Progs

1. Roy Marsden

Actor | The Sandbaggers

Marsden's credits are numerous and span a half century of widely, and wildly, different genres and character types. Not the least is his portrayal of the mysterious and mystical character John Stockton in the long-running ITV series The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991) starring Jeremy Brett. In ...

2. Sidney Lumet

Director | 12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...

3. Jimmy McGovern

Writer | The Street

Jimmy McGovern was born in September 1949 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for The Street (2006), Cracker (1993) and Moving On (2009).

4. Robert Lindsay

Actor | Fierce Creatures

Robert Lindsay was born on December 13, 1949 in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Fierce Creatures (1997), My Family (2000) and G.B.H. (1991). He has been married to Rosemarie Ford since December 31, 2006. They have two children. He was previously married to Cheryl Hall.

5. Steve Coogan

Actor | Philomena

Steve Coogan was born on October 14, 1965 in Middleton, Manchester, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Philomena (2013), Alan Partridge (2013) and 24 Hour Party People (2002). He was previously married to Caroline Hickman.

6. Hugh Grant

Actor | Love Actually

Hugh Grant, one of Britain's best known faces, has been equally entertaining on-screen as well as in real life, and has had enough sense of humor to survive a media frenzy. He is known for his roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), with Andie MacDowell, Notting Hill (1999), opposite Julia ...

7. Vanessa Redgrave

Actress | Coriolanus

On January 30, 1937, renowned theatre actor Michael Redgrave was performing in a production of Hamlet in London. During the curtain call, the show's lead, Laurence Olivier, announced to the audience: "tonight a great actress was born". This was in reference to his co-star's newborn daughter, ...

8. Oliver Stone

Director | JFK

Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.

William Oliver Stone was ...

9. Ken Loach

Director | I, Daniel Blake

Unlike virtually all his contemporaries, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it's virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating well to that context.

After studying law at St. Peter's College, Oxford, he branched out into ...

10. Barry Levinson

Director | Rain Man

Barry Lee Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Violet (Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in furniture and appliance. He is of Russian Jewish descent. Levinson graduated from high school in 1960, attended college at American University in Washington, DC. He did well, but decided he ...

11. Carl Foreman

Writer | The Guns of Navarone

Carl Foreman was born on July 23, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Guns of Navarone (1961), High Noon (1952) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). He was married to Estelle Barr and Evelyn Smith. He died on June 26, 1984 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, ...

12. Robert Redford

Actor | The Natural

Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Redford, Charles Robert Redford, Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of ...

13. Abraham Polonsky

Writer | Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here

Writer-director Abraham Lincoln Polonsky, one of the most prominent victims of the Hollywood blacklisting of communists and social progressives in the post-World War II period, was born on December 5, 1910, in New York, New York. An unreconstructed Marxist, Polonsky never hid his membership in the ...

14. Brian Dennehy

Actor | First Blood

Imposing, barrel-chested and often silver-haired Brian Dennehy was a prolific US actor, well respected on both screen and stage over many decades. He was born in July 1938 in Bridgeport, CT, and attended Columbia University in New York City on a football scholarship. Brian majored in history, ...

15. Norman Jewison

Director | Jesus Christ Superstar

Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...

16. Diane Abbott

Actress | Black Cab

Diane Abbott was born on September 27, 1953 in Paddington, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Black Cab (2000), The All Star Impressions Show (2009) and Babyfather (2001). She was previously married to David Thompson.

17. Tam Dalyell

Self | This Question of Pressures

Tam Dalyell was born on August 9, 1932 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He died on January 26, 2017 in Scotland, UK.

18. Alexander Dubcek

Self | Sprízneni volbou

Alexander Dubcek (27 November 1921 - 7 November 1992) was a Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) (de factors leader of Czechoslovakia) from January 1968 to April 1969. He attempted to reform the ...

19. Robin Cook

Self | The London Programme

Robin Cook was born on February 28, 1946 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK. He was married to Gaynor Regan and Margaret Katherine Whitmore. He died on August 6, 2005 in Ben Stack, near Laxford Bridge, Highland, Scotland, UK.

