Most Best Picture Appearance Pre-1970
Which of these actors who played in a Best Picture Winner for the first time before 1970 is your favorite? (minimum 3)
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- Boston-born Franklyn Farnum was on the vaudeville stage at the age of 12 and was featured in a number of theatre and musical productions by the time he entered silent films near the age of 40. He appeared to be at his most comfortable in the saddle, his career dominated mostly by westerns. Some of his more famous films include the serial Vanishing Trails (1920) and features The Clock (1917), The Firebrand (1922), The Drug Store Cowboy (1925) and The Gambling Fool (1925). In 1925 he left films, but returned five years later at the advent of sound, only to find himself billed much further down the credits, if at all. He continued on, however, in these obscure roles well into the 1950s. Largely forgotten today, he is not related to silent actors and brothers Dustin Farnum and William Farnum. One of his three wives was the ill-fated Alma Rubens, to whom he was briefly married in 1918. Farnum passed away from cancer in 1961.The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Going My Way (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), All About Eve (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- Wallis Clark was born on 2 March 1882 in Essex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Penny Serenade (1941) and Murder by Invitation (1941). He was married to Kate Byron. He died on 14 February 1961 in North Hollywood, California, USA.It Happened One Night (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939)
- Bess Flowers was born on 23 November 1898 in Sherman, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for We Faw Down (1928), The Shadow (1937) and Sinister Hands (1932). She was married to William S. Holman and Cullen Tate. She died on 28 July 1984 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), All About Eve (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Herbert Evans was born on 16 April 1882 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Third Degree (1919), Reunion in Vienna (1933) and Slightly Married (1932). He was married to Etta Maud Bignell. He died on 10 February 1952 in San Gabriel, California, USA.Grand Hotel (1931/1932), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Casablanca (1943)- Robert Karnes was born on 19 June 1917 in Watsonville, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Rocky King, Detective (1950), Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948) and Police Story (1973). He was married to Doris Karnes. He died on 4 December 1979 in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA.The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), All the King's Men (1949), From Here to Eternity (1953)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Edwin Maxwell was born on 9 February 1886 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Scarface (1932), The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and His Girl Friday (1940). He was married to Betty Alden. He died on 13 August 1948 in Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA.All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/1930), Grand Hotel (1931/1932), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Eddie Kane was born on 12 August 1889 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Big Wheel (1949), Star Reporter (1939) and The Broadway Melody (1929). He was married to Madeleine ?. He died on 30 April 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA.The Broadway Melody (1929), It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938)- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and her father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. Her brother, Warren Beatty, was born on March 30, 1937. Her ancestry includes English and Scottish.
Shirley was the tallest in her ballet classes at the Washington School of Ballet. Just after she graduated from Washington-Lee High School, she packed her bags and headed for New York. While auditioning for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Me and Juliet", the producer kept mispronouncing her name. She then changed her name from Shirley MacLean Beaty to Shirley MacLaine. She later had a role in "The Pajama Game", as a member of the chorus and understudy to Carol Haney. A few months into the run, Shirley was going to leave the show for the lead role in "Can-Can" but ended up filling in for Haney, who had broken her ankle and could not perform. She would fill in for Carol, again, three months later, following another injury, the very night that movie producer Hal B. Wallis was in the audience. Wallis signed MacLaine to a five-year contract to Paramount Pictures. Three months later, she was off to shoot The Trouble with Harry (1955). She then took roles in Hot Spell (1958) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956), completed not too long before her daughter, Sachi Parker (born Stephanie), was born. With Shirley's career on track, she played one of her most challenging roles: "Ginny Moorhead" in Some Came Running (1958), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She went on to do The Sheepman (1958) and The Matchmaker (1958). In 1960, she got her second Academy Award nomination for The Apartment (1960). Three years later, she received a third nomination for Irma la Douce (1963). In 1969, she brought her friend Bob Fosse from Broadway to direct her in Sweet Charity (1969), from which she got her "signature" song, "If My Friends Could See Me Now". After a five-year hiatus, Shirley made a documentary on China called The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975), for which she received an Oscar nomination for best documentary.
