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1-50 of 1,582
- Captain (later Vice Admiral) William Bligh will be remembered as the infamous captain of the HMS Bounty. He went to sea at the age of 15 as sailing master to the famous explorer Captain James Cook on his 2nd voyage round the world (1772-4) aboard the HMS Resolution. It was he who discovered bread-fruit at Otaheite (Tahiti). In 1787, then lieutenant, he was chosen by Sir Joseph Banks to command the Bounty on a voyage to Tahiti to collect plants of the bread-fruit tree and introduce them to the West Indies. On the return voyage, on 28 April 1789, first mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny, and Bligh and 18 of his supporters were cast adrift in an open boat without charts. The mutineers went back to Tahiti. Bligh was an excellent navigator and managed to 'captain' his boat to Timor in the East Indies. They landed there in June after having travelled nearly 4,000 miles across the Pacific. There he met British authorities and sailed back to England, to be exonerated for his conduct and promoted. In 1791 he set sail for the Society Islands. In 1794 he received the medal of the Society of Arts and in 1801 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. Bligh served under Lord Nelson in command of the Glatton at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. He then became a colonial administrator in Australia. He was made Governor of New South Wales in 1805 which was a penal colony. He was deposed in 1808 and imprisoned (1808-10) by mutinous soldiers during the so-called 'Rum Rebellion' inspired by John MacArthur. On his return to England, Bligh was exonerated of all blame. He was promoted to Rear-admiral in 1811 and Vice-admiral of the Blue in 1814, he was not, however, given any important command. He effectively retired in 1811.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Clemens Brentano was born on 9 September 1778 in Ehrenbreitstein, Electorate of Trier, Holy Roman Empire [now Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany]. He was a writer, known for Der verlorene Schuh (1923), Laugh or Die (2018) and Trilltrall und seine Brüder (1965). He was married to Auguste Bussmann and Sophie Mereau. He died on 28 July 1842 in Aschaffenburg, Kingdom of Bavaria [now Bavaria, Germany].- Ivan Klicpera was born on 9 September 1845 in Hradec Králové, Austrian Empire [now Czech Republic]. He was a writer, known for Jindra, hrabenka Ostrovínová (1934), Jindra (1920) and Jindra, hrabenka Ostrovínová (1924). He died on 17 February 1881 in Prague, Cechy, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic].
- Sidney Leslie Goodwin was born on 9 September 1910 in Melksham, England, UK. He died on 15 April 1912 in North Atlantic Ocean.
- E.A. Warburton was born on 9 September 1867 in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. He was an actor, known for The Blue Bird (1910). He died on 1 June 1914 in Bristol, England, UK.
- Devil Anse Hatfield was born on 9 September 1839. He was an actor, known for Vendettas (2002). He was married to Levicy Chafin. He died on 6 January 1921 in Island Creek, Logan County, West Virginia, USA.
- Frank Chance was born on 9 September 1877 in Fresno, California, USA. He was married to Edythe L. Chance. He died on 15 September 1924 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- J.C. Buckstone was born on 9 September 1859 in Sydenham, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost (1901), David Garrick (1913) and Old Scrooge (1913). He was married to Adela Measor. He died on 24 September 1924 in London, England, UK.
- Shorty Hamilton was born on 9 September 1879 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Denny from Ireland (1918), It Happened Out West (1923) and The Snail (1918). He was married to Ethel Spurgint (actress). He died on 7 March 1925 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
C. Allan Gilbert was born on 9 September 1873 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. C. Allan was a director and producer, known for In the Shadows (1916), The Toyland Paper Chase (1916) and The Chess Queen (1916). C. Allan died on 20 April 1929 in New York, USA.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Horst Wessel was born on 9 September 1907 in Bielefeld, Germany. He is known for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008), The Big Red One (1980) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001). He died on 23 February 1930 in Berlin, Germany.- Georg Henrich was born on 9 September 1878 in Mainz, Germany. He was an actor, known for The Constant Nymph (1928), Der Schuß im Pavillon (1925) and Der Brunnen des Wahnsinns (1921). He died on 30 March 1934 in Bavaria, Germany.
- Senta Söneland was born on 9 September 1882 in Diedenhofen, Lotharingen, Germany. She was an actress, known for Poor as a Church Mouse (1931), Susanne macht Ordnung (1930) and North Pole, Ahoy! (1934). She died on 20 July 1934 in Berlin, Germany.
