The birthdate list

1. Marlene Dietrich

Soundtrack | Witness for the Prosecution

Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator ...

December 27, 1901 - May 6, 1992 (age 90)

2. Joan Crawford

Actress | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1906, in San Antonio, Texas, to Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry laborer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated, and by the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. It wasn't an easy life; ...

March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977 (age 72)

3. Barbara Stanwyck

Actress | Double Indemnity

Today Barbara Stanwyck is remembered primarily as the matriarch of the family known as the Barkleys on the TV western The Big Valley (1965), wherein she played Victoria, and from the hit drama The Colbys (1985). But she was known to millions of other fans for her movie career, which spanned the ...

July 16, 1907 - January 20, 1990 (age 82)

4. Bette Davis

Actress | All About Eve

Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but...

April 5, 1908 - October 6, 1989 (age 81)

5. Carmen Miranda

Soundtrack | Greenwich Village

Carmen Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha on February 9, 1909, near Porto, Portugal, in the town of Marco de Canavezes. Not long after her birth her family moved to Brazil, where her father was involved in the produce business. The family settled in the then-capital city of Rio de ...

February 9, 1909 - August 5, 1955 (age 46)

6. Joan Bennett

Actress | Suspiria

Joan Geraldine Bennett was born on February 27, 1910, in Palisades, New Jersey. Her parents were both successful stage actors, especially her father, Richard Bennett, and often toured the country for weeks at a time. In fact, Joan came from a long line of actors, dating back to the 18th century. ...

February 27, 1910 - December 7, 1990 (age 80)

7. Jane Wyatt

Actress | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Born in Campgaw, New Jersey, Jane Waddington Wyatt came from a New York family of social distinction (her father was a Wall Street investment banker and her mother was a drama critic). Jane was raised from the age of three months in New York City and attended the fashionable Chapin School and later...

August 12, 1910 - October 20, 2006 (age 96)

8. Irene Ware

Actress | Chandu the Magician

One of the many "also rans" or "might-have-beens" in 1930's Hollywood was a blonde beauty queen of Swedish/Austrian ancestry, named Irene Ware. She was actually born Irene Ahlberg in Pelham, New York and first plied her trade as a stenographer before other endeavours piqued her interest. Aged ...

November 6, 1910 - March 11, 1993 (age 82)

9. Loretta Young

Actress | The Stranger

Sweet, sweeter, sweetest. No combination of terms better describes the screen persona of lovely Loretta Young. A&E's Biography (1987) has stated that Young "remains a symbol of beauty, serenity, and grace. But behind the glamour and stardom is a woman of substance whose true beauty lies in her ...

January 6, 1913 - August 12, 2000 (age 87)

10. Hedy Lamarr

Actress | Samson and Delilah

Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lemberg (now known as Lviv). Her parents were ...

November 9, 1914 - January 19, 2000 (age 85)

11. Ingrid Bergman

Actress | Casablanca

Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with ...

August 29, 1915 - August 29, 1982 (age 67)

12. Dorothy McGuire

Actress | Gentleman's Agreement

A genuine model of sincerity, practicality and dignity in most of the roles she inhabited, actress Dorothy McGuire offered Tinseltown more talent than it probably knew what to do with. A quiet, passive beauty, she had a soothing quality to her open-faced looks and voice. She was a natural when he ...

June 14, 1916 - September 13, 2001 (age 85)

13. Margaret Lockwood

Actress | The Lady Vanishes

Karachi-born Margaret Lockwood, daughter of a British colonial railway clerk, was educated in London and studied to be an actress at the Italia Conti Drama School. Her first moment on stage came at the age of 12, when she played a fairy in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1928. She had a bit part in ...

September 15, 1916 - July 15, 1990 (age 73)

14. Jane Wyman

Actress | Falcon Crest

Jane Wyman was born Sarah Jane Mayfield on January 5, 1917, in St. Joseph, Missouri (she was also known later as Sarah Jane Fulks). When she was only eight years old, and after her parents filed for divorce, she lost her father prematurely. After graduating high school she attempted, with the help ...

