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- Actor
- Writer
- Stunts
Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed
'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). His father made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor
during the depression. His mother was born out of
wedlock and spent much of her life and the family fortune finding her
illustrious southern lineage and raising her children as aristocrats.
At age 13, Monty appeared on Broadway ("Fly Away Home"), and chose to
remain in the New York theater for over ten years before finally
succumbing to Hollywood. He gained excellent theatrical notices and
soon piqued the interests of numerous lovelorn actresses; their
advances met with awkward conflict. While working in New York in the
early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star
Libby Holman. She developed an intense
decade-plus obsession over the young actor, even financing an
experimental play, "Mexican Mural" for him. It was ironic his
relationship with the bisexual middle-aged Holman would be the
principal (and likely the last) heterosexual relationship of his life
and only cause him further anguish over his sexuality. She would wield
considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising
him in decisions to decline lead roles in
Sunset Blvd. (1950), (originally
written specifically for him; the story perhaps hitting a little too
close to home) and High Noon (1952).
His long apprenticeship on stage made him a thoroughly accomplished
actor, notable for the intensity with which he researched and
approached his roles. By the early 1950s he was exclusively
homosexual, though he continued to hide his homosexuality and
maintained a number of close friendships with theater women (heavily
promoted by studio publicists).
His film debut was Red River (1948)
with John Wayne quickly followed by
his early personal success
The Search (1948) (Oscar nominations
for this,
A Place in the Sun (1951),
From Here to Eternity (1953)
and
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)).
By 1950, he was troubled with allergies and colitis (the U.S. Army had
rejected him for military service in World War II for chronic diarrhea)
and, along with pill problems, he was alcoholic. He spent a great deal
of time and money on psychiatry.
In 1956, during filming of
Raintree County (1957), he ran
his Chevrolet into a tree after leaving a party at
Elizabeth Taylor's; it was she
who saved him from choking by pulling out two teeth lodged in his
throat. His smashed face was rebuilt, he reconciled with his estranged
father, but he continued bedeviled by dependency on drugs and his
unrelenting guilt over his homosexuality.
With his Hollywood career in an irreversible slide despite giving an
occasional riveting performance, such as in
Stanley Kramer's
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961),
Monty returned to New York and tried to slowly develop a somewhat more
sensible lifestyle in his brownstone row house on East 61st Street in
Manhattan. He was set to play in Taylor's
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967),
when he died in the early morning hours of July 23, 1966, at his home at
age 45. His body was found by his live-in personal secretary/companion
Lorenzo James, who found Clift lying nude on top of his bed, dead from
what the autopsy called "occlusive coronary artery disease." Clift's
last 10 years prior to his death from his 1956 car accident were called
the "longest suicide in history" by famed acting teacher
Robert Lewis.- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney, a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of his childhood. At age 16, during World War I, he faked his age to join the American Red Cross. He soon returned home, where he won a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. There, he met a fellow animator, Ub Iwerks. The two soon set up their own company. In the early 1920s, they made a series of animated shorts for the Newman theater chain, entitled "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams". Their company soon went bankrupt, however.
The two then went to Hollywood in 1923. They started work on a new series, about a live-action little girl who journeys to a world of animated characters. Entitled the "Alice Comedies", they were distributed by M.J. Winkler (Margaret). Walt was backed up financially only by Winkler and his older brother Roy O. Disney, who remained his business partner for the rest of his life. Hundreds of "Alice Comedies" were produced between 1923 and 1927, before they lost popularity.
Walt then started work on a series around a new animated character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This series was successful, but in 1928, Walt discovered that M.J. Winkler and her husband, Charles Mintz, had stolen the rights to the character away from him. They had also stolen all his animators, except for Ub Iwerks. While taking the train home, Walt started doodling on a piece of paper. The result of these doodles was a mouse named Mickey. With only Walt and Ub to animate, and Walt's wife Lillian Disney (Lilly) and Roy's wife Edna Disney to ink in the animation cells, three Mickey Mouse cartoons were quickly produced. The first two didn't sell, so Walt added synchronized sound to the last one, Steamboat Willie (1928), and it was immediately picked up. With Walt as the voice of Mickey, it premiered to great success. Many more cartoons followed. Walt was now in the big time, but he didn't stop creating new ideas.
In 1929, he created the 'Silly Symphonies', a cartoon series that didn't have a continuous character. They were another success. One of them,
Flowers and Trees (1932), was the first cartoon to be produced in color and the first cartoon to win an Oscar; another,
Three Little Pigs (1933), was so popular it was often billed above the feature films it accompanied. The Silly Symphonies stopped coming out in 1939, but Mickey and friends, (including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more), were still going strong and still very popular.
In 1934, Walt started work on another new idea: a cartoon that ran the length of a feature film. Everyone in Hollywood was calling it "Disney's Folly",
but Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was anything but, winning critical raves, the adoration of the public, and one big and seven little special Oscars for Walt. Now Walt listed animated features among his ever-growing list of accomplishments. While continuing to produce cartoon shorts, he also started producing more of the animated features.
Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942) were all successes; not even a flop like Fantasia (1940) and a studio
animators' strike in 1941 could stop Disney now.
In the mid 1940s, he began producing "packaged features", essentially a group of shorts put together to run feature length, but by 1950 he was back with animated features that stuck to one story, with Cinderella (1950),
Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). In 1950, he also started producing live-action films, with Treasure Island (1950). These began taking on greater importance throughout the 50s and 60s, but Walt
continued to produce animated features, including Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
In 1955 he opened a theme park in southern California: Disneyland. It was a place where children and their parents could take rides, just explore, and meet the familiar animated characters, all in a clean, safe environment. It was another great success. Walt also became one of the first producers of films to venture into television, with his series The Magical World of Disney (1954) which he began in 1954 to promote his theme park. He also produced
The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) and Zorro (1957). To top it all off, Walt came out with the lavish musical fantasy Mary Poppins (1964), which mixed live-action with animation. It is considered by many to be his magnum opus. Even after that, Walt continued to forge onward, with plans to build a new theme park and an experimental prototype city in Florida.
He did not live to see the culmination of those plans, however; in 1966, he developed lung cancer brought on by his lifelong chain-smoking. He died of a heart attack following cancer surgery on December 15, 1966 at age 65. But not even his death, it seemed, could stop him. Roy carried on plans to build the Florida theme park, and it premiered in 1971 under the name Walt Disney World. His company continues to flourish, still producing animated and live-action films and overseeing the still-growing empire started by one man: Walt Disney, who will never be forgotten.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend, illusionist Harry Houdini. Keaton himself verified the origin of his nickname "Buster", given to him by Houdini, when at the age of three, fell down a flight of stairs and was picked up and dusted off by Houdini, who said to Keaton's father Joe, also nearby, that the fall was 'a buster'. Savvy showman Joe Keaton liked the nickname, which has stuck for more than 100 years.
At the age of four, Keaton had already begun acting with his parents on the stage. Their act soon gained the reputation as one of the roughest in the country, for their wild, physical antics on stage. It was normal for Joe to throw Buster around the stage, participate in elaborate, dangerous stunts to the reverie of audiences. After several years on the Vaudeville circuit, "The Three Keatons", toured until Keaton had to break up the act due to his father's increasing alcohol dependence, making him a show business veteran by the age of 21.
While in New York looking for work, a chance run-in with the wildly successful film star and director Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, resulted in Arbuckle inviting him to be in his upcoming short The Butcher Boy (1917), an appearance that launched Keaton's film career, and spawned a friendship that lasted until Arbuckle's sudden death in 1933. By 1920, after making several successful shorts together, Arbuckle moved on to features, and Keaton inherited his studio, allowing him the opportunity to begin producing his own films. By September 1921, tragedy touched Arbuckle's life by way of a scandal, where he was tried three times for the murder of Virginia Rapp. Although he was not guilty of the charges, and never convicted, he was unable to regain his status, and the viewing public would no longer tolerate his presence in film. Keaton stood by his friend and mentor through out the incident, supporting him financially, finding him directorial work, even risking his own budding reputation offering to testify on Arbuckle's behalf.
In 1921, Keaton also married his first wife, Natalie Talmadge under unusual circumstance that have never been fully clarified. Popular conjecture states that he was encouraged by Joseph M. Schenck to marry into the powerful Talmadge dynasty, that he himself was already a part of. The union bore Keaton two sons. Keaton's independent shorts soon became too limiting for the growing star, and after a string of popular films like One Week (1920), The Boat (1921) and Cops (1922), Keaton made the transition into feature films. His first feature, Three Ages (1923), was produced similarly to his short films, and was the dawning of a new era in comedic cinema, where it became apparent to Keaton that he had to put more focus on the story lines and characterization.
