Deaths: April 16
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- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Zoe Lund was born Zoe Tamerlis to a Swedish mother and Romanian father on February 9, 1962 in New York City. She was an accomplished composer/musician and devout political activist at an early age. In 1981 at age 19, Lund gave a stunning performance as Thana, a mousy, mute garment worker and rape victim who violently strikes back against male oppression and exploitation of women in Abel Ferrara's outstanding distaff vigilante cult classic Ms .45 (1981). She was likewise excellent and impressive in a demanding dual role as both a murdered aspiring Southern Belle actress and the lookalike New York woman who was used to replace her in Larry Cohen's nifty thriller Special Effects (1984). From 1980 to 1985, Lund lived and worked with critic and filmmaker Edouard de Laurot. She did a guest spot on an episode of Miami Vice (1984) and appeared as herself in the racy documentary Heavy Petting (1989).
Lund co-wrote the script for and had a supporting role as a drug addict in Ferrara's crime drama Bad Lieutenant (1992). Lund was a staunch advocate of heroin drug use. In addition, she was a professional model in her 20s and a writer who penned various essays, short stories, novels and film scripts (one of these unfinished screenplays was about supermodel Gia Carangi; Lund appears as an interview subject in the documentary The Self-Destruction of Gia (2003) (in which she candidly discusses her own heroin use). In 1993, Lund wrote, directed and starred in the one and a half minute short feature Hot Ticket (1993). Zoe Lund was working on a short story anthology when she died of drug-related heart failure at the tragically young age of 37 in Paris, France on April 16, 1999.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ahmad Jamal was born on 2 July 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020) and Jazz Scene at the Ronnie Scott Club (1969). He was married to Laura Hess-Hey, Sharifah Frazier and Amema. He died on 16 April 2023 in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alfred Ryder, the veteran actor who appeared on radio and Broadway and in the movies and TV and who also was a renowned stage director, was born Alfred Jacob Corn on January 5, 1916, in New York City. He made his professional debut as an actor at the age of eight and attended New York City's Professional Children's School. His Broadway debut came in 1929, when the 13-year-old Ryder played a "lost boy" in Eva Le Gallienne's production of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan". Ryder studied acting with Benno Schneider, Robert Lewis and Lee Strasberg. He appeared in the 1938 Broadway production of "Our Town" - his Broadway debut as an adult performer - as well as numerous Broadway productions before World War II, including the 1939 revival of Clifford Odets's "Awake and Sing!". For many years he was the voice of Sammy in the radio serial "Rise of the Goldbergs" Ryder joined the Army Air Force during World War II, eventually appearing in the U.S. Army Air Force's gala Broadway stage show "Winged Victory" in 1943. The following year, he made his movie debut as "PFC Alfred Ryder" in the film version of the show Winged Victory (1944)). After the war he made more films, including director Anthony Mann's classic 1947 film noir T-Men (1947). On Broadway, he appeared as Oswald in the 1948 revival of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" and as Mark Antony in the 1950 production of "Julius Caesar". Also that year, he appeared as Orestes in the Broadway play "The Tower Beyond Tragedy".
Ryder had the singular honor of being cast as the understudy for Laurence Olivier in one of the legendary actor's greatest roles, that of Archie Rice, in the 1958 Broadway production of John Osborne's "The Entertainer". Olivier's Archie Rice is considered one of the greatest performances of the 20th century, and Ryder was chosen to keep the Broadway patrons in their seats in the event the great British theatrical knight couldn't go on. Ryder also appeared in the original Broadway production of Eugène Ionesco's absurdist masterpiece "Rhinoceros" in 1960.
A noted theatrical stage director with such companies as Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, Ryder made his Broadway directorial debut with the play "A Far Country" in 1961. He subsequently directed two more Broadway productions, "The Exercise" in 1968 and the 1971 revival of August Strindberg's "Dance of Death."
Despite his achievements on the stage, film and radio, Ryder is mostly remembered as a prolific and versatile TV character actor. He made over 100 appearances on TV, including memorable turns on Star Trek (1966) (he appeared as Prof. Robert Crater in the series' very first aired episode, "The Man Trap"), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) (two appearances as the ghost of Nazi U-boat commander Capt. Gerhardt Krueger), and The Invaders (1967) (appearing as The Alien Leader). Ryder retired from screen acting in 1976 to concentrate on the stage, both as an actor and director. He died on April 16, 1995 in Englewood, NJ, at the age of 79. He was married to actress Kim Stanley, with whom he had a child, from 1957 until 1964, and he was the brother of actress Olive Deering.- Althea McNish was born on 15 May 1924 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. She was married to John Weiss . She died on 16 April 2020 in London, England, UK.
- Producer
- Writer
- Music Department
Andrew J. Fenady was born on 4 October 1928 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for The Man with Bogart's Face (1980), The Rebel (1959) and Branded (1965). He was married to Mary Frances Dolan. He died on 16 April 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrant parents, Andy Russell, who took his professional name from one of his idols, Russ Columbo, achieved his greatest U.S. popularity in the 1940s. As with Columbo and Bing Crosby before him, he started out singing with Gus Arnheim's orchestra at the Cocoanut Grove, but, at only 13, he was so young that Arnheim had to become his legal guardian to permit him to travel out of state. Possessed of a romantic baritone voice, he sang songs in English and Spanish, his biggest hit being "Besame Mucho" (Capitol: 1945). In the early 1950s, he re-located to Mexico, where he remained a major star until his death. He remained a U.S. citizen, however, and still made appearances in the U.S. from time to time.- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Actor
Three time Academy Award-winning costume designer Anthony Powell had an interesting range of films, from costume period films to more contemporary settings, working with an impressive list of directors such as Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, George Cukor and William Friedkin. Powell contributed with the fashion and style of iconic characters like Indiana Jones, Cruela de Vil and Hercule Poirot in several films, and also works that bring a touch of class whether being the refined looks of the characters in Frantic (1988) or the colorful and detailed extravagance of a fantasy like Hook (1991), transforming Dustin Hoffman into an authentic and menacing pirate.
Right with his second film credit, Travels with My Aunt (1972), he won his first Oscar, an award he would receive two other times for his works in Death on the Nile (1978) and Tess (1979), and three other nominations for Pirates (1986), Hook (1991) and 102 Dalmatians (2000). But audiences were more familiar with Powell's career with the successful Indiana Jones trilogy (1981, 1984 and 1989), where he explored styles representing the early 20th Century in fascinating compositions, and the iconic hat and whip of Jones.- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of Britain's great variety comedians Arthur English was known as 'The Prince of the Wide Boys', a cockney 'spiv' character outrageously dressed on stage and wearing a huge kipper tie.
Born in Aldershot, Hants English started his career at an early age appearing in amateur shows but did not become a professional performer until he was 30. He served in the Army during World War Two and after being demobbed worked as a painter and decorator.
In 1949 he auditioned at the famous Windmill Theatre in London and he was put under contract for several seasons as a principal comic. His catchphrases became legendary: "They're laughin' at me Mum", "Sharpen up there, the quick stuff's coming" and his famous exit line "Play the music - open the cage!".
