2019
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Funny man Tim Conway was born on December 15th, 1933 in Willoughby, Ohio, to Sophia (Murgoiu) and Daniel Conway, a pony groomer. He was a fraternity man at Bowling Green State University, served in the army, and started his career working for a radio station.
Conway got into comedy when he started writing and performing comedy skits between morning movies on CBS. Later, Rose Marie "discovered" him and he became a regular performer on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956). However, Conway would not earn true fame until starring as "Ensign Charles Parker" on McHale's Navy (1962). Conway sought further success in several shows that were failures, including the embarrassingly short-lived, Turn-on (1969), with only one episode. The producers did not even want it back on after the commercial break! Even his own show, The Tim Conway Show (1970) flopped, with only 12 episodes. Conway starred in the Disney film, The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), and also the films, The Prize Fighter (1979) and The Private Eyes (1980).
Conway became a comical performer on The Carol Burnett Show (1967), with characters such as "The Old Man" and "Mr. Tudball". Even though it is widely thought he was always a regular performer throughout the whole show, he only became a regular performer in 1975. He was a hysterical addition to the team and memorably made co-star Harvey Korman laugh on-screen live many times.
Conway continued comedic roles such as "Dorf", and also had many more television appearances and films.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Making people laugh was only one facet of Valerie Harper's career, which extended from the stage to television and feature films. A native of Suffern, New York -- "I was born to suffer" -- Harper began her career as a dancer with the corps de ballet at Radio City Hall during its spectacular heyday. She gradually moved into acting, working in everything from industrial shows to regional theatre to the Second City comedy troupe of Chicago. Eventually, she made it to Broadway in productions of Dear Liar, the Tony Award winning Story Theatre, Something Different and Metamorphosis. Stardom came with television, including four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her work in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and Rhoda (1974), in which the latter she played the title role. Harper won Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, and her Rhoda's Wedding episode set that 1974's ratings record. Since retiring Rhoda Morganstern to re-runs, Harper was active on stage and in movies. Her feature films included Freebie and the Bean (1974), Chapter Two (1979), The Last Married Couple in America (1980) and Blame It on Rio (1984). In television, she starred on all three networks in movies of the week, including Farrell for the People (1982) (NBC), Don't Go to Sleep (1982) (ABC) and An Invasion of Privacy (1983) (CBS). A strong supporter of women's rights, Harper worked since the mid-80s on a film with second husband Tony Cacciotti which will probably never reach fruition after all this time, based on a true story involving domestic violence.- Jones found a job at a service station at the cross-streets of Laurel and Sunset in Los Angeles. The station is still there. He discovered acting when a friend invited him to an acting class, and was offered a job as an apprentice in summer stock. He was such a novice that he had only seen one play prior to his first stage appearance. Jones lived in Los Angeles with his wife, director Anita Khanzadian-Jones. His interests included involvement with the Interact Theatre Company.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bill Macy was born on 18 May 1922 in Revere, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Jerk (1979), Maude (1972) and Analyze This (1999). He was married to Samantha Harper and Judith Janus. He died on 17 October 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- John Clarke was born on 14 April 1931 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), The Satan Bug (1965) and Death Valley Days (1952). He was married to Patricia Clarke. He died on 16 October 2019 in Laguna Beach, California, USA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Daryl Dragon was born on 27 August 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Payback (1990), Go for It (1976) and Sandstone (1975). He was married to Toni Tennille. He died on 2 January 2019 in Prescott, Arizona, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Arte Johnson was born on 20 January 1929 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), Love at First Bite (1979) and Baggy Pants & the Nitwits (1977). He was married to Gisela Johnson and Texie Waterman. He died on 3 July 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Actor
Bernard Slade was born on 2 May 1930 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He was a writer and actor, known for Same Time, Next Year (1978), Tribute (1980) and The Girl with Something Extra (1973). He was married to Jill Foster. He died on 30 October 2019 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Robert Forster was born Robert Wallace Foster, Jr. in Rochester, New York, to Grace Dorothy (Montanarella) and Robert Wallace Foster, Sr., who worked as an elephant trainer and baking supply company executive. He was of English, Irish, and Italian descent. Forster first became interested in acting while attending Rochester's Madison High School, where he performed as a song-and-dance man in musical revues. After graduating in 1959, Forster attended Heidelberg College, Alfred University and the University of Rochester on football scholarships and continued to perform in student theatrical revues.
After earning a BA in Psychology from Rochester in 1963, Forster took an apprenticeship at an East Rochester theater where he performed in such plays as "West Side Story". He moved to New York City in 1965, where his first big break came when he landed the lead in the two-character play "Mrs. Dally Has a Lover", opposite Arlene Francis. However, after the play ran its course work was hard to find in the theater. Forster returned to Rochester, where he worked as a substitute teacher and construction worker until an agent from 20th Century-Fox offered him a five-picture deal. His movie debut was a small part in the drama Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. Forster went on to appear in small and minor roles alongside some top Hollywood actors in films like The Stalking Moon (1968) and Medium Cool (1969), and a large part in Justine (1969). Although he continued to act in feature films, he took the part of a hard-boiled detective in the short-lived TV series Banyon (1971).
Forster also appeared in notable parts in The Black Hole (1979), Avalanche (1978) and as the lead in the cult horror flick Alligator (1980), and played the part of a factory worker-turned-vigilante in the thriller Vigilante (1982). Forster also took the lead as a taxi driver in Walking the Edge (1985) by director Norbert Meisel. A series of action flicks followed, the most notable being The Delta Force (1986), starring Chuck Norris. By the late 1980s Forster's acting career had begun to slide, and he was getting less and less work; if there was any, he would be cast in small parts playing villains. Forster then began to work as a motivational speaker and an acting coach in Hollywood film schools.
However, in the mid-1990s, his career was resurrected by writer-director Quentin Tarantino, a big fan of Forster's early work, who offered him an audition for a part in his latest movie. After a seven-hour audition, Tarantino cast Forster as the tough but sympathetic bail bondsman Max Cherry in Jackie Brown (1997), which netted him an Academy Award nomination and a measure of recognition, both nationwide and within his own profession, landing him more high-profile roles in such films as All the Rage (1999), Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998)--a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film--and Supernova (2000). Forster continued to act in many big-budget Hollywood productions for the next two decades.
Forster died on October 11, 2019, in Los Angeles, California, aged 78. His last film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019), was released on the day of his death. He is survived by four children (Bobby, Elizabeth, Kate and Maeghen), four grandchildren (Tess, Liam, Jack and Olivia), and his long-time partner, Denise Grayson. Denise has been Robert's long-time partner and they had been together for 16 years till Robert passed away at home in Los Angeles surrounded by family.- Actress
- Soundtrack
One of television's premier African-American series stars, elegant actress, singer and recording artist Diahann Carroll was born Carol Diann (or Diahann) Johnson on July 17, 1935, in the Bronx, New York. The first child of John Johnson, a subway conductor, and Mabel Faulk Johnson, a nurse; music was an important part of her life as a child, singing at age six with her Harlem church choir. While taking voice and piano lessons, she contemplated an operatic career after becoming the 10-year-old recipient of a Metropolitan Opera scholarship for studies at New York's High School of Music and Art. As a teenager she sought modeling work but it was her voice, in addition to her beauty, that provided the magic and the allure.
When she was 16, she teamed up with a girlfriend from school and auditioned for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show using the more exotic sounding name of Diahann Carroll. She alone was invited to appear and won the contest. She subsequently performed on the daily radio show for three weeks. In her late teens, she began focusing on a nightclub career and it was here that she began formulating a chic, glamorous image. Another TV talent show appearance earned her a week's engagement at the Latin Quarter.
Broadway roles for black singers were rare but at age nineteen, Diahann was cast in the Harold Arlen/Truman Capote musical "House of Flowers". Starring the indomitable Pearl Bailey, Diahann held her own quite nicely in the ingénue role. While the show itself was poorly received, the score was heralded and Diahann managed to introduce two song standards, "A Sleepin' Bee" and "I Never Has Seen Snow", both later recorded by Barbra Streisand.
In 1954 she and Ms. Bailey supported a riveting Dorothy Dandridge as femme fatale Carmen Jones (1954) in an all-black, updated movie version of the Georges Bizet opera "Carmen." Diahann later supported Ms. Dandridge again in Otto Preminger's cinematic retelling of Porgy and Bess (1959). During this time she also grew into a singing personality on TV while visiting such late-nite hosts as Jack Paar and Steve Allen and performing.
Unable to break through into the top ranks in film (she appeared in a secondary role once again in Paris Blues (1961), a Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward vehicle), Diahann returned to Broadway. She was rewarded with a Tony Award for her exceptional performance as a fashion model in the 1962 musical "No Strings," a bold, interracial love story that co-starred Richard Kiley. Richard Rodgers, whose first musical this was after the death of partner Oscar Hammerstein, wrote the part specifically for Diahann, which included her lovely rendition of the song standard "The Sweetest Sounds." By this time she had already begun to record albums ("Diahann Carroll Sings Harold Arlen" (1957), "Diahann Carroll and Andre Previn" (1960), "The Fabulous Diahann Carroll" (1962). Nightclub entertaining filled up a bulk of her time during the early-to-mid 1960s, along with TV guest appearances on Carol Burnett, Judy Garland, Andy Williams, Dean Martin and Danny Kaye's musical variety shows.
Little did Diahann know that in the late 1960s she would break a major ethnic barrier on the small screen. Though it was nearly impossible to suppress the natural glamour and sophistication of Diahann, she touchingly portrayed an ordinary nurse and widow struggling to raise a small son in the series Julia (1968). Despite other Black American actresses starring in a TV series (i.e., Hattie McDaniel in "Beulah"), Diahann became the first full-fledged African-American female "star" -- top billed, in which the show centered around her lead character. The show gradually rose in ratings and Diahann won a Golden Globe award for "Best Newcomer" and an Emmy nomination. The show lasted only two seasons, at her request.
