Actors and Actresses of the 50s: Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Grace Kelly, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Burt Lancaster, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Dandridge, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, and Doris Day.

In the 50s, several things happened to shock and awe the entertainment business; such as the invention of the teleprompter, TV's first soap opera, "The Little Rascals" TV show, and the "I Love Lucy" TV show. But the most important thing about the entertainment in the 50s was the actors and actresses. Through out the 50s there were hundreds of actors and actresses. To name a few Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando ,Grace Kelly, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Burt Lancaster, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Dandridge, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, and Doris Day. Each of these performers have received Oscars nods for their played roles. Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929 in Belgium. Hepburn was a cosmopolitan from birth as her father was an English banker and her mother a Dutch baroness. In the movies she appeared as a delicate adolescent, a look which remained until her last movie Always (1989) directed by Steven Spielberg. Her career as actress began in the English cinema and after having been selected for the Broadway musical "Gigi" she debuted in Hollywood in 1953. With Roman Holiday (1953) she won an oscar; her favorite genres were the comedies like Sabrina (1954) or Love in the Afternoon (1957). At the end of the sixties she retired from Hollywood but appeared from time on the set for a few films. From 1988 on she worked also for UNICEF. Born Marlon Brando, Jr. on April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska to a calcium carbonate salesman and his artistically inclined wife Dorothy, "Bud" Brando was one of three children. An enigmatic superstar widely regarded as America's greatest actor, Marlon Brando has been a Hollywood icon since the early 1950s. Brando was by all accounts "difficult" even as a youngster, having been expelled from sev eral schools, including a military academy. Upon being prodded by his father to find some direction for himself, he chose to follow his muse to New York. Brando made his debut on the boards of Broadway. Brando was invited by talent scouts to screen test for the studios they represented, but it came to naught as he refused to be bound by the then-standard seven-year contract. Brando made his screen debut in The Men (1950), studying for his part as an embittered paraplegic by lying in bed for a month at a veterans' hospital. The following year Brando reprised his characterization for the adaptation of Street- car earning the first of four consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. Brando fi- nally struck Oscar gold that year for his work in On the Waterfront. His com- plex portrayal of Terry Malloy, a washed-up boxer turned mob stooge and informant, became a landmark of Amer- ican cinema. The actor's few forays in screen comedy, including Bedtime Story (1964) and Charlie Chaplin's ill-fated A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), nearly sank his career; indeed, by the end of the decade, Brando was nearly a forgotten figure. That remarkable performance in The Godfather (1972) not only netted Brando his second Oscar, but restored the luster to his tarnished reputation. Brando amplified his renewed notoriety by sending a young woman in Indian costume to refuse the award, based on the actor's outrage over the plight of Native Americans. He snagged yet another Oscar nomination for his work in Last Tango in Paris (1973), playing a middle-aged man carnally involved with a young stranger. Since delivering those two milestone performances, Brando has worked less frequently, appearing both in brilliant movies and silly ones based exclusively on a producer's willingness to pay his exorbitant fee. For all his eccentricities, Brando remains one of the most powerful, arresting, and unpredictable actors in film history. Marlon Brando died on July 1, 2004 in LA of pulmonary fibrosis. On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace struck out on her own, heading to New York's bright lights to try her luck there. Grace worked some as a model and made her debut on Broadway in 1949. She also made a brief foray into the infant medium of television. Not content with the work in New York, Grace moved to Southern California for the more prestigious part of acting -- motion pictures. In 1951, she appeared in her first film. She did two movies through out the next two years. Grace stayed busy in 1954 appearing in five films. Grace would forever be immortalized by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Georgie Elgin opposite Bing Crosby in The Country Girl. In 1955, Grace once again teamed with Hitchcock in To Catch a Thief (1955) co-starring Cary Grant. In 1956, she played Tracy Lord in the musical comedy High Society (1956)