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- Actress
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One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born and Paul, a few years older.
Her parents divorced while she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance. At fourteen, she formed a dance act with a boy, Jerry Doherty, and they won $500 in a local talent contest. She and Jerry took a brief trip to Hollywood to test the waters. They felt they could succeed, so she and Jerry returned to Cincinnati with the intention of packing and making a permanent move to Hollywood. Tragically, the night before she was to move to Hollywood, she was injured riding in a car hit by a train, ending the possibility of a dancing career.
It was a terrible setback, but after taking singing lessons she found a new vocation, and at age 17, she began touring with the Les Brown Band. She met trombonist Al Jorden, whom she married in 1941. Jorden was prone to violence and they divorced after two years, not long after the birth of their son Terry. In 1946, Doris married George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year. Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros. The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract (her early credits are often confused with those of another actress named Doris Day, who appeared mainly in B westerns in the 1930s and 1940s).
Her first starring movie role was in Romance on the High Seas (1948). The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (1949) and It's a Great Feeling (1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the movies she made (in addition to several hit records). She made three films for Warner Bros. in 1950 and five more in 1951. In that year, she met and married Martin Melcher, who adopted her young son Terry, who later grew up to become Terry Melcher, a successful record producer.
In 1953, Doris starred in Calamity Jane (1953), which was a major hit, and several more followed: Lucky Me (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and what is probably her best-known film, Pillow Talk (1959). She began to slow down her filmmaking pace in the 1960s, even though she started out the decade with a hit, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960).
In 1958, her brother Paul died. Around this time, her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, had made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade. She didn't make as many films as she had in that decade, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (1965), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). Martin Melcher died in 1968, and Doris never made another film, but she had been signed by Melcher to do her own TV series, The Doris Day Show (1968). That show, like her movies, was successful, lasting until 1973. After her series went off the air, she made only occasional TV appearances.
By the time Martin Melcher died, Doris discovered she was millions of dollars in debt. She learned that Melcher had squandered virtually all of her considerable earnings, but she was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts in a case against a man that Melcher had unwisely let invest her money. She married for the fourth time in 1976 and since her divorce in 1980 has devoted her life to animals.
Doris was a passionate animal rights activist. She ran Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, California, which advocates homes and proper care of household pets.
Doris died on May 13, 2019, in Carmel Valley Village, California. She was 97.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Clint Walker was born Norman Eugene Walker in Hartford, southwestern Illinois, to Gladys Huldah (Schwanda), a Czech immigrant, and Paul Arnold Walker, who was from Arkansas. Walker almost single-handedly started the western craze on TV in the 1950s as Cheyenne Bodie in Cheyenne (1955). Growing up in the Depression era meant taking work wherever you could get it, and Walker found himself working at such jobs as Mississippi River boatman, carnival roustabout and golf caddy. He quit high school at 16 and at age 17 joined the Merchant Marine. After the war he worked his way cross country, including working in the oil fields in Brownwood, Texas, and wound up in California, where he worked as an undercover agent for a private detective agency on the Long Beach waterfront. After a while he took a job as a security officer at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. It was there that he met quite a few Hollywood people who told him that his size, physique and good looks would serve him well in Hollywood and that he should go to Los Angeles and give it a try. He met actor Henry Wilcoxon, who introduced him to director Cecil B. DeMille, and Walker found himself playing the part of a Captain of the Guard in The Ten Commandments (1956). Someone from Warner Bros. saw the film, found out that Walker was under contract to producer Hal B. Wallis, bought up Walker's contract and gave him the lead in "Cheyenne". The series was a huge hit and spawned countless other western series, from Warners and other studios. However, Walker was dissatisfied with the way Warners was handling his career -- they would let other contract players make films, for example, but he wasn't allowed to -- and that triggered a dispute which ended up with him taking a walk from the show. He and Warners eventually settled their disagreements. When the show ended Walker began to get supporting parts in features, his biggest and most successful one being The Dirty Dozen (1967). He starred in the well-received The Night of the Grizzly (1966) and the not-so-well received None But the Brave (1965), a WWII film that was Frank Sinatra's one and only stab at directing. He also played the lead in Baker's Hawk (1976), and turned in a good performance as a villain in the TV movie Scream of the Wolf (1974). Lately he and several of his colleagues from "The Dirty Dozen" provided the voices for the animated film Small Soldiers (1998).- Larger than life, Laughtonesque, and with an eloquent, king-sized appetite for maniacal merriment, a good portion of the work of actor Victor Buono was squandered on hokey villainy on both film and television. Ostensibly perceived as bizarre or demented, seldom did Hollywood give this cultivated cut-up the opportunity to rise above the deliciously hammy arrogance that flowed through so many of his cartoonish characters. He loved to make people laugh and while he could have approached his career with more serious attention, the real money was in his madness. In the end, the actor's chronic weight and accompanying health problems took their toll -- a fatal heart attack at the untimely age of 43 -- and a wonderful actor/writer/poet/chef had exited way before his time.
Born on February 3, 1938 in San Diego, California, the son of Victor Francis Buono and Myrtle Belle (née Keller), his interest in entertainment was originally encouraged by his grandmother, Myrtle Glied (1886-1969), who had once been a vaudevillian on the Orpheum Circuit. It was she who taught Victor how to sing and recite in front of company. His initial choice of career was somewhere in the direction of medicine but the pure joy he experienced from several high school performances (playing everything from Aladdin's evil genie to Hamlet himself) led him to dismiss such sensible thinking and take on the bohemian life style of an actor.
