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- Klaus Detlef Sierck was born on 30 March 1925 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany. He was an actor, known for Serenade (1937), Kadetten (1939) and The Immortal Heart (1939). He died on 6 March 1944 in Novoaleksandrovka, Kirovograd Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Novooleksandrivka, Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukraine].
- Karl Aagaard Østvig Jr. was born on 24 October 1925 in Oslo, Norway. He was an actor, known for Unge viljer (1943). He died on 25 December 1944 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Franklin Sousley was born on 19 September 1925 in Hilltop, Kentucky, USA. He died on 21 March 1945 in Iwo Jima, Japan.
- Robert E. Hutchins was born March 29th, 1925, in Tacoma, Washington. He was born to James Hutchins and Olga Hutchins (nee Roe). Robert was a very outgoing boy with a charming personality, because friends persuaded James and Olga to go to a Hollywood photographer and get his picture taken. The photographer was impressed by Robert's intelligence, and asked to take a few feet of film of him. The results were so good that the film ended up in the projection room at Hal Roach Studios. Hal Roach decided the boy would be a good addition to his "Our Gang" short films, and signed him to a five year contract.
On his first day at the studio, Robert didn't have an identity for his part in the movies, and he was running around so much that he began to wheeze. Such led to the coining of the "Wheezer" name, one he carried for the rest of his time in Our Gang. Robert played the perky, tag-along little brother that was always anxious to be part of the mischief that the gang was getting into. He played such a part in both the silent films and the talkies.
Jackie Cooper recalls, "You'd go to play with Wheezer, and his father would pull him away, very competitive. I didn't get a satisfactory answer from my mother or grandmother as to why, but he was to be left alone. I guess his father was trying to make him a star or something. Obviously it never happened as it did for Spanky or some of the other kids."
In trying to make Robert a star, his father malnourished him, and isolated him from the other kids when not filming. James had a plan to keep him small and employable by underfeeding him, and wanted to ensure that Bobby and his siblings never learned that normal kids got a lot more to eat than they did. Nobody ever intervened upon the children's behalf. It's made worse by the fact that his plan backfired. While Robert was incredibly photogenic, and had some fine moments on screen, he looked and acted more like the slow-witted, malnourished child he was, as he aged. Sharper boys were given the leading parts, while Robert spent the last portion of his contract as a background player.
After he left Our Gang with 1933's "Mush and Milk", his film career was essentially over -- with an appearance in Pie for Two, Yoo-Hoo, and Strange Roads outside of his Our Gang shorts -- and he did no more acting after that. His mother and father divorced, and he, his brother James, and his mother moved back to Washington. They lived in a household with their grandmother, and Olga's new husband.
Robert got a job as a gas station attendant in 1942, and enrolled as an air cadet sometime in 1943, with speculation being that he enrolled sometime in August. He was very close to completing his advanced flight training, until a very unfortunate event occurred May 17th, 1945, and he perished. He was killed in a mid-air collision while trying to land a North American AT-6D Texan, at Merced Army Air Field Base in California. The other pilot involved received only minor damage, and landed safely. - Bill Christy was born on 14 September 1925 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He was an actor, known for Song of the Open Road (1944), Live Wires (1946) and Behind the Mask (1946). He died on 25 February 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Lisca Malbran was born on 17 October 1925 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Junge Herzen (1944), Heidesommer (1945) and Das war mein Leben (1944). She died on 6 June 1946 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Marcel Krols was born on 10 July 1925 in Wortel, Flanders, Belgium. He was an actor, known for Merijntje Gijzen's Jeugd (1936). He died on 24 December 1946.
- Henning Ahrensborg was born on 31 January 1925 in Denmark. He was an actor, known for Lise kommer til Byen (1947). He was married to Birgitte Federspiel. He died on 24 October 1951 in Denmark.
- Joe James was born on 23 May 1925 in Saucier, Mississippi, United States. He died on 5 November 1952 in San Jose, California, United States.
