Grand Hotel is a 1932 American film directed by Edmund Goulding. The film is based on Vicki Baum’s 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel.
Grand Hotel is about the experiences of a group of people during a short stay in an expensive hotel in Berlin. It is the first film in film history in which roles were played by several well-known actors, including Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore. The film is among the most successful of the 1930s and has become a classic over the years. It won an Academy Award for Best Picture and was selected by the National Film Registry in 2007.
Helen Hayes Brown (Washington D.C., October 10, 1900 – Nyack (New York), March 17, 1993) was an American actress.
She married American screenwriter Charles MacArthur in 1928. Her career lasted nearly seventy years. She was eventually nicknamed the “First Lady of American Theater” and was one of nine people to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony award.
Fredric March, actually Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel (Racine (Wisconsin), August 31, 1897 – Los Angeles (California), April 14, 1975) was an American actor.
March was born in Racine, Wisconsin. He attended school at Winslow Elementary School and Racine High School. He began his career as a bank teller. After an operation, he was forced to quit that job. In 1920, his film career began. In New York, he starred in several films. He decided to adopt another name, his mother’s last name. In 1926, he appeared on Broadway. For the film The Royal Family of Broadway, he was nominated for an Oscar in 1930. In 1932, he won an Oscar for his role in the film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 1946, he won another Oscar, this time for The Best Years of Our Lives. In 1954, March was allowed to present the 26th Academy Awards ceremony. In 1972, March developed prostate cancer. It seemed his career was over, but he still delivered a great performance by starring in the film The Iceman Cometh. In April 1975, March died of cancer at the age of 77.
March was married to actress Florence Eldridge from 1927 until his death. Together they had two adopted children.
March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1616 Vine Street.
Wallace Beery (Kansas City, April 1, 1885 – Beverly Hills, April 15, 1949) was an American actor.
Beery was the half-brother of actor Noah Beery. When he was just sixteen he got a job at Ringling Brothers, then a well-known circus. Here he trained elephants. When he was attacked by a leopard two years later, he quit. Beery moved to New York and starred in musicals here. Soon he also began appearing in plays on Broadway. Still, he knew he didn’t want to do this forever, and he moved to Chicago in 1913 to work at Essanay Studios. Here he was already getting roles in films as well. He appeared more often in films as character Sweedie. In 1915, he starred in films with his wife, Gloria Swanson. However, their marriage did not survive his aggression and drinking.
Well-known films from the silent film era that he starred in include Robin Hood (1922) and The Lost World (1925).
During the rise of the sound film, Beery was unemployed for a period until Irving Thalberg offered him a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in the 1930s. Soon he became a star.
One of his first films at MGM, The Big House (1930), became a huge success. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his role. He did receive an Oscar for his next successful film, 1931’s The Champ. He also won awards for his roles in the films Treasure Island (1934), Viva Villa! (1934).
During his time at MGM, Beery had many well-known antagonists, including Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Lee Tracy and Marie Dressler.
Beery died of a heart attack two weeks after his 64th birthday.
Frank Borzage (Salt Lake City, April 23, 1894 – Hollywood, June 19, 1962) was an American film director. The Borzage touch became synonymous with a visually lush and tender, romantic way of filming love stories.
