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1-36 of 36
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lugubrious-faced English actor Geoffrey Palmer was born in London, the son of a chartered accountant. After leaving school, he did his national service with the Royal Marines where he became a field training and small arms instructor. He then briefly tried his hand at accountancy before his girlfriend talked him into joining the local amateur dramatics society. Palmer started as an unpaid assistant stage manager at Croydon's Grand Theatre and afterwards spent several years touring in repertory. In 1955, he made the transition to television, at first as diverse straight supporting characters in popular early comedies like Bootsie and Snudge (1960) and The Army Game (1957), a series detailing the exploits and misadventures of a group of national service conscripts at a surplus ordnance depot. During much of the early and mid-60s, Palmer cut his teeth on prolific dramatic roles that came his way in seminal crime and mystery shows (The Saint (1962), The Avengers (1961), The Baron (1966), Z Cars (1962)), in which he often appeared as military types, politicians, or as legal or medical professionals. His personal credo was to never turn down a part.
By the 70s, Palmer was becoming well-established as a supporting actor in British television. He made two appearances in Doctor Who (1963) in the early 1970s (most notably as the ill-fated Edward Masters, Permanent Under-Secretary to the Minister of Science, in "The Silurians"). From there, he went on to co-starring success as Leonard Rossiter's hapless brother-in-law in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976), Wendy Craig's perpetually aloof and gloomy husband in Butterflies (1978) and as Lionel Hardcastle in the hugely popular sitcom As Time Goes By (1992) (opposite Judi Dench). He also starred as Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott in Fairly Secret Army (1984), playing a buffoonish, reactionary ex-army man attempting to shape a disparate bunch of characters into a secret paramilitary organisation. Smaller (but memorable) guest spots have included his sausage-loving doctor in The Kipper and the Corpse (1979), the Foreign Secretary in Whoops Apocalypse (1982) and Field Marshal Haig in Blackadder Goes Forth (1989). Palmer appeared opposite Judi Dench again in the James Bond thriller Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in Mrs. Brown (1997) as Queen Victoria's chief secretary Sir Henry Ponsonby. In 2007 he returned to Doctor Who as a guest star in the David Tennant era.
An instantly recognisable actor with jowly features and a trademark deadpan expression, Palmer's stock-in-trade persona was of a world-weary, disenchanted, droll or sarcastic disposition. Conversely, in private life, he was said to be rather more lighthearted and humorous. He once declared "I'm not grumpy. I just look this way." Nonetheless, he was great value in the BBC series Grumpy Old Men (2003) as one of several middle-aged narrators complaining about assorted irritations in modern life. In addition to several audio books, Palmer also lent his familiar voice to radio and to Audi TV ads. In his spare time he was an avid fly fisherman and a longstanding member of the Garrick Club in London.
Palmer was awarded in OBE in December 2004 for his services to drama.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Joyce Brothers was born on 20 October 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), The King of Comedy (1982) and Spy Hard (1996). She was married to Milton Brothers. She died on 13 May 2013 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.- William Swan was born on 6 February 1928 in Amherst, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Cavalcade of America (1952), Producers' Showcase (1954) and The Parallax View (1974). He died on 20 January 2019 in Lee, Massachussets.
- Anne Grey was born on 6 March 1907 in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Gables Mystery (1931), The Squeaker (1930) and Faithful Hearts (1932). She was married to George Ernest Gordon Hope-Johnstone and Lester Matthews. She died on 3 April 1987 in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, England, UK.
- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Celia Cruz was born on 21 October 1925 in Havana, Cuba. She was a music artist and actress, known for Carlito's Way (1993), Amores Perros (2000) and Tower Heist (2011). She was married to Pedro Knight. She died on 16 July 2003 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.- Susan Richards was born on 6 August 1898 in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merionethshire, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for The Lady of the Camellias (1976), Village of the Damned (1960) and The Wednesday Play (1964). She died on 24 December 1986 in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, England, UK.
- Director
- Additional Crew
- Animation Department
Cartoonist Otto Messmer was born in Union City (then known as West Hoboken), NJ, on Aug. 16, 1892. He showed an aptitude for drawing as early as grammar school, and his teachers encouraged him to follow that path. After graduating he took a correspondence course in art and attended the Thomas School of Art in New York City. He took a job with an advertising agency, illustrating fashion catalogs, but never lost his passion for drawing. One day his brother took him to a vaudeville act that showed the films of pioneering animator Winsor McCay and Messmer knew what career path he was going to follow. He began drawing his own comic strips and submitting them to newspapers. He also applied to several animation studios in New York for work as a set painter. Producer Jack Cohn at Universal saw Messmer's comic strips, however, liked them and hired him as an animator.
