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1-50 of 3,952
- William Young was born on 4 January 1900. He died on 24 July 2007 in Western Australia, Australia.
- Writer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Minoru Inuzuka was born on 15 February 1901 in Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for Itawari no Asatarô (1927), Chîgo no kênhô (1927) and Rangûn (1927). He died on 17 September 2007 in Yamashina, Kyoto, Japan.- Brooke Astor was born on 30 March 1902 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA. She died on 13 August 2007 in Briarcliff Manor, New York, USA.
- Brooke Marshall Astor was the only child of Major General John Russell and granddaughter of Rear Admiral John Henry Russell, a descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. With her moneyed background, she grew up in Hawaii, Panama, China and Santo Domingo, and became fluent in Chinese. In 1953, she became the third wife of Vincent Astor, who was listed 12th on the first Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans. Vincent Astor left an enormous estate at his death in 1959, and left his widow to distribute the funds to charity. Over the next 40 years, Mrs. Astor distributed $195 million from The Astor Foundation to New York social projects, including the Bronx Zoo and the New York Public Library. In 1997, at the age of 95, she gave out the last $25 million and closed the foundation, stating that she wanted more time to travel and write poetry. On January 15, 1998, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. As a major New York philanthropist and one of the last scions of the American Astor dynasty, Brooke Astor has earned a place as New York's grande dame, equally known for her personal style and witty demeanor. Having recently turned 103, she still makes appearances in New York City.
- Wlodzimierz Padlewski was born on 27 July 1903 in Sosnovka, St. Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire [now Leningrad Oblast, Russia]. He died on 28 May 2007 in Poland.
- Joseph Henderson was born on 31 August 1903 in Elko, Nevada, USA. He died on 17 November 2007 in Greenbrae, California, USA.
- Julia Knowlton was born on 6 January 1904 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an editor, known for The Sand Castle (1961) and Albert Schweitzer (1957). She was married to Murray Knowlton. She died on 3 August 2007 in Gloucester, Virginia, USA.
- Willy Sommerfeld was born on 11 May 1904 in Danzig, West Prussia, Germany [now Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland]. He died on 19 December 2007 in Berlin, Germany.
- Lesley Blanch was born on 6 June 1904 in London, England, UK. She was married to Romain Gary. She died on 7 May 2007 in Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, France.
- Camera and Electrical Department
Fred Hall was born on 5 July 1904 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He is known for My Blue Heaven (1950), Skidoo (1968) and The Cardinal (1963). He died on 15 November 2007 in Kern County, California, USA.- Rudolf Arnheim was born on 15 July 1904 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer, known for Arnheim in Anaheim (2021), Omnibus (1952) and Screening Room (1972). He was married to Mary Elizabeth Frame and Annette Siecke. He died on 9 June 2007 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
- Ève Curie was born on 6 December 1904 in Paris, France. She was a writer, known for Madame Curie (1943), Brains Can Be Beautiful (1947) and Land of My Mother (1943). She was married to Henry Richardson Labouisse. She died on 22 October 2007 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Peggy Gilbert was born on 17 January 1905 in Sioux City, Iowa, USA. She was an actress, known for The Golden Girls (1985), Married... with Children (1987) and Madame's Place (1982). She was married to James Wright. She died on 12 February 2007 in Burbank, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Mean, miserly and miserable-looking, they didn't come packaged with a more annoying and irksome bow than Charles Lane. Glimpsing even a bent smile from this unending sourpuss was extremely rare, unless one perhaps caught him in a moment of insidious glee after carrying out one of his many nefarious schemes. Certainly not a man's man on film or TV by any stretch, Lane was a character's character. An omnipresent face in hundreds of movies and TV sitcoms, the scrawny, scowling, beady-eyed, beak-nosed killjoy who usually could be found peering disdainfully over a pair of specs, brought out many a comic moment simply by dampening the spirit of his nemesis. Whether a Grinch-like rent collector, IRS agent, judge, doctor, salesman, reporter, inspector or neighbor from hell, Lane made a comfortable acting niche for himself making life wretched for someone somewhere.
