Paula Blackton (1881 - 1930)

Actress and Film Director. Most remembered for the role of ‘Paula Wyngate’ in “The Littlest Scout.” Other credits include: “The Diary of a Puppy,” “The Little Strategist” and “The Fairy Godfather.” Married for a time to filmmaker J. Stuart Blackton, she was the mother of actress Violet Virginia Blackton and actor Charles Stuart Blackton. (bio […]

Mary Blackford (1914 - 1937)

American stage and motion picture actress of the 1930s. She appeared in the 1934 romantic drama “Love Time.” Her promising career ended early after an auto accident in 1934 left her paralyzed from the neck down. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Parents:  Charles T Blackford (1866 – 1923)  Ethel L Blackford (1878 – 1963) […]

Georgia Bitner (1926 - 2012)

Film and Television Actress. She was an African American film and television actress whose career expanded over a period of seven decades. Born Georgia Rose Bitner, in honor of the state in which she was born, “Georgia”. During her younger years she adored such actors as Hattie McDanial and Josephine Baker so much until her […]

Tala Birell (1907 - 1958)

Actress. Her most memorable film performances include “Let’s Live Tonight,” supporting Lilian Harvey; opposite Ralph Bellamy in “Air Hawk,” “Crime and Punishment” with Peter Lorre; “Women in Bondage” and  “One Dangerous Night” with Warren William. (bio by: MC)

Billie Bird (1908 - 2002)

American stage, motion picture, and television actress of the 1920s thru 1990s. She appeared in many top films, such as “Home Alone” (1990), and several classic TV series. She is remembered by the modern television audience for her role as ‘Mrs. Philbert’ on the 1980s series “Dear John.” Married to songwriter Edwin Sellen. (bio by: […]

Francelia Billington (1895 - 1934)

Actress,  Cinematographer.  Blonde,  slender star of silent films.  Born and raised on a ranch near Dallas,  Texas,  she entered films in 1912 with the Kalem Company and was quickly promoted to leads after the departure of their star,   Alice Joyce.  Her expertise in horse riding made her a natural for westerns though she was […]

Barbara Billingsley (1915 - 2010)

Barbara Billingsley Actress.  Born Barbara Lillian Combes, she attended Los Angeles Junior College in the mid 1930s and then moved to New York City, where she worked as a model.  In 1945 she received a contract from MGM, and she appeared in several films during the late 1940s and 1950s, sometimes without screen credit.  In […]

Regina Bianchi (1921 - 2013)

Actress. She will perhaps be best remembered for her leading role in the successful play “Filomena Marturano”. Born to parents of French origin, she was cast at young age in Raffaele Viviani’s company theater and then in that of Eduardo De Filippo becoming one of the most popular actresses of the Neapolitan theater. Regina was […]

Eugenie Besserer (1868 - 1934)

Actress. She is best-remembered for playing Al Jolson’s doting mother in the landmark talkie “The Jazz Singer” (1927). In the film’s most famous scene, Jolson serenades her with Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” and then utters the immortal phrase, “You ain’t heard nothing yet!” Besserer was born in Watertown,  New York.  She married at 15 and […]

Bibi Besch (1940 - 1996)

Actress. She is best remembered for her role of ‘Dr. Carol Marcus’ in the motion picture “Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan” (1982). Born Bibiana Huber in Vienna, Austria, her mother was actress Gusti Huber.  She came to the United States after World War II as a child, and grew up in Chappaqua, New […]

Marguerite F Bertrandias (1891 - 1968)

Actress. Appearing in more than 60 Westerns melodramas, she was ‘Margaret Fowler’ in “A Daughter of the City,” (1915) ‘Mary Lawton’ in “The Man of Bronze,” (1918) ‘Eileen Arden’ in “Forbidden Lover” (1923) and ‘Julia’ in “The Palm Beach Girl”(1926). She died for injuries from road accident. (bio by: MC)  Family links:  Spouse:  Victor Emile […]

Mary Bertrand (1881 - 1955)

Actress. Born Mary Bertrand Steenbergen in Illinois, she began her career in the early 1900s, performing at the Liberty Theatre New York and on Broadway. For feature films she appeared in “The Wife Takes A Flyer” (1942) and “Tahiti Honey” (1943). (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)  Family links:  Parents:  Peter Steenbergen (1847 – 1922)  Elizabeth […]

Francesca Bertini (1892 - 1985)

Actress. Born Elena Seracini Vitiello. Described as one of the first divas of cinema. She made her film debut in 1907 with “La Dea del Mare”. With the movies “Lucrezia Borgia,” “Giulietta e Romeo,” and “L’arrivista,” Her popularity obtained gigantic dimensions as they are hardly imaginable today. In 1921 she married the Swiss banker Paul […]

Flo Bert (1898 - 1981)

Actress. She appeared in the films, “I’m From Arkansas” (1944), and “The She-Creature” (1956). Also a stage actress she appeared as ‘Cinderella’ on Broadway in the play, “Cinderella On Broadway: A Fantasy Of The Great White Way” which opened on June 24, 1920, and it ran for 126 performances. She also played ‘Miss Moffet’ in […]