Messmer devised a character called "Motor Mat", a daredevil race driver, and brought it to Cohn. Cohn showed it to well-known animators Pat Sullivan and Henry 'Hy' Mayer, who were so impressed with it that they both asked Messmer to work with them. Messmer chose Mayer and helped him animate his series "The Travels of Teddy", based on the exploits of Mayer's friend Theodore Roosevelt. After Messmer finished that project he went to work for Pat Sullivan. Unfortunately for both of them, Sullivan was arrested for rape in 1917, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Messmer went back to Hy Mayer, but was soon drafted into the army and fought in World War I, returning to the US in 1919. By that time Sullivan was out of prison, and the two went back to making animated films.
Later that year Sullivan and Messmer received an order from Paramount Screen Magazine, which made news, travelogue and cartoon shorts, to create a cartoon character (the animator it had originally contracted with was late turning it in) and Sullivan told Messmer to do it on his own. Messmer made the character a sassy, all-black cat and called the cartoon "Feline Follies". It was quite successful and Paramount ordered an entire series of the cat's adventures. Messmer originally called the character "Master Tom" but by the third entry in the series the name had changed to Felix (a combination of "feline" and "felicity").
In 1921 Paramount Pictures decided to close down its Screen Magazine division, and Sullivan managed to get back the rights to Felix the Cat, which had actually belonged to Paramount (even though Sullivan's studio had created it). He then went to Warner Bros. to try to get a distribution deal, but the studio wasn't interested. However, M.J. Winkler, the secretary to Harry Warner, was interested and she and Sulivan eventually signed a production/distribution deal for the Felix the Cat series.
The first entry under the deal was Felix Saves the Day (1922), and it wasn't long before the series was an even bigger hit than it was under Paramount, even managing to secure distribution in Canada. The Messmer/Winkler Felix cartoons were praised for their imagination, humor, puns and intelligence. The success of the series resulted in the company securing an international distribution deal in 1922 that required more than double the number of entries from the previous year, with the resultant expansion of the studio.
Felix was a huge hit with the public, which took him to heart. In 1923 the company turned Felix into a comic strip, which ran until 1943. The strip was popular, but never achieved the status of the cartoons. In addition, the international distribution made the character a worldwide hit.
Felix's popularity began to wane with the coming of sound. Rather than jump wholeheartedly into sound cartoons, as Walt Disney did, Sullivan simply added sound effects to some new Felix films (and went back and did the same to some older entries). The result was shoddy and not up to the standards of the Disney sound cartoons. By 1931 Felix had been eclipsed by a new character, which incorporated both sound effects and dialogue as integral parts of the film, and not just add-ons: Mickey Mouse.
Television revived Felix's career, and new cartoons were created especially for that medium. This time he didn't carry the films alone--he was accompanied by his bulldog Rock Bottom, the eccentric Professor, his somewhat nerdy nephew Poindexter and his "Magic Bag of Tricks".
Otto Messmer died on October 28, 1983, in Fort Lee, NJ, at 91 years of age.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Anne Triola was born on 25 September 1920 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Lullaby of Broadway (1951), Without Reservations (1946) and Moon Over Las Vegas (1944). She was married to Ralph Quartaroli. She died in 2012 in Lee's Summit, Missouri, USA.- Blake Champion died on 21 May 1987 in Lee, Massachusetts, USA.
- Manfred Gans was born in Borken, Germany. He was married to Anita Lamm. He died on 12 September 2010 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.
- Cyril Thornton was born on 6 August 1905 in New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Thin Man (1934), The Case of the Black Parrot (1941) and Name the Woman (1934). He died on 8 February 1990 in Lee, Florida, USA.
- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka was born May 11, 1976 in Charlottle, North Carolina. After attending College at He is the creator and owner of SomethingAwful.com, which he started in 1999 as a way to vent about his current employer. The site soon grew to be one of the most popular sites online and helped to shape internet culture starting in the early 2000's.