- Alfred Dreyfus is known, and earned his place in history, for being unwillingly at the center of a scandal that rocked France from 1894 until 1906. Dreyfus, a captain on the General Staff, had been accused of passing sensitive artillery information to Germany (it was soon discovered that another officer had actually been the spy, but the information was ignored). After a secret court-martial, Dreyfus was stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Devil's Island prison in French Guiana. However, his conviction had sharply divided the French populace, with many rallying to his defense. Among them was Emile Zola, whose incendiary article "J'Accuse" and the resulting trial for libel brought the facts of the case for the first time into the public domain. By the early 1900s, it was obvious that Dreyfus had been a victim of anti-Semitism (Dreyfus was Jewish) and that the trial was fatally flawed. On July 12, 1906, Dreyfus was fully and publicly exonerated and returned to his old rank before almost immediately being promoted. Dreyfus served in the inactive reserves until World War One where as a 55-year-old man, he served with distinction at Verdun and other battlefronts, earning the Croix de Guerre and the title of Officer of the Legion of Honor. Dreyfus died on June 12, 1935, exactly 29 years to the day after his exoneration.
- Lajos Bónis was born on 9 September 1863 in Érsekújvár, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor, known for Egyenlöség (1918), Örház a Kárpátokban (1914) and Becstelen becsület (1919). He died on 19 September 1935 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tammany Young was born on 9 September 1886 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Checkers (1919), It's a Gift (1934) and The Foundling (1916). He was married to Gertrude Savage and May. He died on 26 April 1936 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Hugh C. Buckler, born in Southampton in 1882. Highly well-known classical stage actor, often performed with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the 'His Majesty's Theatre in London from 1890, such plays as 'A Lady of Lyons', 'Antony and Cleopatra' and 'The Tempest'. Smart handsome gentleman often seen as Doctor's or Lord's in a handful of British silent films often with the Stoll Film Company, first appeared in 'The Garden of Resurrection' directed by Arthur Rooke, starring Guy Newall and Ivy Duke in 1919. He will perhaps be best remembered as Catesby in Maurice Elvey's 'Guy Fawkes'. His last film, Columbia Pictures' Lost Horizon (1937), starred Ronald Colman. He died in a car crash along with his son actor John Buckler in Lake Malibu.
- Mathilde Comont was born on 9 September 1886 in Bordeaux, France. She was an actress, known for La Bohème (1926), Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) and Paris at Midnight (1926). She died on 21 June 1938 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Barbara Hannay was born on 9 September 1879 in Croxall Hall, Croxall, Staffordshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Broken Melody (1916), Cynthia in the Wilderness (1916) and Her Greatest Performance (1916). She was married to Stafford Goodwin. She died on 3 May 1939 in Paddington, London, England, UK.
- Ilmari Kivinen was born on 9 September 1883 in Pornainen, Finland. He was a writer, known for Herra Kenonen (1968), Tee työ ja opi pelaamaan (1936) and Rakkaus on nopeampi Piiroisen pässiäkin (1950). He was married to Ellen Koskinen. He died on 14 February 1940.
- Karen Peterson was born on 9 September 1904 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Broadway (1938). She was married to Mark Ostrer. She died on 16 February 1940 in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, UK.
- Rolf Wenkhaus was born on 9 September 1917 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Emil and the Detectives (1931), Spoiling the Game (1932) and S.A.-Mann Brand (1933). He died on 31 January 1942 in Ireland.
- Gulya Korolyova (Marionella Vladimirovna Korolyova) was born in Moscow, USSR on September 9, 1922. She started as an actress from 4 y.o. Her filmography includes:
- Kashtanka, by Chekhov (1926) - episode
- Baby Ryazanskie (Ryazan's Wifes) (1927)- episode
- Doch Partizana (A Daughter of Partizan) (1934) -main role
- Ya lublu (I Love) (1936) - main role
- Solnechniy Maskarad (Sun Masquerade) (1936) -main role
After she had finished the secondary school, she entered the hydro-meliorative institute in Kiev. Her husband perished in the first days of Great Patriotic war (during WW2) after Germany had attacked the USSR on 22nd June 1941. Gulya evacuated to Ufa and gave birth to her son. Later as a volunteer Gulya Korolyova joined the Red Army and served in the medical battalion.
