Date of Death between 1953-01-01 and 1953-12-31 (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. Francis Ford
Actor | The Purple Mask
Elder brother of the director John Ford and himself a screen director (and John's erstwhile mentor) until the advent of sound. He had also acted in his own films and those of other directors, but turned to acting exclusively circa 1929. As actor, he would provide convincing portrayals of men of ...
2. Millard Mitchell
Actor | Singin' in the Rain
Millard Mitchell was born to American parents in Havana, Cuba. He was a popular stage and radio actor in the 1930's in New York, where he also filmed his first cinema appearances (industrial short features). His first Hollywood role was in Mr. and Mrs. North (1942). After World War II, Mitchell ...
3. Paul Hurst
Actor | Gone with the Wind
An American character actor of prodigious output who also directed and wrote silent films, Paul Hurst spent much of his early work in low-budget westerns. A native of Traver, California (in the San Joaquin Valley), Hurst had first-hand knowledge of western lore, growing up surrounded by the ...
4. Nigel Bruce
Actor | Rebecca
Nigel was, from the beginning, typecast as bumbling English aristocrats, military types or drawing room society snobs and, within the narrow parameters of his range, he was very, very good at playing these parts. Nigel Bruce was born in Mexico, where his father, Sir William W. Bruce, worked as an ...
5. Dooley Wilson
Actor | Casablanca
"You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh; the fundamental things apply, as time goes by...". . The gentleman who crooned this now legendary tune for the morose Humphrey Bogart and moist-eyed Ingrid Bergman at Rick's Cafe Americain amid the bleak WWII backdrop was none ...
6. Herman J. Mankiewicz
Writer | Citizen Kane
Herman J. Mankiewicz, now known primarily as the man who co-wrote Citizen Kane (1941) with Hollywood's greatest wunderkind, Orson Welles, was one of the highest-paid screenwriters in Hollywood and the head of Paramount's screen-writing department in the late 1920s and early '30s. He reached the ...
7. Roland Young
Actor | Topper
Fondly remembered for his many deceptively meek, erudite characters played on film -- think Cosmo Topper, of the screwball classic Topper (1937) -- this short (5'6"), balding, highly distinguished actor was born in London, England on November 11,1887, to an architect and his wife. Young was ...
8. Porter Hall
Actor | Double Indemnity
For over two decades, Porter Hall made a career out of playing villains and pompous, unpleasant people. His movie career was not a mirror of his real life, however. Mr. Hall was well known as a generous and outgoing person who was well-liked by almost everybody he knew. It is ironic that the role ...
9. Hank Williams
Soundtrack | The Last Picture Show
Hank Williams was born in September 1923 in a small Alabama farming community about 70 miles south of Montgomery. His father was a railroad engineer who was also a victim of shell shock after a year of fighting in France in 1918 during World War I and spent many years in veterans hospitals. Hank's ...
10. James Finlayson
Actor | Way Out West
Alongside Ben Turpin, diminutive Scots-born Jimmy Finlayson was, arguably, the most instantly recognisable of the many clowns of silent screen slapstick who made their living as comic foil to stars like Laurel & Hardy, or Harold Lloyd. The perpetually exasperated, squinting, bald-pated master of ...
11. Lewis Stone
Actor | The Mask of Fu Manchu
By the time that he was 20, Lewis Stone had turned prematurely grey. He enlisted to fight in the Spanish American War and when he returned, he returned to be a writer. This turned to acting and he began to appear in films during the middle teens. His career was again interrupted by war as he served...
12. Alan Curtis
Actor | Phantom Lady
Attractive Hollywood leading man (and sometime villain) from the late 30s until his death following surgery, Alan Curtis (Harry Ueberroth) was born 24 July 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in that area and in the early 1930s became a model, appearing in many magazine and newspaper ...
13. Iosif Stalin
Self | Krymskaya konferentsiya
Joseph Stalin (a code name meaning "Man of Steel") was born Iosif (Joseph) Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in 1878 in Gori, Georgia, the Transcaucasian part of the Russian Empire. His father was a cobbler named Vissarion Dzhugashvili, a drunkard who beat him badly and frequently and left the family ...
14. Lee Dixon
Actor | Angel and the Badman
Lee Dixon was born on January 22, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Angel and the Badman (1947), Double or Nothing (1940) and Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936). He died on January 8, 1953 in New York City, New York, USA.
15. Jim Thorpe
Actor | Trailin' West
Jim Thorpe was born on May 22, 1887 in Prague, Indian Territory [now Oklahoma], USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Trailin' West (1936), Off His Base (1932) and Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951). He was previously married to Patricia Gladys Evelyn Woodbury, Freeda Verona Kirkpatrick and Iva...
16. Arthur Hoyt
Actor | It Happened One Night
Extremely prolific actor/director of the silent screen, on Broadway from 1905. Hoyt joined the acting fraternity through the recommendations of an uncle, who worked as dramatic editor for a Cleveland tabloid. Signed by theatrical producer George C. Tyler (1868-1946), he began on stage (earning $10 ...
