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Al Strobel was born on 28 January 1940 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He was an actor, known for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Megaville (1990) and Twin Peaks (1990). He died on 2 December 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Rhoda Williams was born on 3 July 1930 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Cinderella (1950), Space Master X-7 (1958) and High School Hellcats (1958). She was married to David Van Meter. She died on 8 March 2006 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Kesey burst into the literary scene with the "Cuckoo's Nest" in 1962 which he wrote from his experiences working at a veterans hospital. During this period, he volunteered for the testing on the drug LSD. After writing his second novel, "Sometimes A Great Notion," he bought an old school bus dubbed "Further." With Neal Cassidy at the wheel and pitchers of LSD-laced-Kool-Laid in the cooler, Kesey and a band of friends who called themselves The Merry Pranksters took a trip across America to New York's World Fair. It would be 28 years until Kesey published his third major novel, "Sailor Song," in 1992, and he later said he lost interest in the novel as an art form after he discovered the magic of the bus. The bus ride was immortalized in Tom Wolfe's 1968 account, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." The movie version of the "Cuckoo's Nest" swept the 1974 Academy Awards for best actor, best actress, best director, and best picture. But Kesey, who has never seen the film, sued the producers because it took the viewpoint away from the character of the schizophrenic American Indian, Cheif Bromden. Kesey was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992 and set down root in Pleasant Hill, in the mid 1960s, after serving four months in jail for a marijuana bust in California. His rambling red barn-house has become a landmark of the psychedelic era, attracting visits from myriad strangers in tie-dyed clothing seeking enlightenment.

Duane Grey was born on 4 October 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for JFK (1991), Charro! (1969) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He died on 13 October 2001 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Julia Anne Robinson was born on 4 March 1951 in Twin Falls, Idaho, USA. She was an actress, known for The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) and A Fan's Notes (1972). She died on 13 April 1975 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Wiley Harker was born on 27 January 1915 in Horton, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Straight Story (1999), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) and City Heat (1984). He died on 1 May 2007 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Craig Huebing was born on 4 March 1929 in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for The Comic (1969), The F.B.I. (1965) and From These Roots (1958). He was married to Davey Davison, Joan Anderson and Roberta Nodine Royse. He died on 10 March 2006 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Heather Warren was born on 21 June 1946 in Lawton, Oklahoma. She was an actress, known for Happy Days (1974). She died on 24 November 1997 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Edward Hamilton Waldo was an American science fiction writer who published under the legal name Theodore Sturgeon - he changed his name following his mother's divorce. He was born on Staten Island, New York and sold his first short story in 1938. He is perhaps best known for the novel 'More Than Human' (1953) and his short horror story, 'IT', which has appeared in countless anthologies over the years. For the screen, Sturgeon contributed to TV projects including Tales of Tomorrow (1951), The Invaders (1967), Star Trek (1966) and The Twilight Zone (1985).

His short fiction appeared in publications such as 'Astounding Science Fiction', 'Unknown', Argosy', and 'Ellery Queen'. He is known to have directly influenced authors like Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and is also praised by the Grand Master, Stephen King.

Steve Prefontaine was born on 25 January 1951 in Coos Bay, Oregon, USA. He died on 1 June 1975 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Mitchell Block was an executive producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary "Big Mama" (2001), directed by Tracy Seretean and executive produced by Sheila Nevins (HBO). He was a producer of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Poster Girl" (HBO) (2005) an executive producer of "Women of the Gulag" and producer of "The Testimony" both short listed for an Academy Award in 2018 and 2016. Block co-directed "Justice Denied" a feature documentary.

Mitchell Block handled the distribution and marketing of hundreds of documentary, live action, and animated shorts films and documentary features, of which twenty-five won Oscars and seventy-one received Academy Award nominations. He was president of Direct Cinema Limited in Santa Monica, California. Block also consulted on documentaries and fiction works. He worked with filmmakers globally on funding, writing/editing, producing, festival selection/marketing, distribution and placing works on public, cable and other television/streaming outlets. He also worked with numerous Internet start-ups.

Block produced "The Testimony", directed by Vanessa Block and produced by Steve Tisch. "The Testimony" was short listed for a short film Academy Award nomination in 2016. The film aired on Netflix.

"Poster Girl", produced by Block and directed by Sara Nesson, was nominated for an Academy Award (Documentary Short Film) in 2011. It premiered at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival and in Europe at the IDFA Film Festival. "Poster Girl" is the story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high school cheerleader turned "poster girl" for women in combat, marked by Army Magazine's cover shot. This film was selected by the International Documentary Association as the "Best" Documentary Short of 2011.

