Discovering Film - Season 3

Sinatra's film career took off when he starred with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh and On The Town. Whilst remaining one of the biggest musical entertainers in the world he managed to star in many highly acclaimed films including The Man With The Golden Arm and The Manchurian Candidate and won an Academy Award for his portrayal as a soldier in From Here To Eternity. He also famously brought the role of Sky Masterson from Guys and Dolls to the big screen alongside Marlon Brando as Nathan Detroit.

After becoming a movie star at the age of just 12 in National Velvet, Dame Elizabeth Taylor emerged as a beacon of the Hollywood studio system. Taylor took on the eponymous role in the lavish production of Cleopatra and delivered an unforgettable Oscar-winning performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite her then husband Richard Burton. Known for an illustrious screen career, a succession of whirlwind marriages and her sterling charity work, this documentary celebrates the life of the late, great Elizabeth Taylor, with insights from commentators and colleagues, including director Franco Zeffirelli.

Widely considered the greatest actor ever, Marlon Brando's performances were as dazzling as his own larger-than-life personality. He exploded onto the screen as Stanley Kowolski in A Streetcar Named Desire and embodied the original rebel-without-a-cause in The Wild One. His first Oscar came for his unforgettable performance in On The Waterfront. He was awarded a second for his most famous character, The Godfather, but befitting his role as a prominent civil rights activist he boycotted the ceremony because of his objections to the portrayal of Native Americans by Hollywood and television.

Always the epitome of style, Audrey Hepburn fittingly started out as a model before being spotted by a movie producer. Her first major film, Roman Holiday, won her an Academy Award for Best Actress and catapulted her to stardom. Further performances in Funny Face and Sabrina Fair confirmed her status as one of the most adored actresses around. But it was when she donned a Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's that Audrey Hepburn became an enduring style icon, her name synonymous with playful decadence and grace.

His dance routine to the title song in Singin' in the Rain is one of the most iconic in Hollywood history. Gene Kelly's career was powered by his infectious charisma and gift for turning anything into his dance partner - from a mop in For Me And My Girl, to an animated mouse in Anchors Aweigh, to his own reflection in Cover Girl. Kelly's tour de force performance in An American In Paris helped secure him an Honorary Academy Award for outstanding work as an actor, singer, dancer, director and choreographer.

Initially talent spotted while dancing underage in a Tijuana nightclub act, it wasn't until Margarita Cansino changed her name to Rita Hayworth that her Hollywood career really took flight. Seductive turns in early hits such at The Strawberry Blonde, Blood And Sand and You'll Never Get Rich earned her the moniker of The Love Goddess, a persona she mastered in her heart-stopping performance as Gilda, opposite Glenn Ford. She married five times, her husbands including director Orson Welles. "They go to bed with Gilda," she famously said of her lovers, "they wake up with me."

A film industry phenomenon with an unparalleled cross-over appeal in both European and American cinema, Sophia Loren was equally at home playing gritty realism, in Two Women, as delivering frothy comedy opposite Cary Grant on a Houseboat. Loren's remarkable talent has been recognised with two Oscars and been immortalised in classics including, The Pride And The Passion, El Cid, Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow and Nine. Her 50-year marriage to film producer Carlo Ponti lasted until his death in 2007. Asked in an interview if she would marry again, she replied, "It would be impossible to love anyone else."

Born in a New York ghetto to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Kirk Douglas turned himself into a genuine megastar through boundless determination, impeccable physique and dashing good looks. He starred in Vincent Minnelli's The Bad And The Beautiful and worked with the director again portraying the legendary artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust For Life. He went on to make two of his greatest films, Paths of Glory and Spartacus, with another visionary director, Stanley Kubrick and became the figurehead of the Douglas family cinema dynasty.

Known as the 'first lady of the screen' Bette Davis' is one of the Hollywood greats. Her striking presence, paved the way for future female leads. As her career developed Bette was desperate for a great film role, and unlike other starlets she didn't mind playing unsympathetic characters, the following year she was loaned out to RKO to appear in Of Human Bondage. Life magazine declared that it was "probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress". The entire press and industry were astounded she was not even nominated for an Oscar. She was now being recognized as a gifted character actor, next appearing in Dangerous, the role which brought her first Oscar, The Petrified Forest (1936) and Jezebel (1938) followed for which she won her second Oscar.