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1-50 of 171
- Actor
- Writer
Harvey Pekar was born on 8 October 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for American Splendor (2003), Hero Tomorrow (2007) and Harvey Pekar's Teo Macero (2015). He was married to Joyce Brabner. He died on 12 July 2010 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA.- Jane Alice Brandon was born on 3 October 1945 in Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for The Incredible Hulk (1978), Kojak (1973) and Another World (1964). She was married to Peter Schwartz. She died on 24 May 2015 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA.
- Thea White was born on 16 June 1940 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999), Cartoon Network Racing (2006) and Cartoon Cartoon Fridays (2000). She was married to Andy White. She died on 30 July 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Brown was born on 15 January 1946 in Talladega, Alabama, USA. He was an actor, known for Trading Places (1983), Kennedy (1983) and Legal Eagles (1986). He was married to Renee Lescook. He died on 8 January 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Mickey Deans was born on 24 September 1934 in Garfield, New Jersey, USA. He was married to Judy Garland. He died on 11 July 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Kathy Gabriel was born in 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for You Bet Your Life (1950). She died on 25 May 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- David J. Stewart was born on 8 January 1915 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for Murder, Inc. (1960), Sunday Showcase (1959) and The Defenders (1961). He died on 23 December 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Gerald Levert was born on 13 July 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Crank (2006), Coming to America (1988) and The Fast and the Furious (2001). He died on 10 November 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Gail Lucas was born on 2 June 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Just for the Hell of It (1968) and The Andy Griffith Show (1960). She died on 7 January 1990 in East Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Producer
- Production Manager
- Sound Department
Anthony Santa Croce was born on 25 October 1947 in New Jersey, USA. He was a producer and production manager, known for Monsters (1988), Tales from the Darkside (1983) and White Mile (1994). He died on 11 December 2010 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Writer
Ronald Sweed (The Ghoul) grew up in Cleveland, and would use his admiration for Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson), a popular Cleveland television personality, into a career. When Anderson made an appearance at a local amusement park (Euclid Beach Park), the adoring 13-year-old Sweed was in the crowd wearing a gorilla suit. Ghoulardi called him up to the stage where an unscripted "skit" took place. Anderson was so impressed with the 13 year old Sweed that he worked part-time for Anderson.
When "Ghoulardi" ran it's course, Anderson moved to Los Angeles. Sweed thought there was still life in the idea of a crazy, zany host for B movies for youngsters that he begged Anderson to return. Anderson refused. Sweed's only choice was to try it himself. Since "Ghoulardi" was copyrighted he dropped the "ardi" and went with "The Ghoul". Things didn't go well at first. Most kids though it was a bad attempt at imitating a much loved Ghoulardi. Sweed changed things up by being less of beatnik-like character, blowing anything and everything up firecrackers and updating the catch phrases from the 50's to the 60's. The combined effect of the chaos and firecrackers made him such a hit that Kaiser Broadcasting, which owned stations in Cleveland, Detroit, San Francisco, Boston and elsewhere, decided to syndicate the Ghoul. But Sweed could only duplicate his fame in Detroit.
Soon, television would change, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" would suck the oxygen out of the Saturday night time period after 1975. Television stations found it easier to sell infomercials in the late night hours. He would appear on and off on local stations in Detroit and Cleveland.During the last few years, he would make occasional appearances at metro Detroit clubs.- Actor
On March 18, 1894, Buchanan was born in Benton, Iowa, as Paul Stuart Buchanan. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he received his undergraduate degree at Wooster College. He taught English and coached basketball at the University of West Virginia, then switched to Florida University, where he started the school's 5000-watt radio station.
Buchanan earned a Ph.D. at Harvard before giving up the education business in favor of what he called "making a living." He went to Hollywood and became a character in tough-guy acting roles and took on a job as director of the Pasadena Play House. In May of 1930, he took a job as program director at radio station KHJ in Los Angeles, where he directed episodes of the "Hollywood Hotel" and "Lux Radio Theatre."
