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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
- Writer
José A. Martínez Suárez was born on 2 October 1925 in Villa Cañás, Santa Fe Province, Argentina. He was an assistant director and director, known for El crack (1960), Dar la cara (1962) and Los chantas (1975). He was married to Delia Magda Lovera Bojanich. He died on 17 August 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Actress
Alicia Montoya was born on 25 January 1918 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico. She was an actress, known for Lolo (1993), La vida de Chucho el Roto (1970) and Chucho el Roto (1968). She died on 17 August 2002 in Mexico D.F., Mexico.- Anne-Li Norberg was born on 5 October 1953 in Sollentuna, Stockholms län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Rederiet (1992) and Chock (1997). She died on 17 August 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Arthur Hiller was born on 22 November 1923 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was a director and producer, known for Love Story (1970), The Hospital (1971) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). He was married to Gwen Hiller. He died on 17 August 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Barney Phillips was an American actor of German descent. He was born in 1913 in St. Louis, Missouri, under the name "Bernard Philip Ofner". His father was Harry Nathan Ofner, a salesman employed in the leather industry. His mother was Leona "Lonnie" Frank, a German emigrant who became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1935, Phillips moved to Los Angeles, California, in hopes of working in the film industry. His film debut was the Western film "Black Aces" (1937), a B-movie produced by Universal Pictures. He had no other credited role in films for several years, though he had several theatrical credits.
In 1941, Phillips enlisted in the United States Army. He served in the signal corps during World War II. Following the war, he returned to the film industry, working mostly as an extra.
The first notable role of his career was the recurring character Sergeant Ed Jacob in the police procedural television series "Dragnet" (1951-1959). He voiced the recurring character of police sergeant Hamilton J. Finger in the radio series "Rocky Fortune" (1953-1954). The main character of the series was amateur sleuth Rocco "Rocky Fortune" Fortunato (played by Frank Sinatra).
Phillips was a prolific character on film and television for the following decades, though he was often typecast as a police officer in these roles. In the early 1960s, Phillips appeared in several episodes of the anthology television series "The Twilight Zone": "The Purple Testament" (1960), "A Thing about Machines" (1960) , "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (1961), and "Miniature" (1963). He is most remembered for the "Real Martian" episode, where he played the cook Haley. In the episode, Haley helps thwart an invasion of Earth from Martians. But reveals that he is an agent from planet Venus, and that he is preparing the Earth for colonization by his own planet.
Phillips was cast in the war-themed series" Twelve O'Clock High" (1964-1967) as one of the main characters, Doc Kaiser. The series featured the missions of the fictional 918th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) in World War II.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Phillips often worked as a voice actor for animated series. He voiced the powerful genie Shazzan in "Shazzan" (1967-1969), he voiced the strongman Porthos in the "The Three Musketeers" (1968-1969), and provided additional voices in "The Funky Phantom" (1971-1972).
In the late 1970s, Phillips was part of the main cast in the short-lived sitcom "The Betty White Show" (1978-1979). He played the character Fletcher Huff, a struggling actor co-starring in a police-procedural show-within-a-show, Phillips also played the recurring character of Judge Buford Potts in the action comedy "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979-1985).
