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1-50 of 1,637
- Nikolai M. Karamzin was born on 12 December 1766 in Mikhailovka, Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia]. Nikolai M. was a writer, known for Poor Liza (2000), Boris Godunov (2013) and Bednaya Liza (1967). Nikolai M. died on 3 June 1826 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia].
- József Gaál was born on 12 December 1811 in Nagykároly, Hungary. He was a writer, known for A peleskei nótárius (1916) and A peleskei nótárius (1975). He died on 28 February 1866 in Pest, Hungary.
- Writer
- Music Department
Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen, Seine-Inférieure, France. His father was a Medical Doctor and practiced surgery in Rouen, in Hôtel-Dieu (where Flaubert was born). His mother was from an aristocratic Norman family. Young Flaubert received a good private education with emphasis on literature. In 1840 he went to Law School in Paris. There he met Victor Hugo and made his plan of becoming a writer. In 1846 he abandoned Paris and the study of law, after a probably nervous disease. From 1846-1854 he had an affair with the poet Louise Colet, which was his only relationship, and he never married. Flaubert traveled about several countries in Europe and in Africa. His travel experiences, especially those in Greece, Egypt, and Tunisia, gave him material for his writings.
Flaubert's first masterpiece, 'The Temptation of St. Anthony' (1849), was at first rejected by his friends Louis Bouilhet and Maxime du Camp and its publication was postponed. From 1850-1856 he was writing 'Madame Bovary', which was published in 1856. Flaubert and his publisher were charged of immorality in a law suit brought by the French government in 1957, but both were acquitted. In 1862 he published 'Salammbo', which became material for the eponymous opera by 'Modest Mussorgsky'. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, Flaubert's home was occupied by Prussian soldiers, and he suffered from a nervous breakdown. In 1872 his mother died, which caused him a depression. At that time he was supported by his close friend Ivan Turgenev, a Russian writer of decent means, who lived in Europe. Flaubert also enjoyed a friendship by correspondence with George Sand. After the traumatic events of war and the death of is mother, Flaubert lived a life of an ascetic monk for the rest of his life. He rarely visited Paris, and his health deteriorated rapidly. He died on May 8, 1880, in his mother's home in Croisset, and was laid to rest in the Flaubert family vault in the cemetery of Rouen, France.
Flaubert's comprehensive biography by Jean-Paul Sartre is considered definitive. Flaubert's correspondence with George Sand and Ivan Turgenev has been studied ever since as an immensely valuable historic and literary material. His books has been translated in many languages and sold millions of copies around the world. Flaubert's classic novel 'Madame Bovary' was adapted for film and television more that ten times. The 1991 adaptation, starring Isabelle Huppert, was nominated for Oscar.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Wladyslaw Ludwik Anczyc was born on 12 December 1823 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was a writer, known for The Pianist (2002) and Kosciuszko pod Raclawicami (1913). He died on 28 July 1883 in Krakow, Austrian Empire.- Frederick H. Hedge was born on 12 December 1805 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Lucy L. Pierce. He died on 20 August 1890 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
- Oscar Adye was born on 12 December 1858 in Staverton, Wiltshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Royal England, a Story of an Empire's Throne (1911). He was married to Florence. He died on 18 March 1914 in St. John's Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
- Lillian Nordica was born on 12 December 1857 in Farmington, Maine, USA. She was married to George Washington Young (banker), Zoltan F. Doeme (Hungarian tenor) and Frederick Allen Gower (journalist and inventor). She died on 10 May 1914 in Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia.
- Gerald Griffin was born on 12 December 1855 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for A Pair of Cupids (1918), Feathertop (1916) and The Sunbeam (1916). He died on 16 March 1919 in Venice, California, USA.
- Marcia Moore was born on 12 December 1891 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Land of Oz (1910), Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz (1910) and The Second in Command (1915). She was married to John Thomas Davis Jr and Joseph Swerling aka Joe Siverling. She died on 28 June 1920 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Eunice Woodruff was born on 12 December 1910 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Virtuous Sinners (1919), The Lady of Red Butte (1919) and Vive la France! (1918). She died on 15 July 1921 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
Donald Robertson was born on 12 December 1860 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was an actor. He was married to Anna Titus (actress). He died on 20 May 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.- Emil Burian was born on 12 December 1876 in Rakovník, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Prodaná nevesta (1913). He died on 9 October 1926 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- Will Machin was born on 12 December 1882 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Yellow Dog (1918), The Garden of Allah (1916) and The Corsican Brothers (1920). He died on 9 September 1928 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Max Devrient was born on 12 December 1857 in Hannover, Germany. He was an actor, known for Meriota, die Tänzerin (1922), Die Totenhand (1921) and Die Spur im Dunkeln (1921). He was married to Babette Devrient. He died on 14 June 1929 in Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland.
