September 11 Timmy Update
#1 One very good possibility for Shimmy was discarded much too easily.
#2 Yes, the explanation for the blind is long, but only because it would be a disservice to just give the answer and not tell you the why. I did see a comment where someone got very close to the why.
#3 I was going to post something on Jane Wyman and then figured everyone would see the photo and die, so held back. Ditto a photo collection of Hollywood leading ladies which is really incredible.
#4 The photos in the post are just photos and as far as I know Timmy isn't in any of them. They were just photos I found on Google looking for old Hollywood casts. I'm amazed by the amount of research done on the theatres and if there is a historical society associated with them, they have enough for a book.
#5 Sorry to disappoint the t-shirt makers (where are the free t-shirts for all the people who worked on this?) but it isn't Kay Kendall for Shimmy (did I hear a gasp or groan?) and it isn't Robert Moore for Timmy.
#6 Not Judy Holiday, Judy Holliday, or Madonna's song Holiday.
636 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 601 – 636 of 636No hint = no nearer. We are going round in circles. Perhaps ENT just wants his moment of glory at our expense. Sorry but feel a bit let down now.
or no hint could simply mean that it has been guessed..no need for hints if it's already been solved.
Ben Hall could definitely be Timmy. I wonder if I can see him in a movie, see if he has a scar?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355334/
Ben has too many credits to be Timmy.
EL said between Timmy and Shimmy they had 100 credits. Ben has over 150 by himself.
Hey, I just had a brainstorm.
Maybe the Oscar is for a short-subject, not a feature film?
Rewi...posted a list of names of guys who were in a movie with William Haines.
Guess what?
George K. Arthur has an Oscar, for a short subject.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0037761/awards
He isn't Timmy, but maybe...?
but he has an Oscar as George Arthur..not Shimmy.
ChenoFan said...
or no hint could simply mean that it has been guessed..no need for hints if it's already been solved.
EL said it was guessed "before 12 noon" on one of the first days. On this or another blog. But those were pretty random guesses. I mean, they were all Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress winners whose career did not match the story we were told.
Since everyone we've come up with has been ruled out for one reason or another, I'd like a hint re: what fundamental error we've been making. Or where EL has been less than scrupulous with the truth.
further..they don't give acting awards for short subjects
Yes...but there might be someone else, a woman, with an Oscar for a short subject.
That woman could be Shimmy.
again..they don't give acting awards for short subjects..and EL specifically said the very big award was either for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress
I've been for Alice, comtemplating Rutherford, then now am going over the Luise Rainer possibility. Perhaps we dismiss her too fast.
She took a leave of absence from movies for over 50 years. She left films six years after winning her last and multiple awards. Her work since 1944 has been solely in TV. Her one movie last year was not in Timmy's lifetime. She's alive and Ent said that Shimmy may not be listed as dead. SHE HAS THE ONLY SCAR I CAN SEE ON ANY OF THEM... ABOVE HER RIGHT BROW NEAR HER NOSE. She is very slight.
another star not allowed to know she was going to die. they also called her as someone said b4 the most adored person to set foot at the studio but her book makes me discount her but his new clues make me wonder. but i must say b4 this i never heard of her and when i saw her picture she is very manly which made me dicount it the most.
Dressler followed these successes with more hits in 1933 (like the wonderful
comedy Dinner at Eight, in which she played an aging and poor former stage
actress) and made the cover of the August 7, 1933 issue of Time magazine.
However, her career came to an abrupt end when she was diagnosed with
terminal cancer. MGM head Louis B. Mayer learned of Dressler's illness from
her doctor and asked that she not be told. To keep her home, he ordered her
not to travel on her vacation because he wanted to put her in a new film.
Dressler was furious but complied.
