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1-50 of 122
- Rugged-looking James Gammon first broke into the entertainment industry not as an actor but as a TV cameraman. From there, his weatherbeaten features, somewhat menacing attitude and a tough-as-nails voice--the kind that used to be described in detective novels as "whiskey-soaked"--reminiscent of '40s noir icon Charles McGraw got him work in front of the cameras in TV westerns (though he sounds as if he's from Texas or Oklahoma, he was actually born and raised in Illinois) and he made his film debut in 1967. Not the kind of guy you'd see in a tuxedo in a Noël Coward drawing-room comedy--unless he was one of a gang holding them up--Gammon could play lighter parts also, as evidenced by his work as the manager in the baseball comedy Major League (1989) and in his regular role as Don Johnson's rambunctious father in Johnson's Nash Bridges (1996) series.
- J.T. Walsh was born on 28 September 1943 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Breakdown (1997), Sling Blade (1996) and Needful Things (1993). He was married to Susan West. He died on 27 February 1998 in La Mesa, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. His break came when John Ford noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master (1950). He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kathryn Card was born on 4 October 1892 in Butte, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for I Love Lucy (1951), Born to Kill (1947) and The Hucksters (1947). She was married to Erwin Foster Card. She died on 1 March 1964 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
As Rusty, the boy whose parents were killed by Native Americans, and who was subsequently adopted by a cavalry unit at Fort Apache on the popular adventure The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954), tyke actor Lee Aaker left a lasting mark in the early days of television, but he had in fact appeared in several major films prior to this series.
He was born on September 25, 1943, in Los Angeles, where his mother owned a dance studio. On TV almost from infancy, he started appearing in unbilled film bits at the age of eight in such classics as The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and High Noon (1952). He quickly moved to featured status before year's end. He showed promise as the kidnapped Indian "Red Chief" in a segment of the film O. Henry's Full House (1952) and another kidnap victim as the son of scientist Gene Barry in _Atomic City (1952)_. From there he co-starred in the John Wayne western classic Hondo (1953) as the inquisitive blond son of homesteader Geraldine Page, and appeared to good advantage in other movies such as the film noir thriller Jeopardy (1953) with Barbara Stanwyck, the opera drama Arena (1953) with Gig Young and the comedies Mister Scoutmaster (1953) with Clifton Webb and Ricochet Romance (1954) with Marjorie Main.
Stardom, however, was assured after nabbing the role of the famous dog's young master on the "Rin Tin Tin" series. After the show's demise, however, Aaker did not make the transition into adult roles. He instead moved into the production end of the business, serving as an assistant to producer Herbert B. Leonard on the Route 66 (1960) series, then later dropped out altogether to become a carpenter. He still attended nostalgia conventions and was a "Kids of the West" honoree at the 2005 Golden Boot Awards.- Actress
- Soundtrack
An apple dumpling of a darling, character actress Nedra Volz had one of those slightly vacant, twinkly-eyed faces absolutely designed for light sitcoms and commercial work. Although she didn't come into her own until past retirement age, she enjoyed a solid two-decade ride delightfully amusing audiences all over.
The diminutive Iowa native was born in a trunk to vaudeville parents in 1908 and was immediately thrust onto the stage as "Baby Nedra" in tent shows and similar venues. A band singer and radio performer in her early adult years, maternal instincts took over after marrying her husband in 1944 and she raised two children. But the spark never completely died. In the 1950s she was performing again in community theater shows.
As others of her ilk have done, she took a "what the heck" attitude and went for the professional gigs again in the early 1970s, making her film debut at age 65 with Your Three Minutes Are Up (1973) starring Beau Bridges and Ron Leibman. Light comedy would become her forte and she geared herself up, bouncing back and forth between the large and small screen. Irresistible as a feisty oldster, dotty neighbor or pot shot-taking granny who wasn't above giving a karate chop to a bad guy out of nowhere, producer Norman Lear gave her TV career a booster shot with a couple of his late 1970s series.
