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- The blond, steely-eyed bad guy of European westerns and potboilers was born in Lübeck, Germany, the son of a porcelain painter. Horst Frank financed his acting studies by working part-time as a babysitter and night watchman. He actually failed his final exams at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, but nonetheless managed to secure an acting position in his home town. For some time after, his work was primarily confined to small parts on stage and in radio. His first screen role saw him as a cowardly pilot in Der Stern von Afrika (1957). Frank then won a critic's award for his next role as member of a U-Boat crew in the war drama Haie und kleine Fische (1957).
Of athletic, lithe build and owner of a somewhat cold, hypnotic gaze (with a voice to match), Frank soon found himself typecast to disturbingly good effect as psychotic murderers in German and international productions (The Black Panther of Ratana (1963), Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (1958), Der Greifer (1958)). Alternatively, he proved an ideal henchman for spaghetti westerns (Bullets Don't Argue (1964), Johnny Hamlet (1968) and Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)). Frank didn't seem to mind turning out copies of the same negative in a seemingly endless gallery of ruthless killers and impassive assassins. He did so with relish well into the 1980's and 90's, enjoying guest spots on popular TV crime time shows like Tatort (1970) and Derrick (1974). If Horst Frank was in the cast, you knew pretty much from the start 'whodunnit'.
Behind the menacing heavy, there was a family man and author of poems and chansons. In addition to his screen acting, Frank lent his voice to dubbing work (for the likes of fellow tough guys Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine and Chuck Connors); and to radio, where he voiced Captain Nemo in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island".
Likely because of his lack of work in major American or British productions, Frank never quite achieved the international recognition he undoubtedly deserved. He died quite suddenly in May 1999 of a brain hemorrhage, just short of his 70th birthday.Operation Ganymed (1977) - Dieter Laser is a German actor. He is known to English-speaking audiences for his roles: Mantrid in Lexx, Prof. Otto Blaettchen in The Ogre and Dr. Joseph Heiter in The Human Centipede (First Sequence), for which he won Best Actor at the Austin Fantastic Fest. In 1975, he was awarded the German Film Award in Gold in the category of Best Actor for his title role in John Glueckstadt.
He was born in Kiel. On a cold winter afternoon at the age of sixteen, Dieter Laser went to the stage door of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg at that time the most famous theatre in Germany and he asked the doorman how to become an actor. There was an extra missing for the Christmas fairy tale afternoon-performance for children and 30 minutes later he stood on stage among a bunch of "sailors". That was the beginning of his career as an extra. - He had grown up in a fundamentalist Christian sect where the Theatre was regarded as devil's work. As a brainwashed believer he had to hazard the consequences. Therefore he made a deal with the devil: 'I will become an actor and I'll pay later on - in hell!' - Watching as an extra the famous actors "The Gods" by doing their marvelous work during rehearsals and performances became his "drama school". Gradually he got a word to speak in a play - then two words - even a sentence - a tiny part - another little part - and one day he suddenly got a contract and overnight his dream had come true: he now was a real actor with whom the "Gods" shook hands. - After 14 passionate years on stage and as a co-founder and member of the board of the meanwhile most famous German theatre, the Schaubuehne in Berlin, he decided to become a freelancer and got his first work for the cinema: the title role in John Glueckstadt. For this performance he won the German Film Award in Gold. Since then, and besides countless guest appearances on the most important stages of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxemburg, with parts like Don Juan, Valmont, Peer Gynt, Macbeth, Captain Ahab etc. Dieter Laser played in about 65 films, at times co-starring with "Gods" like Burt Lancaster, Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Glenn Close, John Malkovich etc..Operation Ganymed (1977) - Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jürgen Prochnow is the son of a telecommunications engineer. He has an older brother, Dieter Prochnow, who is also in the acting profession. Jürgen's parents encouraged him initially to study the banking trade. However, their son had other ideas and began working on the side as an extra and a gaffer at a theater in Düsseldorf. He eventually commenced acting studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in 1963. His graduation three years later was followed by a first theatrical engagement in Osnabrück. Between 1971 and 1975, Prochnow was a member of the ensemble of the Schauspielhaus Bochum under the direction of Peter Zadek.
On screen from 1971, he made his debut on the big screen in (what was also Wolfgang Petersen's first film) the thriller One or the Other (1974). Prochnow commanded the lead as a struggling student who blackmails his sociology professor (Klaus Schwarzkopf) after discovering that the academic had attained his credentials by means of a plagiarised doctoral thesis. Dire consequences ensue. That same year, Petersen also directed Prochnow in an episode of the hit police series Tatort (1970). In the New German Cinema of the 1970s, the charismatic Prochnow was given ample opportunities to shine, as he did in the title role of the prison drama The Brutalization of Franz Blum (1974) and in Volker Schlöndorffs political drama The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) as a deserter wanted by the police and whose flight sparks a series of fateful events. During this period, the actor's stock-in-trade screen personae were laconic, taciturn types, often loners, yet men of integrity and strong emotional centres.
Prochnow's breakthrough to international stardom came via Wolfgang Petersen's brilliant maritime war drama Das Boot (1981). Prochnow took the nominal lead and was top-billed as the cool-headed, sympathetic veteran U-boat commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, a kind of father figure to his crew and affectionately known as 'the old man'. A contemporary New York Times reviewer commented "The captain of the U-boat is played by Jurgen Prochnow, a remarkable actor who has also worked with Mr. Petersen on four other films. Mr. Prochnow's sad, solemn face rarely changes, but his pale eyes are extraordinarily alive. As the captain, he becomes a source of spiritual strength for his crewmen, even though his own cynicism is readily apparent". While the story of Das Boot was fictionalized, it was in part based on the exploits of a real Lehmann-Willenbrock, who did, in fact, captain U-96 (as one of four commands). He was decorated with the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves (one of the highest honours bestowed) and survived the war to become captain of Germany's nuclear freighter Otto Hahn.
In the wake of Das Boot, Prochnow received many offers from Hollywood, his craggy features and military bearing getting him frequently typecast as callous villains in action films: he was Eddie Murphy's nemesis Maxwell Dent in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), a brutal Norman knight in Robin Hood (1991), vicious gangster Charlie Dowd in Hurricane Smith (1992), the unhinged author of horror novels Sutter Cane in John Carpenter 's supernatural thriller In the Mouth of Madness (1994) and Judge Griffin, the chief villain of the piece who frames Sylvester Stallone for murder in Judge Dredd (1995). Prochnow also reunited with Wolfgang Petersen who directed him again in the box-office blockbuster Air Force One (1997) in the role of a rogue eastern European dictator bent on reigniting the Cold War. In season eight of the TV series 24 (2001), Prochnow featured as Jack Bauer's elusive antagonist Sergei Bazhaev, leader of a secret Russian crime syndicate.
On the side of the white hats, Prochnow has portrayed the ambitious banker André Vernet in The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the poorly received biographical drama See Arnold Run (2005) (Prochnow had once even been under consideration to play Arnie's iconic Terminator role). He has also been active in German films and television, including a role as an unscrupulous businessman attempting to market a pharmaceutical product with known harmful side-effects in The Dark Side of the Moon (2015). On stage, he has essayed Etzel, king of the Huns in Siegfried's Erben at the 2018 Nibelungen Festival in Worms.
As a voice-over actor, Prochnow has been the German voice for Sylvester Stallone in several films (including Rocky (1976) and Rocky II (1979). He has also dubbed most of his own English-language roles into German. His awards include a Bambi in 1988 for his messianic role in The Seventh Sign (1988), a Golden Kamera as Best German Actor for Das Boot and a Jupiter Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
Prochnow adopted American citizenship in 2004, regularly commuting between Los Angeles and Munich. The actor's first wife was Isabel Goslar (daughter of Jürgen Goslar) who worked on Das Boot as a script supervisor and continuity manager. His second wife was the actress Birgit Stein who died in a motorcycle crash in Utah four years after her divorce from Prochnow in 2018. Since March 2015, Prochnow has been married to the Austrian actress Verena Wengler.Operation Ganymed (1977)- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Uwe Friedrichsen was born on 27 May 1934 in Altona (now Hamburg), Germany. He was an actor, known for Maximilian von Mexiko (1970), Elephant Boy (1972) and John Klings Abenteuer (1965). He was married to Ute Papst and Nathalie Emery. He died on 30 April 2016 in Hamburg, Germany.Operation Ganymed (1977)- Hanno Pöschl was born on 2 July 1949 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor, known for Before Sunrise (1995), Medicopter 117 - Jedes Leben zählt (1998) and Querelle (1982).Exit... nur keine Panik! (1980)
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Paulus Manker was born on 25 January 1958 in Vienna, Austria. He is an actor and director, known for Weininger's Last Night (1990), Schmutz (1987) and Der Kopf des Mohren (1995).Exit... nur keine Panik! (1980)- Actress
- Production Manager
Isolde Barth was born on 24 August 1948 in Maxdorf, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. She is an actress and production manager, known for The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Es wäre gut, daß ein Mensch würde umbracht für das Volk (1991) and Group Portrait with a Lady (1977).Exit... nur keine Panik! (1980)- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Composer
Iconic American-born singer and actor in international films since the 1950s. Born in L.A. to Russian immigrant parents, Constantine studied voice in Vienna. He returned to the US, where his singing career wavered and he found work as a film extra. Constantine first achieved fame in Paris, where he launched a successful career as a popular singer under the tutelage of Édith Piaf. On screen from 1953, his tough guy manner was put to good use in French imitations of Humphrey Bogart films, several of which featured Peter Cheyney's no-nonsense, hard-hitting private detective, Lemmy Caution. In 1965 Jean-Luc Godard appropriated both Constantine and the Caution character for Alphaville (1965), a futuristic, parodic homage to the detective genre. The tough guys that craggy-faced Constantine played were ideals derived from the already stylized and ritualized world of G-men and private eyes found in American movies. Filmmakers of the New German Cinema resurrected Constantine and his persona; notably, Rainer Werner Fassbinder cast him as the laconic star of the film-within-the-film in Beware of a Holy Whore (1971). Constantine also appeared in a number of German TV dramas in the 70s and 80s and, late in life, reprised his most famous role in Godard's Germany Year 90 Nine Zero (1991).Exit... nur keine Panik (1980)- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Irene Papas was born on 3 September 1929 in Chilimodion, Corinth, Greece. She was an actress and director, known for The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Message (1976) and Electra (1962). She was married to José Kohn and Alkis Papas. She died on 14 September 2022 in Chiliomodion, Corinthia, Greece.Un posto ideale per uccidere (1971)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Handsome, charming, and versatile actor Ray Lovelock was born on June 19, 1950 in Rome, Italy to an Italian mother and English father. Lovelock's father was an allied British soldier who in 1944 liberated Italy from a fascist regime. Ray's father met and eventually married his mother while stationed in Italy. Lovelock was the third of four sons and the only artist of the quartet. Ray first became interested in acting while attending college as a teenager. He began as an extra in both movies and TV commercials to make extra money. An acting agent discovered Ray performing in the Roman nightclub the Piper in a rock band with longtime friend and fellow thespian Tomas Milian. This led to his first role in the spaghetti Western Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967).
However, it was Ray's part in the hugely successful The Violent Four (1968) that really launched his acting career. Lovelock was fine as David, a free-spirited hippie drifter who falls under the seductive spell of three sexy witches in the eerie Queens of Evil (1970) (besides playing the lead in this picture, Ray also sang the haunting folk theme song. Lovelock sung the title tracks for many films that he appeared in throughout the years.) He was likewise excellent as reluctant hero George in the terrific zombie horror cult classic Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974) and as Mimsy Farmer's smooth race car driver lover Edgar in the morbid giallo Autopsy (1975). Ray gave a memorably slimy performance as apathetic criminal gang leader Aldo in the brutal The Last House on the Beach (1978). Lovelock had a recurring role as surgeon Dr. Hans Rudolf on the Italian TV series "Incantesimo." His wife Gioia was also his agent. They met in 1968 and got married in 1970. Their daughter Francesca Lovelock was born in 1971 and works as an assistant director and production manager in Naples. An avid soccer lover, Ray served as the captain of an Italian actors soccer team who played soccer matches to raise money for charity. Lovelock died of cancer at age 67 on November 10, 2017.Un posto ideale per uccidere (1971)- Actress
- Additional Crew
Ornella Muti was born on 9 March 1955 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Oscar (1991) and The Most Beautiful Wife (1970). She was previously married to Federico Fachinetti and Alessio Orano.Un posto ideale per uccidere (1971)- Michel Bardinet was born on 15 November 1931 in Toulon, Var, France. He was an actor, known for The Age of the Medici (1972), Janique aimée (1963) and The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968). He died on 22 February 2005 in Apt, Vaucluse, France.Un posto ideale per uccidere (1971)
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Broderick Crawford is best remembered for two roles: his Oscar-winning turn as Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) and as Chief Dan Mathews on the syndicated TV series Highway Patrol (1955). He was also memorable as Judy Holliday's vulgar partner in Born Yesterday (1950), roles both actors had originated on Broadway to great acclaim.
He was born William Broderick Crawford on December 9, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to vaudeville performers Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick. His mother had a brief movie career acting in Hollywood comedies. Broderick Crawford, large and burly, was no one's idea of a leading man due to his rough-and-tumble looks, but he broke through playing John Steinbeck's simple-minded giant Lenny in the Broadway adaptation of Steinbeck's novella "Of Mice and Men". After this Broadway success, Crawford moved to Hollywood and made his cinema debut in the comedy Woman Chases Man (1937), in a supporting role to stars Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins. When producer-director Lewis Milestone was casting the movie version of Steinbeck's classic (Of Mice and Men (1939)), he passed over Crawford and selected Lon Chaney Jr. to play Lenny.
After many supporting roles (including a memorable turn as a big but kindhearted lug in the comedy Larceny, Inc (1942)) and a stint in the military during World War II, Crawford had his breakthrough role in Robert Rossen's adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "All the King's Men". Crawford gave a masterly performance as the southern U.S. politician based on Louisiana's Huey Long. In addition to the Oscar, he also won the New York Film Critics' Award for Best Actor. All the King's Men (1949) was a hit, as was Born Yesterday (1950). (Crawford had also played the role on Broadway, succeeding Paul Douglas, who originated the role.) However, Crawford soon after became typecast as crude or brutish.
Five years after copping the Academy Award, TV producer Frederick W. Ziv hired Crawford to play the lead role in his syndicated police drama "Highway Patrol". The show ran for four seasons. Crawford's career, moribund in the early 1950s, revived, but he generally eschewed the big screen, preferring television, for the remainder of his career. He continued to act almost up until his death in Rancho Mirage, California, on April 26, 1986, at age 74, following a series of strokes.Il bidone (1955)- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Despite many a powerful performance, this actor's actor never quite achieved the stardom he deserved. Ultimately, Richard Basehart became best-known to television audiences as Admiral Harriman Nelson, commander of the glass-nosed nuclear submarine 'S.S.R.N Seaview' in Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), shown on ABC from 1964 to 1968. Basehart's distinctively deep, resonant voice also provided narrations in feature films, TV mini-series and for documentaries.