At the height of his popularity, he was making two features a year, and followed Ages with Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924) and The General (1926), the latter two he regarded as his best films. The most renowned of Keaton's comedies is Sherlock Jr. (1924), which used cutting edge special effects that received mixed reviews as critics and audiences alike had never seen anything like it, and did not know what to make of it. Modern day film scholars liken the story and effects to Christopher Nolan Inception (2010), for its high level concept and ground-breaking execution. Keaton's Civil War epic The General (1926) kept up his momentum when he gave audiences the biggest and most expensive sequence ever seen in film at the time. At its climax, a bridge collapses while a train is passing over it, sending the train into a river. This wowed audiences, but did little for its long-term financial success. Audiences did not respond well to the film, disliking the higher level of drama over comedy, and the main character being a Confederate soldier.
After a few more silent features, including College (1927) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Keaton was informed that his contract had been sold to MGM, by brother-in-law and producer Joseph M. Schenck. Keaton regarded the incident as the worst professional mistake he ever made, as it sent his career, legacy, and personal life into a vicious downward spiral for many years. His first film with MGM was The Cameraman (1928), which is regarded as one of his best silent comedies, but the release signified the loss of control Keaton would incur, never again regaining his film -making independence. He made one more silent film at MGM entitled Spite Marriage (1929) before the sound era arrived.
His first appearance in a film with sound was with the ensemble piece The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929), though despite the popularity of it and his previous MGM silents, MGM never allowed Keaton his own production unit, and increasingly reduced his creative control over his films. By 1932, his marriage to Natalie Talmadge had dissolved when she sued him for divorce, and in an effort to placate her, put up little resistance. This resulted in the loss of the home he had built for his family nicknamed "The Italian Villa", the bulk of his assets, and contact with his children. Natalie changed their last names from Keaton to Talmadge, and they were disallowed from speaking about their father or seeing him. About 10 years later, when they became of age, they rekindled the relationship with Keaton. His hardships in his professional and private life that had been slowly taking their toll, begun to culminate by the early 1930s resulting in his own dependence on alcohol, and sometimes violent and erratic behavior. Depressed, penniless, and out of control, he was fired by MGM by 1933, and became a full-fledged alcoholic.
After spending time in hospitals to attempt and treat his alcoholism, he met second wife Mae Scrivens, a nurse, and married her hastily in Mexico, only to end in divorce by 1935. After his firing, he made several low-budget shorts for Educational Pictures, and spent the next several years of his life fading out of public favor, and finding work where he could. His career was slightly reinvigorated when he produced the short Grand Slam Opera (1936), which many of his fans admire for giving such a good performance during the most difficult and unmanageable years of his life.
In 1940, he met and married his third wife Eleanor Norris, who was deeply devoted to him, and remained his constant companion and partner until Keaton's death. After several more years of hardship working as an uncredited, underpaid gag man for comedians such as the Marx Brothers, he was consulted on how to do a realistic and comedic fall for In the Good Old Summertime (1949) in which an expensive violin is destroyed. Finding no one who could do this better than him, he was given a minor role in the film. His presence reignited interest in his silent films, which lead to interviews, television appearances, film roles, and world tours that kept him busy for the rest of his life.
After several more film, television, and stage appearances through the 1960s, he wrote the autobiography "My Wonderful World of Slapstick", having completed nearly 150 films in the span of his ground-breaking career. His last film appearance was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) which premiered seven months after Keaton's death from the rapid onset of lung cancer. Since his death, Keaton's legacy is being discovered by new generations of viewers every day, many of his films are available on YouTube, DVD and Blu-ray, where he, like all gold-gilded and beloved entertainers can live forever.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
An old-fashioned comedian, who, by recommendation by his son Keenan Wynn,
became one of the world's most beloved clowns, and one of the best
actors of his time. He was born on November 9, 1886. He performed in
the Ziegfeld Follies, and later had a son Keenan in 1916. He later
wrote his own shows, then known as the Perfect Fool. In 1941 at age 54,
he became a grandfather. He became popular for roles throughout the
1950s and 1960s, best remembered for The Ed Wynn Show (1949), and for Mary Poppins (1964) as Uncle
Albert, who reflects his old style charm. He continued to perform,
until he died in 1966 at age 79.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Francis X. Bushman was born on 10 January 1883 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Sabrina (1954), The Phantom Planet (1961) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). He was married to Iva Millicient Richardson, Norma Emily Atkin, Beverly Bayne and Josephine Fladine Duval. He died on 23 August 1966 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
At the age of eight, Fleming hopped on a freight train to Chicago to
escape his abusive father. Following hospitalization for gang fight
injuries, he returned to California where he lived with his mother and
worked at Paramount as a laborer. Fleming joined the Merchant Marine,
and then he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in WW II, where he
was a Master Carpenter in the Seabees.
From 1946 to 1957, Fleming appeared on stage in Chicago and New York
with featured roles in numerous plays on Broadway including "My Three
Angels," "Stalag 17," and "No Time For Sergeants." Fleming's television
career began in the early 1950's with live performances on "Hallmark
Summer Theatre," "The Web," "Suspense," "Kraft Television Theatre," and
many other dramatic series. In 1954, he starred in Paramount's film
"Conquest of Space," followed by "Queen of Outer Space" for Allied
Artists. In 1958, Fleming became the star of CBS-TV's long-running
western "Rawhide" as the trail boss Gil Favor. He remained with the
top-rated show for seven of its eight seasons, and he had planned to
retire to Hawaii where he had purchased a ranch.
He acted in "The Glass Bottom Boat" in 1965, and he was hired by MGM-TV
to film the two-part adventure program "High Jungle" in Peru. During
the shooting of location shots on the Huallaga River on September 28,
1966, Fleming dove (intentionally?) from a dug-out canoe after paddling
it beyond the rapids. His body was lost in the turbulent water and was
not recovered until three days later.- Actor
- Soundtrack
William Frawley was born in Burlington, Iowa. As a boy he sang at St.
Paul's Catholic Church and played at the Burlington Opera House. His
first job was as a stenographer for the Union Pacific Railroad. He did
vaudeville with his brother Paul, then joined pianist Franz Rath in an
act they took to San Francisco in 1910. Four years later he formed a
light comedy act with his new wife Edna Louise Broedt, "Frawley and
Louise", touring the Orpheum and Keith circuits until they divorced in
1927. He next moved to Broadway and then, in 1932, to Hollywood with
Paramount. By 1951, when he contacted Lucille Ball about a part in her TV
show I Love Lucy (1951), he had performed in over 100 films. His Fred Mertz role
lasted until the show ended in 1960, after which he did a five-year
stint on My Three Sons (1960). Poor health forced his retirement. He collapsed of a
heart attack on March 3, 1966, aged 79, walking along Hollywood
Boulevard after seeing a movie. He is buried in San Fernando Mission
Cemetery.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Making a career out of a post-nasal drip, this scene-stealing character
comedienne was one of the best Broadway and Hollywood had to offer.
It's too bad, then, that she wasn't utilized in films more often for
this slight, chinless, parrot-faced, squawky-voiced bundle of (kill)joy
could draw laughs from a well with a mere sniffle, gulp, or stare.
Plaintive Alice Pearce was born in New York City, the only child of a
bank vice-president, but was raised in different European schools --
wherever her father had business. Eventually Alice settled back in NYC
and began to gather experience in summer stock shows. She became a huge
hit on the nightclub circuit which eventually paved the way to
Broadway. She drew raves in the "New Faces of 1943" and was sensational
in the role of Lucy Schmeeler, the sexless, adenoidal blind date, in
the New York smash "On the Town" the very next year. As a testament to
her talent, Alice was the only performer kept on board when
Gene Kelly transferred the
sailors-on-leave musical to film. Strangely, this did not lead to a
slew of comedy vehicles, but Alice certainly sparked a number of fluffy
films, even in the tiniest of roles -- never more so than as the
hypochondriac patient who expounds on her physical ailments ad nauseam
while overly-attentive Jerry Lewis
suffers through a wrenching series of "sympathy pains" in
The Disorderly Orderly (1964).
It's slapstick comedy at its very best.
