Deaths: December 16
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Harland Sanders was born on 9 September 1890 in Henryville, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Blast-Off Girls (1967), The Phynx (1970) and What's My Line? (1950). He was married to Claudia Ledington and Josephine King. He died on 16 December 1980 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.Colonel Sanders- Aileen Pringle's favorite film was a mid-1920s silent based on a book by Elinor Glyn: Three Weeks (1924), sort of a "Lady Chatterly's Lover". She recalled in a 1980 telephone conversation: "The film was in good taste; some people thought the book was trashy". Anita Loos wrote in "A Girl Like I", the first volume of her autobiography, vaudeville comic Joe Frisco telling Glynn: "Leave me get this straight. You want to find some tramp that don't look like a tramp, to play that English tramp in your picture. But take it from me, that kind of tramp don't hang out in Hollywood". Aileen had spent her 20s married to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son of Sir John Pringle, a Jamaica landowner and a member of the Privy and Legislative Councils of Jamaica. Aileen lived in Jamaica until she went on stage with George Arliss. When she began divorce proceedings against Pringle in 1926, Hollywood gossip columnists speculated she would marry H.L. Mencken. She did not remarry until 1944 when she became the bride of James M. Cain, author of "The Postman Always Rings Twice". I opened my 1980 telephone conversation with Aileen by mentioning that the day before I had been reading her correspondence with Mencken at the New York Public Library. "But all the letters were destroyed", she said. I knew that Mencken had asked for all of his letters to her back at the time he became engaged to Sara Haardt. Aileen was the only woman who received such a request from Mencken at that time. "It was your letters from the late '30s and '40s I was reading", I told Aileen. "In one of them Mencken was urging you to write a book. Did you ever finish it?" "No. I got married instead." In a 1946 letter she wrote to Mencken. "If I had remained married to that psychotic Cain, I would be wearing a straitjacket instead of the New Look."
- Mexican character actor who achieved his greatest success in U.S. films. He was born in Mexico city, living in numerous places throughout the country. He received a private education in Houston, Texas as a teenager, but dropped out and roamed about doing an assortment of jobs. His family, however, brought him back to Mexico City, where he subsequently found work in the struggling Mexican film industry. He appeared in many Mexican films before director John Huston offered him the role of Gold Hat in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Bedoya stole the scenes in which he appeared as the smiling cutthroat and delivered the famous line about not needing any "stinking badges". He made a number of popular films in the U.S. in the next nine years, but a drinking problem destroyed his health. He died of a heart attack at the age of 53.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Alfred Lynch was born in the East End of London in 1931. Born the son of a plumber, he quit school to become a draughtsman's apprentice. After doing his National Service in the Army he began to train as an actor, coming out as a real talent of British cinema with critically acclaimed roles in Coventry and the Royal Court in London. In the 1950s and '60s, he seemed a natural pick for the working class kitchen sink dramas given that he was short, sandy haired and a very down to earth and working class sort. He won a part in Look Back in Anger (1959), which allowed him to achieve greater fame in films during the 1960s. In the 1970s, he slowed his work down onscreen but continued to do work in theatres and had a return to the big screen in The Krays (1990) in 1990. He died of cancer after a long battle, aged 72.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Composer chiefly remembered for his symphonic poems -the first of that genre to be written by a Frenchman- and for his opera 'Samson et Dalila'. Notable for his pioneering efforts on behalf of French music, he was also a gifted pianist and organist, and a writer of criticism, poetry, essays, and plays. Of his concerti and symphonies, in which he adapted the virtuosity of Franz Liszt's style to French traditions of harmony and form, his 'Third Symphony' is most often performed.- Soundtrack
Chiquetete was born on 26 July 1948 in Algeciras, Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain. He was married to Raquel Bollo and Amparo Cazalla. He died on 16 December 2018 in Seville, Seville, Andalucía, Spain.- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Dan Fogelberg was born on 13 August 1951 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for About Schmidt (2002), Urban Cowboy (1980) and FM (1978). He was married to Jean Marie Mayer-Dailey, Anastasia Savage and Margaret Ellen Slaymaker. He died on 16 December 2007 in Deer Isle, Maine, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Son of a bricklayer and ironworker, who was involved in the construction of the Empire State Building, Dan Frazer first acted in local theatre in his rough 'Hell's Kitchen' neighbourhood on the Manhattan West Side. He also benefited from the Federal Theatre Project, funded by the Works Progress Administration after the onset of the Great Depression. During World War II, Dan helped entertain troops as a member of the U.S. Army Special Services, subsequently making his first appearance on Broadway as a marine in 'Christopher Blake'. He began acting on the small screen during the 1950's, appearing in anything from anthology series, to comedies, to crime drama. His motion picture debut did not eventuate until 1963, when he portrayed a priest in Lilies of the Field (1963).
For the best part of his screen career, Dan portrayed an assortment of clergymen and cops, almost invariably honest, hard-working types. Internationally, he became best known as Telly Savalas's nervous NYPD boss, Captain Frank McNeil, during all five seasons of Kojak (1973); and as Virgil Starkwell's (Woody Allen's) psychiatrist in the hilarious Take the Money and Run (1969). Dan Frazer was a Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.- Camera and Electrical Department
Derek was born in Malaysia immigrating to the United States with his Mother and Father when he was young. Derek met my Brother at School in Van Nuys, ca. Derek spent most of his time at our home as we had a very large swimming pool in the back and was used by many of our Friends including Derek. He went with us to Leo Carrillo State Beach several times for a week or more. After Graduating, Derek joined the United States Navy and served aboard the USS Columbus CG-12. After he was Discharged Honorably, he returned to Van Nuys to continue his life. My Mother La Verna Larkin (Kenneth Green's Daughter) obtained him a job in Grip at Universal. He worked hard and soon became a No-1 in Grip moving over to camera Grip. Derek moved from his new home in North Hollywood to Fresno commuting back and forth to work at Universal. It was at one of these treks back to work on a Monday in December of 1996, when he was involved in an accident which took his life. Every one in my Family was devastated. I will always remember him as a fun, kin and generous person willing to help anymore. Derek was memorialized in the episode 14 (In Purgatory's Shadow), season 5 of Deep Space Nine (In Memory of Derek Garth). Derek was married with two children.- Gregory Rasputin was one of Russia's most controversial and mysterious figures who posed as a "holy man" and destroyed the political image and reputation of Russia's Emperor Tsar Nicholas II and his family through a series of political manipulations, disgusting scandals and treachery, provoking a huge wave of public anger and helping the communists to prepare the disastrous Russian revolution. His mysterious activity is still disputed by historians and religious authors, mostly because he left no papers or documents with the exception of a few messages, while acting behind-the-scenes inside the Palaces of the Russian Tsars, and he remained inaccessible to public because of the heavy security that surrounded the Russian Imperial family.