Born in Zanesville, Ohio, on August 14 1914, Basehart was one of four siblings born to a struggling and soon-to-be widowed editor of a local newspaper. Upon leaving college, he worked briefly as a radio announcer and then attempted to follow in his father's journalistic footsteps as a reporter. Controversy over one of his stories led to his departure from the paper and cleared the path to pursue acting as a career. In 1932, Basehart made his theatrical bow with the Wright Players Stock Company in his home town and subsequently spent five years playing varied and interesting roles at the Hedgerow Theatre in Philadelphia. From 1938, he began to work in New York on and off-Broadway. Seven years later he received the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Newcomer Award for "The Hasty Heart", a drama by John Patrick, in which Basehart played a dying Scottish soldier. In 1945, he received his first film offers. When he heard director Bretaigne Windust was seeking an authentic Scot for the lead role in The Hasty Heart, Basehart not only effected an authentic enough burr to win the part, but won also the 1945 New York Critic's Award as the most promising actor of the year. His accent was so good that a visiting leader of a Scottish clan told the actor he knew his clan.
Basehart made his debut on the big screen with Repeat Performance (1947) at Eagle-Lion, a minor film noir with Joan Leslie, followed at Warner Brothers with the Gothic Barbara Stanwyck thriller Cry Wolf (1947). His third picture finally got him critical plaudits for playing a sociopathic killer, relentlessly hunted through drainage tunnels in He Walked by Night (1948), a procedural police drama shot in a semi-documentary style. Variety gave a positive review, commenting "With this role, Basehart establishes himself as one of Hollywood's most talented finds in recent years. He heavily overshadows the rest of the cast..."
It was the first of many charismatic performances in which Basehart would excel at tormented or introverted characters, portraying angst, foreboding or mental anguish. His gallery of characters came to include the notorious Robespierre, chief architect of the Reign of Terror (1949), set during the French Revolution. He was one of the feuding Hatfields in Roseanna McCoy (1949) and in Fourteen Hours (1951) (based on a real 1938 Manhattan suicide) had a tour de force turn as a man perched on the high ledge of an office building threatening to jump. For much of the film's duration, the camera was firmly focused on the actor's face. Basehart later recalled "It was an actor's dream, in which I hogged the camera lens, and the role called on me to act mostly with my eyes, lips and face muscles". The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther called his performance 'startling and poignant'.
Eschewing conventional movie stardom, Basehart meticulously selected and varied his roles, avoiding, as he put it, "stereotyping at the expense of not amassing an impressive bank account.'' In the wake of the sudden death of his first wife, Basehart left the U.S. for Italy. In March 1951, he got married a second time (to the actress Valentina Cortese) and appeared in a succession of European movies, playing the ill-fated clown Il Matto in Federico Fellini's classic The Road (1954); against type, essayed a swashbuckling nobleman reclaiming his titles and estate in Cartouche (1955), and (again for Fellini), played a member of a gang of grifters in The Swindle (1955). He was also ideally cast as the mild-mannered Ishmael in John Huston's excellent version of Moby Dick (1956) and as Ivan, one of The Brothers Karamazov (1958).
By 1960, Basehart's second marriage had ended in divorce and the actor returned to America where he found movie opportunities few and far between. The small screen to some extent reinvigorated his career with numerous series guest appearances and his lengthy stint in the popular Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He also received critical praise for his role as Henry Wirtz, commandant of the Confederacy's most infamous prison camp, in the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning television drama The Andersonville Trial (1970).
Not only an active human rights campaigner, Basehart was also strongly opposed to the experimental use of animals. With his third wife Diana Lotery he set up the animal welfare charity, Actors and Others for Animals, in 1971. He died after suffering a series of strokes in Los Angeles on September 17 1984 at the age of 70.Il bidone (1955)- Actress
- Additional Crew
Born in San Giorgio di Piano, Giulietta Masina spent part of her teenage years living with a widowed aunt in Rome, where she cultivated a passion for the theater and studied for a degree in Philosophy. She began her career on the radio with the program "Terzoglio" (1942), about the adventures of newlyweds Cico and Pallina from scripts written by Federico Fellini. The series brought her great success. The following year she married Fellini and became the inspirational muse for many of his films.
She made her cinema debut in Without Pity (1948), directed by Alberto Lattuada, but really established her reputation with her next few films: Behind Closed Shutters (1951), directed by Luigi Comencini, Variety Lights (1950), which also marked Fellini's debut as director (the film credits both Fellini and Lattuada); and Europe '51 (1952), directed by Roberto Rossellini. Her artistic partnership with her husband really took off with the Oscar-winning The Road (1954), followed by The Swindle (1955) and the widely acclaimed Nights of Cabiria (1957), which again won an Oscar and brought her the award for Best Female Performance at the Cannes Film Festival. Over the following years she played many memorable roles in such films as Fortunella (1958), directed by Eduardo De Filippo; ...and the Wild Wild Women (1959), directed by Renato Castellani; and later in Juliet of the Spirits (1965) and Ginger & Fred (1986), both directed by Fellini.
From 1966 to 1969 she hosted the immensely popular radio show "Lettere aperte a Giulietta Masina" and starred in the television series Eleonora (1973), by Tullio Pinelli, directed by Silverio Blasi, and Camilla (1976), directed by Sandro Bolchi, based on the novel by Fausta Cialente, "Un inverno freddissimo" (1966).
She died in Rome in 1994, just a few months after the death of her husband.Il bidone (1955)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Mr. Fabrizi was Italian actor best known for his performance as the lady-killer among a group of small-town youths in Federico Fellini's 'I Vitelloni'. Starting as a stage and variety revue actor in 1947, he broke into film in 1952 with Francesco De Roberti's 'Carica Eroica'. His role as a tireless philanderer became characteristic of his on-screen and off- screen persona. The actor was linked in the gossip columns of the dolce vita period to a long line of actresses and society doyennes. Though rarely cast in leading roles, Mr. Fabrizi appeared in about 150 films, usually playing superficial opportunistic sidekicks.Il bidone (1955)- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian department of "Eagle Lion Films" in Rome and joined a drama club, where he was discovered by director Luchino Visconti. In 1957 Visconti gave him the starring part in his Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation White Nights (1957) and in 1958 he was fine as a little thief in Mario Monicelli's comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). But his real breakthrough came in 1960, when Federico Fellini cast him as an attractive, weary-eyed journalist of the Rome jet-set in La Dolce Vita (1960); that film was the genesis of his "Latin lover" persona, which Mastroianni himself often denied by accepting parts of passive and sensitive men. He would again work with Fellini in several major films, like the exquisite 8½ (1963) (as a movie director who finds himself at a point of crisis) and the touching Ginger & Fred (1986) (as an old entertainer who appears in a TV show). He also appeared as a tired novelist with marital problems in Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte (1961), as an impotent young man in Mauro Bolognini's Bell' Antonio (1960) , as an exiled prince in John Boorman's Leo the Last (1970), as a traitor in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Allonsanfan (1974) and as a sensitive homosexual in love with a housewife in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for Divorce Italian Style (1961), A Special Day (1977), and Oci ciornie (1987). During the last decade of his life he worked with directors, like Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bertrand Blier and Raúl Ruiz, who gave him three excellent parts in Three Lives and Only One Death (1996). He died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.Matrimonio all'italiana (1964)- Scipione detto anche l'Africano (1971)
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
Silvana Mangano was born on April 21, 1930 in Rome, Italy and was raised in poverty during World War II. She trained as a dancer for seven years and supported herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, she won the Miss Rome beauty pageant and through this, she obtained role in a Maria Della Costa film. One year later, she was one of the girls in the Miss Italia contest. Lucia Bose became "The Queen", and nearby, on the stage of Stresa, were some other future stars of Italian cinema: Gina Lollobrigida, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gianna Maria Canale.
Mangano's earlier connection with filmmaking occurred with her romantic relationship with actor Marcello Mastroianni. This led her to a film contract, though this would take some time for Mangano to ascend to international stardom with her role in Bitter Rice (1949). Thereatfer, she signed a contract with Lux Film, and later married Dino De Laurentiis, who was on the verge of becoming a known producer. Though she never scaled the heights of her contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, Mangano remained a favorite star of the 1950s and 1970s, appearing in Anna (1951), The Gold of Naples (1954), Mambo (1954), Teorema (1968), Death in Venice (1971) and The Scopone Game (1972).
Married to film producer Dino De Laurentiis from 1949, the couple had four children: Veronica, Raffaella, Francesca and Federico. Veronica's daughter Giada is the host of "Everyday Italian" and "Giada at Home" on the Food Network. Raffaella co-produced with her father on Mangano's penultimate film, the science fiction epic Dune (1984). In 1983, she separated from De Laurentiis and abandoned her career to live in Paris and Madrid, where she made tapestries. Following surgery on December 4, 1989 that left her in a coma, Silvana Mangano died at age 59 of lung cancer in Madrid, Spain during the early morning hours of December 16, 1989.Riso amaro (1949)- Scipione detto anche l'Africano (1971)
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Bitter Rice (1949). This fixed him to his main parts: The ambiguous gentleman inflicting pain and pleasure at the same time. He also participated in the Italian comedies and in American movies but the latter with only minor success. As a homage to his passion for the theatre he directed a cinema version of the play Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957).Riso amaro (1949)- Scipione detto anche l'Africano (1971)
- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Actor
Ruggero Mastroianni was born on 7 November 1929 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was an editor and actor, known for Speriamo che sia femmina (1986), Ginger & Fred (1986) and Amarcord (1973). He died on 9 September 1996 in Torvaianica, Pomezia, Lazio, Italy.Scipione detto anche l'Africano (1971)- Nathalie Nell was born on 6 October 1950 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for La cerisaie (1982), Adolphe, ou l'âge tendre (1968) and Qu'est-ce qui fait courir David? (1982).L'amour violé (1978)
- Alain Fourès is known for Ruby & Quentin (2003), On the Other Side of the Tracks (2012) and Le gardien (1984).L'amour violé (1978)
- Actress
- Art Director
Michèle Simonnet is known for George qui? (1973), Bernadette (1988) and La ville des silences (1979).L'amour violé (1978)- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Pierre Arditi was born on 1 December 1944 in Paris, France. He is an actor, known for Mélo (1986), Smoking/No Smoking (1993) and Sauveur Giordano (2001). He has been married to Evelyne Bouix since 31 May 2010. He was previously married to Florence Giorgetti.L'amour violé (1978)- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in film, he reached notoriety with the character of Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964). This success was doubled in Leone's next film, For a Few Dollars More (1965). The following ten years would be the most intense of Volontè career. L'armata Brancaleone (1966) (directed by Mario Monicelli) was the most successful Italian movie of the year, We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) (directed by Elio Petri) won the Grand Prix du Scenario at the Cannes Film Festival, and Volontè won his first Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon - the most prestigious acting award in Italy) in 1970 for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) (also directed by Petri), making him an international star. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and two Italian Golden Globes, including one for his performance. In 1972, he starred in two Italian movies as the protagonist: Petri's The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) and Francesco Rosi's The Mattei Affair (1972), both of which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, where he also won a Special Mention. In his life, Volontè won a huge number of other prizes and honours, becoming one of the most celebrated Italian actors of the seventies, and challenging Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as the most popular Italian actor. He died in Greece in 1994.Giordano Bruno (1973)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Hans Christian Blech was born on 20 February 1915 in Darmstadt, Germany. He was an actor, known for The Longest Day (1962), Battle of the Bulge (1965) and Wer zu spät kommt - Das Politbüro erlebt die deutsche Revolution (1990). He was married to Erni Wilhelmi. He died on 5 March 1993 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.Giordano Bruno (1973)- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Mathieu Carrière was born on 2 August 1950 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, West Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for La maison des bories (1970), Young Törless (1966) and Quantum Leap (1989).Giordano Bruno (1973)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Renato Scarpa was born on 14 September 1939 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for Don't Look Now (1973), We Have a Pope (2011) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). He died on 30 December 2021 in Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy.Giordano Bruno (1973)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome on September 20, 1934. Her father Riccardo was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and her younger sister Maria Scicolone). Growing up in the slums of Pozzuoli during the second World War without any support from her father, she experienced great sadness in her childhood. Her life took an unexpected turn for the best when, at age 14, she entered into a beauty contest and placed as one of the finalists. It was here that Sophia caught the attention of film producer Carlo Ponti, some 22 years her senior, whom she later married. Perhaps he was the father figure she never experienced as a child. Under his guidance, Sophia was put under contract and appeared as an extra in ten films beginning with Le sei mogli di Barbablù (1950), before working her way up to supporting roles. In these early films, she was credited as "Sofia Lazzaro" because people joked her beauty could raise Lazzarus from the dead.
By her late teens, Sophia was playing lead roles in many Italian features such as La favorita (1952) and Aida (1953). In 1957, she embarked on a successful acting career in the United States, starring in Boy on a Dolphin (1957), Legend of the Lost (1957), and The Pride and the Passion (1957) that year. She had a short-lived but much-publicized fling with co-star Cary Grant, who was nearly 31 years her senior. She was only 22 while he was 53, and she rejected a marriage proposal from him. They were paired together a second time in the family-friendly romantic comedy Houseboat (1958). While under contract to Paramount, Sophia starred in Desire Under the Elms (1958), The Key (1958), The Black Orchid (1958), It Started in Naples (1960), Heller in Pink Tights (1960), A Breath of Scandal (1960), and The Millionairess (1960) before returning to Italy to star in Two Women (1960). The film was a period piece about a woman living in war-torn Italy who is raped while trying to protect her young daughter. Originally cast as the more glamorous child, Sophia fought against type and was re-cast as the mother, displaying a lack of vanity and proving herself as a genuine actress. This performance received international acclaim and was honored with an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sophia remained a bona fide international movie star throughout the sixties and seventies, making films on both sides of the Atlantic, and starring opposite such leading men as Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, and Charlton Heston. Her English-language films included El Cid (1961), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Arabesque (1966), Man of La Mancha (1972), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). She gained wider respect with her Italian films, especially Marriage Italian Style (1964) and A Special Day (1977), both of which co-starred Marcello Mastroianni. During these years she received a second Oscar nomination and won five Golden Globe Awards.
From the eighties onward, Sophia's appearances on the big screen came few and far between. She preferred to spend the majority of her time raising sons Carlo Ponti Jr. (b. 1968) and Edoardo Ponti (b. 1973). Her only acting credits during the decade were five television films, beginning with Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980), a biopic in which she portrayed herself and her mother. She ventured into other areas of business and became the first actress to launch her own fragrance and design of eyewear. In 1982 she voluntarily spent nineteen days in jail for tax evasion.
