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- Actress
Karen Steele was born on March 20, 1931, in Honolulu, Hawaii. A former
cover girl and model, she was one of the most strikingly beautiful
actresses to ever work in film and television. She went to the
University of Hawaii and to Rollins College in Florida before gracing
our film screens with her first film in 1952. Rumor has it she was
mistaken for another actress by producer
Delbert Mann when he cast her as a
hard case in the drama film Marty (1955).
Like many actresses, as she got older, she turned to television
commercials for income. She also became involved in charitable causes
and community service. Karen Steele died of cancer in Kingman, Arizona,
on March 12, 1988, little more than a week before her 57th birthday.- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Carradine, the son of a reporter/artist and a surgeon, grew up in
Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended Christ Church School and Graphic
Art School, studying sculpture, and afterward roamed the South selling
sketches. He made his acting debut in "Camille" in a New Orleans
theatre in 1925. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1927, he worked in local
theatre. He applied for a job as as scenic designer to
Cecil B. DeMille, who rejected his
designs but gave him voice work in several films. His on-screen debut
was in Tol'able David (1930),
billed as Peter Richmond. A protégé and close friend of
John Barrymore, Carradine was an
extremely prolific film character actor while simultaneously
maintaining a stage career in classic leading roles such as Hamlet and
Malvolio. In his later years he was typed as a horror star, putting in
appearances in many low- and ultra-low-budget horror films. He was a
member of the group of actors often used by director
John Ford that became known as "The
John Ford Stock Company". John Carradine died at age 82 of natural
causes on November 27, 1988.- American character actress Anne Ramsey was born Anne Mobley in Omaha, Nebraska to Eleanor (Smith), a national treasurer of the Girl Scouts, and Nathan Mobley, an insurance executive. Her uncle was U.S. Ambassador David S. Smith. An ancestor was Mayflower Pilgrim William Brewster. She attended Rosemary Hall (then an elite girls' school in Greenwich, Connecticut) and Bennington College, and was active in numerous on- and off-Broadway productions. After she married actor Logan Ramsey, the couple founded Philadelphia's Theatre of the Living Arts. In the early 1970s she began her lengthy film career. In 1971 she starred opposite her husband in The Sporting Club (1971), then settled into bit parts.
Eventually, she was noticed for her trademark brusque, gruff, usually comedic roles, after which she received more film offers, notably Goin' South (1978), Any Which Way You Can (1980), The Goonies (1985), and Deadly Friend (1986). Unfortunately, in the mid-1980s she discovered she was suffering from throat cancer and was forced to have parts of both her tongue and jawbone removed, which obviously affected how she spoke and the effects of which are evident in Throw Momma from the Train (1987). She received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Danny DeVito's inimitably nightmarish mother in Throw Momma from the Train (1987) which she managed to finish by bravely soldiering on even as her cancer remorselessly worsened. She died in 1988, aged 59, just weeks after Throw Momma from the Train (1987) was released. - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Originally born Harris Glen Milstead just after the end of WWII,
Baltimore's most outrageous resident eventually became the
international icon of bad taste cinema, as the always shocking and
highly entertaining transvestite performer, Divine.
Milstead met maverick film director & good friend,
John Waters, at high school in
Baltimore, and the two combined to star in and direct several ultra low
budget, taboo breaking cult films of the early 1970s. Their first
efforts included
Roman Candles (1967),
Eat Your Makeup (1968) and
Mondo Trasho (1969)....however,
their most infamous work together was the amazing
Pink Flamingos (1972), in which
Divine starred as "Babs Johnson", the "filthiest person alive" living
in a pink trailer with her egg-eating grandmother, chicken-loving son
and voyeuristic daughter.
Divine also starred as career criminal Dawn Davenport in
Female Trouble (1974), as bored
housewife Francine Fishpaw in
Polyester (1981), as outlaw gal Rosie
Velez in Lust in the Dust (1984)
and in Waters' loving (but still slightly bizarre) salute to teen dance
TV shows as Ricki Lake's mother in the superb
Hairspray (1988).
Milstead's health deteriorated due to to his obese frame, and he passed
away in his sleep from a combination of heart attack and apnea in 1988.- Heather Michele O'Rourke was born on December 27, 1975 in Santee, San Diego,
California, to Kathleen, a seamstress, and Michael O'Rourke, a construction worker. She had German, Danish, English, and Irish ancestry.
Heather entered American cinematic pop-culture before first grade. She was sitting alone in the MGM Commissary
waiting for her mother when a stranger approached her asking her name.
"My name is Heather O'Rourke," she said. "But you're a stranger, and I
can't talk to you". When her mother returned, the stranger introduced
himself as Steven Spielberg. She failed
her first audition when she laughed at a stuffed animal Spielberg
presented her with. He thought she was just too young (she had just
turned five), and he was actually looking for a girl at least 6 years
old, but he saw something in her and asked her to come in a second time
with a scary story book. He asked her to scream a lot. She screamed
until she broke down in tears. The next day at the commissary,
Spielberg told her and her family, "I don't know what it is about her,
but she's got the job." She instantly became a star overnight and was
easily recognized at her favorite theme park, Disneyland, and
everywhere in California. In the years that followed, Heather was a
familiar face on TV in
Happy Days (1974) (1982-1983),
Webster (1983) (1983-1984), and
The New Leave It to Beaver (1983)
(1986-1987), three shows in which she had recurring roles. In 1986, the
highly anticipated sequel to her first movie,
Poltergeist (1982),
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)
debuted in theaters; it was her riveting performance in this film that
cemented her a place in Hollywood history. In January 1987, Heather
began to have flu-like symptoms and her legs and feet swelled. She was
taken to Kaiser Hospital, and they confirmed it was only the flu, but
when symptoms continued, they diagnosed her as having Crohn's Disease,
a chronic inflammation of the intestine. She was on medication
throughout the filming of her next project,
Poltergeist III (1988), and her
cheeks were puffy in some scenes. She never complained during filming
and did not appear sick to fellow cast members.
When filming was
completed in June, Heather and her family went on a road trip from
Chicago, to New Orleans, to Orlando and all the way back to Lakeside
where they lived at the time. Heather was well until January 31, 1988,
Super Bowl Sunday. She was unable to keep anything in her stomach and
crawled into bed with her parents that night, saying that she didn't
feel well. The next morning, February 1, sitting at the breakfast
table, she couldn't swallow her toast or Gatorade. Her mother noticed
her fingers were blue and her hands were cold. Kathleen called the
doctor's and was getting ready to put her clothes on when Heather
fainted on the kitchen floor. When the paramedics came in, Heather
insisted that she was "really okay" and was worried about missing
school that day. In the ambulance, Heather suffered cardiac arrest and
died on the operating table at 2:43 p.m. at the tender age of 12. Of
all her achievements, Heather was proudest of being elected student
body president of her 5th grade class in 1985. - The only child of Jozsef Barsi and Maria Benko, Judith Eva Barsi beat
10,000-to-1 odds when she was discovered at a San Fernando Valley
skating rink at age 5 1/2 in 1983 and mistaken for a three-year-old. Her
first commercial was for Donald Duck Orange Juice and she went on
to appear in anywhere between fifty and a hundred commercials, several episodes
of various T.V. series, and three major motion pictures. Her mother Maria
was the main thrust of her career as a Hollywood starlet, but also took
great pains to try to give her a normal, happy childhood; bringing her
Hungarian meals like duck for her school lunch. But this happy childhood
did not last long. Beginning in 1985, Jozsef would often be home drunk
instead of working as a plumber, and he refused to let Maria work. As a
result, the family briefly went on welfare until Judith's career took off in
1986 and 1987. By the time she entered fourth grade, she was pulling in
an estimated $100,000 a year, which bought her family a nice four-bedroom
house on a quiet street in West Hill. As her career soared, her father
became an increasingly abusive recluse who constantly threatened to kill
his wife and daughter. In stressful moods Judith bit her nails and plucked
out her eyebrows and eyelashes and her cats' whiskers. C.P.S. was called in
numerous times, but as Maria was reluctant to press charges and many of
the reports/accounts were emotional and not physical abuse, the case was
not pursued.
