Frederick's of Hollywood Blog

“Be yourself. The world worships the original.” Happy birthday Ingrid Bergman, born August 29th!

Photo via Rotten Tomatoes. 

Today is Mae West’s birthday. In honor of the bawdy comedienne, here are a few gorgeous images to commemorate her legacy!

Images via drawsoemthingawful.

Image via Wikipedia.

Happy birthday to the master of horror, psychological thrillers and the most anxiety inducing films. If you haven’t guessed yet, we’re talking about Alfred Hitchcock. Were he still alive, the legendary director would have been 113 today. In honor of the man who made birds terrifying and a son’s love of his mother suspect, here’s a round-up of our top five favorite movies:

Images from listversecom. 

And of course, we couldn’t let this day pass without posting the trailer for The Birds, but click at your own peril! As Mr. Hitchcock said, “the next scream you hear could be your own.”

“What was previously perceived as nerdy is now viewed as original. What I like about nerdiness, geekiness, is it doesn’t really matter what you’re into – it just means you’re not a follower.” Happy birthday, Kristen Bell!

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star turns 32 today. Let’s hope it’s full of sloths!

Today we take a moment to celebrate Billy Wilder, not only for his birthday, but for his achievements and incredible contributions to film as we know it. Wilder has a significant place in the history of Hollywood censorship, challenging the Hays Code and even releasing Some Like It Hot without a Production Code seal of approval–which wasn’t granted due to the sexual nature of the comedy. He is also one of five people to have won Academy Awards as producer, writer, and director on the same movie!

Photo via imdb.com.

His willingness to tackle taboo subjects such as alcoholism (The Lost Weekend), mental illness (Sunset Boulevard) and cross-dressing helped to expand the range of what was considered acceptable movie fare.  He co-wrote and directed Double Indemnity, which is thought by many to be the first film noir. And many of the film’s elements such as venetian blind lighting and voice-over narrative, have gone on to be hallmarks of the genre.

Photo via imdb.com.

Michel Hazanavicius, the French filmake, said it best during his Oscar acceptance speech for The Artist: “I would like to thank the following three people, I would like to thank Billy Wilder, I would like to thank Billy Wilder, and I would like to thank Billy Wilder.”

Photo via imdb.com.