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19 Apr 09 - 08:12 AM (#2614332) Subject: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: 3refs Of all moviedom's heroes, one of my favourites was "The Scarlett Pimpernel". http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2009/04/19/9161911-sun.html |
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19 Apr 09 - 09:53 AM (#2614358) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Stilly River Sage IMDb page with his entry. I guess I never knew this (didn't think about it). SRS |
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19 Apr 09 - 10:16 AM (#2614365) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Teribus Interesting link 3refs. When the incident was covered in the Second World War documentary series they stated that the reason the Civil aviation flight carrying Howard was shot down was because either a Nazi Agent or sympathiser noted a well dressed man wearing a Homburg hat and smoking a cigar was seen about to board the aircraft. The JU 88 long range fighters which were based in France not in Spain were launched because they thought from the description that the man could have been Churchill. I think the bit about Franco and Luftwaffe aircraft being based in Spain refers to the period of the "Condor Legion" during the Spanish Civil War. |
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19 Apr 09 - 10:18 AM (#2614366) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Teribus PS The series by the bye was "The Valiant Years" and it showed a clip of film showing Leslie Howard walking out over the tarmac - At first glance it would have been highly credible. |
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19 Apr 09 - 10:51 AM (#2614375) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Genie In case the link 'breaks' (as they are wont to do), here's what the Toronto Sun said about Howard's WWII story. http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2009/04/19/9161911-sun.html News World Monument to actor Howard (AP) 4-19-09 MADRID -- ... Leslie Howard will be honoured as a war hero with a monument in Spain near where his plane was shot down by Nazi fighter pilots during the Second World War, a historical association said yesterday. The ... sculpture will [bear] the names of those who died aboard the commercial flight from Portugal to Britain in 1943 ... . Association president Manuel Santiago Arenas Roca said the London-born Howard joined the Allies and campaigned hard against the Axis powers. NEGATIVE IMPACT ... Germany's government at the time apparently was worried about the negative impact the high-profile actor-director's anti-Nazi publicity was having on its cause. ... KLM flight 777 ... was downed by a squadron of Junkers 88 fighter planes, said Ximena, who believes [Howard] had been on "a secret mission" to stop Spain joining Germany and Italy in combat. Spain, under the power of fascist dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, had formed an alliance with Adolf Hitler's Nazi government, which based Luftwaffe warplanes on its soil. CONTRIBUTION The author said Howard's contribution to winning the war is in danger of being forgotten. Most of the books relating to his untimely death were published in the 1950s, and the association wants to pay tribute to a man who put his fame and communication skills to work combatting Nazi propaganda. ... Ximena said there was considerable evidence that Howard was targeted specifically, thus becoming a war hero. |
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19 Apr 09 - 12:18 PM (#2614426) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: katlaughing I didn't know about this, either, and he's always been one of my favs. ever since falling in love with him the first time I saw GWTW at eight years old. It is good they are putting up a monument. |
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19 Apr 09 - 12:26 PM (#2614437) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: SINSULL Of Human Bondage with Bette Davis. |
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19 Apr 09 - 06:11 PM (#2614650) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Mrrzy For years after seeing The Scarlet Pimpernel I thought HE was Merle Oberon and SHE was Leslie Howard... |
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20 Apr 09 - 03:25 PM (#2615050) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Peter T. One forgets that there were some people -- Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, James Stewart among others -- who risked their lives, while others -- Ronald Reagan, the beloved, etc., etc., president -- sat in Hollywood and on occasion made up their war records. It is funny how a non-Englishman could have been the quintessential Englishman. yours, Peter T. |
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20 Apr 09 - 03:27 PM (#2615052) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Peter T. Sorry, my brain's going, I always thought he was born Hungarian. Turns out not to be true. yours, Peter T. |
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20 Apr 09 - 03:46 PM (#2615063) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Stilly River Sage Run Silent, Run Deep (Clark Gable) played on our local PBS station this weekend. I haven't watched a war movie in years. There's a lot more going on in this than a war, of course. (It also looked like every man who was ever a guest star on the long-running Perry Mason series was a crew member on that submarine.) SRS |
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20 Apr 09 - 03:48 PM (#2615064) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: 3refs Some people best serve in being in control of the business end of a gun, others just get in the freakin way, and others serve in other ways. I always thought that just because you didn't serve active duty, doesn't mean you didn't contribute somehow! |
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21 Apr 09 - 02:14 AM (#2615423) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: alanabit Sorry, my brain's going, I always thought he was born Hungarian. Turns out not to be true. yours, Peter T. I wonder if you were thinking of James Mason, Peter? |
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21 Apr 09 - 04:25 AM (#2615452) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: GUEST,Dáithí James Mason was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire... D |
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21 Apr 09 - 04:30 AM (#2615453) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: GUEST,Dáithí ..then I was thinking maybe Alanabit meant Lawrence Harvey...but he was Lithuanian, by way of South Africa! Who said the global village was a modern idea!? D |
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21 Apr 09 - 06:42 AM (#2615502) Subject: RE: BS: Monument to Leslie Howard From: Will Fly Leslie Howard did an updated version of the Scarlet Pimpernel - a wartime film called Pimpernel Smith, in which he played a similar character, but this time getting people out of Nazi Germany. This may have contributed to the downing of the plane... |