On radio he starred in BBC's Variety Bandbox alongside comics such as Reg Dixon and Mrs Shufflewick (Rex Jameson) and he also appeared in numerous summer shows, pantomimes and clubs throughout the UK.
English turned to straight acting in the early 1970s both on stage, screen and on television. He starred in a variety of comic cockney parts on television in the Comedy Playhouse series and Hugh and I (1962). In 1987 he joined fellow veterans Irene Handl and Charlie Chester in Never Say Die (1987), a comedy series set in an old people's home. His greatest success on tv was as the janitor Mr Harman in the cult series Are You Being Served? (1972).- Director
- Special Effects
- Cinematographer
After graduation from the University of California at Berkeley, Byron Haskin worked for a time as a newspaper cartoonist. He began his career in the film industry in 1920 as a commercial-industrial movie photographer, and then as a cameraman for Pathe and International Newsreel. Later he became an assistant director at Selznick Pictures. He was a cinematographer during the silent era, worked on special effects and helped to develop the technology that eventually brought sound to the film industry. He began directing in the late 1920s at Warner Brothers and journeyed to England in the early 1930s to make films there. Upon his return he was appointed head of the Warner Brothers Special Effects department. He returned to directing, and was responsible for Walt Disney's first live-action film, Treasure Island (1950). In the mid-'50s Haskin began a rewarding association with producer George Pal, for whom he shot what is probably his best-known film, the science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds (1953). Haskin would collaborate with Pal on three other films, The Naked Jungle (1954), Conquest of Space (1955) and The Power (1968). Fans will also remember Haskin for the cult-classic Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964).- Carlos Donoso was born on 26 July 1948 in Caracas, Venezuela. He was an actor, known for When the Cat's Away (1996) and Festival Internacional del Humor 2014 (2014). He died on 16 April 2020 in Bogota, Colombia.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
A respected stage actor -- he trained at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts -- since the 1920s, birdlike Charles Halton's thinning hair, rimless glasses and officious manner were familiar to generations of moviegoers. Whether playing the neighborhood busybody, a stern government bureaucrat or weaselly attorney, you could count on Halton to try to drive the "immoral influences" out of the neighborhood, foreclose on the orphanage, evict the poor widow and her children from their apartment, or any other number of dastardly deeds, all justified by "I'm sorry but that's my job." His 40-year film career ended with High School Confidential! (1958), after which he retired.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Christophe was born on 13 October 1945 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), The Road to Salina (1970) and Let the Corpses Tan (2017). He was married to Véronique. He died on 16 April 2020 in Brest, Finistère, France.- Daisy Keith was born on 26 June 1969 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Heartland (1989). She was married to Scott Sampson. She died on 16 April 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Danny O'Dea was a British funnyman born out of the finest Music Hall tradition, left a legacy which spans eight decades and reads like the history of British comedy. He performed alongside some of the biggest names in the business including Arthur Askey, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, John Inman and Cilla Black, entering showbiz at an early age thanks to a enviable pedigree and working until he was 90, most recently enjoying popularity as long-sighted Eli Duckett in Last of the Summer Wine.
He was the nephew of music hall comedians Morney Cash and Archie Glen and was related to beautiful actress Kay Kendall, granddaughter of musical comedy star Marie Kendall and daughter of vaudevillian Terry Kendall. Kay, who married Rex Harrison, had a brief, very glamorous career but died from leukaemia in 1959, aged 33.
Danny began his epic career in the theatre, appearing in hundreds of musical comedies, plays and pantomimes and thousands of music hall, cabaret and seaside summer shows nationwide and in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. He became well-known as a fine comedy actor and a brilliant stand-up comedian. During a summer season in Blackpool he fell in love with his wife Doris, a dancer in a variety show, but it was in London in the 1950s and 1960s that his career really took off.
He became a member of Brian Rix's acclaimed company at London's Whitehall Theatre and appeared for six years in the long-running farce Pyjama Tops as doddering policeman Inspector Crindle. Two years at the Windmill Theatre co-starring with John Inman and Fiona Richmond in Let's Get Laid and roles as the effeminate Eric Tweedy in Les Dawson's Don't Tell the Wife and Albert Waterman in the blockbusting stage version of Carry On Laughing, alongside a cast which included Liz Fraser, Peter Butterworth, Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas and Ann Ashton, built him a reputation as a bawdy comic player of the highest order. He became a regular on BBC Radio and later television, appearing on Sez Les with Les Dawson, Selwyn Froggart with Bill Maynard and as Tim Trimmer, the jovial old boatman in All Creatures Great and Small.
Later television appearances included Winning Streak, Bulman, The Book Tower and a guest appearance on Jim'll Fix It, as well as Victoria Wood and One Foot In The Grave.
During pantomime season he worked with stars including Millicent Martin, Arthur Askey, Nat Jackley, Dickie Henderson, Martie Wilde, Dick Emery and Frank Ifield, often stealing the show as the pantomime dame. He played the robber in Les Dawson's record-breaking 1980 panto at the Birmingham Palladium, the following season he was in Oxford playing Dame Merryweather alongside Stu Francis and The Krankies and in 1982, aged 80, he starred as Widow Twankey in Aladdin in Kirkcaldy. These exhausting runs lasted months and included around 100 shows, but Danny thrived on it. In 1986, aged 84, he only got busier. The year began in panto in Oxford alongside Jim Davidson as an ugly sister in Cinderella and ended at Leeds City varieties with Jack and the Beanstalk - his last stage appearance. In between he fitted in a season in Alan Bleasdale's farce Having a Ball in Exeter, starred as Paddy in Rita, Sue and Bob Too and landed a part in the BBC's Last of the Summer Wine. His character Eli remained a fixture for 15 years, until Danny was 90. Series director Alan RJ Bell said: "I'd get letters saying they only watch the show for Eli. He's got friends all over the world because the show is now broadcast in America. "Danny's scenes as Eli Duckett will be a lasting testament to his comic timing and sense of fun." Ken Kitson, co-star on Last of the Summer Wine, added: "I respected him, admired him and thought his timing was second to none. I remember him entertaining us for four hours when we were stuck on a bus, telling us about his music hall days." Danny's agent of over 30 years Michael Joseph said Danny's training in variety and music hall had set him apart. "I've known him for 50 years and it's very sad to know he's no longer with us because our business really needs people like him," he said. "There's no-one to replace him. "No-one can do the falls, the facial expressions and the comedy Danny used to do. He'd had 50 years' experience before he got to television. He was an amazing character."
Danny, who lived in Sal Royd, Low Moor, for 40 years before moving to Hartshead Manor Nursing Home in 2001 died aged 91 in 2003 leaving a daughter and two granddaughters. - Actor
- Sound Department
- Additional Crew
David Bond was born on 13 November 1914 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Return of the Living Dead (1985), The Silencers (1966) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He died on 16 April 1989 in West Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
- Additional Crew
David Lama is one of the cutting-edge young alpinists with his bold free climbing and aid soloing taken him to rarely visited areas and up many unclimbed walls.
