King Clancy (1903 - 1986)

King Clancy played for junior teams in the Ottawa area and began his NHL career in his hometown playing for the Senators, where he would establish himself as among the league’s top players and help the Senators to Stanley Cup wins in 1923 and 1927. Although he was one of the smallest defencemen of his […]

Charlie Conacher (1909 - 1967)

Signed the next season by the Maple Leafs with Jackson, Toronto manager Conn Smythe paired the two with former farmhand Joe Primeau.  The trio, nicknamed the “Kid Line” for their inexperience – Primeau was 23, Charlie Conacher and Jackson both 18 – became an immediate sensation in Toronto, as Conacher scored his first NHL goal […]

Syl Apps (1915 - 1998)

Syl Apps was a strong athlete, six feet tall, weighing 185 pounds, and won the gold medal at the 1934 British Empire Games in the pole vault competition. Two years later he represented Canada at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he placed sixth in the pole vault event. After watching him play football […]

Turk Broda (1914 - 1972)

Turk Broda started his playing career with the Brandon Athletics and the Brandon Native Sons. After playing a few years with them he played for the Winnipeg Monarchs, Detroit Farm Crest and the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. In 1932-33, he won the Memorial Cup. In 1933-34, the Detroit Red Wings invited Turk Broda to their […]

Bill Durnan (1916 - 1972)

Bill Durnan, whom John McGourty of NHL.com refers to as “the greatest nearly forgotten player in the history of the NHL,” only played seven seasons in the NHL due to him being 27 upon entering the league, but accomplished much in his short career. Durnan was the recipient of the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender […]

George Hainsworth (1893 - 1950)

George Hainsworth played junior hockey for the Berlin Union Jacks then moved up to senior hockey with the Berlin City Seniors and the Kitchener Greenshirts. One of the games he played for Kitchener against the Toronto Argonaut Rowing Club in the 1923 OHA playoffs was the first game that Foster Hewitt broadcast. By the end of […]

Gump Worsley (1929 - 2007)

At the outset of his career, Gump Worsley played four years in the minor leagues, most notably for the New York Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League (EHL), the St. Paul Saints of the United States Hockey League (USHL), and the Saskatoon Quakers of the Western Hockey League (WHL). For three straight seasons between 1950 […]

Doug Harvey (1924 - 1989)

Doug Harvey played minor league hockey in Oxford Park, Notre Dame de Grace in his native Montreal, Quebec, Canada, then began his professional career with the Montreal Royals of the Quebec Senior Hockey League where he played from 1945 to 1947, helping them win the Allan Cup. He then played one season with the Buffalo […]

Maurice Richard (1921 - 2000)

Joseph Henri Maurice “Rocket” Richard PC CC OQ (/rɪˈʃɑːrd/; French: [ʁiʃaʁ]; August 4, 1921 – May 27, 2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens. He was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, accomplishing the […]

Terry Sawchuk (1929 - 1970)

The Red Wings signed Terry Sawchuk to a professional contract in 1947, and he quickly progressed through their developmental system, winning honors as the Rookie of the Year in both the U.S. and American Hockey Leagues. Sawchuk also filled in for seven games when the Detroit goalie Harry Lumley was injured in January 1950. Sawchuk […]

Bryan Murray (1942 - 2017)

Bryan Murray began his coaching career as coach with the Rockland Nationals in 1976 when the team went all the way and won the Centennial Cup of the CJHL. He earned a good reputation as a coach and was offered a position with the Pembroke Lumber Kings, and then with the Regina Pats of the […]

Joseph Bologna (1934 - 2017)

Joseph Bologna was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brown University, where he majored in art history. Bologna served a tour of duty with United States Marine Corps. Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials. Bologna enjoyed a long run in film and television. His breakthrough film, Lovers and Other Strangers, written […]

Robert Holmes (1926 - 1986)

Robert Holmes found himself working almost exclusively in television drama after 1957. He began contributing episodes regularly to the adventure series Knight Errant before becoming that programme’s story editor in 1959. He wrote several episodes of another medical drama, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, before in the early 1960s writing for a range of crime-related dramas: Dixon […]

Donald Wilson (1910 - 2002)

Donald Boyd Wilson (11 September 1910, Dunblane, Scotland – 5 March 2002, Gloucestershire, England) was a British television writer and producer, best known for his work on the BBC’s adaptation of The Forsyte Sagain 1967 and co-creating the series Doctor Who. He attended the Glasgow School of Art, following which his first jobs were as a […]

Brian Hayles (1931 - 1978)

Brian Hayles (March 7, 1931 – October 30, 1978) was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. His body of work as a writer for television and film, most notably for the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, lasted from 1963 to 1989. Hayles wrote six stories for Doctor Who and is best known for his creation of […]

