Riverside National Cemetery
Men and women interred at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, Riverside County, California.
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- Actor
- Music Department
John Agar was born in Chicago, the eldest of four children. In World War II, Sgt. John Agar was a United States Army Air Force physical instructor. His 1945 marriage at the Wilshire Memorial Church to "America's Sweetheart" Shirley Temple put him in the public eye for the first time, and a movie contract with independent producer David O. Selznick quickly ensued.
Agar debuted opposite John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Temple in John Ford's Fort Apache (1948), initial film in the famed director's "Cavalry Trilogy".
His marriage to Shirley Temple ended in 1949, while his movie career continued.
Popular with fans of Westerns and sci-fi flicks, Agar was a staple at film conventions and autograph shows.Plot: Section 55A, Site 18- Actress
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
Vivian Austin was a brown-haired, brown-eyed beauty queen; she had been voted "Miss Hollywood" in 1943 and was signed to a contract by Universal Pictures. The studio saw that she got experience in many of the little theater groups around Los Angeles before putting her in her first film, Moonlight in Vermont (1943). She made westerns, musicals and dramas for the studio before retiring from the screen because of health problems.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Harry Bartell was born on 28 November 1913 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for I Love Lucy (1951), Dragnet (1951) and The Adventures of Jim Bowie (1956). He died on 26 February 2004 in Ashland, Oregon, USA.Plot: Section 4, Lot 533 ((NOTE: He is not Harry D Bartell, who was married to Kathryn.)- Norman Bartold was born on 6 August 1928 in Berkeley, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Westworld (1973), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and The California Kid (1974). He was married to Sheila Bartold and Mary Virginia Bartold. He died on 28 May 1994 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA.Plot: AA, D, 4
- Art Department
- Actor
- Producer
Forever etched in our minds as the bully with the protruding lip who gave beloved Alfalfa plenty of angst in the "Our Gang" serial shorts, actor Tommy Bond was actually a gentle, benign soul off the set. Born Thomas Ross Bond on September 16, 1926, in Dallas, Texas, he was discovered by a Hal Roach talent scout at the age of five simply walking hand-in-hand down a Dallas street with his mother. Asked to interview in Hollywood, Tommy made the exhausting Depression-era trek by car with his grandmother and was not disappointed. He debuted in the short Spanky (1932), billed simply as "Tommy" and enjoyed a two-year stay. He was released from his initial contract after appearing in Washee Ironee (1934), then struggled with unbilled bits and minor roles in features and in one- and two-reelers for Charley Chase and Monte Collins for the next few years. Roach happened to spot Tommy again in a bratty film role and re-signed him for the popular series, this time as the mean little kid Butch. Starting with Glove Taps (1937), Tommy immortalized himself as every schoolboy's nightmare, the perpetually scowling young thug purposely looking for fights.
Once Tommy outgrew the "Butch" role at age 14, he was left to fend for himself again, taking whatever jobs he could scrape up. He played one of the "Little Peppers" in a series of mild comedies of the early 1940s and rejoined Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer (although playing his constant nemesis on the "Our Gang" series, the two were friends in real life) with the low-budget "Gas House Kids" film series in the early 1950s. In between Tommy served in the Navy during WWII and found "B" feature work with Man from Frisco (1944), which was one of his best roles, The Beautiful Cheat (1945) and Big Town Scandal (1948), among others. Another highlight of his career was playing cub reporter Jimmy Olson in the Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950) cliffhangers that starred Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill.