The already hefty-framed hopeful started appearing on local radio and television stations in San Diego. At age 18, he became a member of the Globe Theater Players where he was cast in Shakespeare and the classics ["Volpone", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Knight of the Burning Pestle", "The Man Who Came to Dinner", "Witness for the Prosecution", "Henry IV, Part I (as Falstaff)", "As You Like It", "Hamlet" (as Claudius)].
In 1959, a Warner Bros. agent happened to scope out the talent at the Globe Theatre and caught Victor's wonderfully robust portrayal of Falstaff (a role he would return to now and then) and gave him a screen test. Looking older than he was, the studio set upon using Victor in weird and wacky ways, such as his bearded poet Bongo Benny in an episode of 77 Sunset Strip (1958). His wry and witty demeanor, fixed stare, huge girth and goateed mug was guaranteed to put him in nearly every television crime story needing an off-the-wall character or outlandish villain.
Following an unbilled appearance in The Story of Ruth (1960), Victor was intriguingly cast by director Robert Aldrich to play Edwin Flagg, the creepy musical accompanist and opportunist who tries to use one-time child celebrity Bette Davis for his own piggy bank in the gothic horror classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). He held his own beautifully opposite the scenery-chewing Davis and was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar for his efforts. This role also set the tone for the increasingly deranged characters he would go on to play.
Cast as the title menace in The Strangler (1964), Victor delved wholeheartedly into the sick mind of a mother-obsessed murderer and offered a startling, tense portrayal of a child-like monster who gives new meaning to the art of "necking" with women. Director Aldrich used Victor again (albeit too briefly) for his Southern-baked "Grand Guignol" horror Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) this time as Ms. Davis' crazed father. Victor also showed up in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) starring Max von Sydow where he flamboyantly took on the High Priest Sorak role in this epic but criticized retelling of Jesus.
He enhanced a number of lightweight 1960s movies including 4 for Texas (1963), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), The Silencers (1966) and Who's Minding the Mint? (1967) with his clever banter and gleeful menace. The lurid title said it all when Victor gamely took on the horror movie The Mad Butcher (1971) [aka The Strangler of Vienna] wherein he played a former mental patient preying on women again. This deranged low-budget German/Italian co-production added a "Sweeney Todd" meatpie tie in.
Victor's hearty, scene-stealing antics dominated late 1960s television series. Recurring madmen included his Count Carlos Manzeppi on The Wild Wild West (1965) and King Tut who habitually wreaked havoc on Gotham City on Batman (1966). One could always find his unsympathetic presence somewhere on a prime-time channel (Perry Mason (1957), Get Smart (1965), I Spy (1965)) but his roles ended up more campy than challenging. However, one heartfelt, serious portrayal was his portrayal of President William Howard Taft in the epic miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979). Elsewhere, he recorded a self-effacing comedy album ("Victor Buono: Heavy!") and even wrote comic poetry ("Victor Buono: It Could Be Verse". He was indeed a sought-after raconteur on daytime and nighttime talk shows.
Continuing with the theatre but on a more infrequent basis, his one-man stage shows included "Just We Three", "Remembrance of Things Past" and "This Would I Keep". He also appeared as Pellinore opposite Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence in a 1975 performance of "Camelot" and earned minor cult status for his memorable performance in the play "Last of the Marx Brothers' Writers" in a return to the Old Globe Theatre in 1977.
The never-married actor felt compelled to conceal his homosexuality. A well-regarded gourmet chef and an expert on Shakespeare, he died of a massive heart attack at his ranch in Apple Valley, California on January 1, 1982. Before his death was announced, Buono had just been cast in the Broadway-bound play "Whodunnit?" by Anthony Shaffer. The show finally arrived in New York without him and almost a year to his death (December 30, 1982). - Actor
- Producer
Richard Hugh Lynch was born on February 12, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York City, to Irish immigrant parents. He was one of seven children. Before starting a career as an actor, he joined the United States Marine Corps in 1958. He served for four years where he made Corporal, and did a tour of the Middle East with the Sixth Fleet. He began his training with Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at H.B. Studios in New York's Greenwich Village, and later went on to train extensively with Lee Strasberg at Carnegie Hall. In 1970, he became a lifetime member of the Actors Studio and spent years in the New York theater community playing in dozens of on- and off-Broadway productions. The more notable plays were: "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel", "The Lion in Winter", "The Devils", "The Lady from the Sea", "Action", "Live Like Pigs", "Richard III", "Offi on a Tangerine", "A View from the Bridge", "The Man with the Flower in His Mouth", and Shelley Winters' "One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger".
Lynch made his film debut in the classic film Scarecrow (1973), winner of the Grand Prix Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His performance in Scarecrow launched his film career and brought him to Hollywood, where he has worked in film and television for over twenty years. His more prominent film work has been in: The Seven-Ups (1973), Open Season (1974), The Formula (1980), Invasion U.S.A. (1985), Bad Dreams (1988), Little Nikita (1988), Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (2002), and William Peter Blatty's The Ninth Configuration (1980). His performance as the evil King Cromwell, in the successful fantasy film The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), won him the Saturn Award for Best Actor from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Although best known for playing villains, he was cast as the President of the United States in Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (2007).
