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Giant
Sometimes any man can be a giant . . .
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.
  • Released on 11/08/1956 (Movie)
  • 7.59 out of 10 (680 votes on TMDB)
  • Drama / Western
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  • Crew
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Headshot of Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor

Character's name: "Leslie Lynnton Benedict"
Birthday: 02/27/1932
Date of Death: 03/23/2011
Birthplace: Hampstead, London, England, UK
Biography:
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. As one of the world's most famous film stars, Taylor was recognized for her acting ability and for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes. National Velvet (1944) was Taylor's first success, and she starred in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8 (1960), played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), and married her co-star Richard Burton. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award. From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre. Her much publicized personal life included eight marriages and several life-threatening illnesses. From the mid-1980s, Taylor championed HIV and AIDS programs; she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1993. She received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, who named her seventh on their list of the "Greatest American Screen Legends". Taylor died of congestive heart failure at the age of 79.

Headshot of Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson

Character's name: "Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr."
Birthday: 11/17/1925
Date of Death: 10/02/1985
Birthplace: Winnetka, Illinois, USA
Biography:
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golden Age of Hollywood, he achieved stardom with his role in Magnificent Obsession (1954), followed by All That Heaven Allows (1955), and Giant (1956), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hudson also found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co-starring Doris Day: Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). During the late 1960s, his films included Seconds (1966), Tobruk (1967), and Ice Station Zebra (1968). Unhappy with the film scripts he was offered, Hudson turned to television and was a hit, starring in the popular mystery series McMillan & Wife (1971–1977). His last role was as a guest star on the fifth season (1984–1985) of the primetime ABC soap opera Dynasty, until AIDS-related illness made it impossible for him to continue. Although discreet regarding his sexual orientation, it was a known fact amongst Hudson's colleagues in the film industry that he was a gay man. In 1984, Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS. The following year, he became one of the first celebrities to disclose his AIDS diagnosis. Hudson was the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness, on October 2, 1985, at age 59. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rock Hudson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of James Dean
James Dean

Character's name: "Jett Rink"
Birthday: 02/08/1931
Date of Death: 09/30/1955
Birthplace: Marion, Indiana, USA
Biography:
James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955) and surly ranch hand Jett Rink in Giant (1956). After his death in a car crash on September 30, 1955, Dean became the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in East of Eden. Upon receiving a second nomination for his role in Giant the following year, Dean became the only actor to have had two posthumous acting nominations. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 18th best male movie star of Golden Age Hollywood in AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list.

Headshot of Carroll Baker
Carroll Baker

Character's name: "Luz Benedict II"
Birthday: 05/28/1931
Birthplace: Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Biography:
Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Baker began performing on Broadway in 1954. From there, she was recruited by director Elia Kazan to play the lead in the adaptation of two Tennessee Williams plays into the film Baby Doll in 1956. In the mid-1960s, as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, Baker became a sex symbol after appearing as a hedonistic widow in The Carpetbaggers (1964). The film's producer, Joseph E. Levine, cast her in Sylvia before giving her the role of Jean Harlow in the biopic Harlow (1965). Despite significant prepublicity, Harlow was a critical failure, and Baker relocated to Italy in 1966 amid a legal dispute over her contract with Paramount and Levine's overseeing of her career. In Europe, she spent the next 10 years starring in hard-edged giallo and horror films, including Romolo Guerrieri's The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968), a series of four films with Umberto Lenzi beginning with Orgasmo (1969) and ending with Knife of Ice (1972), and Corrado Farina's Baba Yaga (1973). Baker appeared in supporting roles in several acclaimed dramas in the 1980s, including the drama Star 80 (1983) as the mother of murder victim Dorothy Stratten, and the racial drama Native Son (1986), based on the novel by Richard Wright. Through the 1990s Baker had guest roles in several television series, such as Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law, and Roswell. She formally retired from acting in 2003.

