Thursday, October 17, 2013

Picture This

 
"Hedy Lamarr said it 'is hardly possible' that she was shoplifting in a department store when she was arrested on Thursday night...The arrest came as the six-times divorced actress was preparing for her largest film role in some time. She will co-star with Don Ameche and Martha Hyer in an Embassy release, Picture Mommy Dead. 'This unfortunate happening will make no difference in our plans,' said producer Bert I. Gordon. 'I'm behind her 100 percent.'" -- The Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1966
 
Hedy Lamarr leaves the Los Angeles jailhouse after being released on bail, January 29, 1966
"Hedy Lamarr was fired today from her new motion picture by producer Bert I. Gordon...A limousine was dispatched by Gordon Wednesday to pick up the star and was told by the housekeeper that the actress entered Westwood Hospital...Gordon consulted with Embassy Pictures Corporation, and was told that if he couldn't guarantee that she would not suffer a relapse, he would have to replace her." -- United Press International, February 3, 1966
 
Hedy Lamarr at a press conference to discuss her arrest, January 30, 1966
"'I was so tired from sleeping only one hour in four days. I just sort of collapsed for a day. That's human, isn't it?' Thus Hedy Lamarr explained her absence from work, which resulted in her firing Thursday from her first starring role in fifteen years. It was not, said producer Bert I. Gordon, because of her arrest last week on suspicion of shoplifting $86 in goods from a department store." -- Associated Press, February 4, 1966
 
Hedy Lamarr, with son Anthony Loder, during her shoplifting trial, February 21, 1966
"Hedy Lamarr is not lying down and playing dead, even if she was replaced by Zsa Zsa Gabor in Picture Mommy Dead..." -- Sheila Graham's column, February 27, 1966
 
Zsa Zsa Gabor in Picture Mommy Dead (Embassy, 1966)
"Saying she was dropped from a movie role without cause, Hedy Lamarr has sued the producer and the company making the picture...Miss Lamarr was discharged after she had been arrested on a shoplifting charge in Los Angeles for which she was acquitted." -- Associated Press, December 18, 1966
 
 

11 comments:

  1. Man, when women allow themselves to age naturally, they are so beautiful! Imagine today, the atmosphere would have her cheeks filled, her face pulled and her eyes sprung open!

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  2. I really hope this isn't her, because it proves my point. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hedy-Lamarr-rare-photograph-1980s-mint-condition-actress-later-years-stunning-/320918552070

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  3. Unfortunately, Hedy did succumb to the temptation of plastic surgery later in life. She still looked youthful and pretty through the 1970's.

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  4. Hmm. the man who married Hedy's daughter didn't have much good to say about Hedy in his book about himself and his frat buddies - "Goat Brothers"

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  5. I love this recent spate of posts. What great story telling - using minimal quotes and images.

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    1. So glad you're enjoying, Scooter! I'm having fun doing them, albeit on a limited schedule of late. More to come...

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  6. thank you so much, for sharing this awesomelly illustrated story!

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  7. i've seen many pictures of the young hedy Lamarr "the most beautiful woman in the world" but never when she was older ! Thank you for the pictures and this amazing story !

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    1. Hedy looks understandably worse for the wear in the press photos taken during her shoplifting debacle, but she was still a very striking, beautiful lady through the 1960s and 70s.

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  8. I memorably saw "Picture Mommy Dead" as a boy the summer when it was released. A little gay boy's fantasy camp movie if there ever was one!

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