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Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, to Winifriede Lucinda (Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman of Scottish descent. Young Roddy was enrolled in elocution courses at age five. By age 10, he had appeared in his first film, Murder in the Family (1938), playing Peter Osborne, the younger brother of sisters played by Jessica Tandy and Glynis Johns.
His mother brought Roddy and his sister to the U.S. at the beginning of World War II, and he soon got the part of "Huw", the youngest child in a family of Welsh coal miners, in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley (1941), acting alongside Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara and Donald Crisp in the film that won that year's best film Oscar. He went on to many other child roles, in films like My Friend Flicka (1943) and Lassie Come Home (1943) until, at age eighteen, he moved to New York, where he played a long series of successful stage roles, both on Broadway and in such venues as Connecticut's Stratford Festival, where he did Shakespeare. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1949.
In addition to making many more movies (over 150), McDowall acted in television, developed an extensive collection of movies and Hollywood memorabilia, and published five acclaimed books of his own photography. He died at his Los Angeles home, aged 70, of cancer. He never married and had no children.- Actress
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Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked with ever after.
Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Although she was born an English subject, her parents, Sara Taylor (née Sara Viola Warmbrodt) and Francis Taylor, were Americans, art dealers from St. Louis, Missouri. Her father had moved to London to set up a gallery prior to Elizabeth's birth. Her mother had been an actress on the stage, but gave up that vocation when she married. Elizabeth lived in London until the age of seven, when the family left for the US when the clouds of war began brewing in Europe in 1939. They sailed without her father, who stayed behind to wrap up the loose ends of the art business.
The family relocated to Los Angeles, where Mrs. Taylor's own family had moved. Mr. Taylor followed not long afterward. A family friend noticed the strikingly beautiful little Elizabeth and suggested that she be taken for a screen test. Her test impressed executives at Universal Pictures enough to sign her to a contract. Her first foray onto the screen was in There's One Born Every Minute (1942), released when she was ten. Universal dropped her contract after that one film, but Elizabeth was soon picked up by MGM.
The first production she made with that studio was Lassie Come Home (1943), and on the strength of that one film, MGM signed her for a full year. She had minuscule parts in her next two films, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) and Jane Eyre (1943) (the former made while she was on loan to 20th Century-Fox). Then came the picture that made Elizabeth a star: MGM's National Velvet (1944). She played Velvet Brown opposite Mickey Rooney. The film was a smash hit, grossing over $4 million. Elizabeth now had a long-term contract with MGM and was its top child star. She made no films in 1945, but returned in 1946 in Courage of Lassie (1946), another success. In 1947, when she was 15, she starred in Life with Father (1947) with such heavyweights as William Powell, Irene Dunne and Zasu Pitts, which was one of the biggest box office hits of the year. She also co-starred in the ensemble film Little Women (1949), which was also a box office huge success.
Throughout the 1950s, Elizabeth appeared in film after film with mostly good results, starting with her role in the George Stevens film A Place in the Sun (1951), co-starring her good friend Montgomery Clift. The following year, she co-starred in Ivanhoe (1952), one of the biggest box office hits of the year. Her busiest year was 1954. She had a supporting role in the box office flop Beau Brummell (1954), but later that year starred in the hits The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) and Elephant Walk (1954). She was 22 now, and even at that young age was considered one of the world's great beauties. In 1955 she appeared in the hit Giant (1956) with James Dean.
Sadly, Dean never saw the release of the film, as he died in a car accident in 1955. The next year saw Elizabeth co-star with Montgomery Clift in Raintree County (1957), an overblown epic made, partially, in Kentucky. Critics called it dry as dust. In addition, Clift was seriously injured during the film, with Taylor helping save his life. Despite the film's shortcomings and off-camera tragedy, Elizabeth was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Southern belle Susanna Drake. However, on Oscar night the honor went to Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).
In 1958 Elizabeth starred as Maggie Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). The film received rave reviews from the critics and Elizabeth was nominated again for an Academy Award for best actress, but this time she lost to Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! (1958). She was still a hot commodity in the film world, though. In 1959 she appeared in another mega-hit and received yet another Oscar nomination for Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Once again, however, she lost out, this time to Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1958). Her Oscar drought ended in 1960 when she brought home the coveted statue for her performance in BUtterfield 8 (1960) as Gloria Wandrous, a call girl who is involved with a married man. Some critics blasted the movie but they couldn't ignore her performance. There were no more films for Elizabeth for three years. She left MGM after her contract ran out, but would do projects for the studio later down the road. In 1963 she starred in Cleopatra (1963), which was one of the most expensive productions up to that time--as was her salary, a whopping $1,000,000. The film took years to complete, due in part to a serious illness during which she nearly died.
This was the film where she met her future and fifth husband, Richard Burton (the previous four were Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd--who died in a plane crash--and Eddie Fisher). Her next films, The V.I.P.s (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965), were lackluster at best. Elizabeth was to return to fine form, however, with the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her performance as the loudmouthed, shrewish, unkempt, yet still alluring Martha was easily her finest to date. For this she would win her second Oscar and one that was more than well-deserved. The following year, she and Burton co-starred in The Taming of The Shrew (1967), again giving winning performances. However, her films afterward were box office failures, including Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), The Comedians (1967), Boom! (1968) (again co-starring with Burton), Secret Ceremony (1968), The Only Game in Town (1970), X, Y & Zee (1972), Hammersmith Is Out (1972) (with Burton again), Ash Wednesday (1973), Night Watch (1973), The Driver's Seat (1974), The Blue Bird (1976) (considered by many to be her worst), A Little Night Music (1977), and Winter Kills (1979) (a controversial film which was never given a full release and in which she only had a small role). She later appeared in some movies, both theatrical and made-for-television, and a number of television programs. In February 1997, Elizabeth entered the hospital for the removal of a brain tumor. The operation was successful. As for her private life, she divorced Burton in 1974, only to remarry him in 1975 and divorce him, permanently, in 1976. She had two more husbands, U.S. Senator John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom she met in rehab.
In 1959, Taylor converted to Judaism, and continued to identify herself as Jewish throughout her life, being active in Jewish causes. Upon the death of her friend, actor Rock Hudson, in 1985, she began her crusade on behalf of AIDS sufferers. In the 1990s, she also developed a successful series of scents. In her later years, her acting career was relegated to the occasional TV-movie or TV guest appearance.
Elizabeth Taylor died on March 23, 2011 in Los Angeles, from congestive heart failure. Her final resting place is Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California.- Actress
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Angie Dickinson was born in Kulm, North Dakota, in 1931, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Brown. Mr. Brown was the publisher of The Kulm Messenger. The family left North Dakota in 1942 when Angie was 11 years old, moving to Burbank, California. In December of 1946, when she was a senior at Bellamarine Jefferson High School in Burbank, she won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights Contest. Two years later her sister Janet, did likewise. Being the daughter of a printer, Angie at first had visions of becoming a writer, but gave this up after winning her first beauty contest. After finishing college she worked as a secretary in a Burbank airplane parts factory for 3-1/2 years. In 1953 she entered the local Miss America contest one day before the deadline and took second place. In August of the same year she was one of five winners in a beauty contest sponsored by NBC and appeared in several TV variety shows. She got her first bit part in a Warner Brothers movie in 1954 and gained television fame in the TV series The Millionaire (1955) and got her first good film role opposite John Wayne and Dean Martin in Rio Bravo (1959). Her success then climbed until she became one of the nation's top movie stars.- Actor
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Dreamy Tab Hunter stood out in film history as one of the hottest teen idols of the 1950s era. With blond, tanned, surfer-boy good looks, he was artificially groomed and nicknamed "The Sigh Guy" by the Hollywood studio system, yet managed to continue his career long after his "golden boy" prime.
