Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-50 of 1,418
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Marin Marais was born on 31 May 1656 in Paris, France. Marin was a composer, known for Sången om den eldröda blomman (1919), Liquid Sky (1982) and Miffo (2003). Marin died on 15 August 1728 in Paris, France.- Ludwig Tieck was born on 31 May 1773 in Berlin, Prussia, Holy Roman Empire [now Germany]. He was a writer, known for Des Lebens Überfluss (1950), Leonor (1975) and Spannende Geschichten (1978). He died on 28 April 1853 in Berlin, Prussia [now Germany].
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Louise Farrenc was born on 31 May 1804 in Paris, France. Louise was a composer, known for Symfonia haraktiron (1999) and Bertrand Chamayou und das Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France spielen Beethovens Klavierkonzert Nr. 5 (2018). Louise died on 15 September 1875 in Paris, France.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Walter Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in its time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman's own life came under scrutiny for his presumed homosexuality.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Jean-Baptiste Clément was born on 31 May 1836 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is known for Porco Rosso (1992), Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort (1988) and Bottle Shock (2008). He died on 23 February 1903 in Paris, France.- Rudolf Innemann was born on 31 May 1861 in Prague, Austrian Empire [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Cholera v Praze (1914). He was married to Ludmila Innemannová. He died on 12 November 1907 in Prague, Cechy, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic].
- Ferruccio Benini was born on 31 May 1854 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was an actor, known for Per la Patria! (1915). He died on 28 February 1916 in Rome, Italy.
- Tadeusz Rittner was born on 31 May 1871 in Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]. Tadeusz was a writer, known for Za winy brata (1921), Television Theater (1953) and Odwiedziny o zmierzchu (1966). Tadeusz died on 19 June 1921 in Bad Gastein, Salzburg, Austria.
- Ernest Daudet was born on 31 May 1837 in Nîmes, Gard, France. Ernest was a writer, known for La nuit du 11 septembre (1922) and Par la vérité (1917). Ernest died on 21 August 1921 in Petites Dalles, France.
- Zemaite was born on 31 May 1845 in Plunge, Russian Empire. She was a writer, known for Kunigo nauda velniai gaudo (2015) and Kunigo nauda velniai gaudo (1981). She died on 7 December 1921 in Marijampole, Lithuania.
- Harry Lamberts-Paulsen was born on 31 May 1895 in Hamburg, Germany. He was an actor, known for Der Meister der Welt (1927), The Beggar from Cologne Cathedral (1927) and Zwei blaue Jungen (1917). He died on 20 June 1928 in Berlin, Germany.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Barry Conners (1882-1933)--actor, playwright, attorney and screenwriter--was born and raised in Oil City, PA, the son of a country doctor. Although he later graduated from law school, he never established a practice. Instead, he joined the theater as an actor with an eye to learning stagecraft well enough to become a playwright. For a time he was a song-and-dance man in vaudeville and he toured the country as an actor in various repertory groups. Sometime early in the century, he joined the so-called White Rats Movement ("Star" spelled backwards). The organization, which Ethel Barrymore's father Maurice Barrymore helped to form, aimed to improve conditions for actors who had fallen into the grip of a few monopolistic theatrical producers (primarily Charles Frohman's theatrical syndicate) who were controlling the business. The organization, a predecessor of the Actors Guild, was destroyed around World War I and Conners was blacklisted from work as an actor in the theater. He took a job as a hunting and fishing guide in the Lake Tahoe, Nevada, area and began writing plays. Subsequently several of his plays were produced in New York City in the 1920s, beginning with the off-Broadway production of "Mad Honeymoon." Among his other successful plays was "Hell's Bells," which in 1925 provided the Broadway debut of actress Shirley Booth and actor Humphrey Bogart. His other Broadway plays included "Applesauce," and "Unexpected Husbands." Following the success of "The Patsy," which starred William Randolph Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Seeing his chance to capitalize on his voice, Conners left Broadway for Hollywood as talkies swept the film industry at the end of the decade. He worked as a screenwriter for Fox Films for several years.