He was born Gregory Efimovich Rasputin in 1869 into a Russian peasant family in Pokrovskoye village, Tobolsk province in Siberia. He was the only surviving child of Efim Yakovlevich Rasputin and Anna Vasilevna Rasputina--their four previous children died before he was born. The family name, Rasputin, has a negative connotation, similar to "ill-behaved" or "ill-aimed". His mother died when Rasputin was young and his father was imprisoned for some time. Gregory had very little schooling and was unable to read or write. At age 16 he was arrested for theft, and the citizens of Pokrovskoe appealed to the authorities to excommunicate and exile him. Rasputin was sentenced to three months in prison, which was later commuted to serving his term at Verkhoturye Monastery in Siberia. Rasputin settled with the lonely monk Makariy, who lived in a rugged hut and practiced rituals akin to ancient shamanic and tribal traditions of the Siberian people. Rasputin mentioned that Makariy had cured him of a severe sleep disorder and trained him to practice hypnotism and a vegetarian lifestyle, which included some alcohol and also the use of various weeds and drugs for "spiritual transformation" according to ancient shamanic rituals.
Rasputin stated later that he modeled himself after Makariy. At that time he became interested in manipulating people through their weaknesses and beliefs, including use of their personal and social habits as well as their politics and religion. He was also introduced to the banned mystical sect of Khlysty (flagellants), whose had a strong sexual content among other exotic practices. Rasputin evolved into a cynical and ruthless manipulator who practiced his principle that "any sin shall make me a holy man" and was spreading his beliefs around. In 1889 Rasputin married Praskovia Feodorovna and had three children, but left his family in Siberia and became a wanderer. He walked across Russia on foot from Siberia to Kiev and back several times during the 1890s, then made a pilgrimage on foot to Greece and Jerusalem during 1901, walking back to Russia and staying in Kazan with a local priest who gave him a letter of recommendation to St. Peterburg, the Russian capital. He arrived in the city in 1903, and solicited money to build a church in his home village of Pokrovskoe. In St. Petersburg Rasputin was accommodated by none other than Father Sergiy (who later, in 1942, was appointed by Joseph Stalin the Head of Orthodox Christianity in the Soviet Union), who was at that time Director of St. Petersburg Holy Academy and Seminary and also was a clandestine political opponent of Tsar Nicholas II. At several reception parties staged by Father Sergiy, Rasputin stunned St. Petersburg society by his forecasts that Russia would be defeated in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904, and that the Russian navy "would sink down", which was exactly what happened next.
Soon the Ober-Procurator of Russia, Pobedonostsev, issued a ban on public appearances of Father Sergiy and Rasputin, declaring that Rasputin was hiding his manipulative traits under the cover of "holyness" and illegally declared himself an Orthodox Christian mystic. Rasputin, however, ignored that ban and continued posing as a "prophet" and healer. He continued his wanderings as a self-proclaimed "holy man", often using lies and hypnotism to intimidate people into submission and then used them for his own goals. He made loose affiliations with various monasteries, then appointed himself a religious "elder" in St. Petersburg. At that time mystical interpretations of Christianity were in vogue, and official Orthodox Christianity was losing its control over people amidst the proliferation of disastrous wars and civil unrest, including revolutions. After the failure of several "religious advisers" to bring peace into the seriously dysfunctional Russian royal family of Tsar Nicholas II, Rasputin was summoned by Anna Vyrubova and the famous ascetic mystic, Father Theofan, the religious adviser to the royal family. In October of 1905 Father Sergiy and Father Theofan arranged Rasputin's introduction to the royal household through some relatives of reigning Romanov family. Rasputin instantly found a way to use the weaknesses and insecurities of Crown Prince Aleksey Nikolaeyvitch Romanov, whose incurable illness--he was a hemophiliac, having inherited the disease from his grandmother, Britain's Queen Victoria--was the main concern of the royal family. Rasputin convinced the Empress, Tsarina Alexandra, that he could improve the health of young Crown Prince Aleksey. Both Tsar Nicholas II and his wife were devastated and demoralized by their son's illness, and their anxiety and desperation was used by Rasputin, and the people behind him, in a crafty way to achieve goals that suited their political agenda.
At the same time Tsar Nicholas was warned by his loyal prime minister, Count Stolypin, that Rasputin was a dangerous fraud who could become a threat to the royal family and to Russia. However, at Tsar Nicholas' insistence, Stolypin had a private meeting with Rasputin. Not long afterward Stolypin was assassinated by a hired terrorist, and the resulting investigation by the authorities was stopped order of the Emperor. Stolypin's records revealed that he had an argument with Rasputin, but he was stopped and intimidated by the hypnotic stare of Rasputin's piercing eyes. Stolypin and many other political figures of that time had documented that Rasputin had "satanic eyes" and he was possessed of a powerful and hypnotic glare that he used to intimidate and cow his enemies. Rasputin also often used verbal abuse and intimidation, including the most foul profanities--a practice considered shocking in the rarefied air of the Russian court--to intimidate and manipulate people into submission. At the height of his political influence, Rasputin was constantly guarded by six agents provided by the Russian security service by order of Tsarina Alexandra. Also by the Imperial order Rasputin was given a new name, Novykh, meaning the "new man", an exclamation attributed to the suffering boy, Crown Prince Aleksey.
Rasputin apparently persuaded both the Empress and her ailing son to ensure that he kept a permanent presence in the tsar's palaces, and he was appointed to an official court position as "personal healer" to Crown Prince Aleksey Nikolaeyvitch Romanov. Rasputin may had some limited beneficial effect on Prince Aleksey's condition through hypnotism, but it apparently was enough to convince both the Empress and the Prince to depend more and more on Rasputin's presence and his hypnotic abilities. Rasputin also insisted that real medical doctors should be kept away from Alexey, constantly telling the family, "Don't let the doctors bother him, let him rest." On the occasions when Aleksey's health had actually improved, Rasputin used the opportunity to take personal credit for the Prince's "improvement", thereby solidifying his control over access to the royal family.
