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Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio.

After starting life in extremely modest circumstances in Mexico, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he grew up in the Boyle Heights and Echo Park neighborhoods. He played in the band of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson as a youth and as a deputy preacher. He attended Polytechnic High School and later Belmont High, but eventually dropped out. The young Quinn boxed (which stood him in good stead as a stage actor, when he played Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" to rave reviews in Chicago), then later studied architecture under Frank Lloyd Wright at the great architect's studio, Taliesin, in Arizona. Quinn was close to Wright, who encouraged him when he decided to give acting a try. Made his credited film debut in Parole! (1936). After a brief apprenticeship on stage, Quinn hit Hollywood in 1936 and picked up a variety of small roles in several films at Paramount, including an Indian warrior in The Plainsman (1936), which was directed by the man who later became his father-in-law, Cecil B. DeMille.

As a contract player at Paramount, Quinn's roles were mainly ethnic types, such as an Arab chieftain in the Bing Crosby-Bob Hope comedy, Road to Morocco (1942). As a Mexican national, he was exempt from the draft. With many other actors in military service during WWII, he was able to move up into better supporting roles. He married DeMille's daughter Katherine DeMille, which afforded him entrance to the top circles of Hollywood society. He became disenchanted with his career and did not renew his Paramount contract despite the advice of others, including his father-in-law, with whom he did not get along (whom Quinn reportedly felt had never accepted him due to his Mexican roots; the two men were also on opposite ends of the political spectrum) but they eventually were able to develop a civil relationship. Quinn returned to the stage to hone his craft. His portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" in Chicago and on Broadway (where he replaced the legendary Marlon Brando, who is forever associated with the role) made his reputation and boosted his film career when he returned to the movies.

Brando and Elia Kazan, who directed "Streetcar" on Broadway and on film (A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)), were crucial to Quinn's future success. Kazan, knowing the two were potential rivals due to their acclaimed portrayals of Kowalski, cast Quinn as Brando's brother in his biographical film of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, Viva Zapata! (1952). Quinn won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for 1952, making him the first Mexican to win an Oscar. It was not to be his lone appearance in the winner's circle: he won his second Supporting Actor Oscar in 1957 for his portrayal of Paul Gauguin in Vincente Minnelli's biographical film of Vincent van Gogh, Lust for Life (1956), opposite Kirk Douglas. Over the next decade Quinn lived in Italy and became a major figure in world cinema, as many studios shot films in Italy to take advantage of the lower costs ("runaway production" had battered the industry since its beginnings in the New York/New Jersey area in the 1910s). He appeared in several Italian films, giving one of his greatest performances as the circus strongman who brutalizes the sweet soul played by Giulietta Masina in her husband Federico Fellini's masterpiece La Strada (1954). He met his second wife, Jolanda Addolori, a wardrobe assistant, while he was in Rome filming Barabbas (1961).

Alternating between Europe and Hollywood, Quinn built his reputation and entered the front rank of character actors and character leads. He received his third Oscar nomination (and first for Best Actor) for George Cukor's Wild Is the Wind (1957). He played a Greek resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation in the monster hit The Guns of Navarone (1961) and received kudos for his portrayal of a once-great boxer on his way down in Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). He went back to playing ethnic roles, such as an Arab warlord in David Lean's masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and he played the eponymous lead in the "sword-and-sandal" blockbuster Barabbas (1961). Two years later, he reached the zenith of his career, playing Zorba the Greek in the film of the same name (a.k.a. Zorba the Greek (1964)), which brought him his fourth, and last, Oscar nomination as Best Actor. The 1960s were kind to him: he played character leads in such major films as The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969). However, his appearance in the title role in the film adaptation of John Fowles' novel, The Magus (1968), did nothing to save the film, which was one of that decade's notorious turkeys.

In the 1960s, Quinn told Life magazine that he would fight against typecasting. Unfortunately, the following decade saw him slip back into playing ethnic types again, in such critical bombs as The Greek Tycoon (1978). He starred as the Hispanic mayor of a southwestern city on the short-lived television series The Man and the City (1971), but his career lost its momentum during the 1970s. Aside from playing a thinly disguised Aristotle Onassis in the cinematic roman-a-clef The Greek Tycoon (1978), his other major roles of the decade were as Hamza in the controversial The Message (1976) (a.k.a. "Mohammad, Messenger of God"); as the Italian patriarch in The Inheritance (1976); yet another Arab in Caravans (1978); and as a Mexican patriarch in The Children of Sanchez (1978). In 1983, he reprised his most famous role, Zorba the Greek, on Broadway in the revival of the musical "Zorba" for 362 performances (opposite Lila Kedrova, who had also appeared in the film, and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance). His career slowed during the 1990s but he continued to work steadily in films and television, including an appearance with frequent film co-star Maureen O'Hara in Only the Lonely (1991).

