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This old codger film favorite, born in 1869 (some reports say 1875), got into the entertainment field at an early age, first as a circus performer (aerialist and trapeze artist). When acting sparked his interest, he worked in a series of stock companies while writing stage plays that he himself could star in. He married actress Anna Chance around the turn of the century, and they remained a devoted couple until her death 47 years later. They had no children. Charley came into his own in films at the ripe old age of 60 as the ultimate humorous, toothless character in a range of films with rustic settings. Notable movies include The Petrified Forest (1936) with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart, The Good Earth (1937) with Paul Muni and Luise Rainer, and They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Errol Flynn. However, his best-remembered parts were as huggable Uncle Henry in the classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), ornery Grandpa Joad, who refused to leave the homestead in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Inspector Queen in the Ellery Queen whodunits that ran from 1940 through 1942, and the amiable ne'er-do-well Jeeter Lester in Tobacco Road (1941). A soft, humorous presence who seemed frail around the edges, he was a thorough delight, his folksy presence gracing over 100 films. He died in 1956.

Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker. He was the youngest of four children. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded three times.

A distinguished stage actor in his native Hungary, Austria-Hungary, he began his stage career in 1901 and started appearing in films during World War I, fleeing to Germany in 1919 as a result of his left-wing political activity (he organized an actors' union). In 1920 he emigrated to the US and made a living as a character actor, shooting to fame when he played Count Dracula in the legendary 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. It ran for three years, and was subsequently, and memorably, filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, establishing Lugosi as one of the screen's greatest personifications of pure evil. Also in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen. Sadly, his reputation rapidly declined, mainly because he had been blacklisted by the main studios and had no choice but to accept any part (and script) handed to him, and ended up playing parodies of his greatest role, in low-grade poverty row films. Due to shady blacklisting among the top Hollywood studio executives, he refused to sell out or to compromise his integrity, and therefore ended his career working for the legendary Worst Director of All Time, Edward D. Wood Jr..

Lugosi was married to Ilona Szmik (1917 - 1920), Ilona von Montagh (? - ?), and Lillian Arch (1933 - 1951). He is the father of Bela Lugosi Jr. (1938). Lugosi helped organize the Screen Actors Guild in the mid-'30s, joining as member number 28.

Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack August 16, 1956. He was buried in a Dracula costume, including a cape, but not the ones used in the 1931 film, contrary to popular--but unfounded--rumors.

Robert Newton was one of the great character actors -- and great characters -- of the British cinema, best remembered today for playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1950) and its sequel in 1954. His portrayal of Long John Silver and of Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952) created a persona that was so indelible that his vocal intonations created the paradigm for scores of people who want to "Talk Like a Pirate." The performance overshadows Newton's legacy, which is based on many first-rate performances in such movies as This Happy Breed (1944), Odd Man Out (1947) and Oliver Twist (1948), where his Bill Sykes is truly chilling. Oliver Reed, who played Sykes in the Oscar-winning movie musical Oliver! (1968) was influenced by Newton.

Edward Arnold was born as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider in 1890, on the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of German immigrants, Elizabeth (Ohse) and Carl Schneider. Arnold began his acting career on the New York stage and became a film actor in 1916. A burly man with a commanding style and superb baritone voice, he was a popular screen personality for decades, and was the star of such film classics as Diamond Jim (1935) (a role he reprised in Lillian Russell (1940)) Arnold appeared in over 150 films and was President of The Screen Actors Guild shortly before his death in 1956.

Margaret Wycherly was born in London, England on October 26, 1881. She was predominately a stage actress, continuing stage work even after performing in films. Her first film role came when she appeared in The Fight (1915) at 34 years old. It was not until 1929 that audiences got another glimpse of her in The Thirteenth Chair (1929). Playing largely character roles, one of her finest performances was as Gary Cooper's mother in Sergeant York (1941). She later gave stellar performances in The Yearling (1946) and Forever Amber (1947). She appeared on the then-new medium of television on The Philco Television Playhouse (1948). After a small role in The President's Lady (1953), Margaret retired at age 72. Three years later, on June 6, 1956, she died at age 74.

