Screen Actors Guild Award Memoriam 2003
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Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut to a suffragist, Katharine Martha (Houghton), and a doctor, Thomas Norval Hepburn, who both always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a child, she was very close to her brother Tom; at 14 she was devastated to find him dead, the apparent result of accidentally hanging himself while practicing a hanging trick their father had taught them. For many years afterward, she used his November 8 birth date as her own. She became shy around girls her age and was largely schooled at home. She did attend Bryn Mawr College, where she decided to become an actress, appearing in many of their productions.
After graduating, she began getting small roles in plays on Broadway and elsewhere. She always attracted attention, especially for her role in "Art and Mrs. Bottle" (1931). She finally broke into stardom when she took the starring role of the Amazon princess Antiope in "A Warrior's Husband" (1932). The inevitable film offers followed; after making a few screen tests, she was cast in A Bill of Divorcement (1932), opposite John Barrymore. The film was a hit, and after agreeing to her salary demands, RKO signed her to a contract. She made five films between 1932 and 1934. For her third, Morning Glory (1933), she won her first Academy Award. Her fourth, Little Women (1933), was the most successful picture of its day.
But stories were beginning to leak out, of her haughty behavior off- screen and her refusal to play the Hollywood Game, always wearing slacks and no makeup, never posing for pictures or giving interviews. Audiences were shocked at her unconventional behavior instead of applauding it, and so when she returned to Broadway in 1934 to star in "The Lake", the critics panned her, and the audiences, who at first bought up tickets, soon deserted her. When she returned to Hollywood, things didn't get much better. From 1935-1938, she had only two hits: Alice Adams (1935), which brought her her second Oscar nomination, and Stage Door (1937); the many flops included Break of Hearts (1935), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Mary of Scotland (1936), Quality Street (1937), and the now-classic Bringing Up Baby (1938).
With so many flops, she came to be labeled "box-office poison". She decided to go back to Broadway to star in "The Philadelphia Story" (1938) and was rewarded with a smash. She quickly bought the film rights and so was able to negotiate her way back to Hollywood on her own terms, including her choice of director and co-stars. The Philadelphia Story (1940) was a box-office hit, and Hepburn, who won her third Oscar nomination for the film, was bankable again. For her next film, Woman of the Year (1942), she was paired with Spencer Tracy, and the chemistry between them lasted for eight more films, spanning the course of 25 years, and a romance that lasted that long off-screen. (She received her fourth Oscar nomination for the film.) Their films included the very successful Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957).
With The African Queen (1951), Hepburn moved into middle-aged spinster roles, receiving her fifth Oscar nomination for the film. She played more of these types of roles throughout the 1950s, and won more Oscar nominations for many of them, including her roles in Summertime (1955), The Rainmaker (1956), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Her film roles became fewer and farther between in the 1960s, as she devoted her time to the ailing Tracy. For one of her film appearances in this decade, in Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), she received her ninth Oscar nomination. After a five-year absence from films, she then made Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), her last film with Tracy and the last film Tracy ever made; he died just weeks after finishing it. It garnered Hepburn her tenth Oscar nomination and her second win. The next year, she did The Lion in Winter (1968), which brought her her eleventh Oscar nomination and third win.
In the 1970s, she turned to making made-for-TV films, with The Glass Menagerie (1973), Love Among the Ruins (1975), and The Corn Is Green (1979). She still continued to make an occasional appearance in feature films, such as Rooster Cogburn (1975) with John Wayne and On Golden Pond (1981) with Henry Fonda. This last brought her her twelfth Oscar nomination and fourth win - the latter still the record.
She made more TV-films in the 1980s and wrote her autobiography, 'Me', in 1991. Her last feature film was Love Affair (1994), with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, and her last TV- film was One Christmas (1994). With her health declining, she retired from public life in the mid-1990s. She died at 96 at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.- Actor
- Additional Crew
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After passing his screen test, Rand Brooks played a bit role in the 1938 film Love Finds a Way. He then found several other roles before landing the part of Charles Hamilton in Gone with the Wind. He went on to play small roles in films such as Laddie, And One was Beautiful, The Son of Monte Cristo, Jennie, Niagara Falls, among others. Beginning in 1946, he took over the role of Hopalong Cassidy's youthful sidekick, Lucky, and played in twelve of the feature films. Among these, which starred William Boyd as Hoppy, were The Devil's Playground, Fool's Gold, Unexpected Guest, Dangerous Venture, and Hoppy's Holiday. Brooks continued playing roles in films throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, which also started his television career. He made co-starring appearances on series such as The Roy Rogers Show, Highway Patrol, Lassie, Wagon Train, Maverick, The Real McCoys, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Bat Masterson, Laramie, Gunsmoke, The Munsters, Perry Mason, Columbo, and Bonanza, as well as nine episodes of The Lone Ranger, where he began a friendship with Clayton Moore. In 1966, Rand Brooks started Professional Ambulance Service in Glendale, California, with two used ambulances and a credit card. By 1977 his company had become the largest private ambulance 9-1-1 paramedic provider in Los Angeles County. During his ownership the company received dozens of awards and commendations and was widely recognized as one of the finest ambulance services in the country. In 1995 Brooks sold it to corporate giant American Medical Response. He lived at his ranch in Santa Barbara County with second wife Hermine, a former executive with his company, until his death in 2003. Brooks has two children; a daughter and a son, Rand Brooks Jr., who owns a trucking company in Los Angeles. Brooks can be seen portraying a police officer in the two-hour premier episode of the television series Emergency! (1972), which was first aired in January of 1972 on NBC. Rand Brooks' acting career spanned over 140 films and television series, as well as writing, producing, and directing one film called Legend of the Northwest.- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of America's most heard men back in the day with thousands of radio programs to his credit and the possessor of one of the most prominent male voices of that medium's war-era "Golden Age," veteran actor Les Tremayne was considered to have the third most distinctive tones on the airwaves, only behind Bing Crosby and Franklin D. Roosevelt!
