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Elsa Pataky was born Elsa Lafuente Medianu in Madrid, Spain. Her mother, Cristina Pataky Medianu, is a publicist of Romanian and Hungarian ancestry, and her father, José Francisco Lafuente, is a Spanish biochemist. She attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU where she studied journalism and began to take an interest in acting. She joined Teatro Cámara de Ángel Gutiérrez, a theater company in Madrid, and left college when she was offered a role in the long-running Spanish TV series Al salir de clase (1997).
More Spanish TV roles followed, alongside a growing career in movies, first in Spain but increasingly internationally.
She met her husband, Chris Hemsworth, through the management company that represents them both, ROAR.- Actor
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Genial, pleasant-voiced character actor Paul Benedict was born in New Mexico on September 17, 1938, and made hosts of stage, film and TV appearances in a career lasting five decades. The son of a doctor, he was diagnosed with acromegaly by an endocrinologist who happened to catch the nascent actor in a stage play. He underwent medical treatment that successfully prevented the advancing of the disease. Following military service with the Marine Corps., Paul went on to a highly successful entertainment career using his spade-sized jaw and large nose often to humorous effect.
Following his graduation from Suffolk University, Benedict began acting at the Theatre Company of Boston and performed with such up-and-coming hopefuls as Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino before moving to New York in 1968. Decades laterk, Pacino remembered his old colleague when he revived Eugene O'Neill's one-act, two-person drama "Hughie" on Broadway in 1996. Paul was cast as the hotel night clerk who listens patiently and endlessly to the forlorn ramblings of Pacino's hustler character. Paul made his unofficial Broadway debut in 1968 with "Leda Had a Little Swan," but it closed just before it officially opened. He then went on to appear in "Little Murders" (1969), "The White House Murder Case" (1970) and "Bad Habits" (1974).
Benedict began his on-camera career with the little seen western film spoof The Double-Barrelled Detective Story (1965) and then was seen in another spoof, the political satire The Virgin President (1968). He continued in a quirky, humorous vein in Norman Lear's Cold Turkey (1971), as well as Taking Off (1971), They Might Be Giants (1971), The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), Deadhead Miles (1972), Up the Sandbox (1972) and The Front Page (1974). Lear took a liking to Paul and began using him as a guest on some of his classic TV comedies, including "Maude" and "All in the Family," before casting him as Harry Bentley, the polite but put-upon white Englishman next door neighbor to affluent black couple Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley on the decade-long comedy series The Jeffersons (1975). It remains his best known oddball comedy role. Another familiar character would be The Mad Painter on the long-running children's PBS show Sesame Street (1969).
He played an fascinating assortment of erudite, toothy and tweedy characters on film, one of his best remembered being that of Reverend Lindquist in Jeremiah Johnson (1972). He also played the emissary of the governor in The Front Page (1974), a slave trader in Mandingo (1975), an untalented Shakespearean stage director in The Goodbye Girl (1977); an eccentric butler in The Man with Two Brains (1983); another butler in Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988); a business college professor in Cocktail (1988); a warden in The Chair (1988); a film school teacher in The Freshman (1990); an irritated judge in The Addams Family (1991); and a professor in Isn't She Great (2000).
Benedict made an impression as a stage director as well, including "Any Given Day," the original production of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," and the Obie-winning "The Kathy and Mo Show." His final Broadway appearance was as Mayor Shinn in the 2000 revival of "The Music Man" and he took his final curtain call with Pinter's "No Man's Land" at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On TV, Paul made appearances on some of TV's most popular shows, including "Sweepstakes," "Mama Malone," "Murder, She Wrote," "The New Twilight Zone," "A Different World," "Tales from the Crypt," "Seinfeld" and "The Drew Carey Show." On film, Paul became a stock player for Christopher Guest and his hilarious "mockumentary" features -- This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996) (as the long-awaited guest) and A Mighty Wind (2003).
Unmarried, the 70-year-old actor died of natural causes on December 1, 2008, at his home in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.- Actress
- Producer
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Rebecca De Mornay was born 1959 as Rebecca Jane Pearch, in Santa Rosa, CA, to Wally George and Julie Eager. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother moved to Pasadena and married Richard De Mornay, who adopted her. After her stepfather's untimely death in 1962, Rebecca's mother moved her and her half-brother Peter to Europe, where she was raised primarily in England and Austria. In 1977, Rebecca graduated "summa cum laude" from a German-speaking high school in the Austrian alps, and still speaks fluent German and French.
She began her acting training in Los Angeles at Lee Strasberg's Institute, became an apprentice at Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Film Studio, and soon thereafter made her film debut in One from the Heart (1981). Her breakthrough came in the box office hit Risky Business (1983), in which she gave a seductive and critically acclaimed performance as a streetwise prostitute opposite Tom Cruise. She went on to international stardom with her portrayal of a chillingly twisted nanny in the hugely popular The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). Other acclaimed film work includes Runaway Train (1985) (with Jon Voight), The Trip to Bountiful (1985) (with Geraldine Page), Backdraft (1991) (with Kurt Russell).
Network television work includes the tour-de-force role of Arlie in the stellar Getting Out (1994) (based on Marsha Norman's play), the tragic title character in Dominick Dunne's An Inconvenient Woman (1991) (with Jason Robards), the remake of The Shining (1997) (produced by Stephen King), a multi-episode story arc about a cancer survivor on ER (1994) and Hallmark Hall of Fame's Night Ride Home (1999) (with Ellen Burstyn).
On stage, she starred as Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" (1988) at the Pasadena Playhouse, as Charlotte Corday in "Marat/Sade" (1990) at the Williamstown Festival, and as Anna in "Closer" (2000) at the Mark Taper Forum.
Rebecca's directing debut was with a segment of Showtime's The Outer Limits (1995) starring John Savage and Frank Whaley. Divorced from producer/screenwriter Bruce Wagner, Rebecca has two daughters, Sophia DeMornay-O'Neal and Veronica De Mornay-O'Neal, both fathered by sportscaster Patrick O'Neal, who is eight years her junior.- Margo Martindale was born July 18, 1951 in Jacksonville, Texas, to Margaret (Pruitt) and William Everett Martindale, a lumber company owner and dog handler. She is the youngest of three children, and the only daughter. Margo attended Lon Marris College, and later transferred to University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and did a summer study at Harvard University. She made her film debut appearance in Days of Thunder (1990), she played the minor role of Donna. Notable roles include: Sister Colleen, Susan Sarandon's fellow nun in Dead Man Walking (1995). She played a brief but memorable role as the selfish mother to Hilary Swank's character in Million Dollar Baby (2004).
- Marilyn Johnson was born on 19 September 1922 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Secrets of a Sorority Girl (1945), I Love Lucy (1951) and Wife Decoy (1945). She was married to Forrest Tucker. She died on 19 July 1960 in Beverly Hills, California, USA(undisclosed).
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Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, to Winifriede Lucinda (Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman of Scottish descent. Young Roddy was enrolled in elocution courses at age five. By age 10, he 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", the 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 naturalized United States 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. He never married and had no children.- Actress
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Marie-France first came to the fore as an actress of the Nouvelle Vague movement in the 1960's. She had spent her early childhood in French Indochina, where her father was employed as colonial governor, but the family moved to Paris when she was twelve. Just five years later, she was spotted by a casting director, who had been tasked by François Truffaut to discover a 'fresh and cheerful' new face for his 32-minute film Antoine and Colette (1962). While finding her feet in the acting profession, Marie-France attended Paris University, eventually attaining degrees in law and political science. By the time, Truffaut cast her again as Colette in the second of two sequels, Love on the Run (1979), she was involved in the writing process of the screenplay herself. Prior to that, she had also co-written the script for Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), in which she starred herself as an enigmatic governess.
In her private life, she held strong socio/political convictions, outspoken on women's rights and legal abortion, and taking part in student demonstrations in Paris in 1968. On screen, she displayed poise, style and femininity in abundance. She was often well cast as a seductive temptress or as women of mysterious background. She was excellent as Agathe in Surreal Estate (1976), and in the part that won her the prestigious Cesar and led to her brief sojourn in Hollywood as Karine in Cousin, Cousine (1975). Her experience in America did not prove a happy one, though she lent an undeniable touch of glamour to her roles as high fashion designers in the otherwise mediocre miniseries Scruples (1980) and (in the title role) of Chanel Solitaire (1981). More at home in the cinema of her native France, she had a few more worthy roles come her way, notably as Madame Verdurin in Marcel Proust's Time Regained (1999). She also directed two films, the first of which, Le bal du gouverneur (1990), was based on her own novel about childhood experiences in New Caledonia.
Marie-France died tragically as the result of accidental drowning at her villa at Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, near Toulon, at the age of 66.- Diane Shalet was born on 23 February 1935 in New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Reivers (1969), The Last Tycoon (1976) and The Waltons (1972). She was married to Michael Strong. She died on 23 February 2006 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
The talented Lynne Griffin started out on Canadian television in the early 1970s, then moved on to acting on stage. She is known for her work in Shakespearean plays and has frequently appeared at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She gave a notable performance in the television movie I'll Take Manhattan (1987), one of her rare acting performances in the US, most of her work being done in her home country of Canada.- Donald Kirke was born on 17 May 1901 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Women Won't Tell (1932), The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) and Paradise Express (1937). He died on 18 May 1971 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
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American supporting player specializing in tough guys. Of Serbian extraction, he was born in Nevada in 1917. As a young man, he boxed in amateur bouts and had early training in theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse. He joined the Air Corps during World War II and was assigned to the troupe performing the Moss Hart Broadway tribute to the Corps, Winged Victory, acting under his first chosen stage name, Barry Mitchell. He appeared in the film version of the show, and after the war became active in radio drama as well as theatre. John Huston spotted him in a play and cast him as a bad guy in The Asphalt Jungle (1950), under the new sobriquet of Brad Dexter. Throughout the Fifties, he continued to play hard cases of a usually villainous stripe, in both crime dramas and Westerns. His most famous role came as one of title characters in The Magnificent Seven (1960), albeit his fame was considerably eclipsed by most of the other members of that band: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, and James Coburn. He continued acting into the 1970s, then made a shift into producing.- Producer
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Tony Parker, is a former professional basketball player, playing as a point guard. He began his career with the Paris Basket Racing in Pro A, before joining the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Drafted by the Spurs in 28th place in 2001, he quickly became their playing master and, along with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, formed one of the most successful lines in NBA history.
"TP" presents one of the finest achievements in French sport: he won four NBA championship titles (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014), all with the Spurs, and guided France to the title of European Champion in 2013, competition during which he also finished "best player" (MVP) and top scorer. Being the first French player to be crowned NBA champion, he is also the first European player to receive the title of MVP of the NBA finals in 2007. He has also been selected six times for the NBA All-Star Game.
After 18 years in the Texas franchise, he ended his career after a season with the Charlotte Hornets. A man with many hats, Tony Parker is involved in many projects, especially in tourism with the purchase of the ski resort of Villard-de-Lans Corrençon in the Alps; film and audiovisual production or the field of education with the inauguration of the Tony Parker Adéquat Academy in 2019.- Actor
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James Brolin is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 27, 1998. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin.
He is best known for his TV roles such as Stephen Kiley on Marcus Welby, M.D.(1969-1976), Peter McDermott on Hotel (1983-1988), and John Short in Life in Pieces (2015-2019), and his film roles such as Sgt. Jerome K. Weber in Skyjacked (1972), John Blane in Westworld (1973), General Ralph Landry in Traffic (2000), Jack Barnes in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Emperor Zurg in the 2022 Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear.- Actress
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Anne Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931 in The Bronx, NY, the middle daughter of Michael Italiano (1905-2001), a dress pattern maker, and Mildred DiNapoli (1907-2010), a telephone operator. She made her cinema debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) in 1952, and over the next five years appeared in a lot of undistinguished movies such as Gorilla at Large (1954), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), New York Confidential (1955), Nightfall (1956) and The Girl in Black Stockings (1957). By 1957 she grew dissatisfied with the scripts she was getting, left the film business and spent the next five years doing plays on Broadway. She returned to screens in 1962 with her portrayal of Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (1962), for which she won an Oscar. Bancroft went on to give acclaimed performances in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Slender Thread (1965), Young Winston (1972), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), The Elephant Man (1980), To Be or Not to Be (1983), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) and other movies, but her most famous role would be as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967). Her status as the "older woman" in the film is iconic, although in real life she was only eight years older than Katharine Ross and just six years older than Dustin Hoffman. Bancroft would later express her frustration over the fact that the film overshadowed her other work. Selective for much of her intermittent career, she appeared onscreen more frequently in the '90s and early '00s, playing a range of characters in such films as Love Potion No. 9 (1992), Point of No Return (1993), Home for the Holidays (1995), G.I. Jane (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Keeping the Faith (2000) and Up at the Villa (2000). She also started to make some TV films, including Deep in My Heart (1999) for which she won an Emmy. Sadly, on June 6, 2005, Bancroft passed away at the age of 73 from uterine cancer. Her death surprised many, as she had not disclosed her illness to the public. Among her survivors was her husband of 41 years, Mel Brooks, and their son Max Brooks, who was born in 1972. Her final film, the animated feature Delgo (2008), was released posthumously in 2008 and dedicated to her memory.- Sheila Ryan was born on 17 September 1952 in Franklin Park, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Road House (1989), Fertilize the Blaspheming Bombshell (1990) and Hunter (1984). She was married to James Caan. She died on 18 September 2012 in Canoga Park, California, USA.
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The fourth child of five. He attended classes on improvisation at the Firehall Second City in Toronto, the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College in Hollywood and at HB Studios in NYC. His first guest appearance in a television series was in, "Sidestreet", starring Donelly Rhodes. Perhaps best known for his role in "Saw 2" (with cameo appearances in both "Saw 3" and "Saw V") Timothy also appeared in "Deacons For Defense" starring Forest Whitaker and Sandra Oh's first film "The Diary Of Evelyn Lau". With 55 cents, Tim left home and hitch-hiked to LA at the fresh age of fifteen. He served eight months in the Canadian Armed Forces as a military policeman, was stationed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and received an honorable discharge.- Actress
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Feisty, ebullient character comedienne who, for three decades, enlivened Hollywood films with her drollery and quick-fire repartee. The daughter of a newspaper editor and music critic, Ruth made her stage debut in the chorus of the touring production 'The Quaker Girl' in 1913. Four years later, she had made it to Broadway, playing a telephone operator in 'The Scrap of Paper' at the Criterion Theatre. She then appeared for ten months in the musical farce 'Going Up' (1917-18), which starred Frank Craven and a young Ed Begley. Some of her biggest comic successes were in plays by George M. Cohan, notably 'A Prince There Was' (1918-19) and 'The Meanest Man in the World' (1920-21).
