Saturday, August 10, 2013
Rhonda Fleming, a true ‘Ambassador for Christ’ celebrates her 90th birthday and is still shining for Jesus in Hollywood after all these years
Now a book has been released in Scotland to celebrate her special day
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
ANNAN, SCOTLAND
(ANS) – Rhonda Fleming is a true Hollywood original and, more importantly, an “Ambassador for Christ” in Tinsel Town.
Rhonda Fleming
Fleming, born Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, on August 10, 1923, is an American film and television actress who acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses of her day.
She was nicknamed the “Queen of Technicolor” because her fair complexion and flaming red hair that photographed exceptionally well in Technicolor.
She appeared with stars like Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Glenn Ford, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Rock Hudson and Ronald Reagan (with whom she made four films) and actually kissed him onscreen.
At an event organized by Media Fellowship International in Beverly Hills, California, she brought laughter when she recalled the times she had kissed Ronald Reagan on screen, saying, “Who would have thought that I was kissing the man who would go on to be the President of the United States?”
Her extraordinary career began with top featured roles in David O. Selznick’s SPELLBOUND, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, RKO’s OUT OF THE PAST and THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE and leading into starring roles in classics such as CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT, GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL, HOME BEFORE DARK, PONY EXPRESS, SLIGHTLY SCARLETT, WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and THE BIG CIRCUS.
Now, in Scotland, thousands of miles from her Southern California home, a special 90th Birthday tribute to the legendary actress, an inspirational book has been launched by Claire Ollerton, a huge fan of Ms. Fleming, called, “Heartfelt Treasures to Inspire, Encourage and Bless You.”
Rhonda with Ronald Reagan
Ms. Ollerton, who lives in Annan, a Scottish royal burgh in Dumfriesshire, said that the book “contains substantial contributions from Ms. Fleming including her latest inspirational poem, ‘God’s Gift,’ which she recently wrote especially for this book.”
Ms. Ollerton went on to say, “She hasn’t written any poems for many years so this one is a little gem and it’s about a little gem in her household – a rescue dog named ………. I won’t tell you its name as you will have to purchase the book to find out.”
Claire said that Ms. Fleming worked with her for the last three years, to produce the book which contains songs, poems, two favorite recipes from each of them, as well as Scriptural verses and biographical information about them.
“Rhonda Fleming acted in more than 40 movies, plus her own one-woman show, and TV episodes from varied series e.g. ‘WAGON TRAIN.’ She became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses and she still is – a great tribute to God’s workmanship,” said Ms. Ollerton.
As well as launching the book with a book signing at her home, Claire Ollerton also staged an exhibition on the career of Ms. Fleming and said she will continue with it for a week.
Claire Ollerton with her Rhonda Fleming birthday tribute
(Photo Reproduced by kind permission of Steve Matthew, Staff Photographer, The Annandale Observer, Annan,
Dumfriesshire, Scotland)
She says she was also able to screen for one of those people that came to her home to see it and purchase a copy of the book, a DVD of one of Ms. Fleming’s most famous movies, “THE CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT.”
Claire said that when she was 12 years old she really wanted to learn to play the guitar so her mother took her to a Christian music shop in a nearby town and the proprietor, when the guitar had been purchased, invited her to choose some music. She stated that she was drawn to a particular pile and one particular piece because it had on the cover a beautiful princess, adding, “I am sure that by now you will have guessed who she was” – Rhonda Fleming.
Money raised from the sales of this book will be divided between the Dumfries & Galloway Canine Rescue Center and its equivalent in Los Angeles for US sales, as well as Bridges for Peace – Child Rescue Center.
“There are two versions of it – the US version and the UK version,” she continued. “There has had to be because some of the ingredients in the recipes have different names in each country.”
The US version – ISBN 978-1-898936-72-5 – is $18.61 and includes packaging and shipping.
The UK version – ISBN 978-1-898936-74-9 – is £11.00 and also includes packaging and shipping.
They can be obtained via Amazon or any bookshop or direct from Halleluyah House Publishing c/o info@steadfastministries.co.uk
Please e-mail Halleluyah House for details and also please note that if ordering direct from there more of the proceeds will go to help the children and the rescue dogs and shipping costs are reduced for more than one copy.
“The present result for the previous book, ‘Expressions of Love’ has raised, thanks to the ASSIST News Service and others, £253.69/$410.30 on both sides of the Atlantic for Bridges for Peace – Child Rescue, so I am hoping that this current book will do even better,” said Ms. Ollerton.
To learn more about Ms. Rhonda Fleming’s distinguished Hollywood career and subsequent accomplishments, please listen to a recent video interview with her via her website at: www.rhondafleming.com
Claire Ollerton is a retired teacher. She is also a publisher, author and composer of books and music for all ages and currently resides in Dumfriesshire, SW Scotland. She has a B.Ed. Hons degree and Cert. Ed in Education from the University of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. She also has LLCM [TD} and ALCM Diplomas for the teaching of Dramatic Arts from The London College of Music. She worked in a variety of educational establishments in Lancashire as a teacher and also did some local reporting for “The Lancashire Evening Post.”
She is the author of 74 books which include two songbooks dedicated to Ms. Fleming as well as this book; the others cover a variety of subjects with a Christian bias. Some years ago, whilst in Lancashire she was interviewed by BBC Radio for her book, “Hamish McBadger Comes To Stay,” whose theme is the bullying of small children and its diagnosis. She can be contacted at: info@steadfastministries.co.uk.
Note: The author has glaucoma in both eyes and her medication caused her eyes to change color and the skin on her eyelids and underneath them to thin and darken which is evident in the above photo.
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Dan Wooding, 72, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 50 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. Dan recently received two top media awards — the “Passion for the Persecuted” award from Open Doors US, and as one of the top “Newsmakers of 2011” from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 45 books, and one of the latest of which is “Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s.” To order a copy, go to: Caped Crusader – Amazon
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<!–BYLINE:By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries–>