(Henry Fonda hosts this documentary of the biggest classic...)
Henry Fonda hosts this documentary of the biggest classic stars in Hollywood. Starting with the sound era it goes into the 30's, 40's, & 50's using many rare clips. Over 100 Stars include: Bogart, Bacall, Cooper, Ladd, Monroe, Bergman, Rooney, Swanson, Astaire, Rogers, Jolson, Cagney, Robinson, Harlow, Gable, Garland, Temple, Liz Taylor, John Wayne, Tony Curtis, Cary Grant, The Marx Bros. & more!
(Join star hosts Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, ...)
Join star hosts Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Liza Minnelli and many others in a celebration of the classic and beloved MGM musicals.
John Joseph Haley was an American film director, producer and writer, and a two-time recipient of the Emmy Award. He was best known as the director of the 1974 compilation film "That's Entertainment!"
Background
Jack Haley, Jr. was born on October 25, 1933, in Los Angeles, California, United States as John Joseph Haley Jr.
Haley grew up and prospered in a glittery world of Southern California celebrity, counting among his friends and partners some of Hollywood's best-known actors and performers, many of them, like him, the sons or daughters of entertainment figures. His father was Jack Haley, a well-known song and dance man who is best remembered as the Tin Man in ''The Wizard of Oz'' and who died in 1979. His mother was Florence McFadden, a onetime model and Ziegfeld Girl.
Education
Haley attended Loyola University, graduating with a degree in English before taking advanced courses, including filmmaking classes, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Jack Haley Jr. won an Emmy in 1968 for a television special he directed, ''Movin' With Nancy,'' starring Nancy Sinatra and featuring cameos by Ms. Sinatra's father, Frank (playing a security guard), and fellow Rat Packers Dean Martin (as her ''Fairy Goduncle'') and Sammy Davis Jr. (as a photographer). Mr. Davis was the best man when Mr. Haley married Ms. Minnelli.
Haley worked as a producer and director for David L. Wolper Productions from 1959 to 1970, during which time two of the series on which he worked - as a producer on the original ''Biography'' in 1961 and as a director of the ''National Geographic Specials'' in 1964 - won Peabody Awards.
After leaving Wolper, Mr. Haley tried to forge a career as a director of feature films, most notably with a lavishly hyped adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's ''Love Machine'' that was a critical and box-office disaster in 1971.
Afterward, Haley returned to documentary filmmaking, and in 1974 he created a blockbuster cinematic celebration of the most dazzling movie musicals produced by MGM. “That’s Entertainment!” included memorable scenes from nearly 100 films released between 1929 and 1958 and was narrated by 11 major stars: Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford, Liza Minnelli, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor, to introduce vintage clips from legendary Metro Golden Mayers musicals.
The mixture of Hollywood gush and spectacular song and dance proved a huge hit. Mr. Haley married Ms. Minnelli the same year. He worked as MGM's director of creative affairs and as the president of 20th Century Fox Television. The hugely successful format was repeated in 1985 with an ambitious feature compilation of the finest performances by the greatest dancers captured on film called “That’s Dancing!”. Haley, as writer, producer, and director, teamed up with David Niven Jr. as co-producer and Gene Kelly as executive producer.
Haley directed the Academy Awards show in 1970, 1974 and 1979. The 1974 Oscars were remembered for a streaker who dashed across the stage while Elizabeth Taylor and David Niven were presenting.
In 1982 he wrote, produced and directed the multi-Emmy nominated three-hour ABC special “Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter.” The all-star extravaganza was hosted by Carol Burnett, Dom DeLuise, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Richard Pryor, and Burt Reynolds.
Mr. Haley did not return for ''That's Entertainment, Part 2,'' which was directed by Gene Kelly in 1976, but he did make several other nostalgic Hollywood documentaries, including ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic'' in 1990 and ''100 Years of the Hollywood Western'' in 1994.
Haley’s commitment to the movie industry led him to develop important educational programs. He was responsible for rewriting and re-recording the Acoustiguide for the traveling exhibition “Hollywood: Legend and Reality,” sponsored by Time-Life and the Smithsonian Institution. More recently, he served as co-chairman with Sherry Lansing of the Concept Development Advisory Commission overseeing the $75 million Hollywood Entertainment Museum. He frequently donated his talents as a producer to the American Film Institute, the Princess Grace Foundation, and other charities.
Connections
Jack Haley Jr. was married for five years, from 1974 to 1979, to Liza Minnelli, the Oscar-winning daughter of Judy Garland and the director Vincente Minnelli.
1979, Outstanding Program Achievement - Special Events, 51st Academy Awards
1968, Primetime Emmy Awards, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Music or Variety, "Movin' with Nancy"
1979, Outstanding Program Achievement - Special Events, 51st Academy Awards
1968, Primetime Emmy Awards, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Music or Variety, "Movin' with Nancy"
1967, Best Documentary, for "The Hidden World: National Geographic Special"
1965, Best Documentary, for "Hollywood and the Stars “In Search of Kim Novak”
1964, Best Documentary, for "Hollywood and the Stars “How to Succeed as a Gangster"
1967, Best Documentary, for "The Hidden World: National Geographic Special"
1965, Best Documentary, for "Hollywood and the Stars “In Search of Kim Novak”
1964, Best Documentary, for "Hollywood and the Stars “How to Succeed as a Gangster"