TV proved an attractive medium for her as well, hosting her own variety
show briefly in 1949. Her career ended on a high note as the nagging,
irrepressibly nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz in the
Bewitched (1964) sitcom. Ideally
teamed with George Tobias as her
hen-pecked husband, Abner, the two provided non-stop hilarity -- her
frightened gulps, blank gaze and confused exasperation coupled with his
dour disgust was comedy heaven. Sadly, Pearce developed ovarian cancer
and died in 1966, only two seasons into the show. She was only 48. She
quite deservedly won an Emmy trophy for her work a few months after her
death. Hollywood lost a treasured talent in Alice Pearce, gone way
before her time.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Verna Felton had extensive experience on the stage and in radio before
she broke into film and television. Her trademarks was her distinctive
husky voice and her no-nonsense attitude. She was quite in demand for
voiceover work, as evidenced by her roles in
Cinderella (1950),
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
and Lady and the Tramp (1955).
She appeared in many films, but is best remembered as Hilda Crocker in
the TV series
December Bride (1954), a
character she carried over into its spinoff,
Pete and Gladys (1960). Verna
died in 1966 at 76 years of age of a stroke.- Actor
- Soundtrack
A stocky, friendly-faced character actor, Ford was born Samuel Jones in
England, where the brutality of his childhood rivaled anything that Charles Dickens
ever dreamed up. He lived for a while in an orphanage after being
separated from his parents. While still young, he was sent to a Toronto
branch of the orphanage. There, he began a cycle that involved living
in 17 foster homes, the longest being with a farm family that treated
him like a slave. At age 11 he ran away and joined a vaudeville troupe
called the Winnipeg Kiddies, with whom he stayed until 1914. He then
joined a friend named Wallace Ford, and the two 'hoboed" their way into
the United States. After the friend was crushed to death by a railroad
car, he took the name Wallace Ford in his friend's memory and found work in
theatrical troupes and repertory companies. On Broadway he acted in
"Abraham Lincoln," "Abie's Irish Rose," and "Bad Girl." He left
Broadway in 1932 to appear with
Joan Crawford in
Possessed (1931); he also landed the
lead in MGM's notorious Freaks (1932),
although his fellow actors proved more memorable. He also co-starred as
Walter Huston's amoral brother in one of
the studio's few full-blown gangster melodramas,
The Beast of the City (1932),
starring Jean Harlow in arguably her most
hard-bitten role. In all he appeared in over 200 films, including five
directed by John Ford
(The Last Hurrah (1958),
The Whole Town's Talking (1935),
They Were Expendable (1945),
The Lost Patrol (1934), and
The Informer (1935)). He also
appeared with Henry Fonda in the TV series
"The Deputy," which ran from 1959 to 1960. Ford died of a heart attack soon
after his last memorable role as "Old Pa" in the hit
Sidney Poitier drama A Patch of Blue (1965).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Already trained in dance and theater, he quit school at age 13 to study
music and painting. By 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer in New
York, and by his mid-twenties he was performing in musicals, dramas on
Broadway and in London, and in silent movies. His first real success in
film came in middle age as the classy villain Waldo Lydecker in
Laura (1944), followed by the part of
Elliott Templeton in
The Razor's Edge (1946) - both
of which won him Oscar nominations. His priggish Mr. Belvedere in a
series of films was supposedly not far removed from his fastidious,
finicky, fussy, abrasive and condescending real-life persona. He was
inseparable from his overbearing mother Maybelle, with whom he lived
until her death at 91, six years before his own death. The recent
success of Titanic (1997) created brief
interest due his having appeared with
Barbara Stanwyck in the 1953 version of
the story. He is interred at Abbey of the Psalms, Hollywood Memorial
Cemetery (now known as Hollywood Forever).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Her father was a butcher. In 1913 she met and married matinée idol
DeWolf Hopper Sr. and in 1915 they moved to Hollywood, where both began active
film careers. He became a star with Triangle Company, she began in vamp
parts and turned to supporting roles. After her divorce she appeared in
dozens of films, becoming known as "Queen of the Quickies". In 1936 she
started a gossipy radio show and two years later commenced a 28-year
stint as a newspaper gossip columnist, rival of Louella Parsons. In her last
films she mostly played herself, a tribute to her influence in
Hollywood. Her son became famous as investigator Paul Drake in the
Perry Mason (1957) series.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Herbert Marshall had trained to become a certified accountant, but his
interest turned to the stage. He lost a leg while serving in World War
I and was rehabilitated with a wooden leg. This did not stop him from
making good his decision to make the stage his vocation. He used a
very deliberate square-shouldered and guided walk, largely
unnoticeable, to cover up his disability. He spent 20 years in
distinguished stage work in London before entering films. He almost made the
transition from the stage directly to sound movies except for one silent
film, Mumsie (1927), produced in Great
Britain. His wonderfully mellow baritone and British accent rolled out with
a minimum of mouth movement and a nonchalant ease that stood out as
unique. His rather blasé demeanor could take on various nuances,
without overt emotion, to fit any role he played, whether
sophisticated comedy or drama, and the accent fit just as well. He
filled the range from romantic lead, with several sympathetic strangers
thrown in, to dignified military officer to doctor to various degrees
of villainy, his unemotional delivery meshing with the cold, impassive
criminal character.
He was almost 40 when he appeared in his first picture in Hollywood,
The Letter (1929), a film worthy of comparison (but for the primitive sound recording) to the more famous
second version (The Letter (1940))
with Bette Davis. Marshall is the murder
victim in 1929 and the betrayed husband in 1940. He was heavily in
demand in the 1930s, sometimes in five or six pictures a year. Perhaps
his best suave comedic role was in
Trouble in Paradise (1932),
the first non-musical sound comedy by producer-director
Ernst Lubitsch--to some, Lubitsch's
greatest film. That same year, Marshall did one of his most warmly
human, romantic roles in the marvelously erotic
Blonde Venus (1932), with the
captivating Marlene Dietrich.
Through the '40s, his roles were more of the character variety, but
always substantial. He was deviously subtle as the pre-World War II peace
leader actually working against peace for a veiled foreign power
(Germany) in
Foreign Correspondent (1940).
The film was one of
Alfred Hitchcock 's earliest
Hollywood films and definitely an under-rated thriller. Who
could forget Marshall's small but standout performance as "Scott
Chavez", who at the beginning of
Duel in the Sun (1946), with
typical Marshall nonchalance, calmly shoots his Indian cantina-entertainer wife for her cheating ways? By the '50s, Marshall was
doing fewer movies, but still in varied genres. His voice was perfect to lend
credence to some early sci-fi classics, such as
Riders to the Stars (1954)
and Gog (1954) and the
The Fly (1958). He was also busy
honing his considerable talent with various early-TV playhouse
programs. He also fit comfortably into episodic TV, including a rare
five-episode run as a priest on
77 Sunset Strip (1958). All
told, Herbert Marshall graced nearly 100 movie and TV roles with an
aplomb that remains a rich legacy.- Robert Keith was an American character actor who appeared in a number
of prominent films and was the father of actor Brian Keith. A native of
Indiana, Keith joined a stock company as a teenager and developed
skills as a writer and actor. He appeared in dozens of plays around the
country and on Broadway.
He came to the attention of Hollywood as a writer after his play "The
Tightwad" appeared in New York in 1927. He was contracted to write
dialog for pictures and managed to act in several as well. He returned
to Broadway as a playwright in 1932 and continued to act on the stage
in a number of legendary theatre productions including "Yellow Jack",
"The Children's Hour" and "Mr. Roberts" (as Doc).
In the late 1940s he returned to film work full-time and became a
familiar and respected performer in films of the period. His son Brian,
by his second wife, Helena Shipman, appeared with him in several silent
films as a child, long before becoming a star in his own right. Robert
Keith died in 1966. - Actress
- Soundtrack
A dainty but nevertheless feisty character actress, southern-bred (Mary) Elizabeth Patterson was born in Savannah, Tennessee, on November 22, 1874, and started her career over her strict parent's objections. She became a member of Chicago's Ben Greet Players, performing Shakespeare at the turn of the century. This followed college at Martin College where she studied music, elocution and English, and post-graduate work at Columbia Institute in Columbia, Tennessee.
Elizabeth eventually traveled for well over a decade in stock tours before given the opportunity to debut on Broadway with the short-lived play "Everyman" in 1913. She continued in such other Broadway comedies and dramas as "The Family Exit (1917), "The Piper" (1920), "Magnolia" (1923), "The Book of Charm" (1925), "Spellbound" (1927), "Rope" (1928), "The Marriage Bed" (1929), "Her Master's Voice" (1933), "Yankee Point" (1942), "But Not Goodbye" (1944) and "His and Hers" (1954).
