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Christopher D'Olier Reeve was born September 25, 1952, in New York City, to journalist Barbara Johnson (née Barbara Pitney Lamb) and writer/professor F.D. Reeve (Franklin D'Olier Reeve). He came from an upper-class family; his paternal grandfather was CEO of Prudential Financial, and one of his maternal great-grandfathers was Supreme Court Associate Justice Mahlon Pitney.

When Reeve was four, his parents divorced. His mother moved him and his brother Benjamin to Princeton, New Jersey, and married an investment banker a few years later. After graduating from high school, Reeve studied at Cornell University while at the same time working as a professional actor. In his final year at Cornell, he was one of two students selected (Robin Williams was the other) to study at New York's famous Juilliard School, under the renowned John Houseman. Although Christopher is best known for his role as Superman (1978), a role which he played with both charisma and grace, his acting career spans a much larger ground. Paralyzed after a horse riding accident, he died suddenly at age 52 after several years of living and working with his severe disability.

Pretty, soulful-eyed Austrian actress Rose Stradner was a rising 30s ingénue on the Viennese stage and in a few German film romances and musicals when MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, who was in Europe searching for exotic talent, discovered her. Along with Greer Garson, Ilona Massey and Hedy Lamarr, she was brought to Hollywood and groomed as a foreign import. Unfortunately, her personal life became a shambles and eventually overwhelmed her ability to perform.

She was born Rosa Luise Maria Stradner in Vienna in 1913 and educated at a convent. Her desire to become an actress came young. At 16 she studied at the Academy for Music and Art in Zurich, Switzerland, and at the age of 19, she auditioned for Max Reinhardt and handed a contract. She appeared for Austrian producer Max Reinhardt at the Volkstheater and Theater in der Josefstadt, often in the classics (Shakespeare, Ibsen, Moliere) but also handled modern plays (Dreiser, O'Neill). In Europe she also appeared in some German language films between 1933 and 1936.

Rose, her then-husband Karl Heinz Martin, a stage director, and her mother arrived in the United States in 1936. She and her Martin divorced soon after however. Making her U.S. debut as Edward G. Robinson's put-upon wife in The Last Gangster (1937), she showed promise and was signed by MGM. Her second film Blind Alley (1939), which was more Freudian in nature, starred Chester Morris as a psychologically-disturbed mobster who abducts psychiatrist Ralph Bellamy. Rose had less to do in this picture.

The budding star met well-known writer/producer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz at around this time and she placed her career on hold. The couple married in 1939 had two sons, Chris, born 1940, and Tom. Christopher Mankiewicz, born 1942, who went on to a successful career of his own as a screenwriter. Although Rose returned for a small but key role as a Mother Superior in her husband's film The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), her career was officially over after only three more films. In 1948 she was cast in the Edna Ferber play "Bravo!" but she had to be replaced during tryouts, which caused her severe mental strain.

On a positive note, her fluency in several languages helped her husband's screenplays but the marriage was rocky almost from the start. In addition to Mankiewcz' infamous affairs with such stars as Judy Garland and Linda Darnell, Rose did not take easily to being a "hausfrau," and turned to alcohol to deaden her unhappiness. She would be known for going into emotional tirades and was eventually admitted to sanitariums to treat her violent rates. Constantly threatening suicide, a lethal mix of bitterness and depression set in and on September 27, 1958 ended her pain with an overdose of sleeping pills in the Mt. Kisco, New York, home she shared with her husband. She was only 45.

Best known as publisher and founder of Random House. Published many giants of 20th century American literature, including William Faulkner, James Michener, and Ayn Rand. Published James Joyce's Ulysses in the US after winning landmark Supreme Court obscenity case. Edited compilations of humor and joke books. Appeared regularly on "What's My Line?" and other TV shows.

Roy Poole was born on 31 March 1924 in San Bernardino, California, USA. He was an actor, known for 1776 (1972), Mandingo (1975) and Network (1976). He was married to Marie Cote. He died on 1 July 1986 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Gusti Huber was born on 27 July 1914 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was an actress, known for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), Unentschuldigte Stunde (1937) and Jenny und der Herr im Frack (1941). She was married to Joseph George Besch and Gotfrid Köchert. She died on 12 July 1993 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Michael Levin was born on 8 December 1932 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Ryan's Hope (1975), As the World Turns (1956) and The Equalizer (1985). He was married to Elizabeth Levin and Loretta Chiljian. He died on 6 January 2023 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Helen Wagner was born on 3 September 1918 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for As the World Turns (1956), The World of Mr. Sweeney (1954) and Rocky King, Detective (1950). She was married to Robert Willey. She died on 1 May 2010 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

The statuesque American comedienne Esther Muir was a former New York model, who started in the chorus line of the 1922 "Greenwich Village Follies" on Broadway, straight out of high school, and with little or no theatrical training. She caught the eye, however, since her effort led to further work on stage, including "Battling Butler", opposite Charles Ruggles. There, she found herself in the role of the comic foil for the first time.

In 1929, she followed an acclaimed performance in the Broadway production of "My Girl Friday" with further work in musical comedy for Lew Leslie's International Revue, alongside such luminaries as Gertrude Lawrence. Noted choreographer Busby Berkeley, who had worked on some of the dance numbers for the show, was introduced to Esther backstage by the columnist Walter Winchell. Esther subsequently married Berkeley and accompanied him to Hollywood, after he had been signed by producer Samuel Goldwyn. The union was, however, short-lived. Esther later claimed, that Berkeley needed a mother more than he needed a wife.