On November 23th she was mortally wounded while taking the height surrounded by Gitler's soldiers in the battle near Stalingrad. That day she carried out from battlefield 50 seriously wounded soldiers and officers. And than she replaced a commander, who was killed, leading Soviet soldiers for the attack. She by first entered into enemy's trench and killed 15 enemy's officers and soldiers, keeping the position upon main troops arrived. The height was taken. Gulya Koroleva was mortally wounded at that battle and died after the battle. - Additional Crew
- Director
- Writer
Max Reinhardt was from an Austrian merchant family (surname officially changed from the family name Goldmann to Reinhardt in 1904), and even as a boy, after his family moved to Vienna, he haunted the "Hofburg Theater" and tried to see every play. In 1890 he studied at the Sulkowsky Theater in Matzleinsdorf and started acting in Vienna and later at the "Stadtheater" in Salzburg with duties as an assistant director. But by 1894 he was invited to Berlin by Otto Brahm, director, critic, and theater manager. And that was an important juncture. Brahm had founded the "Free Stage" (1890), a theater company crusading for realism in German theater by providing a forum for so-called banned plays - the iconoclastic works, such as, those of Henrik Ibsen and Leo Tolstoy. The result was the opening of German state theater to the corpus of the modern stage by 1894. Brahm became director of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and there Reinhardt cut his teeth on the full theater experience, not simply acting alone, although he was much applauded for his convincing specialty of playing old men.
In 1901 Reinhardt co-founded his own - sort of avant garde - cabaret "Schall und Rauch" (Sound and Smoke) for experimental theater. It was renamed "Kleines Theater" (Small Theater) in 1902, a place for contemporary plays accented with the sort of spirit confined to cabaret entertainment. He then opened and managed his own theater "Neues Theater", now called the "Berliner Ensemble", from 1902 to 1905. These were all a part of his evolving philosophy of the harmony of stage design, costumes, language, music, and choreography as a whole unified artwork, Gesamtkunstwerk. He was influenced by several figures, August Strindberg for one, but most significantly by Richard Wagner and his operatic ideal that the director must pull together all aspects of art in his production. Reinhardt's infusion gave new dimensions to German theater. After producing more than fifty plays at Neues Theater, wherein he always found somebody to donate the money for productions, he was asked to take the helm of Deutsches Theater in Berlin for Brahm in 1905. At Deutsches Theater he embarked on big theater, employing the whole physical theater space for productions and often even spreading scenes into the audience as a means of fusing actors and audience in a total theater experience. Here was something different - making theater a democratic institution - after all the audience was the means of generating the money to do more. And Reinhardt was never avant garde enough to disdain making profit when it finally came knocking. He staged truly gargantuan productions of epic pageantry and lighting with stark colors for various dramatic effects. He staged one of his most famous early productions, his first rendition of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with a wooded forest revolving stage - turning to reveal progressive new scenes. He became famous for realistic direction of huge crowd and mob scenes.
He built the smaller Kammerspiele, a theater near Deutsches Theater in 1906. At this latter theater Reinhardt developed "Kammerspiel" theater, chamber dramas in a minimalist and naturalistic style. This followed from his expressionist influences which defied the realist dictum (though he would look to realism as well in the mix to appropriately stage some of his most ambitious efforts) and sought out more personal, expressive, and emphatic ways of coaxing the elements of theater from the conventional objective into palpable subjectivity. This all opened Reinhardt to even more experimental ideas in staging with sometimes nightmarish and vivid lighting techniques. He began introducing the expressionist plays to the German-speaking public. And he also opened a famous acting school which would function for decades turning out many of Germany's great actors and actresses. In addition there was a acting troupe that played in neutral areas of Europe during World War I. On the bill was always a cycle of Shakespeare plays. Reinhardt did everything in a big way and to accommodate a growing enthusiastic theater-going public he had expanded with a chain of theaters throughout Germany. He would manage thirty theaters and acting companies in all.
Reihardt fulfilled another of his ideals, and that was of finding the 'perfect playhouse' as a means of complementing the content and experience of a play. In 1919 he opened an enormous arena theater, the "Grosses Schauspielhaus", (Great Playhouse), but known as the "Theatre of the Five Thousand", which included a large revolving stage. Many of his biggest productions were done here, including Shakespeare and Greek plays. In the 1920s he built the two Boulevard Theaters on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. And yet, the privations of post-war Germany and the perennial anti-Semitic undercurrent caused a gradual loss of his big audiences. In 1920 Reinhardt went back to Salzburg and established the Salzburg Festival with composer Richard Strauss and playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Annually he enjoyed staging the most apropos of morality plays, the medieval "Everyman", with the biggest set he could muster as a backdrop-the Austrian Alps in the open air before the Salzburg Cathedral. From 1924 he became director of the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna and renewed his Berlin popularity with a new theater called "Komoedie". His output was no less than astounding. Whereas a theater director today would not commit himself beyond two or three productions in a year, Reinhardt averaged twenty in his first twelve years. Between 1916 and 1917 he produced 48 - his highest output. Although he did few films, he was very interested in the potential of the medium. He directed four silent movies starting in 1910. One of these was the filming of one his favorite pantomime plays "The Miracle".
