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- David Graf was a Lancaster, Ohio native. He was a graduate of Lancaster High School in 1968. He went on to attend college at Otterbein University where he graduated in 1972 as a theater major. He attended Ohio State University grad school until 1975 when he dropped out to pursue an acting career in New York City. He broke into the movies with Four Friends (1981). David never forgot his roots. He always returned to Lancaster each year in October for the Fairfield County Fair. It was his way of keeping in touch. In a tragic coincidence, David passed away at the same age and condition that his father did. David is survived by his wife of 17 years, Kathryn Graf, two sons, Daniel and Sean; mother and brother who reside in Zanesville, Ohio.
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Charles Boyer studied philosophy before he went to the theater where he gave his debut in 1920. Although he had at first no intentions to pursue a career at the movies (his first movie was Man of the Sea (1920) by Marcel L'Herbier) he used his chance in Hollywood after several filming stations all over Europe. In the beginning of his career his beautiful voice was hidden by the silent movies but in Hollywood he became famous for his whispered declarations of love (like in movies with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich or Ingrid Bergman). In 1934 he married Pat Paterson, his first and (unusual for a star) only wife. He was so faithful to her that he decided to commit suicide two days after her death in 1978.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Peter Brown got into acting when he was in the army by organizing a theater group on base to occupy his spare time while stationed in Alaska. After his discharge he enrolled in the acting program at UCLA, and starting in the mid-1950s found employment in many of the western films and series being turned out at the time (he is especially remembered for his work as eager young deputy Johnny McKay in the classic western series Lawman (1958) and as one of a trio of Texas Rangers in the western action/comedy series Laredo (1965)). Following the end of a contract with Universal Pictures (1965-1972), he switched to soap operas and made-for-TV films, and has been steadily employed ever since.- Actress
- Soundtrack
From mill girl to film star was the real life story of Bradford born Pat Paterson. A former Laidler Sunbeam and stage struck she left Lister's Mill office at 15 to join a touring show, After doing cabaret work in London she was seen by an agent for Fox Films and given a part in the British film The Right to Live, A five year contract with Fox followed and in America she met and married French star Charles Boyer. After making 5 films she left the business. Her marriage was a very happy one and when she died in 1978 Charles died just a few days later reputedly of as broken heart,- Beverly Michaels was born on 28 December 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Wicked Woman (1953), East Side, West Side (1949) and Blonde Bait (1956). She was married to Russell Rouse and Voldemar Vetluguin. She died on 9 June 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Adele and her brother Fred were the toast of Broadway in the 1920s and early thirties with such shows as Lady be Good and Funny Face. Many thought Adele was the greater entertainer of the pair, comparing her to Fanny Brice and Imogene Coca. Fred was far more serious about his craft and would rehearse tirelessly while his sister would refer to him as "Moaning Minnie" because he was seldom satisfied. After Adele married an English lord in 1932, Fred did one more show without her (The Gay Divorcee) then headed for Hollywood to begin his legendary career. One can't help wondering whether his stardom would have been as great without the early success of his partnership with Adele.
- Kevin Tate was born on 6 October 1954 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He was an actor, known for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), Bullet for a Badman (1964) and My Three Sons (1960). He died on 30 September 1999 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Actress
- Make-Up Department
Pretty and petite 5'2" brunette Delores Wells was born on October 17, 1937 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Delores was the Playmate of the Month in the June, 1960 issue of "Playboy" (she was paid $500 dollars for this particular pictorial). Wells worked as a Bunny at the Chicago Playboy Club, where she earned $1,000 dollars a week. Moreover, Delores also acted in a handful of B-movies and TV shows. She not only was a regular minor player in several 60s AIP "Beach Party" films, but also made guest appearances on episodes of such TV series as The Bob Cummings Show (1961); Thriller (1960); 87th Precinct (1961) and Burke's Law (1963). Wells met legendary adult cinema actress Linda Lovelace at a Playboy Mansion party and worked, for a while, as Lovelace's personal secretary.- Actress
- Soundtrack
This dainty brunette starlet of the 1950s was born Mary Ellen Keaggy of German, Swiss and Irish ancestry. She loved to sing and performed in front of audiences already by the tender age of six. Not surprising an aptitude, being raised in a family with an aunt who was an opera diva in New York, an uncle who was a lyric tenor and a grandfather who was a wiz on the guitar. By the age of 15, Mary Ellen hit the road with a local orchestra as a professional singer, and, just two years later, headlined at the Mayflower Ballroom in Inglewood, California. Her first proper acting gig on stage was as Meg in Little Women. Shortly after, she appeared with Leonard Nimoy in a play at the Glendale Centre Theatre. While studying at the Bliss-Hayden School of Theatre she was discovered by a talent scout and this led her on the road to tinseltown.
After a handful of bit parts at Columbia and RKO, Mary Ellen won an audition at Republic in January 1951 and was signed to a short-term contract. In just a single year, she managed to rack up a string of eleven screen credits, including six westerns with Rex Allen (whom she described as 'wholesome'). For The Last Musketeer (1952), she was trained in the running mount by Allen and by (ex-rodeo clown) Slim Pickens (whom she called 'a laugh-a-minute'). By the end of that brief tenure at Republic, Mary Ellen had become an adept horsewoman. This training paid dividends as it helped to keep her gainfully employed for the remainder of the decade. Towards the end of her Hollywood tenure, she made several television guest appearances in The Lone Ranger (1949) and on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950), eventually fading into retirement by the mid-60s.- Actor
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
John McCain was born on 29 August 1936 in Canal Zone, Panama. He was an actor and writer, known for Parks and Recreation (2009), John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls (2018) and Saturday Night Live (1975). He was married to Cindy McCain and Carol Shepp. He died on 25 August 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Production Manager
He was crude, uneducated, foul and, even on his best behavior, abrasive. No major studio executive of the so-called "Golden Age" was more loathed (although at times the dictatorial Samuel Goldwyn and the hard-nosed Jack L. Warner came close) than Harry Cohn.
