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 1,458
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Andrea Louise Riseborough is an English actress and producer. She made her film debut with a small part in Venus (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Never Let Me Go, Brighton Rock, Made in Dagenham (all 2010), W.E. (2011), Shadow Dancer, Disconnect (both 2012), Welcome to the Punch, Oblivion (both 2013), Birdman (2014), Nocturnal Animals (2016), Battle of the Sexes, The Death of Stalin (both 2017), Mandy, Nancy (both 2018), The Grudge and Possessor (both 2020).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Kingsley Ben-Adir was born on 20 November 1986. He is an actor, known for The OA (2016), High Fidelity (2020) and Peaky Blinders (2013).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Director
Mary Sean Young was born on November 20, 1959 in Louisville, Kentucky. She is the daughter of Lee Guthrie (née Mary Lee Kane), an Emmy-nominated producer, screenwriter, public relations executive, and journalist, and Donald Young, Jr., an Emmy award winning television news producer and journalist. She has Irish, English, and Swiss-German ancestry. She grew up with an older brother Donald Young III and a sister Cathleen Young in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Cleveland Heights High School, and then transferred to and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy. A trained dancer, she studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City, and did some modeling. Sean Young began a promising film career by acting in a Merchant-Ivory film Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980) for Academy Award winning director James Ivory, She followed that up in the comedy hit film Stripes (1981) for Academy Award nominated producer-director Ivan Reitman. Soon, important directors were casting her in their films, such as Garry Marshall in Young Doctors in Love (1982), Academy Award nominee David Lynch in Dune (1984), and Academy Award nominee Ridley Scott in Blade Runner (1982) in what is her most respected film. 1987 was a big year for her, since she appeared in two big movies. Academy Award winner Oliver Stone cast her in the hit film Wall Street (1987). However, her other hit film No Way Out (1987), which involved a famous steamy scene in the backseat of a limousine with Kevin Costner, gave her star status. She was at the height of her fame, which led to her being cast as Vicky Vale in Batman (1989). She had an accident while she was training for the film. As a result, she lost the role to Kim Basinger for what turned out to be the biggest hit of 1989. Young put on a brave face and gamely moved on to do comedies Fatal Instinct (1993) for director Carl Reiner, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), the latter's box office success made Jim Carrey a star, who immediately landed the role of the Riddler in the Batman sequel. Mary Sean Young is living in Austin, Texas. She created a new business venture called Austin Film Tours. It is Austin's first and only film location tour.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ming-Na ("enlightenment") was born on the island of Macau, forty miles
from Hong Kong. Her mother, Lin Chan Wen, divorced her father when
Ming-Na was only a toddler. She has an older brother named Jonathan.
After the divorce, they moved to Hong Kong where her mother became a
nurse. There her mother met Soo Lim Yee, a U.S. businessman. They soon
married, and at four years, Ming-Na moved with her family to Queens,
New York. Five years later, they transferred to Yee's hometown of
Pittsburgh where his family runs the Chinatown Inn restaurant. Jonathan
and half-brother, Leong, now manage this restaurant. Struggling to fit
in at school, she changed her name to Maggie & Doris. She found a love
for acting while appearing in a third grade Easter play, where she
played a klutzy bunny. Her mother was not excited about her desire to
pursue acting, She preferred that she go into medicine. Nonetheless,
Ming-Na graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in
theatre. She got her first acting job in 1988 on the soap
As the World Turns (1956).
Her big break came when she was cast in
The Joy Luck Club (1993). When
she needed a ride to the premiere of the film, her acting instructor
sent one of his students,
Eric Michael Zee. The two started
dating in 1994 after Ming-Na moved permanently to Los Angeles and
married in 1995, dropping her last name, Wen, at that time. She says
she is now like Ann-Margret. Zee is a
screenwriter and, with Ming-Na, manages At Last, a boy band.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Joel Edward McHale was born in Rome, Italy, to a Canadian-born mother, Laurie (Jackson), and an American-born father, Jack McHale. His father, from Chicago, is of Irish descent, and his mother, from Vancouver, has Norwegian, Finnish, and English ancestry. Joel was raised in Seattle, Washington, and graduated from Mercer Island High School. He was a history major at the University of Washington, where he was a member of the championship football team. In addition, Joel received his master's of fine arts from UW's Actor's Training Program.
Joel was a cast member on KING-TV's
Almost Live! (1984). He moved to LA after
graduating college and quickly landed parts in
Will & Grace (1998) and
Oliver Beene (2003). 2004 was a
big year for Joel, as he booked roles in
Spider-Man 2 (2004),
The Onion Movie (2008), and
Lords of Dogtown (2005). In addition, that year he began writing, producing and starring in The Soup (2004) on E! in which he
counted down the most absurd, hysterical, wacky, and surreal moments in
the world of reality TV and celebrities each week. Joel's quick wit and sharp comedic timing made "The Soup" a pop-culture phenomenon.
Joel starred on the hit comedy series Community (2009). He also appeared opposite Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh's comedic thriller The Informant! (2009). He hosted the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards, and co-starred in Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011), opposite Jessica Alba, in which he played a spy-hunting reporter married to Alba's character, the stepmother of his children. In 2011, he also had a role in What's Your Number? (2011) with Anna Faris and The Big Year (2011) with Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson.
McHale appeared in Seth MacFarlane's Ted (2012), a live-action tale of a boy and his teddy bear. Co-starring with Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Seth MacFarlane, he played a charming but sleazy boss of Mila Kunis' character.
In 2016, Joel was cast as the main character on the sitcom The Great Indoors (2016). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two sons. He performs stand-up comedy around the country to sold-out audiences.- Actress
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins) is an American actress and model. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy 10 (1979). Her first husband John Derek directed her in Fantasies; Tarzan, the Ape Man (both 1981); Bolero (1984) and Ghosts Can't Do It (1989), all of which received negative reviews. Widowed in 1998, she married actor John Corbett in 2020. Now semi-retired, she makes occasional film, television, and documentary appearances.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Jeremy Jordan was born on November 20, 1984 in Corpus Christi, Texas as Jeremy Michael Jordan. He's best known for his roles in Smash (2012) & Supergirl (2015).
He graduated from Ithaca College w/ a degree musical theater in 2007. Afterwards, he landed his 1st role on Broadway in Rock of Ages. In December 2009, he left the show to play Tony in West Side Story. In 2011, he originated the role of Clyde Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde. This earned him the Theatre World Award. Later that season, he went on to star in Newsies, receiving Tony & Grammy nominations for his role as Jack Kelly.
4 months into the run, he landed the role of Jimmy Collins in season 2 of Smash (2012). For a few months, he would film the series during the day while starring in Newsies during the evening. He soon left to film Smash (2012) full-time.
His films include Joyful Noise (2012) & The Last Five Years (2014). He has guest starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) & Elementary (2012). Other shows include Supergirl (2015) & Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (2017).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Florian David Fitz was born on 20 November 1974 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Jesus Loves Me (2012), The Most Beautiful Day (2016) and 100 Things (2018).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Born to public school teachers in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Laura
Harris began acting professionally in CBC radio dramas at an early age.