Quinn lived out the latter years of his life in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his time painting and sculpting. Beginning in 1982, he held numerous major exhibitions in cities such as Vienna, Paris, and Seoul. He died in a hospital in Boston at age 86 from pneumonia and respiratory failure linked to his battle with throat cancer.

Jeff Burton was born on 28 March 1924 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Planet of the Apes (1968), Black Hooker (1974) and Coffy (1973). He died on 18 January 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Buck Jones was one of the greatest of the "B" western stars. Although born in Indiana, Jones reportedly (but disputedly) grew up on a ranch near Red Rock in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and there learned the riding and shooting skills that would stand him in good stead as a hero of Westerns. He joined the army as a teenager and served on US-Mexican border before seeing service in the Moro uprising in the Philippines. Though wounded, he recuperated and re-enlisted, hoping to become a pilot. He was not accepted for pilot training and left the army in 1913. He took a menial job with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show and soon became champion bronco buster for the show. He moved on to the Julia Allen Show, but with the beginning of the First World War, Jones took work training horses for the Allied armies. After the war, he and his wife, Odelle Osborne, whom he had met in the Miller Brothers show, toured with the Ringling Brothers circus, then settled in Hollywood, where Jones got work in a number of Westerns starring Tom Mix and Franklyn Farnum. Producer William Fox put Jones under contract and promoted him as a new Western star. He used the name Charles Jones at first, then Charles "Buck" Jones, before settling on his permanent stage name. He quickly climbed to the upper ranks of Western stardom, playing a more dignified, less gaudy hero than Mix, if not as austere as William S. Hart. With his famed horse Silver, Jones was one of the most successful and popular actors in the genre, and at one point he was receiving more fan mail than any actor in the world. Months after America's entry into World War II, Jones participated in a war-bond-selling tour. On November 28, 1942, he was a guest of some local citizens in Boston at the famed Coconut Grove nightclub. Fire broke out and nearly 500 people died in one of the worst fire disasters on record. Jones was horribly burned and died two days later before his wife Dell could arrive to comfort him. Although legend has it that he died returning to the blaze to rescue others (a story probably originated by producer Trem Carr for whatever reason), the actual evidence indicates that he was trapped with all the others and succumbed as most did, trying to escape. He remains, however, a hero to thousands who followed his film adventures.

An American character actor who specialized in "average joes", often timid or down-on-their-luck, Louis Jean Heydt was born in Montclair, New Jersey, and educated at Worcester Academy and Dartmouth College. He intended a career in journalism and worked as a reporter for the old New York World, but developed an interest in acting and landed a number of roles on the New York stage (active there from 1927-48). In the mid-'30s he traveled to Hollywood and quickly established himself as a reliable supporting player. He played dozens of roles in many fine films including Gone with the Wind (1939), They Were Expendable (1945) and The Big Sleep (1946), and although his face is exceptionally familiar to viewers of that period's films, his name never quite broke through. He remained a pleasant presence in scores of films of the 1940s and 1950s while continuing to work on the stage and on television. He died backstage at the Colonial Theatre in Boston during an out-of-town try-out performance of the play "There Was a Little Girl" in 1960.

Eugene O'Neill, the winner of four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature, is widely considered the greatest American playwright. No one, not Maxwell Anderson, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, nor Edward Albee, approaches O'Neill in terms of his artistic achievement or his impact on the American theater.

James O'Neill, one of the most popular actors of the late 19th century, was his father, so one could say that Eugene O'Neill was born to a life in the theater. His father, who had been born into poverty in Ireland before emigrating to the United States, developed his craft and became a star in the theaters of the Midwest. He married Mary Ellen "Ella" Quinlan, the Irish-American daughter of a wealthy Cleveland businessman, whose death when she was a teenager had hurt her emotionally. She remained emotionally fragile throughout her life, a condition exacerbated by a further tragedy, the loss of a child. A further strain was placed on her when it was discovered that James had lived in "concubinage" with a common-law wife who later sued him for child support and alimony, claiming he had fathered her child. Both were pious and believing Catholics.

