John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison)
(May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979)

On April 7, 1970, the legendary actor John Wayne won his first
—and only—acting Academy Award, for his star turn in the
director Henry Hathaway’s Western True Grit.

Wayne appeared in some 150 movies over the course of his long
and storied career. He established his tough, rugged, uniquely
American screen persona most vividly in the many acclaimed
films he made for the directors John Ford and Howard Hawks
from the late 1940s into the early 1960s. He earned his first
Oscar nomination, in the Best Actor category, for Sands of Iwo
Jima (1949). The Alamo (1960), which Wayne produced, directed
and  starred in, earned a Best Picture nomination.

1969

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989)

Bette Davis, a Hollywood legend whose "raw, unbridled intensity
kept her at the top of her profession for 50 years," as Encyclopedia Britannica put it, was born on this day in history, April 5, 1908.

A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the first thespian
to accrue ten nominations.

    
1931  (Bette Davis film debut)

  
      

1989  (Final film role)
      
      
      
     

On March 15, 1972, The Godfather—a three-hour epic
chronicling the lives of the Corleones, an Italian-
American crime family led by the powerful Vito
Corleone (Marlon Brando)—was released in theaters.

The Godfather was adapted from the best-selling book
of the same name by Mario Puzo, a novelist who grew
up in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen and got his start
writing pulp stories for men’s magazines. Controversy
surrounded the film from the beginning: Soon after
Paramount Pictures announced its production, the
Italian-American Civil Rights League held a rally in
Madison Square Garden, claiming the film would
amount to a slur against Italian Americans. The
uproar only increased publicity for the movie.

Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004)

‘The Godfather’ of filmmaking, Francis Ford Coppola.

Robert Blake, as ‘Mickey’ in the "Our Gang", shorts (1942).

 
Robert Blake in “Baretta” which ran on ABC-TV from 1975 to 1978.

Actor Robert Blake, best known as the star of the 1970s TV drama
Baretta and the crime film In Cold Blood (1967), died Thursday at
his home in Los Angeles. He had long-term heart issues and spent
the last few years listening to jazz music, playing his guitar and
watching classic movies.

SANDY KOZEL