He also starred in numerous television series and Movies of the Week, such as Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980), Sizzle (1981), Vampire (1979), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), Battlestar Galactica (1978), and the Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) two-part episode "Gambit". His work in a variety of independent films has won him a high profile internationally. He has also worked in China, where he played in the first joint production between the Screen Actors' Guild and the People's Republic of China, The Korean Project. In his spare time, Richard enjoys fishing, the arts, architecture, music and poetry. He is also fluent in several languages including German and Italian.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Gary Graham was born on 6 June 1950 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Robot Jox (1989), Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) and The Jackal (1997). He was married to Becky Hopkins, Diane Patricia Vaughan, Caren Leslie Williams and Susan Lavelle. He died on 22 January 2024 in Spokane Valley, Washington, USA.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Mickey Jones was born on 10 June 1941 in Houston, Texas, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Total Recall (1990), Starman (1984) and Sling Blade (1996). He was married to Phyllis Jean Starr and Sandra Joel Davis. He died on 7 February 2018 in Simi Valley, California, USA.- Born Alexander Viespi, Jr. in Floral Park, New York in 1933, handsome, often mustachioed Alex Cord was stricken with polio at the age of 12. Confined to a hospital and iron lung for a long time, he overcame the illness after being sent to a Wyoming ranch for therapy. He soon regained his dream and determination of becoming a jockey or professional horseman.
A high school dropout at the age of sixteen, he grew up to be too tall to be a jockey so he joined the rodeo circuit and earned a living riding bulls and bareback horses. During another extended hospital stay, this time suffering major injuries after being thrown by a bull at a rodeo in New York City's Madison Square Garden, he reevaluated his life's direction and decided to finish his high school education by way of night school. A voracious reader during his long convalescence, he later studied and received his degree in literature at New York University.
Prodded by an interest in acting, Alex received dramatic training at the Actors Studio and began his professional career in summer stock (The Compass Players in St. Louis, Missouri) and at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut where he played "Laertes" in a production of "Hamlet". A British producer saw his promise and invited him to London where he co-starred in four plays ("Play With a Tiger", "The Rose Tattoo", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Umbrella"). He was nominated for the "Best Actor Award" by the London Critics' Circle for the first-mentioned play.
He sought a Hollywood "in" and found one via his equestrian skills in the early 1960s. Steady work came to him on such established western TV series as Laramie (1959) and Branded (1965) and that extended itself into acting roles on crime action series (Route 66 (1960) and Naked City (1958)). Gaining a foothold in feature films within a relatively short time, he starred or co-starred in more than 30 feature films, including Get Off My Back (1965), Stagecoach (1966), Stiletto (1969) and The Brotherhood (1968).
After his film career declined in the late 1970s he turned to action adventure overseas with the "spaghetti western" A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die (1967) [A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die] and the British war drama The Last Grenade (1970) with Stanley Baker and Richard Attenborough. Around that time as well, he played the murderer opposite Sam Jaffe's old man in Edgar Allan Poe's dramatic short, The Tell-Tale Heart (1971). It was TV, however, that provided more career stability. Cord has more than 300 credits, including roles in Hotel (1983), Fantasy Island (1977), Simon & Simon (1981), Jake and the Fatman (1987), Mission: Impossible (1966), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). He situated himself in a number of series, notably Airwolf (1984), in which he co-starred with Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine as the mysterious white-suited, eye-patched, cane-using "Michael Archangel".
Later commercial interest was drawn from his title role in Grayeagle (1977), a remake of the John Wayne film, The Searchers (1956), in which he played the Indian kidnapper of Ben Johnson's daughter. Lana Wood, sister of star Natalie Wood (who appeared in the original), also co-starred in this film. Alex can still be seen from time to time in low-budget films and the occasional television appearance, but other interests took up his time. His last film role was in the dismissible thriller Fire from Below (2009) in support of Kevin Sorbo.
Alex's love for horses extended itself into work for numerous charities and benefits. He was a regular competitor in the Ben Johnson Pro-Celebrity Rodeos that raised money for children's charities, and he is one of the founders of the Chukkers for Charity Celebrity Polo Team which has raised more than $3 million for worthy causes. He chairs "Ahead with Horses", an organization that provides therapeutic riding programs for the physically and emotionally challenged. Alex also turned to writing, thus far publishing several novels including A Feather in the Rain (2005), Days of the Harbinger (2013), The Man Who Would Be God (2014 and High Moon (2016). He has also sold three screenplays.
The actor's three marriages all ended in divorce. His second wife was British-born actress Joanna Pettet and third, Susannah, was a horse trainer. He had three children -- Toni Aluisa, Wayne and Damien Zachary. His son by Pettet, Damien, died tragically in 1995 of a heroin overdose at the age of 26. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Although Los Angeles native Howard McNear had a long career on radio and in films, he will forever be remembered for his memorable - and scene-stealing - portrayal of Floyd the Barber in the long-running The Andy Griffith Show (1960) (actor Don Knotts once said that playing Floyd wasn't much of a stretch for McNear, as his real personality was pretty much like Floyd to begin with). McNear started his career in radio, where he played Doc Adams in "Gunsmoke" for many years. In films he often played congressmen, hotel managers or other such figures, although he did on occasion play villains. While working on the "Andy Griffith Show" he suffered a massive stroke. After he recuperated he had trouble using his arms and legs, and when he returned to work on the show he was always seen either in a close-up or sitting down (often in a chair outside the barber shop while chatting with Barney and Andy). He died in 1969 in Hollywood.- Stunts
- Actress
Jeannie Epper was born on 27 January 1941 in Glendale, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Romancing the Stone (1984), Quarantine (2008) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). She was married to Tim Kimack, Lee Sanders, Wes Fuller and Richard Spaethe. She died on 5 May 2024 in Simi Valley, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Cute, elfin-like blonde Dianna Irgens was born in Minneapolis of Norwegian and Austro-Hungarian ancestry to Norman Clifford Irgens and Anna Agnes Irgens, the youngest of three children. She gained her first performing experience in high school and first auditioned for films at the age of eight. After several movie bit parts, Dianna kick-started her career in the early 1950s as a member of songwriter Jimmy McHugh and His Singing Starlets, a smash hit all-star musical revue which toured coast-to-coast. Her first notable foray into films was playing the younger sister of Olympic decathlon champion Bob Mathias in a 1954 Allied Artists biopic. This was followed by -- often uncredited -- yeoman work as guest star in assorted early TV dramas and comedies. While full of promise and possessed of a fresh-faced 'girl-next-door' quality, few of her films seriously tested her mettle as an actress. The majority were pleasant if unexceptional B-pictures tailored to appeal to juvenile audiences. Some, like High School Confidential! (1958) -- an 'expose' of dope peddling to teenagers -- were lurid exploitation flicks. Others, like Island of Lost Women (1959), were pure Hollywood hokum.