The Empress became a patron of Rasputin, who soon established himself as an extremely powerful figure within the Russian court. The Emperor was calling Rasputin a "holy man" and referred to him as "our friend". Rasputin referred to the Emperor and the Empress only as "papa" and "mama" and always used a frank and "sincere" tone in conversations with the royal family. Meanwhile, government security sources reported about wild orgies at the many parties and gatherings at Rasputin's residence, located just a few blocks away from the Tsar's palace and paid for out of the Russian Treasury. Rasputin's drinking binges were reported as "massive and wild" that often degenerated into drunken and violent sex orgies, designed to entangle politicians and other guests who could prove useful to Rasputin's ambitions. He aggressively indoctrinated his victims by using, among other methods, his motto "Sin that you may obtain forgiveness!", which was in line with the views he learned from the sect of Khlysty.
Soon Rasputin and people behind him succeeded in using his influence to entangle many politicians in scandals, including dirty manipulations involving their wives, drinking parties, promiscuity, and massive embezzlement of the government funds during the First World War, by diverting money to special interests through insiders within the Treasury of Russia. Rasputin also manipulated the Empress Tsarina Alexandra to make controversial political appointments, which led to a bitter divide within all classes of the Russian society, causing a blow to the public image of the Imperial House of the Romanovs. Rasputin's manipulative activities provoked many conflicts within the Russian government and the Russian military command during the First World War. Rasputin was using his position inside the Tsar's Palace to directly interfere with Tsar's communications with the government and media, thus undermining the Tsar's public image. At several times Rasputin was able to interfere with the Tsar's schedule of meetings with political figures as well as military commanders during the war.
In 1914, while visiting a church in Siberian city of Tobolsk, Rasputin was attacked by his former prostitute-friend, Khionia Guseva, who then turned a religious disciple of monk Iliodor. Ms. Guseva approached Rasputin with a knife and wounded him in the stomach, but he recovered from the wound and soon gained an even stronger influence on the Empress Tsarina Alexandra. Later Ms. Guseva said to the Grand Jury that she acted in clear mind and full understanding that "Rasputin is the Antichrist harmful to the people of Russia." However she was declared insane and was forcefully placed in an asylum in Siberia. Rasputin's most destructive actions were committed in 1916, when he convinced the Tsar Nicholas II to move from the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, to the front-lines in Belarus, leaving the Empress Alexandra alone under his influence and in charge of internal politics of the country. In absence of the Tsar, St. Petersburg was surreptitiously over-taken by the revolutionary communists, who penetrated into many regiments of the Army, the Navy, as well as into the local political circles in the capital of Russia, thus preparing for the Communist Revolution of 1917. The decade of Rasputin's destructive manipulations led to irreparable political and economic damage and caused a bitter divide within the government and military command, as well as within all social layers of Russia. At that time the French ambassador Maurice Paléologue made a record that the "Russian Empress is mystically devoted to Rasputin."
Communist leader Vladimir Lenin wrote, "monstrous Rasputin is pushing the Tsar's regime to a disaster", which was helping the communist revolution. According to historians Rasputin was used by a secret group behind the communist revolutionaries, which acted to destroy the Romanov dynasty and the monarchy, and eventually fulfilled their plans and came to power through revolution. That explained how and why Rasputin was manipulated to discredit the royal family and personally the Tsar Nicholas II. Rasputin's main handler was a St. Petersburg's underworld drug lord, named Dr. Badmayev, who controlled Rasputin through his drug addiction and often instructed Rasputin about his political moves. Rasputin often stayed overnight after having a fix at Dr. Badmayev's home in St. Petersburg. At the same time, Rasputin's hypnotic influence over the Empress Alexandra and the Crown Prince Alexey remained very strong, allowing him to make political, ecclesiastical and military appointments for those who served his interests. Rasputin created and used public scandals and rumors about his sexual and alcoholic excesses, and designed crafty entrapments for many members of the Russian political establishment into orgies and scandals for immediate blackmail and exploitation. He polarized the society by using his political influence in securing the appointments and dismissals of several military commanders and government ministers during the First World War. Rasputin's abuse of power and his notorious debauchery was used by the communist propaganda to depict Rasputin with the Empress Alexandra in numerous pornographic comics, drawings and provocative publications as part of a massive negative publicity campaign against the House of Romanovs and the Russian monarchy. In the communist propaganda Rasputin was shown as a peasant who turned the Russian Tsar into a wimp, so the country was in "bad hands" and "proletarians must join with peasants to overthrow the monarchy and take power", so declared the communist leader Vladimir Lenin, who in turn was secretly financed by the German military.
In 1916, during the most difficult time in the First World War, brothers of Tsar Nicholas II obtained evidence that Rasputin was secretly negotiating a peace treaty with Germany while Russia's position in the war was not good. Rasputin said on record that "too many peasants were dead because of the war", indicating his agenda to settle "peace at any cost" which was also in line with the communist propaganda, and helped the German Armies. Peasants deserted from the Russian Army by hundreds of thousands, then armed peasants came to St. Petersburg and joined the communist revolutionary brigades. Rasputin's secret activity and his contacts with the Germans became a political scandal. Tsar's cousin, Grand Prince Nicholas, announced that he wants to hang Rasputin for treachery as a spy in German employ, albeit Rasputin was under the protection of the Empress Tsarina Alexandra, who herself was German. That led to a plot by a group of aristocrats, led by Prince Feliks Yusupov, a relative of the Tsar, to assassinate him, but Rasputin was officially guarded by six agents from the Russian Imperial Security under constant supervision of specially assigned officers who lived in Rasputin's house in St. Petersburg.
