Portraits of westerners, 1900 - 1930.
Wearing tuxedoes and suits.
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Anthony Jowitt was born on 14 September 1900 in Leeds, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Schlitz Playhouse (1951), Three Secrets (1950) and Call Her Savage (1932). He was married to Doris Anderson. He died on 21 November 1977 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA.1900 - 1977, 77. Leeds, England, UK. Massachusetts.
Canyon Passage (1946). 1946. Dialogue director.
So Big (1953). 1953. Dialogue director.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Joe Sawyer's familiar mug appeared everywhere during the 1930s and 1940s, particularly as a stock player for Warner Bros. in its more standard college musicals, comedies and crime yarns. He could play both sides of the fence, street cops and mob gunmen, with equal ease. He was born Joseph Sauers in Guelph, Canada, on August 29, 1906, and eventually moved to California to pursue a film career. Trained at the Pasadena Playhouse, he had a perfect "tough guy" look: sturdy build, jutting chin and beady eyes, made more distinctive by his shock of light hair and a slightly high-pitched voice. Sawyer made his film debut in 1931 under his real name, which, contrary to popular opinion, was German and not Irish, though he made a career out of playing Irishmen, and appeared mostly in strongarm bit parts in his early career until hitting his stride playing a variety of coaches, cops and sidekicks with imposing names like "Spud," "Slug" and "Whitey." He appeared in hundreds of films, in just about every genre, over a four-decade-long career, among them College Humor (1933), College Rhythm (1934), The Westerner (1934), The Informer (1935), in which his portrayal of an IRA gunman got him noticed by the public and critics alike, Pride of the Marines (1936), Black Legion (1937), The Petrified Forest (1936) (another "tough-guy" role that got him good reviews), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Sergeant York (1941), Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), Gilda (1946), It Came from Outer Space (1953), North to Alaska (1960) and How the West Was Won (1962). He also guest-starred on many TV series and was a regular on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954) as Sgt. Aloysius "Biff" O'Hara. His first wife was actress Jeane Wood, the daughter of Gone with the Wind (1939) uncredited director Sam Wood. His second wife, June, died in 1960. Sawyer died in Ashland, Oregon, on April 21, 1982 of liver cancer at the age of 75.1906 - 1982, 75.
148 westerns.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tom Brown was born on 6 January 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Merrily We Live (1938), Buck Privates Come Home (1947) and Oh, Johnny, How You Can Love! (1940). He was married to Barbara Grace Gormley (socialite) and Natalie Draper. He died on 3 June 1990 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
George Magrill was born on 5 January 1900 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Three Musketeers (1933), Snowed In (1926) and Danger Island (1931). He was married to Ramona Oliver. He died on 31 May 1952 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1900 - 1952, 52.
74 westerns.
113 stunts.- Actor
- Soundtrack
William 'Wee Willie' Davis was born on 7 December 1906 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and Swanee River (1939). He died on 9 April 1981 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ralph Forbes had other ideas than the family wish for him to seek a career in law or the navy. He became interested in acting and began stage work in England. By 1917, he had come to the US to get his feet wet in the film medium with his first silent that year. But he returned to the UK to work in the early British film industry from 1921 to 1926. In the latter year, he joined fellow expatriate and A-list star Ronald Colman to play younger brother John in the first Hollywood rendering of Beau Geste (1926). Through the 1920s, he would work with some familiar names: Lon Chaney, Lillian Gish, Norma Shearer, and John Gilbert among many others in varied roles. His handsome features and bright blues eyes gave him an intense look that could well suit numerous young romantic gentleman characters.
A rich, full voice to boot made the sound transition a smooth one. The unevenness and muffled nature of early sound movies was apparent in his first effort Lilies of the Field (1929) which was an early American-based effort by Alexander Korda. In that year of 1930 Forbes' six films prophesied a busy decade to come. In 1931, he did a sequel to Beau Geste which took up the continuing adventures of youngest Geste brother John, Beau Ideal (1931). By 1933, Forbes was much in demand with five or six movie roles a year through most of the decade. He made the costume rounds: including, the first sound The Three Musketeers (1935), Mary of Scotland (1936), and the classic George Cukor Romeo and Juliet (1936) in which he played Juliet's suitor Paris. With all that "gesting" under his belt. it was perhaps not surprising to find Forbes in the sand dunes again for The Legion of Missing Men (1937), where he played the lead in a "gestique"-sort of script with a younger brother coming to join him in the Legion -- some good finale action. It is, therefore, perhaps a bit of a surprise that he did not play John in the more famous remake of Beau Geste (1939) with Gary Cooper. But Ray Milland got the nod that time. Interestingly, this William A. Wellman directed version is almost a carbon copy of the 1926 effort. After 1940, his work was sporadic to the end of the decade. But he did some early TV playhouse productions in 1950 before his untimely passing the next year.- Actor
- Soundtrack
At age 30, actor Harvey Stephens had a sophisticated charm and staid, long-jawed handsomeness that seemed ideal for the big screen, particularly in elegant or period settings. A veteran of a handful of Broadway shows by the time he made his sudden move to film, he was handed on a silver platter a debut starring role. The drawback was that playing opposite him would be a Broadway legend and one the boldest scenery chewers of all-time -- Tallulah Bankhead. The "leading man" opportunities went quickly downhill from there for Harvey but he redeemed himself quite well in the next few years as a poised second lead player and (later) dependable character actor on TV.
Born on August 21, 1901, the Los Angeles native attended U.C.L.A. before training with Walter Hampden's repertory company for two years as well as in various other stock companies. He had already married Beatrice Nichols in 1929 by the time he established himself on Broadway. Taking his first Broadway bow with a role in "Other Men's Wives" (1929), he went on to appear in "Dishonored Lady" (1930) with the great Katharine Cornell and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (1931) with Herbert Marshall and Zita Johann by the time Hollywood came calling.
Paramount's Pre-Code drama The Cheat (1931) was an auspicious first assignment For Harvey in which he was cast as decent, upper-scale guy Jeffrey Carlyle, the concerned husband to voracious party girl and gambler Elsa Carlyle, played to the hilt by Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead, the larger-than-life celebrity deemed too big for the screen, took no prisoners and Harvey was dwarfed for most of the proceedings. Despite his obvious talent, Harvey's big chance for stardom was snuffed out. This would be his first and only chance at male star movie material.
Continuing diligently on Broadway in such plays as "The Animal Kingdom" (1932) with Leslie Howard, "Best Years" (1932), "Conquest" (1932), "I Loved You Wednesday" (1932) and "The Party's Over" (1933), Fox signed Harvey up in 1933 and from there he appeared in second leads and/or "other man" parts, bolstering a number of quality films and providing a good-looking distraction between some of Hollywood's most popular cinematic stars. His first ruffled up the Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter coupling in the comedy Paddy the Next Best Thing (1933). From there he enjoyed playing cads, flirts, and various wealthy suitor types who tried to come between some of Hollywood's glossiest and most popular pairings: William Powell and 'Myrna Loy' in Evelyn Prentice (1934); Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy in Whipsaw (1935); Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray in Maid of Salem (1937); and Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray in Swing High, Swing Low (1937).