Rich is a webmaster, writer, musician, director, and sound tech. He resides in Lee's Summit, MO with his wife, Ashli Kyanka and his three daughters.- Joel Crager was born on 8 June 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for That's Life (1968), The Patty Duke Show (1963) and New Art of the American West (1979). He died on 28 July 2010 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
June Valli was born on 30 June 1928 in The Bronx, New York, USA. She is known for Hercules Unchained (1959), Your Hit Parade (1950) and The Ezio Pinza Show (1951). She was married to Jimmy Merchant (Mercadante), Howard Miller and Jimmy Merchant. She died on 12 March 1993 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bob Montgomery was born on 12 May 1937 in Lampasas, Texas, USA. He is known for Natural Born Killers (1994), Phenomenon (1996) and Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). He was married to Carol Cox and Cathy Hammond. He died on 4 December 2014 in Lee's Summit, Missouri, USA.- Louis R. Grisel was born on 26 November 1849 in Newcastle, Delaware, USA. He was an actor, known for The Dancer's Peril (1917), The Cinderella Man (1917) and The Moral Deadline (1919). He was married to Mary Q. Johnstone (actress) (1863-1931). He died on 19 November 1928 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
Vinnie Gerardo was born on 19 January 1930 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Vinnie is known for 12 Monkeys (1995), Ghostbusters (1984) and Black Rain (1989). Vinnie was married to Mary Bruno. Vinnie died on 6 January 2013 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.- Art Director
- Animation Department
- Director
Karel Dodal was born on 21 July 1900 in Prague, Cechy, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republik]. He was an art director and director, known for Ideas in Search of Light (1938), Kariéra Pavla Camrdy (1931) and Fantaisie érotique (1936). He was married to Irena Dodalová and Hermína Týrlová. He died on 6 July 1986 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.- Writer
- Composer
- Producer
Sandy McKnight was born on 1 July 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and composer, known for Band Boy, The Ragamuffins of Love (2017) and The Honest Affair. He was married to Liv Cummins. He died on 22 May 2024 in Lee, Massachusetts, USA.- Tracy Holmes was born on 26 July 1902 in Kidbrooke, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Detective Lloyd (1932), Jury's Evidence (1936) and The Ghost Train (1931). He died on 18 November 1993 in Brabourne Lees, Kent, England, UK.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Composer and songwriter Sidney Lippman was educated at the University of Minnesota (BS degree) and Juilliard on a fellowship, and studied with Bernard Wagenaar. He arranged songs for music-publishing firms between 1937 and 1941 and wrote the Broadway score for "Barefoot Boy With Cheek". Joining ASCAP in 1943, his chief musical collaborators included Sylvia Dee, Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise, and his popular-song compositions include "A - You're Adorable", "Through the Eyes of Love", "These Things You Left Me", "I'm Thrilled", "Little Lulu", "It Couldn't Be True", "Chickery Chick", "Laroo Laroo Lili Bolero", "My Sugar Is So Refined", "After Graduation Day", "Too Young", "A House With Love in It", "Great Somebody", and "That's the Chance You Take".- Pierson Dean Phillips was the only child of Hilaire Phillips and Travis Phillips. He grew up in Independence, Missouri where he attended Nativity of Mary Catholic School. He was accepted as a student at Rockhurst High School as a member of the class of 2023 and dreamed of being on the debate team. Pierson was a passionate public speaker and spoke at many events including The Children's Services Fund Coalition, The Missouri GFWC State Convention, The 2017 Speak Up Walk, Comprehensive Mental Health Services Annual Luncheon, Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation Panel Discussion, and the GFWC International Convention in 2018. He spoke candidly and passionately about mental illness and what it was like to live with suicidal thoughts. In 2018 he was named as one of the stars in Just Like You Films Anxiety and Depression, a project he wholeheartedly supported and helped raise money for. On January 21, 2019, right before filming began, Pierson lost his battle with anxiety and depression and died by suicide. He was 14 years old. His family started The Pierson Project in his memory and continue to educate and advocate for suicide prevention. On September 1, 2021, Comprehensive Mental Health Services honored Pierson's legacy of advocating for youth mental health by naming their newest facility the Pierson D. Phillips Building. His story is also told in Chronicle.
- Irving Cohn was born on 21 February 1898 in London, England, UK. Irving died on 12 July 1961 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.
- Gordon Hamilton was born on 16 May 1882 in Coytesville, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Love Without Question (1920). He was married to Josephine. He died on 16 January 1939 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.
- Tyler Clementi was born on 19 December 1991 in Ridgewood, New Jersey, USA. He died on 22 September 2010 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.