Heinz Rühmann (1902 - 1994)

During the Nazi era, he acted in 37 films and directed four. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Rühmann did not speak openly about German politics, but instead kept himself as neutral as possible. He never stated a word against or towards the Nazis in the press, although he had been a supporter of […]

Hans Moser (1880 - 1964)

Hans Moser (6 August 1880 – 19 June 1964) was an Austrian actor who, during his long career, from the 1920s up to his death, mainly played in comedy films. He was particularly associated with the genre of the Wiener Film. Moser appeared in over 150 films. Born Johann Julier in Vienna, Moser very often portrayed […]

Theo Lingen (1903 - 1978)

Theo Lingen was born the son of a lawyer in the city of Hanover, and grew up there. He attended the Royal Goethe Gymnasium – the predecessor of the Goethe School – in Hanover, but left before taking the Abitur (final exams). His theatrical talent was discovered during rehearsals for a school performance at the […]

Kurt Maetzig (1911 - 2012)

Kurt Maetzig was the son of Robert Maetzig and Marie Maetzig (née Lyon). He grew up in the Charlottenburg borough of Berlin, where he gained an insight into the film industry from an early age as his father was the proprietor of a factory that produced film copies there. During the First World War, he […]

Paul Klinger (1907 - 1971)

In Breslau, under the direction of his cousin, Karl-Heinz Uhlendahl, Paul Klinger passed some television screen tests and began his film career in 1933 with Du sollst nicht begehren (Thou Shalt not Covet), which landed him simultaneous contracts with the then biggest German studios Ufa, Terra Film and Tobis. His second film was Männer vor […]

Heidi Brühl (1942 - 1991)

Heidi Brühl’s first screen appearance was in the 1954 film Der letzte Sommer with Liselotte Pulver, but it was in the role of Dalli, in what became known as the “Immenhof films”, that she became famous in Germany. Die Mädels vom Immenhof (de), adapted from a novel by children’s writer Ursula Bruns, appeared in 1955 […]

Eva Pflug (1929 - 2008)

Eva Pflug was born on June 12, 1929 in Leipzig. After her first film, The Council of the Gods (1950), she worked in Helmut Käutner’s Schinderhannes with Curd Jürgens. In the first Edgar-Wallace film Der Frosch mit der Maske (1959), she had a small part as a night club singer. Three years later, Pflug was […]

Michael Goodliffe (1914 - 1976)

Lawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe (1 October 1914 – 20 March 1976) was an English actor known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts. Michael Goodliffe was born in Bebington, Cheshire, the son of a vicar, and educated at St Edmund’s School, Canterbury, and […]

Walter Grauman (1922 - 2015)

Walter Grauman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Jacob and Irene Grauman, both children of German immigrants who married after settling in the United States. His father, Jacob Grauman, was president of a film distributing company. In his early years, Grauman lived in Shorewood, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, and later moved to Arizona where he […]

Alfred Drake (1914 - 1992)

Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College. He is best known for his leading roles in the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma!; Kiss Me, Kate; Kismet; and for playing Marshall Blackstone in the original […]

Edward Knoblock (1874 - 1945)

Edward Knoblock (born Edward Gustav Knoblauch; April 7, 1874 – July 19, 1945) was an American-born British playwright and novelist most remembered for the often revived 1911 play, Kismet. Knoblock was born in New York City of German parents and was the grandson of the Berlin architect Eduard Knoblauch. He was graduated from Harvard College in […]

Percy Rodriguez (1918 - 2007)

Percy Rodriguez was the oldest of three siblings and was of African and Portuguese descent. His father was out of the picture as he left his family. Percy then began working in his early teens to help provide for his family. As Percy continued to grow up he began to enjoy boxing and acting. He […]

Mike Connors (1925 - 2017)

His film career started in the early 1950s. Mike Connors was cast in the critically acclaimed John Wayne film, Island in the Sky in which he was a crewman on one of the search-and-rescue planes. In 1956, still billed as Touch Connors, he played an Amalekite herder in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments starring […]

Robert Garcia (1933 - 2017)

Robert Garcia was born in Bronx, New York of parents born in Puerto Rico. His father was born in Coamo and had worked in the Central Aguirre sugar mill on the island’s south coast; his mother was born and raised in Ponce. They had migrated to New York City from the island in the 1920s; […]

Barbara Hale (1922 - 2017)

Barbara Hale was born in DeKalb, Illinois, a daughter of Luther Ezra Hale, a landscape gardener, and Wilma Colvin. She had one sister, Juanita, whom Hale’s younger daughter was named for. The family was of Scots-Irish ancestry. In 1940, Hale graduated from Rockford High School in Rockford, Illinois, then attended the Chicago Academy of Fine […]

Bob Holiday (1932 - 2017)

