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Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the toothbrush mustache, bowler hat, bamboo cane, and a funny walk.
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in Walworth, London, England on April 16, 1889, to Hannah Harriet Pedlingham (Hill) and Charles Chaplin, both music hall performers, who were married on June 22, 1885. After Charles Sr. separated from Hannah to perform in New York City, Hannah then tried to resurrect her stage career. Unfortunately, her singing voice had a tendency to break at unexpected moments. When this happened, the stage manager spotted young Charlie standing in the wings and led him on stage, where five-year-old Charlie began to sing a popular tune. Charlie and his half-brother, Syd Chaplin spent their lives in and out of charity homes and workhouses between their mother's bouts of insanity. Hannah was committed to Cane Hill Asylum in May 1903 and lived there until 1921, when Chaplin moved her to California.
Chaplin began his official acting career at the age of eight, touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads. At age 18, he began touring with Fred Karno's vaudeville troupe, joining them on the troupe's 1910 United States tour. He traveled west to California in December 1913 and signed on with Keystone Studios' popular comedy director Mack Sennett, who had seen Chaplin perform on stage in New York. Charlie soon wrote his brother Syd, asking him to become his manager. While at Keystone, Chaplin appeared in and directed 35 films, starring as the Little Tramp in nearly all.
In November 1914, he left Keystone and signed on at Essanay, where he made 15 films. In 1916, he signed on at Mutual and made 12 films. In June 1917, Chaplin signed up with First National Studios, after which he built Chaplin Studios. In 1919, he and Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith formed United Artists (UA).
Chaplin's life and career was full of scandal and controversy. His first big scandal was during World War I, at which time his loyalty to England, his home country, was questioned. He had never applied for American citizenship, but claimed that he was a "paying visitor" to the United States. Many British citizens called Chaplin a coward and a slacker. This and other career eccentricities sparked suspicion with FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), who believed that he was injecting Communist propaganda into his films. Chaplin's later film The Great Dictator (1940), which was his first "talkie", also created a stir. In the film, Chaplin plays a humorous caricature of Adolf Hitler. Some thought the film was poorly done and in bad taste. However, the film grossed over $5 million and earned five Academy Award Nominations.
Another scandal occurred when Chaplin briefly dated 22 year-old Joan Barry. However, Chaplin's relationship with Barry came to an end in 1942, after a series of harassing actions from her. In May 1943, Barry returned to inform Chaplin that she was pregnant and filed a paternity suit, claiming that the unborn child was his. During the 1944 trial, blood tests proved that Chaplin was not the father, but at the time, blood tests were inadmissible evidence, and he was ordered to pay $75 a week until the child turned 21.
Chaplin also was scrutinized for his support in aiding the Russian struggle against the invading Nazis during World War II, and the United States government questioned his moral and political views, suspecting him of having Communist ties. For this reason, HUAC subpoenaed him in 1947. However, HUAC finally decided that it was no longer necessary for him to appear for testimony. Conversely, when Chaplin and his family traveled to London for the premier of Limelight (1952), he was denied re-entry to the United States. In reality, the government had almost no evidence to prove that he was a threat to national security. Instead, he and his wife decided to settle in Switzerland.
Chaplin was married four times and had a total of 11 children. In 1918, he married Mildred Harris and they had a son together, Norman Spencer Chaplin, who lived only three days. Chaplin and Harris divorced in 1920. He married Lita Grey in 1924, who had two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin. They were divorced in 1927. In 1936, Chaplin married Paulette Goddard, and his final marriage was to Oona O'Neill (Oona Chaplin), daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1943. Oona gave birth to eight children: Geraldine Chaplin, Michael Chaplin, Josephine Chaplin, Victoria Chaplin, Eugene Chaplin, Jane Chaplin, Annette-Emilie Chaplin, and Christopher Chaplin.
In contrast to many of his boisterous characters, Chaplin was a quiet man who kept to himself a great deal. He also had an "un-millionaire" way of living. Even after he had accumulated millions, he continued to live in shabby accommodations. In 1921, Chaplin was decorated by the French government for his outstanding work as a filmmaker and was elevated to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1952. In 1972, he was honored with an Academy Award for his "incalculable effect in making motion pictures the art form of the century". He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1975 New Year's Honours List. No formal reason for the honour was listed. The citation simply reads "Charles Spencer Chaplin, Film Actor and Producer".
Chaplin's other works included musical scores that he composed for many of his films. He also authored two autobiographical books, "My Autobiography" (1964) and its companion volume, "My Life in Pictures" (1974).
Chaplin died at age 88 of natural causes on December 25, 1977 at his home in Vevey, Switzerland. His funeral was a small and private Anglican ceremony according to his wishes. In 1978, Chaplin's corpse was stolen from its grave and was not recovered for three months; he was re-buried in a vault surrounded by cement.
Six of Chaplin's films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress: The Immigrant (1917), The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator (1940).
Charlie Chaplin is considered one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of American cinema, whose movies were and still are popular throughout the world and have even gained notoriety as time progresses. His films show, through the Little Tramp's positive outlook on life in a world full of chaos, that the human spirit has and always will remain the same.comic strip by E. C. Segar , British strip by Bertie Brown in The Funny Wonder 1915 - 1944 , French - in Cri Cri by Thomen as Charlot , collected as albums , Spanish strips from the 1970s by Torre Grosa- Actor
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Stan Laurel came from a theatrical family, his father was an actor and theatre manager, and he made his stage debut at the age of 16 at Pickard's Museum, Glasgow. He traveled with Fred Karno's vaudeville company to the United States in 1910 and again in 1913. While with that company he was Charles Chaplin's understudy, and he performed imitations of Chaplin. On a later trip he remained in the United States, having been cast in a two-reel comedy, Nuts in May (1917) (not released until 1918). There followed a number of shorts for Metro, Hal Roach Studios, then Universal, then back to Roach in 1926. His first two-reeler with Oliver Hardy was 45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926). Their first release through MGM was Sugar Daddies (1927) and the first with star billing was From Soup to Nuts (1928). Their first feature-length starring roles were in Pardon Us (1931). Their work became more production-line and less popular during the war years, especially after they left Roach and MGM for Twentieth Century-Fox. Their last movie together was The Bullfighters (1945) except for a dismal failure made in France several years later (Utopia (1950)). In 1960 he was given a special Oscar "for his creative pioneering in the field of cinema comedy". He died five years later.Realm of Fun and Fiction comic 1929 , by Reg Carter , Film Fun strip by George Wakefield and others , 1930 - 1957 , Italy - Stan E Oli by Missigoi in Mastro Remo 1934 , France - in Cri Cri 1934 by Mat , Italy - Criche E Croc 1946 by Dap , later Gold Key and DC comic books based on the TV cartoons , and UK comic with Spanish art , from Gordo y Flaco- Actor
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Although his parents were never in show business, as a young boy Oliver Hardy was a gifted singer and, by age eight, was performing with minstrel shows. In 1910 he ran a movie theatre, which he preferred to studying law. In 1913 he became a comedy actor with the Lubin Company in Florida and began appearing in a long series of shorts; his debut film was Outwitting Dad (1914). He appeared in he 1914-15 series of "Pokes and Jabbs" shorts, and from 1916-18 he was in the "Plump and Runt" series. From 1919-21 he was a regular in the "Jimmy Aubrey" series of shorts, and from 1921-25 he worked as an actor and co-director of comedy shorts for Larry Semon.
In addition to appearing in two-reeler comedies, he found time to make westerns and even melodramas in which he played the heavy. He is most famous, however, as the partner of British comic Stan Laurel, with whom he had played a bit part in The Lucky Dog (1921). in the mid-1920s both he and Laurel wee working for comedy producer Hal Roach, although not as a team. In a moment of inspiration Roach teamed them together, and their first film as a team was 45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926). Their first release for Roach through MGM was Sugar Daddies (1927) and the first with star billing was From Soup to Nuts (1928). They became a huge hit as a comedy team, and after several years of two-reelers, Roach decided to star them in features, their first of which was Pardon Us (1931).
They clicked with audiences in features, too, and starred in such classics as Way Out West (1937), March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934) and Block-Heads (1938). They eventually parted ways with Roach and in the mid-1940s signed on with Twentieth Century-Fox.
Unfortunately, Fox did not let them have the autonomy they had at Roach, where Laurel basically wrote and directed their films, though others were credited, and their films became more assembly-line and formulaic. Their popularity waned and less popular during the war years, and they made their last film for Fox in 1946.
Several years later they made their final appearance as a team in a French film, a troubled and haphazard production eventually, after several name changes, called Utopia (1950), generally regarded to be their worst film. Hardy appeared without Laurel in a few features, such as Zenobia (1939) with Harry Langdon, The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) in a semi-comedic role as a frontiersman alongside John Wayne and Riding High (1950), in a cameo role. He died in 1957.see above , also as Babe Hardy in Kinema Comic 1920 , drawn by Reg Carter- Actor
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Born in Burchard, Nebraska, USA to Elizabeth Fraser and J. Darcie 'Foxy' Lloyd who fought constantly and soon divorced (at the time a rare event), Harold Clayton Lloyd was nominally educated in Denver and San Diego high schools and received his stage training at the School of Dramatic Art (San Diego). Lloyd grew up far more attached to his footloose, chronically unemployed father than his overbearing mother.
He made his stage debut at age 12 as "Little Abe" in "Tess of d'Ubervilles" with the Burwood Stock company of Omaha. Harold and his father moved to California as a result of a fortuitous accident settlement in 1913. Foxy bought a pool hall (that soon failed) while Harold attended high school. The pair were soon broke when his father suggested he try out for a job on a movie being shot at San Diego's Pan American Exposition by the Edison Company. On the set he first met Hal Roach who would be the most influential person in his professional life. Roach (admittedly a poor actor) told Lloyd that someday he'd be a movie producer and he'd make him his star.
Soon afterward, Roach inherited enough money to begin a small production company (Phun Philms, quickly renamed Rolin, with a partner who he soon bought out) and contacted Lloyd to star in the kinds of films he wanted to make: comedies. On the basis of a handful of self-produced shorts starring Lloyd, he managed to land a production contract with the U.S. branch of the French firm, Pathe, who literally paid Roach by the exposed foot of film on what films were accepted. Things were touch and go in the beginning, with improvised scenarios, outdoor shoots meaning Pathe rejected several of their first efforts, resulting in missed paydays. During his first contract with Roach he appeared in "Will E. Work" and then "Lonesome Luke" comedies, essentially cheap variations of Charles Chaplin's Little Tramp character. He abandoned the character in disgust in late 1917, adopting his "glasses" persona, an average young man capable of conquering any obstacle thrown at him. He began cementing his new image with Over the Fence (1917), that ushered in a prolific number of shorts through late 1921, often releasing 3 per month. In his "glasses" personification, Lloyd's popularity grew exponentially with each new release, but Lloyd rapidly grew dissatisfied with his relationship with his producer. Roach and Lloyd fought constantly; it's not so much that he didn't want to work for Roach, he didn't want to work for anyone - a trait he himself recognized from early on. To be fair, Roach was increasingly preoccupied with other stars (The "Our Gang" series was launched to huge success in 1922 and he also produced ''Snub Pollard" shorts, among others) and although he would always resent Lloyd's attitude and ultimate defection to Paramount, the loss of his major star wouldn't financially cripple him. Lloyd had his own quirks; he fell in love with his first co-star Bebe Daniels, who left him after it became apparent he was unable to make a commitment (however the two would remain lifelong friends). Lloyd, in his own way was decidedly complex: he could be professionally generous (often allowing debatably deserving directorial credit to members of his crew) while being notoriously cheap. Yet he practiced little financial self control in anything that concerned himself. Wildly superstitious, he engaged in strict rituals about dressing himself, leaving through the same doors as he entered, and expected his chauffeurs to know which streets were unlucky to traverse. As his finances improved with age he happily indulged himself with a myriad of hobbies that would include breeding Great Danes, amassing cars, bowling, photography, womanizing, and high-fidelity stereo systems. He was open minded about homosexuals while being practically Victorian in his ideas about raising his daughters. He had an enormous libido and rumors abounded about illegitimate children and according to Roach, chronic bouts with VD. Most traumatically, he suffered the loss of his right thumb and forefinger in an accidental prop bomb explosion on August 14, 1919, just as his career was starting to take off. Lloyd would go to great lengths to hide his disability, spending thousands on flesh-colored prosthetic gloves and hiding his right hand whenever knowingly photographed, even long after his career ended. Upon his recovery he completed work on Haunted Spooks (1920) and successfully renegotiated his contract with Pathe, which began a career ascent that would rival Chaplin's (indeed, Lloyd was more successful, considering grosses on total output as Chaplin's output soon dwindled by comparison). Lloyd began feature film production with the 4-reel A Sailor-Made Man (1921). It began as a 2-reel short but contained, in his words, "so much good stuff we were loathe to take any of it out." It became a huge hit and continued to release hit features with ever increasing grosses but split with Hal Roach (who retained lucrative re-issue rights to his earlier films) after completing The Freshman (1925), one of his finest films. Pathe's U.S. operations quickly unraveled after their U.S. representative, Paul Brunet returned to France, and Lloyd made a decisive move (Roach himself would also leave Pathe, opting for a distribution deal with MGM - Mack Sennett, also distributed by Pathe, would be financially ruined). After weighing various attractive offers, Lloyd signed an advantageous contract with Paramount and racked up another hit with For Heaven's Sake (1926), one of his weakest silent features, yet it grossed an incredible $2.591 million, nearly equaling "The Freshman" and astonishing even himself.
Lloyd could do no wrong throughout the 1920s, he consistently earned at or near $1.5 million per film with his Paramount contract, and seemed invincible. He married his second co-star Mildred Davis on February 10, 1923 and she retired from acting (replaced by Jobyna Ralston). He built a huge 32-room mansion he christened, "Greenacres" that took over 3 years to complete and the couple eventually had 3 children. His final silent film, Speedy (1928), shot on location in New York, was one of the few major hits of the sound transition period and remains (as do most of Lloyd's films) thoroughly enjoyable today. The advent of sound proved problematic for the comedian. His films were gag-driven and his writing team was wholly unaccustomed to converting their type of comedy into dialog. While his first sound effort (began as a silent), Welcome Danger (1929) grossed nearly $3 million, by any standard it's a bad film, and marked a serious decline in Lloyd's screen persona; he became a talking comedian. Ironically, as bad as the film is, it would prove to be the last solid hit of his career. His next talkie, Feet First (1930), included a climb reminiscent (but technically superior to that) of his hit Safety Last! (1923), only being in sound, it contained every grunt and groan and proved painful to watch. With a gross of less that $1 million, Lloyd would see slightly over $300,000, his smallest feature paycheck to date, and it became clear he was in trouble. Lloyd fought back with Movie Crazy (1932). Generally regarded as his finest talkie, it grossed even less than "Feet First." Lloyd left Paramount for Fox and suffered his first outright flop with his next feature, The Cat's-Paw (1934), which grossed $693,000 against a negative cost of $617,000 ---resulting in red ink on a net basis. The miracle Harold Lloyd needed to salvage his career would never happen, but he refused to go down without a fight. Amazingly, the public was oblivious to his decline, and he was widely considered as one of the few silent comedy stars to have made a successful transition through the first decade of sound. But to those within the industry, the numbers didn't add up. Back at Paramount on a 2-movie deal, Lloyd starred in The Milky Way (1936), a better-than-average comedy that pulled a world-wide gross of $1.179 million, but it had production budget exceeding $1 million, resulting in a $250,000 loss for the studio. Paramount was livid, demanding a personal guarantee from Lloyd on anything over $600,000 for his next film, Professor Beware (1938). The comedian soon discovered he couldn't complete the film within the required budget and did something unprecedented --for him at least-- he invested his own money. The final production cost was $820,275 - and it grossed a mere $796,385 - and as a result of a complex payment deal, Lloyd ended up personally losing $119,400 on its initial release (he would eventually recoup the bulk of his losses over the next 35 years). At the relatively young age of 45, Harold Lloyd's Hollywood career was effectively over. Still immensely wealthy from a conservative investment strategy, and always hyperactive, he sought out ways to occupy his time, dragging his kids on marathon movie nights all across Los Angeles and falling back on his many hobbies. Foxy, who had handled the bulk of his correspondence (almost all Lloyd's pre-1938 autographs were actually signed by Foxy) and had carefully documented his press clippings since his acting career had began, retired to Palm Springs in 1938, leaving a void in Lloyd's life. He produced two pictures for RKO, A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (1941), and a Kay Kyser vehicle, My Favorite Spy (1942) which must have looked good on paper but went nowhere at the box office. This ended his career as a producer. He would sign a $25,000 deal with Columbia in 1943 for a comeback project that never materialized. In 1944, Lloyd was approached by director Preston Sturges who envisioned a first-rate vehicle for him entitled, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947). The production launched Sturges' new California Pictures, was financed by Howard Hughes, and initially released by United Artists. It proved to be a nightmare for everyone concerned. Its $1.7 million production cost proved to be an insurmountable obstacle preventing it from profitability and the eccentric Hughes withdrew it from circulation, later retitling it "Mad Wednesday," re-editing and re-releasing it as an RKO feature in 1951 to an even more dismal box office. Lloyd would also zealously protect ownership of his material and was quite litigious. He successfully sued MGM over their unauthorized poaching of his gags on a Joan Davis vehicle, She Gets Her Man (1945) (sadly an action that put the final nail in the professional coffin of the hopelessly alcoholic Clyde Bruckman). With his career at an end, Harold renewed his interest in photography and became involved with color film experiments. Some of the earliest 2 color Technicolor tests had been shot at Greenacres in 1929. In the late 1940s he became fascinated with color 3D still photography and often visited friends on film sets. Throughout the late 40s and well into the 1960s Lloyd indulged himself with glamor models. At his death, his collection of 3D stills numbered 250,000 (the vast majority of which are nudes). Recently his granddaughter published an elaborate book of photos carefully excised from the collection. In the late 1940s Lloyd became an active member of the Shriners (he'd joined originally in 1924) and an effective administrator for their Los Angeles crippled children's hospital. Harold is reported to be the only actor that owned most of the films he appeared in (sadly many of the earliest ones were destroyed in a nitrate fire in a vault at Greenacres in 1943). This ownership gave him the ability to withhold his films from being shown on television; Lloyd feared incorrect projection speed and commercials would damage his reputation. As a result, a generation of film fans saw very few of his films and his reputation was diminished. He did release 2 compilation films, of which the first, World of Comedy (1962) was very successful. Mildred descended into alcoholism in the 1950s and died in 1969. Lloyd occupied his time with extensive travel (he thoroughly enjoyed speaking engagements where he could interact with students on the subject of silent film) and continued his pathological passion for his hobbies through the end of his life. He became interested in high fidelity stereo systems and habitually ordered several record companies' entire annual catalogs, eventually amassing an LP collection rivaling most record stores. He enjoyed cranking music to volumes that caused the inlaid gold leaf on Greenacres' ceilings to rain down on anyone below. Conversely, he balked at modernizing anything inside the mansion, seeing improvements and redecorating as things that would survive him, and thus a complete waste of money. Lloyd was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer by his brother-in-law, Dr. John Davis (Jack Davis, who starred in early "Our Gang" shorts) and died on March 8, 1971. His son, Harold Lloyd Jr. was an alcoholic homosexual and died soon afterward. Although Lloyd left an estate valued at $12 million (in 1971 dollars), he failed to make a provision for the maintenance of Greenacres, a blunder that would seriously complicate his estate. His granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd has been largely responsible for restoring his reputation of late, working to preserve his surviving films; many have been issued on HBO Video, Thames Video. Several have been superbly restored with new musical accompaniments and are shown periodically on TCM.as Winkle in Film Fun 1920- Director
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Slapstick comedian known for his charming, white-painted face and clownish smile, mugged his way to being a very highly paid and popular actor. His career was marred by personal problems, and his fortune was lost to high spending. By the time he died, he'd already been hospitalized for a nervous breakdown and was penniless. He was 39 years old.in Film Fun- Actress
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Marie Osborne was born on 5 November 1911 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Milady o' the Beanstalk (1918), Twin Kiddies (1917) and The Godfather Part II (1974). She was married to Murray F. Yeats and Frank J. Dempsey. She died on 11 November 2010 in San Clemente, California, USA.in Film Fun 1920- Actor
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Mack Swain was born in 1876 and soon became a talented vaudevillian. In 1913 he was hired by Mack Sennett and appeared in a few Mabel Normand pictures until a year later he became even bigger when Charlie Chaplin arrived at the Keystone Studio. Swain later created a character by the name of Ambrose whom he appeared with Mr. Walrus (Played by comic Chester Conklin) most memorably in "Love Speed & Thrills" (1915).