Mitchell Lewis was born on 26 June 1880 in Syracuse, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Salomé (1922) and The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1920). He was married to Rosabel Morrison and Nan Frances Ryan. He died on 24 August 1956 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Tall, distinguished, aristocratic Louis Calhern seemed to be the poster boy for old-money, upper-crust urban society, but he was actually born Carl Vogt, to middle-class parents in New York City. His family moved to St. Louis when he was a child, and it was while playing football in high school there that he was spotted by a representative of a touring acting troupe and hired as an actor. He returned to New York to work in the theater, but his career was interrupted by military service in France in World War I. He returned to the stage after the war, and eventually broke into films. Although his regal bearing would seem to pigeonhole him in aristocratic parts in serious drama, he proved to be a very versatile actor, as much at home playing a comic foil to The Marx Brothers in Duck Soup (1933) as he was as Buffalo Bill to Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) or, most memorably, the lawyer involved with the criminal gang in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Married four times, he was in Tokyo, Japan, filming The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Beginning his show business career at age 13 as an entertainer on Mississippi riverboats, Guy Kibbee graduated to the legitimate stage and spent many years in the theater. In the 1930s he was signed by Warner Brothers, and became part of what was known as "the Warner Brothers Stock Company", a cadre of seasoned character actors and actresses who enlivened many a Warners musical or gangster film. Kibbee specialized in playing jovial, but not particularly bright, businessmen and government officials. He was memorable as the stuffy lawyer with a secret weakness for showgirls in Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933).

George Bancroft was raised in Philadelphia and attended high school at Tomes Institute (Philadelphia). He won an impressive appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated as a commissioned officer. He served in the Navy for the prescribed period of required service but no more. He decided to turn to show business, first as a theater manager. He worked in the old and fading minstrel show variety format into the 1920s but then decided to try his hand at acting. By 1923, he was good enough for Broadway and spent about a year there doing two plays. But he was already good enough for some early camera work for by 1921, so he had made his first appearance in the silent movie medium. Being a big man with dark features, he was a natural for heavies. And it seemed that early Westerns were an easy fit as well after his first four films. Through 1924 and into 1925, he did four, culminating with pay dirt in his appealing performance as rogue Jack Slade in the James Cruze Western The Pony Express (1925). With him was another up-and-coming character actor, Wallace Beery. Bancroft's acting made Paramount Pictures take a look at him as star material. His roles as tough guy took on more flesh into the later 1920s, especially in association with director Josef von Sternberg and his well-honed gangster films that started with Underworld (1927). Their work culminated with Sternberg's Thunderbolt (1929) for which Bancroft received an Oscar nomination. He was tops at the box office.

Bancroft's various on-screen personas as bigger-than-life strong man was not far from his off-screen character as Hollywood notability got to him. It was recalled that he became more difficult to deal with as his ego grew. At one point, he refused to obey a director's order that he fall down after being shot by the villain. Bancroft declared, "One bullet can't kill Bancroft!" Although he stayed busy through the 1930s, he was older and stouter -- the stuff of featured characters. And Bancroft was also getting a lot of competition from younger character actors. In the early '30s, his roles continued to typecast him as lead heavies, but increasingly, he was cast as second tier -- if with more variety -- in later roles. He was paper editor MacWade in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); a doctor in A Doctor's Diary (1937); a few sea captains along the way; and most memorably Marshal Curly Wilcox in the John Ford Western (his first with sound) Stagecoach (1939). Here he is particularly engaging tough lawman but with a big heart. Into the 1940s, he only did a handful of films. But he again had a rogue's spotlight with another name director -- Cecil B. DeMille -- in one of his always epic yarns. This time it was a Texas Ranger chasing a murderer over the Canadian border in North West Mounted Police (1940) with a stellar cast including Gary Cooper, everybody's favorite blond Madeleine Carroll, and Paulette Goddard as fleeing criminal, Jacques Corbeau's (Bancroft) daughter. By 1942, Bancroft had decided to move on, retiring with the intention of becoming a Southern California rancher. He quietly assumed this new role for a long run of 14 years before his passing.

Coming from a lower class family Mizoguchi entered the production company Nikkatsu as an actor specialized in female roles. Later he became an assistant director and made his first film in 1922. Although he filmed almost 90 movies in the silent era, only his last 12 productions are really known outside of Japan because they were especially produced for Venice (e.g The Life of Oharu (1952) or Sansho the Bailiff (1954). He only filmed two productions in color: Yôkihi (1955) and Taira Clan Saga (1955).

Lean, red/auburn-haired, athletically-inclined Paul Michael Kelly grew up on the tough streets of Brooklyn, New York. Born August 9, 1899, the ninth of ten children in a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent. The siblings' father, Michael, owned a bar called Kelly's Cafe. He died while Paul was still quite young and the entire clan was required to pitch in financially. Young Paul, who wound up making his Broadway debut at age 8 in "The Grand Army Man", did quite well for his family. His father's establishment was located close to Vitagraph Studios and the studio used to borrow furniture from the saloon for their sets. As partial repayment (at the request of his mother), the studio would use Paul for some of their one-reel silent films.

