Lesser Known Movie Stars

1. Evalyn Knapp

Evalyn Knapp was an American film actress, with a film career spanning the years 1929 to 1943. In the 1930s, she was a leading actress in then-popular B-movie serial films. Her most memorable role was that protagonist Pauline Hargraves in the film serial Perils of Pauline (1933).

In 1906, Knapp was ...

Saw her in Sinners' Holiday (1930) as James Cagney's sister.

2. Carol Adams

Actress | Bad Man of Deadwood

Born Lurline Uller in Los Angeles in 1918, she was "discovered" at age 5, while playing in her aunt's yard, near the corner of Sunset and Gower and recruited to appear as a flower girl in "Navy Blues" (1923) with Dorothy Devore.

Lurline spent her early years appearing in various "Our Gang", "Mickey ...

64 credits - Looks like Teresa Wright

3. Marguerite Chapman

Actress | The Seven Year Itch

Marguerite Chapman, a small-town secretary and tomboy nicknamed "Slugger", became a model only after friends insisted "you oughta be in pictures", and she went on to act in more than 30 movies. Never a Hollywood wannabe, Chapman grew up in Chatham, New York, with four brothers. She started working ...

76 credits - Destroyer (1943) Glenn Ford, Edward G. Robinson.

4. Helen Walker

Actress | Brewster's Millions

Helen Walker was a beautiful and bright actress whose career never reached its full potential, in spite of her evident talent. She was a successful actress on Broadway, and in 1942 her performance in the play "Jason" was so impressive that she was signed up to act in films. She immediately earned ...

23 credits - less than others but ... died premature. - The Big Combo (1955); Impact (1949)

5. Lynn Bari

Actress | The Bridge of San Luis Rey

A curvaceous, dark-haired WWII pin-up beauty (aka "The Woo Woo Girl" and "The Girl with the Million Dollar Figure"), "B" film star Lynn Bari had the requisite looks and talent but few of the lucky breaks needed to penetrate the "A" rankings during her extensive Hollywood career. Nevertheless, some ...

169 credits -

6. Wendy Barrie

Actress | The Gay Falcon

Wendy Barrie was born in Hong Kong to an English-Irish father and a Russian Jewish mother. Her dad was the distinguished King's Counsel F.C. Jenkins which ensured that the family was well off. Wendy received her education at a convent school in England and a finishing school in Switzerland. After ...

62 credits -

7. Bonnie Bannon

Actress | In the Meantime, Darling

Bonnie Bannon was the daughter of Walter A. and Juanita (Strong) Bannon and was born in Tulare County, California. After graduating from Fresno High School, she went to work for a local Warner Bros. theater and soon entered a Warner Bros. beauty contest, where she won a contract with the studio. ...

52 credits -

8. Marion Byron

Actress | Steamboat Bill, Jr.

At Warner Brothers, tiny, five feet tall Marion Byron was nicknamed (and occasionally billed as) "Peanuts". She was a cute and vivacious soubrette who featured in early, long forgotten musicals, with titles like Show of Shows (1929), Broadway Babies (1929) and Playing Around (1930). Marion began ...

45 credits - Steamboat Bill, Jr. - 1928

9. Veda Ann Borg

Actress | Mildred Pierce

Born in Boston, Veda Ann Borg was a New York model in 1936 when a screen test brought her a short-lived contract at Paramount, where she made her debut film, Three Cheers for Love (1936). She fit better at Warner Brothers, where she played at least 15 roles (some of them bits) in 1937-38; but in ...

Multiple Bogart and Cagney films. Gangster girl, Night club gal.

10. Joan Valerie

Actress | Topa Topa

Born in Illinois in 1912, Helen Vlahakis, later known as Joan Valerie soon settles down in Hollywood, where she studied drama at the famous Pasadena Playhouse. Darryl F. Zanuck discovered her there but gave her parts only in B movies, although in pleasant ones. By way of example, she was the ...

50 credits - Saw her in Its Love I'm After with Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland and Leslie Howard.

