Famous People I've Met Or Spoken With
I realize there are a lot of old-timers on this list, and it's pretty eclectic, but I have interviewed and written in the fields of nostalgia, classic film, soap opera, and opera.
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Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz, the eldest of three children of Helen (Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz, Jewish immigrants from Hungary. Curtis himself admits that while he had almost no formal education, he was a student of the "school of hard knocks" and learned from a young age that the only person who ever had his back was himself, so he learned how to take care of both himself and younger brother, Julius. Curtis grew up in poverty, as his father, Emanuel, who worked as a tailor, had the sole responsibility of providing for his entire family on his meager income. This led to constant bickering between Curtis's parents over money, and Curtis began to go to movies as a way of briefly escaping the constant worries of poverty and other family problems. The financial strain of raising two children on a meager income became so tough that in 1935, Curtis's parents decided that their children would have a better life under the care of the state and briefly had Tony and his brother admitted to an orphanage. During this lonely time, the only companion Curtis had was his brother, Julius, and the two became inseparable as they struggled to get used to this new way of life. Weeks later, Curtis's parents came back to reclaim custody of Tony and his brother, but by then Curtis had learned one of life's toughest lessons: the only person you can count on is yourself.
In 1938, shortly before Tony's Bar Mitzvah, tragedy struck when Tony lost the person most important to him when his brother, Julius, was hit by a truck and killed. After that tragedy, Curtis's parents became convinced that a formal education was the best way Tony could avoid the same never-knowing-where-your-next-meal-is-coming-from life that they had known. However, Tony rejected this because he felt that learning about literary classics and algebra wasn't going to advance him in life as much as some real hands-on life experience would. He was to find that real-life experience a few years later, when he enlisted in the navy in 1942. Tony spent over two years getting that life experience doing everything from working as a crewman on a submarine tender, the USS Proteus (AS-19), to honing his future craft as an actor performing as a sailor in a stage play at the Navy Signalman School in Illinois.
In 1945, Curtis was honorably discharged from the navy, and when he realized that the GI Bill would allow him to go to acting school without paying for it, he now saw that his lifelong pipe dream of being an actor might actually be achievable. Curtis auditioned for the New York Dramatic Workshop, and after being accepted on the strength of his audition piece (a scene from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in pantomime), Curtis enrolled in early 1947. He then began to pay his dues by appearing in a slew of stage productions, including "Twelfth Night" and "Golden Boy". He then connected with a small theatrical agent named Joyce Selznick, who was the niece of film producer David O. Selznick. After seeing his potential, Selznick arranged an interview for Curtis to see David O. Selznick at Universal Studios, where Curtis was offered a seven-year contract. After changing his name to what he saw as an elegant, mysterious moniker--"Tony Curtis" (named after the novel Anthony Adverse (1936) by Hervey Allen and a cousin of his named Janush Kertiz)--Curtis began making a name for himself by appearing in small, offbeat roles in small-budget productions. His first notable performance was a two-minute role in Criss Cross (1949), with Burt Lancaster, in which he makes Lancaster jealous by dancing with Yvonne De Carlo. This offbeat role resulted in Curtis's being typecast as a heavy for the next few years, such as playing a gang member in City Across the River (1949).
Curtis continued to build up a show reel by accepting any paying job, acting in a number of bit-part roles for the next few years. It wasn't until late 1949 that he finally got the chance to demonstrate his acting flair, when he was cast in an important role in an action western, Sierra (1950). On the strength of his performance in that movie, Curtis was finally cast in a big-budget movie, Winchester '73 (1950). While he appears in that movie only very briefly, it was a chance for him to act alongside a Hollywood legend, James Stewart.
As his career developed, Curtis wanted to act in movies that had social relevance, ones that would challenge audiences, so he began to appear in such movies as Spartacus (1960) and The Defiant Ones (1958). He was advised against appearing as the subordinate sidekick in Spartacus (1960), playing second fiddle to the equally famous Kirk Douglas. However, Curtis saw no problem with this because the two had recently acted together in dual leading roles in The Vikings (1958).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rodney Stephen Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, to Augusta Amelia (Driver) and Frederick Jacob Steiger, both vaudevillians. He was of German and Austrian ancestry. After his parents' divorce, Steiger was raised by his mother in Newark, New Jersey. He dropped out of Westside High school at age 16 and joined the Navy. He saw action in the Pacific on a destroyer. Steiger returned to New Jersey after the war and worked for the VA. He was part of an amateur acting group, and then joined the Actors' Studio using his GI Bill benefits.
Steiger received his first film roles in the early 1950s. His first major one was in Teresa (1951), but his first lead role was in the TV version of Marty (1953). The movie version, however, had Ernest Borgnine in the lead and won him an Academy Award. Steiger's breakthrough role came in 1954, with the classic On the Waterfront (1954). Since then he has been a presence on the screen as everything from a popular leading man to a little-known character actor. Steiger made a name for himself in many different types of roles, from a crooked promoter in The Harder They Fall (1956) to the title character in Al Capone (1959). He was one of dozens of stars in the epic World War II film The Longest Day (1962). In 1964, he received his second Oscar nomination for The Pawnbroker (1964). The next couple of years he was at the height of his powers. In 1965, he starred in the dark comedy The Loved One (1965), and in David Lean's epic Doctor Zhivago (1965). In 1966, he starred in the BBC Play of the Month (1965) episode "Death of a Salesman" as Willy Loman in the TV version of his stage play "Death of a Salesman," but in 1967, he landed what many consider his greatest role: Sheriff Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night (1967), opposite Sidney Poitier. Steiger deservedly took home the Best Actor Oscar for his work in that film.
He took another controversial role as a man with many tattoos in The Illustrated Man (1969) and as a serial killer in the classic No Way to Treat a Lady (1968). After that, he seemed to have withdrawn from high-profile movies and became more selective in the roles he chose. He turned down the lead in Patton (1970) and also in The Godfather (1972). Among his more notable roles in the 1970s are Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971), Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973), as Benito Mussolini in The Last 4 Days (1974), Portrait of a Hitman (1979), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), F.I.S.T. (1978) and The Amityville Horror (1979). He starred in the critically acclaimed The Chosen (1981) with Robby Benson and Maximilian Schell, perhaps the highlight of his 1980s movie career. Steiger increasingly moved away from the big Hollywood pictures, instead taking roles in foreign productions and independent movies. As the 1980s ended, Steiger landed a role as the buttoned-up New York City Chief of Police in The January Man (1989).