In 1991 Sophia received an Honorary Academy Award for her body of work, and was declared "one of world cinema's greatest treasures." That same year, she experienced a terrible loss when her mother died of cancer. Her return to mainstream films in Ready to Wear (1994) was well-received, although the film as a whole was not. She followed this up with her biggest U.S. hit in years, the comedy Grumpier Old Men (1995), in which she played a sexy divorcée who seduces Walter Matthau. Over the next decade Sophia had plum roles in a few independent films like Soleil (1997), Between Strangers (2002) (directed by Edoardo), and Lives of the Saints (2004). Still beautiful at 72, she posed scantily-clad for the 2007 Pirelli Calendar. Sadly, that same year she mourned the death of her 94-year-old spouse, Carlo Ponti. In 2009, after far too much time away from film, she appeared in the musical Nine (2009) opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. These days Sophia is based in Switzerland but frequently travels to the states to spend time with her sons and their families (Eduardo is married to actress Sasha Alexander). Sophia Loren remains one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in the international film world.Matrimonio all'italiana (1964)- Aldo Puglisi was born on 12 April 1935 in Catania, Sicily, Italy. He is an actor, known for Seduced and Abandoned (1964), Marriage Italian Style (1964) and When Women Lost Their Tails (1972).Matrimonio all'italiana (1964)
- Tecla Scarano was born on 20 August 1894 in Naples, Italy. She was an actress, known for Marriage Italian Style (1964), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) and The Children Are Watching Us (1943). She was married to Franco Langella. She died on 22 December 1978 in Naples, Italy.Matrimonio all'italiana (1964)
- Christian Rist is known for Azev: le tsar de la nuit (1975), Le fils puni (1980) and The Last Days of Immanuel Kant (1993).Les guichets du Louvre (1974)
- Actress
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- Director
Christine Pascal was born on 29 November 1953 in Lyon, Rhône, France. She was an actress and writer, known for The Little Prince Said (1992), Félicité (1979) and Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975). She was married to Robert Boner. She died on 30 August 1996 in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine, France.Les guichets du Louvre (1974)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Judith Magre was born on 20 November 1926 in Montier-en-Der, Haute Marne, France. She is an actress, known for Elle (2016), The Lovers (1958) and Les Thibault (1972). She was previously married to Claude Lanzmann.Les guichets du Louvre (1974)- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Henri Garcin was born on 11 April 1928 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was an actor and writer, known for The Woman Next Door (1981), The Pink Panther (2006) and Destroy, She Said (1969). He died on 13 June 2022 in Evreux, Eure, France.Les guichets du Louvre (1974)- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand, all three of them second only to Katharine Hepburn.
Ingrid Bergman was born on August 29, 1915 in Stockholm, Sweden, to a German mother, Frieda Henrietta (Adler), and a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, an artist and photographer. Her mother died when she was only two and her father died when she was 12. She went to live with an elderly uncle.
The woman who would be one of the top stars in Hollywood in the 1940s had decided to become an actress after finishing her formal schooling. She had had a taste of acting at age 17 when she played an uncredited role of a girl standing in line in the Swedish film Landskamp (1932) in 1932 - not much of a beginning for a girl who would be known as "Sweden's illustrious gift to Hollywood." Her parents died when she was just a girl and the uncle she lived with didn't want to stand in the way of Ingrid's dream. The next year she enrolled at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm but decided that stage acting was not for her. It would be three more years before she would have another chance at a film. When she did, it was more than just a bit part. The film in question was The Count of the Old Town (1935), where she had a speaking part as Elsa Edlund. After several films that year that established her as a class actress, Ingrid appeared in Intermezzo (1936) as Anita Hoffman. Luckily for her, American producer David O. Selznick saw it and sent a representative from Selznick International Pictures to gain rights to the story and have Ingrid signed to a contract. Once signed, she came to California and starred in United Artists' 1939 remake of her 1936 film, Intermezzo (1939), reprising her original role. The film was a hit and so was Ingrid.
Her beauty was unlike anything the movie industry had seen before and her acting was superb. Hollywood was about to find out that they had the most versatile actress the industry had ever seen. Here was a woman who truly cared about the craft she represented. The public fell in love with her. Ingrid was under contract to go back to Sweden to film Only One Night (1939) in 1939 and June Night (1940) in 1940. Back in the US she appeared in three films, all well-received. She made only one film in 1942, but it was the classic Casablanca (1942) opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Ingrid was choosing her roles well. In 1943 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), the only film she made that year. The critics and public didn't forget her when she made Gaslight (1944) the following year--her role of Paula Alquist got her the Oscar for Best Actress. In 1945 Ingrid played in Spellbound (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), for which she received her third Oscar nomination for her role of Sister Benedict. She made no films in 1947, but bounced back with a fourth nomination for Joan of Arc (1948). In 1949 she went to Italy to film Stromboli (1950), directed by Roberto Rossellini. She fell in love with him and left her husband, Dr. Peter Lindstrom, and daughter, Pia Lindström. America's "moral guardians" in the press and the pulpits were outraged. She was pregnant and decided to remain in Italy, where her son was born. In 1952 Ingrid had twins, Isotta and Isabella Rossellini, who became an outstanding actress in her own right, as did Pia.
Ingrid continued to make films in Italy and finally returned to Hollywood in 1956 in the title role in Anastasia (1956), which was filmed in England. For this she won her second Academy Award. She had scarcely missed a beat. Ingrid continued to bounce between Europe and the US making movies, and fine ones at that. A film with Ingrid Bergman was sure to be a quality production. In her final big-screen performance in 1978's Autumn Sonata (1978) she had her final Academy Award nomination. Though she didn't win, many felt it was the most sterling performance of her career. Ingrid retired, but not before she gave an outstanding performance in the mini-series A Woman Called Golda (1982), a film about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. For this she won an Emmy Award as Best Actress, but, unfortunately, she did not live to see the fruits of her labor.
Ingrid died from cancer on August 29, 1982, her 67th birthday, in London, England.Siamo donne (1953)- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Anna Magnani was born in Rome, Italy (not in Egypt, as some biographies claim), on March 7, 1908. She was the child of Marina Magnani and an unknown father often said to be from Alexandria, Egypt, but whom Anna herself claimed was from the Calabria region of Italy although she never knew his name. Raised in poverty by her maternal grandmother in Rome after her mother left her, Anna worked her way through Rome's Academy of Dramatic Art by singing in cabarets and night-clubs, then began touring the countryside with small repertory companies.
Although she had a small role in a silent film in the late 1920s, she was not known as a film actress until Doctor, Beware (1941), directed by Vittorio De Sica. Her break-through film was Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945) (A.K.A. Open City), generally regarded as the first commercially successful Italian neorealist film of the postwar years and the one that won her an international reputation. From then on, she didn't stop working in films and television, winning an Academy Award for her performance in the screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo (1955), a part that was written for her by her close friend Williams. She worked with all of Italy's leading directors of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
She was renowned for her earthy, passionate, woman-of-the-soil roles. She and Rossellini were lovers for some years after Open City, until he began his infamous affair with Ingrid Bergman. She had one child, Luca, with Italian actor Massimo Serato. The boy was later stricken with polio and Magnani dedicated her life to caring for him. Her only marriage, to Italian director Goffredo Alessandrini in the mid-1930s, lasted only a short while and ended in an annulment. Her last film was Federico Fellini's Roma (1972). She died in her native Rome from pancreatic cancer the following year at age sixty-five.Siamo donne (1953)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Isa Miranda was one of the most significant actresses in Europe from the 1930s-'50s. Her remarkable talent expressed itself both in cinema and theater. She reached international popularity in the 1930s, especially in France, Germany and Austria, and became the only international movie star produced by the fascist cinema. In the 1950s, when her film career began declining, she played on stage in Italy, the US ("Mike McCauley", 1951), France ("Le serpent à sonettes", 1953) and England ("Orpheus Descending" by Tennessee Williams, 1959), receiving positive reviews everywhere. In the 1960s she started a TV career in England, appearing in many made-for-TV movies. She was a versatile actress, exceedingly sensible, a charming woman, and unjustly forgotten at the end of her life even by those who should have remembered her.Siamo donne (1953)- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Enigmatic, dark-haired foreign import Alida Valli was dubbed "The Next Garbo" but didn't live up to postwar expectations despite her cool, patrician beauty, remote allure and significant talent. Born in Pola, Italy (now Croatia), on May 3, 1921, the daughter of a Tridentine journalist and professor and an Istrian homemaker, she studied dramatics as a teen at the Motion Picture Academy of Rome and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia before snaring bit roles in such films as Il cappello a tre punte (1935) ["The Three-Cornered Hat"] and I due sergenti (1936) ["The Two Sergeants"]. She made a name for herself in Italy during WWII playing the title role in Manon Lescaut (1940), won a Venice Film Festival award for Piccolo mondo antico (1941) ["Little Old World"] and was a critical sensation in We the Living (1942) ["We the Living"]. She briefly abandoned her career, however, in 1943, refusing to appear in what she considered fascist propaganda, and was forced into hiding. The next year she married surrealist painter/pianist/composer Oscar De Mejo. They had two children, and one of them, Carlo De Mejo, became an actor. She divorced in 1955, then she came back to Italy,
Following her potent, award-winning work in the title role of Eugenie Grandet (1946), she was discovered and contracted by David O. Selznick to play the murder suspect Maddalena Paradine in Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947). She was billed during her Hollywood years simply as "Valli," and Selznick also gave her top femme female billing in Carol Reed's classic film noir The Third Man (1949), but for every successful film--such as the ones previously mentioned--she experienced such failures as The Miracle of the Bells (1948), and audiences stayed away. In 1951 she bid farewell to Hollywood and returned to her beloved Italy. In Europe again, she was sought after by the best directors. Her countess in Luchino Visconti's Senso (1954) was widely heralded, and she moved easily from ingénue to vivid character roles. Later standout films encompassed costume dramas as well as shockers and had her playing everything from baronesses to grandmothers in such films as Eyes Without a Face (1960) ["Eyes Without a Face"], Le gigolo (1960), Oedipus Rex (1967) ["Oedipus Rex"], The Big Scare (1974), 1900 (1976), Suspiria (1977), Luna (1979), Inferno (1980), Aspern (1982), A Month by the Lake (1995) and, her most recent, Angel of Death (2001).Siamo donne (1953)- Actor
- Stunts
- Producer
Born to Alice Cooper and Charles Cooper. Gary attended school at Dunstable school England, Helena Montana and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (then called Iowa College). His first stage experience was during high school and college. Afterwards, he worked as an extra for one year before getting a part in a two-reeler by the independent producer Hans Tiesler . Eileen Sedgwick was his first leading lady. He then appeared in The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) for United Artists before moving to Paramount. While there he appeared in a small part in Wings (1927), It (1927), and other films.The Virginian (1929)- Actor
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For many years Walter Huston had two passions: his career as an engineer and his vocation for the stage. In 1909 he dedicated himself to the theatre, and made his debut on Broadway in 1924. In 1929 he journeyed to Hollywood, where his talent and ability made him one of the most respected actors in the industry. He won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).The Virginian (1929)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dubbed "The Sweetest Girl in Pictures", Mary Brian started life as Louise Byrdie Datzler. She was born in Corsicana, Texas, and went to high school in Dallas. Her widowed mother had big plans for young Louise and took her to California in 1923, with the intention of getting her into the film business. After several unsuccessful attempts, a bathing beauty competition in Long Beach resulted in a second-prize letter of introduction to Herbert Brenon at Paramount and the girl with the dark brown curls and blue/gray eyes wound up being screen-tested for the role of Wendy in Peter Pan (1924), co-starring Betty Bronson and Esther Ralston (with whom she would form lifelong friendships). She not only got the part but a five-year contract with Paramount (1925-30) and a new name.
In 1926 she became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, which further enhanced her popularity. During the next few years she played ornamental leads and second leads as adolescent heroines, co-eds and ingénues. Many of those early silent features no longer exist today (Paris at Midnight (1926), among others), though surviving reels of some, like The Air Mail (1925), can still be accessed at the Library of Congress. Mary effortlessly made the transition from silents to talkies, co-starring with Gary Cooper as a feisty schoolmarm on the frontier in The Virginian (1929). One of her biggest hits was as Gwen Cavendish in the urbane comedy The Royal Family of Broadway (1930), with Ina Claire and Fredric March. A thinly disguised caricature of the private lives of the Barrymore dynasty, it hit the mark to the extent that Ethel Barrymore even threatened to sue Paramount. Mary acted three times opposite W.C. Fields, first as his daughter in Running Wild (1927), later reprising her role for The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934) (the third was Two Flaming Youths (1927), another lost film).
Signing up for another four-year contract, Mary was one of the all-star cast in the musical Paramount on Parade (1930) and then was given another good part in the first talkie version of The Front Page (1931). However, she was dropped from her contract (alongside her more illustrious colleagues Fay Wray and Jean Arthur) when Paramount began to forsake innocence and charm in favor of glamour and sophistication. From 1932 Mary freelanced and also performed occasionally in vaudeville at the Palace Theater. Arguably her last good picture was the romantic comedy Hard to Handle (1933), with James Cagney as a grifter (hilariously promoting grapefruit diets, spoofing his infamous scene with Mae Clarke in The Public Enemy (1931)). In 1936 Mary went to England, where she co-starred opposite Cary Grant in The Amazing Adventure (1936). She then made several pictures for Poverty Row companies such as Majestic and Monogram, including the low-budget potboiler I Escaped from the Gestapo (1943).
Mary's motion picture career faded after 1937 and she turned towards the stage. In 1940 she went on tour with "Three after Three" , alongside Simone Simon and Mitzi Green and later entertained American troops in the South Pacific as part of the USO. In the 1950's, she enjoyed a brief resurgence on television as the mother of a "Gidget"-type teen in the syndicated sitcom Meet Corliss Archer (1954). After the death of her second husband, the film editor George Tomasini, Mary spent her retirement fulfilling a lifelong passion for portrait painting.The Virginian (1929)- Actor
- Soundtrack
During World War I, Richard Arlen served in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps as a pilot, but he never saw combat. After the war he drifted round and eventually wound up in Los Angeles, where he got a job as a motorcycle messenger at a film laboratory. When he crashed into the gates of Paramount Pictures and suffered a broken leg, the studio provided prompt medical attention. Impressed by his good looks, executives also gave him a contract after he had recovered. Starting as an extra in 1925, Arlen soon rose to credited roles, but the quality of his work left much to be desired. However, he continued in films, and his big break came when William A. Wellman cast him as a pilot in the silent film Wings (1927) with Charles 'Buddy' Rogers and Clara Bow. The story of fighter aces would win the Oscar for Best Picture and Arlen would continue to play the tough, cynical hero throughout his career. Arlen appeared in three more pictures directed by Wellman, Beggars of Life (1928), Ladies of the Mob (1928) and The Man I Love (1929). In "Wings" he had a scene with a young actor named Gary Cooper. In 1929, he again worked with Cooper in the western The Virginian (1929), only this time Cooper was the star and Arlen was the supporting actor. While Arlen moved easily into sound, his career just bumped along. By 1935 he was working in such "B" pictures as Three Live Ghosts (1936). It was in 1935 that he became a freelance actor and his freelance career soon waned. In 1939, he signed with Universal and began working in its action films. In 1941 he moved to the Pine-Thomas unit at Paramount, where he appeared in adventure films. With the war on, most of his earlier films included war scenarios. By the end of the 1940s Arlen was becoming deaf and this seemed to signal the end of his career. However, he had an operation in 1949 that restored his hearing and he went on making a handful of adventures and westerns through the 1950s and working more in the 1960s. He made 15 westerns for producer A.C. Lyles, who worked with the old western stars.
