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“Scream queen” Kathleen Hughes Rubin thrived for nearly a century in Hollywood. Despite her image as a sexy screen siren of the 1950s, she enjoyed an enduring marriage to producer Stanley Rubin, and was the beloved mother of four children and a joy to all who knew her.

The death of Kathleen Hughes May 19 at age 96 concluded a nostalgic chapter of cinematic history for the baby boomer generation who grew up with her films. For me, her passing was also the loss of a cherished friend. Kathy’s movie career began during the late 1940s as the studio system entered its Cretaceous Period by subsequently deploying CinemaScope, Vista Vision, Cinerama and similar innovations in an attempt to lure audiences away from their television sets and back into movie theaters. Science fiction and film noir became melded with the short-lived phenomenon of 3D, with Kathy becoming prominent by her appearances in...

Kathleen Hughes, one of the stars of the classic 1953 science fiction horror It Came From Outer Space and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, has died. The actress made headlines as the "shocked blonde" in the film, which created her iconic photo. While many might have seen the image floating around before actually watching the film, Hughes was more than just the stunning, horrified young lady and scream queen depicted in the famous shot. She played Jane, Russell Johnson's character George's girlfriend, a role that helped Hughes add more roles to her lengthy resume. According to Variety, her friend, John Jigen Griffin-Atil, reported her death, revealing that she died on Monday, May 19. Hughes was 96 years old.

Born Elizabeth Margaret von Gerkan in Los Angeles, California, Hughes was the niece of the playwright F. Hugh Herbert, known for "The Moon Is Blue." The actress decided she wanted to act after watching a film...

Kathleen Hughes, who was known for her role as the shocked blonde in the 1953 3D sci-fi classic “It Came From Outer Space,” died Monday. She was 96.

Her friend John Jigen Griffin-Atil reported her death.

The niece of playwright F. Hugh Herbert, she was born Elizabeth Margaret von Gerkan in Los Angeles. After signing with Fox in 1948, the studio changed her name and she and began acting in small roles including “Mother Is a Freshman” and “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College.”

After leaving Fox, she was cast by Paul Henreid in “For Men Only,” where she caught the eye of writer-producer Don McGuire, who helped her get a contract at Universal-International. Her next role, in director Jack Arnold’s “It Came From Outer Space,” would prove to be her most enduring, thanks to a publicity still that appeared on everything from birthday cards to advertising campaigns.

Kathleen Hughes in “It Came From Outer Space...

Kathleen Hughes, the statuesque 1950s starlet who unleashed a terrifying scream in connection with her role in the 3D sci-fi classic It Came From Outer Space, has died. She was 96.

Hughes died Monday, according to her close friend, John Jigen Griffin-Atil.

A onetime contract player at Fox and then Universal, Hughes made for a “dainty dish of poison,” as New York Times critic Bosley Crowther put it, in her turn as an actress having an affair with John Forsythe in the crime drama The Glass Web (1953), starring Edward G. Robinson.

A year earlier, she dyed her dark hair blonde to star as a coed in For Men Only (1952), directed by and starring Paul Henreid.

Hughes gave Rock Hudson perhaps his first onscreen kiss when she acted with him in a 1949 screen test, then appeared with him as Piper Laurie‘s handmaiden in the adventure film The Golden Blade (1953).

She also...

The (admittedly cultish) reputation of this 1937 comic-mystery rests on one truly startling scene. And that scene is… Ah, forget it, just watch the movie, it’s only 54 minutes long and well worth the wait. Hugh Herbert and Allan Jenkins star as two bumbling detectives facing off against a killer octopus inside a deserted lighthouse. Herbert and Jenkins rarely got top billing and for fans of that duo its worth a look-see. And then there’s that scene.

