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Keye Luke was born in Canton, China. He grew up in Seattle, Washington, and entered the film business as a commercial artist and a designer of movie posters. He was hired as a technical advisor on several Asian-themed films, and made his film debut in The Painted Veil (1934). It seemed that he appeared in almost every film that called for Chinese characters, usually in small parts but occasionally, as in The Good Earth (1937), in a meatier, more substantial role. In addition, he played Dr. Kildare's rival at the hospital in the Dr. Kildare series at MGM, but it was as Charlie Chan's #1 son in that series that Luke achieved his greatest recognition. In the 1970s a new generation was made aware of his talents by virtue of his recurring role in the TV series Kung Fu (1972).

Tall, graceful, supremely accomplished American actress, singer, dancer and choreographer Paula Kelly was born in Jacksonville, Florida, one of three daughters, to Ruth and Lehman Kelly. The family moved to Harlem in New York when she was six years old. Unlike her siblings, she had strong musical inclinations which were recognised early on by her father (himself a jazz musician), who enrolled her in the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music & Art. Paula excelled as a star pupil. This opened doors to an audition at the prestigious Juilliard School and led to a four-year scholarship. Having trained under the academy's first director of dance, Martha Hill, she graduated in 1964 and that same year made her debut on Broadway. During much of the 1960s, specialising in modern dance, she performed with such luminaries as Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey and went on tour as a dancer with Harry Belafonte.

The inevitable breakthrough to popular success came when she was cast as Helene (taxi dancer at the Fandango Ballroom) in London's West End production of "Sweet Charity" (1967), directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. Paula ended up winning the London Variety Award for Best Supporting Actress. The play itself enjoyed a healthy run but was ultimately eclipsed by the motion picture Sweet Charity (1969), for which Paula was able to recreate her stage role. Now firmly established on the screen, she went on to sing and dance in a number of musical television specials and/or variety shows headlining Gene Kelly (with whom she performed a duet), Dean Martin, Quincy Jones, Richard Pryor and former Sweet Charity co-star Sammy Davis Jr.. She also appeared as Tiger Lily, teaming up with Danny Kaye and Mia Farrow for the BBC production of Peter Pan (1976), as well as taking on the dual role of co-choreographer. In 1971, she starred in a Los Angeles stage production of the all-singing, all-dancing musical revue "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope", for which she won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award.

Since the popularity of musicals had waned by the early 1970s, Paula had little choice but to take on straight dramatic acting roles. On several occasions she provided the female interest in a series of fashionable, sassy, tough blaxploitation films, playing cool, happening chicks opposite action men like Robert Hooks, Paul Winfield and Thalmus Rasulala (and often rising above the routine dramatic material afforded her). She was Leggy Peggy in the cult comedy Uptown Saturday Night (1974) with Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor and had featured roles in the sci-fi classics The Andromeda Strain (1971) and Soylent Green (1973). She also appeared in many television guest spots, with notable recurring roles in The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Police Woman (1974) and the sitcom Night Court (1984), for which she received the first of two Emmy Award nominations. She retired from acting in 1999. Her husband was the British film and television director Don Chaffey, who predeceased her in 1990.

Paula Kelly died of heart failure on February 9, 2020 at age 77.

Lupe Ontiveros was born on 17 September 1942 in El Paso, Texas, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for As Good as It Gets (1997), Selena (1997) and Chuck & Buck (2000). She was married to Elias P. Ontiveros. She died on 26 July 2012 in Whittier, California, USA.

Trinidad Silva was born on 30 January 1950 in Mission, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for UHF (1989), The Jerk (1979) and Colors (1988). He was married to Sofia Alvarez. He died on 31 July 1988 in Whittier, California, USA.

Abel Fernandez was born on 14 July 1930 in East Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Untouchables (1959), Steve Canyon (1958) and Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958). He died on 3 May 2016 in Whittier, California, USA.

Florine Dickson was born on 1 February 1914 in San Bernardino, California, USA. She was an actress. She died on 14 February 2006 in Whittier, California, USA.

Mary debuted as Melody in the Joan Rivers film Rabbit Test (1978), with Doris Roberts playing her mother and Billy Crystal as her brother. Other films include H.O.T.S. (1979), Death Valley (1981) and Weird Science (1985).

Mary was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, two cow fields away from the Broadway Drive-In Movie Theater. As a student at Boise High School she wrote the play "This Isn't Exactly How I Expected It" which won First Place in the Dramatics Magazine Playwriting Contest and publication by Pioneer Publishing in 1978. She attended Boise State University where her one act play "Echo Park" was produced in the Subal Theatre starring Pamela Abas-Rossand future film director Michael Hoffman.

After moving to Los Angeles, Mary became involved in the local theater scene with her play "Paperback Books" which starred John Fleck before he became one of the infamous "NEA Four". Mary's antiwar farce "WACs In Khaki" premiered at the Los Angeles Actors Theatre and moved to the Company Theatre directed by Paul Linke.

