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Margot Kidder was born Margaret Ruth Kidder in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, to Jocelyn Mary "Jill" (Wilson), a history teacher from British Columbia, and Kendall Kidder, a New Mexico-born mining engineer and explosives expert. Margot was a delightful child who took pride in everything she did. At an early age, she became aware of the great emotions she felt towards expressing herself, and caught the acting bug. As a child, she wrote in a diary that she wanted to become a movie star, and that one day it would happen, but she had to overcome something else first. She was aware that she was constantly facing mood swings, but didn't know why. At odd times, she would try to kill herself - the first time was at age 14 - but the next day she would be just fine. Her father's hectic schedule and moving around so much didn't help matters, either, causing her to attend 11 schools in 12 years. Finally, in an attempt to help Margot with her troubles, her parents sent" her to a boarding school, where she took part in school plays, such as Romeo and Juliet", in which she played the lead.

After graduation, Margot moved to Los Angeles to start a film career. She found herself dealing with a lot of prejudice, and hotheads, but later found solace with a Canadian agent. This was when she got her first acting job, in the Norman Jewison film Gaily, Gaily (1969). This led to another starring role in Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970), in which she co-starred with Gene Wilder. After some harsh words from the film's director, Margot temporarily left films to study acting in New York, doing television work to pay her bills, but when the money ran out, she decided it was time to make a second try at acting. When she arrived in Hollywood she met up at a screen test with actress Jennifer Salt, resulting in a friendship that still stands strong today. Margot and Jennifer moved into a lofty beach house and befriended other, then unknown, struggling filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and Susan Sarandon, among others. Late nights would see the hot, happening youngsters up until all hours talking around a fire about how they were all going to change the film industry. It was crazy living and within the Christmas season, Margot had become involved with De Palma, and as a Christmas present he gave her the script to his upcoming film Sisters (1972). Margot and Salt both had the leads in the film, and it was a huge critical success.

The film made branded Margot as a major talent, and in the following years she starred in a string of critically acclaimed pictures, such as Black Christmas (1974), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), 92 in the Shade (1975) - directed by Thomas McGuane, who was also her husband for a brief period - and a somewhat prophetic tale of self-resurrection, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975).

After three years of being a housewife, looking after her daughter Maggie and not working, Margot decided it was time to let her emotions take control and get back into acting. Once her marriage to McGuane was over, she eyed a script that would change her life forever. Her new agent referred her to a little-known director named Richard Donner. He was going to be directing a film called Superman (1978), and she auditioned for and secured the leading female role of Lois Lane. That film and Superman II (1980) filmed simultaneously. After the success of "Superman" she took on more intense roles, such as The Amityville Horror (1979) and Willie & Phil (1980). After that, Margot starred in numerous films, television and theater work throughout the 1980s, including Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). When the 1990s erupted with the Gulf War, Margot found herself becoming involved in politics. She made a stir in the biz when she spoke out against the military for their actions in Kuwait. She also appeared in a cameo in Donner's Maverick (1994).

In 1996, as she was preparing to write her autobiography, she began to become more and more paranoid. When her computer became infected with a virus, this gave her paranoia full rein, and she sank into bipolar disorder. She panicked, and the resulting psychological problems she created for herself resulted in her fantasizing that her first husband was going to kill her, so she left her home and faked her death, physically altering her appearance in the process. After an intervention took place, she got back on her feet and started the mental wellness campaign. Since then, she resumed her career in film, television, and theatre, including appearing in a Canadian stage production of "The Vagina Monologues", and in films like The Clown at Midnight (1998).

Margot died on May 13, 2018, in Livingston, Montana.

Mitch Hedberg was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on February 24, 1968. He began his stand-up career in Florida, and after a period of honing his skills there he moved to Seattle and began touring. He soon appeared on MTV's "Comikaze", then a 1996 appearance on [error] brought him his big break. He won the 1997 grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. The next year saw him appearing on Fox's hit series That '70s Show (1998). In 1999 he completed his own independent feature film, Los Enchiladas! (1999), which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. He has also recorded two comedy CDs entitled "Mitch All Together" and "Strategic Grill Locations". He has appeared at the 2001 Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival. Mitch Hedberg died on March 30, 2005 of a drug overdose. He will be sadly missed by all.