Walt Disney hired Buchanan as a dialogue and casting director at the Disney studios in Hollywood and put him in charge of all foreign versions of Disney productions. Buchanan was the voice of "The Huntsman" in the 1937 Disney animated film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Managing the foreign versions of Disney films took him to Europe and South America to translate "Snow White" into ten languages. Buchanan also had cameo voiceover roles as a flight attendant in "Saludos Amigos" (1942) and "Super-Speed" (1935), and he voiced Goofy in "The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air" (1938).
In New York radio, Buchanan produced and directed many network shows. He was head of the script department and program supervision for American Broadcasting Co. before moving to Cleveland in 1947 to produce "The Ohio Story" radio and TV series sponsored by Ohio Bell Telephone Co. He also took on directing the radio and television department of McCann-Erickson advertising agency's offices in Cleveland. He remained in Cleveland for the rest of his life.
"The Ohio Story" ran state-wide from 1947 to 1955 on radio and 1953 to 1961 on TV. At the time, the filmed series held the record as the longest-running scripted radio and TV program in the nation. In more than 2,500 "Ohio Story" shows, Buchanan never missed a rehearsal or a program. Buchanan worked tirelessly with actors, musicians, and sound technicians to get precisely the right shade of meaning into every sequence. He made actors out of bank clerks, students, and homemakers. Buchanan picked Robert Waldrop, a nationally known radio personality, to narrate the "Ohio Story" radio series. He convinced Hollywood actor Nelson Olmsted, known for his adaptations of terror tales by Edgar Allen Poe and science-fantasy stories, to commute to Cleveland for seven years to host, narrate and act in the "Ohio Story" TV episodes and the final two years of the "Ohio Story" radio series.
In an article in the June 25, 1958, Columbus Dispatch, Buchanan talked about his love and loyalty to Ohio and the "Ohio Story" series: "There has never been - or will be, a radio series that commanded the respect and attention of this state, or, for that fact, the nation. The "Ohio Story" reached its peak in the heyday of radio... the late 1940s. Only one show in the nation had a higher rating ... that was the Jack Benny show. I guess of all the things I've done in my lifetime; I'm most proud to have had a hand in developing and producing "The Ohio Story."
Buchanan was married twice. His first wife was Anna Hall Hilditch (December 28, 1900 - November 10, 1987). His second wife was Rita Whearty (November 19, 1919 - March 31, 2009).
Buchanan died on February 4, 1974, in Cleveland, Ohio.- Kathryn Boyd was born on 13 September 1897 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for Black Gold (1928), The Flying Ace (1926) and Deceit (1923). She was married to Abraham L. Roach, Milton M. Cloud, M.D. and Irvin C. Miller. She died on 16 March 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Victoria Karnafel was born on 19 November 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for The Deer Hunter (1978). She died on 22 March 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Carlos 'Patato' Valdés was born on 4 November 1926 in Havana, Cuba. He was an actor, known for Dopamine (2003), The Cosby Show (1984) and Calle 54 (2000). He was married to Julia. He died on 4 December 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Cecillia Stark was born on 2 March 1898 in Marosvararhely, Romania. She was an actress, known for Stranger Than Paradise (1984). She was married to Mojzesz Jozef Stark. She died on 2 March 1985 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- James Kisicki was born on 14 April 1938 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Wonder Boys (2000) and The Oh in Ohio (2006). He was married to Deborah Kaiser Kisicki. He died on 27 November 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Imogene Bliss was born on 24 February 1918 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Heaven Help Us (1985), Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and Fat Chance (1981). She died on 14 January 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Bob Marvin was born on 6 January 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Screen Test (1979), Young People's Specials (1984) and TV Clown: The True Story of Flippo, King of Clowns (2007). He died on 10 June 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Fenton William Earnshaw was born in Duluth, St. Louis