Block produced "Vessel" directed by Diana Whitten which is a portrait of Rebecca Gomperts, MD who created Women on Waves. Armed with a mobile clinic on a boat, abortion medication, and a creative interpretation of international law, her organization works to bring hope to countries where abortion is illegal. This film won Jury and Audience Awards South by Southwest, Hot Docs - Audience Award and the Sheffield Film Festival - The First Peter Wintonick Award.

He was an executive producer of "Stealing America: Vote by Vote," a documentary feature which documents how millions of votes have not been counted. This new film opened in NY and Los Angeles in July and August 2008.

Block conceived, co-created, and was an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning 10-hour documentary series "Carrier" and a producer of the companion documentary feature "Another Day in Paradise." He was president of The Carrier Project. Mel Gibson's Icon Productions financed the films which aired on PBS in 2008.

He was a consultant on short and feature nonfiction projects for HBO/Cinemax from 1998 to 2006 reporting to Sheila Nevins. He served as a consultant on short films and documentaries worldwide.

Block's "Guide to Documentary Film Distribution", published by International Documentary, is the classic resource in the field. He taught independent film producing at USC's School of Cinematic Arts on an adjunct basis since 1979. He was an executive-producer (with Sheila Nevins) of HBO's 2000 Oscar-winning film "Big Mama."

"..No Lies" produced, written and directed by Block, was selected in 2008 by the Librarian of Congress for the National Register of Historical Films. "Indiewire" critics selected it as "One of the 8 Best Short Films Ever Made" in 2016. Over the last 20 years 500 films have been selected. The other films so far selected from 1973 are "American Graffiti," "Badlands," "Enter the Dragon," "Frank Film," "Mean Streets" "The Exorcist" and "The Sting." "No Lies" won a national Emmy in 1975 for "Best Community Service Show" under the title "It Happens to You." (WGBH-TV)

Block was appointed to fill the first Jon Anderson Chair, Professor of Documentary Studies and Production at the School of Journalism and Communications at the University of Oregon in Eugene in 2020 and directs the documentary film production program. He taught independent film producing at USC's School of Cinematic Arts on an adjunct basis from 1979 to 2017. Block's Guide to Documentary Film Distribution published by International Documentary is the classic resource in the field. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-LA, and a life member of the UFVA and the IDA.

Damon Knight was a force of nature in the field of science fiction. He moved to New York City when he was 17 to live with science-fiction fans, writers and editors. He started the Science Fiction Writers of America. With his wife Kate Wilhelm, he influenced generations of writers at writers workshops. He also wrote many works of fiction, including a clever little story called "To Serve Man", which later appeared as To Serve Man (1962), one of the best-known and highly-regarded episodes of that series.

Jack Herer was born on 18 June 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Emperor Wears No Clothes (2009), Secret Agent 420 (2005) and The Hemp Revolution (1995). He was married to Jeannie. He died on 15 April 2010 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Svea Grunfeld was born on 16 March 1925 in Cologne, Germany. She was an actress, known for Ben Casey (1961), Mission: Impossible (1966) and 77 Sunset Strip (1958). She died on 10 April 2012 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

James Schmerer was born on 14 June 1938 in Flushing, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for MacGyver (1985), Chase (1973) and Matt Helm (1975). He died on 4 October 2019 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

One of the foremost exponents of Hawaiian music, Harry Owens arrived in the islands in 1934 and became quickly enamored with the local scene. Owens had been a straight trumpet player in Los Angeles dance bands (at the Ambassador Hotel Cocoanut Grove and for Vincent Rose). His previous experience as a leader dated back to 1926, when he fronted a band at the Lafayette Cafe in L.A.. His song "Aloha Oe" was heard by the manager of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, who asked Owens to establish a house orchestra at his resort. Owens obliged, and, abandoning western-style music, totally embraced Hawaiian culture -- music in particular -- transcribing many traditional songs for the first time. He was also instrumental in popularising the steel guitar. Owens took his 'Royal Hawaiians', with regular vocalists Hilo Hattie and Alfred Apaka, on several successful tours of the U.S. West Coast. This included a return to his old haunt at the Cocoanut Grove and engagements at the Mural Room of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Owens made prolific recordings for Decca, Capitol and Columbia and enjoyed being regularly showcased on the radio show 'Hawaii Calls' (from 1935, complete with ocean sounds emanating from Waikiki Beach for added authenticity) and had his own show on CBS television from 1949 to 1958.

His most famous composition and signature song was "Sweet Leilani" (inspired by the birth of his daughter), crooned by Bing Crosby, which won the Oscar for Best Song, after being featured in the film Waikiki Wedding (1937). It remained top of the charts for twenty-eight weeks and has sold more than twenty million copies to date. Among more than 300 songs written or transcribed by Owens are such popular compositions as "Voice of the Trade Winds", "Blue Shadows and White Gardenias", "Linger Awhile", "Hawaii Calls" and "Polynesian Holiday". Owens was also credited with helping to reinvigorate the tourist industry in Hawaii. In 1987, he was honoured with the Na Hoku Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed by the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts (HARA), a year after his death at the age of eighty-four.