He was born Charles Gerstle Levison on January 26, 1905 in San Francisco and was actually one of the last survivors of that city's famous 1906 earthquake. He started out his working-class existence selling insurance but that soon changed. After dabbling here and there in various theatre shows, he was prodded by a friend, director Irving Pichel, to consider acting as a profession. In 1928 he joined the Pasadena Playhouse company, which, at the time, had built up a solid reputation for training stage actors for the cinema. While there he performed in scores of classical and contemporary plays. He made his film debut anonymously as a hotel clerk in Smart Money (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney and was one of the first to join the Screen Actor's Guild. He typically performed many of his early atmospheric roles without screen credit and at a cost of $35 per day, but he always managed to seize the moment with whatever brief bit he happened to be in. People always remembered that face and raspy drone of a voice. He appeared in so many pictures (in 1933 alone he made 23 films!), that he would occasionally go out and treat himself to a movie only to find himself on screen, forgetting completely that he had done a role in the film. By 1947 the popular character actor was making $750 a week.
Among his scores of cookie-cutter crank roles, Lane was in top form as the stage manager in Twentieth Century (1934); the Internal Revenue Service agent in You Can't Take It with You (1938); the newsman in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); the rent collector in It's a Wonderful Life (1946); the recurring role of Doc Jed Prouty, in the "Ellery Queen" film series of the 1940s, and as the draft board driver in No Time for Sergeants (1958). A minor mainstay for Frank Capra, the famed director utilized the actor's services for nine of his finest films, including a few of the aforementioned plus Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and State of the Union (1948).
Lane's career was interrupted for a time serving in the Coast Guard during WWII. In post-war years, he found TV quite welcoming, settling there as well for well over four decades. Practically every week during the 1950s and 1960s, one could find him displaying somewhere his patented "slow burn" on a popular sitcom - Topper (1953), The Real McCoys (1957), The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959), Mister Ed (1961), Bewitched (1964), Get Smart (1965), Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), The Munsters (1964), Green Acres (1965), The Flying Nun (1967) and Maude (1972). He hassled the best sitcom stars of the day, notably Lucille Ball (an old friend from the RKO days with whom he worked multiple times), Andy Griffith and Danny Thomas. Recurring roles on Dennis the Menace (1959), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) and Soap (1977) made him just as familiar to young and old alike. Tops on the list had to be his crusty railroad exec Homer Bedloe who periodically caused bucolic bedlam with his nefarious schemes to shut down the Hooterville Cannonball on Petticoat Junction (1963). He could also play it straightforward and serious as demonstrated by his work in The Twilight Zone (1959), Perry Mason (1957), Little House on the Prairie (1974) and L.A. Law (1986).
A benevolent gent in real life, Lane was seen less and less as time went by. One memorable role in his twilight years was as the rueful child pediatrician who chose to overlook the warning signs of child abuse in the excellent TV movie Sybil (1976). One of Lane's last on-screen roles was in the TV-movie remake of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1995) at age 90. Just before his death he was working on a documentary on his long career entitled "You Know the Face".
Cinematically speaking, perhaps the good ones do die young, for the irascible Lane lived to be 102 years old. He died peacefully at his Brentwood, California home, outliving his wife of 71 years, former actress Ruth Covell, who died in 2002. A daughter, a son and a granddaughter all survived him.- Freeda Thorpe was born on 19 September 1905 in Endicott, West Virginia, USA. She was married to Thorpe, Jim. She died on 2 March 2007 in Yakima, Washington, USA.
- Dragutin Tadijanovic was born on 4 November 1905 in Rastusje kraj Broda, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary [now Croatia]. He was a writer, known for Moja baka (1993) and Srdacno vasi (1982). He was married to Jelu Ljevakovic-Tadijanovic. He died on 26 June 2007 in Zagreb, Croatia.
- Music Department
- Producer
- Production Manager
Igor Moiseyev was born on 21 January 1906 in Kiev, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a producer and production manager, known for Russia sotto inchiesta (1963), The Lively Arts (1969) and Ballerina (2006). He was married to Tamara Zeifert. He died on 2 November 2007 in Moscow, Russia.- Rosa Castro was born on 31 January 1906 in Caracas, Venezuela. She was an actress, known for Coney Island (1928), Death Flight (1934) and Convention Girl (1935). She was married to Ralph Ince. She died on 24 May 2007 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Lester Ziffren was born on 30 April 1906 in Rock Island, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Sharpshooters (1938), Charlie Chan in Panama (1940) and Charter Pilot (1940). He was married to Edythe L. Wurtzel. He died on 12 November 2007 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Witarina Mitchell was born on 15 May 1906 in Rotorua, New Zealand. She was married to Reginald Harris. She died on 10 June 2007 in Rotorua, New Zealand.