Besides movies, Arlen also appeared on television and in commercials. After leaving the business in the late 1960s, he was coaxed back to the screen for three small roles in films that were released the same year that he died.The Virginian (1929)- Actor
- Producer
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Lorenzo Fernando Lamas was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of actors Arlene Dahl and Fernando Lamas. His father was Argentinian and his mother was American, of Norwegian descent. Lorenzo was raised in Pacific Palisades, California. In 1968, his family moved to New York. He attended private school, graduating from Admiral Farragut Academy in 1975. He then moved back to California. With encouragement from his father, he enrolled in Tony Barr's Film Actors Workshop and began his career with a small role in a television show in 1976. He also began to study karate and tae kwon do in 1979. He has starred in five television series and in over fifty movies. He is most known for his roles on television, notably as Lance Cumson on CBS' Falcon Crest (1981) and Reno Raines in the syndicated hit show Renegade (1992). Lorenzo also sustained a professional racing career while working successfully as a TV and Film actor in the 80's and 90's. He acts on stage and has a cabaret show that he tours with across the country. Some of the roles he has played onstage include the king in the musical The King and I as well as Zach in the musical A Chorus Line. He is an avid motorcyclist for over thirty years and has participated in the Love Ride, to benefit MDA and various charities since its inception in 1983. He is also on the board of directors. Lorenzo is a commercial helicopter and airplane pilot and he often flies disadvantaged children to summer camps and people too sick or financially challenged to travel normally on domestic flights. He just recently received his certification to become a helicopter flight instructor.California Fever (1979)- Marc McClure was born on 31 March 1957 in San Mateo, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Back to the Future (1985), Superman (1978) and Apollo 13 (1995). He has been married to Carol Courson Cowley since 16 August 1985. They have one child.California Fever (1979)
- Actor
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- Writer
Jimmy McNichol (A.K.A. James Vincent McNichol, III,) is an actor, musician, and environmentalist. Additionally, McNichol is co-partner in the entertainment production company Playground Television, Inc.
McNichol is internationally known; was a top T.V. & Film star; a teen-age heart-throb; and one of the most popular actors in the entertainment industry from the late 1970s through the early 90s. He continues to have an international fan base, with many young people discovering his old work and becoming new fans. Now, McNichol was just named celebrity spokesman for the nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation "Pet Power Kids."
Formerly, McNichol appeared on countless magazine covers and was consistently the star of top T.V. and film productions. McNichol had several network T.V. shows and feature films created just for him, and even co-produced a CBS network variety special with über-producer Jerry Weintraub. Also, McNichol worked with numerous Academy Award winners and nominees, including Jill Clayburgh, Shirley Knight, Richard Jaeckel, and Susan Tyrrell.
In conjunction with the "Pet Power Kids," McNichol and Playground Television are developing a T.V. series documenting animal rescue and animal issues, entitled, "Animal Rescue The Rockies" A.K.A. "ARTR." "Animal Rescue The Rockies" is an animal welfare T.V. show documenting the process and suspense of rescuing animals in the Colorado Rockies; with a segment dedicated to the Pet Power Kids' 501(c)(3) corporation and the nonprofit's mission to save older shelter dogs and older shelter cats that are unlikely to ever be adopted, and would have been euthanized.
McNichol is an active philanthropist and successful real estate developer, who later this year, will be making his return to the entertainment industry. Previously, he had moved away from Hollywood to raise his kids, but now that the children are older, he is making his return to television and film, and his sister Kristy McNichol is by his side to help him out whenever necessary.
McNichol's two-decade absence, and much public anticipation, explains why fans are still selling his autographed photos for $300.
During his absence from California, McNichol has spent time in France with his wife and children, while continuing to give a rare concert performance. This year, McNichol is releasing a new C.D. entitled "Eco Warrior" under Aurora Entertainment's Ecology Music Group label "EMG," and donating part of the proceeds to charity. Also, McNichol is performing at benefit concerts and giving away a free promotional "video D.V.D. sample" to promote ecological awareness and philanthropy.
Notably, the feature film and cult classic that McNichol starred in with Oscar nominee Susan Tyrrell, "Night Warning," is about to be released on D.V.D. Additionally, Jimmy has a new D.V.D. box set, released in 2013, with Producer Roger Corman, which includes "Smokey Bites The Dust". In 2015, "Escape from El Diablo" was also released on D.V.D. .California Fever (1979)- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Michele Tobin was born on 25 January 1961 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Wacko (1982), Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).California Fever (1979)- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Helen Shaver has built a lasting legacy, both behind and in front of the camera. She has directed hundreds of hours of television ranging from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) to Castle (2009), from The Unit (2006) to The Outer Limits (1995). Her film, Summer's End (1999), a Showtime feature starring James Earl Jones, won multiple Emmy awards for Outstanding Children's Special, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special and Helen was nominated for her direction. Her producing credits include Judging Amy (1999) for CBS, Showtime's Due East (2002) starring Cybill Shepherd and Robert Forster and the independent feature We All Fall Down (2000), for which she also received a Best Supporting Actress award.
It was Martin Scorsese who first suggested Helen direct. Working with him and other such greats as Steven Spielberg, Robert Rodriguez, Sam Peckinpah, Brian De Palma, Helen amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in the collaborative world of cinematic storytelling.
Helen first appeared on the silver screen at 22 years old, starring in a series of award-winning Canadian films; Best Supporting Actress for Who Has Seen the Wind (1977) and Best Actress for In Praise of Older Women (1978). Hollywood took note and in 1977 she co-starred in The Amityville Horror (1979) directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Larry Gelbart's United States (1980), Martin Scorsese's, The Color of Money (1986), John Schlesinger's The Believers (1987), Donna Deitch's Desert Hearts (1985), Andrew Fleming's The Craft (1996), and a trip to China with Donald Sutherland to realize Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990) broadened her education.
MAWD (Mother Actress Wife Director), Helen's production company, has three theatrical features in development, as well as a feature-length documentary. MAWD continues to expand becoming an umbrella for young filmmakers who Helen has mentored.Coming Out Alive (1980)- Actor
- Director
Scott was born in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1943, raised in Vancouver, B.C. and graduated from University (UBC) with a B.A in theatre (honours) in 1964. He immediately moved to New York where he snagged the title role in Billy Liar, off bwdy. His performance drew the attention of the noted director William Ball, who was just forming the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco). Scott became one of the original company members of the ACT, appearing in over twenty productions, Death of a Salesman to Beyond the Fringe, King Lear to Charley's Aunt. While his film test for the Antonioni film Zabriskie Point didn't get him the part, it led him to another film, Daddy's Gone A'Hunting, which introduced him. For the next fifteen years Scott accumulated an impressive and long list of credits in Los Angeles based film and television as well as a strong profile in the theatre community, appearing often at the Mark Taper Forum, the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, and Theatricum Bottanicum. He has performed on Bwdy, opposite Colleen Dewhurst ( Queen of the Rebels). In 1981 he returned to Canada, for an acclaimed season at the Stratford Festival, with prominent roles in Coriolanus, Wild Oats, and The Misanthrope. His performance of Salieri (Amadeus) in Edmonton was followed by an offer to play O'Brien, the lead detective in the series Night Heat (CBS, CTV), produced by the legendary Sonny Grosso. Ninety-six episodes were produced in Toronto, 1984-88. Much of the work was done at night, and budgets were slender, yet NH, with its fluid story formant and catchy intro tune ( Dominic Troiano), captured a loyal audience. With his bank account modestly fattened, Scott moved away from Toronto after Night Heat, back to B.C. and the wet coast where he was raised. Buying land on Saltspring Island, he built a house of his own design, married a beautiful nurse, Veronica (Toronto Sick Kids Hosp.), who he'd met on the street while filming NH, and raised two children, Rebecca, and Luke. He kept his hand in the business at the same time, working in theatres across Canada from Toronto's Royal Alex (Art) , to Winnipeg's Prairie Theatre Exchange ( Copenhagen), to Victoria's Belfry Theatre (Trying, Blue Orange.) And working out of Vancouver he has appeared in innumerable TV projects (V, The Returned), and movies filmed locally (Baal, Anna's Storm, The Hamster Cage, Becoming Redwood).Coming Out Alive (1980)- Actor
- Producer
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Michael Ironside has made a strong and indelible impression with his often incredibly intense and explosive portrayals of fearsome villains throughout the years. He was born as Frederick Reginald Ironside on February 12, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ironside was a successful arm wrestler in his teenage years. His initial ambition was to be a writer. At age fifteen, Michael wrote a play called "The Shelter" that won first prize in a Canada-wide university contest; He used the prize money to mount a production of this play. Ironside attended the Ontario College of Art, took acting lessons from Janine Manatis, and studied for three years at the Canadian National Film Board. Ironside worked in construction as a roofer prior to embarking on an acting career.
Ironside first began acting in movies in the late 1970s. He received plenty of recognition with his frightening turn as deadly and powerful psychic Darryl Revok in David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981). He was likewise very chilling as vicious misogynistic psychopath Colt Hawker in the underrated Visiting Hours (1982). Other memorable film roles include weary Detective Roersch in the sadly forgotten thriller Cross Country (1983), the crazed Overdog in the immensely enjoyable Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), the hard-nosed Jester in the blockbuster smash Top Gun (1986), ramrod Major Paul Hackett in Extreme Prejudice (1987), loner Vietnam veteran "Ben" in Nowhere to Hide (1987), the ferocious Lem Johnson in Watchers (1988), and lethal immortal General Katana in Highlander II: The Quickening (1991).
Moreover, Ironside has appeared in two highly entertaining science fiction features for Paul Verhoeven: At his savage best as the evil Richter in Total Recall (1990) and typically excellent as the rugged Lieutenant Jean Rasczak in Starship Troopers (1997). Ironside showed a more tender and thoughtful side with his lovely and touching performance as a hardened convict who befriends a disabled man in the poignant indie drama gem Chaindance (1991); he also co-wrote the script and served as an executive producer for this beautiful sleeper. Michael was terrific as tough mercenary Ham Tyler on the epic miniseries V (1984), its follow up V: The Final Battle (1984), and subsequent short-lived spin-off series.
Ironside also had a recurring role on the television series SeaQuest 2032 (1993). Among the television series he has done guest spots on are The A-Team (1983), Hill Street Blues (1981), The New Mike Hammer (1984), The Hitchhiker (1983), Tales from the Crypt (1989), Superman: The Animated Series (1996), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), The Outer Limits (1995), ER (1994), Smallville (2001), ER (1994), Desperate Housewives (2004), Justice League (2001) and Masters of Horror (2005). More recently, Ironside garnered a slew of plaudits and a Gemini Award nomination for his outstanding portrayal of shrewd biker gang leader Bob Durelle in the acclaimed Canadian miniseries The Last Chapter II: The War Continues (2003).
In addition to his substantial film and television work, Ironside has also lent his distinctive deep voice to TV commercials and video games.Coming Out Alive (1980)- Christopher was born in Toronto, Canada, and began acting at the age of eight. He's starred in many commercials and movies including playing Tiny Tim in a remake of "A Christmas Carol" starring Henry Winkler. At age 15 he began filming the CBC/Disney Channel television series "Danger Bay," which ran for six years as Disney Channel's No. 1 show and aired in 80 countries.
In his twenties, Christopher moved to Los Angeles where he continued to act in television and movies. He also had a recurring role on the hit series "Life Goes On" and starred in the Showtime movie series "Rebel Highway". Christopher has starred in the films "The Last Mailman," "Three's a Crowd," and "Lights Camera YouTube". In the spring of 2015 Christopher appeared on "Entertainment Tonight" in a special reunion segment about "Danger Bay." Christopher and co-star Ocean Hellman along with creator Paul Saltzman are in development on "The New Danger Bay" for which they will both co-produce and star.
Other films Christopher has starred in, include, "AxeMan 2" and "Neva~Eh" both to-be-released in 2016, and has a national TruBiotics commercial airing. Most recently, 'Stalked by My Doctor - the return' on Lifetime where he co'stars with Eric Roberts. He also has an independent film 'All In' to be released in 2017.
In addition to acting, Christopher was a highly ranked junior tennis player, turning pro at age 16 and collecting wins over such No. 1 players as Jim Courier and Michael Chang. He continues to teach tennis in Los Angeles where his client list includes George Clooney, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Kline. He also tutored Robert Downey Jr. in the sport for his Oscar-nominated turn in the film "Chaplin," for which Christopher also served as tennis coordinator.Coming Out Alive (1980) - After Mark's career in film and television he formed a band with school classmate Billy Hardwicke. They had been making music together for years so formed a band called Littlehouse. Mark played acoustic guitar, Billy Hardwicke played electric and both sang. Fellow friends Patrick Watson played bass and Steve Claridge on drums. Mark and Billy wrote all the songs and on their first gig at the Bull & Gate in Kentish town attracted the attention of Andrew Maurice, who would become their manager. They recorded an EP with the title track being Close My Eyes in which Billy Hardwicke would later use on his solo album The Goodbye Look. Littlehouse gigged the London circuit between 1998 and 2000 after which they split up. In 2013 Mark and Billy still play music together and celebrate 40 years of friendship.Jonnhy Jarvis (1983)
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Ian Sears is known for King David (1985), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) and Gut Feeling (1999).Jonnhy Jarvis (1983)- Diana Davies was born on 20 July 1936 in Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Juliet Bravo (1980), ITV Playhouse (1967) and The Grand (1997). She was previously married to Peter Davies.Jonnhy Jarvis (1983)
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Jamie Foreman was born on 25 May 1958 in Bermondsey, London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Layer Cake (2004), Oliver Twist (2005) and Inkheart (2008).Jonnhy Jarvis (1983)- Actress
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This lovely, docile, sensitive-appearing blonde French leading lady started impressively in films at age 6, making a most notable debut in René Clément's Forbidden Games (1952). She abandoned acting a few years later for schooling and a normal upbringing. After a brief career as an interpreter and translator, she returned to the cinema as a young adult and met with great award-worthy success in mostly European movies, including François Truffaut's The Man Who Loved Women (1977), Chanel Solitaire (1981), etc.Croque la vie (1981)- Un amour interdit (1984)
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Fernando Rey, the great Spanish movie actor primarily known in the United States for his role as "Frog One" in The French Connection (1971) and its sequel, was born Fernando Casado D'Arambillet on September 20 1917, in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, the son of Colonel Casado Veiga. Originally, the young Fernando intended to become an architect. However, when the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936, his architectural studies were interrupted, and he gained employment as a movie extra. He took the stage name "Fernando Rey" at the beginning of his career, equivalent, in English, to "Fernando King". Eight years after his movie debut, he was cast in his first major speaking role, as the Duke de Alba in José López Rubio's 1944 movie "Eugenia de Montijo".