Bob Holiday (November 12, 1932 – January 27, 2017) was an American actor best known for playing Superman in the 1966 Broadway musical It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman! Historically, Holiday was the next “live-action” Superman after George Reeves. Holiday played Superman more than any other actor, having played the role in over […]

Gary Hart (1942 - 2008)

Gary Hart WWE is mourning the death of legendary wrestling manager Gary Hart, who guided the careers of several icons and was one of the creative forces behind World Class Championship Wrestling. Hart passed away over the weekend. Hart’s career, which spanned four decades, began in 1963, when Gary Hart made his debut as an in-ring […]

Rod Roddy (1937 - 2003)

Rod Roddy American Radio and Television Announcer. He is probably best remembered for his signature line, “Come on down!” from “The Price Is Right” morning television game show, although the phrase was originated and made popular by his predecessor Johnny Olson. Born Robert Ray Roddy in Fort Worth, Texas, he graduated from Texas Christian University […]

Emil Zátopek (1922 - 2000)

Emil Zátopek was the sixth child in a modest family. Aged 16, he began working in a Bata shoe factory in Zlín. Zátopek says that “One day, the factory sports coach, who was very strict, pointed at four boys, including me, and ordered us to run in a race. I protested that I was weak […]

Paavo Nurmi (1897 - 1973)

Paavo Johannes Nurmi (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈpɑːʋo ˈnurmi] 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle- and long-distance runner. He was nicknamed the “Flying Finn” as he dominated distance running in the early 20th century. Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold […]

Mamo Wolde (1932 - 2002)

Mamo Wolde was born in Ada’a to an Oromo family. In 1951, he moved to Addis Ababa. At his first Olympic appearance in 1956, Wolde competed in the 800 m, 1,500 m and the 4×400 relay. He didn’t compete in the 1960 Summer Olympics, when Abebe Bikila became the first Ethiopian to win a gold medal. Wolde […]

Miruts Yifter (1944 - 2016)

Born in Adigrat, in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, Miruts Yifter spent early parts of his youth working in different factories and as a carriage driver. His talent as a long-distance runner was noticed when he joined the Ethiopian Air Force. Miruts Yifter was called to the Ethiopian national team for the 1968 Summer Olympics in […]

Piers Sellers (1955 - 2016)

Piers Sellers was born in Crowborough, Sussex. His education started at Tyttenhanger Lodge Pre-preparatory School in Seaford, East Sussex, and Cranbrook School, Kent, from which he graduated in 1973 and where he was trained as a Royal Air Force cadet to pilot gliders and powered aircraft. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in ecological […]

Buddy Rogers (1904 - 1999)

Buddy Rogers Buddy Rogers made his screen debut in the 1926 film ‘Fascinating Youth,’ and quickly became a star in the late silent era. He also found success as a bandleader and a musician. His signature song became “Twelfth Street Rag,” which he was able to play a few bars of on a great number […]

Doug Mohns (1933 - 2014)

Doug Mohns played 1390 career NHL games, scoring 248 goals and 462 assists for 710 points, as well as compiling 1250 penalty minutes. Mohns played both forward and defence in his career. Mohns joined the Boston Bruins in 1953, where he became a versatile cornerstone of that franchise for 11 seasons. An early slapshot expert, […]

Kenny Wharram (1933 - 2017)

Kenny Wharram started his hockey career with his hometown team the North Bay Black Hawks in 1949 before switching the next season to the Galt Black Hawks for whom he played three seasons. He played one match for the Galt team’s parent club the Chicago Black Hawks in 1951 before returning for another season to […]

Oliver Smithies (1925 - 2017)

Oliver Smithies was awarded a Commonwealth Fund fellowship to take up a post-doctoral position in the United States, in the laboratory of J. W. Williams at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Department of Chemistry. A problem with acquiring a U.S. visa, due to a condition of the Commonwealth Fund fellowship, then forced him to leave the […]

Tony Rosato (1954 - 2017)

Tony Rosato first gained attention when he and Robin Duke joined the cast of the first incarnation of SCTV in its final season during the fall of 1980. His most well-known character on the program was the notoriously drunk TV chef Marcello Sebastiani. Rosato then moved with Duke to the cast of Saturday Night Live […]

David Modell (1960 - 2017)

David Modell was the son of the late 1960s film and television actress Patricia Breslin and the late television and movie actor David Orrick McDearmon (1914–1979). During his 25-year association with the original Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens, he worked in the ticket office and in the public relations and marketing divisions. He started working […]

Dick Gautier (1931 - 2017)

Dick Gautier started his career as a nightclub comic and a singer; he joined ASCAP in 1959 after serving in the United States Navy. In 1960, he portrayed fictional rock ‘n roll star Conrad Birdie in the original Broadway theatre production of Bye Bye Birdie, receiving a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He would later […]