Malcolm Hulke (1924 - 1979)

Malcolm Hulke (21 November 1924 – 6 July 1979) was a British television writer and author of the industry “bible” Writing for Television in the 70s. He is remembered chiefly for his work on the science fiction series Doctor Who although he contributed to many popular television series of the era. His first major television work […]

Catfish Hunter (1946 - 1999)

Finley gave Hunter the nickname “Catfish” in 1965 because he thought his 19-year-old pitcher needed a flashy nickname. A story circulated that Hunter’s family gave him the nickname as a child when he went missing and was later found with a string of catfish; there is no truth to that explanation. Hunter never played in […]

Bobby Murcer (1946 - 2008)

Bobby Ray Murcer (May 20, 1946 – July 12, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder who played for 17 seasons between 1965 and 1983, mostly with the New York Yankees, whom he later rejoined as a longtime broadcaster. A Gold Glove winner and five-time All-Star, Murcer led the American League in on-base percentage […]

Darren Daulton (1962 - 2017)

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Darren Daulton in the 25th round of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. On September 25, 1983, Daulton made his major league debut for the Phillies. He received three at bats for the Phillies in 1983. Through 1988, Daulton played sparingly, due chiefly to the presence of all-star catchers Ozzie Virgil Jr. […]

Don Baylor (1949 - 2017)

The Baltimore Orioles selected Don Baylor in the second round of the 1967 MLB draft. He received a $7,500 signing bonus from the Orioles. In 1970, he led the league with 34 doubles, 15 triples, 127 runs, and 140 games-played while playing for Rochester. The following year, he again led the league in doubles with […]

Glen Campbell (1936 - 2017)

Glen Campbell In 1960, Glen Campbell moved to Los Angeles to become a session musician. That October, he joined the Champs. By January 1961, Campbell had found a daytime job at publishing company American Music, writing songs and recording demos. Because of these demos Campbell soon was in demand as a session musician and became […]

Marcel Pagnol (1895 - 1974)

In 1926, on a visit to London, Marcel Pagnol attended a screening of one of the first talking films and he was so impressed that he decided to devote his efforts to cinema. He contacted Paramount Picture studios and suggested adapting his play Marius for cinema. This was directed by Alexander Korda and released on […]

Pierre Fresnay (1897 - 1975)

Pierre Fresnay (4 April 1897 in Paris, France – 9 January 1975) was a French stage and film actor. Born Pierre Jules Louis Laudenbach, he was encouraged by his uncle, actor Claude Garry, to pursue a career in theater and film. During the 1920s, Fresnay appeared in many popular stage productions, most notably in the title […]

Henri Decoin (1890 - 1969)

Henri Decoin (18 March 1890 – 4 July 1969) was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 m freestyle. He competed in the 400 m freestyle […]

Henri Verneuil (1920 - 2002)

Henri Verneuil was born Ashot Malakian (Armenian: Աշոտ Մալաքեան) to Armenian parents in Rodosto, East Thrace, Turkey. In 1924, when Ashot was a little child his family fled to Marseille in France, to escape persecution after the Armenian Genocide. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother […]

Marcel Carné (1906 - 1996)

Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, Marcel Carné began his career as a film critic, becoming editor of the weekly publication, Hebdo-Films, and working for Cinémagazine and Cinémonde between 1929 and 1933. In the same period he worked in silent film as a […]

René Clément (1913 - 1996)

René Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed his first film, a 20-minute short written by and featuring Jacques Tati. Clément spent the latter part of the 1930s making documentaries in parts of the Middle East and Africa. In 1937, he and archaeologist […]

Georges Auric (1899 - 1983)

Georges Auric’s early compositions were marked by a reaction against the musical establishment and the use of referential material. Because of this and his association with Cocteau and Satie, Auric was grouped into Les Six by music critic Henri Collet, and was friends with the artist Jean Hugo. His participation led to writing settings of […]

Henri Alekan (1909 - 2001)

Henri Alekan (10 February 1909, Paris – 15 June 2001, Auxerre, Bourgogne) was a French cinematographer. Alekan was born in Montmartre in 1909. At the age of sixteen he and his brother became travelling puppeteers. A little later he started work as third assistant cameraman at the Billancourt Studios. He then spent a short time […]

Anatole Dauman (1925 - 1998)

Anatole Dauman (7 February 1925 in Warsaw – 8 April 1998 in Paris) was a French film producer. He produced films by Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Bresson, Wim Wenders, Nagisa Oshima, Andrei Tarkovsky, Chris Marker, Volker Schlöndorff, Walerian Borowczyk, and Alain Resnais. He was a principal figure in Argos Films, a company that was a very […]