Hollywood Icons: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation

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When we think of Old Hollywood there are a few performers that come to mind and Fred Astaire is certainly one of them. Fred Astaire starred alongside some of the biggest actors and actress in Hollywood throughout his film career. Astaire was very much an all-rounder of a performer he could sing, act and without a doubt he could dance. Fred Astaire was a brilliant choreographer and is credited for ten of his movies including Top Hat and Funny Face. His tv variety show An Evening with Fred Astaire won an incredible nine Emmy awards.

I FELT MOST PROUD TO BE PART OF THE COMMUNITY LAST YEAR WHEN"I interviewed Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union on my show and they talked about their love for their daughter."The French writer-director found global visibility with her 2019 period lesbian romance, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which won best screenplay and the Queer Palm at Cannes. But Sciamma has been exploring queer identity in her work for years, notably in 2011's Tomboy. Behind the scenes, Sciamma is a staunch advocate for female directors and was a key organizer of the 2018 women's protest at Cannes. MY MENTOR IS"Neil Landau ( Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead), who has been a friend, a counselor and a lifeline since I wrote the first draft of Pose in his TV Drama Pilot workshop at UCLA." Angela Lansbury is an English actress who discovered her talent for acting when she moved to America with her mother. In her film debut Gaslight, Lansbury earned herself an Academy Award nomination and again the following year for her performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray. At 96 years of age, Angela Lansbury has shown her talents on film, tv and theatre for over seven decades. She is probably best known for her role as Jessica Fox in the crime drama Murder, She Wrote. From Queer as Folkin 1999 through acclaimed dramas Bob & Rose, A Very English Scandaland 2019's Years and Years, LGBTQ stories have played a prominent role in Davies' award-winning TV projects. He'll double down on queer storytelling with HBO Max's Boys, set to explore the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Sophia Loren is an Italian film actress who earned international success for her role in classic Hollywood movies. Sophia Loren was widely recognised for her beauty and acting talents, delivering both comedic and dramatic performances throughout her career. Sophia Loren won an Academy Award in 1962, she made history as the first performer to win an Academy Award for a foreign-language role withher performance in the French film Two Women.

RKO: Radio-Keith-Orpheum, RKO Pictures was founded in 1928 when David Sarnoff, general manager of RCA andJoseph Kennedy’s FBO merged together. When RKO formed they declared that they would only make films with sound and that they did. RKO had stars such as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant signed with them for movies. Some recognisable films that RKO are responsible for during the Golden Age of Hollywood are King Kong, Citizen Kane, Top Hat and Notorious. RKO also distributed films such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio Ava Gardner was an American film actress who was scouted by MGM because of her utter beauty. Throughout her acting career, Ava went on to perform in a huge range of films from musicals, romance, drama and sci-fi. Her performance in Mogambo was recognised and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Aside from her acting career, Ava Gardner was also in the spotlight for her highly publicised marriage to singer Frank Sinatra.I FELT MOST PROUD TO BE PART OF THE COMMUNITY LAST YEAR WHEN"An openly gay man became a true contender as a presidential candidate." I FIRST FELT REPRESENTED WHEN I SAW" Norman … Is That You?starring Pearl Bailey and Redd Foxx. It was a gay Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Way ahead of its time."

THE PERSON I THINK DOESN'T GET ENOUGH CREDIT FOR THEIR ACTIVISM"Alexandra Billings. I've been making art with her for decades, and she is always raising the voices of the people in the room around her through her art, teaching and advocacy."Vivien Leigh was a British film actress and is best known for her portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Not only did she win this award once but twice, she also won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. In both roles Leigh played strong-willed Southern women. High Society is one of those classic old Hollywood films that just stays with you. The catchy songs and beautiful costumes are hard to forget. The film follows Tracy Samantha Lord, played by Grace Kelly as she prepares for her wedding day she is wrapped up in love triangle with her ex-husband Jazz artist C.K. Dexter Haven, played by Bing Crosby and magazine reporter, Frank Sinatra. Both men work hard to convince Tracy that he is the best choice, but Tracy can only choose one. With Sinatra and Crosby in one movie, you just know the music will be spectacular. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) I FIRST FELT REPRESENTED WHEN I SAW"Bugs Bunny outsmart the status quo with a wink and a witty remark." I FIRST FELT REPRESENTED WHEN I SAW"Billy Crystal in Soap. Suddenly, a clever, funny, kind, hot gay man on TV, that's still rare."