In memoriam to this terrific actor who gave birth to another terrific actor, let's go through his career and give him his due. His dates are January 5, 1908 to February 8, 1963. His heart attack was a shock to his post-Circus Boy and pre-Monkees son, who mentions the event in his autobiography.
First off, he was born Jure Dolenc in Trieste in the city's Slovene community. Back then, it was a part of Austria-Hungary, but now it is within the boundaries of Italy. See the link for a great interactive map about pre-WWI political boundaries. He left Italy in the 1920's, as a great wave of Italian and European immigrants had been doing for a while, hoping to find his success in America.
His IMDB Filmography starts him in 1941, appearing as an uncredited waiter. At some point, he met up with Howard Hughes, who signed him on to his studio, RKO, as a leading man. But he was not put to work very often. He appeared in a series of movies that are not well known today, but he did finally share top billing in a grand MGM movie.
That legacy role is in "The Last Time I Saw Paris", which is a terrific drama about Americans living in Paris before and after WWll; see the great literary history of expatriots. The name itself is a reference to a song (Kern & Hammerstein, 1940) and the story comes from an F. Scott Fitzgerald 1931 short story. In the movie, he plays Donna Reed's husband, and Elizabeth Taylor's and Van Johnson's brother in law. He had his own tv show, "The Count of Monte Cristo", which lasted 39 episodes and aired throughout 1956. (Can anyone find any surviving video?)
Digression-Van Johnson is name-checked in Episode 14, when Peter is trying to guess Martin Van Buren's name to win dance lessons. He goes through a series of names: Van Johnson, Van Heflin, moving van, pickup truck and Dean Martin.
Micky came from good stock indeed.
First off, he was born Jure Dolenc in Trieste in the city's Slovene community. Back then, it was a part of Austria-Hungary, but now it is within the boundaries of Italy. See the link for a great interactive map about pre-WWI political boundaries. He left Italy in the 1920's, as a great wave of Italian and European immigrants had been doing for a while, hoping to find his success in America.
His IMDB Filmography starts him in 1941, appearing as an uncredited waiter. At some point, he met up with Howard Hughes, who signed him on to his studio, RKO, as a leading man. But he was not put to work very often. He appeared in a series of movies that are not well known today, but he did finally share top billing in a grand MGM movie.
That legacy role is in "The Last Time I Saw Paris", which is a terrific drama about Americans living in Paris before and after WWll; see the great literary history of expatriots. The name itself is a reference to a song (Kern & Hammerstein, 1940) and the story comes from an F. Scott Fitzgerald 1931 short story. In the movie, he plays Donna Reed's husband, and Elizabeth Taylor's and Van Johnson's brother in law. He had his own tv show, "The Count of Monte Cristo", which lasted 39 episodes and aired throughout 1956. (Can anyone find any surviving video?)
Digression-Van Johnson is name-checked in Episode 14, when Peter is trying to guess Martin Van Buren's name to win dance lessons. He goes through a series of names: Van Johnson, Van Heflin, moving van, pickup truck and Dean Martin.
Micky came from good stock indeed.
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