With a taste for quirky, character-driven material, Harris is known for
playing 1930's starlet "Daisy Adair" in Showtime's cult hit
Dead Like Me (2003) with
Mandy Patinkin and
Callum Blue. Film work includes
Robert Rodriguez's
The Faculty (1998),
Christopher Guest 's
A Mighty Wind (2003) and Chris
Smith's comedic thriller
Severance (2006) with Toby Stephens and Tim McInnerny. Recently voicing the role of "Kitty Pryde" in Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men (2009),
other television work includes Showtime's
The Outer Limits (1995),
CTV's Defying Gravity (2009)
with Ron Livingston and a SAG
nominated turn in FOX's runaway hit
24 (2001) starring
Kiefer Sutherland. In her personal
time, Laura is active in the food justice community, recently receiving
a full scholarship for the University of California, Berkeley to study
social-ecological systems design. She splits her time between Los
Angeles and the Bay Area.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Nadine Velazquez stars in History Channel's new drama, Six (2017), as "Jackie Ortiz", a strong wife of a Navy SEAL who holds the Ortiz family together. Known for her role as "Sophia" on FXX's The League (2009)--which ended its successful seven year run in 2015--and as "Catalina", the sexy hotel maid/stripper/illegal immigrant with a heart of gold, on the People's Choice-winning NBC comedy series My Name Is Earl (2005), for which she received four Alma Award nominations in the Best Supporting Actress category, She also plays "Deputy DA Emma Rios" on TNT's Major Crimes (2012).
Moviegoers know her well from seeing her dramatic side starring opposite Denzel Washington in the Robert Zemeckis-directed Flight (2012), as well as in the action thriller Snitch (2013), where she starred as "'Analisa". Dwayne Johnson's wife. In 2016 moviegoers got a chance to see her in Universal's box-office hit [tt2869728 opposite Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, as well as in her first romantic comedy, The Bounce Back (2016) opposite Shemar Moore.
"Daily Variety" singled her out as one of "Ten Actors to Watch" and "USA Today" named her "One of Five Rising Stars to Watch Closely". She was additionally picked by "Entertainment Weekly" for its "Summer 'Must' List" and was included in "People En Espanol" for its "50 Most Beautiful People".
A Chicago native of Puerto Rican descent, Nadine resides in Los Angeles. She is a supporter of charities that provide education and shelter to disenfranchised women. Her dedication to these charities come from her personal experience.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dan Byrd was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Marietta, Georgia. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
He is an actor, known for Easy A (2010), Sisters (2015), Cougar Town (2009), Aliens in America (2008) as well as The Hills Have eyes (2006) and A Cinderella Story (2004).- Jaina Lee Ortiz was born Jessica Ortiz at Fort Ord army base in California and was raised in The Bronx, New York. The only child of first generation Puerto Rican parents, Ortiz spent her early years learning Salsa at a dance studio. What started out as a hobby, later turned into a profession and by her teens, she was instructing and performing internationally. Although she excelled at dance, Ortiz was drawn towards acting and was determined to pursue it professionally.
At the age of 16, Ortiz made her entrance into the world of acting by appearing in student films. Several years later, she began training at Maggie Flanigan Studios, specializing in the Meisner technique. After completing two years of study, Ortiz made her theatrical debut in an off-Broadway play. Soon afterwards, she relocated to California where she was cast in the VH1 reality show, Scream Queens 2, in which she competed against other aspiring actresses for an upcoming movie role. Ortiz ended the season as a finalist and went on to appear in several national television commercials while also continuing to perform in local theatrical productions.
In late 2013, Ortiz was cast as a series regular in Chris Carter's The After for Amazon Studios. Although the pilot was green-lit to series, the decision was later reversed in January 2015. In March 2015, Ortiz was cast as the female lead opposite Morris Chestnut for the pilot turned series, Rosewood, which is scheduled to air on Fox in the fall of 2015. - Actress
- Producer
Callie Thorne was born on 20 November 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Necessary Roughness (2011), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Prison Break (2005).- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Bob Einstein was born on 20 November 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Super Dave (1987), Bizarre (1979) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000). He was married to Roberta Marie Smith and Cathy Maureen Kilpatrick. He died on 2 January 2019 in Indian Wells, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Masur has been active in the theatre with increasing frequency. His Broadway debut was in The Changing Room by David Storey (1973). More recently, Masur returned to Broadway in Michael Frayn's Democracy (2004-05), and, among his many off-Broadway and regional theatre appearances, are recent major roles in A Feminine Ending by Sarah Treem (Playwrights Horizons - 2007), and Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years (The New Group - 2008).- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Soundtrack
Jacob Pitts is an American actor. His most notable performance was in
the hit series Justified portraying US Marshall/Sniper Tim Gutterson. Early on in his career he starred in film "EuroTrip" as Cooper Harris. He appeared in the play "Where Do We Live" at the Vineyard Theatre in May 2004. He resides in Los Angeles,
California. Pitts has also appeared in popular TV shows such as "Law &
Order" in 2000 as John Telford; "Sex & the City" (also in 2000) as Sam
Jones, and "Ed" (2002), where he played Johnny Malone in the episode
"The Road."
Pitts grew up in Weston, Connecticut. In high school he was very
involved in the theater production company, and took part in all the
productions while he was in school, including a performance as the
Mysterious Man in "Into The Woods."- Margo Stilley was born on 20 November 1982 in Bear Creek, North Carolina, USA. She is an actress, known for 9 Songs (2004), How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008) and The Trip (2010).
- Madisyn Shipman (born November 20, 2002) is an American actress, singer and dancer. Madisyn is best known for playing Kenzie Bell in the Nickelodeon sitcom Game Shakers. Shipman also writes songs and plays guitar since she was 8. Since 2015, she landed the main role as Kenzie Bell, a girl who is one of the co-founders of the titular game company, in the TV series Game Shakers produced by Dan Schneider.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Richard Dawson was born Colin Lionel Emm on November 20, 1932 in
Gosport, Hampshire, England. When he was 14, he joined the Merchant
Navy and served for three years. During that time, he made money
boxing. He had to lie about his age and remain tough so the older guys
would not hassle him. In the late 1950s, Richard met a British actress
named Diana Dors. On April 12, 1959, while in
New York for an appearance on
The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956),
they were married. Richard and Diana's first child, a son named
Mark Dawson, was born in 1960, and a
second son, Gary Dawson, was born
in 1962. Richard and Diana separated in 1964 and eventually divorced in
1967. When Richard moved to the United States, he began acting on the
well-known series,
Hogan's Heroes (1965), in
1965. Richard played the lovable British Corporal Peter Newkirk. The
show ended in 1971. Not long after that, in 1973, he became a panelist
on Match Game (1973) and
remained there until 1978.
