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1-50 of 2,463
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Horst Wessel was born on 9 September 1907 in Bielefeld, Germany. He is known for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008), The Big Red One (1980) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001). He died on 23 February 1930 in Berlin, Germany.- Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September 1907 in Banga, Punjab, British India (present-day Punjab, Pakistan). He died on 23 March 1931 in Lahore, Punjab, British India,.
- Elsie Herman was born on 7 December 1907 in Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Cohens and Kellys in Atlantic City (1929). She died on 18 April 1931 in New Jersey, USA.
- Linda Loredo was born on 20 June 1907 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. She was an actress, known for Come Clean (1931), Los calaveras (1931) and Politiquerías (1931). She died on 11 August 1931 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Regina Alice Doyle was born on September 2, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, John Doyle, was a fireman. She was educated at the Grenshaw Conservatory and began appearing in local theater productions. Regina was discovered by Carl Laemmle, the president of Universal Pictures, who attended one of her performances in Chicago. Mr. Laemmle told her if she wanted a career in the movies he would give her that chance. At the age of seventeen she moved to Los Angeles and signed a contract with Universal. She made her film debut in 1925 western Bashful Whirlwind. Regina married thirty-five year old Stewart Gilbert Cornelius, a real estate agent, on October 3, 1925. The couple had a daughter, Regina Joan, in 1926 but they divorced a year later.
She appeared in more than a dozen western shorts including The Lone Prairie, A Daring Dude, and The Scrapping Ranger. In 1928 she was given the lead opposite Edward Cobb in Beyond The Smoke. Regina seemed destined for stardom but in 1929 Universal dropped her contract. She never made another film. On September 29, 1931 she was driving on Highland Avenue in Hollywood when her car crashed into a freight train. She was thrown from the vehicle and died almost instantly. Regina was only twenty-four years old. She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. Just a few days before Regina's death her mother had a premonition something terrible was going to happen. She warned her daughter to "Drive slowly". - Actor
- Writer
Pierre Batcheff was born on 23 June 1907 in Harbin, Manchuria, China. He was an actor and writer, known for Two Timid Souls (1928), Monte Cristo (1929) and Napoleon (1927). He was married to Denise Tual. He died on 13 April 1932 in Paris, France.- Rudolf Braune was born on 16 February 1907 in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He was a writer, known for Junge Leute in der Stadt (1985) and Susi oder Das verschenkte Girl (1980). He died on 12 June 1932 in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
- Anny Ahlers was born December 21, 1907 in Germany. Operetta singer, she began her career at the age of 4 in the circus. She later took up singing and dancing. Her first appearance was at the Volksoper in Hamburg. From there, as an operetta diva she moved down to Krefeldand Breslau. In 1928 Eric Charell got her to play in the operettas in Berlin. She played also in the original operetta by Paul Abraham, "Die Blume von Hawaii". (The Flower from Hawaii) She also made six films from 1928 to 1931 and got an engagement for an operetta in London because of her beautiful voice. In London her best friend was Sir Merrick Burrell. However, alcohol, drugs and Tuberculosis ended her life on March 14, 1933 in England.
- Tauno Tattari was born on 25 April 1907 in Alatornio, Finland. He was a writer, known for VMV 6 (1936), Koskenlaskijan morsian (1937) and Sininen varjo (1933). He died on 20 April 1936.
- Laird Doyle was born on 27 August 1907 in Ashley, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Cain and Mabel (1936), Jimmy the Gent (1934) and The Phantom Express (1932). He was married to Mary Doyle. He died on 2 November 1936 in Glendale, California, USA.
- Actress
Fay Webb was born on 21 October 1907 in Santa Monica, California, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Rudy Vallee. She died on 18 November 1936 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
The tragically brief life of fresh-faced, boyishly handsome Ross Alexander, who seemed to have everything going for him, plays these days like a bad Hollywood movie. Alexander was a charming, highly engaging young actor whose pleasant voice and breezy personality aided greatly in his transition from Broadway teen player to young adult Warner Bros. film actor. His peers would include such Warner stalwarts as Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Errol Flynn. Off-camera, however, Ross, a closeted homosexual, became an acutely self-destructive young man whose career instability and domestic tragedy would take its toll. The tormented Ross ended his own life at age 29.