With acting jobs getting scarce, Tommy decided to focus instead on TV production. Avoiding the heartache and serious troubles (i.e., unemployment and substance abuse) suffered by many of his spurned child star alumni (including Switzer), Tommy wisely prepared for his future by attending Los Angeles City College and earning a degree in theater arts from Cal State L.A. in 1951. He worked over two decades as a stage manager and head of props for KTTV-TV in Los Angeles, and another two as stage manager and assistant director at KFSN-TV in Fresno before finally retiring. He was long married (52 years) to wife Polly Bond and had a son, Thomas R. Bond II. He died at age 79 of complications from heart disease. His autobiography "You're Darn Right It's Butch" came out in 1993 detailing his kiddie fame.- Actor
- Producer
Bill Burrud was born on 12 January 1925 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Idol of the Crowds (1937), Girl Overboard (1937) and Devil's Squadron (1936). He died on 12 July 1990 in Sunset Beach, California, USA.Plot: Section 28, Grave 1608- Peggy Cartwright was born on 14 November 1912 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was an actress, known for A Lady of Quality (1924), Magic Night (1932) and The Third Generation (1920). She was married to Bill Walker and Phil Baker. She died on 13 June 2001 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Stanley Clements realized he wanted a show-business career while he was in grammar school, and when he graduated he toured in vaudeville for two years. He then joined the touring company of Edward Bowes' (aka Major Bowes) Amateur Hour. In 1941 he was signed to a contract by 20th Century-Fox and appeared in several B films for the studio. After a short stint with the East Side Kids, he set out on his own again, this time landing roles in more prestigious pictures than he had been getting. His career was interrupted by military service in World War II, and when he returned in 1945, he began appearing in lower-budgeted films. He starred in a series of action/detective pictures at Allied Artists for producer Ben Schwalb and director Edward Bernds, and when they were looking for a replacement for Leo Gorcey in the Bowery Boys series, they asked Clements to step in. The series finally ended in 1958, and Clements went on to a steady career of supporting roles in film and TV until his death from emphysema in 1981.Plot: 4, 512- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Chris J. Condon was born on 7 December 1923 in North Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a cinematographer and producer, known for Jaws 3-D (1983), Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983) and Evil Spawn (1987). He died on 19 December 2010 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Plot: 51 0 1055- Little-known today but regarded in her time as one of the screen's great beauties, New Jersey-born Marguerite Courtot was sent in 1909, at age 12, to be educated in a European convent. By the time she returned to the US she had blossomed into such a beauty that she soon had a career as a top photographer's model; it didn't take long for offers from the film industry (much of which, at the time, was based in New Jersey) to come pouring in. Her mother, determined that Marguerite would finish her education, refused all offers until 1912, when she let her daughter take some small bit parts in movies filmed at a local New Jersey studio. Within a year Marguerite went from extra work to starring roles. Although excelling in comedy roles, she preferred to do action/drama pictures, and by 1915 was making serials for Kalem. She was off the screen for a year during World War I, when she decided to help in the war effort and toured the country selling war bonds and savings stamps. She returned to the screen in 1918 playing a World War I Belgian refugee in The Unbeliever. In 1919 she was in a succession of serials, all of which were extremely successful. In 1918 her co-star in The Unbeliever was actor 'Raymond McKee (I)' and she starred with him again in Down to the Sea in Ships in 1922. They were married soon after. She made only a few more films, then retired from the industry to raise a family. She died in Hawaii, her longtime home, in 1984.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Grant Gaither is known for Karla Faye Tucker: Forevermore (2004).- Robert Karvelas was born on 3 April 1921 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Nude Bomb (1980), Get Smart (1965) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970). He died on 5 December 1991 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.Plot: Section 42, Site 1258
- Stunts
- Actor
- Producer
Hubie Kerns was born on 10 August 1920 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Crime of Crimes (1989), Savage Harbor (1987) and Scream, Evelyn, Scream! (1970). He was married to Dorismae Galovic. He died on 7 February 1999 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
- Actor
William Lasky was born on 24 March 1921 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an assistant director and director, known for Boy and the Eagle (1949), Rage (1972) and Americathon (1979). He died on 21 January 1985 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Plot: Section 5, Grave 54- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Raymond McKee was born on 7 December 1892 in Keokuk, Iowa, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Kidnapped (1917), A Blind Bargain (1922) and Campus Knights (1929). He was married to Marguerite Courtot and Frances White. He died on 3 October 1984 in Long Beach, California, USA.- Lewis L. Millett was born on 15 December 1920 in Mechanic Falls, Maine, USA. He was married to Virginia Young and Winona Williams. He died on 14 November 2009 in Loma Linda, California, USA.Plot: Section 2, Grave #1910
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Charles Mitchell is known for The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Silver City (2004) and Baby It's You (1983).Plot: Section 32, Grave 839- Actress
- Soundtrack
A pioneer in country music, Patsy the yodeling cowgirl grew up in Hope, Arkansas. In 1930 she moved to California with an older brother, won a talent contest, and began performing on radio. She joined a group called the Montana Cowgirls, and that group's leader, Stuart Hamblen, renamed her Patsy. Moving on to Chicago in 1933, she joined the Prairie Ramblers and moved with them to Manhattan in 1935. When her husband was transferred to California, the family moved west and she went into temporary retirement in the 1950s, returning to the tour circuit with country-western, folk, and bluegrass concerts in the 1960s through the 1980s.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Alberto Morin was born on 26 December 1902 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was an actor, known for Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), Tripoli (1950) and The Green Hornet (1966). He died on 7 April 1989 in Burbank, California, USA.Plot: Section 32, Grave 725- Richard H. Nelson was born on 26 April 1925 in Moscow, Idaho, USA. He died on 1 February 2003 in Riverside, California, USA.
