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- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater creative freedom. Drunken Angel (1948) was the first film he made without extensive studio interference, and marked his first collaboration with Toshirô Mifune. In the coming decades, the two would make 16 movies together, and Mifune became as closely associated with Kurosawa's films as was John Wayne with the films of Kurosawa's idol, John Ford. After working in a wide range of genres, Kurosawa made his international breakthrough film Rashomon (1950) in 1950. It won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, and first revealed the richness of Japanese cinema to the West. The next few years saw the low-key, touching Ikiru (1952) (Living), the epic Seven Samurai (1954), the barbaric, riveting Shakespeare adaptation Throne of Blood (1957), and a fun pair of samurai comedies Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962). After a lean period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, though, Kurosawa attempted suicide. He survived, and made a small, personal, low-budget picture with Dodes'ka-den (1970), a larger-scale Russian co-production Dersu Uzala (1975) and, with the help of admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, the samurai tale Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980), which Kurosawa described as a dry run for Ran (1985), an epic adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear." He continued to work into his eighties with the more personal Dreams (1990), Rhapsody in August (1991) and Madadayo (1993). Kurosawa's films have always been more popular in the West than in his native Japan, where critics have viewed his adaptations of Western genres and authors (William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Maxim Gorky and Evan Hunter) with suspicion - but he's revered by American and European film-makers, who remade Rashomon (1950) as The Outrage (1964), Seven Samurai (1954), as The Magnificent Seven (1960), Yojimbo (1961), as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and The Hidden Fortress (1958),
as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Roddy McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, England, to Winifriede Lucinda (Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman. Roddy was enrolled in elocution courses at age five and by ten had appeared in his first film, Murder in the Family (1938), playing Peter Osborne, the younger brother of sisters played by Jessica Tandy and Glynis Johns. His mother brought Roddy and his sister to the U.S. at the beginning of World War II, and he soon got the part of Huw, youngest child in a family of Welsh coal miners, in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley (1941), acting alongside Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara and Donald Crisp in the film that won that year's best film Oscar. He went on to many other child roles, in films like My Friend Flicka (1943) and Lassie Come Home (1943) until, at age eighteen, he moved to New York, where he played a long series of successful stage roles, both on Broadway and in such venues as Connecticut's Stratford Festival, where he did Shakespeare. He became a U.S. citizen in 1949. In addition to making many more movies (over 150), McDowall acted in television, developed an extensive collection of movies and Hollywood memorabilia, and published five acclaimed books of his own photography. He died at his Los Angeles home, aged 70, of cancer.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
The star of many land and underwater adventures, Lloyd Vernet Bridges,
Jr. was born on January 15, 1913 in San Leandro, California, to Harriet
Evelyn (Brown) and Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr., who owned a movie theater
and also worked in the hotel business. He grew up in various Northern
California towns. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but young
Lloyd's interests turned to acting while at the University of
California at Los Angeles.
(Dorothy Dean Bridges, Bridges'
wife of more than 50 years, was one of his UCLA classmates, and
appeared opposite him in a romantic play called "March Hares.") He
later worked on the Broadway stage, helped to found an off-Broadway
theater, and acted, produced and directed at Green Mans ions, a theater
in the Catskills. Bridges made his first films in 1936, and went under
contract to Columbia in 1941. Allegations that Bridges had been
involved with the Communist Party threatened to derail his career in
the early 1950s, but he resumed work after testifying as a cooperative witness before the House Un-American Activities, admitting his past party membership and recanting. Making the
transition to television, Bridges became a small screen star of giant
proportions by starring in
Sea Hunt (1958), the country's most
successful syndicated series. Trouper Bridges worked right to the end,
winning even more new fans with his spoofy portrayals in the
movies Airplane! (1980) and Hot Shots! (1991), and their respective sequels. Lloyd Bridges died at age 85 of
natural causes on March 10, 1998.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants
Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino
Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up
on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard
to get ahead. Starting out as a saloon singer in musty little dives (he
carried his own P.A. system), he eventually got work as a band singer,
first with The Hoboken Four, then with
Harry James and then
Tommy Dorsey. With the help of George Evans
(Sinatra's genius press agent), his image was shaped into that of a
street thug and punk who was saved by his first wife,
Nancy Barbato Sinatra. In 1942 he started his solo
career, instantly finding fame as the king of the bobbysoxers--the
young women and girls who were his fans--and becoming the most popular
singer of the era among teenage music fans. About that time his film
career was also starting in earnest, and after appearances in a few
small films, he struck box-office gold with a lead role in
Anchors Aweigh (1945) with
Gene Kelly, a Best Picture nominee at
the 1946 Academy Awards. Sinatra was awarded a special Oscar for his
part in a short film that spoke out against intolerance,
The House I Live In (1945).
His career on a high, Sinatra went from strength to strength on record,
stage and screen, peaking in 1949, once again with Gene Kelly, in the
MGM musical On the Town (1949) and
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949).
A controversial public affair with screen siren
Ava Gardner broke up his marriage to
Nancy Barbato Sinatra and did his career little good, and his record sales
dwindled. He continued to act, although in lesser films such as
Meet Danny Wilson (1952), and a
vocal cord hemorrhage all but ended his career. He fought back, though,
finally securing a role he desperately wanted--Maggio in
From Here to Eternity (1953).
He won an Oscar for best supporting actor and followed this with a
scintillating performance as a cold-blooded assassin hired to kill the
US President in Suddenly (1954).
Arguably a career-best performance--garnering him an Academy Award
nomination for Best Actor--was his role as a pathetic heroin addict in
the powerful drama
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955).
Known as "One-Take Charlie" for his approach to acting that strove for
spontaneity and energy, rather than perfection, Sinatra was an
instinctive actor who was best at playing parts that mirrored his own
personality. He continued to give strong and memorable performances in
such films as
Guys and Dolls (1955),
The Joker Is Wild (1957) and
Some Came Running (1958). In
the late 1950s and 1960s Sinatra became somewhat prolific as a
producer, turning out such films as
A Hole in the Head (1959),
Sergeants 3 (1962) and the very
successful
Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964).
Lighter roles alongside "Rat Pack" buddies
Dean Martin and
Sammy Davis Jr. were lucrative,
especially the famed
Ocean's Eleven (1960). On the
other hand, he alternated such projects with much more serious
offerings, such as
The Manchurian Candidate (1962),
regarded by many critics as Sinatra's finest picture. He made his
directorial debut with the World War II picture
None But the Brave (1965),
which was the first Japanese/American co-production. That same year
Von Ryan's Express (1965) was
a box office sensation. In 1967 Sinatra returned to familiar territory
in Sidney J. Furie's
The Naked Runner (1967), once
again playing as assassin in his only film to be shot in the U.K. and
Germany. That same year he starred as a private investigator in
Tony Rome (1967), a role he reprised in
the sequel, Lady in Cement (1968).
He also starred with Lee Remick in
The Detective (1968), a film daring
for its time with its theme of murders involving rich and powerful
homosexual men, and it was a major box-office success.
