
Acting
Josephine Whittell
Born — Died
1883-11-29 — 1961-06-01
Place of birth
San Francisco, California, USA
Known for
Acting
Credits
58 titles
Known for
7.3A young social climber wins the heart of a beautiful heiress but his former girlfriend's pregnancy stands in the way of his ambition.
A Place in the Sun
1951
7.1A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
A Star Is Born
1954
6.6Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
Ziegfeld Girl
1941
7.2A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
The Women
1939
6.9An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
The Fountainhead
1949
7.2A spirited heiress wishing to break into theatre on her own merit arrives at a boardinghouse where aspiring young actresses and showgirls are brought together through their cynicism and disappointments.
Stage Door
1937
Film credits
1950s · 7 titles
7.3A young social climber wins the heart of a beautiful heiress but his former girlfriend's pregnancy stands in the way of his ambition.
A Place in the Sun
1951
7.1A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
A Star Is Born
1954
5.1Eric Wainwright, a busy impresario, is besieged by hordes of wannabe concert stars, eager for their big break. One of them is Cynthia Potter, a talented pianist... but she can't get in to see him. When she learns that Wainwright is auditioning young musicians for a children's concert tour, Cynthia dons braces and bobby sox and passes herself off as a child prodigy.
Too Young to Kiss
1951
6.4Jack Early is a photographer who will stop at nothing to climb his way to the very top of the success ladder. On the strength of his sheer tenacity, he gets a job with a major newspaper, and it's not long before he's made a name for himself by charming a notorious crime boss, Nick Palmer, into allowing himself to be photographed. Palmer takes him under his wing, but Early decides to bite the hand that feeds him and sets Palmer and another crime boss, Colton, against one another.
Shakedown
1950
6.7After being shown what hypnotism can do, a doctor starts to study it in depth. When he experiments on a friend's wife, she regresses into an early life, that of Bridey Murphy.
The Search for Bridey Murphy
1956
8.0Feature film using characters from the popular radio show and the pioneering 1949 TV series, about a Bronx family coping with everyday problems.
The Goldbergs
1950
NRA trilogy of individual stories depicting an account of crucial moments in the lives of three different individuals given a chance to live with dignity and self-respect: one, a young thief from Casablanca; another, an immigrant doctor brought to the United States; and the third, a Holocaust survivor.
The Big Moment
1954
1940s · 20 titles
6.6Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
Ziegfeld Girl
1941
6.9An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
The Fountainhead
1949
6.8Two co-workers in a music shop dislike one another during business hours but unwittingly carry on an anonymous romance through the mail.
In the Good Old Summertime
1949
7.1Tacey and Harry King are a suburban couple with three sons and a serious need of a babysitter. Tacey puts an ad in the paper for a live-in babysitter, and the ad is answered by Lynn Belvedere. But when she arrives, she turns out to be a man. And not just any man, but a most eccentric, outrageously forthright genius with seemingly a million careers and experiences behind him.
Sitting Pretty
1948
6.2When college student Bill Perry grows inappropriately fond of psychology professor Wilma Tuttle and tries to rape her, her self-defense inadvertently kills him. Wilma then moves Bill's corpse to a nearby beach and makes his death look like the result of a cliff diving accident. But her guilt over the incident builds, and Lt. Ted Dorgan begins to suspect that Wilma knows more than she's letting on.
The Accused
1949
7.4A homely maid and a scarred ex-GI meet at the cottage where she works and where he was to spend his honeymoon prior to his accident. The two develop a bond and agree to marry, more out of loneliness than love. The romantic spirit of the cottage, however, overtakes them. They soon begin to look beautiful to each other, but no one else.
The Enchanted Cottage
1945
6.0Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the Virginian finds that his old pal Steve is mixed up with black-hatted Trampas and his rustlers...then finds himself at the head of a posse after said rustlers; and Molly hates the violent side of frontier life.
The Virginian
1946
6.6Steve Morgan kills a man in a holdup and hitches a ride to Los Angeles with Fergie. At a gas station, they pick up two women. Encountering a roadblock, Morgan takes over and persuades the party to spend the night at an unoccupied beach house. The police close in as one by one, the others learn that Morgan is a killer.