Ross Alexander was born Alexander Ross Smith in Brooklyn, New York, to Maud Adelle (Cohen) and Alexander Ross Smith, a leather merchant. Raised in Rochester, New York, he pursued both drama and athletics in high school (soccer, swimming) and sidelined in little theater productions in town. In between he took his first Broadway bow as a young teen in Blanche Yurka's long-running comedy success "Enter Madame." He eventually moved back to New York City following schooling and began to build up his stage resume in stock companies. On Broadway he showed a modicum of promise in such plays as "The Ladder" (1926) and "Let Us Be Gay" (1929). The latter play introduced Ross to producer John Golden and marked an immoderate two-year association which would include the plays "After Tomorrow" (1930) and "That's Gratitude" (1930). Paramount apparently saw Ross' potential and started him off in pictures with The Wiser Sex (1932), but nothing happened. Continuing on Broadway with "The Stork Is Dead" (1932), "Honeymoon" (1932), "The Party's Over" (1933) and "No Questions Asked" (1934), he was re-noticed for films, this time by Warner Bros.
Warners signed him to appear in its popular backstage Depression-era musicals and collegiate capers. Alexander's fresh look and carefree, slightly cynical demeanor made him an instant favorite and he soon began humming with popular second leads in such musicals as Flirtation Walk (1934). On the dramatic side he was chosen to play Demetrius in the all-star A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), and in Errol Flynn's Captain Blood (1935) he played Jeremy Pitt, Blood's friend and navigator. Trouble started brewing, however, behind the scenes. Ross was being perceived by Warners as a second-ranked Dick Powell. As the studio began featuring him in Powell's castoffs and other uninspiring B-grade movies, they decided it was too taxing to both groom him for matinée idol status and conceal his homosexuality at the same time.
A probable marriage of convenience to budding starlet Aleta Friele, who appeared on Broadway using the name Aleta Freel, ended disastrously with the 28-year-old actress taking her own life with a rifle in their Hollywood Hills home. The actor was deeply shaken by this tragic event. He tried to cover his tracks yet again, however, by marrying beautiful actress Anne Nagel, whom he met while on the set of Hot Money, (1936),China Clipper (1936) and Here Comes Carter (1936). It didn't help quash his spiraling depression.
Finally Warners lost all patience and interest after having to cover up a potentially career-threatening gay-sex scandal, and Ross' promising career went down the tubes. To add insult to injury, he incurred major debt. On January 2, 1937, less than five months after his marriage to Nagel and shortly after the first anniversary of his first wife's death, Aleta Friele who also committed suicide, Alexander shot himself with a pistol in a barn behind his Encino ranch home. His last movie, the moderately received Ready, Willing and Able (1937) with Ruby Keeler, was released posthumously. Despite the fact he was the co-lead in the film, he was billed fifth, thus emphasizing the point that he had already lost most of his clout.- Director
- Writer
James Gist was born on 11 September 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Hellbound Train (1930), Heaven-Bound Traveler (1935) and Verdict Not Guilty (1933). He was married to Eloyce Gist. He died on 23 December 1937 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.- Dmitri Konsovsky was born on 16 December 1907 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Vosstaniye rybakov (1934), Karyera Ruddi (1934) and Zemlya zhazhdet (1930). He died on 15 February 1938 in the USSR.
- Alfonso de Borbón was born on 10 May 1907 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. He was an actor, known for Corazón de reina (1926), Mutual Weekly, No. 64 (1914) and Pathé's Weekly, No. 10 (1914). He was married to Marta Esther Rocafort-Altuzarra and Edelmira Sampedro y Robato. He died on 6 September 1938 in Miami, Florida, USA.