- Herman Brix was a star shot-putter in the 1928 Olympics. After losing the lead in MGM's Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) due to a shoulder injury, he was contracted by Ashton Dearholt for his independent production of The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), a serial and the only Tarzan film between the silents and the 1960s to present the character accurately, as a sophisticated, educated English nobleman who preferred living in the jungle and was able to speak directly with animals in their own language. He subsequently found himself typecast and confined to starring roles in other serials and character and even bit parts in poverty row features and two-reeler comedies. After starring in the Republic Pictures serial Hawk of the Wilderness (1938) as the Tarzan-like Kioga, he dropped out of films for a few years, took acting lessons, and changed his name to Bruce Bennett. He made many movies after that, gaining fame as a leading man in many Warners products. In 1960, he retired from acting and went into business, becoming sales manager of a major vending machine company, making only occasional TV guest appearances. A reclusive man, he eschewed interviews, although he did appear at one Burroughs-oriented convention in the 1970s and discussed some of his experiences during the making of his Tarzan serial. In 2001, he allowed himself to be interviewed for a slender biography by a Mike Chapman, and held signings at local bookstores, enjoying his "rediscovery" by the general public in the few years remaining before his death.
- Eleanor Beecroft was born on 8 September 1906 in London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. She was an actress, known for Atlantic City (1980), The Mask (1961) and Funeral Home (1980). She was married to Julian Balfour Beecroft. She died on 20 September 2007 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Karl Holzamer was born on 13 October 1906 in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. He was a writer, known for Wenn die anderen Feiern - Geschichten von Sternen, Stars und einfachen Leuten (1966), Am laufenden Band (1974) and Zeugen des Jahrhunderts (1979). He was married to Helene. He died on 22 April 2007 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
- Anna Mitchell-Hedges was born on 1 January 1907 in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. She died on 11 April 2007 in Valparaiso, Indiana, USA.
- Louis Kamp was born on 29 January 1907. He was a writer, known for The Lion (1962), Mr. Quilp (1975) and The Sandpiper (1965). He was married to Irene Kamp. He died on 31 July 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Oliver White Hill was born in Richmond, VA in 1907. When his parents divorced and his mother remarried, he took the surname of his step-father and became legally known as Oliver White Hill. Hill attended Howard University, where he earned his undergraduate degree, and Howard University School of Law where he earned his law degree and where he became life-long friends with Thurgood Marshall.
Hill was instrumental in numerous civil rights cases during his law career, including the notable Brown vs the Board of Education. He worked tirelessly seeking equal rights for all individuals. In 1999 President William Clinton awarded Hill the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He spoke warmly of his "movie career" in his book "The Big Bang: Brown vs Board of Education and Beyond: The Autobiography of Oliver W. Hill, Sr." - Elly Beinhorn was born on 30 May 1907 in Hanover, Germany. She was a writer, known for Elly Beinhorn erzählt (1958), Ich fliege um die Welt (1955) and Steht's in den Sternen? (1964). She was married to Dr. Karl Wittmann and Bernd Rosemeyer. She died on 28 November 2007 in Ottobrunn, Bavaria, Germany.
- Music Department
Jesalyn Payne Hudson was born on 10 July 1907 in Campbell, Missouri, USA. Jesalyn Payne is known for Good Morning from Memphis (1958). Jesalyn Payne died on 6 July 2007 in Clifton, Texas, USA.- Composer
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Academy Award-nominated songwriter and lyricist ("Unchained Melody", 1955, with composer Alex North for the film "Unchained") and attorney, educated at West Virginia University and the Brooklyn Law School (LL.B). He practised law for several years, then joined the United States Army in World War II, serving in the Special Services where he wrote special material for the album "Strictly G.I.".