A renewed interest in film led Diahann to the dressed-down title role of Claudine (1974), as a Harlem woman raising six children on her own. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1975, but her acting career would become more and more erratic after this period. She did return, however, to the stage with productions of "Same Time, Next Year" and "Agnes of God". While much ado was made about her return to series work as a fashionplate nemesis to Joan Collins' ultra-vixen character on the glitzy primetime soap Dynasty (1981), it became much about nothing as the juicy pairing failed to ignite. Diahann's character was also a part of the short-lived "Dynasty" spin-off The Colbys (1985).
Throughout the late 1980s and early 90s she toured with her fourth husband, singer Vic Damone, with occasional acting appearances to fill in the gaps. Some of her finest work came with TV-movies, notably her century-old Sadie Delany in Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999) and as troubled singer Natalie Cole's mother in Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000). She also portrayed silent screen diva Norma Desmond in the musical version of "Sunset Blvd." and toured America performing classic Broadway standards in the concert show "Almost Like Being in Love: The Lerner and Loewe Songbook." She then had recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy (2005) and White Collar (2009).
Diahann Carroll died on October 4, 2019, in Los Angeles, California.- Actor
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tall, bald and nearly always bearded, Sid Haig provided hulking menace to many a low-budget exploitation film and high-priced action film.
Sid Haig was born Sidney Eddie Mosesian on July 14, 1939 in Fresno, California, a screaming ball of hair. His parents, Roxy (Mooradian) and Haig Mosesian, an electrician, were of Armenian descent. Sid's career was somewhat of an accident. He was growing so fast that he had absolutely no coordination. It was decided that he would take dancing lessons, and that's when it all began. At the age of seven, he was dancing for pay in a children's Christmas Show, then a revival of a vaudeville show... and on it went.
Sid also showed a musical inclination, particularly for the drums. So when his parents got tired of him denting all the pots and pans in the house, they bought him a drum set. The music was in him and he took to it immediately, a born natural. First it was swing, then country, then jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll. Sid always found it easy to make money with his music, and did very well. One year out of high school and signing a recording contract is not too bad. Sid went on to record the single "Full House" with the T-Birds in 1958. However, back while he was in high school, Sid got bitten by the "acting bug". Alice Merrill was the head of the drama department at that time and gave him all the encouragement in the world to pursue an acting career. The clincher came in his senior year. The way that the senior play was cast was that she would double cast the show, then have one of her friends from Hollywood come up and pick the final cast.
You see, Merrill was quite famous as an actress on Broadway and kept up her contacts in the business. When the appointed day came, the "friend" that showed up was Dennis Morgan, a big musical comedy star from the 1940s. The rest is history -- he picked Sid for the role, then two weeks later came back to see the show and told Sid that he should continue his education down south and consider acting as a career path. Two years later, Sid enrolled in the world famous Pasadena Playhouse, the school that trained such actors as Robert Preston, Robert Young, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and so on. After two years of "actor's hell" (non-stop 7:00 am to 11:00 pm with homework thrown in just for the fun of it), it was time to move on to the big "H", Hollywood! Sid did so with longtime friend and roommate Stuart Margolin (Angel on The Rockford Files (1974)).
Sid's first acting job was in Jack Hill's student film at UCLA. It was called The Host (2000), which was released in 2004 on DVD as a companion to Switchblade Sisters (1975), another Hill film. That role launched a 40-year acting career during which Haig appeared in over 50 films and 350 television series. He has proven himself quite valuable to such filmmakers as producer Roger Corman. He also became a staple in the pictures of Jack Hill, appearing in Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967), Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). Haig's other memorable credits include George Lucas' THX 1138 (1971), and the James Bond opus Diamonds Are Forever (1971) (he is one of the Slumber Brothers, and got to toss a topless Lana Wood from the window of a high-rise Vegas hotel).
Among his most significant television credits are appearances on such landmark series as The A-Team (1983), T.J. Hooker (1982), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), Quincy M.E. (1976), Hart to Hart (1979), Fantasy Island (1977), Charlie's Angels (1976), Police Woman (1974), The Rockford Files (1974), The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), Mannix (1967), Mission: Impossible (1966), Gunsmoke (1955), Get Smart (1965), Here's Lucy (1968), The Flying Nun (1967), Daniel Boone (1964), Star Trek (1966), Batman (1966) and The Untouchables (1959).
Sid was never one to give-up on anything but after nearly 40 years of carrying a gun (except for the occasional Jack Hill or Roger Corman film), his dreams of being recognized as a more than competent actor were fading. Then in 1992, frustrated with being typecast, Sid retired from acting and quoted, "I'll never play another stupid heavy again, and I don't care if that means that I never work, ever." This just proves that if you take a stand people will listen, for Quentin Tarantino wrote for Sid the role of the judge in Jackie Brown (1997). Then things got better, much better. During the mid and late 1990s, Sid managed a community theatre company, as well as dabbled occasionally in theater in Los Angeles.
Then in 2000, Sid came out of his self-imposed retirement at the request of Rob Zombie for a role in Zombie's debut film House of 1000 Corpses (2003). He starred as the fun-loving, but murderous, Captain Spaulding. This role breathed new life into Sid's acting career and earned him an award for Best Supporting Actor in the 13th Annual Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, as well as an induction into the Horror Hall of Fame. Sid's character Captain Spaulding became an icon for the new horror genre. Sid has recently enjoyed success as Captain Spaulding once again in Rob Zombie's follow-up to House of 1000 Corpses (2003), entitled, The Devil's Rejects (2005). For this film, Sid received the award for best Actor in the 15th Annual Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, as well as sharing the award for "Most Vile Villain" at the First Annual Spike TV Scream Awards with Leslie Easterbrook, Sheri Moon Zombie and Bill Moseley as The Firefly Family.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Sid continued to enjoy his renewed success as an actor. In September 2019, he was hospitalized after falling in his home in Los Angeles, California. While recovering, he suffered from a lung infection after vomiting in his sleep. He died on September 21, 2019, from complications of the infection at age 80.- Actor
- Producer
- Editor
Aron Eisenberg was born on 6 January 1969 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Star Trek Online (2010). He was married to Malissa Longo. He died on 21 September 2019 in the USA.- Cokie Roberts was born on 27 December 1943 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was married to Steve Roberts. She died on 17 September 2019 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Producer
Eddie Money was born on 21 March 1949 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Over the Top (1987), The Iron Claw (2023) and Sideways (2004). He was married to Laurie Money and Margo Lee Walker. He died on 13 September 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Blonde and blue-eyed with an attractively feline appeal, Carol Lynley began her professional career as Carolyn Lee. She learned ballet at age seven, became a successful child model at age 10 (eventually working for the Sears & Roebuck department store in New York), and got her face nationally recognized as "the Coca-Cola Girl."
Carole Ann Jones was born in New York City to Frances Fuller (Felch) from New England and Irish immigrant Cyril Roland Jones. Trying to branch out into acting early on, in New York City, to Frances Fuller (Felch), from New England, and Cyril Roland Jones, who was an Irish immigrant. Trying to branch out into acting early on, Carol discovered that another individual by that name, born seven years earlier, was already on the books of Actors' Equity, so Carolyn fused "lyn" and "lee" to create 'Lynley'. From age 15 she appeared on Broadway, played juvenile roles in early anthology television, and was featured on the cover of Life Magazine in April 1957. Her first important film roles came in decidedly wholesome fare, beginning with The Light in the Forest (1958) for Walt Disney Productions, in which she played indentured servant Shenandoe. It was a promising start. A New York Times reviewer praised her performance (alongside that of fellow screen newbie James MacArthur), describing both as "real charmers with more than their share of talent." Thrust once more into the limelight, Lynley reprised her earlier Broadway role in the film version of Blue Denim (1959) as a naive girl who becomes pregnant and ponders having an illegal abortion. This performance got her nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer in 1959. That same year, she graduated with a diploma from New York's School for Young Professionals. Lynley went on to play other ingénues and troubled teens before shedding her wholesome image by the early 1960s.
Return to Peyton Place (1961) headlined the actress as a best-selling novelist who controversially reveals the town's darkest secrets and scandals. This was followed by the bawdy (and mostly irritating) sex farce Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), with Lynley as a virginal college student in a New York apartment block pursued by a lecherous landlord/playboy (played by Jack Lemmon). Luckily, better opportunities to prove her acting mettle turned up with a double role in The Cardinal (1963) (opposite Tom Tryon), and as the tormented mother of a kidnapped child in the superior psychological thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), directed by Otto Preminger and co-starring Laurence Olivier. Cinema magazine commented "With a face like that of a fallen angel, Carol Lynley has beauty that is often awe inspiring".
In March 1965, the former teen queen posed nude for an issue of Playboy magazine; later that year she played the title role in a turgid biopic of 1930s Hollywood sex symbol Jean Harlow. While the quality of her films tended to decline after the mid-'60s, there were still entertaining moments in B-pictures like The Shuttered Room (1967) and Once You Kiss a Stranger... (1969) (in this lurid thriller, Lynley rose above her material and was memorable in the role of a psychotic murderess). In Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure (1972), she was merely one of the ill-fated passengers who ended up in Davy Jones' Locker. Still, Variety called her performance "especially effective". After 1967, television provided most of her work, including guest spots in seminal shows like Mannix (1967), The Invaders (1967), Hawaii Five-O (1968) and as co-star of the TV pilot for The Night Stalker (1972) (as Carl Kolchak's girlfriend). In her penultimate role, Lynley played a grandmother in a film titled uncannily similar to the one which had launched her career: A Light in the Forest (2003).
Carol Lynley retired from the screen in 2006. A highly capable actress who should have made a bigger splash in Hollywood, she passed away on September 3, 2019 in Pacific Palisades, California from a heart attack. She was 77.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Peter Henry Fonda was born in New York City, to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and Ontario, Canada-born New York socialite Frances Brokaw (born Frances Ford Seymour). He was the younger brother of actress and activist Jane Fonda and the father of actress Bridget Fonda.
Fonda made his professional stage debut on Broadway in 1961 in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, for which he received rave reviews from the New York Critics, and won the Daniel Blum Theater World Award and the New York Critics Circle Award for Best New Actor. He began his feature film career in 1963, playing the romantic lead in Tammy and the Doctor and joined the ensemble cast of the World War II saga, The Victors.