Rey enjoyed a long and prosperous career as an actor in movies, the theater, radio, and television. He also was a major voice-over artist in Spain, narrating films and dubbing the voices of actors in foreign films. Rey's most fruitful collaboration was with the great director Luis Buñuel, which began during the 1960s and continued thought the 1970s. The films that Rey appeared in for Buñuel' made him an international star, the first produced by the Spanish cinema. By the early 1970s, Rey's career reached its high point, with his co-starring role in "The French Connection" (Best Picture Oscar Winner for 1971) and his starring role in Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) ("The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie", Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner for 1972). Rey followed up these successes by appearing in The French Connection (1971) in 1974, and Buñuel's tandem That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) ("That Obscure Object of Desire"), an art-house hit that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Ironically, in the film, Rey's voice was dubbed into French by Michel Piccoli. That same year, he won the Best Actor prize at Cannes for Carlos Saura' Elisa, My Life (1977).
Many honors came to Rey in the twilight of his career, during the 1980s and 1990s. He was awarded at San Sebastián and Cannes, and was presented with the gold medal of the Spanish Art and Movie Sciences Academy. He became the president of that Academy from 1992 till his death from cancer two years later.Un amour interdit (1984)- Actor
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Saverio Marconi was born on 1 April 1948 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor, known for Ogro (1979), Padre Padrone (1977) and Contraband (1980).Un amour interdit (1984)- Actress
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Emmanuelle Béart was born August 14, 1963, in Gassin, France. She lived with her mother, brothers, and sister on a farm not far from Saint-Tropez in Provence (southern France), because her father, singer and poet Guy Béart, did not want his children to be affected by the glamour world of Paris. When Emmanuelle was thirteen, she saw Romy Schneider in the movie Mado (1976). From that time on, she wanted to be an actress. In Emmanuelle's teens, her parents sent her to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for four years, so she could learn English. There, she was engaged for a Robert Altman movie that was never made. After returning to France, she took drama classes and got her first TV role, in Raison perdue (1984). David Hamilton, the photographer/director, was impressed by her beauty and gave her a role in First Desires (1983). She met her spouse-to-be, Daniel Auteuil, while making Love on the Quiet (1985). The film that made her famous in France was Manon of the Spring (1986), in which she played the role of a blonde shepherd dancing nude in the fields. Director Tom McLoughlin chose her out of 5,000 candidates for her first Hollywood picture, Date with an Angel (1987). Emmanuelle is a very sensitive and a perfectionist. For the part of Camille in the film A Heart in Winter (1992), she took violin lessons for a whole year. Her biggest success was as a nude model in the art film La Belle Noiseuse (1991), which starred Michel Piccoli and was directed by Jacques Rivette.Un amour interdit (1984)- Actor
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One of Hollywood's finest character / "Method" actors, Eli Wallach was in demand for over 60 years (first film/TV role was 1949) on stage and screen, and has worked alongside the world's biggest stars, including Clark Gable, Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner, Peter O'Toole, and Al Pacino, to name but a few.
Wallach was born on 7 December 1915 in Brooklyn, NY, to Jewish parents who emigrated from Poland, and was one of the few Jewish kids in his mostly Italian neighborhood. His parents, Bertha (Schorr) and Abraham Wallach, owned a candy store, Bertha's Candy Store. He went on to graduate with a B.A. from the University of Texas in Austin, but gained his dramatic training with the Actors Studio and the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his debut on Broadway in 1945, and won a Tony Award in 1951 for portraying Alvaro Mangiacavallo in the Tennessee Williams play "The Rose Tattoo".
Wallach made a strong screen debut in 1956 in the film version of the Tennessee Williams play Baby Doll (1956), shined as "Dancer", the nattily dressed hitman, in director Don Siegel's film-noir classic The Lineup (1958), and co-starred in the heist film Seven Thieves (1960). Director John Sturges then cast Wallach as vicious Mexican bandit Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960), the western adaptation of the Akira Kurosawa epic Seven Samurai (1954). The Misfits (1961), in the star-spangled western opus How the West Was Won (1962), the underrated WW2 film The Victors (1963), as a kidnapper in The Moon-Spinners (1964), in the sea epic Lord Jim (1965) and in the romantic comedy How to Steal a Million (1966).
Looking for a third lead actor in the final episode of the "Dollars Trilogy", Italian director Sergio Leone cast the versatile Wallach as the lying, two-faced, money-hungry (but somehow lovable) bandit "Tuco" in the spectacular The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) (aka "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"), arguably his most memorable performance. Wallach kept busy throughout the remainder of the '60s and into the '70s with good roles in Mackenna's Gold (1969), Cinderella Liberty (1973), Crazy Joe (1974), The Deep (1977) and as Steve McQueen's bail buddy in The Hunter (1980).
The 1980s was an interesting period for Wallach, as he was regularly cast as an aging doctor, a Mafia figure or an over-the-hill hitman, such as in The Executioner's Song (1982), Our Family Honor (1985), Tough Guys (1986), Nuts (1987), The Two Jakes (1990) and as the candy-addicted "Don Altabello" in The Godfather Part III (1990). At 75+ years of age, Wallach's quality of work was still first class and into the 1990s and beyond, he has remained in demand. He lent fine support to Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride (1990), Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story (1992), Naked City: Justice with a Bullet (1998) and Keeping the Faith (2000). Most recently Wallach showed up as a fast-talking liquor store owner in Mystic River (2003) and in the comedic drama King of the Corner (2004).
In early 2005, Eli Wallach released his much anticipated autobiography, "The Good, The Bad And Me: In My Anecdotage", an enjoyable reading from one of the screen's most inventive and enduring actors.
Eli Wallach was very much a family man who remained married to his wife Anne Jackson for 66 years. When Wallach died at 98, in 2014, in Manhattan, NY, he was survived by his wife, three children, five grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.L'ultima chance (1975)- Actress
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The quintessential jet-set Euro starlet, Ursula Andress was born in the Swiss canton of Berne on March 19, 1936, one of six children in a strict German Protestant family. Although often seeming icily aloof, a restless streak early demonstrated itself in her personality, and she had an impetuous desire to explore the world outside Switzerland. (For instance, she was tracked down by Interpol for running away from boarding school at 17 years old.) The stunning young woman found work as an art model in Rome and did walk-on parts in three quickie Italian pictures before coming to Hollywood in 1955 and getting nowhere professionally; a four-month fling with rising star James Dean brought her good publicity but not much else. That same year, still just 19, she met and had an affair with fading matinée idol John Derek, who left his wife Pati Behrs and two kids for Ursula even though she spoke almost no English at the time. In 1957 they eloped to Las Vegas, and the new bride put her acting aspirations on hold for a few years thereafter.
1962 saw the relatively unknown Swiss beauty back on the set, playing opposite Sean Connery in the first movie version of Ian Fleming's fanciful "James Bond" espionage novels, Dr. No (1962). Andress' role as bikini-clad Honey Ryder was somewhat brief, and her Swiss/German accent so thick that her entire performance had to be dubbed by a voiceover artist. Nevertheless, her striking looks and smoldering screen presence made a strong impression on moviegoers, immediately establishing her as one of the most desired women in the world and as an ornament to put alongside some of the most bankable talent of the era, such as Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (1963) and Dean Martin in 4 for Texas (1963). In 1965, she was one of several European starlets to co-star in What's New Pussycat (1965) -- a film that perhaps sums up mid-'60s pop culture better than any other -- written by Woody Allen, starring Allen and Peter Sellers, with music by Burt Bacharach, a title song performed by Tom Jones and much on-screen sexual romping.
Andress appeared in many more racy-for-their time movies in both the United States and Europe, including The 10th Victim (1965), in which she wore a famously ballistic bra, and The Blue Max (1966), where she was aptly cast as the sultry, insatiable wife of an aristocratic World War I German general. She was also featured in Casino Royale (1967), a satirical foray into the world of James Bond, and gave a sparkling performance in the T&A-filled crime caper Perfect Friday (1970). Roles as a prostitute kidnapped by outlaws in Red Sun (1971), a stewardess living on the edge in Loaded Guns (1975), and a bombshell nurse hired to titillate a doddering millionaire to death in The Sensuous Nurse (1975) all provided plenty of excuses to throw her clothes to the wind. In Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), she was notoriously stripped and slathered in orange paint by a pair of nubiles. Then she took on the sophisticated role of Louise de la Valliere, slinky, conspiratorial mistress of King Louis XIV (Beau Bridges) in The Fifth Musketeer (1979).
As for her personal life, Andress separated from Derek in 1964 and got divorced two years later, after falling in love with French superstar Jean-Paul Belmondo on the Malaysian set of Up to His Ears (1965). (Ron Ely, John Richardson and Marcello Mastroianni kept her company during the interim.) The relationship with Belmondo hit a wall in 1972, and she was next attached to her leading man from Stateline Motel (1973), Italian heartthrob Fabio Testi. When that didn't work out, Andress jumped into the dating pool, sporadically involved with a host of Lotharios including (but by no means limited to) Dennis Hopper, Franco Nero, John DeLorean and Ryan O'Neal. In 1979, she began what would be a long-term romance with Harry Hamlin, her handsome young co-star from Clash of the Titans (1981) (in which she was cast, predictably, as "Aphrodite"). While subsequently traveling in India, Andress' belly began to swell out of her clothing, and she felt very nauseous. What at first seemed a severe case of "Delhi Belly" turned out to be pregnancy, her first and only, at age 43. Hamlin encouraged her to have the baby, and on May 19, 1980, the international sex symbol gave birth to a boy named Dimitri Hamlin amid much hoopla.
After the birth of her son, Andress scaled back her career, which now focused on slight European productions, as she was raising Dimitri in Italy. This meant turning down a big-budget Mel Brooks film in lieu of Red Bells (1982) (starring old flame Nero). Occasional television stints on the soap opera Falcon Crest (1981) and critically lauded miniseries Peter the Great (1986) helped maintain her visibility as an actress. Dumped by Hamlin in 1983, she started seeing Fausto Fagone, a Sicilian student three decades her junior, in 1986. In 1991, she met a new man when things dwindled with Fagone -- karate master Jeff Speakman. Since the breakup of that relationship, her love life has gone undocumented. She last worked on a film in 2005. Apparently retired from acting, Ursula makes the rounds of charity events and pops up on foreign talk shows every now and then. She divides her time between family in Switzerland, friends in Virginia and Spain, and her properties in Rome and L.A.L'ultima chance (1975)- Actor
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From 1955, Fabio Testi's home town Peschiera del Garda was also home to Bertolazzi Film, a motion picture studio which specialised in the production of colourful pirate movies. Lake Garda was merrily used as the ersatz Caribbean. At Bertolazzi, young Fabio began his career first as an extra, then as a stunt man and body double. As a stunt man, he appeared in the classic westerns The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and (as one of Henry Fonda's minions in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). He started getting small film roles from 1967 and this helped to finance his architectural studies at the Antòn Maria Lorgna Institute in Verona. After graduating, Testa did not became a surveyor as originally planned, but made commercials for Coca Cola and proceeded to further studies at Verona's Academy of Fine Arts to improve his acting. For several years, he appeared in genre films, often lesser spaghetti westerns like One Damned Day at Dawn... Django Meets Sartana! (1970). As a bona fide action hero, his athletic prowess and imposing physique became a definite asset. Nonetheless, still dissatisfied with the roles he was getting, Testi attended diction classes in Cambridge to improve his English and went to London for acting lessons.
Upon his return to Italy, he finally made his breakthrough after being picked by Vittorio De Sica for the role of the ill-fated Giampiero in the Oscar-winning historical drama The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970). In the wake of the picture's success, Testi has alternated between performing in art films by directors like Claude Chabrol and Denys de La Patellière, and genre films of the giallo (What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)) or poliziotteschi/crime variety (Camorra (1972), Revolver (1973), I guappi (1974)). Over the years he has acted alongside international stars like Oliver Reed, Anthony Quinn, Robert Mitchum (in The Ambassador (1984)), Eli Wallach and David Hemmings. By the mid-1980's, Testi was seen more often in television productions. In the 90's, he also turned his attention towards the theatre with a role in a stage adaptation of Federico Fellini's The Road (1954).
Though still very active on the screen, Testi has had the time to sideline as a kiwi farmer, an enterprise which grew from a hobby into a lucrative business (Italy, as a result, becoming Europe's first producer of kiwi fruit). In 2006, Testi ran for political office as Mayor of Verona, representing the conservative Cattolici Liberali Cristiani.
As an unapologetically self-confessed Latin lover type, Testi has made headlines in the press (particularly the Italian gossip press) not only for the work in his chosen profession, but also for a series of well publicized romantic entanglements with actresses Ursula Andress, Edwige Fenech, Jean Seberg and Charlotte Rampling. He was married to the Spanish fashion designer and make-up artist Lola Navarro from 1984 to 1996. His second wife has been art gallery curator Antonella Liguori.L'ultima chance (1975)- Manly, chiseled, exceedingly handsome, very agile Massimo Girotti was an engineering student and polo/swimming star before entering films in 1939. He began auspiciously in serious leads, most notably Roberto Rossellini's Desire (1946), Luchino Visconti's Obsession (1943) and Vittorio De Sica's The Gates of Heaven (1945), while his physical stature and all-round athletism were put to good use in actioneers such as Spartaco (1953) in which he played the pre-Kirk Douglas slave-turned-leader role of Spartacus. By the 60s, however, Girotti was reduced to support roles in swashbuckling adventure and badly-dubbed sand-and-spear spectacles, appearing only occasionally in well-mounted films of quality, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema (1968), Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris (1972) and Visconti's The Innocent (1976). He died only a few weeks before the release of his last film, Ferzan Özpetek's Facing Windows (2003).L'ultima chance (1975)
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Erich von Stroheim was born Erich Oswald Stroheim in 1885, in Vienna, Austria, to Johanna (Bondy), from Prague, and Benno Stroheim, a hatter from Gleiwitz, Germany (now Gliwice, Poland). His family was Jewish.