20. Paul Foot

Actor | Private Eye TV

Paul Foot was born on November 8, 1937 in Haifa, Palestine. He was an actor and writer, known for Private Eye TV (1971), Horizon (1964) and Thinking Aloud (1984). He was married to Roseanne Harvey and Monica Beckinsale. He died on July 18, 2004 in Stansted, Essex, England, UK.

21. David Dellinger

Actor | Ethan Frome

David Dellinger was born on August 22, 1915 in Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Ethan Frome (1992), Ten for Two: The John Sinclair Freedom Rally (1972) and The Source (1999). He was married to Elizabeth Peterson. He died on May 25, 2004 in Montpelier, Vermont, USA.

22. John Steinbeck

Writer | Lifeboat

John Steinbeck was the third of four children and the only son born to John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. His father was County Treasurer and his mother, a former schoolteacher. John graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and attended classes at Stanford University, leaving in 1925 ...

23. Amilcar Cabral

Self | Festival panafricain d'Alger

Amilcar Cabral was born on September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau. He was married to Maia Helena Rodrigues and Ana Maria Voss de si. He died on January 20, 1973 in Conakry, Guinea.

24. Gamal Abdel Nasser

Self | Put mira

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 attempt on his life by a Muslim ...

25. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Writer | Diarios de motocicleta

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born to a middle-class family in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, on June 14, 1928. Disgusted by the corrupt Argentine military dictatorship, Guevara became a dedicated Marxist while in his teens. As a student he vowed to devote his life to revolutionary causes...

26. Dick Gregory

Actor | The Hot Chick

Dick Gregory was born on October 12, 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Hot Chick (2002), The Leisure Seeker (2017) and Reno 911! (2003). He was married to Lillian Gregory. He died on August 19, 2017 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

27. Philip Agee

Self | The War on Democracy

Philip Agee was born on July 19, 1935 in Tacoma Park, Florida, USA. He was married to Giselle Roberge and Janet Wasserberger. He died on January 7, 2008 in Havana, Cuba.

28. Arthur Scargill

Self | I've Got a Secret

Arthur Scargill was born on January 11, 1938 in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, UK. He was previously married to Anne Harper.

29. Fidel Castro

Actor | Araaayyyyy!!!

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in Birán, Holguin Province, Cuba, the fifth of nine children of Ángel María Bautista Castro y Argiz, a plantation owner originally from Galicia, Spain, who operated a plantation in Cuba's Oriente Province. His mother, Lina Ruz González, was a servant in his ...

30. Michael Foot

Writer | The Biter Bit

Michael Foot was born on July 23, 1913 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Biter Bit (1943), Yellow Caesar (1941) and Young Veteran (1940). He was married to Jill Craigie. He died on March 3, 2010 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.

31. Tariq Ali

Producer | Partition

Tariq Ali was born on October 21, 1943 in Lahore, Punjab, British India [now Pakistan]. He is a producer and writer, known for Partition (1987), The Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree and Wittgenstein (1993).

32. Ed Vulliamy

Editor | World in Action

Ed Vulliamy was born on August 1, 1954 in Notting Hill, London, England, UK. He is an editor, known for World in Action (1963), Dispatches (1987) and Democracy Now! (2001).

33. Gabriel Byrne

Actor | The Usual Suspects

Byrne was the eldest of six children born to a family in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a cooper and his mother a hospital worker. He was raised Catholic and educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. He spent five years of his childhood in a seminary training to be a Catholic priest. He later said...

34. Miguel Littin

Director | La Última Luna

Miguel Littin was born on August 9, 1942 in Palmilla, Colchagua, VI Region, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for La Última Luna (2005), Letters from Marusia (1975) and Jackal of Nahueltoro (1969). He has been married to Ely Menz since 1963. They have one child.