Simone Berriau (1896 - 1984)

Actress,  Theater Producer. Raised in France, she moved to Morocco at 15, and soon married her first husband, a French Army colonel whose name she took. She made her theatrical debut at the Opera-Comique in a production of “Pelleas et Melisande” under the name Simone Berry. Thru the 1930s, she appeared in a dozen movies, […]

Yoka Berretty (1928 - 2015)

Dutch Actress. Berretty, born Johanna Ernstina Petrusa Meijeringh, was a very well known actress in film and television. She began her career in Italian films such as “Angela” (1954), “Scandal in Sorrento” (1955), and “The Band of Honest Men” (1956).  Berretty would later appear in such films as “De overval” (1962), “Charlotte” (1981), and “De […]

Sarah Bernhardt (1844 - 1923)

French Classical Actress. Cause of death: Uremia following kidney failure

Nora Dorothy Bernard (1890 - 1955)

Actress in 84 silent films from 1908 – 1941 including: “Ramona,” “The Failure,” “A Chance Deception,” “Princess Romanoff,” “Little Women” and “The Great Shadow.” (bio by: TLS)  Family links:  Spouse:  Archimedes H. Van Buren (1879 – 1965)

Mina Bern (1911 - 2010)

Actress, Singer. Though she appeared on Broadway and in a number of Hollywood films, she shall be best remembered as a star of the Yiddish theater scene of New York. Born Mina Bernholtz in what is now Poland, she was introduced to the stage early on with the traveling group Ararat. Fleeing the Nazi invasion […]

Barbara Berjer (1920 - 2002)

Actress. She was born Barbara Berger but changed her last name to Berjer for the proper pronunciation. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from DePaul University in 1943. She moved to New York City and pursued a successful acting career in daytime television. She played Bridget Connell on “Another World” from 1985 to […]

Mary Kay Bergman (1961 - 1999)

Actress, Voice Artist. Supplied the voices to many characters in motion-pictures, television, and video games. Among her most popular work was the voices she gave to many characters on the animated TV series “South Park.” (bio by: A.J. Marik) Cause of death: Suicide

Ingrid Bergman (1915 - 1982)

Actress. She was an international star of films, television and on the stage.   Ingrid Bergman made 50 films in her movie career winning two best Actress Oscars, an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.  Some of her films: Intermezzo, Casablanca, Walk in the Spring Rain, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, For Whom the Bell […]

Frances Westerman Bergen (1922 - 2006)

Actress. The wife of entertainer Edgar Bergen and mother of actress Candice Bergen. She started her career as a model in New York. She was “the Chesterfield Cigarette Girl” and “the Ipana Girl” in magazines and on billboards. At age 19 she caught the eye of her future husband at one of his shows. He […]

Elsa Berenguer (1932 - 2006)

Actress. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An award-winning stage, screen and television actress, Berenguer was a member of the stage group “La Nueva Máscara”, in the late 1950s. She received the prestigious Molière Award in 1974 for her work on the play “Sabor a Miel” and in 1981 the Estrella de Mar Award […]

Anita Berber (1899 - 1928)

Dancer, Actress. She was the daughter of a classical violinist and a cabaret singer. She studied dance with Rita Sacchetto and founder of rhythmic gymnastics Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. She began dancing professionally in 1917. Between 1918 and 1925, she also appeared in more than 20 silent movies, including Richard Ostwald’s sex education films and his 1919 […]

Mary Benny (1905 - 1983)

Actress, Comedienne.  The real life wife of actor Jack Benny, she played the role of the long-suffering housewife who is given no money to run the household. Born Sadye Marks in Seattle, Washington, she first worked as a department store clerk, when she met Jack Benny, who was then a beginning radio star.  She married […]

Marjorie Bennett (1896 - 1982)

Actress. Born in York, Australia. Died of cancer. Sister of actress Enid Bennett and Catherine Bennett. Appeared in “Kiss Me Deadly” (1955) and “Coogan’s Bluff” (1968).

Mabel Adrienne Morrison Bennett (1883 - 1940)

Actress. Mother of Constance, Barbara and Joan Bennett. Stage actress and daughter of Rose Wood and stage actor Lewis Morrison. In films from 1914 to 1917. Married to Richard Bennett from 1903 to 1925. Married Eric Pinker in 1927.  Family links:  Spouse:  Richard Bennett (1870 – 1944)*  Children:  Constance Bennett (1904 – 1965)*  Barbara Jane […]

Joan Bennett (1910 - 1990)

Actress. The youngest of the three acting daughters of prominent stage and screen star Richard Bennett, she was the last of the sisters to enter films seriously, but she had the longest and, in retrospect, the most meaningful career of any of her family. Joan, like Constance and Barbara, was a gorgeous woman, slender and […]

Jill Bennett (1931 - 1990)

Actress. Born Nora Noel Jill Bennett in Penang to British parents, she relocated to England and trained at Amersham Repertory in Guilford, and at prestigious drama school RADA; making her stage debut in 1949 at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford upon Avon. Her feature film debut was alongside Rex Harrison in the 1951 movie ‘The […]