In November of 1916, Prince Yusupov pretended that he had chest pains and obtained a high recommendation to become a patient of Rasputin. Prince Feliks Yusupov made several visits to Rasputin as a patient and soon he made friends with Rasputin and presented him a picture of his wife, beautiful Princess Irene Yusupov, niece of the Emperor Tsar Nicholas II. Rasputin immediately became horny and expressed his desire to meet the beauty. On December 16, 1916, Prince Yusupov and his fellow officers designed a plan centered on using the beautiful Princess Irina Yusupov, as a bait. On December 29, 1916, Prince Feliks Yusupov personally invited Rasputin to a dinner and drove him to Yusupov's Moika Palace in St. Petersburg. There Rasputin was waiting for the appearance of the Princess Irina Yusupov, but she never showed up. Meanwhile, Rasputin was plied with wine and food that had been laced with cyanide, albeit the plotters were oblivious to the fact of chemistry that cyanide is often neutralized by some ingredients in food, as it turns into a harmless salt in most desserts and wines. Rasputin also had a condition with hyper-acidity and post-surgical stomach problems which caused him to minimize his intake of sugar and alcohol. When the poison had no apparent effect on Rasputin, Prince Feliks Yusupov pulled out his gun and fired, but Rasputin's life was saved because the first bullet was reflected by the hard metal button on his coat, he was wounded, but still managed to jump up and tried to escape out of the Moika Palace. Then Prince Yusupov and Count Vladimir Purishkevich together with their friend, British intelligence officer Oswald Rayner, pulled out their guns and fired at Rasputin, then, noticing that he was still trying to get up, they clubbed him into submission. In the early morning of December 30, 1916, members of the plot wrapped Rasputin and dragged him into the icy waters until he finally drowned in the Neva River.
Even after his death, Rasputin still remained dangerous and could be used as a destructive and divisive tool, because he left a wild and threatening message to Emperor Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra, predicting their death and disaster for Russia. Crown Prince Alexey remained gravely ill and was heavily dependent and conditioned to Rasputin's hypnotic influence. Rasputin's body was buried upon Empress Alexandra's and Prince Alexey's request at the location in the park of Tsarkoe Selo, near the Summer Palace of the Russian Tsars. Two months after Rasputin's assassination, Emperor Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, then was arrested as citizen Romanov who was obediently sweeping snow from roads while waiting for his sentence under supervision of communist revolutionaries. Soon both Nicholas and Alexandra became increasingly paranoid about having Rasputin's grave next to his Summer Palace. Ironically, Tsar Nicholas II was under the house arrest in that same palace during the year of 1917, and both Empress Alexandra and Prince Alexey were not allowed to make visits to Rasputin's grave, which was vandalized by revolutionaries in search for valuables. By that time, Rasputin's body was removed upon the order from Aleksandr Kerensky, the head of the Russian provisional government, who previously was a student at the same school and at the same time with the future communist leader Vladimir Lenin. Initially Kerensky ordered to remove Rasputin's body to a remote cemetery, but during the move, Rasputin's body, masked as a piano in a wooden box, was destroyed in the fire started by a group of revolutionaries. Shortly after the Communist Revolution, the entire family of Tsar Tsar Nicholas II with his wife and five children were executed, then Tsar's Palaces were vandalized by the revolutionary communists and Rasputin's grave was again burglarized by poor proletarians in search for jewelery.
Later, while in emigration outside of the Communist Russia (then Soviet Union), both accounts by Prince Feliks Yusupov (who lived through the 1960s) and Count Vladimir Purishkevich (who died in the 1920s) were published in their respectful books of memoirs about their plot and assassination of Rasputin in the context of their participation in the historic events. Prince Yusupov compared Rasputin's cynical and manipulative treatment of the Tsar's family to the Communist Party's ruthless methods of control over innocent people of Russia. Rasputin's own "religious" speeches were interpreted and recorded by his enchanted admirers and titled "holy wanderings" and "holy thoughts" when first published in Russia in 1907 and in 1915. In 1942, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin appointed the notorious St. Petersburg Bishop Sergiy the Patriarch of Orthodix Christianity in the Soviet Union. Then Patriarch Sergiy brought back the name of Gregory Rasputin from oblivion. At the same time some sectarian monks organized rumors about possible canonization of Gregory Rasputin as a "martyr and saint" who was assassinated by the family of the "bad" tsar.
Rasputin's daughter, Matrena Solovyova-Rasputina, and her husband, Boris Solovyov, who secretly collaborated with the Communist regime, took money and jewelery from Empress Tsarina Alexandra in exchange for a promise of assist the Tsar Nicholas II and his family to escape from the Communist regime. They betrayed the Tsar and his family and left them to be killed by the communists, while themselves escaped to France. There Rasputin's daughter, who was money hungry, read the memoirs of Prince Feliks Yusupov, and filed several law suits against Prince Yusupov, who gave accounts of Rasputin's death under oath in 1934 and 1965. Eventually Rasputin's daughter ended up working for a circus as a tiger tamer, then she moved to Los Angeles, and died there in 1977. - Writer
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Hugo Moser was born on 14 April 1926 in Argentina. He was a writer and director, known for El precio del poder (2002), Teatro 13 (1971) and Historia de un trepador (1984). He was married to Stella Maris Lanzani. He died on 16 December 2003 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- John Ford Noonan was born on 7 October 1943 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Adventures in Babysitting (1987), St. Elsewhere (1982) and American Playhouse (1980). He was married to Marcia Lunt. He died on 16 December 2018 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
- John Spencer was born John Speshock III in Paterson, New Jersey, the only son of Mildred (Benzeroski), a homemaker and occasional waitress, and John Speshock, a truck driver. He grew up near Paterson, New Jersey, and left at age 16 to attend the Professional Children's School. In 1963, he landed a recurring role on The Patty Duke Show (1963). After that ended, he attended Fairleigh Dickenson University and later New York University, but dropped out to return to acting. John had been an acknowledged alcoholic, who remained sober ever since getting therapy. He had quit smoking in 1999, which he described as "hell on earth". He passed away of a heart attack on December 16, 2005. He will be missed.