17. Everett Brown
Actor | Gone with the Wind
Everett Brown was born on January 1, 1902 in Smith County, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Gone with the Wind (1939), Danger Island (1931) and Tim Tyler's Luck (1937). He died on October 14, 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
18. Eugene O'Neill
Writer | Long Day's Journey Into Night
Eugene O'Neill, the winner of four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature, is widely considered the greatest American playwright. No one, not Maxwell Anderson, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, nor Edward Albee, approaches O'Neill in terms of his artistic achievement or ...
19. William Farnum
Actor | The Man Hunter
William Farnum was born the son of G.D. Farnum and Adela Le Gros, actors who trained their William and his two brothers, Dustin Farnum and Marshall Farnum, in their profession. William made his stage debut at the age of 10 in Richmond, Virginia, in a production of "Julius Caesar" starring Edwin ...
20. Godfrey Tearle
Actor | The 39 Steps
Godfrey Seymour Tearle was born in 1884, the son of British actor/manager George (Osmond) Tearle and American actress Marianne Conway (her second marriage). His father and uncle were first-generation acting Tearles, and his mother also came from a family of actors. It seems that Godfrey's destiny ...
21. Queen Mary
Self | Arrival at Howrah
Queen Mary was born Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes Mary in Kensington Palace on May 26, 1867 to Duke Francis and Duchess Mary of Teck. Young Mary was the great-granddaughter of George III and a second cousin to Queen Victoria.
She and her family lived a quiet life in ...
22. Jorge Negrete
Actor | El rebelde (Romance de antaño)
Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, on November 1911, and had five brothers. His father was a General, and when he retired the family moved to Mexico city, where he worked as a teacher amongst others at the Humboldt German school, thus allowing Jorge and brother David to ...
23. George Barnes
Cinematographer | Rebecca
Veteran cinematographer George S. Barnes had a well-earned reputation for reliability and a knack for combining artistry with economic efficiency. As a result, he was seldom out of work.
Having started as a still photographer for Thomas H. Ince in 1918, Barnes quickly rose through the ranks to ...
24. Jean Adair
Actress | Arsenic and Old Lace
Slight, birdlike Jean Adair came to the screen after playing a succession of crotchety or maternal roles on the stage. She was born Violet McNaughton in Ontario, Canada, and absolved her acting studies in Chicago. After extensive touring with local stock companies and a few seasons on the ...
25. Frank Allenby
Actor | Madame Bovary
Frank Allenby was born on December 22, 1894 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. He was an actor, known for Madame Bovary (1949), The Next of Kin (1942) and The Flame and the Arrow (1950). He was previously married to Dorothy Hamilton. He died on May 29, 1953 in St Mary Abbot's Hospital, Kensington, ...
26. Houseley Stevenson
Actor | Dark Passage
British-born American character actor. He labored in a San Francisco glass factory until his thirties, then embarked on an acting career. He became a respected teacher, director, and performer at famed Pasadena Community Playhouse in California. He appeared in numerous films in the Thirties and ...
27. Cy Kendall
Actor | Lady in the Death House
Cy Kendall was born on March 10, 1898 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Lady in the Death House (1944), It Could Happen to You (1937) and Blonde for a Day (1946). He was previously married to Margaret. He died on July 22, 1953 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
28. Vsevolod Pudovkin
Director | Admiral Nakhimov
Vsevolod Pudovkin was born on February 28, 1893 in Penza, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a director and actor, known for Admiral Nakhimov (1947), Zhukovsky (1950) and Minin i Pozharskiy (1939). He was previously married to Anna Zemtsova. He died on June 30, 1953 in Jurmala, Latvian SSR, USSR [...
29. Sergei Prokofiev
Soundtrack | Children of Men
Prokofiev was a multi-talented man and an innovative composer. He learned piano from his mother and chess from his father. He always had a chess set on his piano, and was able to play against the chess champions of his time. He studied music with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, graduated with highest ...
30. Jean Epstein
Director | La chute de la maison Usher
Jean Epstein was born on March 25, 1897 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for The Fall of the House of Usher (1928), The Three-Sided Mirror (1927) and The Lion of the Moguls (1924). He died on April 2, 1953 in Paris, France.
31. Ivor Barnard
Actor | Great Expectations
Ivor Barnard was born on June 13, 1887 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Great Expectations (1946), Beat the Devil (1953) and The Good Companions (1933). He was previously married to Estelle Van Geuns. He died on June 30, 1953 in London, England, UK.
32. Chris-Pin Martin
Actor | King of the Bandits
Chris-Pin Martin was born on November 19, 1893 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for King of the Bandits (1947), Four Frightened People (1934) and Under Strange Flags (1937). He died on June 27, 1953 in Montebello, California, USA.
33. Cliff Clark
Actor | The Falcon Strikes Back
Cliff Clark was born on June 10, 1889 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Falcon Strikes Back (1943), The Falcon's Brother (1942) and The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943). He was previously married to Stella Delauries. He died on February 8, 1953 in Hollywood, California, ...
