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1-50 of 1,502
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Born in New York City to a Judge of Special Sessions who was also president of a sewing machine company. Grew up on City Island, New York. Attended Hamilton Military Academy and turned down an appointment to West Point to attend New York Law School, where his law school classmates included future New York City mayor James J. Walker. After a boating accident which led to pneumonia, Carey wrote a play while recuperating and toured the country in it for three years, earning a great deal of money, all of which evaporated after his next play was a failure. In 1911, his friend Henry B. Walthall introduced him to director D.W. Griffith, for whom Carey was to make many films. Carey married twice, the second time to actress Olive Fuller Golden (aka Olive Carey, who introduced him to future director John Ford. Carey influenced Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle to use Ford as a director, and a partnership was born that lasted until a rift in the friendship in 1921. During this time, Carey grew into one of the most popular Western stars of the early motion picture, occasionally writing and directing films as well. In the '30s he moved slowly into character roles and was nominated for an Oscar for one of them, the President of the Senate in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He worked once more with Ford, in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), and appeared once with his son, Harry Carey Jr., in Howard Hawks's Red River (1948). He died after a protracted bout with emphysema and cancer. Ford dedicated his remake of 3 Godfathers (1948) "To Harry Carey--Bright Star Of The Early Western Sky."- John Purroy Mitchel was born on 19 July 1879 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Olive Child Mitchel. He died on 6 July 1918 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA.
- Actress
- Editor
Patricia Rooney was born on 23 December 1879 in Tremont, The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and editor, known for Old Loves and New (1926), Swing! (1938) and Enlighten Thy Daughter (1934). She was married to Pat Rooney. She died on 28 July 1940 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Silent-film star William Russell was born in the Bronx, New York, in the late 1880s (various sources give it as 1884, 1886 and 1889). His mother, Clara, was a highly regarded stage actress. Russell studied law at Fordham University (and, some sources say, Harvard University). He started a law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it wasn't particularly successful. He tried a variety of other jobs--including bookmaker and boxing instructor--before deciding to give the stage a shot. He had actually been a fairly successful child actor on the stage, and after re-entering the profession as an adult, he found himself acting with Ethel Barrymore in "Cousin Kate" on Broadway. Russell kept busy as a stage actor, appearing with many of the top stars of the day, including Chauncey Olcott and Cathrine Countiss. He toured the country in various stock productions.
His film career began at Biograph in 1910 with "The Roman Slave", directed by D.W. Griffith. He stayed almost a year at Biograph, although he was used mostly in small parts. In 1910 he left Biograph for Thanhouser. There he became a star, and Thanhouser put him in quite a few of its productions. His brother Albert Russell also appeared in several of his films.
In 1913 Russell left Thanhouser to return to Biograph, but later that year he again left Biograph to go back to Thanhouser. He finally left Thanhouser and worked for a variety of studios, both major and minor, over the next several years. In 1917 he married actress Charlotte Burton, but it ended in divorce four years later. From 1916-20 he worked for American Film Co., appearing in The Torch Bearer (1916), The Strength of Donald McKenzie (1916) and The Man Who Would Not Die (1916), among others. In 1919 he formed his own production company, William Russell Productions, and produced and appeared in This Hero Stuff (1919), directed by Henry King. He freelanced at studios as varied as Fox Films and Victor. In the 1920s he decided to move to Hollywood after having spent much of his life in New York City. He married actress Helen Ferguson, and that marriage lasted until his death in Beverly Hills, California, on February 18, 1929, from pneumonia.- Al Schacht was born on 11 November 1892 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He died on 14 July 1984 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
- Jack Val was born on 12 March 1897 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He died on 9 February 1992 in New York, New York, USA.
- Ernest W. Johnson was born on 8 July 1897 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Street of Sin (1928). He died on 11 June 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
- Location Management
J. Stuart Blackton Jr. was born on 6 November 1897 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an assistant director and actor, known for Maniac (1934), The Blood Barrier (1920) and Narcotic (1933). He died on 16 December 1968 in Lincoln City, Oregon, USA.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
Gene Anderson was born on 1 June 1898 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an assistant director and production manager, known for The Thirteenth Guest (1932), The Intruder (1933) and Men in Her Life (1931). He was married to Marie Augusta Fleischer. He died in May 1968 in Van Nuys, California, USA.- Frankie Frisch was born on 9 September 1898 in Bronx, New York, USA. He died on 12 March 1973 in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.