After appearing in the poorly received comic western
Dirty Dingus Magee (1970),
Sinatra didn't act again for seven years, returning with a made-for-TV
cops-and-mob-guys thriller
Contract on Cherry Street (1977),
which he also produced. Based on the novel by
William Rosenberg, this fable of
fed-up cops turning vigilante against the mob boasted a stellar cast
and was a ratings success. Sinatra returned to the big screen in
The First Deadly Sin (1980),
once again playing a New York detective, in a moving and understated
performance that was a fitting coda to his career as a leading man. He
made one more appearance on the big screen with a cameo in
Cannonball Run II (1984) and a
final acting performance in
Magnum, P.I. (1980), in 1987, as a
retired police detective seeking vengeance on the killers of his granddaughter,
in an episode entitled Laura (1987).- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Phil Hartman was born Philip Edward Hartmann on September 24, 1948, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. His surname was originally "Hartmann", but he later dropped the second "n". He was one of eight children of Doris Marguerite (Wardell) and Rupert Loebig Hartmann, a salesman. He was of German, Irish, and English descent. The family moved to the United States when Phil was around ten, and he spent the majority of his childhood in Connecticut and Southern California. He later obtained his American citizenship in the early 1990s. He often would visit his homeland of Canada throughout his career, and the City of Brantford even erected a plaque on the Walk of Fame in the town in honor of Phil's career and memory. The Humber College Comedy: Writing & Performance program in Toronto, Ontario, also has an award in Phil's memory that is given out to their Post-Graduate comedy students.
Phil originally studied Graphic Design at California State University. He began to work part time as a graphic artist, designing album covers for such bands as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (see Crosby Stills Nash & Young) and Poco. In 1975, alongside doing album work, Phil joined the California comedy troupe, The Groundlings. While in The Groundlings, Phil worked with Paul Reubens and Jon Lovitz, who became good friends of his until his death. Phil and Paul created the character Pee Wee Herman together, and Phil even had a role on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) as pirate Captin' Carl.
In 1986, Phil joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) and was on the show for a record of 8 seasons (which was later broken by Tim Meadows). Phil played a wide range of characters including: Frank Sinatra, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Ed McMahon, Barbara Bush, and many others. He was known to help out other writers who wanted to get their sketches read and onto the show. He held Saturday Night Live (1975) together during his 8-year reign, thus the nickname he garnered while on the show, "The Glue." Phil was also known for his voice work on commercials and cartoons. He was probably most well known for the voices of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz on the animated comedy The Simpsons (1989). He also provided other minor voices for The Simpsons (1989). Phil left Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1994, and in 1995, was cast in the critically acclaimed NBC show NewsRadio (1995) as arrogant radio show host Bill McNeal.
After Phil's death, Phil's good friend Jon Lovitz attempted to fill the void as Max Lewis on NewsRadio (1995), but the struggling show's ratings dropped, and the show later fizzled out and ended in 1999. Phil had an interesting career in movies, mostly playing supporting characters. He was the lead in Houseguest (1995) and was also in Greedy (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and his last live action film, Small Soldiers (1998). His last role was the English language dub of Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), as the quick-witted cat Jiji, which featured Small Soldiers co-star Kirsten Dunst in the lead voice role.
On May 28th, 1998, Phil was shot to death while sleeping in his Encino, California home by his wife, Brynn Hartman. Brynn left the house and later came back with a friend to show him Phil's body. When her friend went to call 911, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom with Phil's lifeless body and shot herself. It was later discovered by the coroner that Brynn had alcohol, cocaine, and the antidepressant, Zoloft, in her system. They left behind two children, Sean Edward (b. 1988) and Birgen (b. 1992). Phil and Brynn's bodies were cremated and spread upon Catalina Island, just off the coast of California, on June 4, 1998. Phil had specifically stated in his will that he wanted the ashes spread on Catalina Island because it was his favorite holiday getaway as he was an avid boater, surfer and general lover of the sea.
Phil was a very caring and sensitive person and was described as "very sweet and kind of quiet."- J.T. Walsh was born on 28 September 1943 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Breakdown (1997), Sling Blade (1996) and Needful Things (1993). He was married to Susan West. He died on 27 February 1998 in La Mesa, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Jack Lord will probably be best remembered as Steve McGarrett in the
long running television series
Hawaii Five-O (1968), but he
was much more than that however. He starred in several movies, directed
several episodes of his show, was in several Broadway productions, and
was an accomplished artist. Two of his paintings were acquired by New
York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum of Modern Art
by the time he was twenty. Lord was also known for being a very
cultured man who loved reading poetry out loud on the set of his TV
show and as being somewhat reclusive at his Honolulu home. He met his
son from his first marriage, who was killed in an accident when he was
thirteen, only once as a baby.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in 1911, Jeanette Nolan began her acting career in the Pasadena Community Playhouse. While still a student at Los Angeles City College, she made her radio debut in 1932, aged 20, in "Omar Khayyam", the first transcontinental broadcast from station KHJ. Her film debut was probably also her best part: Lady Macbeth opposite director/actor Orson Welles's Macbeth (1948). Her final film role was as Tom Booker (Robert Redford)'s mother, Ellen Booker, in The Horse Whisperer (1998).
She appeared in more than 300 television shows, including episode roles in Perry Mason (1957), I Spy (1965), MacGyver (1985), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), and as a regular on The Richard Boone Show (1963) and The Virginian (1962). She received four Emmy nominations.
Nolan died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in 1998, aged 86, following a stroke.- Actor
- Director
- Cinematographer
John Derek was born on 12 August 1926 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Ten Commandments (1956), Ghosts Can't Do It (1989) and Bolero (1984). He was married to Bo Derek, Linda Evans, Ursula Andress and Pati Behrs. He died on 22 May 1998 in Santa Maria, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
Persis Khambatta was born on October 2, 1948 in Bombay, India. When aged 16, as Femina Miss India, she entered Miss Universe 1965, dressed in off-the-rack clothes she bought at the last minute. Khambatta became a model for companies such as Revlon. Her biggest acting break was getting the role of Lieutenant Ilia, the bald Deltan alien in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). This led to roles in Nighthawks (1981), Megaforce (1982) and Warrior of the Lost World (1983). She was considered for the title role in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983), but was passed over in favor of Maud Adams. Khambatta became the first citizen of India to present an Academy Award in 1980. She was nominated
for the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her Star Trek role. Khambatta also made guest appearances in many popular American television series. In the early 1980s, she was seriously injured in a car crash in Germany and had to have heart bypass surgery.
A year before her death, she wrote and published a coffee table book titled "Pride of India" which featured former Miss Indias; it was
dedicated to Mother Teresa, and part of the royalties went to the Missionaries of Charity. On August 17, 1998, Persis Khambatta was taken to the Marine Hospital in South Mumbai, complaining of chest pains. She died of a heart attack on August 18, 1998 at the age of 49; her funeral was held in Mumbai.- Joan Hickson was born in 1906 at Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Her stage
career began with provincial theater in 1927, going on to a long series
of West End comedies, usually playing the part of a confused or
eccentric middle-age woman. She performed at the Regent's Park Open Air
Theatre, at the time London was subject to World War II bombing. Her
work gradually included screen roles:
The Outsider (1948),
The Promoter (1952),
The 39 Steps (1959) - over 80 movies
in all - but her stage career continued, with parts in three
Peter Nichols plays,
Noël Coward's "Blithe Spirit" (1976) and and
a Tony award supporting actress performance in
Alan Ayckbourn's "Bedroom Farce" (1977).
Her first Agatha Christie role was "Miss
Pryce" in the play, "Appointment With Death" (1946), which prompted
Christie, herself, to write "I hope you will play my dear Miss Marple".
She began playing this, her best known part, in her late 70s, in a BBC
television series which ran from 1984 to 1992. A Miss Marple fan,
Queen Elizabeth II, awarded her the
Order of the British Empire in 1987. After the series closed, Joan
recorded audio books of the Christie mysteries. She died, aged 92, in a
hospital at Colchester, Essex, survived by a son and daughter (her
physician husband Eric Butler died in 1967). - Actor
- Soundtrack
Norman Fell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1924. He
graduated from Temple University with a bachelor's degree in drama.
During World War II, he was an Air Force tail gunner in the Pacific.