While still on "Match Game", he hosted his own show called
Family Feud (1976). , which he is most remembered for by his
trademark of kissing all the female contestants. Those kisses made the show a
warm and friendly program, along with his quick wit, subtle jokes, and ability to
make people feel at ease with being on camera.
In 1987, Richard co-starred withArnold Schwarzenegger in the science fiction action movie
The Running Man (1987).
Richard portrayed an egotistical game show host, Damon Killian, whom many say
was a mirror image of himself at one time or another, during his real-life career.
When Richard was 61, he hosted the third incarnation of "Family Feud"
in 1994, but had only a short run. On April 6, 1981, the Johnson family
appeared on "Family Feud" and Richard was introduced to 27-year-old
Gretchen Johnson. They had a daughter,
Shannon Dawson (Shannon Nicole Dawson),
in 1990, and were married in 1991. They were still married and reside
in Beverly Hills, California. Richard narrated
TV's Funniest Game Show Moments (1984)
on Fox in early 2000. On Thanksgiving Day, November 23rd, 2000, he
hosted a "Family Feud" marathon, which was filmed in 1995. Some people
hear the name Richard Dawson and may not recognize the name. But say his name, followed by his famous quote "Survey says...!"
or mention "Newkirk on
Hogan's Heroes (1965)", and
they're sure to know who you mean. Richard Dawson died at age 79 of
complications from esophageal cancer on June 2, 2012.- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
The charming, witty, and immeasurably talented Estelle Parsons was born
November 20, 1927 in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Elinor and Eben Parsons.
She attended the Oak Grove School for Girls in Maine, and later
graduated from Connecticut College in 1949. She worked as a singer with
a band before she became the first Women's Editor on
Today (1952). She left the program in
1955. her claim to fame was her Oscar-winning performance as Blanche
Barrow in
Bonnie and Clyde (1967). The
following year, she garnered an Academy Award nomination for her
performance in
Rachel, Rachel (1968). On
television, she is best remembered as Beverly Lorraine Harris, Roseanne
and Jackie's zany, manipulative and pretentious mother on
Roseanne (1988). In 2003, her
character was honored with a TV Land Award for Favorite Classic TV
In-Law.- Actress
- Producer
Veronica Hamel was born on 20 November 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Hill Street Blues (1981), Cannonball! (1976) and When Time Ran Out... (1980). She was previously married to Michael Irving.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Amelia Rose Blaire was born on 20 November 1987 in New York, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for True Blood (2008), Scream: The TV Series (2015) and Detroit: Become Human (2018). She has been married to Bryan Dechart since 30 June 2018.- Actress
- Writer
Sabrina Lloyd was born on November 20th, 1970 in Fairfax, Virginia. At
age 12, she started her acting career by appearing in a local theater
production of "Annie" as "Pepper". She continued to perform in local
theater such as the Baystreet Players in Eustis, and the Ice House
Theater in Mt. Dora, appearing in productions of "Grease", "Crimes of
the Heart", and "Wizard of Oz". When she was 15, she also participated
in a student exchange program which allowed her to spend a year in
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. While there, she got some training at
the Brisbane Royal Theatre Company. When she was 18, she moved to New
York and spent some time as a bartender while knocking on doors and
auditioning for roles. Her first big break was a guest appearance on
the Law & Order (1990) episode
Intolerance (1992),
which got her a new agent and launched her career. Her first breakout
role in feature films was the movie
Chain of Desire (1992), followed
by a starring role in
Father Hood (1993) with
Patrick Swayze.
Sabrina also made appearances on television, starring in the TV movies
More Than Friends: The Coming Out of Heidi Leiter (1994)
and
Love Off Limits (1993).
In 1995, Sabrina auditioned for the role of "Wade Welles" in the pilot
episode of Sliders (1995). In its
third season, Sliders (1995) slowly
grew to embrace a larger audience, but the series was still canceled by
Fox. In 1997, the show was picked up by the Sci-fi Channel, but Sabrina
decided to option out of her contract to pursue new roles. She quickly
landed a co-starring role as associate producer "Natalie Hurley" in the
ABC sitcom, Sports Night (1998),
which satirizes sports and news coverage.- A highly engaging, charismatic, and reliable character actor with a
long and distinguished career spanning half a century, Jerry Hardin has
been gracing both the big and small screen, and stage, with many
enjoyable performances, highlighted by a relaxed and pleasing Southern
twang. Born November 20, 1929, in Dallas, Texas, where his father was a
rancher, Hardin was raised outside the city, where he first began
acting in school productions. This would lead to a scholarship to
Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and a Fulbright
scholarship to the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art in London. He had his
first (uncredited) film role in the classic drive-in flick,
Thunder Road (1958), starring
Robert Mitchum, and, by 1961, had racked
up an impressive amount of over 75 theatre credits. He became
incredibly prolific in the 1970s, when his film career really took
off, and he also started appearing regularly on TV series, including
Gunsmoke (1955),
Starsky and Hutch (1975),
The Streets of San Francisco (1972),
Little House on the Prairie (1974),
The Rockford Files (1974),
Miami Vice (1984),
L.A. Law (1986),
Melrose Place (1992),
Murder, She Wrote (1984)
and
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993).
A particularly memorable performance, by Mr. Hardin in this medium, was
that of Mark Twain in episodes of
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
He would also prove to be in high demand for film roles, appearing in
the likes of Wolf Lake (1979),
Heartland (1979),
1941 (1979),
Honky Tonk Freeway (1981),
Reds (1981),
Missing (1982),
Honkytonk Man (1982),
Cujo (1983),
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985),
Warning Sign (1985),
Big Trouble in Little China (1986),
Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986),
The Hot Spot (1990),
The Firm (1993),
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996),
Hidalgo (2004) and
Are We There Yet? (2005). His
performance as one of the subtly sinister senior partners in
The Firm (1993) impressed
The X-Files (1993) creator
Chris Carter enough that Carter
would create the character of "Deep Throat" with him in mind, and it's
this role that is definitely one of Hardin's most famous. A noteworthy
stage performance of his was in the play, "The Rainmaker", working
alongside Jayne Atkinson,
Woody Harrelson and
David Aaron Baker.
Hardin's wife is actress and acting teacher
Diane Hardin (her students have
included Leonardo DiCaprio,
Hilary Swank,
Stephen Dorff,
River Phoenix,
Kellie Martin and
Christopher Masterson), his
daughter is actress Melora Hardin, and his
son Shawn Hardin was chief
operating officer, in-charge-of product, for NBC-1 in San Francisco. - Actress
- Director
- Writer
Marisa Ryan was born on 20 November 1974 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) and Cold Hearts (1999). She has been married to Nathan Graf since 19 June 2008. She was previously married to Jeremy Sisto.- Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States on January 20th 2021.