From 1911 on, he was the resident moppet at the studio,known as 'Chick Kelly, the Vitagraph Boy'. He appeared with such top matinée heavyweights as Maurice Costello and Constance Talmadge. The good-looking Kelly played the son in "The Jarr Family" series of one-reel adventures starring Harry Davenport as the patriarch. He transitioned into teen and young adult roles alternating between theater and movie assignments. Hit Broadway shows included "Little Women" (1916), Booth Tarkington's "Seventeen" (1918), and the highly popular "Penrod" starring Helen Hayes (also 1918). On celluloid he was romantically paired with Mary Miles Minter in the silent classic Anne of Green Gables (1919) and the success of that film moved him into even higher contention. The early 20s continued to be fruitful for Paul especially behind the theater footlights where he joined such esteemed leading ladies as Doris Kenyon in "Up the Ladder" (1922) and Blanche Yurka in "The Sea Woman" (1925). Films beckoned with The Great Adventure (1921), The New Klondike (1926), Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927) and Special Delivery (1927).

It was the love of a woman in the form of actress Dorothy Mackaye, however, that temporarily proved his undoing. Kelly met Dorothy Mackaye and her husband, Ziegfeld Follies song-and-dance man Ray Raymond (1888-1927), in New York and the three became fast friends and party-hearty cronies. They reconnected again years later when all had moved to Hollywood to pursue film. Her shaky marriage led her and Paul into a torrid love affair. By April 16, 1927, the couple's cover had been blown wide open. That same day, the two men, both drunk, duked it out. Ray came out the definite loser in the fight. Ethel Lee, the Raymonds' maid, opened the door and Kelly stormed into the house and confronted the much smaller man. Kelly shouted: "I understand that you have been saying things about me." Ray denied the accusation and attempted to defuse the situation by offering Kelly a seat, but Kelly, 6 feet tall and weighed about 200 lbs, was drunk and spoiling for a fight. According to the maid, Ray told Kelly: "I can't fight. I'm fifty pounds underweight, and I've been drinking." "I'll beat you", Kelly reportedly replied and punched Ray three or four times. The maid told police that Raymond got up but that Kelly grabbed him and put one hand behind his neck and beat him with the other, then threw him to the couch. The maid stated that Raymond was just a punching bag for Kelly and had put up minimal resistance. Four year old Valerie Raymond had witnessed the beating. Dr. Sullivan, who attended Raymond, consulted with other doctors who determined the cause of death was "nephritic coma" - the result of an inflammation of the kidneys. Mackaye paid Sullivan $500 (approximately $6500 in current U.S. dollars) for his "services".

The circumstances of Raymond's death might have been permanently successfully covered up if not for local newshounds who got wind of the fight and his subsequent death. They called on Coroner Nance and began asking for details, but he couldn't tell them a thing -- Raymond's death had never been reported to his office. Nance called the hospital where Raymond had died, and was informed that not only was Ray deceased his body had been removed by an undertaker! Nance followed up and located the corpse at a Hollywood mortuary and claimed the body to perform an autopsy. Unsurprisingly, the coroner's findings didn't agree with those of Sullivan - and Nance had harsh words for both Kelly and Mackaye, as well as Sullivan. The coroner reported that "Fortifying himself with four or five drinks - probably to brace up his bully courage - Kelly deliberately went into Raymond's home for the purpose of beating him. I am also informed that Mrs. Raymond was in Kelly's apartment when he left his home for the purpose of going to her home to beat up Raymond and it is my belief that it was due to her influence that Kelly went to Raymond's for the sole purpose of attacking him."

In Kelly's statement to the cops he said he had purposely called on Raymond to demand an apology for comments the cuckolded man had allegedly made. Kelly also told cops was that he went to Raymond's home "to give him the threshing [sic] that was coming to him" and made no other statements except to profess his love for Mackaye. Witnesses stated that Dorothy was still at Kelly's apartment when he returned after beating Ray, and apparently the couple retired to a rear room and conferred in secret for nearly thirty minutes, apparently in order to get their stories straight.