Born in the middle of 5 children to Joseph Cohn, a Jewish tailor, and Bella, a Polish émigré, Harry was raised on New York's rough lower-class East 88th St., where he followed his older brother Jack Cohn into show business. Harry's life and the origins of Columbia Pictures are closely associated with Jack, whose early career paved the way for Harry's own ambitions, despite the fact that the two brothers fought bitterly and each harbored deep resentment over the other's success. By 19 Jack had left a job with an advertising agency to work for Carl Laemmle's newly formed Independent Motion Picture Company (IMP), rapidly working his way from entry-level job in the processing lab and through various positions where he founded Universal Weekly, one of the first newsreel outfits, for Laemmle. Jack soon found himself in charge of IMP's shorts as an uncredited producer. He was involved in Laemmle's first stab at feature production, Traffic in Souls (1913), which returned a then-whopping $450,000 on a $57,000 negative cost, convincing Uncle Carl to head west and invest in his own studio, Universal City. During this period Jack had convinced Laemmle to hire Joe Brandt, an attorney he'd worked for in advertising. Brandt, who would become the head of Universal's East Coast operations, would later be a key factor in the brothers' success.
Harry had grown up in his brother's shadow, working for much of the first decade of the 20th century as a lowly shipping clerk for a music publishing company. In 1912 he teamed with Harry Ruby at a local nickelodeon, singing duo for $28 per week, with Ruby receiving the biggest slice of the pie. The act would split up within a year and, after a brief stint as a trolley-car fare collector, Harry hit on the idea of applying song plugging to motion pictures. He produced a handful of silent shorts in which popular songs were mimed by actors, inviting the audiences to join in. His relatively modest success at this greased the skids for his brother to recommend him for a job at Universal. At age 27 Harry was working for Laemmle.
By 1919 Jack was itching for a change and wanted to become an independent film producer--he produced a series of shorts called Screen Snapshots, which purported to show stars' lives off-screen. Their popularity encouraged Jack to jump ship and Harry, sensing an opportunity, went with him. With them went Joe Brandt. The three formed CBC Film Sales, which released shorts, mostly terrible--so terrible, in fact, they earned the studio the nickname "Corned Beef and Cabbage Productions" (Harry would explode into a rage whenever he heard this). Desperate to put distance between he and his brother, Harry headed for Hollywood to oversee CBC productions there. By design or opportunity he ended up working out of the old Balshofer Studio on Hollywood Boulevard and gradually created his own studio, renting out the Independent Studios lot on Sunset and Gower. This was the heart of "Poverty Row"--so-called because it was an area filled with the offices of low-budget production companies and fly-by-night producers, who ground out ultra-cheap programmers (mostly westerns) hoping to make a few bucks. Harry was home.
He began producing two-reelers cheaply and nearly everything he sent east made money for CBC. It soon dawned on him that the big money wasn't in shorts but features, and the company scraped $20,000 together and produced More to Be Pitied Than Scorned (1922). Through the then-complex system of exchange releasing and so-called states rights sales, CBC netted $130,000 on the picture and, even more importantly, scored a deal for five additional features. By the end of 1923 CBC had released ten features, none of which lost money--a remarkable event along Gower Gulch. Harry was extremely conscious of his place in Hollywood and took offense at the derision CBC films received. He finally had enough, and on January 10, 1924, the company's name became Columbia Pictures Corporation. The next year the company paid $150,000 for a property at 6070 Sunset Boulevard. The partners made a fateful decision about the same time: unlike most of the other major studios (and this definition certainly didn't include Columbia at the time), they opted to forego theater ownership. This decision would prove extremely wise over the next 3three decades. Under Harry, Columbia rose from the Gower Gulch ash heap. His releases rarely featured A-list stars but consistently made money. Columbia took its first tentative stab at A-list feature production with The Blood Ship (1927) (its first featuring the now-familiar torch lady logo), and even that was made using a faded star, Hobart Bosworth, who agreed to appear in the melodrama for free.
Fate smiled on Harry when former Mack Sennett writer/director Frank Capra became available, and he was able to initially secure Capra's services for $1000 per picture. Capra's importance to the fortunes of Columbia Pictures cannot be overstated and, to be fair to Cohn, he recognized it. With rare exceptions the studio utilized competent journeymen directors like Erle C. Kenton, Malcolm St. Clair or Edward LeSaint, usually assigned to projects starring capable B-level actors hired on a one-shot basis (every so often Columbia would splurge and hire an "A"-list director like Howard Hawks. With each of his features, Capra's significance to Columbia grew, and with each hit Capra was given increasing carte blanche; the congenitally tightfisted Cohn would still fight bitterly with his star director over budgets, but would usually relent to the demands of his productions. Strangely, Columbia's status as a Poverty Row outfit actually helped. The major studios loaned them temperamental stars who demanded pay raises or script approval--since working for a "low-rent" studio like Columbia was considered punishment in the class-conscious world of Hollywood--and Harry enthusiastically assigned them to Capra's pictures, a tactic that usually paid off big. A top actor from MGM or Warners was expected to suffer in the low-budget purgatory of Gower Gulch but usually left eagerly wanting to work for Capra again. One such production, It Happened One Night (1934), single-handedly propelled the studio into the ranks of the majors and garnered Columbia its first Oscars (although the studio had been nominated for productions infrequently since 1931). Cohn never looked back; signing directors to contracts was one thing, but hordes of potentially unruly actors was another thing entirely--he held firm to his long-standing belief that contract stars were nothing but trouble, after paying keen interest to Jack L. Warner's battles with James Cagney, Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. In 1934 he signed The Three Stooges (who would enjoy a 22-year run at Columbia) and recent German émigré Peter Lorre (Cohn was at a loss on how to utilize him and Lorre would spent most of his time at Columbia being loaned out to other studios) to long-term contracts, but wouldn't begin to build a roster of contract stars in earnest until the late 1930s, beginning with Rosalind Russell, and always he kept their numbers comparatively small (William Holden, Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth were among the select few in the late 1930s and early 1940s).
The vast majority of Columbia's output remained at the B-level well into the 1950s, but most of its films were profitable. It took Columbia until 1946 to experience its first bona fide blockbuster with The Jolson Story (1946), which netted $8 million on a $2-million investment and resulted in a profitable sequel in 1949. Among the major studios only Paramount and Columbia eagerly welcomed the intrusion of television, and Columbia responded by creating a subsidiary, Screen Gems (created by Harry's nephew Ralph Cohn) in the early 1950s. The division would pay off handsomely over the next 20 years.