Shortly thereafter, Fonda began what would become a famous association with Roger Corman, starring in Wild Angels, as the ultra-cool, iron-fisted leader of a violent biker gang, opposite Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd. Fonda starred in Corman's 1967 psychedelic film The Trip, also starring Dern and Susan Strasberg. His next project was the seminal 1969 anti-establishment film Easy Rider, which he produced and co-scripted, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
His acting credits included the feature films Outlaw Blues, an expose of the country music business; Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry; Race with the Devil; Robert Rossen's Lilith; Split Image; Robert Wise's Two People; and the cult films Love and a .45 and Nadja. He appeared in Grace of My Heart (directed by Alison Anders), and John Carpenter's Escape from L.A., starring Kurt Russell. He made a cameo appearance in Bodies, Heat & Motion, which starred his daughter Bridget Fonda.
Fonda won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Ulee Jackson, the taciturn beekeeper in the 1997 film Ulee's Gold, earning him both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and the New York Film Critics Award, as well as an Oscar nomination. Following this, he published his autobiography, Don't Tell Dad, and was then seen in the NBC movie The Tempest, for which he had been nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series. Fonda then appeared with Helen Mirren in the Showtime telefilm The Passion of Ayn Rand, where he won the Golden Globe for outstanding supporting actor in a mini-series or movie made for television and was nominated for both an Emmy and SAG Award. He co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's 1997 film The Limey. Following this, he appeared in Thomas and the Magic Railroad for director Britt Allcroft, starring Alec Baldwin.
Fonda directed his first feature film, The Hired Hand, in 1971. A critically acclaimed western in which he also starred, the film debuted with a restored version at the 2001 Venice Film Festival; it then screened at the Toronto Film Festival before reopening in theaters in 2003. Other directing credits include the science fiction feature Idaho Transfer, starring as a gambler who wins Brooke Shields in a poker game.
Fonda co-starred in HBO's The Laramie Project, based on the true story of openly gay college student Matthew Shepard, killed in an act of senseless violence and cruelty, which attracted national attention. Fonda starred in The Maldonado Miracle, directed by Salma Hayek for Showtime Networks, and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his role. Fonda also starred opposite Kris Kristofferson in Wooly Boys, which was released in March 2004, and the television drama Back When We Were Grownups, opposite Blythe Danner and Faye Dunaway. Fonda was seen in Soderbergh's Ocean's Twelve and appeared in Mark Steven Johnson's Ghost Rider, opposite Nicolas Cage.
Fonda's last projects included director Ron Maxwell's Civil War-era drama Copperhead, alongside Billy Campbell and Angus MacFadyen, The Ultimate Gift directed by Michael Landon Jr., and John McNaughton's The Harvest, with Samantha Morton and Michael Shannon.
Peter Fonda died on August 16, 2019, in Los Angeles.- Additional Crew
- Director
- Writer
Harold Prince was born on 30 January 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for West Side Story (1961), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and Cabaret (1972). He was married to Judith Arlene Chaplin. He died on 31 July 2019 in Reykjavik, Iceland.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Blond, blue-eyed, tall and handsome Dutch actor Rutger Hauer enjoyed an international reputation for playing everything from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. Hauer was born in Breukelen, a Dutch town and former municipality in the province of Utrecht.
He was the son of Teunke Hauer (née Mellema) and Arend Hauer, actors who operated an acting school. As his parents were often touring, he and his three sisters were raised by a nanny. A bit of a rebel during his childhood, he chafed at the rules and rigors of school and was often getting into mischief. His grandfather had been the captain of a schooner and at age fifteen, Hauer ran away to work on a freighter for a year. Like his great-grandfather, Hauer was color-blind, which prevented him from furthering his career as a sailor.
Upon his return he attended night school and started working in the construction industry. When he again bombed at school, his parents enrolled him in drama classes. An amateur poet, he spent most of his time writing poetry and hanging out in Amsterdam coffee houses instead of studying. He was expelled for poor attendance and afterward spent a brief period in the Dutch navy.
Deciding he didn't like military life, Hauer honed his acting skills trying to convince his superiors he was mentally unfit and was sent to a special home for psych patients. It was an unpleasant place, but Hauer remained there until he had convinced his ranking officers that the military really did not need him.- Albert David Hedison Jr. was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the elder son of Albert and Rose Hedison, naturalized United States citizens from Armenia. His father owned a jewelry enameling business and his son was expected to follow in his footsteps. Young Al had other ideas, having put his sights on an acting career after seeing Tyrone Power on the screen in Blood and Sand (1941).
Following the completion of military service in the navy (as a Seaman 2nd Class, working on mothballing decommissioned warships), he enrolled at Brown University. Three years later, he joined the Neighborhood Playhouse School in Manhattan and studied acting under Sanford Meisner. He then underwent further training at the Actor's Studio with the legendary Lee Strasberg.
When he finally made his theatrical debut he was billed as 'Al Hedison'. Voted most promising newcomer for his performance in the off-Broadway play "A Month in the Country", he received a Theatre World Award. More importantly, this opened the doors to work in the film business, albeit slowly. One of a myriad of struggling actors, Hedison had taken a temporary job as a radio announcer for a local station in North Carolina to make ends meet. Upon his return to New York, the offers began to come in and he made his screen bow in 1954.
His first significant role was as the unfortunate scientist André Delambre whose matter transmitter experiments end up with him being turned into The Fly (1958). It did not end well for the poor man. For the actor, however, it set the tone for other forays into the genres of fantasy and science fiction, notably as Ed Malone in The Lost World (1960) and as Captain Lee Crane in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) (arguably his most famous role), both Irwin Allen productions. He later recalled really 'hitting it off' with co-star Richard Basehart, saying "Richard and I had real chemistry. He taught me so much about being camera ready when I needed to be. Television filming is so very fast, we always had to keep moving on."
Under contract to 20th Century Fox from 1958, Hedison next starred in the Cold War spy series Five Fingers (1959) portraying the part of an American counterintelligence officer (the accompanying change of his stage moniker to 'David Hedison' came about at the insistence of NBC and Fox). By the early 60s, Hedison had become a much sought-after, robust lead for made-for-TV films and TV series. He had befriended the actor Roger Moore while filming an episode of The Saint (1962) and this paved the way for him to appear in two James Bond films -- Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989) -- on both occasions as CIA operative Felix Leiter. Over the years followed numerous guest spots on crime dramas like The F.B.I. (1965), Cannon (1971), Ellery Queen (1975), Barnaby Jones (1973) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). In 2004, he joined the regular cast of the TV soap The Young and the Restless (1973) for some fifty episodes. Ultimately, however, he came to regard the stage as his favorite medium, saying "When I go back to the theater, I feel good about myself. When I do films or TV, it's to make a little bread to pay my mortgage..." - Denise Nickerson was best known for her role as Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and as a member of the Short Circus on The Electric Company (1971). She left the acting business at the end of 1993, and she worked as a nurse and later a stay at home mom. She will be remembered as Violet!
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- Producer
Rip Torn was born Elmore Rual Torn Jr. on February 6, 1931 in Temple, Texas, the son of Thelma Mary (Spacek) and Elmore Rudolph Torn, who was an agriculturalist and economist, credited with popularizing the custom of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. "Rip" is a family name, taken by generations of Torn men and bestowed on Elmore by his father, who was also called "Rip." He was of German, Austrian, Bohemian, and Moravian descent. His mother was an elder sister of actress Sissy Spacek's father, Edwin Spacek.
Torn attended Texas A&M and the University of Texas, where he joined Sigma Chi Fraternity. He majored in animal husbandry. Extremely naïve when he was young, Torn hitchhiked to Hollywood with the idea of becoming a movie star; he wanted to make enough money in order to buy a ranch. Success did not come overnight, as he had hoped, and Torn had to work many odd jobs while occasionally being cast in television roles. He made his feature film debut in Elia Kazan's Baby Doll (1956) in a small part.
Serious about learning his craft, he moved to New York City where he studied under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Torn also studied dance with Martha Graham. His serious acting career began on the small screen, where he made a name for himself in the Golden Age of Television; between 1957 and 1960, he appeared regularly on such prestigious live shows as Omnibus (1952) and Playhouse 90 (1956).
Torn made his Broadway debut in Kazan's staging of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" on March 10, 1959, in support of Paul Newman, Sidney Blackmer and Geraldine Page, who would become his second wife. The play was a hit, closing on January 30, 1960 after 375 performances. He won a 1960 Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Theater World award for his role as "Tom, Jr.", a role he recreated in the 1962 film. (Torn also starred as "Boss Finley" in a later television adaptation of the play).
Torn earned a reputation as an actor's actor on stage, both Broadway and off-Broadway, as well as on screen. He continued to work in the New York theater despite his demanding TV and movie schedule as both an actor and director. He won two Obie awards for his work off-Broadway, for Distinguished Performance in Norman Mailer's "The Deer Park" (for the 1966-67 season), and for Distinguished Direction for "The Beard" (1967-68). He had his own stage company, and directed his daughter Angelica Page (by Geraldine Page) in John Paul Alexander's "Strangers in the Land of Canaan" at the Actors Studio. Torn made his feature film directorial debut with The Telephone (1988).
He was constantly in demand as a character actor, in supporting, second lead and occasional lead roles. Arguably his best performance on film came in Payday (1973), and he was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Cross Creek (1983). Most of Torn's roles were in drama, though he was adept at comedy. His role in Albert Brooks' comedy Defending Your Life (1991) led to his being cast in The Larry Sanders Show (1992), on which he played talk show producer "Artie." Torn won six consecutive Emmy nominations for the role, winning once for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series in 1996.
Torn was married to actress Ann Wedgeworth from 1956-61, whom he divorced to marry Geraldine Page. They remained married until her death in 1987. He was married to Amy Wright until his death. Torn helped his first cousin, Oscar-winner Sissy Spacek, to make her way as an actress, seeing to it that she was accepted by the Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute.
