Actors Who Have Committed Suicide
Actors from film and television who have taken their own lives.
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- Actress
- Additional Crew
Perennial starlet Dorothy Abbott was a sexy, vivacious, wide-smiling model, showgirl and actress who could brighten up a room. Unfortunately, her cinematic offerings wound up being pretty minimal and her last years were marred by depression and, ultimately, a tragic end.
She was born Dorothy E. Abbott on December 16, 1920, in Kansas City, Missouri and started her career off as a chorine with Earl Carroll and his Los Angeles-based revues and in Las Vegas showrooms where she was dubbed the rather mystifying title of "The Girl with the Golden Arm". Paramount Studios perked up on the lovely blonde with the Betty Page-like bangs and gave her a starting contract at $150 a week. Groomed in dozens of decorative "good time girl" bits -- dancers, chorus girls, waitresses, stewardesses, party girls, nurses and models -- she was at the same time promoted as a cheesecake pinup, "winning" such dubious titles as "Miss Wilshire Club," "Miss Los Angeles Transit" and "Miss Oil Cans".
The dusky-voiced Dorothy was usually briefly seen and not heard in such dramatic and lightweight fare as The Razor's Edge (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) (in which she has her first speaking role as a maid), Words and Music (1948), Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), Little Women (1949), Neptune's Daughter (1949), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), His Kind of Woman (1951), Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952), _The Las Vegas Story (1952)_, The Caddy (1953), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Jailhouse Rock (1957), South Pacific (1958), The Apartment (1960), That Touch of Mink (1962), A Gathering of Eagles (1963) and Dear Heart (1964). Her one starring role came early in the exploitative, lowbudget potboiler A Virgin in Hollywood (1953) as a star reporter out to get a seamy Hollywood story, but she was unable to capitalize on it.
Working bit parts at the studio during the days, she would often perform on stage in little theatre shows at night. On the sly, when work was meager, she became a real estate agent in the 1950s in order to help supplement her income. TV chores included guest roles in "Leave It to Beaver" and "Ozzie and Harriet". She also had a recurring part for one season as Jack Webb's girlfriend on the Dragnet (1954) series.
Dorothy married LAPD narcotics squad officer-turned homicide detective Adolph Rudy Diaz in 1949. Diaz, who was of Native American (Apache) descent, eventually retired as a cop in order to pursue acting. By this time, the marriage was in trouble and the couple separated. Going by the stage name of Rudy Diaz in 1967, he began to get work and was seen out in public with other women. The divorce was finalized in 1968, but Dorothy took it hard and never seemed to get over it. On December 15, 1968, she committed suicide at her Los Angeles home -- one day before her 48th birthday. She was interred (as Dorothy E. Diaz) at Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, Los Angeles County, California, Plot: Valley Lawn, Lot 2939.- Actor
- Writer
Stanley Adams (born Abramowitz) had a lengthy career on both stage and screen, the majority of which was spent playing minor supporting roles. A possible exception was the part of Rusty Trawler, a pint sized millionaire in the classic romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Otherwise, he portrayed innumerable minor ethnic villains, bartenders and avuncular, fast-talking characters, known in the credits only by their first names. On television, conversely, he proved himself more of a scene stealer, particularly in the 1960s and early '70s, when his face popped up on just about every major prime time show. He was at his best as pool hustler Sure-shot Wilson in an episode of The Odd Couple (1970), Rollo, a quirky time-traveling scientist on The Twilight Zone (1959), and - famously - as 'asteroid detecting', tribble-dispensing galactic entrepreneur Cyrano Jones on Star Trek (1966). Alas, he may also be remembered as a sentient space carrot named Tybo on Lost in Space (1965)....
His suicide in April 1977 has been attributed to severe depression as a result of a back injury, sustained earlier in the decade. Apart from the obvious pain, it would almost certainly have limited his employment opportunities.- Clay Adler was born on 20 August 1989 in Newport Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Make It or Break It (2009) and Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County (2007). He died on 26 March 2017 in Orange County, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
The tragically brief life of fresh-faced, boyishly handsome Ross Alexander, who seemed to have everything going for him, plays these days like a bad Hollywood movie. Alexander was a charming, highly engaging young actor whose pleasant voice and breezy personality aided greatly in his transition from Broadway teen player to young adult Warner Bros. film actor. His peers would include such Warner stalwarts as Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Errol Flynn. Off-camera, however, Ross, a closeted homosexual, became an acutely self-destructive young man whose career instability and domestic tragedy would take its toll. The tormented Ross ended his own life at age 29.
Ross Alexander was born Alexander Ross Smith in Brooklyn, New York, to Maud Adelle (Cohen) and Alexander Ross Smith, a leather merchant. Raised in Rochester, New York, he pursued both drama and athletics in high school (soccer, swimming) and sidelined in little theater productions in town. In between he took his first Broadway bow as a young teen in Blanche Yurka's long-running comedy success "Enter Madame." He eventually moved back to New York City following schooling and began to build up his stage resume in stock companies. On Broadway he showed a modicum of promise in such plays as "The Ladder" (1926) and "Let Us Be Gay" (1929). The latter play introduced Ross to producer John Golden and marked an immoderate two-year association which would include the plays "After Tomorrow" (1930) and "That's Gratitude" (1930). Paramount apparently saw Ross' potential and started him off in pictures with The Wiser Sex (1932), but nothing happened. Continuing on Broadway with "The Stork Is Dead" (1932), "Honeymoon" (1932), "The Party's Over" (1933) and "No Questions Asked" (1934), he was re-noticed for films, this time by Warner Bros.
Warners signed him to appear in its popular backstage Depression-era musicals and collegiate capers. Alexander's fresh look and carefree, slightly cynical demeanor made him an instant favorite and he soon began humming with popular second leads in such musicals as Flirtation Walk (1934). On the dramatic side he was chosen to play Demetrius in the all-star A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), and in Errol Flynn's Captain Blood (1935) he played Jeremy Pitt, Blood's friend and navigator. Trouble started brewing, however, behind the scenes. Ross was being perceived by Warners as a second-ranked Dick Powell. As the studio began featuring him in Powell's castoffs and other uninspiring B-grade movies, they decided it was too taxing to both groom him for matinée idol status and conceal his homosexuality at the same time.
A probable marriage of convenience to budding starlet Aleta Friele, who appeared on Broadway using the name Aleta Freel, ended disastrously with the 28-year-old actress taking her own life with a rifle in their Hollywood Hills home. The actor was deeply shaken by this tragic event. He tried to cover his tracks yet again, however, by marrying beautiful actress Anne Nagel, whom he met while on the set of Hot Money, (1936),China Clipper (1936) and Here Comes Carter (1936). It didn't help quash his spiraling depression.
Finally Warners lost all patience and interest after having to cover up a potentially career-threatening gay-sex scandal, and Ross' promising career went down the tubes. To add insult to injury, he incurred major debt. On January 2, 1937, less than five months after his marriage to Nagel and shortly after the first anniversary of his first wife's death, Aleta Friele who also committed suicide, Alexander shot himself with a pistol in a barn behind his Encino ranch home. His last movie, the moderately received Ready, Willing and Able (1937) with Ruby Keeler, was released posthumously. Despite the fact he was the co-lead in the film, he was billed fifth, thus emphasizing the point that he had already lost most of his clout.- Gia Allemand was born on 20 December 1983 in Howard Beach, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Ghost Trek: The Kinsey Report (2011), Ghost Trek: Goomba Body Snatchers Mortuary Lockdown (2013) and Bachelor Pad (2010). She died on 14 August 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Perhaps best remembered as TV's first Amahl in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951), Chet Allen was also a member of the famous Columbus Boychoir (now the American Boychoir) during that period. Although he made a few other notable appearances over the years, most notably in the film Meet Me at the Fair (1953) with Dan Dailey and Scatman Crothers, and as one of Ezio Pinza's sons on his TV series, Bonino (1953) when his voice changed, so did his life, for the worse. Like many another former child star, he drifted from job to job and, in his case, in and out of psychiatric hospitals. When Menotti himself visited him in Columbus, about a year before his death, he found a bitterly unhappy young man for whom life had been a series of disappointments. "No one could have helped him enough," Menotti would later say. In 1984, at the age of 44, Chet Allen killed himself by taking five times the fatal dosage of the prescription anti-depressant he'd been taking.- Actor
- Soundtrack
1950s and 60s second lead actor Keith Andes fits into the tall, handsome, strapping and highly virile mold that encompassed the likes of George Nader, Guy Madison, and Jeffrey Hunter. Although he may not be as well remembered as the aforementioned, he managed to maintain a reliable career on radio (from age 12), stage, TV and films for over three decades.
Born John Charles Andes on July 12, 1920, in Ocean City, New Jersey, Keith found work on radio singing and acting throughout his high school years. While serving with the Air Force during WWII, he performed in the patriotic 1943 Broadway stage show "Winged Victory" and, after being seen by studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, was given a minor part in the film version the following year.
Keith returned to Hollywood in the post-war years and won the role of one of Loretta Young's brothers (the others being Lex Barker and James Arness) in the classic film The Farmer's Daughter (1947). His enviable physique and photogenic good looks made the blond looker an obvious choice to continue in both rugged adventures and beefcake drama but his output was fairly minimal. In Clash by Night (1952), one of his best roles, he dallied hot and heavy with a young Marilyn Monroe and, in Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952), he demonstrated some expert swashbuckling skills.
Meanwhile on the musical front, Keith proved he had a resilient baritone. He won a Theatre World Award for "The Chocolate Soldier" in 1947 and, subsequently, starred in "Kiss Me Kate" with Anne Jeffreys of TV's Topper (1953) fame. More notably, he appeared opposite Lucille Ball in her only Broadway musical "Wildcat" in 1960, winding things up playing "Don Quixote" for over 400 performances in "Man of La Mancha" in 1968. Ironically, the movie studios did not take advantage of Keith's musical prowess, appearing in a bland role with Jane Powell and singing one musical number in The Girl Most Likely (1957).
Beside numerous episodic appearances on such popular 60's and 70's shows as "Have Gun, Will Travel," "The Rifleman," "77 Sunset Strip," "Perry Mason," "The Outer Limits," "Daniel Boone," "The Andy Griffith Show," "Star Trek," "I Spy," "Petticoat Junction," "Gunsmoke," "Cannon" and "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," Keith co-starred in two television series: This Man Dawson (1959) and the sitcom Glynis (1963), the latter starring popular Brit actress Glynis Johns. Both were short-lived. He occasionally found voiceover work.
After a minor part in the film And Justice for All (1979), Keith made his final appearance as Father Adam in the TV movie drama Blinded by the Light (1980) ). He then retired, bought and lived on a boat and ran charters on trips to Catalina and Mexico. Twice married and divorced, Keith had two children (Mark and Matt) by first wife, Jean Alice Cotton. Mark Andes became a rock musician. Keith's second wife was actress/dancer/choreographer Shelah Hackett.
Sadly, his final years were marred by extreme ill health, including bladder cancer, and he committed suicide in his Santa Clarita, California home at age 85.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Anna Maria Pierangeli was born June 19, 1932, in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. Anna and her twin sister, Marisa Pavan, both had their eyes on becoming film stars, since that was one of the big Italian pastimes. Anna adopted her surname and split it in half, and it was as Pier Angeli that she would find fame. Her first role was an uncredited part in 1948's The Million Dollar Nickel (1952), an Italian production. Pier was 16 at the time and it was to be the first of many roles for this beautiful woman. The film was largely forgettable but it was a start. The following year she played in another Italian production, Tomorrow Is Too Late (1950). Again it was a very small role, and she was not seen on the screen again until 1951. Between 1949 and 1951 she appeared in stage productions and found work in menial jobs. When she did return it was in the film The Light Touch (1951) as Anna Vasarri. Later that year she won the title role in Teresa (1951). However, she again hit a drought with only one film in 1952 and two in 1953. The next year things began to pick up, however, with Hollywood beckoning. After the Italian Miss Nitouche (1954) she caught the eyes of Hollywood moguls, who cast her in Flame and the Flesh (1954) and The Silver Chalice (1954). Now she divided her time between Italy and the US making movies. She married Vic Damone in 1954, a union that lasted only four years and produced one son.
No film offers came in 1955, but in 1956 Pier landed the role of Norma Graziano (wife of fighter Rocky Graziano) in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) opposite Paul Newman. The film was well received at the box office and she had hopes that things were going to pick up again. She played Ynez in Port Afrique (1956) later that year and then another drought ensued. After The Vintage (1957), Merry Andrew (1958) and SOS Pacific (1959), she made three more films in 1960. Then once again 1961 saw no appearances. In 1962 Pier played Ildith in Sodom and Gomorrah (1962) and later that year played in a French production entitled White Slave Ship (1961). After the Italian production of Shadow of Evil (1964) she returned in the hit European-American co-production Battle of the Bulge (1965).
After a handful of films between 1966 and 1970, Pier realized her dreams of super-stardom were not to be. She had divorced her second husband (Armando Trovajoli) in 1969 and made her final appearance on the screen in 1971 in the low-budget sci-fi opus Octaman (1971). On September 10th of that year Pier was found dead of a barbiturate overdose in her Beverly Hills home. She was only 39 years old.- Alfie Anido was born on 31 December 1959 in the Philippines. He was an actor, known for Temptation Island (1980), Kasalanan ba? (1981) and Katorse (1980). He died on 30 December 1981.
- In the mid 1980s, while pursuing his acting career, Jeremy Applegate worked at Victoria Station in Universal City. He made fast friends, and, although his career was just beginning, he was considered by many to be an impressively talented impersonator. His characters were pursued with intense energy, and laced with dark humor. The result was a style all his own.
Jeremy loved entertaining his co-workers, and often had them in stitches with his impersonations of beloved characters from the TV shows and ads of everyone's childhood. Whenever Jeremy was around, it felt like a party. To be in his presence was truly a treat.
Like many young actors who are just starting out, Jeremy spent his twenties, and the first few years of his thirties, working to make ends meet. Despite having a fairly solid support system comprised of close friends and their families, Jeremy was under a great deal of pressure, and was troubled with depression. Unfortunately, his state of mind got the better of him, and Jeremy Applegate committed suicide in March of the year 2000, at the far too-young age of 34. - Arabella Arbenz was born in 1940 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She was an actress, known for Un alma pura (1965) and Tajimara (1965). She died on 5 October 1965 in Bogota, Colombia.
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Jane Arden was born in Wales in 1927 and left for London in her teens.
She trained at RADA and quickly began working as an actress and playwright. It was there that she met her future husband, Philip Saville, who is now perhaps most known for his work Boys from the Blackstuff (1982) and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986). They had 2 children, Sebastian Saville and Dominic Saville and one step- child, Elizabeth Saville.