On Wednesday, July 27th, Eunice Daly, a next-door neighbor, heard a
loud bang next door while watering her plants. The house had been set
on fire, and later the Barsis' bodies were discovered shot dead. All of Judith's
toys that were not destroyed by the fire were given to the local Goodwill,
and her best friend continued to feed her cats for months afterward. - The son of an insurance underwriter who represented Lloyd's of London
in Ceylon, Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Margate, Kent. He
spent his early childhood globetrotting with his mother, frequently
left in the care of strangers. After attending private school he
went on to study drama at RADA (due to his mother's insistence) and was
voted best in his class following a performance in "Much Ado About
Nothing". Spurning a Hollywood contract with Paramount he acted on the West End
stage and with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
from the
mid-1930s, specialising in classical plays ranging from "Hamlet" and "Coriolanus" to "French without Tears", by Terence Rattigan.
Howard was initially turned down for military service by both the RAF
and the British Army but shortage of manpower led to his being called
up in 1940 to serve as a second lieutenant with the Army Signal Corps.
However, he neither saw action nor accumulated the illustrious wartime
record (including winning the Military Cross) invented for him by his
publicists. A 2001 biography by Terence Pettigrew claimed to have
unearthed files from his war record which alleged that he was dismissed
from service in 1943 due to 'mental instability'. Ironically, on
screen, the actor was often cast as solid, unflappable British
officers, perhaps reflecting his own personal credo of always feeling
best when impersonating someone else.
Howard's career in films began quietly with small roles in
The Way Ahead (1944) and
Johnny in the Clouds (1945).
He unexpectedly leapt to stardom in just his third outing as the
stoic, decent Dr. Alec Harvey in
David Lean's melancholic story of
middle-class wartime romance,
Brief Encounter (1945). Howard's
mannered performance perfectly suited the required stiff-upper-lip mood
of the film, his intensity and projected integrity more than
compensating for his average looks. That 'jolly decent chap' persona
continued on in another 'woman's picture',
The Passionate Friends (1949),
but Howard soon found his niche in more determined, worldly roles. He
later admitted that "for years I was practically hounded by my first
part in Brief Encounter. I loved the film, mind you, but the role
wasn't me, at all" (Ottawa Citizen, February 17 1961). As a screen
actor, Howard came of age in crime thrillers and war films, delivering
his first genuine tour de force performance as a battle-hardened,
cynical ex-pilot caught up in the world of post-war black market
racketeering in
I Became a Criminal (1947).
His efficient, by-the-book intelligence officer, Major Calloway, in
Carol Reed's
The Third Man (1949) put him firmly
on the map as a star character player.
Rasping-voiced and becoming increasingly craggy as the years went by,
Howard contrasted archetypal authoritarians (seasoned army veteran
Captain Thomson of
The Cockleshell Heroes (1955),
Captain William Bligh in the remake of
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962),
Lord Cardigan in
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968))
with weaklings (best exemplified by morally corrupt, degenerate
expatriate trader Peter Willems in
Outcast of the Islands (1951)
-- arguably one of Howard's finest performances); sympathetic victims
(colonial cop Scobie, tormented by religious guilt in
The Heart of the Matter (1953))
and obsessive, driven eccentrics (crusading elephant preservationist
Morel in
The Roots of Heaven (1958),
the alcoholic, haunted
Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980),
and the weird Russian recluse of
Light Years Away (1981)). In
the midst of angst-ridden heroes, drunken clerics and assorted
historical characters, ranging from Napoleon Bonaparte to Sir Isaac
Newton, Howard even essayed a Cheyenne warrior returning from the dead
to defend his family in
Windwalker (1980). Remarkably, though he took on a
score of eminently forgettable projects, it is
difficult to fault a single one of his performances. Throughout his
entire career he was never out of favour with audiences and never out
of work.
As becoming one of the most British of actors, Howard was an ardent
cricket supporter, member of the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club.
He insisted on having a clause inserted in his contracts which allowed
him leave from filming to attend test matches. A rather solitary man,
he had few other hobbies (except, perhaps, a fondness for alcohol,
which likely contributed to his death at the age of 74) and was
reputedly modest about his accomplishments as an actor. He once
declared "we don't have the Method School of acting in England. We
simply read the script, let it seep in, then go put on whiskers - and
do it" (New York Times, January 8 1988). - Actor
- Soundtrack
After his schooling in Edinburgh, the British character actor Roy
Kinnear attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Following
national service, Kinnear appeared on stage, radio, and television in
Scotland before becoming a household name in Britain in the early 1960s
as one of the original members of the television series That Was the Week That Was (1962). Around
this time, he also established his film career, specializing in jovial,
yet sometimes slightly sinister, characters, such as Finney, Moriarty's
henchman, in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975). Another characteristic role was that of Planchet
in the Musketeer movies, a role that tragically led to his death from a
riding accident during the filming of The Return of the Musketeers (1989).- A reliable featured player and occasional co-star, actress Jeff Donnell
was born Jean Marie Donnell in a boys' reformatory in South Windham,
Maine in 1921, the younger of schoolteacher Mildred and penologist
Howard's two daughters. She took piano and dance lessons during her
childhood in Maryland; she loved the popular "Mutt and Jeff" cartoon
strip so much that she gave herself the nickname "Jeff."
She studied at the Yale School of Drama and performed briefly in
summer stock before marrying her first husband at 19: Bill Anderson,
a drama teacher from her Boston alma mater, Leland Powers Drama
School. Together they started the Farragut Playhouse in Rye, New
Hampshire. Almost immediately a Columbia Studios talent scout
noticed her in a play there and quickly signed her.
Whisked to Los Angeles, Jeff made her first appearance in the war-era
movie My Sister Eileen (1942)
while husband Bill was hired on as a dialogue director. Hardly the
chic, glamour-girl type, Jeff possessed a perky, unpretentious,
tomboyish quality that worked comfortably in unchallenging "B" escapism
--usually the breezy girlfriend or spirited bobbysoxer. Typical of her
movie load at the time were the fun but innocuous
Doughboys in Ireland (1943),
What's Buzzin', Cousin? (1943),
Nine Girls (1944),
A Thousand and One Nights (1945),
Carolina Blues (1944), and
Eadie Was a Lady (1945). She
also enlivened a number of musical westerns that prominently featured
Ken Curtis (Festus of "Gunsmoke").
On a rare occasion, Jeff found herself in "A" pictures, most notably
the Bogart film noir classic
In a Lonely Place (1950), but
more often than not she played the obliging or supportive friend of the
leading lady. Unable to break away from her established "B" ranking,
she later tried a move to RKO Studios (1949) but fared no better or
worse. She did make a successful move to TV in the early 50s and was
seen in a number of comedy and dramatic parts.
Long separated from and finally divorcing her first husband in 1953
(they had one son, Michael, and an adopted daughter, Sarah Jane), she
married rising film actor Aldo Ray in 1954, but the marriage
crumbled within two years, beset by drinking problems; she also suffered
a miscarriage. She went on to marry and divorce twice more. As the 1950s
rolled on, she earned steady work on TV, bringing to life comedian
George Gobel's
often-mentioned wife Alice on the sitcom
The George Gobel Show (1954)
for four seasons. She also had the opportunity to play Gidget's mom in
a couple of the popular lightweight movies of the early 1960s --
Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)
and
Gidget Goes to Rome (1963).
Most daytime fans will remember Jeff's long-running stint on the soap
drama
General Hospital (1963) as
Stella Fields, the Quartermain housekeeper, which started in 1979 and
lasted until her death in 1988. Dogged by ill health in later years
(including a serious bout with Addison's disease), Jeff died peacefully
of a heart attack in her sleep at age 66. - Director
- Editorial Department
- Actor
Hal Ashby was born the fourth and youngest child in a Mormon household, in Ogden, Utah, to Eileen Ireta (Hetzler) and James Thomas Ashby, on September 2, 1929. His father was a dairy farmer. After a rough childhood that included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide, his dropping out of high school, getting married and divorced all before he was 19, he decided to leave Utah for California. A Californian employment office found him a printing press job at Universal Studios. Within a few years, he was an assistant film editor at various other studios. One of his pals while at MGM was a young messenger named Jack Nicholson. He moved up to being a full fledged editor on The Loved One (1965) and started editing the films of director Norman Jewison.
