March 16 Birthday Wishes

Dorothy Seastrom [1903 - 1930]

Mercedes McCambridge [1916 - 2004]

Howdy Manco!!

Dorothy Seastrom was a little afore my time, pard. Bout all I can tell ya about her, is that she was a silent screen actress, back during the roaring 20's. Her first film was titled Call Of The Canyon, which I assume was a western. She died of tuberculosis at the young age of 26!!

Mercedes McCambridge started her career in radio, back in the 40's. Orson Wells, himself, called her the greatest radio star in the world. Moving on into films, she appeared opposite Broderick Crawford in All The King's Men, for which she received her Academy Award. She starred with Sterling Hayden and Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar and both her and Hayden had some choice words to say about .Ms Crawford at the time. She also appeared in Giant with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor and provided the voice of Linda Blair in the 1970's film, The Exorcist. She guest starred on many of the 50's and 60's t.v. westerns, like Rawhide and Bonanza. A fine actress, she always came across as a stern, matriarch of the family, who would brook no interference from her brood, in her western roles.

Ed

McCambridge was on an episode of Rawhide earlier this week. I also remember her in the Sackett film where she played Tom Sellleck's and Sam Elliott's mother in a very moving cameo role.

Ed, Call of the Canyon is a Western, based on the story by Zane Grey. It was filmed in 1923 (directed by Victor Fleming, starring Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, and Noah Beery Sr.). This silent film was considered lost until 2010, when a print was found in the Russian state film archive, which provided a digital copy to the Library of Congress.