Biographies
by jodysjaw | created - 25 Feb 2018 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicTrue Stories
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1. Madame Curie (1943)
Passed | 124 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Despite himself, accomplished physicist and avowed bachelor Pierre Curie falls for brilliant student Marie, and together they embark on the discovery of radium.
Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Albert Lewin | Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, Albert Bassermann
Votes: 3,194
2. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
Humble Abraham Lincoln gains the respect of his Illinois neighbors, growing in stature and respect until he is elected President in 1860 and departs for Washington.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard
Votes: 2,060
3. Hollywood Canteen (1944)
Passed | 124 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Two soldiers on leave spend three nights at a club offering free of charge food, dancing, and entertainment for servicemen on their way overseas. Club founders Bette Davis and John Garfield give talks on the history of the place.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Bette Davis, John Garfield, The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny
Votes: 2,529
4. The Winning Team (1952)
Approved | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Nebraska farmboy Grover Cleveland Alexander achieves baseball stardom before war injuries and alcoholism derail his career, but through his wife's faithful efforts he gets a chance for a comeback and redemption.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Doris Day, Ronald Reagan, Frank Lovejoy, Eve Miller
Votes: 1,113
5. Young Americans (1967)
Approved | 104 min | Documentary, Music
A behind-the-scenes look at the Young Americans, a show choir made up of young singers who project an image of all-American wholesomeness as they tour the country and perform.
Director: Alexander Grasshoff | Stars: The Young Americans, Milton Anderson, Diane Adams, Rod Alemania
Votes: 108
6. The Wings of Eagles (1957)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama, War
A biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Wead.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond
Votes: 4,611
7. A Man Called Peter (1955)
Approved | 119 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The rise of Peter Marshall, from modest Scottish upbringing, to New York seminary, time in Atlanta churches, his marriage, appointment as chaplain of the US Senate, and early death at 46. Based on real events.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Richard Todd, Jean Peters, Marjorie Rambeau, Jill Esmond
Votes: 1,134
8. PT 109 (1963)
Approved | 140 min | Biography, Drama, War
President John F. Kennedy kept a unique inauguration gift on his desk: a plastic-encased coconut. The tale of that coconut is the heroic story of PT 109.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson | Stars: Cliff Robertson, Robert Culp, Ty Hardin, James Gregory
Votes: 2,993
9. Wilson (1944)
Passed | 154 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of the political career of US President Woodrow Wilson.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 1,697 | Gross: $2.00M
10. Edison, the Man (1940)
Passed | 107 min | Biography, Drama
82 year old inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison is honored in 1929 and he reflects back on his sixty year career of scientific achievement.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman, Charles Coburn
Votes: 1,777
11. Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
Approved | 99 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
After losing her young son, Edna Gladney opposes the unfair laws discriminating against children whose parents are unknown, and opens an orphanage for those children.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Felix Bressart, Marsha Hunt
Votes: 2,293
12. Alien Abduction: The Odyssey of Betty and Barney Hill (2013)
180 min | Documentary
We have all heard incredible UFO and Alien Abduction stories that edge toward the unreal but none with more impact than the Betty and Barney Hill encounter that became a world wide story in... See full summary »
Directors: Mary Sutherland, Mary Sutherland | Stars: Stanton Friedman, Kathleen Marden
Votes: 39
13. Mommie Dearest (1981)
R | 129 min | Biography, Drama
The abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.
Director: Frank Perry | Stars: Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva
Votes: 18,357 | Gross: $19.03M
14. Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
Approved | 108 min | Biography, Drama, War
At the close of WWII, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle travels with the U.S. Army's Company C Division during their liberation of Italy.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum, Freddie Steele, Wally Cassell
Votes: 3,728
15. Sunrise at Campobello (1960)
Not Rated | 144 min | Biography, Drama
After a bout with polio, future president Franklin D. Roosevelt fights to save his political career.
Director: Vincent J. Donehue | Stars: Ralph Bellamy, Greer Garson, Hume Cronyn, Jean Hagen
Votes: 1,509
16. The Queen (2006)
PG-13 | 103 min | Biography, Drama
After the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings
Votes: 116,005 | Gross: $56.44M
17. The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
Approved | 91 min | Drama, Mystery
A doctor treats a woman suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.