- John Tyrrell entered show business at the age of 16 as half of the vaudeville dance team of Tyrrell and Mack. The act became very successful, and for the next ten years they played engagements all over the country and secured billing as featured players in the famous revue "George White's Scandals." As vaudeville began to wane, however, Tyrrell saw the handwriting on the wall and began studying acting, sensing that his future would be in motion pictures. He spent two years with a stock theater company in Connecticut perfecting his craft, then journeyed to Hollywood. He was soon placed under a long-term contract to Columbia Pictures, and appeared in many of the studio's prestige pictures in supporting parts. He was a staple in the studio's comedy shorts, and often appeared with such comics as El Brendel, Andy Clyde and The Three Stooges, specializing in playing con artists, swindlers and other shady types.
- George A. Vergara was born on 18 March 1901 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was married to Allys Dwyer. He died on 13 August 1982 in Montrose, New York, USA.
- Dutch Schultz was born on 6 August 1901 in Bronx, New York, USA. He was married to Frances. He died on 24 October 1935 in Newark, New Jersey, USA.
- Ted Husing was born on 27 November 1901 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport (1948), To Please a Lady (1950) and Mr. Broadway (1933). He was married to Iris Lemerise, Celia Ryland and Helen Maude Gifford (Bubs Gelderman). He died on 10 August 1962 in Pasadena, California, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
David Ledner was born on 20 December 1901 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor. He died on 17 October 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Sound Department
Ben Winkler was born on 25 May 1902 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He is known for State Department: File 649 (1949), D.O.A. (1949) and Blonde Comet (1941). He died on 22 February 1979 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.- Animation Department
- Director
- Writer
Born in New York City under signs of Tammany Hall. He always drew and after studying at the Academy and other clubs. Got his start around the late 1910's/Early 1920's at the Barre/Bowers Studio animating for Mutt and Jeff Cartoons. Later went to Hollywood to animate for the Robert Winkler studio animating Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts before animating for the early Walter Lantz Oswalds before moving to Disney and got promoted to director at the Newly-Formed Leon Schlesinger Productions studio in 1933. Unfortunately, His "Buddy" Cartoons nearly killed the studio and he Later moved back to New York to animate and direct for the Van Beuren Studio following Disney animator Burt Gillett with him. After the studio closed in 1936, He later went back to work for Disney and after that. Went to the Fleischer Studio in Miami with his last animation credit being as a "Directing Animator" in 1939's "Gulliver's Travels"- George Haggerty (1903-1956) was a New York stage and screen actor, and also did some early television. His roles were supporting and often comedic. He appeared in a number of movie shorts, Broadway shows, and summer stock, and was a member of the Lamb's Club. In 1942 he traveled with a USO unit to Japan and Korea. George resided at the Whitby Hotel, a residential hotel geared toward theatrical people, at 325 W 45th Street in Manhattan.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Ellsworth Fredericks was born on 2 June 1904 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Sayonara (1957) and Seven Days in May (1964). He died on 16 August 1993 in San Marcos, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
Margaret Bourke-White was born on 14 June 1904 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. She is known for American Playhouse (1980), Of All Things (1956) and The Sam Levenson Show (1951). She was married to Erskine Caldwell and Everett Chapman. She died on 27 August 1971 in Darien, Connecticut, USA.- Art Director
- Art Department
Walter McKeegan was born on 15 July 1904 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an art director, known for Petticoat Junction (1963), Bearcats! (1971) and Wicked, Wicked (1973). He died on 1 September 1981 in Coronado, California, USA.- Art Department
- Set Decorator
Mac Alper was born on 8 September 1904 in Bronx, New York, USA. He was a set decorator, known for The Seventh Cross (1944), A Stranger in Town (1943) and The Clock (1945). He died on 6 May 1956 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Jerry Sackheim was born on 21 October 1904 in The Bronx, New York, USA. Jerry was a writer and producer, known for The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957), The Trespasser (1947) and Science Fiction Theatre (1955). Jerry was married to Lillie Hayward and Regina (Gene) Ruth Blaustein . Jerry died on 13 May 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Stunts