By the end of the decade, however, Harvey was receiving credit much further down the list, especially in the higher-quality films of a Beau Geste (1939), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), Sergeant York (1941) and Lady in the Dark (1944). By the end of WWII, his film career had subsided drastically. As such, he returned to Broadway in 1944 with both "Over 21" starring Ruth Gordon and "Violet". In 1949 he had an officious featured role in the musical classic "South Pacific" starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza in the non-singing role of Lt. Harbison, only one of two non-singing parts in the show. He stayed with the show for several years.
TV occupied much of Harvey's time in the 1950s, now a well-oiled character actor, but he never found any one series that might have given his character name a noticeable boost. His last Broadway role came with "Time Limit" (1956). Following unbilled roles in The Young Lions (1958), North by Northwest (1959) and Advance to the Rear (1964), he ended his career on TV in 1965 with an episode of "Bonanza," then retired quietly to the Southern California area. Harvey died just a few days before Christmas in 1986 at the Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California, and was survived by present wife Barbara and three children. He was 85 years old.1901 - 1986, 85.
42 westerns.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Amiable and handsome James Garner had obtained success in both films and television, often playing variations of the charming anti-hero/con-man persona he first developed in Maverick, the offbeat western TV series that shot him to stardom in the late 1950s.
James Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, to Mildred Scott (Meek) and Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a carpet layer. He dropped out of high school at 16 to join the Merchant Marines. He worked in a variety of jobs and received 2 Purple Hearts when he was wounded twice during the Korean War. He had his first chance to act when a friend got him a non-speaking role in the Broadway stage play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954)". Part of his work was to read lines to the lead actors and he began to learn the craft of acting. This play led to small television roles, television commercials and eventually a contract with Warner Brothers. Director David Butler saw something in Garner and gave him all the attention he needed when he appeared in The Girl He Left Behind (1956). After co-starring in a handful of films during 1956-57, Warner Brothers gave Garner a co-starring role in the the western series Maverick (1957). Originally planned to alternate between Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) and Bret Maverick (Garner), the show quickly turned into the Bret Maverick Show. As Maverick, Garner was cool, good-natured, likable and always ready to use his wits to get him in or out of trouble. The series was highly successful, and Garner continued in it into 1960 when he left the series in a dispute over money.
In the early 1960s Garner returned to films, often playing the same type of character he had played on "Maverick". His successful films included The Thrill of It All (1963), Move Over, Darling (1963), The Great Escape (1963) and The Americanization of Emily (1964). After that, his career wandered and when he appeared in the automobile racing movie Grand Prix (1966), he got the bug to race professionally. Soon, this ambition turned to supporting a racing team, not unlike what Paul Newman would do in later years.
Garner found great success in the western comedy Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). He tried to repeat his success with a sequel, Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), but it wasn't up to the standards of the first one. After 11 years off the small screen, Garner returned to television in a role not unlike that in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). The show was Nichols (1971) and he played the sheriff who would try to solve all problems with his wits and without gun play. When the show was canceled, Garner took the news by having Nichols shot dead, never to return in a sequel. In 1974 he got the role for which he will probably be best remembered, as wry private eye Jim Rockford in the classic The Rockford Files (1974). This became his second major television hit, with Noah Beery Jr. and Stuart Margolin, and in 1977 he won an Emmy for his portrayal. However, a combination of injuries and the discovery that Universal Pictures' "creative bookkeeping" would not give him any of the huge profits the show generated soon soured him and the show ended in 1980. In the 1980s Garner appeared in few movies, but the ones he did make were darker than the likable Garner of old. These included Tank (1984) and Murphy's Romance (1985). For the latter, he was nominated for both the Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Returning to the western mode, he co-starred with the young Bruce Willis in Sunset (1988), a mythical story of Wyatt Earp, Tom Mix and 1920s Hollywood.
In the 1990s Garner received rave reviews for his role in the acclaimed television movie about corporate greed, Barbarians at the Gate (1993). After that he appeared in the theatrical remake of his old television series, Maverick (1994), opposite Mel Gibson. Most of his appearances after that were in numerous TV movies based upon The Rockford Files (1974). His most recent films were My Fellow Americans (1996) and Space Cowboys (2000) .1928 - 2014, 86.
134 westerns.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Achieving both film and TV notice during his lengthy career, this diminutive Asian-American character was born Victor Cheung Young on October 18, 1915 in San Francisco to Chinese emigrants. When his mother died during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, his father placed Victor and his sister in a children's shelter and returned to China, returning to the USA in the mid-1920s, having remarried. The two children were released back to his guardianship, and began learning Chinese. To contribute to the family income, young Sen Yew was employed as a houseboy at age 11 and managed to earn his way through college at the University of California at Berkeley with an interest in animal husbandry and receiving a degree in economics.
Following a move to Hollywood for some post graduate work at UCLA and USC, Victor gained an entrance into films via extra work, where he was in such roles as a peasant boy in The Good Earth (1937), and a soldier in Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), among others. During this early period he also worked as a salesman for a chemical firm. In one of Hollywood's more interesting tales of being "discovered", the story goes that Victor (as he would become known) was on the 20th Century-Fox studio lot at the time trying to pitch one of his company's flame retardant compounds to industry techies when one of them suggested he check out casting. The original actor who had played Charlie Chan, Warner Oland, died and the series was undergoing a major casting overhaul. In the end, Sidney Toler, received cast approval, chose the fledgling actor following a screen test to play his #2 son, Jimmy Chan, for the film Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938). Victor went on to play the role for seventeen other "Charlie Chan" features. Needless, to say he quit the sales business for good.
Victor enjoyed playing Jimmy, the earnest rookie detective who, to his chagrin, was always under the watchful eye of his famous father while trying to help solve murder cases. Outside the role, however, Victor (billed variously as Sen Yung, Victor Yung, and Victor Sen Yung at different times) found the atmosphere oppressive. Usually cast in nothing-special Asian stereotypes, sometimes villainous, in war-era films, parts in such movies as The Letter (1940) starring Bette Davis, Secret Agent of Japan (1942), Little Tokyo, U.S.A. (1942), Moontide (1942), Across the Pacific (1942), Manila Calling (1942), China (1943) and Night Plane from Chungking (1943), did little to advance his stature in Hollywood. His career was interrupted for U.S. Air Force duty as a Captain of Intelligence during WWII. His part in the Chan pictures was taken over by actor Benson Fong.
Victor was able to pick up where he left off in Hollywood following the war and returned to his famous role as #2 son. The character's name, however, was eventually changed from "Jimmy" to "Tommy" after a third installment of Charlie Chan pictures were filmed with Roland Winters now the title sleuth after the death of Toler in 1947. While Victor's workload was fairly steady, again the roles themselves were meager and hardly inspiring. Most were in "B" level crime mysteries and war pictures and many were uncredited roles. Reduced often to playing middle-age servile roles (houseboys, laundrymen, valets, clerks, dock workers and waiters), some of his slightly more prominent roles include those in Woman on the Run (1950), Forbidden (1953), Target Hong Kong (1953), and Trader Tom of the China Seas (1954). His last film appearance was in The Man with Bogart's Face (1980).
