Betty Balfour (1903 - 1977)

Actress. One of England’s most popular silent screen idols of the 1920s.  Nicknamed “The British Mary Pickford”,  she typically mixed comedy and pathos in her roles.  Her films include “Nothing Else Matters” (1920), “Squibs”(1921), “Mord Em’ly” (1922), “Wee MacGregor’s Sweetheart” (1922), “Squibs Wins The Calcutta Sweep” (1922), “Squibs M.P.” (1923), “Squibs’ Honeymoon” (1923), “Revelle” (1924), […]

Belle Baker (1893 - 1957)

Singer, Actress. Born in New York City, she began her singing on the stage and in Vaudeville. Known as “red hot mama” she could sing a Yiddish Ballad and modern jazz with equal ease. She was most noted for introducing hundreds of songs to the American public to include “All Of Me”, “Cohen Owes Me […]

Gizi Bajor (1893 - 1951)

Actress. She was perhaps Hungary’s most famous theatre star of her era, renowned for her beauty, versatility, and mesmerizing presence. Her roles ranged from the Ancient Greek classics to contemporary dramas,  and she helped introduce modern acting techniques to the Hungarian stage.  Bajor was born in Budapest.  As a student at the Actors’ Academy she […]

Leah Baird (1883 - 1971)

Actress and Screenwriter. She began her career in 1913 playing in numerous films for Universal and Vitagraph and in 1918 she played in fifteen episodes of the serial “Wolves of Kultur.” In the mid-1920s, Baird became a screenwriter and contributed to a number of Clara Bow features. In the early 1940s, she returned to the […]

Fay Bainter (1893 - 1968)

Actress. A veteran performer whose career spanned six decades, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as ‘Aunt Belle Massey’ in the 1938 romantic drama film “Jezebel” with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda. Born Fay Okell Bainter in Los Angeles, California, she got her start on the stage in 1908 […]

Frankie Bailey (1859 - 1953)

Actress. A screen, stage and burlesque figure, she appeared in the films “The Crown Of Lies” (1926), “Thank You” (1925), “Flower Of Light” (1925), and “The Famous Mrs. Fair” (1923). She was known as “The Girl With The Million Dollar Legs”.

Lynn Baggett (1924 - 1960)

Actress. Stage and screen figure and writer. Married to movie producer Sam Spiegel. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouse:  Samuel P Spiegel (1901 – 1985)* *Calculated relationshipCause of death: Overdose of sleeping pills

Hermione Baddeley (1906 - 1986)

Actor. Born Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley. In her more than 60 year career Hermione enjoyed success in all the acting media. Prior to World War II, she became popular in London stage comedies and revues due to her dancer’s training and innate flair for comedy. In her film career she played memorable character roles, including […]

Angela Baddeley (1904 - 1976)

Actress. Born Madeline Angela Clinton-Baddeley. She was the younger sister of Hermione Baddeley. Angela was best remembered for her role as Mrs Bridges in the period drama “Upstairs, Downstairs”.(1971 to 1975) She had a long and distinguished career on stage that lasted for 63 years. In 1912 at the age of eight, she made her […]

Faith Bacon (1910 - 1956)

Actress, Burlesque Dancer. A Broadway starlet of the late 1920s, she is remembered for her erotic dance routines at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Born Frances Yvonne Bacon, little is recorded of her early years save that she at some point lived in the Northern California community of Placerville and along the way apparently received […]

Olga Baclanova (1896 - 1974)

Actress. Born Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova in Moscow, Russia. She worked extensively on stage in London’s West End and in New York, before her film debut with a bit in “The Dove.” Over the following years she played roles in “The Man Who Laughs,” “Street of Sin,” and “The Docks of New York.” She is perhaps […]

Alice Backes (1923 - 2007)

Actress. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, she was a character actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1940s to the 1990s. After making her debut in the 1948 film “Up in Central Park”, Backes appeared in “I Want To Live!” (1958), “It Started with a Kiss” (1959), “The Glory Guys” […]

Lida Babková Baarová (1914 - 2000)

Actress. Popular figure of Czech and European motion pictures. (bio by: Jirka Kostal)

Inday Ba (1972 - 2005)

Actress. Born N’Deaye Ba. Swedish actress who started  up with amateur theater at the age of 12. She then worked some years at theatres in Stockholm “behind the curtains” in the early 1990’s. Subsequently she moved to London and got herslef an actor’s education at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. “Watch that man”, “The […]

Agnes Ayres (1892 - 1940)

Actress.  While a teenager, Agnes Ayres made her film debut at the Essanay Studios in Chicago.  In 1920 she signed a contract with Paramount studios and began starring in various films, mostly under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille.  1921 was a busy year for her as she acted in the films “The Affairs of […]

Marion Aye (1903 - 1951)

