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1-11 of 11
- Character actor Arnold Moss was born on January 28, 1910. Given his aristocratic bearing, perfect diction and resounding bass voice, it's not hard to believe that he was an experienced Shakespearean stage actor. It's quite rather harder to believe that he was born in Brooklyn, not London, but that's where he was from. An extremely well-educated man--Phi Beta Kappa, a Master's degree in French and a Ph.D in theater--he had originally planned to become a teacher, but the acting bug bit him and he headed for a career on the stage, eventually starting his own Shakespearean company. His stage training, and that remarkable voice, guaranteed him steady employment on radio, where he spent many years writing as well as acting.
He made his film debut in 1946, and specialized in urbane villainy in the manner of George Macready, playing everything from Arab chieftains to Mexican bandits to Indian maharajahs over his career, and did much television work from the early 1950s onward. He appeared on Star Trek (1966) as mysterious actor Anton Karidian, alter-ego of the tyrannical Kodos the Executioner, in the episode "The Conscience of the King". He also appeared in the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies", playing impresario Dimitri Weissman. Arnold Moss died at age 79 of lung cancer in New York City on December 15, 1989. - A London-born stage and film veteran, actor Edward Underdown was educated at Eton College and began in theatre roles in 1932 with "Words and Music". A former jockey and steeplechase rider, he quickly forged ahead in films making his debut in The Warren Case (1934) and appearing in secondary roles. A tall, officious and good looking gent, he came into his own in post-war film leads and supports with prominent roles in The October Man (1947), Her Panelled Door (1950), The Dark Man (1951), Murder Will Out (1952), The Shadow Man (1953), and John Huston's cult overseas hit Beat the Devil (1953) starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones in which he played Jones' prim dullard of a husband. Most of his work was in dismissible "B" level fare as dour, damp, stuffy types. He started moving down the credits list in 1960s horrors and action drama until he was reduced to bit parts. Over the course of his career, he played everything from British lords to archaeologists, but never branched out into a successful international career.
Things might have turned out differently had a little more luck come his way. It seems writer Ian Fleming's first choice for the role of James "007" Bond was the handsome but still relatively undistinguished Underdown, but the actor was never even considered by producer Albert R. Broccoli. Of course, Sean Connery soared to stardom in the part and, ironically, Underdown wound up with a very small part in one of the more popular of the film series Thunderball (1965). Underdown died in his native England on December 15, 1989 at age 81. - Writer
- Additional Crew
Ben Barzman was an Anglo-Canadian best known as a screenwriter who was blacklisted during the post-World War II "Red scare" in Hollywood. Born on October 12, 1910, in Toronto, he moved to the United States, where he established himself as a screenwriter during the war. He is probably best known for The Boy with Green Hair (1948), his adaptation of Betzi Beaton's novel that was an allegory against intolerance that bears witness to post-war American attitude that demanded conformity. The movie was directed by Joseph Losey, who also would be blacklisted and with whom Barzman would work in the future.
In Hollywood Ben and his wife Norma Barzman became members of the Communist Party and remained so in exile. After Barzman traveled to England in 1949 to work on a movie, he decided to stay in Europe, and he and Norma moved to Paris, where they had the freedom to associate with Communists, left-wingers and anyone else they wanted to. However, Ben grew to dislike the milieu, and moved the family to the south of France in the 1950s. They broke with the Party after the student riots of 1968 due to the French Communist Party's failure to support a general strike called by labor unions in solidarity with the students.
Norma Barzman claims that Ben rewrote the screenplay of the Oscar-winning Z (1969) for director Costa-Gavras, but did not receive credit. He also helped arrange for the filming of the movie in Algeria. In addition to his screen work, Barzman wrote the science-fiction novel "Out of This World" in 1960.
He died on December 15, 1989, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 79.- Ali Sen was born in 1918 in Adana, Turkey. He was an actor, known for Süt Kardesler (1976), Turkish the Wizard of Oz (1971) and Erkekçe (1983). He died on 15 December 1989 in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Director
- Producer
- Additional Crew
The son of a wealthy physician, Emile de Antonio grew up in the tough coal-mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and it made a deep impression on him. His sympathies were always with working-class people (although he was a Harvard graduate, he was at times a dock worker, a peddler, the captain of a river barge and a broker in war-surplus equipment), and his documentaries are decidedly Marxist in philosophy. His most famous film is probably Point of Order! (1964), about the Army-McCarthy hearings ten years previously, but his most controversial films would be Millhouse (1971), a scathing indictment of then-President Richard Nixon, and In the Year of the Pig (1968), a radically left-wing perspective on the Vietnam War.- José Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was born on 14 May 1947 in Pacho, Colombia. He died on 15 December 1989 in Tolú, Colombia.
- Friedrich Kutschera was born on 16 June 1911 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor, known for Fink und Fliederbusch (1969), Prämien auf den Tod (1950) and Der Maulkorb (1963). He died on 15 December 1989 in Basel, Switzerland.
- Actor
Oliver Hartwell was born on 26 January 1899 in Georgia, USA. He was an actor. He died on 15 December 1989 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.- Peggy Paige was born on 14 November 1902 in Wandsworth, Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Mysteries and Miracles (1965), Home Tonight (1961) and Space: 1999 (1975). She was married to Richard Burnett and Laurence Goodwin. She died on 15 December 1989 in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Sadie Ornitz was born on 15 August 1890. She was married to Samuel Ornitz. She died on 15 December 1989 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Actor
- Casting Director
Freddie Vale was born on 14 September 1925 in Romford, Essex, England, UK. He was an actor and casting director, known for Witchfinder General (1968), Court Martial (1965) and Steve Hunter, Trouble Merchant (1955). He died on 15 December 1989 in Crawley, West Sussex, England, UK.