Diana's career nonetheless peaked between 1955 and 1961 when she was regularly featured on television in The Bob Cummings Show (1955) (as Bob's wholesome girlfriend) and she may also be remembered in several episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952). On the big screen she had a small part in the classic Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn comedy Desk Set (1957) and played James Stewart's daughter in The FBI Story (1959). By the mid-1960s, Diane was done with acting. By then she had happily retired, married actor-singer Randy Sparks (founder of The New Christy Minstrels) and given birth to three children. The family eventually moved to the historic gold rush town of Mokelumne Hill in northern California, where, for several years, they owned and operated a popular saloon filled with Western memorabilia known as the Hole in the Wall.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
British actor David Rappaport earned more roles and respect than most guys his size (or any size for that matter) who attempted a professional acting career. Born with the genetic condition dwarfism (he was 3' 11"), he was often typecast in bizarre, sometimes silly and demeaning roles; but, like others before (Michael Dunn) and after (Peter Dinklage), he rose to the challenge and proved himself a talent to be reckoned with.
He was born David Stephen Rappaport on November 23, 1951, to a London Jewish family and showed musical prowess at an early age. He learned how to play both the drums and the accordion, which helped him out financially during the lean years. He studied psychology at the University of Bristol in 1969 and graduated with a degree while developing a side interest in theatre and performing in plays and revues. Following graduation, he married his college girlfriend, Jane, and had a son, Joe, the following year. He gave school teaching a try but left in 1977 to focus on his first love - acting.
Returning to England, he built up his reputation on TV and developed celebrity status. He acted in and wrote for the program "Beyond the Groove" and performed in a couple of children's series to boot. Film showcases for David came unexpectedly with the scene-stealing role of "Randall", the ringleader of a motley group of time-traveling thieves, in Time Bandits (1981), and in The Bride (1985) as "Rinaldo", a little person who befriends a giant. American audiences were given a good taste of David's charm, intelligence and razor-sharp wit with the popular but short-lived series, The Wizard (1986), as "Simon McKay", the inventor of odd and exciting toys who derived great pleasure out of being a good Samaritan. He followed this with the attention-getting role of slick attorney "Hamilton Skylar" in a few episodes of L.A. Law (1986).
Despite his successful professional career, David was beset by personal unhappiness and acute depression. He was booked to play the darkly comic role of Zibalian trader Kivas Fajo on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (episode "The Most Toys," subsequently played by gifted Canadian actor Saul Rubinek). However, on May 2, 1990, Rappaport's third suicide attempt was successful, as he shot himself in the chest with a .38 caliber revolver he had bought 15 days earlier. The 38-year-old actor was buried at the Waltham Abbey cemetery in England.- Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Fort Worth, Eve Brent began her career in radio and early television and later moved on to the college and little theater stage. Arriving in Hollywood with a husband and infant son in the 1950s, she landed some film (Gun Girls (1957), Journey to Freedom (1957), The Bride and the Beast (1958)) and episodic TV roles. Maverick director Samuel Fuller changed her name to Eve Brent when she appeared in his western Forty Guns (1957), the first of dozens of screen roles for her under that name. She then played Jane opposite Gordon Scott's Tarzan in Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958) and in episodes of a Tarzan TV series. In addition to her big-screen and episodic TV assignments, Brent has appeared in hundreds of commercials.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Richard Devon wanted to be an actor from the time he was in first grade and played a small part in a school production. After finishing high school he answered a small ad in a Los Angeles newspaper for a school that offered training to the novice actor. This drama school, "Stage Eight", allowed him to work his way through, as he hadn't the money for tuition. He painted walls, built sets, waxed floors and strung lights. It was during this time that he made his first live television appearance for the experimental TV station W6XAO, atop Mt. Lee in the Hollywood Hills. Amidst much additional work in TV, Devon also played a recurring character in the kiddie-oriented teleseries Space Patrol (1950) (when Devon asked for a pay hike, his character was put into permanent suspended animation). He made his first film in the early '50s.- Actor
- Producer
Don is probably best remembered for his role as "Ernie Kaltenbrunner" in the 1985 comedy horror The Return of the Living Dead (1985). Don's career spans over 40 years in both film and TV. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Ozone Park Queens, and later West Hempstead, Long Island, Don Calfa was originally interested in a career in the fine arts. He got the acting bug after seeing films such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Vertigo (1958). After dropping out of high school to study at Erwin Piscotor's "The Dramatic Workshop", (he finished his degree in night school), Calfa spent two years in summer stock which enabled him to join Actors Equity and eventually get his SAG card.