Born Lester Tremayne Henning in London, England, on April 16, 1913, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois when the boy was only four. Wanting to bury his British accent growing up in the States, Tremayne took an an eager interest in community theatre. He began his professional career as a dancer in vaudeville, supplementing his income on the side as a barker in various amusement parks.
Tremayne received his first radio job in Chicago when he was 17 years old. While gaining experience, he attended Northwestern University where he studied Greek drama and also took up anthropology at Columbia University and UCLA. During the 1930s and 1940s, Tremayne was usually heard in more than one show per week. Growing in leaps and bounds as a voice that could handle many types, ages and accents, his first big break occurred in 1934 as the leading man on the soap drama "The Romance of Helen Trent." He then replaced actor Don Ameche as the leading man on the popular weekly radio drama "The First Nighter," a stint that lasted six years. During that time, his more popular series work included that of super-sleuth Nick Charles in "The Adventures of the Thin Man." He also became the announcer on "The Bob Crosby Show."
Searching for bigger opportunities, Tremayne transplanted himself to both Los Angeles New York in 1943, and continued to find radio work as the title role in "The Falcon," played detective Pat Abbott in "The Abbott Mysteries," appeared on Bob Crosby's programs "The Old Gold Show" and "The Bob Crosby Show," and co-starred as the straight man alongside "The Great One" on "The Jackie Gleason/Les Tremayne Show" when Crosby enlisted for WWII service. Other shows would include a breakfast talk format, "The Tremaynes," with second wife Alice Reinheart, as well as the programs "Cavalcade of America," "Ford Theatre," "Inner Sanctum Mysteries," "Kraft Music Hall," "Lux Radio Theatre" and "The Whistle," among so many others.
In the 1950s, Tremayne took on films and the new medium of TV. Typically playing military types, erudite professionals, shifty execs and errant husbands, his more officious roles included playing a police commission chief in The Racket (1951); a colonel in Francis Goes to West Point (1952); a lawyer in Susan Slept Here (1954); a senator in A Man Called Peter (1955) and another colonel in The Perfect Furlough (1958). Best remembered for his characters in cult 1950s sci-fiers, he co-starred or was featured in The War of the Worlds (1953), The Monolith Monsters (1957), The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) and The Angry Red Planet (1959). His mellifluous voice was also utilized in films (Forbidden Planet (1956)), in film trailers (The Iron Petticoat (1956)) and for narrating documentaries (Adventures in the Red Sea (1951)).
On TV, Tremayne earned frequent appearances on such established programs as "The Danny Thomas Show," "Mr. Adams and Eve," "The Thin Man," "Bachelor Father," "77 Sunset Strip," "The Jack Benny Program," "The Rifleman," "State Trooper," "M Squad," "Thriller," "Perry Mason," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Checkmate" and "The Andy Griffith Show." He also had a recurring TV role as Major Stone on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954) and co-starred as Inspector Richard Queen, the father of the famed mystery writer (played by George Nader on the series The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen (1958).
A flurry of unworthy low-budget films came Tremayne's way in later years including Shootout at Big Sag (1962), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), The Slime People (1963), Creature of Destruction (1968), Strawberries Need Rain (1971) and Fangs (1974). He also found work with the CBS Mystery Radio Theatre, and also provided voices for "Mr. Magoo," "Johnny Quest," "The Smurfs," "Go-Bots," "Scooby Doo" and "Rikki Tiki Tavi."
Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995, Tremayne would take his final bow in the comedy film horror The Naked Monster (2005) which featured several other cult actors of '50s sci-fi/horror including Kenneth Tobey, John Agar, Robert Clarke, Robert Cornthwaite, Jeanne Carmen, Lori Nelson, Ann Robinson and Gloria Talbott.