Phillips died in 1982, due to cancer, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A few years following his death, Phillips received his final film credit, as the character Dr. Batt in the psychological drama "Beyond Reason". The film had been produced in 1977, but was not released until 1985. The film was mainly notable as a rare directing credit for actor Telly Savalas (1922-1994). - Belisario Roldán is known for El conde Orsini (1917).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bonar Colleano was born in New York City. His name was Bonar Sullivan, but he took on his family's stage name when he joined the Colleano family acrobatic circus act at 5, then at 12 moved to England. Bonar's mother, part of the Colleano family act in her role as a comely contortionist met his father in Australia, her home country. One of Bonar's ancestors, a boxer, had emigrated to Australia from Ireland. His descendents developed their famous family circus act. Bonar was named after his Uncle Bonar, who is well-known among circus historians for his expertise walking the wire. Bonar Colleano appeared in many British films, recognized widely as the wisecracking Yank. He had sexy, dark-haired good looks, which British females of the 1950s found irresistible, yet he spoke his lines with a puckish, Bob Hope kind of delivery. In the post-war era, he was a symbol of the many Yank GIs who had courted and married British women during World War II, fathering thousands. He married British Rank starlet, Susan Shaw, and had a son with her, actor Mark Colleano, who appeared opposite Rock Hudson in "Hornet's Nest" as a 14-year-old Italian boy. Bonar died in a road accident, coming back to London from a theatre engagement out of town. The 1958 tragedy made front page news in the English papers. Upon Bonar's death, his wife was never the same again, battling a drink problem till the end of her days in 1978. Bonar's own mother became the legal guardian of Mark and groomed him for an acting career.- Cayito Aponte was born on 22 April 1938 in La Victoria, Aragua, Venezuela. He was an actor, known for Radio Rochela (1959), Piel Salvaje (2016) and Rumildo detective privado (1982). He died on 17 August 2018 in Caracas, Venezuela.
- Cedric Benson was born on 28 December 1982 in Midland, Texas, USA. He died on 17 August 2019 in Austin, Texas, USA.
- Christine Shaw was born on 2 May 1932 in England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Avengers (1961), The Guardians (1971) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). She died on 17 August 2003 in London, England, UK.
- Director
- Producer
- Editor
Clarence Leon Brown was the son of Larkin Harry and Catherine Ann (Gaw) Brown of Clinton, Massachusetts. His family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, when he was 12 years old. He graduated from Knoxville High School in 1905 and from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in mechanical and electrical engineering in 1912. After graduation Brown settled in Alabama, where he operated a Stevens Duryea dealership called the Brown Motor Car Co. He soon tired of the car business and, fascinated by the movies, moved to New Jersey to study with French director Maurice Tourneur at Peerless Productions in Fort Lee.
During his career Brown directed or produced more than 50 widely-acclaimed full-length films--many during his long association with prestigious MGM--and worked with many of the industry's most illustrious performers. He also maintained close ties with the University of Tennessee, donating the money necessary to construct the institution's Clarence Brown Theatre during the 1970s and an additional $12 million after his death.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Claudio Lolli was born on 28 March 1950 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Disamistade (1988), Claudio Lolli: Nessun Uomo è un Uomo Qualunque (2001) and Io e la mia sedia (2011). He died on 17 August 2018 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Daniel Mendoza was an actor, known for Acompáñame (1966) and Las barras bravas (1985). He died on 17 August 1992 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- David McReynolds was born on 25 October 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He died on 17 August 2018 in Manhattan, New York, USA.
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Although Delmer Daves obtained a law degree at Stanford University, he never had the opportunity to use it; while still in college, he obtained a job as a prop boy on The Covered Wagon (1923) and after graduation was hired by several film companies as a technical advisor on films with a college background. Soon afterward he entered films as an actor, and after appearing in several pictures he began collaborating on screenplays and original stories. He wrote scripts for many of Hollywood's best films of the 1930s and 1940s, including The Petrified Forest (1936), Love Affair (1939) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942). Turning director with the classic Destination Tokyo (1943), Daves often wrote and produced his own pictures. Of the many films he made, the westerns he did were especially close to his heart--as a youth he had spent much time living on reservations with Hopi and Navajo Indians.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
This boyish-looking New York-born actor of film and (especially) TV was born in 1928 and signed by Columbia at the onset of his teen career. Also known as Donald Dubbins, he started off playing earnest young cadet types in the war films From Here to Eternity (1953) (as a young bugler) and The Caine Mutiny (1954). It was superstar James Cagney who took a distinct liking to the rookie actor and prominently displayed him in two of his subsequent films. In These Wilder Years (1956), Dubbins played Cagney's long-lost adopted son and, in the western Tribute to a Bad Man (1956), he forms an unlikely romantic triangle with cattle boss Cagney and senorita Irene Papas. He also was at the mercy of Jack Webb's title character as a private in the Dragnet-styled military film The D.I. (1957). He subsequently played a frequent suspect on several episodes of the Dragnet 1967 (1967) series. Finishing up the 1950s, he was a part of the cast in the Jules Verne sci-fi picture From the Earth to the Moon (1958).