Rip Torn died in on July 9, 2019 in Lakeville, Connecticut, aged 88.- Actor
- Soundtrack
British character actor Freddie Jones came to the acting profession after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant and acting in amateur theater on the side. To kick off his mid-life career change, Jones attended Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, England, on a scholarship. He then worked in repertory theater, later joining up with the Royal Shakespeare Company and gaining recognition as an actor of exceptional cleverness, intelligence and perception.
His theatrical film debut came in 1967 in Peter Brook's critically acclaimed, Marat/Sade (1967). Two years later, Jones made his mark on the acting world playing "Claudius" in the six-part television miniseries, The Caesars (1968). Based on this performance, he was named "The World's Best Television Actor of the Year" at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival in 1969. Also, around this time, Jones gave one of his most touching film performances, that of the "monster" in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), in which he displayed pathos reminiscent of Boris Karloff's monster.
Critical acclaim led him into more prominent roles in television, e.g., The Ghosts of Motley Hall (1976), Children of the Stones (1977), and Pennies from Heaven (1978), as well as in film, e.g., The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), Antony and Cleopatra (1972), All Creatures Great and Small (1975) and Zulu Dawn (1979). He achieved international recognition as a film actor after appearing in such Hollywood films as Clint Eastwood's Firefox (1982) and David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), Dune (1984) and Wild at Heart (1990).
Arguably one of his most endearing roles was the frequently drunk reporter "Orlando" in Federico Fellini's The Ship Sails On (1983). His theatrical acting also went well as he was well suited for literary dramas, e.g., Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Nicholas Nickleby (1977), Silas Marner (1985), Adam Bede (1992), David Copperfield (2000) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002).- Producer
- Actress
Beth Chapman was born on 29 October 1967 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was a producer and actress, known for Corner Gas (2004), Dog the Bounty Hunter (2003) and Hawaii Five-0 (2010). She was married to Duane 'Dog' Chapman and Keith A. Barmore. She died on 26 June 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Max Wright was born on 2 August 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for ALF (1986), All That Jazz (1979) and The Shadow (1994). He was married to Linda Ybarrondo. He died on 26 June 2019 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Great-great-granddaughter of "The Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of her family's fortune. Her maternal aunt, Lady Thelma Furness, was a mistress of King Edward VIII of Great Britain. Gloria is a close cousin of the British Dukes of Marlborough.- Additional Crew
- Production Designer
- Director
Franco Zeffirelli is an Italian director and producer of operas, films and television. He was also a senator from 1994 until 2001 for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party. Some of his operatic designs and productions have become worldwide classics.
He was known for several of the movies he directed, especially the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet (1968), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. His 1967 version of The Taming of The Shrew (1967) with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remains the best-known film adaptation of that play as well. His mini-series Jesus of Nazareth (1977) won both national and international acclaim.
In 1999, Zeffirelli received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In November 2004, he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the United Kingdom. He was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Dr. John was born on November 21, 1940, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as Malcolm Rebbenack. At 13 he decided to become a musician, and was supported by his family, who themselves were musicians in a small way. "Mac" dropped out of school in the 11th grade in 1956, at the age of 16, to become a blues piano player. He has become known as "Dr. John, The Night Tripper" (or "Dr. John", for short) and a prime example of the "New Orleans Sound" style of blues/jazz. He has received two Grammy Awards, and is in the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame.- Actor
- Writer
Paul Darrow was born on 2 May 1941 in Surrey, England. He went to Haberdashers' Aske's School and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He performed with the Bristol Old Vic and started to get acting roles on British TV in the 1960s. After roles in such series as The Saint (1962) and Doctor Who (1963), he was cast as Avon in the cult BBC science fiction series Blake's 7 (1978). He always maintained an association with that classic series, and in time became a public advocate for its revival by means of audio dramas.
Darrow's interests included criminology, good food and wine, classical music, the cinema and military history. He supported Manchester City Football Club. His long marriage to the actress Janet Lees-Price was ended by her death in 2012.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died before she was born and Paul, a few years older.
Her parents divorced while she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. Like most little girls, Doris liked to dance. At fourteen, she formed a dance act with a boy, Jerry Doherty, and they won $500 in a local talent contest. She and Jerry took a brief trip to Hollywood to test the waters. They felt they could succeed, so she and Jerry returned to Cincinnati with the intention of packing and making a permanent move to Hollywood. Tragically, the night before she was to move to Hollywood, she was injured riding in a car hit by a train, ending the possibility of a dancing career.
It was a terrible setback, but after taking singing lessons she found a new vocation, and at age 17, she began touring with the Les Brown Band. She met trombonist Al Jorden, whom she married in 1941. Jorden was prone to violence and they divorced after two years, not long after the birth of their son Terry. In 1946, Doris married George Weidler, but this union lasted less than a year. Day's agent talked her into taking a screen test at Warner Bros. The executives there liked what they saw and signed her to a contract (her early credits are often confused with those of another actress named Doris Day, who appeared mainly in B westerns in the 1930s and 1940s).
Her first starring movie role was in Romance on the High Seas (1948). The next year, she made two more films, My Dream Is Yours (1949) and It's a Great Feeling (1949). Audiences took to her beauty, terrific singing voice and bubbly personality, and she turned in fine performances in the movies she made (in addition to several hit records). She made three films for Warner Bros. in 1950 and five more in 1951. In that year, she met and married Martin Melcher, who adopted her young son Terry, who later grew up to become Terry Melcher, a successful record producer.
In 1953, Doris starred in Calamity Jane (1953), which was a major hit, and several more followed: Lucky Me (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and what is probably her best-known film, Pillow Talk (1959). She began to slow down her filmmaking pace in the 1960s, even though she started out the decade with a hit, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960).
In 1958, her brother Paul died. Around this time, her husband, who had also taken charge of her career, had made deals for her to star in films she didn't really care about, which led to a bout with exhaustion. The 1960s weren't to be a repeat of the previous busy decade. She didn't make as many films as she had in that decade, but the ones she did make were successful: Do Not Disturb (1965), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). Martin Melcher died in 1968, and Doris never made another film, but she had been signed by Melcher to do her own TV series, The Doris Day Show (1968). That show, like her movies, was successful, lasting until 1973. After her series went off the air, she made only occasional TV appearances.
By the time Martin Melcher died, Doris discovered she was millions of dollars in debt. She learned that Melcher had squandered virtually all of her considerable earnings, but she was eventually awarded $22 million by the courts in a case against a man that Melcher had unwisely let invest her money. She married for the fourth time in 1976 and since her divorce in 1980 has devoted her life to animals.
Doris was a passionate animal rights activist. She ran Doris Day Animal League in Carmel, California, which advocates homes and proper care of household pets.
Doris died on May 13, 2019, in Carmel Valley Village, California. She was 97.- Actress
- Soundtrack
She was a groovy and sexy icon of the late hippie era. To millions of TV viewers she became familiar as the reformed juvenile delinquent, turned undercover cop, Julie Barnes. With her expressive brown eyes and trademark long blonde hair, sylphlike Peggy Lipton was one third of a streetwise urban trio who - at least to baby boomers in the 60s - represented a more anti-authoritarian point of view. As a police drama with a difference, Mod Squad (1968) was a counterculture trend-setter which addressed previously neglected (or taboo) issues such as the Vietnam War, child abuse, police brutality, racism and drugs. Along with Star Trek (1966), I Spy (1965), Mannix (1967) and Mission: Impossible (1966), it was also among the first shows to feature an interracial cast.
Peggy Lipton was born into a well-to-do upper middle-class family of Russian-Jewish ancestry. Her father was a corporate lawyer, her mother an artist. Her upbringing was strict, her childhood lonely. According to her co-authored autobiography "Breathing Out", she was abused by an uncle. An introverted child of self-confessed 'morbid and gloomy' disposition, she became prone to a debilitating nervous stutter which began to disappear when she left home and struck out on her own at the age of 15. With her dad's assistance she obtained her first job as a model for the Eileen Ford agency in New York. Her mother then prompted her to take drama classes with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof studio in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. At age 19, Lipton got her first gigs on TV, mostly small guest spots, albeit in popular cult shows like Bewitched (1964), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) and The Invaders (1967). She also co-starred (opposite a very young Kurt Russell) in Disney's Mosby's Marauders (1967), set during the Civil War. In between acting, Lipton enjoyed a brief, but moderately successful, singing career. Three of her singles made it to the Billboard charts. At the same time, her private life was punctuated by unhappy or abusive romantic dalliances and experimentation with drugs, including cocaine and peyote.
In 1968, Lipton's career as a TV star was properly inaugurated with Mod Squad. Success led to four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award in 1971. Four years into the show she was asked by an interviewer whether she was bored with her character. She replied: "Creatively I'm bored, yes, but I'm certainly not bored with the success of it, not at all. I know what I'm doing isn't 'Medea,' or even necessarily very good TV, but it's exciting to be famous".
Fame might have been exciting, but there was a flipside. After five years of Mod Squad ("we were always working"), she was burnt out. Uncomfortable with attention from the press, Lipton became more and more withdrawn and insecure. Her subsequent marriage to music legend Quincy Jones (1974-1989) settled her down to raising a family but also led to a lengthy hiatus from acting. However, in 1988, somewhat rehabilitated from a miasma of personal problems, she made her screen comeback and a year later co-starred opposite Charles Bronson in the tough action thriller Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989). Her most high profile role during the following years was that of Norma Jennings, proprietor of the Double R Diner, in David Lynch's bizarre supernatural drama Twin Peaks (1990) (a role she reprised in a later cinematic prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), as well as in the 2017 re-launch). Other sporadic appearances included a role as an antagonist in J.J. Abrams's spy series Alias (2001).
Peggy Lipton was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. The disease eventually claimed her life on May 11 2019 at the age of 72. She left two daughters from her marriage to Quincy Jones, Rashida and Kidada, who have also become actresses.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Peter Mayhew was born on May 19, 1944 in Barnes, London, England, to Constance Elizabeth (Yeates) and Walter Henry Mayhew. Later resident in Texas, this former resident of Yorkshire, England, was working as a hospital attendant at the King's College Hospital in London when film producer Charles H. Schneer saw his photo, literally standing above the crowd around him. Schneer cast him in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), Ray Harryhausen's special effects film.