Tremayne died of heart failure in Santa Monica, California, on December 19, 2003, at the age of 90, and was survived by his fourth wife, Joan Hertz.- Actress
- Script and Continuity Department
- Soundtrack
American character actress Madlyn Rhue was one of television's most prolific actresses and has starred in everything from sitcoms to soap operas to drama series and films for nearly 40 years. Her beautiful looks, natural red hair and brown eyes got her the attention of television producers and she found herself guest starring on such series as Rawhide (1959), Cheyenne (1955), Star Trek (1966), Hawaii Five-O (1968), Charlie's Angels (1976) and Fantasy Island (1977). She did several theatrical motion pictures, most notably Operation Petticoat (1959), He Rides Tall (1964), Kenner (1968) and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). In 1977, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which she battled for nearly 25 years. However, the disease never got her down; she continued to work in numerous television films and was co-starring on such series and soap operas as Executive Suite (1976), Fame (1982) and Days of Our Lives (1965) and had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote (1984). By 1997, Rhue was unable to work, and she spent her last years at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home retirement center in Woodland Hills, California. She passed away from pneumonia and multiple sclerosis there at age 68 on December 16, 2003.- Actor
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Earl Hindman was an American actor from Arizona. His most famous role was that of helpful neighbor Wilson W. Wilson, Jr. in the popular sitcom "Home Improvement" (1991-1999). The series lasted for 8 seasons, and a total of 204 episodes.
In 1942, Hindman was born in Bisbee, Arizona, which at the time was a mining city. Bisbee was established in 1880, as a settlement for copper, gold, and silver miners. The city became the county seat of Cochise County in 1929. Hindman's parents were Burl Latney Hindman and his wife Eula. His father worked in the oil pipeline business.
Hindman studied acting at the University of Arizona. He made his film debut in the exploitation film "Teenage Mother" (1967), at the age of 25. His early films included the mystery film "Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?" (1971), and the political assassination-themed thriller "The Parallax View" (1974). He played the hijacker code-named "Mr. Brown" in the action thriller "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974).
Hindman next found a regular role in television, playing police lieutenant Bob Reid in the soap opera "Ryan's Hope" (1975-1989). He was a regular in the series from 1975 to 1984, and then was written out. He returned to the series in 1988 and remained until its end in 1989. The series was canceled due to its steady decline in Nielsen numbers. In total, it lasted for 13 seasons and 3,515 episodes.
Hindman was featured as race-car driver Beau Welles in the biographical film "Greased Lightning" (1977), depicted as the main rival to protagonist Wendell Scott (played by Richard Pryor). The film was loosely based on the life of Wendell Scott (1921-1990), the first African-American to win a race in the Grand National Series, NASCAR's highest level.
Hindman was reduced to minor roles in film for the duration of the 1980s, with the exception of playing gunfighter J.T. Hollis in the Western film "Silverado" (1985). In television, he played Lt. Commander Wade McClusky in the miniseries "War and Remembrance" (1988-1989). His career experienced a revival when cast as a regular character in "Home Improvement". In the series, his character Wilson W. Wilson, Jr. would regularly offer advice to protagonist Timothy "Tim" Taylor (played by Tim Allen), As a running gag, Wilson's face remained hidden from the audience.
Following the series' cancellation, Hindman mostly appeared in guest star roles in television series, such as "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent". Meanwhile his health declined. Hindman was a longtime smoker, and was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died due to the disease in December 2003, at the age of 61.
Hindman died in Stamford, Connecticut, and was buried there in Roxbury Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, actress Molly McGreevey. McGreevey died in 2015.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Missouri-born Ellen Drew was born Esther Loretta Ray in 1914, the daughter of an Irish-born barber. After her parents separated when she was 15 years old, she worked various jobs (accountant, salesgirl) to support her mother and younger brother. At one time she worked at Marshall Field's Department Store. She then went to Kansas City as an elevator operator at the Aladdin Hotel, earning $14 a week. After rejoining her family in Englewood, Illinois, she found yet another job at the Grant store. The manager liked her fresh-faced good looks and high-wattage smile and entered her in a beauty pageant sponsored by the Kiwanis, which she ended up winning. Encouraged to try her luck in tinseltown, she got a job at Brown's Confectionary on Hollywood Boulevard for $11.50 a week before she was discovered in somewhat typical Lana Turner fashion. While working at an ice cream parlor, customer William Demarest took notice of her and was instrumental in having her put under a $50 a week contract at Paramount Studios in 1936, aged 21.