Reinhardt was a titan of influence and inspiration on a whole generation of theater and film directors in Germany-many who spread the word to the rest of the world. His disciples included: F.W. Murnau, Paul Leni, Ernst Lubitsch, William Dieterle , and Otto Preminger. His staging of crowds and use of lighting were frequently appropriated by the great silent filmmakers of the Weimar Republic, including 'Fritz Lang' and Murnau. And he profoundly influenced the expressionist movement in German film. He also influenced many actors with his techniques of developing expressive characterizations and movement-many would eventually come to New York and Hollywood. But by 1933 Hitler had come to power, and Reinhardt found himself falling victim to the same methods of attrition as other German Jews. So-called assimilative families of ethnic mixtures, whether high or low, were increasing placed in the same category as ethnic Jews. His theaters were `appropriated' one-by-one by the government and later his considerable properties confiscated. Later in 1933 he moved back to Austria to the "Theater in der Josefstadt" in Vienna (where Preminger had quickly become a director), hoping his native land could resist the Nazi machine. But the same pressures enveloped him there. He left for a last theater tour of Europe and arrived in America in 1934. "Midsummer" had a special significance for Reinhardt. The play was his continued inspiration of a world without ideologies - a utopia - as the theater itself was a haven from the harsh realities of the world and of the individual. The audience learned something, but they also could steep themselves without taxing imagination in the illusion of theater. "Midsummer" was always a work-in-progress for him - he had staged it twelve times up to 1934, and in fact had already brought it to Broadway in late 1927. And that was not his first trip to the US, having started presenting plays as producer, director, or writer since early 1912 there (he did ten productions in all to 1943).
He came to Hollywood in 1934 with his fame preceding him. His last tour through Europe had included lavish productions in Florence (1933) and a"Midsummer" at Oxford (1934). He offered to do the same in Hollywood at an ideal outdoor stage-the Hollywood Bowl. But the bowl had to go - it was removed to provide a view of a "forest" up the hillside - a "forest" that required tons of dirt hauled in especially for its planting, Reinhardt and his design staff erected a 250-foot wide, 100-foot deep stage. Also included was a pond and a suspension bridge or trestle constructed from the hills in back to the stage to be lined with torchbearers - with real flaming torches - for the wedding procession inserted between Acts IV and V. This lavish production included a ballet corps, children playing faeries, and hundreds of extras. The 18-year-old Olivia de Havilland was at Mills College in Oakland, participating in a school "Midsummer" production where in attendance was none other than Max Reinhardt himself. He was so impressed with her that he picked her for his extravaganza. Along with other Hollywood actors, was 14 year old veteran of the cinema 'Mickey Rooney', added to the cast as Puck. Another new arrival from Austria was classical opera composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, musical collaborator of Reinhardt's from Vienna. Reinhardt cabled his friend to come over and help him by doing the orchestrations of Felix Mendelssohn's famous 1843 music for the Hollywood Bowl production. It was a night to remember - even for Jack L. Warner - who was not always sure of what he was seeing. But it was enough to sign Reinhardt to direct a filmed version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) which began shooting in December of 1934. De Havilland was back to start her film career-Rooney for another memorable part. Otherwise, it was new cast headed by Hollywood stars 'Dick Powell' and James Cagney and boasting the best actors from Warner's impressive stock company of players. Since Reinhardt did not know Hollywood filmmaking, Warner assigned a co-director, William Dieterle, Reinhardt's acting then directing protege, from the Deutsches Theater days in Berlin. Dieterle, the disciple, had directed in Germany since 1923 and then came to Hollywood to become one of the studio's most reliable new directors. It was the beginning of Korngold's screen career as a film composer when he was hired to do the film score, an arrangement based on Mendelssohn's music used at the Bowl. But he actually mixed in much more of a variety of the composer's music to fit the play. Warner's laid down 1.5 million dollars and had its top technical staff step up to the challenge. But all-most of all, Reinhardt - was on a bit of a learning curve. Reinhardt was allowed the liberty of long play-like rehearsals instead of rehearsing scene by scene. Reinhardt's early over-emphasized stage acting directions were recalled by Cagney, who noted the actors often stood around on the sidelines whispering to one another, "Somebody ought to tell him." It was the politic Dieterle who did - setting his old master straight as to the subtle wonders of the microphone and sound film techniques. Shakespeare's lines were cut for public consumption, but there was so much to see - who would notice. In Depression era America the movie theater had taken the place of Reinhardt's all encompassing theater as a haven - and that was certainly fine with him. And here was a feast for starving souls. Reinhardt's multi-faceted approach to theater shone in all its entertaining best-through Warner stage design efficiency. There was the realist extravagance in forested backdrops, but the wonderful ballet of the coming of night with dancer Nini Theilade was distilled expressionism. Other ballet sequences featuring the fairies-children and adults - were choreographed by 'Bronislava Nijinska' (the great Nijinsky's sister). Reinhardt conjured all his and the camera's magic to create the summation of a lifetime of stagecraft. His imaginative wizardry with lighting put the remarkable glow on the faces