On TV, he appeared in two familiar recurring roles. On the John Forsythe series, Bachelor Father (1957), he showed up as "Peter Fong" on the final season of the sitcom. He played the cousin to houseboy Sammee Tong's regular character. Victor is better remembered, however, for the part of Hop Sing, the earnest, volatile cook to the Cartwright clan, provided sporadic comic relief on Bonanza (1959). He also appeared in the TV pilot and in several episodes of Kung Fu (1972), as well as popping up in dramatic episodes of Hawaiian Eye (1959), The F.B.I. (1965). and Hawaii Five-O (1968). Sitcoms gave a hint of his gentle, humorous side in Here's Lucy (1968), Get Smart (1965) and Mister Ed (1961).
Married and divorced with one child, he sought work outside of acting by the mid-1970s. At one point he was giving cooking demonstrations in department stores. An accomplished chef who specialized in Cantonese-style cooking, in 1974, he published the 1974 Great Wok Cookbook and dedicated the book to his father, Sen Gam Yung.
Victor Sen Yung was working on a second cookbook when he was suddenly found dead in November of 1980 under initially "mysterious circumstances" in his modest San Fernando Valley bungalow. Following an investigation it was determined that Victor was accidentally asphyxiated in his sleep after turning on a faulty kitchen stove for heat. He was survived by his son, Brent Kee Young, and two grandchildren.1915 - 1980, 65.
146 westerns.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Eager young James (aka Jimmy) Cardwell had an auspicious beginning and showed great promise in 1940s films. Dark-haired and thick-browed with an earnest, boyish look and set-jawed handsomeness that could remind someone of a John Garfield type, he couldn't have started off much better than by playing a young, heroic war casualty as one of The Fighting Sullivans (1944) (aka "The Fighting Sullivans"). By the end of the decade, however, James' film career did not advance and he ended things negligibly on TV. Despondency overwhelmed him and on January 31, 1954, he became another tragic Hollywood statistic, The victim of suicide at age 32, he has become completely forgotten save for film trivia enthusiasts.
The son of Raymond and Bessie (McCarroll) Cardwell, he was christened Albert Paine Cardwell after his grandfather, a Philadelphia publishing editor. Born in Camden, New Jersey, on November 21, 1921 (several sources give 1920) and raised there, young Cardwell attended Alfred Cramer Junior High School before transferring to Woodrow Wilson High School. While there he found himself drawn to acting and, after appearing in a sophomore play, served as president of the school's drama club. He also showed athletic prowess on the football field, as well as in track and field.
Following his graduation in 1940, he toiled about in a few odd jobs (clerk, laborer, etc.) but continued to prod his interest in acting by joining the Camden Drama Guild. Committed by this time, he later joined the Hedgerow Theater Group in Pennsylvania. While there he may ends meet by working in the shipping department for RCA Victor, meeting and marrying Esther Borton in June of 1942.
In the summer of 1943, while in New York looking for representation/work, James was seen by agents scouting out fresh faces for an upcoming WWII picture about five patriotic soldier-brothers. He won one of the brothers' roles. His wife, however, had no shared interest in his fledgling career or move to Los Angeles, and the marriage quickly ended. Signed up for seven years with Twentieth Century-Fox, he was renamed James Cardwell for the movies and the young hopeful made a heart-tugging debut in the war drama The Fighting Sullivans (1944), a somewhat fictionalized and sentimental, but nevertheless inspiring true-life story of five brothers from Iowa (Cardwell played George Sullivan) who served together (by request) and died on the same torpedoed ship during WWII.
After this film, James appeared in second leads as various reporters, rookies and private eye types in Charlie Chan mysteries and other various "B" level dramas, working throughout the post-war era of the 1940s. Despite his capabilities, he did not move to the top lead status and many of the films he did appear in were dismissed by the critics. For every engaging appearance in a strong quality film such as A Walk in the Sun (1945) or He Walked by Night (1948), one could count twice as many forgettable ones in lesser pictures (The Devil on Wheels (1947), Robin Hood of Texas (1947), King of the Gamblers (1948), Down Dakota Way (1949)). His single male lead in a movie may have dimmed any chances of further growth after co-starring with Lois Hall in the absurd Monogram adventure Daughter of the Jungle (1949), a distaff Tarzan movie complete with swinging vine scenes and female animal calls.
Unable to grasp the necessary momentum to advance, he fell further down the credits list while working on primarily "Poverty Row" studio movie projects. In the light comedy And Baby Makes Three (1949) and the Bogart war drama Tokyo Joe (1949), James received no billing at all, and he was completely overlooked in his last billed film appearance, a supporting role in the assembly-line Rex Allen western, The Arizona Cowboy (1950). Forced to look at TV as a possible medium, few opportunities came his way with the exception of a couple of guest parts on a Rod Cameron crime series. An uncredited role in the horror film Them! (1954) occurred shortly before his death.
In anticipation of his fading career, James started attending UCLA at night and taking up pre-med courses. At one point he toured Australia with Joe E. Brown in the top comedian's vaudeville act and joined a circus comedy acrobatic act called the Coleano Troupe that toured throughout the U.S. and Europe. Returning to the States in 1953, depression set in when he couldn't find TV work. On January 31, 1954, at age 32, with no prospects in sight and debts mounting, James shot himself in the head in an automobile he borrowed from a friend in a parking lot near his two-room West Los Angeles bungalow. He was survived by his parents and buried in his native Camden.- Robert Karnes was born on 19 June 1917 in Watsonville, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Rocky King, Detective (1950), Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948) and Police Story (1973). He was married to Doris Karnes. He died on 4 December 1979 in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA.1917 - 1979, 62.
109 westerns. - He had been an all-American center for Indiana University when he graduated in 1921. He coached football for two years in Arizona and tried amateur acting. He won the lead in Leatherstocking (1924), and stayed to coach at Glendale (California) High School. His teams included future film stars John Wayne, Robert Livingston and Jack Randall (Livingston's brother, who would later be known as cowboy star Jack Randall). During a party at Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzana ranch, Burroughs convinced Pierce to play Tarzan. Taking the role (which paid $75 a week) required Pierce to back out of the aviator part already offered him in Wings (1927) (it went to Gary Cooper). Though popular with audiences, the Tarzan film was panned by the critics. He and his wife played the Apeman and Jane on the radio through 364 15-minute episodes of a serial that played in every U.S. state, South America and Western Europe from 1932 to 1934. He quit this to play King Thun the Lion Man in Universal's Flash Gordon (1936) and was featured in Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939) for Republic. During World War II he helped form the National Airmen's Reserve, the foundation for the later Air National Guard.1900 - 1983, 83.
21 westerns. - Actor
- Writer
At the age of eight, Fleming hopped on a freight train to Chicago to escape his abusive father. Following hospitalization for gang fight injuries, he returned to California where he lived with his mother and worked at Paramount as a laborer. Fleming joined the Merchant Marine, and then he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in WW II, where he was a Master Carpenter in the Seabees.