She peaked with the popular Gary Coleman sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978). Stepping in as the resident Drummond family housekeeper following the departure of hired help Charlotte Rae, who spun off into her own series, Nedra stayed on the show two seasons and then was herself replaced by Mary Jo Catlett. During the run of the sitcom she was actually doing triple duty as a recurring postmistress on The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) from 1981-1983 and as Mother B on Filthy Rich (1982). She subsequently served alongside Lee Majors' stunt-man detective character on The Fall Guy (1981) for a season starting in 1985.
A popular guest presence on such established sitcoms as "Alice," "Maude," "One Day at a Time," "Night Court," "Coach," "The Commish," "Who's the Boss?" and "Step By Step," she could be seen as an elderly wisenhammer at the movies as well in the bawdy, raucous comedies Moving Violations (1985), Lust in the Dust (1984), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), and Mortuary Academy (1988), among others. She ended her career most fittingly at age 88 in the The Great White Hype (1996) briefly providing on of her token prune-faced old lady bits. The endearing Nedra passed away of complications from Alzheimer's disease in 2003 at the ripe old age of 94.- Khigh Dhiegh was born on 25 August 1910 in Spring Lake, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seconds (1966) and Noble House (1988). He was married to Mary Pearman Dickerson. He died on 25 October 1991 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
- Robert Winley was born on 9 December 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Joy Ride (2001) and Near Dark (1987). He died on 21 October 2001 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
If you've ever seen a war picture, sci-fi epic or western from the 1940s or 1950s, then you've seen Thomas Browne Henry, and more than once. Along with Morris Ankrum, Henry is probably the army officer most responsible for helping Earth drive off hordes of invading outer-space monsters, aliens and other unwelcome intruders. His stocky build, sharply etched face, commanding voice and no-nonsense, get-down-to-business style were just right for the scores of generals, colonels, bankers, political leaders and other authority figures he played over his long and prolific career. Born in California, he had a very successful career as a stage actor and director, and was closely associated with the renowned Pasadena Playhouse, before breaking into films in 1948 (his brother, William Henry, was also an actor) and played a succession of cops, sheriffs, district attorneys, professors and, of course, army officers over the next 20+ years. He finally retired in 1970 and went back to his first love, the theater, again back to the Pasadena Playhouse. He died in 1980.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jean Muir was an attractive blonde-haired U.S. stage, screen and television actress from the 1930s through the mid-1960s.
Upon retiring from acting Jean went on to teach drama, first, for eight years beginning in 1968, at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she headed their new drama department, and afterwards at a university in Mexico.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
George Estregan was born on 10 July 1939 in Tondo, Manila, Philippines. He was an actor, known for Kid kaliwete (1978), Sa bulaklak ng apoy (1984) and Lumakad kang hubad... Sa mundong ibabaw (1980). He died on 8 August 1988 in Santa Mesa, Manila, Philippines.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Lucille Bliss was an American voice actress from New York City who was known for voicing Smurfette from The Smurfs, Anastasia from Cinderella and Ms. Bitters from Invader Zim. She voiced in other animated projects and video games including Robots and The Secret of NIMH. She passed away in November 8th, 2012.- Kam Tong was born on 18 December 1906 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Flower Drum Song (1961), Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966) and Have Gun - Will Travel (1957). He was married to Betty Sakata. He died on 8 November 1969 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Peter Strudwick was born on 19 January 1930 in Germany. He died on 6 March 2014 in Costa Mesa, California, USA; from cancer/sepsis/dementia. Due to his mother contracting Rubella, Strudwick was born without feet and deformed hands.
He appeared in a minor role in the 1964 movie "The Time Travelers" playing the role of a mutant human who is befriended by Merry Anders as Carol White.
He also appeared in the 1981 documentary "Being Different" where Strudwick talks about his life and accomplishments.
In 1969, he commenced jogging and ran many marathons.
