Miriam Hopkins

Miriam Hopkins

Birth : 1902-10-18, Savannah, Georgia, USA

Death : 1972-10-09

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She first signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930, working with Ernst Lubitsch and Joel McCrea, among many others. Her long-running feud with Bette Davis was publicized for effect. Later she became a pioneer of TV drama. Hopkins was a distinguished Hollywood hostess, who moved in intellectual and creative circles. At age 20, Hopkins became a chorus girl in New York City. In 1930, she signed with Paramount Pictures, and made her official film debut in Fast and Loose. Her first great success was in the 1931 horror drama film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which she portrayed the character Ivy Pearson, a prostitute who becomes entangled with Jekyll and Hyde. Hopkins received rave reviews, but because of the potential controversy of the film and her character, many of her scenes were cut before the official release, reducing her screen time to approximately five minutes. Nevertheless, her career ascended swiftly thereafter and in 1932 she scored her breakthrough in Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise, where she proved her charm and wit as a beautiful and jealous pickpocket. During the pre-code Hollywood of the early 1930s, she appeared in The Smiling Lieutenant, The Story of Temple Drake and Design for Living, all of which were box office successes and critically acclaimed. Her pre-Code films were considered risqué at the time, with The Story of Temple Drake depicting a rape scene and Design for Living featuring a ménage à trois with Fredric March and Gary Cooper. She also had success during the remainder of the decade with the romantic comedy The Richest Girl in the World (1934), the historical drama Becky Sharp (1935), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, Barbary Coast (1935), These Three (1936) (the first of four films with director William Wyler) and The Old Maid (1939). Hopkins was one of the first actresses approached to play the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night (1934). However, she rejected the part, and Claudette Colbert was cast instead. She did audition for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, having one advantage none of the other candidates had: she was a native Georgian. But the part went to Vivien Leigh. Both Colbert and Leigh won Oscars for their performances. Hopkins had well-publicized fights with her arch-enemy Bette Davis (Hopkins believed Davis was having an affair with Hopkins' husband at the time), when they co-starred in their two films The Old Maid (1939) and Old Acquaintance (1943). Davis admitted to enjoying very much a scene in Old Acquaintance in which she shakes Hopkins forcefully during a scene where Hopkins' character makes unfounded allegations against Davis's. There were even press photos taken with both divas in a boxing ring with gloves up and director Vincent Sherman between the two. Hopkins was a television pioneer, performing in teleplays in three decades, spanning the late 1940s through the late 1960s, in such programs as The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949), Lux Video Theatre (1951-1955) and even an episode of The Flying Nun in 1969. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures at 1701 Vine Street, and one for television at 1708 Vine Street.