Jane Arden's plays include The Thug (1959) which starred Alan Bates, The Party (1958) which was directed by Charles Laughton and gave Albert Finney his first role in the theatre, Post Mortem (1999), _The New Communion For Freaks, Prophets and Witches (1999)_, The Illusionist (1983) and Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven (1969).
Jane Arden began tracing female oppression in 1966 when she wrote a script for the film The Logic Game (1965). It was described as a "surrealist puzzle" attempting to locate the isolation of women in the context of bourgeois marriage.
Arden's film career includes her original script and her performance in Separation (1968), which featured the song "Salad Days" by Procol Harum and was directed by Jane Arden's collaborator Jack Bond. In this film, women's' exploitation was exposed as their personal dilemma began to take on a political context.
Arden formed the feminist theatre group "Holocaust" and then wrote a play with the same name. In 1972, she adapted and directed this for the cinema as The Other Side of Underneath (1972).
Before her involvement with the Women's Liberation Movement, she appeared on TV talk programmes like Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (1964) as a speaker on women and politics. As an actress, she was best known for her performance as "Inez" in a BBC-TV production of Jean-Paul Sartre Huis clos (1965), opposite Harold Pinter as "Garcia".
Two more films, both co-directed with Jack Bond, followed in the later 1970s, the experimental Vibration (1974), made in the USA in 1974, and Anti-Clock (1979) which opened the 1979 London Film Festival. It was the fist film to use video techniques in an experimental way. Her poetry books include "You Don't Know What You Want, Do You?". Jane Arden committed suicide on Dec. 20, 1982 in North Yorkshire and is buried in Darlington West Cemetary. She was 55 years old.- David Arkin was born on 24 December 1941 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for M*A*S*H (1970), All the President's Men (1976) and The Long Goodbye (1973). He was married to Anne E. Curry, Deborah Lee Lubin and Lynn Coleman Gillham. He died on 14 January 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
Born in Mexican revolution times, Pedro Armendáriz was the first child of Mexican Pedro Armendáriz García-Conde and American Adele Hastings. He was raised in Churubusco, then a suburb of Mexico City, before the family traveled to Laredo, Texas. They lived there until 1921, the year Armendáriz' parents died. His uncle Francisco took charge of his education, and young Pedro went to the Polytechnic Institute of San Luis Obispo, California. There, he studied business and journalism. He graduated in 1931 and returned to Mexico City where he found work as a railroad employee, insurance salesman and tourist guide. He was discovered by director Miguel Zacarías when Armendáriz was reciting Hamlet's monologue (to be or not to be) to an American tourist in a cafeteria.
After that, Armendáriz began a brilliant career in Mexico, the United States and Europe. Together with Dolores Del Río and Emilio Fernández, Armendáriz made many of the greatest films in the so-called Mexican Cinema Golden Era: Wild Flower (1943), Bugambilia (1945), Maria Candelaria (1944), among others. He was considered a prototype of masculinity and male beauty. His green eyes and almost perfect features made him perfectly cast in any role he made. But it was his passion, force and acting abilities, combined with his quality of a gentleman what made him an instant favorite of great directors like John Ford, international costars like María Félix, Sean Connery or Susan Hayward, and his fans in Mexico and other countries.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Darryl Armstrong was born on 6 May 1982 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor, known for Queer as Folk (2000), The Cafe (2007) and Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001). He died on 29 January 2005 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.- Todd Armstrong was born on 25 July 1937 in St Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Icebound in the Antarctic (1983) and Iron Horse (1966). He died on 17 November 1992 in Butte, California, USA.
- Per-Axel Arosenius was born on 7 November 1920 in Norberg, Västmanlands län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Topaz (1969), Selambs (1979) and Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973). He died on 21 March 1981 in Nacka, Stockholms län, Sweden.
- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Arno Assmann was born on 30 July 1908 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany [now Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was an actor and director, known for Immer will ich dir gehören (1960), Der Opernball (1978) and Die Ersten und die Letzten (1966). He was married to Lore Ostermann and Heide Heidemann. He died on 30 November 1979 in Herrsching am Ammersee, Bavaria, West Germany.- Hooper Atchley was born on 30 April 1887 in Ebenezer, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for The Return of Jimmy Valentine (1936), The Arizona Terror (1931) and The Three Musketeers (1933). He was married to Violet Yahar. He died on 16 November 1943 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Ann Atmar was born on 10 March 1939 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for Everglades! (1961), A Cold Wind in August (1961) and Street-Fighter (1959). She died on 14 October 1966 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Avery was born on 28 May 1873 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Love and Bullets (1914), His Lying Heart (1916) and The Taming of the Shrew (1908). He was married to Elsa Clark, Margaret Ella Royster and Katherine Caroline Gormley. He died on 23 July 1926 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Showman Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. once billed her as "the most beautiful girl in the world". Burlesque dancer Faith Bacon, and not the much better known Sally Rand who worked for Bacon in the early 1930s, is genuinely considered the lady who originated the "fan dance" during "The Jazz Age".
The Los Angeles-born dancer was born Frances Yvonne Bacon on July 19, 1910. Her career began on the Paris stage (she had no formal dance training) in one of Maurice Chevalier's popular revue shows. She returned to the States, specifically the East Coast, where the fetching 18-year-old wavy blonde won a chorine spot for "Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1928" and returned for his 1930 show. It was she who suggested to Carroll to allow her to undress all the way during the show (save some teasing ostrich features and a smoky spotlight) and, thus, introducing the art of the fan dance. Other shows also included "Fioretta" 1929, "Earl Carroll's Sketch Book of 1929," "Earl Carrol''s Sketch Book of 1930" and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931".
Elsewhere, Faith took her scantily-clad act to the Chicago World's Fair in the mid 1930s where Sally Rand, now infamous for her own fan dance act, also performed, and the two rivals "competed" with their respective shows. At a 1936 performance at the Chicago State-Lake Theatre, Faith crashed through the glass box she was performing in during the show. Covered in blood, she collapsed then and there and spent a month in the hospital. The accident left her with deep, ugly scars on her legs. It was this terrible misfortune that triggered Bacon's slow but firm decline.
Faith's film work was very brief. She made her debut in the secondary role of Maxine in the "poverty row" crime drama Prison Train (1938) starring Fred Keating and "Citizen Kane" co-star Dorothy Comingore (who was billed, at the time, as "Linda Winters") and that was it! Other than starring in two short, cheap, grainy burlesque films, Dance of Shame (1942) and A Lady with Fans (1942), in which she demonstrated her art of fan dancing, Faith was pretty much dismissed as a controversial specialty act and was not seen on film again. Her later on-the-road engagements increasingly digressed in quality and amounted to performances in carnivals, dives and strip joints.
In 1940, Faith had to have major surgery for a glandular problem. For the rest of the decade, she was plagued by this and other illnesses, which left her so drained physically, mentally and financially that she attempted suicide with an overdose of pills in 1954. Although the struggling entertainer survived that attempt, she succeeded two years later when on September 27, 1956, she threw herself out of a third-story Chicago hotel window. She died later that evening from a fractured skull and perforated lung. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Tall, regal, sultry, flame-haired (later blonde) Lynn Baggett is better remembered for her turbulent, unhappy private life than for her "B" level acting roles. Born Ruth Baggett in Wichita Falls, Texas, on May 10, 1923, her father, David L., was in the oil business and her mother, the former Ruth Simmons, was a stenographer. While in Dallas following her high school graduation, the pretty teenager was discovered by a Warner Bros. agent and signed. As a girl with no experience, Lynn (sometimes billed as Lynne) was promoted by the studio as a beauty queen and titleholder ("The Cobra Girl," "The Triple A Girl," etc.) while paying her dues in a slew of unbilled sexy starlet bits as chorines, nurses, waitresses, singers and party-girl types. For five long years she toiled obscurely in such WWII-era films as Manpower (1941), Air Force (1943), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), Roughly Speaking (1945), Mildred Pierce (1945) and Night and Day (1946).
The studio did little to increase her stature in Hollywood, and she eventually was released from her contract in 1946. After signing with Universal, she finally received her first role of substance in The Time of Their Lives (1946), an above-average Abbott and Costello haunted-house comedy. Following her marriage to the Austro-Hungarian producer Sam Spiegel ("On the Waterfront") in 1948, she acted less frequently, showing up in a few secondary roles, that of a shady lady of mystery in the classic film noir D.O.A. (1949)) probably being her best-remembered one and those in The Flame and the Arrow (1950) and The Mob (1951) being her most prominent.
The Spiegel-Baggett marriage was quite stormy, marred by adultery and nasty fighting, and they separated in 1952. Three years later, she finally received a divorce. With her career now in shambles, Lynn found work as an Arthur Murray dance teacher. In 1954, she was the direct cause of a fatal two-car accident in which a 9-year-old boy, on his way home from a summer camping excursion, was killed. Another young boy in the same car was seriously injured. Overcome by fear and acute anguish, she "blacked out" and was later charged with leaving the scene of an accident and was convicted of felony hit-and-run.
A failed comeback attempt at acting led to severe depression, mental problems and acute substance abuse. She attempted suicide by pills in 1959 before succeeding a year later on March 22, 1960, dying of acute barbiturate intoxication. She had been released from a private sanitarium several weeks earlier. She was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Never close to showing her true potential, Lynn(e) Baggett became one of Hollywood's sadder statistics.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Donald Barry went from the stage to the screen. After four years of playing villains and henchmen at various studios, Barry got the role that changed his image: Red Ryder in the Republic Pictures serial Adventures of Red Ryder (1940). Although he had appeared in westerns for two years or so, this was the one that kept him there. He acquired the nickname "Red" from his association with the Red Ryder character. After the success of "Red Ryder" Barry starred in a string of westerns for Republic. Studio chief Herbert J. Yates got the idea that Barry could be Republic's version of James Cagney, as he was short and had the same scrappy, feisty nature that Cagney had. Unfortunately, while Barry could in fact be a good actor when he wanted to be -- as he showed in the World War II drama The Purple Heart (1944) -- his "feistiness", combative nature and oversized ego caused him to alienate many of the casts and crews he worked with at Republic (ace serial director William Witney detested him, calling him "the midget", and director John English worked with him once and refused to ever work with him again). Barry made a series of westerns at Republic throughout the 1940s, but by 1950 his career had pretty much come to a halt, and he was reduced to making cheaper and cheaper pictures for bottom-of-the-barrel companies like Lippert and Screen Guild. Barry continued to work and still appeared in westerns up through the 1970s, but they were often in small supporting roles, sometimes unbilled. In 1980 he committed suicide by shooting himself.- Actress
- Writer
"Too Much, Too Soon" was the story of Diana's life, and the title of her autobiography. Her father was stage and screen legend John Barrymore and her mother was Blanche Oelrichs (who wrote under the masculine pseudonym Michael Strange), who had just divorced Mr. Thomas and had 2 children (Leonard and Robin) from that marriage. Diana's parents got married on August 15, 1920, and Diana was born 7 months later, on March 3, 1921.
At age 6, Diana was attending school in Paris and rarely saw her father as he was romancing Dolores Costello (whom he'd later marry) and divorcing Diana's mother. Next year, she was back in USA and by 1929, her mom had married Harrison Tweed. By age 14, she had already spent a few years in boarding school so she saw little of her mother and years had gone by without her meeting her father.
In 1934, when her father did come for one rare visit, he took Diana and an older schoolmate friend of hers to dinner and a movie and he got drunk and hit on Diana's 17-year-old schoolmate. In rebellion against years of getting no attention from her parents, Diana attended a dance wearing a "lurid red satin dress with a plunging neckline and hardly any back," and a pair of borrowed high heels. She had decided to stop feeling miserable and stop being a victim of her parents who had ignored her her entire life.
By 1937, Diana was enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York and vacationing summers in Europe on her $500 a month allowance (a fortune in those days). In November 1938, David Selznick gave Diana a screen test to play Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind' and although she didn't get the part, the following year Diana was doing summer stock in Maine for $10 a week. By 1940, her salary had increased to $150 per week when she appeared in "Outward Bound" in the Harris Theatre in Chicago, right next door to where John Barrymore was performing "My Dear Children" at the Selwyn Theatre, his first theatrical work in 15 years (he had exclusively made movies since 1925).
At 19 years of age, Diana made her Broadway debut playing Caroline Bronson in "Romantic Mr. Dickens." Later, helping the war effort, she also campaigned for "Bundles for Britain." In January 1942, Diana left the stage for Hollywood when producer Walter Wanger had promised to cast her in movies at $1,000 a week, and she would appear in two of his films: Eagle Squadron (1942) with screen legend Robert Stack and later Ladies Courageous (1944). Actor Van Heflin proposed to Diana, and introduced her to producer Joe Pasternak, who had collaborated with director Henry Koster on many films; Koster was set to direct Between Us Girls (1942). Diana got the role, but not Van Heflin, two days later he married Frances Neal.
Diana visited the hospital the night her father died on May 29, 1942 (of cirrhosis of the liver, from decades of too much alcohol). She let years of pent-up emotions out when she wrote, "Damn mother for her indifference and disdain of me, and damn daddy for the crazy, mixed-up life he led."
Diana quickly married Bramwell Fletcher, who was 18 years older than her, on July 30, 1942 (they would divorce in 1947). Diana gave a standout performance in the starring role in the film noir classic Nightmare (1942) costarring Oscar-nominated veteran actor Brian Donlevy but problems started with the filming of Fired Wife (1943); even though her salary was now raised to $2,000 per week, and Universal had advertised her as "1942's Most Sensational New Screen Personality"; it seemed it was all too much, too soon. The box office didn't deliver as they had counted on her Barrymore name so the studio had wanted to cash in on her instantly instead of grooming her for roles, and finding suitable projects. When Universal, clutching at straws, asked if she'd work with Abbott and Costello, Diana refused and was put on unpaid suspension. The suspension lasted 6 months and when Diana was cast in "Ladies Courageous" it was in a secondary role, the lead had been reassigned to Loretta Young.
December 1943, Diana and her husband headed back to New York and despite achieving some recognition in movies, her film career was over and Diana considered herself a has-been before her 23rd birthday. The couple took the Theatre Guild production of "Rebecca" on the road to Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati. By the summer of 1945, Diana returned to Hollywood she couldn't find any parts in movie but was instead offered $1,000 a week to be on Jack Carson's NBC radio show. In 1947, Diana divorced her husband and married again on the rebound. This time it was to a John R. Howard who was a 6'2" tennis pro (5th ranked in the nation) whom Diana met and married (January 17, 1947), and divorced after living with him as man and wife for 6 months; he was 2 years younger than her. John was broke, sponged off Diana's money and got them both arrested one night in June in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky for drunk driving and he'd assaulted the policemen. After only 6 months of marriage, Diana asked for a divorce but John would only agree to give it to her for a large sum of money. Diana refused to pay him and got the divorce after 3 years.