The Devil Thumbs a Ride
1947
5.6A psychiatrist's patient, a nutty heiress, travels west to find gold in her grandfather's abandoned mine. The psychiatrist, unable to talk her out of it, decides to follow her out there.
Lady in a Jam
1942
5.2Dinah Sheldon is a student at an exclusive girl's school who starts campaigning for women's rights. Her minister father and her boyfriend Tom Wade do not approve.
Adventure in Baltimore
1949
5.7Jennifer Smith heads a "Consumer Reports"-type company and her reputation for honesty is her greatest asset. While out boating one day she encounters a secret prototype submarine piloted by Bill Craig. Trying to explain her absence after her boat sinks becomes very difficult as Bill and his cohorts attempt to discredit her story.
The Lady Takes a Sailor
1949
6.0Two rival tugboat captains compete for local business.
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940
6.4When a newspaper accuses a wealthy socialite of being a homewrecker, she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit. The publication's frazzled head editor now must find a way to discredit her.
Easy to Wed
1946
5.5Raised by Natalie Brennan, a flamboyant and irresponsible mother, Ziggy Brennan gets involved in hustling men at a young age. She hangs around with a wild crowd and learns gets her "street smarts" first from her mother, who wants everyone to think they are sisters, and then from Denny Reagan, an older man. He starts teaching her his tricks of the trade and she falls right in line with his crooked ways. Then one night she meets Martin J. 'Mart' Neilson, a tall, handsome, honest farmer boy who's a sailor and they fall in love. While he's away fighting the war, she discovers she's pregnant.
That Brennan Girl
1946
6.5Newlyweds drag their lawyer friend to a mountain resort on a search for a missing magician.
Having Wonderful Crime
1945
6.0A young man who steals valuable Oriental objects for a crooked antique dealer is hunted down by the police after his latest Chinatown robbery turns violent.
Chinatown at Midnight
1949
6.5Former child star Jackie Cooper headlines this sentimental behind-the-scenes comedy drama. He plays an ex-child star who now jerks sodas for a living in Hollywood. He gets back into the movie business when he overhears a conversation between producers discussing their newest prodigy. Cooper butts in and suggests the producers remake Skippy (a real-life 1931 film that made young Cooper a star). The bigwigs like the idea and then hire Cooper to become the boy's acting coach. Once back on the backlot, Cooper finds both trouble and romance while helping the young boy adjust to life as a movie star.
Glamour Boy
1941
7.3Dwight Dawson, who runs an unsuccessful success school, stages a contest to find the biggest failure in the USA, for publicity value when the "dope" takes his course. But winner Tad Page is contented with his idle, lazy life and threatens to convert Dawson's other students to his philosophy. Dawson captalizes on Tad's attraction to Claire Harris to win him over; but will Tad find out Claire is really engaged to Dawson?
The Magnificent Dope
1942
6.5Henry Aldrich wants to win a trip to Alaska.
Life with Henry
1941
While playing baseball near the home of wealthy hypochondriac, Mr. Morton, the gang inadvertently breaks one of his windows. This mishap coincides with a plan hatched by Morton's wife to get her husband's mind off his imaginary illnesses by adopting some children.
Kiddie Kure
1940
1930s · 28 titles
7.2A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
The Women
1939
7.2A spirited heiress wishing to break into theatre on her own merit arrives at a boardinghouse where aspiring young actresses and showgirls are brought together through their cynicism and disappointments.
Stage Door
1937
7.3A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her happiness.
Baby Face
1933
6.4After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.
It's a Gift
1934
7.0Blondie and Dagwood are about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary but this happy occasion is marred when the bumbling Dagwood gets himself involved in a scheme that is promising financial ruin for the Bumstead family.
Blondie
1938
7.0A wealthy man hires a poor girl to play his mistress in order to get more attention from his neglectful family.
Fifth Avenue Girl
1939
6.1While in Shanghai reporting on the Sino-Japanese war, Chris Hunter, a shrewd news reporter, meets pilot Alma Harding. She does not trust him, but he manages to hire her as his assistant. During an adventurous expedition through the jungles of South America, her opinion of him begins to change.
