged in 1960. Presley, who achieved the rank of Private First Class, was a public relations headache for the Army, according to U.S. military documents released by the Pentagon on Thursday, June 9th, 2005. "Elvis Presley will not be released in a manner different from any other inductee serving overseas," the Army's adjutant general wrote to citizens who complained following reports that the rock 'n' roll icon would get an early "good behavior" discharge. When he entered the Army at Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, March 24, 1958, there was a public outcry from his fans, and protests flowed to Washington, including a hand-written plea released by the National Archives and Records Administration. "Dear Mamie," one correspondent wrote to then-first lady Mamie Eisenhower. "Will you please, please be so sweet and kind as to ask Ike to please bring Elvis Presley back to us from the Army? We need him in our entertainment world to make us all laugh." A 1959 Army memo set out the Presley problem: "When Private First Class Presley was first inducted, there was considerable adverse public reaction . . . alleging that he would receive preferential treatment in the Army. This impression has been largely replaced by a public impression of a good soldier serving his military obligation . . . Many teenagers who look up to and emulate Private First Class Presley will . . . follow his example in the performance of their military service".
He said the all-time favorite of his films, that he acted in, was King Creole .
According to Tommy Steele, Presley did visit London once in 1958. However, this has not been substantiated.
Once claimed Robert Mitchum was the inspiration for his famous hairstyle. Presley met Mitchum to discuss the possibility of starring together in Thunder Road , but unfortunately Tom Parker's demands for Presley's salary could not be met.
Albert Brooks
Albert's father, vaudeville/radio/film comedian Harry Parke (aka Parkyakarkus) died of a heart attack when Albert was 11 in 1958. Parke collapsed next to Milton Berle during a Friar's roast gathering honoring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Los Angeles.