Draconian Rules On Old Hollywood Stars

Image was everything.Old Hollywood required strict morality clauses in actor contracts. If an actor had an affair or broke any law, a studio could end the contract or ban the actor.

Today, top Hollywood stars wear sweatpants and baseball caps at the grocery store. Old Hollywood did not allow this casual dress. A leading lady needed full makeup, even when running errands.

The director yelled "cut" on set, stopping cameras. Still, old Tinseltown stars kept acting.

Movie stars often change names for show business appeal. Jennifer Aniston (Jennifer Linn Anastassakis) and Olivia Wilde (Olivia Cockburn) are modern stage names. The actor decides this choice, maybe with agent or manager advice.

Old Hollywood studios made executives demand name changes after an actor signed. Cary Grant, for example, changed his name.Cary Grant changed his name.Paramount Pictures made the British actor, Archibald Leach, create a new Hollywood identity after insisting he change his name.

Louis B. Mayer.Louis B. Mayer signed an Austrian actor.Mayer named Hedwig Eva Kiesler to a contract that required her to change her name.Mayer made the odd decision.Mayer renamed Hedy Lamarr after a silent film star named Barbara La Marr.

Perhaps the most notorious name change happened here.Studios forced a name change.Lucille Fay LeSueur underwent a forced name change. MGM sought publicity; they held a $1,000 contest for a new name.

The winning name was Joan Crawford. The actor disliked this name; she thought it sounded like "crawfish."

Old Hollywood focused on looks. Studio heads wanted female stars to look and act like glamorous leading ladies. Katharine Hepburn...Katharine Hepburn was a pioneer.The actor used her fame and talent to make her choices. She used her status to get what she wanted.

Hepburn did not always wear makeup; she did interviews without it. She also wore pants. RKO disliked her pants because they felt un-feminine.

RKO’s costume department reportedly took Hepburn’s pants. The four-time Oscar winner responded by prancing in her underwear instead of wearing a dress. She insisted she would not wear clothes until her pants returned.

An actor signed a contract.An actor signed a contract with a studio.The studio kept the actor for seven years. This meant the old studio controlled every role an actor took, regardless of how much the thespian disliked the part or how bad they thought the script was.

ActorBette DavisDavis refused the old studio system's rules. Davis thought Warner Bros. offered bad roles and turned them down. Warner Bros. suspended the actor, who then moved to England.

Davis sued Warner Bros. to end her contract. The star lost the lawsuit. Still, upon returning, the Academy Award winner received better roles and a higher salary.

Not every Hollywood story ends well. MGM head Louis B. Mayer reportedlydid not get alongMayer planned to ruin John Gilbert's career by forcing him into bad movies. The studio executive knew the films would fail. Mayer's actions helped end Gilbert's career early.

Studios promoted films by making their movie stars look like they wereactually datingMGM aimed to promote their 1939 musicalBabes in ArmsMickey Rooney was already a star. Young Judy Garland was just starting in the industry.

While Rooney and Garland promoted the film, they looked like a couple. Garland fell for Rooney. However, he saw her only as a friend and colleague.

Studios also interfered with couples they disliked. When leading actor Kim Novak and singer/actor Sammy Davis Jr. started a relationship,they tried to hide their love. When rumors spread about their engagement, studio producer Harry Cohn, who had alleged ties to Chicago's underworld, reportedly attacked Davis.The couple tried to hide their love. But rumors of their engagement led studio producer Harry Cohn, who had alleged ties to Chicago's underworld, to reportedly attack Davis.

The singer allegedly got a threatening call. Davis's friend Arthur Silber was present. Silber claimed, “They said they would break both of his legs, put out his other eye, and bury him in a hole if he didn’t marry a Black woman right away.”

The threat made Davis end his relationship with Novak.

Big old Hollywood studios made actors sign moral clauses.A star's pay could stop if they acted indecently. Back then, if an actor engaged in same-sex activity, that counted as "indecent."A "lavender marriage" is an arranged marriage between opposite-sex people, often set up by the studio to hide an actor's sexuality. We now know Rock Hudson lived as a closeted gay man. However, the studio

The studio often arranged 'lavender marriages' for its biggest stars. A 'lavender marriage' is an arranged marriage between two people of the opposite sex, often set up by the studio to hide an actor's sexuality. Rock Hudson lived as a closeted gay man.The studio made Hudson marryThe studio made Hudson marry Phyllis Gates in 1955 to protect the reputation of one of their most bankable movie stars. Their marriage would last only three years.

Many allegations exist.Studios often arranged 'lavender marriages' for their biggest stars.Hollywood saw these arrangements. Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova, Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine, and Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor were a few others.

MGM made young Judy Garland sick.Judy Garland got sick.Extreme diets, grueling 18-hour workdays, pep pills, downer pills, and lack of sleep often made the actor unfit to work.

During the 1944 filming ofMeet Me in St. LouisGarland accumulated 16 sick days. By the time filming for 1947'sIf an unwed actor got pregnant in 1940, it violated a studio's morality contract. Also, a sexy screen siren would seem less desirable if she became pregnant, even if married. Many Hollywood actors faced studio pressure for illegal abortions. Judy Garland had two such cases, one while she was married.Garland was a complete mess. She depended on substances to get by and regularly missed work.

