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- Art Department
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The archetypal "Renaissance Man," Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest scientific minds as well as one of the greatest visual artists the human race has ever produced. The illegitimate son of a wealthy Florentine notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo was born in Tuscany on April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, a town near Vinci, which is in the proximity of Florence.
When he was about 17 years old, Leonardo was apprenticed as a garzone or studio boy to the workshop of the Renaissance master Andrea Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and artist of his day. From roughly 1469 to 1476, Leonardo acquired a variety of skills during his apprenticeship at Verrocchio's workshop, including painting altarpieces and panel pictures and making large sculptures in bronze and marble. In 1472, he joined the painters' guild, and six years later, he became an independent master. His first commission was in 1478, to paint an altarpiece for the Palazzo Vecchio's chapel. The painting was never executed. Florence's Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto commissioned Leonardo's first large painting in 1481. 'The Adoration of the Magi' was left unfinished when Leonardo left Florence for Milan approximately a year later, to work for Duke Lodovico Sforza as court artist and as an engineer.
Leonardo had written the Duke of Milan touting his skills as a military engineer. In his letter, Leonardo claimed that he could build portable bridges, manufacture cannon, and build ships and war machines, including armored vehicles and catapults. He also told the Duke he could sculpt in bronze, clay and marble. He worked for the Duke of Milan for almost 18 years, painting portraits, designing festivals, and planning to sculpt a massive equestrian monument to honor the Duke's father. In addition to serving the duke as an architect and working for him as a military engineer, Leonardo assisted the mathematician Luca Pacioli in the celebrated work Divina Proportione.
Leonardo's interest in science began to flourish in Milan, and as a civil and military engineer, he delved into the field of mechanics. His scientific research also embraced anatomy, biology, mathematics, and physics. It was during this period that he finished "The Last Supper," which along with the "Mona Lisa," is his most significant masterpiece.
France captured Milan in 1499, and Leonardo moved to Mantua and then to Venice to seek employment. By April 1500, he had returned to Florence, though two years later, he left to work for Cesare Borgia, the Duke of Romagna, in a military capacity. The son of Pope Alexander VI, Borgia served his father as his general in-chief. Leonardo. as the duke's chief architect and engineer, supervised construction on forts in the Papal states in central Italy.
Back in Florence in 1503, Leonardo served on the art commission of artists that determined the proper placing of Michelangelo's sculpture 'David.' Florence was at war with Pisa, and Leonardo served the city-state as a military engineer while continuing his scientific research. Leonardo began to design a painting for the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio to commemorate the Battle of Anghiari, a Florentine victory over Pisa. While Leonardo produced a full-size sketch in 1505, he never executed the wall painting. During his second residency in Florence, Leonardo painted the portrait 'La Giocondane,' more famously known as Mona Lisa. Leonardo apparently was quite fond of the completed work, as it accompanied him on all of his subsequent travels.
Arguably the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa is a bravura technical performance. The innovative Leonardo exhibits his mastery of chiaroscuro, the technique of modeling and defining form through contrasts of light and shadow, and sfumato, the technique of using subtle transitions between areas of color. The Mona Lisa, like many of his paintings, features a landscape background utilizing atmospheric perspective. Leonardo was one of the first painters to introduce atmospheric perspective into art, and his work influenced the High Renaissance Florentine masters, including Raphael. He also was a major influence on the artistic development of Correggio.
Returning to Milan in June 1506, at the invitation of French governor Charles d'Amboise, Leonardo went to work for the French court, which with King Louis XII of France, was residing in the Italian city. Except for a sojourn back in Florence in the period 1507-08, Leonardo stayed in Milan for seven years, though he returned to Florence often to visit his half-brothers and -siters and to manage his inheritance. In 1507, Leonardo went was named court painter to King Louis XII.
In Milan, he worked on engineering projects and on the planning of an equestrian statue to honor Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the French military commander of Milan. The statue was never realized. During this Milan stay, scientific research became paramount. He applied his artistic gifts toward scientific illustration. In addition to his study of anatomy, he studied the stratification of rocks and researched the principles behind light, the flow of water, and the growth of plants. Leonardo's method was to draw and describe things by first approaching the surface before delving in to the underlying structure. He was interested in exactly describing the appearance of natural things in order to analyze their functioning. Similar to his artistic innovations, Leonardo's scientific theories were based on careful observation, precisely documented. He also made sketches of mechanical devices for the transmission of energy.