- Bobby Ball was born on 26 August 1925 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He died on 27 February 1954 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
- Peter Martyn was born on 19 October 1925 in Chelsea, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Folly to Be Wise (1952), Child's Play (1954) and Mr. Lord Says No (1952). He died on 15 February 1955 in Marylebone, London, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in interwar Prague as Miroslava Stanclová, her father died and she was adopted by a Jewish doctor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Oskar Leo Stern (1900-1972) who married her mother, Miroslava (née Becka; 1898-1945). Dr. and Mrs. Stern had a son, Ivo (1931-2011), the actress's half-brother. The family was, at one point, interned in a concentration camp after they fled their native Czechoslovakia in 1939. They sought refuge in various Scandinavian countries before emigrating to Mexico in 1941.
After winning a beauty contest in Mexico City, young Miroslava spent some time in Los Angeles studying acting. Due to her European features and accent, she rarely found roles other than mysterious women or foreign beauties. She was eventually offered a role in what would become her last and most remembered film: Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955).
Soon after the film wrapped, she committed suicide reportedly because the man she loved married another woman. In a macabre coincidence, the premiere of The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), in which a mannequin in her likeness is incinerated, was released during her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her short, tragic life inspired a short story in 1990, and a film, Miroslava (1993).- Peter Peterz was born on 5 October 1925 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He was an actor, known for Bürgermeister Anna (1950), Melodie des Schicksals (1950) and Die letzte Heuer (1951). He died on 24 September 1955 in Berlin, Germany.
- Archer MacDonald was born on 16 April 1925 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Three Sailors and a Girl (1953), Anything Goes (1956) and Kid Monk Baroni (1952). He was married to Jeanne Marie Johnson. He died on 4 November 1955 in Coronado, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ismael Neto was born on 7 December 1925 in Belém, Pará, Brazil. He was an actor, known for Apolônio Brasil, Campeão da Alegria (2003), Barnabé Tu És Meu (1952) and Estou Aí (1949). He was married to Heleninha Costa. He died on 31 January 1956 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Eva Karelová was born on 15 February 1925 in Wien, Austria. She was an actress, known for Portási (1947), Lavina (1946) and Karhanova parta (1951). She died on 26 April 1957 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- Gareth Jones was a young Welsh actor, largely remembered for suffering a fatal heart attack off-camera during a live television broadcast in 1958. Born on 6 June, 1925 in Lampeter, Wales, to Margaret Jane (Megicks) and John Lewis Jones, a village schoolmaster, he was educated at Tregaron County School. After completing national service and a brief period studying at Aberystwyth University, he went on to fulfill his ambition to train at drama school in London. His professional debut with the Dundee Rep in 1952 was closely followed by a season with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in Stratford and a variety of stage roles in the West End, including three successive plays directed by Peter Brook. As his reputation grew, he became a regular performer in television dramas such as Thunder on Sycamore Street (1957), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Armchair Theatre (1956), and at the time of his death was widely recognized as a rising talent with great potential for playing character leads on film and television.
- Olga Chepurova was born on 20 February 1925 in Tomsk, Tomsk Governorate, RSFSR, USSR [now Tomsk oblast, Russia]. She was an actress, known for The Scarlet Flower (1952). She died on 7 January 1959 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Gerard Hoffnung was born on 22 March 1925 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer, known for Roommates (1961), Tales from Hoffnung (1965) and Music for You (1951). He was married to Annetta Hoffnung. He died on 28 September 1959.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Bas Sheva was born on 25 July 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Catskill Honeymoon (1950), The Woman Chaser (1999) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). She died on 11 February 1960 in on board cruise ship.- Cinematographer
Milenko Stojanovic was born on 5 November 1925 in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia, Yugoslavia [now Serbia]. He was a cinematographer, known for Mis Ston (1958), The Magic Sword (1950) and Stojan Mutikasa (1954). He died on 2 July 1960 in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia [now Croatia].- Actor
- Soundtrack
Johnny Horton was born in Los Angeles, but at an early age he moved with his sharecropping parents to Tyler, Texas, where he grew up. Fishing was an early interest in life and he traveled to Alaska to seek employment in this capacity, but after returning to Texas he took up singing. His singing career began in 1950 in Pasadena, California, on radio station KXLA. He later became a regular on "Hometown Jamboree" with Cliffie Stone, on which he was billed as "The Singing Fisherman". In 1951 he made his first recording.
