Advanced search

Born in Seattle, Frances Farmer studied drama at the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1935, she went to Hollywood where she secured a seven-year contract with Paramount. In 1943, she was wrongfully declared mentally incompetent and committed by her parents to a series of asylums and public mental hospitals, leading to a false rumor that she received a lobotomy. After seven years she was released, and spent some of the remaining years of her life tending the parents who had committed her and taking odd jobs. She appeared on This Is Your Life (1950), and then her own TV show, Frances Farmer Presents (1958) for six years. She died of cancer in 1970.

Brunette French actress of Russian or Polish ancestry. A former model, she got her big break in films courtesy of an affair with the notorious womanizing mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her as a member of the French Resistance in The Longest Day (1962). She played seven roles of diverse ethnicity in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965), but thereafter pretty much faded from the scene.

Peter Spellos was born on 1 March 1954 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for City of Angels (1998), Men in Black II (2002) and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). He was married to Linda Hautala. He died on 19 November 2023 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Sylvia Likens was born on 3 January 1949 in Lebanon, Indiana, USA. She died on 26 October 1965 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Brad Potts was born on 31 July 1958 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was an actor, known for Butt Boy (2019), Water for Elephants (2011) and Pastor Damien (2012). He died on 14 September 2023 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Gloria Dorson was born on 25 May 1931 in the USA. She was an actress, known for Total Recall (1990), Hoosiers (1986) and Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1997). She was married to Richard M. Dorson. She died on 19 January 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Tiffany Leigh Smith was born on 31 October 1979 in Greenfield, Indiana, USA. Tiffany Leigh died on 2 January 1987 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Ryan White was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1971. A hemophiliac, Ryan regularly needed injections of blood products to survive. In 1985 at the age of 13, it was discovered that Ryan contracted the AIDS virus, sometime during the previous year, from tainted blood. His case got national attention when his school expelled him when they learned about his disease. Not wanting to lie down and die that easily, Ryan and his parents took the school to court, where they won the right for him to return to class. As a result of Ryan's courage and outspokenness to take on his own school board, be became one of the USA's most visible spokesperson on the AIDS crisis. During 1985-1989, he appeared at schools and AIDS fundraisers throughout the country and gave moving testimony before the President's Commission on AIDS. He was befriended by many celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Elton John, Phil Donahue and Elizabeth Taylor, AIDS activists themselves. Despite overwhelming international attention, Ryan never lost his sense of priorities with his schoolwork or life in general. AIDS finally claimed Ryan's life on April 8, 1990 at the age of 18.

