Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-50 of 1,059
- Actress
- Writer
Theda Bara was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Theodosia Goodman, on July 29, 1885. She was the daughter of a local tailor and his wife. As a teenager Theda was interested in the theatrical arts and once she finished high school, she dyed her blond hair black and went in pursuit of her dream. By 1908 she was in New York in search of roles. That year she appeared in "The Devil", a stage play. In 1911 she joined a touring company. After returning to New York in 1914, she began making the rounds of various casting offices in search of work, and was eventually hired to appear in The Stain (1914) as an extra, but she was placed so far in the background that she was not noticed on the screen. However, it was her ability to take direction which helped her gain the lead role as the "vampire" in A Fool There Was (1915) later that year, and "The Vamp" was born. It was a well-deserved break, because Theda was almost 30 years old, at a time when younger women were always considered for lead roles. She became the screen's first fabricated star. Publicists sent out press releases that Theda was the daughter of an artist and an Arabian princess, and that "Theda Bara" was an anagram for "Arab Death"--a far cry from her humble Jewish upbringing in Cincinnati. The public became fascinated with her--how could one resist an actress who allowed herself to be photographed with snakes and skulls? Theda's second film, later that year for the newly formed Fox Studios, was as Celia Friedlander in Kreutzer Sonata (1915). Theda was hot property now and was to make six more films in 1915, finishing up with Carmen (1915). The next year would prove to be another busy one, with theater patrons being treated to eight Theda Bara films, all of which would make a great deal of money for Fox Films, and in 1917 Fox headed west to Califoria and took Theda with them. That year she starred in a mega-hit, Cleopatra (1917). This was quickly followed by The Rose of Blood (1917). In 1918 Theda wrote the story and starred as the Priestess in The Soul of Buddha (1918). After seven films in 1919, ending with Lure of Ambition (1919), her contract was terminated by Fox, and her career never recovered. In 1921 she married director Charles Brabin and retired. In 1926 she made her last film, Madame Mystery (1926), and promptly went back into retirement, permanently, at the age of 41. She tried the stage briefly in the 1930s but nothing really set the fires burning. A movie based on her life was planned in the 1950s, but nothing ever came of it. On April 7, 1955, Theda Bara died of abdominal cancer at the age of 69 in Los Angeles, California. There has been no one like her since.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
American character actor, the most famous of Western-movie sidekicks of the 1930s and 1940s. He was born May 7, 1885, the third of seven children, in the Hayes Hotel (owned by his father) in the tiny hamlet of Stannards, New York, on the outskirts of Wellsville, New York. Hayes was the son of hotelier and oil-production manager Clark Hayes, and grew up in Stannards. As a young man, George Hayes worked in a circus and played semi-pro baseball while a teenager. He ran away from home at 17, in 1902, and joined a touring stock company. He married Olive Ireland in 1914 and the pair became quite successful on the vaudeville circuit. Retired in his 40s, he lost much of his money in the 1929 stock market crash and was forced to return to work. Although he had made his film debut in a single appearance prior to the crash, it was not until his wife convinced him to move to California and he met producer Trem Carr that he began working steadily in the medium. He played scores of roles in Westerns and non-Westerns alike, finally in the mid-1930s settling in to an almost exclusively Western career. He gained fame as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Windy Halliday in many films between 1936-39. Leaving the Cassidy films in a salary dispute, he was legally precluded from using the "Windy" nickname, and so took on the sobriquet "Gabby", and was so billed from about 1940. One of the few sidekicks to land on the annual list of Top Ten Western Boxoffice Stars, he did so repeatedly. In his early films, he alternated between whiskered comic-relief sidekicks and clean-shaven bad guys, but by the later 1930s, he worked almost exclusively as a Western sidekick to stars such as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Randolph Scott. After his last film, in 1950, he starred as the host of a network television show devoted to stories of the Old West for children, The Gabby Hayes Show (1950). Offstage an elegant and well-appointed connoisseur and man-about-town, Hayes devoted the final years of his life to his investments. He died of cardiovascular disease in Burbank, California, on February 9, 1969.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Erich von Stroheim was born Erich Oswald Stroheim in 1885, in Vienna, Austria, to Johanna (Bondy), from Prague, and Benno Stroheim, a hatter from Gleiwitz, Germany (now Gliwice, Poland). His family was Jewish.
