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1-13 of 13
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Sellon was born on 24 August 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Make Me a Star (1932), The Monster (1925) and Bright Eyes (1934). He was married to Florence E. Willis. He died on 26 June 1937 in La Crescenta, California, USA.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Blake Heron was born in Massapequa, New York, in Long Island on January 11th, 1982. At the age of 7 he moved to Marietta, Georgia. Having been fixated on movies and being an actor at a very young age, it was in Marietta where he got his first agent at an agency in Atlanta called Kiddin' Around. The first project he ever booked was for a Rich's Department Store commercial, followed by various other commercials and modeling gigs.
Things went successfully fairly quickly and it wasn't too long before Blake booked his first role in a miniseries on TNT called Andersonville about the Civil War prison camp of the same name. Around this time Blake made the move out west to Los Angeles so he could continue pursuing his dream. He promptly got setup with a new agent and manager out in L.A. and continued plugging away at guest star roles on TV shows, as well as various roles in feature films and other movies of the week. He landed his first starring role at the age of 12 in the movie Shiloh (1996), portraying the role of Marty Preston. The movie went on to be well received, and Blake won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance as a leading young actor.
From the ages of 13 to 22 Blake performed in many more TV shows as a guest star, recurring roles, and series regular. He also was featured in, and starred in many other feature films.
Blake has taken a much edgier direction with his career lately, taking more serious roles that portray an element of danger, but has also taken on roles that depict the compassionate and understanding side he has played in the past. He has performed in a handful of guest star roles over the past few years on shows like NCIS: New Orleans, Criminal Minds, FX's new John Singleton series Snowfall, as well as various roles in feature films as well. One of the feature films, A Thousand Junkies (2017), is world premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in April of 2017.- Al Pugliese was an American actor known for his extensive work in television, theatre, and film. On television, fans know him from his recurring role as Detective Kavanaugh in Law & Order: LA. He guest-starred and co-starred in many other hit TV shows: American Horror Story/Asylum, Castle, Glee, Community, Everybody Hates Chris, CSI, Las Vegas, Firefly, King of Queens, Judging Amy, and Cold Case ... just to name a few.
- Animation Department
- Director
- Art Department
American layout designer Maurice Noble was proudly old-school, a self-proclaimed champion of the 'golden years' of animation. Working in the industry for more than six decades, he reached the peak of his profession with Disney and Warner Brothers and openly rejected the stylised approach to cartoons (spearheaded by UPA) which came into vogue during the 1950's and 60's. As a youth, Noble considered the very idea of drawing cartoons as 'kid's stuff'. He changed his tune somewhat after being hired by Disney in 1934 (for $100 a month -- a step up from his previous job as a department store designer). One of his first assignments was to draw watercolour backgrounds for the popular Silly Symphonies series. Noble served an obligatory probation period, then advanced to drawing sketches and backgrounds for some of Disney's finest animated features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Bambi (1942) and Dumbo (1941) (he designed the "Pink Elephants on Parade" segment). Supporting the 1941 strike by 300 employees of the Cartoonists Guild cost Noble his job. Like many of his colleagues, he was to spend the war years with the Army Signal Corps helping to produce propaganda material, ranging from cartoons and posters to leaflets and booklets. His work on the "Private Snafu" cartoon series for Warner Brothers brought him into contact with the legendary Dr. Seuss and with his future boss Chuck Jones.
After demobilisation, Noble worked for some time as a freelancer in advertising (including for U.S. Steel). In 1952, he joined Jones at Warner Brothers. For several decades, their collaboration was immensely fruitful, and, according to Jones, "the perfect working relationship" (recent interviews and a biography -- "The Noble Approach: Maurice Noble and the Zen of Animation Design" by Tod Polson -- suggest otherwise: that the two men were often at loggerheads and certainly not friends). Nonetheless, Noble prospered at Warner Brothers. He enjoyed the spontaneity, camaraderie and artistic freedom -- in contrast to the more restrictive atmosphere at Disney, whose output he described as "over-refined". Noble's chief strength lay in adapting his various backgrounds to suit the specific mood of the cartoon, creating dramatic visual impact to enhance that mood. His famous creations include the minimalist desert-scapes of the Road Runner/Coyote cartoons and the futuristic city of Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953), complete with the electronic eyes and the evaporator. Among his personal favorites he cited Duck Amuck (1953) and the Wagnerian spoof What's Opera, Doc? (1957).
When Warners disbanded their animation department in 1964, Noble resumed his association with Jones, first at MGM (as designer and co-director of "Tom & Jerry" cartoons) and, later, with Jones' s own production company (collaborating on animated Dr. Seuss TV specials, including the Grammy Award-winning How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)). In 1987, he became recipient of an Annie Award for excellence in animation. In 1993, he received a Disney Living Legend Award. By that time, Jones had become one of the oldest people still active in his chosen field.- Marcus Smythe, actor of film, television and theatre, died Aug. 20 at his home with family in La Crescenta, Calif. He was 70. The cause of death was the culmination of a three-year battle with brain cancer. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Goddard-Smythe, two sons, Harrison and Duncan, and brother Casey of Tucson, Ariz., as well as nieces and nephews in Kansas and Arizona. He is preceded in death by parents, Patricia (Schweitzer) and Paul Smythe and brother Scott. Smythe was a familiar romantic lead in the most popular daytime-television serials of the 1970s and '80s. These included his portrayal of Gordon Middleton on "The Guiding Light," Dane Taylor on "Search for Tomorrow," and Peter Love on NBC's long-running and award-winning "Another World." He also appeared with such acting luminaries as Henry Fonda, Myrna Loy and Jessica Tandy in feature films and performed extensively in off-Broadway theatrical productions and national stage tours. He was the recipient of Drama Logue and LA Weekly Drama Awards during his stage career in Los Angeles. He was a member of SAG, AFTRA and Actors Equity. He received his B.A. in theatre from Otterbein University in 1972 and a Master of Fine Arts from Ohio University in 1975. He appeared at the Cleveland Playhouse post-college before his move to New York City. With his sons, Smythe was active in Boy Scouts of America in La Crescenta. He served as assistant scout master, Chaplain and recruiter as well as coaching, with wife Suzanne, both sons to achieve Eagle Scout.
- Additional Crew
- Actress
Lora Somoza was born on 7 December 1968 in Glendale, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Mexican (2001), Mousehunt (1997) and Bachelor Pad (1986). She died on 5 July 2020 in La Crescenta, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Gus Meins was born on 6 March 1893 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Kelly the Second (1936), Earl of Puddlestone (1940) and His Exciting Night (1938). He was married to Mary Berge Lewis. He died on 1 August 1940 in La Crescenta, California, USA.- Animation Department
- Additional Crew
- Art Department
Manon Washburn was born on 26 October 1922. She is known for The Secret of NIMH (1982), Wizards (1977) and The Pagemaster (1994). She died on 21 June 2012 in La Crescenta, California, USA.- Patricia Avery was born on 19 November 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Annie Laurie (1927), Night Life (1927) and A Light in the Window (1927). She was married to Merrill Pye. She died on 21 August 1973 in La Crescenta, California, USA.
- Sound Department
George Ronconi was born on 20 December 1925. He is known for Days of Heaven (1978), Goodnight, Beantown (1983) and Mod Squad (1968). He died on 8 March 2009 in La Crescenta, California, USA.- Animation Department
- Art Department
American animator and comic book illustrator, trained at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Alvarado began as assistant animator with Walt Disney (1937-39). Following military service (1942-46), he joined Warner Brothers as a background & layout artist. For the next six years, he contributed to many of the Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny cartoons and is credited as having designed the original backgrounds for the first Road Runner short, Fast and Furry-ous (1949). From 1948, he sidelined doing comic book art work (along with the three McKimson brothers) for Western Publishing, as well as drawing cartoons for Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Walter Lantz and Warner Brothers newspaper strips. Alvarado also continued to work in animation as layout artist for DePatie/Freleng (primarily on 'Pink Panther' cartoons, 1967-70) , Hanna-Barbera (including 'Tom & Jerry', 'The Flintstones' and 'Scooby-Doo', 1970-77,1982, 1989-90), Ruby-Spears Productions and Filmation Associates.- Soundtrack
Songwriter ("I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," "Honolulu Bundle"), singer, composer, and author, educated at Betts Military Academy in Stamford, Connecticut. He was a sheet-music demonstrator at several New York department stores and a professional music manager for several publishing companies, later joining the vaudeville teams Tracey & Vincent and Franklyn & Vincent, and the radio/recording team The Happy Chappies with Howard Wright. He appeared in the stage act "A Trip to Hitland," and wrote songs for Healy's "Ice Follies," the "Palais Royal Revue," and London's "Cochran Revue," as well as the Broadway revues "Show of Wonders," "Passing Shows," and "Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolics." Joining ASCAP in 1922, his other popular-song compositions included "When the Bloom Is on the Sage," "La Veeda," "When Old Bill Bailey Plays the Ukulele," "The Strawberry Roan," "I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome," "Give A Little Credit to Your Dad," "Mellow Mountain Moon," "Little Girl Dressed in Blue," "Pucker Up and Whistle," "That Railroad Rag," "Down South Everybody's Happy," "Pretty Little Cinderella," "At the End of the Lane," "Liza," "My Old Man," "I Know Why I Cry," "Sitting on the Bank by the River," "Nevada Nevada Nevada," "It's Great to Love Someone Who Loves You Too," "My Pretty Quadroon," "Me and My Burro," "Old Black Mountain Trail," "My Dear Old Arizona Home," and "It's Time to Say Aloha."- Sherman Ferguson was born on 31 October 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1987). He was married to Anni Sherman. He died on 22 January 2006 in La Crescenta, California, USA.