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Keely Smith was born March 9, 1928 in Norfolk, VA. After her parents divorced and her mother remarried Jesse Smith when she was nine years old, she changed her name to Keely Smith after she joined Louis Prima and his band. Her family had a tough time and her three brothers and her took in laundry to make ends meet. In 1947, she was on a vacation trip to New York City where the heat became oppressive. The family decided to go to Atlantic City, N.J. instead. Keely went to the Steel Pier where Louis Prima was appearing. In 1948, Prima appeared at the surf club in Virginia looking for a singer. Keely auditioned and was selected and hit the road at 18-years-old. They were subsequently married on July 13, 1953 and issued two daughters, Toni Prima and Luanne Prima. Keely was Prima's fourth wife. For many years, they appeared together in Las Vegas with bandleader Sam Butera and made "that old black magic" a standard. In 1961, Keely filed for divorce citing extreme mental cruelty. In 1965, she married Jimmy Bowen, a record producer and they were later divorced. She currently lives in Nevada and makes appearances in the Las Vegas area. Prima died in a nursing home in New Orleans on August 24, 1978 after being in a coma for several years. Her film credits include: Sing Sing Sing (2002), Thunder Road (1958) and Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959).- Actor
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Larry Steinbachek was born on 6 May 1960 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Chappie (2015), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and Pride (2014). He died on 16 December 2016 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Lee Leonard was born on 3 April 1929 in New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Kelly Bishop, Salome Jens and Rosa May Rosenberg. He died on 16 December 2018 in South Orange, New Jersey, USA.
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One of the great movie villains, Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Jr. was born in Somerville, New Jersey, to Marion Lavinia (Van Fleet) and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef, Sr. His parents were of Dutch ancestry. Van Cleef started out as an accountant. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard minesweepers and sub chasers during World War II. After the war he worked as an office administrator, becoming involved in amateur theatrics in his spare time. An audition for a professional role led to a touring company job in "Mr. Roberts". His performance was seen by Stanley Kramer, who cast him as henchman Jack Colby in High Noon (1952), a role that brought him great recognition despite the fact that he had no dialogue. For the next decade, he played a string of memorably villainous characters, primarily in westerns but also in crime dramas such as The Big Combo (1955). His hawk nose and steely, slit eyes seemed destined to keep him always in the realm of heavies, but in the mid 1960s Sergio Leone cast him as the tough but decent Col. Mortimer opposite Clint Eastwood in For a Few Dollars More (1965). A new career as a western hero (or at least anti-hero) opened up, and Van Cleef became an international star, though in films of decreasing quality. In the 1980s, he moved easily into action and martial-arts movies and starred in The Master (1984), a TV series featuring almost non-stop martial arts action. He died of a heart attack in December 1989 and was buried at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.- Actress
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Fiery brunette Andalusian-born singer, dancer and actress, in the U.S. from 1928. Using the stage name "Isabelita", she performed with Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra and was spotlighted at the Mocambo and Ciro's night clubs on the Sunset Strip. There, she came to the attention of up-and-coming movie star (and future husband) Rory Calhoun and was quickly destined to be in pictures. Continuing to be billed as "Isabelita" in her first few films -- invariably as south-of-the-border señoritas -- she mostly free-lanced for the smaller studios like Republic, Monogram, RKO and PRC. In 1948, she adopted her mother's maiden name and called herself Lita Baron. She had exotic leads in a couple of Boy's Own Paper-type adventures (with Johnny Sheffield in Bomba on Panther Island (1949) and opposite Sabu in Savage Drums (1951)). Latino actresses were often typecast in westerns and Lita was no exception: she played a dance hall singer in The Broken Star (1956), looked fetching as a female gunslinger in the (otherwise) mediocre Jesse James' Women (1954) and guested several times in her husband's hit CBS-Desilu series The Texan (1958). A memorable guest role was as Cuban bombshell Renita Perez, Ricky Ricardo's ex-dance partner, in a 1952 episode of I Love Lucy (1951).
Since her screen career had turned out to be somewhat desultory, Lita continued to perform on the nightclub circuit (in L.A. and, occasionally, in Vegas). From 1949, she co-hosted "Latin Cruise" on KTLA local television, a pioneering weekly musical variety show which showcased Latin tunes. In the 70's, she moderated a popular radio program, "Lunch with Lita", broadcast from Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, featuring interviews with stars from her Hollywood past. When that ended, she found a new vocation in real estate marketing.- Actress
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Lolita Sevilla was born on 11 March 1935 in Sevilla, Andalucía, Spain. She was an actress, known for Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), Lo que cuesta vivir... (1967) and Habanera (1961). She was married to José María Gallardo. She died on 16 December 2013 in Madrid, Spain.- Buxom and shapely blonde bombshell Lynda Wiesmeier was born on May 30, 1963 in Washington, D.C. Wiesmeier resided in various places throughout America and Germany before eventually settling down in Los Angeles, California. Lynda worked as a receptionist at a doctor's office prior to deciding to pose nude for Playboy as the Playmate of the Month for July, 1982. In the wake of her Playmate stint Wiesmeier not only appeared in a handful of Playboy videos and newsstand special editions, but also was a promotional model and reporter for the Playboy Channel as well as acted in several comedies and low-budget exploitation movies that were made and released throughout the early to mid-1980's. After calling it a day as an actress, Lynda went on to become an office manager in Lafayette, Louisiana and subsequently moved back to Southern California. Wiesmeier died at the tragically young age of 49 from a brain tumor on December 16, 2012 in Ramona, California.
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- Script and Continuity Department
- Soundtrack
American character actress Madlyn Rhue was one of television's most prolific actresses and has starred in everything from sitcoms to soap operas to drama series and films for nearly 40 years. Her beautiful looks, natural red hair and brown eyes got her the attention of television producers and she found herself guest starring on such series as Rawhide (1959), Cheyenne (1955), Star Trek (1966), Hawaii Five-O (1968), Charlie's Angels (1976) and Fantasy Island (1977). She did several theatrical motion pictures, most notably Operation Petticoat (1959), He Rides Tall (1964), Kenner (1968) and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). In 1977, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which she battled for nearly 25 years. However, the disease never got her down; she continued to work in numerous television films and was co-starring on such series and soap operas as Executive Suite (1976), Fame (1982) and Days of Our Lives (1965) and had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote (1984). By 1997, Rhue was unable to work, and she spent her last years at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home retirement center in Woodland Hills, California. She passed away from pneumonia and multiple sclerosis there at age 68 on December 16, 2003.- Animation Department
Mama Cax was born on 20 November 1989 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is known for MERK, Savage X Fenty Show (2019) and Chromat: Spring/Summer 2019 at NYFW (2018). She died on 16 December 2019 in London, England, UK.- Moses Gunn was born on 2 October 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Shaft (1971), Rollerball (1975) and Heartbreak Ridge (1986). He was married to Gwendolyn Mumma Landes. He died on 16 December 1993 in Guilford, Connecticut, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Nicol Williamson was an enormously talented actor who was considered by some critics to be the finest actor of his generation in the late 1960s and the 1970s, rivaled only by Albert Finney, whom Williamson bested in the classics. Williamson's 1969 "Hamlet" at the Roundhouse Theatre was a sensation in London, considered by many to be the best limning of The Dane since the definitive 20th-century portrayal by John Gielgud, a performance in that period, rivaled in kudos only by Richard Burton's 1964 Broadway performance. In a sense, Williamson and Burton were the last two great Hamlets of the century. Finney's Hamlet was a failure, and while Derek Jacobi's turn as The Dane was widely hailed by English critics, he lacked the charisma and magnetism -- the star power -- of a Williamson or Burton.