County, MN on 2 August 1912 to Harry Alfred Earnshaw (1878-1953) and Vena Minnie, nee Radtke (1877-1959). Both of his parents are buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. He attended UCLA, then known as "the Southern Campus", graduating in 1936 with a BA in Political Science. He was the president of the Blackstonians, a "pre-legal society" and a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He was also a colonel in the ROTC. He married Dorcas Abbott Brown on 7 June 1938 in Orange County, California. They had a son named Peter, born 12 March 1943. Dorcas died in September, 1994. When he registered for the draft on 16 October 1940, he and Mrs. Earnshaw resided at 1520 Surf Avenue in Balboa, California. Their phone number was NEwport-1895. He initially joined the Army in WWII, but, he told the Los Angeles Times in a 22 December 1952 article, he switched to the Navy, "and eventually found himself commanding a landing craft. He received a summons to report to Washington and before he knew what had happened was assigned to the OSS [Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to the CIA]." "One of his first assignments was to land in Formosa and blow up a Japanese naval dock." He escaped by posing as member of a Chinese burial party. USN records from 1944 list Earnshaw as a Lt. JG as of July, 1943. As for writing for the early TV series Biff Baker, U.S.A. (1952), starring Alan Hale Jr., Earnshaw further told the Times that he took inspiration for the story lines from his own experiences in the OSS and his father's scripts from the radio series, "Chandu the Magician". Earnshaw's first script for 77 Sunset Strip (1958) was Iron Curtain Caper (1958), with Kurt Kreuger as a German agent named John Luder. The last script that Earnshaw is credited with was a 1961 two-part episode of 77 Sunset Strip (1958). He moved to Honolulu in 1963 and lived in the Ala Wai Boat Harbor aboard his 40' ketch, the "Vena M", named for his mother. He also spent several years in Tahiti, writing, and was fluent in French He worked variously for the Hawaii Department of Education, and radio stations KTRG and KGMB. In February of 1970, he flew to the Cleveland Clinic Hospital for cardiac surgery, and was accompanied by his brother, Harry. The surgery was deemed successful, but complications set in, including pneumonia. On 6 March, Earnshaw suffered cardiac arrest and remained unconscious until his death on the 11th. His son, Peter, was also at his side. He was cremated in Cleveland. Funeral services were held at the First Presbyterian Church in Honolulu, and in accordance with his wishes, his ashes were scattered in the ocean off Kona.- Madlaine Traverse was born in Cleveland, Ohio with the birth name of Madlaine Businsky. SHe was a silent film actress who began her career in 1913 with the production of LEAH KLESCHNA. She would be in an average of one film per year for the next six years. However, in 1919, Madlaine appeared in seven feature productions. After five more in 1920, Madlaine left films after the filming of THE IRON HEART. She died in the city of her birth on January 7, 1964.
- Avonne Taylor was born on 12 February 1899 in Springfield, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for My Best Girl (1927) and Honor Among Lovers (1931). She died on 20 March 1992 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Production Manager
Born in Ashtabula, she was the daughter of Chris R. and MaryAnn (Tulino) Alleman. Kelly graduated from Harbor High School class of 1995, Lakeland Community College with an Associates Degree and Cleveland State University with a BA in Film, where she worked on student films as production manager and crew. She died in 2017, after a courageous five year battle with cancer (Multiple Myeloma).- Mary Tarcai began as an actress at the Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC and later taught there. Her back-round was in the Stanislavski method and in New York at the beginning of her career she worked with Boleslavsky and Ouspenskya. After leaving the Neighborhood Playhouse she went to Atlantic City, where she started her own theater and produced her own shows. She then went to Hollywood and worked with the Actors Lab for seven years and also as an assistant to many film directors. Returning to New York in 1955 she began teaching acting. She was one of the first to teach classes centering on cold readings. Her students over the years included Shirley McLaine, Florence Henderson, Charlotte Rae, Edmond O'Brien, Valerie Harper,Raymond Burr, Julie Newmar,Ralph Waite, Lilia Skala, Ann B. Davis and many others.
