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1-18 of 18
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Demure British beauty Jean Simmons was born January 31, 1929, in Crouch End, London. As a 14-year-old dance student, she was plucked from her school to play Margaret Lockwood's precocious sister in Give Us the Moon (1944). She had a small part as a harpist in the high-profile Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), produced by Gabriel Pascal, starring Vivien Leigh, and co-starring her future husband Stewart Granger. Pascal saw potential in Simmons, and in 1945 he signed her to a seven-year contract to the J. Arthur Rank Organization, and she went on to make a name for herself in such major British productions as Great Expectations (1946) (as the spoiled, selfish Estella), Black Narcissus (1947) (as a sultry native beauty), Hamlet (1948) (playing Ophelia to Laurence Olivier's great Dane and earning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination), The Blue Lagoon (1949) and So Long at the Fair (1950), among others.
In 1950, she married Stewart Granger, and that same year, she moved to Hollywood. While Granger was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Rank sold her contract to Howard Hughes, who then owned RKO Pictures. Hughes was eager to start a sexual relationship with Simmons, but Granger put a stop to his advances. Her first Hollywood film was Androcles and the Lion (1952), produced by Pascal and co-starring Victor Mature. It was followed by Angel Face (1952), directed by Otto Preminger with Robert Mitchum. To further punish Simmons and Granger, Hughes refused to lend her to Paramount, where William Wyler wanted to cast her in the female lead for his film Roman Holiday (1953); the role made a star of Audrey Hepburn. A court case freed Simmons from the contract with Hughes in 1952. They settled out of court; part of the arrangement was that Simmons would do one more film for no additional money. Simmons also agreed to make three more movies under the auspices of RKO, but not actually at that studio - she would be lent out. MGM cast her in the lead of Young Bess (1953) playing a young Queen Elizabeth I with Granger. She went back to RKO to do the extra film under the settlement with Hughes, titled Affair with a Stranger (1953) with Mature; it flopped.
Simmons went over to 20th Century Fox to play the female lead in The Robe (1953), the first CinemaScope movie and an enormous financial success. Less popular was The Actress (1953) at MGM alongside Spencer Tracy, despite superb reviews; it was one of her personal favorites. Fox asked Simmons back for The Egyptian (1954), another epic, but it was not especially popular. She had the lead in Columbia's A Bullet Is Waiting (1954). More popular with moviegoers was Désirée (1954), where Simmons played Désirée Clary to Marlon Brando's Napoleon Bonaparte. Simmons and Granger returned to England to make the thriller Footsteps in the Fog (1955). She then starred in the musical Guys and Dolls (1955) with Brando and Frank Sinatra; she used her own singing voice and earned her first Golden Globe Award. Simmons played the title role in Hilda Crane (1956) at Fox, a commercial failure. So, too, were This Could Be the Night (1957) and Until They Sail (1957), both at MGM. Simmons had a big success, though, in The Big Country (1958), directed by Wyler. She starred in Home Before Dark (1958) at Warner Bros. and This Earth Is Mine (1959) with Rock Hudson at Universal.
Simmons divorced Granger in 1960 and almost immediately married writer-director Richard Brooks, who cast her as Sister Sharon opposite Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960), a memorable adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel. That same year, she co-starred with Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) and played a would-be homewrecker opposite Cary Grant in The Grass Is Greener (1960).
Off the screen for a few years, Jean captivated moviegoers with a brilliant performance as the mother in All the Way Home (1963), a literate, tasteful adaptation of James Agee's "A Death in the Family". However, after that, she found quality projects somewhat harder to come by, and took work in Life at the Top (1965), Mister Buddwing (1966), Divorce American Style (1967), Rough Night in Jericho (1967), The Happy Ending (1969) (a Richard Brooks film for which she was again Oscar-nominated, this time as Best Actress).
Jean continued making films well into the 1970s. In the 1980s, she appeared mainly in television miniseries, such as North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985) and The Thorn Birds (1983). She made a comeback to films in 1995 in How to Make an American Quilt (1995) co-starring Winona Ryder and Anne Bancroft, and most recently voiced the elderly Sophie in the English version of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004). She now resided in Santa Monica, California, with her dog, Mr. Gates, and her two cats, Adisson and Megan. Jean Simmons died of lung cancer on January 22, 2010, nine days before her 81st birthday.- Actor
- Soundtrack
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer of English descent. He was one the leading dancers for choreographer Agnes de Mille (1905-1993). As an actor, Mitchell is primarily remembered for his role as diabolical businessman Palmer Cortlandt in the long-running soap opera "All My Children". Mitchell played this role from 1979 to 2010, and Cortlandt was one of the series' major characters until 2002.
In 1920, Mitchell was born in Sacramento, California. His parents were English immigrants who operated a fruit farm in Turlock, an agricultural settlement in Stanislaus County, California. In 1923, his parents separated. His mother returned to England, and took Mitchell's siblings with her. Unable to raise Mitchell on his own, his father entrusted him to the care of vaudevillians Gene and Katherine King. While the senior Mitchell eventually reclaimed custody over his son, Mitchell became interested in a show business career of his own.