Playwright John Osborne, whose play "Inadmissible Evidence" was a star vehicle for Williamson in London's West End and on Broadway, called him "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando." While it was unlikely that Williamson could ever achieved the film reputation of Brando (who but Brando did?) or the superstar status that Burton obtained and then lost, his inability to maintain a consistent film career most likely is a result of his own well-noted eccentricities than it is from any deficiency in acting skills.
The great critic and raconteur Kenneth Tynan (Laurence Olivier's first dramaturg at the National Theatre) wrote a 1971 profile of Williamson that elucidated the problem with this potentially great performer. Williamson's Hamlet had wowed Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and Wilson in turn raved about his performance to President Richard Nixon. Nixon invited Williamson to stage a one-man show at the White House, which was a success. However, in the same time period, Williamson's reputation was tarred by his erratic behavior during the North American tour of "Hamlet". In Boston he stopped during a performance and berated the audience, which led one cast member to publicly apologize to the Boston audience. Williamson would be involved in an even more famous incident on Broadway a generation later.
Even before the Boston incident, Williamson had made headlines when, during the Philadelphia tryout of "Inadmissible Evidence," he struck producer David Merrick whilst defending Anthony Page. In 1976 he slapped a fellow actor during the curtain call for the Broadway musical "Rex." Fifteen years later, his co-star in the Broadway production of "I Hate Hamlet" was terrified of him after Williamson whacked the actor on his buttocks with a sword, after the actor had abandoned the choreography.
A great stage actor, who also did a memorable "Macbeth" in London and on Broadway, Williamson was twice nominated for Tony Awards as Best Actor (Dramatic), in 1966 for Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence" (a performance he recreated in the film version) and in 1974 for a revival of "Uncle Vanya." On film, Williamson was superb in many roles, such as the suicidal Irish soldier in The Bofors Gun (1968) and Tony Richardson's Hamlet (1969). He got his chance playing leads, such as Sherlock Holmes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) and Castle in Otto Preminger's The Human Factor (1979), and was competent if not spectacular, likely diminished by deficiencies in the scripts rather than his own talent. Richardson also replaced Williamson's rival as Hamlet, Burton, in his adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark (1969).
It was in supporting work that he excelled in film in the 1970s and 1980s. He was quite effective as a supporting actor, such as his Little John to Sean Connery's Robin Hood in Richard Lester's Robin and Marian (1976), was brilliant in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) and gave a performance for the ages (albeit in the scenery-chewing category as Merlin) in Excalibur (1981). His Merlin lives on as one of the most enjoyable performances ever caught on film.
Then it was over. While the film work didn't dry up, it didn't reach the heights anymore. He failed to harness that enormous talent and convert it into memorable film performances. He did good work as Louis Mountbatten in a 1986 TV-movie, but the roles became more sporadic, and after 1997 this great actor no longer appeared in motion pictures.
Williamson's eccentricities showed themselves again in the early 1990s. When appearing as the ghost of John Barrymore in the 1991 Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's "I Hate Hamlet" on Broadway in 1991, Williamson's co-star quit the play after being thumped on the buttocks with a sword during a stage fight. Although critics hailed the performances of the understudy as a "vast improvement" it caused a sensation in the press. Despite good reviews, the play lasted only 100 performances.
Surprisingly, Williamson never won an Oscar nomination, yet that never was a game he seemed to play. In 1970, after his Hamlet triumph, he turned down a six-figure salary to appear as Enobarbus in Charlton Heston's film of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1972)_. The role was played by Eric Porter, but his choice was justified in that the film was derided as a vanity production and savaged by critics).
Williamson had been a staple on Broadway, even using his fine singing voice to appear as Henry VIII in the Broadway musical "Rex" In 1976. He has not appeared on the Great White Way since his own one-man show about John Barrymore that he himself crafted, "Jack: A Night on the Town with John Barrymore," which had enormously successful runs, both at the Criterion Theater in London, and The Geffen Theater in Los Angeles playing to packed houses, before closing on Broadway after only 12 performances in 1996.
The "I Hate Hamlet" and "Jack" shows are still talked about on Broadway. Williamson has joined the ranks of Barrymore, Burton, and Brando, in that they have become phantoms who haunt the theater and film that they they served so admirably on the one hand but failed on the other. All enormously gifted artists, perhaps possessed of genius, they were discombobulated by that gift that became their curse, the burden of dreams -- the dreams of their audiences, their collaborators, their critics. While there is a wistfulness over the loss of such greatness, there is a relief offered, not so much from a moral tale, but as a release from guilt for the run-of-the-mill artists lacking such genius. One can be comforted by the fact that while one lacks the pearl of such a talent, they also lack the irritating genius that engenders that pearl.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Nicolette Larson was born on 17 July 1952 in Helena, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for Twins (1988), They Call Me Renegade (1987) and The Personals (1982). She was married to Russ Kunkel. She died on 16 December 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Production Designer
Peter S. Larkin was born in 1926 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a production designer, known for Miss Congeniality (2000), Get Shorty (1995) and Tootsie (1982). He was married to Racelle Strick. He died on 16 December 2019 in Bridgehampton, New York, USA.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Ralph Carney was born on 23 January 1956 in Akron, Ohio, USA. He was a composer, known for Night on Earth (1991), The Simpsons Game (2007) and Chuck & Buck (2000). He was married to Deena Kay Zacharin. He died on 16 December 2017 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ray Price was born on 12 January 1926 in Perryville, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Guilt Trip (2012), Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) and A Man of No Importance (1994). He was married to Janie Mae and Betty Berthena Greb (Linda Powers). He died on 16 December 2013 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, USA.- Richard Warwick was born on 29 April 1945 in Longfield, Kent, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Sebastiane (1976) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). He died on 16 December 1997 in St John's Wood, London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Robert Easton was born on 23 November 1930 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Working Girl (1988) and The Giant Spider Invasion (1975). He was married to June Bettine Grimstead. He died on 16 December 2011 in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Roy Brocksmith began his career on the bar at Hap Kuhl's Tavern in his native Quincy, Illinois, at the age of three. As a boy soprano, he performed in churches, schools, and appeared regularly on local radio and television programs. At 16, he taught at the local children's theater. Two years later he married his high-school girlfriend.