- William Greene was born on 25 October 1926 in Iron City, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for One Step Beyond (1959), The Saint (1962) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955). He died on 12 March 1970 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA.
- He made his first major league start in August, striking out 15 St. Louis Browns. A month later, he set an American League rookie record fanning 17 Philadelphia Athletics in a game. Upon completion of his rookie campaign, Feller returned home to Iowa to finish his senior year of high school - his graduation was covered by NBC Radio.
Feller really began to hit his stride after his 19th birthday, rattling off a string of three straight 20-win seasons. It was during this time that Senators' manager Bucky Harris conveyed the following strategy to his players when facing Feller: "Go on up there and hit what you see. If you can't see it, come on back."
Just days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Feller put aside his 3-C draft deferment status and enlisted in the US Navy. With this selfless act, he gave up nearly four seasons of baseball in the prime of his career. But Feller had no regrets.
At the conclusion of the war, Feller returned to the game and picked up right where he left off, averaging more than 19 wins a season over the next six years. - Don Miller was born on 29 March 1902 in Defiance, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931), To Tell the Truth (1956) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). He died on 28 July 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Thomas Cullinan was born on 4 November 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was a writer, known for The Beguiled (2017), The Beguiled (1971) and Lux Video Theatre (1950). He was married to Helen. He died on 11 June 1995 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA.
- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Martin Leiser, an American photographer, cinematographer, and freelance visual artist; graduated Cleveland State University with a B.A. degree in Film and Digital Media in 2008. His work includes: commercial and fine art digital still photography, digital cinematography, short and feature-length motion picture production. Eric Leiser passed away December 31, 2017.- Siberian Husky who rose to fame as the lead sled dog in Gunnar Kaasen's team that arrived in Nome, Alaska, in early February of 1925, delivering vials of serum to the city, then stricken with a diphtheria epidemic. The call went out for the serum in January 1925 from Nome, where children were dying of diphtheria, and at the time, the only way to deliver the serum was by dog sled.
Kaasen's team was the last of several involved in a 1,348-mile relay of the serum, during which many dogs died from exhaustion, frostbite and general exposure. Kaasen and his dogs, led by Balto, traveled 106 miles through subzero temperatures and icy blizzards and arrived in Nome in the early morning hours of February 2, 1925. They were the subject of much attention later that day by the press, photographers, and even a French film crew.
News of the serum run and the many children saved by the efforts of the men and their dogs spread quickly across the nation and Balto became a heroic symbol to many. A statue of his likeness was erected in Central Park in New York City as well as in Anchorage, Alaska. He was even cast in a few Hollywood movies of the day and with other members of the teams, he eventually became a part of a one-of-a-kind exhibit in a Cleveland Zoo. Late in his life, he suffered increasing blindness, arthritis, and general effects of old age and was euthanized on March 14, 1933. His body was preserved for display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. - Stage producer John Kenley was born John Kremchek in Denver, CO, in 1906. His parents owned saloons, and later moved the family to Cleveland, OH. In the late 1920s he traveled to New York City in search of a career on the stage. He got a job with John Murray Anderson's "Greenwich Village Follies" in a dancer/acrobat act with Martha Graham (it was Anderson who suggested he change his name from Kremchek to Kenley).
In 1928 he went to work for the Shubert brothers, who were major Broadway producers. He stayed with them for ten years, mainly as a reader--he would receive plays from writers and agents, and recommend to the Shuberts whether they should e produced or not. During World War II he served as a pharmacist's mate in the US Merchant Marine. After the war he moved to Deer Lake, PA, a resort town favored by the wealthy elite who ran the state's coal industry. There he bought an abandoned church, converted it into a theater, and staged his own productions, naming it the Kenley Players. He built that into a chain of theaters in the Pennsylvania/Ohio area. Eventually, he moved his operation to the 3000-seat State Theatre in Cleveland. He was renowned for persuading major film and TV stars to appear in his productions., such as Joan Fontaine, Bert Lahr, Signe Hasso, Sylvia Sidney, Gloria Swanson, Buddy Ebsen, Bela Lugosi, Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell, among many others.