Mitchell left Turlock in 1937, in order to seek education as an actor. He studied drama at Los Angeles City College, and was trained in modern dance by famed choreographer Lester Horton (1906-1953). Following his graduation, Mitchell formally joined the Lester Horton Dancers (1932-1944), Horton's own dance company.
In 1944, Horton dissolved his dance company and moved to New York City, taking Mitchell with him. Horton attempted to form a new dance company there for dancer Sonia Shaw, and his main investor was Shaw's husband. The investor reneged on the deal, and Horton's company went bankrupt before its debut performance. Mitchell was left unemployed for the first time in his career.
Mitchell had trouble finding acting or dancing jobs in New York City, where there were many available performers. Mitchell himself had no connections in the city. He eventually applied for a job as a dancer in the musical "Bloomer Girl" (1944), where Agnes de Mille was the choreographer. She asked him to perform ballet moves, unaware that Mitchell had little to no training in ballet. Instead Mitchell performed a dance improvisation. De Mille was sufficiently impressed by his style to offer him the dual position of principal dancer and assistant choreographer in the show. He took the offer.
Mitchell's professional relationship with de Mille lasted from 1944 to 1969. In her autobiography, she praised Mitchell, commenting that he gad "probably the strongest arms in the business, and the adagio style developed by him and his partners has become since a valued addition to ballet vocabulary."
Mitchell remained primarily a theatrical actor in the 1940s, though he appeared as a dancer and uncredited extra in film musicals and westerns. He was eventually offered a contract with Warner Brothers by producer Michael Curtiz (1886-1962). Mitchell only appeared in two Warner Brothers-produced film. His most notable there was playing gangster Duke Harris in the Western "Colorado Territory" (1949).
Mitcell was next signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he played supporting roles in films from 1949 to 1955. His film appearances included the film noir "Border Incident" (1949), the Western "Stars in My Crown" (1950), and the musical comedy "The Band Wagon" (1953). His last MGM-produced film was the Biblical epic "The Prodigal" (1955), a notorious box office flop that resulted in losses of 771,000 dollars by the company. Mitchell's contract was terminated shortly afterward.
In 1956, Mitchell gained his first lead role in a film, playing gunfighter Terrall Butler in the Western "The Peacemaker" (1956). It was a low-budget production by independent producer Hal R. Makelim, and the film eventually only had a limited release. It was Mitchell's last film role for decades.
Mitchell was able to find steady work as an actor in television productions. In 1964, he gained the recurring role of corrupt Captain Lloyd Griffin in the soap opera "The Edge of Night" (1956-1975). He eventually gained the lead role of professor of literature Julian Hathaway in another soap opera, "Where the Heart Is" (1969-1973). The series had "fairly healthy ratings" for its entire run, but it was typically the lowest-rated soap on CBS' daytime schedule. It was eventually canceled and replaced by a more successful soap opera, called "The Young and the Restless" (1973-).
For much to the 1970s, Mitchell was reduced to sporadic guest star appearances in television. He financially supported himself as an acting teacher at Juilliard, Yale University, and Drake University. He was eventually offered the new role of businessman Palmer Cortlandt in the soap opera "All My Children", a role he played for 31 years.
By 2008, Mitchell was forced to reduce his television appearances due to health problems. He was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an obstructive lung disease characterized by long-term breathing problems and poor airflow. He formally retired from acting in 2009, but made return appearances in 2010. He died in January 2010, his death caused by his chronic disease and complications by pneumonia. He was 89-years-old.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Prolific American character actor Johnny Seven was born John Anthony Fetto in the Italian section of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York, to Marie and John Fetto. He was the only boy in a family of six children, with sisters Lillian, Terry, Connie, Dolores, and Jean. Considering that much of his future acting work consisted of playing tough gangsters and criminals, it may come as a surprise to discover that, until the age of 14, he was a boy soprano. He served 2-1/2 years in the US Army, with the 187th Field Artillery Battalion, and was bitten by the acting bug when he appeared in several USO shows during his military hitch. He married Edith Piselli on October 8, 1949, and they had two children, John Jr. and Laura. Seven worked in the New York theater community and did much live television until he was brought to Hollywood in 1958 by Universal Pictures to work in their many television series. He has since appeared in more than 600 TV shows, over 25 films, and numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions. In addition to acting, he has also written and directed for the stage (his first play, "Salvage", was written in 1958), television and movies (he produced, directed and starred in a 1964 western, Navajo Run (1964), and has directed several TV shows and shorts since then). He enjoys gardening, golf and all kinds of fishing, ocean, lake and especially fly fishing.- Dave Dedrick was a radio personality and television pioneer from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was best remembered for his four decades as host on the long-running children's program, "Captain 11."
