Hidden Gems or Actors To Look Out For
Minor appearances , often uncredited , mostly in B's . Not character actors as such - many of whom are as famous as the big stars , but the people you spot when you see enough films .
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- One of those wonderfully busy character actors whose face is familiar if not his name, mild-mannered actor Byron Foulger began performing with community theater, and stock and repertory companies after graduating from the University of Utah. He met his future wife, character actress Dorothy Adams, in one of these companies. The marriage lasted nearly five decades and ended only with his death.
Making his Broadway debut in a 1920 production of "Medea" that featured Moroni Olsen as Jason (of the Argonauts), and went on to appear in several other Olsen Broadway productions and in close succession (including "The Trial of Joan of Arc," "Mr. Faust" and "Candida"). While touring the country with Olsen's stock company, he ended up at the Pasadena Playhouse where he both acted and directed. Thereafter he and wife Dorothy decided to settle in Los Angeles.
Together the acting couple tried to stake a claim for themselves in 30s and 40s Hollywood films. Both succeeded, appearing in hundreds of film parts, both together and apart, albeit in small and often unbilled bits. A man of meek, nervous countenance, Foulger's short stature and squinty stare could be used for playing both humble and shady fellows. In the 1940s, the actor became a part of Preston Sturges' company of players, appearing in five of his classic films -- The Great McGinty (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) and The Great Moment (1944).
Although predominantly employed as an owlish storekeeper, mortician, professor, or bank teller, his better parts had darker intentions. He was exceptional as weaselly, mealy-mouthed, whining henchmen who inevitably showed their yellow streak by the film's end.
The character actor eased into TV roles in the 1950s and '60s, displaying a comedy side in many folksy, rural sitcoms. His final regular TV role was as train conductor Wendell Gibbs in the final years of the Petticoat Junction (1963) series. The father of actress Rachel Ames, Foulger died of a heart ailment on April 4, 1970, coincidentally the same day the final new episode of Petticoat Junction (1963) was broadcast. . - Actress
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Sugar, Pepper, Pearl, Bunny, Dottie, Ruby, Ginger, Sunny, Goldie, Bubbles, all those are nicknames borne by petite actress Iris Adrian in several of the 160 movies and television productions she appeared in. With such names, don't expect to see her playing Joan of Arc or Electra but it remains that all these pet names reflect her winning femininity, its sweetness, its spiciness, its radiance. What's more their funny overtones are telltale signs of Iris Adrian's own quick witty sense of humor. Sexy yes, but with a sharp tongue. This aspect of her personality helped her to evolve and last, changing from the roles of blonde chorus girls or waitresses or, on the wilder side, of streetwalkers and other gangsters' molls to colorful bit parts in comedies with Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley. She ended up playing almost exclusively for Walt Disney productions before retiring at the respectable age of 82. Though she never achieved star status she could easily have if the circumstances had been favorable. For she steals scenes in a lot of movies provided of course her role is fleshed out sufficiently. She was excellent, for instance, in more than one poverty row crime movies. Don't miss her in Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), Go West (1940) (with the Marx Brothers), Lady of Burlesque (1943), The Paleface (1948), Once a Thief (1950), and The Errand Boy (1961) (with Jerry Lewis).- Actor
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Arthur Quirk Bryan was an American actor from Brooklyn, New York City. He is primarily remembered as a voice actor for radio and animation. His best known roles were the wisecracking physician and surgeon Dr. George Gamble in "Fibber McGee and Molly" (1935-1959), and the inept hunter Elmer Fudd in "Looney Tunes". Bryan voiced Fudd from 1940 to 1959, the heyday of the character in theatrical animation. When playing Fudd, Bryan nearly always vocalized consonants [r] and [l], pronouncing them as [w] instead. This became one of the character's main traits. Following Bryan's death in 1959, Hal Smith voiced Fudd in two animated shorts. In 1962, the production crew decided to cease using Fudd as a character. The character would later be revived, with most subsequent voice actors imitating Bryan's performance in the role.
In 1899, Bryan was born in Brooklyn. In his early years, he sang in a number of churches in the New York City area. He had aspirations to become a professional singer. In 1918, the teen-aged Bryan was hired as an as insurance clerk for the Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 1926, Bryan was hired as a singer by the New York City-based radio station WINS.
In 1928, Bryan was hired as a tenor soloist by the radio station WFAN, which was also located in New York City. From 1929 to 1931, Bryan worked as an announcer for the New Jersey-based radio station WOR. In the autumn of 1931, Bryan moved to Philadelphia to work as an announcer for the radio station WCAU. In 1933, he started working for the radio station WTEL, which was also based in Philadelphia. In 1934, Bryan moved back to New York City. He was hired by the radio station WHN.
In 1936, Bryan moved to Los Angeles. He was initially hired as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures. He soon transitioned into acting roles, frequently portraying supporting characters in B Movies. He portrayed newspaper editor Joe McGinty in the horror film "The Devil Bat" (1940). His later roles included an unnamed Philistine merchant in the Biblical drama "Samson and Delilah" (1949), two appearances in the film series "Road to ...", and a single appearance in an "Ozzie and Harriet" feature film.
From 1938 to 1940, Bryan was a regular cast member in the radio talk show "The Grouch Club". The show featured radio stars who voiced their frustrations with the recurring problems of everyday life. Vitaphone produced a short film series based on the show, with Bryan depicting unfortunate souls who struggled with taxation, with the vote registry, and with the lack of available parking places.
In 1940, Bryan was asked to voice Elmer Fudd for the animated short film "Elmer's Candid Camera". The film introduced an entirely new design for the character, following a few years of appearances by prototype versions of Fudd. Previous versions of the character had been voiced by Mel Blanc, Danny Webb, and Roy Rogers. But it Bryan's voice for the character who made Fudd a hit with the audience of the time. Bryan would continue to portray Fudd for 19 years. Fudd would serve as the main antagonist for another hit character of the "Looney Tunes" film series, Bugs Bunny.
Bryan was increasingly famous as a voice actor in the early 1940s. He was hired to portray semi-regular character Lucius Llewellyn in the radio sitcom "The Great Gildersleeve" (1941-1958), using the same voice as Elmer Fudd. In 1942, Bryan used his natural voice to portray the barber Floyd Munson in the same series. In 1943, writers Don Quinn and Phil Leslie decided to create a role for Bryan in their radio series "Fibber McGee and Molly", based on what they liked about Bryan's previous performances. His new role was Dr. George Gamble, who would exchange creative insults with the main character Fibber McGee (voiced by Jim Jordan).
Bryan was also hired to portray protagonist Major Hoople in a radio adaptation of the comic strip "Our Boarding House" (1921-1984). Hoople was portrayed as a "retired military man of dubious achievement", who would boast of the adventures of his youth. He has been described as a modernized version of Falstaff. The radio adaptation was not particularly successful, only lasting from June 1942 to April 1943. No recordings of this series have survived.
From 1948 to 1949, Bryan was a regular panelist on the television quiz show "Quizzing the News". The panelists had to identify events in the news based on spoken clues and drawings. During the 1950s, Bryan regularly appeared on television, though mostly in one shot roles. He portrayed history teacher Professor Warren in the short-lived sitcom "The Halls of Ivy" (1954-1955), his only recurring role in this medium.
In November 1959, Bryan died of a sudden heart attack. He was 60 years old at the time of his death. He was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, located in North Hollywood. His final appearance as Fudd was the posthumously released short "Person to Bunny" (April 1960), a parody of the interview show "Person to Person" (1953-1961). Bryan was initially replaced by Hal Smith as Fudd's voice actor, but the production crew decided to cease using Fudd as a character in 1962. Decades following his death, Bryan is still remembered as one of the most prominent voice actors of his era.- Actor
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One of the most familiar faces and voices in Hollywood films of the 1950s. Percy Helton acted almost from infancy, appearing in his father's vaudeville act. The famed Broadway producer David Belasco cast Helton in a succession of child roles over several years, giving the boy an invaluable grounding in the technique and spirit of the theatre. George M. Cohan took Helton under his wing and used him in a number of plays.