Ruth appeared on screen, first in a small part in Rubber Heels (1927). Not until the Wall Street crash of 1929 was she tempted to pursue a career in Hollywood, rather than on Broadway. For most of her time in the movies, she played acidulous secretaries, wisecracking friends of the heroine, or shrewish wives. She gave excellent support as Mary Brian's domineering mother in Hard to Handle (1933) and was excellent as Edward G. Robinson's wife in the Runyonesque comedy A Slight Case of Murder (1938). There were many other good roles as comedy relief from Hands Across the Table (1935), with Carole Lombard to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936),with Gary Cooper); and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939),with James Stewart.. She was versatile enough to handle dramatic roles, playing a worldly nun in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) and one of the asylum inmates of The Snake Pit (1948).
Except for a handful of TV guest appearances, Ruth essentially retired after her last film, The Way to the Gold (1957), and lived for the remainder of her life at the Wellington Hotel in Manhattan. She was for many years married to Basil de Guichard, an airline executive.- Actor
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Randolph Mantooth definitely fit the bill when he made a bankable name for himself in the TV medical series Emergency! (1972) as strong but sensitive paramedic/firefighter "John Gage".
Tall, dark and good-looking, Randy is of Seminole Indian heritage, born in Sacramento, California on September 19, 1945. One of four children born to a construction engineer, his childhood was somewhat physically unsettling in that his father's job career had the family moving frequently from state to state. Randy attended San Marcos High School in the Santa Barbara area of California where he participated in school plays. He received a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York following his studies at Santa Barbara City College.
Randy was discovered in New York by a Universal talent agent after performing the lead in the play "Philadelphia, Here I Come" and returned to California. He slowly built up his resume with work on such dramatic series as Adam-12 (1968), McCloud (1970), Alias Smith and Jones (1971) and Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969). This led to TV stardom on the popular "Emergency!" series in 1972 which ran over five seasons. As a change of pace, he tried comedy and earned series roles on the short-lived Operation Petticoat (1977) and Detective School (1979), as well as pursued the guest star route on episodics. He was also prominently seen in the high-profile mini-series Testimony of Two Men (1977) and The Seekers (1979).
After a career lull in the early 1980s, Randy found a new direction in his career with daytime soaps. He played "Clay Alden" in the soap opera Loving (1983) from 1987 through 1990, then left for personal reasons before returning to the show in 1993, this time in the role of "Alex Masters". The soap was later revamped and entitled The City (1995) but it lasted only two more years.
From there he has regularly appeared on General Hospital (1963), One Life to Live (1968) and As the World Turns (1956), where he has played both good guys and villains. Millennium credits film include featured roles in the romantic comedy It Started with a Kiss (1959), the action thriller Agent Red (2000), the social drama Price to Pay (2006), the romantic thriller He Was a Quiet Man (2007), the action adventure Bold Native (2010) and, his last to date, the horror yarn Killer Holiday (2013). On TV, he has had regular roles on the daytime soap dramas As the World Turns (1956) in 2003-2005 and One Life to Live (1968) in 2007.
Randy has frequently returned to his theater roots in such productions as "Footprints in Blood", "Back to the Blankets", "Wink Dah", "The Independence of Eddie Rose", "The Paper Crown", "The Inuit" and, most recently, "Rain Dance" off-Broadway in 2003.
Divorced from actress Rose Parra, he married actress Kristen Connors in 2002. They were featured together as the ambassador and his wife in the film comedy Scream of the Bikini (2009). Two siblings also got into the business -- actor Don Mantooth and producer Tonya Mantooth.- Rosemarie Bowe frequently turned heads with her flashing turquoise eyes, sultry mane of black hair and sparkling personality. Effortlessly diverting attention from the scenic location spots of her mid-'50s film adventures and dramas, her stroll before the cameras was short--it was over within a few years.
The Montana-born beauty was the daughter of a building contractor, Dennis Bowe, and his wife Ruby. She and her siblings (Clara and Sydney) were raised in Tacoma, Washington, where Rosemarie first developed an interest in the arts. Dancing and appearing in operetta-styled musicals at her high school in Tacoma, she graduated and attended Tacoma Community College for one semester before being drawn to modeling. Finding work as a photographer's model and fashion cover girl in the Seattle area, she was the winner of pageant titles, including "Miss Tacoma", and was an official entrant in the "Miss Washington" contest. Eventually she relocated to Los Angeles, where she ultimately made the cover of Life magazine, among others.
Rosemarie broke into films in the early 1950s, primarily as an extra (model, swimmer) in MGM musicals. Within a few years she had moved into TV episodic work and earned a co-starring role in the voodoo adventure The Golden Mistress (1954) which was written and directed by Abner Biberman under the pseudonym Joel Judge (he also had a supporting role as her father). The film, starring Shirley Temple's ex, John Agar, was obvious hokum but did take the time to emphasize its lovely newcomer. Rosemarie was quite stunning as a jungle captive and signed on to play a few other decorative, damsel-in-distress roles.
Nothing-special movies more or less came and went but did little to test her dramatic mettle; they were, however, providing the requisite building ground for her to move up the Hollywood ranks. The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954) had Rosemarie playing a slave girl in support of dashing young commoner John Derek and spirited princess Elaine Stewart. In the noirish The Big Bluff (1955), Rosemarie provided a harder edge as a married nightclub singer dallying on the side with lothario John Bromfield who, in turn, is making a play for the affections of wealthy but terminally ill widow Martha Vickers. The View from Pompey's Head (1955) focused more on star Dana Wynter, a scene-stealing Marjorie Rambeau and its Southern-bred racism theme than on Rosemarie's secondary role. Her last leading film assignment was in the preachy western The Peacemaker (1956) as a benevolent lady who tries to help gunfighter-turned-minister James Mitchell (who was then better known for his dancing skills in musicals) tame a corrupt town.
Rosemarie ended her career after marrying Robert Stack, 13 years her senior, on January 23, 1956. The couple eventually became the parents of a daughter (Elizabeth) and son (Charles). Sharing a love with her husband for the outdoors, especially sailing and horseback riding, Rosemarie enjoyed life as a Hollywood celebrity and socialite and expressed no regrets in ending her career. In October of 1969 she survived a serious automobile accident in Sacramento that killed her husband's cousin and left her with injuries requiring plastic surgery. Occasionally she came out of her self-imposed retirement to appear on TV, usually in vehicles starring her husband, such as the mini-movie Murder on Flight 502 (1975).
Her beloved husband, Robert Stack, died in 2003 after 47 years of marriage. Rosemarie passed away many years later on January 20, 2019, at age 86. - Doug Stevenson was born on 18 July 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Prowler (1981), Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive (1992) and Breaker! Breaker! (1977). He was married to Lisa Loring. He died in December 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Richard Pasco was born on 18 July 1926 in Barnes, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Mrs. Brown (1997), The Watcher in the Woods (1980) and The Three Musketeers (1966). He was married to Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Greta Watson. He died on 12 November 2014 in Warwickshire, England, UK.
- Robert E. Hutchins was born March 29th, 1925, in Tacoma, Washington. He was born to James Hutchins and Olga Hutchins (nee Roe). Robert was a very outgoing boy with a charming personality, because friends persuaded James and Olga to go to a Hollywood photographer and get his picture taken. The photographer was impressed by Robert's intelligence, and asked to take a few feet of film of him. The results were so good that the film ended up in the projection room at Hal Roach Studios. Hal Roach decided the boy would be a good addition to his "Our Gang" short films, and signed him to a five year contract.
On his first day at the studio, Robert didn't have an identity for his part in the movies, and he was running around so much that he began to wheeze. Such led to the coining of the "Wheezer" name, one he carried for the rest of his time in Our Gang. Robert played the perky, tag-along little brother that was always anxious to be part of the mischief that the gang was getting into. He played such a part in both the silent films and the talkies.
Jackie Cooper recalls, "You'd go to play with Wheezer, and his father would pull him away, very competitive. I didn't get a satisfactory answer from my mother or grandmother as to why, but he was to be left alone. I guess his father was trying to make him a star or something. Obviously it never happened as it did for Spanky or some of the other kids."
In trying to make Robert a star, his father malnourished him, and isolated him from the other kids when not filming. James had a plan to keep him small and employable by underfeeding him, and wanted to ensure that Bobby and his siblings never learned that normal kids got a lot more to eat than they did. Nobody ever intervened upon the children's behalf. It's made worse by the fact that his plan backfired. While Robert was incredibly photogenic, and had some fine moments on screen, he looked and acted more like the slow-witted, malnourished child he was, as he aged. Sharper boys were given the leading parts, while Robert spent the last portion of his contract as a background player.
After he left Our Gang with 1933's "Mush and Milk", his film career was essentially over -- with an appearance in Pie for Two, Yoo-Hoo, and Strange Roads outside of his Our Gang shorts -- and he did no more acting after that. His mother and father divorced, and he, his brother James, and his mother moved back to Washington. They lived in a household with their grandmother, and Olga's new husband.
Robert got a job as a gas station attendant in 1942, and enrolled as an air cadet sometime in 1943, with speculation being that he enrolled sometime in August. He was very close to completing his advanced flight training, until a very unfortunate event occurred May 17th, 1945, and he perished. He was killed in a mid-air collision while trying to land a North American AT-6D Texan, at Merced Army Air Field Base in California. The other pilot involved received only minor damage, and landed safely. - Actor
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American actor Lee Marvin was born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr. in New York City. After leaving school aged 18, Marvin enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in August 1942. He served with the 4th Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II and after being wounded in action and spending a year being treated in naval hospitals, he received a medical discharge. Marvin's military decorations include the Purple Heart Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon. Returning to the United States it was while working as a plumbers apprentice, repairing a toilet at a local community theater, that he was asked to stand in for an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals. He immediately caught the acting bug, moving to Greenwich Village to study at the American Theater Wing and began making appearances in stage productions and TV shows. His film debut came in 'You're in the Navy Now' (1951) but it was his portrayal of villains in 'The Big Heat' (1953) and 'The Wild One' (1953) that brought him to the attention of the public and critical acclaim. Now firmly established as a screen bad guy, he began shifting towards leading man roles and landed the lead role in the popular TV series 'M Squad' (1957-1960). Returning to feature films, Marvin had prominent roles in 'The Comancheros' (1961), 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' (1962), 'Donovan's Reef' (1963) and 'The Killers' (1964) but it was his dual comic role in the offbeat western 'Cat Ballou' (1965) that made him a star and won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was now a much sought-after actor and starred in a number of movies as a new kind of leading man including 'The Professionals' (1966), 'The Dirty Dozen' (1967), 'Point Blank' (1967), 'Hell in the Pacific' (1968), 'Monte Walsh' (1970), 'Prime Cut' (1972), 'Emperor of the North' (1973) and 'The Spikes Gang' (1974).Later film credits include 'Shout at the Devil' (1976), 'Avalanche Express' (1979), 'The Big Red One' (1980), 'Death Hunt' (1981) and 'Gorky Park' (1983). His final film role was alongside Chuck Norris in 'The Delta Force' (1986). Lee Marvin died of a heart attack in August 1987. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Marvin paved the way for leading men that didn't fit the traditional mould. An iconic American tough guy and one of the 20th Century's greatest Hollywood stars.- A long long career. 140 roles in films ('I Want to Live', 'The Glory Guys', 'The Cat from Outer Space'...) and on television ('Bachelor Father', 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', 'Lux Video Theatre'...). And many many radio shows ('This Is Your FBI', 'Dangerous Assignment', 'Suspense, 'The Whistler '...). There is no denying Alice Backes was a hard worker. Not to mention the fact that she was a gifted violinist, that she joined the Women's Branch of the Naval Reserve during the War, and that she contributed all her adult life to various charities, including after she retired from acting. Born in 1923, young Alice graduated from high school before attending the University of Utah. After the War, Alice Backes decided to move to Hollywood where she quickly earned small parts in films, TV series and radio programs. From then on - and for nearly five decades - she would work steadily, specializing in character roles. Her rather commonplace physical appearance (though she was tall by Hollywood standards) enabled her to get effortlessly inside everyday life characters such as nurses, doctors, dentists, librarians, waitresses, judges, farmer's wives... Only once in her career did she embody a historical character, and that was Hedda Hopper, in 'Gable and Lombard'. Alice Backes finally retired in 1997 after a last appearance in a 'Columbo' episode, a nice vehicle for a last hurrah. She died ten years later.
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Michael Aaron Milligan is an American actor, producer, and comedian. He is best known for his role as "Macias" on Netflix' Outer Banks (2023), and as "Tuna" in the film Samaritan (2022) and as "Deke Ward" in the TV series FBI (2022). Michael's most notable appearances are in several films such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Hell On The Border (2019), and Bad Candy (2020). Michael got his big break with his lead role in Shark Lake (2015), then went on to lead in Paradox (2016), The Last Heist (2016), and Siren (2016). He has also appeared on hit shows including 24:Legacy (7 eps), The Resident (2 eps), and guest-starred in MacGyver (3 eps). In addition to his work in front of the camera, Michael also enjoys performing his own stunts.
Michael was born (July 18, 1980) in Victoria, Texas but was raised in Sunnyvale, California until his family settled north of Atlanta, Georgia. His one-way ticket to stardom began soon after graduating high school when he started touring in a 5 member R&B/Pop group. Through song and dance, they took their message about drunk driving, strength of hope, and endurance of love to communities all across the southeastern United States. They visited over 5,000 high schools and eventually recorded a full-length EP album. After touring for 3 years with Next Page, it was time for Michael to pursue his other hidden passions: stand-up comedy and acting.
He moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and started booking various national television commercials including Coors Light, VISA and Mega Millions. From there, he took acting classes and workshops to further hone his skills. After realizing the film industry was starting to boom in Georgia, Michael moved back home to Atlanta in 2012, and has since taken his career to the next level by devoting his spare time to coaching others in the pursuit of their dreams.- Actress
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Her career began with small parts at the theatre, and she considered her debut to have been made in 1905. Just like Edvard Persson she worked at the Apollo Theatre in Helsinki, Finland, during World War I. When she returned to Sweden she worked in Stockholm's popular park theatres, such as Tantolunden or Vita Bergsparken. When it comes to the number of movies made, she is second only to Hjördis Petterson, as far as Swedish actresses is concerned. Her first major role was as Mrs. Lövdal in Anderssonskans Kalle (1922). With her strong voice and rough appearance she was usually cast as the landlady, the mother-in-law or the troublesome wife. Notable appearances include Pensionat Paradiset (1937), Ebberöds bank (1935) and O, en så'n natt! (1937).- Actress
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Isabel Sanford was a Broadway actress for over thirty years before moving to Hollywood. She made numerous guest appearances on TV, including a stint as a supporting cast member on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Until her passing, Isabel continued to act frequently, most recently in a series of commercials for Old Navy stores with The Jeffersons (1975) co-star, Sherman Hemsley. She made several commercials for Nick-at-Nite as well when the cable channel premiered The Jeffersons (1975).- Actor
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Kyle M. Chandler is an Emmy-winning American actor who was born in Buffalo, New York in 1965. He resides in the United States with his wife, Kathryn Chandler, and their two children, Sawyer and Sydney. Some of his most notable credits include "Friday Night Lights" (Friday Night Lights (2006)), "Bloodline" (Bloodline (2015)), The Wolf of Wall Street (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)), Argo (Argo (2012)) and Zero Dark Thirty (Zero Dark Thirty (2012)), to name a few.- Chrissie Burnett was born on 12 December 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was previously married to Fritz Arnold Frauchiger and Will Hutchins.
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Darleen Carr was born on 12 December 1950 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for The Jungle Book (1967), The Beguiled (1971) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972). She has been married to Jameson Parker since 18 June 1992. She was previously married to Zeljko Negovetic and Jason Laskay.- Sunrise Coigney was born on 17 September 1972 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is an actress, known for In the Cut (2003), Campfire Stories (2001) and 100 Centre Street (2001). She has been married to Mark Ruffalo since 11 June 2000. They have three children.
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David Fresco was born on 5 December 1909 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Mousehunt (1997), Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) and Diggstown (1992). He died on 18 July 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Joseph Stephenson Crane was born on February 7, 1916, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, to William E. and Katheryn Stephenson Crane. The Cranes were well known in the community due to their family cigar store, the Stephenson Crane Cigar Store, located at 107 S. Washington Street in downtown Crawfordsville. As a boy, Crane preferred to be called Joe. He attended the local Crawfordsville High School and was voted "Most Attractive" senior year. A 1937 graduate of Wabash College, a liberal arts college for men located in Crawfordsville, Crane gained a Bachelor's degree in Business before traveling to Hollywood in 1939.
Leaving an estranged wife and his family's business behind him, Stephen Crane (the name he preferred as an adult) met and married actress Lana Turner in 1942. A hasty annulment followed due to Crane's previous and still legal marriage to Carol Ann Kurtz. After Crane's divorce was finalized, Crane and Turner remarried and welcomed a child, Cheryl Christina Crane, in 1943. As Lana Turner sued for divorce a second time in 1944, Crane starred in three films, Cry of the Werewolf, The Crime Doctor's Courage, and Tonight and Every Night. Following his brief acting career, Crane entered the restaurant business by purchasing Lucy's, a popular hangout for celebrities. Moving abroad in the late 1940s, Crane married French sex symbol Martine Carol.
In 1953, Crane's marriage to Carol ended in divorce. That same year Crane catapulted himself into a restaurant legend and entrepreneur by creating The Luau, a Polynesian themed restaurant frequented by celebrities and located at 421 N. Rodeo Drive. In 1958, Crane started his chain of Kon Tiki restaurants which were located in Sheraton hotels across the United States and Canada. The late 1960s brought about other restaurant ventures, such as SCAM and Stephanino's, and restaurants owned by Stephen Crane Associates remained popular until the late 1970s.
After a successful life as a restaurateur, Stephen Crane died one day before his 69th birthday on February 6, 1985. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Crawfordsville, Indiana. - Actor
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When he was 11, he wanted to be a comedian like Sid Caesar. Then, when he was 15 and saw Lee J. Cobb in 'Death of a Salesman,' he decided he would be a comedy actor and found that Mel Brooks was a great influence on his screen writing. He combined both talents with directing in The World's Greatest Lover (1977), followed by The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975).- Actor
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Hume Cronyn was a Canadian actor with a lengthy career. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "The Seventh Cross" (1944).
Cronyn was born to a prominent family. His father was politician Hume Blake Cronyn (1864-1933), Member of Parliament for London, Ontario (term 1917-1921). The elder Cronyn was a grandson of both Benjamin Cronyn, first bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Huron (1802-1871) and politician William Hume Blake (1809-1870), first Chancellor of Upper Canada.
Cronyn's mother was Frances Amelia Labatt, heiress of the Labatt Brewing Company. Labatt remains the largest brewing company of Canada. Frances' father was businessman John Labatt (1838-1915), and her grandfather was company founder John Kinder Labatt (1803-1866). The Labatts were a prominent Irish-Canadian family, claiming descent from a French Huguenot family which settled in Ireland.
Cronyn was sent to a boarding school in Ottawa, where he studied from 1917 to 1921. The school was at the time called "Rockliffe Preparatory School", but has since been renamed to Elmwood School. Elmwood has become a school for girls. Cronyn attended first Ridley College in St. Catharines, and then McGill University in Montreal.
During his university years, Cronyn was a featherweight boxer. He was nominated for Canada's Olympic Boxing team for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Cronyn was studying pre-law in the University, but switched his major to acting. He then enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied under theatrical director Max Reinhardt (1873-1943).
Cronyn made his Broadway debut in 1934, in the play "Hipper's Holiday". He had the minor role of a janitor. After a decade as a theatrical actor, Cronyn made his film debut in the psychological thriller "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943). He played crime fiction buff Herbie Hawkins. This was Cronyn's first collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock. Cronyn later acted in "Lifeboat" (1944), and served as a screenwriter for both "Rope" (1948) and "Under Capricorn" (1949).
Cronyn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Paul Roeder in the concentration camp themed film "The Seventh Cross" (1942). Roeder is a common factory worker in Nazi Germany, who risks his life and family to assist his old friend George Heisler (played by Spencer Tracy) to flee the country. While Cronyn's role was well-received, the award was instead won by rival actor Barry Fitzgerald (1888-1961).
In 1942, Cronyn married actress Jessica Tandy, and for many years they appeared together in theatre, film and television. The duo headlined the radio series "The Marriage" (1953-1954), depicting the difficulties of a professional woman in transitioning to the roles of housewife and mother. The duo also appeared in a television adaptation of the radio series, but it only lasted for 8 episodes.
Cronyn acting career mostly included supporting roles, but he found himself in the spotlight for the role of Joe Finley in the science fiction film "Cocoon". It became a surprise box office hit, and Cronyn was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor. The award was instead won by a much younger actor, Michael J. Fox (1961-).
Cronyn returned to the role of Joe Finley in the sequel "Cocoon: The Return" (1988). While less successful than its predecessor, Cronyn's role was well-received. He was again nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor, but again lost to a younger actor. The award was won by Tom Hanks (1956-).
Jessica Tandy died in 1994, and the widowed Cronyn married writer Susan Cooper in 1996. Cronyn had one of his last prominent roles in the film "Marvin's Room" (1996). He played the incapacitated and bed-ridden Marvin Wakefield, who has to be taken care of by his adult daughters. The cast of the film was collectively nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Cronyn's last film role was the role of con-artist Sam Clausner in the television film "Off Season" (2001). Cronyn died in 2003 from prostate cancer. He was 91-years-old.- Actress
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A very pleasing and thoroughly enjoyable vision on 1950s film and 1960s TV, Patricia Crowley effortlessly lit up her surroundings with a warm, inviting personality and fresh-faced attractiveness that she still carries today. At her peak she courted top TV stardom in the mid-'60s as the beleaguered wife and mom on the successful series Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1965) and easily made the original Doris Day film role her own. Both she and TV husband Mark Miller made a handsome couple and the series deserved more than its two-season run. Perhaps audience taste, which was changing rapidly with the counterculture era taking over, triggered its somewhat quick demise.
Born September 17, 1933 (some sources incorrectly list 1929), in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, to Vincent, a coal mining foreman, and Helen (Swartz) Crowley, it was her older sister Ann Crowley (born October 17, 1929) who triggered Pat's interest in performing when, during Ann's appearance in a Chicago musical production, the ten-year-old Pat was given a walk-on part. Ann Crowley would go on to have a promising musical career appearing in such late 40s/early 50s N.Y. shows as "Carousel", "Oklahoma!" and "Paint Your Wagon". By age 11, Patricia had become a photographer's model and subsequently attended New York's High School of Performing Arts. She won her first major TV part scarcely out of high school and seemed destined to become an important teen star as the bobbysoxer lead in the Saturday morning TV series A Date with Judy (1951), which was adapted from the highly popular radio series of the 1940s. When the series moved to prime time, however, another actress replaced her.
Like her sister, Patricia was also musically inclined and appeared in a few tuneful stage shows such as "Tovarich" and "Kiss Me Kate" (as Bianca). Billed as "Pat Crowley", she made an auspicious Broadway debut with the relatively short-lived comedy play "Southern Exposure" in 1950, earning the 1951 Theatre World Award for "promising personality". She followed this with another short run (one day) in the comedy "Four Twelves Are 48".
After a number of early 1950s TV assignments, Pat was brought out to Hollywood to co-star with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in one of the pair's typical slapstick outings Money from Home (1953). In it, she played a feisty lady veterinarian. She then moved engagingly into the show business comedy Forever Female (1953) co-starring William Holden and Ginger Rogers. As the young aspirant who is vying with the long-in-the-tooth Rogers for a prime Broadway ingénue role, Pat made the most of her role and earned a Golden Globe award for "best promising female newcomer". From there, she played the second female lead in the musical Red Garters (1954) but crooning headliners Rosemary Clooney and Guy Mitchell got most of the songs. Pat did have a dance number, however, opposite Mitchell with the tune "Meet a Happy Guy".
While much of her work came from dramatic TV showcases, Pat continued in movie roles co-starring as the girlfriend of Tony Curtis in the boxing yarn The Square Jungle (1955), appearing as the female ingénue in the sudsy drama There's Always Tomorrow (1956) opposite veterans Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett, and reuniting with Martin & Lewis in their very last film Hollywood or Bust (1956) before the pair's professional breakup.
When her film career started to lose steam in the late 50s (she did appear to good effect, however, with Jeffrey Hunter in the crime drama Key Witness (1960) as a couple terrorized by gang leader Dennis Hopper), Pat found steadier work on TV and guested on many of the popular shows of the day both drama Bonanza (1959), Cheyenne (1955), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964)) and the occasional comedy (The Tab Hunter Show (1960)). It was in the sitcom vein that Pat achieved her biggest success when she was cast as "Joan Nash", the nontraditional, harried wife/columnist of an English professor whose four precocious sons and huge sheep dog added greatly to the mayhem in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1965). Based on the best-selling Jean Kerr book, it was a role that suited Pat (now billed Patricia) to a tee and made her a household name at the time.
Since then, Patricia has continued to maintain a strong visibility especially on TV, although she was not given the star-making opportunities like this again. Crowley is best known to a later generation of viewers for her regular roles on daytime's Generations (1989) (1989-1990), Port Charles (1997) (1997-2003) and The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) (2005). A guest on such sitcoms as Frasier (1993), Roseanne (1988) and Friends (1994), recurring roles on Joe Forrester (1975) (perfectly paired with Lloyd Bridges), Dynasty (1981) and Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) also showed Pat to good advantage. More recently, she has graced episodes of "The Closer" and "Cold Case" and a featured role in the film Mont Reve (2012).
In 1958 Patricia married Ed Hookstratten, a successful attorney for top entertainment and sports icons. They had a son, Jon, and a daughter, Ann, named after her sister. After their two-decade marriage ended, she went on to marry producer Andy Friendly in 1986. While many understandably agree that Patricia Crowley's talents deserved perhaps a better serving in Hollywood, particularly on film, she has nevertheless proved herself a lovely, lively and still ingratiating presence.- Julius Sumner Miller was born on 17 May 1909 in Billerica, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971), Why Is It So? (1963) and The Jerry Lewis Show (1963). He was married to Alice Brown. He died on 14 April 1987 in San Jose, California, USA.
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Comic light actor in U.S. films and TV. Born in Vincennes and raised in Terre Haute, IN, Moore studied drama at Indiana State Teachers College before serving in the Marines in WWII. He had a tough time breaking into movies, although he performed in local and regional live theatre. He finally found his niche in television, starring as the incompetent county agent Hank Kimball in GREEN ACRES from 1965-71. He also appeared in at least thirty other TV series and numerous commercials. He and his wife had been married 47 years at the time of his death.- Actress
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Lucie Mannheim was born on 30 April 1899 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress and writer, known for The 39 Steps (1935), Der Ball (1931) and Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). She was married to Marius Goring. She died on 18 July 1976 in Braunlage, Lower Saxony, Germany.- Actress
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Kristen Anne Bell (born 1980) is an American actress and singer. She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Tom Bell, a television news director. Her ancestry is Polish (mother) and German, English, Irish, and Scottish (father). Kristen found her talent in entertainment at an early age. In 1992, she went to her first audition and won a role in Raggedy Ann and Andy. Bell's mother established her with an agent before she was 13, and she was cast in newspaper advertisements and television commercials. At this time, she also began private acting lessons. Bell had an uncredited role in the film Polish Wedding (1998) in 1998.
Bell attended Shrine Catholic High School, where she took part in drama and music club. She won the starring role of Dorothy in her high school's production of The Wizard of Oz. After graduation Bell moved to New York City to attend prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied musical theater. In 2001, Bell left university to play the role of Becky in Tom Sawyer. That same year, she made her first credited debut in Pootie Tang (2001), but her scene was cut and her appearance exists only in the credit sequence. In 2002, Bell appeared in the Broadway revival of The Crucible with Liam Neeson and Angela Bettis. She then moved to Los Angeles, California, and appeared in a handful television shows as a special guest, finding trouble gaining a recurring role in a television series.
