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- Ed Fury was born on 6 June 1928 in Long Island, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Valley of the Lions (1961), Ursus in the Land of Fire (1963) and Ursus (1961). He was married to Marceline Yvette Dubois. He died on 24 February 2023 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Alan Retik was born on 15 April 1932 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was married to Lynn Retik. He died on 24 February 2022 in Weston, Massachusetts, USA.
- Sound Department
Alan Murray began his career in sound in the mid seventies at Paramount Studios. Under the tutelage of Howard Beals, (Cecil B. DeMille's personal sound editor), Alan developed his craft working on a wide range of motion pictures including: "The Warriors (1979)", "Grease (1978)", and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)". In 1978, Alan began a working relationship with Clint Eastwood on the feature "Escape from Alcatraz (1979)" and has continued as Clint's supervising sound editor for over 30 years. Moving to Warner Bros. Studios in 1979, Alan has collaborated on many memorable Warner's movies including: "Ladyhawke (1985)", "Lethal Weapon (1987)" & "Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)","Eraser (1996)", "Unforgiven (1992)", "Million Dollar Baby (2004)", and "Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)".
Alan has three children currently working in the motion picture industry, Blu Murray (picture editing), Kevin R.W. Murray (sound) and Hailey Murray (post production). At date, Alan Murray has received six Academy Award nominations, three Bafta nominations, and won the Oscar in 2007 for Best Sound Editing for "Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)".- Actor
- Writer
- Director
One of Italy's most captivating and talented cinematic comedy stars, Italian veteran Alberto Sordi was known for satirizing his country's social mores in pungent black comedies, farcical tales and grim drama. He, along with peers Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi and Nino Manfredi, arguably represent the finest of post-war Italian cinema history. Born in Rome on June 15, 1920 in the Trastevere district, Sordi grew up in a musical family, his father being a tuba player for the Rome Opera House. A choir boy at the Sistine Chapel, he later trained for the theater in Milan but returned to Rome to work in radio and musical halls in comedy shows. In the late 30s he found his way into film as an extra. His first important role was in The Three Pilots (1942), a fascist war picture, but he wouldn't hit international stardom until a decade later when he starred in Federico Fellini's early films The White Sheik (1952) and I Vitelloni (1953). The titles of some of his most prolific characters were as simple as their titles: The Seducer, The Bachelor, The Husband, The Widower, The Traffic Cop, and The Moralist. Most of his protagonists amusingly, but not always pleasantly, stereotyped the worst attributes of Italian men and society, yet many of his films are unparalleled in quality and considered masterpieces. Sordi went on to star, direct and co-write more than 150 films. Never married and rather an introvert, he enjoyed a quiet, reclusive personal life. On his 80th birthday, he was made Mayor of Rome for the day. In 2002, after 190 films, he announced his retirement, and died of a heart attack the following year at age 82.- Art Smith was born on 23 March 1899 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for In a Lonely Place (1950), Brute Force (1947) and Edge of Darkness (1943). He died on 24 February 1973 in West Babylon, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Silent moppet star Jackie Coogan, immortalized as Charles Chaplin's The Kid (1921), had only one screen rival during the early 1920s, and that was none other than Baby Peggy. She was "discovered" while visiting the Century Studios lot on Sunset Boulevard with her mother when she was a mere 19 months old and went on to appear in nearly 150 shorts (between 1920 and 1923) and nine feature films during her silent heyday. Often considered a precursor to Shirley Temple, Baby Peggy's most popular film vehicle was the child classic Captain January (1924), which would be made a decade later as a vehicle for Temple.
She was born Peggy-Jean Montgomery in 1918 in San Diego, California, of acting stock. She was the daughter of Marian (Baxter), from Wisconsin, and Jack Montgomery, a Nebraska-born cowboy for years all over the western states. He ended up in the movies as a stuntman and extra, driving stagecoaches and buckboards. He supported himself as Tom Mix's double, but never achieved the rugged stardom he yearned for. In fact, his daughter was the one who became the celebrity and chief breadwinner for the family.