Hunter was born Arthur Kelm on July 11, 1931 in New York City, to Gertrude (Gelien) and Charles Kelm. His father was Jewish and his mother was a German Catholic immigrant. Following his parents' divorce, Hunter grew up in California with his mother, older brother Walter, and maternal grandparents, Ida (Sonnenfleth) and John Henry Gelien. His mother changed her sons' surnames to her maiden name, Gelien. Leaving school and joining the Coast Guard at age fifteen (he lied about his age), he was eventually discharged when the age deception was revealed. Returning home, his life-long passion for horseback riding led to a job with a riding academy.
Hunter's fetching handsomeness and trim, athletic physique eventually steered the Californian toward the idea of acting. An introduction to famed agent Henry Willson had Tab signing on the dotted line and what emerged, along with a major career, was the stage moniker of "Tab Hunter." Willson was also responsible with pointing hopeful Roy Fitzgerald towards stardom under the pseudonym Rock Hudson. With no previous experience Tab made his first, albeit minor, film debut in the racially trenchant drama The Lawless (1950) starring Gail Russell and Macdonald Carey. His only line in the movie was eventually cut upon release. It didn't seem to make a difference for he co-starred in his very next film, the British-made Island of Desire (1952) opposite a somewhat older (by ten years) Linda Darnell, which was set during WWII on a deserted, tropical South Seas isle. His shirt remained off for a good portion of the film, which certainly did not go unnoticed by his ever-growing legion of female (and male) fans.
Signed by Warner Bros., stardom was clinched a few years later with another WWII epic Battle Cry (1955), based on the Leon Uris novel, in which he again played a boyish soldier sharing torrid scenes with an older woman (this time Dorothy Malone, playing a love-starved Navy wife). Thoroughly primed as one of Hollywood's top beefcake commodities, the tabloid magazines had a field day initiating an aggressive campaign to "out" Hunter as gay, which would have ruined him. To combat the destructive tactics, Tab was seen escorting a number of Hollywood's lovelies at premieres and parties. In the meantime, he was seldom out of his military fatigues on film, keeping his fans satisfied in such popular dramas as The Sea Chase (1955), The Burning Hills (1956) and The Girl He Left Behind (1956)--the last two opposite the equally popular Natalie Wood. At around this time, Hunter managed to parlay his boy-next-door film celebrity into a singing career. He topped the charts for over a month with the single "Young Love" in 1957 and produced other "top 40" singles as well.
Like other fortunate celebrity-based singers such as Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen, his musical reign was brief. Out of it, however, came the most notable success of his film career top-billing as baseball fan Joe Hardy in the classic Faustian musical Damn Yankees (1958) opposite Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston, who recreated their devil-making Broadway roles. Musically, Tab may have been overshadowed but he brought with him major star power and the film became a crowd pleaser. He continued on with the William A. Wellman-directed Lafayette Escadrille (1958) as, yet again, a wholesome soldier, this time in World War I. More spicy love scenes came with That Kind of Woman (1959), an adult comedy-drama which focused on soldier Hunter and va-va-voom mistress Sophia Loren demonstrating some sexual chemistry on a train.
Seldom a favorite with the film critics, the 1960s brought about a career change for Tab. He begged out of his restrictive contract with Warners and ultimately paid the price. With no studio to protect him, he was at the mercy of several trumped-up lawsuits. Worse yet, handsome Troy Donahue had replaced him as the new beefcake on the block. With no film offers coming his way, he starred in his own series The Tab Hunter Show (1960), a rather featherweight sitcom that centered around his swinging bachelor pad. The series last only one season. On the positive side he clocked in with over 200 TV programs over the long stretch and was nominated for an Emmy award for his outstanding performance opposite Geraldine Page in a Playhouse 90 episode. Following the sparkling film comedy The Pleasure of His Company (1961) opposite Debbie Reynolds, the quality of his films fell off drastically as he found himself top-lining such innocuous fare as Operation Bikini (1963), Ride the Wild Surf (1964) (1965), City in the Sea (1965) [aka War-Gods of the Deep], and Birds Do It (1966) both here and overseas.
As for stage, a brief chance to star on Broadway happened in 1964 alongside the highly volatile Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams's "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore." It lasted five performances. He then started to travel the dinner theater circuit. Enduring a severe lull, Tab bounced back in the 1980s and 1990s -- more mature, less wholesome, but ever the looker. He gamely spoofed his old clean-cut image by appearing in delightfully tasteless John Waters' films as a romantic dangling carrot to heavyset transvestite "actress" Divine. Polyester (1981) was the first mainstream hit for Waters and Tab went on to team up with Allan Glaser to co-produce and co-star a Waters-like western spoof Lust in the Dust (1984).
Co-starring with "Exorcist" star Linda Blair in the bizarre horror film Grotesque (1988), Tab's last on-camera appearance would be in a small role in the film Dark Horse (1992), which he produced. He preferred spending most of his time secluded on his ranch and breeding horses. In 2005, he returned to the limelight when he "came out" with a tell-all memoir on his Hollywood years. His long-time partner was film producer Allan Glaser.
Tab died on July 8, 2018, in Santa Barbara, California, three days shy of his 87th birthday.- Actress
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Lee Remick was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, to Gertrude Margaret (Waldo), an actress, and Francis Edwin Remick, a department store owner. She had Irish and English ancestry. Remick was educated at Barnard College, studied dance and worked on stage and TV, before making her film debut as a sexy Southern majorette in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957). Her next role was also southern: Eula Varner in The Long, Hot Summer (1958). She emerged as a real star in the role of an apparent rape victim in Anatomy of a Murder (1959). And she won an Academy Award nomination for her role as the alcoholic wife of Jack Lemmon in Days of Wine and Roses (1962). After more work in TV and movies, she moved to England in 1970, making more movies there. In 1988 she formed a production company with partners James Garner and Peter K. Duchow.- In retrospect, he was considered an actor's actor to be sure. Renowned theater performer George Grizzard would make his biggest impact under the Tony-winning Broadway lights in a career spanning over five decades. Born an only child on April 1, 1928, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, George Cooper Grizzard, Jr. was raised (from age 7) in Washington D.C., and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949. Precoccupied for a time in the advertising field, he then seemed bent on a radio broadcasting career when the "acting bug" suddenly bit.
Grizzard studied with respected acting coach Sanford Meisner in New York and went on to apprentice in stock plays. He eventually took on Broadway where he earned major kudos right off the bat for his debut role as Paul Newman's younger brother in "The Desperate Hours" (1955). More New York acclaim came in the form of "The Happiest Millionaire" (1956), for which he won the "most promising" Theatre World Award; "The Disenchanted" (1958), which earned him a Tony nomination; "Big Fish, Little Fish" (1961), for which he won the Outer Critic's Circle award; the Edward Albee's emotional roller-coaster ride "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1962), wherein he originated the rakish, fair-haired role of Nick; and, more recently, in a revival of "A Delicate Balance" (1996), wherein he finally won the coveted Tony. Never far away from Broadway, he returned again and again over the years in both comedies and dramas: "Mary, Mary", "The Glass Menagerie", "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running", "The Country Girl", "The Royal Family", "California Suite", "Man and Superman", "Judgment at Nuremberg" and "The Creation of the World and Other Business" in which he played Lucifer himself. Other noteworthy theatrical events away from Broadway ranged from his title role in "Hamlet" at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater, to his mental patient who thinks he's Einstein in "The Physicists", to his Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at the Kennedy Center.
