Evening star., 1946-07-21
They Weren't
Born Where
You Think
By Harold Heffernon
HNJ vWynN1


Some big surprises are uncorked
when you attempt to name the ma
ton where the film stars were born
The Americans turn out to be Eng
lish and vice versa. It's all very
mixed up business in the matter of
|birthplaces, at least.
Take Bob Hope. He is as Amer
ican as ham and eggs or chewing
gum. He often quips about his Ohio
boyhood It's almost an accepted
fact that he was born and brought
up in that State. And yet the
truth is Bob was born in England.
Although practically all of Hopes
latest movie, where There's Life,"I
takes place in New York there are
several foreigners known as "Bo-
varians" in the cast. What ma
tionalities are chosen to represent
citizens Of an imaginary kingdom
presumably located in the Balkans?
In this case they include Signe
Hasso Of Sweden, George Coulouris
and George zucco, both born in
England, and Victor Varconi of
Hungary.
BY this time several players must
think of their birthplaces as imag-
mary, if they think of them at all
For example, the stork certainly
picked strange place to deposit the
De Havilland sisters. Although of
English parentage, both were born
in Tokyo. Olivia recently has COM
pleted a role as Midwestern career
woman in ITO Each His Own" and
her sister, Joan Fontaine. is now
playing Viennese court beauty in
"The Emperor Waltz"
From Far-Off Places.
Boris Karloff, longtime bogey
man, might have been born on the
River Styx. Actually, he's a quiet
gentleman from old England. Kar-
loft, however, has decided to aban-
don his horror characterizations
But, considering his real-life back
ground, his next assignment is al
most as unusual as the Shiver- and
shudder parts; he will be an Amer
lean Indian chief in ''Unconquered
NAallJ Il4Sllol1 2Ud1 . 1ldfC bCCi
born in ,far-away corners of the
earth while their parents followed
the paths of empire. Vivien Leigh,
who to most Americans will be,
Scarlett of Gone With The Wind"
for many year, was born in India.
So was the late Philip Merivale.
Wendy Barrie can call Hong Kong
home. South Africa contributed
Louis Hayward and Ian Hunter to
the screen. Cecil Kellaway also
comes from Capetown.
The tag of ''Tantalizing Tasman-
ian," which was dreamed up from
her island birthplace, almost limited
other down under" star is the
Australian-born Judith Anderson.
The British West Indies was the
first home of Henry Stephenson and
Henry Wilcoxon.
Dick Haynes, the singer, first
chirped in Buenos Aires where his
parents were then stationed al
though he considers himself a ma
tive New Yorker. Maria Montez is
Hollywood's only entry from the
Dominican Republic. Gertrude Neis-
sen possibly lists the srangestI
birthplace-"at sea-"
Many From Canada.
You may know where these stars
were born. If not, you probably will
be surprised to learn that AL Jolson
and George Sanders are from Rus
sia; Edward G. Robinson from Ru-
mania; Turhan Bey from Austria:
and Yvonne De Carlo. Deanna Dur
bin, Jack Carson and Walter Pidg-
con from Canada.
Canada. as matter of fact, has
contributed many outstanding play
ers to the film colony. Particularly,
two Of them became closely identi-
fed with United States history
Raymond Massey had the title role
of ABE Lincoln in Illinois" and
Alexander Knox was Wilson" AS
most everyone knows, another Ca
madam, Mary Pickford, was Ameri-
cas- Sweetheart of the early flick
ers. Mary had been called GLADYS
Smith when she first opened her
eyes in Toronto.
Film fans have assumed some
stars are what they're not. Some
times these mistakes in birthplaces
have been created deliberately. In
other instances, they have been
caused by a succession of similar
roles.
Robert Cummings is a classic
example. He now uses his own
name, admits that Joplin, Mo, is
his native town and plays strictly
American roles. But he crashed
Broadway as an Englishman after
first bribing a porter to put his
adopted name up in lights at Eng
lands Harrowgate Theater and keep
it there long enough to have photos
made. These pictures, plus his ac-
quired accent, tricked New York
producers. Later, he landed his first
picture assignment by posing as
native Texan
Latin From Manhattan.
Not so many years ago Sigrid
Gurie was introduced as a new Nor
wegian star. She was born in
Brooklyn. Through no particular
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