Vanda Godsell (1922 - 1990)

Vanda Godsell (17 November 1922 – 11 April 1990) was an English actress. Hal Erickson writes in Allmovie, “Vanda Godsell specialized in playing disheveled housewives, busybody landladies, and blowsy domestics.” She appeared as Mrs. Weaver in This Sporting Life (1963), Mrs. Pitt in Bitter Harvest (1965), Mrs. Goodge in The Wrong Box (1967)  She was […]

John Merivale (1917 - 1990)

John Herman Merivale (1 December 1917 – 6 February 1990), also known as Jack Merivale, was a Canadian-born British theatre actor, and occasional supporting player in British films. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, John Merivale was the son of English actor Philip Merivale. His stepmother was the renowned English actress Gladys Cooper. Merivale was educated in […]

Valerie French (1928 - 1990)

Born Valerie Harrison in London, she spent her early childhood in Spain, but returned to England to become a student at Malvern Girls’ College. After graduating, she joined the BBC drama department, working in television production before deciding to become an actress, joining the Theatre Royal Repertory Company. She moved into film acting in her […]

Jill Esmond (1908 - 1990)

Esmond was born Jill Esmond Moore in London, the daughter of stage actors Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore. While her parents toured with theatre companies, Jill Esmond spent her childhood in boarding schools until she decided at the age of 14 to become an actress. She made her stage debut playing Wendy to Gladys […]

Dave Willock (1909 - 1990)

Dave Willock (August 13, 1909 – November 12, 1990) was an American character actor. Willock appeared in 181 films and television series from 1939 to 1989. He is probably most familiar to modern audiences from his performance as Baby Jane Hudson’s father in the opening scenes of the cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby […]

Lotus Long (1909 - 1990)

Lotus Long (July 18, 1909 – September 14, 1990) was an American actress. She was born Lotus Pearl Shibata in New Jersey, to a father of Japanese ancestry and a mother of Hawaiian ancestry. She came to Southern California during the 1920s to act in Hollywood films, and usually portrayed ethnic Asian female characters in […]

Franklyn Seales (1952 - 1990)

Franklyn Vincent Ellison Seales was born on July 15, 1952 in Calliaqua to Francis Seales, a merchant seaman and government employee, and Olive Seales (nee Allen), a homemaker. He was the fifth eldest of eight siblings and second eldest son. Seales was of English, Scottish, African, Portuguese and Native Caribbean descent. He grew up among […]

Raymond Huntley (1904 - 1990)

Born in Birmingham in 1904, Raymond Huntley made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in A Woman Killed with Kindness. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in As Far as Thought can Reach. He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake […]

Athene Seyler (1889 - 1990)

Athene Seyler was educated at Coombe Hill School in Surrey, a progressive co-educational school which disliked petitionary prayer and whose advanced biology classes studied Darwin’s On The Origin of Species. Seyler took part in an anti-blood sports demonstration, during which pupils captured the fox from the local hunt. She was also active in the South Place […]

Ina Balin (1937 - 1990)

Born Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, Ina Balin first appeared on television on The Perry Como Show. She also did summer stock, which led to roles on Broadway, and in 1959, she won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the Broadway comedy, A Majority of One, starring Gertrude Berg and […]

Anne Revere (1903 - 1990)

Born in New York City, Anne Revere was a direct descendant of Boston silversmith and American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker, and she was raised on the Upper West Side and in Westfield, New Jersey. In 1926, she graduated from Wellesley College, then enrolled at the American Laboratory School to […]

Harry Lauter (1914 - 1990)

Harry Lauter was born in White Plains, New York. He came to be a familiar presence in low-budget films, serials (where he was often cast because of his facial resemblance to stuntman Tom Steele, who would double for him), and television programs in the 1950s, though he only once really came close to stardom, as […]

Margaret Lockwood (1916 - 1990)

She was born Margaret Mary Lockwood Day in Karachi, British India, to an English administrator of a railway company and his Scottish wife. Margaret Lockwood’s family returned to the United Kingdom when she was a child, along with her brother. She attended Sydenham High School for girls, and a ladies’ school in Kensington, London. She began […]

David White (1916 - 1990)

Born in Denver, Colorado, his family later moved to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, David White later graduated from Los Angeles City College and began acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and the Cleveland Play House. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during World War II and, after his discharge, made his Broadway debut in 1949 in […]

Robert Cummings (1910 - 1990)

Robert Cummings was born in Joplin, Missouri, a son of Dr. Charles Clarence Cummings and the former Ruth Annabelle Kraft. His father was a surgeon, who was part of the original medical staff of St. John’s Hospital in Joplin. He was the founder of the Jasper County Tuberculosis Hospital in Webb City, Missouri. Cummings’ mother […]