From 1946 to 1957, Fleming appeared on stage in Chicago and New York with featured roles in numerous plays on Broadway including "My Three Angels," "Stalag 17," and "No Time For Sergeants." Fleming's television career began in the early 1950's with live performances on "Hallmark Summer Theatre," "The Web," "Suspense," "Kraft Television Theatre," and many other dramatic series. In 1954, he starred in Paramount's film "Conquest of Space," followed by "Queen of Outer Space" for Allied Artists. In 1958, Fleming became the star of CBS-TV's long-running western "Rawhide" as the trail boss Gil Favor. He remained with the top-rated show for seven of its eight seasons, and he had planned to retire to Hawaii where he had purchased a ranch.
He acted in "The Glass Bottom Boat" in 1965, and he was hired by MGM-TV to film the two-part adventure program "High Jungle" in Peru. During the shooting of location shots on the Huallaga River on September 28, 1966, Fleming dove (intentionally?) from a dug-out canoe after paddling it beyond the rapids. His body was lost in the turbulent water and was not recovered until three days later.1925 - 1966, 41.
208 westerns.- Mr. McLean appeared for years on television commercials as the Marlboro Man. After he learned he had cancer, he became an anti-smoking crusader. At a meeting of stockholders of Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro, Mr. McLean asked them to limit their advertising. In addition to his movie credits, Mr. McLean also appeared on the television programs 'Tate', 'Bonanza', 'The Westerner', 'The High Chaparral', 'The Virginian', and 'Gunsmoke'.1922 - 1995, 73.
50 westerns. - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Harold Goodwin was born on 1 December 1902 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Better 'Ole (1926) and Movie Crazy (1932). He died on 12 July 1987 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.1902 - 1987, 84.
81 westerns.- Actor
- Soundtrack
George Ernest was a child actor who appeared in more than 60 films from 1929 to 1942. He was born George Ruud Hjorth in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father was Danish and his mother Norwegian . The family moved to California when George was two years old, and his father ran a restaurant in Hollywood. At age 10, Ernest got his start in movies. Among his early roles were a few of the short films in the comedy series created by Hal Roach, known as The Little Rascals and later as Our Gang.
Ernest was among the small number of child actors whose careers continued through their teen years. In a family comedy series by 20th Century Fox, he was Roger, a son of the Jones family. But as he reached manhood, three things happened that would change his career and life. As film roles were becoming more difficult to find, he became interested in camera work and began studying and following the camera crews. Then, World War II broke out. One of his last roles was in "Four Sons" of 1940. That war film was about a Czech family whose four sons take different paths after Germany invades Czechoslovakia in 1939.
Shortly after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered WW II, Ernest enlisted in the Army. He became a combat photographer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He served in the photographic unit that was headed by Hollywood director, John Ford. Ernest filmed American forces fighting in North Africa, in the invasion of Sicily, and the Italian campaign. He parachuted behind enemy lines in France and Germany to take photos. One of those occasions was a few days before the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. He moved through the French underground and hid along the German front. And, on June 6, 1944, he took photos of the American landings at Omaha Beach.
After the war, Ernest entered the business field and later became an executive with the McDonnell Douglas aviation company. He died on June 25, 2009, in Whittier, California. He was 87 years old.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Attractive Hollywood leading man (and sometime villain) from the late 30s until his death following surgery, Alan Curtis (Harry Ueberroth) was born 24 July 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in that area and in the early 1930s became a model, appearing in many magazine and newspaper advertisements. His looks did not go unnoticed in Hollywood, and he soon found himself in the movie business. He became a leading man, and was very popular in the 1940s, appearing in at least 26 movies. He died of complications of surgery on 2 February 1953 in New York City and is buried in the Ueberroth family plot in Evanston, Illinois.- Maurtz Hugo was born on January 12 1909 in Gothenburg, Sweden to Augusta Detterberg and Ernst Robert Ekelöf, one of the city's first movie owners, as Axel Hugo Mauritz Ekelöf. He left home at age 15 to seek his fortune in the USA and found the way to California where PR jobs led to the start of his acting career.1909 - 1974, 65. Sweden. US.
103 westerns. - Actor
- Art Department
Daniel Peter "Dan" O'Herlihy was born on 1 May 1919 at Odessa Cottage, Wexford Town, County Wexford (Ireland) to John Robert O'Herlihy, a civil servant from Cork who later worked in the Department of Industry and Commerce, and Ellen (née Hanton). Dan had at least two siblings, a sister and a younger brother (Michael O'Herlihy, who became a television director). The family moved to Dublin when Dan was one year old. Educated at CBS Eblana (Dún Laoghaire Christian Brothers School), as a teenager he developed literary ambitions. Upon entering UCD, he applied to study law but rapidly switched to architecture which allowed him to use his drawing skills. While a student he published political cartoons in Irish newspapers under the initials "TOC".
O'Herlihy decided not to follow in his father's footsteps, forsaking the life of an architect in favour of the acting profession. The tall, distinguished-looking university graduate boasted a rich, resonant voice which enabled him to easily find work in radio plays, as well on the stage. He first came to note as a small part actor with the Gate and Abbey Theatre Players, on occasion putting his architectural qualifications to use as a set designer. His first leading role was in Sean O'Casey's play 'Red Roses for Me' in 1944. During one of his performances in Dublin, he was spotted by the director Carol Reed and cast as an IRA terrorist in Odd Man Out (1947). This, and another London-produced film, Hungry Hill (1947), resulted in good critical notices , prompting another genial filmmaker, Orson Welles, to cast O'Herlihy in the role of Macduff for his Mercury/Republic production of Macbeth (1948). While this enterprise was far from successful, the actor's rugged, bearded appearance sufficiently impressed Luis Buñuel to cast him in the titular role of Robinson Crusoe (1954).
Until the arrival of "Friday", the only other featured character, this definitive version of Daniel Defoe's shipwrecked 17th century mariner was a tour-de-force one man show, a compelling, wordless portrayal of agonised solitude. However, as the Mexican production was considered merely a B-movie in Hollywood, O'Herlihy was forced to invest some of his own money to have the film exhibited in Los Angeles. While he was rewarded with an Oscar nomination, few worthy job offers came his way. For the remainder of the decade, he worked under short-term contracts as a character actor (often billed as "Daniel O'Herlihy") for Universal and 20th Century Fox, typically cast in costume dramas like The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Purple Mask (1955) and The Virgin Queen (1955). When movie roles became scarce, he branched out into anthology television, eventually becoming a much sought-after guest star on popular prime time shows like The Untouchables (1959), Bonanza (1959) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Work on radio shows, like 'Johnny Dollar', 'Suspense' and 'Lux Radio Theatre', also continued to provide him with a steady source of income.
From the mid-1960s, he was afforded several better film opportunities: first, in a memorable dual role as the sinister, voyeuristic Dr.Caligari AND the handsome psychiatrist treating repressed mental patient Jane Lindstrom (Glynis Johns), in Robert Bloch's off-beat psycho-thriller, The Cabinet of Caligari (1962). Second, he played an anguished U.S. Air Force general contemplating orders to drop a hydrogen bomb over New York, in Sidney Lumet's gripping anti-war drama Fail Safe (1964). He was also, among later big screen appearances, one of many name actors in the star-studded military epic Waterloo (1970) (as Napoleon's "Marshal Ney"); unrecognisable in make-up as a reptilian alien in the 'Star Wars' clone The Last Starfighter (1984); as irredeemable villains in Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) and RoboCop (1987); and as the inscrutable Andrew Packard in Twin Peaks (1990) on television. He continued to alternate film work with acting on stage in Los Angeles and at the Abbey Theater. Dan O'Herlihy died on 17 February 2005, aged 85. He left his papers to the care of University College Dublin (UCD) where he had graduated with a degree in architecture in 1945.1919 - 2005, 85. Ireland. US.
