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- Herbert Bost was born on 2 March 1899 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Injustice (1919). He was married to Nancy Williams. He died on 22 August 1921 in Los Angeles, California, 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.
- Bob McDonogh was born on 5 February 1899 in Fresno, California, USA. He died on 10 December 1945 in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
- William L. Thorne was born on 14 October 1878 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Abraham Lincoln (1930), Danger Island (1931) and The Rainbow Trail (1932). He died on 10 March 1948 in Fresno, California, USA.
- Actress
Adele Thomas was born on 5 June 1909 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress. She died on 22 October 1948 in Duarte, California, USA.- Rose Plumer was born on 19 January 1876 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Secret Code (1942), Inside the Law (1942) and Dark Mountain (1944). She was married to Lincoln Plumer. She died on 3 March 1955 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
George Bradford was born on 27 August 1884 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor. He died on 25 October 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Frank Iwanaga was born on 16 December 1922 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956) and Godzilla (1957). He died on 1 June 1963 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Nestor Paiva was born on 30 June 1905 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Madmen of Mandoras (1963). He was married to Maxine Kuntzman. He died on 9 September 1966 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
Paul Koseris was born on 21 January 1908 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor. He died on 14 August 1968 in Winnemucca, Nevada, USA.- Virginia Ainsworth was born on 9 March 1894 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Avenging Arrow (1921), Why Girls Go Back Home (1926) and The Scarlet Streak (1925). She died on 27 October 1969 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Editor
- Editorial Department
Harry Reynolds was born on 4 April 1901 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an editor, known for The Sea Bat (1930), The Unknown (1927) and Where East Is East (1929). He died on 22 December 1971 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Writer
- Actor
- Music Department
Composer, prolific songwriter ("Come On-a My House", "Witch Doctor", "Chipmunk Song"), author, actor, producer, impressionist, educated at Coll. Writer, and has made many records. He joined ASCAP in 1951, and specialized in catchy, hummable melodies. Some of his other popular-song compositions include "Armen's Theme"; "Safari"; "Freddy, Freddy"; "Copyright 1960"; "Medicore"; "Sack Time"; "A Little Beauty"; "The Prom"; "Bagdad Express"; "Little Brass Band"; "Maria from Madrid"; "Gotta Get to Your House"; "The Donkey and the School Boy", and many more.- Davison Clark was born on 15 January 1881 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Scarlet Empress (1934), The Buccaneer (1938) and The Mighty Barnum (1934). He died on 4 November 1972 in Ventura, California, USA.
- Ninetta Sunderland was born on 13 April 1898 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Sweepings (1933), Unconquered (1947) and The Carnival Man (1929). She was married to Walter Huston. She died on 23 November 1973 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Del Webb was born on 17 May 1899 in Fresno, California, USA. He was married to Toni Ince and Hazel Church. He died on 4 July 1974 in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
- Eve March was born on 27 September 1910 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Curse of the Cat People (1944), Adam's Rib (1949) and Canon City (1948). She was married to Damian O'Flynn. She died on 19 September 1974 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Hollace Shaw was born on 24 July 1913 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942) and Queens of the Air (1938). She died on 2 March 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Ted Duncan was born on 27 September 1902 in Fresno, California, USA. He was a composer, known for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) and Thrill of a Romance (1945). He died on 9 March 1976 in Burbank, California, USA.- Brian Maggiore was born on 16 October 1956 in Fresno, California, USA. He was married to Katie Maggiore. He died on 2 February 1978 in Rancho Cordova, California, USA.
- Katie Maggiore was born on 29 January 1958 in Fresno, California, USA. She was married to Brian Maggiore. She died on 2 February 1978 in Rancho Cordova, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Special Effects
Handsome, athletic leading man Jon Hall was the son of actor Felix Locher and a Tahitian princess. Hall was married three times, two of which were to entertainers: singer Frances Langford and actress Raquel Torres. His third wife was a psychiatrist. They married in 1969 and lived in Los Angeles with her two sons and a daughter.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Oscar winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient William Saroyan, who gained world fame with his classic book "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" (1934), was born in California to Armenak and Takoohi Saroyan.
With his unmistakably American literary works, deeply rooted in his Armenian heritage, William Saroyan soon established himself as one of the preeminent short story writers, playwrights and novelists in the United States.
In 1939 and 1940 William Saroyan's "My Heart's in the Highlands" and "The Time of Your Life" were staged for theater and "Love's Old Sweet Song" opened on Broadway, winning the New York Critics Circle Award.
In 1943 his MGM screenplay "The Human Comedy" was novelized and published and received great reviews, and he won the Academy Award for Best Writing Original Story for "The Human Comedy".
He wrote the lyrics of Ross Bagdasarian's famous # 1 hit song "Come On-a My House", performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, and Rosemary Clooney, which was featured in Madonna's "Swept Away" (2002) and Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952).
William Saroyan is one of the most important American writers of the 20th century -- along with such masters as John Updike, John Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller, who admired him. Saroyan is perhaps the only major and influential writer to receive both the Pulitzer Prize and the Academy Award, and his work continues to appear on the theater stage and the silver screen worldwide.- Art Department
- Writer
- Animation Department
Warren Tufts was born on 12 December 1925 in Fresno, California, USA. He was a writer, known for It's the Wolf (1969), Space Angel (1962) and Captain Fathom (1965). He died on 6 July 1982 in Placerville, California, USA.- Sound Department
Al Yaylian was born on 17 November 1923 in Fresno, California, USA. He is known for The Last Starfighter (1984), Funny Girl (1968) and Stroker Ace (1983). He died on 30 July 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Armando M. Huerta was born on 27 May 1951 in Fresno County, California, USA. He was an assistant director, known for Remington Steele (1982), All Night Long (1981) and Emergency! (1972). He died on 6 September 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
"If they move", commands stern-eyed William Holden, "kill 'em". So begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam Peckinpah's bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old West. "Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah explodes the bottle", observed critic Pauline Kael. That exploding bottle also christened the director with the nickname that would forever define his films and reputation: "Bloody Sam".
David Samuel Peckinpah was born and grew up in Fresno, California, when it was still a sleepy town. Young Sam was a loner. The child's greatest influence was grandfather Denver Church, a judge, congressman and one of the best shots in the Sierra Nevadas. Sam served in the US Marine Corps during World War II but - to his disappointment - did not see combat. Upon returning to the US he enrolled in Fresno State College, graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in Drama. He married Marie Selland in Las Vegas in 1947 and they moved to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the graduate Theater Department of the University of Southern California the next year. He eventually took his Masters in 1952.
After drifting through several jobs -- including a stint as a floor-sweeper on The Liberace Show (1952) -- Sam got a job as Dialogue Director on Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) for director Don Siegel. He worked for Siegel on several films, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), in which Sam played Charlie Buckholtz, the town meter reader. Peckinpah eventually became a scriptwriter for such TV programs as Gunsmoke (1955) and The Rifleman (1958) (which he created as an episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (1956) titled "The Sharpshooter' in 1958). In 1961, as his marriage to Selland was coming to an end, he directed his first feature film, a western titled The Deadly Companions (1961) starring \Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara. However, it was with his second feature, Ride the High Country (1962), that Peckinpah really began to establish his reputation. Featuring Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott (in his final screen performance), its story about two aging gunfighters anticipated several of the themes Peckinpah would explore in future films, including the controversial "The Wild Bunch". Following "Ride the High Country" he was hired by producer Jerry Bresler to direct Major Dundee (1965), a cavalry-vs.-Indians western starring Charlton Heston. It turned out to be a film that brought to light Peckinpah's volatile reputation. During hot, on-location work in Mexico, his abrasive manner, exacerbated by booze and marijuana, provoked usually even-keeled Heston to threaten to run him through with a cavalry saber. However, when the studio later considered replacing Peckinpah, it was Heston who came to Sam's defense, going so far as to offer to return his salary to help offset any overages. Ironically, the studio accepted and Heston wound up doing the film for free.
Post-production conflicts led to Sam engaging in a bitter and ultimately losing battle with Bresler and Columbia Pictures over the final cut and, as a result, the disjointed effort fizzled at the box office. It was during this period that Peckinpah met and married his second wife, Mexican actress Begoña Palacios. However, the reputation he earned because of the conflicts on "Major Dundee" contributed to Peckinpah being replaced as director on his next film, the Steve McQueen film The Cincinnati Kid (1965), by Norman Jewison.
His second marriage now failing, Peckinpah did not get another feature project for two years. However, he did direct a powerful adaptation of Katherine Anne Porter's 'Noon Wine" for Noon Wine (1966)). This, in turn, helped relaunch his feature career. He was hired by Warner Bros. to direct the film for which he is, justifiably, best remembered. The success of "The Wild Bunch" rejuvenated his career and propelled him through highs and lows in the 1970s. Between 1970-1978 he directed The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Straw Dogs (1971), Junior Bonner (1972), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975), Cross of Iron (1977) and Convoy (1978). Throughout this period controversy followed him. He provoked more rancor over his use of violence in "Straw Dogs", introduced Ali MacGraw to Steve McQueen in "The Getaway", fought with MGM's chief James T. Aubrey over his vision for "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" that included the casting of Bob Dylan in an unscripted role as a character called "Alias." His last solid effort was the WW II anti-war epic "Cross of Iron", about a German unit fighting on the Russian front, with Maximilian Schell and James Coburn, bringing the picture in successfully despite severe financial problems.
Peckinpah lived life to its fullest. He drank hard and abused drugs, producers and collaborators. At the end of his life he was considering a number of projects including the Stephen King-scripted "The Shotgunners". He was returning from Mexico in December 1984 when he died from heart failure in a hospital in Inglewood, California, at age 59. At a standing-room-only gathering that held at the Directors Guild the following month, Coburn remembered the director as a man "who pushed me over the abyss and then jumped in after me. He took me on some great adventures". To which Robert Culp added that what is surprising is not that Sam only made fourteen pictures, but that given the way he went about it, he managed to make any at all.- Peter Dane was born on 2 June 1918 in Fresno County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Quincy M.E. (1976), A Fine Pair (1968) and Violent City (1970). He was married to Constance Dugovic. He died on 15 July 1985 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Spec O'Donnell was born on 9 April 1911 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Accidents Will Happen (1938), Vamping Venus (1928) and Kentucky Blue Streak (1935). He was married to Inez Hixson. He died on 14 October 1986 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Bodeen started out as a stage actor and playwright. In his latter capacity, he enjoyed a moderate amount of success with "Escape to Autumn" and "Thing of Beauty", before finding work as a reader in Hollywood. One of Bodeen's plays, "Embers at Haworth" (about the Bronte sisters), came to the attention of Val Lewton, who was at the time working for David O. Selznick on an adaptation of Jane Eyre (1943). Lewton promptly hired Bodeen as a research assistant to work on the script with Aldous Huxley. When Lewton left Selznick after being signed as producer by RKO, he invited Bodeen to join him as part of a unit, specifically tasked with turning out horror movies to be filmed within a budget of $150,000. Bodeen would earn $75 per week (Lewton's own salary was only $250). The other members of this close-knit group included the director Jacques Tourneur, the editor (soon to be promoted to director) Mark Robson, composer Roy Webb and the writer Ardel Wray. For several weeks, Lewton and Bodeen (by now close friends) accumulated experience in the genre by viewing classic horror films from the previous decade, including Paramount's Island of Lost Souls (1932).
The first, and most successful, of the cycle of horror films on which Lewton and Bodeen collaborated, was Cat People (1942). As it turned out, both title and subject were rather imposed upon them by RKO studio chief Charles Koerner. Koerner had this notion that traditional movie monsters had been sufficiently dealt with, while nobody had done anything yet with a cat motif. Though initially apprehensive, Bodeen, eschewing traditional methodology, wrote the script as a study of psychological terror (a novelisation based on his story was later published by horror writer Gary Brandner). "Cat People" was completed in just 24 days and came in well under budget. Koerner was at first disappointed upon seeing the first cut, but quickly changed his mind once the picture began to break records at the box office. Some sources have even suggested, that it may have helped save the studio from bankruptcy.
Bodeen worked on two more entries in this series: The Seventh Victim (1943) (with a creepy shower scene, precursor to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960)); and The Curse of the Cat People (1944), which, in spite of its title, was neither a sequel to "Cat People", nor a horror film in any true sense, but merely a subtle, overly ambiguous study of childhood loneliness. Bodeen did better work as co-writer (with Herman J. Mankiewicz) of another fable, the sentimental feel-good film The Enchanted Cottage (1945), based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. After his second contract with RKO expired in 1947, Bodeen free-lanced for a while and then concentrated on writing teleplays. He was several times nominated for Writer's Guild Awards. A regular contributor to film journals, he also authored several books on Hollywood stars, as well as one on "The Films of Cecil B. DeMille". - Kay Leslie was born on 28 December 1916 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Buck Privates (1941), My Life with Caroline (1941) and The Texas Marshal (1941). She died on 11 November 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Fred Scott was born on 14 February 1902 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Roaming Cowboy (1937), Code of the Fearless (1939) and Melody of the Plains (1937). He was married to Mary Grable. He died on 16 December 1991 in Riverside, California, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Ted W. Lawson was born on 7 March 1917 in Fresno, California, USA. He was a writer, known for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). He died on 19 January 1992 in Chico, California, USA.- Jean Wong was born Pearl Jean Wong, one of the first Chinese-American actresses. She was born in the Year of the Pig with traits of diligence and compassion to parents Hi Loy Wong and Lillie Lum. Jean Wong first came into the spotlight at 17 years when she was crowned Raisin Queen in Fresno and appeared on a parade float. She married Charles W. Luck in 1932 and eventually moved from Portland to Los Angeles in the late 1930s where she was named Wistaria Queen in Sierra Madre. She was recruited to appear as an extra in the 1942 film Casablanca and was subsequently cast in many other Golden Era films in the 1940s and early 1950s. Lead roles for Asians during this deeply racist time were few and far between, much less for an Asian woman. This was an especially tumultuous period in Chinese history that saw the rise of the Communist party, the Depression, the Chinese Exclusionary and World War II. Nonetheless, Wong gained a reputation for her graciousness and on-set tenacity, but never complaining. In addition to Casablanca (1942), some other films that she appeared in minor roles include: Keys of the Kingdom (1944), China's Little Devils (1945), The Clock (1945), The Red Dragon (1945), The Chinese Ring (1945), Deception (1946), Without Reservations (1946), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), Dangerous Millions (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), My Favorite Brunette (1947), Dead Men on Furlough (1954), Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1955). Wong embodied the Caucasian ideal of an exotic foreign beauty, despite her American citizenship and also despite the fact that she never ventured to any of East Asian locations that she was depicted. She and Charles W. Luck had three children: Charles Jr., Wesley, and Arlene Luck. The Luck grandchildren are: Stephen, Cynthia, Kenneth, Daniel, Eileen, Lester, Rodney, Adriene, Beverly, Rhonda, Duane, and Julie.
- Christopher Todd was born on 8 October 1961 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for A Chorus Line (1985). He died on 9 August 1992 in New York, USA.
- Duane Carter was born on 5 May 1913 in Fresno, California, USA. He died on 7 March 1993 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
- Jack Stroud was born on 29 January 1928 in Fresno, California, USA. He was married to Mary Suminski and Hazel O. Dykes. He died on 1 June 1994 in Flemington, New Jersey, USA.
- Michael Kermoyan was born on 29 November 1921 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for NET Opera Theater (1967), Play of the Week (1959) and Ryan's Hope (1975). He died on 21 September 1994 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actress
Barbara Jane Pope was born on 2 April 1925 in Fresno, California, USA. Barbara Jane was an actor. Barbara Jane died on 25 October 1994 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Bruce Bosley was born on 5 November 1933 in Fresno, California, USA. He died on 26 April 1995 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Dwight Larick was born on 31 July 1916 in Fresno County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Malibu Bikini Shop (1986), Say Yes (1986) and Seduced (1985). He died on 5 December 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Karen Norris was born on 18 January 1927 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Pillow Talk (1959), The Destructors (1968) and Get Smart (1965). She was married to Richard Davis Francois Norris. She died on 31 January 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Ewell Blackwell was born on 23 October 1922 in Fresno, California, USA. He died on 29 October 1996 in Hendersonville, North Carolina, USA.
- Easy Pickens was born on 31 December 1921 in Kingsburg, Fresno County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970). He was married to Marilu A Althouse and Shirley Mae Andersen. He died on 24 January 2001 in Reno, Nevada, USA.
- Hal Haig Prieste was born on 23 November 1896 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Taming Target Center (1917), The Battle Royal (1918) and Sheriff Nell's Tussle (1918). He was married to Hazel. He died on 19 April 2001 in Camden, New Jersey, USA.
- Gene Pearson was born on 31 October 1922 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Federal Man-Hunt (1938) and Harry Rosenthal and His Bath and Tennis Club Orchestra (1929). He died on 16 October 2001 in Danville, Contra Costa, California, USA.
- Richard Martin Stern was born on 17 March 1915 in Fresno, California, USA. Richard Martin was a writer, known for The Towering Inferno (1974). Richard Martin was married to Dorothy. Richard Martin died on 31 October 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Director
- Animation Department
- Additional Crew
After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute in 1940, Chris Ishii went to work for Disney as an assistant animator on Fantasia, Dumbo, The Reluctant Dragon, and numerous Disney cartoons. At the start of World War II he was he was interned at the Assembly Center at Santa Anita and then transferred to the Granada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado. In both places, he worked on the camp newspapers as a cartoonist. Volunteering to join the U.S. Army from Amache in 1943, he served in the Military Intelligence Service as an illustrator for the Office of War Information, assigned to the India/China/Burma theater of war. He met and married his wife, Ada Suffiad in Shanghai, bringing her to the U.S. with him at demobilization.
After the war he briefly studied art in Paris, France. In 1952, he settled with his family in New York, and became a successful artist, known best for his film work. He worked at UPA Studios on "A Unicorn in the Garden" and "Madeline," and on Gerald McBoing Boing and Mr. Magoo cartoons.
Joining with two partners in 1965, he formed Focus Productions, a film production company. He became a freelance artist in 1975, and contributed the animated sequence in Woody Allen's Annie Hall, among other projects. During his long career, he garnered two Clio "best" and four "runner-up" awards for his television commercials. He lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York from 1955 to 2001. His wife, Ada, passed away in 1988. He is survived by sisters Kiyo and Sumi, brother Jack, three children, Christopher, Naka and Jonathan, and four grandchildren.- David Wood was born on 24 February 1925 in Fresno, California, USA. He was married to Marnie Thomas. He died on 21 April 2002 in Berkeley, California, USA.
- Bison Dele was born on 6 April 1969 in Fresno, California, USA. He died on 7 July 2002 in Tahiti.