They had three sons, including James Jr. (born 1878) and Edmund (1883), who died at the age of two from measles, leaving Ella distraught. Their last son, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (his middle name a salute to the British prime minister who was in favor of home rule for Ireland), was born at the Barrett Hotel (home of many theatrical artistes) in New York City, on October 16, 1888. Supposedly, it was a difficult delivery, and in the spirit of the times, Ella was given morphine for her pain. She became an addict.

James O'Neill made a fortune playing The Count of Monte Cristo, both on Broadway in multiple productions and as a touring show. However, he suffered an artistic death as a performing artiste through the sheer repetition of the Monte Cristo role, which he turned to repeatedly as it always proved a success. He reportedly played the role at least 4,000 times, perhaps nearly twice that number. He would provide the prototype for the character of James Tyrone, the pater familias in his son's "Long Day's Journey Into Night". James O'Neill Sr. knew that he had suffered artistically from his commercial instincts, and Eugene never forgot that. His son remained steadfast in his own fidelity to his principles of artistic integrity.

The father also was a notorious skinflint, terrified that some unforeseen calamity would throw him back into the hellish poverty of his childhood in Ireland. Both young Gene and his older brother Jamie tried their hands at acting, and though Jamie was more successful than Gene, he never developed a significant, independent career as a professional thespian due to instability caused by his alcoholism. Jamie relied on his father for work, which further fueled his drinking.

Jamie was a full-blown alcoholic, just like his younger brother, Gene, and he drank himself to death at a relatively young age, a fate Gene managed to avoid, but not from lack of trying. The characters of Jamie in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and James Tyrone Jr. in "A Moon for the Misbegotten" were based on him.

As a young man, Eugene suffered from tuberculosis, which likely exacerbated his propensity for pessimism (the stuff of his life became the guts of his last masterpiece, "Long Day's Journey Into Night"). His pessimistic, tragic outlook on life likely was hereditary: O'Neill's two sons, Eugene O'Neill Jr. and Shane O'Neill, became substance abusers as adults: Eugene Jr. was an alcoholic and Shane was a heroin addict. Both committed suicide. He disowned his daughter Oona Chaplin, for marrying Charles Chaplin, who was just six months younger than O'Neill himself. He had never had much to do with her anyway, nor any of his children. His life was devoted to writing.

After recovering from tuberculosis, O'Neill attended Princeton for the 1907-08 term, but was kicked out after his freshman year, allegedly for being drunk and disorderly at a reception held by the university president, future President of the United States Woodrow Wilson. For the next eight years he led a freebooting existence, fortune-hunting for gold in South America and plying the seas as an able-bodied seaman, while trying to drink himself to death (he even made an attempt at suicide). Eventually he returned to New York City and tried his hand at playwriting, and with the financial help of his father, studied playwriting at Harvard in 1915. His father was unimpressed by the results, and died the same year his son made his big breakthrough on Broadway (he did live to see the production of Eugene's first full-length play, "Beyond the Horizon", which opened on February 2, 1920 and ran for a then-impressive 111 performances, and its honoring with the 1920 Pulitzer Prize for Drama that May. James O'Neill Sr. died on August 10, 1920. His namesake, James O'Neill Jr., died three years later, at the age of 45.)

Where Eugene truly learned his craft was in the writing of one-act melodramas that dealt with the lives of sailors, that were performed by the Provincetown Players, which had theaters in Provincetown on Cape Cod and off of Washington Square in New York City (John Ford made a 1940 movie out of four of his sea plays, collected in The Long Voyage Home (1940)). The theater he created was a reaction against the theater of his father, the old hoary melodramas that packed them in for a night of crowd-pleasing entertainment.

Eugene started out as a dramatist at a time when there was an average of 70 plays being performed on Broadway each week. The Great White Way resembled a modern movie multiplex in that potential theatergoers would peruse the various marquees in and around Times Square seeking an entertainment for the night. At the time O'Neill began to establish himself, in pre- and post-World War I era, entertainment was first and foremost in most people's minds.

The movies and O'Neill would change that. The competition of the more sophisticated movies of the late silent era, and then the talkies, usurped the position of Broadway and the theater as the premier venue for American entertainment. The light plays that were the equivalent of television fare became extinct. Musicals continued to thrive, as did comedies, but drama became more serious and developed a psychological depth. O'Neill was the midwife of the phenomenon.