- Additional Crew
Sidney Omarr was born on 5 August 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He is known for Playboy After Dark (1969), The Carol Burnett Show (1967) and In Search of... (1977). He was married to Jeraldine Saunders. He died on 1 January 2003 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wyott Ordung was born on 23 May 1922 in Shanghai, China. He was an actor and writer, known for Walk the Dark Street (1956), Target Earth (1954) and First Man Into Space (1959). He died on 28 August 2005 in California, USA.Plot: Section 49B, Site 2309- Mitchell Paige was born on 31 August 1918 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 15 November 2003 in La Quinta, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Earl Palmer was born on 25 October 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Pretty Woman (1990), Cry-Baby (1990) and The Two Jakes (1990). He was married to Jeline Palmer. He died on 19 September 2008 in Banning, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jeff Richards, born Richard Mansfield Taylor in Portland, Oregon, was a graduate of Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington. Upon graduation he was ready to embark on a career in professional baseball when he entered the Navy in June of 1943. During World War II, he served as a radio technician until his discharge in 1946.
After the war, he returned to baseball and immediately signed on with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. The Beavers farmed Jeff to the Salem Senators, but fate intervened and a torn ligament forced him into an extended leave-of-absence from the sport.
While recuperating, Jeff decided to try his hand at acting. During the war, he and a group of his fellow servicemen visited Paramount Movie Studios. While there a talent scout spotted Jeff in the crowd, called him aside, and told him to come and see him when he got his discharge. The agent remembered him and setup a screen test. Jeff was signed to a contract, but was not given any work.
After his time with Paramount, he was offered a contract by Warner Brothers Studios. In the meantime, however, Jeff was still playing baseball and also receiving offers from both the New York Yankees and the Dodgers, then still playing in Brooklyn. So Jeff had the chance to make a choice that many American boys dreamed of making--whether to be movie star or a professional baseball player.
Jeff signed with the contract with Warners and then enrolled at the University of Southern California to pursue a degree in business administration. Jeff attended USC on a full-time schedule and also joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Jeff organized a chapter five-piece band and played fraternity dances and club socials. He was still playing baseball, but his decision had been made--he was going to be an actor. Warners began using him in small, uncredited roles in such films as The Girl from Jones Beach, filmed in mid-1948, but not released until a year later, in mid-1949. In it he appears, with another young hopeful, Dale Robertson, as a pair of lifeguards, showing off their physiques wearing only minimal swimming attire in the Jones Beach sequence. Robertson's hairy chest was left intact, but Richards' trademark torso was forced to undergo complete waxing before he could appear in front of the cameras. On loan-out to Columbia he actually got to play baseball on screen in the William Bendix comedy Kill the Umpire (1950).
Next signing with MGM, Jeff was a member of MGM's Lucky Dozen--a group of young and upcoming stars of the 1950s. He was groomed for the rugged, John Wayne-type roles and the two actors has much in common-both were big men, athletically inclined, had similar personalities, and they were both members of Sigma Chi.