Hy Zaret was presented with numerous honors and awards for his works, including a George Foster Peabody Award, Ohio State University Institute for Education Award (twice), National Conference of Christians and Jews Award, American Heritage Foundation Award: Freedom House.
His commissions and citations include those from the United States Public Health Service, the American Medical Association, the National Foundation on Infantile Paralysis, the National Safety Council, and the United States Treasury Department.
He joined ASCAP in 1942, and his chief musical collaborators included Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer and Louis Singer.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Di-Yi Chen was born on 18 October 1907 in Wujin, Jiangsu, China. He was a writer and composer, known for Crazy Rich Asians (2018), It Chapter Two (2019) and Ru shi jia ren (1960). He died on 14 October 2007 in Hong Kong.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Jeff Musso was born on 21 October 1907 in La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He was a writer and director, known for Le puritain (1938), Second Childhood (1939) and Ultima giovinezza (1939). He died on 13 March 2007 in Sarcelles, Val-d'Oise, France.- Rose Bampton was born on 28 November 1907 in Lakewood, Ohio, USA. She was married to Wilfrid Pelletier. She died on 21 August 2007 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Make-Up Department
Chances are, if you saw a movie with one of the stars of the 1930s or 1940s, her hair was done by Carmen Dirigo, who passed away on July 25 in Van Nuys at the age of 99.
Dirigo, born Daisy Obradowits, was a prominent hair and wig stylist in Hollywood's Golden Age, working at the various studios and later in television. Among her stable of stars were Joan Bennett, Yvonne De Carlo, Joan Fontaine and her sister, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Blyth, Elena Verdugo, and many others.
She was born in New York on December 30, 1907 and moved with her mother Lilley to Southern California in the 1920s. Soon after, Lilley started a beauty shop on Cahuenga in Hollywood while Carmen went to school. But the younger Dirigo had show business dreams. From an early age, she worked as a dancer at the Egyptian, Chinese, and Pantages theaters doing prologue shows before feature films ran.
At Carmen's urging, Lilley finally attempted to get into the movie business during the last years of the silents. "I kept after her, but she was very shy," Carmen recalled in 1999. "One day, she went and made an appointment at Universal with Carl Laemmle and she sold him on the idea of having a hairstylist established on the lot. She told him that she once saw a picture where the actress is out in the rain, and when she comes in, her hair is all dry. She told him that he could have someone established on each picture to read the script and follow the story and do it accordingly. He thought that was brilliant, and that's how it all started."
By 1933, after taking a state test to get her cosmetology license, Carmen followed her mother and entered the hairstyling field, first working at United Artists. After four years, she moved to Paramount where she first worked with stars like Fontaine and Fredric March. Eight years later, she came to Universal as head of hairstyling, where her mother had broken ground working with legendary makeup artist Jack Pierce, famous for Universal's slate of classic monster films.
Of the rapid pace of the classic studio days, Carmen remembered the structured approach to the work. "They didn't have time to talk about stuff then," she said. "We would get there early, and have to rush to get people out on time. If I had wigs to do, I'd have to be there at 6:30AM and take the wigs off the block. Max Factor's on Highland and three wigmakers out of Universal would ventilate the wigs. Then, I would style them the night before."
One of her biggest challenges at Universal was the 1948 film, Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid which featured underwater photography of star Ann Blyth. "The producer wanted her hair to look as beautiful underwater as out of the water.," she recalled. "I had to get together with a chemist to figure out what we could use that would be pliable in the water. For days, before the picture started, I would be in my department with a fishbowl, and I'd have a hunk of hair which I waved first and sprayed with this chemical. I'd plunk it in the water and swish it around and see if it held the curl. When it did, I knew that it was okay."
While at Universal, Dirigo served as president of the Cinema Hairstylists, an elite association, and was the first hairstylist in the business to get screen credit. In 1951, the nascent television medium beckoned, and she moved to TV on shows including Fireside Theater, which ran until 1955. Around that time,, she did several episodes a CBS show called You Are There, which recreated significant moments from history. For an episode which aired in April, 1955, using wigs and makeup, she and Jack Pierce transformed actor Jeff Morrow into Abraham Lincoln for a staged recreation of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Dirigo's last job in the business was as hairstyling department head for TV's Petticoat Junction, where she worked until 1970. She retired to her house on Coldwater Canyon Boulevard in Van Nuys where she lived the rest of her life. Until a severe fall at home in 2000 left her partially immobilized, Dirigo was an avid equestrian and enjoyed watching her Academy screeners on VHS tapes. She leaves behind no living heirs.