He was the author of "Come Run With Me" which was released by Exposition Pr of Florida, Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S.A. in 1976. The book focuses on running - but far more importantly, it is about life. - Actress
- Additional Crew
Beulah Quo was born on 17 April 1923 in Stockton, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Brokedown Palace (1999), Chinatown (1974) and Meeting of Minds (1977). She was married to Edwin Sih-Ung Kwoh. She died on 23 October 2002 in La Mesa, California, USA.- Actress
Gloria (Maylia) Fong was born Gloria Chin in Detroit, Michigan. She married actor Benson Fong and received great reviews for her first film, Singapore (1947). She and Benson later ran the fabulous "Ah-Fong" Chinese restaurant in Beverly Hills. They have five children including Pamela Kwong Fong and Lisa Fong.- Frieda Pushnik was born armless and legless after her mother had an appendix operation while pregnant. As a child she was "drafted" as a resident guest of sideshows with both "Ripley's Believe it or Not" and the "Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus". She was part of sideshows from 1933 to 1956, when such attractions were outlawed as "exploitive".
- Dale Ballard was born on 1 December 1946 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Deadly Dentists (2017). He died in October 2021 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sheila Darcy was born on 8 August 1914 in York, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), Terry and the Pirates (1940) and Tumbledown Ranch in Arizona (1941). She was married to Preston Foster and Erich von Stroheim Jr.. She died on 27 February 2004 in Kearny Mesa, California, USA.- John R. Reilly was born on 9 September 1920 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Story of G.I. Joe (1945), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and The Well Groomed Bride (1946). He died on 19 July 2000 in La Mesa, California, USA.
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Stephen C. Apostolof (25 February 1928 in Burgas, Bulgaria - 14 August 2005, Mesa, Arizona), sometimes credited under aliases A.C. Stephen(s) or Robert Lee, was a Bulgarian-American filmmaker specializing in the "erotic" film genre.
Born in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Burgas, he claimed asylum in the US in the 1940s. His large body of work was produced mainly between the late 1960s and the late 1970s. In 1957 he produced Journey to Freedom (1957), an anti-Communist picture inspired by his own life. The film teamed Apostolof with director of photography William C. Thompson and Swedish-born actor 'Tor Johnson', both now best-known for their work with the infamous director Edward D. Wood Jr.. Thompson later introduced Apostolof to Wood. In an interview conducted in the beginning of the 1990s, Apostolof recalls his first meeting with the eccentric director, who appeared at the "Brown Derby" restaurant in Los Angeles, in drag and with a mustache.
Apostolof made his directorial debut with Orgy of the Dead (1965). Ed Wood wrote the script and acted as production assistant. The film starred Criswell, the famous television oracle immortalized in Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957). Outtakes from this film and interview segments with Apostolof are included in the 1994 documentary Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora (1994), released by Rhino Home Video. During the 1960s and 1970s Apostolof directed nine screenplays written by Wood.
Apostolof was interviewed for an in-depth article on the making of "Orgy of the Dead" in the horror/science fiction magazine Femme Fatales (7:1, June 1998). In 1990 the specialized magazine Psychotronic Video published an eight-page interview with Apostolof entitled "Stephen C. Apostoloff: Bulgarian nude director".
