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1-8 of 8
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Mark Stevens, a good-looking, second-tier star during the 1940s and 1950s, was born Richard William Stevens in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 13, 1916 (the dates in reference books seem to vary between 1915-20). Of Scottish and English heritage, the freckle-faced boy with the reddish hair had a father who was an American flyer. His parents divorced while he was young and Mark was sent to England where the rebellious boy found himself kicked out of several schools. He resided briefly with his maternal grandparents until a second move to Canada, where he was raised by his older sister. Slight in stature, Mark built himself up through athletics. A back injury, sustained while training as a Canadian Olympic diver, however, kept him from serving in WWII.
His initial interest appeared to be art, which he studied for a time, but a gift for singing led to nightclub and theatre work, performing in musicals and legit plays throughout the various Canadian provinces. Radio broadcasting turned into another creative outlet for Mark. He eventually returned to his Ohio hometown in the early 1940s where he earned leading roles at the Cleveland Playhouse. Notice here on the stage eventually had him setting his sights on Hollywood. Being young and talented -- combined with a 4-F classification -- helped gain him a studio contract at a time when the major stars were assigned to military duty. Voted 5th as a promising "star of tomorrow" in 1946, he appeared sporadically on radio.
He first became a contract player at Warner Brothers where he was groomed in bit parts as earnest soldier types and given the marquee name of Stephen Richards. That name was quickly changed by Darryl F. Zanuck to Mark Stevens, however, when Mark moved to the 20th Century-Fox lot. The studio also darkened his hair and covered up the freckles to enhance his serious good looks. He soon materialized into a prime film noir contender with such films as Within These Walls (1945) and the excellent The Dark Corner (1946) (interestingly had the starring role but billed fourth in line), the latter pairing him up with a cast-against-type Lucille Ball several years before her I Love Lucy (1951) fame. One of Mark's finest hours on film was as an FBI man at odds with Richard Widmark in The Street with No Name (1948). He also co-starred as the altruistic husband of mental patient Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit (1948).
On the musical front, Mark appeared rather colorlessly in such tunefests as I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947) and Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), in which he was overshadowed by his leading ladies. Indeed, despite his good looks and abilities, Stevens was constantly (and unfairly) pigeonholed as a lesser version of John Payne or Alan Ladd. In retrospect, many of his capable performances leave viewers thinking he was a producer's casting Plan B. Securing a brief contract at Universal in 1951 where he appeared in such films as Little Egypt (1951) and Katie Did It (1950), Stevens later directed and starred in the "B" level crimer Cry Vengeance (1954) for Allied Artists.
TV played a big part in his career in the 1950s, with two classic dramatic series coming his way. A move into producing (Mark Stevens Television, Inc.) and music publishing (Mark Stevens Music, Inc.) encouraged his retirement from acting, although he did occasionally appear in guest spots on such TV dramas as Wagon Train (1957) and Playhouse 90 (1956), while occasionally directing as well. He earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his small screen work.
A jack of all trades, Mark moved to Europe in the late 1950s and spent a decade operating a restaurant in Spain. He was married for some time to film/TV actress Annelle Hayes and had two children, Mark Richard and Arrelle. His rather nomadic existence eventually led to him to both the divorce and bankruptcy courts in the early 1960's. Divvying his time between here and Europe in later years, he still found occasional work in Hollywood while owning/maintaining apartment buildings as well. He married a second time to a Swedish woman named Hilde. His last on-screen work occurred on late 1980's TV, dying of cancer in Majores, Spain, at age 77, on September 15, 1994.- Mokihana was born on 25 September 1931. She was an actress, known for Hawaiian Eye (1959), The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966) and Follow the Sun (1961). She died on 15 September 1994 in UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Henry Wills was born on a cattle ranch in Arizona in 1921. After graduating high school he headed to Hollywood, and was soon working as an extra, mainly in westerns. He picked up some extra money doing stunt work, and soon began to concentrate on that field. He gained a reputation as one of the best horsemen in the business, specializing in horse falls--he's estimated to have done over 1400 of them in his career--transfers from horses to wagons and stagecoaches, and bulldogging (jumping off his horse to take down a rider on another horse), etc. His first job as a full-fledged Stunt Coordinator was on The Magnificent Seven (1960), and he became a Second-Unit Director on Major Dundee (1965). He worked on many of the top TV westerns, and was stunt coordinator and Second Unit Director on the hit series The High Chaparral (1967). He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, CA, in 1994.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Born in Caracas, young Elena (later to become Héléna) miraculously survived an earthquake there. She found a new home at an uncle's in New York City first, and later at another relative's in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. A very early theater enthusiast, Manson trained as an actress at the Conservatoire de Genève. She was soon hired by the prestigious Pitoëff company and appeared as the ingénue in the famous French-speaking production of Pirandello's "Six Personnages en Quête d'Auteur". Among her numerous plays, let's quote "La Tournée des Aveux" (as the 23-year-old spinster) by the side of Louis Jouvet, "Romeo et Juliette (playing Lady Capulet) in 1937 and, more recently, "L'infâme" with Roger Planchon (in which she was the mother of the monstrous curé d'Uruffe). On the other hand she gave a poetry recital in several Swiss towns titled "De Villon à nos Jours". On the screen, big or small, she appeared more than a hundred times and performed dubbing in hosts of French versions of foreign movies. Little known by the public she was very much in demand as an always dependable supporting actress. Her portrayal of Marie Corbin, the wrongly accused nurse in Clouzot's "Le Corbeau" will be forever remembered.- Emilio Vidal was born on 18 October 1918 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was an actor, known for La carpa del amor (1979), El arreglo (1983) and Grandma (1979). He died on 15 September 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Don Silverman was born on 16 March 1934 in Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for All About Faces (1971), The Jerry Lester Show (1963) and America 2100 (1979). He died on 15 September 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Alain Bernardin was born on 9 January 1916 in Dijon, France. He was a director and writer, known for Leaving Las Vegas (1995), In Fabric (2018) and Les anges gardiens (1995). He died on 15 September 1994 in Paris, France.- Youell Swinney was born on 17 February 1917 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, USA. He died on 15 September 1994 in Dallas, Texas, USA.