He left Quincy, touring the US for two years in the Oberammergau Passion Play of Richmond, Virginia. He returned and attended Hannibal LaGrange Junior College, Culver-Stockton College, and graduated from Quincy University in 1970. During this time, he directed for the community theater, Pragressive Playhouse, and founded the Great River Theater Workshop. As a director, he was taken to New York by a Ukrainian anesthesiologist in 1969, where he was joined by his wife and son, Blake (born 8/5/66).
For one year he was a librarian at the Lilliam Morgan Hetrick Medical Library at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in Manhattan and was on the board of the American Association of Midwives. This regular job ended when he received his AEA union card-playing opposite John Carradine in "The Stingiest Man in Town," a musical based on Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" and narrated by then-Mayor John Lindsay at New York's Town Hall.
On the legit stage, he made his Broadway debut--and the cover of the New York Times Magazine (11/9/75)--in "The Leaf People for Joseph Papp. He also appeared in Herr Tartüff with Mildred Dunnock in "Stages" with Jack Warden and sang "Mack the Knife" in Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht's award-winning "Threepenny Opera" as the Ballad Singer in Papp's Lincoln Center revival (Original cast album and "Broadway Magic of the Seventies" CDs, both on Columbia/CBS Records), and as the King of France in "The Three Musketeers." Off-Broadway shows included "Polly," "The Beggar's Opera," "Dr. Salavy's Magic Theater," and "In the Jungle of Cities" with Al Pacino. He starred in the Broadway-bound "Swing" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. At the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he appeared in "Arms and the Man (as Petkoff), William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (as Touchstone), Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" (as Professor Willard), and Molière's "Don Juan" (as Sganarelle). This last garnered him the Kudos Award from the Minneapolis critics and the production was brought to the Delacourt Theater in New York by Joseph Papp, and he received international praise. His work with Papp and directors Richard Foreman Liviu Cuilei, Stuart Ostrow, Tom O'Horgan, Andrei Serban, Alan Schneider, and John Cassavetes, to name just a few, made Brocksmith a solid part of America's most innovative and provocative theater.
He was first to direct Foreman and Silverman's "Africanis Instructus" for Lyn Austin's Lennox Arts Center, and his adaptation of Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear" was presented under his direction at Baltimore's Center Stage. His unusual staging of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" gave the Alaska Repertory Theater a major box-office and critical hit and was chosen out of 100 entries to be presented at the Joyce Theater in New York that season. He also appeared as Thurio in the national tour of John Guare's musical version of "Two Gentelmen of Verona," and he made his California debut starring opposite Gena Rowlands.
In 1987 he formed the California Cottage Theater with partner Michael Liscio, joining a long and formidable list of American actor-managers. As Producing Director he presented only new works: "A Cold Day in Hell" by January Quackenbush, Brocksmith's own "Box Prelude OPUS #1," "Matinee" by Hal Corley, "The One Less Traveled" by Cary Pepper, "A Necessary End" by Joe Rubinoff, "Ripe Conditions" by Claudia Allen, and "Letters from Queens" by Brocksmith. The Cottage was unique because it was the only professional theater heater in the country under AEA jurisdiction for presentations in a private home. By its closing on February 17, 1996, over 8,000 people had attended performances. It was hailed as "Suburbia's Rialto" (Wall Street Journal), "The epicenter of quirky folk" (L.A. Weekly), "Pick of the Week" (L.A.Times), and "Critic's Choice" (Drama Logue). Calling himself a theater craftsman, it was Brocksmith's belief that "good theater is not a matter of money and place as it is a matter of imagination, craft and guts." The concept of the California Cottage Theater, a professional theater for free, was, to him, theater in its most essential form.
Brocksmith also appeared on several episodes of 3-2-1 Contact (1980) in its "Bloodhound Gang" segment and on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Sadly, he died of kidney failure on December 16, 2001.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Roy Edward Disney began working for the Walt Disney Company as an assistant film editor on the True-Life Adventure film in 1954. In 1967, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the company. In 1984, he returned to the company as vice chairman of the board, and head of the animation department. On October 16, 1998, in a surprise presentation made at the newly unveiled Disney Legends Plaza at the company's headquarters, Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner presented him with the prestigious Disney Legends Award.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Sam Bottoms was born on 17 October 1955 in Santa Barbara, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Apocalypse Now (1979) and Seabiscuit (2003). He was married to Laura Bickford and Susan Arnold. He died on 16 December 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Santiago Vazquez was born on 31 March 1990 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor, known for My Lovely Hope (2015), Sábado Bus (1999) and Pura Química (2010). He died on 16 December 2016 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Prolific silent film director, the son of Irish immigrants. Olcott started as an actor on the New York stage and then appeared in films for Mutoscope in 1904, eventually working his way up to general manager of Biograph. Lured away to a rival company he began to direct features for Kalem by 1907. That year, he became embroiled in a hitherto unprecedented lawsuit (which dragged on for four years), since he had filmed Ben Hur (1907) in blatant disregard of copyright. Publishers and the estate of author Lew Wallace sued Kalem to the tune of $25,000.
In addition to shooting films in Jacksonville, Florida, and Ireland (where Kalem had their studios), Olcott also took his film crews to far-flung overseas locations -- in the process becoming the first-ever filmmaker to do so. He went to Egypt and Palestine to film the life of Christ, From the Manger to the Cross (1912) which proved a big money-spinner for Kalem. However, a dispute over Olcott's salary led to his name being removed from the credits and he consequently resigned.