35. Nick Broomfield

Director | Ghosts

Nick Broomfield was born on January 30, 1948 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Ghosts (2006), Battle for Haditha (2007) and Aileen Wuornos: Selling of a Serial Killer (1992).

36. Ron Fricke

Cinematographer | Samsara

Ron Fricke is known for Samsara (2011), Baraka (1992) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).

37. John Pilger

Writer | The War You Don't See

John Pilger was born on October 9, 1939 in Bondi, New South Wales, Australia. He was a writer and director, known for The War You Don't See (2010), The World About Us (1967) and Heroes: A John Pilger Report (1981). He was married to Scarth Flett. He died on December 30, 2023 in London, England, UK.

38. Allan Francovich

Director | On Company Business

Allan Francovich was born on March 23, 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for On Company Business (1980), The Houses Are Full of Smoke (1987) and The Maltese Double Cross (1994). He died on April 17, 1997 in Houston, Texas, USA.

39. Brian Cox

Actor | Succession

Brian Cox is an Emmy Award-winning Scottish actor. He was born on June 1, 1946 in Dundee, Scotland, to Mary Ann Guillerline Cox, maiden surname McCann, a spinner, and Charles McArdle Campbell Cox, a shopkeeper and butcher. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother was of Irish and Scottish ...

40. Victor Marchetti

Self | On Company Business

Victor Marchetti was born on December 23, 1929 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Bernice Baran. He died on October 19, 2018 in Ashburn, Virginia, USA.

41. Douglas Henshall

Actor | Shetland

Douglas Henshall was born in Glasgow, Scotland in November 1965. His mother was a nurse and his father a salesman. He is the youngest of three children and has two older sisters. He grew up in Barrhead and attended Barrhead High School. Whilst at school a friend asked him to join The Scottish Youth...

42. Jill Craigie

Writer | The Way We Live

Jill Craigie was born on March 7, 1911 in Fulham, London, England as Noreen Joan Craigie. Her father, Arthur Charles Craigie, worked as a clerk in a theatre box office. Her mother, Sonia Elkind, was born in Russia. She married first the sculptor Claude Begbie-Clench, but this marriage did not last ...

43. Philip Saville

Director | Boys from the Blackstuff

Philip Saville was born on October 28, 1930 in London, England, UK. He was a director and actor, known for Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986) and The Buccaneers (1995). He was married to Nina Zuckerman and Jane Arden. He died on December 22, 2016 in Hampstead,...

44. Peter Mullan

Actor | The Magdalene Sisters

He was interested in directing films at the age of 19 and he made several shorts. As he wasn't admitted to the National Film School, he decided to dedicate himself to acting, and made his debut in the theatre in 1988 before moving to cinema and television. Fame came with the parts he played in such...

45. Sandi Sissel

Camera_department | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Sandi Sissel was born on August 9, 1949 in Paris, Texas, USA. She is a cinematographer and director, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and The People Under the Stairs (1991).

46. Yulian Semyonov

Actor | Solyaris

Yulian Semyonov was born on October 8, 1931 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was a writer and assistant director, known for Solaris (1972), Noch na 14-y paralleli (1971) and Po tonkomu ldu (1966). He died on September 5, 1993.

47. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

48. Godfrey Reggio

Director | Koyaanisqatsi

Godfrey Reggio is a pioneer of a film style that creates poetic images of extraordinary emotional impact for audiences worldwide. Reggio is prominent in the film world for his QATSI trilogy, essays of visual images and sound that chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the ...

49. Alanis Obomsawin

Director | Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

Alanis Obomsawin was born on August 31, 1932 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), Waban-aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) and Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002).

50. Liam Cunningham

Actor | Hunger

Irish actor Liam Cunningham was an electrician in the mid-'80s. He saw an ad for an acting school and he decided to give it a try. His first film role was as a policeman in "Into the West." Since then, he has been involved in many films and theater productions on both sides of the Atlantic.