- Asako Yoshino was born on 22 February 1907 in Kyoto, Japan. She was an actress, known for Jiraika-gumi (1935), Tange Sazen: Kengeki no maki (1934) and Professional Killer (1932). She died on 11 July 1939.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rudi Godden was born on 18 April 1907 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for The Stars Shine (1938), Polterabend (1940) and Die kleine und die große Liebe (1938). He was married to Gerty Godden. He died on 4 January 1941 in Berlin, Germany.- Casper Reardon was born to a vaudeville family in Little Falls, New York. At the age of five he trouped with his parents. His father, who was of Irish descent, presented him with a small Irish harp on his eighth birthday. His début as soloist was with the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. As a result of winning a scholarship, he became one of the most brilliant pupils of the illustrious Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Graduating in 1926, he became first harpist of the Cincinnati Symphony under Fritz Reiner for five years, and head of the Harp Department at the Cincinnati Conservatory. Newspaperman Edwin H. Schloss wrote (July 19, 1939), 'In Cincinnati, some of Reardon's Southern pupils interested him in jazz and he fell in love with the music of W.C. Handy. He found the percussive harp to be as well suited to Gershwin as to Debussy and the rest is history, mostly made via radio.' On his own, Reardon devised a technique of playing 'jazz.' The precedent for jazz music on the harp had not been explored to a significant degree. It wasn't unusual for a dance orchestra to utilize the harp for texture. (The dance orchestras of Leonard Joy, Richard Himber, Victor Young and Raymond Paige used harp regularly.) Reardon thought the harp had more potential than the usual flourishes and interludes that were expected of him. When he became a regular feature on the powerful Cincinnati station WLW, he used the nom de radio "Arpeggio Glissando," so as to not shock his classical harp students. He moved to New York City in 1931 and immediately created a niche for himself and his instrument. On September 18, 1934, he recorded an unprecedented long harp solo on the Jack Teagarden recording of "Junk Man" for Brunswick Records. Although his name does not appear on the record, determined music lovers soon found out who the swing harpist was. By 1936 he recorded some dance records as Casper Reardon & His Orchestra, for Liberty Music Shop. He became known as the "Swing Harpist." He was immortalized as "Cousin Caspar" [sic] in Alice Faye's film You're a Sweetheart (1937). He was a regular on radio shows such as 'Saturday Night Swing Club' with the orchestra of Bunny Berigan, and was often featured by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. George Gershwin featured Reardon on his popular Feenamint broadcast in 1934. Casper Reardon met Dana Suesse in nineteen thirty-nine, through their friend, Gus Schirmer. Suesse told this writer, "Casper told me about having an engagement with the Philadelphia Symphony and wanted me to write something for him. At the time, Young Man with A Horn was a best selling novel." It seemed logical to create a concert piece called Young Man with A Harp. Alexander Smallens, who would always be remembered as the original conductor of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, conducted the concert at the Robin Hood Dell in 1939 Dana and Casper repeated their Young Man With A Harp on February 25, 1940 with Guy Fraser Harrison conducting the Rochester Civic Orchestra. The program was made up almost entirely of harp and orchestra pieces: Debussy, Couperin, Salzedo and Suesse. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Norman Nairn) boasted there was a "pleasurable evening for a large audience which 'ate up' the swing music of Mr. Reardon. " After these favorable responses, Dana and Casper wanted to make a recording of their effort. What better place to try than their friend, Gus Schirmer, Jr. and his new recording studio. In 1940 Reardon performed with Suesse at a Cabinet Dinner for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family. Reardon became ill and died on March 8, 1941. He was 33 years old.