After that his career began to go downward until Charlie Chaplin rescued it in 1921 and he later appeared in his masterpiece "The Gold Rush" (1925). After "The Gold Rush" he appeared in many Hollywood productions such as Lon Chaney's "Mockery" and "The Last Warning" (1929).
In 1931 he appeared in the academy award nominee for best short "Stout Hearts and Willing Hands" which also co-starred former keystone actors such as Chester Conklin, Sterling Ford, Clyde Cook, and Owen Moore. He retired from then onward and died in 1935.in Film Fun- Actor
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First of all, the cross-eyed comedian of silent days was not born that way. Supposedly his right eye slipped out of alignment while playing the role of the similarly afflicted Happy Hooligan in vaudeville and it never adjusted. Ironically, it was this disability that would enhance his comic value and make him a top name.
Ben Turpin was born in New Orleans in 1869, the son of a French-born confectionery store owner. When 7 years old, his father moved to New York's lower East Side. A wanderlust fellow by nature, Turpin lived the life of a hobo in his early adult years. He started up his career by chance while bumming in Chicago where he drew laughs at parties. An ad in a newspaper looking for comedy acts caught his eye and he successfully booked shows along with a partner. Going solo, he performed on the burlesque circuit as well as under circus tents and invariably entertained his audiences by doing tricks, vigorous pratfalls and, of course, crossing his eyes. One of his more familiar sight gags was a backwards tumble he called the "108." He happened upon the Happy Hooligan persona while playing on the road and kept the hapless character as part of routine for 17 years.
He started in films at age 38 in 1907, joining Essanay Studios shortly after the company began operating in Chicago. He also became their resident janitor for a spell. He stayed with the company for two years but remained on the edges of obscurity. Appearing sporadically in silent comedy shorts, he typically played dorky characters who always did something wrong. His big break came when he returned to Essanay and was introduced to Charles Chaplin, who immediately took to him and set him up with Mack Sennett. By 1917 Sennett had turned Turpin into a top comedy draw. With his trademark crossed eyes and thick mustache, he made scores of slapstick films alongside the likes of Mabel Normand and 'Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle', among others. Most notable were his films that parodied hit movies of the day such as his The Shriek of Araby (1923), in which his character lampooned Rudolph Valentino. Turpin's true forte was impersonating the most dashingly romantic and sophisticated stars of the day and turning them into clumsy oafs.
Turpin retired from full time acting in 1924 to care for his ailing wife Canadian comedy actress Carrie Turpin (nee LeMieux). After her death the following year he returned but his marquee value had slipped drastically. The advent of sound pretty much marked the end to his special brand of physical comedy. He was only glimpsed from then on, mostly in comic cameos for other top stars such as a bit as a plumber with Laurel & Hardy in Saps at Sea (1940), his last. He died of heart disease that same year.Ben Turpin and Charlie Conklin in Film Fun- Actor
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Heinie Conklin was born on 16 July 1886 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Hard Boiled (1926), Ham and Eggs at the Front (1927) and Uncle Tom Without a Cabin (1919). He was married to Irene Blake. He died on 30 July 1959 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.Ben Turpin and Charlie Conklin in Film Fun- Actor
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Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1892, rustic-looking George "Slim" Summerville possessed one of those malleable mugs that made you laugh even before he opened his mouth. Young Slim ran away from home as a youth and lived a rather wanderlust life until a chance meeting with Mack Sennett through his comedian friend Edgar Kennedy changed everything.
Slim broke into silent films at age nineteen as one of Sennett's pie-hurling Keystone Kops and became part of the stock company of players. Making an unbilled appearance in Keystone's first feature film Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), Summerville's gangly build and naive innocence, not to mention his potato-like nose, mournful mug, and slim, curling upper lip, helped set him apart -- so much so that Summerville eventually branched out into his own short vehicles.
Much more comfortable in rumpled clothes and overalls than a suit and tie, he later learned the ropes of directing and in the 1920s helmed a string of short films for both Fox and Universal studios. He refocused on acting come the advent of sound and made a rather easy transition, standing out in a number of commercial films, both comedic and dramatic, including the mammoth war epic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), the landmark musical film King of Jazz (1930), Hecht-MacArthur's classic The Front Page (1931), the Shirley Temple vehicles Captain January (1936) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), and John Ford's Tobacco Road (1941). In addition, Slim scored in a series of short comedies opposite Zasu Pitts, and a slew of supports in Hoot Gibson westerns.
Usually playing much older than he was, the sleepy-eyed, slow-drawling Summerville played his last role in The Hoodlum Saint (1946), before dying of a stroke on January 5, 1946, at the not-so-old age of 53. He left a strong enough legacy, however, to be remembered as one of the screen's more reliable comedians. He was survived by his wife Eleanor and son Elliot.in Film Fun- Actor
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Born in Bolton, Lancashire, Aubrey was the son of US born gymnast Robert Aubrey. Later a member of the Fred Karno variety troupe, he first traveled to New York in 1900, then settled permanently after emigrating from London, on August 29, 1908. An early understudy of Charlie Chaplin, he later achieved leading status during the silents era (Oliver Hardy once providing support). Following his career decline as a starring performer, he was initially given work by Laurel & Hardy, before embarking on a career as a bit-part player in over 300 features.James Aubrey the Vitagraph Fun Spark in Film Fun- Actor
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Roscoe Arbuckle, the youngest of nine children, reportedly weighed 16 pounds at birth in Smith Center, Kansas on March 24, 1887. His family moved to California when he was one year old. At age 8 he first appeared on the stage. His first part was with the Webster-Brown stock company. From then until 1913, Roscoe was on the stage, performing as an acrobat, a clown, and a singer. His first real professional engagement was in 1904, singing illustrated songs for Sid Grauman at the Unique Theater in San Jose, California at $17.50 a week. He later worked in the Morosco Burbank stock company and traveled through China and Japan with Ferris Hartman. His last appearance on the stage was with Hartman in Yokahama, Japan in 1913, where he played the Mikado.
Back in Hollywood, Arbuckle went to work at Mack Sennett's Keystone film studio at $40 a week. For the next 3-1/2 years he never starred or even featured, but appeared in hundreds of one-reel comedies. He would play mostly policemen, usually with the Keystone Kops, but he also played different parts. He would work with Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling, Charles Chaplin, among others, and would learn about the process of making movies from Henry Lehrman, who directed all but two of his pictures. Roscoe was a gentle and genteel man off screen and always believed that Sennett never thought that he was funny.
Roscoe never used his weight to get a laugh. He would never be found stuck in a chair or doorway. He was remarkably agile for his size and used that agility to find humor in situations. By 1914 he had begun to direct some of his one-reels. The next year he moved up to two-reels, which meant that he would need to sustain the comedy to be successful; as it turned out, he was. Among his films were Fatty Again (1914), Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915), Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915), Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco (1915), Fatty's Reckless Fling (1915), and many more. For "Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco", Keystone took the actors to the real World's Fair to use as background; the studio's cost was negligible, while the San Francisco backgrounds made the picture look expensive.
By 1917 Roscoe formed a partnership with Joseph M. Schenck, a powerful producer who was also the husband of Norma Talmadge. The company they formed was called Comique and the films that Roscoe made were released through Famous Players on a percentage basis, and soon Arbuckle was making over $1,000 a week. With his own company Roscoe had complete creative control over his productions. He also hired a young performer he met in New York by the name of Buster Keaton. Keaton's film career would start with Roscoe in The Butcher Boy (1917). Roscoe wrote his own stories first, tried them out and then devised funny twists to generate the laughs. His comedy star was second only to Charles Chaplin. With the success of Comique, Paramount asked Roscoe to move from two-reel shorts to full-length features in 1919. Roscoe's first feature was The Round-up (1920) and it was successful. It was soon followed by other features, including Brewster's Millions (1921) and Gasoline Gus (1921).
Ufortunately, tragedy struck on Labor Day on September 5, 1921 with the arrest and trial of Roscoe Arbuckle on manslaughter charges. Roscoe with friends Lowell Sherman and Fred Fishback drove to San Francisco where they checked into the St Francis Hotel threw a party and which was crashed by a "starlet" named Virginia Rappe, who fell seriously ill and died three days later from a ruptured bladder. Rappe had accused Arbuckle of raping her prior to passing away, but Rappe had a history of accusing men of rape. The newspapers, led by William Randolph Hearst, used this incident to generate Hollywood's first major scandal. Roscoe was tried not once but three times for the criminal charges; the trials began in November 1921 and lasted until April 1922; the first two ended with hung juries (the mistrial decision in the second trial was reached on February 3, 1922, the day after Arbuckle's friend and fellow Paramount director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered, and Arbuckle was visibly affected by the news). At his third and final trial in April of 1922, the jury not only returned a "not guilty" verdict but excoriated the prosecution for pursuing a flimsy case with no evidence of Arbuckle having committed any crime; it was at this final trial that the jury went further, writing a personal letter of sympathy and apology to Arbuckle for putting him through this ordeal. He kept it as a treasured memento for the rest of his life.
However, Arbuckle's acquittal marked the end of his comedic acting career. Unable to return to the screen, he later found work as a comedy director for Al St. John, Buster Keaton and others under the pseudonym "William Goodrich" (he was inspired to use this pseudonym by Keaton, who suggested Arbuckle use the name "Will B. Good"). In 1932 producer Samuel Sax signed Roscoe to appear in his very first sound comic short films for Warner Brothers, starting with Hey, Pop! (1932). He completed six shorts and showed the magic and youthful spirit that he had a decade before. With the success of the shorts, Warner Brothers signed Roscoe to a feature film contract, but he died in his sleep on June 29, 1933 , at age 46, the night after he signed the contract.in Film Fun 1920 , and Kinema Comic 1920 by George Wakefield .- Actor
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Jackie Coogan was born into a family of vaudevillians; his father was a dancer and his mother had been a child star. On the stage by age 4, Jackie was touring at age 5 with his family in Los Angeles, California.
While performing on the stage, he was spotted by Charles Chaplin, who then and there planned a film in which he and Jackie would star. To test Jackie, Chaplin first gave him a small part in A Day's Pleasure (1919), which proved that he had a screen presence. The movie that Chaplin planned that day was The Kid (1921), where the Tramp would raise Jackie and then lose him. The movie was very successful and Jackie would play a child in a number of movies and tour with his father on the stage.
By 1923, when he made Daddy (1923), he was one of the highest- paid stars in Hollywood. He would leave First National for MGM where they put him into Long Live the King (1923). By 1927, at age 13, Coogan had grown up on the screen and his career was going through a downturn. His popular film career would end with the classic tales of Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931).
In 1935, his father died and his mother married Arthur Bernstein, who was his business manager. When he wanted the money that he made as a child star in the 1920s, his mother and stepfather refused his request and Jackie filed suit for the approximately $4 million that he had made. Under California law at the time, he had no rights to the money he made as a child, and he was awarded only $126,000 in 1939. Because of the public uproar, the California Legislature passed the Child Actors Bill, also known as the Coogan Act, which would set up a trust fund for any child actor and protect his earnings.
In 1937, Jackie married Betty Grable; the marriage lasted 3 years. During World War II, he served in the Army; he returned to Hollywood after the war. Unable to restart his career, he worked in B-movies, mostly in bit parts and usually playing the heavy. In the 1950s he started to appear on television, and he acted in as many shows as he could. By the 1960s he would be in two completely different television comedy series.. The first one was McKeever and the Colonel (1962), where he played Sgt. Barnes in a military school from 1962 to 1963. The second series was the classic The Addams Family (1964), where he played Uncle Fester from 1964 to 1966. After that, he continued to make appearances on television shows and a handful of movies. He died of a heart attack in 1984.in Film Fun 1921- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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A Hollywood native (born there in 1907), seven-year-old Wesley Barry was spotted by a director at Kalem who was taken with the boy's face full of freckles, and he went on to become one of the most popular child actors in the business. Barry had been making picture for several years when director Marshall Neilan scrubbed off the layers of greasepaint that covered his freckles (the standard "solution" at the time in Hollywood to cover up facial blemishes) and let the boy's naturally wild hair grow out instead of being slicked down. Audiences were charmed by the young actor's naturalness and "all-American" looks and flocked to his films. His biggest success was Dinty (1920), but he also scored with Penrod (1922), School Days (1920) and Rags to Riches (1922). Barry was not one of those former child stars whose life fell apart after growing into adulthood; he got involved in the production end of the business and enjoyed a long career as an assistant director, producer and director in both films and television. He died in Fresno, CA, in 1994.in Film Fun 1924- Actor
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Karl Adrien Wettach, one of the most famous clowns of the first half of the 20th century, was born on Jan 10, 1880 in Reconvilier in the Swiss Canton of Bern. His watchmaker father was an amateur musician and acrobat, and he taught the young Karl the basics of music and tumbling. Karl became hooked on performing, and he worked up a variety show with his sister Jeanne that appeared in hotels and clubs. As an amateur, during the summer months, Karl appeared with the circus as a tumbler and then later as a musician. Subsequently, he joined up with a caravan of gypsies, in whose company he learned his craft and gained experience with a broad variety of musical instruments. He became fluent in a many languages, and mastered fourteen musical instruments, including a miniature violin. At the age of 14, he made his professional debut in Fiame Wetzel's circus.
He partnered with a clown named "Brick," and they made the rounds of the international circuit, appearing in France, Africa and South America. In 1903, Wettach took the stage name "Grock," under which he became one of the most famous clowns in Europe. "My birth name doesn't mean anything. I am Grock. The first is the name of the dark years," he said. As a clown, his life became a quest for perfecting the synthesis of the man, with his hidden human face, and the clown, the mask occluding the man beneath the greasepaint. This synthesis was "Grock," a figure intended to entertain while remaining forever mysterious, a beloved figure who never could be fully understood by the audience, hidden as he was by his mask, hidden as the man Karl was by the mask Grock.
After Brick married, Grock left him and hooked up with Umberto Guillaume, a famous clown known as Antonet. Making the move from circus arenas to the music hall, their act initially failed, but eventually, they mastered stage technique. When they hit the boards in London in 1911, they had a major success. The duo became the toast of the public wherever they played. Grock would make England his home for the next 13 years.
By 1913, Grock had polished his most famous and endearing act, appearing as a simpleton among a plethora of musical instruments, fumbling with the instruments as if he knew nothing about them, instruments that the "real" Karl Wettach had mastered. But the clown Grock would absentmindedly flip a fiddle over, then try to play it, wondering where the strings went. It was an act that helped develop his reputation as King of Clowns. Soon, Grock was performing before European royalty.
A composer of popular ditties, Wettach became a music publisher and achieved success in the music business with his own songs. Wettach departed England in 1924 for the Continent, which remained his home for the rest of his life. He settled in Imperia, situated on the western Liguria Riviera, with Ines Ospiri, his Italian wife. In 1927, he began constructing a great 50-room mansion facing the sea in the Cascine hills that would be called the Villa Bianca, named after his daughter.
During the turbulent years of fascist Italy and World War II, Grock never let his mask slip, never overtly dabbled in politics. Though he attracted the admiration of leading Italian fascists, the King of Italy, European royalty and even Hitler, all of whom claimed to be a friend of his, he never publicly confirmed those bonds. The man behind the mask of Grock never declared any allegiance to anyone or anything but his art.
Grock established his own traveling circus in 1951. Initially, he struggled due to the large initial layouts of capital, but he soon achieved financial success as the circus performed shows all over Europe. His last performance was in Hamburg, Germany, on October 30, 1954, in front of a crowd that included scores of reporters from all over the world. He then retired to the Villa Bianca, through with performing, except for several appearances on television he made in 1956.
In addition to being a clown, a composer, and a music publisher, Wettach was also a writer, penning several books, including his 1956 autobiography, "Die Memoiren des Königs der Clowns" ("Grock, King of Clowns"). "The genius of clowning is transforming the little, everyday annoyances, not only overcoming, but actually transforming them into something strange and terrific," Grock said. "It is the power to extract mirth for millions out of nothing and less than nothing."
Grock died in Imperia, Italy, on July 14, 1959. He was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame in 1992.in Film Fun 1929- Actor
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Joe E. Brown happily claimed that he was the only youngster in show business who ran away from home to join the circus with the blessings of his parents. In 1902, the ten-year-old Brown joined a circus tumbling act called the Five Marvellous Ashtons that toured various circuses and vaudeville theaters. Joe later began adding comedy bits into his vaudeville act and added more as it became popular. In 1920 he debuted on Broadway in an all-star review called "Jim Jam Jems". As he developed skits and comedy routines throughout the 1920s, he built up his confidence and his popularity soared. The same could not be said for his debut in movies. Hired for a non-comedy role in The Circus Kid (1928), he played a lion tamer whose fate is death. He didn't register with the public until he signed with Warner Brothers in 1929 to do comedy roles in the film adaptations of Broadway shows such as Sally (1929) and Top Speed (1930). Joe would be well known for his loud yell, his infectious grin and his cavernous mouth. Since many of his films revolved around sports, his natural athletic ability, combined with the physical comedy, made them hits. In Local Boy Makes Good (1931), Joe played a botanist who becomes a track star. As he had briefly played semi-pro baseball, he was a natural for films like Fireman, Save My Child! (1932), in which he played a pitcher who was also a fireman. Two of his biggest hits also involved the game of baseball, Elmer, the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike (1935). In his contract with Warners, he had it written that he would have his own baseball team at the studio to play when he was able. Joe was one of the top ten moneymaking stars for 1933 and 1936. In 1937, he left Warners to make films for David L. Loew, and it was a disaster. Most of the films were cheaply made with poor production values, and only a few were successful. Two of the better ones were Riding on Air (1937) and The Gladiator (1938). Brown always called signing with Loew his biggest professional mistake, and with Loew his popularity fell. By the end of the 1930s he was working in "B" material, which would have been unimaginable less than five years earlier. With the advent of World War II, Joe worked tirelessly to entertain the troops while his film career floundered. Their enthusiastic response enabled Joe to overcome the death of his son, Captain Donald Brown, on a training flight. In 1947 Joe was back in the biz and back on stage in a road company tour of the comedy "Harvey". His first movie role in three years was as a small-town minister in the drama The Tender Years (1948). Even though he gave a good performance, it would be another three years before he was again on the big screen, in the big-budget 1951 remake of Show Boat (1951), in which he played Cap'n Andy Hawks. When his film career became almost nonexistent, Joe worked on radio and in television. He starred as the clown in the drama The Buick Circus Hour (1952) from 1952 to 1953 and made guest appearances on a number of other shows in the 1950s and early 1960s. His peers regarded him as one of the few truly nice people in Hollywood. After a few small movie roles in the 1950s, he was discovered by a new generation as the millionaire Osgood Fielding III in Billy Wilder's classic Some Like It Hot (1959), uttering the immortal last line of the film, "Well, nobody's perfect."in Film Fun 1933- Actor
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After his mother died at the age of only 17 he was raised by his father and an aunt, and later a stepmother.
