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1-9 of 9
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
An American minor leading man of early Depression-era talkies who played earnest, boyish leads, Ohio-born Elliott Nugent would earn more distinction as a writer, producer and director of stage and film after all was said and done. The son of playwright/producer/actor J.C. Nugent, Elliott was born in 1896 and came from pure show business stock, joining his family's vaudeville act, which included both parents and sister Ruth, while still young.
After graduating from Ohio State University Nugent traveled to New York and made his Broadway bow in the George S. Kaufman/Marc Connelly play "Dulcy", in which he enjoyed a personal success. Throughout the 1920s he remained a viable presence on stage, co-authoring and co-starring in nearly ten plays often in tandem with his father.
Nugent eventually took his youthful good looks to Hollywood in 1929 and played young protagonists in both light-hearted and dramatic film features. His first starring role was in Wise Girls (1929), which was based on his own 1922 Broadway play "Kempy." The film also co-starred Elliott's wife Norma Lee (1899-1980) and featured his father. Other celluloid leads would include the musical So This Is College (1929) and the Marion Davies comedy Not So Dumb (1930). He went on to provide second leads alongside Lon Chaney and Lila Lee in the crime drama The Unholy Three (1930); The Sins of the Children (1930) starring Robert Montgomery; Leila Hyams (which was co-written by Elliott and J.C. Nugent), and the opulent Greta Garbo/Lewis Stone drama Romance (1930).
Weary of acting in front of the camera, Elliott formulated a second career as a movie director. His work would include those for such top comedians as Bob Hope, Harold Lloyd and Danny Kaye in their lightweight vehicles. Among the many Broadway projects he and father J.C. corroborated or appeared together in were "Kempy" (which also featured sister vaudevillian Ruth) (1922), "The Poor Nut" (1925), "Take My Advice" (1927, a remake of "Kempy" (1927), "Fast Service" (1931), "All in Favor" (1942) and "A Place of Our Own" (1945).
Nugent's behind-the-scenes career was severely hampered by severe chronic alcohol and psychological problems, prompting his retirement in 1957. He subsequently penned an autobiography entitled "Events Leading Up to the Comedy" in 1965. Long out of the limelight, he died in New York City at age 83 in August of 1980. Wife Norma, whom he married back in 1921, died later that December.- Actress
Nora Allene Simmons was born and grew up in Zebulon, Georgia. For a time, she was a grammar school teacher in Stone Mountain. She began her career as an entertainer with a traveling Chautauqua troupe and later served as official storyteller for the Joel Chandler Harris Memorial Association in Atlanta. After briefly appearing on Broadway, she spent two years with Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago.
In the 1920s, she became a staff artist at KGO radio in San Francisco. Although producers reportedly told her at first that she would never make it in radio or films if she did not lose her natural Southern accent, this proved not to be the case. Although she was white (Caucasian), she originated the "Colored Supplement" of NBC's Morning Magazine and wrote the "Magnolia, Henry and Charlie" episodes which provided the comedy features of the Wednesday morning program. She also wrote the Monday night feature, "Plantation Echoes".
In 1930, she accepted an invitation to Honolulu to appear as a guest artist on a radio station there. Instead, she returned to Atlanta temporarily due to homesickness. She soon returned to Los Angeles and radio, and later had several minor roles in motion pictures during the 1930s and 1940s.
Branching out into television roles, she still appeared in a few movies, even traveling to Italy in 1962 to appear as Marcello Mastroianni's grandmother in director Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963). Never having married, she retired in the late 1960s and returned to Georgia, living on Social Security until her death in 1980, aged 96.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Zeke Canova was born on 31 December 1898 in Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for I'm from Arkansas (1944), Thrill of a Lifetime (1937) and Artist and Models (1937). He died on 9 August 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Jacqueline Cochran was born on 11 May 1906 in Pensacola, Florida, USA. She was married to Floyd Odlum. She died on 9 August 1980 in Indio, California, USA.
- Viveka Segerskog was born on 19 May 1934 in Germany. She was an actress, known for Ild og jord (1955), Et eventyr om tre (1954) and Harlekin ægtemand (1963). She died on 9 August 1980.
- Wladyslaw Kozlowski was born on 15 June 1924 in Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland. He was an actor, known for The Dead Cast a Shadow (1979), Salt of the Black Earth (1970) and ... gdziekolwiek jestes, panie prezydencie... (1978). He died on 9 August 1980 in Sosnowiec, Slaskie, Poland.
- Carl Wilhelm Hamilton was born on 25 August 1903. He was an actor, known for Pojken i trädet (1961). He died on 9 August 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Vladimir Jedenáctik was born on 18 July 1905 in Brno, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor, known for The End of a Priest (1969), Mikolás Ales (1952) and Oil Lamps (1971). He died on 9 August 1980 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.- Dezsõ Gál was born on 20 November 1901 in Balassagyarmat, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was an actor, known for Hazugság nélkül (1946). He died on 9 August 1980 in Budapest, Hungary.