Mina Bern (1911 - 2010)

Actress, Singer. Though she appeared on Broadway and in a number of Hollywood films, she shall be best remembered as a star of the Yiddish theater scene of New York. Born Mina Bernholtz in what is now Poland, she was introduced to the stage early on with the traveling group Ararat. Fleeing the Nazi invasion […]

Barbara Berjer (1920 - 2002)

Actress. She was born Barbara Berger but changed her last name to Berjer for the proper pronunciation. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from DePaul University in 1943. She moved to New York City and pursued a successful acting career in daytime television. She played Bridget Connell on “Another World” from 1985 to […]

Mary Kay Bergman (1961 - 1999)

Actress, Voice Artist. Supplied the voices to many characters in motion-pictures, television, and video games. Among her most popular work was the voices she gave to many characters on the animated TV series “South Park.” (bio by: A.J. Marik) Cause of death: Suicide

Ingrid Bergman (1915 - 1982)

Actress. She was an international star of films, television and on the stage.   Ingrid Bergman made 50 films in her movie career winning two best Actress Oscars, an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.  Some of her films: Intermezzo, Casablanca, Walk in the Spring Rain, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, For Whom the Bell […]

Frances Westerman Bergen (1922 - 2006)

Actress. The wife of entertainer Edgar Bergen and mother of actress Candice Bergen. She started her career as a model in New York. She was “the Chesterfield Cigarette Girl” and “the Ipana Girl” in magazines and on billboards. At age 19 she caught the eye of her future husband at one of his shows. He […]

Elsa Berenguer (1932 - 2006)

Actress. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An award-winning stage, screen and television actress, Berenguer was a member of the stage group “La Nueva Máscara”, in the late 1950s. She received the prestigious Molière Award in 1974 for her work on the play “Sabor a Miel” and in 1981 the Estrella de Mar Award […]

Anita Berber (1899 - 1928)

Dancer, Actress. She was the daughter of a classical violinist and a cabaret singer. She studied dance with Rita Sacchetto and founder of rhythmic gymnastics Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. She began dancing professionally in 1917. Between 1918 and 1925, she also appeared in more than 20 silent movies, including Richard Ostwald’s sex education films and his 1919 […]

Mary Benny (1905 - 1983)

Actress, Comedienne.  The real life wife of actor Jack Benny, she played the role of the long-suffering housewife who is given no money to run the household. Born Sadye Marks in Seattle, Washington, she first worked as a department store clerk, when she met Jack Benny, who was then a beginning radio star.  She married […]

Marjorie Bennett (1896 - 1982)

Actress. Born in York, Australia. Died of cancer. Sister of actress Enid Bennett and Catherine Bennett. Appeared in “Kiss Me Deadly” (1955) and “Coogan’s Bluff” (1968).

Mabel Adrienne Morrison Bennett (1883 - 1940)

Actress. Mother of Constance, Barbara and Joan Bennett. Stage actress and daughter of Rose Wood and stage actor Lewis Morrison. In films from 1914 to 1917. Married to Richard Bennett from 1903 to 1925. Married Eric Pinker in 1927.  Family links:  Spouse:  Richard Bennett (1870 – 1944)*  Children:  Constance Bennett (1904 – 1965)*  Barbara Jane […]

Joan Bennett (1910 - 1990)

Actress. The youngest of the three acting daughters of prominent stage and screen star Richard Bennett, she was the last of the sisters to enter films seriously, but she had the longest and, in retrospect, the most meaningful career of any of her family. Joan, like Constance and Barbara, was a gorgeous woman, slender and […]

Jill Bennett (1931 - 1990)

Actress. Born Nora Noel Jill Bennett in Penang to British parents, she relocated to England and trained at Amersham Repertory in Guilford, and at prestigious drama school RADA; making her stage debut in 1949 at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford upon Avon. Her feature film debut was alongside Rex Harrison in the 1951 movie ‘The […]

Barbara Allyne Bennet (1970 - 2016)

American Actress. During a career that spanned more than five decades, Bennet worked in front of and behind the camera. She graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a B.A. in theater, then moved to New York City, where she appeared in several Broadway plays before moving to Hollywood in the 1970s to pursue a […]

Valerie Benguigui (1965 - 2013)

Cesar Award-Winning Actress. A prolific star of the French big and small screens, she was honored with her country’s equivalent of the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for 2012’s “Le Prenom”. Raised in Paris, she was drawn to show business early, studied at the Cours Flourent, and trained at the distinguished National Chaillot Theatre School […]

Norma Bengell (1935 - 2013)

Actress. An award-winning romantic lead of the Brazilian and Italian cinema, she is perhaps best remembered for the dubious distinction of being the first ‘big name’ actress to be depicted frontally nude on screen. Born Norma Aparecida Almeida da Pinto Guimaraes d’Aurea Bengell, she first earned notice as a magazine and runway model then began […]

Brenda Benet (1945 - 1982)