He later went to New York, where he tried to break into showbiz.
He got his first break with Gus Edwards, working later as actor in several shows, among them "The Gingerbread Man" and "When Dreams Come True". During this show he met his first wife, Margaret Grae, with whom he formed up a successful vaudeville team. Although being asked several times to make movies (among them a request by Harold Lloyd), he stayed with vaudeville. In 1926 they divorced and his wife soon married another actor.
In 1927 he was signed by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. for his show "Rio Rita", where he was teamed with Robert Woolsey. They clicked and formed a comedy team that lasted until 1938 when Woolsey died. When Ziegfeld sold the screen rights of Rio Rita to the newly formed RKO studio as their official debut, they were the only actors in the cast who repeated their stage roles. Further more, a young actress named Dorothy Lee joined the team.
During the 1930s, while they made many comedies in Hollywood, Wheeler married and was divorced twice.
After Woolsey's death, he continued as a single, mostly on the stage, but sometimes also on the screen.
His last years were darkened with financial difficulties and failing health.
Furthermore, two weeks before his own death on January 18, 1968 his daughter Patricia died of cancer.in Film Fun 1934- Actor
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At the age of 7, his father died, leaving his mother and her six children in poverty, of the children, 4 died in early years. To earn some money to support the family, Robert took odd jobs, before becoming a jockey. This career ended when the horse, Pink Star, the future Kentucky Derby winner of 1907, fell and broke Robert's leg. Robert then went to work as bellboy at the Hotel Sinton in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he came in contact with actors who saw possibilities for him on the stage as comic. He joined several vaudeville companies, touring not only North America, but also the British Empire. Around 1917, he married an eccentric dancer. In 1922, he appeared with W.C. Fields in "The Blue Kitten", and also wrote plays. He hit it big, when he was signed for Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s "Rio Rita" in 1927, where he teamed up with Bert Wheeler. Both repeated their stage roles in RKO's filmed version of that musical. Due to their success, both were teamed up again for more pictures, a career that kept on until failing health made further work impossible. Although Variety suggested that both should try as singles, the movies they made apart weren't successful. He died on October 31, 1938 of kidney disease.see above- Actor
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He was one of Britain's prime comedians of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The beloved, notoriously ribald Max Miller was born of humble circumstances in Brighton, England in November 21, 1894. The juvenile dropped out of school at 12 and drifted about aimlessly for several years until called up by the Army to serve in the First World War. He began his career of sorts by entertaining the troops, which triggered his show biz ambition.
Following the war he started slowly building up a name for himself in assorted pubs and music halls as a song-and-dance comedian. Landing his first professional job at Shorditch Hall in 1922, he eventually helped himself considerably by creating his own material and composing his own songs. He hit the big time in mid-career playing all the top variety theatres in the country, ultimately the London Palladium in 1931. A master player of the double entendre, he was known for his brash, impish behavior and clever wit, and was quite adept at covering gags that didn't go over well. He dressed over the top and developed the nickname "The Cheeky Chappie" which well suited his stylishly blue material. His trademarks were his flower-patterned suit with plus fours, co-respondent shoes and trilby hat, which was slightly tilted as a song was introduced. His signature tune was "Mary from the Dairy," which he wrote.
It would seem he'd be a natural for radio but his material was deemed to racy for broadcasting. Since he refused to kowtow to the medium, his appearances were infrequent. His recording career, however, was quite successful and lasted nearly three decades. Between 1933 and 1942 Max appeared in fourteen feature films that were toned down considerably, including Things Are Looking Up (1935) with Cicely Courtneidge, the title role in Educated Evans (1936), and its sequel Thank Evans (1938), Hoots Mon (1940) and The Good Old Days (1940), the last playing a character named Alexander the Greatest.
Long married to Kathleen Marsh, who gave him his stage moniker of Max Miller, the 68-year-old comedian died at his Brighton home of a heart ailment on May 7, 1963.in Film Fun 1938- Actor
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Born George Hoy Booth in Wigan, Lancashire on 26 May 1904, he later took his father's stage name of George Formby. He briefly attended school where he failed to learn to read or write so was removed from formal education and sent to become a stable boy in Middleham, North Yorkshire, where he later became an apprentice jockey. In 1915 with the closure of the English racing season because of the First World War he moved to Ireland and continued as a jockey until the end of hostilities. Returning to England he raced for Lord Derby's Newmarket stables where he never won a race. Following his father's death in 1921 he gave his professional two week appearance at the Hippodrome in Lancashire where he was paid £5 a week and soon after hired to appear on the Moss Empire chain of theatres at £17 10 shillings a week. Touring around venues in Northern England his act didn't go down well resulting in bouts of unemployment. In 1923 he made two career changing decisions - he bought a ukulele and married Beryl Ingham, an Acrington, Lancashire, born champion champion clog dancer and actress who transformed his act. She insisted he appear on stage formally dressed and introduce his ukulele to his performance.. By June 1926 he'd started his recording career and from 1934 he was increasingly working in films developing into a major star by the late '30's and becoming the U.K.'s most popular and highest paid entertainer. During WWII he worked extensively for the ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) entertaining civilians and troops and touring factories, theatres and concert halls. By 1946 it was estimated that he had performed in front of three million service personnel. After the war his career declined although he toured the commonwealth and continued to appear in variety and pantomime. His last television appearance was in December 1960, two weeks before the death of Beryl. Seven weeks after her funeral he announced his engagement to a school teacher but died in Preston three weeks later at the age of 56. He was buried in Warrington alongside his father.in Film Fun 1938- Actor
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Lupino 'Nipper' Lane was one of the few English actors to achieve fame in Hollywood in the 20's. He was a descendant of the clown Grimaldi, who, it was said, was the first to use concealed trap doors for comic effect., Lupino carried on that tradition and had many years of stage experience from his time in England..He was double jointed and could twist his arms , legs and body into amazing positions and it was his acrobatic ability that caught the filmgoer's eye. He never developed a constant character, his comedy routines seemed to be more important to him and his chief delight was in dressing up. His films were mainly made at the Educational Studios in Hollywood and sadly many of them were lost forever having been sold for their scrap value He'd made over 40 films by the time 'talkies' arrived and unable to adapt to them concentrated on his first love, the theatre and carried in a successful career, so much so that when he died none of his obituaries mentioned his films. which included 'Sword Points', loosely based on the Three Musketeers, 'Summer Saps', 'Naughty Boy' (with his brother Wallace) and 'Maid in Morocco'in Film Fun 1939- Actor
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Ford Sterling was born on 3 November 1883 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Trouble with Wives (1925), He Who Gets Slapped (1924) and Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919). He was married to Teddy Sampson. He died on 13 October 1939 in Los Angeles, California, USA.in Kinema Comic 1920 by George Wakefield- Actress
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When top "working girl" silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand would gripe to Mack Sennett about making classier films, Sennett's quippy retort would always be, "I'll send for Fazenda." This pretty, oval-faced, highly popular Keystone comedy cut-up put in her time first in comic two-reelers from 1913 on, but soon unleashed her real gift "dressing down" for laughs with her best known character types as frizzy-haired country bumpkins complete with spit curls, multiple pigtails and calico dresses, a look that went on to inspire bucolic comics Judy Canova and Minnie Pearl.
Louise was born on June 17, 1895, in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of a merchandise broker. Raised in California, she attended Los Angeles High School and St. Mary's Convent. She found odd jobs working a dentist, a candy store owner, and a tax collector. While performing in a high school show, lucky Louise was discovered by a Sennett talent agent and taken immediately to films. The 18-year-old hopeful made her first films with Joker Studios and went on to be highly featured in a slew of "Mike and Jake" comedy shorts starring Max Asher and Harry McCoy. She would also co-star in a number of burlesque-style features with Asher and Bobby Vernon in such vehicles as Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1914), A Freak Temperance Wave (1914), The Tender Hearted Sheriff (1914), Love and Electricity (1914), The Diamond Nippers (1914) and Schultz the Paperhanger (1914).
Soon silent kingpin Sennett himself began incorporating the funny girl's gift for slapstick comedy in his highly popular "Keystone Kops" shorts. Between the years 1915 to 1917, she rose quickly up the front ranks as an early plain-Jane Carol Burnett goofball playing an assortment of serviles -- maid, cook, janitress, flower girl, nurse and fortune teller types. In A Hash House Fraud (1915) she played a flirty cashier; in Her Fame and Shame (1917) she played a star-struck daughter who attempts burlesque to save her pop's mortgage; in The Betrayal of Maggie (1917) and Maggie's First False Step (1917) she portrayed the eager title roles; and in Her Torpedoed Love (1917), she plays a daffy cook whose life is in danger when a greedy butler (Ford Sterling) learns her boss is leaving her his entire estate.
During this peak time, Louise got to work alongside the most brilliant of silent male screen clowns, including Sterling himself, and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Ben Turpin, Charley Chase, Charles Murray, Harry Booker, Edgar Kennedy, Mack Swain, Chester Conklin, James Finlayson, Slim Summerville, Billy Bevan, Jack Cooper, Billy Armstrong and Hugh Fay. Other popular Sennett comic outings for Louise would include Ambrose's Nasty Temper (1915), Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915), A Game Old Knight (1915), A Versatile Villain (1915), The Judge (1916), Bombs! (1916), Are Waitresses Safe? (1917), Those Athletic Girls (1918), The Village Chestnut (1918) Hearts and Flowers (1919), Back to the Kitchen (1919), The Gingham Girl (1920), Bungalow Troubles (1921) and Made in the Kitchen (1921).
Sennett's Down on the Farm (1920) is a silent film feature-length rural comedy featuring an all-star cast of funsters with Louise playing a typical role as the farmer's daughter. Louise eventually left Sennett's company in the early 1920s and, in a change of pace, progressed on her own in both comic and dramatic outings. She appeared in the comedy drama Quincy Adams Sawyer (1922) starring John Bowers, Blanche Sweet and Lon Chaney; three dramatic pieces, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), The Wanters (1923) and Being Respectable (1924), all starring Marie Prevost; the social drama Main Street (1923) starring Florence Vidor; the historical drama (as a country gal) The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924); the tearjerker This Woman (1924) starring Irene Rich and Julliet Akinyi; the canine family adventure The Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) featuring Rin Tin Tin; the Raymond Griffith comedy vehicle The Night Club (1925); the melodramas The Price of Pleasure (1925) starring Virginia Valli and Déclassé (1925) starring Corinne Griffith; and a rare comedy Bobbed Hair (1925) starring Ms. Prevost; Occasional star roles during this silent period included the comedies Listen Lester (1924), Footloose Widows (1926), The Gay Old Bird (1927) and The Cradle Snatchers (1927).
Coming the advent of sound, Louise had no problem whatsoever adjusting to sound where her eccentric talents were greatly utilized in (mostly) Warner Bros. musicals, dramas and knockabout comedies. She provided comedy relief/support in such films as the mystery thriller The Terror (1928); the adventure film The Lady of the Harem (1926); the romantic comedy The Red Mill (1927) starring Marion Davies; the W.C. Fields talking remake of the silent comedy Tillie's Punctured Romance (1928); the sports comedy Babe Comes Home (1927) starring legendary ballplayer Babe Ruth; the war comedy Ham and Eggs at the Front (1927); the Will Rogers comedy A Texas Steer (1927); the comedy Heart to Heart (1928); the dramedy Vamping Venus (1928) which reunited her with Charles Murray and co-starred a rising Thelma Todd; the war drama Noah's Ark (1928); the action adventure Stark Mad (1929) the musicals On with the Show! (1929) and No, No, Nanette (1930) (as Sue Smith); the comedy Wide Open (1930); and the light romantic comedy Loose Ankles (1930).
On November 24, 1927, Louise married renowned Warner Bros. producer Hal B. Wallis who went on to produce several movies that she later appeared in, including Colleen (1936), First Lady (1937), Ready, Willing and Able (1937) and Swing Your Lady (1938). They had one child, Brent, who would grow up to become a psychiatrist. Ending her career on a dramatic note, Wallis would produce Louise's effort -- a supporting role in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins soaper The Old Maid (1939) in the role of, what else, a maid!
Away from the limelight, Louise remained socially prominent and became a noted humanitarian and art collector. In 1958, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 66-year-old former actress suffered a brain hemorrhage in Beverly Hills and died on April 17, 1962. She was survived by her husband, who, in 1966, married actress Martha Hyer. Louise was interred at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.in Kinema Comic 1920- Actress
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Mabel Normand was one of the comedy greats of early film. In an era when women are deemed 'not funny enough' it seems film history has forgotten her contributions. Her films debuted the Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin's tramp and the pie in the face gag. She co-starred with both Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a series of shorts. She was a star in the first Keystone Comedy as well as the first feature film comedy. She was the only comedian to work with Charles Chaplin , Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mack Sennett, D.W. Griffith, Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, Hal Roach, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Fred Mace, Fred Sterling and John Bunny (she and Buster Keaton never had a chance to work together but they were friends.)
Born in Staten Island, New York to Claude and Mary Normand. Normand started out as an artist model for Charles Dana Gibson (creator of the Gibson girl). Friends suggested she try out for the new medium of film and she did, working as an extra in Kalem and Biograph shorts. With Biograph's move to California she went to work for Vitagraph where she made a series of comedic shorts as 'Betty', one co-starring the first comedy film star John Bunny.
Eventually Normand returned to Biograph where she began working with Mack Sennett on comedic shorts that would eventually turn into Keystone Comedies. Normand and Sennett were lovers, close friends and close co-workers. All of Sennett's early ideas seemed to revolve around Normand. His creation of Keystone was contingent on Normand joining him; and though he would underpay her as he underpaid everyone he worked with, he insisted Normand have credit and say in the company. When Normand eventually left Keystone for Goldwyn, Sennett left soon after.
By 1912 Normand was writing her own films and by 1914 she was directing her films. By this point she was a major star, continually topping fan polls by new movie magazines. While the discovery of Charlie Chaplin varies from telling to telling, everyone involved agreed Sennett would not have hired (or kept him on) had it not been for Normand. Chaplin's second short for the company was Normand's "Mabel's Strange Predicament" which she starred and directed in. This was the first film Chaplin created his iconic tramp character for.
Chaplin and Normand had a comedic chemistry and would go on to team in a series of shorts until Chaplin left Keystone in 1915. As Chaplin's star rose many fan magazines began to call Normand a 'female Chaplin'. Normand and Chaplin had similar subtle mannerisms and the influence Normand had on Chaplin can not be understated. Before Chaplin left Keystone, they starred, alongside Marie Dressler, in "Tillie's Punctured Romance" the first full length comedy film.
With the loss of Chaplin, Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle began to team together in a series of shorts (though they had acted together before). This series was also popular and the pair continued acting together until they both left Keystone for better pay.
Sennett and Normand became engaged around this time, though the engagement ended when Sennett was caught cheating on Normand. Friends report she suffered a severe head injury when Sennett's fling threw a vase at Normand's head. Those who knew Normand all believed Sennett was the love of her life; and she his. However they would never reconcile romantically. Sennett did convince Normand to create her own production company "Mabel Normand Film Company" to make her own features. The first project was "Mickey" and Sennett's handling of her business affairs resulted in the film not being released until 1918 (or having a definite version).
Normand dissolved the company and signed with Goldwyn where she went on to make comedy features. These movies would be more akin to sitcoms: they were shorter than a lot of features, but still features. Many are lost though several have turned up in the past 10 years.
Normand once again signed with Sennett to make features and this would result in her final feature films. However this would be a rocky venture. Normand's health was hit or miss (she had been diagnosed with tuberculosis when she was 10) and seemed to be worse than better. She also was drinking heavily. In 1922 her friend William Desmond Taylor was murdered. This case would become 'the case of the century' and became a media circus, it is still unsolved. Though Normand was cleared (she had been seen leaving his house with him waving goodbye to her; she was likely the last person to see him alive), the association left an unwelcome tarnish on her soon after the scandalous death of her friend Olive Thomas, and the unfair trial of Roscoe Arbuckle.
Normand continued working, making The Extra Girl. Soon after its release in 1923 she was again near another crime (a butler was shot at a party she attended; though he survived.) Soon after Normand took a break from film.
By 1926 Normand was ready for a comeback. She signed with Hal Roach to make comedy shorts. These were well received and by 1928 she had signed with the William Morris Agency to make talkies. However she did not realize how sick she was and her health soon interrupted these plans.
Over the years Normand's tuberculosis has turned into rumors of a drug addiction. This started during the Taylor scandal when it was claimed that maybe he had been killed for interrupting a drug ring, and maybe Normand was part of it. While not prominent during her life it has become more commonly believed as time has passed despite no evidence. Normand's family, estate and personal nurse were all adamant she had never used any drugs. Sadly this rumor has become common place in Hollywood lore.