January 5, 1917 - September 10, 2007 (age 90)

15. Susan Hayward

Actress | With a Song in My Heart

Susan Hayward was born Edythe Marrener in Brooklyn, New York, on June 30, 1917. Her father was a transportation worker, and Susan lived a fairly comfortable life as a child, but the precocious little redhead had no idea of the life that awaited her. She attended public school in Brooklyn, where she...

June 30, 1917 - March 14, 1975 (age 57)

16. Ida Lupino

Actress | High Sierra

Ida was born in London to a show business family. In 1932, her mother took Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, went to Hollywood in 1934 playing small, insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (1935) was ...

February 4, 1918 - August 3, 1995 (age 77)

17. Teresa Wright

Actress | Shadow of a Doubt

A natural and lovely talent who was discovered for films by Samuel Goldwyn, the always likable Teresa Wright distinguished herself early on in high-caliber, Oscar-worthy form -- the only performer ever to be nominated for Oscars for her first three films. Always true to herself, she was able to ...

October 27, 1918 - March 6, 2005 (age 86)

18. Gene Tierney

Actress | Laura

With prominent cheekbones, luminous skin and the most crystalline green eyes of her day, Gene Tierney's striking good looks helped propel her to stardom. Her best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura (1944). She was also Oscar-nominated for Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Her acting ...

November 19, 1920 - November 6, 1991 (age 70)

19. Marjorie Riordan

Actress | Pursuit to Algiers

Marjorie Riordan was "discovered" in Wisconsin in the early 1940s and became a studio contract player at Warner Brothers. During the 1950s she and another Warner Brothers player, Joyce Reynolds, decided that they found acting intellectually unsatisfying and the two of them returned to graduate ...

January 24, 1921 - March 8, 1984 (age 63)

20. Lana Turner

Actress | Madame X

Lana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM thrust upon her, and even many of her directors admitted that they knew she was capable of greatness (check out The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)). Unfortunately, her private life sometimes overshadowed her professional ...

February 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995 (age 74)

21. Betty Hutton

Actress | Annie Get Your Gun

Betty Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 26, 1921, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Two years later, Betty's father decided that the family way of life wasn't for him, so he left (he committed suicide 16 years later). Having to fend for themselves, Mrs. Thornburg moved the family to ...

February 26, 1921 - March 11, 2007 (age 86)

22. Simone Signoret

Actress | Les diaboliques

The face of Simone Signoret on the Paris Metro movie posters in March 1982 looked even older than her 61 years. She was still a box-office draw, but the film L'étoile du Nord (1982) would be her last theatrical release; she played the landlady. Signoret had a long film apprenticeship during ...

March 25, 1921 - September 30, 1985 (age 64)

23. Deborah Kerr

Actress | The King and I

Deborah Jane Trimmer was born on 30 September 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr Trimmer. She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. She first performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London. She subsequently performed with the Oxford ...

September 30, 1921 - October 16, 2007 (age 86)

24. Anne Baxter

Actress | All About Eve

Anne Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana, on May 7, 1923. She was the daughter of a salesman, Kenneth Stuart Baxter, and his wife, Catherine Dorothy (Wright), who herself was the daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-renowned architect. Anne was a young girl of 11 when her parents moved ...

May 7, 1923 - December 12, 1985 (age 62)

25. Rhonda Fleming

Actress | Out of the Past

A native-born Californian, Rhonda Fleming attended Beverly Hills public and private schools. Her father was Harold Cheverton Louis (1896-1951). Her mother, Effie Olivia Graham (1891-1985), was a famous model and actress in New York. She has a son (Kent Lane), two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly)...

August 10, 1923

26. Jane Greer

Actress | Out of the Past

As a baby, she was winning beauty contests; as a teenager, with good looks and an attractive contralto voice, she was singing with big bands (most notably Enric Madriguera's orchestra in Latin Club Del Rio in Washington, D.C.. She met Rudy Vallee, her first husband, on the radio where she also ...