- Actor
Herbert Holcombe was born on 3 November 1904 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Project X (1949) and Madame Spy (1934). He died on 15 October 1970 in Essex, New Jersey, USA.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
A lawyer who never practiced, Perrin landed a job in the Warner Bros. publicity department in 1930. In 1931, he made his way into Groucho Marx's dressing room with a forged letter from Moss Hart. Marx was so impressed with Perrin's talent, he arranged for him to be hired by Paramount for the film "Monkey Business". For this reason, Perrin credited Groucho for bringing him to Hollywood and giving him his first professional job as a gag writer. During the late 1930s Perrin produced for Columbia Pictures, moving to MGM in the mid-1940s. In the early 1950s, he became a producer for such shows as "The Red Skelton Show" and "Death Valley Days." He also produced and was head writer for The Addams Family (1964) series from 1964-1966. In 1977, Perrin served at temporary conservator for the Groucho Marx estate and helped reunite Mar with his estranged children.- Paul Newmark was born on 15 June 1905 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Heartaches (1981) and Don't Change My World (1983). He died on 24 January 1988 in Broward, Florida, USA.
- Ernie Bushmiller was born on 23 August 1905 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for School Daze (1942), Doing Their Bit (1942) and Archie's TV Funnies (1971). He was married to Abby Bohnet. He died on 15 August 1982 in Stamford, Connecticut, USA.
- Fred Trump was born on 11 October 1905 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Mary Trump. He died on 25 June 1999 in New Hyde Park, Long Island, New York, USA.
- Art Department
M. Duke Abrahams was born on 9 December 1905 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. M. Duke is known for Blue Denim (1959) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). M. Duke died on 30 August 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
William Margulies was born on 5 January 1906 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The Lawless Years (1959), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957) and The Girl from Rio (1939). He died on 15 February 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- John Irwin was born on 8 April 1906 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Someone at the Door (1936), Convict's Code (1930) and The Worst Woman in Paris? (1933). He died on 11 January 1994 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Art Director
- Production Designer
- Art Department
Rudolph Sternad was born on 6 October 1906 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an art director and production designer, known for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and High Noon (1952). He died on 23 April 1963 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Lionel Stander, the movie character actor with the great gravelly voice, was born on January 11th, 1908 in The Bronx borough of New York City. Stander's acting career was derailed when he was blacklisted during the 1950s after being exposed as a Communist Party member during the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. In his own HUAC testimony in May 1953, Stander denounced HUAC's use of informers, particularly those with mental problems.
Stander specialized in playing lovable hoodlums and henchmen and assorted acerbic, hard-boiled types. His physique was burly and brutish, and his head featured a square-jaw beneath a coarse-featured pan that was lightened by his charm. But it was his gruff, foghorn voice that made his fortune.
Stander attended the University of North Carolina, but after making his stage debut at the age of 19, he decided to give up college for acting. Along with a successful stage career, his unusual voice made him ideal for radio. His movie screen debut was in the comedy short Salt Water Daffy (1933) with Jack Haley and Shemp Howard. He went on to star in a number of two-reel comedy shorts produced at Vitaphone's Brooklyn studio before moving to Hollywood in 1935, where he appeared as a character actor in many A-list features such as Nothing Sacred (1937).
John Howard Lawson, the screenwriter who was one of the Hollywood Ten and who served as the Communist Party's cultural commissar in Hollywood, held up Stander as the model of a committed communist actor who enhanced the class struggle through his performances. In the movie No Time to Marry (1938), which had been written by Party member Paul Jarrico, Stander had whistled a few bars of the "Internationale" while waiting for an elevator.
Stander thought that the scene would be cut from the movie, but it remained in the picture because "they were so apolitical in Hollywood at the time that nobody recognized the tune".