Her legacy, along with her mother's, was creating firm aesthetics for women's hairstyles in films that remains to this day. One Universal press release from 1946 stated: "She is a firm believer in frequent hair style changes and in the choice of simple styles for business and sportswear. Elaborate hairstyles should be created only for evening and formal occasions, she recommends."- Masumi Kuni was born on 2 January 1908 in Ulsan, South Korea. He was an actor, known for Dorodarake no junjô (1963) and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). He died on 4 April 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Rachel Breck was born on 24 January 1908 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. She was married to Manley Du Pont Breck, John Gordon Ferrier Speiden and Richard McClenahan. She died on 1 January 2007 in Salisbury, Connecticut, USA.
- Lucille McNames was born on 19 February 1908 in Fostoria, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for The Albany Branch (1931). She was married to James Murray. She died on 21 April 2007 in Cedaredge, Colorado, USA.
- Leela Majumdar was born on 26 February 1908 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. She was a writer, known for Padi Pishir Barmi Baksha (1972) and Heerer Prajapati (1968). She died on 5 April 2007 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
- Martine de Breteuil was born on 21 March 1908 in Kharkov, Russian Empire [now Kharkiv, Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for L'homme qui revient de loin (1972), The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez (1964) and La tête du client (1965). She was married to François de Breteuil. She died on 13 November 2007 in Paris, France.
- Kermit Glines was born on 8 April 1908. He was an actor, known for Man with a Plan (1996) and Nosey Parker (2003). He died on 22 April 2007 in Tunbridge, Vermont, USA.
- Animation Department
- Director
- Writer
Jack Zander was born on 3 May 1908 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Gnomes (1980), The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972) and Saturday Night Live (1975). He was married to Beth Wasem. He died on 17 December 2007 in Pound Ridge, New York, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Isabel Washington was born on 23 May 1908 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for St. Louis Blues (1929), Adam Clayton Powell (1989) and Dave Apollon and His Russian Stars (1929). She was married to Adam Clayton Powell Jr.. She died on 4 May 2007 in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
Kathryn Wessling was born on 6 July 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress. She died on 7 March 2007 in Texas, USA.- Writer
- Actor
A.I. Bezzerides was born on 9 August 1908 in Samsun, Ottoman Empire [now Turkey]. He was a writer and actor, known for Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and They Drive by Night (1940). He was married to Von Gorne, Yvonne and Silvia Richards. He died on 1 January 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Milton Wexler was born on 24 August 1908 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was a writer, known for The Man Who Loved Women (1983), That's Life! (1986) and Frank Gehry: The Formative Years (1988). He was married to Leonore Sabin. He died on 16 March 2007 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
- Composer
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Pascal Bastia was born on 11 September 1908 in Paris, France. Pascal was a composer and writer, known for Prince de minuit (1934), Slow Local Trains (1960) and The Girl from Paris (2001). Pascal died on 12 July 2007 in Saint-Privat-des-Prés, Dordogne, France.- Production Designer
- Art Director
- Art Department
George Jenkins was born on 19 November 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was a production designer and art director, known for All the President's Men (1976), The China Syndrome (1979) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). He was married to Phyllis Adams and Barbara Wylie. He died on 6 April 2007 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actress
- Writer
Mária Szepes was born on 14 December 1908 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. She was an actress and writer, known for Leánybecsület (1923), Hivatalnok urak (1919) and Az örszem (1924). She was married to Béla Szepes. She died on 3 September 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.- Magda Neeld was born on 19 December 1908 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She was an actress, known for She Shall Have Music (1935). She died on 24 November 2007 in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia.
- Philip Freund was born on 5 February 1909 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was a writer, known for Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963), Matinee Theatre (1955) and Kraft Theatre (1947). He died on 20 December 2007 in New York, USA.
- Lícia Magna was born on 22 February 1909 in Guaxupé, Minas Gerais, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Maria, Maria (1978), Kubanacan (2003) and The Next Victim (1995). She died on 3 July 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.