A highlight of his film editing career was winning an Oscar for the landmark In the Heat of the Night (1967). Itching to become a director, Jewison gave him a script he was too busy to work on called The Landlord (1970). It became Ashby's first film as a director. From there he delivered a series of well-acted, intelligent human scaled dramas that included The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Coming Home (1978) and Being There (1979). Great reviews and Oscar nominations became common on Ashby films.
Ashby was always a maverick and a contrary person and success proved difficult for Ashby to handle. He became unreliable due to his dependence on drugs and a reclusive lifestyle. He actually collapsed while making The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together (1982) in Arizona. Although he recovered, he was never the same after that. He began taking too much time in post production on his films and actually had a couple of his later projects taken away from him to be edited by others. He tried to straighten himself out, but in the 1980s, he was considered by many to be unemployable. Just when he felt he was turning a corner in his life, he developed cancer that spread to his liver and colon. He died on December 27, 1988. Actor Sean Penn dedicated his first film as a director, The Indian Runner (1991) to Ashby and John Cassavetes, even though Penn was never directed by either one. Because he did not have a set visual style, many mistake this for no style at all. His career is not discussed as often as the careers of some of his contemporaries.- Christopher Connelly was born on 8 September 1941 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Benji (1974), Atlantis Interceptors (1983) and Peyton Place (1964). He was married to Cindy Carol. He died on 7 December 1988 in Burbank, California, USA.
- Versatile character actress Florence Eldridge seemed often better
served by the stage than by her roles in motion pictures. On the boards
from the age of seventeen as a chorine in "Rock-a-Bye Baby" in 1918,
she acted with touring companies and on Broadway and soon found herself
playing leading parts. The Brooklyn-born actress was bitten by the acting bug
at an early age and joined the Theatre Guild immediately after
graduating from high school.
She first came to note in the play "Ambush"in 1921 and quickly rose to
stardom as the heroine Annabelle West in "The Cat and the Canary"
(1922), and as the stepdaughter in "Six Characters in Search of an
Author" (1922). She also portrayed the fickle Daisy Fay Buchanan in
"The Great Gatsby" (1926). While on tour, Florence met the actor
Fredric March whom she married after
appearing with him on stage in "The Swan"(1927). Thereafter, the couple
were no longer permitted to appear together on stage, their repertory
company deeming it 'unromantic' for married people to portray lovers.
To overcome this problem Florence and Fredric went to Hollywood in
1928, where actors with theatrical training were much in demand since
the arrival of talking pictures. From here on, however, Florence would
largely subordinate her career to that of her husband.
Florence had been on screen as early as 1923, her first credit being
Six Cylinder Love (1923), shot
in New York - a role she had previously enacted on stage. In 1929, she
appeared in three films, first co-starring with her husband in
The Studio Murder Mystery (1929).
In the similarly titled
The Greene Murder Case (1929),
she bested Jean Arthur in a fight to
the death on rooftops above the Hudson River. While most of her
subsequent roles were small, there were two notable exceptions:
Les Misérables (1935), as Fantine
(again with March) , and
Mary of Scotland (1936) as an
implacable Queen Elizabeth I vis-à-vis
Katharine Hepburn's Mary Stuart.
The inseparable Marches traveled extensively during World War II,
entertaining American troops overseas. In 1942, they also made
headlines on Broadway during performances of "Skin of Our Teeth",
conducting a much-publicized on-stage feud with co-star
Tallulah Bankhead. For the remainder
of the decade, Florence alternated between stage and films. At the end
of the decade, she was given one of her best screen roles, that of
Lavinia Hubbard in Lillian Hellman's
Another Part of the Forest (1948),
with Fredric March playing husband Marcus. She played his screen wife
again for the excellent filming of the Scopes Trial,
Inherit the Wind (1960).
Florence's most celebrated performance came late in her career, on
Broadway, as drug-addicted Mary, half of the battling Tyrones, in
Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's
Journey into Night" (1956). For this, she won the New York Drama
Critics Circle Award as Best Actress. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Ella Raines was born in Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, in 1920. After
graduating from high school, she enrolled at the University of
Washington as a drama student and participated in many plays. Following
graduation, she traveled to New York and the lights of Broadway. She
was eventually signed by Howard Hawks and played in Corvette K-225 (1943) as the love
interest of Randolph Scott. She appeared in many A pictures very quickly,
including Tall in the Saddle (1944) opposite John Wayne. She co-starred in many other films
opposite such stars as Vincent Price, William Powell and Brian Donlevy (turning in a good
performance as a spunky garage owner in director Arthur Lubin's underrated
Impact (1949)). In the early 1950s she had her own TV series, Janet Dean, Registered Nurse (1954), and
also had a short-lived recording career during that period. She died in
1988.- Bronx born, stocky Italian-American actor who only appeared in a
handful of films, yet earned some degree of immortality for his role as
the loyal Corleone capo "Peter Clemenza" teaching Al Pacino how to shoot
a crooked police captain in the iconic gangster film The Godfather (1972). He was
originally a construction company manager, then he gained work with the
New Yiddish Theatre, before breaking into film near his thirtieth
birthday. However in 1970, in only his fourth film, Castellano received
a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) and
came to the attention of casting agents for The Godfather (1972). After his strong
showing as a tough hoodlum in The Godfather (1972), he became somewhat typecast as a
screen criminal and appeared in further crime films including Honor Thy Father (1973)
and Gangster Wars (1981).
He died in December 1988 from a heart attack at the age of
55. - The daughter of a copper expert (William Stanley Eckert) and an actress
and museum curator (May Davenport), character actress Anne Seymour was
born on September 11, 1909 in New York City. She was the seventh
generation of a theatrical family that could be tracked back to Ireland
in 1740. Her great-uncle was the popular character actor Harry Davenport and
her two older brothers were writer James Seymour (42nd Street (1933)) and actor John Seymour
(The Sporting Club (1971)).
Anne trained for the stage at the American Laboratory Theatre School
with Richard Boleslawski and Maria Ouspenskaya, and began her career performing with The
Jitney Players. She, as did her brothers, eventually changed her stage
moniker from Eckert to her mother's maiden name of Seymour. After
touring throughout New England, Anne made her New York debut in Mr.
Moneypenny in 1928. Other Broadway shows followed including At the
Bottom (1930) and A School for Scandal (1931). The following year, she
entered the world of radio drama. Her distinctively warm style and
vocal timbre were perfect for playing some of radio's noblest,
self-sacrificing heroines. She portrayed "Mary Marlin" for 11 popular
seasons; it turned out to be her most identifiable role.
In the late 1940s Anne switched to film and made an auspicious debut as
Lucy Stark in the Oscar-winning picture All the King's Men (1949). Although movie
appearances would remain sporadic and relatively minor, Anne was a
solid, capable player during the golden age of television and could be
seen dressing up many glossy dramas, including Studio One (1948) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950). Her
rather hawkish, matronly features, which seemed in stark contrast to
her smooth, modulated tones, nevertheless had her primarily playing
benevolent roles as concerned relatives and professionals somewhat in
the background.
In 1958, Anne earned strong marks for her portrayal of Sara Delano
Roosevelt alongside Tony-winning Ralph Bellamy's FDR in "Sunrise at
Campobello" on Broadway. She lost the 1960 movie role to Ann Shoemaker. Anne
was actively involved on the SAG and AFTRA boards throughout a good
portion of her career. Unmarried, she died in 1988 of natural causes
after completing a small part in the popular film
Field of Dreams (1989). - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Alan Napier was born on January 7, 1903 in Kings Norton, Worcestershire,
England. Tall, distinguished-looking English character actor with
aristocratic bearing and precisely modulated voice. A cousin of the
former British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain, he studied at
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and spent his formative years as an
actor with Oxford Repertory and, from 1924, on the London stage. During
the 1930s, he found his niche in Shakespearean roles. His
characterisation of Menenius in a 1954 Boston revival of "Coriolanus"
was described in the Christian Science Monitor (January 23, 1954) as
imbued with "benevolent distinction and with some of the comic quality
of the part". However, by that time, Napier had largely forsaken the
stage for the screen.