After spending some time working in his father's hat factory, he emigrated to America around 1909. Working in various jobs he arrived in Hollywood in 1914 and got work in D.W. Griffiths' company as a bit player. America's entry into WW1 enabled him to play sadistic monocled German officers but these roles dried up when the war ended. He turned to writing and directing but his passion for unnecessary detail such as Austrian guards wearing correct and expensively acquired regulation underwear which was never seen in 'Foolish Wives' caused the budget to reach a reported $1 million. Although the film became a hit the final edit was given to others resulting in a third of his footage being cut. Irving Thalberg fired him from 'Merry Go Round' which was completed by Rupert Julien. He then started on 'Greed', which when completed was unreleasable being 42 reels with a running time of 7 hours. It was eventually cut down to 10 reels which still had a striking effect on audiences. 'The Wedding March' was so long that even in it's unfinished state it was released as two separate films in Europe. Gloria Swanson fired him from her production of 'Queen Kelly' when with no sign of the film nearing completion the costs had risen to twice the budget partly due to him re-shooting scenes that had already been passed by the Hays office. She then had to spend a further $200,000 putting the footage into releasable state. It was the end for him as a director, but he made a reasonable success as an actor in the talkies.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on Broadway and in traveling stock companies. In 1913 he headed for Hollywood, where he would get his start as the hulking Swedish maid in the Sweedie comedy series for Essanay. In 1915 he would work with young ingénue Gloria Swanson in Sweedie Goes to College (1915). A year later they would marry and be wildly unhappy together. The marriage dissolved when Beery could not control his drinking and Gloria got tired of his abuse. Beery finished with the Sweedie series and worked as the heavy in a number of films. Starting with Patria (1917), he would play the beastly Hun in a number of films. In the 1920s he would be seen in a number of adventures, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Sea Hawk (1924) and The Pony Express (1925). He would also play the part of Poole in So Big (1924), which was based on the best-selling book of the same name by Edna Ferber. Paramount began to move Beery back into comedies with Behind the Front (1926). When sound came, Beery was one of the victims of the wholesale studio purge. He had a voice that would record well, but his speech was slow and his tone was a deep, folksy, down home-type. While not the handsome hero image, MGM executive Irving Thalberg saw something in Beery and hired him for the studio. Thalberg cast Beery in The Big House (1930), which was a big hit and got Beery an Academy Award nomination. However, Beery would become almost a household word with the release of the sentimental Min and Bill (1930), which would be one of 1930's top money makers. The next year Beery would win the Oscar for Best Actor in The Champ (1931). He would be forever remembered as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934) (who says never work with kids?). Beery became one of the top ten stars in Hollywood, as he was cast as the tough, dim-witted, easy-going type (which, in real life, he was anything but). In Flesh (1932) he would be the dim-witted wrestler who did not figure that his wife was unfaithful. In Dinner at Eight (1933) he played a businessman trying to get into society while having trouble with his wife, link=nm0001318]. After Marie Dressler died in 1934, he would not find another partner in the same vein as his early talkies until he teamed with Marjorie Main in the 1940s. He would appear opposite her in such films as Wyoming (1940) and Barnacle Bill (1941). By that time his career was slowing as he was getting up in age. He continued to work, appearing in only one or two pictures a year, until he died from a heart attack in 1949.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Her father was a butcher. In 1913 she met and married matinée idol DeWolf Hopper Sr. and in 1915 they moved to Hollywood, where both began active film careers. He became a star with Triangle Company, she began in vamp parts and turned to supporting roles. After her divorce she appeared in dozens of films, becoming known as "Queen of the Quickies". In 1936 she started a gossipy radio show and two years later commenced a 28-year stint as a newspaper gossip columnist, rival of Louella Parsons. In her last films she mostly played herself, a tribute to her influence in Hollywood. Her son became famous as investigator Paul Drake in the Perry Mason (1957) series.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Lionel Atwill was born into a wealthy family and was educated at London's prestigious Mercer School to become an architect, but his interest turned to the stage. He worked his way progressively into the craft and debuted at age 20 at the Garrick Theatre in London. He acted and improved regularly thereafter, especially in the plays of Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw. Atwill came to the US in 1915 and would appear in some 25 plays on Broadway between 1917 and 1931, but he was already trying his hand in silent films by 1918. He had a sonorous voice and dictatorial British accent that served him well for the stage and just as well for sound movies. He did some Vitaphone short subjects in 1928 and then his first real film role in The Silent Witness (1932) (also titled "The Verdict").