Harry and his brother Jack continued to fight fiercely over business matters until Jack's death in 1956. Harry himself died of a heart attack in 1958. Despite his undeniable crudeness--the boorish, thuggish, crooked, loudmouthed "Harry Brock" character in Garson Kanin's classic Born Yesterday (1950), memorably played by Broderick Crawford, was largely based on Cohn), Harry Cohn's Columbia Pictures never had a negative year during his 30-year-plus reign--a record only approached by Louis B. Mayer, who ruled MGM from 1924 through mid-1951. Columbia began from a far more disadvantaged position than MGM did, though, and it thrived due to Cohn's keen judge of talent and his near-fanatical adherence to early business policies that were originally ridiculed.- Jesse Owens, arguably the most popular American track and field star in history, was -- along with his contemporary, world's heavyweight champion Joe Louis -- one of the first African Americans to change white society's perception of both black athletes and, more importantly, people of color. The future Olympic champion was born James Cleveland Owens on September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, the youngest of 10 children born to sharecroppers Henry and Emma Owens. When young "J.C." as he was called was eight years old, his parents decided to abandon their small hometown and flee the sharecropper's life of peonage (legal in the U.S. until a 1938 Supreme Court decision outlawed it) by moving north to Cleveland, Ohio to find a better way of life, far away from the Jim Crow segregated south. J.C. was enrolled in a public school, and on his first day of school, the teacher heard his name as "Jesse", which was what he would be known as instead of J.C. for the rest of his life.
Prosperity did not come with the move to Cleveland as southern blacks were to find that racism was prevalent up north too, and Owens had to work while attending school to help support his family. Because he had to work after school, his high school track coach would meet him in the mornings to train him, due to his great talent. He was recruited by many colleges, but decided to go to the University of Ohio, but without a scholarship, he had to again work his way through school. In addition, he had to face discrimination daily on campus and during the travels to track meets, as America was still in the throes of legal segregation.
Owens married his high school sweetheart, Ruth Solomon, in 1935, and they eventually had three daughters together. At the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor on May 25, 1935, Owens set three world records and tied a fourth in less than an hour. Owens tied the record in the 100-yard dash at 9.4 seconds, and set records in the broad jump (26 feet 8 1/4 inches), the 220-yard dash (20.3 seconds) and the 220-yard low hurdles (22.6 seconds). The stage was set for Berlin.
The Berlin Olympics of 1936 were held in Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, and Hitler's Nazi Party used the event as a soapbox to promulgate the theory of "Aryan" racial superiority. Hitler was spectacularly shown up by Jesse Owens and other African American athletes, members of a so-called "inferior" race. Despite the hostile atmosphere, Owens triumphed in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the broad jump. He replaced a Jewish-American member of the 400-meter relay team that went on to win the Gold Medal. In three of his events, Owens -- who became the first American in the history of track and field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, a feat not duplicated until 1984, when Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the Warsaw Pact nations-free 1984 Summer Olympics) -- established Olympic records. It is disputed whether Owens shook hands with Hitler. By the end of the games, the German fans cheered for him. In fact, in his 1970 autobiography "The Jesse Owens Story", Owens claimed that the Fuhrer himself waved to him.
Owens' life after the Olympics was marred by the lack of opportunities provided to all African Americans, not just athletes. Although he came back to a ticker-tape parade held in in his honor by the City of New York, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend a reception for him at the posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel. In his autobiography, Owens remembered, "When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either."
Like many African Americans in the first half of the 20th Century, Owens was a Republican. The Democratic Party traditionally counted on the votes of the "Solid South", politicians who were anti-black and pro-segregation, while the Party of Lincoln traditionally was the party of civil rights legislation, which died in committee under long-serving Southern Democratic pols in Congress. It was not until the 1960 Presidential election that a majority of African Americans voted for the Democratic candidate rather than the Republican. Thus, it is not surprising that Owens endorsed Republican Presidential candidate 'Alf Landon' over incumbent President 'Franklin D. Roosevelt' in 1936, who would lose, crushed under the massive landslide racked up by FDR, who began to form a "New Deal coalition" that would embrace African Americans.
After the Olympics, Owens had difficulty making a living and turned to sports promotion, essentially turning himself into an entertainer. Though boxing was integrated, the number of African American contenders was regulated as to not alienate white fans, and the pro sports of baseball, football and basketball were segregated. Black athletes, even those as popular as Owens, did not begin winning serious promotional contracts until the 1970s.
To make an income, Owens engaged in many exhibitions, such as running against race horses before Negro League professional baseball games. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he became a radio disc-jockey. He was extremely well-liked, and became an in-demand public speaker. Owen's popularity grew with the time, as he was seen after the war as the man who showed up Hitler and his discredited policies of racial superiority, thus becoming an important public figure in a society that, beginning with the Supreme Court decision desegregating schools (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954), was facing the painful process of overcoming its own racial hatreds and sordid past.
Owens started his own public relations firm, and traveled around the country speaking on behalf of corporations and for US Olympic Committee. His speeches stressed the importance of religion, hard work and loyalty. He also sponsored and participated in youth sports programs in inner-city neighborhoods. In 1976, President Gerald Ford bestowed the Medal of Freedom on Jesse Owens, the highest civilian honor the United States government can award.
Jesse Owens, one of the more remarkable Americans to grace the world stage, died on March 31, 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona from complications of lung cancer, likely caused by his pack-a-day cigarette smoking habit. He was buried in Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois. Owens was 66 years old. His Owens's memory is kept alive by his widow Ruth and his daughter Marlene, who operate the Jesse Owens Foundation, which provides financial assistance and support to deserving young people s from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Honors continued to accrue to Owens, even after death, testament to his greatness as a symbol of overcoming adversity. In 1984, a street in Berlin was named after him, and a school was renamed Jesse Owens Realschule/Oberschule (Secondary School). On March 28, 1990, Owens was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, which was presented to his family by President 'George H. W. Bush'. - Writer
- Additional Crew
Frank Lloyd Wright was one of America's most famous architects who introduced his concept of "Organic architecture" and designed such landmarks as the Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum of Art.
He was born Frank Lincoln Wright on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin, USA, into a family of Welsh descent. (Wright changed his middle name when he became an adult.) His father, William Cary Wright, was a music teacher and a Baptist minister. His mother, Anna Lloyd-Jones Wright, was a teacher. His father played the music of Johann Sebastian Bach which Wright later credit as a source of his sense of harmony in music and architecture. His mother involved him in playing with Froebel's geometric blocks, which formed his 3D vision, and later helped him develop architectural style marked with geometrical clarity. Wright studied engineering at University of Wisconsin for two years, but dropped out without graduating. He moved to Chicago and worked for several architecture firms, including his six years working directly with the "father of modernism" and leader of the Chicago School, Louis Henry Sullivan, who was Wright's mentor from 1888-1893.