In 1939, Alan Napier immigrated to America and, in the course of nearly
five decades, appeared in film and on television as noblemen,
manservants and doctors. His gaunt, suave, sometimes bespectacled
characters could be kindly or nefarious. He gave good support in the
supernatural thriller
The Uninvited (1944) and lent
gravitas to his role of Cicero in
Julius Caesar (1953). However, he
is best remembered as the ever reliable, and very English, butler
Alfred Pennyworth on Batman (1966),
starring Adam West. Napier's second
wife, Aileen Dickens Bouchier Hawksley (nicknamed "Gypsy"), was a
great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens.
Alan Napier died at age 85 of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California on
August 8, 1988.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Academy Award-winning actor John Houseman's main contribution to
American culture was not his own performances on film but rather, his
role as a midwife to one of the greatest actor-directors-cinematic
geniuses his adopted country ever produced
(Orson Welles) and as a midwife to a whole
generation of actors as head of the drama division of the Juilliard
School.
Houseman was born Jacques Haussmann on September 22, 1902 in Bucharest, Romania, to May (Davies) and Georges Haussmann, who ran a grain business. His father was from an Alsatian Jewish family, and his mother, who was British, was of Welsh and Irish descent. John was raised in England, where he was educated. He emigrated to America in 1925, establishing himself in New York City, where he directed "Four Saints
in Three Acts" for the theater in 1934. He founded the Mercury Theatre
along with Orson Welles (whom he
affectionately called "The Dog-Faced Boy"). Their most important
success was a modern-dress version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", in
which the spectre of Hitler and Mussolini's Fascist states were evoked.
As a producer assigned to Unit 891 of the Federal Theater Project
funded by the government's Works Progress Administration, he produced
the legendary production "Cradle Will Rock", a musical about the
tyranny of capitalism, with music by
Marc Blitzstein, creative input from
Welles, and starring leftists
Howard Da Silva and
Will Geer. The production was so
controversial, it was banned before its debut, although the did manage
to stage one performance. On Broadway, apart from the Mercury Theatre
and the WPA, Houseman directed "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1939)
and "Liberty Jones" and produced "Native Son" (1941). During World War
II, Houseman went to work for the Office of War Information and was
involved in broadcasting radio propaganda for the Voice of America.
After the war, Houseman returned to directing and produced
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's version of
Julius Caesar (1953).
He had produced his first film,
Orson Welles'
Too Much Johnson (1938), while
with the Mercury Theatre. He was involved with the pre-production of
Citizen Kane (1941) but fell out
with Welles due to Welles' already legendary ego. He produced a score
of major films and was involved in three television series before
devoting his life to teaching. He helped establish the acting program
at New York's famous Julliard School for the Arts, where he influenced
a new generation of actors. Ironically, he had appeared in only one
major movie, in a supporting role, before being tapped to replace
James Mason in
The Paper Chase (1973). He won an
Academy Award for the role and began a 15-year career as a highly
sought after supporting player.
John Houseman, who wrote three volumes of memoirs, "Run-Through"
(1972), "Front and Center" (1979) and "Final Dress" (1983), died at age
86 on October 31, 1988 after making major contributions to the theater
and film.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Tall, portly built German born actor (and talented violinist) who
notched up over 100 film appearances, predominantly in German-language
productions. He will forever be remembered by Western audiences as the
bombastic megalomaniac "Auric Goldfinger" trying to kill Sean Connery and
irradiate the vast US gold reserves within Fort Knox in the spectacular
"James Bond" film Goldfinger (1964). However, due to Fröbe's thick German accent,
his voice was actually dubbed by English actor, Michael Collins.
While commonly perceived as cold hearted & humourless from his Goldfinger (1964)
portrayal, quite to the contrary, Fröbe was a jovial man and a
wonderful comedic performer. His light hearted talents can be best
viewed in The Ballad of Berlin (1948), Der Tag vor der Hochzeit (1952), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965). Fröbe also portrayed
dogged detective Kriminalkommissar Kras/Lohmann pursuing the evil Dr.
Mabuse in The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), The Return of Dr. Mabuse (1961) and The Terror of Doctor Mabuse (1962).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Burly American character actor Ralph Meeker first acted on stage at his
alma mater, Northwestern University, alongside other budding performers
Charlton Heston and
Patricia Neal. He graduated as a
music major because his dean had discouraged him from pursuing a
theatrical career. Ignoring that advice, Meeker nevertheless moved to
New York to study method acting and performing in local stock
companies. After being injured during a brief wartime stint with the
navy and consequently discharged from active duty, Meeker went overseas
to play his part in entertaining the troops as a member of the USO. He
finally
arrived on Broadway in 1945 and was given small roles in two plays
produced by
José Ferrer,
making his stage debut in "Strange Fruit". He was still relatively unknown in
1947 when he replaced Marlon Brando as
Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" two years later, in the process giving
a commanding and critically acclaimed performance. After playing
Kowalski in the touring company of 'Streetcar', Meeker was again critically
acclaimed for his part in the original production of "Mister Roberts" .
As a result, he had several European motion picture offers and elected
to play the role of an army sergeant in
Teresa (1951), co-starring
Pier Angeli. That same year, he was in
another continental drama shot on location in Switzerland, entitled
Four in a Jeep (1951). After a
two-year sojourn at MGM, Meeker returned to Broadway to star as the
swaggering, likable, larger-than-life rogue Hal Carter in
William Inge's play "Picnic" on Broadway.
His performance not only was highly praised by reviewers like
Brooks Atkinson but also won him the
New York Critics Circle Award. In later years, Meeker claimed to have
spurned Columbia's offer of reprising his role on screen because he
disdained being shackled by a studio contract. In any case, the prize
role went to William Holden, and
Meeker ended up being consigned for the next thirty years to provide support (with the odd exception) as hard- nosed
guys on either side of the law (or bullies with a yellow streak). He did, nonetheless, leave his
mark with several top-notch performances.
One of his best early screen roles was that of the disgraced ex-Union
officer Roy Anderson in
Anthony Mann's brilliant revenge
western The Naked Spur (1953). As
one of four men stripped of humanity by greed and hatred (the others
were James Stewart,
Robert Ryan and
Millard Mitchell), Ralph Meeker gave a
convincing portrayal of a cynical and callous opportunist.
Meeker's defining role was that of Mike Hammer in
Kiss Me Deadly (1955). The film
was unusual in that Hammer was played -- unlike the gumshoes
of previous films noir -- as a basically unsavoury character. His was one of the
first antiheroes who began to appear in films of the
1960s. Under the direction of Robert Aldrich,
Meeker's characterisation as Mike Hammer effectively contrasted a
smooth, handsome facade with an undercurrent of arrogance, unmitigated
ruthlessness and greed. After the film was released, it ran into
censorship trouble, the Kefauver Commission labelling it the Number One
Menace to American Youth for 1955. While "Kiss Me Deadly" acquired a
cult following over the years, it certainly failed to advance the
career of Ralph Meeker.
He did, however, manage to get second billing for the part of Corporal
Paris, one of three World War I French infantry men randomly selected
for execution (because their regiment had refused a suicidal mission)
in Stanley Kubrick's harrowing
anti-war drama
Paths of Glory (1957). He gave
another finely etched performance through his character's gradual
deterioration from swaggering bravado to abject fear. Also that year,
Meeker played a snarling, Indian-hating Yankee officer in
Run of the Arrow (1957) and
co-starred as Jane Russell's
unlikely kidnapper in the failed
Norman Taurog comedy
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957).
In between numerous television appearances during the
'60s, Meeker returned to the stage as
member of the Lincoln Centre Repertory Theatre, where he was reunited with Elia Kazan
(who had directed him in
'Streetcar') to act in Arthur Miller's
play "After the Fall" (1964-65). He also worked with Robert Aldrich
again in "The Dirty Dozen" and that same year with Roger Corman playing George
'Bugs' Moran (who Meeker allegedly
resembled), the Chicago mobster whose gang was famously 'rubbed out' by Al Capone in
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967).