William Hjortsberg was born on 23 February 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Legend (1985), Angel Heart (1987) and Thunder and Lightning (1977). He was married to Margaret Jane Camp, Sharon Leroy and Marian Souidee Renken. He died on 22 April 2017 in Livingston, Montana, USA.

Square-jawed 'tough guy' actor Morgan Conway's chief claim to fame was being the screen's first feature film Dick Tracy (though Ralph Byrd, who bore a closer physical resemblance to Chester Gould's comic strip detective, had previously enacted the part in four 1930's Republic serials). Columbia University graduate Conway, incidentally a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, started off in films as a small-part actor, playing just about anything from hoodlums to murder victims. His break came courtesy of a long-term contract with RKO (1939-47), which starred him as the nominal hero or romantic interest in a number of modestly-budgeted second features. His role as the stoic Dick Tracy, taking on protagonists with names like Splitface, Cueball, Vitamin Flintheart and Filthy Flora of the Dripping Dagger Inn, proved to be the high point of Conway's brief sojourn in Hollywood. Despite objections from the author, RKO reinstated Ralph Byrd for the next Tracy instalment. Conway's contract was not renewed and he left the industry forthwith to work in real estate on the East Coast.

Joseph Striker was born on 23 December 1898 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Annie Laurie (1927), The House of Secrets (1929) and The Wall Street Mystery (1920). He was married to Beatrice Smith. He died on 24 February 1974 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

"Two Ton" Tony Galento, a stogie-smoking pugilist and bar-owner who claimed he trained on beer, hamburgers, and spaghetti, was one of the most colorful characters to ever contend for the heavyweight title.

Born Dominic Anthony Galento on March 12, 1910 in Orange, New Jersey, he earned his nickname after driving his ice truck to an arena, arriving just before the start of one of his fights. Spotting him in the parking lot, his manager asked him where he'd been.

"I had two tons of ice to deliver on my way here," Galento said. The greatest clown in boxing history had arrived.

Galento, a dirty fighter who would deliberately head-butt, gouge, low-blow, and elbow his opponents, was one of the toughest men ever to box professionally. Defeating Lou Nova, Al Ettore, and Nathan Mann on his way to a shot at the heavyweight title, he was the most famous member of "The Brown Bomber" Joe Louis' "Bum of the Month Club." The underdog Galento earned fistic immortality when he sent Louis to the canvas in the second round of their title bout. Louis admitted that he might have been the toughest man he ever met in the ring.

Blessed with a lethal left hook, a roundhouse punch that could stagger the world's best boxers, Galento began his climb up the heavyweight division in 1928, a time when pro fighters fought almost every month. He was notorious for his street-fighting style that flouted the rules and often led to fouls. But it was as a clown that Galento would achieve immortality, and it was a style he perfected early on.

On one night in Detroit in 1931, Tony took on three opponents and K.O.ed them all, drinking beer between rounds. Ten minutes before a 1932 fight with Arthur DeKuh, he took on a $10 bet that he could consume 50 hot dogs. He won the bet, and then the fight in four rounds.

The 5-foot-9 brawler, who sported a fighting weight of 235 to 240 lbs., resembled an ambulatory beer barrel, according to one sports reporter. A bar-owner, Tony made much of his lack of training, which might consist of him posing for photographers quaffing down a brew at his bar, or wrestling with a rubber car tire suspended from a tree that had been a child's swing before Tony picked it as a sparring partner. Tony was a fat clown, and proud of it.

"Nobody really liked him except maybe the guys who hung out in his saloon," his corner man, Ray Arcel, admitted . "He was a crude guy, to put it mildly, who would resort to all sorts of foul tactics to win a fight."

Joe Louis, who eventually became friends with him, said that he hated the uncouth Galento because of his insults and race baiting, a crude psychology that Two-Ton Tony used to unsettle the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Tony was interviewed by a reporter before his title fight with Louis:

Reporter: Tony, what do you think your chances are against Joe Louis? Galento: Joe who? Reporter: Joe Louis. Galento: I never hoid of da bum.

While the Galento persona was popular among the people and helped hype the fight, Louis was offended by the lack of respect. The Champ, a fighter who hated clowning in the ring, had his pride further bruised in the second round, when Tony sent him to the canvass for a two-count. The crowd and press were stunned.