34. Harold Warrender
Actor | Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
Harold Warrender was born on November 15, 1903 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), Ivanhoe (1952) and Scott of the Antarctic (1948). He was previously married to Constance Elizabeth Fowles. He died on May 6, 1953 in Gerrards Cross, ...
35. Raymond Lovell
Actor | The Young Mr. Pitt
Raymond Lovell was born on April 13, 1900 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Young Mr. Pitt (1942), Time, Gentlemen, Please! (1952) and Who Killed Van Loon? (1948). He was previously married to Tamara Desni and Margot Collis. He died on October 1, 1953 in London, England, ...
36. Edmund Breon
Actor | Gaslight
Edmund Breon was born on December 12, 1882 in Hamilton, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Gaslight (1944), Dressed to Kill (1946) and The Woman in the Window (1944). He died on June 24, 1953 in Cork, Ireland.
37. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Writer | The Yearling
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was born on August 8, 1896 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was a writer, known for The Yearling (1946), Cross Creek (1983) and Gal Young Un (1979). She was previously married to Norton Baskin and Charles Rawlings. She died on December 14, 1953 in St. Augustine...
38. Lavrenti Beria
Self | Velikoye proshchaniye
Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria, the head of Iosif Stalin's dreaded secret police apparatus, was born in Merkheuli, Russia, on March 29, 1899. He joined the Bolshevik wing of the Communist Party in 1917 and was active in Stalin's native Georgia during the October 1917 Revolution. Beria joined the ...
39. John Christie
Self | Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century
Christie had a difficult childhood growing up with stern and unaffectionate parents. He left school at 15. Christie initially worked as a police clerk but was fired for petty theft. He was disowned by his family when he was caught stealing from his father's carpet factory. During World War One he ...
40. Herbert Rawlinson
Actor | The Flame Fighter
Herbert Rawlinson was born on November 15, 1885 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK. He was an actor and producer, known for The Flame Fighter (1925), The Carter Case (1919) and The Victor (1923). He was previously married to Loraine Abigail Long, Roberta Arnold and Josephine Norman. He died on ...
41. Django Reinhardt
Soundtrack | The Matrix
Django Reinhardt was born on January 23, 1910 in Liberchies, Wallonia, Belgium. He was a composer and actor, known for The Matrix (1999), Gattaca (1997) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). He was previously married to Sophie Ziegler. He died on May 16, 1953 in Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, France.
42. Morgan Wallace
Actor | The Mouthpiece
Morgan Wallace was born on July 26, 1881 in Lompoc, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Mouthpiece (1932), Wild Girl (1932) and Dream Street (1921). He was previously married to Louise Chapman Wallace. He died on December 12, 1953 in Tarzana, California, USA.
43. Ivan Lebedeff
Actor | The Gay Diplomat
Lithuanian-born Ivan Lebedeff was educated at the University of St. Petersburg. He was slated for a diplomatic career in the Imperial Lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo - a natural progression, since his aristocratic father was a highly-placed advisor to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. However, the outbreak of ...
44. Lionel Belmore
Actor | Frankenstein
Lionel Belmore was born on May 12, 1867 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Frankenstein (1931), Bardelys the Magnificent (1926) and The Vampire Bat (1933). He was previously married to Emmeline Florence Carder. He died on January 30, 1953 in Woodland Hills, ...
45. Gardner James
Actor | Ladies at Ease
Gardner James was born on March 16, 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Ladies at Ease (1927), Captain Blood (1935) and Hell-Bent for Heaven (1926). He was previously married to Marian Constance Blackton. He died on June 23, 1953 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
46. Dylan Thomas
Writer | These Are the Men
Dylan Thomas was born at the start of the First World War in the "ugly, lovely town" of Swansea, an industrial, coastal town on the South Wales Coast. He published his first volume of poetry, "Eighteen poems" in 1934 and went on to write many more volumes of poetry as well as many short stories, ...
47. Albert Austin
Assistant Director | City Lights
British-born supporting actor, primarily in the films of Charles Chaplin, for whom Austin also worked as an assistant director and co-writer. His career paralleled that of Chaplin, but dwindled prior to the coming of sound. His brother, William Austin, had a lengthy Hollywood career as a character ...
48. Crauford Kent
Actor | Seven Keys to Baldpate
Crauford Kent was born on October 12, 1881 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929), The Ace of Scotland Yard (1929) and Silas Marner (1922). He died on May 14, 1953 in Hollywood, California, USA.
49. Leila McIntyre
Actress | The Prisoner of Shark Island
Leila McIntyre was born on December 20, 1882 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), Pick a Star (1937) and On the Level (1930). She was previously married to John Hyams. She died on January 9, 1953 in West Los Angeles, California, USA.
50. Curley Dresden
Actor | Just Off Broadway
'Albert "Curley" Dresden' was found dead at his residence at - 'The Norland Hotel', in Spokane, Washington. His family name was actually spelled "Drezden". His parents were from Germany. His occupation at the time of his death was a 'newspaper delivery person' for the "Spokane Spokesman-Review" ...