Helton served in the United States Army in Europe during World War I in the American Expeditionary Forces, with the 305th Field Artillery, and at war's end returned to acting on the stage, carving out a substantial career as a juvenile in plays such as "One Sunday Afternoon" and "Young America". In one of these plays he was required to shout and scream for much of the performance, and by the end of the run his voice had become permanently hoarse. He moved by necessity into character roles, working primarily on the stage until the late 1940s. Despite some early work as a juvenile in silent films, it was not until his brief but memorable appearance as a drunken Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) that he began to shift primarily into film work. His diminutive physique and unmistakable voice made him a fixture in a wide range of films and TV programs throughout the next two decades.- Actor
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American character actor in scores of films after substantial stage experience. He was born in DeSoto, Missouri, but raised in Atchison, Kansas. The son of a railroad worker and law clerk (some publicity material states the father was a physician, but family and census records show otherwise), he wavered between various careers including oil exploration, but found his way after an introduction to the stage with the Atchison Civic Theatre and Kansas City Civic Theatre. He briefly attended the University of Kansas (where he was a fraternity brother of future newsman John Cameron Swayze). He moved from Kansas to California in 1930, where he lived with his grandparents and worked in the lemon groves near Pomona prior to opening a tire-repair shop in that city. He also helped found a theatre company in Pomona. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout looking for someone with a resemblance to Henry Clay, for the Warners short film The Monroe Doctrine (1939). He signed with Warners as a contract player and was thereafter virtually never without work. He played in an enormous number of films over the next three decades, mostly in small supporting roles. He was equally adept at playing businessmen, attorneys, or historical figures, and was a familiar face on screen and on television for his entire career, though most people would have been unable to identify him by name. Perhaps his greatest fame came in the TV role of oil company president John Brewster on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). During the last years of his life, he was co-owner of a popular restaurant/bar in Encino, California, called The Oak Room. Wilcox died in 1974.- Actor
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One of those familiar character actors who seems to have been born old, Will Wright specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints,crooked small-town politicians and the like. A former newspaper reporter in San Francisco, he switched careers and entered vaudeville, then took to the stage. He ventured from acting to producing, and staged shows on Broadway as well as other cities, eventually making his way to Hollywood. He appeared in over 100 films and did much TV work, including a recurring role on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Although his hunched-over figure, craggy face and somewhat sour disposition made it seem like he started out his 20+-year career as an old man, he was actually only 68 when he died of cancer in Hollywood in 1962.- A stage actress, Urecal made her screen debut in 1933. For the remainder of her career and two hundred plus movies, she played cleaning women, landladies, shopkeepers and the like. She was known as a Marjorie Main type actress and later went on to a career in television playing in such shows as "Tugboat Annie" and "Peter Gunn." Minerva claimed her name was an anagram of her hometown, Eureka, California.
- Anyone who loves B-movies of the 1950s appreciates this lovely actress Allison Hayes. She was born Mary Jane Hayes on March 6, 1930 in Charleston, West Virginia. The auburn-haired beauty was the 1949 Washington, D.C. entry into the Miss America pageant. Shortly afterwards, Mary Jane adopted the familiar first name of Allison. She got her start on local Washington television before heading to Hollywood in the early 1950s. Allison began her career with Universal Pictures; the studio groomed her, but only on the path of B-movies. In her film debut, Francis Joins the WACS (1954), she was a supporting actress to the speaking mule, which had the title role. She played the devilishly alluring "Livia" in The Undead (1957), and co-starred with B-movie legend Tor Johnson in The Unearthly (1957).
Allison achieved film immortality in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), in which she tore the roof off the place, and killed rival Yvette Vickers. After that, Allison was a staple in classic B-grade horror films. She was in the exploitation classic The Hypnotic Eye (1960), which had a trailer showing an alleged hypnotist mesmerizing a volunteer as he stuck long needles in her arms (this was some of the typical ballyhoo going on at the time). However, Allison was a versatile actress; she did drama very well, as when she guest-starred on the television series The Untouchables (1959), in the highly-rated episode, The Rusty Heller Story (1960).
Allison had a flair for comedy, which she demonstrated when she appeared in the Dean Martin film, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963). Her last film appearance was with "The King", himself, Elvis Presley in Tickle Me (1965), with a hilarious script by the legendary writer Elwood Ullman. However, Allison's health declined steadily throughout the 1960s. Her death on February 27, 1977 was due either to leukemia or lead poisoning (due to doctor-prescribed calcium supplements). Allison Hayes died far too young; her fans will forever remember her legacy in films. - Actor
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Born in the Bronx, New York to Russian Jewish immigrant parents (Isidor "Ira" and Rita Blucher Miller), Richard Miller served in the U.S. Navy for a few years and earned a prize title as a middleweight boxer. He settled in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s, where he was noticed by producer/director Roger Corman, who cast him in most of his low-budget films, often as dislikeable sorts, such as a vacuum-cleaner salesman in Not of This Earth (1957). His most memorable role would have to be that of the mentally unstable, busboy/beatnik artist Walter Paisley, whose clay sculptures are suspiciously lifelike in A Bucket of Blood (1959) (a rare starring role for him), and he is also fondly remembered for his supporting role as the flower-eating Vurson Fouch in Corman's legendary The Little Shop of Horrors (1960).
Miller spent the next 20 years working in Corman productions, and starting in the late 1970s was often cast in films by director Joe Dante, appearing in credited and uncredited walk-on bits as quirky chatterboxes, and stole every scene he appeared in. He has played many variations on his famous Walter Paisley role, such as a diner owner (Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)) or a janitor (Chopping Mall (1986)). One of his best bits is the funny occult-bookshop owner in The Howling (1981). Being short (so he never played a romantic lead or a threatening villain) with wavy hair, long sideburns, a pointed nose and a face as trustworthy as a used-car dealer's, he was, and is to this day, an immediately recognizable character actor whose one-scene appearances in countless movies and TV shows guarantee audience applause.- Frank Gerstle was born on 27 September 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for D.O.A. (1949), The Neanderthal Man (1953) and 13 West Street (1962). He died on 23 February 1970 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
- Barney Phillips was an American actor of German descent. He was born in 1913 in St. Louis, Missouri, under the name "Bernard Philip Ofner". His father was Harry Nathan Ofner, a salesman employed in the leather industry. His mother was Leona "Lonnie" Frank, a German emigrant who became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1935, Phillips moved to Los Angeles, California, in hopes of working in the film industry. His film debut was the Western film "Black Aces" (1937), a B-movie produced by Universal Pictures. He had no other credited role in films for several years, though he had several theatrical credits.
In 1941, Phillips enlisted in the United States Army. He served in the signal corps during World War II. Following the war, he returned to the film industry, working mostly as an extra.
The first notable role of his career was the recurring character Sergeant Ed Jacob in the police procedural television series "Dragnet" (1951-1959). He voiced the recurring character of police sergeant Hamilton J. Finger in the radio series "Rocky Fortune" (1953-1954). The main character of the series was amateur sleuth Rocco "Rocky Fortune" Fortunato (played by Frank Sinatra).
Phillips was a prolific character on film and television for the following decades, though he was often typecast as a police officer in these roles. In the early 1960s, Phillips appeared in several episodes of the anthology television series "The Twilight Zone": "The Purple Testament" (1960), "A Thing about Machines" (1960) , "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (1961), and "Miniature" (1963). He is most remembered for the "Real Martian" episode, where he played the cook Haley. In the episode, Haley helps thwart an invasion of Earth from Martians. But reveals that he is an agent from planet Venus, and that he is preparing the Earth for colonization by his own planet.
