Genuine Smiles: Jean Dujardin and Gene Kelly

"Jean Dujardin is on a roll. After pocketing the Palm d'Or for Best Actor in Cannes last May for his turn in 'The Artist', the 39 year-old actor has been scooping up awards and nominations for it ever since: a shiny Golden Globe, the best actor award at the Screen Actor's Guild ceremony on Sunday night and last week, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Jean Dujardin with Natalie Portman at the SAG Awards

"Jean's career is a fairy tale," says his long-time friend, the actor Gilles Lellouche. "He went from popular TV shows to 'best actor' in Cannes with no theatrical experience, no conservatory ... there's only talent."

Jean Dujardin in W Magazine, February 2012

Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo in Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Portfolio

Born in 1972 in a middle-class Paris suburb, Dujardin first studied drawing and apprenticed as a locksmith to support himself. "I don't believe for one second that I have a career in the US," he says with a shrug. "I'm French and I like to work with French actors." "As a kid I wanted to become a comics illustrator," he says. Source: www.thenational.ae

"Funny how it took two French guys to pull off the most romantic homage to 1920s Hollywood. It helps, of course, that 'The Artist' — Michel Hazanavicius's audacious black-and-white film—is silent.

The star, you see, can barely speak English. So what Jean Dujardin accomplishes with such blinding charisma has everything to do with his physical presence—half Gene Kelly's joyful athleticism, half Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s man's-man swooniness. And boy, can he rock full-dress tails.

Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952)

A big fan of American films, the 39-year-old actor had seen 'Singin' in the Rain' multiple times before landing the part of George Valentin, a silent-screen star undone by the talkies. "I learned to tap-dance for 'The Artist', he says. "I love dancing in general, and making girls dance. My generation doesn't do it enough."

With all the American love coming his way for The Artist, any chance he'd move here? "Oh, no," he says. "I am too Parisian. And I think the French would be angry if I left. I hope they would be angry." Source: www.gq.com

"Playing 1920s screen star Charles Valentin, Dujardin is a vain, oblivious, grandstanding ninny. He also happens to be utterly charming. Not an easy stretch, but that smile bridges the gap.

Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

The smile also sets the film's tone. To be overly sincere would deflate the film's lovely fluff, but falling into irony would be a huge mistake. Sometimes it's a smile of pure animal joy at some silent-film bit of derring-do. Sometimes it's sheepish, sometimes it's a wink, sometimes it's a come-hither question. Even when the film falls into its gloomy third act, with 'A Star is Born' drunkenness and 'Sunset Boulevard' repining, that smile keeps popping up in spite of itself, surprised by life's rich pageant.

Now, it should be pointed out that Dujardin's other bits -- the non-smiling parts -- are pretty swell. He looks sharp in a dinner jacket. He has a face that is both classically chiselled and goofy.

(And isn't that what women want? He's handsome, and he'll make you laugh.) But Dujardin's star power is concentrated in his smile. What makes it a real movie star smile, though, is the fact that it's both big and intimate. I kept thinking he was smiling right at me, just me, and I suspect everyone else in the audience was having exactly the same thought". Source: www.winnipegfreepress.com

"Come on with the rain, I've a smile on my face" -Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) directed by Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen

"Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. Fake smiles can be performed at will, because the brain signals that create them come from the conscious part of the brain and prompt the zygomaticus major muscles in the cheeks to contract.

Genuine smiles are generated by the unconscious brain, so are automatic. When people feel pleasure, signals pass through the part of the brain that processes emotion. Lines around the eyes do sometimes appear in intense fake smiles, and the cheeks may bunch up. But there are a few key signs that distinguish these smiles from real ones.

For example, when a smile is genuine, the eye cover fold - the fleshy part of the eye between the eyebrow and the eyelid - moves downwards and the end of the eyebrows dip slightly.

Scientists distinguish between genuine and fake smiles by using a coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which was devised by Professor Paul Ekman of the University of California and Dr Wallace V. Friesen of the University of Kentucky. Source: wsww.bbc.co.uk

Jake Gyllenhaal, in the top five of "Sexiest Men on the Planet" by Heat magazine

Top 5 Ranking of Sexiest Men in Heat (UK) magazine

David Beckham has been crowned the 'Sexiest Man on the Planet' by readers of Heat magazine.