Billy Wilder directed Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett movies Below is a list of movies on which Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder worked together as screenwriters, including efforts for which they did not receive screen credit. The Wilder-Brackett screenwriting partnership lasted from 1938 to 1949. During that time, they shared two Academy Awards for their work on The Lost Weekend (1945) and, with D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd. (1950). More detailed information further below. Post-split years Billy Wilder would later join forces with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond in movies such as the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), the Best Picture Oscar winner The Apartment (1960), and One Two Three (1961), notable as James Cagney's last film (until a brief comeback in Milos Forman's Ragtime two decades later). Although some of these movies were quite well received, Wilder's later efforts – which also included The Seven Year Itch...

Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock heroine (image: Joseph Cotten about to strangle Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt') (See preceding article: "Teresa Wright Movies: Actress Made Oscar History.") After scoring with The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, and The Pride of the Yankees, Teresa Wright was loaned to Universal – once initial choices Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland became unavailable – to play the small-town heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. (Check out video below: Teresa Wright reminiscing about the making of Shadow of a Doubt.) Co-written by Thornton Wilder, whose Our Town had provided Wright with her first chance on Broadway and who had suggested her to Hitchcock; Meet Me in St. Louis and Junior Miss author Sally Benson; and Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, Shadow of a Doubt was based on "Uncle Charlie," a story outline by Gordon McDonell – itself based on actual events.

Glenda Farrell: Actress has her ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day Scene-stealer Glenda Farrell is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star today, August 29, 2013. A reliable — and very busy — Warner Bros. contract player in the ’30s, the sharp, energetic, fast-talking blonde actress was featured in more than fifty films at the studio from 1931 to 1939. Note: This particular Glenda Farrell has nothing in common with the One Tree Hill character played by Amber Wallace in the television series. The Glenda Farrell / One Tree Hill name connection seems to have been a mere coincidence. (Photo: Glenda Farrell as Torchy Blane in Smart Blonde.) Back to Warners’ Glenda Farrell: TCM is currently showing Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939), one of the seven B movies starring Farrell as intrepid reporter Torchy Blane. Major suspense: Will Torchy win the election? She should. No city would ever go bankrupt with Torchy at the helm. Glenda Farrell...

Mickey Rooney movie schedule (Pt): TCM on August 13 See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Movies: Music and Murder.” Photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940. 3:00 Am Death On The Diamond (1934). Director: Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton, Mickey Rooney. Bw-71 mins. 4:15 Am A Midsummer Night’S Dream (1935). Director: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Cast: James Cagney, Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, Verree Teasdale, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Grant Mitchell, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dewey Robinson, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Treacher, Otis Harlan, Helen Westcott, Fred Sale, Billy Barty, Rags Ragland. Bw-143 mins. 6:45 Am A Family Affair (1936). Director: George B. Seitz. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Eric Linden. Bw-69 mins. 8:00 Am Boys Town (1938). Director: Norman Taurog. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, Addison Richards, Minor Watson, Jonathan Hale,...

Screenwriter Frederica Sagor Dead at 111: Wrote Movies for Norma Shearer (photo), Clara Bow, Louise Brooks Now, whether Frederica Sagor's Hollywood Babylon-like tales bear any resemblance to what actually happened at studio parties and private soirees, I can't tell. But on the professional side, one problem with the information found in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim is that studios invariably used numerous writers, whether male or female, in their projects. Usually, in those pre-Writers Guild days, only two or three contributors received final credit, not because of the uncredited writer's gender but in large part because the final product oftentimes had little — if anything — in common with the original source. While doing research for my Ramon Novarro biography, I went through various drafts, written by various hands, of his movies. A Certain Young Man, for instance, went through so many changes (including director, cast, and title), that the final film...

For reasons that can’t quite be articulated, just watch it.

We’re all quite lucky to have Warner Archive continually shelling out lost and rare and forgotten titles, always showcasing various bits and bobs of our shared cinematic history. But we’re even luckier when they pull up something so weird, so lost, so forgotten and so strangely watchable as Sh! The Octopus!

And then put that thing online for you to watch instantly. For free.