By the time the veteran player finally advanced to the screen, she was 51 years of age. Starting with the silent films The Boy Friend (1926) and The Return of Peter Grimm (1926), she would be best recalled for her series of careworn ladies, playing a host of dressed-down, small-town folk -- grannies, aunts, spinsters, gossips, teachers, frontier women -- and other sweet-and-sour types. She added greatly to the atmosphere of such popular talking films as The Cat Creeps (1930), Penrod and Sam (1931), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Doctor Bull (1933), So Red the Rose (1935), High, Wide and Handsome (1937), Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938) (and series: as Aunt Blanche), Anne of Windy Poplars (1940), The Cat and the Canary (1939), Remember the Night (1939), Tobacco Road (1941) (her most famous film role: as Ada Lister), Her Cardboard Lover (1942), I Married a Witch (1942), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), Out of the Blue (1947), The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947), Little Women (1949), Intruder in the Dust (1949), Pal Joey (1957), and her final, Tall Story (1960).
In the television arena, she appeared on several anthology shows ("Armstrong Circle Theatre," "Chevron Theatre," "Four Star Playhouse," "General Electric Theatre," "Pulitzer Prize Playhouse") and such regular shows as "The Adventures of Superman," "The Adventures of Jim Bowie," "77 Sunset Strip" and "Playhouse 90." She became a familiar household face, however, as the elderly neighbor and part-time babysitter, Mrs. Trumbull, on the I Love Lucy (1951) TV series.
The never-married Elizabeth, who lived at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel her entire TV and film career, died on January 31, 1966, after contracting pneumonia. The 91-year-old lady was buried in a hometown cemetery.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Anne Nagel's life could be summed up in two words: pretty miserable.
Born to devoutly religious Bostonian parents who had long encouraged
her to become a nun, she had been enrolled in a preparatory school for
just that purpose. As a young teenager she worked part-time as a
photographer's model, and by her mid-teens, she had become more
interested in a life in Hollywood than in a convent and had joined a
Boston theater company. By this time, her mother had remarried and her
new stepfather, a Technicolor expert, had been hired by Tiffany, a bottom-rung Poverty Row studio. The family journeyed to
California and Anne's first film experience was in several Technicolor
experimental shorts directed by her stepfather. She soon graduated to
features as a dancer. Her striking beauty and pleasant voice made her a
natural for talkies. She landed a contract at Warner Brothers and made
her film debut in 1932, enjoying a string of steady, if unspectacular,
roles in lower- and medium-budget pictures. Life began to unravel for
her in 1936 when she married
Ross Alexander. He committed suicide in 1937, and it affected Nagel deeply. Universal,
with whom she was under contract by 1941, placed her in some of its serials
and featured her in several of its lower-rank horror pictures and B
westerns. She soon left Universal and struck out on her own, but
unfortunately, she was able to land roles only at Poverty Row studios
such as Republic, Monogram, and the nadir of the film industry, PRC.
Ironically, her last film,
Armored Car Robbery (1950), a
taut, highly regarded little thriller now considered a classic of the
genre, was easily the best picture she had done in years, and a good
one to go out on. She had married an Army Air Corps officer, James H.
Keehan, in 1941, but the marriage was increasingly unhappy and they
divorced in 1951. Stories spread about her having an alcohol problem,
and she spent the last years of her life virtually penniless. Sadly,
she died from cancer on 7/6/66 at only 50.- Charles Watts was born on 30 October 1912 in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for An Affair to Remember (1957), Giant (1956) and Lover Come Back (1961). He died on 13 December 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
- Don Kelly was born on March 17, 1924 in New York City, New York, USA as
Donald Patrick Kelly to Robert T. Kelly and Rachel Marie Knudsen. He
was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Don was an actor, known for Bombers
B-52 (1957), Tank Battalion (1958), and The Hostage (1967), his final
starring role. The Hollywood Reporter sated in its film review that
"the film owes its vitality primarily to the dynamic forces of the
murderer, Bull, played by Don O'Kelly." He appeared in numerous
television westerns including Bat Masterson, Cheyenne, The Virginian,
and Bonanza. He died on October 2, 1966 in Culver City, Los Angeles,
California, USA. - Canadian-born character actor Jonathan Hale had a long and distinguished film career, appearing in over 260 pictures and television programs.
He was a member of the diplomatic service prior to his film career, and his stately bearing stood him in good stead for the large variety of corporate executives, military officers and high-level politicians he often played.
His best known and most memorable role was that of Dagwood Bumstead's boss, J.C. Dithers, in the "Blondie" film series, a
role he assayed from the first entry (Blondie (1938)) until he left the series in 1946 having appeared in 16 of the 28 "Blondie" films.
In 1966, despondent over health and personal problems, he shot himself to death. - A stage actress, Urecal made her screen debut in 1933. For the
remainder of her career and two hundred plus movies, she played
cleaning women, landladies, shopkeepers and the like. She was known as
a Marjorie Main type actress and later went on to a career in
television playing in such shows as "Tugboat Annie" and "Peter Gunn."
Minerva claimed her name was an anagram of her hometown, Eureka,
California. - Writer
- Director
- Producer
Robert Rossen was born on 16 March 1908 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and director, known for The Hustler (1961), All the King's Men (1949) and Alexander the Great (1956). He was married to Sarah (Sue) Siegel. He died on 18 February 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.- Crahan Denton was born on 20 March 1914 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He was an actor, known for The Parent Trap (1961), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and The Young One (1960). He was married to Eleanor Brown and Frances Elizabeth Reavis. He died on 4 December 1966 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Hugh Sanders was born on 13 March 1911 in East Saint Louis, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for That's My Boy (1951), The Outer Limits (1963) and Storm Warning (1950). He was married to Janet Bernice Putnam and Dorothy F Allsup. He died on 9 January 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Estelita Rodriguez was born on 2 July 1928 in Guanajay, Cuba. She was an actress, known for Rio Bravo (1959), Belle of Old Mexico (1950) and Susanna Pass (1949). She was married to Dr. Ricardo A. Pego, Ismael Alfonso Halfss, aka Henry Half, Grant Withers and Chu Chu Martinez. She died on 12 March 1966 in Van Nuys, California, USA.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider on October 13, 1925, in
Mineola, Long Island, New York. His British-born father, Myron, was a
shoe clerk, his mother, Sadie, was a dancer. Lenny's parents were
divorced when he was a child. To support herself and her son, Sadie
Schneider pursued a career in show business and sent Lenny to live with
various aunts, uncles and grandparents.
Dropping out of high school,
Lenny enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, which he almost disliked. He
got himself discharged after convincing a team of Navy psychologists
that he was experimenting with homosexual urges. With some help from
his mother, Lenny began doing impressions, one-liners and movie
parodies in small nightclubs. In 1948, he obtained some booking as a
result of his appearance on the TV show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.
Lenny married a red-headed stripper named Honey Harlow in 1951, but
they were divorced five years later. After Honey was arrested and sent
to jail for a narcotics violation, Lenny raised their daughter, Kitty,
by himself.
Slowly, Lenny began working his way up from performing
stand-up comedy in seedy New York City strip clubs and jazz clubs.
Gradually his act evolved into something wholly different from that of
other comics. Onstage, he was a dark, slender, and intense figure who
prowled around like a caged animal and spoke into a hand-held
microphone. His monologues were peppered with four-letter curse words
and Yiddish expressions. In his act, Lenny liked to expose racist
attitudes by forcing his audiences to examine their own racial
prejudices. In another act bashing religions, Lenny acted out a
conversation between Oral Roberts and the Pope, with both talking in
the vernacular of glib show-business personalities. When jazz critic
Ralph J. Gleason and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote
about Lenny, be began to get the recognition he so badly wanted.
Unfortunately, the seedy subculture of strip joints, clubs, and dives
had introduced him to hard drugs and fast times.
Through his nightclub
acts and record albums, Lenny became the hipster saint of the comedy
world, crossing into the line of propriety where others feared to
tread. But his foul-speaking acts began to catch up with him when he
was arrested in 1961 on obscenity charges following an appearance at
the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, but a jury found him not guilty.
Problems with the authorities and religious groups trying to silence
him began to plague him as he appeared in clubs all over the country.