Initially billed as Terry Ray, she was groomed in starlet bits for two years until finally given a role she could sink her teeth into in the Bing Crosby musical Sing, You Sinners (1938). Her hair was changed from brunette to auburn (sometimes blonde) and her moniker changed from Terry Ray to Ellen Drew, after briefly being known as Erin Drew. Brighter roles came her way with If I Were King (1938) (which clinched her celebrity), Women Without Names (1940) and Buck Benny Rides Again (1940), but she never quite managed to distinguish herself among the bevy of Hollywood beauties on display and so remained on the outer fringes for most her career. Despite fine roles in fine movies, notably the Preston Sturges classic, Christmas in July (1940), and the Dick Powell starrer, Johnny O'Clock (1947), her film career went into decline. In the 1950s she transferred her talents to television before retiring the following decade. Married four times, including to writer/producer Sy Bartlett, she was survived by her son and five grandchildren when she passed away in 2003, aged 89, in Palm Desert, California.- Actor
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Born on May 24, 1962, in Harlem. Attended Julia Richmond High School, where he performed in a dance class, and later auditioned for Louis Falco, the choreographer for the film Fame (1980). Actually attended New York's High School of the Performing Arts for a year, before being kicked out. He was, therefore, perfectly cast as Leroy in the film, which won Academy Awards for best song and original score. Like his character in the film, Ray had never had professional dance training but had an abundance of raw talent. In 1982, he toured Britain to perform with other Fame (1980) cast members in 10 concerts. The Kids from Fame in Concert (1983), a television special about the tour, was broadcast in the United States a year later.- Wendy Hiller, daughter of Frank and Marie Hiller, was born on 15th August 1912 in Bramhall, near Stockport, Cheshire, England. She was educated at Winceby House School, Bexhill then moved on to Manchester Repertory Theatre. She appeared on stage in Sir John Barry's tour of Evensong, then as Sally Hardcastle in Love on the Dole. She toured extensively, playing in London and New York. She took leading parts in Pygmalion and Saint Joan at the Malvern Festival in 1936.
- Actress
- Music Department
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Kinetic blonde comedienne and delightful mugger Dorothy Loudon had the confidence and talent to make anything or anyone around her funny. The veteran singer/entertainer earned the respect of theatergoers long ago with her hilarious, fully played-out characters on the nightclub and cabaret scene as well as the award-winning musical stage and in revues.
The beloved entertainer was born in Boston on September 17, 1925 and grew up in both Indianapolis and Claremont, New Hampshire. Her mother, Dorothy Helen Shaw, was a department store piano player who taught Dorothy how to sing as well as tickle the ivories while making certain she attended dance classes regularly. Dorothy earned a drama scholarship to Syracuse University, which led to her transferring to the Emerson College and then the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Starting out as a nightclub chanteuse in 1954, a club owner happened to see her potential for satire and farce and encouraged her to parody her torchy vocal style. She proved a tremendous hit caricaturing everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Shirley Temple in her act and headlined all the best clubs and cabarets, from the Ruban Bleu and Persian Room to the Blue Angel. Over the years the boisterous blonde developed a strong cult audience in New York and in revues.
Despite a regular role on the short-lived TV sitcom It's a Business (1952) and guest appearances on such shows as "Stump the Stars," "Dupont Show of the Month," "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show," The Tonight Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show," it was Garry Moore and his making her a Golden Globe-winning regular on his variety series in 1962 that opened major doors and gave Dorothy her highest TV profile yet. In addition to gracing a number of talk/variety shows such as "The Mike Douglas Show," "The Merv Griffin Show," "The Dean Martin Show," "The Milton Berle Show," "The Jonathan Winters Show," and others, she became a frequent game show panelist ("Password," "The Match Game").
Back in 1962, Loudon made her stage debut in "The World of Jules Feiffer," directed by Mike Nichols. That same year Dorothy went on to win a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the musical "Nowhere to Go But Up." An absolute master at the slow take, her comic wackiness somehow never managed to jell in films or series TV the way it should have -- perhaps her delightfully saucy eccentricities maybe a bit too big or too much to take. She starred in the short-lived sitcom Dorothy (1979) and made only two movies during the course of her career. She was a hit when she toured for six months in the hit show "Luv" in 1965-66. This was followed by front-and-center roles in "The Fig Leaves Are Falling" (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination, 1969), "Three Men on a Horse" (1969), "Lolita, My Love" (1971), "Plaza Suite" (1971), "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1971), "The Women" (1973) and "Winning Is Better" (1974).
It only got better for Dorothy. She reached her absolute theatre glory with the irreverent role of Miss Hannigan in the colossal 1977 Broadway musical hit "Annie." Winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for her campy, no-holds-barred performance and songs "Little Girls" and "Easy Street," she would suffer a huge disappointment when Carol Burnett, whom she replaced on The Garry Moore Show (1958), was signed to play the role on film. Other major theater highlights included playing the role of widow Bea Asher in the Broadway musical "Ballroom" (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination, 1979); replacing Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd" in 1980; co-starring opposite Katharine Hepburn in "West Side Waltz" in 1981; received comedy acclaim for her 1983 portrayal of middle age TV star Dotty Otley in "Noises Off" on Broadway (losing again to Burnet for the film role); and appeared in the 1985 Jerry Herman revue "Jerry's Girls."