In all, Marie Dressler appeared in more than 40 films but only achieved
superstardom near the end of her life. Always seeing herself as physically
unattractive, she wrote an autobiography, The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling
David, check page 87 of this book excerpt on John Ford. Is that Ben Hall holding up the mirror for Henry Fonda?
but EL said "when you look at IMDB and see an actress worked for many years after her win, the guess doesn't make any sense despite the fact that everything else fits."
so even though her credits were in TV..she still worked for many years beyond her wins.
http://forums.turnerclassicmovies.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=60971&tstart=15&start=15
good info on dressler here
That must be him.
I don't see a scar, but... you never know.
P.S. Luise Rainer can be seen and heard on the DVDs of her films, doing commentary. She's got that same Austrian accent she had 70 years ago.
It isn't Luise.
Check out the persoanlity that won't quit.... even now at her age.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0707023/
None of the choices have 100% what is in the hints. Luise is the only one with a scar. Her size and personality. Her awards. Indeed she has a lot going for her. I just don't know how it all fits.
Maybe Timmy has an accent too.
Luise may not be the only one with a scar..but you would have to see Shimmy in a movie to notice it. [Publcity photos were retouched and imperfections removed.]
per EL "Sunday after brunch I went to Blockbuster and I rented the award winning film, and even knowing what I knew, when I watched it Sunday night it was almost impossible to tell. If you watch it carefully there is one giveaway which is a scar. It's not a big scar, but its evident in photos of the male Timmy which you can still find online in old cast photos and in the female version of Timmy as she acts her way to one of the biggest awards in films."
We need one of the follow clues:
a) a more acurate timeline for Timmy/Shimmy
b) a clue about the closeted A-lister
c) to clarify/discount the awards in question
d) to know if the correct answer has been guessed on this site
Luise had 2 Oscars in a row!
It isn't Luise.
And Maggie McNamara has a very visible scar. She fits more of the clues than Luise, even though Maggie doesn't have an Oscar.
P.S. Ben Hall is right in every department, except perhaps his age. He's short, bald, has a lot of movies, and stopped working (as a man) in 1949.
And died in 1985.
He's in a movie with William Haines. And he's in musicals (Naughty Marietta).
He's the best possibility for Timmy that I've seen.
which..if Shimmy..would have made him over 50 when he decided to go the drag route..
Hello everybody. I have been out of town without time to access the internet, but I have not forgotten Timmy/Shimmy! I have been trying to catch up with all the developments, (or lack thereof !) but haven't been able to read every single new comment. That being said, I'm still leaning AB and think Ent's reference to someone we "dismissed too easily" may be a red herring. However, for the sake of argument, I've been going back over previously discussed contenders to see what pops up. I have to say that the only thing that really bothers me about the AB guess is the time frame. The clue suggests Shimmy was in movies in the mid-1940s or later (reference to 90 year old JJ and his wife, note that Timmy first came to Hollywood when musicals were "still popular," which couldn't have been earlier than the late 1930s (and that's pre-Shimmy)). Other than that, though, AB really fits.
HOWEVER, just as reminder, earlier in this process we had cross-referenced all AA/GG actress/supporting actress winners from late 1960s back with never-married, then-A list actors and with candidates who were guessed early on on multiple boards. Excluding candidates that Ent has now eliminated, that list (as far as I can tell by cross-referencing obvious candidates) is:
Anne Revere
Jo Van Fleet
Gloria Grahame
Alice Brady
Susan Kohner
Some of these, Like Gloria, starred with never-married actor AFTER their win, so this list could be even shorter.
I know we've discussed all of these to death, and I still am guessing AB; however, for the sake of argument, I'd like to note that Susan Kohner fits the clued quite nicely. More so than the other candidates. I know, I know, she is still alive and has 2 famous sons. For those reasons alone I am doubtful it's SK. HOWEVER, she did 1) win a GG as best supporting actress and best newcomer and get second place in the "Laurel Awards" her winning year (after being nominated as best newcomer just the year before 2) co-star in a leading role with Sal Mineo (mags at the time played up a romance between the two) in Dino soon before her winning role in Imitation of Life, 3) have a record of supporting roles before Dino, and 4) stop appearing in films within just a few years after her win. I can't reconcile her candidacy with her family history, but I wanted to throw it out there because but-for her family/fact she's still alive, she hits the clues pretty well and fits the suggested time frame. Any way a theory could be formulated to explain the fact that Timmy impersonated her yet she is still alive?