Diana went to Salem, MA, to do summer stock where the producer introduced her to actor Robert Wilcox, who would become husband number three. Wilcox had been in about 2 dozen B-movies, was 11 years older than Diana and was also a recovering alcoholic. They celebrated his release from the rehab clinic by drinking martinis. Summer stock became a winter tour in Atlanta, with Diana earning $750 a week and Wilcox $250 but Wilcox drank so heavily that soon nobody wanted to hire him but were forced to retain him as Diana refused to act without him. After summer stock in 1948, they returned to New York where the jobs soon ran out and they were forced to live on the trust fund John Barrymore had set up for her, becoming even more broke by the minute.
Early in 1950, CBS offered Diana a new opportunity: television. They offered her a live talk show, "The Diana Barrymore Show" at 11:00 p.m., and had guests like Earl "the Pearl" Wilson lined up. Diana showed up the first night, too drunk to work and the show was canceled before it aired. (To make matters worse, the show became "The Faye Emerson Show" which launched the former movie actress' television career into almost a dozen TV series).
When the FBI threw husband number two in jail (for white slavery), he no longer contested the divorce and Diana married Robert Wilcox on October 17, 1950 but her hopeful new start would soon come crashing down with the year ending with Diana's mother's death on November 5 1950. As the year 1951 started, Diana was at an all-time low point, she'd been drinking steadily for weeks, got the DTs and had gone through all her money ($250,000 from her Hollywood earnings, and almost $50,000 she'd inherited when her half-brother Robin had died). Diana pawned all her jewelry (diamond bracelets, pins, etc.) and took a job in Vaudeville which was considered demeaning but where she was at least earning a weekly salary again.
Rather than face humiliation in New York ("a Barrymore following a juggling act!"), Diana and Robert got booked for 3 weeks in the Celebrity Club in Sydney, Australia in the autumn of 1951--and stayed in Australia for 6 months, mainly doing stage performances at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne. Whereas she'd been shunned in New York, she was a big celebrity in Australia, for a while but Diana's drinking got her in trouble, again and even got her fired for her drinking in Brisbane, while booked into a vaudeville house with a girlie show called "the Nudie-Cuties." By March 1952, Diana and Robert were working in half empty houses in Tasmania.
Back in Hollywood later that year, they were so flat broke they got locked out of their hotel room because the rent was 2 weeks overdue; Diana mooched money from old friends like Tyrone Powers. In November 1952 came the shocking news that her late mother's estate, the once Barrymore millions, came to a mere $8,000-- decades of lavish spending had spent it all. Diana and Robert tried to get help at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting; however, they "fortified" themselves with drinks before the meeting, and made straight for a bar after it was over. Wilcox never worked, he just sat around the hotel room all day getting drunk, and sponging off Diana. She, in turn, started a love affair with Tom Farrell. Before it was all over, Robert had cracked both their skulls, leaving them bloodied where Diana needed stitches from a doctor, and then announcing she was divorcing Robert. Even though Tom Farrell had been "the other man" only a few weeks before, when Tom spotted Diana having a drink with an old friend, he went berserk. In their hotel room, in a jealous rage, he beat Diana to a bloody pulp, breaking her nose while he hit her with fists until she fell, and then kicking her repeatedly when she was on the floor. This would be the second time in such a short time where a doctor would have to tend to her injuries caused by her problematic relationships. For the next 3 months, Diana kept herself sequestered in her apartment, drinking heavily and taking pills; her weight dropped from a healthy 130 pounds to a skeletal 97. Being close to death, with cirrhosis, Diana took Robert back. Diana, once from the enormously rich family, was so broke she shopped for supermarket sales, getting beef liver for 33 cents a pound. When the electricity was turned off in their apartment (they hadn't paid the electric bill in months), they didn't even have money to buy candles.
They finally got summer stock work, and then a 6-month tour but Robert caught another colic attack of pancreatitis, his fourth which proved to be fatal. In November 1954, when Diana was in a French bedroom farce "Pajama Tops," where they showed her posters showing her half naked. Humiliated, she carried on with the job as she needed the money and by that time, more than half of the theatres in the country had blacklisted her.
On June 11, 1955, after Diana told him in a phone conversation that she wanted a divorce, Robert spent the next few hours drinking at a bar and he eventually collapsed of a heart attack while he was on a train to Rochester.
Diana checked herself into rehab at Towns Hospital in New York for 8 weeks, to get treatment for her alcoholism and barbiturate dependence. She returned to work on the stage sober. In 1957, Diana wrote her autobiography (along with Gerold Frank), and the 300+ page book was turned into a whitewashed, vague movie Too Much, Too Soon (1958). Diana finally took her own life on January 25, 1960 at only 38 years old. In her book, she had lamented: "So much has been dreamed, so little done; there was so much promise and so much waste."- Actress
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Iveta Bartosová was born on 8 April 1966 in Celadná, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for A Killer in Prague (2012), The Vampire Wedding (1993) and Iveta Bartosová: Já se vrátím (1993). She was married to Josef Rychtár and Jirí Pomeje. She died on 29 April 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic.- Actress
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Born in Denver, Co, 6 August, 1925 and originally named Barbara Jane Bates, Barbara was the eldest of 3 daughters born to a postal clerk and RN.
Rather shy, her mother initially sent Barbara to study ballet. By her late teens, the young beauty began to model clothes as a teen out of high school.
Fighting off a life-long paralyzing shyness,she managed to be persuaded to enter a local beauty contest, with the winner receiving 2 round-trip train tickets to Hollywood.
Barbara won the contest, and with that the demure but very troubled young woman was on the first steps of her career.
Once in California, she met Cecil Coan, a United Artists publicist. Coan, a married man with children who was more than two decades older than Barbara, fell hard for the young beauty. He promised to guide her career and make her a star.
He proved his worth and dedication to her when he left his wife and married Barbara.
Groomed in obscure starlet bits, it wasn't until Warner Bros. signed her in 1947 and perpetuated an appealing girl-next-door image when her career started happening. It took some time before the actress started making strides apart from the bobby-soxxer ingénue.
She turned heads and supported herself initially as a pin-up girl, a job she didn't enjoy. She rose in rank after a number of bit parts and, during her peak as a lead and second lead, appeared opposite a number of stars, including Bette Davis in June Bride (1948), Danny Kaye in The Inspector General (1949), Rory Calhoun in I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951), and even Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis in their comedy,The Caddy (1953) just to name a few.
Much of Barbara's work in the above films was routine. Barbara's on-and-off-screen life started unraveling not long afterward. Succumbing to extreme mood shifts, insecurity, ill health and chronic depression to the point of being taken off important film assignments. By age 30, the promise she had once shown was no longer considered, and she and her husband Coen, who made all of Barbara's decisions for her, tried to salvage her career in England.
Things looked promising at first, when she was picked up by the Rank Organisation and co-starred with John Mills and Michael Craig in a couple of dramatic suspense films, but the films were mediocre. She again started showing signs of instability to the point where she was dropped from 2 films and the Rank Organisation was forced to drop her.
The couple returned to Hollywood, where old friend Rory Calhoun cast her in a picture he was producing and starring in called Apache Territory (1958).
Emotionally unable to withstand the pressures of Hollywood any more, Barbara abandoned her career, save for an appearance in The Loaded Tourist (1962),starring Roger Moore.
Nothing was heard of Barbara until her March 1969 death. It was learned she'd returned to her hometown of Denver and worked in various jobs, including stints as a secretary, dental assistant and hospital aide. Her much older husband and chief supporter, Cecil Coan, died of cancer in January 1967, and Barbara fell apart.
Although she remarried in December of 1968 to a childhood friend, sportscaster William Reed, she remained increasingly despondent. She committed suicide just 4 months later. She was found dead in her car by her mother in her mother's garage of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Interestingly, the one role she'll always be identified with is also one of the smallest parts given her during her brief tenure as leading lady.
In the very last scene of All About Eve (1950). Barbara turns up in the role of Phoebe, a devious school girl and wannabe actress who shows startling promise as a future schemer along the lines of her equally ruthless idol, Eve Harrington, superbly played by Anne Baxter.
Barbara's image is enshrined in the picture's very last scene - posing in front of a 3-way mirror while clutching Baxter's just-received acting award. It's this brief, moment for which she'll best be remembered.- Marjorie Battles was born on 5 June 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Lucky Lady (1975), McCloud (1970) and Quincy M.E. (1976). She died on 18 October 1987 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
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Scotty Beckett was one of the cutest, most successful child actors of the 1930s and 1940s. His descent into a life of alcoholism, drugs, and crime remains one of the most tragic of Hollywood stories.
Born Scott Hastings Beckett on October 4, 1929, in Oakland, California, he and his family moved to Los Angeles when Scotty was 3 years old. Shortly after arriving in LA, Beckett's father was hospitalized and Scotty would frequently entertain his dad by singing songs. During one such visit, a Hollywood casting director happened to notice the cherubic youngster and told his parents he had movie potential. Scotty made his debut in Gallant Lady (1933) starring Clive Brook and Ann Harding. Scotty played a boy of three in the film, and Dickie Moore played the same character at the age of six. It was the first of several connections between the two child stars. The next year, he filled the hole vacated by Moore in Our Gang, and they later appeared in Heaven Can Wait (1943), portraying Don Ameche's character as a child. He and Moore finally appeared together in Dangerous Years (1947), which was Marilyn Monroe's screen debut.
Scotty appeared in fifteen Our Gang shorts in two years. Hal Roach noted a resemblance to Jackie Coogan and dressed Beckett accordingly, with an oversized cap and turtleneck sweater reminiscent of Coogan's outfit in The Kid (1921). He was paired with George 'Spanky' McFarland as a kind of partnership within the gang, and their sideline observations and wisecracks highlighted the series from 1934 until 1936, just as Porky and Buckwheat sparked the one-reelers from 1936 on.
After leaving Our Gang, Beckett emerged as one of the top child stars of his era, appearing in many films with the top stars of the late '30s and early '40s. Among his major credits were Dante's Inferno (1935) with Spencer Tracy, Anthony Adverse (1936) with Fredric March, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) with Errol Flynn, Conquest (1937) with Greta Garbo, Marie Antoinette (1938) with Norma Shearer, My Favorite Wife (1940) with Cary Grant, and Kings Row (1942) with Claude Rains.
In 1943 Scotty began attending Los Angeles High School and was named treasurer of his freshman class. He also appeared on Broadway that same year in the play "Slightly Married", receiving the only favorable notices of the production, and also played Junior in the hit radio show "The Life of Riley". Adolescence did not slow down his film career, as Scotty continued to win roles in such movies as My Reputation (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck and, most notably, The Jolson Story (1946), wherein he played the young Al Jolson.
He enrolled at USC but dropped out when he began receiving more offers from MGM, beginning with Cynthia (1947) with Elizabeth Taylor, A Date with Judy (1948), again with Taylor and Jane Powell (the future Mrs. Dickie Moore), Battleground (1949) with Van Johnson, Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), again with Powell, and The Happy Years (1950) with fellow child stars Dean Stockwell and Darryl Hickman.
At around the same time, Scotty began to gain notoriety for his nocturnal activities. Part of the young Hollywood set, Beckett was a fixture at parties and would frequently be seen with young stars like Roddy McDowall, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, and Edith Fellows. His nightlife seemed to become more of a priority than his burgeoning acting career, and it started a trend of reckless, irresponsible behaviors which plagued Beckett the rest of his life. Early success without any sacrifice often breeds a sense of entitlement and a lack of responsibility or consequence. This seems to be an overriding theme, as Beckett began making headlines most Hollywood stars try to avoid.
In 1948 he was arrested for drunk driving after he crashed into another car after attending a frat party where he had "five bourbons". Scotty tried to run from the booking office after being arrested and refused to surrender his possessions. In September of 1949, he eloped with tennis star Beverly Baker. Right from the start, Scotty showed signs that he was not ready for marriage. On their honeymoon in Acapulco, Beckett allegedly threatened to punch a pool bystander in the nose. The couple separated after 5 months of marriage, divorcing in June of 1950. Newspapers covered the divorce, citing Baker's allegations of Beckett's jealousy and controlling, abusive behavior. Scotty tried to get Baker to quit tennis and stop seeing her parents. He also warned her never to have a soft drink "with any boy or man between 6 and 60".
In 1951, Becket met actress Sunny Vickers. Shortly after they began dating , Vickers became pregnant. They married in Phoenix on June 27, 1951, and five months later Scott Hastings Beckett, Jr. was born. The bad publicity of the divorce from Baker plus the forced marriage to Vickers in the conservative 1950s immediately made Beckett a Hollywood outcast. Between 1952 and 1954, Scotty landed only two roles, in relatively minor films, You're Only Young Twice (1952) and Hot News (1953). He was beginning to get desperate.
In early 1954, Beckett landed the role of "Winky" in a low-budget sci-fi show called Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954), which today has become a cult classic. However, as former co-stars and ex-friends such as Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Powell emerged as bonafide film stars of the 1950s, a supporting role in a fledgling, unproven industry likely was extremely frustrating for Scotty.
In February of that year, the Cavalier Hotel in Hollywood was robbed of a little more than $130 in cash. The bandit pistol-whipped the desk clerk and disappeared with the loot, or so police thought. Passed out drunk in the basement of the hotel, armed with a gun and a knife, was Scotty Beckett. He was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon, but not with robbery because the money was not found and the clerk could not positively identify the former star as the robber.
After posting bail, Beckett, with his wife and three-year-old son, fled to Mexico. He checked into a Tampico hotel under the name of Sean Bullock, giving Carmel, California as his address. There were two bullet holes in his car that Beckett said were from a gang who tried to rob him south of Juarez.
After running out of cash and options, Scotty wrote several checks on a nonexistent bank to different merchants. After Mexican authorities tracked him to a Ciudad Victoria hotel, he attempted to sneak himself and his family out of the hotel and got into a gunfight with the Mexican police in which 20 shots were exchanged. Miraculously, no one was killed, and Scott and Sunny were eventually captured. Scott Jr. was sent back to Los Angeles.
Scotty served only four months in a Mexican jail before returning to the US in September of 1954. He surrendered to authorities for the weapons charge, pleaded guilty, and amazingly was given only three years' probation. He told newspapers he saw this as an opportunity to pick up the pieces and start over with a clean slate, but it was too little, too late. He was dropped from the Rocky Jones series and replaced with Jimmy Lydon (with whom Beckett had appeared in Cynthia (1947)). A little more than a month later, Beckett was arrested in Las Vegas, once again for bouncing a check.
