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- Writer
- Music Department
Honoré de Balzac was a French writer whose works have been made into films, such as, Cousin Bette (1998) starring Jessica Lange, and television serials, such as Cousin Bette (1971), starring Margaret Tyzack and Helen Mirren.
He was born on March 20, 1799, in Tours, France. His father, Bernard Francois Balzac, was a government regional administrator who married a daughter of his boss. The family moved to Paris in 1815. There Balzac went to the Sorbonne, matriculated in jurisprudence and became a clerk for an attorney.
Balzac's efforts at publishing his early novels under a pseudonym and in his own publishing company failed, and he went into debt. His activity as a journalist brought recognition among intellectuals for his political and cultural reviews, which resonated with the mixed social expectations during the Restoration. However, with the 1830 fall of the Bourbon monarchy came the new, "bourgeous" (or capitalist) monarchy, a chimera doomed to fall in the 1848 revolutions that swept Europe. Such was the political background for Balzac's literary works.
Balzac created the idea of a serialized cross-genre web of stories and novels, linked together as a broad historic panorama of lives and events. This idea was implemented in his "La Comedie humane" ("The Human Comedy"). It included about 100 stories, novels and essays, some of them unfinished. Such a vast body of handwriting could not be possible without an obsession. His plans and plots grew constantly and often changed, just to include a new idea based on a fresh gossip. Altogether his works reflected on a mosaic of life in Paris, and France in general, from the 1820s to 1850.
"Les Chouans" (1829) was a prologue to the collection of Balsac's interconnected works, known as the Human Comedy; it really opened with "Scenes de la Vie Privee", six Scenes From a Private Life (1830-1832) and "La Peau de chagrin" (The Goat-skin 1831). Balzac was writing 14 to 18 hours a day and often through the night, constantly doping himself with countless cups of coffee. He draw upon ideas from the works of Walter Scott and William Shakespeare, as in 1835's "Le pere Goriot" ("Father Goriot"), a "King Lear" type of story set in 1820s Paris. He also created many of his own purely original plots and introduced over 2,000 characters through the books of the Human Comedy. The largest "stones" in his pyramid of fiction are "Eugene Grande" (1833), a thousand-page saga; "Les Illusions Perdues" ("Lost Illusions"); "Le cousin Pons" (1847), "La Cousine Bette" (1848). His novel "Eugenia Grande" was translated into Russian in 1844 by the young writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.
One year before his death, being in declining health, Balzac traveled to Poland to see his pen-friend of 15 years, Countess Evelina Hanska. She was a wealthy lady of the Polish nobility. They married in Berdichev, Russian Empire, in 1850, when Balzac had only three months left to live. He died on August 18, 1850, in Paris, and was laid to rest in the cemetery of Père Lachaise.- Writer
- Composer
- Actor
C. Hostrup was born on 20 May 1818 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was a writer and composer, known for Genboerne (1939), Seikkailu jalkamatkalla (1936) and Genboerne (1952). He died on 21 November 1892 in Frederiksberg, Denmark.- Emile Erckmann was born on 20 May 1822 in Phalsbourg, Moselle, France. He was a writer, known for The Bells (1914), The Bells (1918) and Polish Jew (1931). He died on 14 March 1899 in Lunéville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.
- Hector Malot was born on 20 May 1830 in La Bouille, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was a writer, known for Ai no machi (1928), Sans famille (1914) and Sans famille (1925). He was married to Marthe Oudinot de la Faverie and Anna Dariès. He died on 17 July 1907 in Fontenay-sous-Bois, Seine [now Val-de-Marne], France.
- Felix Arndt was born on 20 May 1889 in New York City, New York, USA. Felix died on 16 October 1918 in Harmon-on-Hudson, New York, USA.
- J.H. Deuntzer was born on 20 May 1845 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He died on 16 November 1918 in Denmark.
- James Kyrle MacCurdy was born on 20 May 1875 in Stockton, California, USA. James Kyrle was a writer, known for Broken Hearts of Broadway (1923) and A Little Girl in a Big City (1925). James Kyrle was married to Kate Woods Fiske. James Kyrle died on 5 December 1923 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Director
- Actor
Walter Morton was born on 20 May 1875 in Iowa, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Chocolate Soldier (1914), The Folly of Revenge (1916) and A Race with Death (1916). He died on 2 February 1926 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.- Grete Lundt was born on 20 May 1892 in Temesvar, Austria-Hungary. She was an actress, known for Die schwarze Fahne (1919), Husbands or Lovers (1924) and Ohne Zeugen (1919). She died on 31 December 1926 in Germany.