Conners died in a fire in his Los Angeles apartment building on Jan. 5, 1933. He was just 50 years old.- Olga Narbekova was born on 31 May 1876. She was an actress, known for Devi gory (1919), Women of Ryazan (1927) and Banda batki Knysha (1924). She died on 14 February 1933.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dancer Hal Skelly was born in Wisconsin in 1892, he left home at 15 to join a circus, went with 17 to comedy, toured with light opera China and Japan, joined after that Dockstader's minstrels, made his Broadway debut in 1918 in "Fiddlers Three". His biggest success was the play "Burlesque", what was filmed as "Dance of Life". He died in 1934, when the car of his friend in which he was traveling was hit by a train on a crossing.- Gregor Strasser was born in Geisenfeld, Germany, on May 31, 1892. When World War I broke out he joined the German army, and won the Iron Cross for bravery under fire. When the war ended Strasser joined one of the "freikorps", which were right-wing paramilitary units, many composed of ex-soldiers, that formed in Germany after the war ended and engaged in intimidation of political opponents, street brawls and political murders. He soon joined the Nazi party, and took part in the Munich "Beer Hall Putsch" of 1923, when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government. For his efforts, Strasser spent some time in prison.
After being released from prison Strasser moved to northern Germany, and he soon became an important figure in the SA (Sturm Abteilung), a paramilitary force within the Nazi party that became known as the "Storm Troopers", which carried out the dirty work--including murders--ordered by the party's leaders.
Although Strasser was a Nazi, he was also a committed socialist and fiercely opposed Hitler's policy (eventually successful) of trying to win the support of Germany's wealthy industrialists, which Strasser and other socialists saw as one of the main reasons Germany was in the sad shape it was in. Unfortunately for him, he had no compunctions about making those views known. Hitler--who detested those who disagreed with him and was also concerned about Strasser's growing and devoted following within the SA--bided his time.
In December 1932 German Prime Minister Paul von Hindenburg asked Kurt von Schleicher to become chancellor and invited Strasser to be his deputy. Hitler and Hermann Göring came out against Strasser, claiming that it was an attempt by the government to break up the Nazi party. Not wanting to cause a schism in the party, Strasser resigned and went to work for a chemical company.
Hitler never forgot a slight, though, and on June 30, 1934, he had the Gestapo and the SS move against the SA, which he believed was becoming too powerful. Although Strasser was no longer involved in the SA or in Nazi party politics, he was nevertheless arrested along with many other SA officials, such as leader Ernst Röhm. Strasser was taken to Gestapo headquarters for "interrogation", and while in his cell was shot in the back of the head by SS executioners. - Early professional name: Larry Richardson
Larry Rich came from a family that was very active in the theatre. One of five children, Laurence Richardson Jossenberger was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, Victor (1872-1962) was a stage carpenter in the Greenwall Opera House at Third and Rusk Streets. Victor later became a film editor in Hollywood.
A Fort Worth newspaper reported that young Larry sold sheet music in the lobby of the local Majestic Theatre, and introduced the patrons to the song "Frankie and Johnny." Larry founded a theatrical stock company in 1909 that performed in many Texas towns. He later went on the road with L.H. Wilson, touring the East, the Pacific Coast, then returning to Fort Worth.
All three boys in the family became players in local stock companies in Texas (Frank North Stock Co.), New Jersey, Missouri and California (Burbank Stock Company). Eventually all the boys used the professional name Rich, derived from their mother's name, Helen Samantha Richardson, and they toured in stock companies. According to an obituary, Larry's mother was known on the stage as Helen Rich. In 1913 Larry, as Laurence Jossenberger, appeared in touring productions, including "One Good Woman" (1913).
Later in the 'teens, Larry (still as Laurence Jossenberger) acted in the nascent film business, working for United Film Co., New Art Pictures Corp., and Pike's Peak Films Company. It was while filming "The Heart Of A Man" (1914), the first production of the Colorado-based Pike's Peak Photoplay Company, that Larry was injured while playing dead on cliff that collapsed beneath him. He was playing what he described as "a Mexican heavy." It was reported that his horse fell on him and broke an arm and a rib. As a result, Larry appeared at film screenings to tell his tale of peril to an audience eager to hear the inside story from a movie star.
On September 26, 1919, while acting in Los Angeles theatres, he married Cheri McIntosh (October 11, 1900-?). One newspaper reported that Cheri had been one of the few Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties who could actually swim. As "Cherri Mack" she had also played in theatre, so they were married at 9:00 PM onstage in a Burbank theatre. By 1919 Larry used the professional name Larry Richardson, and his wife would later be billed with him as Cheri Rich or "Mlle. Cherie."
Larry's brother Philip Jossenberger (1898-1956), who went by the professional name Phil Rich, played with the Garrett Stock Co. in Kansas, and toured extensively in vaudeville before becoming a successful supporting player in Hollywood.