In 2004, Bell appeared in the Lifetime's television film, Gracie's Choice, which received high ratings. At the age 24, Bell won the title role in Veronica Mars (2004), which started broadcasting in the fall of 2004, created by Rob Thomas. Bell starred as a seventeen-year-old detective, which put her alongside actors Enrico Colantoni who played her father, Percy Daggs III, Jason Dohring and Ryan Hansen. This series received very positive reviews, and Bell received much attention for her performance. Bell and the cast of Veronica Mars were nominated for two Teen Choice Awards.
In 2005, Bell starred in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005) in the role of Mary Lane. Reefer Madness debuted on the Showtime network on April 16, 2005. The following year, Bell won the Saturn Award for 'Best Actress on Television' for her performance in Veronica Mars.
In 2013, Bell voiced the main character, Princess Anna of Arendelle, in the Walt Disney Pictures animated movie, Frozen (2013), which received the 'best animated feature' award at the 86th Academy Awards. She performed the songs: 'For the First Time in Forever', 'Love is an Open Door', 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman', and 'For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)'. Frozen (2013), which was released on November 22, 2013, was hugely successful worldwide.
On March 13, 2013, it was confirmed that a Veronica Mars (2014) movie would finally be coming to fruition. Bell and creator, Rob Thomas, launched a fund raising campaign to produce the film through Kickstarter and attained the $2 million goal in few hours. The movie was released on March 14, 2014.
Bell married Dax Shepard in October, 2013.- Actor
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Colorful character actor of American Westerns. Named "Chill" as an ironic comment on his birth date being the hottest day of 1902. A musician from his youth, he performed from the age of 12 with tent shows, in vaudeville, and with stock companies. While performing in vaudeville in Kansas City, he married ballet dancer Betty Chappelle, with whom he had two children. He formed a musical group, Chill Wills and His Avalon Boys. During an appearance at the Trocadero in Hollywood, they were spotted by an RKO executive, subsequently appearing as a group in several low-budget Westerns. After a prominent appearance with The Avalon Boys as both himself and the bass-singing voice of Stan Laurel in Way Out West (1937), Wills disbanded the group and began a solo career as a usually jovial (but occasionally sinister) character actor, primarily in Westerns. His delightful portrayal of Beekeeper in The Alamo (1960) won him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but his blatant and embarrassing campaign for the Oscar cost him the award and subjected him to a great deal of humiliation -- and probably cost the film a number of awards as well. His wife died in 1971, and he remarried, to Novadeen Googe, in 1973. He continued to work in films and television, usually in roguishly lovable good-ol'-boy parts, up until his death in 1978.- Director
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Curtis Harrington was an excellent and shamefully underrated writer and director who specialized in marvelously offbeat and atmospheric low-budget independent horror pictures. Harrington was born on September 17, 1926, in Los Angeles and grew up in Beaumont, California. A hardcore film buff from a very young age, Harrington worked as a movie theater usher, a messenger at Paramount and a stagehand during his younger days. He made his first 8mm effort at age 14 and attended UCLA. In the 1940s and 1950s Harrington made a string of experimental avant-garde underground shorts, such as Picnic (1949), Fragment of Seeking (1946), "The Assignation" and "Wormwood Star". He was the cinematographer on Kenneth Anger's Puce Moment (1949) and acted in Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954).
Harrington also was involved with fellow avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren. He began working for Jerry Wald Productions at 20th Century-Fox in 1957 and served as a producer's assistant on several big-budget pictures, including Peyton Place (1957) and The Long, Hot Summer (1958). In 1961 he made a strong--and impressive--feature-film debut with the nicely moody and quirky Night Tide (1961)_. His follow-up features were a pleasingly diverse, idiosyncratic and often entertaining bunch, and included the nifty sci-fi/horror Alien (1979) precursor Queen of Blood (1966) and the delightfully campy Shelley Winters vehicles Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) and What's the Matter with Helen? (1971) (the latter was Harrington's personal favorite of all his films), the perverse The Killing Kind (1973) and the immensely fun Ruby (1977). Moreover, Harrington directed a handful of solid and satisfying made-for-TV offerings: How Awful About Allan (1970), The Cat Creature (1973), Killer Bees (1974), The Dead Don't Die (1975) and the hilariously horrible Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978). In addition, Harrington directed episodes of such popular TV shows as Dynasty (1981), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Colbys (1985), Hotel (1983). Wonder Woman (1975) and Charlie's Angels (1976). Harrigton's final film was the typically oddball short Usher (2000).
Curtis Harrington died at age 80 from complications following a stroke on May 6th, 2007.- Actress
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Cassandra Peterson was born in Manhattan, Kansas, and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She began her career at age 17 as the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas history in the show "Vive Les Girls" at the Dunes Hotel. After receiving advice from "The King" himself, Elvis Presley, she traveled to Europe where she pursued a career as a singer and actor. She worked in several Italian films, including Federico Fellini's Roma (1972) and performed throughout Europe as lead singer of an Italian rock band.
Upon returning to the United States, she toured the country as star of her own musical-comedy show, "Mama's Boys". She eventually settled in Hollywood, where she spent four and a half years with L.A.'s foremost improvisational comedy group, The Groundlings. In 1981, she auditioned for the role of horror hostess on a local Los Angeles television station. Her show, Elvira's Movie Macabre (1981), and her newly created character, Elvira, became an overnight sensation.
Cassandra has used Elvira's celebrity status to bring attention to many worthy causes and organizations over the years, including her well-known work for animal welfare and raising money and awareness for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. In addition to co-writing and performing in both the local L.A. and nationally syndicated television versions of "Movie Macabre", she co-wrote, produced and starred in two feature films, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001). In 2010, she returned to syndicated television in a reboot of her original series, Elvira's Movie Macabre (2010). She returned in 2014 in a similar show format for Hulu's 13 Nights of Elvira. Her latest endeavors include producing, writing and starring in Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special, Special - a 2021 four-hour special streaming on Shudder, and Dr. Elvira, a Halloween promotional mini-series for Netflix.
Cassandra Peterson has spent over four decades solidifying the Elvira brand that has become synonymous with Halloween and the horror genre.- Actor
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an American retired professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two more as an assistant coach, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996, he was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.
In 1975, he was traded to the Lakers, with whom he played the final 14 seasons of his career and won five additional NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar's contributions were a key component in the "Showtime" era of Lakers basketball. Over his 20-year NBA career, his teams succeeded in making the playoffs 18 times and got past the first round 14 times; his teams reached the NBA Finals on 10 occasions.
At the time of his retirement at age 42 in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA's all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played (1,560), minutes played (57,446), field goals made (15,837), field goal attempts (28,307), blocked shots (3,189), defensive rebounds (9,394), career wins (1,074), and personal fouls (4,657). In 2007, ESPN voted him the greatest center of all time, in 2008, they named him the "greatest player in college basketball history", and in 2016, they named him the second best player in NBA history (behind Michael Jordan). Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, and a best-selling author.- Actor
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Enduring, strong-featured, and genial star of US cinema, Burt Reynolds started off in T.V. westerns in the 1960s and then carved his name into 1970s/1980s popular culture, as a sex symbol (posing nearly naked for "Cosmopolitan" magazine), and on-screen as both a rugged action figure and then as a wisecracking, Southern type of "good ol' boy."
Burton Leon Reynolds was born in Lansing, Michigan. He was the son of Harriette Fernette "Fern" (Miller) and Burton Milo Reynolds, who was in the army. After World War II, his family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida, where his father was chief of police, and where Burt excelled as an athlete and played with Florida State University. He became an All Star Southern Conference halfback (and was earmarked by the Baltimore Colts) before a knee injury and a car accident ended his football career. Midway through college he dropped out and headed to New York with aspirations of becoming an actor. There he worked in restaurants and clubs while pulling the odd TV spot or theatre role.
He was spotted in a New York City production of "Mister Roberts," signed to a TV contract, and eventually had recurring roles in such shows as Gunsmoke (1955), Riverboat (1959) and his own series, Hawk (1966).
Reynolds continued to appear in undemanding western roles, often playing a character of half Native American descent, in films such as Navajo Joe (1966), 100 Rifles (1969) and Sam Whiskey (1969). However, it was his tough-guy performance as macho Lewis Medlock in the John Boorman backwoods nightmare Deliverance (1972) that really stamped him as a bona-fide star. Reynolds' popularity continued to soar with his appearance as a no-nonsense private investigator in Shamus (1973) and in the Woody Allen comedy Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972). Building further on his image as a Southern boy who outsmarts the local lawmen, Reynolds packed fans into theaters to see him in White Lightning (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975) and Gator (1976).
At this time, ex-stuntman and longtime Reynolds buddy Hal Needham came to him with a "road film" script. It turned out to be the incredibly popular Smokey and the Bandit (1977) with Sally Field and Jerry Reed, which took in over $100 million at the box office. That film's success was followed by Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). Reynolds also appeared alongside Kris Kristofferson in the hit football film Semi-Tough (1977), with friend Dom DeLuise in the black comedy The End (1978) (which Reynolds directed), in the stunt-laden buddy film Hooper (1978) and then in the self-indulgent, star-packed road race flick The Cannonball Run (1981).
The early 1980s started off well with a strong performance in the violent police film Sharky's Machine (1981), which he also directed, and he starred with Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and with fellow macho superstar Clint Eastwood in the coolly received City Heat (1984). However, other projects such as Stroker Ace (1983), Stick (1985) and Paternity (1981) failed to catch fire with fans and Reynolds quickly found himself falling out of popularity with movie audiences. In the late 1980s he appeared in only a handful of films, mostly below average, before television came to the rescue and he shone again in two very popular TV shows, B.L. Stryker (1989) and Evening Shade (1990), for which he won an Emmy. In 1988, Burt and his then-wife, actress Loni Anderson, had a son, Quinton A. Reynolds (aka Quinton Anderson Reynolds), whom they adopted.
He was back on screen, but still the roles weren't grabbing the public's attention, until his terrific performance as a drunken politician in the otherwise woeful Striptease (1996) and then another tremendous showing as a charming, porn director in Boogie Nights (1997), which scored him a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Like the phoenix from the ashes, Reynolds resurrected his popularity and, in the process, gathered a new generation of young fans, many of whom had been unfamiliar with his 1970s film roles. He then put in entertaining work in Pups (1999), Mystery, Alaska (1999), Driven (2001) and Time of the Wolf (2002). Definitely one of Hollywood's most resilient stars, Reynolds continually surprised all with his ability to weather both personal and career hurdles and his almost 60 years in front of the cameras were testament to his staying ability, his acting talent and his appeal to film audiences.
Burt Reynolds died of cardiac arrest on September 6, 2018, in Jupiter, Florida, U.S. He was eighty two.- Ruth Dunning was born on 17 May 1909 in Prestatyn, Flintshire, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for The Grove Family (1954), Young and Willing (1954) and It's a Great Day! (1955). She was married to Jack Allen. She died on 27 February 1983 in London, England, UK.
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Willard Waterman was born on 29 August 1914 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Auntie Mame (1958), The Apartment (1960) and Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958). He was married to Mary Anna Theleen. He died on 2 February 1995 in Burlingame, California, USA.- Joe Belcher was born on 29 August 1928 in Berkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for An American Werewolf in London (1981), Village Hall (1974) and The Practice (1985). He died on 16 August 2006 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK.
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Best recalled as the eldest son and first member of the "Bonanza" Cartwright clan to permanently leave the Ponderosa in the hopes of greener acting pastures, dark, deep-voiced and durably handsome Pernell Roberts' native roots lay in Georgia. Born Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. on May 18, 1928, in North Carolina and moved to Waycross as an infant, he was singing in local USO shows while still in high school (where he appeared in plays and played the horn). He attended both Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland but flunked out of both colleges, with a two-year stint as a Marine stuck somewhere in between. He eventually decided to give acting a chance and supported himself as a butcher, forest ranger, and railroad riveter during the lean years while pursuing his craft.
On stage from the early 1950s, he gained experience in such productions as "The Adding Machine," "The Firebrand" and "Faith of Our Fathers" before spending a couple of years performing the classics with the renowned Arena Stage Company in Washington, DC. Productions there included "The Taming of the Shrew" (as Petruchio), "The Playboy of the Western Word," "The Glass Menagerie," "The Importance of Being Earnest," and "Twelfth Night." He made his Broadway debut in 1955 with "Tonight in Samarkind" and that same year won the "Best Actor" Drama Desk Award for his off-Broadway performance as "Macbeth," which was immediately followed by "Romeo and Juliet" as Mercutio. Other Broadway plays include "The Lovers" (1956) with Joanne Woodward, "A Clearing in the Woods" (1957) with Kim Stanley, a return to Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (1957) and "The Duchess of Malfi" (1957). He returned to Broadway fifteen years later as the title role opposite Ingrid Bergman in "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" (1972).
Pernell then headed for Hollywood and found minor roles in films before landing the pivotal role of Ben Cartwright's oldest and best-educated son Adam in the Bonanza (1959) series in 1959. The series made Roberts a bona fide TV star, while the program itself became the second longest-running TV western (after "Gunsmoke") and first to be filmed in color. At the peak of his and the TV show's popularity, Pernell, displeased with the writing and direction of the show, suddenly elected not to renew his contract and left at the end of the 1964-1965 season to the utter dismay of his fans. The show continued successfully without him, but a gap was always felt in the Cartwright family by this abrupt departure. The story line continued to leave open the possibility of a return if desired, but Pernell never did.
With his newfound freedom, Roberts focused on singing and the musical stage. One solo album was filled with folks songs entitled "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies." Besides such standard roles in "Camelot" and "The King and I," he starred as Rhett Butler to Lesley Ann Warren's Scarlett O'Hara in a musical version of "Gone with the Wind" that did not fare well, and appeared in another misguided musical production based on the life of "Mata Hari." During this period he became an avid civil rights activist and joined other stalwarts such as Dick Gregory, Joan Baez and Harry Belafonte who took part in civil rights demonstrations during the 60s, including the Selma March.
The following years were rocky. He never found a solid footing in films with roles in rugged, foreign films such as Tibetana (1970) [The Kashmiri Run], Four Rode Out (1969), making little impression. He maintained a viable presence in TV, however, with parts in large-scale mini-series and guest shots on TV helping to keep some momentum. In 1979 he finally won another long-running series role (and an Emmy nomination) as Trapper John, M.D. (1979) in which he recreated the Wayne Rogers TV M*A*S*H (1972) role. Pernell was now heavier, bearded and pretty close to bald at this juncture (he was already wearing a toupee during his early "Bonanza" years), but still quite virile and attractive. The medical drama co-starring Gregory Harrison ran seven seasons.