Films beckoned in the 60s with a sampling of handsome, intellectual, white-collared roles. Making his Broadway debut with Paul Newman in 1955, he made his film debut with Newman as well, in the role of a ruthless young tycoon in From the Terrace (1960). He also earned excellent notices as a crafty senator in the well-mounted political drama Advise & Consent (1962). He found, however, more durable, frequent work on the smaller screen playing various politicians (presidents, governors, mayors, etc.), notably his Emmy-nominated portrayal as John Adams in The Adams Chronicles (1976). He won the Emmy for his portrayal of Henry Fonda's opportunistic son in the TV special The Oldest Living Graduate (1980). Often seen in a calculating, unsympathetic light, he continued to mix stage and on-camera work for the remainder of his career.
A co-founder of the APA Repertory Company in New York, Grizzard took his final Broadway bow bantering with life-sized lizards in the surreal Edward Albee drama "Seascape" in 2005. His last movie role was a part in Clint Eastwood's memorable Flags of Our Fathers (2006). He died the following year, on October 2, 2007, of complications from lung cancer at a New York City hospital. His sole survivor is long-time partner William Tynan. - John Foreman was born on 26 July 1925 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA. He was a producer, known for Prizzi's Honor (1985), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). He was married to Linda Lawson. He died on 20 November 1992 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Linda Lawson was born on 11 January 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Night Tide (1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and Ben Casey (1961). She was married to John Foreman. She died on 18 May 2022 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.- Actress
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Susan Saint James was a lovely and slightly loony TV successor to Shirley MacLaine. Her mildly kooky and clumsy free spirits came into vogue during the "free love" era of the late '60s.
Of German, Irish and English ancestry, Saint James was born Susan Jane Miller in Los Angeles on August 14, 1946, to Charles Daniel Miller, a businessman, and Constance Geiger Miller. Both her mother and grandmother were schoolteachers. Raised in Rockford, Illinois, Susan was a model briefly during her teens in both the U.S. and France. She later attended the Connecticut College for Women.
Luck in Hollywood came almost immediately to her when she landed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios. As if that wasn't enough, her very first TV job would be a plum "girl Friday" role on a TV movie pilot starring ultra-cool Anthony Franciosa and sexy femme fatale Jill St. John.
As an eager but awkward amateur sleuth in the whodunnit crime mystery Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966), audiences immediately took to Susan as the editorial assistant to investigative reporter Franciosa who snooped way too much and often found herself in life-threatening circumstances. Saint James would continue her role as Peggy Maxwell when the series was picked up. The Name of the Game (1968), with its revolving trio of stars Anthony Franciosa, Robert Stack and Gene Barry, became a hit and Susan earned three Emmy nominations, copping the trophy on her first try during the 1968-69 season.
Cleverly downplaying her sexy allure and model good looks for a more down-to-earth appeal, Susan also had a fun recurring role as an equally klutzy thief who complicates things for Robert Wagner's suave cat burglar in It Takes a Thief (1968). She hit her TV peak, however, as Police Commissioner Rock Hudson's plucky wife in McMillan & Wife (1971) from 1971 to 1976, her character still managing to get into her usual share of danger and trouble. She earned three more Emmy nominations.
Having gotten her feet wet on the big screen with a few featured/co-star roles in the private eye drama P.J. (1967), the convent comedy Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968), and the crime thriller Jigsaw (1968), Susan earned particular notice in the '70s with the action comedy Outlaw Blues (1977) opposite Peter Fonda, the cult Dracula spoof Love at First Bite (1979) opposite George Hamilton, and the female buddy crime caper How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980) with Jane Curtin and Jessica Lange. Surprisingly, none of these were the foundation for a lasting movie career.
Wisely, Susan returned to her comfy TV series format co-starring (again) with Jane Curtin in the liberal-minded sitcom Kate & Allie (1984), which lasted five seasons. She earned two additional Emmy nominations playing an adventurous libber versus Curtin's more conservative character. Saint James also thrived on TV movie comedies and dramas with several vehicles, including Magic Carpet (1972), Desperate Women (1978), Night Cries (1978), The Girls in the Office (1979), The Kid from Nowhere (1982) and I Take These Men (1983) coming her way.
Saint James chose to back away from the limelight following the cancellation of Kate & Allie (1984). Moving to Connecticut, she devoted her time to raising a family and dedicating herself to charity work, notably the Special Olympics, for which she served on the board of directors. Since then, she has received several honors as a spokesperson for volunteerism.
In later years, Susan appeared infrequently on talk shows (David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey) and in rare guest star parts on such shows as "M*A*S*H." She went on to grace the first episode of The Drew Carey Show (1995), in which niece Christa Miller was a co-star. More recently, she has been seen on episodes of the TV series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Suits" and had a recurring role on several 2020 episodes of "Upland." In 2008, Susan received a star on the Walk of Fame for her TV work.
Formerly married to writer/producer Richard Neubert and makeup artist Tom Lucas, Saint James is married to NBC executive Dick Ebersol, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live (1975). She is the mother of five children, two by Lucas and three by Ebersol.- Actor
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R.J. Wagner was born 1930 in Detroit, the son of a steel executive. His family moved to L.A. when he was six. Always wanting to be an actor, he held a variety of jobs (including one as a golf caddy for Clark Gable) while pursuing his goal, but it was while dining with his parents at a Beverly Hills restaurant that he was discovered by a talent scout. After making his uncredited screen debut in The Happy Years (1950), Wagner was signed by 20th Century Fox, which carefully built him up toward stardom. He played romantic leads with ease, but it was not until he essayed the two-scene role of a shell-shocked war veteran in With a Song in My Heart (1952) that studio executives recognized his potential as a dramatic actor. He went on to play the title roles in Prince Valiant (1954) and The True Story of Jesse James (1957), and portrayed a cold-blooded murderer in A Kiss Before Dying (1956). In the mid-'60s, however, his film career skidded to a stop after The Pink Panther (1963). Several years of unemployment followed before Wagner made a respectable transition to television as star of the lighthearted espionage series It Takes a Thief (1968). He also starred on the police series Switch (1975), but Wagner's greatest success was opposite Stefanie Powers on the internationally popular Hart to Hart (1979), which ran from 1979 through 1984 and has since been sporadically revived in TV-movie form (another series, Lime Street (1985), was quickly canceled due to the tragic death of Wagner's young co-star, Samantha Smith). Considered one of Hollywood's nicest citizens, Robert Wagner has continued to successfully pursue a leading man career; he has also launched a latter-day stage career, touring with Stefanie Powers in the readers' theater presentation "Love Letters". He found success playing Number Two, a henchman to Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and its sequels, and in 2007, he began playing Teddy Leopold, a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003). Wagner is married to Jill St. John and lives in Aspen.- Actress
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Esther Jane Williams was born on August 8, 1921 in Inglewood, California. Her youth was spent as a teenage swimming champion and she won three United States National championships. She eventually was spotted by a MGM talent scout while working in a Los Angeles department store. She made her film debut with MGM in an "Andy Hardy" picture called Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942). She became Mickey Rooney's love interest in the movie, and her character was called Sheila Brooks. Following this movie, stardom was not far away. MGM created a special sub-genre for her known as "Aqua Musicals". Her first swimming role was in Bathing Beauty (1944). This was a simple movie compared to her later big splashes such as Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), co-starring Victor Mature and Walter Pidgeon. Esther Williams was often called "America's Mermaid", as it appeared that she could stay underwater forever!
Following the decline of the once lucrative MGM aqua musical, she attempted dramatic roles. The Unguarded Moment (1956), is one example of this new found dramatic confidence. It co-starred George Nader and John Saxon. Also, The Big Show (1961), co-starring Cliff Robertson and Robert Vaughn was another dramatic role. Overall, Esther's acting skills were limited and, as a musical star in the audience's eyes, she was unsuccessful. She retired from the movie industry in the 1960s, returning as a star guest in That's Entertainment! III (1994) discussing her appearance in MGM films. She certainly is recognized today for bringing enjoyment, escapism and entertainment on the big screen and has also a highly successful business in swimwear. Occasional television work discussing her contribution to the film industry is a treat for her fans from time to time.