Profile

Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins

Movies

Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Ivy Pearson (archive footage)
A look at the forces that shaped Pre-Code Hollywood and brought about the strict enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934.
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Self as Millie Drake (archive footage)
Combining unprecedented access to Davis' vast personal archives with original interviews, this documentary reveals a startling portrait of one of Hollywood's most gifted and enigmatic stars.
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
A look at actresses who starred in films with thought-provoking subjects made between 1930 and July 1934, before the Hollywood Production Code —the infamous Hays Code— was enforced.
Savage Intruder
Katherine Parker
An enigmatic young man manipulates his way into working at the decaying mansion of a once prolific, but now reclusive and alcoholic, movie star named Katharine Packard. While the rest of the house staff become suspicious of Vic's intentions, the aging movie queen is smitten. But as Vic begins behaving in more and more erratic ways, it becomes clear that he's far more sinister than his demeanor implies.
The Chase
Mrs. Reeves
The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.
Fanny Hill
Maude Brown
Cult filmmaker Russ Meyer takes on directorial duties in Zugsmith s adaptation of the notorious erotic classic Fanny Hill. Set in pre-Victorian London, young Fanny finds herself taken in by a madame at one of the city s most elite brothels. A strange mix of Zugsmith s surreal slapstick and Meyer s trademark buxom beauties and thoughtful satire, Fanny Hill is an over-the-top saga of low-rent thrills in high-brow settings.
The Children's Hour
Lily Mortar
A private school for young girls is scandalized when one spiteful student accuses the two young women who run the school of being in a relationship.
Summer Pavilion
Theresa Durand
In an old Louisiana plantation, the furnishings and the once great family are fading fast.The matriarch desperately tries to hold on to the gazebo that's slated for destruction as part of a building project, as well as holding her daughter to an unwanted marriage, even though she loves the builder.
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
Mrs. Shipton aka 'The Duchess'
Four undesirables run out of a mining town and become marooned in a deserted mountain cabin during a raging snowstorm.
Carrie
Julie Hurstwood
Carrie's dreams of adventure in the big city are quickly squashed as she discovers all that awaits her there is a bleak life of grueling and poorly paid factory work—that is, until a traveling salesman named Drouet steps into her life and changes her outlook.
The Mating Season
Fran Carleton
Ellen McNulty leaves her New Jersey hamburger stand and heads west to pay a surprise visit to her son and his new bride. When Ellen arrives, her daughter-in-law mistakes her for the maid she has hired for a big party they are throwing. Rather than cause any embarrassment, Ellen goes along with the charade, which leads to many complications.
The Heiress
Lavinia Penniman
Dull and plain Catherine lives with her emotionally distant father, Dr. Sloper, in 1840s New York. Her days are empty — filled with little more than needlepoint. Enter handsome Morris Townsend, a dashing social climber with his eye on the spinster's heart and substantial inheritance.
Old Acquaintance
Millie Drake
Two writers, friends since childhood, fight over their books and lives.
A Gentleman After Dark
Flo Melton
A greedy woman betrays her jewel thief husband to the police, for the reward. Her husband's friend, a detective, adopts the couple's child and raises her as his own. Eighteen years later the husband, still in prison, finds out that his ex-wife is now blackmailing their daughter. He vows to break out and put a stop to her once and for all.
Lady with Red Hair
Mrs. Leslie Carter
An actress hopes to regain her lost son by making it to the top.
Virginia City
Julia Hayne
Union officer Kerry Bradford escapes from a Confederate prison and races to intercept $5 million in gold destined for Confederate coffers. A Confederate sympathizer and a Mexican bandit, each with their own stake in the loot, stand in his way.
Breakdowns of 1940
Herself
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1940.
The Old Maid
Delia Lovell Ralston
The lives of two cousins are complicated by the return of an ex-boyfriend and an illegitimate child.
Wise Girl
Susan Fletcher
Snooty heiress decides to track down her dead sister's kids, who are living a Bohemian life with their uncle in Greenwich Village. Once she finds them, she discovers that the Bohemian life is fun and free of the constraints her country-club life places on her. But she decides to take the uncle to court anyway to free him from the kids so he can paint.
Woman Chases Man
Virginia Travis
A pretty architect devises a wild scheme to convince a handsome millionaire to fund a new housing development project.
The Woman I Love
Mme. Helene Maury
In World War I France, a pilot falls in love with the wife of his friend and superior officer.
Men Are Not Gods
Ann Williams
Actor Edmund Davey becomes a star overnight when his wife and co-star teams up with the secretary of a noted stage critic to produce a glowing review of his 'Othello'.
These Three
Martha Dobie
Martha and Karen graduate from college and turn an old Massachusetts farm into a school for girls. The friends are aided in their venture by local doctor Joe Cardin, who begins a relationship with Karen, and a prominent woman whose granddaughter, Mary, later enrolls in the new school. Mary soon reveals herself to be a spiteful child and tells a scandalous lie about Martha and Joe that threatens to destroy the lives of all involved.
Splendor
Phyllis Manning Lorrimore
When Brighton Lorrimore returns home with his new bride, Phyllis, his family makes their disappointment in his choice obvious. Facing bankruptcy and the loss of their mansion and social position, they had hoped that Brighton would marry wealthy heiress and family friend, Edith Gilbert.
Barbary Coast
Mary 'Swan' Rutledge
Mary Rutledge arrives from the east, finds her fiancé dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Luis Chamalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in San Francisco in the 1850s. She falls in love with miner Jim Carmichael and takes his gold dust at the wheel. She goes after him, Chamalis goes after her with intent to harm Carmichael.
Becky Sharp
Becky Sharp
The first feature length film to use three-strip Technicolor film. Adapted from a play that was adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's book "Vanity Fair", the film looks at the English class system during the Napoleonic Wars era.
The Richest Girl in the World
Dorothy Hunter
Millionairess Dorothy Hunter is tired of finding out that her boyfriends love her for her money, and equally weary of losing eligible beaus who don't want to be considered fortune-hunters. That's why she trades identities with her secretary Sylvia before embarking on her next romance with Tony Travers. This causes numerous complications not only for Dorothy and Tony but for Sylvia, whose own husband Philip is not the most patient of men.
She Loves Me Not
Curly Flagg
A cabaret dancer witnesses a murder and is forced to hide from gangsters by disguising herself as a male Princeton student.
Hollywood on Parade No. B-1
Short film in which Frankie Darro as a Telegram delivery boy visits various Hollywood locations to make deliveries. He visits the Los Angeles Pier and a Gala Hollywood Premiere.
All of Me
Lydia Darrow
A professor tires of the direction his life is going and wants to move west, but his girlfriend doesn't understand why he is so dissatisfied.
Design for Living
Gilda Farrell
An independent woman can't choose between the two men she loves.
The Stranger's Return
Louise
A divorcée leaves New York to visit her grandfather's farm and recover in the Midwest, where she unexpectedly falls in love with a married farmer.
The Story of Temple Drake
Temple Drake
The coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge is stranded at a bootleggers’ hide-out, subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence, and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely.
Trouble in Paradise
Lily
Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.
The World and the Flesh
Maria Yaskaya
During the 1917 Russian revolution, a group of artistocrats find themselves in the custody of a brutal Communist revolutionary. He lusts after one of them, a ballerina, and gives her an ultimatum: give in to him or her friends will face the firing squad.
Dancers in the Dark
Gloria Bishop
A bandleader tries to romance a dancer by sending her boyfriend, a musician, out of town. However, things get complicated when he finds out that a gangster has designs on her too.
Two Kinds of Women
Emma Krull
The daughter of a senator from South Dakota visits Manhattan for the first time, eager to see the sights of the big city. While there, she finds herself caught up in an affair with a married man, whose wife soon commits suicide. Complications ensue.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Ivy Pearson
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.
24 Hours
Rosie Dugan
A nightclub singer is carrying on an affair with a married man. When she is found murdered, her lover is suspected of the crime.
The Smiling Lieutenant
Princess Anna
A simple wink, intended by Austrian palace guard Lt. Nikolaus von Preyn for girlfriend, Franzi, is accidentally intercepted -- and misread -- by the visiting Princess Anna. As a result, the soldier has no choice but to marry the royal lady and move with her to the neighboring kingdom of Flausenthurm. His girlfriend follows to continue the romance and, subversively, give Princess Anna tips on how to keep her husband satisfied.
The House That Shadows Built
(archive footage)
The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. It was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release and includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.
Fast and Loose
Marion Lenox
A wealthy family is thrown into turmoil when the daughter falls for the family chauffeur and the son begins to keep company with a chorus girl.
The Home Girl
A short film featuring the debut of actress Miriam Hopkins.