TCM’s Summer Under the Stars is Back!

I haven’t had TCM for Summer Under the Stars since 2010, but that was a good year. That was basically how I became a classic film addict and someday I will be able to afford television again if only for TCM *insert Scarlet O’Hara voice here). Anyways, there’s some great new names being celebrated this year.

Turner Classic Movies’s ultimate movie star showcase – Summer Under the Stars – returns this August for its 11th year as TCM pays tribute to 31 different stars in 31 days. Sixteen of this year’s stars are being celebrated for the first time during Summer Under the Stars, including Oscar® winners Joan Fontaine (Aug. 6), Mickey Rooney (Aug. 13), Wallace Beery (Aug. 17), Hattie McDaniel (Aug. 20), Downton Abbey star Maggie Smith (Aug. 22), Charles Coburn (Aug. 24), Martin Balsam (Aug. 27), Shirley Jones (Aug. 28) and Rex Harrison (Aug. 31). Also featured for the first time will be silent heartthrob Ramón Novarro (Aug. 8); legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve (Aug. 12), whose day features six films making their TCM debuts; Ann Blyth (Aug. 16), whose marathon will air on her 85th birthday; and Mary Boland (Aug. 4) and Glenda Farrell (Aug. 29), two outstanding character actresses who never received the recognition they deserved. They will join 15 returning favorites, including Humphrey Bogart (Aug. 1), Doris Day (Aug. 2), Charlton Heston (Aug. 5), Steve McQueen (Aug. 9), Bette Davis (Aug. 14), Elizabeth Taylor (Aug. 23) and Clark Gable (Aug. 25).

In all, more than 30 films will be making their first appearances on TCM during the 2013 edition of Summer Under the Stars, including Anatole Litvak’s poignant wartime romance This Above All (1942), starring Joan Fontaine on Aug. 6; Luis Buñuel’s steamy Belle de Jour (1968), starring Catherine Deneuve on Aug. 12; Otto Preminger’s witty The Fan (1949), starring Jeanne Crain on Aug. 26; and Burt Kennedy’s boisterous The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969), starring Martin Balsam on Aug. 27.

TCM’s popular franchises The Essentials, co-hosted by TCM’s Robert Osborne and Drew Barrymore, and The Essentials Jr., hosted by Bill Hader, will continue throughout Summer Under the Stars. The Essentials will feature presentations of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on Aug. 3, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) on Aug. 10, Grand Hotel (1932) on Aug. 17, The Lady Eve (1941) on Aug. 24 and Anna and the King of Siam (1946) on Aug. 31. TCM Essentials Jr. will include the family-friendly movies Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) on Aug. 4, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) on Aug. 11, The Great Race (1965) on Aug. 18 and It Happened One Night (1934) on Aug. 25.

The following is the roster of stars who will be celebrated during TCM’s 2013 edition of Summer Under the Stars. Names in bold indicate newcomers to the month-long programming event.