His brother Victor Jossenberger (1896-1965) was known as Bernie Rich. Not only was Bernie active in theatre (scenery, acting, singing), but he had great skill as engineer in the growing field of aviation.
The most successfully member of the family was Richard Lee Jossenberger (1909-1967), known professionally as Dick Rich, who was a prolific actor with over 200 film credits.
Larry's sister, Merle Marie Jossenberger (1900-1961) was married to a musician named Nathaniel Richard Lesnie (1909-1967) and lived most of her life in Hollywood. Nat Lesnie changed his name to Leslie sometime after 1930.
In 1924 Rich was manager of two St. Louis theatres, the Lyric and The Avenue. In 1925, as Larry Richardson, he appeared in Century Studio comedies in support of comics like Wanda Wiley, Edna Marion, and Eddie Gordon. Some of the titles include "My Baby Doll," "Itching For Revenge," "A Taxi War," and "Crowning the Count." Around 1925, Larry created a vaudeville act, and changed his professional name to Larry Rich, and it would stay that way for the rest for his career. Touring coast-to-coast on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit, Larry Rich was known as clown, singer, dancer, master of ceremonies and fronted a dance orchestra of 10 to 14 musicians. He often joked about being mistaken for Paul Whiteman, and being chased down the street for autographs. Ultimately he would surpass Whiteman in girth. In vaudeville he successfully toured the country with his wife, Cheri, the Dean Twins (dancers) and often his brother, Bernie.
In 1928, the Vitaphone Film Corp. featured Larry in a highly entertaining musical short entitled erroneously, "Dick Rich & His Synco-Symphonists." Film shorts of the late 1920s were made in a few days, and it was not unusual for a typo to be made in the credits. Ironically, years later it would be his brother, Dick Rich, who would become a successful actor in Hollywood. The film, now available from Warner Home Entertainment, captures Rich's ebullient and wry sense of humor. He was often compared, physically, to the portly, legendary Paul Whiteman. In the film, he is aided by the Dean Twins and his wife, billed as Cheri Rich. It appears that the family caused confusion with name spelling, as Larry's first name was often in print as Lawrence or Laurence (he signed his name Laurence). His wife's name was spelled in various ways; as Cherri, Cherry, Cherie, McIntosh, Macintosh, MacIntosh. His adopted daughter was billed either as Janee Rich or Shirlee Rich. The name Jane "Cuddles" Shirley appears in the credits of Rich's 1925 film "My Baby Doll."
In New York, Larry and Cheri Rich lived on West End Avenue in 1930, then moved to Jamaica, Queens. While touring in Minneapolis he discovered a local act called the Andrews Sisters. He added them to his show and in January, 1932 introduced them to New York during his engagement at the legendary Hippodrome.
They adopted two children, Larry Rich, Jr. and Jane Shirlee, who appeared in vaudeville with their parents. In 1933 he returned to St. Louis as member of the Municipal Opera, making his debut as "Karp," handyman from Barnum's museum, in "The Nightingale."
Rich often shared the bill with famous headliners, including Dick Powell, Irene Bordoni, Marion Sunshine, Van & Schenck, Carmel Myers, Helen Kane and Ozzie Nelson. His "Musical Monarchs" and "Synco-Symphonists" revues were slightly less than an hour in length. The shows consisted of several varied acts, that could include as many as 40 performers: Rich's orchestra, a tap troupe, a wire-walker, another comedian, a pantomime artist, an aerialist, a gymnast, singers, "The Little Rich Girls" (dancers), and always his wife, Cheri, sometimes billed as a "Parisian singer," or "Miss Pert of Paradise." The fans enjoyed when he stepped down and wandered through the audience, "on a hand-shaking tour," baton in hand.
It was in 1935 that Rich's struggle with heart problems and diabetes led to his cancellation of an engagement in Boston. In a period of six months he had gone from 370 pounds to 170. In the summer of 1935, Rich was appearing at Loew's Paradise Theatre in the Bronx (with his wife and children), when he was suddenly taken ill, and died at home in Jamaica, Queens, Saturday, August 3 from a heart ailment. A Christian Science funeral service was held at Riverside Memorial Chapel at West 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. He was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
On August 7, 1935, Broadway columnist Ed Sullivan wrote: "Larry Rich, the vaude actor, is dead...So goes the terse announcement that doesn't reveal the grand trouper's courage...He had been ailing from diabetes for some time... Last week, he was booked into the Paradise Theatre...After the first show, an ambulance took him to the hospital...'For God's sake,' Rich pleaded to Manager Jerry Di Rosa, 'Don't cancel me. I need the money desperately'...He came from the hospital to the theatre to play each of twenty-eight shows at the Paradise...Then, his string played out, Larry Rich died...But he died happy...His week's check will go to his widow...Greater love, they say, hath no man...In my box score he's marked 1,000 per cent..." - Pope Pius XI was born on 31 May 1857 in Desio, Lombardy-Venetia, Austrian Empire [now Monza and Brianza, Italy]. He died on 10 February 1939 in Vatican City.