He was a climbing prodigy from age five. As a teenager, Lama won the a number of world cups and in 2008 he became the first person to win lead and bouldering. During his years as a competitive climber. In 2009, while on a trip to South America, he made the first free ascent of Cerro Torre.
In April 2019, American Jess Roskelley and Austrians David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, all members of The North Face's Global Athlete Team, were attempting a difficult route up Howse Peak in the Canadian Rockies when they were hit by a massive avalanche and rescuers presumed died.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
An important British filmmaker, David Lean was born in Croydon on March 25, 1908 and brought up in a strict Quaker family (ironically, as a child he wasn't allowed to go to the movies). During the 1920s, he briefly considered the possibility of becoming an accountant like his father before finding a job at Gaumont British Studios in 1927. He worked as tea boy, clapper boy, messenger, then cutting room assistant. By 1935, he had become chief editor of Gaumont British News until in 1939 when he began to edit feature films, notably for Anthony Asquith, Paul Czinner and Michael Powell. Amongst films he worked on were Pygmalion (1938), Major Barbara (1941) and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942).
By the end of the 1930s, Lean's reputation as an editor was very well established. In 1942, Noël Coward gave Lean the chance to co-direct with him the war film In Which We Serve (1942). Shortly after, with the encouragement of Coward, Lean, cinematographer Ronald Neame and producer 'Anthony Havelock-Allan' launched a production company called Cineguild. For that firm Lean first directed adaptations of three plays by Coward: the chronicle This Happy Breed (1944), the humorous ghost story Blithe Spirit (1945) and, most notably, the sentimental drama Brief Encounter (1945). Originally a box-office failure in England, "Brief Encounter" was presented at the very first Cannes film festival (1946), where it won almost unanimous praises as well as a Grand Prize.
From Coward, Lean switched to Charles Dickens, directing two well-regarded adaptations: Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). The latter, starring Alec Guinness in his first major movie role, was criticized by some, however, for potential anti-Semitic inflections. The last two films made under the Cineguild banner were The Passionate Friends (1949), a romance from a novel by H.G. Wells, and the true crime story Madeleine (1950). Neither had a significant impact on critics or audiences.
The Cineguild partnership came to an end after a dispute between Lean and Neame. Lean's first post-Cineguild production was the aviation drama The Sound Barrier (1952), a great box-office success in England and his most spectacular movie so far. He followed with two sophisticated comedies based on theatrical plays: Hobson's Choice (1954) and the Anglo-American co-production Summertime (1955). Both were well received and "Hobson's Choice" won the Golden Bear at the 1954 Berlin film festival.
Lean's next movie was pivotal in his career, as it was the first of those grand-scale epics he would become renowned for. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was produced by Sam Spiegel from a novel by 'Pierre Boulle', adapted by blacklisted writers Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman. Shot in Ceylon under extremely difficult conditions, the film was an international success and triumphed at the Oscars, winning seven awards, most notably best film and director.
Lean and Spiegel followed with an even more ambitious film, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), based on "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", the autobiography of T.E. Lawrence. Starring relative newcomer Peter O'Toole, this film was the first collaboration between Lean and writer Robert Bolt, cinematographer Freddie Young and composer Maurice Jarre. The shooting itself took place in Spain, Morocco and Jordan over a period of 20 months. Initial reviews were mixed and the film was trimmed down shortly after its world première and cut even more during a 1971 re-release. Like its predecessor, it won seven Oscars, once again including best film and director.
The same team of Lean, Bolt, Young and Jarre next worked on an adaptation of Boris Pasternak's novel "Dr. Zhivago" for producer Carlo Ponti. Doctor Zhivago (1965) was shot in Spain and Finland, standing in for revolutionary Russia and, despite divided critics, was hugely successful, as was Jarre's musical score. The film won five Oscars out of ten nominations, but the statuettes for film and director went to The Sound of Music (1965).
Lean's next movie, the sentimental drama Ryan's Daughter (1970), did not reach the same heights. The original screenplay by Robert Bolt was produced by old associate Anthony Havelock-Allan, and Lean once again secured the collaboration of Freddie Young and Maurice Jarre. The shooting in Ireland lasted about a year, much longer than expected. The film won two Oscars; but, for the most part, critical reaction was tepid, sometimes downright derisive, and the general public didn't really respond to the movie.
This relative lack of success seems to have inhibited Lean's creativity for a while. But towards the end of the 1970s, he started to work again with Robert Bolt on an ambitious two-part movie about the Bounty mutiny. The project fell apart and was eventually recuperated by Dino De Laurentiis. Lean was then approached by producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin to adapt E.M. Forster's novel "A Passage to India", a book Lean had been interested in for more than 20 years. For the first time in his career; Lean wrote the adaptation alone, basing himself partly on Santha Rama Rau's stage version of the book. Lean also acted as his own editor. A Passage to India (1984) opened to mostly favourable reviews and performed quite well at the box-office. It was a strong Oscar contender, scoring 11 nominations. It settled for two wins, losing the trophy battle to Milos Forman's Amadeus (1984).
Lean spent the last few years of his life preparing an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's meditative adventure novel "Nostromo". He also participated briefly in Richard Harris' restoration of "Lawrence of Arabia" in 1988. In 1990, Lean received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement award. He died of cancer on April 16, 1991 at age 83, shortly before the shooting of "Nostromo" was about to begin.
Lean was known on sets for his extreme perfectionism and autocratic behavior, an attitude that sometimes alienated his cast or crew. Though his cinematic approach, classic and refined, clearly belongs to a bygone era, his films have aged rather well and his influence can still be found in movies like The English Patient (1996) and Titanic (1997). In 1999, the British Film Institute compiled a list of the 100 favorite British films of the 20th century. Five by David Lean appeared in the top 30, three of them in the top five.- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Dona Ivone Lara was born on 13 April 1921 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and composer, known for A Força do Xangô (1977), Woman on Top (2000) and Caso Verdade (1983). She was married to Oscar Costa. She died on 16 April 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Edwin Apps was a familiar face during the early days of British television, at his most prolific as a character actor between 1953 and 1972. In addition, he sidelined as a scripter for the BBC, penning some 33 episodes of the comedy series All Gas and Gaiters (1966). The son of auctioneers and hop farmers, he was born in East Kent. Upon the marital breakup of his parents, he was evacuated to Cornwall at the onset of World War II. At seventeen, he joined a repertory company in the north of England, though his budding career as a thespian was interrupted by national service. Having eventually completed his training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he resumed his career on the stage as well as doing live television. In 1976, Edwin and his wife, the RADA-trained actress and writer Pauline Devaney, resettled on a farm in the French town of Liez (south-Vendée) in western France. He now appeared only occasionally in French films, devoting time to his life-long passion for painting ("I was a lonely child. At 10, I found a box of paint: since then, I have not let go of the brush"). A successful painter of oils on canvas, he specialised in satirical depictions of bishops in unconventional situations. In 2013, he published a humorous autobiography entitled "Pursued by Bishops - the Memoirs of Edwin Apps". His wife is also an accomplished painter, finalist in the 2017 National Art Competition.