He is an actor, known for Parks and Recreation (2009), Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1991) and Great Performances (1971). He has been married to Jill Biden since June 17, 1977. They have one child. He was previously married to Neilia Biden. - Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Joshua Gomez was born on 20 November 1975 in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Chuck (2007), Invasion (2005) and BioShock (2007). He has been married to Amy Pham since 2011. They have one child.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Danny Dayton was born on 20 November 1923 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Guys and Dolls (1955), Ed Wood (1994) and Wonder Woman (1975). He was married to Arlene Allinson and Dagmar. He died on 6 February 1999 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Tijan Marei was born on 20 November 1996 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Who Am I (2014), Six Minutes to Midnight (2020) and Die Eifelpraxis (2016).
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor and director who started out on the Australian TV series Home and Away where he starred in 363 episodes. Wakefield has since starred in season 3 of HBO's True Detective, the Purge franchise, James Cameron's Sanctum, Hulu's Reprisal, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Feature Film by The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards and the Film Critics Circle of Australia for his performance in The Black Balloon, starring alongside Toni Collette. He graduated from Australia's The McDonald College of Performing Arts in 2006.
As a filmmaker, Wakefield co-wrote and directed the short film, A Man Walks Into a Bar, which was a finalist at the Tropfest International Short Film Festival, gaining over 1 million views on YouTube. He was an associate producer on feature film, The Grand Son, and made his directorial debut with the feature-film, Berserk.
Wakefield is also the director and co-creator of sci-fi podcast series, From Now, which is being developed into a TV Series with Amazon Studios. Featured in the WSJ and NY Times, From Now stars and is executive produced by Richard Madden and Brian Cox. The podcast series debuted in late December 2020 and peaked at number two overall in the Apple Podcast charts. 'This gripping sci-fi treat from QCode features several actors you know and love...You'll be hooked quickly.' -- New York Times- Actress
- Soundtrack
This warm and winning, very non-theatrical brunette was born Phyllis
St. Felix Thaxter in Portland, Maine, on November 20, 1919. The
daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter, her acting
talent came from her mother's side, who was a one-time Shakespearean
actress. Phyllis was educated for a time at St. Genevieve School in
Montreal and back at Portland's Deering High School.
She apprenticed in summer stock and had joined the Montreal Reperatory Theatre company by
the time she made her Broadway debut at age 17 in "What a Life!" in
1939, the "Henry Aldrich" play. She went on to play a maid and to
understudy the leading ingénue in "There Shall Be No Night" (1940),
which starred America's premiere theatrical couple,
Alfred Lunt and
Lynn Fontanne, then understudied
Dorothy McGuire in the hit
dramatic play, "Claudia", later that year. She eventually played the
title role both on Broadway and on the road, but lost out on the film
role to McGuire.
Hollywood films reached her sights a few years later with the MGM war
film,
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944),
proving quite convincing as
Van Johnson's noble wife. Similar to
Margaret Sullavan,
June Allyson,
Dorothy McGuire and
Teresa Wright, Phyllis was
depended on as a stabilizing factor in melodramas and war pictures,
often the dewy-eyed, altruistic wife, girlfriend or daughter waiting on
the home-front.
Other important films included the girl with a split
personality in Bewitched (1945), and as
a angst-ridden, teary-eyed bride-to-be in
Week-End at the Waldorf (1945).
She was dutifully wholesome as the daughter who reunites
Spencer Tracy and
Katharine Hepburn in the movie
The Sea of Grass (1947) and
evoked tears, yet again, as little
Margaret O'Brien's mother in
Tenth Avenue Angel (1948). So
natural and non-glamorous was she that she tended to blend into the
woodwork while the flashier actresses often stole the thunder and the
notices.
Audiences did not always fully appreciate Phyllis's
understated work. She finished out her MGM contract with
Act of Violence (1948),
ever-faithful to even the bad guy, this time psychotic gangster
Robert Ryan. Phyllis moved to Warner
Brothers in the 1950s and played more of the same. The ever-patient
wife to a slew of top actors including shady boat skipper
John Garfield in
The Breaking Point (1950), an
alcoholic Gig Young in
Come Fill the Cup (1951) and
law-abiding Gary Cooper in
Springfield Rifle (1952), her
nascent career at Warners was suddenly curtailed by illness.
While visiting her family in Portland, she contracted a form of infantile
paralysis. Fortunately, she recovered quickly but the ailment triggered
the termination of her contract. Film roles were few and far between
after this. Still displaying her built-in compassion and concern, her
best-known part came with the touching but relatively minor role of
farm wife "Martha Kent" in the highly popular
Superman (1978) film series with the
late Christopher Reeve as her adopted
superhero son and Glenn Ford as her
husband. She was also a steady guest star on TV with numerous dramatic
appearances including
The Twilight Zone (1959),
The F.B.I. (1965),
Cannon (1971),
Medical Center (1969),
Barnaby Jones (1973) and
several TV movies.
Married for nearly two decades to
James T. Aubrey (1918-1994), who became
president of CBS-TV before taking over MGM, they had three
children--including Schuyler, who would become the actress
Skye Aubrey. Following the couple's divorce
in 1962, Phyllis married Gilbert Lea, who owned Tower Publishing
Company in Portland. They eventually retired to Cumberland, Maine,
where she involved herself in civic/community activities and dedicated
herself to hospital volunteer work.
Phyllis died in Florida on August 14, 2012, at age 92.- Actress
- Soundtrack
No shrinking violet this one, but despite her talent, vivacity and
sheer drive, lovely and alluring blonde Evelyn Keyes would remain for the most part typed as a "B" girl on the silver screen. In spite of her ripe contributions to such superior pictures as
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941),
The Jolson Story (1946),
Mrs. Mike (1949),
The Prowler (1951) and
99 River Street (1953), she
received no significant awards during her career. In fact, film-goers seem to remember her best not for one of these
exceptional co-starring parts, but for her bit role as Scarlett
O'Hara's kid sister in
Gone with the Wind (1939), American's most beloved epic film. Evelyn also kept Hollywood alive and kicking with two
sensationalistic memoirs that chronicled her four dicey marriages,
numerous affairs with the rich and famous, and negative takes on the
Hollywood studio system.
Evelyn Louise Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on November 20,
1916 (for decades she would deceive the public as to her real age). Her
father died when she was two, and she and her only brother and three
sisters grew up living with her mother and her grandmother in Atlanta,
Georgia. Taking voice, dance and piano lessons, she was hopeful of
becoming a ballerina. Instead, she entered a beauty pageant or two and
worked as a chorus girl before relocating to California at age 20.
Shortly after her arrival in Los Angeles, a chance meeting with the
legendary Cecil B. DeMille led to a Paramount Pictures contract. Stories
differ as to how she met De Mille. Hollywood folklore has it that she
was "discovered" by a talent scout in true
Lana Turner fashion while eating at a
restaurant. Another, more believable story has it that she hooked up
with one of De Mille's former writers, which led to an introduction.
