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1-50 of 268
- Actor
- Stunts
- Director
An actor with a powerful physique, booming voice and who has played several "Native American" characters, Sonny Landham first broke into mainstream film with a bit part as a police officer in the subway. He ends up getting tripped when Michael Beck throws the baseball bat at his legs, in Walter Hill's gang film The Warriors (1979), then other minor roles in Southern Comfort (1981) & Poltergeist (1982), before Walter Hill cast him in his first decent role as James Remar's gun happy, criminal partner in the high voltage hit 48 Hrs. (1982). Landham continued to turn up in high testosterone films of the mid 1980s including the action sci-fi film Predator (1987), alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Lock Up (1989), and being hurled out a window by Carl Weathers in Action Jackson (1988). His career on screen wound down during the 1990s, but he still managed to crop up in several roles taking advantage of his strong physical presence.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Sam Shepard was born Samuel Shepard Rogers in Fort Sheridan, IL, to Jane Elaine (Schook), a teacher, and Samuel Shepard Rogers, a teacher and farmer who was also in the army. As the eldest son of a US Army officer (and WWII bomber pilot), Shepard spent his early childhood moving from base to base around the US until finally settling in Duarte, CA. While at high school he began acting and writing and worked as a ranch hand in Chino. He graduated high school in 1961 and then spent a year studying agriculture at Mount San Antonio Junior College, intending to become a vet.
In 1962, though, a touring theater company, the Bishop's Company Repertory Players, visited the town and he joined up and left home to tour with them. He spent nearly two years with the company and eventually settled in New York where he began writing plays, first performing with an obscure off-off-Broadway group but eventually gaining recognition for his writing and winning prestigious OBIE awards (Off-Broadway) three years running. He flirted with the world of rock, playing drums for the Holy Modal Rounders, then moved to London in 1971, where he continued writing.
Back in the US by 1974, he became playwright in residence at San Francisco's Magic Theater and continued to work as an increasingly well respected playwright throughout the 1970s and into the '80s. Throughout this time he had been dabbling with Hollywood, having most notably in the early days worked as one of the writers on Zabriskie Point (1970), but it was his role as Chuck Yeager in 1983's The Right Stuff (1983) (co-starring Fred Ward and Dennis Quaid) that brought him to the attention of the wider, non-theater audience. Since then he has continued to write, act and direct, both on screen and in the theater.
He died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease--in Kentucky on July 27, 2017.- Actor
- Producer
Don Collier made over 200 credited movie and television appearances. He performed with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Anthony Quinn, Dean Martin, Tom Selleck, James Arness, and even Elvis Presley. His first role was as an extra in 1948 in the western Massacre River (1949). This was followed by two more westerns -- Davy Crockett, Indian Scout (1950) and Fort Apache (1948) with John Wayne. He later appeared in three more John Wayne movies.
In 1959, Collier won the leading role of U.S. Deputy Marshal Will Foreman in the NBC series, Outlaws (1960). Starring with Don were Barton MacLane and Jock Gaynor. The second season of Outlaws (1960) found Will Foreman as a full-fledged Marshal. New characters were played by Bruce Yarnell, Slim Pickens, and Judy Lewis.
Collier kept busy appearing on all the other western TV shows, such as Bonanza (1959), Gunsmoke (1955), Wagon Train (1957), Branded (1965), and Death Valley Days (1952). In 1968, he was cast as the foreman of the ranch The High Chaparral (1967) in David Dortort's latest western series of the same name. Working alongside a extremely talented and experienced cast, his portrayal of Sam Butler was fundamental to the success of the highly acclaimed show, which ran until 1971. Even his commercials took advantage of his cowboy persona, when he became a 1980s icon as The Gum Fighter for Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum. More movies and TV kept him busy. Then he went further back in time when he was called on play the recurring role of William Tompkins in The Young Riders (1989).