After the war, he studied acting and obtained small parts in television
and on stage. His first regular TV appearance was in the comedy series
Joe & Mabel (1956). His best known TV role was that of Stanley Roper, the landlord
in the very popular Three's Company (1976), which debuted in 1977, and its short lived
spin-off, The Ropers (1979).
Norman Fell died at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's retirement
home in Woodland Hills CA, aged 74, survived by two
daughters.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Of Irish, English, and Scottish descent, Maureen Paula O'Sullivan was born on May 17, 1911 in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland. Her father was Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers, and his wife, the former Mary Fraser (or Frazer). She was educated at Catholic schools in Dublin, Paris, and London (Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton, where a fellow student was fellow future actress Vivien Leigh). Even as a schoolgirl, Maureen desired an acting career, despite her father's initial opposition. She studied hard and read widely. When the opportunity to be an actress came along, it almost dropped in her lap. American film director Frank Borzage was in Dublin in 1929, filming Song o' My Heart (1930), when the 18 year old met him. He suggested a screen test, which she took. The results were more than favorable and she won the substantial role of Eileen O'Brien, then went to Hollywood to complete filming.
Once in sunny California, Maureen wasted no time landing roles in other films such as Just Imagine (1930), The Princess and the Plumber (1930), and So This Is London (1930). She was perhaps MGM's most popular ingenue throughout the 1930s in a number of non-Tarzan vehicles. In 1932, she teamed up with Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmuller for the first time in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), as Jane Parker. Five other Tarzan films followed, the last being Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942). The Tarzan epics rank as one of the most memorable series ever made. Most people agree that those movies would not have been as successful as they were, had it not been for the talent, grace, and radiant beauty of O'Sullivan. But she was more than Jane Parker. She went on to roles in such films as The Flame Within (1935), David Copperfield (1935), and Anna Karenina (1935). She turned in another fine performance in Pride and Prejudice (1940). After the 1940s, however, she made fewer films, primarily for personal reasons, i.e. caring for her large family.
It isn't always easy to walk away from a lucrative career, but O'Sullivan did because she wanted to devote more time to her husband, John Farrow, an Australian-American writer, and their seven children: Michael, Patrick, Maria (a.k.a. Mia Farrow), John, Prudence, Theresa (a.k.a. Tisa Farrow), and Stephanie Farrow. The couple were married from 1936 until his death in 1963. After her last Tarzan venture she asked for release from her contract to care for her husband who had just left the U.S. Navy with typhoid. She did not retire completely and still found time to make occasional movies and television programs, as well as operate a bridal consulting service (Wediquette International).
O'Sullivan made her Broadway debut opposite Paul Ford in "Never Too Late" (November 27, 1962-April 24, 1965), a great success. She would appear on Broadway again in various vehicles through 1981, and later also co-produced two Broadway productions. Later movie patrons remember her as Elizabeth Alvorg in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) (playing opposite fellow silver screen film veteran Leon Ames). Her final celluloid role was in The River Pirates (1988). Some made-for-television movies followed and she retired completely in 1996, two years before her death in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 23, 1998 during heart surgery. She was 87 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Michelle Thomas was born in Boston but raised in New York and New
Jersey. She attended the Montclair School of Arts and the Broadway
Dance Center. She is survived by her mother, Phynjuar Thomas (a stage
actress and acting coach); her brother, David
Thomas; her grandfather, Cecil G. Saunders, Sr.; her aunt, Eleanor
Johnson; her uncle, Paul T. Goodnight; and numerous other family
members. Her father Dennis D.T. Thomas was a founding member of the 1970s funk band Kool & The Gang)
Miss Thomas played "Betsy Brown" on stage in Philadelphia. She
also appeared on the CBS soap opera, The Young and the Restless (1973) as
"Callie Rogers"; on The Cosby Show (1984) as "Justine Phillips", the girlfriend of "Theo" (played
by Malcolm-Jamal Warner); and on Family Matters (1989) as "Myra Monkhouse", the
girlfriend of "Steve Urkel" (played by Jaleel White). She made guest
appearances on a number of other TV shows and also performed in tons of
music videos, in Los Angeles theater productions, and in several
movies, including Hangin' with the Homeboys (1991). Just prior to her death,
Michelle Thomas had received an NAACP Image Award nomination for
outstanding actress in a daytime drama series for The Young and the Restless (1973).- Mary Frann was born Mary Frances Luecke on February 27, 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri. She became a child model and acted in television commercials. At the age of eighteen she won the title of America's Junior Miss. She attended Northwestern University where she studied drama. She dropped out of college in 1964 and moved to Chicago. She hosted a morning talk show and acted in local theater. In 1966 she made her film debut in Nashville Rebel (1966), starring Waylon Jennings. Then she moved to Los Angeles to star on My Friend Tony (1969). She became best friends and roommates with actress Joan Van Ark. Mary married T.J. Escott, an actor and talent agent, on August 11, 1973.
She had a starring roles on Days Of Our Lives from 1974-79. She guest-starred in numerous televisions shows including Fantasy Island (1977), The Rockford Files (1974), WKRP in Cincinnati (1978), Hotel (1983), Hawaii Five-O (1968), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970). She and Escott separated in 1982. That same year she beat out two hundred other actresses for the role of Joanna Louden on Newhart (1982). The series was a huge success and made her a popular television star and personality.
Soon after her divorce she fell in love with John E. Cookman Jr., an insurance executive. As Mary got older she became obsessed with her weight. She took diet pills, counted calories, and exercised every day. After eight seasons Newhart (1982) came to an end in 1990. Three years later, she was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia. She continued to act, making guest appearances on Diagnosis Murder (1993) and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993). In her spare time she enjoyed gardening, reading, and going to garage sales. Mary and John decided to get married in late 1998. She went on a strict diet so she would be thin on her wedding day.
On September 22, 1998, she attended a charity event for the Los Angeles mission. That night she died in her sleep from a heart attack, aged 55. Her recent diet apparently had put too much pressure on her heart. Her fiancé said, "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She was a wonderful woman." She was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. - Lenny McLean was born in London in 1949. He was arrested for petty
crimes while in his teens and served 18 months in prison. After his
release he worked as a professional boxer and bouncer. McLean was again
arrested in 1992 after a man he ejected from a club died of
injuries which were later determined to be caused by mishandling from the police officers who had arrested him after the ejection. After serving another 18 months for GBH he went into acting. He
appeared as bootlegger Eddie Davies in the British television series
"The Knock", and was featured in several films. He was diagnosed with
cancer shortly after his autobiography, "The Guv'nor", was published
and died four months later. - Producer
- Director
- Writer
Alan J. Pakula was an American film director, writer and producer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Best Director for All the President's Men (1976) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sophie's Choice (1982).
He also directed Presumed Innocent (1990), The Pelican Brief (1993) and The Devil's Own (1997), his last film.
From October 19, 1963, until 1971, Pakula was married to actress Hope Lange. He was married to his second wife, Hannah Pakula from 1973 until his death in 1998.
Pakula died on November 19, 1998, in a car accident, he was 70 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
As a child she studied at Seattle's Cornish School. Still in her early
twenties, after several years of stock work in New York, she joined Eva
Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theater where she won critical praise
for her title role in "Alice in Wonderland." She came to Hollywood in
1934 under contract with Warners, debuting in Happiness Ahead (1934). She
co-starred with Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) and
played in many small roles, both in films - e.g., the phony U.N.
ambassador's wife in North by Northwest (1959) - and television: The Twilight Zone (1959),
Gunsmoke (1955), and Perry Mason (1957) in the fifties and sixties. She died at
Manhattan's Florence Nightingale Nursing Home, aged 94.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Gene Evans was born in Holbrook, Arizona, on July 11, 1922, and was
raised in Colton, California. He served in the Army during World War II
as a combat engineer, and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze
Star for bravery in action. He began his acting career there,
performing in a theatrical troupe of GIs in Europe. After the war, he
went to Hollywood, where he made his film debut in 1947's
Under Colorado Skies (1947).