- Peggy Shannon was born Winona Sammon on January 10, 1907, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She attended Catholic school where she became friends with child actress Madge Evans. While visiting her aunt in New York sixteen year old Peggy was discovered by producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. He hired her as a chorus girl in The Ziegfeld Follies. Peggy married actor Alan Davis in 1926. The following year she was starring on Broadway in Earl Carrol's production of What Anne Brought Home. In 1931 she was offered a contract at Paramount studios. With her beautiful face and red hair Peggy was promoted as "the new Clara Bow". When Clara suffered a nervous breakdown Peggy was given her role in The Secret Call (1931). Although she starred in the films This Reckless Age (1932) and Hotel Continental (1932), her career never really took off. She also developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. After her movie contract was not renewed she tried returning to Broadway. Unfortunately by this time she had serious drinking problem and was fired from the play The Light Behind The Shadow. Peggy continued to get small parts in B-movies like Youth on Parole (1937) and Cafe Hostess (1940). She divorced Alan in 1940 and married camera man Al Roberts. On May 11, 1941 her husband returned home from a trip and found Peggy slumped over the kitchen table. She had died from a heart attack at the young age of thirty-four. Her autopsy revealed that she had a serious liver ailment caused by her alcoholism. Three weeks after her death Albert committed suicide. Peggy is buried at Hollywood Forever cemetery in Hollywood, California. The epitaph on her tombstone says "That Red Headed Girl, Peggy Shannon".
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Adrian Morris was born on 12 January 1907 in Mount Vernon, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Petrified Forest (1936) and Radio Patrol (1937). He was married to Eve Virginia Shipley. He died on 30 November 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Wilma Roelof was born on 24 July 1907 in New Jersey, USA. She was an actress. She died on 27 April 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Hyo-Seok Lee was born on 5 April 1907 in Pyeongchang, Korea. He was married to Kyung-Won Lee. He died on 25 May 1942 in Seoul, Korea.
- A future in movies for this fair-haired, fresh-faced young adult of the 1930s was by no means certain at the time of his untimely death in a mid-air plane collision. Hints of the All-American leading man promise Phillips Holmes managed to convey during the early to mid decade, particularly in the film adaptation of Theodore Dreiser 's novel An American Tragedy (1931), had faded significantly. In the meantime he was maintaining with stage work and had just graduated from Air Ground School as an aircraftsman when he suddenly died at age 35 on August 12, 1942.
Phillips, his sister Madeline and their youngest brother, Ralph Holmes (pronounced "Rafe," who later became an actor as well) came from ripe acting stock. Character actor Taylor Holmes was a well-established character player in vaudeville and on the stage and screen. He and actress wife Edna Phillips met during a production of "Hamlet" and first-born Phillips' odd first name was bestowed upon him courtesy of his Canadian-born mother. The children were often shunted about to live with various relatives while their parents were on the road. Phillips attended many different schools growing up and graduated from Newman Prep School in New Jersey. He traveled to Europe for his college education, attending Cambridge University in England and (later) Grenoble University in France. His natural ability at athletics led to solid respect as a member of the rowing team during his college years. He eventually returned to the US and decided upon Princeton.
An inherent interest in acting (Princeton's The Triangle Club) led to his stage debut in the Princeton Triangle Show "Napoleon Passes" at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1927. While at college he, by luck and via certain connections, also managed to make his film debut with Varsity (1928) and was offered a Paramount contract as a result. After a number of false starts, bit parts, bad pictures and a major bout with nervous exhaustion, Phillips began to score some early first impressions with juvenile leads in the films The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929), Pointed Heels (1929), the Gary Cooper starrer Only the Brave (1930) and, more notably, The Devil's Holiday (1930) and Stolen Heaven (1931), both opposite established star Nancy Carroll.
It all led to the role of his career in Dreiser's An American Tragedy (1931) the ill-fated story of a wanderlust young man who falls hard for a beautiful socialite (Frances Dee) while trying to find a way to extricate himself from the clutches of a drab, maudlin girl from the wrong side of the tracks he had met earlier and impregnated (Sylvia Sidney). In the same part that would later establish Montgomery Clift as a archetypal tortured romantic in A Place in the Sun (1951), Holmes equipped himself admirably in a difficult role and was seemingly on his way to Hollywood stardom.