He continued to guest star on TV in and out of the west in Little House on the Prairie (1974), two made-for-TV Gunsmoke movies (Gunsmoke: To the Last Man (1992) and Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice (1994)), a made-for-TV Bonanza movie (Bonanza: Under Attack (1995)), Banacek (1972), The Waltons (1972), Highway to Heaven (1984) and such big-screen movies as Tombstone (1993).
He worked on a western radio drama series titled West of the Story and was sidekick to Fred Imus on Sirius Radio's weekly show, Fred's Trailer Park Bash until Imus' death in 2011. He remained active with public appearances at Western and nostalgia shows like Western Legends Roundup in Kanab, Utah; Territorial Days in Tombstone, Ariz.; and the 50th Anniversary of The High Chaparral event being hosted in Sept. 2017 in Hollywood.- Jessica Madison Wright was born in Cincinnati on July 29th 1984, the eldest of four children. A pretty youngster who enjoyed dressing up and was very much a 'girlie' child, Madison began modeling at the age of five. Her interest in modeling and acting - something she shared with her younger sister Victoria - led the Wright family to relocate to Los Angeles and, in 1994, Madison had her acting debut aged nine in the comedy Grace Under Fire (1993), where she ironically played a small role as a snotty child model. Madison's big break came a few months later when she won the role of ten-year-old True Danziger in the science-fiction show Earth 2 (1994). Although the show was short-lived, Madison thoroughly enjoyed the chance of playing such an interesting character (and try her hand at being a tomboy!) and it also led to a friendship between her mother and the mother of her eight-year-old co-star Joey Zimmerman.
After 'Earth 2', Madison went on to portray a sick child in an Emmy-nominated episode of ER (1994) as well as have a co-starring role in the family film Shiloh (1996). She also had a role in the science-fiction film The Osiris Chronicles (1998), which was the pilot of a possible series that was never picked up.
By 1999, Madison was losing her interest in acting as she entered her mid-teens, and her family decided to move to Kentucky for a fresh start away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it was then it was discovered she was suffering from cardiomyopathy, a very severe condition that leads to degeneration of the heart muscles, and the only hope of recovery was a heart transplant. Madison and her family were then forced to spend long periods of time in Cleveland where she was being treated although their travelling expenses were eased when they were offered a room at a Ronald McDonald house (a charity which provides a home away from home for families of seriously ill, hospitalized children) near the hospital.
Luckily, after a few months on the donor waiting list, she was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic where she received a heart transplant in March 2000, at the age of fifteen. Clancy Brown, the actor who played the screen father of Madison's character in Earth 2 (1994), led an appeal to raise money to cover the hefty medical bills and to support Madison and her family. He also bought her a laptop for her Christmas in 1999.
Sadly, on 21st July 2006, only a few days after marrying medical student Brent Morris, she died of a heart attack. - Edmon Ryan was born on 5 June 1905 in Cecilia, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Mystery Street (1950) and Topaz (1969). He was married to Anne Sargent. He died on 4 August 1984 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Silvana Gallardo was born on 13 January 1953 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Centennial (1978), Death Wish II (1982) and A Walk in the Clouds (1995). She was married to Billy Drago. She died on 2 January 2012 in Paris, Kentucky, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Phyllis George was born on 25 June 1949 in Denton, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for Meet the Parents (2000), My Wife Is Retarded (2007) and The $25,000 Pyramid (1974). She was married to John Y. Brown and Robert Evans. She died on 14 May 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.- Ralph Foody was born on 13 November 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Blues Brothers (1980), Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). He died on 21 November 1999 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Tudor Sherrard was born on 23 July 1965 in the USA. He was an actor, known for Se7en (1995), Can't Buy Me Love (1987) and The Doors (1991). He died on 21 August 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Busty, lovely, and well-built blonde stunner Nichole Van Croft was born on November 5, 1973 in Jacksonville, Florida. She hailed from a conservative Christian background. An only child, Nichole was a tomboy as a kid: She not only played both varsity volleyball and basketball in high school, but also once broke her collarbone while playing football. Van Croft attended Arizona State University as a psychology major for a year. Nichole was discovered by a "Playboy" photographer eating pizza with her girlfriends after a night spent clubbing in South Beach, Florida. Van Croft was the Playmate of the Month in the October, 2000 issue of "Playboy." She went on to appear in a couple of "Playboy" videos and various Playboy special editions. Nichole died at age 44 on April 20, 2018 in Bardstown, Kentucky .