Stephen Apostolof died on August 14, 2005, aged 77. He is survived by his second wife and five children.- Eileen Howe was born on 24 January 1926 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Combat Squad (1953) and The Lone Wolf (1954). She died on 15 January 1996 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Brandon Beach was born on 18 October 1879 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was an actor, known for Under Western Stars (1938), This Theatre and You (1949) and Whirlybirds (1957). He died on 22 November 1974 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Pamela Blair was born on 5 December 1949 in Bennington, Vermont, USA. She was an actress, known for Annie (1982), Mighty Aphrodite (1995) and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996). She was married to Don Scardino and Alfred Anthony Feola. She died on 23 July 2023 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.- Rudy Germane was born on 24 March 1910 in Portland, Maine, USA. He was an actor, known for The Doris Day Show (1968). He died on 28 March 1997 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Dick Wesson was born on 20 February 1919 in Boise, Idaho, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Bob Cummings Show (1955), The Red Skelton Hour (1951) and That Girl (1966). He was married to Barbara Joyce Epstein, Betty Maxine Ross and Mary Evelyn Peirce. He died on 27 January 1979 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.- Alice Hollister born in Massachusetts in 1886. Convent educated. Became a popular figure in more than 90 silent melodrama and crime films, a dark-haired beauty, perhaps the screen's first 'vamp', joined the Kalem Film Company along with her husband pioneering cinematographer George K. Hollister, she made her film debut in 'By a Woman's Wit' under the direction of Sidney Olcott in 1911, perhaps her most important role as Mary Madeleine in 'From the Manger to the Cross' in 1912 Filmed on location in Isreal, the following year starred in 'The Vampire's Trail' directed by Robert G. Vignola, her last screen appearance as Mrs. Mayne in 'The Dancers' directed by Emmett J. Flynn and starring George O'Brien at the Fox Film Co in 1925.
- Cinematographer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Jack Couffer was born on Dec 7, 1924, in Upland, California. While growing up near the foothills in Glendale, he became fascinated with natural history and raised hawks, owls, squirrels, skunks and coyotes. During his high school years he worked afternoons as a student assistant at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. It was on his 17th birthday, during a museum collecting trip to California's Channel Islands, that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The museum party was marooned for two weeks on Santa Rosa Island, as all West Coast ports were immediately closed following the attack. At the museum Jack's mentor, an expert on bats, was approached by the War Department to research a secret project that would use bats as carriers of miniature incendiary bombs. As part of this team Jack was drafted into the army in June 1943, a few months before high school graduation. Half of his military service was spent on this seemingly nutty, but surprisingly valid, idea. Jack has written of this bizarre scheme in his book "Bat Bomb, World War II's Other Secret Weapon". The remainder of his military duty was as a crewman on high-speed PT-type air-sea rescue boats.
After the war he worked for a few years as a commercial fisherman and paid crewman on yachts. In December 1947 he married Joan Burger. Shortly thereafter, while living aboard their schooner, he enrolled at the University of Southern California to major in zoology. However, he attended a lecture in the new Department of Cinema Studies and fell to the exciting teaching gift of department head Slavko Vorkapich. Jack collaborated with two fellow students, Conrad Hall and Marvin R. Weinstein, in a class project that won the first (now annual) ASC student film award and sold to TV. Flush with this success, the partners formed a production company, Canyon Films, and became entrepreneurs while still university students. At USC Jack became friends with practicing filmmaker/instructors Irving Lerner, Andrew Marton, Laslo Benedek and Stirling Silliphant. Lerner employed the partners of Canyon Films as the production team on a feature shot in South Carolina called Edge of Fury (1958). There Jack met young actress Jean Allison, who 45 years, three husbands (and two wives) later he would meet again. His son, Mike Couffer, now a biologist, was born January 7, 1962, and, as a teenager, collaborated with his father on a series of natural history adventure books for children.