Director: Nunnally Johnson | Stars: Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb, Edwin Jerome
Votes: 8,780
18. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
Passed | 138 min | Drama, History, War
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock
Votes: 6,462
19. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)
Approved | 158 min | Biography, Drama, War
A tenacious British woman becomes a missionary and runs an inn for travelling merchants in China during the Japanese invasion and the tumultuous years leading up to the Second World War.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, Curd Jürgens, Michael David
Votes: 5,422
20. Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Reenactments of actual USO experiences of its female stars entertaining troops overseas.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, Mitzi Mayfair
Votes: 553
21. Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Passed | 135 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
George Gershwin is a driven composer whose need to succeed destroys his relationship with singer Julie Adams and socialite Christine Gilbert.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Charles Coburn
Votes: 1,799
22. Spitfire (1942)
Approved | 90 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
Aircraft designer/patriot R. J. Mitchell, alarmed at growing German militarism, works to perfect a defense against the German Messerschmidt at the cost of his health.
Director: Leslie Howard | Stars: Leslie Howard, David Niven, Rosamund John, Roland Culver
Votes: 2,136
23. The Girl in White (1952)
92 min | Biography, Drama
A young woman decides to become a doctor at a time when women are not being made welcome in the field of medicine. Eventually, her determination and skills end up earning the respect of her male counterparts.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: June Allyson, Arthur Kennedy, Gary Merrill, Mildred Dunnock
Votes: 448
24. Papillon (1973)
R | 151 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon
Votes: 138,417 | Gross: $53.27M
25. The Beginning or the End (1947)
Passed | 112 min | Biography, Drama, History
A docudrama detailing the research, development and deployment of the first atomic bomb, as well as the bombing of Hiroshima.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, Tom Drake, Beverly Tyler
Votes: 749 | Gross: $2.66M
26. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Approved | 128 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan
Votes: 12,002
27. MacArthur (1977)
PG | 130 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biopic of General Douglas MacArthur covering his war exploits during WW2 and the Korean War.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Gregory Peck, Dan O'Herlihy, Ed Flanders, Ivan Bonar
Votes: 5,123
28. Reagan (2024)
Biography, Drama, History | Post-production
A drama based on the life of Ronald Reagan, from his childhood to his time in the oval office.
Director: Sean McNamara | Stars: Ryan Whitney, C. Thomas Howell, Dennis Quaid, Mena Suvari
29. The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance
The girl next door makes a teen born with immune deficiencies want to leave his germ-free bubble.
Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Robert Reed, Diana Hyland
Votes: 5,580
30. Executive Action (1973)
PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama, History
Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination.
Director: David Miller | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Gilbert Green
Votes: 3,246
31.
A Woman Named Jackie (1991)
Episode:
The Bouvier Years
(1991)
TV-PG | 90 min | Biography, Drama
Brought up in privilege, Jacqueline Bouvier (Roma Downey) marries men of wealth and power. Based on C. David Heymann's book. With Stephen Collins, William Devane, Joss Ackland, Wendy Hughes.
Director: Larry Peerce | Stars: Joss Ackland, Marianna Bishop, Ann Buckles, Andy Buckley
Votes: 16
32. Sister Kenny (1946)
Approved | 116 min | Biography, Drama
An Australian nurse discovers an effective new treatment for infantile paralysis, but experiences great difficulty in convincing doctors of the validity of her claims.
Director: Dudley Nichols | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger, Philip Merivale
Votes: 1,263
33. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Passed | 176 min | Drama, Musical
The ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan
Votes: 8,995
34. The Stratton Story (1949)
Passed | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 3,342
35. The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Approved | 156 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery
14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, living in a small town in the south of 1850s France, claims to have seen a divine vision, prompting extreme skepticism, concern from her family, and religious and political turmoil.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Jennifer Jones, Charles Bickford, William Eythe, Vincent Price
Votes: 7,643
36. Boys Town (1938)
Passed | 96 min | Biography, Drama, Family
When a death row prisoner tells him he wouldn't have led a life of crime if only he had had one friend as a child, Father Edward Flanagan decides to start a home for young boys.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton
Votes: 6,358
37. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
Passed | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 2,128
38. I Was an American Spy (1951)
Approved | 85 min | Biography, Drama, War
During World War II, an American woman posing as an Italian cabaret owner spies on the Japanese in Manila but becomes the target of a suspicious Japanese intelligence officer.