In 1953 he married the widow of Hank Williams, and she took an interest in furthering his career. He became a regular on the radio show "Louisiana Hayride" in 1955 and soon after made an appearance on "Grand Ole Opry". His first hit, "Honky Tonk Man", came in 1956 and was soon followed by "When It's Springtime in Alaska", "The Battle of New Orleans", "Johnny Reb" and "Sink the Bismarck".
In 1960 he recorded "North to Alaska" for the motion picture of the same name (North to Alaska (1960)) starring John Wayne and Stewart Granger. At this point in his career he decided to add acting to his accomplishments and planned on beginning a movie career, but this was not to be. On a foggy night in November of 1960, he was returning from a concert with his manager, Tillman B. Franks, and his bass player, Tommy Tomlinson, when tragedy struck. A car driven by a drunk driver came out of the fog and collided with Johnny's car head on. Horton was killed instantly.- Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June until September 1960. A member of the Congolese National Movement (MNC), he led the MNC from 1958 until his assassination in January 1961. Ideologically an African nationalist and pan-Africanist, he played a significant role in the transformation of the Congo from a colony of Belgium into an independent republic.
- Frantz Fanon was born on 20 July 1925 in Martinique, France. He was a writer, known for The Wretched of the Earth (1969), J'ai huit ans (1962) and Concerning Violence (2014). He was married to Josie Dublé. He died on 6 December 1961 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
- Herbert Grün was born on 29 November 1925 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He was a writer, known for Lucija (1965) and A Night Excursion (1961). He died on 20 December 1961 in Celje, Slovenia.
- Betty Suttor was born on 22 January 1925 in Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia. She was an actress, known for A Son Is Born (1946) and Jedda the Uncivilized (1955). She died on 27 January 1962 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Lyudmila Fetisova was born on 7 October 1925 in Tula Governorate, RSFSR, USSR [now Tula oblast, Russia]. She died on 21 April 1962 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Lore Frisch was born on 4 May 1925 in Schwindegg, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for Meine Frau macht Musik (1958), Das Tor zum Paradies (1949) and Zar und Zimmermann (1956). She died on 6 July 1962 in Potsdam, German Democratic Republic.
- Roger Nimier was born on 31 October 1925 in Paris, France. He was a writer, known for Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Éducation sentimentale (1962) and The Nina B. Affair (1961). He died on 28 September 1962 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France.
- Robert Myers was born on 18 May 1925 in Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Two Faces West (1960). He died on 19 November 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Joachim Wedekind was born on 26 February 1925 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer and actor, known for Die Rose von Stambul (1953), Mask in Blue (1953) and Gruß und Kuß vom Tegernsee (1957). He died on 7 April 1963 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany.
- Animation Department
Calé was born on 14 December 1925. Calé is known for Buenos Aires en camiseta (1966). Calé died on 3 May 1963.- Rolande Désormeaux was born on 27 July 1925 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was married to Robert L'Herbier. She died on 15 May 1963 in Laval, Québec, Canada.
- Medgar Evers was born on 2 July 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi, USA. He was married to Myrlie Evers-Williams. He died on 12 June 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
- Danuta Korolewicz was born on 4 March 1925 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. She was an actress, known for Dom na pustkowiu (1949), Rozstanie (1961) and Zloto (1962). She died on 12 September 1963 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland.
