| Madeleine Carroll Video On Demand: Rent or Buy Search Site Madeleine Carroll Dvds @ amazon.com (direct link) Madeleine Carroll Biography Books @ amazon.com (direct link) Died: Classically cool, beautiful British blonde who first attracted the attention of American audiences as the heroine of two imported thrillers directed by Alfred Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935) and Secret Agent (1936). For in The 39 Steps, Hitchcock brought out the best in his actors with methods that were unconventional. If the scene in which Donat is handcuffed to Carroll has a certain edge, for instance, that's perhaps because the director mischievously cuffed them together in a rehearsal, then left them attached for a whole afternoon, pretending to have lost the key. After Secret Agent she never worked for Hitchcock again. There seems to have been some kind of falling out, the nature of which remains unknown to this day. But a possible indicator as to why she never appeared in another Hitch movie may be found in a comment he made when being quizzed about his potential film about the Titanic: 'Oh yes, I've had experience with icebergs. Don't forget, I directed Madeleine Carroll...' Whatever the reason, the ill feeling lasted until their deaths, well, at least on Hitchcock's side. At the time he was directing Topaz in 1969, Carroll lived in the cul-de-sac that contained Michel Piccoli's apartment in the film. Hitch declined her invitation for dinner. Carroll had been acting in British films since 1928 (in The Guns of Loos), having abandoned both teaching and modeling for an acting career in 1927. 1928 was the year Hitchcock's wife, Alma, spotted her potential as a leading lady after meeting her. She came to Hollywood in 1936, achieving immediate prominence in The General Died at Dawn (opposite Gary Cooper), Lloyd's of London (opposite Tyrone Power), and The Case Against Mrs. Ames. Her function in American movies was largely decorative, although she made a spirited Princess Flavia in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, co-starring with Ronald Colman) and a convincing snobbish heiress in On the Avenue (1937, co-starring with Dick Powell and Alice Faye). Her other Hollywood films including five light comedies opposite Fred MacMurray-included Blockade (1938), Cafe Society, Honeymoon in Bali (both 1939), Safari, Northwest Mounted Police (both 1940), Virginia, One Night in Lisbon (both 1941), Bahama Passage (opposite then-husband Sterling Hayden), My Favorite Blonde (both 1942, opposite Bob Hope in the latter), Don't Trust Your Husband (1948), and The Fan (1949, her last film). Carroll became an American citizen in 1943, but returned to England during World War 2 to work in the relief effort. She only made a few more films in the postwar era before disappearing from the screen. Subsequently she worked on the stage, radio and TV for several years before eventually ending up spending her retirement on a large farm just outside Paris. She died in 1987 in Marbella, Spain of pancreatic cancer. Birth name Spouse Trivia Madeleine Carroll appeared on the NBC Radio Program, "Chase And Sanborn Hour" October 30, 1938, with Nelson Eddy and Dorothy Lamour (Vocalists) Robert Armbruster and his orchestra, starring Edgar Bergen (Charlie McCarthy), Don Ameche (host) Judy Zeke and Annie Canova. Madeleine Carroll performed with Nelson Eddy and Don Ameche and Edgar Bergem. Madeleine Carroll Dvds @ amazon.com (direct link) Madeleine Carroll Biography Books @ amazon.com (direct link) Video On Demand: Rent or Buy Search Site Top of Page |