Steiger was seriously affected by depression for 8 years. As he returned to the screen in the late 1990s he began creating some of his most memorable roles. He was the doctor in the independently-made movie Shiloh (1996), about an abused dog. He was the crazed, kill-'em-all army general in Mars Attacks! (1996) who always called his enemies peace-mongers. He took a small part as a Supreme Court judge in The Hurricane (1999) and as a preacher in the badly produced film End of Days (1999). He was still active in films moving into the new millennium.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Undoubtedly the woman who had come to epitomize what we recognize today as "celebrity," Zsa Zsa Gabor, is better known for her many marriages, personal appearances, her "dahlink" catchphrase, her actions, gossip, and quotations on men, rather than her film career.
Zsa Zsa was born as Sári Gabor on February 6, 1917 in Budapest, Hungary, to Jolie Gabor (née Janka Tilleman) and Vilmos Gabor (born Farkas Miklós Grün), both of Jewish descent. Her siblings were Eva Gabor and Magda Gabor. Zsa Zsa studied at a Swiss finishing school, was second runner-up in the fifth Miss Hungary pageant, and began her stage career in Vienna in 1934. In 1941, the year she obtained her first divorce, she followed younger sister Eva to Hollywood.
A radiant, beautiful blonde, Zsa Zsa began to appear on television series and occasional films. Her first film was at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Lovely to Look At (1952), co-starring Kathryn Grayson and Red Skelton. She next made a comedy called We're Not Married! (1952) at 20th Century Fox with Ginger Rogers. It was far from a star billing; she appeared several names down the cast as a supporting actress. But in 1952 she broke into films big time with her starring role opposite José Ferrer in Moulin Rouge (1952), although it has been said that throughout filming, director John Huston gave her a very difficult time.
In the following years, Zsa Zsa slipped back into supporting roles in films such as Lili (1953) and 3 Ring Circus (1954). Her main period of film work was in the 1950s, with other roles in Death of a Scoundrel (1956), with Yvonne De Carlo, and The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1958) with Anna Neagle; again, these were supporting roles. By the 1960s, Zsa Zsa was appearing more as herself in films. She now appeared to follow her own persona around, and cameo appearances were the order of the day in films such as Pepe (1960) and Jack of Diamonds (1967). This continued throughout the 1970s.
She was memorable as herself in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), in which she humorously poked fun at a 1989 incident where she was convicted of slapping a police officer (Paul Kramer) during a traffic stop. She spent three days in jail and had to do 120 hours of community service. Such infamous incidents contributed to her becoming one of the most all-time recognizable of Hollywood celebrities, and sometimes ridiculed as a result. She was also memorable to British television viewers on The Ruby Wax Show (1997).
In 2002, Gabor was reported to be in a coma in a Los Angeles hospital after a horrifying car accident. The 85-year-old star was injured when the car she was traveling in hit a utility pole in West Hollywood, California. The reports about her coma eventually proved to be inaccurate.
Zsa Zsa's life, spanning two continents, nine husbands, and 11 decades, came to an end on December 18, 2016, when she died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California. She was 99.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Joan Geraldine Bennett was born on February 27, 1910, in Palisades, New Jersey. Her parents were both successful stage actors, especially her father, Richard Bennett, and often toured the country for weeks at a time. In fact, Joan came from a long line of actors, dating back to the 18th century. Often, when her parents were on tour, Joan and her two older sisters, Constance Bennett, who later became an actress, and Barbara were left in the care of close friends. At the age of four, Joan made her first stage appearance. She debuted in films a year later in The Valley of Decision (1916), in which her father was the star and the entire Bennett clan participated. In 1923 she again appeared in a film which starred her father, playing a pageboy in The Eternal City (1923). It would be five more years before Joan appeared again on the screen. In between, she married Jack Marion Fox, who was 26 compared to her young age of 16. The union was anything but happy, in great part because of Fox's heavy drinking. In February of 1928 Joan and Jack had a baby girl they named Adrienne. The new arrival did little to help the marriage, though, and in the summer of 1928 they divorced. Now with a baby to support, Joan did something she had no intention of doing--she turned to acting. She appeared in Power (1928) with Alan Hale and Carole Lombard, a small role but a start. The next year she starred in Bulldog Drummond (1929), sharing top billing with Ronald Colman. Before the year was out she was in three more films--Disraeli (1929), The Mississippi Gambler (1929) and Three Live Ghosts (1929). Not only did audiences like her, but so did the critics. Between 1930 and 1931, Joan appeared in nine more movies. In 1932 she starred opposite Spencer Tracy in She Wanted a Millionaire (1932), but it wasn't one she liked to remember, partly because Tracy couldn't stand the fact that everyone was paying more attention to her than to him. Joan was to remain busy and popular throughout the rest of the 1930s and into the 1940s. By the 1950s Joan was well into her 40s and began to lessen her film appearances. She made only eight pictures, in addition to appearing in two television series. After Desire in the Dust (1960), Joan would be absent from the movie scene for the next ten years, resurfacing in House of Dark Shadows (1970), reprising her role from the Dark Shadows (1966) TV series as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Joan's final screen appearance was in the Italian thriller Suspiria (1977). Her final public performance was in the TV movie Divorce Wars: A Love Story (1982). On December 7, 1990, Joan died of a heart attack in Scarsdale, New York. She was 80 years old.- Actor
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Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945, in Manhattan, New York. His parents, Ilse Anna Maria (Hadra) and Harry Irving Winkler, were German Jewish immigrants who escaped the Holocaust by moving to the US in 1939. His father was the president of an international lumber company while his mother worked alongside his father. Winkler is a cousin of Richard Belzer.
Winkler grew up with "a high level of low self-esteem." Throughout elementary school and high school, he struggled with academics. This was due to what he would later identify as dyslexia. His parents expected him to eventually work with them at the lumber company. However, he had other plans as he saw roles on stage as the key to his happiness. Winkler's acting debut came in the eighth grade when he played the role of Billy Budd in the school play of the same name. Following his graduation from McBurney High School, Winkler was able to incorporate his learning disability and succeed in higher education. He received a Bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1970. He later received an honorary PhD in Hebrew Literature in 1978 from Emerson College.