Phillips was cast in the war-themed series" Twelve O'Clock High" (1964-1967) as one of the main characters, Doc Kaiser. The series featured the missions of the fictional 918th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) in World War II.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Phillips often worked as a voice actor for animated series. He voiced the powerful genie Shazzan in "Shazzan" (1967-1969), he voiced the strongman Porthos in the "The Three Musketeers" (1968-1969), and provided additional voices in "The Funky Phantom" (1971-1972).
In the late 1970s, Phillips was part of the main cast in the short-lived sitcom "The Betty White Show" (1978-1979). He played the character Fletcher Huff, a struggling actor co-starring in a police-procedural show-within-a-show, Phillips also played the recurring character of Judge Buford Potts in the action comedy "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979-1985).
Phillips died in 1982, due to cancer, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A few years following his death, Phillips received his final film credit, as the character Dr. Batt in the psychological drama "Beyond Reason". The film had been produced in 1977, but was not released until 1985. The film was mainly notable as a rare directing credit for actor Telly Savalas (1922-1994). - Actor
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Forever and fondly remembered as Don Adams' foil on the popular Mel Brooks/Buck Henry spy series Get Smart (1965), character actor Ed Platt (also billed as Edward C. Platt) had been around for two decades prior to copping that rare comedy role. Born in Staten Island, New York, on Valentine's Day, 1916, he inherited an appreciation of music on his mother's side. He spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky and in upstate New York where he attended Northwood, a private school in Lake Placid, and was a member of the ski jump team. He majored in romantic languages at Princeton University but left a year later to study at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati after his thoughts turned to a possible operatic career. He later was accepted into Juilliard.
Instead of opera, however, Ed first became a band vocalist with Paul Whiteman and Orchestra. He then sang bass as part of the Mozart Opera Company in New York. With the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company in 1942, he appeared in the operettas "The Mikado," "The Gondoliers" and "The Pirates of Penzance".
WWII interrupted his early career. Ed served as a radio operator with the army and would find himself on radio again in the post-war years where his deep, resonant voice proved ideal. A number of musical comedy roles also came his way again. In 1947, he made it to Broadway with the musical "Allegro." Star José Ferrer took an interest in Ed while they both were appearing in "The Shrike" on Broadway in 1952.
Around 1953, Edward moved to Texas to be near his brother and began anchoring the local news and kiddie birthday party show called "Uncle Eddie's Kiddie Party." Ferrer remembered Platt and invited him to Hollywood where Ferrer was starring in the film version of The Shrike (1955). Ed recreated his stage role. He also earned fine notices as James Dean's understanding juvenile officer in the classic film Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
This led to a plethora of film and TV support offers where the balding actor made fine use of his dark, rich voice, stern intensity and pragmatic air, portraying a slew of professional and shady types in crime yarns, soap dramas and war pictures -- everything from principals and prosecutors to mobsters and murderers.
After years of playing it serious, which included stints on the daytime drama General Hospital (1963), Ed finally was able to focus on comedy as "The Chief" to Don Adams klutzy secret agent on Get Smart (1965), a show that inevitably found a cult audience. Picking up a few occasional guest spots in its aftermath, he later tried producing.
Twice married and the father of four, Platt died on March 19, 1974. Death was attributed to a massive heart attack at the time. Years later his son revealed that his father, suffering from acute depression and undergoing severe financial pressures, committed suicide at his Santa Monica, California apartment.- Actor
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Most familiar to TV audiences as no-nonsense Sheriff Roy Coffee on the long-running western series Bonanza (1959), Ray Teal was one of the most versatile character actors in the business. In his almost 40-year career he played everything from cops to gunfighters to sheriffs to gangsters to a judge at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials. He could play a kindly grandfather in one film and a heartless, sadistic killer in the next, and be equally believable in both roles. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was a musician who worked his way through college playing the sax in local bands. At UCLA in the 1920s he formed his own band and led it until 1936. He appeared in several films in minor bit parts, and it wasn't until 1938 that he had a somewhat more substantial part, in Western Jamboree (1938). The next year he had a bigger part in the splashy Spencer Tracy adventure Northwest Passage (1940) as one of Rogers' Rangers. He appeared in serials, westerns, crime dramas, costume epics (he even appeared as Little John in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946)!), war pictures, had a small but memorable part as an anti-Semitic blowhard who gets knocked into a store display by Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and a bigger and more memorable part as one of Spencer Tracy's fellow judges in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). He also made many appearances on TV, in everything from The Lone Ranger (1949) to Green Acres (1965). He died of natural causes in 1976.- Canadian-born character actor Jonathan Hale had a long and distinguished film career, appearing in over 260 pictures and television programs.
He was a member of the diplomatic service prior to his film career, and his stately bearing stood him in good stead for the large variety of corporate executives, military officers and high-level politicians he often played.
His best known and most memorable role was that of Dagwood Bumstead's boss, J.C. Dithers, in the "Blondie" film series, a role he assayed from the first entry (Blondie (1938)) until he left the series in 1946 having appeared in 16 of the 28 "Blondie" films.
In 1966, despondent over health and personal problems, he shot himself to death. - Actor
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Orth started his career in vaudeville in 1897. He married Ann Codee who would be his wife for fifty years until her death in 1961. Together they were billed as Codee and Orth. He entered movies by making the first foreign language film shorts in sound for Warner Bros. in 1928. That started him on a long career of small parts, often playing cops or bartenders and always Irish. His best known role was as Inspector Faraday in the "Boston Blackie" TV series. He retired in 1959 after undergoing throat surgery.- Actor
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Tubby 5' 10 1/2" character actor Bruno VeSota had a remarkably long, varied and impressive career acting and directing in the mediums of stage, radio, movies and television. He was born Bruno William VeSota on March 25th, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the second of three sons born to Lithuanian immigrants Kasmir and Eleanora VeSota. Bruno first began acting in the 7th grade while attending the Catholic parochial school St. George's. He made his stage debut as the villain in the children's play "Christopher's Orphans." At age 19 VeSota went to the Hobart Theatre in Chicago where he learned the basics on acting, make-up and direction. He made his stage directorial debut with a production of "Richard III" and went on to direct everything from the classics to light comedies. After briefly working in Lithuanian radio in the 40s Vesota did a longer stint on English-language radio. He even provided the voice of Winston Churchill for a radio production. Moreover, Bruno joined the Actors Company of Chicago and continued to perform on stage. VeSota then worked in live television in Chicago in 1945. He directed over 2,000 live TV programs and acted in some 200 more. VeSota moved to Hollywood, California in 1952. Bruno began acting in films in 1953. He achieved his greatest cult feature popularity with his frequent and delightful appearances in a bunch of hugely enjoyable low-budget Roger Corman exploitation pictures. Bruno was especially excellent as Yvette Vickers' angry cuckolded husband in the Grade B monster classic "Attack of the Giant Leeches." Other notable movie roles include a disgusting slob junkyard owner who sells stolen automobile parts on the side in "The Choppers," a bartender in "The Haunted Palace," a hapless night watchman who becomes a victim of "The Wasp Woman," a snobby coffeehouse regular in the hilarious black comedy gem "A Bucket of Blood," a perverse oddball named Mr. Donald Duck from Duluth in "Single Room Unfurnished," a nervous innkeeper in "The Undead," a Russian spy in "War of the Satellites," a minister in "Hell's Angels on Wheels," a cultured gangster in "Daddy-O," and a brutish loan enforcer in "Carnival Rock." Bruno narrated the atrocious cheapie clunker "Curse of the Stoned Hand" for notorious schlockmeister Jerry Warren. He also worked on the make-up and has a bit part in Curtis Harrington's nicely spooky "Night Tide." VeSota does a cameo in Steven Spielberg's made-for-TV fright feature "Something Evil." Bruno directed three movies: the entertainingly lurid crime potboiler "The Female Jungle," the fun alien invasion entry "The Brain Eaters," and the silly spoof "Invasion of the Star Creatures." VeSota had a recurring role as a bartender in a handful of episodes of the hit Western TV show "Bonanza." Among the TV shows VeSota had guest spots on are "Kojak," "McMillan and Wife," "Hogan's Heroes," "Mission: Impossible," "It Takes A Thief," "Hondo," "Branded," "My Mother the Car," "The Wild, Wild West," "The Untouchables," and "Leave It to Beaver." VeSota had six children with his wife Genevieve. Bruno VeSota died of a heart attack at age 54 on September 24th, 1976.- With a mysterious past and a mouth marred by burns, Reggie Nalder has a unique, if under appreciated, place in the history of cinema.
