Xavier CugatFilmography

Born:: January 1, 1900 in Girona, Girona, Cataluña, Spain
Occupation:: Actor, Composer (Music Score), Songwriter
Biography:: This Spanish violinist and band leader was born in Spain and raised in Havana. He emigrated to the U.S. and worked as a cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times. In 1928 he began appearing with his first band at the Cocoanut Grove in Hollywood. Greatly helping to popularize Latin rhythms in the U.S....Read More

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Swing Era: Artie Shaw/Tommy Dorsey - Big Band Legends

Actors: Helen Forrest, Fred Astaire, Art Tatum

Synopsis: This installment of Swing Era features music by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra, The Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and many others. Released by Idem Home Video, the series includes classic performances by the some of the 20th century's most popular big-band artists. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide Read More

2003
Routes of Rhythm with Harry Belafonte

Synopsis: Afro-Cuban music throughout the world is profiled in this video tracing its path from African and Spain into the Caribbean, the United States and onto the rest of the world. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1990
Radio Days

Crew: Songwriter

Actors: Mia Farrow, Seth Green, Julie Kavner, Josh Mostel, Michael Tucker

Synopsis: Woody Allen's gentle and nostalgic tribute to the glory days of radio and coming-of-age during World War II plays like Fellini's Amarcord filtered through Neil Simon. The nominal star is Seth Green as Joe, a teenage Jewish boy, growing up with a house full of relatives in Brooklyn. Allen cuts Read More

1/30/87
Una Rosa Al Viento

1984
The Phynx

Actors: Michael Miller, Ray Chippeway, Dennis Larden, Lonny Stevens, Lou Antonio

Synopsis: Have you ever longed for the day when James Brown, Martha Raye, and Col. Harland Sanders would appear in a movie together? Well, that's barely the tip of the improbable casting iceberg in this bizarre cold-war spoof. The leaders of the American intelligence organization the S.S.A. ("Super Secret Read More

1970
Tiger by the Tail

Crew: Songwriter

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a Vietnam vet goes to his California hometown and discovers that two Mexicans have murdered his brother, the chief stockholder in a successful racetrack, during a robbery. The vet begins investigating and discovers that the theft was a cover-up for the killing and that another Read More

1970
Desire Diabolique

1959
Susana Y Yo

Actors: Abbe Lane, Georges Riviere, Mary Lamar, Xavier Cugat

Synopsis: Bandleader Xavier Cugat and his then-wife, sultry songstress Abbe Lane, are the principal attractions of the Spanish Susana y Mo (Susana and Me). But while Ms. Lane plays Susana, the "Me" in the film is not Cugat, but a nerdish college professor played by Jorge Riviere. When he's not contending Read More

1957
Donatella

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Actors: Elsa Martinelli, Gabriele Ferzetti, Walter Chiari, Abbe Lane, Xavier Cugat

Synopsis: Donatela (Elsa Martinelli) is a poor girl who works as personal secretary to wealthy Guido (Walter Chiari). When Donatela's boss is visited by lawyer Maurizio (Gabriele Ferzetti), he mistakenly believes that she, too, is rich--and automatically falls in love with her. Maurizio's attentions prompt Read More

10/3/56
Game Show Program 6

Synopsis: This video features a collection of episodes from popular game shows from the '50s, including "The $64,000 Challenge," "Place that Face," "A Dollar a Second," and "Two for the Money," starring Ed McMahon performing his first show as a TV announcer. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

1956
The Eddy Duchin Story

Actors: Tyrone Power, Kim Novak, Victoria Shaw, James Whitmore, Rex Thompson

Synopsis: Tyrone Power stars in this tear-jerking biography of the beloved but short-lived pianist and bandleader Eddy Duchin. Boston-born Eddy Duchin (Tyrone Power) moves to New York City to pursue a career as a pharmacist. However, Eddy is also a skilled piano player, and when he meets pretty socialite Read More