Dorothy Mackaye collapsed three times at the grand jury inquiry into Ray's death. At one point she fell to the marble floor with enough force to render her unconscious for ten minutes. She must have become light-headed after finally being compelled to tell the truth about the day of the beating. Her original story had been that she'd gone out to get Easter eggs for her daughter and to go to a dressmaker. Mackaye summed up her day of testimony before the grand jury by saying: "It has been a terrible ordeal. Why, oh, why, do they have to do all this to me? I would be all right but my nerves are shot to pieces. I hope I won't have to go through all this again very soon. ... Mr. Kelly I have known for years. I knew him as a youngster in New York when he was first starting out. My feeling for him has always been, and is, I suppose, a sort of sisterly love." Like Kelly, she had no words of sadness or remorse for her husband's death. The tabloids had a field day. Kelly was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to one to ten years in prison. Mackaye was sentenced as an accessory after the fact and for concealment of facts involving her husband's death. She was released on bond after serving ten months; Kelly was paroled in August 1929 for "good behavior" after serving only 25 months despite a decided lack of remorse over the incident. In 1931, despite Mackaye's "sisterly love" for Kelly, the couple wed after Kelly's parole board permitted it.

Kelly took his first post-prison Broadway curtain call in a 1930 musical revue and went on to appear in the short-lived drama "Bad Girl" (1930), opposite future film star Sylvia Sidney. Within the next two years he appeared in "Hobo", "Just to Remind You", "Adam Had Two Sons", and "The Great Magoo". Although none were hits, he was firmly establishing himself once again. Hollywood didn't desert him either although he was now relegated to "B" supporting roles with an occasional starring part thrown in for good measure. The virile, thin-lipped actor with trademark jut jaw and iron resolve received consistently good notices for his hard-boiled parts, including Broadway Thru a Keyhole (1933), The President Vanishes (1934), and Song and Dance Man (1936).

Dorothy Mackaye was killed in a car accident in January 1940. Kelly adopted Dorothy's child, Valerie Raymond, who had witnessed the beating death of her father. Her name was changed to Mimi Kelly, removing the last link to the world that Ray Raymond had left behind. Kelly appeared in such films as The Flying Irishman (1939), The Roaring Twenties (1939), Invisible Stripes (1939), Queen of the Mob (1940), The Howards of Virginia (1940), Wyoming (1940), Mystery Ship (1941), Mr. and Mrs. North (1942), Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942), The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944), San Antonio (1945), The Cat Creeps (1946), and Crossfire (1947), freelancing often as either an unyielding police official or sadistic bad guy. He found love again on the film set of Flight Command (1940) and married one of the film's bit part players, Claire Owen (née Zona Mardelle Zwicker), in January 1941, one year after the death of his first wife. Owen subsequently retired from acting and went on to survive him.

During the 1947-48 season, he was nominated and won a Tony Award (tying with Henry Fonda and Basil Rathbone) for his performance in "Command Decision", and also won the Donaldson and Variety Critics awards. In 1950, he went on to earn further acclaim for originating the part of Frank Elgin, the alcoholic actor in Clifford Odets's classic drama "The Country Girl", starring Uta Hagen. Not a big enough movie draw, he lost both parts in the film versions to Clark Gable and Bing Crosby, respectively, but found plentiful work on standard TV drama in the 1950s.

After suffering a heart attack in 1953, the actor was stricken again on Election Day, November 6, 1956, this time fatally, just after returning home from voting for Adlai Stevenson, who lost the election.

Eddie Acuff is one of those wonderful supporting actors who peopled the fascinating world of Hollywood's A, B or Z movies. In a career spanning eighteen years he appeared in an amazing almost 300 movies and one TV episode! His appearances could be invisible (when deleted), hardly visible (he portrayed an endless series of cabbies, reporters, cameramen, cowboys, hamburger vendors, orderlies, ticket agents, militiamen, bus drivers, the lot...), short but recurring (he was the accident-prone mailman in the 'Blondie' series after Irving Bacon gave up the part) or more fleshed out, notably as the sidekick in various serials. Anyway, he nearly always played - in a very talented way - the wise-cracking guy who "knows better". Born on June 3rd 1903, Edward Acuff was drawn to acting under the influence of his maternal uncle, who had been a performer on showboats along the Mississippi. Before going to Hollywood, Eddie Acuff started a theater career, and even played on Broadway (in minor roles of course) in plays such as 'The Dark Hour', 'Heat Lightning' or 'Yellow Jack'. From 1934 to 1951 (five years before his untimely death following a sudden heart attack), Eddie Acuff worked and worked and worked. Only a few of his films are classics (The Petrified Forest (1936), They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1940), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Johnny Allegro (1949))...So what? Seeing but a glimpse of Acuff is always a dose of pleasure guaranteed. Eddie Acuff is buried at the North Hollywood Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park.