Too Hot to Handle
1938
8.0Fay Wray plays Jean Hastings, the wealthy and spoiled scion of a factory-owning family led by her irrepressible grandmother. Sparks fly when Jean meets Jim Devlin, the labor leader who’s spearheading a tense worker’s strike against the factory. After circumstances force Jean and Jim to spend a night together in his cabin, she begins questioning her family’s ruthless tactics. This hard-to-see Columbia film by British director Roy William Neill not only features Wray as a brunette but also includes an explosive depiction of labor strife. (Block Cinema)
Mills of the Gods
1934
6.8Sassy and ambitious waitress Mary Evans amuses and befriends amiable seldom-sober Hollywood film director Max Carey when he stumbles into her restaurant. Max invites Mary to his film premiere and, after a night of drinking and carousing, Mary is granted a screen test. A studio contract follows. Just as Mary finds her dreams coming true, Carey’s life and career begins its descent.
What Price Hollywood?
1932
10.0To boost the ratings of a kiddie show, the host agrees to take guardianship of of a bratty boy who has a lovely older sister.
Easy to Take
1936
6.8Cora, an heiress who gives it all up for the excitement of looking for a job and living on her own, meets up with unemployed and flat broke Dick. The two of them embark on a wild night of gambling and winning, where everything they touch turns to gold. Pretty soon they're in love and, to the horror of Cora's father, married.
Lucky Night
1939
6.0We find con-man Ingraham Steward living by his wits by steering wealthy Paris visitors to sellers of fake paintings and other assorted dodges. He and his wife, Agatha, have been separated for 15 years, but he promises to give their daughter, Joyce, a lavish wedding at his "château" in France. The fact that he doesn't have a château in France is just a minor trifle. He induces the caretaker, Bill Cherau, of a large country estate to allow it to be used for the wedding. The wedding party arrives and Bill falls madly in love with Joyce and she with him, but a gal has gotta do what a gal has gotta do, and her intended marriage to stuffed-shirt Horace Miller stays on the books. But Steward has a change of heart and he tells one and all that he and his friends, Von Gersdorff, Lefevre, Iznamof, Clifton Summitt and Sasch, are all frauds and crooks. Horace and his family stalk out, which is just fine with Joyce as her true love, the caretaker, is waiting on the grounds.
Beg, Borrow or Steal
1937
5.7A young doctor escapes the slums of New York City to make his fortune as a Park Avenue doctor. When a fatal mistake results in tragedy his resolve to continue working is severely tested. Based on a novel by Fannie Hurst.
Symphony of Six Million
1932
5.7A small town politician, kept from marrying the love of his life, eventually marries another woman and his career ascends, but he secretly continues the relationship with his true love.
The Life of Vergie Winters
1934
7.0This pre-Code comedy-thriller centers on Robert Holden, a broke and discouraged veteran, who meets fellow American Elinor Green at a cafe in Paris. After their first encounter, Holden's attempt to return Green's thought-to-be stolen purse ends up rendering him a stowaway on board a ship bound for America. Also aboard is a collection of characters, including Green's banker fiancé, a famed scientist, and an opera singer. Romance begins to blossom between Holden and Green, just as a radiogram claims that an “infernal machine,” or bomb, is aboard the ship. Quickly each passenger accuses the others of planting the bomb until eventually Holden, jealous of Green's attention to her undeserving fiancé, falsely admits to being the culprit. In his role as assumed perpetrator, Holden tests the group further.
Infernal Machine
1933
10.0Newly arrived in the nineteenth century court of Emperor Francis 1st of Austria Countess Valerie happens to overhear a young pianist and advises him to play with more feeling, for he is playing a piece by Franz Schubert, her favorite composer. Unknown to Valerie, the man is Schubert, and he playfully keeps his identity a secret. Valerie visits Franz the next day, and he teaches her to play the violin part of a new song he has written, and she hopes for romance though he still longs for his lost love Caroline. But as a week passes, he forgets Caroline and returns Valerie's affections. When Franz is evicted, there is much tumult, but he is finally called to court where his music is celebrated, and Valerie and he are reunited.