In 1977, she got her fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination for The Turning Point (1977). In 1979, she worked with Peter Sellers in Being There (1979), made shortly before his death. After 20 years in the film industry, she finally took home the Best Actress Oscar for Terms of Endearment (1983). After a five-year hiatus, Shirley made Madame Sousatzka (1988), a critical and financial hit that took top prize at the Venice Film Festival. In 1989, she starred with Dolly Parton, Sally Field and Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias (1989). She received rave reviews playing Meryl Streep's mother in Postcards from the Edge (1990) and for Guarding Tess (1994). In 1996, she reprised her role from "Terms of Endearment" as "Aurora Greenway" in The Evening Star (1996), which didn't repeat its predecessor's success at the box office. In mid-1998, she directed Bruno (2000), which starred Alex D. Linz. In February 2001, Shirley worked with close friends once again in These Old Broads (2001), and co-starred with Julia Stiles in Carolina (2003) and with Kirstie Alley in Salem Witch Trials (2002).
MacLaine as her own website which includes her own radio show and interviews, the Encounter Board, and Independent Expression, a members-only section of the site. In the past few years, Shirley starred in a CBS miniseries based on the life of cosmetics queen Mary Kay Ash--Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (2002), and wrote two more books, "The Camino" in 2001, and "Out On A Leash" in 2003. After taking a slight hiatus from motion pictures, Shirley returned with roles in the movies that were small, but wonderfully scene-stealing: Bewitched (2005) with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, In Her Shoes (2005) with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, in which Shirley was nominated for a Golden Globe in the best supporting actress category, and Rumor Has It... (2005) with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Shirley completed filming of Closing the Ring (2007), directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, in 2007. Her latest book is entitled "Sage-ing While Ag-ing"; Shirley's latest film is Valentine's Day (2010), which debuted in theaters on February 12, 2010.Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Apartment (1960), Terms of Endearment (1983)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lee Phelps was born on 15 May 1893 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Anna Christie (1930), Scouts to the Rescue (1939) and The Girl from Rio (1939). He was married to Mary Warren. He died on 19 March 1953 in Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA.Grand Hotel (1931/1932), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Nobody in the history of films has ever gotten dropped into quicksand by a tree possessed by the spirit of a wrongly killed chief's son like Suzanne Ridgway. Her career didn't always start out so glamorous. Her undeniable beauty got her a movie contract where they saw her as a potential foil for a comedian. Like a lot of ideas in Hollywood, it never came to fruition and Ridgway quickly found herself working in bit roles and as an extra.
By the 1940s, Ridgway was reduced to appearing in roles that required girls who looked pretty but who didn't have much chance for improvement. Her acting ability was very limited and this further hampered her career. Her exotic appearance led her to constantly get cast in roles of Spanish or Mexican girls and she had trouble delivering dialog with an accent. Like a true professional, she did what she was told and she was able to collect paychecks for 20 years while experiencing all facets of the business.
By the late 1940s, Ridgway frequently found herself being fought over by pirates, cowboys, and derelicts. What had once been a promising young actress was primarily reduced to window dressing for whatever scene she appeared in. She still managed to appear in some higher-budget films like "Calamity Jane" where she gets to wink at Doris Day in a silent bit role and as a guest in a hotel lobby admiring Glenn Ford. Eventually, she met producer Lindsley Parsons who helped get her a role in the film masterpiece "From Hell It Came." Her final acting role was in her husband's film "The Purple Gang" where she played Daisy, a girl who constantly reported crimes and when she finally saw a real one, nobody would believe her.