He died in Cleveland, OH, in 2009. - Philip Bartlett grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and began his acting career while he was still in high school at various community playhouses in the area. At age 20, when he heard the movie, Brubaker, was being filmed in a small Ohio town, he camped out in the hotel lobby where the film people were staying and talked the producers into a part as an extra. They reportedly liked that Philip looked like "a starving prisoner". He eventually was given a line in the movie as the Young Reporter at the end of the film. He followed the film crew to Chicago to work on Blues Brothers, where he was an extra and the lighting stand-in for Dan Akroyd. When the Blues Brothers crew went to Hollywood to finish the filming, Philip went with them. While in Los Angeles, Philip worked as an extra in both television and film.
Philip eventually moved to New York City, taking classes at NYU and continuing to work in the industry. An opportunity with a film company in Paris presented itself, and Philip moved to France. It was there that he was discovered behind the camera of the casting director of Sam Suffit. After a day of filming auditions for the part of Peter, the casting director finally asked Philip to audition, and he got the lead male role in the movie. Promotional work for Sam Suffit took Philip to Tokyo, where he lived for more than a year doing modeling and commercial work. In 1998, Philip retired from acting and moved back to his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Lawson J. Deming was born on 23 April 1913 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Sir Graves Ghastly Presents (1967) and Count Alu Card (1972). He was married to Mary Rita. He died on 24 April 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Victor E. Blecman was born in Lorain, Ohio, USA to Phillip and Marcel Blecman. In 1970, he graduated from Elyria High School. Music was his passion, so he began his career as a musician as part of the band "Flight". In January of 1977 he opened Uncle Vic's Nightclub in Elyria, which featured disco music and later he would deejay for various Cleveland nightclubs. He was a radio personality in Cleveland on WGCL Radio 98 FM, from 1979 until 1986. In the 2010's, Blecman spend time composing novelty songs based on the day's headlines. He penned the tune "The Windians" for the Indians' 2016 World Series season, in his Sheffield Lake home studio. He delivered all of his work to WTAM host Mike Trivisonno for on-air consideration. Sadly, on 20 December 2019, he passed away in University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Rocco Scotti was born in 1920 in Ambler, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 11 September 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Margery Maude was born on 29 April 1889 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for You're Never Too Young (1955), The Birds and the Bees (1956) and Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951). She was married to Joseph Warren Burden II. She died on 7 August 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Reyno Crayton was the founding member and Artistic Director of The Unit Production Company in New York. He performed in numerous New York plays, mainly for The Negro Ensemble Company, including: Mother Courage and Her Children, and Julius Caesar (as Lucius).
In 1975, Reyno won the Clarence Derwent Award and the 1975 OBIE Award, Performance for his role as Lou Edwards in The First Breeze of Summer. - Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Brian Jeffery Bowers was an actor and assistant director, known for Leviticus (2022), Workout Partners (2022) and The Great Gatsby (2021). He died on 29 April 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Soundtrack
Big Maybelle was born on 1 May 1924 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA. She died on 23 January 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Producer
K. (Kosciusko) Elmo Lowe (27 Aug. 1899 - 26 Jan. 1971) was born in San Antonio, Tex., but raised in Los Angeles, California. He studied acting at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he worked with Frederic McConnell and married fellow student Dorothy R. "Dolly" Paxton (1 Oct. 1899 - 3 July 1982) of Greenville, Miss. When McConnell was named first managing director of the Cleveland Play House in 1921, he brought the Lowes with him.
Lowe achieved a reputation as a matinee idol in the 1920s, with one Playhouse legend holding that they couldn't display his picture in the lobby without it being stolen by female admirers. No one at the Playhouse seemed to know what the "K" stood for in his name; even his wife called him "K," and he always called her "Paxton." They often appeared together on the same stage, sometimes playing husband and wife.
