William Hartnell (1908 - 1975)

William Hartnell was born in St Pancras, London, England, the only child of Lucy Hartnell, an unmarried mother. He was brought up partly by a foster mother, and also spent many holidays in Devon with his mother’s family of farmers, where he learned to ride. He was the second cousin of fashion designer Norman Hartnell. Hartnell […]

John Gregson (1919 - 1975)

Gregson was born of Irish descent, and grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, Lancashire, where he was educated at Greenbank Road Primary School and later at St. Francis Xavier’s College. He left school at 16, working first for a telephone company, then for Liverpool Corporation, as the city council was then known, before the Second World […]

Richard Wattis (1912 - 1975)

Richard Wattis was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. He attended King Edward’s School and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the electrical engineering firm William Sanders & Co (Wednesbury) Ltd. His uncle, William Preston (1874–1941), was the managing director and was the Conservative MP for Walsall from 1924 to 1929. After leaving the family business, Wattis […]

Ben Blue (1901 - 1975)

Born to a Jewish family in Montreal, Quebec, Blue emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland at the age of nine, where he won a contest for the best impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. At the age of fifteen he was in a touring company and later became a stage manager and assistant general manager. He became a dance […]

Pamela Brown (1917 - 1975)

Pamela Mary Brown (8 July 1917 – 19 September 1975) was an English stage and film actress. She was born in Hampstead, London to George Edward Brown, a journalist, and his wife, Helen Blanche (née Ellerton). Brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, she attended St Mary’s School, Ascot. After attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic […]

Kay Johnson (1904 - 1975)

Catherine Townsend Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1904. Her father was architect Thomas R. Johnson, who worked in the firm of Cass Gilbert, the architect of several noteworthy buildings in New York City, including the Woolworth Building, the New York Customs House, and many library buildings. Kay, as she was known, […]

Rupert Davies (1916 - 1976)

Rupert Davies was born in Liverpool. After service in the British Merchant Navy he was a Sub-Lieutenant Observer with the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. In 1940, the Swordfish aircraft in which he was flying ditched in the sea off the Dutch coast, following which Davies was captured and interned in the […]

Ray Corrigan (1902 - 1976)

Ray Corrigan’s career in Hollywood began as a physical fitness instructor and physical culture trainer to the stars. In the early 1930s he did stunts and bit parts in several films. Many of his early roles were in ape costumes, for example, as a gorilla in Tarzan and His Mate (1934) and an “orangopoid” in […]

Warner Anderson (1911 - 1976)

Warner Anderson (March 10, 1911 – August 26, 1976) was an American actor. Anderson was born to “a theatrical family” in Brooklyn, New York, March 10, 1911. Anderson had a small part in a film in 1915. A contemporary newspaper article about the movie Sunbeam, in which Anderson appeared in 1917, noted, “Warner Anderson is one of […]

Victor Francen (1888 - 1977)

Victor Francen (5 August 1888 – 18 November 1977), born Victor Franssens, was a Belgian-born actor with a long career in French cinema and in Hollywood. Victor Francen was born in Tienen, the son of a chief of police. He worked in trade in Belgium before settling in Paris where he trained in dramatic art under […]

Andy Devine (1905 - 1977)

Born in Flagstaff, Arizona, on October 7, 1905, Andy Devine grew up in Kingman, where his family moved when he was a year old. His father was Thomas Devine Jr., born in 1869 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Andy’s grandfather, Thomas Devine Sr., was born in 1842 in County Tipperary, Ireland, and emigrated to the United […]

Billy Halop (1920 - 1976)

Billy Halop came from a theatrical family; his mother was a dancer and his sister, Florence Halop, was an actress who worked on radio and in television. In 1933, he was given the lead, Bobby Benson, in the popular new radio show “The H-Bar-O Rangers,” an early credit of Don Knotts as well. From 1934 to […]

Frankie Darro (1917 - 1976)

Frankie Darro was born on December 22, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois as Frank Johnson, Jr. His parents, Frank Johnson, Sr. and his wife Ada were known as The Flying Johnsons, a flying circus act with the Sells Floto Circus; it was a profession that his father attempted to train him in, and he cured Frankie’s […]

Cathy Downs (1924 - 1976)

Cathy Downs was born in Port Jefferson, New York. She was the daughter of James Nelson Downs and Edna Elizabeth Newman. A former Vogue cover model, she was brought to Hollywood in 1944 by a 20th Century-Fox talent scout. Downs began her film career with a small roles in State Fair (1945) and The Dolly Sisters […]

Roger Livesey (1906 - 1976)

Livesey was born in Barry, Wales. Although most articles about him indicated that his parents were Samuel Livesey and Mary Catherine (née Edwards), later research has shown that his father was actually Joseph Livesey. The confusion may have arisen because his mother Mary married Samuel (Joseph’s brother) after Joseph’s death and the death of Samuel’s […]