Headshot of Jane Withers
Jane Withers

Character's name: "Vashti Synthe"
Birthday: 04/12/1926
Date of Death: 08/07/2021
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress, model, and singer. Beginning a prolific career as a child actress at the age of 3, Withers was a Young Artist Award–Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award honoree, best known for being one of the most popular child film stars of the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as for her portrayal of "Josephine the Plumber" in a series of TV commercials for Comet cleanser in the 1960s and early 1970s, and probably best known for playing the obnoxious Joy Smythe in the film Bright Eyes, where she paired with Shirley Temple.

Headshot of Chill Wills
Chill Wills

Character's name: "Uncle Bawley"
Birthday: 07/18/1902
Date of Death: 12/15/1978
Birthplace: Seagoville, Texas, USA
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Chill Theodore Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few westerns he disbanded the group in 1938, and struck out on a solo acting career. One of his more memorable roles was that of the distinctive voice of Francis the Mule in a series of popular films. Wills' deep, rough voice, with its Western twang, was matched to the personality of the cynical, sardonic mule. As was customary at the time, Wills was given no billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth entry, Francis Joins the WACS. He provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Way Out West (1937), in which the Avalon Boys Quartet appeared. Wills was cast in numerous serious film roles, including as "the city of Chicago" as personified by a phantom police sergeant in the film noir City That Never Sleeps (1953), and that of Uncle Bawley in Giant (1956), which also features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Wills was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Davy Crockett's companion "Beekeeper" in the film The Alamo (1960). However, his aggressive campaign for the award was considered tasteless by many, including the film's star/director/producer John Wayne, who publicly apologized for Wills. Wills' publicity agent, W.S. "Bow-Wow" Wojciechowicz, accepted blame for the ill-advised effort, claiming that Wills had known nothing about it. The Oscar was instead won by Peter Ustinov for his role as Lentulus Batiatus in Spartacus. In Rory Calhoun's CBS western series The Texan, Wills appeared in the lead role in the 1960 episode entitled "The Eyes of Captain Wylie". Wills starred in the short-run series Frontier Circus which aired for only one season (1961–62) on CBS. In 1966, he was cast in the role of a shady Texas rancher, Jim Ed Love, in the short-lived ABC comedy/western series The Rounders (reprising his role in the 1965 film The Rounders, starring Henry Fonda), with co-stars Ron Hayes, Patrick Wayne and Walker Edmiston. in 1963-64, Wills joined William Lundigan, Walter Brennan and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in making appearances on behalf of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee in the campaign against U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968, Wills refused to support Richard Nixon for the presidency and served as master of ceremonies for George C. Wallace, former governor of Alabama, for the California campaign stops in Wallace's presidential campaign.[5] Wills was among the few Hollywood celebrities to endorse Wallace's bid against Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey; another was Walter Brennan. Also in 1968, he starred in the Gunsmoke episode "A Noose for Dobie Price", where he played Elihu Gorman, a former outlaw who joins forces with Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, to track down a member of his former gang who has escaped jail. His last role was in 1978, as a janitor in Stubby Pringle's Christmas. CLR Description above from the Wikipedia article Chill Wills, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Mercedes McCambridge
Mercedes McCambridge

Character's name: "Luz Benedict"
Birthday: 03/16/1916
Date of Death: 03/02/2004
Birthplace: Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
Biography:
Carlotta Mercedes McCambridge (March 16, 1916 – March 2, 2004) was an American actress. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress". She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for ¨All the King's Men¨ (1949) and was nominated in the same category for ¨Giant¨ (1956). She also provided the voice of the demon ¨Pazuzu¨ in ¨The Exorcist¨ (1973). Description above from the Wikipedia article Mercedes McCambridge, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia Read more:

Headshot of Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper

Character's name: "Jordan "Jordy" Benedict III"
Birthday: 05/17/1936
Date of Death: 05/29/2010
Birthplace: Dodge City, Kansas, USA
Biography:
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). During the next 10 years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films. He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer. "With its portrait of counterculture heroes raising their middle fingers to the uptight middle-class hypocrisies, Easy Rider became the cinematic symbol of the 1960s, a celluloid anthem to freedom, macho bravado and anti-establishment rebellion." Film critic Matthew Hays notes that "no other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper." He was unable to build on his success for several years, until a featured role in Apocalypse Now (1979) brought him attention. He subsequently appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983), and received critical recognition for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He directed Colors (1988) and played the villain in Speed (1994). Hopper's later work included a leading role in the television series Crash. Hopper's last performance was filmed just before his death: The Last Film Festival, slated for a 2011 release. Hopper was also a prolific and acclaimed photographer, a profession he began in the 1960s. ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Headshot of Sal Mineo
Sal Mineo