Galento got his shot at Louis' title before 30,000 fans in Yankee Stadium on June 28, 1939. Before the fight, the six-to-one underdog baited the Brown Bomber, telephoning the Louis household and insulting Joe and his family, using racial epithets. Galento even made a sexual innuendo about Louis' wife during the pre-fight introductions, which caused the normally calm Louis to lose his composure.

"He got to me, and I hated him for it," Louis remembered. "I never hated anybody before. I decided to punish him before I knocked him out. I wanted it to go into later rounds, but he kept calling me dirty names during the fight. So I ended it."

Galento, who out-weighed Louis by 33 pounds, started the fight by bullying the discomfited World's Heavyweight Champion in the first round, almost sending him to the canvas with a left hook. At the end of the round, Louis was wobbly when he returned to his corner. In the second, Joe was staggered again, but he rallied late in the round and knocked Galento down, the first time Two-Ton had hit the canvass in his pro career.

After Galento got up, The Champ started connecting with jabs, but seemingly out of nowhere, Tony launched his lethal left hook and it was Louis' turn to hit the canvass. Though Joe got up at the count of two, his legs were wobbly. But Galento could not finish Louis off. Two-Ton Tony's time of fistic immortality was over.

By the fourth, the six foot, two-inch Louis began using Galento's head as a speed bag. The fight was stopped by the referee at 2:29 of the round with Two-Ton Tony on the ropes. The next day, newspapers quoted Galento putting down Joe Louis:

"He's not as good as they rate him. He can't take a punch. I would have won. He pushed me and I went down. They shouldn't have stopped the fight."

Two-Ton Tony had required 23 stitches to stop the bleeding.

Galento's career went downhill after reaching the pinnacle against the great Joe Louis. Though he went on to manhandle Lou Nova, the Baer brothers, Max and Buddy, beat him up badly in two fights. Like Louis, the normally easy-going Max, the only Jewish heavyweight champ in history, wound up hating Two-Ton Tony. Max claimed he enjoyed beating the stuffing out of Galento more than he did winning the heavyweight title back in 1934.

After Max's brother, the six-foot, six-inch Buddy, badly beat Tony in a 1941 fight, Galento decided to try another way to make a living. As a wrestling referee, he often wound up wrasslin' with his wrestlers before an appreciative crowd. He returned to the ring in 1943, but quit after he K.O.ed Jack Suzek in 1944.

It was time to hang up the gloves, tie on the white apron, and retire to his New Jersey bar, which served as headquarters for his joke campaign as the Prohibition Party candidate for president. He appeared with fellow Bum of the Month club members Tami Mauriello and Abe Simon in the classic movie "On the Waterfront," tried stand-up comedy, and appeared on TV with Joe Louis, commenting on their title fight. He even became friends with the Brown Bomber.

Joe Louis learned to like the crude clown. He had charisma, Louis said. His problem was that he had been born out of his time. Tony should have been a bare-knuckle fighter, as "The man was absolutely fearless."

Two-Ton Tony Galento died on July 22, 1979 from complications of diabetes. His crudity as a boxer was balanced out by his happy-go-lucky demeanor outside the ring which made him a beloved figure to locals and those fans who still remembered the pre-war days of heavyweight boxing.

William L. Snyder was one of the first Americans to conduct business in post-war Central Europe, setting up Rembrandt Films in 1949 for the purpose of film importation. The first film imported, receiving critical acclaim in the US, was Czech "Cisaruv slavik" (1951) (q.v.) [The Emperor's Nightingale], directed by Jiri Trnka with added narration by Boris Karloff. He also imported the French classic "Le Ballon rouge" (1956) (q.v.) [The Red Balloon]. In 1959 he joined animator Gene Deitch (former head of UPA Studies, NY) producing cartoons in Prague. They received five Oscar nominations, winning for best animated short subject with "Munro" (1960) (q.v.), a Jules Feiffer tale about a 4-year-old drafted into the army. Rembrandt also pioneered in animating well-know children's books. He died, aged 80, at the Adventist Nursing Home in Livingston, NY, survived by his wife, two daughters Trinka and Dana, and four grandchildren.