If ever there was a Great Dane in Hollywood it was Jean Hersholt - and one of its great hearts as well. He was from a well-known Danish stage and entertainment family that had toured throughout Europe performing with young Jean as an essential cast member. He graduated from the Copenhagen Art School and continued expanding his stage experience and evidently decided early that he wanted to work in films. He did just two very early (1906) silent films in Germany. Hersholt emigrated from Denmark to the US while still a young man in 1913. Like many another European he came to America to seek further opportunities. Unlike many other European actors who appeared on Broadway in their early American careers, Hersholt never trod The Great White Way. He moved on to Hollywood in 1914 where the future of silent movies had taken the lead. He started as a movie extra then progressed into small feature player roles from 1915 through 1917. For that latter year he had no less than 17 bit parts.

By the 1920s his roles were substantial feature pieces, but most of these were as villains - in fact, a concoction of really vile characters. His theater experience serving him well, he played them so well that he much sought after by directors. Several of his 1920s films were landmarks of the silent era, an early one being The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) which helped propel Rudolf Valentino into the stellar heights. Hersholt became popular and well paid. And certainly his signature silent role was the lead character of Marcus Schouler in the Erich von Stroheim great film Greed (1924), based on the novel McTeague. Stroheim, who spent far more time in front of the camera as an actor, was already well know as a task master and perfectionist director. He went through 42 reels of film for the picture - a numbing nine hours of screen time (shown only once at that length in a private studio screening). He cut the film to five hours, but it was further whittled to a bit over two for release, causing Stroheim to quip bitterly of the editor, "The only thing he had on his mind was his hat!" The powerful film was still there, but the massive editing resulted in whole roles disappearing, not to mention some telltale continuity. Stroheim's need for realism resulted in the climax of the movie to be shot in Death Valley. Still hot in the fall time, Hersholt endured like a veteran but required a hospital stay after sweating away 27 pounds.

Fortunately into the later 1920s Hersholt's roles expanded into a more realistic balance of characters-more virtuous roles - but still some shady fellows and especially the unsuspected, and thus surprising, guilty party in the ever popular murder mysteries. He worked for Samuel Goldwyn for about a year (1923-1924), for Paramount from 1927 through 1929, and several other studios during the period. By the end of the silent era, including those early primitive part mono features with small bits of audio music, sound effects, or dialog, Hersholt was a tried veteran of 75 films. His first all mono sound film was The Climax (1930) and despite a Germanic accent, he had a pleasant, mellow voice and a camera friendly presence that ensured him continued success. The variety ran the gamut from a sturdy supporting part in Grand Hotel (1932), to supporting Boris Karloff and a pretty hot Myrna Loy in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), and doing the same in Dinner at Eight (1933). Busy with nine movies in 1930, he also moved into people's living rooms on radio as well during that year.

Of course, for some time Hersholt was a mature actor-simply meaning he had many secondary roles as doctors and professors and nobles of many sorts and increasingly he appeared as benign fatherly types. Father roles of the 20s continued into the 30s - augmented with grandfather roles as well. He was the father of Sonja Henie in that charismatic champion ice skater's first Hollywood film One in a Million (1936), and he is perhaps best remembered as the embittered but deeply caring grandfather of Shirley Temple in the beloved Heidi (1937). But it was another role as a doctor that would provide a continuing vehicle for Hersholt and something of a fateful direction for the actor. The mid-30s were abuzz with the births of the Dionne Quintuplets in Canada. Hollywood jumped on it with usual alacrity, highlighting the story and the officiating obstetrician, Dr. Dafoe, who was translated into Dr. John Luke, in The Country Doctor (1936). Hersholt brought the right ingredients to the part of Luke and two years later a sequel followed, Five of a Kind (1938). Hersholt thought the character good medicine all round and was enthusiastic about a series of movies, but Dafoe himself blocked this idea. Nevertheless, in 1937 Hersholt had already germinated a new radio series to continue portraying a dedicated and kindly small town doctor. For a character name Hersholt turned to his most beloved author, his countryman, literary light Hans Christian Andersen, for a name-Dr. Christian. It was a hit and, and he convinced RKO Radio Pictures to bankroll a series of six Dr. Christian films (1939-41).