Don has starred alongside some of cinema's greats including Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991), Michael Douglas in The Star Chamber (1983), Jack Nicholson in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), and many more.
Among Don's most memorable roles were as "Mr. Pitts" on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), "Ralph Wilum" in Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (1989) (aka "Chopper Chicks in Zombietown"), "Paulie" in Weekend at Bernie's (1989), "Scarface" in Foul Play (1978). His stage work includes extensive off-off-Broadway work, and he appeared on Broadway in "Lenny".
Nowadays, Don still works in the movie business and works the convention circuit in the USA, alongside his friend, Beverly Randolph, who he met on the set of The Return of the Living Dead (1985). Don recently, along with the rest of "The Return of the Living Dead" cast, recorded a cast commentary for a new special edition release of "The Return of the Living Dead". Plans are in motion for a "Return of the Living Dead" cast reunion in the United Kingdom in November 2007 at Birmingham's NEC Memorabilia event.- Wavy-haired, articulate, quietly-spoken Bardette was one of Hollywood's archetypal villains of westerns and cliffhanger serials. He initially aspired to become a mechanical engineer after graduating from Oregon State University in June 1925. However, by the late 1920s, he had changed his name from Terva Gaston Hubbard to Trevor Bardette and embarked on a brief, unremarkable acting career on the East Coast stage, before moving to Hollywood in 1937. Though he went on to essay the occasional sheriff, rustic, frontiersman or hero's sidekick, his stoney features and deep-set, cold eyes ensured that he would invariably be cast as a ruthless heavy, sneaky spy, swindler, gangster or double-crosser. In the course of a thirty year career, the majority of his characters rarely survived until the final scene.
A hard-working character player, Bardette took on just about any role offered him. Between 1938 and 1940 alone, he appeared in some 33 films, including bits in prestige pictures like Jezebel (1938), Marie Antoinette (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). At the smaller studios and later for television, he fared rather better in terms of screen time. Serials, especially, gave him the opportunity to chew the scenery at his most menacing: as the scar-faced Pegleg (aka Mitchell) of Overland with Kit Carson (1939), the icily controlled, preening killer Raven of Winners of the West (1940); and the deceptively meek Jensen, head of a Nazi spy ring, in The Secret Code (1942). On TV, he was Old Man Clanton, cattle rustler and perpetual nemesis of law and order in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) (though, in actual fact, N.H. Clanton never faced the Earps, having met his fate earlier at the hands of Mexican cowboys in Guadalupe Canyon). Then there were recurring roles in series like Lassie (1954), Cheyenne (1955) and Gunsmoke (1955), to name but a few.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Bardette bought his own ranch in Green Valley, Arizona, where he spent his remaining years after retiring from acting in 1970. In interesting footnote is his authorship (under his original name) of a short story entitled "The Phantom Photoplay", published in the August 1927 issue of Weird Tales magazine. His first name Terva, evidently sounded sufficiently feminine to be included among the publication's list of lady writers. - Actor
- Producer
- Director
A movie-crazy kid in his native Oklahoma City, Robert Clarke decided at an early age that he wanted to be an actor, but nevertheless suffered from stage fright in his first school productions. He acted in University of Oklahoma radio plays and on stage at the University of Wisconsin before hitching a ride to California to try to break into the picture business. After screen tests at 20th Century-Fox and Columbia, Clarke landed a berth as a contract player at RKO. When RKO dropped his option three years later, he began freelancing. Clarke married Alyce King of the singing The King Sisters in 1956 and, a decade later, began appearing on TV and on tour with The King Family. His autobiography, To "B" or Not to "B": A Film Actor's Odyssey, was published in 1996.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Slye) moved to California in 1930, aged 18. He played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws, and his own group, the International Cowboys. In 1934 he formed a group with Bob Nolan called Sons of the Pioneers. While in that group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston. Their songs included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". They first appeared in the western Rhythm on the Range (1936), starring Bing Crosby and Martha Raye. In 1936 he appeared as a bandit opposite Gene Autry in "The Old Coral". In 1937 Rogers went solo from "The Sons Of The Pioneeres", and made his first starring film in 1938, Under Western Stars (1938). He made almost 100 films. The Roy Rogers Show (1951) ran on NBC from October 1951 through 1957 and on CBS from 1961 to September 1964. In 1955, 67 of his feature films were released to television.- Actor
- Music Department
- Producer
Singer, composer, heartthrob, pioneer--all are accurate descriptions of Robert Michael Nesmith. Most easily identified by his trademark blue wool hat with pompom, Nesmith fashioned a diversified career within music and also in film. Born in Saint Joseph's Hospital in downtown Houston, Texas, Nesmith was a self-described "failure" growing up. "I just didn't do anything," he said in his famous 1965 screen test for _The Monkees (1966)_ ; he expanded on this in a 1968 Australian radio interview by noting, "I was just starving and writing music." He got work as a session guitarist up and down the East Coast before moving to Los Angeles with his wife Phyllis Barbour in 1965. He managed to get a record contract with Colpix Records and released several 45s as well as appearing on 'Lloyd Thaxton's' syndicated teen-dance show. When Nesmith won the role for The Monkees (1966) he was the first of all involved to see where the show and the music would go. Nesmith produced tracks for The Monkees even before TV series filming began; he has said "about a hundred" tracks were made by himself, Micky, Peter, and Davy in the first half of 1966, and among the songs recorded was his composition "The Girl I Knew Somewhere." The hiring of Don Kirshner quashed this group gestation, but Nesmith continued to produce tracks for the group, usually with Micky Dolenz providing co-lead or