PT Journal
AU Hudac, N
TI The Anti-Star. Vera Hruba Ralston and Fault Lines of Classic Models of Stardom
SO Iluminace
PY 2025
BP 133
EP 152
VL 37
IS 2
DI 10.58193/ilu.1810
WP https://iluminace.cz/artkey/ilu-202502-0001.php
DE star studies; celebrity; Czech actresses; interwar celebrity; Vera Hruba Ralston; B-Movies; cultural assimilation; film industry; models of film stardom
SN 0862397X
AB This article focuses on the Czech actress, Vera Hruba Ralston, who was a champion athlete, a national celebrity in the United States and Czechoslovakia, stared in over 25 films in nearly two decades in Hollywood alongside some of the most well-known actors of her generation, married the head of her movie studio, and still failed to become a Hollywood star. By examining the career of Hruba Ralston, we gain new insights as to the limits of star-making power in the postwar studio system as well as the tensions between assimilation and stardom.
ER