Many of Baby Peggy's popular comedies were parodies of movies that grown-up stars had made, and she delightfully imitated such legends as Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, Mary Pickford and Mae Murray. Her first feature-length film was Penrod (1922); her first film with Universal, The Darling of New York (1923), shot when she was 3-1/2 years old, was a solid hit. A few more, including Helen's Babies (1924), were also certifiable winners. However, by the age of 8, she was finished.
Her fortune reportedly was depleted by her father Jack's stepfather, a banker to whom she had entrusted all her money. Within a short time, she was forced to turn to the vaudeville circuit for survival. A comeback in early talkies with the new moniker Peggy Montgomery was very short-lived. Her credits, as a result, are often mixed up with another actress named Peggy Montgomery, who was a western ingénue for many years.
The former child star lived in dire straits and suffered from nervous breakdowns and near poverty for many years until she found a new and unexpectedly successful career as a book publisher and writer, using the pseudonym "Diana Serra Cary". As the author of "Hollywood Posse" (1975) and (later) "Hollywood's Children", she wrote about her youthful career, post-stardom years, child stars in general, and Hollywood history in all its fascinating glory. Her own autobiography, "Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy?", was released in 1996.
In 2016, Diana was inducted into the Classic Film Hall of Fame at the Rheem Theater in Moraga, CA. Diana was present, at age 98, to receive the honor and answer questions. She is considered to have been the last living star of the silent film era. Per Robert Garfinkle, a board member of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA, Diana now has the longest acting career of all time, from 1920 to 2015. Her last film was a silent film she made at the above-referenced museum. The film was actually made using one of their antique hand-cranked cameras!
Baby Peggy died on February 24, 2020 in Gustine, California. She was 101.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Handsome, boyish-looking Ben Cooper graduated from child roles to playing juvenile leads in second features, often for Poverty Row studio Republic. As a nine year old, he made his stage debut in Bretaigne Windust's Broadway production of Life With Father, remaining in the cast for the entire run of the play. Between 1946 and 1952, Ben enjoyed a lengthy spell on the airwaves, lending his voice to many a famous radio soap of the day (by some accounts he acted in more than 3000 radio shows). A graduate of New York's Columbia University, he was featured on screen for the first time in a bit part in 1950. Three years later, he played Jesse James in a cameo in Woman They Almost Lynched (1953). His career made little headway until he was cast as brash would-be gunslinger Turkey Ralston in the noirish cult western Johnny Guitar (1954).
Ben's forte was the western. He had his own horse by the age of twelve, became an adept rider and diligently rehearsed the stunts he saw on the screen. He also perfected a fast draw, practicing "for 90 minutes each day over four years". During most of the early '50s, he went about playing assorted hombres on both sides of the law in B-westerns. He never quite managed to set the prairie on fire. A mere handful of starring turns confined him to staid leading men in run-of-the-mill oaters (Duel at Apache Wells (1957)) or routine melodramas (A Strange Adventure (1956)). Arguably, his most effective performance in a motion picture was in The Rose Tattoo (1955) (as the good-natured sailor in love with Marisa Pavan). Unable to find the one role which would have made him a household name, Ben eventually pursued a solid, if unremarkable, career as a television guest star with a predilection for westerns (Laramie (1959), Bonanza (1959), Gunsmoke (1955) ) and crime dramas (Perry Mason (1957), Mannix (1967)). His work in the former earned him a Golden Boot Award in 2005.- Actor
- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
The actor is better known for his prowess as a stunt driver. His work in Bullitt (1968) is legendary where he drove the black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that was pursued by Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang 390 GT. For his reputation earned on Bullitt, Hickman was hired by William Friedkin for The French Connection (1971). He staged a similar chase on the streets of Manhattan but with a greater presence of civilians, an element that had been missing in Bullitt. Doubling for Gene Hackman in the more hazardous stunts, Hickman drove the brown 1970 Pontiac at speeds up to 90mph with Friedkin manning the camera right behind him. Hickman's third spectacle would be captured in The Seven-Ups (1973) where, yet again, he virtually outdid himself driving the car being pursued by Roy Scheider in another landmark car chase.- Bob Andelman was married to Mimi Andelman. He died on 24 February 2020 in the USA.