Actress. She is best remembered for her role as the scheming villainess ‘Lee Dumonde’ on the daytime serial “Days of our Lives,” which she played from 1979 until her death in 1982. A classic example of a modern-day Hollywood tragedy, her acting career spanned just over 16 years with a wide range of guest appearances […]

Bea Benaderet (1906 - 1968)

Actress. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California, she had a remarkable career in radio and television. She launched her network radio career in 1936, appearing as a regular on The Campbell Playhouse”, “The Jack Benny Show”, “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”, “The Great Gildersleeve” and “Fibber McGee and Molly”. […]

Nelly Beltrán (1925 - 2007)

Actress. Considered one of the most beloved Argentinian performers. Beltrán debuted on stage in the late 1940s, playing in “Las Lágrimas También Se Secan.” She then made her 1955 screen debut in “Para Vestir Santos.”  During her lengthy career Beltrán played both comedic and dramatic roles and became one of the most popular faces of […]

Alma Leonor Martinez Beltran (1919 - 2007)

Actress. She appeared in over 90 television and motion picture roles, spanning a career of nearly 60 years in the entertainment industry. She began her acting career in the 1945 motion picture “Pan-Americana,” playing the uncredited role of Miss Guatemala. Over the next several years she would appear in several more non credited acting roles […]

Eleanor Robson Belmont (1879 - 1979)

Actress, Writer. She was the author of the play, “In The Next Room” (1930), and the book, “The Case Of The Black Parrot” (1941). Born in England on December 13, 1879, she acted on stage for 10 years, but gave it up to marry, August Belmont Jr., on February 26, 1910, who she stayed married […]

Diana Alice Bellamy (1943 - 2001)

Actress. She was a character actress in theaters, television and on stage. She graduated with a master’s degree in Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University in 1970. Her acting career began in a puppet theater in Los Angeles. She was popular in regional theaters and she also appeared on television and in such movies as […]

Alma Bella (1910 - 2012)

Actress. A Filipina starlet who got her start in silent films, she was perhaps her country’s leading movie sex kitten for a generation. Born to a family of wealth and position, she was drawn to the stage after attending a London performance of “Hamlet” at 17. Alma made her silver screen debut in the 1932 […]

Mary Hayley Bell (1911 - 2005)

Actress, Playwright and Novelist. Widow of actor Sir John Mills. Mother of Juliet, Jonathon, and Hayley Mills. Best known for her 1958 Novel “Whistle Down the Wind,” which would later become a stage production and a film starring her daughter Hayley. Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai, China where her father was a customs […]

Adele Belgrade (1866 - 1938)

Stage and Motion Picture Actress. She appeared on stage and in silent films, among them the 1917 comedy/drama production of “Happiness.” Married to actor Fred J. Butler, mother of prolific director/actor David Butler. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouses:  Fred Joline Butler (1867 – 1929)*  Fred J. Butler (1867 – 1929)* *Calculated relationship

Doris Belack (1926 - 2011)

Actress. She is best known for her roles as ‘Anna Wolek’ on the television soap opera “One Life to Live” and Judge Margaret Barry on television crime and court drama “Law and Order”. She also appeared in the 1982 motion picture comedy “Tootsie” and a number of television situational comedies, such as “Barney Miller” and […]

Barbara Bel Geddes (1922 - 2005)

Actress. Born to theatrical set designer and producer Norman Bel Geddes and Helen Belle Sneider in New York City. Her father recreated the family name as Bel Geddes incorporating his wife’s name into their surname. Bel Geddes made her theatrical debut at 18 in 1940 in a summer-stock production of “The School for Scandal.” She […]

Rita Bekes (1925 - 1978)

Actress. Born in Debrecen, Hungary, she studied at the Academy of Theatre and Film Art in Budapest and made her stage debut in 1949. From 1956 to 1962 she was a member of the Attila Jozsef Theatre company, where she was praised for her performances of Shakespeare and Chekhov.  Bekes appeared in four films by […]

Ena Begovic (1960 - 2000)

Actress. She won a dozen Best Actress awards and prizes over her 17 years in theater, films, and television. She appeared in 45 plays, mostly with the Croatian National Theater, in roles ranging from Desdemona in “Othello,” Gertrude in “Hamlet,” and Goneril in “King Lear,” to Antigone and Medea in “Antigone” and “Medea,” and to […]

Laurie Hope Beechman (1953 - 1998)

Actress. A Broadway actress and singer, she played in the longest run ofd of the character ‘Grizabella’ in the popular musical “Cats”. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1989, but she kept her career up during periods of remission. During her life she recorded the albums “Listen to My Heart” (1990), “Time Between the […]

Louise Beavers (1902 - 1962)

Actress.  A plump,  mournful-eyed character player in Hollywood films,  she was almost always cast as a maid,  mammy,  or housekeeper,  a shameful waste of her talent.  Beavers is best remembered for her wrenching performance in “Imitation of Life” (1934),  as an Aunt Jemima-like pancake maker whose light-skinned daughter abandons her to pass for white in […]