1956
Lo Scapolo

Actors: Alberto Sordi, Sandra Milo, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Abbe Lane, Xavier Cugat

Synopsis: Alberto Sordi plays the title character in the Spanish-Italian Lo Scapolo (The Bachelor). Forever on the verge of marriage, our hero is invariably "rescued" by an inbuilt mental quirk. He is convinced that he is thoroughly satisfied with his bachelorhood, but eventually realizes he's been lying to Read More

12/30/55
Chicago Syndicate

Actors: Dennis O'Keefe, Abbe Lane, Paul Stewart, Xavier Cugat, Allison Hayes

Synopsis: Not long after starring in Las Vegas Shakedown, Dennis O'Keefe headed eastward to appear in Chicago Syndicate. This time, O'Keefe is cast as honest accountant Barry Amsterdam, determined to get the goods on Windy City gangster boss Arnie Valent (Paul Stewart). Insinuating himself into Valent's Read More

1955
Kate Smith Show, Part 1

1951
Neptune's Daughter

Actors: Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalban, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn

Synopsis: Esther Williams and Red Skelton share equal screen time for once in the MGM Technicolor musical Neptune's Daughter. The title character is, of course, Williams, here cast as Eve Barrett, a bathing-suit manufacturer (and sometimes model). Skelton plays Jack Spratt, the masseur at a fancy polo club Read More

1949
Luxury Liner

Actors: George Brent, Jane Powell, Lauritz Melchior, Frances Gifford, Marina Koshetz

Synopsis: MGM whipped up another musical salad with Luxury Liner, featuring a glittering lineup of contractees including Jane Powell, Lauritz Melchior and Xavier Cugat. George Brent plays the skipper of a "love boat"-type cruise ship, while Ms. Powell plays his daughter. She entertains the passengers at Read More

1948
On an Island with You

Actors: Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban, Jimmy Durante, Cyd Charisse

Synopsis: The title of this MGM musical alone should tip you to the fact that Esther Williams is the star. In this one, she plays a movie star (what an innovation!), Rosalind Reynolds, who is on location in Hawaii to shoot a picture. Peter Lawford plays the film's naval technical advisor, Lt. Lawrence Y. Read More

1948
A Date with Judy

Actors: Leon Ames, Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, George Cleveland, Carmen Miranda, Lloyd Corrigan, Robert Stack, Scotty Beckett

Synopsis: In this lightweight musical comedy, Judy Foster (Jane Powell) and Carol Pringle (Elizabeth Taylor) are teenagers and best friends who find their loyalties tested when they both fall for the same good-looking older man, Stephen Andrews (Robert Stack). This situation is particularly troublesome for Read More

1948
This Time for Keeps

Actors: Esther Williams, Johnny Johnston, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante, Xavier Cugat

Synopsis: In this aqueous musical comedy, an opera singer brings his son to Michigan's Mackinac Island where the son falls in love with the star of the "aquacaper." It is difficult to woo her as she is constantly surrounded by her piano-playing bodyguard and her ever-present grandmother. It's musical and Read More

1947
No Leave, No Love

Actors: Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Patricia Kirkwood, Marie Wilson, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: In this WWII musical, a young hero and his buddy decide to celebrate his receiving the Medal of Honor by partying. He is terribly excited about seeing his fiancée again. Unfortunately, she has fallen for another in his absence. He is later consoled by a lovely radio singer. Songs include "All the Read More

1946
Holiday in Mexico

Actors: Linda Christian, Ann Codee, Xavier Cugat, Hugo Haas

Synopsis: Too long by at least two reels, Holiday in Mexico is nevertheless one of the more enjoyable MGM Technicolor musicals of the 1940s. Walter Pigeon is top billed as Jeffrey Evans, American ambassador to Mexico. Captivated by the charms of her adopted homeland, Evans' impulsive daughter Christine Read More

1946
Thrill of a Romance

Actors: Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Frances Gifford, Henry Travers, Spring Byington