A year later, he was offered another role. Mayhew was told it was for a big hairy beast. It was the role of Chewbacca, the faithful 200 year-old Wookiee in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and his life was changed forever. Following the original Star Wars trilogy, he made several television commercials in the Wookiee costume.
In 1997, the 20th-anniversary celebrations of Star Wars were announced with the release of the "Special Edition" and all the conventions started. He was active on the "Star Wars" convention circuit where he signed autographs. He wrote two books, "Growing Up Giant" and "My Favorite Giant", and founded a non-profit 501(c)3 charity organization called "The Peter Mayhew Foundation".- Actor
- Director
Ken Kercheval was born on 15 July 1935 in Wolcottville, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Dallas (1978), Network (1976) and The Secret Storm (1954). He was married to Cheryl Paris, Ava Ruth Fox and Judith Peters Launt. He died on 21 April 2019 in Clinton, Indiana USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Georgia Engel was born on 28 July 1948 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress, known for Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and Open Season (2006). She died on 12 April 2019 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Character actor John Richard Erdmann was born on June 1, 1925 in Enid, Oklahoma, of Dutch descent. Raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Erdman and his single mother moved to Los Angeles, California in 1941 after his high school drama teacher told him he could make it in movies. Richard subsequently enrolled in Hollywood High School. Moreover, Erdman was immediately offered and quickly signed a contract at Warner Bros. while still a teenager upon meeting director Michael Curtiz in his office.
Often cast as amiable sailors, rowdy soldiers, or wisecracking best buddies, Richard's career in both films and television alike encompassed several decades starting in the mid-1940's and continued going strong well into the 2010's. Outside of acting, Erdman also directed two movies and some episodic television. Richard was acting almost right to the end. He died at age 93 on March 16, 2019.- King Kong Bundy was riding a win streak of 300 consecutive victories when he challenged Terry "Hulk" Hogan to the World Wrestling Federation World's Heavyweight Championship. Budy's streak was snapped when Hogan defeated him in a wild brawl.
- Actor
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Luke Perry was an American actor, primarily remembered as a teen idol throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s. Perry was born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1966. Mansfield was known at the time as a center for the home appliances and stove manufacturing industries. The city's largest employer used to be the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Perry's parents were the steelworker Coy Luther Perry Jr. (1944-1980) and his wife Ann. Perry's parents divorced in 1972, when he was 6-years-old. Ann gained custody over her children, and later married construction worker Steve Bennett. Luke was mostly raised by his mother and stepfather, and did not have a close relationship with his biological father. Coy Perry suffered a heart attack in 1980 and died, when Luke was 14-years-old. Luke attended his funeral.
Perry was mostly raised in the village of Fredericktown, Ohio, and attended the Fredericktown High School. In his high school years, Perry served in the role of the school mascot, the "Freddie Bird".
In 1984, the 18-year-old Perry moved to Los Angeles, with the intention of becoming a professional actor. For several years, Perry kept auditioning for various roles without ever being hired. He supported himself financially by working at odd jobs, and serving as an extra for music videos. His most notable role in this period was in the 1986 music video for the song "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" (1985) by the heavy metal band "Twisted Sister".
Perry's first successful audition landed him the role of a recurring character in the soap opera Loving (1983) (1983-1995). From 1987 to 1988, he played the character of Ned Bates. In Perry's own words: "Ned was a dirt-poor mechanic from Tennessee who always got taken advantage of".
Perry next received a recurring role in another soap opera, Another World (1964) (1964-1999). From 1988 to 1989, he played the character of Kenny, the manager of aspiring model and actress Josie Watt (played by Alexandra Wilson).
In 1990, Perry landed the most significant role of his career, depicting the character of Dylan McKay in the teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) (1990-2000). He played the character for a total of 199 episodes. Dylan was the teenage rebel son of business tycoon Jack McKay and hippie ex-wife Iris McKay. He started the series as a loner, but he offered help to nerdy schoolmate Scott Scanlon (played by Douglas Emerson) against the local bullies. This act of bravery gained him new friends and the romantic attention of Brenda Walsh (played by Shannen Doherty).
Perry's success in his new role gained him a huge following among teenage girls, and guaranteed that he would receive more job offers. His first starring role in a film was the drama Terminal Bliss (1990) (1992), where he played the self-destructive rich kid John Hunter. The film was a box-office flop.
Perry had a more memorable role in the horror comedy film Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), as the character Oliver Pike. Pike was a hard-drinking slacker youth in Los Angeles, and had a hostile relationship with high school girl Buffy Summers (played by Kristy Swanson). After Pike's best friend gets turned into a vampire, Pike assists Buffy in her battles with the vampire lord Lothos (played by Rutger Hauer) and his subordinate vampires. Pike is Buffy's sidekick and main love interest in the film, and has appeared in various adaptations, though not in the spin-off television series.
Perry had his first voice acting role in the episode, Krusty Gets Kancelled (1993) of the animated sitcom The Simpsons (1989). He played a parody version of himself as a sidekick of the character Krusty the Clown in a show-within-the-show. Perry had more voice acting roles in other animated television series of this era. He played the Detroit-based crime lord Napoleon Brie in Biker Mice from Mars (1993) (1993-1996), the master ninja Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1995) (1996), Bruce Banner's best friend and sidekick Rick Jones in The Incredible Hulk (1996) (1996-1997), and Nicky Little's boyfriend Stewart Waldinger in Pepper Ann (1997) (1997-2000).
In live-action films, Perry played the starring role of professional bull-rider Lane Frost (1963-1989) in the biographical drama 8 Seconds (1994). He played a version of himself in the Italian comedy film Vacanze di Natale '95 (1995) ("Christmas Vacation '95", 1995), where he is the love interest of infatuated teenager Marta Colombo (played by Cristiana Capotondi). Perry played the police officer and bank robber Chris Anderson in the crime drama Normal Life (1996), while his wife and partner-in-crime Pam Anderson was played by Ashley Judd. He played the suicidal character Johnny in the comedy-drama American Strays (1996), which features the character hiring a professional hit-man to provide him with an assisted suicide.
In 1997, Perry played a small role in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997). In a scene set in 1914, Perry plays the assistant archaeologist Billy Masterson. Masterson sees his mentor being knocked out by Mondoshawan aliens, and reacts by shooting one of the aliens. Masterson's fate is left uncertain in the film, though the novelization features him as the victim of a poisoning plot.
In the late 1990s, Perry appeared frequently in television films and various direct-to-video films. He had guest roles in several television series, but mostly playing one-shot characters. Following the end of Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) in 2000, his first major role was the recurring character Jeremiah Cloutier in the crime-drama Oz (1997) (1997-2003). Introduced in 2001 episodes of the series, Jeremiah was an Evangelical preacher who was imprisoned for embezzling funds from his church. He used his charisma and preaching skills to convert fellow prisoners to Evangelical Christianity, He was eventually assassinated by his own convert Timmy Kirk (Sean Dugan) and several of Kirk's friends, after Jeremiah denounced Kirk using Christianity as an excuse to murder people.
Perry next gained a starring role in the post-apocalyptic series Jeremiah (2002) (2002-2004). The series is set c. 2021, 15 years after a plague killed nearly everyone over the age of thirteen. Most of the adult characters of the show were children at that time, and survived the event. Now they are troubled adults, trying to survive in a harsh world. Perry's character Jeremiah is a wanderer who finds himself recruited into a Colorado-based secretive organization. He fights a war against a West Virginia-based organization which seeks to either conquer or wipe out all remaining outposts of humanity. The series lasted two seasons. A third season was planned, but plans for it were aborted due to disagreements between the production companies co-financing the series.
Perry returned to playing mostly guest star roles in television. In 2006, he was cast as one of the main characters in the short-lived drama series Windfall (2006). Only 13 episodes were produced, as the series failed to find an audience and one of the show's co-creators had left before the season's completion.
In 2007, Perry played businessman Linc Stark in the surf-themed series John from Cincinnati (2007). Despite relatively high ratings, the series only lasted for one season.
In the late 2000s, Perry played guest roles in police procedural a series: the rapist Noah Sibert in Trials (2008) and the cult leader Benjamin Cyrus in Minimal Loss (2008).
For much of the 2010s, Perry continued mostly appearing in guest roles and relatively obscure films. In 2015, a colonoscopy test revealed pre-cancerous growths in Perry's body, that could have developed into colorectal cancer. Perry received medical treatment, and became a spokesperson for campaigns requiring early testing for cancer.
In 2017, Perry returned to prominence in a live-action adaptation of a comic book series, Riverdale (2017) (2017-2019). It was an adaptation of Archie Comics' characters, but in a mystery series instead of their traditional comedy setting. Perry played Frederick "Fred" Andrews, Archie Andrews's father, depicted here as the owner of a successful construction company. Fred is depicted as a single father, as his wife Mary Andrews abandoned him and moved to Chicago. The series also depicts Fred as the ex-boyfriend of Hermione Gomez-Lodge (Veronica Lodge's mother).
On February 27, 2019, Perry suffered a massive ischemic stroke within his home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. He was hospitalized, but suffered a second stroke days later. He died on March 4, 2019, having never recovered from the two strokes. He was only 52 years old. His body was buried near his home in Vanleer, Tennessee, where he had bought a farm and the associated house in 1995, and spent time living there when not working on film or television projects.
Perry's will reportedly left his son Jack Perry (b. 1997) and daughter Sophie Perry (b. 2000) as the only heirs to his estate. The press noted that the will excludes Perry's mother, his stepfather, his siblings, his ex-wife, and his last fiancée from having inheritance claims, and there was some speculation on Perry's motivation for this decision. His net worth was estimated at over $10 million.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Despite remaining on the periphery of character stardom for a number of years, New York-born character actress Shelley Morrison, who enjoyed a long and varied career on film, TV and the stage for decades, finally became a household favorite as the argumentative, razor-tongued maid Rosario Salazar on the enduring hit NBC comedy Will & Grace (1998), which she played from 1999 to 2006.