52 westerns.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Kaley was born on 16 June 1902 in Red Cloud, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for Lord Byron of Broadway (1930), BioShock Infinite (2013) and Boston Nightly: Long Term Parking (2015). He died on 7 September 1965 in Santa Clara County, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Gilman Rankin was born on 17 April 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Midnight Cowboy (1969) and The Power of the Resurrection (1958). He died on 31 October 1993 in Orange County, California, USA.1911 - 1993, 82.
70 westerns.- Actor
- Producer
Steve Barclay was born on 20 November 1918 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Great Flamarion (1945), Macumba Love (1960) and Dark Purpose (1964). He was married to Lyla Rocco and Lisa Simone. He died on 2 February 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.1918 - 1994, 75. US. Italy.
7 westerns, 44-47.
Captain James Glover, Vigilantes of Dodge City (1944). 1944- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
To most audiences, Duncan Renaldo will always be identified as film and TV's Cisco Kid. However, he began this role late in his career, and little is known about Renaldo's early life. In fact, his date and place of birth are still questioned. The birth date usually given is April 23, 1904. His birthplace has been generally stated as Spain (he has said that his first memories as a child were in Spain), although Romania and even New Jersey have been mentioned as well. An orphan, he never knew his actual parents and was never able to ascertain the exact date and place of his birth.
Duncan was raised and educated in various European countries and arrived in the US in the early 1920s as a stoker on a Brazilian coal ship. Entering the country on a 90-day seaman's permit, he stayed when his ship caught fire at the dock and burned to the waterline. A paltry existence as a portrait painter forced him to seek other work, and he somehow found his way into films as a producer of short features, which in turn led to on-camera work as an actor with MGM in 1928. The studio capitalized on his dashing Hispanic looks and initially typed him as a "Latin lover," but it didn't last long.
Following important roles in The Naughty Duchess (1928), The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929), Trader Horn (1931), he starred as Zorro in Trapped in Tia Juana (1932). In the early 1930s his career was interrupted when he was arrested and faced deportation due to his illegal immigrant status. The actor was eventually pardoned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, had bought one of Renaldo's paintings, looked into his case, and persuaded her husband to pardon him. He returned to minor films for both Republic and Monogram, alternating as heroic sidekick and villain. He co-starred as one of the Three Mesquiteers in the revamped film series and showed up regularly in 1930s and 1940s cliffhangers, including The Painted Stallion (1937), Jungle Menace (1937), Zorro Rides Again (1937), King of the Mounties (1942), Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943) The Tiger Woman (1944).
In 1945 he began the Cisco Kid film series and transferred the character successfully to TV in the early 1950s, with Leo Carrillo as faithful sidekick Pancho. Renaldo's Cisco was clean-shaven and more of a hero than the roguish bandit created by O. Henry. Renaldo retired soon after the series' demise and died years later at Goleta Valley Community Hospital in California of lung cancer in 1980.1904 - 1980, 76.
194 westerns.- American character actor. Raised in New York City and Cincinnati, Ohio, Beddoe was the son of a professor at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music who happened also to be the world-famous Welsh tenor, Dan Beddoe. Although Don Beddoe intended a career in journalism, he took an interest in theatre and became involved first with amateur companies and then with professional theatre troupes. He debuted on Broadway in 1929 and kept up a decade-long career on the stage. Although said to have made some minor appearances in silent films, Beddoe made his real transfer to film work in 1938. He appeared in a wide range of supporting roles in literally scores of films, often as either a fast-talking reporter or as a mousey sort. He became one of the most readily familiar faces in Hollywood movies, despite remaining almost unknown by name outside the industry. Following service in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War, he continued to work steadily in small roles, complementing them with television work. Despite advancing (and very ripe old) age, he remained quite active, supplementing his acting work with a second career in real estate. He died in 1991.1903 - 1991, 87.
124 westerns. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Johnny Downs was born on 10 October 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Mad Monster (1942), Coronado (1935) and Sing Another Chorus (1941). He was married to June Ellen Draper. He died on 6 June 1994 in Coronado, California, USA.1913 - 1994, 80.
8 westerns, 26-53.
The Trail of '98 (1928). 1928. 15 years old.
Lonesome Alonzo Q. Mulhall, The Arizona Raiders (1936). 1936- Rico Alaniz was born on 25 October 1919 in Juarez, Mexico. He was an actor, known for The Magnificent Seven (1960), War of the Colossal Beast (1958) and Wolf Larsen (1958). He died on 9 March 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1919 - 1915, 95. Mexico. California.
103 westerns. - Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
In the early days of 1950s science-fiction, one of the first people to become identified with the genre was actor William Phipps. Aside from furnishing the voice of Prince Charming in Disney's cartoon classic Cinderella (1950), Phipps also hid his boyish face beneath a beard as the star of Arch Oboler's end-of-the-world melodrama Five (1951); made a token appearance in Oboler's The Twonky (1953); encountered Martians in both Invaders from Mars (1953) and The War of the Worlds (1953); and took on the Abominable Snowman as one of the leads in The Snow Creature (1954). Most notoriously, he even grappled with Moon maidens set on world conquest in the almost indescribable Cat-Women of the Moon (1953). Phipps was born in Vincennes, Indiana, and grew up in St. Francisville, Illinois; he knew from boyhood that he was destined to be an actor and appeared in several plays in grade school and at Eastern Illinois University. Hitchhiking to Hollywood in 1941, he worked on the stage and later in films, beginning with RKO's Crossfire (1947). Over the next 60 years he amassed a long list of film and TV credits; he also did commercials and voiceover work, including the narration for the special 190-minute TV version of David Lynch's Dune (1984).1922 -
181 westerns.- A general utilitarian player on TV and film, Ross Elliott provided clean-cut, reliable support for over four decades. Born Elliott Blum on June 18, 1917 in New York City, Ross grew up in the Bronx and began appearing in plays while a teenage at both summer camps and in high school. He attended New York's City College upon graduation pursing both law and appearing in the college's dramatic productions. Acting won out in the long run after he received his degree in 1937.
Following variety show and summer stock work, Elliott became a member of Orson Welles Mercury Theatre and played minor parts on Broadway in "Julius Caesar" (modern version), "The Shoemaker's Holiday" and "Danton's Death." He also was a part of the notorious "War of the Worlds" broadcast on radio in 1938. He also stage toured with Welles in "Five Kings". His career was interrupted by a tour of duty in the Army. Appearing in several of their touring show, one of the better known was "This Is the Army". He would also appearing in the Warner Brothers' film version of This Is the Army (1943).
