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- Isobel Ohmead was born on 14 June 1882 in Tehran, Iran. She was an actress, known for Magyar Melody (1939). She was married to J. Sabben-Clare. She died in 1961 in Fulham, London, England, UK.
- Harold Nicolson was born on 21 November 1886 in Tehran, Iran. He was married to Vita Sackville-West. He died on 1 May 1968 in Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, England, UK.
- Born to an aristocrat family, Hedayat studied at the French high school in Tehran and then went to Europe to study dentistry which he later abandoned. He wrote many short stories, novels, and some satirical materials. His most famous book is the novella "The Blind Owl". Hedayat committed suicide by gassing himself in Paris, and is buried at Pere Lachaise cemetery.
- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Mushegh Sarvari was born on 15 February 1910 in Tehran, Iran. He was a director and writer, known for A Party in Hell (1956), Shahname akharesh khoshe (1966) and Mahtabe khoonin (1955). He was married to Jenia Movsesian and Jenia Movsisian. He died on 13 August 1981 in Tehran, Iran.- David King-Wood was born on 12 September 1913 in Tehran, Iran. He was an actor, known for Jamboree! (1957), The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and Don Juan (1946). He died on 3 September 2003 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last Shah of Iran, his reign lasted from 1941 until his overthrow in 1979. He was educated in Switzerland and was familiar with the western ideas. In 1941, Britain and USSR occupied Iran and forced Reza Shah the Great to resign in favor of his son. Later the young Shah became the most important ally to the West in the Middle East.
With Iran's great oil wealth, the Shah became the pre-eminent leader of the Middle East, and Guardian of the Persian Gulf. He abolished the multi-party system of government such that he could rule through a one-party regime in autocratic fashion. He made major changes to curb certain ancient elite factions by breaking up all large and middle-sized estates for the benefit of more than six million small farmers. In what was called 'the White Revolution', he took a number of populist measures, including extending suffrage to women, to favor the people. He instituted exams for Islamic theologians to become established priests ("Mullahs"), which were widely unpopular and broke centuries old religious traditions.
His policies led to strong economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s but at the same time, opposition to his autocratic rule increased. On January 18, 1979, he and his family left Iran after over a year of uprising as he didn't want for a civil war to break out in the country. Following the Shah's departure, conservative Muslims led by Ayatollah Khomeini who had returned from exile, staged a revolution. And abolished the monarchy and unfortunately established an Islamic Republic that ruined the country and led to the pointless eight year Iran-Iraq war in which both countries suffered an incredible amount of unnecessary losses.
At the same time, The Shah's cancer had worsened and after over a year of exile, in which traveling from country to country seeking what he hoped to be a temporary residence. He was finally welcomed by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and remained there until his death on June 27, 1980. He is interred at Al-Refai Mosque in Egypt. - Director
- Writer
- Producer
Esmaeil Riyahi was born on 1 August 1920 in Tehran, Iran. He was a director and writer, known for Woman and Her Dolls (1965), The Devil is Knocking (1964) and The Glory of Gallantry (1968). He was married to Shahla Riahi. He died on 11 November 2010 in Tehran, Iran.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Parviz Khatibi was born on 18 May 1923 in Tehran, Iran. He was a writer and director, known for Kineh (1954), Cheers for Aunty (1952) and King for a Day (1952). He died in 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Jalal Al-Ahmad was born on 2 December 1923 in Tehran, Iran. Jalal was a writer, known for The Shadow (1990) and Dirty Hands (1998). Jalal died on 9 September 1969 in Tehran, Iran.
- Actor
- Music Department
Hamid Ghanbari was born on 15 April 1924 in Tehran, Iran. He was an actor, known for Three Fugitives (1969), Gypsy's Love (1969) and Rainbow (1971). He died on 29 September 2007 in Tehran, Iran.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Ezzatolah Entezami (also spell Ezatollah Entezami, born 1924 in Tehran, Iran) is an award-winning Iranian actor. Graduated from theater and cinema school in Hanover, Germany in 1958, Entezami started his career on stage in 1941. He has been acting in movies since 1969. His debut performance in Darius Mehrjui's admired classic film, The Cow(Gaav), received the Golden Hugo in Chicago International Film Festival in 1971. He shined in the role of a naive villager who cannot endure the death of his beloved cow and starts to believe that he is the cow himself.