51. Barry Hines

Writer | Kes

Barry Hines was born on June 30, 1939 in Hoyland Common, Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Kes (1969), Looks and Smiles (1981) and The Gamekeeper (1980). He was married to Eleanor Mulvey and Margaret Croft. He died on March 18, 2016 in South Yorkshire, England, UK.

52. Clive Stafford Smith

Self | Fourteen Days in May

Death row defense lawyer.

53. Mike Leigh

Director | Secrets & Lies

Mike Leigh is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre ...

54. J. Parnell Thomas

J. Parnell Thomas was born on January 16, 1895 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He died on November 19, 1970 in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.

55. John Berry

Director | Ça va barder

John Berry was born on September 6, 1917 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Ça va barder (1955), À tout casser (1968) and A Captive in the Land (1990). He was married to Myriam Boyer and Gladys Cole. He died on November 29, 1999 in Paris, France.

56. Albert Maltz

Writer | Broken Arrow

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Albert Maltz was born on October 28, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Columbia University in 1930, he attended the Yale School of Drama for two years as a tyro playwright. After striking out on his own as a dramatist, he developed sociopolitical plays ...

57. Lester Cole

Writer | The Invisible Man Returns

Screenwriter Lester Cole, who is known in cinema history primarily as a member of the "Hollywood Ten," a group who defied the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigation into their political beliefs who were black-listed by the industry for their defiance, was born on June 19, 1904 in ...

58. Samuel Ornitz

Writer | It Could Happen to You

Samuel Ornitz, a novelist and screenwriter best remembered now as as one of the "Hollywood Ten" of accused communists who defied the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and was blacklisted, was born on November 15, 1890 in New York, New York, at the height of the Progressive Era of ...

59. Adrian Scott

Producer | Crossfire

Adrian Scott, the producer of progressive films who was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood 10, was born into a middle-class Irish Catholic family in Arlington, New Jersey, on February 6, 1912, to Mary (Redpath) and Allan Scott. He established his reputation as a writer on various magazines before ...

60. Alvah Bessie

Writer | Objective, Burma!

Alvah Bessie was born on June 4, 1904 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Objective, Burma! (1945), Northern Pursuit (1943) and Smart Woman (1948). He was married to Sylviane L. Martin. He died on July 21, 1985 in Terra Linda, California, USA.

61. Ring Lardner Jr.

Writer | MASH

The Oscar-winning screenwriter, Ring Lardner, Jr., will always be known for one of two things: that he was the son of one of the greatest humorists American literature has produced, and he was one of the Hollywood 10, the ten film-makers who refused to cooperate with the House Un-American ...

62. John Howard Lawson

Writer | Blockade

John Howard Lawson is not the most famous member of the Hollywood 10, those filmmakers who defied the House Committee on Un-American Activities' inquiry into alleged "Communist subversion" in the Hollywood movie industry in 1947, but he was the central figure of the group--the mind if not the heart...

63. Herbert J. Biberman

Director | Salt of the Earth

Herbert J. Biberman, the progressive producer, director and screenwriter now best known as one of the Hollywood Ten who were blacklisted by the American Film Industry for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was born on March 4, 1900 in Philadelphia, ...

64. Dalton Trumbo

Writer | Roman Holiday

Dalton Trumbo, the Oscar-winning screenwriter, arguably the most talented, most famous of the blacklisted film professionals known to history as the Hollywood 10, was born in Montrose, Colorado to Orus Trumbo and his wife, the former Maud Tillery.

Dalton Trumbo was raised at 1124 Gunnison Ave. in ...

65. Nicolas Hayer

Cinematographer | La chartreuse de Parme

Nicolas Hayer was born on May 1, 1898 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer, known for The Charterhouse of Parma (1948), The Raven (1943) and Orpheus (1950). He died on October 29, 1978 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Alpes-Maritimes, France.

66. James McTeigue

Director | V for Vendetta

James McTeigue is known for V for Vendetta (2005), The Raven (2012) and Survivor (2015).