- Australian-born Lydia Yeamans came into the world aboard a ship going from Sydney to Melbourne. Both her parents were performers. Her mother, Annie Griffiths, appeared on the stage in Australia when she was ten years old. Annie joined the circus, and married a circus clown from New York named Edward Yeamans. The pair had three daughters: Lydia, Jennie, and Emily, all of whom became performers.
In her prime, Lydia performed in England. During a show for King Edward VII, she sang "Sally in Our Alley." The King was so impressed he presented her with a gold bar pin in which the first notes of the tune were shown in diamonds.
One of Lydia's famous acts was dressing as a baby, with a cap, bows of blue ribbons on her shoulders, and bare arms. She was one of the first vaudeville artists to have her own piano accompanist - he happened to be Fred Titus, her husband.
After her stage career, Lydia entered films and amassed quite a few credits. Late in life, she donated $5000 to the Motion Picture Actors' Relief Association. Ironically, her generosity would come in handy. In November of 1929, while strolling along Hollywood Boulevard, she suffered a stroke which left her paralyzed. She was cared for at a hospital run by the Association. She died on December 29, 1929. In accordance with her wishes, her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. - Félix Galipaux was a French actor, playwright, and humorist, born in Bordeaux, and educated in Bordeaux and Paris. He wrote some forty plays produced in Parisian theatres. He was also a newspaper columnist using the pseudonym Félix Mayran, and collaborated with the writer Henri Pagat under the joint pseudonym Pagalipaux. Galipaux and the actor Coquelin Cadet popularized the genre of music hall monologue acts in the 1880s. Galipaux was also one of the founding members of the Cercle Funambulesque and was linked to the Incoherents movement. In 1896, the pioneering filmmaker Émile Reynaud filmed Galipaux performing his popular routine Le premier cigare (1896). He later acted in films by Ferdinand Zecca and by Georges Méliès, such as An Adventurous Automobile Trip (1905). He also featured in some of the first French sound films for Pathé Frères, such as La lettre (1904) and Au téléphone (1904), and also made several spoken-word recordings for gramophone records. For his work, he was awarded the title of Officier de l'Instruction Publique in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.
- Soundtrack
Percy Fletcher was born on 12 December 1879 in Derby, England, UK. Percy died on 10 December 1932 in the UK.- Music Department
- Composer
George Lipschultz was born on 12 December 1893 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a composer, known for Women Everywhere (1930), Hot Pepper (1933) and On the Level (1930). He was married to Joan Marie Schirmer. He died on 24 December 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Dorothy Massingham was born on 12 December 1889 in London, England, UK. Dorothy was a writer, known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and The Soldier and the Gentlewoman (1957). Dorothy died on 30 March 1933 in London, England, UK.
- Gunnar Stenblom was born on 12 December 1881. He was an actor, known for Koskenlaskijan morsian (1923). He died on 16 June 1936.
- Arthur Brisbane was born on 12 December 1864 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Go and Get It (1920) and The Great White Way (1924). He was married to Phoebe Cary. He died on 25 December 1936 in New York City, New York, USA.
- J. Bruce Ismay was born on 12 December 1862 in Crosby, England, UK. He died on 17 October 1937 in Mayfair, London, England, UK.
- Thelma Hill was born Thelma Floy Hillerman in Emporia, Kansas. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California during her early teen years. Living just blocks from the Mack Sennett studio, Thelma became one of the star struck, wide eyed girls who hung out near the studio peering through the gates. It took her five years, but eventually, using her womanly wiles, she weaseled her way through the gates and quickly caught the eye of Sennett himself and F. Richard "Dick" Jones, a producer and director who would work with Thelma in over a dozen films.
Thelma did bit parts and extra work throughout her school years, working weekends and during vacations. Because of her youth, beauty, and spunk, she quickly became "everybody's protégé."