Following college, his top priority was to become an actor. However, if this was unsuccessful, he wanted to become a child psychologist because of his deep interest in working with children. Like many other actors, he began his career by appearing in 30 commercials. His first major film role was in The Lords of Flatbush (1974) in which he played a member of a Brooklyn gang. After that, he was cast on a new ABC series which was set in the 1950s, Happy Days (1974). He was given the role of high school dropout and greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. The character was seldom seen during the first few episodes as ABC initially feared he would be perceived as a hoodlum. However, the character became extremely popular with viewers, and the show's producers decided to give Fonzie a more prominent role in the series.
Following this, the show's ratings began to soar, and Fonzie became a 1970s icon and the epitome of cool. His motorcycle, leather jacket, thumbs-up gesture, and uttering of the phrase "Aayyyy!" became television trademarks. Unlike many other 1970s stars who rose to fame in a short period of time and developed "big heads", Winkler managed to stay well-grounded and avoided falling into this trap. He was said to be more polite and agreeable even after his popularity soared. He remained on the series until its cancellation in 1984.
In the mid-1980s, with his Happy Days (1974) now behind him, Winkler decided to change his focus toward producing and directing. He produced and directed several television shows and movies, most notably MacGyver (1985) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, he was able to re-establish himself with a younger generation of moviegoers and TV viewers, appearing in the popular films, Scream (1996) and The Waterboy (1998) and on shows such as The Practice (1997) and Arrested Development (2003).
In 2018 after over 45 years in the entertainment industry, he won his first-ever Prime Time Emmy Award: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the HBO series Barry (2018). In addition to his movie and film credits, Winkler is a well-accomplished author. Between 2003 and 2007, he co-authored 12 children's novels with Lin Oliver. The series is called "Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever." The books are based on his early struggles with dyslexia, and they sold more than two million books in that time.
Winkler has been married since 1978 to Stacey Winkler (nee Weitzman) with whom he has three children. Together, they are actively involved with various children's charities. In 1990, they co-founded the Children's Action Network (CAN), which provides free immunization to over 200,000 children. Winkler is also involved with the Annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the annual Toys for Tots campaign, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and the Special Olympics.
In September 2003, Winkler suffered a personal setback when John Ritter unexpectedly passed away. Winkler was on the set of 8 Simple Rules (2002) that day for a guest appearance and was one of the last people to talk to Ritter.- Actor
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Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and since then, has moved easily between film genres, ranging from drama and romantic comedy to thriller and action.
Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to Leona Elizabeth (Loftus), a homemaker, and George A. Douglas, a civil engineer and surveyor. He is of Irish, as well as English, Scottish, and German, descent. Michael studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968).
He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including Maude (1972) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time, Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. He looked into the "K"'s for surnames and thought it was inoffensive to chose 'Keaton'. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986), the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice (1988), and The Dream Team (1989).
Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero, millionaire playboy/crime-fighter Bruce Wayne, in Batman (1989). Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader, given his prior work and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson, playing the lunatic villain, "The Joker". Keaton's dramatic work earned widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and Batman (1989) became one of the most successful films of the year.
Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton starred as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop (1991), and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992). He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the drama My Life (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with sexy Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), twice in the same role, dogged Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He also played a killer in the mediocre thriller Desperate Measures (1998).
In the 2000s, Keaton appeared in several productions with mixed success, including Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005). He also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).
He returned to major film roles in the 2010s, co-starring in The Other Guys (2010), RoboCop (2014) and Need for Speed (2014). Also that year, Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), a film by 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010) director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. Keaton's critically praised lead performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy, and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2015, he played a journalist in Spotlight (2015), which, like Birdman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2016, he starred as Ray Kroc, the developer of McDonald's, in the drama The Founder (2016).
He is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). For several movie fans, he is probably best known for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (due to his contribution for the voice of the role, as the man in the Darth Vader suit was David Prowse, whose voice was dubbed because of his British West Country accent). In his brilliant course of memorable performances, among others, he has also appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) three times and played Mufasa both in The Lion King (1994) and The Lion King (2019), while he returned too as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).- Actress
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Born Helen Luella Koford on January 7, 1929, the Los Angeles, California native worked as a model before she made her film debut at age 11 in 20th Century-Fox's Maryland (1940). Through the 1940s, she worked under a variety of names (her own, Judy Ford and January Ford) before settling on Terry Moore in 1948. Placed under contract by Columbia Pictures, Moore was loaned out to RKO Radio Pictures for one of her most famous films, Mighty Joe Young (1949). By that time, Columbia studio boss Harry Cohn had changed her Swedish name Helen Koford to the Irish-sounding Terry Moore. In 1953, she received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Paramount Pictures' Come Back, Little Sheba (1952). In the 1970s, she was in the news more than she was in films, asserting that she was the secret wife of the late billionaire Howard Hughes. She has starred in 77 feature films and listed among her leading men are such Hollywood legends including Burt Lancaster, John Wayne, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, Glenn Ford, Mickey Rooney and Robert Wagner. Since she was a pilot herself, Terry played a major role in preparing Leonardo DiCaprio for his portrayal of Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004). In 1964, Terry published a memoir of her life with Howard Hughes, entitled 'The Beauty and the Billionaire'.- Journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns once dubbed Lina Basquette "The Screen Tragedy Girl." In retrospect, Lina's private life bore a similar description. While six of her eight marriages ended up "I Don'ts" (she was widowed twice), she would also have to contend with a flurry of legal confrontations, stormy affairs and suicide attempts. Once she gave a fond farewell to her entertainment career in the late 1930s, her life literally went to the dogs.
The full-faced, raven-haired California-born actress was christened Lena Baskette, the daughter of Frank Baskette, a drug store owner. Lina trained in dance while very young and at the San Francisco World's Fair of 1915, the eight-year-old was featured as a baby ballerina for the Victor Talking Machine Company's exhibition. Movie maker Carl Laemmle saw her perform and signed her to a long-term contract with his Universal Pictures company at $50 a week. Lina headlined her very own short programs, the "Lena Baskette Featurettes," between 1916-1917, and also garnered young leads in a number of full-length features including What Love Can Do (1916), Shoes (1916), A Prince for a Day (1917), The Weaker Vessel (1919) and, more notably, Penrod (1922).
In 1916, Lena's father died and mother Gladys remarried. Gladys and her new husband, dance director Ernest Belcher, had a daughter together who became Lena's half-sister and future dancing star Marge Champion. Lena's mother was an avid stage mother and eventually, with Belcher's help, managed to prod Lena into the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923. She stayed with the Follies for a couple of years. Billed third as "America's Prima Ballerina," Lena's marquee name was changed to the more exotic spelling of "Lina Basquette." Her act was caught by the legendary Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who offered to take on Lina as her protégée. Lina's mother nixed the offer, wishing to make bigger bucks for her daughter with the Follies and other shows, Texas Guinan's notorious speakeasies notwithstanding.