With his abilities as both a naturalist and film maker, Jack joined Walt Disney Studios as a cameraman on the early "True-Life Adventure" series. One of the great experiences of their early careers was a Disney assignment in what was then one of the most remote and least-visited spots on earth. Jack and Conrad and a helper sailed a 32-foot ketch to the Galapagos Islands where they lived off the land and filmed wildlife for nearly a year. Jack worked at Disney for more than ten years in a variety of functions--writer, director, producer, cameraman--and participated there in the making of more than two dozen movies. He separated from Joan in 1975. Since then, he has worked on TV and feature films for most of Hollywood's major production companies and many independents. He has published 11 books of both fiction and non-fiction. His travels took him to Africa in 1972, where he fell in love with the country and a lady at the same time. He lived in Kenya for 32 years and 'Marchesa Sieuwke Bisleti' was his companion until her death in February 2005. Jack is now sharing his life in California with retired actress Jean Allison (Toorvald) who was the ingénue in the first feature film he shot.- C.S. Keys is a prominent Television Weathercaster in San Diego, California. A 4 time Emmy nominee with 2 statues, C.S. was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His appearance in "Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story" marks his second screen appearance as an actor. C.S. Keys is an Absolute Oakland Raiders fanatic and a highly sought after motivational Speaker. His charity works, foundations etc. are too numerous to mention but C.S. has won numerous awards for his support of Civic Issues, Children's Issues and Education. While working in Pittsburgh, Pa., then Mayor Tom Murphy declared Sept. 22, 1996 as "C.S. Keys Day", by proclamation, in recognition of his numerous contributions to the community of Pittsburgh C.S. Keys is a graduate of North Carolina Central University in Durham, with a BA in English/Media Journalism.
- Claiborne Cary was born on 17 February 1932 in Lone Tree, Iowa, USA. She was an actress, known for Law & Order (1990), Boston Common (1996) and Doctor Franken (1980). She was married to Charles Mitchell Northrop and Robert Haywood Cary II. She died on 20 March 2010 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Actor
Maurice Mendoza was born on 26 July 1974 in Imperial County, California, USA. He was an actor. He died on 13 August 2013 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.- Director
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Marc Breaux was born on 3 November 1924 in Carenco, Louisiana, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Sound of Music (1965), Mary Poppins (1964) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). He was married to Dee Dee Wood. He died on 19 November 2013 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.- Bridget Carr was born on 29 July 1928 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for That Midnight Kiss (1949), Please Believe Me (1950) and Mark of the Renegade (1951). She was married to Robert Hutton. She died on 29 October 2017 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
Phil Bondelli was born on 10 December 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and assistant director, known for The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), Outlaws (1986) and The Bionic Woman (1976). He died on 31 January 2011 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Paula Kelly was born on 6 April 1919 in Grove City, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Red Skelton Hour (1951), Frontier Frolic (1946) and My Music: The Big Band Years (2009). She was married to Richard L. Turner and Harold Dickinson. She died on 2 April 1992 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.- Mike Bell was born on 18 March 1971 in Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for WWE Raw (1993), WWF Challenge (1986) and UPW: Rage on the River: Unleashed (2003). He died on 14 December 2008 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.
- Royal K. Cole was born on 3 June 1907 in New York City, New York, USA. Royal K. was a writer, known for Radar Patrol vs. Spy King (1949), Captain America (1944) and Lost Planet Airmen (1951). Royal K. died on 14 August 1993 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
- Stunts
- Actress
Helen Thurston was born on 24 June 1909 in Oregon, USA. She was an actress, known for I Married Joan (1952) and Man Without a Gun (1957). She was married to James Fawcett. She died on 23 April 1979 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Bob Haney was born on 15 March 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Bob was a writer, known for Young Justice (2010), Doom Patrol (2019) and The New Adventures of Superman (1966). Bob died on 25 November 2004 in La Mesa, California, USA.- Art Department
Lance Gunnin was born on 3 October 1955 in the USA. He is known for Hostage (2005), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Legally Blonde (2001). He died on 13 August 2006 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
The popular singer and saxophone player began with the Ben Young Orchestra (1935-1937), and joined the Miller band in 1938, becoming one of the bands's most popular personalities and soloists (though he was not seen or even referred to in The Glenn Miller Story). His personality and talents led him to the top of the Downbeat and Metronome magazine polls, with his vocal work on "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo", and "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree". In 1946, Glenn Miller's widow requested that Tex take the orchestra back out on road trips, and the band, under Tex, had a string of Top 10 hits. But disputes arose between the band's manager/producer (who wanted to keep the band's music in the pre-war mode) and Tex, who wanted to introduce new music and sounds. Tex left to start his own band, which became "Tex Beneke and His Orchestra: Playing the Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller", with his first album, "Shooting Star" (released on Magic Records in 1948), where Tex could express his desire for fresh sounds while still perpetuating the classic Glenn Miller trademarks. He worked consistently into the 1990s, making personal live appearances, playing his own kind of music in the style we still closely identify with the Miller sound.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Clyde McLeod has been a movie extra since 1938. He's been directed by Charles Chaplin, Frank Capra, and Cecil B. DeMille. He's been a stand in for such actors as Anthony Quinn, Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson, Tex Ritter, among others. Becoming a principal actor has never been his goal. "I got into the business because it was what my mother wanted me to do," said McLeod in 1985. For McLeod, show business is a family tradition that dates back to the 18th Century, when his ancestors, the Stickneys, played Shakespearean jesters on the stage. His grandmother was a bareback rider in traveling circuses. His mother, Emily Stickney, was a bareback rider with the Barnum & Bailey Circus and starred in the original stage version of "Polly of the Circus" in 1900. McLeod's father, Tex, worked in "cheap" vaudeville shows in the early '20s.