That voice and his bullish demeanor made Atwill a natural for a spectrum of tough-customer roles. As shady noblemen and mad doctors, but also gruff military men and police inspectors (usually with a signature mustache), he worked steadily through the 1930s. He had the chance to show a broader character as the tyrannical but unforgettable Col. Bishop in Captain Blood (1935). It's hard to forget his Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939), wherein he agrees to a game of darts with Basil Rathbone and proceeds to impale the darts through the right sleeve of his uniform (the character sported a wooden right arm). And he sends himself up with rolling and blustering dialogue as the glory-hog ham stage actor Rawitch in the classic To Be or Not to Be (1942) with Jack Benny. However, Atwill effectively ruined his burgeoning film career in 1943 after he was implicated in what was described as an "orgy" at his home, naked guests and pornographic films included--and a rape perpetrated during the proceedings. Atwill "lied like a gentleman," it was said, in the court proceedings to protect the identities of his guests and was convicted of perjury and sentenced to five years' probation.
He was thereafter kept employed on Poverty Row with only brief periods of employment by Universal Pictures, while the rest of Hollywood turned its collective back on him. He is more remembered for the horror films generally than for better efforts, but they have fueled his continued popularity and a bid by the Southern California Lionel Atwill Fan Club to petition for a Hollywood Blvd. star (he never received one).- Actor
- Soundtrack
The grandnephew of South African pioneer and former president Paul Krüger, Otto Kruger trained for a musical career from childhood, but after enrolling in Columbia University he switched his career choice to acting. Making his Broadway debut in 1915, at 30, he shortly became a matinée idol of the day, specializing in sophisticated leading roles. He made his film debut in 1915 in The Runaway Wife (1915), but it was in the 1930s that Kruger's polished, urbane characterizations came into full swing. Although he occasionally played a hero, as in Corregidor (1943) he was often cast as the amoral villain or a charming but corrupt businessman (usually a banker), a task at which he excelled. Kruger was one of the industry's busiest character actors until a series of strokes brought about his retirement in the mid-1960s.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Round-faced and twinkling, George Cleveland had a 58-year career of stage, vaudeville, motion picture, radio and television acting. His first film was Mystery Liner (1934) with Noah Beery and he went on to appear in 150 others. However, he is best remembered as Gramps on the original Lassie (1954) TV series.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Georg Wilhelm Pabst is considered by many to be the greatest director of German cinema, in his era. He was especially appreciated by actors and actresses for the humane way in which he treated them. This was in contrast to some of his contemporaries, such as Arnold Fanck, who have been characterized as martinets.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Once a boxer, brawny character actor Tom Kennedy began his film career early in the silent era. He frequently played big, dumb, likable, working-class types, such as in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937). He also worked with W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in a career that lasted until his death at the age of 80.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Esther Dale was born on November 10, 1885 in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townsend, Vermont, then studied music in Berlin, Germany and had a successful career as a lieder singer. Later, she became an actress in summer stock. She had the title role on Broadway of Carrie Nation in 1933, which also starred James Stewart, Mildred Natwick, and Joshua Logan. Her first film was Crime Without Passion (1934) in 1934, followed by many, many roles in movies and television. Her husband, writer/director Arthur J. Beckhard was her manager. He died in March 1961 and she died a few months later, after surgery, in Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood, California.- Actor
- Writer
Largely forgotten today, comic actor Moore Marriott reigned supreme for a time in the 1930s alongside Will Hay and Graham Moffatt in British film farce. The trio came about by happenstance, but it was their audiences who insisted they reappear together again and again.