While already in Hollywood, she began acting on screen in feature films and two-reel comedies. Soon typecast, she became the obliging comic foil to Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey in the spoof So This Is Africa (1933), and to Fanny Brice in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Often, she was given good wisecracking lines to deliver. Her most pivotal role, of course, was as the slinky, seductive Flo, doing the villain's bidding to discredit the "moth-eaten Romeo" (Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, played by Groucho Marx) in A Day at the Races (1937)(having already toured with the part on stage). In one of The Marx Brothers most anarchic (but memorable) scenes, Esther's Flo gets her comeuppance by being covered in paste and wallpaper (stills suggest, that the Marxes took Esther's pasting a lot further, than was played out in the released film version, but this was cut from the final print). Esther took it all in good humour and was a willing participant in the pranks played on set.

Groucho's droll caption of a picture in "The Groucho Phile" (p. 144) reads: "Esther struck oil while running her fingers through my hair. She retired from films as a result". In fact, Esther stuck around for another five years, but was confined to bit parts in major films, or supporting roles for Republic and other Poverty Row studios. She was one of the few free-lance actresses in Hollywood, reluctant to commit to long-term contracts. Having lost the lucrative role of Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind (1939) to Ona Munson, Esther became increasingly disheartened and eventually retired from films in 1943, beginning a new career as a real estate developer in Southern California.

Wyrley Birch was born on 7 May 1883 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was an actor, known for Guard That Girl (1935), Air Hawks (1935) and Blackmailer (1936). He was married to Grace Bullock. He died on 7 February 1959 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Jerry Bock was born on 23 November 1928 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was a composer and writer, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Election (1999) and Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009). He was married to Patricia Faggen. He died on 3 November 2010 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Bert Sugar was born on 7 June 1936 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Rocky Balboa (2006), Arli$$ (1996) and Play It to the Bone (1999). He was married to Suzanne Davis. He died on 25 March 2012 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Charles Bryant was born on 8 January 1879 in Hartford, Cheshire, England, UK(undisclosed). He was an actor and writer, known for Revelation (1918), Stronger Than Death (1920) and Salomé (1922). He was married to Marjorie Gilhooley. He died on 7 August 1948 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

American journalist, novelist and playwright Richard Harding Davis was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1864 (literary talent ran in his family: his father was a newspaper editor and his mother was a writer). He attended Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and in 1886 he began his literary career as a journalist on the "Philadelphia Record" newspaper. Three years later he went over to "The New York Sun". The next year he was hired as managing editor of "Harper's Weekly" magazine, and in that capacity traveled all over the US, Central America and the Mediterranean. He showed a facility for war coverage, reporting on the Greco-Turkish War, the Boer War in South Africa, the Cuban front of the Spanish-American War and World War I. His coverage of the German invasion of Belgium in that war brought his name to the international forefront, and was considered by many to be the quintessential example of war correspondence.

His first effort as a fiction writer, "Gallagher", was published in "Scribner's" magazine in 1890 and began his long and successful career as a writer and novelist. His second wife was stage actress Bessie McCoy, whom he married in 1912 (his first marriage lasted from 1899 to 1910), and Davis began yet a third successful career as a playwright (he wrote 25 plays altogether) and became a celebrated member of the New York City "social set". Many of his novels and plays have been made into successful films.

He died of heart disease in 1916 at his home in Mt. Kisco, NY.

Richard Feigen was born on 8 August 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Wall Street (1987), How to Draw a Bunny (2002) and The Art of the Steal (2009). He was married to Isabelle Harnoncourt Wisowaty, Margaret Culver and Sandra Elizabeth Canning . He died on 29 January 2021 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Scott O'Dell was born on 23 May 1898 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer, known for The Black Pearl (1977), The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) and Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964). He was married to Elizabeth Hall and Jane Dorsa Rattenbury. He died on 15 October 1989 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Court Benson was born on 4 November 1914 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was an actor, known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950), Dentist on the Job (1961) and Danger Man (1960). He died on 5 February 1995 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Bert Block was an actor, known for Matinee Theatre (1955) and Thanks for the Memory (1938). He was married to Barbara Carroll. He died on 9 July 1986 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Jean George was born on 2 July 1919 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was a writer, known for My Side of the Mountain (1969), Tonto Basin Outlaws (1941) and The Kid's Last Ride (1941). She was married to John Lothar George. She died on 15 May 2012 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Bosley Crowther was born on 13 July 1905 in Lutherville, Maryland, USA. He was married to Florence Marks. He died on 7 March 1981 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Respected American stage actor, educated at Pasadena Junior College and at Pasadena Playhouse. Appeared in several films early in his career under the stage name Bill Roberts, but reverted to his real name, Robert Willey, for his subsequent stage career. Appeared on Broadway in Moss Hart's "Junior Miss" and "Winged Victory", and in many other notable stage productions.

Bernt Balchen was born on 23 October 1899 in Tveit, Norway. He died on 17 October 1973 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Rob Stone was born on 12 July 1968 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for In His Own Words: XXXTENTACION (2022), On the Outs (2004) and Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius Hook Mitchell (2003). He was married to Lauren Gonzalez. He died on 24 June 2024 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

John Deyle was born on 6 July 1954 in Rochester, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Wall Street (1987), One True Thing (1998) and Law & Order (1990). He was married to Rebecca Paller. He died on 22 June 2023 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Edith Helena was born on 23 December 1876 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Roof Tops of Manhattan (1935). She was married to Domenico Russo and Napoleon Augustus Jennings. She died on 27 November 1956 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.

Buford Armitage was born on 27 August 1898 in Greeneville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor. He was married to Claire Waring. He died on 3 November 1978 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.