of Cagney and his motley peasant comrades as they rehearsed - on the dancing faeries in their sequins - on the enchanted sparkle of shimmering (painted and tensiled) woods and veiled atmosphere that awaited the gaiety of Titania and the black looks of King Oberon. Everything of British and German folklore was thrown in for good measure - from gossamer English faeries and magic animals to rather frightening, rubber-masked dwarfs dressed as Teutonic gnomes and goblins. Reinhardt fuzzed and gauzed the camera lens and even put scintillating borders and covers of various sorts on the camera cowling to frame some faerie scenes as if from a Victorian painting by English artists Richard Dadd and Joseph Noel Paton-obvious influences. The movie was not a box office success, but it was Hollywood history-salute to Shakespeare? - certainly - but more so, a great event of melting pot talent and modern film making that was Hollywood coupled with profound European stage traditions that began with Max Reinhardt. He - by the way - did no more films, perhaps deciding that the real challenge was still the stage. But this one record on sound film measures the genius of the man of theater and gives today a glimpse of his creative powers and something of what his stage productions were like. He was more interested in continuing working on-stage as a director and producer, but he did not forsake Hollywood. With his second wife actress 'Helene Thimig', from a famous Viennese acting family, he split his time between the coasts. He found a Hollywood-based theater workshop and an acting school in New York. All of Reinhardt's productions were tallied - just from 1905 to 1930 - and found to total 23,374 performances of 452 plays - and still a little short. His wide-eyed exuberance for spreading out a great show was indicative of the child in Max Reinhardt. He betrayed that very comparison unashamedly: "Theater is the happiest haven for those who have secretly put their childhood in their pockets, so that they can continue to play to the end of their days."- Betty Blake Rogers was born on 9 September 1879 in Monte Ne, Arkansas, USA. She was a writer, known for The Story of Will Rogers (1952). She was married to Will Rogers. She died on 21 June 1944 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Yasunaga Higashibojo was born on 9 September 1904 in Azabu, Tokyo, Japan. He was an actor and director, known for Asakusa Elegy (1932), Têtsuro no ôkami (1927) and Urusan oki no kaisen (1928). He died on 22 September 1944.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
John McDermott was born on 9 September 1893 in Green River, Wyoming, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Love Thief (1926), Patsy (1921) and College Rhythm (1934). He died on 22 July 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Anne Gee was born on 9 September 1919 in Evesham, Worcestershire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Pilgrim's Progress (1939), Bar aux Folies-Bergère (1938) and The Immortal Hour (1939). She was married to Harry Dexter Lyon. She died on 30 December 1947 in Sloley, Norfolk, England, UK.
- Leopoldo Beristáin was born on 9 September 1878 in Mexico D.F., Mexico. He was an actor, known for México lindo (1938), Lo que el viento trajo (1941) and Viaje redondo (1920). He was married to Elisa Berumen, Josefina Ciris and Carolina Aguilar. He died on 5 January 1948 in Tijuana, Mexico.
- Stunts
- Actor
Irving Gregg was born on 9 September 1914 in Canada. He was an actor. He died on 3 December 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Rudolfs Berzins was born on 9 September 1881 in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire [now Latvia]. He was an actor, known for Zvejnieka dels (1939). He died on 26 January 1949 in Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR [now Latvia].
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Pop Arnold was born on 9 September 1895 in Illinois, USA. He was married to Louise Arnold. He died on 25 March 1949 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Cesare Pavese was born on 9 September 1908 in Santo Stefano Belbo, Piedmont, Italy. He was a writer, known for The Girlfriends (1955), Il diavolo sulle colline and Fuga in Francia (1948). He died on 27 August 1950 in Turin, Italy.- Art Department
- Costume Designer
- Production Designer
Dan Sayre Groesback was born on 9 September 1878 in California, USA. Dan Sayre was a costume designer and production designer. Dan Sayre died on 29 August 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Writer
Pioneering cinematographer Carl Louis Gregory was born in Walnut, KS, in 1882. He and his family moved to Ohio, where, at age 11 he became interested in photography and made his own camera using a cigar box and a lens made from a pair of eyeglasses. While a student at a Cleveland high school he began earning a living taking photographs, and made enough money from that business to pay his tuition at Ohio State University. He also studied at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Columbia University. In 1905, a year after graduating from OSU, he opened a photography studio with branches in Cleveland, Colorado Springs (CO), San Antonio (TX) and even Monterrey, Mexico. He soon sold those businesses and went to work for the US Department of the Interior as an official photographer. A few years later he was hired by a wealthy businessman as a projectionist for slides and film that were shown during the man's lectures. In 1909 he joined the Edison Co. as a cameraman and director and turned out quite a few films at the company's New Jersey studios in Orange and Bedford Park. He even went to Cuba to shoot features and short educational films. He joined the Thanhouser Co. in 1910 as a cameraman/photographer and later became the studio's chief cameraman, shooting many of its films and supervising cinematographers on other projects. Renowned for his trick photography and seamless use of double-exposures, he was often mentioned whenever newspapers or magazines wrote about the technical aspects of the relatively new film business.