Like the legendary Carol Channing and Ethel Merman, the eccentric Dorothy was a larger-than-life personality that TV and film found difficult to restrain. She starred in the sitcom Dorothy (1979) in which she portrayed a former showgirl teaching music and drama at a boarding school for girls, but the show was canceled after one season. She also appeared briefly (1993) on the daytime soap All My Children (1970). She would only be featured in only two films, that of an agent in the film Garbo Talks (1984) and an off-the-wall eccentric in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997).
The theatre remained Dorothy's refuge. An attempt to cash in on her Miss Hannigan character and the "Annie" phenomenon with "Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge (1990) failed when it closed in Washington, D.C. before making it to Broadway. She also graced the shows "Comedy Tonight" (1994), "Show Boat" (as Parthy Hawkes) (1996), "Sweet Adeline" (1997) and "Over and Over" (1999).
Diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2002, Dorothy was forced to leave the Broadway production of "Dinner at Eight" that November. She died of complications on November 15, 2003 at age 78.- Born in Toronto, Canadian-American actor Graham Jarvis attended Williams College, before moving to New York to pursue a career in theatre. He studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and was an original member of the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater. He appeared in film and television for decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s.
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Fred Rogers was the host of the popular long-running public television children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The show debuted in Pittsburgh in 1967 and was picked up by PBS the next year, becoming a staple of public TV stations around the United States. Rogers' mild manner, cardigan sweaters and soft speaking voice made him both widely beloved and widely parodied. Rogers ended production of the show in 2001, but reruns of the show continued to be aired on many PBS stations. He died in 2003 after a short battle with stomach cancer.- Actor
- Producer
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Television producer and host Robert James Keeshan was born in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York. As a young man he served in the US Marine Corps Reserve. Starting as a page at the National Broadcasting Company, Keeshan later began his on-air career as the original "Clarabell, the Clown" for the NBC The Howdy Doody Show (1947) (aka "The Howdy Doody Show"). He was then the first host/performer of WJZ/WABC TV Ch. 7 NYC's "Time For Fun" / "The Johnny Jellybean Show". Keeshan emceed the show as "Corny The Clown" weekdays at noon from Monday, September 21st, 1953, to Friday, July 29th, 1955. He co-created, co-produced and hosted "Tinker's Workshop" with Jack Miller on WJZ/WABC TV Ch. 7 in New York City weekday mornings from Monday, November 15, 1954 to Friday, September 9, 1955. The show continued without Robert until Friday August 22, 1958. The later hosts of the show were Henry Burbig, Gene London & Dom DeLuise.
When asked to put together a show for children, he leaped at the chance. On Monday, October 3rd, 1955, Captain Kangaroo (1955) began its near 30-year run on CBS, until it was moved to Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the 1980s. There was a lot of fun in the "Treasure House", with Bunny Rabbit swindling carrots before lunch from The Captain or Mister Moose finding yet another way to get the Captain to stand still long enough to drop dozens of ping-pong balls down on the ever-unsuspecting Captain's head. Dennis (Cosmo Allegretti) asking so many questions that Mister Bainter would almost always lose his cool. All the while during this, Captain Kangaroo taught us values and gave those with busy or absent fathers a gentle and caring male role model to learn good behavior and manners from. A love of reading was encouraged and the animals that Mister Green Jeans (Hugh Brannum) showed allowed children who had never seen a particular animal to experience it though his fascination with it. During its run in 1964, Keeshan also took on a Saturday morning persona as "Mister Mayor" for a year, but remained the Captain until the end of its run on PBS in 1993. Over the years he and the show won six Emmy's and three Peabody Awards, totaling nine awards, altogether, and he was also elected to the Clown Hall of Fame.
In 1989 he published "Growing Up Happy" and then in October of 1996 he published "Good Morning Captain: 50 Wonderful Years with Bob Keeshan, TV's Captain Kangaroo". Keeshan is also the author of the "Itty Bitty Kitty" children's book series. Widowed in the 1990s, he died in Vermont in 2004.Credited as "Bob Keeshan"- Actress
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One of the most versatile actresses, Janice Rule was born in Norwood, Ohio, on August 15, 1931. Janice made her screen debut in the star-studded movie Goodbye, My Fancy (1951). She played the rival for James Stewart's affections, and was driven away by witch Kim Novak, in Bell Book and Candle (1958), a pre-Bewitched (1964) comedy. Janice appeared in the first season of the ground-breaking science fiction series The Twilight Zone (1959) playing "Helen Foley" (named after Rod Serling's favorite teacher). In 1961, Janice married Ben Gazzara and they had one daughter, Elizabeth Gazzara (they divorced in 1979). After marrying, Janice took off a few years from movie acting, then returned to the silver screen and gave her best performances. In a change of pace role, she was the party girl in The Chase (1966); and Janice showed a real flair for comedy as "Matt Helm"'s partner in The Ambushers (1967) with Dean Martin. She did a wonderful job realistically portraying a frontier woman in Welcome to Hard Times (1967), and received acclaim for her performance as a disturbed artist in 3 Women (1977). The last movie Janice appeared in was American Flyers (1985), and her last TV appearance was in the science fiction genre, The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985) in 1992. From science fiction, to comedy, to portraying loose women, to playing strong women - Janice Rule covered the whole spectrum of human emotion and life.- Actor
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Art Carney was an American actor with a lengthy career but is primarily remembered for two roles. In television, Carney played municipal sewer worker Ed Norton in the influential sitcom "The Honeymooners" (1955-1956). In film, Carney played senior citizen Harry Coombes in the road movie "Harry and Tonto" (1974). For this role, Carney won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 1918, Carney was born in an Irish American family in Mount Vernon, New York. His father was publicist Edward Michael Carney, and his mother was housewife Helen Farrell. Carney was the youngest of the family's six sons. He was educated at Mount Vernon High School (at the time called "A.B. Davis High School").