Love Time
1934
6.8Businesswoman Claire King is the daughter of a powerful advertising executive. When Claire marries humble copywriter Bill Landin, she wants to use her influence to help her husband get ahead, but he will have none of it.
Women Are Like That
1938
8.0Heiress Hedda Nillson certain that her family is about to lose all its money, takes a job as a maid. After the usual trials and tribulations, Hedda falls in love with humble chauffeur Eric Landstrom.
Servants' Entrance
1934
7.3A New York socialite travels to Shanghai to visit her ailing aunt and falls in love with a Russian banker, who harbors a family secret.
Shanghai
1935
6.0A fussy shopkeeper's life drastically changes when his wife takes in two homeless boys.
Boy Trouble
1939
6.5After a quarrel at their 25th wedding anniversary, Joe and Aggie Bruno decide to divorce each other, and both leave for Reno. So do their daughters Prudence and Pansy, but they want to get their parents back together. Joe and Aggie, accidentally, are becoming clients at the same law-firm, Wattles and Swift, which is the biggest and most successful in town.
Peach-o-Reno
1931
7.0A doctor working with the Bureau of Pure Foods and Drugs, uses radio broadcasts to expose fraudulent patent medicines.
Larceny on the Air
1937
9.0An eccentric musical family is kept in order by a talented daughter with modest ambitions.
Follow Your Heart
1936
6.2Set in a drugstore the boys take on to save a nice old lady from the clutches of the local charming crook.
Caught Plastered
1931
4.8Zani is an unusual young man who has spent his entire life in a zoo in Budapest. His only true friends are the zoo's animals. When Zani meets Eve, a young orphan girl, they fall in love. To be together Eve must somehow escape from her strict orphan school. When she does she and Zani must hide overnight in the zoo - where everyone is looking to find them.
Zoo in Budapest
1933
6.0An unhappily married newspaper reporter discovers she's being used as a pawn in a scheme to discredit the political candidate she's been assigned to write about.
Beware Of Ladies
1936
Another hotel-room mix-up with the suspicious wife, Grace King (Josephine Whittell), checking up on her husband, Ford King (Ford Sterling),who is trying to sell his jewelry line to a lady buyer, Frances Brown (Kitty McHugh). The house detective (Edgar Dearing) gets involved and the room-service waiter, (Billy Dooley), constantly gets himself and his tray knocked over.
All Business
1936
5.8Larry O'Roark is a boxer who's insanely posssesive and jealous of his fiancee, Jo. the sight of her and her employer, Mr. Lambert, at ringside during his big fight distracts Larry and he is knocked out. He then promises never to be jealous again and marries Jo. When she realizes that they're broke she asks Lambert for a job (she had quit on marrying Larry.) One thing leads to another and Larry, enraged with jealousy, end up killing Lambert. He then wanders off in a daze, and Jo takes the rap for the murder. Larry descends from his amnesiac fog just in time to interrupt the announcement of the jury's verdict in Jo's trial. then it's off to the chair for Larry. Or is it?
Jealousy
1934
1910s · 3 titles
9.0To keep his social-climbing wife and daughters in the lifestyle to which they are accustomed, wealthy George Hunter makes some large investments in the stock market, but the stocks crash and he loses a great deal of money. His wealthy aunt offers to bail the family out, but complications ensue.
The Climbers
1919
8.0When Drina Hilliard (Alice Brady) finishes college, she heads home to New York, where her mother Marie (Mrs. Gertrude Hillman) runs a millinery shop. On the way, she meets the handsome Blair Carson (Leslie Austen), but the budding love affair gets sidetracked as Drina begins working for her mother. Marie has been running a petty scam -- when a man buys a hat for his wife or sweetheart, she overcharges him and splits the difference with the woman. The Archives Du Film Du CNC holds a complete copy.
Marie, Ltd.
1919
NRBernice Bristol Flint, an attractive grass widow (a woman divorced or separated from her husband), associates herself intimately with a number of divorce attorneys who live well on their percentage from unscrupulously secured divorces carrying a large alimony.
Alimony
1917