In 1913 he was placed in charge of the studio's prestigious Princess Films division; in addition to the day-to-day operation of the unit, he also shot films and wrote screenplays. He so impressed the powers-that-be at Thanhouser that he was promoted from the Princess Films division and placed in charge of the company's major, big-budget productions. He was the cinematographer for the Williamson brothers when they shot their groundbreaking underwater productions in the West Indies in 1914, and apparently liked it so much that he worked on quite a few similar projects, gaining even more renown for his expertise in that genre. In 1914 he and a company of actors traveled to Yellowstone National Park, among other places, to shoot a series of outdoor films for Thanhouser.
Gregory left Thanhouser in 1915 for Metro Pictures. He also became a respected lecturer on the subject of film photography, making the rounds of various professional photographic societies. In 1917 he traveled to Florida to do some work for the Technicolor Corp. He contributed to the war effort by being the chief cinematography instructor for the US Army's Signal Corps School of Photography, and wrote a book for cameramen, "Motion Picture Photography". After the war he became a photography instructor at Columbia University and was named Dean of Photography at the New York Institute of Photography. He still kept his hand in the business, however, directing and photographing Love's Flame (1920) for Fidelity Pictures.
He became involved with several companies that shot films in virtually all corners of the world, including Japan, China, Burma, Malaya and the Philippines. He was the cinematographer on one of the first films to be made in Hawaii, The Thirteenth Girl (1915), which was shot on Hilo. He worked for the Kislyn Color Corp., which was trying to develop a color process invented by photographer Louis Berthon. In the 1940s he was employed by the National Archives, and was the first person to try restoring some very early films that were shot on paper prints.
He died on March 11, 1951, at his Van Nuys, CA, home of complications from arteriosclerosis.- Soundtrack
Paul Eisler was born on 9 September 1875 in Vienna, Austria. Paul died on 16 October 1951 in New York City, New York, USA.- John Powe was born on 9 September 1904 in Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Brandy for the Parson (1952), Meet Sexton Blake! (1945) and Just William's Luck (1948). He died on 10 March 1952 in Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK.
- Prudence Ponsonby was born on 9 September 1903 in Chislehurst, Kent, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Out to Win (1923) and Ragan in Ruins (1925). She was married to Idris Meredyth Davies and Hugh Tevis. She died on 22 March 1952 in Frankfurt, Germany.
- Writer
- Art Department
Tivadar Lándor was born on 9 September 1873 in Nagykanizsa, Hungary. He was a writer, known for Dreams of Love (1935) and A vén gazember (1932). He died on 19 August 1954 in Budapest, Hungary.- Writer
- Actor
British novelist James Hilton was born in Leigh, Lancashire, England, in 1900. His father was a schoolmaster. Hilton graduated from Cambridge University in 1921, having already written his first novel, "Catherine Herself" (written in 1918, it wasn't published until 1920). After graduation he wrote a twice-weekly column for "The Dublin Irish Independent", which he continued to do for several years. In 1931 he wrote the novel "And Now Good-Bye", which was quite successful and brought him, as he once said, "a good return". In 1933 he was approached by the editor of "The British Weekly" magazine and asked to write a short-story for the magazine's Christmas issue, for which he had a deadline of just two weeks. As the deadline approached he still hadn't a clue as to what kind of story to write, so one night he decided to take a bicycle ride to clear his head. When he came back he had the inspiration to write what eventually became the international best-seller "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (a story based on the career of his father). He finished the story in four days. His editor at the magazine was so impressed with it that he recommended the magazine's parent company, a major publishing house, publish the story in the American market, which was much more profitable than the British market. The company arranged for the story to be published in the American magazine "The Atlantic Monthly" in its April 1934 issue. It garnered such attention from both readers and reviewers--noted critic Alexander Woollcott effusively praised it in his "New Yorker" column and on his radio show--that just two months later it was published in book form and became a huge international hit, and was later made into a movie now regarded as one of the classics of modern cinema, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).