In the 1930s, Carney was a singer with the orchestra of big band leader Horace Heidt (1901-1986). They appeared often in radio shows, and were regulars in the pioneering game show Pot o' Gold (1939-1947). Carney had an uncredited cameo in the film adaptation "Pot o' Gold" (1941), which was his film debut.
His career was interrupted when he was drafted for World War II service. He served as an infantryman and machine gun crewman for the duration of the war. He fought in the Invasion of Normandy (1944), where he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel. Following his injury, his right leg was shorter than his left one. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life.
Following the War, Carney appeared regularly on radio as a character actor. He also served as a celebrity impersonator, imitating the voices of (among others) Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Dwight David Eisenhower. He had a recurring role as the Red Lantern in the fantasy adventure series "Land of the Lost" (1943-1948), and another as Charlie the doorman in radio and television version of the sitcom The Morey Amsterdam Show (1948-1950).
Carney was first paired with fellow actor Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) in 1950, in a comedy sketch appearing in the variety series "Cavalcade of Stars" (1949-1952). Gleason appeared as lunchroom loudmouth Charlie Bratten, and Carney as mild-mannered victim Clem Finch. Due to good chemistry between the two actors, Carney became a show regular and appeared in several other comedy sketches with Gleason. "Cavalcade of Stars" was eventually reworked into "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1952-1957), with Gleason as the lead actor and Carney as his sidekick.
The most notable of the recurring sketches was "the Honeymooners", pairing the verbally abusive Ralph Kramden (Gleason) with his optimistic best friend Ed Norton (Carney). The sketch eventually was eventually given its own series, "The Honeymooners" (1955-1956). The series only lasted for 1 season, and a total of 39 episodes. The sitcom was canceled due to low ratings, but found success in syndication. Its depiction of the American working class was popular and influenced several other sitcoms. The popular animated sitcom "The Flintstones" (1960-1966) started as a Honeymooners parody, with the character Barney Rubble based on Ed Norton.
Due to his popularity as Gleason's sidekick, Carney was offered a number of lead roles in television. He starred in the television special "Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf" (1958), adapted from the story "Peter and the Wolf" (1936) by Sergei Prokofiev. He was eventually given his own show "Art Carney Special" (1959-1961), which was not particularly successful.
Carney had few notable guest star roles in television during the 1960s. He played an alcoholic department store Santa Claus in the episode "The Night of the Meek" (1960) of The Twilight Zone, and portrayed the villain "The Archer" in two episodes of "Batman". He opened the 1970s by playing both Santa Claus and villain Cosmo Scam in the Christmas television special "The Great Santa Claus Switch" (1970), where he appeared alongside Jim Henson's Muppets.
Carney had suffered a career decline until the 1970s, in part due to his alcoholism. He first found success in film as the leading character "Harry and Tonto" (1974), as a lonely senior citizen who goes on a cross-country journey with his pet cat. His critical success in the role and winning an Academy Award helped revive his career. He was offered many new film roles, though few leading ones.
Among his better-known film roles were the deranged preacher John Wesley Gore in "W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings" (1975), aging detective Ira Wells in "The Late Show" (1977), senile surgeon Dr. Amos Willoughby in "House Calls" (1978), and thrill-seeking bank robber Al in "Going in Style". During this period, Carney won both the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor and the Pasinetti Award for Best Actor.
Carney had a notable role in the television film "Star Wars Holiday Special" (1978) as Trader Saun Dann, a member of the Rebel Alliance. In the 1980s, Carney was mostly reduced to minor roles again. He is better remembered as the kind-hearted farmer Irv Manders in the horror film "Firestarter" (1984) and theatrical producer Bernard Crawford in the comedy-drama "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984). He mostly retired from acting by the late 1980s.
Carney emerged from retirement to play the supporting role of Frank Slater in "Last Action Hero" (1993). Frank is depicted as the "favorite second cousin" of the film's protagonist Jack Slater (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). Frank's death provided motivation for the revenge-seeking protagonist. Frank's final line in the film was "I'm outta here", and this was indeed Carney's last appearance in a film before his death.