Lowe directed or acted in an estimated 300 roles, exerting a formative influence on the careers of such Playhouse alumni as Russell Collins, Margaret Hamilton, and Joel Gray. Serving as an assistant to McConnell, he also organized the local Federal Theatre Project of the WPA in 1935-36. Following McConnell's retirement in 1958, Lowe became managing director of the Playhouse. He held the position until his retirement in 1969.
He was a part-time director for Cinecraft Productions, a Cleveland-based film studio, for over 20 years. One of his early films was "Unto the Least of These." The 20-minute color film tells the dramatized stories of an unwed mother who finds hope, an orphan who gets saved from the streets, and a small family on the ropes with an alcoholic father who gets their lives straightened out. The film ends with an appeal for support and to encourage couples to become foster parents. The film was produced for what was then called the Cleveland Humane Society. The Society was an umbrella organization for the Cleveland Foster Care Bureau, Adoption Service Bureau, Alice Hunt Center, National Guidance Bureau, and the Children's Clinic. "Unto the Least of These" first premiered at the Cleveland Playhouse on September 30, 1942, and premiered again later in the year in New York and Hollywood. The film was revised in 1946 and 1948 to emphasize the Society's services for single mothers.
In most of the films he directed, Lowe, like Alfred Hitchcock, made a cameo appearance. He plays the alcoholic father in "Unto the Least of These." His real-life wife, Dorothy Paxton, plays the role of his wife in the film. In "Land of Promise" (1955), Lowe appears as a surveyor in the opening and closing scenes of the movie. In "Sadie Ferguson - Post Mistress" (1952), a pilot for a TV western, Lowe, appears with the production crew at the end of the film to describe Cinecraft's new three-camera production process Cinescope. In the film, Dorothy Paxton plays the "Post Mistress," and Stanja Lowe, Paxton and Lowe's daughter, plays "Miss Ferguson."
The Internet Movie Database credits Lowe with acting or directing roles in four full-length movies: "These Thirty Years" (1934), "The Kid from Cleveland" (1949), "Trial Without Jury" (1950), and "Women from Headquarters" (1950).
Lowe and Paxton had two children, Phoebe Karen and Sydney Stanja.
In 1971, Lowe died of a stroke. He was 71 years old.- Glenn Colerider was born on 10 February 1927 in Akron, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Dark Half (1993), Equal Justice (1990) and Carpet Kingdom (2008). He was married to Jean Caillet. He died on 9 July 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Jim Rissmiller was born on 25 July 1942 in the USA. Jim is known for Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters (1969). Jim died on 3 April 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- David Rini was born on 30 November 1946 in Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for California Suite (1978), Texas Lightning (1981) and Fantasy Island (1977). He died on 20 July 1992 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Ernie Davis was born on 14 December 1939 in New Salem, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 18 May 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Production Manager
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
Ray Culley's 40-year career as an actor, producer, and studio owner began in Hollywood in 1930.
Born in Norwalk, Ohio in 1904, Ray was the oldest of four children of Mary Sehl Culley and Carl Culley. He apprenticed and worked as a watchmaker and jeweler for twelve years before moving to Hollywood. He started his Hollywood career as an actor with bit parts in several films before taking a position as a production assistant, production manager, and director mainly for Liberty Pictures and Republic Films.
In the nine years Ray lived in Hollywood he worked with many of the biggest stars of the day: Gene Autrey, Hoot Gibson, Roy Rodgers, Bill Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy), Lila Lee, Myrna Loy, Reginald Denny, Marian Marsh, Irvin S. Cobb, Mickey Rooney, and Monte Blue. He is listed on the film credits for at least five movies: "The Fighting Parson" (1933), "One Year Later" (1933), "Picture Brides" (1934), "Take the Stand" (1934), and "Champagne for Breakfast" (1935). His contribution was uncredited on at least 18 other "Hollywood" films.