Normand's drinking increased as did her partying. During one party she decided to marry longtime friend Lew Cody at 2am. She instantly regretted the marriage and they continued living separately. As Normand's health decreased and she was committed to a sanitarium (akin to a hospital/hospice in modern terms) by 1929. She died in 1930 from tuberculosis.in Kinema Comic 1920- Actor
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Studio publicity incorrectly puts his birthplace at Mission, Texas. Ken was a trick rider with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and later with Ringling Brothers and was also a champion rodeo rider. His movie debut, The Man Who Won (1923), was the first of many for this early cowboy movie superstar. He was famous for the stunts he could enact with his horse Tarzan. Maynard was the first singing cowboy in the movies. During the 1930s, he dropped out of movies and went back to rodeo work. He did a few more low-budget films in the early 1940s, and then retired for good except for bit parts. His last years were miserable; poor and unremembered, he lived alone in a trailer, an alcoholic who at his death was a victim of serious malnutrition.in Film Picture Stories 1934- Actor
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One of the great stars of early American Westerns. McCoy was the son of an Irish soldier who later became police chief of Saginaw, Michigan, where McCoy was born. He attended St. Ignatius College in Chicago and after seeing a Wild West show there, left school and found work on a Wyoming ranch. He became an expert horseman and roper and developed a keen knowledge of the ways and languages of the Indian tribes in the area. He competed in numerous rodeos, then enlisted in the U.S. Army when America entered the First World War. He was commissioned and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the end of World War I, he returned to his ranch in Wyoming, only to be called by Governor Bob Carry to the post of Adjutant General of Wyoming, a position he held until 1921. The position carried with it the rank of Brigadier General (a brevet promotion) and it has been reported that this made him the youngest general officer in the U.S. Army. His reputation as a friend to the Wind River Reservation Indians, both Arapahoe and Shoshone, preceded him and in 1922, he was asked by the head of Famous Players-Lasky, Jesse L. Lasky, to provide Indian extras for the Western extravaganza, The Covered Wagon (1923). He resigned from the state position and recruited several hundred Indians to the Utah movie location. When the film wrapped, he was asked to choose several Indians to accompany him to Hollywood. There the production company developed a live 'prologue' to be presented just prior to the movie showing. The idea was a success and McCoy and his Indian group toured the U.S. and eventually, Europe as well. After touring this country and Europe with the Indians as publicity, McCoy returned to Hollywood and used his connections to obtain further work in the movies, both as a technical advisor and eventually as an actor. MGM speedily signed him to a contract to star in a series of Westerns and McCoy rapidly rose to stardom, making scores of Westerns and occasional non-Westerns. In 1935, he left Hollywood, first to tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus and then with his own Wild West show. His 1938 Wild West Show cost over $300,000 to mount and closed in bankruptcy in just 28 days. He returned to films in 1940, in a series teaming him with Buck Jones and Raymond Hatton, but World War II and Jones's death in 1942 ended the project. McCoy returned to the Army for the war and served with the Army Air Corps in Europe, winning several decorations and a promotion to full Colonel. He retired from the army and from films after the war, but emerged in the late 1940s for a few more films and some television work. In 1942 he ran for the Republican Nomination for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming. He was defeated and returned to Hollywood and an uncertain future. In 1946 he sold his Wyoming ranch and moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and the life of the gentleman farmer. While living there, he met and married Danish writer Inga Arvad. He later built a home in Nogales, Arizona where Inga subsequently died in 1973. He spent his later years as a retired rancher. He died at the U.A. Army hospital at Ft. Hauchuca, Arizona on January 29 1978 at the age of 86.in Film Picture Stories 1934- Actor
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Buck Jones was one of the greatest of the "B" western stars. Although born in Indiana, Jones reportedly (but disputedly) grew up on a ranch near Red Rock in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and there learned the riding and shooting skills that would stand him in good stead as a hero of Westerns. He joined the army as a teenager and served on US-Mexican border before seeing service in the Moro uprising in the Philippines. Though wounded, he recuperated and re-enlisted, hoping to become a pilot. He was not accepted for pilot training and left the army in 1913. He took a menial job with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show and soon became champion bronco buster for the show. He moved on to the Julia Allen Show, but with the beginning of the First World War, Jones took work training horses for the Allied armies. After the war, he and his wife, Odelle Osborne, whom he had met in the Miller Brothers show, toured with the Ringling Brothers circus, then settled in Hollywood, where Jones got work in a number of Westerns starring Tom Mix and Franklyn Farnum. Producer William Fox put Jones under contract and promoted him as a new Western star. He used the name Charles Jones at first, then Charles "Buck" Jones, before settling on his permanent stage name. He quickly climbed to the upper ranks of Western stardom, playing a more dignified, less gaudy hero than Mix, if not as austere as William S. Hart. With his famed horse Silver, Jones was one of the most successful and popular actors in the genre, and at one point he was receiving more fan mail than any actor in the world. Months after America's entry into World War II, Jones participated in a war-bond-selling tour. On November 28, 1942, he was a guest of some local citizens in Boston at the famed Coconut Grove nightclub. Fire broke out and nearly 500 people died in one of the worst fire disasters on record. Jones was horribly burned and died two days later before his wife Dell could arrive to comfort him. Although legend has it that he died returning to the blaze to rescue others (a story probably originated by producer Trem Carr for whatever reason), the actual evidence indicates that he was trapped with all the others and succumbed as most did, trying to escape. He remains, however, a hero to thousands who followed his film adventures.in Film Picture Stories 1934- Actress
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Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and go to work in a department store. The store used her as a model in its newspaper ads. She had no film aspirations until she appeared in short advertising film at that same department store while she was still a teenager. Erik A. Petschler, a comedy director, saw the film and gave her a small part in his Luffar-Petter (1922). Encouraged by her own performance, she applied for and won a scholarship to a Swedish drama school. While there she appeared in at least one film, En lyckoriddare (1921). Both were small parts, but it was a start. Finally famed Swedish director Mauritz Stiller pulled her from the drama school for the lead role in The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924). At 18 Greta was on a roll.
Following The Joyless Street (1925) both Greta and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM, and her first film for the studio was the American-made Torrent (1926), a silent film in which she didn't have to speak a word of English. After a few more films, including The Temptress (1926), Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928), Greta starred in Anna Christie (1930) (her first "talkie"), which not only gave her a powerful screen presence but also garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress (she didn't win). Later that year she filmed Romance (1930), which was somewhat of a letdown, but she bounced back in 1931, landing another lead role in Mata Hari (1931), which turned out to be a major hit.
Greta continued to give intense performances in whatever was handed her. The next year she was cast in what turned out to be yet another hit, Grand Hotel (1932). However, it was in MGM's Anna Karenina (1935) that she gave what some consider the performance of her life. She was absolutely breathtaking in the role as a woman torn between two lovers and her son. Shortly afterwards, she starred in the historical drama Queen Christina (1933) playing the title character to great acclaim. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the romantic drama Camille (1936), again playing the title character. Her career suffered a setback the following year in Conquest (1937), which was a box office disaster. She later made a comeback when she starred in Ninotchka (1939), which showcased her comedic side. It wasn't until two years later she made what was to be her last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), another comedy. But the film drew controversy and was condemned by the Catholic Church and other groups and was a box office failure, which left Garbo shaken.
After World War II Greta, by her own admission, felt that the world had changed perhaps forever and she retired, never again to face the camera. She would work for the rest of her life to perpetuate the Garbo mystique. Her films, she felt, had their proper place in history and would gain in value. She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with some of the world's best-known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and others. She spent time gardening and raising flowers and vegetables. In 1954 Greta was given a special Oscar for past unforgettable performances. She even penned her biography in 1990.
On April 15, 1990, Greta died of natural causes in New York and with her went the "Garbo Mystique". She was 84.in the Italian comic Bombolo 1936- Actor
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Roy Rogers (born Leonard Slye) moved to California in 1930, aged 18. He played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws, and his own group, the International Cowboys. In 1934 he formed a group with Bob Nolan called Sons of the Pioneers. While in that group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston. Their songs included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". They first appeared in the western Rhythm on the Range (1936), starring Bing Crosby and Martha Raye. In 1936 he appeared as a bandit opposite Gene Autry in "The Old Coral". In 1937 Rogers went solo from "The Sons Of The Pioneeres", and made his first starring film in 1938, Under Western Stars (1938). He made almost 100 films. The Roy Rogers Show (1951) ran on NBC from October 1951 through 1957 and on CBS from 1961 to September 1964. In 1955, 67 of his feature films were released to television.- Music Artist
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After high school Gene Autry worked as a laborer for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in Oklahoma. Next he was a telegrapher. In 1928 he began singing on a local radio station, and three years later he had his own show and was making his first recordings. Three years after that he made his film debut in Ken Maynard's In Old Santa Fe (1934) and starred in a 13-part serial the following year for Mascot Pictures, The Phantom Empire (1935). The next year he signed a contract with Republic Pictures and began making westerns. Autry--for better or worse--pretty much ushered in the era of the "singing cowboy" westerns of the 1930s and 1940s (in spite of the presence in his oaters of automobiles, radios and airplanes). These films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs. During World War II he enlisted in the US Army and was assigned as a flight officer from 1942-46 with the Air Transport Command. After his military service he returned to making movies, this time with Columbia Pictures, and finally with his own company, Flying A Productions, which, during the 1950s, produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954). He wrote over 200 songs. A savvy businessman, he retired from acting in the early 1960s and became a multi-millionaire from his investments in hotels, real estate, radio stations and the California Angels professional baseball team.- Actor
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John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.
Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern California, where they tried ranching in the Mojave Desert. Until the ranch failed, Marion and his younger brother Robert E. Morrison swam in an irrigation ditch and rode a horse to school. When the ranch failed, the family moved to Glendale, California, where Marion delivered medicines for his father, sold newspapers and had an Airedale dog named "Duke" (the source of his own nickname). He did well at school both academically and in football. When he narrowly failed admission to Annapolis he went to USC on a football scholarship 1925-7. Tom Mix got him a summer job as a prop man in exchange for football tickets. On the set he became close friends with director John Ford for whom, among others, he began doing bit parts, some billed as John Wayne. His first featured film was Men Without Women (1930). After more than 70 low-budget westerns and adventures, mostly routine, Wayne's career was stuck in a rut until Ford cast him in Stagecoach (1939), the movie that made him a star. He appeared in nearly 250 movies, many of epic proportions. From 1942-43 he was in a radio series, "The Three Sheets to the Wind", and in 1944 he helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a Conservative political organization, later becoming its President. His conservative political stance was also reflected in The Alamo (1960), which he produced, directed and starred in. His patriotic stand was enshrined in The Green Berets (1968) which he co-directed and starred in. Over the years Wayne was beset with health problems. In September 1964 he had a cancerous left lung removed; in 1977 when Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope was being made, John Waynes archive voice was used for the character Garindan ezz Zavor, later in March 1978 there was heart valve replacement surgery; and in January 1979 his stomach was removed. He received the Best Actor nomination for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and finally got the Oscar for his role as one-eyed Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). A Congressional Gold Medal was struck in his honor in 1979. He is perhaps best remembered for his parts in Ford's cavalry trilogy - Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).- Actor
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He looked so much like superstar Humphrey Bogart that character actress Sarah Padden asked if the two were related. LaRue said he didn't think so. After a long pause studying the young actor's face, she asked, "Did your mother ever meet Humphrey Bogart?"
Alfred "Lash" LaRue was born in Louisiana (although some records indicate Michigan). His father was a traveling salesman, and young Alfred spent his formative years moving all across the country. His family finally settled in Los Angeles where he attended St. John's Military Academy and began college at College of the Pacific, intending to study law. At some point he took an acting class there in an attempt to overcome a speech impediment. After college he followed his father into sales and became a real estate agent. Unsatisfied, he switched to hairdressing before falling into acting. In 1945 he was interviewed by veteran low-budget producer / director Robert Emmett Tansey, who was looking for a bullwhip-cracking anti-hero to co-star in a production at lowly Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). That studio had been around since 1940, rising out of the ashes of Ben Judell's failed dream, and had quickly earned a reputation--entirely justified--of being the worst studio among the denizens of "Poverty Row", that grouping of cheap jack independent producers and ultra-low-budget production companies which composed the bottom rung of the Hollywood food chain, at least since the days of equally shoddy Syndicate Pictures a decade before. LaRue, with his remarkable resemblance to Bogart, certainly looked the part and was cast after claiming he had worked a bullwhip since childhood. In fact he had never handled one, so after he was cast he ran out and borrowed a whip. He spent the next several days trying to learn to use it, but wound up beating himself senseless and bloody, and was finally forced to admit to Tansey that he didn't know what he was doing. Impressed by LaRue's sincerity and laughing at his injuries, Tansey arranged for personalized bullwhip instruction, a rather lavish expense for penny-pinching PRC. Al had appeared in a handful of walk-on roles at Universal, but after realistically gauging his chances at becoming a star at a major studio, he decided it was better to be a bigger fish in a small pond (or, in PRC's case, a mud puddle). His PRC debut, Song of Old Wyoming (1945), headlined singing cowboy Eddie Dean and co-starred the beautiful Jennifer Holt, veteran actor Jack Holt's daughter. This picture was also unique as being PRC's first western to be shot in color, albeit in Cinecolor, a process favored by low-budget producers because it was much cheaper than the better known (and more garish) Technicolor, even though it was decidedly inferior and gave films shot in it an anemic, washed-out look.
Although he wasn't the star, and billed as "the Cheyenne Kid," LaRue received a relatively large amount of fan mail where it then dawned on the powers-that-be at PRC they had a potential star on their hands. Not wanting to mess with a good thing, the studio paired the whip-cracking LaRue with the singing Dean two more times before splitting them off into their own pictures. LaRue quickly adopted an all-black wardrobe and rode a jet black horse to accentuate his image as a bad guy / good guy, sort of an early western anti-hero. He was assigned a sidekick, the hard-drinking, middle-aged Al St. John--a former Keystone Kop for Mack Sennett--beginning with Law of the Lash (1947) and the two gradually became good friends. At PRC he became "King of the Bullwhip" and a solid staple of Saturday-afternoon matinees. LaRue remained with the company after it morphed into Eagle-Lion in 1948, usually playing a character named Cheyenne Davis, before adopting the "Lash" moniker he'd been using for years in screen credits. In private life LaRue loved booze, women and flashy--preferably custom-tailored--clothes. He was married so often it was hard to keep track of his wives, but most sources agree that the number ranged from 10 to 12, two of his more notable ones being actresses Reno Browne, a blonde beauty who co-starred in a few of his films, and Barbra Fuller. Aside from a penchant for marrying pretty much anyone he became attracted to, he also acquired an alcohol problem (which he would battle, with varying degrees of success, for the rest of his life) and after his acting career waned in the early '50s he ran into financial problems. Despite having one of the more recognizable names in B-westerns, he never ranked among the top stars in popularity polls, probably attributable less to his screen persona or acting ability and more to his films' awful scripts and deplorable lack of production values due to PRC's legendary cheapness, a factor which hurt the careers of many of the studio's western stars (had he been signed to a less penurious studio like Republic or Columbia, his career might have risen to far greater heights). LaRue almost always performed his own stunts--mainly because PRC was loathe to spend money on professional stunt men, who in those days demanded higher pay than the stars they were doubling for--a fact he took pride in and made sure that he "conveniently" lost his hat during action scenes so his audience could see that it was actually him in the fray and not a stunt double.
It's interesting to note that although he was never a top-ranked cowboy star during his heyday, he rated his own comic book series that lasted until 1960. After riding out a particularly rough period of his life in the 1960s, he began appearing at Hollywood memorabilia and western shows where he cheerfully greeted fans, happily signed autographs and gained a reputation of being pleasantly accessible. He died in 1996.- Actor
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The son of a lumberman, Tom Mix joined the army as a young man and was an artillery sergeant during the Philippine campaign from 1898 to 1901, though he never saw action. In fact, Mix deserted from the army and carefully kept the facts about his military service a closely guarded secret. About 1903 he was drum major with the Oklahoma Cavalry Band, playing in the St. Louis World's Fair. In 1904 he was a bartender and sheriff/marshal in Dewey, Oklahoma. He was in a series of Wild West shows, such as The Miller Bros. Wild West Show, from 1906-1909; the Widerman show in Amarillo, Texas; with wife Olive Mix in Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition; and Will A. Dickey's Circle D Ranch. The latter supplied Selig Pictures with cowboys and Indians for movies and, in 1910, Mix was hired by Selig to provide and handle horses. His first movie was Ranch Life in the Great Southwest (1910). He continued with Selig until 1917, writing and directing as well as acting. He was signed by Fox Films in 1917 and remained with them until 1928, averaging five or so films a year. His popularity eclipsed all other great cowboy stars (Hoot Gibson and even the legendary William S. Hart) of the silent era and he earned--and spent--millions.
In addition to Mix's riding and shooting skills, the films also showcased the talents of his amazing horse, Tony the Horse. Sound and encroaching middle age were not favorable to Mix, and after making a handful of pictures during the sound era he left the film industry after 1935's serial, The Miracle Rider (1935) (a huge hit for lowly Mascot Pictures, grossing over $1 million; Mix earned $40,000), touring with the Sells Floto Circus in 1930 and 1931 and the Tom Mix Circus from 1936 to 1938. While Mix was a great showman, the combination of the Depression and the high overhead of his traveling shows conspired against his success. Mix developed a comical style, emphasizing fast action thrills to a greater extent than had been common in earlier westerns, and he did his own stunts. He was king of the cowboys during the 1920s and remained popular on radio and in comic books for more than a decade after his death. He died in an auto accident in 1940.- Actor
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Tex Ritter was born on 12 January 1905 in Murvaul, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Song of the Gringo (1936), High Noon (1952) and Varsity Blues (1999). He was married to Dorothy Fay. He died on 2 January 1974 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Actor
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An American cowboy star of "B" westerns who had a brief career in the 1940s, Sunset Carson was born with the decidedly unheroic name of Winifred Maurice Harrison (although he was generally known to his family as Michael or Mick) in Gracemore, Oklahoma. He moved to Plainview, Texas, as a boy and became a successful rodeo rider. Supposedly spotted at a rodeo by Tom Mix, Carson--like Mix, never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story--was given a job in Mix's touring circus/Wild West Show. He also claimed to have appeared in a few bit parts in movies before traveling to South America in 1940 and winning the Champion All-Around Cowboy awards in Buenos Aires (!) two years in a row.
Returning to the US, he got small parts in such films as Stage Door Canteen (1943) and Janie (1944) before being spotted by Republic executive Louis Gray. His size, looks and horsemanship got him a Republic contract as the star of a series of "B" westerns, along with a name change to Sunset Carson. Within two years Carson was #10 on the list of top money-making western stars, but Republic parted ways with him in 1946. According to stuntman Yakima Canutt, Carson attended a studio function drunk and accompanied by an underage girl, and studio head Herbert J. Yates fired him. Carson claimed to have left over business disputes. In any case, he never again achieved the level of success he had had at Republic. After a string of very low-budget westerns for other companies, Carson retired from films in 1985 after making the sci-fi western Alien Outlaw (1985). Sunset Carson toured with Tommy Scott's Country Music Circus and Wild West Show. He replaced Tim McCoy after his death and stayed with them for five seasons. Thereafter he lived in retirement, making film appearances and attending western film conventions.
Sunset Carson died in Reno, Nevada, in 1990.- Actor
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American B-Western star and singing cowboy Monte Hale was born Samuel Buren Ely in 1919 in Ada, Oklahoma, to Herod and Helen Ely. He learned to sing and play guitar at an early age. In Houston and later Galveston, Texas, he played for vaudeville shows and local rodeos. During World War II a job as a replacement guitar player with the Stars Over Texas War Bond Drive led to a friendship with several Republic Pictures stars and staff. At the completion of the tour, the Republic contingent recommended young Hale to studio president Herbert J. Yates. Hale went to California and met Yates, who saw promise in the tall, good-looking musician, and signed him to a seven-year contract, and promptly discarded his birth name for the more appealing name of Monte Hale. After a quick apprenticeship in a couple of bit parts, Hale was given the lead in Home on the Range (1946), which led to a five-year run as one of Republic's popular singing-cowboy stars.
