This Day in WWII 22 August 1940 - 1945

[Donster]

Bell Telephone Ad - August 1944

 

1940: Churchill dispatches a heavily armed convoy with 150 tanks to reinforce the middle east.

 

1942: Brazil declares war on the Axis powers. She is the only South American country to send combat troops into Europe.

 

 *Greer Garson

 

1942: The Admiralty announces the loss of the famous submarine Upholder. (MORE INFO)

 

1942: The advance of 17th Army toward the Black Sea port of Suchumi west of the Caucasus bogs down.

 

 Greer Garson

 

1943: The Germans evacuate Kharkov.

 

1944: The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm begins four days of attacks on the German Battleship Tirpitz and other shipping in the Alten Fjord, Norway.

 

 Greer Garson

 

1944: The Red Army captures Jassy on the Prut river in the southern Ukraine.

 

1945: U.S. War Office estimates that there are a quarter of a million POW's and civilian internees in Japanese hands at present.

 

 Greer Garson

 

1945: Soviet troops land at Port Arthur and Dairen on the Kwantung Peninsula in China.

 

1945: MacArthur says the surrender will be signed in the Tokyo area on the 31st August.

 

 Greer Garson

 

*Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was born in London, England, on September 29, 1904. Her childhood was a normal if not non-descript life. Greer showed no early signs of interest in becoming an actress. She was educated at the University of London with the intentions of becoming a teacher. Instead she opted to work with an advertising agency. During this time she appeared in local theatrical productions gaining a reputation as an extremely talented actress. She was discovered by Louis B. Mayer while he was on a visit to London looking for new talent. Greer was signed to a contract with MGM and appeared in her first American film in 1939. The movie in question was "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1939) which won rave reviews and garnered her a nomination as best actress, the first of six nominations. Already she was a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. The following year would see Greer in the highly acclaimed "Pride and Prejudice" (1940) as Elizabeth Bennet. 1941 saw her get a second nomination for her role as Edna Gladney in "Blossoms in the Dust" (1941). Garson won her first Academy Award for "Mrs. Miniver" (1942), a role which she would forever be known by. As Marie Curie in "Madame Curie" (1943), she would get another nomination and the same the next year in "Mrs. Parkington" (1944). It seemed that any movie she was a part of would surely be a success. Sure enough, in 1945, she won, yet, another nomination for her role as Mary Rafferty in "The Valley of Decision" (1945). But through the 1940s she was constantly typecast in roles that didn't allow for a lot of creativity. MGM felt that the roles she played were sure winners and for the time being they were right, but that didn't make Garson feel any better about it. She would stay with MGM until 1954. In 1946, Greer appeared in "Adventure" (1945) which was a flop at the box-office. 1947's "Desire Me" (1947) was no less a disaster. Her downward spiral stopped in the hit "That Forsyte Woman" (1949). The next year she reprised her role as Kay Miniver in "The Miniver Story" (1950). Unfortunately it didn't fare too well.

 

For the remainder of the 1950s she endured several less-than-appreciated films. Then 1960 found her cast in the role of Eleanor Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello" (1960). This film was, perhaps, her finest work and landed her seventh Academy Award nomination. Her final appearances on the silver screen were in "The Singing Nun" (1966) as Mother Prioress and "The Happiest Millionaire" (1967). After a few TV movies Garson retired to the New Mexico ranch she shared with her husband, millionaire Buddy Fogelson. She concentrated on the environment and other various charities. By the 1980s she was suffering from chronic heart problems prompting her to slow down. Greer Garson died from heart failure in Dallas on 6 April 1996, at the age of 91.

 

TRIVIA:

Measurements: 36 B/C-25-38

Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Nickname: Duchess

Garson was married three times. Her first marriage, on 28 September 1933, was to Edward Alec Abbot Snelson (19041992), later Sir Edward, a British civil servant who became a noted judge and expert in Indian and Pakistani affairs. The actual marriage reportedly lasted only a few weeks, but was not formally dissolved until 1943.

 

Her second husband, whom she married (at age 39) in 1943, was Richard Ney (19162004), the younger actor (27 years old) who played her son in Mrs. Miniver. They divorced in 1947, with Garson claiming that Ney called her a "has-been" and belittled her age, as well as testimony from Garson that he also physically abused her. Ney eventually became a respected stock-market analyst and financial consultant. That same year, she married a millionaire Texas oilman and horse breeder, E. E. "Buddy" Fogelson (19001987), and in 1967, the couple retired to their "Forked Lightning Ranch" in New Mexico. They purchased the U.S. Hall of Fame champion Thoroughbred Ack Ack from the estate of Harry F. Guggenheim in 1971, and were highly successful as breeders. They also maintained a home in Dallas, Texas, where Garson funded the Greer Garson Theater facility at Southern Methodist University.

 

 War Advertising Council Ad - August 1945