- Director
- Writer
Eldar Kuliyev was born on 18 January 1941 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR [now Azerbaijan]. He was a director and writer, known for Legenda Serebryanogo ozera (1984), Sevinc buxtasi (1977) and Nizami (1982). He died on 16 April 2021.- Writer
- Actress
Elida Gay Palmer was born on 28 July 1934 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was a writer and actress, known for Delito (1962), El curandero (1955) and Barrio Gris (1954). She was married to Alberto D'Aversa and Nelson Luiz de Toledo Piza. She died on 16 April 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Actress
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Choi Eun-hie was born on 20 November 1926 in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, South Korea. She was an actress and director, known for The Girl Raised as a Future Daughter-in-law (1965), Uijeok Iljimae (1961) and Bam-ui tae-yang (1948). She was married to Shin Sang-ok. She died on 16 April 2018 in Seoul, South Korea.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Fay Bainter's career began as a child performer in 1898. For some time, she was a member of the traveling cast of the Morosco Stock Company in Los Angeles. In 1912, she made her Broadway debut in 'The Rose of Panama', but this and her subsequent play 'The Bridal Path' (1913), were conspicuous failures. She continued in stock and, after forming an association with David Belasco, took another swing at Broadway. She had her first hit with a dynamic performance, which established her as major theatrical star, as Ming Toy in 'East is West', at the Astor Theatre (1918-1920). Alternating between comedy and melodrama, Fay then shone in 'The Enemy' (1925-26) with Walter Abel and gave an outstanding performance of mid-life crisis as the desperate Fran Dodsworth ('Dodsworth',1934-35), opposite Walter Huston as her husband Sam. Fay never had the chance to recreate her stage role on screen - Ruth Chatterton got the part instead. At the same time, now aged 41, she was offered a role in her first motion picture, This Side of Heaven (1934). Co-starring opposite Lionel Barrymore, this was the first of many thoughtful, understanding wives, aunts and mothers she was to play over the next twenty years.
Of stocky build, with expressive eyes and a warm, slightly smoky voice, Fay rarely essayed unsympathetic or hard-boiled characters, with the exception of her Oscar-nominated dowager in The Children's Hour (1961). While not often top-billed, her name remained consistently high in the list of credits throughout her career. Critics applauded her sterling performances in productions like Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) and Quality Street (1937), as Katharine Hepburn's excitable spinster sister. Fay won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for the movie Jezebel (1938). As Bette Davis' stern, reproving Aunt Belle, she excelled in a somewhat meatier role than the genteel or fluttery ladies she had previously been engaged to portray. That same year, she was also nominated (as Best Actress) for her housekeeper, Hannah Parmalee, in White Banners (1938), but lost to Bette Davis. Fay enhanced many more films with her presence during the 1940's, notably as Mrs. Elvira Wiggs, in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942), Merle Oberon's eccentric aunt from the bayou in Dark Waters (1944) and Danny Kaye's mother in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947). From the 1950's, she alternated stage with acting on television. Her last role of note was as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night', on tour with the National Company in 1958.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Fay Eunice McKenzie was born February 19, 1918 into a show business family where she was the youngest of two sisters and an actress cousin, and made her screen debut at only ten weeks old in "Station Content" (1918) in which she was carried in the arms of Gloria Swanson. Her parents, Eva & Bob "Pops" McKenzie were already veteran performers and apparently wanted their daughter to get an early start in films. She nearly stole the show from Oliver Hardy as "the baby" in the Alice Howell short "Distilled Love" (filmed in 1918 but released two years later). By the time she was six, Fay was considered an old hand, having played diverse parts in her father's stock company. Among her early films was the 1924 Photoplay Medal Winner, "The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln."
A native of Hollywood, she got most of her schooling on movie sets including the famous Little Red Schoolhouse at MGM. Her classmates included Betty Grable, Ann Rutherford and June Storey. As a teenager in the early 1930's Fay appeared in a number of low budget westerns with Wally Wales and Buddy Roosevelt as well as the all-star MGM musical "Student Tour" (1934). In 1937 she starred in the cult propaganda film about the dangers of marijuana entitled "Assassin of Youth". She also had a small part in the 1939 classic "Gunga Din". Her first Broadway venture was at age 17 and in 1940 she appeared as Miss Hollywood in "Meet the People", a popular review of that season starring Jack Gilford and Jack Albertson.
But she is probably best remembered for her work with Gene Autry at Republic Studios, where she was the feminine interest in "Down Mexico Way" (1941), "Sierra Sue" (1941), "Home in Wyomin'" (1942), "Heart of the Rio Grande" (1942) and "Cowboy Serenade" (1942). Finally getting the leading lady roles she deserved, the raven-haired beauty was an immediate hit with audiences. In 1942 Republic co-starred her with Don 'Red' Barry in the war-time flag waver, "Remember Pearl Harbor!" During WWII she toured with the Hollywood Victory Caravan and appeared in dozens of USO shows with various show biz legends including Frank Sinatra, Phil Silvers and Desi Arnaz. At the same time she could be heard on radio in "Pabst's Blue Ribbon Town" starring Groucho Marx. Featured film roles continued to come her way with Universal's "The Singing Sheriff" (1944), Warner Bros' "Night and Day" (1946) and "Murder in the Music Hall" (1946), the latter filmed at her home studio of Republic.
In 1946 she married the dark, husky actor Steve Cochran, but their union was short lived and they divorced two years later. She went back to Broadway to appear opposite comedian Bert Lahr (best known as The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz") in the 1946 revival of "Burlesque." During the 1950's she studied with Sanford Meisner and at The Actor's Studio with Lee Strasberg in NYC. She was seen to favorable advantage on a number of TV shows including "The Millionaire" (1959), "Mr. Lucky" (1960), "Bonanza" (1961), and "Experiment in Terror" (1962).
She also appeared in a number of films for close friend and director Blake Edwards, including "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961) as the party guest laughing in the mirror, "The Party" (1968) and "S.O.B." (1981). She was especially proud of "The Party" with Peter Sellers and agreed to play the cameo role of Alice Clutterbuck (the hostess of the party) because the script was co-written by her husband, Tom Waldman. She and Waldman married in 1949 and had two children Tom Jr. and Madora. Waldman Sr. passed away in 1985. Her older sister Ella "Lolly" McKenzie was also an actress and was married to well-known comedian Billy Gilbert. Her other sister Ida Mae McKenzie started in silent films as well and went on to work behind the scenes of popular game shows including the original "Hollywood Squares".