Eugene O'Neill helped foster the maturation of American drama, as he incorporated the techniques of both European expressionism and realism in his work. Influenced by Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, brought to the American stage a tragic vision that influenced scores of American playwrights that followed.

Eugene O'Neill died in the Shelton Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1953. Allegedly, his last words were, "Born in a hotel room, and goddammit! Died in one!" His health had been hurt by his alcoholism and he suffered from Parkinson's disease-like tremors of his hands that had made it difficult, if not impossible, to write since the early 1940s. It is believed that he suffered cerebellar cortical abiotrophy, a neurological disease in which certain neurons in the cerebellum of the brain die off, adversely affecting the balance and coordination of the sufferer. As a dramatist, he had flourished on Broadway from 1920, when his first full-length work, "Beyond the Horizon", debuted, winning him his first Pulitzer, until 1934, when his first and only comedy, Ah, Wilderness! (debut October 1933) came to an end that June and his play, "Days Without End," was staged in repertory between January and November). After 1934, he entered a cocoon, staying away from Broadway until after World War II, when the 1946 production of "The Iceman Cometh" debuted. The first production of "Iceman" failed, and O'Neill's reputation suffered, but the 1956 production of "Iceman" starring Jason Robards and directed by José Quintero was a great success, as was the posthumous production of "Long Day's Journey Into Night", which brought O'Neill his fourth Pulitzer. The two plays solidified his legend.

Johnny Lee Davenport was born on 24 July 1950 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fugitive (1993), U.S. Marshals (1998) and Ted (2012). He died on 2 February 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

McDowell was born in Enterprise, Alabama. According to his biography in the 1985 edition of Toplin, McDowell lived in Medford, Massachusetts. He also maintained a residence in Hollywood with his sister Ann and adventurer-filmmaker Peter Lake. The biography described a typical day: McDowell "writes in the mornings and spends the rest of the day looking out of the window in hope that something interesting will happen" and "collects photographs of corpses". He specialized in collecting photographs of train-decapitation victims and plaques from baby caskets. McDowell's life partner of 30 years was the theatre historian and director Laurence Senelick. McDowell died in 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts from AIDS-related illness. His unfinished novel Candles Burning was "completed" by Tabitha King, wife of Stephen King, and published in 2006.

William H. Steig was an American author from Brooklyn, New York who was known for writing the book Shrek, which got adapted into a successful animated film franchise by DreamWorks starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas. He passed away at Boston in 2003, 2 years after the first Shrek film came out.

Louisa May Alcott was born on 29 November 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA. She was a writer, known for Little Women (2019), Little Women (1994) and An Old-Fashioned Girl (1949). She died on 6 March 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Donald E. Wahlberg Sr. was born on 8 May 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Southie (1998). He was married to Alma Wahlberg. He died on 14 February 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Kent Damon was born on 18 August 1942 in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Stuck on You (2003). He was married to Celeste Kent and Nancy Carlsson-Paige. He died on 14 December 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Ethel Kennedy was born on 11 April 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Cheers (1982), Ethel (2012) and The American Sportsman (1965). She was married to Robert F. Kennedy. She died on 10 October 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Roger Cook was born in 1954 in Biddeford, Maine, USA. He is known for This Old House (1979), Ask This Old House (2002) and This Old House: Trade School (2017). He was married to Kathleen "Kathy" Ellen Gulde. He died on 21 August 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Shirley Clarke is an important figure in the history of mid-20th century independent cinema. Born Shirley Marion Brimberg to Samuel Nathan and Florence (Rosenberg) Brimberg, she was the eldest of their three daughters. She grew up in a wealthy family. Her father, who was born in present-day Belarus, made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother was the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer. Her sisters were Elaine Rita (better known as actress and writer Elaine Dundy) and Betty Rose Brimberg.

As a young child, Shirley developed a passion for dance. Shirley's father was a violent bully, who didn't support her artistic ambitions. She married Bertram Clarke in 1942, partially to escape her father's control and to study dance with the masters of modern dance.

In the early 1950s, she became a filmmaker. Her love of dance informed her early work. Her first film, Dance in the Sun (1953), a six-minute short featuring dancer Daniel Nagrin was well-received. She would go on to direct several short films throughout the decade, some by herself and others in collaboration with others.