Along with Giuliano de'Medici, the brother of Pope Leo X, Leonardo moved to Rome in 1514. Enjoying the patronage of Pope Leo X, he lived in the Palazzo Belvedere in the Vatican and was mostly concerned with scientific experimentation. In 1516, he left Italy and moved to France to become the architectural adviser of King Francis I, an admirer of his work. Leonardo lived at the Château de Cloux, near Amboise, France, where he died on May 2, 1519 at at the age of 67.- Émile Souvestre was born on 15 April 1806 in Morlaix, Finistère, France. He was a writer, known for Stiffelio (2012). He was married to Anne Papot and Cécile Ballot-Beaupré. He died on 5 July 1854 in Paris, France.
- Wilhelm Busch was a German painter, poet and satirist, best known for his drawings that were accompanied by wise, satiric, doggerel verse. His Bilderbogen (pictorial broadsheets) are considered to be precursors of the comic strip.
In 1859, after study at academies in Duesseldorf, Antwerp, and Munich, Busch began to contribute comic sketches series to Fliegende Blätter and Münchener Bilderbogen, published in Munich. These were followed by his continuous pictorial narratives (bilderposse) short verse-texts. These included his most famous work Max und Moritz and Der heilige Antonius von Padua, Die fromme Helene, Hans Huckebein, Dideldum!, and Herr und Frau Knopp.
By 1910 over half a million copies of Max und Moritz and his works had been translated into over 200 languages.
In Germany, Busch's work continues in popularity and his writings are widely quoted in German-speaking countries. His style has been copied by innumerable artists. - Henry James was born 15 April 1843, to a wealthy family. He was born in New York, New York USA. His parents were Henry James Sr. and Mary Robertson Walsh; He had one brother William James (January 11 1842-August 26 1910) and one sister Alice James. When Henry James was a young boy he would enjoy reading the classics of English, American, German, French, and Russian literature. Also when he was a kid he and his family would travel back and forth to England and the United States of America. Henry James educated in New York City, London, Paris and Geneva.
He tried to strive for a higher education then he decided it was not for him and writing was his calling in life. (When Henry James was at the age of 19 he briefly attended Harvard Law School, but preferred reading literature to studying law). When Henry James hit the age of 21 he decided to write his first novel, A Tragedy of error. From that point on he started to write. He went on to write 23 more novels in his lifetime (this is a short list of the book's he wrote the Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady, The American, Washington Square, The Bostonians, and The Wings of the Dove). Henry James also was an extraordinarily productive on top of all of his novels he wrote he published articles an, biography, autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays (one of them being Guy Domville), some of which were performed during his lifetime with moderate success. Henry James also wrote a whole lot of short stories for either the local news or just for fun. He often wrote for the New York tribune. Henry James was a key stone writer of his time (He was one of the foremost literary figures of his time, leaving us an enormous body of novels, 'tales' (short stories), literary and art criticism, autobiography and travel writing). Throughout his life he was in love with his cousin, Mary Temple, but later in life while he was in London he became homosexual, the young man he started to wright was at the age of 27 and Henry James was at the age of 56. He also wrote another guy named, Howard Sturgis. They started to write back and forth and they started to have more emotion in the letters. He also started to write a woman named Lucy Clifford; But Henry James never got married in his lifetime. Henry James brother William James died when Henry James was at the age of 67; Henry James had a stroke on Dec 2nd of 1915. His health started to decline from then. He died in London in Feb. 28th of 1916. When he died he was not only a citizen for the United States of America but also a British subject. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes are interred at Cambridge, Massachusetts. - Pol de Mont was born on 15 April 1857 in Wambeke, Flanders, Belgium. He was a writer, known for De verrijzenis van Ons Heer (1979). He died on 29 June 1931 in Berlin, Germany.
