who starred in the original herbie the love bug movie
Herbie Herbie's origins are firmly established in The Love Bug (1968). Before the events of the film, he was bought from Peter Thorndyke's (David Tomlinson) showroom by San Francisco socialite Mrs. Van Luit for her upstairs maid, but returned shortly afterwards due to reliability problems. He was then purchased by race-driver Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), who had earlier stood up for him against the pompous Thorndyke (David Tomlinson). Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett), Jim's best friend and housemate, names the car "Herbie" after his uncle Herb, a middleweight boxer whose broken nose greatly resembled the trunk lid of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Gloria Grahame Grahame made her film debut in Blonde Fever (1944) and then scored one of her most widely praised roles as the flirtatious Violet Bick, saved from disgrace by George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). MGM was not able to develop her potential as a star and her contract was sold to RKO Studios in 1947.