Following the demise of the "B" western in the early 1950s, Hale toured the country as part of a musical cowboy act in rodeos and circuses. He made a few television guest appearances and taught James Dean his rope tricks during their work together on Giant (1956). Hale thereafter retired from films. In his later years, he wrote songs and continued making appearances at Western film fan conventions.- Actor
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American character actor, the most famous of Western-movie sidekicks of the 1930s and 1940s. He was born May 7, 1885, the third of seven children, in the Hayes Hotel (owned by his father) in the tiny hamlet of Stannards, New York, on the outskirts of Wellsville, New York. Hayes was the son of hotelier and oil-production manager Clark Hayes, and grew up in Stannards. As a young man, George Hayes worked in a circus and played semi-pro baseball while a teenager. He ran away from home at 17, in 1902, and joined a touring stock company. He married Olive Ireland in 1914 and the pair became quite successful on the vaudeville circuit. Retired in his 40s, he lost much of his money in the 1929 stock market crash and was forced to return to work. Although he had made his film debut in a single appearance prior to the crash, it was not until his wife convinced him to move to California and he met producer Trem Carr that he began working steadily in the medium. He played scores of roles in Westerns and non-Westerns alike, finally in the mid-1930s settling in to an almost exclusively Western career. He gained fame as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Windy Halliday in many films between 1936-39. Leaving the Cassidy films in a salary dispute, he was legally precluded from using the "Windy" nickname, and so took on the sobriquet "Gabby", and was so billed from about 1940. One of the few sidekicks to land on the annual list of Top Ten Western Boxoffice Stars, he did so repeatedly. In his early films, he alternated between whiskered comic-relief sidekicks and clean-shaven bad guys, but by the later 1930s, he worked almost exclusively as a Western sidekick to stars such as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Randolph Scott. After his last film, in 1950, he starred as the host of a network television show devoted to stories of the Old West for children, The Gabby Hayes Show (1950). Offstage an elegant and well-appointed connoisseur and man-about-town, Hayes devoted the final years of his life to his investments. He died of cardiovascular disease in Burbank, California, on February 9, 1969.- Actor
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The well-worn phrase "Tall in the saddle" is certainly one easy way of describing (and perhaps pigeon-holing) leathery, wiry-framed 1940s and early 1950s western film star Rod Cameron, although he proved quite capable in crime stories, horrors and even swing-era musicals.
The 6'4" Canadian-born actor was born Nathan Roderick Cox on December 7, 1910, and raised in Alberta. Once his aspirations of becoming a Royal Canadian Mountie passed, he decided to seek fame and fortune as an actor in New York and initially grabbed some work as a laborer on the Holland Tunnel project in Manhattan. When no progress was made acting-wise, he moved to California where he made his "debut" in an unbilled bit in one of Bette Davis' scenes in The Old Maid (1939). Upon release, however, he discovered his bit in the scene had been deleted.
Cameron found a slight "in" (as in "stand-in") with Paramount Pictures for such stars as Fred MacMurray while managing to find himself sparingly used in other Paramount films. To supplement his income he also played leading man in the studio's screen tests for starlet wanna-bes and his athleticism paid off playing stunt double for such established cowboy icons as Buck Jones. Cameron toiled as a bit player for quite some time and appeared insignificantly in such classics as Christmas in July (1940) and North West Mounted Police (1940) (where he fulfilled his early wish by playing a Mountie!). Occasionally he would find a noticeable secondary role, in such lesser films as The Monster and the Girl (1941), The Forest Rangers (1942) and as Jesse James in The Remarkable Andrew (1942).
Cameron's banner year was 1943, when he finally broke out of the minor leagues and into the major ranks. His breakout screen role was as clench-jawed Agent Rex Bennett, out to bring down the foreign enemy and save the world, in the Republic serial cliffhangers G-Men vs. The Black Dragon (1943) and Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943). From there he was signed by Universal to appear in a flurry of low-budget westerns with Fuzzy Knight as his comic sidekick. Aside from the rough-hewn heroics he was paid to display, he would occasionally show a softer side for the ladies, such as with fellow Canadian Yvonne De Carlo in Salome, Where She Danced (1945), Frontier Gal (1945) and River Lady (1948). Seldom would he venture outside the action genre, however, one of the few times being his role as a symphony conductor in Swing Out, Sister (1945). For the most part he remained rooted in westerns and the only variance within that realm was the occasional black-hatted bad guy.
Among Cameron's many dusty showcases (more often than not made at Republic or Universal), Brimstone (1949), Stampede (1949), Dakota Lil (1950) and San Antone (1953) are worth a good look. Cameron never found his Stagecoach (1939) or Shane (1953), a vehicle that might have held him even "taller" in the saddle, but between 1953 and 1955 he was still ranked "top 5" box-office.
In the 1950s Cameron found time to settle into a couple of syndicated TV series. Both City Detective (1953) and State Trooper (1956) lasted a couple of seasons. He also guested on the more popular western series, such as Bonanza (1959), Laramie (1959) and The Virginian (1962). When his movie career began to fade in the early 1960s, he went to Spain for a few spaghetti westerns and appeared in a couple of low-budget westerns such as Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965) and The Bounty Killer (1965), which was noticed more for reuniting sagebrush stars from yesteryear than for its high quality. He also played an aging rodeo star who dies early in the story in the biopic Evel Knievel (1971).
The only serious tabloid scandal he ever found himself in was when he divorced wife Angela Alves-Lico (1950-1960) and then immediately married his ex-wife's mother, Dorothy, who was a few years older than him. An extended battle with cancer finally claimed the 73-year-old actor in 1983 at a Gainesville, Georgia, hospital.- Actor
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American Western star and character actor whose career spanned six decades. The son of director Robert N. Bradbury, he appeared in vaudeville with his parents and with his twin brother Bill Bradbury appeared as a child in a series of 16 semi- documentary short films directed by their father, The Adventures of Bob and Bill. As Bob Bradbury Jr., he played juvenile roles in silent films, then took the stage name Bob Steele in 1927. He appeared in scores of films during the Thirties, rising to B-Western stardom and an apparently solid position as one of Republic Studios' top draws. Occasionally he made an appearance in more prominent films, as in his role as Curly in Of Mice and Men (1939). But he remained primarily a figure in Westerns. His stardom diminished by the mid-40s, and he spent the next quarter-century in character roles, some highly visible, such as his part in The Big Sleep (1946). But he also eventually turned up as a virtual extra in pictures like Shenandoah (1965). He appeared often on television and regained some fame in his role as Trooper Duffy in F Troop (1965). He died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, following a long illness.- Actor
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As they say, like father, like son. Cowboy hero Tim Holt avidly followed in the boots of his famous character-actor dad, the granite-jawed Jack Holt (b. Charles John Holt), who appeared in hundreds of silents and talkies (many of them westerns) over the years. The two actually appeared together as father and son in the western The Arizona Ranger (1948), and Jack was glimpsed (as a hobo in the Mexican flophouse that Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim were staying in) in the classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Also a part of the acting Holt clan was the beautiful "prairie flower" Jennifer Holt (nee Elizabeth Marshall Holt), Tim's younger sister, who appeared in scores of 1940s oaters. The three, however, never performed together in a single film.
Tim was born Charles John Holt, Jr. in Beverly Hills on February 5, 1918, to Jack and his wife, Margaret Woods, at a time when Jack was just making a dent in silent films. Nicknamed "Tim", he was raised on his father's ranch in Fresno, where he performed outside chores and learned to ride a horse. Tim, in fact, made his debut at age 10 in one of his father's westerns, The Vanishing Pioneer (1928), based on a Zane Grey story. He played Jack's character as a young boy.
The boyishly rugged, athletically inclined Tim attended military school in his teens, excelling in polo. While studying at college, he married his college sweetheart, Virginia Ashcroft, in 1938. At this point he decided to try to put together an acting career. Virginia herself made a very brief foray into acting.
Tim apprenticed at various stock companies before he eased his way back into films with an unbilled part in History Is Made at Night (1937). He then earned strong notices in the classic Barbara Stanwyck tearjerker Stella Dallas (1937) and as Olivia de Havilland's brother in Gold Is Where You Find It (1938). His horseback riding capabilities and fast-drawing technique quickly kicked in with The Law West of Tombstone (1938), and he joined a superb cast in John Ford's classic western Stagecoach (1939) as a by-the-book cavalry lieutenant.
Hardly confined to westerns at this early stage, Tim showed impressive acting abilities in comedy (Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)), adventures (Swiss Family Robinson (1940)), and high drama (Back Street (1941)), all for RKO Pictures. He reached an early peak when Orson Welles cast him against type as the cruel, malicious son George in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), a role Welles initially contemplated playing himself. By the mid '40s, however, Tim had settled into the western genre. He starred in a series of dusty RKO features partnered with comic Cliff Edwards by his side and also appeared solo elsewhere.
World War II interrupted his thriving career. He was a decorated hero (Distinguished Flying Cross, Victory Medal, and Presidential Unit Citation among his awards) while serving in the Air Corps and was discharged with the rank of second lieutenant. Wounded over Tokyo on the last day of the war, he was also given the Purple Heart. He made an auspicious return to films in the role of Virgil Earp in Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946) and then continued in a somewhat lesser vein with "B"-level oaters. He came to the forefront one more time, co-starring with gold prospecting rivals Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston in John Huston's masterpiece The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), arguably the high point of Tim's entire film career, which rightfully earned him the best notices he ever received.
Richard Martin became his second sidekick in another popular string of RKO westerns, with Tim repeatedly making the "top ten" ranks of money-making cowboy stars. Appearing almost exclusively for RKO from 1939 on, Tim eventually became disillusioned with the quality of his pictures and decided to abandon films after appearing in RKO's Desert Passage (1952) while still a popular draw. Divorced from his second wife, Alice Harrison, he retired for the most part to his Oklahoma ranch with his third wife, Berdee Stephens, and their three children. He later became a manager for a radio station in Oklahoma City. In 1957 he came out of retirement to head up the cast in the subpar sci-fi horror film The Monster That Challenged the World (1957) and then quickly returned to obscurity.
Little was heard from Tim over the years save a co-starring role in a low-budget hillbilly moonshine extravaganza for exploitation king Herschell Gordon Lewis called This Stuff'll Kill Ya! (1971). He was diagnosed with bone cancer in August of 1972 and passed away rather quickly on February 15, 1973, shortly after his 54th birthday. Buried in Oklahoma, he was posthumously inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame in 1991 and was a recipient of the "Golden Boot" award in 1992.- Actor
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An All-American halfback while attending the University of Alabama, Johnny Mack Brown chose the silver screen over the green grass of the football field when he graduated. Signed to a contract with MGM in 1926, Brown debuted in Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) with William Haines in a film about - baseball. This was followed by The Bugle Call (1927), which starred the fading Jackie Coogan. In 1928 he appeared in the last Norma Shearer silent film, A Lady of Chance (1928). After that, he worked with Greta Garbo, Marion Davies and Mary Pickford. His muscular good looks only carried him so far in films, however, and by 1930 he had yet to find his place. At MGM Clark Gable was taking the roles that Brown was up for, so he went into a western for director King Vidor, Billy the Kid (1930). While Vidor did not want him for the part to begin with, the picture was successful; however, Brown's career at MGM soon ended. By 1933 he was still making westerns, but they were for low-rung studios like Mascot. More westerns at even lower-rung Supreme Pictures followed, as well as serials like Wild West Days (1937) at Universal. In 1943 Brown took his boots over to Monogram Pictures, where he made over 60 westerns. He started off as "Nevada Jack McKenzie" in the Rough Riders series, but the name soon changed to Johnny. As with most of the early cowboy stars, he was a hero to millions of young children and consistently among the top ten money-makers in westerns from 1942-50. The bubble burst, though, just as it did for Allan Lane, in 1953, as the days of the "B" western came to an end.- Actor
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Most western action film heroes begin and end their career in the saddle. Not so for cowboy idol Allan Lane (nicknamed "Rocky"), who started as a leading man in major studio dramas only to segue into "B" serials and sagebrush sagas in later life. The Indiana native was born in 1909 (some sources claim 1904). His attentions, however, veered toward the theater and he left school to join a Cincinnati stock company. He toured with "Hit the Deck" to New York City and continued there in various other theater projects. A Fox talent scout discovered Lane in 1929, and he left New York for Hollywood. Making his debut with Not Quite Decent (1929), he had trouble rising in stature, however, and left Hollywood in 1932, giving it a second try a few years later. His second attempt saw him enjoying second lead roles in good quality "B" films throughout the late 1930s, including Stowaway (1936) with little Shirley Temple, Maid's Night Out (1938) with Joan Fontaine, and Twelve Crowded Hours (1939), co-starring Lucille Ball. Searching for better roles, he signed with Republic in 1940, and after struggling a bit in his initial films he hit pay dirt after teaming with Linda Stirling in the popular serial The Tiger Woman (1944). His own serials as steadfast Mountie Dave King proved popular, and around this time he started gaining added attention as a photogenic and very personable cowboy star. With his trusty steed "Blackjack," Lane managed to churn out a bucketful of oaters every year, beginning with Silver City Kid (1944), for nearly a decade, trading blows with the bad guys and seeing justice prevail. Following this chapter of his career, he left films and toured with circuses and rodeo shows until the TV series Red Ryder (1951) came his way. He may be better remembered these days not for his dashing good looks and saddle appeal on film but to older generations as the off-camera voice for the talking horse Mister Ed (1961) in the classic 1960s sitcom of the same name. Lane retired shortly thereafter and died on October 27, 1973, after a six-week bout with cancer.- Born Gordon Nance in 1904 on a farm in Pattonsburg, Missouri -- a small town about 60 miles northeast of Kansas City -- the future "Wild Bill Elliott" grew up around horses. His father was a commissioner at the Kansas City Stockyards. and at age 16 Elliott won a first-place ribbon in that city's annual "American Royal Horse and Livestock Show." After a move to California, he appeared in a few productions at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he was spotted by a talent scout. He made his first movie in 1925. A steady stream of movies followed, first silents and then talkies, in which he played too great a variety of roles to be "typed." In many of these movies he was billed as "Gordon Elliott." In 1938, however, Columbia cast him as the lead in its 15-chapter serial, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938), and Elliott's identification with westerns began. He even began to adopt the names "Bill" or "Wild Bill." He also became famous for using the line, "I'm a peaceable man ... " (which was inevitably followed by an outburst of violence). Elliott reached his peak of popularity at Columbia when he was teamed with Tex Ritter for a series of films. In 1943 he left Columbia for Republic, where his westerns had somewhat larger budgets. This was followed by a move to Monogram (later Allied Artists) in 1951. He was now back in low-budget B-westerns, the last one appearing in 1954. There followed five other B pictures in which he played a Los Angeles police detective. He filmed "pilots" for two potential TV series, "Marshal of Trail City" and "Parson of the West," but neither of them sold. His film career over, Elliott settled in Las Vegas where he hosted a weekly TV show in which he interviewed guests and showed some of his old movies. He also became a pitchman for a cigarette company. In 1961 his 34-year marriage to Helen Josephine Meyer ended and he took Dolly Moore as his second wife. He died of lung cancer in 1965 and is buried in Las Vegas at Palm Memorial Park.
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He was one of filmdom's last dying breed of crooning cowpokes following WWII. Jimmy Wakely had many talents (singing, songwriting, guitar-playing) and performed in many venues (radio, film, TV, rodeos, clubs) over his career. He began life in Mineola, Arkansas in 1914, but was raised in Depression-era Oklahoma. He started off simply as a farmer but his musical talents could not be denied. Eventually he created the vocal trio "The Bell Boys" along with Johnny Bond and entertained in local hot spots while cutting studio recordings. Country western lore has it that a happenstance meeting with Gene Autry while the star was touring in Oklahoma led to the vocal group high-tailing it to California and performing on his Melody Ranch radio program at CBS. The boys eventually settled in California and made their musical film debut in the Roy Rogers Republic western Saga of Death Valley (1939). Wakely's group ended up a staple on Autry's radio show as well, but Jimmy left within a couple of years to focus on films and a recording contract with Decca Records. He and his group appeared in two Hopalong Cassidy films in 1941, Twilight on the Trail (1941), and Stick to Your Guns (1941) and within the films they sang memorable songs such as Lonesome Guitar, Blue Moon on the Silver Sage, Lady O Lay, and My Kind of Country. He would become known for perfecting the hillbilly style with such classic songs as "Cimarron (Roll On)" (his first big hit), "I'm Sending You Red Roses," ""One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)," "Beautiful Brown Eyes," "Too Late" and "I'll Never Let You Go."
Over an extended period of time Jimmy's country trio would warble for a number of top westerns stars in their film vehicles. Known vicariously during their film stay as "Jimmy Wakely and his Rough Riders," "The Jimmy Wakely Trio," "Jimmy Wakely and his Saddle Pals" and "Jimmy Wakely and His Oklahoma Boys," the popular Dick Reinhart and Scotty Harrel often completed the trio along with Wakely and Bond. The boys traveled from studio to studio fine-tuning an assembly line of westerns for such established stars as Don 'Red' Barry, Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter and Charles Starrett, among others.
Thanks to the meteoric successes of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, the various studios were competitively grooming top country singers into film icons. "Poverty Row"-level Monogram Pictures exec Scott R. Dunlap managed to snag the slim, laidback, good-looking Jimmy as their own representative. For the next five years, the dark-haired singer would star in over two dozen oaters, his character heroes usually taking on his own name -- Jimmy Wakely. Dubbed the Bing Crosby of C&W, his stay at Monogram went considerably well though certainly not up to par with the success of the afore-mentioned.
Wakely's first Monogram vehicle was Song of the Range (1944), and he rode off into the sunset five years later with Lawless Code (1949). In between he smooth-sang a lot of tunes and was outfitted with a variety of different sidekicks, notably 'Lee "Lasses" White' and Dub Taylor. Though he took a distant ranking compared to others of his ilk, he proved to be a fine commodity for the fledgling studio. His lasting power was curtailed, however, by the demise of the singing cowboy (and eventually "B" westerns in general).
Following his heyday and into the 1950s, Jimmy continued writing songs and singing on stage. He remained a sturdy name on the rodeo circuit and in country western clubs. As a recording artist he charted a few country hits and was one of the few singers to cross over to the mainstream. In 1952, he became the star of "The Jimmy Wakely Show" for CBS radio and briefly alternated hosting duties on ABC-TV's Five Star Jubilee (1961) with Snooky Lanson, Carl Smith, Rex Allen and old film pal Tex Ritter. He eventually developed his own record company called Shasta Records in the 1960s and 1970s and owned two music publishing companies. Converting part of his California homestead into a recording studio, he made commercial records for other country western artists as well. Two of his children, Linda Lee and Johnny, showed singing talents and occasionally joined him on the performing stage. Long wed to wife Inez (since 1936) who became his business manager, they had two other daughters, Carol and Deanna. Jimmy developed emphysema in later years and died in California of heart failure in 1982.- Actor
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A pioneering cowboy star of silent and early talking Westerns, Hoot Gibson was one of the 1920s' most popular children's matinée heroes. In his real life, however, he had a rather painful rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags career, a problem that seemed to plague a number of big stars who fell victim to their high profile and wound up living too high on the hog.
An unfortunate byproduct of stardom is, of course, the misinformation that is often fed to the public over the years by either overzealous publicity agents or the actor himself. The many variations of just how Gibson earned the name tag "Hoot" is one of them: (1) As a youth, he loved to hunt owls; (2) while a teenager working on a rodeo ranch, other ranch hands called him "Hoot Owl" and that the name was shortened to just "Hoot"; (3) he picked up the nickname while a messenger with the Owl Drug Company; and (4) while touring briefly in vaudeville, he would hoot when the audience cheered and, thus, the nickname.