Actress. A noted beauty of the early 1920s, she had a brief career in silent films. Raised in Chicago, she was signed by producer Mack Sennett who had an eye for girls that looked good in swimsuits and made her silver screen bow in the 1919 short “Hearts and Flowers”. Marion went on to roles […]

Keiko Awaji (1933 - 2014)

Actress. She will perhaps be best remembered by international movie audiences for playing Kimiko in the picture “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” (1954). Born Ayako Ida, she left high school early and became a member of the Shochiku Kageki Dan (or the SKD) She marked her motion picture debut in “Stray Dogs” (1949) and would go […]

Phyllis Avery (1924 - 2011)

Actress. Born in New York City, daughter of screenwriter Stephen Morehouse Avery, she marked her professional acting debut at the age of twelve on the Broadway stage in the musical “Orchids Preferred” (1937), followed by “Three Waltzes” (1937 to 1938) and “Charley’s Aunt” (1940 to 1941). She broadened her skills at the American Academy of […]

Doe Avedon (1925 - 2011)

Actress, Model. She parlayed marriage to a photographer into a brief but spectacular career in the pages of fashion magazines as well as into time on stage and screen, and in the process inspired the 1957 “Funny Face”. Born Dorcas Marie Newell to an upper level servant family, she was orphaned at 12 and subsequently […]

Vivian Austin (1920 - 2004)

Actress. Best remembered for her role as the female lead in the serial “The Adventures of Red Ryder”. Her big break came in 1940 when she was selected to play along side Don Barry in “Red Ryder”. Soon after, she signed a contract with Universal Pictures and her first movie was “Moonlight in Vermont”. She […]

Tina Aumont (1946 - 2006)

Actress. Born Maria Christina Aumont into a family of French-Jewish and Dominican descent, her father was actor Jean-Pierre Aumont, her mother was actress Maria Montez. Her mother died when Tina was five years old. She spent much of her childhood with various relatives and after her father married actress Marisa Pavan, Tina was sent to […]

Jeanne Aubert (1906 - 1988)

Actress. Fondly remembered in films such as: “The Gem of the Ocean,” “A New World,” “Love Is at Stake” and “Mirages de Paris.” (bio by: MC)

Edith Atwater (1911 - 1986)

Actress. Best remembered for television roles as, ‘Aunt Getrude Hardy’ on “The Hardy Boy/Nancy Drew Myteries” from 1977 to 1979, ‘Ilsa Fogel’ on “Kaz” from 1978 to 1979, and ‘Phyllis Hammond’ on “Love On A Rooftop” from 1966 to 1967. Atwater also appeared in the films, “Mean Dog Blues” (1978), “Family Plot” (1976), “Mackintosh And […]

Mary Astor (1906 - 1987)

Mary Astor Actress. Born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke, in Quincy, Illinois to a German immigrant father, Otto Ludwig Langhanke, and an American mother from Illinois, Helen Marie Vasconcellos, of Portuguese and Irish ancestry. Her parents were very ambitious for her, they began with placing Mary into various beauty contests. In one contest that came to the […]

Pat Ast (1941 - 2001)

Actress, Model. Best known for her role as as ‘Linda’ in the movie “Heat”. She was working as a clerk and receptionist in a box factory when she caught the eye of Andy Warhol who signed her on to star in some movies he was going to make. Her credits include “Heat”, “The Incredible Shrinking […]

Renee Asherson (1915 - 2014)

Actress. A prolific and versatile artist over a career spanning eight decades, she shall be remembered for her Shakespearean performances on both stage and screen. Born Dorothy Renee Ascherson to a well-off family, she was raised in London, Switzerland, and France, was well educated, studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts, and made […]

Peggy Ashcroft (1907 - 1991)

Actress. Born Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Surrey, England. After graduation from London’s Central School of Dramatic Art, Ashcroft made her stage debut in the Birmingham Repertory’s production of Dear Brutus in 1926, and her London debut a year later. She first gained recognition, however, for her portrayal Naomi in Jew Süss in 1929. […]

Mae Marsh (1894 - 1968)

Mae Marsh Actress. She was the daughter of a Santa Fe, New Mexico railroad auditor that died when she was only four years old. Her stepfather died in the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, California, after which time her great aunt, a former actress and chorus girl took her to Los Angeles, California.  In 1910 […]

Mitzura Arghezi (1924 - 2015)

Actress. Born Domnica Theodorescu, she was an actress who appeared in both the theater and film from the 1950s to the 1990s.   She was the daughter of well-known Romanian poet Tudor Arghezi.   Arghezi graduated from the Theatre and Film Institute and then started with the National Theater in Bucharest in 1950.   She […]

Imperio Argentina (1910 - 2003)

Actress, Singer. She was born in Argentina, but she developed almost her career in Spain, become one of the most importants Spanish Singer of Copla (Popular spanish songs). She triumphed in Spain and South America. She also triumphed in cinema in the 30’s and 40’s. She is best remembered for her films: “La Hermana San […]