Firmly on the Paramount roster list, the handsome blue-eyed blond co-starred as both vulnerable, weak-willed gents and feistier men in comedy and melodrama, including Broken Lullaby (1932) and Two Kinds of Women (1932). He then signed with MGM and appeared in more of the same standard filming -- Night Court (1932), The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933) and Men Must Fight (1933). A huge chance for major attention turned bleak after being heavily promoted in the film Nana (1934) opposite beauteous Russian import Anna Sten. Touted as the "next Garbo", the movie tanked badly with his performance cited as bland and wooden, and the equally stiff Ms. Sten lost all hope for stardom. Phillips provided a bit more dash and élan in Caravan (1934) opposite Loretta Young but it was not enough to turn his career around. From then on he freelanced both here and abroad in mostly "B" fodder that included the "Our Gang" feature-length misfire General Spanky (1936) and the British programmers The Dominant Sex (1937) and (his swan song) Housemaster (1938), both with "tea rose" beauty Diana Churchill.
Phillps had to make do on stage at this point with his participation in such plays as "The Petrified Forest", "Golden Boy", "The Male Animal" and "The Philadelphia Story". Along with his career decline, he suffered upsets in his personal life. A fractured romance with scandalous millionaire chanteuse Libby Holman led to her marrying brother Ralph on the rebound. That 1939 marriage fell apart within a few years and Ralph would subsequently commit suicide in his NY apartment from a barbiturate overdose in 1945, three years after Phillips' death.
With WWII now a harsh reality, both brothers enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force toward the end of 1941. While Ralph became a pilot officer, Phillips attended the Air Ground School at Winnipeg. Following graduation, he and six of his aircraftsmen classmates were transferred but the plane carrying the men en route to their new destination (Ottawa) collided with another in Ontario killing all aboard. - Conway Washburne was born on 2 May 1907 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Counsellor at Law (1933) and Street Scene (1931). He died on 7 September 1942 in New York City, New York, USA.
- This tiny (4' 11"), appealing, coquettish-looking Hollywood actress had only a few active years in early talkies before her career took a bad hit. A few years after that she joined other shattered 1930s hopefuls (Peg Entwistle, Gwili Andre, Peggy Shannon) as tragic symbols of unrequited stardom.
Sidney Fox was born Sidney Liefer in New York City on December 10, 1907 (many resources inaccurately give 1910 as her birth date), the daughter of Joseph Liefer. Sidney began contributing to her family income as a teenager in a variety of ways - as a model on Fifth Avenue and a lovelorn columnist to, name two. At one point she entertained the thought of a law career, but her acting desires soon took over. She joined a stock company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she performed in such shows as "The Big Pond," "Wedding Bells," "The Ghost Train" and "Gregory's Woman."
Back in New York she made her Broadway debut in 1929 with the popular comedy "It Never Rains" at the Republic Theatre, then garnered more attention the next year with another comedy role in "Lost Sheep", which served as her breakthrough into films. Discovered by Universal mogul Carl Laemmle Jr., she was placed directly into a starring role opposite Bette Davis (in her film debut as well) in Bad Sister (1931). In an odd bit of casting, it was innocent-eyed Sidney who played the scheming, vixenish sister and the formidable Bette playing the timid, sympathetic one in a movie that also co-starred up-and-comer Humphrey Bogart.
Guided by Laemle, Jr., Universal continued their buildup of the pert and girlish brunette starlet with appearances in more pictures. Named one of 13 "Wampas Baby Stars" of 1931, she also began making the covers of such movie magazines as "Modern Screen" and "Movie Mirror". Sidney continued making strides in film comedy co-starring with Spencer Tracy in 6 Cylinder Love (1931) and, more importantly, Paul Lukas in Strictly Dishonorable (1931), the latter arguably the best role of her career as the Southern girl who attracts the attention of an Italian opera star (Lukas). Amazingly, she received top billing over Universal horror icon Bela Lugosi in her best-remembered film, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), but Lugosi easily stole the proceedings from the rather overly dramatic ingénue.