Al Feldstein was born in 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. He was interested in comics and comic art from an early age, and attended art school at night while working as assistant for a comic publisher by day. After a stint in the Army Air Corp during WW II, Feldstein returned to work as a freelancer. In 1947, he landed a job with EC Comics, where he quickly rose to editorship. He edited, wrote, drew, and created such titles as Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Crime Suspenstories, Shock Suspenstories and Panic.

Feldstein was famous for his bizarre aliens and gory horror images, but he was also responsible for adapting the works of Ray Bradbury into comic form, and publishing some of the early works of Harlan Ellison. In 1955, EC got out of the comic business to focus on publishing its humor magazine, "MAD". After "MAD" creator Harvey Kurtzman left EC, Al Feldstein became editor, a job he held until his retirement in 1984. During his editorship, he was responsible for the creation of MAD's trademark spokesperson, Alfred E. Neuman, as well as increasing circulation to almost 3,000,000. Now living in Montana, Mr. Feldstein still draws, but focuses more on wildlife and nature subjects.

Henry Orenstein was born on 13 October 1923 in Hrubieszów, Lubelskie, Poland. He was a writer and producer, known for The Transformers: The Movie (1986), The Transformers (1984) and Poker Superstars II (2005). He was married to Susie and Adele Bigajer. He died on 14 December 2021 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Composer ("Whistle Stop"), pianist and author, educated at City College of New York. He was a dance-band pianist in the orchestras of George Hall and Benny Goodman, and harpsichordist in Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five in 1940 and 1941. In 1947 he formed his first group, and was the music director of the First Army on Governors Island in New York, also composing music for and performing in recruiting shows in 1950. Since 1954 he was on the NBC staff. Joining ASCAP in 1956, his other popular-song and instrumental compositions include "A Gliss to Remember" and "Looky Here, Here's Me!".

Nancy Mitchell was born on 17 April 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for This Man Craig (1966), Taggart (1983) and Solo for Canary (1958). She died on 25 March 2007 in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, UK.

Irwin Levine was born on 23 March 1938. He was a composer, known for The One (2001), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). He died on 21 January 1997 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Michael Marcus was born on 16 October 1947. He was a set decorator and art director, known for The Hunger Games (2012), Strange Days (1995) and Hearts in Atlantis (2001). He died on 10 September 2017 in Livingston, Montana, USA.

Nathan C. Heard was born on 7 November 1936 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Gordon's War (1973). He died on 16 March 2004 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Kevin Erb was born on 28 August 1958 in Alameda, California, USA. He was an actor, known for War of the Worlds (2005), Battle Los Angeles (2011) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003). He died on 17 March 2023 in Livingston, Montana, USA.

Ed Lucas was born on 3 January 1939 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was married to Allison Pfeifle and Margaret Geraghty. He died on 10 November 2021 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Vincent Reddish was born on 28 April 1926 in Leigh, Lancashire, England, UK. He was married to Elizabeth. He died on 2 January 2015 in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, UK.

Christopher R. Coover was born on 3 April 1950 in Greeley, Colorado, USA. He was married to Lois Adams. He died on 3 April 2022 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Barry Halper was born on 3 December 1939 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He is known for The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998) and 60 Minutes (1968). He was married to Sharon, Sharon Halper and Carole. He died on 18 December 2005 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Stirlin Harris was born on 12 November 1941 in Rochester, New York, US. Stirlin was a director and assistant director, known for The Blue Bird (1976), Glenn Medeiros: Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You (1987) and The Secret Life of Nikola Tesla (1980). Stirlin died on 30 April 2018 in Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, US.

Robert Jackson was born in 1931 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for Encounter (1952). He died on 17 August 2003 in Livingston, New York, USA.

Sheila Oliver was born on 14 July 1952 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She died on 1 August 2023 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Jeff Cronin was born on 9 March 1953 in New York, USA. Jeff was an art director, known for Freejack (1992), Love Potion No. 9 (1992) and Love Comes to the Executioner (2006). Jeff died on 22 September 2013 in Livingston, Montana, USA.

Hemant Makker was a producer, known for Pastiche (2020), 2 Brothers (2016) and Room 203 (2014). Hemant died on 30 September 2020 in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.

Tony Kelly was born in 1918 in London, England, UK. He was an assistant director, known for In America (2002), Cracks (2009) and The MatchMaker (1997). He died on 25 September 1953 in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia.