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1-50 of 469
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Arguably best remembered for her role as Miss Ellie, the Ewing family matriarch on the long-running TV series Dallas (1978), Barbara Bel Geddes had earlier scored success on stage and screen long before gaining more lasting fame on television. She was born in New York City on Halloween Day 1922, the daughter of noted theatrical and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes, who staged more than 200 plays. After growing up amidst the theatre, Bel Geddes began acting on stage at age 18 and soon moved on to Broadway. The silver screen also beckoned; she made her film debut in The Long Night (1947). She was quickly labeled a star, gracing the cover of Life magazine on April 12, 1948. Her third motion picture, I Remember Mama (1948), garnered Bel Geddes an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. Other notable films include Panic in the Streets (1950) directed by Elia Kazan; Alfred Hitchcock's classic mystery-thriller Vertigo (1958) with James Stewart and Kim Novak; and The Five Pennies (1959) opposite Danny Kaye. Though she achieved immediate success in films, Bel Geddes also continued to tread the boards on Broadway, since theatre was her first love. In 1952, she received the prestigious Woman of the Year Award from Hasty Pudding Theatricals USA, America's oldest theater company. She was nominated for Tony Awards as best dramatic actress for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1956 and for the lead in Mary, Mary in 1961. Bel Geddes made several TV appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and other programs in the mid 1950s, but her greatest television role came as Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow on Dallas (1978), which enjoyed a run of 13 years (1978-1991). She won the Emmy Award for best actress in 1980 and was nominated in the same category in 1979 and 1981. Bel Geddes left the show for health reasons during the 1984-85 season, with Donna Reed taking over the role of Miss Ellie. Bel Geddes returned for the 1985-86 season and continued on Dallas (1978) until 1990, when she effectively retired from acting. She did not appear in either of the two Dallas TV reunion movies. On August 8, 2005, she died following a long illness.- Verna Bloom was born on 7 August 1938 in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for High Plains Drifter (1973), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and After Hours (1985). She was married to Jay Cocks and Richard Collier. She died on 9 January 2019 in Bar Harbor, Maine, USA.
- Prolific American supporting actor, a reliable presence in numerous classic prime-time TV shows for over half a century. One of three siblings, Hogan served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Upon his demobilisation he studied engineering at New York University, but an aptitude test suggested a more humanistic career path which prompted his enrolment at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Hogan made his theatrical debut off-Broadway in 1961 and moved to Los Angeles that same year to forge a solid career in episodic television, most frequently cast as no-nonsense authority figures, military middle-echelon or police officers. His first notable recurring role was as Reverend Tom Winter in the popular soap opera Peyton Place (1964). Hogan's sceptical Police Sergeant Ted Coppersmith in The Rockford Files (1974) led to several follow-up appearances in the short-lived spin-off series Richie Brockelman, Private Eye (1978). Hogan also played diverse characters in The F.B.I. (1965), Barnaby Jones (1973), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Law & Order (1990). For his performance as the shrewd defense attorney Clarence Darrow in the off-Broadway play Never the Sinner (based on the Leopold & Loeb murder trial of 1924) Hogan was awarded the Outer Critics Circle Award.
Robert Hogan was diagnosed with vascular Alzheimer's disease in 2013, but was able to make sporadic TV appearances for another five years. He was married to the author Mary Barbera-Hogan. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Gary Merrill was born August 2, 1915, in Hartford, Connecticut. He began his career acting in summer stock plays. He married Barbara Leeds, an actress, and then served a brief stint in the army. After the army, he landed in New York, where he was chosen to join the already popular play "Born Yesterday". In 1950 he was cast in the part of Bill Sampson in All About Eve (1950). It would be his first time meeting Bette Davis and they became an instant couple. After their respective divorces, they were married in Mexico. She was 42 and he was 35. During their marriage they adopted two children, Margot and Michael, and after ten years of fighting and financial problems they divorced. Merrill did not marry again, though he was involved with Rita Hayworth for a time. Later in his career Merrill made a lucrative living doing voice-overs for radio and television commercials. In 1988 he published his autobiography, "Bette, Rita, And The Rest Of My Life". He died of lung cancer at the age of 74.- He was born in Reykjavik, Iceland and moved to the United States at the age of 5. Gunnar lived in Maine till he was 11, his family then moving to Texas, where he went to high school before attending the University of Texas. At the university, he did some theater work and majored in English and mathematics before going on to graduate in English and Scandinavian Studies. Despite graduating in the aforementioned fields, his first job out of high school was as a computer operator.