After the decline of the studio system, Meeker found much gainful
employment in television and even had his own syndicated series,
Not for Hire (1959), playing a
tough Honolulu investigator. However, the show came up against the
similarly themed
Hawaiian Eye (1959) and only ran
to 39 episodes. Meeker then guest-starred on numerous other shows and
had noteworthy roles as, among others, a boorish tycoon who discovers a
prehistoric amphibious creature in
The Outer Limits (1963)
episode "The Tourist Attraction", an ex-cop turned derelict in
Ironside (1967) ('Price Tag: Death
Details'), and FBI agent Bernie Jenks in the TV pilot of
The Night Stalker (1972).
Add to that a gallery of snarling or harassed law enforcers from
The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974)
to Brannigan (1975) and episodes of
Harry O (1973),
The Rookies (1972) and
Police Story (1973). Ralph
Meeker remained a much-in-demand character actor until his death of a
heart attack in August 1988.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Leonard Frey originally wanted to become an artist, but in college he
became interested in acting. He made his stage debut in an off-Broadway
production of "Little Mary Sunshine" and his film debut as a celebrant
in Passages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1966), but he first rose to prominence in the role of Harold, the
self-proclaimed "Jew fairy", in both the stage and screen versions of
The Boys in the Band (1970). Frey is probably best known for the role of Motel, the timid
tailor, in Fiddler on the Roof (1971); this performance landed him a nomination for a
Supporting Actor Oscar. He continued to work on stage, in films and on
TV throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but he never again attained the
level of critical success he enjoyed in "Fiddler on the Roof". In 1988
he died from complications related to AIDS.- Actor
- Writer
Born in Franklin, Indiana on December 28, 1923, he was raised in Texas and went to college at Indiana University. There, on a speech and
drama scholarship, he began to act and perform however this was interrupted by being called into the service. In World War II where he
saw action overseas, he was befriended by actor Melvyn Douglas, who led his division. With such encouragement, as well as meeting and becoming familiar with some Broadway folks, Duggan went into acting. From 1953 onward, he was a fixture in both movies and television.
Most notably, he played General Ed Britt on 12 O'Clock High (1964), he was Cal Calhoun in Bourbon Street Beat (1959) and his most famous role as "Murdoch Lancer" in Lancer (1968) and the original John Walton opposite Patricia Neal in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971). He was "Howitzer Al Houlihan", the father of "Hotlips Houlihan" (Loretta Swit) in M*A*S*H (1972). In 1954, he wed Broadway actress Elizabeth "Betty" Logue. After their deaths, they were cremated and their ashes scattered at Lake Arrowhead, California.- Angela Aames grew up in Pierre, South Dakota. She acted in high school
and attended the University of South Dakota before coming to Hollywood
in 1978 to begin her acting career. Her first film role was as Little
Bo Peep in the film Fairy Tales (1978). She followed that up by playing Linda
"Boom-Boom" Bang in H.O.T.S. (1979). Other film roles included ...All the Marbles (1981),
Scarface (1983), Bachelor Party (1984), The Lost Empire (1984), Basic Training (1985), and Chopping Mall (1986). She did guest
appearances on several television shows, including Cheers (1982) and Night Court (1984).
Her last role was as Penny, a fitness instructor, on The Dom DeLuise Show (1987). Angela
was found dead at a friend's home in West Hills in the San Fernando
Valley on November 27, 1988. The coroner later ruled that her death was
a result of a deterioration of the heart muscle, probably caused by a
virus. She was 32 at the time. - Timothy Patrick Murphy was born on 3 November 1959 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for The Love Boat (1977), Dallas (1978) and Sam's Son (1984). He died on 6 December 1988 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
American Western star and character actor whose career spanned six
decades. The son of director Robert N. Bradbury, he appeared in vaudeville with
his parents and with his twin brother Bill Bradbury appeared as a child in a
series of 16 semi- documentary short films directed by their father,
The Adventures of Bob and Bill. As Bob Bradbury Jr., he played juvenile
roles in silent films, then took the stage name Bob Steele in 1927. He
appeared in scores of films during the Thirties, rising to B-Western
stardom and an apparently solid position as one of Republic Studios'
top draws. Occasionally he made an appearance in more prominent films,
as in his role as Curly in Of Mice and Men (1939). But he remained primarily a figure
in Westerns. His stardom diminished by the mid-40s, and he spent the
next quarter-century in character roles, some highly visible, such as
his part in The Big Sleep (1946). But he also eventually turned up as a virtual
extra in pictures like Shenandoah (1965). He appeared often on television and
regained some fame in his role as Trooper Duffy in F Troop (1965). He died at
St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, following a long
illness.- Victoria Shaw was born on 25 May 1935 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Westworld (1973), The Crimson Kimono (1959) and To Trap a Spy (1964). She was married to Elliott Alexander and Roger Smith. She died on 17 August 1988 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Daughter of Bernard Granville, Bonita
Granville was born into an acting family. It's not surprising that she
herself became a child actor, first on the stage and, at the age of 9,
debuting in movies in
Westward Passage (1932). She was
regularly cast as a naughty little girl, as in
These Three (1936) where she played
Mary, an obnoxious girl spreading lies about her teachers. Her
performance left an impression on the audience, and she was nominated
for a best supporting actress award. In 1938-39 came the movies she is
now best remembered for -- playing the bright and feisty
detective/reporter Nancy Drew in the Nancy Drew series. She also
appeared with Mickey Rooney in a
few Andy Hardy movies. She never really had a movie breakthrough, and
after marrying oil millionaire & later producer
Jack Wrather, she retired from acting in
the middle of the 1950s, although she went on to produce the
Lassie (1954) TV series.- Mary first appeared on stage aged just 10. She received her formal
training at the royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and went on to a
long and distinguished career in film, television and the theatre. She
toured Britain with her own theatrical touring company. - Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
Diminutive American actor Billy Curtis avoided the usual onus of freak-show
employment as a youth, opting for a mainstream job as a shoe clerk.
Encouraged by stock company actress Shirley Booth to take a little person role in a stage production, Curtis soon became a professional actor,
with numerous Broadway musical productions to his credit. Curtis' big
movie season was 1938-39: he was cast in The Wizard of Oz (1939) (albeit with voice dubbed by Pinto Colvig) and as the cowboy hero of the all-dwarf western The Terror of Tiny Town (1938). This last epic was one of the few instances that Curtis was cast as a good guy; many of his screen characters were ill-tempered and pugnacious, willing to bite a kneecap if unable to punch out an opponent. Seldom accepting a role which demeaned or patronized little people, Curtis played an obnoxious vaudeville performer compelled to sit on Gary Cooper's lap in Meet John Doe (1941), a suspicious circus star willing to turn Robert Cummings over to the cops in Saboteur (1942), and one of the many fair-weather friends of The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Billy Curtis' career thrived into the 1970s, notably with solid parts in the Clint Eastwood western High Plains Drifter (1973) and the crime-caper melodrama Little Cigars (1973), in which he had second billing as a diminutive criminal mastermind. Billy Curtis retired in the 1980s, except for the occasional interview or Wizard of Oz cast reunion.- Vivi Janiss was born on 29 May 1911 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for Lux Video Theatre (1950), TV Reader's Digest (1955) and Ben Casey (1961). She was married to John Larch and Robert Cummings. She died on 7 September 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
American stuntman who also played minor roles in scores of movies. Son
of Allie W. and Jannie Hamm Roberson. Raised on cattle ranches in
Shannon, Texas, and Roswell, New Mexico, he left school at 13 to become
a cowhand and oilfield roughneck. He married and took his wife and
daughter to California, where he joined the Culver City Police
Department and guarded the gate at MGM studios. Following army service
in World War II, he returned to the police force. During duty at Warner
Bros. studios during a labor strike, he met stuntman
Fred Kennedy, who alerted him to a stunt
job at Republic Pictures. Roberson got the job, due both to his expert
horsemanship and his resemblance to
John Carroll, whom Roberson doubled
in his first picture, Wyoming (1947). His
close physical resemblance to
John Wayne led to nearly 30 years as
Wayne's stunt double. He often played small roles and stunted in other
roles in the same film, which frequently resulted in his "shooting"
himself once the picture was cut together. He graduated to larger
supporting roles in westerns for Wayne and
John Ford, and to a parallel career as
a second-unit director. At the time of his death, he was one of the
most respected stunt men in Hollywood.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Daws Butler spent the greater part of his career as one of the premier
voice-over actors in Hollywood- providing the voices for such well-
known characters as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick-Draw McGraw,
Snagglepuss, Jinks the cat, Dixie the mouse, Augie Doggie, Peter
Potamus, Wally Gator, Hokey Wolf, Super Snooper, Blabber Mouse,
Cogswell Cogs, Elroy Jetson and many others. He also provided the
voices for such long-running commercial characters as Snap, diminutive
companion of Crackle and Pop of noisy cereal fame, as well as Cap'n
Crunch, spokesman for a somewhat quieter breakfast treat.