These latter and a few other films would mark the end of Hersholt's film career, but he was so very busy otherwise. His familiarity with Andersen was a scholarly avocation and labor of love, furthered by enthusiastic collecting of a library of important Andersen editions and related bibliography (which would later go to the Library of Congress). His English translation (see Trivia below) of the Andersen corpus of fairy tales (including his addition of several other Andersen stories from the author's private papers) remains perhaps the most comprehensive and best effort-even more so for Hersholt personal interpretation of Andersen. Hersholt would also write several articles about Andersen and edit The Andersen-Scudder-Letters (1948). Among other literary pursuits Hersholt also co-wrote a novel based on his Dr. Christian character.

It was in Hersholt's generous nature to give back something in gratitude for the acting career afforded him in Hollywood. His payment was rich indeed: the Motion Picture Relief Fund, the retirement home and hospital inspired by it and generated from it (see Trivia below), and the great charitable work that Hersholt would perform were paid back with two Academy Awards, the second after his tenure as president of the Academy. These special honors would be the seed of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (see Trivia below). But in 1956 Hersholt was dying of cancer - and yet that would not stop him from one more good turn. His beloved Dr. Christian character was going to TV (produced by the Ziv Studios), and he was asked to symbolically pass the baton to the new Dr. Christian, Macdonald Carey. With a tremendous effort, Hersholt, now withered to 95 pounds braved the first episode shooting, capping his life with one last magnificent example of his humanity.

Carol Andrews was born on 4 July 1921 in Syracuse, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Murder Is My Business (1946), The Lady Confesses (1945) and The Guilty (1947). She was married to Jack Jarvis Jr and Frank A.Wilson. She died on 27 February 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Tim Ryan was born on 5 July 1899 in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for From Here to Eternity (1953), The Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943) and Detective Kitty O'Day (1944). He was married to Irene Ryan. He died on 22 October 1956 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Kewpie Morgan was born on 1 February 1892 in Anna, Texas, USA. He was an actor and director, known for George Robey's Day Off (1918), The Border Legion (1918) and Drag Harlan (1920). He was married to Hassie. He died on 24 September 1956 in Collin County, Texas, USA.

Francis L. Sullivan was born on 6 January 1903 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Great Expectations (1946), Night and the City (1950) and Oliver Twist (1948). He was married to Frances Joan Perkins (designer). He died on 19 November 1956 in New York City, New York, USA.

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,and starred in a network radio show entitled at various times "Linit Bath Club Revue", Town Hall Tonight", Texaco Star Theater" and finally "The Fred Allen Show" from 1932 to 1949. He was also a semi-regular on the network radio program "The Big Show" from 1950 to 1952. He was a frequent guest on "The Jack Benny Program". Jack and Fred, good friends in real life, had an accidental on air feud that begin in 1936 and lasted off and on until Fred Allen's passing.

On television, he was one of the regular rotating hosts of the Colgate Comedy Hour (1950), but did not renew his initial contract due to health reasons. He also starred on television's "Judge for Yourself" from 1953 to 1954 and was a regular panelist on What's My Line" from 1954 until his death.

He appeared in such films as "Thanks a Million", "Love Thy Neighbor", "Sally, Irene, and Mary", and "It's in the Bag".

He wrote two autobiographies. The first,about his days in radio, published in 1954, entitled "Treadmill to Oblivion". The second, about his days in vaudeville, was published after his death by his wife Portland Hoffa, entitled "Much Ado About Me." (1956). Fred was in the process of completing the final chapter at the time of his death. Also always known as an avid letter writer, a collection of these entitled "Fred Allen's Letters" was published in 1966.

Christian Rub was born on 13 April 1886 in Graz, Styria, Austria. He was an actor, known for You Can't Take It with You (1938), Peter Ibbetson (1935) and Girls' Dormitory (1936). He was married to Amy. He died on 14 April 1956 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Bertolt Brecht was born on 10 February 1898 in Augsburg, Germany and one of the country's most influential poets, playwrights and screenwriters. His most famous work was the musical "The Threepenny Opera" (with Kurt Weill), but his dramas such as "Mother Courage and Her Children" or "The Good Person of Sezuan" were equally successful. As he opposed the upcoming Nazi movement, he fled Germany in 1933 and finally emigrated to the United States. After testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, he left Hollywood and returned to Europe. He settled down in East Germany, where he founded the famous "Berliner Ensemble" and became the state's intellectual hero. He died on 14 August 1956 in East Berlin.

Ralph Morgan was born on 6 July 1883 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Strange Interlude (1932), Rasputin and the Empress (1932) and The Power and the Glory (1933). He was married to Grace Arnold. He died on 11 June 1956 in New York City, New York, USA.