Esther Williams died at age 91 in her sleep on June 6, 2013 in her home in Los Angeles, California.- Actress
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This elegant, lovely blonde singer/actress initially had designs on becoming an opera singer. Born in Montana on May 20, 1933, and christened Constance Mary Towers, she appeared on radio as a child singer. Her family moved to New York where she subsequently studied at the Julliard School of Music and the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts (AADA). A chance casting in a summer production of "Carousel" led her away from her operatic aspirations and into the musical theater arena.
Before she settled into this, however, Constance gained early exposure on the chic nightclub circuit and fostered an attempt at stardom via films. She co-starred with Frankie Laine playing a school teacher in the modest movie musical Bring Your Smile Along (1955), and appeared in exceptionally strong ingénue roles in the movie dramas The Horse Soldiers (1959) starring John Wayne and Sergeant Rutledge (1960) opposite Jeffrey Hunter. Director Samuel Fuller cast her against type in some of his highly offbeat dramas in the early 1960s. She played a stripper girlfriend in Shock Corridor (1963) and in The Naked Kiss (1964) gave a no-holds-barred performance as a former prostitute trying to clean up her act. While TV guest appearances were frequent on such shows as "The Bob Cummings Show," "The Outer Limits," "Zane Grey Theatre," and multiple appearances on "Perry Mason," films were few and far between.
By this time she was starting to settle in as a pristine musical leading lady. After a 1960 performance as missionary Sarah in "Guys and Dolls," Constance made her Broadway debut in the title role of "Anya" (1965), in which she played the title role of the Russian princess Anastasia. Heralded performances in "Carousel" (1966) and "The Sound of Music" (1967), in which she won the Outer Critic's Circle Award as Maria, not to mention a Broadway revival of "The King and I" opposite Yul Brynner truly put her on the musical map. Her run with Brynner lasted nearly 800 performances. She had earlier played the school teacher Anna off-Broadway opposite Michael Kermoyan in 1972. Other sterling stage appearances included "Kiss Me Kate," "42nd Street," "Oklahoma!," "Camelot" and "Mame." She also starred in the musical "Ari," an adaptation of the Leon Uris novel "Exodus."
TV proved a sturdy medium as well. In her early days, she made singing appearances on Ed Sullivan's The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) and, in dramatic roles, was a frequent glamorous suspect on Perry Mason (1957). As she matured, her sharp, glacial, strikingly handsome features also worked very well for her in unsympathetic aristocratic roles on daytime. Winning regular spots on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1967), The Young and the Restless (1973) and Sunset Beach (1997), she did her most consistent work on Capitol (1982), in which she played Clarissa McCandless for five seasons. For nearly three decades she courted favor with audiences stealing scenes on a regular basis on General Hospital (1963), in which she plays the inherently wicked Helena Cassadine, a role originated by the legendary Elizabeth Taylor. Recent films have included The Next Karate Kid (1994), The Relic (1997) and A Perfect Murder (1998) starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, in which she played Paltrow's mother.
Constance also enjoyed a resurgence on prime-time TV with a sprinkling of guest parts on L.A. Law (1986), Designing Women (1986), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), "Caroline in the City," Frasier (1993), Baywatch (1989), and Providence (1999). She received an Emmy nomination for her role in the single episode drama special on CBS Daytime 90 (1974) entitled "Once in Her Life." Millennium on-camera appearances have included the films The Awakening of Spring (2008) and The Storyteller (2018) and TV work on such shows as "Providence," "Criminal Minds," "The 4400" and "Cold Case."
Constance was married since 1974 to one-time actor and former Mexican ambassador John Gavin. It was the second marriage for both, and lasted for 44 years until his death in 2018. The handsome couple have two children: Cristina and Maria Gavin. Constance also has two children, Michael and Maureen McGrath, from her prior marriage to Panamanian businessman Eugene McGrath. As a result of husband Gavin's civic work, she became actively involved in a multitude of charities. "Project Connie" not only offered aid to those in need of medical and rehabilitation assistance after the Mexican earthquake of 1985, it has served as an adoption placement agency to hundreds of children from Mexico to El Salvador. She has also involved herself with the Children's Bureau of California, the National Health Foundation, and the Red Cross and the Blue Ribbon of Los Angeles.- Of English and German heritage, lumbering, oval-faced John Schuck was born Conrad John Schuck, Jr. in Boston, Massachusetts on February 4, 1940, the son of an English professor who taught at, among others, both Princeton College and SUNY Buffalo while John was growing up. Following graduation from Denison University, where he appeared in a number of plays, John turned to regional theatre work ("Marat/Sade," etc.), including the Cleveland Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, and American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.
Discovered at ACT for film by Robert Altman, the director featured him as Captain Walter "Painless Pole" Waldowski, the virginal army camp dentist, in the classic Korean War film M*A*S*H (1970), giving him a memorable "deflowering" scene with sexy Jo Ann Pflug. Altman continued to use John in Brewster McCloud (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and, most assuredly, in Thieves Like Us (1974), arguably his best movie role as a bank robber on the lam.
On 70's television, in addition to guest spots on such programs as "Gunsmoke," "Mission: Impossible," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Room 222," "Bonanza," "Ironside" and "Love, American Style," "Schuck won a regular part as an inept but altruistic sergeant alongside Rock Hudson's police commissioner for six seasons on McMillan & Wife (1971). Following this, however, he found himself somewhat stereotyped as simple-minded, lovable lugs such as the robot on the silly short-lived comedy Holmes and Yoyo (1976), as buddy Murray in the revamped series The New Odd Couple (1982) and as Herman Munster on The Munsters Today (1987), a revisit to the ghoulish 1960s television family. He also kept his name alive on such popular games shows as "The $25,000 Pyramid," "Hollywood Squares" and "Password."
More challenging guest role work has come to him on occasion with television series such as NYPD Blue (1993), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Babylon 5 (1993) and in the historically acclaimed TV movie Roots (1977). In the popular films Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), John appeared in various roles and earned himself a place in the hearts of Trekkie fans all over the nation. Other film roles over time have included Blade (1973), Just You and Me, Kid (1979), Earthbound (1981), Finders Keepers (1984), Outrageous Fortune (1987), The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988), My Mom's a Werewolf (1989) and Dick Tracy (1990).
The musical stage also took a shine to him. An accomplished singer, John appeared semi-regularly (from 1979 until 2006) as the bald-domed, gruff-speaking Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks in the hit musical "Annie," not only on Broadway but on tours and in smaller theater venues. He also garnered success playing Frank Butler in "Annie Get Your Gun" with Bernadette Peters on tour. Other roles over time have included the musicals "The Sound of Music", "Peter Pan", "The Most Happy Fella" and "She Loves Me." He co-starred in the original premiere of "Grumpy Old Men" in 2011 and then returned to Broadway in 2013 as a replacement in the Gershwin musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It."
Into the millennium, on TV John played a police captain on an episode of "Diagnosis Murder," had a recurring role as a Chief of Detectives in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), and had another recurring role as shop keeper Carl in the skateboarding adventure series Zeke and Luther (2009). He also appeared in the films Closer to God (2014) and All Light Will End (2018).
A sailor on the sly, John Schuck is father to son Aaron via his first marriage (1978-1983) to former actress Susan Bay Nimoy. He married his current wife, painter Harrison Houlé, in 1990. - Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Legendary actor Glenn Ford was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford in Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Quebec, Canada, to Hannah Wood (Mitchell) and Newton Ford, a railroad executive. His family moved to Santa Monica, California when he was eight years old. His acting career began with plays at high school, followed by acting in West Coast, a traveling theater company.