- Gilda Leary was born on 20 May 1890 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Seventh Noon (1915). She died on 17 April 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Albert Steinrück was born on 20 May 1872 in Wetterburg, Bad Arolsen, Hesse, Germany. He was an actor, known for Asphalt (1929), Helen of Troy (1924) and Der Richter von Zalamea (1920). He died on 10 February 1929 in Berlin, Germany.
- Frederick Truesdell was born on 20 May 1870 in Coldwater, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915), My Own United States (1918) and Camille (1915). He was married to Jeanne Margaret Fournier and Ethel Dovey. He died on 9 May 1929 in Quincy, Michigan, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
William Hauber was born on 20 May 1891 in Brownsville, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Passing the Buck (1919), Well, I'll Be (1919) and The Fly Cop (1920). He was married to Myrtle E. Crosthwaite. He died on 17 July 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Sidney Franklin was born on 20 May 1870 in New York, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Three Musketeers (1921), Welcome Children (1921) and The Sleeping Lion (1919). He was married to Minnie G. McWilliams. He died on 18 March 1931 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Hubert Druce was born on 20 May 1870 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Please Help Emily (1917), The Night Angel (1931) and My Wife (1918). He was married to Jeanette, Edith Alice Druce (actress) and Frances Dillon. He died on 6 April 1931 in New York City, New York, USA.
- King Faisal I was born on 20 May 1885 in Mecca, Ottoman Empire [now in Saudi Arabia]. He died on 8 September 1933 in Bern, Switzerland.
- Actress
- Writer
Dorothea Baird was born on 20 May 1875 in Teddington, England, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for Motherhood (1917) and Princess Clementina (1911). She was married to H.B. Irving. She died on 24 September 1933 in Broadstairs, England, UK.- Edouard Trebaol was born on 20 May 1905 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Oliver Twist (1922), Jinx (1919) and The Haunted Valley (1923). He died on 11 October 1935 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- István Géczy was born on 20 May 1860 in Alsóábrány, Hungary. He was a writer, known for Gyimesi vadvirág (1921), Az ördög mátkája (1927) and Gyimesi vadvirág (1939). He died on 8 January 1936 in Budapest, Hungary.
- British aircraft designer RJ Mitchell was born Reginald Joseph Mitchell in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in 1895. His father was a school headmaster and owned a printing business. RJ, as he came to be known, got interested in aviation while attending high school, and began making and flying his own model airplanes. It wasn't long before he developed a reputation among his fellow students for being "mad" about aircraft. When he turned 16 he entered an apprenticeship with a firm that designed locomotives. He started at the workshop where the engines were built and eventually worked his way up to the drawing office, meanwhile taking evening classes in drawing, mechanics and higher mathematics.
In 1917, after finishing his apprenticeship, he applied to be assistant to Hubert Scott-Pain, the owner and chief designer of Supermarine Aviation Works in Southampton, and was accepted. In less than a year he was promoted to assistant to the works manager. In 1918 he married Florence Dayson, the headmistress of a childrens school. They had one son.
In 1919 the 24-year-old Mitchell was made chief designer, and the next year chief engineer. For almost 20 years Mitchell was to design and develop more than 20 aircraft for the company. Supermarine, established in 1912, had specialized in manufacturing seaplanes--or, as they were called back then, "flying boats"--and Mitchell improved on the company's already solid reputation in that field. He designed an armed flying boat called the Southampton--based on an earlier craft he had designed called the Swan--and the British military establishment was so impressed with Mitchell's design and concept of the plane that it ordered six of them before the first one had even been built. When the craft made its debut in March 1925, it lived up to everyone's expectations. The RAF equipped six of its squadrons with the Southampton and it remained in service for more than ten years, making Britain a pioneer in marine aviation and, incidentally, turning Supermarine into an extremely profitable concern.
Branching out into high-speed aircraft design, Mitchell developed the Sea Lion, a small biplane flying boat that won the 1922 Schneider Trophy race with an average speed of more than 145 mph. He entered the race the next year, but was tremendously impressed with another entry, the American Curtiss seaplane, which won the race. Mitchell began developing a series of "float" planes, and eventually came out with a series of four streamlined craft. One of them, the S5, won the Schneider trophy in 1927; its successor, the S6, took it in 1929 and the final one, the legendary S6B, won the race in 1931, with an average speed of 340 mph (it eventually set a world speed record of 407.5 mph). In 1932 Mitchell was awarded the CBE for his contribution to high-speed flight.