What facts are known about Hoot is that he was born Edmund Richard Gibson on August 6, 1892, in Tekamah, Nebraska. As a child he grew up among horses and received his first pony at the age of 2-1/2. His family moved to California when he was 7. At age 13 the adventurous youth ran away from home and joined a circus for a time. Later work included punching cows in both Wyoming and Colorado (at the time, a territory and not a state). While working on the Miller 101 Ranch at Fort Bliss, Oklahoma, as a horse wrangler, Hoot developed a strong, active interest in the rodeo scene--in particular, bronco busting. In 1907 he signed a four-year contract with the Dick Stanley-Bud Atkinson Wild West Show, which toured throughout the US and (later) Australia.
By 1910 Hoot had found an "in" to the movie business as one of the industry's first stuntmen (for which he was paid $2.50 for performing stunts or training horses). Director Francis Boggs was looking for experienced cowboys and stunt doubles to appear in his western short Pride of the Range (1910) starring Tom Mix; both Hoot and another future cowboy star, Art Acord, were hired. Hoot lost a solid Hollywood contact in Boggs, however, when the director and his working partner, producer William Nicholas Selig, were both shot in October, 1911, by a mentally disturbed employee (Selig was injured, but Boggs was killed). Gibson managed to find other stunt work in director D.W. Griffith's western short The Two Brothers (1910) and several others for the next few years.
Acting, at this point, was not his bread-and-butter income. Hoot still continued to forge a name for himself on the rodeo circuit with his pal Acord. In 1912, at age 20, he won the title "All-Around Champion Cowboy" at the famed annual Pendleton (Oregon) Round-Up. He also won the steer-roping World Championship at the Calgary Stampede. While on the circuit, he met fellow rodeo rider Rose August ("Helen") Wenger. They eventually married (there is still some question about whether they legally exchanged vows) and she took on the marquee name of Helen Gibson. She even found film stunt work herself and eventually was chosen to replace Helen Holmes as star of the popular movie serial The Hazards of Helen (1914) during mid-filming. Hoot himself had a minor role in the Universal cliffhanger.
Hoot picked up a couple of more strong connections in the film industry with western star Harry Carey and director John Ford. Gibson gained some momentum as a secondary player in a few of their films, including Cheyenne's Pal (1917), Straight Shooting (1917), The Secret Man (1917) and A Marked Man (1917). With the outbreak of World War I, however, Gibson's film career was put on hold. He joined the US Army, eventually attaining the the rank of sergeant while serving with the Tank Corps, and was honorably discharged in 1919. He returned immediately to Universal and was able to restart his career, quickly working his way up to co-star status in a series of short westerns, most of which were directed by his now close friend Ford. The two-reelers usually co-starred either Pete Morrison or Hoor's wife Helen, or sometimes both. Films such as The Fighting Brothers (1919), The Black Horse Bandit (1919), Rustlers (1919), Gun Law (1919), The Gun Packer (1919) and By Indian Post (1919) eventually led to his solo starring success.
During this prolific period, he was frequently directed by George Holt (The Trail of the Holdup Man (1919)), Phil Rosen (The Sheriff's Oath (1920)) and Lee Kohlmar (The Wild Wild West (1921)). It was at this time that he and wife Helen separated and divorced. In the early 1920s, Hoot went on to marry another Helen--Helen Johnson. They had one child, Lois Charlotte Gibson, born in 1923. The couple divorced in 1927.
Superstardom came with the John Ford (I)full-length feature western Action (1921), which was taken from "The Three Godfathers" story. It starred Hoot, Francis Ford and J. Farrell MacDonald as a trio of outlaws on the lam who find a baby. From that point on, both Hoot and Tom Mix began to "rule the west". Gibson's light, comedic, tongue-in-cheek manner only added to his sagebrush appeal, especially to children and women. His vehicles were non-violent for the most part, and he rarely was spotted carrying a gun while riding his palomino horse Goldie. Not a particularly handsome man, his boyish appeal and non-threatening demeanor were his aces in the hole--a major distinction that separated him from the more ascetic cowboy stars of the past.
By 1925 Hoot was making approximately $14,500 a week and spending it about as fast as he was making it. He successfully made the transition to talkies and, in 1930, married popular Jazz-era actress Sally Eilers, a third party to his previous divorce. The couple made three features together: The Long, Long Trail (1929), Trigger Tricks (1930) and Clearing the Range (1931). When she found celluloid success on her own with Bad Girl (1931), Sally decided to split from Hoot professionally and personally. They divorced in 1933.
Hoot lost his Universal contract in 1930, which signified the start of his decline. While he secured contracts with lesser studios during the early 1930s, such as Allied Pictures and First Division Pictures, the quality of his films suffered. By this time Hoot had already begun to feature race cars and airplanes in his pictures. such as The Flyin' Cowboy (1928) and The Winged Horseman (1929). Airplanes in particular became a large, expensive passion of his. In 1933 he crashed his biplane during a National Air Race in Los Angeles, which had pitted him against another cowboy star, Ken Maynard. Fortunately, he survived his injuries.
With the advent of talking films, singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were becoming the new rage, and both Hoot and Tom Mix felt the kick. Yet he managed a couple of "comebacks" by pairing up with others stars. He joined old silent film teammate Harry Carey and 'Guinn Big Boy Williams' in the "Three Mesquiteers" western Powdersmoke Range (1935), and was billed second to Ray Corrigan in the Republic serial The Painted Stallion (1937).
Hoot left films and toured with the Robbins Brothers and Russell Brothers circuses during 1938 and 1939 before retiring from show business altogether. His multiple divorces and reckless spending habits had taken their toll on his finances. For a time he found work in real estate before Monogram Pictures offered the stocky-framed actor a chance to return in 1943. Hoot teamed up with cowboy star Ken Maynard in the popular "Trail Blazers" series, and the duo were later joined by Bob Steele. Chief Thundercloud replaced a difficult Maynard on a couple of the films, but by the end of the series Gibson and Steele were riding alone together. The nearly dozen films in the series began with Wild Horse Stampede (1943) and ended with Trigger Law (1944), the latter being his last hurrah in films.
Hoot then returned to real estate. By the time he appeared as a surprise guest on the popular sitcom I Married Joan (1952) starring Joan Davis, his Western features of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as those of Maynard, Steele and others were a large staple of films seen by a TV audience that couldn't get enough Western fare. He did a favor for old friend John Ford by appearing in a cameo role in the director's 1959 film The Horse Soldiers (1959). His last movie spotting was a guest cameo in the "Rat Pack" film Ocean's Eleven (1960).
Hoot married a fourth and final time on July 3, 1942, to one-time radio singer and actress Dorothea Dunstan. This marriage took hold and lasted for 20 years until his death. By the 1960s Gibson was on the verge of financial collapse after a series of bad investments. Diagnosed with cancer in 1960, rising medical costs forced him to find any and all work available. He was relegated at one point to becoming a greeter at a Las Vegas casino and, for a period, worked at carnivals.
It was an unhappy end for a cowboy who brought so much excitement and entertainment to children and adults alike. Gibson died of cancer at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, just a couple of weeks after his 70th birthday. He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. In remembrance, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 1979, was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.- Actor
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World-famous, widely popular American humorist of the vaudeville stage and of silent and sound films, Will Rogers graduated from military school, but his first real job was in the livestock business in Argentina, of all places. He transported pack animals across the South Atlantic from Buenos Aires to South Africa for use in the Boer War (1899-1902). He stayed in Johannesburg for a short while, appearing there in Wild West shows where he drew upon his expertise with horse and lasso. Returning to America, he brought his talents to vaudeville and by 1917 was a Ziegfeld Follies star. Over the years he gradually blended into his act his unique style of topical, iconoclastic humor, in which he speared the efforts of the powerful to trample the rights of the common man, while twirling his lariat and perhaps chewing on a blade of straw. Although appearing in many silents, he reached his motion-picture zenith with the arrival of sound. Now mass audiences could hear his rural twang as he delivered his homespun philosophy on behalf of Everyman. The appeal and weight of his words carried such weight with the average citizen that he was even nominated for governor of Oklahoma (which he declined).- Actor
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Smiley worked on a local radio station and in Vaudeville after high school. Always interested in music, he was friends with Gene Autry and worked with him on the radio show "The National Barn Dance". When Westerns became a big draw with sound, the studios were always on the lookout for singing cowboys. In 1934, both Gene and Smiley made their debuts in In Old Santa Fe (1934). Smiley became well known as Gene's plump sidekick Frog Milhouse, and they worked together in over 80 Westerns. After Gene, Smiley provided the comic relief for other cowboy stars at Republic such as Sunset Carson and Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid). He also provided a lot of the music as he wrote over 300 western songs and sang quite a few in the films. Smiley was the first supporting actor to regularly appear on the Top Ten Western money-maker list. He became well known for his white horse with the black circle around one eye. When he used a team of white horses, as when he was 'Spec Specialist' Smiley Burnette, each white horse had one black circle around one eye. When the 'B' movie Western reign ended in 1953, Smiley retired from the screen. He made occasional appearances on television including being a regular on the music show "Ozark Jubilee (1959)". His last performance was as railroad engineer Charlie Pratt on Petticoat Junction (1963) from 1963-67.- Actor
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Rotund comic character actor of American films. Born Andrew Vabre Devine in Flagstaff, Arizona, he was raised in nearby Kingman, Arizona, the son of an Irish-American hotel operator Thomas Devine and his wife Amy. Devine was an able athlete as a student and actually played semi-pro football under a phony name (Jeremiah Schwartz, often erroneously presumed to be his real name). Devine used the false name in order to remain eligible for college football. A successful football player at St. Mary & St. Benedict College, Arizona State Teacher's College, and Santa Clara University, Devine went to Hollywood with dreams of becoming an actor. After a number of small roles in silent films, he was given a good part in the talkie The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931) in part due to his fine record as a football player. His sound-film career seemed at risk due to his severely raspy voice, the result of a childhood injury. His voice, however, soon became his trademark, and he spent the next forty-five years becoming an increasingly popular and beloved comic figure in a wide variety of films. In the 1950s, his fame grew enormously with his co-starring role as Jingles P. Jones opposite Guy Madison's Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951), on television and radio simultaneously. In 1955, before the Hickok series ended, Devine took over the hosting job on a children's show retitled Andy's Gang (1955), in which he gained new fans among the very young. He continued active in films until his death in 1977. He was survived by his wife and two sons.- American B-Western actress. Growing up in her native Reno, Nevada, she made her entree into films with small parts in films shooting on location in the Reno area. She travelled to Hollywood and got work as a trick rider and stuntwoman and eventually as a leading lady in low- budget Westerns for Monogram and Republic. She starred opposite Johnny Mack Brown in several films and married another cowboy star, Lash La Rue. She also had her own radio program in the 1940s, "Reno Rides the Range." She retired to her hometown of Reno and died there at the age of 70.
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American leading lady of musical westerns of the 1940s. Born Frances Octavia Smith in Uvalde, Texas. She was raised in Texas and Arkansas. Married at 14 and a mother at 15, she was divorced at 17 (some sources say widowed). Intent on a singing career, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and worked in an insurance company while taking occasional radio singing jobs. After another unhappy marriage, she went to Louisville, Kentucky, and became a popular singer on a local radio station. There she took the stage name Dale Evans (from her third husband, Robert Dale Butts, and actress Madge Evans). Divorced in 1936, she moved to Dallas, Texas, and again found local success as a radio singer. She married Butts and they moved to Chicago, where she began to attract increasing attention from both radio audiences and film industry executives. She signed with Fox Pictures and made a few small film appearances, then was cast as leading lady to rising cowboy star Roy Rogers. She and Rogers clicked and she became his steady on-screen companion. In 1946, Rogers' wife died and Evans' marriage to Butts ended about the same time. Rogers and Evans had been close onscreen in a string of successful westerns, and now became close off-screen as well. A year later she married Rogers and the two become icons of American pop culture. Their marriage was dogged by tragedy, including the loss of three children before adulthood, but Evans was able not only to find inspiration in the midst of tragedy but to provide inspiration as well, authoring several books on her life and spiritual growth through difficulty. She and Rogers starred during the 1950s on the popular TV program bearing his name, and even after retirement continued to make occasional appearances and to run their Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California. Following Dale's death, the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum moved to Branson, Missouri.- Music Artist
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Alice Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of a minister. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, at a young age and still lives in the state today. At age 17, he formed a rock band called the Earwigs, who changed their name to The Spiders and then The Nazz, before finally settling on Alice Cooper. The line-up included himself, Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton and Neal Smith. Rumors (which the band did not necessarily make efforts to deny) to the contrary, the name was not chosen from a Ouija board reading nor was it named after a woman once burned at the stake for witchcraft -- it was picked because the random name had a twisted sense of originality and misleading innocence, complementing the band's bizarre and macabre stage theatrics and lyric themes.
The band got their first big break playing at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles one night in 1969 when Frank Zappa discovered them and signed them to his record label. After two albums-and relocating to Detroit -- they were signed by Warner Bros., hooked up with famous producer Robert Ezrin and came out with their third album, the breakthrough "Love It to Death" in 1971. Several albums followed, including "Killer", the highly successful "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Muscle of Love". The band made an appearance in the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) and their own theatrically released documentary Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974). Alice himself also starred in an episode of The Female Instinct (1972).
The original Alice Cooper band broke up in 1975, with the lead singer getting his name legally changed to Alice Cooper -- and performing under the name ever since -- while some of the other members formed a band called the Billion Dollar Babies. That same year saw the release of a Greatest Hits album, while Alice as a solo artist completed the album "Welcome to My Nightmare" and his incredibly theatrical tour. It was on this tour that he met his future wife Sheryl Cooper, who had been hired as a dancer.
Along with the album and tour came a television special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare (1975), and both included dialog from horror movie legend Vincent Price. Alice made a number of other television and movie appearances in the second half of the decade, including The Muppet Show (1976), Mae West's final film Sextette (1977), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) and several appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).
However, by the late 1970s, Alice's problems with alcohol became life-threatening, and he was checked into a clinic for rehabilitation. He told of his experiences on the semi-fictional album "From the Inside" (there was also a comic book of the same title), and explored different sounds in the early 1980s with four albums ("Flush the Fashion", "Special Forces", "Zipper Catches Skin", "DaDa"). After having a severe "falling off the wagon" to the point of almost dying, he sobered up once more -- this time for good -- and returned with the albums "Constrictor", "Raise Your Fist and Yell" and the 1989 album "Trash", which featured the hit song "Poison". The 1980s also saw Alice starring in the horror films Monster Dog (1984) and Prince of Darkness (1987), as well as having mostly new songs for the soundtracks to Roadie (1980), Class of 1984 (1982), Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988) and Shocker (1989).
However, it was the 1990s that brought Alice's most memorable movie appearance: playing himself in Wayne's World (1992). The phrase uttered by characters Wayne and Garth in his presence, "We're not worthy!", became one of the most popular movie catchphrases of the decade. Alice also played the father of Freddy Krueger in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and himself on That '70s Show (1998) and Something Wilder (1994). The decade also saw the release of his "Hey Stoopid" and "The Last Temptation". Alice toured occasionally but took a break from releasing albums until 2000, when he released "Brutal Planet". He followed this up with "Dragon Town", "The Eyes of Alice Cooper" and "Dirty Diamonds", and continues to tour regularly, performing shows with the bizarrely dark and horror-themed theatrics that he's best known for.Marvel Premiere 50 1979- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Mattie Shaw, a jazz singer and social worker, and John L. Nelson, a lyricist and pianist. His father's stage name was "Prince Rogers". His parents were both from African-American families from Louisiana. They separated during his youth, which lead him to move back and forth. Prince had a troubled relationship with his step-father which lead him to run away from home. Prince was adopted by a family called the Andersons. Prince soon after became friends with the Anderson's son, Andre Anderson (Cymone) together along with Charles Smith they joined a band called Grand Central. The band later renamed themselves Champagne and were a fairly successful live band, however soon diminished.
Prince at the age of eighteen started working on high-quality demo tracks with Chris Moon. With these demo tracks Prince eventually ended up signing a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records and was the youngest producer associated with the label. Prince made his debut on the record label with his 1978 album, For You. It wasn't a strong successful album, however it was fair for a beginning artist and ranked 163 on the U.S. Pop Charts. Prince's next releases would tend to do much better on the charts with his singles, "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and I Wanna Be Your Lover in 1979. This would start to introduce Prince as a person who presented sexually explicit material into the music industry. However Prince didn't begin to attract mainstream artists until he release his single, 1999. This single began to be noticed by M.T.V. viewers and this would make him a part of the main-stream music media. Prince released two more singles called Little Red Corvette and Delirious. The album featured Prince's new band, The Revolution. In 1984 Prince would release what would be seen as an admired and profound masterpiece the feature film/sound-track album, Purple Rain in 1984. Prince's father contributed to this album, by cowriting the chord sequence for a couple of his songs. Prince continued to give cowriting credit to his father on several other albums, as his famous chord sequence would be used in several of Prince's singles and albums.
A lot of Prince's songs did not agree with listeners and one of his songs, Darling Nikki prompted a group of people to start a censorship organization called, Parents Music Resource Center (P.M.R.C.) as the track implemented grinding ludicrous acts such as masturbating, which stunned listeners. Prince however continued to release various other singles with the same platform his memorable releases being, Around The World In A Day, Parade, Love Sexy, and Batman.
Prince released a sequel to Purple Rain in 1990 called Graffiti Bridge, a soundtrack album accompanied this movie entitled, Graffiti Bridge. The film did terrible in box-office and was nominated for several Razzie awards. Many people saw the sound-track album, as the high point of the film.
In 1991, Prince assembled a new band called, The New Power Generation with this band he would release singles such as Diamond And Pearls, Cream, and Gett Off. Prince eventually changed his stage name from Prince to a symbol, which lead people to call him, "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince". Prince soon took back his old stage name.
In the 1990s, Prince continued to release singles such as Came, The Gold Experience, Chaos And Disorder, and Emancipation. With the rise of the new millennium, Prince released material such as a religious album called The Rainbow Children,One Nite Alone,The Chocolate Invasion,The Slaughter House, and had a collaboration with Stevie Wonder on Stevie's single called, What The Fuss in 2005.
Prince died on April 21, 2016 in Chanhassen, Minnesota, at his Paisley Park recording studio complex. He was 57.
