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1-9 of 9
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Tall distinguished looking George Ford started out as a contract player in the early 1930s but like most contract players, it didn't work out. Never discouraged, Ford moved on to roles as dancers, socialites, and chorus boys. Ford would occasionally have dialog but he was constantly used for his good looking appearance and his unique ability to ballroom dance.
During the 1950s, Ford developed a reputation for being one of the best dancers in Hollywood. Musicals weren't his specialty though, it was the nice ballrooms and the socialite parties. He continue to work these throughout his career. He also managed to appear in a lot of various war films playing soldiers and high ranking military officers. With the popularity of television westerns increase, Ford found himself frequently appearing at square dances and as a dancer to show the leading ladies off. Eventually he became a regular townsman for a few years on Gunsmoke appearing in the bar scenes and playing bank tellers and town dignitaries.
By 1968, Ford's work started to decrease and he decided to retire to Colorado where he could take up skiing and where he and his wife regularly competed in ballroom dancing contest. Like many extras, Ford's talents were not known to the general film public but he leaves behind a legacy of making the other dancers he danced with look better than they were and a large amount of film work that can be appreciated by future generation.- Lynn Fontanne was a British actress of French and Irish descent. She spend most of her acting career in the United States, and she is considered among the great leading ladies of American theatre. She formed an acting duo with her husband Alfred Lunt (1892-1977). Fontanne had few film roles, but was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Fontanne was born in Woodford, Essex in 1887, which was at the time a suburb of London with an ever-growing population. Woodford was annexed to Greater London in 1965 as part of an administrative reform. It is currently part of the London Borough of Redbridge. Fontanne's parents were Jules Fontanne (of French descent) and Frances Ellen Thornley (of Irish descent).
Fontanne first gained fame in 1921, at the age of 34. She portrayed the protagonist character Dulcy in the farce play "Dulcy" by George Simon Kaufman (1889-1961) and Marc Connelly (1890-1980), and won acclaim as a comedy actress. She became known for her witty roles, and had roles specifically written for her by Samuel Nathaniel Behrman (1893-1973), Robert Emmet Sherwood (1896-1955), and Noël Coward (1899-1973).
Fontanne enjoyed further success with a leading dramatic role in "Strange Interlude" (1928) by Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953). Fontanne portrayed protagonist Nina Leeds, a woman who lost her original fiance in World War play. The grieving Nina then engages in a series of affairs, before marrying "amiable fool" Sam Evans. She is aware that madness runs in the Evans family, so she has a child with a lover and has Sam acknowledge it as his own. She then maintains secret affairs for the next twenty years, while still posing as a loving wife. Due to its content, the play was considered controversial in the 1920s, but it was a hit.
Fontanne made her film debut in the romantic comedy "Second Youth". She had her greatest success in the medium with the comedy "The Guardsman" (1931). In the film, a jealous husband creates a second identity to seduce his wife. Fontanne played the wife, who recognizes her husband but decides to play along. Fontanne was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role, but the Award was instead won by rival actress Helen Hayes (1900-1993).
Fontanne's most notable theatrical success in the 1930s was the risque play "Design for Living" (1933), involving bisexuality and a ménage à trois. Fontanne continued performing as a stage actress until her official retirement in 1958. During her last year as a stage actress, Fontanne and Lunt introduced their new theatrical house, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
Fontanne continued appearing regularly in television until the mid-1960s. She received an Emmy Award for her role in "The Magnificent Yankee" (1965), and was nominated for a second one for her role as Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928) in "Anastasia" (1967). Fontanne received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.
Fontane continued living in retirement until 1983, residing in her summer home "Ten Chimneys" in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. She was 95-years-old at the time of her death, one of the oldest living actresses. Following her death, Ten chimneys was converted to a house museum and social center for American theater. - Actress
- Additional Crew
Mürüvvet Sim was born on 23 April 1929 in Tekirdag, Turkey. She was an actress, known for Neseli Günler (1978), Gol Krali (1981) and Beni Osman öldürdü (1963). She died on 30 July 1983 in Istanbul, Turkey.- Additional Crew
- Music Department
- Writer
Dietz was an unusual, but not illogical, combination: a publicist-lyricist. Of his upbringing, he wrote, "We lived in cycles of Manhattan, inheriting neighborhoods as they became passe, from Yorkville to Harlem, to Washington Heights, to West End Avenue, to Riverside Drive. As a result, I got to know kids from all over town -- marble shooters, button pitchers, stoop handballers, and other dazzling athletes who used the city for a outdoor gym." He went on to Townsend Harris high school ('Ira Gershwin' and E.Y. Harburg were among his fellow students) and, after a brief stint as a reporter, to journalism school at Columbia University. First prize in a slogan-writing contest sponsored by a cigarette company landed Dietz an advertising job; his employer introduced him to Samuel Goldwyn, whose publicity staff Dietz joined, and Jerome Kern, who became his collaborator on a 1924 Broadway musical, "Dear Sir". In 1929, for a Broadway revue called "The Little Show", Dietz first teamed with the lawyer-turned-composer Arthur Schwartz. With interruptions, their partnership lasted more than 30 years, producing such songs as "Dancing in the Dark", "By Myself" and "You and the Night and the Music". Many of their Broadway numbers (and a new one, "That's Entertainment") were used in The Band Wagon (1953), although some of Dietz's lyrics from the 1920s and 1930s had to be toned down for 1950s MGM. Dietz served as a publicist for the Goldwyn company and its successor, MGM, for decades, but his Broadway credentials (he wrote sketches and "books" as well as lyr ics) earned him a seat at the so-called Algonquin Round Table with George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley et al.- Music Department
- Actor
Vasantrao Deshpande was born on 2 May 1920 in Murtijapur, Akola, Maharashtra, India. He was an actor, known for Vahininchya Bangdya (1953), Chimani Pakhre (1952) and Iye Marathi Che Nagri (1965). He died on 30 July 1983 in Pune, Maharashtra, India.- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Sidney Kaufman was born on 28 March 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Sidney was a writer and producer, known for Legends of Anika (1954), Sorcerers' Village (1958) and Macbeth (1960). Sidney died on 30 July 1983 in London, England, UK.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Gorgeous, vivacious, glamour girl Millie Monroe was another black beauty that contributed her talent and beauty to films but didn't get the fair chance she so deserved in films. Millie Monroe was a California based dancer, singer, and actress who appeared in many Hollywood and race films in the 1940s. Because of her striking resemblance to Lena Horne, Millie was chosen to be a stand-in for Lena in Cabin in the Sky. Millie also performed in Duke Ellington's stage production of "Jump for Joy," a sensational musical that included many at the time would be legends performers like Dorothy Dandridge and Herb Jeffries.- Wiveka Alexandersson was born on 9 July 1895 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Shall We Go to My Place or Your Place or Each Go Home Alone? (1973) and Det är grisens fel! (1973). She was married to Mathias Alexandersson. She died on 30 July 1983 in Solna, Stockholms län, Sweden.
- Holger Salin was born on 20 May 1911 in Helsinki, Finland. He was an actor, known for Punainen viiva (1959), Tiitus (1962) and Luottamuksella (1962). He was married to Tyyne Maria Oksanen. He died on 30 July 1983 in Orivesi, Finland.