Ford was discovered in 1939 by Tom Moore, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox. He subsequently signed a contract with Columbia Pictures the same year. Ford's contract with Columbia marked a significant departure in that studio's successful business model. Columbia's boss, Harry Cohn, had spent decades observing other studios'-most notably Warner Brothers-troubles with their contract stars and had built his poverty-row studio around their loan-outs. Basically, major studios would use Columbia as a penalty box for unruly behavior-usually salary demands or work refusals. The cunning Cohn usually assigned these stars (his little studio could not normally afford then) into pictures, and the studio's status rose immensely as the 1930s progressed. Understandably, Cohn had long resisted developing his own stable of contract stars (he'd first hired Peter Lorre in 1934 but didn't know what to do with him) but had relented in the late 1930s, first adding Rosalind Russell, then signing Ford and fellow newcomer William Holden. Cohn reasoned that the two prospects could be used interchangeably, should one become troublesome. Although often competing for the same parts, Ford and Holden became good friends. Their careers would roughly parallel each other through the 1940s, until Holden became a superstar through his remarkable association with director Billy Wilder in the 1950s.
Ford made his official debut in Fox's Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939), and continued working in various small roles throughout the 1940s until his movie career was interrupted to join the Marines in World War II. Ford continued his military career in the Naval Reserve well into the Vietnam War, achieving the rank of captain. In 1943 Ford married legendary tap dancer Eleanor Powell, and had one son, Peter Ford. Like many actors returning to Hollywood after the war (including James Stewart and Holden (who had already acquired a serious alcohol problem), he found it initially difficult to regain his career momentum. He was able to resume his movie career with the help of Bette Davis, who gave him his first postwar break in the 1946 movie A Stolen Life (1946). However, it was not until his acclaimed performance in a 1946 classic film noir, Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, that he became a major star and one of the the most popular actors of his time. He scored big with the film noir classics The Big Heat (1953) and Blackboard Jungle (1955), and was usually been cast as a calm and collected everyday-hero, showing courage under pressure. Ford continued to make many notable films during his prestigious 50-year movie career, but he is best known for his fine westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and The Rounders (1965). Ford pulled a hugely entertaining turn in The Sheepman (1958) and many more fine films. In the 1970s, Ford made his television debut in the controversial The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970) and appeared in two fondly remembered television series: Cade's County (1971) and The Family Holvak (1975). During the 1980s and 1990s, Ford limited his appearance to documentaries and occasional films, including a nice cameo in Superman (1978).
Glenn Ford is remembered fondly by his fans for his more than 100 excellent films and his charismatic silver screen presence.- Actor
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Legendary actor Ricardo Montalban was the epitome of Latin elegance, charm and grace on film and television and in the late 1940s and early 1950s reinvigorated the Rudolph Valentino / Ramon Novarro "Latin Lover" style in Hollywood without achieving top screen stardom. Moreover, unlike most minority actors of his time, he fought to upscale the Latin (particularly, Mexican) image in Hollywood. His noted militancy may have cost him a number of roles along the way, but he gained respect and a solid reputation as a mover and shaker within the acting community while providing wider-range opportunities for Spanish-speaking actors via Los Angeles theater.
He was born in Mexico City on November 25, 1920, the youngest of four children to Castilian Spanish immigrants, Ricarda Merino and Jenaro Montalbán. His father was a dry goods store owner. Montalbán moved to Los Angeles as a teen and lived with his much older brother Carlos Montalbán, who was then pursuing show business as both an actor and dancer. Ricardo attended Fairfax High School in Hollywood and was noticed in a student play but passed on a screen test that was offered. Instead, he traveled with his brother to New York, where he earned a bit part in the Tallulah Bankhead stage vehicle "Her Cardboard Lover" in 1940, and won subsequent roles in the plays "Our Betters" and "Private Affair".
Returning to Mexico to care for his extremely ill mother, his dark good looks and magnetic style helped propel him into the Spanish-language film industry. After nearly a dozen or so films, he was on the verge of stardom in Mexico when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer took an interest in him and he relocated back to Los Angeles. Making his Hollywood leading debut as a robust bullfighter and twin brother of MGM star Esther Williams in the "B"-level musical Fiesta (1947), he attracted immediate attention. His second film with Williams, On an Island with You (1948), led to a contract with the studio, where he routinely ignited "Latin Lover" sparks opposite such prime female stars as Cyd Charisse, Shelley Winters, Anne Bancroft, Pier Angeli, Laraine Day and (once again) Esther Williams, this time in Neptune's Daughter (1949) (one of his MGM extravaganzas opposite gorgeous Lana Turner was actually called Latin Lovers (1953)). His strongest Hispanic competition in films at the time was Argentine-born fellow MGM player Fernando Lamas, who wound up eventually marrying Esther Williams after divorcing another MGM beauty, Arlene Dahl.
Although Montalban was the epitome of the "Latin lover" type, it actually damaged his cinematic career, pigeonholing him and hurting his momentum. He was seldom able to extricate himself from the usual portrayals of bandidos and gigolos, although he did manage to find an interesting film from time to time, such as his turn as a Mexican undercover policeman in the gritty Border Incident (1949), Mystery Street (1950), the classic war film Battleground (1949) and the hard-edged boxing drama Right Cross (1950). Occasionally, he was handed ethnic roles outside the Latino realm, such as his villainous Blackfoot Indian chief in Across the Wide Missouri (1951) starring Clark Gable, his heroic, bare-chested rebel warrior in the steamy Italian sword-and-sandals costumer The Queen of Babylon (1954) alongside Rhonda Fleming and his Japanese Kabuki actor in the Oscar-winning feature Sayonara (1957). It was during the filming of Across the Wide Missouri (1951) that he suffered a serious injury to his spine after he slipped and fell off a running horse, which resulted in a permanent limp.
Well established by this time, Montalban returned to the stage in 1954 with varied roles in such fare as "Can-Can", "The Inspector General", "South Pacific" and "Accent on Youth", before making his Broadway debut as Chico in the original musical "Seventh Heaven" (1955) with Gloria DeHaven, Kurt Kasznar and Bea Arthur. He then earned a Tony Award nomination as the only non-African-American actor in the tropical-themed musical "Jamaica" (1957) co-starring Lena Horne. He also toured as the title role in "Don Juan in Hell" in the 1960s, returning to Broadway with it in 1973 with Agnes Moorehead, Paul Henreid and Edward Mulhare, and touring once again with the show in 1991.
His strong work ethic and reservoir of talent enabled him to continue on television long after his exotic beefcake status in films had waned. He had married Loretta Young's half-sister Georgiana Young in 1944, and appeared on his sister-in-law's television series (The New Loretta Young Show (1962)) several times. He also showed up in a number of television dramatic anthologies (Playhouse 90 (1956) and Colgate Theatre (1958)) and made guest appearances on the popular series of the day, such as Death Valley Days (1952), Bonanza (1959), Burke's Law (1963), Dr. Kildare (1961), The Defenders (1961) and, more notably, a first-season episode of Star Trek (1966) in which he memorably portrayed galaxy arch-villain Khan Noonien Singh. He resurrected this character memorably in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
Over the years, he continued to appear occasionally on the big screen, typically playing continental smoothies, in such films as Love Is a Ball (1963), Madame X (1966) and Sweet Charity (1969), but it was television that finally made him a household name. Montalban captivated audiences as the urbane, white-suited concierge of mystery Mr. Roarke in the Aaron Spelling series Fantasy Island (1977). He stayed with the series for six seasons, buoyed by his popular "odd couple" teaming with the late Hervé Villechaize, who played Mr. Roarke's diminutive sidekick, and fellow greeter, Tattoo. While it may have seemed a somewhat lightweight and undemanding role for the talented Montalban, it nevertheless became his signature character. The series faltered after Villechaize, who had become erratic and difficult on the set, was fired from the series in 1983. Corpulent Britisher Christopher Hewett, as Lawrence, replaced the Tattoo character but to little avail and the series was canceled one season later. The troubled Villechaize committed suicide on September 4, 1993.