After spending some time working in his father's hat factory, he emigrated to America around 1909. Working in various jobs he arrived in Hollywood in 1914 and got work in D.W. Griffiths' company as a bit player. America's entry into WW1 enabled him to play sadistic monocled German officers but these roles dried up when the war ended. He turned to writing and directing but his passion for unnecessary detail such as Austrian guards wearing correct and expensively acquired regulation underwear which was never seen in 'Foolish Wives' caused the budget to reach a reported $1 million. Although the film became a hit the final edit was given to others resulting in a third of his footage being cut. Irving Thalberg fired him from 'Merry Go Round' which was completed by Rupert Julien. He then started on 'Greed', which when completed was unreleasable being 42 reels with a running time of 7 hours. It was eventually cut down to 10 reels which still had a striking effect on audiences. 'The Wedding March' was so long that even in it's unfinished state it was released as two separate films in Europe. Gloria Swanson fired him from her production of 'Queen Kelly' when with no sign of the film nearing completion the costs had risen to twice the budget partly due to him re-shooting scenes that had already been passed by the Hays office. She then had to spend a further $200,000 putting the footage into releasable state. It was the end for him as a director, but he made a reasonable success as an actor in the talkies.The Great Gabbo (1929)- The Great Flamarion (1945)
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Mary Beth Hughes' parents separated while she was still a baby. She was brought up by a grandmother whose dearest wish was to make her an actress. As a result, she started her career at an early age while still a high school student. She starred in the stage version of "Alice in Wonderland" then had parts in "Daddy Long Legs" and "A Midsummer's Night Dream" with the Clifford Brooks company. She graduated from a high school in Washington in June 1937. Mary Beth then worked again with the Brooks company in the summer of 1938. The same year, she was offered a contract by MGM first, soon followed by a 20th Century Fox one. By the end of 1949, she sang in night clubs with her husband David Street. She also sang in nightclubs - but alone this time - between 1963 and 1965. It is to be noted that she provisionally left her acting and singing career in 1961 to become a receptionist-technician for an L.A. plastic surgeon.The Great Flamarion (1945)- Actor
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Dan Duryea was educated at Cornell University and worked in the advertising business before pursuing his career as an actor. Duryea made his Broadway debut in the play "Dead End." The critical acclaim he won for his performance as Leo Hubbard in the Broadway production of "The Little Foxes" led to his appearance in the film version, in the same role.The Great Flamarion (1945)- Actor
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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.The Great Flamarion (1945)- Actor
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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.I magliari (1959)- Il comune senso del pudore (1976)
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Cochi Ponzoni was born on 11 March 1941 in Milan, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Cuore di cane (1976), Per vivere meglio, divertitevi con noi (1978) and Sturmtruppen 2 (tutti al fronte) (1982). He is married to ??. They have one child. He was previously married to Alda Capé and ??.Il comune senso del pudore (1976)- Actress
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A sensual, versatile legend of arthouse and grindhouse Italian cinema, Florinda Bolkan was born Florinda Soares Bulcão in Uruburetama, Ceará, Brazil, as the youngest of three children from a Brazilian father and an Indios mother. Her father, diplomat José Pedro Soares Bulcão, died when she was 14, and she began working as a secretary to support her family while attending school and learning English and French. Eventually, she began working as a flight inspector for Varig. In 1967, she visited Rome and was introduced by producer Marina Cicogna (who would become her lover over the next 21 years) to Luchino Visconti, who finally persuaded her to pursue modelling and acting. She quickly landed supporting roles in Crime Thief (1969), Candy (1968) (in which she played a sister to Ringo Starr) and Visconti's The Damned (1969). By this time, Florinda had chosen to use "Bolkan" as her last name, believing it to have more international appeal. Despite eventually becoming fluent in the language, she was usually dubbed in Italian due to her thick accent.
Upon beginning her new career, Bolkan quickly received acclaim as an upcoming talent: for her performance in Love Circle (1969), she shared the Golden Plate prize from the David di Donatello Awards alongside Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. She would win two more David di Donatellos (for Best Actress) during her career, for The Anonymous Venetian (1970) and Cari genitori (1973). Bolkan appeared in two highbrow Italian films that were of considerable importance on an international scale: Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) (winner of the 1970 Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Picture) and the penultimate work of Vittorio De Sica, A Brief Vacation (1973). She also appeared in several lower-budget genre films throughout her prime, including Machine Gun McCain (1969), Detective Belli (1969), A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)_, Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), The Master Touch (1972), Flavia, the Heretic (1974), Footprints on the Moon (1975), The Last House on the Beach (1978) and Collector's Item (1985). Aside from a few international productions, such as The Last Valley (1971), Royal Flash (1975), The Day That Shook the World (1975) and Some Girls (1988), Bolkan rarely worked outside of Italy. By the late 1980s, she had largely left cinema in favour of television and stage productions (such as The Word (1978) and La piovra (1984)), although Eu Não Conhecia Tururu (2000) - her only film as actor, writer, producer and director - received favourable coverage in her home country.
By 2006, Bolkan had retired from acting, and now owns and operates the Villa Voltarina in Bracciano. Her other endeavours aside from acting have included serving as a judge in the 1976 Miss Universe pageant, real estate work, publishing a gourmet cookbook and supporting Italian and Brazilian children in financial need.Il comune senso del pudore (1976)- Actress
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Like many other female Italian film stars, Claudia Cardinale's entry into the business was by way of a beauty pageant. She was 17 years old and studying at the Centro Sperimentale in Rome when she entered a beauty contest, which resulted in her getting a succession of small film roles. Her earthy interpretations of Sicilian women got her noticed by Italian producers, and the combination of her beauty, dark, flashing eyes, explosive sexuality and genuine acting talent virtually guaranteed her stardom. After Careless (1962) she rose to the front ranks of Italian cinema, and became an international star in Federico Fellini's classic 8½ (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni. American audiences may best remember her from her starring role in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).Il comune senso del pudore (1976)- Actor
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Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films and cult saga. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it be Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), or Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), or as the title monster in the Hammer Horror film, The Mummy (1959).
Lee was born in 1922 in London, England, where he and his older sister Xandra were raised by their parents, Contessa Estelle Marie (Carandini di Sarzano) and Geoffrey Trollope Lee, a professional soldier, until their divorce in 1926. Later, while Lee was still a child, his mother married (and later divorced) Harcourt George St.-Croix (nicknamed Ingle), who was a banker. Lee's maternal great-grandfather was an Italian political refugee, while Lee's great-grandmother was English opera singer Marie (Burgess) Carandini.
After attending Wellington College from age 14 to 17, Lee worked as an office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies until 1941 when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force during World War II. Following his release from military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their "Charm School" and playing a number of bit parts in such films as Corridor of Mirrors (1948). He made a brief appearance in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in which his future partner-in-horror Peter Cushing also appeared. Both actors also appeared later in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their horror films together.
Lee had numerous parts in film and television throughout the 1950s. He struggled initially in his new career because he was discriminated as being taller than the leading male actors of his time and being too foreign-looking. However, playing the monster in the Hammer film The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the was successful, leading to him being signed on for future roles in Hammer Film Productions.
Lee's association with Hammer Film Productions brought him into contact with Peter Cushing, and they became good friends. Lee and Cushing often than not played contrasting roles in Hammer films, where Cushing was the protagonist and Lee the villain, whether it be Van Helsing and Dracula respectively in Horror of Dracula (1958), or John Banning and Kharis the Mummy respectively in The Mummy (1959).
Lee continued his role as "Dracula" in a number of Hammer sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. During this time, he co-starred in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), and made numerous appearances as Fu Manchu, most notably in the first of the series The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), and also appeared in a number of films in Europe. With his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, Ltd., Lee made Nothing But the Night (1973) and To the Devil a Daughter (1976).
By the mid-1970s, Lee was tiring of his horror image and tried to widen his appeal by participating in several mainstream films, such as The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974), and the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
The success of these films prompted him in the late 1970s to move to Hollywood, where he remained a busy actor but made mostly unremarkable film and television appearances, and eventually moved back to England. The beginning of the new millennium relaunched his career to some degree, during which he has played Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and as Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee played Count Dooku again in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), and portrayed the father of Willy Wonka, played by Johnny Depp, in the Tim Burton film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
On 16 June 2001, he was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to drama. He was created a Knight Bachelor on 13 June 2009 in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and charity. In addition he was made a Commander of the Order of St John on 16 January 1997.
Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 at 8:30 am after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday there. His wife delayed the public announcement until 11 June, in order to break the news to their family.Katarsis (1963)- Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
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Peter Wilton Cushing was born on May 26, 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, England, to Nellie Maria (King) and George Edward Cushing, a quantity surveyor. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey. At an early age, Cushing was attracted to acting, inspired by his favorite aunt, who was a stage actress. While at school, Cushing pursued his acting interest in acting and also drawing, a talent he put to good use later in his first job as a government surveyor's assistant in Surrey. At this time, he also dabbled in local amateur theater until moving to London to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on scholarship. He then performed in repertory theater in Worthing, deciding in 1939 to head for Hollywood, where he made his film debut in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939). Other Hollywood films included A Chump at Oxford (1940) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Vigil in the Night (1940) and They Dare Not Love (1941). However, after a short stay, he returned to England by way of New York (making brief appearances on Broadway) and Canada. Back in his homeland, he contributed to the war effort during World War II by joining the Entertainment National Services Association.
After the war, he performed in the West End and had his big break appearing with Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948), in which Cushing's future partner-in-horror Christopher Lee had a bit part. Both actors also appeared in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their later horror films. During the 1950s, Cushing became a familiar face on British television, appearing in numerous teleplays, such as 1984 (1954) and Beau Brummell (1954), until the end of the decade when he began his legendary association with Hammer Film Productions in its remakes of the 1930s Universal horror classics. His first Hammer roles included Dr. Frankenstein in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dr. Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958), and Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959).
Cushing continued playing the roles of Drs. Frankenstein and Van Helsing, as well as taking on other horror characters, in Hammer films over the next 20 years. He also appeared in films for the other major horror producer of the time, Amicus Productions, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and its later horror anthologies, a couple of Dr. Who films (1965, 1966), I, Monster (1971), and others. By the mid-1970s, these companies had stopped production, but Cushing, firmly established as a horror star, continued in the genre for some time thereafter.
Perhaps his best-known appearance outside of horror films was as Grand Moff Tarkin in George Lucas' phenomenally successful science fiction film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) was Cushing's last film before his retirement, during which he made a few television appearances, wrote two autobiographies and pursued his hobbies of bird watching and painting. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the acting profession in Britain and worldwide. Peter Cushing died at age 81 of prostate cancer on August 11, 1994.Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)- Actress
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Stephanie Beacham is without a doubt one of Britain's most talented, beautiful and well-known actresses. Despite becoming world famous and an icon of the 1980s due to her role as Sable Colby in the American soap operas Dynasty (1981) and The Colbys (1985) and going on to have starring roles in shows such as Sister Kate (1989), SeaQuest 2032 (1993), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and Bad Girls (1999), Stephanie Beacham had already carved a solid acting career back in her home country. Born in Hertfordshire in southern England, one of the four children of an insurance executive and a housewife, Beacham began an interest in acting at a young age and studied mime at the respected and renowned school of Étienne Decroux in Paris before completing her studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Guest roles on British television followed in the late 1960s such as The Saint (1962) and UFO (1970), however Beacham's breakthrough was her starring role opposite Marlon Brando in the cult horror film The Nightcomers (1971) that brought her critical acclaim and widespread attention. She became a regular staple in British horror films for the remainder of the 1970s and early 1980s such as Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Confessional (1976), Schizo (1976) and Inseminoid (1981), however she was still a commonly seen face on television, such as being given her own soap opera in Marked Personal (1973) as well as regular modelling work. It was in the 1980s however that Beacham's career became supercharged. She had starring roles in the acclaimed television series Tenko (1981) and Connie (1985), the latter gaining particular interest in the US. Beacham moved to Hollywood in the mid-1980s and was given the role of Sable Colby in the ABC soap opera The Colbys (1985), and then joined it's parent show Dynasty (1981) where she remained until the show's cancellation. Both shows made Beacham a household name on both sides of the Atlantic as the glamour-puss wife of Charlton Heston's character Jason and cousin of Joan Collins' Alexis, with the two regularly involved in a 'battle of the bitches' scenario. Following the cancellation of Dynasty, Beacham headlined the sitcom Sister Kate (1989) for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, before going on to have main roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) as Iris McKay, Steven Spielberg's SeaQuest 2032 (1993) as Dr. Kristen Westphalen and Countess Bartholomew in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) as well as film roles opposite Christopher Plummer in Secrets (1992) and Anthony Hopkins in To Be the Best (1991). Beacham maintained a regular presence on television and in theatre both in the US and the UK for the remainder of the 1990s until she played Phyllida Oswyn in the prison series Bad Girls (1999), a role she would play until the show's end in 2006. She would later have parts in films such as Love and Other Disasters (2006), Moving Target (2011) and Wild Oats (2016) and played Martha Fraser in Coronation Street (1960).Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)- Actor
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Born in London, in 1947, he was educated at independent school "King's School" in Canterbury, Kent. He started his film career at the beginning of 70s, as he debuted in Lust for a Vampire (1971), after some TV work, he was noticed in Dracula AD (1972), where he played Christopher Lee's (Dracula) personal assistant Johnny Alucard. From that moment, he usually appeared as a villain. He continued to work on television and he is noted for his work on TV series as "Colditz" (1972-1974), "Edward The King" (1975) and "Secret Army" (1977), and he was also noticed in A Point in Time (1973), where he was noted as the first male actor to have a nude scene on the small screen, and in leading role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1976).
In the 80s he started to work on US films and TV series, some of them being Steel Dawn (1987) and D.O.A. (1988) and "Dynasty" (1981-1989). He returned to UK films with the bit part in James Bond film License to Kill (1989). And he proceed again in US films in Ghostbusters 2 (1989), Edge of Honor (1991), Diplomatic Immunity (1991) and Suburban Commando (1991). He played villains in Street Knight (1993), opposite Jeff Speakman and Hellbound (1994) opposite Chuck Norris.
Neame lives in US, where he still works on television. To mention his guest villain appearances on "The A-Team" (1983-1987), "MacGyver" (1985-1991) and "The Flash" (1990). Neame is one of the very small number of actors to have appeared in both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises. In Neame's case his Doctor Who appearance was never shown on television although it was released on VHS. He played the villain Skagra in the serial Shada, which was partially filmed during Doctor Who's 1979-1980 season but abandoned due to a BBC strike, it was later reconstructed for home video release.
Neame's last works were on Species 3 (2004), Special Ed (2005) and The Prestige (2006). Ta also mention that he is also known for video game work in Star Wars Jedi Knight - Dark Forces (1997), where he played sith called Jerec, he also did a voice work in Star Wars - The old Republic (2011).Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)- Actress
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Patty Duke was born Anna Marie Duke on December 14, 1946 in Elmhurst, Queens County, New York, to Frances Margaret (McMahon), a cashier, and John Patrick Duke, a cab driver and handyman. She was seven eighths Irish and one eighth German. Her acting career began when she was introduced to her brother Ray Duke's managers, John and Ethel Ross. Soon after, Anna Marie became Patty, the actress. Patty started off in commercials, a few movies and some bit parts. Her first big, memorable role came when she was chosen to portray the blind and deaf Helen Keller in the Broadway version of "The Miracle Worker". The play lasted almost two years, from October 19, 1959 to July 1, 1961 (Duke left in May 1961).
In 1962, The Miracle Worker (1962) became a movie and Patty won an Academy Award for best supporting actress. She was 16 years old, making her the youngest person ever to win an Oscar. She then starred in her own sitcom titled The Patty Duke Show (1963). It lasted for three seasons, and Patty was nominated for an Emmy. In 1965, she starred in the movie Billie (1965). It was a success and was the first movie ever sold to a television network. That same year, she married director Harry Falk. Their marriage lasted four years. She starred in Valley of the Dolls (1967), which was a financial but not a critical success. In 1969, she secured a part in an independent film called Me, Natalie (1969). The film was a box-office flop, but she won her second Golden Globe Award for her performance in it. In the early 1970s, she became a mother to actors Sean Astin (with writer Michael Yell) and Mackenzie Astin (with actor John Astin).
