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1-7 of 7
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Willie Morris was a versatile writer of both fiction and nonfiction, who often drew upon his experiences in the South to reflect on the controversial issues of his time. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, but raised in Yazoo City, about an hour's drive north, Willie Morris was born into a family of storytellers. After graduating from high school as class valedictorian, he attended the University of Texas in Austin. During his senior year, Morris became editor of the Daily Texan, the school's newspaper, and soon drew the wrath of the University's Board of Regents for his biting attacks against racism, censorship, and the highly influential petroleum industry. Upon his graduation, Morris became a Rhodes Scholar, studying history at Oxford University.
Upon his return to the United States, Morris became the editor of the Texas Observer, a crusading weekly newspaper. In 1963, he was named associate editor of Harper's, becoming their editor-in-chief four years later, just as his autobiography, North Toward Home was being published. The book became a national bestseller. At Harper's, Morris transformed the magazine by hiring several notable young writers including recent Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam as editors. He also attracted prominent contributing writers including Arthur Miller and Ralph Ellison, and Norman Mailer.
In the wake of an editorial dispute with Harper's, Morris resigned in 1971. That same year, his book,Yazoo: Integration in a Deep-Southern Town, a look at forced public school desegregation in home town, was published as well as Good Old Boy, a children's novel. The latter was made into the film, The River Pirates (1988) several years later. Morris go on to publish several volumes of fiction and nonfiction work for the remainder of his life.
In 1980, Morris became a writer-in-residence at the University of Mississippi, where he encouraged several aspiring young writers. These included Donna Tartt and a young law student named John Grisham, who was working on a novel called, A Time to Kill (1996).
After writing an article for New Choices for Retirement Living about the third trial of Byron de la Beckwith (the accused killer of prominent civil rights leader, Medgar Evers) , Morris convinced his friend Frederick Zollo to produce the film, Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). Morris would serve as a consultant on the film.
His bestselling 1995 novel, My Dog Skip (2000), would be made into a film of the same name. Sadly, Morris would not live to see the completed film. He died August 2, 1999 as a result of a massive heart attack at the age of 64.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Donald Chaffin's entire life was spent working in motion pictures. He started out as juvenile actor in the 1930s playing kids and newsboys. It was through this he really started to establish a lot of connections with various casting directors at MGM studios.
Like many extras of the day, Chaffin faced a unique problem. His natural appearance wasn't considered dignified enough to appear as a dress extra in socialite scenes but he also didn't really have an appearance that would lend himself to be cast in westerns. Through his connections with MGM, he was able to receive work as a stand-in which meant he was constantly working and he would usually be allowed to appear in the production as an extra or occasionally upgraded to a speaking role.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Chaffin's appearance led him to appear in various bartender type roles but usually he stayed attached to a production where he'd be standing in for a start. By the mid 1960s, he caught a break and became the stand-in for Gary Collins in Iron Horse. Unlike most shows, Iron Horse had a reputation for giving their stand-ins credited roles when they could as long as it wasn't too frequent where they became noticeable. Chaffin would appear in various roles during the show's run.
It wasn't until the 1970s that Chaffin caught a real break. He became the stand-in for Telly Savalas on the hit series Kojak. He also became one of the regular detectives that were usually seen around the squad room and was given the character name Det. Tracy. This not only meant that Chaffin worked steadily but that he actually became an established figure on set so he was occasionally given dialog or at the very least upgraded to a "silent bit" where he interacted with a primary character and got a large increase in pay.
After Kojak ended, Chaffin spent several more years appearing as a stand-in on various shows but he finally called it quits by the late 1980s leaving behind more than 50 years' worth of various roles and occupations throughout most of what are considered by many the golden ages of film and television.- Jan Moonen was born on 18 January 1925 in Borgerhout, Flanders, Belgium. He was an actor, known for Stronghold (1985), Zaterdag, zondag, maandag (1977) and Kapitein Zeppos (1964). He died on 2 August 1999 in Duffel, Flanders, Belgium.
- Producer
- Director
- Actor
In addition to being a film producer and director, Donn Davison also was the manager of the famous Dragon Art Theatre in Florida. He appeared in a short film clip introducing each adult double feature (preserved on Something Weird Video's VHS double-features), was a talker in roadshow shorts enticing audience members to buy "how-to" sex manuals, and was also a popular trailer and radio spot narrator, most familiar in the Southern-based double-feature trailer for The Crawling Thing and Creature Of Evil.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Linda Alma was born in 1926 in Athens, Greece. She was an actress, known for The Happy Beginning (1954), Good Morning, Athens (1960) and Gamos Ala... Ellinika (1964). She was married to Manos Katrakis. She died on 2 August 1999 in Athens, Greece.- Charles Rappolt was born on 23 August 1939 in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. He died on 2 August 1999 in Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Leroy Vinnegar was born on 13 July 1928 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Deceiver (1997), An Affair of the Skin (1963) and NDR Jazz Workshops (1958). He died on 2 August 1999 in Portland, Oregon, USA.