In 1964, he was arrested again in New York City on more obscenity
charges. During his trial a police officer read notes about Lenny's
profane act, which caused the desperate comic to ask the judge to let
him do the act in court so the judge could understand his callous humor
in context, but the judge refused. Despite support from noted writers,
critics, educators and politicians, Lenny was found guilty and
sentenced to several months in prison, and was paroled just a few
months later. Continually harassed by the police, Lenny became
depressed and paranoid. Further prosecutions for obscenity and his drug
use drove him toward instability. By 1965, he was broke and in debt. He
claimed that every time he got a gig, the local police, wherever he
was, would threaten to arrest the club owner if Lenny went onstage.
In February 1966, Lenny traveled to Los Angeles and appeared onstage for
the first time in years. He performed for a very small crowd who
included a few hecklers and vice cops waiting to arrest him if he
should use profanity again. Lenny by this time was bearded, overweight,
and haggard, and his performance centered on his current obsessions:
his constitutional right of free speech, free assembly, and freedom
from unreasonable search and seizure. When a friend asked him
afterwards why he had turned his back on comedy he replied, "I'm not a
comedian anymore. I'm Lenny Bruce." On August 3, 1966, Lenny was found
dead on the bathroom floor of his Hollywood home. Whatever the details
or reasons why, Lenny Bruce was found dead from a drug overdose at the
age of 40.- John Reynolds was born on 15 September 1941 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966). He died on 16 October 1966 in El Paso, Texas, USA.
- Thurman Lee Haas was born on 3 February, 1920 in central Oklahoma on
the Pottawatomie Indian Reservation (home of the Kickapoo Tribe). His
parents were Reuben Claude Haas and the former Ann Maud Waldrip. His
father was a farmer who later became involved in tribal governments in
Oklahoma and the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Thurman's
family were members of the Oneida Indian Nation who, over a century
earlier, had been forced to relocate from New York State to what was
then known as the Northwest Territory in the area that later became the
State of Wisconsin.
As a youth Thurman spent a good deal of his time on hunting trips in
rural Oklahoma with his pony, Pet and his dog, White Man. The dog once
saved his life by dragging him ashore after he had fallen into the Red
River. Thurman served in the US Army until the early 1950s and began
appearing in small movie rolls not long after his discharge. His acting
career got a boost when Walt Disney cast him
to play Chief Red Stick in
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955).
Over his career Thurman would play Native Americans in approximately
eight out of every ten projects he appeared in.
In his off time Thurman wrote and contributed stories to popular men's
magazines of the day. One such story earned him a letter of kudos from
writer John Steinbeck. The cause of his
untimely death in Los Angeles on 21 November, 1966 appears not to be
publicly known. He was survived by his wife, Nancy Scott and three
children. Much of the information above came from public records and a
newspaper article promoting the Disney movie,
Savage Sam (1963). - A scene stealing actor of lugubrious countenance, Wilfrid Lawson (born
Wilfrid Worsnop) made his debut on the stage in "Trilby" at the Pier
Pavilion in Brighton at the age of 16. He served as a pilot in the RAF
during the final months of World War I, before resuming his theatrical
career, becoming a well-established character player by the end of the
decade. Wilfrid went on to perform at the West End in "Sweeney Todd" in
1928, followed by "Pygmalion" and "Major Barbara" at the Prince's
Theatre in Bristol. He appeared infrequently in films from 1931, but
was not considered for leading roles until starring in the
Edgar Wallace crime caper
The Terror (1938).That same year, he
recreated his part of Alfred Doolittle in
Pygmalion (1938) for
Gabriel Pascal's popular film
version, and thus attracted the attention of Hollywood.
After a brief sojourn in America, Wilfrid returned to Britain and was
cast in the titular role of a Technicolor biopic,
The Great Mr. Handel (1942).
After that, he reverted to form playing the eccentric or maniacal
character parts, in which he truly excelled. Unfortunately, he was
plagued for most of his remaining life by severe bouts of alcoholism,
which affected his work. In spite of this, and though he became known
as 'the king of the dramatic pause', he rarely forgot his lines and
turned in several memorable performances towards the end of his career.
He was indeed reputed to have had the unique ability to function
reasonably well, while under the influence. After a decade long
absence, Wilfrid made a triumphant return to the stage, first in
August Strindberg's "The Father", and
then in Joseph Losey's 1954 production of
"The Wooden Dish".
On screen, he is fondly remembered as the unhinged lighthouse keeper
Rolfe Kristan in
Tower of Terror (1941); as the
bearded, slouch-hatted Black George Seagrim in
Tom Jones (1963), and as the
hilariously pixillated, decrepit butler Peacock in
The Wrong Box (1966). By the time
he appeared as Peacock, Wilfrid's alcoholism had reached such alarming
proportions that he could no longer obtain insurance. Fortunately, this
did not deter producer/director
Bryan Forbes from keeping him in the cast.
Alas, Wilfrid died within five months of the film being released of a
heart attack. - Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Sailor Vincent was born on 24 October 1901 in Dracut, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man I Love (1929), Woman Trap (1929) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He died on 12 July 1966 in Toluca Lake, California, USA.- Often confused with the British-born comic actor J. Pat O'Malley, who is the
better remembered, silent dramatic film star Pat O'Malley had an
enduring career that stands on its own. He was of solid Irish-American
stock, born in Forest City, Pennsylvania, in 1890. A one-time railroad
switchman, he also had circus experience by the time he discovered an
interest in movie making. He began with the Kalem Studio in 1913 and
appeared in a few Irish films before signing on with Thomas Edison's company
in 1914. The following year, he married actress Lillian Wilkes, and
three of their children, Eileen, Mary Katherine, and Sheila, would
become actors as well. His brother Charles O'Malley was a sometime actor,
appearing in westerns on occasion. His first identifiable film is
The Alien (1913). He began freelancing in 1916 and from then on, appeared in
scores of silents as both a rugged and romantic lead, some classic
films being The Heart of Humanity (1918), My Wild Irish Rose (1922), and The Virginian (1923). He did not age well come
sound pictures, and he was quickly relegated to supporting parts. He
appeared in hundreds upon hundreds of bits (mostly unbilled) until
1956, when he retired. He died a decade later. - Actor
- Additional Crew
Chief Yowlachie was born in Kitsap County, Washington, and later lived with his family on the Yakima Indian Reservation. Although he was not enrolled in the Yakima Nation, his parents John W. Simmons and Lucy Riddle both had Puyallup heritage and owned allotted land on the Yakima reservation. Yowlatchie's real name was Daniel Simmons and he began his show-business career as--believe it or not--an opera singer and spent many years in that
profession. In the 1920s he switched to films, and over the next 25 or
so years played everything from rampaging Apache chiefs to comic-relief
sidekicks. A large, round-faced man, his distinctive voice--a deep,
resonant bass somewhat resembling Bluto's in the old "Popeye"
cartoons--was instantly recognizable, and he had the distinction of not
appearing to have aged much over his career, which is most likely
attributable to the fact that he looked quite a bit younger than he
actually was, so his "aging" wasn't all that noticeable. In addition to
his "serious" roles, he had somewhat more light-hearted parts in
several films, notably
Red River (1948), where he traded quips
with veteran scene-stealer
Walter Brennan, and held his own quite
well.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Lively childish leading lady on stage and films during the transition
to sound. She began on stage at seventeen and went on to films in 1929.
She made several early talkies at Paramount but her popularity soon
waned.- Robert Graf was born on 18 November 1923 in Witten, Germany. He was an actor, known for The Great Escape (1963), Aren't We Wonderful? (1958) and Jonas (1957). He was married to Selma Urfer. He died on 4 February 1966 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany.
- Josephine Joseph was born in Austria of Polish-Austrian descent in
1913, whose body was allegedly split down the middle, one side male and
the other female. She/he claimed to be a true intersex, or
"hermaphrodite,' but there is no evidence to confirm whether this was
the case or not. Hermaphrodites generally share the genitals of both
sexes, but are not "divided," as circus performers would lead the
general public to believe. This was known as a "gaffed" or fake
presentation. Most likely, she/he was just a skilled male-female
impersonator. One side of the body would be exercised, with shaved body
hair and a suntan; the other side would be pale and flabby due to lack
of exercise, and the pectoral muscle would resemble a woman's breast.
The performer would then wear a split costume, a Tarzan-style loincloth
on the "male" side, and a low-cut, tight-fitting blouse on the "female"
side. In the majority of cases, half-and-half performers were men, so
Josephine Joseph was most likely a male impersonator, with the feminine
side being dominant.