The natural-born Georgia rebel was a heavily principled man and spent a life-time of work fighting racism, segregation, and sexism, notably on TV. He was constantly at odds with the "Bonanza" series writers of his concerns regarding equality. He also kept his private life private. Married and divorced three times, he had one son, Jonathan Christopher, by first wife Vera. Jonathan was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1989. In the 1990s, Pernell starred in his last series as host of FBI: The Untold Stories (1991). It had a short life-span.
Retiring in the late 1990s, Roberts was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and died about two years later at age 81 on January 24, 2010, survived by fourth wife Eleanor Criswell. As such, the rugged actor, who never regretted leaving the "Bonanza" series, managed to outlive the entire Cartwright clan (Dan Blocker died in 1972; Lorne Greene in 1987); and Michael Landon in 1991).- Tough, gruff, thick-browed, volatile-looking character actor Alex Rocco was born Alessandro Federico Petricone, Jr. on February 29, 1936, to Italian immigrants in Cambridge, Mass. He grew up a member of Boston's Winter Hill gang (his nickname was "Bobo") and was briefly detained regarding a murder at one point after an alleged personal incident triggered the Boston Irish Gang War (1961-1967). Rocco decided to straighten his life and relocated to Hollywood in 1962 following his detainment and release.
Developing an interest in acting, Alex initially trained with such notable teachers as Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Corey in order to curb his thick Boston accent. Working as a bartender during the lean years, his film and TV career finally kick-started in 1965, immediately relying on his sly, lethal menace, toothy toughness, and prior gangland past to realistically portray gritty anti-heroes and villains. He made an effective movie debut, co-starring as a vengeful veterinarian and Vietnam vet who goes after motorcycle "bad boys" following his wife's beating and rape in the exploitation flick Motorpsycho! (1965) directed by Russ Meyer. Despite this bold beginning, it was followed by a disappointing gangster bit in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) and a nothing role as a police Lieutenant in The Boston Strangler (1968). On TV, he found sporadic work playing thugs and other unsavory types on such TV shows as "Run for Your Life," "Batman" and "Get Smart."
Rocco came into his own in the early 1970s. After featured roles in such violent exploitation like Blood Mania (1970) and Brute Corps (1971), he received a huge boost in an Oscar-winning "A" film. He made a brief but potent impact essaying the role of Las Vegas syndicate boss Moe Green who gets a bullet in the eye during the violently explosive "christening sequence" of Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1972). From there he found a comfortable supporting niche playing various swarthy-looking cronies, hoods and cops in such crime films as The Outside Man (1972), Slither (1973), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) (in which he made good use of his Boston criminal past), Freebie and the Bean (1974), Three the Hard Way (1974) and A Woman for All Men (1975). Similar urban roles followed him on TV with yeoman work on such 1970s cop shows as "The Rookies", "Get Christie Love", "Kojak", "Cannon", "The Blue Knight", "Police Story", "The Rockford Files", "Barnaby Jones", "Dog and Cat", "Baretta", "Starsky and Hutch", "Delvecchio", "CHiPs", "Matt Houston", "Hardcastle and McCormick", and "Simon & Simon", along with the TV movies or miniseries A Question of Guilt (1978), The Gangster Chronicles (1981) and Badge of the Assassin (1985).
In the midst of all this, Alex was handed the starring role of his own series Three for the Road (1975) in which he played a new widower photographer with two teenage sons (played by Vincent Van Patten and Leif Garrett) who assuage their grief by leaving town and "discovering America" together. Although well-received, it was short-lived (13 episodes) as a result of poor scheduling. The actor returned to series TV in the late 1980s and was much more successful as a slick Hollywood agent in The Famous Teddy Z (1989) for which he won a "Supporting Actor" Emmy Award. Other regular comedy series work, such as Sibs (1991), The George Carlin Show (1994), The Division (2001) and Magic City (2012), added to his healthy resume over the years, with over 400 TV appearances racked up in all. Recurring roles on such programs as The Simpsons (1989) and The Facts of Life (1979) (as Nancy McKeon's father) also kept his career going at a steady pace. Other memorably flashy film roles include Freebie and the Bean (1974), The Stunt Man (1980), Lady in White (1988), Get Shorty (1995) and Just Write (1997).
Twice married, Rocco's first wife, Sandra Garrett, a nightclub performer and screenwriter, died of cancer in 2002. He married actress Shannon Wilcox in 2005 and together they appeared in the film Scammerhead (2014). Rocco appeared in two films helmed by his adopted son, screenwriter and director Marc Rocco: Scenes from the Goldmine (1987) and Dream a Little Dream (1989), who died in 2009. Two other children by his first wife were Lucian, a poet, and Jennifer, an attorney. Alex Rocco died of pancreatic cancer on July 18, 2015 at age 79. - Actor
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Big, brawny, and imposing actor and stuntman Dick Durock was born on January 18, 1937 in South Bend, Indiana. The fourth of five children; he grew up in South Bend, Indiana and New Jersey. After serving a stint in the Marine Corps and briefly working as a computer programmer, Durock went to Hollywood to eke out a career in show business. He eventually amassed hundreds of credits in both movies and TV series alike (Durock sometimes worked on two different shows in the same day). Durock began his career in 1967 as the stunt double for Guy Williams on the final season of Lost in Space (1965). He also doubled for both Buddy Ebsen and Max Baer Jr. on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). With his rough face, large, strong, muscular build and towering 6' 5" height Durock was usually cast as mean thugs who get beat up by the hero. Durock achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with his excellent portrayal of the titular kind-hearted mutant superhero in Wes Craven's delightful Swamp Thing (1982). He reprised the part in the amusingly campy sequel The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) and the spin-off cable TV series, Swamp Thing (1990). Durock's other memorable roles include one of the terrorists in The Enforcer (1976), the bare knuckle brawler who fights Clint Eastwood at the start of Any Which Way You Can (1980), pie-eating contest champion "Bill Travis" in the charming Stand by Me (1986), and a hostile redneck hunter in the notorious turkey Howard the Duck (1986). Among the films Durock has performed stunts in are Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), License to Drive (1988), The Monster Squad (1987), Heat (1986), Runaway Train (1985), The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), Bronco Billy (1980), 1941 (1979), Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Hammer (1972) and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). Durock had guest spots on such TV shows as Star Trek (1966), Baretta (1975), Quincy M.E. (1976), The Rockford Files (1974), Little House on the Prairie (1974), The Incredible Hulk (1978), The A-Team (1983), Magnum, P.I. (1980), Falcon Crest (1981), The Fall Guy (1981), Knight Rider (1982), Married... with Children (1987) and Dynasty (1981). He played the "Imperious Leader" on the science fiction series, Battlestar Galactica (1978). He was a proud and active member of the Stuntman's Association of Motion Pictures for over 20 years. Durock lived in Southern California with his wife Jane and made frequent guest appearances at movie conventions held all over the country. He died after a long battle with Pancreatic Cancer at age 72 on September 17, 2009 in Oak Park, California.- Michiel Huisman boasts an extensive career on both the small and large screen. He is currently shooting a lead role in Zack Snyder's film Rebel Moon for Netflix. He will next be seen as "Prince" in the Apple TV series Echo 3 opposite Luke Evans and created by Mark Boal. Most recently, he was seen in Netflix's A Boy Called Christmas opposite Sally Hawkins and Dame Maggie Smith, and the Spectrum Originals limited series, Angela Black.
Michiel's film credits include starring roles in; Malgorzata Szumowska's The Other Lamb, Aoife Crehan's The Last Right, Mike Newell's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society opposite Lily James. Additional film credits include, Netflix's Irreplaceable You, Gideon Raff's Red Sea Diving Resort, The Age of Adaline opposite Blake Lively and Harrison Ford, Wild directed by Jean-Marc Vallée opposite Reese Witherspoon, World War Z opposite Brad Pitt, The Invitation directed by Karyn Kusama, and The Young Victoria opposite Emily Blunt.
On television Michiel is best known as series regular Daario Naharis on HBO's Game of Thrones. He starred in season one of HBO Max's, The Flight Attendant opposite Kaley Cuoco, and in Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House. Further television credits include recurring roles in Orphan Black, Nashville, as a series regular in HBO's Treme, Discovery Channel's miniseries Harley and the Davidsons, and the BBC television movie Margot. - Director
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Raphael Fejtö is a French actor, he secured an important role in Louis Malle's classic film Goodbye, Children (1987) where Raphael plays Jean Bonnet, a Jewish boy who is sent to a boarding school during the early days of World War II. His status as a Jew is hidden from everybody except the school owners and he's hidden since the Nazi troops don't usually go to that route. There, after facing some prejudice (since he's new at school) and pranks from colleagues, he befriends another boy (played by Gaspard Manesse) of whom he shares his secret and they embark on a steady relationship that will alter their lives forever.
It marked as Fejtö's only feature film performance and from then on he went on directed a couple of short film and began a career as a children's author.- Actor
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Robert Gene "Red" West was a close friend of Elvis Presley and a member of Presley's inner circle, known as "The Memphis Mafia". He first met Elvis in high school, where he was a year behind him. West played football for the Memphis Tigers high school football team, boxed in the Golden Gloves and played football for the Jones County Junior College Bobcats playing center.
West lived with his mother, Lois West, in the Hurt Housing project in Memphis. West became Elvis's personal driver in driving Elvis and band members Scotty Moore, Bill Black and later D.J. Fontana to different Southern cities for live appearances from 1955 to 1956. West served in the US Marine Corps from 1956 to late 1958 and was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, which allowed him to stay in contact with Elvis. On August 14, 1958, West's estranged father, Newton Thomas West, died, the same day as Elvis' mother, Gladys Presley.
After Elvis' discharge from the US Army in 1960, West was employed as one of the star's bodyguards. Over the years, Elvis bought West a number of vehicles as he became a world-famous celebrity. West also became a movie stuntman and appeared in 16 of Elvis' films in the 1960s, usually playing extras or bit and supporting parts. West married one of Elvis' secretaries, Pat West, on July 1, 1961. West became a songwriter for songs that Elvis, Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson and Johnny Rivers recorded, including the classic tune "Separate Ways" for Elvis, which won a BMI Award. In addition to the Elvis movies, West appeared in three Robert Conrad TV series The Wild Wild West (1965), Black Sheep Squadron (1976) and The Duke (1979). During the 1970s West, his cousin Del 'Sonny' West, and Dave Hebler served as Elvis' bodyguards, in charge of his daily transportation and keeping weirdo or potentially dangerous fans away from him. On July 13, 1976, Vernon Presley, Elvis' father, fired all three bodyguards, criticizing what he believed to be their heavy-handed tactics. The three later collaborated on a book about their lives as Elvis' bodyguards, which was published just two weeks before Elvis' death in 1977.
West continued his acting and songwriting careers, the former until 2015, two years before his death.- Travis McKenna was born on 18 July 1960 in Lutherville, Maryland, USA. He is an actor, known for National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Batman Returns (1992) and Road House (1989).
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American actress and model Sarah Roemer starred as the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character in the thriller Disturbia (2007). She was born in San Diego, California, and began modeling at the age of 15 after she was discovered buying coffee at a local 7-Eleven while attending Horizon Jr/Sr High School. At the age of 17 she moved away from her family to New York.
She began her acting career playing Lacey in Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge 2 (2006). She later co-starred with Joseph Cross in Falling Up (2009). She was the leading actress in David R. Ellis' Asylum (2008), Katherine Brooks' Waking Madison (2010) and in Fired Up! (2009). She co-starred with Golden Globe winner Richard Gere and three-time Oscar nominee Joan Allen in Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009).- Actor
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Multi-talented and unconventional actor/director regarded by many as one of the true "enfant terribles" of Hollywood who led an amazing cinematic career for more than five decades, Dennis Hopper was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. The young Hopper expressed interest in acting from a young age and first appeared in a slew of 1950s television shows, including Medic (1954), Cheyenne (1955) and Sugarfoot (1957). His first film role was in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), quickly followed by Giant (1956) and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Hopper actually became good friends with James Dean and was shattered when Dean was killed in a car crash in September 1955.
Hopper portrayed a young Napoléon Bonaparte (!) in the star-spangled The Story of Mankind (1957) and regularly appeared on screen throughout the 1960s, often in rather undemanding parts, usually as a villain in westerns such as True Grit (1969) and Hang 'Em High (1968). However, in early 1969, Hopper, fellow actor Peter Fonda and writer Terry Southern, wrote a counterculture road movie script and managed to scrape together $400,000 in financial backing. Hopper directed the low-budget film, titled Easy Rider (1969), starring Fonda, Hopper and a young Jack Nicholson. The film was a phenomenal box-office success, appealing to the anti-establishment youth culture of the times. It changed the Hollywood landscape almost overnight and major studios all jumped onto the anti-establishment bandwagon, pumping out low-budget films about rebellious hippies, bikers, draft dodgers and pot smokers. However, Hopper's next directorial effort, The Last Movie (1971), was a critical and financial failure, and he has admitted that during the 1970s he was seriously abusing various substances, both legal and illegal, which led to a downturn in the quality of his work. He appeared in a sparse collection of European-produced films over the next eight years, before cropping up in a memorable performance as a pot-smoking photographer alongside Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now (1979). He also received acclaim for his work in both acting and direction for Out of the Blue (1980).
With these two notable efforts, the beginning of the 1980s saw a renaissance of interest by Hollywood in the talents of Dennis Hopper and exorcising the demons of drugs and alcohol via a rehabilitation program meant a return to invigorating and provoking performances. He was superb in Rumble Fish (1983), co-starred in the tepid spy thriller The Osterman Weekend (1983), played a groovy school teacher in My Science Project (1985), was a despicable and deranged drug dealer in River's Edge (1986) and, most memorably, electrified audiences as foul-mouthed Frank Booth in the eerie and erotic David Lynch film Blue Velvet (1986). Interestingly, the offbeat Hopper was selected in the early 1980s to provide the voice of "The StoryTeller" in the animated series of "Rabbit Ears" children's films based upon the works of Hans Christian Andersen!
Hopper returned to film direction in the late 1980s and was at the helm of the controversial gang film Colors (1988), which was well received by both critics and audiences. He was back in front of the cameras for roles in Super Mario Bros. (1993), got on the wrong side of gangster Christopher Walken in True Romance (1993), led police officer Keanu Reeves and bus passenger Sandra Bullock on a deadly ride in Speed (1994) and challenged gill-man Kevin Costner for world supremacy in Waterworld (1995). The enigmatic Hopper continued to remain busy through the 1990s and into the new century with performances in All the Way (2003), The Keeper (2004) and Land of the Dead (2005).