An Emmy Award winner for his role in the miniseries How the West Was Won (1976) and a noteworthy villain in the Dynasty (1981) spin-off series The Colbys (1985), Montalban was also famous for a series of television commercials in which he returned somewhat to his "Latin lover" persona, primarily in a series of slick commercials for Chrysler's Cordoba automobile, pitching the elegant auto with its "rich, Corinthian leather" (it later came to light that this phrase had been conjured up as a marketing tool, and that there was no such product from Corinth or anywhere else!). As for film and television work in his later years, he good-naturedly spoofed his Hollywood image in a number of featured roles, including a hilarious send-up of himself in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988). Two of his final, larger-scaled film roles were as the grandfather in the two "Spy Kids" sequels: Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) and Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003). His deep, soothing, confident tones could also be heard in animated features and television series.
Frustrated at Hollywood's portrayal of Mexicans, he helped to found, and gave great support, attention and distinction to, the image-building "Nosotros" organization, a Los Angeles theatre-based company designed for Latinos working in the industry. Nosotros and the Montalban foundation eventually bought the historic Doolittle Theater in Hollywood and renamed the theatre in his honor in 2004. It became the first major theater facility (1200 seats) in the United States to carry the name of a Latino performing artist. In 1980, along with Bob Thomas, he published his memoir, entitled "Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds".
A class act who was beloved in the industry for his gentle and caring nature, the long-term effects of his spinal injury eventually confined him to a wheelchair in his later years. He died in his Los Angeles home of complications from old age on January 14, 2009 at age 88. His wife having died on November 29, 2007, he was survived by their two daughters and two sons: Laura, Anita, Victor and Mark.- Actor
- Producer
1980's TV heartthrob Jack Scalia, a Brooklyn native of Italian descent, was born Giacomo Tomaso Tedesco on November 10, 1950. The son of former Brooklyn Dodger Rocky Teseco, Jack's name was changed to his stepfather's surname after his mother remarried. Raised in Brentwood, NY, he was considered an All-American athlete by the time he graduated from Brentwood High School in 1969. He went on to play three sports through college while participating in four triathlons and six marathons.
A promising pitcher for the Montreal Expos, an injury ended his three-year pro career. In 1975, he took advantage of his muscular build and macho good looks by modeling with Armani, later joining the Ford Modeling Agency and signing on as the "Jordache Jeans Man". In January 1980, Scalia made a surprisingly easy transition into acting, which led to his first film role in the mini-movie The Star Maker (1981) starring the late Rock Hudson.
The blue-eyed, cleft-chinned hunk got his first taste of series stardom as an unshaven, rough-and-tough detective who joins forces with his slick and debonair father (Hudson again) in the TV series, The Devlin Connection (1982). Though the series had a short life, Scalia received scads of attention. His more popular credits during this busy time included I'll Take Manhattan (1987), Ring of Scorpio (1991), Lady Boss (1992) and Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1993), playing infamous tabloid news maker Joey Buttafuoco, with Alyssa Milano as his teenage object of desire.
Though Scalia didn't quite manage to scale the super star heights of a Tom Selleck or Pierce Brosnan, the tall, dark, handsome actor remained a durable "ladies' man" and "man's man" for over three decades. Never finding that one smash series that would have put him over the top, he would headline or co-star in a near-record nine TV shows that kept him constantly in the running, including Hollywood Beat (1985), Wolf (1989), Tequila and Bonetti (1992) and Pointman (1995). Nabbing a recurring role on Remington Steele (1982) and an early season on Dallas (1978), Jack later joined the cast of All My Children (1970) for a period of time in 2001, earning a daytime Emmy nomination in the process. He also copped a recurring role in 2003 on the dramatic series Saints & Sinners (2016)
Living in Rome during the early 1990's, he returned and moved into typical hero/villain roles in low-budget thrillers and good-looking lovers in romantic comedies/dramas with flicks include The Rift (1990) (aka "Endless Descent"), Illicit Behavior (1992), Amore! (1993), Under Oath (1997), Boys Klub (2001), Shattered Lies (2002), Red Eye (2005), Honeymoon with Mom (2006), Act of War (1998) and Ground Zero (2000). He also received assorted producing credits for other on-camera films including T-Force (1994), The Silencers (1996), Dark Breed (1996), Follow Your Heart (1999), The Genius Club (2006) and Black Widow (2010).
Jack made his stage debut in 1994 as a former Vietnam vet in the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play "Red River Rats" in Los Angeles. Divorced twice, Jack was married to one-time model Joan Rankin and then to Karen Baldwin, a former "Miss Universe" (1982). He has two daughters, Olivia and Jacqueline, from his second marriage.- Actress
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During the early times of the Depression when life was more famine than feast, child stars became the blue plate special of the day, served up by Hollywood to help nourish a nation besieged with troubles. Following 20th Century-Fox monumental success with Shirley Temple in the early 1930s, every studio was out searching for its own precocious little commodity who could pack 'em in the aisles despite the lean times. While Paramount whipped up "Little" Mitzi Green, MGM offered Jackie Cooper in the hopes of finding a similar box office jingle. Wildly talented Janie Withers fit the bill, too, and although she earned pint-sized prominence just like the others, it was also for Temple's Fox Studios. As such, Jane remained somewhat of a side course to Temple's main dish (what child star didn't?) throughout much her young "B" level reign. Nevertheless, she became a major bright star in her own right.
The freckled, dark-haired hellraiser was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 12, 1926. The daughter of Walter and Lavinia Ruth (Elble) Withers, her parents wasted no time in prodding little Jane quickly into the world of entertainment. Jane was a natural--performing by the time she could walk and talk. By age three, she was taking singing and dancing lessons and at age 4, was starring on her own radio program in Atlanta. A spot-on mimic, she was simply uncanny when it came to impersonating the superstars of her day (W.C. Fields, Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin) and was a veteran pint-sized performer by the time her family moved to Los Angeles after her father was transferred by his company. Jane was enrolled in Lawlor's Professional School and was soon modeling in shows, entertaining at benefits and making the usual rounds of the studios nabbing extra work while waiting for that one big film break.
She found it at age 8 when she won the plum role of the spoiled, obnoxious, doll-ripping, bicycle-riding brat who terrorizes sweet Shirley Temple in Twentieth Century-Fox's Bright Eyes (1934). The infamy earned Jane a sweet contract at Fox and for the next seven years she did it her way as the tyke star of close to 50 "B" level films. Where Shirley was cuddly and ultra huggable, brunette-banged Jane was fun, rambunctious and full of kinetic energy--a scrappy little tomboy who could take on any boy at any time. Her lively vehicles took full advantage of her talents for impersonating movie stars, too. Her first major success came in the form of the title role in Ginger (1935) in which Jane imitated the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and was rewarded by the studio with a contract of $125 weekly for six months. Her singing and dancing skills were utilized in such vehicles as This Is the Life (1935) and Paddy O'Day (1936). As the star, she was toned down, of course, from the all-out brat she played against Temple. Jane kept filmgoers entertained throughout the late 1930s with pictures like Pepper (1936) and Angel's Holiday (1937), in which she did an hilarious impression of Martha Raye. She ended 1937 with a bang when she was named one of Motion Picture's Poll's "Top Ten" (#6) box office favorites. Guess who was #1?