Nevertheless, she was groomed as a starlet and initially placed in bit
and/or unbilled roles. De Mille first gave her a small part in his
pirate epic The Buccaneer (1938),
then placed her rather obscurely in his sprawling railroad saga
Union Pacific (1939). It was
David O. Selznick who gave her the bit
part of whiny, bratty Suellen O'Hara, who loses her beau to the more
calculating Scarlett in
"Gone with the Wind". This led directly to her signing with Columbia Pictures. In
1938, just prior to the filming of GWTW, she married businessman Barton
Bainbridge, her first of four. The marriage soured within a
year or so, however, after she took up with Budapest-born director
Charles Vidor, who directed three of
her pictures:
The Lady in Question (1940)
(her first at Columbia),
Ladies in Retirement (1941)
and The Desperadoes (1943). This
second marriage lasted about as long as the first (1943-1945),
supposedly due to Vidor's infidelities.
At Columbia Evelyn hit pin-up status and sparked a number of war-era
pictures. She played Boris Karloff's
daughter in the crime horror
Before I Hang (1940) and a blind
woman who befriends the hideously scarred
Peter Lorre in the excellent
The Face Behind the Mask (1941).
Still, she could not rise above her secondary status. For every one
nifty "B" picture that could propel her into the higher ranks, such as
Dangerous Blondes (1943), there
was always a low-caliber western
(Beyond the Sacramento (1940)),
adventure
(A Thousand and One Nights (1945))
or musical
(The Thrill of Brazil (1946))
lurking about to keep her humble.
In the post-war years, a third tempestuous but highly adventurous
marriage (1946-1950) to Hollywood titan
John Huston made the tabloid papers
practically on a weekly basis. They divorced after four years. She
did some of her best work during this period, particularly as
the wife of Al Jolson opposite
Larry Parks' splendid impersonation.
She also showed she had a strong range and earned snappy
notices alongside Dick Powell in the
film noir Johnny O'Clock (1947) as
well as the title comedy character in
The Mating of Millie (1948)
co-starring Glenn Ford.
Her last (and just as questionable) marriage was to another "father
figure" type, musician Artie Shaw, a
womanizer if ever there was one who had already had been discarded
by trophy wives Ava Gardner and
Lana Turner (and five others) by the time he
and Evelyn married in 1957. She had pretty much put her career on
the back burner by this point. Surprisingly, this marriage lasted
longer than any of their previous ones. The couple separated in the
1970s but did not divorce until 1985.
Evelyn returned to the acting fold every once in while. Scarcely on
stage (she once played Sally Bowles in a theatrical production of "I Am
a Camera" in 1953), she joined up with
Don Ameche in a 1972 tour of the musical "No,
No, Nanette". She also would show up on an episode of The Love Boat (1977) or Murder, She Wrote (1984) every now and then. She remained childless (there was one adopted child, Pedro, by Huston, but they were estranged).
Very much the traveler, Evelyn lived sporadically all over the world, including France, England and Mexico, and spoke Spanish and French fluently. She was also a writer and published a Hollywood-themed novel in her later
years. Her GWTW association and tell-all memoirs in 1977 and 1991 kept
her a point of interest right up until the end. Not surprisingly, this firecracker of a lady passed away on the 4th of July -- at age 91 of uterine cancer at an assisted-living residence in Montecito, California.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Cody Linley is perhaps best known for his role as Jake Ryan (Miley Cyrus's boyfriend) on Disney Channel's hit TV series Hannah Montana. Cody also danced his way to the "Final Four" on the seventh season of ABC's Dancing With The Stars with partner Julianne Hough, and subsequently appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Cody has guest starred on ABC Family's Melissa & Joey, Disney Channel's That's So Raven, and CBS's Walker, Texas Ranger.
When he was just eight years old, Cody acted in his first feature film, the coming of age drama My Dog Skip with Diane Lane and Kevin Bacon. He would go on to star in a variety of roles that evoked an endearing charm which quickly become his trademark. Among his many feature film credits are Cheaper By The Dozen, Miss Congeniality, Where The Heart Is and Hoot playing opposite Brie Larson and Logan Lerman.
Cody's recent projects have included The Playroom, My Dog the Champion, and as the title character in Hoovey. Cody has also starred in the hilarious fan phenom Sharknado appearing in the last two years of the SyFy Channel's action-comedy franchise.
Cody has been a faculty member at Cathryn Sullivan's Acting studio in Dallas Texas for over a decade, where such talent as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and Cody himself began their training . He continues to give back to his profession by inspiring the future generation of actors through his service as both a teacher and mentor to young Hollywood hopefuls.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Composer
Rodger Bumpass was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 20, 1951. He attended Little Rock Central High School where he received his first training in theater. He attended Arkansas State University where he majored in radio-TV and minored in theater. He worked at the campus radio station and also at Jonesboro's Raycom Media owned ABC-affiliated television station, KAIT-TV, where he had multiple duties as announcer, film processor, cameraman, audio technician, and technical director.
In 1977 he won a role in the National Lampoon's music and comedy road show That's Not Funny, That's Sick and toured with them until 1978. That same year, he appeared in the TV special Disco Beaver from Outer Space for HBO. In 1979, Bumpass was cast as the leading role in a National Lampoon film to be called Jaws 3, People 0 in which he would have a love scene with Bo Derek. However, the film was canceled due to objections by the creators of the movie Jaws. In 1980, Bumpass created the character of 'Fartman' to appear on the National Lampoon LP The White Album, which later inspired the Howard Stern character by the same name.
Bumpass is best known to present-day viewers as the voice of Squidward Tentacles and various incidental characters on the Nickelodeon animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is also known for voicing The Chief from Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, Dr. Light on Teen Titans, and Professor Membrane on Invader Zim.Though he has been voicing and acting in films since the 60s, and had also appeared on stage through the mid 70s until the late 80s.Bumpass has over 693 film credits, according to IMDb. In 2012, Bumpass received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for his role as Squidward on SpongeBob SquarePants.- Aidan Scott was born on 20 November 1996 in South Africa. He is an actor, known for The Kissing Booth 2 (2020), One Piece (2023) and The Fix.
- Hannah Kepple (Born Nov. 2000) is an upcoming and rising American Actress, and she is known primarily for her recurring role as "Moon" on the American web series titled "Cobra Kai." She also has worked on some smaller projects and TV Shows, including documentaries and some other TV Series. Also made an appearance as Emily on "Tell Me Your Secrets"(2019) and Kristy Ray on "Your Worst Nightmare,"(2019) one of which is a Mini Series and the other being a documentary made and filmed for Television.
- Actress
- Producer
Darcy Donavan is an American born Film and Television Actress and Recording Artist with a German, Italian and Brazilian ancestry. Born in Miami, Florida and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Darcy began her career in the entertainment industry as a child actor and starred in a number of national television commercials at a very young age. Darcy started performing in children's hospitals and raising money for charities in her hometown. She later competed in talent and beauty competitions, winning the title of Ms. Nashville, Tennessee.