The rugged, red-headed character actor was a familiar face in such
westerns as
Cattle Queen of Montana (1954),
The War Wagon (1967),
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969),
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
and
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973).
He also starred in the war films
The Steel Helmet (1951) and
Fixed Bayonets! (1951) and
co-starred with future first lady
Nancy Reagan (before she became Nancy
Reagan) in
Donovan's Brain (1953). His other
major films include Park Row (1952),
The Giant Behemoth (1959),
Operation Petticoat (1959)
and Walking Tall (1973). He became
well known in the 1950s on television, playing the father in
My Friend Flicka (1955). He
remained active in films and television through the 1980s. Evans
subsequently retired to a farm near Jackson, Tennessee. He was a
popular guest at the Memphis Film Festival for the past decade.- Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Louis Albert Denninger Jr. was the son of a garment manufacturer who relocated and set up shop in Los Angeles when Louis Jr. was 18 months old. After finishing school, Denninger enrolled at Woodbury Business College and majored in business and accounting, graduating cum laude with a master's in business administration. But Denninger, who never liked accounting, started becoming involved in little theater groups as a hobby and was encouraged to compete in a radio contest called "Do You Want to Be an Actor?", winning a screen test at Warner Brothers. Warners wasn't interested in him because he looked too much like another well-known actor under contract, but by now he had his heart set on a movie career. Denninger was soon signed by Paramount, who insisted on changing his name (to "Richard Denning") because his real name, Denninger, sounded too much like gunman John Dillinger's. He retired and moved to Maui but was asked to play the governor in TV's Hawaii Five-O (1968). He agreed
to play the governor as long as he didn't have to be in every episode. It ran for 12 years, ending in 1980. Five years later, his actress-wife Evelyn Ankers died at their up-country Maui home (cancer). "I'm very grateful for a career that wasn't spectacular, but always made a good living or filled in "in-between," Denning said of his acting days. "I have wonderful memories of it, but I don't really miss it." - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
With over 150 Film and TV appearances to his credit, E. G. Marshall was
arguably most well known as the imperturbable Juror No. 4 in the
Sidney Lumet legal drama
12 Angry Men (1957).
Some of his stand-out performances are in
Creepshow (1982),
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), and
Nixon (1995).
Marshall married three times and had seven children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
As A&E's Biography put it, "She rose from the mean streets of New York's Hell's Kitchen to become the most famous singing actress in the
world. When the pressures of fame became too much, she had the courage to leave Hollywood on her own terms". Alice Faye was born Alice Jeanne Leppert in NYC on May 5, 1915. She was to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the late 1930s and early 1940s. She started her career as a singer, but later gravitated to film roles. Alice's first role was in the film George White's Scandals (1934) in 1934 where she played "Mona Vale". Lilian Harvey was set to play the lead role in this film, but quit. Alice inherited the part. She went on to star in Tinseltown's popular and lucrative cookie-cutter musicals and, with her distinctive contralto, introduced several songs that became pop standards, notably "You'll Never Know" in the film Hello Frisco, Hello (1943) in 1943.
After filming Fallen Angel (1945) in 1945, in which she was very disappointed because many of her best scenes were cut, she walked out on her contract. Her life after Hollywood was charmingly simple. She was married to Hoosier Phil Harris from 1941-1995 in a
union that produced two daughters. She had previously been married to Tony Martin for four years. Alice had always said that her family always came before her professional life. She went back to Hollywood to make State Fair (1962) in 1962. At that time, she said "I don't know what happened to the picture business. I'm sorry I went back to find out. Such a shame". Her last film was The Magic of Lassie (1978) in 1978 opposite James Stewart. Most of her films are big hits at revival theaters across the country, confirming the power she had in the wonderful performances she gave. Ironically, Alice is more popular in Britain than in the US. Four days after her birthday on May 9, 1998, Alice Faye died in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 83 years old.- Attractive, blond, dimple-cheeked artist's daughter Irene Hervey was first tutored in acting by the noted English stage thespian Emma Dunn. She appeared in junior theatrical productions during her time at Venice High School in Los Angeles.
Irene completed her training at the M-G-M School of Acting before being signed as a contract
player in 1933. Often on loan to other studios, she was assigned bit
parts until meatier co-starring roles came along in
The Girl Said No (1937) and
Say It in French (1938). While
at M-G-M, Irene was briefly engaged to
Robert Taylor, an affair which was
stymied by Louis B. Mayer who saw it as
detrimental to Taylor's career.
After briefly free-lancing, Irene signed with Universal (joining her
then-husband, actor/singer
Allan Jones) in 1938 and remained
with that studio until 1943. Her best-known film was the classic
James Stewart-Marlene Dietrich
western
Destry Rides Again (1939) in
1939. In the 1940s, Irene became a leading lady of B-movies. In the
crime melodramas
San Francisco Docks (1940)
and Frisco Lil (1942) she was,
respectively, a barmaid and a law student, trying to clear her nearest
and dearest of murders they had not committed. In the adventure yarn
Bombay Clipper (1941) she was
William Gargan's obligatory girlfriend -
more decorative than active; and in the potboiler,
Night Monster (1942), a Dr.
Phibes-like tale of revenge and murder, she played second-fiddle to
those great characters, Lionel Atwill and
Bela Lugosi.
A charming, smart and likeable actress who some reviewers compared to
Myrna Loy, Irene put her family above her
career and that was perhaps the reason she never made the breakthrough to A-grade pictures. In 1943,
she was injured in a car accident and sidelined for five years. When
she returned to the screen, it was as a character actress in the
fantasy
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948),
as the titular character's sophisticated wife. From the 1950s, Irene
concentrated on television work with a recurring role as Aunt Meg in
the series Honey West (1965)
(with Anne Francis). There were also numerous
guest-starring spots in top-rating shows like
Peter Gunn (1958),
Perry Mason (1957),
Ironside (1967) and
The Twilight Zone (1959).
She was nominated for an Emmy Award for a performance on
My Three Sons (1960) in 1969.
Her final motion picture role was as radio station owner Madge
Brenner in
Play Misty for Me (1971).
After her retirement from acting, Irene worked as a travel agent in Sherman Oaks, California. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard. - Ursula Reit was born on 5 March 1914 in Wuppertal, Germany. She was an actress, known for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Der Teufelsschüler (1973) and The Devil's Female (1974). She died on 9 November 1998 in Germany.