harmony vocals; the trademark of Nesmith's 1966-produced tracks was the stellar deep bass work of Robert West. The leader of the group by having the strongest musical vision and polish, Nesmith challenged the controlling powers, culminating in the famous "That could have been your head!" near-brawl with Columbia executives in late 1966-early 1967 that left a wall torn open and ultimately 86ed Don Kirshner from the project. Nesmith took a controlling involvement in the group's albums, but given the strong egos of each member, breakage was inevitable. Nesmith finally left after 1969. He joined longtime bassist friend John London and pedal-steel ace 'Orville "Red" Rhodes' for The First National Band, a group that pioneered the mixture of country music with rock'n'roll. The song "Joanne" off their first album, "Magnetic South", became a big hit. Though the FNB broke up after three albums, Nesmith and Rhodes kept going with the Second National Band. Their records were critical successes, but unfortunately were not big hits. Nesmith then invented and sold the concept of 24-hour-music-television to Time-Warner. He produced a proof of concept called "Pop Clips," which Time-Warner aired on the Nickelodeon Channel as a test. It was an instant success, and the MTV Network was developed from it. He also branched into TV and film production, with such works as 'Elephant Parts' (1981), 'Timerider' (1983), 'Repo Man' (1984), 'Square Dance,' and 'Tapeheads,' as well as several TV specials. Nesmith also continued to make records on a sporadic basis--13 solo albums in total. He reunited with Red Rhodes in 1992 and a Latin-flavored masterpiece called "Tropical Campfires". He was nominated for a Grammy for his 1994 album "The Garden". He reunited with the Monkees in 1996 for the "Justus" album. In 1997 he wrote and directed an ABC television Monkees special. In 1998 St. Martins Press published his first novel, "The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora". In 2005 he finished his second novel, "The America Gene". He also started a small video game development company called Zoomo Productions, based in Monterey, California.- A twin fisted existentialist, whose post-Nietzschian sensibilities reject the lantern of the cynic in a quest for a sun that leaves no shadow. He attended Dr Challoners Grammar School where he achieved 8 'o' levels, he then elected to work on demolition sites rather than continue his education to University level. He studied performing arts in his twenties then became a professional wrestler and then secured the role of John in Snatch. Other film and TV work followed including appearances in Eastenders,the Bill and Emmerdale as well as parts in major motion pictures such as Batman begins and Elizabeth the Golden age and when work was quiet he decided to become a professional cage fighter securing wins over LA street fighting legend Kimo Leopoldo and ex UFC heavyweight champion Dan Severn. His fight and acting career however began to clash and when he was offered a role in Steven Berkoff's On The Waterfront he had to regrettably decline due to fight commitments. Instead Berkoff attended Legeno's fight at Wembley arena where he defeated Herb Dean. When Dave was cast as Fenrir Greyback in the Harry Potter series he put his fight career on hold.
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Raoul Walsh's 52-year directorial career made him a Hollywood legend. Walsh was also an actor: He appeared in the first version of W. Somerset Maugham's "Rain" renamed Sadie Thompson (1928) opposite Gloria Swanson in the title role. He would have played the Cisco Kid in his own film In Old Arizona (1928) if an errant jackrabbit hadn't cost him his right eye by leaping through the windshield of his automobile. Warner Baxter filled the role and won an Oscar. Before John Ford and Nicholas Ray, it was Raoul Walsh who made the eye-patch almost as synonymous with a Hollywood director as Cecil B. DeMille's jodhpurs.
He interned with the best, serving as assistant director and editor on D.W. Griffith's racist masterpiece, The Clansman, better known as The Birth of a Nation (1915), a blockbuster that may have been the highest-grossing film of all time if accurate box office records had been kept before the sound era. He pulled triple duty on that picture, playing John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater and ranked as the most notorious American actor of all time until Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens).
The year before The Clansman, Walsh was second unit director on The Life of General Villa (1914), also playing the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa as a young man. Walsh got his start in the business as co-director of another Pancho Villa flick, The Life of General Villa (1914), in 1912. The movie featured footage shot of an actually battle between Villa's forces and Mexican federal troops.
In 1915, in addition to helping out the great Griffith, Walsh directed no less than 14 films, including his first feature-length film, The Regeneration (1915), which he also wrote. The movie starred silent cinema superstar Anna Q. Nilsson as a society woman turned social worker who aids the regeneration of a Bowery gang leader. It was a melodrama, but an effective one. In his autobiography, Walsh credited D.W. Griffith with teaching him about the art of filmmaking and about production management techniques. The film is memorable for its shots of New York City, where Walsh had been born 28 years earlier on March 11, 1887.
Raoul Walsh would continue to be a top director for 40 years and would not hang up his director's megaphone (if he still had one at that late in the game) until 1964. As a writer, his last script was made in 1970, meaning his career as a whole spanned seven decades and 58 years.
He introduced the world to John Wayne in The Big Trail (1930) in 70mm wide-screen in 1930. It would take nine more years and John Ford to make the Duke a star. In one three-year period at Warner Bros., he directed The Roaring Twenties (1939), They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1940), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Manpower (1941), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), and Gentleman Jim (1942), among other films in that time frame. He helped consolidate the stardom of Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn while directing the great James Cagney in one of his more delightful films, The Strawberry Blonde (1941). This was the same director that would elicit Cagney's most searing performance since The Public Enemy (1931) in the crime classic White Heat (1949).
