Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.

Lana Turner
as Georgia Lorrison

Kirk Douglas
as Jonathan Shields

Walter Pidgeon
as Harry Pebbel

Dick Powell
as James Lee Bartlow

Barry Sullivan
as Fred Amiel

Gloria Grahame
as Rosemary Bartlow

Leo G. Carroll
as Henry Whitfield

Gilbert Roland
as Victor "Gaucho" Ribera

Paul Stewart
as Syd Murphy

Vanessa Brown
as Kay Amiel
tmdb28039023
The Bad and the Beautiful is sort of like Old Hollywood’s Rashomon. Three characters appear before a fourth to tell a story about a fifth; the three stories are different but interrelated, and the moral of each is the same: studio chief Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) is a major a--hole and to know ...
CinemaSerf
It all starts with poor old Walter Pidgeon ("Harry") assembling "Georgia" (Lana Turner), "Fred" (Barry Sullivan) and "Bartlow" (Dick Powell) in his office so he can persuade then to write, direct and star in one last picture for their nemesis "Jonathan Shields" (Kirk Douglas). They loathe him - with...