David Hugo Dedrick was born to parents, Daniel and Sylvia (Marie) Dedrick, in Marshalltown, Iowa. He moved with his family to Fort Dodge, Iowa before finally settling in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Dedrick was only fifteen years old when he started his long career in broadcasting, working for KSOO and KELO radio when he was a junior and senior at Washington High School. After graduation, Dedrick spent four years serving with the U.S. Marine Corp before being honorably discharged. Dedrick married MarJean Schuknecht and spent eighteen months attending Augustana College before being called to active duty with the Marine Reserves during the Korean Conflict.
Dave Dedrick's voice was the first to be heard on KELO-TV during the station's inaugural broadcast on May 19, 1953. He spent the next forty-four years serving as KELO-TV's weather man. After winning a coin toss, Dedrick became the host of the children's television program, "Captain 11," which ran from 1955 to 1996. After his retirement on December 30, 1996, Dave Dedrick received many awards and honors for his work in broadcasting. - Actor
- Stunts
Dick Elmore was the stunt double for Eddie Albert and many other stars along with being an Extra and Stand In on many TV shows of the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. His introduction into the movie business was in 1937 when he skated in a Sonja Henie Film. He retired when he was 65 years old. He died when his airbags deployed after swerving to miss something in the road, going less than 25 miles an hour. The air bags broke his neck. Coincidentally, the accident happened at the corner of Sonja and Henie in the Henie hills subdivision, where Dick had retired with his wife Jacqueline Livingston Elmore. Dick was an Atheist and a veteran of WWII trained as a paratrooper but refused to carry a gun or rifle.- Bobby Gale was born on 9 May 1916. He was an actor, known for Super Fuzz (1980), Nobody's Perfekt (1981) and King Frat (1979). He died on 22 January 2010.
- Gorgeous, shapely and sexy redhead stunner Jennifer Lyn Jackson was born on March 21, 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio. Jackson graduated from North Olmsted High School in North Olmsted, Ohio in 1986. She pursued a double major in Finance and Business Administration at Kent State University. Jennifer was the Playmate of the Month in the April, 1989 issue of "Playboy." Jackson was one of the finalists for the magazine's 35th Anniversary pictorial. She posed for a handful of "Playboy" special edition publications. In March, 2005 Jennifer was arrested in Westlake, Ohio for receiving stolen property; this case was later dropped when the victim of said theft failed to appear in court. On June 30, 2007 Jackson was arrested a second time in Oberlin, Ohio for driving under the influence. Moreover, Jennifer was also charged for stealing cigarettes from a gas station. In addition, the police found both marijuana and rolling papers in her car. Jackson was given a 180 day suspended jail sentence, had to pay a $500 dollar fine, and had her driver's license suspended for six months after pleading guilty to the DUI charge. Jennifer died of a drug overdose at age 40 on January 22, 2010 in Westlake, Ohio.
- Gerhard Ledic was born on 5 May 1926 in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia [now Croatia]. He was a writer, known for Gubecziana (1974). He died on 22 January 2010 in Zagreb.
- Art Department
Richard M. Jones is known for The Postman (1997), Three Kings (1999) and The Ice Storm (1997). Richard M. was married to Molly McKasson. Richard M. died on 22 January 2010 in Tucson, Arizona, USA.- Production Designer
- Costume Designer
Wolf Münzner was born on 22 June 1939. Wolf was a production designer and costume designer, known for Die lustige Wallfahrt (1963), Der Bauer auf der Himmelsbrücke (1964) and Ich bin nicht der Eiffelturm (1969). Wolf died on 22 January 2010.- Bohus Pastorek was born on 25 October 1928 in Valasská Bystrice, Zlín, Czechoslovakia. He was an actor, known for Sokolovo (1975), Dny zrady (1973) and The Liberation of Prague (1977). He died on 22 January 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Additional Crew
F.W. Deakin was born on 3 July 1913 in London, England, UK. He is known for Mussolini (1976). He was married to Livia Stela Nasta and Margaret Beatson Bell Ogilvy. He died on 22 January 2010 in Le Castellet, Var, France.- Walter Muth was born on 26 March 1920. Walter was a director, known for Gespräche im November (1970) and Silvesterbefragung - Gespräche zum Jahreswechsel (1973). Walter died on 22 January 2010 in Frankenberg, Germany.
- Script and Continuity Department
Dave Berry was born in 1943 in Lancashire, England, UK. He is known for Against the Dying of the Light (2001) and Welsh Greats (2008). He died on 22 January 2010 in Cardiff, Wales, UK.- Andrew Lange was born on 23 July 1957 in Urbana, Illinois, USA. He died on 22 January 2010 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Additional Crew
József Újfalussy was born on 13 February 1920 in Debrecen, Hungary. He is known for Sámánének - Kantáta '86 (1987) and Zenés fejtörö (1958). He died on 22 January 2010 in Budapest, Hungary.- Tom Wittum was born on 11 January 1950 in Berwyn, Illinois, USA. He was married to Cheryl. He died on 22 January 2010 in Antioch, Illinois, USA.
- Gerd Weisgerber was born on 24 January 1938 in Saarwellingen, Saarland, Germany. He died on 22 January 2010 in Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.