Hume Cronyn (1911 - 2003)

Subsequent to graduating from Ridley College, Hume Cronyn switched majors, from pre-law to drama, while attending McGill University, and continued his acting studies thereafter, under Max Reinhardt and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1934, the same year he joined The Lambs,[3] he made his Broadway debut as a janitor in Hipper’s Holiday […]

Richard Cromwell (1910 - 1960)

Richard Cromwell earned $75 per week for his work on Tol’able David. Noah Beery, Sr. and John Carradine co-starred in the film. Later, Cohn signed Cromwell to a multi-year contract based on the strength of his performance and success in his first venture at the box-office. Amidst the flurry of publicity during this period, Cromwell […]

Henry Hathaway (1898 - 1985)

Henry Hathaway made his directorial debut in 1932 with a Western film production, Heritage of the Desert. Based on a Zane Grey novel, Hathaway gave Randolph Scott his first starring role in film that led to a lengthy career for Scott as a cowboy star. Hathaway, too, was a fan of stories of the settling […]

Henry Koster (1905 - 1988)

Henry Koster, who was in the midst of directing a film, had already been the subject of antisemitism, and knew he had to leave. He lost his temper at an SA officer at his bank during lunch hour, and knocked the officer out. He went directly to the railroad station and left Germany for France, […]

Victor Mature (1913 - 1999)

Victor Mature went to study and act at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. For three years he lived in a tent and was spotted by an agent for Hal Roach while acting in To Quito and Back. This led to a contract with Roach, who cast him in a small role in The Housekeeper’s Daughter, then […]

Laird Cregar (1913 - 1944)

Laird Cregar was tested for the second lead in The Letter and made screen tests for MGM and Paramount. The producer and director of Oscar Wilde were reported as preparing an independent company to star Cregar in The Life of Mohammed. He was then tested by 20th Century Fox, who considered him as a replacement […]

Michael Craze (1942 - 1998)

Michael Craze was born in Newquay, Cornwall. He got into acting by chance as, at the age of twelve, he discovered through Boy Scout Gang Shows that he had a perfect boy soprano voice. This led him to win parts in The King and I and Plain and Fancy, both at Drury Lane, and Damn […]

Broderick Crawford (1911 - 1986)

Broderick Crawford returned to vaudeville and radio, which included a period with the Marx Brothers on the radio comedy show Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel. He played his first serious character as a footballer in She Loves Me Not at the Adelphi Theatre, London in 1932. Crawford was originally stereotyped as a fast-talking tough guy early […]

Fred Crane (1918 - 2008)

Fred Crane was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1918. Along with his brothers John and Harry, he grew up on General Pershing St. and went to the MacDonough #13 and Alsace Fortier schools. His father was a dentist, whose father and grandfather also were dentists. Fred was to break the trend, getting into acting […]

Buster Crabbe (1908 - 1983)

Raised in Hawaii, Buster Crabbe graduated from the Punahou School in Honolulu. He competed in two Olympic Games as a swimmer. In 1928 he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meters freestyle, and in 1932 he won the gold medal for the 400 meters freestyle when he beat Jean Taris of France by a […]

Wally Cox (1924 - 1973)

In 1949, Wally Cox appeared on the CBS network-radio show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, to the great amusement of host Godfrey. The first half of his act was a monologue in a slangy, almost-mumbled punk-kid characterization, telling listeners about his friend Dufo: “What a crazy guy.” The gullible oaf Dufo would take any dares and […]

Matthew Cowles (1944 - 2014)

Matthew Cowles (September 28, 1944 – May 22, 2014) was an American actor and playwright. Matthew Cowles is the son of actor and theatre producer Chandler Cowles, he was born in New York City. In 1980, he married actress [Kathleen Dezina], his All My Children co-star. In 1983 he married actress Christine Baranski with whom he had two […]

Maurice Costello (1877 - 1950)

Maurice Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants Ellen (née Fitzgerald; born 1853) and Thomas Costello (born 1852). He appeared in his first motion picture in 1905, in which he had the honour of appearing in the first serious film to feature the character of Sherlock Holmes in the movie Adventures of Sherlock […]

Lou Costello (1906 - 1959)

As a young man, Lou Costello was a great admirer of silent movie great Charlie Chaplin, and in 1927 Costello went to Hollywood to become an actor, but could only find work as a laborer or extra at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Brothers, including MGM’s The Fair Co-Ed (1927). His athletic skill brought him occasional work […]

Wendell Corey (1914 - 1968)

Wendell Corey “began acting in 1938 with the depression-spawned Federal Theatre Project”. His Broadway debut was in Comes the Revelation (1942). After appearing in a number of supporting roles, he scored his first hit as a cynical newspaperman in Elmer Rice’s comedy Dream Girl (1945). While appearing in the play, Corey was seen by producer Hal […]