Born in 1885, Marriott started off on the stage as a youngster with his theatrical family. The dark, curly-haired natural made his debut on film as an infant and reportedly made a number of silent films for the Hepworth Company, but credits are sketchy. By the 1920s he had churned out a number of pictures including By the Shortest of Heads (1915), The Monkey's Paw (1923) and The Gold Cure (1925), sometimes in a lead. By the advent of sound, however, he found his niche playing countrified character folk. He played much, much older than he really was (by at least 20-30 years), and audiences took to his doddering old fool act, and he essayed a host of assorted toothless, muttering coots. Marriott was unbilled in his first Hay comedy, Dandy Dick (1935), but received billing in his next film with Hay, Windbag the Sailor (1936), in which they were joined by the impish, heavyset foil Moffatt. With Marriott playing his famous bald geezer Jeremiah Harbottle, the popular trio continued to put out such wacky, nonsensical films as Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937), often deemed the best of the lot, and Convict 99 (1938). Eventually Hay severed the union, preferring to be thought of as a solo star. Marriott supported other comedians in the ensuing years, including Arthur Askey, but he never matched his earlier success. He died at age 64 without ever harvesting a strong core audience as a solo artist.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
During the heyday of German silent cinema, Rudolf Klein-Rogge was the prototype for the master criminal, the irredeemable arch villain or mad scientist. Born in Cologne, he served as a cadet in a Prussian military academy before finishing his matriculation. He then began to attend acting classes and studying art history in Berlin and Bonn, making his debut on the stage in 1909. After playing in theatres in towns and cities along the Rhine and northern Germany for nearly ten years, he started making films in 1919.
His villainous roots first came to the fore in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), but he really established his reputation in a series of classic expressionist films written by his then-wife Thea von Harbou and directed by Fritz Lang. Of these, the most memorable were his forceful Moriarty-inspired portrayals of the titular character in Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), and its later sequel, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). The latter, which has an evil mastermind directing his empire from a madhouse, was so obviously aimed at the Hitler regime, that it was banned by Joseph Goebbels. Klein-Rogge's other noteworthy appearances include King Etzel in Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924); and his insane scientist C.A. Rothwang, creator of the robot creature in Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis (1927). A powerful personality possessed of an almost hypnotic stare and a strong, resonant voice, Klein-Rogge continued on through the 1930's in supporting roles. However, the period of expressionist cinema in Germany had all but run its course and he died in relative obscurity in Graz, Austria, in April 1955.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Allan Dwan was born on 3 April 1885 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a director and writer, known for Bound in Morocco (1918), A Perfect Crime (1921) and Panthea (1917). He was married to Marie Shelton and Pauline Bush. He died on 28 December 1981 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Tod Slaughter took to the stage in 1905 and made a name for himself as the star villain of numerous Victorian melodramas which he toured around England. Many of these were filmed cheaply in the 30s and 40s by quota-quickie tzar George King. His ham performances are perfectly suited to the material and the best of his films give the impression that if the Victorians could have made features they would have looked like this.- George S. Patton III was a highly successful and highly controversial general who held Corps- and Army-level commands during World War II. Because of his great competence as a battlefield commander, Patton might have led the American troops during the invasion of Normandy; however, his impolitic ways and a degree of emotional instability (which manifested itself in the slapping of two soldiers suffering from shell-shock at an Army field hospital) put the kibosh on that. Patton was relieved of his command and put on ice for many months in order to recuperate. Instead, the command of the American forces on D-Day, went to his former deputy in North Africa, Omar N. Bradley.
Patton was known as "Blood & Guts" ("Our blood, his guts"), was a common gripe among his troops for his hard-driving discipline, which paid off in lower casualties and great success on the battlefield. With the exception of Douglas MacArthur, Patton ranks as the greatest general the United States put on the field during the Second World War. Patton achieved four-star rank for his battlefield exploits as one of the best commanders of mechanized forces on either side during the War. He succeeded Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany, when Ike -- a five-star general -- was promoted to Army Chief of Staff.