67. Irwin Winkler

Producer | Life as a House

Irwin Winkler's career as a producer, director and writer encompasses popular and influential movies that have impacted contemporary culture. With a passion for big, bold, meaningful stories, his films include an array of true screen classics, garnering among them 12 Academy Awards and 52 Oscar ...

68. Brad Sullivan

Actor | Slap Shot

Brad Sullivan was born on November 18, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Slap Shot (1977), The Untouchables (1987) and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). He died on December 31, 2008 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

69. Walter Matthau

Actor | The Odd Couple

Walter Matthau was best known for starring in many films which included Charade (1963), The Odd Couple (1968), Grumpy Old Men (1993), and Dennis the Menace (1993). He often worked with Jack Lemmon and the two were Hollywood's craziest stars.

He was born Walter Jake Matthow in New York City, New York...

70. Edward Asner

Actor | Up

Edward Asner was born of Russian Jewish parentage in Kansas City, to Morris David Asner (founder and owner of the Kansas City-based Asner Iron & Metal Company) and his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Seliger). After attending college, Ed worked various jobs, including in a steel mill, as a door-to-door ...

71. Howard Hesseman

Actor | WKRP in Cincinnati

Howard Hesseman was a leading counter-culture figure since the late 1960s. He was a member of the improv group, "The Committee", for a decade in the 1960s/1970s. A character actor for many years on different television shows since the 1960s, he took small parts in The Andy Griffith Show (1960), ...

72. Walter Bernstein

Writer | The Front

Blacklisted writer in the 1950s, a victim of the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), he still continued to write under pseudonyms as did many other blacklisted writers such as Ring Lardner Jr. and Dalton Trumbo, and his biggest contribution during that time was probably his writing work ...

73. Martin Ritt

Director | Hud

Martin Ritt, one of the best and most sensitive American filmmakers of all time, was a director, actor and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City. His films reflect, like almost none other, a profound and intimate humane vision of his characters.

He originally ...

74. Patrick Keiller

Director | London

Patrick Keiller was born in 1950 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for London (1994), Robinson in Space (1997) and Robinson in Ruins (2010).

75. Mark Achbar

Producer | The Corporation

Mark Achbar is known for The Corporation (2003), Two Brides and a Scalpel: Diary of a Lesbian Marriage (2000) and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992).

76. Jack Lemmon

Actor | The Apartment

Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...

78. Robin Williams

Actor | Mrs. Doubtfire

Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford ...

78. Robert Bolt

Writer | Lawrence of Arabia

Son of a small shopkeeper, he attended Manchester Grammar School. He later said that he made poor uses of his opportunities there. He went to work in an insurance office, but later entered Manchester University, taking a degree in History. A post-graduate year at Exeter University led to a ...

79. Hart Bochner

Actor | Die Hard

Hart Matthew Bochner was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Ruth (Roher), a concert pianist, and Lloyd Bochner, an actor. He is of Russian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish descent. Hart made his feature film debut portraying George C. Scott's son in Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream (1977) and ...

80. Robert Markowitz

Director | The American Parade

Robert Markowitz was born on February 7, 1935 in Irvington, New Jersey, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The American Parade (1974), Nicholas' Gift (1998) and Amazing Stories (1985).

81. Andrew Davies

Writer | Bridget Jones's Diary

Andrew Davies was born on September 20, 1936 in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, Wales, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and The Three Musketeers (2011). He has been married to Diana Huntley since 1960. They have two children.

82. Richard Spence

Director | Different for Girls

Richard Spence was born in 1957 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, UK. He is a director, known for Different for Girls (1996), Screen Two (1985) and Poirot (1989).

83. Tommy Lee Jones

Actor | The Fugitive

Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school ...

84. Danny Glover

Actor | Lethal Weapon

Actor, producer and humanitarian Danny Glover has been a commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 35 years.

Glover was born in San Francisco, California, to Carrie (Hunley) and James Glover, postal workers who were also active in civil rights. Glover trained at the Black ...

85. Pierce Brosnan

Actor | Mamma Mia!