Spanish-speaking Rachel Mitrani was born in the Bronx on October 26, 1936, the daughter of a Spanish-Jewish clothing manufacturer. She moved with her parents to Southern California when she was 10 years old. Following high school graduation, she studied acting at Los Angeles City College and began her career on the stage. Among her early theatre credits was an appearance in a national road production of "Orpheus Descending" and, as one of L.A.'s pioneering female producers, she mounted the West Coast premiere of "Sweet Bird of Youth." Despite her busy schedule on film and TV, Shelley would remain firmly entrenched in the theater as a performer, producer and director both here and abroad. Morrison was eventually honored with the "Eternity Award" for lifetime achievement at the Twelfth Annual Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival.
Changing her stage name to "Shelley Morrison" in the late 1950's to avoid ethnic typecasting, Shelley broke into TV in 1961, finding bits on such prime-time shows as "Adventures in Paradise," "Outer Limits," "Dr. Kildare," "The Farmer's Daughter," "The Fugitive," "Gunsmoke," "Laredo," and "My Favorite Martian". Finding herself usually cast as a Hispanic or Native American, Shelley's most visible character during this period, and the one people remember with great fondness, was as the adorably shy but spirited Puerto Rican-born Sister Sixto, who had problems mastering English, in the gentle comedy series The Flying Nun (1967) which starred Sally Field as fellow novice Sister Bertrille and Madeleine Sherwood as their Mother Superior.
Handed a Columbia Pictures contract, Shelley found minor parts in such film features as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Castle of Evil (1966), Divorce American Style (1967), Funny Girl (1968), How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968), Three Guns for Texas (1968) and Mackenna's Gold (1969). Into the 1970's she found herself on such popular programs as "The Bold Ones," "The Partridge Family," "Marcus Welby," "The Rookies," "Soap," "Murder, She Wrote," "Sisters," "Columbo," "L.A. Law" and "Home Improvement," while showing up in such films as the romantic dramedy Blume in Love (1973); the Clint Eastwood directed drama Breezy (1973); the comedy spoof Rabbit Test (1978); the Neil Simon comedy drama Max Dugan Returns (1983); and as Rosa the maid in the adventure comedy Troop Beverly Hills (1989) starring Shelley Long.
It was another standout maid portrayal, however, that became Shelley's favorite. In 1999, she joined the cast of the comedy hit Will & Grace (1998) as the peppery Salvadoran housekeeper who shared a caustic love/hate relationship with wealthy boss, Karen Walker, played by Megan Mullally. What was suppose to be a one-episode spot proved so hilarious as the two butted heads and traded wicked barbs, that the Rosario character became a strong, recurring presence during the entire first run of the show.
In later years, Shelley became a two-time breast and lung cancer survivor. Following a fairly steady vocal role as Mrs. Portillo in the animated Spanish-oriented children's series Handy Manny (2006), the actress decided to retire. Asked to return to the "Will & Grace" show when it was resurrected in 2017, she politely declined. After Shelley's death in 2019 from heart failure following a brief illness, the death of "Rosie" was played out and mourned on an episode of the TV show.
Shelley was survived by her writer/assistant director husband Walter Dominguez and their six sons and daughters -- all adopted through a traditional Native American ceremony. Long ago the couple embraced the spiritual Native American traditions of the Lakota Sioux and lived for decades in the same L.A. apartment building that her parents owned when she was a child.- Actress
- Director
Katherine Marie Helmond was born on July 5, 1929, in Galveston, Texas. After her parents divorced, she was raised by her mother, Thelma (nee Malone) Helmond, and her maternal grandmother, both of Irish Catholic descent. She attended Catholic school, and appeared in numerous school plays and pageants. She took a job at a local theater while still in high school, hammering and sawing the scenery, cleaning the bathrooms and pulling the curtain.
After her stage debut in "As You Like It", she worked in New York theatres during the 1950s and 1960s. She operated a summer theatre in the Catskills for three seasons and also taught acting in university theatre programs. She made her TV debut in 1962 but had to wait another 10 years until her breakthrough came in the 1970s. She stayed busy on TV as well as on stage and earned a Tony nomination for "The Great God Brown" (1973) on Broadway. She honed her acting abilities with Alfred Hitchcock in Family Plot (1976) and in numerous TV series, notably in ABC's cult sitcom Soap (1977), for which she had four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe. On the big screen she starred in Brazil (1985) as Jonathan Pryce's mother who is addicted to plastic surgery and snooping in her son's messed-up life.
In 1983 she studied at the Directing Workshop of the American Film Institute and then directed four episodes of the series Benson (1979) as well as episodes of Who's the Boss? (1984). She also picked up Emmy nominations for her role as Mona Robinson, a liberated grandmother in "Who's the Boss?", and as Lois in Everybody Loves Raymond (1996). Although Helmond was a bona-fide TV star since her "Soap" days, she continued working on stage in the 2000s and was acclaimed for her performances in "The Vagina Monologues".
Katherine Helmond was married twice. She had no children. She turned to Buddhism in later years. She shared her time between her home in Los Angeles and homes in New York and London.- Actor
- Music Department
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Performed as a folk musician in Greenwich Village and Los Angeles before being selected for the Monkees TV show. Made 58 TV episodes 6 albums, a TV special, and a movie before leaving the Monkees in 1969 Released a solo single in 1982. Rejoined the Monkees for tours and an from 1986 to 1989. Released his first solo album, "Stranger Things Have Happened", in 1994- Beverley Owen was born Beverley Ogg in Ottumwa, Iowa, on Thursday, May 13th, 1937. In high school and college, she was always doing television, theatre, and radio programs. She then moved to New York to pursue an acting career after graduating from the University of Michigan. She was fired many a time for her lack of typing skills while working at CBS, and for Ed Sullivan. She later became senior typist for the children's program, Captain Kangaroo (1955) show. She did many small parts in shows until she got the role of "Marilyn Munster" on The Munsters (1964). But after just thirteen episodes, were filmed, she left the show to get married. She is now divorced, but has two daughters, Polly and Kate. She is not always recognized as "Marilyn" because, on the show, she wore a blonde wig. In 1989, she got her master's degree in Early American History.
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The son of a Lancashire bookmaker, Albert Finney came to motion pictures via the theatre. In 1956, he won a scholarship to RADA where his fellow alumni included Peter O'Toole and Alan Bates. He joined the Birmingham Repertory where he excelled in plays by William Shakespeare. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Finney understudied Laurence Olivier at Stratford-upon-Avon, eventually acquiring a reputation as 'the new Olivier'. He first came to critical attention by creating the title role in Keith Waterhouse's "Billy Liar" on the London stage. His film debut soon followed with The Entertainer (1960) by Tony Richardson with whom had earlier worked in the theatre. With the changing emphasis in 60s British cinema towards gritty realism and working-class milieus, Finney's typical screen personae became good-looking, often brooding proletarian types and rebellious anti-heroes as personified by his Arthur Seaton in Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). His exuberant defining role, however, was in the bawdy period romp Tom Jones (1963) in which Finney revealed a substantial talent for comedy. In the same vein, he scored another hit opposite Audrey Hepburn in the charming marital comedy Two for the Road (1967).
By 1965, Finney had branched out into production, setting up Memorial Enterprises in conjunction with Michael Medwin. In 1968, he directed himself in Charlie Bubbles (1968) and three years later produced the Chandleresque homage Gumshoe (1971), in which he also starred as Eddie Ginley, a bingo-caller with delusions of becoming a private eye. From 1972 to 1975, Finney served as artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre. His intermittent forays to the screen confirmed him as a versatile international actor of note, though not what one might describe as a mainstream star. His roles have ranged from Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical version of Scrooge (1970) to Daddy Warbucks in Annie (1982) and (in flamboyant over-the-top make-up) Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). He appeared as Minister of Police Joseph Fouché in Ridley Scott's superb period drama The Duellists (1977) and as a grandiloquent Shakespearean actor in The Dresser (1983) for which he received an Oscar nomination. For the small screen Finney essayed Pope John Paul II (1984) and was a totally believable Winston Churchill in the acclaimed The Gathering Storm (2002). His final movie credit was in the James Bond thriller Skyfall (2012).
Finney was five-times nominated for Academy Awards in 1964, 1975, 1984, 1985 and 2001. He won two BAFTA Awards in 1961 and 2004. True to his working-class roots, he spurned a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000, later explaining his decision by stating that the 'Sir thing' "slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery". Albert Finney was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2011. He died on February 7 2019 at a London hospital from a chest infection at the age of 82. Upon his death, John Cleese described him as "the best" and "our greatest actor".- Actor
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Virile, handsome and square-jawed youthful star of the 1970s and 1980s who showed early potential at super-stardom, Jan-Michael Vincent originally made a name for himself portraying rebellious young men bucking the system, as in The Tribe (1970), White Line Fever (1975) and Baby Blue Marine (1976) or as a man of action on either side of the law, as in The Mechanic (1972), Vigilante Force (1976) and The Winds of War (1983).
He was born in July 1944 in Denver, Colorado, and was finishing a stint in the National Guard when a talent scout was struck by his all-American looks. He made his first appearance on-screen in The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk (1967), before appearing in Journey to Shiloh (1968) and in "Danger Island" on the Hanna-Barbera kids TV show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968). He remained very busy during the 1970s, appearing in high-profile productions alongside such stars as John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Charles Bronson, Slim Pickens and Robert Mitchum.
In 1984, Vincent was cast as Stringfellow Hawke in the helicopter action series Airwolf (1984), co-starring Ernest Borgnine. The show wrapped after three seasons and from then on he was primarily appearing in low-budget, B-grade action and sci-fi films, including Alienator (1990), The Deadly Avenger (1992), Deadly Heroes (1993) and Lethal Orbit (1996). His last film was the woeful gang movie White Boy (2002), and ongoing health issues and personal problems seemed to preclude his return to the screen.
Vincent will be best remembered by film fans as a smirking, apprentice hit man to Charles Bronson in The Mechanic (1972), as feisty "Matt" in the superb surf movie Big Wednesday (1978) with Gary Busey and William Katt, or as rebel trucker Carol Jo Hummer battling corruption in White Line Fever (1975).- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
As a sophomore at the University of Akron, he left town to come to Los Angeles with his band, Revelation Funk. The band broke up shortly after arriving in L.A. Shortly afterward, Ingram started working with Ray Charles as a piano player.