Although Dubbins never became a box office name, he certainly was a reliable asset on TV and was seen in a host of character roles over the years, not to mention a good number of smaller parts in such films as The Prize (1963) and The Learning Tree (1969). A character player adept at both good guys and bad guys, he retired completely in the late 1980s after filming episodes of Dynasty (1981), Highway to Heaven (1984) and Knots Landing (1979). He succumbed to cancer less than a decade later in 1991 at the age of 63.- Edgar Dearing was born on 4 May 1893 in Ceres, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Abraham Lincoln (1930), Lightning Strikes Twice (1934) and Raiders of Tomahawk Creek (1950). He was married to Lila Stones and Nelvina Hyink. He died on 17 August 1974 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Eve Miller was born on 8 August 1923 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), April in Paris (1952) and The Big Trees (1952). She died on 17 August 1973 in Van Nuys, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Ezzatolah Entezami (also spell Ezatollah Entezami, born 1924 in Tehran, Iran) is an award-winning Iranian actor. Graduated from theater and cinema school in Hanover, Germany in 1958, Entezami started his career on stage in 1941. He has been acting in movies since 1969. His debut performance in Darius Mehrjui's admired classic film, The Cow(Gaav), received the Golden Hugo in Chicago International Film Festival in 1971. He shined in the role of a naive villager who cannot endure the death of his beloved cow and starts to believe that he is the cow himself.
He is known as one of the most prominent actors in Iranian cinema and has been labeled as the greatest actor in history of the cinema of Iran. He has worked with most of the prominent Iranian film directors, including Darius Mehrjui (eight films), Ali Hatami (four films), Nasser Taqvaee, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Behrouz Afkhami and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad. He has been awarded the Crystal Simorgh for the Best Actor twice from the International Fajr Film Festival, for Grand Cinema and The Day of Angel.
His work and accomplishments were recognized in October 2006 at the Iran cultural center in Paris.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tough, craggy, furrow-browed, gruff-voiced character actor Horace McMahon's urban film and TV characters played on both sides of the legal fence in over a hundred films. His first few years were usually heavy on the wrong side with various hoods, thugs, jailbirds, mobsters and murderers in crime yarns. He later turned over a leaf and started playing good-guy cops and hard-nosed detectives. Born in Connecticut on May 17, 1906, McMahon (sometimes billed as MacMahon) discovered acting while pursuing a law degree at Fordham University.
A former shipping clerk and mail deliverer, he was a news reporter for The South Norwalk Sentinel before attempting to break through the acting ranks in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1931 as a reporter in "Wonder Boy," and went on to play in a number of New York shows -- "Wild Waves" (1932), "Man Bites Dog" (1933), "Knock on Wood" (1935), "Three Men on a Horse" (1936, 1942) and "Red Gloves" (1948).
His dark, streetwise mug and cynical attitude proved perfect for playing assorted "Runyonesque" New York characters -- cabbies, chauffeurs, henchmen, prisoners, bouncers -- in a slew of unbilled movie bits in the late 30's and 40's. His character had typical street-tough names like "Fingers," "Limpy," "Brains," "Maxey," "Swifty" and Looey". Such films included Bulldog Edition (1936), They Gave Him a Gun (1937), Kid Galahad (1937), The Last Gangster (1937), King of the Newsboys (1938), The Crowd Roars (1938), Broadway Musketeers (1938), I Was a Convict (1939), The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), My Favorite Wife (1940), Rookies on Parade (1941), Jail House Blues (1942), Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944), Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad (1948) and Waterfront at Midnight (1948). He also was cast as taxi driver "Foghorn" Murphy in Calling Dr. Kildare (1939) and continued the role in several movie entries.