For ten years, he commuted from his ranch in Fallbrook to Los Angeles, totaling 130 miles each way.
He later spent his life living with Patricia Enns, another extra who worked in various films during the 1950s and 60s, such as "Artist and Models."- Frederica Sagor Maas was born in America, the youngest daughter of Russian immigrants. Feeling no great desire to complete her course in journalism at Columbia University, New York, she found film an exciting new artistic medium, and was hired by Universal Studios as a story editor, and later MGM as a fully fledged screenwriter. Thus began a bumpy life in the film industry. Maas went from rubbing shoulders with stars such as Clara Bow, Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford and being at the top of her game with hits like The Plastic Age (1925) to watching several ideas and stories being robbed outright by unscrupulous insiders, to watching dear friends lose their careers in the McCarthy era, and eventually leaving the motion picture industry in the 1950s after a series of crushing disappointments. She married fellow writer and producer Ernest Maas in 1927, and honoured his commitments to the industry long after she realised it would take from them far more than they would take from it. She recounted these adventures in her clear-eyed, frank autobiography, published in 1999 - when she was 99! They say that history is written by the winners, but her story proves that the tales of the also rans can be just as fascinating.
- Martin Perveler was born on 7 March 1910 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for Fear and Desire (1952). He was married to Wilma Grace Fleming, Alice Loretta Roberts and Marion Delores Wild. He died on 7 January 1982 in La Mesa, California, USA.
- Bob Nestell was born on 16 May 1915 in Desert Hot Springs, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Kid Galahad (1937). He died on 28 December 1975 in Mountain Mesa, California, USA.
- Deannie Best was born Willia Dean Doughty on September 25, 1926 in Altus, Oklahoma. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. When she was a teenager Deannie moved to Hollywood and was chosen to be one of the famous Goldwyn Girls. On April 12, 1944 she married Greg Balzer but they divorced soon after. Tragically in September of 1944 her mother, Willia Best, was murdered at the age of thirty-five. Deannie appeared in films Wonder Man and The Big Sleep. She went on a USO tour with Kay Kayser's troupe in 1945. Deannie was briefly engaged to yacht salesman Willis Hunt (who had previously been married to Carole Landis). In 1948 she had a supporting role in the Charlie Chan mystery Shanghai Chest. That same year she married Hollywood attorney Albert Pearlson. The marriage was annulled a few months later but the couple remarried on March 7, 1949. Deannie decided to quit acting and became a housewife. In the Fall of 1949 she suffered a miscarriage. She divorced Albert in 1952 and married James Neil Kennedy, a soldier.