Butler was born in Toledo, Ohio and spent his formative years in Oak
Park, Illinois. Although his initial ambition was to be a cartoonist,
he had a talent for vocal humor and mimicry as well. Paradoxically, he
was also quite shy. As a sort of self- imposed therapy, he forced
himself to address large audiences by entering local amateur contests
and performing impersonations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rudy Vallee and
a Model T Ford starting on a cold morning (an audience favorite). He
found that the laughter and applause he got in response was well worth
the effort and it clinched his decision to pursue an acting and
performing career. Eschewing the last few months of his senior year in
high school, he began appearing in Chicago theaters and nightclubs
along with two other impersonators he had met along the way. Because
they all maxed out at around five feet, two inches in height and
primarily did impressions of radio personalities, they billed
themselves as "The Three Short Waves."
After two years in the Navy during World War II, during which he met
and married Myrtis Martin of Albemarle, N.C. (whose next-door neighbor
provided the inspiration for what would later become the southern drawl
of Huckleberry Hound), Butler ferried his wife and son out to
Hollywood. He finally broke into radio, performing in dramatic as well
as comedy programs and specializing in dialects and a wide range of
vocal characterizations.
In 1949, Butler and Stan Freberg were featured in a new television
puppet show called "Time for Beany." Butler was the voice of a
propeller-capped kid named Beany while Freberg voiced his best pal,
Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent. During five years of five shows a week,
they were honored with two Emmy awards.
At Capitol Records in the early 1950s, Butler and Freberg co-wrote and
co-voiced a comedy record takeoff on the TV show "Dragnet," called "St.
George and the Dragonet." Not only was Jack Webb flattered and amused
by the record, but it was the first comedy record to sell more than a
million copies. Butler's and Freberg's partnership produced several
other comedy platters beloved by disc jockeys across the country, even
today. Butler was also a part of Freberg's comedy ensemble on the Stan
Freberg Radio Show in the summer of 1957 and on a later and very
popular comedy single called "Christmas Dragnet."
After lengthy and very productive collaborations with famed
animators/directors Tex Avery and Walter Lantz, Butler embarked on yet
another inspired partnership, with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at
Hanna-Barbera Productions. There, beginning in the late 50s, Butler
created his most famous cartoon characterizations, aided and abetted by
another gifted voice actor, Don Messick-Boo Boo and Ranger Smith to
Butler's Yogi Bear and Pixie the Mouse to his Dixie, among others.
For legendary cartoon producer Jay Ward, Butler, along with fellow
actors and friends June Foray and Bill Scott, performed in two animated
series, "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop and Son." His long-running
Cap'n Crunch character was also a Jay Ward creation.
In his later years, Butler established a popular and respected actors'
workshop in his home, training talented students not only in voice-
over techniques, but in all areas of acting, including the physical. On
that subject, especially, one had only to witness Butler's histrionic
physicality when voicing Yogi Bear or his laid- back, sleepy-eyed mien
as he became Huckleberry Hound to understand why he considered facial
expression and physical movement as essential as sound in producing a
living, breathing character. One of Butler's star workshop students was
Nancy Cartwright, later the voice of Bart Simpson on "The Simpsons."
Daws Butler passed away on May 19, 1988 of a heart attack, having just
completed three Yogi Bear films and 15 new half-hour Yogi Bear cartoon
shows. He also lived to see the rebirth of The Jetsons for a new
generation, voicing 30 of the new shows along with all the members of
the original cast. During his longest- standing creative collaboration,
the 30-odd years with Hanna-Barbara Productions, Daws Butler performed
in the neighborhood of 40 different characters. In the years that
followed his death, seven actors were required to replace them
all.- Louis L'Amour was born on 22 March 1908 in Jamestown, North Dakota, USA. He was a writer, known for Hondo (1953), East of Sumatra (1953) and Apache Territory (1958). He was married to Kathy Adams. He died on 10 June 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
Olive Carey was born Olive Fuller Golden on January 31, 1896. Olive was
18 when she appeared in her first motion picture, a silent entitled,
Tess of the Storm Country (1914). After she made A Knight of the Range (1916), she retired from films. In 1916, she
married actor Harry Carey who was eighteen years older. They had two
children, one of whom was Harry Carey Jr. who was a very good actor in his own
right. Olive briefly returned to the screen in 1931 in a film called
Trader Horn (1931). After 1935's Naughty Marietta (1935) Olive again stepped away from the
cameras. But in 1947, her husband passed away, and she, once more,
stepped into films. This time her stay was a bit longer. Her first film
following Harry's death was Air Hostess (1949). She continued to act in films off
and on until age 70 when she appeared for the last time in 1966's
Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966). On March 13, 1988, Olive died in Carpinteria, California, at
the age of 92.- Dorothy Adams was born on 8 January 1900 in Hannah, North Dakota, USA. She was an actress, known for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Killing (1956) and The Ten Commandments (1956). She was married to Byron Foulger. She died on 16 March 1988 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Composer
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 - December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O." Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project masculinity. He performed while standing motionless and wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses, which he wore to counter his shyness and stage fright.- Born on October 1, 1896, in Rangoon, Burma, to Burmese-Jewish parents, and the son of a well-to-do merchant, distinguished veteran character actor Abraham Isaac Sofaer was a one-time schoolteacher in both Rangoon and London. He switched gears to acting after a short time and made his stage debut in 1921 as a walk-on in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."
Sofaer scored his first prominent London appearance with "The Green Goddess" in 1925 and, from the 1930s on, alternated between
the London and Broadway repertory stages playing an assortment of Shakespearean roles (Othello, Lear, Cassius, etc.) among other classical plays. He scored a personal triumph in New York as Benjamin Disraeli opposite Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina" in 1936. The following year, he directed Ms. Hayes in "The Merchant of Venice", in which he played the title role of "Shylock". A theatre repertory player of note, he soon focused on the big screen and made his British film debut with The Dreyfus Case (1930). Subsequent noteworthy British film roles included his judge in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and as Disraeli in The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947). Recognized for his bulgy, wide-eyed stare, resonant tones and imposing stance, he built up a solid reputation over the years playing odd and interesting Eastern ethnics -- sultans, swamis, high priests, witch doctors, foreign dictators and dignitaries, he was even convincing playing Indian chiefs on occasion. His characters ranged from wise and warm-hearted to cunning and wickedly evil.
In the mid-1950s, Sofaer settled in Hollywood wherein he became a main staple in exotic dramas and costumed adventure, appearing almost exclusively in movies and TV. Some of his better known U.S. films include Quo Vadis (1951), His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), Elephant Walk (1954), Taras Bulba (1962) and
Chisum (1970). Throughout the 1960s, he could be counted on for guest appearances on all the popular shows of the day including Perry Mason (1957), Wagon Train (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), Daniel Boone (1964) and Star Trek (1966). On TV, he may be best remembered for his recurring role of Haji, the master of all genies, on I Dream of Jeannie (1965).