- Art Director
Heinrich Kleys was born on 15 April 1863 in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He was an art director, known for The Three Passions (1928). He died on 8 February 1945 in Munich, Germany.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Lincoln J. Carter was born on 15 April 1865 in Rochester, New York, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Chattanooga (1912), The Cyclone Rider (1924) and The Eleventh Hour (1923). He was married to Mrs. Mary L. Beane Whitmer and Louisa Maria Simms. He died on 13 July 1926 in Goshen, Indiana, USA.- Born Robert Leroy Parker in Beaver, Utah, in 1866, the outlaw later to become famous as Butch Cassidy (he took the name Butch because he was once a butcher and the name Cassidy in honor of a local rancher who had befriended him as a youth) started his criminal career at an early age, stealing livestock when he was just a teenager. He soon left the Beaver area and hooked up with other rustlers and thieves, eventually forming a gang known as The Wild Bunch, which included such well known desperadoes as The Sundance Kid and Harvey Logan. The gang began robbing banks, payrolls and trains all over Colorado and Utah, and became so proficient at it that the Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired to run them down, and in addition a $4000 bounty (a huge sum at the time) was placed on their heads. The gang soon broke up and Cassidy and his partner The Sundance Kid headed to Mexico. Even that wasn't far enough, however, as both the Pinkerton detectives and professional bounty hunters were soon in Mexico looking for them, so they fled to Argentina, where they set up shop--under assumed names--as cattle ranchers. The ruse worked for a while until one night The Sundance Kid, under the influence of too much alcohol, began to brag about the many robberies they had gotten away with. A few days later a bank in a nearby town was robbed by two English-speaking bandits, and suspicion immediately fell upon the two, who were forced to pull up stakes and flee again. They wound up in Chile, and though they made several attempts to settle down and give up their lives of crime, circumstances dictated otherwise. They eventually crossed into Bolivia with plans to rob a bank in the small town of San Vicente. A hotel worker, having heard that the police were on the lookout for two English-speaking bank robbers, became suspicious of the pair and informed the local police chief. The chief and two of his men approached them in a restaurant, whereupon the Sundance Kid opened fire, killing one of the officers. The two gunmen fled and the police requested help from an army cavalry regiment that happened to be in town, and the soldiers and police soon trapped Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in a small house, where, after an all-night siege and gun battle, the two were found dead the next morning of gunshot wounds. Although rumors have surfaced over the years claiming that the pair actually escaped the battle and returned to the US, so far no real evidence has surfaced to conclusively prove that story.
- Robert Livingston Beeckman was born on 15 April 1866 in New York City, New York, USA. He died on 20 January 1935 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Emil Lindh was born on 15 April 1867. He is known for Murtovarkaus (1926), Suursalon häät (1924) and The Price They Pay (1924).
- Francisco Braga was born on 15 April 1868 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a composer, known for Bandeirantes (1940). He died on 14 March 1945 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Harry C. Bradley was born on 15 April 1869 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The House of Mystery (1934), Riding on Air (1937) and Heat Lightning (1934). He was married to Lottie Alter and Lurelle Lancing Waters. He died on 18 October 1947 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Young Griffo was born on 15 April 1869 in Millers Point, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor, known for Young Griffo v. Battling Charles Barnett (1895). He died on 7 December 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Adele Garavaglia was born on 15 April 1869 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She was an actress, known for Il fu Mattia Pascal (1937), Piccolo mondo antico (1941) and Ecco la radio! (1940). She was married to Ferruccio Garavaglia. She died on 11 March 1944 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
- Arthur Hardy was born on 15 April 1870 in Marylebone, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Dreyfus Case (1931), The Amazing Adventure (1936) and Raise the Roof (1930). He died in 1951 in Fulham, London, England, UK.
- Jan Sten was born on 15 April 1871 in Warsaw, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. Jan was married to Stella Maria Brunner. Jan died on 5 December 1913 in Kraków, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire [now Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland].
- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Arthur Melbourne Cooper was born in St. Albans, England, in 1874. He was one of the founders of the British film industry and the creator of the world's first animation films (or "trick" films, as he called them). Matches: An Appeal (1899) was made for a government advertising campaign to invite public donations of matches for soldiers fighting in the Boer War. Prior to 1900, Melbourne Cooper worked with pioneer cinematographer Birt Acres. Although specializing in animation (Dolly's Toys (1902), he also produced fiction and live action movies.
He established Alpha Trading Company in St. Albans in 1904, and wrote and directed films under contract for other organizations. From 1904-1909 he co-directed with Robert W. Paul, experimenting with movies that combined live-action footage with model animation and fantasy story lines. These included Toy Maker and Good Fairy (1904), The Fairy Godmother (1906), Dreams of Toyland (1908) and Tale of the Ark (1909). After Paul's retirement in 1910, Melbourne Cooper continued to produce and direct, such as Cinderella (1912), Wooden Athletes (1912) The Toymaker's Dream (1910). Alpha was a surprisingly early example of a vertically integrated production, distribution and exhibition company. The company's office were adjacent to the studio site which, which covered nearly two acres and included a restaurant, hairdressing salon, shops, public baths and a single-screen theater, a forerunner of the concept popularized by recent multiplex operators. Renamed the Poly, and still under the management of Cooper, it was re-opened as the Regent with a Palais de Dance in the basement in 1926. Unfortunately, the site was destroyed by fire in 1927.
Arthur Melbourne Cooper died in Barnet, Hertfordshire, in 1961.- Actor
- Soundtrack
At age 23, the year 1897, Herbert began a long experience of his career towards acting on the British Theater. During that time the theater was still owned by the eminent Thomas Alva Edison. As a classically trained British actor he began by acting in small parts on screen and off. Fans will probably remember his most as the ineffectual Dr. Seward in the classic Universal Pictures film Dracula (1931). In fact Herbert essayed the part both in the film and the stage. When the 1927 stage play of Dracula was released he played the very same role of Dr. Seward on the play, as did another British actor, Edward Van Sloan who played Professor Van Helsing both on the play and on screen. After many years with the British stage he moved on to play parts in Broadway. A very capable actor with his versatile tie and cultured masculinity. By the late 1930s, Herbert became an older gentlemen in his late fifties and continued both on stage and screen to play authoritative supporting roles mostly of which were film versions of classic literature novels and plays. By 1935, his career was tragically cut short of a heart attack. He died at sixty-one.- Lou Archer was born on 15 April 1874 in Oxford, Ohio, USA. He is known for Duty's Reward (1927), Babe Comes Home (1927) and Lightning Reporter (1926).
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Songwriter ("L' Amour, Toujours, L' Amour", "Dilly-Dally-O"), composer and author, educated at girls' schools. She wrote the Broadway stage librettos for "Glorianna" and "Lassie", and the librettos for "Marjolaine" and "Topsy and Eva". Joining ASCAP in 1935, her chief musical collaborators were Rudolf Friml and Hugo Felix. Her other popular-song compositions include "Chianti", "John and Priscilla", "When Brown Eyes Looked in Eyes of Blue" and "Read Between the Lines".- James J. Jeffries was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1899 to 1905 but he is best known to history for coming out of retirement to take on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion in history, in what was called "The Fight of the Century". That fight ensured Jeffries' place in American history as Johnson is a significant figure in not only sports history but in the social history of the United States for his role as a mirror on and lighting rod for racism.
Jack Johnson was not the first black boxer Jeffries had fought. On his way up through the ranks he had fought and beaten such notables as Hank Griffin, whom Johnson had failed to beat in three fights, and Peter "Black Prince" Jackson, the Australian heavyweight champ who had fought future heavyweight champ 'Gentleman Jim (1942)" Corbett to a draw in 61 rounds in 1891. It was Jackson's first defeat in 13 years and he retired shortly after. His victory over the black boxer Bob Armstrong, the "King of the Battle Royal", won him a title shot with Bob Fitzsimmons, the Cornishman from New Zealand who had beaten 'Gentleman Jim (1942)" Corbett for the world's heavyweight title. Though Fitzsimmons was the favorite, the younger and heavier Jeffries knocked him out in the 11th round. Jeffries would later successfully defend his title against the top heavyweights, including Corbett, but he did not fight a black challenger.
