Oskar Homolka (1898 - 1978)

After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, Oscar Homolka attended the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna and began his career on the Austrian stage. Success there led to work in the much more prestigious German theatrical community in Munich where in 1924 he played Mortimer in the […]

Scott Newman (1950 - 1978)

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Paul Newman and his first wife, Jackie Witte, Scott Newman was a year old when the family moved to New York City. When Scott was still a young boy with two younger sisters, Susan and Stephanie, his father moved to California to further his career, leaving his family in New York. […]

Philip Ahn (1905 - 1978)

Philip Ahn was born Pil Lip Ahn (안필립) in Highland Park, California. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1902 . Ahn’s father, Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, was an educator and an activist for Korean independence during the colonial period. When he was in high school, Ahn visited the set of the film The Thief of […]

Queenie Smith (1898 - 1978)

Queenie Smith (September 8, 1898 – August 5, 1978) was an American stage, television, and film actress. Smith was born in New York City, New York. She got an early start, being trained in ballet and dance and spent her teen years performing as a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Company in operas such as Aida, […]

Jean Acker (1893 - 1978)

Jean Acker was born Harriet “Hattie” Ackers on October 23, 1893 in Trenton, New Jersey. Her father was Joseph Ackers, said to be of Cherokee descent. Her mother Margaret (unconfirmed) was Irish. In the 1900 census, Hattie is with Joseph and her grandparents, but no wife of Joseph is listed. In fact, he is reported […]

Barry Brown (1951 - 1978)

Born Donald Barry Brown in San Jose, California, he was the eldest child of Donald Bernard Brown and Vivian Brown (née Agrillo). His sister was the actress Marilyn Brown, who committed suicide in 1997 at the age of 44. His brother is the novelist James Brown (Final Performance, Hot Wire), who etched an intimate portrait […]

Dick Wesson (1922 - 1996)

Richard Lewis “Dick” Wesson (November 19, 1922 – April 25, 1996) was a prolific character actor, comedian, comedy writer, and producer. The dark haired man with a flat top haircut was frequently confused with announcer Dick Wesson. Wesson was born Richard Lewis Wesson on November 19, 1922 in Boston, Massachusetts. A comedian, impressionist and singer, Wesson […]

Shirley Mason (1900 - 1979)

Born to Emil and Mary (née Dubois) Flugrath, she and her two sisters Edna and Virginia became actresses at the insistence of their mother. Mason, and her sister Virginia (Viola Dana), made their film debuts at the ages of 10 and 13, respectively, in the film A Christmas Carol (1910). Shirley Mason’s next film was […]

Robertson Hare (1891 - 1979)

Hare was born in Islington, London, the younger child and only son of Frank Homer Hare, an accountant, and his wife, Louisa Mary, née Robertson. He was educated at Margate College in Kent and then studied drama with the actor and librettist Lewis Cairns James. In 1911 Hare made his professional stage debut, playing the Duke […]

Cornelia Otis Skinner (1899 - 1979)

Cornelia Otis Skinner (May 30, 1899 – July 9, 1979) was an American author and actress. Skinner was the daughter of the actor Otis Skinner and his wife, Maud Durbin. After attending the all-girls’ Baldwin School and Bryn Mawr College (1918–1919) and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began her career on the stage […]

Doris Kenyon (1897 - 1979)

Doris Kenyon grew up in Syracuse, New York, where her family had a home at 1805 Harrison Street. Her father, Dr. James B. Kenyon, was a Methodist Episcopal Church minister at University Church. Kenyon studied at Packer College Institute and later at Columbia University. She sang in the choirs of Grace Presbyterian and Bushwick Methodist […]

Paul Dubov (1918 - 1979)

Paul Dubov ( Illinois , 10 October 1918 – Encino , 20 September 1979 ) was an actor and screenwriter US . He starred in almost 70 films from 1938 to 1977 and appeared in over 70 TV productions from 1952 to 1971. He was also credited as Paul Dubor.  Paul Dubov was born in Illinois, […]

Frederick Piper (1902 - 1979)

Born in London in 1902, Frederick Piper worked as a tea merchant before starting his acting career on the stage in the 1920s, playing in London productions and also touring as far afield as Canada. His first film appearance came in the 1933 production The Good Companions. An unassuming man with no trappings of ambition or […]

Virginia Brissac (1883 - 1979)

Virginia Brissac was born in San Jose, California and later raised in San Francisco. She was the daughter of B. F. Brissac, a well-to-do Bay Area insurance executive, and was said to be a niece of the actress Mary Shaw. As a young girl she began a collection of autographs that would grow to include […]

Corinne Griffith (1894 - 1979)

Corinne Griffith was born in Texarkana, Texas to John Lewis Griffin and Ambolina (Ambolyn) Ghio. She attended Sacred Heart Convent school in New Orleans and worked as a dancer before she began her acting career. Griffith began her screen career at the Vitagraph Studios in 1916. She later moved to First National, where she became one […]

Paul Meurisse (1912 - 1979)

Paul Meurisse was born in Dunkirk, on the north-east coast of France, but grew up on the island of Corsica, to where his bank manager father had been transferred when Paul Meurisse was a small child. After leaving school he moved to Aix-en-Provence, where he became a solicitor’s clerk. His passion was for the stage, […]

Barbara Mullen (1914 - 1979)

Barbara Mullen (9 June 1914, Boston, Massachusetts – 9 March 1979, London, England) was an American actress well known in the UK for playing the part of Janet, the housekeeper, in Dr Finlay’s Casebook. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later years, she had already made her mark in the theatre. Mullen’s parents, […]

Catherine Lacey (1904 - 1979)

Catherine Lacey made her stage debut, playing opposite Mrs Patrick Campbell, in The Thirteenth Chair at the West Pier Brighton on 13 April 1925. Her first West End appearance followed in July 1926, in Cock o’ the Roost at the Garrick Theatre. Among her other West End credits were The Beetle (Strand Theatre 1928), The Venetian […]

Heinz Erhardt (1909 - 1979)

Heinz Erhardt was born in Riga, the son of Baltic German Kapellmeister Gustl Erhardt. He lived most of his childhood at his grandparents in Riga, where his grandfather, Paul Nelder, owned a music house. His grandfather also taught him how to play the piano. After World War I, his father emigrated to Germany. Erhardt lived with […]

Richard Hearne (1908 - 1979)

Richard Hearne was born in Norwich, Norfolk, in 1908, the son of Richard and Lily May Hearne. Richard senior came from a theatrical family – his mother had been on the stage and he himself was a performing acrobat. Hearne worked on and off for the BBC for thirty years; he became the first performer […]

Emory Parnell (1892 - 1979)

Emory Parnell trained as a musician at Morningside College, a Methodist institution in Sioux City, Iowa, and spent his early years as a concert violinist. He performed on the Chautauqua and Lyceum circuits until 1930, when he relocated to Detroit, Michigan, to narrate and act in commercial and industrial films. Seeking better opportunities in Hollywood, […]

William Gargan (1905 - 1979)

William Gargan was born William Dennis Gargan on July 17, 1905, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the younger brother of actor Edward Gargan, whose birthday July 17 he shared. His father was a detective, and his mother was a teacher. He graduated from St. James School in Brooklyn. On leaving school, Gargan became a salesman […]

Mary Millington (1945 - 1979)

Mary Ruth Quilter  was born out of wedlock, and grew up without her father, John William G. Klein (1899-1973). She was bullied at school due to being born illegitimately, and suffered from low self-esteem throughout her childhood and teenage years. After marrying at a young age she took the surname Maxted, and lived in Dorking. […]

Catherine Hessling (1900 - 1979)

Catherine Hessling, born in Champagne-Ardennes, had sought refuge in Nice during World War I. Her paternal ancestors came from Alsace but moved to Champagne-Ardennes when Alsace transferred to Germany. In 1917, her beauty came to the attention of Henri Matisse, who sent her to fellow artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir as he thought she looked like a […]

Sally Rand (1904 - 1979)

Hattie Helen Gould Beck was born in the village of Elkton, Hickory County, Missouri. Her father, William Beck, was a West Point graduate and retired U.S. Army colonel, while her mother, Nettie (Grove) Beck, was a school teacher and part-time newspaper correspondent. The family moved to Jackson County, Missouri while she was still in grade […]

Lee Bowman (1914 - 1979)

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lee Bowman dropped out of the University of Cincinnati Law School to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was spotted by a Paramount agent and went to Hollywood in 1934, but was not used at first. Instead he worked as a radio singer and appeared in stock plays […]

Ben Lyon (1901 - 1979)

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lyon entered films in 1918 after a successful appearance on Broadway opposite Jeanne Eagels. He attracted attention in the highly successful film Flaming Youth (1923), and steadily developed into a leading man. He was most successfully paired with some of the leading actresses of the silent era including Pola Negri, Gloria […]

Peter Dyneley (1921 - 1977)

Peter Dyneley (13 April 1921 – 19 August 1977) was an Anglo-Canadian actor. Although he appeared in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for supplying the voice of Jeff Tracy for the 1960s “Supermarionation” TV series Thunderbirds and its two film sequels, Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 […]

Jane Hylton (1927 - 1979)

Talent-spotted in her teens, Jane Hylton was a product of the Rank Organisation’s Company of Youth (more commonly referred to as the Rank Charm School), which took promising young actors and groomed them for a career in film. The programme turned out some genuine stars such as Dirk Bogarde and Diana Dors, but most alumni […]

Claire Carleton (1913 - 1979)

Claire Carleton was born in New York City. She began acting on the stage, eventually making it to Broadway, where she made her debut as Lucy in the short-lived play, Blue Monday in June, 1932. Although she made her film debut in a small role in a 1933 film short, Seasoned Greetings, and continued to […]