Yoshiko Okada (1903 - 1992)

Actress. Born in Hiroshima prefecture, Okada was described as 5 feet tall, weighed 95 pounds and had both black eyes and hair. After training at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, she joined the Butai Kyokai (Stage Show Association). She was accepted by “Shukke to sono deshi”. In 1922,she made her debut as a movie […]

Gisele MacKenzie (1927 - 2003)

Actress/Singer. Known as “Canada’s First Lady of Song,” she began her music career at a young age learning to play the violin and piano, later appearing at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Ontario. In 1951 she had her own show, “Meet Gisele” on the Canadian Broadcastion Corporation before she moved to Los Angeles, California. She […]

Grete Natzler (1906 - 1999)

Austrian-born stage and motion picture actress of the 1920s and 30s. She played the featured role of ‘Anna Albert’ in the 1938 Laurel & Hardy film “Swiss Miss” (credited as Della Lind). Married to composer Franz Steininger.

Anna Karen (1914 - 2009)

Actress. She will be best remembered as the housekeeper “Mrs Chernak” in the mid-1960s television series “Peyton Place”. Raised in New Jersey, she worked in New York for the elite Powers Modeling Agency a and appeared on Broadway before moving to California. Her television debut came in the 1951 “Lights Out”; she was to appear […]

Bo-Peep Karlin (1910 - 1969)

Actress. Born in Green Creek, Illinois, she was a dancer when she made her screen debut as a chorus girl in 滴appy Days” (1929). Her other credits included “The Trial of Vivienne Ware” (1932), “Something to Sing About” (1937), “Around the World in 80 Days” (1956) and “Bye Bye Birdie” (1963). She died in Hollywood, […]

Dominique Laffin (1952 - 1985)

French Actress. She appeared in the films, “Passage Secret” (1985), “Akropolis now” (1983), “Room Service” (1982), “Vive La Mariee” (1982), “His Master’s Eye” (1982), “nocturnal Uproar” (1979), “Seeking Asylum” (1979), “The Crying Woman” (1978), “The Little Wheedlers” (1978), “A Night All Cats Are Crazy” (1977), and “The Sweet Sickness” (1977). 

Dorothy Mackaill (1903 - 1990)

Dorothy was 11 when her parents separated and although she lived with her father, she had always wanted a career in the theater. As a rebellious teenager, Dorothy ran away to London where she finally persuaded her father to pay for her board and lessons. Her first job was in the chorus and then she […]

Joyce Jameson (1932 - 1987)

Actress. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and was married to Actor/Songwriter Billy Barnes. She is best remembered for her recurring role as “Skippy” in the 1960s television series “The Andy Griffith Show.” She made her film debut in 1951 playing a chorus girl dancer in the motion picture “Showboat.” Her other notable film credits […]

Maria Gallo (1922 - 2004)

Actress. She acted for the first time in a play (1943) being only a teenager. That performance won the Critic´s Award as the best young actress. Among her most remarkable works on stage are “Fascinación,” “Todos los Hijos de Dios Tienen Alas,” “El Mercader de Venecia” and “Prontuario.” In 1950 she traveled to Italy where […]

Liane Haid (1895 - 2000)

Actress. She was born in Vienna (Austria) and died in Bern (Switzerland). She is considered the first Austrian movie star in film history. She began her career as dancer but in 1915, she entered in films, and in the 20s, she become a movie star. In 1942 she emigrated to Switzerland and got married with […]

Vibeke Falk (1918 - 2011)

Actress. A star of the norwegian stage and screen for more than 60 years, she shall probably be remembered for her film debut as Anna Reinche in 1939’s classic crime drama “Gjest Baardsen”. Raised in Bergen, she got her start in show business at her home city’s National Scene and in 1939 got a major […]

June Gale (1911 - 1996)

Actress, wife of composer/performer Oscar Levant. Born June Gilmartin she started her career in vaudeville. She and her sister Jean were teamed with their twin sisters Joan and Jane and were billed, inaccurately, as the Dancing Gale Quadruplets. As they toured they were always in mortal fear of being found out. Little is know of Jane, […]

Dorothy Earle (1892 - 1958)

Dorothy Earle Dorothy Earle was born on September 4, 1892 in New Jersey, USA as Esther Lucille Elmendorf. She was an actress and writer, known for Pioneers of the West (1927), Pinched (1921) and Sweet Daddy (1921). She was married to Harry Burton Comber de Mattos and Marcel Perez. She died on July 5, 1958 […]

Lynn Baggett (1924 - 1960)

Actress. Stage and screen figure and writer. Married to movie producer Sam Spiegel. 

