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1-15 of 15
- Actor
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Arthur Towle was in show business from when he left school in1900 until his dying day. He started as an Irish character comedian in British music halls. Touring Ireland with this act in 1913, he met Kitty McShane and married her later that year (she was 16, he 28). They gradually evolved the act of "Old Mother Riley and her Daughter" (Arthur, in drag, playing the former), which maintained popularity for nearly 40 years, and Arthur adopted the stage name Lucan to sound more Irish. The fame of Lucan and McShane did not go much beyond provincial music halls until the first Old Mother Riley film was released. Cheaply made and highly profitable, 17 films (1937-1952) starred Lucan in the richly comic role of Mrs. Riley, making him a Top Ten star in England in 1942. The gangly Mother Riley was usually a charwoman or laundress, but some entries found her running a shop or pub with the aid of her daughter, Kitty. Lucan's comedy came from Mother Riley's absurd predicaments, eccentric ways, facial and bodily contortions, and malapropism-filled tirades against all who displeased her, seasoned with "knockabout" slapstick. By 1951, Lucan and McShane had separated, and Kitty did not appear in Arthur's last film, though he continued to support her. He was struggling with a large tax debt in 1954 when he unexpectedly collapsed and died in a Yorkshire theatre before his stage show.- Actress
- Stunts
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Ava Lavina Gardner was born on December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth (née Baker) and Jonas Bailey Gardner. Born on a tobacco farm, where she got her lifelong love of earthy language and going barefoot, Ava grew up in the rural South. At age 18, her picture in the window of her brother-in- law's New York photo studio brought her to the attention of MGM, leading quickly to Hollywood and a film contract based strictly on her beauty. With zero acting experience, her first 17 film roles, 1942-1945, were one-line bits or little better. After her first starring role in B-grade Whistle Stop (1946), MGM loaned her to Universal for her first outstanding film The Killers (1946). Few of her best films were made at MGM which, keeping her under contract for 17 years, used her popularity to sell many mediocre films. Perhaps as a result, she never believed in her own acting ability, but her latent talent shone brightly when brought out by a superior director, as with John Ford in Mogambo (1953) and George Cukor in Bhowani Junction (1956).
After three failed marriages, dissatisfaction with Hollywood life prompted Ava to move to Spain in 1955; most of her subsequent films were made abroad. By this time, stardom had made the country girl a cosmopolitan, but she never overcame a deep insecurity about acting and life in the spotlight. Her last quality starring film role was in The Night of the Iguana (1964), her later work being (as she said) strictly "for the loot". In 1968, tax trouble in Spain prompted a move to London, where she spent her last 22 years in reasonable comfort. Her film career did not bring her great fulfillment, but her looks may have made it inevitable; many fans still consider her the most beautiful actress in Hollywood history. Ava Gardner died at age 67 of bronchial pneumonia on January 25, 1990 in Westminister, London, England.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
After growing up in a small Arkansas town, Bob Burns qualified as a civil engineer, but also worked as a salesman, farmed peanuts, and in World War I was a Marine sergeant and champion rifleman. His great interest from boyhood was music, and from 1911 his main career was in entertainment. He played musical instruments including his trademark "bazooka", led bands, and did blackface comedy in vaudeville, carnivals, and appeared in early talking films. In 1931 he began a long career in radio, his first real success in 1935 leading to a six year stint on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall show and ultimately (1941-47) his own program, playing the bazooka and telling tall tales about mythical hillbilly relatives like Uncle Fud and Aunt Doody. His association with Crosby led to a long-term movie contract at Paramount, for 12 popular films beginning with Rhythm on the Range (1936). His film character was a slow talking, philosophical, bazooka-playing hillbilly or bumpkin who may have looked gullible, but eventually outwitted the city slickers. Despite this stereotyped character, Bob did draw the line somewhere; he and Paramount parted ways after he refused to appear in a proposed 1941 film which he felt would ridicule "the people of his native hills". He made a few films for other studios, then retired from the entertainment field in 1947. Land investment had made Bob rich, and he spent his last years on his 200-acre model farm in Canoga Park, California.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Carole Landis was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin, as Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. Her father, a railroad mechanic, was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Polish. Her father walked out, leaving Carole, her mother and an older brother and sister to fend for themselves.
After graduating from high school, she married Jack Robbins (Irving Wheeler), but the union lasted a month (the marriage was annulled because Carole was only 15 at the time). The couple remarried in August 1934, and the two headed to California to start a new life. For a while she worked as a dancer and singer, but before long the glitter of show business drew her to Los Angeles.