Interestingly, the black light-heavyweight Sam Langford, who was denied a title shot by Jack Johnson, advertised he would take on any boxer in the world, except for Jim Jeffries. The left-handed Jeffries, in those first years of "scientific boxing" pioneered by Jem Mace and Corbett, fought from a crouch and was able to inflict and absorb terrific punishment. In a rematch with Fitzsimmons, the Cornishman had cut both of Jeffries' cheeks to the bone, opened up cuts over his eyes and broke his nose, and Jeffries still managed to knock him out. Jeffires broke the ribs of three of his opponents, including Gentleman Jim.
Jeffires had refused to fight Jack Johnson after he won the "World Colored Heavyweight Championship" in 1903. Blacks had not been allowed to fight for the heavyweight championship after James L. Sullivan, "The Boston Strong Boy, the bare-knuckle champion who refused a title match to Peter Jackson and "Old Chocolate" George Godfrey, a Canadian who had emigrated to Boston. By refusing to meet Johnson in a title match when he was champ, Jeffries kept the color bar in tact even though it already had been broken at a lower weight class. Joe Gans had become the first African American to win a title belt when he became lightweight champion in 1902, but when Johnson became the heavyweight champ in 1908 by beating Tommy Burns, racist white Americans were outraged. The hunt for "The Great White Hope" to reclaim the title for Caucasian America was on.
Uninterested in assuming "The Great white Hope" mantle, Jeffries was not an avowed racist and really did not want to fight any more. Like Rocky Marciano after him, he had retired as an undefeated champion. Unfortunately, he came back for more and forfeited his spotless record and Marciano remains the only undefeated heavyweight champion in history.
Jeffries was goaded into stepping back into the ring to face Johnson by such people as the writer Jack London. Sources say he was offered an unprecedented $120,000 (approximately $2.8 million in 2012 dollars) to fight Johnson. The former champ was out-of-shape and had to burn off 100 lbs. to get down to fighting trim. In their match up on the Fourth of July in Reno, Nevada, Johnson knocked him to the canvas twice, something that had never before happened in his illustrious his career. Jeffries' corner threw in the towel at the start of the 15th round to prevent the former champ from the humiliation of being knocked out.
Johnson won a $65,000 purse (approximately $1.5 million in 2012 dollars) in his title defense. News of his victory touched off celebrations among black folk across the country and sparked race riots in 50 cities in 25 states. ("Race riot" at the time meant a white-on-black conflict, "riots" that were initiated by lynching-minded whites.) Twenty-three African Americans and two whites perished in the riots, and hundreds more injured.
A movie made of the match, "Jeffries-Johnson World's Championship Boxing Contest, Held at Reno, Nevada, July 4, 1910 (1910)", received wide distribution, but many local politicians stepped in to ban the movie from being shown in their bailiwicks, lest there be more violence. Even former President Theodore Roosevelt, a sports enthusiast, came out against the distribution of the movie in particular and boxing movies in general. (T.R. was friendly to the aspirations of colored people; at the time, the Republican Party -- the Party of Abraham Lincoln -- was the political home of African Americans.) Congress banned the interstate transportation of boxing movies in 1912 (a ban not repealed until 1940).
Jeffries retired back to his alfalfa farm in Burnbank, California but kept his hand in the fight game as a trainer and boxing promoter. He died in 1953 at the age of 77. - Producer
- Executive
H.H.B. Holland was born on 15 April 1875 in Canada. H.H.B. is known for Evangeline (1914).- Cameron Carr was born on 15 April 1876 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Trent's Last Case (1920), Fox Farm (1922) and The W Plan (1930). He died in 1944 in Surrey, England, UK.
- Ernst Klein was born on 15 April 1876 in Vienna, Austria. He was a writer, known for At the End of the World (1921), Der gestohlene Professor (1924) and Wer wirft den ersten Stein (1922). He died in 1951 in New York, USA.
