Champion (United Artists) (1949)

biographies of iiiarilvn maxwell, ruth roman, lola albright liiiiiiiiii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iii^ The luscious eye-full above is Ruth Roman, who plays one of the three feminine leads opposite Kirk Douglas in United Artists’ high- tensioned release, “Champion,” at the . Theatre. tensioned release, “Champion,” at the . Theatre. Still SK-S-30 Mat (2N) Curvaceous, honey-blonde Lola Albright is one of the three beauties who fall for Kirk Douglas in his climb to fame in “Champion,” now at the . Theatre through United Artists release. Still SK-S-51 Mat (2E) HE BUILT HOUSES ONCE! Luis Van Rooten, the Mexican born architect who turned actor, plays a top featured role as a fight promoter in Screen Plays’ exciting drama of a prizefighter, “Cham¬ pion,” which Stanley Kramer pro¬ duced for United Artists release. Van Rooten left a Cleveland ar¬ chitect’s office to go on the stage. In “Champion,” which opens on . at the . Theatre, he plays in support of Kirk Douglas who has the title role in this un¬ usual film based on the Ring Lard- ner short story classic. Sharing top honors with Van Rooten are Mari¬ lyn Maxwell, Lola Albright and Ruth Roman. Marilyn Maxwell , Former Singer , Plays Straight Dramatic Role In rr Champion 99 Movie siren Marilyn Maxwell, who has just completed her most alluring role to date opposite Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kramer’s much- talked-about picture, “Champion,” which is based on the famous Ring Lardner yarn, started her profes¬ sional life as a singer and then switched to straight acting roles. She makes her biggest dramatic bid in “Champion,” which opens on . at the . Theatre through United Artists release. “Champion” is Marilyn’s six¬ teenth picture so far. Her pictures have given her a wide variety of roles. She appeared in four of the Dr. Gillespie series, co-starring with Van Johnson, in “Summer Holiday,” a musical film based on Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness,” “High Barbaree,” “Presenting Lily Mars” and many other top notch Hollywood offerings. More recently phe played opposite George Raft in “Race Street.” She changed the color of her hair to brunette for this role, but when Stanley Kramer ( Biography ) wanted her to be a brunette in “Champion,” she held out for blonde tresses. She believes in vary¬ ing appearance as well as roles so she can never be typed, although she is really a brunette. Marilyn was born in Clarinda, Iowa on August 3, 1922 and was brought up to be a singer. Her par¬ ents were both musicians, and Mari¬ lyn used to accompany them on their tours. She received her edu¬ cation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her real name is Marvel Marilyn Max¬ well. Her professional career started at the early age of sixteen when she sang on an amateur radio program in Des Moines, Iowa. This led to engagements with band leaders Buddy Rogers and Ted Weems. While singing with a band she got a screen test at Paramount Studio, but nothing came of it. In the mean¬ time, she quit singing for a while and took a course in dramatics at the Pasadena Playhouse, not far from Hollywood. Not a soul in Hollywood paid any attention to her during this period and she re¬ turned to singing in radio with the “Camel Caravan.” While entertain¬ ing GIs in San Francisco with this traveling program, she was offered a contract by MGM on the basis of the Paramount test which they had seen. Her first picture was “Stand By For Action,” in which she co- starred with Robert Taylor. With a radio record that now in¬ cluded roles as featured singer on the Bing Crosby and Abbott and Costello shows, as well as frequent guest star on the Frank Sinatra pro¬ gram, Marilyn could have become a great hit in this field, but she passed it all up to gamble on stardom as a dramatic actress. So far it has paid off well. Marilyn is five feet, six inches tall and weighs 123 pounds. She has blonde hair at this writing, and hazel eyes. She was once married to actor John Conte, but is now di¬ vorced. Marilyn Maxwell is the blonde siren who captivates Kirk Douglas in “Champion,” the United Artists release now holding forth at the . Theatre. Still SK-S-83 Mat (2F) LOLA ALBRIGHT GETS LONG CONTRACT ( Biography ) It was just honey-blonde Lola Al¬ bright’s luck that she happened to be around when Producer Stanley Kramer decided that it was a good idea for independent producers to discover and develop their own stars. Kramer was just on the point of putting Ring Lardner’s famous story, “Champion,” before the cameras for Screen Plays, Inc., and he needed three talented leading ladies for star Kirk Douglas. Two of these, he decided, would be new discoveries whom he would place under contract. Lola Albright was fortunate to get one of these coveted spots and she can now be seen in the role of socialite Palmer Harris in “Cham¬ pion,” which opened yesterday at the Theatre through United Artists release. Lola shares the femi¬ nine limelight with Ruth Roman and Marilyn Maxwell. Lola was born in Akron, Ohio, on July 25, 1925. After highschool, she tried acting at a local radio station, then, in Cleveland, she went in for photographic modeling. This led her eventually to Hollywood and small parts at MGM in “The Pi¬ rate” and “Easter Parade.” Then she worked in “The Girl from Jones Beach” at Warners and in “Tulsa” for Producer Walter Wanger. At this point Stanley Kramer stepped in and offered her a seven-year con¬ tract. Lola, who is a fine musician and water color painter, is five feet five inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. She has blue eyes and honey-gold hair, worn quite long. Ruth Roman Has Her Best Role In “Champion 77 ( Biography) Ruth Roman, the dark-eyed lass who plays Kirk Douglas’ wife in Stanley Kramer’s dramatic film, “Champion,” a film adaptation of Ring Lardner’s famous short story of the same title, has been described by an astute producer as “the ideal combination of talent and cheese¬ cake.” Ruth can be seen next week at the.Theatre when “Cham¬ pion” opens for an extended run through United Artists release. Ruth is now the proud possessor of a seven-year contract with Mr. Kramer. But she is the first to ad¬ mit that so far as Hollywood is concerned, she came up the hard way. She arrived in the film colony and almost at once got noticed by a talent scout. Through him she met a director who arranged to test her for a Dick Powell picture. She didn’t get the role but a scout for David O. Selznick, who had seen her in a stage production of “Yes, My Darling Daughter,” had her signed to a contract. All that Ruth did for a year and a half under contract to Selznick was wait for a role that never ma¬ terialized. She begged her way out of the contract and took a test with Cary Grant at Paramount. There she got another contract, but this, too, she also sat out, except for a small role in “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” with Edward G. Robinson. Her Luck Changes Ruth got out of this contract also, and suddenly her luck began to break differently. Leo McCarey gave her a role in “Good Sam,” and then RKO signed her for “The Window.” This was followed with a top role in “Belle Starr’s Daugh¬ ter.” After this she was a much sought after girl in Hollywood, but Stanley Kramer signed her up be¬ fore anybody else got her name on the dotted line. Boston is the birthplace of this rising young star, and the date De¬ cember 22, 1925. Her father, before his death when she was very young, owned and ran a side show in a Boston beach carnival. Her mother, a professional dancer, ran the show for some time after he died. It was this that gave Ruth her first taste of show business. After high school, she was offered a scholarship at the Bishop Lee School of the Theatre. Two years at this school, plus five years of acting in New England repertory, was the total of Ruth’s experience before she hit Holly¬ wood — and eventual success. Page Twenty