Darcy has appeared in roles for hit movies and television shows including, "Anchorman", "Modern Family", "Parks and Recreation", "Secret Agent", "Bones", "Six Feet Under", "Entourage", "Cult", "All My Children", "My Name is Earl", "Las Vegas" and "Nip/Tuck", to name a few. With her extensive knowledge in the business, Darcy is now producing her own projects in addition to her acting. Her work in film and television are only a few of Darcy's passions. As a platinum selling Recording Artist, Darcy's release of her first album had catapulted her singing career and enabled her to tour with well-known artists across the nation. Gaining worldwide recognition with a number of tracks off of her second album, "Distraction," Darcy's songs became number one ringtone downloads across North America. Darcy's most recent single, "It's My Life," charted in the top 100 Dance Billboard Charts in four countries and she is currently working on a new song, slated for release in the Fall of 2024.
Apart from her career endeavors, Darcy has dedicated her life to inspiring others through her charity work and through her huge social media presence, sending words of inspiration to her millions of loyal fans daily. After prompting from her fans and friends, Darcy became an author, penning a best-selling inspirational guide book called, "Darcy's Daily Dose of Inspiration". From the sales of her book, she donated part of the proceeds to several deserving Charities including, Protect.org and Valley View Vaulters. Through her philanthropic career, she has raised awareness and supported hundreds of charities. Darcy was recognized for her work and named a World Peace Ambassador.
Darcy is currently writing her second book, a spiritual autobiography that major studio producers are looking to make into a feature film.
In addition to her extensive accolades, Darcy is also a savvy entrepreneur. Darcy keeps busy with her businesses and investments in Cryptocurrency, NFTs, the Metaverse, and projects throughout Web3. Coined the #CryptoQueen of Web3, she is a Co-Owner of the #1 Metaverse "Income Island". She is a prominent figure in Defi and Web3, being seen on top Television News Media Outlets such as ABC News, KCal9 News, Forbes, FinTech, Dazed and Confused, Celebrity Society Magazine, That's Entertainment and many others.
She is an Advisor in the Crypto Magazine resource guide, as well as an Advisor on the Global Blockchain Council. She is a public speaker as well as a savvy entrepreneur in Web3, with her focus on Tech, AI, Cryptocurrency, NFTs and the Metaverse.
She is also well connected in the Entertainment Industry and in development of several Film and Television Projects. Darcy is currently in pre-production on a $30 Million Dollar Feature Film that she is Producing and Starring in, alongside an All-Star, A-List Cast and Director, with World-Wide Distribution already in place. The Movie is slated for Theatrical release in Winter of 2024 and is tied to her NFT line,"StarDawgs".- Actor
- Additional Crew
Son of a bricklayer and ironworker, who was involved in the
construction of the Empire State Building, Dan Frazer first acted in
local theatre in his rough 'Hell's Kitchen' neighbourhood on the
Manhattan West Side. He also benefited from the Federal Theatre
Project, funded by the Works Progress Administration after the onset of
the Great Depression. During World War II, Dan helped entertain troops
as a member of the U.S. Army Special Services, subsequently making his
first appearance on Broadway as a marine in 'Christopher Blake'. He
began acting on the small screen during the 1950's, appearing in
anything from anthology series, to comedies, to crime drama. His motion
picture debut did not eventuate until 1963, when he portrayed a priest
in
Lilies of the Field (1963).
For the best part of his screen career, Dan portrayed an assortment of
clergymen and cops, almost invariably honest, hard-working types.
Internationally, he became best known as
Telly Savalas's nervous NYPD boss, Captain
Frank McNeil, during all five seasons of
Kojak (1973); and as Virgil Starkwell's
(Woody Allen's) psychiatrist in the
hilarious
Take the Money and Run (1969).
Dan Frazer was a Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Samuel Ernest Wright was an African-American actor and singer from Camden, South Carolina. He notably voiced Sebastian the Crab from Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise and Kron the Iguanodon from Dinosaur. He also played Mufasa in the original Broadway run of The Lion King. He passed away in May 2021 at California due to prostate cancer.- Angelica Bridges stars as Cindy Warburton in Nico Santucci's feature film "Sarogeto" - a story revealing the complicated and emotional struggle that Japanese American Grace / Minami Stanton faces and the controversial decision she makes on this unorthodox journey of a woman's search to find peace for her family and spiritual enlightenment. It's a film filled with relevant and thought provoking subjects including depression, anxiety and suicide (accepted in Japanese culture versus Western). Sarogeto stars Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Eric Roberts, Winsor Harmon, Ruby Park, Koji Niiya, Aki Aleong, Angelica Bridges, Tyler Ghyzel, Derek Warburton, Pol Atteu and Nikki Nikita. The Sarogeto soundtrack was created by Jakob Balogh, Martin Tillman and Keaton Simons. Much of this movie was shot in the Aokigahara Forest (Suicide Forest) in Japan and is partially subtitled in Japanese, with the majority in English. Additional locations include Tokyo, Laguna Beach, Marina del Rey and Newport Beach and the film is set for release in 2021.
Angelica is also known for Baywatch. She was given a pictorial spread in Playboy magazine's November 2001 issue and featured as the issue's cover model.
In 2017, she competed on the first season of FOX's reality game show Kicking & Screaming with her survivalist partner Hakim Isler. - Ned Vaughn grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and first acted at age 8 in a
community theatre production of "Oliver!" The son of an artist and a
civilian Army public affairs specialist, he mixed acting with athletics
and music until leaving high school. In college, he began to
concentrate seriously on pursuing a career as an actor.
A year and a half later, he dropped out of college and took the bold
step of moving to New York with $600 and a one-way rental car. To make
ends meet, he worked as a doorman at the Wellington Hotel while
auditioning and studying at the famed HB Studio.
Ned won quick success in TV commercials, but was still working as a
doorman when his big break came. He auditioned for a starring role in
the feature film "The Rescue" and was ultimately cast as the heroic son
of a captured Navy Seal. After shooting the film in New Zealand and
Hong Kong, he moved to Los Angeles, where he has lived and worked ever
since.
Ned's rich career has taken him around the world, from submarines to
mountaintops, but the role he cherishes most is that of husband and
father. He and his wife Adelaide were married in 1997 and are the
happy, busy parents of five children. - Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Ashley Fink was born in Houston, Texas and began acting at a very early
age. By the time she reached the age of 2, she was putting on full
productions for her parents: she was no dummy, though - she charged
them admission. As luck would have it, her family ended up moving to
Los Angeles where Ashley began attending a performing arts high school.
From there, she began performing in a string of national tours as leads
in The Wizard of Oz (as the Lion) and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
(as Lucy), to name just two. Hollywood soon found Ashley when she
starred in the Tribeca Film Festival hit, Fat Girls. The film won many
awards for her, and Ashley enjoyed a international film festival tour.
