The Many Sides of Ray Milland

Ray the Lover ...

             Ray and Dorothy Lamour in The Jungle Princess (1936)

Ray the Adventurer .... 

          Robert Preston, Gary Cooper and Ray in Beau Geste (1939)

and Ray the Drunk.

                                 The Lost Weekend (1945)

Petticoat Fever with an Italian Twist

I have never seen any of Bob's movies in any language besides English.  Of course his movies were released worldwide, and that northeastern English voice was dubbed in many languages when originally released.  Would love to hear some of the voices used and the effect they would have on the Montgomery persona. 

And, of course, the herald used to advertise the movie would be translated as well.  Petticoat Fever was no doubt a challenge to translate.  In Italian the movie's name becomes finalmente una donna! or Finally a Woman!  A rather more understandable title.
 

Fortunately, no translation or changes were needed for the montages used in the herald.

And that outfit Bob wore with the mukluks ... funny in any language. 

Fast and Loose and Handsome

This photo of Bob was taken in 1939 by Laszlo Willinger for the movie Fast and Loose.  I like the clarity of the photo, the perfectly combed hair, the deep furrows on his forehead, his long "pianist" hands ... the high very starched white collar works for Bob because of his long neck, but it is a style of shirt that fortunately was short-lived.  Whatever, the 35-year-old Bob was a handsome dude for sure. 

How Could Any Woman Possibly Say No

                      Bob and June Walker in War Nurse (1930)

Thanks for the Memories, Mr. Montgomery

Robert Montgomery died on this day, September 27th, in 1981.  That is 35 years ago.  A short period of time looking back as a senior.  A lifetime and more for a youth.  He was 76, a decent lifespan for a man of his time, but it is sad the cancer that ended his life forced him to spend his final weeks in a hospital in Manhattan.  Not the death one wishes.  The country squire he had become would have imagined, hoped for a peaceful death at his beautiful estate with his family in attendance.  It would have been a more fitting death for the man.  But even Mr. Montgomery could not control his final destiny.

           View of the estate from the terrace of Bob's final home,
                       Hollow Brook in the Canaan Valley, CT.

In the April, 1982 issue of Architectural Digest, good friend Brendan Gill wrote an article on Robert, which ends with the following tribute.

"For a conservative Republican from an old family, Montgomery possessed a rather moody restlessness of spirit.  At a certain point as he grew older, nothing would do but that he and Buffy sell the Hook Pond property and move on to new adventures --- a summer place on the water in North Haven, Maine, and in winter a beautiful ancient farmhouse in the Canaan Valley in northwestern Connecticut.  It was here in 1981, a short drive from the family house overlooking the Hudson at Fishkill, NY (where he was born), that Montgomery died. "

                A portion of the main residence at Hollow Brook.

"He had played many roles in his lifetime, off-camera and on-; the slender playboy of Our Blushing Brides had become a no-longer-slender country squire, but the grace of the performer remained what it had always been:  a prompting to merriment, an occasion for applause."

You are missed Mr. Montgomery.  The smile.  Ah, yes, the smile.  Thanks for sharing.