In the summer of 1973, he heard that Tobe Hooper and others were in town to work on a movie and decided to try out for a part. After interviewing with Tobe Hooper and the writer of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Kim Henkel, he was cast in the role of the disturbed, mentally handicapped killer, Leatherface.
After Chainsaw, Hansen went on to work as a freelance writer for magazines for several years before going on to write books, one later being set in Iceland about purported serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas. He has gone on to write multiple screenplays - one co-written with his partner Gary Jones, director of Mosquito (1994)).
Gunnar also directed a documentary on Greenland and had a stint designing web pages for GTE. - Ever since this beauty was five years old she knew she wanted to act. It's the story of this adventurous pioneer girl who in a Frontier Pageant, at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City jumped off the stage, and into her Daddy's arms in front of a crowd of 10,000 people. When she was young her grandfather was a lawyer for MGM, and her mother had been offered a screen test. Her grandfather did not allow it. But when Mary Linda was bitten by the acting bug her family was quite supportive. Through prep school she won trophies for Drama, was in the glee club, and was elected president of the theatrical society. After getting a BA in theatre arts at the University of Kansas she moved on to do a theatrical tour all through Europe. She came back, and her picture was in a local talent agency's book in Kansas City her home town... Which was also where In Cold Blood (1967) was being shot. Richard Brooks saw her picture and said that this is the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was cast in the role of Susan Kidwell. Richard Brooks, the director for this movie, did 40 takes for each scene he did, so originally Mary Linda was in more scenes than you can count. After this she was on a roll. She was a series regular in the ER of its day, "Medical Center", played Gregory Peck's daughter, in the Sci Fi film, Marooned (1969), had a guest-starring role on "Ironside", and played the infamous role of Irina, Pavel Chekhov's beautiful, tricky, space hippie girlfriend in the Star Trek episode, "The Way to Eden".
After a 7 year absence from film and TV, Mary Linda was back in the 1979 mini series, Blind Ambition (1979) playing Sen. Baker's wife. She was in CA filming that, when she met up with some ABC talent scouts. After meeting up with them, they wanted to give her the screen test for the role of Faith Kipling on the soap One Life to Live (1968). She nailed it, and was given the role. She left to go to As the World Turns (1956) and played the beautiful Maggie Crawford for 5 years. Unlike most stars, after those 5 years the spotlight didn't leave her, she left the spotlight. Now she is back, with that same determination to make it, just like that little girl all those years ago. - Fritzi Jane Courtney was born on 15 February 1923 in Harlem, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Jaws 2 (1978) and Spraggue (1984). She died on 7 August 2012 in Portland, Maine, USA.
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
- Producer
Anthony Ray was born on 24 November 1937 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was an assistant director and actor, known for Shadows (1958), An Unmarried Woman (1978) and Harry and Tonto (1974). He was married to Eve Conway Jorjorian and Gloria Grahame. He died on 29 June 2018 in Saco, Maine, USA.- June Harding was born on 7 September 1937 in Emporia, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for The Trouble with Angels (1966), Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963) and The Fugitive (1963). She died on 22 March 2019 in Deer Isle, Maine, USA.
- Nancy Hsueh was born on 25 February 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Targets (1968), The Wild Wild West (1965) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964). She was married to Dan Carr. She died on 24 November 1980 in Portland, Maine, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Bob Elliott was born on 26 March 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Quick Change (1990), Cabin Boy (1994) and Get a Life (1990). He was married to Virginia Lee Peppers and Jane Frances Underwood. He died on 2 February 2016 in Cundy's Harbor, Maine, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Phyllis Brooks was born on 18 July 1915 in Boise, Idaho, USA. She was an actress, known for Dangerously Yours (1937), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) and Charlie Chan in Reno (1939). She was married to Torbert H. Macdonald. She died on 1 August 1995 in Cape Neddick, Maine, USA.- Rob Pilatus was born on 8 June 1964 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He was an actor, known for Das Erbe der Guldenburgs (1987), Rob & Fab: We Can Get It On (1992) and Milli Vanilli: Blame It on the Rain (1989). He died on 2 April 1998 in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.