Shari Robinson was born on 5 November 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. She was an actress, known for You're My Everything (1949), Peter Gunn (1958) and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950). She was married to Walter McMannis VIII . She died on 18 May 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Booth Tarkington was born on 29 July 1869 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was a writer, known for The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Presenting Lily Mars (1943) and Cameo Kirby (1914). He was married to Laurel Louise Fletcher and Susanah Robinson. He died on 19 May 1946 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Wil Dewitt was born on 2 April 1921. He was an actor, known for Hoosiers (1986). He died on 2 January 2003 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Lawrence Chenault was born on 23 November 1877 in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for Ten Minutes to Live (1932), The Scar of Shame (1929) and The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920). He died on 27 December 1943 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Ivan Rogers was born on September 20, 1954, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is one of the three sons of Paul B. Rogers, an independent building contractor, and Ola M. Rogers, a professional secretary. He attended Pike High School in Indianapolis, graduating in 1972. Immediately after graduation he attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, on a music scholarship as a percussion major. While there he began studying karate in his spare time, eventually achieving the level of second-degree black belt. Academic life began to pale compared to performing professionally, so he left the university to go on the road and play music. He traveled extensively with various bands until he tired of the night life and living out of a suitcase. It was then he decided to leave the music business and further pursue his interest in karate. He began fighting (kickboxing) professionally and rose to the status of world-rated light-heavyweight. After one of his bouts Rogers was approached by an executive from a video disc company and asked to write, produce and star in an educational video disc teaching basic karate and self-defense. He accepted the offer and completed the project, which proved to be successful for both Rogers and the company. Rogers followed the disc with a similar program for the videotape market, and it, too, was successful. Rogers, now infatuated with the entire creative filmmaking process, decided to accept a new challenge: writing a dramatic script for a feature film, as opposed to writing an educational script for video. Though he had many ideas for stories, he realized putting them into the correct format on paper required more knowledge than he had at the time, so he began to read everything he could lay his hands on about writing scripts for feature films. He enjoyed the process of scriptwriting and decided to seek and live more of the "writer's life". He moved to Maui, Hawaii, where he managed a youth center, taught karate and wrote. In 1984 Rogers completed his first feature-length script, entitled "The Pivot". He entered it in an international scriptwriting contest sponsored by Writer's Digest magazine. The results were very favorable. Out of thousands of contestants, his script placed in the top 70, which was designated as the Winner's category. This further motivated him to pursue scriptwriting as a career. He began to miss his involvement in karate and the "fight game" in general, however, so he began promoting kickboxing bouts in the islands. During one of his promotions he was approached by a health club owner and asked to teach karate and train fighters at the health club. After he learned more about the health and fitness business, he decided to buy into the club and become a part owner. he helped build the Atlantis Health and Fitness Center into one of the largest health, fitness and professional karate training centers in the South Pacific. Word of Rogers' success spread to Los Angeles, where Maui native Mike Stone heard of Rogers and his work. On a visit back to Maui, Stone arranged to meet with Rogers and subsequently learned of his aspirations and writing abilities. Stone, who had experience in the filmmaking business on both sides of the camera, shared his knowledge and experience with Rogers and urged him to move to Los Angeles to further his film career. Rogers took Stone's advice, and when he arrived in Los Angeles the two collaborated on a script entitled "The Angkor Rescue", which was later retitled and filmed as Tigershark (1987). Funding was put together and Stone starred in the film with John Quade, with Emmett Alston as director. The movie was shot in the Philippines and distributed worldwide by Manson International. With one screenwriting credit to his name, Rogers had the good fortune to meet screenwriter James R. Silke and, under Silke's tutelage, Rogers further honed his screenwriting skills. He then began to shop his properties to various producers in Los Angeles. It was this experience that made Rogers aware of how little control writers in general, and he in particular, had over his projects and his future in the film industry. He knew the solution to his problem was to produce the films himself. While in a meeting with Stone, Rogers made the acquaintance of producer and production manager Robert E. Waters. A subsequent conversation with Waters in which Rogers restated his ideas and eventual goals reinforced his belief that producing his own films was in fact a necessity. Waters shared all he knew about the process of making a feature film with Rogers, who in turn combined his own writing skills and all that Waters taught him about filmmaking to make a movie of his own. Rogers wrote an action feature script entitled "No Way Out" (eventually filmed under the title One Way Out (1987) due to a title dispute with 20th Century-Fox). Rogers put together a promotional package to raise funds to produce the film. In an attempt to arouse interest in that package, Rogers approached several Hollywood stars about participating in the project, and--in another lesson learned--realized he was not interested in working with prima donna agents and/or talent. It was not until he met producer/director/actor Fred Williamson that Rogers considered starring in the film himself. As Williamson had long worn many hats simultaneously in his various film projects, Rogers felt he could duplicate the same feat. Though Williamson strongly encouraged Rogers to move forward with the project and star in it, he also cautioned Rogers that such an undertaking can be a tremendous "strain on the brain". Taking that advice to heart, Rogers hired director Paul Kyriazi to helm the picture, with Rogers producing and starring. After being schooled on the basics of acting for the movie camera by Williamson and Kyriazi, and with funding in place, Rogers returned to his hometown of Indianapolis to shoot his first feature film. Once there, he received great cooperation from the city and state governments, the Indianapolis police and fire departments and tremendous support from family and friends. Kyriazi shot the film in three weeks. The picture was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival and Market in May of 1987 and not only did Rogers receive a positive review from film industry trade paper "Variety", but the movie went on to achieve great commercial success internationally. Having been accepted by international audiences, Rogers followed with another action film that he wrote, produced and starred in, entitled Two Wrongs Make a Right (1987). Unfortunately, he learned from this picture that not everyone in "the business" is honest or necessarily sincere. He found himself in a legal dispute over revenues from pre-sales of the film, as well as distribution rights for overseas territories. This delayed the completion of the picture by an entire year. Rogers quickly learned the value of knowing the intricacies of distribution and doing business in the international marketplace. After resolving the legal issues, Rogers completed the film and not only distributed it himself, but began acquiring the rights to films from other producers throughout the world and provided the same service to them. Rogers, still making his own films, was approached by a Welsh production company while attending a film market, and asked to star in a Canadian/UK co-production entitled Slow Burn (1989). He accepted the offer and the picture was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. It starred Rogers, William Smith and Anthony James and was directed by John Eyres. The movie was released internationally and was quite successful. Eyres and Rogers met yet again in Milan, Italy, where Eyres, now acting in the capacity of executive producer, requested Rogers star with Terence Ford and Paris Jefferson in another action film, The Runner (1992). Rogers accepted. The film was shot in Wales and England under British director Chris Jones. Once again, the movie was released worldwide and did great business. Producer/actor Ronald L. Marchini approached Rogers and requested he co-star with Marchini and Joe Estevez in a military action film. Rogers traveled to the exotic jungles of Los Banos in the Philippines to shoot Karate Raider (1995). Unfortunately, while performing one of his own stunts with pyrotechnics, Rogers broke his left arm. Though he finished the film, he started looking more closely at his status as an "international action film star". Though Rogers continued to receive offers from producers around the world to participate in independently made action films, he began to tire of the genre. He was looking for a new challenge. It was then that he was contacted by German film distributors Gerhard P. Huck and Jurgen Zitzmann to get involved in a co-production with them. The film was entitled Caged Women II (1996), a sequel to an Italian production made some years before. Rogers' job was to co-produce, write and direct the movie. The challenge he was looking for had now presented itself--he would be directing for the first time. Rogers enlisted the aid of Swedish businessman Kjell Larsson and shot the film, which utilized a host of beautiful models from Penthouse and Playboy magazines, in Indianapolis and Palm Coast, Florida. Now, having momentarily made the departure from action films and the "action film star" label, Rogers embarked on a journey that would promote growth in his career. He started looking at offers to participate in movies other than those in the action and/or exploitation genres. Today Rogers is active acting in, producing and distributing feature films all over the world. He also conducts seminars and workshops on the creative and business aspects of film making.