Ray's transition to industrial filmmaking came in 1937 when he directed a General Electric film titled "From Now On" produced by Tri-State Productions. This work brought him back to Ohio where he directed "The World's Largest Electrical Workshop" (1939) for the GE Lighting Division in Cleveland.
In 1939, Ray and his wife, Betty Buehner Culley, founded Cinecraft Productions, an industrial film company.
Early on, Ray and Betty recognized the economy and potential of 16mm film and employed the format in their commercial films. They also were pioneers in the use of multi-camera film shooting methods. Using two or more cameras to simultaneously film the same scene from different angles, cut production costs tremendously.
In addition to General Electric, prominent clients during Ray Culley's tenure at Cinecraft (1939 to 1970) included DuPont, Hercules Powder, Standard Oil of Ohio, Seiberling Rubber Company, Firestone, Goodyear, Bethlehem Steel, Owens-Corning, Ohio Bell Telephone, General Electric, American Greetings, Carling Brewing, Westinghouse, The Austin Company, and Republic Steel.
Cinecraft also produced films for trade organizations including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Society for Metals, Lake Carriers Association, and the American Iron and Steel Institute. On a smaller scale, they produced films for various governmental agencies, social service agencies, and religious organizations
Many of their accounts -- Westinghouse, General Electric, Ohio Bell Telephone, Republic Steel, and Standard Oil of Ohio being prime examples -- lasted for decades.
Cinecraft relied on local acting talent from the Cleveland Playhouse but also attracted well known (or soon to be well known) actors and celebrities to appear in their films including Alan Alda, Don Ameche, Merv Griffin, Wally Cox, Tim Conway, Brian Donlevy, Reed Hadley, Chet Huntley, Danny Kaye, Otto Kruger, George Montgomery, Burgess Meredith, Basil Rathbone, and James Whitmore. Future presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan also appeared in Cinecraft projects.
While ownership has changed twice since its founding, Cinecraft is still in business and rightfully claims itself the "country's longest standing corporate film & video production house."
Betty and Ray had three children, John, Jim and Raymond. Ray died on September 18, 1983, and Betty died on June 4, 2016.
A Finding Aid including an extensive historical note on Ray and Betty Culley and Cinecraft Productions is posted an the Hagley Museum and Library web site http://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/2018_201.xml- Eddie Johnson was born on 3 February 1959 in Albany, Georgia, USA. He died on 21 January 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Don Webster was born on 6 May 1939 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. He died on 13 December 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
- Actor
George Lehrer (stage name Norman Lane) was born and raised in Sandusky, Ohio. It was there that he met and married Catherine Rickenbaugh, the mother of his four children (3 sons, 1 daughter). His grandfather, George Lehrer, was the first in the family to emmigrate from Germany, and became the first minister at Sandusky's oldest Lutheran Church. His son, George, became the City Manager of Sandusky, and it was HIS son George that ventured to Hollywood with his family.
Before moving to California, in 1927 and 28 George directed the first two plays at what has become Ohio's oldest continually existing community theatre, Harlequins, Inc. It is still located in an old coachhouse in Sandusky, and is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Upon his return to Sandusky, Ohio in 1941, he spent the rest of his life working in various venues. One of his best known roles was that of Abraham Lincoln, whom he impersonated in a one-man show throughout Ohio. George Lehrer died in the summer of 1966 from complications of cancer. He was survived by his wife, 4 children, and 9 grandchildren. (3 more grandchildren were born after his death, and now he has many great-grandchildren.)- Charlotte Hughes was born on 1 August 1877 in Hartlepool, County Durham, England, UK. She was married to Noel Hughes. She died on 17 March 1993 in Redcar, Cleveland, England, UK.
- Everett Rhodes Castle was born on 8 July 1894 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Everett Rhodes was a writer, known for Colonel Humphrey Flack (1953) and A Spot of Philanthropy (1939). Everett Rhodes was married to Dorothy Harmon. Everett Rhodes died on 27 February 1968 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.