Trivial Pursuit...

I recently stumbled upon a goldmine of Old (and New) Hollywood trivia, and figured there would be no better audience to share it with than my lovely readers! Like I said, these new features are nothing too fancy, but none-the-less have me rather excited. Enjoy!

Sophia Loren

"The two big advantages I had at birth were to have been born wise and to have been in poverty."

Sophia Loren may have been a voluptuous sex goddess as an adult, but until the age of 14, she was a skinny child and considered an ugly duckling, nicknamed 'The Stick'.

She served 18 days in prison in Italy in 1982 for tax evasion.

Sophia didn't get along with Marlon Brando during the shooting of A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) - especially after filming a love scene when Brando commented, "did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?".

At times, male actors have been hesitant to appear with her, due to the fact that she stands at nearly 5 foot 9 inches, wearing towering heels and tall hair that can make her look over 6 feet tall.

Carole Lombard

"God knows I love Clark [Gable], but he’s the worst lay in the town."

In 1926, Carole Lombard was in an auto accident that badly cut her face. Advanced plastic surgery and clever use of make-up covered the scars. However, at the time the belief was that use of anesthetic during the operation would leave worse scars, so she endured the reconstructive surgery without an anesthetic.

The decision to take the plane which eventually killed Carole and her mother was decided literally by the flip of a coin, with Carole winning the toss. The plane they took was a military convoy which made many stops in order to pick up troops. After the first stop, an officer requested Carole, her mother and publicist to get off the plane to make room for more troops. Carole reportedly argued with him, stating the fact she had raised more than half a million dollars in war bonds and had the right to stay on. The officer finally conceded, and shortly after, the plane crashed.

Her film To Be or Not to Be (1942) was in post-production when Carole died, and the producers decided to leave out a part that had her character ironically saying, "What can happen in a plane?"

Shirley MacLaine

"It is useless to hold a person to anything he says when he's in love, drunk or running for office."

Shirley MacLaine took ballet as a child and always played the boy's role due to being the tallest in her class.

Her childhood dinner for many years consisted of Tabasco sauce and saltine crackers (which apparently often resulted in bad dreams, and her missing the bus to ballet class).

Right before a performance of Cinderella with the Washington School of Ballet (dancing the role of the Fairy Godmother), Shirley was warming up backstage when she broke her ankle. Instead of bowing out, she simply tied the ribbon on her toe shoes tighter and danced the role through. After the show was over, she called for an ambulance.

Named after Shirley Temple.

Marlon Brando

"The only thing an actor owes his public is not to bore them."

Marlon Brando worked as a department store elevator operator before he became famous. He quit after four days due to his embarrassment in having to call out the lingerie floor.

In 1995, as a guest on Larry King Live (1985), Brando kissed Larry King on the mouth.

He used cue cards in many of his movies as he refused to memorise his lines. In Superman (1978), hi lines were written on the nappy of baby Kal-El.

Brando was expelled from high school for riding a motorcycle through the halls.

Was fluent in French.

His signature was considered so valuable to collectors, that many personal cheques he wrote were never cashed because his signature was usually worth more than the amount on the cheque.

During an acting class, when the students were told to act out "a chicken hearing an air-raid siren," most of the students clucked and flapped their arms in a panic, while Brando stood stock-still, staring up at the ceiling. When asked to explain himself, Brando replied, "I'm a chicken - I don't know what an air-raid siren is."

Contrary to popular belief, he was not an atheist. At his son's trial, where he supposedly revealed his atheism and refused to swear upon a Bible, his actual words were, "While I do believe in God, I do not believe in the same way as others, so I would prefer not to swear on the Bible".

In his biography The Only Contender (1976) by Gary Carey, Brando was quoted as saying, "Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences, and I am not ashamed."

He was an avid user of the Internet in his final years, often going into chat rooms to start arguments.

Brando was related to four presidents of the United States: James Madison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Jimmy Carter.



Surely I cannot be the only one who thinks Marlon Brando is absolutely yummy?
Many, many more to come!


Romany

[photos courtesy of stardustandsequins.wordpress.com, freemooviesonline.com, sodahead.com and media.photobucket.com]