Nalder was born Alfred Reginald Natzler in Vienna, Austria, the son of Ida (Herzog), from Safov, and Sigmund Natzler. His parents were from Jewish families The year of his birth has been a matter of speculation. While his obituary in the New York Times claimed 1922, photographic evidence has revealed that it was significantly earlier; most sources now cite 1911. Little is known about his early years. His mother was a beautiful actress who appeared in German films between 1919 and 1929. Nalder himself was an Apache dancer and stage actor in the 1920s and 1930s, and the anecdotes he occasionally shared with friends hint at a colorful career even before his life in films. Photos of Nalder from this period, which surfaced after his death, reveal a handsome young man in his early 20s, almost unrecognizable as the man we know from celluloid.
The burns that scarred the lower third of his face and forever cast him as a villain are also a source of uncertainty; Nalder had at least three different explanations for them. Whatever the true cause, it was this disfigurement which bestowed upon him a permanent place in the annals of film. His career was punctuated by two definite high points. The first was his role as Rien, the leering assassin of Hitchcock's 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). His second great triumph was as the horrifyingly effective vampire Barlow in the TV mini-series Salem's Lot (1979). In between he had some memorable film and television appearances -- the cold Russian operative in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), the yellow-jacketed gunman in Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), a part written especially for him, the lecherous witch-hunter Albino in Adrian Hoven's notorious Mark of the Devil (1970), the title character in the The Return of Andrew Bentley (1961), and the alien Shras, Andorian ambassador, in the classic Star Trek episode Journey to Babel (1967).
Though small, Nalder's role in Casanova (1976) was also a source of personal pride. Along the way were many forgotten roles, and a few of which he himself was embarrassed (he insisted on being credited as Detlef Van Berg in the sex films Dracula Sucks (1978) and Blue Ice (1985)). However dubious the quality of some of the films in which he appeared, his gaunt face, expressive eyes, and soft, haunting voice never fail to absorb. In real life, Nalder was soft-spoken man of considerable culture and taste who knew four languages and enjoyed the opera ("Tosca" was reputedly his favorite). He died of bone cancer at a Santa Monica nursing home on November 11, 1991. With him went the truth behind "The Face That Launched a Thousand Trips" and the keys to much of his mystery-shrouded past.
Reggie Nalder may be far from a household name, and he may have appeared in many films of questionable artistic merit. But he has provided film buffs with indelible cinematic images and characterizations for which he was singularly well-equipped. Whether you were chilled by the methodical killer behind the curtain at the Albert Hall in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" or terrified by the shining eyes of the vampire of "Salem's Lot," you -- along with cinema-goers the world over -- have felt the icy touch of Reggie Nalder. - Actor
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Short, stocky Jacques Marin was a wonderfully droll character actor, who tended to pop up in international films of the 60's and 70's, whenever a typically French-looking gendarme, police inspector, concierge or shopkeeper was needed. His trademark was a toothbrush moustache and a deadpan expression -- except for a perpetually reproving frown -- which suggested deeper thought processes were going on. Despite all his overt seriousness, his characters were usually amusing, or, at least, likeable. A fluent English-speaker, he effortlessly alternated between French and English-language productions, beginning with The Vintage (1957). He is also fondly remembered as the ineffectual Inspector Grandpierre in Charade (1963), as Major Duvalle in Darling Lili (1970), and as Massenet, one of the potential culinary victims in Ted Kotcheff's black comedy Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978). While the majority of Marin's prolific career consisted of little more than small supporting roles and cameos, his was one of the faces you'd remember at the end of the film.
Marin had studied acting at the Conservatoire national superieur d'art dramatique de Paris and made his feature debut in the war drama Forbidden Games (1952). He often appeared alongside Jean Gabin and was a frequent performer on stage at the Theatre Marigny and the Celestins Theatre in Lyon. Over the decades, he provided many a memorable moment in French film, including in Les tricheurs (1958), Love Is My Profession (1958), Fantomas Unleashed (1965) and in Trois hommes sur un cheval (1969).- Actor
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Born in Kansas, Max Showalter picked up the "acting bug" as a toddler when mother used to take him to the local theater where she played the piano for silent movies. He acted in 92 shows at the Pasadena Playhouse between 1935 and '38, made his Broadway debut under the aegis of Oscar Hammerstein II in "Knights of Song" and acted for two years in the cast of Irving Berlin's traveling musical "This Is the Army." In addition to his films, TV appearances (over 1000), and stage shows, Showalter was a composer, a songwriter, and pianist. In his later years he lived in an 18th-century farmhouse in the Connecticut town he fell in love with while shooting the movie It Happened to Jane (1959).- Actor
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Dominique Zardi was born on 2 March 1930 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Jo (1971), Delicatessen (1991) and Nada (1974). He died on 14 December 2009 in Paris, France.- Henri Attal was born on 13 May 1936 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Vivre sa vie (1962), Fantomas (1964) and OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (1965). He died on 24 July 2003 in Cucq, Pas-de-Calais, France.
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Vida Hope was born on 16 December 1910 in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947) and Hue and Cry (1947). She was married to Derek N. Twist. She died on 23 December 1963 in Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK.- Actress
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She was one British character player who seemed to show up everywhere on post-war film, stage and TV, although, more times than not, could barely be glimpsed. A most efficient actress, Marianne Stone's career spanned four decades and was primarily enjoyed in bawdy, ribald comedy playing lowbrow or working-class ladies about town (waitresses, barmaids, clerks, shrews, landladies, secretaries, receptionists, etc.)
Born in King's Cross, London, on August 23, 1922, the dark-haired Marianne was raised by her grandparents who were furniture owners. Her grandmother also ran her own music school and Marianne benefited from that. Winning a music scholarship to the Camden School for Girls, she instead studied at the Royal College of Music, then earned an acting scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1940. Following her graduation she initially made ends meet by working as secretary types in offices, and also found work as an assistant manager for various stock companies. She made her on-stage West End debut in 1945 with a role in "The King Maker" at age 23. A high point for her, as for her stage work, was winning the Gertrude Lawrence Award for "Character Acting".
Marianne moved quickly into films following WWII with minuscule roles in such films as Brighton Rock (1948) and Escape Dangerous (1947). During the latter film's shoot, she met her future husband, actor/producer, Peter Noble, who went on to become a noted London show business columnist, theatre critic and film historian. They married in 1947 and had two daughters Katina Noble and Kara Noble . Of the hundreds of films she appeared in, some "A" but primarily "B" pictures, Marianne was given the chance to shine in only a few.
Producing/directing brothers Roy Boulting and/or John Boulting utilized her presence in several of their films, albeit minor, including Seven Days to Noon (1950), High Treason (1951), Brothers in Law (1957), I'm All Right Jack (1959), Man in a Cocked Hat (1959) and Heavens Above! (1963). Marianne also became a steadfast player (nine total) in the highly popular "Carry On..." slapstick movie series beginning with Carry on Nurse (1959) and finishing a decade and a half later with Carry on Behind (1975). Her most engaging cameo in the series came with her old hag role in Carry on Dick (1974). In what would have been her tenth film in the series, she was deleted from the final print of Carry on Matron (1972).