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Richard Mann Allan was born in Jacksonville, Illinois on June 22, 1923 to a farmer father Robert and a dietitian mother Edna. He grew up with two brothers, Edward and Robert Jr. and a sister Catherine. He began taking dance classes when he was seven years old, and he also loved going to see Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. He partnered up with a little girl from his dancing class to do their own version of Fred and Ginger dances and became popular locally. He grew up to become a well-known dancer-singer-actor in Jacksonville. He then earned a scholarship to the University of Illinois, where he joined the Theatre Arts Department. However, he was soon drafted to the army unit in Italy where he was assigned the officers' laundry detail. Immediately upon his discharge from service, he went to New York City to audition professionally for the first time in the Broadway musical "The Red Mill" (1945). He landed a speaking part and stayed for its entire Broadway and national tour. Once that ended, he immediately landed another job, in the 1948 Los Angeles production of "Naughty Marietta" where he danced. He stayed behind in Los Angeles, determined to get into the movies. His tall, dark and handsome looks landed him a job as a double for Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951), where Clift complimented him by saying that he should have been the star. However, Allan would spend his entire film career being overshadowed by his more famous leading ladies. He danced with Esther Williams in Neptune's Daughter (1949) and Duchess of Idaho (1950) and with Betty Grable in Wabash Avenue (1950), My Blue Heaven (1950), and Call Me Mister (1951), with Ava Gardner in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), with Academy Award winner Susan Hayward in With a Song in My Heart (1952), and with Mitzi Gaynor in Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952). He had signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox (hereinafter Fox), and they cast him as Marilyn Monroe's passionate lover who tries to kill her husband for her in Niagara (1953). The film became a hit and he was on the movie's poster with Monroe, and he won a Photoplay citation as "One of America's Most Promising Newcomers" in 1953. "Niagara" remains his best known role. Nevertheless, he spent the next few years at Fox testing for many leads, but only securing small uncredited roles, such as when he was turned down for the lead role in The Egyptian (1954) which went to Edmund Purdom only to end up with a uncredited bit role. His career never went further at Fox, and he blamed "lousy, lousy management". The disappointing years at Fox took its toll on him. He was doing a hat dance with a star for a film, but the star found it too difficult to perform, so Fox had wanted to photograph Allan from a distance to accommodate the star. He refused, and the studio retaliated by dropping his contract. When it seemed like Tony Curtis might not be available to do The Defiant Ones (1958), the producers approached him wanting a Curtis lookalike, but Allan retorted "Tell them to call me when they want someone who looks like Richard Allan". (Curtis later did become available to take the role, for which he earned his sole Academy Award nomination.) Since Hollywood had nothing to offer him, Allan felt he had no choice but to take German star Caterina Valente's offer to come to Germany and act with her in several films. She had first seem him dance in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and thought he had potential. He remained there long enough to make a few more films with other actors. Eventually, he returned to Hollywood where he teamed with Diane Hartman in a popular nightclub act called "Hartman & Allan", where they performed at Ciro's nightclub in Los Angeles. However, when Ciro's closed its doors as a nitery for the last time in 1961, it also took down its prominent marquee that had "Hartman & Allan", thus ending Allan's career as an entertainer. In 1964, a middle-aged Allan began earning a living as a masseur, and Kim Novak had initially recommended his masseur services to people in the entertainment industry. Over time, he had developed a clientele that had no connections to show business. He also stopped having any contact with show business people, including former friends Jeffrey Hunter and his then-wife Barbara Rush, explaining that "When you aren't successful, people just aren't comfortable with having you around". In the late 1980s, he moved to Prospect, Kentucky to be closer to his brother Robert Jr. He remained there until his death of of lung cancer on September 6, 1999 at the age of 76. After his death, his body was sent over to be buried in his family plot in Gillham Cemetery in Illinois.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Harland Sanders was born on 9 September 1890 in Henryville, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Blast-Off Girls (1967), The Phynx (1970) and What's My Line? (1950). He was married to Claudia Ledington and Josephine King. He died on 16 December 1980 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