Probably not, and I'm sticking with AB, but I thought I'd see if I could pique anyone's interest.
I'm glad the end is almost near!
As long as we're going there, I'd like to point out why Alice Brady doesn't fit.
She had a long career as Alice, in silent films and on the stage. She has a family history. She was born long, long ago. She has no scar that I can see (and her neck is bare for the whole of In Old Chicago).
And finally, her career didn't wind down over 3 or 4 years. If anything, it got better. And then she died, young and suddenly.
And EL says we've overlooked somebody.
I've yet to be convinced that Alice Brady is Shimmy.
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/factsheets/awardsdb/env-awards-db-search,0,7169155.htmlstory?searchtype=all&query=Luise+Rainer+&x=23&y=11
this sites lists a bunch of awards by years. i am going to look through ti and see who won multiple awards
i think Maggie resembles grant williams. They hold their mouth the same way although one scar is bigger than the other.
Still think there is some way it is Fay Bainter. She was opposite Katharine Hepburn in 1937 in Quality Street (closeted A-list actor). Won AA for Jezebel in 1938 (not televised). Then in 1961, "wins" several nominations- GG and AA for Children's Hour although she doesn't "win." She is still an AA-winning actress being showered with lots of attention on TV, her skin could have acted up then and caused her to quit acting. It was her last movie. The movie was a groundbreaking movie for gays and lesbians. Many, many people protested its release.
Re: David said...
Luise had 2 Oscars in a row!
Precisely. Ent said that she won 'again'. So she had to have won previously.
Fay Bainter had a long career *as a woman,* an actress named Fay Bainter. No evidence of someone whose career dried up over a few years.
Plus, the A-list actor has to have been a man, or the gay thing doesn't work out.
Grant Williams could be Timmy.
The timeline is right. He started as an opera singer.
He was gay, and he died in 1985.
But he worked as a man until 1972. If he transformed himself into Shimmy at that point, we're talking an Oscar winner from the mid- to late-70s.
Is Grant Williams actually Faye Dunaway?
LOL
Have started a spread sheet for all female award winners between 1930 and 1970 and i mean all awards even the weird one's. Didn't realise the GG had 2 best actress awards - one for drama and one for musicals/comedy.
ENT HAS POSTED MORE HINTS FOLKS !!!!
SEE YA THERE.
no maria..it means Shimmy won for the same role more than one award:
"Shortly after Timmy was cast as the lead, he was cast in another role which is the subject of the blind. Timmy was incredible in this role and whether his acting was as a result of his new found love or as a result of just the right part at the right time, Hollywood took notice and so did the critics. During award season, Timmy began winning regularly for his role. I want to make it perfectly clear that none of these organizations knew Timmy was actually a man when they were honoring him with awards as an actress."
"This award season was a blessing because it honored Timmy for his work...."
"When it came to the very big award, the one with all the television viewers, Timmy won again. There he was, the woman who was really a gay man was being honored for being the Best Supporting Actress/Best Actress of the year. Its up to you to figure out which of the two he won."
"After the award season, Timmy thought the hives and his skin would go back to normal, but if anything they became worse. "
I've updated my original post with the whole BI and all the hints/NOTS again to reflect the new clues:
http://p068.ezboard.com/fcrazydaysandnightsfrm9.showMessage?topicID=94.topic&index=9
Sorry it took so long- and look what all I missed! After left last night I got sick- stomach flu or something- and I had weird dreams all night thinking ENT was either not going to give any hints or that he'd give a HUGE clue and it would, for instance eliminate Alice Brady. SO instead I come back to NOAH'S ARK??? If I thought I was confused before...
Off to read the comments posted since I left last night!
alice brady
king baggot
Tyrone Powers
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