Linda Watkins (1908 - 1976)

At the age of sixteen Linda Watkins’ parents sent her to study at the Theatre Guild. After six months she began to appear with the guild’s summer repertory program in Scarborough, New York. Instead of finishing her studies at the guild, she pursued a job at the office of Charles Hopkins. When he asked Watkins […]

Margaret Leighton (1922 - 1976)

Born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, Margaret Leighton made her stage debut as Dorothy in Laugh With Me (1938), which was also performed that year for BBC Television. She became a star of the Old Vic. Her Broadway debut was as the Queen in Henry IV (1946) starring Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson during a visit […]

Larry Thor (1916 - 1976)

A native of Lundar, Manitoba, Canada, Larry Thor was a soldier, a construction worker, a farmer, and a rancher before he went into broadcasting. His first experience in radio came in 1937 as an unpaid singer at CFAR in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada. He soon became the writer for CFAR, a job he held for […]

Mary Nash (1884 - 1976)

Mary and her younger sister, writer/actress Florence, were born to James H. Ryan, a lawyer, and his wife, Ellen Frances (née McNamara). The sisters adopted the surname of their stepfather, Philip F. Nash, a vaudeville booking executive, who married their mother after the death of their father. Fortuitously the name change would avoid conflict with […]

Sybil Thorndike (1882 - 1976)

Sybil Thorndike was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral. She was educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls, and first trained as a classical pianist, making weekly visits to London for music lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her childhood home […]

Mike Pratt (1931 - 1976)

In his early career, Mike Pratt worked in advertising, while also taking some part-time acting roles, until in the mid-’50s he took a sabbatical quitting his office job. He drove around Europe in an old-style London taxi with three friends, including Lionel Bart. On returning to Britain, he earned a living as a jazz and skiffle […]

Van Heflin (1908 - 1971)

Van Heflin was born Emmett Evan Heflin, Jr. in Walters, Oklahoma, the son of Fanny Bleecker (née Shippey) and Dr. Emmett Evan Heflin, a dentist. He was of Irish and French ancestry. Heflin’s sister was Daytime Emmy-nominated actress Frances Heflin (who married composer Sol Kaplan). Heflin attended Classen High School in Oklahoma City (One source […]

Vince Barnett (1902 - 1977)

Vince Barnett was born July 4, 1902, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Luke Barnett, a well-known comedian who specialized in insulting and pulling practical jokes on his audiences. (Luke’s professional nickname was “Old Man Ribber” and “the King of Ribbing”.) Barnett graduated from Duquesne University Prep School and Carnegie Institute of Technology. An avid amateur […]

Danny Lockin (1943 - 1977)

Born in Hawaii, Danny Lockin was raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He began dancing professionally at area fairs at the age of eight. His act co-starred Neal Reynolds, an African American boy with whom he would tap dance, tell jokes, pantomime, and do impressions of famous people. During his junior year in high school, Lockin’s family moved […]

Cyril Ritchard (1898 - 1977)

Cyril Ritchard was born Cyril Joseph Trimnell-Ritchard in Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, to Sydney-born parents, Herbert Trimnell-Ritchard, a Protestant grocer, and his wife Marguerite, a devout Roman Catholic who ensured her son was raised as a Roman Catholic. Educated by the Jesuits at St Aloysius’ College, Cyril was a lifelong devout Catholic who […]

Diana Hyland (1936 - 1977)

Diana Hyland was born Diana Gentner in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. (Some sources indicate Diane Gentner). She made her acting debut at age 19 (in 1955) in an episode of Robert Montgomery Presents. Over the next decade she played numerous guest and supporting roles in various television series, including Naked City, The Eleventh Hour, The Fugitive […]

Alan Reed (1907 - 1977)

Born Herbert Theodore Bergman in New York City, he majored in journalism at Columbia University, and then began his acting career in the city, eventually working on Broadway. He was Jewish. For a time, he continued to list himself either as Bergman or Alan Reed, depending on the role he was playing (Reed for more comedic […]

Robert Middleton (1911 - 1977)

Robert Middleton, (born Samuel G. Messer, May 13, 1911 – June 14, 1977), was an American film and television actor known for his large size and beetle-like brow. With a deep, booming voice, Middleton trained for a musical career at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked steadily as […]

Willis Bouchey (1907 - 1977)

Willis Ben Bouchey (May 24, 1907 – September 27, 1977) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films and television shows. He was born in Vernon, Michigan, but reared by his mother and stepfather in Washington State. Bouchey may be best known for his movie appearances in The Horse Soldiers, The Long Gray […]

Allison Hayes (1930 - 1977)

Allison Hayes was born Mary Jane Hayes to William E. Hayes (1880–1959) and Charlotte Gibson Hayes (1893–1977) in Charleston, West Virginia. She was in the class of 1948 at Calvin Coolidge High School. Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia. She went on to represent D.C. in the 1949 Miss America pageant. Although […]