By the 1960s, when women directors were still somewhat of a novelty, she embarked on her first feature film. Rather than play it safe and do a romance or a comedy, she decided to do a film adaptation of "The Connection," a play by Jack Gelber. The Connection (1961) tells the story of a group of junkies who await the arrival of Cowboy (Carl Lee), their drug connection. Lee's portrayal, much like Bernie Hamilton as Traver in The Young One (1960) marked the arrival of a new type of Black character that hadn't been seen on the screen before -- brash, defiant, and bold. It would foreshadow the protagonists that dominated the blaxploitation films a decade later. However, in 1962, the film was initially banned in New York City because of it's use of the "S-word." However, after several legal challenges, "The Connection" was eventually able to screen in cinemas. Despite, it's limited commercial success, "The Connection," was the most widely seen of Clarke's three feature length films at the time of its release. The others were the narrative feature The Cool World (1963) and the landmark LGBTQ documentary, Portrait of Jason (1967).

Clarke received an Oscar nomination for the short Skyscraper (1959), which she also co-directed. She also directed Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963), an Oscar-winning short.

She would continue to make a series of short films and video works into the 1980s. One of her last completed works was Ornette: Made in America (1985), a documentary on jazz musician and composer Ornette Coleman.

From 1975 until 1983, she was an instructor at UCLA, where she taught a highly popular design class.

After her marriage to Bertram Clarke ended, she was in a relationship with Lee until his death in 1986.

Shirley Clarke died of a stroke in Boston in 1997 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

In 2014, Milestone Films, began releasing restored versions of her projects both theatrically and on home video.

Alissa Ann Smego was born on 25 May 1975 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1997), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993) and Star Kid (1997). She was married to Edward "Ned" Bigelow IV. She died on 5 October 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Rafaela Ottiano was born on 4 March 1888 in Venice, Italy. She was an actress, known for Curly Top (1935), Grand Hotel (1932) and The Adventures of Martin Eden (1942). She died on 15 August 1942 in East Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Natalie Kalmus was born on 7 April 1882 in Houlton, Maine, USA. She was a writer, known for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Rope (1948) and Gone with the Wind (1939). She was married to Herbert T. Kalmus. She died on 15 November 1965 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Joan Wilson was born on 3 November 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Joan was a producer, known for Masterpiece (1971), Masterpiece Mystery (1980) and Polygamous Polonius (1960). Joan was married to Jeremy Brett. Joan died on 4 July 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Karl Weber was born on 17 March 1916 in Columbus Junction, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Walk East on Beacon! (1952), Rocky King, Detective (1950) and Search for Tomorrow (1951). He was married to Marjorie Scott Williams. He died on 30 July 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Paul Brennan was born on 15 April 1913. He was an actor, known for Below the Belt (1980), Salesman (1969) and The Cornwell Estate (2008). He died on 27 August 1990 in Mattapan, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Steven Kozlowski was born on 22 April 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Good Will Hunting (1997), Holes (2003) and Collateral (2004). He died on 23 August 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Gene Wood was a prolific game show announcer during the 1970s and 1980s. Most often heard over Goodson-Todman (later Mark Goodson Productions) game shows, he was the voice that introduced game shows including "Card Sharks", "Tattletales," "Classic Concentration," "Password Plus"/"Super Password" and "Family Feud." Few fans will ever forget his beckoning contestants to get "ready for action!"; and "On your marks, let's start ... the 'FAMILY FEUUUDDD!'" or the sotto whisper of "The password is ..." Wood's first regular run as an announcer (after several substitute jobs in the 1960s) was on the 1969 version of "Beat the Clock," which Wood later hosted. In the mid-1990s, he retired from the world of game show announcing, apparently bitter over younger announcers taking his place.

Al Barile was born on 4 October 1961 in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA. He was married to Nancy Barile. He died on 6 March 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Vincent Dowling was born on 7 September 1929 in Irish Free State [now Ireland]. He was an actor and director, known for On Broadway (2007), Playboy of the Western World (1983) and Johnny Nobody (1961). He was married to Olwen Patricia O'Herlihy and Brenda Doyle. He died on 10 May 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Stephen Kandel was born on 30 April 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for MacGyver (1985), Star Trek (1966) and Mannix (1967). He was married to Anne Finkelstein. He died on 21 October 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.