- Actor
- Composer
- Writer
Sonny Bono was born on 16 February 1935 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for The Sonny and Cher Show (1976), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Hairspray (1988). He was married to Mary Bono, Susie Coelho, Cher and Donna Rankin. He died on 5 January 1998 in South Lake Tahoe, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Best known for the role of Florida Evans on the 1970s sitcoms Maude (1972) and Good Times (1974), African-American actress Esther Rolle proved to be as spirited and iron-willed off-camera as well. The gap-toothed actress with the gravelly voice was born in Pompano Beach, Florida, the 10th child of 18 born to Caribbean farming immigrants. Her first important work came with the Negro Ensemble Company and over the years would earn a solid careworn reputation in such theater plays as "The Blacks", "Blues for Mister Charlie", "The Amen Corner", "A Raisin in the Sun" and "A Member of the Wedding". Ironically, her father insisted she promise him that she would never become a servant or maid in real life. She didn't, and however Esther would have her biggest successes playing just those types of roles. She caught the attention of television producer Norman Lear while performing on stage who cast her in the Maude (1972) supporting role in 1972. Audiences loved her so much as the feisty domestic who stood her ground, and then some, against her volatile and liberal-minded employer Maude Findley (Bea Arthur), that Esther earned her own spin-off series with Good Times (1974). Compelled to fight racial stereotypes, she insisted before accepting the series that a strong father figure be central in the show (actor John Amos). And while she still played the role of a lower middle-class maid, the show's emphasis was to be on her home and family life, not her outside work. Still, Esther left the show for one season when she was unhappy about the negative role model perpetuated by Jimmie 'JJ' Walker's jive-talking character J.J., but later returned after the producers assured her that more responsibility would be taken. In other assignments, she won an Emmy Award for the television movie Summer of My German Soldier (1978) and gained further respect for her work in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979) and for her film work in Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Rosewood (1997). Two of her sisters, Estelle Evans and Rosanna Carter, were also character actresses. Afflicted with diabetes, Esther's health failed in the 1990s and toward the end of her life she was on kidney dialysis. The actress, who was divorced and had no children, died nine days after her 78th birthday on November 17, 1998.- Phil Leeds is one of those for whom the phrase "character actor" was
invented. A slight, wizened man with a rubbery face, bulging eyes and a
Jimmy Durante-like nose, he excelled at playing weaselly little snitches, con
artists, or just a neighborhood eccentric who always had something up
his sleeve. Born in New York, his entrance into the "entertainment"
business began with a job as a peanut vendor at the city's baseball
stadiums, and from there, he began a stint as a stand-up comic in the
"Borscht Belt" up in the Catskill Mountains, opening for many of the
top acts of the day. He had a short career on the Broadway stage before
entering the army during World War II, and upon his discharge, he
resumed his stand-up career. Unfortunately, he got caught up in the
McCarthy-era, anti-Communism hysteria in the early 1950s and found
himself among many entertainers who were blacklisted, and it took him a
while to work out of that. He made his film debut in 1968, as Dr. Shand in Rosemary's Baby (1968) and from there on, his career was set. He had small roles in a
good number of films, but he did a huge amount of television work
starting in the mid-'50s, appearing in everything from sitcoms to
westerns to cop shows. - Liam Sullivan was schooled at Illinois College while having his first
fling with the acting profession in regional theater. He then studied
drama at Harvard, made his way to New York and first appeared on
Broadway in "The Constant Nymph" in 1951. He later returned to the West
Coast to perform in an LA stage production of "Mary Stuart". By the
early 1950s, he began appearing in television, his Romanesque features
and precisely modulated voice ideally suited to smoothly roguish,
arrogant or cynical gents, adept at caustic or witty repartee. He was a
familiar presence across all genres, from western to science fiction.
Among his many TV credits two stand out above all: his sadistic
philosopher-king Parmen from the
Star Trek (1966) episode "Plato's
Stepchildren",; and his obnoxious social-climbing upstart Jamie
Tennyson in "The Silence"
(The Twilight Zone (1959))
who unwisely accepts a bet for a half-million dollars that he can
remain silent for a year (based on a short story by Anton Chekhov,
entitled "The Bet"). Liam appeared in another Twilight Zone episode, "The Changing
of the Guard", but this time was overshadowed by
Donald Pleasence, who delivered arguably
the most poignant performance of his career.
During the latter stages of his life, Liam combined acting with writing
and, just prior to his death, was working on a novel. He was also in
the process of compiling a biographical history of the Eli Bridge
Company who built the innovative 'Big Eli' Ferris Wheel in
Jacksonville, Illinois in May 1900. Founded by his ancestor
W.E.Sullivan, the business is still run by members of the Sullivan
family. - William Rukard Hurd Hatfield was an American leading man best known for his portrayal of the title character in the Oscar-winning movie The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). A native of New York, Hatfield came to England to study acting at the Chekhov Theatre Studio in Devonshire. He had resided in Ireland since the early 1970s. Despite numerous roles in scores of other movies, television and stage productions, he was forever associated with his starring role in the movie version of Oscar Wilde's classic novel.
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Elegant, quintessentially British Valerie Hobson was the daughter of a British army officer. She studied dancing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and appeared onstage for the first time at age 16, but she contracted a case of scarlet fever and decided to give up dancing for acting. She journeyed to Hollywood, but became disillusioned with the studio system and returned to Britain, where she was often cast in aristocratic roles.
She married producer Anthony Havelock-Allan and
subsequently appeared in many of his films. They divorced in 1952. She then married politician -- and future notorious sex-and-espionage-scandal figure -- John Profumo and gave up her acting
career. She stood strongly by Profumo during that distasteful period. In her later years she was devoted to charity work. She died in 1998, aged 81.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
He was born in the Bronx, New York. As a young man, he moved to Los
Angeles and studied at Los Angeles City College. He served in the Navy
during World War II. Fowley played everything from cowboys to
gangsters, appearing alongside stars like Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Esther Williams,
Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. He debuted in The Mad Game (1933), with Spencer Tracy and Claire Trevor.
In his best-known performance, the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), he played a
film director trying to ease a silent-film star into her first talking
picture. His best-known television role was as Doc Holliday in the
popular ABC western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) during the 1950s and early '60s. His
last film was The North Avenue Irregulars (1979) in 1979. He played Grandpa Hanks in the CBS
comedy Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966) in 1966-67. Other television credits included The Streets of San Francisco (1972),
Perry Mason (1957) and The Rockford Files (1974). He died at the Motion Picture and Television
Country House and Hospital, aged 86.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Quiet, soft-spoken Robert grew up in California and had some stage experience with the Pasadena Playhouse before entering films in 1931.
His movie career consisted of playing characters who were charming, good-looking--and bland. In fact, his screen image was such that he usually never got the girl. Louis B. Mayer would say, "He has no sex appeal," but he had a work ethic that prepared him for every role that he played. And he did play in as many as eleven films per year for a
decade starting with The Black Camel (1931). He was notable as the spy in Alfred Hitchcock's
Secret Agent (1936), but the '40s was the decade in which he was to have most of
his best roles. These included Northwest Passage (1940); Western Union (1941); and H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941). Good
roles followed, from the husband of Dorothy McGuirein Claudia (1943) to the detective
in Crossfire (1947), but they were becoming scarce. In 1949, Robert started a
radio show called "Father Knows Best" wherein he played Jim Anderson,
an average father with average situations--a role which was tailor-made
for him. Basically retiring from films, he starred in this program for
five years on radio before it went to television in 1954. After a
slight falter in the ratings and a switch from CBS to NBC, it became a
mainstay of television until it was canceled in 1960. He continued
making guest appearances on various television shows and working in
television movies. In 1969, he starred as Dr. Marcus Welby in the TV
movie A Matter of Humanities (1969). The Marcus Welby series that followed ran from 1969
through 1976 and featured James Brolin as his assistant, Dr. Steven
Kiley--the doc with the bike. After the series ended, Robert, now in
his seventies, finally licked his 30-year battle with alcohol and
occasionally appeared in television movies through the
1980s.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joseph Maher was born on 29 December 1933 in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. He was an actor, known for In & Out (1997), I.Q. (1994) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). He died on 17 July 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Brynn Hartman was born on 11 April 1958 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for North (1994), 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996) and E! True Hollywood Story (1996). She was married to Phil Hartman and Douglas Iver Torfin. She died on 28 May 1998 in Encino, California, USA.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
She became an actress because her mother had been stage struck so attended RADA and won a gold medal but despite that she was out of work for a year. An early success was as Ruby in Getting Married at St Martins Theatre in 1938, Probably best remembered for her role as Edna the Inebriated Woman for which she won the Television Actress of the ~Year Award in 1972. As a small child she was sent to an acting teacher who taught her to recite The Murder of Nancy Drew by Charles Dickens and used to recite it in childrens competitions and win prizes- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Slye) moved to California in 1930, aged 18. He
played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky
Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws, and his own group, the International
Cowboys. In 1934 he formed a group with
Bob Nolan called
Sons of the Pioneers. While in that
group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston. Their songs
included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". They first appeared
in the western
Rhythm on the Range (1936),
starring Bing Crosby and
Martha Raye. In 1936 he appeared as a bandit
opposite Gene Autry in "The Old Coral". In 1937 Rogers went solo from
"The Sons Of The Pioneeres", and made his first starring film in 1938,
Under Western Stars (1938).