William 'Wee Willie' Davis was born on 7 December 1906 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and Swanee River (1939). He died on 9 April 1981 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Wilhelmenia Fernandez was born on 5 January 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Diva (1981), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) and La Bohème (1980). She was married to Ormon Fernandez and Andrew William Smith . She died on 2 February 2024 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Bobby Russell was born on 19 April 1941 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He was a writer, known for The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981), The Grasshopper (1970) and Kill Me Again (1989). He was married to Vicki Lawrence. He died on 19 November 1992 in Nicholasville, Kentucky, USA.- Man o' War was born on 29 March 1917 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for Kentucky Pride (1925), The Race of the Age (1920) and Trained Hoofs (1935). He died on 1 November 1947 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
- J.S. Johnson was born on 3 February 1937 in Paris, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Fuzz (1972) and McCoy (1975). He was married to Suzanne Zenor. He died on 24 August 1999 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
- Stunts
- Actor
A.J. Bakunas was born on 23 October 1950 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for The Warriors (1979), The Stunt Man (1980) and The Bees (1978). He died on 21 September 1978 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.- Abe Meissner Yates was born in Pontiac, Michigan, to Joe Yates and Robin Meissner He became interested in Guitar and was talented on that subject he was also known by many as The Abester, Abeybaby, Rocket, Abob, Sir Dookie, and The Ginger Ninja. Abe was a critical thinker who liked to challenge himself (Math Rock key signatures). His whole life, he was mature beyond his years, but the goof came out occasionally he was also an actor that played in the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Freshman Year which is a fan-film.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Owiso Odera was born on 19 March 1973 in Khartoum, Sudan. He was an actor, known for The Brothers Grimsby (2016), The Thirst: Blood War (2008) and Blue Bloods (2010). He was married to Nicole. He died on 3 November 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Robin Moore was born on 31 October 1925 in Concord, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer, known for The French Connection (1971), Caddyshack (1980) and Inchon (1981). He was married to Helen Moore and Mary Olga. He died on 21 February 2008 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, USA.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles served in the US Army during World War II. Following his tour of duty, Kissinger established himself as a local theatre institution in Louisville, Kentucky thanks to his performances in both Shakespeare in the Park productions and his work with Louisville's prestigious Actors Theatre. Moreover, Charles was also a prolific writer, TV commercial actor, and voice-over artist for various radio spots. However, Kissinger achieved his greatest and most enduring popularity in the Louisville, Kentucky area with his beloved stint as creepy host The Fearmonger for the horror double feature television program Fright Night, which was broadcast on Louisville's WDRB-41 network on Saturday evenings from 1971 to 1975. In addition, Charles also acted in a handful of movies directed by independent filmmaker William Girdler that included lead roles in the low-budget horror items Asylum of Satan (1972) and Three on a Meathook (1972). Kissinger continued to work on a regular basis in both theatre and advertising throughout the 1980's. Charles died at age 66 from heart failure at the St. Anthony Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky on January 23, 1991.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Carla Rueckert was born on 16 July 1943 in Lake Forest, Illinois, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for The Hidan of Maukbeiangjow (1973), The Get-Man (1974) and Abby (1974). She was married to James McCarty and James DeWitt. She died on 1 April 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Anne Shropshire was born on 27 August 1917. She was an actress, known for Tootsie (1982), Something to Talk About (1995) and The First Wives Club (1996). She died on 1 May 2013 in Paris, Kentucky, USA.
