Cara Williams Movies
The product of a broken home, Cara Williams was still a preteen when she was taken by her mother from her hometown of Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Williams' first professional acting job was supplying vocal impressions of famous movie stars for animated cartoons. At 17, Williams was signed to a 20th Century Fox contract, but few of her subsequent film roles were large enough to attract notice. Her fortunes improved when she replaced Judy Holliday in the Broadway production of Born Yesterday (1950); thereafter, her film and TV roles increased in size and prominence. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of a sex-starved farm woman in The Defiant Ones (1958). By virtue of her flaming red hair and acute comic timing, Williams was touted as "the new Lucille Ball" on the CBS sitcoms Pete and Gladys (1961) and The Cara Williams Show (1964). Her TV efforts were not particularly popular, but she had a powerful ally in the form of actor/producer Keefe Brasselle -- who was the best friend of CBS programming head James Aubrey. When Brasselle fell out of favor and Aubrey's regime toppled, Williams' stardom diminished. She went on to play character roles on-stage and in films, and was briefly a regular on the late-'70s TV series Rhoda. From 1952 through 1959, Cara Williams was the wife of actor John Barrymore Jr., by whom she had a son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Cole Porter Broadway musical Something for the Boys was brought to the screen by 20th Century Fox with three new non-Porter tunes thrown in. The dated libretto (by Herbert and Dorothy Fields) involves a crumbling Southern plantation which is converted into a home for servicemen's wives. Running the operation are three cousins: Michael O'Shea, Vivian Blaine, and, from the South American branch of the family, Carmen Miranda. When money runs out, the threesome contrive to put on a fundraising show -- which of course looks far too expensive to break even, but since Carmen Miranda's in the picture, who knows. Perry Como makes his movie debut in Something for the Boys singing a handful of pleasant songs, while Judy Holliday shows up in a funny bit as a defense-plant welder with peculiar dental problems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmen Miranda, Michael O'Shea, (more)
- 1943
An Iowa drugstore owner (Don Ameche) becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence. The grieving father is shown the error of his assumption by the ghost of his grandfather (Harry Carey), who through flashbacks details the good things about the son's short term on Earth, and the wonderful life that the druggist himself has enjoyed. Frances Dee plays Don Ameche's wife, while Ann Rutherford portrays his son's girl (who in turn is played in a flashback sequence by former Little Rascal Darla Hood). Happy Land was suitable wartime propaganda, though it doesn't play quite as movingly today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Frances Dee, (more)