Novelist Norman Mailer says that Walsh was dragged off of his death bed to direct the underrated film adaptation of Mailer's The Naked and the Dead (1958). The movie is as masculine and unsentimental as the book, an exceedingly harsh look at the power relations between men at war on the same side that includes the attempted murder of prisoners of war and the "fragging" of officers (Sergeant Croft allows his lieutenant to walk into an ambush). Walsh was at his best when directing men in war or action pictures.
Raoul Walsh seemingly recovered from Mailer's phantasmagorical death bed, as he lived another 22 years after The Naked and the Dead (1958). He died on December 31, 1980, in Simi Valley, California, at the age of 93.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Mac Miller was born on 19 January 1992 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Scary Movie V (2013), Tall Girl (2019) and Lethal Weapon (2016). He died on 7 September 2018 in San Fernando Valley, California, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Unassuming, innocent-eyed and undeniably ingratiating, Brit comedy actor Ian Carmichael was quite the popular chap in late 50s and early 60s film. He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England on June 18, 1920, the son of Arthur Denholm Carmichael, an optician, and his wife Kate (Gillett). After receiving his schooling at Bromsgove High School and Scarborough College, he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and trained there, making his stage debut as a mute robot in "RUR". in 1939. That same year he also appeared as Claudius in "Julius Caesar" and was appearing a revue production of "Nine Sharp" (1940) when his young career was interrupted by WWII. He served in Europe for many years with the Royal Armoured Corps as a commissioned officer in the 22nd Dragoons.
Ian returned to the theatre in 1947 with roles in four productions: "She Wanted a Cream Front Door", "I Said to Myself", "Cupid and Mars" and "Out of the Frying Pan". He also sharpened his farcical skills in music hall revues where he worked with such revue legends as Hermione Baddeley and Dora Bryan. Given his first film bit as a waiter in Bond Street (1948), he continued in rather obscure roles for several years. While he was sincerely capable of playing it serious, which would include roles in the U.S. film Betrayed (1954) starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner, as well as the war-themed adventures The Colditz Story (1955) and Storm Over the Nile (1955), it was his association with late 50s "silly-ass" comedy that gave his cinematic career a noticeable boost. After repeating his stage success (the only cast member to do do) playing David Prentice in the film version of Simon and Laura (1955) opposite Kay Kendall and Peter Finch, he co-starred in a series of droll satires for the Boulting Brothers and Ealing Studios. While he might have been upstaged on occasion by a motley crew of scene-stealers (Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Raymond Huntley, Margaret Rutherford), Ian was sublimely funny himself as the hapless klutz caught up in their shenanigans. Private's Progress (1956), the service comedy which got the whole ball rolling, and its sequel, I'm All Right Jack (1959), along with the Boulting's Lucky Jim (1957) Brothers in Law (1957) and Happy Is the Bride (1958) firmly established Ian as a slapstick movie star.
The inane fun continued into the 60s with ripe vehicles in Skywatch (1960), School for Scoundrels (1960), Double Bunk (1961), The Amorous Mr. Prawn (1962) and Heavens Above! (1963). During the late 1960s and 1970s, he found more fulfillment playing wry, bemused, upper-crust characters on comedy TV, particularly his Bertie Wooster in The World of Wooster (1965) which reunited him with frequent Boulting Brothers co-star Dennis Price as Jeeves, Wooster's chilly-mannered personal valet. Ian's leading role as the Bachelor Father (1970), based on the story of a real-life perennial bachelor who took on several foster children, only added to his popularity. In later years, he was frequently heard on the BBC radio.
Ian made vigilant returns to the comedy stage whenever possible in such lightweight vehicles as "The Tunnel of Love", "The Gazebo", "Critic's Choice", "Birds on the Wing", "Darling, I'm Home", "Springtime for Henry" and appeared in his last musical "I Do! I Do!" in 1968. Earlier, in 1965, he made his Broadway debut starring in "Boeing-Boeing", which lasted only a few weeks. A more successful revival of this show showed up on Broadway in 2008.
Semi-retired since the mid-1980s, Ian continued to show elderly spryness here and there with a smattering of films including The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971), From Beyond the Grave (1974), The Lady Vanishes (1979) and Diamond Skulls (1989). On TV, he was quite popular in the role of the gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey in several crime mystery mini-series: Clouds of Witness (1972), The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1972), Murder Must Advertise (1973), The Nine Tailors (1974) and Five Red Herrings (1975), and had a recurring role on the TV series Strathblair (1992).
To cap his career off, he was honored as an OBE in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List. Made a widower after 40 years by his first wife Jean (Pym) McLean, he married novelist/radio producer Kate Fenton, who is over thirty years his junior, in 1992. He has two daughters, Lee and Sally, from his first marriage. In 1979, his autobiography, "Will the Real Ian Carmichael?...", was published.
A charmer to the end, his last (recurring) appearance was on the TV series The Royal (2003) in 2009. The actor died on February 7, 2010, following a month-long illness.- Director
- Actor
- Producer
Jerome Courtland was born on 27 December 1926 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Pete's Dragon (1977), Kiss and Tell (1945) and Make Believe Ballroom (1949). He was married to Marlene Juttner, Janet Rose Gumprecht and Polly Bergen. He died on 1 March 2012 in Santa Clarita Valley, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Kristoff made his television debut at age 8 in the sit-com series "That's My Mama." Now, 39 years later, he is one of the stars on CBS's "Young and The Restless," the number one rated drama for the past 25 years on daytime television, playing the popular character of Neil Winters. Is it just a coincidence that Kristoff has been starring on Y and R for 23 plus years.