While most actresses quickly give up on Hollywood, Suzanne Ridgway never gave up on her dream. She wanted to be an actress who starred in films. When she finally got her chance, she was attacked by a possessed tree and tossed into quicksand. She got further than most and she leaves a long-lasting legacy that will forever be remembered by the countless fans on this true leading lady.Gone with the Wind (1939), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Around the World in 80 Days (1956)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Bodil Rosing was born on 27 December 1877 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was an actress, known for Sunrise (1927), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Why Be Good? (1929). She was married to Einer Jansen. She died on 31 December 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/1930), Grand Hotel (1931/1932), You Can't Take it with You (1938)- Actor
- Soundtrack
American character actor in scores of films after substantial stage experience. He was born in DeSoto, Missouri, but raised in Atchison, Kansas. The son of a railroad worker and law clerk (some publicity material states the father was a physician, but family and census records show otherwise), he wavered between various careers including oil exploration, but found his way after an introduction to the stage with the Atchison Civic Theatre and Kansas City Civic Theatre. He briefly attended the University of Kansas (where he was a fraternity brother of future newsman John Cameron Swayze). He moved from Kansas to California in 1930, where he lived with his grandparents and worked in the lemon groves near Pomona prior to opening a tire-repair shop in that city. He also helped found a theatre company in Pomona. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout looking for someone with a resemblance to Henry Clay, for the Warners short film The Monroe Doctrine (1939). He signed with Warners as a contract player and was thereafter virtually never without work. He played in an enormous number of films over the next three decades, mostly in small supporting roles. He was equally adept at playing businessmen, attorneys, or historical figures, and was a familiar face on screen and on television for his entire career, though most people would have been unable to identify him by name. Perhaps his greatest fame came in the TV role of oil company president John Brewster on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). During the last years of his life, he was co-owner of a popular restaurant/bar in Encino, California, called The Oak Room. Wilcox died in 1974.Gentleman's Agreement (1947), All the King's Men (1949), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Respected character actor whose on-screen work included everything from Shakespeare to Dick Tracy (1990) (his last film). After a long apprenticeship in the theatre, the 38-year-old Wolfe finally debuted in films in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), recreating his Broadway role. He then toiled away steadily in Hollywood for the next several decades, working as a supporting player in literally hundreds of film and TV productions well into his 90s. Though capable of a wide range of parts, Wolfe's gentle, patrician manner found him most often cast as a butler, a minister or a kindly doctor. He finally gained his greatest fame at the age of 85, effortlessly stealing scenes as Mama Carlson's doddering yet feisty butler "Hirsch" in several episodes of the MTM sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978).Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mrs. Miniver (1942)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary Young was born on 21 June 1879 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Lost Weekend (1945), Alias Jesse James (1959) and The Stork Club (1945). She was married to John Craig. She died on 23 June 1971 in La Jolla, California, USA.The Lost Weekend (1945), An American in Paris (1951), Around the World in 80 Days (1956)- Harry Allen was born on 10 July 1883 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor, known for California Straight Ahead! (1937), Bombay Mail (1934) and The Silent Hero (1927). He died on 4 December 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Cavalcade (1932/1933), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
A minor character actor who appeared in literally hundreds of films, actor Irving Bacon could always be counted on for expressing bug-eyed bewilderment or cautious frustration in small-town settings with his revolving door of friendly, servile parts - mailmen, milkmen, clerks, chauffeurs, cab drivers, bartenders, soda jerks, carnival operators, handymen and docs. Born September 6, 1893 in the heart of the Midwest (St. Joseph, Missouri), he was the son of Millar and Myrtle (Vane) Bacon. Irving first found work in silent comedy shorts at Keystone Studios usually playing older than he was and, for a time, was a utility player for Mack Sennett in such slapstick as A Favorite Fool (1915). Irving made an easy adjustment when sound entered the pictures and after appearing in the Karl Dane and George K. Arthur two-reel comedy shorts such as Knights Before Christmas (1930), began to show up in feature-length films. He played higher-ups on occasion, such as the Secretary of the Navy in Million Dollar Legs (1932), police inspector in The House of Mystery (1934), mayor in Room for One More (1952), and judge in Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958), but those were exceptions to the rule. Blending in with the town crowd was what Irving was accustomed to and, over the years, he would be glimpsed in some of Hollywood's most beloved classics such as Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), San Francisco (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and A Star Is Born (1954). Trivia nuts will fondly recall his beleaguered postman in the Blondie (1938) film series that ran over a decade.