The early 1940s would tell the story as to whether Jane could survive the dreaded awkward teen transition that haunted every popular child star. She received her first screen kiss at age 13 in Boy Friend (1939) and was singled out for her work in The Ritz Brothers' Pack Up Your Troubles (1939), but Jane's antics simply didn't play as well and the studio began to lose interest. In fact, both Shirley and Jane felt the pressures of growing up and Darryl F. Zanuck let both of them go in July of 1942. Jane signed a three-year picture deal with Republic Pictures with lukewarm results. Her best dramatic role at that time came with The North Star (1943).
In 1947, the same year as her last picture of the decade, Jane married a wealthy Texas oil man, William Moss, and had three children by him--William, Wendy, and Randy. The marriage was not a happy one and lasted only six years. She also was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. In 1955, she remarried, this time to Kenneth Errair, one-quarter of the harmonizing group "The Four Freshmen." They had two children, Ken and Kendall Jane. At the same time, she attempted a Hollywood comeback. While studying directing at the USC film school, she met producer/director George Stevens who cast her in an enviable character role in the epic-sized Giant (1956) supporting Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean. Other film roles followed with The Right Approach (1961) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963).
It was TV, however, that would turn Jane into a wealthy woman as a friendly household pitchwoman. Her decades-long job as the dress-downed Josephine the Plumber pushing Comet cleanser made her one popular gal when working in films became a non-issue. From time to time she made guest appearances on such fun, lightweight shows as The Munsters (1964), The Love Boat (1977), Murder, She Wrote (1984), and Hart to Hart (1979). Known for her strong spiritualism and charitable contributions, Jane's buoyant, indefatigable nature was still, at age 90+, highly infectious. She not only did voiceover work for Disney's animated features but still popped up here and there for interviews and convention signings--as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as she was in her childhood heyday. A widow in 1968, (her second husband perished in a June 14th plane crash in California), she also lost one of her five children, Randy, to cancer when he was only 33.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that set the stage for her comedy.
Carol's rags-to-riches story started out in San Antonio, Texas, on April 26, 1933, where she was born to Ina Louise (Creighton) and Joseph Thomas "Jodie" Burnett, both of whom suffered from acute alcoholism. As a child, she was left in the care of a beloved grandmother, who shuttled the two of them off to Hollywood, California, where they lived in a boarding house and shared a great passion for the Golden Age of movies. The plaintive, loose-limbed, highly sensitive Carol survived her wallflower insecurities by grabbing attention as a cut-up at Hollywood High School. A natural talent, she attended the University of California and switched majors from journalism to theater. Scouting out comedy parts on TV and in the theater, she first had them rolling in the aisles in the mid-1950s performing a lovelorn novelty song called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (then Secretary of State) in a nightclub act. This led to night-time variety show appearances with Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan and where the career ball really started rolling.
Carol's first big TV breaks came at age 22 and 23 as a foil to a ventriloquist's dummy on the already-established The Paul Winchell Show (1950) in 1955, and as Buddy Hackett's gawky girlfriend on the short-lived sitcom Stanley (1956). She also developed an affinity for game shows and appeared as a regular on one of TV earliest, Stump the Stars (1947) in 1958. While TV would bring Carol fans by the millions, it was Broadway that set her on the road to stardom. She began as the woebegone Princess Winnifred in the 1959 Broadway musical "Once Upon a Mattress" which earned her first Tony Award nomination. [She would later appear in three TV adaptations - Once Upon a Mattress (1964), Once Upon a Mattress (1972) and Once Upon a Mattress (2005).] This, in turn, led to the first of an armful of Emmy Awards as a repertoire player on the popular variety series The Garry Moore Show (1958) in 1959. Burnett invented a number of scene-stealing characters during this time, most notably her charwoman character. With the phenomenal household success of the Moore show, she moved up quickly from second banana to headliner and appeared in a 1962 Emmy-winning special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962) co-starring close friend Julie Andrews. She earned the Outer Critics Circle Award for the short-lived musical "Fade Out, Fade In" (1964); and made her official film debut opposite Bewitched (1964) star Elizabeth Montgomery and Dean Martin in the lightweight comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963).
Not surprisingly, fellow redhead Lucille Ball, who had been Carol's treasured idol growing up, subsequently became a friend and mentor to the rising funny girl. Hilarious as a guest star on The Lucy Show (1962), Carol appeared as a painfully shy (natch) wallflower type who suddenly blooms in jaw-dropping fashion. Ms. Ball was so convinced of Carol's talent that she offered Carol her own Desilu-produced sitcom, but Burnett had her heart set on fronting a variety show. With her own team of second bananas, including character crony Harvey Korman, handsome foil Lyle Waggoner, and lookalike "kid sister" type Vicki Lawrence, the The Carol Burnett Show (1967) became an instant sensation, and earned 22 Emmy Awards during its 11-year run. It allowed Carol to fire off her wide range of comedy and musical ammunition--whether running amok in broad sketch comedy, parodying movie icons such as Gloria Swanson, Shirley Temple, Vivien Leigh or Joan Crawford, or singing/gushing alongside favorite vocalists Jim Nabors, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé. She managed to bring in huge stars not known at all for slapstick comedy, including Rock Hudson and even then-Governor Ronald Reagan while providing a platform for such up-and-coming talent as Bernadette Peters and The Pointer Sisters In between, Carol branched out with supporting turns in the films Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974) and Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).
Her program, whose last episode aired in March of 1978, was the last truly successful major network variety show to date. Carol took on new challenges to display her unseen dramatic mettle, and accomplished this amazingly in TV-movie showcases. She earned an Emmy nomination for her gripping portrayal of anti-Vietnam War activist Peg Mullen in Friendly Fire (1979), and convincingly played a woman coming to terms with her alcoholism in Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982). Neither character bore any traces of the usual Burnett comedy shtick. Though she proved she could contain herself for films, Carol was never able to acquire crossover success into movies, despite trouper work in The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982) (as the hammy villainess Miss Hannigan), and Noises Off... (1992). The last two roles had been created onstage by Broadway's Dorothy Loudon.
Carol would return from time to time to the stage and concert forums with productions of "Plaza Suite", "I Do! I Do", "Follies", "Company" and "Putting It Together". A second Tony nomination came for her comedy work in "Moon Over Buffalo" in 1995. Carol has made frequent appearances on her own favorite TV shows too, such as Password (1961) (along with Elizabeth Montgomery, Carol was considered one of the show's best players) and the daytime soaper, All My Children (1970).
During the early 1990s, Carol attempted a TV comeback of sorts, with a couple of new variety formats in Carol & Company (1990) and The Carol Burnett Show (1991), but neither could recreate the magic of the original. She has appeared, sporadically, on various established shows such as "Magnum, P.I.," "Touched by an Angel," "Mad About You" (for which she won an Emmy), "Desperate Housewives," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Emmy nomination), "Hawaii Five-0," "Glee" and "Hot in Cleveland." Befitting such a classy clown, she has received a multitude of awards over time, including the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985. Her personal life has been valiant--tears in between the laughs. Married three times, her second union with jazz-musician-turned-variety-show-producer Joe Hamilton produced three daughters. Eldest girl, Carrie Hamilton, an actress and former teen substance abuser, tragically died of lung and brain cancer at age 38. Shortly before Carrie's death, mother and daughter managed to write a play, together, entitled "Hollywood Arms", based on Carol's 1986 memoir, "One More Time". The show subsequently made it to Broadway.