Since that time, Ms. Fink has made multiple TV appearances on many
shows such as "ER", "Hung", "Huge", and most notably as fan favorite
Lauren Zizes on FOX's hit show "Glee." Some of her personal favorite
film credits include the indie horror, cult hit, All About Evil, as
well as the Glee LIVE 3D Concert film. Ashley is very proud to be a
major player in both the 24 Hour Plays and 24 Hour Musicals, both of
which benefit urban arts education. Ashley has also recently broken
into filmmaking herself by producing and starring in two short films
that enjoyed their world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013
and 2014 respectively. She resides in Los Angeles with her cat, Fred.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Armstrong is familiar to old-movie buffs for his case-hardened,
rapid-fire delivery in such roles as fast-talking promoters, managers,
FBI agents, street cops, detectives and other such characters in scores
of films--over 160--many of them at Warner Brothers, where he was part
of the so-called "Warner Brothers Stock Company" that consisted of such
players as James Cagney,
Pat O'Brien,
Frank McHugh,
Alan Hale and
Humphrey Bogart, among others.
Although he could easily be taken for having grown up in a tough area
of Brooklyn or the Bronx, he was actually from the Midwest. He was born
in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1890, and his father owned a small and
profitable flotilla of boats for use on Lake Michigan. Hearing the
Siren call of the gold fields in late 19th-century Alaska, however, he
packed up the family and headed west. A typical staging place to start
north was in Washington state, and the family settled in Seattle.
Robert spent a short hitch in the infantry during World War I.
Afterwards he decided to go into law and started to study at the
University of Washington. However, it wasn't long before that he
decided he had a gift for acting and--perhaps influenced by his uncle,
playwright and producer
Paul Armstrong--decided to follow
that path. He hooked up with future Hollywood character actor
James Gleason, known to everyone
as "Jimmy", who worked for a variety of playhouses in California and
Oregon and who was heir to his parents' stock company, which toured
across the US. Armstrong joined Gleason's company and returned with
them to New York. He started from the bottom up, learning the craft of
acting. After moving on to leading roles, he received the prime part in
Gleason's own play "Is Zat So?" (1925-1926), a particularly successful
play among several he had written (he also directed and produced plays
on Broadway into 1928).
Hollywood scouts were watching, and Armstrong found himself with a film
contract. He appeared in approximately 10 films in 1928 alone, and
after the first five he was able, with the advent of sound, to give
voice to the take-charge, mile-a-minute, clenched-teeth delivery that
would make him one of the busiest character men in Hollywood--and right
alongside him in several of his early 1930s features was his old friend
and boss Jimmy Gleason.
It was in 1932 that Armstrong became acquainted with an ambitious and
adventurous pair of Hollywood filmmakers. Both were World War I fliers,
big-game hunters and animal trappers, and partners in high adventure
documentaries, Merian C. Cooper and
Ernest B. Schoedsack had found a
friend in rising producer
David O. Selznick, who brought them on
board at RKO, with Cooper as production idea man. Schoedsack was the
technical side of the pair, knowledgeable about the actual physical and
technical side of filmmaking, , and became the actual director of their
projects, with Cooper as an associate producer and sometime
co-director. They turned out what would be the first of a string of
horror-tinged adventure movies,
The Most Dangerous Game (1932),
with Armstrong having a part in it. He got in his usual wisecrack lines
but from a less dimensioned character who had an early demise--the film
centered on Joel McCrea and still young
silent screen veteran Fay Wray. Cooper saw much
of himself in Armstrong's general personality and wanted him for a film
that he had been wanting to make for quite a few years, an adventure
yarn dealing with the stories he had heard during his years making
films in jungles all over the world of giant, vicious apes. The
resulting film, King Kong (1933), would
put Armstrong at stage center as big-time promoter Carl Denham (very
much Cooper himself). The film also began co-star Fay Wray on the road
to stardom. With Copper and Schoedsack co-directing and the legendary
Willis H. O'Brien heading up a visual
effects team supporting his for-the-time astounding animated miniature
sequences, the film was a treasure trove for RKO, bringing newfound
respect for a studio known mostly for its "B" action films and
westerns. It was Armstrong's defining moment and set the stage for the
plethora of leading man and second lead roles he would play through the
1930s.
A sequel, Son of Kong (1933),
followed almost immediately with the same production team and, though
not achieving the critical or box-office acclaim as its predecessor,
showcased another Armstrong strength--a great sense of comedic timing
that had been evident, but not really traded upon, in previous films.
The Cooper/Schoedsack team got in one more for 1933, with Armstrong as
an uncommon--for him--romantic lead in
Blind Adventure (1933), a
fast-paced but but often uneven adventure yarn. All the studios wanted
him, and what followed was a flood of usually good, crowd-pleasing
roles, although still in "B" pictures. Among the better ones were
Palooka (1934) and
'G' Men (1935), with Armstrong playing a
hard-nosed FBI agent who is mentor and partner to a young James Cagney.
With a full menu of adventure yarns and colorful cop and military
roles, at the end of the decade Armstrong even played one of America's
great folk heroes - Jim Bowie - in
Man of Conquest (1939), this time
at Republic Pictures.
Armstrong got more of the same in the decade of World War II--although
with age he started to slip down the cast list--with some variety,
playing a Nazi agent in the spoof
My Favorite Spy (1942) and--in
somewhat ridiculous "Japanese" makeup--as a Japanese secret-police
colonel (named Tojo) with former co-star James Cagney in the escapist
romp Blood on the Sun (1945).
Finally, Cooper--gorillas still on his mind--came calling for Armstrong
again for his
Mighty Joe Young (1949), which
he made about midway in his association with partner
John Ford in their Argosy Pictures
venture under the wing of RKO. Armstrong was again a reincarnation of
Carl Denham as Max O'Hara, a fast-talking promoter looking for a
sensation in "Darkest Africa". The Ford touch is perhaps seen in the
cowboys who go along with young
Ben Johnson as romantic lead to
enthusiastic--to say the
least--Terry Moore with her pet
gorilla Joe (about half as big as King Kong but definitely no ordinary
gorilla). It is a great little movie, with more light-hearted tone than
"Kong" and a red-tinted fire scene recalling the silents. It was a
Saturday matinée favorite for at least a decade afterward (this writer
enjoyed it as his first movie theater adventure as a small child).
Armstrong increasingly went to the small screen through the 1950s. He
was a familiar face on most of the TV playhouse programs of the period
and did many of the series oaters and crime shows of the period. He
received a great send-up as a guest on
Red Skelton's variety show when the oft
giggling host asked him, "Say, did you ever get that monkey off that
building?" Armstrong liked keeping busy and helping friends. One of the
latter was Cooper--still promoting as his alter ego Carl Denham in his
old age. The two passed away within 24 hours of one another in April of
1973.- Mie Hama was born in Tokyo, Japan on November 20, 1943 in a blue-collar Tokyo family whose small cardboard factory burned down in World War II. She grew up poor. She first
started out working as a bus fare collector. While working, she was
spotted by producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka when she was only sixteen years old, and was soon
employed at Toho Studios. She appeared in a bevy of drama and sci-fi
films, including
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963),
where she became the Giant Ape's "Damsel in Distress." She is probably
best known in Western Cinema as Bond girl Kissy Suzuki, starring
alongside actor Sean Connery in the 007
film
You Only Live Twice (1967).