McKenzie traveled extensively as a Christian Science Practitioner, lecturing all over the country and in Europe. In 2012 she received the Career Achievement Award at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival and in 2017 she was on-hand to present some of her family's home movies at the TCM Film Festival (those films are now housed the Academy Film Archive in Hollywood). During the summer of 2018 she made a cameo appearance alongside her son Tom as Mrs. Van Proosdy in the film "Kill A Better Mousetrap". Her performance marks the first century-spanning career in motion picture history. She passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of April 16th at the age of 101. She is survived by her son, actor Tom Waldman, Jr., daughter Madora McKenzie Kibbe and her two grandchildren.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Felix Silla was born on January 11, 1937 in a small village outside Rome, Lazio, Italy. Silla trained as a circus performer, came to the United States in 1955, and toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Show. His multiple talents -- as a bareback rider, trapeze artist and tumbler -- brought him to Hollywood where he became a stuntman, starting with the Gig Young-Shirley Jones vehicle, A Ticklish Affair (1963).
His best-known roles are the maniacal, miniature "Hitler" who menaces George Segal in The Black Bird (1975) and Cousin Itt on The Addams Family (1964). He had doubled -- often for children -- in such hits as The Towering Inferno (1974), The Hindenburg (1975) and Battlestar Galactica (1978). Between movies, he frequently appears in Las Vegas and Reno nightclubs with his own musical combo, "The Original Harmonica Band".
Silla and wife Sue Silla -- a "little person", like himself -- were married from 1965 until Felix's death on April 16, 2021, and had three children, Bonnie, Michael and Diana.- Director
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Gene Deitch was an animator at UPA. He later joined Terrytoons in 1955. He created characters like "John Doormat", "Clint Clobber", "Gaston Le Crayon", "Sidney", and "Foofle". In early 1958, his theatrical cartoon Sidney's Family Tree (1958) was nominated for Academy Award. In August, 1958, he was fired from Terrytoons, and in 1960, he moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia to work with William L. Snyder, and directed approximately a dozen Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM, and also "Krazy Kat" and "Popeye" for King Features, and also a Oscar Winning Munro (1961). He later created "Nudnik", a character based on "Foofle", which he created, while at Terrytoons. He lived in Prague, with his wife, Zdenka, until the time of his death on April 16th, 2020.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
George Beverly Shea was born on 1 February 1909 in Winchester, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Heart Is a Rebel (1958), Who I Am (2004) and Mr. Texas (1951). He was married to Karlene Aceto and Erma L Scharfe. He died on 16 April 2013 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.- Born in Toronto, Canadian-American actor Graham Jarvis attended Williams College, before moving to New York to pursue a career in theatre. He studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and was an original member of the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater. He appeared in film and television for decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s.
- Hansjörg Auer is an Austrian mountaineer, known for his free solo climbs. He is probably best known for his 2007 free solo climb of the fish route (south face) of Marmolada in the Dolomites, northeastern Italy. Born in Zams, Austria in 1984. Certified teacher for Mathematics and Sports, Mountain Guide. Climbed his first summit of a 3000m peak by fair means in 1990. Received the Paul Preuss Prize in 2016.
In April 2019, American Jess Roskelley and Austrians David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, all members of The North Face's Global Athlete Team, were attempting a difficult route up Howse Peak in the Canadian Rockies when they were hit by a massive avalanche and rescuers presumed died. - Actor
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Harry Anderson was born on 14 October 1952 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Night Court (1984), It (1990) and Tales from the Crypt (1989). He was married to Elizabeth Morgan and Leslie Pollack. He died on 16 April 2018 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Award-winning actress Helen Elizabeth McCrory was born in London, England, to Welsh-born Anne (Morgans) and Scottish-born Iain McCrory, a diplomat from Glasgow. After training at the Drama Centre London, Helen began her career on stage in the UK and won the Manchester Evening News' Best Actress Award for her performance in the National Theatre's "Blood Wedding" and the Ian Charleson award for classical acting for playing "Rose Trelawney" in "Trelawney of the Wells." Helen's theatre work continued to win her critical praise and a large fan base through such work as the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Les Enfant du Paradis" opposite Joseph Fiennes, Rupert Graves and James Purefoy. At the Almeida Theatre, her productions included "The Triumph of Love" opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor and the radical verse production, "Five Gold Rings," opposite Damian Lewis.
Helen also worked extensively at the Donmar Warehouse playing lead roles in "How I Learnt to Drive," "Old Times" directed by Roger Michel, and in Sam Mendes' farewell double bill of "Twelfth Night" and "Uncle Vanya" (a triumph in both London and New York). For her performance in "Twelfth Night," Helen was nominated for the Evening Standard Best Actress Award, and the New York Drama Desk Awards. She also founded the production company "The Public" with Michael Sheen, producing new work at the Liverpool Everyman, The Ambassadors and the Donmar (in which she also starred).
With over twenty productions under her belt, Mike Coveney recently wrote "We celebrate the careers of great actors Olivier, Ashcroft, Richardson, Gielgud, Dench, the Redgraves, Gambon, Walter, Sher, Russell Beale and McCrory."
On the small screen, Helen's first television film, Karl Francis' Streetlife (1995) with Rhys Ifans, won her the Welsh BAFTA, Monte Carlo Best Actress Award and the Royal Television Society's Best Actress Award, for her extraordinary performance as "Jo." The Edinburgh Film Festival wrote "simply the best performance this year." She went on to win Critics Circle Best Actress Award for her role as the barrister "Rose Fitzgerald" in the Channel 4 series North Square (2000), having been previously nominated for her performance in The Fragile Heart (1996). Helen showed diversity as an actress, appearing in comedies such as Lucky Jim (2003) with Stephen Tompkinson or Dead Gorgeous (2002) with Fay Ripley, as well as dramas such as Joe Wright's The Last King (2003) (for which she was nominated for the LA Television Awards) and Anna Karenina (2000).
Helen McCrory died on 16 April, 2021, in London, of cancer. She was 52, and was survived by her husband Damian Lewis and their two children.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Howard Finkel was born on 7 June 1950 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for WWE Smackdown! (1999), The JBL & Cole Show with Renee Young (2012) and The Wrestlers: Land of a Thousand Dances (1985). He died on 16 April 2020 in Madison, Connecticut, USA.- Jack Wallace was born on 10 August 1933 in Pekin, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Death Wish (1974), Faster (2010) and The Boy Next Door (2015). He was married to Margot Schnarr Wallace. He died on 16 April 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Jess Roskelley is an American alpinist, known most notably for his expeditions in Alaska. Raised in Spokane, Washington, mountaineering and climbing have always been an integral part of his life. As the son of John Roskelley, in 2003 at the age of 20, he summited Mount Everest with his father, who was one of the best American mountaineers of his era.
He then undertook many other expeditions. In particular, he successfully conquered previously unknown routes in Alaska, the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Patagonia. His biggest feats include scaling the 1,128-meter-high "Hypa Zypa Coloir", a steep east face of the Citadel in Alaska's Kichatna Mountains, or the ascent of the new mixed route "No Rest for the Wicked" (1,500' WI6 M7 A0) in southeast Alaska.