MGM tracked the time and money the actor cost the studio when she could not perform. They took that cash from her paycheck. The total deducted sum for Garland allegedly cost her $100,000.

In the United States, getting an abortion was illegal until 1973.MGM was obsessed with Judy Garland's weight. When her first movie released, the studio told her she looked like a 'fat little pig in pigtails'. She was 14 years old. Over several years, MGM forced her onto a diet of chicken soup and black coffee. They gave her diet pills and made her smoke about 80 cigarettes daily to reduce her appetite.They were allowed to get them in 1973.These practices were widespread in old Hollywood.Female actors faced contract violations if they gained weight. Extra pounds broke the rules.

However, the actor did not always choose the abortion. The heads of major studios decided this. Producers knew their movies succeeded because of an actor's star power. Star power was a commodity studios needed to protect. An actor's morality clause stated they should not bring shame to themselves, which would also bring shame to the studio.

If an unmarried actor got pregnant in 1940, this violated a studio's morality contract. Plus, a sexy screen siren would seem less desirable if she got pregnant, even if married. Many Hollywood actors faced studio pressure for illegal abortions. Judy Garland had two such cases; one occurred while she was married.

The studio demanded Dorothy Dandridge get an abortion after she became pregnant during an affair with director Otto Preminger. Ava Gardner was married to Frank Sinatra, but the studio demanded Dandridge's abortion.On the BeachThe actor had an abortion because the penalty clause in her MGM contract required it. Lana Turner, Jean Harlow, and Bette Davis also faced pressure to get abortions.

Female stars risked breaking their contract if they gained weight. Extra pounds broke the rules.Extra pounds broke the rules..

MGM obsessed over Judy Garland's weight.MGM obsessed with Judy Garland's weight. When her first movie came out, the studio told her she looked like a "fat little pig in pigtails." She was 14. Over the next few years, MGM forced their breadwinner onto a diet of just chicken soup and black coffee. They gave her diet pills and insisted she smoke about 80 cigarettes daily to reduce her appetite.The studio told her she looked like a "fat little pig in pigtails" when her first movie released. She was 14 years old. MGM made sure their breadwinner followed a diet that often limited her to chicken soup and black coffee. They gave her diet pills and pushed her to smoke about 80 cigarettes a day to control her appetite.

Greta Garbo, a Swedish silent star, was told to lose 20 pounds. Producer Louis B. Mayer allegedly said, "in America, we don't like fat women.The actor ate only spinach for three weeks. Garbo kept that eating plan for the rest of her Hollywood career.

Kim NovakShe ate too much at a farmer's market. Fearful the studio would comment on her weight, she drank soap and water as advised by a friend. This weight loss attempt led to a hospital stay.

ActorJoanna MooreDirector Josef von Sternberg gave her vitamin shots and prescribed amphetamines to control her weight. He did this so she could meet the demands.He pushed Marlene Dietrichto lose 15 pounds for the filmThe Blue Angel.

Today, strict laws protect young actors in Hollywood. During the Golden Age, studios could treattheir young stars however they wished. Labor laws existed then, but studios and directors ignored them..

Elizabeth Taylor worked as a child actor in Hollywood. She revealed studios rarely followed rules about how long an actor could work. She later said she would be surprised if she saw a child actor leave a set early.

Much has been publicized aboutMGM's handling of a teenage Judy GarlandMGM treated Judy Garland as a commodity, not a person. Garland was the "Golden Child," able to act and sing like an angel. She possessed a girl-next-door quality plus huge star power. Garland was a rare talent. The studio treated her as a commodity. She worked six days a week, sometimes eighteen hours daily. MGM fed her pills to keep her on the grueling schedule with little sleep. MGM controlled everything about her life, from her food to her dating.

The studio also treated cute little Shirley Temple poorly. Temple was one of thebiggest Hollywood starsThese stars appeared in no less than 29 movies in the 1930s, starring from age 3 to 10.

To discipline young child actors who broke studio rules, they allegedly locked them in a windowless room and forced them to sit on ice.

In her autobiography,Child Star, Temple spoke about how Hollywood treated young stars like money:

The lesson for life was deep and not forgettable. Time equals money. Wasted time means wasted money means trouble.

Hollywood stars get plastic surgery now. But they do not get it because it is part of their contract.

Rita Hayworth became a major beauty and pinup star of the Golden Age. For the studio toturn a young Latina singernamed Margarita Cansino into a white movie star, they reduced her Hispanic features. First, they changed her name to Rita Hayworth. Then, they used electrolysis to improve her hairline. They also dyed her hair.

Starswere shapedStudio executives demanded actors look, speak, and act a certain way. This included dental work, nose jobs, diction lessons, manner lessons, and perfect posture. A signed contract gave executives ownership of an actor's image.

Plastic surgery became a contract requirement.This long list details the rules.Many old Hollywood stars had plastic surgery. Whether studios forced them for a face-lift or nose job is unclear. However, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, and Burt Lancaster all had visible facial surgery.