Quick Preview of TCM in August: Summer Under the Stars

The complete list of the actors to be celebrated in the annual Summer Under the Stars festival on TCM this August was just posted on the TCM message boards!

Here are the actors who will be celebrated this summer with 24-hour marathons, in date order:

JANE FONDA

DAVID NIVEN

WALTER PIDGEON

JUDY GARLAND

BARBARA STANWYCK

PAUL MUNI

JAMES STEWART

JEANNE MOREAU

WILLIAM POWELL

CAROLE LOMBARD

MARLON BRANDO

ALEXIS SMITH

CARY GRANT

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

FAYE DUNAWAY

HERBERT MARSHALL

JOHN HODIAK

CLAUDETTE COLBERT

PAUL NEWMAN

THELMA RITTER

LEE TRACY

AUDREY HEPBURN

ERNEST BORGNINE

GLADYS GEORGE

DICK POWELL

SOPHIA LOREN

EDMOND O’BRIEN

ARLENE DAHL

JOSEPH COTTEN

BETTY GRABLE

ALAN LADD

It's a nice list with many personal favorites, starting with Dick Powell, Claudette Colbert, and Edmond O'Brien, and it's also a nice mix of "big" names and interesting character actors such as Lee Tracy and Gladys George.

I'm especially happy that TCM is showing the Paramount film SKYLARK (1941) with Colbert, Ray Milland, and Brian Aherne. I'm hoping to record a better copy of this not-on-DVD film than the one I own now.

I also understand that August will the TCM premiere of the great 20th Century-Fox film noir I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941), starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature. Many other favorite films are also slated to air in August.

I'll be posting more details on the August schedule at the end of July. In the meantime, June Allyson is the May Star of the Month, to be followed by Rock Hudson in June and Maureen O'Hara in July.