- Jan Tomasik was born on 31 May 1887 in Warsaw, Poland. He was an actor, known for Dziesieciu z Pawiaka (1931), Granica (1938) and Za zaslona (1938). He died on 25 September 1939 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Alter Kacyzne was born on 31 May 1885 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. Alter was a writer, known for On a heym (1939). Alter died on 7 July 1941 in Tarnopol, Tarnopolskie, Poland [now Ternopil, Ukraine].
- Additional Crew
English artist. Sickert was born in Munich, the eldest son of the Danish painter Oswald Adalbert Sickert. The family moved to London in 1868. After a short period as an actor, Sickert studied art at the Slade School and then under James Whistler in Chelsea when, like Whistler, he took to etching. In 1883 he met Degas in Paris, who became the greatest influence on his style and attitude to art. Though often described as an Impressionist, he was only so to the same limited extent as Degas, constructing pictures from swift notes made on the spot, and never painting in the open air. His later work became broader in treatment and lighter in tone, a late innovation being the Echoes', in which he freely adapted the work of Victorian illustrators. He worked in Dieppe from 1885 to 1905, with occasional visits to Venice, and produced music-hall paintings and views of Venice and Dieppe in dark, rich tones. Although well known in Europe, he did not achieve recognition in the UK until the 1920s. His writings were collected in 1947 under the title A Free House. His works, broadly Impressionist in style, capture subtleties of tone and light, often with a melancholic atmosphere, their most familiar subjects being the rather shabby cityscapes and domestic and music-hall interiors of late Victorian and Edwardian London. Ennui (about 1913; Tate Gallery, London) is a typical interior painting. In his Camden Town' period (1905-14), he explored the back rooms and dingy streets of North London. His zest for urban life and his personality drew together a group of younger artists who formed the nucleus of the Camden Town Group, which played a leading role in bringing post-Impressionism into English art. Some of his paintings viz. 'The Ripper's bedroom' made some Ripperologists suspect him of being the elusive 'Jack the Ripper'. Most of this is based on pure speculation.- Bert Christman was born on 31 May 1915 in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Bert died on 23 January 1942 in Rangoon, Burma [now Yangon, Myanmar].
- Actor
- Producer
Harry Arras was born on 31 May 1881 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Anything Once (1925), Blind Circumstances (1922) and Mulhall's Great Catch (1926). He died on 28 January 1942 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Walter Smiley Weatherwax was born on May 31, 1867, in Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas, to William C. Weatherwax and his wife Elizabeth Mary Smiley. His siblings included: William E. Weatherwax (1858-1859); Grace Ball Weatherwax (1865-1938); and twin brothers Fred Van Allen Weatherwax (1870-1881) and Albert Weatherwax (1870-1870). Walter was just eight years old when financial and legal problems forced his parents to move to Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado, on July 14, 1875. Parents William C. Weatherwax and Elizabeth Mary Smiley separated shortly thereafter, and were divorced in Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado on March 27, 1878. By 1880, Walter was living with his father William C. Weatherwax in Durrango, Rio La Plata County, Colorado. His mother, Elizabeth Mary Smiley had died, and his younger sibling Fred Van Allen Weatherwax was in an orphanage in San Francisco, California. When his father died on January 21, 1884, in Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas, 16 year old Walter found work with the cattle drives in Texas. In 1895, Walter C. Weatherwax met Anna L. Wallis, while enroute to Deming, Luna County, New Mexico Territory. They were married on September 1, 1896, by the Rev. N. W. Haukenupet in Deming, Luna County, New Mexico Territory. While living in New Mexico, Walter filed for patents on several of his inventions. During the spring of 1913, Walter Smiley Weatherwax moved his wife Anna and their seven children [Judd Wallis Weatherwax; DoraNeil Weatherwax; Frank Thrall Weatherwax; William McAlister Weatherwax; Ruddel Bird Weatherwax; Jack Nathan Weatherwax; and Marguerite Peggy Weatherwax] to Los Angeles, California. The kids found work in silent pictures. In 1920, the family was living at 1439 Cahuenga Avenue in North Hollywood. Walter trained horses and dogs, and had a bear which he kept in a cage in the back yard. Walter died on January 19, 1943, at his home on St. Clair Avenue, in North Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California, and is buried in Valhalla Cemetery.