Sadly in June of 1953 Deannie gave birth to a premature daughter who died. She and James split up in 1957 shortly before their daughter Dru was born. Deannie reunited with her ex-fiance Willis Hunt and married him in July of 1965. The following year he legally adopted her nine year old daughter Dru. Unfortunately Willis had a drinking problem and was abusive. On December 14, 1969 Deannie and Willis got into a violent argument at their Newport Beach home. During a struggle Deannie picked up a butcher knife and stabbed Willis. He died at the hospital that evening. Deannie was arrested and charged with manslaughter. After a brief trial in November of 1970 she was found innocent on all charges. Deannie continued to live in California. She died on May 16, 2000 at the age of seventy-three. - Nick Cockrane was born on 24 July 1907 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Priorities on Parade (1942) and Here Comes Elmer (1943). He died in March 1976 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
- Burlesque dancer Ricki Covette was born Irene Siewert Jewell on February 26, 1925 in Onoway, Alberta, Canada. Covette grew up on a homestead in rural Canada with aspirations of being a singer and dancer. Through a combination of training, hard work, and professionalism, Ricki eventually moved to America to make her dream of becoming a dancer come true. A statuesque blonde who stood at a towering 6'8", Covette was often billed as a Glamazon, an Amazon woman, or The World's Tallest Exotic Dancer in a career as a headliner at nightclubs that flourished and thrived throughout the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's, with a stellar run of 82 weeks in total at The Show Bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana rating as a definite career highlight. She was voted Miss Burlesk in 1955 and played Gymnasia in a 1963 touring production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." In the wake of retiring from the burlesque circuit, Ricki went on to work in real estate and, in her later years, was a volunteer at the Costa Mesa Senior Center in Costa Mesa, California. Moreover, Covette donated six of her personal albums to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in October, 2014. She died at age 90 on February 12, 2016 in Costa Mesa, California.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Charlie started his career in 1972 on a local children's program in Salt Lake City called "Hotel Balderdash." Within 8 years he left Utah for the Los Angeles area where he studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Drama Institute, Lonny Chapman's Group Repertory Theatre and with the Off the Wall: Improv group. Under the professional name of Chay LeSueur he would divide his time between California, Arizona, and Utah acting in a variety of commercials and television programs, including an occasional return to Hotel Balderdash. In 1984, Charlie moved down to his native Arizona with his wife, Dawn, and six children, adding one more after the move. Once settled in he continued to act, produce, direct and write for production houses in the valley, appearing in well over 200 commercials, radio shows and local television programs such as, "Chrome Highway," "Hoover's Place," "At Home in Arizona" and "Dining Out in Arizona." In 1991, he happened to be, "at the right place at the right time," for the career path he settled into with ease, that of a Western Film Historian and emcee/moderator for celebrity Q & A panels throughout the USA. Charlie began this journey as the resident emcee at the National Festival of the West in Scottsdale for 23 years. During this time his reputation became well known and he earned the title of, "The Human Encyclopedia," by Buck Taylor of Gunsmoke fame; soon he began to be invited for emcee duties at other western festivals throughout the country. By 2009, he was recognized for his achievements with the Spirit of the Old West Alive Award, as was Bruce Dern. In January of 2014, Charlie was named Arizona's Official Western Film Historian and had his "boot prints" placed in cement and installed on the Apacheland Wall of Fame alongside prints of western stars who had once filmed there like, Peter Brown, Robert Fuller, Richard Boone and Ronald Reagan. The wall is located at the Superstition Mountain Museum in Apache Junction, Arizona where the remaining buildings from the movie location reside.Another honor was recently being awarded a "Fellowship of Western Arts" at the prestigious Smithsonian affiliate, Scottsdale's Museum of the West, where he has monthly presentations on the western film genre. Charlie also has several published books including the "Riding the Hollywood Trail" series on western film and television history, as well as the stars. He also continues acting in features and occasionally on stage. Recently he's been concentrating on various stage presentations under the banner "The Silver Screen Cowboys & Cowgirls" combining stories told to him personally by the stars, songs, and interesting power point presentations.- Jimmy Chagra was born on 7 December 1944 in El Paso, Texas, USA. He died on 25 July 2008 in Mesa, Arizona, USA.