The Los Angeles Galaxy footballer beat actors Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds into second and third place respectively, while Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal complete the top five.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Cinema Comics magazine

The inaugural '101 Hottest Hunks in the World' was voted for by over 1,000 Heat readers, with places 26-101 based upon votes alone. The top 25 is a mixture of reader votes and an expert panel, comprising Premier Models' Carole White, celebrity photographer Nicky Johnston and Heat style editor Jo Hoare.

Robert Pattinson as Georges Duroy in "Bel Ami" (2012)

Twilight star Robert Pattinson, The Dark Knight Rises actor Tom Hardy and Johnny Depp also feature in the top ten". Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk

Barbara Payton, Martha Hyer, Audrey Hepburn

James Cagney and Barbara Payton in the noir film "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" (1950)

Helena Carter, James Cagney and Barbara Payton in "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" (1950) directed by Gordon Douglas

Barbara Payton left her home of Odessa, Texas when she was seventeen to travel west searching for a Hollywood career. After scoring small roles under contract to Universal in 1949, her first major break came in 1950. Spotted by James Cagney and his brother, a producer, they signed her to Cagney's company for a starring role in the screen adaptation of Horace McCoy's "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye". Sadly this was the only major break Barbara had.

"James Cagney was coming to town for a fund drive. I always liked him because he was tough and ruthless on screen and it fitted my theory of what a man should be. I found out that admission to the auditorium was a dollar twenty-five. Not only I couldn't afford that but none of my boyfriends could either. Yet I had to see Jimmy Cagney in person. I was standing in a big crowd by the artist's entrance and a boy motioned to me. 'You're cute', he said. 'Want to see the show, kid?', he asked, 'Cagney gave my father two tickets - see?' I was cautious. I was learning. 'What do I have to do?' He bent toward me. 'A feel or two. So what? You got inside free. Best seats in the house'. 'No, thanks', I said coldly, but I was tempted." -"I Am Not Ashamed" (1963) by Barbara Payton

She appeared in a few more films until 1955, small time roles and mostly B-pictures such as "Bride of the Gorilla" (1951) and "Four Sided Triangle" (1953).

Her lover Tom Neal, with whom she reenacted "The Postman Always Rings Twice" on stage in 1953, called her "alley cat in heat". Any sexual deviancy was considered dangerous in the 1950s, so much so that a Republican Party chairman once claimed that "Sexual perverts... have infiltrated our Government in recent years," and were "perhaps as dangerous as the actual Communists."

Much post-war propaganda, fueled by fears of nuclear war and images of happy couples setting up bomb shelters, emphasized the importance of a good family – anchored by a kind, submissive, domestic woman – as the key to keeping society stable in dangerous times. Even the Kinsey Report (which revealed the dirty secrets behind white Americans’ sex lives in the late ’40s and early ’50s) would have labeled Payton’s behavior "outside the norm."

Barbara Payton & Gregory Peck in a publicity photo for "Only the Valiant" (1951) directed by Gordon Douglas

President Jack L. Warner dropped Payton from the studio and left her to wander through the professional abyss of pitiful B-movies like "Four-Sided Triangle" (1953), "Bad Blonde" (1953) and "The Great Jesse James Raid" (1953).

Actress Martha Hyer (born on August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas) was once in the running for the role of Marion Crane in Hitchcock's "Psicosis" (1960), but lost out to Janet Leigh. She was discovered by an RKO talent agent while acting with the Pasadena Playhouse.

Martha Hyer has a supporting role as Miss Harwick in Richard Fleischer's noir "The Clay Pigeon" (1949) written by Carl Foreman, based on a true story.

Martha Hyer dated Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and John F. Kennedy in the mid 50’s, and married producer Hal B. Wallis (31 December 1966 - 5 October 1986).