During the course of his film career, Jeff acted in over 40 films, playing with some of the biggest stars of the 1950s and 1960s. His most significant role was a one of the Pontipee brothers in MGM's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), co-starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel. He poured on the sex appeal as Buck Winston, the object of interest of just about every female member of the cast of the re-make of The Women (1939), now re-titled The Opposite Sex (1956). After leaving MGM, for two seasons, he successfully played the title role for 28 episodes of the TV series Jefferson Drum (1958). After retiring from acting in 1960, he returned to the big screen one last time as Kallen in Waco (1966), perhaps as a favor to or from his old friend from MGM, the star of the film, Howard Keel.
Jeff Richards died on July 28, 1989.- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
An athlete turned actor, Strode was a top-notch decathlete and a football star at UCLA. He became part of Hollywood lore after meeting director John Ford and becoming a part of the Ford "family," appearing in four Ford motion pictures. Strode also played the powerful gladiator who does battle with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960)."- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Ed Townsend was born on 16 April 1929 in Fayetteville, Tennessee, USA. He was a composer, known for High Fidelity (2000), R.I.P.D. (2013) and The Bounty Hunter (2010). He was married to Janice Townsend and Cherrigale Townsend. He died on 13 August 2003 in San Bernardino, California, USA.Plot: Section BA, Row C, Grave 213- Leon Wagner played 12 major league seasons (1958-69) as a left handed hitting, right handed throwing outfielder for the Giants, Cardinals, Angels, Indians and White Sox. Finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .272 and 211 home runs. His best power season was 1962 when he hit 37 home runs and drove in 107 runs for the Los Angeles Angels.
- William Walker is known for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (1996).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jerry Wallace was born on 15 December 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Goodbye Charlie (1964), Bluebird (2013) and An American Rhapsody (2001). He was married to Reva Stone. He died on 5 May 2008 in Victorville, California, USA.- Producer
- Actor
- Stunts
Skip Ward was born on 12 September 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Executive Decision (1996), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and V (1984). He was married to Julie Payne and Michelle Triola. He died on 27 June 2003 in Calabasas, California, USA.Plot: Sec.55-A Gr. 2172- Noble Willingham appeared in more than 30 feature films, including Up Close & Personal (1996), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Chinatown (1974), City Slickers (1991), and The Distinguished Gentleman (1992).
He was born in the small town of Mineola, Texas, east of Dallas. After graduating from North Texas State College in 1953, he earned a master's degree in educational psychology from Baylor University. Willingham was a teacher before following his long-time dream of becoming an actor. Willingham auditioned for a part in the Academy Award-winning film The Last Picture Show (1971), which was filmed in Texas. He won the role, which led to another, in the Academy Award-winning comedy Paper Moon (1973).
On television, he had recurring roles on Home Improvement (1991) and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), and appeared as a guest star on other television series, including Matlock (1986), L.A. Law (1986), Quantum Leap (1989), Murder, She Wrote (1984), and Northern Exposure (1990), as well as such films and made-for-television movies as Men Don't Tell (1993), Woman with a Past (1992), The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987), and Unconquered (1989). - Soundtrack
- Composer
- Music Department
Alan Christie Wilson was born to John Wilson and Shirley Brigham in the Boston suburb of Arlington, MA on July 4 1943. Wilson was highly sensitive, introverted, and intelligent, which set him apart from his peers. He became engrossed in music as a child after his step mother bought him a jazz record. Some of Wilson's first efforts at performing music publicly came during his teen years when he learned trombone, teaching himself the instrumental parts from the aforementioned jazz record. Later he formed a jazz ensemble with other musically oriented friends from school called Crescent City Hot Five. At this time, Wilson was into traditional New Orleans music, and later, Classical European and Indian music. Wilson developed a fascination with blues music after a friend played a Muddy Waters record for him, The Best of Muddy Waters. Inspired by Little Walker, he took up harmonica, and soon after, the acoustic guitar after hearing a John Lee Hooker record. After graduating from Arlington High School in 1961, he majored in music at Boston University. His academics earned him a National Merit Scholarship and the F.E. Thompson Scholarship Fund from the Town of Arlington. Wilson developed into a dedicated student of early blues, writing a number of articles for the Broadside of Boston newspaper and the folk-revival magazine Little Sandy Review, including a piece on bluesman Robert Pete Williams.