At the age of 19, Josephine Joseph is best remembered for an appearance
in the Tod Browning classic Freaks (1932). Although she/he only had two
lines, she/he still appeared in a number of scenes, most notably at the
wedding reception where she/he begins the chant, "We accept her, one of
us! We accept her, one of us!" Another has her/him giving an alluring
look to the circus strongman, Hercules, to which Roscoe Ates stammers,
"I think she-he she-he likes you...but he dodo-don't!"
As of this posting, there is no other information on the life of
Josephine Joseph. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Nestor Paiva was born on 30 June 1905 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955) and Road to Rio (1947). He was married to Maxine Kuntzman. He died on 9 September 1966 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
The fresh-faced appeal and promising talent of darkly handsome "B"
actor Don Castle was evident from the late 30s into the 40s, but it
wasn't enough for him to reach topgrade stardom. Born Marion Goodman,
Jr. in Beaumont Texas in 1918 and raised in Houston, Don enrolled at
the University of Texas before heading West to California to try his
luck in acting.
An agent was struck by his resemblance to a young
Clark Gable and took him to MGM, who went on
to sign the 20-year-old actor wannabe (young Marion had already changed
his name to Don Castle). The nascent actor was groomed very slowly and
started at the bottom step of the billing ladder with numerous small,
often uncredited roles in such films as
Young Dr. Kildare (1938),
Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939),
Strike Up the Band (1940),
The Ghost Comes Home (1940)
and I Take This Woman (1940).
On a very rare occasion MGM would better feature their client in
support as in the comedy
Rich Man, Poor Girl (1938)
which starred Robert Young and
Ruth Hussey in the title roles with Don as
part of Hussey's zany family, and also as Dennis Hunt in
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938),
a role he played again in
Out West with the Hardys (1938).
Appearing in several MGM shorts but, for the most part, interest in
their client quickly waned.
Paramount picked the young actor up and cast him in a smallish role in
You're the One (1941), a vehicle
for the then-popular jazz and popular standards singer (Wee)
Bonnie Baker. His second film, the
war-era drama Power Dive (1941), a
loanout, finally gave Don a chance to show his potential in a second
lead role as test pilot Richard Arlen's
brother and rival for Jean Parker.
Don also showed strong ability in
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942)
with Richard Dix playing Wyatt Earp
and Don fourth billed as Johnny Duanne.
WWII interrupted his career when he was drafted into the Army Air
Force. During that time he made training films for the First Motion
Picture Unit. Don returned to Paramount following his 1946 discharge
but little interest was shown. A small role in
The Searching Wind (1946), a
war drama, was all he could muster. On his own, Don finally received
top billing in the "Poverty Row" programmer
Lighthouse (1947) in which he and
fellow lighthouse keeper (played by
John Litel) vie for the affections of pretty
June Lang. He then went and co-starred
with Johnny Sands and
Vivian Austin in the cheapjack racing yarn
Born to Speed (1947).
Don forged a strong friendship with former child actress
Bonita Granville after co-starring with
her in the Monogram film noir
The Guilty (1947), The friendship
proved quite fruitful. He was then cast in the Wrather Production
Company's drama High Tide (1947) with
Lee Tracy and
Julie Bishop and again appeared
opposite Bonita in
Strike It Rich (1948). Don went on
to serve as "best man" when Bonita married studio head
Jack Wrather in 1947.
Most of Don's lead/support parts in subsequent bargain-basement
independents were equally unrewarding --
The Invisible Wall (1947),
Roses Are Red (1947),
Perilous Waters (1948),
Madonna of the Desert (1948),
Who Killed 'Doc' Robbin? (1948),
I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948)
and Stampede (1949). He subsequently
signed a three-picture contract with Lippert Productions but only one,
Motor Patrol (1950), was ever
filmed. When movie offers completely dried up in 1950, Don found some
brief work as a guest on TV anthology programs.
During the lean years in the early 1950s, Don and his second wife,
Zetta, opened Castle's Red Barn (1959) in Palm Springs which became a
popular place to stay. They ran it for seven years. In 1957, he was
given minor roles in the films
The Big Land (1957) and
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).
Jack and Bonita Wrather came to Don's rescue once again when Jack made
Don president of International Television Corporation. He also served
as an associate producer of Wrather's classic series
Lassie (1954) from 1960-1962.
Don's later years were marred by depression. Divorced from his second
wife in 1962, he died from a drug overdose at the age of 47.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Born Rex Lloyd Lease in West Virginia on February 11, 1903 (not 1901, according to Social Security records found), future cowboy actor Rex Lease was raised in Columbus, Ohio and very briefly attended Ohio Wesleyan University initially interested in the ministry. When this fell through, he decided to attempt an acting career instead. Setting his sights on Hollywood at age 19 in 1924, he broke into silent films as an extra and bit player.
Rex's first role of any significance was as the adult son of Irene Rich and Morgan Wallace in the melodrama A Woman Who Sinned (1924). Within a couple of years the strapping, exceedingly handsome actor had made it into the silent co-star ranks of romantic drama, jazz-age comedy, canine adventures and rugged action in such fare as Somebody's Mother (1926), Mystery Pilot (1926), The Timid Terror (1926), The Outlaw Dog (1927), Clancy's Kosher Wedding (1927), The College Hero (1927) and as the murderous bad guy, The Solitaire Kid, in the silent Tim McCoy western The Law of the Range (1928) co-starring a very young Joan Crawford.
Lease made an easy transition come the advent of sound and continued on as heroes and romantic leading men types in such early talkies as Borrowed Wives (1930), Troopers Three (1930), The Sign of the Wolf (1931), Chinatown After Dark (1931), The Monster Walks (1932) and Inside Information (1934). Having appeared in the title role of the western The Utah Kid (1930), within a few years Rex hit minor cowboy hero stardom with such offerings as The Cowboy and the Bandit (1935), Cyclone of the Saddle (1935), Fighting Caballero (1935), The Ghost Rider (1935), Rough Riding Ranger (1935), Custer's Last Stand (1936), Cavalcade of the West (1936) and The Silver Trail (1937). Just as quickly, however, his hero status fell aside and he found himself, more often than not, shuffled back to playing secondary partners or villains for a host of other established or ascending sagebrush stars such as his old pal Tim McCoy, as well as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hoot Gibson, Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter, Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Allan Lane, Bill Elliott and a quickly rising John Wayne.
By the late 1930's, Rex was finding himself with little to no billing at all -- appearing as a bank robber in the Laurel & Hardy comedy A Chump at Oxford (1940), a cop in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and minor henchmen in such second-string westerns as Saddlemates (1941), Jesse James at Bay (1941), Idaho (1943), King of the Cowboys (1943), Rough Riders of Cheyenne (1945) and Frontier Gal (1945). Occasional featured roles included those in Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground (1943), Springtime in Texas (1945), Days of Buffalo Bill (1946), The People's Choice (1946) and the serial cliffhanger The Crimson Ghost (1946). Lease went on to appear in hundreds of films over a three and a half decade career.
In the 1950's Rex added TV to his extensive résumé with appearances on "The Abbott & Costello Show," "The Roy Rogers Show," "Tales of the Texas Rangers," "Fury," "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," "Maverick" and several spots (his last being in 1960) on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp." A few minor 50's western movie parts also came his way with Ride, Vaquero! (1953), Calamity Jane (1953), Backlash (1956) and Tension at Table Rock (1956).
Rex's personal life was turbulent, what with five marriages and divorces -- his first two being actresses Charlotte Merriam and Eleanor Hunt). He eventually retired and died of undisclosed causes in the Los Angeles area on January 3, 1966, at the age of 62. He was discovered by his son Richard, who was shot to death at age 25 the following year after being involved in a traffic altercation with two teenagers.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Emma Dunn was a much noted stage actress before turning to films. She
worked with such theatre luminaries as Richard Mansfield, Frances
Starr, James Ellison and Blanche Yurka. She appeared in 3 productions
under the direction of the legendary David Belasco. Miss Dunn also
authored 2 books regarding diction and voice quality.- Joseph Crehan was born on 15 July 1883 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor, known for Black Magic (1944), Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) and Kid Galahad (1937). He was married to Dorothy R. Lord. He died on 15 April 1966 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Tall, oval-faced, fair-haired, sensitive-looking Douglass Montgomery was born in Los Angeles on October 29, 1909, the son of a jeweler. Graduating from Los Angeles High School, he sought early experience at the Pasadena Playhouse. Deciding to move to New York to pursue the stage, he was quickly typed as dashing suitors in romantic and social dramas.