Wordsmiths, facilitated by Silas Jones at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, inspired Mary to write. Her one act plays resulting from that workshop still enjoy successful productions countrywide and internationally. "Bedside Companion" (premiered in Beverly Hills, at Theatre 40's Festival of One-Acts) joined "Behold A Pale Bronco", "Women With Casseroles", "The Old Man and the Seed" and "They's Weywulves" in a critically acclaimed six week run at PV Players in Torrance, California. Her short comic play "Happy and Gay" was named the winner of the ten minute division of the Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition in 2009.

Mary's short work "The Old Man and the Seed" won First Prize in the Hewlett Packard 10 Minute Play Contest and was produced at the Action Theatre in Singapore in 2002. Mary had entered this contest hoping to score some toner for her HP printer. Instead, she was delighted to learn first prize included the trip of a lifetime to Singapore where she saw her play produced.

Her short play "The Miraculous Day Quartet" has received successful productions in Southern California, Chicago and New York. It was part of the Second Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival in New York City where it earned an honorable mention for Best Play and garnered Best Director and Best Actress awards in 2006. It was chosen to be read at the Dramatists Guild of America in New York City as part of the International Women's Day Celebration and went on to win the Merit Award for Cayuga Community College of Auburn at the New York Theatre Association gathering.

Her anti-war play "True Blue" premiered in the Fritz Blitz at the Fritz Theatre and was performed at the Single Carrot Theatre in Baltimore,MD. It won the "Peoples Choice" award at the Plays for a New Millennium festival at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Mary's full length play "Isaac, I am" was selected as the winner from more than 300 original plays submitted to the Helford Prize national playwriting contest officiated by Jacksonville University. It was chosen by Bruce Helford, the creative force behind George Lopez (2002), The Drew Carey Show (1995), Roseanne (1988) and Anger Management (2012). The women's Theatre Organization of USC produced the Los Angeles Premiere of "Isaac, I am" at the end of October, 2011. "Isaac, I am" was an official selection in the Women Playwrights International Conference, held in Stockholm, Sweden in August, 2012. Mary traveled to Stockholm to present her play and had the unique experience of meeting women playwrights from around the world.

"The "M" Word", co-written with husband Steve Lee, was well received at the Lakeshore Players' Ten Minute Play festival in White Bear Lake, Minnesota and was featured in the featured in Theatrerats' Third Annual Chester Horn Short Play Festival in Manhattan. Her comedy "Outsourcing Christmas" is gaining popularity in holiday-themed festivals.

Mary played the role of 'Doreen' in "The Sunday Man", a short film directed by 'Dany Shamash' and produced by Rebecca Rankin. It was part of American Film Institute's directing workshop for women.

A familiar figure on the Los Angeles stage, she has won Supporting Actress awards for her performances in "The Boys Next Door" and "I Remember Mama".

Her plays are published by Pioneer Drama and available on Amazon. She is a proud member of the Dramatists' Guild, the International Centre of Women Playwrights, the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and SAG-AFTRA.

Maxine Zazzara was born on 15 May 1940 in West Memphis, Arkansas, USA. She was married to Vincent Zazzara. She died on 29 March 1985 in Whittier, California, USA.

George Ernest was a child actor who appeared in more than 60 films from 1929 to 1942. He was born George Ruud Hjorth in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father was Danish and his mother Norwegian . The family moved to California when George was two years old, and his father ran a restaurant in Hollywood. At age 10, Ernest got his start in movies. Among his early roles were a few of the short films in the comedy series created by Hal Roach, known as The Little Rascals and later as Our Gang.

Ernest was among the small number of child actors whose careers continued through their teen years. In a family comedy series by 20th Century Fox, he was Roger, a son of the Jones family. But as he reached manhood, three things happened that would change his career and life. As film roles were becoming more difficult to find, he became interested in camera work and began studying and following the camera crews. Then, World War II broke out. One of his last roles was in "Four Sons" of 1940. That war film was about a Czech family whose four sons take different paths after Germany invades Czechoslovakia in 1939.

Shortly after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered WW II, Ernest enlisted in the Army. He became a combat photographer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He served in the photographic unit that was headed by Hollywood director, John Ford. Ernest filmed American forces fighting in North Africa, in the invasion of Sicily, and the Italian campaign. He parachuted behind enemy lines in France and Germany to take photos. One of those occasions was a few days before the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. He moved through the French underground and hid along the German front. And, on June 6, 1944, he took photos of the American landings at Omaha Beach.

After the war, Ernest entered the business field and later became an executive with the McDonnell Douglas aviation company. He died on June 25, 2009, in Whittier, California. He was 87 years old.

Vincent Zazzara was born on 8 October 1920 in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. He was married to Maxine Zazzara and Betty Grace Peterson Zazzara. He died on 27 March 1985 in Whittier, California, USA.

Ione Bright was born on 11 May 1887 in California, USA. She was an actress, known for Mixed Nuts (1917). She died on 17 August 1976 in Whittier, California, USA.