- This 1930s model and magazine cover-girl was employed, as often as not, as a beautiful "living statue" in early 1940s Hollywood Technicolor films, strictly to prettify a movie set while hardly saying a word. However, she did play talking characters such as "Nyoka the Jungle Girl" in 1940s black-and-white "B" serials.
- Samantha Smith was born on 29 June 1972 in Houlton, Maine, USA. She was an actress, known for Lime Street (1985), Charles in Charge (1984) and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). She died on 25 August 1985 in Auburn, Maine, USA.
- Character actor Michael Currie was born Herman Christian Schwenk Jr. on July 24, 1928 in Kingston, New York. His parents were Herman C. Schwenk and Mabel Lockwood. Currie was the youngest of three children. He attended Kingston High School, where he sang in the a cappella choir and played football. Michael worked in his family business Schwenk's Bakery during the summer and on weekends. He graduated from St. Lawrence University with a degree in psychology and was an apprentice at the Woodstock Playhouse. Currie did graduate work at both Cornell University and the University of Ohio. Michael served two years in Okinawa during the Korean War. Following his tour of duty, Currie taught theater at SUNY New Paltz. He met his future wife Ann Dods on a blind date in 1960 and married her later that same year.
Michael acted in four movies with Clint Eastwood; he was especially memorable as Captain Donnelly in "Sudden Impact" and "The Dead Pool." He was likewise impressive as jolly hotel owner Rafferty in "Halloween III: Season of the Witch." Currie had a recurring role as Sheriff Jonas Carter in the popular daytime horror soap opera "Dark Shadows." Among the other TV shows he made guest appearances on are "M.A.S.H.," "Family," "Soap," "Cheers," "Dallas," and "Newhart." Michael's stage credits include a Broadway production of "Love and Kisses" as well as Off-Broadway productions of such plays as "The Premise" and "What Price Glory." He was the father of son John and daughter Catherine. Currie died at age 81 on December 22, 2009 in Freeport, Maine. - Katherine Emery was born on 11 October 1906 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She was an actress, known for Strange Bargain (1949), The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947) and The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946). She was married to Paul Conant Eaton. She died on 7 February 1980 in Portland, Maine, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Virginia Bosler was a dancer/actress born September 23, 1926 in Newton, Massachusetts, the daughter of artist Marjorie (Fairbanks) and John Bosler, a marine engineer. She grew up in largely rural areas along the northeast coast, an environment she always preferred. Virginia started dance lessons as a child but gave it up for a few years until her interest was re-ignited as a teenager. She then attended Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts for three summers, and was a favorite of Jacob's Pillow founder Ted Shawn.
A physics and trigonometry whiz in high school Virginia attended Barnard College in New York on a full scholarship to study physics. It was her first experience in a big city - and she hated it. Accustomed to the quiet of her childhood world, the pace and noise of The Big Apple took a toll on her nerves. That, and trying to juggle a full course-load in a demanding subject while pursuing her dance studies led Virginia to put the scholarship on hold after her first year and dedicate herself to dance. She had a self-imposed deadline - if she didn't have a professional job at the end of twelve months it meant a return to school. Within eight months she was dancing on Broadway.
Agnes de Mille saw Virginia onstage and immediately recognized that "she came across". de Mille hired her in 1946 for the tour of Bloomer Girl and after a few months summoned her back to New York to audition for a new show she was choreographing - Brigadoon (Mar 13 1947 - Jul 31 1948). Virginia won the part of Jean MacLaren which turned out to be a career-defining role. Eighteen months on Broadway, a year in the national tour, and she also re-created the character in every New York revival up to, and including the 1962-63 production. Virginia was the only original cast member to appear in the movie version of Brigadoon (1954). By her tally she played Jean over a thousand times.
Virginia stood out in stage productions in the early fifties, especially Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 (1952-1953), and her association with de Mille continued to pay dividends. In 1954 she was a member of the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre and was included in the movie version of Oklahoma! (1955), followed by a European tour of the play. Various stage and television appearances filled out the fifties and early sixties, until she retired from performing in 1963 to raise a family.