Elliott returned to professional acting following his honorable discharge and replaced Tom Ewell touring with Walter Huston in "Apple of His Eye". By 1947, he had relocated to Los Angeles and appeared in his first film The Burning Cross (1947) with a story involving the KKK. His four-decade career would include hundreds of movie and TV roles. His more visible clean-cut appearances occurred in the films Woman on the Run (1950), Hot Lead (1951), Woman in the Dark (1952), Problem Girls (1953), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Carolina Cannonball (1955), Indestructible Man (1956), Monster on the Campus (1958). Of the scores of parts he played on TV, from the dramas ("Perry Mason", "Death Valley Days", "The Adventures of Superman", "Lassie", "The Twilight Zone", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "Kung Fu", "The Mod Squad", "Dallas", "Little House on the Prairie", and "The A-Team") to the comedies ("The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Leave It to Beaver", "Hazel", "Here's Lucy", "The Doris Day Show", and "Phyllis"), Ross will be forever remembered as Lucy Ricardo's director in the classic Vitameatavegamin commercial episode of I Love Lucy (1951). In other "Lucy" episodes, he played Ricky Ricardo's publicity agent. He also played Virgil Earp in several episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), appeared frequently as a straight man for Jack Benny on his long-running TV show, and played Sheriff Abbott in many segments of The Virginian (1962).
After several detours, his career waned in the 1970s and he turned to real estate. His last film was a small role in Scorpion (1986). He died of cancer at age 82 on August 12, 1999, and was cremated.1917 - 1999, 82.
154 westerns. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Actor John (Johnnie) Harron was born in New York City on March 31, 1903, a younger brother of silent screen star Robert Harron. John got his first taste of the movie business with an unbilled bit in one of his brother's many classic films, Hearts of the World (1918). After all the tabloid hoopla of his brother's sudden and mysterious shooting death in 1920 (listed as "accidental" but some claim it might have been suicide), John was practically handed a movie career on a silver platter.
Taking Bobby's place portraying young, innocent, wholesome romantic leads opposite silent screen's top femme stars, John literally coasted through hundreds of films. Although he showed major promise starring or co-starring in such jazz-era mementos as The $5 Baby (1922), The Ragged Heiress (1922), Dulcy (1923), My Wife and I (1925), The Boy Friend (1926) and Silk Stockings (1927), he never managed to win the kind of fame brother Bobby received. By the arrival of sound, John had been relegated to bit and unbilled parts again in second-string films.
Following location work on his last picture, John returned home unusually exhausted. He traveled to Seattle for a bit of fishing and rest and relaxation but, shortly after arriving, developed a raging headache and went into the hospital. Diagnosed with spinal meningitis, John died suddenly on November 24, 1939 at the hospital. He was only 36 and was survived by his wife of ten years, actress Betty Westmore, and young daughter Colleene.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 31, 1907, Eddie Quillan was seven years old and already performing in vaudeville with his sister and three brothers in an act called "The Rising Generation." His parents, Joseph Quillan and Sarah Quillan, were well-known performers with Joseph himself managing the family act. Booked in such top places as the Orpheum Theatre, the kids eventually took a screen test for Mack Sennett but only Eddie was chosen. Beginning with the short film A Love Sundae (1926), Eddie would make nearly 20 two-reeler shorts with Sennett.
Freelancing a couple of years later, he played the lead in The Godless Girl (1928) and The Sophomore (1929) and received a contract at Pathe Studios, but he wasn't really leading-man material what with his rubbery face and short stature. Nevertheless, his high energy and sharp comedy instincts earned him many support roles in such films as Big Money (1930), Girl Crazy (1932), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940), to cite some of his more popular films.
Discouraged with playing simple roles such as bellhops, soda jerks, et al., he continued on in "B" pictures until Sensation Hunters (1945), when his film career finally fell away. He owned and operated a bowling alley for a time but eventually returned to the film industry, with middling results and infrequent appearances, among them Brigadoon (1954). Light-hearted fluff also came his way in the next decade with The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), Angel in My Pocket (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971), but his contributions were relatively minor. His career experienced a minor resurgence during the 1960s and 1970s on TV when he guested on such series as Mannix (1967), Lucas Tanner (1974), Police Story (1973), and Baretta (1975). A close friendship with actor Michael Landon led to work for Eddie in several of Landon's TV vehicles, including Little House on the Prairie (1974) and Father Murphy (1981) and "Highway to Heaven" (1984)_.
The never-married Eddie died in Burbank, California of cancer in 1990 at age 83, and was interred at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills.1907 - 1990, 83.
57 westerns, 39-83.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Gordon Jones was born on 5 April 1911 in Alden, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Flying Tigers (1942), The Green Hornet (1940) and My Sister Eileen (1942). He was married to Lucile Van Winkle. He died on 20 June 1963 in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, USA.1911 - 1963, 52.
71 westerns, 31-63.- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
American character actor. Upon his entry into films in 1930, he was typecast as a weakling or criminal type. He received great acclaim for his role as Garth Esdras, the haunted and hunted accessory to murder in Winterset (1936). Memorable as the weaselly convict who tries to kill James Cagney at Steve Cochran's behest, but gets his just deserts in the trunk of a car, in White Heat (1949). After two decades as a film actor, he made a small foray into film directing. He died at 58.- Actor
- Soundtrack
This durable co-star-turned-character man had the steely eyes and overall slickness of somebody never to trust...and for good reason. For over two decades George Meeker fit the bill as the guy you loved to hate in movies. Frequently the spineless third wheel of a romantic triangle, he always lost the woman in the deal. In politics or business, he was the crooked lawyer or shady executive who would sell his own mother for a quick buck. He specialized in crime mysteries and was invariably the guilty party or the victim who deserved it anyway.
Meeker was born in Brooklyn on March 5, 1904 and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Art following high school. After some stage experience he made his Broadway debut with "Judy Drops In" in 1924 and went on to appear in a handful of plays including "A Lady's Virtue" (1925), "Back Here" (1928) and "Conflict" (1929). From then on he focused on films. He started his career auspiciously as silent pictures were just about to become a part of Hollywood history. A strong featured part in John Ford's Four Sons (1928) led to his top-billed role in the mystery Thief in the Dark (1928) and co-star duty opposite both Nancy Carroll in the comedy Chicken a La King (1928) and western star Rex Bell in The Girl-Shy Cowboy (1928).
Meeker's voice was found quite suitable for talkies and he forged ahead in roles that grew more unappetizing with time. Often bespectacled and dressed to the nines, he played the fusty, wimpy, sour-looking fiancé who loses lovely Sidney Fox in Preston Sturges' comedy-drama Strictly Dishonorable (1931), a role he would play time and again. He went on to lose Joan Blondell in The Famous Ferguson Case (1932) Irene Dunne in the classic Back Street (1932) and Margaret Sullavan in Only Yesterday (1933), among other ladies. He showed more of his corrupt side in the pre-Code Afraid to Talk (1932) and just how homicidal his tendencies could be in the thriller Night of Terror (1933) in which he manages to out-evil Bela Lugosi. His slick looks were nudgingly unpleasant and just this side of good-looking--ideal for "B" mysteries. He was on the losing end in plenty of crimers, including King for a Night (1933) with Chester Morris, The Dragon Murder Case (1934) and Murder on a Honeymoon (1935). When he did appear in an "A" picture, he was often uncredited as in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Stella Dallas (1937), Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1942) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1942).