After Quincy Jones heard James Ingram's voice on "Just Once," he invited Ingram to sing on his album. James originally didn't think his voice was good enough to be a lead vocal. He won a Grammy award for best R&B vocal performance for his work on Jones' album, "The Dude."
Won a Grammy with Michael McDonald in 1984 for Best R&B Performance for their duet, "Yah Mo B There"
His mom, Alistine Wilson Ingram, and dad, Henry Ingram Sr., died within a year of one another [2001-2002]
Married his childhood sweetheart, Debra Robinson
Played keyboards on the classic hit songs "PYT" by Michael Jackson and "Bad Mama Jama" by Carl Carlton.
Plays keyboards, guitar, and electric bass.- Actress
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Singing funny girl Kaye Ballard was born to perform...and perform she did, in a career spanning eight decades. With a strong comedy background and tunnel mouth to rival Martha Raye, the broad and bouncy trouper drew laughs on the musical stage, in night clubs, in recordings and on TV. As the archetypal over-emotive, knuckle-biting Italian wife and mama, the octogenarian tickled the funny bone with her earthy brand of comedy while alternately touching hearts in song.
She was born Catherine Gloria Balotta,in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Italian parents, Lena (Nacarato) and Vincenzo/Vincent James Balotta. A deep desire to perform already struck by the time she was five years old. A typical class clown during her high school years, she began to compile a number of star impressions for her act. In her teens, she performed in a Cleveland USO stage production of "Stage Door Canteen" (1941), and soon set out on her own.
Earning a job in 1943 touring with Spike Jones and His Orchestra for two years as his featured vocalist and flute/tuba player(!), Kaye eventually set up camp in New York and made her Broadway debut with the revue "Three to Make Ready" (1946). From there she showcased in the musicals "Once in a Lifetime," "Touch and Go" (in London), "Annie Get Your Gun" and the burlesque show "Top Banana". During this time, she built up a strong song-and-comedy reputation for herself on the nightclub circuit, eventually playing the country's best cabarets/niteries including The Bon Soir, Persian Room and Blue Angel in New York, The Hungry i in San Francisco, and Mr. Kelly's in Chicago.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Kaye graced nearly every talk/variety show there was including those for Ed Sullivan, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Steve Allen, Perry Como, Red Skelton, Carol Burnett, Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas. Two of her classic TV roles were her ugly stepsister Portia (the other sister being fellow scene-stealer Alice Ghostley) in the Julie Andrews version of Cinderella (1957), and as one of The Mothers-In-Law (1967) (the other being fellow veteran Eve Arden) in the popular but short-lived sitcom produced by Desi Arnaz. Both showcases catered perfectly to Kaye's brash comedy instincts. She also pitched in as a meddling second banana for Doris Day for one season of the star's '70s TV show.
On stage Kaye had Broadway audiences rolling in the aisles with her Helen of Troy in the 1954 musical "The Golden Apple," while introducing the classic song standard "Lazy Afternoon." Other raves came in the form of "Wonderful Town" (1958), "Carnival" (1961) and Cole Porter Revisited" (1965). On the flip side of the coin, she played a frumpy Lola Delaney in a badly misguided musical version of "Come Back, Little Sheba" (entitled "Sheba") in 1974, and also tried unsuccessfully to bring life to the beloved, indomitable Molly Goldberg radio/TV character in the Broadway musical "Molly" (1973); the show lasted a mere two months. Kaye was much more at home sinking her teeth into two of theater's most impregnable females: Mama Rose in "Gypsy" and Dolly Levi in "Hello, Dolly!"
With an out-stretched personality on par with Carol Channing and Ethel Merman, films never became a suitable medium. Although Kaye gave a standout debut performance in The Girl Most Likely (1957), starring Jane Powell, she was seldom seen after that. Her sprinkling of supporting roles included A House Is Not a Home (1964) with Shelley Winters, Which Way to the Front? (1970) starring Jerry Lewis, Freaky Friday (1976) with young Jodie Foster, and, perhaps more notably, in The Ritz (1976) starring Rita Moreno and Jerry Stiller.
In later years, Kaye dominated the stage with feisty work in "Nunsense", "The Pirates of Penzance" (a Broadway replacement), "High Spirits" (as Madame Arcati), "Funny Girl" (as Mrs. Brice), "The Full Monty", and the female version of "The Odd Couple". The Rancho Mirage, California resident performed with the Palm Spring Follies show, and was out-and-about doing her one-woman cabaret show belting out the good old songs and retracing her burlesque-styled comedy roots. A survivor of breast cancer, the never-married veteran showed no signs of slowing down. She died in her Rancho Mirage home on January 21, 2019, aged 93.- Producer
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Andy Vajna was born in Budapest. In 1956 at the age of 12, he fled from Hungary and with the support of Red Cross he made his way alone to Canada. Vajna launched his career in the entertainment industry with his purchase of motion picture theaters in the Far East. He founded Panasia Films Limited in Hong Kong in 1976. Vajna met with Mario Kassar at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, then he and Kassar formed Carolco. In 1982, Vajna was a founder and then president of the American Film Marketing Association. During that same year, Vajna and Kassar made their film production debut. In December 1989, Vajna sold all his interest in Carolco and formed Cinergi Productions, Inc. to engage in the financing, development, production and distribution of major event motion pictures. As part of its business plan, Cinergi has formed an alliance with The Walt Disney Company for distribution of Cinergi motion pictures in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Vajna has never forgotten his Hungarian roots and always tried to help the Hungarian film industry. He also actively participated in the distribution of Motion Pictures in Hungary eventually having a 70% share of the Hungarian box office. In 1989 Vajna founded InterCom that has become a market leader and a distributor of many Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Disney and MGM. In 2002 he founded Digic Pictures in Hungary which is a high-end animation studio. Since 2011 Andrew G. Vajna has been working as Government Commissioner in charge of the Hungarian film industry. In the same year he conceived Hungarian National Film Fund with the mission to contribute to the production of Hungarian films or co-productions that provide art and entertainment for moviegoers and bring significant success both domestically and on an international level. Under the Vajna era Hungarian movies financed by the Hungarian National Film Fund won altogether more than 130 international awards (including a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film) while the number of foreign films produced in Hungary increased significantly.- Actress
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Carol Channing was born January 31, 1921, at Seattle, Washington, the daughter of a prominent newspaper editor, who was very active in the Christian Science movement. She attended high school in San Francisco and later worked as a model in Los Angeles. She attended prestigious Bennington College in Vermont and majored in drama and dance and supplemented her work by taking parts in nearby Pocono Resort area. Carol initially made her mark on Broadway in "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" playing Lorelei Lee. In "Hello Dolly" she played Dolly Gallagher Levi, the witty, manipulative widow intent upon finding a wealthy husband. The musical won ten Tony awards in 1964, including Channing's for best actress in a comedy. Jacqueline Kennedy and her two children made their first public appearance after President John F. Kennedy's death by seeing her perform in "Hello Dolly" and later visited her backstage. She appeared in the film Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). Her son Channing Carson is a Pulitizer Prize-nominated finalist cartoonist and she continued to practice her Christian Science religion.- Actor
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Craggy-faced, athletic veteran character actor who played hard-bitten or menacing types in numerous westerns and crime dramas. One of five brothers, Woodward grew up in Arlington, Texas. He had a keen interest in aviation early on and took flying lessons from 1941, getting his pilot's license and subsequently served in both World War II (Army Air Corps) and Korea (Military Air Transport Command). Woodward first acted at Arlington State College, majoring in music and drama. He appeared for a while with the Margo Jones Repertory Theatre '47 in Dallas and then went back to study for a degree in corporate finance at the University of Texas, graduating in 1948. At one time, he sang with a jazz band and as a member of a barber shop quartet as well as having a regular weekly gig as a talk show host on local radio. Possessed of a powerful bass-baritone voice, Woodward's ultimate ambition had been to sing for the Metropolitan Opera. That didn't pan out. Neither did his hope that moving to Hollywood in 1955 might open the door to a career in musicals. Instead, he successfully auditioned at Disney for The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), followed by a part in the western pioneer saga Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956). His first big break was as co-star opposite Hugh O'Brian in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), playing the role of Earp's deputy Shotgun Gibbs for four seasons. This effectively typecast him as a western genre actor with a record number of guest spots on Gunsmoke (1955) and Wagon Train (1957). Nonetheless, his most famous role was that of ""the man with no eyes", a sinister chain gang overseer in Cool Hand Luke (1967), distinguished by perpetually wearing reflective sunglasses. He also made two appearances on Star Trek (1966) (most famously as Simon Van Gelder, the first human with whom Spock 'mind melds') and played the shrewd Armani-suited oil tycoon Punk Anderson in 55 episodes of Dallas (1978).
Thomas Morgan Woodward was awarded the Golden Boot Award from the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Fund in August 1988. In 2009, he became an inductee into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Privately, he was a respected authority on Early American Aircraft. According to his website, his main hobby was "restoring, rebuilding and flying antique airplanes".- Actor
- Additional Crew
William Wintersole was born on 30 July 1931 in Portsmouth, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Seconds (1966), Eye See You (2002) and Star Trek (1966). He was married to Marlene Silverstein (partner). He died on 5 November 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Laurel Griggs was best known as the longest running Ivanka in the Tony Award winning ONCE the Musical on Broadway. She performed the role for 17 months (2013-2015) in addition to attending school full time. She made her acting debut as Polly in Rob Ashford's celebrity studded Broadway production of Cat on a Hot tin Roof (2013) starring Scarlett Johansson. In addition to theater, Laurel has done numerous commercials and voice-overs. Her reputation is an incredibly professional child who respects her craft and others. Laurel has also donated her time to numerous charities including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. She has been called the "secret weapon" for her collection abilities.