That same year,
King Kong Escapes (1967)
was released, thus, she portrayed the spellbinding "Bond-girlish"
villainess Madamn Piranha. Her extended wardrobe and enchanted bed
chambers contributed to the film's "James Bond-ish" atmosphere. In
addition, Hama would sometimes be referred to as "Funny Face," due to
her appearances in Japan's "Crazy Cats" movies.
She became one of the most popular actresses in Japan's "Golden Age" of
Cinema, but has done little acting when Japan's cinema world
experienced severe financial problems. However, she did return to
appear in a few films in the 1970s and 1980s, and she is seen, most
recently, working as an active environmentalist, radio and television talk show host. She also married a television executive with whom she has four children. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Gabriella Baldacchino was born on 20 November 2001. She is an actress, known for Disenchanted (2022), The Conners (2018) and Ask for Jane (2018).- Writer
- Editor
- Producer
Rajkumar Hirani is an Indian film director and editor. Hirani has directed five Hindi films, including Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Lage Raho Munnabhai, 3 Idiots, PK and Sanju, and all of which have been commercial and critical successes. Most of which have won several awards, including the national awards. Among his awards, include 11 Filmfare Awards. He is the founder and owns the production house Rajkumar Hirani Films.- Franklin Cover was born on 20 November 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Wall Street (1987), The Stepford Wives (1975) and Almost Heroes (1998). He was married to Mary Bradford Stone. He died on 5 February 2006 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Joe Walsh was born on 20 November 1947 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for The Warriors (1979), Spy Game (2001) and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). He has been married to Marjorie Bach since 13 December 2008. He was previously married to Denise Driscoll, Juanita Boyer and Stefany Amaro.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
The "fastest gun in all the West" and the poster boy for "tall, dark
and handsome:, Don Durant was best known for his title role in the CBS
western series Johnny Ringo (1959). Born Donald Allison Durae on November 20, 1932,
in Long Beach, California, he spent some of his youth in Riverside as
well as on a large cattle ranch in Elko, Nevada. His first foray into
show business was hosting his own radio program over KPRO in Riverside
while still in high school. He served first in the US Naval Reserve and
then in the army--for a few weeks he was actually in both branches of
the military at the same time.
By 1953 Don was touring in plays and singing at the Sands and the
Sahara in Las Vegas. In 1954 he signed on with CBS as a bit player and
singer, appearing on shows like The Jack Benny Program (1950), The Red Skelton Hour (1951), Shower of Stars (1954), General Electric Theater (1953),
You Are There (1953) and You Bet Your Life (1950). Many of these shows were done live. He began to
study with acting coach Estelle Harmon.
Don also toured as lead vocalist with Tommy Dorsey and Frankie Carle. In 1955 he
began an important association with Ray Anthony, one of the last of the
big-band leaders. He appeared as a regular featured singer in the live
1956-57 ABC series The Ray Anthony Show (1956) and released an album on Capitol Records
with Anthony. He also recorded his own compositions on Fabor Records,
"Seal Rock" and "Love Me Baby." During this period he headlined at the
Hollywood Bowl and the fabled Mocambo nightclub.
The 1957 drive-in flick She Gods of Shark Reef (1958), produced and directed by the fabled
Roger Corman, was his first starring role. That year he was among a group of
actors shooting an extended commercial in Monterey, California,
introducing the new 1958 Fords. One of the actresses was a lovely
petite blonde, Trudy Wroe, noted for her role on the television version of
Big Town (1950). They shot a sequence on horseback together, and began dating.
After appearances on shows like Wagon Train (1957), Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (1955), Climax! (1954), Studio 57 (1954),
Suspicion (1957), Perry Mason (1957), Trackdown (1957), Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957), Maverick (1957) and Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958), Don filmed a
pilot with Jane Russell called "MacCreedy's Woman." Dick Powell saw him in that
and cast him as gunslinger-turned-sheriff Johnny Ringo in a pilot aired
on Zane Grey Theatre (1956). The series sold and began production in early 1959 with
Aaron Spelling at Four Star studios. Mark Goddard, Karen Sharpe (later the wife of
producer Stanley Kramer) and Terence de Marney filled out the cast. Don and Trudy wed on
February 28 of that year.
"Johnny Ringo" was canceled after one season due to sponsorship
problems. Along with other Four Star westerns, it has run more or less
continuously in syndication since 1964. It was the only prime-time
network western to feature a theme song (released by RCA) solely
composed and performed by the star. More toys were licensed for this
show than any other adult TV Western. Don later signed with Revue
Studios and had guest appearances in The Twilight Zone (1959), The Virginian (1962), Wagon Train (1957),
Wide Country (1962), Arrest and Trial (1963) and Laramie (1959), among others.
Disappointed in the roles he was offered, and after a summer stint as
host of Youth Panorama, Don left the business late in 1964 to pursue a
more stable career in real estate and financial management. He presided
over the Beverly Hills office of Fred Sands Realty before forming his
own company. He served for many years as president of the Southern
California Mobile Home Park Owners' Association, and developed a
condominium complex in Palm Desert. He and Trudy continued to live in
Encino until 1998, when they relocated to Dana Point.
Don was an avid sportsman, deep-sea fisherman and golfer and deeply
involved in Republican politics. He and Trudy traveled extensively in
recent years. Now and then he attended autograph shows and conventions,
where he would strap on his famous LeMat pistol from the series, much
to the delight of fans. Don was a true cowboy, an expert shooter, and
one of the best natural horsemen in Hollywood. Perhaps the fact that
the actor was genuinely good to the bone came through in his portrayal
of Johnny Ringo. It is that authenticity that sets him apart. He was a
notably kind, warm and gracious man, unfailingly honest, and will be
missed by family, friends and fans alike.
He is survived by wife Trudy; daughter Heidi and her husband Chris
Albus of Raton, New Mexico; son Jeffrey and wife Shelly and their
children Daniella and Toren of San Diego.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Sometime in the early 1930s, Denny was between scenes on a movie set
when he met a neighborhood boy who was trying to fly a bulky
gas-powered model plane. When he tried to help by making an adjustment
on the machine, Denny succeeded only in wrecking it. But this launched
his infatuation with model aviation, and his new hobby grew into
Reginald Denny Industries, maker of model plane kits.
When the U.S. Army began hunting for a better and safer way to train
anti-aircraft gunners than using targets towed by piloted planes, Denny
and his associates Walter Righter and Paul Whittier began work on a
radio-controlled target drone, and their third prototype won them an
Army contract. Radioplane was formed in 1940, and during WWII produced
nearly 15,000 target drones (the RP-5A) for the Army. Radioplane was
later purchased by Northrop in 1952.