Scotty re-enrolled at USC to study medicine, but when Our Gang was reissued for TV in 1955 as The Little Rascals, Beckett saw an opportunity to make a comeback in the movies. He appeared in Three for Jamie Dawn (1956) and had walk-ons in The Oklahoman (1957) with Joel McCrea, and Monkey on My Back (1957) with Cameron Mitchell. He proved he could still act and exhibit that same youthful charm, appearing perfectly at ease on camera, particularly in his small role as a Navy corpsman with the Marine Corps in Monkey on My Back (1957). But just when it seemed as though a comeback might happen, Scotty self-destructed again.
In February of 1957, he was caught at a Mexican-US border crossing trying to bring illegal drugs into the US. He said the pills were for his wife, whom he claimed had a nervous ailment. In reality, Sunny Vickers was suffering from alcoholism and had checked herself into Metropolitan State Hospital for treatment. She filed for divorce in August of 1957. After Sunny was awarded custody of Scott Jr., Beckett attempted suicide by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills. He recovered but realized he was finished as an actor. He tried his hand at selling used cars, among other things. He still had his charm, but he could not stay out of trouble.
In April of 1959, Beckett was arrested on a charge of drunk driving. In August of that same year, he was arrested for driving drunk again, but this time he did not emerge unscathed. He smashed his '52 sedan into a tree, fracturing his skull, thigh, and hip and suffering multiple lacerations to his head. Although he was given probation and a suspended sentence, he remained crippled for the rest of his life.
In September of 1963, he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Now confined to a wheelchair from the near-fatal drunk driving accident, he attempted to stab his neighbor after a dispute. Scotty's wife of two years, Margaret, a divorcée with a teenage daughter named Susan, assisted in breaking up the fight. Three days later Beckett tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists. He recovered from this second suicide attempt, but by that time Margaret had had enough and moved out, taking Susan with her. As she was moving her belongings out, Scotty tried to stop her. He hit Susan over the head with a crutch that he now used after his car accident and was again arrested. He vowed to the judge at his sentencing "never to drink again".
After that, Scotty stayed out of the headlines for a few years. In 1967 he found employment driving an ambulance, perhaps to be close to the prescription drugs to which he was addicted, perhaps to try to revive his interest in becoming a doctor, perhaps to try to forget that he had once graced the screen with Hollywood's biggest stars before his own star had plummeted to earth, or perhaps because he had run out of alternatives.
On May 8, 1968, he checked into the Royal Palms Hotel, a Hollywood nursing home, after suffering a beating in what may have been a drug deal gone wrong. Two days later, he was dead from an overdose of barbiturates; his third suicide attempt was successful. He left behind a note, a son, and some wonderful films and memories.
Leonard Maltin summed it up best when he wrote, "It was a particularly sad end for someone who, as a child, had shown so much easy charm and talent." Scotty Beckett was not the first child star casualty, and he would not be the last, but his story is certainly one of the saddest.- Actor
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Malik Bendjelloul, born in Sweden, performed in Swedish TV-series "Ebba och Didrik" as a child in the nineties and later in life studied Journalism and media-production at the Linnaeus University of Kalmar. He has produced several musical documentaries for Swedish Television (SVT) where he also worked as a reporter on the show "Kobra" until he resigned to travel the world. During these travels Malik Bendjelloul first came in contact with the story which was to develop into "Searching for Sugarman" somewhere in South America.- Brenda Benet, born Brenda Ann Nelson in Los Angeles, California, on August 14, 1945, was a classic example of the modern-day Hollywood tragedy. As a television actress with good dramatic scope, she managed to piece together a wide and impressive portfolio of guest shots in a career spanning just over 16 years before taking her life at the age of 36. She spent her childhood and early teenage years feeling awkward and self-conscious because her complexion was darker than those of her siblings. Because of this, she felt that she did not fit in with her family, and often fantasized about being adopted.
Brenda attended UCLA for a brief time, majoring in languages. In 1962 she entered show business; her breakthrough role came in 1964 when she was selected to play the part of Jill McComb in The Young Marrieds (1964). After that came stints on various comedy and drama series in the '60s and '70s, usually playing ethnic, exotic types. She was probably best known for her role as the kind-hearted prostitute in Walking Tall (1973). During this time she married and divorced actor Paul Petersen. She began a relationship with Bill Bixby and moved in with him in 1969, and they married in 1971. By the late '70s, however, they were divorced.
Brenda retired from the business in the mid-'70s to raise a family, and in late 1974 she gave birth to a boy, Christopher Sean Bixby. Tragically, Christopher died in 1981 during a winter ski vacation in California. It was believed that this and her divorce from Bixby were the events which caused Brenda's life to spin out of control. On April 7, 1982, Brenda went into the bathroom of her West Los Angeles home, lit and arranged some candles in a circle on the floor and lay down. She then placed a Colt .38-cal. revolver into her mouth and pulled the trigger. She died instantly. - Actress
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Jill Bennett was born on 24 December 1931 in Penang, Malaysia. She was an actress and writer, known for The Nanny (1965), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Moulin Rouge (1952). She was married to John Osborne and Willis Hall. She died on 4 October 1990 in Kensington, London, England, UK.- Louis Bennison was born on 17 October 1884 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Sandy Burke of the U-Bar-U (1919), The Road Called Straight (1919) and A Misfit Earl (1919). He was married to Frances P. Bennison. He died on 9 June 1929 in New York City, New York, USA.
- John was born in Wichita Falls, Texas on April 5, 1949 to parents Dr. Owen C. Berg and Evelyn van Emden Berg. John graduated from Wichita Falls High School in 1967. John attended the University of Chicago, Tulane University and the school of life.
During his life, John had a diverse career path - holding many jobs including restaurant manager, rock and roll band manager, bartender, Top 40 and Country Western DJ, ski resort marketing manager in Crested Butte Colorado, production assistant for Wide World of Sports, and writer for publications such as Sports Illustrated. He also became a graphic artist for Merrill Lynch in NY, did voice-over work for radio and television commercials as well as being the voice of Dial-a-Pope. John became an actor appearing in recurring roles in General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, Port Charles, Passions and The Young & the Restless. John moved to LA and became increasingly more active as an actor appearing in movies such as Star Trek Nemesis and It could happen to you. More recently, John made guest appearances in series television on shows such as Monk, Brothers & Sisters, Navy NCIS, Boston Legal, House MD, and many others.
John's most recent focus was to create a world peace movement named "Unplug for Peace" which encouraged people to unplug and listen to the small, still voice inside for one day per month in order to create a more peaceful world. The effort was backed by people such as Jean Houston (one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement) and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul). The target goal for Unplug for Peace was one National Day in which people would unplug on January 28th, 2008 -- the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's death. John was also very active in helping others reach sobriety and peace in their lives.
John's other passions included snow skiing, travel, trapeze, hiking and mountain climbing. In recent trips, he visited Havasu Falls, hiking about 10.5 miles each way with about 2500 feet of vertical. He also took a cruise to Istanbul. One of John's big achievements in the last few years was his climb of Mt. Whitney for which he prepared for weeks. John and his friends actually made it to the summit of Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the Continental United States. - Actress
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Mary Kay Bergman did not have a face known to many - her voice was recognized more than anything else in the world. Although she was a big voiceover star in the 1990s, her true claim to fame was Trey Parker and Matt Stone's critically acclaimed adult animated television series, South Park (1997), in which she voiced almost all of the female characters. Sharon Marsh, Shelly Marsh, Sheila Brofloski, Wendy Testaberger, and Carol McCormick were only a few of the thousands of voices she performed. She helped Parker and Stone pave the waves of fame for "South Park" in the late 1990s, until her surprising gunshot suicide on Veteran's Day of 1999.- Writer
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Paul Bern is undoubtedly more famous today for being found shot to death in his bathroom barely 2 months after his marriage to proto-sex symbol Jean Harlow in 1932. Born in Hamburg, Germany as Paul Levy, he came to the United States with his family as a child. His mother died by drowning in the fall of 1920, as documented in her death certificate, not by suicide as previously speculated. Bern spent the vast majority of his adult life employed as a screenwriter, director and producer at MGM before rising into the upper executive ranks. He most notably kept his feet wet in production by co-producing the all-star hit _Grand Hotel (1932/I which won the third Oscar)_ with the uncredited boy-genius, Irving Thalberg. He gained a reputation as one of the few MGM executives stars could turn to with their personal problems and be assured of a degree of confidentiality. He was the first person many of them sought out prior to dealing with hard-nosed studio boss Louis B. Mayer. His quiet intellectual demeanor attracted Harlow--- who despite her sexpot screen persona, was inclined to more cerebral pursuits. But in marrying her, Bern also inherited her leeching family and they strained the marriage from the start. Sadly it was in death--- which still stands officially as a suicide-- that he gained the most press, one of the most studied and wildly speculated-upon mysteries in Hollywood history. His alleged suicide note is open to lurid interpretation and doubts persist whether it's written in his own handwriting or is merely an apology written weeks before over what could politely be called a sexual dysfunction. Harlow herself never publicly commented on the matter, although she was interviewed by LAPD detectives and appeared before a grand jury. Screenwriter Ben Hecht claimed he was murdered by a mentally imbalanced former lover, Dorothy Millette (with whom had a common law marriage and whom Bern continued to marginally support) who was found floating in the Sacramento River the day following his death. Speculation also surrounds E.J. Mannix's activities in the case. Mannix was known in those days as the studio's "fixer" and rumors abound on the degree of his involvement, most recently alluded to in Hollywoodland (2006). The Los Angeles- Joëlle Bernard was born on 14 August 1928 in Vitry-le-François, Marne, France. She was an actress, known for Dishonorable Discharge (1957), Pêcheur d'Islande (1959) and Café du square (1969). She was married to Roger Pigaut. She died on 23 March 1977 in Nogent-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, France.
- Paul Bhattacharjee was born on 4 May 1960 in Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Casino Royale (2006), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002). He died on 12 July 2013 in Splash Point Cliffs, Seaford, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Actress
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Laurie Bird was a cute and charming actress who appeared in only three pictures during her regrettably short-lived career. Bird was born on September 26, 1953 in Long Island, New York. Laurie was working as a model when she was chosen by director Monte Hellman, from nearly 500 women, to portray "The Girl" in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Bird gave a fine and impressively natural performance in her film debut as the chatty and rootless hippie wanderer, "The Girl", in Hellman's extraordinary road movie masterpiece. She was likewise excellent as Harry Dean Stanton's snippy young wife, "Dody Burke White", in Hellman's bleakly fascinating character study Cockfighter (1974). Following her small role as Paul Simon's L.A. girlfriend in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), Laurie quit acting, altogether, and became a photographer. Bird committed suicide in boyfriend Art Garfunkel's Manhattan penthouse, at the tragically young age of 25, on June 15, 1979. Garfunkel dedicated his album, "Scissors Cut", to Laurie. The album features a partial photograph of Laurie Bird on its back cover.- Clara Blandick was an American actress born as Clara Dickey and born aboard an American ship off the coast of Hong Kong on June 4, 1880. Little is known about her early life until she became an actress. She grew up in Boston and first acted on stage in E.H. Sothern's 'Richard Lovelace'. Although she appeared in 118 films, she was primarily a stage actress. She began her film career at a late age. She was 33 when she was picked for the role as Emily Mason in Mrs. Black Is Back (1914). Her next film was The Stolen Triumph (1916), after which she returned to the stage, where she seemed more comfortable. She did not make another film until the age of 48, when she appeared in Poor Aubrey (1930).
She had only three films under her belt by this time but would appear in more than 100 over the next 20 years. She made nine films in 1930, and thirteen the following year. The role that was to immortalize her, however, was "Auntie Em" in The Wizard of Oz (1939). She continued in films until 1950, when she appeared on the screen for the final time in Key to the City (1950).
By this time Blandick had been suffering from poor health for years, especially painful arthritis and failing eyesight, and retired from the screen. On Palm Sunday, April 15, 1962, aged 85, she went to church in Hollywood. When she returned she wrote a note stating she was about to take the greatest adventure of her life. She took an overdose of sleeping tablets and pulled a plastic bag over her head, thus ending her life. - Adele Blood was was born Adele Mary Blood on April 23, 1886 in San Francisco, California. When she was a child she became an accomplished equestrian and loved the theater. She briefly worked at the San Francisco Examiner. Then she started acting in stock companies. In 1906 she married Edward Davis, a former clergyman who became an actor. She became a very popular actress by touring in vaudeville. Her biggest success came when she starred in the play Everywoman. Adele was called "the most beautiful blonde on the American stage." Unfortunately she and Edward had a turbulent marriage and they both each other of having affairs. The couple were divorced in 1914. That same year she made her Broadway debut in the play Milady's Boudoir. It was a flop and closed after only twelve performances. She also appeared in the Broadway shows Mile A Minute Kendall and He Didn't Want To Do It. Adele was known as a very fashionable woman who spent a fortune on her wardrobe. She had a starring role in the 1916 film The Devil's Toy.
Soon after she announced she was retiring and married Isaac W. Hope, a theatrical agent. Their daughter, Dawn, was born in 1919. The following year the couple divorced and she returned to the stage. She had a role in the 1920 drama The Riddle: Woman. It would be her last film. Adele put together a new stage show and toured the Orient in 1922. She was briefly engaged to Colonel Castle, a British officer. At the age of thirty-six she retired from acting and devoted herself to raising her daughter Dawn, They moved into a lavish house in Harrison, New York. Adele her former banker in May of 1936 claiming he owned her more that $9000. That summer she directed and financed a play that Dawn starred in. The show was a failure and she lost more than $40,000. Tragically on September 13,1936 she committed suicide by shooting herself in the head. She was only fifty years old. Adele was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in West Addison, Vermont. Sadly in 1939 Dawn Hope also committed suicide. - Began working in films from 1916, becoming a a star within five years of his debut. His frequent co-star was was Marguerite de la Motte, whom he later married. The advent of sound effectively ended his career. Shortly after attending a party, the distraught 50-year-old Bowers committed suicide by rowing into the Pacific Ocean and drowning himself. It is commonly believed that his demise was the inspiration for the similar death of fictional film star Norman Maine in both the 1937 and 1954 versions of "A Star is Born."
