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Show rf j Looking at HOLLY WOODl CHE'S A SHE-DEVIL to some Hol- lywood people; to others she's an angeL Joan Fontaine is one of those persons who never could be accused of being wishy-washy. She's electric, elec-tric, giving off with dynamic impulses, im-pulses, sometimes a sparkling positive, posi-tive, sometimes a crackling negative. nega-tive. Joan Fontaine is never neutral. When she's angry she's lightning in a summer storm, and just as deadly dead-ly ; when she's gay she's a veritable ver-itable pinwhee: on wheels. Exploded intc the ranks of the screen's first ladies la-dies back in 193! with a hauntini performance ir , j V, w f yin&ep ; The Women, Joan Fontaine I Joan has frequently fre-quently been a storm center, and 'most always town's gossip conversation conver-sation piece. Joan, when she wants to be, can be a witch right out of "Macbeth." She once said: "I express my feelings feel-ings by action. I have a frightful temper, and I can fly into rages about almost anything that gets on my nerves at any time of day or night." Surprise, Surprise! The big news of the moment is that she went through one whole picture pic-ture without once losing her temper. That was "The Affairs of Susan," for Hal Wallis at Paramount. Producer Wallis, a wise man Che must be anyway he won 27 Oscars during a 10-year period), provided Joan with everything an actress could set her heart upon. She had not one but four leading men George Brent, Dennis O'Keefe, Don De Fore, and Walter Abel. In the picture each of these men falls in love with her and wants to marry her. In "The Affairs' of Susan" Joan played her first comedy role, and that scared her, she confided to me. Says I to her: "You've got one of the finest comedy directors in the business Bill Seiter. He knows more than many of our supposed big shots, whom he's taught all they know, but can't remember because their hats are now too high for them to balance the hat and the brain underneath 'em. So with Bill just let yourself go. He'll carry the ball over the goal line, and you'll get the credit." She did, and now says. "I prefer comedy to those droopy roles I've been playing." It's Contagious But it wasn't always sweetness and light with Joan. On her last picture, the $4,000,000 "Frenchman's Creek," there was more than a little trouble between her and Arturo De Cordova, the technicolor pirate. Joan was very unhappy on that one, and when Joan's unhappy every one within shouting and shooting range is apt to be unhappy, too. All due to a misunderstanding of the language. He apologized, she apologized, and they were friends again. Many of the reports circulated about Joan are pure malice. Joan just never bothers to answer back. "But I don't let those things bother both-er me any more," she told me. "After "Aft-er all, by this time they've said everything ev-erything and written everything that could be said or written about me, so why explain anything?" Don't You Believe It The Fontaine-De Havilland "feud" rumors, for instance, are a part of the legion of legends about her. Joan contends there isn't any feud, never has been one. "Why," says she, "if Liwy ever needed help I'd be the first one she came to, and vice versa." No, there is no feud, but the fact that she took the name Fontaine, and not Livvy's made talk, as Joan knew it would. She wanted no one to write a story about Livvy's baby sister, said she. "If I can't win on my own, being tied to Livvy's apron strings won't help me. So what the heck! Just call me Joan Fontaine or don't call me." Regarding the reports that she has trouble with her directors she answers: "How's any one going to undermine a Hitchcock or a Cukor or a Bill Seiter? It's ridiculous!" Joan is a determined person with a will of iron. If something comes up she disagrees with she just plants herself in the position she intends to maintain and she maintains it Ask David O. Sclznick. He knows. "I was sick of being the sad sack of the screen," said she. "I wanted to play comedy, and now that I've done it, I'm happier than I've ever been in Hollywood." Unknown Becomes Known A new guy named Tommy TTout, six footer, 185 pounds, appeared at the studio, asking for a job. They thought he wanted to work as a laborer. la-borer. Said he. "I want to act." As a joke, he was sent to Lillian Burns, Metro's coach. After five minutes with him she phoned the boss, and said, "If we don't sign him we ought to have our heads examined." They signed. He's finished his first. "Main Street After Dark." They swear from his performance he's been acting act-ing all his life. |