In 1889 he married his first of three wives, Catherine Lee Clark Tobin. He and Catherine raised six children together. He also borrowed $5,000 from his then employer, Louis Sullivan, to buy a lot in Oak Park, Illinois and build his first house. That same house he used also as an architectural laboratory by making many changes and additions while developing his original design for the Prarie style of architecture. In 1893 Wright was fired by Sullivan himself, amidst the dispute over Wright's acceptance of a growing number of independent commissions. Then he established his own office in Oak Parc. During the 1890s he originated the style of "Prarie Houses" and designed many private homes in the Prarie School style across the Midwestern United States. At the same time he was commissioned to design several corporate and public buildings in communities in and around Chicago and Buffalo. He had his offices established in the Steinway Piano Building, then later had his office in Orchestra Hall in Chicago.
In 1904 Wright fell in love with Martha(Mamah)Borthwick Cheney, the wife of one of his clients. However, neither of them could get divorced from their marriages, so they eloped to Europe in 1909. In 1910, in Berlin, Wright published his first collection of architectural designs, known as the "Wasmouth Portfolio" and created the first exposure of his work in Europe, which later had influenced such movements as Bauhaus and Constructivism. During his two years in Europe, Wright lived mainly in Italy and became influenced by the Mediterranean architecture. In 1911, back in the USA, he settled with Mamah and her two children in his new home named Taliesin, which means "shining brow" in Welsh, the language of his ancestors. He wanted to marry Mamah, but his first wife was still not giving him a divorce. In August 1914, one of his male servants set fire in the house and murdered Mamah and her two children, as well as several other servants. Wright, was on a business trip and survived the disaster, was devastated and buried himself in work. At that time he was approached by a self-proclaimed sculptor, named Miriam Noel, who offered her condolences and claimed that she could understand him. Soon Wright asked her to move into Taliesin with him, although he was still married to his first wife, Catherine. From 1916 - 1922 Wright worked in Tokyo, Japan where he completed Tokyo's Imperial Hotel, which survived the earthquake of 1923 and found praise after the majority of Tolyo was left in rubble. In 1922 his first wife gave him a divorce that he had been waiting for since 1909. In 1923 he married Miriam Noel, but they separated in less that a year because of her drug addiction, albeit she did not give him a divorce until their legal battle ended in 1927.
In 1924 he met Olga (Olgivanna) Milanoff Hinzenburg, a ballerina with Russian Ballet in Chicago. Olgivanna was a daughter of Montenegro's Chief Justice and a granddaughter of Duke Marko Milanoff. In 1925 Wright invited Olgivanna and Svetlana, her daughter from her previous marriage, to move into his home, Taliesin. In December of 1925, daughter Ivanna was born to Wright and Olgivanna. In 1926 Olgivanna's ex-husband, Valdemar Hinzenburg, sought custody of Olga's daughter, and tried to have them arrested, but the charges were dropped in 1926. Olgivanna and Wright married in 1928. As his personal life had finally came to harmony, Wright's creativity evolved to the new level. In 1932 he and his wife, Olgivanna, established the Taliesin Fellowship School for architects which became a great success with 30 students, and a waiting list of 27 more. In 1934 Wright and Olgivanna were visited by Mr. and Mrs. Kaufmann Sr., the owner of Kaufmann Department Store, beginning one of history's great patron - artist relationships. For the Kaufmanns Wright created his masterpiece, the Fallingwater. It was organically designed above a waterfall to preserve a living harmony with nature, where house and a stream created an interplay through the confluence of falling water and geometrical clarity of architecture. Completed between 1935 and 1937, the Fallingwater became a landmark and one of the most famous private residences in the world. It was used as a family home from 1937 - 1963, then was restored and opened for the public as a museum.
Kaufmann also gave substantial financial backing to other projects by Wright, such as Broadacre City, which was later showcased in Kaufmann's store. Wright also created architectural design for middle class family homes known as Usonian Style, which was caused by the shift of society and answered to the growing demand. In 1937 he designed his third home, Taliesin West, which he completed after purchase of 800 acres of land in Scottsdale, Arizona. There he lived and worked for the rest of his life, he taught a Taliesin Fellowship School of architecture and designed many of his most famous buildings, such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and many other buildings. From 1943 until 1959 Wright worked on the design and construction of the Guggenheim Museum, "I want a temple of spirit, a monument!" requested Hilla Rebay, the art advisor to Solomon R. Guggenheim. Wright created an outstanding design in a shape of an inverted ziggurat, a winding pyramidal temple, or an ascending spiral alluding to such organic form as a nautilus shell. "It was to make the building and the painting an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony such as never existed in the World of Art before," wrote Wright. He created a temple of art, albeit he did not live to see the completion of the Guggenheim Museum, it stands today as a testimony to Wright's architectural genius.
Frank Lloyd Wright died five days after having an intestinal surgery, on April 9, 1959, in Phoenix, Arizona, and was laid to rest near his mother and Mamah Borthwick Cheney in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Then his Fellowship was managed by his widow, Olgivanna until her death in 1985. According to her dying wish in 1985, the ashes of her and her husband were laid to rest in memorial garden of their Taliesin West home in Scottsdale, Arizona.- Dennis Day was born on July 12, 1942 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and later moved to Downey, California, USA. He started acting at age six and after auditioning with his sister, was a Mouseketeer for the first two seasons of The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955-1957.
He came out as gay to his family and moved to San Francisco, California, USA when he turned 18. Though he later told a Rolling Stone interviewer in 1971 that he was bisexual and had used drugs. He continued to work as an actor and dancer, including at Theatre La MaMa in New York and in Los Angeles.
Day married Henry Ernest Caswell, his partner since the early 1970s, in 2009. Day and Caswell at one time ran a guesthouse for gay actors in San Francisco; from the 1960s until the early 1980s, Day worked for the Living History Centre, producing Renaissance and Dickens Christmas fairs, playing Newington Butts at the Renaissance fairs and also coaching other actors. They moved in the mid-1980s to Oregon, first settling in Ashland, and then in Phoenix, where they had a house. Caswell also worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, while Day made and sold wine jelly and worked seasonally for Harry & David.