Carney lived in retirement until 2003. He died in his sleep in November 2003, in his home near Westbrook, Connecticut. His death was attributed to unspecified "natural causes". He was 85 years old and had reportedly managed to stay sober since he originally quit drinking in 1974. He is interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Carney was survived by his wife Jean Myers, who died in October 2012. Carney was the grandfather of politician Devin Carney, who served in the Connecticut General Assembly.- Actor
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Born in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, to Greg and Mary, Jonathan Brandis began his career at age 5, acting in several television commercials. He also appeared in small parts in several films and TV shows before his first starring role in the 1990 film The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990). He starred in popular films such as Ladybugs (1992) and starred as Lucas Wolenczak in Steven Spielberg's television series SeaQuest 2032 (1993). He doubled up his high school courses so he could finish a year early for his role on SeaQuest. After his career stalled for a bit, he was hoping his role in serious drama film Hart's War (2002) would relaunch it. However, most of his scenes ended up being cut from the finished film. This caused him to fall into a deep depression in which he would drink heavily and tragically end his own life on November 12th, 2003.- Suzy Parker was born on 28 October 1932 in Long Island City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Funny Face (1957), Circle of Deception (1960) and The Best of Everything (1959). She was married to Bradford Dillman, Pierre de la Salle and Charles Ronald Staton. She died on 3 May 2003 in Montecito, California, USA.
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For a while in the 1970s, Fred Berry was one of the biggest stars on American television. The former dancer, who became a star in the sitcom What's Happening!! (1976) ballooned until his weight became a threat to his health. He battled with food, drink, drugs and women, marrying 6 times to 4 women in total. Diabetes was diagnosed, he lost more than 100 pounds and turned to religion. Born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1951, Berry danced with The Lockers, but it was the sitcom deal in 1976 that gave him his big break. The series ran for three seasons. After it was canceled, Berry struggled with personal problems and with the search for another star vehicle. The series was popular through reruns and a further series (What's Happening Now! (1985) was picked up in 1985 and ran for three years, after which Berry gave up acting for religion. He returned to the screen in 1998 in the action movie In the Hood (1998), and his final role was a cameo in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003) in 2003. Berry died on October 21, 2003, aged 52.- Noted stage actress who has also done limited work in TV and film. Born in Germany and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Her Broadway debut was in "The Seagull" in 1938. She won her first Tony (and other awards) in 1950 for Clifford Odets "The Country Girl". Her second Tony was for the role of Martha in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's HB Studio (founded by Herbert Berghof in 1945) and authored best-selling acting texts, Respect for Acting, with Haskel Frankel, and A Challenge for the Actor. Her most substantial contributions to theater pedagogy were a series of "object exercises" that built on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and Yevgeni Vakhtangov.
She was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999. - Actor
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Colorful American character actor equally adept at vicious killers or grizzled sidekicks. As a child he worked in the cotton fields. He attended Santa Monica Junior College in California and subsequently became an accountant and, at one time, manager of the Bel Air Hotel. Elam got his first movie job by trading his accounting services for a role. In short time he became one of the most memorable supporting players in Hollywood, thanks not only to his near-demented screen persona but also to an out-of-kilter left eye, sightless from a childhood fight. He appeared with great aplomb in Westerns and gangster films alike, and in later years played to wonderful effect in comedic roles.- Actress
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Julie Parrish was born on 21 October 1940 in Middlesboro, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress and director, known for Mannix (1967), Fireball 500 (1966) and Return to Peyton Place (1972). She died on 1 October 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
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The burly character actor Gordon Jump will probably be best remembered for the role of the radio station manager Arthur Carlson in the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978). This is coincidental since, in the first part of his working life, he was found either behind a microphone or camera in stints with radio and TV stations in the Midwest, including producing jobs at stations in Kansas and Ohio.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1963, he quickly became involved in stage productions with Nathan Hale and Ruth Hale, a couple who had opened a small theater in Glendale, California, several years earlier, in order to make ends meet. The Hales preferred the stage to film, and they abandoned Hollywood film hopes when their theater was successful. Others developing their acting talents with the Hales included Mike Farrell and Connie Stevens. Jump always credited Ruth Hale for the real start of his career as an actor, and it has been said that Jump remained most passionate about acting in live theater.
He soon started appearing in numerous TV series, including Daniel Boone (1964), Get Smart (1965), and Green Acres (1965). Through his association with the Hale clan, he became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which led to appearances in educational and religious short films produced and directed by Judge Whitaker at Brigham Young University in the 1960s. He played a Mormon bishop in "You Make the Difference", a thoughtful husband in Marriage: What Kind for You? (1967), and even the Apostle Peter in Mormon Temple Film (1969). Ruth was instrumental in getting Jump to give up smoking, and she also admonished him to turn down offers to do beer commercials. To the end of his life, he took his membership in his faith seriously, including its health codes. He also was in other LDS church films including When Thou Art Converted 1967, What about Thad? 1969, The Guilty 1978 and Families are Forever 1982.