In April 2019, Jess Roskelley, David Lama and Hansjoerg Auer part of an elite athletic team for the outdoor apparel giant, The North Face, rescuers said all three men are presumed dead after being caught in an avalanche while attempting to climb Howse Peak in Alberta's Banff National Park. - Actor
- Additional Crew
Jim Hutchison was born on 19 January 1934 in England, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Magnum, P.I. (1980), Damien's Island (1976) and Hawaii Five-O (1968). He was married to Wisa D'Orso. He died on 16 April 2009 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.- Actor
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- Soundtrack
John McLiam was born on 24 January 1918 in Hayter, Alberta, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for First Blood (1982), In Cold Blood (1967) and Sleeper (1973). He was married to Roberta Claire Robinson. He died on 16 April 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Composer
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He began singing in nightclubs in his hometown of Nassau, Bahamas, when he was only 13. He moved to Harlem in 1979, developing his other talents as a dancer, songwriter, and actor. "Just Got Paid" was a Top Ten hit in 1988; he subsequently did a tune for the soundtrack of the motion picture Sing (1989). He pursued a career with Teddy Riley on "Just Got Paid" in 1988.- Actor
- Music Department
Jörg Demus was born on 2 December 1928 in St. Pölten, Austria. He was an actor, known for Soiree im Schönbrunner Schloßtheater (1962), Music on 2 (1965) and Die Drehscheibe (1964). He died on 16 April 2019 in Vienna, Austria.- Jose Mari was born on 15 June 1938 in Tacloban, Leyte, Commonwealth of the Philippines. He was an actor, known for Joey, Eddie, Lito (1961), Baby Face (1959) and Viva Ranchera (1966). He was married to Charito Malarky. He died on 16 April 2019 in Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
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Stage and film director Joseph Adler studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and graduated from New York University's Film Department. He wrote, produced and/or directed a handful of genre potboilers for the big screen in the 1960s and 1970s. From the 1990s, Adler worked primarily as a stage director in South Florida, helming productions at Coconut Grove Playhouse, Florida Shakespeare Theatre, Shores Performing Arts, and GableStage, serving as producing artistic director for two decades.- Actress
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Kay Walsh graced the British Cinema of the 1930s and 1940s as a leading lady, before maturing into character roles. She was born Kathleen Walsh in London, England of Irish parentage. She and her sister Peggy were raised in Pimlico by their grandmother. She began her career as a dancer in the chorus of several Andre Charlot revues, before performing solo in New York and Berlin.
Kay made her screen debut in Get Your Man (1934) and later appeared in The Luck of the Irish (1936). After appearing as a dancer in the West End show "The Melody that Got Lost", the producer Basil Dean signed her to a contract with Ealing Studios. She starred opposite George Formby in the comedies Keep Fit (1937) and I See Ice! (1938). She met an aspiring film editor David Lean in 1936 and they were married in 1940. She collaborated on several of his films by writing additional dialogue and advising on production and casting.
She made an impression in In Which We Serve (1942), as Queenie Gibbons in This Happy Breed (1944), as Nancy in Oliver Twist (1948), Vice Versa (1948), Stage Fright (1950), The Magnet (1950), Last Holiday (1950), Encore (1951), Young Bess (1953), Lease of Life (1954), Tunes of Glory (1960) and Scrooge (1970). She won a BAFTA nomination and a National Board of Review award for Best Actress for "The Horse's Mouth" (1958). She retired from acting after appearing in Night Crossing (1982).
She was twice married. Following her divorce from David Lean in 1949, she married the Canadian psychologist Elliott Jaques (1917-2003). They adopted a daughter Gemma in 1956, but the marriage was later dissolved. Kay Walsh died at age 93 on April 16, 2005 at the Chelsea and Westminister Hospital from multiple burns, days after being injured in a fire at her London residence.- Composer
- Music Department
Kenneth Gilbert was born on 16 December 1931 in Montreal, Québec, Canada. He was a composer, known for Waiting for Caroline (1969), Samuel de Champlain: Québec 1603 (1964) and La route de l'Ouest (1965). He died on 16 April 2020 in Québec, Québec, Canada.- Actor
- Director
Kiyoshi Kawakubo was born on 18 November 1929. He was an actor and director, known for Silent Möbius (1998), Silent Möbius (1991) and The Bouncer (2000). He died on 16 April 2019.- Leonie Kooiker is known for Circus in an Uproar (1972).
- Lili Muráti was born on 22 July 1914 in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary (now Oradea, Romania). She was an actress, known for Doctor Zhivago (1965), Miss President (1935) and A tökéletes család (1942). She was married to János Vaszary and Dóra, Sándor. She died on 16 April 2003 in Madrid, Spain.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Arthur Freed discovered Lucille when she was working in a nightclub doing a specialty dance act, and decided to cast her as Rose Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis, and began building up her career which never really took off despite being put in 3 big musical productions at MGM. When she married, she decided to retire.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Luis Sepúlveda was born on 4 October 1949 in Ovalle, Chile. He was a writer and director, known for Nowhere (2002), Mailbox 5 and Vivir a los 17 (1992). He was married to Carmen Yáñez and Margarita Seven. He died on 16 April 2020 in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain.- Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza was born on 16 September 1936 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a writer, known for Berenice (2017), Silence of the Rain (2020) and Achados e Perdidos (2007). He was married to Livia Garcia-Roza. He died on 16 April 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Marcelo Alfaro was born on 11 February 1963 in Argentina. He was an actor, known for Rebelde Way (2002), El pulpo negro (1985) and Amándote (1988). He died on 17 April 2012 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
She graduated in 1957 after which she went to work to the National Theatre. Her first role was Solveig in Peer Gynt. She was a student in the College when Zoltan Fabri gave her the main character cast in the film: Korhinta (1955). She is a well-balanced (sense and sensibility) actress, who can act so many characters. She awarded with Kossuth award and 'Kivalo muvesz'.- Director
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Michael Ritchie was born on 28 November 1938 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Golden Child (1986), The Island (1980) and Fletch (1985). He was married to Jimmie Brown and Georgina Tebrock. He died on 16 April 2001 in New York City, New York, USA.- Neville Brand joined the Illinois National Guard in 1939, bent on a career in the military. His National Guard unit was activated into federal service shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. It was while he was in the army that he made his acting debut, in Army training films, and this experience apparently changed the direction of his life. Once a civilian again, he used his GI Bill education assistance to study drama with the American Theater Wing and then appeared in several Broadway plays. His film debut was in Port of New York (1949). Among his earliest films was the Oscar-winning Stalag 17 (1953). His heavy features and gravelly voice made Brand a natural tough guy (and he wasn't just a "movie" tough guy--he was among the most highly decorated American soldiers in World War II, fighting in the European Theater against the Germans). "With this kisser, I knew early in the game I wasn't going to make the world forget Clark Gable," he once told a reporter. He played Al Capone in The George Raft Story (1961), The Scarface Mob (1959), and TV's The Untouchables (1959). Among his other memorable roles are the sympathetic guard in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and the representative of rioting convicts in Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954). Perhaps his best-known role was that of the soft-hearted, loud-mouthed, none-too-bright but very effective Texas Ranger Reese Bennett of Backtrack! (1969), Three Guns for Texas (1968), and TV's Laredo (1965).
