Birth Date between 1894-01-01 and 1894-12-31 (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. John Ford
Director | The Quiet Man
John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "The train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...
2. Walter Brennan
Actor | To Have and Have Not
In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and ...
3. Percy Helton
Actor | The Set-Up
One of the most familiar faces and voices in Hollywood films of the 1950s. Percy Helton acted almost from infancy, appearing in his father's vaudeville act. The famed Broadway producer David Belasco cast Helton in a succession of child roles over several years, giving the boy an invaluable ...
4. Will Wright
Actor | The Blue Dahlia
One of those familiar character actors who seems to have been born old, Will Wright specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints, crooked small-town politicians and the like. A former newspaper reporter in San Francisco, he switched careers and entered vaudeville, then took to the ...
5. Jack Benny
Actor | The Jack Benny Program
The son of a saloon keeper, Jack Benny (born Benny Kubelsky) began to study the violin at the age six, and his "ineptness" at it, would later become his trademark (in reality, he was a very accomplished player). When given the opportunity to play in live theatre professionally, Benny quit school ...
6. Zasu Pitts
Actress | It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Classic comedienne Zasu Pitts, of the timid, forlorn blue eyes and trademark woebegone vocal pattern and fidgety hands, was born to Rulandus and Nellie (Shay) Pitts, the third of four children on January 3, 1894. Her aged New York-native father, who lost a leg back in the Civil War era, had settled...
7. King Vidor
Director | The Crowd
King Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter of Hungarian descent. He was born in Galveston, Texas to lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor and his wife Kate Wallis. King's paternal grandfather Károly (Charles) Vidor had fled Hungary as a refugee following the failed ...
8. William Fawcett
Actor | The Adventures of Sir Galahad
"Doc T". as he was known, was a Ph.D., and Professor of Theatre at Michigan State University in the early 1940s, just before World War II. He often spoke about leaving academia and actually trying his hand at the craft he taught. After the war, he got his chance and never looked back.
9. Jean Renoir
Writer | La règle du jeu
Son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste, he had a happy childhood. Pierre Renoir was his brother, and Claude Renoir was his nephew. After the end of World War I, where he won the Croix de Guerre, he moved from scriptwriting to filmmaking. He married Catherine Hessling, for whom he ...
10. Rondo Hatton
Actor | House of Horrors
Was an only child, Rondo Hatton was born to Stewart and Emily Hatton in Hagerstown, Maryland. The family moved to Tampa, Florida, in 1912, when he was a high-school senior, and his father joined a family-owned business there. Rondo was apparently popular and a good athlete, especially in football.
...
11. Henry Daniell
Actor | The Philadelphia Story
One of Hollywood's greatest screen villains, Charles Henry Pywell Daniell was born in London, England, the son of Elinor Mary (Wookey) and Henry Pyweh Daniell, L.R.C.P. He had the profound misfortune to make his professional theatrical debut on the eve of World War I. His life thus interrupted, he ...
12. Josef von Sternberg
Director | Dishonored
Josef von Sternberg split his childhood between Vienna and New York City. His father, a former soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, could not support his family in either city; Sternberg remembered him only as "an enormously strong man who often used his strength on me." Forced by poverty to drop ...
13. Warren William
Actor | The Wolf Man
Warren William, the stalwart leading man of pre-Production Code talkies, was born Warren William Krech on December 2, 1894 in Aitkin, Minnesota, the son of a newspaper publisher. William originally planned to become a journalist, but he had a change of heart, and instead went to the American ...
14. Frank Borzage
Director | 7th Heaven
Frank Borzage was born on April 23, 1894 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor and director, known for 7th Heaven (1927), Bad Girl (1931) and No Greater Glory (1934). He was previously married to Juanita Scott, Edna Skelton and Rena Rogers. He died on June 19, 1962 in Hollywood, Los Angeles...
15. Arthur Treacher
Actor | Mary Poppins
Born Arthur Veary Treacher in Brighton, East Sussex, England, he was the son of a lawyer. He established a stage career after returning from World War I, and by 1928, he had come to America as part of a musical-comedy revue called Great Temptations. When his film career began in the early 1930s, ...
16. Enid Markey
Actress | Tarzan of the Apes
Enid Markey was born on February 22, 1894 in Dillon, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), The Yankee Way (1917) and Sink or Swim (1920). She was previously married to George W. Cobb. She died on November 15, 1981 in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, USA.
17. Minerva Urecal
Actress | The Ape Man
A stage actress, Urecal made her screen debut in 1934. For the remainder of her career and two hundred plus movies, she played cleaning women, landladies, shopkeepers and the like. She was known as a Marjorie Main type actress and later went on to a career in television playing in such shows as "...