At age 18, Lina married 38-year-old Warner Bros. mogul Sam Warner. Lina greatly influenced Warner to pursue sound pictures and even encouraged him to star Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927). Sam died unexpectedly at age 40 of a brain hemorrhage the night before the film's premiere. This heartbreak jump-started an avalanche of problems for Lina. She not only became embroiled in a series of legal battles with her in-laws over her husband's estate, she lost custody of her daughter Lita in the process. She would not see her daughter for another 30 years. This crisis led to Lina's first attempt at suicide.
Lina valiantly returned to films and made such silents as Ranger of the North (1927), The Noose (1928) and Wheel of Chance (1928), while scoring two noteworthy roles in Frank Capra's The Younger Generation (1929) and Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl (1928). In the latter she played an avowed atheist. This powerful film should have made Lina a sultry star had it not been released as a silent film right at the advent of talkies.
Within a very short time Lina married twice more -- a quickie union to cameraman J. Peverell Marley, and in 1931 the widow (once again) of third husband, actor Ray Hallam, who suddenly died at the age of 26 after only a few months of wedded bliss. Lina subsequently started up a highly publicized affair with famed boxer Jack Dempsey. Their stormy breakup led to her second suicide try and a rebound marriage to his personal trainer Theodore Hayes in December of 1931. This fourth marriage was not valid as it was discovered that Hayes was already married. The couple remarried in 1933 and had a son, Edward Alvin, in 1934 before divorcing the following year.
At this juncture Lina's private life received more interest from the public than her films. Her career had down-sized to "B" westerns opposite such stars as Buck Jones and Hoot Gibson and a few mellers here and there. After touring the stages of Australia, New Zealand and various South African cities in the plays "Private Lives," "Black Limelight" and "Idiot's Delight" in 1938 and 1939, and after appearing in the films Rose of the Rio Grande (1938), Four Men and a Prayer (1938) and A Night for Crime (1943), she called it quits.
Misfortune, however, continued to follow her. In August of 1943 she brought up assault and rape charges against a 22-year-old Army GI. The soldier was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in the brig. Completely retired, she found emotional solace with her new post-war profession -- the breeding and handling of Great Danes. In 1949, she became the owner of Honey Hollow Kennels, a 25 acre estate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There she bred and raised champion dogs for best-in-shows and also became a respected judge. More marriages came and fell by the wasteside and at least one of her later unions lost out to an either/or ultimatum with her Great Danes. Lina also wrote the non-fiction book "Your Great Dane" in 1972. She moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1975 and lived there until her death of lymphoma at age 87 on September 30, 1994.
Out of nowhere, the octogenarian grandmother had one last chance to bask in the limelight when she was touchingly cast as Nada in Daniel Boyd's independent feature Paradise Park (1992) playing an Appalachian trailer park granny who dreams that God is coming and granting a wish on all its residents. The film also featured country music stars Porter Wagoner and Johnny PayCheck. Boyd had met the actress at a West Virginia film festival. - Actress
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Born in Portland, Maine to a musically inclined family (her mother was once an opera singer) and on stage from the age of 5, singer/actress Linda Lavin graduated from The College of William and Mary with a theatre degree.
Linda pounded the New York pavements in the early 1960s searching for work following some stock roles in New Jersey, and gradually made a dent within the New York musical comedy scene with roles in "Oh, Kay!" (1960), "A Family Affair," (1962), "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman" (1966) (her standout number was "You've Got Possibilities") and "On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever" (1966). She also won kudos for her straight acting roles in "Little Murders" (1969 Drama Desk award) and "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" (1969 Tony nomination). A one-time member of Paul Sills' Compass Players comedy troupe back in the late 1950s, she served as a replacement in Sills' "Story Theatre" Broadway production in 1971.
Television beckoned in the 1970s and utilized her singing talents in a small-screen version of Damn Yankees! (1967) starring Phil Silvers and Lee Remick. After a one-season false start as Detective Janice Wentworth on the sitcom Barney Miller (1975), it did not take long for the talented lady to become a household name in another. As the titular waitress/mother in the sitcom Alice (1976), based on the award-winning film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) starring Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn, Lavin won deserved stardom. During the nine seasons (1976-1985) the show was on the air, she nabbed two Golden Globe awards and an Emmy nomination. Ever the singer, she even warbled "There's a New Girl in Town" over the opening credits of the show to the delight of her fans.
Following this success, Linda lavished her attentions once again on the stage. She earned renewed respect, in addition to several critic's awards, for her diversified Broadway work in "Broadway Bound" (1987 Tony award), "Death Defying Acts" (1995 Obie award), "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1998 Tony nomination: as the high-strung Mrs. Van Daan) and "Tales of the Allergist Wife" (2000 Tony nomination). She later appeared in a PBS-TV version of Collected Stories (2002) and in 2010 revived it on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination for her efforts. She has also occasionally directed for the stage.
Linda was married and divorced twice to actors -- Ron Leibman and Kip Niven -- and in 2005 married her third husband, actor Steve Bakunas, who is also an artist and musician. After her "Alice" heyday, the actress would again return to series work, albeit the short-lived Room for Two (1992) and Conrad Bloom (1998).
Millennium credits include penetrating/amusing TV work on "The Sopranos," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "The O.C.," "Madame Secretary," "Santa Clarita Diet" and "Room 104," plus regular roles on three comedy series -- Sean Saves the World (2013), 9JKL (2017) and Yvette Slosch, Agent (2020) (title role). As for stage work, Linda returned to Broadway where she received fine reviews for her starring role in Carol Burnett's autobiographical play "Hollywood Arms" (2002) portraying Burnett's grandmother. The piece was co-written by Burnett's late daughter, Carrie Hamilton. Linda also received excellent reviews in "Collected Stories" (2010). Subsequent Broadway shows included brief runs of "The Lyons" (2012) and "My Mother's Brief Affair."- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Johnny Whitaker was born on 13 December 1959 in Van Nuys, California, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Tom Sawyer (1973), Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973) and A Talking Cat!?! (2013). He was previously married to Symbria Wright.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Billy Gray was born on January 13, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA, as the son of famous actress Beatrice Gray. He was a successful child actor, known for Father Knows Best (1954), On Moonlight Bay (1951), and as Bobby in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). He went on the become an inventor and a competitive motor racer.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tap dancing at the age of 16 months, pert and pretty Elinor Donahue has been entertaining audiences for six decades. Born Mary Eleanor Donahue in Tacoma, Washington, on April 19, 1937, she appeared as a radio singer and vaudeville dancer while a mere toddler, then was picked up by Universal Studios at the age of 5.