- Herman Brix was a star shot-putter in the 1928 Olympics. After losing the lead in MGM's Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) due to a shoulder injury, he was contracted by Ashton Dearholt for his independent production of The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), a serial and the only Tarzan film between the silents and the 1960s to present the character accurately, as a sophisticated, educated English nobleman who preferred living in the jungle and was able to speak directly with animals in their own language. He subsequently found himself typecast and confined to starring roles in other serials and character and even bit parts in poverty row features and two-reeler comedies. After starring in the Republic Pictures serial Hawk of the Wilderness (1938) as the Tarzan-like Kioga, he dropped out of films for a few years, took acting lessons, and changed his name to Bruce Bennett. He made many movies after that, gaining fame as a leading man in many Warners products. In 1960, he retired from acting and went into business, becoming sales manager of a major vending machine company, making only occasional TV guest appearances. A reclusive man, he eschewed interviews, although he did appear at one Burroughs-oriented convention in the 1970s and discussed some of his experiences during the making of his Tarzan serial. In 2001, he allowed himself to be interviewed for a slender biography by a Mike Chapman, and held signings at local bookstores, enjoying his "rediscovery" by the general public in the few years remaining before his death.
- Actor
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Bud Luckey was an American animator, writer, director and voice actor from Montana known for his works at Pixar and Sesame Street. He directed and voiced the short film Boundin' before voicing Rick Dicker in The Incredibles and Jack-Jack Attack. He later voiced Chuckles from Toy Story 3 and Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. He passed away in February 2018 due to an extended illness.- Carlos Francisco Cámara Lázaro was a Mexican actor who was born in Dominican Republic in 1934. He migrated from Dominican Republic to Venezuela in the 1950's. Early the 1960's, Carlos began his career as actor in Venezuelan telenovelas, the first one was "La rival" (1960), his next works were in "La otra" and "Hacia la luz", both in 1961. In 1964, Carlos worked in the Mexican telenovela "San Martín de Porres", the same year he went back to Venezuela and acted in "Amor sin fronteras". Cámara first leading role was in "El alma no tiene color" (1966). In 1967, he played a supporting role in "Doña Bárbara". His second lead role was in "El milagro de Lourdes" (1968), then that same year he starred "María Mercé, la chinita". In 1969, starred in "Pablo y Alicia", time later he moved to Mexico, where he starred his fifth and last telenovela: "Cadenas de angustia". Carlos got the Mexican nacionality and keep working on television playing a villain in La gata (1970), he also acted in his first film titled "Las chicas malas del padre Méndez", the same year he worked in the film "Fallaste corazón". In 1971, he got a supporting role in the telenovela "El amor tiene cara de mujer". The producer Ernesto Alonso gave to Carlos an important role in the telenovela "El carruaje" (1972). The next years, Carlos acted in films as "Una mujer honesta" (1972), "El monasterio de los buitres" (1973), "Conserje en condominio" (1974), "En busca de un muro" (1974), "Aventuras de un caballo blanco y un niño" (1975) and "Supervivientes de los Andes" (1976). In 1978, he back to the television, working as villain in "Viviana" (1978) alongside Lucía Méndez. In 1979, he played Fernando, a villain role in "Los ricos también lloran", alongside Verónica Castro; that same year he acted in the telenovela "El cielo es para todos" and in the film "La guerra santa". In 1980, Cámara worked in the series "Winnetou le mescalero", a French-Mexican co-production. His next work was in "Espejismo", a telenovela starred by Fanny Cano. In 1981, acted in "La leyenda de Rodrigo", a drama film and in "Infamia", a telenovela. In 1982 he played a villain in "Vanessa" and time later he got a supporting role in "Por amor". Carlos kept working in villain roles in telenovelas as "La fiera" (1983), "El extraño retorno de Diana Salazar" (1988), "Al filo de la muerte" (1991), "Bajo un mismo rostro" (1995), "El alma no tiene color" (1997), "Soñadoras" (1998), "Amor real" (2003) and "Rubí" (2004). In supporting roles, Cámara acted in "Principessa" (1984), "Juana Iris" (1985), "Cuna de lobos" (1986), "Mágica juventud" (1992), "La antorcha encendida" (1996), "La mentira" (1998), "Siempre te amaré" (2000), "La intrusa" (2001), "Peregrina" (2005), "La fea más bella" (2006) and "Hasta que el dinero nos separé" (2009). In films he also acted in "Masacre en el río Tula" (1985), "Y tú... ¿quién eres" (1990), "La guerra contra las drogas" (1990), "Gata por liebre" (1992) and "Sabel Redemption" (2009). Carlos television work includes three episodes of the TV series "La rosa de Guadalupe", this was his last work in 2012. Cámara died in February, 2016 in Mexico City.