Prince will be remembered as a musician and artist who inspired millions through his music, and set an inspirational platform which others still abide by.- Actor
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Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California. In 1931, while working on That's My Boy (1932) for Columbia Pictures, he was tested by MGM for Tarzan and rejected. Paramount Pictures put him in King of the Jungle (1933) as Kaspa, the Lion Man (after a book of that title but clearly a copy of the Tarzan stories). Publicity for this film emphasized his having won the 1932 Olympic 400-meter freestyle swimming championship and suggested a rivalry with Johnny Weissmuller. Producer Sol Lesser wanted Crabbe for an independent Tarzan the Fearless (1933), though he first had to get James Pierce to waive rights to the part already promised to him by his father-in-law, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film was released as both a feature and a serial; most houses showed only the first serial episode, which critics panned as a badly organized feature. Just prior to the film's release, Crabbe married his college sweetheart and gave himself one year to either make it as an actor or start law school at USC. Paramount put him in a number of Zane Grey westerns, then Universal Pictures gave him the lead in very successful sci-fi serials (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers) from 1936 to 1940. In 1940, he began a string of Billy the Kid westerns for low-budget (very low-budget) studio PRC. After World War II, he devoted much of his time to his swimming pool corporation and operation of a boys' camp in New York. In 1950, he made the serials Pirates of the High Seas (1950) and King of the Congo (1952). In addition, he was very active on television in the 1950s. In 1953, he hosted a local show in New York City that featured his serials. He played the title role in the adventure series Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955). During television's "Golden Age", he had several "meaty" lead roles on such weekly anthology series as "Kraft Theater" ("Million Dollar Rookie") and "Philco Television Playhouse" ("Cowboy for Chris") He later returned to western features to play Wyatt Earp in Badman's Country (1958) and gave a stellar performance. Buster Crabbe died at age 75 of a heart attack on April 23, 1983.- Actor
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Few actors ever managed a complete image transition as thoroughly as did Dick Powell: in his case, from the boyish, wavy-haired crooner in musicals to rugged crime fighters in film noirs. Powell grew up in the town of Little Rock, Arkansas, one of three brothers (one of them, Howard, ended up as vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad). He worked his way through schooling, sidelining as a soda jerk and a grocery clerk before entering the world of show biz as a singer (tenor) and banjo player with the Royal Peacock Orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky. He then got a gig with the Charlie Davis band and toured with them throughout the mid-west, appearing at dance halls and picture theaters. He next worked as a master of ceremonies and this rounded him off as an entertainer even before he was signed by a Warner Brothers talent scout in 1932. Looking rather younger than his actual years, Powell soon found himself typecast as clean-cut singing juveniles in a series of exuberant musicals with lavish production numbers like 42nd Street (1933), one of two dozen similar pictures he made for the studio.
In 1935, Powell's salary amounted to $70,000. Two years later, he had become one of Hollywood's top ten box office stars, yet was paid just half of what he had earned as an MC. A keen businessman with an eye for profit, Powell had already invested wisely in land and property. When he left Warners in 1939 with no discernible acting opportunities in sight, he was in no way short of money. He was, however, desperate to escape his image, declaring "I knew I wasn't the greatest singer in the world and I saw no reason why an actor should restrict himself to any one particular phase of the business". He fairly jumped at the chance to act in non-singing roles, joining Paramount in 1940 to appear opposite Ellen Drew in the sparkling Preston Sturges comedy Christmas in July (1940). This was followed by two marital farces featuring his then-wife, Joan Blondell, both efforts receiving only a lukewarm response at the box-office. Still dissatisfied with lightweight roles, Powell lobbied hard to get the lead (eventually scored by Fred MacMurray) in Double Indemnity (1944) but was knocked back. Instead, he was slotted into more of the same fare, refused to comply and was suspended.
His box office credo now at a low ebb, Powell tried his luck at RKO and at last managed to secure a lucrative role: that of hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler's Murder, My Sweet (1944). The author himself approved of the casting, though the director (Edward Dmytryk) fought off initial misgivings. The result proved nothing if not a tangible hit for RKO. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times remarked " ...and while he may lack the steely coldness and cynicism of a Humphrey Bogart, Mr. Powell need not offer any apologies. He has definitely stepped out of the song-and-dance, pretty-boy league with this performance". In short order, offers suddenly kept coming. Having successfully reinvented himself, Powell now found steady work on radio, respectively as "Richard Rogue" and then "Richard Diamond, Private Eye". In films, he remained on cue for wise-cracking tough guy roles in Cornered (1945) and Johnny O'Clock (1947). His most challenging role yet was as best-selling novelist James Lee Bartlow in MGM's epic drama The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)]. Powell also dabbled at directing, though he only helmed six pictures in total: among them a minor film noir, Split Second (1953)], and an above-average submarine drama, The Enemy Below (1957)]. Having quit film acting in the mid-50s, he began to concentrate primarily on producing TV drama as host and executive producer of his own award-winning anthology show, The Dick Powell Theatre (1961). He was also co-founder and managing director of Four Star Television (which had its studios where Republic had formerly existed and which would subsequently become CBS Cinema Center).
Dick Powell died prematurely of lung cancer in January 1963 at the age of 58. He was survived by his third wife, the actress June Allyson.Star Parade Presents Dick Powell Adventurer 1949- Actor
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Sabu Dastagir (or Selar Shaik Sabu, depending on your resource) was born on January 27, 1924, in the little town of Mysore, India, which is nestled in the jungles of Karapur. The son of an elephant driver (mahout) in service for the Maharajah of his town, the young stable boy learned responsibility early in life when, at age 9, his father died and Sabu immediately became the ward of the royal elephant stables. As with many Hollywood success stories, good timing, and dumb luck allowed the impoverished youth a chance for a better life. By sheer chance the timid 12-year-old orphan was discovered by a British location crew while searching for a youth to play the title role (an elephant driver!) in their upcoming feature Elephant Boy (1937). Quite taken aback by his earnest looks, engaging naturalness and adaptability to wild animals and their natural habitat, the studio handed the boy a film career on a sterling silver platter and was placed under exclusive contract by the mogul Alexander Korda himself.
Sabu and his older brother (as guardian) were whisked away to England to complete the picture and became subsequent wards of the British government. They were given excellent schooling in the process and Sabu quickly learned the English language in preparation for his upcoming films. Elephant Boy (1937) was an unqualified hit and the young actor was promptly placed front and center once again in the film The Drum (1938) surrounded by an impressive British cast that included Raymond Massey and Valerie Hobson. With the parallel success of the Tarzan jungle movies in America, Hollywood starting taking a keen look at this refreshingly new boy talent when he first arrived in the U.S. for a publicity tour of the film. Again, his second film was given rave reviews, proving that Sabu would not be just a one-hit wonder.
His third film for Korda is considered one of the great true classics. In the Arabian fantasy-adventure The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Sabu plays Abu the Thief and is not only surrounded by superb actors -- notably June Duprez, John Justin, Rex Ingram (as the genie) and Conrad Veidt (as the evil Grand Vizier) -- but exceptional writing and incredible special effects. Sabu's name began stirring international ears. His last pairing with Korda was the excellent adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's classic book The Jungle Book (1942) playing Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, who must adapt to the ways of mankind after being returned to his mother. The movie was directed by Alexander's brother Zoltan Korda.
Following this triumph, Sabu officially became the exotic commodity of Universal Pictures and he settled in America. Although initially rewarding monetarily, it proved to be undoing. Unfortunately (and too often typical), a haphazard assembly-line of empty-minded features were developed that hardly compared to the quality pictures in England under Korda. Saddled alongside the unexceptional Maria Montez and Jon Hall, his vehicles Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943) and Cobra Woman (1944) were, for the most part, drivel but certainly did fit the bill as colorful, mindless entertainment.
Almost 20 years old by the time he became a citizen of the U.S. in 1944, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and earned WWII distinction in combat missions (Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, among others) as a tail gunner. By the time Sabu returned to Universal and filming, the charm of his youth had worn off and the boyish stereotype impossible to escape.
Post-war audiences developed new tastes, but Sabu had no choice but to trudge on with retreads of his former glory. Films such as Tangier (1946) again opposite Ms. Montez, Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948) and Song of India (1949) opposite lovely princess Gail Russell did little to advance his career. While filming the last-mentioned movie, Sabu met and married actress Marilyn Cooper who temporarily filled in for an ailing Ms. Russell on the set. The couple went on to have two children.
Sabu actually fared better back in England during the late 40s, starring in the crime drama The End of the River (1947) and appearing fourth-billed as a native general in the exquisitely photographed Black Narcissus (1947). Daring in subject matter, the film had Deborah Kerr heading up a group of Anglican nuns who battle crude traditions, unexpected passions and stark raving madness while setting up a Himalayan order. By the mid-50s Sabu's career was rapidly approaching extinction, seeking work wherever he could find it - in low-budget Europe productions, public appearances, etc. An attempt to conjure up a TV series for himself failed. His life was further aggravated by unpleasant civil and paternity suits brought about against him. His last two pictures were supporting roles in Rampage (1963), which starred Robert Mitchum, and A Tiger Walks (1964), a thoroughly routine Disney picture which was released posthumously.
Sabu died unexpectedly at age 39 of a heart attack on December 2, 1963, at his home in Southern California and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. Son Paul Sabu developed into an accomplished songwriter and even formed a rock band called Sabu; daughter Jasmine Sabu, who died in 2001, was a noted horse trainer whose skill was utilized occasionally for films. Although he went the way of too many of our former stars, Sabu continues to enchant and excite newer generations with his unmatched athletic skills and magnetic charm in those early adventure fantasies of yesteryear.- Writer
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Frank Buck was born on 17 March 1888 in Gainesville, Texas, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Wild Cargo (1934), Jungle Cavalcade (1941) and Tiger Fangs (1943). He was married to Muriel Feilly, Nina C. Boardman and Lillian West. He died on 25 March 1950 in Houston, Texas, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
In addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator; band vocalist for her first husband, band leader Herbie Kaye; and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and continued to play female Tarzan-Crusoe-Gauguin-girl-with make-up parts through the war years and beyond. The most famous of these was in the popular Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" pictures - a strange combination of adventure, slapstick, ad-libs and Hollywood inside jokes. Of these she said, "I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business." As she aged, however, the quality of her films dropped. Among her serious films were Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Medal for Benny (1945).- Actor
- Additional Crew
Harry Blackstone Jr. was born on 30 June 1934 in Three Rivers, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), Hart to Hart (1979) and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989). He was married to Gay Blackstone. He died on 14 May 1997 in Loma Linda, California, USA.- Actor
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Dan Leno was born on 20 December 1860 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Limehouse Golem (2016), Contrasts (1967) and Bluebeard (1902). He was married to Sarah Lydia Reynolds (actress). He died on 31 October 1904 in London, England, UK.- Actor
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Edgar Bergen was born on 16 February 1903 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Fun and Fancy Free (1947), The Muppet Movie (1979) and Letter of Introduction (1938). He was married to Frances Bergen. He died on 30 September 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Frank Marshall, the famous woodcarver from Chicago, always claimed that he made the dummy that would become Charlie McCarthy. A recently discovered document backs his story. He also made Paul Winchell's Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff dummies, Jimmy Nelson's Danny O'Day and Farfel the Dog (famous for Nestlé's commercials), and Terry Bennett's Red Flannels and Rusty Hinges, as well as many other famous dummies. Edgar Bergen used three Charlie McCarthy dummies over the years. One can be seen in the Smithsonian Institution; one is in the Museum Of Broadcasting & Communications in Chicago; and the third was purchased by magician David Copperfield for $110,000. Bergen retired in 1978 and died three weeks later; he was 75. Charlie still lives on... display.- Actor
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Long acknowledged as one of the best "straight men" in the business, Bud Abbott was born William Alexander Abbott in Reading, Pennsylvania to Rae (Fisher) and Harry Abbott, who had both worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus. When Bud was three his family moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey, which he later, erroneously, listed as his place of birth. He himself worked in carnivals while still a child and dropped out of school in 1909. He worked as assistant treasurer for the Casino Theater in Brooklyn, then as treasurer and/or manager of various theaters around the country. He worked as the straight man to such vaudeville and burlesque comics as Harry Steepe and Harry Evanson while managing the National Theater in Detroit. In 1931 while cashiering at the Brooklyn theater, he substituted for comic Lou Costello's ill straight-man. The two clicked almost immediately and formed their famous comedy team. Throughout the 1930s they worked burlesque, minstrel shows, vaudeville and movie houses. In 1938 they got national exposure through the Kate Smith radio show "The Kate Smith Hour", and signed with Universal Pictures the next year. They made their film debut in One Night in the Tropics (1940), and, while the team wasn't the film's stars, it made money for Universal and they got good enough notices to convince Universal to give them their own picture. Their first starring film, Buck Privates (1941), with The Andrews Sisters, grossed what was then a company-record $10 million (on a $180,000 budget) and they were on their way to stardom and a long run as the most popular comedy team in America. In 1942 they topped a poll of Hollywood stars. They had their own radio show (ABC, 1941-6, NBC, 1946-9) and TV show (The Abbott and Costello Show (1952)). After the war their careers stalled and the box-office takes for their films started slipping. However, they made a big comeback in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), which raked in huge profits and even got the team good notices from critics who normally wouldn't even review their films. The movie's success convinced Universal to embark on a series of films in which the team met various monsters or found themselves in exotic locations. Their film career eventually petered out and the team split up in 1957. Costello embarked on a series of TV appearances and even made a film, without Abbott, called The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959), but it was a flop. He received good notices after a dramatic performance in an episode of Wagon Train (1957) and was in discussion to star in a biography of famed New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, a project Costello had been trying to get off the ground for years, when he died. Both Abbott and Costello had major tax problems with the Internal Revenue Service and wound up virtually broke. Abbott started over with a new partner, Candy Candido, in the 1960s and set off on a national tour, including Las Vegas, but the act failed. In 1966 he voiced his character in a cartoon version of their television show. His health deteriorated badly in the late 1960s, he had always suffered from epilepsy, and he died in 1974.in Film Fun 1942 - 1957- Actor
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Lou Costello was born Louis Francis Cristillo in Paterson, New Jersey, to Helen (Rege) and Sebastiano Cristillo. His father was from Calabria, Italy, and his mother was an American of Italian, French, and Irish ancestry. Raised in Paterson, Costello dropped out of high school and headed west to break into the movies. He got a job as a carpenter at MGM and Warners. He went from there to stuntman and then to vaudeville as a comic. In 1931, while working in Brooklyn, his straight man became ill and the theater cashier, Bud Abbott, filled in for him. The two formed their famous comedy team and, through the 1930s, they worked burlesque, minstrel shows, vaudeville and movie houses. In 1938 they got national exposure through the Kate Smith Hour radio show, and signed with Universal Pictures the next year. They debuted in One Night in the Tropics (1940). Their scene-stealing performances in that film landed them their own picture the next year, Buck Privates (1941), with The Andrews Sisters. It was a runaway hit, grossing what was then a company record $10 million on a $180,000 budget. In 1942 they topped a poll of Hollywood stars. They had their own radio show (ABC, 1941-46, NBC, 1946-49) and TV show (The Abbott and Costello Show (1952)). After the war their movies shifted formula to one in which they met various monsters or found themselves in exotic locations. The team split up in 1957, with both winding up completely out of money after troubles with the Internal Revenue Service. After that Lou appeared in a few television shows and the movie The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959), released a few months after he died.see above- Actor
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Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the only child of Ina Raleigh (aka Selina Rowley) and Alan Harwood Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham. His father died when he was four. At age five, he burned his apartment playing with matches, and his mother moved them to Oklahoma City. He was malnourished, undersized and nicknamed Tiny. His mother married a house painter who moved them to California--a la "The Grapes of Wrath"--when he was eight. He picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a grip at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married his friend Midge in 1936, but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937, they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son, Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them, her agonizing suicide from ant poison witnessed a few months later by her son. His size and coloring here regarded as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio, where talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. After a string of bit parts in "B" pictures--and an unbilled part in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941)--he tested for This Gun for Hire (1942) late in 1941. His fourth-billed role as psychotic killer Raven made him a star. He was drafted in January 1943 and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia. Throughout the 1940s his tough-guy roles packed audiences into theaters and he was one of the very few males whose cover photos sold movie magazines. In the 1950s he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films (an exception being what many regard as his greatest role, Shane (1953)). By the end of the 1950s liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart, a probable suicide attempt. In January 1964 he was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives.- Actor
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First wife Jeanne died in 1943. Wed second wife, Marjorie Little after 16 year courtship when she was 39 and he 67 Marjorie Little had been the hatcheck girl at the Copacabana. Durante and his second wife adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia on Christmas day 1961. Durante doted on "CeCe" until his death.- Actor
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Comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons of Avis (Townes), light opera singer, and William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His maternal grandmother was Welsh. Hope moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents to the USA in 1908. After some years onstage as a dancer and comedian, he made his first film appearance in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) singing "Thanks for the Memory", which became his signature tune.
In partnership with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, he appeared in the highly successful "Road to ..." comedies (1940-52), and in many others until the early 1970s. During World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars he spent much time entertaining the troops in the field. For these activities and for his continued contributions to the industry he received five honorary Academy Awards.- King Kong died on 2 March 1933 in New York City, New York, USA.
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Comedian, actor, composer and conductor, educated in New York public schools. He was a master of ceremonies in amateur shows, a carnival barker, daredevil driver and a disc jockey, and later a comedian in night clubs. By the mid-1950s he had turned to writing original music and recording a series of popular and best-selling albums with his orchestra for Capitol Records. Joining ASCAP in 1953, his instrumental compositions include "Melancholy Serenade", "Glamour", "Lover's Rhapsody", "On the Beach" and "To a Sleeping Beauty", among numerous others.- Actor
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Arthur Askey was a diminutive British comedian, born in 1900. He began his professional career as a music hall performer in 1924, but it wasn't until 1938's Band Waggon (1940) (which lasted for three seasons), that he became a household name in England. His film debut was in the 1937 British feature Calling All Stars (1937), but then, in 1939, Band Waggon (1940) swooped in again and made him a film star with a film following on from when Arthur and co-star Richard "Stinker" Murdoch were evicted from their beloved flat. Film stardom carried Arthur through to the mid-1940s, but it wasn't till 1956 when he starred in another film, Ramsbottom Rides Again (1956). He started his own television show: The Arthur Askey Show (1961), where, of course, he was the main player and that carried on till his retirement. He died in 1982.- Actor
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Albert Modley was born on 3 March 1901 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Bob's Your Uncle (1942), Up for the Cup (1950) and Take Me to Paris (1951). He was married to Doris Readshaw. He died on 23 February 1979 in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK.- Writer
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He was born Alfred Hawthorn Hill. It was his grandfather who introduced him to Burlesque Shows and the theatre from where the young Benny Hill was to draw much of his comic inspiration. After his national service with the army during WW2, Benny came to London, adopted the stage name Benny Hill (in homage to his all time favourite comedian Jack Benny) and began appearing in variety shows. He briefly formed a double act with Reg Varney and did radio shows. But it was his talent for impressions and comic timing that were to give him his first big break on TV with the show "Hi There" in 1949. The Benny Hill Show (1955) began in 1955. Its pioneering combination of cheeky humour, songs and impressions were to make it a hit for the next 40 years.
Benny also broadened his career with cameo appearances in films such as The Italian Job (1969), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965). He also had a hit record in 1971 with "Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West". In 1979 The Benny Hill Show (1955) was shown in America for the first time and Benny went on to become one of the biggest stars on US TV. The show itself has been seen in 109 countries and won a BAFTA as well as Golden Rose Of Montreaux Award. Benny Hill's TV career came to an end in 1989, when his show was dropped, but his popularity continued and he completed a US TV special, Benny Hill's World Tour: New York! (1991) shortly before his death in 1992.- Freddie Davies was born on 21 July 1937 in Brixton, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Sensitive Skin (2005) and Funny Bones (1995).