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Charles Boyer studied philosophy before he went to the theater where he gave his debut in 1920. Although he had at first no intentions to pursue a career at the movies (his first movie was Man of the Sea (1920) by Marcel L'Herbier) he used his chance in Hollywood after several filming stations all over Europe. In the beginning of his career his beautiful voice was hidden by the silent movies but in Hollywood he became famous for his whispered declarations of love (like in movies with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich or Ingrid Bergman). In 1934 he married Pat Paterson, his first and (unusual for a star) only wife. He was so faithful to her that he decided to commit suicide two days after her death in 1978.- Actor
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Born in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, to Greg and Mary, Jonathan Brandis began his career at age 5, acting in several television commercials. He also appeared in small parts in several films and TV shows before his first starring role in the 1990 film The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990). He starred in popular films such as Ladybugs (1992) and starred as Lucas Wolenczak in Steven Spielberg's television series SeaQuest 2032 (1993). He doubled up his high school courses so he could finish a year early for his role on SeaQuest. After his career stalled for a bit, he was hoping his role in serious drama film Hart's War (2002) would relaunch it. However, most of his scenes ended up being cut from the finished film. This caused him to fall into a deep depression in which he would drink heavily and tragically end his own life on November 12th, 2003.- Lilli Breda was born in 1887. She was an actress, known for Der Liebe Macht, des Rechtes Sieg (1918), Tyrannei des Todes (1920) and Die rote Hexe (1921). She died on 1 February 1929 in Berlin, Germany.
- Barry Brown was born on 19 April 1951 in San Jose, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Bad Company (1972), Piranha (1978) and Daisy Miller (1974). He died on 27 June 1978 in Silver Lake, California, USA.
- Pretty and charming brunette actress Marilyn Louise Brown was born on March 9, 1953 in San Jose, California. Her parents were Donald Bernard Brown and Vivian Brown. Marilyn was of mixed Engish, Irish, Sicilian, and Scottish descent. Her father named her after his favorite actress Marilyn Monroe. She was the sister of actor Barry Brown and writer James Brown. Brown had a very high near genius IQ. She started studying tap dancing, modern dance, and acting at an early age. Marilyn and her brother Barry both made their film debuts in uncredited bit roles in the 1958 motion picture "In Love and War." Brown had small roles in the lowbrow mid 70s drive-in exploitation comedies "Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy" and "The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza." Outside of her sparse movie credits, Marilyn also acted in a few off-off-Broadway stage productions. Alas, Brown was a painfully shy and troubled woman who had problems with drug abuse and alcoholism throughout most of her life. Marilyn committed suicide at age 45 on July 22, 1998 by jumping off a Los Angeles freeway overpass; she was married and had one child at the time of her tragic death.
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Dieter Brummer was born on 5 May 1976 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor, known for Home and Away (1988), Underbelly (2008) and Winners & Losers (2011). He died on 24 July 2021 in Glenhaven, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.- Actor
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Arturo García Buhr was born on 16 December 1905 in Dolores, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor and director, known for Los chicos crecen (1942), Mi mujer, la sueca y yo (1967) and ¿Vendrás a media noche? (1950). He was married to Aída Olivier. He died on 4 October 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Actor
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Charles Butterworth was, before he came to Hollywood in 1930, a stage attraction on Broadway. In the '30s, he had his big successes as the hero's no-nonsense best friend. He made a practice of ad-libbing dry quips and bons mots during shooting, and screenwriters took advantage of this by writing only fragments of his scripts, hoping that he would fill in the missing lines. He didn't like that very much, however, and his star began sinking in the late '30s. In the '40s, he worked for smaller studios; Warner's A production, This Is the Army (1943), was a notable exception. Two years after his last movie, Dixie Jamboree (1944) for PRC, he died in a car crash.- Jad Capelja was born in 1964 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Puberty Blues (1981), Freedom (1982) and A Country Practice (1981). She died on 10 January 2010 in Australia.
- With classic patrician features and an independent, non-conformist personality, Capucine began her film debut in 1949 at the age of 21 with an appearance in the film Rendezvous in July (1949). She attended school in France and received a BA degree in foreign languages. Married for six months in her early twenties, she never remarried. In 1957, she was discovered by director Charles K. Feldman while working as a high-fashion model for Givenchy in Paris and was brought to Hollywood to study acting under Gregory Ratoff. She was put under contract by Columbia studios in 1958 and had her first leading part in the movie Song Without End (1960). She made six more major movies in the early to mid 1960s, two of which (The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964)) starred William Holden, with whom she had a two-year affair. Moving from Hollywood to a penthouse apartment in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1962, she continued making movies, mostly in Europe, until her suicide in 1990.
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Eager young James (aka Jimmy) Cardwell had an auspicious beginning and showed great promise in 1940s films. Dark-haired and thick-browed with an earnest, boyish look and set-jawed handsomeness that could remind someone of a John Garfield type, he couldn't have started off much better than by playing a young, heroic war casualty as one of The Fighting Sullivans (1944) (aka "The Fighting Sullivans"). By the end of the decade, however, James' film career did not advance and he ended things negligibly on TV. Despondency overwhelmed him and on January 31, 1954, he became another tragic Hollywood statistic, The victim of suicide at age 32, he has become completely forgotten save for film trivia enthusiasts.
The son of Raymond and Bessie (McCarroll) Cardwell, he was christened Albert Paine Cardwell after his grandfather, a Philadelphia publishing editor. Born in Camden, New Jersey, on November 21, 1921 (several sources give 1920) and raised there, young Cardwell attended Alfred Cramer Junior High School before transferring to Woodrow Wilson High School. While there he found himself drawn to acting and, after appearing in a sophomore play, served as president of the school's drama club. He also showed athletic prowess on the football field, as well as in track and field.
Following his graduation in 1940, he toiled about in a few odd jobs (clerk, laborer, etc.) but continued to prod his interest in acting by joining the Camden Drama Guild. Committed by this time, he later joined the Hedgerow Theater Group in Pennsylvania. While there he may ends meet by working in the shipping department for RCA Victor, meeting and marrying Esther Borton in June of 1942.
In the summer of 1943, while in New York looking for representation/work, James was seen by agents scouting out fresh faces for an upcoming WWII picture about five patriotic soldier-brothers. He won one of the brothers' roles. His wife, however, had no shared interest in his fledgling career or move to Los Angeles, and the marriage quickly ended. Signed up for seven years with Twentieth Century-Fox, he was renamed James Cardwell for the movies and the young hopeful made a heart-tugging debut in the war drama The Fighting Sullivans (1944), a somewhat fictionalized and sentimental, but nevertheless inspiring true-life story of five brothers from Iowa (Cardwell played George Sullivan) who served together (by request) and died on the same torpedoed ship during WWII.
After this film, James appeared in second leads as various reporters, rookies and private eye types in Charlie Chan mysteries and other various "B" level dramas, working throughout the post-war era of the 1940s. Despite his capabilities, he did not move to the top lead status and many of the films he did appear in were dismissed by the critics. For every engaging appearance in a strong quality film such as A Walk in the Sun (1945) or He Walked by Night (1948), one could count twice as many forgettable ones in lesser pictures (The Devil on Wheels (1947), Robin Hood of Texas (1947), King of the Gamblers (1948), Down Dakota Way (1949)). His single male lead in a movie may have dimmed any chances of further growth after co-starring with Lois Hall in the absurd Monogram adventure Daughter of the Jungle (1949), a distaff Tarzan movie complete with swinging vine scenes and female animal calls.
Unable to grasp the necessary momentum to advance, he fell further down the credits list while working on primarily "Poverty Row" studio movie projects. In the light comedy And Baby Makes Three (1949) and the Bogart war drama Tokyo Joe (1949), James received no billing at all, and he was completely overlooked in his last billed film appearance, a supporting role in the assembly-line Rex Allen western, The Arizona Cowboy (1950). Forced to look at TV as a possible medium, few opportunities came his way with the exception of a couple of guest parts on a Rod Cameron crime series. An uncredited role in the horror film Them! (1954) occurred shortly before his death.
In anticipation of his fading career, James started attending UCLA at night and taking up pre-med courses. At one point he toured Australia with Joe E. Brown in the top comedian's vaudeville act and joined a circus comedy acrobatic act called the Coleano Troupe that toured throughout the U.S. and Europe. Returning to the States in 1953, depression set in when he couldn't find TV work. On January 31, 1954, at age 32, with no prospects in sight and debts mounting, James shot himself in the head in an automobile he borrowed from a friend in a parking lot near his two-room West Los Angeles bungalow. He was survived by his parents and buried in his native Camden.- Actor
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Arthur Edmund Carewe was born on 30 December 1884 in Trapzon (Trebizond), Turkey. He was an actor, known for Doctor X (1932), The Cat and the Canary (1927) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). He was married to Irene Pavlowska. He died on 22 April 1937 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Ana María Cassan was born on 12 July 1937 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Sylvie et le fantôme (1946), Enigma de mujer (1956) and Operación Antartida (1957). She died on 12 September 1960 in Paris, France.
- John Charlesworth was born on 12 November 1935 in Hull, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1951), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951) and The Children of the New Forest (1955). He died on 2 April 1960 in Birmingham, England, UK.
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Leslie Cheung was the youngest of 10 children. His father was tailor to the late William Holden. Leslie's parents divorced when he was young, and he claims this is one reason for his disinterest in marriage. Following graduation from secondary school, he studied at Leeds University in Great Britain. Upon his return to Hong Kong, he entered the 1976 ATV Asian Music Contest, where he took second prize. He went on to perform on stage, television and in teeny-bopper movies. It wasn't until he was cast in the role of "Kit" in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986) that his acting career took off; he has since performed in some of the best-known Hong Kong movies of the last decade, working under the direction of such directors as Kaige Chen, Kar-Wai Wong, Hark Tsui and, of course, Woo. Leslie emigrated to Canada in 1992, but soon returned to Hong Kong, demonstrating his intention to remain past the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China through his purchase of real estate and opening of a coffee shop in the colony.
Leslie jumped from the landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel in the central business district early in the evening on 1st April 2003, leaving a suicide note that was found on the body.- Graciela Cimer was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1962. She made her debut in television in the show Jacinta Pichimauida se enamora (1977) in the 70s. Since then, she kept working in a lot of soap operas on television. In fact, she took the lead in 3 of them in the 80s, "No es u juego vivir", Dos para una mentira (1986) and Ese nombre prohibido (1986).
At the age of 27, she committed suicide at her parents' house, jumping from her first floor balcony in July 1989. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Bill Cody Jr. was born on 18 April 1925 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Scouts to the Rescue (1939), Frontier Days (1934) and The Girl of the Golden West (1938). He was married to Elizabeth Sidford MacGregor. He died on 11 August 1989 in Studio City, California, USA.- John Costelloe was born on 8 November 1961 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Die Hard 2 (1990), Black Rain (1989) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). He died on 18 December 2008 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.
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Chuck Courtney was born on 23 July 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), The Rookie (1990) and Pet Sematary (1989). He was married to Geraldine Courtney. He died on 19 January 2000 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Carolyn Craig was born Adele Ruth Crago on October 27, 1934, in Green Acres, New York. Her father, Clarence, was an engineer and her mother, Ruth, was a housewife. The family moved to Santa Barbara, California, when she was child. Carolyn started her career acting at the Santa Barbara Community playhouse. In 1955 she appeared in the television movie Edgar Allan Poe At West Point. The beautiful brunette also modeled for series of photos where she portrayed a "healthy housewife". Her big break came when she played Elizabeth Taylor's sister in the 1956 drama Giant. Then she had the leading role in the film noir Portland Expose. On September 30, 1957 she married businessman Charles Graham. The couple had a son named Charles Edward. Carolyn costarred with Vincent Price in the 1959 horror film House On Haunted Hill.
She also appeared on numerous television shows including Perry Mason, The Rifleman, and The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp. Because she looked so young she was often cast as teenagers. Her marriage to Charles ended in 1961. Although many of her performances got good reviews, she never became an A-list star. She joined the cast of the soap opera General Hospital in 1963. The following year Carolyn married Arthur France Bryden, the manager of a car dealership. Her final acting role was in a 1967 episode of the TV show T.H.E. Cat. She divorced Arthur in the spring of 1970 and fell into a deep depression. On December 12, 1970, she committed suicide by shooting herself in her Culver City home. She was thirty-six years old. Carolyn was buried in an unmarked grave at Inglewood Cemetery in Inglewood, California. - Alan Crofoot was born on 2 June 1929 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for Welcome to Blood City (1977), High-Ballin' (1978) and A Cool Sound from Hell (1959). He was married to Dodi Protero. He died on 5 March 1979 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
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A stage actor since his early teenage years, Lester Cuneo made his first film, a comedy short, in 1910. It was quite successful, and he soon began appearing in a series of comedy shorts, which he also directed. Tiring of comedies, he decided to make himself a cowboy star and turned to making westerns. He was also successful in that endeavor, and soon became one of the country's first western stars. Unlike many other cowboy actors, however, Cuneo also played dramatic parts in other pictures. His career was interrupted by World War I, and after completing his military service, he returned to Hollywood and resumed his career in Westerns. He formed his own production company and made his own films, and his character was known as "The Smiling Daredevil." His pictures were initially successful, but their success didn't last long. Cuneo's career went downhill, and after a series of personal and professional failures, he shot himself to death in 1925.- Patricia Cutts was born on 20 July 1926 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Tingler (1959), The Adventures of P.C. 49: Investigating the Case of the Guardian Angel (1949) and Playhouse 90 (1956). She was married to William Nichols, John A.C. Findlay (agent) and Harold S.N.I. Norway-Baker. She died on 6 September 1974 in London, England, UK.
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Dalida was a French-Italian singer, born to Italian parents in Egypt. She moved to France in her 30's, where she enjoyed the most successful part of her career. She was born on January 17, 1933 in Cairo, Egypt as Yolande Christina Gigliotti. She was married to Lucien Morisse. She died on May 3, 1987 in Paris, France.- Actress
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Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ruby Dandridge (née Ruby Jean Butler), an entertainer, and Cyril H. Dandridge, a cabinet maker and minister. Under the prodding of her mother, Dorothy and her sister Vivian Dandridge began performing publicly, usually in black Baptist churches throughout the country. Her mother would often join her daughters on stage. As the depression worsened, Dorothy and her family picked up and moved to Los Angeles where they had hopes of finding better work, perhaps in film. Her first film was in the Marx Brothers comedy, A Day at the Races (1937). It was only a bit part but Dandridge hoped it would blossom into something better. She only appeared in another film in 1940, in Four Shall Die (1940).
Meanwhile, she dropped out of high school and became part of a musical trio which performed with the orchestra of Jimmie Lunceford. During the late 30s, she dated music composer Phil Moore, who was instrumental in launching her career as a nightclub singer and big band vocalist.
Her next few screen roles in the early 1940s tended to be small stereotypical roles of black girls or princesses - such as Bahama Passage (1941) and Drums of the Congo (1942), She was the singing star of the western themed all-black-cast "soundie" (short musical) Cow-Cow Boogie (1942) and appeared in movies that showcased her talents as actress and singer, like Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) as the vocalist of Count Basie's Band, and twice as the vocalist of Louis Armstrong's Band in Pillow to Post (1945) and Atlantic City (1944).