While Marianne enjoyed a more visible part in Passport to Treason (1956), her most sharply-defined roles on celluloid was arguably that of co-writer Vivian Darkbloom in Lolita (1962) starring James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers and nubile Sue Lyon in the title role. Supposedly it was Winters (who wound up staying with Stone during the film's shooting) who helped Marianne get the part. Ironically, one of Stone's last film, Déjà Vu (1985) also happened to feature Winters. A few of the character lady's bawdier 70s film work included Au Pair Girls (1972), the similarly-styled "Carry On" film Bless This House (1972), The Love Ban (1973), Mistress Pamela (1973), The Cherry Picker (1974) and Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974).
On TV Marianne was seen in such colorful productions as Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1976), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1976) and the mini-series A Man Called Intrepid (1979). Marianne's husband Peter predeceased her (1997) and she herself died on December 21, 2009, at the age of 87. Survived by her children, one of her daughters, Kara Noble appeared with her mother in the film Funny Money (1983).- Sam was a very well known, un-sung, British Actor from 1946 to his death in 1982. He was originally born in Northern Ireland but came over to London England as a boy with his mother and her brothers, setting up home in Bayswater, then Shepherd's Bush, then Chiswick. He was sent to Dunstable school. Before the Second World war he worked at Alvis Cars and Whiteley's Department Store in the bedding department but also entered Talent Contests as a stand up and impressionist. He got a job with the Oscar Rabin Band at the Hammersmith Palais as part of his 'Hot Shots' introducing the band's numbers, and telling a few gags and tap dancing in a few numbers. In 1939 at the start of the war, he was called up as he'd been very briefly in the Territorial Army. According to his autobiography, "Quick Mum He's on Now" he made over 240 films, many of the titles as yet unloaded to IMDb. The autobiography, recently discovered by his son Jonathan (also on IMDb) in his mother's loft after her death, was never published during his lifetime, but is a witty informative follow up to his successful "For You the War is Over" written about his incarceration in a German prison camp from 1939 to 45 , and selling over 40,000 in paperback. He similarly made thousands of TV appearances once more uncredited. Jonathan intends to publish the book next year.
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Patsy Kelly was born Bridget Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly on January 12, 1910, in Brooklyn, New York. She began performing in vaudeville when she was just twelve years old. Patsy worked with comedian Frank Fay and starred in several Broadway shows. She was discovered by producer Hal Roach, who paired her with Thelma Todd in a series of comedy shorts. They became a popular onscreen team and made thirty-five films together including Top Flat (1935) and Done in Oil (1934). Although Patsy never became an A-list star she continued to work throughout the 1930s. She had supporting roles in Pigskin Parade (1936), Merrily We Live (1938), and Topper Returns (1941). Patsy was a lesbian and she was always open with the press about her sexuality. She had a long-term relationship with actress Wilma Cox. By the early 1940s Patsy was drinking heavily and making headlines for her erratic behavior. She decided to quit show business and moved to New York City. She started dating Tallulah Bankhead and worked as her secretary. Eventually, Patsy went back to acting and appeared on numerous television shows. She also had small roles in the films Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Freaky Friday (1976). Patsy won a Tony award in 1971 for her performance in No No Nanette. After suffering a stroke she moved into a nursing home. She died from pneumonia on September 24, 1981. Patsy is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.- Actor
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Tall, distinguished-looking Russell Hicks appeared in almost 300 films in his more than 40-year career (although his first known screen appearance was in 1915, he has screenwriting credits as early as 1913, so it's possible his screen debut was earlier than credited). His cultured bearing, grandfatherly appearance and soothing, resonant voice were perfect for the many military officers, attorneys, judges and business executives he excelled at playing. He was especially memorable in an atypical role as oily, fast-talking phony-stock salesman J. Frothington Waterbury in the W.C. Fields classic The Bank Dick (1940). Hicks made his last film in 1956, and died the next year.- Actor
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Veteran character player Roy Roberts proudly claimed over 900 performances in a 40-year career. He might not have been known necessarily by name, but the face was distinct and obviously familiar. The prototype of the steely executive, the no-nonsense mayor, the assured banker, the stentorian leader, Roberts looked out of place without his patented dark suit and power tie. His silvery hair, perfectly trimmed mustache, nonplussed reactions and take-charge demeanor reminded one of the "Mr. Monopoly" character from the classic board game.
Roberts was born Roy Barnes Jones on March 19, 1906, in Tampa, Florida, the youngest of six children. The year 1900 is given as his birth date in several reference books, which seems compatible with his noticeably aged appearance in the last decade or so of his life, but his final resting stone bears the year 1906. His early career was on the Broadway stage, gracing such plays as "Old Man Murphy" (1931), "Twentieth Century" (1932), "The Body Beautiful" (1935) and "My Sister Eileen" (1942). In 1943 he made a successful switch to films, debuting as a Marine officer in Guadalcanal Diary (1943). Usually billed around tenth in the credits, he played a reliable succession of stalwart roles (captains, generals, politicians, sheriffs, judges, et al.). He was also a semi-standard presence in film noir, appearing in such classics as Force of Evil (1948), He Walked by Night (1948) and The Enforcer (1951) as both good cop and occasional heavy.
When Roberts made the move to TV he began to include more work in comedies. The 1950s and 1960s would prove him to be a most capable foil to a number of prime sitcom stars, including Gale Storm and Lucille Ball. His patented gruff and exasperated executives often displayed their prestige by the mere use of initials, such as "W.W." and "E.J." While he never landed the one role on film or TV that could have led to top character stardom, he nevertheless remained a solid and enjoyable presence, a character player who added stature no matter how far down the credits list.
A stocky man for most his life, Roberts gained considerable girth in the late 1960s, which made his characters even more imposing. He died of a heart attack on May 28, 1975, in Los Angeles and was buried in Fort Worth, Texas. He was survived by his wife, actress Lillian Moore.- Harry Hayden was born on 8 November 1882 in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Velvet Touch (1948), Two Sisters from Boston (1946) and Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). He was married to Lela Bliss. He died on 24 July 1955 in West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
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A minor character actor who appeared in literally hundreds of films, actor Irving Bacon could always be counted on for expressing bug-eyed bewilderment or cautious frustration in small-town settings with his revolving door of friendly, servile parts - mailmen, milkmen, clerks, chauffeurs, cab drivers, bartenders, soda jerks, carnival operators, handymen and docs. Born September 6, 1893 in the heart of the Midwest (St. Joseph, Missouri), he was the son of Millar and Myrtle (Vane) Bacon. Irving first found work in silent comedy shorts at Keystone Studios usually playing older than he was and, for a time, was a utility player for Mack Sennett in such slapstick as A Favorite Fool (1915). Irving made an easy adjustment when sound entered the pictures and after appearing in the Karl Dane and George K. Arthur two-reel comedy shorts such as Knights Before Christmas (1930), began to show up in feature-length films. He played higher-ups on occasion, such as the Secretary of the Navy in Million Dollar Legs (1932), police inspector in The House of Mystery (1934), mayor in Room for One More (1952), and judge in Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958), but those were exceptions to the rule. Blending in with the town crowd was what Irving was accustomed to and, over the years, he would be glimpsed in some of Hollywood's most beloved classics such as Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), San Francisco (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and A Star Is Born (1954). Trivia nuts will fondly recall his beleaguered postman in the Blondie (1938) film series that ran over a decade.