Character's name: "Angel Obregón II"
Birthday: 01/10/1939
Date of Death: 02/12/1976
Birthplace: The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Biography:
Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Mineo also starred in films such as Crime in the Streets, Giant (both 1956), Exodus (1960), for which he won a Golden Globe and received second Academy Award nomination, The Longest Day (1962), and Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971). Description above from the Wikipedia article Sal Mineo, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Rod Taylor
Rod Taylor

Character's name: "Sir David Karfrey"
Birthday: 01/11/1930
Date of Death: 01/07/2015
Birthplace: Sydney - New South Wales - Australia
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylor (born 11 January 1930  – 7 January 2015) was an Australian-born American actor of film and television. He appeared in over 50 films, including leading roles in The Time Machine, Seven Seas to Calais, The Birds, Sunday in New York, Young Cassidy, Dark of the Sun, The Liquidator, and The Train Robbers.

Headshot of Judith Evelyn
Judith Evelyn

Character's name: "Mrs. Nancy Lynnton"
Birthday: 03/20/1909
Date of Death: 05/07/1967
Birthplace: Seneca, South Dakota, USA
Biography:
Judith Evelyn (born Evelyn Morris, March 20, 1909 – May 7, 1967) was an American-Canadian stage and film actress who appeared in around 50 films and television series.

Headshot of Earl Holliman
Earl Holliman

Character's name: "'Bob' Dace"
Birthday: 09/11/1928
Birthplace: Delhi, Louisiana, USA
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Henry Earl Holliman (born September 11, 1928) is an American actor, animal rights activist and singer known for his many character roles in films, mostly westerns and dramas, in the 1950s and 1960s. He won a Golden Globe Award for the film The Rainmaker (1956) and portrayed Sergeant Bill Crowley on the television police drama Police Woman throughout its 1974–1978 run.

Headshot of Robert Nichols
Robert Nichols

Character's name: "Mort 'Pinky' Snythe"
Birthday: 07/20/1924
Date of Death: 03/21/2013
Birthplace: Oakland, California, USA

Headshot of Paul Fix
Paul Fix

Character's name: "Dr. Horace Lynnton"
Birthday: 03/13/1901
Date of Death: 10/14/1983
Birthplace: Dobbs Ferry, New York, USA
Biography:
Paul Fix (March 13, 1901, Dobbs Ferry, New York – October 14, 1983, Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981. In the 1950s, Fix was best known for portraying Marshal Micah Torrance alongside Chuck Connors in The Rifleman. Paul Fix died October 14, 1983, Los Angeles, California, of kidney failure. He was survived by his daughter Marilyn Carey and son-in-law Harry "Dobe" Carey, three grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Supposedly Fix taught John Wayne -- a lifelong friend -- his famous and distinctive "rolling walk" when Wayne was starting out in the business. He wanted something to set him apart, so Fix suggested the rolling gait that became his trademark.

Headshot of Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby

Character's name: "Old Polo"
Birthday: 11/13/1913
Date of Death: 02/22/1985
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Scourby (November 13, 1913 – February 22, 1985) was an American film, television, and voice actor known for his deep and resonant voice. He is best known for his film role as the ruthless mob boss Mike Lagana in Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953), and is also particularly well-remembered in the English-speaking world for his landmark recordings of the entire King James Version audio Bible, which have been released in numerous editions. He later recorded the entire Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Scourby recorded 422 audiobooks for the blind which he considered his most important work. He has a reputation in the audiobook industry as being one of the greatest narrators: "He is heralded as having the greatest voice ever recorded."


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George Stevens
Director

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Fred Guiol
Screenplay

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Ivan Moffat
Screenplay

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Henry Ginsberg
Producer

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George Stevens
Producer

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