Cast in minor child roles in such pictures as Mister Big (1943), the precocious youngster eventually moved to MGM but didn't attain the juvenile stardom of a Margaret O'Brien or Elizabeth Taylor, whom she supported in both The Unfinished Dance (1947) and Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), respectively. Still and all, Elinor's talent and wholesome appeal was recognized and the 50s brought her into the TV era.
Elinor became more accessible, finally winning nationwide "girl-next-door" notice in her late teens as the oldest daughter of "ideal" parents Robert Young and Jane Wyatt in the classic family show Father Knows Best (1954). Suffering more than her share of teen angst, she played Betty ("Princess") Anderson from 1954 to 1960.
By the time the series was finished, Eleanor was blossoming into a pretty, wholesome, romantic ingénue. She became Andy Griffith's first longstanding girlfriend on The Andy Griffith Show (1960) for one season, but then suffered a major slump. She revived in the 70s with steady roles on The Odd Couple (1970) (as Tony Randall's girlfriend), Pilot (1977) as a typical sunny mom, and as a guest for countless other shows, including Barnaby Jones (1973), Newhart (1982) and The Golden Girls (1985).
An extremely pleasant personality, she was primarily tapped into playing nice, friendly, non-flashy parts in both lightweight comedy and dramatic. Possessing a suitable voice for commercials and cartoons, she has lately found recurring roles on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993) and a few soaps, including Santa Barbara (1984) and Days of Our Lives (1965), the latter in which she played a rare malicious part.
Though she may not have had much of a chance to shine in her career, Elinor has certainly been a steady, reliable player who has not let her fans down with her obvious warmth and pleasing disposition. Into the 90's, guest appearances included "Murder, She Wrote," "Coach," "Friends," "Herman's Head," "Ellen," "Cold Case," and a recurring role as "Rebecca Quinn" on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993). Her last credits were several appearances as a judge on The Young and the Restless (1973) in 2010 and a featured role in the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004).
The widow of TV executive producer Harry Ackerman (he was 25 years her senior), whose list of credits included Leave It to Beaver (1957), Bewitched (1964) and Gidget (1965), and a mother of four sons, Elinor married third husband, contractor Louis Genevrino, in 1992. In 1998, she published a memoir entitled "In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue", in which she relived some of her memories of Hollywood along with providing more than 150 of her top-grade recipes.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Hugh O'Brian had the term "beefcake" written about him during his nascent film years in the early 1950s, but he chose to avoid the obvious typecast as he set up his career.
O'Brian was born Hugh Charles Krampe on April 19, 1925, in Rochester, New York, to Ohio-born parents Edith Lillian (Marks) and Hugh John Krampe, a United States Marine Corps officer. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants, while his mother was of half German Jewish and half English/Scottish descent. O'Brian first attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, then Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri. Moving from place to place growing up, he managed to show off his athletic prowess quite early. By the time he graduated from high school, he had lettered in football, basketball, wrestling and track. Originally pursuing law, he dropped out of the University of Cincinnati in 1942 (age 19) and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Upon his discharge he ended up in Los Angeles. Hugh joined a little theater group and a Santa Barbara stock company, where he developed his acting chops and slowly built up his résumé. He was discovered for TV by director/actress Ida Lupino, which opened the door to his signing with Universal Studios for films.
Hugh's gentlemanly ruggedness, similar to a James Garner or a Gene Barry, was ideal for pictures, and his lean physique and exceptionally photographic mug had the modest, brown-eyed, curly-haired looker plastered all over the movie magazines. He rebelled against the image for the most part and, as a result, his years with Universal were not as fruitful as they could have been. For the duration, he was pretty much confined as a secondary player to standard action pictures such as The Return of Jesse James (1950), The Cimarron Kid (1952), The Battle at Apache Pass (1952), Red Ball Express (1952), Son of Ali Baba (1952), The Lawless Breed (1952), Seminole (1953), Saskatchewan (1954) and Drums Across the River (1954). It was Rock Hudson who earned all of the Universal glamour guy roles and the out-and-out stardom that could easily have been Hugh's. In 1954, he left Universal to freelance but did not fare any better with more serviceable roles in White Feather (1955) and The Twinkle in God's Eye (1955).
Hugh finally earned top status in the "B" action adventure The Brass Legend (1956) but it did little to advance his film career. Offered the starring role in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) on TV, a year later, it became a mainstay hit and Hugh an "overnight" star. During his six-year run on the western classic, he managed to show off his singing talents on variety shows and appeared on Broadway, replacing Andy Griffith for a week in the musical "Destry Rides Again" in January of 1960.
The hirsutely handsome bachelor remained a durable talent throughout the 60s and 70s with plentiful work on the big screen, including Come Fly with Me (1963), Love Has Many Faces (1965), Ten Little Indians (1965), Ambush Bay (1966), Africa: Texas Style (1967), Strategy of Terror (1969), John Wayne's last film The Shootist (1976), and Bruce Lee's last film Game of Death (1978), as well as with the TV-movies Wild Women (1970), Harpy (1971), Murder on Flight 502 (1975), Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover (1977), Murder at the World Series (1977), Cruise Into Terror (1978). He also starred in the crime adventure series Search (1972), but never got the one role to earn the critical attention he merited. In addition, he kept busy on the summer stock circuit.
In later years, he appeared in the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito comedy "Twins"; returned as "Wyatt Earp" in the TV movies The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994); and made guest appearances on such TV shows as "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat," "Matt Houston," "Murder, She Wrote," "L.A. Law" and made his last on-camera appearance on the series "Call of the Wild" in 2000.
A sports enthusiast, his hobbies included sailing, tennis, swimming and long-distance bicycling, and his many philanthropic efforts did not go unrecognized. His proudest achievement was the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY), which he founded in 1958 after spending considerable time with Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his clinic in Africa. Struck by the impassioned work being done by Schweitzer, O'Brian set up his own program to help develop young people into future leaders. O'Brian was awarded honorary degrees by several prestigious institutions of higher learning. The perennial bachelor finally "settled down" and tied the knot at age 81 with longtime companion Virginia Barber, who was close to three decades his junior. They lived in his Benedict Canyon home.