- Secretariat was born on 30 March 1970 in Doswell, Virginia, USA. He died on 4 October 1989 in Paris, Kentucky, USA.
- Marie Worsham was born on 12 February 1929 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress, known for The New Breed (1961), Ripcord (1961) and Perry Mason (1957). She died on 28 October 2002 in La Grange, Kentucky, USA.
- Paul Hornung was born on 23 December 1935 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for The Devil's Brigade (1968), Run to Daylight (1964) and Semi-Tough (1977). He was married to Angela Cervilli and Patricia Hornung. He died on 13 November 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
- Hagen Mills was born on 9 August 1990 in Murray, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for Baskets (2016), Swedish Dicks (2016) and Bonnie & Clyde: Justified (2013). He died on 19 May 2020 in Mayfield, Kentucky, USA.
- Casting Department
- Casting Director
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Katy Moore was born on 19 February 1986 in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. She was a casting director, known for Intermission (2010), The Moped Diaries (2014) and Purgatory: The Documentary (2007). She died on 9 June 2018 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA.- Additional Crew
- Writer
- Editorial Department
Michael Edens was born in Portland, Tennessee, in 1951 and grew up in the Nashville area. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Master's degree in Modern British History in 1978. In the mid-1980s, while living in Knoxville, Tennessee, he began his professional writing career working in television animation for such shows as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tailspin, and The Real Ghostbusters. In 1990, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked on series such as Beetlejuice, X-Men: The Animated Series, Exosquad, Wing Commander Academy, Mummies Alive, and Young Hercules. As writer and story editor, he has created over 200 hours of animated and live-action entertainment for major studios like Disney, Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony. He has been married to Cindy Lietzke Edens since October 1, 1983. They have two children.- Additional Crew
- Director
Cornelia Wilbur was born on 26 August 1908 in the USA. She was a director, known for Narcosynthesis (1945), Sybil (1976) and The Mike Douglas Show (1961). She died on 9 April 1992 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.- Nancy Lea Owen was born in September 1926 in Decatur, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The River Rat (1984) and Abby (1974). She died on 8 January 2018 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA.
- Matt Bennett was born on 21 October 1933 in Greenup, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for The Boston Strangler (1968), Invaders from Mars (1986) and Dinah East (1970). He died on 29 March 1991 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
- John Y. Brown was born on 28 December 1933 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. He was married to Jill Louise Horneys, Phyllis George and Eleanore Bennett Durall. He died on 22 November 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Songwriter ("Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "Breezin' Along With the Breeze", "You Go To My Head," "That Lucky Old Sun"), and composer who left high school to enter the printing trade and soon became a "song plugger" for the music industry. He worked for the New York Times and other newspapers. After a bout with alcoholism and the loss of his wife, he returned to his native Kentucky. Joining ASCAP in 1925, his chief musical collaborators included Henry I. Marshall, Henry H. Tobias, Harry Tobias, Charles Tobias, Richard A. Whiting, Rudy Vallee, Lee David, Larry Shay, Byron Gay, Seymour Simons, Peter De Rose, Victor Young, Neil Moret, "Little" Jack Little, Pete Wendling, Egbert Van Alstyne, and J. Fred Coots. His other popular-song compositions include "The Old Master Painter," "Drifting and Dreaming," "Honey," "The Sleepy Town Express," "Our Old Home Team," "Don't Forget," "God's Country" (Freedom Foundation Award), "You Happened to Me," "Tin Pan Parade," "The Wedding of Jack and Jill," "Right or Wrong," "By the Sycamore Tree," "Beautiful Love," "Until Tomorrow", "Come Home," "There's Honey on the Moon Tonight," "Song of the Navy," "Seeing You Again Did Me No Good," "Our Silver Anniversary," and "This Holy Love".- Producer