Stander had a long history of supporting left-wing causes. He was an active member of the Popular Front from 1936-39, a broad grouping of left-wing organizations dedicated to fighting reactionaries at home and fascism abroad. Stander wrote of the time, "We fought on every front because we realized that the forces of reaction and Faciscm fight democracy on every front. We, too, have been forced, therefore, to organize in order to combat them on every front: politically through such organizations as the Motion Picture Democratic Committee; economically through our guilds and unions; socially, and culturally through such organizations as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League."
The Front disintegrated when the U.S.S.R. signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, which engendered World War II by giving the Nazis the get-go to invade Poland (with the Soviet Union invading from the East). The Communist Party-USA dropped out of the Front and from anti-Nazi activities, and during the early days of the War, before Germany invaded the U.S.S.R. in June 1941, it tried to hamper US support for the UK under the aegis of supporting "peace," including calling strikes in defense plants. Many communists, such as Elia Kazan, dropped out of the Party after this development, but many others stayed. These were the Stalinists that the American non-communist left grew to despise, and eventually joined with the right to destroy, though much of their antipathy after 1947-48 was generated by a desire to save themselves from the tightening noose of reaction.
Melvyn Douglas, a prominent liberal whose wife Helen Gahagan Douglas would later be a U.S. Representative from California (and would lose her bid for the Senate to a young Congressman named Richard Nixon, who red-baited her as "The Pink Lady"), had resisted Stander's attempts to recruit him to the Party. "One night, Lionel Stander kept me up until dawn trying to sell me the Russian brand of Marxism and to recruit me for the Communist Party. I resisted. I had always been condemnatory of totalitarianism and I made continual, critical references to the U.S.S.R. in my speeches. Members of the Anti-Nazi League would urge me to delete these references and several conflicts ensued."
Douglas, his wife, and other liberals were not adverse to cooperating with Party members and fellow travelers under the aegis of the MPDC, working to oppose fascism and organize relief for the Spanish Republic. They believed that they could minimize Communist Party influence, and were heartened by the fact that the Communists had joined the liberal, patriotic, anti-fascist bandwagon. Their tolerance of Communists lasted until the Soviet-Nazi Pact of August 1939. That, and the invasion of Poland by the Nazis and the USSR shattered the Popular Front.
Stander had been subpoenaed by the very first House Un-American Activities Committee inquisition in Hollywood, in 1940, when it was headed by Texas Congressman Martin Dies. The Dies Committee had succeeded in abolishing the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration as a left-wing menace in 1939 (the FTP had put on a revival of Lawson's play about the exploitation of miners, "Prcessional," that year in New York). The attack on the FTP had been opposed by many liberals in Hollywood. Stung by the criticisms of Hollywood, the Dies Committee decided to turn its attention on Hollywood itself.
Sending investigators to Hollywood, Dies' HUAC compiled a long-list of subversives, including Melvyn Douglas. John L. Leech, a police agent who had infiltrated the Communist Party before being expelled in 1937, presented a list of real and suspected communists to a Los Angeles County grand jury, which also subpoenaed Stander. The testimony was leaked, and the newspapers reported that Stander, along with such prominent Hollywood liberals as James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Frederic March and Francot Tone, had been identified as communists.
Committee chairman Dies offered all of the people named as communists the opportunity to clear themselves if they would cooperate with him in executive session. Only one of the named people did not appear, and Stander was the only one to appear who was not cleared. Subsequently, he was fired by his studio, Republic Pictures.
Stander was then subpoenaed to testify before the California Assembly's Committee on Un-American Activities, along with John Howard Lawson, the union leader John Sorrell and others. During the strike led by Sorrell's militant Conference of Student Unions against the studios in 1945, Stander was the head of a group of progressives in the Screen Actors Guild who supported the CSU and lobbied the guild to honor its picket lines. They were outvoted by the more conservative faction headed by Robert Montgomery, George Murphy and Ronald Reagan. The SAG membership voted 3,029 to 88 to cross the CSU picket-line.