On December 9, 1945, Patton became seriously injured after his automobile crashed with an American army truck at low speed. He began bleeding from a gash on his head, and complained that he was paralyzed and having trouble breathing. Taken to a hospital in Heidelberg, Patton was discovered to have a compression fracture and dislocation of the cervical third fourth vertebrae, resulting in a broken neck and cervical spinal cord injury that rendered him paralyzed from the neck down. He spent most of the next twelve days in spinal traction to decrease the pressure on his spine. He died at age 60 in his sleep of pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure.
On December 24, 1945, General George S. Patton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial alongside some wartime casualties of the Third Army, in accordance with his request to "be buried with his men". He was immortalized in the 1970 eponymous epic film, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (George C. Scott). This was President Richard Nixon's favorite film. - Edwin Jerome was born on 30 December 1885 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Philco Television Playhouse (1948), Perry Mason (1957) and Tales of Tomorrow (1951). He was married to Helene Funk. He died on 10 September 1959 in Pasadena, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Albert Sharpe was born on 15 April 1885 in Belfast, Ireland [now Northern Ireland], UK. He was an actor, known for Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), Royal Wedding (1951) and Brigadoon (1954). He was married to Margaret Waterson. He died on 13 February 1970 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.- The twice-married singer and actress was the youngest of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Aronson of Arkansas and Missouri. Leona was the only one of the seven born away from Arkansas. Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, nee Maxwell Henry Aronson, was her much older and bigger brother. She ran away from Denver and school to come to California where he was making movies. Young Leona was old enough for her brother to dress her up and put her in a picture with Ben Turpin. Charles Chaplin was the director. When they got Leona near a pond, Chaplin told Turpin to "shove her in the water." Turpin did as directed. Leona came out dripping wet and muttering that she didn't think that was very funny, though the moviegoers of the day seemingly enjoyed it. Her brother soon encouraged her to return to school, and among her school chums was Grace Moon, daughter of the manufacturer of the Moon automobile in St. Louis. When Leona finally had an opportunity to go to London and study voice, it was Bronco Billy who financed the trip.
- Aubrey Mather was born on 17 December 1885 in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Heaven Can Wait (1943), The Secret of St. Ives (1949) and The Undying Monster (1942). He died on 16 January 1958 in London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Syd Chaplin was born on 16 March 1885 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for The Better 'Ole (1926), King, Queen and Joker (1921) and A Lover's Lost Control (1915). He was married to Minnie Chaplin and Henriette. He died on 15 April 1965 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Widely publicized as "The Vitagraph Girl," dark-haired silent film actress Florence Turner was one of the screen's first celebrities to be called by the term "movie star." Born in New York City in 1885, she was pushed into the business at age 3 by an overzealous stage mother, performing on the vaudeville stage as Eugenie Florence. Audiences took delight in her talents as an impressionist of well-known stage actresses of the time such as Marie Dressler. Florence was a full-fledged professional by the time she hooked up with Vitagraph Studios in 1906 as a wardrobe mistress/cashier/actress.
Making her film debut in Cast Up by the Sea (1907), Turner was prominently displayed in front of the camera within a short period of time. Appearing in the company's more quality pieces, she formed a sturdy pairing with Maurice Costello and other matinée idols of the day. The diminutive, forlorn-looking performer eventually tested the acting waters in London in 1913, and was directed frequently by long-time friend Lawrence Trimble, occasionally collaborating on screenplays. She also contributed to her livelihood making appearances in music halls, still amazing audiences with her impersonations of everybody from Alla Nazimova to Charles Chaplin. She organized her own production company, Turner Films, and made more than 30 shorts, becoming the first star of the screen to take on producing chores. In 1915 she was the top box-office star.
Florence maintained a highly visible transatlantic career for nearly a decade while appearing both here and in England in everything from classic Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice (1908), Richard III (1908)) and historical epics (A Tale of Two Cities (1911), The Deerslayer (1913)) to classic drama (Far from the Madding Crowd (1915), Through the Valley of Shadows (1914), My Old Dutch (1915)). Her career started slipping after WWI, however, and by 1924 she was forced to settle permanently in Hollywood when the British film market dried up completely. At this point she had to make do as a stock player for MGM. The advent of sound was the final nail in her career's coffin, unfortunately. It was a respectful MGM that kept her on the payroll for the next decade, albeit in bit parts and extra roles.