- Director
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- Composer
Carlos Páez Vilaró was born on 1 November 1923 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was a director and writer, known for Candombe (2001), Pulsación (1969) and Batouk (1967). He was married to Annette Deussen, Verónica Algorta and Madelón Rodríguez. He died on 24 February 2014 in Punta Ballena, Uruguay.- Carrie Ann Lucas was born on 18 November 1971 in Twentynine Palms, California, USA. She died on 24 February 2019 in Loveland, Colorado, USA.
- Writer
- Actor
Probably one of the greatest adventure novelists of our time. When his novel "Raise the Titanic" was bought for $840,000 by Viking Publishing in 1976, it put him on the map after 11 years of hard work. Before his success with RTT, he previously had written "Pacific Vortex", which wasn't published until after his successes, "The Mediterranean Caper" and "Iceberg". Originally in advertising, first as an award-winning copy writer, and then as creative director for two of the nation's largest agencies. He started his writing career when his wife, Barbara, got a night job for the local police station as a clerk. At night after putting his kids to bed, he had hardly anything to do and no one to talk to. So out of solitude he decided to write a book. After a few nights of thinking of an idea on what to write about he thought it would be fun to produce a little paperback series. The thought of a best-seller never crossed his mind. Thanks to his marketing experience, he began researching and analyzing all the series heroes, beginning with Edgar Allan Poe's Inspector Dumas. Next came Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes and all the other fiction detectives and spies. Like the likes of Bulldog Drummond, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, Matt Helm, James Bond. Whatever he could find, he studied them all. With his experience in creative advertising under his belt, he started to wonder what he could conceive that was totally different. He didn't want to compete with already-famous authors. He was determined not to write about a detective, secret agent or undercover investigator or deal in murder mysteries. He then decided his hero's adventure would be based on and under water. And thus, the basic concept for Dirk Pitt the marine engineer with the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) was born. He found it interesting that almost no authors were writing pure, old-fashioned adventure. It seemed to him, a lost genre. After taking a refresher course in English, he launched his first book that introduced Pitt and most all of his characters who appeared in the upcoming novels to follow afterwards. The first book was named "Pacific Vortex". Dr. Cussler, leaned heavily on Alistair McLean on his first two books and was quite flattered when critics told him they were quite similar. But by his third book, he began to drift into his own style with a myriad of sub-plots. And because of that, "Iceberg", to this day, has and always will be a sentimental favorite of his because it never ended where it began. After completing "Pacific Vortex", he was about to launch a second book when he was offered a position at a large advertising agency. It would have been a wonderful opportunity with a well-paid salary, but his wife challenged him. She knew that if he wanted to write sea stories, why didn't he take a job as a clerk at the local dive shop who at the time was hiring. He wasted little time and in 1968 he started working for the Aquatic Center Dive ship in Newport Beach as a behind-the-counter-salesman. Never being a certified diver, it took him just a few weeks. Once he was certified, Dr. Cussler started bringing in his typewriter in the morning and wrote at a card table behind the counter when business was slow which was usually in the afternoons. A little over a year later, Dr. Cussler finished his second novel, "Mediterranean Caper". That's when he decided to leave the shop and return to advertising. With constant rejection letters on his first novel, Pacific Vortex, Dr. Cussler had decided that it would be a smart decision to find himself a literary agent. With a little cunning and ingenuity, he soon met Peter Lampack, who was with the William Morris Agency in Manhattan. With Peter liking his second novel, "Mediterranean Caper", Dr. Cussler now had a contract. With the contract promptly signed and mailed, he started working on his third novel, "Iceberg". Now that he had an agent and with renewed inspiration, Dr. Cussler left the advertising agency, and decided to write full time. Fed up with Southern California and wanting to change his family's lifestyle, he sold his boat, house and car. He bought a new family sedan and a tent trailer. After a wonderful summer, he and his family relocated to Estes Park, Colorado. Once settled in, he started to work on his third novel, Iceberg. After a year he finished Iceberg and with his agent having no success finding an editor to take "Mediterranean Caper" and now, "Iceberg" and with his savings about depleted, Dr. Cussler went back to advertising. Once he got himself a job with a very small agency and started to prove to them his value, Dr. Cussler moved his family to the suburb of Arvada just outside of Denver. It wouldn't be long before he was given the pink slip again. Taking a once broken down and small firm and making it into multi-million company, Dr. Cussler vowed to never work in the advertising agency again. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because that's when he started to work on "Raise The Titanic!" in one corner of his unfinished basement. By then his agent, Peter Lampack, had found a small publisher to take Mediterranean Caper. Printing fifty-thousand copies and selling thirty-two thousand, Pyramid Publishing paid him five thousand dollars and sold the novel for seventy-five cents a piece. Less then a year later, Dr. Cussler sold his novel, Iceberg to Dodd Mead Publishing for five-thousand dollars. The novel sold thirty-two thousand copies with an initial intent of only printing five thousand. Once he finished Raise The Titanic, Dr. Cussler sent it off to his agent. Once approved, it was relayed to Dodd Mead. It was rejected within ten days. His agent decided to sent the renounced manuscript to Putnam but they wanted a massive rewrite which Dr. Cussler refused to do. And what Dr. Cussler would later say, "Out of the blue, Viking Press bought it, asked for very few changes and paid me seventy-five hundred dollars." And that's when "strange forces" went to work. A London editor from Macmillan Publishing was visiting a friend at Viking and heard about the Dr. Cussler manuscript. Since the Titanic was a British ship, he asked for a copy of the manuscript to read on his plane back to England. He ended up wanting to buy it. But his agent had already sold "Iceberg" to Sphere Publishing, a small publishing house in London, for four hundred dollars. Since Sphere had the first option, they put in a bid for the manuscript that was promptly topped by Macmillan. Once the dust settled from the bidding war, Sphere owned the book, paying twenty-two thousand dollars, a high price for England in those days. Getting the feeling that things were suddenly falling into place, Dr. Cussler called his agent and got his rights back for Mediterranean Caper. At the same time, Dodd Mead Publishing notified his agent that Playboy Publications had offered four thousand dollars for the paperback right to Iceberg. Still with that "gut" feeling, Dr. Cussler told his agent that he would buy back Mediterranean Caper from Dodd Mead Publishing for five thousand dollars. The deal was done two weeks later. With the buzz and interest about Raise The Titanic over in Britain, it didn't take long for American paperback publishers to take notice. It soon went to auction with Viking Press winning the rights for $840,000. Once the auction was over and finding out that "Raise The Titanic" was the third Dirk Pitt novel, Viking Press bought them both for forty thousand dollar a piece. "Raise The Titanic" was Cussler's first novel to have several plots going on at the same time and to have them all converge at the end. Since then, Dr. Cussler has sold over 100 million copies of his Dirk Pitt Adventures. He continues to write Dirk Pitt adventures while living a life that nearly parallels that of his action hero. Like Pitt, Dr. Cussler enjoys discovering and collecting things of historical significance. With NUMA (National Underwater & Marine Agency, a non profit group begun by Cussler) he has had an amazing record of finding over 60 shipwrecks, one of which was the long-lost Confederate submarine Hunley. And recently discovered the rescue ship Carpathia who picked up the Titanic survivors. Dr. Cussler also has a renowned and extensive classic car collection, which features over 80 examples of custom coachwork. Along with being Chairman of NUMA, he is also a fellow of the Explorers Club (which honored him with the Lowell Thomas Award for outstanding underwater exploration), the Royal Geographical Society and the American Society of Oceanographers. Married to Barbara Knight for 40 years, with three children and two grandchildren, he divides his time between the mountains of Colorado and the deserts of Arizona. He is represented by the Bartholomeaux Agency.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Conrad Nagel was born on 16 March 1897 in Keokuk, Iowa, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Ship from Shanghai (1930), Quality Street (1927) and Kongo (1932). He was married to Michael Coulson Smith, Lynn Merrick and Ruth Helms. He died on 24 February 1970 in New York City, New York, USA.- Composer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
