When They Were Making It
Patrick Rankin
The real human stories behind classic Hollywood's greatest films and legends.
14 EpisodesWeekly12+Since 2026
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- 1. Marlon Brando, Part 1: The Early Years — A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and the Oscar That Changed Everything · 7 Jul 2026
- 2. Marlon Brando, Part 2: The Wilderness Years — Guys and Dolls, Mutiny on the Bounty, and the Road to The Godfather · 14 Jul 2026
- 3. Marlon Brando, Part 3: The Final Act — The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now, and the Death of a Legend · 21 Jul 2026
Dorothy Dandridge, Part 1: A Star of Her Own Making — Baptism by Show Business, Carmen Jones, and a Historic Oscar Nomination
11 Aug 2026 · 1h 21m
Dorothy Dandridge was one of the most electrifying talents Hollywood ever tried to contain — a trailblazing performer who would become the first Black woman nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, and whose story began long before anyone in Hollywood was paying at
Sunset Boulevard (1950): Hollywood's Autopsy — Billy Wilder, Gloria Swanson, and the Film That Shook an Industry
4 Aug 2026 · 1h 40m
In 1949, Billy Wilder sat inside a theatre in Evanston, Illinois, and watched his new film, Sunset Boulevard, fall apart in front of its first audience.Wilder had made a picture about the stars Hollywood had abandoned, the illusions it had created, and the cru
Mae West: The Most Dangerous Woman in Hollywood — Sex, Censorship, and the Star Who Redefined the Movies
28 Jul 2026 · 1h 41m
Mae West shook up Depression-era Hollywood with a persona unlike anything American audiences had seen before — sexually confident, unapologetically funny, and always in control. She became one of the biggest stars in the country, only to face increasingly stri
Marlon Brando, Part 3: The Final Act — The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now, and the Death of a Legend
21 Jul 2026 · 1h 39m
By 1970, Hollywood had decided Marlon Brando was finished.He had gone more than a decade without a major hit. His films lost money. His reputation had become almost impossible to insure. He was deep in debt, increasingly isolated, and more interested in escapi
Marlon Brando, Part 2: The Wilderness Years — Guys and Dolls, Mutiny on the Bounty, and the Road to The Godfather
14 Jul 2026 · 1h 30m
By the end of the 1950s, Marlon Brando had everything he had spent his career fighting for. An Oscar. Money. Power. His own production company. And the freedom to make films on his own terms.Then he began discovering what complete freedom could cost.Part 2 of
Marlon Brando, Part 1: The Early Years — A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and the Oscar That Changed Everything
7 Jul 2026 · 1h 15m
On December 3, 1947, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York, a twenty-three-year-old actor in a torn T-shirt walked onto a Broadway stage — and American acting was never the same again.Before he became Marlon Brando, he was Bud: a restless, wounded kid fro
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