Laurel lived in New York City with her parents, Elizabeth Rivlin and Andrew Griggs, and her dog McCloud. Elizabeth helped manage Laurel's busy schedule and Andrew is a special events director best known for his work at the Roxy NYC producing major concerts and corporate events. She attended public school in Manhattan and loved music, reading, swimming, singing, ice skating, playing with friends and of course watching movies and television. She died at age 13, of an asthma attack at her Manhattan apartment. - Actor
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Cherubic, wispy-haired looks made his typecasting as impish or eccentric characters somehow inevitable. The pint-sized Michael J. Pollard was born the son of a bar manager of Polish ancestry in Passaic (New Jersey). He studied drama at the Actor's Studio (with a young Marilyn Monroe in the same class) and made his theatrical debut in November 1958 on Broadway in "Comes the Day," with George C. Scott and Judith Anderson. He received excellent critical notices the following year for his performance in William Inge's play "A Loss of Roses" and thereby came to the attention of Hollywood. On the small screen, Pollard enjoyed a measure of early success in anthology television. He then had a brief stint as Bob Denver's cousin Jerome Krebs in a couple of episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959). His chief contribution to cult sci-fi consisted of appearances in Lost in Space (1965) and Star Trek (1966), his baby-faced appearance enabling him to essay characters who were considerably younger than his actual age. True to form, he also portrayed the bowler-hat wearing, leprechaun-like trickster Mister Mxyzptlk in Superboy (1988), based on the DC comic strips. Pollard had his fair share of exposure to mainstream TV dramas as well, popping up in series like Gunsmoke (1955), The Virginian (1962), and I Spy (1965). For the most part, his screen personae were simple country folk, sometimes evil, often mischievous, nervous or downright weird.
Pollard's big break (and his critically most acclaimed role) was as the loyal, but inarticulate and child-like garage mechanic turned get-away driver C.W. Moss in Arthur Penn's gangster epic Bonnie and Clyde (1967). On the heels of his Oscar-nomination for Best Supporting Actor came offers for other high-profile off-beat character roles, though he was never truly regarded as star material. He gave a good account of himself as Packy, leader of a group of partisans joining Hannibal Brooks (1969) and his POWs in their escape from the Nazis across the Alps to Switzerland. Perhaps best of all post-Bonnie and Clyde impersonations was his powerful portrayal of the outlaw Henry McCarty (aka William H. Bonney) as a demented, twitching psychopath in Dirty Little Billy (1972) (a rare starring role which also marked the screen debut of actor Nick Nolte). By the 1980s, Pollard had recovered from a period of alcohol and drug abuse, but by then his name had slipped down the list of credits and he was now reduced to minor support in films like Roxanne (1987), American Gothic (1987), Dick Tracy (1990), and Rob Zombie's debut cult-horror House of 1000 Corpses (2003).
Pollard died of cardiac arrest on November 20, 2019 in Los Angeles at the age of 80.- Actor
- Producer
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Danny Aiello was an American actor of Italian descent, and enjoyed a lengthy career in film. He was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the comedy-drama film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).
Aiello was born in Manhattan, New York City on June 20, 1933. His parents were laborer Daniel Louis Aiello and seamstress Frances Pietrocova. Frances eventually lost her eyesight, and became legally blind.. In response, Daniel abandoned his wife and six children. Danny resented his father's actions and would later refuse relations with him for decades. The two reconciled in 1993, when Danny was 60-years-old.
In 1940, Aiello moved to South Bronx. He was educated at James Monroe High School, located in the Soundview section of the Bronx. In 1949, Aiello dropped out of school and joined the United States Army. He was only 16-years-old, and lied about his age in order to enlist. Aiello served in the army for 3 years, and he was discharged in 1952. He returned to New York City, where he supported himself through various jobs.
In 1955, Aiello married Sandy Cohen. They had four children, including actor Danny Aiello III (1957-2010). In the 1960s, Aiello worked for Greyhound Lines, an intercity bus common carrier. He served as president of New York Local 1202 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, a labor organization representing the company's workers.
In 1967, Greyhound Lines changed its bus driver schedules, and Aiello led the workers to protest in a wildcat strike. The strike lasted for a single day. It lacked the authorization by the parent labor union, and Aiello was suspended for his actions.
Aiello eventually pursued an acting career, and started appearing in films during the early 1970s. His earliest credited role was playing baseball player Horse in the sports drama "Bang the Drum Slowly" (1973), at the age of 40. He worked alongside up-and-coming actor Robert De Niro (1943-), who gained acclaim for his performance in the film.
Aiello had a minor role as small-time gangster Tony Rosato in the crime film "The Godfather Part II" (1974). His one scene had him performing a hit on high-ranking gangster Francesco "Frank" Pentangeli (played by Michael V. Gazzo), who had betrayed the Corleone family. Aiello ad-libbed the line "Michael Corleone says hello!"
Aiello eventually had a co-lead role in the neo-noir "Defiance" (1980), as one of of several people who join forces against a powerful gang. Also in 1980, he played Dominic Ginetti in "A Family Of Strangers", an ABC Afterschool Special. For his role, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming, the first of several awards in his acting career.
He gained further acclaim for his role as the cop Morgan in the crime drama "Fort Apache, The Bronx" (1981). He played a corrupt police chief in the crime drama "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984), and the character was named after him as "Vincent Aiello". In this role, Aiello performer along Robert De Niro again, as De Niro was the film's lead actor.
Aiello performed in two films directed by Woody Allen (1935-). The first was the fantasy comedy "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), where Aiello played the abusive husband Monk. The second was the comedy-drama "Radio Days" (1987).
Aiello gained a supporting role in the detective television series "Lady Blue" (1985-1986). He played police lieutenant Terry McNichols, a leading member of the Violent Crimes Division of the Chicago Police Department, and the boss of protagonist Katy Mahoney (played by Jamie Rose). McNichols was portrayed as a boss appreciative of Mahoney's unorthodox methods of investigation, but concerned by her overly violent behavior.
The series initially received high-ratings, but was considered as too violent for television. It attracted protests by watchdog organization, such as the National Coalition on Television Violence. When ratings fell, the series was canceled. The series lasted for a single season, and 14 episodes. Aiello would not gain a recurring television role again until the late 1990s.
Aiello played the protagonist's father in the video clip "Papa Don't Preach" (1986), based on a hit song by Madonna (1958-). He then recorded his own answer song, called , "Papa Wants the Best for You".
In 1987, Aiello played the protagonist's fiance Johnny Cammareri in the romantic comedy "Moonstruck. It was a then-rare sympathetic role for him. His role was critically well-received.
Aiello gained his most acclaimed role when cast as pizzeria owner Salvatore "Sal" Fragione in the comedy-drama film "Do the Right Thing" (1989), concerning racial tensions in Brooklyn,. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but the award was won by rival actor Denzel Washington (1954-). He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, but this award was also won by Denzel Washington., The film critics' associations of Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles each named Aiello the best supporting actor of the year.
Aiello following roles included appearances in the horror film "Jacob's Ladder" (1990) and the comedy-drama "29th Street" (1991). He played nightclub owner and assassin Jack Ruby (1911-1967) in the biographical film "Ruby" (1992). He played film director Harry Stone in the film "The Pickle", a satire of big-budget Hollywood films. He appeared dressed in drag in "Prêt-à-Porter", a satire of the fashion industry.
He next had the lead roe of Joe Lieberman in the award-winning short film "Lieberman in Love" (1995), and politician Frank Anselmo in the thriller "City Hall" (1996),
Aiello had a notable television role as crime lord Don Domenico Clericuzio in the mini-series "The Last Don" (1997), an adaptation of a 1996 crime novel by Mario Puzo. The series depicts Domenico as an aging mafia leader, who oversees plans for his succession. Aiello returned to the role in the sequel miniseries "The Last Don II", where Domenico dies and is succeeded by a much younger relative.
Aiello remained active as an actor through the 2000s and 2010s, although this period had few highlights for his career. He died in December 2019 at hospital, following a short illness. He was 86-years-old. His funeral was held at the Riverside Memorial Chapel on the Upper West Side. Director Spike Lee (1957-) delivered an eulogy at the funeral, remarking on his love for Aiello despite their political differences.- Actor
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René Murat Auberjonois was born on June 1, 1940 in New York City, to Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline (Murat), who was born in Paris, and Fernand Auberjonois, who was Swiss-born. René was born into an already artistic family, which included his grandfather, a well-known Swiss painter, and his father, a Pulitzer-nominated writer and Cold War-era foreign correspondent. The Auberjonois family moved to Paris shortly after World War II, and it was there that René made an important career decision at the age of six. When his school put on a musical performance for the parents, little René was given the honor of conducting his classmates in a rendition of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?". When the performance was over, René took a bow, and, knowing that he was not the real conductor, imagined that he had been acting. He decided then and there that he wanted to be an actor. After leaving Paris, the Auberjonois family moved into an Artist's Colony in upstate New York.
At an early age, René was surrounded by musicians, composers and actors. Among his neighbors were Helen Hayes, Burgess Meredith and John Houseman, who would later become an important mentor. Houseman gave René his first theater job at the age of 16, as an apprentice at a theater in Stratford, Connecticut. René would later teach at Juilliard under Houseman. René attended Carnegie-Mellon University and studied theater completely, not only learning about acting but about the entire process of producing a play. After graduating from CMU, René acted with various theater companies, including San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. In 1969, he won a role in his first Broadway musical, "Coco" (with Katharine Hepburn), for which he won a Tony Award.
Throughout his life, René acted in a variety of theater productions, films and television presentations, including a rather famous stint as Clayton Endicott III on the comedy series Benson (1979), not to mention seven years on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) as Odo. René also performed dramatic readings of a variety of books on tape, and appeared in projects like The Patriot (2000), starring Mel Gibson, Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000), and NBC's Frasier (1993) and ABC's The Practice (1997).- Actress
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Phyllis Newman was born on 19 March 1933 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Mannequin (1987), The Human Stain (2003) and One Life to Live (1968). She was married to Adolph Green. She died on 15 September 2019 in New York City, New York, USA.- June Harding was born on 7 September 1937 in Emporia, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for The Trouble with Angels (1966), Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963) and The Fugitive (1963). She died on 22 March 2019 in Deer Isle, Maine, USA.