As well as his acting/directing talents, Hopper was a skilled photographer and painter, having had his works displayed in galleries in both the United States and overseas. He was additionally a dedicated and knowledgeable collector of modern art and had one of the most extensive collections in the United States. Dennis died of prostate cancer on May 29, 2010, less than two weeks after his 74th birthday.- This actress' two-decade career produced only one single stand-out film role but that one role as the "good girl" who redeems "bad boy" Marlon Brando's tough biker in the cult flick The Wild One (1953) put Mary Murphy at the head of the acting class for one brief shining moment. In others, she proved a lovely distraction amid the male action surrounding her and also, given the right material, displayed obvious talent in both Grade "A" and "B" drama as the feminine co-star or second lead.
The beautiful blue-eyed brunet stunner was born on January 26, 1931, in Washington D.C. but quickly moved with her family six months later to Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, James, a businessman, died there in 1940, and her mother eventually moved Mary and her two brothers and sister (she was the youngest of the four) West to Southern California where Mary went on to attend University High School in the Los Angeles area, graduating in 1949. A one-time employee of Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, the fresh-faced beauty was "discovered" at a café and signed by Paramount Studios.
Following insignificant bit/extra work in such movies as the Bob Hope's vehicles The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) and My Favorite Spy (1951), the sci-fi feature When Worlds Collide (1951), and "Best Picture" The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Mary won the female lead opposite relative newcomer Tommy Morton in the show business drama Main Street to Broadway (1953). The film was ill-received and both stars were rather dwarfed by the huge names that surrounded them -- Tallulah Bankhead, Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Shirley Booth, Mary Martin and even Rodgers and Hammerstein. Her second lead in a film was a different story. the legendary The Wild One (1953) opposite Marlon Brando. Mary managed to hold her own in this biker classic but it did not, however, necessarily lead to better films. She continued in the demure ingénue mode in the Vincent Price sub-horror The Mad Magician (1954) and the routine western Sitting Bull (1954) which starred future husband Dale Robertson. The June 1956 marriage to Robertson was very short-lived; it was annulled by Christmas time.
Mary went on, however, to give earnest leading lady perfs opposite Tony Curtis in Beachhead (1954), Ray Milland's debut as a director, A Man Alone (1955) and Hell's Island (1955) with John Payne. She also appeared to good advantage in The Desperate Hours (1955) but was slightly overshadowed by powerhouse star cast of Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy, Gig Young and Martha Scott. From then on it was fairly dismal for Mary in such lesser features as The Maverick Queen (1956), The Electronic Monster (1958) and Live Fast, Die Young (1958), a lowbudget "Wild Ones" delinquent crimer as a girl who tries to save her sister from a life of crime.
Mary left the screen for a time but resumed her career in the 60s and early 70s primarily on TV with a number of episodics and mini-movies playing matronly wives and mothers and had a small but noticeable role in the film Junior Bonner (1972).
Remarried in 1962, Mary retired completely by the late 70s and turned to environmental causes. She also worked in a Los Angeles art gallery for a time and has been seen on occasion in nostalgia conventions. She died on May 4, 2011, of heart disease, in Beverly Hills. - Miriam Byrd-Nethery was born on 17 May 1929 in Lewisville, Arkansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and From a Whisper to a Scream (1987). She was married to Clu Gulager. She died on 6 January 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Sugar, Pepper, Pearl, Bunny, Dottie, Ruby, Ginger, Sunny, Goldie, Bubbles, all those are nicknames borne by petite actress Iris Adrian in several of the 160 movies and television productions she appeared in. With such names, don't expect to see her playing Joan of Arc or Electra but it remains that all these pet names reflect her winning femininity, its sweetness, its spiciness, its radiance. What's more their funny overtones are telltale signs of Iris Adrian's own quick witty sense of humor. Sexy yes, but with a sharp tongue. This aspect of her personality helped her to evolve and last, changing from the roles of blonde chorus girls or waitresses or, on the wilder side, of streetwalkers and other gangsters' molls to colorful bit parts in comedies with Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley. She ended up playing almost exclusively for Walt Disney productions before retiring at the respectable age of 82. Though she never achieved star status she could easily have if the circumstances had been favorable. For she steals scenes in a lot of movies provided of course her role is fleshed out sufficiently. She was excellent, for instance, in more than one poverty row crime movies. Don't miss her in Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), Go West (1940) (with the Marx Brothers), Lady of Burlesque (1943), The Paleface (1948), Once a Thief (1950), and The Errand Boy (1961) (with Jerry Lewis).- Actor
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George Petrie was born on 16 November 1912 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), The Day After (1983) and Leave It to Beaver (1957). He was married to Patricia Pope. He died on 16 November 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
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Burt Kwouk was a British actor, who was best known for his role as Cato in the Pink Panther films, and for playing Mr Ling in the third James Bond film, Goldfinger.
Kwouk was born in Warrington, but was brought up in Shanghai. He made his film debut in the 1957 film Windom's Way. In Goldfinger (1964) he played Mr. Ling, a Chinese expert in nuclear fission; in the non-Eon spoof Casino Royale (1967) he played a general and in You Only Live Twice (1967) Kwouk played the part of a Japanese operative of Blofeld.
He also made appearances in many television programmes, including a portrayal of Imperial Japanese Army Major Yamauchi in the British drama series Tenko and as Entwistle in Last of the Summer Wine.
Kwouk died on 24 May 2016, at the age of 85.- Jaime Del Valle was born on 19 January 1910 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Jaime was a producer, known for The Lineup (1958), The Lawbreakers (1961) and Playhouse 90 (1956). Jaime was married to Gertrude E. Hinterholz, Virginia Gregg and Helene Lucile Rosson. Jaime died on 16 September 1981 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Davis Roberts was born on 7 March 1917 in Mobile, Alabama, USA. He was an actor, known for Westworld (1973), Star Trek (1966) and What's Happening!! (1976). He died on 18 July 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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Larry D. Mann was born on 18 December 1922 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Sting (1973), In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). He was married to Gloria Kochberg. He died on 6 January 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Cynda Williams was born on 17 May 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for One False Move (1991), Mad As Hell (2021) and Mo' Better Blues (1990). She has been married to Roderick Plummer since 26 July 2001. They have one child. She was previously married to Arthur Louis Fuller and Billy Bob Thornton.- Bruce Spence was born on September 17, 1945 in New Zealand. When he was growing up in Henderson, just out of Auckland, the last thing he ever expected to be was an actor. Bruce's family were winemakers, and he worked in the family winery from a very tender age, later attending Henderson High School then Massey University, where he studied horticulture. From this background he retained a passion for growing things, and has created a succession of beautiful gardens for himself and friends. At 20, Bruce moved to Australia, where to his surprise he was accepted into the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. Bruce's mother, Olga, was a painter and potter. In 1969 Bruce joined a ragtag group working at the tiny La Mama theatre in Melbourne. The group became the revolutionary Australian Performing Group, and Bruce's talent for acting was discovered. Forced to choose between art and acting, he decided to try his luck at the latter. He went on to perform in numerous plays with the group, then the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Sydney Theatre Company, the South Australian Theatre Company and several other companies, even the National Arts Centre of Canada where he played the lead in the award-winning "The Floating World" by John Romeril. He now lives in Sydney, where his recent acting credits with the Sydney Theatre Company include "The Secret River", "The Harp in the South", "Endgame" and "Rules for Living". Bruce has appeared in close to 100 films, including Mad Max 2 ("The Road Warrior") and 3 ("Beyond Thunderdome"), "Ace Ventura" Part II, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith", "Finding Nemo", "The Matrix Revolutions" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales". He has also appeared in numerous television roles. When starring as the wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander in the cult series "Legend of the Seeker", which was filmed in New Zealand, Bruce found he had come full circle, working directly opposite his old high school in Henderson. At home in Sydney he lives quietly with his wife, Jenny and an adoring tabby cat. They have two children and four grandchildren. Between jobs Bruce works on his own burgeoning garden and as a volunteer at the Royal Botanic Garden, where he and his group propagate plants. He is also currently chair of the NSW Actors' Benevolent Fund.
- David Powell was born on 17 December 1883 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Missing Millions (1922), The Dawn of a Tomorrow (1915) and Fine Feathers (1915). He died on 16 April 1925 in New York City, New York, USA.
- David Powell was born on 17 December 1883 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Missing Millions (1922), The Dawn of a Tomorrow (1915) and Fine Feathers (1915). He died on 16 April 1925 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Producer
Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born July 18, 1977) is an English actress. Her performance in After Miss Julie at the Donmar Warehouse made her a star of the London stage and earned her a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress of 2003. Reilly was born and brought up in Chessington, Surrey, England, the daughter of a hospital receptionist mother, and Jack Reilly, a police officer. She attended Tolworth Girls' School in Kingston, where she studied drama for GCSE. Her grandparents are Irish.
Reilly wrote to the producers of the television drama Prime Suspect to ask for work, and six months later she auditioned for a role in an episode of Prime Suspect 4: Inner Circle, which was broadcast on ITV on 7 May 1995. Six years later, she again appeared alongside Helen Mirren in the film Last Orders.
Her first professional role was followed by a series of parts on the English stage. She worked with Terry Johnson in four productions: Elton John's Glasses (1997), The London Cuckolds (1998), The Graduate (2000), and Piano/Forte (2006). Johnson wrote Piano/Forte for her and said, "Kelly is possibly the most natural, dyed-in-the-wool, deep-in-the-bone actress I've ever worked with." Reilly has stated that she learned the most as an actor from Karel Reisz, who directed her in The Yalta Game in Dublin in 2001. She said, "He was my masterclass. There is no way I would have been able to do Miss Julie if I hadn't done that play."
By 2000, Reilly felt she was being typecast in comedy roles, and actively sought out a role as the young Amy in Last Orders, directed by Fred Schepisi. This was followed by a role in the Royal Court's 2001 rerun of Sarah Kane's Blasted. The Times called her "theatrical Viagra." In 2002, Reilly starred alongside Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris as Wendy, an English Erasmus student, in the French comedy L'Auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment). She reprised her role in the 2005 sequel, Les Poupées russes (The Russian Dolls) and the 2013 follow-up, Casse-tête chinois (Chinese Puzzle). Also in 2005, Reilly had roles in such films as Mrs Henderson Presents and Pride & Prejudice.
Reilly's first lead role came in 2008 in the horror film Eden Lake and, in 2009, she had a high-profile role on prime-time British television in Above Suspicion. Reilly also appeared in three major films: Sherlock Holmes, Triage, and Me and Orson Welles.
In 2011, Reilly reprised her role as Mary Watson in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. In 2012, Reilly appeared opposite Sam Rockwell in A Single Shot and had a leading role in Robert Zemeckis' Flight opposite Denzel Washington. In 2014, Reilly starred with Greg Kinnear in the film Heaven is for Real and in the John Michael McDonagh film Calvary. The same year Reilly starred in the short-lived ABC series Black Box, as Catherine Black, a famed neuroscientist who explores and solves the mysteries of the brain (the black box) while hiding her own bipolar disorder from the world.
In 2015, Reilly starred in the second season of HBO's True Detective as Jordan Semyon, the wife of Vince Vaughn's character Frank Semyon. The same year, Reilly made her Broadway debut opposite Clive Owen and Eve Best in Harold Pinter's play Old Times at the American Airlines Theatre.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
George Coe was born on 10 May 1929 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and The Stepford Wives (1975). He was married to Karen Foray, Nancy Baker and Susan Allsopp Massaron. He died on 18 July 2015 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Harry Winer was born on 4 May 1947 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Alias (2001), Erased (2012) and SpaceCamp (1986). He has been married to Shelley Hack since 1989. They have one child. He was previously married to Eileen Harriette Pittler.- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Composer
Hank Williams was born in September 1923 in a small Alabama farming community about 70 miles south of Montgomery. His father was a railroad engineer who was also a victim of shell shock after a year of fighting in France in 1918 during World War I and spent many years in veterans hospitals. Hank's mother, Lillian Skipper Williams, played the organ in their local church and taught him gospel songs when he was six. When Hank turned 10 he taught himself to play the guitar, mostly by watching other guitarists.
In his teens Hank learned to play and sing country songs that he heard on the family radio, and picked up some blues chords from a black friend who was a street musician named Tee-Tot (Rufe Payne). At the age of 14 Hank put together his own band, playing at hoedowns and other get-together, where he won a local talent contest competition with his composition "WPA Blues." At 17, Hank put together a group called 'Hank Williams' Original Drifting Cowboys' and they successfully auditioned for the manager of WSFS Radio in Montgomery, where they played regularly on the air. Hank met his first wife Audrey Williams during a traveling medicine show and they were married in December 1944 at an Alabama gas station. Audrey was a strong-willed woman who became Hank's booking agent, road manager and promoter. It was she who encouraged the stage-frightened Hank to perform on stage and helped book gigs outside of Alabama.
In 1946 Hank and Audrey traveled to Nashville to secure a music publishing contract with producer Fred Rose, head of the Acuff-Rose publishing firm, who asked Hank to write a song on the spot. The song, "Mansion on the Hill", landed Hank a publishing contract with Acuff-Rose. During the late 1940s Hank--a tall, thin man who alway wore a short-brimmed, white cowboy hat--had his peak years when MGM Records signed him for a recording contract and he became a regular on "Louisiana Hayride", a KWKH radio show in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1949, after the birth of Hank and Audrey's son Hank Williams Jr., Hank was asked to join the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where he made his stage debut on June 11, 1949.
From 1949 to 1950, Hank became country music's top artist, with hits like "Lovesick Blues," "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It," "Moanin' the Blues" and "Why Don't You Love Me." His 1951 hits included "Hey, Good Lookin'" "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)." Hits of 1952 were "Honky Tonk Blues," "Jambalaya," and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive."
However, Hank's unprecedented success came with a price. A heavy drinker since his late teens, Hank proved to be an undependable performer when be began showing up for concerts drunk, and sometimes didn't show up at all. When Audrey divorced him in 1951 due to their constant fights over his drinking, his band began to become disillusioned with him, too, and the Grand Ole Opry suspended him from appearing at live shows. In October 1952 Hank married his second wife, 19-year-old Billie Jean Jones, who was no more successful than Audrey in protecting Hank from himself. Also, the Drifting Cowboys departed that same month due to Hank's violent mood swings and unpredictability. He was still in demand for live performances, though.