Irving could also be spotted on popular '50s and '60s TV programs such as the westerns Laramie (1959) and Wagon Train (1957), and "comedies December Bride (1954) and The Real McCoys (1957). He can still be seen in a couple of old codger roles on I Love Lucy (1951). One was as a marriage license proprietor and the other as Vivian Vance's doting dad from Albuquerque, to whom she paid a visit on her way to Hollywood with the Ricardos. Irving died on February 5, 1965, having clocked in over 400 features.- Actor
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William Benedict was active in the drama department of his Tulsa, Oklahoma, high school and, at the height of the Depression (1934), decided to relocate to California. At first, he wanted to be a dancer, but when he discovered that dancers were a dime-a-dozen in Hollywood, he concentrated on acting. He made his film debut in Fox's $10 Raise (1935) and went onto the Fox payroll as a "featured player". After leaving Fox, he played some of his larger parts in serials and in the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys features in which he was a regular. During his half-century-plus career, Benedict has had roles in practically every type of movie; there's only one thing that the ex-hoofer might have enjoyed doing in a movie, but never had the chance: "Strange as it seems, I've never once danced in a picture!".- Dewey Robinson was born on 17 August 1898 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Return of Jimmy Valentine (1936) and 6 Hours to Live (1932). He was married to Louise Arlene Woolner. He died on 11 December 1950 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
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After military service during the First World War, Chandler studied at the University of Illinois, financing his studies by playing jazz violin in a band. During the early 1920's, he returned to the vaudeville circuit and began in films from 1928. Most of his early efforts were short one- and two-reel comedies, arguably his best being The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) with W.C. Fields. While he mostly appeared in comedy and had countless bit parts, he later proved that he could handle meatier assignments, such as the simple-minded husband of Ginger Rogers, Amos, in Roxie Hart (1942). George was a protege of director William A. Wellman , who used him in twenty of his films.
On television, he made his mark as the jovial, well-remembered Uncle Petrie in Lassie (1954). He also had many good guest spots in other series, a particularly enjoyable one being the old man who sells a haunted Model A to dubious second-hand car dealer Jack Carson(with interesting results) in The Twilight Zone (1959) episode 'The Whole Truth' (1961). Prior to replacing Ronald Reagan as president of the Screen Actor's Guild, Chandler had been treasurer for twelve years (1948-60).- Actor
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Popular American character actor of amusing appearance and voice whose long career led from dozens of highly enjoyable onscreen performances to world-wide familiarity as the voice of numerous Walt Disney animated films. Born in the American Deep South to grocer Sterling P. Holloway Sr. and Rebecca Boothby Holloway, he had a younger brother, Boothby. Holloway spent his early years as an actor playing comic juveniles on the stage. His bushy reddish-blond hair and trademark near-falsetto voice made him a natural for sound pictures, and he acted in scores of talkies, although he had made his picture debut in silents. His physical image and voice relegated him almost exclusively to comic roles, but in 1945, director Lewis Milestone cast him more or less against type in the classic war film A Walk in the Sun (1945), where Holloway's portrayal of a reluctant soldier was quite notable. He played frequently on television, becoming familiar to baby-boomers in a recurring role as Uncle Oscar on Adventures of Superman (1952), and later in television series of his own. His later work as the voice of numerous characters in Disney cartoons brought him new audiences and many fans, especially for his voicing of beloved Winnie the Pooh. He died in 1992.- Actor
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Walter Catlett carved out a career for himself playing excitable, officious blowhards, and few actors did it better. A San Francisco native, he started out in vaudeville - with a detour for a while in opera - before breaking into films in the mid-1920s. Two of his best remembered roles were as the stage manager driven to distraction by James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and the local constable who throws the entire cast in jail, and winds up there himself, in the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938). He retired after making Beau James (1957), and died of a stroke in 1960.- Actor
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Edward Gargan was born on 17 July 1902 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Falcon's Brother (1942), The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943) and The Falcon in Danger (1943). He was married to Catherine Conlan. He died on 19 February 1964 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
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You would think stage and film veteran Grant Mitchell was born to play stern authoritarians; his father after all was General John Grant Mitchell. But Mitchell would actually be better known for his portrayals of harangued husbands, bemused dads and bilious executives in 30s and 40s films. Born in Columbus, Ohio and a Yale post graduate at Harvard Law, Mitchell gave up his law practice to become an actor and made his stage debut at age 27. He appeared in many leads on Broadway in such plays as "It Pays to Advertise," "The Champion," "The Whole Town's Talking" and "The Baby Cyclone," the last of which was specially written for him by George M. Cohan (see "Other Works"). Mitchell's screen career officially got off the ground with the advent of sound, though he did show up in a couple of silents. The beefy, balding actor appeared primarily in "B" films, and actually had a rare lead in the totally forgotten Father Is a Prince (1940). From time to time, however, he enjoyed being a part of "A" quality classic films such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941), Laura (1944) and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Unmarried, he died at age 82 in 1957.- Actress
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This adorable character actress tended to play older than she really was on stage, screen and TV. Petite and quite pretty in her youth, Nydia Westman was born in 1902 to vaudevillian parents, actor-composer Theodore Westman and actress-playwright Lily Wren, and was thrust into the limelight at an early age as part of the family act ("Troubles of Joy"). Her younger brother, Theodore Westman Jr., was also an actor/writer who died tragically at a very young age in 1927.
In her teens, Nydia grew in experience on the Orpheum, Ziegfeld and Keith circuits, and later made her Broadway debut with the comedy "Pigs" in 1924. A mainstay throughout the late 1920s, other prominent NY theater roles include "Two Girled Wanted" (1926), "Jonesy" (1929) and "Lysistrata" (1930). With the advent of sound, films soon became a viable medium for her as well. She began her movie career in 1932 featured in two dramas, Strange Justice (1932) and Manhattan Tower (1932) and, while she appeared in plenty more heavier material, including Success at Any Price (1934), Craig's Wife (1936) and The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), it was comedy that became her forte, lending cute and flighty foil support in Ladies Should Listen (1934) with Cary Grant, The Cat and the Canary (1939) with Bob Hope, The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with William Holden, and The Late George Apley (1947) with Ronald Colman, among others. Elsewhere, she gave her usual sparkle in the glossy musicals Sweet Adeline (1934), in which she joined Irene Dunne and others in the title song, Pennies from Heaven (1936), Hullabaloo (1940), The Chocolate Soldier (1941) and Hers to Hold (1943), playing assorted friends, maids, gossips and society types.
In the post WWII years, Nydia veered away from filming and concentrated instead on stage and TV work. On Broadway, she appeared in "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1948), "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1953) and "The Sleeping Prince" (1956), and went on to win an Obie Award for her off-Broadway eccentrics in Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" (1958). On TV, the small, round matron was featured in a number of showcase-type dramas and comedies and was a fluttery, twinkle-eyed delight on such programs as The Donna Reed Show (1958), Perry Mason (1957), The Addams Family (1964), The Munsters (1964), F Troop (1965), Family Affair (1966) and Bewitched (1964). She also appeared with relative frequency on the revamped Dragnet 1967 (1967) series in the 1960s. Nydia died of cancer in 1970 and was survived by her daughter.- Actor
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Harry Holman was born on 15 March 1872 in Conway, Missouri, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Meet John Doe (1941), The Dark Horse (1932) and Oliver Twist (1933). He died on 3 May 1947 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actress
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Switching from Broadway to Hollywood in 1931, actress Esther Howard was an expert at portraying frumpy old crones, man-hungry spinsters and oversexed dowagers. Utilizing her wide, expressive eyes and versatile voice for both broad comedy and tense drama, Howard was equally at home portraying slatternly toss-pot Mrs. Florian in Murder, My Sweet (1944) as she was in the role of genteelly homicidal Aunt Sophie in Laurel and Hardy's The Big Noise (1944). She was a regular participant in the films of writer/director Preston Sturges, playing everything from an addled farm woman in Sullivan's Travels (1941) to the bejeweled wife of "The Wienie King" in The Palm Beach Story (1942). From 1935 to 1952, Esther Howard was a fixture of Columbia's short-subject unit, usually cast as the wife or sweetheart of comedian Andy Clyde.- Actor
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Former vaudevillian, who acquired a solid reputation as a practical joker and master of insult, second only to the great Groucho Marx. Celebrity hosts would often hire Vince to perform gags and put-on jokes at their lavish parties, where he would insult the guests and create mayhem in his wake. He often posed as heavily-accented journalists with names like 'Timothy Glutzspiegel'. Among the many victims of his pranks were such luminaries as Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford and the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Clark Gable nearly punched him out during a party given by Joan Crawford. Vince greeted Greta Garbo with "Good Morning, Miss Hepburn", and, as 'sound expert' Dr. Hoffman, instructed star Richard Barthelmess to take voice lessons from Texas Guinan or quit acting. During a trip to New York, he even cornered Mae West, posing as a member of the vice squad and threatening to close down her show ('Diamond Lil') unless she cut some of her bawdy dialogue. When the star acquiesced, the phoney inspector ordered her to burn the whole play and take the next train out of town. Not even Jack L. Warner was immune, being told by 'foreign producer' Barnett to learn the basics of film-making.