- Concha Espina was born on 15 April 1877 in Santander, Cantabria, Spain. She was a writer, known for Broken Lives (1935), Guacho (1954) and La esfinge maragata (1950). She was married to Ramon de la Serna y Cueto. She died on 19 May 1955 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Additional Crew
Michael D. Kadri was born on 15 April 1877 in Syria. He is known for The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). He died on 4 March 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Robert Walser was born on 15 April 1878 in Biel, Switzerland. He was a writer, known for Der Räuber, The Walk (2021) and The Year of Living Locked Up (2020). He died on 25 December 1956 in Herisau, Kanton Appenzell, Switzerland.
- Charles Lunsford Neville Buck was born on April 15, 1879 in Midway, Woodford County, Kentucky to the Honorable Charles William Buck and Elizabeth Crow Bullitt.
Charles studied at the Cincinnati Academy of Art around 1898 to 1899. It is possible he graduated from the art academy in 1899, although I can't confirm this. After he left the art academy, he then became a cartoonist on the staff of the Louisville, Kentucky newspaper 'The Evening Post' from 1899 to 1900. Around 1900, Charles moved over to the editorial staff of the Louisville Evening Post and Morning Herald. He worked as a reporter on the staff until around 1908.
While on staff at the newspaper, Mr. Buck studied at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky; where he acquired a law degree in 1902. Although he passed the bar in 1902, he never practiced law.
It was from 1908 on, that he tried his hand at writing short stories, and he culminated his writing ambitions with his first novel 'The Key to Yesterday' in 1910. From that point forward, his writing career soared with the author totaling 24 novels in the period spanning 1910 to about 1932. Nine of those novels were scripted and made into silent films. Unfortunately, only one of those silent films still exists today.
Charles married Margaret Field DeMotte in New York City on June 20, 1918. Margaret had a son John F. DeMotte, from her previous marriage to Lawrence DeMotte; but Margaret and Mr. Buck never had any children.
It is not known (to this author) what Charles did after 1932. His life is shrouded in relative obscurity from 1932 to his death in Brookline, Massachusetts in August of 1957. - Georg Wiinblad was born on 15 April 1880 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was a writer, known for Kampen om hans hjärta (1916). He died in 1965.
- Aleksandr Bryantsev was born on 15 April 1883 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Na Lunu s peresadkoi (1934), Chastnyy sluchay (1934) and Glavnyy prospekt (1956). He died on 30 September 1961.
- Stanley Bruce was born on 15 April 1883 in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was a writer, known for Give Me Action (1930). He was married to Ethel Dunlop Anderson. He died on 25 August 1967 in London, England, UK.
- George McKay was born on 15 April 1884 in Minsk, Russian Empire [now Belarus]. He was an actor, known for Devil's Playground (1937), The Face Behind the Mask (1941) and Underground Agent (1942). He was married to Ottie Ardine. He died on 3 December 1945 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actress
Flo Promis was born on 15 April 1884 in Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress. She was married to ? Parry. She died on 23 April 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Lewis was born on 15 April 1884 in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. He is known for College (1927). He was married to Mallie B. Elder. He died on 17 January 1960 in San Diego, California, USA.- Johannes Lennø was born on 15 April 1884 in Aalborg, Denmark. He was an actor, known for Dødsbokseren (1926), Uniformens Magt (1915) and H.P. hænger paa 'en (1916). He was married to Ebba. He died on 21 January 1943.
- Nathalie Krause was born on 15 April 1884 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was an actress, known for Had og Kærlighed (1917), Brændemærket (1913) and Lejla (1914). She was married to Adam Poulsen. She died on 1 September 1953.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Albert Sharpe was born on 15 April 1885 in Belfast, Ireland [now Northern Ireland], UK. He was an actor, known for Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Royal Wedding (1951) and Brigadoon (1954). He was married to Margaret Waterson. He died on 13 February 1970 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Richard Travers was born on 15 April 1885 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor and director, known for The Man Trail (1915), The Unholy Night (1929) and In the Palace of the King (1915). He was married to Violet Palmer, Lillian May Cattell aka May Franklin and Augusta West. He died on 20 April 1935 in San Pedro, California, USA.- Renée Thorel was born on 15 April 1885. She was an actress, known for La Malibran (1944), Les maris de Léontine (1947) and Impasse (1946). She died on 1 December 1971.