Mady (or Mattie) Comfort was a jazz and lounge singer, dancer, and model. She was married to bassist Joe Comfort, who worked with Lionel Hampton and Nat King Cole, and who played on many of the Frank Sinatra/Nelson Riddle Capitol recordings. Gene Santoro, in his biography of Charlie Mingus (Myself When I Am Real), says that she was also a girlfriend of Duke Ellington, and that she is the "Satin Doll" about whom Ellington, Strayhorn, and Mercer wrote the song "Satin Doll." She died in 2003 at age 79.

Boyd Coddington was born on 28 August 1944 in Rupert, Idaho, USA. He was married to Jo Andenise Clausen McGee, Diane Marie Ragone Elkins and Peggy Jeanne King. He died on 27 February 2008 in Whittier, California, USA.

Mike Haberecht was born on 24 July 1944 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and 111 (2005). He died on 17 May 2005 in Whittier, California, USA.

Born Wayland C. Emerson in Rockford Illinois on July 23, 1907, died Clarence Emerson at 82 on October 14, 1989, in Whittier, California, and interred in Rose Hills Cemetery, Whittier California. Left Home at 13 years old and traveled by hopping freight trains to California. After working as a telegraph operator for Western Union in San Francisco, he entered Vaudeville as a singer in 1920, signed with the Western Vaudeville Managers Association, and played the Orpheum Circuit during the era of mixed vaudeville and film. After 1928 he signed with Radio-Kieth-Orphium (RKO)and continued in vaudeville until it's final demise in the 1930's. Following his early Western Union experience, he became a Licensed Radio Station operator and served in the Merchant Marines WWII. In 1952 he began working in the Motion Picture Industry as a Sound Department Engineering Radio Operator during the age before walkie-talkies, when film radio communication equipment required a licensed operator on the set. He finished his career as a production Sound Mixer where he had friends dating back to his vaudeville days.

Champion platform diver Velma Dunn was born on October 9, 1918 in Monrovia, California. Her mother was a schoolteacher. Velma took swimming lessons at the YMCA in Pasadena, California and learned how to dive at the Pasadena Athletic Club. Dunn attended the 1932 Olympic games in Los Angeles, California, which in turn inspired her to compete in Amateur Athletic Union meets with the L.A. Athletic Club. Velma won the junior national championships in diving in 1935 and placed second in the Olympic tryouts the following year. At age seventeen Dunn won the silver medal in the 10 meter platform event at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. A few weeks later Velma enrolled at the University of Southern California as a physical education major. After getting both a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree as well as receiving a teaching credential from USC, Dunn went on to teach physical education at Huntington Park High School.

While teaching at Huntington Park High School Velma met swimmer and swimming instructor Howard Ploessel, who she subsequently married in 1943. The Ploessels then moved to San Pedro, California, where Howard taught Army soldiers how to swim at Fort MacArthur and Dunn taught physical education as well as water ballet, synchronized swimming, and lifesaving techniques at San Pedro High. After taking a break from school to have children, Velma resumed teaching in 1953 at South Gate Junior High, where she remained prior to eventually retiring in 1980. Moreover, Dunn retained her ties with the Olympic games later in her life: She not only volunteered for the 1984 L.A. Olympics, but also participated in the torch relay before the 1996, 2000, and 2002 Olympics (she did the latter one at age 83). Velma died on May 8, 2007 after suffering a stroke at age 88 at the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, California. She was survived by daughter Nancy, son Dennis, and grandchildren Bryan, Eric, and Jeremy.

Steve Patino was born on 12 June 1960. He was an actor, known for Predator (1987), Critters (1986) and Re-Animator (1985). He died on 19 November 1994 in Whittier, California, USA.

Murry Wilson was born on 2 July 1917 in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA. He was married to Audree Wilson. He died on 4 June 1973 in Whittier, California, USA.

Audrey Gomez was born on 19 April 1973. She was an actress, known for Love & Basketball (2000). She died on 24 August 2001 in Whittier, California, USA.

A. Earl Hedrick was born on 2 March 1896 in Los Angeles, California, USA. A. Earl was an art director and production designer, known for Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Lost Weekend (1945) and Ace in the Hole (1951). A. Earl died on 18 September 1985 in Whittier, California, USA.

Leon Leyson was born on 15 September 1929 in Narewka, Podlaskie, Poland. He is known for Inheritance (2006), Voices from the List (2004) and Schindler's Youngest Survivor (2010). He was married to Lis. He died on 12 January 2013 in Whittier, California, USA.

Ellsworth Hanna was born on 15 October 1923 in Alberhill, California, USA. He was an actor. He was married to Jeanne Hanna. He died on 22 May 2003 in Whittier, California, USA.

Paula Taylor Cosio was born on 12 July 1959 in the USA. She was an actress, known for Wine Tasting (2017), Actors Anonymous (2017) and Madaran (2016). She died on 28 December 2019 in Whittier, California, USA.

Michael Eiden was born on 7 August 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Douglass U (2013) and Don't Lose Sight (2013). He died on 5 May 2021 in Whittier, California, USA.

Edwin Pepping was born on 4 July 1922 in Alhambra, California, USA. He died on 4 September 2018 in Whittier, California, USA.