She died practically forgotten at the Woodland Hills, California, Motion Picture Country Home in 1946 at age 61.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stalwart Irish-American character actor Robert Emmett O'Connor was born on March 18, 1885, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He made his bones performing in circuses and in vaudeville. He made his Broadway debut in the musical "Fritz in Tammany Hall" at the Herald Square Theatre on October 16, 1905, ultimately appearing in 13 musical comedies and operettas on the Great White Way through 1930 (he also appeared in four straight plays during that period, mostly comedies such as "The Old Soak" during the 1922-23 season). After 1930, he never appeared on Broadway again, focusing instead on his movie career.
He made his movie debut in 1920 in the Harold Lloyd comedy short His Royal Slyness (1920), directed by Hal Roach. He made six comedies for the Hal Roach Studios in the years 1920-21, including one more Harold Lloyd vehicle, Never Weaken (1921), before taking a five-year hiatus from films. He returned in the Thomas Meighan drama Tin Gods (1926), directed by Allan Dwan, then spent the next 24 years acting in movies.
In 1930, he went back to the Roach Studios to support Laurel and Hardy in two Spanish language shorts, then moved over to Warner Bros. as a bit player. He played the Irish bootlegger Paddy Ryan in the classic The Public Enemy (1931) in support of fellow Irish-American James Cagney and appeared in another classic, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). He then settled into being typecast as Irish cops. After he moved on to MGM, the typecasting led to one of his most famous roles: the plainclothes detective in pursuit of the Marx Brothers in A Night at the Opera (1935).
During the 1940s, still under contract to MGM, he was kept busy, appearing in every genre, including the "Our Gang" comedies. His last film role was as the Paramount Studios guard who remembers Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950). He virtually retired from acting at the age of 65, though he made some television appearances in the 1950s.
Robert Emmett O'Connor died on September 4, 1962, of injuries sustained in a fire. He was 77 years old.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Roland West was born in Cleveland, OH, and became an actor in the theater and on the vaudeville stage. He got his start in the film industry in New York City around 1915, forming several production companies to shoot films there. He later worked as general manager of production for producer Joseph M. Schenck, and directed several comedies and dramas.
He gained a reputation for moody, atmospheric horror films in The Monster (1925), The Bat (1926) and The Bat Whispers (1930). his last film as director was Corsair (1931), after which he retired and went into business with actresses Jewel Carmen (his ex-wife) and Thelma Todd (his girlfriend at the time) in a restaurant/bar on the Santa Monica (CA) beach called Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe. The popular establishment also gained a reputation as a hangout for a variety of shady underworld characters, and there were rumors of Todd and West being pressured by mob figures to use the place as a front to enable them to get their wealthy Hollywood friends drunk and in compromising positions so they could be blackmailed. In 1935 Todd was found slumped over the steering wheel of her car, with the engine still running, in the adjacent apartment building's garage, the victim of "accidental carbon monoxide poisoning", although many in her circle believed she was murdered by gangsters because she wouldn't let them use her restaurant for their activities. Others believed she was killed by West himself, who was known to have a violent temper and to have fought with Todd on numerous occasions. Her murder is still listed as unsolved.- David Herbert Lawrence was born in Nottinghamshire, England, 11 September 1885. His father was a coal miner, his mother a genteel woman who sought education and refinement for her son. Lawrence earned a university degree and taught school for a short time. While still a student he began to publish his poems and short stories. He fell in love with the wife of a professor, Frieda von Richthofen Weekley. She eloped with Lawrence, abandoning her husband and three small children. Lawrence's pet themes of myth, freedom, redemption, the difficulty and necessity of emotional, erotic expression and the inevitable torments of family relationships occupied him throughout his life. Eventually, there would be accusations of obscenity, his novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover" being the most prominent example.