September 9, 1924 - August 24, 2001 (age 76)

27. Jeanne Crain

Actress | Pinky

Jeanne Crain was born in Barstow, California, on May 25, 1925. The daughter of a high school English teacher and his wife, Jeanne was moved to Los Angeles not long after her birth after her father got another teaching position in that city. While in junior high school, Jeanne played the lead in a ...

May 25, 1925 - December 14, 2003 (age 78)

28. Patricia Neal

Actress | The Day the Earth Stood Still

Patricia Neal, the Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress, was born Patsy Louise Neal in Packard, Kentucky, where her father managed a coal mine and her mother was the daughter of the town doctor. She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she attended high school. She was first bit by the acting bug...

January 20, 1926 - August 8, 2010 (age 84)

29. Gloria Jean

Actress | I Surrender Dear

Gloria Jean Schoonover was born on April 14, 1926 in Buffalo, New York and she and her family moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania shortly afterward. Her father owned a music store; her mother, who had been a circus bareback rider, took care of Gloria and her three siblings.

Gloria's singing ability was ...

April 14, 1926

30. Miyoshi Umeki

Actress | Sayonara

Miyoshi Umeki was born as the youngest of 9 children. The daughter of a prominent Japanese iron factory owner, she developed an early passion for music, learning to play the mandolin, harmonica & piano. She also enjoyed singing American-styled tunes, much to the chagrin of her parents. This ...

May 8, 1929 - August 28, 2007 (age 78)

31. Norma Crane

Actress | Fiddler on the Roof

Norma Crane was born on November 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Ben Casey (1961) and Banyon (1971). She was married to Herbert Sargent. She died on September 28, 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

November 10, 1928 - September 28, 1973 (age 44)

32. Vera Miles

Actress | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Born in Boise City, Oklahoma, Vera Miles attended school in Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. The patrician beauty of Miss Miles won her the title of "Miss Kansas" in 1948, leading soon to small roles in Hollywood films and television series. Fame came to the forthright, spirited Miles when she ...

August 23, 1929

33. Grace Kelly

Actress | Dial M for Murder

On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace ...

November 12, 1929 - September 14, 1982 (age 52)

34. Joanne Woodward

Actress | Rachel, Rachel

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia, to Wade Woodward and Elinor Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward in a modest household. Her one older brother, Wade Jr., who was the favorite of her father, eventually became an architect. Elinor Woodward was a ...

February 27, 1930

35. Pina Pellicer

Actress | One-Eyed Jacks

Pina Pellicer was, and still is, one of the most beloved Mexican actresses of all time. She set a standard for realism in a time when "melodrama" and "artificial" acting still ran rampant. She was best known for her groundbreaking performance in One-Eyed Jacks (1961) with Marlon Brando. She is ...

April 3, 1934 - December 4, 1964 (age 30)

36. Natalie Trundy

Actress | Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

Fair, freckled and quite lovely, actress Natalie Trundy, of Italian and Irish heritage, had quite a promising career approaching adulthood in the late 1950s until a serious car accident put a serious halt to things. As Natalie Campagna, she was born in Boston on August 5, 1940, the elder of two ...

August 5, 1940

37. Vanessa Brown

Actress | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The attractive daughter of Austrian-Jewish émigrés who fled their homeland to Paris in 1937 before coming to the United States, "B" actress Vanessa Brown grew up exceptionally fluent in German, French, Italian and English. She developed an early interest in acting.

Auditioning for Lillian Hellman at...

March 24, 1928 - May 21, 1999 (age 71)

The Ghost and Mrs Muir The Heiress

38. Nancy Gates

Actress | World Without End

Nancy Gates was born February 1, 1926 in Dallas, Texas. She entered show business, at an early age, when she was signed to a contract with RKO Studios when she was 15. Her first production with that studio was in 1942's Hitler's Children (1943). Nancy was also in two more films that year, those ...