Married to wife Angela for nearly seven decades and affectionately called "Abe" to closer friends, Sofaer was the father of six children. Retiring from acting in 1974, Sofaer died of congestive heart failure at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 91 in 1988. - Cult figure who will forever be remembered as Ben, the resourceful, yet ill-fated hero of George A. Romero's low-budget zombie film
Night of the Living Dead (1968). Jones was a former English professor who directed at the Maguire Theater at the Old Westbury campus of New York State University, and he additionally served as artistic director at the Richard Allen Center in New York City. His casting as the hero of the Romero film was unique, as it was the first occasion that an African-American actor had portrayed the hero in a horror film. The tall, talented Jones
appeared in a handful of other B-grade horror movies such as Ganja & Hess (1973) and Vampires (1986), but none are remembered as well as his first on-screen role.
He passed away at only 51 years of age from heart failure. - Norbert Schiller was born on 24 November 1899 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was an actor and writer, known for Young Frankenstein (1974), Hogan's Heroes (1965) and Morituri (1965). He died on 8 January 1988 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Francis De Sales was born on 23 March 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Two Faces West (1960), Mr. & Mrs. North (1952) and The Outer Limits (1963). He was married to Doris Frances Mylott and Eileen Elizabeth Carroll. He died on 25 September 1988 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Raj Kapoor was the son of well-known Indian actor Prithviraj Kapoor,
who acted both in film and on stage. After apprenticing in the
Bollywood production studios of the 1940's, at 24 years of age Raj
Kapoor produced, directed and acted in Aag (1948), with his new company,
RK Films. His next production, Barsaat (1949), was a smash hit. In 1951, he
also produced, directed and starred in Awaara (1951), which was another
megahit, and costarred Nargis, who had appeared in Aag and Barsaat.
Awaara also gained popular acclaim in Russia, where the movie and songs
were dubbed into Russian. The theme song, Awaara Hoon, was popular in
the East for many years. Kapoor has been dubbed "a great showman," and
a filmmaker in the purest Romantic tradition, as he strove to entertain
as well as address social themes close to his heart. Awaara dealt with
the question of what forms an individual's moral grounding, ("nurture
or nature") while incorporating comedy and stirring love scenes; in
Shree 420 (1955) he addressed issues of poverty, unemployment and national pride
in the new Indian state at the same time maintaining the audience's
interest in the romantic plot. While never revolutionary in tone, many
of his films explore the ability of the individual to overcome economic
and environmental injustice while maintaining his/her innocence and
integrity. He is quoted as believing that the individual's struggles
ultimately lead to the desire for love, to care and be cared for. This
is consistent with his admiration of Charles Chaplin, and Kapoor's own
"tramp" (Awaara, Shree 420, Mera Naam Joker (1970) is modeled somewhat on his mentor,
though with a definite individual flair.
His films demonstrate an understanding of music and direction that
continue to influence Bollywood filmmaking today. Also a musician, his
understanding of the musical feel of his movies gives them a
storytelling fluidity equal to that of the best American movie
musicals. He surrounded himself with the foremost talents in
filmmaking, acting, writing (Kwaja Ahmad Abbas'), music
composition (Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal, 'Shankarsinh Raguwanshi'), and playback singers, including
Mukesh, 'Mohamed Rafi', and Lata Mangeshkar. Kapoor continued to make films of
varying critical and popular success up until his death in 1988, and
apparently considered Mera Naam Joker his personal favorite. He is
still a well-known name not only in India, but in the Middle East, SE
Asia, and Eastern Europe. His descendants have attempted to continue
the RK Films banner.- A tall (6'3"), handsome, debonair, immaculately-groomed British leading man best known for his pipe-smoking chaps, Londoner John Loder (né John Muir Lowe), was born on January 3, 1898, the son of a British general. Attending both the Eton and the Royal Military colleges, he followed his distinguished father into the army and fought at Gallipoli during World War I, where he served until the British withdrew its forces.
A German prisoner of war in 1918, Loder remained in Germany following his release and was assigned military duties on behalf of the Inter-Allied Commission. Loder eventually went into business establishing a pickle factory in Potsdam with a partner. Loder began to develop an interest in acting at one point and wound up in a few German film dance bits Dance Fever (1925), Madame Doesn't Want Children (1926)).
Progressing into featured/co-star parts in such films as Die weiße Spinne (1927) and Die Sünderin (1928) (The Sinner), Loder returned briefly to England in 1927 where he was third-billed as the "veddy English" Lord Harborough in the elegant melodrama The First Born (1928) starring lovely Madeleine Carroll and Miles Mander (who also wrote and directed). Following this the young actor made the transatlantic trip to the United States where talkies had become the new rage. Loder continued in the same fashion as before with third-wheel roles in such female superstar vehicles as Paramount's first talkie The Doctor's Secret (1929) starring Ruth Chatterton, as well as Her Private Affair (1929) starring Ann Harding and Lilies of the Field (1929) starring Corinne Griffith. While Loder showed much promise, his on-camera persona was a bit too cut and dried for American tastes. Following secondary roles in The Racketeer (1929), Sweethearts and Wives (1930), Parisian Gaities (1931) and having gained no ground pursuing leading man stardom, he returned to England.
Back in his homeland, Loder was able to embellish his resumé with more plush, princely leads and co-leads such as in Money for Speed (1933), co-star Ida Lupino's first big film; You Made Me Love You (1933) starring Ida's father Stanley Lupino with ice-cream blonde Thelma Todd as his love interest; the musicals Love, Life & Laughter (1934) and Sing As We Go! (1934) both opposite Gracie Fields; the heavy drama Java Head (1934) in a romantic triangle with Anna May Wong and Elizabeth Allan; the classic romantic adventure Lorna Doone (1934) starring as John Ridd opposite sweet and lovely The Little Woman (1954); the circus adventure drama This Woman Is Mine (1935); the murder mystery The Silent Passenger (1935); the romantic comedy It Happened in Paris (1935); the sparkling comedy Queen of Hearts (1936) again opposite Gracie Fields; in the Boris Karloff mad doctor horror opus The Man Who Lived Again (1936) as the clean-cut hero for damsel Anna Lee; in the classic adventure King Solomon's Mines (1937) and murder mystery Non-Stop New York (1937) both again with Ms. Lee; the historical costumer Katia (1938) opposite Danielle Darrieux in the title role; and a trio of crime dramas -- Anything to Declare? (1938), Murder Will Out (1939) and the title role in Maxwell Archer, Detective (1940).
When WWII hit Britain, Loder returned to America where he fell immediately into secondary patrician, military and assorted stuffed shirt roles in "A" pictures (How Green Was My Valley (1941), One Night in Lisbon (1941), The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942), Now, Voyager (1942), Old Acquaintance (1943), Passage to Marseille (1944), The Hairy Ape (1944)) and leads in "B" level programmers (The Brighton Strangler (1945), Jealousy (1945), A Game of Death (1945), Woman Who Came Back (1945), The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946)).
As his film career declined in the late 1940's, Loder made his Broadway debut in For Love or Money in 1947, the same year he became an American citizen. He subsequently moved to TV work in the 1950's with guest appearances on several anthology series. His last films included The Story of Esther Costello (1957), Woman and the Hunter (1957), Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958), The Secret Man (1958) and The Firechasers (1971).
Loder had quite a lively private life. Divorced five times, two of his wives were actresses -- his second was French star Micheline Cheirel and his third was Hollywood goddess Hedy Lamarr. He co-starred in the film noir Dishonored Lady (1947) with Lamarr and second-billed Dennis O'Keefe. His first son, theatrical/literary agent Robin William Lowe (1925-2002), was born out of wedlock. He had three children (James, Denise and Anthony) by Lamarr.
Returning to England in later years, Loder penned his autobiography, Hollywood Hussar, in 1977. His general health declined noticeably and in 1982, entered a Kensington nursing home. He died in London, aged 90, in 1988, the day after Christmas. - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
The son of an Italian immigrant doctor, Gabriel "Gabe" Dell began his
career singing in a boys church choir and then on a children's radio
show. He made his stage debut in the play "Dead End" and, with the
other juvenile members of the cast, was called to Hollywood for the
film version. Dell was one of the more unusual members of what came to
be known as the East Side Kids/Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys in that when
he appeared in many of their films, he, unlike his colleagues, didn't
always play a member of the gang. He often played a reporter, or a cop,
or even a gangster, somebody who had either befriended the gang or used
to be one of them but got out.