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Nino Bravo was born on 3 August 1944 in Ayelo de Malferit, València, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain. He was an actor, known for Cuéntame cómo pasó (2001), Dos tipos duros (2003) and Benidorm (2020). He was married to Amparo Martínez. He died on 16 April 1973 in Villarrubio, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.- Actress
- Director
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Pamela Gidley was born on July 11, 1965, in Methuen, Massachusetts, and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire. Pamela was the only girl among four older brothers. After high school, she moved to New York and was discovered by a modeling agent while walking down a Manhattan street and soon afterward she won the Wilhemina Modeling Agency's "Most Beautiful Girl In The World" contest on March 12, 1985 in Sydney, Australia.
As her modeling career took off, she studied acting at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts under Stella Adler and eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.- Pat Summerall was born on 10 May 1930 in Lake City, Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for The Replacements (2000), Black Sunday (1977) and The Simpsons (1989). He was married to Cherilyn Burns and Katharine Elliott Jacobs. He died on 16 April 2013 in Dallas, Texas, USA.
- Regis Cordic was born on 15 May 1926 in Hazelwood, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Transformers: The Movie (1986), The Transformers (1984) and Kung Fu (1972). He was married to Dianne C Dundon and Catherine Ann Shea. He died on 16 April 1999 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Robert Urich grew up in Toronto, Ohio, one of four siblings of Slovak and Rusyn descent, raised Catholic by their parents, John P. Urich (died 1977) and Cecelia (née Halpate) Urich (died 2002). His athletic ability led to a four-year football scholarship at Florida State University (FSU). He earned his Bachelor's degree in Radio and Television Communications from Florida State University in 1968 and his Master's degree in Broadcast Research and Management from Michigan State University in 1971. He joined WGN radio in Chicago as a sales account representative. He then briefly appeared as a TV weatherman, and soon realized he wanted to become an actor.
Urich's big break came in 1972 when he played Burt Reynolds's younger brother in a stage production of "The Rainmaker". Reynolds and Urich were both alumni of FSU. Reynolds brought him to California and let him stay in his home until he got his acting break. He also recommended Urich to producer Aaron Spelling for the TV series S.W.A.T. (1975). Although that series lasted only one season, Spelling remembered Urich and later cast him in Vega$ (1978), which had a longer run.
He was starring in the TV series The Lazarus Man (1996) when he was diagnosed with cancer, which caused the cancellation of the series. The cancer went into remission after treatment and he resumed acting again with his role as Captain Jim Kennedy III on Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998). The cancer would claim Urich's life on April 16, 2002 at the age of 55, survived by his wife, children, siblings, mother (who died later that same year, on October 5, 2002, aged 90) and large extended family.- Director
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- Editorial Department
Rod Daniel was born on 4 August 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He was a director and producer, known for WKRP in Cincinnati (1978), Teen Wolf (1985) and K-9 (1989). He was married to Martha (Marti) C. Mueller. He died on 16 April 2016 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.- Ron Vawter was born on 9 December 1948 in Latham, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Rosemary Hochschild. He died on 16 April 1994 in on plane from Zurich to New York City, New York, USA.
- Rosemary De Angelis was born on 26 April 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Frequency (2000), Two Bits (1995) and The Wanderers (1979). She was married to Kenneth Richard Bridges. She died on 16 April 2020.
- Maurice Reedus Jr. died on 16 April 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.Sax Man
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He had the manly good looks and rugged appeal to make it to top stardom in Hollywood and succeeded quite well as a sturdy leading man of standard action on film and TV. Born in Brooklyn on September 13, 1924, Irish-American Scott Brady was christened Gerard Kenneth Tierney (called Jerry) by parents Lawrence and Maria Tierney. His father, chief of New York's aqueduct police force, had always had show business intentions and later did print work after retiring from the force. Both Scott's older and younger brothers, Lawrence Tierney and Edward Tierney went on to become actors as well. Lawrence's promising film noir "bad guy" career was sabotaged by a severe drinking disorder that led to numerous skirmishes with the law. Scott himself faced a narcotics charge in 1957 (charges were dropped, Scott maintained that he was framed) and later (1963) was involved in illegal bookmaking activities. Fortunately, Scott was more cool-headed and wound up avoiding the pitfalls that befell his older brother, making a very lucrative living for himself in Hollywood throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
Scott grew up in Westchester County and attended Roosevelt and St. Michael's High Schools. Like his older brother Lawrence, Scott he was an all-round athlete in school and earned letters for basketball, football and track and expressed early designs on becoming a football coach or radio announcer. Instead he enlisted before graduating from high school and served as a naval aviation mechanic overseas. During his term of duty he earned a light heavyweight boxing medal. He was discharged in 1946 and decided to head for Los Angeles where his older brother Lawrence was making encouraging strides as an actor. Toiling in menial jobs as a cabbie and day-time laborer, the handsome, blue-eyed looker was noticed having lunch in a café by producer Hal B. Wallis and offered a screen test. The test did not fare well but, not giving up, he enrolled in the Bliss-Hayden drama school under his G.I. Bill, studied acting, and managed to rid himself of his thick Brooklyn accent.
He signed with a minor league studio, Eagle-Lion, and made his debut of sorts in the poverty-row programmer In This Corner (1948) utilizing his boxing skills from his early days in the service. He showed more promise with his second and third films Canon City (1948) and He Walked by Night (1948), the latter as a detective who aids in nabbing psychotic killer Richard Basehart. Scott switched over to higher-grade action stories for Fox and Universal over time. Westerns and crime stories would be his bread-winning genres with The Gal Who Took the West (1949) opposite Yvonne De Carlo and John Russell and Undertow (1949), with Russell again, being prime examples. He frequently switched from hero to heavy during his peak years. In one film he would romance a Jeanne Crain in The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) or a Mitzi Gaynor in Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952), while in the next beat Shelley Winters to a pulp in Untamed Frontier (1952). A favorite pin-up hunk in his early years, he hit minor cult status as a bad hombre, The Dancin' Kid, in the offbeat western Johnny Guitar (1954). He and the other manly men, however, were somewhat overshadowed in the movie by the Freudian-tinged gunplay between Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Other roles had him sturdily handling the action scenes while giving the glance over to such diverting female costars as Barbara Stanwyck, Mala Powers and Anne Bancroft.
Scott would mark the same territory in TV -- westerns and crimers -- finding steadier work on the smaller screen into the 1960s. He starred as the title hero in the western series Shotgun Slade (1959). Stage too was a sporadic source of income with such productions as "The Moon Is Blue", "Detective Story" and "Picnic" under his belt before making his Broadway bow as a slick card sharp opposite Andy Griffith in the short-lived musical "Destry Rides Again" in 1959. He later did the national company of the heavyweight political drama "The Best Man" with his portrayal of a senator.