Jackie Cooper (1922 - 2011)

Jackie Cooper first appeared in films as an extra with his grandmother, who would bring him along in hopes of aiding her own attempts to get extra work. At age three, Jackie appeared in Lloyd Hamilton comedies under the name of “Leonard”. He graduated to bit parts in feature films such as Fox Movietone Follies of […]

Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961)

Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-five years, from 1925 to 1960, and included leading roles in eighty-four feature films. He was a major movie star from the […]

Tom Conway (1904 - 1967)

Joining his brother George in Hollywood, Tom Conway became a contract player for MGM. Conway is perhaps best known for playing “The Falcon” in ten of the series’ entries, taking over for his brother in The Falcon’s Brother, in which they both starred. This work led Conway to become a contract player with RKO Pictures. While […]

Frank Conroy (author) (1936 - 2005)

Frank Conroy was born on January 15, 1936 in New York, New York to an American father and a Danish mother. Conroy graduated from Haverford College, and was director of the influential Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa for 18 years, from 1987 until 2005, where he was also F. Wendell Miller Professor. […]

Hans Conried (1917 - 1982)

One of Hans Conreid’s early radio appearances came in 1937, when he appeared in a supporting role in a broadcast of The Taming of the Shrew on KECA in Los Angeles, California. Four years later, a newspaper reported about his role on Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: “But at the mike he’s equally convincing as old men, […]

William Conrad (1920 - 1994)

William Conrad estimated that he played more than 7,500 roles during his radio career. At KMPC, the 22-year-old Conrad produced and acted in The Hermit’s Cave (circa 1940–44), the Los Angeles incarnation of a popular syndicated horror anthology series created at WJR Detroit. He was among the supporting cast for the espionage drama The Man Called […]

Michael Conrad (1925 - 1983)

Michael Conrad (October 16, 1925 – November 22, 1983) was an American actor, primarily on television. Michael Conrad had a long acting career in television from the 1950s to the 1980s. In 1962 he appeared in the television series Car 54, Where Are You? in an uncredited part as a construction worker. In 1963 he played […]

Kenneth Connor (1918 - 1993)

Born in Islington, London, the son of a naval petty officer who organised concert parties, Kenneth Connor first appeared on the stage at the age of two as an organ-grinder’s monkey in one of his father’s shows, in Portsmouth. By 11 years old, he had his own act. He attended the Central School of Speech […]

Joe Conley (1928 - 2013)

Joe Conley (March 3, 1928 – July 7, 2013) was an American actor who played many small roles on television and is most remembered for his role as the storekeeper Ike Godsey on The Waltons. Joe Conley was born in Buffalo, New York. He started acting after returning from military service in Korea, and was running […]

Jeff Conaway (1950 - 2011)

Jeff Conaway was born in the New York City borough of Manhattan and raised in the Astoria, Flushing, and Forest Hills neighborhoods of the borough Queens. His father, Charles, was an actor, producer and publisher. His mother, Helen, an actress who went by the stage name Mary Ann Brooks, taught music at New York City’s […]

Pinto Colvig (1892 - 1967)

Pinto Colvig was born Vance DeBar Colvig in Jacksonville, Oregon, one of seven children of Judge William Mason Colvig (1845–1936) and wife Adelaide Birdseye Colvig (1856–1912). Although William Colvig was a pioneer, an attorney and a distinguished Oregonian, he was never actually a judge. Pinto graduated from Oregon State University in 1911 at age 18. After […]

Jerry Colonna (1904 - 1986)

Jerry Colonna started his career as a trombonist in orchestras and dance bands in and around his native Boston; he can be heard with Joe Herlihy’s orchestra on discs recorded for Edison Records in the late 1920s. During the 1930s, Colonna played with the CBS house orchestra, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, and developed a reputation […]

Ray Collins (1889 - 1965)

Ray Collins was born December 10, 1889, in Sacramento, California, to Lillie Bidwell and William Calderwood Collins. His father was a newspaper reporter and dramatic editor on The Sacramento Bee. His mother was the niece of John Bidwell, pioneer, statesman and founder of society in the Sacramento Valley area of California in the 19th century. […]

Greg Willard (1958 - 2013)

While attending Long Beach State University, Greg Willard officiated football as a member of the Orange County Football Officials Association and worked as a high school basketball official before advancing to the Continental Basketball Association where he spent four years. Willard also spent four years officiating basketball in college’s PCAA (now Big West) and Pac-10 […]

Orlando Woolridge (1959 - 2012)

Orlando Woolridge was selected sixth in the 1981 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, where he played for his first five seasons. Woolridge made his NBA debut on November 7, 1981. Woolridge was named NBA Player of the week on December 9, 1984. During the 1984–85 season, Woolridge averaged 22.9 points/game and combined with rookie […]