Irving could also be spotted on popular '50s and '60s TV programs such as the westerns Laramie (1959) and Wagon Train (1957), and "comedies December Bride (1954) and The Real McCoys (1957). He can still be seen in a couple of old codger roles on I Love Lucy (1951). One was as a marriage license proprietor and the other as Vivian Vance's doting dad from Albuquerque, to whom she paid a visit on her way to Hollywood with the Ricardos. Irving died on February 5, 1965, having clocked in over 400 features.It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939)- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Billy Bevan's show-business career began in his native Australia, with the Pollard theatrical organization. The company had two theater troupes, one which toured Asia and the other traveling to North America. Bevan wound up in the latter, performing in skits and plays all over Canada and Alaska then down into the continental US. While in a road company of the play "A Knight for a Day", Bevan was noticed by comedy pioneer Mack Sennett, who hired him on the spot. Bevan made many one- and two-reel shorts for Sennett over a ten-year period, and then transitioned into a reliable comic actor in many Hollywood comedies over the next 20 years or so (even doing voice-overs for cartoons). He made his last film in 1950, then retired. He died in Escondido, CA, in 1957.Cavalcade (1932/1933), Rebecca (1940), Mrs. Miniver (1942)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Gruff, burly American character actor. Born in 1903 in Benkelman, Nebraska (confirmed by Social Security records; sources stating 1905 or Denver, Colorado are in error.) Bond grew up in Denver, the son of a lumberyard worker. He attended the University of Southern California, where he got work as an extra through a football teammate who would become both his best friend and one of cinema's biggest stars: John Wayne. Director John Ford promoted Bond from extra to supporting player in the film Salute (1929), and became another fast friend. An arrogant man of little tact, yet fun-loving in the extreme, Bond was either loved or hated by all who knew him. His face and personality fit perfectly into almost any type of film, and he appeared in hundreds of pictures in his more than 30-year career, in both bit parts and major supporting roles. In the films of Wayne and Ford, particularly, he was nearly always present. Among his most memorable roles are John L. Sullivan in Gentleman Jim (1942), Det. Tom Polhaus in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and the Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnson Clayton The Searchers (1956). An ardent but anti-intellectual patriot, he was perhaps the most vehement proponent, among the Hollywood community, of blacklisting in the witch hunts of the 1950s, and he served as a most unforgiving president of the ultra-right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. In the mid-'50s he gained his greatest fame as the star of TV's Wagon Train (1957). During its production, Bond traveled to Dallas, Texas, to attend a football game and died there in his hotel room of a massive heart attack.It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939)- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Character actor who made his film debut on the East Coast in October 1911. After serving in WWI, Chandler continued with his film and stage career becoming one of the most prolific (if more often than not uncredited) bit actors in the industry. Also appeared in vaudeville as a comedian and singer; when his act completed its run in Los Angeles, signed with Thomas H. Ince's 101 Ranch Productions. First appearing in westerns and silent comedies, he was later frequently cast as detectives and police officers. He was related through marriage to actor 'Philip Morris (I)', both being married to sisters of the same family. Even though it exceeds 320 films, Chandler's film resume is likely incomplete due to the likelihood that many of his earliest silent films are lost.It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Heinie Conklin was born on 16 July 1886 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Hard Boiled (1926), Ham and Eggs at the Front (1927) and Uncle Tom Without a Cabin (1919). He was married to Irene Blake. He died on 30 July 1959 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/1930), Cimarron (1930/1931), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Gino Corrado is best known as the waiter in most of the films from Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in such popular and beloved films as Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Gone with the Wind. With over 1,000 appearances (mostly uncredited roles as a bit player or an extra from 1916 until 1956) he has one of the largest filmographies of any actor in the film industry. Three Stooges fans recognized him from his appearances in several memorable Three Stooges shorts, and it was the Three Stooges Fan Club that eventually bought him his gravestone. Corrado's earliest film roles included DW Griffith's Intolerance (1916), Sunrise (1927) and his biggest role as one of the Three Musketeers (Aramis) opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Iron Mask (1929). Italian-born Gino Corrado's real name was Gino Liserani and his two brothers were also actors. Lawrence Liserani worked mostly as an extra, and Louis (Luigi) Liserani had a few bit roles in the 1920s under the name Louis Dumar.
Corrado was mainly uncredited after the silent era ended and typecast as a waiter or chef. He, incredibly, entered the restaurant business in the late 1940s where he served the motion picture crowd much like on-screen. Kirby Pringle is writing a book about Gino Corrado titled "Waiting on Hollywood: The Tale of an Italian Bit Player," with University Press of Mississippi, due out in early 2022.Gone with the Wind (1939), Rebecca (1940), Casablanca (1943)- Actor
- Director
- Writer
White-haired London-born character actor, a familiar face in Hollywood for more than five decades. He was born George William Crisp, the youngest of ten siblings, to working class parents James Crisp and his wife Elizabeth (nee Christy). Despite his humble beginnings, Donald was educated at Oxford University. He saw action with the 10th Hussars of the British Army at Kimberley and Ladysmith during the Boer War and subsequently moved to the United States to begin a new life as an actor.