When Mack Sennett revived his famous "Bathing Girls," Thelma the first to don the suit, as most of her parts up till then had been in bathing suits. In her first movie, "Picking Peaches," she had dived off a pier.
Because of her "mah jongg" bathing suit, she became quickly known as the "Mah Jongg Bathing Girl," although she'd already carried around a nickname since her first days on the set: "Pee-Wee," the little black-eyed youngster who grew up on the old lot.
As she matured she was hired to double for Mabel Normand, who, because of a roaring cocaine habit often showed up late for work or not at all. It was about this time that Thelma became a flapper; a style of women who were known for their androgynous bodies, flimsy and revealing clothing, and the traditional male behaviors smoking, heavy drinking, and casual sex. It was the drinking that eventually led to Thelma's downfall. Near the end of her first year in film, 1924, her big break came when she got the lead opposite Ralph Graves in the two reel comedy "Love's Sweet Piffle" directed by Edgar Kennedy.
Thelma was the first Sennett bathing beauty, and one of the few, to make it into feature films. She starred opposite Ben Turpin in "The Prodigal Bridegroom," and got one of the two female leads in the hilarious Laurel & Hardy "Two Tars" in 1928.
When Hollywood brought Jimmy Murphy's comic strip "Toots and Casper" to life on the big screen, Thelma got top billing opposite Bud Duncan as Casper, with Cullen Johnson as Buttercup and George Gray as Casper's boss. The series ran from 1927 through 1929.
One biographer wrote that she starred opposite a solo Stan Laurel (in "Pie-Eyed") but calling 24 seconds on the screen as a starring role seems a stretch.
Everyone in Hollywood knew Thelma was a real trooper with a knack for comedy. She willingly dropped her good looks to don thick black-rimmed glasses and a wild hairdo and work on two reel comedies rather than full length dramatic films. No part was too small for her. Later, during talkies, she played a bit part of a patient in the waiting room in W. C. Fields' "The Dentist." Today, all copies have been so cut up and repaired that her short scene has been lost.
She left Mack Sennett for a short stint with the Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) (also known as FBO Pictures Corporation) in 1927, and afterwards was signed by MGM to play a role in "The Fair Coed." It was about this time that she got engaged to St. Elmo Boyce, her director on the "Toots and Casper" shorts and a former Sennett cinematographer. Boyce and Hill both had drinking problems, Boyce having DUI arrests on his record. The relationship and Boyce's career began to fizzle and Boyce committed suicide in 1930 by poisoning. He'd just finished work on Columbia Pictures' most expensive film to date, "Dirigible."
Thelma Hill did not make the transition to talkies well. Her drinking and depression were starting to take their toll. She began working free lance for a variety of studios. She had made over 20 films in 1929, but with the advent of talkies and the end of frenetic slapstick comedy, she would work on just seven films over the next five years.
Her first sound film was "The Golfers" with the Sennett studios. Her next role was in a musical called "Two Plus Fours" featuring Bing Crosby as one of the Rhythm Boys. She took a small role in Frank Capra's drama, "The Miracle Woman," starring Barbara Stanwyck, a few more small, uncredited parts, one short educational film starring a very, very young Shirley Temple, and ended her career in 1934 at "The Lot of Fun," Hal Roach Studios, in the movie "Mixed Nuts." Her role was small, but unforgettable as she becomes the target of a professor of entomology's Arabian Sand Fleas.
She married John Sinclair (I), W. C. Fields' stunt double and gag writer, and settled into the role of housewife less than ten minutes away from the original Mack Sennett studios.
Whether fueled by her depression or her husband's hanging around with W. C. Fields, famous for his drinking, Thelma drank away her health and youth and died before her thirty-second birthday in 1938.
Biographers mistakenly attribute her cause of death to acute alcohol poisoning (erroneously reported as a "stomach ailment" in her obituary), but records show she had spent the last month of her life at the Edward Merrill Sanitarium (mistakenly listed in Culver City; actually in Venice, CA). She had been diagnosed with chronic alcoholism in 1932 and with pellagra (a B-vitamin deficiency, specifically niacin, often found in alcoholics) in 1937. The effects of malnutrition caused by alcoholism affect all organs in the body, and her official cause of death following an autopsy was cerebral hemorrhage.