Hilton turned out a string of highly regarded novels that were turned into highly regarded films--Knight Without Armor (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), Random Harvest (1942)--and eventually moved to the US. He died in Long Beach, CA, in 1954 of liver cancer.- Rita Carewe was born Violette Fox on September 9, 1909 in New York City. Her father was Native American director Edwin Carewe. The family moved to Hollywood in 1914 after he was hired by United Artists. When Rita was a teenager her father helped her get contract at First National. She made her film debut in the 1925 silent comedy Joanna. Then she appeared in High Steppers and Resurrection which were both directed by her father. Rita became known for polishing her legs to give the impression she was wearing silk stockings. In 1927 she was chosen to be a WAMPAS Baby Star along with Sally Rand and Adamae Vaughn. The beautiful blonde auditioned for the role of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes but Ruth Taylor got the part.
Rita was briefly engaged to Tom McDonald, a real estate dealer. The couple never made it down the aisle. She married actor LeRoy Mason in 1928. Unfortunately her career never took off. Her final film was the 1930 comedy Radio Kisses with Marjorie Beebe. She divorced LeRoy in 1936 claiming he drank too much and had threatened her with a gun. They never had children, With her acting days behind her she started working as a saleswoman in a dress shop. Sadly in 1954 she was diagnosed with mouth cancer. On October 22, 1955 she died from the disease. Rita was only forty-six years old. She was cremated and buried in an unmarked grave at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. - Percy Marks was born on 9 September, 1891, at Covelo, California, the son of Henry D. and Sarah Marks. His father, a dry goods merchant in Covelo, had emigrated from Poland in 1868. His mother was a native Californian whose parents had emigrated from Poland and Germany.
Around the turn of the century Henry Marks moved his family to Ukiah, California, and established a clothing store in a building one of his relatives owned. Later he purchased the Grand Hotel, which was across the street from his store, and renamed it "The Cecille" in honor of his daughter.
Percy graduated from the University of California-Berkeley in 1912 and received his master's degree at Harvard University. He went on to be supervisor of education at Tewksbury State Hospital and Infirmary in Massachusetts. Later he would teach English at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, Dartmouth College, the Waterbury branch of the University of Connecticut and conduct writing workshops at the New Haven YMCA College. His teaching career was interrupted during the First World War while he served overseas in the infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant.
It was while he was at Brown University that Marks wrote "The Plastic Age", a novel about campus life during the Roaring 20s. The book created a national sensation and aroused the anger of many parents of college students. The controversy led to "The Plastic Age" being banned in Boston but accepted in Hollywood. Later Marks would be so upset by the movie making process that he never again would allow one of his books to be adapted for the cinema.
Marks wrote some 20 novels during his life, none of which approached the popularity of "The Plastic Age" (1924). A list of his better known works probably would include: "Martha" (1925), "Lord of Himself" (1927), "A Dead Man Dies (1929), "The Unwilling God" (1929), "A Tree Grown Straight" (1936), "What's a Heaven For" (1938), "No Steeper Wall" (1940), "Between Two Autumns" (1941), "Shade of Sycamore" (1946) and "Blair Marriman" (1949).
Percy Marks died on 27 December, 1956, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. He was survived by his wife, the former Ellen Gates, and a daughter, Sally Jean Marks. - Miguel Contreras was born on 9 September 1904 in Sonora, Mexico. He was an actor, known for Currito de la Cruz (1926). He died on 30 December 1956 in Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Carey Harrison was born on 9 September 1889 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Married in Hollywood (1929) and Pepper (1936). He was married to Evangeline Russell and Emily Robinson Burrows. He died on 25 March 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Although Marguerite Snow was born in Salt Lake City, her father--a comedian in vaudeville minstrel shows--traveled extensively, so she grew up all over the country. When her father died, she and her mother settled in Denver, Colorado. Marguerite took drama lessons with the intentions of becoming a stage actress, and made her stage debut in 1906. She was soon playing on Broadway, and after that joined a touring stock company. Her entry into films was somewhat accidental. One day in 1911 a girlfriend was playing in a film being made by the Thanhouser Co., and Marguerite went along to satisfy her curiosity as to how films were made. The studio head saw her and convinced her to appear in the film also. She found that she enjoyed film work, and soon quit the stage to concentrate on films exclusively. After appearing in scores of two-reelers for Thanhouser and Kinemacolor, among other companies, she married actor (later director) James Cruze in 1913. In 1915 she journeyed to Hollywood, and appeared in many productions for Metro, both full-length features and serials. She and Cruze divorced in 1923. Two years later she married comedian Neely Edwards, and retired from the business.