Pierce Brendan Brosnan was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to May (Smith), a nurse, and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. He lived in Navan, County Meath, until he moved to England, UK, at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincingly). His father left...

86. Viggo Mortensen

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Since his screen debut as a young Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness (1985), Viggo Mortensen's career has been marked by a steady string of well-rounded performances.

Mortensen was born in New York City, to Grace Gamble (Atkinson) and Viggo Peter Mortensen, Sr. His father was Danish, his mother ...

87. Richard Gere

Actor | Chicago

Humanitarian and actor Richard Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, the second of five children of Doris Anna (Tiffany), a homemaker, and Homer George Gere, an insurance salesman, both Mayflower descendants. Richard started early as a musician, playing a number of instruments in high ...

88. Danny DeVito

Actor | Matilda

Danny DeVito has amassed a formidable and versatile body of work as an actor, producer and director that spans the stage, television and film.

Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. was born on November 17, 1944, in Neptune, New Jersey, to Italian-American parents. His mother, Julia (Moccello), was a homemaker. ...

89. John E. Keane

Composer | A Very British Coup

John E. Keane was born on April 17, 1952 in Pancras, London, England, UK. He is a composer, known for A Very British Coup (1988), Horatio Hornblower: The Duel (1998) and Kavanagh QC (1995).

90. Alan Plater

Writer | A Very British Coup

Born in Jarrow in 1935, Alan Plater was brought up in Hull, and trained as an architect in Newcastle. He has been a full-time writer since 1961, with over two hundred assorted credits in radio, television, theatre and film - plus six novels, occasional journalism, broadcasting and teaching. His ...

92. Paul Schrader

Writer | First Reformed

Although his name is often linked to that of the "movie brat" generation (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different than theirs. His strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a...

92. Jim Henson

Soundtrack | The Muppet Show

Jim Henson never thought that he would make a name of himself in puppetry; it was merely a way of getting himself on television. The vehicle that achieved it was Sam and Friends (1955), a late-night puppet show that was on after the 11:00 news in Washington DC. It proved to be very popular and ...

93. John Garfield

Actor | Four Daughters

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920,...

94. Zero Mostel

Actor | The Producers

Zero Mostel was born Samuel Joel Mostel on February 28, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York, one of eight children of an Orthodox Jewish family. Raised in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the young Zero, known as Sammy, developed his talent for painting and drawing at art classes provided by the ...

95. Julian Zimet

Writer | Pánico en el Transiberiano

Julian Zimet was born on July 4, 1919 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Horror Express (1972), Crack in the World (1965) and The Naked Dawn (1955). He died on March 9, 2017 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

96. Nedrick Young

Writer | The Defiant Ones

Nedrick Young was born on March 23, 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Defiant Ones (1958), Inherit the Wind (1960) and Gun Crazy (1950). He was married to Elizabeth MacRae and Frances Sage. He died on September 16, 1968 in Los Angeles, California, ...

97. Michael Wilson

Writer | Lawrence of Arabia

Michael Wilson was born on July 1, 1914 in McAlester, Oklahoma, USA. He was a writer, known for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and 5 Fingers (1952). He was married to Zelma Wilson. He died on April 9, 1978 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.

98. John Wexley

Writer | Angels with Dirty Faces

John Wexley was born on September 14, 1907 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Last Mile (1932) and Hangmen Also Die! (1943). He died on February 4, 1985 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, USA.

99. Hannah Weinstein

Producer | Stir Crazy

Hannah Weinstein was born on June 23, 1911 in New York City, New York, USA. She was a producer, known for Stir Crazy (1980), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) and Claudine (1974). She died on March 9, 1984 in New York City, New York, USA.

100. Richard Weil

Writer | Shine on Harvest Moon

Richard Weil was born on October 29, 1893 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Shine on Harvest Moon (1944), The Great Flamarion (1945) and Talk About a Lady (1946). He was married to Isabelle Keith. He died on August 16, 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA.