The "biopic," or biographical picture, is one of Hollywood's favorite genres, reaching a peak of popularity in the 1930s and remaining prominent today. These screen biographies can be divided into many sub-genres depending on the life being dramatized. Prime time topics in TCM's festival include such Spiritual Leaders as Gandhi (1982), portrayed by Ben Kingsley in an Oscar®winning performance. Kingsley prepared for his role by losing 17 pounds on a vegetarian diet and learning yoga and thread-spinning. The actor, whose paternal family was from the same Indian state (Gujarat) as Gandhi, looked so much like the spiritual leader that, during filming in India, some natives thought him to be Gandhi's ghost.

Our featured Sports Stars include baseball great Lou Gehrig, movingly played by Oscar®-nominated Gary Cooper in The Pride of the Yankees (1942). Cooper, admittedly not a baseball fan, could barely hit the ball-let alone in Gehrig's left-handed stance. So the prints were reversed, with Cooper actually batting right-handed and running to third base!

Royalty is represented by Mary of Scotland (1936), with Katharine Hepburn as Mary Stuart and Florence Eldridge as Elizabeth I. When RKO initially had trouble filling the latter role, Hepburn reportedly suggested that she play both parts. Supporting player John Carradine was said to have asked, "But if you play both queens, how would you know which one to upstage?"

In the Science & Medicine category, Oscar®nominated Greer Garson stars as Madame Curie (1943), a pioneer in the field of radioactivity and the first twice-honored Nobel Prize winner. The film drama marked the third teaming of Garson with Walter Pidgeon, also nominated for his performance as Marie Curie's husband and collaborator, Pierre.

Musicians and Composers include Woody Guthrie, the folk singer and social activist portrayed by David Carradine in Bound for Glory (1976), a screen adaptation of Guthrie's autobiography in which Carradine did his own singing. Singer Tim Buckley had been cast in the role but died before shooting began.

by Roger Fristoe