- Cadle served as a Methodist minister at one time. In 1925, Cadle and cameraman Paul Hoefler went on expedition to the Kalahari to study customs of traditional people and get photos of what was considered the "lowest race of people on earth."
- Writer
- Art Department
W. Heath Robinson was born on 31 May 1872 in Islington, London, England, UK. W. Heath was a writer, known for Bill the Minder (1985) and The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm (2014). W. Heath was married to Josephine Latey. W. Heath died on 13 September 1944 in London, England, UK.- Sadao Maruyama was born on 31 May 1901 in Ehime, Japan. He was an actor, known for Wakaki sugata (1943), Alps taishô (1934) and The Opium War (1943). He died on 16 August 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan.
- George Woolf was born on 31 May 1910 in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. He died on 4 January 1946 in Arcadia, California, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Reinhold Draber was born on 31 May 1888 in Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Germany. He was a cinematographer, known for La Paloma. Ein Lied der Kameradschaft (1934), The Hunter of Fall (1936) and Renate im Quartett (1939). He died on 3 November 1947 in Sachsenhausen, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.- Albert Johnson was born on 31 May 1872 in Oberlin, Ohio, USA. He was married to Bessie Morris Penniman. He died on 7 January 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Ivy Keene was born on 31 May 1899 in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana, USA. She was an actress. She died on 14 September 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Frank Arlton was born on 31 May 1863 in Hove, East Sussex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Don Quixote (1923), The Last Hour (1930) and The Channings (1920). He died on 12 October 1948 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Géo Flandre was born on 31 May 1876 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for La chanson du feu (1917), Le roman de la midinette (1915) and Le départ dans la nuit (1913). He died on 1 January 1949 in Paris, France.
- Fernando Fresno was born on 31 May 1881 in Madrid, Spain. He was an actor, known for Currito de la Cruz (1926), Canelita en rama (1943) and El niño de oro (1925). He died on 28 April 1949 in Madrid, Spain.
- Franz Egenieff was born on 31 May 1874 in Niederwalluf, Walluf, Hesse, Germany. He was an actor, known for Die Buddenbrooks (1923), Das Skelett des Herrn Markutius (1920) and Die Rache einer Frau (1921). He died on 11 June 1949 in Gmund am Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany.
- Richard was one of those promising talents which dotted the Hollywood landscape in its golden age. Despite his striking looks, Richard Haydel did not live to realize a solid career in the movies. He played few significant parts in his short career.
He died of an acute respiratory infection in St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 22. - Elliott Seabrooke was born on 31 May 1886 in Upton Park, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Holiday's End (1937), The Village Squire (1935) and Life of St. Paul (1938). He died on 6 March 1950 in Nice, France.
- Sound Department
Ralph Shugart was born on 31 May 1901 in Minonk, Illinois, USA. He is known for Lost in the Stratosphere (1934), King Kelly of the U.S.A. (1934) and Honeymoon Limited (1935). He died on 9 August 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
Staunch, granite-jawed American leading man of silent and early talkie films, much associated with Westerns. A native of New York City, Holt often claimed to have been born in Winchester, Virginia, where he grew up. The son of an Episcopal minister, he attended Trinity School in Manhattan, then the Virginia Military Institute, from which he was expelled for bad behavior. Giving up his vague hopes of becoming a lawyer, he went on the road, engaging in numerous occupations. He mined gold in Alaska, worked as both a railroad and a civil engineer, delivered mail, rode herd on cattle, and played parts in traveling stage productions. While looking for work as a surveyor in San Francisco in 1914, he volunteered to ride a horse over a cliff in a stunt for a film crew shooting in San Rafael. In gratitude, the director gave him a part in the film. Holt followed the movie people to Hollywood and began getting bits and stunt jobs in the many Westerns and serials being made there. He impressed a number of co-workers at Universal Pictures, among them Francis Ford and his brother John Ford, and Grace Cunard. Holt soon became a frequent supporting player in their films, and then a star in serials.