On the early morning hours on New Year's Day 1953, while traveling through West Virginia on the way to a show in Canton, Ohio, Hank Williams died in his sleep in the back seat of his Cadillac limousine at the age of 29.- Ayn Ruymen was born on 18 July 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Private Parts (1972), Kodiak (1974) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972). She is married to Robert Lee Ross.
- Andy Anderson was born on 18 July 1947 in Naenae, Wellington, New Zealand. He is an actor, known for House of Wax (2005), Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) and The Sullivans (1976).
- Stacey, born and raised in Dallas, Texas, attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in the United Kingdom and graduated with a degree in film from USC.
Her film credits include, Cindy in The Great Buck Howard (2008), Amanda Bynes mother in Easy A (2010), Geoffrey Rush's wife Bonnie in the Coen Brother's film Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Dana in Ghost World (2001), Barry Levinson's film Bandits (2001) and Steven Soderbergh's Oscar winning film Traffic (2000). Traffic was the recipient of SAG Award for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast".
She has done recent dramatic turns on television in Life (2007), Private Practice (2007) and The Riches (2007). Her comedic performances include Men of a Certain Age (2009), Desperate Housewives (2004) and Entourage (2004) to name a few.
Stacey is a founding member of The Echo Theatre Company. With the theatre group Huggermugger, she played Countess Orsini in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 'Emilia Galotti' and in Victorien Sardou's 'A Scrap of Paper'.
Her brother Greg Travis is an actor and comedian who also resides in Los Angeles. - Cinematographer
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Tidy was born on 17 May 1932 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Chain Reaction (1996), Under Siege (1992) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992). He was married to Maureen Catherine Corcoran. He died on 27 January 2017 in Kent, England, UK.- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of the movies' most memorable tough guys, Simon Oakland actually began his career as a concert violinist, turning to acting in the late 1940s. After a long string of roles in Broadway hits, including "Light Up the Sky," "The Shrike" and "Inherit the Wind," Oakland made his film debut as the tough but compassionate journalist who speaks up for Susan Hayward's "Barbara Graham" in I Want to Live! (1958). He would go on to play a long series of tough guy types, albeit usually on the right side of the law, in such films as The Sand Pebbles (1966), Tony Rome (1967), Psycho (1960), and, most notably, nasty Lieutenant Schrank in West Side Story (1961). He was also a frequently seen face on TV, at one point serving as a regular or semi-regular on four different series at once. Much respected by his co-workers as a total professional, he died, after a long battle with cancer, one day after his 68th birthday.- Quite a familiar lady and notorious busybody on 1950s and '60s TV and film, petite, red-headed character actress Lurene Tuttle was born in Pleasant Lake, Indiana and raised on a ranch close to the Arizona border. Her father, O.V. Tuttle, started out as a performer in minstrels, but found a job as a railroad-station agent when times got hard. Her grandfather was a drama teacher who once managed an opera house in Angola, Indiana. As a child, she studied acting in Phoenix and was known for her scene-stealing comedy antics even at that early age.
At age 15, the family relocated to Monrovia, California, and it was there that Tuttle began her career. She received dramatic training at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in many of their productions, including "The Playboy of the Western World." She subsequently became a troupe member of Murphy's Comedians, a vaudeville company, and then eventually extended her range as a dramatic ingénue in stock shows. Although making it to Broadway somehow slipped through her fingers, Tuttle worked on stage consistently throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Known for her speaking voice and mastery of a wide range of dialects, she found a new avenue in radio during the Depression and became one of that medium's most-recognized voices playing both sweet and sour characters. Dubbed the "First Lady of Radio," her best-remembered role came as Effie, the altruistic "Girl Friday" on "The Adventures of Sam Spade" opposite Howard Duff's cynical-edged gumshoe. Red Skelton also admired her versatility and used her frequently in a variety of parts on his radio show.
Film and TV presented itself to her strongly in the 1950s, by this time fitting in comfortably whether a warm and wise wife and mother or brittle matron. Following her film debut in Heaven Only Knows (1947), Tuttle lent able support alongside film's top stars including Cary Grant in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) and Room for One More (1952); Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and Niagara (1953); Joan Crawford in Goodbye, My Fancy (1951); Leslie Caron in The Glass Slipper (1955); and even Liberace when he tried to go legit in Sincerely Yours (1955). It was a rare occasion, however, when she was given a chance to truly shine in a prime supporting role. She could always be counted on to steal a bit of focus with just a sly grin or cynical look as she did playing the brief part of the sheriff's wife in Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic Psycho (1960). One of those rare exceptions when Tuttle actually top-lined a film came with her crazed portrayal of the title character in Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960). Here Tuttle pulled out all the stops in this admittedly fictional "B" crimer, going totally ballistic as the Ozark matriarch who, along with her boys, sets people on fire, runs over cops, and tommyguns her way into infamy. On the small screen, Tuttle was an amusing regular in a plethora of sitcoms, playing starchy relatives or gossipy townsfolk. Most audiences remember her quite fondly as the matriarch in Life with Father (1953) opposite Leon Ames, and as the crusty senior nurse on the Diahann Carroll series Julia (1968). She and Ames took the play "Life With Father" on the road several times after the series' demise.
Off-stage, Tuttle was married to fellow actor and announcer Mel Ruick; their paths initially crossed while both were performing in radio. Their daughter was musical comedy actress Barbara Ruick, best known for playing Carrie Pipperidge in the classic film musical Carousel (1956). The couple eventually divorced, and Tuttle wed again, but the marriage was short-lived. Tragically, her only child, who was married to epic film composer John Williams of "Star Wars" fame, died unexpectedly in 1974.
Tuttle was a well-respected drama and diction coach for several decades. She began teaching radio technique in the 1940s and re-trained some prominent actors who were returning from extensive WWII duty. After a lengthy departure in the 1950s due to TV commitments, she returned to to teaching acting almost to the end. Some of her more famous students included Red Skelton, Orson Welles, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, and Jayne Meadows. She lived out the rest of her life in Southern California and succumbed to cancer at age 78. In addition to her famous son-in-law, she was survived by her three grandchildren: Jennifer Gruska, a story editor; Mark Towner Williams, a drummer; and Joseph Williams, a composer and singer. - Claude Johnson was born on 17 May 1938 in Lassen County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Adam-12 (1968), The Magical World of Disney (1954) and Space Raiders (1983). He died on 18 May 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- 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.- Suzan Farmer was born on 16 June 1942 in Kent, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Die, Monster, Die! (1965), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1968). She was married to Ian McShane. She died on 17 September 2017 in England, UK.
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Hill Harper, an accomplished film, television and stage actor, stars in the hit CBS drama series, CSI: NY (2004). He portrays "Dr. Sheldon Hawkes", a reclusive coroner who walked away from a promising surgical career after the traumatic loss of two patients. This February, he will star in the HBO movie, Lackawanna Blues (2005), which is based on the critically-acclaimed stage play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Recently, "People" magazine selected Harper as one of their "Sexiest Men Alive" (2004).
Prior to CSI: NY (2004), Harper co-starred as an ambitious undercover FBI operative on the CBS series, The Handler (2003), alongside Emmy Award nominee Joe Pantoliano. The role earned him a 2004 Golden Satellite Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He has also been recognized by the NAACP Image Awards with a nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the CBS series, City of Angels (2000).
Harper received critical acclaim for his performance in the independent film, The Visit (2000), directed by Jordan Walker-Pearlman, which tells the story of two brothers who are forced to come together when the younger sibling (played by Harper), who is HIV-positive, is sentenced to death row for a crime he seemingly did not commit. His performance, which Daily Variety called "riveting", earned him a Best Actor nomination by the Independent Spirit Awards. He re-teams with Walker-Pearlman in the upcoming independent feature, Constellation (2005), which chronicles the lives and loves of a family in the Deep South.
His recent film roles include the lead in the independent film, Love, Sex and Eating the Bones (2003), which was accepted into the Toronto International, Palm Springs, and Pan African film festivals. This intriguing film won "Best Canadian First Feature Film" in the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival and both "Best Feature" and "Audience Favorite" in the 2004 Pan African Film Festival. He has also completed work on the independent film, America Brown (2004), which was accepted into the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. Harper's other screen credits include: Loving Jezebel (1999)_, The Nephew (1998) (with Pierce Brosnan), The Skulls (2000) (with Joshua Jackson), In Too Deep (1999) (with Omar Epps, LL Cool J and Nia Long), Beloved (1998), Hav Plenty (1998), He Got Game (1998) (with Denzel Washington), and Get on the Bus (1996). Other films include Zooman (1995) (with Louis Gossett Jr., Charles S. Dutton and CCH Pounder), "Full Court Press" (with Ellen Burstyn and Taye Diggs) and One Red Rose (1995), which he also co-wrote, for Showtime.
As a television actor, Harper has had numerous guest-starring roles. He recently appeared on recurring episodes of Showtime's Soul Food (2000) and guest-starred on HBO's The Sopranos (1999). He also starred in the CBS mini-series, Mama Flora's Family (1998) and the UPN Network comedy/drama, Live Shot (1995). Other guest appearances include: ER (1994), NYPD Blue (1993), Murder One (1995), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990) and Married... with Children (1987).
Harper's stage credits include appearances in off-Broadway productions of "Your Handsome Captain", "Freeman", and David Mamet's "American Buffalo". He completed a starring run of Jessica Hagedorn's "Dogeaters" at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theatre.
Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduated with a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, as well as with a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. He is a full-time member of Boston's Black Folk's Theater Company, one of the nation's oldest and most respected African-American traveling theater troupes. Harper's Bazaar wrote, "You might expect Hill Harper to be the next actor vying for the presidency... but he has other things on his agenda".- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Born in Memphis and raised in Philadelphia, Wendy started making student films in the summer of 1969 and began acting because she wanted to be able to write for and direct other actors. She discovered a love of acting that became a lifetime commitment, but only turned into a full-time pursuit when Jonathan Demme came to town to follow up his Academy Award with a groundbreaking drama about AIDS starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
Although she ended up on the cutting room floor of the movie "Philadelphia," the experience gave her a SAG card and convinced her that it was time to leave behind her career as an arts administrator (co-founder of CineKyd, executive director of The Clay Studio, and various managerial jobs at People's Light and Theatre Company) and pursue acting full-time. Two weeks after arriving in Los Angeles, she was cast in a new musical, "Lulu," for which she received a Drama-Logue Award, the first of many awards to come. Within a year, she had landed her first TV job, an appearance on "Murphy Brown."
She continued to work regularly in TV and in theatre. She helped to found Theatre Neo with Kathryn Joosten, Josh Schiowitz, and others; Theatre Neo evolved into Neo Ensemble Theatre, a membership company that produces monologue festivals and plays in small theatres in the city. She appeared on stage in such plays as "The Guardsman" at A Noise Within, "Man of La Mancha" with Jason Alexander's now-defunct company Reprise, and the world premiere of Charles Busch's "Die! Mommy! Die!" She joined the National Tour of "Wicked," playing Madame Morrible 509 times for more than 1.3 million audience members in 20 cities across the country over 65 weeks, before returning to Los Angeles.
Her television work includes a wide range of roles, from the murderous Lunch Lady on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (which earned her an appearance on her own trading card) to a recurring role as the formidable Margaret Camaro on "Ally McBeal," "Foodzilla" on "Even Stevens," and Miss Westmore ("The Wicked Witch of the Westmore"), teacher to the Olsen Twins on their last TV series, "So Little Time." She has appeared in many skits on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and returned to the diner on "Bones" as a resident waitress five times.
She also began to make her mark in feature films, including memorable turns as a lascivious casting director in "LA Twister" and a menacing nurse facing off against Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich in Clint Eastwood's powerful drama, "Changeling."
Wendy is an experienced theatre director (her BA from Temple University, awarded summa cum laude, is in Radio-TV-Film) and a published writer. Her short stories have been included in several anthologies, including "Death on a Cold Night," "Death and a Cup of Tea," "Thoroughly Modern Monsters," and "Immanence."
And, although she grew up there, she does not have a Philadelphia accent - but she can do one on request.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Patrick Barr, born into a judicial family in British India in 1908, was active for more than half a century on the stage, screen and, later, very successfully on television.
Tall and distinguished, the son of a judge and (in retirement) theatrical manager, Barr was educated at Radley and Trinity College, Oxford, winning a "blue" in the 1929 University Boat Race.
Having first worked as an engineer, he made the move to acting at the comparatively late age of twenty-five. His West End stage debut, followed in 1936 in a production of "The Country Wife" at the Old Vic. The following year, he made his debut on the New York stage.
During the Second World War, he was a conscientious objector serving with a Free French ambulance unit in North Africa. For his bravery, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
On his return to the United Kingdom, he resumed his acting career in a revival of Noël Coward's "Private Lives" at the Apollo Theatre. For the next fifteen years, he appeared almost non-stop on the West End Stage, the longest-running being "Like a Dove", in which he played "Lord Dungavel" for over two years. By the mid 1950s, the popularity of television was growing dramatically and Barr became more widely-known as a result, twice becoming "Television Actor of the Year".
In 1970, he made a strong return to the stage, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company for the season at Stratford. He played the ghost in "Hamlet", "Alonso" in "The Tempest" and "Escalus" in "Measure for Measure".
His first film, The Merry Men of Sherwood (1932) was the first of numerous character parts and, while never attaining first billing as he had on the stage and television, his talents were always in demand.
Patrick Barr died aged 77 on August 29 1985.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Christopher Chace Crawford was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son of Dana (Plott), a teacher, and Chris Wayne Crawford, a dermatologist. He grew up in Plano, Texas, and has a younger sister, Candice Crawford Romo, who studied broadcast journalism and won the Miss Missouri USA title in 2008. Chace played football and golf in high school, and is a talented artist. He graduated from Trinity Christian Academy in 2003. Although he worked as a model in Dallas, he never pursued acting. He moved to Malibu, California, to attend Pepperdine University after high school where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He struggled to identify a career path, vacillating between advertising, business and communications majors. Midway through his second year, his mother encouraged him to pursue acting. He credits her for initiating this move. She stated that "it was a practical move," based on a career aptitude test he had taken in high school, which revealed he was best suited for a career in the performing arts. He was signed by the first talent agent that interviewed him and then committed full-time to acting studies.