11. Noel Francis

Actress | Blonde Crazy

Pretty Noel Francis came to Hollywood after attracting the attention of Fox talent scouts and was signed to a contract in 1929. Born in Temple, Texas, she grew up in Dallas and had studied at Southern Methodist University and Columbia. Like so many other hopefuls who had little theatrical ...

49 credits -

12. Virginia Grey

Actress | Airport

Born into a show-business family--her father was a director and her mother was a film cutter--Virginia Grey made her film debut at age 10 as Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927). After a few more films as a child actress, she left the business to finish her schooling. Returning to films as an adult in ...

13. Margaret Lindsay

Actress | Scarlet Street

Picture-pretty brunette Margaret Lindsay was one of a number of pleasant, sweet-natured ingénues who could do no wrong in a score of 1930s stylish Hollywood pictures. Such altruistic love interests were often overlooked in pictures that were carried by the flashy histrionics of a jaunty James Cagney...

14. June Lang

Actress | Chandu the Magician

This approachable blue-eyed blonde with a striking, open-faced beauty had a very encouraging career going for her in 30s Hollywood but extenuating circumstances hurt her chances in the long run. In less than a decade and a half June Lang was out of pictures altogether (after appearing in over 30) ...

45 credits - Saw her in Captain January (1936) with Shirley Temple.

15. Carla Balenda

Actress | Prince of Pirates

She was born Sally Bliss in Carthage, New York. Her father had moved the family from Ohio and was a science teacher at Carthage High School. In 1927, the family moved to Amityville, Long Island. She attended drama school in Rhode Island and at age 17, she was invited to Hollywood by Howard Hughes, ...

28 credits, last film 1966, saw her in Prince Of Pirates with John Derek, Sealed Cargo with Dana Andrews and Claude Rains. She was in several TV series as well.

16. Ella Raines

Actress | Phantom Lady

Ella Raines was born in Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, in 1920. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at the University of Washington as a drama student and participated in many plays. Following graduation, she traveled to New York and the lights of Broadway. She was eventually signed by ...

28 credits - less than others but ...

17. Helen Parrish

Actress | Three Smart Girls Grow Up

The daughter of stage actress Laura R. Parrish, lovely slim-eyed brunette Helen Parrish was born on March 12, 1923 (references sometimes vary between 1922 and 1924), in Columbus, Georgia. She started out in movies at the ripe old age of four playing Babe Ruth's daughter in the silent movie Babe ...

69 credits -

18. Barbara Rush

Actress | It Came from Outer Space

The epitome of poise, charm, style and grace, beautiful brunette Barbara Rush was born in Denver, Colorado in 1927 and enrolled at the University of California before working with the University Players and taking acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse. It didn't take long for talent scouts to ...

115 credits including B-scifi movies It Came From Outer Space and When Worlds Collide along with many TV shows. TCM had a marathon of her catalog in Sept. 2022

19. Billie Burke

Actress | The Wizard of Oz

Billie Burke was born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke on August 7, 1885 in Washington, D.C. Her father was a circus clown, and as a child she toured the United States and Europe with the circus (before motion pictures and after the stage, circuses were the biggest form of entertainment in the...

91 credits - Glinda the good witch of the north in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

20. Binnie Barnes

Actress | The Time of Their Lives

British-born actress who appeared in both British and American films, but who found her greatest success in Hollywood second leads. After a variety of jobs, including nurse, chorus girl and milkmaid, Barnes entered vaudeville. She appeared in more than a score of short comedies with comedian ...

80 credits - Several films: Always Goodbye (1938) with Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, Ian Hunter; Three Blind Mice (1938) with Loretta Young, Joel McCrea.

21. Glenda Farrell

Actress | Girl Missing

Glenda Farrell began as the archetypal wisecracking blonde in 1930s gangland films like Little Caesar (1931) and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932). Diminutive, grey-eyed and undeniably sassy, she was a seasoned performer long before Warner Brothers snapped her up as a contract player in 1929...

169 credits - Career into 1970s. Seen her in Little Caesar (1931); Three on a Match (1932); Girl Missing (1933); Bureau of Missing Persons (1933); The Big Shakedown (1934); The Secret Bride (1934); Breakfast for Two (1937) and etc.