A move to Paramount studios in 1917 cemented his leading man status, and he became one of the studio's great stars, particularly in a very successful series of Westerns based on the novels of Zane Grey. Talkies proved no problem for Holt, and his career thrived, although mostly in run-of-the-mill adventure films. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Holt entered the U.S. Army at the age of 54, serving at the request of General George C. Marshall as a horse buyer for the cavalry. Upon his return to pictures following the war, he alternated between character roles in major films such as John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945) and leading roles in minor Westerns. He made a cameo appearance in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) which starred his son Tim Holt. That same year father and son played father and son in a B-Western, The Arizona Ranger (1948). Less than three years later, on January 18, 1951, Holt died of a heart attack at the Los Angeles Veterans Hospital in Sawtelle, a couple of blocks west of the Los Angeles National Cemetery where he is now buried.- Music Department
Italo Montemezzi was born on 31 May 1875 in Vigasio, Verona, Italy. Italo is known for NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949). Italo died on 15 May 1952 in Vigasio, Verona, Italy.- Hans Bille was born on 31 May 1880 in Jeløy, Moss, Norway. He was an actor, known for Pan (1922), Gjest Baardsen (1939) and Gryr i Norden (1939). He was married to Julie Anna Bergh. He died on 30 May 1952.
- Hans Beck was born on 31 May 1861 in Haderslev, Denmark. He was married to Elisabeth Augusta Frederikke Soyer and Astrid Dorothea Regitze Petersen. He died on 9 June 1952 in Denmark.
- Ingolf Kuntze was born on 31 May 1890 in Hainichen, Saxony, Germany. He was an actor, known for Kora Terry (1940), A Woman Branded (1931) and Das verlorene Tal (1934). He died on 24 July 1952 in Munich, Germany.
- Blanche Stewart was born on 31 May 1903 in Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for A Night at Earl Carroll's (1940), Swing It Soldier (1941) and Sweetheart of the Fleet (1942). She died on 25 July 1952 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Soundtrack
Alda, born Fanny Jane Davis, came from a strong musical background. Her maternal grandparents, Fanny and Martin Simonsen, were important opera impresarios in Australasia during the 1870s and 1880s. Five of their children, including Fanny's mother, Leonore, were professional singers, and one, Frances Saville, achieved fame in Europe as a member of the Viennese Hofoper. Fanny's father, David Davis, a merchant, was a gifted amateur musician and some of her paternal relatives sang in J. C. Williamson's light opera companies.
Although Alda spent little time in the country of her birth, she consistently described herself as a New Zealander. After revisiting the country during an Australasian recital tour in 1927, her adherence to New Zealand became wholehearted. She maintained contact with several paternal relatives, and, despite a precautionary acquisition of American citizenship in 1939, she continued to emphasize her New Zealand origins.
For much of her career she was handicapped by her marriage, at New York, on April 3, 1910, to the Met's general manager, Giulio Gatti-Casazza. His need to avoid any hint of favoritism restricted her opportunities, while she felt a continual need to prove her artistic worth - as much to herself as the public. She divorced him in 1928; they had no children. On April 14, 1941, in Charleston, South Carolina, she married New York advertising executive Ray Vir Den. That union was also childless.
Alda spent an affluent retirement, entertaining lavishly at her Long Island home and indulging in her passion for travel. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Venice, Italy on September 18, 1952, aged 73.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Charles E. Whittaker was born on 31 May 1877 in Dublin, Ireland. He was a writer and producer, known for The Way of Lost Souls (1929), Huntingtower (1927) and For the Soul of Rafael (1920). He died on 4 January 1953 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Emmett King was born on 31 May 1865 in Griffin, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for As No Man Has Loved (1925), Pampered Youth (1925) and The Fair Pretender (1918). He was married to Helen W.. He died on 21 April 1953 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Sigfred Johansen was born on 31 May 1908 in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He was an actor, known for Nyhavn 17 (1933), Week-end (1935) and I dag begynder livet (1939). He died on 18 July 1953 in Denmark.
- Actor
- Writer
Wallace G. Coburn was born on 31 May 1872 in Choteau, Montana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Bull's Eye (1917), The Sunset Princess (1918) and The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918). He died on 15 March 1954 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Jo Trent was born on 31 May 1892 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Leatherheads (2008), Gang War (1928) and The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929). He died on 19 November 1954 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.- Sigrid Neiiendam was born on 31 May 1868 in Gjedved, Denmark. She was an actress, known for Fra den gamle Købmandsgaard (1951), Regnen holdt op (1942) and Ungdomssynd (1914). She died on 25 January 1955 in Denmark.