Director: Lesley Selander | Stars: Ann Dvorak, Gene Evans, Douglas Kennedy, Richard Loo
Votes: 280
39. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History
A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp
Votes: 6,165
40. Pride of the Marines (1945)
Approved | 120 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Marine hero Al Schmid is blinded in battle and returns home to be rehabilitated. He readjusts to his civilian life with the help of his soon to be wife.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark, John Ridgely
Votes: 1,643
41. My Darling Clementine (1946)
Passed | 97 min | Drama, Romance, Western
After their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs
Votes: 25,764
42. Above and Beyond (1952)
Approved | 122 min | Biography, Drama, War
Col. Paul Tibbets piloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War II.
Directors: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama | Stars: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, James Whitmore, Larry Keating
Votes: 1,342
43. All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
Approved | 141 min | Drama, Romance
A duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 5,388
44. The White Angel (1936)
Passed | 92 min | Biography, Drama
A look at the life of Florence Nightingale.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, Donald Woods, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 421
45. Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951)
Approved | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The triumph and tragedy of Native American Jim Thorpe, who, after winning both the pentathlon and decathlon in the same Olympics, is stripped of his medals on a technicality.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, Steve Cochran, Phyllis Thaxter
Votes: 2,301
46. Knute Rockne All American (1940)
Approved | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.
Directors: Lloyd Bacon, William K. Howard | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,155
47. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Passed | 100 min | Biography, Drama, History
A fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan
Votes: 9,178
48. A Song to Remember (1945)
Approved | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biography of Frederic Chopin.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Paul Muni, Merle Oberon, Cornel Wilde, Nina Foch
Votes: 1,618
49. God Is My Co-Pilot (1945)
Passed | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
During WW2, American volunteer pilots are stationed in China where, as part of the Flying Tigers unit, they dog-fight against Japanese warplanes.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Dennis Morgan, Raymond Massey, Dane Clark, Alan Hale
Votes: 680
50. Night and Day (1946)
Approved | 128 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
A fictionalized biopic of composer Cole Porter from his days at Yale in the 1910s through the height of his success to the 1940s.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Cary Grant, Alexis Smith, Monty Woolley, Ginny Simms
Votes: 3,205
51. The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)
Passed | 86 min | Biography, Drama, History
The biography of the pioneering French microbiologist who helped revolutionize agriculture and medicine.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Paul Muni, Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise, Donald Woods
Votes: 3,154
52. Lust for Life (1956)
Approved | 122 min | Biography, Drama
The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
Directors: Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown
Votes: 12,511 | Gross: $3.48M
53. Wings and the Woman (1942)
Approved | 94 min | Biography, Drama
The story of flyer Amy Johnson who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world. Her marriage to fellow aviator Jim Mallison was less noteworthy.
Director: Herbert Wilcox | Stars: Anna Neagle, Robert Newton, Edward Chapman, Nora Swinburne
Votes: 249
54. The Color of Friendship (2000 TV Movie)
TV-G | 87 min | Biography, Drama, Family
A white South African girl finds herself in a difficult situation when she is sent to spend a term with a Black family in America.
Director: Kevin Hooks | Stars: Lindsey Haun, Shadia Simmons, Carl Lumbly, Penny Johnson Jerald
Votes: 4,312
55. Yellow Jack (1938)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, History, Mystery
In the fever-stricken areas of Cuba, a brave band of scientists, doctors, and U.S. Marines fight a losing battle against the deadly plague of 'Yellow Jack' until the great heroic risk taken by an Irish sergeant brings victory.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Virginia Bruce, Lewis Stone, Andy Devine
Votes: 292
56. The Story of Dr. Jenner (1939)
Approved | 11 min | Short, Biography, Drama
The story of the man who invented vaccination.
Director: Henry K. Dunn | Stars: John Nesbitt, Matthew Boulton, Helen Brown, Naomi Childers
Votes: 81
57.
Wagon Train (1957–1965)
Episode:
The Janet Hale Story
(1961)
TV-PG | 60 min | Western
After losing one of her children in an accident, a woman becomes bitterly resentful of the wagon train and plans to turn back east, while her husband wishes to continue west. Hale, in an ... See full summary »
Director: David Lowell Rich | Stars: John McIntire, Robert Horton, Jeanette Nolan, Bethel Leslie
Votes: 61
58. Why Me? (1984 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 100 min | Drama
Leola Mae Harmon, a pregnant military nurse, is the victim of a drunk-driving accident. She loses her unborn child and is severely disfigured, her husband can't cope with the situation, and... See full summary »
Director: Fielder Cook | Stars: Glynnis O'Connor, Armand Assante, Craig Wasson, Annie Potts
Votes: 321
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