Stander continued to work after being fired by Republic. He appeared in Hangmen Also Die! (1943), a film about the Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, who was assassinated by anti-fascists. After the bitter CSU strike, which was smeared as being communist-inspired by the studios, HUAC once again turned its gaze towards Hollywood, starting two cycles of inquisitions in 1947 and 1951. The screenwriter Martin Berkeley, who set a record by naming 155 names before the the second round of Committee hearings, testified that Stander had introduced him to the militant labor union leader Harry Bridges, long suspected of being a communist, whom Stander called "comrade".
After being blacklisted, Stander worked as a broker on Wall Street and appeared on the stage as a journeyman actor. He returned to the movies in Tony Richardson's The Loved One (1965), and he began his career anew as a character actor, appearing in many films, including Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966) and Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977). Other movies he appeared in included Promise Her Anything (1966), The Black Bird (1975), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), 1941 (1979), Cookie (1989) and The Last Good Time (1994), his final theatrical film.
Stander is best remembered for playing Max on TV's Hart to Hart (1979) (1979-84) with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, a role he reprised in a series of "Hart to Hart" TV movies. Stander also appeared on Wagner's earlier TV series It Takes a Thief (1968) and on the HBO series Dream On (1990).
Lionel Stander died of lung cancer on November 30, 1994 in Los Angeles, California. He was 86 years old.- Cus D'Amato was born on 17 January 1908 in Bronx, New York, USA. He died on 4 November 1985 in Catskill, New York, USA.
- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Robert Maxwell was born on 31 January 1908 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Cannonball (1958), Moment of Truth (1964) and Superman and the Mole-Men (1951). He was married to Barbara and Jessica Fielding. He died on 3 February 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Her Orthodox Jewish family were totally averse to her having an entertainment career. Her parents and grandparents forced her to leave the Theatre Guild school (New York) while still a teenager and had their wills drawn up accordingly so as to discourage this career choice.
Studied drama at Columbia University, and belonged to the American Theatre Wing.
When Mae was 17 and living in the South Bronx, she won a local contest to find the girl who most resembled Helen Kane, a popular singer known as the "Boop-Oop-A-Doop Queen". She was promptly signed by an agent and began performing in the Vaudeville circuit. Billing herself as "Mae Questel - Personality Singer of Personality Songs," she performed dead-on vocal imitations of Maurice Chevalier, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and of course Helen Kane, among many others. Her mimic talent also provided duck, dog, chicken, owl, monkey, lion and baby sounds for radio shows.
Betty Boop creator Max Fleischer heard Mae doing her "boop-oop-a-doop" routine and hired her to do the character's voice in 1931. She served as the voice on more than 150 Betty Boop animated shorts until the character was retired in 1939. Her recording of "On The Good Ship Lollipop" sold more than 2 million during the Depression.
Best known as the voice of "Betty Boop", she was also the voice of not so less famous "Olive Oyl" in the Popeye's cartoons, but also the toddler Swee'pea, and others. She did Popeye's voice once, in the cartoon Shape Ahoy (1945), because Jack Mercer was serving in the military during World War II. Her versatility is probably better appreciated in the cartoon Never Kick a Woman (1936) in which she provides the quivery, nervous-Nellie voice of Olive Oyl, based on comedic actress Zasu Pitts, and the deep, assured, alluring voice of the blonde saleswoman, based on Mae West.
In 1968, the City of Indianapolis honored her with a "Mae Questel Day". In 1979, she won the Troupers Award for outstanding contribution to entertainment.- Leona Rostenberg was born on 28 December 1908 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. Leona died on 17 March 2005 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Jim Hagerty was born on 9 May 1909 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He died on 11 April 1981.
- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
- Director
M. Clay Adams was born on 17 May 1909 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a production manager and director, known for Picture People No. 2: Hollywood Sports (1941), Picture People No. 1: Stars in Defense (1941) and Picture People Vol. 2 No. 6: Hollywood War Efforts (1942). He was married to Patty MacRobert and Mary Louise Devlin. He died on 26 September 2008 in Sea Girt, New Jersey, USA.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Gene Raskin was a very accomplished person - first, an architect, then a professor at Columbia University, then, a "variety act" duo with his wife: "Gene & Francesca", and, most notably, but definitely not most fascinating; Gene adapted a melody sung to him as a child by his Russian mother: this became the folk-pop song, "Those Were the Days", recorded by Mary Hopkin and produced by Paul McCartney.- Sylvia Sidney was born in The Bronx, New York City, on August 8, 1910 as Sophia Kosow to Jewish parents. Her father was born in Russia and her mother was born in Romania. They divorced not long after her birth. Her mother subsequently remarried and young Sophia was adopted by her stepfather, Sigmund Sidney.