Wilson met Harvard student and fellow blues enthusiast David Evans in a record store, and the two began playing as a team around the Cambridge coffeehouse folk-blues circuit. With Evans on vocals and guitar, Wilson on harmonica and occasionally second guitar. The two played a repertoire of mostly classic-era blues covers. The early 1960's saw a "rediscovery" of pre-war blues artists by young, white blues enthusiasts, including Mississippi John Hurt, Booker White, Skip James and Son House. After Son House's "rediscovery" in 1964, it was evident that House had forgotten his songs due to his long absence from music. Wilson showed him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942. Wilson played House's old recordings for him and demonstrated them on guitar to revive House's memory. House recorded Father of Folk Blues for Columbia Records in 1965. Two of the selections on the set featured Wilson on harmonica and guitar. In a letter to Jazz Journal published in the September 1965 issue, Son House's manager Dick Waterman remarked the following about the project and Wilson: "It is a solo album, except for backing on two cuts by a 21-year-old White boy from Cambridge by the name of Al Wilson. Al plays second guitar on Empire State Express and harp on Levee Camp Moan."
Due to Wilson's extreme near sidedness, and scholarly nature, his friend, John Fahey, "Father of the American Fingerstyle Guitar" gave him the nickname "The Blind Owl." After moving to California, Wilson met fellow blues enthusiast Bob Hite at a record store and together founded Canned Heat in 1965. Named after Tommy Johnson's 1928 song "Canned Heat Blues," about an alcoholic who turned to drinking the cooking fuel Sterno. Originally beginning as a jug band, Canned Heat initially comprised of Hite on vocals and Wilson on bottleneck guitar. The band started recording for Liberty Records in 1967, releasing their first album Canned Heat featuring reworkings of older blues songs. Their first big live performance was at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 17, 1967 where they performed renditions of "Rollin and Tumblin," "Bullfrog Blues," and "Dust My Broom."
Heavily influenced by Skip James, Wilson began singing similar to James' high pitch. Some of his first singing attempts took place behind a closed bedroom door; and when a family member overheard him, he was embarrassed. Wilson eventually perfected the high tenor for which he would become known. Wilson wrote and sang the band's break out hit "On the Road Again,' an updated version of a 1950's composition by Floyd Jones, on the band's second release, Boogie With Canned Heat. In an interview with Down Beat magazine he remarked, "... on 'On The Road Again' I appear in six different capacities - three tamboura parts, harmonica, vocal, and guitar, all recorded at different times." "On The Road Again" peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number 8 on the UK singles charts earning the band immense popularity in Europe.
Canned Heat's third album included the band's best-known song, also sung by Wilson, "Going Up the Country." The song, an incarnation of Henry Thomas' "Bull-Doze Blues" was rewritten by Wilson and caught the "back to nature" attitude of the late 1960's. The tune was a hit in numerous countries around the world, peaking at number 11 in the US. The "rural hippie anthem" became the unofficial theme song for the Woodstock Festival where Canned Heat performed at sunset on August 16, 1969.
In May 1970, Canned Heat teamed up with John Lee Hooker, fulfilling a dream for Wilson of recording with one of his musical idols. It would be his last recording. The resulting double album "Hooker 'N' Heat" was the first in Hooker's career to make the charts. On the album, Hooker is heard wondering how Wilson was capable of following his guitar playing so well. Hooker was known to be a difficult performer to accompany, partly because of his disregard of song form, yet Wilson seemed to have no trouble at all following him on this album. Hooker states that "you [Wilson] musta been listenin' to my records all your life" and also stated that Wilson was the "greatest harmonica player ever."
On September 3, 1970, Wilson was found dead in his sleeping bag on the hillside behind Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon home where he often slept. He was 27 years old. An autopsy identified his manner and cause of death as accidental acute barbiturate intoxication. Wilson's death came just two weeks before the death of Jimi Hendrix, four weeks before the death of Janis Joplin, and ten months before the death of Jim Morrison, three artists who also died at the same age.