He made almost 100 films.
The Roy Rogers Show (1951)
ran on NBC from October 1951 through 1957 and on CBS from 1961 to
September 1964. In 1955, 67 of his feature films were released to
television.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dick O'Neill was born on 29 August 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Jerk (1979), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and The Front Page (1974). He was married to Susan Jacqueline (Jackie) Shaw and Dina Harris. He died on 17 November 1998 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Eva Bartok was both a beautiful lady and a talented actor whose roots
were in classical theater. Her first and only film in Hungary,
Mezei próféta (1947) ("Prophet of
the Fields"), was banned by communist censorship. Actually her life up
to that point had been marked by confusion and tragedy. Her father,a
Jew who had married a Catholic lady, disappeared without a trace during
the rise of Nazism in Europe and Eva, herself, was forced to marry a
Nazi officer at age 15 in order to avoid being sent to a concentration
camp.
Having survived the horrors of Nazism and World War II, she found her
vocation in acting but was soon threatened and persecuted by the new
Communist regime. Hollywood-based producer
Alexander Paal helped her escape from
Hungary by marrying her and taking her to England, where she made her
screen debut in Paal's production of
A Tale of Five Women (1951),
filmed in 1948 but shelved for several years due to financial
difficulties. After divorcing Paal, Eva received valuable support from
film mogul and fellow Hungarian
expatriate,Alexander Korda, who
was then president of MGM-England. He placed her under contract to
London Films which provided a small salary, an English language coach
and the opportunity to audition for developing film projects at the
studio.
In spite of this, Eva spent months without finding real work and was
becoming quite desperate. William Wordsworth, a public relations man
who became her third husband, suggested that she attend as many
premieres and theater opening nights as possible in order to bring
attention to herself. Unable to buy the proper wardrobe and accessories
to make a decent showing at these social events, Eva began designing
and making her own gowns and hats from pieces of cheap materials. Soon
the media took notice of this beautiful brunette dressed in weird
costumes and Eva Bartok became a local celebrity most notable for her
hats.
The publicity caught the eye of an Italian promoter who offered Eva a
contract to perform in a vaudeville show. With Korda's permission, Eva
flew to Italy and had great success reciting monologues on the stages
of Milan, Florence and Rome. Meanwhile, in England, the film,
A Tale of Five Women (1951)
had finally reached movie houses and was seen by producer-actor
Burt Lancaster, who was looking for a
leading lady for his next film,
The Crimson Pirate (1952).
Impressed by Eva's beauty and talent, he wired her in Italy and she
accepted promptly, sensing the importance of the project.
Thanks to the publicity and worldwide distribution of this film, Eva
was perceived as a real movie queen but her next vehicles were not what
you would expect from a rising superstar. It is understandable that Eva
was a young woman marked by the horrendous experiences of her early
years which might explain that, over time, she would become more
concerned with spirituality than with the quality of the projects she
took on all over Europe. Somehow, she became more famous for her
off-camera antics than for her screen work. Eva's long lasting affair
with David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven and
related to the Royal Family, made headlines everywhere especially when
David's wife, the Machioness, filed for divorce and named Eva Bartok as
the culprit in her failed marriage. For a long time, the actress seemed
to be divided between her image as a glamorous carefree playgirl among
the European rich and a real human in desperate need to find the
meaning of her own existence.
Her filmography in the 1950s is prolific both in England and in West
Germany but it includes lots of low-budget turkeys (now "cult
classics"), some decent vehicles and a few top productions. She also
made a series of films that paired her with popular actor-director,
Curd Jürgens, who became her fourth
husband. Besides her work in movies, she appeared on London stages and
on television in the UK and in the US. After turning down a Hollywood
contract in 1956, Miss Bartok faced a serious health crisis when she
was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor and was found pregnant at the same
time. An Indonesian mystic helped her out of this predicament with a
new spirituality called Subud. Eva reported later that she had been
healed and was successful in giving birth to a "miraculous" baby girl
in 1957. (see 'Deana Jürgens').
From then on, she was totally committed to Subud although she made half
a dozen more films before retiring from movies altogether in 1967 at
age 40. In later years, she revealed that daughter Deana had been
fathered by Frank Sinatra but the claim
went ignored by Sinatra and family. She continued her Subud activities
during residencies in Indonesia, Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles and
London where she died quietly in 1998.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jonathan Hole (August 13, 1904 - February 11, 1998) was an American actor whose entertainment career covered five genres over 50 years. From his early days on the vaudeville stage and in legitimate theater, through radio, television and feature-length films that took his career up to the 1990s, Hole created a variety of characters in hundreds of roles.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Born in Freeport, Pennsylvania, Don Taylor studied law, then speech and
drama at Penn State University, where as a freshman he began taking
part in college stage productions. Hitchhiking to Hollywood in 1942,
the youthful Taylor screen-tested at Warner Brothers but was rejected
because of his draft status. MGM, not as fussy, signed him to a
contract and immediately put him to work, assigning him the minuscule
role of a soldier in director Clarence Brown's sentimental slice of Americana,
The Human Comedy (1943). More minor roles followed before Taylor enlisted in the Army;
but even there he continued to act: Playwright/screenwriter Moss Hart
chose him to play one of the leads in the United States Army Air Forces' production of
Hart's play, "Winged Victory." Taylor met his first wife, actress Phyllis Avery, when
she was also in Winged Victory. Returning to civilian life, Taylor
resumed his work in pictures with a top role in the trend-setting crime
drama The Naked City (1948). In later years Taylor became a film and TV director,
being nominated for an Emmy for his direction of an episode of The Farmer's Daughter.
Taylor met his second wife Hazel Court when he directed her in a 1958 episode of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).- Actress
- Editor
- Soundtrack
Mary Millar had a very successful stage career in the West End. She
began singing arias at the age of fourteen. Her London stage debut was
in the 1962 production "Lock Up Your Daughters". She was in the
original cast of the
Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "The
Phantom of the Opera", and can be heard on the cast recording
performing the role of "Madame Giry". Her final performance was in 1996
as Mrs. Potts in the West End production of "Beauty and the Beast".- Actor
- Soundtrack
Donald Woods, a prolific cinema and television character actor whose
career spanned 75 films and 150 TV programs over 40 years, was born
Ralph L. Zink on December 2, 1906, in Brandon, Manitoba. (He legally
changed his name to Donald Woods in 1945.) His family eventually
departed Canada for California, and young Ralph was raised in Burbank.
He became an actor after graduating from the University of California
at Berkeley.
The self-described "King of the Bs" made his reputation playing in
low-budget, B-unit westerns and mysteries, and later was a popular
guest actor on TV programs, including western shows such as Wagon Train (1957). He
also appeared in nearly 100 stage productions and was busy on the
radio. In the 1950s, Woods hosted two TV series, The Orchid Award (1953) and Hotel Cosmopolitan (1957)
and was a regular on the series Tammy (1965).