After a slew of "bad guys," McMahon scored his best role on Broadway as a change-of-pace "good guy" police chief. In 1949 he was cast as New York City Lt. Monaghan in the critical stage hit "Detective Story" starring Ralph Bellamy. The play ran well over a year. He was then given the opportunity to solidify the part on film with Detective Story (1951) starring Kirk Douglas. It was nominated for four Oscars.
Thereafter, McMahon's crusty cops and detectives could be found all over the TV screen, including episodes of "Martin Kane," "Lux Video Theatre," "The Lone Wolf," "Climax!," The Ford Television Theatre," "Undercurrent" and "Suspicion." He went on to cop an Emmy nomination for his regular role as Lt. Mike Parker on the well-received Naked City (1958) TV series. He also had a regular role supporting Craig Stevens in his post "Peter Gunn" dramatic series Mr. Broadway (1964), set in New York. The veteran's intrepid cops also infiltrated later films as well -- Susan Slept Here (1954), Blackboard Jungle (1955), My Sister Eileen (1955), The Delicate Delinquent (1957) and The Swinger (1966). He ended his on-camera career on TV with guest spots on the mild comedies "My Three Sons" and "Family Affair."
Long married to retired actress Louise Campbell who was best known for her recurring role as Phyllis on the "Bulldog Drummond" movie series. They had three children. McMahon died of a heart ailment on August 17, 1971, aged 65.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Legendary, prolific composer, songwriter and author, educated at Townsend Harris Hall, City College of New York, and Columbia University. He began his career as a contributor to newspaper columns, and also worked for a touring carnival. His Broadway stage scores include "Two Little Girls in Blue" (written under the pseudonym 'Arthur Francis'), "Lady Be Good", "Tell Me More", "Tip-Toes", "Oh, Kay", "Funny Face", "Rosalie", "Treasure Girl", "Show Girl", "Strike Up the Band", "Girl Crazy", "Of Thee I Sing" (Pulitzer Prize, 1932), "Let 'Em Eat Cake", "Life Begins at 8:40", "Ziegfeld Follies of 1936", "Lady in the Dark", and "Park Avenue". Joining ASCAP in 1920, his chief musical collaborators was his brother George Gershwin, and also included Lewis Alter, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Jerome Kern, Joseph Meyer, Sigmund Romberg, Arthur Schwartz, Harry Warren, Richard Whiting, Kurt Weill, Burton Lane, Vincent Youmans, Philip Charig, and E. Y. 'Yip' Harburg. His popular-song compositions include "The Real American Folk Song", "Oh, Me! Oh, My!", "Dolly", "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise", "Fascinating Rhythm", "So Am I", "Oh, Lady Be Good", "The Half of It Dearie Blues", "Little Jazz Bird", "The Man I Love", "Kickin' the Clouds Away", "Looking for a Boy", "These Charming People", "That Certain Feeling", "Sweet and Low-Down", "Sunny Disposish", "Dear Little Girl", "Maybe", "Clap Yo' Hands", "Do Do Do", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Strike Up the Band", "Let's Kiss and Make Up", "Funny Face", "'S Wonderful", "My One and Only", "He Loves and She Loves", "The Babbitt and the Bromide", "How Long Has This Been Going On?", "The One I'm Looking For", "I've Got a Crush on You", "Oh So Nice", "Where's the Boy, Here's the Girl", "Liza", "Soon", "Bidin' My Time", "Could You Use Me?", "Embraceable You", "Sam and Delilah", "I Got Rhythm", "But Not for Me", "Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!", "I Am Only Human After All", "Cheerful Little Earful", "Blah-Blah-Blah", "Wintergreen for President", "Love Is Sweeping the Country", "Of Thee I Sing (Baby)", "Who Cares?", "Hello, Good Morning", "Lorelei", "Isn't It a Pity?", "My Cousin in Milwaukee", "Mine", "You're a Builder-Upper", "Fun to be Fooled", "What Can You Say in a Love Song?", "Let's Take a Walk Around the Block", "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'", "Bess, You Is My Woman Now", "It Ain't Necessarily So", "I Loves You, Porgy", "There's a Boat dat's Leavin' Soon for New York", "Island in the West Indies", "I Can't Get Started", "That Moment of Moments", "By Strauss", "Beginner's Luck", "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off", "Shall We Dance", "They All Laughed", "They Can't Take That Away from Me", "A Foggy Day", "Nice Work if You Can Get It", "I Was Doing All Right", "Love Is Here to Stay", "Love Walked In", "Spring Again", "One Life to Live" and many more.- Joseph Eugene Kovar, aka "Joey Kovar", is a very courageous, optimistic and positive man. Joey Kovar is a very well-known young talented Chicago actor, model and wrestler, who is extremely popular with today's youth. Joey made his first debut on MTV's The Real World (1992) Hollywood and moved on to VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (2008), putting up the ratings, stealing the limelight and spotlight from everyone on the show that stood beside him.. What most don't know is that, as a child, young Joey was mentally and physically abused by his mother. He was introduced, at a very young age, to drugs and alcohol by his own mother and father. His father, an alcoholic, and his mother, a user of cocaine, were bad influences and unfit parents for young Joey Kovar. Joey, at the time raised by these unfit guardians, grew up thinking that alcohol and drugs were acceptable in a household. It was inevitable that Joey Kovar's past would lead him later to a path he never wanted to take. Now, Joey Kovar, himself, who grew up with all the odds against him, is a survivor of drugs and alcohol abuse, still fighting his urges today, because he has a dream of becoming "The Next Generation Action-Star".
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born Marvin Wesley Vye, Jr., this Massachusetts-born, Yale-trained character actor was associated for a time with the Theatre Guild in the 1940s. Equipped with a tough-looking countenance and sturdy baritone, he was hired to originate the role of Jigger Craigin in the Guild's 1945 mounting of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel," which also starred John Raitt and Jan Clayton. A spectacular success, this led to Hollywood offers and in 1947 he made an auspicious film debut (third billed) in Golden Earrings (1947) starring Marlene Dietrich and Ray Milland, playing Zoltan, a gypsy who sings the title tune. Playing next a baddie in the Alan Ladd starrer Whispering Smith (1948) and Merlin in the Bing Crosby remake of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), Vye returned to Broadway to co-star as the Kralahome in the musical "The King and I." The musical, of course, went on to become a smash but without Vye for he quit the production during tryouts after his only song was cut. Unfortunately he would not recreate his Jigger role in the movie version of "Carousel" either. Cameron Mitchell took the honors.
Back in Hollywood, Vye became a standard fixture in mobster pics including Al Capone (1959) as Bugs Moran, King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) and The George Raft Story (1961). With a homely, imposing mug made for adventure tales, he played everything from warrior chiefs to Blackbeard the Pirate. On TV he portrayed a number of corrupt characters on such shows as "The Untouchables" and "77 Sunset Strip" and sometimes even played his tough guys for laughs. In between he appeared in musical productions of "Oklahoma!" and "South Pacific," among others. Vye died in 1976 at age 63.- Osvaldo Ramos was born on 13 May 1933 in Villa Adelina, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor, known for Una ventana al éxito (1966) and El tango del millón (1973). He died on 17 August 2015 in Villa Adelina, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Actor
- Writer
Paulo Silvino was born on 27 July 1939 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor and writer, known for Zorra Total (1999), Os melhores Momentos da Pornochanchada (1978) and Ascensão e Queda de um Paquera (1970). He was married to Diva Plácido. He died on 17 August 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Her father Joseph was a minister and her mother was named Ella Mae. Her birth name was Pearly Mae but her parents anticipated she would be a boy and when a girl was born she was nicknamed "Dickie". Her brother was entertainer Bill Bailey (1912-1978). She spent her early life in Washington DC where she received her early education. Bailey frequently appeared in the Old Howard theater in downtown Washington. As a young woman she toured the Pennsylvania mining towns as a dancer and later as a singer in Vaudeville. She starred in the film St. Louis Blues opposite Nat King Cole, which was the biography of W.C. Handy. Her greatest theater role was in the Broadway musical "Hello Dolly".- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Richard Barthelmess was born into a theatrical family in which his mother was an actress. While attending Trinity College in Connecticut, he began appearing in stage productions. While on vacation in 1916, a friend of his mother, actress Alla Nazimova, offered him a part in War Brides (1916), and Richard never returned to college. He appeared in a number of films before signing a contract with D.W. Griffith in 1919. Griffith put Richard into Broken Blossoms (1919) with Lillian Gish which made him a star. He had an uncanny ability to become the characters he played. The next year, he was again teamed with Lillian in Way Down East (1920). This film would become the standard for many movies in the future. Best remembered is the river scene in which Richard jumps over the ice floes in search of Lillian as she heads towards the falls. He formed Inspiration Pictures to make Tol'able David (1921) and gave one of his best performances as a lad who saves the U.S. mail from the outlaws. He remained popular throughout the twenties and became one of the biggest stars at First National Pictures. He received Academy Award nominations for The Patent Leather Kid (1927) and The Noose (1928). Sound was not a medium that would embrace Richard. He did make a number of talkies in the first few years of sound, but his acting technique was not well suited for sound and the parts began to get smaller. With his career over by the mid-30s, but he came back with a fine performance in Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings (1939). Richard joined the Navy Reserve in 1942, and when the war ended he retired to Long Island and lived off his real estate investments.- Rosemary Kuhlmann was born on 30 January 1922 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Matinee Theatre (1955), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950). She was married to Hugh Evans. She died on 17 August 2019 in Warren, Rhode Island, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Director
An actor with a powerful physique, booming voice and who has played several "Native American" characters, Sonny Landham first broke into mainstream film with a bit part as a police officer in the subway. He ends up getting tripped when Michael Beck throws the baseball bat at his legs, in Walter Hill's gang film The Warriors (1979), then other minor roles in Southern Comfort (1981) & Poltergeist (1982), before Walter Hill cast him in his first decent role as James Remar's gun happy, criminal partner in the high voltage hit 48 Hrs. (1982). Landham continued to turn up in high testosterone films of the mid 1980s including the action sci-fi film Predator (1987), alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Lock Up (1989), and being hurled out a window by Carl Weathers in Action Jackson (1988). His career on screen wound down during the 1990s, but he still managed to crop up in several roles taking advantage of his strong physical presence.- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
Stuart Thompson was born on 8 July 1955 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was a production manager, known for Shrek the Musical (2013), You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush (2009) and Working in the Theatre (1976). He was married to Joseph Roland Baker III. He died on 17 August 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Additional Crew
Veronique Peck was born on 5 February 1932 in Paris, France. She is known for The Ed Sullivan Show (1948), The American National Theater of Arts Academy Honors Laurence Olivier (1970) and AFI Life Achievement Award (1973). She was married to Gregory Peck. She died on 17 August 2012 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Victoria Shaw was born on 25 May 1935 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Westworld (1973), The Crimson Kimono (1959) and To Trap a Spy (1964). She was married to Elliott Alexander and Roger Smith. She died on 17 August 1988 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born as Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas, she had a brother and four sisters. Her family moved to Independence, Kansas, and later studied drama under Anna Ingleman and William Inge. Their next move, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, brought her to that city's Little Theatre, which provided her the money she needed to study under Eva Le Gallienne in New York. After arriving in 1932 she had trouble finding stage work until she began a two-year stint in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "Music in the Air".
She next understudied Ethel Merman in the hit "Anything Goes." Her first starring role was as Kay Thompson's last minute replacement in "Hooray for What!", starring Ed Wynn. In 1945, while starring in a touring company of "Voice of the Turtle" she had a nervous breakdown. After undergoing psychotherapy and limited movie work, she returned to the play at the La Jolla (California) Playhouse, where she was seen by Desi Arnaz who decided she was perfect for the role of Ethel Mertz (Ball and Arnaz's first choice, Bea Benaderet, was unavailable) in the I Love Lucy (1951) television series.
At first she didn't want the part (too frumpy), and hated being cast as the wife of William Frawley (she was 42, he was 64, and the two never got along). Frawley, an alcoholic and on the professional skids had actively campaigned for the role of Fred Mertz after learning that Gale Gordon was also unavailable. Desi Arnaz hired him, but only under strict conditions regarding alcohol consumption and professionalism. The runaway success of the series forced the two to work together but Frawley never forgave Vance for a comment she made about the disparity in their ages, which he overheard. After I Love Lucy (1951) ended she divorced her third husband, married again to John Dodds, and they moved to Stamford, Connecticut, the first time she had lived east of the Mississippi (aside from work) in many years.
In 1962, she began work on The Lucy Show (1962), but the pressures of long-distance commuting didn't suit her, so after three years she limited her herself to guest appearances. In 1974, she and her husband moved to Belvedere, California (just north of San Francisco Bay) so she could be near her sister. She battled ill-health throughout much of the 1970s and died in 1979, aged 70, of breast and bone cancer.- Manhattan-born thespian William Redfield was influenced early on into an acting career as the son of an orchestra conductor and a former Ziegfeld Follies girl. Born on January 26, 1927, young "Billy Redfield" made his Broadway debut in "Swing Your Lady" in 1936 at the age of 9. Within a few years, the young boy was also heard on radio and appeared in his first movie, the crime drama Back Door to Heaven (1939). As a juvenile, he continued on Broadway with such productions as "Our Town" (1938) and "Junior Miss" (1941). In subsequent years, Redfield would become one of the original founders of the famed Actor's Studio.
Gainfully employed on stage and TV throughout the 50s, he starred in a short-lived series as Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop (1953) (which appeared on the early Dumont Network) in 1953 and followed it up the next year with the one-season show The Marriage (1954), which has the distinction of being the first live network series to be regularly broadcast in color. An exceptionally talented writer and speaker, he co-created the Mister Peepers (1952) sitcom in the 50s, wrote the theater play "A View with Alarm" and later published his memoir, "Letters From an Actor", which recalled his experiences playing Guildenstern in the 1964 theater production of "Hamlet" starring Richard Burton and directed by John Gielgud. Other Broadway fare included "Misalliance" (1953), "Midgie Purvis" (1961) which starred Tallulah Bankhead, and "A Man for All Seasons" (1961) with Paul Scofield. In 1968, he replaced George Grizzard in the popular "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running".
Redfield also stretched his visibility with audiences as a highly candid, warmly-received raconteur on the talk show circuit. He certainly didn't mince words as he described the ups and downs of the acting profession. It wasn't until the late 60s that Redfield started making a dent in film with roles in such popular screen fare as Morituri (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966), A New Leaf (1971), Such Good Friends (1971), The Hot Rock (1972), and For Pete's Sake (1974), usually playing intense, unsympathetic parts.
Redfield finally hit the big time in the third-billed role of "Harding", the tense, logical, but high-strung mental patient opposite Jack Nicholson's "Randall McMurphy" in the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). What should have been the start of an enviable film support career and making a name for himself turned out to be nearly his swan song. Redfield died of leukemia the following year at the age of 49. His son, Adam Redfield, also became an actor on stage and TV. - Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Yvonne Joyce Craig was born on May 16, 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois. As a young teenager, Yvonne showed such promise as a dancer that she was accepted to Denham's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Her training progressed until she left the company in 1957 over a disagreement on casting changes. She moved to Los Angeles hoping to continue her dancing, but was soon cast in movies. At first, Yvonne had small roles in movies such as Gidget (1959) and The Gene Krupa Story (1959). After that, her film career just bumped along. As Yvonne was dating Elvis Presley at the time, she did have a supporting role in the two Elvis movies, It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964).
But her fame would come with the cult television series Batman (1966) in which she played Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara. Her secret identity was Batgirl and as the Commissioner's daughter, she had access to all the calls of trouble taking place in Gotham City. Her character, Batgirl, was part of the 1967-68 season, which was the end of the run for the series. After Batman (1966), she also appeared on other television series such as Star Trek (1966) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974). As her career wound down, Yvonne went into the real estate business. Yvonne Craig died at age 78 of breast cancer at her home in Pacific Palisades, California on August 17, 2015.