Roly-poly, moustachioed, bald-pated Barnett followed in the footsteps of his father Luke, who had made a name for himself for playing similar pranks on people for thirty years in his home town of Pittsburgh. After studying at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Vince, who was an avid amateur pilot, flew mail planes for a couple of years before making his stage debut with "Earl Carroll's Vanities" in 1926. The following year, he acted on Broadway in "George White's Scandals". Movie roles soon followed.
From 1930, Vince appeared, usually as comedy relief, in films and on television in a career spanning 45 years. Among his best-regarded early roles were Scarface (1932),as a dumb gangster; The Big Cage (1933), Thirty Day Princess (1934) and, in a perfectly-suited Runyonesque part, Princess O'Hara (1935). In later years, Vince often relinquished his comedy image and was seen in innumerable small roles, often as careworn little men, undertakers, janitors, bartenders and drunks in pictures ranging from films noir like The Killers (1946), to westerns such as Springfield Rifle (1952).
In one of his last public appearances, Vince showcased his unique brand of humour with a monologue, delivered at Madison Square Garden in the vaudeville revue 'The Big Show of 1936'. It was to his ever-lasting regret that he never got the chance to match wits (and insults) with his illustrious Irish contemporary George Bernard Shaw.- Actress
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Scots actress, long in the United States, who specialized in housekeepers and mothers, most notably the housekeeper Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the Thirties and Forties. She was born Mary Gilmour, the daughter of a Glasgow wire weaver. She worked as a dressmaker before finding work on the stage. Joining a company bound for an American tour, she came to the U.S. in her twenties, apparently making a few appearances on Broadway in small roles, but primarily touring in stock. With her mother Mary and daughter (also named Mary), she arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-Twenties and began playing variations on the roles she would spend her career doing. She became friends with John Ford while making Hangman's House (1928) and made seven more films for him. In 1939, she took on her most famous role as Sherlock Holmes's housekeeper and played the role in ten films and numerous radio plays. She was a charter member of the Hollywood Canteen, entertaining servicemen throughout the Second World War. On the radio show "Those We Love," she played the regular role of Mrs. Emmett. She entered retirement just as television reshaped the entertainment industry, making only a single appearance in that medium. Very active in the Daughters of Scotia auxiliary of the Order of Scottish Clans, she lived out her final years in Pasadena, California with her daughter and grandson. She died after a long illness on August 23, 1963.- Actor
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James Burke was born on 24 September 1886 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Maltese Falcon (1941), Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940) and At the Circus (1939). He was married to Eleanor Durkin. He died on 23 May 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Richard Gaines was born on 23 July 1904 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Double Indemnity (1944), Ace in the Hole (1951) and The More the Merrier (1943). He was married to Brenda Marshall. He died on 20 July 1975 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Fred Kelsey was born on 20 August 1884 in Sandusky, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and director, known for On Trial (1928), The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940) and Red-Haired Alibi (1932). He was married to Katherine Miller. He died on 2 September 1961 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
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Jimmy Conlin was born on 14 October 1884 in Camden, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Sullivan's Travels (1941), Calling Philo Vance (1940) and The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947). He was married to Dorothy Julia Ryan, Myrtle Glass and Lillian Grace Steel (actress). He died on 7 May 1962 in Encino, California, USA.- Actor
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Christian Rub was born on 13 April 1886 in Graz, Styria, Austria. He was an actor, known for You Can't Take It with You (1938), Peter Ibbetson (1935) and Girls' Dormitory (1936). He was married to Amy. He died on 14 April 1956 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.- American actor who specialized in timid or whiny characters. He appeared on the stage in England and in the USA, and performed in musical comedy. He began his film work in silents and often worked in the films of Hal Roach.
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Marjorie Bennett was an Australian actress, who spend most of her career working in the United Kingdom and the United States. She was born in York, Western Australia, a town that was an important stop for miners and travelers during the Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century. York is located 97 kilometers (60 miles) east of Perth, Western Australia's capital and largest city.
Bennett made her film debut in the film "The Girl, Glory" (1917). She had a few credited roles in silent films of the 1910s. such as "Naughty, Naughty!", "Hugon, the Mighty", and "The Midnight Patrol". None of them had a lasting impact
She resumed her film career in 1946, with the uncredited part of a shop assistant in the mystery film "Dressed to Kill". The film was another adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes series on film, and was the 14th and final entry in a film series which cast Basil Rathbone as Sherlock. Bennet started appearing regularly in minor film roles in the late 1940s, with films such as the black comedy "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947), the romantic comedy "June Bride" (1948), and the horror comedy "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" (1949).
By the 1950s, Bennett was quite established as a character actress in both film and television. She played the gruff landlady Mrs. Alsop in "Limelight" (1952), appeared in several more "Abbot and Costello" films, and had a recurring role in the television series "Lassie".
In the 1960s, Bennett had her first known role as a voice actress, as the character "Duchess" in the animated film "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961). Duchess is one of the cows who offers shelter for the night and warm milk to the starving puppies, following their escape from villains Horace and Jasper.
Bennett continued regularly appearing in film throughout the 1960s. She had small roles in both "Mary Poppins" (1964) and "My Fair Lady" (1964). Her credits included psychological thriller "The Night Walker" (1964) and the horror film "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" (1966), She also made several more television appearances.
In the 1970s, Bennett had a more substantial role in the mystery film "Stacey" (1973). She played aging heiress Florence Chambers, who hired private investigator Stacey Hanson to examine whether the surviving members of Florence's family were worthy to be included in her will. Chambers eventually learns that one of her would-be heirs is homosexual, a second one is having extramarital affairs, and a third one belongs to a Manson Family-style religious cult.
Bennett's other film roles in this decade included the crime thriller "Charley Varrick" (1973), the disaster film "Airport 1975" (1974), the black comedy "I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now?" (1975), and the crime comedy "The North Avenue Irregulars" (1979). In the television film "Sherlock Holmes in New York" (1976), Bennett played Mrs. Martha Hudson, Holmes' landlady. In the television film "Better Late Than Never" (1979), Bennett played Marjorie Crane, one of the residents of a nursing home who revolt against oppressive rules.
In 1980, Bennet finally retired, due to poor health. Her final television appearance was in an episode of the sitcom "Barney Miller" (1975-1982). Bennett died in 1982, and her ashes were interred in the Great Mausoleum's Columbarium of Dawn at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale.
According to a 1977 article by "The Los Angeles Times", Bennett was one of the busiest of Hollywood's veteran character actresses. Her face was familiar to many Americans due to Bennett's numerous starring roles in television commercials.- Charles Williams was born in San Angelo, Texas, and grew up there and in New Mexico. He attended Brownsville High School in Texas through the tenth grade. In the United States Merchant Marine, from 1929 to 1939, he served as a radio operator. Williams joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, and between 1939 and 1950 worked as an electronics inspector, a wireless operator, a radar technician, and a radio service engineer. In the course of these careers he lived in Peru, Arizona, Florida, and Switzerland. Williams married Lasca Foster in 1939; they had one daughter, Alison. His first novel, Hill Girl, was rejected by several publishers before the Fawcett publishing company picked it up in 1950 for their line of Gold Medal paperback originals. Williams had beginner's luck; it sold, according to one source, 1,226,890 copies. He went on to publish 21 more novels, gaining enough attention as a member of the "Gold Medal" writers that he was hired to script a few films, including his own The Wrong Venus, filmed as Don't Just Stand There (1968), and Hell Hath No Fury, filmed as _Hot Spot, The (1990/I)_. Williams seems to have been familiar with the saying, "God made the country, man made the city, and the Devil made the small town." His hard-boiled thrillers are often set in the hot, humid, mosquito- and snake-infested hamlets of the Gulf Coast and South Florida in the 1950s and 1960s. His more famous later novels take place on boats or ships on the open sea. He also wrote some very funny comedies, including The Diamond Bikini (1956) and Uncle Sagamore and His Girls (1959), in which a boy chronicles the shenanigans of his scheming uncle. However, Williams's thrillers more usually featured guys who think they can get rich quick when they are seduced by the deceitful promises of beautiful and dangerous dames, or honest, likable types who find themselves in deadly circumstances but are determined to see justice done at last. Although fourteen of his novels were optioned or adapted for film -- the most successful being Dead Calm (1989) -- he received little critical attention in the U.S. However, his books were enormously popular in France, where nearly all were either translated or filmed. His wife Lasca died in the early 1970s of cancer, and Charles went to live alone in a trailer on the border between California and Oregon. The weather there depressed him; he was too in love with sun and sea. His personal finances declined as the popularity of hard-boiled thrillers began to wane. In 1975, he committed suicide. Williams's reputation lives on, stronger than ever, among aficionados of the hard-boiled crime novel, and even his battered paperbacks can sell for $100 or more.
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Harry Tyler was born on 13 June 1888 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Naked Street (1955) and Woman Who Came Back (1945). He was married to Gladys Crolius. He died on 15 September 1961 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Franklin Pangborn - a name more befitting a fictionalized bank president rather than a great comedic actor - was a singular character actor but little is known of his early years. He spent some time in developing acting talent prior to appearing on Broadway by March of 1911, and would do six plays until mid-1913. He was noticeably absent afterward and corresponding with the early years of World War I. He was in the US Army after America entered the war in 1917. Pangborn did one more play on Broadway in 1924. Interestingly, for someone immediately identified with comedy, Pangborn's roles were for the most part dramatic and included Armand Duval in "Camille", a role in a play adaptation of "Ben Hur", and two parts in "Joseph and His Brethren". Two years later, Pangborn turned to silent films. And although he would play some villains and romantic leads, that droopy pudding-face of his was bound for comedy. In all these early roles from his debut in 1926, his first talkie (On Trial (1928)), and on through most of 1932 (when he made 24 appearances on film), Pangborn was playing comedic roles, many of which were for short films (many by Mack Sennett) where the players usually had no on-screen persona and no billing credit. His many appearances in shorts tapered off and ended through 1935.
These roles were quite varied and continued as such into the later 1930s. He played the compromised husband in two Bing Crosby vehicles (1933); no fewer than three photographers, reporters, radio announcers, bartenders, and much more, including a character meant to parody his own name: 'Mr. Pingboom' (Turnabout (1940)). But through the same period he was piling up a lot of clerk, floorwalker, and, perhaps most of all, hotel manager roles. These latter were the basis for Pangborn typed as the straight-laced, nervous minor official or service provider or manager of whatever whose smug self-assurance in his orderly world is sorely tested.
The term 'sissy' (so prominent a condemnation from childhood memories) was used in early film (and still used today by some film historians) as a catchall name for a spectrum of rather gentle and nebulous male personalities; a simpering voice of any kind would be an instant label that also implied the taboo of homosexuality. Pangborn is often first on the list of actors noted as typed in this general category with Edward Everett Horton with his dignified but slightly simpering New England drawl a close second. Animator Robert Clampett at Warner Bros. in the late 1940s patterned his Goofy Gophers, Mac and Tosh, with their polite and flowery speech after both men. Pangborn had a mellow, lyrical voice which he could ramp up to a staccato, rapid-fire rhythm when perturbed. Indeed, the face and the voice fit well with characters of convention and control, as well as the fastidious to the point of being another slang term of many faces: 'prissy'. And maybe that does not include effeminate - he was not quite that - though the term is indelibly tagged to the character type. His characters were the sort of proper and snobby figures who the easygoing American public would find suspicious - and thus all the funnier on screen when they get their comeuppance. Yet Pangborn never implied 'gay' in his portrayals despite all the gender revisionism of today that might reinterpret his work as such. In real life, people are more complex; on the mainstream screen - as opposed to the shadowy blue one - of the 1930s and 40s, characters were more generally defined within usual convention.
By the later 1930s, Pangborn had perfected a wonderful sense of timing of demeanor, manner, and voice to fit the control freak who is gradually dragged into his worst nightmare of relative chaos by hapless situation. By this time his characterizations were such a fixture of guaranteed laughs that the movie-going public expected to see him. Pangborn was in great demand to do what he did best. And having already worked from the silent era with great stars and directors, he continued to do so. W.C. Fields was a great fan of him and used him in several movies. He was a constant in smart comedy from Frank Capra and Gregory La Cava to the more extreme screwball comedies of Preston Sturges, though frequently upstaged with such a company of funny men as Sturges gathered around him. The Pangborn progression from very funny to uproarious is seen evolved, for example, from La Cava's My Man Godfrey (1936) to Sturges's Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). In the first he is the volunteer swell who coordinates store-keeping for the scavenger hunt of his fellow - if downright silly - affluent crust of New York society. As the flow of items brought to him for registering turns into a flood (including a live goat kid), his demeanor, mannerisms, and vocal speed display increasing irritation. Head spinning, he is in defensive mode as he fends off shouting, grabbing participants. The role perhaps was his defining moment as established celebrity comedian. In Sturges's movie, and Pangborn appeared in most of his best efforts, he is the committee chairman of the reception for false hero Eddie Bracken, trying to coordinate festivities and caught in a literal battle of bands at the beginning of the film. Converged upon by various hokey town bands who all want to play the featured pieces, Pangborn attempts order but is methodically carried away as people out of the blue arrive to suggest other songs, and the bands continue to assail him with arguments, and finally all play all the songs - and all at once - to prove the most deserving. It is musical chaos with Pangborn finally reduced to desperate blasts on a whistle and jumping up and down, yelling "Not yet! Not yet!" It is one of the actor's finest pieces.
Yet Pangborn's usual stock of characters could fit drama as well. Actually, in "Hero", his coordinator also has some straight scenes as well. In Now, Voyager (1942) as the cruise tourist director, his only problem is that Bette Davis has not arrived on deck to be partnered for the land touring of Rio. As an accomplished stage actor, he did miss the boards. Friend of Edward Horton, he was able to exchange his quirky screen characters for dramatic ones, participating in Horton's Los Angeles-based Majestic Theatre productions. But times changed for Pangborn's specialties. Movies were more diverse and updated as the 1950s ensued. But he was immediately adaptable to the small screen which would re-introduce him. He was right at home as a guest star on TV comedy shows, playing his beloved characters as cameo celebrations of his matter-of-fact stardom.
There were a handful of film roles in his last decade with perhaps the overambitious and black-and-white dull but star-studded The Story of Mankind (1957) a bit of a showcase. Also in 1957 he had the singular distinction of being honored as guest announcer - a familiar enough role - and first guest star on the premiere of the "Tonight Show" with its first host Jack Paar. To pass away after surgery seems such a disordered way to go for one such as Franklin Pangborn whose on-screen characters struggled for order above all else. There is no order in the frailty of life by definition, but Pangborn's legacy, rich in comedic gems, has and surely will continue to endure.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Charles Williams was born on 27 September 1898 in Albany, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Midnight Limited (1940) and Hidden Enemy (1940). He was married to Virginia Josephine Evans and Isabel. He died on 3 January 1958 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.