- Virginia Stefan was born on 12 April 1925 in Buffalo, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Combat! (1962), Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956) and I Led 3 Lives (1953). She died on 5 May 1964 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Vladimir Kraynichenko was born on 6 August 1925 in Verkhneye, Lugansk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. He was a director and actor, known for Puteshestvie v molodost (1957) and Lymerivna (1955). He died on 11 May 1964 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, USSR.
- Flannery O'Connor was born on 25 March 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. She was a writer, known for A Good Man Is Hard to Find, The Violent Bear It Away and Katafalk (1990). She died on 3 August 1964 in Milledgeville, Georgia, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Considered to be a man ahead of his time, Guru Dutt was one of the greatest icons of commercial Indian cinema. Although he made less than ten films, they are believed to be the best to come from Bollywood's Golden Age, known both for their ability to reach out to the common man and for their artistic and lyrical content, and they went on to become trend-setters that have influenced Bollywood ever since. But for all his genius, there was a shroud of tragedy that overshadowed his career and life.
Dutt was born in Mysore on July ninth, 1925, the eldest son of a headmaster and a housewife who was a part-time writer. As a child, he had to deal with a strained relationship between his parents, hostility from his mother's family, and the death of a close relative. He received his early education in Calcutta, and in 1941, he joined the Uday Shankar India Culture Center, where he received basic training in the performing arts under dance maestro Uday Shankar. Afterward, in 1944, he had a short stint as a telephone operator.
Dutt entered the Indian film industry in 1944, working as a choreographer in Prabhat Studios. There, he became friends with Dev Anand (whom he met when they worked on the film Hum Ek Hain (1946)) and Rehman Khan. These early friendships helped ease his way into Bollywood. After Prabhat went under in 1947, Dutt moved to Mumbai, where he worked with the leading directors of the time: Amiya Chakrabarty in Girls' School (1949) and Gyan Mukherjee in Sangram (1946).
He got his big break when Dev Anand invited him to direct a film in his newly formed company Navketan Films. Dutt made his directorial debut with Gamble (1951), which starred Dev Anand. The film was an urban crime thriller that paid homage to classic film noir. However, it also carried its own elements that ensured it was not a remake of a Hollywood film: notably, songs were used to further the story's narrative, and close-up shots were used frequently. The film was a success and became a trend-setter for future crime films. On the personal front, Dutt met his wife, playback singer Geeta Dutt (née Roy), during the song-recording sessions of Gamble (1951), and they married May twenty-sixth, 1953.
Dutt's next releases were Jaal (1952) and Baaz (1953). Dutt made his acting debut in the latter film, which he also directed. But while they were average successes, he finally tasted success with Aar-Paar (1954), another crime thriller, but with a far more polished story and look. Then came Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955), a frothy romantic comedy focusing on women's' rights; and C.I.D. (1956), yet another crime thriller in which Waheeda Rehman made her debut.
His next films, Thirst (1957) and Paper Flowers (1959), are regarded as his best work. Thirst (1957) was his masterpiece, about a poet trying to achieve success in a hypocritical, uncaring world. It was a box-office hit and is ranked as his greatest film ever. In contrast, Paper Flowers (1959) was a miserable flop at the box office: the semi-autobiographical story of a tragic love affair set against the backdrop of the film industry was deemed too morbid for the audience to swallow and went right over audience's heads. Although in later years the film received critical acclaim for its cinematography and has gained a cult following, Dutt, who had put his soul into the film, was devastated over its failure and never directed another film.
Although he had sworn off directing, Dutt continued to produce and act in films, notably the period dramas Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962). The latter film, interestingly, is controversial because it is debated whether Dutt had ghost-directed the film. Dutt's personal life had become complicated: he had gotten romantically involved with his protégé Waheeda Rehman and his wife Geeta Dutt had separated from him as a result. Rehman too had distanced herself from him. Also, Dutt, an ambitious person, felt he had achieved too much too soon professionally - there was nothing better to be achieved, and this caused a vacuum in his life. Unable to cope with all the trauma and emptiness, he took to heavy drinking.