Arriving in New York in 1906 he began as a singer in Grand Opera with the company of impresario John C. Fisher. By 1910, he had climbed his way up the ladder to become stage manager for George M. Cohan. He was a member of D.W. Griffith's original stock company in the early days of the film industry, beginning with Biograph in New Jersey and featured in The Birth of a Nation (1915) (as General Ulysses S. Grant), Intolerance (1916) and Broken Blossoms (1919). He later joined Famous Players Lasky (subsequently Paramount) and turned with some success to directing in the 1920s, on occasion also appearing in his films (as for example in Don Q Son of Zorro (1925), as Don Sebastian). By the early 30s, Crisp concentrated exclusively on acting and became one of the more prolific Hollywood character players on the scene. Though he was actually a cockney, he -- for unknown reasons -- invented a Scottish ancestry for himself early on, claiming that he was born in Aberfeldy and affected a Scottish accent throughout his career. Crisp's particular stock-in-trade types were crusty or benevolent patriarchs, stern military officers, doctors and judges. He had lengthy stints under contract at Warner Brothers (1935-42) and MGM (1943-51) with an impressive list of A-grade output to his credit: Burkitt in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Colonel Campbell in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Maitre Labori in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Phipps in The Dawn Patrol (1938), General Bazaine in Juarez (1939), Francis Bacon in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and Sir John Burleson in The Sea Hawk (1940). He is perhaps most fondly remembered as the famous canine's original owner in Lassie Come Home (1943), Elizabeth Taylor's dad Mr. Brown in National Velvet (1944), and, above all, as the head of a Welsh mining family in How Green Was My Valley (1941) (the role which won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). In a less sympathetic vein, Crisp gave a sterling performance as a ruthless tobacco planter in the underrated Gary Cooper drama Bright Leaf (1950).
Donald Crisp died in May 1974 in Van Nuys, California, at the age of 91. He is commemorated by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Vine Street.Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Life of Emile Zola (1937), How Green Was My Valley (1941)- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Character fame on film came quite late for long-time stage actor Harry Davenport at age 70, but he made up for lost time in very quick fashion with well over a hundred film roles registered from the advent of sound to the time of his death in 1949. Beloved for his twinkle-eyed avuncular and/or grandfatherly types in both comedy and drama, Davenport also represented a commanding yet comforting wisdom in his more authoritative roles as judge, doctor, minister, senator, etc.
The scion of an acting dynasty, he was born Harold George Bryant Davenport on January 19, 1866, in New York City to actors Edward Loomis Davenport (1815-1877) and Fanny (Elizabeth) Vining (1829-1891). One of nine children, two of his siblings died young while the seven surviving children went on to share their parents' love of the arts, including actress Fanny (1850-1898) and opera singer Lillie Davenport (1851-1927). Harry took his first stage bow in an 1871 production of "Damon and Pythias" in Philadelphia, and by his teen years was playing Shakespeare in stock companies.
Re-settling in New York, Harry began assertively building up his theater credits. In 1893, at age 27, he married actress Alice Shepard (aka Alice Davenport). Their brief marriage of three years produced daughter Dorothy Davenport, who would continue the acting dynasty into a new generation. She earned further recognition as the wife of tragic silent screen star Wallace Reid. Shortly after his divorce from Alice was final in early 1896, Harry married musical comedy star Phyllis Rankin (1875-1934). Their children Kate Davenport, Edward Davenport and Fanny Davenport became actors as well.
Making his Broadway debut with the musical comedy "The Voyage of Suzette" in 1894, Harry continued in the musical vein with Broadway productions of "The Belle of New York" (1897) (with wife Phyllis) (1895), "In Gay Paree" (1899) and "The Rounders" (1899) (again with Phyllis). The new century ushered in more musicals with "The Girl from Up There" (1901), "The Defender" (1901), "The Girl from Kay's" (1903), "It Happened in Nordland" (1904), "My Best Girl" (1912), "Sari" (1914) and "The Dancing Duchess" (1914). On the legit side he played expertly in "A Country Mouse" (opposite Ethel Barrymore), and in "The Next of Kin" (1909) and "Children of Destiny" (1910).
