It only takes one look at Kirk Douglas's chiseled face to realize he was no ordinary Old Hollywood heartthrob. Douglas brought an intensity to the screen that no one else could match—but the real drama started when the cameras stopped rolling. From countless adulterous affairs to chilling accusations, it's hard to say whether Kirk Douglas was a hero or a villain.
Corey Haim could be a poster boy for child actors who fail to launch as adults. This innocent from Canada quickly reached the heights of Hollywood fame only to fall just as fast.
Ingrid Bergman was Hollywood’s saintly good girl—but nothing could be further from the truth. Her explosive affair with Roberto Rossellini turned an entire nation against her, and it quickly became the Hollywood scandal. But that was only the beginning. Even after her death, sordid secrets from Bergman’s naughty past kept surfacing—and they threatened to ruin her legacy forever.
James Cagney is an actor of contradictions. He made a Hollywood career out of playing murderous thugs, but what he really excelled at was singing and dancing. His rags-to-riches story is equal parts turbulent and bizarre—a life story that needs to be told.
An absolute titan of the music industry, Chuck Berry’s contribution to contemporary sound is indisputable. With a road to stardom equally decorated by success and controversy, the father of rock forces each of us to ask ourselves whether we can separate the art from the artist.
Eddie Van Halen had an amazing gift that came with a curse. He could play guitar like no one else, but the demons inside his head were always there taunting him to do the most despicable things.
Is there another star who defines the idea of an Old Hollywood screen siren better than Lauren Bacall? Doubtful. With her femme fatale looks and iconic low voice, Bacall was a staple of Golden Age cinema. Her life is practically a checklist of Tinsel Town achievements and scandal, including on-set affairs, a tumultuous private life, and 1940s Presidential selfies. During most of her life, Bacall was remarkably private—but secrets never stay buried forever.
Jeanette MacDonald rose to fame in the ruffle-laden, fantasy-ridden Hollywood musicals of the 1930s, her angel’s voice transporting audiences and establishing her as one of the highest-paid actresses of the day. MacDonald kept this pristine image until the day she died, even right up to her beautiful last words to her long-time husband.
When it comes to American legend Pearl Bailey, there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Sure, she was a fantastic singer, but she was also a dancer, actor, “humorist,” humanitarian—and even with all that going on, she still had time for a scandal-filled personal life.
In the 1970s, Charles Bronson was the most famous man in Hollywood. While this iconic action star has gone down in cinema history for his devil-may-care quips and awe-inspiring stunts, his steely-eyed stare concealed an utterly brutal past.
THE SHOT
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