By the 1940s and WWII, Meeker started appearing further down the credits list playing everything from featured roles to one-liners. Still up to his debonair bad guy antics, he played everything from Nazi spies in Spy Ship (1942) and Secret Enemies (1942) to slick-haired gangsters in Mr. Muggs Rides Again (1945), Crime, Inc. (1945) and Below the Deadline (1946). He also served up some shady suspects in cliffhangers with Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945) and Superman (1948) topping the list.
Meeker retired from movie-making in 1951 and wasn't heard of much until his death from complications of Alzheimer's disease on August 19, 1984 in Carpenteria, California.1904 - 1984, 80.
18 westerns.- Orville Sherman was born in Oklahoma, where his great-grandfather bought land in 1894. He appeared in numerous television episodes, mostly Westerns. Being born in the frontier may have given him an edge to playing cowboys. Although most of his screen time can be counted in seconds, he was good at his craft. Orville started tap dancing at age nine and left home at 19 to pursue his career.
According to the 1940 U.S. census, he was living as a boarder in Shawnee, Oklahoma, giving his occupation as "actor, dancer, director". He served in WWII, enlisting from Santa Fe, New Mexico where he was working with a small theater troupe. A few years later he was in New York on stage later traveling to England to appear on stage in "Oklahoma", where he met his future wife, actress Marcella Dodge.
They married in 1948 and came to California from New York City in 1956 and appeared in film and TV episodes until his death. Relatives of his brother said Orville was too occupied with work to attend his fathers funeral in 1959. He was divorced from his first wife in the 1960s. In 1973, he wed, secondly, to Jean Reno, a woman eight years his senior. That same year, he added the occupation of minister to his life, teaching speech at the church of Religious Science in Downey, California. Sadly, he died alone, with no known family (his marriage long since ended) from prostate cancer in Los Angeles, aged 68.1916 - 1984, 68.
91 westerns. - Damian O'Flynn was born on 29 January 1907 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hidden City (1950), Broadway (1942) and Philo Vance Returns (1947). He died on 8 August 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1907 - 1982, 75.
107 westerns. - Actor
- Producer
- Writer
A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Eddie Albert was a circus trapeze flier before becoming a stage and radio actor. He made his film debut in 1938 and has worked steadily since, often cast as the friendly, good-natured buddy of the hero but occasionally being cast as a villain; one of his most memorable roles was as the cowardly, glory-seeking army officer in Robert Aldrich's World War 2 film, Attack (1956).1906 - 2005, 99.
32 westerns.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
American character actor who specialized in underworld types, despite a far greater range. A native of the Bronx, he participated in plays in school, then attended City College of New York. In 1930, he was accepted into Eva Le Gallienne's company, where he became friendly with another young actor, one day to be known as John Garfield. The two appeared in a number of plays, both with Le Gallienne's company and with the highly-politicized Group Theatre, before Lawrence was given a film contract with Columbia Pictures. His scarred complexion and brooding appearance made him a natural for heavies, and he played scores of gangsters and mob bosses over the next six decades. Nevertheless, he could turn in fine performances in very different kinds of roles as well, such as his bewildered mountain boy in The Shepherd of the Hills (1941).
Following the Second World War, as anti-Communist fervor gripped America, Lawrence found himself under scrutiny for his political leanings. When called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), he admitted he had once been a member of the Communist Party. The Committee broke down his resolve and he "named names" (including Sterling Hayden, Lionel Stander, Anne Revere, Larry Parks, Karen Morley and Jeff Corey). Nonetheless, he was blacklisted and departed for Europe, where he continued to make films, often in leading roles. Following the demise of the blacklist, he returned to America and resumed his position as a familiar and talented purveyor of gangland types. He was also a writer and director.1910 - 2005, 95.
62 westerns.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Mike Road was born on 18 March 1918 in Malden, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Roaring 20's (1960), Hawaiian Eye (1959) and The Fantastic Journey (1977). He was married to Ruth Brady and Norma Lehn. He died on 14 April 2013 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1918 - 2013, 95.
73 westerns.- Henry Beckman was born on 26 November 1921 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor, known for Marnie (1964), Blood & Guts (1978) and The Brood (1979). He was married to Hillary Beckman and Cheryl Maxwell. He died on 17 June 2008 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.1921 - 2008, 86. Australia. Spain.
77 westerns. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Before there was an Alan Ladd, there was another furtive-eyed, baby-faced, cigarette-dangling Alan, impacting the movie scene with his various colorless and cold-hearted thugs, mobsters and killers. Dark-haired, bullet-headed actor Alan Baxter earned a noticeable degree of popularity back in the late 1930s and 1940s with his various despicable characters, before his film career lost steam and he sought more and more TV and stage work.
The son of a Cleveland Trust Company vice president, Baxter was born on November 19, 1908, in East Cleveland. Following high school, he studied drama at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he forged a strong friendship with fellow collegiate and future directing icon, Elia Kazan. Once they graduated in 1930, the duo attended Yale's School of Drama.
Baxter hooked up with the then-fledgling Group Theatre in the early 1930s and appeared in such stage productions as "Lone Valley", "The Pure in Heart" and "Waiting for Lefty". His performance in "Black Pit" in 1935, however, was witnessed by a Hollywood talent scout and it was enough to change the course of his career. Immediately heading west to Hollywood, Baxter made an auspicious debut with his strong performance as "Babe Wilson", the unfeeling killer loved by Sylvia Sidney's character in Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935). Three years later, Baxter went on to recreate the role on radio.
With his foot strongly in the Paramount door, he continued playing dangerous, unsavory types in 13 Hours by Air (1936), Big Brown Eyes (1936) and The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936), until his contract ran out. Continuing to freelance throughout the remainder of the 1930s, he remained on the wrong side of the law in Parole! (1936), Breezing Home (1937), Night Key (1937), Wide Open Faces (1938), Off the Record (1939), My Son Is a Criminal (1939), and Each Dawn I Die (1939).
A solid "B" lead player who appeared in support when it came to "A" pictures, Baxter occasionally broke out of the "bad guy" mold -- but not often. By this time, Alan Ladd was starting to cut in on Baxter's action with his moody and sexy versions of trench-coat-trendy villains. Baxter, nevertheless, continued to roll on, playing outlaw "Jesse James" in Bad Men of Missouri (1941) opposite Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris, and Arthur Kennedy as the Younger brothers, while adding slick malevolence to such films as Escape to Glory (1940) (with Constance Bennett), Under Age (1941) (with Nan Grey and Mary Anderson), The Pittsburgh Kid (1941) (with Jean Parker), and Rags to Riches (1941) (with Mary Carlisle). This period of filming was topped by an excellent support role in the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Saboteur (1942), in which he, as the meek-voiced, mustachioed, bespectacled, peroxide blond Nazi spy "Freeman", shares a memorable scene with lead Robert Cummings.