Vic Tayback (1930 - 1990)

Victor “Vic” Tayback (January 6, 1930 – May 25, 1990) was an American actor. Vic Tayback was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the son of Helen (née Hanood) and Najeeb James Tayback. His parents were immigrants from Aleppo, Syria. Vic Tayback moved with his family to Burbank, California, during his teenage years and […]

Arthur Kennedy (1914 - 1990)

Arthur Kennedy was born John Arthur Kennedy on 17 February 1914 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Helen (née Thompson) and J.T. Kennedy, a dentist. He attended South High School, Worcester and Worcester Academy. At Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh he studied drama being graduated B.A. in 1934. Kennedy moved to New York and, billed as […]

David Rappaport (1951 - 1990)

David Rappaport was born to Jewish taxi driver Mark and his wife Diana, née Schneiderman in London, England. As a child, he developed talents in playing the accordion and drums, the latter of which he played professionally during his life. Rappaport studied psychology at the University of Bristol from 1970, graduating with a degree while […]

Kiel Martin (1944 - 1990)

Kiel Urban Mueller (July 26, 1944, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—December 28, 1990, Rancho Mirage, California), professionally known as Kiel Martin, was an American actor best known for his role as lovable rogue Detective John “J.D.” La Rue on the 1980s television drama Hill Street Blues. Martin was married twice, first to Claudia Martin (1944–2001), who was actor/crooner Dean […]

Albert Salmi (1928 - 1990)

Albert Salmi was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish immigrant parents. He attended Haaren High School in Manhattan. Following a stint in the United States Army during World War II, Salmi took up acting as a career, studying Method acting at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. In 1955, Salmi starred as Bo […]

Jack Gilford (1907 - 1990)

Jack Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His parents were Romanian-born Jewish immigrants Sophie “Susksa” (née Jackness), who owned a restaurant, and Aaron Gellman, a furrier. Gilford was the second of three sons, with an older brother Murray (“Moisha”) and a younger […]

Henry Brandon (1912 - 1990)

Henry Brandon (June 8, 1912 – February 15, 1990) was a German-American character actor with an extensive career over 60 years involving more than one hundred films, with an ability at playing a wide diversity of ethnic roles, from European to American, Oriental to American Indians. Born Heinrich von Kleinbach in Berlin, Germany, his parents emigrated […]

Edward Binns (1916 - 1990)

Edward Binns was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the first members of the newly formed Actors Studio, Binns began studying with Elia Kazan in the fall of 1947. After appearing in a number of Broadway plays, Binns began appearing in films in the early 1950s. Some of his notable roles include playing Juror #6 […]

Gary Merrill (1915 - 1990)

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Gary Merrill attended private Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and Trinity College and began acting in 1944, while still in the United States Army Air Forces, in Winged Victory. Before entering films, Merrill’s deep cultured voice won him a recurring role as Batman in the Superman radio series. His film career […]

Ken Lynch (1910 - 1990)

Kenneth E. “Ken” Lynch (July 15, 1910 – February 13, 1990) was a Cleveland, Ohio-born American radio, film, and TV actor credited with more than 180 credits to his name. He was generally known for portraying law enforcement officers and detectives. He may have been best known for his starring role as ‘the Lieutenant’ on […]

Howard Duff (1913 - 1990)

Howard Duff was born in Charleston, now part of Bremerton, Washington. He graduated in 1932 from Roosevelt High School in Seattle, where he began acting in school plays after he was cut from the school basketball team. Thereafter, he worked locally in the theater in Seattle until he entered the United States Army Air Corps […]

Bill Cullen (1920 - 1990)

Cullen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of William and Lillian Cullen. He survived a childhood bout with polio that left him with significant physical limitations for the rest of his life (see medical history). He also wore spectacles, which became his trademark. Cullen’s broadcasting career began in Pittsburgh at WWSW radio, where he […]

Barbara Baxley (1923 - 1990)

Barbara Baxley (January 1, 1923 – June 7, 1990) was an American actress and singer. Barbara Angie Rose Baxley was born in Porterville, California, the daughter of Emma (née Tyler) and Bert Baxley. A life member of the Actors Studio, Barbara Baxley also studied acting under the tutelage of Sanford Meisner at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School […]

Rusty Hamer (1947 - 1990)

Rusty Hamer in Tenafly, New Jersey, Hamer was the youngest of three sons of Arthur Walter John, Sr., a men’s shirt salesman and Dorothy Hamer (née Chretin), a former silent film actress. He had two elder brothers, John and Walter. As a child, Hamer was nicknamed “Rusty” because of his red hair and freckles. Due […]

Ugo Tognazzi (1922 - 1990)

Ugo Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company. After his return to his native city in 1936, he worked in a salami production plant. During World War II, he was inducted into the Army and returned home […]