Co-founding the Actor's Equity Association along with vaudeville legend Eddie Foy as a means to confront the deplorable exploitation of actors, Harry was held in high regard as the acting community subsequently came together and executed strikes to protect and guarantee their rights. This dire situation also prompted Harry to seek work elsewhere -- in films. He joined up with Vitragraph in 1914 and made his silent screen debut with the film Too Many Husbands (1914). In the next year he starred in and directed a series of "Jarr Family" shorts, and made his last silent feature with an unbilled part in Among Those Present (1921) before refocusing completely on his first love -- the stage.
He and his actress/wife Phyllis joined forces once again with the Broadway hit comedies "Lightnin'" and "Three Wise Fools", both in 1918. Throughout the 1920s decade he continued to find employment on the stage with "Thank You," Cock O' the Roost, "Hay Fever" and "Julius Caesar". The untimely death of wife Phyllis in 1934 prompted Harry to abandon his stage pursuits and travel to California, at age 69, to again check out the film industry. It proved to be a very smart move.
Harry graced a number of Oscar-caliber films during his character reign: The Life of Emile Zola (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939), All This, and Heaven Too (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), One Foot in Heaven (1941), Kings Row (1942) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1942). Several of his films also featured family or extended family members. His brother-in-law Lionel Barrymore appeared in a number of Harry's films and Gone with the Wind (1939) also had a son and grandson in the cast.
Harry maintained his film career right up until his death at age 83 of a heart attack on August 9, 1949, and was buried back in New York (Valhalla).The Life of Emile Zola (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939)- Actor
- Writer
Billy Engle was born on 26 May 1889 in Czernowitz, Bukovina, Austria. He was an actor and writer, known for Oh, Mummy! (1927), Westward Whoa! (1925) and Tight Cargo (1926). He was married to Eva Braun. He died on 28 November 1966 in Hollywood, California, USA.It Happened One Night (1934), Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary Field was born on 10 June 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Ball of Fire (1941), Shadows on the Stairs (1941) and The Prince and the Pauper (1937). She was married to Allan Douglas and James Madison Walters II. She died on 12 June 1996 in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Pat Flaherty served in the military during the Mexican border campaign in 1916 and was a flying officer for the Signal Corps in World War I. He then played professional baseball in the minor leagues in Des Moines, San Francisco, Shreveport, Indianapolis, Akron and for other teams. He played professional football for the Chicago Bears in 1923. After his sports career was finished he went to New York, where he became very successful with the DeSylva-Brown music publishing company. There he married Dorothea X. Fugazy, the daughter of a famous boxing promoter. In 1930 he came to Hollywood to work as a producer for Joseph P. Kennedy at Fox Films, but the Great Depression resulted in his position being eliminated, and he turned to acting. In A Day at the Races (1937), he played a plainclothes detective who leads a group of policemen chasing Groucho Marx. His clipped East Coast accent and gruff demeanor often caused him to be cast as tough cops, prison guards, foremen, or other types of authority figures. In addition to his career as a character actor, he was a technical advisor on baseball pictures; for example, he taught Gary Cooper how to pitch for his role in The Pride of the Yankees (1942). In World War II he received a commission in the Marine Corps. He also served in Korea and was discharged with the rank of major.Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), You Can't Take It with You (1938), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, where he stayed until he was two. His father then returned to take him back to Cadiz. At 16, he quit high school, went to work in an Akron, Ohio, tire factory, and decided to become an actor after seeing the play "The Bird of Paradise". He toured in stock companies, worked oil fields and sold ties. On December 13, 1924, he married Josephine Dillon, his acting coach and 15 years his senior. Around that time, they moved to Hollywood, so that Clark could concentrate on his acting career. In April 1930, they divorced and a year later, he married Maria Langham (a.k.a. Maria Franklin Gable), also about 17 years older than him.
While Gable acted on stage, he became a lifelong friend of Lionel Barrymore. After several failed screen tests (for Barrymore and Darryl F. Zanuck), Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. He had a small part in The Painted Desert (1931) which starred William Boyd. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in A Free Soul (1931) the same year. His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932) made him MGM's most important star.