Following standard work in China Girl (1942) and Behind Prison Walls (1943), Baxter (at age 35) signed up for the Army Air Force in 1943, and appeared in the Broadway production of Moss Hart's "Winged Victory", which later was turned into the 1944 movie version of the same name, Winged Victory (1944) (also featuring Baxter). Post-war filming grew more dismal with a high majority of "Poverty Row" pictures coming Baxter's way. His last appearance in a strong film was the Robert Ryan boxing pic, The Set-Up (1949), as a mobster involved in fixing matches. Alan decided to return to the challenge of the stage, appearing in such plays as "Home of the Brave" (1945), "The Voice of the Turtle" (1947), "The Hallams" (1948), "Jenny Kissed Me" (1948), "Tea and Sympathy" (1955), and "South Pacific" (1957) (in a non-singing role). TV also became a positive medium, with adventure guest roles on The Rifleman (1958), Wagon Train (1957), Colt .45 (1957) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), among the offerings.
By the 1960s, Baxter was seen primarily in incidental film roles, his last being the cult rodent thriller, Willard (1971). Diagnosed with cancer, the twice-married actor died a few years later at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, on May 8, 1976, aged 67.1908 - 1976, 67.
71 westerns.- Leonard Penn was born on 13 November 1907 in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Marie Antoinette (1938), Mysterious Island (1951) and Bachelor Mother (1939). He was married to Gladys George. He died on 20 May 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1907 - 1975, 67.
84 westerns. - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Born Louis William Weiss on May 11, 1907, Kent Taylor was a modestly popular "B" actor of the 1930's and 1940's. The tall, dark and handsome leading man who sported rugged looks, a slick, pencil-thin mustache and solid physique, was star material with the potential and durability of Clark Gable and Errol Flynn, but lacked their consistent leading man quality and charisma. An avid outdoorsman, Taylor churned out over 110 films during his lengthy career, appearing in a number of quality "A" pictures as a second lead.
Born just southeast of Nashua, Iowa, he was a son of farmers. As a teenager, he performed in several high school plays. The family then moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where he worked as a window trimmer in a ladies' clothing shop. After a brief move to Chicago, the family relocated to Los Angeles, where he and his father started an awning company. Taylor pursued acting as a profession after being introduced to director Henry King. After an unbilled debut in The Magnificent Lie (1931), he apprenticed for a couple of years in bit parts. He peaked in the 1930's with prominent support roles in Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) with Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney, I'm No Angel (1933), as one of Mae West's earnest pursuers, the classic Death Takes a Holiday (1934), (again with Fredric March), the Will Rogers vehicles David Harum (1934) and The County Chairman (1935), and Ramona (1936), (directed by his old friend, Henry King), top-lining Loretta Young and Don Ameche.
Taylor then starred in a modest succession of "B" programs with Love in a Bungalow (1937), Pirates of the Skies (1939), Repent at Leisure (1941), Mississippi Gambler (1942), Alaska (1944), The Crimson Key (1947) and The Sickle or the Cross (1949) which, at the very least, kept him busy and in the public eye. More noticeable during this period was his portrayal of Doc Holiday in Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942), opposite Richard Dix's Wyatt Earp.
With his film career on the decline, Taylor turned more and more to TV, becoming the medium's Boston Blackie (1951) for a couple of seasons, a role that followed in the popular footsteps of Chester Morris, (who starred in an earlier series of Boston Blackie films as the urbane master thief-cum-detective), followed with a lead in the series The Rough Riders (1958). Taylor was a frequent visitor on the sets of popular western series, including Zorro (1957), Laramie (1959), The Rifleman (1958) and Rango (1967). Toward the end of his career, however, the elderly actor took a bizarre John Carradine-like turn into Grade "Z" projects. Some of them--including horror movies like The Crawling Hand (1963), Brides of Blood (1968), Satan's Sadists (1969), Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), Blood of Ghastly Horror (1967) and Girls for Rent (1974)--achieved cult infamy as some of Hollywood's most notorious "turkeys." Following a series of heart operations, Taylor died at the age of 79.1907 - 1987, 79.
82 westerns.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Born in a small village in Syria, Michael Ansara came to the United States with his American parents at the age of two, living in New England, until the family's relocation to California ten years later. He entered Los Angeles City College with the intention of becoming a doctor, but got sidetracked into the dramatics department. A stint at the Pasadena Playhouse (where fellow students included Charles Bronson, Carolyn Jones and Aaron Spelling) led to roles on stage and in films; the starring role (as Cochise) on the popular television series Broken Arrow (1956) elevated Ansara to stardom.
During the series' run, he met actress Barbara Eden on a date arranged by the 20th Century-Fox publicity department; the two later married. He played the Klingon commander Kang on three Star Trek television series: Star Trek (1966), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995). He also played Buck Rogers' evil adversary Kane on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), and provided the voice of Mr. Freeze on Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and its spin-offs. Michael Ansara died at age 91 from complications of Alzheimer's disease in his home in Calabasas, California on July 31, 2013.1922 - 2013, 91. Syria. California.
179 westerns.- Bruce Gordon was born on 1 February 1916 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Piranha (1978), Tower of London (1962) and The Buccaneer (1958). He was married to Mary Jane Farrar Falvey and Marla Gordon. He died on 20 January 2011 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.1916 - 2011, 94.
59 westerns. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Never a big name but always a reliable staple on TV crime shows during the 1960s and 1970s, Harold J. Stone usually was seen in a strong, unsympathetic vein -- an unyielding father or husband, corrupt businessman, menacing crime figure, etc. A sober-looking gent with a block jaw, Romanesque-styled nose and steely gray-black hair, he was also prone to playing ethnic types of varying origins.
Born Harold Jacob Hochstein in New York City on March 3, 1913, the scion of a Jewish acting family who established themselves in the Yiddish theater, Stone started on stage with his father as a child. He once entertained a career in medicine, attaining a BA degree at the University of Buffalo Medical School, but acting proved too strong a desire. After initially finding work in radio, Stone made his Broadway bow with "The World We Make" (1939), which led to other productions such as "Morning Star" (1940) and "A Bell for Adano" (1944). His early work in New York on stage and TV eventually paved the way to a modest character career in movies and a move to Hollywood.
In the 1950s Stone began to provide a minor, shady presence in such "A" films as Humphrey Bogart's The Harder They Fall (1956), Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956), the Rocky Graziano biopic Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), the ultimate gladiator spectacle Spartacus (1960) and the gangster epic The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) in which he played Chicago mobster Frank Nitti. He also played a no-nonsense foil to good friend Jerry Lewis in a few of his wacky 60s comedies. None of these, however, did much to improve his standing. Television, on the other hand, became a strong and steady medium for Stone, and he became a fixture in hundreds of police dramas including 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Naked City (1958), The Untouchables (1959), Mannix (1967), Mission: Impossible (1966), The Rockford Files (1974) and Kojak (1973). He was once Emmy-nominated for a dramatic guest role.
Left a widower by his first wife Joan in 1960, by whom he had two children, he continued to work primarily on episodic TV into the mid-1980s before retiring and settling down with his second wife Miriam (from 1962), who bore him another child. He died in Woodland Hills, California at age 92.