He is known as one of the most prominent actors in Iranian cinema and has been labeled as the greatest actor in history of the cinema of Iran. He has worked with most of the prominent Iranian film directors, including Darius Mehrjui (eight films), Ali Hatami (four films), Nasser Taqvaee, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Behrouz Afkhami and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad. He has been awarded the Crystal Simorgh for the Best Actor twice from the International Fajr Film Festival, for Grand Cinema and The Day of Angel.
His work and accomplishments were recognized in October 2006 at the Iran cultural center in Paris.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Jamshid Sheibani was born on 26 May 1925 in Tehran, Iran. He was a producer and director, known for Molla Mammad Jan (1971), White Gold (1962) and Ghanoune zendegi (1964). He was married to Mina Panahpour. He died on 2 July 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Ahmad Shamlu was born on 12 December 1925 in Tehran, Iran. He was a writer and director, known for Hot Shame (1965), Hame-sar harif (1965) and Dead End (1965). He died on 24 July 2000 in Mehr Hospital, Tehran, Iran.- Iraj Pezeshkzad was educated in Iran and France where he received his degree in Law. He served as a judge in the Iranian Judiciary for five years prior to joining the Iranian Foreign Service. He served as a diplomat until the Iranian revolution in 1979, and left the Foreign Service to reside in France after revolution.
He began writing in the early 1950s by translating the works of Voltaire and Molière into Persian and by writing short stories for magazines. His novels include Haji Mam-ja'far in Paris, and Mashalah Khan in the Court of Haroun al-Rashid. He has also written several plays and various articles on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution.
His most recent novel is Khanevade-ye Nik-Akhtar (The Nik-Akhtar Family). He has recently published his autobiography titled Golgashtha-ye Zendegi (The Pleasure-grounds of Life). He is currently living in Paris where he works as a journalist.
My Uncle Napoleon is a social satire and a masterpeice of contemporary Persian litterature. The book was turned into a tv series in 1970s and immediately captured the imagination of the whole nation-its story became a cultural reference point and its characters national icons. The story is set in a garden in Tehran in the early 1940s, where three families live under the tyranny of a paranoid patriarch. The book was translated to English by Dick Davis. - Actress
- Director
- Producer
Shahla Riahi was born on 7 February 1927 in Tehran, Iran. She was an actress and director, known for Marjan (1956), The Carriage Driver (1971) and Guilty (1953). She was married to Esmaeil Riyahi. She died on 31 December 2019 in Tehran, Iran.- Actress
- Costume Designer
- Additional Crew
Zhaleh Olov was born on 21 March 1927 in Tehran, Iran. She is an actress and costume designer, known for Zendani Amir (1948), Dash Akol (1971) and White Gold (1962).- Composer
- Music Department
Hosein Dehlavi was born on 30 September 1927 in Tehran, Iran. He was a composer, known for Marjan (1956), The Female Vampire (1967) and The Lovers' Wind (1978). He died on 15 October 2019 in Tehran, Iran.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Mehdi Raeis-Firooz was born on 7 February 1928 in Tehran, Iran. He was a director and actor, known for Majerajooyane khashen (1957), The Stumble (1953) and Vagabond (1950). He died on 15 March 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Serge Rezvani was born on 23 March 1928 in Tehran, Persia. He is a writer and composer, known for Jules and Jim (1962), Paris, I Love You (2006) and Pierrot the Fool (1965).- Additional Crew
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Hatami was born on 10 April 1928 in Tehran, Iran. He was a director, known for Mia and Roman (1968), Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) and Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir (2011). He died on 23 November 2017 in Doullens, Somme, France.- Mario Formenton was born on 21 April 1928 in Tehran, Iran. He was married to Cristina Mondadori. He died on 29 March 1987 in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, Île-de-France, France.
- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Producer
Ray Aghayan was born on 28 July 1928 in Tehran, Iran. He was a costume designer and producer, known for Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Funny Lady (1975) and Gaily, Gaily (1969). He died on 10 October 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Composer
- Sound Department
- Music Department
Hormouz Farhat was born on 9 August 1928 in Tehran, Iran. He was a composer, known for The Cow (1969), Mr. Gullible (1970) and The Postman (1972). He was married to Maria Baghramian. He died on 16 August 2021 in Dublin, Ireland.- Ardeshir Zahedi was born on 16 October 1928 in Tehran, Iran. He was married to Shahnaz Pahlavi. He died on 18 November 2021 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Director
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- Producer
Amir Shervan, was born Amir Hosein Ghaffar in Tehran, Iran on May 24, 1929. In the U.S. he is mostly known for directing the movies Hollywood cop and Samurai Cop but was better known in Iran for his directing, writing and acting in numerous films.
Shervan studied theater in Pasadena California in the 1940s and returned to Iran to begin his career in film. During the 1979 Iranian Revolution all movies were subject to review by the Iranian government and many of them banned due to their content while others were "purified" or altered to suit the growing anti-western and pro-Islamic sentiment. This caused a pause in his film career starting in 1980 and ending with his move to the United States where he settled in California to begin his work on Hollywood Cop. He apparently received a social security number in Alabama but it is unclear how long he was there or for what purpose.
On the set Shervan used improvisational acting and dialog often, in part due to this technique having cultural roots and later due to English being his second language. He often worked with actors/directors/writers in Iran who were never educated in film making, many of which had never graduated high school. His Iranian audience of the 1950s to 1980 was therefore accustomed to a much lower standard than the average U.S. viewer of the late 1980s. This combination of circumstances made for a large degree of accidental humor and bloopers as perceived by his new viewer base and also led to his post-mortem success as a cult-classic b-movie director. Ironically, Shervan was one of the more polished and educated filmmakers of his time in Iran and was respected as such.
He died on November 1, 2006 at age 77 soon before his rise in popularity in the U.S. as a b-movie director. He is survived by a son named Ben Shervan.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Feri Farzaneh was born on 2 July 1929 in Tehran. He is a director and writer, known for La femme et l'animal (1962), Cyrus le grand (1961) and Parisienne... Parisiennes (1962).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Naser Malek Motiee was born on 29 March 1930 in Tehran, Iran. He was an actor and director, known for A Perfect Gentleman (1965), Runaway Millionaire (1966) and Gheisar (1969). He died on 25 May 2018 in Tehran, Iran.- Jalal Pishvaian was born on 11 June 1930 in Tehran, Iran. He was an actor, known for Escape from the Trap (1971), Conquerors of the Desert (1971) and Dash Akol (1971). He died on 11 December 2021 in Germany.
- Gholam-Reza Takhti was born on 27 August 1930 in Tehran, Iran. He died on 7 January 1968 in Tehran, Iran.
- Fardin was an Iranian wrestler and a popular leading man in scores of many Iranian movies and was given the title, 'King of Hearts' after his lead role in an Iranian film of the same title (Soltane Ghalbha). He came to fame in the 1960s.
For the average Iranians, he represented a hero and served as an alternative to the foreign movie stars. He often played the poor tough guy with the heart of gold who got the girl at the end. His movies include, Gedayan-e Tehran, Ganj-e Gharoon, and Parvaz dar Asemanha. In 1972, he was cast with Hindi Cinema stars Sanjeev Kumar & Waheeda Rahman in an Indo Iranian venture "Subah-o-Sham".