After his discovery by an MGM agent and his resulting studio contract, Douglass's marquee name was immediately changed to Kent Douglass so as not to be mistaken for the studio's major star Robert Montgomery. A handsome and dapper dramatic "second lead" opposite some of MGM's powerhouse actresses, he supported Joan Crawford in her vehicle Paid (1930), which was his debut film, and, more memorably, Katharine Hepburn in Little Women (1933) as "Laurie" opposite Hepburn's "Jo." Other "second lead" MGM credits include Daybreak (1931) starring Ramon Novarro and Helen Chandler, Five and Ten (1931) with Marion Davies and Leslie Howard, and two films as co-lead: the romantic WWI drama Waterloo Bridge (1931), directed by James Whale, as "Roy Cronin" opposite Mae Clarke's "Myra," and the melodrama A House Divided (1931), directed by William Wyler, as the son of Walter Huston and love interest to Helen Chandler.
Montgomery's stay at MGM was very brief, and when he left in 1932 he immediately changed his name back to his real name. Now a freelancing agent, Douglass went on to play leads or second leads in such films as Paramount's 8 Girls in a Boat (1934) opposite Dorothy Wilson, Universal's Little Man, What Now? (1934) co-starring Margaret Sullavan, Fox's Music in the Air (1934) starring Gloria Swanson, Universal's Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) with Claude Rains and Heather Angel, and Universal's Lady Tubbs (1935) starring Alice Brady.
Montgomery scored well with his first top-billed role as the frail, alcoholic 19th century "Swanee River" composer Stephen Foster in the "poverty row" biopic Harmony Lane (1935) with Evelyn Venable and Adrienne Ames as his lady loves. This success was followed by a co-starring role opposite Constance Bennett in Everything Is Thunder (1936) as well as a top-billed role in the British comedy Tropical Trouble (1936); a lead role as spoiled playboy Life Begins with Love (1937) opposite Jean Parker, who played "Beth" in his version of Little Women (1933); the crime drama Counsel for Crime (1937); and a fourth-billed role in the Bob Hope comedy-mystery classic The Cat and the Canary (1939).
Montgomery's career was interrupted by World War II service with the Royal Canadian Air Force, after which he moved to Great Britain and made a few films there. He played American pilot John Hollis in Johnny in the Clouds (1945) starring Michael Redgrave and John Mills, played an amnesiac in the romantic drama Woman to Woman (1947), flew to Rome to play an American composer in the Italian romancer Sinfonia fatale (1947) ("When in Rome") with Marina Berti and Sarah Churchill, and starred in his last film, the melodrama Forbidden (1949) with Hazel Court.
On March 14, 1952, Montgomery married British actress Kay Young, who was previously married to actor Michael Wilding. Young and Montgomery remained married until his death. Moving to TV work, he and Kay eventually moved to the States, and he finished his career with guest appearances in such anthology shows as "Cameo Theatre" "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Kraft Theatre," and "TV Reader's Digest," in which he ably played the title roles in stories about "Peer Gynt," "Robert Louis Stevenson" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
Douglass Montgomery died of spinal cancer in Norwalk, Connecticut, aged 58, on July 23, 1966.- Mathew McCue was born on 4 October 1895 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fugitive (1963) and Gunsmoke (1955). He died on 10 April 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Ann Stephens was born on 21 May 1931 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Franchise Affair (1951), In Which We Serve (1942) and Dear Octopus (1943). She died on 15 July 1966 in England.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in Königsberg in 1935, Renate Ewert and her family had to leave
their home and relocate to Hamburg during WWII. As she was determined
to become an actress, she applied for the "Hamburger Kammerspiele" but
was rejected. By doing synchronising jobs for foreign movies she
finally got her first role in the third part of 08/15 - In der Heimat (1955). After that
one, she appeared in a number of movies as the seductive, mysterious
girl but never got the dramatic parts she was eager to play.
She had affairs with some famous actors of the time but these didn't
help her career. At the middle of the 60s she didn't get many offers
anymore and turned to tablets and alcohol. At the 10th of December of
1966, she was found dead by a friend, actress Susanne Cramer, who wanted to
visit her in her apartment: she had died three weeks previously,
probably by starvation.
Her parents couldn't deal with Renate Ewert's untimely death: They
poisoned themselves not long after their daughter died.- Carolyn Mitchell was born Barbara Ann Thomason on January 25, 1937 in
Phoenix, Arizona, to Don and Helen Thomason. While attending Emerson
Elementary School in Phoenix, she became known as the prettiest girl in
Phoenix. Her family moved to Inglewood, California in 1951, a part of
Los Angeles, a mecca for beautiful and ambitious young woman desiring
to be spotted.
While attending Inglewood's Morningside High School, she began entering
beauty pageants, and in October 1953, her dreams came true when she was
crowned "Miss Venus." In 1954, she began attending the Hollywood
Professional School, where she started using weights to tone her figure
to better compete in beauty pageants. In 1954, she was crowned "Queen
of the Championships of Southern California." Later that year, she won
the "Miss Muscle Beach" and "Miss Surf Festival" titles.
In 1955, she had the honor of being named "Miss Huntington Beach,"
followed by the "Miss Van Ness," "Miss Bay Beach," "Miss Southwest Los
Angeles," "Miss Pacific Coast," and "Queen of Southern California"
titles. After graduating from school, she became a dance instructor for
Arthur Murray. As "Tara Thomas," she became a model, appearing in
"Modern Man" in December 1957.
Early in 1958, Fate intervened in the guise of car salesman Bill
Gardner, who introduced her to Hollywood legend
Mickey Rooney at a nightclub. The
smitten Rooney, hot again after winning the third of his four Oscar
nominations the year before (for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for
"The Bold and the Brave") and appearing in a box office hit as the
eponymous lead in 'Don Siegel's "Baby Face Nelson" (1957), bought her a
$4,500 fur coat. On April 12th, 1958, she reportedly took an overdose
of sleeping pills. The day after the incident, she told the press that
the Mick tried to resuscitate her by pushing her into his swimming
pool. The incident later was revealed to be a publicity stunt. By June,
Mickey had separated from his fourth wife, actress
Elaine Devry, and bought a new house in
Sherman Oaks which she moved into to play house with the diminutive
movie star.
Before becoming the fifth Mrs. Mickey Rooney, Thomason made two
low-budget, indie features, including "Cry Baby Killer" (1958) with
future superstar Jack Nicholson.
Thomason and Mickey were secretly married in Mexico on December 1,
1958. In March of 1959, the three-months-pregnant Thomason threatened
to commit suicide if Rooney didn't get a divorce and marry her, though
Mickey tried to convince here that they were already married. On
September 13, 1959, Barbara Ann Thomason Rooney gave birth to a
daughter, Kelly Ann, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. Rooney
announced he had wed Thomason in a Mexican ceremony. Later that year,
she appeared in the November 1959 issue of "Gala" magazine.
Due to the dubious nature of their Mexican marriage, Mickey remarried
Thomason in 1960, with the Reverend Douglas Smith presiding at his Los
Angeles church, making their marriage legal. Their second daughter,
Kerry Yule, was born on December 30, 1960. They would have two more
children, a son Michael Joseph, born on April 2, 1962, and a third
daughter, Kimmy Sue, born four years to the day after their first, on
September 13, 1963 by cesarean section.
In August 1963, the heavily pregnant Barbara accompanied Mickey to
Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, for the filming of "The Secret Invasion."
According to his second autobiography, Mickey had been cheating on her,
and on July 4th, 1964, Mickey had met a stripper and movie extra in
Atlantic City. In late August, his new girlfriend created a row when
Barbara Ann accompanied Mickey to the set for the filming of his
television series, "Mickey." After the incident, Barbara had a massive
fight with Mickey, and in September '64, they both were in contact with
divorce attorneys. However, they didn't divorce but decided to move out
of Beverly Hills. They sold their Beverly Hills home and moved into a
Brentwood house they bought relatively cheap for only $65,000 as both
of the previous two occupants had died at the house in freak accidents.
It would prove equally unlucky for Barbara.
After becoming friendly with French actor
Alain Delon, who was in Los Angeles in the
Fall of 1964 to try to make a go at Hollywood. It was Delon who
introduced Mickey and Barbara to his stand-in Milos Milosevics, a
24-year-old Yugoslavian actor Delon has brought with him from Paris.