- Virginia Serret was born on 9 September 1920 in Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico. She was an actress and writer, known for Cuando lloran los valientes (1947), Palabras de mujer (1946) and Su gran ilusión (1945). She was married to Álvaro González Saenz and Luis Aldás. She died on 2 May 1958 in Mexico D.F., Mexico.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Antonio Paso was born on 9 September 1868 in Granada, Andalucía, Spain. He was a writer, known for Superintelligence (2020), Aventura oriental (1935) and Su desconsolada esposa (1958). He died on 11 July 1958 in Madrid, Spain.- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Reginald R. Hammerstein was born on 9 September 1896 in New York City, New York, USA. Reginald R. was an assistant director, known for Wine, Women and Horses (1937), The Imp (1919) and Her Husband's Secretary (1937). Reginald R. was married to Mary Alricks Steele, Elizabeth Hofmeister (aka Mary Manners) and Lucille Morrison. Reginald R. died on 9 August 1958 in New York City, New York, USA.- Robles Monteiro was born on 9 September 1888 in Guarda, Portugal. He was an actor, known for O Primo Basílio (1923) and Malmequer (1918). He was married to Amélia Rey Colaço. He died on 28 November 1958 in Lisbon, Portugal.
- Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (nee Knipper) was born on September 9, 1868, in Glasov, Russian Empire, into the family of a German origin. She received an excellent private education and was bilingual, being fluent in Russian and German.
She was one of the original 39 founding members of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. She also was the favorite actress of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, the founders of the Moscow Art Theatre. There her stage partner was Vsevolod Meyerhold, Vasili Kachalov, Boris Dobronravov, and many other leading Russian actors. She was a student and the mistress of Nemirovich-Danchenko before she met writer Anton Chekhov.
Olga Leonardovna met the playwright Anton Chekhov in 1898, when she was given the leading role in his play 'Chaika' (The Seagull). She brilliantly played the role on the opening of the first season at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. She also starred as 'Masha' in 'Tri sestry' (The Three Sisters). Olga Leonardovna married Anton Chekhov in 1901. At that time he was already suffering from tuberculosis. In January, 1904, she starred as 'Ranevskaya' in the premiere of 'Vishnevy sad' (The Cherry Orchard) at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, with singer 'Feodor Chaliapine Sr.', writer Maxim Gorky, and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff in attendance.
Six months later, after a tremendous effort to save his life in a German hospital, her famous husband, writer Anton Chekhov died of a lung haemorrhage. Olga Leonardovna never managed to have a child with her husband Anton Chekhov. She hosted and educated her niece, also named Olga Knipper, who will later become the famous film-star Olga Tschechowa in the Nazi Germany after her brief marriage to actor Michael Chekhov, who was the nephew of Anton Chekhov.
Under the name of Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova, she continued successful work on stage with the Moscow Art Theatre Company for the rest of her life. She did not play many film roles, mostly due to the influence of her teachers, Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. They strongly believed that live stage acting was a superior form of art. For that reason both Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko discouraged their stage actors of the Moscow Art Theatre from working in motion pictures.
While on a tour in Kharkov, Ukraine, Olga Leonardovna was arrested on stage in 1917, during her performance of 'The Cherry Orchard'. She suffered from all kinds of violence during the Russian Revolution of 1917. She was under suspicion, because her brother Konstantin Knipper was the ranking officer to Aleksandr Kolchak in the Russian White Army. Her nephew Lev Knipper was also an officer with the Russian White Army fighting against the Bolshevik communists. Olga Leonardovna survived through the terrible years of spy-mania in the Soviet Union under he dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. At that time her film-star niece Olga Tschechowa was playing dangerous games as a personal friend of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels in the Nazi Germany.
She was greeted by her famous niece Olga Tschechowa, who was secretly flown to Moscow from Germany and discreetly attended the performance of 'The Cherry Orchard' at the Moscow Art Theatre, in May of 1945. They were neither allowed to talk, nor even to approach each other. At the end of the play Olga Tschechowa was immediately walked out of the Moscow Art Theatre. Aunt Olga Leonardovna was stunned by the surprise appearance of her film-star niece and collapsed in the backstage. Later fearful aunt Olga Leonardovna destroyed all the Chekhov family photographs in the fire. She worked at the Moscow Art Theatre through her entire acting career, mostly under the directorship of her teacher and lover Nemirovich-Danchenko.
Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova was honored with the title of the People's Artist of the Russian Federation. She survived three Russian Revolutions and two World Wars. She outlived her contemporaries, who were fighting against each other, but were admirers of her acting talent, such as the last Russian Emperor Tsar Nicholas II, the first Communist leader Vladimir Lenin, and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Olga Leonardovna died on March 22, 1959, in Moscow, Russia.