On October tenth, 1964, Dutt was found dead in his bed. The cause of death was deemed a combination of alcohol and sleeping pills, although a debate still lingers over whether his death was by accident or a successful suicide attempt. Geeta Dutt suffered a nervous break-down as a result of his death and also took to alcohol, eventually drinking herself to death, dying in 1972 as a result of cirrhosis of the liver.
His death was an irreplaceable loss to Indian cinema. And it was a tragic twist of fate that his films, most of which were discounted in his life-time, would be regarded as cult classics after his death. Guru Dutt would always be known, even if posthumously, as the Guru of Bollywood's Golden Age and one of the world's most important international auteurs.- Jarmila Zítková was born on 14 April 1925 in Brno, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Temno (1951). She died on 1 February 1965 in Plzen, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, one of seven children. His father, Earl Little, was a Baptist preacher who supported Marcus Garvey's Back to Africa movement. When Malcolm was four, the family moved to Lansing, Michigan, where Earl attempted opening a store while continuing his preaching. But a group of white supremacists calling themselves the Black Legion (a sub-branch of the Ku Klux Klan) became irate to him.
Two years later, Earl Little was found dead on the trolley tracks in town after a streetcar ran over him. Despite the police report that Earl's death was an accident, Malcolm strongly believed that his father was murdered by the Black Legion who placed his father's body on the tracks to make it look like an accident. Following Earl's death, Malcolm's mother, Louise Little, tried to support her eight children on her own. Malcolm started stealing food and candy from neighborhood stores to support his brothers and sisters. After being caught a few too many times, a local court ruled that Louise was unable to control Malcolm and had him removed from her care and placed in a friendly white couple's home who knew Louise. Two years later, on account of severe stress in raising her children, Louise suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to the state mental hospital where she remained for the remaining 26 years of her life.
After finishing eighth grade, Malcolm dropped out of school and traveled to Boston where his older sister, Ella, resided. After several years, Malcolm moved to New York City where, to support himself, he became a numbers runner, a drug dealer, even a pimp. He wore zoot suits and dyed his hair red, which earned him the nickname "Detroit Red". He relocated to Boston again where he organized a robbery ring that was uncovered by the police in 1946, and he was sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison. Malcolm used the time behind bars to educate himself in the prison library where he learned the fundamentals of grammar and increased his vocabulary. It was here that a few inmates introduced Malcolm to a new religion and movement, The Nation of Islam. Malcolm's younger brother, Reginald, already a member, visited him and told him about Islam and about Allah. Much of what Reginald said confused Malcolm, but two phrases took root in his head, "The white man is the devil" and "The black man is the brainwashed". Malcolm learned that if he wanted to join, he would have to accept its theology and submit completely to its founder and leader, Elijah Muhammad.
Inspired by the new direction his life was taking, Malcolm wrote Elijah Muhammad a heartfelt letter about himself and why he wanted to join. Elijah wrote back welcoming Malcolm to the faith. He instructed Malcolm to drop his last name, which his ancestors inherited from a slave owner and replace it with the letter X which symbolized that his true African name had been lost. In 1952, Malcolm was finally paroled from prison. Rather than returning to the life of crime, Malcolm committed himself to learning more about his new religion. In 1958, Malcolm married Betty Shabazz, a Muslim nurse and together they had four daughters (plus two more born after his death). Over the next several years, Malcolm became the spokesperson for the Nation of Islam and became one of its most powerful speakers attracting thousands of African-Americans into the fold with his charismatic speeches and rich and powerful words. Malcolm's charismatic personalty also attracted the attention of the white media. But unlike Dr. Martin Luther King who believed in non-violent tactics to archive equal rights for blacks, Malcolm favored the use of arms and proposed a revolutionary program that would create a separate society for blacks in America. Malcolm's relationship with the media displeased Elijah Muhammad for he felt that the Nation of Islam's messages where being overshadowed by Malcolm's newfound celebrity.
In the early 1960s, Malcolm learned of paternity suits filed by two women of the Nation of Islam who worked for Elijah Muhammad as his secretaries. Determined to get to the bottom of the rumors about Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm met with the two women and later privately with Elijah Muhammad who did not deny the accusations against him as he did publicly but justified his actions by comparing his with other Biblical figures as David and Noah who suffered from "moral lapses". Elijah's response left Malcolm dissatisfied and contributed to his growing disenchantment with the Nation of Islam.
In November 1963, Malcolm's candidness with reporters provided Elijah Muhammad with an excuse to sideline him. When asked about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm called the murder a case of "the chickens coming home to roost". The public, both black and white, was outraged by Malcolm's comment after which Elijah suspended him from his duties as spokesperson for 90 days. Feeling betrayed by the Nation of Islam, Malcolm announced in March 1964 that he was not going to return, but he was going to form his own movement called Muslim Mosque, Inc. and invited blacks everywhere to join his new crusade. In response to Malcolm's announcement, Elijah Muhammad wrote in the Nation of Islam's biweekly newspaper that "only those who wish to be led to hell or to their doom will follow Malcolm. No one ever leaves the Nation of Islam."
Over the next several months, several attempts where made against Malcolm's life. Apparently, this did not surprise him for he said, "This thing with me will only be resolved by death and violence." In April 1964, Malcolm made a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Islamic holy city in Saudi Arabia. The trip had a profound affect on him when he was greeted warmly by Musilms of many nationalities. Malcolm then realized that if Muslims of all races can live together in peace, why not people of all religions? Malcolm then remarked, "My true brotherhood includes people of all races, coming together as one. It has proved to me that there is the power of one God."
Upon his return to the United States, death threats continued leading to his house in Queens, New York, being fire-bombed in February 1965, to his assassination a week later at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York City, where he held weekly meetings. Although the Nation of Islam was suspected of being behind Malcolm's murder, his three killers, who were convicted of the murder, denied being part of the Nation of Islam or knowing each other despite the fact that they were Black Musilms and later revealed to be members. When questioned about Malcolm X's murder, Elijah Muhammad maintained (as he did with a great deal of other things) that neither he nor his organization had anything to do with Malcolm X's assassination.- Viola Gregg Liuzzo was born on 11 April 1925 in California, Washington County, Pennsylvania, USA. She died on 21 March 1965 in Selma, Alabama, USA.
- Gretchen Merill was born on 2 November 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was married to William Otis Gay. She died on 22 April 1965 in Windsor, Connecticut, USA.
- Kôji Kiyomura was born on 27 June 1925 in Niigata, Japan. He was an actor, known for High and Low (1963), The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961) and Jigoku no watarimono (1960). He died on 1 February 1966.
- Robert Edmond Alter was born on 10 December 1925 in San Francisco, California, USA. Robert Edmond was a writer, known for Ravagers (1979), Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and The Magical World of Disney (1954). Robert Edmond died on 26 May 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Milos Patocka was born on 21 September 1925 in Uherské Hradiste, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Hudba z Marsu (1955), 105 % alibi (1959) and Divotvorný klobouk (1953). He died on 8 July 1966 in Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider on October 13, 1925, in Mineola, Long Island, New York. His British-born father, Myron, was a shoe clerk, his mother, Sadie, was a dancer. Lenny's parents were divorced when he was a child. To support herself and her son, Sadie Schneider pursued a career in show business and sent Lenny to live with various aunts, uncles and grandparents.
Dropping out of high school, Lenny enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, which he almost disliked. He got himself discharged after convincing a team of Navy psychologists that he was experimenting with homosexual urges. With some help from his mother, Lenny began doing impressions, one-liners and movie parodies in small nightclubs. In 1948, he obtained some booking as a result of his appearance on the TV show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Lenny married a red-headed stripper named Honey Harlow in 1951, but they were divorced five years later. After Honey was arrested and sent to jail for a narcotics violation, Lenny raised their daughter, Kitty, by himself.
Slowly, Lenny began working his way up from performing stand-up comedy in seedy New York City strip clubs and jazz clubs. Gradually his act evolved into something wholly different from that of other comics. Onstage, he was a dark, slender, and intense figure who prowled around like a caged animal and spoke into a hand-held microphone. His monologues were peppered with four-letter curse words and Yiddish expressions. In his act, Lenny liked to expose racist attitudes by forcing his audiences to examine their own racial prejudices. In another act bashing religions, Lenny acted out a conversation between Oral Roberts and the Pope, with both talking in the vernacular of glib show-business personalities. When jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote about Lenny, be began to get the recognition he so badly wanted. Unfortunately, the seedy subculture of strip joints, clubs, and dives had introduced him to hard drugs and fast times.
Through his nightclub acts and record albums, Lenny became the hipster saint of the comedy world, crossing into the line of propriety where others feared to tread. But his foul-speaking acts began to catch up with him when he was arrested in 1961 on obscenity charges following an appearance at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, but a jury found him not guilty. Problems with the authorities and religious groups trying to silence him began to plague him as he appeared in clubs all over the country. In 1964, he was arrested again in New York City on more obscenity charges. During his trial a police officer read notes about Lenny's profane act, which caused the desperate comic to ask the judge to let him do the act in court so the judge could understand his callous humor in context, but the judge refused. Despite support from noted writers, critics, educators and politicians, Lenny was found guilty and sentenced to several months in prison, and was paroled just a few months later. Continually harassed by the police, Lenny became depressed and paranoid. Further prosecutions for obscenity and his drug use drove him toward instability. By 1965, he was broke and in debt. He claimed that every time he got a gig, the local police, wherever he was, would threaten to arrest the club owner if Lenny went onstage.
In February 1966, Lenny traveled to Los Angeles and appeared onstage for the first time in years. He performed for a very small crowd who included a few hecklers and vice cops waiting to arrest him if he should use profanity again. Lenny by this time was bearded, overweight, and haggard, and his performance centered on his current obsessions: his constitutional right of free speech, free assembly, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. When a friend asked him afterwards why he had turned his back on comedy he replied, "I'm not a comedian anymore. I'm Lenny Bruce." On August 3, 1966, Lenny was found dead on the bathroom floor of his Hollywood home. Whatever the details or reasons why, Lenny Bruce was found dead from a drug overdose at the age of 40.- L.E. Bowers Jr. was born on 12 January 1925 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He died on 9 August 1966 in Dallas, Texas, USA.
- Max Schumacher was born on 10 May 1925 in Orange County, California, USA. He died on 30 August 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
At the age of eight, Fleming hopped on a freight train to Chicago to escape his abusive father. Following hospitalization for gang fight injuries, he returned to California where he lived with his mother and worked at Paramount as a laborer. Fleming joined the Merchant Marine, and then he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in WW II, where he was a Master Carpenter in the Seabees.
From 1946 to 1957, Fleming appeared on stage in Chicago and New York with featured roles in numerous plays on Broadway including "My Three Angels," "Stalag 17," and "No Time For Sergeants." Fleming's television career began in the early 1950's with live performances on "Hallmark Summer Theatre," "The Web," "Suspense," "Kraft Television Theatre," and many other dramatic series. In 1954, he starred in Paramount's film "Conquest of Space," followed by "Queen of Outer Space" for Allied Artists. In 1958, Fleming became the star of CBS-TV's long-running western "Rawhide" as the trail boss Gil Favor. He remained with the top-rated show for seven of its eight seasons, and he had planned to retire to Hawaii where he had purchased a ranch.
He acted in "The Glass Bottom Boat" in 1965, and he was hired by MGM-TV to film the two-part adventure program "High Jungle" in Peru. During the shooting of location shots on the Huallaga River on September 28, 1966, Fleming dove (intentionally?) from a dug-out canoe after paddling it beyond the rapids. His body was lost in the turbulent water and was not recovered until three days later.