Martha Hyer dancing with Humphrey Bogart in "Sabrina" (1954) directed by Billy Wilder

Humphrey Bogart as Linus Larrabee and Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild in "Sabrina" (1954)

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in "Breakfast At Tiffany's" (1961) directed by Blake Edwards

As to the affair of Gene Kelly with Doris Lilly, the gal who was rumored to be Truman Capote's inspiration for the character of Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany"'s and the author of "How to Marry a Millionaire", it is most likely true. Lilly's diaries were discovered after her death in 1991 and she wrote about her "meeting" with Gene Kelly.

According to entries from 1946, they met a a party given by Frank Sinatra. "I fell for him like mad." And then she wrote: "He can never be replaced. Never. He is in a class all his own. We were together for hours. He left me at 6:30 in the morning. He was wonderful." -"Darling Lilly" (1991) by Daniel Shaw.

Déjà Vu Crush: Lana Turner with John Garfield, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth in "The Lady from Shanghai" (1947)

In noir film, déjà vu is prevalent and serves as a common trope, used as a storytelling device or to emphasize a character's blocked memory. Have you ever had the feeling that something that happens has happened at a past time? Have you had an experience that seems very familiar and felt that you've been through it before? This phenomenon called déjà vu is a French expression for 'already seen'. Psychologists and memory researchers say that it is usually life's more unnoticed detailes -the click of a radiator, the movement of some shadows on the curtains- that trigger this sudden and sometimes breathtaking sense of familiarity. In surveys, over half of population report having had at least one déjà vu experience, and the sensation seems to occur most often in persons with lively imaginations. In a series of experiments, researches at Duke University in North Carolina and Southern Methodist Univesity in Texas, have tried to reproduce this déjà vu feeling, showing students pictures of buildings, trying to locate a small black or white cross. The students were asked to say whether they had ever been to the places shown. The expectation was that while the students focused on finding the crosses, the photos would imprint on their memories unconsciously, leaving the impression that they seemed familiar to them time later.

Lana Turner must’ve had a strong feeling of déjà vu when Lora confronts her daughter about her feelings for an older man.

Johnny Stompanato and Lana Turner in 1957

Turner suffered through a similar and very public romantic triangle with mobster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato and her daughter Cheryl. The boyfriend ended up dead and a fictionalized version of the story became the Cool Cinema Trash favorite 'Where Love Has Gone' (1964). Source: www.coolcinematrash.com

John Garfield and Lana Turner in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

Gene Kelly and John Garfield, friends, members of The Committee for the First Amendment and 'Hollywood Players' on Old Time Radio (Hollywood Stars on 'All Through the House': Gene Kelly, John Garfield - with Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten and Janet Leigh)

Lana Turner with Gene Kelly

Lana Turner and Gene Kelly in "The Three Musketeers" (1948) directed by George Sidney

Lana Turner in a polka-dot blouse dancing with Frank Sinatra (June 1946). Before Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra dated Lana Turner.

Kathryn Grayson and Ava Gardner, friends and co-stars in "Magnolia" (1951) directed by George Sidney

Frank Sinatra married Ava Gardner on 7th November 1951. They got divorced on 5th July 1957.

Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly in "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) directed by George Sidney

"I have deduced that he [Gene Kelly] was warm, loving, highly intelligent, amazingly hard working, self-contained, sociable, strong, virile, charismatic, tactile, childlike, charitable, straightforward, pragmatic, unpretentious, fair, tenacious, happy in his own skin, other-worldly, unselfish, emotional, single-minded, generous, funny, honest, serious, home-loving, democratic, protective of those he cared for, self-critical, courageous in the face of personal tragedy, a man of integrity, a born leader and teacher.

  He was an excellent, natural, actor; a singer who, although being no Caruso, could touch the heart; a highly competent inspirational director and producer; an incomparable dancer who could weave a story without words and move an audience to tears or laughter; and a truly great choreographer. He was a creative genius and a good human being. Is it any wonder that every day, somewhere in the world, someone is still writing about, talking about, reading about, watching or falling in love with Gene Kelly? Source: www.freewebs.com

Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth in "Cover Girl" (1944) directed by Charles Vidor