After his acting career was over, Donald Woods established himself as a
successful real estate broker in Palm Springs, California. It was there
that he died on March 5, 1998, at the age of 91.- Wade Dominguez was born in Northern California. While on a modeling
assignment in Italy he landed an American soap Opera. He was in the
video "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. Of course he was in "Dangerous
Minds". - Actor
- Director
Dane Clark was born Bernard Elliot Zanville in Brooklyn, New York City, to Rose (Korostoff) and Samuel Zanville, who were Russian Jewish immigrants. He graduated from
Cornell University and St. John's Law School (Brooklyn). When he had
trouble finding work in the mid-1930s he tried boxing, baseball,
construction, sales and modeling, among other jobs. From there he went
into acting on Broadway ("Dead End", "Stage Door", "Of Mice and Men"),
which finally brought him to Hollywood. He acted under his own name
until 1943 when, as Dane Clark (a name he said was given him by
Humphrey Bogart), he took the role of
sailor Johnnie Pulaski in Warner's
Action in the North Atlantic (1943),
a wartime tribute to the Merchant Marine. He was a regular in World War
II movies, playing the part of a submariner in
Destination Tokyo (1943), an
airman in
God Is My Co-Pilot (1945) and
a Marine in
Pride of the Marines (1945).
Though he co-starred with such luminaries as Bogart,
Cary Grant,
Bette Davis and
Raymond Massey, it was his
self-described "Joe Average" image that got him his parts: "They don't
go much for the 'pretty boy' type [at Warner Brothers]. An
average-looking guy like me has a chance to get someplace, to portray
people the way they really are, without any frills." He was also proud
of his role as Abe Saperstein, who founded the
Harlem Globetrotters black
basketball team, in
Go Man Go (1954), a film he
believed pioneered in opposing race hatred.- Actor
- Additional Crew
An American character actor described to some as a 'rugged outdoor
western/war type', proved to be Walter Barnes status in motion pictures
for nearly thirty years. A pro football player, Barnes made a mark into
playing roles in pictures with his performance in the 1959 film
"Westbound". Although, Barnes found work in countless foreign films of
the 1960s, he usually played roles ranging from crusty law officials to
occasional villains, in notable roles in "Captain Sinbad", John Wayne's
"Cahill US Marshal", Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter", "Pete's
Dragon" and "Day of the Animals". Also as a veteran of television,
Barnes has had guest starring roles in such series including
"Gunsmoke", "Rawhide" and "Cheyenne". He also played Bo Svenson's
father on the early 80s TV series "Walking Tall" and appeared in the
1985-86 mini series "North and South". A diabetic, Barnes retired from
acting in the late 1980s and eventually moved into the Motion Picture
and Television Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, California, where he
passed away in January of 1998.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Dermot went to University College Dublin, where he studied English and
Philosopy. In 1974 he took up a teaching post, but left 2 years later
to persue the comedy career that he had started at university. In 1979
his first introduction to TV came with an appearance on "Live Mike" on
RTE television as Fr. Trendy, a catholic priest who was religiously
hip. He became a regular for the next 4 years. His career took a slump
in the mid-eighties, when his humour didn't fit in with the views of
RTE who controlled the media in Ireland at the time. In 1988 he set up
his own production company, Cue Productions and began work on a radio
show called "Scrap Saturday". This show lampooned Irish politicians,
and allowed him to use his wonderful talent for mimicry. In 1991, at
the height of it's success the show was cancelled by RTE. He remained
angry about the cancellation of the show for many years. He returned to
doing stand up comedy. In 1995 he started his most popular show,
"Father Ted" which won him several awards. He had just completed the
third series of "Father Ted" when he died.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Her Orthodox Jewish family were totally averse to her having an
entertainment career. Her parents and grandparents forced her to leave
the Theatre Guild school (New York) while still a teenager and had
their wills drawn up accordingly so as to discourage this career
choice.
Studied drama at Columbia University, and belonged to the American
Theatre Wing.
When Mae was 17 and living in the South Bronx, she won a local contest
to find the girl who most resembled Helen Kane, a popular singer known
as the "Boop-Oop-A-Doop Queen". She was promptly signed by an agent and
began performing in the Vaudeville circuit. Billing herself as "Mae
Questel - Personality Singer of Personality Songs," she performed
dead-on vocal imitations of
Maurice Chevalier,
Eddie Cantor,
Fanny Brice,
Marlene Dietrich,
Mae West and of course
Helen Kane, among many others. Her
mimic talent also provided duck, dog, chicken, owl, monkey, lion and
baby sounds for radio shows.
Betty Boop creator Max Fleischer heard Mae doing her "boop-oop-a-doop"
routine and hired her to do the character's voice in 1931. She served
as the voice on more than 150 Betty Boop animated shorts until the
character was retired in 1939. Her recording of "On The Good Ship
Lollipop" sold more than 2 million during the Depression.
Best known as the voice of "Betty Boop", she was also the voice of not
so less famous "Olive Oyl" in the Popeye's cartoons, but also the
toddler Swee'pea, and others. She did Popeye's voice once, in the
cartoon Shape Ahoy (1945), because
Jack Mercer was serving in the military
during World War II. Her versatility is probably better appreciated in
the cartoon
Never Kick a Woman (1936) in
which she provides the quivery, nervous-Nellie voice of Olive Oyl,
based on comedic actress Zasu Pitts, and the
deep, assured, alluring voice of the blonde saleswoman, based on
Mae West.
In 1968, the City of Indianapolis honored her with a "Mae Questel Day".
In 1979, she won the Troupers Award for outstanding contribution to
entertainment.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Bob Kane was an American comic book writer and artist of Jewish descent, most famous for co-creating Batman and several members of Batman's supporting cast. Kane was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996.
Kane was born under the name "Robert Kahn" in New York City. His father was the engraver Herman Kahn, and his mother was the housewife Augusta. Both of his parents were originally from Eastern Europe.
Kane attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he was friends with future comic book writer Will Eisner. Following his graduation, he legally changed his name to "Robert Kane" and enrolled at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art to study art. The school was a private college, located at Cooper Square on the border of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan.
Kane originally wanted to become an animator, and in 1934 he was hired as a trainee animator by the animation studio Fleischer Studios (1921-1942), headed by the brothers Max Fleischer (1883-1972) and Dave Fleischer (1894-1979). He worked for up to two years in the production of animated short films, but had left the studio by 1936.
Kane entered the comics field in 1936, as a freelance penciler and inker. His early work was published in the magazine "Wow, What A Magazine!," which was edited by cartoonist Jerry Iger (1903-1990). Kane's most notable contribution was the comic serial "Hiram Hick", which he both drew and inked.
In 1936, Jerry Iger and .Will Eisner partnered to create their own company, "Eisner & Iger" (1936-1939). It was a comic book packager, producing complete comic stories that could be sold to publishers that did not have their own creative staff. In 1937, Kane was hired by this upstart company.
Kane's early work included the anthropomorphic animal series "Peter Pupp" (published by the magazine "Wags" in the United Kingdom and by Fiction House's "Jumbo Comics" in the United States), the comedy series "Ginger Snap" (published in "More Fun Comics"), the comedy series "Oscar the Gumshoe" (published in "Detective Comics"), the comedy series "Professor Doolittle" (published in "Adventure Comics"), and the adventure series "Rusty and his Pals" (published in "Adventure Comics). Among them, Peter Pupp stood out for its "overtones of mystery and menace".
By 1939, Superman had become a major hit for an early incarnation of DC Comics and there was a new market for comic book superheroes. Interested in creating his own superhero Kane started working on a new character, "Bat-Man". Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks' film portrayal of the swashbuckler Zorro; Leonardo da Vinci's diagram of the ornithopter, a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film "The Bat Whispers", based on Mary Rinehart's mystery novel "The Circular Staircase" (1908).