David Roback was born on 4 April 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Starship Troopers (1997), End of Watch (2012) and Wicker Park (2004). He was married to Hedi Raikamo. He died on 25 February 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Dennis Weaver first became familiar to television audiences as Matt Dillon's assistant Chester Goode in Gunsmoke (1955). After playing the part for nine years, he moved on to star in his own series, Kentucky Jones (1964). However, the show failed to find mass appeal and was cancelled after just one season. Weaver had to wait another five years before finally emerging as a TV star in his own right. Beginning in 1971, he portrayed the titular Marshal Sam McCloud, a lawman from Taos, New Mexico, working in New York to learn the ways of policing in Manhattan's 27th Precinct under the auspices of a frequently apoplectic Chief of Detectives, Peter Clifford (J.D. Cannon). Accented in a slow Texan drawl (his regular catchphrase was "There you go..") and decked out with cowboy hat, lasso and sheepskin jacket, McCloud went about his tasks pretty much the same way he would have done out in the West -- often to the chagrin of his boss, nevertheless always apprehending the villain in the end (sometimes on horseback). His fractious relationship with Clifford provided much of the enjoyment inherent in the show. Weaver later recalled "McCloud was the kind of role I left Gunsmoke to get... I wanted to be a leading man instead of a second banana." Between 1971 and 1977, McCloud (1970) (based in part on the Clint Eastwood film Coogan's Bluff (1968)) was part of Universal's "Mystery Movie" which filled a slot at NBC with films lasting from 74 to 97 minutes (longer than your average TV episode) and which rotated several productions, the most important being Columbo (1971) (Peter Falk), Banacek (1972) (George Peppard), McMillan & Wife (1971) (Rock Hudson) and Hec Ramsey (1972) (Richard Boone).
Weaver hailed from Joplin, Missouri, where his father (who was of mixed English, Irish, Scottish, Cherokee, and Osage ancestry) worked for the local electric company. Young Dennis proved himself a gifted track and field athlete while studying for a degree in fine arts at the University of Oklahoma. During World War II, he served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. After the war, Weaver forsook sports for a career on the stage, undertaking further drama classes at the Actor's Studio in New York. One of his fellow alumni was actress Shelley Winters who later helped him to get into films. Following his Broadway debut in "Come Back, Little Sheba", Weaver found work in plays by Tennessee Williams off-Broadway and then made his movie debut at Universal in the western Horizons West (1952). He made several more pictures, mostly westerns, but was largely cast in minor roles. He languished in relative obscurity until he landed several guest spots on Jack Webb's Dragnet (1951). His career really took off with McCloud and with the Steven Spielberg-directed Duel (1971), a thriller made for the small screen (essentially a one-man show) in which a lone driver is menaced by a sinister petrol tanker driven by an unseen force. He later found other regular television work (Stone (1979), Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983) and Buck James (1987)), but none of these managed to recapture his earlier successes. In Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994), he was true to his colors, playing western hero Buffalo Bill Cody, a.k.a. Buffalo Bill.
Weaver served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1973 to 1975. He was in the forefront of environmental activism, a proponent of alternative energy and recycling (his Colorado home, called "Earthship", was primarily constructed from recycled tires and aluminium cans).- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Her real name was Frances "Fanny" Rose Shore, and she was born in Winchester, Tennessee. Stricken with polio at 18 months of age, she recovered after receiving the Sister Kenny treatment. She became a cheerleader at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University in 1938, where she majored in sociology. She took voice and acting lessons on the side and sang on radio station WSM in Nashville. In 1938 she left Tennessee for New York City and began singing on radio station WNCW in New York. Her first recordings were with bandleader Xavier Cugat, and she later changed her named to Dinah after her success with the song of the same name. She received numerous Emmy awards for television specials and productions and appeared in many films. She was married to actor George Montgomery, with whom she had one daughter and adopted a son.- Don Craine was born on 29 March 1945 in the UK. He died on 24 February 2022 in the UK.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Don Knotts, the legendary television character actor, was born Jesse Donald Knotts on July 21, 1924 in Morgantown, West Virginia, to William Jesse Knotts and the former Elsie Luzetta Moore. He was the youngest of four sons in a family that had been in America since the 17th century.