22. Norma Shearer

Actress | The Divorcee

She won a beauty contest at age fourteen. In 1920 her mother, Edith Shearer, took Norma and her sister Athole Shearer (Mrs. Howard Hawks) to New York. Ziegfeld rejected her for his "Follies," but she got work as an extra in several movies. She spent much money on eye doctor's services trying to ...

66 credits about 2/3rds of her career was in silent films.

23. Miriam Hopkins

Actress | Trouble in Paradise

Born into wealth in Savannah, Georgia, on October 18, 1902, Ellen Miriam Hopkins was able to attend the finest educational institutions, including Goddard Seminary in Plainfield, Vermont, and Syracuse University in New York State. Studying dance in New York, she received her first taste of show ...

53 credits - The Old Maid (1939) with Bette Davis; Old Acquaintance (1943) with Bette Davis

24. Margaret Hamilton

Actress | The Wizard of Oz

Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. Margaret had already built her resume ...

127 credits - Best known for the green faced wicked witch of the west in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

25. Nella Walker

Actress | Sabrina

Nella Walker was born on March 6, 1886 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Sabrina (1954), Two Sisters from Boston (1946) and Three Smart Girls (1936). She was married to Wilbur Mack. She died on March 22, 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Saw her in Variety Girl (1947), Sabrina (1954) with Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Audrey Hepburn, The Locket (1946) with Robert Mitchum and Lorraine day. Captain January (1936) with Shirley Temple, Guy Kibbee and Buddy Ebsen.

26. George Brent

Actor | Dark Victory

The favorite leading man of star Bette Davis was born George Brendan Nolan in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland (although his place of birth has also been variosuly given as Raharabeg, County Roscommon and Shannonbridge, County Offaly). He was the youngest of five children born to shopkeeper John...

Lots of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis films. Usually as their love interest. Is he a bigger star?

27. Herbert Marshall

Actor | Foreign Correspondent

Herbert Marshall had trained to become a certified accountant, but his interest turned to the stage. He lost a leg while serving in World War I and was rehabilitated with a wooden leg. This did not stop him from making good his decision to make the stage his vocation. He used a very deliberate ...

Boat loads of Barbara Stanwyck

28. Guy Kibbee

Actor | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Beginning his show business career at age 13 as an entertainer on Mississippi riverboats, Guy Kibbee graduated to the legitimate stage and spent many years in the theater. In the 1930s he was signed by Warner Brothers, and became part of what was known as "the Warner Brothers Stock Company", a ...

Seen him in at least 10 films.

29. Ian Hunter

Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood

Ian Hunter was born in the Kenilworth area of Cape Town, South Africa where he spent his childhood. In his teen years he and his parents returned to the family origins in England to live. Sometime between that arrival and the early years of World War I, Hunter began exploring acting, then in 1917 -...

102 credits - Looks like Rock Hudson. Seen him is several films including Ziegfeld Girl (1941) with Lana Turner, Hedy Lamar and Judy Garland. Also Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde (1941) with Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner.

30. Dane Clark

Actor | Destination Tokyo

Dane Clark was born Bernard Elliot Zanville in Brooklyn, New York City, to Rose (Korostoff) and Samuel Zanville, who were Russian Jewish immigrants. He graduated from Cornell University and St. John's Law School (Brooklyn). When he had trouble finding work in the mid-1930s he tried boxing, baseball,...

156 credits - Looks like Kramer on Seinfeld. Career lasted into the 1980s. A Stolen Life (1946) with Bette Davis.

31. Warren Hymer

Actor | Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

Warren Hymer was born on February 25, 1906 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938), The Lady and the Mob (1939) and Up the River (1930). He was married to Beau Williams and Virginia Meyer. He died on March 25, 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Multiple Bogart, Cagney films, prison inmate, gangster friend.

32. Edward Brophy

Actor | The Thin Man

Edward S. Brophy was born on February 27, 1895 in New York City and educated at the University of Virginia. He became a bit and small-part in the movies starting in 1919, but switched to behind-the-scenes work for job security, though he continued appearing in small parts. While serving as a ...