In 2006, Chace appeared in Lifetime's television movie Long Lost Son (2006), where he plays the son of Gabrielle Anwar's character. That same year, he starred alongside Steven Strait, Taylor Kitsch, Sebastian Stan and Toby Hemingway in the horror/thriller movie, The Covenant (2006). The year 2007 was a big break for Chace. He became one of the leads in CW's drama, Gossip Girl (2007). Among his cast members on the show are Penn Badgley, Leighton Meester & Ed Westwick. In the year 2008, Chace was seen in the movie Loaded (2008), opposite Jesse Metcalfe. He also got involved in the independent movie, The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008) with Haley Bennett. His other guest appearance includes a stint on the Family Guy (1999) episode The Former Life of Brian (2008). Other than being involved in more acting projects, the year 2008 proved to be an even better year for Chace as he won the Choice TV Breakout Star Male at the Teen Choice Award.- Actor
- Director
Craig Richard Nelson was born on 17 September 1947 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Paper Chase (1973), 3 Women (1977) and A Wedding (1978).- Actress
- Director
- Cinematographer
Susan Marie Snyder was born on 18 July 1963 in Idaho, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Ruthless People (1986), Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) and Santa Barbara (1984). She has been married to Daniel Sonis since 28 April 2003. She was previously married to Peter G. Boynton.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a standard text on Anglo-Saxon law. The family later moved to Leicester where his father was appointed Principal of the university while Richard was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
His film career began with a role as a deserting sailor in In Which We Serve (1942), a part that contributed to his being typecast for many years as a coward in films like Dulcimer Street (1948), Operation Disaster (1950) and his breakthrough role as a psychopathic young gangster in the film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, Brighton Rock (1948). During World War II, Attenborough served in the Royal Air Force.
He worked prolifically in British films for the next 30 years, and in the 1950s appeared in several successful comedies for John Boulting and Roy Boulting, including Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). Early in his stage career, Attenborough starred in the London West End production of Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap", which went on to become one of the world's longest-running stage productions. Both he and his wife were among the original cast members of the production, which opened in 1952 and (as of 2007) is still running.
In the 1960s, he expanded his range of character roles in films such as Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) and Guns at Batasi (1964), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the regimental Sergeant Major. He appeared in the ensemble cast of The Great Escape (1963), as Squadron Leader "Roger Bartlett" ("Big X"), the head of the escape committee.
In 1967 and 1968, he won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor, the first time for The Sand Pebbles (1966), starring Steve McQueen, and the second time for Doctor Dolittle (1967), starring Rex Harrison. He would win another Golden Globe for Best Director, for Gandhi (1982), in 1983. Six years prior to "Gandhi", he played the ruthless "Gen. Outram" in Indian director Satyajit Ray's period piece, The Chess Players (1977). He has never been nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category.
He took no acting roles following his appearance in Otto Preminger's The Human Factor (1979), until his appearance as the eccentric developer "John Hammond" in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993). The following year, he starred as "Kris Kringle" in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), a remake of the 1947 classic. Since then, he has made occasional appearances in supporting roles, including the historical drama, Elizabeth (1998), as "Sir William Cecil".
In the late 1950s, Attenborough formed a production company, "Beaver Films", with Bryan Forbes and began to build a profile as a producer on projects, including The League of Gentlemen (1960), The Angry Silence (1960) and Whistle Down the Wind (1961), also appearing in the first two of these as an actor.
His feature film directorial debut was the all-star screen version of the hit musical, Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), and his acting appearances became more sporadic - the most notable being his portrayal of serial killer "John Christie" in 10 Rillington Place (1971). He later directed two epic period films: Young Winston (1972), based on the early life of Winston Churchill, and A Bridge Too Far (1977), an all-star account of Operation Market Garden in World War II. He won the 1982 Academy Award for Directing for his historical epic, Gandhi (1982), a project he had been attempting to get made for many years. As the film's producer, he also won the Academy Award for Best Picture. His most recent films, as director and producer, include Chaplin (1992), starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charles Chaplin, and Shadowlands (1993), based on the relationship between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham. Both films starred Anthony Hopkins, who also appeared in three other films for Attenborough: "Young Winston", "A Bridge Too Far" and the thriller, Magic (1978).
Attenborough also directed the screen version of the hit Broadway musical, "A Chorus Line" (A Chorus Line (1985)), and the apartheid drama, Cry Freedom (1987), based on the experiences of Donald Woods. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for both films. His most recent film as director was another biographical film, Grey Owl (1999), starring Pierce Brosnan.
Attenborough is the President of RADA, Chairman of Capital Radio, President of BAFTA, President of the Gandhi Foundation, and President of the British National Film and Television School. He is also a vice patron of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.
He is also the patron of the UWC movement (United World Colleges), whereby he continually contributes greatly to the colleges that are part of the organization. He has frequented the United World College of Southern Africa(UWCSA) Waterford Kamhlaba. His wife and he founded the "Richard and Sheila Attenborough Visual Arts Center". He also founded the "Jane Holland Creative Center for Learning" at Waterford Kamhlaba in Swaziland in memory of his daughter, who died in the Tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004. He passionately believes in education, primarily education that does not judge upon color, race, creed or religion. His attachment to Waterford is his passion for non-racial education, which were the grounds on which Waterford Kamhlaba was founded. Waterford was one of his inspirations for directing Cry Freedom (1987), based on the life of Steve Biko.
He was elected to the post of Chancellor of the University of Sussex on 20 March 1998, replacing the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. A lifelong supporter of Chelsea Football Club, Attenborough served as a director of the club from 1969-1982 and, since 1993, has held the honorary position of Life Vice President. He is also the head of the consortium, "Dragon International", which is constructing a film and television studio complex in Llanilid, Wales, often referred to as "Valleywood".
In 1967, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was knighted in 1976 and, in 1993, he was made a life peer as Baron Attenborough, of Richmond-upon-Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
On 13 July 2006, Attenborough and his brother, David Attenborough, were awarded the titles of Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University of Leicester "in recognition of a record of continuing distinguished service to the University". Lord Attenborough is also listed as an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University for his continued efforts to film making.
Attenborough has been married to English actress Sheila Sim, since 1945. They had three children. In December 2004, his elder daughter, Jane Holland, as well as her daughter Lucy and her mother-in-law, also named Jane, were killed in the tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake. A memorial service was held on 8 March 2005, and Attenborough read a lesson at the national memorial service on 11 May 2005. His grandson, Samuel Holland, and granddaughter, Alice Holland, also read in the service.
Attenborough's father was principal of University College, Leicester, now the city's university. This has resulted in a long association with the university, with Lord Attenborough a patron. A commemorative plaque was placed on the floor of Richmond Parish Church. The university's "Richard Attenborough Centre for Disability and the Arts", which opened in 1997, is named in his Honor.
His son, Michael Attenborough, is also a director. He has two younger brothers, the famous naturalist Sir David Attenborough and John Attenborough, who has made a career in the motor trade.
He has collected Pablo Picasso ceramics since the 1950s. More than 100 items went on display at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester in 2007; the exhibition is dedicated to his family members lost in the tsunami.- Hannes Messemer was born on 17 May 1924 in Dillingen an der Donau, Bavaria, Germany. He was an actor, known for The Great Escape (1963), General Della Rovere (1959) and The Devil Strikes at Night (1957). He was married to Monika Keusch, Susanne Korda, Rose Schäfer and Herta Jung. He died on 2 November 1991 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
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Helmut Schmid was born on 8 April 1925 in Neu-Ulm, Bavaria, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Die Dame ist nicht fürs Feuer (1960), Der Stechlin (1975) and The Salzburg Connection (1972). He was married to Liselotte Pulver. He died on 18 July 1992 in Heiligenschwendi, Bern, Switzerland.- German character actor on screen, TV and stage. Trained in Brunswick he had his stage debut in Freiburg. Later he was on stage in Frankfurt and since 1975 in Munich. After more and more bigger filmparts since 1949 he played his only leading role in The Kidnapping of Miss Nylon (1959). Then he became a very busy supporting actor in over fifty movies. Director Billy Wilder gave him the part as Chauffeur Fritz in One, Two, Three (1961) opposite James Cagney. He starred in several TV serials in Germany, best known as Inspector Janot in the longtime serial Dem Täter auf der Spur (1967) between 1967-73 and in Lutz & Hardy (1994). His most recognized and superb role was as Vater Kempowski in Tadellöser & Wolff (1975). He had his last appearance as guest-star in the final episode of Derrick (1974) in 1998.
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Jesse Moss was born on 4 May 1983 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010), The Uninvited (2009) and Final Destination 3 (2006).- Producer
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Vin Diesel was born Mark Sinclair in Alameda County, California, along with his fraternal twin brother, Paul Vincent. He was raised by his astrologer/psychologist mother, Delora Sherleen (Sinclair), and adoptive father, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theatre manager, in an artists' housing project in New York City's Greenwich Village. He never knew his biological father. His mother is white (with English, German, Scottish, and Irish ancestry), and his adoptive father is African-American; referring to his biological father's background, Diesel has said that he himself is "definitely a person of colour".
His first break in acting happened by chance, when at the age of seven he and his friends broke into a theatre to vandalize it. A woman stopped them and offered them each a script and $20, on the condition that they would attend everyday after school. From there, Vin's fledgling career progressed from the New York repertory company run by his father, to the Off-Off-Broadway circuit. At age seventeen and already sporting a well-honed physique, he became a bouncer at some of New York's hippest clubs to earn himself some extra cash. It was at this time that he changed his name to Vin Diesel.
Following high school, Vin enrolled as an English major at Hunter College, but dropped out after three years to go to Hollywood to further his acting career. Being an experienced theatre actor did not make any impression in Hollywood and after a year of struggling to make his mark, he returned to New York. His mother then gave him a book called "Feature Films at used Car Prices" by Rick Schmidt. The book showed him that he could take control of his career and make his own movies. He wrote a short film based on his own experiences as an actor, called Multi-Facial (1995), which was shot in less than three days at a cost of $3,000. Multi-Facial (1995) was eventually accepted for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it got a tumultuous reception.
Afterwards, Vin returned to Los Angeles and raised almost $50,000 through telemarketing to fund the making of his first feature, Strays (1997). Six months after shooting, the film was accepted for the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, and although it received a good reception, it did not sell as well as hoped. Yet again Vin returned disappointed to New York only to receive a dream phone call. Steven Spielberg was impressed by Multi-Facial (1995) and wanted to meet Vin, leading him to be cast in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Multi-Facial (1995) earned Vin more work, when the director of The Iron Giant (1999) saw it and decided to cast Vin in the title role. From there, Vin's career steadily grew, with him securing his first lead role, as Richard B. Riddick in the sci-fi film Pitch Black (2000). The role has earned him a legion of devoted fans and the public recognition he deserves.
Since then, he has headlined a series of blockbusters, often but not only centered on fast-driving motor vehicles: The Fast and the Furious (2001), xXx (2002), The Pacifier (2005), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), and Furious 7 (2015). He also voiced Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and starred in the lower-budgeted courtroom drama Find Me Guilty (2006), the latter directed by Sidney Lumet.- Actress
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Ella Purnell was born in London, U.K. She is best known for her roles in Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (2016), in BBC One's Ordeal By Innocence (2017) and Starz' Sweetbitter (2017), in which she plays the series lead role of Tess in the adaptation of Stephanie Danler's hit novel of the same name.- In her mid-teens she sang leading roles in musicals at Richmond High School and also sang in a girls' choir organised by Burton Kurth; in the early 1940s she studied voice with in turn Mignon Duke Gidy, Avis Phillips, and Phylis Inglis and piano with Phyllis Schuldt. She appeared at TUTS for the first time in a 1946 production of Robin Hood and subsequently played leads in more than 20 TUTS productions until 1960; she is best remembered for the role of Mrs Anna in The King and I. Phillips' radio career began in 1948 with a CBC Vancouver light classical series and has included regular appearances 1953-65 on the CBC's 'Leicester Square to Broadway'; variety work in 1955 on the BBC; solo, recital, and folksong performances on the CBC; and many British Columbia school broadcasts 1970-2. On CBC TV she sang Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus in 1954, co-starred 1956-7 with Ernie Prentice on 'Lolly-too-dum,' and was hostess 1965-7 for 'Bazaar.' Phillips has performed at the Vancouver International Festival and with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in Vancouver Opera productions (Flora in La Traviata, 1961; Nicklausse in Tales of Hoffmann, 1961; Clotilde in Norma, 1963; Vera Boronell in The Consul, 1964; Zulma in The Italian Girl in Algiers, 1965; and the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, 1966). She has performed in musical comedy throughout Canada - on tour (1967) with One Hundred Years of Musical Comedy, at the 1968 and 1969 Charlottetown Festival; in Anne of Green Gables and Johnny Belinda, and at Winnipeg's Rainbow Stage in Fiddler on the Roof (1971). She sang locally in Theatre-in-the-Park productions of The Sound of Music (1974) and Fiddler on the Roof (1975), while studying 1972-6 at the University of British Columbia. As an actress she has played many roles at Bastion Theatre, Victoria, and the Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver, and has also appeared at Persephone Theatre, Saskatoon and at Citadel Theatre, Edmonton. In the first Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Co season (1963) she appeared as Mme Dubonnet in The Boy Friend and has continued to act for that company over the years. She has been in over 40 Canadian and US movies, some of them feature films and the others made for television. In 1962 Phillips married the actor, writer, and librettist Peter Haworth, who has collaborated with Leonard Wilson, Healey Willan, and the English composer Robert Simpson.
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Arielle Holmes was born on 17 September 1993 in Hollywood, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for American Honey (2016), Heaven Knows What (2014) and 2307: Winter's Dream (2016).- Actor
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'Eric Sykes' started as a radio scriptwriter but he soon found he could perform as well as write. The slight handicap of being very hard of hearing doesn't interfere with his wonderful comic timing. The spectacles he wears have no lenses but contain a bone conducting hearing aid.- Emily Perkins was born on 4 May 1977 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is an actress, known for Ginger Snaps (2000), It (1990) and Juno (2007). She is married to Ernest Mathijs.
- John Stuart was born on 18 July 1898 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Superman (1978), Number 17 (1932) and Hindle Wakes (1931). He was married to Barbara Markham, Muriel Angelus and Jeanne Lagrene. He died on 17 October 1979 in London, England, UK.