Besides being a gifted musician, Wilson was a passionate conservationist who loved reading books on botany and ecology. He often slept outdoors to be closer to nature, and amassed a large collection of pinecones, leaves and soil samples. Wilson communicated with trees and plants better than he did with people. In 1970 Wilson established a conservation fund called Music Mountain in the Skunk Cabbage Creek area of California to purchase a grove to be added to Redwood National Park. The purpose of this organization was to raise money for the preservation of the coastal redwood, which Wilson saw increasingly endangered by pollution, and urban sprawl. He wrote an essay called 'Grim Harvest', expressing his concern for the logging of redwoods, which was printed as the liner notes to Canned Heat's 1969 album Future Blues. It begins, "The redwoods of California are the tallest living things on Earth, nearly the oldest, and among the most beautiful to boot." In order to support his dream, Wilson's family purchased a "grove naming" in his memory through the Save the Redwoods League of California. The money donated to create this memorial will be used by the League to support redwood reforestation, research, education, and land acquisition of both new and old growth redwoods. Wilson was cremated and his ashes were later scattered in Sequoia National Park amongst the giant redwoods he passionately loved.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Michael Winkelman was born on 27 June 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Indian Fighter (1955), The Real McCoys (1957) and Science Fiction Theatre (1955). He was married to Diana Maria Bustillos. He died on 27 July 1999 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Plot: 50, 0, 4304- Skip Young was born on 14 March 1930 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), One Step Beyond (1959) and The Spider (1958). He was married to Carol A Whittaker and Beverly Ruth Trout. He died on 17 March 1993 in Victorville, California, USA.Plot: Section 13A, Grave 332
GPS coordinates: 33.5284882, -117.1653900 (hddd.dddd) - Donald Bevan was born on 16 January 1920 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer, known for Stalag 17 (1953), Producers' Showcase (1954) and Danger (1950). He was married to Pat Kirkland. He died on 29 May 2013 in Studio City, California, USA.Plot: Section 53A, Site 3667
- Walter Ehlers was born on 7 May 1921 in Junction City, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Long Gray Line (1955), Patton 360 (2009) and The War (2007). He was married to Dorothy Decker. He died on 20 February 2014 in Long Beach, California, USA.
- Actress
- Make-Up Department
Loretta Agar was born on 7 September 1922 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress. She was married to John Agar. She died on 27 January 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Abel Fernandez was born on 14 July 1930 in East Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Untouchables (1959), Steve Canyon (1958) and Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958). He died on 3 May 2016 in Whittier, California, USA.- Jim Martin was born on 8 April 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Paper Lion (1968), The NFL on CBS (1956) and 1962 East-West Pro Bowl (1962). He died on 9 October 2002 in Corona del Mar, California, USA.
- Nathaniel Taylor was born on 31 March 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Sanford and Son (1972), Black Girl (1972) and The Redd Foxx Show (1986). He was married to Loretta Taylor. He died on 27 February 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Arthur Duncan was drafted into a dance team with two friends while in school. He initially resisted, but they insisted he give it a try. He liked it, and began to take tap lessons.
For a few years Arthur worked in Australia, where he was a popular performer who was even offered his own TV show. Feeling that he was too young and experienced for the responsibility that would have come with the show, he turned it down. He explained that he was working regularly, so he didn't miss much. While in Australia he met and worked with Ken Delo, who he would later work with for many years on the Lawrence Welk show.
After returning to the US, Arthur asked an acquaintance in the business to inquire if Lawrence Welk had any interest in adding a performer like Arthur to his show. After a long wait, he was asked to an audition, and then a few months later to make a guest appearance. After another couple of guest appearances, Arthur appeared with the show during a run in Lake Tahoe. At the end of the last show there, Lawrence asked Arthur out onto the stage, commented to the audience that Arthur had become popular with them, and announced that he'd like Arthur to "join the Welk musical family". Arthur accepted, and thus began a run of decades on the show, during which it was very rare not to see Arthur have a tap solo, along with other dance numbers with fellow members of the cast.
It shouldn't go without mention that when Lawrence Welk put Arthur Duncan on his show, black performers were generally not well received by TV audiences of the time. Welk showed real courage in breaking the color barrier, and Arthur Duncan obviously won the admiration and respect of both live and TV audiences with his incredible talent, good humor, and pleasant personality.
(The above is based on an interview of Arthur Duncan on the Lawrence Welk shows syndicated on PBS).