Those brought her headline acts in the nation's finest hotel nightclubs in New York, Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas. She may have been allowed to sing in these fine hotels but, because of racism, she couldn't have a room in any of them. It was reported that one hotel drained its swimming pool to keep her from enjoying that amenity.
In 1954, she appeared in the all-black production of Carmen Jones (1954) in the title role. She was so superb in that picture that she garnered an Academy Award nomination but lost to Grace Kelly in The Country Girl (1954). She did not get another movie role until Tamango (1958), an Italian film. She did six more films, including, most notably, Island in the Sun (1957) and Porgy and Bess (1959). The last movie in which she would ever appear was The Murder Men (1962) (1961).
Dandridge faded quickly after that, due to an ill-considered marriage to Jack Dennison (her first husband was Harold Nicholas), poor investments, financial woes, and alcoholism.
She was found dead in her apartment at 8495 Fountain Avenue, West Hollywood, on September 8, 1965, aged 42, from barbiturate poisoning. She left $2.14 in her bank account, and a handwritten letter: "In case of my death - whoever discovers it - Don't remove anything I have on - scarf, gown, or underwear. Cremate me right away - if I have any money, furniture, give it to my mother, Ruby Dandridge - She will know what to do.". She was cremated and her ashes were interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
She was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6719 Hollywood Blvd. on January 18, 1983.- Bella Darvi became a 50s symbol for one of the many movie "Cinderellas" whose bright and beautiful Hollywood fairy tale would come crashing down, ending in bitterness and tragedy. A self-destructive brunette beauty, her life was full of misfortune. Of Polish/French descent, she miraculously survived the tortures of a WWII concentration camp as a youth, only to get caught up in the phony glitter and high-living style of Monaco's casinos as a young adult in Europe. An inveterate gambler and drinker, she was, by chance, "discovered" by movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck and his wife, Virginia Fox, who thought she had a foreign cinematic allure à la Ingrid Bergman. Despite her lack of acting experience, the Zanucks paid off her gambling debts and whisked her away to Hollywood to be groomed for stardom. Her marquee name "Darvi" was derived from the combined first names of her mentors. It should have been a dream-come-true opportunity. Fate, however, would not be so kind. After three high profile roles in The Egyptian (1954), Hell and High Water (1954) and The Racers (1955) opposite three top male films stars (Victor Mature, Richard Widmark and Kirk Douglas, respectively), Darvi's limited abilities were painfully transparent. Not only was she hampered by an ever-so-slight crossed-eyed appearance, she had a trace of a lisp which, combined with a foreign accent, made her speech appear slurred and difficult to understand. It didn't take long for the actress to go off the deep end. Within a short time, a major sex scandal involving Mr. Zanuck had wife Virginia packing Darvi's bags and any "career" she once had here in America was over. She retreated back to Europe, made a few inconsequential films, and quickly returned to her adverse habits -- liquor and the gambling tables. But this time there was no one to save her. Mounting debts and despair eventually turned her thoughts to suicide. After several attempts, Darvi finally succeeded in 1971 by turning on the gas stove in her apartment. She was only 42.
- Lynette Davies was born on 18 October 1948 in Tonypandy, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for Miracles Take Longer (1983), Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and The Watch House (1988). She died in December 1993 in Lavernock Point, Wales, UK.
- Born in Florida in 1949, Brad Davis moved to Georgia after graduating from high school to pursue an acting career. From there, he moved to New York City, twice, to find work. By the early 1970s Davis was acting in off-Broadway plays while studying acting at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. His stage work led to his movie debut and to television shows such as the hit Sybil (1976) and the mini-series Roots (1977). His biggest success was in 1978 with the lead role in Midnight Express (1978) where he played Billy Hayes, a young American imprisoned in Turkey for drug smuggling. It won him a Golden Globe award.
Another memorable movie role in 1982 was playing the title character of Querelle (1982), a ruggedly lethal sailor who seduces and sets both men and women's hearts aflutter.
Davis contracted AIDS in 1979 apparently from his one-time cocaine addiction, but in response to the anti-AIDS hysteria in Hollywood, Davis kept his illness a secret for a number of years and continued to act. His later years had him finally revealing that he had AIDS by the late 1980s and he became an AIDS activist in bashing the Hollywood industry and US government for ignoring and shunning victims suffering from the hideous disease. Brad Davis died in 1991 at age 41. His widow, Susan Bluestein, continues his activist work in the fight against AIDS. - Alphonso DeNoble was a morbidly obese actor who only appeared in three low-budget horror pictures during his regrettably fleeting career. DeNoble's regular job was working as a bouncer at a Paterson, New Jersey gay bar. Writer/director Alfred Sole convinced him to play the strikingly lewd, sleazy, and grotesque pedophile landlord Mr. Alphonso in the excellent "Alice, Sweet Alice." Alphonso went on to appear in two movies for director Joel M. Reed: he portrayed a white slave dealer in the notorious splatter sickie "Bloodsucking Freaks" and a camera store proprietor in the cruddy "Night of the Zombies."
- Jerry Desmond, whose real name was James Robert Sadler, was born 20th July 1908 and made his stage debut at age 11 in the Sadler Elsie Four at the Palace Cinema, Armadale in November 1919 staying with them until 1928 when he joined the chorus of a music comedy show which toured America. Returning to Britain he teamed up with Dr Jack becoming The Desmond Brothers then married Peg and formed Peg and Jerry Desmond performing in revue and concert party revues. In 1942 he did an 8 week tour with Sid Field by which time he was a struggling comedian when he was seen by George Cole and both of them were engaged for Strike a New Note at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London in 1943 which was followed by Strike it Again in 1944 then Piccadilly Hayride in 1946. Jerry, immaculately dressed and with a superior air was a perfect foil for Sid Field in a golf sketch which they did for the 1945 Royal Variety Show. The following year he made the film London Town and in 1947 Cardboard Cavalier, After Sid's death jerry became straight man to Nat Jackley then the 1953 film Trouble in Store found him as straight man to Norman Wisdom which continued through a series of films before he became quiz master on the $64,000 Dollar Question.
- Henry ( Hank) J. Deutschendorf was born in America on April 29, 1988. He and his twin brother William were nephews of folk singer John Denver, and became actors. He is remembered for Ghostbusters II (1989) and Clean Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2017). He and his twin "tag teamed" the role of baby Oscar in Ghostbusters II (1989). Tragically, he struggled with mental illness. Although a loved boyfriend, son, and brother, he committed suicide on June 14, 2017 in Escondido, California at age 29.
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- Music Department
Popular but troubled renegade French actor Patrick Dewaere was christened Jean-Marie Patrick Bourdeaux on January 26, 1947, at Saint-Brieuc in Britanny in the north-west region of France. The third of six children born to actress Mado Maurin (1915-2011), his mother made acting a family affair. All of his siblings -- Jean-Pierre Maurin (1941-1996), Yves-Marie Maurin (1944-2009), Dominique Maurin (1949- ), Jean-François Vlerick (also known as Jean-Francois Maurin) (1957- ) and Marie-Véronique Maurin (1960- ) -- all became thespians. Patrick made his film debut at the age of four under the name Patrick Maurin in Amazing Monsieur Fabre (1951).
While growing up, he was taunted by his schoolyard friends for his young film endeavors, he learned sensitivity and isolation at an early age. Other films during this adolescent period of time included his playing an unbilled child role in Gene Kelly's The Happy Road (1957).
As a young adult in the early 1960s Patrick appeared on French television, then joined the "Café de Gare" theatrical troupe in 1968 where he remained for nearly a decade. It was during these stage years that he changed his stage name to Dewaere, the maiden name of his great grandmother. He also met and became romantically involvement with fellow troupe member Miou-Miou. A child, Angele, was born to this liaison in 1974, but the couple broke up after only two years. Another daughter, Lola, was born in the early 1980s from a later marriage.
After numerous film bits, stardom was finally his with the leading rebel-like role of Pierrot in Bertrand Blier's anarchic comedy Going Places (1974) [Going Places], which also starred up-and-coming actor Gérard Depardieu and lady love Miou-Miou. He and Depardieu earned instant "anti-hero" stardom in this tale of two wanderlust petty thugs. Patrick's genius for dark, offbeat comedy was apparent in the number of black comedies that came his way. Catherine & Co. (1975) [Catherine & Co.] co-starred Patrick with Jane Birkin, a social commentary on the prostitution business. He followed this with the crime drama The French Detective (1975) [The French Detective] as Lino Ventura's inspector sidekick. Dewaere earned high marks for his off-balanced role in La meilleure façon de marcher (1976) [The Best Way], then paired up again with Depardieu in the Oscar-winning cross-over comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978) [Get Out Your Handkerchiefs].
Infinitely more interested in searching out complex roles than fame, his work in films were more often than not experimental, low budget and quirky in style. He appeared innately drawn to playing sensitive, scruffy, miserable neurotics, misfits and losers, as exemplified by his characters in Hothead (1979) [Hothead], Serie Noire (1979), Heat of Desire (1981) [Heat of Desire], Hotel America (1981) [Hotel America] which co-starred Catherine Deneuve, and the critically-acclaimed Beau-père (1981).
This obsession may have triggered a deep and profound suffering in his own off-screen personal life. Unlike his counterpart Depardieu, Patrick's fame never branched out internationally, but he was recognized consistently throughout Europe for his superlative portrayals. Amazingly, he was nominated for seven César awards (the French equivalent of the "Oscar") but never won.
Patrick's career ended in tragic and still mysterious circumstances. Shortly before the release of the film Paradis pour tous (1982) [Paradise for All], a dark comedy in which his character commits suicide, the 35-year-old actor decided to end his own life by shooting himself with a rifle in his Paris home on July 16, 1982. At the time he was working on the Claude Lelouch's film Edith and Marcel (1983). A shocking, inexplicable end to friends, fans and family alike, Dewaere later became the subject of a full-length French documentary Patrick Dewaere (1992), which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The Patrick Dewaere Award was established in France in 1983.- Edit Domján was born on 26 December 1932 in Budapest, Hungary. She was an actress, known for Két emelet boldogság (1960), Oldás és kötés (1963) and A férfi egészen más (1966). She was married to Flórián Kaló. She died on 26 December 1972 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Joan Dowling had a passion for acting and as an aspiring young actress she would take roles in plays, pantomimes and other works simply to be on the stage. Her first recognised role was at the tender age of 14 and she signed her first film contract at 17. She had natural talent and did not have any coaching, voice or other lessons before being 'discovered'. She was well known for her roles in Ealing Studios productions and met her husband, Harry Fowler, on the set of the 1947 Ealing comedy Hue and Cry (1947). Sadly, Joan's life did not have a happy ending and she committed suicide in 1954 - a mere 26 years old.
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Micke Dubois was born on 25 February 1959 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an actor and writer, known for Angne & Svullo (1988), Angne & Svullo 'Här och nu!' (1991) and Svullo grisar vidare (1990). He was married to Gitte Nilsson. He died on 30 November 2005 in Huddinge, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Born on 24 February 1940 in Rochester, New York, Pete Duel moved to West Hollywood in 1963 following a tour with the National Road Company's "Take Her, She's Mine". After landing small guest spots on various TV series, Pete was cast in a recurring role alongside Sally Field on Gidget (1965) in 1965. The series only lasted one season but Pete was immediately cast in another Columbia Screen Gems comedy series Love on a Rooftop (1966) with Judy Carne. The series gained good reviews but was once again canceled after one season. Pete then signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios in July 1967. Guest spots and movie roles followed and, in 1970, he was offered the part of Hannibal Heyes on a comedy Western pilot Alias Smith and Jones (1971), loosely based on the 1969 hit movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). The pilot was sold to the ABC network and a series was commissioned. The series was a big hit with the youth audience and Duel became subject matter for teen magazines, gaining a loyal following. When news of his sudden death by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound was reported on TV and radio on December 31st 1971, it came as a shock to his family and friends. Early suspicion of foul play soon gave way to evidence pointing to death by suicide with depression and serious alcohol problems seen as contributing factors. Following a memorial service at the Self-Realization Temple in California on January 2nd 1972, Pete's body was flown to Penfield, New York. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery following a memorial service at Penfield Baptist Church.
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- Writer
Kenne Duncan was born on 17 February 1902 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for Night of the Ghouls (1959), Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945) and The Astounding She-Monster (1957). He died on 5 February 1972 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Mirko Ellis was born on 4 September 1923 in Locarno, Switzerland. He was an actor, known for Buffalo Bill (1964), The Ten Gladiators (1963) and The Revolt of the Pretorians (1964). He was married to Ester Masing. He died on 11 September 2014 in Alghero, Sardinia, Italy.
- Peg Entwistle was born on February 5, 1908 in Port Talbot, Wales at the home of her maternal grandparents, John and Caroline Stevenson because Caroline was to act as midwife. Peg's mother was Emily Stevenson Entwistle and her father was actor/ stage manager Robert Symes Entwistle (1872-1922). They married on November 3, 1904. When mother and child were able to travel, the family returned to their modest home in the London neighborhood of West Kensington where Peg spent the first few years of her life.
Both Robert and his brother Charles Harold Entwistle were actors. This no doubt influenced Peg Entwistle's acting aspirations from a very early age. So much of Robert and Peg's history is tied to Charles because it was Charles who was their lifeline, the one who saved the day, time after time. By 1908 when Peg was born, both brothers were working steadily as actors. Charles Entwistle not only had more experience, he had better contacts. His New York employer was famous stage producer Charles Frohman who, with his two brothers Daniel and Gustave Frohman, owned or had access to over 800 theaters in Europe and the United States. Charles Entwistle trained as an actor in Paris and Heidelberg, but it was his great organizational skills that showed he was best suited to working as a manager and business agent in England. He was accustomed to dealing with actor contracts, touring arrangements, and temperamental theater owners. In 1906, producer Charles Frohman paid Charles Entwistle's way to America and introduced him to the Broadway stage. It was around this time that Frohman gave him the job of managing the great Shakespearean actor Walter Hampden. They became fast friends which lasted until Charles Entwistle's death in 1944. At least once a year, Charles Frohman sailed from New York to Europe, to check on his theaters and to shop for new plays. As a valued employee, Charles Entwistle often accompanied him and was trusted to manage Frohman's affairs in his absence.
Peg's father Robert evidently got enough work as an actor to comfortably take care of his family because while their home was not lavish, it was in a London neighborhood where the homes were slightly upscale. No doubt it probably came as quite a surprise to their family, friends and neighbors when Robert Entwistle decided to divorce his wife Emily in 1910. After a bitter custody dispute, Robert was granted full custody of his two year old daughter. However he lied when he told Peg that her mother had died. Peg believed it, because she never saw her mother again. But, she wasn't dead.