His acting career then flourished. At one point, he refused an assignment, and the studio punished him by loaning him out to (at the time) low-rent Columbia Pictures, which put him in Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934), which won him an Academy Award for his performance. The next year saw a starring role in Call of the Wild (1935) with Loretta Young, with whom he had an affair (resulting in the birth of a daughter, Judy Lewis). He returned to far more substantial roles at MGM, such as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939).
After divorcing Maria Langham, in March 1939 Clark married Carole Lombard, but tragedy struck in January 1942 when the plane in which Carole and her mother were flying crashed into Table Rock Mountain, Nevada, killing them both. A grief-stricken Gable joined the US Army Air Force and was off the screen for three years, flying combat missions in Europe. When he returned the studio regarded his salary as excessive and did not renew his contract. He freelanced, but his films didn't do well at the box office. He married Sylvia Ashley, the widow of Douglas Fairbanks, in 1949. Unfortunately this marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1952. In July 1955 he married a former sweetheart, Kathleen Williams Spreckles (a.k.a. Kay Williams) and became stepfather to her two children, Joan and Adolph ("Bunker") Spreckels III.
On November 16, 1959, Gable became a grandfather when Judy Lewis, his daughter with Loretta Young, gave birth to a daughter, Maria. In 1960, Gable's wife Kay discovered that she was expecting their first child. In early November 1960, he had just completed filming The Misfits (1961), when he suffered a heart attack, and died later that month, on November 16, 1960. Gable was buried shortly afterwards in the shrine that he had built for Carole Lombard and her mother when they died, at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
In March 1961, Kay Gable gave birth to a boy, whom she named John Clark Gable after his father.It Happened One Night (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Gone with the Wind (1939)- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other contemporaries of the National Theatre at the "Old Vic", London. He made his screen debut in 1924. Academy Award Best Supporting Actor, 1981, for Arthur (1981), Academy Award Nomination, 1964, for Becket (1964).Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Enjoyably larger-than-life character actor Hugh Emrys Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, North Wales, to Mary (Williams) and William Griffith. Griffith left the world of banking (having been employed as a teller) after winning a scholarship to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Though he graduated a gold medalist, top of his class of 300, the war put the brakes on his career and he enlisted in the Army in 1940, serving with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in India for six years. Following the war, he enjoyed a successful career on the stage, appearing in Shakespearean plays in Stratford-upon-Avon with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was particularly noteworthy as "Falstaff" and, his favourite role, "King Lear", which he played both in English and in his native Welsh. On the other side of the Atlantic, he made his Broadway debut in 1951 and had a hit starring in "Look Homeward Angel" (1957-59) with Anthony Perkins and Jo Van Fleet. The play ran for 564 performances and earned Griffith a Tony Award nomination for the part of "W.O. Gant". He later jokingly remarked, that, when the producers asked him to play a man from the deep south, he (Griffith) had understood that to mean a man from the deep south of Wales.
Griffith started his film career proper in 1948 with films like Dulcimer Street (1948), followed by the wonderful black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) at Ealing in 1949. A portly, thickly-bearded character with bushy eyebrows, ruddy complexion and a resonant voice, Griffith made a lasting impression for his many portrayals of eccentric, bucolic and, sometimes, raucous types. In 1959, he won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his "Sheikh Ilderim", who supplies Charlton Heston with the chariot race-winning white stallions in Ben-Hur (1959). He was equally memorable as the lecherous "Squire Western" in Tom Jones (1963), a role for which he was nominated for both an Oscar and a BAFTA Award as Best British Actor. He later appeared in the critically-acclaimed musical version of Oliver! (1968), as a hilarious "King Louis" in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) and one of Vincent Price's many victims in Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972). On television, he was a noteworthy, rolling-eyed "Long John Silver" in a 1960 version of "Treasure Island", Treasure Island (1960), and roving-eyed funeral director "Caradog Lloyd-Evans" in the comedy Grand Slam (1978).
