Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-11 of 11
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Additional Crew
Joseph M. Newman worked his way up from office boy and clerk to writer and assistant director under George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch and others. In 1937 he was briefly assigned to MGM's British section as a second unit director, but returned home within the year to direct short features. His occasional involvement in bigger productions included shooting the famous "Donkey Serenade" from The Firefly (1937), for which he did not receive screen credit. Indeed, he received two Oscar nominations as assistant director (a short-lived category in the awards). After directing his first full-length motion picture, Northwest Rangers (1942), Newman served in the war, rising to the rank of major, making documentaries and newsreels for the Signal Corps. The sense of realism and attention to detail he gained during this time served him in later years.
Many of his films, almost all second features and shot on modest budgets, use character actors rather than stars for the lead roles. They have a gritty, semi-documentary look, particularly his two best offerings: the film noir 711 Ocean Drive (1950) and the outdoor drama Red Skies of Montana (1952). Many also share an overriding preoccupation with technology, as in "711 Ocean Drive", in which an electronically-minded telephone repairman (Edmond O'Brien) becomes entangled with a shady bookmaking syndicate. Newman's most famous film would have to be the cult sci-fi This Island Earth (1955)--in which the main stars, it must be said, were the special effects--which features clever matte paintings and lush three-strip Technicolor photography. Newman's contribution to the film is somewhat diminished, however, by the fact that nearly half of it (set on the planet Metaluna) was re-shot by director Jack Arnold because the studio was unhappy with the initial result. Arnold, in the end, shot some of the most famous scenes, including the mutant attack and the escape through the tunnels.
After "This Island Earth", Newman's work was competent, if routine: a few westerns, a minor swashbuckler and a couple of crime pictures. Sci-fi fans will remember his four entries into The Twilight Zone (1959), though none were among the most compelling of the series.- Actress
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Louanne Hogan was born on 25 July 1919 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for State Fair (1945), The Princess and the Pirate (1944) and Cinderella Jones (1946). She died on 23 January 2006 in Thousand Oaks, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
William Rice was born on 17 October 1931 in Vermont, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Decoder (1984) and 5BX Plan for Physical Fitness (1959). He died on 23 January 2006 in New York City, New York, USA.- Producer
Chris McKinstry was born on 12 February 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Chris was a producer, known for Cr6 (1997). Chris died on 23 January 2006 in Santiago, Chile.- Günter Lampe was born on 7 August 1931 in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. He was an actor, known for Unter dem Pflaster ist der Strand (1975), Sommergäste (1976) and Winterreise im Olympiastadion (1979). He died on 23 January 2006 in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
Film producer Michael Smedley-Aston worked with MGM's British organisation at Denham Studios in the thirties and forties and later with both the Rank Organisation, 20th Century Fox and United Artists. During his long career he was involved with more than 40 films and with several companies, including the government controlled British Lion Corporation.
He was also responsible for giving a host of British actors their early breaks, including Oliver Reed in Life is a Circus (1957) and Michael Caine in The Wrong Arm of the Law (1961), as well as up and coming actors such as Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries and Glenda Jackson. He also brought the German actor Klaus Kinski to England for the first time.
Born in 1912 in Edgbaston he was educated at Marlborough College. He began his career at Elstree Studios, where he worked with Alfred Hitchcock and was assistant director on such films as Dance Band, Royal Cavalcade and Drake of England (all 1935). In 1939 he worked on the classic film Goodbye Mr Chips, starring Robert Donat.
During the Second World War he served in the RAF in Canada and on being demobbed he worked for the Rank Organisation, notably on the production of David Lean's classic film Great Expectations.
As a close associate of directors Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, Smedley-Aston was involved withe the famous takeover bid of the British Lion Film Corporation. The original company ran into trouble after accepting a National Film Finance Corporation Loan in 1949. Alexander Korda, manager of British Lion, was unable to pay the loan back and, as a result,Smedley-Aston, Launder and Gilliat were brought in to oversee the newly formed British Lion Films Ltd in 1955.
Under the new management the company produced several classic films including Private's Progress (1956), I'm Alright Jack (1959) and The Family Way (1966).
During the fifties Smedley-Aston also worked for United Artists as a producer on such films as Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), the musical comedy starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain. As an independent producer he was responsible for approving a screen test for Sean Connery for his first leading role in Another Time, Another Place (1958).
He worked on the hugely successful St Trinian's films of the fifties and was associate producer of The Happiest Days of Your Life(1950), starring Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. He also produced films such as Theatre of Death (1966) with Christopher Lee and Evelyn Laye and Ooh, You Are Awful (1972), a comedy vehicle for Dick Emery.
He also produced many television series including The Third Man which was filmed both in the UK and in Hollywood. He retired from film producing in 1980 but continued to be involved with film finance.- Adrienn Jancsó was born on 25 March 1921 in Ocna-Mures, Romania. She was an actress, known for Razzia az Aranysasban (1991). She died on 23 January 2006 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Olga Marie Mikalsen was born on 9 January 1915. She was an actress, known for Vilde, the Wild One (1986) and U-natt (1994). She died on 23 January 2006.
- Walter Rosenblum has been a photographer for fifty years, as well as an important figure in the advancement of twentieth century photography. His early involvement with photography began when he was seventeen years old, when he joined the Photo League where he met Lewis Hine and studied with Paul Strand.
As a World War II U.S. Army combat photographer, Rosenblum landed in Normandy on D-Day morning. There, he joined the anti-tank battalion that drove through France, Germany and Austria; he took the first motion picture footage of the Dachau concentration camp. Rosenblum was one of the most decorated WWII photographers, receiving the Silver Star, Bronze Star, five battle stars, a Purple Heart and a Presidential Unit Citation.
His photographic career spanned major events of the twentieth century; he photographed the immigrant experience in America, WWII, Spanish Civil War refugees, and in East Harlem, Haiti, Europe and the South Bronx. Rosenblum has had an extensive teaching career, beginning in 1947 at Brooklyn College. He also taught at Yale Summer School of Art and Cooper Union, as well as abroad at the Rencontre de La Photographie in Arles, France and in Sao Paolo, Brazil. In 1980 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his project "People of the South Bronx".
Together with his wife, renowned photographic historian Naomi Rosenblum, Rosenblum curated international exhibitions including the Lewis Hine Retrospective. His photographs are represented in more than forty international collections including the J. Paul Getty Museum; Library of Congress, Washington DC; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York.
'Walter Rosenblum: In Search of Pitt Street', an award-winning film about Rosenblum's life and work was produced by Daedalus Productions, Inc. in 2000. - Viktor Anisimov was born on 5 June 1928 in Former USSR. He was an actor, known for Nepokoryonnyy batalyon (1965), Russkie strashilki (2001) and Streets of Broken Lights (1998). He died on 23 January 2006 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Writer
Arkadij Levitan was born on 22 September 1911 in Russia. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for Steklyannyj zavtrak (1935), Sovjetskaja Armenija (1950) and Vozmite nas s soboi, touristy! (1966). He died on 23 January 2006 in Moscow, Russia.