His first stint as an entertainer was as a ventriloquist, performing paid gigs at parties and other events in Morgantown. He decided to make a stab at a career in show business, moving to New York City after graduating from high school, but he only lasted in the Big Apple for a few weeks. He decided to go to college, enrolling at West Virginia University but, when World War II engulfed America, he enlisted in the United States Army. The 19-year-old soldier was assigned to the Special Services Branch, where he entertained the troops. It was while in the Army that Don ditched ventriloquism for straight comedy.
Don returned to West Virginia University after being demobilized. After graduating with a degree in theater in 1948, he married and moved back to New York, where connections he had made while in the Special Services Branch helped him break into show business. In addition to doing stand-up comedy at clubs, he appeared on the radio, eventually playing the character "Windy Wales" on "The Bobby Benson Show". From 1953 to 1955, he was a regular on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow (1951). Destiny intervened when he was cast in the small role of the psychiatrist in the Broadway play "No Time for Sergeants", which starred Andy Griffith, who would play a large part in Don's future career. Don also appeared in the film adaption of the play with Griffith.
Don's big break before he hooked up again with Andy Griffith was a regular gig on the The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956) hosted by Steve Allen, starting in 1956. He became well-known for his "nervous man" shtick in the "Man-on-the-Street" segments that were a staple of Allen's show. His character in the segments was a very nervous man obviously uptight about being interviewed on camera. He developed this into the fidgety, high-strung persona that he used successfully for the rest of his career.
When "The Tonight Show" moved to Hollywood in 1959 with new host Jack Paar, Don also moved to California as a regular. However, he was soon cast in Andy Griffith's new television series about a small-town sheriff, The Andy Griffith Show (1960), in the role that would make him a legend. For playing "Deputy Barney Fife", Don was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor five times from 1961 to 1967, winning each time. He soon tasted big-screen success, starring in The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964). Don cut back his appearances on The Andy Griffith Show (1960) to concentrate on making movies after signing a five-year contract with Universal Pictures. For Universal, Don appeared in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The Love God? (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971). His mid-1960s popularity as a movie comedian began to wane towards the end of the decade, and the contract was not renewed. Don returned to television as the star of his own variety show, but it was quickly canceled.
During the 1970s, Don had a spotty career, appearing in regional theater and making guest appearances on other television series. He eventually made some slapstick movies with Tim Conway for the Walt Disney Company, but it wasn't until the end of the decade that he tasted real success again. He was cast as would-be-swinger landlord "Ralph Furley" on the popular sitcom Three's Company (1976) after the original landlords, "The Ropers", were spun off into their own series. Since the show was canceled in 1984, he appeared as "Barney Fife" for a 1986 reunion of The Andy Griffith Show (1960) and in television guest spots, including a recurring gig as the pesky neighbor "Les Calhoun" on Griffith's Matlock (1986) series until 1992.
He remained busy for the next ten years touring with plays and doing voice-over work for cartoons. In 2005, Don provided the voice of "Mayor Turkey Lurkey" in Disney's animated film Chicken Little (2005). It turned out to be one of his final films. He died at age 81 on February 24, 2006.- Donald Keene was born on 6 June 1922 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Hanjo (1964), Camera Three (1955) and Arena (1975). He died on 24 February 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.
- Durward Knowles was born on 2 November 1917 in Nassau, Bahamas. He died on 24 February 2018 in Nassau, Bahamas.
- Ed Cray was born on 26 July 1958 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Mr. Id (2003), Watch (2002) and Early Edition (1996). He died on 24 February 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.