Today, at age 80 plus, Carol has been seen less frequently but still continues to make appearances, especially on TV. Most recently she has guested on the shows "Glee," "Hot in Cleveland" and the revivals of "Hawaii Five-0" and "Mad About You." As always she signs off a live appearance with her signature ear tug (acknowledging her late grandmother), reminding us all, between the wisecracks and the songs, how glad and lucky we all are to still have some of "this time together".- Actor
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Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a train accident when he was two, and Robert and his siblings (including brother John Mitchum, later also an actor) were raised by his mother and stepfather (a British army major) in Connecticut, New York, and Delaware. An early contempt for authority led to discipline problems, and Mitchum spent good portions of his teen years adventuring on the open road. He later claimed that on one of these trips, at the age of 14, he was charged with vagrancy and sentenced to a Georgia chain gang, from which he escaped. Working a wide variety of jobs (including ghostwriter for astrologist Carroll Righter), Mitchum discovered acting in a Long Beach, California, amateur theater company. He worked at Lockheed Aircraft, where job stress caused him to suffer temporary blindness. About this time he began to obtain small roles in films, appearing in dozens within a very brief time. In 1945, he was cast as Lt. Walker in Story of G.I. Joe (1945) and received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. His star ascended rapidly, and he became an icon of 1940s film noir, though equally adept at westerns and romantic dramas. His apparently lazy style and seen-it-all demeanor proved highly attractive to men and women, and by the 1950s, he was a true superstar despite a brief prison term for marijuana usage in 1949, which seemed to enhance rather than diminish his "bad boy" appeal. Though seemingly dismissive of "art," he worked in tremendously artistically thoughtful projects such as Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) and even co-wrote and composed an oratorio produced at the Hollywood Bowl by Orson Welles. A master of accents and seemingly unconcerned about his star image, he played in both forgettable and unforgettable films with unswerving nonchalance, leading many to overlook the prodigious talent he can bring to a project that he finds compelling. He moved into television in the 1980s as his film opportunities diminished, winning new fans with The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988). His sons James Mitchum and Christopher Mitchum are actors, as is his grandson Bentley Mitchum. His last film was James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) with Casper Van Dien as James Dean.- Actress
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Acclaimed actress Jessica Walter was born on January 31, 1941 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Esther (Groisser), a teacher, and David Walter (his original surname was Warshawsky), a musician who was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the NYC Ballet Orchestra. She was of Russian Jewish descent, the sister of screenwriter and Chairman of the UCLA Screenwriting program Richard Walter. Their uncle was stage and screen actor Jerry Jarrett. Raised in Queens, Walter was a graduate of New York's High School of the Performing Arts and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She first acted in summer stock and her extensive subsequent career on the stage included productions both on- and off-Broadway.
On Broadway, Walter appeared in Peter Ustinov's "Photo Finish" (which earned her the Clarence Derwent Award as Most Promising Newcomer), "A Severed Head", "Advise and Consent", "Night Life" and Neil Simon's "Rumors". Off-Broadway, she acted in a 1986 Los Angeles Theater Center production of "Tartuffe" opposite Ron Leibman (to whom she was married from 1983 until his death in 2019).
After guesting on several TV series in the early and mid-1960s, Walter made her move to feature films where she attracted attention for her role as the brash Libby in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). This seemed to set the tone for her next screen personae as bitchy, difficult or dangerously vindictive women, the most memorable of which was Evelyn in Clint Eastwood's directorial debut film, Play Misty for Me (1971). This earned Walter a richly deserved Golden Globe nomination. Another stand-out role was Pat, the bored ex-glamour model wife of one racing driver (Brian Bedford) and troublesome girlfriend of another (James Garner) in Grand Prix (1966). Walter's numerous TV roles included the enchantress Morgan LeFay in the rarely seen telemovie Dr. Strange (1978). Of her many screen villainesses she later said: "those are the fun roles. They're juicy, much better than playing the vanilla ingénues".
By the 1980s, Walter had turned increasingly towards comedy, both on the big screen (The Flamingo Kid (1984)) and the small (Three's a Crowd (1984)). However, she never shied away from other genres, whether playing an EarthGov senator on the cult sci-fi series Babylon 5 (1993) or providing the voice for the leading female character in the animated sitcom Dinosaurs (1991). Walter received an Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Actress in the Ironside (1967) spin-off Amy Prentiss (1974) and was nominated for guest-starring roles in episodes of Trapper John, M.D. (1979) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972). She found a new audience among younger viewers as the devious matriarch Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development (2003).
Jessica Walter died in her sleep on March 24, 2021 from undisclosed causes at the age of 80. Riverside Memorial Chapel and Funeral Home in New York City completed her final arrangements. She was cremated and her ashes are with her daughter.- Actress
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Known as "The Big Mouth" and considered the female equivalent to Bob Hope, Martha Raye was an American icon in her own right.
She was born Margy Reed in Butte, Montana, to Maybelle Hazel (Hooper) and Peter Reed, Jr., vaudeville performers. She had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Raye made her acting debut before the age of 10 as she toured the nation with her parents variety show "Reed and Hopper". In her late teens she was hired by band-leader Paul Ash as his lead vocalist and was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout during a New York City concert in 1934. She soon relocated to Hollywood were she began making a name for herself appearing in a string of successful screwball comedies alongside the likes of Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante, W.C. Fields, and Joe E. Brown.
With the outbreak of World War II she took a break from film making to focus on entertaining servicemen and women traveling with the USO on many tour stops. She soon became even more famous for her dedication to America, its values, and its soldiers which helped earn her the beloved nickname "Colonel Maggie".
She continued acting into the late 1980s dividing her time between movies, TV guest spots, and occasional stage appearances. She passed away on October 19, 1994 after a long battle from pneumonia and was buried with full military honors at the Fort Bragg Main Post Cemetery, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Martha "Colonel Maggie" Raye was 78 years old.- Actress
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Stefanie Powers began her career as a teenager dancing for the Michele Paniaff Ballet Company and Jerome Robbins. At 16 she was put under contract to Columbia Pictures in the twilight of the Hollywood Studio System where she made 15 motion pictures and was loaned to United Artists for the John Wayne production of McLintock! (1963). MGM Television bought her contract from Columbia to present her as The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966). Her television credits include over 200 guest appearances, 18 mini-series and 2 more weekly series, The Feather and Father Gang (1976) and the long-running Hart to Hart (1979).
Her long career has included appearances on the stage beginning in 1964 with "Under the Yum Yum Tree" in San Francisco which ran for 12 years after its initial opening. She has appeared on and off Broadway in musical shows and tributes; in the West End in the musical, "Matador" and "Love Letters". Appearances on the British stage included "The King and I", "The Adjustment" and "84 Charing Cross Road."
Her stage appearances in the United States include "Annie Get Your Gun", "Oliver", "Applause" (the revival), "Sunset Boulevard" and "Gotta Dance" directed by Jerry Mitchell. In 2018 she appeared in the film The Artist's Wife (2019) with Lena Olin and Bruce Dern and a revival in London of "84 Charing Cross Road."
She has an active life in wildlife conservation and is the creator of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, formed after the death of her long-time life partner William Holden. In that vein she has received numerous fellowships and awards for her tireless field work in conservation and is a faculty member of the Oxford Literary Festival at Christ Church College at Oxford where she heads forums with authors of outstanding books dealing with the crucial environmental issues of our day. She's been on the boards of four zoos in North America and is an independent board member of a cluster of 3 mutual funds which are a part of the American Funds, one of the largest mutual funds families in the world. She presented the PBS 13 part series, "Funding Your Dreams" as a road map for women contemplating investment options.
As a member of the Writers' Guild of America she was nominated for her script of "Family Secrets", received five Emmy nominations for acting roles and a People's Choice Award.
She resides in Los Angeles, London and Kenya.