Ira Louvin (1924 - 1965)

Ira Louvin Ira Louvin was born in Section, Alabama and played together with his brother, Charlie, in the close harmony tradition as the Louvin Brothers. They were heavily influenced by the Delmore Brothers and Monroe Brothers. Ira played mandolin with Charlie Monroe, guitar player of the Monroe Brothers in the early 1940s. The Louvin Brothers’ […]

Iran Eory (1938 - 2002)

Iranian-Spanish-Mexican Actress and Singer. She was born in Teheran (Iran) and died in Mexico City (Mexico). She debuted in Spain, at the age of 16 in cinema with the film “El Diablo Toca la Flauta”, directed by José María Forqué. After being named Miss Monaco in 1959, she returned to cinema, appering in more than […]

Irasema Dilián (1924 - 1996)

Irasema Dilián (born Eva Irasema Warschalowska on May 27, 1924 in Río de Janeiro, Brasil and died April 16, 1996, in Ceprano, Italy) was a Mexican actress. Irasema Dilián was born in Río de Janeiro, Brazil, to Polish parents. She began her film career in Italy, having appeared in Vittorio de Sica’s Maddalena, Zero in Condotta. […]

Irene (1901 - 1962)

Costume Designer. Born Irene Lentz in Baker, Montana, she traveled to California while still a teen, and appeared in a number of small roles in the infancy of silent film, appearing in support roles in Mack Sennett productions as early as 1921. She eventually married her director F. Richard Jones, becoming his third wife. Less […]

Irene Barnes Vanbrugh (1872 - 1949)

Actress. Born in Exeter,  England, she made her first stage appearance at the age of fifteen in Margate theatre, playing Phoebe in “As You Like it”. After moving to London, she first appeared on the West End stage, when she was only sixteen, playing the White Queen and Jack of Hearts in a revival of […]

Irene Bordoni (1895 - 1953)

Irene Bordoni made her Broadway debut in a Shubert brothers production of Broadway to Paris at the Winter Garden Theatre and was a successor to Anna Held as Broadway’s idea of French piquancy and Continental flavor. She was in Miss Information (1915) and successive productions of Hitchy-Koo (1917 and 1918). 1919 audiences saw Bordoni in […]

Irene Dailey (1920 - 2008)

Actress. A performer of stage, television and films, she is best known for her role as Nettie Cleary in the 1960s Tony Award-winning Broadway drama “The Subject Was Roses”. She won an Emmy Award in 1979 for her role as Liz Matthews in the daytime soap opera “Another World”. The younger sister of entertainer Dan […]

Irene Dunne (1902 - 1973)

Irene Dunne Born on December 20, 1898 in Louisville, Kentucky, she was named Irene Marie Dunne. Early in life took an interest in singing and went to New York City aspiring to be a part of the Metropolitan Opera. This did not work out as she planned but she went on to Chicago where she […]

Irene Fenwick (1887 - 1936)

Actress.  Born Irene Frizell in Chicago,  she began acting in local theatre and made her Broadway debut in “The Brass Bottle” (1910).  A vivacious redhead,  adept at both drama and comedy,  she had a forceful stage presence that belied her tiny stature (she stood only 4’11”).  During the mid-1910s Fenwick flirted with movie stardom,  playing […]

Irene Gutiérrez Caba (1930 - 1995)

Renowned Spanish stage, motion picture, and television actress. She is the sister of actors Julia Gutierrez Caba and Emilio Gutierrez Caba. Among her films: “La Tía Tula” (1964), “?Cómo está el Servicio!” (1968) and “La Casa de Bernarda Alba” (1987). On stage, she is best remembered in “El Caso de la Mujer Asesinadita,” “La Vida […]

Irene Handl (1901 - 1987)

Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was an English character actress who appeared in over a hundred British films.  Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father, Frederick, and German mother, Maria (as per the 1911 census). She took to acting at the relatively advanced […]

Irene Hayes Solomon (1895 - 1975)

She was a Ziegfeld girl and businesswoman who owned Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe, a leading Manhattan florist and Gallagher’s Steak House after the death of her husband Jack Solomon. She bought the florist Wadley & Smythe on Park Avenue, adding her name, as no new businesses were allowed on Park Avenue at that time. […]

Irene Hervey (1909 - 1998)

Born Beulah Irene Herwick in Venice, Los Angeles, California. She began her acting career after being introduced to a casting agent from MGM. After a successful screen test, she was signed by the studio and made her screen debut in the 1933 film The Stranger’s Return, opposite Lionel Barrymore. Though signed by MGM, Hervey was loaned […]

Irene Manning (1912 - 2004)

Irene Manning was born Inez Harvuot on July 17, 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a family of five siblings. Both of her parents were singers. Her family loved to go on outdoor picnics where the featured activity was group singing. This family environment helped Irene to develop a keen interest in singing at a very […]

Irene Purcell (1896 - 1972)

Irene Purcell appeared opposite William Haines in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s romantic comedy film Just a Gigolo (1931), directed by Jack Conway and adapted from the 1930 play Dancing Partner, by David Belasco. The same year, she played the lead role in Sam Wood’s romantic comedy The Man in Possession, adapted from H. M. Harwood’s play of the […]

Irene Rich (1891 - 1988)

Actress. Born Irene Luther in Buffalo, New York, she had a successful career as a real estate agent and two failed marriages behind her when she broke into films as an extra in 1918. Her bedroom eyes and mature, patrician beauty made her a natural to play worldly women in scores of silent-era tearjerkers, and […]

Irene Ryan (1902 - 1973)

Irene Ryan began her career at the age of 11, after winning $3 for singing “Pretty Baby” in an amateur contest at the Valencia Theater in San Francisco. At 20, she married writer-comedian Tim Ryan. They performed in vaudeville as a double act, known in show business as a “Dumb Dora” routine and epitomized by George […]

Irene Sharaff (1910 - 1993)

Sharaff was born in Boston and studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, the Art Students League of New York, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. After working as a fashion illustrator in her youth, Sharaff turned to set and costume design. Her debut production was the 1931 Broadway […]

Irene Tedrow (1907 - 1995)

American motion picture and television actress of the 1940s through the 1980s. Appeared in many classic TV series such as “The Twilight Zone,” “Leave It to Beaver,” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” among many others. (bio by: A.J. Marik) Cause of death: Stroke

Irene Vernon (1922 - 1998)

Actress. Played Louise Tate on “Bewitched” from 1964-1966. (bio by: Kenneth McNeil)

Irene Worth (1916 - 2002)

Actress. She was educated at University of California in Los Angeles. She made her Broadway debut in 1943. She was a kindergarten teacher before becoming a professional actress. In 1944, she moved to England to become a professional stage actress performing at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She returned to Broadway […]

Irina Arkhipova (1925 - 2010)

Opera Singer. A mezzo soprano, she was for many years a star of Moscow’s Bolshoi Opera while earning acclaim in the world’s leading venues. Raised in Moscow, she graduated with a degree in architecture from the Moscow Institute in 1948; having musical ambitions, she studied at the Moscow Conservatory before commencing her professional career with […]

Iris Adrian (1912 - 1994)

Iris Adrian Hostetter was an only child, born to Adrian Earl Hostetter and Florence (née Van Every), who wed in 1909 in Los Angeles, California. She was raised by her single mother in Los Angeles. Iris won a beauty pageant and worked with the Ziegfeld Follies before she entered films at the end of the […]

Iris Chang (1968 - 2004)

Author. She was the author of several books including “The Rape of Nanking,” “The Chinese in America” and “Thread of the Silkworm.” She died form a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 36. (bio by: Erik Lander)

Iris Dobson Korn (1907 - 1982)

Actress. As a performer, she was best known for her television performance in the role of the wife of Reverend Alden on the series “Little House on the Prairie”. Her other TV credits included “Emergency”, “Cannon”, “The Waltons”, “Barnaby Jones”, “Charlie’s Angels”, “The Incredible Hulk” and “Taxi”. For feature films, she appeared in “White Lighting” […]

Iris Marga (1901 - 1997)

Singer, Actress. Born María Iris Elda Rosmunda Pauri Bonetti, she had a long career in theater, cinema, radio and TV that lasted more than 60 years. (bio by: 380W)

Iris Meredith (1915 - 1980)

Iris Meredith (June 3, 1915 in Sioux City, Iowa – January 22, 1980) was a B-movie actress of the 1930s and 1940s film era. She starred mostly in heroine roles, in westerns. Born as Marie Shunn, Meredith began her film career in the early 1930s, often starring in film serials while on contract with Columbia Pictures. […]

Iris Tree (1897 - 1968)

Iris Tree (27 January 1897 – 13 April 1968) was an English poet, actress and artists’ model, described as a bohemian, an eccentric, a wit and an adventuress. Her parents were actors Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Helen Maud Tree, and her sisters were actresses Felicity and Viola Tree. An aunt was author Constance Beerbohm, and […]

Irma Grese (1923 - 1923)

Irma Grese was born to Berta Grese and Alfred Grese, a dairy worker. Irma was the third of five children (three girls and two boys). In 1936, her mother committed suicide by drinking hydrochloric acid after discovering that Alfred had had an affair with a local pub owner’s daughter. Alfred Grese is speculated to have […]

Irmgard Seefried (1919 - 1988)

Irmgard Seefried (9 October 1919 – 24 November 1988) was a distinguished German soprano who sang opera and lieder. Maria Theresia Irmgard Seefried was born in Köngetried, near Mindelheim, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of educated Austrian-born parents. She studied at Augsburg University before making her debut in Aachen as the priestess in Verdi’s Aida in 1940. […]