18. Mae Marsh
Actress | The Birth of a Nation
Mae Marsh's father was an auditor for the railroad who died when she was four. Her family moved to San Francisco, where her stepfather was killed in the 1906 earthquake. Her great-aunt then took Mae and her sister to Los Angeles. With her show business background, Mae's aunt took them to the ...
19. Billy Bletcher
Actor | The Lost City
Billy Bletcher, standing 5' 2", was known as the little guy with the big voice, who, ironically, started his film career during the silent era.
Billy's show business career began in 1913 at the age of 19 in vaudeville, and within a year, he went to work for Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn where he ...
20. Billy Gilbert
Actor | His Girl Friday
The son of singers in the Metropolitan Opera, Billy Gilbert began performing in vaudeville at age 12. He developed a drawn-out, explosive sneezing routine that became his trademark (he was the model for, and voice of, Sneezy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)). Gilbert's exquisite comic ...
21. Ben Hecht
Writer | Notorious
Ben Hecht, one of Hollywood's and Broadway's greatest writers, won an Oscar for best original story for Underworld (1927) at the first Academy Awards in 1929 and had a hand in the writing of many classic films. He was nominated five more times for the best writing Oscar, winning (along with writing...
22. Olive Thomas
Actress | Beatrice Fairfax
Oliva R. Duffy was born on October 20, 1894, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three children, with two younger brothers. Olive or Ollie, as she was known to family and friends, did not have much of a childhood. Life in industrial Pittsburgh (at the time, spelled "Pittsburg") was depressing...
23. Norma Talmadge
Actress | Camille
Norma Talmadge was born on May 26, 1895, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The daughter of an unemployed alcoholic and his wife, Norma did not have the idyllic childhood that most of us yearn for. Her father left the family on Christmas Day and his wife and three daughters had to fend for themselves. Her...
24. Fred Allen
Actor | It's in the Bag!
Fred Allen, the well-known comedian who went on to star in radio, television, and film, was born John Florence Sullivan in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894 and educated at Boston University. His Broadway shows include "The Passing Show of 1922" and "The Greenwich Village Follies".
He produced, wrote...
25. Arthur Freed
Producer | An American in Paris
Producer, songwriter and author, brother to Ralph Freed, Walter and Ruth Freed. He was educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and became associated with Gus Edwards musical acts. He performed in vaudeville with Louis Silvers, with whom he wrote revues for New York restaurants. During World War I,...
26. Dashiell Hammett
Writer | The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett was born May 27, 1894, in St. Mary's County, Maryland, to Richard Hammett and Mary Bond. He joined the Baltimore branch of the Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1915. He enlisted in the US Army's Ambulance Corps in June 1918 and was posted to a camp 20 miles from Baltimore, where he ...
27. Mary Duncan
Actress | Kismet
Virginia-born Mary Duncan went to Hollywood after critics praised her acting in the lead in "The Shanghai Gesture" on Broadway. While making Five and Ten (1931), she became friends with the film's lead, Marion Davies. The two women attended a polo match, where Davies introduced Duncan to Stephen "...
28. Charles Meredith
Actor | Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
Actor Charles Meredith had the requisite good looks to become a popular silent film leading man. Tall, dark and exceedingly good-looking with distinctive high-parted hair, he played opposite Blanche Sweet, Mary Miles Minter, Florence Vidor, Katherine MacDonald, and other top stars of the day in ...
29. Joe Dominguez
Actor | The Fast Express
Joe Dominguez was born on March 19, 1894 in Chihuahua, Mexico. He was an actor, known for The Fast Express (1924), Wolves of the North (1924) and Fighting Fate (1921). He died on April 11, 1970 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
30. Beatrice Lillie
Actress | Thoroughly Modern Millie
Dubbed "the funniest woman in the world", comedienne Beatrice Lillie was born the daughter of a Canadian government official and grew up in Toronto. She sang in a family trio act with her mother, Lucy, and her piano-playing older sister, Muriel. Times were hard and the ambitious mother eventually ...
31. Dimitri Tiomkin
Music Department | The Guns of Navarone
Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars ...
32. David Butler
Director | You'll Find Out
David Butler was born on December 17, 1894 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was a director and actor, known for You'll Find Out (1940), Look for the Silver Lining (1949) and If I Had My Way (1940). He was previously married to Elshie H Schulte. He died on June 14, 1979 in Arcadia, California, ...
33. Symona Boniface
Actress | Girls' Dormitory
An American actress most frequently seen in bit parts in comedy shorts, mostly at Columbia Pictures, particularly those of The Three Stooges, Symona Boniface entered the theatre as a playwright and actress, and produced plays as well. After the stock market crash of 1929 she began taking bit parts ...
34. Nita Naldi
Actress | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Nonna Dooley, the future silent screen star, began her career as a showgirl in a Shubert revue in the Winter Garden, later went on to the famed Ziegfeld Follies.
After a successful career on the stage with the Follies, Nita decided to try her hand with films in Hollywood. Her rise to fame was very ...
35. Bobby Barber
Actor | Adventures of Superman
Bobby Barber was born on December 18, 1894 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Adventures of Superman (1952), The Abbott and Costello Show (1952) and Time to Expire (1929). He was previously married to Maxine. He died on May 24, 1976 in Seal Beach, California, USA.
36. James A. FitzPatrick
Producer | Song of Mexico
American documentary film director. After completing training in the dramatic arts, he worked for a while as a journalist. In 1925 he entered films and specialized throughout his career in travel documentaries. Besides directing, he also wrote, produced, and narrated many of his films. MGM ...
37. Stanley Blystone
Actor | Modern Times
Stanley Blystone was born on August 1, 1894 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Modern Times (1936), Eyes of Texas (1948) and Hold 'Em Jail (1932). He was previously married to Alma Tell and Claire Siebrecht. He died on July 16, 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA.
38. Carl Miller
Actor | The Kid
Carl Miller was born on August 9, 1894 in Iowa Park, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Kid (1921), The Lover of Camille (1924) and A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923). He died on January 20, 1979 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
39. Kathleen Lockhart
Actress | Sweethearts
Kathleen Lockhart was born on August 9, 1894 in Southsea, Hampshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Sweethearts (1938), Roughly Speaking (1945) and Penrod's Double Trouble (1938). She was previously married to Gene Lockhart and Arthur Emil Semple. She died on February 17, 1978 in Los ...
40. Tay Garnett
Director | The Postman Always Rings Twice
Following his service as a naval aviator in WW I, Tay Garnett entered films in 1920 as a screenwriter. After a stint as a gag writer for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach he joined Pathe, then the distributor for both competing comedy producers, and in 1928 began directing for that company. Garnett ...
41. Aldous Huxley
Writer | A Woman's Vengeance
Aldous Leonard Huxley was born on July 26, 1894, at Laleham in Godalming, Surrey, England. He was the third of four children. His brother Julian Huxley was a biologist known for his theories of evolution. His grandfather, named Thomas Henry Huxley, was a naturalist known as "Darwin's Bulldog." His ...
42. Estelle Taylor
Actress | Where East Is East
A former typist, Estelle Taylor married a banker at age 14 and, after leaving him, moved to New York to study dramatic acting. She also modeled for artists and appeared in the chorus of a couple of Broadway shows. In the early 1920s she came to Hollywood and was noted as one of the film state's ...
43. Basil Sydney
Actor | Hamlet
The son of a stage manager, Basil Sydney entered the acting profession in 1909. His burgeoning career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, during which he saw action with the Norfolk Regiment in the British Army. In the early 1920's, Basil established himself as a matinée idol on the ...
44. Fay Compton
Actress | The Haunting
Fay Compton was born on September 18, 1894 in West Kensington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Haunting (1963), Othello (1951) and Laughter in Paradise (1951). She was previously married to Ralph Michael, Leon Quartermaine, Lauri de Frece and Harry Gabriel Pelissier. She died...
45. Tiny Sandford
Actor | Modern Times
Stanley J. Sandford, better known as "Tiny" Sandford, was born in Iowa, U.S.A in 1894. He went into films in 1910 for Mack Sennett and joined Charles Chaplin in 1916 appearing in The Count (1916), The Immigrant (1915), and The Adventurer (1917). He later appeared in Chaplin's productions such as ...
46. Matt McHugh
Actor | Freaks
Matt McHugh was born Mathew O. McHugh on January 22, 1894 in Connellsville, PA. He was born into a show business family, joining his parents, brother Frank and sister Kitty on the stage as soon as he learned to talk. When Matt was fourteen, he performed an act with Kitty, but by 1930, the family ...
47. Joseph Kane
Director | Sea of Lost Ships
Joseph Kane's career as a professional cellist ended when he became a film editor in 1926. His directing career started with co-directing serials for Mascot and Republic, and he soon became Republic's top western director. He handled many of John Wayne's Republic westerns of the 1940s, and piloted ...
48. Harold Miller
Actor | Leatherstocking
Harold Miller was born on May 31, 1894 in Redondo Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Leatherstocking (1924), Desperate Youth (1921) and Very Truly Yours (1922). He died on July 18, 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
49. Walter Wanger
Producer | Cleopatra
A graduate of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Walter Wanger was among the more literate and socially conscious American film producers of his time. At the peak of his career, his salary was exceeded only by that of Louis B. Mayer at MGM. Wanger had served in the air force on the Italian front ...
50. Eddy Chandler
Actor | The Roaring Twenties
Character actor who made his film debut on the East Coast in October 1911. After serving in WWI, Chandler continued with his film and stage career becoming one of the most prolific (if more often than not uncredited) bit actors in the industry. Also appeared in vaudeville as a comedian and singer; ...