Day was reportedly last seen on July 17, 2018 after Caswell, (who has dementia), was admitted to the hospital after a fall. Day reportedly left on foot, telling a third housemate, a live-in handyman, that he was going to visit friends, but his cat and dog were left behind, and the dog was found roaming by neighbors. One neighbor had a letter written by Day mentioning being assaulted by the handyman, who told police that Day was also exhibiting signs of mental problems. After Day was reported missing, his car was found in the possession of people approximately 200 miles (320 km) away in Coos County, who, according to police, said that they had permission to take it, possibly in exchange for helping the handyman. In August 2018, police searched the property after neighbors complained of a "bad smell". Friends began asking for help locating him starting in November that year, and in February 2019, after his family learned of his disappearance, his case was featured on an episode of Dateline NBC.
Police had searched Day's residence and elsewhere, but in early April 2019 human remains were discovered on the property. On June 6, 2019, it was announced that the remains were confirmed as those of Day, though a cause of death was not announced. On July 5, 2019, Oregon State Police arrested the former handyman in connection to Day's death. The man, 36-year-old Daniel James Burda, was charged with several crimes in connection with Day's death, including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and identity theft.
Dennis Day disappeared on July 17, 2018 in Phoenix, Oregon, USA. His Body was discovered on April 7, 2019 in Jackson County, Oregon, USA. - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
He was born into show business in 1947, son of the late Los Angeles television and radio personality Larry Finley and cousin to late writer/producer Rod Serling. One would think that at the age of sixty-two, Finley would be content being a top Hollywood theatrical voice-over artist who has worked on over two thousand, five hundred movies and TV programs over the years. But now, Greg wants to get back in front of the camera and continue what had once been a successful "on-camera" career back in the early 1980s.
After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, Finley went into the Army where he rose to the rank of Captain and spent eighteen months in Vietnam in Special Forces. After his military service, he married a widow with four daughters and settled into his life supporting the family by selling automobiles in northern California. Two years later, his son Guy was born. After his marriage dissolved, he moved back to the Southland to pursue his dreams of becoming an actor.
Successful as a day player in the late '70s and early '80s, Finley's writing and voice-over career began in 1981 as a writer/director on the syndicated animated television series, "Robotech." He remarried in 1982, and in 1983, about the time his voice-over career blossomed, another son, Garrett, was born. Over the following twenty-five years, he has written literally hundreds of news reports, sports broadcasts, and weather spots for group ADR, and has performed them in a couple of thousand TV shows and Films.
Starting a "new" career in his early sixties? "I've kept my acting chops strong working on the ADR/looping stage, and by working in Community Theater over the years," says Greg. Active as a past board member and President with his local CommunityTheater, still in love after twenty-seven years of marriage to his wife Patti, still close to all of his children, and still happily working as a voice-over actor, Greg Finley is acting and directing on stage, and looking forward to hearing those words he never hears on an ADR stage, "Roll camera, marker, speed, and action!"- Cosmo Allegretti was born on 6 April 1927 in Manhattan, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Sorcerer (1977), Captain Kangaroo (1955) and Street Hunter (1990). He was married to Ilolya Korody and Carol Lawrence. He died on 26 July 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Kelly Brown was born on 24 September 1928 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Daddy Long Legs (1955) and Oklahoma! (1955). He was married to Isabel Mirrow Brown. He died on 13 March 1981 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Skyler Russell was born on 27 September 1987. He died on 16 October 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Henry Kendrick was born on 25 September 1933 in Bisbee, Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for Raising Arizona (1987), Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Hell's Belles (1969). He was married to Kathryne Marie Sullivan. He died on 15 April 1990 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Producer
Born in London on March 4, 1948, Chris Squire engaged in a highly musical childhood, including singing in St. Paul's distinguished youth choir. In 1968, he was introduced to aspiring tenor vocalist Jon Anderson in a London bar, "La Chasse". They soon found that they shared similar ideas of how music should sound. After getting a few other musicians to join, art rock band Yes was formed. Success for the band did not occur until 1971 and the release of 'The Yes Album', 'Fragile' and 'Close to the Edge'. Each of which featured Chris' innovative, complex bass riffs and tenor vocals. Squire has continued on in Yes full term, being the only member to appear on every Yes album. He made a solo album called 'Fish Out of Water' in 1975 at his home studio near Virginia Water, Surrey. Chris is married and has four daughters and a son. He lives in the USA with wife Scotty.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrant parents, Andy Russell, who took his professional name from one of his idols, Russ Columbo, achieved his greatest U.S. popularity in the 1940s. As with Columbo and Bing Crosby before him, he started out singing with Gus Arnheim's orchestra at the Cocoanut Grove, but, at only 13, he was so young that Arnheim had to become his legal guardian to permit him to travel out of state. Possessed of a romantic baritone voice, he sang songs in English and Spanish, his biggest hit being "Besame Mucho" (Capitol: 1945). In the early 1950s, he re-located to Mexico, where he remained a major star until his death. He remained a U.S. citizen, however, and still made appearances in the U.S. from time to time.- Eldridge Wayne Coleman better known by his ring name "Superstar" Billy Graham, is an American former professional wrestler. He gained recognition for his tenure as the WWWF Heavyweight Champion in 1977-1978. He is a three-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions. As an award-winning bodybuilder, he was a training partner and close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is most remembered for revolutionizing the interview and physique aspects of the professional wrestling industry, and for his charismatic performance style. Some of his wrestling include Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and Ric Flair.