She won a studio contract with Warner Brothers but was a bit player for the most part in such films as A Star Is Born (1937), A Day at the Races (1937), and The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937). The following year started out much the same way, with more bit roles. By 1939, she was getting a few speaking roles, although mostly one-liners, and that year ended much as had the previous two years, with more bit roles; also, she and Wheeler were divorced.
In 1940 she was cast as Loana in the Hal Roach production of One Million B.C. (1940); she finally got noticed (the skimpy outfit helped), and her career began moving. She began getting parts in B pictures but didn't star in big productions -- although she had talent, the really good roles were given to the established stars of the day.
Her busiest year was 1942, with roles in Manila Calling (1942), The Powers Girl (1943), A Gentleman at Heart (1942), and three other movies. Unfortunately, critics took little notice of her films, and when they did, reviewers tended to focus on her breathtaking beauty. By the middle 1940s, Carole's career was beginning to short-circuit. Her contract with 20th Century-Fox had been canceled, her marriages to Willis Hunt Jr. and Thomas Wallace had failed, and her current marriage to Horace Schmidlapp was on the skids; all of that plus health problems spelled disaster for her professionally and personally.
Her final two films, Brass Monkey (1948) and The Silk Noose (1948) were released in 1948. On July 5, 1948, Carole committed suicide by taking an overdose of Seconal in her Brentwood Heights, California, home. She was only 29 and had made 49 pictures, most of which were, unfortunately, forgettable. If Hollywood moguls had given Carole a chance, she could have been one of the brightest stars in its history.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born and raised in Alabama as Ann Steely, O'Donnell attended high school and college in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, then worked as a stenographer to finance a trip to Hollywood, where she was spotted by a talent scout, leading to her being signed to a contract by producer Samuel Goldwyn.
Recognizing her talent and appeal through a thick Southern accent, Goldwyn arranged rigorous voice & theatrical training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and elsewhere, bestowed on her a winsome Irish stage name, and cast her in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). This film's success boded well for Cathy's career, and soon she was starring in the now-classic They Live by Night (1948). However, her rise in films was checked when, on Sunday, April 11th, 1948, at age 24, she married 48-year-old producer Robert Wyler, older brother of one of Hollywood's most accomplished directors, William Wyler, whose own long-term contract with Goldwyn had recently ended acrimoniously. The irate Goldwyn abruptly canceled her contract; thereafter she had no lasting association with any studio or producer. Her most memorable roles of the 1950s were in classic films noir, such as Detective Story (1951), where her sincere, sweet girl-next-door persona was at odds with those films' dark, gritty milieu. Her last and most famous film was Ben-Hur (1959), after whose enormous success she worked on TV until 1961. Belying Goldwyn's opinion, her marriage to Wyler proved happy, though childless. Her death on their 22nd wedding anniversary, Saturday, April 11th, 1970, followed a long struggle with cancer.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The story goes that 19-year-old Colleen Miller was fishing in the California mountains when a resort photographer recruited her to pose with a prize trout; a movie scout saw the picture in print, and Colleen wound up with a small role in The Las Vegas Story (1952). A more noticeable role in Man Crazy (1953) brought the brunette beauty a contract at Universal, where she quickly became a second-rank star in westerns and film-noir. Her best notices were for Playgirl (1954), Four Guns to the Border (1954) and Man in the Shadow (1957), gaining critical praise for her fine natural talent and carefree sensuality. She retired in 1958 (except for one B-western in 1963) for a domestic life with her husband and 2 children. After her 1975 divorce she reportedly considered resuming her career, but has made no more films to date. In 1976 she married Walter Ralphs of the Ralphs Grocery chain and remained married to him till his death in 2010.- Actress
- Producer
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Independent, outspoken Constance Bennett, the first of the Bennett sisters to enter films, appeared in New York-produced silents before a chance meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in Cytherea (1924). She abandoned a burgeoning career in silents for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925; after they divorced, she achieved stardom in talkies from 1929. The hit Common Clay (1930) launched her in a series of loose lady and unwed mother roles, but she really excelled in such sophisticated comedies as The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Ladies in Love (1936), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Her classy blonde looks, husky voice and unerring fashion sense gave her a distinctive style. In the 1940s she made fewer films, working in radio and theatre; shrewd in business, she invested wisely and started businesses marketing women's wear and cosmetics. Loving conflict, she feuded with the press and enjoyed lawsuits. Her last marriage, to a U.S. Air Force colonel, was happy and gave her a key role coordinating shows flown to Europe for occupying troops (1946-48) and the Berlin Airlift (1948-49), winning her military honors. Still young-looking, she died suddenly at age 60 shortly after completing the last of her 57 films.- Actress