His childlike gifts have all emerged into the full measure of a mature actor, as is evident by his eight Emmy Award nominations.
Two of Kristoff's Emmy nominations came from starring in the short-lived, NBC-TV daytime drama, "Generations." Kristoff was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in 1990, and in 1991. In 1992 he won the Emmy Award for his role of Neil Winters on "The Young and The Restless." He was nominated for an Emmy in 1993, 1999, and also in 2000, 2006, 2007, and Kristoff won a second Emmy in 2008, for Best Supporting Actor for his role on The Young and The Restless.
Kristoff has had the distinct honor of winning the NAACP Image Award as Best Actor in a Daytime Drama, "The Young and the Restless" nine times. He has been nominated for the Image award sixteen times.
Kristoff is no stranger to the CBS network, having starred in the series "Charlie and Company," with Flip Wilson, Gladys Knight, and Della Reese. He was also a series regular on CBS' "The Bad News Bears." Kristoff also starred in the Spelling Series, "The San Pedro Beach Bums,"
As a child and young adult, Kristoff worked with legendary entertainers such as Richard Pryor, Tony Orlando, Diahann Carroll, Jack Warden, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, Smokey Robinson, Irene Cara, Gladys Knight, Farrah Fawcett, Jon Voight, and had the distinction of playing the title role of Young Alex Haley in "Roots 2," for which he won a 'Youth in Film' award.
Kristoff has starred in many television dramatic features and mini series, (list available upon request) as well as over two dozen television guest star roles including "Suddenly Susan," "Arliss," "The Jamie Foxx Show," "Get Real," "Pensacola," "Martin," "Living Single," "For Your Love," "The Cosby Show," "Diagnosis Murder," etc. etc. Additionally, he had a recurring role, playing Holly Robinson's boyfriend on the ABC-TV sitcom series "Hanging with Mr. Cooper." He also guest starred in Bow Wow's WB pilot project, "Saving Jason."
Kristoff's feature film credits include starring roles in "The Champ," "Top of the Heap," "A Man Called God," and "Trois 2, Pandoras Box."
Kristoff starred in the independent feature "Carpool Guy," directed by and starring fellow daytime alum Corbin Bernsen.
Kristoff has appeared on "The Tonight Show," with Jay Leno, and over three dozen other talk shows!
Kristoff was voted one of the 40 most fascinating faces by 'People' Magazine in 1998. Additionally, Kristoff was voted one of the 'top ten soap studs' of all time by E-On Line in 1999.
Unwilling to limit his artistic talents to acting, Kristoff formed his own production company to produce and direct his own projects,. One of Kristoff's screenplays has been optioned by Warner Brothers.
From 1995-1997, he created, produced, and hosted the CBS series, "CBS Soap Break," an up close and personal look at CBS soap stars.
Kristoff has written, produced, directed, and hosted two installments of a 'behind the scenes' video series entitled, "Backstage Pass to the 25th and 26th Annual Daytime Emmy's."
Kristoff has also written, produced and directed a children's workout/exercise DVD starring his two children, Julian and Paris.
Kristoff was hired by the Starz network as an official spokesperson for the Black Starz channel.
In 2006, Kristoff was hired to host TV Guide's "Close-up," and "Soap Secrets."
Kristoff hosted the Pre Show to the Golden Globes, Live on the Red Carpet, for the T.V. Guide Network in 2007.
Kristoff is also the brainchild of a Hollywood based DVD/board game, 'Becoming a Celebrity' that hit toy store shelves in 2005.
In 2008, Kristoff produced a $2 million dollar Independent feature film "A Bridge To Nowhere," directed by Blair Underwood.
Kristoff was voted as one of TV Guides top 25 Sexiest Soap males in 2008.
Kristoff Guest Starred on "Everybody Hates Chris" in 2008, playing himself!
Summer of 2008, Kristoff hosted TV Guides "Soaps Top 25 Sexiest Ladies."
Kristoff won his second Emmy for playing the popular character of Neil Winters on "The Young and The Restless" in 2008.
In 2009, Kristoff Guested on the wildly popular "L.A. INK" show on TLC, adding to his tattoo collection!
Kristoff presented at the "World Magic Awards" in 2009.
Kristoff starred in the Wayans pilot project "Growing Up Wayans" in the summer of 2010, playing Kim Wayan's husband and father to their 6 kids.
Kristoff was a recurring guest star on the sit-com "Family Time" airing on the Bounce Network.
Kristoff guest-starred in September 2013 on "Love That Girl" on TV One, working with Phil Morris, alumni from Y and R.
Kristoff guest-starred on Byron Allens, "The First Family," August, 2013.
Kristoff worked on a feature film project 34 years in the making: "A Man Called God," a unique 'cult' documentary about Kristoff's travels to Southern India to study with a world renowned holy man that 50 million disciples call God.
Kristoff had three children, his son, Julian, and daughters, Paris and Lola.- Kelly Thordsen was born on 19 January 1917 in Deadwood, South Dakota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Parallax View (1974), Texas Across the River (1966) and Yancy Derringer (1958). He was married to Lucille Ruby Baumgardner. He died on 23 January 1978 in Sun Valley, California, USA.