Clara Calamai (1909 - 1998)

Actress. “Black star” of Italian movies. She reached the greatest fame thanks to a scandal, while in ‘La cena delle beffe’ of Blasetti, she showed her breast. The top of her ‘dark lady fame’ came in 1942, when she played in Luchino Visconti’s ‘Ossessione’ from Caine’s the Postman Always Rings Twice, here in neorealist version. […]

Jean Acker (1892 - 1978)

Acker was born Harriet “Hattie” Ackers on October 23, 1893 in Trenton, New Jersey. Her father was Joseph Ackers, said to be of Cherokee descent. Her mother Margaret  was Irish. In the 1900 census, Hattie is with Joseph and her grandparents, but no wife of Joseph is listed. In fact, he is reported to be […]

Hermione Baddeley (1908 - 1986)

Actor. Born Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley. In her more than 60 year career Hermione enjoyed success in all the acting media. Prior to World War II, she became popular in London stage comedies and revues due to her dancer’s training and innate flair for comedy. In her film career she played memorable character roles, including […]

Garry Walberg (1921 - 2012)

Actor. Best remembered for playing ‘Lieutenant Frank Monahan’ during the entire run of the TV series “Quincy, M.E.” (1976 to 1983). The Buffalo, New York native launched what was to become an extensive body of television credits beginning with an episode from the series “Mister Peepers” (1952). He experienced his first recurring part as Police […]

Anton Walbrook (1896 - 1967)

Actor. Born in Austria, he started performing in German film serials in the 1920s and early 1930s, before settling in the United Kingdom. He made his American film debut in the RKO Pictures’ “The Soldier and His Lady” (1937), followed by “Sixty Glorious Years” (1938). His other film credits included “Gaslight” (1939), “49th Parallel” (1941), […]

Rudolph Valentino (1895 - 1926)

Actor. Born Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla in the small town of Castellaneta, Puglia, Italy, he originally had no intention of becoming an actor. He tried to enlist in his country’s Royal Naval Academy but was rejected because his chest size was an inch too small. When he was 15 he […]

William Talman (1915 - 1968)

Actor. Best known as ‘Hamilton Burger,’ the perpetually unsuccessful District Attorney on the popular “Perry Mason” television series (1957-1966), William Whitney Talman Jr. was born in Detroit, the son of a wealthy businessman. Jealousy of his family’s conspicuous affluence got young Talman into frequent scrapes with other boys at the public schools he attended, but […]

Alberto Valentino (1892 - 1981)

Actor and studio worker. Older brother of actor Rudolph Valentino.

Francois Talma (1763 - 1826)

Actor. Born in Paris, France, he started performing when he was young in amateur theatricals and made his professional stage debut at the Comédie-Française in 1787. He became one of the early advocates of historical costuming performing in period clothes while in character. His reforms in acting styles, stage costuming and scenery made him a […]

Tommy Raft (2026 - 1974)

Comedian. He was a popular comic performer regarded as one of the funniest men in show business. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was best known as a main attraction for many Las Vegas casino and burlesque shows. He also appeared in the feature films “The Wacky Playboy” (1964) and “The Black Connection” (1974).

John Ragland (1905 - 1946)

Actor and Entertainer. He entered burlesque in his twenties, working his way up to “top banana” at Minsky’s. Among his fellow burlesque performers, Ragland was famous (or notorious) for his wild ad-libs, his unpredictable intrusions into other comics’ acts, and his healthy off-stage libido. In 1940, he graduated to the big time in Ethel Merman’s […]

S.Z. Sakall (1883 - 1955)

Hungarian-born stage and motion picture actor of the 1920s thru the 1950s. Immortalized as ‘Carl, the headwaiter’ in the all-time classic film drama, “Casablanca” (1942). 

Byron Palmer (1920 - 2009)

Entertainer. He began his career with CBS as a radio announcer. He performed as a vocalist on radio with the group the Music Mates while stationed in the Pacific serving with the USA Army Air Forces during World War II. He made his Broadway debut in the hit musical “Where’s Charley?” (1948 to 1950), supporting […]

Hermes Pan (1909 - 1990)

Choreographer. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he was dance director responsible for choreographing some of Hollywood’s most memorable movie musicals. He was the principal choreographer for such stars as Betty Grable, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse and Rita Hayworth. He received Academy Award nominations for “Top Hat” (1935), “Bo jangles of Harlem” (1936) […]

Warner Oland (1880 - 1938)

Swedish actor who played Chinese detective, Charlie Chan. He was married to a wealthy Bostonian, the artist Edith Gardener Shearn. Among their many houses was a historic farmhouse in the Southville section of Southborough. Upon Oland’s death in 1938, he was buried in the town cemetery. The marker for his grave was originally the doorstep […]

Geoffrey Nares (1917 - 1942)

British stage actor. He was the son of actor Owen Ramsay Nares and his wife, actress Marie Pollini Nares. Educated at Westminster School, he inherited his father’s theatrical talents. His stage breakthrough was as the stable boy in the 1934’s “The Winning Post” with Sir Laurence Olivier. In 1935, he played ‘Kim Oldham’ in “Grief Goes […]