Frank Caffey was born on 30 April 1902 in Decatur, Georgia, USA. He was a production manager and producer, known for Patton (1970), The Ten Commandments (1956) and Sometimes a Great Notion (1971). He was married to Verna Marguerite Johnson. He died on 3 October 1983 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Jesse Lopez was born on 24 September 1943 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He died on 11 August 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

David Bischoff was born on 15 December 1951 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was a writer, known for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Dinosaucers (1987) and Future Fantastic (1996). He died on 19 March 2018 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Pat McCall was born to J.W. Patterson, a civil engineer, and Margaret McCall a movie publicist for Fox Studios. When his mother and father separated in 1935, his mother, acting as his agent, worked to get him parts in movies using the name Pat McCall. Pat worked as an extra from about 1935 to about 1945, almost always in the background when groups of children were needed in a scene. According to the account books left by Margaret, he was paid for at least 50 movies, though it is not clear whether he actually made the final cut in all of them. He can be seen in the party scene for "the Littlest Rebel" with Shirley Temple and had a substantial part in "Pepper" with Jane Withers.

Kate Wilhelm has published many novels and short story collections. She wrote her first short story in 1956. She is a writer of great skill and her work spans the genres; she writes--and is best known for--science fiction, where she published her first stories; fantasy/magic realism; mystery, where she published her first novel; suspense; and even radio plays. Among her many awards are the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the France's Prix Apollo. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her best known works are the novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (a Hugo winner), and "The Planners" (which won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story).

She and her husband, the late Damon Knight, helped established the now famous Clarion Workshop. They were both regular instructors at the workshop for twenty-eight years. They have both lectured together at universities in South America and in Asia through the State Department Cultural Affairs Office.

Stanley Neufeld was born on 1 May 1923 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an assistant director and production manager, known for Death Wish (1974), Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957) and Naked City (1958). He was married to Lesley Neufeld. He died on 26 December 2014 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Derek Humphry was born on 29 April 1930 in Bath, Somerset, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Final Exit: The Video (1997) and Reverend Death (2008). He was married to Gretchen Crocker, Ann Wickett and Jean Humphry. He died on 2 January 2025 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Gene Rizzi was born Eugenio Valentino Rizzi on April 1, 1913, in the tiny village of Tret, Austria (now Italy), near the Italian Alps. His father died seven months earlier after returning to Austria from the United States. Gene's mother, Anna Maria Flor, raised him and his three siblings by herself and eventually moved the family back to Rock Springs, Wyoming, where the Rizzi family had originally had sheep ranching interests. Traveling to and from Europe many times as a youth, Gene settled in Vienna, Austria, to attend the Music Conservatory of Vienna as a violin student. After graduating from that prestigious institution, he began a career as a professional concert violinist. After playing violin in Europe, he moved back to the US to help support his mother and eventually left professional music in favor of an acting career. The Great Depression had just passed its peak and there was a brighter future ahead in Hollywood, and Gene headed there. He began his film career playing tough guys and thugs because of his rugged good looks, and appeared in many features, serials and shorts. These parts included the stranger in The Outlaw (1943), the young tough who discovers to his regret that his draw is not as quick as Billy the Kid's. He also played "Corey" in The Green Hornet (1940) serial. Gene eventually moved on to more substantive parts, appearing with Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943) (interestingly, his character in that film was named Rizzi). Other pictures, such as Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942), took advantage of Gene's abilities with the violin. Still others utilized his expressive, youthful face, as in his uncredited role in To Be or Not to Be (1942) where he utters the Polish RAF pilot's simple pensive line, "Warsaw!" In all of his film appearances, Gene supported the main characters with vigor and intelligence. In the early days of World War II, he was drafted into the US Army and served with distinction with the 396th Signal Corps in China. Shortly after his return to the US at the end of the war, Gene left the film business to devote his life to a new wife and future family. On July 12, 1947, he married Barbara Lee Allen in North Hollywood, California. In 1948, 1951 and 1952 three children were born to the Rizzi family. Gene never discussed his film career with most of his friends and family. Interestingly, though, even his grandchildren could pick out his distinctive voice from old Saturday afternoon replays of his movies. When he died on July 24, 2001, Gene Rizzi left a short film legacy that was perhaps outweighed by his commitment to family. A true artist with many skills, he was first and foremost a husband and father.

Pete Curzon was born on 21 June 1946 in Poole, Dorset, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Killpoint (1984). He died on 3 January 2025 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.