Dell took a leave from the film business during WW II and served in the
Merchant Marine for 3-1/2 years. When he returned, he played in a few
more of the Bowery Boys series but made his final film with them in
1950 and struck out on his own. He took roles in Broadway plays, formed
a nightclub act with former East Side Kid
Huntz Hall and studied for three years at the
Actors Studio. He worked steadily in television and was a regular cast
member of the
The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956).
He alternated between TV and film parts, with one of his best roles
being that of a sardonic hit man with a sense of humor in director
Phil Karlson's action packed
Framed (1975).- Actor
- Director
- Cinematographer
Coming from a theatrical family (although not related to the famous
Edwardian actor Sir
Charles Hawtrey, he did
"borrow" his last name), Charles Hawtrey made his stage debut at age 11
after having spent several years in a prestigious acting school. A
string of stage roles followed, and by 1929 his success led him to move
into radio. His success in that medium led to his entry into films,
often working alongside noted comedian
Will Hay. He continued his stage, radio and
film work, although he scored more success on stage.
In 1958 he began work in the series for which he would achieve his
greatest fame, the "Carry On" comedies. His stringy build, birdlike
features, what has been described as his "outrageously posh" voice and
his somewhat fey character's eccentricities made him one of the most
popular of the "Carry On" gang. However, that very popularity
indirectly led to his exit from the series. He believed that his
character's prominence, and the fact that he had more experience in the
business than most of his co-stars, entitled him to receive a higher
billing in the series than he was getting. The producers didn't see it
that way, and after
Carry on Abroad (1972), he
departed the series. Hawtrey was, by most accounts, almost as eccentric
in real life as his character in the "Carry On" series was; one of his
characteristics was to speak in an unintelligible language of his own
making, which was only understood by a few of his closest friends.
After he left the series he semi-retired from the business, making an
occasional appearance in a movie or TV show. He had suffered from
arthritis for a long time, and by 1988 his doctors told him that the
condition had become so serious that his legs would have to be
amputated in order to save his life. He refused, and died almost a
month later. He was 73.- Cuthbertson arrived in Britain in 1947, and appeared shortly thereafter
as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the Boltons. In London's West End, he
appeared as Laertes in Hamlet, Aimwell in The Beaux Stratagem, and
Octavius Robinson in Man & Superman, among many other roles. - Patrick Newell was born on 27 March 1932 in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Avengers (1961), Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1980) and Kinvig (1981). He was married to Derina House. He died on 22 July 1988 in Essex, England, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
The acting bug bit Kenneth Williams when, as a student, his English
teacher suggested he try out for a school play. He found that he
enjoyed it tremendously, but when he raised the possibility at home of
becoming an actor, his father forbade it. Williams was eventually sent
to art school in London in 1941. In 1944 he was drafted into the army,
and although posted to the Royal Engineers, he managed to land a job in
the Combined Services Entertainment unit, where he got a chance to act
in shows that were put on to entertain the troops, and even designed
the posters that advertised the shows.
After his discharge from the army he began to work as a professional
actor, and traveled the country in repertory companies. It was in a
production of "Saint Joan", where he played the Dauphin, that a radio
producer saw him and hired him to do voice characterizations on a
popular radio comedy show, "Hancock's Half Hour". His penchant for
wild, off-the-wall characters led to his being hired by the producers
of the "Carry On" comedy series, where he performed in 26 entries in
the long-running series. When the series ended, Williams returned to
radio work, and also made the rounds of the TV talk shows in addition
to writing several books, including his autobiography. Later in his
life Williams developed a serious ulcer, and was given medication to
combat the pain. On April 15th 1988, he was found dead in his bed; it
was determined that in addition to his regular pain pills, he had
apparently taken some sleeping pills the night before, and the
combination of those and his regular medication proved
fatal.- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
A blessing or a curse? Every silver lining has a cloud, yet sadly
Andrew Roy Gibb had to find that out the hard way. Born the fifth and
final child to parents Barbara (17 November 1920-12 August 2016) and Hugh Gibb
(15 January 1916-6 March 1992) Andy grew up with his three older siblings
dominating the music charts, collectively known as
The Bee Gees. Performing at clubs from the
age of 13, it was suspected that Andy was to join
The Bee Gees, yet Andy always wanted to be
his own personality.
Victimised at the many schools he went to by other students who were
convinced he had a superiority complex due to his famous brothers, Andy
escaped into his music. But it all came too fast and too soon. Andy was
performing and making music by the time he was 20 years old, and it was
virtually impossible to break away from his brothers shadows when older
brother Barry wrote 90% of his songs, and the Bee Gees sang back up
vocals on half of his songs. Andy got it all too fast, and his life was
intermingled with years of depression that he tried to stay away with
booze, drugs and women. While they all may have provided temporary
relief, Andy was plagued by depression and the fact that no matter what
he did, he could never escape his heritage. Toward the end of his life,
Andy vowed to change and reform. He planned to clean up his act and
reform. he was dabbling in stage musicals and TV, and he had a new
album planned for release. On his 30th birthday he promised the people
most dear to him: He was a changed man. Sadly Andy's heart and Andy's
body were two very different things, and five days after his 30th
birthday his body finally succumbed to the seemingly endless years of
alcohol abuse. Andy may have been dead for almost two decades, but his
music lives on. Andy Gibb was a legendary music figure, and when
listening to some of his hit songs, such as '(Our Love) Don't throw it
all away', 'man on fire' and 'I just want to be your everything' you
don't hear death, you hear life.- Brent Collins was born on 31 October 1941 in Plainville, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Another World (1964), Vortex (1982) and Spenser: For Hire (1985). He died on 6 January 1988 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Irene Luther on October 13, 1891, silent-screen femme Irene Rich came from a once well-to-do family in Buffalo, New York. Her father had a reversal
of fortune while she was quite young and the family subsequently had to move
to California. Following her education, Irene pursued a career as a
realtor. She had already married twice by the time she decided to
become an actress and, by the "ripe old age" of 27, had begun working
as a movie extra.
Success came quickly for Irene and her first part of
real substance was in
The Girl in His House (1918).
She continued on as a poised, resourceful co-star and became a
particular favorite of Will Rogers,
who used her in
Water, Water, Everywhere (1920),
The Strange Boarder (1920),
Jes' Call Me Jim (1920),
Boys Will Be Boys (1921) and
The Ropin' Fool (1922). Her array
of leading men ran the gamut -- from
Harry Carey in
Desperate Trails (1921) to
Lon Chaney in
The Trap (1922) to
John Barrymore in
Beau Brummel (1924) to movie mutt
Strongheart the Dog in
Brawn of the North (1922).
Irene's true screen persona, however, arrived in the form of
tearjerkers, nobly portraying the ever-suffering, well-coiffed
"doormat" in her own plush, domestic dramas. Somewhat reminiscent in
both looks, style and demeanor of
Irene Dunne, she became a favorite in
women's pictures throughout the 1920s, one of her best known roles
being in
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925).
With age Irene moved into more motherly roles, and by the coming of
sound she was playing Will Rogers' pushy wife in a few of his social
comedies, including
So This Is London (1930) and
Down to Earth (1932). At around the
same time Irene enjoyed a spectacular new career on radio. In 1933 she
began her nationwide anthology program entitled "Dear John" (also
called "The Irene Rich Show"), which lasted over a decade. Her leading
man on that show for many of those years was
Gale Gordon, who later played
Lucille Ball's apoplectic boss and nemesis on 1960s
TV.
Irene also enjoyed some success on stage in such productions as "Seven
Keys to Baldpate" (1935), which starred
George M. Cohan. Eventually she left it
all, marrying a fourth time to businessman George Henry Clifford in
1950, and settling in comfortable retirement. She died at age 96
quietly of heart failure and was survived by two daughters, one of
whom, Frances Rich, was an actress briefly
on the 1930s stage and screen before becoming a noted sculptor.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric
Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author
and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased
around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before
World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London--but as a
scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to
understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the
British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends
led to his meeting with "renegade" director
Michael Powell. They then went on
to make some of the most interesting (IMHO) and complex films of the
1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often
showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those
"outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English
than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he
CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage,
Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so
well.