After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he starred in only one more film, and his earlier films were eventually banned. I
n later years, Mr. Fardin had earned his living running a bakery in northern Tehran. - Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Editor
Petros Palian was born on 1 May 1931 in Tehran. He was a cinematographer and editor, known for Hollywood Cop (1987), Tigress (1969) and Dangerous Men (2005). He died on 15 March 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Hamid Samandarian was an Iranian film and theater director and translator. He staged numerous dramas during his lifetime, including No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen,The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and Marriage of Mr. Mississippi by Friedrich Durrenmatt.
Having established many acting and directing classes and workshops, Samandarian trained a lot of Iranian talents as actors and directors including; Ezzatolah Entezami, Reza Kianian, Golab Adineh, Mehdi Hashemi, Parviz Pour-Hosseini, Ahmad Aghalou, etc.[3] He married Homa Rousta, an Iranian film and theater actress.- Producer
- Actor
Abdullah Omidvar was born on 29 September 1932 in Tehran, Iran. He was a producer and actor, known for Johnny One Hundred Pesos (1993), La rubia de Kennedy (1995) and Coronación (2000). He died on 14 July 2022 in Santiago, Chile.- Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born on 7 April 1933 in Tehran, Iran.
- Paula Vernay was born on 8 June 1933 in Tehran, Iran. She was an actress, known for Passport to Danger (1954). She was married to Dean Hargrove and Robert Verdier. She died on 29 November 1988 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Music Department
Aman Manteghi was born on 12 July 1933 in Tehran, Iran. Aman was a director and writer, known for The Hero Mofrad (1971), Mofsedin (1979) and Sarbaz-e eslam (1980). Aman died on 14 April 2012 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- Music Department
Mohammad Esmaili was born on 26 August 1934 in Tehran, Iran. Mohammad is known for Man anam keh (1974). Mohammad died on 13 August 2023 in Tehran, Iran.- Actor
- Producer
Jamshid Mashayekhi is a celebrated Iranian actor and an iconic figure of Iranian cinema. Mashayekhi began professional acting on stage in 1957. His first feature film role was Brick and Mirror(1965, Ebrahim Golestan). After a four-year break, he acted in The Cow (1969, Darius Mehrjui) and Kaiser(Qeysar) (1969, Masoud Kimiai). Mashayekhi commonly appears as an elderly grandfather because of his white hair and charismatic face and figure. He received a best performance award for The Grandfather (1985, Majid Gharizadeh) from the First Festival of Non-aligned Countries in North Korea.- Editor
- Director
- Actress
Farugh Farrokhzad was primarily a poet. Indeed, she is regarded as one of the most important poets of the twentieth century in Iran, which has a millennium of poetic tradition behind it. Although she only made one film, the 22 minute so-called documentary "The House is Black", this work is generally seen as the crucial precursor of the Iranian New Wave.- Daryush Shayegan was born on 2 February 1935 in Tehran, Iran. He died on 22 March 2018 in Tehran, Iran.
- Actor
- Writer
Ali Nassirian is an Iranian actor. He has received various accolades, including two Crystal Simorghs, a Hafez Award, an Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Award and a Sepas Award. Nasirian, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz, Ezatollah Entezami, Jamshid Mashayekhi and Davoud Rashidi are known as "the five most important actors in the history of Iranian cinema" because of their influence.
He first appeared in a supporting role in Dariush Mehrjui's The Cow (1969) alongside Ezatollah Entezami, another Iranian actor. Nassirian then played the title role of Mr. Naive (1970), also by Mehrjui. His other films include: The Postman (1971), The Cycle (1974), The Mandrake (1975), Kamalolmolk (1983), Mirza Norouz's Shoes (1985), Stone Lion (1986), Captain Khorshid (1987), The Scent of Joseph's Shirt (1995), and Iron Island (2005), Masxarebaz (2019) for which he received the Crystal Simorgh award for the best supporting actor. He played the lead role in The Saturday Hunter (2011), and Sun Children (2020).- Mahmoud Khoshnam was born on 27 April 1935 in Tehran, Iran. He was married to Elaheh Khoshnam. He died on 14 March 2021 in Germany.