Years later when Robert Entwistle died in 1922, Peg was 14 years old. There was a mysterious statement in Robert Entwistle's Last Will and Testament dated December 15, 1922 in which Robert Entwistle stated: " Millicent Lilian Entwistle is the daughter of my first wife whom I divorced and the custody of my said daughter was awarded to me. I do not desire said daughter to be at any time in the custody or control of her said mother."
If Emily Stevenson were dead, such a statement would not have been necessary at all. Her Uncle Charles verified that her mother did not die in 1910 as she was told, that her parents had divorced in 1910 because Emily Stevenson had been having an affair with an actor named Julius Shaw who later died in 1918 during WWI. This explanation, in part, explains Robert's mysterious statement.
The date of the letter and Will are suspicious because they were dated December 15, 1922, almost 12 years after her mother supposedly died. The date is also suspect because Robert Entwistle was hit by the limo on the evening of November 2, 1922, and was in a coma until he died on December 19, 1922. He was likely heavily medicated due to his injuries which according to the interview Charles Entwistle gave to the New York Times, his ribs and his spine were lodged in his brain. Robert Entwistle could not have been of sound mind to authorize the Will or the letter.
The year 1910 was momentous for King Edward VII too. When he died, everything stopped for about a year. For the coronation of his successor, King George V, celebrations were planned on a grand scale. Charles Entwistle's employer, producer Charles Frohman was chosen for the planning committee to choose and schedule the festivities at His Majesty's Theater in London. To perform Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the committee chose Robert and Charles Entwistle. Peg, at not quite three years old, had a ringside seat to watch her father and uncle perform for King Edward V and Queen Mary.
When the festivities were over, Charles Entwistle went back to work in New York and Robert stayed in England to raise Peg with help from his family. In 1911, Charles Entwistle, age 45, met successful stage actress Jane Ross, age 26. Their courtship consisted of commuting back and forth between stage work in New York and relaxing at her ranch in Santa Monica, California. They married on June 5, 1912 at her family's home in Ohio. When they returned from their honeymoon, they were hired by the Shubert brothers to tour the United States with one play after another with short and long engagements. In April 1913, Charles and his bride sailed back to England on the SS Olympic so Jane could meet Robert, Peg and the rest of the Entwistle family. His employer, Charles Frohman also happened to be traveling on the SS Olympic. After dinner, Charles Entwistle inquired if Frohman had an open position for his brother Robert. Charles Frohman promised to hire him initially as a stage manager and to bring Robert and his daughter to New York.
Charles Frohman interviewed Robert Entwistle in England and hired him as stage manager in Frohman's New York theaters. Charles, Jane, Robert and Peg sailed from England on the SS Chicago and arrived in New York on July 29, 1913, marking Peg's official move to the US. Various accounts give the year 1916 as the year Robert and Peg 'first' sailed from England to New York on the SS Philadelphia. They did sail on the SS Philadelphia in 1916, but that was not Robert's or Peg's first trip. The reason their names were on the ship's 1916 manifest was because Robert, Peg, new wife Lauretta, Charles and Jane were sailing home to England from New York to attend a family reunion. Further proof was that Robert had been working on plays in the United States several times since 1912 with Charles Frohman's touring companies. It is Jane's diary that documents everyone's movements from 1911 onward when she first met Charles Entwistle, proving that Robert Entwistle and his daughter had sailed to the United States long before the 1916 date.
When Charles Entwistle introduced his new wife to his brother, Robert was bowled over and not so jokingly inquired if she had any sisters. She did.
From July 1913 on, life got busy and stayed busy. Rehearsals began for Robert's Broadway debut in The Younger Generation at Charles Frohman's Lyceum Theater which was scheduled for September 1913. That same month, Robert Entwistle was introduced to Jane's sister Lauretta Ross who would become his second wife. While Robert enjoyed acting and being a stage manager, more than anything he wanted to own his own business and raise a family. He opened a specialty shop on Madison Avenue where he made elaborate gift boxes for wealthy clients.
On July 29, 1914, Robert and Lauretta were married in Clarklake, Michigan. Peg was six years old and stayed with her new Ross relatives while her father and her new mother went on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls. In September 1914, the New York Times reviewed the Broadway production of The Beautiful Adventure with Robert Entwistle's name simply as a mention on the cast list. Meanwhile, Charles and Jane began the transition from stage plays in New York to making motion pictures in California. Charles already made his directorial debut and he felt that films were the next step. Peg spent a lot of time at both her father's home and her uncle's two homes. She was introduced to Jane's Santa Monica ranch, and enjoyed spending time in the stables.
On May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat and over 1198 people were killed. Among the passengers who were killed was Charles Frohman, the Entwistle's New York employer. His body (#24) was recovered the next day. There were several memorial tributes held in the US and in England. Robert, Lauretta and Peg Entwistle attended his funeral with Charles Entwistle's friend Walter Hampden and his wife Mabel Moore. Charles and Jane attended one of the memorials held in California.
Robert and Lauretta had two sons: Milton Ross Entwistle was born in 1917. He died in 2018 at the age of 100. Robert Bleaks Entwistle was born in 1919. He died in 2004 at age 85. Tragedy struck this family again and again: On April 2, 1921, Lauretta died suddenly from meningitis leaving Robert with 14 year old Peg, 4 year old Milton and 2 year old Robert. Charles and Jane came to the rescue to help out as did the Ross family in Ohio and Michigan. Then, a little over a year later, at 10:30pm on November 2, 1922 (Election Day), Peg's father, Robert was struck by a limousine driver on Park Avenue at 72nd Street after leaving his Madison Avenue specialty shop. The limo driver was observed looking at the injured man lying on the ground, then he ran back to the limo and quickly drove away. A man and woman at the scene transported Robert Entwistle to the Accident Ward at Presbyterian Hospital where it was determined that he was in a coma due to his injuries. When he was stabilized, Robert Entwistle was moved to Bellevue Hospital and then moved one last time to Prospect Heights Hospital, a private hospital in Brooklyn. None of the pedestrian observers wrote down the correct license number of the limo. Robert Entwistle lay in coma for 47 days and died on December 18th, 1922 at Prospect Heights Hospital. His brother Charles Harold Entwistle said, when he was interviewed by the New York Times at his Hotel Flanders suite, that Robert's spine was broken in two places and had penetrated the brain which was the actual cause of death. The newspaper reported that Robert was about 50 years old, and left three children: Millicent, age 15, Milton, age 5, and Robert, age 4. His body was taken to Cincinnati and buried next to his second wife Lauretta Ross Entwistle in Oak Hill Cemetery in Glendale, Ohio.
Charles and Jane Entwistle adopted Peg, Milton and Robert. In 1924, they enrolled Peg in Henry Jewett's Repertory School in Boston to study acting. She was one of the Henry Jewett Players and studied with famed director & actress, Blanche Yurka. In 1925, Charles Entwistle's friend and employer, actor Walter Hampden, gave Peg her first Broadway role in his production of Hamlet, starring Ethel Barrymore. It was an uncredited walk-on part where she carried the King's train and brought in the poison cup, but it was enough for Peg to attract the attention of scouts from the prestigious New York Theatre Guild. She was the youngest actress ever to be recruited. At age 17, Peg played the role of Hedvig in the 1925 production of Henrik Ibsen's "The Wild Duck." It was after seeing this play that Bette Davis said to her mother that she wanted to be exactly like Peg Entwistle. She claimed Peg was her inspiration to study acting.
Peg went on to play good supporting roles with Dorothy Gish, Laurette Taylor, Henry Travers, William Gillette, Robert Cummings, Romney Brent, and other famous directors, producers, actors and actresses. George M. Cohan personally directed her in one of his original Broadway comedies. Peg traveled around the country as a representative of the Guild during a special tour celebrating the Theatre Guild's ten-year birthday. The tour was orchestrated by the great Bernard Shaw. Peg received rave reviews in each play, including plays the critics did not like. Her longest running play was the 1927 hit play Tommy starring Sidney Toler. It ran for 232 performances and is the play for which Peg is most remembered.
On April 18, 1927, Peg married actor Robert Keith in the chapel of the New York City Clerk's office. Keith, who was also a writer, notably "The Tightwad," wasn't exactly truthful with her. Nearly a year after they married, Peg learned that Robert had been married twice before and had a son by his second wife that he was now expected to take care of while his mother, stage actress Helen Shipman, toured with plays. In 1928, feeling there was no other choice, Peg became the stepmother of Robert's son, a child actor named Brian, who grew up to become Brian Keith, star of the 1960's TV series Family Affair (aired 1966-1971). Peg divorced Robert Keith in May of 1929 on the grounds of infidelity, cruelty and concealing that he had a child. Robert Keith married again in 1930 to Dorothy Tierney and remained married till he died in 1966 at age 68. His son Brian Keith committed suicide (by gunshot) at age 75 on June 24, 1997. He left a suicide note saying he was in despair about his health problems (lung cancer) and depressed because he missed his daughter Daisy Keith Sampson, an actress who starred with Brian Keith on Heartland, who had committed suicide two months prior on April 16, 1997.
In 1932, after the popular James Barrie revival of "Alice Sit-By-The-Fire" was pulled because of problems with the star actress, Laurette Taylor, Peg Entwistle was brought out to Los Angeles by producers Edward DeBlasio and Homer Curran especially to co-star opposite Billie Burke and Humphrey Bogart in a tryout production of Romney Brent's "The Mad Hopes." The show was a huge smash and Peg was again given accolades. Three days after the production had ended, Peg was in her room at her uncle and aunt's California house at 2428 Beachwood Drive, packing to go back to New York, when RKO Pictures called. They asked if she would come in to do a screen test. She did and was soon signed to a small role in David O. Selznick's Thirteen Women (1932), with Irene Dunne and Myrna Loy. The film was a flop despite the talents of movie stars like Irene Dunne and Myrna Loy. Peg's contract was not renewed.
It was the worst year of The Great Depression. Money was tight for everyone. Peg was broke and had no way to get back to New York. There were no stage roles to be had in Los Angeles. In her mind, with no prospects, everything seemed hopeless. On Friday evening, September 16th, 1932, Peg left a note for her Uncle Charles and Aunt Jane Entwistle saying that she was going to visit friends and to buy some books. On Sunday, September 18th, 1932, a hiker found Peg's coat, one of her shoes and her purse containing her suicide note. The hiker saw her body lying about one hundred feet below the 50-foot tall letter "H" of the Hollywoodland sign. She gathered up Peg's things, went to the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Station and left them on their step. Then the hiker called Central Station to report where she left the items and to give them the location of the body.
When police found her body, they believed that Peg had climbed up a workman's ladder that had been leaning up against the back of the letter "H" and she jumped head-first to her death. The note found in Peg's purse read: "I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E." (the initials of her name). An autopsy was performed showing the cause of death was internal bleeding caused by "multiple fractures of the pelvis." No alcohol was present. Because of no identification found in her purse, it took two days for her uncle to recognize the details from a newspaper report and to come forward to identify her body.
Peg's only film credit was Thirteen Women (1932) starring Myrna Loy and Irene Dunne. It was produced by David O Selznick and was released about one month after her death on October 14, 1932.
The nickname, "The Hollywoodland Sign Girl" was given by an editor at the now defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner newspaper.
Peg is buried in the family plot with her father and her stepmother Lauretta in Oak Hill Cemetery in Glendale, Ohio. (not to be confused with Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA).
Charles Harold Entwistle (b. September 5, 1866 - d. April 1, 1944) died at the age of 77. Jane Ross Entwistle (b. December 22, 1885 - d. January 14, 1957) died at the age of 71. Both are buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA.
Milton Ross Entwistle was cremated when he died at age 100 on February 1, 2018.
Robert Bleaks Entwistle died on October 31, 2004 at age 85 and is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, CA
What a talented family, some of whom met with their own tragic ends. Although she only made one film, it is Peg's stage accomplishments for which she should be most remembered. But unfortunately, she will always be remembered as the only person to ever jump to her death from the Hollywoodland sign. - Actress
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Born in Königsberg in 1935, Renate Ewert and her family had to leave their home and relocate to Hamburg during WWII. As she was determined to become an actress, she applied for the "Hamburger Kammerspiele" but was rejected. By doing synchronising jobs for foreign movies she finally got her first role in the third part of 08/15 - In der Heimat (1955). After that one, she appeared in a number of movies as the seductive, mysterious girl but never got the dramatic parts she was eager to play.
She had affairs with some famous actors of the time but these didn't help her career. At the middle of the 60s she didn't get many offers anymore and turned to tablets and alcohol. At the 10th of December of 1966, she was found dead by a friend, actress Susanne Cramer, who wanted to visit her in her apartment: she had died three weeks previously, probably by starvation.
Her parents couldn't deal with Renate Ewert's untimely death: They poisoned themselves not long after their daughter died.- Actor
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An American stuntman who, after more than 30 years in the business, moved into acting and became an acclaimed and respected character actor, Richard Farnsworth was a native of Los Angeles. He grew up around horses and as a teenager was offered an opportunity to ride in films. He appeared in horse-racing scenes and cavalry charges unbilled, first as a general rider and later as a stuntman. His riding and stunting skills gained him regular work doubling stars ranging from Roy Rogers to Gary Cooper, and he often doubled the bad guy as well. Although. like most stuntmen, he was occasionally given a line or two of dialogue, it was not until Farnsworth was over 50 that his natural talent for acting and his ease and warmth before the camera became apparent. When he won an Academy Award nomination for his role in Comes a Horseman (1978), it came as a surprise to many in the industry that this "newcomer" had been around since the 1930s. Farnsworth followed his Oscar nomination with a number of finely wrought performances, including The Grey Fox (1982) and The Natural (1984). In 1999 he came out of semi-retirement for a tour-de-force portrayal in The Straight Story (1999).- Bekim Fehmiu was born on 1 June 1936 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for The Adventurers (1970), I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967) and Protest (1967). He was married to Branka Petric. He died on 15 June 2010 in Belgrade, Serbia.
- Andrea Feldman was a performer in several of Andy Warhol's films, most prominently in the film "Heat" as Sylvia Miles's daughter. She was notable for her screechy voice and hysterical performance style, and she often played out-of-control characters unable to cope with their circumstances.
She committed suicide in 1972 by jumping from the fourteenth floor of her apartment building in New York City. In her hands were a rosary and a can of Coca-Cola. - Emil Forselius was born on 23 November 1974 in Västervik, Småland, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Tic Tac (1997), Järngänget (2000) and Belinder auktioner (2003). He died on 2 March 2010 in Södermalm, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.