A shy, only child, her parents tried to encourage her to be more outgoing and gregarious. As an early teen, Sophia (later Sylvia) had decided she wanted a stage career. While most parents would have looked down on such an announcement, Sylvia was encouraged to pursue the dream she had made. She enrolled in the Theater Guild's School for Acting. Sylvia later admitted that when she decided to become a stage actress at 15, it wasn't being star struck that occurred to her, but the expression of beauty that encompassed acting. All she wanted was to be identified with good productions.
One school production was held at a Broadway theater and in the audience there was a critic from the New York Times who had nothing but rave reviews for the young woman. On the strength of her performance in New York, she appeared onstage in Washington, D.C. Further stage productions followed, each better than the last and it wasn't long before the film moguls were at the doorstep. She was appearing in the stage production of "Crime" when she made her first appearance on the silver screen in 1927. The film in question was Broadway Nights (1927) which dealt with stage personalities of which Sylvia, despite her extremely tender age, was one. After the film she returned to the stage where she appeared in creations which were, for the most part, forgettable. She moved to Colorado to tour with a stock company. She later returned to Broadway for a series of other plays. By 1929, she was on the big screen with Thru Different Eyes (1929) as Valerie Briand. This was followed by a short film, Five Minutes from the Station (1930). Sylvia Sidney was slowly leaving the stage for the production studios of Paramount.
1931 saw her appear in five films, one of which, City Streets (1931), made her a star. Aware that she was replacing the great Clara Bow, who was suffering from severe and debilitating health issues, mainly depression. The contrast between the two actresses was great but the movie was a hit. The sad-eyed Sylvia made a tremendous impact and her screen career was off a running. Her next film was Ladies of the Big House (1931) as Kathleen Storm McNeil, part of a couple framed for a murder they didn't commit. The film made huge profits at the box-office. She then made Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), appearing opposite Fredric March. The film was an unqualified success. Later, in Madame Butterfly (1932), she starred as the doomed geisha girl (Cho-Cho San); critics agreed that only her performance saved the film from being a total disaster.
In 1933, she starred in the title role in Jennie Gerhardt (1933). Yet another doom and gloom picture, she played a girl beset with poverty and the death of her young husband before the birth of their child. Sidney received the star spotlight in Good Dame (1934). Despite her fine performance, the film failed at the box-office. She scored big with the film critics as the lead female in Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935), a restaurant owner who falls for a big time gangster. Her performance was overshadowed by Alan Baxter, who gave an outstanding portrayal as the gangster. That film was quickly followed by "Accent On Youth", in which she played Linda Brown, a young lady fascinated by older men. In 1938, Sidney played in "You and Me", opposite George Raft. The film critics gave it mixed reviews but it did not fare well at the box-office. Afterward, the roles began to dissipate. She filmed ...One Third of a Nation... (1939) and would not be seen again onscreen until The Wagons Roll at Night (1941). There was a four year hiatus before Blood on the Sun (1945), opposite James Cagney.
In 1946, she starred in The Searching Wind (1946) as Cassie Bowman. The film was based on a Broadway play but it just didn't transfer well onto the big screen. It was widely considered to be too serious and flopped with the movie fans. After Love from a Stranger (1947), she didn't appear onscreen again until Les Miserables (1952), as "Fantine". Only three more films followed that decade. There were no films throughout the 1960s. After appearing in a made-for-television movie, she returned to the big screen in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973), playing the mother of the character played by Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward. For her performance, Sidney received her only Oscar nomination, losing to another actress who also only received one Oscar nomination in her lifetime, Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon (1973)). O'Neal was 10 years old when she accepted the award.
Aside from a few more supporting role film appearances strewn here and there, Sidney mostly appeared on television thereafter. In 1988, she appeared as Juno in Tim Burton 's hit film Beetlejuice (1988). Her last film for the big screen was Mars Attacks! (1996) as the unlikely heroine whose taste in music saves Earth from an exceptionally brutal Martian victory. She had been seriously injured after being hit by a car but director Burton waited for her to be able to appear (in a wheelchair) rather than recast the role. In 1998, she played Clia, the irritable elderly travel agency clerk, who appeared (along with Fyvush Finkel) at the beginning of every episode of Fantasy Island (1998), the short-lived black-humored reboot of the iconic 1970s series of the same name.
A lifelong heavy smoker, Sidney died on July 1, 1999, aged 88, of throat cancer. - Guy Rennie graduated from the University of Iowa where he studied acting. His first job was radio broadcaster in Philadelphia. He traveled to Morocco where he gained fame as a singer and comedian. In the 1930's he co-starred with singer Josephine Baker at the Parisian club "Les Ambassadeurs." He eventually opened his own nightclub in Paris.
He eventually returned to the US to star at Manhattan's Weylan Hotel. In 1946, he moved to Miami Beach, which became his permanent home. He acted in films and TV shows in Los Angeles, where he maintained a second home. In the 1940's and '50's he starred at "Bill Jordan's Bar of Music" on Miami Beach, where his wife Vivian Rennie, a songstress, also appeared. When the nightclub era faded on Miami Beach he moved on to performing on the hotel and condominium circuit.
He died from a heart attack on December 4, 1979 in Miami Beach at age 69. He was survived by his wife, Vivian Rennie of Miami Beach, and two daughters, Gaye Taylor of Burbank, and Edwyna Rennie of North Hollywood, CA. Funeral Services were held on December 5, 1979 at Newman Funeral Home, Miami Beach. According to his wife, in her eulogy, "He never retired. People would always be calling to find out where he was performing."
Reference: McCarthy, Kathy (1979, December 5). Comedian-singer Guy Rennie dies, "The Miami News", p. 4A. - Irving Steinberg was born on 21 January 1911 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Playhouse 90 (1956) and The Silent Service (1957). He died on 4 November 1996 in Orange, California, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Henry Ephron was born on 26 May 1911 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Carousel (1956), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) and Daddy Long Legs (1955). He was married to June Gale and Phoebe Ephron. He died on 6 September 1992 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
He was born in the Bronx, New York. As a young man, he moved to Los Angeles and studied at Los Angeles City College. He served in the Navy during World War II. Fowley played everything from cowboys to gangsters, appearing alongside stars like Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. He debuted in The Mad Game (1933), with Spencer Tracy and Claire Trevor. In his best-known performance, the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), he played a film director trying to ease a silent-film star into her first talking picture. His best-known television role was as Doc Holliday in the popular ABC western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) during the 1950s and early '60s. His last film was The North Avenue Irregulars (1979) in 1979. He played Grandpa Hanks in the CBS comedy Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966) in 1966-67. Other television credits included The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Perry Mason (1957) and The Rockford Files (1974). He died at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital, aged 86.- Howland Chamberlain was born on 2 August 1911 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Electric Dreams (1984). He died on 1 September 1984 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Eleazar Lipsky was born on 6 September 1911 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Kiss of Death (1947), The People Against O'Hara (1951) and Kiss of Death (1995). He died on 14 February 1993.
- George B. Rabinor was born on 28 September 1911 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. George B. was married to Terry King and Ruth Gleen. George B. died on 22 July 2003 in Boca Raton, Florida, USA.
- Bella Bruck was born on 11 December 1911 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Alligator (1980), The Cheap Detective (1978) and McCloud (1970). She was married to James Melvin Jones. She died on 5 April 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
New York-born James Gregory gave up a career as a stockbroker for one as an actor, and began on the Broadway stage. He made his film debut in 1948. Gregory specialized in playing loud, brash, tough cops or businessmen. One of his better roles was as the detective out to get Capone in Al Capone (1959). He also played Dean Martin's boss in three of the four cheesy "Matt Helm" spy films. Memorable as the opinionated, loudmouthed Inspector Luger in the television series Barney Miller (1975).