ANITA PAGE, 98, Clyde Beatty's first Hollywood co-star, in The Big Cage, 1933, Universal, died peacefully in her sleep at her Los Angeles home, early on Saturday (6) morning, according to her long-time companion, Randal Malone.
Miss Page, began a long hiatus to make a home for her Navy aviator husband, Herschel House, leaving films in 1936. Upon his death in 1991, she made a come-back in Sunset After Dark, in 1994, and has a cameo in Frankenstein Rising, due out later this year.
It is legend that Universal chief Carl Laemmle intended to take Beatty away from the circus and make him a full-time film star. He must have thought highly of Beatty to begin his career in The Big Cage by pairing him with one of the more promising young luminaries on the Universal lot. Miss Page began as an extra in silents, in 1924. Her first big break came as a bad girl in 1928's Our Dancing Daughters, wherein she was featured in a madcap Charleston number with Joan Crawford. The film propelled them both to stardom and two sequels resulted, starring both actresses.
During the early 1930s, Miss Page had been a six-week house-guest at the renowned Hearst Castle. By the time she co-starred with Beatty, in 1933, she had importantly held her own with Ruby Keeler, Bessie Love, and powerful young leading men such as Buster Keaton, Walter Huston, and Clark Gable. It did not go unnoticed that she went against type as a dancing girl and comedienne, when she took the role opposite Beatty in a film with a circus and wild animal act theme. Beatty's stock rose dramatically in Hollywood as a draw, if not necessarily as a skilled film actor.
Miss Page's screen longevity is eclipsed only by Mickey Rooney, who began in 1926 and is still working.
Two daughters she had with House, Linda and Sandra, survive.
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2 comments:
a young mickey rooney, who, like the late bob hope will never retire, was another beatty co-star in the big cage. he was also featured with julie harris in a movie, "first of may," filmed on beatty-cole, a few years ago.
I was most remiss in failing to acknowledge that my primary source for my Anita Page obit was, of course, Associated Press. Additional notes came from IMDb.com, while others came from my own research of a lifetime.
It may be hard to believe, being as small as he was, appearing to be about 8 or 9, but Mickey Rooney, born in 1920, was 13 when THE BIG CAGE was filmed, and 14 when he and Beatty co-starred in 1934's THE LOST JUNGLE, released both as a cliffhanger and a feature.
Roger Smith
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