Here’s how they describe this little gem:

An oddity wrapped in a rarity surrounded by a parody, the seldom seen Sh! The Octopus is a true piece of pre-mondo mutant movie mayhem. Adapted from the stage plays The Gorilla (a parody of the “Old Dark House” murder mystery genre) and Sh, The Octopus (a parody of The Gorilla), Sh! moves with a breakneck pace, packing more plot twists into its compact running...

Joan Blondell on TCM: Dames, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am The Reckless Hour (1931) A young innocent almost ruins her life for the love of an unfeeling cad. Dir: John Francis Dillon. Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Conrad Nagel, H. B. Warner. Bw-71 mins. 7:15 Am Big City Blues (1932) A country boy finds love and heartache in New York City. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Joan Blondell, Eric Linden, Jobyna Howland. Bw-63 mins. 8:30 Am Central Park (1932) Small-town kids out to make it in the big city inadvertently get mixed up with gangsters. Dir: John G. Adolfi. Cast: Joan Blondell, Wallace Ford, Guy Kibbee. Bw-58 mins. 9:30 Am Lawyer Man (1933) Success corrupts a smooth-talking lawyer. Dir: William Dieterle. Cast: William Powell, Joan Blondell, David Landau. Bw-68 mins. 10:45 Am Traveling Saleslady (1935) A toothpaste tycoon's daughter joins his rival to teach him a lesson. Dir: Ray Enright.

Sitting Pretty (1948) Direction: Walter Lang Cast: Clifton Webb, Maureen O'Hara, Robert Young, Richard Haydn, Louise Allbritton, Randy Stuart, Ed Begley Screenplay: F. Hugh Herbert; from Gwen Davenport's novel Belvedere Oscar Movies Highly Recommended Clifton Webb, Sitting Pretty In the late 1940s, the bucolic suburb of Hummingbird Hill is shaken in its tranquil complacency by the scandalous actions of two middle-aged, unmarried men. Each of these elitist, academic bachelors threaten the norm of twin beds, parlor games, and ladies who lunch. One escapes his overbearing mother in persistent eavesdropping and snooping; the other inserts himself as a platonic wedge between a husband and wife, usurping household authority with conceited pleasure. The couple eventually separates under the strain, while the community itself is exposed for its flaws and hypocrisy. The convention of the two-parent, heterosexual family and its corresponding social order is besieged from within by men who exist outside the tradition.

This Halloween at midnight, veteran writer-editor Paul Castiglia launches a blog to preview his forthcoming book, Scared Silly: Classic Hollywood Horror-comedies. The blog can accessed here.

Castiglia’s blog and book will offer readers a fun overview of horror-comedy films spanning the 1920s through 1966, the year Don Knotts’ The Ghost and Mr. Chicken was released. “In my mind, ‘The Ghost and Mr. Chicken’ was the last traditional horror-comedy, devoid of PG elements that would pepper later efforts,” said Castiglia.

Also covered will be horror-comedy entries in famous film series including The Little Rascals and The Bowery Boys, and efforts by comedians wildly popular in their day but less well-known now like Wheeler & Woolsey, Hugh Herbert and Olsen & Johnson. Of note to fans of oddball cinema is the inclusion of Brown & Carney, a team pre-fabricated by Rko to compete with Abbott & Costello and Mitchell & Petrillo, the latter aping Jerry Lewis so...

Almost every DVD features a blooper reel, containing all the outtakes from a particular film. Before DVD. Recently, Tropic Thunder released three full 10-minute mags of outtakes on DVD. But it wasn't always this way. I remember that in the age of VHS, ABC would host television specials a couple times a year featuring all the Hollywood bloopers. Back in the 1930's, Warner Bros would release a yearly collection of "Breakdowns," which would air between double features. A while ago, Go Into The Story posted a Warner Bros Blooper Reel from 1937. It's amazing how different bloopers were back in the earlier days of Hollywood. The "Breakdowns of 1936" features Humphrey Bogart, George Brent, Bette Davis, Glenda Farrell, Errol Flynn, Dick Foran, Kay Francis, Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Boris Karloff, Barton MacLane, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, and Claude Rains. Watch the clip after the jump.