In 1976, she won her second Emmy Award for the highly successful mini-series, Captains and the Kings (1976). Other successful TV films followed. She received two Emmy nominations in 1978 for A Family Upside Down (1978) and Having Babies III (1978). She won her third Emmy in the 1979 TV movie version of The Miracle Worker (1979), this time portraying "Annie Sullivan".
In 1982, she was diagnosed with manic-depressive illness. In 1984, she became President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). In 1986, she married Michael Pearce, a drill sergeant whom she met while preparing for a role in the TV movie, A Time to Triumph (1986). In 1987, she wrote her autobiography, "Call Me Anna". In 1989, she and Mike adopted a baby, whom they named "Kevin". Her autobiography became a TV movie in 1990, with Patty playing herself, from her 30s onward. In 1992, she wrote her second book, "A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depression Illness".
Duke had a long and successful career. She was a political advocate on, among other issues, the Equal Rights Amendment, AIDS awareness, and nuclear disarmament. She died on March 29, 2016, aged 69, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, of sepsis from a ruptured intestine.You'll Like My Mother (1972)- Rosemary Murphy was born on 13 January 1925 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and After.Life (2009). She was married to Reginald Marsh. She died on 5 July 2014 in New York City, New York, USA.You'll Like My Mother (1972)
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Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor. He is best known for his leading role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama series The Waltons for which he won an Emmy Award from two nominations and received two Golden Globe Award nominations. He also starred in the 1990 television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic horror novel It and played Special Agent Frank Gaad on FX's spy thriller series The Americans.You'll Like My Mother (1972)- Actress
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Sian Barbara Allen was born Barbara Susan Pokrass in Reading, Pennsylvania, on July 12, 1946. She studied at the Pasadena Playhouse from 1964 to 1965. Her performance as the mentally challenged Kathleen in You'll Like My Mother (1972), opposite Patty Duke, Rosemary Murphy, and Richard Thomas, earned her a 1973 Golden Globe nomination for "Most Promising New Actress." While working on 'You'll Like My Mother,' Allen met and fell in love with the man playing her character's psychopathic brother, actor Richard Thomas. The two began a relationship that lasted for several years in the 1970s. Thomas went on to play John-Boy on the hit TV show The Waltons (1972). When the writers of 'The Waltons' wanted to do a love story for John-Boy in the first season, Thomas suggested that his real-life girlfriend play his onscreen love interest. Allen appeared as Jenny Pendleton in the episode The Love Story (1973), which earned Thomas his Emmy award in 1973, and in The Thanksgiving Story (1973). Allen portrayed the titular character Peggy Johns in the 1973 TV movie Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973), with Bette Davis and Ted Bessell. Allen worked steadily as a TV actress throughout the 1970s, appearing on such shows as The Rockford Files (1974), Ironside (1967), Bonanza (1959), Gunsmoke (1955), and many others. She also wrote a script for an episode of the fourth season of Baretta (1975). Her last onscreen role was in the L.A. Law (1986) episode Whatever Happened to Hannah? (1990). Allen ended her acting career after marrying and giving birth to a daughter. She now channels her creativity into writing. She is the older sister of flash-fiction author, editor, and teacher Meg Pokrass. She lives in Portland, Oregon.You'll Like My Mother (1972)- Described in the press as the heir apparent to James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, Jim Hutton broke out of the pack with his funny, awkward TV Thompson in Where the Boys Are (1960). Son of Col. Thomas R. Hutton and Helen Ryan, his parents divorced when he was an infant. Jim recalled seeing his father only twice before his death, and moved to Albany, New York, in 1938. A bright but troublesome child (claiming to have been in five high schools and a boarding school), he excelled as a writer and won a journalism scholarship when he began writing sports for his high school newspaper. At Syracuse University, he lost his position in the school of journalism (and scholarship) when he was bitten by the acting bug. He subsequently lost academic ambition and failed three classes as a freshman. He used his summers to train in summer stock, but his intentions to continue academic pursuits were ended when he was expelled from Syracuse as a sophomore and again at Niagara College as a junior.
He lived in Greenwich Village for almost a year to pursue a career on the stage, but when out of money and unable to pay his rent or buy food, he joined the army and was assigned to special services to act in training films. He was later stationed in Berlin, where he founded the American Community Theater, by renovating an abandoned theater for a GI production of the play "Harvey" (which he starred in). Receiving high praise from officers including official commendation, his superior officer agreed to assign Hutton to manage the theater as part of his official duties and he produced, directed, and acted in five productions over two years, receiving the European Theater Award for Best GI Theater. One of his productions, The Caine Mutiny (1954), received the attention of director Douglas Sirk, who offered him the significant role of "Hirschland" in A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) as a young Nazi who commits suicide. Using his entire military leave to film for 22 days, Universal was so impressed they offered him a contract, but he still had 18 months of service. Within five days of his military discharge, he had married and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career, but by then the offer was off the table from Universal. He eventually landed at MGM. The first role of significance to get attention (and use his new stage name of Jim Hutton) was the first season The Twilight Zone (1959) episode, And When the Sky Was Opened (1959), which earned the newbie good notice within the industry. Eventually, he landed his breakout role of "TV Thompson" in Where the Boys Are (1960), paired with new-comer Paula Prentiss. He came in third in 1960's Golden Laurel Awards Top Male New Personality, was named one of Motion Picture Herald's Stars of Tomorrow, was a Photoplay Favorite Male Newcomer nominee, and Screen World Award winner for Most Promising Personality.
Prentiss and Jim Hutton were immediately paired into three other films, The Honeymoon Machine (1961), Bachelor in Paradise (1961), and The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962). But despite their likable personalities and on-screen chemistry, none of the films captured the magic of the first film. Frustrated, Hutton campaigned for the lead in Period of Adjustment and then refused jobs for 15 months until MGM agreed to give him better roles or dissolve their exclusive contract. He agreed to appear with Connie Francis in the film Looking for Love (1964) if he were let go to pursue work independently.
Once free from contracts, he was selected by Sam Peckinpah for the role of the young lieutenant in Major Dundee (1965). Dundee's turbulent production was the primary subject of reviews, yet the subsequent reassessment of the flawed film (particularly by Peckinpah scholars) has garnered Hutton posthumous praise for his youthful and exuberant performance. "Dundee" was followed by several acting veterans taking an interest in the underused actor's career, including Burt Lancaster in The Hallelujah Trail (1965), Cary Grant in Walk Don't Run (1966), and John Wayne in The Green Berets (1968). Like his later-appreciated performance in "Dundee", his role in The Green Berets (1968) was overlooked due to the film's controversial political stance on Vietnam. Yet, it has become common to see Hutton's performance as one of the bright spots in the film, thanks to his ability to incorporate his natural comic skills and cocky swagger into the role of wartime cynical scavenger who becomes the heroic adoptive father of a Vietnamese orphan. His work in these films, and leading roles in the underrated heist farce, Who's Minding the Mint? (1967), showed his growth as an actor. However, when all three of his 1965 releases flopped at the box office, his Hollywood stock took a major tumble, particularly when Gene Kelly dropped him from the lead in of A Guide for the Married Man (1967), one month before production started.
Film roles dried up and he was relegated to TV work, which coincided with what he called an eight-year depression. It wasn't until 1975 that he experienced a career comeback with the cult detective series Ellery Queen (1975), which coincided with an upturn of theater work and reunion with his son, actor Timothy Hutton, who moved in with him at this time at 15 years old. Tragically, his comeback didn't last long, as he died of liver cancer in 1979, two days after his 45th birthday.Ellery Queen (1975) - Actor
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His father was an insurance executive; his mother died when he was four. He attended Western Michigan University then worked as a statistician in Cleveland where he joined a Shakespeare repertory company. Two years later he had a minor role in "The American Way" in New York. He was rejected by the army in World War II but volunteered as an ambulance driver in North Africa. He returned to critical acclaim on Broadway (Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill). He was the earned a Tony award for acting ("Finian's Rainbow", 1947) for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He moved to Los Angeles in 1977 though his movie credits go back to Portrait of Jennie (1948) and Adam's Rib (1949). Among his many television roles were a bank official in his own comedy series, Norby (1955), James Merrick, a heart patient in the episode Heartbeat (1957), the part of Inspector Queen in the Manfred Lee's Ellery Queen (1975) series and of "Digger" Barnes in Dallas (1978). In his last feature film, he played an inquisitive but slightly senile train conductor in the irreverent comedy, " Finders Keepers"(1985).Ellery Queen (1975)- Actor
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Tom Reese (real name: Tom Allen) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on August 8, 1928; his father and uncle were country-western singers, "The Chattanooga Boys," traveling around performing their bluegrass music with the family, including Tom, in tow. Around 1940 the Allens relocated to New York, where Tom's dad supported the family working as a steelworker in the daytime and a singing waiter at night. Tom later held the expected assortment of odd jobs (Automat busboy, usher, etc.) in New York, and (starting at 17) served two tours of duty in the Marine Corps. He later studied dramatics at the American Theater Wing under the G.I. Bill and spent 15 years on the road working nightclubs (emceeing, doing stand-up, etc.). He studied with Lee Strasberg, did some work off-Broadway and in local TV shows and made his film bow in John Cassavetes' New York-made Shadows (1958). Cassavetes also had Reese fly out to Hollywood to play a part in an episode of his detective series Johnny Staccato (1959), Reese's Hollywood debut. He was ready to return to New York after doing the show but an agent signed him "and I've been here [California] ever since." His first major film was Flaming Star (1960), an Elvis Presley western and the start of Reese's long career in big- and small-screen oaters,including Gunsmoke (1955) Bonanza (1959), The Virginian (1962), Rawhide (1959), Branded (1965).Ellery Queen (1975)- Actor
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John Hillerman, who most famously played the impeccably urbane Englishman Jonathan Quayle Higgins III (VC !) -- Tom Selleck's sophisticated majordomo in Magnum, P.I. (1980) --, was of French, German and Austrian descent, raised in a small Texas town and educated at a Catholic high school. He majored in journalism at the University of Texas, enlisted in the Air Force and spent the period from 1953 to 1957 stationed at Ft. Worth. There, he unexpectedly landed a choice role in a community theatre production of "Death of a Salesman" and discovered acting to be to his liking. Having a photographic memory benefited Hillerman greatly, as it enabled him to learn his lines quickly. He professed to be able to memorize a page of dialogue in the space of a minute. There remained the problem of his Texas accent, however. Following demobilization, he traveled to New York where it took him a year to lose his drawl, studying elocution under the tutelage of voice coach Fanny Bradshaw (who encouraged him to listen to recordings of Laurence Olivier reciting "Hamlet"). All the while, Hillerman lived the life of a typical struggling actor, having taken up residence in a lower East Side tenement and living on home-made turkey soup. After fifteen years of stage work and with a meager $700 to his name, he decided to try to change his luck by making the journey to Hollywood.
His first major break came when he was picked for a small part in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971)). From then on he was rarely out of work, although initially tasked with only smallish supporting roles. By the mid-70s, after memorable back-to-back turns in Blazing Saddles (1974) and Chinatown (1974), Hillerman had established his credentials. His first opportunity to shine in a recurring TV role was as pompous radio sleuth Simon Brimmer ("Policemen snoop, without a glimmer. To solve the case, call Simon Brimmer...") who persistently got it all very wrong in TV's Ellery Queen (1975). A self-declared Anglophile with a solid acting background in plays by Noël Coward, he fairly jumped at the chance to portray Selleck's genteel sidekick Higgins in "Magnum" which was to become his personal favorite and career-defining role.Ellery Queen (1975)- Writer
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A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both later turned into films (Patterns (1956) and Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)). The Twilight Zone (1959) featured forays into controversial grounds like racism, Cold War paranoia and the horrors of war. His maverick attitude eventually drove him from regular network television.The Twilight Zone (1959)- Actor
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Robert McCord was born on 24 February 1915 in Sac City, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), Yancy Derringer (1958) and The Wild Wild West (1965). He was married to Wanda Penniman. He died on 1 October 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.The Twilight Zone (1959)- Jay Overholts was born on 30 November 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), Playhouse 90 (1956) and Gunsmoke (1955). He died on 25 April 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.The Twilight Zone
- Reedy, balding, often bespectacled American character actor with pencil-thin moustache, once described as the man with TV's 'most deceptive face'. He looked like - and was - a certified public accountant, graduate from Northeastern University. A struggling actor in his youth, he worked in stock, tent shows and on radio. After army service in World War II, he became a prolific performer in early anthology series on television (eg. Kraft Theatre (1947) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950)), though he continued to alternate these with appearances on the New York stage. He was also glimpsed in movies, invariably in small supporting roles, most notably as Deacon Davis in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and as George Lowery, boss to doomed Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960).
Vaughn reserved his best for the small screen, where he showed his versatility in genial or waspish roles, often as doctors, judges and bankers. He was capable of portraying benevolence as easily as taking on the mantle of greedy or corrupt attorneys, or second-string grifters. He also played George 'Pa' Barker, in an episode of The Untouchables (1959)). Among his numerous TV credits, his five journeys into The Twilight Zone (1959) stand out in particular.
Severe spinal deterioration brought about Vaughn's retirement from acting in 1976. His wife of many years, Ruth Moss, a fellow graduate of the Leland Powers School, was a noted Boston radio personality and Broadway actress.The Twilight Zone (1959) - Actor
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Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz, the eldest of three children of Helen (Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz, Jewish immigrants from Hungary. Curtis himself admits that while he had almost no formal education, he was a student of the "school of hard knocks" and learned from a young age that the only person who ever had his back was himself, so he learned how to take care of both himself and younger brother, Julius. Curtis grew up in poverty, as his father, Emanuel, who worked as a tailor, had the sole responsibility of providing for his entire family on his meager income. This led to constant bickering between Curtis's parents over money, and Curtis began to go to movies as a way of briefly escaping the constant worries of poverty and other family problems. The financial strain of raising two children on a meager income became so tough that in 1935, Curtis's parents decided that their children would have a better life under the care of the state and briefly had Tony and his brother admitted to an orphanage. During this lonely time, the only companion Curtis had was his brother, Julius, and the two became inseparable as they struggled to get used to this new way of life. Weeks later, Curtis's parents came back to reclaim custody of Tony and his brother, but by then Curtis had learned one of life's toughest lessons: the only person you can count on is yourself.
In 1938, shortly before Tony's Bar Mitzvah, tragedy struck when Tony lost the person most important to him when his brother, Julius, was hit by a truck and killed. After that tragedy, Curtis's parents became convinced that a formal education was the best way Tony could avoid the same never-knowing-where-your-next-meal-is-coming-from life that they had known. However, Tony rejected this because he felt that learning about literary classics and algebra wasn't going to advance him in life as much as some real hands-on life experience would. He was to find that real-life experience a few years later, when he enlisted in the navy in 1942. Tony spent over two years getting that life experience doing everything from working as a crewman on a submarine tender, the USS Proteus (AS-19), to honing his future craft as an actor performing as a sailor in a stage play at the Navy Signalman School in Illinois.