Griffith was a lifelong friend (and drinking companion) of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.Ben-Hur (1959), Tom Jones (1963), Oliver! (1968)- Although he did not turn to the stage until middle age after two decades in the Royal Navy, Jack Gwillim was a notable actor on both sides of the Atlantic. During the 1950s he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare company in Stratford, England, for three years during Sir Anthony Quayle's stint as artistic director, and a member of the Old Vic Company for a further three years. His extensive theatre credits included many leading roles in the West End including "Sacred Flame" with Gladys Cooper and Wendy Hiller, "The Right Honourable Gentleman" with Quayle, "The Dark is Light Enough" with Dame Edith Evans, "Castle In Sweden" with Diane Cilento, "Portrait Of Murder", "A Kind Of Folly" with Dame Flora Robson, "You Never Can Tell" and "Merchant Of Venice" with Sir Ralph Richardson. In 1969 he emigrated to the United States, working in top regional theaters, off-Broadway and Broadway. His Broadway credits include the role of Col. Pickering in Rex Harrison revival of "My Fair Lady", and Ingrid Bergman's husband in "The Constant Wife" directed by Sir John Gielgud. Other Broadway shows included "Ari", "MacBeth" with Christopher Plummer and 'Glenda Jackson (I)', "Romeo and Juliet", "Lost in the Stars" with Brock Peters, "The Iceman Cometh" with James Earl Jones and with the Old Vic "MacBeth", "Romeo and Juliet" with Claire Bloom, "Richard II" and "Troilus and Cressida." He did numerous tours in the U.S including "Laurette" with Judy Holliday.
On stage he has worked with such actors as Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Anthony Quayle, Dame Judith Anderson, Judi Dench, Sir Michael Redgrave and Richard Burton. He is also known for war films such as Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956) with Peter Finch, The One That Got Away (1957), North West Frontier (1959) with Lauren Bacall and Sink the Bismarck! (1960). His work in epics includes Solomon and Sheba (1959) with Yul Brynner, Cromwell (1970) with Richard Harris, Oscar-winning films Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Patton (1970) and A Man for All Seasons (1966). His work in cult favorites includes Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981) with Sir Laurence Olivier. His work in "Hammer" films includes Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) with Peter Cushing, Circus of Horrors (1960) and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964). He also co-starred in the Disney hit In Search of the Castaways (1962) with Maurice Chevalier and Hayley Mills.
His voice work can be heard on Caedmon Records in "Anthony & Cleopatra", "King John", "Macbeth", "Richard II", "Titus Andronicus", "Troilus and Cressida", "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and "Henry IV" parts I and II and "Henry V".Lawrence of Arabia (1962), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Patton (1970) - Actor
- Producer
In Britain, special Christmas plays called pantomimes are produced for children. Jack Hawkins made his London theatrical debut at age 12, playing the elf king in "Where The Rainbow Ends". At 17, he got the lead role of St. George in the same play. At 18, he made his debut on Broadway in "Journey's End". At 21, he was back in London playing a young lover in "Autumn Crocus". He married his leading lady, Jessica Tandy. That year he also played his first real film role in the 1931 sound version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Phantom Fiend (1932). During the 30s, he took his roles in plays more seriously than the films he made. In 1940, Jessica accepted a role in America and Jack volunteered to serve in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. He spent most of his military career arranging entertainment for the British forces in India. One of the actresses who came out to India was Doreen Lawrence who became his second wife after the war. Alexander Korda advised Jack to go into films and offered him a three-year contract. In his autobiography, Jack recalled: "Eight years later I was voted the number one box office draw of 1954. I was even credited with irresistible sex appeal, which is another quality I had not imagined I possessed." A late 1940s film, The Black Rose (1950), where he played a secondary role to Tyrone Power, would be one of his most fortunate choices of roles. The director was Henry Hathaway who Jack said was "probably the most feared, yet respected director in America, for he had a sharp tongue and fired people at the drop of a hat. Years later, after my operation when I lost my voice, he went out of his way to help me get back into films. What I did not know was that during the filming of 'The Black Rose' he was himself suffering from cancer." In the 1950s came the film that made Hawkins a star, The Cruel Sea (1953). Suffering from life-long, real-life seasickness, he played the captain of the Compass Rose. After surgery for throat cancer in 1966, requiring the removal of his larynx, Jack continued to make films. He mimed his lines and the voice was dubbed by either Charles Gray or Robert Rietty. His motto during those last years came from Milton's "Comus", a verse play in which he acted early in his career in Regent's Park. The lines: "Yet where an equal poise of hope and fear does arbitrate the event, my nature is that I incline to hope, rather than to fear."The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Ben-Hur (1959), Lawrence of Arabia (1962)