- Music Department
- Composer
Shusha Guppy was born on 24 December 1935 in Tehran, Iran. She was a composer, known for People of the Wind (1976), Bakhtiari Migration: The Sheep Must Live (1973) and The Great Western Musical Thunderbox (1974). She was married to Nicholas Guppy. She died on 21 March 2008 in London, England, UK.- Nader Khalili was born on 22 February 1936 in Tehran, Iran. He was a writer, known for Making of a Dream (2009), Earth Turns to Gold (2009) and Design with Nature (2009). He was married to Iliona Khalili. He died on 5 March 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Writer
- Director
- Composer
Nader Ebrahimi was born on 2 April 1936 in Tehran, Iran. He was a writer and director, known for The Sound of the Desert (1974), The Day the Air Stood Still (1998) and Fire without Smoke (1975). He died on 5 June 2008 in Tehran, Iran.- Actress
- Producer
Vida Ghahremani was born on 27 May 1937 in Tehran, Iran. She was an actress and producer, known for The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), Eshq va entegham (1965) and Storm in Our Town (1958). She died on 2 June 2018.- Jamshid Shah Mohammadi was born in 1937 in Tehran and has been acting since he was a teenager. In 1962, he went to the United States to continue his education in acting and studied at the Carnegie Hall Academy in New York for 6 years. He returned to Iran in 1969 and after being employed in the Ministry of Culture and Arts at that time, he taught in various colleges. He has been acting and producing since 1985. During his teaching years, he directed and translated several plays as follows. Translation of the plays: "Jewish Wife" (Bertolt Brecht), "Brave" (Howarthie Han), "Strange Story" (Tennessee Willianer), "Corpse", "Snow", "Summer", rewritten by Mahmoud Ostad Mohammad. Directing plays:
- Director
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- Editor
Bozorgmehr Rafia was born on 29 September 1938 in Tehran, Iran. He is a director and writer, known for The blind owl (1973), Attorney General (1991) and Bongah-e teatral (1975).- Empress Farah Pahlavi was born on October 14, 1938, the only daughter of Sohrab Diba, who passed away when she was only nine vears old. An Iranian Army officer, her father was also a law graduate of the Sorbonne and the famed French military Academy of St. Cyr. Her mother, Mme. Farideh Diba, personally supervised her education, first at Tehran's Jeanne d'Arc and Razi schools, and later at the Ecole d'Architecture in Paris, where she was studying up to the time of her marriage to the Shah anshah Aryamehr, which took place on December 20, 1959.
As Empress she pursued her interests in social work, the emancipation of women, sport and art. Most of her time was devoted to the promotion of social welfare and culture, and she was patron of 24 educational, health, cultural and charity organizations. In addition to supervising the work of these organizations in Tehran the Empress payed frequent visits to even the most remote parts of Iran to obtain first-hand knowledge of the life and aspirations of farmers and ordinary people. Apart from accompanying her husband the Shahanshah on official visits abroad, the Empress has also paid a number of official and semi-official visits to foreign countries in Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
Empress Farah's deep interest and personal involvement in the arts have been largely responsible for Iran's cultural many cultural movements and her frequent visits to art exhibitions and performances gave fresh incentive to all Iranian artistic activities. She supported young Iranian artists through her personal endeavors, and was a driving force behind a number of specialized art museums and other projects to preserve and publicize ancient and traditional art and architecture.
Should the name of the Empress remain tied to only two spheres of action in Iran, it would certainly be the one of culture and that of the emancipation of women. During her reign, women played an increasingly important role in public life. Parliament deputies, senators, ministers, ambassador, lawyers, judges etc., women were in all high national and local instances and occupied important positions in all areas of the administration. The emancipation of women as well as the economic and social reforms which took place deeply modified the structures of Iranian society. - Khosrow Shakeri Zand was born on 28 October 1938 in Tehran, Iran. He died on 29 June 2015 in Paris, France.