Synopsis: This aquatic musical is set at a mountain resort in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas where a heroic Army Air Corpsman has come for a vacation. There he falls in love with the lovely swimming instructor, who is unfortunately newly married to a rather stodgy businessman. The mayhem begins when her new Read More

1945
Weekend at the Waldorf

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays Read More

1945
Bathing Beauty

Actors: Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone, Bill Goodwin, Ethel Smith

Synopsis: If you've never seen a '40s singing, swimming musical this may be the one to catch. Featuring a mammoth cast, including such notables as Xavier Cugat, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams, this is a swimming spectacular. The plot's quite thin: Skelton plays a lovesick songwriter who Read More

1944
Two Girls and a Sailor

Actors: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven, Jimmy Durante, Lena Horne

Synopsis: Two Girls and a Sailor is another of those all-star, no-plot wartime musicals turned out by the bushel basket in the 1940s. Its lack of nuance does not lessen its entertainment value in the least. Gloria DeHaven and June Allyson play a couple of well-meaning sisters who stage their own USO shows Read More

1944
The Heat's On

Actors: Mae West, Victor Moore, Lloyd Bridges, William Gaxton, Mary Roche, Hazel Scott, Lester Allen

Synopsis: After an absence of three years, Mae West returned to the screen in the musical comedy The Heat's On. La West is cast as Fay Lawrence, a famous Broadway actress who is loved intensely by her producer Tony Ferris (William Gaxton). Rival producer Forrest Stanton (Alan Dinehart) steals Fay away from Read More

1943
Stage Door Canteen

Actors: Cheryl Walker, William Terry, Marjorie Riordan, Lon McCallister, Margaret Early

Synopsis: This star-studded musical drama was largely financed by Theatre Guild, with all proceeds going to various wartime fundraising concerns. Most of the story takes place at the Stage Door Canteen, a Manhattan-based home away from home for soldiers, sailors and marines (the real-life Canteen on 44th Read More

1943
You Were Never Lovelier

Actors: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou, Larry Parks, Xavier Cugat, Adele Mara, Leslie Brooks

Synopsis: The second and last of the Fred Astaire-Rita Hayworth vehicles, You Were Never Lovelier takes place in Argentina (courtesy of the Columbia Pictures art-direction department). Fred plays an American dancer whose fondness for betting on horse races has left him broke. Rita is the daughter of wealthy Read More

1942
This Time for Keeps

Actors: Ann Rutherford, Robert Sterling, Guy Kibbee, Irene Rich, Virginia Weidler

Synopsis: This Time for Keeps is a followup to 1940's Keeping Company, with Ann Rutherford repeating her role from the earlier film. Rutherford is cast as newlywed Katherine White, at present undergoing a rocky "period of adjustment" with her husband Lee (Robert Sterling, replacing the original film's John Read More

1942
Go West, Young Man

Actors: Mae West, Warren William, Randolph Scott, Lyle Talbot, Alice Brady

Synopsis: Go West, Young Man represented the first time that Mae West starred in a film not originally written with her in mind. Based on Lawrence Riley's stage comedy Personal Appearance (which starred Gladys George on Broadway), the film casts La West as Mavis Alden, a pretentious and somewhat stupid Read More

1936
White Zombie

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Actors: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Joseph Cawthorn, Robert W. Frazer, John Harron

Synopsis: It is altogether typical of Bela Lugosi's lousy business judgement that he accepted one of his finest film roles for a mere $500 dollars. In the haunting low-budgeter White Zombie, Lugosi stars as Murder Legendre, a shadowy character who exercises supernatural powers over the natives in his Read More

1932
In Gay Madrid

Crew: Composer (Music Score)

Actors: Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, Lottice Howell, Claude King, Eugénie Besserer

Synopsis: Originally filmed under the title The House of Troy, In Gay Madrid was one of four 1930 MGM operettas designed to show off the singing talents of silent-screen idol Ramon Novarro. The star is cast as Ricardo, a young, headstrong student in love with cabaret girl Goyita (Lottice Howell). Trouble Read More

1930