In 1956 Virginia had married Hubert A. Doris, a music professor at Columbia University and Barnard College in New York, and they had a son and a daughter. Widowed in 2008, Virginia lived a comfortable retirement until her early nineties in rural Maine - peace and quiet at last. She passed away at the age of ninety three in August of 2020.- Received a partial scholarship to prep school, graduating from the prestigious Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey (class of 1941).
Was not all that interested in selling the M*A*S*H rights to make the movie or the TV series, but a fellow Peddie School alumnus (movie producer Howard W. Koch, class of 1933, and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner at the 1990 Oscars), gave him some encouragement to do so. - Herb Mitchell was born on 18 June 1937 in Bar Harbor, Maine, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Innerspace (1987) and Gettysburg (1993). He was married to Scarlet Kinney and Janet Ahear. He died on 4 January 2011 in Blue Hill, Maine, USA.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Bob Crewe was an American songwriter, singer, manager, record producer and fine artist. His career is among the most varied, successful and innovative in pop music history. He is probably best known for producing and co-writing with Bob Gaudio a string of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons. He is equally known for his hit recordings with The Rays, Diane Renay, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, Freddie Cannon, Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson and his own The Bob Crewe Generation.
In his 50+ years in the music industry, some of the Billboard Top Ten hits either co-written or produced by Crewe include "Silhouettes", "Daddy Cool", "Lah Dee Dah", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", "Dawn (Go Away)", "Ronnie", "Rag Doll", "Save It For Me", "Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)", "Let's Hang On!", "Jenny Take A Ride", "Devil With A Blue Dress On", "Sock It To Me, Baby", "Music To Watch Girls By", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", "Jean", "Good Morning, Starshine", "Swearin' To God", "My Eyes Adored You" and "Lady Marmalade". His compositions have been heard in numerous motion pictures and television shows. He is portrayed as a character in the international stage musical hit, "Jersey Boys," for which he is credited as lyricist.
Bob Crewe died in Scarborough, Maine, on September 11, 2014.- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Dan Fogelberg was born on 13 August 1951 in Peoria, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for About Schmidt (2002), Urban Cowboy (1980) and FM (1978). He was married to Jean Marie Mayer-Dailey, Anastasia Savage and Margaret Ellen Slaymaker. He died on 16 December 2007 in Deer Isle, Maine, USA.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
David Hugh Jones was born on 19 February 1934 in Poole, Dorset, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), American Playhouse (1980) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). He was married to Amanda Jones and Sheila Allen. He died on 18 September 2008 in Rockport, Maine, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
The country music performer Jud Strunk was born Justin Roderick Strunk, Jr. on June 11, 1936, in Jamestown, New York. He was a singer-songwriter akin to Jimmy Buffett (except Strunk sang about his adopted state of Maine rather than Key West and the tropics) who played the tenor banjo and piano. He also was an actor specializing in comedy.
In 1960, while still in his early twenties, he moved to Farmington, Maine, eventually making his home on a farm in Eustis, Maine. Strunk toured in a one-man show for the U.S. Armed Forces, after which he regularly traveled from Maine to to New York City to perform. He had a role in the Broadway musical "Beautiful Dreamer,' which led to television acting jobs in California during the early 1970's: two appearances on "Betwitched" and a regular gig on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."
He recorded four record albums of country music: "Downeast Viewpoint" (Columbia - 1970), "Jones' General Store" (MGM - 1971), "Daisy a Day" (MGM - 1973), and "A Semi-Reformed Tequila Crazed Gypsy Looks Back" (MCA - 1977). The albums are filled with his own songs, which evinced a political and ecological awareness. Ironically, he scored a Top 15 hit on the Pop chart with his single "Daisy a Day," a song without political import but that proved to be a good, old-fashioned tear-jerker about devoted love.
In 1974, he cracked the Top 60 on the Pop charts with his spoken-word single "My Country," and his 1975 novelty song "The Biggest Parakeets in Town" made it into the Pop Top 50. Married and divorced twice, he had three children: Rory, Jeffrey and Joel. He died from that particular bete noire of musicians, a light-plane crash, on October 15, 1981, when he was just 45 years old. His sons are trying to get a movie based on his father's life into production.- Actress
- Producer
Laurel Wiley was born on 25 January 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Vanilla Sky (2001), The Ghost (2001) and Round the Square (2010). She died on 14 August 2019 in Kennebunk, Maine, USA.