- Actor
- Writer
Paul Harvey was born on 4 September 1918 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Paul Harvey - News (1951), The Right of the People (1986) and Everything That Rises (1998). He was married to Lynn "Angel" Cooper. He died on 28 February 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Stanley Guttenberg was an actor, known for P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! (2002). He was married to Ann Guttenberg. He died on 11 July 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- A mild-mannered jurist who thinks carefully before she speaks or makes decisions, Sandra Day O'Connor does not project the figure of a trailblazer. But she became exactly that. She was the daughter of cattle ranchers Henry Day and Ada Wilkey. She was a true child of the frontier, learning how to brand cattle and run a household on her parents' 155,000 acre ranch. She later wrote about her childhood in the autobiography "Lazy B: Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest." But when she became of school age, her parents sent her to El Paso to live with her maternal grandmother, Mamie Scott Wilkey, who she said had the greatest influence on her life. In school, she was a high achiever and graduated from high school at the age of 16, then she graduated from Stanford Law School third in a class of 102. Ironically, the valedictorian was future fellow Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, whom she briefly dated. She married in 1952 and sought work in major law firms. But women lawyers were a rarity in those days and she worked as a prosecutor in some county offices. She then established her own private practice in Phoenix in 1960, and became involved in Republican politics. In 1965, she was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the state of Arizona. Her life changed in 1969, when she was appointed to the Arizona state Senate to fill a vacant seat, and she was reelected. She was well-regarded by her colleagues and 1973, she became the first woman in the nation to become Majority Leader in an American state Senate. However, her passion was for law rather than politics and in 1975, she was elected Maricopa County Superior Court Judge. She served with distinction and in 1979, Democratic Governor Bruce Babbitt appointed her to the state Court of Appeals, in spite of her being a Republican. She served with distinction again and came to the attention of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, who regarded her very highly.
She became a national figure in 1981. The year before, Ronald Reagan had been elected President and had promised to appoint a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. A member of the high court, Associate Justice Potter Stewart, announced his retirement, and the Reagan Administration considered several female Federal judges among who to choose. However, Goldwater brought O'Connor to Reagan's attention, and she visited him at the White House. Reagan himself owned a ranch and had a real affiliation for the frontier, and O'Connor's background and passion for the American southwest made a positive impression on him. Still, as a little-known state judge who was considered legalistic and aloof on the bench, she was not thought to be a likely choice, and she was as surprised as anyone when Reagan nominated her. Her nomination drew bipartisan praise and she was confirmed unanimously.
In her first years on the U.S. Suprene Court, she was surprised by the amount of scrutiny she received. However, she enjoyed serving with her longtime friend William Rehnquist, who became Chief Justice in 1985. She compiled a moderate to conservative record on the court while ruling each case as narrowly as possible, avoiding setting precedent. She also sought to avoid the limelight. However, in 1989, the court became the center of national attention and O'Connor the center of that attention. The case was Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, in which the state of Missouri enacted several restrictions on the practice of abortion, which had become legalized by the court in 1973. Previous rulings had claimed that any limits on abortions were unconstitutional. Supporters of abortion wanted a similar ruling, while conservatives hoped that Roe vs. Wade, which had legalized abortion, would be overturned. Instead, the court refused to overturn Roe vs. Wade, but also ruled that the contested restrictions on abortion were allowed by that same ruling. The 9 member court voted 5 to 4 on that, and O'Connor was the deciding vote and the author of the final ruling. No one concerned about the issue was satisfied by the ruling. In subsequent years, the makeup of the Supreme Court changed significantly and she became its second most senior member. In 1993, she was pleased when another woman was appointed to the court, even though that woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was considerably more liberal than she. During many of her later years on the court, she was the deciding vote of many 5 to 4 decisions and was regarded as the swing vote on rulings that conservatives and liberals disagreed on. However, she continued to to avoid the limelight, and would often become upset when the court became the center of criticism and controversy.
In 2005, her husband was seriously ill. Her longtime friend Rehnquest was also ill and planning to retire. But out of deference to O'Connor, he delayed his retirement announcement so that she could retire first. She announced that she would step down from the court as soon as her successor was sworn in. She had mixed feelings when President George W. Bush announced that he would appoint Federal Appeals Judge John Roberts. O'Connor regarded Roberts highly and had great respect for his abilities, but having faced gender discrimination for so much of her career had hoped that another woman would be appointed to replace her. A short time later, she was saddened by the death of Rehnquest. Bush decided to appoint Roberts as Chief Justice and nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to succeed O'Connor, but Miers withdrew after her nomination drew charges of crony-ism and attacks on her qualifications. Bush then nominated longtime Federal Appeals Court Samuel Alito, a conservative former U.S Attorney of New Jersey. Alito was confirmed by the Senate after a contentious debate. O'Connor's retirement was interrupted when she was appointed by Bush to the Iraq Study Group, which made recommendations on how to end the Iraq War.
Many who covered her career noted that in her early years on the court, she usually supported the conservative faction, but became the swing vote later on, and they claimed that she changed and became more liberal. In fact, it was the court itself that changed more than she did. When she was appointed, the court included strong liberals William Brennen, Thurgood Marshall, and Harry Blackman, all of whom left in the early 1990s. During her later years on the court, she served with Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, strong conservatives, and the different composition of the court altered both the tone and substance of its rulings, and made liberal groups less inclined to seek redress from it. - Rick Riccardo was born on 17 September 1929 in the USA. He was an actor, known for The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). He was married to Virginia Wilson, Valerie Marchant and Faith Quabius. He died on 3 June 1977 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Mary Sinclair was historically significant for being the first actress to sign a seven-year contract with a television studio. In 1951 she signed with CBS and became a staple in an emerging genre, the one-hour television drama. She regularly appeared on the most popular programs such as The U.S. Steel Hour, and Playhouse 90. Her performances in Wuthering Heights, with Charlton Heston, The Scarlet Letter, and Little Women paved the way for strong women characters in television. Mary SInclair began her career as a model. With a desire for more, Sinclair moved to New York City in 1944. This is where she met her future husband, Broadway producer 'George Abbot'. The catalyst of her career as an actress, however, was a chance encounter with CBS chairman of the board 'William S. Paley'. This encounter eventually resulted in the history-making contract, which lead to her stardom. A divorce from Abbot soon followed. Sinclair continued working in television and theater through the 1950s. She received an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in 1951, and appeared in the western Arrowhead (1953) with Charlton Heston and Jack Palance.
She retired from the spotlight in the 1960s. She decided to move to Europe and began painting. She studied and lived in Italy and France. During the early '70s, Sinclair relocated to Los Angeles, where she became active in local theater. Retiring to Arizona in her later years, she continued expressing herself with her paintings. Mary Sinclair died in Phoenix on November 5, 2000, at the age of 78. Sinclair's legacy lives on with her great niece, Krystee Clark who is a television and film actress in Los Angeles. - Actor
- Director
- Writer
Eric Martin was an actor and director, known for Texas Payback (1995), Command & Conquer (1995) and Command & Conquer Remastered (2020). He died on 1 April 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Arlester "Dyke" Christian was born in Buffalo, New York on June 13, 1943. In 1965 he sang and played bass guitar with the Blazers, the backing band for The O'Jays. The group was stranded in Phoenix, Arizona, when the O'Jays couldn't pay them. The group decided to continue to play music to raise money to get home, changing their name to Dyke and the Blazers. "Dyke" was inspired by the experience and wrote "Funky Broadway" to go with a dance he invented. Dyke and the Blazers toured heavily and appeared at major venues as a result this hit song. Christian was shot and killed in Phoenix, Arizona. He was just 27 years old.