The quality and innovations of Mitchell's craft made him the top aircraft designer in Britain, and Supermarine signed him to an unheard-of ten-year contract in 1923. In 1927 he was made technical director for the company. He was so valuable to the firm that when Vickers took over Supermarine in 1928, one of the non-negotiable terms of its purchase was that Mitchell would be bound to the new company, without having the option to leave on his own, until 1933.
Mitchell's best-known aircraft, however, was the legendary Spitfire--the name was coined by the company, not Mitchell, and he hated it--fighter, which he began developing in 1934 and completed in 1936 and which is now considered a masterpiece that combined speed, maneuverability, agility and streamlined design; it has been termed by many experts "the plane that won the war for Britain". Unfortunately, however, Mitchell never saw the plane fly in combat--he died of cancer in Southampton, England, on June 11, 1937. - 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.- Virginia Waite was born on 20 May 1877 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Cripple (1914), The Mettle of a Man (1914) and The Skinflint (1915). She was married to James R. Waite and Edward W. Potter. She died on 18 January 1941 in Scarsdale, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stanley Fields was born on 20 May 1883 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Little Caesar (1931), Algiers (1938) and Hell's Kitchen (1939). He was married to Alta Bailey. He died on 23 April 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Music Department
- Composer
Robert Katscher was born on 20 May 1894 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a writer and composer, known for Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Wonder Bar (1934) and The Star of Valencia (1933). He died on 23 February 1942 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Writer
- Director
- Art Director
Ladislaus Tuszynski was born on 20 May 1876 in Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]. He was a writer and director, known for Kalif Storch (1924), Das Weib des Irren (1921) and Das andere Ich (1918). He was married to Gisela Foltermayer . He died on 21 September 1943 in Vienna, Austria.- The American stage and film actor Ralph "Rafe" Holmes was the son of the actors Taylor Holmes and Edna Phillips and the brother of actor Phillip Holmes. He is best remembered for being the second husband of legendary torch singer Libby Holman, who became a millionairess when a million dollars was a million dollars after her first husband, R. J. Reynolds tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds, shot himself to death in 1932 after an argument with her. Holmes, too, killed himself, as did Holman in 1971.
Holmes made his Broadway debut in January 1935 in the comedy "A Lady Detained." The play flopped, but his next production, You Can't Take It with You (1938) was a smash hit, playing for two years from 1936 to 1938. His last appearance on Broadway came in 1939, in the successful musical-comedy "Yokel Boy". The play opened in July, four months after he married Holman, who previously had been involved with his brother Phillip. He and his wife appeared on the summer stock circuit.
Along with his brother Phillip, Rafe Holmes joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 to fight the Axis during World War Two. (Their mother was Canadian.) Phillip was killed in 1942 in a plane accident in Canada, and Rafe allegedly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his war experiences, which exacerbated his chronic depression and alcoholism.
After returning from the war after being demobilized in August 1945, he was not welcomed back by his wife. He died from an overdose of barbiturates on November 15, 1945. - Production Manager
- Writer
Lee Hugunin was born on 20 May 1887 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Lee was a production manager and writer, known for Don't Get Jealous (1929). Lee was married to Lottie Mae Haguewood. Lee died on 23 November 1946 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.- Frank Atherley was born on 20 May 1863 in Fort William, Calcutta, India. He was an actor, known for Betrayal (1932), Carry On! (1927) and Sexton Blake, Gambler (1928). He was married to Katie Marian Bell and Jessie Tenniel. He died on 8 May 1947 in Kensington, London, England, UK.
- Camera and Electrical Department
James G. Woodbury was born on 20 May 1879 in Indiana, USA. James G. died on 11 May 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Pacifist writer Wolfgang Borchert was born in Hamburg, Germany. He began acting very young he and played several roles on stage before the outbreak of World War II when he was called up to serve in the German army. While serving as a soldier he made jokes about leading Nazis and was arrested. He was too young to be executed but while in jail he fell ill and the bad prison conditions made his condition worse. In May 1945 he returned home and started writing. His most famous play, "Draussen vor der Tuer", was originally developed for radio but received such a positive reaction from young Germans that it was later adapted for the theatre. One day before the premiere he died in hospital in Switzerland.- Actor
- Writer
Theodor Tufwesson was born on 20 May 1884 in Borrby, Sweden. He was an actor and writer, known for Skåningar (1944). He died on 25 December 1947.- Heinz Stieda was born on 20 May 1881. He was an actor, known for Hamlet (1921), Das Mädchen aus der Ackerstraße - 2. Teil (1920) and Die Madonna mit den Lilien (1919). He died on 20 May 1948 in Hamburg, Germany.
- Stunts
- Actor
Otto Metzetti was born on 20 May 1890. He was an actor, known for Slow as Lightning (1923), After a Million (1924) and Now or Never (1935). He died on 31 January 1949 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Sigrid Undset was born on 20 May 1882 in Kalundborg, Denmark. She was a writer, known for Camera Three (1955), Kristin Lavransdatter (1995) and Jenny (1983). She was married to Anders Svarstad and Anders Castus Svarstad. She died on 10 June 1949 in Lillehammer, Norway.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Animation Department
Leon Schlesinger occupies an odd niche in Hollywood history. He was every bit a studio mogul but occupied a narrow, if extremely lucrative corner of the industry, an animation company. He might have shared this corner with Walt Disney but the two men couldn't have been more different in their professional outlook, yet at one time or another each employed many of the same people, shared rabid anti-union attitudes and paid their talented staffs poorly. Unlike Disney, Schlesinger didn't set out to become a producer of animated cartoons, he owned the immodestly-named Leon Schlesinger Productions, which had evolved out of Pacific Art & Title, which was Warner Brothers' title card outfit back in the silent days. The company was not exclusive to Warner's, but Leon developed a particularly close friendship with Jack L. Warner and as legend has it, when the studio was up against the financial ropes, it was Schlesinger who helped finance The Jazz Singer (1927).
In 1929, Leon was approached by two unemployed 25-year old ex-Walt Disney animators, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, who had produced a novel 3-minute talkie cartoon, 'Bosko The Talk-ink Kid,' a plotless exercise made to demonstrate something Disney hadn't accomplished with his talkie-toon Steamboat Willie (1928): Bosko's voice was lip-synchronized. Harman and Ising had shopped the character and technique around town without any bites until they approached Schlesinger, who feared the vast majority of his rapidly dwindling title card business was about to be completely wiped out as studios converted over to sound. Animation was a natural move. On January 28, 1930 Schlesinger signed a contract with Harman and Ising to deliver a single cartoon within 60 days (!) with options for additional cartoons amounting to a year's production based on monthly delivery (!!). Leon then went to work on Jack Warner and landed a distribution deal and exercised his options. This middleman arrangement was to define Leon Schlesinger for the remainder of his career: unlike Disney he was no visionary -- Leon was simply out for money.
At the beginning of his career as a cartoon mogul, he also found time to briefly act as a producer for Warner's B-western unit, devoted to John Wayne low-budget oaters (these films featured plots and canned shots from earlier Ken Maynard films, complete with matching horses and wardrobes). Back on the animation side, with no small amount of conceit, he wanted his name on everything, despite having no creative input. Leon was simply, and often ruthlessly, committed to making the most money based on the artistic genius of others. And to Schlesinger, the obvious way to accomplish this was to keep his overhead costs to an absolute minimum.
Harman and Ising frequently clashed with Schlesinger over production budgets and color production. Leon predictably balked at cutting into his profits for the sake of art. By 1933, the boys had enough of Leon, quit and quickly signed Bosko to a distribution deal with MGM. Leon was left, except for certain copyrights (the names Looney Tunes, and Merrie Melodies, for example) virtually high and dry -- but not without a plan. Schlesinger, free of partners, quickly rallied. He got Warner's to lease him out a suitable space (the claptrap building was nicknamed 'Termite Terrace') and formed his own studio.
At the depth of the Great Depression, talent came cheap and Leon went about poaching select ex-Herman-Ising staff members such as Friz Freleng and Robert Clampett, along with hand-picked former Disney personnel, arguably the most important early key member of the team was Earl Duvall. Duvall created the first identifiable character of Schlesinger's new studio, a bland Caucasian Bosko-like kid named Buddy, who would appeared in 23 cartoons until 1938.
Schlesinger finally caved to color in 1934 with the 42nd Street (1933)-inspired Honeymoon Hotel, starring a variety of bugs. Schlesinger was acutely aware of Disney's domination of the animation industry -- they had 3-strip Technicolor locked up exclusively through 1936 and it was an open secret there was a Disney animated feature in the works. He countered with every asset cheaply available: Warner's excellent music library and outstanding orchestra and his staff was not bound by Disney's rigid policy of realism. By comparison, Schlesinger's individual production units (each headed by legendary directors like Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin and Chuck Jones) could be positively outrageous.
1936 saw the fortuitous hiring of ex-KGW Radio 'Hoot Owl' announcer Mel Blanc (hired to an exclusive contract some 4 years later) and an increasingly popular roster of new animated stars: Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and, especially Bugs Bunny (formally introduced in 1940). Fiercely anti-union, Schlesinger had few qualms over shutting his newly unionized studio down twice in the early 1940's balking at his animator's demands for higher wages.
Surprisingly, Leon didn't work for Warner's exclusively; he assigned units to work for animated segments of films for Paramount, RKO (Disney's distributor!) and Republic. Schlesinger himself remained as arrogant and egotistical as ever, decidedly non-creative while continuing to rail against spiraling costs, so this early golden age essentially happened despite his presence. Leon decided to sell his company to Warner Brothers in July, 1944 for $700,000.00 and in a measure of true Schlesinger generosity, he rewarded each of his directors a gold pen set and invited them to dinner at his mansion for the first and last time to celebrate their years together. The retired mini-mogul died on Christmas Day, 1949, his public reputation forever cemented by the words, 'A Leon Schlesinger Production' plastered on a multitude of classic cartoons.- Frank Holland was born on 20 May 1876. He was an actor, known for The Ventures of Marguerite (1915), Lola (1914) and Il trovatore (1914). He died on 8 July 1950 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, USA.
- Freddy Schweitzer was born on 20 May 1907 in Germany. He was an actor, known for She Shall Have Music (1935), Say It with Music (1932) and Band Waggon (1940). He died on 16 November 1950 in Edgware, London, England, UK.
- Chiquito de Cambo was born on 20 May 1881 in Cambo-les-Bains, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. He was an actor, known for Gachucha, fille basque (1923). He died on 27 December 1950 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France.
- American actor who specialized in timid or whiny characters. He appeared on the stage in England and in the USA, and performed in musical comedy. He began his film work in silents and often worked in the films of Hal Roach.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Osmo Saarnio was born on 20 May 1914 in Helsinki, Finland. He was an actor, known for Kaikki rakastavat (1935), Tanssi yli hautojen (1950) and Miehen vankina (1943). He was married to Elvi Saarnio. He died on 28 April 1953.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Paul Kemp was born on 20 May 1896 in Bad Godesberg [now Bonn], Germany. He was an actor, known for M (1931), Boccaccio (1936) and Amphitryon (1935). He died on 13 August 1953 in Bad Godesberg, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.- Director
- Producer
- Additional Crew
René Jayet was born on 20 May 1906 in Paris, France. René was a director and producer, known for Les aventuriers de l'air (1950), Retour au bonheur (1942) and Casaque damier... toque blanche (1928). René died on 31 October 1953 in Paris, France.- Antonie Langrová was born on 20 May 1880 in Prague, Cechy, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republik]. She was an actress, known for The Laughing Woman (1931), Muzi nestárnou (1942) and Zlaté dno (1943). She died on 1 January 1954 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- William Foran was born on 20 May 1879 in Willimantic, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for Studio One (1948). He was married to Paula H. Schillinger. He died on 9 March 1954 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Hans Effenberger was born on 20 May 1902 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was an actor and writer, known for Wir haben eben geheiratet (1949), Wir machen Musik (1942) and Der Monte Christo von Prag (1929). He died on 8 September 1955 in Vienna, Austria.- Genrikh Grigonis was born on 20 May 1889. He was an actor, known for Karmeliuk (1938) and Kto smeyotsya poslednim (1955). He died on 4 November 1955.
- Bob Sweikert was born on 20 May 1926 in Los Angeles, California, United States. He died on 17 June 1956 in Salem, Indiana, United States.
- Tom Smith was born on 20 May 1878 in Georgia, USA. He died on 23 January 1957 in Glendale, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Charles Dorety was born on 20 May 1898 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Golf Slappy (1942), The Dry Agent (1925) and Beneath Western Skies (1944). He died on 2 April 1957 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
A former typist, Estelle Taylor married a banker at age 14 and, after leaving him, moved to New York to study dramatic acting. She also modeled for artists and appeared in the chorus of a couple of Broadway shows. In the early 1920s she came to Hollywood and was noted as one of the film state's most beautiful women. In 1925 she married 1920s heavyweight champion boxer Jack Dempsey. On the night of December 4, 1944, she spent an evening of dinner and drinks with actress Lupe Velez and was the last person to see Lupe before she committed suicide. Taylor was founder and president of the California Pet Owners' Protective League and was widely known for her devotion to pets. In 1953 she served on the Los Angeles City Animal Regulation Commission.