- Zofia Dobrzanska was born on 15 April 1885 in Posen, Prussia, Germany [now Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland]. She was an actress, known for Kosciuszko pod Raclawicami (1938). She died on 17 February 1963 in Skolimów, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Lili Poór was born on 15 April 1886 in Mariancs, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. She was an actress, known for Lila test, sárga sapka (1918), Jó éjt, Muki! (1916) and A vén bakancsos és fia, a huszár (1918). She was married to Jenö Janovics. She died on 29 November 1962 in Cluj, Romania.
- Earl Benham was born on 15 April 1886 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was married to Christine Mangasarian (actress). He died on 21 March 1976 in Northport, Long Island, New York, USA.
- Jack O'Donnell was born on 15 April 1886 in Norwalk, Ohio, USA. He was a writer, known for King for a Night (1933), The Sap from Syracuse (1930) and The Gentleman from Arizona (1939). He died on 14 January 1965 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Frank Conklin was born on 15 April 1886 in Atchison, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Federal Man-Hunt (1938). He died on 6 June 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Amédée Ozenfant was born on 15 April 1886 in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, France. He died on 4 May 1966 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Nikolai Gumilev was born on 15 April 1886 in Kronstadt, Russian Empire [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. He was a writer, known for Svidanie v teatre pepla (2000) and Golos (2012). He was married to Anna Akhmatova. He died on 25 August 1921 in Berngardowka, Petrograd Governorate, RSFSR [now Leningrad Oblast, Russia].- Violet Bonham Carter was born on 15 April 1887 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. She was married to Maurice Bonham Carter. She died on 19 February 1969.
- Alexandra Kropotkin was born on 15 April 1887 in Bromley, London, England, UK. She died on 4 July 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
The American character actress, Florence Rabe, was the daughter of an antique store owner. She gained a degree in Mathematics from the University of Texas in 1906 and went on to a career in teaching and social work. She changed course after being persuaded by a friend to study law, and, passing her bar exam in 1914, practised for four years in San Antonio. When her parents died, she took over the business and travelled abroad extensively to acquire stock, all the while adding to her knowledge of foreign languages (she was, for instance, a fluent Spanish speaker). After the Wall Street crash of 1929, Florence sold the antique store and married Texan oilman William F. Jacoby. Jacoby eventually went bankrupt and the couple moved to California in the late 1930's, briefly becoming proprietors of a bakery.
At this time, Florence, a heavy-set woman of matronly appearance and well into her middle age, developed an interest in acting and auditioned for the part of Miss Bates in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Jane Austen's 'Emma'. This proved to be a momentous career choice. Her popularity became such, that she went on to leading roles with the same company, changing her name to Florence Bates as a nod to her perceived good fortune. In 1939, she screen tested for Alfred Hitchcock, who was sufficiently impressed to cast her as the demanding, imperious dowager Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper in Rebecca (1940). Her excellent performance was the first in a gallery of memorable characters: wealthy socialites, irritable, henpecking wives, hotel managers (The Moon and Sixpence (1942)), theatre owners (Tonight and Every Night (1945)) and unctuous, gossipy landladies (Portrait of Jennie (1948)). She was equally adept at comedy, appearing to great effect in Heaven Can Wait (1943) and Lullaby of Broadway (1951), with frequent co-star S.Z. Sakall, aka 'Cuddles'. She was enjoyably larger-than-life as Danny Kaye's prospective mother-in-law in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and as Vera-Ellen's inebriated Russian dance teacher, Madame Dilyovska, in On the Town (1949). Bates even essayed a murderess in The Brasher Doubloon (1947). Destined never to win any awards, Florence Bates continued in films until her death in 1954. She was pre-deceased by her sister, her only daughter and her husband.- Greta Almroth was born on 15 April 1888 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Parson's Widow (1920), Sången om den eldröda blomman (1919) and Mästerman (1920). She died on 24 July 1981 in Stockholm, Sweden.