One of a large group of Hungarian refugees who found refuge in England in the 1930s, Sir Alexander Korda was the first British film producer to receive a knighthood. He was a major, if controversial, figure and acted as a guiding force behind the British film industry of the 1930s and continued to influence British films until his death in 1956. He learned his trade by working in studios in Austria, Germany and America and was a crafty and flamboyant businessman. He started his production company, London Films, in 1933 and one of its first films The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), received an Oscar nomination as best picture and won the Best Actor Oscar for its star, Charles Laughton. Helped by his brothers Zoltan Korda (director) and Leila Rubin (art director) and other expatriate Hungarians, London Films produced some of Britain's finest films (even if they weren't all commercial successes). Korda's willingness to experiment and be daring allowed the flowering of such talents as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and gave early breaks to people such as Laurence Olivier, David Lean and Carol Reed. Korda sold his library to television in the 1950s, thus allowing London Films' famous logo of Big Ben to become familiar to a new generation of film enthusiasts.

Stanley Blystone was born on 1 August 1894 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Modern Times (1936), Eyes of Texas (1948) and Code of the Mounted (1935). He was married to Alma Tell and Claire Siebrecht. He died on 16 July 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Dorsey was born on November 19, 1905 in Mahanoy Plane, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a musician and a bandleader, whose music appeared in such films as Annie Hall (1977), Ship Ahoy (1942), and The Human Stain (2003). He also occasionally appeared as himself, frequently with his band, in a variety of films. He was previously married to Jane Karl New, Patricia Dane and Mildred Ann Kraft. He died on November 26, 1956 in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.

