A Question: what do the following famous folks have in common? Lon Chaney and Howard Keel, Orson Welles and Peter Lawford, Linda Darnell and Charles Laughton, France's Jean Gabin and Georgia's Joanne Woodward, Montgomery Clift and Conrad Veidt, also Anne Francis, Ann Dvorak, Ben Johnson, Joan Blondell, Ralph Bellamy, Paulette Goddard and Ronald Colman. Two strong clues: it's August and you're reading TCM's Now Playing Guide.

Excuse us if we're crowing a bit, but those 17 extremely varied, talented and distinctive folks will each have their own spot this year for the first time as part of our annual Summer Under the Stars festival, a time when we devote one full TCM day to a single star--something we've been doing annually since the idea first came to us back in 2003. And further good news: besides those 17 newcomers to our SUTS list, we'll also have full days devoted to 14 other iconic personalities who've been part of this celebration of movies before such as Marlene Dietrich, previously on the list in 2003, Claudette Colbert in 2004 and John Garfield in 2006. Others will be making their third August appearance (Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster), some their fourth (Bette Davis, Joan Crawford), or their fifth (Humphrey Bogart) and their sixth (Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart).

No one has made more appearances on our August lists than Cary, Jimmy and Katharine Hepburn, the triumphant trio from The Philadelphia Story, each of them with a 6-times-in-9 years total. On August 21, we will, in fact, be showing that delightful comedy which brought them all together on screen in 1940; further, though Kate Hepburn has no specific day of her own on our list this year, you'll still find her well-represented; for instance, with a screening of Bringing Up Baby (1938) on Cary Grant Day, and with both Stage Door (1937) and Without Love (1945) as part of a day honoring Lucille Ball. Speaking of Lucy: since this month marks the 100th anniversary of her birth, we'll be giving full focus to her on that historic day, August 6, 2011, with screenings of 14 Lucille Ball treats.

Something else we're crowing about: we'll have no less than 41 TCM premieres this month, including the 1949 Oscar® winner A Letter to Three Wives, as well as rarities like a reconstructed version of Luchino Visconti's 1963 French-made epic The Leopard, with Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, which had been heavily scissored before its initial showings here in the U.S. Also on tap are a pair of basically unknown rarities by two of our most famous icons--the mystery tale Trent's Last Case (1952) with Welles and the political drama A Lion Is in the Streets (1953) starring Cagney--along with a lengthy lineup of French films starring Gabin, the man always known as "France's answer to Bogart," which includes Gabin as Pépé Le Moko in a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, which later morphed into Charles Boyer's American-made Algiers (1938) and introduced Hedy Lamarr to the world. (Mireille Balin plays the Lamarr role in Gabin's earlier take on the story set in a Casbah in Algeria.)

All in all, it's a month full of movie gems from around the world. We guarantee you won't forget it anytime soon.

by Robert Osborne