1. - Lina Basquette, The Godless Girl, 1929. Talent is only name deep... She was just another blonde among hundreds. She dyed her hair black, adopted a Slav accent and said she was Russian. Cecil B DeMille was impressed, signed her for his 52nd film (her second) and introduced her at a Press lunch as "the next great star of the screen, Sonia Karlov!" Ex-Ziegfeld Follies dancer Lina Basquette was among the guests. Miffed at losing the film, she yelled: "She isn't Sonia Karlov - her name is Jeanne Williams. I knew her in the Follies." Agent Paul Bern told CB to laugh it off - "if you thought she was right for the role before, why is she changed now?" Ever-hypocritical, DeMille promptly sacked her and hired the whistleblower... widow of the first of the Warner brothers to die.
|