Category Archives: WWII Memorabilia Related to Famous Hollywood Movie Actors

Original 1967 Movie Poster from Grand Prix – The Formula 1 Movie Starring James Garner and Toshiro Mifune

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Grand Prix Movie Original Poster

Grand Prix Movie Original 1967 Poster

I have seen several of the new trailers and interviews regarding the new Ron Howard movie titled Rush that is coming out in September.  It is about the 1976 Formula 1 season and looks like it will be very good.  I also just finished reading James Garner’s autobiography The Garner Files, which is really good and a fun read.  In The Garner Files the talks about the filming of the movie Grand Prix.  These two things have gotten me thinking about my favorite racing movie of all time, Grand Prix.

Grand Prix came out in 1966 and featured the most realistic driving sequences that had ever been filmed up to that point.  They used real Formula 1 drivers and filming techiniques that put the viewer in the middle of the action.

A few of the actors in Grand Prix have a military history connection.  Toshiro Mifune had served in the Imperial Japanese Army Airforce during WWII.  He was involved with aerial photography.  James Garner served in the Korean War with the 5th RCT and received two purple hearts.  Garner devotes a chapter of his book to his service in the Korean war.  He saw some heavy combat action during his service in Korea and was wounded twice.

The Grand Prix poster pictured is an original movie poster from my collection from the year 1967.  Grand Prix was originally shown in a format called Cinerama, which used three large wrap around screens to surround you in the action.  It was also exhibited intially as a roadshow event which meant that only select theaters had it and you had to buy tickets, which were more expensive, for a specific seat.  After it’s Cinerama roadshow run, it was then exhibited as a regular movie in regular theaters.  This original poster is for that run of the movie in 1967.

Marlene Dietrich WW2 Autograph and Unpublished Photos of Her with General James Gavin and Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division

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Dietrich 9 watermarkWe have here a Marlene Dietrich autograph given to a member of the 17th Airborne Division during World War Two and photos of her with General James Gavin and paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The autograph was given to a member of the 17th Airborne Division while she was visiting that unit.  Marlene spent much of WWII visiting troops overseas and putting on shows.  This soldier was able to get an autograph from her.  He also wrote in the pictured letter about Marlene visiting.

Marlene was most famous for starring in movies like The Blue Angel, A Foreign Affair, and Judgment at Nuremberg.  One of the other things Marlene was known for was playing a large lumber saw as a musical instrument.  According to a book about Dietrich memorabilia, Marlene Dietrich: Photographs and Memories, she had cards depicting her playing the saw, printed in notepad format for autographs.  When an autograph was requested, she would sign the card and tear it off the pad.  This book has a photo of one of these autograph card pads.

The photos of Marlene pictured where taken by a different airborne trooper soon after the war ended.  They were found amongst his mementos from the war.  He was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and was able to take these snapshot photos when Marlene Dietrich came to visit the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, General James Gavin, at the 82nd Airborne headquarters.   I have seen one photo in a book that was taken during this visit by Marlene, but I don’t believe any of the photos shown here have ever been published before.  General Jim Gavin and Marlene Dietrich were very close friends and Dietrich was a frequent visitor to 82nd Airborne Division during wartime and the occupation period.

Lee Marvin WW2 USMC Photo in the 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division 1943 Yearbook

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Lee Marvin 3 watermarkHere is Lee Marvin in his USMC uniform, pictured in the 1943 produced yearbook for the members of the 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.  Most people know Lee Marvin as an actor famous for his roles in movies like The Dirty Dozen and The Big Red One.   Before he became an actor, he enlisted in the US Marines in 1942 and served with the 4th Marine Division until he was severely wounded on Saipan on June 18, 1944.

He spent the next 13 months in hospital recuperating from this wound which damaged a sciatic nerve before being discharged in 1945.  His wound was severe enough for him to receive disability payments from the military after discharge.

The entry in the year book lists him in Headquarters and Service Company, 24th Marine Regiment.  He was later transferred, and at the time he was wounded on Saipan, he was in Company I, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

I have the complete set of all of these 4th Marine Division yearbooks from 1943.  There are separate books for the three infantry regiments (23rd Marines, 24th Marines, 25th Marines), the artillery regiment (14th Marines), the engineer regiment (20th Marines), and also books that have special troops like the tank battalion, etc.  They are great research tools and they do turn up occasionally on eBay.

Unfortunately, they never did updated volumes of the yearbook later or at the end of the war, so if a Marine was a replacement to the 4th Marine Division after these were printed in 1943, he will not be pictured in a yearbook.