- Ray Daley was born on 23 March 1932 in Miami, Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for The Five Pennies (1959), The Thin Red Line (1964) and Mike Hammer (1958). He was married to Mary Hirschfeld Daley. He died on 10 June 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Actor
- Music Department
Richard Glover was born on 30 August 1953 in Denver, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for Shattered Innocence (1988), Arizona Heat (1988) and Billy the Kid (1989). He died on 26 January 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Frank Watkins was an actor, known for The Atomic Submarine (1959), Submarine Seahawk (1958) and Gun Fight (1961). He died on 19 November 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Director
Ron Campbell was born on 26 December 1939 in Seymour, Victoria, Australia. He was a director, known for Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994), Bionic Six (1987) and The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972). He was married to Engelina Koopman. He died on 22 January 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Mary Marshall was born on 25 April 1934 in Saginaw, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Stigmata (1999), She-Devil (1989) and Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). She was married to James Marshall Jr.. She died on 15 May 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Susan Miller was born on 13 March 1920 in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), Swing It Soldier (1941) and Miracle on Main Street (1939). She died on 26 August 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Writer
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward Bartlett Cormack was the son of Edward K. and Alice E. Cormack. By 1900 his family had moved from Hammond, Indiana to Chicago, where his Scottish-born father worked in sales.
As a playwright, Cormack is remember for such plays as "The Racket", "Tampico", "The Painted Veil" and "Hey Diddle Diddle". He began his career as a member of Maurice Browne's Little Theatre Company in Chicago and then later as a press agent and newspaperman in New York City. Cormack was married to the former Adelaide Bledsoe. She was the daughter of Samuel T. Bledsoe, president of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.- Sanford Gibbons born in Kansas City, Missouri attended St. Benedict's College in Atkinson, Kansas, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and Dramatics.He enlisted in the US Army and was assigned to the Armed Forces Radio Service in Anchorage Alaska. He had a television variety show while in Anchorage and played guitar and sang western and folk music in numerous clubs in the area. About that time Elvis became popular and crowds appreciated when Sandy sang Elvis tunes. He was honorably discharged from the Army and moved to Hollywood where he performed in a musical comedy for two years. His first screen role was in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" , and he joined SAG. He has gone on to perform in over 50 major motion pictures, and television productions. In Arizona he was a news anchor, program producer and director, and game show host. He coaches acting and has written a book, Show Biz: Voice and Talent Work Anywhere, in which he shares his experiences with many major stars and what they taught him about show biz. He continues to do stage work, movies and coaching.
- Perk Lazelle was born on 25 August 1907 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for How to Marry a Millionaire (1957), The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959) and The Red Skelton Hour (1951). He was married to Yvonne Della Bowman. He died on 27 January 2000 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Chris Tschupp was an actor, known for Paintball the Movie: Court Jesters (2005), Sex and the City (1998) and October Road (2007). He died on 26 October 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Danny Zapien was born on 22 March 1925 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for Death Valley Days (1952), And Should We Die (1966) and Wanda Nevada (1979). He died on 1 April 1983 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Tom Basham was born on 16 May 1942 in Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for An Eye for an Eye (1973), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) and Squares (1972). He died on 29 July 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- One of four children - two boys and two girls - Bob 'Willard' Henke was born Robert Henke on 29 April 1951 in Pennsylvania, USA and moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1964. Up to the age of 13, in Pennsylvania, there was a Hammond organ in his family living room, which he learned to play. When the family moved to Arizona, his father "had to take the organ out to his gig" and so Willard took up the guitar. From a musical family, his grandfather played theatre organ for silent movies and in night clubs and his father also played in night clubs as well as teaching music. His mother "was the quintessential 1950s house wife".
"I had a decent upbringing and my childhood was relatively calm. It got a little shakier when I was a teenager, of course. Once I got into a rock and roll band". He played in Phoenix in the Red and White Blues Band with musicians "with a San Francisco connection" who went on to become The Tubes, including Roger Steen. He played in the studio alongside Nashville musicians at the age of 18 and, towards the end of the 1960s, joined Goose Creek Symphony: "We just started in the studio, with no real prospects or anything; we just started recording Charlie Gearheart's original songs and it turned into an album, which eventually got picked up by Capitol records". The group appeared on Episode #24.15 (1970) alongside Bobbie Gentry (who they toured with) in 1970. "And then I didn't go off the road for the next 10 years. 300 days of the year, 10 years straight".
He was given the nickname Willard at high school: "It was a joke I ended up playing on myself". In the 1970s, Goose Creek Symphony had a silver Eagle bus and he was one of the drivers. "Wild Willard" was his CB handle on the radio, which stuck as his nickname. "Most people call me Willard".
In the mid-1970s, Goose Creek Symphony disbanded for a much-needed break. At the same time, Dr. Hook guitarist Rik Elswit was diagnosed with melanoma. Ted Hacker, who worked for both bands, suggested Willard to replaced Elswit "because he knew that Goose Creek was done for a while". "I got the call and a week later I was on the road". One of his first gigs with the band was on Episode #4.7 (1976). "I worked with Ron Haffkine on the fourth Goose Creek Symphony album, so I was familiar with Ronnie and his style of production. He produced the one Goose Creek album we had on Columbia Records, called 'Do Your Thing But Don't Touch Mine'."
It was with Dr. Hook in the late 1970s that Willard was awarded "a couple of dozen gold silver and platinum albums". "That was my time to go around the world a few times and play on some top ten records like 'Sharing the Night Together' and 'When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman' and 'Sexy Eyes' and those records. Getting to play with studio players that we used for those albums was fabulous: the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and the A-Team in Nashville".