Kane had already used Bill Finger as a ghost writer for his early comic strips. He asked Finger to provide additional ideas for Batman, and to write the initial Batman stories. Following a number of Finger's suggested redesigns, "Batman" debuted in "Detective Comics" #27 (May, 1939). It became a major hit for an early incarnation of DC Comics.
Early Batman stories were written and penciled by Bob Kane's own art studio (located in The New York Times building) and then sold for publication. Kane received the sole credit for whatever he and his staff created. Finger remained the main writer of the series, while Jerry Robinson (1922-2011) and George Roussos (1915-2000) were hired as Kane's art assistants. The four of them are jointly credited for introducing most of Batman's early supporting characters and memorable villains.
By the early 1940s, DC Comics demanded more Batman stories than the Bob Kane studio could produce. In response, DC hired its own writers and artists to work on additional stories, though Bob Kane continued to receive the sole credit for the stories. The most notable of these "ghost artists" was Dick Sprang (1915-2000) who remained attached to the Batman series for at least a decade, and co-created a popular new villain, the Riddler. Among the ghost writers of Batman, the most notable was Gardner Fox (1911-1986), who introduced some of Batman's notable equipment.
From 1943 to 1946, Bob Kane focused entirely on the Batman newspaper comic strip, and no longer produced new Batman stories for comic books. In his absence, Jerry Robinson became the main penciler for the Batman stories. Additional ghost artists of the period included Jack Burnley (1911-2006) and Win Mortimer (1919-1998). Several Batman-related covers were designed by Fred Ray (1920-2001), who was also the primary Superman cover-artist of the 1940s,
In 1946, the Batman newspaper comic strip ended, and Bob Kane started producing comic book stories for Batman again. He eventually hired his own ghost writers and ghost artists, The most notable among them were Lew Sayre Schwartz (1926-2011), the main artist of the Batman series between 1946 and 1953, and Sheldon Moldoff (1920-1967), the main artist of the series between 1953 and 1967. Schwartz is mainly remembered for co-creating a popular villain, called Deadshot. Moldoff is remembered for co-creating the villains Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, the second version of the villainous Clayface, Batman's allies Bat-Mite, Bat-Girl/Betty Kane, and Batwoman/Kathy Kane, and Batman's pet dog Ace the Bat-Hound.
In the 1960s, Kane found work in television animation., He created the television series "Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse" (1960-1962), featuring two anthropomorphic animal superheroes. Courageous Cat was a parody of Batman, while sidekick Minute Mouse was a parody of Robin. Kane subsequently created the television series "Cool McCool" (1966-1967), depicting the adventures of an inept secret agent.
In 1966 or 1967, Kane chose to retire from his work in comic books and animation. He was 52-years-old and had been working on the field for three decades. He started producing "fine art" works for exhibitions in galleries. His work as a painter was prolific, though comic book historians have noted that he again hired ghost artists to help him produce the paintings.
In 1989, Kane was hired as a consultant for the live-action "Batman" (1989) film directed by Tim Burton. He served in the same consulting role for its three sequels, released between 1992 and 1997. In 1998, Kane was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he eventually died. He was 83-years-old and had lived in retirement for two decades.
Kane was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. Several of the characters Kane created remain popular, and he continues to receive posthumous credit in works based on his creations.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Philip Abbott was born March 21, 1924 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA as Philip Abbott Alexander. He was an actor and director, known for his roles in The F.B.I. (1965), Quincy M.E. (1976), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), Columbo (1971), and The Young and the Restless (1973), among many other productions. He was married to Jane Dufrayne; the couple had two sons and a daughter. Abbott died on February 23, 1998, aged 73, of cancer in Tarzana, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Is understanding human behavior important to being a good actor? If so,
then it's no surprise that Richard Paul is eminently qualified for his
successful acting career. A native Californian with a BA in public
affairs from Claremont Men's College, now Claremont McKenna College,
Richard earned an MA in psychology from California State University at
Los Angeles. He then began work toward a Ph. D. at the University of
Arizona. The following years were a curious mixture of psychology and
acting: from playing Doolittle in "My Fair Lady, " to traveling back
and forth between Arizona, and Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk,
California, where he served his internship in Clinical Psychology, and
worked as a staff psychologist.
Falling in love in a mental hospital may seem unusual, but that is where he met his future wife Patty, a
student worker there. He developed his own unique program there--acting
lessons for the patients. At night, Richard went to L.A.'s radio
station KPFK to appear on Firesign Theater. He worked on two albums
with the group, "Roller Maidens from Outer Space" (playing Ozzie Nelson
among several voices) and "As Time Flies, " now Firesign classics.
No matter where he was working or studying during those years, Richard
returned every summer to the Pomona Valley Shakespeare Festival
directed by Jesse Swan first in Balch Auditorium at Scripps, then at
Garrison Theater, where he immersed himself in the great characters of
Falstaff, in Henry IV, part 1; Toby Belch in Twelfth Night; Friar
Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet; Bottom in Midsummer Nights Dream;
Baptista in Taming of the Shrew with the best Petruchio he's ever seen,
Mike Connolly; Arnolphe in the Amorous Flea, and a variety of other
roles.
In 1968 Richard married Patty, and together they spent the
requisite early years struggling to make a living, with Richard doing
commercials, voice-overs, and working on the doctorate--torn between
two careers. The turning point came when Richard accepted a nine month
road engagement starring in "W.C. Fields, 80 proof, " a two-man show.
The die was cast, and with Patty's support, Richard chose a career as a
performer, "A decision I've never regretted--well, only twice a week."
In the years that followed, Richard did a number of voice-overs for
cartoons including Mickey Mouse and Uncle Remus for Disney. Early
on-camera roles included "Maude, " "Mary Hartman, " and "Mitzi Gaynor's
Roarin' in the Twenties, " where he reprised the Fields role. A lunch
break interview during filming of a dog food commercial led to the
costarring role of Mayor Teddy Burnside ("your mayor by a landslide")
in ABC-TV's "Carter Country, " where his order to "Handle it! Handle
it!" became a national catch phrase. The series ran 2 years.
Richard starred with Shirley Hemphill in "One in a Million" (another ABC
series), and costarred in 1982 with Dean Jones in "Herbie the Love Bug"
on CBS. Recent stage roles include the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of
Oz, " with Cathy Rigby; Mayor Shinn in the "Music Man" with John
Davidson; Jimmy in "No, no, Nanette, " and the Governor in "The Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas" with Ruta Lee. How did Richard Paul get
Milos Forman to cast him in the role of Jerry Falwell in the award
winning "The People vs. Larry Flynt?" Preparation helps. Richard has
had a lot of practice playing preachers: from the pleasant parson who
tried to censor "WKRP, " to the televangelical adversary of Patty Duke
on "Hail to the Chief, " to the man who finally married "Scarecrow and
Mrs. King, " to his critically acclaimed previous portrayal of Falwell
in "Fall from Grace." with Bernadette Peters.
Richard worked on two other movies in 1996 in addition to "The People vs. Larry Flynt." He
played a diamond smuggler in "The Glass Cage" with Eric Roberts, and a
college dean in a leading role in "Mind Games." Director Paul Bartel
cast Richard as comic heavies in the cult classic "Eating Raoul" and in
"Not For Publication." He went to Yugoslavia to star with Eva Gabor in
"Princess Academy." In 1997 he appeared on "Rosanne" and "Drew Carey, "
Richard and Patty lived in Studio City.
His other interests included singing (an operatic tenor), writing, walking, and dieting forever. For
seven years he volunteered every week as a reader for the Braille
Institute's Recording program. An animal lover, Richard has also
volunteered his time for years to Actors and Others for Animals. Still
interested in psychology, he was a licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist, and served on the Mental Health Advisory Board to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisor. A Universal Life Church minister,
Richard confesses: "I married my wife once, but I married her brother
twice."