Not out of work for long, he signed with Famous Players Lasky (which later became Paramount) in 1915. Until his retirement in 1927, Olcott directed some of the studio's biggest stars, from Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson to Norma Talmadge and Rudolph Valentino.- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
Silvana Mangano was born on April 21, 1930 in Rome, Italy and was raised in poverty during World War II. She trained as a dancer for seven years and supported herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, she won the Miss Rome beauty pageant and through this, she obtained role in a Maria Della Costa film. One year later, she was one of the girls in the Miss Italia contest. Lucia Bose became "The Queen", and nearby, on the stage of Stresa, were some other future stars of Italian cinema: Gina Lollobrigida, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gianna Maria Canale.
Mangano's earlier connection with filmmaking occurred with her romantic relationship with actor Marcello Mastroianni. This led her to a film contract, though this would take some time for Mangano to ascend to international stardom with her role in Bitter Rice (1949). Thereatfer, she signed a contract with Lux Film, and later married Dino De Laurentiis, who was on the verge of becoming a known producer. Though she never scaled the heights of her contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, Mangano remained a favorite star of the 1950s and 1970s, appearing in Anna (1951), The Gold of Naples (1954), Mambo (1954), Teorema (1968), Death in Venice (1971) and The Scopone Game (1972).
Married to film producer Dino De Laurentiis from 1949, the couple had four children: Veronica, Raffaella, Francesca and Federico. Veronica's daughter Giada is the host of "Everyday Italian" and "Giada at Home" on the Food Network. Raffaella co-produced with her father on Mangano's penultimate film, the science fiction epic Dune (1984). In 1983, she separated from De Laurentiis and abandoned her career to live in Paris and Madrid, where she made tapestries. Following surgery on December 4, 1989 that left her in a coma, Silvana Mangano died at age 59 of lung cancer in Madrid, Spain during the early morning hours of December 16, 1989.- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Stuart Adamson was born on 11 April 1958 in Manchester, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Against All Odds (1984), Set It Up (2018) and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009). He was married to Sandra Davidson and Melanie Shelley. He died on 16 December 2001 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Sylvester was born on 6 September 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Hit and Run (2012), What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) and Trading Places (1983). He died on 16 December 1988 in San Francisco, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Thelma Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, an industrial city near the New Hampshire state line. She was a lovely child with good academic tendencies, so much so that she decided early on to become a schoolteacher. After high school she went on to college but at her mother's insistence entered several beauty contests (apparently her mother wanted her to be more than just a "schoolmarm"). Thelma was so successful in these endeavors that she entered on the state level and won the title of "Miss Massachusetts" in 1925 and went on to the "Miss America" pageant; though she didn't win, the pageant let her be seen by talent scouts looking for fresh new faces to showcase in films. She began to appear in one- and two-reel shorts, mostly comedy, which showcased her keen comic timing and aptitude for physical comedy--unusual in such a beautiful woman.
She had been making shorts for Hal Roach when she was signed to Paramount Pictures. Her first role--at age 21--was as Lorraine Lane in 1927's Fascinating Youth (1926), a romantic comedy that was Paramount's showcase vehicle for its new stars. Thelma received minor billing in another film that year, God Gave Me Twenty Cents (1926). The next year she starred with Gary Cooper and William Powell in the western Nevada (1927). That year also saw her in three more films, with The Gay Defender (1927) being the most notable. It starred Richard Dix as a man falsely accused of murder.
As the 1920s closed, Thelma began to get parts in more and more films. In 1928 and 1929 alone she was featured in 20 pictures, and not just comedies--she also did dramas and gothic horror films. Unlike many silent-era stars whose voices didn't fit their image or screen persona, Thelma's did. She had a bright, breezy, clear voice with a pleasant trace of a somewhat-aristocratic but unsnobbish New England accent and easily made the transition to sound films. In 1930 she added 14 more pictures to her resume, with Dollar Dizzy (1930) and Follow Thru (1930) being the most notable. The latter was a musical with Thelma playing a rival to Nancy Carroll for the affections of Buddy Rogers. It was a box-office hit, as was the stage production on which it was based. The following year Thelma appeared in 14 more films, among them Let's Do Things (1931), Speak Easily (1932), The Old Bull (1932), and On the Loose (1931). Her most successful film that year, however, was the Marx Brothers farce Monkey Business (1931). While critics gave the film mixed reviews, the public loved it. In 1932 Thelma appeared in another Marx Brothers film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, Horse Feathers (1932). She also starred in This Is the Night (1932), a profitable film which featured Cary Grant in his first major role. In 1934 Thelma made 16 features, but her career would soon soon come to a grinding halt. In 1935 she appeared in such films as Twin Triplets (1935) and The Misses Stooge (1935), showcasing her considerable comic talents. She also proved to be a savvy businesswoman with the opening of "Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Café", a nightclub/restaurant that catered to show-business people. Unfortunately, it also attracted some shady underworld types as well, and there were rumors that they were trying to take over her club and use it as a gambling establishment to fleece the wealthy Hollywood crowd. According to these tales, Thelma and her boyfriend, director Roland West, wouldn't sell their establishment once they found out what the gangsters had in mind, which incurred the enmity of the wrong people with whom to have differences of opinion. Whether or not the stories were true, on December 16, 1935, 29-year-old Thelma was found dead in her car in her garage in Los Angeles. Her death was ruled suicide-by-carbon-monoxide-poisoning. At the time, as today, many felt that her death was actually a murder connected to the goings-on at her club, a theory that was lent credence by the fact that no one who knew her had ever seen her depressed or morose enough to worry about her committing suicide. Another factor that aroused suspicion was that her death was given a cursory investigation by the--at the time--notoriously corrupt Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the case was quickly and unceremoniously closed. Her death has remained controversial to this day.
Three films she made before her death weren't released until the following year: Hot Money (1936), An All American Toothache (1936), and The Bohemian Girl (1936). The latter saw her quite substantial role cut down so much that she was barely glimpsed in the picture. Thelma had made an amazing 115 films in such a short career, and her beauty and talent would no doubt have taken her right to the top if not for her untimely demise.- Composer
- Writer
- Producer
Z'Ev was born on 8 February 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a composer and writer, known for Z'ev: EyEar (2011), I Find Myself (2010) and Light about Itself (2011). He died on 16 December 2017 in Los Angeles, California, USA.