Melvin Simon started his career as one of the head executives at Columbia Pictures. In 1967 he founded a joint venture and independent motion picture and television company, AVCO Embassy Pictures, as a sister company to Columbia. Simon was the head executive producer and president for AVCO Embassy and produced a number of films through the 1970s and 1980s. Upon the collapse of AVCO Embassy in 1982, Simon sold it to television producer Norman Lear and Lear changed the name to Embassy Entertainment. Simon now works as one of the head associates for Columbia Pictures.

Jason Molina was born on 16 December 1973 in Lorain, Ohio, USA. He was a composer, known for The Circle (2017), Hearts Beat Loud (2018) and Dean Quixote (2000). He died on 16 March 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Sammy Terry was a television horror host based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The role was originated by Robert "Bob" Carter in 1962, and Carter's son Mark Carter took over the role from his father in 2010. Bob Carter (1929-2013) was a television personality who appeared mostly on Indianapolis local television station WTTV, regularly during the 1960s and 1970s, and sporadically through the late 1980s. The format of Carter's show as Sammy Terry, Nightmare Theater, usually involved the showing of two films. During the commercial breaks, Carter, in character as Sammy Terry (a pun based on the word "cemetery"), would engage in camp banter with the audience and his floating rubber spider, "George". This banter often included some commentary on the films being shown, which included classic films as well as many less-than-stellar productions common to the horror film era of the 1930s through the early 1960s. Carter died on June 30, 2013.

Tony Hulman was born on 11 February 1901 in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Winning (1969), ABC Sports (1961) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). He was married to Mary Fendrich Hulman. He died on 27 October 1977 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

John McGarr was born on 25 September 1964 in Queens, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for House of the Wolf Man (2009), Mondo Holocausto! and Mad Monster. He died on 26 March 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Wally Bruner was born on 4 March 1931 in Ames, Iowa, USA. He was a producer, known for Wally's Workshop (1972), He Said, She Said (1969) and The Mike Douglas Show (1961). He was married to Natalie Bruner and Patricia Ray Thomas. He died on 3 November 1997 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

J.J. Johnson was born on 22 January 1924 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was a composer, known for Shaft (1971), Sea of Love (1989) and Cleopatra Jones (1973). He was married to Carolyn and Vivian. He died on 4 February 2001 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Brody Stephens was born on 19 December 2008 in Indiana, USA. He died on 29 April 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Legendary coach of the Indianapolis Crispus Attucks Tigers, notable in Hoosier basketball history as the first state champions from the state's largest city, and the first all-black school to earn Indiana's most coveted high school team championship. Crowe's Oscar Robertson-led Tigers won Indiana state titles in 1955 and 1956 (immediately following the "Milan Miracle" of 1954). Crowe was known not only for his prowess on the basketball sidelines, but for the life virtues he instilled in his players. He remained active in the Indianapolis community for years in a number of civic and state endeavors, including several terms in the Indiana House of Representatives.

Thelma Grigg was born on 13 September 1911 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Bush Christmas (1947), The Lady Craved Excitement (1950) and That Certain Something (1941). She was married to James Hugh Wharton and George Robert Grigg. She died on 29 May 2003 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Joseph Flummerfelt was born on 24 February 1937 in Vincennes, Indiana, USA. He was a composer, known for Great Performances (1971), Live from Lincoln Center (1976) and Stills of the Movement: The Civil Rights Photojournalism of Flip Schulke (2009). He died on 1 March 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

John D. Craig was born on 10 November 1935 in Brazil, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Eight Men Out (1988) and The F.B.I. (1965). He died on 20 November 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.