France, 1803: 11 years after the Revolution, a royalist underground is led by a new 'Scarlet Pimpernel', the Purple Mask, who rescues nobles in distress and kidnaps Napoleon's officials for ransom, aided by the spy services of a group of lovely models headed by Laurette (really the Duc de Latour's daughter). But even she doesn't know the Purple Mask's real identity as foppish dancing master Rene...
06-15-1955
1h 22m
THIS
HELLA
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
H. Bruce Humberstone
Production:
Universal International Pictures
Key Crew
Producer:
Howard Christie
Screenplay:
Oscar Brodney
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis (June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.
Although his early film roles were partly the result of his good looks, by the later half of the 1950's he became a notable and strong screen presence. He began proving himself to be a “fine dramatic actor,” having the range to act in numerous dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of "mediocre" films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films, and a musical. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.
He won his first serious recognition as a skilled dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in another drama, The Defiant Ones (1958). Curtis then gave what many believe was his best acting, in a completely different role, the comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). Thomson calls it an "outrageous film," and it was voted the number 1 funniest film in history from a survey done by the American Film Institute. It costarred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. That was followed by Blake Edwards’ comedy Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. They were both “frantic comedies,” and displayed "his impeccable comic timing." He often collaborated with Edwards on later films.
His most significant serious part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler, which some consider his "last major film role." The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his "chilling portrayal" of serial killer Albert DeSalvo. He gained 30 pounds and had his face "rebuilt" with a false nose to look like the real DeSalvo.
Curtis was the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh.
Colleen Joy Miller is an American former actress. She starred in several films, such as the Westerns Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963) and Four Guns to the Border (1954).
The daughter of Elias and Lillian Miller, she was born in Yakima, Washington, and raised in Portland, Oregon. Miller attended Lincoln High School in Portland and graduated at age fifteen. In 1949, she was chosen "Miss Portland". Her mother named her after actress Colleen Moore. As a child, Miller studied ballet, but when she was older she changed to popular dancing. After graduating, she worked as a professional dancer in a San Francisco ballet company, and relocated to Las Vegas after three seasons to work at the Flamingo.
While dancing in Las Vegas, Miller was spotted by a talent agent who signed her to a contract with Howard Hughes for his RKO Pictures company. She was 19 when she made her first film appearance in The Las Vegas Story, starring Jane Russell.
Gene Barry (June 14, 1919 – December 9, 2009) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is known for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Gene Barry, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (May 1, 1919 – February 17, 2005) was an Irish film actor, known for such roles as Brigadier General Warren A. "Blackie" Black in Fail Safe, Marshal Ney in Waterloo, Conal Cochran in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, "The Old Man" in RoboCop, and Andrew Packard in Twin Peaks. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1954 film Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury DBE (October 16, 1925 - October 11, 2022) was a British-American actress and singer who has appeared in theater, television, and film roles. Her career was spanned almost eight decades, much of it in the United States. Her work has received international attention. Her first film appearance was in the 1944 film Gaslight as a conniving maid, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Among her other films are The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Anastasia (1997).
She expanded her repertoire to Broadway musicals and television in the 1950s and was particularly successful in Broadway productions of Gypsy, Mame and Sweeney Todd. Lansbury is perhaps best known to modern audiences for her 12 year run as writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher on the U.S. television series Murder, She Wrote, in which she starred from 1984 to 1996. Her recent roles include Lady Adelaide Stitch in the 2005 film Nanny McPhee, Leona Mullen in the 2007 Broadway play Deuce, Madame Arcati in the 2009 Broadway revival of the play Blithe Spirit and Madame Armfeldt in the 2010 Broadway revival of the musical A Little Night Music.
Respected for her versatility, Lansbury has won five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes, an Honorary Academy Award, and has been nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and eighteen Emmy Awards.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Angela Lansbury, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald Randolph (January 5, 1906 – March 16, 1993) was a film and television actor. The actor, who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz (1969), acted in dozens of television programs and over thirty films.
In 1950 he appeared in The Desert Hawk.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Donald Randolph, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Cavanagh (8 December 1888 – 15 March 1964) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1928 and 1959.
Cavanagh was born in Chislehurst, Kent, and attended the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Cavanagh studied law in England, earning a master of arts degree at Cambridge. A newspaper article published 17 June 1931, reported, "It is on record that Cavanagh won high honors in mathematics and history."
Cavanagh practised "for several years" before he changed professions. He went to Canada "for a year of sightseeing and wandering" before he joined the Royal Northwest Mounted Police.
After serving in World War I, he returned to Canada, where he practised law, including revising the statutes of Alberta, but eventually went back to England to practise law.
Cavanagh went onto the stage after a stroke of bad luck in 1924 caused him to lose his savings, and later he went into films.
In 1926, Cavanagh lost $22,000 in one evening on a roulette wheel in Monte Carlo. An observer offered to provide a letter "to some of my theatrical acquaintances" in London, England. Those contacts led to Cavanagh's role in It Pays to Advertise.
Cavanagh first film contract and film came in 1929 with Paramount Pictures.
Cavanagh died In London from a heart attack in 1964, aged 75.
Myrna Hansen was born on 5 August 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Party Girl (1958), Black Caesar (1973) and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950). She is the winner of the second Miss USA pagent in 1953.
Born Mary Jane Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia, she was in the class of 1948 at Calvin Coolidge High School. Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia. She went on to represent D.C. in the 1949 Miss America pageant. Although she did not win the competition, it provided her with the opportunity to work in local television before moving to Hollywood to work for Universal Pictures in 1954. Taking the name Allison Hayes, she played small roles in a handful of films at Universal for a couple of years. In 1955 she filed a lawsuit against the studio over injuries she sustained while filming her second picture, SIGN OF THE PAGAN. Universal released Hayes from her contract, and she was subsequently signed by Columbia Pictures.
After appearing in a handful of Columbia films including COUNT THREE AND PRAY, MOHAWK, and WOLF DOG, Hayes was given in the lead role in ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958). The film would eventually gain a cult following and become the performance for which she is best known. However, it did not escalate Hayes's career at the time. For several years she remained consistently employed in movies and on television (including an extended stint on the soap opera "General Hospital" and several appearances on her friend Raymond Burr's "Perry Mason" series).
By the mid-1960s, though, Allison Hayes's career was all but over and she was beset by health problems. She would later admit that the pain of her illness led her to contemplate suicide, and that her symptoms were not taken seriously by doctors. After reading about metal poisoning in factory workers and recognizing the similarity of the symptoms described to her own, she hired a toxicologist to test a calcium supplement she'd been using for an extended time. The tests revealed that the pills contained an extreme amount of lead, and that Hayes was likely suffering from lead poisoning. She mounted a campaign to pressure the Food and Drug Administration into banning the supplement, but her condition deteriorated to the point of total incapacity. In 1976 she was diagnosed with leukemia, and began regular cancer treatment. Allison Hayes died February 26, 1977 at the UCSD Medical Center in La Jolla, California, just short of her 47th birthday. In a letter that arrived after her death, the FDA informed her of amendments being made to the laws governing the importation of nutritional supplements, largely as a result of her advocacy.
Eugene Borden (born Élysée Eugène Prieur-Bardin, March 21, 1897 – July 2, 1971) was an American character actor in silent and sound films. Born in France, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, and entered the film industry a short time later. He appeared in over 150 films, as well as shorts, serials, and television shows.
Louis Borel (1905 – 1973) was a Dutch stage and film actor. During the 1930s, he appeared in a number of British films and plays on West End. He later moved to the United States, working in Hollywood and appearing on Broadway.