- Actor
- Executive
Charles Mattingly was a producer and actor, known for Murder by Association, The Wrestling Movie and Unnatural II: The Gates of Hell. He died on 4 January 2024 in Bardstown Kentucky, USA.- Producer
- Director
- Actor
In addition to being a film producer and director, Donn Davison also was the manager of the famous Dragon Art Theatre in Florida. He appeared in a short film clip introducing each adult double feature (preserved on Something Weird Video's VHS double-features), was a talker in roadshow shorts enticing audience members to buy "how-to" sex manuals, and was also a popular trailer and radio spot narrator, most familiar in the Southern-based double-feature trailer for The Crawling Thing and Creature Of Evil.- Actor
- Producer
Jon T. Benn was born on 30 July 1935 in Queens, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Way of the Dragon (1972), The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) and Fearless (2006). He died on 9 December 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Scott Melloo Nall Jr. was born on 19 December 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Scott Melloo died on 26 January 1991 in Kentucky, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Paul White was born on 1 May 1925 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Boy Slaves (1939), Scattergood Rides High (1942) and Scattergood Baines (1941). He died on 12 April 1978 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Vergena Fields was born on 17 November 1989 in Pikeville, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for A Sexual Assault Prevention Awareness PSA (2021), La Vie de Aleera (2021) and Disembodied Hitman (2021). She died on 28 September 2021 in Meta, Pike County, Kentucky, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Michael Dunnagan was born on 29 November 1950 in Altadena, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Murder, She Wrote (1984), Road Signs: The Movie (2001) and Newhart (1982). He died on 3 August 2003 in Murray, Kentucky, USA.- Randolph McCoy was born on 30 October 1825. He was married to Sarah McCoy. He died on 28 March 1914 in Pike County, Kentucky, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Legendary Canadian folk singer, songwriter and guitarist Stan Rogers began his professional career in 1969 and quickly became a fixture on the Canadian folk club and festival circuit. In the 1970s, he performed frequently on CBC Radio and appeared on the Canadian television variety series "John Allan Cameron".
His first album, Fogarty's Cove, was recorded in 1976. He later went on to establish with his brother, musician Garnet Rogers, Fogarty's Cove Music label.
Rogers' songs spoke for the ordinary lives that reflect the diversity of the Canadian experience. He gave voice to those who work closest to the land and the sea as well as to the dispossessed and the disaffected. The universal themes of his songs were honor, loyalty and hope. His terms of reference and his images were evocatively specific and his sense of Canadian history equally poetic and heroic.
Of Rogers' titles, nearly 100 in total, the best-known are 'Barrett's Privateers,' 'Make and Break Harbour,' 'The Mary Ellen Carter,' 'Northwest Passage' and the love song 'Forty-Five Years'. His songs have been recorded by more than 25 other artists and groups including Peter Paul and Mary, Raffi, Eric Bogle, the Battlefield Band, John Allan Cameron, Margaret Christl, Mary O'Hara and the Tannahill Weavers.
Rogers began attract international attention and made his US debut in 1978 and subsequently appeared widely there in folk clubs and at festivals. Tragically, he was killed in 1983 in a fire aboard an Air Canada DC-9 at the Greater Cincinnati Airport. At the time, he was en route home from an appearance at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.
The Stan Rogers Folk Festival was founded in 1997 and named in his honor. It is held annually in Canso, Nova Scotia and has featured such acts as Bruce Cockburn, Ron Sexsmith, Jimmy Rankin, The Barra McNeils, The Irish Descendants and Eric Bogle.