The seemingly one-time confirmed bachelor decided to settle down after meeting and marrying Mary Tirony in 1967 at age 43. Prior to this he had been linked with such luminous beauties as Gwen Verdon and Dorothy Malone. The couple had two sons. Parts dwindled down in size in later years and he gained considerable weight as he grew older and balder, but he still appeared here-and-there as an occasional character heavy or hard-ass cop in less-important movies such as Doctors' Wives (1971), $ (1971), The Loners (1972) and Wicked, Wicked (1973). Minor TV roles in mini-movies also came his way at a fair pace. Towards the end he was seen in such high-profile big-screen movies as The China Syndrome (1979) and Gremlins (1984). Scott had a collapse in 1981 and was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive respiratory disease. He later relied on an oxygen tank. He died of the disease four years later and was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.- Writer
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- Producer
Sol Saks, the screenwriter and TV executive who became a millionaire for writing the pilot for the TV series Bewitched (1964), was born on December 13, 1910 n New York City, though he was raised Chicago from the time he was two-years-old.
A radio actor as a child, Saks started out his professional life as an adult as a journalist, serving a stint as a cub reporter while attending Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. In the generation preceding him, it was newspapers that served as the field in which a young man could become a working writer and make a living from his pen. In Saks's generation, radio served that purpose. He also became a published short story-writer before becoming a writer for Chicago-based radio programs in the 1930s. He was paid the princely sum of $20 for his first radio script.
While Saks always dreamed of transitioning to drama, it was comedy writing that became his forte and made his fortune. Radio died off in Chicago at the start of the 1940s. He was specializing in Westerns and airplane scripts at the time and would put jokes in otherwise serious scripts, which gave him a reputation as a comedy writer. In 1943, Saks relocated to Los Angeles, as he heard there was a demand for comedy writers. Handled by the William Morris Talent agency in Chicago, the Los Angeles office ignored him, so he went to the advertising agency that sponsored Red Skelton's radio show. (At the time, the agencies were the producers of the shows.) Hired at $200 week for The Red Skelton Hour (1951), he quit after two weeks in order to go to work for Duffy's Tavern (1954), the most prestigious comedic radio show of its time.
On the staff at "Duffy's Tavern", he worked with the legendary Abe Burrows, the creator and head-writer of the series, but the two did not get along. Saks was too independent minded to take orders from Burrows. But it was the hours that got to Saks, The show became a demanding mistress. The writers worked 80 hours a week on a script, typically working 30 hours straight the day before the show aired, delivering the script one-half hour before air time.
After a year, Saks left "Duffy's Tavern" and went on to write for the radio shows "The Baby Snooks Show" with Fanny Brice,and "The Beulah Show" with Hattie McDaniel. He served as the head writer for one of two teams on "Beluah", the other team being headed by Sherwood Schwartz.
He also was a writer on Dinah Shore's radio show, which was a failure as no one knew how to write for her at the time. He worked on Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Nelson's radio show, transitioning it from a variety show to a story show. Sherwood Schwartz also worked on the show, and both resented the fact that they received no credit, which was typical of radio, but also because Ozzie took credit for writing the show himself by word-of-mouth.
Writers were as disrespected in radio and TV as they had been in the movies. Once a script was written, producers did not want the writer around.
In the early 1950s, radio showed began to be transformed for TV, and Saks segued into television as that's where the jobs were. Saks found that writing for TV was a lot easier than writing for the radio. Radio was written one line at the time, unlike TV, which was more story-driven. He had his first credit with the sitcom My Favorite Husband (1953), which originally was a radio series starring Lucille Ball (who was otherwise engaged in her epochal show). Saks himself approached CBS with the idea for adapting the radio show for TV. It was his idea not to use comedians but dramatic actors for the show, even though it was a comedy. Saks later developed the sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve (1957) (1957) for Ida Lupino. and wrote for other TV series and anthology programs.
Known for his independence, i.e., his penchant for quitting jobs he didn't like. Offered a writing job on I Married Joan (1952)m he refused as he did not like star Joan Davis. He soon relented and took a seven week-long writing-gig on the show simply to get enough money to buy a swimming pool. His independence was misinterpreted as his having great wealth, a misperception that made producers respect him.
He grew to loath writing for a weekly series due to the grind of putting the same characters into the same situations week after week. He moved on to writing pilots for TV series, plays that never made it to Broadway, and a script for Cary Grant's last movie, Walk Don't Run (1966), a remake of George Stevens's classic The More the Merrier (1943). In the 1960s, CBS hired him and put him in charge of its comedy series.
Ironically, after writing the script for the pilot of "Bewitched" for ABC, Saks never wrote another word for the hit series that ran on ABC for nine season from 1964 to 1972. The royalties accrued from creating the series made him rich. He admitted he based the idea for the series on he 1942 movie I Married a Witch (1942) and Bell Book and Candle (1958).
He published the book "The Craft of Comedy Writing" in 1985.
Sol Saks died of respiratory failure caused by pneumonia on April 16, 2011. He was 100 years old.- Actor
- Music Department
Srilal Abeykoon is known for Sansara Prarthana (2002), Edath Chandiya Adath Chandiya (1995) and Chandiyage Putha (1995).- Tani Guthrie was born on 27 September 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Greenwich Village Story (1963) and Festival (1960). She died on 16 April 2018 in Fredericksburg, Texas, USA.
- Ulrich Kienzle was born on 9 May 1936 in Neckargröningen, Ludwigsburg, Württemberg, Germany. He was an actor, known for Frontal (1991), Hauser & Kienzle und die Meinungsmacher (1997) and Landesschau (1957). He was married to Ilse. He died on 16 April 2020 in Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany.
- Valentin Platareanu was born on 15 November 1936 in Bucuresti, Romania. He was an actor, known for Santaj (1981), Un om în loden (1979) and Ana si hotul (1981). He died on 16 April 2019 in Germany.
- Wayne Tucker was born on 21 November 1924 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Detectives (1959), Hong Kong (1960) and Follow the Sun (1961). He was married to Dana Tucker. He died on 16 April 2023 in Wilson County, Texas, USA.
- Director
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Writer-Director and most recent actor; Wes Williams II is an ambitious soul. "Walking a tight line between film and music on top of running a production company is tricky. But it's worth it!" says the Massachusetts native. He started acting and landed his first gig in Arthur Luhn's "Conned" back in 2010. He then moved behind the lens and started shooting his own films. "The Target" starring brother of Mark Wahlberg, Arthur Wahlberg was his first. With tens of thousands of views, he had the ear of the indie film community. He then shot "Rosie's Diner". The red carpet premiere of "Rosie's Diner" was a huge success creating a frenzy of media buzz in the northeast. After that began the production of his first feature "District C-11" later picked up and distributed by Green Apple Entertainment.In 2017 he partnered with Amazon Video Central and released a gritty short film titled "Nothing To Lose" which was released on the platform.After a 4 year hiatus, he is back, morphing the premise from his first short "The Target" into a T.V series. The pandemic ravaged the film production industry for all of 2020. But now looking ahead, filming is set to begin May 2021- Actor
- Soundtrack
Willie Fung was born on 3 March 1896 in Canton, China. He was an actor, known for The Gay Falcon (1941), The Great Profile (1940) and Shanghai (1935). He died on 16 April 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA.