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1-50 of 574
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
Harold Warner Lloyd was born on 24 June 1888 in Long Beach, New Jersey, USA. He was an assistant director and actor, known for The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), Whispering Smith (1916) and Judith of the Cumberlands (1916). He died on 4 June 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- John J. Darby was born on 27 August 1893 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Hour of Reckoning (1926). He died on 13 December 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Peggy Pearce was born on 4 June 1894 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Ace of the Saddle (1919), A Film Johnnie (1914) and More Deadly Than the Male (1919). She was married to Arthur Klein. She died on 26 February 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Director
- Editor
- Producer
Director John Rawlins started in films in 1918 as an actor, stunt man, gag writer and assistant director. For a while he sidelined as a comedy writer, then became an editor and later directed second features for First National in Britain from the early 1930s. Returning to the US, he joined Universal (1938-46), where he turned out "B" pictures and serials, including installments of the "Dick Tracy" and "Sherlock Holmes" series. He had similar assignments at RKO (1947-48) and United Artists (1951-53), before branching out into television dramas.- S. Ernest Roll was born on 22 January 1904 in Long Beach, California, USA. He died on 26 October 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Lee Powell was born on 15 May 1908 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938), Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) and Texas Man Hunt (1942). He was married to Norma Rogers. He died on 30 July 1944 in Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands.
- Actor
- Art Department
- Soundtrack
With smooth, boyish good looks, Richard Cromwell had the makings of a Hollywood star while talking movies were in their infancy. Falling far short of that goal, some of which was his own doing, he is hardly remembered today. The equivalent back then in fresh-faced, fair-haired appeal to 60s Dr. Kildare (1961) star Richard Chamberlain, Cromwell enjoyed similar overnight stardom and heartthrob status. By decade's end, however, his once meteoric career had crashed and burned.
Richard was born LeRoy Melvin Radabaugh (nicknamed Roy) in Long Beach, California on January 8, 1910, he was the second of five children to Ralph and Fay Radabaugh. His father was a victim of the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic. Roy earnestly delivered morning newspapers to help out the family's budget crisis. Artistically creative, in his teens, he earned a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. He continued to work part-time as a maintenance man, custodian and soda jerk. His artwork, which tended to oil painting and mask-making, was impressive enough for him to be a commissioned "artist to the stars" for a time. Film legends Anna Q. Nilsson, Colleen Moore, Tallulah Bankhead, Beatrice Lillie, Joan Crawford and the notoriously reclusive Greta Garbo were among his illustrious clientèle. He was soon able to open his own studio in Hollywood and well on the way to becoming an artist of note when a long-smoldering desire to act burst into flame within him.
He painted scenery for community theater productions as a way of getting his feet wet and eventually took on acting roles. He was an extra in the film King of Jazz (1930). As good fortune would have it, Richard was encouraged by friends to test for the title lead (amid scores of other actor unknowns) in the Columbia Studios production of Tol'able David (1930), a remake of D.W. Griffith's classic 1921 film. With no previous professional experience, he won the part. Christened with a new marquee name (courtesy of Columbia mogul Harry Cohn), the studio publicity machines worked overtime to promote both the film and their new leading man. Richard lived up to all the hype once the reviews came out, giving a terrific debut performance in a very difficult role. As the rather weak-willed young boy who finds the strength and courage to right the injustice done to him, he hit overnight stardom, accompanied by scores of subsequent radio and personal appearances and culminating in a White House invitation from President Herbert Hoover.
It was sensitive hero types for the new star, predominantly in melodramatic settings. Columbia kept him busy with Fifty Fathoms Deep (1931), Shanghaied Love (1931) and That's My Boy (1932). The best of the lot was co-starring opposite Marie Dressler in Emma (1932) as a young man who dies in a plane crash en route to save his beloved housekeeper who was accused of murdering his father. His best known role was in the best picture nominee The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) in which he received co-star billing alongside Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone. Other significant parts in The Age of Consent (1932), Tom Brown of Culver (1932) and This Day and Age (1933). He appeared with a slew of Hollywood's most popular stars, including but not limited to Janet Gaynor, Clara Bow, Jean Arthur, W.C. Fields and Will Rogers.
His constant yen for independence and change led him to other areas of entertainment. Veering away from films, he worked on radio soap operas and made his stage debut in 1936 with So Proudly We Hail which quickly went to Broadway. He received better reviews than the play itself, which was very short-lived. As his popularity in films began to fade, another daunting challenge was his lead role in a sequel of sorts to All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) entitled The Road Back (1937) , which chronicled the story of young German soldiers readjusting to civilian life after WWI. The film was not well-received. After supporting roles as Henry Fonda's brother, who kills a man in a duel of honor, in Jezebel (1938) (Bette Davis second Oscar-winning performance), and as a defendant in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) starring Fonda, Cromwell drifted into secondary features. He enjoyed an active social Hollywood life with friends including Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, George Cukor, Cole Porter and William Haines.
After filming Baby Face Morgan (1942), he joined the Coast Guard and served for two years. Returning to civilian life, he settled comfortably into his art work -- ceramics and pottery, in particular. By chance, he met promising young British actress Angela Lansbury who was 16 years his junior and raking up Oscar nominations over at MGM with superb work in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). The couple eloped in September of 1945 but the marriage was over almost before it began. They separated within a few months and were divorced before the year was out. Unbeknownst to the outside world at the time, Richard's latent homosexuality was the undoing factor here. Cromwell and Lansbury continued a sincere, respectful friendship after their divorce.
After this tumultuous period, Richard decided to make another stab at films, all for naught. His next film, Bungalow 13 (1948) , fizzled quickly. Returning to the name Roy Radabaugh, he built an art studio on his property, becoming especially known and admired for his creative tile designs.
Little was heard of Richard until it was announced that, at age 50, he had been cast in the film The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1961) starring singer Jimmie Rodgers. Diagnosed with liver cancer shortly thereafter, he was forced to withdraw from the production. Chill Wills replaced him in the role. Richard died on October 11, 1960, and was interred in Santa Ana, California.- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Spike Jones was born on 14 December 1911 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Mr. Nobody (2009), I.Q. (1994) and Fireman Save My Child (1954). He was married to Helen Grayco and Patricia Middleton. He died on 1 May 1965 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Hale Boggs was an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the House majority leader and a member of the Warren Commission.
In 1972, while he was still majority leader, the twin engine airplane in which Boggs was travelling with congressman Nick Begich, of Alaska, and two others, disappeared while flying from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. In an enormous search effort, rescue aircraft of the United States Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Air Force, Civil Air Patrol and civilians were deployed to look for the four men and the missing Cessna 310. On November 24, 1972, after proceeding for 39 days, the air search was suspended. Neither the airplane nor any of its four occupants were ever found. - Animation Department
- Director
- Writer
Phil Monroe was born on 31 October 1916 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was a director and writer, known for The Bugs Bunny/Road-Runner Movie (1979), Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983) and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988). She was married to Beverly Lynn Rogers. She died on 13 July 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Gina Berriault was born on 1 January 1919 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was a writer, known for Shooting Schedule, The Stone Boy (1984) and The Robert Herridge Theater (1960). She was married to John Berriault. She died on 15 July 1999 in Greenbrae, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Fred Stuthman was born on 27 June 1919 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Marathon Man (1976) and Network (1976). He died on 7 July 1982 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Radiant to a tee, well-coiffed and well-dressed Barbara Britton looked like she stepped out of a magazine when she entered into our homes daily as the 'Revlon Girl' on 50s and 60s TV. She sparkled with the best of them and managed to capture that "perfect wife/perfect mother" image with, well, perfect poise and perfect grace. Co-starring opposite some of Hollywood's most durable leading men, including Randolph Scott (multiple times), Joel McCrea, Gene Autry, Jeff Chandler and John Hodiak, it's rather a shame Barbara was rather obtusely used in Hollywood films, but thankfully her beauty and glamour, if not her obvious talent, would save the day and put the finishing touches on a well-rounded career.
It all began for sunny, hazel-eyed blonde Barbara Maureen Brantingham in equally sunny Long Beach, California on September 26, 1920 (1919 is incorrect, according to her son and several other sources). Attending Polytechnic High School, Barbara eventually taught Sunday school and majored in speech at Long Beach City College with designs of becoming a speech and drama teacher. Her interest in acting, however, quickly took hold and she decided, against the wishes of her ultra-conservative parents, to pursue the local stage. Barbara's own personal 'Hollywood' story unfolded when, as a Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade representative of Long Beach, she was seen on the front pages of the newspaper, scouted out and signed by Paramount movie agents.
The surname Britton was a cherished family name and Barbara picked it as her stage moniker when Paramount complained that Brantingham was "too long to fit on a marquee." She made her film debut with Secret of the Wastelands (1941), a Hopalong Cassidy western, and continued in bit parts for a time before finding modest but showier roles in such fare as Louisiana Purchase (1941), So Proudly We Hail! (1943) and Till We Meet Again (1944). She eventually earned higher visibility as a lead and second femme lead but was underserved for most of her film career, confined as a pretty, altruistic, genteel young thing in such durable but male-oriented films as The Great John L. (1945), The Virginian (1946), The Return of Monte Cristo (1946), Albuquerque (1948), and Champagne for Caesar (1950).
Barbara wisely turned to the stage and TV in the 1950s, making her TV debut on an episode of "Robert Montgomery Presents" in 1950 and her Broadway debut co-starring in the short-lived Peggy Wood comedy "Getting Married" the following year.
After co-starring a couple of seasons with Richard Denning on the TV program Mr. & Mrs. North (1952), Barbara earned major attention as Revlon's lovely pitchwoman and remained on view in that capacity for 12 years. She appeared in Revlon commercials live for a number of programs, including "The $64,000 Question," "The $64,000 Challenge," "Revlon's Big Party" and "The Ed Sullivan Show." In between Barbara graced several of the top dramatic shows of the day, and co-starred intermittently in such "B" films as Bandit Queen (1950), The Raiders (1952), Bwana Devil (1952), Dragonfly Squadron (1953) and Night Freight (1955) before ending her movie run with The Spoilers (1955) opposite Jeff Chandler and Rory Calhoun.
Various Broadway shows included "Wake Up, Darling (1956), "How to Make a Man" (1961), and "Me and Thee" (1965). Other stage credits on the dinner theatre and summer stock circuits include "Last of the Red Hot Lovers", "Mary, Mary," "Barefoot in the Park" and "No, No, Nanette." As time passed, more and more would be devoted to raising her family. Only occasionally seen in the 1970, Barbara sometimes appeared with her two children in such regional shows as "Best of Friends," "Forty Carats" and "A Roomful of Roses".
Married in 1945 to Eugene Czukor, a naturopathic physician at the time, he later became a psychiatrist when the family moved to New York City (Manhattan) in 1957. The couple raised two children -- son Theodore (Ted or Theo) who appeared on the Canadian Shakespearean stage and later became a yoga instructor, and daughter Christina who grew up to become a model, actress, opera singer, music therapist and romance novelist. Both used the surname Britton in their respective performance careers. Sadly, two other children born to Barbara and husband Eugene, a girl and a boy, died at the hospital shortly after birth.
One of Barbara's last roles was as a regular on the daytime soap One Life to Live (1968) in 1979. Her enjoyment on this show was short-lived as the vivacious actress was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer not long after. She died in January of 1980 at age 60. - Muriel Gartner was born on 22 April 1920 in Long Beach, California, USA. She died on 10 December 2017 in Campbell, California, USA.
- Frances Gifford had a somewhat unorthodox introduction to the movie business. Born and raised in Long Beach, California, she had no ambition to be an actress, and in fact had applied to UCLA when, at age 16, she and a friend got to visit the Samuel Goldwyn Studios, where they watched a movie being shot. A studio exec saw her and asked if she would take a screen test. She did, the studio was impressed with the result and put her under contract. Nothing much came of it, however, other than bit parts, and she moved to RKO. Nothing much happened there, either. She had married actor James Dunn and decided to retire, which she did, in 1938. Off the screen for almost two years, she got a small part in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and her career began to revive. She was signed by Paramount, which soon loaned her to Republic, where she made the film she is probably most remembered for: the serial Jungle Girl (1941), based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs story.
Unfortunately, her career never really took off, and she bounced around among several studios. In 1948 she was involved in an auto accident in which she received severe head injuries. Although she seemed to recover physically, her career took a nosedive, and she made her last film in 1953. In 1958 newspaper stories reported that as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident, she was admitted to a California state mental hospital. Nothing further was heard from her or about her until 1983, when a writer for a film magazine found her in Pasadena. She had apparently fully overcome her physical and mental problems and was working for the city library. She died of emphysema in Pasadena in 1994. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Virginia Wicks was born on 9 December 1920 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Hot Rhythm (1944) and The Singing Sheriff (1944). She died on 20 March 2013 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Richard Stretchberry was born on 11 January 1921 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Frasier (1993), Becker (1998) and Alice in Chains: Grind (1995). He died on 5 April 2005.
- Logan Ramsey was born on 21 March 1921 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Walking Tall (1973), Walking Tall Part II (1975) and Scrooged (1988). He was married to Anne Ramsey. He died on 26 June 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Herbert Gunn was born on 17 May 1921 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and Always in My Heart (1942). He died on 12 July 1999 in San Luis Obispo, California, USA.
- Jean Carlin (Harriet Jean Sollenberger) was born September 2, 1921 in Long Beach, California. As a child, she grew up devoting her time to the arts. She had a love for performing arts, including dancing, theater and acting. After moving to Los Angeles, she quickly signed with a Hollywood agent. By the age of 23 and, under the stage name "Carlin", she had appeared in her first major motion picture, Are These Our Parents? (1944). For the next two years, she made over 11 major motion pictures, and was named "The Wild West Woman", often co-starring with fellow cast-mate, Eddie Dean, in westerns such as Six Gun Man (1946) and The Caravan Trail (1946). In 1946, after meeting her agent's brother, young Norwegian ship Captain James Pearson, she moved from Hollywood, retired from acting, and settled down with Pearson. They went on to have three children: Eric, Nancy, and Ulrika. Carlin passed away in October, 2000, but will always be remembered as one of Old Hollywood's most respected young actresses.
- American leading woman, a popular action star of serials in the 1940s. She studied music, dance, and drama as a child and received a scholarship to a Hollywood acting school. But she arrived in Hollywood to discover the school had closed, and she took a job as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre in Hollywood. She modeled in fashion advertisements and one ad led to a screen test. She was cast as a model in The Powers Girl (1943), but more importantly, she was again spotted in an advertisement, this time by executives of Republic Studios, who were looking for a beautiful but athletic woman to star in their upcoming serial, The Tiger Woman (1944). Despite having no experience in the kind of stunts and athletics that would be required, Stirling was able to convince not only the executives but ace stuntman Yakima Canutt of her capability. She won the role and a contract from Republic, and played hard-riding and -fighting heroines in numerous serials, Westerns, and low-budget adventure films over the next three or four years. She married a screenwriter for Republic, Sloan Nibley in 1946 and shortly thereafter retired from movies. She made a few guest appearances on television in the 1950s, but spent most of her later years doing college work (as both student and teacher) and attending to her family life. She was widowed in 1990 and died of cancer in 1997.
- Judith Woodbury was one of the most colorful extras in the Screen Extras Guild. She started in the early 1940s as a chorus girl for the Earl Carroll Vanities. Like most chorus girls in Los Angeles, she eventually found herself in the motion picture industry.
Woodbury's natural beauty and unique personality enabled her to get work as a chorus girl in various pictures in the 1940s. Woodbury's real job though was to help promote the films by appearing at various promotional events while the movies were premiered. It was during this time that Woodbury became deeply entrenched in the motion picture industry.
By the 1950s, movies were no longer focusing on chorus girls and they would typically hire professional dancers to choreograph routines so Woodbury decided to transition into regularly doing background work. Her undeniable beauty made her an ideal choice to appear in dramas and westerns. Her background as a dancer helped her gain employment in various dancing sequences of the 1950s and 1960s. She would frequently appear in western television shows as a square dancer or nightclubs run by gangsters on television shows like The Untouchables.
During the 1960s, Woodbury became a regular on Lucille Ball's various television shows including a credited role on The Lucy Show where she interacts with Lucile Ball. Like most extras, Woodbury's career started to fade by the late 1960s due to ageism and dependability. The studios were no longer producing shows where there were dancing sequences or television shows where her looks could be utilized. Like a true professional, she continued to accept work when she was given it.
By the 1970s, Woodbury struggled with various issues that affected her ability to be cast in several productions. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she continued to appear in various productions. During this time her now aged appearance stereotyped as a barfly or a pedestrian. She was eventually awarded a few credited roles and continued to work until she retired in the 2000s.
Judith Woodbury's career featured a lot of ups and downs but it was the true characters like her that helped build the motion picture business to what it was today. She was a true professional who did what she was told and who coworkers truly enjoyed being around. - Jack Anderson was born on 19 October 1922 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was a writer, known for Encounter with the Unknown (1972), American Expose: Who Murdered JFK? (1988) and Unsolved Mysteries (1987). He was married to Olivia Farley. He died on 17 December 2005 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Petite, attractive Mari Blanchard rarely managed to get the lucky breaks. The daughter of an oil tycoon and a psychotherapist, she suffered from severe poliomyelitis from the age of nine, which denied her a hoped-for dancing career. For several years, she worked hard to rehabilitate her limbs from paralysis, swimming and later even performing on the trapeze at Cole Brothers Circus. At the urging of her parents, she then attended the University of Southern California, where she studied international law before dropping out nine units short of a degree. Her university studies did not lead to a career either. Sometime in the late 1940s, she joined the Conover Agency as an advertising model and, at the same time, was promoted by famed cartoonist and writer Al Capp, becoming the inspiration for one of his Li'l Abner characters.
As the result of an advertisement on the back page of the Hollywood Reporter, Mari was signed to a contract with Paramount. However, her early experience in the movie business proved an unhappy one, most of her roles being walk-ons and bit parts. Ten Tall Men (1951), for example, limited her to a token stroll down a street, twirling a parasol and smiling seductively at members of the Foreign Legion. It wasn't until Mari joined Universal that her fortunes improved somewhat, with a co-starring role (opposite Victor Mature) in The Veils of Bagdad (1953). After that, it was all downhill again. Burt Lancaster, co-producer and star (with Gary Cooper of the excellent A-grade western Vera Cruz (1954), had requested Mari as his leading lady, but Universal refused her release to United Artists and forbade her to accept the lucrative role (Denise Darcel ended up getting the part). Mari then lost the lead in a much lesser picture,Saskatchewan (1954), to Shelley Winters. Instead, she was cast as Venusian Queen Allura in one of the least exciting outings by Universal's leading comic duo, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953).
Mari did end up with a respectable starring role in the western Destry (1954) opposite Audie Murphy. A remake of the classic Destry Rides Again (1939), she was cast in the Marlene Dietrich part and took great pains to affect a totally different look, darkening her hair so as not to be compared to the great star. Even the name of her character was changed from 'Frenchy' to 'Brandy'. "Destry" was not all smooth sailing. There was tension between her and director George Marshall (who had also directed the original version) and Mari suffered a facial injury as the result of a fight scene. The film was critically well received, but unfortunately Universal failed to renew its contract with Miss Blanchard, and her career then went into free fall.
Freelancing for lesser studios, she played a TB victim injected with a serum turning her into a Mr. Hyde-like killer in the lurid She Devil (1957) (during filming she nearly died of acute appendicitis). Mari then appeared for Republic in the eminently forgettable No Place to Land (1958) before briefly starring in her own short-lived adventure series Klondike (1960). Her last role of note was as the cheerful and likeable town madam in the rollicking John Wayne western comedy McLintock! (1963). Sometime that year, Mari Blanchard developed the cancer which was to claim her life in 1970 at the age of just 47.- Production Designer
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Bernard Gruver was born on 25 June 1923 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was a production designer, known for Snoopy Come Home (1972), A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) (1980). He died on 14 June 1985 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.- Sherwood Bailey was born on 6 August 1923 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Choo-Choo! (1932), Readin' and Writin' (1932) and The Pooch (1932). He was married to Ruth. He died on 6 August 1987 in Newport Beach, California, USA.
- Jess Collins was born on 6 August 1923 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for In Between (1955) and The 40 and 1 Nights (or Jess's Didactic Nickeodeon) (1961). He died on 2 January 2004 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Art Director
- Art Department
Charles Myall was born on 9 August 1923 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an art director, known for Adventures in Paradise (1959), Matinee Theatre (1955) and Dime with a Halo (1963). He died on 14 March 2005 in California, USA.- Stunts
- Actor
Bob Harris was born on 8 November 1923 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Commando (1985), The China Syndrome (1979) and The Deer Hunter (1978). He died on 22 February 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Grant K. Smith was born on 24 November 1923 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an editor, known for Nikki, Wild Dog of the North (1961), The Magical World of Disney (1954) and The Wild Wild West (1965). He died on 18 September 1993 in Florida, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
A vastly talented musical performer, Peggy Ryan found stardom dancing alongside partner Donald O'Connor as Universal's answer to Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Paired up in many a low-budget WWII-era musical, she was best known for her dancing feet, but she was no slouch in the singing department and her buoyant personality added plenty of zest to the escapist fare she appeared in.
Christened Margaret O'Rene Ryan, Peggy was, as they say, born in a trunk in 1924 to a pair of vaudeville dancers ("The Merry Dancing Ryans") and, by age two, the pint-sized scene-stealer was already selling her heart out on stage alongside her parents. No glamour girl, Peggy had a very plaintive face, prominent nose and gangly figure, similar to a Virginia Weidler, so she was wise enough to play it up for laughs. Discovered by George Murphy, the young girl earned a part in Universal's enjoyable tune fest Top of the Town (1937), where the little Irish charmer managed to steal a dance alongside Murphy. Other movies beckoned, sometimes in teary dramas such as The Women Men Marry (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). With the movie What's Cookin' (1942), she teamed with O'Connor for the first time. The two were a sensation and sparked many musical programmers with their clowning, mugging, intricate dance steps, and indefatigable style. The jitterbugging twosome romped through Private Buckaroo (1942), Give Out, Sisters (1942), Get Hep to Love (1942), Top Man (1943), The Merry Monahans (1944), Chip Off the Old Block (1944) and Bowery to Broadway (1944) during their peak. During this period she married Jimmy Cross and had a son, James Michael Cross, who later died in a 1987 car accident.
Peggy began to freelance in post-war years and found employment with other studios. She was paired up with dancer Ray McDonald for the films Shamrock Hill (1949) and All Ashore (1953) and began seeing him off screen as well. They eventually married, had a child named Kerry, and toured together across the U.S. in a nightclub act for a few years until their marriage folded. She decided to retire from films following her third marriage to Hawaiian announcer/emcee/columnist Eddie Sherman. She choreographed book shows here and there ("The Music Man", "Funny Girl"), but basically settled down in Hawaii. In later years, she came out of semi-retirement to appear in a small recurring part as the Governor of Hawaii's secretary, Jenny, on TV's popular Hawaii Five-O (1968) in 1968. She remained a sporadic presence throughout the run of the show. After teaching tap dancing for decades on the sly, Peggy moved to Las Vegas with her family. A trouper to the end, she formed a group of middle-aged dancers called "The TNT's" and performed in and about town. In 2003, she suffered her first mini-stroke, dying a year later in what was reported to be complications from multiple strokes on October 30, 2004.- Actress
- Writer
Patricia Place was born on 7 December 1924 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Wedding Crashers (2005), Outbreak (1995) and An American Crime (2007). She died on 20 September 2008 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Jerry Jampolsky was born on 11 February 1925 in Long Beach, California, USA. He died on 29 December 2020 in Sausalito, California, USA.
- Born in Long Beach, California, Forrest E. Fickling, better known as "Skip", lived in California and Washington State. He attended three colleges, finally earning a degree from the University of Southern California in 1949. He also served in the U.S. Army Air Force during the last two years of World War II, then in the Marines during the Korean conflict. In between he met the love of his life, Gloria Gautraud, marrying her in May 1949. They had three sons.
After his military service, Fickling worked in advertising but took periodic breaks from this career to write novels, the first two of which were unsuccessful. Gloria supported him, sometimes working in publishing but often getting unskilled jobs to make ends meet. Finally, in 1957, Skip wrote "This Girl For Hire", the novel that introduced Honey West, a tawny-haired private eye with a mole near her lip, not unlike Anne Francis, the actress who would eventually portray Honey in the subsequent TV series (Honey West (1965)). The name "Honey" was chosen because it is a term of endearment, while "West" was chosen because Fickling loved the western U.S.
Gloria is usually given credit for co-authoring the Honey West novels, but she has said repeatedly that Skip did all of the writing. She does seem to have contributed her editorial skills, however, and many of the inner thoughts of the female private eye, as well as Honey's fashion sense, came from Gloria's suggestions. Skip is thought to have modeled Honey's spunky personality on Gloria's to a large degree, and his nom de plume, G. G. Fickling, appears to derive from the initials of his wife's maiden name.
Eight of the 11 Honey West novels were written from 1957 to 1961, during which time Fickling often turned out two books per year. The speed with which he wrote seems to be reflected in their slapdash construction, meandering plots, stereotyped characters and dialog. Timelines do not always make sense, and some details about Honey and other recurring characters are contradicted from novel to novel. Despite these detriments, Fickling's presentation of his female private eye was unique and compelling in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some critics believe that "Kiss For a Killer" (1960) and, to some extent, "This Girl For Hire" (1957) are almost worthy efforts.
While the early novels provided enough income to support the Ficklings, the sale of the television rights afforded them a comfortable retirement. The Honey West TV series (1965-1966) did not, however, increase the demand for more novels in the series, and after the final entry in 1971, Fickling retired his creation. An attempt to republish the series in the 1980s met with little success.
Skip Fickling died from a brain tumor on April 3, 1998, in Laguna Hills, California, just short of his 73rd birthday. He was also a year shy of celebrating his 50th anniversary with Gloria, who has continued to live in the Laguna-Long Beach area of Southern California. In 2005, she was active in promoting a new edition of "This Girl For Hire". - Sound Department
Duane Hensel was born on 12 June 1925 in Long Beach, California, USA. He is known for The Thing (1982), The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) and Getting Even (1986). He died on 8 November 1995 in Blue Jay, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Ed Moses was born on 9 April 1926 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Characters (2016), Nova (1974) and Horizon (1964). He was married to Avilda Peters and Avilda. He died on 17 January 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Singer/comedy actress Lu Leonard was a plus-sized talent, especially notable in offbeat comedy, who took advantage of her plus-sized girth to create some memorable and formidable characters on stage, film and TV. She would go on to play atmospheric roles from wardens, waitresses and clerks to nuns, nannies and sperm bank nurses!
Born Mary Lou Price in Long Beach, California on June 5, 1926, to vaudevillian parents, Lu, as she was called almost from birth, went on the road with her mom and dad as an infant. Named after her father's sister Lulu, her actress/mother, Amy Goodrich died in July of 1939, when Lou was only 13. Her actor/comedian father, "Happy" Hal Price, settled comfortably into Hollywood movies as a character player, finding hundreds of small roles in Republic and Monogram westerns.
As a young singer and entertainer, Lu stuck with show business into adulthood. A short-lived marriage to another actor gave her the impetus to switch her stage moniker to "Lu Leonard", keeping the name even after their divorce. She eventually spent two decades in New York and brightened up Broadway. She made her musical Broadway debut as a Mrs. Peacham replacement in "The Threepenny Opera" and continued with "The Happiest Girl in the World" (1961), "The Gay Life" (1961), "Bravo Giovanni" (1962) and "Drat! The Cat" (1965). She also toured in such musical shows as "The Pajama Game," "Plain and Fancy," "The Music Man," "Oliver!" and "Man of La Mancha."
On-camera performances began in the early 1950's with appearances on such programs as "My Little Margie," "The Life of Riley," "The Red Skelton Hour" and "December Bride," along with a bit part in the bucolic comedy film The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956). She also played the wife of Larry in The Three Stooges comedy short Husbands Beware (1956). The following decades led to frequent TV work in both the comedic and dramatic vein -- "Route 66," "Car 54, Where Are You?," "The Patty Duke Show," "The San Pedro Beach Bums," "Police Woman" and "Mork & Mindy." In 1976, Lu returned to Broadway in a production of "Something's Afoot" as a standby.
Lu eventually settled back in the Southern California area after much touring. As the years went on, Hollywood played off of Lu's harsh-looking features and large girth. A good sport despite the fact that the parts were usually minor and the lowbrow laughs often came at her own expense, she was a lively, cheerful and fun-loving presence offstage -- in marked contrast to her somewhat imposing character typecast. There were ups-and-downs and some lean years, but she made the most of whatever roles she was given.
In the 1980s, Lu was handed a recurring role as William Conrad's wry, wise-cracking secretary in Jake and the Fatman (1987). TV guest parts, primarily comedy, included "Laverne & Shirley," "Buffalo Bill", "The Fall Guy," "Knight Rider," "Cagney & Lacey," "Night Court," "Webster," "Married...with Children." On the larger screen, she played the small part of the Warbuck cook, Mrs. Pugh, in the musical film Annie (1982), and went on to play a greasy spoon waitress in Starman (1984), a nurse in Micki + Maude (1984), Mrs. Whitehead in Stand Alone (1985) and Miss Frigget in You Can't Hurry Love (1988).
Lu's strongest fan base came from her offbeat L.A. stage performances. She earned a devoted cult audience for her hatchet-faced prison matron in the 1983 revival of "Women Behind Bars," a campy musical spoof of 1950's women's prison movies also starring Adrienne Barbeau and Sharon Barr. Lu became a steady fixture in a variety of local theater revues, musicals and comedy shows thereafter.
The veteran actress moved steadily into 90's films with Circuitry Man (1990), A Climate for Killing (1991), Kuffs (1992), Made in America (1993) and Blank Check (1994). Frequent TV offers also came in with "Growing Pains," "Amen," "Uncle Buck," "Daddy Dearest," "The Nanny" and the revised "Get Smart").
Health problems, including diabetes, eventually took their toll in the mid-1990s, however, and she was forced to retire after filming a part in the movie Man of the Year (1995). Residing primarily in Oregon, Lu eventually needed full care and moved to the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, where she spent her remaining years. She died of a heart attack on May 14, 2004 at age 77, and a bench in the Roddy McDowall garden at the Motion Picture Home was dedicated in her memory.- Actress
Dixie Evans was born on 28 August 1926 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Smut (1999), Mafia Girls (1969) and Too Hot to Handle (1950). She was married to Harry Braelow. She died on 3 August 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stocky tough-guy character actor Richard Jaeckel was one of Hollywood's most prolific supporting stars. Born in Long Island, New York, on October 10, 1926, Jaeckel's family moved to Los Angeles when he was still in his teens. After graduation from Hollywood High School, Jaeckel was discovered by a casting director while working as a mailboy for 20th Century-Fox. Although he had some reluctance to act, Jaeckel accepted a key part in the war epic Guadalcanal Diary (1943) and remained in films for over 50 years, graduating from playing baby-faced teenagers (like Dick Clark, Jaeckel never seemed to age) to gunfighters and hired killers with ease. From 1944-48 he served in the US Navy, and after his discharge he co-starred in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) with John Wayne. Jaeckel's other notable roles in films include one of a trio of GIs accused of raping a German girl in Town Without Pity (1961)--a standout performance--and The Dirty Dozen (1967) as tough MP Sgt. Clyde Bowren, who goes along on the mission to keep an eye on the prisoners he's trained, a role he reprised in a made-for-TV sequel in 1985. Jaeckel also received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his funny but tragic performance in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971). Although he appeared in over 70 films, he was very active in television series such as Frontier Circus (1961), Banyon (1971), Firehouse (1974), Salvage 1 (1979), At Ease (1983), Spenser: For Hire (1985) and Supercarrier (1988). From 1991-94 he played Lt. Ben Edwards on the hit series Baywatch (1989). He passed away after a three-year battle with melanoma cancer on June 14, 1997, at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Jaeckel was 70 years old.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Bert Tenzer was born on 20 August 1927 in Long Beach, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Free (1973), 2000 Years Later (1969) and The Day the Music Died (1977). He was married to Regina. He died on 29 August 2013 in Malibu, California, USA.- Writer
- Location Management
Born on December 11, 1927, Harry Lawton grew up in Long Beach, California where he developed a passion for reading and writing during childhood. After high school, Lawton enrolled at University of California in Berkeley to study Journalism. There, he also wrote for its newspapers and magazines. Always a visionary, he opened the famous Haunted Bookstore in Berkeley, which specialized in rare Western Americana. Harry then moved to Riverside where he was hired as a reporter for The Press-Enterprise. While writing for the newspaper, he got interested in a story about Willie Boy, a Pauite-Chemehuevi Indian who falls into a forbidden love story. The tragic true story got Lawton's attention immediately. He then spent the next three years researching on the Morongo Indian Reservation in the California Desert. The result became the award winning novel "Willie Boy: a Desert Manhunt" (1960) which was later made into a movie, Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), starring Robert Redford. Enormously respected by his fellow writers, Lawton was very active in the preservation of the Native American Community. He helped found the California Museum of Photography; The Malki Museum, and also the Malki Press, a non-profit organization responsible for publishing books about Native Americans in California. He founded the Creative Writing Program and the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology at University of California. Lawton died on November 20, 2005 in Dana Point, California. A month later a celebration of his life was held in Riverside, honoring his great contribution to the California History.- Actress
Camilla Wicks was born on 9 August 1928 in Long Beach, California, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Robert Thomas. She died on 25 November 2020 in Weston, Florida, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Robert Irwin was born on 12 September 1928 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was a writer, known for A Few Things About Robert Irwin (2017), Robert Irwin: A Desert of Pure Feeling (2022) and American Art in the 1960s (1972). He was married to Nancy Olsburg and Adele Feinstein. He died on 25 October 2023 in La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA.- Actress
Gail Langford was born on 10 October 1928 in Long Beach, California, USA. She is an actress.- Music Department
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Larry Bunker was born on 4 November 1928 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was a producer, known for The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), A Boy and His Dog (1975) and One from the Heart (1981). He was married to Brandyn Bunker. He died on 8 March 2005 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
J.B. Friend was born on 15 July 1929 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Emergency! (1972) and Neighbors (1981). He died on 24 June 2005 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Travis Harrelson was born on 15 August 1929 in Long Beach, California, USA. He died on 1 August 2010 in Seal Beach, California, USA.
- George Mendenhall was born on 29 January 1930 in Long Beach, California, USA. He died on 21 February 1994 in San Francisco, California, USA.
- Robert Harrow was born on 18 May 1930 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Wild Harvest (1962) and Perry Mason (1957). He died on 15 January 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Bill Briare was born on 13 July 1930 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was married to Jo Briare and Susan. He died on 8 December 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.