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Robert Charles Benchley ( September 15 , 1889  November 21 , 1945 ) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor . From his beginnings at the " Harvard Lampoon " while attending Harvard University , through his many years writing essays and articles for " Vanity Fair " and " The New Yorker " and his acclaimed short films , Benchley ' s style of humor brought him respect and success during his life , from New York City and his peers at the Algonquin Round Table to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry . Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock . It tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain who are involved a fictional continent - wide conspiracy in the prelude to World War II . It stars Joel McCrea and features Laraine Day , Herbert Marshall , George Sanders , Albert Bassermann , and Robert Benchley , along with Edmund Gwenn . The film was Hitchcock ' s second Hollywood production after leaving the ___MASK20___ in 1939 ( the first was Rebecca ) and had an unusually large number of writers : Robert Benchley , Charles Bennett , Harold Clurman , Joan Harrison , Ben Hecht , James Hilton , John Howard Lawson , John Lee Mahin , Richard Maibaum , and Budd Schulberg , with Bennett , Benchley , Harrison , and Hilton the only writers credited in the finished film . It was based on Vincent Sheean ' s political memoir Personal History ( 1935 ) , the rights to which were purchased by producer Walter Wanger for $ 10 , 000 . The film was one of two Hitchcock films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1941 , the other being Rebecca , which went on to win the award . Foreign Correspondent was nominated for six Academy Awards , including one for Albert Bassermann for Best Supporting Actor , but did not win any . Mr . Freeze ( Dr . Victor Fries ) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by ___MASK25___ , commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman . Created by Bob Kane , David Wood and Sheldon Moldoff , the character first appeared in " Batman " # 121 ( February 1959 ), where he was known as Mr . Zero . Mr . Freeze is one of Batman ' s most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman ' s rogues gallery . King Richard and the Crusaders , also known as " The Talisman ", is a 1954 historical drama film made by ___MASK3___ It was directed by David Butler and produced by Henry Blanke from a screenplay by John Twist based on Sir Walter Scott ' s novel " The Talisman ". The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by J . Peverell Marley . This was Warner Bros .' first essay into CinemaScope . The film stars Rex Harrison , Virginia Mayo , George Sanders and Laurence Harvey , with Robert Douglas , Michael Pate and Paula Raymond . " King Richard and the Crusaders " was listed in the 1978 book " The Fifty Worst Films of All Time ". Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer Studios Inc . ( abbreviated as MGM or M - G - M , also known as Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer Pictures , Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer or Metro , and for a former interval known as Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer / ___MASK50___ , or MGM / UA ) is an American media company , involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs . Hiroshima is perhaps best known as the first city in ___MASK34___ to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the ___MASK44___ Air Forces ( USAAF ) dropped an atomic bomb on the city ( and later on Nagasaki ) at 8 : 15 a . m . on August 6 , 1945 , near the end of World War II . World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world ' s nations  including all of the great powers  eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the most widespread war in ___MASK34___ , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total war ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources . Marked by mass deaths of civilians , including the Holocaust ( in which approximately 11 million people were killed ) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres ( in which approximately one million were killed , and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities . These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human ___MASK34___ . The Holocaust ( from the Greek ': " hólos ", " whole " and " kaustós ", " burnt "), also referred to as the Shoah "' ( Hebrew : , " HaShoah ", " the catastrophe "), was a genocide in which Adolf Hitler ' s Nazi Germany and its collaborators killed about six million Jews . The victims included 1 . 5 million children and represented about two - thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided in ___MASK36___ . Some definitions of the Holocaust include the additional five million non - Jewish victims of Nazi mass murders , bringing the total to about 11 million . Killings took place throughout Nazi Germany , German - occupied territories , and territories held by allies of Nazi Germany . Edmund Gwenn ( 26 September 1877  6 September 1959 ) was an English actor . On film , he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film " Miracle on 34th Street " ( 1947 ), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award . He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for the comedy film " Mister 880 " ( 1950 ). Miracle on 34th Street ( initially released in the ___MASK20___ as The Big Heart ) is a 1947 Christmas comedy - drama film written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies . It stars Maureen O ' Hara , John Payne , Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn . The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City , and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa . The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite . Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge , Massachusetts , established in 1636 , whose ___MASK34___ , influence , and wealth have made it one of the world ' s most prestigious universities . George Henry Sanders ( 3 July 1906  25 April 1972 ) was a Russian - born English film and television actor , singer - songwriter , music composer , and author . His career as an actor spanned more than 40 years . His upper - class English accent and bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous characters . He is perhaps best known as Jack Favell in " Rebecca " ( 1940 ), Scott ffolliott in " Foreign Correspondent " ( 1940 ) ( a rare heroic part ), Addison DeWitt in " All About Eve " ( 1950 ), for which he won an Academy Award , King Richard the Lionheart in " King Richard and the Crusaders " ( 1954 ), Mr . Freeze in a two - parter episode of " Batman " ( 1966 ), the voice of the malevolent man - hating tiger Shere Khan in Disney ' s " The Jungle Book " ( 1967 ), and as Simon Templar , " The Saint ", in five films made in the 1930s and 1940s . The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 , 1945 , respectively , during the final stage of World War II . The United States had dropped the bombs with the consent of the ___MASK20___ as outlined in the Quebec Agreement . The two bombings , which killed at least 129 , 000 people , remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history . Laraine Day ( October 13 , 1920  November 10 , 2007 ) was an American actress and a former Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer contract star . ___MASK35___ is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere . It can also be considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas . It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean , to the east by the Atlantic Ocean , to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean , and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea . Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall ( 23 May 1890  22 January 1966 ) was an English stage , screen and radio actor who , in spite of losing a leg during the First World War , starred in many popular and well - regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s . After a successful theatrical career in the ___MASK20___ and ___MASK35___ , he became an in - demand Hollywood leading man , frequently appearing in romantic melodramas and occasional comedies . In his later years , he turned to character acting .