- This tiny (4' 11"), appealing, coquettish-looking Hollywood actress had only a few active years in early talkies before her career took a bad hit. A few years after that she joined other shattered 1930s hopefuls (Peg Entwistle, Gwili Andre, Peggy Shannon) as tragic symbols of unrequited stardom.
Sidney Fox was born Sidney Liefer in New York City on December 10, 1907 (many resources inaccurately give 1910 as her birth date), the daughter of Joseph Liefer. Sidney began contributing to her family income as a teenager in a variety of ways - as a model on Fifth Avenue and a lovelorn columnist to, name two. At one point she entertained the thought of a law career, but her acting desires soon took over. She joined a stock company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she performed in such shows as "The Big Pond," "Wedding Bells," "The Ghost Train" and "Gregory's Woman."
Back in New York she made her Broadway debut in 1929 with the popular comedy "It Never Rains" at the Republic Theatre, then garnered more attention the next year with another comedy role in "Lost Sheep", which served as her breakthrough into films. Discovered by Universal mogul Carl Laemmle Jr., she was placed directly into a starring role opposite Bette Davis (in her film debut as well) in Bad Sister (1931). In an odd bit of casting, it was innocent-eyed Sidney who played the scheming, vixenish sister and the formidable Bette playing the timid, sympathetic one in a movie that also co-starred up-and-comer Humphrey Bogart.
Guided by Laemle, Jr., Universal continued their buildup of the pert and girlish brunette starlet with appearances in more pictures. Named one of 13 "Wampas Baby Stars" of 1931, she also began making the covers of such movie magazines as "Modern Screen" and "Movie Mirror". Sidney continued making strides in film comedy co-starring with Spencer Tracy in 6 Cylinder Love (1931) and, more importantly, Paul Lukas in Strictly Dishonorable (1931), the latter arguably the best role of her career as the Southern girl who attracts the attention of an Italian opera star (Lukas). Amazingly, she received top billing over Universal horror icon Bela Lugosi in her best-remembered film, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), but Lugosi easily stole the proceedings from the rather overly dramatic ingénue.
Sidney's performances in film tended toward the saccharine and obviousness and this one-dimensional aspect hurt a number of her films, including the dramatic "soapers," Nice Women (1931), Afraid to Talk (1932) and, notably, Midnight (1934), in which she ineffectively re-teamed with Bogart. Sweet and simple in style, she seemed better suited towards lighter comedy and one of her better films at the time was Once in a Lifetime (1932) co-starring funny guy Jack Oakie. Targeted by gossip-mongers as to her "professional relationship" with Laemmle, Jr., she avoided the Hollywood limelight for a time and tried her luck appearing in such European features as Don Quixote (1933), directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and Die Abenteuer des Königs Pausole (1933) [The Adventures of King Pausole], but to little avail.
A stormy marriage to Universal Studios editor Charles Beahan (they married in December of 1932) did not help matters as she became more famous for her tabloid-feeding off-camera life than for the films she was making. They had no children. Her last three pictures -- Midnight (1934), Down to Their Last Yacht (1934) a School for Girls (1934) -- did nothing to reverse her downhill fortunes in Hollywood, although she remained a romantic leading lady throughout her career and was never reduced to bit parts. The following years included some work here and there on the Orpheum Theatre circuit, on radio and a brief return to Broadway in a replacement role. Then there was nothing.
Illness and depression set in, not helped by her unhappy, abusive marriage. On the morning of November 15, 1942, the 34-year-old actress was found dead in her Beverly Hills bedroom by her husband after consuming a fatal number of sleeping pills. A most probable suicide, she was buried in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York. Little remembered today, lovely Sidney Fox remains a sad footnote in the Hollywood annals but her pictures still deserve a curious look. - Ed Flanders was born on 29 December 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Exorcist III (1990), St. Elsewhere (1982) and The Ninth Configuration (1980). He was married to Cody Lambert, Ellen Geer and Bennye Kelly. He died on 22 February 1995 in Denny, California, USA.
- Erin Fleming was born on 13 August 1941 in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada. She was an actress, known for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Hercules in New York (1970) and The Legend of Blood Mountain (1965). She died on 15 April 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Tom Forman was born on 22 February 1893 in Mitchell County, Texas, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Broken Wing (1923), The Fighting American (1924) and To Have and to Hold (1916). He was married to Mary Mersch. He died on 7 November 1926 in Venice, California, USA.- Mimi Forsythe was born on 13 December 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Sensations of 1945 (1944) and Three Russian Girls (1943). She was married to James Parnell Turner, Warren Leslie McCanless and Benedict Bogeaus. She died on 17 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Dudley Foster was born on 7 August 1924 in Brighouse, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Danger Man (1960), Coronation Street (1960) and Doctor Who (1963). He was married to Eileen Kennally. He died on 8 January 1973 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.
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Jason David Frank is well-known for his role of Tommy Oliver in the long-running family television show Power Rangers. He is the voice of Emissary in Transformers: Titans Returns and brings Bloodshot to life in the highly-anticipated project Ninjak vs.the Valiant Universe. Always one looking for adventure, Jason shares his exciting life in the extremely popular series My Morphin Life, which is now in its fourth season.
Arguably the most popular and famous Power Ranger, Jason's character was only intended to be in ten episodes. Due to his popularity, he was morphed into the most amount of different rangers in the show's twenty-four year history. He began as the Mighty Morphin Green Ranger, a bad boy turned good, and subsequently morphed into the Mighty Morphin White Ranger, Red Zeo, Red Turbo, and then returned in 2004 as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger.
Throughout Power Ranger history, Jason David Frank's character has appeared in 225 total episodes and counting, more episodes than any other ranger. He also starred in the series both full-length movies, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Movie (1995) and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997). In 2013, Jason David Frank reprised his role of the Green Ranger in the Power Ranger's 20th Anniversary season, which featured a mega-war with many rangers from the show's long history, and was most recently had a cameo in the Power Rangers movie. With his dynamic screen presence and outstanding martial arts, he has catapulted Tommy to legendary fame in the Power Ranger fandom and to this day, maintains an enormous fan base that stretches around the world.
His martial arts is not just for television and films, Jason, an inductee of the World Karate Union Hall of Fame, is a highly accomplished and respected martial artist with 39 years of experience. In 1994, he created his own martial arts system, "Toso Kune Do," which means "Way of the Fighting Fist" and incorporates many different aspects of martial arts. He holds an eighth degree black belt in American Karate, a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and in February 2013, he received the title of Master of Muay Thai by the world renowned Muay Thai trainer Grand Master Toddy (Arjan). He is the owner and operator of Rising Sun Karate and MMA, with three schools in Texas and one in California.
In January 2013, Jason David Frank became the Guinness World Record Holder for most 1 inch pine board broken during freefall. Jason, who was introduced to skydiving during Power Rangers, shattered the previous record with seven broken pine boards.
On November 19, 2022, Jason David Frank took his own life by hanging himself in the bathroom at the Texas hotel and died at the age 49.- Rosemarie Frankland was born on 1 February 1943 in Rhosllannerchrugog, Wales, UK. She was an actress, known for We Shall See (1964), I'll Take Sweden (1965) and The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1959). She was married to Warren Entner and Ben Jones. She died on 2 December 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Gladys Frazin was born on June 21, 1900 in Chicago, Illinois. She began her career on the New York stage. In 1918 she married theatrical agent Leo Lowenstein. Their son, Leo Jr, was born two years later. Gladys starred on Broadway in The Masked Woman and toured the country in White Cargo. She became a popular stage star and was featured on the cover of The National Police Gazette. In 1924 she made her film debut in the drama Let No Man Put Asunder. She left her husband and married actor Douglas Gilmore but they were divorced in 1925. Her third marriage, to Richard W. Lehne, only lasted a month. Gladys went to London to star in a stage production of The Trial of Mary Dugan. She married comedian Monty Banks in 1929.
They costarred together in The Compulsory Husband and Monty adopted her son. Gladys appeared in some British films but she never became a major star. Her final role was in the 1931 drama The Other Woman. In April of 1932 she disappeared for several days after having a nervous breakdown. Soon after Monty filed for divorced and Gladys moved in with her parents in New York City. She and Monty announced they were going to remarry in 1934 but they broke up again. Gladys was diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered from severe depression. On March 9, 1939 she committed suicide by jumping out of her sixth floor bedroom window. She was only thirty-eight years old. Gladys left a suicide note that said "Mother and Dad, Please forgive me for what I am doing. I cannot suffer any longer. Love, Gladys." - Alexander Gauge was born on 29 July 1914 in Wenchow, China. He was an actor, known for The Pickwick Papers (1952), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1955). He was married to Phyllis Anne Lilley. He died on 29 August 1960 in Woking, Surrey, England, UK.
- Michael Gilden was born on 22 September 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Southland Tales (2006). He was married to Meredith Eaton and Elena Fondacaro. He died on 5 December 2006 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
A man so disagreeable on celluloid, Claude Gillingwater's characters seemed to subsist on a steady diet of persimmons. Fondly recalled as the cranky old skinflint whose seemingly cold heart could only be warmed by the actions of a cute little tyke, the tall and rangy Gillingwater invariably played much older than he was. He, with the omnipresent bushy brows, crop of silver hair and perpetually sour puss, had a much more versatile career than perhaps realized -- on both stage and in film. Most assuredly, this caustic screen image he perfected belied a softer, gentler off-screen demeanor for he was a kind and sympathetic gent and devoted husband to wife Carlyn Stiletz (or Stellith). Their only child, Claude Gillingwater Jr., briefly became an actor himself. Sadly, Gillingwater Sr.'s thriving character career ended on a grim and tragic note in 1939.
Born Claude Benton Gillingwater on August 2, 1879, in the small Mississippi River town of Louisiana, Missouri, he was the son of James E. and Lucy (Hunter) Gillingwater and attended St. Louis High School. For a time he was an apprentice to a lawyer uncle, but he eventually left home and joined a traveling stock company. Gradually building up his nascent career on the stage, he was discovered by theater impresario David Belasco. Gillingwater proceeded strongly on the Broadway stage beginning with a melodramatic role in "A Young Wife" (1899). This led to a well-received series of parts for the next full decade in New York ranging from high drama ("Madame Butterfly", "Du Barry") to operettas ("Mlle. Modiste," "The Old Town," "The Girl in the Train") to original works ("The Only Son," "The New Secretary").
1918 was a banner year for Gillingwater for he not only appeared in the hit Broadway show "Three Wise Fools," but also made his silent film debut in support of Gladys Leslie and Richard Barthelmess in Wild Primrose (1918). This disagreeable typecast began to assert itself with his second movie three years later as the grumbling, icy-souled Earl of Dorincourt whose grandson helps reveal his tenderer side in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921), which starred America's sweetheart Mary Pickford in a dual role.
A rash of leading/co-starring roles came with the immediate impact of this single success, including Crinoline and Romance (1923) with Viola Dana, Alice Adams (1923) with Florence Vidor, Dulcy (1923) with Constance Talmadge, and Three Wise Fools (1923) with Eleanor Boardman. The last film mentioned gave him the opportunity to repeat his 1918 Broadway triumph. More than not, however, he was supporting the Hollywood elite such as kid star Jackie Coogan in My Boy (1921), Richard Dix in Fools First (1922) and The Christian (1923), 'Leonore Ulric' in Tiger Rose (1923), Alla Nazimova in Madonna of the Streets (1924), Ronald Colman in A Thief in Paradise (1925), Anna Q. Nilsson in Winds of Chance (1925), and Colleen Moore in Oh Kay! (1928). Sometimes his character's names reflected his curt, stern image -- names such as John P. Grout, Lord Storm and Simon Peck.
A founding member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (1927), he advanced into the talking era of films with equal verve, although his roles were, more often than not, token grouches. Some of his more distinctive parts came with the films A Tale of Two Cities (1935) (as Jarvis Lorry), Mississippi (1935) and The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936). He proved to be an excellent crabapple foil for 20th Century-Fox moppet star Shirley Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) and subsequently appeared in two more of her pictures - Just Around the Corner (1938) and Little Miss Broadway (1938).
Gillingwater played a few more curmudgeons in his last years but this period of time was to be marked by acute sadness and physical/mental hardship. A serious accident on the movie set of the picture Florida Special (1936) (he fell from a platform and injured his back) damaged his health and threatened his career, and the death of his long-time wife Carlyn left him irrevocably depressed. Fearing the possibility of becoming an invalid and wishing not to become a serious burden to anyone, the 69-year-old actor committed suicide at his Beverly Hills home with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head on November 1, 1939. Gillingwater left a fine Hollywood legacy and the fun of some of his old films is watching his vinegar turn to sugar.- This stunning, fragile starlet was born Henriette Michèle Leone Girardon in Lyon in August 1938. Having completed her acting studies at the local conservatoire she won a competition as "the most photogenic girl in France" by the age of twenty. Photo shoots followed and a minor career as a model with appearances on the cover of prestige magazines "Vogue" and ""Marie-Claire". She began on screen with prominent supporting roles as a deaf mute in Luis Buñuel's Death in the Garden (1956) and as a secretary in Louis Malle's The Lovers (1958). Her first starring role came courtesy of Éric Rohmer who cast her in the lead of Sign of the Lion (1962) -- one of the first films of the French Nouvelle Vague movement, shot on location in Paris. Though not a commercial success at the time, the acting received general praise throughout and Michèle attracted attention from Hollywood. Paramount approached her with an offer to appear as the owner of a Tanzanian game farm opposite John Wayne in the African adventure Hatari! (1962). According to a Life magazine profile of July 1961 Michèle 'taught herself English' on the set. Her role did not lead to a Hollywood contract. Nevertheless, for a while she remained in demand for European productions, the pick of the bunch being leads in the Spanish-made swashbuckler The Adventures of Scaramouche (1963) and the Italian comedy The Magnificent Cuckold (1964). Less high profile, but decidedly decorative, was her supporting role in the Franco-Italian "Alfie'-lookalike comedy Tender Scoundrel (1966).
By the early 70's, film offers had dried up and Michèle's career was seriously on the skids. She became increasingly despondent, especially after the end of an unhappy dalliance with a married Spanish aristocrat, José Luis de Vilallonga (a writer and occasional actor with a well-earned reputation as a cad and spendthrift). Michèle Girardon decided to end her life by ingesting an overdose of sleeping pills in her home town on March 25, 1975, aged just 36. In a tragic irony, two co-stars in Michèle's penultimate film Les petites filles modèles (1971), Marie-Georges Pascal and Bella Darvi, also committed suicide at the ages of 39 and 42, respectively. - Fritha Goodey was born on 23 October 1972 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for About a Boy (2002), She Stoops to Conquer (2003) and Sherlock (2002). She died on 7 September 2004 in Notting Hill, London, England, UK.