In 1945, Curtis was honorably discharged from the navy, and when he realized that the GI Bill would allow him to go to acting school without paying for it, he now saw that his lifelong pipe dream of being an actor might actually be achievable. Curtis auditioned for the New York Dramatic Workshop, and after being accepted on the strength of his audition piece (a scene from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in pantomime), Curtis enrolled in early 1947. He then began to pay his dues by appearing in a slew of stage productions, including "Twelfth Night" and "Golden Boy". He then connected with a small theatrical agent named Joyce Selznick, who was the niece of film producer David O. Selznick. After seeing his potential, Selznick arranged an interview for Curtis to see David O. Selznick at Universal Studios, where Curtis was offered a seven-year contract. After changing his name to what he saw as an elegant, mysterious moniker--"Tony Curtis" (named after the novel Anthony Adverse (1936) by Hervey Allen and a cousin of his named Janush Kertiz)--Curtis began making a name for himself by appearing in small, offbeat roles in small-budget productions. His first notable performance was a two-minute role in Criss Cross (1949), with Burt Lancaster, in which he makes Lancaster jealous by dancing with Yvonne De Carlo. This offbeat role resulted in Curtis's being typecast as a heavy for the next few years, such as playing a gang member in City Across the River (1949).
Curtis continued to build up a show reel by accepting any paying job, acting in a number of bit-part roles for the next few years. It wasn't until late 1949 that he finally got the chance to demonstrate his acting flair, when he was cast in an important role in an action western, Sierra (1950). On the strength of his performance in that movie, Curtis was finally cast in a big-budget movie, Winchester '73 (1950). While he appears in that movie only very briefly, it was a chance for him to act alongside a Hollywood legend, James Stewart.
As his career developed, Curtis wanted to act in movies that had social relevance, ones that would challenge audiences, so he began to appear in such movies as Spartacus (1960) and The Defiant Ones (1958). He was advised against appearing as the subordinate sidekick in Spartacus (1960), playing second fiddle to the equally famous Kirk Douglas. However, Curtis saw no problem with this because the two had recently acted together in dual leading roles in The Vikings (1958).Son of Ali Baba (1952)- The Midnight Story (1957)
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Maria Luisa Pierangeli and her twin sister Anna Maria were born in Sardinia, Italy. They were fraternal twins with different personalities as well. Anna Maria was dreamy and innocent; Maria Luisa was independent and studious. They moved to Rome in the late 1940s. In 1948 their lives changed when director Vittorio De Sica cast Anna in Tomorrow Is Too Late (1950). In 1950 the family moved to Hollywood, where Anna Maria changed her name to Pier Angeli.
Marisa was not interested in acting, but was cast by John Ford in What Price Glory (1952) starring James Cagney. She changed her last name to Pavan, the name of a Jewish officer her family had hidden from the Nazis during World War 2. Marisa signed a contract with Fox, but was relieved when it was broken. She wanted a wider choice of roles than her sister. Pavan's performance in The Rose Tattoo (1955) supporting Italian icon Anna Magnani, earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
She lost interest in Hollywood while filming Solomon and Sheba (1959). She remembered it as a bad experience, and not just because costar Tyrone Power died during the filming. Pavan turned her attention to television in the 1960s. She and husband Jean-Pierre Aumont toured America and Europe in plays and musicals, including "Gigi". Later in France, she returned to film.
As of 2018, Pavan lives in the South of France. Marisa is the founder and director of URMA (Unis pour la Recherche sur la Maladie d'Alzheimer), an organization she created to support research working to find treatments for Alzheimer's.The Midnight Story (1957)- Actor
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Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso, later known as Gilbert Roland, was born in 1905 in Mexico. Following his parents to the USA, he did not become the bullfighter he had dreamed of being but became an actor instead. His Mexican roots, his half macho half romantic ways, his handsome virile figure helped him land roles in movies from the early twenties to 1982. A long and varied career in which Roland was in turns an extra, a matinée idol (Armand Duval in Camille (1926)), a Latin Lover, a star of English-speaking films made in Hollywood in the early 1930s, a Mexican bandit in B-Movies, The Cisco Kid in a series of six popular Westerns, a brilliant character in major A movies (John Huston's We Were Strangers (1949), Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful (1952); Anthony Mann's Thunder Bay (1953), John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn (1964)), a sinister character in Spaghetti Westerns... When he retired in 1982, twelve years before he died, he could be satisfied. His career had spanned six decades, the coming of sound had not ended it, he had played in all kinds of movies, he had held the most beautiful women in his arms, and maybe the most important thing, he had been given the opportunity to show his acting talents. Not every actor can boast such a life achievement.The Midnight Story (1957)- Actor
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Jay C. Flippen could probably be characterized these days as one of those craggy, distinctive faces you know but whose name escapes you while viewing scores of old 1950s and 1960s films and television series. Playing both sides of the law throughout his career, his huge cranium, distinctive bulldog mug, beetle brows, bulky features, usually scowling countenance, and silver-white hair were ideally suited for roles as criminals and rugged adventurers, while his background as a standup comedian in burlesque, vaudeville and minstrel shows.
He was born John Constantine Flippen on March 6, 1899, in Little Rock, Arkansas. His father, John (a bookkeeper), died in 1908. Flippen's older sister, Era, died a year later (in 1909). His mother, Emma L. Flippen (née Pack), earned an income as a dance and theatre instructor. His maternal grandmother, Mary Pack, lived with the family. Picking up on his mother's artistic interests, Flippen joined the Al G. Field Minstrels at age 16. He was discovered by African-American star comedian Bert Williams in the 1920s, and was Williams' Broadway black face understudy and tour replacement for the 1920 musical revue "Broadway Brevities". Between 1924-29, he recorded scores of songs for Pathé Columbia, Perfect, and Brunswick Records. A veteran radio announcer for Yankee baseball games, Flippen was a lifelong baseball fan who forged friendships with several major league baseball stars. He also appeared on Broadway throughout the mid-1920s (and after), including "June Days" (1925), "Hello, Lola" (1926), "The Great Temptation" (1926), "Padlocks of 1927" (1927), "Second Little Show" (1930), the musical "Hellzapoppin'" (1941), and "Take a Bow" (1944).
Flippen made his film debut in the short The Ham What Am (1928), which captured a vaudeville performance, followed by a few other early 1930's shorts. He didn't move strongly into feature films until post-World War II where he could be counted on to provide his patented gruff and bluster in primarily war stories, film noir, and westerns whether playing a sheriff, farmer, cop, prison warden, military high-ranker or bartender. After playing Hodges, a guard, in Brute Force (1947), he appeared in such other crime yarns as Intrigue (1947), They Live by Night (1948), A Woman's Secret (1949), The Las Vegas Story (1952), The Wild One (1953), The Killing (1956), The Midnight Story (1957), Studs Lonigan (1960) and, The Seven Minutes (1971). His also dominated in such westerns as The Lady from Texas (1951), Devil's Canyon (1953), Man Without a Star (1955), Oklahoma! (1955) (as Ike Skidmore), The Restless Breed (1957), Run of the Arrow (1957), The Deerslayer (1957), From Hell to Texas (1958), and The Plunderers (1960).
Flippen supported many a top Hollywood male star during his four-decade film career. His atmospheric characters notably supported James Stewart in several of his top-notch vehicles, including Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), Thunder Bay (1953), The Far Country (1954), Strategic Air Command (1955), The Restless Breed (1957), Night Passage (1957), and Firecreek (1968). He was a regular player on 1960s television as well, including Bonanza (1959), The Untouchables (1959), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Route 66 (1960), Burke's Law (1963), Gunsmoke (1955), Rawhide (1959), That Girl (1966), and The Name of the Game (1968). He also co-starred as an Chief Petty Officer in Ensign O'Toole (1962).
In later years, Flippen was dogged by illness. While filming his sheriff role in the classic comedy western Cat Ballou (1965), he had to have his leg amputated after a minor scrape, probably aggravated by diabetes, turned into a severe infection. He continued his career often in a wheelchair. His latest television roles were on episodes of The Virginian (1962), Here Come the Brides (1968), and Ironside (1967).The Midnight Story (1957)- Actor
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Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. His break came when John Ford noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master (1950). He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981)- Actor
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Dub Taylor was born on 26 February 1907 in Richmond, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Getaway (1972), The Wild Bunch (1969) and You Can't Take It with You (1938). He was married to Florence Gertrude Heffernan. He died on 3 October 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981)- Ann Wedgeworth was born January 21, 1934 in Abilene, Texas to Cortus and Elizabeth Wedgeworth, she graduated from from Highland Park High School in University Park, and later graduated from the University of Texas in 1957. After graduation, Ann moved to New York City and auditioned several times before she was admitted to The Actors Studio. Her debut film appearance was in Andy (1965), and for the past four decades she took supporting roles in several films, and earned two NSFC Award nominations for her performances in Citizens Band (1977) and Sweet Dreams (1985).Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981)
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This most consummate, vibrant and versatile actress established a distinguished reputation on the stage, in films and on TV. The former Miss Chicago of 1948 beauty pageant winner and Miss America semifinalist was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Her family was impoverished and her parents divorced early on. Young Lois used make-believe to escape her reality by creating small plays in her backyard, which led to an affinity with the idea of acting. Having set her sights on the stage she joined a community theatre at the tender age of eleven and appeared on local radio and television. She later continued her training at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and then studied 'the method' at the Actors' Studio in New York City, eventually making her Broadway debut in Dalton Trumbo's "The Biggest Thief in Town" (1948) using the stage moniker "Lydia Scott" (her given name, she felt, was too plain and sounded "schoolmarmy").
Lois was understudy to Barbara Bel Geddes for the role of "Maggie the Cat" in the original 1955 Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer-Prize winning "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", staged by Elia Kazan. Occasionally, she got to play "Maggie", herself. Of her (own personal favourite) role as Blanche DuBois in the 1973 stage production of "A Streetcar Named Desire", New York Times critic Clive Barnes wrote: ""Miss Nettleton plays Blanche as a woman of nearly unshatterable courage." Williams himself called her one of the greatest actresses with whom he had ever worked. Not surprisingly then, that the self-confessed method actress went on to win the prestigious Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in "God and Kate Murphy".
Lois was married for seven years to Jean Shepherd, a radio host and television humorist. She and Shepherd clicked after she called his nightly radio show at WOR in the 1950s and the beguiled Shepherd broadcast their telephone conversations on the air. They later appeared together in Shepherd's off-Broadway play "Look Charlie" in 1959.
While her official film debut came in the 1962 adaptation of Tennessee Williams's "Period of Adjustment", Lois had previously played a bit part in Elia Kazan's classic A Face in the Crowd (1957), scripted by Budd Schulberg. She subsequently acted in many movies, but most of her best work was on stage and in television where she appeared in everything from sitcoms to soap operas. In a 1985 interview she referred to herself as 'a gypsy actress', saying "I always wanted to be as different in everything as possible". Consistently selective, on the lookout for 'interesting' characters and mature roles to play, she tackled pretty much every genre -- even playing one of Londo Mollari's bitchy wives in Babylon 5 (1993). She gave a particularly fine performances in the classic 1961 "Midnight Sun" episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). She declared her own personal favourite screen role to have been that of the Israeli prosecutor (opposite Maximilian Schell) in the American Film Theater production of The Man in the Glass Booth (1975). Roger Ebert for the New York Times wrote "She has a steadiness and intelligence and doesn't back down. She's the closest thing the film has to a moral center."
A charming and gracious actress, Lois was nominated six-times for Emmy Awards. She won twice for her TV work: for the daytime special The American Woman: Portraits of Courage (1976) and for "A Gun for Mandy" (1983), an episode of the syndicated religious anthology Insight (1960).Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981)- Wendy Hiller, daughter of Frank and Marie Hiller, was born on 15th August 1912 in Bramhall, near Stockport, Cheshire, England. She was educated at Winceby House School, Bexhill then moved on to Manchester Repertory Theatre. She appeared on stage in Sir John Barry's tour of Evensong, then as Sally Hardcastle in Love on the Dole. She toured extensively, playing in London and New York. She took leading parts in Pygmalion and Saint Joan at the Malvern Festival in 1936.Miss Morison's Ghosts (1981)
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Hannah Gordon was born on 9 April 1941 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for The Elephant Man (1980), Watership Down (1978) and Made of Honor (2008). She is married to Robert Lampitt. She was previously married to Norman Warwick.Miss Morison's Ghosts (1981)- Bosco Hogan was born in March 1949 in Drogheda, Ireland. He is an actor, known for The Professor and the Madman (2019), Count Dracula (1977) and The Last Duel (2021).Miss Morison's Ghosts (1981)
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Niall Toibin was born in Cork, Ireland in 1929. Married Judy Kenny (1931-2001) in 1957. Five children and six grand-children. He has had an illustrious acting career spanning over four decades. On October 29 2002 he received the CFT Excellence Award for Best Actor.Miss Morison's Ghosts (1981)- Actor
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George Harris Kennedy, Jr. was born on February 18, 1925 in New York City, to Helen (Kieselbach), a ballet dancer, and George Harris Kennedy, an orchestra leader and musician. Following high school graduation, Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 with the hope to become a fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps. Instead, he wound up in the infantry, served under General George S. Patton and distinguished himself with valor. He won two Bronze Stars and four rows of combat and service ribbons.
A World War II veteran, Kennedy at one stage in his career cornered the market at playing tough, no-nonsense characters who were either quite crooked or possessed hearts of gold. Kennedy notched up an impressive 200+ appearances in both television and films, and was well respected within the Hollywood community. He started out on television Westerns in the late 1950s and early 1960s (Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Rawhide (1959), Maverick (1957), Colt .45 (1957), among others) before scoring minor roles in films including Lonely Are the Brave (1962), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).
The late 1960s was a very busy period for Kennedy, and he was strongly in favor with casting agents, appearing in Hurry Sundown (1967), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and scoring an Oscar win as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Cool Hand Luke (1967). The disaster film boom of the 1970s was also kind to Kennedy and his talents were in demand for Airport (1970) and the three subsequent sequels, as a grizzled police officer in Earthquake (1974), plus the buddy/road film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) as vicious bank robber Red Leary.
The 1980s saw Kennedy appear in a mishmash of roles, playing various characters; however, Kennedy and Leslie Nielsen surprised everyone with their comedic talents in the hugely successful The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), and the two screen veterans exaggerate themselves again, in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). From 1988-1991, he also played Ewing family nemesis Carter McKay on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas (1978).
Kennedy also played President Warren G. Harding in the miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979) and had a long standing role on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless (1973). He remained busy in Hollywood and lent his distinctive voice to the animated Cats Don't Dance (1997) and the children's action film Small Soldiers (1998). A Hollywood stalwart for nearly 50 years, he is one of the most enjoyable actors to watch on screen. His last role was in the film The Gambler (2014), as Mark Wahlberg's character's grandfather.
George Kennedy died of natural causes in Middleton, Idaho on February 28, 2016, only ten days after his 91st birthday.The Jupiter Menace (1982)