- Additional Crew
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Dolores Diane (her first stage name) made her film debut at age 14 in Girls' Town (1942), a "B" picture from low-rent PRC, then played a series of juvenile roles at Universal in 1943-45 (sometimes as part of a teen dancing group known as The Jivin' Jacks and Jills). She worked at MGM (where her stage name became Helene Stanley) and elsewhere from 1945-50 and at 20th Century-Fox in 1952, but her roles never rose above starlet level. Her last role at MGM, notable if uncredited, was in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) as the sexy teenager who causes Doc's downfall. Her live-action cinema career ended with Dial Red O (1955), both English and German-language versions. However, in a second career she made major, if invisible, contributions to Disney animated features, which used live-action films as the basis for animation. Helene modeled Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and the young wife in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Amusingly, one critic complained that Cinderella was too "voluptuous"! Also for Disney, Helene appeared in the Davy Crockett TV-films as Davy's wife Polly. Helene was (briefly) the third wife of gangster Johnny Stompanato, whose subsequent fatal affair with Lana Turner made headlines. Her second marriage to David Niemetz, a Beverly Hills physician, was happier, and she formally retired from show business on the birth of her son in 1961. The cause of her 1990 death was not reported.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ina Ray Hutton, daughter of pianist Marvel Ray, sang and danced in stage revues from the age of 8, culminating in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. In mid-1934, she organized an "all-girl" band, the Melodears, featuring hot swing music and Ina Ray's hot dancing in sexy gowns. Ina Ray starred with her band in several Paramount musical shorts, 1935-37, and appeared as herself in a few feature films, but her chief claim to film fame is the starring role in a Columbia musical, Ever Since Venus (1944) (1944). The Melodears broke up in 1939 and Ina Ray organized an all-male band which played through the forties. She was the only woman to lead a prominent Big Band in that era. From 1951-1956 her new all-female band had a show on regional TV, with a brief national network run in 1956. She retired from music in 1968; she was divorced from her fourth husband, businessman 'Jack Curtis' when she died at age 67 of complications from diabetes.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Born in 1916 in Chicago, Jeni Le Gon trained at Mary Bruce's School of Dancing and performed as a chorus girl, later in vaudeville, from age 16. In Hollywood she appeared in her debut film, Hooray for Love (1935), as dancing partner of the great Bill Robinson. Though primarily a dancer, Jeni sang well and was an appealing, attractive light actress when (rarely) given the chance. In Hollywood films 1935-49, her earlier appearances were in specialty dance numbers; later, as with most black stars of the time, in servant roles. In the forties, Jeni played leads or second leads in at least 5 independently produced all-black cast films. She appeared on the New York stage periodically (playing leads in all-black productions) and later managed the Dance and Drama Playhouse in Los Angeles. After guest appearances on "Amos 'N' Andy" (1951) she faded from public view.- Actress
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Joan Geraldine Bennett was born on February 27, 1910, in Palisades, New Jersey. Her parents were both successful stage actors, especially her father, Richard Bennett, and often toured the country for weeks at a time. In fact, Joan came from a long line of actors, dating back to the 18th century. Often, when her parents were on tour, Joan and her two older sisters, Constance Bennett, who later became an actress, and Barbara were left in the care of close friends. At the age of four, Joan made her first stage appearance. She debuted in films a year later in The Valley of Decision (1916), in which her father was the star and the entire Bennett clan participated. In 1923 she again appeared in a film which starred her father, playing a pageboy in The Eternal City (1923). It would be five more years before Joan appeared again on the screen. In between, she married Jack Marion Fox, who was 26 compared to her young age of 16. The union was anything but happy, in great part because of Fox's heavy drinking. In February of 1928 Joan and Jack had a baby girl they named Adrienne. The new arrival did little to help the marriage, though, and in the summer of 1928 they divorced. Now with a baby to support, Joan did something she had no intention of doing--she turned to acting. She appeared in Power (1928) with Alan Hale and Carole Lombard, a small role but a start. The next year she starred in Bulldog Drummond (1929), sharing top billing with Ronald Colman. Before the year was out she was in three more films--Disraeli (1929), The Mississippi Gambler (1929) and Three Live Ghosts (1929). Not only did audiences like her, but so did the critics. Between 1930 and 1931, Joan appeared in nine more movies. In 1932 she starred opposite Spencer Tracy in She Wanted a Millionaire (1932), but it wasn't one she liked to remember, partly because Tracy couldn't stand the fact that everyone was paying more attention to her than to him. Joan was to remain busy and popular throughout the rest of the 1930s and into the 1940s. By the 1950s Joan was well into her 40s and began to lessen her film appearances. She made only eight pictures, in addition to appearing in two television series. After Desire in the Dust (1960), Joan would be absent from the movie scene for the next ten years, resurfacing in House of Dark Shadows (1970), reprising her role from the Dark Shadows (1966) TV series as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Joan's final screen appearance was in the Italian thriller Suspiria (1977). Her final public performance was in the TV movie Divorce Wars: A Love Story (1982). On December 7, 1990, Joan died of a heart attack in Scarsdale, New York. She was 80 years old.- Actress