Sidney's performances in film tended toward the saccharine and obviousness and this one-dimensional aspect hurt a number of her films, including the dramatic "soapers," Nice Women (1931), Afraid to Talk (1932) and, notably, Midnight (1934), in which she ineffectively re-teamed with Bogart. Sweet and simple in style, she seemed better suited towards lighter comedy and one of her better films at the time was Once in a Lifetime (1932) co-starring funny guy Jack Oakie. Targeted by gossip-mongers as to her "professional relationship" with Laemmle, Jr., she avoided the Hollywood limelight for a time and tried her luck appearing in such European features as Don Quixote (1933), directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and Die Abenteuer des Königs Pausole (1933) [The Adventures of King Pausole], but to little avail.
A stormy marriage to Universal Studios editor Charles Beahan (they married in December of 1932) did not help matters as she became more famous for her tabloid-feeding off-camera life than for the films she was making. They had no children. Her last three pictures -- Midnight (1934), Down to Their Last Yacht (1934) a School for Girls (1934) -- did nothing to reverse her downhill fortunes in Hollywood, although she remained a romantic leading lady throughout her career and was never reduced to bit parts. The following years included some work here and there on the Orpheum Theatre circuit, on radio and a brief return to Broadway in a replacement role. Then there was nothing.
Illness and depression set in, not helped by her unhappy, abusive marriage. On the morning of November 15, 1942, the 34-year-old actress was found dead in her Beverly Hills bedroom by her husband after consuming a fatal number of sleeping pills. A most probable suicide, she was buried in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York. Little remembered today, lovely Sidney Fox remains a sad footnote in the Hollywood annals but her pictures still deserve a curious look. - Ivan Yudin was born on 25 December 1907 in village Gart Penza province, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Don Diego i Pelageya (1928), Old and New (1929) and Enemies of Progress (1933). He died on 13 July 1943 in the USSR.
- Katharine Tozer was born on 31 July 1907 in Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK. Katharine was a writer, known for Here Comes Mumfie (1975) and Magic Adventures of Mumfie (1994). Katharine was married to Robert James McCallum Tozer. Katharine died on 6 August 1943 in Surrey, England, UK.
- Music Department
Hi Moulton was born on 22 September 1907 in California, USA. Hi died on 28 November 1943 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Ivan Malov was born on 23 February 1907 in Tverskaya guberniya, Russian Empire. She was a cinematographer, known for Gorky 1: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938), The City That Stopped Hitler: Heroic Stalingrad (1943) and Orlovskaya bitva (1943). She died on 2 December 1943 in Klimovo, Bryanskaya gubernaya, RSFSR, USSR.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Vasile Vasilache was born on 26 October 1907 in Husi, Vaslui, Romania. He was a director and actor, known for Bing Bang (1935) and Ora vesela (1935). He died on 4 April 1944 in Bucharest, Romania.- Betty Morrissey was born on 14 September 1907 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923), Lady of the Night (1925) and Skinner's Dress Suit (1926). She died on 20 April 1944 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Heini Handschumacher was born on 20 March 1907 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Venus vor Gericht (1941), Es lebe die Liebe (1944) and Alarmstufe V (1941). He died on 9 June 1944 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
- A charismatic German resistance member and would-be assassin of Adolf Hitler, Claus Phillip Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was born 15 November 1907, 1:00 a.m. CET, in the family's castle in the small Bavarian town of Jettingen (today known as Jettingen-Scheppach). He was born one of a set of twins (his other twin, Konrad Maria, only lived for one day after birth). His parents, Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and Caroline Gräfin von Üxküll-Gyllenband, already had given birth to another set of twins, Alexander and Berthold (b. 15 March 1905). The father came from a well-known aristocratic Swabian family, while their mother, although born and raised in Austria, had eastern Prussian and Swedish roots. Claus is described as having been a rather withdrawn child, although far from being shy. His closest intimate, from childhood on, was his brother Berthold. Claus developed passions for literature, music, arts and horseback riding at a very early age and kept them all his life. Unfortunately, in his youth he suffered from poor health, and it was likely that this contributed to his lack of ambition, which in turn contributed to his "average" grades in school while his healthier older brothers managed to be straight-A students. Skilled in singing and playing both violoncello and piano, Claus considered becoming a musician at one point, but had more serious plans about studying architecture. In 1926 he finished school, by which time he had changed his career plans from music to the military and soon enlisted in the army, and after training was posted to the 17th Cavalry Regiment in Bamberg. One year later he was transferred for additional training to Dresden's cavalry school. Although one of the best trainees of his age group, Claus was not popular with his superiors because of minor rule-breaking. His infractions weren't serious--things like smoking in his superiors' presence or always wanting to have the last word--but he nonetheless provoked the authorities at the school, who transferred him to Hanover in 1928.
On the other hand, though not a favorite with his superiors, his colleagues described him as very likable and social, if somewhat stand-offish. Unlike his fellow trainees, however, Claus was interested neither in philandering nor carousing--he preferred to study Russian parallel to his training. During a dancing lesson he met the mother of his future wife Nina, who raved about him to her daughter when she came home from boarding school. They were introduced to each other by the mother and soon became a couple, engaged on 15 November 1930 and married on 26 September 1933. Four children resulted from the marriage: Berthold Maria (born 3 July 1934), Heimeran (born 9 July 1936), Franz Ludwig (born 4 May 1938) and Valerie (born 15 November 1940). The young officer also became more and more successful in his career, and at his various promotions was often the youngest of his rank, due mainly to his variety of skills and outstanding organizational abilities. He was quite the workaholic, although a contributing factor may have been his suffering from sleeping disorders. Surprisingly, he never had health problems because of his stressful and somewhat unhealthy lifestyle--he smoked several packs of cigarettes a day and also was "quite fond" of coffee and wine.
In April 1943, now a colonel and serving in Tunisia, he was seriously wounded in combat--he lost his right hand, his left eye and two fingers of his left hand, in addition to receiving a leg injury, although it was not that serious. He spent five months in a military hospital in Munich and later was sent home to his estate in Jettingen for further recovery. In the fall of 1943, however, he was back at work (now in Berlin) despite both his doctors' and his family's objections. The war, and his injuries, had changed him from a strong supporter of Hitler's regime into a fervent opponent of it, and he became one of the most important conspirators in a plan by senior army officers to overthrow Hitler. Although some of his fellow conspirators preferred just to arrest Hitler and take over the government, von Stauffenberg was adamant that the entire Nazi system had to be destroyed, including Hitler, which is why he volunteered to carry out the assassination personally, a task made easier by his recent appointment as Chief of Staff. On 20 July 1944 the plot was put into motion. Von Stauffenberg was one of the few officers who had direct access to Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg, Eastern Prussia. He originally planned to place two bombs under Hitler's desk, but was interrupted and was only able to arm one of them. Unfortunately, the bomb--placed in a briefcase--was accidentally moved behind a strong wooden support of the table it was beneath, which was between it and its intended target, Hitler. After the explosion von Stauffenberg saw a dead body being carried out of the building, believed it to be Hitler and notified his fellow conspirators in Berlin so they could put the second part of their plan into motion, which was to seize control of the government. Unfortunately, he was wrong--the body was obviously not that of Hitler, who had survived with only minor injuries because the wooden support of the desk absorbed most of the blast from the bomb. When it became known that Hitler had survived, some of the conspirators lost their nerve and the plot failed. Hours after his flight back to Berlin von Stauffenberg was arrested, as were many of the other conspirators. He was executed on the same night, and more than 200 other conspirators met that same fate within the next few weeks (before being killed many of them were gruesomely tortured, which was filmed by their executioners "for posterity"). Pregnant Nina von Stauffenberg, who barely had known anything about the plot, was taken into clan liability and gave birth to daughter Konstanze on 27 January 1945, in a Nazi maternity clinic. - Aleksey Klumov was born on 21 August 1907 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. Aleksey was a composer, known for Belorusskie novelly (1943). Aleksey died on 5 September 1944 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Hans-Jürgen Graf von Blumenthal was born on 23 February 1907 in Potsdam, Germany. He died on 13 October 1944 in Plötzensee, Berlin, Germany.