"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers out there are starving!" When Patrick Dennis's fictional Auntie Mame uttered this pithy observation, she could have been speaking of Charles MacArthur. Charlie never shied away from the feast, and he certainly never went hungry. Arriving in November 1895 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Charlie was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. His early life was dominated by his father's ministry, leading the family to travel cross country wherever the elder MacArthur's calling took them. Charlie spent much of his time during those years hiding in the bathroom -- the only place offering even a modicum of privacy for a member of such a large family -- reading virtually anything he could get his hands on. He developed a passion for the written word that would last him to his dying day. Resisting Reverend MacArthur's insistent urging that his son follow him into the ministry, young Charlie left the family's rural New York home soon after finishing high school. Heading off to the Midwest, he took a reporter's job at The Oak Leaves, a suburban Chicago newspaper owned by two of his older brothers and run by his older sister. His first professional taste of crafting something for others to read whetted his appetite for even more. Intently determined to pursue a calling which for him was as strong as the calling his father had heard, Charlie went to the City News Bureau of Chicago as the first step in his journey toward life as a journalist. Though only 19, the irreverent sense of humor and dislike for mindless authoritarianism for which he would later be so well known was already quite evident in the application he filled out for the job. In the space entitled "Tell us in exactly seventy-five words why you wish to become a reporter," Charlie wrote: "I want to become a reporter more because I like the work than for any other reason. I feel that even if I should branch off in another profession, the experience obtained in getting up on your toes after news would be valuable. These are my reasons. More words would be useless." The excitement of working in brash and brawling pre-1920s Chicago didn't quite satisfy Charlie's hunger for something more, however, and he soon hooked up with General "Black Jack" Pershing, galloping off to Mexico to join in the hunt for the infamous Pancho Villa. When World War I broke out, Charlie joined the Army's 149th Field Artillery, part of the Rainbow Division. During his time in France, he and his battery mate shot down a German plane with nothing more than a machine gun. Later in the war, Charlie sustained a mild shrapnel wound. In 1919 he penned his only book, A Bug's Eye View of the War (later republished in 1929 by Harper Collins as War Bugs) about his unit's adventures and misadventures during some of the most brutal and bloodiest fighting in history. Returning to Chicago just in time for Prohibition, the Roaring 20s, and Al Capone, Charlie became one of Chicago's most well-known and widely read reporters. He authored some of the most enduring pieces ever printed in the pages of the Chicago Tribune and Daily News. His style was inventive, charming, and witty. Readers couldn't get enough. Once, when writing about a dentist accused of sexually molesting his female patients, Charlie chose the headline "Dentist Fills Wrong Cavity". He also wrote several short stories, two of which, "Hang It All" (1921) and "Rope" (1923), were published in H.L. Mencken's The Smart Set magazine. His star continued to rise, and he eventually headed off to the greener pastures of New York City. Once settled in the Big Apple, he began to shift his efforts toward playwrighting. His first true Broadway success was in 1926 with the play "Lulu Belle", written in collaboration with Edward Sheldon. It would later be remade into a 1948 movie starring Dorothy Lamour and George Montgomery. His next play, "Salvation", written in collaboration with Sidney Howard, enjoyed a moderate Broadway run. During the summer of 1927, Charlie and long-time friend and collaborator, Ben Hecht, rented the premises of the Nyack Girl's Academy as a haven from which they could create their own special brand of playwrighting. Helen Hayes (the future Mrs. Charles MacArthur) would tell friends of times when she or Rose Hecht would visit to bring in food or other supplies for their men, and the building would be positively filled with shouts of laughter and merriment. The result of this seclusion was the 1928 Broadway debut of "The Front Page". The phenomenal stage success of "The Front Page" prompted Charlie to head to Hollywood and screenplay work. Having already developed such works as The Girl Said No (1930), Billy the Kid (1930) and The Unholy Garden (1931), he hit the jackpot in 1931, first with the movie version of The Front Page (1931) (again collaborating with Ben Hecht), which won Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Lewis Milestone), and Best Actor (Adolphe Menjou), and then, with the release of The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), which netted a 1932 Best Actress Oscar for its star, Helen Hayes. The film also won awards at that year's Venice Film Festival for both its leading lady and its director, Edgar Selwyn. Charlie's screenplay for Rasputin and the Empress (1932), the only movie ever to feature siblings John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore together in the same film, gained him his own first Academy Award nomination (in 1934, for Best Original Story). Even though their efforts had turned mostly to filmmaking by this point, it was also during this period that Hecht and MacArthur produced their second smash theatrical effort, "Twentieth Century", which debuted on Broadway in December 1932, and was later made into the well-received 1934 movie starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. Unhappy with the machinations of Hollywood's fledgling film industry, however, MacArthur and Hecht decided to set up their own shop in Astoria, New York, producing, writing, directing, and even making uncredited onscreen appearances in a series of films such as The Scoundrel (1935) (poking fun at themselves by playing downtrodden patrons of a charity flop house) and Crime Without Passion (1934) (in which they portrayed -- what else? -- newspaper reporters). Their work earned much critical acclaim, culminating in the 1936 Best Writing (Original Story) Academy Award for The Scoundrel (1935). Their 1939 collaboration to turn Rudyard Kipling's epic poem into the movie Gunga Din (1939), starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., was recognized in 1999 by the National Film Registry, and their adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1939) garnered the two yet another Academy Award Best Writing (Screenplay) nomination in 1940. That year also saw the remake of "The Front Page" into the popular movie, His Girl Friday (1940), starring Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. The advent of World War II prompted Charlie to interrupt his writing career and sign on in his country's service once again. He began his second stint of service years as a Major in the Chemical Warfare Service, returning home at the war's conclusion a Lt. Colonel. By now, the father of two children, Mary and James MacArthur, and husband to "The First Lady of the American Theatre", Charlie had amassed a considerable amount of fame in his own right, yet was still looking for something different. Resuming his theatrical and film work, he also took on the duties of editing and publishing the foundering Theatre World magazine, but left after little more than a year, dissatisfied with the politics and constraints of working in a corporate atmosphere. The tragic loss of his 19-year-old daughter to polio in 1949 was a blow from which Charlie would never quite recover. Though he continued to work on screenplays and movie scripts up until his death in 1956, some of which enjoyed a modicum of success, he would never again completely recapture the freewheeling enthusiasm of his earlier days. When his son grew old enough to begin considering a career of his own, his father advised, "Do anything you like, son, but never become a playwright. It's a death worse than fate!" Charles MacArthur left behind a lasting imprint upon both those who knew him personally and those who knew him only through his published works. Supremely disdainful of anything even remotely false or affected, Charlie nevertheless did follow the path his father wished him to take, albeit in his own inimical fashion. His words carried a truth and sincerity few writers have been able to achieve. His unique mix of subtle irony, gentle sarcasm, and poignant pathos reached as deeply into his audience at least as well as any fiery sermon from a pulpit ever could. As Ben Hecht said in the eulogy he delivered at his friend's memorial service (and later expanded upon in his 1957 book, "Charlie: The Improbable Life and Times of Charles MacArthur"), "Charlie was more than a man of talent. He was himself a great piece of writing. His gaiety, wildness and kindness, his love for his bride Helen, and his two children, and for his clan of brothers and sisters -- his wit and his adventures will live a long, long while".