Hugh died on September 5, 2016, in Beverly Hills, California, of natural causes.- Actor
- Special Effects
- Producer
Peter Lupus was born on 17 June 1932 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Mission: Impossible (1966), Challenge of the Gladiator (1965) and Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus (1965). He has been married to Sharon M. Hildebrand since 27 November 1960. They have one child.- Actor
- Stunts
Robert Fuller was born in Troy, New York on July 29, 1933 at 1:50 PM and was raised in Key West, Florida. He was an only child and his birth name was Leonard Leroy Lee, but he was nicknamed Buddy Lee by his friends.
Robert started his education at St Mary's in New York and when his mother Betty divorced she took Robert and they moved to Florida where she was nightclub dancer. Robert was put into Miami Military Academy, where he did 5th to 6th grade. After that he spent one year in a standard school. At this time Betty met and married Robert Simpson who was a naval officer and they moved to Chicago for one year then returned to Key West where he attended Robert attended Key West High for 9th grade. (15 years of age). Robert quit school at 9th grade as he did not enjoy school and openly admits he did not do well there. He worked a variety of jobs before moving to Hollywood.
When his mother Betty married Robert Simpson, Robert took the name Robert Simpson Jr. This changed when Robert started acting and he decided he needed a different handle. At the time he had no idea what his name should be but he had a relative with a first name of Fuller and he figured it went well with his name so the handle of Robert Fuller was created. Robert was very close to his step-dad and considered him as a dad rather than a step-dad, so for the remainder of this biography I will refer to him as Robert's dad or father.
Eventually, Betty convinced Robert Simpson to quit the navy. She taught him to dance, and this led to them opening a dance school in Key West. In the daytime his mother taught ballet to the local children and in the evening they both taught ballroom dancing to the hundreds of navy personnel who were stationed in Key West at that time. In 1950 when Robert was just 16 his parents decided to move to Hollywood. Robert's dad became a very accomplished dancer, and had a plan to get into the motion picture business as a dancer, which he did successfully. His dad subsequently changed his name to Robert Cole and danced in almost every musical made between 1950 up to his retirement in 1987. This included working in many top grade musicals such as Oklahoma, Jailhouse Rock, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in which young Robert Fuller also appeared as a dancer in the chorus line.
After the move to Hollywood Robert had several jobs. The most significant of these was at Graumans Chinese Theatre where he started as a doorman and worked his way up to Assistant Manager. He met a number of people around his own age of 18 years, who were members of the Screen Extras Guild, and they convinced him to join as they were earning significantly more than Robert. This was the start of Robert's journey into acting, and it was then he changed from Robert Simpson Jr to Robert Fuller.
After joining SEG Robert started doing extra work and in 1952 got his first job in the movie Above and Beyond with Robert Taylor. This was followed by extra work in a great many films including Raintree County with Liz Taylor, The Harder They Fall with Humphrey Bogart and The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit with Gregory Peck.
His Dad convinced him to look for jobs as a dancer which he did successfully getting roles in I Love Melvin with Debbie Reynolds, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe and Latin Lovers with Lana Turner.
In 1953, while the Korean war was on, Robert at the age of 19 was drafted into the United States Army where he served 2 years, 15 months of which was in Korea. His unit was 19th Infantry Regiment and he was chosen 3 times as the outstanding soldier on Guard Mount, a decision based upon appearance, knowledge of military subjects and bearing.
When he returned home in 1955 he decided to give up his career in show business as he did not see any future in it. However his dad, along with his long time pal Chuck Courtney, convinced him to attend Richard Boone's acting class. This was a pivotal move for Robert as the class impressed him so much he changed his mind, decided to stay in show business and take a shot at becoming an actor. After studying with Boone for a year, Boone was impressed enough with Robert's potential that he recommended him to Sanford Meisner who accepted Robert into the New York Neighbourhood Playhouse School Of Theatre. Meisner was a highly respected acting teacher who taught future stars like Gregory Peck, Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, Edmund O'Brien and Grace Kelly. Robert was in good company.
In 1956 came his first speaking part in a movie where he played a union soldier and said to Gary Cooper "Bet you a dollar you can't do that again." The film was "Friendly Persuasion," and not only was it Robert's first talking part in a movie, it was also the first time he worked with his Laramie co-star John Smith. Originally director William Wyler had wanted another actor to play the part Robert was given, however he was unimpressed with the fact the other actor had false sideburns. Robert's sideburns were real and when Wyler saw Robert he called him over and asked him if he could act - Robert said "You Bet." Wyler then said "Say this line - "I bet I can knock down more than you can." Robert repeated the line and Wyler without hesitation said "Give this kid the part."
This was a turning point for Robert and the beginning of a great career.
Following Friendly Persuasion Robert had a number of small speaking parts and then in 1956 came his big break in Teenage Thunder.
To get the part he and his good friend Chuck Courtney staged a fight to convince the Director, Paul Helmick, that he was the man for the part. Originally Helmick had wanted Edd Byrnes but after seeing Chuck and Robert perform Helmick gave the role of bad guy Maurie Weston to Robert. The very same year Robert did another film for the same company that produced Teenage Thunder and again worked with the same production team. This film was the cult science fiction movie "The Brain From Planet Arous" with John Agar. After over 50 years this film is still available on DVD.
This was followed by a part in a science fiction series where he played a bad guy and was killed in the 3rd episode. The name of this series was Outpost In Space.
He spent the next couple of years doing featured and guest star roles in a variety of TV programs mainly westerns.
In February 1959 Robert appeared again with John Smith, this time in a western series called Cimarron City and now Robert's career had progressed to the point where he was getting guest star billing. It was this appearance that led to his being offered the role of Jess Harper in "Laramie."
