Various Days | 79 Movies
Five actors make their inaugural appearances in TCM’s all-day Summer Under the Stars programming this year: Diane Keaton, George Hamilton, Marie Windsor, Bonita Granville and Brock Peters.
August 6 -- Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton takes center stage on August 6th. Born Diane Hall and raised in southern California, Keaton headed east after studying drama at Santa Ana College, making her Broadway debut in “Hair” in 1968 and earning a Tony nomination in the 1969 production of “Play It Again, Sam” with Woody Allen. Following her first film appearance in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), Keaton earned recognition in The Godfather (1972), appearing as Michael Corleone’s second wife, Kay, in the film and its sequels. Keaton and Allen’s professional relationship transitioned from the stage to screen in the early 1970s, and TCM is playing several of their comedies, including Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977; for which Keaton won the Best Actress Oscar) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), their reunion of sorts.
In between the eccentric, independent characters Keaton was mostly known for with Allen, she ventured back into crime and spy territory in the likes of Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976) and The Little Drummer Girl (1984), the latter making its TCM premiere, with Keaton playing an actress lured into becoming a spy in the Middle East. In the early 1980s, she also earned accolades in several melodramas, including Reds (1981), for which she received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination, and Mrs. Soffel (1984). In the latter part of the decade, she shifted into more maternal roles, balancing family with humor in Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991) and Father of the Bride Part II (1995), which makes its TCM debut. Keaton kept busy behind the camera too, directing several Belinda Carlisle music videos, the documentary Heaven (1987) and the narrative feature Hanging Up (2000), among other titles. During her career, she also penned three New York Times bestselling books before her death in 2025.
August 10 -- George Hamilton
Tall, tan and handsome George Hamilton basks in the spotlight on August 10th. Following his parents’ divorce, the Tennessee-born Hamilton bounced around between various states, eventually landing in Florida. There, he appeared in plays at Palm Beach High School and won a Best Actor in Florida award his senior year. Following graduation, he ventured west to give Hollywood a shot. And talk about instant success: Hamilton won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for his debut in Crime & Punishment, USA (1959). He caught MGM’s attention, becoming one of the studio’s last contract players, starting with Home from the Hill (1960). From there, MGM kept Hamilton busy in Westerns (1961’s A Thunder of Drums), musical biopics (1964’s Your Cheatin’ Heart), comedies (1960’s Where the Boys Are and 1967’s Doctor, You’ve Got to Be Kidding!), crime dramas (1967’s Jack of Diamonds) and noir films (1968’s The Power). They even sent him to Italy to shoot two dramas, Light in the Piazza (1962) and Two Weeks in Another Town (1962).
After his contract ended, Hamilton gave producing a shot, pulling double duty in the likes of Evel Knievel (1971) as the daredevil stuntman and the comedy Love at First Bite (1979) as Count Dracula. Hamilton may be best known to younger audiences for playing himself. He hosted the early reality TV show “The Family” in 2003, competed on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2006, and appeared with ex-wife Alana Stewart on the 1990s daytime talk show “George & Alana” and with his family on the 2015 series “Stewarts & Hamiltons.”
August 21 -- Marie Windsor
TCM celebrates Marie Windsor on August 21st. Born Emily Bertelsen, the star was proud of her unofficial title as “Queen of the B’s,” with her New York Times obituary quoting her, “It's better to be queen of something than nothing at all.” A former Utah beauty queen who studied drama at BYU, Windsor herself was a far cry from the often unsympathetic characters she portrayed, from femme fatales to conniving crooks to cynical saloon owners. After years of bit parts, two of her first credited roles came in Song of the Thin Man (1947) and Force of Evil (1948). From there, she oscillated between noir (with notable roles in 1952’s The Narrow Margin and 1956’s The Killing) and Westerns (such as 1954’s The Bounty Hunter, 1964’s Mail Order Bride and 1975’s Hearts of the West), with the occasional foray into comedy (1955’s Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy and 1963’s Critic’s Choice).
Windsor transitioned mainly into television in the late 1950s through the early 1990s, appearing in more than 100 episodes of series like “Maverick,” “The Red Skelton Hour,” “Batman” and “Murder, She Wrote.”
August 25 -- Bonita Granville
The 17 films programmed on August 25th have one star in common: Bonita Granville. Born into a showbiz family, Granville became a popular child star during the 1930s, appearing in her first film, Westward Passage (1932), before her 10th birthday. She made a mark early playing rather malicious characters in These Three (1936), Maid of Salem (1937) and The Beloved Brat (1938). She was so convincing as a student whose lies almost destroy three people’s lives in These Three that she was nominated for the inaugural Best Supporting Actress Oscar Award at the 9th annual Academy Awards. At 15, Granville was cast as the popular teen detective Nancy Drew in four Warner Bros. adaptations: Nancy Drew… Detective (1938), Nancy Drew… Reporter (1939), Nancy Drew… Trouble Shooter (1939) and Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939). The B-movie series lightened the tone from the popular books and proved a huge hit.
In the early 1940s, Granville teetered between teen and adult roles, supporting and lead characters in big-budget and B pictures alike, from Now, Voyager (1942) and The Glass Key (1942) to Down in San Diego (1941) and Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942). She also co-starred in films with strong social commentary, playing an American born to German parents who denounces Nazism in RKO’s surprise hit Hitler’s Children (1943) and also playing a defiant girl running with the wrong crowd in Youth Runs Wild (1944). After meeting future husband Jack Wrather while filming The Guilty (1947), Granville retired from pictures in 1950, though she continued acting on the small screen. Granville remained active in her husband’s business endeavors, which included producing the “Lassie” TV series and several Lassie movies, co-owning the Disneyland Hotel and renovating and maintaining the historic ocean liner the Queen Mary.
August 28 -- Brock Peters
TCM shines the spotlight on the versatile Brock Peters on August 28th. Born George Fisher (some sources say Brock Fisher), Peters is perhaps best remembered for his powerful turn as the wrongfully accused Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). A graduate of New York’s High School of Music & Art, Peters landed a part in the touring company of “Porgy and Bess” in 1949, and his film debut came in another notable all-Black musical, Carmen Jones (1954). He went on to reprise his role as the brutal Crown in Otto Preminger’s 1959 film adaptation of Porgy and Bess.
Peters gave memorable performances in the likes of The L-Shaped Room (1962), a quiet drama in which he befriends pregnant Leslie Caron, and The Pawnbroker (1964), in which he plays a queer racketeer and pimp. He also appeared in several action/thrillers, including The Incident (1967), Framed (1975) and Two-Minute Warning (1976). In the 1970s and beyond, he entered the sci-fi arena with films like Soylent Green (1973), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and Star Trek: VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Peters became a mainstay in the 1980s and 1990s on the small screen, appearing in series ranging from “The Young and the Restless” to “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and he lent his voice to shows like “Batman: The Animated Series.”
Off-screen, Peters recorded two solo albums, won a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for executive producing the 1982 PBS special “Voices of Our People,” was a board member of various performing arts organizations and was honored with the NAACP National Humanitarian Award and a SAG Life Achievement Award. In 1980, he was involved in creating Communication Bridge, a groundbreaking non-profit video training institute for underprivileged minority youth.