Her body was cremated and the ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. - Director
- Actor
- Editor
Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh was born on 12 December 1893 in Samaxi, Russian Empire. He was a director and actor, known for Haji gara (1929), Mahabbat oyunu (1936) and Bismillah (1925). He died on 16 November 1938 in Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR.- Director
- Animation Department
- Actor
Victor Bergdahl was born on 12 December 1878 in Österåker, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was a director and actor, known for Den fatala konserten i Cirkus Fjollinski (1916), Kapten Grogg och Kalle på negerbal (1917) and Kapten Grogg gifter sig (1918). He died on 20 January 1939 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Grethe Hansen was born on 12 December 1911 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for After Dark (1932). She died on 14 March 1939 in London, England, UK.
- Jirí Mahen was born on 12 December 1882 in Cáslav, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. Jirí was a writer, known for Jánosik (1936), Jánosík (1921) and Jak se sevcem sili certi (1975). Jirí died on 22 May 1939 in Brno, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic].
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in 1884, virile and dashing silent screen idol Owen Moore, equipped with incredibly handsome reddish and ruddy features, came to America with his family from Ireland at the age of 11. After some stage work, he entered films at the Biograph Studio in 1908 and appeared in many of D.W. Griffith's early productions.
Owen was Mary Pickford's stylish leading man in her early career-starters and they secretly married in 1911. Some of their classic pictures together include Cinderella (1914), in which he played her Prince Charming, and Mistress Nell (1915). Mary left Owen for Douglas Fairbanks, however, and the couple eventually divorced in 1920. A couple of years later Owen met and wed silent film actress Kathleen Perry, a marriage that lasted until his sudden death of a heart attack at age 54. This couple also made several pictures together.
A talented singer in his own right, Owen's timing was off for he was much too old to see what kind of impression he could have made in musicals come the advent of sound. A popular romantic leading man during his heyday, his career took a nosedive once talkies arrived. His last film would be Janet Gaynor's A Star Is Born (1937), in which he played a movie director.
Owen's brothers Tom Moore and Matt Moore were also popular leading men at around the same time, but Owen was probably the best known due to his association with Pickford. The three of them appeared together in only one feature film, Side Street (1929). His mother Mary Moore was a character actress for a time, featured in Clara Kimball Young's film Lola (1914). She eventually quit the business, returned to the British Isles and became Lady Wyndham, and died there in 1931. Two other siblings were also briefly actors, Mary Moore and Joe Moore (aka Joseph Moore), but they died young and remain much lesser known. Owen died fairly young himself at age 54 of a heart attack in 1939.- Volter Kilpi was born on 12 December 1874 in Kustavi, Finland. Volter was a writer, known for Kaaskerin Lundström (2010). Volter died on 13 June 1939 in Turku, Finland.
- Aleksander Buczynski was born on 12 December 1908 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for Mlody las (1934) and Róza (1936). He died on 21 September 1939 in Poland.
- Florence Shee was born on 12 December 1865 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Likeness of the Night (1921). She died on 18 June 1940 in Worthing, West Sussex, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
Elemér Hetényi was born on 12 December 1866 in Ádánd, Hungary. He was an actor and director, known for Palika (1918), Az apacsnö szerelme (1913) and Ártatlan vagyok! (1916). He died on 14 June 1941 in Kolozsvár, Hungary.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Charles Murphy was born on 12 December 1881 in Independence, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Jungle Stockade (1915), The Great Circus Mystery (1925) and Spell of the Circus (1930). He was married to Lillian L. Myrick. He died on 11 June 1942 in Bakersfield, California, USA.- Born in Kenvil, NJ, in 1917, Eddie Leonski was an American Army soldier stationed in Melbourne, Australia, during World War II. Arrested for raping and murdering three local women, to which he confessed, an agreement was reached between US military authorities and local Australian authorities in which he would be tried by the US Army at a court-martial. Convicted of all charges, he was sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out at Australia's Pentridge Prison in Melbourne on 11/9/42.