Rogers is widely considered to be the greatest Canadian folk singer of all time.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Thompson Buchanan was born on 21 June 1877 in New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for A Woman's Way (1916), As Good As New (1933) and All's Fair in Love (1921). He was married to Joan Lowell and Katherine Winterbotham. He died on 15 October 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.- Omer Jeffrey was born on 18 July 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Black Caesar (1973). He died on 23 April 2016 in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Assistant
In a career spanning four decades, actor Bob Elkins has played a range of diverse characters too numerous to remember, but too compelling to forget. Despite impossible deadlines, sleep-depriving rehearsal schedules and grueling projects that required him to endure hours in rain, snow and scorching heat, his toughest role may have been the one into which he was born and from which he eventually fled, hiding in the spotlight, seeking the approval of strangers.
Bob Elkins spent his first five years of life in the tiny mountain town of Mt. Hope, West Virginia, the son of a struggling coal miner, and the only brother of two sisters. One of his earliest memories is that of a real-life drama: a nearby creek overflowing its banks, muddy floodwaters inundating the first floor of his two-story house. Oblivious to the danger at hand, young Bob rode his tricycle through the rapidly rising water in the downstairs hallway, his mother desperately yelling for him to come upstairs. He made it just in time, sadly watching the tricycle, his prized possession, get swept away.
In search of better job opportunities and more stable living conditions, Bob's family moved from West Virginia to Muncie, Indiana, where his father went to work for a lawnmower company. The family's economic situation improved slightly, but emotionally, things deteriorated as a result of an invisible wall that his father was slowly and steadily beginning to build around himself.
School was a constant struggle, as Bob had difficulty comprehending textbooks and what teachers were writing on the chalkboard. Little did he or anyone else realize it at the time, but he suffered from dyslexia, a learning disability that would not be identified until much later.
When Bob was 12, his family moved to Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. It was in that year that a pivotal and tragic event occurred that haunts Bob even now. One day, without warning or explanation, his father simply walked away from home, never to be seen or heard from again. Understandably, Bob was devastated.
Bob fell in love with films because they were an escape. He could escape the fact that his father was gone. He went to movie after movie after movie. He didn't realize it at the time, but he thinks those movies planted the first seed of his interest in acting.
To support her fractured family, Bob's mother took a job as a maid, and his sisters went to work part-time. With grades suffering and, for all practical purposes, no parental supervision, Bob became friends with other teenagers who introduced him to crime.
He got involved with a kid at school who was a bookie. He was a real genius at math. He figured out the odds. Bob was the front guy. He collected all the bets and paid the winners. He also took care of any disagreements. Non-violently, of course.
Bob's career in illegal gambling came to an end when one of his sisters discovered the books he kept, and convinced him that what he was doing was wrong. Bob quit working for his bookie friend, but continued down an equally dangerous path, hanging out with a rough crowd, staying out late at night and stealing things, like boxes of cigarettes. On one occasion, the group stole a car and took it for a joyride. Bob's life of youthful crime came to an abrupt halt when one night, he and his buddies got caught breaking into a coal company office.
A police officer arrested them and took them to the police station. He told them what would happen if they was sent to reform school. And that stopped his life of crime.
Because of failing grades, Bob attended summer school for five years. He also worked odd jobs, and became involved in sports. At the age of 18, like many young men his age, he joined the U.S. Navy. It was a turning point in Bob's life, as the Navy gave 600 recruits an aptitude test, the top 5% of whom were selected to go to college at the government's expense. Bob was among the top 5%.
Although he refused the Navy's offer of free college tuition, Bob accepted an alternate offer to attend military school. Quickly promoting him to the rank of Petty Officer, the Navy put Bob in charge of a division on a ship, a job that gave him a much-needed boost of self-confidence.
The Navy taught him that he wasn't just some stupid kid. he spent four years with Uncle Sam. It was an experience that really turned his life around.
While in the Navy, Bob learned that his earlier academic difficulties were the result of dyslexia. One of Bob's best friends in the Navy, gunnery officer Lt. Jack Russell, taught Bob to read more efficiently. It was another turning point in Bob's life, as he began reading more, and higher-quality books.