Gordon remained predominantly a television actor throughout a long career in the arts, but he did appear in some small parts in feature films such as Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). He also had a cameo appearance in The Singles Ward (2002), a comedy involving young Latter-Day Saint cultural experiences, which was written and directed by Kurt Hale, the grandson of Ruth and Nathan.
Beyond his acting career, Gordon produced The Tony Randall Show (1976) and directed an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati (1978). In the last years of his life, he was readily recognizable as the lonely Maytag Washer repairman in commercials that ran on television for several years starting in 1989. He effectively portrayed Ol' Lonely until retiring from the role just before his death. (The repairman was lonely because the machines never broke down.) As is often the case for actors with a flair for comedy, he was also adept at playing dramatic roles. As is also often the case with character actors, his face is recognizable to many who never knew his name.- Producer
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Became host of the Tonight Show in 1957 and quickly grew very popular with viewers. So popular, in fact, that the show was renamed "The Jack Paar Show" after only one year of hosting. Paar's trademark was his great ability to engage in conversation with guests that went above and beyond the generic "chat" that other hosts never rose above. He was very emotional and was known to weep on camera at times. Once he walked off the show in a huff when the network censored a joke he made referring to a "water closet". On his program he developed a regular roster of favorite guests including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cliff Arquette, Genevieve, Hans Conried, Hermione Gingold, and Dody Goodman. After five years of hosting, he tired of the routine and switched to a weekly NBC variety series in 1962 that flopped. He next purchased a television station in Poland Springs, Maine, and sold it several years later. In 1973 he signed with ABC to compete with his NBC successor, Johnny Carson, on a limited schedule of one week a month, but failed to garner the acclaim he once enjoyed.- Actress
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Florence Stanley was born Florence Schwartz on July 1, 1924 in Chicago. She enjoyed a prolific career in the theatre before achieving fame on television as Abe Vigoda's long-suffering, neglected wife, Bernice, on Barney Miller (1975), and later, as Bernice Fish in the short-lived spinoff Fish (1977). Other notable performances include small roles in, Robert Mulligan's Up the Down Staircase (1967), Mike Nichols's The Day of the Dolphin (1973), and The Fortune (1975).- Dynamic African American leading man and characters actor William Marshall trained in Grand Opera, Broadway and Shakespeare. In films from the 50s and 60s including: Lydia Bailey (1952), Something of Value (1957), To Trap a Spy (1964) and finally known for being in The Boston Strangler (1968) with Tony Curtis. Marshall really didn't hit it big until the "blaxplotation" era of the 70s. He starred in the contemporary vampire melodrama, Blacula (1972), and its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973), and the Exorcist-type film, Abby (1974). From the 80s, Marshall was seen as the "King of Cartoons" on the Saturday morning TV kiddie show, Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986), a job that he accepted on behalf of his grandchildren. Marshall has also appeared in Maverick (1994) and Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996). Marshall retired from acting afterwards and died of Alzheimer's disease in June, 2003.
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For more than three decades Hollywood defaulted to a small core group of actors when it came to casting convincing mobsters, gamblers and racketeers. These often typecast individuals included Joseph Ruskin, Bruce Gordon, Neville Brand, Robert Loggia and...Anthony Caruso. Square-jawed, broad-shouldered and gravelly-voiced, Caruso provided a reliable source of menace and was amply utilised in films and in countless television episodes beginning in 1941.
The son of Italian-American parents, Caruso decided to forgo a career as an opera singer and instead took up acting with a stock company in Long Beach, California. A year later, in 1935, he joined the Pasadena Playhouse. He began in films as a bit player, commenting later that "MGM was the place to be, offering us extras a higher quality of lunch". In his first film, Johnny Apollo (1940), he played a henchman named Joe and there were to be many more of these to come with names like Fingers, Dapper Dan Greco, Chips Malloy, Pinky Luiz and Lucky Grillo. These dastardly nemeses came in a variety of ethnic types, ranging from Italians, Mexicans and Latinos to Greeks and Russians. A close personal friend of the actor Alan Ladd, Caruso featured in eleven of the star's films (the first as a hitman in Lucky Jordan (1942) ). In 1954, he became a member of Ladd's newly formed stock company, Jaguar Films. Whenever Caruso was not gleefully portraying underworld figures (The Iron Mistress (1952) , Hell on Frisco Bay (1955), The Asphalt Jungle (1950)) he was effectively employed as Native American chiefs (Drum Beat (1954), Cattle Queen of Montana (1954), The Lawless Eighties (1957)). On television, he had a popular recurring role as the charming but lethal Comanchero El Lobo on The High Chaparral (1967). Even on a planet (far, far away) in the Star Trek (1966) universe, Caruso -- as crime boss Bela Oxmyx -- was up to his old tricks using James T. & company to eliminate a rival gang and assume control of the government.
In stark contrast to his screen image, Caruso was the consummate family man in private life, happily married for 63 years, and enjoying the simple pleasures of gardening and cooking.