- Frances Moffett was born on 12 December 1910 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress, known for The Secret Call (1931), Working Girls (1931) and No One Man (1932). She died on 12 November 1942 in Manhattan, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Editorial Department
- Additional Crew
Laura Hope Crews was born on 12 December 1879 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Gone with the Wind (1939), The Silver Cord (1933) and Camille (1936). She died on 13 November 1942 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Buck Jones was one of the greatest of the "B" western stars. Although born in Indiana, Jones reportedly (but disputedly) grew up on a ranch near Red Rock in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and there learned the riding and shooting skills that would stand him in good stead as a hero of Westerns. He joined the army as a teenager and served on US-Mexican border before seeing service in the Moro uprising in the Philippines. Though wounded, he recuperated and re-enlisted, hoping to become a pilot. He was not accepted for pilot training and left the army in 1913. He took a menial job with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show and soon became champion bronco buster for the show. He moved on to the Julia Allen Show, but with the beginning of the First World War, Jones took work training horses for the Allied armies. After the war, he and his wife, Odelle Osborne, whom he had met in the Miller Brothers show, toured with the Ringling Brothers circus, then settled in Hollywood, where Jones got work in a number of Westerns starring Tom Mix and Franklyn Farnum. Producer William Fox put Jones under contract and promoted him as a new Western star. He used the name Charles Jones at first, then Charles "Buck" Jones, before settling on his permanent stage name. He quickly climbed to the upper ranks of Western stardom, playing a more dignified, less gaudy hero than Mix, if not as austere as William S. Hart. With his famed horse Silver, Jones was one of the most successful and popular actors in the genre, and at one point he was receiving more fan mail than any actor in the world. Months after America's entry into World War II, Jones participated in a war-bond-selling tour. On November 28, 1942, he was a guest of some local citizens in Boston at the famed Coconut Grove nightclub. Fire broke out and nearly 500 people died in one of the worst fire disasters on record. Jones was horribly burned and died two days later before his wife Dell could arrive to comfort him. Although legend has it that he died returning to the blaze to rescue others (a story probably originated by producer Trem Carr for whatever reason), the actual evidence indicates that he was trapped with all the others and succumbed as most did, trying to escape. He remains, however, a hero to thousands who followed his film adventures.- Julius Horst was born on 12 December 1864 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austrian Empire [now Austria]. He was a writer, known for Der letzte Wiener Fiaker (1937), Springtime in Vienna (1936) and A World Without Men (1914). He died on 12 May 1943 in Vienna, Austria.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
George Cooper was born on 12 December 1892 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Unholy Night (1929), The Barrier (1926) and The Eternal Three (1923). He was married to Edwina. He died on 9 December 1943 in Sawtelle, California, USA.- Art Department
Edvard Munch was born on 12 December 1863 in Løten, Hedmark, Norway. He is known for Aale Tynni tarinain lähteellä (1987), Rediscovering the Image (1965) and Pioneers of Modern Painting (1971). He died on 23 January 1944 in Ekely in Oslo, Norway.- Director
- Producer
Theodore Case was born on 12 December 1888 in Auburn, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Theodore Case Test Film (1925). He died on 13 May 1944 in Auburn, New York, USA.- Ada Guildford was born on 12 December 1870 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She was an actress, known for The Mutiny of the Bounty (1916) and Angel of His Dreams (1912). She was married to George Cross, William Julius Francis Mount and Robert Caldwell Bishop. She died on 19 December 1944 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Karel Cerný was born on 12 December 1892 in Prague, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Druhe mládi (1938), The Masked Lover (1940) and Tezký zivot dobrodruha (1941). He died on 16 March 1945 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- Ferenc Csík was born on 12 December 1913 in Kaposvár, Hungary. He died on 29 March 1945 in Sopron, Hungary.
- William De Vaull was born on 12 December 1870 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Tea: With a Kick! (1923), In the Days of Buffalo Bill (1922) and The Ace of Spades (1925). He was married to Lottie De Vaull. He died on 4 June 1945 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
Field Norton was born on 12 December 1891 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, USA. He was an actor. He died on 10 August 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Doris Keane was born on 12 December 1881 in St. Joseph, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Romance (1920). She was married to Basil Sydney. She died on 25 November 1945 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Tom Daly was born on 12 December 1891 in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. He died on 7 November 1946 in Medford, Massachusetts, USA.
- Stanislaw Debicz was born on 12 December 1887 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for Dzwony wieczorne. Róze i kolce zakazanej milosci (1927). He died on 14 July 1948 in Iwonicz, Podkarpackie, Poland.
- Steve Drake was born on 12 December 1923 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Black Hills (1947), The Gallant Legion (1948) and The Westward Trail (1948). He died on 19 December 1948 in Burbank, California, USA.