- Writer
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Kathleen McShane was only 15, but must have been mature for her age, when she met and married Arthur Lucan, 26-year-old English comedian on tour in Ireland, in 1913. The act of Lucan and McShane was a music hall favorite for nearly 40 years. They gradually evolved the stage characters of Old Mother Riley (Lucan in drag) and her attractive daughter Kitty, whose flighty, wayward ways occasioned many of Mother's hilarious tirades. Kitty appeared in 14 of the 15 low-budget but popular Old Mother Riley films made from 1937-1952. Besides playing "straight" for Lucan's comedy, Kitty carried the love interest in the films, always being single at the start of a new film even if marriage was impending in the last. Arthur and Kitty's own marriage ended in separation by 1951; in Kitty's last film, Jungle Treasure (1950), their scenes were filmed on separate days! Kitty opened a beauty salon, which failed, while Arthur continued to support her, making one more film and many stage appearances before his sudden death in a theatre. The widowed Kitty enlisted an impersonator (usually Roy Rolland) to carry on the act, but with little success. She was found dead in her London home at age 66; the cause was not reported.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lyda's father was German clown Roberti, her mother a Polish trick rider. As a child performer, she toured Europe and Asia with the Circus in which she was born, leaving it (and her reportedly abusive father) in Shanghai, China. In this truly international city, Lyda became a child cafe entertainer and learned the fractured English that became her trademark. Around 1927, she emigrated to California, finding work in vaudeville, where she was "discovered" in 1930 by Broadway producer Lou Holtz and became an overnight star in his 1931 show 'You Said It'. Lyda's unforgettable stage and screen character was a sexy blonde whose charming accent and uninhibited man-chasing were played for hilarious laughs. From 1932-35 she made 8 comedy and musical films mainly at Paramount, with Fields, Cantor, and other great comedians; her unique singing style was also popular on the radio and records. Her health declining from premature heart disease, she briefly replaced the late Thelma Todd in Hal Roach comedy shorts with Patsy Kelly and appeared in 3 features for MGM and Columbia, then retired from film work a few months before her fatal heart attack at age 31.- Actress
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This Kansas redhead, only 16 when she was cast in Seven Days' Leave (1942), was already working as a nightclub entertainer. When her first role received excellent notices, stressing her singing and wide-eyed appeal, she was signed to an RKO contract. RKO made little use of her comedy talent, assigning her to a series of second leads for "jitterbug appeal" in low-budget musicals. In most of these, she played a mature-looking, boy-crazy teen with a vital, stimulating personality. Her most memorable screen moment (aside from her songs) was swooning at Frank Sinatra's feet in Higher and Higher (1943). Following her marriage to actor Wally Cassell in 1947, she had only two more roles, and definitely retired from acting in 1952. Husband Cassell (in films 1943-58) went into business, and the couple subsequently owned the prosperous Law Printing Co., which was sold in 1993. Marcy has two children and is a grandmother.- Actress
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Born in Boston, Veda Ann Borg was a New York model in 1936 when a screen test brought her a short-lived contract at Paramount, where she made her debut film, Three Cheers for Love (1936). She fit better at Warner Brothers, where she played at least 15 roles (some of them bits) in 1937-38; but in 1939 a severe auto crash, requiring full facial reconstruction by plastic surgery, interrupted her career. Still attractive, she freelanced through the 1940s, often at "poverty row" studios like Monogram. In many of her films (both before and after the accident) she played a brassy, man-hungry, lower-class sexpot. Despite considerable talent, she received leading roles only in a few B films like What a Blonde (1945). Veda could make the smallest bit part memorable, though, with one line or a bit of business. Who could forget the sassy once-over she gives Wayne Morris in Kid Galahad (1937) or her "modderen singer of modderen songs" in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947). Her later roles were more varied, from a zombie to Blind Nell (a memorable last role) in The Alamo (1960). Veda's second marriage (1946-1958), to director Andrew V. McLaglen, produced three children: Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, and Andrew Victor McLaglen II. She died of cancer in Hollywood at age 58 after at least 100 film roles.