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One of Britain's most beloved eccentric comedians, the irrepressible, gap-toothed Terry-Thomas was born Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens in Lichfield Grove, Finchley. He was the son of Ellen Elizabeth (Hoar) and Ernest Frederick Stevens, a fairly well-to-do London businessman. He was afforded a private education at Ardingly College in Sussex, with the understanding that this was to lead him towards a prosperous future in the world of commerce. Ironically, deemed to have no acting talent and thus spurned by his school's dramatic society, young Thomas took to music and soon fronted his own jazz band, "The Rhythm Maniacs", in which he also played ukulele. His initial experience in the work force was, at best humdrum, at worst traumatic. He started as a transport clerk with the Union Cold Storage Company, went on selling meat at the Smithfield Markets and then peddled insurance policies for Norwich Union. By both choice and inclination, he didn't fit into any of these jobs, was often bullied and consequently adopted as his life-long mantra the motto "I Shall Not Be Cowed".
Trying everything to break out of what he perceived as lower middle class mediocrity, he first changed his accent from North London to the posh upper-crust tones of then-matinee idol Owen Nares. He turned to professional ballroom dancing, found work in films as an extra and performed comedy monologues, as well as impersonations in night clubs and cabaret. He also tried several variations for a stage name people would remember, including a reversed spelling of Tom Stevens: 'Mot Snevets'. Not surprisingly, this didn't catch on, and so he eventually settled on 'Terry Thomas', later adding the hyphen, which he likened to the gap between his teeth.
His theatrical debut at the Tivoli Theatre in Hull did not eventuate until he was twenty-eight. The onset of World War II put his burgeoning career on hold. He enlisted in the Army Signals Corps and, somehow, rose to the rank of sergeant. Between 1940 and 1942, Terry participated in the ENSA program, staging his own shows "Cabaret Parade" and "Stars in Battledress". It was at this time, that he first adopted the affected mannerisms, which later became his stock-in-trade. He also demonstrated an amazing repertoire for imitating popular vocalists and for recreating all types of sound effects with his voice.
In July 1946, Terry joined the cast of the revue "Piccadilly Hayride" and suddenly became the comic discovery of the year, which ended with a Royal Variety Performance in front of King and Queen. His proper breakthrough, though, came via his radio show "To Town with Terry" (and its sequel), aired on the BBC Home Service from October 1948. This opened many doors, including Terry getting his own TV series, How Do You View? (1949). He was invited to a cabaret gig at New York's Waldorf Astoria in 1951. Terry was featured on the inaugural cover of TV Mirror, even before the part of his career for which he is primarily remembered had begun in earnest.
After a brace of nondescript roles, he was finally cast as the effete, derisive Major Hitchcock in the first of several films produced by the Boulting brothers, Private's Progress (1956). For several years after, Terry's popularity flourished with similar films taking a jaundiced view of British institutions. Following his overbearing Bertrand Welch in Lucky Jim (1957), he starred as the titular Man in a Cocked Hat (1959), a satire paralleling the Suez Affair, which turned out to be one of his best roles. Terry played an inept, blundering diplomat appointed as 'special ambassador' to sort out the political quagmire of an obscure former colony, overrun by foreign agents and on the verge of an uprising. For this assignment, his character has little more to draw upon, other than his knowledge of Debrett's Peerage and Sporting Life. This film, established the dandified "jolly good show"-type Terry-Thomas screen personae once and for all.
After Carleton-Browne, came I'm All Right Jack (1959) (in which he recreated his Major Hitchcock character as a representative of management vis-à-vis labour) and School for Scoundrels (1960), in which he was perfectly cast a first-class bounder. Alternating dastardly, moustache-twirling comic villains (Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965)) with sophisticated, rakish bon vivants and impeccably British chauffeurs (Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) or butlers (How to Murder Your Wife (1965), popularised Terry on both sides of the Atlantic. Mostly, he came to epitomise the archetypal British 'silly ass' -- an instantly recognisable figure replete with RAF-style moustache, cheeky gap-toothed grin, mobile eyebrows, flashy waistcoats, button-hole carnation, suede shoes and enormous cigarette holders (including one studded with 42 diamonds!). Life imitated art, when it came to womanising, clothing and accessories. Terry, a founding member of the London Waistcoat Club, ended up owning more than 150 of these garments, in addition to 80 Savile Row bespoke suits.
In the late 1960's, Terry settled on the island of Ibiza with his twenty-six year old second wife. However, by 1984, his prior extravagant lifestyle and the exorbitant costs associated with the treatment of Parkinson's disease, with which he had been diagnosed in 1971, forced the couple to sell the villa and move back to a sparse flat in Britain. Almost destitute, his remaining days were made easier by his numerous friends in show business who managed to raise 51,000 pounds for him at a London benefit. Terry-Thomas died at a high care nursing home in Godalming, Surrey, in January 1990 at the age of 78.- Writer
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One of British TV's most popular performers with a career that spanned over four decades, funny-man Bob Monkhouse started off as a radio broadcaster (1947) and stand-up comic. He earned success early on as a gag writer, partnering with Denis Goodwin.
In 1953, the duo won their own TV show called Fast and Loose (1954), which was sketch-comedy based. A nightclub comedian to boot, he also pursued films on occasion appearing in such slapstick dillies as Carry on Sergeant (1958), Dentist in the Chair (1960), Dentist on the Job (1961) and A Weekend with Lulu (1961). But TV would be his prime venue, and he moved quite easily into various parlor game and variety show hosting duties.
For Love or Money (1959) was his first, a Brit version of "Candid Camera". Along the way, he found emceeing chores with The London Palladium Show (1966), The Golden Shot (1967) (which made him a household name), Celebrity Squares (1975) (based on The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965)), Family Fortunes (1980), "The $64,000 Question", Opportunity Knocks (1956), The National Lottery (1994), and many others. Monkhouse died in 2003 of prostate cancer.- Actress
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Annie Cordy was born on 16 June 1928 in Brussels, Belgium. She was an actress, known for Memories (2014), Le Chat (1971) and Le chanteur de Mexico (1956). She was married to Henri Bruno. She died on 4 September 2020 in Vallauris, Alpes-Maritimes, France.in Journal de Tintin 1977- Actress
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Silent moppet star Jackie Coogan, immortalized as Charles Chaplin's The Kid (1921), had only one screen rival during the early 1920s, and that was none other than Baby Peggy. She was "discovered" while visiting the Century Studios lot on Sunset Boulevard with her mother when she was a mere 19 months old and went on to appear in nearly 150 shorts (between 1920 and 1923) and nine feature films during her silent heyday. Often considered a precursor to Shirley Temple, Baby Peggy's most popular film vehicle was the child classic Captain January (1924), which would be made a decade later as a vehicle for Temple.
She was born Peggy-Jean Montgomery in 1918 in San Diego, California, of acting stock. She was the daughter of Marian (Baxter), from Wisconsin, and Jack Montgomery, a Nebraska-born cowboy for years all over the western states. He ended up in the movies as a stuntman and extra, driving stagecoaches and buckboards. He supported himself as Tom Mix's double, but never achieved the rugged stardom he yearned for. In fact, his daughter was the one who became the celebrity and chief breadwinner for the family.
Many of Baby Peggy's popular comedies were parodies of movies that grown-up stars had made, and she delightfully imitated such legends as Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, Mary Pickford and Mae Murray. Her first feature-length film was Penrod (1922); her first film with Universal, The Darling of New York (1923), shot when she was 3-1/2 years old, was a solid hit. A few more, including Helen's Babies (1924), were also certifiable winners. However, by the age of 8, she was finished.
Her fortune reportedly was depleted by her father Jack's stepfather, a banker to whom she had entrusted all her money. Within a short time, she was forced to turn to the vaudeville circuit for survival. A comeback in early talkies with the new moniker Peggy Montgomery was very short-lived. Her credits, as a result, are often mixed up with another actress named Peggy Montgomery, who was a western ingénue for many years.
The former child star lived in dire straits and suffered from nervous breakdowns and near poverty for many years until she found a new and unexpectedly successful career as a book publisher and writer, using the pseudonym "Diana Serra Cary". As the author of "Hollywood Posse" (1975) and (later) "Hollywood's Children", she wrote about her youthful career, post-stardom years, child stars in general, and Hollywood history in all its fascinating glory. Her own autobiography, "Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy?", was released in 1996.
In 2016, Diana was inducted into the Classic Film Hall of Fame at the Rheem Theater in Moraga, CA. Diana was present, at age 98, to receive the honor and answer questions. She is considered to have been the last living star of the silent film era. Per Robert Garfinkle, a board member of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA, Diana now has the longest acting career of all time, from 1920 to 2015. Her last film was a silent film she made at the above-referenced museum. The film was actually made using one of their antique hand-cranked cameras!
Baby Peggy died on February 24, 2020 in Gustine, California. She was 101.in Film Fun 1924- Actress
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Bebe Daniels already had toured as an actor by the age of four in a stage production of "Richard III". She had her first leading role at the age of seven and started her film career shortly after this in movies for Imperial, Pathe and others. At 14 she was already a film veteran, and was enlisted by Hal Roach to star as Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his "Lonesome Luke" shorts, distributed by Pathe. Lloyd fell hard for Bebe and seriously considered marrying her, but her drive to pursue a film career along with her sense of independence clashed with Lloyd's Victorian definition of a wife. The two eventually broke up but would remain lifelong friends. Bebe was sought out for stardom by Cecil B. DeMille, who literally pestered her into signing with Paramount. Unlike many actors, the arrival of sound posed no problem for her; she had a beautiful singing voice and became a major musical star, with such hits as Rio Rita (1929) and 42nd Street (1933). In 1930 she married Ben Lyon, with whom she went to England in the mid-'30s, where she became a successful West End stage star. She and her husband also had their own radio show in London, and became the most popular radio team in the country--especially during World War II, when they refused to return to the US and stayed in London, broadcasting even during the worst of the "blitz".
They later appeared in several British films together as their radio characters. Her final film was one in that series, The Lyons Abroad (1955).in Radio Fun 1941 on , TV Fun 1956 - 7- Actor
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Ben Lyon was your average boyish, easy-going, highly appealing film personality of the Depression-era 1930s. Although he never rose above second-tier stardom, he would enjoy enduring success both in the United States and in the UK.
Born Ben Lyon, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia, the future singer/actor was the son of Alvine Valentine (Wiseberg) and Benjamin Bethel "Ben" Lyon, a pianist-turned-businessman, and the youngest of four. His maternal grandparents were German Jewish immigrants. Raised in Baltimore, he started performing in amateur productions as a teen before earning marquee value on Broadway opposite such stars as Jeanne Eagels.
Hollywood took notice of the baby-faced charmer and soon Ben was ingratiating filmgoers opposite silent film's most honored leading ladies. He appeared with Pola Negri in Lily of the Dust (1924), Gloria Swanson in Wages of Virtue (1924), Barbara La Marr in The White Moth (1924), Mary Astor in The Pace That Thrills (1925) and Claudette Colbert, in her only silent feature, in For the Love of Mike (1927). He advanced easily into talkies and was particularly noteworthy as the dashing hero in Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930), in which Ben actually piloted his own plane (Ben had trained as a pilot during WWI) and filmed some of the airborne scenes for Hughes himself. That same year was also a banner year for him in his personal life after marrying Paramount Pictures film star Bebe Daniels, with whom he had appeared in Alias French Gertie (1930).
As both of their movie careers started to decline, the talented twosome decided to work up a husband-and-wife music hall and vaudeville act. They took their show to England and became a hit at the London Palladium. At one point he served in the U.S. Army Air Force and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in charge of Special Services for the U.S. Air Corps in England. Soldiers, sailors and airmen (from 1939) listened to Ben and Bebe weekly on the air waves with their popular, long-running BBC broadcast "Hi, Gang!" The couple remained in England throughout WWII performing on stage and doing their valid part to entertain and honor the troops.
After a brief postwar stay in Hollywood in 1946, where Ben had taken an executive position with Fox, the couple returned to England and headlined another popular 1950s radio show, "Life with the Lyons," which spawned two family-styled films that included children Barbara Lyon and Richard Lyon. In the early 1960s Bebe suffered multiple strokes and left the limelight, passing away in 1971. Ben remarried (to former actress Marian Nixon) and settled in the US, where he died in 1979 of a heart attack while on vacation.see above- Actor
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The son of a day laborer, William Boyd moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was seven. His parents died while he was in his early teens, forcing him to quit school and take such jobs as a grocery clerk, surveyor and oil field worker. He went to Hollywood in 1919, already gray-haired. His first role was as an extra in Cecil B. DeMille's Why Change Your Wife? (1920). He bought some fancy clothes, caught DeMille's eye and got the romantic lead in The Volga Boatman (1926), quickly becoming a matinée idol and earning upwards of $100,000 a year. However, with the end of silent movies, Boyd was without a contract, couldn't find work and was going broke. By mistake his picture was run in a newspaper story about the arrest of another actor with a similar name (William 'Stage' Boyd) on gambling, liquor and morals charges, and that hurt his career even more. In 1935 he was offered the lead role in Hop-a-Long Cassidy (1935) (named because of a limp caused by an earlier bullet wound). He changed the original pulp-fiction character to its opposite, made sure that "Hoppy" didn't smoke, drink, chew tobacco or swear, rarely kissed a girl and let the bad guy draw first. By 1943 he had made 54 "Hoppies" for his original producer, Harry Sherman; after Sherman dropped the series, Boyd produced and starred in 12 more on his own. The series was wildly popular, and all recouped at least double their production costs. In 1948 Boyd, in a savvy and precedent-setting move, bought the rights to all his pictures (he had to sell his ranch to raise the money) just as TV was looking for Saturday morning Western fare. He marketed all sorts of "Hoppy" products (lunch boxes, toy guns, cowboy hats, etc.) and received royalties from comic books, radio and records. He retired to Palm Desert, California, in 1953. In 1968 he had surgery to remove a tumor from a lymph gland and from then on refused all interview and photograph requests.Bill Boyd Western , reprinted in UK in annuals , Film Fun- Writer
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Veteran entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth had a career spanning eight decades, in which he went from struggling variety performer to Saturday night TV stardom. On the way, he became one of the most recognisable entertainers in the business, driven by what appeared to be inexhaustible energy. He became synonymous with the plethora of game shows that seemed to dominate television light entertainment in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, although he often felt he had become typecast as the genial quizmaster. And at an age when most performers would have put their feet up, his career enjoyed a huge revival with the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing (2004). Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson was born in Edmonton, north London, on 22 February 1928. His father owned a local garage and both his parents were Salvation Army members who sang and played music at home.
Bruce was a direct descendant of William Forsyth, a founder of the Royal Horticultural Society, whose name was given to the plant forsythia. His interest in showbusiness was kindled at the age of eight and he was reportedly found tap-dancing on the flat roof after watching his first Fred Astaire film.
He made his stage debut at the age of 14 as Boy Bruce, the Mighty Atom, appearing bottom of the bill at the Theatre Royal, Bilston. Live entertainment was a way of escaping the pressures and dangers of wartime Britain, and there was a huge demand for acts, no matter how bad they were.
But there was to be no fast track to success. For the next 16 years he performed in church halls and theatres across the country, sleeping in train luggage racks and waiting for the big break. It came in 1958, at a time when he had been unemployed for more than three months and was seriously considering giving up on showbusiness. He was asked to present Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955), a televised variety show, made by Lord Grade's ATV company for the ITV network. He'd finally found the fame he had always craved, appearing not in front of a couple of hundred people in a theatre, but the more than 10 million who regularly tuned in to the show.
Originally booked for two weeks, he stayed five years, by which time he was Britain's highest-paid entertainer, earning £1,000 a week (£18,700 in today's money). But he continued touring with his variety show and the strain of combining this with his Palladium appearances took a toll on his private life. He divorced his first wife, Penny Calvert, a dancer he'd met in the theatre, and she wrote an account of her husband's perpetual absence, called Darling, Your Dinner's in the Dustbin. A popular element in his Palladium show was a feature called Beat the Clock, in which contestants, egged on by Forsyth, had to complete quirky tasks as a huge clock ticked down.
The segment gave a hint of his future television role and he went on to host some of the most popular television game shows of the 1970s and 80s. With his catchphrases of "Nice to see you, to see you nice" and "Didn't he do well?" he reigned supreme at the helm of the BBC's Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game (1971) for six years from 1971, and again at the beginning of the 1990s. At its peak, the programme attracted 20 million viewers, who tuned in to watch Forsyth seemingly having more fun than the competitors, enthusing over the mundane prizes on the conveyor belt. The presenter argued with his BBC managers about the show's early evening timeslot but he eventually accepted his role as the "warm-up man" for Saturday night television.
His co-host on the show, Anthea Redfern, was each week encouraged to "give us a twirl". The couple married in 1973 but divorced six years later. It was on Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game (1971) that he introduced his famous "thinker" pose, appearing in silhouette at the beginning of each show. The idea came from the classic circus strongman pose, something he'd perfected during his days in variety. He repeated his success on ITV's Play Your Cards Right (1980), where the audience joined in the cries of "higher" or "lower" as the contestants tried to guess the value of a series of playing cards.
In 1995, a year after his final Generation Game appearance, he received a lifetime achievement award for variety at the British Comedy Awards and began hosting ITV's The Price is Right (1972). The entertainer was, by this time, a Rolls-Royce-driving multimillionaire and married since 1983 to Wilnelia Merced, a former Miss World. He later claimed that he regretted becoming so associated with game shows and wished he'd done more variety work on TV.
Play Your Cards Right (1980) was axed in 1999 and, with changing tastes in entertainment, his TV career began to slide. He returned to the theatre - but experienced an unexpected revival after his wife watched an edition of the satirical quiz, Have I Got News For You, and suggested he could present the programme. After calling show regular Paul Merton, he landed the gig and offered to be "a little bit deadpan". "But the team said, 'No, be Bruce Forsyth,'" he said. He used the occasion to parody some of his old game shows, much to the ill-disguised disgust of team captain Ian Hislop. But the appearance led to Forsyth, an accomplished tap dancer, being offered the job of hosting Strictly Come Dancing (2004), which began a year later. Viewed with scepticism when it launched, the celebrity dance show became one of the most-watched programmes on TV by the time it reached its fifth series in 2007. He brought his own brand of avuncular good humour to the proceedings - reassuring many of the contestants with the phrase "you're my favourites".
After missing a handful of episodes because of illness, he decided to "step down from the rigours" of presenting Strictly in 2014.
He continued to host the Christmas and charity editions of Strictly until 2014 - all of which were taped, as opposed to live broadcasts. Away from entertainment, Forsyth's biggest passion was golf and he took part in many pro-celebrity tournaments. His house was next to the course at Wentworth, where he played with many of the world's best players, practising in the bunker in his own back garden.
During his career, Forsyth's multiple talents and years of application sparked an enduring appeal. In 2011 he was knighted after years of campaigning by his fans and a parliamentary Early Day Motion signed by 73 MPs. But he suffered from ill health towards the end of his life, and in 2016 his wife revealed he still had "a bit of a problem moving", following major surgery a year earlier. Sir Bruce was one of the last entertainers from the tradition of music hall to be working on British television. In many ways his act barely changed. The same corny gags, the same toothy smile and, above all, the same manic enthusiasm. He is particularly remembered for his ability to transform run-of-the-mill party games into glorious moments of mayhem that enthralled contestants and audiences alike.
He died in August 2017 at his home in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, UK following a period of ill health. He was 89. He was survived by his third wife.Film Fun 1962 , Buster 1962 - 3