- Animation Department
- Director
- Additional Crew
Motion picture animator best known for his contributions to the Popeye the Sailor cartoons of the 1930s. Born in New York City, Bowsky joined the Fleischer Studios in the late 1920s and quickly became one of its star artists, winning promotion to animator at age 23. His drawing skills and instinctive feel for jazz rhythms made him an asset on such early Betty Boop cartoons as the classic "Minnie the Moocher" (1932). He became a supervising animator in 1933. Although Dave Fleischer was the credited director of all the studio's output, he left the "staging" of the films to men like Bowsky, who headed their own creative teams. Bowsky's work was quite stylish in its fluid movement and well-chosen compositions. From 1933 to 1941 he was animation director for over 30 Popeye cartoons, including the Technicolor two-reelers "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" (Academy Award nomination, 1936) and "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves" (1937), and collaborated in that capacity on the Fleischers' feature-length films "Gulliver's Travels" (1939) and "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" (aka "Hoppity Goes to Town", 1941). His last work was on the "Superman" series (1941 to 1942), the first time that comic strip superhero was brought to the screen. When Paramount Pictures reorganized the Fleischer company as Famous Studios in 1942, Bowsky left for World War II service in the US Army. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 14th Armored Division, and saw action in the Normandy Invasion. On November 27, 1944, Bowsky and four men in his platoon were killed in a nighttime firefight with German forces east of Paris, France. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. Bowsky is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-Avold, France.- Joseph Monahan was born on 16 May 1907 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Silver Wings (1922), The Son of Democracy (1917) and A Chip Off the Old Block (1916). He died on 3 December 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Alfred Delp was born on 15 September 1907 in Mannheim, Germany. He died on 2 February 1945 in Plötzensee, Berlin, Germany.
- Mihail Sebastian was born on 18 October 1907 in Braila, Romania. He was a writer, known for Mona, l'étoile sans nom (1966), Al patrulea stol (1979) and Afacerea Protar (1956). He died on 29 May 1945 in Bucharest, Romania.
- Russell Gleason was born on 6 February 1907 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Fury Below (1936) and A Tenderfoot Goes West (1936). He was married to Cynthia Lindsay. He died on 26 December 1945 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
James Notaro was born on 10 February 1907 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Double or Nothing (1937). He died on 31 January 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Grout was born on 6 September 1907 in Malta. Jack died on 1 June 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ulla Billquist was a Swedish chanteuse like the Norwegian Kirsten Heiberg and always in the shadow of the great Zarah Leander, and never really made it that big. She made one musical film during WWII, Gatans serenad (1941). She also sang for the soldiers, who loved her very much. Unfortunately, the good die young.- Heinrich Greif was born on 11 March 1907 in Dresden, Germany. He was an actor, known for Girl No. 217 (1945), The Struggle (1936) and Vosstaniye rybakov (1934). He died on 16 July 1946 in Berlin, Germany.
- Camera and Electrical Department
Walter Lackey was born on 8 June 1907 in Texas, USA. Walter died on 8 September 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Vilho Auvinen was born on 26 January 1907 in Kuopio, Finland. He was an actor, known for Kulkurin valssi (1941), VMV 6 (1936) and Juurakon Hulda (1937). He was married to Hellin Auvinen-Salmi. He died on 17 November 1946 in Kuopio, Finland.- Animation Department
- Sound Department
Johnny Cannon was born on 17 March 1907 in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. He is known for Good Scouts (1938). He died on 6 December 1946.- Louis Adlon was born on 7 October 1907 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for North Pole, Ahoy! (1934), The Big Show-Off (1945) and Adventures of the Flying Cadets (1943). He was married to Rosemary Davies. He died on 31 March 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
Byron Seawright was born on 22 March 1907 in California, USA. Byron died on 9 May 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Arledge was born on 12 May 1907 in Crockett, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), County Fair (1937) and Two in Revolt (1936). He died on 15 May 1947 in Hollywood, California, USA.