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Deanna Durbin: Three Husbands with Universal Pictures background [See previous post: "Deanna Durbin: Highest Paid Actress in the World."] By the time the 26-year-old Deanna Durbin’s film career was over, the movies’ personification of girl-next-door wholesomeness had been married twice: Durbin’s union with Universal Pictures assistant director Vaughn Paul ended in 1943. Two years later, she married another Universal employee, 43-year-old German-born writer-producer Felix Jackson, among whose screenwriting and/or producing credits were the James Stewart / Marlene Dietrich Western hit Destry Rides Again (1939), the well-regarded Ginger Rogers / David Niven comedy Bachelor Mother (1939), and several Deanna Durbin star vehicles, including Mad About Music, Hers to Hold, and Lady on a Train. Jackson, in fact, produced nearly all of her post-Joe Pasternak films of the mid-’40s, the one exception being The Amazing Mrs. Holliday. The last Jackson-Durbin collaboration was the 1947 critical and box-office misfire I’ll Be Yours, which came out as their marriage was crumbling. Deanna Durbin would...

Ann Blyth is Turner Classic Movies Star of the Evening tonight, as part of TCM's "The Essentials" film series. [Ann Blyth Movie Schedule.] Opera- and Broadway-trained Ann Blyth began her film career in the mid-1940s at Universal, appearing in light B musicals opposite Donald O'Connor and/or Peggy Ryan, among them The Merry Monahans, Chip Off the Old Block, and Babes on Swing Street. Blyth's big break came in 1945, when — following back surgery — she played Joan Crawford's pathologically selfish daughter Veda in Michael Curtiz's classic film noir-cum-melodrama Mildred Pierce. A well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination followed, and so did leads in darker, bigger-budgeted productions, among them Jules Dassin's Brute Force (1947), with Burt Lancaster; Zoltan Korda's A Woman's Vengeance (1948), opposite Charles Boyer; and Michael Gordon's film version of Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest (1948), a prequel to The Little Foxes. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any of Blyth's hard-to-find Universal titles.

After 12 seasons on the air, CBS' Hawaii Five-o finally came to an end. Unfortunately, it went out with more of a whimper than a bang.

Hawaii Five-o centers around Jack Lord and James MacArthur as detectives Steve McGarrett and Dan Williams who work for the fictional Hawaiian state police department. Others in the cast include Kam Fong, Herman Wedemeyer, Harry Endo, Zulu, Richard Denning, Al Harrington, Al Eben, Peggy Ryan, Glenn Cannon, Danny Kamekona, Moe Keale, Douglas Mossman, and Kwan Hi Lim. The show’s straightforward storytelling, fast-paced action and strong ensemble cast kept the show popular for years.

The last episode of the police series, number 278, is titled "Woe to Wo Fat." It was first aired on April 5, 1980. By this time in the show's history, both MacArthur (Danny "Danno" Willams) and Fong (Chin Ho Kelly) had left the series.

The third time might be the charm for both a Hawaii Five-o remake and a popular CBS star.

The original Hawaii Five-o series ran on CBS for 12 years, from 1968 until 1980. Jack Lord stars as Steve McGarrett, the leader of an elite branch of the fictional Hawaii State Police. His right-hand man is Dan "Dan-o" Williams (James MacArthur). Others in the cast include Kam Fong, Herman Wedemeyer, Harry Endo, Zulu, Richard Denning, Al Harrington, Al Eben, Peggy Ryan, Glenn Cannon, Danny Kamekona, Moe Keale, Douglas Mossman, and Kwan Hi Lim.

A revival series was first attempted in 1997, led by legendary producer Stephen J. Cannell. A pilot was filmed with Gary Busey in the lead role and several castmembers from the original series returned for the project. Lord was in ill health (he died in 1998) and didn't participate and the...

This Is The Life star Peggy Ryan has died from complications caused by two strokes, at the age of 80. The veteran actress and dancer passed away on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada's Sunrise Hospital, leaving behind her daughter Kerry English, son Sean Sherman, and five grandchildren. Ryan famously starred in more than two dozen movie musicals including Chip Off The Old Block, When Johnny Comes Marching Home and Mister Big and was well-known for her cinematic work with dance partner Donald O'Connor. The star made her acting debut in TV police series Hawaii Five-O in 1969 and ended her successful film career in 1953 with her final movie All Ashore with Mickey Rooney.