The story goes as follows;
While filming Cimarron City Robert was summoned to the Vice President of Talent, Patrick Kelly's office. He went there actually thinking he was going to be fired. However Kelly told him that he liked the work he had done in a number of shows over the previous year and wanted him to do a TV series. This was a very exciting prospect for Robert, however excitement soon turned to disappointment when Kelly offered him the second lead in a detective series starring Ray Milland called "Markham" Robert refused the role on the grounds he wanted to do a good western. Kelly was naturally dumbfounded that his offer was being refused but he accepted Robert's decision and Robert left his office. Then a couple of weeks later Robert was summoned again to Patrick Kelly's office. This time he offered Robert a part in a new 30 minute western called Laramie. Robert was delighted and read the script and loved it, but again things were about to turn awkward. Kelly offered Robert the role of Slim Sherman - Robert wanted the part of Jess Harper!!! So again Kelly found himself being refused. He explained to Robert that the role of Jess had already been given to John Smith who was already under contract with Revue. Yet again Robert stuck to his guns and again the two men parted without agreement. Robert left Patrick Kelly's office thinking that was the end of his career - you don't turn down those opportunities once let alone twice! However there was a twist - The very same day Robert's agent called him to say that he was required to test for the part of Jess Harper. The next day he was given the role that he wanted so much, a role that was truly made for him, a role that would make him an international star and transform his life.
John Smith was given the role of Slim Sherman and hindsight shows that these were the right roles for each of them. Robert Fuller WAS Jess Harper and John Smith WAS Slim Sherman. Had that role change not happened then Laramie would not have worked anywhere near as well as it did. Over the next 4 years Robert immortalized the character of Jess Harper and gained millions of fans worldwide. Robert said of this role that it was the best part he ever had.
In December 1962, while Laramie was still at its peak Robert married Patty Lyon.
Laramie ran from 1959-1963 and from there Robert went straight into "Wagon Train" as chief scout Cooper Smith. Coop was a less volatile character than Jess Harper and Robert played him very differently. The move into Wagon Train gave Robert the opportunity to work with some of the best stars in the business, people like John McIntire, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine and Rhonda Fleming.
When "Wagon Train" finished in 1965, Robert moved onto the big screen, and in 1966 got his first starring role in a movie. This was the western "Incident At Phantom Hill" where he was re-united with his close friend Dan Duryea, a man for whom Robert had the greatest respect, and who had made a couple of guest spots in Laramie. It was an all action western where Robert's character Matt Martin had many of the characteristics of Jess Harper. Also in 1966 Robert was given second billing to Yul Brynner in the sequel to "The Magnificent Seven," a film aptly titled "Return Of The Seven." He was so busy in 66 that for the filming of Return Of The Seven they had to shoot around him while he was in Munich for the premiere of "Incident At Phantom Hill."
The character of Vin he portrayed in "Seven" was the part previously occupied by Steve McQueen who had now gone on to become a superstar. McQueen was not offered the role in the sequel because it is likely that if he had been in the film then Yul Brynner would not. The stories of Brynner's less than cordial relationship with McQueen are now legendary. With Robert it was very different and he and Yul got along very well, and in fact remained close friends until Brynner died in 1985.
Robert remained busy doing movies in Germany, Israel and the States over the next few years, then in 1970 he made one of his best ever movies "The Hard Ride." This was a stunning film about a Vietnam vet, Phil Duncan who brought his dead buddy's body home and sets out to find his buddy's old biker friends to get them to attend the funeral. This was Robert Fuller at his best and while there were good performances he carried the film. Today you can still buy the soundtrack and the DVD.
Jack Webb saw Robert's performance in "The Hard Ride" and decided he wanted him to star in a new TV medical drama series called Emergency. Robert was grateful for the offer but did not want to play a doctor and he told Webb so. But Webb was determined and finally persuaded Robert to take the part. True, it was a departure from the action roles his fans were so used to, but Emergency was a major television success which ran for 7 years and resulted in another generation of fans - the show continues to be very popular still. Over 30 years after it ended there was an Emergency re-union which was attended by most of the stars plus fans from all over the world. Robert's old friend John Smith appeared in a couple of episodes playing a Fire Captain.
Since then Robert has been very busy in a wide variety of roles, sometimes to the delight of his fans, he returns to the western genre.
Robert's marriage to Patty Lyon ended in 1984 after 22 years. They had 3 children Robert, Christine and Patrick. Robert later married the lovely Jennifer Savidge who played Nurse Lucy in "St Elsewhere" and appeared regularly in the hit TV series JAG.
Robert's last performance was playing 2 roles in the final episode of Walker Texas Ranger. He played Ranger Wade Harper, who was a descendant of Jess Harper, and an old west Town Sheriff. Robert retired after that show and it is fitting that his final part was in a western role.
In July 2004 Robert and Jennifer re-located from Los Angeles to Texas where they now live on a beautiful ranch. He still enjoys his lifelong passions of fishing and shooting and he now has more time to enjoy them.
Despite being retired he attends a number of western festivals each year where he spends a lot of time with his fans who have stayed loyal for over 60 years. Indeed at the National Festival Of the West in Phoenix Robert hosted many private parties with his fans where he would sit for hours talking to them and enjoying telling stories of his time in show business. It is testament to the talent and personality of Robert Fuller that fans still travel from the four corners of the earth just to spend a couple of days with him at the Festivals he attends. He has always loved his fans and that remains true today. He still has an international fan club - The Robert Fuller Fandom.
Robert Fuller has had a long and very successful career which is proven by the awards he has received. Look at this!
1961 - Best Actor Award in Japan 1961 - Japanese Golden Order Of Merit - awarded to him by the Empress of Japan. Robert was the first American to receive this award 1970 - Best Actor in Germany. Robert actually won 5 Ottos which are German awards that are the equivalent of the Emmy. 1970 - Buffalo Bill Award for outstanding western entertainment. 1975 - Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame 1989 - Golden Boot Award 2002 - Honoree Kanab Western Legends Roundup 2004 - Cowboy Spirit Award - National Festival Of The West, Phoenix October 2007 - Silver Spur Award April 2008 - Inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma, Hall Of Great Western Performers- Ingo Rademacher - Australian Actor is best known for his long-running leading role of Jax on ABC's "General Hospital", Ingo Rademacher. He was a model in Brisbane and Sydney before landing his first acting role playing Sean Hayden on the Australian Series "Paradise Beach" (1993). He made the move to Los angeles in 1994 and almost immediately was offered the role of Jax on GH which he played for 15 consecutive years. He still comes to visit the show now and then much to the delight of his loyal fans.
He has also shown off his comedic abilities appearing on "Veronica's Closet", "According To Jim" and "Clueless" and in Aaron Spelling's "Titans". In the spring of 2013, Ingo danced his way into the the semi-finals of "Dancing With The Stars" partnered with Kym Johnson. He recurs on CBS's "Hawaii Five O" as federal prosecutor Robert Coughlin and can be seen next year in the new STARZ series "Counterpart".