Multiple Bogart, Cagney films, prison inmate, gangster friend. Sometimes comedic.

33. Joe Sawyer

Actor | The Petrified Forest

Joe Sawyer's familiar mug appeared everywhere during the 1930s and 1940s, particularly as a stock player for Warner Bros. in its more standard college musicals, comedies and crime yarns. He could play both sides of the fence, street cops and mob gunmen, with equal ease. He was born Joseph Sauers in...

Multiple Bogart, Cagney films, prison inmate, gangster friend.

34. Allen Jenkins

Actor | Tomorrow at Seven

Both of Allen Jenkins' parents were musical comedy performers, and he entered the theater as a stage mechanic after World War I, after having spent time working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Although his screen persona was that of a not-too-bright Brooklyn tough guy, Jenkins attended the American ...

162 credits - Lots of gangster films from 1930s with Bogey or Cagney. Plus TV shows in the 1970s.

35. Tod Andrews

Actor | Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Tod Andrews was born on November 9, 1914 in El Paso, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Heaven Can Wait (1943) and From Hell It Came (1957). He was married to Karolyn Rainwater, Valerie Veigel, Alice Kirby Hooker, Gloria Eleanor Folland and Isabelle ...

72 credits - Jimmy Cagney and Bette Davis films in the 1940s plus various TV shows including The Andy Griffith Show as the new inspector.

36. Regis Toomey

Actor | The Big Sleep

Pittsburgh-born and -raised character actor Regis Toomey, of Irish descent, took an early interest in the performing arts and initially studied drama at the university of his home town. One of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, John Regis Toomey initially pondered a law career, but ...

272 credits - Career began in 1929 and lasted into TV series of 1970s and 80s. Lived to age 93. Shopworn (1932) and Meet John Doe (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper, The Crowd Roars (1932) G-Men (1935) with Jimmy Cagney.

37. Hardie Albright

Actor | So Big!

Hardie Albright's parents had a traveling vaudeville act, in which he made his stage debut at the age of six. He studied drama at Carnegie Tech and was a member of Eva Le Gallienne's repertory theater. He appeared in many Broadway plays before making his film debut in 1931. Appearing in over 50 ...

73 credits - Early 1930s films with Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis on into many TV series in the 1960s, such as The Twilight Zone and Leave It To Beaver

38. Chester Morris

Actor | The Divorcee

The Academy Award-nominated film actor Chester Morris, who will forever be associated with the character Boston Blackie, was born John Chester Brooks Morris on February 16 1901 in New York City, the son of actor William Morris and comedienne Etta Hawkins.

Chester Morris made his Broadway debut as a ...

127 credits - Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant films and Five Came back (1939) with Lucille Ball.

39. Wayne Morris

Actor | Paths of Glory

American actor who had early success as a sunny juvenile, but whose career declined following World War II, in which he was a highly-decorated hero. A native of Los Angeles, Morris played football at Los Angeles Junior College, then worked as a forest ranger. Returning to school, he studied acting ...

90 credits. Died relatively young at age 45. Seen him in at least 3 Bogart films plus others with Edward G Robinson and Bette Davis.

40. John Loder

Actor | How Green Was My Valley

A tall (6'3"), handsome, debonair, immaculately-groomed British leading man best known for his pipe-smoking chaps, Londoner John Loder (né John Muir Lowe), was born on January 3, 1898, the son of a British general. Attending both the Eton and the Royal Military colleges, he followed his ...

118 credits - Seen him in films with Bette Davis, Betty Grable, Humphrey Bogart, Hedy Lamarr, and 1936 Alfred Hitchcock film, Sabotage. Lived to age 90.

41. Clarence Kolb

Actor | His Girl Friday

Contrary to his familiar image, Clarence Kolb started out as one half of a vaudeville comedy act, Kolb and Dill. He made a few shorts in 1916 and a feature in 1917, but went back to vaudeville and the stage immediately thereafter, and did not return to films until the late 1930s. His stern, ...

Caught In The Draft (1947) with Bob Hope, His Girl Friday (1949) with Cary Grant