After Bob was discharged from the Navy, a friend talked him into attending night school, which the government paid for. Bob studied liberal arts for a year-and-a-half before his life took yet another turn, when he noticed a newspaper ad for an acting school in Cincinnati.
Bob was able to draw from his experience in the Navy for his first professional acting job, a small part as a shore patrol officer in a stage production of the comedy Mister Roberts. A year later, he found himself playing the lead role in that same play.
From the beginning, Bob enjoyed glowing reviews, and earned praise from fellow actors and directors. One director encouraged him to move to New York or Hollywood, to pursue work on Broadway, or in movies. However, romance intervened, and at age 25 Bob got married, and chose to stay in the Cincinnati area. During the next few years, he and his wife had four children.
Bob continued acting, appearing in dozens of plays and TV commercials. Like most professional actors, though, he was not able to earn a living doing what he most enjoyed, so he supported his family by working a series of day jobs. One of his jobs was that of a salesman for a Fortune 500 chemical company. Despite having failed chemistry in high school, Bob worked his way up to the position of assistant vice president of the company's industrial division.
Bob's acting career received a sudden boost in 1980, when he auditioned for and won a part in the motion picture Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), starring _Sissy Spacek_ and _Tommy Lee Jones_.
Bob as Bobby Day the DJ in Coal Miner's Daughter
Bob's experience working on Coal Miner's Daughter taught him a lot about acting for motion pictures.
Unfortunately, Bob's personal life was not going nearly as well as his professional life seemed to be. Shortly after filming Coal Miner's Daughter, his marriage ended in divorce. It was the second major traumatic event of his life, leaving him in a deep state of depression.
Unable to get motivated, Bob passed up several professional opportunities during this period. Finally, facing a mid-life crisis, he gave up the more stable corporate life to pursue acting full time, moving with a friend to Orlando, Florida.
Disappointed with the acting opportunities in Orlando, Bob returned to Cincinnati, where he remained for several years, working in theater and getting occasional movie and television roles, including one in which he co-starred with Sandy Dennis in Trouble With Mother.
After Bob's children were grown, he decided to take another stab at Hollywood, this time hitting the road for Los Angeles. In L.A., Bob studied acting under such professionals as Dee Marcus and Jason Alexander (George on Seinfeld). He also did several plays, including Passion Fruit, and movies that included The Big Day, with Saundra Seacat. However, good acting jobs were few and far between, and like many actors in Hollywood, Bob ran out of money and decided to return home. It might have been the best decision he ever made.
Back in Cincinnati, Bob immediately began getting work in a variety of motion pictures and television shows, including This Train with Soupy Sales, and Tattered Angel with Lynda Carter. More recently, he had a supporting role in the ABC television movie The Pennsylvania Miners' Story, in which he played the father of a trapped miner, and the acclaimed docu-drama James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck on the Discovery Channel, in which he portrayed German Admiral Gunther Lutgens.
In February of 2003, Bob was honored to win the Best Actor Award in the Dublin Film and Music Festival in Ireland, for his portrayal of a homeless man in the independent film Homefree (2002), written and directed by Greg Newberry. He also starred in several feature films including Act of Contrition (2019), and worked on projects with Carrie-Ellen Zappa, including teaching acting for Zappa Studios.- Malcolm Kilduff was born on 26 September 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Rosemary Porter and Bonnie. He died on 3 March 2003 in Beattyville, Kentucky, USA.
- Archie Lang was born on 14 July 1920 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Blow Out (1981), Highway to Heaven (1984) and The Waltons (1972). He died on 17 February 2016 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA.
- Betty Kern Miller was born on 16 December 1918 in Bronxville, New York, USA. Betty Kern was married to Marvin Leo Miller, Jack Cummings, Artie Shaw and Richard Alan Green. Betty Kern died on 5 April 1996 in Danville, Kentucky, USA.