Mickey had to go on location to the Philippines to film a picture, and
he made the fatal mistake of asking his new friend Milosevics to look
after his his wife. Milosevics agreed. With the cat away, the mice did
play. Barbara reportedly took Milosevics as a lover to get back at
Mickey for his philandering.
While Mickey was in the Philippines, Barbara Ann accompanied her new
lover Milosevics to northern California, to the location shoot of "The
Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," in which he has a bit
part. They were still having an affair when Mickey returned and moved
out of the Brentwood house after finding out. The couple filed for an
official separation on December 1965, after which Milosevics moved into
the Brentwood house to live with Barbara and her four children by
Mickey.
After learning she was planning to file a lawsuit for separate
maintenance, Mickey filed for divorce on January 19, 1966, citing
mental cruelty. In his suit, Mickey asked the court for a restraining
order to keep Milosevics out of the Brentwood house. Barabra began to
panic when she learned that she might lose her children in a custody
battle due to her adultery. On his part, Milosevics became jealous when
he realized she was considering returning to Mickey. He was even more
incensed when he heard a tape recording of a conversation between
Barbara and Mickey, discussing the divorce suit. On the tape, made by a
private detective on January 20, 1966 with the help of Barbara and
Milosevics, she tells Mickey that she will not see Milosevics again,
even as a friend. Afterwards, Mickey checked in to the hospital for
treatment of an exotic blood disease he has picked up on location.
That night, she went out with Milosevics and her friend Margie Lane for
dinner at the Daisy on Rodeo Drive. They returned to Brentwood and bid
her friend goodnight at 8:30 p.m. Three of the children were at home;
three-year-old Kimmy Sue was visiting her grandparents in Inglewood.
The following day, her friend Wilma Catania and the maid forced open
the locked door of the master bedroom with a screwdriver. In the
bathroom, they found the bodies of Barbara and Milosevics. She was
lying on her back, shot through the jaw, Milosevics beside her, face
down, a bullet hole in his temple. Milosevic had shot Barbara with
Mickey's chrome-plated .38 caliber revolver, then turned the weapon on
himself. When Mickey learned about the murder-suicide, he went into
shock and is forced to stay another day in the hospital.
Barabra Ann Thomason's funeral services and interment were held at
Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale on February 5, 1966, with Reverend
Douglas Smith, the minister who had married her and Mickey in 1960,
presiding. Barbara's four children were put into the custody of their
grandparents in Inglewood.
In his autobiography, Mickey said of the murder-suicide,"I died when
she did. I am furious at what happened to her." On the rebound, Mickey
married Barbara's close friend Marge Lane. That marriage failed after
100 days. - Actor
- Stunts
Handsome, athletic actor whose career started in the late silent era as
a leading man and continued into sound features and finally television.
Born in Illinois, Morton spent his adolescence in Madison, Wisconsin;
receiving his education at Madison High School and the University of
Wisconsin. He made his first stage appearance at the age of seven and
later appeared in vaudeville, stock and the legitimate stage. Both his
exceptional appearance, charm and buoyant personality were noted by the
studios and at the age of 20 signed his first contract with Fox in
1927. Sadly, after 1933 his career began to lose momentum and by 1936
his roles were significantly reduced until playing small supports and
bits which continued until his death from heart disease in 1966.- Director
- Actor
- Producer
Richard Whorf was born on 4 June 1906 in Winthrop, Massachusetts, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Blues in the Night (1941) and The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). He was married to Margaret Harriet Smith (actress). He died on 14 December 1966 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
American actor of small roles in Westerns, particularly those of
John Ford. Although his screen credits
and many records indicate a wide variety of names and spellings,
Steele's own signatures on his military documents indicate that he was
born William Anton Gittinger on March 28, 1888 (not 1889) in San
Antonio, Texas. Little is known of his life prior to his arrival in Los
Angeles around 1910. As the film industry in Hollywood was just
blossoming, and as he apparently had great experience with horses,
Steele easily obtained work in quickie Westerns. He fought in Europe in
World War I, then returned to Hollywood. While he was extremely
inconsistent in the names he used, he worked consistently in Westerns
throughout the silent era and up until the 1950s. His final appearance
was as the wounded posse member Nesby in Ford's
The Searchers (1956), his tenth
film for Ford. He died ten years later, not quite 78 years old. He was
survived by his wife Josephine, an actress. He is buried under his
birth name at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.- Helen Menken was born in New York to deaf parents. Her original name
was Meinken, her New York-born father Frederick being of French/German
extraction. Her mother, Mary Madden, was Irish-born.
She married Humphrey Bogart at the
Gramercy Park Hotel on May 20, 1926, four years after taking out a
marriage license in New York City. It was the first marriage for both.
She was granted a divorce in Chicago in November 1928, after separating
in April of that year.
She collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack at a party at The
Lambs, 128 West 44th Street, New York City, on March 27, 1966. She was
survived by her third husband, George N. Richard, a special partner of
the Wall Street brokerage firm C. B. Richard. - Virginia Hill was born on 26 August 1916 in Lipscomb, Alabama, USA. She was an actress, known for Kefauver Investigation (1951), The Senate Crime Investigations: Part Four (1951) and Haunted Homes of Hollywood (2018). She was married to Carlos Valadez, Osgood Griffin and Hans Hauser. She died on 24 March 1966 in Salzburg, Austria.
- Costume Designer
- Actress
- Writer
Primarily famous as the wife of screen idol
Rudolph Valentino, Natacha Rambova was
also a talented dancer and an innovative set designer, bringing the Art
Deco style to Hollywood for the first time. At the age of 17 she became
a protégé and lover of Russian ballet Svengali
Theodore Kosloff, a brilliant but
manipulative dancer who shot her in the leg when she finally escaped
from his dance company. She was engaged as an art director by
Alla Nazimova, the exotic, histrionic
bisexual actress. Rumours abounded that Rambova herself was sexually
involved with Nazimova, but none have ever been proven, and Rambova
professed to dislike the lesbian subculture.
Rambova's set designs and costumes were enormously innovative,
influenced by Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Legendary French artist
Erté professed himself a fan of her work. Her
dramatic set and costume designs for Nazimova's
Salomé (1922) were based on Aubrey
Beardsley's famous illustrations for
Oscar Wilde's play.
She met Rudolph Valentino when he was
working with Nazimova on Camille (1921).
At the time he was relatively unknown,
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
(made the same year) being the hit that propelled him into the
stratosphere. Soon, the shy Valentino began wooing the exotic former
ballerina, and they eloped in May 22nd 1922. This event was to produce
a scandal, as it was revealed that Valentino was not legally divorced
from his former wife Jean Acker. After being
charged and fined for bigamy, the couple quietly re-married the
following year.
Valentino's association with Rambova was to prove both his greatest
pleasure and his greatest pain. She immediately took over the
management of his career, rejecting his usual stereotypical roles as a
grunting Italian Stallion in favor of highbrow pictures such as the
disastrous
Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), a
powdered-wig drama which did nothing to allay rumors that theirs was a
'lavender marriage' - a union of convenience between two homosexuals.
Despite Natacha's admirable aim to free her husband from the
constraints of the studio and eventually begin a production company of
their own, his career was in tatters. Anxious to get his career back on
track, he signed contracts with producers, who expressly forbad Rambova
to come to his film sets.
The painful end to their marriage in 1926 came though, because
Valentino wanted to have children, while Rambova didn't. His career was
back on track, but little more than six months later, he was
hospitalized. On his death bed, he asked for Rambova wanting her by his
side, but she was in Europe. When she heard of his dire condition, she
too reached out to him, and she and Valentino exchanged loving
telegrams. She believed that a reconciliation had taken place. But his
condition worsened and he soon died of a ruptured stomach ulcer.
Rambova was reportedly devastated. Natacha left America for Spain after
her marriage to Alvaro de Urzaiz in the 1930s. Reporters remarked that
her second husband physically resembled Valentino, suggesting that
Rambova never got over her first husband. She lived through the Spanish
Civil War with him, but her second marriage ended in divorce, for the
same reason that her first marriage ended, because her husbands wanted
children, while she didn't. Her interest in mysticism evolved into
scholarly study of ancient cultures and Jungian psychology. Her
collection of Far Eastern and Egyptian art was of museum quality.
She died at 69 of scleroderma, a painful stomach condition which, to
the modern eye, was clearly brought on by the anorexia nervosa from
which she suffered all her life.