Ingo was seen on the big screen in "Alex Cross".
Born in Germany and moving to Australia as a child, Ingo grew up on a 400 acre cattle and Angora goat station , which best explains his lifelong love affaire with water sports. Starting with racing Hobie cats, he progressed to competing in the Lifeguard's King's Race in Honolulu for 4 consecutive years and then the Molokai to Oahu race - a grueling 32 miles in shark infested waters aboard both a surf ski (2000) and a stand-up paddle board (solo) (2012, 2013, 2014). He was ranked 80th SUP racer in the world in 2014 and continues to race every chance he gets. He was also patrolling beach as a lifeguard in Australia at age 16.
After competing in races in Hawaii almost every year, Ingo bought a home there in 2006 and later met and married his native born wife, Ehiku in 2009. He moved his young family there in 2011 after finishing his GH contract. Ingo has two home-birthed sons, Peanut Kai and Pohaku Zen who are also home-schooled.
The couple started an Activewear company in 2012 (Mahiku activewear Hawaii) inspired by their passion for Stand Up Paddle board racing. The line is made in California so they decided to move back to LA in 2017 so they could be closer to the manufacturing process and to Ingo's first line of work - acting.
Now the family does their best to juggle home schooling the kids, running the Mahiku business going to auditions and traveling. "We have a super tight family unit and are rarely apart" says Ingo. "Los Angeles is the perfect location to pursue all of our interests". - Actor
- Editor
Ted King was raised in Maryland, California and New York. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he studied film direction. King co-founded the Portal Theatre Company in New York City and has been a strong presence in New York Theatre for several years. King worked as a film and video editor before landing his first leading acting role.- Rick Hearst was born on 4 January 1965 in Howard Beach, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for General Hospital (1963), Guiding Light (1952) and Brain Damage (1988). He has been married to Donna Smoot since 9 June 1990. They have two children.
- Actress
- Producer
Carolyn Hennesy was born on 10 June 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Big Nate (2022), Cougar Town (2009) and General Hospital (1963). She was previously married to Donald Agnelli.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Great-great grandson of the original theatrical great 'Tyrone Power'. Grandson of the American matinee idol and silent film star known today as Tyrone Power Sr.. Son of the famed leading man of sound pictures Tyrone Power. Born two months after the death of his father to Deborah Minardos Power. Educated at Pomona College in California. Extremely handsome like his father, he has appeared to good effect in small roles in big pictures and more sizable parts in lesser films. Despite actually being Tyrone Power IV, he acts under the name Tyrone Power Jr., the same name his father began his career under.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Coleen Gray was born in Staplehurst, Nebraska, in 1922. After graduating from high school she studied dramatics at Hamline University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then decided to see America and traveled to California, stopping off at La Jolla where she worked as a waitress. After several weeks there, she moved to L.A. and enrolled in a drama school. Her performances attracted a talent scout from 20th Century-Fox, with whom she signed a contract after a screen test. Although Fox put her in several good pictures (Kiss of Death (1947), Nightmare Alley (1947), The Razor's Edge (1946) in which she acquitted herself well, many of the roles they gave her were not worthy of her talent and she never became as big a star as many thought she should have. Still, she has an extensive list of credits in films, TV, radio and on the stage.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary. They divorced when she was five and she rarely saw her father after that.
As a school girl, she originally wanted to be a dancer, but later switched gears to head into acting. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, after attending She was educated at Highland Manor, a private boarding school in Tarrytown, New York (through the generosity of wealthy uncles), and then at Julia Richman High School, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.
Out of school, she entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart. The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success. Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public. In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947). The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats. The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948). The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film.
In 1950, Lauren starred in Bright Leaf (1950), a drama set in 1894. It was a film of note because she appeared without her husband - her co-star was Gary Cooper. In 1953, Lauren appeared in her first comedy as Schatze Page in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). The film, with co-stars Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, was a smash hit all across the theaters of America.
After filming Designing Woman (1957), which was released in 1957, Humphrey Bogart died on January 14 from throat cancer. Devastated at being a widow, Lauren returned to the silver screen with The Gift of Love (1958) in 1958 opposite Robert Stack. The production turned out to be a big disappointment. Undaunted, Lauren moved back to New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays to huge critical acclaim. She was enjoying acting before live audiences and the audiences in turn enjoyed her fine performances.
Lauren was away from the big screen for five years, but she returned in 1964 to appear in Shock Treatment (1964) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). The latter film was a comedy starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis. In 1966, Lauren starred in Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Julie Harris, which was one of former's signature films.
Alternating her time between films and the stage, Lauren returned in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express (1974). The film, based on Agatha Christie's best-selling book was a huge hit. It also garnered Ingrid Bergman her third Oscar. Actually, the huge star-studded cast helped to ensure its success. Two years later, in 1976, Lauren co-starred with John Wayne in The Shootist (1976). The film was Wayne's last - he died from cancer in 1979. In late 1979, Lauren appeared with her good friend, James Garner, in a double episode, Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs (1979), of his Rockford Files series.
For Lauren's next film role, she appeared in a large ensemble film, HealtH (1980), which again paired her with James Garner, and in 1981, she played an actress being stalked by a crazed admirer in The Fan (1981). The thriller was absolutely fascinating with Lauren in the lead role, again playing opposite her good friend James Garner, making three straight screen roles with Lauren opposite James Garner. After that production, Lauren was away from films again, this time for seven years. In the interim, she again appeared on the stages of Broadway. When she returned, it was for the filming of 1988's Appointment with Death (1988) and Mr. North (1988). After 1990's Misery (1990) and several made for television films, Lauren appeared in 1996's My Fellow Americans (1996), a comedy romp with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents and their escapades. In 1997, Lauren appeared in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), in one of the best roles of her later career, opposite Barbra Streisand, where Lauren was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role by both the Academy and the Golden Globes, winning the Golden Globe for the role.
Despite her age and failing health, she made a small-scale comeback in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004) ("Howl's Moving Castle," based on the young-adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones) as the Witch of the Waste, and several other roles through 2008, but thereafter acting endeavors for the beloved actress became increasingly rare. Lauren Bacall died on 12 August 2014, five weeks short of her 90th birthday.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Steve Allen was born on 26 December 1921 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Benny Goodman Story (1956), Casino (1995) and The Player (1992). He was married to Jayne Meadows and Dorothy Goodman. He died on 30 October 2000 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.