In the 1980s, Willard toured with Glen Campbell for six years, playing bass guitar. He also teamed back up with Goose Creek Symphony on a number of occasions: in the mid-1980s, early 1990s and twice in the 2000s. In 2007, he formed a duet with his friend Alan and began playing regularly at a Mexican food restaurant near his home for over a decade. "I lost two families being on the road, so I've learned by lesson. I have two boys from previous marriages." - Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Harry MacGregor Woods' contributions to popular music in the early 20th century are significant and often ignored by scholars. Few composers could boast that their songs lived far beyond the age of most tunes. He could have retired from just his first few hits, but he kept composing successful songs throughout the 1920s and '30s. His compositions include Paddlin' Madelin Home, When The Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along, I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover, The Man From the South, Me Too, Side By Side, River, Stay 'Way From My Door, What a Day!, When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain (Kate Smith's radio signature), The Clouds Will Soon Roll By, Just An Echo In The Valley, Try A Little Tenderness, What A Little Moonlight Can Do, and several written for British motion pictures "Evergreen" and "It's Love Again," both starring Jessie Matthews. Most of his compositions are known as "independent" songs, not written specifically for a stage show or film. Woods lived in England for three years, during which time he wrote some hugely successful film songs such as When You've Got a Little Springtime In Your Heart, You Ought To See Sally On Sunday, Celebratin', Over My Shoulder, My Hat's On the Side of My Head, It's Love Again and I Nearly Let Love Go Slipping Through My Fingers. Although he wrote words and music to many of his songs, he also collaborated with Mort Dixon and Gus Kahn.- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
William Shelby was born on 30 September 1956 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Bring It On (2000), Trust (2021) and The Front Runner (2018). He died on 26 October 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Virginia Graham was born on 10 December 1932. She died on 17 April 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Production Manager
William Sistrom was born on 19 March 1884 in Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was a producer and production manager, known for There Goes My Girl (1937), Escape to Danger (1943) and The Spider (1931). He died on 13 March 1972 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Kal Roberts was born on 14 July 1939 in the USA. He was an actor, known for The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965), Stagecoach (1986) and The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James (1986). He died on 21 March 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Charles Young was born on 14 October 1935 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for Darkman (1990), Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991) and Matlock (1986). He died on 11 December 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.- Kirby Puckett was born on March 14, 1960 in Chicago's South Side. He was the youngest of nine children born to William and Catherine Puckett. He was raised in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project, a row of broken-down apartments, which were dubbed "the place where hope dies."
Since there were no baseball fields nearby, Kirby never played Little League baseball. He first practiced baseball by drawing a chalk strike zone on a building wall and repeatedly throwing a ball against it.
Although he earned All-American honors at Calumet High School, Kirby was virtually ignored by pro scouts because of his size. Out of high school, he worked jobs as a Ford plant worker and a census taker. He continued playing baseball in a recreational league.
One August afternoon, he decided to attend a Kansas City Royals tryout camp with 150 other wannabes vying for a dream position. Although the Royals didn't sign him that day, the baseball coach from Bradley University was impressed with Kirby's bat speed and defense. He recruited Kirby to come to Bradley on a scholarship.
In his freshman year, Kirby showed amazing progress. However, following the death of his father, he took more than three weeks off from school, subsequently jeopardizing his scholarship. He thought about quitting baseball and going back home to work in the auto industry. However, he decided to give it one more shot by enrolling at Triton Junior College in nearby River Grove.
After hitting .472 with 16 homers in his final season at Triton, the Minnesota Twins drafted Kirby with the third pick in the 1982 January supplemental draft. He spent only two seasons in the Twins minor league system before making his major league debut on May 8, 1984 against the California Angles. He collected four hits that day, tying a major league record for most hits in a debut game. He would finish the season with a .296 batting average and 31 RBIs, earning him third place in the voting for American League Rookie of the Year.
His breakout season came in 1986 when he batted .328 with 31 homers and won the first of his six gold gloves in center field. The following season, he continued to shine, leading the underdog Twins to their first World Series championship. In 1988, he hit a career-best .356, earning him third place in the MVP voting and a reputation as one of baseball's premier hitters.
However, his career-defining moment came in Game Six of the 1991 World Series against the Atlanta Braves. With the Twins down three games to two, Kirby told his teammates "Jump on my back. I'll carry you." He made good on that promise by taking away a potential game-winning double in the third inning with a spectacular jumping catch and then hitting a game-winning home run in the 11th inning to keep the Twins alive in the series. The Twins would win their second World Series Championship the next day with a Game Seven win.
Even though the Twins would not make it back to the World Series in the following seasons, Kirby continued to put up impressive statistics. He also continued his standing as one of baseball's most recognizable and beloved players. His outgoing personality, hard-working attitude, community involvement, and good rapport with teammates and the media earned him a huge fan-base throughout the country.
However, his fairy tale career came to an end in 1996 after he was forced to retire in spring training with early symptoms of glaucoma. He finished his career with 10-All Star appearances, six Gold Gloves, a .318 batting average, one All-Star Game MVP trophy and two World Series rings.
Despite having his career cut short at a relatively young age (35) and not being able to see out of his right eye, Kirby appeared very optimistic and never expressed any bitterness.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 on the first ballot.
In the following years, Kirby's one-time flawless public image would begin to take a major hit. In February 2002, his wife, Tonya, filed for divorce, claiming that Kirby physically and verbally abused her throughout their marriage, even threatening to kill her on several occasions. Later that same year, he was arrested on charges of groping a woman in a bar restroom, to which he was later acquitted. In addition, there were several negative articles and reports coming out about Kirby's private life which included allegations of numerous extra-marital affairs, sexual misconduct, physical abuse, and lewd public behavior. To escape the burgeoning media backlash, Kirby, whose weight continued to balloon, decided to move to Arizona in the winter of 2003.
He managed to keep a low profile until March 5, 2006 when he suffered a massive stroke. Doctors performed emergency surgery that same day but were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead on March 6, 2006 after being disconnected from life support. He died at the second-youngest age (behind Lou Gehrig) of any Hall of Famer inducted while living.
He is survived by his two adopted children, Kirby Jr. and Catherine, and his fiancée Jodi Olson. - Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bob Shane was born on 1 February 1934 in Hilo, Hawaii, USA. He was an actor, known for M Squad (1957), Playhouse 90 (1956) and Convoy (1965). He was married to Barbara (Bobbie) Lynn Childress and Louise Glancy Brandon. He died on 26 January 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.